Published in Issue 129, September 2024
Colorado Festival of Horror returns for their fourth year, fittingly kicking off the 3-day convention of terror in September on Friday the 13th … ki ki ki, ma ma ma … Bigger, bolder and bloodier than ever before, this independent, volunteered, artist-run fest is bringing in the big guns (or maybe, machetes?) when it comes to their 2024 headlining special guests. Her first-ever Colorado con, Pam Grier (Jackie Brown, Escape from L.A., Mars Attacks!, Bones) will grace the stage for a Q&A, autographs and photo ops. And it doesn’t stop there. Fans will also get to meet Scream Queen Tiffany Shepis (Tromeo and Juliet, Star Trek: Picard), Alexandra Essoe (Doctor Sleep, Midnight Mass), Annabeth Gish (The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass), and a wicked Friday the 13th crew — Adrienne King, Amy Steel, Thom Mathews, Tom McLoughlin, and Vincente DiSanti — along with a slew of other horror actors, eerie artists, harrowing writers and chilling vendors. Attendees will also have a chance to attend numerous panels and workshops, a short film festival, costume and tattoo competitions, trivia and karaoke, and more, all the while sipping on a pint of Killr™ Brew or a glass of Stabernet.
Born out of a mutual love of horror, Co-Founders Bret Smith, Daniel “Smurf” Sharner, Jeanni Smith and Daniel Crosier wanted to make a festival embracing the genre and celebrating all of its different artistic styles and realms, while creating well-needed community. We caught up with Bret and Smurf to talk about this year’s fest and why they fright for the right to party for horror fans of all ages in Colorado.
What prompted you to create a horror festival in Colorado and how did you make such a big production come to fruition?
Bret Smith: Years ago, I loved attending the Mile High Horror Film Festival, and the first con I ever volunteered for, Colorado Horror Con, were all a lot of fun, but sadly neither lasted. So in 2018, some friends and I were talking about starting a convention and recognized that there was no horror-only con in Colorado so voilà! It came to fruition because of all our incredible staff and volunteers, who are just that: volunteers! The four co-founders are just volunteers too, so it is clearly a passion project to make Colorado Festival of Horror happen.
Smurf: I’ve always loved horror. Growing up I never missed a new movie or novel or a show that had some sort of horror theme. As I got older and started doing conventions, it always felt like an overlooked area and should have its own event because there’s so many different styles to horror. Based on that we knew, it could thrive. And everyone else had focused on the superhero “capes” of pop culture leaving horror relatively open and untouched, so we could deliver a unique experience.
What’s behind this year’s theme, Friday the 13th, and how did the idea come about?
Bret: Last year when Jeanni was creating the Program Book for 2023 and we wanted to put in a quick ad for 2024, we were shocked to see our starting date was a Friday the 13th in September! There was just no way that couldn’t be our theme for this year, our first Friday the 13th start. Besides the iconic Jason Voorhees, we discovered the outstanding Never Hike Alone: Friday the 13th fan films, plus we love that Friday the 13th can also be symbolic of “unlucky” stuff, so we just had to! Our friends at FanSets have created an exclusive pin for us this year comprised of all the best “unlucky” things in life!
Smurf: Since year one we’ve had different themes to build off of. Just a way to build something different each year and help our thoughts for potential guests. Friday the 13th was a must for us as one of the major staples in the horror world and we couldn’t wait to announce it last year.
What are you most excited for this year?
Bret: I am super excited about our special guests. I’m pinching myself that we have Pam Grier as a special guest along with an unusual group of Friday the 13th actors and creators from the films and fan films, and keeping our annual tradition of having a Scream Queen. This year, it’s Tiffany Shepis. Tiffany maintains my promise to myself to always have a special guest that has a Star Trek connection. And with my newfound love of everything Mike Flanagan on Netflix, I’m psyched to have two special guest actors, Alexandra Essoe and Annabeth Gish, from many of his shows, including their highlight mother-daughter relationship on Midnight Mass.
Smurf: So many things — I could go on for hours about it, but first thought is having a true icon as a guest. Pam Grier who has never done an event in Colorado will be here Saturday and Sunday and I can’t wait to sit down and interview her and discuss such an amazing and illustrious career.
We are completely nerding out about Pam Grier too! Can you tell us more about how she got involved?
