MHFS June: Thirst (1979)

Date: Wednesday 25th June 2025
Time: Screening starts at 7:30pm
Location: Wildflower Video Bar 318 St. Georges Road Fitzroy North

Join us for our June screening of Ozsplotation film “Thirst”.

When Kate Davis (Chantal Contouri) is kidnapped by members of a cult, she is shocked to discover that they believe her to be a descendant of the notorious Elizabeth Bathory, known as the Blood Queen. The cult, which harvests humans for their blood, tries to enlist Kate to join, but she refuses.

In 1973 “Night of Fear” directed by Terry Bourke is considered to be the first Australian horror film. Seven years later Australian Director Rod Hardy directed “Thirst”, his feature debut.

“Thirst” was filmed in Victoria at Monsalvat in Eltham. Monsalvat was built in the 1930s as an artist colony, and is home to artist studios and gallery spaces to this day.

Starring David Hemmings (“Deep Red”) and Henry Silva (“Alligator”). Join us to learn more on the night about “Thirst” and its intriguing location Monsalvat. We recommend that you visit Monsalvat after seeing “Thirst” with us, and spotting some of the key scenes in the film…maybe not at night…

Memberships will be available on the night for $15 for three screenings or $50 for twelve and please bring cash. The screening will start at 7:30pm in the cinema at the rear of Wildflower Video Bar. Come along early for a pre-drink and to get a good seat.

See you there!

MHFS Crew

MHFS May: 28 DAYS LATER

Date: Wednesday 21 May 2025
Time: Screening starts at 7:30pm
Location: Wildflower Picture House & Bar 318 St. Georges Road Fitzroy North

Friends!

We'll be getting all apocalyptic on Wednesday, May 21st with 28 DAYS LATER! Wildflower Picture House and Bar is going to open specially for us on the night, so come along and watch the classic Danny Boyle OG before the new one comes out next month!

Memberships will be available on the night for $15 for three screenings or $50 for twelve and it's cash only (see, still fitting with the theme).

Please also note, this is a week earlier than the usual LAST Wednesday of the month due to venue renovations.

See you there!
MHFS crew

MHFS April: Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidora (2001)

Date: Wednesday 30th April 2025
Time: Screening starts at 7:30pm
Location: Wildflower Picture House & Bar 318 St. Georges Road Fitzroy North

Sticking with our so-far theme of 2025, April is also headed by a multi-titled film - Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidora: Giant Monsters All Out Attack, or GMK, from 2001. This is the 26th Godzilla film and is unusual in that it strays away from the established formula by portraying Godzilla as a truly evil being, as opposed to sitting on the spectrum of anti-hero to flat out good guy. It also forgoes acknowledging any of the previous films, acting as a direct sequel to the 1954 original, as well as dipping its toes into the supernatural. As such, it takes on a little bit more serious tone. It's still a bunch of people running around in big rubber suits, smashing up miniature cities though, and a bucket of fun!

Thanks to Andrew for this great selection - he'll be introing on the night, and this screening comes after the Friday Fright Features screening of the original Godzilla that's taking place on Friday, April 11 at FoMo Cinema.

For our Godzilla - join us on Wednesday April 30 at Wildflower Picture House and Bar. The screening starts at 7.30 but come along early for a pre-drink if you fancy! Memberships will be available on the night for $15 for three screenings, or $50 for twelve. Please bring cash.

Can't wait!!
MHFS Crew

MHFS Friday night special: Demon Knight (1995)

Date: Friday 4th April 2025
Time: Screening starts at 7:30pm
Location: Wildflower Picture House & Bar 318 St. Georges Road Fitzroy North

Ready for your deadtime story?

