Monster Fest 2023

Overview

October is made for weird, wild and wonderful movies filled with shocks and scares. 'Tis Halloween season, after all. So, the world obliges, including on screens big and small — and, in 2023, via the return of Australia's genre film festival Monster Fest, which is dedicated to flicks of the spooky, dark, twisted, offbeat and out-there variety.

Monster Fest doesn't always pop up in the month when everyone is worshipping pumpkins and thinking about costumes; however, the timing obviously couldn't be more perfect. In Sydney, it's heading to Event Cinemas George Street between Friday, October 27–Sunday, October 29. On the lineup: the latest and greatest in genre filmmaking, spanning horror, sci-fi, comedies with elements of either and all-round unnerving movies.

Standouts titles on the 2023 program include Suitable Flesh, which stars Heather Graham (Extrapolations) as a doctor going mad, takes its inspiration from HP Lovecraft and boasts Joe Lynch (Creepshow) behind the lens; The Last Video Store, a horror-comedy set, yes, in one of the last video stores; and Norwegian flick There's Something in the Barn, about a gnome uprising that plagues an American family (including Party Down's Martin Starr) who've relocated to Scandinavia.

Or, there's also sci-fi comedy Time Addicts, Australian slasher Bloodmoon getting a 4K restoration 33 years after its OG release and Trim Season's nightmarish trip to a weed farm.