It’s rare that a theater is scarier than the movies it shows (although if you ask us, $16 tickets and $10 sodas are pretty frightening). But hardcore horror film fans can get more than their money’s worth come April 2017, when the Timberline Lodge — the Oregon hotel which provided the iconic exterior shots of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining — hosts the first iteration of the Overlook Film Festival.
The festival’s name — as anyone who has felt their heart rate rise while watching Danny ride his toy bike will surely know — is an homage to the Overlook Hotel, a fictional lodge in the Colorado Rockies where Kubrick set his 1980 adaptation of the Stephen King novel. The four-day gathering will honor the hotel’s bone-chilling legacy by programming new and classic horror film screenings, plus experiential and immersive projects — like a live reading of the 1930s radio drama “Tales from Beyond the Pale.”
Overlook hasn’t released its first film slate, so we’re not yet sure what will screen (though we have a pretty good idea of one Jack Nicholson film that might make opening night). But the festival’s advisory board does feature a couple of horror film vets: Elijah Wood (who starred in 2012’s Maniac, a remake of the 1980 psychological slasher) and Joe Dante, whose horror films often blend elements of comedy and satire, but who has also made some genuinely scary flicks, like 1981’s The Howling.
Unfortunately, future festival goers will have to find another hedge maze to take a leisurely stroll, or, well freeze to death in. The Timberline Lodge is not actually home to the horticultural labyrinth where Kubrick’s grizzly film reaches its gripping conclusion. But we’re sure the sight of twins or any stray axe will be more than enough to give you nightmares.