For the past three years, October has meant the Telluride Horror Show for me. It became our tradition when the Stanley Film Festival left Estes Park to become the Overlook Film Festival. Our tradition has now grown to include more people in our condo each year.
I could spout the same euphoric babbling I do every year. How I love the autumn drive across Colorado. How beautiful the mountain town of Telluride is. How the small festival has a fantastic community feel and atmosphere. How the films rarely disappoint. How fun it is to interact with filmmakers. BUT all of that has been true since Telluride Horror Show #8 (and remained true this year). Though I was disappointed to see no snow.
This year, in particular, the movies were particularly strong. Most years, there are some weak selections or ones that are not quite my flavor, but I was not disappointed. I did not enjoy one film, but I knew that going in from the synopsis in the programming guide.
Here is what I watched this year:
Making Monsters: A fantastic little film that felt like Hostel for the more digital age. The plot and the acting are on point. Great watch.
The creature shorts: A solid selection of short creature horror films. While one or two fall flat, none are bad. My favorites include Pathosis and It Came in Through the Window.
Mutant Blast: Stupid, stupid ridiculous movie, but it’s Troma so obviously. The main two characters are strong and engaging, but I could not get past the bullshit. Others in my party thoroughly loved it though.
Z: See my full review on Daily Dead.
1BR: THE FAVORITE! See my full review on Daily Dead.
Daniel Isn’t Real: Another movie about an imaginary friend (following Z) with a very Fight Club vibe. I love the character dynamics, but the ending wanders off a bit too far. A weak end but still a decent flick.
Tucker and Dale vs. Evil: Still just as funny 10 years later!
VFW: The mindless splatterfest I needed after a cerebral day. The characters are good enough for you to care about, and the gore is strong enough to keep your attention. Entertaining as hell.
The Deeper You Dig: A solid supernatural slowburn. Though I nodded off in a couple scenes, I was quite tired. Needs to be viewed on the right mood.
Extra Ordinary: Hil Arious. My friend nearly pissed herself laughing in the screening. The lovable character are so funny, and I can’t wait to watch it again.
We didn’t really get to participate in much beyond the movies. I was too jealous to listen to other authors read their works by the fireside. We ran out of time to walk down to the pig roast. However, we absolutely did make time for trivia.
…and we won it!
Congratulations are not entirely in order though. We hovered solidly in the middle of the pack until the final Jeopardy round. One of us was the only person who knew the lost footage from Event Horizon was found in a Transylvanian salt mine, so we were the only team to gain points while every other team lost. And that launched us to #1.
I’ll take the win however it comes. Trivia has never been my strength.
Our group also decided to increase our festive participation. We dressed up as the cast from The Shining—Jack, Wendy, Danny, and the Grady sisters. I never really miss an opportunity to go all in on a theme and dress up, but this was an exceptionally good environment in which to dress up as iconic horror characters.
Having someone who can pass as my twin only made it better.
It was endlessly entertaining to creep people out, speak and move in unison, and take pictures with a whole bunch of strangers. A good costume is always an awesome icebreaker to make new friends, not that that is hard to accomplish at a fest. We dressed up during the day on Saturday then again for the Last Call party on Sunday night. The Grady sisters are much more fun intoxicated, in my opinion.
Then it was over. The weekend flew by faster than usual. It was a blur of movies; then we were packing the cars back up to drive home. We even quickly overcame car issues to get on the road. I spent the long commute reading over my new WIP novel for the first time. Since I didn’t hate my work as much as I anticipated, it helped to ease the hard drop back into regular life.
If only we could always live at the Horror Show. If only it could always be October.
Fiery Pen 
I am thinking that those who like this post will definitely like your new book! I have never been to the fest, but your descriptions were so dead-on the photographed place looked just like I imagined!
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Well that’s the best thing to hear! Thank you! I actually liked the book in my first read through so that’s a good sign.
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