This cinematic smorgasbord will be hosted by nonprofit Denver Film at the Sie FilmCenter on Saturday, April 8. Devised by producer, designer and festival co-founder Daniel Crosier, the idea is to highlight other spooky creatives from the area as well as increase visibility for the Colorado Festival of Horrors, which takes place in September. "We want to set about doing our own film series where we bring in local filmmakers and unknown filmmakers," explains Crosier, "and pair them with films that really inspired them, and either join the two together or create a juxtaposition."
His first pick from the Mile High talent pool is a director who does a bit of everything: Ryan Policky. Policky is a distinguished multi-hyphenate: He wears the hats of animator, art director, musician and filmmaker, among several others. He has a long and impressive list of production and advertising credits; is heavily involved in designing for the pinball world; produces records with his own label, LateNight Weeknight; and runs his own video production company, Bloodshed Deathbath. "He's one of those local talents that really needs to be celebrated more, because he's been producing horror shorts for the last fifteen plus years," says Crosier. "He usually puts out one or two a year. He's one of those guys that can do pretty much everything: organize the production, shoot it, edit it, do all the on-set lighting and set design. It's amazing to see what he's able to do."
Motel London and Fright Night are playing at the Sie Film Center.
Daniel Crosier
"Motel London is this idea of mixing horror and video games and the supernatural, but with, like, wizards," says Policky with a laugh. "So there's these wizard guys that live in this crazy place that these people break down in front of, and they have to go in and experience the madness. And the madness happens pretty quickly, and it's pretty strange. It evolved into this weird thing where it's like, 'Is it a video game? Is it a horror movie? What the heck is this thing?' And it became a trilogy, because you couldn't tell it in one fifteen-minute little short."
The headliner for the evening, Fright Night, directed by Tom Holland, is a perfect match for Policky's proudly goofy and gory work. Released in 1985, it tells the story of horror-obsessed teenager Charlie Brewster, who suspects his charming new neighbor (a pitch-perfect Christopher Sarandon) is a member of the undead. Unable to convince his understandably skeptical friends, he must enlist the help of a late-night cable-access host, played beautifully by Roddy McDowell as a cheap Vincent Price, to combat the bloodsucking fiend. Thrumming with a synth-heavy score, Fright Night went on to be the highest-grossing horror film of the summer, leading to a sequel in 1988. It also boasts some seriously impressive effects work that still holds up: Three of the technicians involved went on to become Oscar nominees or winners in their field. The film's heady mix of fear, fun and filmmaking brio was a seminal one for a young Policky, who's still a huge fan.
"It's one of the most influential films for me," he says fondly. "As far as vampire movies, it's the best. It has all the perfect elements."
Policky adds that there's a direct line between picking out the scariest movies as a kid and his career as a filmmaker: "It all kind of started with that, really, and going to haunted houses and wanting to integrate these haunted ideas that I had. [My production company] is based on that: just making whatever and not having any repercussions and just making it all crazy. Making those ideas come to life — that's what Bloodshed Deathbath is."
In addition to the Double FEARture, Policky and Crosier have a bevy of projects lined up this year for horror fans to watch out for. Crosier is deep in the planning stages for the third year of COFOH and acting as producer for its podcast incarnation, COFOH Live and Undead. Policky, meanwhile, has a packed schedule of music video releases, including one with a new artist, Alien Gothic.
Crosier is also excited to tease one more little extra for fans who show up Saturday: "We've got a lot of glow-in-the-dark vampire teeth to hand out! If we can get that theater dark enough, it might be an interesting photo opportunity, and what a great way to do it, at a vampire movie."
Fright Night Double FEARture, 7 p.m. Saturday, April 8, Sie FilmCenter, 2510 East Colfax Avenue. Tickets are $16.
