The Horror Short Film Director Roundtable is one of the most important things that we did at the Portland Horror Film Festival. It provided an elevated platform for horror short filmmakers. Oftentimes, this is ground zero for original horror ideas. Unless you are a Hollywood nepo-director, short film creation is where you learn your chops. I wanted to give these creatives an opportunity to share their experiences in making movies, both good and bad, so that we can all learn a little more about the craft.
Life as a short filmmaker can be an experience in the shadows. Your films are rarely seen outside of film festivals, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. This is where most creative minds hone their crafts. Take a simple concept and do it well. Do you have something scary or funny to tell? Is there an idea that has been lurking in the back of your brain that you have to give life to? A short film will give you the opportunity to learn production, editing, budgeting, and team management. It also places you in a community of people who are open to sharing their work with one another. That’s where the round table fits in.
After our discussion, I told the group that, even though I wanted this discussion to be a forum for them to share their wins and losses with each other, I selfishly set up this talk so I could learn more about horror moviemaking. Nine years in on being a small horror press journalist, and I still feel like I am only scratching the surface about what a director has to do. Just how do you do it? These discussions give me more talking points and access to better questions to ask.
The Portland Horror Film Festival is one of the best curated horror film festivals in the country. Not only do Gwen and Brian Callahan select some of the best horror short films for their festivals, but they also provide opportunities for short film alumni to showcase their feature films. One of the questions I asked in our roundtable discussion was, “How many of you are looking to be feature film directors?” All of them raised their hands (with the exception of Patrick Hogan, who has already directed a feature film). For these directors, here is some encouraging data.
This year alone had FIVE directors who previously presented short films at either PHFF or the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival and later had their feature films shown at these festivals.
Here are the PHFF Alumni filmmakers who presented a short film and then a feature:
- Anthony Cousins: Short Films – “The Bloody Ballad of Squirt Reynolds” and “Every Time We Meet for Ice Cream Your Whole Fucking Face Explodes” to Feature Films – Frogman (2023) and Frogman Returns (2026)
- Jeff Ferrell: Short Film – “Morella” to Feature Film – The Demonatrix (2026)
- Levi Buchannan: Short Film – “We Said Forever” to Feature Film Sitra Achra (2026)
- Krsy Fox: Short Film – “What the Spell” to Feature Film – Big Baby (2026)
- Masaki Nishiyama: Short Film “Smahorror” to Feature Film “The Invisible Half” (2026)
- Zack Ogle: Short Film “We Got a Monkey’s Paw” to Feature Film – It Needs Eyes (2025)
- Craig Ouellette: “Str$p” to Feature Film – Straight on Til Morning (2025)
- Andrew Bowser: Short Film – “Little Willy” to Feature Film – Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Evil (2022)
- Izzy Lee: “My Monster”, “Dark Signals”, “Rehomed” to Feature Film – House of Ashes (2024)
- Kenichi Ugana: Short Film – “Visitors” to Feature Film – Love Will Tear Us Apart (2023)
- Alice Maio Mackay: Short Film – “The Serpent’s Skin” to Feature Film T-Blockers (2023)
- Matthew John Lawrence: Short Film “Larry Gone Demon” to Feature Film – Uncle Peckerhead (2020)
- Justin Harding: Short Film “Kookie” to Feature Film – Making Monsters (2019)
The PHFF Horror Short Film Director Roundtable Recording:
Here is the roundtable discussion. It’s all about the lessons learned. The good, the bad, and the ridiculous. My past experience doing these round tables sometimes put the filmmakers on the spot, and I didn’t want this to be a “stump the directors” exercise. I prepared them with the following questions:
- Apart from financing, what was the biggest challenge in making your movie?
- What was the most interesting thing you learned while making this film?
- How many of you are filmmakers as a second career?
- What remains a mystery to you as a filmmaker that you think might be answered by one of your peers in this discussion?
- What piece of advice do you have for your fellow directors?
This group really got into the discussion, and had the festival not started up, we could have gone on for quite a while longer. I had a great time, and I believe they did as well.
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The Horror Short Film Director Roundtable Films:
Blindsided
Directed by P. Patrick Hogan
Starring Crystal Loverro
Portland Horror Film Festival: Winner of the Devil’s Discord (Best Sound Design)
A blind schoolteacher struggles to survive through a nightmarish night when an alien spaceship crashes and unleashes a monstrous predator. This unique horror short film features an all-low-vision cast and places the audience in the POV of a blind protagonist who is only able to hear what happens around her.
