Weekend of Horrors
Well, it was a very good weekend. Me and fowler drove up to Chicago for Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors.
We left Friday afternoon and almost ran out of gas on the expressway, in the far left lane by the median, in Chicago rush hour traffic. It was really scary. The gas light came on and I totally thought we were gonna run out of gas right there in rush hour traffic. Thankfully, I finally got over to the other lane and exited on some random exit, then found a gas station. From there the directions got a little confusing, but we made it. That night we mostly hung around the bar and our room. We went to bed early and got up even earlier at 6:45 in the morning on Saturday. Some crazy foreign person kept calling our room and we couldn't sleep anyway.
So we went down to the convention, waited in line, registered, and got into the dealer rooms after a while. We got some autographs and bought some stuff. The show of people talking started a little later in the grand ballroom and we had great reserved seats all weekend right up front because we bought the gold weekend tickets. They were more expensive, but well worth it. We didn't have to pay for autographs from people and we got to go get our autographs first, meaning we didn't have to wait in line for hours and hours like the general admission ticket people did.
One of the best panels that they had was with James Gunn and his cast from the new movie Slither. Previously, I wasn't a huge fan of James Gunn. He started out by writing Tromeo and Juliet for Troma, but went on to write the Scooby Doo Movie, which was shit, and the Dawn of the Dead remake, which I didn't want to see happen. But seeing him talk totally changed my opinion of him. He was a really cool, really nice guy. He actually seemed like the type of person that we would be friends with. He also openly admitted that the Scooby Doo Movie was a piece of shit and he said he was only interested in doing original material now. Slither is his directorial debut and he wrote it to be like an 80's horror comedy. The cast talked with him and they seemed to have a great time. Later we actually got to go see the movie. They took us on busses over to this theater and Universal held a screening of it for free for us. It was a really good movie. Kind of like a mix between Night of the Creeps, Basket Case, and Freaked, if you have ever seen any of those movies. I'm not sure how audiences will react to it though because it is very different than the types of horror movies that usually come out these days. It opens March 28th or 31st or something. I hope it does well. I'll probably go see it again.
Seeing George Romero speak was amazing. He is a really cool guy and he is getting very old so I am glad that I had the chance to meet him before he dies. He probably won't do a lot more of these kinds of conventions and things so I am really glad we went to this one. I got him to sign my copy of Dawn of the Dead.
Saturday night, after the film screening, we came back and got to go to this cocktail/dessert party that they were throwing for the gold weekend pass guests. Anchor Bay, the dvd company, bought everyone a free drink at the bar. They also had some really awesome desserts there: pastries, cookies, cakes, all kinds of gourmet stuff for free. Me and fowler sat in there and drank and ate and talked to the celebrities who were coming around to the tables to talk to everybody. We started getting drunk and ended up talking to Kelly Stables (she was Samara in The Ring movies) for a little bit, then we talked to Lloyd Kaufman, president of Troma Entertainment, for a long time and he gave us his email address. Then we talked to Mick Garris for a little bit and he was really nice. We then talked to George Romero for a minute. Fowler was really drunk and acting crazy. The party died about midnight and we went back to the room and went to bed.
Sunday we got up and did some more shopping in the dealer rooms. I ended up buying 7 dvds, some magazines, posters, a couple of vhs tapes, and some of Tom Savini's El Diablo blend coffee. We got a lot of free stuff that they were giving away too, like Hills Have Eyes t-shirts, posters, buttons, anchor bay bags, and stuff like that. We saw a couple more people talk and got some more autographs and then we decided to leave because it was snowing and the weather was getting really bad outside. Then we drove home and that was it.
It was a really kickass weekend. We might even go again next year. If anybody else wants to join us, they are more than welcome. Here are some of the pictures:
fowler took this picture of Gary as we drove past
here's a picture fowler took of the sears tower when we were driving through chicago.
the downstairs dealer room
part of the upstairs dealer room
Anthony Timpone, editor of Fangoria magazine, starting off the show.
me and Tom Savini, special effects artist of Dawn of the Dead, Friday the 13th, Creepshow, etc.
fowler with his copy of The Burning, autographed by Tom Savini
me with Stuart Gordon and Dennis Paoli, director and writer of Re-Animator, From Beyond, Dagon, etc.
James Gunn (far left), writer of Tromeo and Juliet and the Dawn of the Dead Remake, with cast members from his new directorial debut, Slither.
Michael Rooker, star of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Mallrats, and Slither.
me with John Russo, writer of Return of the Living Dead.
free desserts and drinks at the cocktail party saturday night.
me and fowler with Miss Tromaville. I look really happy because I'm drunk.
me and fowler with Lloyd Kaufman, president of Troma and director of The Toxic Avenger, and Miss Tromaville.
The Father of Zombie Movies: George Romero.
Another shot of George Romero, director of Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, etc.
French director, Alexandre Aja (High Tension, The Hills Have Eyes remake).
Gary Sherman, director of Dead and Buried, Raw Meat, etc.
Mick Garris, director of The Stand, Riding The Bullet, and founder of the Masters of Horror series.
Another shot of Tom Savini, who also directed the 1990 Night of the Living Dead remake.
