Set at the historic Stanley Hotel, inspiration for Stephen King’s The Shining, the Stanley Film Festival, showcases the best in classic and contemporary horror cinema in beautiful Estes Park, Colorado. The SFF will take place April 30-May 3, 2015. Produced by the Denver Film Society, the festival is dedicated to crafting a more interactive experience for genre filmmakers and fans.

The SFF will host a series of events sure to satisfy even the most dedicated horror fans, while providing an opportunity for casual onlookers to experiment with what the festival has to offer. Last year, the Festival launched a variety of events to create a fully immersive experience. Many of those events will return this year, including the Immersive Horror Game. The game uses multiple media platforms and game elements to delve deep into a mystery/horror narrative that uses the Stanley Hotel and the Festival as a vehicle to engage its participants in a story that seamlessly exists concurrently with everyday life.

“The Stanley Hotel has always been an inspiration for so many great stories, it is the perfect backdrop to create a truly immersive horror retreat for those looking to celebrate the art of horror in all forms,” says Denver Film Society Festival Director Britta Erickson. “We are looking forward to providing a platform for artists and attendees to tell their story and experience our four day carnival of curiosities.”

Adding their unique brand of horror storytelling to this year’s festival, Clay McLeod Chapman and Hanna Cheek return with The Pumpkin Pie Show, a pure campfire story experience for adults. Back for a second year in a row, Glass Eye Pix will present The Stanley Edition of TALES FROM BEYOND THE PALE with hosts, Larry Fessenden and Glenn McQuaid. Tales will feature two brand new radio plays, recorded live at the Historic Park Theater, performed by special guests of the Festival. Local band, Munly & the Lupercalians will provide musical accompaniment for the radio play.

Additional local musical acts include Snake Rattle Rattle Snake, who will bring their seductively venomous pulsing rhythms to Opening Night at the SFF along with Bad Luck City. The itchy-O Marching Band, a throbbing 32-piece band of masked chaos, will perform as part of a special Friday night event at the Stanley Hotel. Also on Friday, a special 40th Anniversary screening of Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Historic Park Theatre with Colorado’s Elusive Ingredient Shadow Cast. Closing out the Festival, Ian Cooke will perform Saturday evening at the Closing Night Party.

Throughout the weekend, the 13th Floor Haunted House will transform the hotel grounds by bringing their terrifying experience from Denver to Estes Park. The haunted house, voted scariest haunted house in the country by Fangoria (an official SFF Media Partner) will create a custom photo booth and happy hour scare zones for the third annual SFF. On Friday evening, Fangoria and ShockTillYouDrop will bring Dead Right Horror Trivia from Los Angeles to Estes Park.

2015 SPECIAL EVENTS

IMMERSIVE HORROR GAME, bleeding seamlessly into the atmosphere of fear and suspense we are excited to announce the return of Stanley Film Festival’s Immersive Horror Game. Bigger and better, this all-new interactive story is a real life horror/mystery narrative using the Festival itself as its medium. Those who follow the clues become the protagonists of an engaging and creepy thriller featuring irreproducible characters and events that you can never unsee. This event is free and open to the public.

Glass Eye Pix Presents TALES FROM BEYOND THE PALE: The Stanley Edition is an ongoing series of audio dramas penned by luminaries from the world of contemporary horror from JT Petty (HELLBENDERS) to Simon Barrett (YOU’RE NEXT), and Kim Newman (ANO DRACULA), featuring players from Ron Perlman (HELLBOY), to Angus Scrimm (PHANTASM), and Mark Margolis (AMERICAN HORROR STORY). The Stanley edition will feature performers culled from the film lineup as well as local band, Munly & the Lupercalians. Join horror impresarios Glenn McQuaid and Larry Fessenden as they invite you to close your eyes and… listen. Learn more at talesfrombeyondthepale.com. This event is open to SFF Redrum & Horror Marathon badge holders, individual tickets can be purchased beginning April 2 for $13 DFS member and locals / $15 non-members.

DEAD RIGHT HORROR TRIVIA HOSTED BY FANGORIA, BLUMHOUSE AND SHOCKTILLYOUDROP.COM Do you consume horror as voraciously as zombies eat flesh? The hit Los Angeles horror event comes to the Stanley Film Festival! Join Shock Till You Drop’s Sam Zimmerman and Ryan Turek from Blumhouse and test your horror knowledge in eight rounds of terrifyingly titillating trivia. Scare yourself with how much you actually know about horror. Registration for this event is free and open to the public, SFF badge holders receive priority registration.

THE PUMPKIN PIE SHOW is part ghost story, part shamanistic ritual. Stories by Clay McLeod Chapman, performed by Champman and Hanna Cheek, the Pumpkin Pie Show has established itself over the last two decades as the bastard love-child of spectral luminaries Poe and Lovecraft. Packed with the emotional intensity of a rock concert, the Pumpkin Pie Show is a pure campfire story experience for adults. This event is open to SFF Redrum & Horror Marathon badge holders, individual tickets can be purchased beginning April 2 for $10 DFS member and locals / $12 non-member.

