HorrorHound Weekend part 2

I could honestly subtitle this post “If you’re not a VIP, you’re S.O.L.”–a phrase we pretty much came close to hearing.

Though I mentioned in part 1 that my wife and I had a great time at the convention, it wasn’t without issues.

Even before we left for HorrorHound weekend, we were informed that Greg Nicotero and Virgina Madsen had canceled due to prior commitments. Completely understandable and neither of us were upset in the least. Okay, maybe I was a bit as Virginia Madsen has held the #1 position on my personal “Celebrities You’d Most Like To Sleep With” list since 1987’s Long Gone (which is a highly underrated baseball film) and it would have been awesome just to see her in person.

But I digress.

The lines were long to get in but that’s to be expected, especially since Saturday’s event sold out. Even though we had tickets, we had to stand in a line that wrapped around three sides of the Sharonville Convention Center. Oddly enough, it was a line that moved rather quickly and we were in within a half hour.

After we toured the vendor’s room, we ventured to where the other celebrities were appearing. At this point, it quickly dawned upon us that the venue was ill suited to a massive convention.

Lines were everywhere and there was no rhyme nor reason to the way in which they were designed. Often times, they wrapped around other rooms, blocking those entering and exiting. Some even jammed the stairwell leading down to where the immensely popular “The Walking Dead” actors were signing autographs and posing for photos. The hallways upstairs were narrow but the ones on the lower level were almost nonexistent thanks to the throng of people milling about. To be completely truthful, I wouldn’t be shocked if the fire and safety code was broken the entire time because the capacity had to be exceeded by a few hundred or so.

“The Walking Dead” is the most popular show in cable history and the promoters failed to take this fact into account. This information didn’t just sneak up and surprise the world. It’s been popular since it began three years ago and its popularity continues to grow. Why HorrorHound chose the Sharonville Convention Center is beyond me. It’s not a bad site. In fact, I thought it was well designed and maintained. However, it was in no way constructed to hold something of this magnitude.

To make matters worse, you couldn’t see most of the celebrities thanks to both the crowd and the position of the celebrities in the rooms. I’ve been to other conventions and it was easy to see everyone, regardless of whether or not you were in line to meet them. Furthermore, even if you wanted to grab a photo-op or an autograph, you again discovered that it was an impossibility as the passes were sold out.

We tried to get in line early for the Walking Dead panel (by at least 45 minutes) and were spurned like jilted lovers by a staff member who said “If you’re not a VIP…”. Granted, we didn’t hear the rest of what he was saying since 1) he was a low talker and 2) it was drowned out by the surrounding masses, but that knowledge in advance would have helped to diminish the ultimate disappointment. Basically, he probably finished his sentence with “…you’re shit out of luck”.

The blame for the fiasco should be shared by both the HorrorHound promoters and the Sharonville Convention Center (though HorrorHound grabs the lion’s share of the responsibility). We made the best of a bad situation but would have had a much better experience if the event was properly coordinated.

Would I attend another? Maybe, but it would take a lot of research on the venue and the convention to get me even remotely interested.

HorrorHound Weekend Cincinnati part 1

This past weekend, my wife Hollie and I traveled to Cincinnati for their most recent horror event, the HorrorHound weekend, so it only seems fitting that I would open the site with a recap/review.

Though I’d been to horror conventions before (the 1993 Zombie Jamboree in Pittsburgh celebrating 25 years of Night of the Living Dead and, most recently, the Horror Realm con two years ago), this was the first time I’d attended an event that not only drew upon the genre’s illustrious history (with celebrities like John Carpenter, Tom Savini and many more appearing) but also showcased something current–the wildly popular “The Walking Dead” TV show.

We purchased tickets in advance weeks ago, but only for a single day which meant that we could take our pick of Friday, Saturday or Sunday if we wanted. Since we had a long drive ahead of us (five hours) and had to return in time for Hollie to go to work on Monday morning (not to mention trying to outrun an impending snowstorm beginning Sunday), we decided Saturday would be the perfect day. So off we went.

Was it a success? Well…

Yes and no.

See, other than shopping around for some fun horror merchandise, there were only a few things on our agenda. We really wanted to see the Walking Dead panel then hit up the IFC screening of the Maniac remake. Catching glimpses of the Walking Dead cast as well as Carpenter, Savini, Michael Madsen, Dee Snider (of Twisted Sister fame), and all the others would have just been plain cool.

We were able to accomplish one of those goals. Why? Because the lines inside were very similar to the ones to get in (keep in mind that pictured is the line on one side of the building and it extended completely around the other two sides).

That’s not to say we didn’t have a great time. We did.

One of the first people we spoke with, Daniel Boyd, was talking about Chillers, the film he wrote and directed for Troma as well as his comic graphic novel with all new tales (the Chillers 2 graphic novel is right around the corner). He was a very open and gracious individual and we ended up purchasing both, not just because of his involvement but also because I’m always open to new horror tales. My hope is that Daniel will be available sometime in the upcoming weeks for a full fledged interview about his current projects as well as his history with Troma.

We circled around the vendor’s room and perused tons of the merchandise for sale. Nearly anything you could possibly want as a genre fan was located within an arm’s reach at every turn. From 8 x 10 glossies to movie posters to old issues of Famous Monsters of Filmland and Fangoria magazines, the wave of nostalgia swept over me as I pored through everything the convention had to offer.

The vendors weren’t the only ones to occupy the room, however. Celebrities known to legions of true horror fans were peppered throughout. Consecutive tables saw Subpecies‘ director Ted Nicolaou with stars Anders Hove and Denise Duff chatting with people. Dean Cundey, the Oscar nominated cinematographer who worked on such films as Halloween, The Thing, Back to the Future and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, happy signed autographs for a seemingly never ending line of fans. Christine actors Steven Tash, Malcom Danare and William Ostrander (pictured below in addition to a replica of the infamous car) also smiled and greeted everyone searching for a signature.

And for those who can reach back to their childhood and remember one of horror’s first families, Eddie and Marilyn Munster (Butch Patrick and Pat Priest, respectively) of “The Munsters” were still almost instantly recognizable after all these years as they interacted with fans young and old.

Finally, we stopped at the Full Moon Entertainment booth where founder Charles Band presided over his oeuvre consisting of the Puppet Master series, the Trancers films and many others. He and the woman (whose name I didn’t get unfortunately) running the booth were incredibly nice and patient and even gave me a free movie because the overuse of WiFi at the center prevented them from being able to run our credit card and Hollie had to wait in a long line at the ATM for cash.

Once we left the vendor’s area, however, the convention failed on several levels and I’ll explain why in part 2.