This year’s WEEKENDER line-up is guaranteed to slice and dice its way through Monster Fest audiences’ skin with a combination of heavy hitters and deep cuts, all classics and all celebrating milestone anniversaries with some even making their Australian big screen debuts.
With A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, filmmaker Wes Craven crafted a horror film that not only launched a long-running franchise and established its production company, New Line Pictures, as a studio but also gave rise to one of the genre’s most iconic villains. For its 40th Anniversary, Monster Fest invites you to experience the cinematic birth of Freddy Krueger with Craven’s seminal slasher back on the big screen at Weekender.
After years of being shut out from the franchise he had created, both financially and creatively, filmmaker Wes Craven finally returned to the A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET series in 1994. WES CRAVEN’S NEW NIGHTMARE not only saw Craven reprise his role as writer and director but also star as himself in what could be described as the first truly meta horror film. Witness the reinvention of Freddy Krueger at Monster Fest’s 30th Anniversary Screening of this vastly underrated entry in the beloved franchise.
Loosely based off the life and crimes of Ed Gein and featuring the work of makeup effects maestro Tom Savini, Monster Fest is proud to present filmmakers Jeff Gillen & Alan Ormsby‘s DERANGED for its 50th Anniversary, complete and uncut, for the very first-time on Australian cinema screens.
Following the breakout success of his 1981 indie slasher THE PROWLER (aka ROSEMARY’S KILLER), Joseph Zito made his studio directorial debut with what was to be the final foray in film for Jason Voorhees, FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE FINAL CHAPTER. Monster Fest celebrates the 40th Anniversary of not only one of the franchise’s best instalments but also one that heralded the return of makeup effects extraordinaire Tom Savini, Crispin ‘Dead F*ck’ Glover dancing like no other and a baby-faced Corey ‘Comeback King’ Feldman making his lead in a feature debut.
Following the success of THE GATE, director Tibor Takács would return to the horror genre for his next feature, 1989’s I, MADMAN though unfortunately due to a botched release by a struggling studio in legal strife, the film would open with little fanfare and was immediately lost amidst the noise of tentpole slashers like FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VIII: JASON TAKES MANHATTAN and A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 5: THE DREAM CHILD. Released straight-to-video in Australia and under the title HARDCOVER, Monster Fest is psyched to present I, MADMAN for its 35th Anniversary at Weekender and for the very first-time on Australian cinema screens.
Venture through the beautiful wilderness of Camp Arawak to Camp Rolling Hills to Camp New Horizons in celebration of unsung slasher icon Angela with the SLEEPAWAY CAMP SLASH-A-THON with 1983’s SLEEPAWAY CAMP, 1989’s SLEEPAWAY CAMP II: UNHAPPY CAMPERS and a 35th Anniversary Screening of SLEEPAWAY CAMP III: TEENAGE WASTELAND for the very first-time on the big screen in Australia.
Festival Dates & Location:
Friday 26th to Sunday 28th of April
MELBOURNE
Cinema Nova
380 Lygon St, Carlton
(03) 9021 7760
Adult Ticket – $23.50
Concession Ticket – $18
All Tickets – $30
Ticket includes entry to SLEEPAWAY CAMP, SLEEPAWAY CAMP II: UNHAPPY CAMPERS
and SLEEPAWAY CAMP III: TEENAGE WASTELAND.
VIP Pass – $120
With the VIP Pass you can attend all 6 Sessions in the program at a total saving of $27.50. The VIP Pass is valid for all 6 Sessions from Friday 26 July to Sunday 28 July. The VIP Pass cannot be used for multiple tickets to the same session.
Festival Website: https://www.monsterfest.com.au/weekender/
Festival Hashtag: #MonsterFestAU
