Grant Hardie on the birth of Monster Pictures Studios

Grant Hardie is the co-founder of Monster Pictures, one of Australia and New Zealand's leading distributors of horror and genre films. In 2011, Monster Pictures birthed the darkly delightful Monster Fest, which has quickly become Australia's flagship horror and genre film festival.

Now, in 2025, Monster Pictures, in partnership with Head Gear Films and White Hot Productions, have morphed into their next stage of evolution, launching Monster Pictures Studios, a full-service genre film studio which aims to work with Aussie creatives to bring genre films to life with the intention of becoming a defining force of Australian genre cinema.

There's a giddy level of delight when you read a press release like this one, as if we're honouring the scrappy genre-roots of Aussie cinema, splashing back to the era of Ozploitation where anything was possible. While the Age of Ozploitation is over, that doesn't mean Aussie filmmakers can't birth a new movement, and hopefully Monster Pictures Studios is going to do just that.

First films off the ranks includes the action-thriller Seven Snipers, directed by Sandra Sciberras, featuring Radha Mitchell, Tim Roth, Ioan Gruffudd, and Ryan Kwanten. The next wave includes films from horror legends Greg McLean & Sean Byrne, while Matt Day will be making his feature directorial debut.

I caught up with Grant Hardie to talk about Monsters Pictures ability to engage with audiences, filmmakers, and to shape how horror and genre films are embraced in Australia.

To find out more, visit MonsterPicturesStudios.com.

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