Monster Fest
MONSTER FEST returns to Cinema Nova! A celebration of all that is weird and wonderful in the international cult cinema palette – horror, science fiction, fantasy, dark drama, black comedy, animation, and much more.
From its humble beginnings in Victoria back in 2011 at Cinema Nova to present day with festivals nationwide, Monster Fest has grown to become the country’s premier genre film festival.
MF25 Coyotes
Opening Date: Friday, 3 Oct 2025
Members of a family find themselves in a desperate fight for survival when a pack of coyotes swarms their Hollywood Hills home. ... more
MF25 Bone Lake
Opening Date: Saturday, 4 Oct 2025
A couple’s romantic vacation at a secluded lakeside estate is upended when they are forced to share the mansion with a mysterious and attractive couple. In this darkly hilarious and seductive horror story, a dream getaway spirals into a nightmarish maze o ... more
MF25 Diabolic
Opening Date: Saturday, 4 Oct 2025
A woman’s hope for a cure to her debilitating condition turns into a nightmare when she discovers the true cause, a demonic spirit determined to take revenge on those who have wronged her. ... more
MF25 Rotten
Opening Date: Saturday, 4 Oct 2025
While visiting a remote island to secure land for wealthy clients, Emily, a successful real estate consultant, becomes the next victim in a series of abductions plaguing a small town. ... more
MF25 Shell
Opening Date: Saturday, 4 Oct 2025
Down on her luck actress Samantha Lake (Elisabeth Moss) is invited into the ultra-glamorous world of Zoe Shannon (Kate Hudson), CEO of wellness company SHELL. When SHELL patients begin to go missing, including starlet Benson (Kaia Gerber), Samantha realiz ... more
MF25 Slithis
Opening Date: Saturday, 4 Oct 2025
Finally, nature unleashes its revenge! From the pollution of our nuclear waste came the killer we cannot destroy. Our worst nightmares come to life with the terrifying, scaly monster – SILTHIS! ... more
MF25 Theatre of Horrors
Opening Date: Saturday, 4 Oct 2025
In 1897, in a back alley in the seedy Pigalle district of Paris, a former chapel turned performance space became a theatrical institution forged in naturalism, controversy and grisly spectacle. Over the next 65 years, it would actively provoke revulsion, ... more
MF25 Lake Mungo Revisited
Opening Date: Sunday, 5 Oct 2025
Lake Mungo Revisited is a deep dive documentary that explores the production of Lake Mungo and its enduring impact, with inteviews from both the cast & crew of the film along with with Justin Kurzel, Mike Flanagan, Eduardo Sánchez, David Dastmalchian and ... more
MF25 Dracula: A Love Tale
Opening Date: Sunday, 5 Oct 2025
In the 15th century, Prince Vladimir denied God after the brutal and cruel loss of his wife. He then inherits a curse: eternal life. He becomes Dracula. Condemned to wander through the centuries, he will have only one hope, that of finding his lost love. ... more
MF25 Don't Leave The Kids Alone
Opening Date: Sunday, 5 Oct 2025
A claustrophobic and psychological horror film about two competitive siblings alone in their new house. Newly widowed Cata attends a party, leaving her two young sons, Mati and Emi, alone at their new house. As the brothers attempt to find their games con ... more
MF25 Humanoids of the Deep
Opening Date: Sunday, 5 Oct 2025
Something evil is happening in the sleepy fishing village of Noyo. Fish-like humanoid creatures, spawned by mutant DNA, begin rising from the ocean, looking to spawn with the local women. ... more
MF25 Residence
Opening Date: Sunday, 5 Oct 2025
Charlie (Jeanette Coppolino) and her companions initiate an inspiring quest, representing a hero's journey both physically and metaphorically, displaying unrelenting strength and sacrifice as they embark upon an epic trek toward personal growth and awaren ... more
MF25 Test Screening
Opening Date: Tuesday, 7 Oct 2025
In a small, declining Oregon town, excitement has been building for days. A Hollywood studio is holding a test screening of a new blockbuster movie in the local cinema. Could it be the new John Carpenter, the latest Steven Spielberg, or another STAR TREK? ... more
MF25 Fresh Cuts: Monster Fest Student Shorts
Opening Date: Tuesday, 7 Oct 2025
Monster Fest serves up Fresh Cuts, a fearless selection of student-made horror shorts. These inventive filmmakers push boundaries, blending dark humour, perforated tension, and unsettling storytelling in compact, unforgettable jolts of terror. ... more
