News / 26 February 2020

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2 Documentary Among Genre Flicks At MQFF 2020!

MELBOURNE QUEER FILM FESTIVAL (MQFF) returns this March 12th to 23rd at Cinema Nova, The Capitol Theatre & Village Cinemas Jam Factory and with it comes a fresh batch of genre programming from around the world, from the Gay GET OUT to a documentary centred on A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2: FREDDY’S REVENGE star Mark Patton.

SPIRAL
Dir. Kurtis David Harder | 2019 | Canada
It’s the 1990s, and Aaron (Ari Cohen) and Malik (Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman) move from the big city with their teenage daughter so they can enjoy the quieter, small town life. The locals are a bit surprised by the arrival of this ‘unconventional’ family, but they give them a warm welcome nonetheless. Then a disturbing run-in with an elderly neighbour leaves Malik shaken. It doesn’t take long for him to suspect that the neighbours are hiding a terrifying – and deadly – secret.

SCREAM QUEEN! MY NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET
Dir. Roman Chimienti | 2019 | USA
Relive your teen slumber parties with this eye- opening doco about Mark Patton, horror’s first male scream queen and star of A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge. The film that was set to launch Patton’s career instead turned out to be a real-life nightmare – and the monster in the room was his sexuality. Scream, Queen! deftly explores Freddy 2’s overt gay subtext and the hurt it caused Patton and the queer community. Add to this Patton’s Broadway career, Cher, 80s Hollywood and the AIDS epidemic and you get a thrilling slice of queer history and compulsory viewing for all horror fans!

CARMILLA
Dir. Emily Harris | 2019 | UK
Director Emily Harris’ sensual debut feature is an atmospheric take on the famous lesbian vampire novel of the same name, focusing more on its dark coming-of-age love story, steeped in mystery and illicit desires. 15-year-old Lara lives in relative isolation with her father and strict governess, Miss Fontaine. A carriage crash nearby brings a young girl into the family home to recuperate, the eponymous Carmilla. The pair embark on a passionate relationship, which strikes fear into the heart of Miss Fontaine and a complex emotional triangle emerges between the three women. Swirling around this forbidden romance are local rumors of an evil supernatural presence which fuel Miss Fontaine’s concern for Lara’s well-being and raise questions about the mysterious Carmilla.

LIZZIE
Dir. Craig William MacNeill | 2017 | USA
The infamous turn of the century murder case is given a queer and feminist update in this riveting and charged psychological thriller.
Chloë Sevigny stars as the accused murderer Lizzie Borden, a woman accused of cold- bloodedly slaughtering her father and stepmother with an axe. What this new version of the story speculates on is the complicity of the housemaid Maggie, played here by Kristen Stewart. The blossoming friendship and subsequent romance between the two women becomes the catalysts for Borden fighting back against her abusive father, indifferent step-mother and in general the repressive roles women of the time found themselves trapped by. Featuring stellar performances from Sevigny and Stewart, Lizzie is a dark and compelling fable of repression, desire and bloody rebellion.

THE GROUND BENEATH MY FEET
Dir. Marie Kreutzer | 2019 | Austria
Lola is a jet-setting business consultant who excels at the aggressive tactics and nonstop work her job requires. She travels back and forth from Vienna, where her tasteful apartment serves more as mailbox and laundromat than home. She manages her personal life with the same ruthless efficiency she uses to optimise profit margins, keeping her relationship with her boss Elise secret, as well as the existence of her older sister Conny, who has a long history of mental illness. But when she receives the news that Conny has attempted suicide, Lola’s secrets threaten to explode into the open. Centered by a riveting performance from Valerie Pachner, The Ground Beneath My Feet is a tense and powerful psychological thriller about the human cost of the modern world.

BIT (Closing Night Film)
Dir. Brad Michael Elmore | 2019 | USA
First things first, Bit is the queer answer to The Lost Boys we have all been waiting for and so much more. Lauren (played by Nicole Maines from TV’s Supergirl) is your typical 18-year-old, restless, bored and looking to escape her life at home. When an opportunity to join her brother in LA comes up, Lauren jumps at the chance. Not long in the City of Angels Lauren is lured into the pose of a cliquey gang of queer feminist vampires, led by the charismatic Duke (Diana Hopper), who are hellbent on ridding LA of ‘problematic’ men. Their only rule for joining this gnarly gang of women is – ‘No. Fucking.Boys! A rule you break at your own peril as we discover in the bloody opening scene. This sharp, fun and wickedly subversive take on the vampire genre has a lot to love, most of all the casting of transgender actor Nicole Maines, who’s role is a great step forward in representation.

MQFF runs from March 12th to 23rd and you grab tickets now from the festival’s official site here.