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Luke Sparke’s ‘Occupation: Rainfall’ to premiere at Monster Fest

‘Occupation: Rainfall.’

Luke Sparke’s Occupation: Rainfall, the sequel to his 2018 sci-fi thriller Occupation, will have its world premiere at Monster Fest in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.

The festival, which runs from October 29 – November 1, will provide the launch platform for the cinema release handled by Grant Hardie’s Monster Pictures.

Ken Jeong, Daniel Gillies, Temuera Morrison, Dan Ewing, Trystan Go, Zac Garred, Mark Coles Smith and Dena Kaplan star in the sequel which picks up two years later as survivors of the intergalactic invasion of Earth fight back in a desperate ground war.

As casualties mount, the resistance and their unexpected allies uncover a plot that could see the war come to a decisive end.

Sparke tells IF a launch date is yet to be set, given the closure of Victorian cinemas and capacity limits on cinemas in other states, but he expects it will open soon after Monster Fest.

Producers Carly Imrie and Carmel Imrie raised the budget of nearly $20 million from private investors, pre-sales negotiated by Film Mode Entertainment’s Clay Epstein and cash-flowing the Producer Offset.

Epstein pre-sold the film to a bunch of major markets including the US (distributor to be announced), France (Metropolitan Film), Germany (Splendid Film), Japan (New Select Co., with a guaranteed theatrical release) and Korea (Scene and Sound).

Kicking off the festival will be the Australian premiere of Possessor, the sophomore feature of Brandon Cronenberg (Antiviral). Christopher Abbott (It Comes at Night) and Andrea Riseborough (Mandy) star in the saga of corporate assassin who may have inhabited the wrong body in which to enact her next mission.

Canadian director Steven Kostanski’s Psycho Goreman is set in a small town where two kids possess a highly coveted magical amulet that gives them the ability to control an ancient alien overlord.

‘Shakespeare’s Shitstorm.’

Troma founder Lloyd Kaufman’s Shakespeare’s Shitstorm is a twisted, modern retelling of The Tempest, laden with excess bodily fluids, hyper-violence and gore.

Festival director Hardie teases: “We’ll be surprised if this film isn’t cancelled before its Australian premiere.”

The line-up includes a new, 4K restoration of Paul Verhoeven’s Total Recall, marking the 30th anniversary since the launch of his take on legendary author Phillip K. Dick’s classic tale, which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone and Ronny Cox.

The venues are Event Cinemas in Marion, Myer Centre in Brisbane, Innaloo and George Street and Melbourne’s Cinema Nova.

Tickets for 14 films cost between $220 and $224. Five film passes and tickets for individual sessions will go on sale when the final program is released.

Website: http://www.monsterfest.com.au