By GRACE DETWILER
In what may likely be the last chance to see it on the big screen, DEAD END (2022) is set to play the ninth annual Portland Horror Film Festival at the Hollywood Theatre, on June 5-9. A queer horror short, DEAD END was the first and only film shot in Russia by director Dima Barch, before he was forced to flee the country as a political refugee. Drawing from the autobiographical – with a supernatural twist – a young man flees the vengeful spirit of his abusive boyfriend in DEAD END.
DEAD END stars Sviatoslav Rogozhan, Daniil Gazzizulin, Yan Tsapnik and Danil Chernov. Says Barch of the film, “It’s my statement about living with anxiety in Russia, being haunted by your memories and fear, and a [response] to David Robert Mitchell and his It Follows, [which] I loved. I wrote the story right after I broke up with my ex who scared me, with a lot of additional notes on being educated in that masculine, hyper-strict society.”
Many of these themes extend throughout Barch’s filmography as well. Of his next short – which recently screened at Salem Horror Fest – Barch explains, “The Power of the Strike is a follow-up to this one [DEAD END]. And for me, it’s an important ‘Double Feature’ to show the scope of my director’s abilities, tastes, and tone of voice.” Like, DEAD END, The Power of the Strike explores the darker sides of the queer experience, and the ways trauma can haunt us long after it’s passed.
“Dead End” will have its Pacific Northwest Premiere at the Portland Horror Film Festival. “The Power of the Strike” will continue playing festivals this summer and fall.
