I think it goes without saying that I love horror movies and everything about them.  In fact I think it is a genre of film that should be celebrated in every way.  Thankfully there is an event in Denver that does just that and if you haven't had the chance to attend it the last three years, get ready because the Mile High Horror Film Festival is back for its fourth year this October 3-6.  

We here at Girls of Geek had the opportunity to cover this event last year and I can tell you, it is world class.  Not only do you get to enjoy horror film after horror film but you can also meet horror film legends and this year is no different.  In fact just the other day, Mile High Horror Film Festival announced its first wave of guests and this lineup is already pretty stellar. To start it off, Jeffrey Reddick will be returning this year, with the title of Jury Chair.  If that name sounds familiar it should, he was the creator of the Final Destination series.  We had the chance to speak with Mister Reddick last year and I can tell you he is an all around nice guy and extremely gracious to his fans.  Take a moment to visit him at his table, you won't regret it. 


But Jeffrey is just the beginning.  For all of you John Carpenter fans, Meg Foster from They Live will also be in attendance. How awesome is that?  But it still doesn't end there, Doug Bradley, the man who played Pinhead in the Hellraiser series will be in attendance along with Ken Foree, who played Peter in Dawn of the Dead.  

Plus, there's an extra bonus that comes with Ken Foree attending the Festival this year. Now while I am excited to see all these awesome guests, there is one event that will happen that left my jaw on the floor.  There will be a screening of my favorite film of all time with Ken as the special guest.  That's right, they are showing Dawn of the Dead on the big screen.  

That's how awesome the Mile High Horror Film Festival is, and to top it off, they are hosting it at the amazing Alamo Drafthouse Denver this year, which as you know is the best venue in the state when it comes to movie watching.  So I would hope by now you're as excited as I am for this event and I would hope you're now making plans to get your tickets as soon as possible because trust me, this is a hot ticket.  

While that may sound like a salesman line, trust me, I'm not joking.  The All Access passes are sold out folks.  Day passes are still available, so get them now so you can settle in and bask in this celebration of horror.  

For more information and to purchase tickets please visit:  www.mhhff.com

Sometimes in the horror industry a franchise is basically one and done.  There's that moment of brilliance that is quickly snuffed out when it comes to any sequel that follow it.  Perhaps a great example of this case is the Return of the Living Dead saga.  While the first film introduced something incredibly new to the living dead genre, the sequels left much to be desired. We could of course sit down and review each one in depth, but quite frankly, there isn't a lot of meat and potatoes to cover so instead lets's take a look at what came after the first film in the order of best to worst.  

Return of the Living Dead Part II 

The Plot:  The canisters responsible for the disaster in Louisville, Kentucky in the first film are on the move again and once more, a handful of them are "misplaced."  But when a pair of teenage bullies discover one such canister, the horrors within are unleashed once again.  

The Lowdown:  The movie gets an A for effort when it comes to trying to recreate the magic of the first film.  In fact, a few of the original cast members return in this motion picture, but the magic does not. In fact the slapstick is turned up to eleven and the scares are either cookie cutter or non existent.  There isn't much gore to be found here either, but the film is watchable.  Not the worst entry in the series, but definitely nothing to write home about.  

Return of the Living Dead Part III 

The Plot:  When the love of his life dies in a tragic accident, Curt Reynolds goes to the extreme to keep his love alive by sneaking his dead girlfriend's body into the secret military base where his father is experimenting with bringing the dead back to life.  His gamble pays off and his love returns from the grave but now there are greater complications to their relationship...after all how will they live happily ever after when the one he loves needs to feed on brains?  

The Lowdown:  You may have heard the phrase "jumping the shark" or "nuking the fridge" over the years, which translates to that moment when a franchise or series crosses the wrong lines and finally steps into ludicrous territory and this is the film that does it for the Return series.  You would think the focus of the film would be on scares and the threat of the living dead being back once again, but you don't really see enough of either of those things because, well...this is a love story involving a zombie. So...there's that.  

Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave 

The Plot:  Charles, the wild scientist from the last film, has finally met his maker and his kin discover the last remaining canisters that contain Trioxin.  Curious as to what exactly this gas does they conduct experiments on the gas and a surprise taste test leads to the discovery that in small doses Trioxin is an incredible recreational drug. This leads to the creation of Z, an ecstasy like drug that has a horrible side effect...when too much is consumed the user is turned into a member of the living dead.  

The Lowdown:  Yup.  That's how far the franchise fell from grace.  It went from a fun splatterpunk movie, to a flick that features a rave and people dropping Z like it's the newest flavor of Skittles and they of course turn into zombies.  It's a sad end to the franchise and quite frankly, one of the most ridiculous plot lines I have ever seen in my travels.  I only hope that this means that the Return franchise ends with this awful mess and it is left to rest in peace.  

What a great time it is to be a horror fan.  How can it not be?  A zombie apocalypse themed television show is at the top of the ratings and it doesn't end there.  With a ghost story recently dominating opening weekend at the theaters with The Conjuring, horror has finally found its niche in the mainstream.  

In fact the whole reason I sat down to write this article, is because I just recently watched a television advertisement for Sprint featuring a zombie. Granted there have been plenty of living dead themed commercials as of late but this one caught me off guard while watching preseason football because it's a corpse asking about unlimited data plans.  I mean, that's how far horror has now snuck into our daily lives.

