Ten Can't-Miss Chills and Thrills at the Telluride Horror Show

The Telluride Horror Show is back to tingle spines and freeze the blood with a howl of a weekend: 21 features and 35 shorts alongside one-of-a-kind special events and parties, all in the magical, fall-kissed San Juan Mountains. After fourteen years of fear, the film festival and genre celebration can proudly claim its place in the mountain town's packed calendar of high-profile events as the plucky, monster-loving little brother who will absolutely show you a good time.

For horror fans, it's the top of the heap, with a reputation for being one of the best places in the world to catch independent films, first-ever premieres and an eclectic representation of the genre, embracing science-fiction, dark fantasy and comedy. It's always a busy weekend, where every event is worth your time (and often the hot numbers are pitted against each other in the schedule), but we've compiled a list of this year's highlights, with some inside tips from festival founder and director Ted Wilson.

Cemetery Man
Thursday, October 12, 9 p.m.
Nugget Theatre, 207 West Colorado Avenue, Telluride
There are zombie movies, and then there's Cemetery Man, in which a hapless cemetery caretaker (Rupert Everett) finds his occupation and his love life severely complicated when the dead start returning to life. Directed by the last great Italian horror maestro to emerge in the ’80s, Michele Soavi, and based on writer Tiziano Sclavi's long-running paranormal detective comic, Dylan Dog, it might be the weirdest, craziest, most horned-up walking dead flick ever. It's one of two repertory features screening for free Thursday night before the festival officially gets going on Friday; the other worthy option is the Seattle-lensed, Denver-inspired cult gloom-fest The Changeling at 6 p.m. (Westword tells the story behind that film here.)
Opening Day
Friday, October 13, 2 p.m. to midnight
All Venues
It doesn't get much better than kicking off your horror festival on a Friday the 13th in October, and Wilson and his crew have a doozy of a day planned. The scary movies start rolling at 2 p.m., with features and shorts stretching late into the night across all three festival screening rooms. There are also free signature events, such as Creepy Campfire Tales (see below) and Mickey Keating's Horror Clubhouse, in which writer/director and festival alum Keating (Darling, Psychopaths) will discuss the genre with this year's filmmaker guests. The Clubhouse also provides an opportunity for festival-goers to chat with the programming staff about the dense schedule.

The day ends with a tough choice between three great new flicks. There's a harrowing domestic horror with Spain's The Coffee Table, as well as a rare starring role for character actor David Dastmalchian in Late Night With the Devil. But the true slasher nuts will want to catch the free screening of Never Hike Alone 2, a polished and bombastic Friday the 13th fan film starring genre vet Thom Mathews — who played Tommy Jarvis in the original series, as well as the bewildered protagonist of Return of the Living Dead. Frogman
Friday, October 13, 4:30 p.m. and Saturday, October 14, 10 a.m.
Nugget Theatre, 207 West Colorado Avenue, Telluride
Every horror festival needs a few WTF moments in its lineup, and this year that honor is placed at the webbed feet of Anthony Cousins's Frogman. It's the story of three friends tracking Ohio legend the Loveland Frogman, as well as a lovingly made, found-footage freakout, says Wilson. "That's a crazy movie, a crazy movie," he says appreciatively. "When you get to the end — it's a wild ride, for sure."

The festival has always prioritized supporting independent films and talented emerging filmmakers such as Cousins, whom Denverites might see tracking our local legends soon, as he's recently relocated to the area. Wilson especially enjoys pushing festival-goers toward the DIY features, which are often weirder and wilder. "Those ones, I think, will take everyone by surprise," he says. "You can feel the love on the screen that was put into them."
A Fantastic Shorts Selection
Friday, October 13; Saturday, October 14; Sunday, October 15
All Venues
Wilson and his programmers take their shorts curation seriously, recognizing an opportunity to pack in dozens more films from up-and-coming fear makers. There are five packages, each expertly arranged by the programming staff around a theme: Horror at High Elevation, Sinister Stories, Vault of Humor, Uncanny Tales and Bumps in the Night. Each shorts block plays twice during the weekend. Getting as many entries from emerging filmmakers as they can, with the best curation possible, is the goal, says Wilson. "If someone sends us a great short film, we're going to find a way to play it."


