Destiny was either with us or fate conspired against us.
This year’s Frightmare poised to be the most epic one yet with a lineup of
horror’s finest set to attend – from artist Ben Templesmith to jack of all
trades Tom Savini; from the Soska Sisters (directors of American Mary and the
upcoming See No Evil 2) to the godfather of gore himself George Romero. I was looking forward to seeing Michael Biehn
and Doug Bradley (personal favorites) while the shaved ape attending with me,
my buddy John, was looking forward most to George Romero. Both of us were just
glad to be attending.
A positive premonition preceded us when we found out the
hotel we booked was on John Carpenter highway. Nuff said. With each passing
day, my anticipation level increased, which is rare. I’m usually calm until
actually on the road and I know the trip is indeed happening right before our
very eyes, and then my excitement presents itself. Sure enough, fate drilled me
in the lower intestine - something I had consumed earlier in the day disagreed
with my stomach, and I was splashing to the soggy bottom river dance all day
long. I even had to cut my workout short because I feared soiling my warm ups.
One wrong twist, one reflexive squat, I would’ve been dripping gravy in front
of people that I don’t care to associate with but would have to face another
day.
Back at home, hoping to slumber turned into sleepless
annoyance. I knew I wasn’t going to sleep, so I chose to vegetate using the
most mind-numbing tool known to man – television.
As luck would have it, one last trip to banish the viral
demons from my bowels proved to be the necessary solution. I was finally free
of the splashy demons.
Fast forward to half past midnight – we are finally on the
road. I drove the entire way powered by infrequent conversation with both John
and the voices, plus the occasional argument with talk radio. My partial album
collection I’d uploaded to a pin drive provided our soundtrack.
We arrived in Dallas safely and in near-record-time shortly
before nine a.m. and located our primary destinations, the Aloft hotel and the
DFW Airport hotel (the location for the convention), also the nearest liquor
store(s). Check-in time at the hotel wasn’t until three p.m., but with the two of
us being two of the most languid personas with a love for exploring, and being
in a town we rarely visit (Dallas), it became a routine venture of ours that
went from “We have all the time in the world,” to “Shit! We need to hurry up
and check in to the hotel!”
Eventually, we arrived at
Day 1
Working on the fly, this became our primary business day - get the pictures and autographs we wanted. We obtained
our passes and programs, then, shuffled through the crowd. Surrounded by fans
in cosplay, and some whom neither John nor I could differentiate from in
costume our out of clean laundr – all brilliantly decorated, we our first stop was
the Made in Texas room. Admittedly, for a short time I was impounded in awe of
the celebrities suddenly around us, but reminding myself these people are human
beings cooled my senses. I’ve met several music artists that I greatly admire. This was different. You are meant to mingle with the celebrities at a
convention; the others have been by blind luck but just as thrilling.
Instantly, I spotted Michael Beihn
and Linda Hamilton who would be partaking in the Terminator reunion along with
Robert Patrick. The Soska sisters were incredibly social, friendly, and very
chatty with all of the folks in their line. John got an autographed photo and a
personal one from them.
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| John and the Soska sisters |
In the Enterprise Room, we both had the
pleasure of taking pictures with Tom Savini whom John and I couldn’t believe
wasn’t busier. The man is a living legend in the horror business, plus, he was
stationed parallel to George Romero. The way they mingled, it was just two
friends hanging out. Savini was quite
nice. Doug Bradley was equally nice and extremely eccentric during our brief
encounter. He was pure business, didn’t care for chit chat, although he could
tell I was sincere in my appreciation of his work. The gem of the night was
George Romero. Incredibly friendly and seemed stunned, perhaps quietly
overjoyed when explained my admiration for his film Knightriders. People need
to learn more of Romero’s non-zombie catalogue. He was a great filmmaker, not
just a great horror director.
Overwhelmed by the whole
experience, I wasn't overly social and felt like I missed opportunities to
connect with like-minded people and future networking contacts. There was a
serendipitous moment when a woman handed me a business card promoting a horror
book publishing company Post Mortem Press. I was fortunate enough to find the
majority of the authors intoxicated and devilishly humorous. I picked up The Barn by Jason Downed, Toxicity
by Max Booth III (whom I had a great talk with about character creation),
and Camp Arcanum by Josef Matulich.
Full Moon Entertainment had a
booth. They were responsible for a large quantity of horror movies I have seen
throughout my life, particularly during my adolescence, from Susbspecies to Meridian (a personal favorite) to the Puppet Master series. It was great experiencing CEO Charles Band’s
magic. He knows how to captivate an audience and aided in pioneering the looks
and production of horror films. Full Moon now looks to pioneer home
entertainment. Mr. Band stated that Full Moon will no longer be making DVDs as
it is a waste of money. Instead, they will now offer a streaming service for a
monthly fee which will allow you access to their entire movie catalogue – over
thirty years’ worth of material – as well as their new movies, free
merchandise, and other web based, interactive contributions. John and I encountered Charles Band after
hours at the hotel bar. We shook hands and I made sure to thank him for
everything Full Moon has done for the horror industry.
Then, came the low point of the
night; we stayed for the midnight screening of Ben Ketai’s Beneath.
Unfortunately, our idled exhaustion finally caught up with us – that compounded
with, unfortunately, a lackluster story led us to nod off minimally during the
film. It wasn’t a terrible film, just uninteresting; great acting, really good
cinematography, but a story that couldn’t hold our attention (and John and I
have sat through some boring movies). I don’t doubt, however, that this movie
will find an audience that will enjoy it. There’s enough suspense to please a
movie enthusiast.
