Man, the Stanley Film Festival really came out of the gate swinging. It’s the first year for the Fest, which will be held May 2-5 at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. Some of the films playing? Aftershock, All The Boys Love Mandy Lane, Frankenstein’s Army, Maniac, Tower Block and V/H/S/2. That’s not even the half of it.

The mission statement, “The Stanley Film Festival is a unique opportunity to showcase exhilarating voices in classic and contemporary horror within a haunted space chosen to amplify the experience beyond the terrors shown on screen. Armed with the goal of procuring the most imaginative tales of fright from around the globe, we will proudly present short and feature films that offer a vast spectrum of tantalizing thrills and ghastly delights throughout the weekend. Like the best spooky stories told in the dark, each will be wildly distinct, inventive and unexpected. The Stanley Hotel’s ghostly history as one of our eeriest landmarks, and its inspiration for some of cinema’s most unnerving spectacles, make this the perfect place to tempt the spirits and bring out your deepest fears in a way no other venue can. Enter if you dare, and let these films stay with you forever. And ever. And ever.”

Eli Roth will be on hand to receive the Inaugural Visionary Award and will do a Q&A after Aftershock, which closes the Fest. The Stanley Film Festival is curated by Programming Director Landon Zakheim and programmer Michael Lerman, who selected films from 13 different countries, 2 US premieres, and 13 Colorado premieres. Hit the link above to buy tickets – and head inside for the lineup!!!

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 Forman, 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, Dvir Benedek, Dov Glickman, Tzachi Grad, Rotem Keinan, Menashe Noy) – 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 II, 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)

Room 237 – USA – (Director: Rodney Ascher, Featured: Bill Blakemore, Geoffrey Cocks, Juli Kearns, John Fell Ryan, Jay Weidner)

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 residents there 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