Australia’s premier genre film festival invites you to join their sinister congregation with the high concept trailer made for this year’s festival, which runs from November 22-24 in Melbourne, Australia.
Jointly directed by Monster Pictures co-founder Neil Foley and filmmaker Mark Bakaitis (CULT GIRLS), the trailer was inspired by J. Lee Thompson’s 1966 EYE OF THE DEVIL, a pre-WICKER MAN folk horror starring David Niven, Deborah Kerr, Donald Pleasence, David Hemmings and – in her first role – Sharon Tate.
“EYE OF THE DEVIL celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, and our discussions around it became the backbone of this year’s theme of ‘ritual’” says Festival Director Kier-La Janisse, “so it seemed an obvious starting point for the concept trailer. Guillermo del Toro was recently quoted in an article about the Fantasia Film Festival likening genre festivals to a spiritual gathering, and to many of the core Monster Fest fans, it really is a unique environment in which their strange tastes and arcane knowledge are validated and celebrated.”
EYE OF THE DEVIL will form part of a special sidebar on “cult cinema” which will include the Australian premiere of Neil Edwards’ acclaimed documentary SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL: THE TRUE STORY OF THE PROCESS CHURCH OF THE FINAL JUDGEMENT, an all-night top secret repertory marathon of films featuring a diverse array of cults from folk horror to Jonestown, and a special lecture presented by Monster’s educational component ‘Monster Academy’ with research fellows Dean Brandum and Andrew Nette that is focused on a 1965 episode of the Australian crime show HOMICIDE that was partially shot at Montsalvat – the famed Australian artist colony which also became the stunning location for the Monster Fest 2016 trailer.
Monster Fest still has one final deadline for submissions approaching on August 12th. Full submission details available at www.monsterfest.com.au.
Stay tuned for additional programming announcements to be revealed in August 2016.
