Winners of the Fall 2026 Oregon Screams Horror Film Festival, and two genre films of the Oregon Short Film Festival
Portland, Oregon is a city famous for many things; Voodoo Doughnut, Powell’s City of Books, the interesting (but bleak) underground shanghai tunnels. But nestled in Rose City is a small move theatre in the small neighborhood of Clinton Street called, appropriately, Clinton Street Theatre. This is where the Fall 2026 Oregon Screams Horror Film Festival was held on September 20th.
Clinton Street Theatre has been entertaining Portland since 1915. They have regularly screened The Rocky Horror Picture Show (starring the late Tim Curry) since 1978. It currently screens the film every second and fourth Saturdays of the month, and during October the renowned Clinton Street Cabaret performs the film live on stage in front of the screen, acting as a “shadow cast.” Many independent theatres across the country partake in this tradition, and the Clinton Street Cabaret is the longest continually-running shadow cast for the film.
Clinton Street Theatre routinely hosts community events and screens independent work, making it an excellent location for the festival.
Hosted and organized by behind-the-scenes veteran Mikel Fair of Film Festival Circuit, the Oregon Screams Film Festival took place concurrently with the Oregon Short Film Festival. Sadly, the films submitted for the former were not screened, but the winners of the festival’s numerous awards were announced and presented with their certificates by Mikel.
But that does not mean the screenings for the Oregon Short Film Festival didn’t have a degree of horror present.
Two of the horror short films from the festival that we had the opportunity to view—Lady of the Lake and Rustboro & Kelly—were the winners of Best Dark Drama Film Award and the Best Horror Film Award, respectively.
Lady of the Lake
This bleak visual is based on the case of Hallie Illingworth, a waitress who was murdered by her husband Monty in 1937. He beat and strangled her to death before wrapping her with blankets and hogtying her, throwing her into the water attached to weights. Her body was discovered when she floated to the top of Lake Crescent three years later. Almost two years after that, Monty was sentenced to life in prison but was outrageously paroled after only serving nine years.
Having grown up in the Pacific Northwest, I was surprised that I had had never heard of this case, which is the subject of popular local legend around Lake Crescent. Director Steve Smith heard these legends during trips to the area, and desired to tell Hallie’s story as her own account rather than regurgitate lore and tall tales surrounding her murder and alleged ghost sightings.
His pursuit pays off, and Lady of the Lake is a dark, atmospheric perspective of the true subject of the story, who was a living person with emotions and pursuits. The narration, which is told almost like a campfire tale, is from Hallie’s perspective and reflects on her life after death; letters never mailed, never again smelling coffee in the morning. She also reflects on Monty’s increasing rage, describing his soft hands "hardening into fists."
The film does feature Hallie and Monty as characters, but their dialogue is not heard, and the narrator tells the story with the same intimacy Hallie would likely have told it herself. The image of the often misty and wet, but very beautiful, Pacific Northwest also provide an excellent backdrop to the story being told.
As a Pacific Northwesterner who had not previously known Hallie’s story, I’m grateful to have been introduced to it by Smith. I was able to learn about her case in a manner that Hallie would likely want others to learn from instead of ghost stories.
Rustboro & Kelly
Director John Reddy’s creature feature combines visual and audible terror to tell a story.
Set in the small town of Elkwood, it centers on Jack Kelly and Audrey Rustboro, hosts of a radio talk show called Pillow Talk. One night at the radio station, they start receiving calls from listeners detailing wolves walking on hind legs and “agitated animals that have taken to the street.”
Complete with the charm of practical effects, Rustboro and Kelly is a nostalgic reminder of the short films I would make as a teenager, and the ones I would watch on YouTube (back when it was truly “broadcast yourself). There is also a slight sense of mystery, as the origin of the wolf creatures is never explained, which is an aspect I’ve always found more appealing when the main characters are average people. If this occurred in real life, most of us would likely focus on survival instead of searching for an explanation, despite our curiosity.
However, I would argue that Rustboro and Kelly would be more effective as a full-length film. The appearances of the mysterious creatures are brief, and there is a mostly ambiguous subplot—Jack’s son (played by director John Reddy) reluctantly acknowledges that his mother’s birthday is today, implying she has passed away. This is the only reference to that.
At the end of the day, Rustboro and Kelly is an ambitious project from an obvious horror fan who clearly wants to tell a story. It is my sincere hope John can secure the resources to blossom this film into the feature-length project it deserves to be, if he so desires.
While we may not have had the pleasure of viewing the finalist films for Oregon Screams, the films were still well honored by Mikel and the circuit. As for the two screenings for the Short Film Festival, they were well-deserving members of the horror genre.
Both festivals are examples of the talent, creativity and community that the Pacific Northwest, like Portland, is famous for.
The complete list of the Fall 2026 Oregon Screams Film Festival winners can be viewed here.
Watch the video below for a taste of the films Oregon Screams explicates.
Comments