The 27th Annual H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival took place at the Hollywood Theatre in Portland, OR October 7-9th. The festival's return to all 3 screens of the theater was well-attended by audience members, filmmakers, and literary guests! During the annual Awards presentation on Sunday evening 10/9, Award Statuettes were presented for these categories:

Best Feature Film was awarded to Freeze, written, directed, and produced by Charlie Steeds. This period piece features the crew of the HMS Innsmouth on a rescue mission in the Arctic. When their ship becomes icebound, they are overrun with Deep Ones and must test their luck in the snowy landscape. The audience loved this fast paced, ambitious adventure film! It has the right balance of action, sweeping frozen vistas, powerful performances, Lovecraftian horror, and some of the best fish monsters we've ever seen on screen! 

Best Short Film went to festival alumni Francesco Santoro for "At The Mountains of Madness," adapted from the H. P. Lovecraft novella. Notoriously difficult to adapt to screen, Santoro captures the overarching story in a very small space. Rather than being a fragment or vignette, his original script tells the complete story of the lost expedition, the Elder Things, and Shoggoths, with great character development and performances. The film closes with the final revelation of the origin of the human race in a highly impactful scene that drives home the madness and cosmic horror of Lovecraft's story.

Whistle and I'll Come to You, directed by Valentina Battorti, won Best Adaptation. Beautifully filmed as a lush period piece, Battorti captures the chilling atmosphere of the M R James story, culminating in a truly terrifying scene wherein Professor Parkins has a close encounter with the entity stalking him. From the set design, costumes, and the prop whistle, careful attention to details made this an immersive and effective film.

The highly coveted Audience Choice Award was won by "Tim Travers and the Time Traveler's Paradox" by Stimson Snead. This sci-fi comedy short straddles the line between cerebral and hilarious with a deft hand. Samuel Dunning plays all the iterations of Tim Travers with perfect comedic timing. Coupled with the smart story line that bends towards the cosmic, an absurd amount of violence, and snappy dialogue, it's a perfect storm of math and humor. Coming in a close second, was "Memento Mori," a beautiful and elegaic animated piece by Paul O'Flanagan.

There were four finalists in our annual Screenplay competition:

• Floris by Ben Huffman and William Andrew Lewis - Oakmont Manor Nursing Home just admitted a new patient that will change the course of three young nurses lives forever. Based on true events.
• Black Kiss Stigmata by Chad Michael Ward - When a violent drug addict’s lover goes missing, his hunt for her uncovers an ancient doomsday cult that traps him in a hallucinatory fever dream of madness and revelation.
• Ms. Mary Madness by Craig Ouellette - A homeless mother is haunted by a Shadowbeast that devours people and puts their souls inside her mind. With each new soul, the voices in her head multiply. But is the Shadow real or is she going insane?
• WINNER: The Cage by Paul Campion and Ted C Rypel - A customer and four employees held captive in a home electronics store must escape from a fanatic who intends on using them as human sacrifices to summon a monstrous evil entity from another dimension, hidden in the static of dormant TV channels.

Campion and Rypel put together a compelling bottle drama with perfect pacing, excellent visualization, realistic characters, good character development, and a fresh take on human sacrifice. The Cage wins Best Screenplay, but we truly hope to see all of these screenplays make it to the screen!

Lovecraft Under the Gun 72 Hour Film Contest

Each year, teams of filmmakers are challenged to make a Lovecraftian short film using a required prop and line of dialogue in just 72 hours. Each team had to use an Amulet as a prop, and use the line of dialogue "I will tell you only what you need to know." (from "Through the Gates of the Silver Key") Seven teams completed this year's competition, and were screened at the festival, with the audience deciding the winning film. This year's winner was "The Ecstasy at the End of the Sea" by team The Amelus. This Lovecraftian nightmare utilized a fantastical monster, haunting sound design, and impressive stop motion to edge out the runner up and last year's winner, team Trash People From The Dump.

Pickman's Apprentice

Being back on all 3 screens of the theater allowed us to bring back the Live Art competition, Pickman's Apprentice! Artists Liv Rainey-Smith, Nick Gucker, and Dave Correia competed for the title by drawing (in just 80 minutes) a depiction of "Ghouls Gone Wild" - a theme suggested by the audience members! This year's winner is Dave Correia! The original pieces were sold in Silent Auction with the proceeds going to AnimalAid PDX. 

