With one month to go before Monster Fest returns to Cinema Nova from October 3 to 11, Monster Fest has announced its final programming for the 2025 Melbourne festival, with a host of world and local premieres of the freshest and most fearless genre cinema from Australian shores and abroad.

From local shores, Monster Fest’s final programming features the world premieres of three films by Monster Fest alumni, including Michael Anthony Kratochvil’s masterfully crafted and deeply engaging documentary Lake Mungo Revisited, Jasmine Jakupi and Addison Heath’s sinister and sensual urban vampire outing Haunted & Devoted and Clint Cure’s biting meta comedy-horror Dracula Revamped.

Rounding out the feature programming is a Monster Presents preview screening of Daniel J. Phillips’ cabin-in-the-woods demonic horror Diabolic.

As always, Monster Fest will showcase the art of short-form storytelling with five dedicated Short Film Programmes: Bloody Funny Shorts, Nightmare Fuel Shorts, Sinister Visions Shorts, Fresh Cuts – Student Shorts and Dick Dale’s TRASHARAMA.

Monster Fest also revealled that this year’s festival Closing Night Awards & After Party will be a free event at Bad Decisions in Fitzroy, with live entertainment throughout the night until morning tide.

Rotten

Directed by Phoenix Raei

Cannibalism, black magic, and a father’s desperate fight to save his infant from a grotesque, rotting disease collide in Phoenix Raei’s savage feature film debut. Shocking and at times hilarious, Rotten blends relentless, gory thrills, macabre humour, and emotional intensity into a gruesome, unforgettable Australian horror film. While visiting a remote island to secure a land deal for wealthy clients, Emily, a successful real estate consultant, becomes the next victim in a series of harrowing abductions plaguing a small town. The inexperienced and, dare I say it, incompetent local police fail to turn up any leads, while Jerry, a sharp witted postmaster with Down syndrome begins piecing the truth together, setting the stage for a fight against unimaginable horrors.

Diabolic

Directed by Daniel J. Phillips

Be among the first to experience Diabolic, the terrifying new film from Awoken director Daniel J. Phillips, in this special Monster Presents preview screening. With echoes of The Conjuring and The Ring, Diabolic blends religious mysticism and modern psychological horror into a nerve-shredding tale of repression and revenge. In 2015, teenager Elise was expelled from the Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints after a sacred baptism ritual went horribly wrong, unleashing a malevolent force among the faithful. Ten years later, plagued by blackouts and violent, self-destructive impulses, she returns to the abandoned settlement where it all began. There, a hallucinogenic healing rite reveals the truth: the baptism left Elise vulnerable to Larue, a vengeful 19th-century witch whose influence tightens with every passing moment, setting the stage for a violent showdown with Elise’s soul as the ultimate prize.

Diabolic

Lake Mungo Revisited

Directed by Michael Kratochvil

Monster Fest 2021 Best Australian Short winner Michael Kratochvil makes his feature documentary debut with Lake Mungo Revisited—a revelatory deep dive into Joel Anderson’s 2008 found footage phenomenon, celebrating its influential legacy as one of Australia’s most iconic cult horror films. Fifteen years after it first unsettled audiences, Lake Mungo’s influence continues to ripple across the horror genre. Featuring never-before-seen behind-the-scenes footage, candid new interviews with the cast and crew, and insights from leading voices in genre cinema—including Mike Flanagan, David Dastmalchian, Neil Marshall, Justin Kurzel, Eduardo Sánchez, Colin and Cameron Cairnes, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, and Paul Tremblay—this is the definitive retrospective on a film that still resonates with fans of cult cinema worldwide.

Lake Mungo.

Residence

Directed by Matt Mirams

Bold, wickedly hilarious, and unapologetically unique, Matt Mirams’ debut feature is a visually striking horror comedy that follows a ragtag group of survivors hiding from a horde of zombies in a medieval funpark in a dystopian Australian future. Security guard Charlie (Jeanette Coppolino) leads a motley crew of survivors on an epic trek through a bleak suburban wilderness in the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse. Hunted, harried, and desperate, Charlie and her crew head for salvation in the form of Olden Days Castle, a medieval tourist attraction perfectly set up to protect them from the infected. Featuring a stellar cast of well-known local talent including Kym Valentine, Ian “Harold from Neighbours” Smith, and Don Bridges, Residence is a gripping, hilarious, and emotionally resonant horror-comedy blend that mixes undead terror, absurdly dark humour, and human resilience into a wild, unforgettable cinematic ride.

Residence.

Haunted And Devoted

Directed by Jasmine Jakupi and Addison Heath

Festival favourites Jasmine Jakupi and Addison Heath return with their latest cause célèbre, Haunted and Devoted. Set in Melbourne’s shadowed streets, the film melds violent passion and supernatural horror, exploring themes of desire, obsession, and the dangerous allure of immortality. In Melbourne’s hidden corners, vampire Chisuki falls for the fiery empath Isabel. When Chisuki is forced to turn Izzy to save her life, their passion ignites into a deadly hunger. As bloodlust rises and morality blurs, their frenzied desires are pushed to the extreme, threatening to consume them both…

Haunted & Devoted.

Dracula Revamped

Directed by Clint Cure

Long time friend of the festival and producer of the popular Channel 31 series Running On Empty, Clint Cure makes his directorial debut with Dracula Revamped, a satirical homage to Bram Stoker’s fanged anti-hero. A local theatre troupe sets out to make their own movie version of Dracula, but their charismatic leader may be more than just an inspiring director—he could be a real blood-sucking vampire. As rehearsals turn sinister, the lines between performance and reality blur, leading to a delightfully dark and unpredictable finale.

Dracula Revamped.

Details about the full Monster Fest lineup can be found here. 

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