Beneath the Fatal Wave: Denver's DIY Film Scene Lives on in the DIY Ethos

In the past year or so, Denver’s cinephiles have been in mourning. With the closure of the Esquire and Chez Artiste theatres in 2024, those seeking an esoteric moviegoing experience have found themselves with fewer and fewer options outside of corporate cineplexes.

Some may call it a temporary contraction of film culture, a huddling for warmth in an industry increasingly hostile to the weird or challenging. Others may consider it a full-on extinction, the final stage of a fatal wave of studio micromanagement and CGI slop. However, independent cinema may yet still have a niche in Denver’s cultural environment as an outbranching of the DIY music scene.

Looking to marry film and DIY is Cain Cox, a veteran of Denver’s punk and metal music scenes. Working as a teacher at a nonprofit during the day, Cox is something of a jack-of-all-trades, doing photo, video and graphic design work for local bands alongside personal creative projects. While Cox’s oeuvre primarily centers around music, his first passion has always been film. However, Cox has found the scope of cinema in Denver to be shrinking.

“Denver didn’t have a ton of culture surrounding movie-based stuff,” says Cox. “We were increasingly losing movie theatres pretty often. There was just a lack of independent or small-scale film events in Denver. You go to places like Portland or Seattle, and they have these amazing small-scale film events that are very similar to a punk show or a goth show or a metal show, or any kind of alternative music.”

"Independence" is a very important value for Cox, who discovered a distaste for traditional filmmaking standards after majoring in film at the Denver School of the Arts. Cox favors the obscure, bizarre and dreamlike in movies, but found a void for these qualities in the Denver film scene. In November 2023, he decided to take things into his own hands when he began to publicly screen his own selection of films.

Operating under the name Fatal Wave Cinema (a reference to the lyric “beneath the fatal wave” in “Marian” by Sisters of Mercy), Cox screens films monthly at Glob, an arts venue in RiNo. The DIY ethos of these screenings is palpable — attendees sit on old couches and fold-out chairs while the film is shown through a small projector. The cheap, small-scale vibe matches that of the films themselves, which often lack the gloss and sheen of modern blockbusters.

Cox admits that most movies he screens are ones that he enjoys. “But a big thing for me is trying to find movies that span all genres, all formats and all budgets, and maybe movies that you can’t go see at your AMCs,” he adds.

Indeed, no two Fatal Wave films are quite alike: recent screenings include 1988’s Scarecrows, a low-budget horror B-movie about possessed scarecrows picking off fugitive bank robbers in an abandoned field, to 1984’s Streetwise, a heart-wrenching Criterion documentary about unhoused youth in Seattle. These two films were screened back-to-back, perhaps a jarring transition for those who first attended Scarecrows and expected a similarly lighthearted experience from Streetwise.

The throughline with every Fatal Wave screening is the idea of a cult film. Cox aims to show movies with tiny, dedicated fanbases, preferably that no one in his audience has seen before. In this way, Fatal Wave offers a gentle challenge to expand attendees’ horizons without being pretentious or opaque.

“The number one thing is the accessibility of the film,” says Cox. “I really try to primarily play movies that I don’t think are always made for everybody, but everybody should see them. If you’re really into your film school, arthouse high-end filmmaking, go see a movie that was made for $1,000 in 1984. If you really like schlocky horror films that are ridiculous and goofy, maybe try and watch something that is a little more out there or thought-provoking.”

This variety of movies has attracted a diverse audience to Fatal Wave screenings. Far from a monolithic crowd of stereotypical film-bro-cinephile types (whom Cox holds no grudge against), the screenings have attracted many high school and college students, alongside people from the DIY music scene. In the future, Cox even hopes to do an all-ages screening for families with children.

The influence of Cox’s background in DIY music is especially pronounced in the look of Fatal Wave, which draws strongly from the ‘80s and ‘90s. Cox designs flyers for each screening, adopting a nostalgic punky Xeroxed look. He also typically designs a custom merch item for each film he shows: past examples include buttons, stickers, zines and trading cards. This, too, is a callback to nostalgic moviegoing experiences.

“I just love shit,” says Cox. “I love stuff. Merchandise was always made to help promote movies, whether it be buttons or stickers or weird knickknacks. I don’t see that anymore in movie theatres, and I love hearkening back to a different time period when it comes to films. I just wanted to have something to take away, like a cool, cheap little thing from the movie that’s just something to put on your shelf or your jacket.”

Cox hopes that each Fatal Wave event can also help to serve the community — the price of admission for each screening is a donation of two cans of food, which Cox subsequently turns over to open community fridges in Denver. He also hopes that his screenings can help increase interest in independent film, small local theatres and physical media. With any luck, Cox’s efforts can help independent cinema to escape extinction in Denver, and local film snobs and DIY freaks alike can continue to enjoy offbeat and unconventional movies.

Fatal Wave’s next screening is scheduled for 8 p.m. Sunday, September 14, at Glob, 3551 Brighton Boulevard. The price of admission is two cans of food, which will be donated to local community fridges. This month's film is 1978’s Straight Time, a crime drama featuring Dustin Hoffman as an ex-convict navigating life after prison.