Horror/Film festivals & conventions

[FrighT MasteR]

My buddy and I were talking earlier about how we need to hit up a horror or film festival/convention sometime this year, so I thought I'd ask fellow UHMers what they'd recommend and share their thoughts and experiences with ones they may have attended in the past. I heard Fangoria and Horrorfind were pretty good conventions, but I'm not really up-to-date with whatever else is out there.

[walk]

Can't help you sorry.

I will give a try to my first festival later this year. I missed it last year cos' I wasn't aware of its existence. Three friends did know its exitences and didn't tell me... :finger3:

[FrighT MasteR]

Which you referring to?

[walk]

Bloody week end in Audincourt (France of course) Il will be its second edition.

[Darkgod]

I go to two here in NJ... Chiller Theatre.. ( chillertheatre.com) which has gone down hill, and become a shitty 70's sitcom convention. And MonsterMania http://www.monstermania.net/ which is excellent IMO... I believe Strt and Sicxslipknot went to that one as well. I highly recommend that one.

In this months Rue Morgue and Horror Hound, they have convention and film festival schedules.

[xxsic4slipknotxx]

I go to two here in NJ... Chiller Theatre.. ( chillertheatre.com) which has gone down hill, and become a shitty 70's sitcom convention. And MonsterMania http://www.monstermania.net/ which is excellent IMO... I believe Strt and Sicxslipknot went to that one as well. I highly recommend that one.

In this months Rue Morgue and Horror Hound, they have convention and film festival schedules.

Indeed we did Dark, We went last March when they had the My Bloody Valentine (original) and Night Of The Creeps reunion, plus Dario Argento!

This year looks to be not too bad, they have a Night Of The Demons (original) reunion, and unbelievably, they just announced a The Walking Dead renuion, where they will have Norman Reedus who play Randall from Boondock Saints there, Jon Bernthal who plays Shane in the series, and one of the girls who was in Silent Hill; might get more but I'm not sure. Sadly, I won't be able to make it due to savings for my next England Trip

There are other conventions like Cinema Wasteland which is in OH, another is Saturday Nightmares in NJ, HorrorHound Weekend in IN. They're pretty good as well.

[xxsic4slipknotxx]

Oh and FrighT, if you're looking not to travel way too far outta the way, here are some right in Texas.

The second one looks really good IMO

The World Horror Convention 2011
April 28-May 1, 2011
Austin, Texas
The World Horror Convention is an annual gathering of professionals in the horror industry; publishers, authors, artists, musicians, filmmakers, dealers and, of course, horror fans. WHC serves as both an industry insider's networking event and a chance for fans of the genre to get together, meet some of the creative talents in the field, and generally spend a weekend celebrating All Things Scary.
http://worldhorrorconvention.com

Texas Frightmare Weekend
April 29 - May 1, 2011
Sheraton Grand Hotel
Dallas, Texas
Texas Frightmare Weekend is a horror-oriented for-profit media event. Guests have included actors, directors, and producers from classic and upcoming horror films. 2011 guests include Robert Englund, Clive Barker, Doug Bradley, Ashley Laurence, Angus Scrimm and Don Coscarelli.
http://www.texasfrightmareweekend.com

Camp Blood: Friday the 30th
May 13 -15, 2011
Crowne Plaza
Addison, Texas
The Official 30th Anniversary reunion of the Friday the 13th series, with guests from every film in the horror franchise (including the remake and TV series). Jasons, victims and directors all in one place.
http://www.txfearfest.com

[Halcon Loco]

Wish I could help, but boring Arizona never has horror festivals or conventions. I hate this state.

[strtfghtr]

My opinions:
Monstermania is the best for celebs and Q and As
Chiller Theatre is the best for merch andthe crowd
Horror Find sucks ass and I don't think id ever go to another...horrible organizing job
Rock and Shock is always awesome because thery usually get many of the monstermania guests and the ticket also gets you into the concert at night...GWAR!!!

[FrighT MasteR]

Thanks all, I'll check into'em. My buddy and I don't really care about the distance, we just wanna hit up what's good and would be worth our money in the long run

[IKickAssForTheLord]

I need to go one to these.