Melbourne Horror Film Society presents: Tales from the Crypt presents: DEMON KNIGHT

We're putting on a special Friday night screening at Wildflower Picture House and Bar to bring you this absolute classic that turned 30 this year! From the practical effects and the kick-arse soundtrack, to an insane cast featuring William Sadler, Jada Pinkett (pre-any entanglements), CCH Pounder, Thomas Hayden Church, Dick Miller and Billy Zane at his absolute best in every possible way as The Collector, we promise, you're not going to want to miss this!!

***PLEASE NOTE***
This event is now being run as a fundraiser for Wildflower Picture House and Bar with Demon Knight up first, to be followed at 10pm by Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich. Cost for entry will be different to our usual screening memberships and set you back $15 cash or card. We'll be selling raffle tickets on the night with winners drawn after Demon Knight. Puppet Master will have a planned start time of 10pm and if there's space available, entry for just that film will be by donation.

We'd love for heaps of our people come out to support Wildflower, have a ripper night and prove that us humans ARE worth the flesh we're printed on!

See you there!
MHFS crew :)

MHFS March: Contamination (1980)

Date: Wednesday 26th March 2025
Time: Screening starts at 7:30pm
Location: Wildflower Picture House & Bar 318 St. Georges Road Fitzroy North

Crew!
We showed February in February and no, we aren't showing March in March but we are screening another film with multiple titles.. this time of the Italian persuasion. So, join us on Wednesday March 26 for the 1980 Alien ripoff, 'Contamination', aka 'Alien Contamination', aka 'Contamination: Alien on Earth'.

A former astronaut helps a government agent and a police detective track the source of mysterious alien pod spores, filled with lethal flesh-dissolving acid, to a South American coffee plantation controlled by alien pod clones.

Directed by Luigi Cozzi, director of StarCrash (a late Star Wars ripoff), and Paganini Horror, which starred Ian (Zombie Flesh Eaters) McCulloch and Louise Marleau.

This screening was inspired by a section of dialogue from Contamination that was used in an album by amazing (in David's opinion) death metal band, Blood Incantation. That album is titled Absolute Elsewhere and was released during our favourite month (October), last year.

The screening will start at 7.30pm in the cinema at the rear of Wildflower Picture House and Bar. Come along early for a pre-drink and to get a good seat. Memberships will be available for *CASH* on the night, either $15 for three screenings or $50 for twelve.

MHFS team. xo

MHFS February: February (2015)

Date: Wednesday 26th February 2025
Time: Screening starts at 7:30pm
Location: Wildflower Picture House & Bar 318 St. Georges Road Fitzroy North

This month we are showing FEBRUARY in February! Now, you might be thinking, wow, these cats are clever (and you'd be correct, ofcourse).. in fact, we were just as intelligent in 2023 when we showed May in May!

For this year's month on month screening, join us on Wednesday 26th for Osgood Perkins' directorial debut (otherwise known as The Blackcoat's Daughter): During winter break, two students stay in an all-girls boarding school in the company of a terrifying presence.

In the decade since the release of February, Mr Perkins (yes, Anthony's son) has made a few horror films, including last year's Longlegs, and in just a couple of weeks, his adaptation of the Stephen King short story 'The Monkey' will be hitting Australian cinemas.

Unfortunately, Wildflower Picture House and Bar is back to no food offering again for the time being but there are some good options nearby, particularly the Thai restaurant or burger joint just up the road.
Memberships will be available on the night - $15 for three screenings or $50 for twelve. Please note: you'll need to line your pockets with some cold hard for a membership. Cash is still King at mhfs!

See you there!
MHFS team.

MHFS January: JAWS 2

Date: Wednesday 29th January 2025
Time: Screening starts at 7:30pm
Location: Wildflower Picture House & Bar 318 St. Georges Road Fitzroy North

Who's excited for another year of screenings?! We are!! So much so that we're back to holding one in January

We're thrilled as always to have Nik McGrath aboard the MHFS ship as guest host for JAWS 2 (1978), directed by Jeannot Szwarc, and starring Roy Scheider as Police Chief Martin Brody.