HORROR BRUNCH AND AWARDS CEREMONY, curated by Chief Coroner of the Stanley Film Festival, Andrew Novick, brunch-goers will have several “horrific” culinary options to choose from. Ballots will be tallied and the 2015 Audience Winners for Feature Film and Short Film will be announced. Andrew Novick has been behind such temptations as: The Surgery Dinner, Thanksgiving-on-a-Stick, Andrew Novick’s X-Treme Pancake Breakfast and is the “Griller-in-Residence” for tailgate parties at the Museum of Contemporary Art. This event is open to SFF Redrum badgeholders and invited guests only.

40th ANNIVERSARY SCREENING OF THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW WITH COLORADO’S ELUSIVE INGREDIENT SHADOW CAST (CEI) who has been Shadowcasting the Rocky Horror Picture Show in Denver since 2000. Based at Landmark’s Esquire Theatre, CEI provides the full RHPS experience with audience participation, costumes, props, and tons of airborne toilet paper! CEI holds the world’s record for largest RHPS performance, with over 8,500 people turning out to see the film at Red Rocks in 2013. Raunchy, rowdy, and risqué, mixes old school with modern debauchery. Come be offended all over again! This event is open to SFF Redrum & Horror Marathon badge holders, individual tickets can be purchased beginning April 2 for $10 DFS member and locals / $12 non-member.

13TH FLOOR HAUNTED HOUSE
Considered one of the most terrifying haunts in the country, the infamous scare-mongers at 13th Floor Haunted House (www.13thfloorhauntedhouse.com) will bring their unique brand of fear to the Stanley Film Festival by hosting an elaborate photo booth throughout the weekend, transforming the grounds into happy hour scare zones on Friday & Saturday, and providing assorted secrets hidden throughout the hotel if you dare to find them….These events are free and open to the public.

THE ITCHY-O MARCHING BAND, a throbbing 32-piece band of masked chaos invites you to dissolve the performer/audience divide and melt into the Bedlam that is the disorienting power of Itchy-O. The Itchy-O Marching Band (IOMB) is a Denver-based percussion-centered electronic marking band. IOMB brings a sophisticated savage sound and the sheer ecstasy of instruments untethered and running free. With a driving drum corps battery, taiko drummers, an arsenal of electronics including synthesizers, theremin, vocoders, and many other special devices, the IOMB completely engulfs and immerses an audience from every angle in a pounding electric bog of music, ephemera, and spectacle. This event is free and open to the public, Stanley Film Festival Redrum badge holders will receive priority entry.

BAD LUCK CITY crafts lurid tales of lost souls hitting rock bottom in search of redemptive truth, only to realize that such a thing is tantalizingly out of reach. There’s an inherent dark, fiery intensity to the music of Bad Luck City that conjures images of traipsing through the worst dive bars imaginable late at night. This event is open to SFF Redrum badge holders, individual tickets to the Opening Night Film and Party can be purchased beginning April 2 for $33 DFS Member / $35 non-member.

SNAKE RATTLE RATTLE SNAKE began in late 2008 when veterans of the Denver underground scene pursued a mutual interest in darkly atmospheric music with grounding in pulsing rhythms. With severe yet ethereal guitars chiming over the top of tribal percussion and shot through with singer Hayley Helmericks’ caustic lyrics, Snake sounds like a vital combination of spooky surf band, dark-wave rock and Siouxsie Sioux fronting a synth-driven New Order. For more information, visit www.snakerattlerattlesnake.com. This event is open to SFF Redrum badge holders, individual tickets to the Opening Night Film and Party can be purchased beginning April 2 for $33 DFS Member / $35 non-member.

IAN COOKE is a Denver-based musician who uses a loop pedal to layer his cello and voice. His progressive style of music can be described as classically infused pop, or pop-sical. Visit iancookemusic.com for more information. This event is open to SFF Redrum badge holders, individual tickets to the Closing Night Film and Party can be purchased beginning April 2 for $33 DFS Member / $35 non-member.

IN-ROOM CHANNELS are exclusive to guests of the festival staying at the Stanley Hotel. The Festival features special in-room only programming content, extending the scares and thrills of the films 24 hours a day beamed directly into your bedroom. Showcasing feature films, secret screenings, sponsored content, short films, specials, rarities and hidden surprises, there’s something for every kind of horror fan buried within.

Screenings and special events at the Stanley Film Festival will take place at The Stanley Hotel and throughout Estes Park. All access packages to attend the Stanley Film Festival and stay at the historic hotel for all 3 nights of the festival are on sale now, starting at $666/person. Festival patron and ticket passes range from $95.00 (movie pass) to $295.00 for an all access patron pass. Space is limited on all packages, so guests are encouraged to book early. For more information regarding ticket and hotel packages, visit www.StanleyFilmFest.com.