The Brain That Wouldn't Die

Portland Horror Film Festival, the Pacific Northwest’spremiere horror genre film festival, is going virtual! Horror Fans cansoak up over 60 short and feature films over the 6 night eventbeginning June 10th with the first shorts block and a preview of thefestival’s upcoming features. The terror continues June 17-21st withmore short and feature films from around the world.

Central Dental

In the midst of this pandemic, some businesses are finally starting tore-open, but there is no way to know when theaters in Portland willfinally open, and how many people will be allowed inside once they do.Many events have had to postpone again and again due to this uncertaintimeline.

First Night

Festival Directors Brian and Gwen Callahan believe the right thing todo is follow the lead of amazing festivals like Fantasia and CFF, andpresent Portland Horror Film Festival as a dynamic streaming event forhorror fans all over the US. While going virtual creates challengesfor the festival, independent filmmakers, and distributors, thedirectors believe it is important to continue to evangelizeindependent film and show the year’s best horror films to thecommunity. Rather than cancel or postpone the festival until thingsare “safe”, which only increases the stress and uncertainty of thesetimes, going forward with a streaming event offers important reliefand a sense of stability to horror fans who are stuck at home. Beyondhelping horror filmmakers and fans, ticket sales will also benefit thehistoric non-profit Hollywood Theatre, the seat of independent cinemain Portland, which is currently closed due to the pandemic.

Karaoke Night

All films will be integrated into carefully curated nightly shows andsecurely streamed during limited event hours for ticketed audiencemembers. Because a film festival is more than just watching movies,nightly programming will feature both pre-recorded and live content,including film introductions, interviews with horror icons, and livefilmmaker Q&As that the audience can take part in. “Our goal is tofoster the sense of community that makes our fest so magical, with afun and eventful stage and screen show... just on a virtual stage,”said Brian Callahan.

Little Willy

This year’s feature film lineup opens on Wednesday, June 17th withWild Boar, starring Augie Duke and Daniel Roebuck as geocachers whoquest for a legendary treasure, only to end up as fodder for mutantpig-men. Wild Boar was written and directed by Oscar winner BarneyBurman, known for his makeup effects on JJ Abrams’s Star Trek,Zombieland: Double Tap, and the TV series Grimm. Thursday’s doublefeature kicks off with Sunset on the River Styx, a surrealist andcontemplative story of two lovers who fall into a vampire death cult,from writer/director Aaron Pagniano, winner of the Funny Bone Awardfor last year’s horror comedy short “We Got a Monkey’s Paw.” Come forthe vampires, but stay for the zombies! Witness Infection is ahilarious tale of mobsters and zombies directed by Andy Palmer,written by Carlos Alazraqui (Reno 911) and Jill-Michele Meleán (MadTV,Reno 911), who star alongside Robert Belushi, Vince DonVito, ErinnHayes (Children’s Hospital), and Tara Strong (Rick and Morty). Don’tmiss fan-favorite Justin Harding’s Making Monsters, The Curse ofValburga from Slovenia, with its hilarious splatterfest ofinternational tourist stereotypes and jaw dropping kill scenes, UnclePeckerhead with its punk-rock demon action, written and directed byMatthew John Lawrence, winner of the 2016 Funny Bone Award for hishorror comedy short “Larry Gone Demon,” and the World Premiere of TheBrain That Wouldn’t Die, a crowdfunded love letter to the 1962B-movie, filmed here in Portland.

Making Monsters

Short film offerings include a wide variety of seriously terrifying,thoughtful, funny, and Weird films from all over the world, includingthe Czech Republic, Russia, Poland, Italy, Portugal, Iran, TheNetherlands, France, Spain,