Guests

We’re still adding guests for the 2025 festival, check back soon!

2025 Guests

Ethan Embry
Lead Actor – Alma & The Wolf Ethan Embry will next be seen starring in the film By Any Means opposite Mark Wahlberg and in the upcoming untitled Christy Martin biopic alongside Sydney Sweeney. He can be seen in the films Alma & the Wolf, The Gymnast, and opposite Gerard Butler in the Voltage film, Chase. He also starred in Damien Chazelle’s Oscar nominated First Man for Universal. Prior to that, he was seen opposite Daveed Diggs and Janina Gavankar in Lionsgate’s Blindspotting. He can currently be seen in Netflix series Grace & Frankie opposite Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. Other credits include The Devil’s Candy, which premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Fest, and played an important role as “Carter” in the Season 6 premiere of The Walking Dead. Ethan also starred in the independent thriller Cheap Thrills, recurred on Once Upon a Time, and starred in the NBC pilot Frontier. Previously, he starred in the Showtime series Brotherhood and had a great role in Eagle Eye for DreamWorks. Some of Ethan’s feature credits include Can’t Hardly Wait, Timeline, Sweet Home Alabama, Empire Records, and Vacancy.
Aaron Drane

Producer – “Glampire”

Aaron Drane (he/him/they) is tenured full-time faculty at Olympic College where he teaches screenwriting and film producing. He began his screenwriting career selling three feature-length screenplays in different genres to 20th Century-Fox, including John Davis, Arnold Kopelson and Fox 2000, also optioning a screenplay to legendary producer, Tamara Asseyev. In the independent film sector, Aaron has produced feature films and a webseries for Sony/Comcast/Lionsgate, working alongside legendary horror icons. He holds a BA in Communications from Washington State University, a MA in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University, L.A., and a MFA in Screenwriting from UCLA.
Allie Perison

Writer, Director, & Producer of “She Devil”

Allie Perison is a Los Angeles- based writer/director originally from Texas. She was staffed on the show Obliterated and sold an original animated pilot to Sony with Starburns Industries attached. She cut her teeth under Liz Meriwether and Jean Smart. Allie has worked at Paramount, Creative Artists Agency, and Netflix. “She Devil” is her directorial debut.
Amy Hesketh

Director – “Glampire”

Amy Hesketh (zie/zir) is the coordinator of the OC Film School as well as tenured, full-time faculty. Prior to joining Olympic College, Amy co-founded a film production company in Bolivia, where zie produced over 11 feature films and directed five feature films. In 2015, after 10 years of living and working in Bolivia, the government of Bolivia honored Amy with the prestigious award of “Valuable Contributions to Bolivian Culture” for pioneering the New Wave of Bolivian cinema. Amy holds a BA in Fine Arts from Goddard College and a MFA in Film from Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Andre LeBlanc

Writer/Director “Masks”

Andre LeBlanc is a writer, director, VFX supervisor and artist based in LA. As a writer and director, his films explore primal identity and human nature using sci-fi and horror. Beyond directing, his work in visual effects includes David Fincher’s LOVE, DEATH + ROBOTS and the beloved How to Train Your Dragon from DreamWorks Animation.
Ashley George

Writer/Director – “Slush”

Ashley George is a director and producer based in Seattle, WA. Recent films include “Slush,” “Volition,” and “Diabla”. Her work has screened globally at festivals such as Fantasia, Norwich, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Overlook and Fantasia, and garnered awards such as Best Film, Best Director, Best Ensemble Cast and Best Cinematography. She’s currently developing the feature-length version of her latest film, “Slush,” which is a psychedelic rural American horror film set in the Pacific Northwest.
Ed Hartman

Composer/restorer “The Scalpel”

Ed Hartman (Composer, Producer) has been working on Lyford-related projects since 2017. He writes music for film and TV and is working on a screenplay about Lyford’s first 20 years in Seattle. He recently restored and composed a new score for “The Scalpel”, a 1936 short film by Richard H. Lyford (Director – 1917-1985). Richard created 9 films before he was 20. He worked for Disney and directed an Academy Award winning documentary.
Ehrland Hollingsworth

