From 2–10 October, Monster Fest takes possession of Cinema Nova for nine days of murderous homecomings, demonic obsessions, blood-soaked revenge, killer garden gnomes and films that have no business being watched alone.
The festival opens with THE ONLY ONE, an Australian slasher in which a woman returns home for a wedding and discovers someone is murdering her former lovers. Director Michael Schwarz and members of the cast and crew will join the Opening Night screening for a Q&A.
On centre court, BLOODY TENNIS pits the students of an elite academy against one another in a gloriously unhinged collision of sport, occult rituals and survival horror. The Adams filmmaking family — Toby Poser, John Adams, Zelda Adams and Lulu Adams — return to Monster Fest with THE GLORIOUS DEAD, following last year’s Golden Monster winner MOTHER OF FLIES. Their latest film sends a small town and possibly the whole world straight to Hell.
The festival’s homegrown horrors include the World Premiere of NANCY NANCY, the Australian Premiere of post-apocalyptic revenge film BLOODLUST, and a special two-episode preview of the Stan Original horror-comedy GNOMES, followed by a creator Q&A. Australian filmmaker Andrew Leavold heads to Ghana for the wonderfully deranged THE TALLER THEY COME, presented by Trasharama.
Elsewhere, the World Premiere’s of DEVIL’S DISCIPLE: THE NIGHT STALKER and JEFFREY DOLLMER plus the Australian Premiere’s of GODMOTHER, DOGGOD, I LOVE PARIS, PINOCCHIO UNSTRUNG and HALLOWARRIOR offer plenty of fresh reasons to sleep with the lights on.
Behind the nightmares, BOORMAN AND THE DEVIL, FULL MOON RISING: THE CHARLES BAND STORY, RUBBERHEAD: THE LIFE & MONSTERS OF STEVE JOHNSON and TURA! turn their attention to the people and productions that shaped genre cinema.
Monster Fest also summons a diabolical selection of cult classics back to the big screen with EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC, THE ASTRO-ZOMBIES, NIGHT OF THE DEMONS, SATAN’S CHEERLEADERS, PARASITE 3D, THE DEVIL WITHIN HER and THE FINAL CONFLICT: OMEN III returning to tempt audiences into the dark.
Four dedicated shorts programs plus the gleeful filth of TRASHARAMA, and KYLGOR IN THE GRISLY ABYSS AND OTHER ANIMATED ABOMINATIONS complete the descent.
Closing Night belongs to DRAG, a viciously funny home-invasion film produced by the DeVito family — yes, that DeVito family.
Created by Garreth Gibson of Gibson Graphix, this year’s festival artwork takes its inspiration from our descent into Hell.
