Scary yet thought-provoking

In the age of torture porn, it’s scary how rare a thinking person’s horror movie like “Mantra” is.

No scenes where you have to watch a person get their extremities chopped off. No parts where you’re forced to hear a damsel in distress scream for minutes on end as she stares down her impending gory doom.

Nope, “Mantra” is a Buddhist horror film that does what it can to provoke as many thoughts as it does scares. Written/produced/directed by Denver native Brian Wimer, the film is defiantly different from almost everything else that’s on the horror market.

“My film was sort of a reaction to those that relish all the torture and suffer,” he said. “For me, if you can have an audience leave and not have their minds go blank as soon as they’re out of the theater, it’s a success.” 

“Mantra” tells the story of a group of strangers who go to a remote cabin area in the woods for a meditation retreat. While a generous amount of nudity and gore ensues, the film also explores some heady philosophical concepts like love, desire and suffering.  

Wimer was inspired to write “Mantra” after attending a Buddhist retreat in India. He found that the meditations were “mind-altering, scary and weird,” and became enlightened on the connections between Buddhism — which focuses on desire and suffering — and horror films.

Because horror films are the easiest films to distribute for an indie director, he decided to go ahead with his idea and make “Mantra.”

“I had misgivings about the genre because there is so much torture porn,” he said. “So I figured, hey, maybe I’ll make a Buddhist horror film.”

Wimer cut his teeth in film in commercials by serving as a copywriter for projects like the massively popular “Yo Quiero Taco Bell” ad series. He went on to make a series of short films, which also proved successful. 

Tonight’s screening of “Mantra” at the Mayan Theatre is a homecoming for Wimer. The Cherry Creek High School graduate currently resides outside of Colorado and doesn’t make it back to Denver much.

He’s a little nervous about tonight’s screening because in his opinion, a movie is basically a psychoanalysis of the writer that puts all their “crazy, messed up psychological misgivings up on the screen.” 

“You’re showing this to all your friends and people who haven’t seen you in a while,” he laughed, “So they can say, ‘Where did he jump off the bus?’”  

Where: Mayan Theater, 110 Broadway

When: Tonight at 7

Cost: $10

Information: 303-744-6799, LandmarkTheatres.com

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