Writer/Director – Dooba Dooba

Ehrland makes films and lives in Nevada City, which is in California. He is a graduate of NYU Tisch ’19. His first feature, Homestead (2023), is a western home-invasion film starring Brian Krause of Charmed, currently streaming on Amazon and Tubi. Dooba Dooba is his second feature – he hopes you will see it, as it is playing at Portland Horror Film Festival, which is where you probably are, if you are reading this bio.
Faith Liu

Writer/Director – “Sundowning”

Faith is a writer/director from New Jersey. Homeschooled K-12, Faith used story to seek community outside given systems: she wrote sci-fi novels, directed opera, and published in two academic journals before finding film. She is an alum of USC, CAPE, and Lucky Exports; has written for Blumhouse, FilmNation, and Disney/Pixar; and enjoys stories of loners finding community in unlikely places.
Greg Derasmo

Writer/Director “Love and the All Night Horror Show”

Gregory Derasmo was born in NY and lives in LA. He wrote and directed genre features Outlaws Don’t Get Funerals and A Wreck Without You, and his short “Love and the All Night Horror Show” screens on Thursday 6/12. In addition, he does all the practical gore effects in his movies himself.
Isadora Leiva

Lead Actress – It Needs Eyes
A Miami native, Isadora earned a BA in Theatre from Florida State University and has been acting professionally since. She loves working on horror films more than anything, getting to know all the secrets and trying her best to survive till the end (fingers crossed). She is excited to return to Portland Horror after starring in “Pigskin” (2016).
Izzy Lee

Writer/Director – House of Ashes

Izzy Lee’s award-winning films, including the Fangoria Chainsaw Award-nominated “Meat Friend,” have screened at major international genre festivals. House of Ashes is her feature debut. Her first book, I Can See Your Lies, was published in 2024. She’s also published several short stories, including “The Beginning” in the genre filmmaker Haunted Reels anthology. Learn more about Izzy’s projects at https://www.nihilnoctem.com/
Jack Perez

Director The Sinister Cinema Story

Jack Perez has been directing movies in Hollywood for 30 years. His credits include the pilot for Xena: Warrior Princess, Some Guy Who Kills People, Wild Things 2, America’s Deadliest Home Video, Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus, La Cucaracha, The Big Empty, and MTV’s Monster Island. He is also the creator of the popular YouTube Premium Channel, CINEFIX.
Joshua Sonny Harris

Producer – Dooba Dooba

Josh is a Columbia MFA filmmaker who makes comedies with heart and horror with a sense of humor. As a writer/director, his shorts have played major horror festivals like Screamfest and Nightmares . As a producer, he’s sent a lot of emails and sang the Dooba Dooba theme song. Josh met Ehrland in high school, where they were the co-captains of the Saratoga High Improv Team, “SHIT.”
Karen Lam

Writer/Director “Mrs. Chang’s Perfect Teeth”

Karen has worked full-time in the film and television industry since 2000. Starting her career as a producer and entertainment lawyer, Karen has since written and directed ten short films, three music videos, series directed a true-crime documentary series for Investigation Discovery (US), a web series “Mythos” (2015), and five feature-length films — Stained (2010), Evangeline (2013) and The Curse of Willow Song (2020), Bring It On: Cheer or Die (2022) and her newest, Armageddon Road, currently in post-production and set to be finished the summer of 2025. Karen’s tenth short horror film, “Mrs. Chang’s Perfect Teeth,” won the Director’s Guild of Canada BC “Established Director Greenlight Award” in the fall 2023 and is having its world premiere at the Portland Horror Film Festival in June 2025.
Luke Zwanziger

“Smores” – bumper contest
Luke Zwanziger is an award-winning writer and director from Portland OR telling stories about people stuck in untenable and absurd situations, leaning heavily into comedy and horror which he views as two sides of the same coin; genres that both allow us to reflect on the human experience. His feature script BIOLOGICAL won HorrOrigins best screenplay 2021. His scripts have placed in festivals such as ATX, NYC Midnight, FilmLabTv, and more. When he isn’t writing or filming, he performs improv comedy, runs TTRPG games, eats artisanal doughnuts, and engages in some ennui. All while parenting his 3-year-old son.
Matt Almquist

Writer & Producer of “She Devil”