Our friends at FoMo Cinemas are showing JAWS (1975) on the 10th as their Friday Fright Feature for January, so it’s your chance to see the original on the big screen before coming to our screening of the sequel. And if you wear your MHFS tshirt or hoodie on the night, the good folk at FoMo will shout you a popcorn and drink!

Nik has been a huge fan of JAWS and JAWS 2 from her teens. Stories of her grandfather who was a shark fisherman in Lorne after WWII made her even more fascinated about great whites and the power they have to terrify beach goers. Come along for Nik’s intro which will include her personal connection to the film as well as the making of… "Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water..."

Join us for pre-drinks and great Mexican food available to order at Wildflower Picture House and Bar (formerly LongPlay) from 6pm, the intro will start at 7:30pm in the cinema. No food in the cinema, drinks only please.

Please note the screenings this year are on the last Wednesday of the month instead of the last Tuesday. Memberships will be available for cash on the night - $15 for a mini pass which gets you three screenings, or $50 for twelve screenings.

Yay horror!
MHFS crew

MHFS Christmas: Anna and the Apocalypse

Date: Monday 23rd December 2024
Time: Screening starts at 8:00pm
Location: Wildflower Picture House & Bar 318 St. Georges Road Fitzroy North

Anna and the Apocalypse - it's got Christmas, it's got zombies, it's a musical.. what more could you want?!!
Come ride out the zombie outbreak with us at Wildflower Picture House and Bar on December 23rd. Please note that this extra special screening is on a MONDAY night and it'll likely get started closer to 8pm rather than our usual 7.30. That'll give everyone extra time to enjoy a festive feast of tacos and oysters beforehand, washed down with some egg nog (or beer and cocktails).

Santa's currently toiling away in his workshop to bring you a little something extra, in the form of BAFTA award winning short film, Zombie Musical, on which Anna and the Apocalypse was based.

Memberships will be available on the night and will only set you back $15 for three screenings or $50 for twelve. Be good little kiddies and bring cold hard cash or you'll risk getting a lump of coal in your stocking.

If it isn't already, Christmas is about to become your favourite C word!

Much love,
MHFS crew

December Blood Ritual: Santa's Slay (2005)

Date: Saturday the 14th December 2024
Time: Starts around 8:30pm
Location: True North 2A Munro Street Coburg

"Who's your Daddy? Father Christmas."

How the hell are we already talking about Christmas horrors (actually, we should be talking about them all year 'round cos they're THE BEST!! And 'Santa's Slay' from 2005 is no exception!! This is take two for us after last year's Decmember Blood Ritual had to be cancelled, so if you're feeling some deja vu, you're not going crazy! It features Bill Goldberg as a killer Santa demon, so obviously it's going to be AWESOME!

Come to True North on Saturday, December 9th for all the Yuletide fun and a festive celebration at the end of what's been a HUGE year!! Andrew Paynter will be providing your pre-movie entertainment for the evening with a little intro to the film.

You'll be able to get all the usual trimmings from 6pm and we'll cheers a few drinks together before the screening gets started (hopefully around 9).

Hope to see you there!
MHFS crew

MHFS November: Doctor Sleep (Director's Cut)

Date: Tuesday 26th November 2024
Time: Screening starts at 6:30pm
Location: Wildflower Picture House & Bar 318 St. Georges Road Fitzroy North

This month at MHFS, we are absolutely thrilled to have Jack Kramme back at the helm! He promises that his tapping on the typewriter definitely makes sense and gives us a little taste below..

"Last time MHFS invited me to show a film, I chose Thirteen Ghosts, a loud, dumb amusement park of a horror film that I enjoy because its a lot of fun, but it's not much beyond that.

Now they've given me a second round, I've chosen to show what is very much the complete antithesis of Thirteen Ghosts, 2019s Doctor Sleep.

This film being so thematically rich and beautifully laid out, it is very near and dear and close to my heart and I hope it gives you all the feelings that it gives me.