Director Statements:
“Blindsided is a riveting short horror film that takes a unique narrative approach, providing audiences with an immersive glimpse into the harrowing experience of Maria, a blind woman confronting the most terrifying ordeal of her life. The horror remains unseen, both to her and the audience, heightening the suspense and reminding us that sometimes, the most terrifying things are the ones we don’t see coming…
This is an innovative short film that ventures into uncharted territory within the horror genre. The narrative unfolds in a tranquil neighborhood, abruptly disrupted by a crashing alien spacecraft and the horrifying monster it unleashes into the night. However, what sets this film apart is the unique perspective from which the story is told – the POV of Maria, a blind schoolteacher living alone. Maria’s desperate struggle to evade the otherworldly predator, guided solely by what she hears, will provide an experience unlike any other horror short.
Additionally, to promote diversity and inclusivity, in conjunction with our Disability Authenticity Consultant Vanni Le and Casting Director Danielle Pretsfelder Demchick, all the characters in the film are played by low-vision actors, placing the spotlight on the often-overlooked talent within the low-vision community.
We are very proud of Blindsided and look forward to enjoying it in theaters with an audience who doesn’t know what they are about to experience.”
Scullion
Written and Directed by Trevor Graciano
Starring: Whitney Garner as “Samantha”, Cody Parr as “Greg”, and Jim Close as “The Maid”
A playful couple test their household chore habits and unknowingly summon a vengeful presence.
Director Statements:
“We all carry habits inherited from our parents into adulthood. I grew up in a religious household where some of those habits were helpful, but many were not—and they’ve lingered in ways I don’t welcome. Some habits fade with time, while others remain, quietly shaping us in the background.
This film explores the struggle to break free from those ingrained patterns, and the imaginative consequences of what happens when they refuse to let go.
*It’s really just about how to load the communal dishwasher correctly.”
Worst Thing You’ve Ever Done
Directed by PJ Germain
Written by Autumn Palen and PJ Germain
Starring: Brady Gentry, Benjamin Nowak, Bix Krieger, Charlie N. Townsend, Cailyn Rice, Ethan Ahn, Emma Smith Watts, and Erin Rae Kykendall
HIGH SCHOOL REALLY SUCKS… and no one knows that better than best friends Aaron and Keith. So when they set out to crash the last graduation party of the summer, emotions fly high, and the culture clash of teenagers finds them playing a simple game that has dire consequences.
Director’s Statement:
“Before he passed, screenwriter Gil Dennis told me during my time at AFI, “Write what hurts.” That idea has stayed with me; it’s the compass I use when choosing the stories I want to tell.
When I first read Autumn Palen’s original draft of Worst Thing You’ve Ever Done, it hurt. It transported me back to moments in my own adolescence; memories filled with shame, ridicule, and isolation. But what floored me was its third-act twist. It was something I’d never felt so viscerally in a short script. I knew I had to direct it.
What began as a contained character piece evolved into something more personal. I rewrote the script to reflect my own lived experiences, with every character, every event drawn from real moments that left a mark. I wanted to take a character that I felt so intertwined with, and make him someone that the audience would really relate to before reaching the moment where everything changes; the blood-drenched punchline to the twisted joke these high school kids played on each other. I set it during the 90’s, as it was a period of transition for me as an 80’s kid, being on the cusp of the old and new world.
I needed the film to be an exploration of adolescent loneliness which dealt with the complexity of the friendships and social hierarchies that often defined who we were at that fragile age. We weren’t quite kids anymore, but we weren’t adults yet either, so how did we approach the consequences of reckless behavior?
My team and I knew that casting would make or break the film. To capture that truth, casting was everything. I reviewed over 6,000 submissions, narrowing it down to a callback of who I thought could embody the characters. I needed authenticity, so at that callback, I ditched the script and asked actors, in character, to describe moments like first dates or getting asked to prom. It revealed who leaped from the page and became real.
A week before we were to start shooting, my original cinematographer had to back out due to a conflict with the TV series he was currently shooting, and months of planning began to crumble. In the days leading up to whether or not we were going to cancel the project entirely, my long-time collaborator and cinematographer Jeff Billings took on the task. We shot the film over 3 tireless days, and as any director knows, you plan as much as you can; however, the plan eventually goes out the window. So I played a game of pivoting and being malleable myself in order to get what we needed to tell the story.
The film is a testament to all the parts working together for a singular goal, and my hope is that when that first music cue drops, the audience is strapped in and ready to ride the roller coaster to that final frame.”
