Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors Report - April 2008

Me at Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors!

This year’s Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors in Southern California marked the first year the horror convention was held at the L.A. Convention Center. Organizers Creation Entertainment and Fangoria Magazine wanted to give more fans the opportunity to attend the usually sold out event. Also, the bigger space meant more vendors would be there, enticing attendees with their gore-drenched goods!

The intentions were good, and the larger venue would have fit a heck of a lot more fans, if only those fans had actually shown up! Unfortunately, this year’s event was pretty barren of attendees. Whether it was the change of venue, lack of big horror movies or stars at the event, attendance was definitely down this year.

George Romero signing autographs

I spoke to many attendees, including fans, press and vendors, and most complained of the convention center’s inability to accommodate the horror crowd. On Friday, there was only one place open for food and they only carried pre-packaged salads and sandwiches. Despite other conventions going on, nothing else was open. On Saturday, they opened up more of the small cafeteria, but even their Starbucks stayed closed (and don’t even get attendees started on the lack of bar!).

Though many grumbled about the lack of good eats and places to sit and hang out, the actual panels and presentations were quite good, though most felt a little stale. Most horror fans don’t need to see the girls from Rob Zombie’s Halloween after the disappointing panel last year. Does anyone even care anymore? The empty auditorium pretty much answered that question. Also, the usual horror celebrities had panels or were in attendance – Mr. George A. Romero (yes, he showed up this year!), Tony Todd, Ken Foree, Clive Barker, etc., etc. – but many horror fans have seen these stars multiple times, and so there was no real draw at the panels this year.

I did catch the panels on the upcoming Black Waters of Echo’s Pond (with actors Danielle Harris, the “Babysitter Twins,” James Duval, writer Sean Clark, etc.), Dead Air (including Corbin Bernsen and Patricia Tallman) and the available-on-DVD Gutterballs (including the cast and director Ryan Nicholson). I gotta say, Black Waters and Dead Air look pretty kick ass, and of course you know how we feel about the ultra-gory Gutterballs.

 Cast and crew of Black Waters of Echo's Pond

I also caught producer Rob Tapert (Evil Dead, the upcoming Drag Me to Hell) who assured the audience that while he may not know what the “next big thing” in horror is, he definitely thinks we’ll have fun with Drag Me to Hell. The Psycho reunion panel was also pretty amazing to witness, as it assembled guests from all four Psycho films and was hosted by our good friend Rob G., who is currently hard at work on a documentary on the Psycho films. Angus Scrimm (The Tall Man from the Phantasm films) graced attendees with his delightful presence over the weekend. It’s funny to think how terrifying he is in those films but what a sweetheart he is in real life!

The absolute highlight of the weekend was an independent film called Red Velvet that wowed the packed audience in the screening room. This whip-smart horror film played with horror conventions while delivering some very satisfying kill scenes and an entirely original killer. The cast and producer were also present to sign autographs during the convention.

 Wicked Lake cast and crew

Another highlight was being able to see friends I only get to see about once a year. The Icons of Fright guys, the Horror Yearbook kids, Mel House and a bunch of new people I had the pleasure to meet. It did seem that a few familiar faces were missing, though.

On an immensely positive note, Shannon Lark won Fangoria’s first ever Spooksmodel Contest!! Congrats, Shannon! You deserve it! If you’re not familiar with Shannon, you will be!

The switch from the Burbank Marriott to the L.A. Convention Center for Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors was not an easy one this year. I hope that this was due to growing pains and that all the kinks get worked out by next year’s convention, because the friendly, homey vibe that Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors usually is known for was seriously lacking this year. You can’t blame Fangoria or Creation Entertainment, though, as the panels were pretty cool. I think it’s more getting used to the bigger venue and the venue catering more to convention attendees (like having some freakin’ places to eat open!!).

A lot of people also didn’t attend the convention this year, and I think this was due to the fact that the horror genre has been inundated with Hollywood remakes/sequels, things are a bit on the slow side for the genre at the moment and people just didn’t show up at the new digs this year. I sincerely hope that things will pick up next year and more will attend, because the more the gorier!!

