World Goth Day Film FestEvil offers a darker kind of day out

This Saturday, while East Lansing hosts a sunlit arts festival and downtown Lansing comes alive with 517 Day events, REO Town draws a different crowd — dressed in black, sipping brunch cocktails with drag monsters, browsing arcane wares, dancing to goth DJ sets and settling in for a triple feature of moody cinema.

The third annual Film FestEvil will bring a full-day celebration of gothic film, fashion, drag, music and culture to the Robin Theatre, Sleepwalker Spirits & Ale and the REO Town Marketplace, transforming REO Town into a haven for the area’s more alternative residents.

“The event is a great fit for REO Town because it’s niche, creative and started by people who are passionate about their community’s arts and culture,” Robin Theatre co-owner Dylan Rogers said. “I especially love that it’s an opportunity to get a variety of neighbors involved.”

Timed to align with World Goth Day, observed May 22, the event connects mid-Michigan to a deeply rooted global subculture. Whether you’re a goth elder or a baby bat, the FestEvil extends an open invitation. As Rocas Dorran, chair of World Goth Day Mid-Michigan, put it, “If they’re members of the goth community, I really hope that they feel welcomed and seen.”

Dorran also hopes those who aren’t members of the goth community walk away from the event with “a better understanding of what goth is.” He noted that many think of it as “something threatening.”

“We’re just people who maybe look a little different, maybe live a little differently, but we’re quite peaceful and friendly,” Dorran said.

Beginning in 2009 as a BBC Radio 6 Music segment highlighting goth music, World Goth Day expanded globally the following year. Today, events take place in the United States, Germany, Brazil, Australia, the United Kingdom and beyond. The official site describes it as “a day where the goth scene gets to celebrate its own being.”

Lansing’s event evolved from cemetery picnics to a full-on film and culture festival.

“We did that for about seven years running before COVID hit,” Dorran said. “Once things calmed down with that, we decided to try something new and rebrand as a film festival.”

So, what makes a film goth?

“There’s gothic storytelling, which uses supernatural or uncanny elements and emphasizes dark atmosphere over realism,” Dorran explained. But that’s only part of it. “A film is ‘goth’ if it appeals to goths, either because it’s a gothic story, like ‘Dracula’ or ‘Jane Eyre,’ or because it centers goth characters, like ‘The Crow’ or ‘My Summer as a Goth.’”

This year’s Film FestEvil programming includes screenings of “Little Sister,” “Donnie Darko” and a remastered edition of “The Crow” at the Robin Theatre.

Meanwhile, Sleepwalker Spirits & Ale will loop black-and-white horror classics throughout the day and host a two-hour drag brunch from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., featuring four Monster Drag Events performers. Seating for the brunch is limited.

An outdoor market will run from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., offering gothic jewelry, clothing and handmade goods from returning vendors like Dark Candles of Bay City.

“I think it helps with the ambiance, and, if nothing else, it helps with a bit of foot traffic,” World Goth Day Mid-Michigan board secretary Miranda Guthrie said. “You’re likely to wander over and find out more about what’s going on with our event.”

New this year is a gothic poetry open mic at the Robin, curated by Guthrie.

“We’ve got some selections that I personally plan to read, and we want to open the mic to anybody who has their own poetry they’d like to share,” she said.

Goth DJ sets from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the REO Town Marketplace will offer a chance to shake off the cobwebs between “Donnie Darko” and “The Crow” — or to rise from the grave after a post-drag brunch nap.

Monster Drag Events will also host the evening’s separately ticketed Mx. Daemōn pageant, a preliminary for the National Monster Xtreme competition.

“Our preliminary is a little bit different,” Monster Drag founder Michael Ryan Whitson said. “We have a social initiative aspect, so our winner is responsible for creating an initiative where they make an impact. They’re gonna get a sponsorship of $5,000 to bring awareness to something they’re passionate about, whether it’s a cause with human rights or something that’s health-related, whatever it is.”

The premise of the preliminary pageant is “bringing light to darkness,” Whitson said.

“It’s kind of like flipping things on the head of what’s going on right now in our political climate and showing that we can all come together and create a community from nothing,” he said. “It’s been all grassroots from the beginning. We have a huge cast of people from all walks of life — everyone from straight, cisgender men to actual trans people to straight women.”

The pageant’s guest of honor is Auntie Heroine, a finalist on season six of “The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula.”

“This isn’t your typical drag show,” Whitson said. “This one’s gonna be pretty wild. You never know what you’ll see. But I think the biggest thing is that it’s something different. It’s a place to fit in.”

Dorran said providing attendees with somewhere they can fit in is a major impetus for the festival at large.

“We were social outcasts of one kind or another,” Dorran said. “And seeking community is a way of feeling better about that and garnering friendships. Having an event like this in the mid-Michigan area is a way of doing that.”