Editorials
#Overlook Film Festival Day 1 Recap
On a groggy Los Angeles morning, I boarded the plane to take me to Portland, Oregon, where I would be attending the new and improved Overlook Film Festival in the very same hotel that served as the exterior shots for Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. One delayed flight and a few hours later, I found myself seated next to Blumhouse’s Ryan Turek as we made our way up the snowy mountainside, switching cars halfway up to get in a vehicle with chains on the wheels so as not to be caught in the growing blizzard that loomed over the ominous Overlook – I mean Timberline – hotel.
Upon my arrival, I discovered just how frightening it must be to be snowed in in a place like this, with nothing but a typewriter and a limited food supply at hand, making Jack Torrance’s infamous cinematic descent into madness more relatable than ever before. Street signs barely peeked out of the mounds and mounds of packed white, tall trees scaled in comparison to the massive power of the powder, and my trusty leather jacket did little to protect me from the vicious windy cold. Basically, with nowhere to go and nothing to do but watch movies, the Timberline Lodge in Mt. Hood serves as the perfect place to hold a film festival for cinephiles.
[Related] All Overlook Film Festival Coverage HERE.
My first film of the festival was Akiva Goldsman’s Stephanie, which is Blumhouse’s new futuristic dystopian thriller about a little girl left alone in a house all by herself after her parents abandoned her for reasons unknown. The year is 2027, and although it’s not clear at first what exactly is going on, as little Stephanie makes her way from room to room in her big empty two-story abode, her stuffed animal and only companion Francis the Frog in hand, we get little hints as to what exactly has been happening lately, with newspaper clippings with headlines like “INVASION! Unknown entities breach” pinned to the walls, and the memory of a brother named Paul, who we can only assume is no longer with us, swarming through Stephanie’s lonely mind. Eventually, her parents return, and for a brief moment it is a joyous reunion, but soon “the monster” who Stephanie has been hiding from for the entire film begins to make itself known again, not through sight, but through force, as an invisible Lovecraftian creature tosses Stephanie’s parents around like rag dolls using only telekinetic powers and unfiltered rage. Her mom and dad tell her to keep calm, assuring her that if she can keep her spirits up, eventually the monster will leave them all alone, but as the story carries on, it soon becomes clear that no one in this house is safe, and perhaps her parents were better off leaving this desolate place behind, even if it meant leaving their little girl behind, too. It’s a very unique and unnerving tale about what happens when our love for our children is used as a weapon against us, with strong Carrie vibes, and a wonderful Frank Grillo performance to boot. There probably should’ve been a bit of exposition cut from the film to really take it to the next level, but it’s an interesting concept nonetheless.
After the film ended, Stephanie‘s director Akiva Goldsman took the stage with producer Jason Blum at his side, and the pair briefly answered questions about the film before Mr. Blum received an award for being a visionary filmmaker – his prize a shiny new axe. With recent gems like Split and Get Out tearing up the box office and turning film fans of all kinds on to the horror genre, it’s easy to see why a man like Jason Blum deserves an award, as he clearly understands just what it is his audience is looking for. It will be thrilling to see what he and his team have cooked up for Glass, the newly announced Split / Unbreakable sequel that his production company will be handling with M. Night Shyamalan.
After Blum accepted his award and thanked his patrons, he jokingly announced that he was finally going to answer the long awaited question of which Paranormal Activity film is his favorite – it’s Paranormal Activity 3. Blum then surprised the audience with a screening of the film, with the filmmakers in attendance, which was to start playing immediately after he finished his speech.
Blum then moved on to a more serious announcement, grinning from ear to ear as he remarked that he and Akiva Goldsman would be teaming up yet again (for the fifth time!) for a brand new film, which Goldsman and Scott Teems will be co-writing together and Goldsman will be directing, which is a brand new adaptation of the Stephen King novel Firestarter. Rumors are currently circulating that the little girl from Goldsman’s Stephanie, Shree Crooks, could possibly star as the new Charlene, but there is no confirmation as of yet. Either way, the news is very exciting, especially for fans of Blumhouse films, and of Stephen King alike.
Watch for more Overlook coverage as the weekend progresses.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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