I'll get to my reviews of the movies later. I first want to mention how I think this festival, the ninth year in Portland, is a watershed year (I hope I don’t say that every year; but the water keeps rising). Festival founder Andrew Migliore left the security of regular gainful employment to run Lurker Films, a video distribution company, full time. He has set up deals with some great filmmakers to bring us some of the best HP Lovecraft adaptations ever. The first DVD is out featuring Bryan Moore's Cool Air, plus Christian Matzke's Nyarlathotep and An Imperfect Solution, as well as Tony Penta's The Hound and his Edward Gorey inspired tale, The Hapless Antiquarian. All of which are great shorts, and I highly recommend purchasing the DVD. The sleeve design, by Andrew Leman of the HP Lovecraft Historical Society, is also amazing.

Yet you must all note, this also means that Andrew is devoting more time and effort into the festival itself. This is no longer a hobby, something you do in your spare time because you dig Lovecraft and are driven by Mythos-mania. The festival is now something that is supposed to help pay the mortgage (and keep food on the table for Andrew's three and a half-year old son). The early stages of this change to what I think will be a larger, grander festival were apparent this year.

First, the program was printed as an old-time newspaper (Andrew Migliore designed the front and inside of the film program, Andrew Leman did the back. Andrew Lemans's design template was used.). I was shocked and awed by the care put into it. Many articles were written in vintage newspaper style, with gaudy headlines and multiple subheads leading into the prose. You can see a sample article from the program here. I only heard raves about the program, and I hope this becomes the standard from now on.

Second, and more importantly, the production quality of the independent short films has risen greatly. Edward Martin III, Rick Tillman, and others have either taken the lessons of the past to heart or gone totally insane, because their movies are getting better. Standards are being set, and like always, Andrew manages to fill three days of programming with professional features (some old and obscure), and independent shorts (some also old and obscure). With little advertising and calls for submissions, there were still a robust number of accomplished pictures.

Third, all the movies this year were screened on video. Andrew typically obtains prints for the features, but was unable to acquire any this year, especially the main film, Dan O' Bannon's The Resurrected. Instead he screened a nice laser disk copy. I'm not sure if this is a marker that we are losing so many celluloid marvels to time and the elements, or that video has just about surpassed film as the primary medium of movies. Either way, it's imperative that Andrew and the rest of us continue to watch and support these dusty gems before they are forgotten in the attic of lost wonders forever.

Fourth, the number of literary guests has increased, as ST Joshi has become a regular and was joined by Scott Connors, an expert on Clark Ashton Smith. Hopefully, HP Lovecraft Archivist Donovan Loucks has become addicted to the festival as well (this wasn’t his first appearance). People like these add legitimacy to the festival, and, I hope, remind us low-attention span babies of the genius and slow-cooked care taken in the crafting and pacing of Lovecraft's stories. In fact, I'd love for the HP Lovecraft Film Festival to become the HP Lovecraft Festival, with literary criticism, gaming, art exhibitions, live gaming, etc. all under one cosmic void. Although Portland isn't New England, it's close (closer than, say, Los Angeles or Des Moines), and until Providence's NecronomiCon is resurrected from its essential salts, the film festival is one of the few dedicated places for Lovecraft scholars, artists, merchants, and fans to gather.

The artist guest this year was Lee Moyer, and although I regret not speaking with him at great length, it was good to have him aboard. He also designed the poster this year, which is a great rendition of a pulp magazine with Lovecraft's gentlemanly face gracing the cover.

Musical guests Amoree Lovell and Cyoakha Grace rejoined the festival. Unfortunately, the Darkest of the Hillside Thickets were lost in Leng, and only singer Toren Atkinson and Warren Banks managed to escape (more on their quashed attempt at an acoustic Thickets later).

Finally, I also noticed that the third wave of Lovecraft filmmakers have started to gather and work together--I spotted Craig Mullins (from Unfilmmable.com) name in the credits of a few movies, and many of the people who were just asses in the seats at the first few festivals are now on stage showcasing their own nightmares.

