WAMG at Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors – Chicago

Just as the forecast for Saint Louis was announced to be sunny and in the 70’s this past weekend, I packed my bags and prepared to head into the big windy city of Chicago, and windy it was! And†¦ wet and cold! So, what could have possibly convinced me to leave the often rare and unseasonably beautiful weather promised to me back home and instead travel six hours north to freeze in the rain?

The answer to that question is the 30th anniversary of Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors. Presented by Creation Entertainment, the three day long fan-fest for all things horror is perhaps the longest running event of it’s kind. The weekend extravaganza focuses on the genre of gore, thrills, scares and just all things taboo and bizarre. One thing is for sure, the fans were dedicated to appearing in massive numbers, braving bitter cold wind, non-stop rain and insanely long lines to meet their favorite genre filmmakers and celebrities.

I attended the Weekend of Horrors with my brother Adam, an immigrant to Chicago from his native land (Saint Louis) and we took in many of the freaky festivities. Now, due to scheduling and (honestly) the fact that the weather was a real bi***, I was unable to cover the entire event. With that said, I will remain honest and only talk about what I did take in this weekend. To read all about my weekend in Chi-town and see some cool and creepy photos from the event, click below to read the whole story†¦

This weekend was an adventure to say the least. I could easily be negative about my experience and say it was truly a “Weekend of Horrors† but that wouldn’t be fair. I wanted to cover the event and report on all the cool happenings from the event. What I’m saying is, this will be the last you hear from me regarding things such as the crazy homeless dude that followed and verbally assaulted me outside of Union Station. This also will be the last time you hear me mention the CRAPPY weather†¦ I promise! Otherwise, it’s all about the good stuff from here on out.

As pictured in the image above from left to right, the Masters of Italian Horror panel featured  Sergio Stivaletti (FX Artist, ‘Cemetery Man’),  Rugero Deodato (‘Cannibal Holocaust’) and Lamberto Bava (‘Demons 1 & 2’). This was a really cool panel and would have pleased anyone interested in the genre of Italian horror. A translator was present as the guests spoke little English, so it did slow things down just a bit, but what the panel lacked in how it flowed it made up fore with talented, intelligent filmmakers. They spoke of their careers, their influences and their experience working in a genre widely unaccepted as obscene, grotesque and utterly sinful by many, being censored across the globe, including in their native Italy. The panel ended with a Q&A and a photo opportunity with all three legendary filmmakers posing together.

On a brief side note, I found out upon registering my arrival at the event that Tobe Hooper (‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’) had to cancel his appearance at the event. As unfortunate as this was, George Romero still attended with fellow veterans from ‘Night of the Living Dead’ as well as other members of the cast and crew of the original ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’. The event was extremely crowded and, quite honestly, the hotel was not big enough to properly accommodate the massive number of fans that turned out for the event. Considering this, I opted to cover the under-card (so to speak) attractions instead of spending the better part of my time attempting to cover the headliners.

How can you NOT enjoy the presence of low-budget indie-cult filmmaker Lloyd Kaufman? Aside from the intense fan following he has for his past works, including the Toxie films and ‘Tromeo & Juliet’, he’s garnered a whole new level of fandom with his recently released DVD ‘Poultrygeist’ which can be purchased as a special 3-disc special edition. Lloyd talked a little bit about his career, but most people who are interested already know him inside-out†¦ or, at least they think they do. He did tell a cool little story about the screenplay for ‘Night of the Witch’ that he co-wrote with Stan Lee years ago, which is still unproduced to this day. During his stage presentation, accompanied by his Tromo girls Dystopia and Pedaphilia and eventually Toxie himself, Lloyd played a funny Toxie in Iraq video he made and also divulged that he’s growing closer to finishing the script for a 5th Toxic Avenger movie that will involve Toxie’s twin offspring.

One of the most valuable parts of Lloyd’s presentation was that he spoke with passion and conviction about the state of indie filmmaking and the growing control by the hands of massive corporate media “devils† and how they’re even threatening the Internet. This was a fresh and informative topic to hear Lloyd speak about. The event ended with a Q&A, followed by Mr. Kaufman signing for fans outside the ballroom.

There were several celebrities present in the two vendor/dealer rooms, available for fans to meet and acquire autographs, including (but not limited to) Tom Savini, Bill Moseley, Ashley Laurence (‘Hellraiser’) and FX artist Robert Kurtzman. I spoke briefly with Mr. Kurtzman about his latest work on Jennifer Lynch’s new film ‘Hisss’ (‘Nagin’) which is based on the Far Eastern myth of the snake-woman who is able to take on human form. It sounds pretty cool and I plan on digging a little deeper on this one and filling in the details. George Romero, Doug Bradley (Pinhead from ‘Hellraiser’), H.G. Lewis and Jeffrey Combs (‘Re-Animator’) were also present for special autograph and fan photo opportunities in addition to their speaking events.

There were several previews for great upcoming genre films featured during the event including ‘I Sell the Dead’, ‘Mutant Chronicles’ and even ‘Chocolate’. However, the previews that REALLY stood out for me were ‘I Can See You’, ‘Big Man Japan’, ‘Eden Log’ and ‘Not Quite Hollywood’. Check out the trailers for these new movies below:

Sheila Larkin (‘X-Files’) was in attendance for her husband R.W. Goodwin who was sick and restricted from traveling. Sheila was previewing his new sci-fi/comedy ‘Alien Trespass’ with a trailer and several video interviews. I’m looking forward to this one because it looks like a lot of fun!

A cool new supernatural thriller called ‘Vinyan‘ starring Rufus Sewell screened at Weekend of Horrors and ‘The Grudge 3’ had it’s World Premiere as well.

During my time wandering the dark and evil corridors of the hotel taken over by crazed fans, I took some time to speak with a couple of “micro-budget† filmmakers who have a lot to offer. As always, I hooked up with our friend Kevin Strange from Hack Movies and he took a few moments to speak with us about his latest movie called ‘Stiff Jobs’ Keep your eyes and ears open for that interview soon!

I also spoke with two other very fascinating filmmakers, devoted to creating some awesome movies on not-so-awesome budgets. Daniel McLemore Stanton made a movie called ‘Legion of the Liar’ of which I picked up a copy to review†¦ check back later for that. I also spoke with writer/director/FX artist John Lechago (‘Magus’), pictured with actor Ron Fitzgerald, about his upcoming new movie called ‘Bio-Slime’. Talk around the convention was that his special FX work on this movie are supposed to be mind-blowing!

One of my favorite parts of attending these fan conventions is checking out the cool genre artists that show up in the dealer’s room. I like to choose a couple I consider to have outstanding work and feature them in our coverage. Check out the two artists that blew me away at the 2009 Weekend of Horrors in Chicago below:

I have, of course, NOT forgotten about the fans. These are the devoted people who truly make these events great. As I mentioned, the attendance was massive, with many people showing up in costume. Check out some of the best I saw in the photo section below: