In 1991, director Richard Linklater burst onto the scene with Slacker, a unique and vibrant film that announced him as a major talent. Now, more than twenty years after its debut, the film — set in Austin, Texas, over a 24-hour period — still stands as one of Linklater’s greatest,…
High school is hard. Between the hormones, the peer pressure and the homework, it’s a miracle anyone survives. Now throw some uncontrolled telekinesis into that teen angst, set the whole thing to music, and you’ve got Carrie: The Musical, the latest horror classic to make the transition to the stage…
It’s that time again — the Starz Denver Film Fest is here, bringing joy for the cinephile girls and boys. With almost 200 films in every genre, from all over the world, there’s a lot to take in. To help navigate the schedule, we asked festival programmer Matt Campbell to…
The leaves have turned and the weather’s gone cold, but we geeks aren’t concerned — all of our favorite activities take place indoors, anyway. And this November will give Denver geeks plenty to be thankful for between now and Thanksgiving. In addition to the usual buffet of turkey and pumpkin…
Everyone has their holiday. Romantics love Valentine’s Day. For Christians and capitalists, nothing satisfies like Christmas. And geeks? For us, Halloween is as good as it gets. If there was an official holiday of geek culture, Halloween would definitely be it. See also: How Stephen King scared me into loving…
From Trekkies to furries, just about every fan group has its own convention in Denver. Now we can add bronies to that diverse group, with the first-ever Running of the Leaves Con. Not familiar with this new star in the ever-growing constellation of fandom? Let the con’s head of cosplay…
Gory, gross and over the top, Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator isn’t just an all-time classic of the horror genre; it’s also a showcase for what can be achieved with practical effects. Full of headless freaks, attacking intestines and splattery kills, it’s a time capsule of the pre-digital filmmaking era. That alone…
Where you find zombies, you will also find gore. Sure, there are zombie films that aren’t particularly bloody, but they are the exception, not the rule. This is, after all, a genre where disembowelments are standard operating procedure. To stand out in this viscera-clotted field, a movie’s got to be…
This past weekend was just a warm up for the real Halloween celebrations, and the Denver Film Society has a solid line-up of seasonal entertainment planned for the Sie FilmCenter. Don’t worry — none of these events will require you to be dressed as slutty Abraham Lincoln or to do…
Zombies are everywhere. Zombie movies, zombie TV shows, zombie games, zombie books, zombie walks, zombie runs, zombie fashion shows — the damn things are impossible to escape. Right here in Denver, there are so many zombie events happening this month that we dedicated a post just to listing them. For…
You know the rules: Cardio. Double tap. Limber up. Now you’re almost ready for the Movie and a Martini showing of Zombieland. The only other thing you’ll need is a kick-ass costume — zombies and zombie hunters alike are welcome — for the pre-film costume contest. There’s no rule saying…
The zombification of America got its start in 1968, when George A. Romero and a bunch of his friends and colleagues released Night of the Living Dead, the scrappy little horror movie that could not only serve as patient zero in the ongoing pop-cultural zombie apocalypse, it also revolutionized horror…
There are a lot of zombie events in Denver this month, but the lineup on Saturday, October 19, takes the cake. If there’s a single day to celebrate your love of the living dead, this is the one. From morning to late at night, there’s something undead happening pretty much…
Conventions — or cons, in nerd speak — are one of the best things about being a geek. A con is like a rock concert, a film festival and a super store all rolled into one. Only for nerds: Hundreds or thousands or even tens of thousands of us gather…
Science fiction is enjoying a popular renaissance, with Hollywood — not to mention video games and toys — increasingly drawing on the speculative frontiers for inspiration and conventions celebrating those works drawing thousands of fans. Long before blockbuster sci-fi epics became the norm, it was all about the books, though,…
Here in Denver, zombies are a big deal — a world-record-setting big deal. Now in its eighth year, the Denver Zombie Crawl has continually grown, challenging the other zombie-infested cities of the world for supremacy along the way. “The first year, we probably had forty people. We probably had 22,000…
Haunted houses might be passé for some, but there’s other kinds of scary fun to be had this season. The best place for a satisfying helping of Halloween horror is the Yurei Cafe, a one-night-only pop-up cafe from Andrew Novick’s Gimme Gimme Pillow Toast. Drawing its inspiration from popular Japanese…
Under the name The Oatmeal, Matthew Inman has made a career out of making absurd, hilarious comics. Whether the subject matter is mundane (grammar, cats) or bizarre (the sex lives of angler fish, utilikilts), his particular genius lies in tapping into the Internet zeitgeist and delivering the kind of belly…
Under the name The Oatmeal, Matthew Inman has made a career out of making absurd, hilarious comics. Whether the subject matter is mundane (grammar, cats) or bizarre (the sex lives of angler fish, utilikilts), his particular genius lies in tapping into the Internet zeitgeist and delivering the kind of belly…
For those who grew up in the decade between 1985 and 1995, there was no cooler destination in TV Land than Nickelodeon. Free of the artificial constraints of edutainment, the network delivered just what kids wanted: crass, silly shows bathed in torrents of slime. Unlike the safe, sanitized territory of…
Geek culture is not a monolithic entity — far from it. Underneath the big tent of geekdom, you’ll find factions big and small, for every possible slice of nerd life. Few of us embrace only one slice of geek life, but even fewer of us are true polynerds, embracing any…
For those who grew up in the decade between 1985 and 1995, there was no cooler destination in TV land than Nickelodeon. Free of the artificial constraints of edutainment, the network delivered just what kids wanted: crass, silly shows bathed in torrents of slime. Unlike the safe, sanitized territory of…
