The Stanley Film Fest, Held At THE SHINING Hotel, Reveals Titles
This year is the inaugural Stanley FIlm Festival, a horror fest that is held at the historic Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. That hotel, perhaps best known as the inspiration for the Overlook Hotel in Stephen King's The Shining, will be hosting international horror luminaries and the best current horror films at the festival in May. And there's more to be announced - I know the guys who are programming this fest, and they have some crazy, fun ideas for what to do in a purportedly haunted hotel.
The festival has announced its first wave of programming, and the line-up is a stellar selection of the best horror stuff that's been hitting the festival circuit in the last few months. Here's what they have so far:
100 Bloody Acres – Australia – (Directors/Screenwriters: Colin and Cameron Cairnes, Cast: Damon Herriman, Angus Sampson, Anna McGahan) – A trio of fun-loving tourists on their way to a music festival fall into the hands of two crazed brothers with sinister plans in this madcap comedy about trying to survive. (Narrative) US Premiere
Aftershock –USA – (Director: Nicolás López, Screenwriters: Guillermo Amoedo, Nicolás López, Eli Roth, Cast: Eli Roth, Andrea Osvárt, Ariel Levy, Nicolás Martínez, Lorenza Izzo, Natasha Yarovenko, Selena Gomez) – Modern horror maestro Eli Roth co-wrote, produces and stars as a mopey tourist whose wild vacation in Chile turns gruesome. Ravaged by a vicious earthquake, he and his friends desperately struggle to survive a living nightmare. (Narrative) Colorado Premiere/Closing Night
All the Boys Love Mandy Lane –USA – (Director: Jonathan Levine, Screenwriter: Jacob orman, Cast: Amber Heard, Michael Welch, Whitney Able, Anson Mount) – Resurrected after a several year hiatus, this legendary splatter-fest is finally making its way back to the big screen. When the most sought after girl in school is invited to a weekend outing with friends on a secluded farm, a mysterious suitor begins to pick off the other boys one by one. (Narrative) Colorado Premiere
Berberian Sound Studio –United Kingdom – (Director/Screenwriter: Peter Strickland, Cast: Toby Jones, Cosimo Fusco, Susanna Cappellaro) – Winner of five British Academy Awards including Best Director and Best Actor, this creepy love letter to the classic "Giallo" period details the complications befalling a motion picture sound designer as he quietly descends into madness. (Narrative) Colorado Premiere
Big Bad Wolves – Israel – (Directors/Screenwriters: Aharon Keshales, Navot Papushado, Cast: Lior Ashkenazi, Tzachi Grad, Rotem Keinan, Dov Glickman, Menashe Noy, Dvir Benedek) – An obsessed cop, and the father of a victim take justice into their own hands when they capture a suspected killer of children. In their genre-bending follow-up to Israel's first horror film Rabies, Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado explore an unimaginable terror. (Narrative) Colorado Premiere
Black Rock –USA – (Director: Katie Aselton, Screenwriter: Mark Duplass, Cast: Katie Aselton, Lake Bell, Kate Bosworth) – Three childhood friends have their weekend getaway on a secluded island transformed into a brutal game of cat-and-mouse with a trio of trained predators. Katie Aselton (The Freebie, star of "The League") directs from a script by husband Mark Duplass. (Narrative) Colorado Premiere
Frankenstein’s Army –Netherlands/USA – (Director: Richard Raaphorst, Screenwriters: Chris W. Mitchell, Miguel Tejada-Flores, Cast: Karel Roden, Joshua Sasse, Robert Gwilym, Alexander Mercury) –Near the end of World War Two, a platoon of Russian soldiers are given a secret mission that leads them into the lair of a Nazi mad scientist and his frightening creations in this cinematically inventive take on the monster movie. (Narrative) Colorado Premiere
