Films
Here's where we'll be listing Films that will be showing September 19-21, 2025, at the Hollywood Theatre in Portland, OR! Check back for updates.
Feature Films
Short Films
Films at this event
In 16th Century England, Pathologist Tennebris and his son Lux - mourn the passing of Agatha, the revered matriarch of their family stronghold. Amidst their solemn preparations to inter the deceased, simmering paternal animosity within the crypt awakens an ancient spirit, Belial. This malevolent force breathes life back into Agatha's corpse, opening the gates of hell for a nightmarish family reunion steeped in bloodshed and ruin.
Following a devastating and inexplicable interstellar event, a fracturing working class family struggles with their place in the cosmos. Based on the short story by Jeffrey Thomas.
Amid the wide fields and narrow roads of the countryside, a father and daughter find solace in each other’s company and the quiet rhythm of farm life. Yet the stillness conceals whispers of something unseen in the shadows of an old barn, testing their bond against forces they cannot name.
"Ceaseless" is an entry in the Lovecraft Under the Gun 72 Hour Film contest! Each team was required to use a prop and line of dialogue in their film, and had 3 days to write, shoot, edit, and score a complete short film. This screening and audience vote determines the winner!
Maritime tough Guy Devon Leroux travels to the creepy fishing village of Shellbrook In search of his ex-girlfriend only to discover she’s joined a monstrously mutated cult enthralled by the elder god of lobsters
"Dead Exposure" is an entry in the Lovecraft Under the Gun 72 Hour Film contest! Each team was required to use a prop and line of dialogue in their film, and had 3 days to write, shoot, edit, and score a complete short film. This screening and audience vote determines the winner!
In this modern world, a young Indian artist attempts to build her career in classic portraiture and develops a unique kinship with a mysterious antique shop owner in possession of a haunted painting people are dying to get their hands on.
A student moves into a house where a silent old man plays unsettling violin music in his attic every night. Disturbed yet intrigued, the student seeks to uncover the mystery behind the haunting sounds and the curtained attic window.
"Lovecraft Without Tears" is an entry in the Lovecraft Under the Gun 72 Hour Film contest! Each team was required to use a prop and line of dialogue in their film, and had 3 days to write, shoot, edit, and score a complete short film. This screening and audience vote determines the winner!
A man longs for something he encountered in the forests of Austria.
"Popthulhu" is an entry in the Lovecraft Under the Gun 72 Hour Film contest! Each team was required to use a prop and line of dialogue in their film, and had 3 days to write, shoot, edit, and score a complete short film. This screening and audience vote determines the winner!
Possession(s) is a claustrophobic psychological horror set in an apartment in the dead of night. Eloïse finds herself confronting demonic entities seeking to possess her through the eerie sounds of a phonograph. Music and occultism intertwine in a macabre ritual—doomed to repeat itself endlessly...
"Shadow Over Wilmington" is an entry in the Lovecraft Under the Gun 72 Hour Film contest! Each team was required to use a prop and line of dialogue in their film, and had 3 days to write, shoot, edit, and score a complete short film. This screening and audience vote determines the winner!
A self-promoting influencer inadvertently conjures an evil version of herself.
Taylor is a seasoned lady of the night, settling into her usual quiet routine. But when a strange customer hires her, her night takes and unexpected and otherworldly turn.
"Tfarcevolph" is an entry in the Lovecraft Under the Gun 72 Hour Film contest! Each team was required to use a prop and line of dialogue in their film, and had 3 days to write, shoot, edit, and score a complete short film. This screening and audience vote determines the winner!
"The Desires of Objects" is an entry in the Lovecraft Under the Gun 72 Hour Film contest! Each team was required to use a prop and line of dialogue in their film, and had 3 days to write, shoot, edit, and score a complete short film. This screening and audience vote determines the winner!
There’s a reason no one has studied the play - the one notorious for driving readers insane. Three students divide a copy into quarantined thirds, allowing them to safely perform research on the text. But the endeavor takes a sinister turn when one of them reads more than just his share. Based on the seminal collection of horror stories by Robert W. Chambers.