Another shot of Stuart Gordon, one of my favorite directors.
We left Friday afternoon and almost ran out of gas on the expressway, in the far left lane by the median, in Chicago rush hour traffic. It was really scary. The gas light came on and I totally thought we were gonna run out of gas right there in rush hour traffic. Thankfully, I finally got over to the other lane and exited on some random exit, then found a gas station. From there the directions got a little confusing, but we made it. That night we mostly hung around the bar and our room. We went to bed early and got up even earlier at 6:45 in the morning on Saturday. Some crazy foreign person kept calling our room and we couldn't sleep anyway.
So we went down to the convention, waited in line, registered, and got into the dealer rooms after a while. We got some autographs and bought some stuff. The show of people talking started a little later in the grand ballroom and we had great reserved seats all weekend right up front because we bought the gold weekend tickets. They were more expensive, but well worth it. We didn't have to pay for autographs from people and we got to go get our autographs first, meaning we didn't have to wait in line for hours and hours like the general admission ticket people did.
One of the best panels that they had was with James Gunn and his cast from the new movie Slither. Previously, I wasn't a huge fan of James Gunn. He started out by writing Tromeo and Juliet for Troma, but went on to write the Scooby Doo Movie, which was shit, and the Dawn of the Dead remake, which I didn't want to see happen. But seeing him talk totally changed my opinion of him. He was a really cool, really nice guy. He actually seemed like the type of person that we would be friends with. He also openly admitted that the Scooby Doo Movie was a piece of shit and he said he was only interested in doing original material now. Slither is his directorial debut and he wrote it to be like an 80's horror comedy. The cast talked with him and they seemed to have a great time. Later we actually got to go see the movie. They took us on busses over to this theater and Universal held a screening of it for free for us. It was a really good movie. Kind of like a mix between Night of the Creeps, Basket Case, and Freaked, if you have ever seen any of those movies. I'm not sure how audiences will react to it though because it is very different than the types of horror movies that usually come out these days. It opens March 28th or 31st or something. I hope it does well. I'll probably go see it again.
Seeing George Romero speak was amazing. He is a really cool guy and he is getting very old so I am glad that I had the chance to meet him before he dies. He probably won't do a lot more of these kinds of conventions and things so I am really glad we went to this one. I got him to sign my copy of Dawn of the Dead.
Saturday night, after the film screening, we came back and got to go to this cocktail/dessert party that they were throwing for the gold weekend pass guests. Anchor Bay, the dvd company, bought everyone a free drink at the bar. They also had some really awesome desserts there: pastries, cookies, cakes, all kinds of gourmet stuff for free. Me and fowler sat in there and drank and ate and talked to the celebrities who were coming around to the tables to talk to everybody. We started getting drunk and ended up talking to Kelly Stables (she was Samara in The Ring movies) for a little bit, then we talked to Lloyd Kaufman, president of Troma Entertainment, for a long time and he gave us his email address. Then we talked to Mick Garris for a little bit and he was really nice. We then talked to George Romero for a minute. Fowler was really drunk and acting crazy. The party died about midnight and we went back to the room and went to bed.
Sunday we got up and did some more shopping in the dealer rooms. I ended up buying 7 dvds, some magazines, posters, a couple of vhs tapes, and some of Tom Savini's El Diablo blend coffee. We got a lot of free stuff that they were giving away too, like Hills Have Eyes t-shirts, posters, buttons, anchor bay bags, and stuff like that. We saw a couple more people talk and got some more autographs and then we decided to leave because it was snowing and the weather was getting really bad outside. Then we drove home and that was it.
It was a really kickass weekend. We might even go again next year. If anybody else wants to join us, they are more than welcome. Here are some of the pictures:
fowler took this picture of Gary as we drove past
here's a picture fowler took of the sears tower when we were driving through chicago.
the downstairs dealer room
part of the upstairs dealer room
Anthony Timpone, editor of Fangoria magazine, starting off the show.
me and Tom Savini, special effects artist of Dawn of the Dead, Friday the 13th, Creepshow, etc.
fowler with his copy of The Burning, autographed by Tom Savini
me with Stuart Gordon and Dennis Paoli, director and writer of Re-Animator, From Beyond, Dagon, etc.
James Gunn (far left), writer of Tromeo and Juliet and the Dawn of the Dead Remake, with cast members from his new directorial debut, Slither.
Michael Rooker, star of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Mallrats, and Slither.
me with John Russo, writer of Return of the Living Dead.
free desserts and drinks at the cocktail party saturday night.
me and fowler with Miss Tromaville. I look really happy because I'm drunk.
me and fowler with Lloyd Kaufman, president of Troma and director of The Toxic Avenger, and Miss Tromaville.
The Father of Zombie Movies: George Romero.
Another shot of George Romero, director of Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, etc.
French director, Alexandre Aja (High Tension, The Hills Have Eyes remake).
Gary Sherman, director of Dead and Buried, Raw Meat, etc.
Mick Garris, director of The Stand, Riding The Bullet, and founder of the Masters of Horror series.
Another shot of Tom Savini, who also directed the 1990 Night of the Living Dead remake.
Another shot of Stuart Gordon, one of my favorite directors.