Our good friends at the Portland Horror Film Festival have announced their 2024 film lineup! Once again, we are proud to sponsor one of the country’s great little horror film festivals. The festival will be held over five days and feature nonstop horror films, headlined by the West Coast premiere of Jill Gevargizian’s (The Stylist) new film Ghost Game. This year, TEN feature films will be presented, and as usual, some of the country’s best-curated horror short film blocks will be shown. Also, join The Scariest Things on Saturday, June 8, after the movies are done, and play in our Horror Movie Greenlight Pitch!
For those of you who have been long-time followers of The Scariest Things, you will know that we have grown up with The Portland Horror Movie Film Festival. We both started our enterprises in 2017, and through the Portland horror community, we have been joined at the hip ever since. Festival directors Brian and Gwen Callahan put on a fan-friendly festival and take great care in making each event special. Brian’s artistic skills come to bear yearly with wonderful graphics and associated top-shelf merchandise. If you are quick… and I mean REAL quick… You can get in on their Patron of Horror bonuses for fabulous swag. You must commit by tomorrow (May 28) to get in on the special, though.
This festival gets its strength from independent horror. This may be the only time you can see many of these films on the big screen, certainly the short films. Many of these films will also have the filmmakers in attendance, who will be doing Q&A with the audience after their films show. I cannot emphasize enough how impressive the short film blocks are every year. I can personally attest that the Brea Grant-directed MLM might be worth the price of the full festival pass. It’s hysterically funny!
This year, in particular, PHFF has established equity in their showings. An astounding 50% of the films this year have been directed by women. Foreign films again have a very strong showing from all corners of the world, from Kazakhstan to Sweden and all points in-between. The festival shows at two great Portland art-house theaters, the grand Hollywood Theater (The best popcorn in town!) and neighborhood darling The Clinton Street Theater. For those of you who can’t attend in person, a streaming festival is available. See below for the details.
For a full description of the event, here is the formal press release:
WOMEN KILL AT 9TH ANNUAL PORTLAND HORROR FILM FESTIVAL™!
PORTLAND, OR – Portland Horror Film Festival returns to the historic Hollywood Theatre and Clinton Street Theater June 5-9th for its 9th annual event!
Continuing their mission of presenting a diverse and inclusive program of the best independent horror films, this year’s lineup includes 70 short and feature films from 16 countries, including films from Black, Asian, Latinx, and Queer filmmakers, with nearly half of the films directed by women!
This includes the West Coast Premiere of GHOST GAME, directed by acclaimed filmmaker Jill Gevargizian (The Stylist), psychological horror feature DID I? by Sarah Tice, Queer Horror feature CARNAGE FOR CHRISTMAS (Australia) by Alice Maio Mackay, and found footage shocker IT DOESN’T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS co-directed by Rachel Kempf.
The festival spans 5 days at two venues, starting on Wednesday, June 5th at the Hollywood Theatre, with the World Premiere of the religious horror feature IN THE NAME OF GOD (Sweden), written and directed by Ludvig Gür, and Italian Creature Feature THE COMPLEX FORMS, directed by Fabio D’Orta. Thursday brings the hilariously bloody JURASSIC PARK homage THE INVISIBLE RAPTOR (featuring Sean Astin!) with filmmakers Mike Capes and Johnny Wickham in attendance! Director Jill Gevargizian and lead actress Kia Dorsey will be in attendance for Friday’s West Coast Premiere of home invasion horror feature GHOST GAME, with Q&A afterwards, followed by the World Premiere of Portland-made SOV horror feature HIDING HENRY with director Sean Whiteman in attendance!
Weekend screenings at the Clinton Street Theater feature Horror by Women on Saturday with 3 feature films and 2 short film blocks. A woman grapples with her dissociative identity disorder in DID I?, followed by Q&A with director Sarah Tice. A vengeful ghost arises from a true-crime podcaster’s visit to her small hometown in Alice Maio Mackay’s CARNAGE FOR CHRISTMAS, and IT DOESN’T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS tops off the evening. Only available in theaters, this found footage film about 3 friends uncovering the mystery of a haunted duplex and the cult of strangers drawn to it, has been scaring audiences across the country!
Sunday closes out the festival with 2 US Premiere features + short films! In giallo slasher, ROAD TO THE MOUTH OF HELL (Brazil) directed by Julio César Napoli Filho, a group of friends offer a ride to a teenage girl, but become stranded themselves and are soon the targets of a psychotic killer. DASTUR (Kazakhstan), directed by Kuanysh Beise explores the plight of many women who are oppressed in Kazakhstan. A young woman is forced to marry her assaulter in accordance with local traditions. Revenge is swift and supernatural.
A bevy of short films (60 of them!) rounds out the programming, boasting some notable talent, including Zach Galligan (Gremlins) in Charles de Lauzirika’s “Honk”, Barbara Crampton (Jakob’s Wife) in Brea Grant’s “MLM”, Andrea Bang (Kim’s Convenience) in Allison Miller’s “Hollow”, and Lucy Davis (The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) in Lisa Soper’s “Have a Good Day”.
International short film highlights include the World Premiere of Indonesian folk horror “Heirlooms” directed by Devina Sofiyanti, the visually stunning and harrowing journey of “Juggernaut” from Italy, directed by Daniele & Emanuele Ricci, Icelandic holiday horror “Krampuss” by Guðni Líndal Benediktsson, “Poppy’s Saturn”, a terrifying Lynchian nightmare from Belgium directed by Nicole Tegelaar, and “Dead End” an allegoric queer horror from Russian filmmaker Dima Barch (in attendance).
The infamous Shorts Gone Wild caps off the weekend with the weirdest, most hilarious, and uncanny short films of the festival! Look for “The Connoisseur” by Seattle filmmaker Eric Morgret, and “Yummo Spot” dir. by Ashley Brandon.
Horror fanatics who can’t make it in person can stream a selection of more than 20 hours of films, including 7 feature films, available through the Portland Horror Film Festival’s Eventive portal. The streaming program begins Thursday June 6th (available anywhere in the US only).
For ticket information, the full schedule, film listing, and more, please visit https://portlandhorrorfilmfestival.com
The Scariest Things PHFF After Party Event
For those of you who will attend, come find me and say hello! I will be in the audience throughout the festival. Better yet, come by after the Saturday, June 8 movies outside Dot’s Cafe across the street from the Clinton Street Theater, where we will once again pretend to be movie moguls and make horror movies with the Horror Movie Greenlight Pitch! Last year we had teams, mostly comprised of short film makers, who got to “open the bank” and fan-cast movies with the biggest stars and all their favorite tropes. The event was like storytime at the campfire with everyone pitching their best ideas for a horror movie. Get a beer and a burger and test your inner screenwriter chops!
