by FilmInk Staff
Monster Fest is proud to announce its 2026 award winners, celebrating the best in Australian and international filmmaking across eight feature and short film categories. The winners were revealed at the festival’s Closing Night celebrations on Saturday 10 October, following its 2–10 October run at Cinema Nova in Melbourne.
This year’s feature awards were selected by a jury of Australian film critics, writers, programmers and scholars Emma Westwood, Simon Foster, Stephen A. Russell and Sally Christie
FEATURE FILMS
The Golden Monster for Best Film is awarded to Melbourne filmmaker Nicky Murphy’s I LOVE PARIS, an ingenious vampire mockumentary whose inventive and wholly original take on fame and influencer culture puts a fresh spin on vampire cinema and earned the jury’s unanimous vote.
Best Australian Feature goes to the wickedly funny slasher THE ONLY ONE, directed by Michael Schwarz and produced by John Schwarz, which opened this year’s festival. The jury praised its clever plot and sharp Australian humour, matched by slick cinematography and impressive practical effects.
David Kittredge’s BOORMAN AND THE DEVIL wins Best Documentary. Utilising remarkable behind-the-scenes footage, historical records and candid interviews to reveal the ambition, chaos and lasting fallout behind John Boorman’s infamous EXORCIST sequel EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC, the documentary makes a compelling case for reassessing this notorious box office bomb.
The unsettling apocalyptic thriller THE GLORIOUS DEAD, written and directed by John Adams and Toby Poser, takes home Best International Feature, with its mounting dread and gruesome creature effects securing the Adams family’s second consecutive Monster Fest award, following MOTHER OF FLIES’ Golden Monster triumph in 2025.
SHORT FILMS
Melbourne filmmaker Rhys Sherring’s COSMOPOLITAN won the Monster Fest Award for Best Short Film, recognising the best short across the Australian and international program.
Fellow Melbourne short PAYBACK PIE, written and directed by Maxine Gatt, received Best Australian Short.
VOX, written and directed by Sean Benton, from Griffith Film School has won Best Student Film.
US filmmaker Rob Himebaugh’s FEED THE DARK received Best International Short Film.
