There are surprises aplenty – including six brand new Australian feature films, most of which will be enjoying their World Premieres at the festival.
Opening Night will showcase Aussie horror director Chris Sun’s Boar – his second Monster Fest opening film since Charlie’s Farm in 2014. A film about a giant, brutal, blood-crazed pig inspired by ’80s classic Razorback, Boar stars Mad Max: Fury Road’s Nathan Jones, House Of 1000 Corpses’ Bill Moseley, Wolf Creek’s John Jarratt, Ernie Dingo, Chris Haywood, Simone Buchanan, Melissa Tkautz, Steve Bisley and Roger Ward.
Other Aussie features include Melbourne-made zombie epic The Last Hope, genre stalwart Daniel Armstrong’s bloody and brutal Tarnation, Melbourne-based director Donna McRea’s Monster Fest debut Lost Gully Road, Addison Heath’s Japanese-shot and set The Viper’s Hex and wonderfully warped YouTube sensation (and creator of Damo & Darren) Michael Cusack’s live-action comedy All Night Gaming.
Adelaide’s punk cinema icon Dick Dale’s much-loved short film trash feast, Trasharama, returns – with both all-new international “trash gems” and a “best-of” program, entitled Trasharama: 20 Years of Hell.
Recently completed via a crowd funding campaign, the first four episodes of Monster Fest veteran Stu Simpson’s action/comedy web-series Dragon Force X shall be presented on the Monster Fest screen with a Q&A session from the creators. Included in the launch will be the Australian premiere of Canadian crowd-funded sensation, Another Wolfcop (starring pop culture icon Kevin Smith), with producer J Joly on hand to fill audiences in on all things crowd funding.
Finally – but by no means, the least – comes the announcement of Closing Night film, Revenge, by French newcomer Coralie Fargeat. A tale of intense vengeance with a decidedly feminist twist that left audiences at the recent Toronto International Film Festival aghast, the film will close the festival on an unforgettably powerful note.
With locally produced short films accompanying each session, this is sure to be a truly Aussie-flavoured chunk of filmmaking prowess.
