Telluride Horror Show: Don’t Be Scared

02 Oct Telluride Horror Show: Don’t Be Scared

Great films, like all great art forms, are those that affect you deeply—whether it’s the lyrics that you can’t get out of your head, the painting you can’t stop staring at, the characters that stay with you long after you’ve finished a novel, or the horror film that makes you shiver with fear and plays itself over again in your nightmares. And Telluride Horror Show, in its fifth season, is set to deliver some of those deeply visceral artistic moments.

This year’s program covers the wide span of the horror film genre. There are sci-fi thrillers like “Ejecta,” a premiere about a UFO crash and an alien presence possessing a human, and “Closer to God,” a dark indie thriller about a genetic scientist creating the first human clone. The award-winning animation studio LAIKA, which created “ParaNorman” and “Coraline” brings its latest spooky animated film “The Boxtrolls,” and gives a special presentation after the screening with production puppets and rarely seen footage.

There are several comedy-horror films, “Suburban Gothic,” where TV star Matthew Gray Gubler plays a charming, nerdy paranormal investigator who teams up with a cool and beautiful bartender, and “WolfCop,” about an alcoholic sheriff-werewolf. Maybe the most exciting of the comedy-horror set is “Gravy.” This indie flick, written and directed by James Roday (“Psych”), features comedian/actress Sarah Silverman and a host of unusual characters who take a Mexican cantina and its employees hostage.

There are three thrillers on the roster that have to do with filming and editing film—perfect fodder for a town full of cinephiles like Telluride—“Creep,” “Editor,” and “Bag Boy Lover Boy.” And everyone who has gone camping or was a fan of the campground flicks from the 70s and the found footage noir of the 90s will appreciate “Backwater.”

The 2014 Horror Show would not be complete without the traditional pulp-shock-gore of films like the “ABCs of Death 2” and the creepy clowns (who isn’t afraid of clowns?) in “Among the Living.” Other movies include haunted houses, haunted mirrors, and a handful of short films that are so tautly woven that even the trailers have your pulse racing. Several of the shorts were also screened at SXSW, and some of the films are world premieres.

Moviemaker Magazine named Telluride Horror Show one of the “20 Coolest Film Festivals,” and for good reason: the lineup every year is eclectic and features some of the best arthouse noir films that you will not be able to see anywhere else. The festival is a fun celebration of the best in the genre, kicking off with a pig roast and wrapping up with a party at the Last Dollar Saloon (a.k.a. the Buck). The festival has a unique vibe—slipping into a theater to watch one of the movies feels like you’re entering into a small congregation of hard-core artists, a tribe of people who appreciate, without flinching, those most haunting and disturbing of theatrical tales, the ones you loved to hear around a campfire as a child.

Here’s one of the teaser trailers, to give you a “taste” of what’s in store at the festival Oct. 10-12. You can watch more of the trailers and see the full program and schedule here.