Held bi-annually at Bristol Mega Screen, an IMAX cinema tucked inside the city’s aquarium, the festival is a testament to Bristol’s film loving community.
It was first created by local cinephiles who wanted to share their love of obscure genre films, and give them the attention they deserve on a massive IMAX screen.
This year’s theme was ‘Ozploitation’ , showing a series of grindhouse-style exploitation flicks that took Australia by storm in the 70s and 80s.
They went all out this year with merch, custom cocktails and a photo area with inflatable kangaroos. Local vendors lined the aquarium lobby, selling everything from tarot cards to rare comics.
Ozploitation expert Dr Stephen Morgan came all the way from King's College London to introduce the films and explain that really, a lot of them were tax write offs. Special video intros from the films' actors were also played before each screening.
Much of this year’s line-up stemmed from an ‘enthusiastic drunken conversation.’
The festival opened with Long Weekend (1978) where Peter and Marcia try to save their marriage by camping in the middle of nowhere. It goes about as well as you’d expect. While Marcia tries to find a hotel, Peter runs over a kangaroo, impales a dugong and generally does his best to destroy the environment.
Despite its hilariously ludicrous scenes - like the dead dugong mysteriously shuffling up to the campsite, or the eagle who understands faces and revenge - Dr Morgan explained that the film has quite a serious theme. Acting as a metaphor for the existential threat nature poses to settler colonialism. Two people invade the natural world, show no respect for it and are (quite ceremoniously) driven out.
Another highlight was cult classic Next of Kin (1982) about a woman who inherits a haunted retirement home. With all the hallmarks of a gothic haunted house thriller, (and 80s pyrotechnics) it leaves us with about as many questions as answers.
Most of these films had never been shown on an IMAX screen (in the past, the festival has shown films that never had a UK theatrical release), so the introducers are often as excited as the audience about the screening. In her introduction, Long Weekend actress Briony Behets said that her late co-star’s family were over the moon about his film being shown on the other side of the world. Meanwhile, Next of Kin’s Jacki Kerin dug out a box of film memorabilia, showed us photos from the set and kept accidentally dropping spoilers.
But the organisers saved the best film for last. Razorback - a wacky mashup of Jaws, Moby Dick and Babe. In this amazingly ridiculous creature feature, a man stands trial for the kidnap of his young grandson. Pleading innocence, he claims to know whose behind the heinous crime. A razorback boar the size of a rhino.
The boar in question is a worthy antagonist. In the film’s first two minutes he blows up a house, eats a child and terrorises the elderly. After eating an animal rights activist, Razorback finds himself at the centre of a boar hunt.
The film features a host of unsavoury characters (like the friends turning kangaroos into pet food). Despite being about a gigantic murderous pig, for some reason it also has absolutely incredible cinematography.
The activists’ husband wanders the outback alone, hunting a giant pig that’s just dragged away someone's living room, accompanied by stunning shots of the sunset.
Started by film lovers who turned their passion into an event everyone can enjoy, Forbidden Worlds is the best of Bristol. Watching genre films on an IMAX screen, surrounded by cinemagoers laughing at the ridiculous effects, it feels like you’re part of one (mega) movie night with friends.
Forbidden Worlds will return for their summer festival between 23-26 April 2026.
Featured Image: Robert Browne
Did you manage to attend Forbidden Worlds Film Festival this year?