Cat and Mouse
Written and Directed by Brady Cates
Starring: Halima Kamara as “Michelle”, Collan Simmons as “Felix, and Ron Laprecht
Edited by Luke Oleen Junk, and Hayley Frederick
Michelle is caught in a killer’s sadistic and carefully orchestrated game. With danger closing in at every turn, Michelle must outwit and outlast her relentless pursuer. But as the night goes on, unsettling clues reveal that all may not be what it seems.
This time, it’s the mouse’s turn to catch the cat.
My Severed Arm
Written and Directed by Casey de Fremery
Starring: Olivia Rose Prince as “Sidney”, Ryan Romine as “Mason”, and Julia Linger as “Commercial Model”
Portland Horror Film Festival: Funny Bone Award for Exceptional Horror Comedy
A woman tries to escape a serial killer using DIY videos, but the internet won’t stop trying to sell her things first.
Director’s Statement:
“My Severed Arm is a horror-comedy about a “final girl” who, after fleeing into a cabin in the woods, discovers that her greatest threat isn’t the machete-wielding slasher outside—it’s the barrage of unskippable ads and paywalls blocking her access to life-saving information. Trapped, bleeding, and desperate to repair the tools around her, she turns to YouTube—but instead of help, she’s ambushed by holographic tutorials and polished commercial spokespeople invading the cabin like digital ghosts.
The film began with a thought I couldn’t shake: what if you had to listen to ads when calling 911? It was a joke at first, but one that felt eerily plausible five minutes into the future. I’ve learned so many practical things through platforms like YouTube, but over time, that access has been buried beneath monetization schemes, misinformation, and endless self-promotional detours. This story is my response to that frustration—exaggerated into a literal life-or-death scenario.
Stylistically, I wanted to evoke the stark, grim energy of Evil Dead or Cabin in the Woods, but undercut it with the absurdity of consumer culture leaking into every moment. That blend of horror and comedy, physical space and digital intrusion, is what drives the tone.
At its core, My Severed Arm is about survival—both in the horror-movie and digital sense. It’s about what happens when urgency meets algorithm, when access to knowledge is shaped by incentive structures that don’t care if you bleed out. The film asks: what good is information if it’s hidden behind paywalls, pop-ups, and promo codes?
But more than anything, I want the audience to laugh, cringe, and feel that creeping recognition that this isn’t the future – it’s the now.”
Into The Stand
Directed by Mackenzie Hamilton and Taylor Fuchs
Written by Mackenzie Hamilton
Starring: Sarah Rich as “Quinn”, Ariana Raygoza as “Rosa”, and Nick Dietrich
Tree planters Quinn and Rosa return to camp for another summer in the wilderness. Rosa is newly sober, and Quinn is quietly anxious about how she’ll handle the camp’s hard-partying culture. At the welcome-back party, Rosa is tempted to drink, prompting Quinn to intervene. Shaken, Rosa heads into the forest to clear her head, but doesn’t come back.
When Quinn goes after her, she’s met with eerie signs: strange noises, a mangled deer, and an odd light deep in the woods. As the forest closes in, Quinn questions if there is something else out there.
Director’s Statement:
The woods have always haunted me. Growing up in rural Vancouver Island, I would often cut through forest trails to reach friends’ houses. When it was night, we would meet in the middle of the trail to keep each other safe. Thankfully, we always found each other, but I frequently wondered what if we didn’t? What if something else was out there, waiting in the darkness of the woods?
Into the Stand is inspired by the many times I scared myself on those trails, letting my imagination run wild. Now that I’m older, my fears are centered around more tangible things, like navigating how to let go of people you love when you can’t control what they’re going through. This story is deeply informed by themes of sobriety, codependency, and how the urge to help someone can sometimes lead you somewhere dark.
Ultimately, Into the Stand is a fun horror made in the community I grew up in with friends who helped bring it to life. My husband and I co-directed this short film, transforming the woods on my parents’ farm into a tree-planting camp, and had a blast turning a familiar place into something eerie and cinematic. It’s a scary film that is personal and full of heart, and I’m overjoyed to be telling stories in the places that shaped me.
–Mackenzie Hamilton and Taylor Fuchs
Nurture
Written and Directed by Nick Snyder
Produced by Sam Snyder
Starring: Travis Bilenski as “Ren, and Kailey Rhodes as “Rose”
Portland Horror Film Festival: Winner – Goule D’or Best Short
On a remote Oregon farm, a couple grieving from a miscarriage finds hope in a mysterious flower. But as it heals her, the flower takes root in him. Nurture is a dialogue-free folk-horror fable about love, grief, and the consequences of taking too much from nature.