Henge – Japan – (Director/Screenwriter: Hajime Ohata, Cast: Kazunari Aizawa, Aki Morita, Teruhiko Nobukuni) – Following treatment for violent spells, a young man returns home to his loving wife. But as his seizures intensify, it becomes clear something inside him is trying to get out. Part domestic drama, part sci-fi thriller, this ambitious micro-budget tragedy heralds the arrival of a bright new talent. (Narrative) Colorado Premiere
Here Comes the Devil – Mexico – (Director/Screenwriter: Adrián García Bogliano, Cast: Francisco Barreiro, Laura Caro, Alan Martinez) – Argentine director Adrían García Bogliano (Cold Sweat, Penumbra) returns with a shockingly gory erotic horror film about a couple whose children mysteriously disappear while on vacation in Mexico. (Narrative) Colorado Premiere
Maniac – France/USA – (Director: Frank Khalfoun, Screenwriter: Alexandre Aja, Grégory Levasseur, C.A. Rosenberg, Cast: Elijah Wood, Nora Amezedar) – Elijah Wood shines in this remake of the horror classic about a psychotic stalker with a habit of scalping his objects of desire. Reimagined in mostly point-of-view shots, this revolutionary horror hit from Cannes is part camp, part art and all fear. (Narrative) Colorado Premiere
The Rambler – USA – (Director/Screenwriter: Calvin Lee Reeder, Cast: Dermot Mulroney, Lindsay Pulsipher, Natahsa Lyonne, James Cady) – Director Calvin Reeder (The Oregonian) utilizes his unique style of psychological horror and surrealism to adapt his acclaimed short about the man known only as "The Rambler" and his bizarre journey through the back roads of America. (Narrative) Colorado Premiere
Room 237 –USA – (Director: Rodney Ascher, Featured: Bill Blakemore, Geoffrey Cocks, Juli Kearns, John Fell Ryan, Jay Weidner) – In 1980 Stanley Kubrick released his classic horror film, THE SHINING. Over 30 years later, viewers are still struggling to understand its hidden meanings. A wild exploration into the heart of obsession, this cinematic essay is one that you will want to see at The Stanley Hotel. (Documentary)
Tower Block –United Kingdom – (Directors: James Nunn, Ronnie Thompson, Screenwriter: James Moran, Cast: Sheridan Smith, Jack O'Connell, Ralph Brown, Russell Tovey) – When bullets start flying into an isolated tenement building, no one is safe from the faceless shooter who has trapped the residentsthere for reasons unknown. The traditional slasher film is taken to its extreme in this taut psychological thriller. (Narrative) Colorado Premiere
V/H/S/2 – Canada/Indonesia/USA – (Directors: Adam Wingard, Gareth Evans, Screenwriters: Simon Barrett, Timo Tjahjanto, Gareth Evans, Jamie Nash, Jason Eisener, John Davies, Cast: Cast: Adam Wingard, Lawrence Levine, L. C. Holt, Kelsy Abbott, Hannah Hughes) – The latest installment to last year's successful found-footage short anthology series aims higher, bigger and scarier with new visions from the deranged minds behind some of independent genre's finest offerings (The Blair Witch Project, The Raid, Hobo with a Shotgun, You’re Next). (Narrative) Colorado Premiere
Vanishing Waves – Belgium/France/Lithuania – (Director: Kristina Buozyte,
Screenwriters: Kristina Buozyte, Bruno Samper, Cast: Jurga Jutaite, Marius Jampolskis, Brice Fournier, Sharunas Bartas) – A hypnotic, erotic, and wildly thought-provoking cinematic odyssey into the unknown realms of the mind, this operatic sci-fi vision highlights the development of a strong psychic link between two patients in an experiment gone awry. (Narrative) Colorado Premiere
Wither – Sweden – (Directors: Sonny Laguna, Tommy Wiklund, Screenwriters: Sonny Laguna, David Lilieblad, Tommy Wiklund, Cast: Patrik Almkvist, Jessica Blomkvist, Johannes Brost) – In the grand tradition of EVIL DEAD and it's progeny, this tale of a group of vacationing friends who encounter an infectious creature from the unknown delivers on the gore in this impressively made low budget screamfest. (Narrative) US Premiere
More announcements are coming! Tickets are on sale NOW! Head to the Stanley Film Fest site for more info.