It also flopped at the box office and I've made it my life's work to ensure it gains a cult following."

On the night: We journey back to own version of the Overlook Hotel, Wildflower Picture House & Bar (previously Long Play), which will be open for us from 5.30pm for food and pre-drinks. You'll be able to feast on oysters and tacos from their incredible new menu, so make sure to come along early to take advantage! The screening will then take place in the cinema room at the rear with pre-movie introduction from the aforementioned, Jack.

*PLEASE NOTE* This month's screening has a special start time of 6.30pm (rather than the usual 7.30) as we'll be showing the Directors Cut of Doctor Sleep, which has a 3-hour runtime (compared to the theatrical's 2hr 32).

Memberships will be available on the night - $15 for three screenings or $50 for twelve. You'll need to line your pockets with some cashola for a membership. Cash is King! We look forward to seeing you there.

MHFS team & Jack

MHFS October: Cobweb (2023)

Date: Tuesday 29th October 2024
Time: Screening starts at 7:30
Location: The Wildflower Picture House and Bar (previously LongPlay) 318 St. Georges Road Fitzroy North

Yay! Our favourite month of the year is here.
Join us 2 days before Halloween for this creepy Halloween set film.

Eight-year-old Peter is plagued by a mysterious, constant tap, tap from inside his bedroom wall - a tapping that his parents insist is all in his imagination. As Peter's fear intensifies, he believes his parents could be hiding a terrible, dangerous secret and questions their trust. And for a child, what could be more frightening than that?

Directed by Samuel Bodin, director of the TV Horror Show Marianne and it stars Lizzy Caplan and Anthony Starr.

Deets for the night:
The Wildflower Picture House and Bar (previously Long Play) will be open for us from 6pm for pre-drinks. You can bring food along to the venue if you eat in the bar area (no eating in the cinema) and clean up after yourself. The screening will begin with David's intro at 7:30. Please bring cash for memberships - $15 for three screenings or $50 for twelve.

See you there!
MHFS team.

The Wildflower Picture House and Bar

Blood Ritual: CHOPPING MALL (1986)

Date: Saturday the 12th October 2024
Time: Starts around 8:30pm
Location: True North 2A Munro Street Coburg

For this year's special, October Blood Ritual, we're heading to the mall - "Where shopping costs you an arm and a leg!" (such a good dad joke tagline ).

Don't come along expecting any actual chopping in Chopping Mall but what you will get is three over-dedicated security robots, a group of horny teens and a whole lot of fun!

Screening deets:
Location: True North
Date: October 12
Time: when the kitchen closes (hopefully by 9)
Cost: BR memberships are available on the night for $10 cash (that gets you into three screenings plus a free drink)

Thankyou. Have a nice day.
MHFS crew

Halloween at the Museum

Photo: Eugene Hyland | Source: Museums Victoria

Halloween (our fav time of year) is just around the corner, and we have exciting news! MHFS’s David + Carina will be at Halloween at the Museum at Melbourne Museum. Come find us in the Haunted Cinema, in the same space as Phar Lap, in the Melbourne Story Gallery cinema from 6:30pm to 10:30pm.

Step into a haunted 1920’s cinema for a spooky sampling of curated clips and trailers presented by us! From 6:30pm to 8:30pm, enjoy family-friendly horror clips from around the world. As night falls, dive into a darker side with back-to-back horror trailers from B grade gorefests to cult classics.

Book your tickets on the Melbourne Museum website. Bring your friends and family for a night of spooky fun at the museum including Miles Brown’s haunting theramin, The Night Terrors, DJ Blackscale, Trick or Treat, Spooky Science, Neon Nightmare and much much more!

We would love to see our MHFS fam, so come say hi! xx

Photo: Eugene Hyland | Source: Museums Victoria

MHFS September: JENNIFER'S BODY 15th Anniversary

"Hell is a teenage girl."

