PopHorror Let's Get Scared
I’ve always wanted to attend a big horror convention but either money or lack of transportation has been an issue. Recently all the stars aligned and I was finally able to make the hour and a half trip to Indianapolis for Days of the Dead. Check out some info about the convention below as well as my personal experience during the weekend.
The convention had a ton of guests covering various fandoms. Some of the big name guests included Kane Hodder, Bill Moseley, Sig Haig, Linda Blair, Lita, Ken Foree, Gaylin Ross, John Russo, Matthew Lillard, Dee Snider, Howard Sherman, Lori Cardille, The Godfather, Steve Cardenas, Kevin Thorn, Eileen Dietz and much more. One of the high points for me, celebrity wise, was meeting Felissa Rose from Sleepaway Camp, I had recently seen the film for the first time (don’t judge me) and it was cool to spend a few minutes talking to her about the film as well as having her sign my Blu-ray.
There was a ton of different vendors including Full Moon Entertainment, Vinegar Syndrome, Severin Films, Scarebears, Atomic Cotton, as well as various indie film companies and much more.
After being a fan for quite awhile, I finally got to meet Scott Schirmer (Found, Harvest Lake, Plank Face), Ellie Church (Headless, Harvest Lake) and Brian K. Williams (Space Babes From Outer Space, Time to Kill)) from Bandit Motion Pictures as well as Alyss Winkler (Plank Face, Space Babes From Outer Space) and Allison Maier (Space Babes From Outer Space) when Bandit Motion Pictures had a Space Babe photo op on Saturday.
I hit the Razor Sharp Studios booth and got the chance to meet Missy Dawn (Pig Girl and Pork Chop 3D) and finally picked up the Pork Chop series on Blu-Ray. I absolutely love Night of Something Strange and it was an honor to get the chance to meet director Jonathan Straiton (still bummed his lovely wife Brie wasn’t there) as well as stars Trey Harrison and Wayne W. King. I had the opportunity to chat briefly with Justin Seaman, director of The Barn, one of the best indie slasher films in recent memory. I finally got to pick up She Was So Pretty as well as converse a bit with its director Brooklyn Ewing and its star Jerry Larew. IT was amazing to finally get the chance to meet Stephanie Hensley and Erin Butosov of Chances Are Productions in person. Wonderful people and very talented.
Between picking up all the indie films I didn’t have plus hitting the Vinegar Syndrome, Severin, and Full Moon booths, my wallet is still hurting but I left with a shit ton of awesome movies to check out.
Saturday night I attended a makeup effects contest hosted by Chris Blair. There were 4 teams of two people each and they were tasked with using what they were given to completely transform someone into something else. How it worked is each team was allowed to bring one item from home plus they were all given a box of the same fairly standard supplies. One member of the team was given a half hour to work on their volunteer while their teammate sat behind the stage so they weren’t able to see what was going on. After a half hour, they switched places and then the team member currently backstage took over and had a half hour to finish the job.
During all this, a ton of stuff was given away to the audience by Chris Blair and his crew. I got a nice tote bag full of comics and my step sister got a nice t-shirt. It was definitely a fun way to spend and hour and a half. It was cool to see the artists come up with ideas on the fly and their partner pick up where they left off and finish. Check out the winning team below as well as their creation.
I had an absolute blast at Days of the Dead Indianapolis. I got to meet some awesome celebs as well as some kick ass indie filmmakers and actors. Plus I picked up some amazing films from the fine folks at Vinegar Syndrome, Severin and Full Moon and all the wonderful indie filmmakers that were there. I’m hoping everything lines up where I will be able to go back next year because it was a great time. I could definitely see it becoming a yearly tradition for me.
