By Sofia Lambis, Deputy Editor
Launched in 2022, Forbidden Worlds Film Festival showcases repertory fantasy, action, science-fiction and horror films from around the world. After the success of their main summer festival, they're back for spooky season.
This year’s theme is ‘Six Feet Down Under’ featuring a line-up of blood-curdling Australian horror films. With six films across two days (October 24-25), there’s plenty of opportunity to pick and choose what to watch.
The festival will celebrate ‘Ozploitation’ , the trend of grindhouse-style exploitation flicks that took Australia by storm in the 70s and 80s.
Showcasing the ‘golden age of transgressive homespun horror’ it will kick off with a screening of Long Weekend (1978) an eco-horror about a pair of obnoxious campers who kill a kangaroo and live to regret it.
Kangaroos are also under threat in rural revenge thriller Fair Game (1986). The film, which inspired Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof (2007) shows a woman defending her wildlife sanctuary from ruthless poachers.
‘Ozploitation’ classics Thirst (1979) and Razorback (1984) will also be screened, featuring bloodsucking vampires trying to claw back their youth, and a nine hundred pound boar with a penchant for human flesh.
Of course, the line-up wouldn’t be complete without a haunted house flick. Cult classic Next of Kin (1989), a psychological gothic thriller set in the Australian Outback will feature.
The festival's venue is almost as intriguing as the line-up. The celebration of cult horror (and, carnivorous boars) takes place bi-annually at the Bristol Aquarium. No, the building's giant curved wing isn’t home to sharks. It houses the second largest screen in the South West, an IMAX cinema hidden in plain sight.
For a decade it went unused, and largely faded from public memory, before being revived by Bristol’s film-loving community. Renamed Bristol MegaScreen, the 300-seater now hosts a variety of screenings throughout the year, including Forbidden Worlds.
The festival line-ups are often selected from the archives of 20th Century Flicks, Bristol's very own DVD rental store. Its owner, Dave Taylor, co-directs Forbidden Worlds alongside cinephile Timon Singh.
‘We’ve found our audience are especially excited to see horrors they’ve never been able to see (or in some cases never even heard of), especially films that can’t be found on popular streaming sites,’ said Singh.
‘This year, we’re really leaning into more culty and obscure horrors that we feel should be more widely seen and enjoyed with an audience on the biggest screen possible.’
Individual film tickets cost £5 for students, whilst festival passes range from £14-26.
Featured image:Forbidden Worlds Film Festival / Courtesy
For the full festival line-up, visit www.forbiddenworldsfilmfestival.co.uk
