The Overlook Film Festival is four days of contemporary horror cinema contained entirely in the frosty confines of Mt. Hood’s Timberline Lodge. “Oh, ‘Overlook!’” you say. “Like the hotel in The Shining, right?” Please don’t interrupt, but yes. “And Timberline is where they shot The Shining, right?” Well actually, only the exteriors. The interiors were built on a British sound stage! And the part with the car driving up the hill was shot in Montana. “So….” So don’t expect a creepy haunted mansion when you get up there, dummy. It’s a very nice ski lodge that probably isn’t even haunted.
As for Overlook’s films, the schedule is a well-curated, impressively diverse selection from a wide range of horror sub-genres. I talked to festival co-directors Landon Zakheim and Michael Lerman, who told me they were looking for a “well rounded” program, which they’ve achieved.