I left the festival early (Sunday night), and between chauffeuring people around and making sure I remained well-fed and libationary throughout the weekend, I missed a few things, notably, the longer "shorts" of Angry and Moist, Beauty in the Dark, and Enter the Dagon, as well as Professor Peabody's Last Lecture (the Night Gallery episode) and Quatermass 2 (both of which I have on video anyway), and the almost-Lovecraftian movie Dead and Buried, which I can apparently rent on video. I also missed about a half hour of The Crimson Cult, but saw enough of it (the last part) to review it. Speaking of reviews… The first movie I watched was The Last Wave, a feature directed by Peter Weir (Dead Poet's Society, Master and Commander) and starring Richard

Friday night wrapped up at the usual spot, the Moon and Sixpence, where we took over the back of the pub and made loud. I think there were about 50 of "us"; us being the filmmakers, artists, writers, guests, publishers, significant others, and anyone else associated with the festival. So loud, in fact, that an impromptu acoustic session from Toren Atkinson (singer) and Warren Banks (guitarist) of the Darkest of the Hillside Thickets only lasted for two songs ("Digging up the World" and "The Innsmouth Look") before the waitstaff told us to pipe down so the neighbors wouldn't have insane dreams. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, considering that the guitar was out of tune (borrowed from Andrew's attic), and Warren, gifted as he is, was using Bryan Moore's tie-clip as a guitar pick. Anyway, I hung out with a few of the regulars, some of the irregulars, ate some fair fish and chips, had a few pints of Boddington's, froze my ass off and managed to drive a few people home (home being Andrew and Linda's pad) safe and sound. Luckily, they only live a few blocks away. People were so pleased I would drive them back and forth from the theater to the house, but really, it's only ten blocks away, which is like here to the grocery store in Los Angeles.

Besides, before the theater doors were opened to the public, I noticed that Andrew had found four copies of the Thickets CD "Great Old Ones". I immediately snatched one up, the second subsequently went to Christian Matzke, the third to Bryan Moore, and the fourth to Pagan flunky Jared (??). Gone before the doors even opened. So any fans who were looking to buy that album, us jerks on the other side of the velvet rope got to them first. Nyah nyah. Anyway, that was the only CD I played in the rental car the whole weekend. Over and over and over again. Loud. Yeah.

Saturday is always the big day for the fest, and it started out with a quick jaunt to Powell's Bookstore with Christian (Matzke) and Kirsten (the aforementioned wife), and, like always, we did not having enough time to really browse or buy anything.
Back at the theater, I enacted my plan to see two of the three shorts blocks (I would see Block 2 before I left for the airport on Sunday),plus The Resurrected on the big screen. And the secret screening flicks, of course.

The afternoon started with Shorts Block 1. And here's what I saw, and what I thought about it:

Shadow Dog: a one minute "bumper" with hand-shadow puppets. Cute.

Why Vote for the Lesser Evil (directed by Brian Wood and Jon Cazares): Two cultists try to get Great Cthulhu elected president. It's a one-joke flick that nevertheless has some redeeming moments, including one of the best lines ever. When the cultists are on a talk show with some Bible thumper who starts reading from the Book of Revelations, one cultist responds "See, thank you for making my point. Your god wastes all his time writing poems about our god."

The Unnamable trailer: (directed by Sascha Renninger) for an upcoming indie film: http://www.the-unnamable.com/ The Visage (directed by Kirk Henderson): Running at 40 minutes, it's too long (trust me on this). Still, it had some great moments, especially when the main character (who was the weakest part of the film, IMHO), hides under a blanket. Not very Lovecraftian, but not a terrible flick by any means. It worked its scares well. Based on the story "Viy" by Nikolai Gogol (I have not read the story). http://www.thevisagemovie.com/ Experiment 17 (trailer): A preview of an upcoming short from Christian Matzke,

ONLY animated piece to show this year. Usually, there are at least a few cartoons or stop motion shorts; this year, just one (and a short one at that). Interesting. The Summoning: The second (?) film from Rick Tillman, it's ostensibly a sequel to last year's Pickman's Model, shot in roughly the same style: silent, period, etc. The ending was wonderful, with great special effects and monsters (tentacles) besieging a poor man who thought it was a good idea to read aloud from the Necronomicon. However, it takes a long time to get to the good stuff. Remember, kids, editing is your friend.