Director’s Statement:
NURTURE marks my return to narrative filmmaking after years of honing my craft in visual effects, motion design, and commercial work. Inspired by the Pacific Northwest and the quiet mythology of its forests, this dialogue-free folk horror short explores grief through the lens of a nature curse. Where grief deepens love and a curse demands sacrifice, NURTURE examines the dangerous hope that something broken can be restored without cost.
Other Notable Horror Shorts from the Festival:
There were 48 short films shown at the Festival, selected from over 500 submissions. Here are a few notable and favorite films that were also showing at the festival.
Famous
Directed by Rosita Lama Muvdi
Written by Jordan Monaghan
Starring Jordan Monaghan
“A young woman desperate for social media fame exploits her father’s death to go viral. But the volatile world of internet stardom pushes her to the edge.”
Punchy and poignant. Famous taps into the darkest desires of influencers desperate to get likes. Just how far will you go for a few more “likes and subscribes”?
Favela Amarela (Brazil)
Written and Directed by Nicolas Lobato and Tiago Tuchu
Starring Richard Abelha, Giselle Batista, and Sai
“A student from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro joins the local drug militia to pay for college and uncovers an NGO linked to powerful politicians that hides dark rituals devoted to the King in Yellow.”
I won’t be surprised if this stunning short film also plays at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival. It is saturated in Brazilian culture, mixed with a heavy application of Cosmic Horror.
Wall Udder
Written and Directed by Alexandra Hayden
Starring Kevin Grady, Sawyer Fuller, and Bries Vannon
“A dissatisfied woman confronts repressed feelings of malaise after her partner comes home smelling like milk.”
Hysterically gag-inducingly funny! There is a double-punchline gag that brought the house down. Part of the Shorts Gone Wild block at PHFF, where the festival screens the zaniest submitted shorts. This did not disappoint.
Tooth-Hurty!
Directed by Jude Madonna
Written by Katie Small
Starring Katie Small, Jude Madonna, Brook Hogan, and Tommy Harden
Portland Horror Film Festival Winner: Abby Normal Award: For the exceptionally weird and disturbing
“Lucy is a people-pleasing writer-photographer whose dream of being an artist remains just out of reach. A comment from her boyfriend about her teeth triggers Lucy to make an appointment for a dental checkup for the first time in years with the mysterious yet heavily advertised Big Smiles Dentistry.”
Super clever! There should be more horror movies about trips to the dentist. This made my toes curl and had me in stitches, as well.
CHÄIR
Directed by Chris McInroy
Written by Chris McInroy and Carlos La Rotta
Starring Carlos LaRotta, Kim Lowery, and Chloe McInroy
“Carl just wanted to sit down. The chair had other plans.”
I am always a fan of Chris McInroy. He and Carlos do a crazy short film every year. I am in awe of how these guys make deadpan, silly, and super-gory original content. It won’t be long before they release a greatest-hits compilation, and I will be in line to buy it. This spoof on Ikea furniture assembly is a tribute to all of us who have struggled to assemble the Scandinavian furniture at home.
The Bones Exist
Directed by Kelsey Bollig and Matthew DuVall
Written by Matthew DuVall
Starring: Alex Pena as “Manny”, Siya Maleki as “Diego”, Jack Campbell as “Don Rob”, Michael Manzako as “The Boy”, and Alex Bankler as the Utah Raptor.
Portland Horror Film Festival Winner: Tompe L’oiel Award for Best Special Effects
In the unforgiving wilderness of 1850s Alta California, a dwindling group of gold prospectors encounters a feral boy who forces the men to confront the horrors lurking in the woods and the sins of their past.
This combines two of my favorite genres: Dinosaurs and Westerns. Perhaps not done since The Valley of Gwanji, The Bones Exists shows plenty of raptors hunting cowboys and does so convincingly. Bonus points for showing the most current understanding of raptors as feathered dinos. Munch Munch!
Flush (France)
Written and Directed by Raphaël Treiner
Starring Eléonore Gurrey as “Marianne” and Christophe Ntakabenura as “Ben”
Abominable plumbing and violent deaths. MARIANNE, extremely pregnant, and BEN, a plumber and one-night stand, team up to survive an epic night and face the monsters of a building beset by an unknown evil.
I am a sucker for the Trapped in a Bathroom trope, even going so far as to host a Crypticon horror panel on the topic. This film goes to the top (plumbing) shelf. This is Cosmic horror that brings all the icky, goopy, nasty elements you might expect from this theme is on full display. To think that an effective little romance element managed to sneak into the plot, and you have something unusually effective. I love it when the French go weird.
