The Eerie Horror Fest in Erie, PA, is a small film festival, confined this year to the single screen at the historic Erie Playhouse, with some additional events held across the street at the Avalon Hotel. The festival team was enthusiastic and dedicated, and they were lucky enough to have the backing of the community.

Unlike huge cities like Los Angeles or New York, or even fellow Pennsylvania cities such as Philadelphia or Pittsburgh, Erie is small enough to retain a sense of community, and anything that happens locally makes the news. The Eerie Horror Fest, which brought film personalities such as Adrienne Barbeau and James Duval in just the first two days, and other personalities later in the festival, was featured on the primetime news and received daily spreads in the local newspaper. These newspaper articles weren't just little items tucked away somewhere; there were several long articles every day, comprising several pages devoted to the festival on a daily basis.

Although in the two days this writer was there, the festival screenings never completely filled their allocated theater, the festival was obviously an event that members of the community were aware of and supported. Many of them showed up to meet Barbeau in particular. It was clear that Erie was rallying around its film community.

Although Erie isn't known as a film town, it turns out to have an active film community, including independent filmmakers such as Mark Steensland of TKO Productions, whose film was showing on Sunday, and John Lyons of Lyons Den Productions, who was also in attendance at the festival. The Erie-based filmmakers shared their experiences of Erie as a less-jaded town than Hollywood and a place more welcoming—and less expensive—for independent filmmakers. In the future, with the availability of Internet distribution via sites such as YouTube, independent filmmakers may find such smaller cities more conducive to their work than the huge metropolises of traditional film centers Los Angeles and New York.

The film festival itself, with its enthusiastic attendees and dedicated volunteers, was pleasantly small. At Q&A's with guests from the film world, anyone with a question was likely to get it answered, and these personalities made themselves available for autographs and chitchat after the sessions. The size of the festival was such that anyone attending the majority of the events was likely to start recognizing other people who were doing the same, which is a great way to make contacts.

The festival offered an overall five-day spread of celebrity guests (not A-list, but still) and interesting horror films. Eerie seems to concentrate heavily on shorts, particularly longer shorts running anywhere from 29 minutes to 82 minutes. Some films ran as long as 88-95 minutes, which makes them features. The community backing guarantees exposure for these filmmakers at least in the Erie area, and articles on the Erie newspaper's website will reach anyone who follows the city news online. The Eerie Horror Fest is truly a community-based film festival.