"The Last Sitting" is an entry in the Lovecraft Under the Gun 72 Hour Film contest! Each team was required to use a prop and line of dialogue in their film, and had 3 days to write, shoot, edit, and score a complete short film. This screening and audience vote determines the winner!
After long eons beneath the sea, the time has come for the Old Gods to rise from the depths and to reclaim the Earth once more. The cities of men will fall beneath their titan tread, and their ravenous tentacles will devour all who try to flee before them.
A retro radio adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's THE RATS IN THE WALLS. Performed live.
"The Translator" is an entry in the Lovecraft Under the Gun 72 Hour Film contest! Each team was required to use a prop and line of dialogue in their film, and had 3 days to write, shoot, edit, and score a complete short film. This screening and audience vote determines the winner!
Three friends awaken something supernatural through a thrifted Ouija board—only to discover it’s far more interested in exposing their secrets than answering their questions. As paranoia and betrayal spiral, a deadly rift erupts between two best friends.
Set in 1960s Port Edward, "WAT’SA" is a haunting, all-Sm’algya̱x horror based on a powerful Tsimshian legend. As Jeremy works a late shift in the North Pacific Cannery, a shape-shifting sea otter spirit begins to stalk him, blurring the line between reality and the supernatural in the first-ever cinematic portrayal of the ‘Wat’sa. Recorded in Sm’algya̱x and Japanese with English subtitles.
Set in 1970, A BLIND BARGAIN reimagines the lost 1922 Lon Chaney silent film of the same name. A desperate young man strikes a dark deal with an unhinged doctor, offering his mother as a subject for the physician's twisted experiments.
Detective Beaubien, armed only with his vast knowledge and a copy of the Necronomicon, is investigating mysterious disappearances on a windy island.
A lonely prisoner longs to escape isolation and experience human connection.
Based on the short story by H. P. Lovecraft.
A cleaner in a library becomes aware of a book – or two – that promise a gateway to the The Old Ones.
This film was made for the Film Intensive as part of the Bachelor of Screen Arts at Massey University in Wellington, New Zealand
Unable to get over the loss of his wife, David, a talented painter, encounters an enigmatic blind woman who gives him a key with the promise of meeting her once again. Following this encounter, David develops an overwhelming obsession with triangular shapes, culminating in the acquisition of a pyramidal lamp with the power to open a door to the afterlife.
The leaves have started to change, but Professor Jonathan Rust is still woefully ill-prepared for the coming semester. With the help of a fellow professor, his teaching assistant, an old friend and a hired hand, the team searches for a suitable dig site for the archeology department’s field work course. The trip presents a rare opportunity for Jonathan to get his hands dirty and success could mean publication and just maybe - tenure. The expedition is quickly derailed when a member of the team mysteriously vanishes. Soon, the group finds themselves at the intersection of reality and the afterlife in a harrowing descent into madness.
Stranded in the remote Chinese wilderness, a mother and daughter must survive being hunted by a mysterious beast.
The distant sound of church bells signals the beginning of an apocalypse.
In this H.P. Lovecraft adaptation, Carter, a grief-stricken young man, and his mentor Warren, an elder female professor of the occult, search for a portal to the underworld in an abandoned cemetery.
When Maya commits to a month of sobriety and takes up sculpting as a hobby, her crab sculptures terrorize her former drinking buddy, her brother Toby.
While grieving the loss of her father in his remote countryside home, a young woman makes a chilling discovery that suggests eternal life.
A young woman traveling solo on a road trip stops in a small town in the middle of the night, where she learns of an urban legend about the area.
A tentacled lake monster exacts revenge upon a noble but flawed fisherman.
When a merman kidnaps two fisherman traditional Icelandic wrestler and monster slayer Gústi the strong comes to the rescue.
