Foley knows his genre films as his distribution company Monster Pictures, specialises in horror genre and cult cinema. Over 40 screening sessions will offer Melbourne the highest calibre movies he can find. “Monster Fest shows the best titles we’ve come across throughout the year,” explains Foley. “The opening film is the Aussie flick Murderdrome, a fantastic slasher film set in the world of roller derby. There’s a music element, it’s rock and roll, it’s up-tempo and hyper-coloured with a good quota of gore.” Does Foley have any personal favourites? “The Stuart Simpson film, Chocolate, Strawberry, Vanilla is interesting, a dark and twisted comedy with pitch black humour,” he notes. “The Battery is set on the cusp of the zombie apocalypse, it’s a buddy comedy set in the backwaters of New England where the world has collapsed into zombie chaos. It’s independently spirited, sophisticated, well-conceived, well-written and well-performed.”
Are there any trends Foley can identity in the world of independent film making? “Highlighting trends is sort of the spirit of the festival for us,” he answers. “There’s a move to making independent productions in genre, being separate from the Hollywood studio model of big blockbusters; there’s an underbelly, an undercurrent of independent film making in horror and cult cinema. You see a strong wave of sophisticated interesting films from all over the world. Fantastic films: genre, sci-fi, cult, all those kinds of films exploiting the various means of the medium. Genre films are often a financially successful way of making a film: they’re getting sold internationally and have become more popular in recent years. They’re becoming a general trend around the world.”
Like any film festival, Monster Fest has got to offer genre aficionados something they can’t access for themselves on YouTube. “Monster Fest is jam-packed,” Foley notes. “It’s not only an opportunity to see really fantastic independent cinema.” There’s a mystery film screening and an all-night marathon of all six of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. There’s a film by John Cassavetes’s daughter Xan called Kiss of the Damned, an erotic vampire tale. As well, this year also sees Monster Fest in partnership with Hobart’s ‘Stranger With My Face’ Film Festival presenting a sidebar program focusing on the role of women in horror. “We want the perspective of female film makers,” Foley adds. The extraordinary Canadian author of The House of Psychotic Women, Kier-La Janisse will present a series of lectures. One of Australia’s most important genre filmmakers, Jon Hewitt (Acolytes, X), will present the Open Channel Framed Session: Marketing, Funding & Monsterising The Future. A VHS swap meet is a new element of the programme. Some animated films feature in the short film programs. Along with these and amongst other programs there’s the Fantastic Asia Film Festival featuring four Japanese films.
How does the local product stand up next to international efforts? “We have a spotlight on new Australian films – Terror Australis,” says Foley. “With the world premieres of eight new Australian genre films, including films by Daniel Armstrong, Stuart Simpson, Sam Barrett, and Richard Wolstencroft. They stand up well. There’s a wave of new independent Australian genre films at the moment. More film makers are looking at genre, there’s a viable market for it.”
What catches Foley’s eye? “Interesting, innovative, creative films that work as stories, that have the x-factor in them. Good performances. Films that are well made, well put-together. The most interesting films are being made today. Films come from all sorts of quarters, often made with little resources. There’s a general democratising of film production with digital technology available. Quite good films are being made on fairly low budgets now.”
“Getting the word out there is the biggest challenge,” Foley says, of presenting Monster Fest. “And making sure people know about it.” Finding the films offers its own challenges in terms of selecting what to screen. “So far we’ve been handpicking the films but in the future we will consider calling for submissions. We haven’t had to yet.“
BY LIZA DEZFOULI