Call of Cthulhu trailer (Andrew Leman and Sean Branney): The long-awaited trailer for the upcoming half hour film from the HP Lovecraft Historical Society was, for me, another shining marker of the change occurring within the Lovecraft-movie world. That is, I think Leman and Branney have finally done it: made an entirely period Lovecraft film. Shot in the style of the silent movies of old, they made theirs as if the movie was produced at the time the story came out (1927). Nor have the HPLHS conceded anything: they are putting almost everything from the story on the screen. Which means a cast of 50, dozens of locations, props, costumes, amazing camera trickery, miniature sets, and a serious outlay of resources. I no longer feel ashamed to say I want to see an adaptation of this story (going against what author Neil Gaiman says--that CoC is the worst story, as depicted in the documentary Eldritch Influence).

The Tell-Tale Heart (directed by Jeff Hoffman): I'm glad Jeff followed my advice and submitted his film to the festival (I know him from LA). I've already seen this, but my evaluation remains the same, which is often my criticism of most Lovecraft adaptations: don't read the entire text in voice over. If I want to hear the text, I'll buy an audio book or read it myself. The set, acting , and costumes are all great, and my biggest beef is the screeching siren that occurs near the end and goes on for too long. When I heard it at the first screening, I thought it was a fire alarm and started heading towards the exit.

Following these shorts was a brief panel with Andrew Migliore, John Strysik, ST Joshi, Scott Connors, and Donovan Loucks. It was great to have them on stage, but it was a bit too impromptu for my tastes, with not much structure, and much of the comments were familiar territory. It might be interesting to have these experts talk about the status of Lovecraft research and awareness in the world, or have some filmmakers answer questions from the audience about things they've learned in making movies, or why they did one thing or the other, etc. Otherwise, the panel degenerates into rambling. Everyone can use a good editor, even a panel of experts.

The was another short break, and then I went to the main screen to watch The Resurrected. It's been a while since I've seen it, and this was the first time on the big screen. I know I always enjoyed the picture, but I think it might be the best of the "Hollywood" Lovecraft films to date. It stars Chris Sarandon as Charles Dexter Ward (From The Case of…), and John Terry as the detective hired by Ward's wife to investigate her husband's strange behavior. It's very good and smart (most of the characters act in believable ways most of the time). Sarandon does a great performance as Ward and the vile Joseph Curwen, the makeup and special effects work great: spare but well-done. And the long scene with the investigators exploring Curwen's warren is the closest thing to a cinematic Call of Cthulhu game I have ever seen (geeky, sorry). I highly recommend watching this movie while waiting for that big-budget Lovecraft blockbuster we're all waiting for.

After the movie, I quickly wheeled Kirsten home to sleep, then headed back to the secret screening (there was an invite-only special engagement in the other theater). The first two shows were episodes of the hilarious BBC4 comedy series, Dr. Terrible's House of Horrible, which is an anthology show that spoofs the Hammer horror films of the past. I missed the first one, but the second, "Scream Satan Scream" was a delight. If you can find the series on DVD, give it a try if you like British humor.

The closing secret screening was, of course, the truly terrible adaptation of Dreams in the Witch House. No matter how many times I see it, it only gets worse. However, it is one of the few things in life that can truly cause me to bust a gut laughing (especially at the climax with Elwood getting fake blood splattered on him by a hand trying and failing to remain off-frame as he screams over and over again in terror throughout the empty house, a rip off from The Godfather). I haven't decided if it's best to see it buzzed or sober. More research is needed.

The last day of the festival, Sunday, is always a special day, for Andrew and Linda warmly open their house to all the guests and filmmakers from the festival for brunch. So many people have been joining in this tradition that last year, Andrew had the event catered. This time, so many people came by that Kirsten and Warren manned the kitchen to provide enough grub for everyone (and good grub at that). It was a delectable success.

The Sunday brunch is also where we enjoy Scott Glancy's "Dog Head Story" as well as the "Tale of the Killer Christmas Present", which are great to hear every time. Thanks to Scott for entertaining everyone.

After brunch, we packed up our belongings and headed out to the theater for the last bit, seeing shorts block two. Then, during the break, we'd head to the airport.