All that said, there are some freakin’ fun horror movies on the horizon (that aren’t watered-down remakes or sequels…yayyy!!) that I am very much looking forward to! And there were some wonderful panels and people in attendance this year as well.

I just can’t wait until next year when the Weekend of Horrors really settles in to its new digs and is able to stretch its legs a bit.

See you all next year!

Fangoria Weekend of Horrors Report

Yesterday, for the first time, I ventured to the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors! After waking up early and making the drive to Los Angeles, I found myself at the Burbank Airport Marriott surrounded by like-minded people…all horror-loving freaks!

 Eli Roth Hostel II panel

My first order of business was to pop into the Hostel II panel with director Eli Roth and stars Bijou Phillips and Vera Jordanova. I was a bit early, so I got to catch the last part of Heather Langenkamp’s (the star of Nightmare on Elm Street) Q & A. She was very personable, friendly and open and still looked fantastic! Next was the Hostel II panel. Out came two buff, hulking men wearing leather aprons. One carried a wicked hammer and the other a long strand of chain. Both had surgical masks over their faces and both looked very menacing…and they are two of the torturers from the film! Eli Roth and his two leading ladies soon took their seats on stage and began answering questions from the audience. All three of them seemed very excited about the movie and happy to be at the convention. Roth encouraged all young filmmakers in the audience to never give up their dreams and not to let anything get in their way. He also told a funny story about sneaking into the Fangoria convention when he was still a struggling filmmaker and did hilarious, spot-on impressions of Quentin Tarantino and David Lynch. A sneak peek at Hostel II was also shown, which, along with Roth’s excitement, only made me more anxious to see Hostel II.

Me, Danny of Horror Fanatics and Michelle Fatale

After that I had time to traipse around, look at all the pretty merch, stop in to say hi to our friends at Mangled Angels and the Living Dead Girlz and have some lunch. After that it was to the bar to meet up with Heidi Martinuzzi of Pretty/Scary and Shannon Lark of Living Dead Girlz and the Viscera Film Festival. Then it was back to wandering the booths and picking up some cool souvenirs and freebies. There were lots of famous faces wandering about – gothic minstrel/author Voltaire, horror darling Debbie Rochon, Doug Bradley (Pinhead from Hellraiser fame), Rider Strong (of the upcoming Borderland), Tony Todd (of the upcoming Hatchet, of Candyman and The Devil’s Rejects fame), the cast of Rob Zombie’s Halloween including Danielle Harris, Giuseppe Andrews (from Cabin Fever), director Ryan Schifrin of Abominable  and tons more!

 Me and director Ryan Shifrin

After wandering a bit, I made my way to the next couple of panels, including a Horror Composers panel, a Hatchet panel and sneak peek and the Rob Zombie/Halloween panel. The Hatchet panel was by far the most entertaining, with writer/director Adam Green getting the audience pumped with his enthusiasm. The movie itself, set to be released September 7th, 2007, looks wicked awesome! The sneak peak shown to the audience was met with a roar of approval from the crowd and was a fantastically gruesome and bloody clip! Stars Kane Hodder, Tony Todd, Joel David Moore, Tamara Feldman and special FX creator John Carl Buechler joined Green on stage. This is one movie that I am wholeheartedly looking forward to and I hope it gets a great response from horror fans, because it looks like it aims to please!

 Me, WiL and Molly from Horror Yearbook

The Halloween panel was a bit of a let down, as Rob Zombie wasn’t as enthusiastic or responsive to the audience’s questions as Roth or Green were. Still, it was a thrill to see Zombie on stage along with cast members (left to right in photo below) Kristina Klebe, Hanna Hall, Danielle Harris, Scout Taylor-Compton, Sherri Moon Zombie and cutie Daeg Faerch (Rob Zombie on far right of photo). I think Faerch was the most excited to be there and definitely gave the best answers to fans’ questions.

