Guy Webster
Guy Webster is a theatre critic and occasional film critic. His work has been published by Horror Homeroom, Overland, Kill Your Darlings and The Conversation. He is a regular theatre reviewer for Limelight, Australian Book Review and The Saturday Paper. He just finished his doctorate on fear and modernist literature at The University of Melbourne, but don’t hold that against him.
Instagram: @guywebster101
Letterboxd: @gweebstar
Substack: This Is Not a Review
Location: Melbourne
Movie location I call home: A tie between the titular peach from James and the Giant Peach and the nunnery from Black Narcissus.
What was the film or experience that made you want to write about the screen? I saw Saoirse Ronan talk about Brooklyn at the London Film Festival in 2016. I had the kind of crush on her only a gay man could muster, and I’d spent days thinking about the movie after seeing it. I can’t even remember what she said, if I'm honest. But I walked away from that event and enrolled in a Master’s program (lmao!). Something about feeling cinema’s capacity to utterly change my perspective, even subtly, and deciding to lean in right there and let it change my life completely. I’ve never shaken my faith in that capacity, nor my sentimental soft spot for John Crowley movies.
Why do you think film criticism matters in 2026? I think we’re less sure what films matter in 2026 and increasingly interested in what forms film can take.
Who is a critic that inspires you? They’re on the ‘film scholar’ side of things, but Eugenie Brinkema is my favourite writer on film. I’ll re-read her treatise on The Human Centipede or Rubber any day – she strikes the perfect balance between conceptual close readings, philosophical depth and style.
In five words (or less), the future of cinema is: Death of post-horror; Ma 2.
What’s the best thing you’ve seen this year so far? I saw Stuart Gordon’s 1986 From Beyond at Monster Fest earlier this year. What a disgusting, delicious movie. The culture craves the abject.
What’s your MIFF 2026 theme music? ‘Portrait of Mr. Boogie’ by Christopher Young, from the Sinister soundtrack.