From international waters, our final programming includes: director Colin Minihan’s satirical eco-horror come survival thriller COYOTES with Justin Long & Kate Bosworth; visionary filmmaker Luc Besson’s take on Bram Stoker’s legendary source with DRACULA: A LOVE TALE, starring Caleb Landry Jones & Christoph Waltz; filmmaking family and Monster Fest alumni John Adams, Zelda Adams & Toby Poser’s folk horror offering MOTHER OF FLIES; director Max Minghella’s satirical body-horror SHELL, with Elisabeth Moss, Kate Hudson and Elizabeth Berkley; the unsettling and unflinchingly brutal DISFORIA, directed by Christopher Cartagena; filmmakers Lauris & Raitis Ābele’s perversely animated and disturbingly delightful DOG OF GOD; Emilio Portes’ hallucinatory and haunting children-in-peril fable DON’T LEAVE THE KIDS ALONE and Monster Fest award-winner David Gregory’s latest documentary THEATRE OF HORRORS: THE SORDID STORY OF PARIS’ GRAND GUIGNOL.

From local shores, our final programming features the world premieres of three films by Monster Fest alumni, including Michael Anthony Kratochvil’s masterfully crafted and deeply engaging documentary LAKE MUNGO REVISITED, Jasmine Jakupi & Addison Heath’s sinister and sensual urban vampire outing HAUNTED & DEVOTED and Clint Cure’s biting meta comedy-horror DRACULA REVAMPED.

Batten down the hatches and brace for impact as two classic nautical nasties leap from sea to screen with Barbara Peeters’ HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP (aka MONSTER, 1980) and Stephen Traxler’s SLITHIS (aka SPAWN OF SLITHIS, 1978), tying in with the theme of our 2025 festival artwork.

Rounding out our feature programming is a Monster Presents preview screening of Daniel J. Phillips’ cabin-in-the-woods demonic horror DIABOLIC.

As always, we’re showcasing the art of short-form storytelling with five dedicated Short Film Programmes: Bloody Funny Shorts, Nightmare Fuel Shorts, Sinister Visions Shorts, Fresh Cuts – Student Shorts and Dick Dale’s TRASHARAMA.

Calling all gorehounds and genre junkies — think you know your Argento from your Aster? Your slashers from your splatter? It’s time to put your knowledge to the test at Monster Fest Horror Movie Trivia, presented by the Melbourne Horror Film Society and with a treasure trove of prizes to be won.

Finally, we are excited to reveal that our Monster Fest Closing Night Awards & After Party will be a free event and held in partnership with SOMA and GRINDHEAD PRODUCTIONS at BAD DECISIONS in Fitzroy, with live entertainment throughout the night until morning tide.

The aforementioned programming and events join our already announced features: DEATHGASM II: GOREMAGEDDON, DEATHSTALKER, JIMMY AND STIGGS, BONE LAKE, PSYCHO THERAPY: THE SHALLOW TALE OF A WRITER WHO DECIDED TO WRITE ABOUT A SERIAL KILLER, TEST SCREENING, ROTTEN, RESIDENCE and FREAKED [4K RESTORATION].

For programming, sessions and ticketing, visit: monsterfest.com.au/australia

Monster Fest 2025 would not be possible without the support of our festival sponsors: Via Vision Entertainment / Imprint Films, Beserk, Lexlab, Roar Digital, Bad Decisions, Moon Dog Brewing, Too Far Gone & Jorr.

The MURDER CITY CARNIVALE OF CINEMA is a three-day film festival that will invade three cinemas across Adelaide for a program of shorts and features from local and abroad.

FRIDAY 7 FEBRUARY

8:30PM | Palace Nova Cinema
I SHOULD HAVE BEEN DEAD YEARS AGO
Dir. Jason Summers | 101 Minutes

Exploring the life, music and artistic output of Stuart Gray, the notorious underground rocker who created the most psychotronic group to emerge from Australia: the legendary Lubricated Goat.