[FrighT MasteR]

Would like to hit up SXSW this year, but i doubt I'd do it since it's such short notice for us both

[strtfghtr]

lemme know if you are hitting any on the east coast

[FrighT MasteR]

Will do

By the way, what exactly was so wrong with Horrorfind? Cuz a friend told me it was great

[strtfghtr]

well I went to the one in Gettysburg last year and the guest list was amazing...romero, ted raimi, the buseys, adrien barbeau, etc but there was only like 1 Q and A, there was absolutely nothing to do after 7PM (where monster mania/chiller will schedule movies, and contests, and concerts all through the night...also in their locations there are things to do...Gettysburg not so much) The general organization is terrible and the staff has no clue what's going on (for instance which line to stand in when you have prepaid tickets...yeah I had to stand in line to get a ticket even though I paid online like months before...monstermania sends you the tickets so you just walk in.)

The whole time it was one big clusterfuck and also they kicked out all the tables selling bootleg dvds so the vendor room sucked major ass except for a few choice vendors. They tried to make the vendors charge sales tax but all the vendors basically said fuck that. I got so sick of that place that in the middle of the convention on Saturday I went to the movie theater and watched Machete...not part of the convention just paid my $10 and had the best time of the weekend.

In all compared to the other one's I've been to it really seemed pretty half assed. Even the Rock and Shock which is less than 1/2 the size (though its grown considerably the last few years) is always well organized and is a blast from the moment you get there till the moment you leave.

[xxsic4slipknotxx]

Well it looks like I'm going to Monster Mania afterall!

[Splat]

Angus Scrimm and Don Coscarelli.

I wonder, I wonder...P5

Well it looks like I'm going to Monster Mania afterall!

Will you do a Blog on your experience with which ever convention you go to MasteR. Would be very interesting.

[FrighT MasteR]

well I went to the one in Gettysburg last year and the guest list was amazing...romero, ted raimi, the buseys, adrien barbeau, etc but there was only like 1 Q and A, there was absolutely nothing to do after 7PM (where monster mania/chiller will schedule movies, and contests, and concerts all through the night...also in their locations there are things to do...Gettysburg not so much) The general organization is terrible and the staff has no clue what's going on (for instance which line to stand in when you have prepaid tickets...yeah I had to stand in line to get a ticket even though I paid online like months before...monstermania sends you the tickets so you just walk in.)

The whole time it was one big clusterfuck and also they kicked out all the tables selling bootleg dvds so the vendor room sucked major ass except for a few choice vendors. They tried to make the vendors charge sales tax but all the vendors basically said fuck that. I got so sick of that place that in the middle of the convention on Saturday I went to the movie theater and watched Machete...not part of the convention just paid my $10 and had the best time of the weekend.

In all compared to the other one's I've been to it really seemed pretty half assed. Even the Rock and Shock which is less than 1/2 the size (though its grown considerably the last few years) is always well organized and is a blast from the moment you get there till the moment you leave.

Hmmm.. interesting. Totally different than what my friend told me.

[Il Duce]

I've always wanted to go and check out one of these for year's, but none of my friend's want to make the trip to the one in Jersey or Philly nothing ever comes there though that i know of anyways. I mostly want to go and check out the vendor's to see what kind of stuff they have on dvd/blu-ray and sometimes to check out some of the films you can't see anywhere else.

[Primetimeloser]

well I went to the one in Gettysburg last year and the guest list was amazing...romero, ted raimi, the buseys, adrien barbeau, etc but there was only like 1 Q and A, there was absolutely nothing to do after 7PM (where monster mania/chiller will schedule movies, and contests, and concerts all through the night...also in their locations there are things to do...Gettysburg not so much) The general organization is terrible and the staff has no clue what's going on (for instance which line to stand in when you have prepaid tickets...yeah I had to stand in line to get a ticket even though I paid online like months before...monstermania sends you the tickets so you just walk in.)

The whole time it was one big clusterfuck and also they kicked out all the tables selling bootleg dvds so the vendor room sucked major ass except for a few choice vendors. They tried to make the vendors charge sales tax but all the vendors basically said fuck that. I got so sick of that place that in the middle of the convention on Saturday I went to the movie theater and watched Machete...not part of the convention just paid my $10 and had the best time of the weekend.

In all compared to the other one's I've been to it really seemed pretty half assed. Even the Rock and Shock which is less than 1/2 the size (though its grown considerably the last few years) is always well organized and is a blast from the moment you get there till the moment you leave.

Shit and I was planning on going this year.