Crank up Low Shoulder and join us at LongPlay on Tuesday, September 24th as we celebrate the 15th anniversary of the criminally mis-marketed and mis-understood JENNIFER'S BODY. Written by Diablo Cody, directed by Karyn Kusama and starring Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried.. Jennifer's Body, we did not deserve ye back in 2009 (well, we did, but the masses most certainly did not).

Mel Begg and Nik McGrath's introduction on the night will run through the history of the film and how the collective response to it unfortunately mirrored the shitty world and time in which it was released. In 2024, "we" know better and can love on it for being the feminist classic that it always should've been recognised and celebrated as.

The screening will start at 7.30pm in the cinema at the rear of LongPlay but come along any time from 6 to grab a seat, hang out and have a pre-drink. Memberships are sold on the night for $15 for three screenings or $50 for twelve - please note that we only take cash at the moment.

Don't be a jerk, come along!
MHFS crew

Blood Ritual: Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)

Date: Friday the 13th September 2024
Time: Starts around 8:30pm
Location: True North 2A Munro Street Coburg

Here at MHFS, at the start of each year, you'll find us frantically flicking through the calendar pages to find any Friday the 13th's and it took us nine of those flicks before we struck gold in 2024, so we'd better make the most of it with a hella good special, baghead Jason Friday edition of Blood Ritual!!! Last January we celebrated 'His' birthday (and resurrection) with Part VI and it was THE BEST night, so make sure to join us at True North for similar stabby fun on Friday the 13th of September for Friday the 13th Part 2.

Five years after the events of the first film, a summer camp next to the infamous Camp Crystal Lake is preparing to open, but the legend of Jason is weighing heavy on the proceedings.

Don't risk getting slammed against a tree in a sleeping bag and bring along $10 cash, which gets you into 3 Blood Ritual screenings plus a free drink at the bar with the camp counsellors. We'll be gathering around the camp fire to toast some marshmallows anytime from 6pm before the screening starts around 9. BYO pitch fork.

Love MHFS crew

MHFS August: Teeth (2007)

Date: Tuesday 27th August 2024
Time: Screening starts at 7:30
Location: LongPlay 318 St. Georges Road Fitzroy North

A special screening for anyone that has any issues what so ever with consent.. but actually, please don't come because you can get f**ked.. (hopefully by vagina dentata).

OK, now that we have that out of the way.. for our next two screenings at LongPlay, we'll be showing films with completely bungled releases due to mis-marketing. They both centre on teenage female leads, were ahead of their time being released in a very anti-feminist period in the aughts but have found a cult following / re-appraisal in more recent years.

Up first, on August 27th we'll be showing 2007s TEETH. A horror / dark-comedy critical of purity culture in the US. It's also a commentary on male entitlement, consent and sexual violence by telling the story of Dawn, who is an evangelist for the purity movement, and her ability to f**k dudes up that are the lowest of low as she embarks upon a journey of self discovery amid her sexual awakening.

Hopefully that's sold it to you!

Deets for the night:
LongPlay will be open for us from 6pm for pre-drinks. You can bring food along to the venue as long as you eat in the bar area (no eating in the cinema) and clean up after yourself. The screening will get started with an intro from moi (Mel) at 7:30. Please bring cash for memberships - $15 for three screenings or $50 for twelve.

See you there!
MHFS crew

Blood Ritual: Dellamorte dellamore aka Cemetery Man (1994)

Once again, we're going to Italy for screening inspiration, and on this rare occasion we're landing on a 90s zombie film!

Rupert Everett stars as Francesco Dellamorte, the cemetery man who must kill the dead a second time when they become zombies.

This part anthology film, part zombie film, still to this day, has people scratching their heads. You thought Argento and Fulci made bonkers films, well, this one takes the cake!