In 1920s Providence, a disoriented Helen wakes up after a wild party. Her roommate, Elizabeth, is looking for a missing occult grimoire they read the night before, unaware that the book has unleashed something that makes reality and the supernatural blur into one.
In 1953, two men grapple with their relationship's future as a mysterious presence lurks outside their motel room.
Loosely based on ""The Yellow Sign"" by Robert W. Chambers.
When contact is lost with Samuel Harth, the Algan Space Corporation looks into his memories to see what unfolded during a mission to Planet COR-73, unraveling a cosmic mystery in the process.
A priest at a small town parish falls under the sway of the Reliquary and the Old One, Azathoth. Intoxicated with the dark truths shown to him, the priest takes to the confessional booth to tell an ancient tale to his captive audience.
Stefano spends his last doubloon on a sexy Siren at Sea Legs Inn, but Sawney Beane gets the last laugh.
A fragmented astronomer looks to the stars to find comfort in the darkest of places.
Investigators visit the site of a strange disappearance – a solitary birdwatching hut, deep in the forest.
A young man awakens in an unfamiliar apartment only to find himself under surveillance… and decaying rapidly. He relies on an enigmatic set of vaccines he discovers in the bathroom to slow his decline, but quickly plots revenge on his unseen watcher as his condition continues to deteriorate.
A girl visits her grandmother, whom she hasn't seen in years. But what she finds will not be exactly what she expected.
A social worker's obsession with a case plunges him into a fight for survival against malevolent forces.
Marion Wheeler is called in to a routine meeting with her boss, a high ranking suit at the shadowy SCP Foundation, only to end up with a gun to her head and her identity in question. These are the perils of being the organization's Chief of Antimemetics, a division dedicated to fighting memory consuming entities. Marion must convince her superior and his trigger happy assistant that she's not a spy before gettting dragged off to Xi-3 in this atmospheric sci-fi noir short starring Jasika Nicole, Neil Napier, Mateus Ward and Syd Kilroy.
A desperate man lost in the mountains has to reconstruct his past to understand how he reached the edge of insanity.
A sound recordist captures strange sonic phenomena underneath their house and things... escalate from there.
In a remote Belgian town, Bernard struggles to keep his daughter alive—her survival tied to a sinister secret. When a wandering poet arrives, Bernard must choose between his conscience and duty. A haunting tale of sacrifice, guilt, and the terrifying power of love.
The first feature film based on any of Poe's works, Fall of the House of Usher is presented in a new restoration, translation, and with a new music score by Jay Woelfel.
It is often surreal and at times even meta. Certainly an influence on the later Vincent Price starring version.
A stop-motion short featuring toys about a mysterious grave bell that starts to ring...
During a waterfront outbreak that drives the infected into madness and hallucination, dockworker Steven Dorre witnesses a bizarre murder, and finds himself in possession of a mysterious case that threatens to unravel everything he thought he knew.
Desperate to marry the love of his life, an Undertaker’s apprentice digs up the grave of a mysteriously murdered bride in an attempt to rob her corpse of its ring.
When a dark and malevolent force begins sweeping through a quiet town, a young boy awakens to discover that his baby brother has somehow transformed overnight into a deranged adult man, who then immediately wreaks havoc on the family.
Cocky investment analyst Sam Larson has a lot on his mind. After a financial scam goes horribly wrong, he hits the road in a desperate bid to outrun his guilt. A fragment of a radio broadcast, that may or may not be a distress call, lures him to an isolated transmitting station and into a terrifying mystery of murder, madness and the insatiable hunger of a power beyond his comprehension.
AM1200 is a 40 minute horror thriller written, produced and directed by award-winning DVD producer David Prior (Zodiac, Fight Club, Master & Commander).
Was a World Premiere at the 2008 HPLFF in Portland.
Isaac is thrilled when his friend offers him the use of his family’s cabin in the woods to lose his virginity. But when his first time goes horribly wrong, he begins to believe it may be the work of a sinister circumcision cult!
