The best scary movies are not necessarily the ones with superb acting or cutting-edge special effects. You don’t need Alfred Hitchcock or Wes Craven — or even a big budget — to get scared silly. The best scary movies are sometimes strange and sometimes campy, with a dark sense of…
Growing up, people used to signal their broad and presumably good taste in music by stating, “I like everything … except country and rap.” It’s hard to say why country and rap got the short end of the stick, other than that these supposedly musically adventurous souls were actually pretty…
The Horseshoe Market, Denver’s premier indie craft and vintage market, is gearing up for its fifth year with the first of four markets this weekend. Amy and Doug Yetman founded the indie market back in 2010 out of a desire to bring the community together in search of “creative gems.”…
Far North & Outer Space. Far North & Outer Space, now at Goodwin Fine Art, features new work by Beau Carey and Lanny DeVuono, both of whom create contemporary paintings based obliquely on views of the landscape. Many of the Careys are snow scenes and were inspired by a National…
A Steady Rain. A Steady Raintells the striking story of a rogue cop. Denny is not above petty infractions; he has his scams; he’s on the take from prostitutes. Yet in his own sick way, he’s committed to logic and the motto to “protect and serve.” At the play’s beginning,…
Everything about Gone Girl, David Fincher’s adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s enormously popular 2012 thriller about a deteriorating marriage and a wife gone missing, is precise and thoughtful; it’s as well planned as the perfect murder, with its share of vicious, shivery delights. But at the end of the perfect murder,…
Should we trust artists to tell the story of artists? On the plus side, who understands them better? If there’s a secret language of imagination and creativity, then the members of this sprawling tribe must be the ones who speak it best. On the other hand, could there be anything…
Vital, illuminating, and terrifying, Rory Kennedy’s Last Days in Vietnam probes with clarity and thoroughness one moment of recent American history that has too long gone unreckoned with. Here, in then-contemporary news footage and startlingly frank latter-day interviews, is the wrenching story of how it came to be that in…
In one Nick Cave song, a pedophiliac outlaw caps a murder spree by killing the devil himself. In another, the narrator muses on Miley Cyrus while seeking the “God particle” down a boulevard lined with burning trees. Cave is fluent in apocalyptic imagery and the Bible; his songs are filled…
Every child who’s thrown a tantrum, packed a bag and plotted to run away has shivered with the same vengeful thought: I wish I could see how sad they’ll be when I’m gone. The Left Behind franchise implies that evangelicals haven’t grown up. This new film version, the latest in…
Annabelle, an effective prequel to horror pastiche The Conjuring, surpasses its predecessor simply by virtue of occasionally being scary. Both films are overreliant on deafening sound effects and sideeye glimpses of underwhelming ghosts. But Annabelle’s scare scenes are better paced and more thoughtfully lensed. Its hokey, funhouseworthy spooks a…
Expanding on its ongoing photographic exhibition, Fashion/Culture, the Colorado Photographic Arts Center is hosting a Gala Fashion Show tonight at the McNichols Building. The gala is based on the same inspiration as its photo exhibit — to raise awareness of CPAC and its many offerings — and will also highlight…
Chuck Roy’s Spaghetti Western Comedy Show returns to Jake’s Food and Spirits this month with a fittingly spooky theme for the season, a new monthly guest star, and a generous servings of giggles and meatballs. The unique brainchild of Denver comic Chuck Roy, the show combines a spaghetti dinner with…
Cosplay goes country at FarmFest, the Urban Farm at Stapleton’s fifth annual benefit, featuring an historical reenactment about the mounted soldiers of the 10th Cavalry Drill Team. At FarmFest, you’ll get more than a mere slice of country life. In no particular order, there will be hayrides, pony rides, a…
The Adventure Film Festival marks its tenth anniversary this weekend at the Boulder Theater, and its fifth year without founder Johnny Copp, who died in a 2009 climbing accident. “We were digging through our archives because of the anniversary and found Johnny’s original vision for the festival that he scratched…
The scariest time of the year is here, and what better way to celebrate than by giving your loved ones the gift of terror? Denver’s premier haunted houses are making that easy to do with Family Night at The Asylum and The 13th Floor. For one night, you can treat…
When Martin Moran’s The Tricky Part, an Obie-winning, autobiographical one-man show about his brush with sexual abuse as a boy, played at Curious Theatre ten years ago, it left Westword theater critic Juliet Wittman feeling uncomfortable — not because of the subject matter, but because there was no subterfuge or…
In Colorado Springs artist Matt Barton’s world, a place where foxes talk and treehouses sprout up indoors, viewers are asked to suspend their disbelief — even if just for a moment, says MCA Denver’s Adam Lerner. He knows that’s difficult in a modern society too often driven by cynicism and…
The Hot Chocolate 15/5K Series, dubbed “America’s sweetest race,” kicks off in Denver today before continuing to fourteen other cities. While the race offers runners the opportunity to raise money for Ronald McDonald Charities and goodie bags complete with fleece-lined zip hoodies, Hot Chocolate Series organizers are most excited about…
Arvada Center art curator Collin Parson is pumped, and here’s why: Unbound: Sculpture in the Field, a show one might say he’s been training for all his life, debuts tonight in the center’s south field, featuring an installation of 27 works by Colorado sculptors. A sculptor himself, Parson, who grew…
With a background in painting, Karen Yasinsky wanted to make movies without crews. So she set up an animation stand at her Baltimore studio and started shooting short films with puppets and archival materials. “It made sense to make my own actors,” she says. Her solitary process spawned an anti-narrative…
The David B. Smith Gallery will be loaded with talent tonight as it unveils Joel Swanson’s XYZ, which explores the artist’s continuing fascination with the art and symbolism of text. Swanson’s obsessive drawings of endless ampersands — similar to the entire wall of 25,000 of them that he drew in…
