Six Feet Down Under Brings Outback Terror to Bristol

Forbidden Worlds Film Festival is diving straight into the scorching sands of Australia’s cinematic underworld this October, with a two-night grindhouse celebration dedicated to the blood-soaked, bone-rattling fever dream of 70s and 80s Ozploitation. Titled The Big Scream: Six Feet Down Under, the Bristol-based event promises kangaroo-kicking chaos, outback terror, and enough gore to make a meat pie nervous.

Running 24 to 25 October at Bristol Megascreen, Six Feet Down Under pays homage to a bizarre and brutal chapter in Australian film history. This was an era born from loosened censorship laws and generous tax breaks, fuelling a boom in genre cinema that gleefully embraced sleaze, shock, and swagger. The result? A wave of low-budget thrillers, eco-horrors and revenge romps that turned the Aussie wilderness into a cinematic hellscape.

Friday kicks off with Colin Eggleston’s Long Weekend (1978), a slow-burn tale of a couple whose disrespect for nature comes back to bite. Then comes Next of Kin (1982), often dubbed “Suspiria Down Under”, a surreal descent into ghostly madness set in a remote care home. Closing the night is the gloriously grotesque Body Melt (1993), in which health supplements lead to horrific body-horror meltdowns in a suburban cul-de-sac.

Saturday’s line-up cranks the madness up further. First, Fair Game (1986) pits a wildlife sanctuary worker against Outback poachers in a revenge thriller that blends car chases and feminism with feral energy. Thirst (1979) follows, where a woman discovers she may be the descendant of Elizabeth Bathory, and that a secret society wants her to lead a vampiric blood farm. The final screening, Razorback (1984), unleashes a giant killer boar upon the brutal wilderness, in what many call Australia’s answer to Jaws.

The festival’s tongue-in-cheek approach is matched by its academic insight, with several screenings introduced by Dr Stephen Morgan, a film studies lecturer with expertise in Australian cinema and Indigenous horror. There’s even a nod to Wake in Fright, cited by Morgan as a disturbingly accurate portrait of outback life.

Tickets range from full weekend passes to individual screenings, with concessions available. Organisers promise more than just movies – this is a celebration of excess, grit and the singularly savage spirit of Ozploitation.

Expect sunburnt paranoia, marauding beasts, questionable morals and VHS-style madness all served with a bushwhacked sense of humour. You won’t want to miss this event, The Big Scream’s Six Feet Down Under is ready to throw a whole heap of horror on the barbie.

For more information and tickets, visit forbiddenworldsfilmfestival.co.uk/big-scream-2025