Stanley Film Festival was a horror film festival located in Estes Park, Colorado. Founded in 2013, the festival showcased independent horror films, including features, shorts and special events with guest filmmakers. The festival was named for the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park where it is held, a neo-Georgian hotel that was the inspiration and setting of Stephen King's horror novel The Shining . The festival also held a student film competition titled, The Stanley Dean's Cup.[ citation needed ]
The inaugural festival was held May 2–5, 2013. [1] Opening night film: The Purge with director James DeMonaco and producer Jason Blum in attendance. [2] The 2013 festival was curated by Programming Director Landon Zakheim and programmer Michael Lerman, with films from 13 different countries. [3]
| Film | Director | Country | Additional Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 Bloody Acres | Colin and Cameron Cairnes | Australia | |
| Aftershock | Nicolás López | USA, Chile | Closing Night |
| All the Boys Love Mandy Lane | Jonathan Levine | USA | |
| Beneath | Larry Fessenden | USA | |
| Berberian Sound Studio | Peter Strickland | United Kingdom | |
| Big Bad Wolves | Navot Papushado & Aharon Keshales | Israel | |
| Black Rock | Katie Aselton | USA | |
| Cabin Fever – Unrated Director's Cut | Eli Roth | USA | |
| Frankenstein's Army | Richard Raaphorst | Netherlands | |
| Here Comes the Devil | Adrián García Bogliano | Mexico | |
| Macabre | Kimo Stamboel & Timo Tjahjanto | Singapore, Indonesia | |
| Maniac | Frank Khalfoun | USA | |
| No One Lives | Ryûhei Kitamura | USA | |
| Room 237 | Rodney Ascher | USA | |
| Sightseers | Ben Wheatley | United Kingdom | Centerpiece |
| The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari | Robert Wiene | Germany | |
| The Purge | James DeMonaco | USA | Opening Night |
| The Rambler | Calvin Lee Reeder | USA | |
| The Shining | Stanley Kubrick | USA | |
| Tower Block | James Nunn & Ronnie Thompson | United Kingdom | |
| V/H/S/2 | Simon Barrett, Jason Eisener, Gareth Evans, Gregg Hale, Eduardo Sánchez, Timo Tjahjanto & Adam Wingard | USA, Canada, Indonesia | |
| Vanishing Waves | Kristina Buozyte | Lithuania, France, Belgium | |
| Wither | Sonny Laguna & Tommy Wiklund | Sweden | |
| Award | Recipient | Film/Note |
|---|---|---|
| Visionary Award | Eli Roth | Example |
| Audience Award for Feature | Franck Khalfoun | Maniac |
| Audience Award for Short | Ryan Spindell | The Root of the Problem |
| Stanley Dean’s Cup | John McSween | Peak of Terror |
The 2nd annual festival took place April 24–27, 2014.
| Film | Director | Country | Additional Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Doc of the Dead | Alexandre O. Philippe | USA | Opening Night |
| What We Do in the Shadows | Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement | New Zealand | Closing Night |
| The Babadook | Jennifer Kent | Australia | |
| Blood Glacier | Marvin Kren | Austria | |
| Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead | Tommy Wirkola | Norway/Iceland | |
| Eyes Wide Shut | Stanley Kubrick | UK/USA | |
| The Fall of the House of Usher | Jean Epstein | France/USA | |
| Gremlins | Joe Dante | USA | |
| Housebound | Gerard Johnstone | New Zealand | |
| Late Phases | Adrian Garcia Bogliano | USA | |
| Lesson of the Evil | Takashi Miike | Japan | |
| LFO | Antonio Tublen | Sweden/Denmark | |
| Moebius | Kim Ki-duk | South Korea | |
| The Nightmare Before Christmas | Henry Selick | USA | |
| Nothing Bad Can Happen | Katrin Gebbe | Germany | |
| Open Windows | Nacho Vigolando | Spain/USA | |
| Ragnarok | Mikkel Brænne Sandemose | Norway | |
| R100 | Hitoshi Matsumoto | Japan | |
| Rigor Mortis | Juno Mak | Hong Kong | |
| The Sacrament | Ti West | USA | |
| Sleepwalkers | Mick Garris | USA | |
| Starry Eyes | Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer | USA | |
| The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears | Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani | Belgium / France / Luxembourg | |
| The Texas Chain Saw Massacre – 40th ANNIVERSARY RESTORATION | Tobe Hooper | USA | |
| Witching and Bitching | Alex de la Iglesia | Spain | |
| Who Can Kill a Child? | Narciso Ibáñez Serrador | Spain | |
| Award | Recipient | Film/Note |
|---|---|---|
| Visionary Award | Elijah Wood Daniel Noah Josh Waller | Founders of SpectreVision |
| The Master of Horror Award | Joe Dante | |
| Audience Award for Feature | What We Do In The Shadows | |
| Audience Award for Short | Here Be Monsters | |
| Jury Award for Short | Ghost Train | |
| Stanley Dean's Cup Jury Award and Stanley Dean's Cup Audience Award | Wormbug |
The 3rd annual festival took place April 30 - May 3, 2015.
Opening night film: Cooties with SpectreVision production company partners Daniel Noah, Josh Waller, and Elijah Wood in attendance. [5]
| Film | Director | Country | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Nightmare | Rodney Ascher | USA | |
| We Are Still Here | Ted Geoghegan | USA | |
| Body | Dan Berk & Robert Olsen | USA | |
| The Boy | Craig Macneill | USA | |
| Deathgasm | Jason Lei Howden | New Zealand | |
| Director's Commentary: The Terror Of Frankenstein | Tim Kirk | USA | |
| The Final Girls | Todd Strauss-Schulson | USA | Closing Night |
| Cooties | Jonathan Milott & Cary Murnion | USA | Opening Night |
| Goodnight Mommy Ich Seh Ich Seh | Severin Fiala & Veronika Franz | Austria | |
| The Hallow | Corin Hardy | United Kingdom | |
| Hollow | Ham Tran | Vietnam | |
| The Invitation | Karyn Kusama | USA | Centerpiece |
| Let Us Prey | Brian O'Malley | United Kingdom | |
| Over Your Dead Body Kuime | Takashi Miike | Japan | |
| Scherzo Diabolico | Adrian Garcia Bogliano | Mexico | |
| Shrew's Nest Musarañas | Juanfer Andrés & Esteban Roel | Spain | |
| Some Kind Of Hate | Adam Egypt Mortimer | USA | |
| Stung | TBenni Diez | USA | |
| Sun Choke | Ben Cresciman | USA | |
| The Treatment | Hans Herbots | Belgium | |
| When Animals Dream Når Dyrene Drømmer | Jonas Alexander Arnby | Denmark | |
| Shivers | David Cronenberg | Canada | Retrospective |
| Re-Animator | Stuart Gordon | USA | Retrospective |
| The Bride Of Frankenstein | James Whale | USA | Retrospective |
| Diabolique Les Diaboliques | Henri-Georges Clouzot | France | Retrospective |
| Repulsion | Roman Polanski | United Kingdom | Retrospective |
| The Rocky Horror Picture Show | Jim Sharman | USA | Retrospective |
| Award | Recipient | Film/Note |
|---|---|---|
| Visionary Award | Tom Quinn | RADiUS-TWC co-president |
| Audience Award for Feature | The Final Girls | Director Todd Strauss-Schulson |
| Audience Award & Jury Award for Short Film | The Babysitter Murder | Director Ryan Spindell |
| Stanley Dean's Cup Colorado Prize | Moon Studios | Director Merritt Crocker |
| Stanley Dean's Cup International Prize | Inherent Noise | Director Karol Jurga |