MF25 Nightmare Fuel Shorts
Opening Date: Tuesday, 7 Oct 2025
Brace yourself for Nightmare Fuel, a bone-chilling collection of short-form horror guaranteed to haunt your dreams. From monstrous beasts to vengeful ghosts, relentless zombies, and deranged killers, this program delivers terror in every imaginable form. ... more
MF25 Mother Of Flies
Opening Date: Tuesday, 7 Oct 2025
When a young woman faces a deadly diagnosis, she seeks dark magic from a witch in the woods - but every cure has costs. ... more
MF25 Bloody Funny Shorts
Opening Date: Wednesday, 8 Oct 2025
Get ready to die...die laughing! Zing! Bloody Funny delivers a wickedly entertaining selection of horror-comedy shorts where black humour meets grisly mayhem. From the truly shocking to the truely bizarre, these films prove that terror can be hilarious. ... more
MF25 Haunted And Devoted
Opening Date: Wednesday, 8 Oct 2025
In the dark streets of Melbourne, vampire Chisuki finds love with fiery empath Isabel. But when death looms, turning Izzy binds them in passion and hunger. As bloodlust rises, can their love survive the darkness? ... more
MF25 Sinister Visions Shorts
Opening Date: Wednesday, 8 Oct 2025
Monster Fest presents Sinister Visions, a globe-spanning showcase of thrilling short-form horror nasties. From Austria to India, Saudi Arabia to the United States and our very own backyard, these chilling tales deliver fear, suspense, and twisted terrors ... more
MF25 Dracula Revamped
Opening Date: Wednesday, 8 Oct 2025
A small town troupe of theatre actors attempt to produce their own movie version of Dracula, but is their charismatic leader an asset or really another blood sucking vampire? ... more
MF25 Psycho Therapy
Opening Date: Thursday, 9 Oct 2025
A writer befriends a retired serial killer in a desperate attempt to find inspiration for his next novel and save his marriage. Covering as his marriage counselor, the killer teaches him his methods as reality becomes deadlier than fiction. ... more
MF25 Disforia
Opening Date: Thursday, 9 Oct 2025
In a city ravaged by looting and economic collapse, married couple Esther and Tomás make a desperate choice: flee with their young daughter to their country house, bought in better days, with hopes of selling it quickly and escaping to a safer country. Bu ... more
MF25 Deathstalker
Opening Date: Friday, 10 Oct 2025
In Deathstalker, the Kingdom of Abraxeon is under siege by the Dreadites, heralds of the long-dead sorcerer Nekromemnon. When Deathstalker recovers a cursed amulet from a corpse-strewn battlefield, he's marked by dark magick and hunted by monstrous assass ... more
MF25 Freaked [4K Restoration]
Opening Date: Friday, 10 Oct 2025
Once a smug former child star, Ricky Coogin (Alex Winter) is now the unfortunate face of a shady megacorporation pushing questionable products in South America. But when Ricky and his misfit companions — the endlessly weird Ernie and idealistic Julie — ta ... more
MF25 Trasharama
Opening Date: Saturday, 11 Oct 2025
Murder City’s ambassador of twisted cinema, Dick Dale, returns to Melbourne with his latest Trasharama program, bursting at the screams with the grossest, goriest and greatest short films to grace a Trasharama yet. ... more
MF25 Dog of God
Opening Date: Saturday, 11 Oct 2025
In a 17th century Swedish Livonian village, constant rain and drunkenness prevail. When a stolen relic sparks witchcraft accusations, an 80-year-old self-proclaimed werewolf named the Dog of God arrives with a mysterious gift: The Devil’s Balls. ... more
MF25 Monster Fest Horror Trivia
Opening Date: Saturday, 11 Oct 2025
Calling all gorehounds and genre junkies — think you know your Argento from your Aster? Your slashers from your splatter? It’s time to put your knowledge to the test at Monster Fest Horror Movie Trivia, presented by Melbourne Horror Film Society. ... more
MF25 Deathgasm II: Goremageddon
Opening Date: Saturday, 11 Oct 2025
The metalhead splatter insanity returns in the sequel to 2015’s comedy horror hit, DEATHGASM. After thwarting a demon apocalypse (which he helped to create) Brodie is mourning the death of his best friend - the charmingly psychopathic Zakk. Unemployed and ... more
MF25 Jimmy and Stiggs
Opening Date: Saturday, 11 Oct 2025
A shitstorm of bad news sends out of work filmmaker Jimmy spiraling into an out of control bender in which he claims to have been abducted by aliens. Fearing they’ll come back, he contacts his old friend Stiggs to help him gear up for war. ... more
