News

Stars: Saya Minami, Kenji Shimada, Kaori Kawabuchi, Kei Miura, Nozomi de Lencquesaing, Yoji Yamada, Sawa Masaki, Yasunari Kondo, Ten Miyazawa, Yûki Kuroda, Dylan Davies Tanaka, Dylan Heath, Ayumu Kawashima, Yumiko Dunk | Written by Bill Clare, Addison Heath, Dylan Heath, Jasmine Jakupi | Directed by Addison Heath, Jasmine Jakupi

I’ll be honest, I’m a Huge fan of writer/director Addison Heath’s work – from his script for Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla; to his fantastic directorial debut Under a Kaleidoscope (which I reviewed back in 2014 when it screened at that years MonsterFest); to his most recent film, the superb genre-bending Monda Yakuza; I have enjoyed each and ever one of his movies to no end. So how excited am I for with his latest opus, The Viper’s Hex, another film inspired by Far East cinema? Let’s just say a Lot!

Whilst his previous film, Mondo Yakuza, was clearly inspired by...

Australia’s premier genre film festival, Monster Fest returns for its seventh year this November 23rd to 26th at Melbourne’s Lido Cinemas with a mix of World, Australian & Victorian Premieres! The 2017 chapter of Monster Fest, takes on a very Australian flavour – the first wave announcement includes not one, but Six(!) brand new Australian feature films, most of which will be enjoying their World Premieres at the festival.

Opening the festival is one of 2018’s most anticipated new horror flicks, Christopher Sun’s creature-feature, Boar. Now we’re huge fans of Sun here at Nerdly, especially his films Daddy’s Little Girl (a film that should have got the plaudits the more recent Hounds of Love received) and Charlie’s Farm. Sun is not the only filmmaker returning with a new film at this years Monster Fest, joining him are Daniel Armstrong (Murderdrome) with his film Tarnation; and Nerdly favourites...

Black Forest Films, the Auusie production company behind the awesome Mondo Yakuza and the forthcoming The Viper’s Hex, have announced their next film - The Shinjuku Five.

Set to film in Japan and Australia, The Shinjuku Five is once again written and co-directed, alongside Jasmine Jakupi, by Addison Heath (Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla, Under a Kaleidoscope) and stars Yoji Yamada, Saya Minami, Cris Cochrane, Tim Jason Wicks and Mondo Yakuza star Kenji Shimada. The soundtrack comes from Queensland based The Screaming Meanies, who have provided scores for The Perfect Nonsense, Mondo Yakuza and Stuart Simpson’s kung-fu short Dragon Force.

Check out the poster for The Shinjuku Five below:...

Directed by Daniel Armstrong (Murderdrome, From Parts Unknown), sci-fi action/comedy Sheborg Massacre has just made it’s Australian DVD/Mod debut on the Fatal Visions label (which also released the awesome Mondo Yakuza). To celebrate the release of the film, which stars Kirsten Betts, Joshua Black, Maggie Chretien, Kristen Condon, and Jen Costello, the first Six minutes of Sheborg Massacre have been made available to watch online – check it out below:

When an alien fugitive crash lands into a local puppy farm and begins turning people into mutated robot killing machines with a taste for puppy flesh, Dylan, and Eddie, two self-proclaimed political activists, are all that stand between the Earth and total domination. Forced into a ‘dare to be great’ situation that neither are prepared for, the two Bff’s must fight their way past cops, city officials and cybernetic dog butchers in order to destroy the evil SheBorg and save the planet!

Stars: Kenji Shimada, Glenn Maynard, Skye Medusa, Cris Cochrane, Kristen Condon, Vlady T, Saya Minami, Tom Liddy | Written by Addison Heath, Glenn Maynard, Kenji Shimada | Directed by Addison Heath

A brand-new take on the Japanese Yakuza films of the 1960s, Mondo Yakuza is clearly inspired by the nihilistic work of Seijun Suzuki (Branded to Kill) in particular. The film tells the story of Ichiro Kataki (Shimada), a violent Yakuza gang member travels to Melbourne, Australia after his beloved sister Yuko is brutally murdered by a group of criminals. Hell bent on vengeance he teams up with Cassidy Arizona (Skye Medusa), a lady of the night with a vendetta of her own…

Seijun Suzuki’s prolific work in the yakuza genre was marked by a few things: his visual flair, the often avant-garde nature of his movies, sheer coolness… and actor Joe Shishido; who appeared in a number of Suzuki’s movies,...

Australia’s premier genre film festival Monster Fest wrapped its most successful edition to date last night in Melbourne with official closing film The Greasy Strangler (with actors Sky Elobar and Elizabeth De Razzo in person) followed by its annual awards ceremony acknowledging the best of this year’s impressive lineup.

The features jury, consisting of Fantastic Fest head programmer Evrim Ersoy, filmmaker Donna McRae and longtime screen critic Simon Foster awarded the festival’s top prize, The Golden Monster, to Julia Ducournau’s Raw, with Ducournau in person to accept her award, beautifully designed and sculpted by Rain Gidley Studios. Raw also walked away with an honour for best FX.

“Monsters Choice” audience awards also went to two of Nerdly’s current favourite Ozploitation filmmakers: Stuart Simpson (Monstro!, Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla) for his short Dragon Force; and Addison Heath (Under a Kaleidoscope) for his new feature Mondo Yakuza.

The...