It is finally upon us...Telluride Horror Show (#telluridehorrorshow) is back! Sadly, we won't be able to enjoy beautiful Telluride this year and have the joy of hanging out with fellow horror fans together. BUT, we still have THS virtually, and still get to enjoy their finely curated feature films and shorts! In true THS fashion, they have released their first wave of films and shorts to preview ahead of the festival, and in true S&E fashion, we are here to mention our personal highlights from the first wave. Check out our featured films below, see the whole list here, and be sure to get your virtual passes for the festival!
First Wave Highlights
Feature Films
Anonymous Animals
A series of interconnected stories involving humans being tortured by people-like figures with animal heads, seemingly reenacting the atrocities the correlating animal head would have faced.
This movie looks nuts...It looks like it will be a 50/50 shot on whether it will be my cup of tea...I love the cinematography and style, but will its message be too heavy handed and dragged by a pretentious arthouse approach? I'm leaning towards optimism.
The Columnist
A writer who is bombarded with social media threats and insults decides to take matters into her own bloody hands.
While horror has been no stranger to using the genre to tackle social media, there is something about this film that feels different. Perhaps it is the overall message, similar to God Bless America...that it's less about what certain technologies and/or cultures are doing to us, and it's more about how we just need to be better human beings...And this is a concept I find to be cathartic in my horror movies.
Dark Stories
A horror anthology that tackles zombies, ghouls, aliens and more.
The horror shorts are often the highlight of any given day at THS, so a feature film that cheats by being an anthology of horror shorts, that just adds in even more fun!
For the Sake of Vicious
A woman returns to her home on Halloween night to find a man holding another man hostage. Soon, her home is besieged by a group of masked killers and she must fight back or die.
Home invasion movies range from mild to some of the most intense films in the genre. This film looks to push the violence meter up for sure, but only time will tell if its obviously underlying plot points are worth the ride.
Spare Parts
The members of an all-girl punk band find themselves forced to participated in a gladiator-like arena with surgically attached weapons.
It's like Patchwork meets Grindhouse in this ridiculous concept for a movie, but it looks pretty dang entertaining.
Short Films
Ashes
Two sisters find a scorched book in an abandoned mental institution..and something else.
The cinematography looks great and appears to tease a well-crafted, vile entity.
Clearwater
A sunbathing woman is bitten by a mosquito, but nature wants more.
This short alludes to some creature feature and/or body horror fun, so of course I can't wait to see it!
Exit
A team of construction workers discover a physics-defying anomaly in a house they are working on.
This one looks like it brings a unique plot into the haunted house genre, perhaps worthy of a full-length film somewhere down the line? We'll definitely have to see the short first before making that call!
No Thank You
A woman decides between fighting for her life or dying within the comfort of her home during the end of the world.
I love these movies that put twists on common horror plots, usually tackling very real existentialism or other elements of the human condition in the process.
Oh Deer
A father/son trip turns dark when they hit a deer on the road.
The plot sounds like one of those morbid horror comedies, but it could be one of those surprising shorts that sounds ridiculous, yet manages to be cruelly maniacal.
Progeny
A man asks his wife to help him remove the parasite implanted in him by his alien boss.
What seems like a whacky premise (and it is), manages to carry a fairly serious (yet still satirical) tone from the trailer. This one is definitely going to be tackling some cultural commentary along its weird and dark journey.
These are just some of the films and shorts previewed, but there are plenty more to get excited about, and this is just the first wave! The virtual THS adventure will still pack plenty of horror goodness! Check out our podcast in the next couple of days as we discuss our most anticipated films and shorts from the first wave!