SATURDAY 8 FEBRUARY

4PM | Mercury Cinema
AN AMERICAN MASQUERADE
Dir. Addison Heath & Jasmine Jakupi | 102 Minutes | w/ Q&A

Two failed actors agree to transport a large amount of drugs from Portland to L.A. in order to fund their Hollywood dream. Along the way they meet a wild array of criminals, perverts and porn stars as they attempt to secure their own version of the ‘American Dream’.

7PM | Mercury Cinema
TRASHARAMA – LIVE ON STAGE
Short Film Program & Live Show | 120 Minutes

The TRASHARAMA LIVE on stage show is back! Fourteen sick and twisted short films from all over this wretched planet. Sourced by the Marco Polo of filth, your host, Dick Dale. Special guests and the Toilet Rock House band, The Raw Spud Ensemble. Schlock horror, video nasties, fake trailers, film clips, animations and more!! There will be prizes and the bar is open. You’ll need it!

9:30PM | Mercury Cinema
PERVIRELLA DELUX
Dir. Alex Chandon | 92 Minutes

The grotesque, power-mad Queen Victoria builds a wall around the country and establishes a monarchy of terror; intellectuals and “pervs” are prosecuted and killed, or driven underground to form the ‘cult of perv’. PERVIRELLA DELUX is remastered redux of the original 1997 cult classic with enhanced picture and audio.

SUNDAY 9 FEBRUARY

4PM | Piccadilly Cinema
NIGHTFALL: A PARANORMAL INVESTIGATION
Dir. Myles McEwen & Ripley Stevens | 80 Mins | w/ Q&A

June 6th, 1988, 6pm. Two young paranormal Investigators return to Elizabeth Blair’s home. This is Case 13. A chilling locally made South Australian Found Footage thriller.

7PM | Piccadilly Cinema
DICK DYNAMITE 1944
Dir. Robbie Davidson | 93 Minutes

In the dying days of World War II, Nazi scientists hatch a desperate plan to turn the population of New York into flesh-eating zombies. The only man who can stop them is DICK DYNAMITE: killing is his business and in ’44 business is good.

VIP, Daily & Session Tickets are available and for more information visit the official site.

1. THE NEVERENDING STORY
4K UHD/Blu-ray Limited Edition
Imprint Films

Via Vision Entertainment through their Imprint Films line, have released not only the definitive physical release of director Wolfgang Peterson’s timeless 1984 classic but also hands down the best home entertainment release of 2024, with THE NEVERENDING STORY – 40TH ANNIVERSARY LIMITED EDITION.

Featuring both the 94 Minute US Theatrical Cut and 104 Minute German Extended Cut on 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray, with the Theatrical Cut having been recently, exclusively and stunningly restored by Imprint.

In addition to both presentations of the film, the release is loaded with newly commissioned and extensive legacy Special Features including the 2024 feature-length documentary, LIFE AFTER THE NEVERENDING STORY.

Atop of the aforementioned content, the release comes housed in a replica of the storybook from the film, accompanied by a vast array of promotional materials including full-size reproductions of the Original US Theatrical Poster, Original 1984 Press Kit, Lobby Cards and Production Stills.

Limited to 2500 units, our advice is snag one now before it’s out-of-print and going for obscene amounts of money on the after-market or suffer the reality of ‘The Nothing’ and suffer fomo forever more.

2. TRICK OR TREAT
4K UHD/Blu-ray/CD Limited Edition
Red Shirt Home Video

Quite possibly the most anticipated physical media release for horror and metal fans alike, finally made its way to 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray this year, director Charles Martin Smith’s 1986 opus, TRICK OR TREAT, and it was well worth the wait.

The inaugural release from Red Shirt Home Video in collaboration with Synapse Films, TRICK OR TREAT, not only debuts in its Original Aspect Ratio (1.85:1) on physical media but comes lovingly restored from the Original Camera Negative in 4K with Dolby Vision and it looks nothing sort of magnificent.

