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HORROR 101: THE A-LIST OF HORROR FILMS AND MONSTER MOVIES  VOL 1

    So does it mean you're going to have a good show when at the same hotel, that same weekend, they are also having a conference for some Mary Kay commandoes, a youth basketball team, and one for the Jesus Church Assembly.  I can tell you that hotel was filled with quite a wide variety of people.  And as much as we thought there could be....'trouble', everything went smoothly.

    I don't remember when exactly it was when I first met Aaron Crowell and Nathan Hanneman, but I do remember that it was at one of the Cinema Wasteland shows, where they were selling some cool horror toys and collectibles.  They were also selling their book Tomart's Price Guide to Horror Movie Collectibles.  It didn't take long before we became friends.  Now it just seems like yesterday when, at another Wasteland show, Aaron handed me a copy of their brand new magazine, HorrorHound.  Being somewhat of a collection of horror memorabilia myself, I immediately fell in love with this magazine.  And now 7 issues later, here they are having their own convention!

    As soon as they told me they were going to do this, I told them I was on-board.  We need more people putting on shows that are doing it for the right reasons.  Not just to make some money, but put on by true horror fans (or Horror Hounds, as the case may be) for horror fans.  And that is just what they did.  And during the first weekend of July 2007, we traveled to Indianapolis in the trusty Kryptic van for what we hoped for a another great weekend.  And that was exactly what it was.

    Joining me for his first out-of-town show was my son Nick.  Just about to turn 15, he's slowly learning the business, both of horror and running our table at shows.  Got to have someone take over eventually, right?  Besides, I can have him watch the table and give me time to do some shopping!  Joining us was our faithful assistant Dr. AC, also making his out-of-town show debut, and our favorite creator of gory illustrations, Putrid!

    Since this was the first HorrorHound show, we weren't sure if the crowds were going to be there.  But it seems that Indianapolis has plenty of horror fans and they were just waiting for something like this to come along.  We had a lot of fun talking with the different fans, hearing how starved they were for a cool horror show to come to their area.  Both Friday and Saturday had pretty good crowds milling through the dealer room for most of the day.  Sunday was a little slower, but a decent crowd was still there.  Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves at the show.  There was plenty of dealers with a wide variety of merchandise tempting all the fans that came through the door.

    The guest lineup wasn't that big of a draw for me personally, only because I'd seen most of them before at other shows.  However, there were a couple that I wanted to at least say hello to.  Plus, since my son Nick is a big fan of the original DAWN OF THE DEAD, he was pretty excited to meet Tom Savini and Clayton and Sharon Hill.  And though he had already met Ken Foree, he needed to add his signature to his DAWN poster.  And all were very nice to him and got a photo with him.  The funny thing is that he'll have some cool bragging rights at school.  Unfortunately, there probably won't be too many kids who know that there was an original DAWN OF THE DEAD, let alone who was in it.  But I digress.

    For me, one of the main guests that I wanted to meet was Tommy Lee Wallace.  Being a fan of FRIGHT NIGHT 2, IT, and his work with Carpenter in the early years, you got to give him credit.  I had a Pakistani FRIGHT NIGHT 2 poster that I was going to get signed.  When I found out that he was charging $20 to sign your own stuff, I decided not to.  No big deal.  Just not worth the $20 for me.  But here comes the real bitch.  When I went over to his table to ask if I can take his photo, he replied that he saves that for his customers.  My bad there, pal.  I thought he was there to meet fans, not customers.  And to make it worse, a couple of times when I pass his table, he was counting his cash out on his table.  Okay, these guys may be doing these shows to make a few of grand over the weekend.  That's fine.  Don't have a problem with that.  But has it really come to this where these celebrities are just interested in meeting "customers" instead of fans?  How sad it that?  I'm really hoping that these celebrities realize that these people admire their work in the genre.  That's why we keep coming to these shows.  But for one of them to treat their fans as "customers", I feel is not only just wrong, but it does cause these people lose their admiration for them.  At least I know it has for me.

    Luckily, the next couple of celebs that we talked completely cleanse my palate of that bad taste.  AC was over chatting with Michael Bailey Smith, the "big guy" from the HILLS HAVE EYES remake, so I stopped by to join him.  Mr. Smith was a very friendly, and personable guy to talk to.  He sure the hell didn't treat us like "customers".  Hell, we didn't even buy anything from him.  Both me and AC even got our photo with him.  He told us stories of how he got into the business and some of the films that he had been in, including that he is the only other actor to play Freddy Krueger.  He is the kind of celeb that makes you walk away with a great show memory.  Thank you, Michael.  It was a real pleasure talking with you.

    The other real surprise was Jennifer Lin.  Many times we were walking by her table with no one there.  So of course, the Doc always loves to talk shop with them, so he dives over there and starts chatting away.  Once again, she was a real sweetheart.

    Once again, something that just amazes me every time, was that the celebs with the biggest line was Bill Mosely and Sid Haig.  I guess that really showed that even though they do countless shows every year, these Indianapolis fans were dying for a show to come closer to their neck of the woods.  Plus, as we've said many times before, we think it's awesome that Mr. Haig is getting the attention that he's been deserving for decades.

    I did have one complaint about the show.  And that was their was no Q&A sessions.  I've always enjoyed those, since it gives the fans a chance to hear what the celebs are currently working on, as well as ask them questions about their other films.  Sure, you can ask them at their table, but I know there are some fans are a little more intimidated to ask them something face to face, but are willing to ask a question in the Q&A session.  Also having panels on certain subjects, ranging from topics like working in makeup or just working in the genre can also be very interesting to get the celebs views and thoughts on the subject.  Just a thought.

    On Saturday night, they were having a free screening of the new film BLACK SHEEP, and this was one thing that wanted to make sure we didn't miss.  There has been a lot of talk and hype for this movie both in print and on the net.  And I must say that it does live up to the hype to a degree.  Is it the greatest movie ever?  No.  But it is one hell of a fun movie.  Plenty of gore and dark humor.  Just having the whole concept about flesh-eating sheep is a hoot.  Though I'm sure if you lived in New Zealand, where sheep out-number humans something like 40,000 to 1, I think something like that may make you a little bit more nervous.  But the effects were great, with plenty of old fashion practical effects instead of relying on CGI.  We will definitely be picking that one up when it hits DVD.

    Like most other shows, the "after hours" of the show were spent in bar, where we have a blast chatting with our other dealer friends that we only see at shows, as well as new friends and fans that we meet during the show.  There was one group of fans from Tennessee that came out to the show and had a blast.  Hearing some of their tales of the area where they live, and how being a horror fan there isn't the easiest thing to do, gives me hope.  Hope that fans will endure their surroundings and not lose that passion for the films.  We here, at the Krypt, salute you!  Long Live The New Flesh!

    So overall, we simply had a blast.  We are amazed that HorrorHound had already started planning their 2nd show the following November!  And they've already got a good guest lineup as well.  So I know that we'll be there once again.  And once again, we'll be having a blast.  Great job to Aaron, Nathan, and the rest of the HorrorHound Staff for making it happened.

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