The Scariest Things Podcast Extra: Queer Screams Film Festival 2023

The inherent boundary-pushing horror genre has become a safe harbor for exploring LGBTQ+ themes, and now there is a West Coast Festival that celebrates and provides an avenue for Queer Horror. Come to Portland’s Clinton Street Theater, from August 18-20 for Queer Screams, the inaugural festival from J.T. Seaton, director of the recent laugh-tastic “The Haunted Baby Carriage from Hell” and the former festival director of the New Orleans Horror Film Festival. The festival comprises three feature films, twenty-eight short films, live drag performances, question and answer sessions with filmmakers in attendance, and live drag shows. In other words, it’s Ron Desantis’ worst nightmare on stage, and The Scariest Things is totally down with that! Scream Queen Lynn Lowry will be in attendance for showings of two important horror movies in which she starred: David Cronenberg’s first feature film, Shivers (1974), and George Romero’s cautionary tale about the military-industrial complex, The Crazies (1973). If you’ve never had a chance to see these on the big screen, now’s your chance! Plus, you can get to meet Lynn Lowry in person. Win-win!