A seasoned sheriff investigates a dead body in the woods and calls on an old pal, a medical examiner, to help piece together a series of chilling events. This episode of Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosity was adapted by David S. Goyer and Guillermo Del Toro, from the short story by Michael Shea. Courtesy of Netflix.
DAGON is a stop motion animation short film freely inspired by the story of the same name by cult author H.P. Lovecraft. In 1919 San Francisco, a man is standing on the ledge of a building ready to jump. Desperate, he relives in his memories the absurd and shocking episode that led him to the brink of suicide: the encounter with the monstrous and mythological Great Old One, DAGON.
A determined researcher at the Insmouth Center for Marine Science uncovers a mysterious, glowing specimen linked to a doomed ship, the S.S. Fortuna. As she dives deeper into the investigation, the discovery of a regenerative, alien-like substance leads to dangerous consequences, blurring the line between scientific curiosity and cosmic horror.
After surviving a house party-turned-horror film, Tara and Mitch’s escape is cut short when they realize… they forgot their cat. Now, the couple must return to the house and brave the eldritch monster that waits inside to save not only the cat, but their relationship itself.
Henry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newborn mutant child.
Five Star tells the story of Soung Kang (4x Best Actor Canadian Screen Awards Winner, PAUL SUN-HYUNG LEE, Kim’s Convenience), a diligent locksmith and first-generation immigrant whose quest for a perfect score from his client Maya leads him into an unexpected adventure. Called on an unusual job – to keep Maya’s closet door shut for good – Soung discovers a dark secret that challenges him to go to extraordinary lengths to secure his five star review.
This adaptation of the H.P. Lovecraft story "From Beyond" was directed by the festival founder, Andrew Migliore, and premiered at the 1997 festival.
Chuck & Dexter go to the most sincere beach to wait for the Great Cthulhu to rise and give them presents.
I am the last. I will tell the audient void. A classic adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's short story, "Nyarlathotep", now restored to HD quality and shown on the big screen for the first time!
Sound From the Deep is a voyage to the unknown, inspired by the stories of H. P. Lovecraft. A research group searches for oil in the Arctic Ocean, but they find much much more at the bottom of the deep, dark ocean. Could it be the remnants of a long-forgotten city?
The famed story is brought richly to life in the style of a classic 1920s silent movie, with a haunting original symphonic score. Using the "Mythoscope" process — a mix of modern and vintage techniques, the HPLHS has worked to create the most authentic and faithful screen adaptation of a Lovecraft story yet attempted.
On the trail of a missing girl, an ex-cop comes across a secretive group attempting to summon a terrifying supernatural entity.
Malygris, an ancient necromancer, has learned all that there is to learn having mastered all occult lore, all forbidden knowledge, and having dominion over the spirits of earth and sea and air... and the living and the dead. But his knowledge of the dark arts is no longer enough to assuage the black ennui of his days. With cryptic guidance from his daemon familiar, Malygris seeks to summon his long-lost love, Nylissa, from beyond the grave where he still has one lesson to learn... from the last incantation.
A number of Lovecraftians take a cruise to the middle of the Pacific Ocean that ends in tragedy.
This story revolves around a student of metaphysics, Charles Dexter Ward who befriends Erich Zann an aging violinist who lives on the floor above him. Restored from the original 16mm print.
A man awakes unaware of who he is. Through a series of flashbacks he gradually begins to remember his life, the woman he loves and a violent confrontation.
Robert Whipple accompanies his uncle, amateur ghost hunter Eli Whipple, as they investigate the uneasy history of the house on Benefit Street in Maelstrom Productions’ adaptation of Lovecraft’s short story.
A young man names Jacques, joins a group of wreckers in order to wreck and harvest a specific ship. But the night might take a stranger turn than expected and certainly not at all restful for any of our three protagonists.
After decades of men, women and children vanishing into the darkness of their rooms, a detective and mother must follow her child’s voice into the shadows, coming face to face with the shadows themselves.