Creaker
The horror genre is dominated by clichés: abandoned houses, flickering lights, creaking floorboards, jump scares, cell phones with no reception, cars that won’t start, invincible killers, ghost children, and final girls. Many of the movies included in this year’s Portland Horror Film Festival either completely invert these tropes or use them as stepping stones to much darker corners of the human psyche.
Only half of the festival’s six feature films were screened for critics, but the best of that bunch is The Funeral, which follows young model Zhong Tonghiu (Kunjue Li) to her wealthy aunt’s funeral in the countryside. It’s quite similar to Get Out, but The Funeral stands apart with its smart blurring of dreams, reality, and flashbacks.