Our judges, despite (or rather because of) their highly refined esthetic sensibilities and their extensive savvy on what makes a good Lovecraftian film (besides the bottomless popcorn tub), have finally made their agonizing decision at to this year’s winning screenplay. That’s the truth: it was no easy matter. There were so many fine submissions, the decision came close to being a coin toss. Close, but not quite.

Jeffrey Blake Palmer’s nightmare parade “The Sleeping Deep” rose to the top, very, very narrowly followed by Faisal A. Qureshi’s eerie “In Bright Darkness,” Patrick Shiffrar and Eric Miller’s incredibly ingenious “The Unnamables,” Brock Chandler’s seemingly eyewitness account of “The Colour out of Space,” Marc Pilvinsky’s perfect updating of “The Thing on the Doorstep,” “Reborn,” David Prior’s unsettling version of “The Lurking Fear,” Tony Contento’s effective genre-spanning “The Reliquary of Ness,” Nathan Shelton’s hilarious “The Unspeakables,” and David W. Bertoni’s apocalyptic mystery, “The Stunning Box.” Truly, all would have been fit for the award. It was an embarrassment of riches!

The adaptations of Lovecraft’s own tales were boldly creative, deconstructing the originals to make explicit some matters that had been implicit, and never failing to deliver a stomach-full of authentic horror. All our authors dealt delicately and maturely with the elements of the Cthulhu Mythos, leaving certain things in the shadows of subtlety. The combination of Lovecraftian horror with elements of detective fiction, epic fantasy, and even broad comedy all worked amazingly well. Each screenplay looked like the sure winner—until you read the next!

Your judges, Robert M. Price, Joseph S. Pulver, Brian Lumley, and Andrew Migliore are putting their occult will power together to cause all of these screenplays to reach the screen. Together, there is a real threat they will end civilization (or at least cinema) as we know it. And who’s complaining?

Missed Cthulhu at last year's festival? Want to see it again? You have an opportunity this Friday Sept 12 thru Thursday Sept. 18 at Portland's Hollywood Theatre.

When young history professor Russ is called upon by his sister to execute their late mother’s estate, he is reunited with his boyhood chum and with his father, the charismatic leader of a New Age cult. While exploring his memories, Russ wanders into a seaside warehouse where hundreds of names are scrawled on the walls. ...

Looking for answers in the warehouse, Russ is taken on an unbelievable journey through the small town’s ancient subterranean origins. Russ begins to believe that preparations are underway for a mass sacrifice, and engages the attentions of a sexy seductress in order to obtain information. Raped and arrested for murder on the eve of the city’s May Festival, the stakes are raised for Russ – maybe higher than the world has ever known.

Winner of the 2008 Best of Festival Brown Jenkin Award.

See also http://www.cthulhuthemovie.com

We have finished the selection of this year's films. You should be seeing daily updates as we get all the information up on the website. Our plan is to list all the Features and Shorts by the end of the week.

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On-line ticket sales are active! If you purchase a Supporter Pass you get to reserve a T-Shirt and Poster featuring this year's artwork.