all photos by Nicko Ferguson, courtesy Telluride Horror Show.
Greetings from the golden hills of the 2026 Telluride Horror Show, my absolute favorite festival and one I am honored to regularly attend as guest host. But this is an extra-special year, because I'm here with friends and colleagues BJ Colangelo, Brian W. Collins, and Meagan Navarro. Getting to share this uniquely amiable horror fest with newbies as immediately enamored as I makes every film and festivity even cooler.
Day 1 kicked off yesterday – after a hike and a gondola ride; we are in Telluride, after all – with the Horror Show's annual ice cream social. If you can think of a more wholesome way to start a horror film festival, then you've got me beat.
Day 1's programming lineup included Alison-Eve Hammersley's dark mystery Erie; Carlye Rubin, Katie Green and Tina Grapenthin's Adams Family doc Blood & Guts; a rep screening of Willow Creek in honor of this year's Bigfoot theme; Sean Mannion's Colorado-shot folk horror The Threshing; Joko Anwar's riotous crowd-pleaser Ghost in the Cell; John Valley's ATX-based proto-slasher salute American Dollhouse; John Abbott's phenomenal micro-budget found footage triumph When You See It; Marion Le Corroller's breathtaking body horror Species; THUNDERLIPS' extreeeeemely squirmy midnight feature Mum, I'm Alien Pregnant (what more do you need to know from that title?); and the always extraordinary shorts blocks Forbidden Worlds, Sinister Stories, and Weird-Ass Tales.
As ever, my favorite part of Telluride Horror Show remains the literary programming, a rare and important focus this festival gives to an oft-unsung corner of horror. This year's visiting authors are Nat Cassidy (When the Wolf Comes Home), CJ Leede (Maeve Fly), Tananarive Due (The Reformatory), and Steven Barnes (The Keeper), all shepherded by Telluride Horror Show's annual “author liaison” Jeremy Robert Johnson (The Loop). Every year, Jeremy hosts a series of author conversations, and the first day is also home to the Horror Show's coziest, spookiest, most singular event: the Creepy Campfire Tales. As we all sat around the Telluride town square at dusk, listening to Nat strum his scary story on the guitar, smelling damp leaves and woodsmoke and watching embers die on the night breeze, I remembered why this is my favorite place in the world. As BJ said on Threads, it's “the only horror film festival where it looks like you've stepped into a postcard and the air smells like trick-or-treating.”
We're well into Day 2 now – be on the lookout for that recap tomorrow! – and the fun continues apace. I just entirely adore this weird, wondrous, autumnal epicenter of all things horror. Plenty more to come.
