There's nothing hotter than bisexual vampires -- especially bisexual vampires played by the world's most gorgeous celebrities.
Susan Sarandon, Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie star in The Hunger, a slick 1983 horror flick that is one of five films in Starz FilmCenter's Evil-ution of Horror cinematic monster mash. With a Reagan-era style and decadence, Deneuve and Bowie play creatures of the night who prey on humans for nourishment and companionship; Sarandon fills up and spills over as their reluctant donor du jour.
"When I think of horror movies in the '80s, I always think of The Hunger," says Evil-ution host and scary-movie savant Keith Garcia. "It's all so indicative of that era -- the fashion, the music, Bowie's casting. To me, that's such a beautifully shot and wonderful film. I always say 'vampire' movie, with quotes, because no one ever truly gets bitten; it's not really about that. It's skewing the vampire genre and, at the same time, being in love with it."
The Hunger doesn't screen until Friday, October 28, but the frightfest begins tonight at 7 p.m. with Nosferatu, the 1922 silent Dracula classic. The screams continue next weekend with Rosemary's Baby and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre; the following weekend, catch The Hunger along with Audition, a 1999 film by Takashi Miike. Starz is in the Tivoli Student Union, 900 Auraria Parkway; for tickets, $5.50 to $10, and showtimes, call 303-820-FILM or visit www.denverfilm.org.
Just watch out for the good-looking ones: They always bite. -- Debra A. Myers
It Ain't Easy Being Gray
SAT, 10/15
If older gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered adults collaborated with Kermit the Frog to write a lament about planning for their golden years, it might go something like this: "It's not that easy being gay and gray/But I wouldn't want to be any other way." Or maybe they'd just skip the whole let's-write-a-song thing and attend Gay and Gray in the West, beginning at 7:45 a.m. today at the Denver Merchandise Mart, 451 East 58th Avenue. The day-long conference, whose theme is "Living the Life We Dream," tackles such topics as "Enjoying Sex After 50" and features the campy and comedic tunes of Denver's Dead Sinatras. For tickets, $75, and information, call 303-380-2342 or visit www.gayandgrayinthewest.org. -- Drew Bixby
Soul of a Mad Man
"The Scream" comes alive.
WED, 10/19
Edvard Munch's painting "The Scream" has been mocked in cartoons, turned into a mass-marketed blow-up doll and, last year, stolen in a notorious gunpoint art heist. Despite the painting's less-than-serious modern reputation, it has always been considered a wide-open window into Munch's truly disturbed soul. The original painting might never be seen again (rumors have it that the painting was burned by the thieves to destroy the evidence), but filmmaker Peter Watkins's Edvard Munch brings to life what the Norwegian expressionist was trying to express. When the movie was released in the mid-'70s, however, the Norwegian Broadcasting Company thought Watkins's modern approach and amateur cast disrespected their national artistic treasure, so they tried to bury the film, attempted to bar it from Cannes, and let it rot on a shelf for twenty years. Tonight at 7 p.m., Boulder's International Film Series presents the newly recovered and restored film at the Muenzinger Auditorium on the University of Colorado-Boulder campus. For tickets, $4 to $5, and information, call 303-492-1531 or visit www.internationalfilmseries.com. The auditorium is on Colorado Avenue just west of Folsom Field. -- Michelle Baldwin
Labor of Love
Big business scams again.
FRI, 10/14
When Leslie Moody, founder of the Front Range Economic Strategy Center, talks about author and activist Greg LeRoy, she tends to gush. She insists, however, that her admiration for America's leading advocate for family-wage jobs isn't about lust, but labor. "The guy is brilliant and really witty," Moody says. "He's sharp and good-looking, but he's not my type."
LeRoy is the author of The Great American Jobs Scam: Corporate Tax Dodging and the Myth of Job Creation and the founder/director of Good Jobs First, an organization that keeps watch over big businesses that promise good jobs and community benefits in exchange for government subsidies. Tonight he's at the University of Denver's Newman Center for the Performing Arts, 2344 East Iliff Avenue, discussing and signing his book.
"Denver provides more economic incentives and subsidies than most similarly sized cities in the country," Moody says. "As taxpayers, we have the right to understand what's going on. LeRoy provides a lot of information about how other cities have created not just minimum-wage jobs, but valuable jobs with benefits, health care and the opportunity to move up."
The $40-per-person pre-party and shmoozefest starts at 5:30 p.m.; the book signing/discussion begins at 7 and costs $10 ($5 for limited income, students and seniors). For tickets and information, call 303-477-6111 ext. 12 or visit www.fresc.org. -- Drew Bixby