Bret: I’ve tried to connect with Pam Grier since the first COFOH thanks to her Colorado roots — attending East High School, living on a farm with horses here — discovering all the iconic directors she’s worked with, and being surprised by her horror credits, especially this year’s Amazon Prime series THEM: The Scare. Jeanni and I were blown away when we first stepped into Voodoo Doughnuts on Colfax to learn the whole story about the theft and return of Pam’s velvet painting. I tried social media to connect with her unsuccessfully for years, but thankfully, I happened upon her agent representative, and now, we have her for her first Colorado con appearance! So excited!
Are you doing anything new or different this year?
Bret: We have some new sponsors and exclusives this year. Horrifying Hot Sauce created our own hot sauce, “Game Over,” and Littleton Meats is offering an exclusive mail-order “Slaughterbox” to attendees. Our workshop programming was so successful last year, standing room only, that we have moved it to a larger room, and overall we’re extending programming to begin earlier and end later, like 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. We’ve added an official “Let Me Be Short” competitive film festival with submissions via FilmFreeway, and a new unusual activity for fans: axe throwing!
Smurf: We’ve made a few adjustments from last year, added more horror focused vendors half of which have never been here. Our panels have some returning presenters but with new topics while some are expanding on what they did last year. We work diligently every year to bring in something different to mix it up for our guests, we will even have a horror-themed axe throwing station outside.
We’ve been bigtime fans of COFOH-based cosplay slasher comic series TRUE BELIEVERS by Hex Publishers / Metal X Entertainment / Bit Bot Media Founder Joshua Viola, New York Times bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones and artist Ben Matsuya that was born out of a conversation with you both and Jeanni. Can you give us a teaser of what fans can expect with TRUE BELIEVERS’ involvement at the fest this year?
Bret: Joshua Viola added Canadian illustrator Matthew Therrien to his cover art team and we’re bringing him to the show as he painted stunning covers of actors who appear as COFOH guests in the storyline: Jamie Lee Curtis, R.L. Stine, Devon Sawa, and others for upcoming issues. Issue #1 has only been available to Kickstarter supporters so we’re excited to offer fans the entire 26-page Issue #1 at the Metal X Entertainment / Hex Publishers booth in our Death Dealers Room. Plus, Issue #2 will premiere at this year’s show! It is such a thrill to have Stephen, Josh and Matthew attend and participate on a True Believers Issue #1-2 Release Party panel. It is surreal to have such a creative and horrifying slasher story where COFOH is the epicenter of the chaos. Be sure to look for other cameos besides the celebs, and don’t be surprised if life imitates art in future years with these celebs coming to COFOH. And the bloody icing on the cake — Matthew drew this year’s COFOH exclusive beer art, brewed by our sponsor Outworld Brewing, which we call Killr™ Brew, named after the cosplay killer in the comics!
What sets COFOH apart from other horror festivals that are starting to pop up in Colorado.
Bret: COFOH is a one-of-a-kind, locally-owned, homegrown, home-operated convention, run by local horror fans who have many connections with our local creative community. We pride ourselves in engaging local talent and businesses to participate and create for our show. Just look at Terror In the Corn’s haunt actors at the show, Outworld Brewing making us a beer, Dragon Meadery bottling a cabernet sauvignon, L.S. Strange providing attendees with bags, Metal X Entertainment’s TRUE BELIEVERS comics, Distortions Unlimited’s loan of monster props to decorate the venue, Mutiny Information Cafe / Phantom 8’s running of the tattoo competition, and local artists creating posters, T-shirt designs and badge art. The other horror shows frankly are out-of-state shows popping up in Denver to test the market and kinda have a corporate feel, similar to a large comic con. They have big bucks behind them from running shows in other states for years, so they can get very expensive actors to attend. We prefer being an intimate show where fans have access to our celebrities and talented creatives.
Smurf: Local, homegrown show that is about the community and has real heart. A lot of these other shows are very cookie-cutter and overlook the local artists, vendors and businesses. All of us (the founders) spend time building the show, talking and taking the time to build relationships within the community to give the best experience, not just for the attendees, but the guests, vendors, sponsors and our own crew.
Biggest challenges you’ve faced as an independent, artist-run festival?
Bret: I’d say funding, cash flow, inflation and the economy are our biggest challenges as well as these out-of-state conventions that are close to our show dates. Show attendees only have so much disposable income.
Smurf: Space. The ideas we have sometimes can be a little larger than the venue would be able to handle, and we’ve had to pace ourselves a little.
Standout highlight from over the years.
