5 reasons you might like The Whistler (2026)

I am Jason Kleeberg, this is Force Five, and today I’m going to give you 5 reasons you might want to watch the 2026 folk horror film The Whistler, directed by Diego Velasco and written by Esteban Orozco, Carolina Paiz and Nacho Palacios.

If you like movies about myths and local legends or you like folk horror, The Whistler might hit the spot. The story revolves around a Venezuelan religious folk legend named Maria Lionza, who in real life is revered as the goddess of nature, love and water who was eaten by an anaconda and exploded out of it. While that doesn’t happen in this film (which is too bad because that would have been rad), it does delve into cults, possession, souls and spirits, so if that sounds like something you’d be into, The Whistler will certainly scratch that itch.

Continuing that theme, reason number 4. The possession scenes are really well done, specifically the first time Nicole, our protagonist, sees this happening. Without spoiling anything, a voice comes from the subject who’s been possessed and I found it really creepy, so if you’re a sucker for a good body takeover scene, you’ll find them here.

Reason number 3, Nicole is played by Diane Guerrero and she does a really great job of portraying a grieving mother who’s trying to hold on after a tragic occurrence just a few years earlier. I knew Diane from her role in Orange is the New Black - and there are a lot of Orange is the New Black DNA here, from the director to the writers, but while I thought she was really good in that show, she never got the chance to really show her acting chops. Here she does the heavy lifting and does it really well. And this is a film about grief at its core, so keep that in mind.

Reason number 2, the movie looks incredible. Credit needs to be given to the film’s cinematographer, Camilo Monsalve, whose composition is really striking in The Whistler. Whether we’re panning shots of sugar cane fields or just flying over the Venezuelan jungle, it looks like a place you’d want to visit, even if people are being disembowled. Much of the film takes place at night and even then it looks really visually arresting. Props to the color grading as well.

Reason number 1 you might want to watch the Whistler, it’s not gory. Despite me saying people are being disemboweled, almost all of the bloody stuff happens off screen, so if you’re super squeamish or you’re just getting into horror films, this could be a good jumping on point. There is blood that you see splattered amongst the sugar cane and onto headlights, stuff like that, but most of the actual gore happens off screen.

If any of those reasons tickle your fancy, check out The Whistler, which you can find in theaters right now. If you’ve already seen The Whistler, what did you think of it? And what’s your favorite folk horror film?  Let me know in the comments below or email me at forcefivepodcast@gmail.com.