Day2
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| Bill Mosley & myself |
We showed up later than we had
hoped, but fully recharged. We had a good time, I took a picture with Bill
Moseley, even chatted with him for a bit about the modern state of killers in
horror films; discussing how more actors are restraining instead of cutting
loose, using the less-is-more technique, and as Mr. Moseley put it, “some of
these new horror movies really suck.”
We found another horror
journalist, Travis Brown from HorrorMoviesUncut.com and drank his kool-aid as
we heavily agreed with, frankly, all of his views on horror movies, how to
watch them, what to take from them, and what other movie critics forget about
their audience - they forget that everyone is different – just because they are
not partial to a certain film doesn’t mean you should not recommend it for
other people. Also, he discussed an issue I’ve had a strong voice on - about
how fans are part of the problem. I don’t mean just in movies, but every form
of entertainment (movies to sports and beyond). Hollywood and horror keep
churning out remakes and ghost stories
and these spoofs because people keep paying money to see them, and when
a horror fan recommends a quality film, the inquisitor has no interest because
it doesn’t star anyone familiar or it is the early work of someone that is
currently popular.
It was refreshing to meet people
similar and superior to our thought mode.
Lastly on evening 2, we attended
an encore screening of Bill “Bloody Bill” Pon’s first full-length feature Circus
of the Dead, a low budget film about murderous clowns hiding in a travelling
circus using the Mexican game Chalupa as a platform for singling out victims
for nefarious deeds. It was filmed entirely in Odessa, Texas on a pithy
$150,000 budget. Circus of the Dead was
well worth standing throughout the entire movie. All the seats were taken. We
chose to see what the movie had to offer; it was so good we stayed standing
through the whole thing. Look for Bill Oberst Jr. to gain some momentum from
his role as the gang leader Papa Corn. His dementia is cold, blunt, and brutal.
You can also catch Bill Oberst Jr. in the anthology Scary or Die without the
makeup. The entire film had a classic
grindhouse cinema look and energy about it; definitely entertaining.
Also, be sure to watch Billy
“Bloody Bill” Pon’s original short film Doll Boy, which is the cinematic
beginning of what would eventually become Circus of the Dead.
Day 3
The last day was the shortest but
probably the most illuminating. We circled the vendors and actors one last time
awaiting our real venture, the panels. Among the bevy of panels and screenings
that entire weekend, we sat in on two that Sunday. The first centered on Ogre
of Skinny Puppy and Repo, the Genetic Opera fame. He discussed the rise in
popularity of Repo, how it’s gained cult-like status and continues finding new
audiences, and how it actually aided Skinny Puppy in finding new audiences as
well with more Repo fans showing up to Skinny Puppy concerts. He also discussed
different moments in his music career that affected his life and his maturity
as a human being on his road to sobriety. It was heartfelt and Ogre came off as
a humble, happy individual who was a t peace with his world. He was
fan-friendly and provided great insight into his life. As a long-time Skinny
Puppy fan, this was an exciting experience.
 | ||
| Killer's Korner (left to right): Dee Snider, Tom Morga, Nick King, Bill Mosley, and Tom Savini |
The final event was Dee Snider's Killer's Korner, hosted
by Dee Snider from Twisted Sister who wrote and starred in Strangeland and is a
man who loves horror. The panel discussed movie killers and their methods; it
involved Tom Morga, Bill Mosley, Tom Savini, and Nicholas King. Tom Morga provided a unique perspective since
he is a stuntman who stands in for the actors portraying the killers and
victims. His most well-known
contributions are as Michael and Jason in Halloween 4 and Friday the 13th:
A New Beginning, respectively. Bill
Mosley brought the maniacs viewpoint as he is one who has killed and been
killed many times. Tom Savini probably offered the best perspective as he has
done everything there is to do on a movie set in front and behind the camera.
Nicholas King filled a seat.
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| Mosley & Savini |
Some of the funnier moments
included Bill Mosley talking about Tobe Hooper making him do thirteen takes on
a single kill scene in Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986). “I asked Tobe, ‘Am I
doin’ somethin’ wrong, Tobe?’ He said ‘No, I’m just havin’ so much fun watchin’
you do it.’”
Tom Savini shared the mind bending
awkwardness of using a shotgun to blow the head off of a replicated dummy
version of himself.
Dee Snider was his loud,
unapologetic rock star self, providing his own tales of film making and love
for the horror genre while offering great news that he finally won back the
rights to Strangeland and is writing the script for the sequel currently titled
Strangeland: Disciple. He was an excellent moderator and it was great to see
him healthy and as maniacal as ever (being a long-time fan of his music as
well).
I had an amazing time at Texas
Frightmare Weekend. John got some great pictures, I got some great pictures
with John’s camera while he was asleep – wink, wink. Our plans are already in
the making to attend next year. We met some nice people, I wished we’d been
more social, but being our first time, I think we did alright. We would like to
reach out more to other fans and hear their opinions and stories; hopefully
meet more contacts for movie news and screenings as John and I come from Parts
Unknown, Texas, where we have no access to these kinds of resources other than
social media.
We’d like to thank all the stars
for being incredibly friendly; thank you to everyone we met, everyone that sold
us liquor, and the Aloft hotel for being ridiculously comfortable; the cow skin
on the wall sold the room. Until next
year.....
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