Florida SuperCon, a place where fans of all kinds of genres, came together for 3 days of fun. Cosplay, which was a big part of the convention, gave fans an opportunity to dress up, and take part in contests and photo shoots. Comic book and anime fans enjoyed events such as, “The History of Anime,” “Anime You Should Watch,” “DC Comic Book Legends,” and a “Fantastic Four (1994) Film Screening.” There were celebrities from a variety of TV shows, movies, and even wrestling to take pictures with, and get autographs from. And for horror fans like you, and me, there was plenty to do, as I take you through my 3 day journey of the Florida SuperCon convention.
When I walked in on the first day, I couldn’t help but notice the instant party atmosphere. Arriving later in the day, I could tell fun had already overtaken the convention. I didn’t waste too much time making my way to my first event, which was “Filmmaker Workshop with Herschell Gordon Lewis.” For those of you who don’t know, he is known as “the Godfather of Gore” because he created the “splatter film.” He made the movie “Blood Feast,” which was the first “gore” film ever made. It didn’t take too long for me to realize that this guy really knew what he was talking about. He was an excellent speaker, as he took everyone through a list of filmmaking items.
Ghost hunting had a big presence with several different teams presenting throughout the weekend. The first team I got to see was the Florida Ghost Team at “Ghost Hunting 101.” They basically gave an introduction to who they were, and what ghost hunting was from their point of view. They explained the difference between ghosts and demons, and some of their first experiences ghost hunting. With many people interested in ghost hunting, they listened intently on tips for beginners such as, the importance for doing your research, and not working alone.
After stopping by “The Uh-Oh! Show Panel” (more on that later), I concluded the night at a film screening of “Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.” This was Lloyd Kauffman’s latest film combining chickens, zombies, and musicals (yes I said musicals). After seeing some of the scenes in this movie, I still can’t believe they included musicals. The story centered on Arbie, who was willing to do about anything to win back his ex-girlfriend Wendy. Anything included getting a job at a new local fast food chicken chain whose chicken was basically possessed. There were plenty of interesting characters, and disgusting scenes. This movie may change your thoughts on fast food chicken. Once the movie ended, we were told that there was going to be a comic book release of a sequel to this movie in October. We also got to see quite a performance one of film’s presenters from Troma.
As I walked through the doors on the second day, it was as if I went from realty into a fantasy world. Fans of all ages charged through the door ready for the adventures to come. Some of them enjoyed an opportunity to dress up as their favorite characters, while others were just happy to be there. For me, I started off the day by meeting Lou Pizarro, who is the star one of my new favorite shows “Operation Repo.” It was funny how the first thing he asked us was if we had made our car payments. He was extremely nice, and very willing to talk with us. Later that day, on the way to get something to eat, he came up to us, and asked about a certain item he was looking for. I was happy to find out there will be an “Operation Repo” movie coming out in August.
After talking with Lou, I took the opportunity to take the first of several tours around the exhibition room. There were vendors selling all sorts of things such as, comic books, autographed pictures, movie posters, and toys of your favorite characters. If you liked comic book art, there were all kinds of artist with their own versions of famous characters, and even some of their own characters. Then there were the celebrities for you to meet, get autographs from, and take pictures with. Some of this year’s celebrities included Richard Roundtree (Shaft), Fred “The Hammer” Williamson (Dusk Til Dawn), and John Wesley Shipp (The Flash). I can’t leave out the wrestlers such as, Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, The Nasty Boyz, and Terri Runnels.
From there it was off to “Meet the Ghost Hunters International.” Robb Demarest, Brandy Green, and Scott Tepperman were the speakers at this event. They talked about the show in general, some of their personal experiences, and took a great deal of questions from the audience. Immediately following that was the “Lloyd Kauffman Q&A.” Lloyd Kauffman is the President and Co-Founder of Troma Entertainment Film Studios, and director of movies such as, Tromeo and Juliet, and The Toxic Avenger. He was a naturally funny guy, as he answered almost every question with some kind of joke. For example, check out one of the videos I posted where he mentioned the latest Sex and the City movie. Not long after that was the third event of the day I attended, which was “Richard ‘Shaft’ Roundtree on Stage.” We learned about how he got his role as “Shaft,” and heard some stories from his experiences on set. One of the more interesting things he shared with us was his opinion of the latest “Shaft” movie with Samuel Jackson. It appeared as if he was not a fan of the script. It is not often that you actually get to meet someone that you met on Twitter, but I got the chance to finally meet Geretta Geretta (Demons). We had a good conversation (finally in person), and she was extremely nice, even taking a picture with me. She will be working on a new movie in October, and I hope to bring you all the information about it from Geretta of course.