Bret: We’ve had so many highlights, but a couple years ago, seeing actor David Howard Thornton, as Terrifier’s Art the Clown, creepily come down a glass elevator as a long line of fans awaited a photo with him, was stunning! Last year’s Rocky Horror Picture Show shadowcast was pretty darn special too.
Biggest myth or misunderstanding about the horror genre as a whole.
Bret: That horror fans are weird, mean, violent, etc., when they are in-fact some of the nicest and most inclusive people you’ll ever meet! The horror community is truly special.
Smurf: The people. In my experience the horror community overall is the most welcoming regardless of the genre you might enjoy. It’s all about the craft and the story, there’s never a wrong answer of what’s better because we’re all here to appreciate it together.
I’m such a chicken with super gruesome or haunted-based films/shows. How are you able to enjoy some of the darker realms of horror without getting nightmares?
Bret: I’ve just seen so many horror films of all kinds, I’m likely jaded, and I love doing “homework” to watch the gory films of our special guests before meeting them in person. I run a horror con, so maybe nothing scares me.
Smurf: No nightmares unless I’m doing a marathon of some kind. The hardest part for me is not laughing during some of the more intense moments or jump scares. I love it.
First horror film that hooked you.
Bret: Creature from the Black Lagoon.
Smurf: Oh, that’s hard to say. I used to watch all of the Vincent Price films with The Abominable Dr. Phibes being my favorite, but I also loved Abbott and Costello who had a rather different approach to horror, but one of the best monster lineups a fan could wish for.
If you could spend a day with one horror villain — without being hurt and/or murdered — who would it be and why?
Bret: I’m gonna go really current, Mother from Barbarian. I love that film! Now I could say why, but that would be too gross; when I told Jeanni why, she said, “Nope, you’re not saying that!”
Smurf: Pinhead of the Hellraiser series.
Any other fun horror/sci-fi based projects you’re involved with outside of COFOH?
Bret: I had such a great time this last April in Colorado Springs helping our Six Feet Under Horror Film Fest friends put on the Hooked On Horror mini-convention and film festival with four Scream Queens in attendance. The forensic pathologists who put on the quarterly film festival, Leon Kelly and Dan Lingamfelter, will be back at COFOH with another creepy real-life cases panel. We’ve started doing screenings with special guests at different times of year and different venues too, like My Bloody Valentine and Mother’s Day.
Smurf: I also run the Colorado Ghostbusters and after COFOH starts our busy season, we make appearances at various events throughout October. Everything from haunts, Trunk or Treats, the Broadway Halloween Parade and other parades, and other Halloween-inspired events.
What can we look forward to for COFOH 2025?
Bret: For our 5th year anniversary celebration, there will be Monsters! I wonder where that will take us?!
Smurf: We have plans on adding a whole new element for next year as we build off of our theme Monsters. I can’t go into any detail without ruining the surprise, but we all are very excited about it as we hit year five.
Funn Horror Favorites:
Top three movies:
Bret: Creature from the Black Lagoon, Night of the Living Dead, The Fly (original and remake)
Smurf: Hellraiser, High Tension, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
Top three shows:
Bret: Anything from Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, The Fall of the House of Usher)
Smurf: The Fall of the House of Usher, Friday the 13th: The Series, The Walking Dead
Top three authors:
Bret: Stephen Graham Jones, Paul G. Tremblay, Daniel Kraus
Smurf: Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Stephen Graham Jones
Top three video games:
Smurf: Dead by Daylight, Silent Hill, Dead Space
Favorite genre within horror:
Bret: The slasher!
Smurf: Slasher, no question.
Favorite soundtrack:
Bret: John Carpenter’s Halloween
Smurf: Great question, I’d have to think about that one simply because there’s been some really good ones, but the first one that comes to mind is A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.
Favorite quote:
Bret: “They’re coming to get you, Barbara.”
Smurf: “Psychos do not explode when sunlight hits them, I don’t care how crazy they are.”
Yet to be released films or shows you’re excited fo:
Bret: Alien: Earth TV series, Mike Flanagan’s The Exorcist and The Dark Tower
Smurf: Army of Darkness: Forever
Favorite protagonist:
Bret: Ellen Ripley
Smurf: Ash Williams
Favorite antagonist:
Bret: Aliens!
Smurf: Aliens
COLORADO FESTIVAL OF HORROR 2O24
Friday, September 13 – Sunday, September 15
Marriott Denver South at Park Meadows
10345 Park Meadows Drive | Lone Tree | CO
VIP Hotel Packages Available
*Free for 10 years & under w/ a paying adult*
Learn more and get tickets here.
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