Queer Horror, the only LGBTQ+ feature-length horror screening series in the United States, started as a short film festival in 2015 at the historic Hollywood Theatre in Portland, Oregon, incorporating live drag and burlesque acts in a riotous multimedia program asking what it means to identify with the monster. The East Coast premiere of Queer Horror: Gravest Hits presents the silliest and most ghoulish international horror shorts by, starring, and about queers culled from Queer Horror’s short film nights. Featured titles include Goat Witch by James Sizemore, In Satan’s Closet by Stacie Ponder, Don’t Wake the Baby by Gula Delgatto, Pizza Sluts by Sign of the Beast Burlesque, and The Susan and Denise Halloween Special by Susan and Denise. Hosted by Portland’s premiere drag clown and Queer Horror programmer Carla Rossi, and opening with a live one-act drag play performed by Rossi and Pepper Pepper, plus additional performances in between the films, Queer Horror: Gravest Hits will leave the audience shook, slain, and screaming for more. This event is made possible with support from the National Endowment for the Arts and is co-sponsored by Wesleyan’s College of Film and the Moving Image.