Finally, one of the main events of the convention was about start, which was the “SuperCon Championship Wrestling Presents: ‘SuperCon Mania!’” I witnessed this event for the first time last year, and got a big kick out of it, so I wasn’t going to miss it this year. Neither was most of the convention because the room was packed for this event. How could it not be when you have great wrestling matches such as, Robin vs. The Geico Caveman, Duke vs. Cobra Commander, and the Prince of Persia vs. The Kool Aid Man. You must think I am joking, but I assure you I’m not. Just check out some of the video I posted. These people actually wrestle as some of your favorite, or least favorite characters. The fans had a great time cheering, and booing the wrestlers. They were all wrestling for the championship belt that was currently owned by the Geico Caveman. Batman came to Robin’s aid after his match with the Caveman, which set up the championship match of the night: Batman vs. The Geico Caveman (too funny right). It was another great match with the Caveman getting disqualified to retain his belt. I’m telling you, this event was worth the price of admission itself.
I finished off the night with a couple of film screenings. First was Herschell Gordon Lewis’s 1964 movie “Two Thousand Maniacs.” I had already seen “2001 Maniacs” with Robert Englund so I was interested to see how similar the two movies were. I even asked Mr. Lewis if he had seen “2001 Maniacs,” and he said he had seen part of it. He thought there were different approaches to how both movies were done. After that movie, there was a pre-show event for the next screening, which was “The Uh-Oh! Show.” We got to hear from several of the cast members about some of the stories on the set, and the movie. Then came the screening, which was cool because the cast watched it with us, and for the first time. You could see them laugh, and smile at scenes as it brought back memories of the shoot for them. As for the movie, you are going to have to stay tuned for my review coming soon.
Day three, boy was I tried, but I had to keep trucking on. First up was “How to Start a Paranormal Investigation Team,” presented by the Florida Ghost Team. One of the more interesting things that happened during this presentation was that they played some strange sounds that they had recorded from some of their investigations. Whether you believe in ghosts or not, it was pretty creepy hearing some of those sounds, and voices. I hate to take credit for things, but I think I started an interesting conversation. I forgot what caused me to ask the question, but I asked the presenter about the “Paranormal Activity” movie. To my surprise, she actually said she liked the movie, and had talked with some of the people who made the movie. The conversation then went on to some other movies such as, “The Exorcist”, “The Exorcism of Emily Rose”, and “The Haunting in Connecticut”. She said that “The Exorcism of Emily Rose” followed closely to the true story. She didn’t really care for “The Haunting in Connecticut.”
From there, it was back to the exhibition room for another look at all the great stuff that was on display. I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything, plus it was good to see some of the celebrities again. Then I got to see a charity auction of some comic artists’ work. It was good to see that while everyone was having fun, people were still thinking about raising money for people in need. I always enjoy a good auction especially watching people try to out bid each other, and no I didn’t win anything. Next was “Paranormal 411: Pictures from Beyond ‘Ghost Hunting Photography’” presented by the Alpha Ghost Team. Yes, another event about ghosts. What can I say, it was interesting whether you believe, or not. I do have to say it was just as interesting to watch and listen to the presenters, as it was to watch and listen to the audience. Some people were very passionate about their belief in ghosts. The ghost team put on a PowerPoint presentation about how to go about taking pictures during a paranormal investigation. They talked about the dos and don’ts of taking pictures, and how to determine if you really were looking at a paranormal picture. It was a very professional presentation, and I appreciated them answering my questions (you got to ask questions at these events). Exhausted, I ended the day by watching a very funny short film showcase before sadly ending the convention.
As I hope you can tell, this was an extremely fun event to attend. There were all kinds of things for you to do no matter what you were a fan of. The event wasn’t dedicated to horror, but I was still able to find plenty of horror related things to entertain me, not to mention all the other great events going on. Of course, I left out a whole bunch of things such as, the video game contests, comedy show, and other events by many of the celebrities. It really was a fantasy world type of event with so many people dressed up, letting loose, and having fun. Just think about, the person sitting next to you may have been dressed up as a tall zombie clown. You never know now do you. I give Florida SuperCon 5 pools of blood for sure. Hope to see you there next year!
HorrO
**Don’t forget to check out the videos on my YouTube Channel!**
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