Red Shirt, who have been in the business of producing Special Feature content for all number of labels for decades now under the banner of Red Shirt Pictures, have gone into overdrive with the added content of this release. With multiple Audio Commentary tracks and Featurettes among the mix, the crown jewel in TRICK OR TREAT’s studded belt of a release is the newly-produced and welcomingly exhaustive feature-length documentary, ROCK & SHOCK: THE MAKING OF TRICK OR TREAT.

Unfortunately the Limited Edition release of TRICK OR TREAT is already out-of-print, limited to just 6666 units across three artwork variants, the Limited Edition contained the film on both 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray, CD Soundtrack, double-sided fold-out Poster, mini-replica Lobby Cards and 60 Page Booklet with essays by Michael Gingold, Samm Deighan and Michael Felsher.

The good news is that Red Shirt Home Video and Synapse Films have already announced a Standard Version of the release for both 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray, due to drop in March 2025 and while it won’t come with all the swag of the Limited Edition, it will contain all of the same on-disc content and for a limited time will come with a Slipcover with the film’s original US theatrical key artwork.

3. CALIGULA
4K UHD/Blu-ray Limited Edition
Umbrella Entertainment

Umbrella Entertainment delivered what could easily be described as the definitive release of Gore Vidal… ahem… Tinto Brass…ahem… Bob Guccione…ahem… Thomson Negovan’s CALIGULA with ABSOLUTE POWER – CALIGUILA: THE ULTIMATE CUT COLLECTOR’S EDITION.

With no less than five cuts of the film including the all-new The Ultimate Cut in 4K along with the (once and several times in fact, refused classification original) Uncensored Cut (in 1080p), Umbrella’s release not only compiles every imaginable way to view the film in its various cuts but does an incredible job of assembling newly commissioned and legacy Special Features.

Among the hours of archival extras including Deleted Scenes and Documentaries, there is a new feature-length Audio Commentary track with film historian Heather Drain and an extensive video essay on the production history through various cuts of the film titled The Rise, Fall & Resurrection of Caligula by Monster’s own Jarret Gahan, along with recent interview featurettes and festival Q&As with key talent from the premieres of CALIGULA: THE ULTIMATE CUT across the globe.

Now while all of the aforementioned cuts and content are available in the Standard Edition, where Umbrella’s Collector’s Edition truly excels, in a similar way to the very film itself, is in its sheer and unabashed excess.

Housed in a Rigid Case, there’s a 200 Page Hardback Book (with essays, interviews and artwork), a 200 Page Book with two Gore Vidal screenplays and the novelisation, a partial mini-reprint of a Special Penthouse issue on CALIGULA, Poster Cards and two reversible posters with key art.

This is about as definitive a release of a film, particularly one of CALIGULA’s nature and history, as you could ever expect and the good news is that Umbrella have recently popped all remaining stock of this Collector’s Edition in their web-store. If you’ve been on the fence about this one, the time to buy is now or suffer a fate worse than being on the clean-up crew of the Imperial Bordello, post-orgy.

Honourable mentions go out to THE FLESH AND BLOOD SHOW – THE HORROR FILMS OF PETE WALKER (88 Films), OPERA – LIMITED EDITION (Severin Films), THE HITCHER (Second Sight Films) and MUTE WITNESS (Arrow Video).

We’ve been a privy to some of the releases that our Aussie-based boutique powerhouses have lined up for 2025 and it’s already looking to be an incomparable year for titles and editions.

Death to Videodrome. Long live Physical Media.

Capped at 1000 units, ViaVision’s WOLF CREEK: ULTIMATE LIMITED EDITION is a two-disc Blu-ray set, housed in a 3D Lenticular Hardcase, individually numbered and features 6 glossy art cards with production stills from the film.

The set includes both the original theatrical cut of the film and the ‘Uncut’ version also.

This ‘Uncut’ version features two additional scenes though neither of particular merit. One of Kristy sneaking out of Ben’s room and the other of Liz exploring Mick’s lair and happening upon the remains of some of his previous victims.

The only other differences are two alternate shots that are slightly grizzlier and onscreen a little longer than the ones used in the theatrical cut.

