Things are about to get weird in Mobile: The weekend of Nov. 3-5 brings the city’s first H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival and CthulhuCon.

We’re using “weird” in a very specific sense here, though the general sense is probably accurate too. Lovecraft occupies a unique place in American fiction: He’s a genre specialist from a bygone era who never had particular success in his day, but “Lovecraftian” fiction has become a thriving genre of its own. Some hallmarks: Books of forbidden knowledge with the power to drive men mad; encounters with ancient godlike beings (Cthulhu, etc.) who are utterly indifferent to notions of good-vs-evil morality; hints of ancient civilizations undone by unspeakable horrors; and revelations that in the greater scheme of things, humanity doesn’t amount to anything more than a bug that’s been lucky enough not to get stepped on yet.

“Weird fiction” is a commonly used term, and one that Lovecraft used himself. Gwen Callahan, one of the principal organizers of the film fest and convention, sees to prefer “cosmic horror.” But whatever you call it, this event is bringing a lot of it to Mobile.

Lovecraft occasionally bubbles up to somewhat mainstream notice. One of the better-known film adaptations of his works is the 1985 film “Re-Animator,” and Nic Cage starred in a 2019 take on “Color Out of Space.” But as the festival program makes clear, Hollywood projects are just the tip of the iceberg. There’s a tremendous ferment of independent projects out there that draw direct or indirect inspiration from Lovecraft.

The slate will screen films at the downtown Holiday Inn and the historic Mobile Saenger Theatre. Six feature films are on the schedule, including two world premieres (“Gods of the Deep” and “The Veil”), a U.S. premiere (“Minore”), two regional premieres (“Frogman” and “Suitable Flesh”) and a screening of “Re-Animator.” Alongside the features are more than 40 short films.

Clearly this has been snowballing for a while. Callahan said the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival was launched in Portland, Ore., by a friend in 1995. Callahan and her husband, Brian, took over leadership in 2011. Since 2016, they’ve also presented it every other year in Providence, R.I., planting a flag in the New England region where many of Lovecraft’s works are set. This event in Mobile is a big step for the event, adding the Gulf Coast to its reach for the first time. (The Callahans once called New Orleans home, Gwen Callahan said, but a variety of factors pushed them to hold this event Mobile, including the availability of local friends who could help, suitable venues and support from Visit Mobile.)

“We kind of tailor it to what guests we have, what films we have, and that changes from year to year,” she said. “It’s never the same movies every year. It’s almost, I would say, 85% to 90% new independent films, shorts and features with an emphasis on the short films. Our audience seems to gravitate towards short films. But I think it’s possibly because that’s always what there was most of, because it’s a lot easier to film a short film on a small budget than it is to film a feature film on a small budget. And most of the time cosmic horror films are not getting the big budget that general horror slashers and romantic comedies are getting.”

Before digital technology leveled the playing field, it also was harder to for independent filmmakers to produce features on 8mm or 16mm film, she said.

“I think all those factors contributed to there just being a lot of short films being submitted,” she said. “And our audience really likes it because they get like a wide variety of different styles and different directors’ takes on things. And we get direct adaptations of Lovecraft material, but we also get adaptations of his contemporaries and people he admired such as Edgar Allan Poe and Clark Ashton Smith and M.R. James and Robert Chambers, that whole crowd.

“And lately because digital technology has made it so much more accessible to someone who’s not a professional filmmaker … we’re getting a lot more really high quality films. Over the past, I would say five years, just the quality has skyrocketed. And this year in particular, we had a lot of really great independent feature films submitted to us. We had more independent feature films than ever before. We don’t have enough time in Mobile to play everything that we just played in Portland, but we’re bringing a really great selection of what we think are the strongest short films and a good variety of feature films. We’re excited about that.”

Living up to the “CthulhuCon” part of its name, the event features a merchandise area, a gaming area, author readings, panel discussions and more. Some of these take place at the Holiday Inn, while others are across the street from the Saenger at the Haunted Book Shop. A full schedule, plus information on special guests, can be found at hplfilmfestival.com.

Tickets also are available through the site. Full three-day passes are $65, while single-day passes are $30 for Friday, $40 for Saturday and $25 for Sunday.

Callahan said the festival’s organizers want it to be a welcoming place for newcomers to explore the quirky mythology of the genre.

“I think it gives them a kind of safe place to discover it,” she said. “Our whole model is based on inclusivity and welcoming people who have never heard of it or are just learning about it or just curious about it. And we’re like, yeah, come on in and watch the movies with us. If you have questions, we’re happy to talk about it, we will talk about Lovecraft all day long.”

But it’s also an event where diehard fans can find plenty to discover, she said.

“A lot of these films are making the festival rounds right now, so the only way to see them is at a festival,” she said. “And later on, sometimes some of them make it to the filmmakers’ own YouTube site or their Vimeo site. But a lot of times they just kind of disappear. There’s not a lot of distribution for short films and especially these short films like this.

“But for us, what we love about the film festival atmosphere is seeing these things with an audience full of people that are like you, that like the same thing as you, they’re there kind of for the same reason, it’s like a communal experience.”

For updates on festival activities, including author appearances and other special events, visit www.facebook.com/hplfilmfestival.