Screen stories to watch this spooky season
We’ve got your nightmare fuel sorted with these hair-raising stories from Australian filmmakers.
Possessions, hauntings and ghouls, oh my! Australian screen narratives are filled with the supernatural, uncanny and chilling, so we’ve rounded up just a few titles from the archive to thrill and entertain this spooky season.
Celebrating 10 years since its release, global hit The Babadook continues to evoke dread wherever it’s viewed. Essie Davis delivers an unforgettable performance as a single mother navigating the violent death of her husband when her son’s obsession with the shadowy Mr Babadook seemingly manifests. A lamentation of trauma manifest in the queerest ghoul Australian horror has seen. We spoke to director Jennifer Kent about the 10th anniversary of her debut film:
“I recently did a re-release tour of the film in America and could see first-hand how well loved The Babadook is, which was very moving to me. I’m really happy that Kristina Ceyton (of Causeway Films), our team and I were able to protect the film’s vision to the level we did.
Ten years on I see it’s harder for filmmakers, emerging or otherwise, to get their work made. This is why it’s so important that we can continue to support filmmakers’ original voices and help them make beautiful films that can be impactful and enduring.”
Based on the award-winning short of the same name, the feature film reunites Shari Sebbens and Meyne Wyatt as new parents terrorised by a malevolent spirit in a haunting reflection on cross-generational trauma of the Stolen Generations. Fresh from its global festival run, The Moogai opens in cinemas locally from 31 October.
Writer and director Jon Bell spoke to the Screen Australia podcast about bringing a First Nations perspective to the horror genre following the release of the short film in 2021. Listen to the episode here.
Even death can’t separate best friends Chester and Mapplethrope after the latter meets an unfortunate fate at an abandoned amusement park haunted by teen ghosts. This “gateway horror” series Crazy Fun Park blends comedy and drama for an entertaining story about friendship, grief and adolescent ghosts. Created by Nicholas Verso (Swift Street, Boys in the Trees) for ABC Kids, the award-winning series was produced by acclaimed production team Werner Film Productions (Dance Academy, The Newsreader) and Australian Children’s Television Foundation (ACTF).
When a group of boarding school girls and teacher vanish during a field trip to Hanging Rock, hysteria grips a small community in colonial era Australia. Use of the landscape is a classic gothic trope and is embraced to eery effect in the enigmatic tale of colonial fear and female repression. Based on the novel of the same name by Joan Lindsay, Peter Weir’s “horror mystery romance” is credited with inspiring the ethereal vibes of Sofia Ford Coppola and still inspires visitors to the infamous rock, some 50 years after its release.
A chilling collection of ghost stories by First Nations artist Tracey Moffatt, beDevil is the first feature film by an Indigenous Australian woman. A young boy haunted by the ghost of an American soldier, a family plagued by invisible trains, and young lovers doomed to dance forever - Moffat’s tales of loss, place and memory are presented like a surreal dream, from the theatrical staging to the hyper-realist aesthetic. Selected for Un Certain Regard in the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.
Capturing the occult frenzy of the 70s, Late Night with the Devil introduces variety talk show host Jack Delroy (played with manic ambition by David Dastmalchian) grappling with a live broadcast gone wrong when a seemingly possessed child unleashes terror into living rooms. From Australian filmmakers Colin and Cameron Cairnes and filmed in Melbourne, the devilish horror opened at #1 on streaming platform Shudder and holds a 97% critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Rated #10 on Letterboxd’s Official Highest Rated Horror Films Directed by Women, Ann Turner’s debut feature film stars Rebecca Smart in a globally acclaimed performance as the titular Celia. Devasted by her grandmother’s death, reckoning with bullies, and an over-active imagination, Celia’s anxieties and morbid fantasies come to life amongst the violent paranoia of 1950s rural Australia.
A hungry goblin, an unfulfilled death ritual, paramedics with nocturnal predilections, the uncertainty of new friends, and a teenage joyride with demonic consequences - Night Bloomers is five short tales exploring different aspects of the Korean diaspora experience. Creator and director Andrew Undi Lee’s anthology uses fantasy and horror storytelling to process intergenerational trauma and what Lee calls han (한) – a complex representation of suffering and grief – to comedic and frightening effect.
Watch our Behind the Scenes video with Lee (above), as they talk about the inspiration behind Night Bloomers.
Something spooky for the whole family - teen trio Charlie, Pierce and the ghostly Que solve supernatural misadventures as the new monster hunters in training to Old Man Helsing. Now streaming its third season, The Strange Chores was created by Ludo Studio, the team that brought you global phenomena Bluey, and features the voice talents of pop culture favourites Julian Dennison (Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Deapool 2), Michael Philippou (half of RackaRacka, Talk to Me) and Charlotte Nicdao (Mythic Quest).
Every weekend in the small town of Kingseat, performers transform into zombies, chainsaw-wielding clowns, and nightmarish misfits at New Zealand’s largest haunted house and the most successful scare park in the Southern Hemisphere. Directed by Florian Habicht, the documentary explores not just the appeal of horror and fear as entertainment, but the unassuming team and close-knit community that has formed around it. Spookers is also an Official Australian/New Zealand Co-production, produced by Madman Productions.
Any film that disturbs horror maven Mike Flanagan is a must-see. A family looks for answers to their teenage daughter’s mysterious death when it appears she is haunting their home. Combing found footage and docufiction format, the debut feature film from Joel Anderson (Late Night With the Devil) stars Rosie Traynor (High Country) and artist David Pledger as grieving parents looking for solace from self-proclaimed psychic Steve Jodrell (Wentworth), with Talia Zucker (In Vitro) as the recently deceased Alice.
Find out Where to Watch these spooky titles, wherever you are, with The Screen Guide.
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