Monster Fest 2013

Overview

Schlock, shock and devils, Monster Fest has it all. Organised by cult film distribution company Monster Pictures in conjunction with Cinema Nova, the festival, now in its third year, aims once again to shine a light on the most extreme, absurd and flat-out frightening horror flicks from Australia and beyond.

With over 30 screenings, almost all of them Australian premieres, the 2013 program is the festival’s most impressive yet. Big titles include a 3D Dracula adaptation from Italian giallo master Dario Argento, a quintet of Japanese splatter films and a Los Angeles set creature feature about a big-ass spider titled, appropriately enough, Big Ass Spider!

Opening night will showcase the new film by Melburnian director Daniel Armstrong, a roller-derby slasher pic called Murderdrome. Other highlights in the Australian section, christened Terror Australis, include porn-biz documentary The Last Days of Joe Blow from Melbourne Underground Film Festival founder Richard Wolstencroft, as well as the grand final of the inaugural Monster Micro-Nasties competition, wherein six budding filmmakers each pitch their version of a cannibal movie to a cinema full of genre-nuts.

Rounding out the program are a selection of special events, including a VHS swap meet, a live Q&A with Linda Blair aka Regan from The Exorcist, plus a midnight ‘til dawn marathon screening of the first six Nightmare on Elm Street movies, collectively billed as A Nightmare on Lygon St.

For tickets and the full Monster Fest program, see the festival website.