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

March 28th - 30th

Once again, we found ourselves traveling down to Indianapolis for another Horror Hound Weekend. It's a quick trip coming from Chicago, so it's very easy for us to make these shows. This was their third show, and it looks like there's no stopping these guys. We keep having a good time, so that means that we’ll keep coming back. Since this was only their third show, it was pretty impressive at the number of people that were there to have a good time. Even on Sunday, there seemed to be a lot of people wandering around the room. Always a good sign.

This time out, joining me in our Kryptic World Domination Tour, was our buddies Bob and Matt (aka Putrid). We knew Matt was an extremely talented artist and a damn fine painter, but we discovered that he also was very capable of painting bathrooms as well, and even without a brush! Also joining us was our resident Mystery Photo King, Hoby Abernathy. Hoby made the journey out to our house from way out in South Dakota, and then rode with us to the show. Being from way out in the middle of nowhere, he doesn’t get the chance to really hang out and chat with other like minded horror nuts. So we knew that he was going to be in for a great weekend.

I think the biggest draw for this show was their Hellraiser 2 reunion. All the main cenobites were going to be there, Barbie Wilde (Female), Simon Bamford (Butterball), Nick Vince (Chatterer), and of course, Doug Bradley (Pinhead). Ashley Laurence (Kirsty) was also there. We had the chance to see them a couple of years ago at another show. But at this show, they also had Claire Higgins (Julia from parts 1 & 2) and Ken Cranham (Dr. Cennard), and we were pretty excited to see them, and add their signatures to our posters and stills. But as luck would have it, those two weren’t able to make it. So it was kind of a bummer, but on the good side, it did save me some autograph cash.

That was the one and only problem that I did find with this show. Over the few months before the show, there were a lot of name changes in the guest list. I know that celebs can change their mind, new jobs come up, and whatever else. But as a convention fan, it can really bum you out when you make plans to go to a show to see a specific celebrity, only to find out they are not going to be there. Like I said, I’m not blaming or ragging on Horror Hound, or any convention, because I know things happen. But it just seemed like there were a lot of changes in the lineup over the months before the show. Besides that, it was a great weekend.

One of the guests that didn’t have that big of a draw for me personally was Ruggero Deodato. Since I’m not a fan of his most notable film, Cannibal Holocaust, he just wasn’t one that I was excited to see. I was bringing my Cut And Run poster for him to have sign. But if he was one guest that would have cancelled, it wouldn't have been that big of a deal to me. But you just never now at these conventions. As it turned out, he was one of the coolest guests there. He was having a blast running around taking photos and videos of the different people attending the show. He really seemed like he was having a great time. While his English wasn’t the best, you can understand him enough. And he still was super nice to his fans.

Next to Deodato was a man who has probably been killed in more graphic ways than any other actor in cinema, Giovanni Lombardo Radice aka John Morghen. From being drilled through the head, taking shotgun blasts to the stomach, to having his manhood whacked off and the top of his head lopped off, the poor man has been through it all. While at times it didn’t seem like he was having good time there, he was very friendly to his fans.

And while on the subject of Italian horror, Mike Baronas was there promoting his new DVD documentary on Lucio Fulci, called Paura: Lucio Fulci Remembered – Volume 1. This is simply a must for any and all fans of Fulci. You get to hear about the man from the people who knew him best. Check out the website HERE for more info.

I also want to give some kudos to Horror Hound for getting these Italian icons as guests. Don't read this the wrong way, but I think a majority of Horror Hound readers are more familiar with American horror films. So I think it's great when they run articles on films or people outside of their normal safety zone. Just like bringing in these Italian guests. It gives their fans a chance to learn about something that they might not have considered looking into.

One of our all time favorite celebs to see is our buddy Reggie Bannister. While we had seen him just a couple of weeks before in Chicago, Reggie is always a blast. He was there with his band, promoting his new CD, Naked Truth. It always amazes me how I forget just how talented of a guitar player Reggie is. His band played on Saturday night at the show. Great stuff. It was nice to see Reggie pretty busy the whole weekend, chatting it up with his fans. That is one of the reasons he's such a great horror icon, because he really makes a connection with each of his fans.