Creepy Campfire Tales
Friday, October 13, 6:30 p.m.
Elks Park, 123 South Oak Street, Telluride
Immersive experiences have become a standard offering at film festivals lately, and there's nothing more appropriate for a horror fest than clustering around a campfire on a crisp fall night to listen to scary stories. Authors spinning tales this year include Adam Cesare (Clown in a Cornfield, Video Night), Gabino Iglesias (The Devil Takes You Home, Coyote Songs) and Jeremy Robert Johnson (The Loop, Skullcrack City).

"It's so amazing to me that these insanely talented authors will just come," Wilson says, noting guests of years past such as Joe R. Lansdale, Stephen Graham Jones and Paul Tremblay. He says he asks them: "'Do you mind sitting at 9,000 feet, in the evening, in mid-October, with your puffy coat on and reading in front of a bonfire to 100, 200 people?' And they're like: 'Let's do it.' They love it."
The Coffee Table
Friday, October 13, and Saturday, October 14, 10:30 p.m.
Nugget Theatre, 207 West Colorado Avenue, Telluride
There isn't much revealed in the teaser for The Coffee Table — an overall admirable trait in a trailer. Jesus and Maria are new parents struggling through a tough time in their relationship. The purchase of a new coffee table is supposed to shape their lives for the better, or at least so the strange furniture salesman promises them in the warehouse. Spoiler alert: nope. Wilson says it's one of the sleeper hard-hitters of the fest. "There's some fun horror movies, but there's also some that are going to shake people a bit, like The Coffee Table." He elaborates with an "Oof — it's gut-wrenching. But it's so well made, and it actually has some really well-done, dark, dark humor to it. ... Every year, [there's a] "challenge" film, like: 'Are you up to the challenge to watch this movie?' Every year we're lucky to have one movie like that, and I would put The Coffee Table in that category this year."
It's a Wonderful Knife
Saturday, October 14, 7:45 p.m., and Sunday, October 15, 3 p.m.
Michael D. Palm Theatre, 721 West Colorado Avenue, Telluride
If you caught Freaky a few years back, you'll have a pretty good idea of what's in store for It's a Wonderful Knife. Both are flips on classic films written by snappy wordsmith Michael Kennedy. In Wonderful Knife, Winnie Carruthers may have saved her town by defeating a psycho killer exactly one year ago at Christmas, but her life still sucks. When she wishes that she'd never been born — and gets the same results that George Bailey did in It's a Wonderful Life, ending up in a parallel universe where she doesn't exist — she finds herself having to face off with the axe-wielding "Angel" all over again. Yellowjackets' Jane Widdop leads a fresh-faced cast anchored by comedy and genre stalwarts Joel McHale, Katherine Isabelle, William B. Davis and a game, scenery-gnawing Justin Long.
When Evil Lurks
Sunday, October 15, 5:40 p.m.
Michael D. Palm Theatre, 721 West Colorado Avenue, Telluride
The Argentinean director of When Evil Lurks, Demián Rugna, has been racking up fans internationally for over fifteen years with original and terrifying features, beginning with 2007's The Last Gateway. "It's kind of surprising to me that Hollywood has not actually grabbed ahold of him already; I'm sure they will," says Wilson.

Rugna's latest is another standout, as two brothers who encounter a demon-infested man attempt to contain him and the evil he brings, with disastrous results. Wilson considers it "one of the best horror movies that have come out this year across the board — studio movies, everything. It just goes for it." He continues, "There were so many times when myself and all my programmers were, pardon my language, sitting there watching this like, 'Holy shit!' ... We're really excited to unleash this one on the big screen with a packed house, and it's going to bring the house down, for sure. It's brutal. It's so well done."

Last Call at the Last Dollar
Sunday, October 15, 10 p.m.
Last Dollar Saloon, 100 East Colorado Avenue, Telluride
Every festival knows the value of a good party, where weary movie watchers can stretch out their butts and backs, discuss their cinematic adventures and offer tasty libations to the hardworking staff and filmmakers that make it all possible. A good cool-down and bull session is even more important after three days of nerve-fraying, skin-crawling features. The show's closing-night party will be hosted by the "#1 Skier Dive Bar in the World," The Last Dollar Saloon, where attendees can stop shivering and belly up to the bar for one more night of talking (and loving) horror movies.

The Telluride Horror Show runs from Thursday, October 12, through Sunday, October 15, at various Telluride locations. Three-day passes are available for $220 and provide access to all film screenings and special events; walk-up tickets for screenings are available at the door for $20. Get passes, ticket packs and the full schedule at telluridehorrorshow.com.