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To outsiders, the term "horror fan" is a general qualifier. Truth is, there are dozens of subspecies. Vampire fans and zombie lovers both flock to the undead, but there are huge differences between emo bloodsuckers and shambling corpses. Ghosts? Are they trying to solve a mystery or make you shit yourself to death? Gorehounds can be sliced into more types than a slutty prom queen in the '80s, from torture porn addicts to camp lovers. Like the gangs of The Warriors, each horror tribe is unique. They're loyal, extreme and seldom occupy the same turf. And in that belabored analogy, Gwen and Brian Callahan are seeking to be the Cyrus figure that unites them.
Related: The Living Dead Horror Convention's first year in Portland.
This week, the local horror luminaries launch the Portland Horror Film Festival, an indie scarefest that embraces all horror styles and is the first fest of new works to hit Portland. The international lineup includes shorts, festival award winners and Northwest premieres, like the Lance Henriksen apocalyptic thriller Daylight's End that is Thursday's headlining feature. Then there's a masterfully crafted little-girl-versus-evil-cookie-jar short Kookie and the Spanish bedtime story Hada, the kind of short that seems designed as an audition tape for a Guillermo del Toro production. Daddy Dearest is a surprisingly nasty time-travel oddity directed by 10-year-old Fiona Fright, from a script she wrote at age 5.
"Most of these directors are putting stuff into film festivals, and once they make the rounds you never see the films again," says Gwen Callahan, who also runs the Zompire and H.P. Lovecraft fests.
Related: WW's 2016 movie theater bucket list.
It's another step toward Portland becoming a more unified film town in a year that has also included Living Dead Con, the area's first full-blown, all-inclusive horror convention. Between the two events, the expansion of the Lovecraft Bar and more niche fests like the Hardcore Film Fest making their presence known, we're one step closer to Portland becoming the fright town it's always threatened to be.
"It is a horror town, but it's sometimes challenging to shake people out of their everyday routines," says Callahan. "It takes a while, a little bit of repetition, to set in. If you're not looking for these things, they might not come and hit you across the face." Consider yourself smacked in the jaw.
See It: The Portland Horror Film Fest is June 1-2 at the Hollywood Theatre, portlandhorrorfilmfestival.com. $20 day pass.
Willamette Week