Matt Almquist is a Los Angeles-based writer/producer, originally from Cincinnati. Matt was a Co-Producer on Amazon’s horror anthology series Them: The Scare and worked on Apple’s Surface and Showtime’s Dexter: New Blood. Recently, Matt wrote and produced the proof-of-concept short film “She Devil” – selected to an Academy-Award-qualifying festival and currently undergoing its festival run.
Nathaniel Smith

Sound Designer – It Needs Eyes

Nathaniel is a 20 year sound and music veteran of the entertainment industry, beginning his journey at Hans Zimmer’s Remote Control Productions. He then sharpened his craft alongside acclaimed composer Rupert Parkes (Photek), contributing to hit series like How to Get Away with Murder and Still Star-Crossed. His journey evolved into a rich career as a freelance sound designer, dialog editor, sound editor, and mixer collaborating with global entertainment leaders like Paramount, Sony, Comedy Central, MTV, and ABC.
Nolen Sternkopf

“Somethin’ in the Pumpkin” – bumper contest

Nolen Sternkopf is a Portland-based independent writer and director, as well as co-founder of the indie film group Ghoul Capone Pictures. Nolen’s films often play with genre, his favorite of which being horror. In 2024 Nolen’s short film “The Battle of Grovers Mill” premiered at Portland Horror Film Festival. He is excited to be back, this time with a bumper!
Pagan Circus

“Spotting Nigel Grapeshears” – bumper

Founded by artists Monstark & Schneider, Pagan Circus produces films and other media in Portland, Oregon. Our creative collaboration explores storytelling through puppetry, animation and filmmaking, combining handmade puppets, props and sets with digital sculpting and visual effects. In 2024, Pagan Circus produced the award-winning short “The Outsider,” a puppet film based on H.P. Lovecraft’s story.
Sam Das

Writer/Director “Cruelty”

Sam Das is a first-generation Asian American screenwriter and director of mixed Indian and East Asian descent, born and raised in The Bronx. A graduate of NYU Tisch and USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, his script The Confection Connection earned top spots on The Hit List and Young & Hungry List, and won the Launch Pad Feature Competition. A former Sundance Lab finalist and CAPE Fellow, Sam has written for Sony Pictures and developed projects with MGM, Disney, and Pearl Studio. He previously worked as an editor at PBS and MTV, cutting promos for shows like Jersey Shore and Teen Mom.
Simeon Gregory

“Daddy” – bumper contest

Simeon Gregory resides in Washington State and keeps it creepy by filming in the PNW. He has been a horror genre fan since 1985, thanks to his father, who took him to see The Return of the Living Dead as a young child.
Steven Jackley

“Blood Run” – bumper contest

Steven K. Jackley has been a fan of horror films since he was first introduced to the genre at five years old, exploring the depths of horror from Wes Craven’s Nightmare on Elm Street to John Carpenter’s sci-fi horror The Thing, to David Fincher’s thriller, Seven. He began his filmmaking journey after moving to Portland, Oregon in 2015, and has entered many scripts and short films into festivals across the country, including the Portland Horror Film Festival and the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival.
Tim Blough

“Hell-o!” – bumper contest

Tim is a local actor, director and writer. The horror genre is one of his favorite, particularly anything with monsters. A big fan of the Universal Monsters growing up cemented his love for anything that goes bump in the night. He has written and directed several shorts, as well as bumpers.
Travis Campbell

Producer – It Needs Eyes

Travis Parke Campbell is the Executive Producer at Formidable File Films from a small town in Florida that he would prefer not to mention. A lover of all people and different cultures, Travis is currently a temporary resident in Mexico, where he is learning to speak Spanish. Travis is a passionate and driven filmmaker who wants nothing more than to produce strange and dark indie movies until the day he dies.
Virginia Powers Hendry

Writer/Director – “Gaslighting”

Born in Memphis, TN, but raised in Florida, Virginia “Gina” Powers Hendry is a graduate of the University of Central Florida Film & Digital Media Program. She moved to California almost immediately after graduation to pursue her dream of filmmaking. She spends most days writing female-driven stories while raising two kick-ass future final girls.
Zack Ogle

Writer/Director – It Needs Eyes

Zack is an award winning writer/director, best known for his work on Netflix’s Dead Boy Detectives as well as his films “We Got a Monkey’s Paw” and “Death Has a Son”. Queer as a three dollar bill, raised in Philly and based in LA, Zack uses horror to explore the everyday monsters that haunt us from the inside out.