Which brought a question to my mind, how long can this renaissance last?  I mean, don't get me wrong, I remember having to spend time educating others on who George Romero and Dario Argento are when it came to discussions of horror back in the day, so to see horror everywhere I turn is a welcome change, but how long will it be able to sustain this runaway popularity?  The answer I discovered years ago in a little documentary called The American Nightmare. 

This gem premiered on IFC back in 2000 and chronicled the last time that horror was prevalent in our society, the late 60's and 70's.  Now one thing any horror fan needs to do is watch this documentary.  It chronicles the greats and does it with class, giving you an incredible behind the scenes understanding of what went into some of our favorite horror films.  

But more importantly, it points out why horror was popular then and why horror is popular now...the state of society.  Think about it, we had civil rights battles and unrest and distrust in the government back in the 60's and 70's and a seemingly endless war all leading to a fear of the unknown.  While these points make for a tasty documentary, all of it resonates today, especially when you think about horror in the 80's and 90's.  

A lot of the social unrest disappeared in those decades and really so did horror.  Those movies were still being made, but they were often relegated to home video and loved by only the most hardcore of fans.  Now, while it's great to see a documentary about a golden era of horror, let's face it, the genre was not as popular as it is now, and let's also face facts, the unease we face in the world is much larger than it was back then.  

Civil rights battles are back in a big way, distrust of our government is at an all time high, and if you don't believe me...just look at the approval polls for Congress, war is still a concern and well we are most certainly afraid of the unknown once again courtesy of 9/11.   All these things prove The American Nightmare 100% correct.  Horror wasn't big again right away, but four years after our nation was attacked, George Romero made his first zombie movie in twenty years.  The fact of the matter is, horror is healthy during darker times in our lives.  It allows us to experience terror and despair until the end credits roll and we feel safe once again.  

So here we are, horror is all around us in pop culture and while there are some incredible underlying reasons why we have allowed it, I welcome it and fully understand that it likely won't last forever.  Someday the economy will recover, and the bad guys will disappear for a little while and life will go back to normal and likely horror returns to its cavern, waiting in the shadows for the next inevitable shift in the world where it is needed to provide us with scare therapy once again.  

This would be my second time staying on the fourth floor at the Stanley Hotel, and as always, it did not disappoint.  You have all heard stories about the different things that happen on this floor, well I have had a couple happen to me once again.  You hear about people, kids running down the main hallway when it is time to turn in for the night.  Between 10pm and 12am, you will hear this at least once.  Now it was a little difficult to hear it at first, my neighbor had their TV turned up to full blast, but when it happened the second time at eleven, I was more than happy.  It started off with what sounded like a door closing, then a few quick steps than a full sprint, that ended at my door.  Now everyone will ask, how do you know this was not a person messing with you.  Well, when walking down the hallways in this iconic hotel, the floors have creaks when people with actual weight walk down the hallways.  This did not happen when hearing the footsteps flying down the hallway.

The second strange occurrence happened during my 2am stroll down the hallway.  Being awakened by heavy footsteps in the hallway, I opened up my door and checked the hallway, but there was no one there.  I do not know if this was something out the ordinary, or just a patron returning to their room after a great night at the bar.  I will dismiss this one, but as I continued down the hallway, I heard something that sounded like muffled laughing coming out of room 403. Now according to the front desk, this room was unoccupied this night, so what could have been making this eerie sound?  I sat outside of the room for a few minutes, just trying to put my finger on what it could have been, but some things could just be better left unanswered.  What is a muffled laugh you may ask, I would equate it as laughing very hard into a pillow; that would be my best description.

I did not hear anything to crazy coming out of the other rooms, except snoring and the common tossing and turning that staying in a hotel brings on all travelers.  

When walking by the stairwells, you do get a strange feeling that someone is watching you.  Just be warned, you will never be able to catch what or who it may be, so just be happy with the experience. 

My final experience came from the tiny elevator.  Now, I will admit, I have never been a huge fan of elevators in hotels that are under ten stories high, I mean, why not walk?  But this elevator seems to have something fun going on in the middle of the night.  It was on the fourth floor all night long, but appeared to keep trying to go up.  I don’t know what to think about it, it could be an electrical issue, but it does not seem to be a problem during the day.  There was no one inside of the elevator, but there were some strange sounds coming out of it.  I tried to get some pics, but I only snagged one good one before my battery went dead and I heard a smash.  Knowing that I may have exceeded my investigation, I happily tipped my hat to the floor and went back to bed.  

Now my room, 432 had nothing out of the ordinary going on.  There is nothing reported in this room except for hearing the strange on goings in the hallway.  Even with the window sitting open all night, nothing moved on its own or with the help of the wind. This made it extremely easy to sleep, for some people this is very important.

If you are looking for just a fantastic place to stay, I will say the Stanley Hotel should be the top of your list.  You are never guaranteed to see or hear anything supernatural, but if you do, you will be far from disappointed.  The hotel is just fantastic, along with the views of Estes Park, there is not a bad room to be had on the property.

Hope you enjoyed my accounts of what happened on my night on the fourth floor, you may believe them or you may not.  That is just fine by me.  The only way to come to your own conclusions about this hotel would be just stay the night, or three.  My take on the hotel is that there definitely is something going on at night, just saying.  This has been a great experience and just a fantastic vacation!  I should not wait another ten years to do this, and I would highly recommend the stay for anyone looking to just get away and relax.  Hope to see you all next year, when I do it again.  Happy hunting.