Razor Bear Films?
Who is
WE MAKE MONSTERS. WE OPEN DOORS.
Razor Bear Films is a First Nations-led genre studio founded by writer-director Josh Sambono and architect turned producer Laura Sambono. From Western Sydney, we create bold commercial horror, build original screen worlds and develop pathways for the filmmakers who will help bring them to life.
Built by filmmakers who
realised they were better together.
Razor Bear Films began with a simple realisation: we make better work together.
Josh has an instinct for story, character and bringing imagined worlds to life. Laura knows how to organise the chaos, build relationships and turn creative ambition into something real. We often say we are two halves of one brain. Different strengths, shared purpose, and someone beside you when the load gets heavy.
For years, Josh built his career as a writer-director, but without a producing partner he could not make the projects closest to his heart. So we stopped waiting for the right team and became it.
Genre is our creative home because it is what we love and what we watch as a family. Horror lets us explore fear, trauma and difficult histories through heightened worlds. For Josh, it is also a way to process the inherited pain of Aboriginal history and transform it into stories with power, humour and hope.
We did not get here alone. Mentors and collaborators opened doors for us, and we believe those doors should stay open.
What began with award-winning short films grew into a studio in Western Sydney: a place to make ambitious genre stories, train emerging filmmakers and help more diverse voices find their way onto screens around the world.
Meet the founders
Josh Sambono
Co-Founder | Writer | Director | Creative LeadJosh Sambono is a proud Jingili man. His work combines First Nations culture with bold genre storytelling, using monsters, heightened worlds and dark humour to explore identity, history and the fears hiding beneath everyday life.
He was selected by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Taika Waititi for a director attachment on Marvel Studios’ THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER gaining firsthand experience of filmmaking at blockbuster scale. Josh made his television writing debut on Warwick Thornton’s AMC+ series FIREBITE and has since written for NCIS: SYDNEY Season 3.
His horror short SUSPECT premiered at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, where it won the Audience Choice Award, before receiving Best Australian Short at A Night of Horror International Film Festival.
At Razor Bear Films, Josh continues to create unapologetically entertaining First Nations genre stories for audiences in Australia and around the world.
Laura Sambono is a creative entrepreneur and producer. A former architect, she once designed structures in the real world and now helps build creative worlds for the screen. She brings a strong foundation in design, strategy and project management, combining commercial thinking with a sharp visual instinct.
Laura produced the award-winning horror short SUSPECT, which premiered at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival and won the Audience Choice Award, before receiving Best Australian Short at A Night of Horror International Film Festival.
She was part of the winning team behind the 2021 AACTA Pitch: Bite competition for DROP BEARS . Laura also creates Razor Bear Films’ visual presentations and pitch decks, shaping how its projects are positioned for industry partners and international markets.
At Razor Bear Films, Laura leads the company’s producing and business strategy, building the partnerships, investment pathways and infrastructure needed to take bold Australian genre stories to audiences around the world.
Co-Founder | Producer | Business LeadLaura Sambono
OUR HOME
HORROR IS
We love horror because it can be almost anything. A creature feature. Body horror. A slasher. Something psychological, supernatural or just deeply weird.
It can make you laugh, recoil, lean forward or watch through your fingers. At its best, horror takes real fears, uncomfortable ideas and things we don't quite know how to talk about, then turns them into something impossible to ignore.
That freedom is why horror and genre filmmaking sit at the heart of Razor Bear Films. We make bold Australian stories that entertain first, while leaving something behind after the lights come up.
And because horror isn't one thing, we thought we'd map the territory.
Explore the subgenres of horror.