Lovecraftian Microfiction Contest Winners

The Microfiction contest challenges authors to write a complete Lovecraftian story in 500 words or less. The 10 winners and 3 honorable mentions for this year's contest are:

• OVERALL WINNER: Mack W. Mani "The Dweller in the Smoke"
• Lisah Walden - "Mouth of the Faceless"
• Russell Smeaton - "Eye See You"
• Kristi Pertersen Schoonover - "Sea Legs"
• Felicia Martinez - "Always and Forever"
• Therese Walton - "The Siblings"
• Maxwell Marais - "Proliferation"
• James McRobert - "Floaters"
• Selina Field - "Strange Treasure"
• Yeshoshua Reyez - "Diaspora"
• Aaron Besson - "But is it art?"
• Bob Brinkman - "Amen"
• Christiane Merritt - "The Restorer"

Congratulations to all of the winners!

Mark your calendars for the next H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland, OR, October 6-8, 2023!

Submissions will be open soon on https://filmfreeway.com/HPLovecraftFilmFestival

Jeffrey Combs is joining us this October 7-9th as our Guest of Honor! Best known among cosmic horror fans for his role as Herbert West in 1985's Re-Animator, Combs returns to the H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival for a special 35mm double feature screening of RE-ANIMATOR and BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR on Saturday night, October 8th, and a rare big-screen presentation of the extended cut of Re-Animator with an in-depth Q&A on Sunday afternoon, October 9th.

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Kelli Maroney (Chopping Mall, Fast Times at Ridgemont High) has joined our 2022 Retro 80s Cosmic Horror Lineup! Don't miss a special screening of NIGHT OF THE COMET on 35mm on Sunday evening, October 9th, followed by a Q&A with Kelli!

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Following the extremely successful virtual pandemic-edition of the H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival^® in 2020, Festival Directors Gwen and Brian Callahan were thrilled to present the 2021 H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival as a hybrid event for the first time! The 26th annual festival took place with live screenings October 1-3 at the beautiful Hollywood Theatre in Portland, Oregon with more than 60 short and feature films, visiting filmmakers, and in-person audiences. The virtual edition, with bonus streaming exclusive content, streamed worldwide October 8-10 with live and recorded filmmaker Q&As. 

Every year, a few meaningful awards are given to honor the films that truly exemplify the festival's celebration of cinematic adaptations of stories by H. P. Lovecraft and his contemporaries, as well as other works in the genres of Cosmic Horror, the Weird tale, and the Uncanny. The Award winners for the 26th Annual H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival were announced on Monday.

In the annual screenplay competition, The Haunter of the Dark by Brian Hauser and Philip R. Garrett stood out among the 60+ entries. The feature screenplay delivers on the Weird and uncanny as it presents a fresh and thoroughly modern mashup of the Lovecraft stories “The Dreams in the Witch House” and “The Haunter of the Dark.”

Each year, teams of filmmakers are challenged to make a Lovecraftian short film using a required prop and line of dialogue in just 72 hours. The qualifying entries are screened at the festival and the audience decides who did it best. This year’s Lovecraft Under the Gun winner was “Terror of the Lost Utensils” by Trash People from the Dump, aka Lora and Theo Friess, for their imaginative mythology surrounding mysterious silverware, complete with their signature musical elements!

The HPLFF audience is extremely engaged with all of the films that are shown, and nearly all audience members vote for the highly coveted Audience Choice Award. Top runners up were "Transfer" by Jonas Govaerts, "Dice" by Michael Squid, and Exegesis Lovecraft by Qais Pasha! The winner is, “Good Head” by Matt Servitto! This was truly a crowd pleaser, delivering a well rounded package of supernatural horror, gooey effects, and pitch perfect comedic timing.

The award for Best Adaptation went to “The Book in the House” by Gianni Di Nino and Danilo Marabotto. This beautiful black and white translation of the Lovecraft story “The Picture in the House,” had its World Premiere at the festival. Di Ninno and Marabotto shot the film 35 years ago, but the film was lost and then rediscovered in 2010. In 2020, under quarantine during the pandemic in Italy, more scenes were shot with the original actor Franco Leo, and they were able to finally finish the film!

Best Short award went to “The Relic,” directed by J.M. Logan. This frenetically paced tale of archaeologists gone wild shows us the third act of what feels like a classic Call of Cthulhu^® role playing game scenario with horrific practical monster effects, and a very satisfying Cosmic Horror ending.

Out of the 6 independent feature films screened at the festival, The Fall of Usher, earned the Best Feature award with standout performances by leads Riker Hill and Savannah Schafer. The debut feature by Kentucky filmmaker Brian Cunningham presents a beautifully modern and nuanced retelling of Poe’s stories and provides a deep exploration of his favored themes of grief, madness, and loss.

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Congratulations to all of the winners!

Submissions for the 2022 Festival are currently open on FilmFreeway. The final submission deadline is August 2, 2022.

Mark your calendars for the next H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland, OR, October 7-9, 2022!