On the night:
Come along to True North any time from 6pm for dinner, drinks and to hang out with friends before the film. We suggest getting there early to get yourself a good seat. The screening will then start around 9pm, once the kitchen is closed and cleaned.
If you don't already have a Blood Ritual membership, make sure to bring $10 cash - that gets you three BR screenings, plus a free drink at the bar.

See you there!

MHFS July: Frozen (2010)

Date: Tuesday 30th July 2024
Time: Screening starts at 7:30
Location: LongPlay 318 St. Georges Road Fitzroy Norto

David (Fish) Pether is our guest host for our screening of Frozen (2010)'

For anyone who has ever been on a ski lift when it’s stopped midway up the mountain, I’m sure we’ve all had the thought ‘What would happen if this never starts moving again? How long would I last up here? How would I get down?’

Well, 2010’s survival horror film, ‘Frozen’, brings these fears to life, and then some! Directed by now indie-horror royalty, Adam Green and fittingly starring X-Men’s Iceman himself, Shawn Ashmore. The film tells the tale of three friends who are accidently left all alone on a ski lift, dangling dangerously high above the slopes below, as the resort around them closes indefinitely due to an oncoming snowstorm.

Friendships and wills are tested, as the trio endures the mountain’s weather and wildlife. Frozen constantly challenges the viewer, asking if you were in the characters position, how far would you go to survive?

We look forward to seeing you at LongPlay. Join us for pre-drinks from 6pm, the intro will start at 7:30pm in the cinema. You can also bring in food from nearby restaurants but make sure to keep the space clean, no food in the cinema. Memberships will be available for cash on the night - $15 for a mini pass which gets you three screenings, or $50 for twelve screenings.
Yay horror!
MHFS crew

Blood Ritual: The House by the Cemetery (1981)

Date: Saturday 13th July 2024
Time: Starts around 8:30pm
Location: True North 2A Munro Street Coburg

This July we are delighted to show you more Fulci. More eye-popping, more bloodletting, and more gore than you could poke a stick at.

Join us for Lucio Fulci's The House by the Cemetery. This is the 3rd part of Fulci's "Gates of Hell" Trilogy.

A New England home is terrorized by a series of murders, unbeknownst to the guests that a gruesome secret is hiding in the basement.

Starring Catriona MacColl from City of the Living Dead and for anyone who has seen it, a badly dubbed little boy named Bob.

On the night:
Come along to True North any time from 5pm for dinner, drinks (Hazel has put together a sick spooky cocktail menu) and to hang out before the film. We suggest getting there early to get yourself a good seat before the screening starts for reals around 8:30 - 9pm.
Bring 10 bucks cash for a membership (if you don't already have one). It gets you three BR screenings plus a free drink at the bar...
See you there!!

Tracey Moffatt’s “Bedevil” (1993)

Image: Still of Tracey Moffatt as Ruby in “Choo Choo Choo Choo”, “Bedevil” (1993)

Article by Nik McGrath

Tracey Moffatt describes herself as an image-maker rather than a photographer, artist or filmmaker. She prefers to construct stories in her films and photographs rather than capture reality. 

Moffatt began telling stories using props and a cast of characters filmed on a Super 8 camera when she was growing up. Characters in her stories were acted out by kids in the neighbourhood and members of her extended family. She describes what she does now as the same, perhaps a bit more sophisticated. 

For the past 40 years of her professional career, Moffatt has worked with camera operators and producers. She has always been the director and creative behind everything, but she doesn’t always hold the camera. 

Tracey Moffatt was born in Brisbane in 1960 to an Indigenous mother and a father she has never known. She was fostered by an Irish-Australian woman, a family friend, when she was three. Her mum would often visit. Both of her mothers have directly influenced “Bedevil” (1996), which takes from her Indigenous and Irish upbringing. 

Moffatt has a degree in visual communications from the Queensland College of Art, where she graduated in 1982. 

She has impressively exhibited 100 solo shows in Europe, US and Australia, and represented Australia at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017 with her solo exhibition “My Horizon”. 

