This
was a year of change for Spooky Empire’s Ultimate Horror Weekend, as they
changed venues. Regardless of the new hotel, the Hilton Orlando, the convention
still proved to be a terrific show for horror fans. As usual, there were
panels, Q and A’s, movie showings, merchandise and autograph room, and several
special events.
Instead of going day by day, I’m going
to change it up this year and give you a few thoughts on some of the activities
I attended in general. Some pictures and videos’ll help me along. Also, I’ll
let you in on some of the activities and celebrities that were there whether or
not I saw them.
Zombie
Walk:
As usual the convention kicked off with a zombie
walk, and definitely as usual I caught the end of it. Why… because I was busy
being zombified!
It’s always fun seeing all the zombie
costumes, and taking pics like the one above. I especially find it awesome when parents dress their little kids up as zombies.
Q
and A’s:
There were many great Q and A’s, but my
favorites were The Devil Reject’s and John Kassir (Crypt Keeper). If I had known they
were going to turn out to be so awesome, I would have recorded the entirety of
both. As you might expect, The Devils’s Rejects was filled with many crazy
stories. Sid and Ken were definitely having a good time,
and loved every second they got to talk. Hopefully you watched the video, as Tyler also had a funny story about Halloween.
When I got to meet John prior to the Q
and A, I quickly realized what a cool person he is. He was having a great time
interacting with fans, as he signed autographs and took pictures. He continued
the great interaction right into his Q and A. I have to admit, I didn’t know
much about his career besides being the Crypt Keeper, and it was extremely
interesting hearing how he got started.
Two more standing room only Q and A’s were
with the cast of A Nightmare on Elm Street 4, and Rosen McGowan. Of course, I’m
always interested to hear stories from Robert Englund, but it was cool seeing
the rest of cast as well. I was surprised to see how young many of them looked.
I never realized they were that young when they made the film. Also, I never
realized Rose had such a strong following, but I wasn’t surprised that she
didn’t hold back when answering questions.
Other
Q and A's: Heather Brewer, Cast of Zombie, Tom Savini, R.L. Stine, Kane Hodder, and Cannibal Holocaust
Special Events:
These special events were something new
to me. The MuckleBones Monster Museum had its own room for all the displays you
see in the video. They did a wonderful job making everything look so real. You
can also tell they made for fun photo ops. As far as the Hearse and Creepy Car Show, there weren’t as many hearses as I
thought there would be, but they certainly picked some good ones for the show.
As you can see, the coolest one was the coffin car. Now I would love to see
people’s expressions as that thing drives down the street. The Evil Puppets
table was also interesting; as it brought back memories of puppets I haven't seen
in years like Critters, and Dark Crystal.
Other
special events: Tattoo Festival, Celebrity Charity Poker Tournament, Bands and Live Performances, and the
Merchandise and Autograph Room:
If you were looking to spend money on
horror merchandise, then this was the place to be. There were all kinds of
great things to buy like old movie posters, figures, exclusive merchandise from
other conventions, and plenty of other oddities. The room also featured many
artists looking to sell their work. It’s always amazing to see some of the
creative stuff they come up with.
More of my money went to autographs.
It’s not ever day you get a chance to get meet these people, although I still
can’t believe I’ve met Robert Englund twice, and Kane Hodder multiple times. I
chose not to have anyone else sign my “Icon” T-shirt this year. Instead, I had
Robert and Kane sign the shirt you see in the video (at least I thought it was funny). I was
excited to get some new autographs this year from the likes of Tyler Mane (damn
is he tall), Sid Haig, and IronE Singleton (R.I.P. T-Dogg). Yes, I can’t
believe he got killed off right after I got to meet him. He was super cool, and
having a blast with all the fans.
Other
celebrities signing autographs: Rose McGowan, Heather Langenkamp, Steve Dash, Lawrence Harvey, the cast of A Nightmare on Elm Street 4, and many more.
V.I.P. Party:
As you might be able to tell, there were several firsts for me this year, including the V.I.P. party. The party provided a good chance to mingle with some of the celebrities. I’m not sure how they decided to do it, but it seemed like celebrities would come in and talk with people for a while. Then they would leave and other celebrities would come in, and do the same. Some of the celebrities that attended were members of the cast of Nightmare on Elm Street 4, Tyler Mane, Ruggero Deodato and Lawrence Harvey.
As you might be able to tell, there were several firsts for me this year, including the V.I.P. party. The party provided a good chance to mingle with some of the celebrities. I’m not sure how they decided to do it, but it seemed like celebrities would come in and talk with people for a while. Then they would leave and other celebrities would come in, and do the same. Some of the celebrities that attended were members of the cast of Nightmare on Elm Street 4, Tyler Mane, Ruggero Deodato and Lawrence Harvey.
Story telling time… as you can see from
the above pic, I jumped in for another hard choking pic with Kane. When I stood
next to him he mentioned that he had the shirt I was wearing. Of course, I
reminded him that I gave it to him. He told me that he actually wore it during
a webisode he filmed. Yes, it made this horror dork extremely happy to hear he
actually wore it. The next day was when I actually got his autograph again, and
of course I mentioned the shirt to him. He said he wore it while filming a
paranormal webisode at the Stanley Hotel. I will definitely be on the look out
for that. Oh… and Robert said his wife wears the shirt I gave him. Ok sorry for
the story telling.
Freakshow Horror Film Festival:
I didn’t get to see as many of the
movies as I wanted to. I was interested in several of them because I featured
them at PromoteHorror.com, but they weren’t playing at times I could make it
to. However, I did see “Spiders 3D” in 2D, and lets say the best thing about
that was getting a free T-shirt. I did see a short film called “DeadBox,” which
was based off of the Redbox machines you might have seen that was actually
pretty good. They were also showing movies besides at the festival where I got to see “Zombie” for the first
time. It was definitely pretty good in its time.
Other
movies being shown: A Nightmare on Elm Street 4, Frankenhooker, and Cannibal Holocaust
Panels:
They had many great panels as usual.
Most of them were held by some of the authors that attended the convention.
They usually put a great group of authors together with an interesting dynamic,
and definitely opinionated. One of the more intriguing panels I attend was the
one about remakes. Yes, the R word! Not only was it interesting hearing the
panel’s opinions, but also it was interesting hearing the opinions of other
fans.
Other panels: What Scares Us, Cryptozoology, Sick and Twisted, and Vampires.
Other panels: What Scares Us, Cryptozoology, Sick and Twisted, and Vampires.
Well,
I could go on and on, and even tell more stories, but I will leave it there.
There will be more videos of some of the other Q and A’s and pics on the Spooky Empire 2012/2011 Pictures and Videos page. I hope this gave you a little taste of what the convention was all
about. Maybe I will see you there one day!
HorrO
Comments
Post a Comment