The horror is already settling as the first trailer for Monster Fest 2016 has hit the net with an eerie and nostalgic two minutes of tantalizing horror.
The trailer from Monster Pictures co-founder Neil Foley and filmmaker Mark Bakaitis (Cult Girls) was inspired by J. Lee Thompson’s 1966 flick Eye of the Devil, which also happens to be the reason this year’s theme is ritual.
“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 be just one of the films forming the cult cinema sidebar for this years Monster Fest, to be joined by the Australian premiere of Neil Edwards’ documentary Sympathy for the Devil: The True Story of the Process Church of the Final Judgment.
There will also be a special lecture as a part of the festivals Monster Academy, with research fellows Dean Brandum and Andrew Nette taking audiences through a 1965 episode of the Australian crime show Homicide that was partially shot at Montsalvat, which became the location for the Monster Fest 2016 trailer.
This year’s festival will run from November 22-24 in Melbourne and will be accepting submissions until August 12th. Full submission details available at www.monsterfest.com.au with further program details to be released in August.
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