Short block two featured:

The Lovecraft (bumper): (Eric Morgret & KL Young): It's amazing no one else thought of this before, and it's great that Morgret & Young managed to pull this gag off so beautifully. The Lovecraft is, of course, a spoof of the old TV show "The Love Boat" but with Herbert West as the ship's doctor, Obed Marsh as the Captain, etc. With an original song composed just for the spot, and using original TV footage and graphics/logos to match, this is parodic genius on the level of Family Guy, or The Simpsons. It had the audiences rolling in the aisles. And the ending is exactly what you expect, except that it's brilliantly done. I'm not partial to Mythos humor, but this one is classic.

Innsmouth Legacy (Edward Martin III): A modern tale of heartbreak between the species, this one had a surprisingly wonderful amount of drama and pathos. Although not perfect (needs more editing), I give it high marks for the high concept of extrapolating from the story "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" and working it into a romantic drama with a solid punch at the end.

Late Bloomer trailer (directed by Craig Macneill): The movie looks professional enough, with a bunch of kids in a sex ed class being taught by a Miss Lovecraft. I want to like it, but I didn't get enough of the movie to know what it's about, nor if it is a comedy, drama, horror, etc. (or it was there and I just don’t remember). www.northlakefilms.com

Between the Stars (Djie Han Thung): A very poetic black and white short with European sensibilities. This one is for the art festival crowd, even though it was inspired by a fragment from an incomplete Lovecraft story. It's about a poor worker drone who lives in a cheap high rise apartment, and his only window looks out on a small courtyard in the middle of the building. At night, he lies on a board and looks up at the few stars he can see in the space above him. But the stars begin to affect him in strange ways. It's very slick, and I'm sure it has or will play well with worldwide audiences. Special thanks to Franklin Hummel for locating the film. Interestingly, there's some brief commentary after the movie explaining the director's intent and inspiration.

The Strange Case of HP Lovecraft (directed by Mike Shkolnik): This was a Super-8 movie from the early 80's that had a wraparound video stuck on it to give it a Lovecraft feel, but overall, the short is hilarious in a Velveeta kind of way. It's about a killer attaché case that moves around via stop motion animation accompanied by an overdubbed soundtrack. Funny as hell.

The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill: (from the Creepshow movie directed by George Romero): Stephen King stars in this take off of The Colour Out of Space. It's more funny than scary, mostly because Stephen King places an idiot so well.

Man in the Moon (Joe Hill White): A kid and his slightly older sister argue about the memory of their aunts calling down the man in the moon. Well shot, acted, edited, etc., yet I still missed the point of this one. It didn't have much of a Lovecraft flavor. However, more and more, I'm still glad that Andrew is showing these "weird tales".

Strange Aeons: (directed by Raymond Zablocki): Something having to do with an amulet, the end of the world, and Cthulhu (of course). I thought the "Cthulhu effect" which was looked like old, billowing flaps of skin (wings?), flab, whatever, was very good, probably one of the best representations of that particular Great Old One around. The rest of the flick was fair, and suffered from a problem with many indie movies: casting yourself or your friends in the movie. Unless you are friends with professional actors, try casting some of the many people over the age of 25 who would love to be in your movie. This is a general criticism. The Signalman: (directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark): A TV show from 1976, although I am not sure from what; probably some BBC anthology program. It's

My faves of the fest were (not in order): Call of Cthulhu trailer, Between the Stars, The Lovecraft, and The Resurrected (and maybe The Last Wave as well). However, I do want to say that there was nothing I absolutely hated. So even though there may have been fewer movies than previous years, I think the overall quality is way up. I'm going to really have to work if I want to make another Lovecraft film to compete with these folks.

for the world to enjoy. Based on the seeds he has planted years ago, and the steady watering he and the other "Lurkers" have contributed (we all like to piss on young trees), I cannot wait to see what will sprout up next. The 2005 Festival will be the tenth year of operation in Oregon. It looks to be big. Start making those movies. PS-I later watched Angry and Moist and Enter the Dagon. Both were too long. Angry and Moist had heart, humor, and effects. Enter the Dagon tried to be bad, and succeeded. It looked to be a bastard child of Cthulhu Wore Tennis Shoes, except longer (Andrew had the good sense to cut down the running time of CWTS for the "Lurker in