Transfers of both cuts are existing masters and more than suffice until a potential 4K Ultra HD release down the track. Note that while the theatrical cut has a DTS-HD 5.1 audio track the ‘Uncut’ version only has LPCM 2.0 Stereo.

In terms of Special Feature content, this release does a great job of compiling all of the legacy content that was featured on Roadshow’s previous three- disc DVD release.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Audio Commentary
with writer/director/producer Greg McLean, co-producer Matt Hearn
and stars Cassandra Magrath and Kestie Morassi
• The Making Of Wolf Creek
• Deleted Scenes
• Meet Mick Taylor: An Interview with John Jarratt
• Photo Gallery
• Broken & Twisted Music Clip by Auxillary One
• Storyboard & Production Sketch Montage
• Theatrical Trailers

My only compliant for this release is the absence of any newly commissioned content like even a retrospective interview with filmmaker Greg McLean.

Now if you’re keen on acquiring a copy, your time to act is now as while ViaVision Entertainment are completely sold out, there is stock available at JB Hi-Fi.

If you don’t care for the fancy packaging and art cards, the good news is that ViaVision are releasing a Standard Version of the release on July 5.

Special Features

Theatrical & Uncut Versions of WOLF CREEK
Audio Commentary with Greg McLean, Matt Hearn, Cassandra Magrath & Kestie Morassi
The Making Of WOLF CREEK
Deleted Scenes
Meet Mick Taylor: An Interview with John Jarratt
Photo Gallery
Broken & Twisted Music Clip by Auxillary One
Storyboard & Production Sketch Montage
Theatrical Trailers

Pre-order Now for its July 5 release

If you like what you heard from midway through the tailend of our Teaser, the score to the gore, that’s Melbourne’s very own DENTAL PLAN with their driller killer jam Hole in Me.

The track shows the heavier side of the band and is accompanied by a video directed by Scott Marrinan featuring an evil dentist played by actor/comedian Ben Russell (AUNTY DONNA).

The band previously released the 3 Track S/T EP in 2018 and in 2019 Orchid/Broken Things with the help of Alicia from Sub Pop indie rockers Bully. A debut album is planned for early next year.

You can stream the track via Spotify and download via BandCamp. Check out DENTAL PLAN on Facebook and Instagram.

Behold our 2021 programming line-up…

Opening Monster Fest 2021, RESIDENT EVIL: WELCOME TO RACCOON CITY, directed by Monster Fest Alumni Johannes Roberts (THE STRANGERS – PREY AT NIGHT, 47 METRES DOWN) and starring Kaya Scodelario (CRAWL) and Robbie Amell (THE BABYSITTER), this instalment returns to the very roots of the RESIDENT EVIL franchise.
With equal lashings of laughs and gore, Danishka Esterhazy‘s satirical slasher SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE can join a short list of films that includes THE BLOB (1988), HOUSE ON HAUNTED HIL (1999) and MANIAC (2012) as rare reimaginings that genuinely work and arguably eclipse their original source.

Devon Sawa (IDLE HANDS), Michael Jae White (DRAGGED ACROSS CONCRETE) and genre legend Bruce Campbell (EVIL DEAD) lead a motley crew of embattled retail employees who must rise against bloodthirsty bargain-hunters in Casey Tebo’s BLACK FRIDAY.

Kiah Roache-Turner & Tristan Roache-Turner‘s highly anticipated follow up to 2014’s WYRMWOOD, WYRMWOOD APOCALYPSE follows Rhys (Luke McKenzie, WENTWORTH), a soldier who in a dystopic zombie-infested Australia, has dedicated his life to tracking and capturing survivors for the Surgeon General in hopes of finding a cure.
As if puberty weren’t enough, imagine discovering at such a formative age that you’re also a witch, such is the case for Izzy (Zelda Adams), in the Fantasia Film Festival award-winner, HELLBENDER, the latest work from the auteur family of filmmakers John Adams, Zelda Adams & Toby Poser.

From Oscar-winning visual effects artist and filmmaker Phil Tippett, comes his highly anticipated masterwork MAD GOD, an experimental stop-motion extravaganza set in a Milton-esque world of monsters, mad scientists, and war pigs.

