Guest contributor: Ali Chappell is a writer, personality, and actor who holds a degree in both business and musical theatre. She is skilled in the art of balancing spoons on her face and, after three drinks, is really good at throwing axes. She is obsessed with horror and romcoms and can often be found in a movie theatre with a glass of gin and bag of popcorn. Follow her on twitter and Instagram at @thealichappell.
May 4th – 6th was the 13th annual Texas Frightmare in good ol’ Dallas! I was lucky enough to be invited down with my partner, Chris Alexander, to spend two very, very short days exploring this legendary convention. The con takes over an entire Hyatt hotel and is spread across two lower level conference halls. The elevators were covered in bloody handprints, the water jugs were filled with watermelon carved into skulls. This place was a haven for the horror fan in all of us. Even the menus in the bar, cafe, and restaurant were altered to incorporate a spooky pun of some type (ex: sandwitches) — it was really cute, I must admit. I also had a few creepy cocktails and told everyone that they were cute … I might not be the best judge.
As for guests, the convention did not disappoint! The entire Hellraiser line-up was not to be missed, especially since the master, Clive Barker, was there to sell his wares. I am so sad that I was too broke to pay $300 for a sketch. The cenobites were also in attendance; Doug Bradley, Barbie Wilde, Nicholas Vince, and Simon Bamford. 6 out of the 10 of Jason Voorhees were there in costume; Kane Hodder, Steve Dash, Tom White, Tom Morga, C.J. Graham, and Ken Kirzinger. On a related note, I totally didn’t accidentally show my butt to Kane Hodder. That did not happen. (I also didn’t knock over a vendor display.) On top of those classic franchises, the SAW crew was also there. Oh, and the Loser’s Club from IT.
Basically, this was the #1 horror hotspot to be. One weekend isn’t enough and this post isn’t doing it justice.
We went down to the convention because my partner was giving Charles Band the Lifetime Achievement Award! It was phenomenal, seeing Charles Band up on that stage talking about what the future has in store. Following his speech, we got a first glimpse of his latest Full Moon feature Evil Bong 777. Needless to say, it …was … a movie. The team was back together and looking for trouble (and maybe a puppet or two to have sex with in Vegas). If you like these types of movies, you’ll probably like this one too. (Get high first, though. It’s called Evil Bong, it would be rude not to.)
This convention is the perfect place for the horror fan in all of us. The cosplays, the panels, the vendor booths. Holy damn. I have never felt an energy like the one that embodied this convention. I know for us Canadians it’s tough to just say things like “I’ll be there next year!” (especially because we are all poor), but trust me when I say I’ll be there next year.
Even if it kills me … or someone else.
anatomyofascream.com 