Monster Fest 2018

Overview

What starts with Dragged Across Concrete, a Vince Vaughn and Mel Gibson-starring gritty crime flick from the director of Bone Tomahawk? And then ends with Lords of Chaos, a blood-splattered comedy-horror effort set in the Norwegian death metal scene? That'd be Monster Fest, Melbourne's annual genre film festival. It's bringing plenty of dark delights to Cinema Nova once again, this time across Thursday, November 22 to Sunday, November 25.

While Monster Fest boasts a solid lineup of new movies, a few blasts from the past rank among the event's highlights — including glorious 4K restorations of John Carpenter's Escape from New York and The Fog. On the events front, if you love the Halloween filmmaker so much that you're definitely going to revisit his two iconic films, then you can also play a round of John Carpen-trivia.

Elsewhere, you can step into Australian cinema history with Bad Boy Bubby, worship at the altar of Bruce Campbell with Evil Dead 2 or get nostalgic with The Monster Squad. If you're a fan of the latter, then documentary Wolfman's Got Nards will take you through the film's cult appeal.

Lars von Trier's highly controversial The House That Jack Built will also hit Monster Fest's big screen, and so will a webcam-focused horror flick appropriately called Cam. And, in a brief stint over at the Lido, you can stay up all night for an unnerving movie marathon. That's what genre film fests are all about, right?