And speaking of making connections with their fans, from Return of the Living Dead, Jewel Sheppard was there, along with Linnea Quigley. I had brought a still of the Tar Man from Return that already had a few signatures on it. But not Sheppard’s. So I was hoping to add hers, but really didn’t want to fork out $20, which seemed to the normal going price these days. But I was surprised to find out she was only charging $10, but not as surprised as the photos she was taking with her fans! And at no extra charge! Jewel really is a rarity these days. She is someone that really enjoys meeting her fans, and wants to make sure they walk away from her table with a memory. And trust me, there were a lot of those being made over the weekend. I was very happy to add her to my ROTLD photo and talked to her for a few minutes. She really is a sweetheart. If you want to check out her website, click HERE.

There were plenty of other guests at the show, but most of them we had already seen before. Once again, I'm still amazed at the line Bill Moseley draws. Not that he hasn't made some high quality films, it's just that he's done a lot of shows. I guess that just shows the kind of lasting impression he has done with his roles. Not a bad thing. Kane Hodder was also there. He's one of these celebs that is as big in real life as you'd think he is. Stephen Geoffreys, Evil Ed from Fright Night, was also there, and still had the same boyish look to him, though being much older. Even our buddy Harry Manfredini, composer of many great horror films, including the original Friday the 13th, was there even though he wasn't on the guest list. But he's always fun to talk to.

Two other guests there that we had thought about getting autographs from were Chris Saradon and Danny Trejo. But at $25 a pop, it just wasn’t worth it. For less than the price of one of those signatures, I was able to pick up the book The Films of Larry Buchanan. And to me, a book is worth more than an autograph any day. But money aside, both of them seemed very happy to be greeting their fans. Trejo was even seen about quite a bit during the Saturday night party. He really seemed to be enjoying meeting all of his fans. And yes, he looks just as tough in real life as he does on the screen.

Even once the dealer’s room shuts down for the night, the fun continues. There’s always tons of friends and other like minded fans to talk with, and even more drunk people to watch and laugh at their antics. Though, this was a time where Bob and I were the unfortunate flashing victims by Jabba the Hutt’s uglier sister. I’m still having nightmares, and I think Bob is just starting to get vision back in his left eye. Though I think he still has the nervous tick.

Another major bummer that weekend was when we discovered this Mexican restaurant that we found at the first Horror Hound show, called Don Pablo's, had closed down. I had been dreaming of hitting that place when we came down to the show. It was a very sad Saturday night. Lucky for me, we found a steak place (which the name escapes me) where I had probably one of the best steaks I've ever had. So that kind of made up for the slight depression I was in.

Getting back to the Hellraiser theme for a bit, I was able to sneak away from our table to grab a few photos during the Q&A. This is the 2^nd time I’ve sat though a Q&A session with these guys, and they still top the list of giving the best panel. They are simply hilarious, with both their serious answers, and then their not so serious answers. Plus, they are always ribbing each other as well. Great fun.

They also had a Q&A with Ruggero Deodato and Giovanni Lombardo Radice, which was also pretty fun. Even though Deodato's English wasn't the greatest, you could still understand what he was trying to say. Plus, Radice helped with the translating when needed. I still think that is one thing the Horror Hound shows need more of, and that's the Q&A sessions. I think they'd get more people in there for those then the movies that they are screening all day. Or maybe even have them in another room, like they did with the Hellrasier panel.

That is also a reason that we don't have a lot of photos of the other guests. The Q&A sessions is a great place to get photos of the celebs. Now that it's getting to be the standard to have to pay to take their photo at their table, we don't even bother asking anymore. Mainly it's because we don't want to think lesser of some of these people that we admire. I can be a big fan of someone, but once they tell me I have to pay them $20 to take a photo of them with my camera, my appreciation of them goes down a few notches. Sorry, but that's just the way it is.

There was also a Hellraiser Museum put on by one serious collector. He had some great props from some of the Hellraiser series. It was really cool to see these props that close up and were allowed to take photos. And as you can see below, we took quite a few.

As we’ve said many times before, one of the main reasons we have fun at these shows is being able to meet other like-minded fans. With each show, it’s a combination of meeting new friends and seeing old ones. What better way to escape from the real world and be able to talk horror movies with other die-hard fans. That is the main reason we do any of the conventions that we do. And that’s the reason we are going to keep on doing them. So keep an eye out for us, and make sure you stop by and say hello! Kudos to Aaron and Nathan from HorrorHound, once again, for putting on a great show. I know as long as they keep holding the shows (especially in Indianapolis), and more importantly, as long as they keep getting White Castle for their Saturday night parties, we’ll be there.