 Rob Zombie's Halloween panel

After the remaining panels I headed back to the bar for some mingling…Met a fine bunch of people including Danny from Horror-Fanatics.com, the lovely Michelle Fatale, the director of Guardian of the Realm, Ted Smith, the director and writer for Closet Space, Mel House and Jason Stewart, Jolene from the Flesh Farm the wonderful Molly Celaschi and WiL from HorrorYearbook.com, the Dread Central guys and so many more! There are so many people I missed seeing and didn’t get a chance to talk to, like the Icons of Fright crew, who came all the way from the East Coast, “Flick Chick Staci” (or Staci Wilson) whom I spotted running around and lots of other familiar looking folks whom I didn’t have a chance to talk to. I’m glad I got to spend some quality time with the folks I did meet, though! And to anyone I missed, there’s always next year!

I ended the night knowing I had made some great new friends, I had attending my very first horror convention and I had spread the word just a little bit more about Fatally-Yours.com and our love for horror. It was a fun time and restored my faith that yes, there are horror fans out there just like me (they seem hard to come by where I live). This Weekend of Horrors was truly memorable and was an amazing and overwhelming experience, one that I look forward to repeating next year!

Joshua (2006)

Joshua is one of the most original, brutal and bleak indie films I've seen. I was expecting another ho-hum gorefest that featured a deformed killer terrorizing a town, but Joshua is totally different and delivers on so many frightening and psychological levels that it surpassed all my expectations. This is a Fangoria GoreZone release, and it is significantly better than most Fangoria releases...

Kelby (Ward Roberts) reluctantly returns to his hometown of Bisby ("Population: Happy") to attend his estranged father's funeral with his new fiancee (Christy Jackson) in tow. Kelby left Bisby 13 years ago and never looked back. His father had been in prison, and it's vaguely hinted that he was a child molester and murderer. His mother is a ghost of a woman that truly doesn't care about anything anymore and his sister (Alexa Havins, of All My Children) tries to fill her emptiness with pleasures of the flesh. His Uncle Tom, whom Kelby meets for the first time at the funeral, is a deplorable and creepy knife salesman. The only person Kelby truly loves is his supportive fiancee, Amelia. Kelby also runs into some childhood friends he'd rather not see, Wally (Jeremiah Jordan) and James (Aaron Gaffey). Wally is now a cop and James is a accountant and also a serial killer who cuts up pretty young things in his isolated cabin. The three share a horrifying secret from their childhood, all having to do with a boy named Joshua. Kelby, who's been running from his past his whole life, is forced to confront the brutal reality of what happened many years ago.

The strength of the film is definitely the unusual story and the well-written script, created by Travis Betz, who is also the director. The psychological implications of what Kelby, Wally and James did are frightening in themselves, but to see it all play out on the screen is truly chilling. Betz is always one step ahead of the audience, making his characters (and their actions) unpredictable. When you finally find out what the boys did, you will most definitely be shocked and disgusted. The script also features many twists and turns, all of which are surprisingly believable and the next more shocking than the last.

As a director, Betz also succeeds with inventive camera angles and techniques. Scenes are shot from floor level, characters are framed off-center and we even get a cool circular shot of James' chamber of horrors near the end. The daring camera work definitely pays off in this film, as it echoes the calamity of Kelby's life.

The film does have it's problems though...first of all, there are some places where the pacing lags a bit. I can't put my finger on it, but there are just some places where this doesn't feel like a horror movie. I'm not sure if it was because of the pacing or the heavy drama of the story, but besides the torture and other gory bits, Joshua doesn't always feel like horror, though it is definitely horrifying. That, along with a few minor gripes about the audio and other typical low-budget problems, are the only detractions I would note about this film.

Overall, Joshua is a very sick and disturbing movie, one that will have you thinking about it for days. It's not that it is overly gory, but it's the fact that the content is so disturbing and so realistic that makes it so effective and frightening! Highly recommended for those who want to see a shocking and unique indie film.

Mr. Betz, I'll be keeping an eye on you...can't wait to see what you'll do next!

On Amazon!