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Be afraid, be very afraid: The 48 Hour Horror & Sci-Fi Project is coming to Portland.
This spooky new edition of the Portland 48 Hour Film Project—the local version of a global filmmaking competition—is the latest twist in its 20-year history of bringing together the local moviemaking community. Indie movies made in 48 hours on shoestring budgets will screen at the Hollywood Theatre on Sunday, May 11. The 48 Hour Film Project, which started in Portland in 2004, now takes place in more than 100 cities and 45 countries throughout the year, and fosters an exciting, creative weekend for registered teams.
“Portland’s got a great reputation as putting out—not too surprising—strange films, but very good films,” Rob Hatch, Portland 48 Hour Hour Film Project founder and city producer, tells WW via phone.
The first annual Portland 48 Hour Horror & Sci-Fi Project kicked off on Friday, April 25, at the Jupiter Hotel, where 27 teams arrived and were assigned the same three items required for their movies: a character, a prop and a line of dialogue. From there, teams decided whether they were going to make a four-to-seven-minute sci-fi or horror project, then raced to beat the clock. The chosen line of dialogue had to be repeated verbatim, a task that usually proves more difficult than it might seem. All films this year will commonly feature keychains, a custodian named Terry Bridgewell, and the line “I know it’s around here somewhere.”
“We encourage people to be creative with their interpretation of the genres, but we can’t do that with the line,” Hatch says. “They can be creative with it. They can have multiple people take part of the line, they can use it how they want. It just has to be in there verbatim.”
Early returns suggested a more macabre mix of movies, with horror making up 75% of first submissions, but as of press time, Hatch says, there’s more of an even mix with sci-fi. Hatch, who says he’s personally a fan of Italian giallo movies like the works of Dario Argento, says he’s seen slashers, escape rooms, and voodoo/witchcraft movies come back so far, along with gothic and period horror. Sci-fi entries, meanwhile, will see cowboys, pirates and ninjas go to space.
The pandemic delayed the Portland 48 Hour Film Project’s horror and sci-fi spinoff. A two-year shutdown forced the competition to refocus its energies on getting the main competition back together once the world opened up after lockdown. Filmmaking has become easier and more accessible in the post-pandemic years, from finding affordable cameras still capable of changeable cinematic lenses to films shot fully on iPhones. Though technically a competition, Hatch focuses on the camaraderie that the projects promote among teammates.
“Even though it’s a competition people want to win, this is kind of secondary,” he says. “It’s really a lot about building community. A lot of these people have worked together before, and everybody’s so supportive of one another.”
Erich Demerath, a director and editor thrice nominated for Northwest Emmys for his commercial work, has led filmmaking teams 15 of the 23 times he’s entered local and national 48 Hour Film Projects. In his experience, which he plans to use for the Horror & Sci Fi Project, the first 24 hours are for the entire production phase, including writing and shooting, while the second 24 hours are slated for him to edit the movie solo. He’s often worked on teams with 40 to 50 people.
“People keep on asking me to be back on the team, and I honestly like the challenge,” Demerath says via phone. “I like to put something together, and best-case scenario, we come up with a film and it’s kind of a hit. There’s the potential of expanding it into a feature.”
Demerath once submitted a 3D movie complete with 3D glasses for the audience, which he personally handed out. He enjoys how the 48 Hour Film Project allows him to explore new filmmaking techniques and equipment, while also finding ways to bend the contest’s rules.
“I’m a big fan of taking a look at the rules and kind of seeing where there might be some loopholes or some opportunities to be creative,” Demerath says. “For example, one year I did the required line of dialogue after the credits were done in sort of like a fake trailer for another edition of the story that we were telling. The next year, they actually added the rule that you can’t do that anymore, so I thought that was kind of a win.”
Each year’s Best Film from the project’s standard format goes on to compete against more than 100 city winners from around the world at Filmapalooza, the conference of all 48 Hour Film Projects vying for Best Film of the Year.
Filmapalooza 2025 wrapped in Seattle back in March, so the 48 Hour Horror & Sci-Fi winners will compete with the next batch of 48 Hour Film Projects. Registration for Portland’s opens May 26, with filmmaking slated for August. While many of the films go on to other international film festivals, the 48 Hour Film Project has a 17-year partnership with the Cannes Film Festival’s Short Film Corner. Portland movies last made it to the Short Film Corner in 2023.
Regardless of how teams place, they all walk away with a finished proof of concept that they can use to attract investors to fill out a more fully realized vision backed by deeper pockets. Aside from bonding over the pressure cooker that is a two-day production, Hatch says that completing the project is its own reward.
“Finishing a film in 48 hours is a triumph in and of itself,” he says. “Some of the films are really good. Then you hear afterwards, ‘Oh wow, really? That was made in 48 hours?’ I like that.”
SEE IT: The Portland 48 Hour Horror & Sci-Fi Project at Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd., 503-493-1128, hollywoodtheatre.org. 7 and 9:30 pm Sunday, May 11. $16.