Every year we attempt to program at least one film in which the violence, gore and obscenity is that visceral and extreme that it may give even the most seasoned Monster Fest patron pause. This year, that film is THE SADNESS, fresh from its Fantastic Fest win for ‘Best Horror Film’, Rob Jabbaz‘s debut feature sees a nation fall as a rampant plague turns it citizens into depraved, unconscionable and ruthless sadists.
What do you get when you cross two New York City hipsters, a surprisingly affordable apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side and Jeffrey Epstein’s ghost? Dasha Nekrasov‘s Berlinale award–winning THE SCARY OF SIXTY-FIRST, a giallo-infused and conspiracy-fuelled pitch-black comedy.

NOVA STAR is the long-awaited and highly anticipated fifth feature from Monster Fest alumni Daniel Armstrong (TARNATION), an intergalactic comedy that sees Mack, a space janitor, tasked with saving the universe from Kill-Bots, Space Pirates, Bounty Hunters and an evil Space Queen who plans to flush the entire cosmos out of reality through a black hole.

Passion, hope and destiny collide when two men from opposite sides of the world work together to bring Wakaliwood’s unique blend of action and comedy not only to screens throughout Africa but to the wider world in Cathryne Czubek & Hugo Perez‘s crowd-pleasing documentary ONCE UPON A TIME IN UGANDA.
Filmmakers Sarah Appleton & Phillip Escott explore the origins, impact and legacy of a sub-genre of cinema that despite its popularity and strong box office, rarely gets it due, in the gripping documentary THE FOUND FOOTAGE PHENOMENON.

BAFTA-winner Paul Andrew Williams‘ BULL is a brutal, subversive and wickedly suspenseful story of a wronged man (Neil Maskell, KILL LIST) who returns home after a decade-long absence to seek revenge on those who double-crossed him and left him for dead.

Following on from sold-out screenings at TIFF, Fantastic Fest and Beyond Fest, Ruth Paxton‘s A BANQUET is an unsettling, thought-provoking and hyper-tense psychological thriller about mother attempting to cope with a sudden and terrifying change in her daughter’s behaviour.

OFFSEASON is the latest offering from prolific genre filmmaker Mickey Keating (DARLING), that follows Marie (Jocelin Donahue, DOCTOR SLEEP) who ventures to a remote island to see to some family business but soon realises that may never be able to leave.
Australia has had many entries in the found footage sub-genre but to date none have equaled the sheer scale and genuine scare of 2011’s critically acclaimed THE TUNNEL. Now ten years on, go behind-the-scenes of the film that helped redefine a sub-genre globally and discover not only how the film was made but the impact its had since its release in THE TUNNEL: THE OTHER SIDE OF DARKNESS.

When two cocky door-to-door salesman happen to call upon the wrong household, what ensues is an escalation dark comedy of the highest order in director Josh Wallace‘s KEEPING COMPANY.

Filmmakers Samuel Gonzalez Jr. & Bridget Smith‘s THE RETALIATORS craft a refreshingly original and unsparingly brutal tale of a pastor on the hunt to find his daughter’s murderers but will his faith in God prevent him from extracting the revenge he rightly deserves.
Horny jocks, battle-hardened nerds and hot milfy mums abound in Pierce Berolzheimer‘s CRABS, a loving ode to the OTT eco-horror movies of the 70s and 80s.

Kevin Kopacka‘s DAWN BREAKS BEHIND THE EYES is an experimental horror with the gothic chills of Mario Bava and the visceral excess of Lucio Fulci that sees a couple inherit a rundown castle from which they find time and reality shift around them.

Twists and tension collide in writer/director Christopher Donaldson‘s DITCHED, that finds an ambulance crew besieged by a mysterious and malicious presence in the woods.

Adam Stilwell‘s sophomore feature, THE FREE FALL, is psychological horror that follows Sara (Andrea Londo, NARCOS) who wakes from a coma to a life she doesn’t remember and perhaps is best not to.