Image: Tracey Moffatt on set of “Nice Coloured Girls” (1987)

Short film “Nice Coloured Girls”, Moffatt wrote, produced and directed in 1987. In Kings Cross, three young Indigenous women find what they call a ‘white captain’ to pay for their night out on the town. The women exploit the man like their matriarchs were exploited a century before. Moffatt highlights journal entries by European sailors who invaded Sydney in 1788, who wrote in their journals of how they used young Indigenous women for their own ends. 

My introduction to Moffatt’s work came a few years later with “Something More”, a series of nine photographs created in 1989 – six colour, and three black and white commissioned by the Albury Regional Art Centre, New South Wales, and shot in Link Studios in Wodonga, Victoria. The Queensland Art Gallery purchased two works from this series in 1992. I grew up in Brissie, and remember vividly seeing this work in the Queensland Art Gallery. I remember the gallery I was in and how large the work seemed in comparison to me. It captivated me. The characters in the photos seemed to be out of a film in technicolor. 

Image: “Something More No. 1”, Tracey Moffatt (1989)

“Something More No. 1” is the first image in the series. The painted scenery and lush colours of the photograph are made even more vibrant in the cibachrome print. Moffatt placed herself in the narrative of the image. She appears in the foreground of the photograph as the woman in red. Behind her a woman smokes a cigarette standing in the door frame to a wooden hut wearing a silk slip. A man wearing a singlet sits in the hut drinking a beer. Two boys stand beside the hut wearing shorts and shirts. A man stands behind the boys with long plaited hair, wearing a Chinese conical hat, also known as an Asian rice hat. Everyone behind the woman is looking in her direction, except for the smoking woman, who is looking downwards.

In her photography, Moffatt builds narrative through a series of images which tell a story, almost like stills from a film never made. “Something More” has visual elements that are precursors to “Bedevil”. 

Image: Still of “Night Cries: a Rural Tragedy” (1989)

Moffatt’s short film “Night Cries: a Rural Tragedy” (1989) is about a young Indigenous woman played by Marcia Langdon adopted by a white woman who is disabled and heavily relies on her adopted daughter to care for her, in a harsh isolated location in the desert. Anyone who knows 1955 feature film “Jedda” can see the similarities in the storytelling. Stylistically “Night Cries” is a precursor to “Bedevil”.

As a child, Moffatt’s extended Indigenous and Irish Australian family told her ghost stories, which inspired her to write and direct “Bedevil”. The film has three ghost stories set in different rural locations with stylised and beautifully lit sets and painted skies. “Mr Chuck” about a boy who is haunted by an American GI who drowned in a swamp, starring Uncle Jack Charles. “Choo Choo Choo Choo” stars Moffatt as Ruby, a young woman who lives in outback Queensland, haunted by a ghost train. “Lovin’ the Spin I’m In” features dancing ghosts Minnie and Bebe who haunt a warehouse where their forbidden love met a tragic end.  

Horror anthology films have a long history in the genre going back to the early 20th century. “Bedevil” is one of the best examples, in my opinion, up there with the greats such as Roger Corman’s “Tales of Terror” (1962), Mario Bava’s “Black Sabbath” (1963) which Melbourne Horror recently screened at Blood Ritual, “Trilogy of Terror” (1975) also screened at Blood Ritual, and “Creepshow” (1982). 

Usually ghost stories really freak me out! I believe in ghosts. I experienced a ghost firsthand when I was a teenager visiting my uncle's hundred year old house in Geelong. When you believe in something, it makes it that much more frightening. What do you think of Moffatt’s ghost stories? You might think they are surreal and dream-like, using dream logic, which may confuse a logical sense of narrative. 

This film is visually lush, it’s compelling, it’s a unique exploration of ghost stories in an Australian landscape, and it sits beautifully within Moffatt’s body of work. 

