Cinema on the Edge

In terms of permeating the public mindspace, Halloween is huge. I mean HUGE. Throughout October, we’re all busy building awesome costumes, seeing Halloween plays, visiting pumpkin patches and corn mazes, buying witch cookies and, these days, even decorating our homes for Halloween. I have no complaints: Halloween is the kind of benign holiday — with an edge — that I can get behind and celebrate without qualms about religion or commercialism. But for me, it’s the movies that are the meat of Halloween culture-seeking: From classic creature features to more contemporary freaky fodder, there’s nothing like a scary, gory, creepy movie to get me in the spooking spirit.

Related Content

• CU-Boulder ranks as top Peace Corps volunteer-producing university
  January 25, 2012
• Reader: Safe-sex talk is cheap, but giving away condoms is free -- and can save lives
  December 2, 2011
• Coming soon: Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow at the International Film Series
  September 20, 2011
• The gold rush: A walk through the woods of Boulder in autumn
  October 4, 2011
• Jeremy Shipley: Fall from 4th floor apartment after being locked out didn't kill him
  September 21, 2011

More About

• Dead Snow
• University of Colorado at Boulder
• Pablo Kjolseth
• Halloween
• Horror Movies

So here’s a tip from me: For a really cool trio of Halloween film fare, University of Colorado at Boulder’s International Film Series has it all wrapped up this week, starting tonight with Hausu, a 1977 Japanese horror film that eFilm critic J. Seaver called “absolutely batshit crazy.” On its tail, the cult favorite Dead Snow, complete with Nazi zombies, screens tomorrow (“It’s not often that I can program a Norwegian zombie film, so I really just couldn’t help myself,” says IFS director Pablo Kjolseth of the choice), and I Can See You, a more subtle work with an avant-garde, David Lynch-y look rounds out the mini-series on Friday. All the films screen at 7 and 9 p.m. on campus in Muenzinger Auditorium, and special promotions (including a chance to win free tickets to the screenings) are promised (tweet "@boulderifs halloween" for information). IFS Admission is $5 to $6; get info at www.internationalfilmseries.com.
Oct. 28-30, 7 & 9 p.m., 2009