Following a robbery, an expectant mother searches for her family’s stolen dog but soon finds her hunt leading to the seedy and dangerous underworld of illegal dog fighting, in Samuel Galloway‘s MUTT.

THE DUNES is a psychological thriller from writer/director Martin Copping about a journalist who returns to his hometown to investigate a disappearance but encounters a mysterious figure who threatens his very own existence.

Josh Conn‘s survival thriller CROW VALLEY follows Benny, who after suffering from a hit and run, wakes to find himself in a cabin with a woman whose grip on reality and edge of sanity is slowly slipping away.

They say you can’t go home again and for Lily she will soon wish she hadn’t. Filmmakers Paul Anthony Nelson & Perri Cummings‘ APPARITIONS is a multi-layered suspense horror that explores fear, family and identity.
Zeke Dixon-Kitt‘s debut feature THE LONESOME ROOM is a single-location thriller that follows an author suffering writer’s block who finds herself trapped in a scenario not too dissimilar to one from her novels.

If there were any good to come out of Melbourne’s seemingly never-ending lockdowns, it may just be that it afforded the time to search, discover and assemble Cameron McCulloch‘s thought-to-be-lost debut feature, SCAM. Shot in the early 2000s, this loving ode to and entry in a bygone era of crime capers centres around Kim (Kesti Morassi, WOLF CREEK), a small-time scam artist looking to level up in the underworld, which is unfortunately run by her disapproving father.

We dare you to experience producer Andy Warhol & director Paul Morrissey‘s BLOOD FOR DRACULA & FLESH FRANKENSTEIN as a Double Feature on the big screen with all-new 4K Restorations from their original camera negatives.

In honour of its 10th Anniversary, we are pleased to host a celebratory screening of the Australian found footage classic THE TUNNEL, that finds a tv crew on the hunt for a story that quickly becomes clear is hunting for them.

Alright you Tapeheads, listen up! Monster Fest is pleased to premiere VIDEO HOARDERS SEASON 3 in its entirety, all five episodes back-to-back up on the big screen. Series creator and host Rob Taylor is headed north…North America, Canada in fact, as he raids the VHS stashes of some serious Canuck collectors and gives us an inside look at their convention scene too.

When we think of our canine companions as seen in cinema, we are instantly reminded of loving and loyal best pals however in the horror film, dogs serve a very different purpose. Film critic and author Lee Gambin will take you on a walk through the history of Dog-Horror cinema with his lecture THEY’RE NOT PETS ANYMORE: DOGS IN THE HORROR FILM.

Following on from Lee Gambin’s fascinating talk, Monster Fest is beyond excited to showcase three of the finest examples of Dog-Horror ever made with our DOGSPLOITATION MARATHON. The films themselves are, at present, a closely guarded secret but suffice to say there will be enough gnashing of teeth, slobbering jaws and high-pitched barks to satisfy all comers. And if that’s not enough, intersperse between the screenings will be a little thing we like to call MONSTER FEST TRIVIA.

FROM SHORT TO FEATURE: THE CREATIVE JOURNEY OF BUTTON MAN presents not only the Australian Premiere of the BUTTON MAN Short but will also be a Filmmaker Q&A and Panel session to discuss the journey of the film so far and the next steps the filmmaking team will take to get the feature to market.

As always we are thrilled to bring you the very best Short Films from around the world. With one Short playing prior to all Feature programming and two dedicated sessions of Shorts this year: MONSTER FEST SHORTS & MONSTER FEST STUDENT SHORTS.

And no Monster Fest would be without Dick Dale’s TRASHARAMA. Bursting at the seams with gross-out horror, bad taste comedies, sick n’ twisted animations, science-fiction scat and other genres not even invented yet, Trasharama is Monster Fest tradition and not to be missed. Trash ain’t trash when it’s in Trasharama!

Finally we have a SURPRISE SESSION. We’ve been working furiously behind the scenes to bring you a super special addition to this years’ program. Take a leap of faith and grab a ticket now or wait until all is revealed, either way we guarantee it’ll be worth it.