Image: “Up in the Sky #1”, Tracey Moffatt (1998)

“Up in the Sky” is a 1998 series of 25 photos set in an outback town, staged like a film to depict the stolen generations. A white woman holds an Indigenous baby in her arms. Men fighting and the same child is held up in the sky by two nuns. Like all of Moffatt’s work, the narrative is non-linear, and left to the viewer to decide what it’s about. 

“Lip” is a short directed by Moffatt and edited by Gary Hillberg, produced in 1999, the first in a Montages series collaboration between Moffatt and Hillberg, using tv and film clips masterfully collected and edited to give lip to the portrayal of black people and the incredible sassy and funny characters which have featured in cinema history. 

“Artist” is another short from the Montages series created in 1999, directed by Moffatt and edited by Gary Hillberg, a cleverly curated collection of clips from tv and film depicting artists at work, and the struggle of being an artist. 

Image: Still of Tracey Moffatt in “Art Calls” (2014)

“Art Calls” (2014) is a series of interviews Moffatt did with artists over Skype, including Destiny Deacon, Jenny Kee and Jan Billycan from the Kimberley. Moffatt asked the artists she interviewed what art means to them. This work was available as a series of episodes on ABC, as well as being exhibited in galleries around the world. Saw this work at the Centre for Contemporary Photography in Fitzroy. Moffatt did a talk at RMIT about “Art Calls”. I seriously fangirled being in the same room as her, and wish I was brave enough to ask her a question, or to approach her after the talk, but I sadly didn’t. It was amazing to hear her talk and be in the same space as her.

The artist selected to represent Australia at the Venice Biennale is like winning the Archibald Prize in the art world! It’s a huge deal. Moffatt’s solo exhibition “My Horizon” at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017 was also a big deal because Moffatt was the first solo Indigenous artist to exhibit in the Australian Pavilion. “My Horizon” included two videos “Vigil” and “The White Ghosts Sailed In” and two photographic series “Passage” and “Body Remembers”. Moffatt states about “My Horizon”: “The image of the horizon line is featured in most of my images; in my two photo-drama series, “Passage” and “Body Remembers”, my fictional characters are seen to gaze off out to the horizon line. My characters possibly dream of escape, or they are weighed down by their own memories or histories. The same can be said of my two video pieces, “The White Ghosts Sailed In” and “Vigil”. “My Horizon” can describe reaching one’s limitations or wanting to go beyond one’s limitations. It can be likened to a dream state, like when one looks out and beyond where one is. The horizon line can represent the far and distant future or the unobtainable. There are times in life when we all can see what is ‘coming over the horizon’, and this is when we make a move or we do nothing and just wait for whatever it is to arrive”.

Image: Photograph of “A Haunting”, Tracey Moffatt (2021)

“A Haunting”, Moffatt’s latest work, is an art installation, a red pulsing light from an abandoned farmhouse in regional New South Wales not far from Dubbo. The work was installed in 2021 and is ongoing. Moffatt fans can make the pilgrimage to visit the work as long as they don’t go onto the private property. You can see the farmhouse from the highway. “A Haunting” was made to encourage people to travel to regional areas, and like all of Moffatt’s work, it has multiple meanings, it forces people to consider colonisation and land ownership, it also acts as a beacon during this pandemic. Moffatt has stated about the work quote “A Haunting is a house with a rhythmic heartbeat and it burns red. It sits campfire-like and honours First Nations peoples on whose land it sits” end quote. She has also said that it could be interpreted as a crime scene. For horror fans, it might seem like a cabin in the woods scenario. I would love a road trip to visit this work, which is a departure from Moffatt’s work that has preceded it. She continues to excite and surprise with each work she shares with the world. 

I hope you enjoy “Bedevil”. For those who are new to Moffatt’s work, I hope this film encourages you to seek out more of her work. It’s important to understand the significance of this First Nations icon in art and film history. 

“Bedevil” is streaming on SBS OnDemand.