It’s not long until Colorado is going to be one of the country’s great epicenters for celebrating cinema. Though with Telluride’s long tradition of acting as a forum for debuting some of the globe’s best independent cinema and artsy blockbusters, there’s little chance that even Sundance will be able to eclipse the small town’s illustrious history. This year saw the 52nd iteration of the Telluride Film Festival, where guests have been known to rub elbows with the likes of Pharrell Williams, John David Washington, Bill Murray and Selena Gomez.
Last weekend was also the 16th round of the slightly more niche, significantly more sinister Telluride Horror Show, a three-day celebration of the years’ best contributions to a genre built for the more bold, brooding and ghastly revellers of the greatness of the silver screen. More than 1,000 horror fans descended on the 2,500-person town, many clad appropriately macabre for the occasion. It was yet another year of record-breaking attendance. Scary times need frightful outlets.
Some of the films were actual debuts, though many screenings were the first time the full-length motion pictures and a plethora of shorts were shown in the United States.
The films played from morning through night. They were spread across town venues ranging from more expected spots like the Sheridan Opera House, but the sheer volume required use of basically anywhere that could hold a crowd. Both the Wilkinson Public Library and Telluride High School were employed for many of weekend’s best showings.
There were plenty of traditional supernatural joints, though the festival favored the genre-bending. Good Boy is a haunted house movie told through the perspective of a dog, while Hellcat is a creative and challenging addition to the survival-horror genre. Though best presenation of all may have been Dust Bunny, the first feature-length from Bryan Fuller, who has been involved in television programs from Star Trek in 1997, to 2017’s American Gods, all the way through his most recent series Queer for Fear: The History of Queer Horror. While the movie veers comedic, it’s plenty moody, carried by a tour de force performance by Mads Mikkelsen.
But the weekend wasn’t only about movies. Presentations from some of the genre’s best authors — including Daniel Kraus, Grady Hendrix, Jeremy Robert Johnson, Paul Tremblay, Sarah Langan and Stephen Graham Jones — gave a a reprieve for the more literary liches. Saturday also played host to a pig roast where ghoulish gourmands could enjoy the edgy a bit more viscerally.
While there are plenty of great places to stay in town, a visit to the Madeline Hotel gives guests an opportunity to enjoy the resort’s beautiful decorations and amenities, as well as providing the added bonus of an almost spectral journey on a gondola ride to and from the festival. At first glance from on high, Telluride appears to be its normal, docile self, though with each moment anticipation and dread creep into the otherwise smooth conveyance.
The festival proved yet again that for fright aficionados, there are few better ways to fully embrace spooky season and all it has to offer.
The 17th Telluride Horror Show takes place October 16-18, 2026. Tickets will be available beginning in late March.
All photography courtesy of Volz Media.