​Darkest Day of Horror Film Festival arrives in Fargo

By JD Provorse

jdprovorse@gmail.com

Horror movie fans of the valley, our time has come! Darkest Day of Horror Film Festival comes to the Fargo Theatre on Saturday, June 21. I sat down with JD Provorse, the creator and curator of DDHF (who also happens to be me), to talk about what horror fans can expect.

Hi, JD. Thanks for taking the time to chat with us today.

The pleasure is all mine, JD.

So, what is Darkest Day of Horror Film Festival, and how did it come about?

DDHFF is a one-day celebration of truly independent horror cinema; created by horror fans, for horror fans. Everything I will be showing is a passion project; short on budget but long on creativity and ingenuity. I went to the Chicago Horror Film Festival last year for my podcast, “We Watch Shudder,” co-hosted by the invaluable Michelle Roller. Chicago is also a small indie event, and I thought there was no reason I couldn’t do the same sort of thing here.

You’ll be showing five features and fifteen shorts. What can you tell us about the films?

All of the shorts are either films I saw at the Chicago festival, or other films made by filmmakers whose work I saw there. Since these films were a major part of the inspiration for all this, I wanted to showcase them for a new audience they might never otherwise reach.

One of my short film highlights is “Grinners,” a highly stylized serial killer film starring the king of the drive-in, Joe Bob Briggs. I am also showing a three-pack of music videos from Fargo death metal kings Gorgatron. When will you ever get another chance to see those in a theatre? I’m especially proud of my feature selections. Four of them are debut features from their creators and the fourth is a second feature. Can I break those down for you, one by one?

Yes, please do!

Let’s start with “The Leaching” from Evan Showalter, another filmmaker who I first encountered in Chicago. Without saying too much, it’s an amnesia scenario that might possibly also be a creature feature. This will actually be the very first public screening of the film anywhere.

Next up is “A Witch Lives in the Attic” from Lilith Crimi. Heavily influenced by the psychological surrealism of David Lynch, the film also addresses the detachment and isolation that all too often afflict members of the trans community and the damage it can do to your sanity.

“Saint Drogo” is the second feature from Providence, Rhode Island collective Monster Makeup, a group devoted to what they call “unapologetically gay” films. This film is an erotic (yes, gay male sex, deal with it) folk horror film with a bit of Lovecraft, as one would expect from Providence.

“Somnium” from Racheal Cain tells the age-old tale of a young ingenue going off to the big city to be a star and to get away from hurt back home; but paying the bills can lead to very literal nightmares. “Somnium” was taken to the Cannes film market by Yellow Veil Pictures, a quickly rising player in the indie horror game, who have been especially helpful with DDHFF.

Finally, I have “Chainsaws Were Singing,” a gory horror comedy musical from Estonian writer/director Sander Maran. Originally filmed in 2013 and gradually completed as a labor of love, “Chainsaws Were Singing” won the Best Horror Feature award at Fantastic Fest 2024. The film will also be receiving wide distribution later this year from Dark Star Pictures.

Did you say a gory horror comedy musical from Estonia? 

Yes, I did.

Care to elaborate?

Nope. What more do you need to know? 

Good point. You specified some LGBTQ+ filmmakers. Care to elaborate on that, then? 

Absolutely. With the festival taking place during Pride Month, and with the hate currently surrounding the queer community, I made it a point to program a significant selection of films with significant queer involvement. Altogether, eight of the twenty films fall under that umbrella.

Clearly you feel like diversity and representation are important in horror.

They’re important in everything. But yes, not only for the social and cultural implications. I also just crave new horror stories. I love many stories that have been created by cishet white men, and will continue to love more. But I also want to see stories they simply can’t give me. While I’m proud of what I have been able to put together involving queer creators, I also unfortunately did not get as many films from female creators and creators of color as I would have liked. I intend to improve those elements in year two.

Wait, year two? You haven’t even gotten through year one yet.

This year’s one-day event has always been meant as a pilot program; the short film as proof of concept for what I hope will become an annual event over two to three days. All I need is for the horror fans of the area to show up and tell me this is something they want.

Surely an event of this caliber must have a hefty ticket price.

You would think so, but you would be wrong. All-day passes are $35, and half-day passes are $20. The festival is in the main room at the Fargo Theatre, so seating will be plentiful.

And where can people get tickets?

Go to ddhff.com and you’ll find a link right at the top of the page. You’ll also find the complete roster of films with a detailed screening schedule.

It sounds like I have put together a pretty exciting event for horror fans. Any last words?

Absolutely, JD. You’ve really done something special here. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention local sponsor partners Red River Trivia, DTFM Vinyl Distro, Dempsey’s Public House/The Aquarium, Paradox Comics-N-Cards, Timebomb Pro Wrestling and Radio Red-E on KRFF. Also the biggest shoutout to my podcast partner Michelle. I can’t do any of this without her. See you all on the 21st!

IF YOU GO:

Darkest Day of Horror Film Festival

June 21

Fargo Theatre, 314 Broadway N.

https://ddhff.com/