(Long Overdue) Horror Hound Wrap-Up!
We're quickly approaching the month mark as far as waiting for a recap of the experience that was Horror Hound Weekend V.2.0, so I figured that I had better get it up before I lost all recollection of what exactly went down.
The first time around (in July) we only went the first day, but had such a great time that I sprung for the entire weekend. I dropped some serious coin, but when all is said and done, I have to admit that it was completely worth it! Here's a day by day breakdown of our weekend:
Friday (Day #1)
We arrived in Indy and made it to the showroom as quickly as we could. First on our list was to meet was Roddy Piper. I was never a huge wrestling fan, but the movie They Live is one of my favorites of all time. So, I wanted to be sure and get a chance to meet Piper. As a coincidence, Piper was scheduled to be in Marion on the following Saturday, so I was excited to actually have something to ask him about. When I got up to his table I shook his hand and asked him about appearing in Marion... and he was completely stumped. He had no clue what the hell I was talking about. It was pretty awkward. He signed my still, we shared a little small talk and I was on my way.
Not the best start to the experience. Quite frankly I felt a little bit dirty afterward. You'll notice that didn't post a pic of me with Piper. That was because he was charging $25 for a picture with him. $25! And the fact that his handler had to whisper how to spell my name in his ear was a little weird as well. I mean, my name is "Steve." Not exactly a Bumper Stumper, folks.
I chalked Piper's ignorance of his much hyped local appearance at the EWF Arena to Marion's perpetual bad luck with announcing big events and then later finding out that they were never gonna happen in the first place... but then, after the fact, I found out that he did come to Marion! The very next day! Not 24 hours after the man expresses complete ignorance of Marion, IN and the EWF, he shows up talking about how important it is to show support for these young wrestling organizations. I dunno. It just rings a bit hollow to me. A pretty disillusioning experience. You can read the C-T article about the Marion appearance over here. Or, even worse, you can chek out the shocking, straight from the horses mouth 4-1-1 on the Marion appearance, here. Yikes!
We arrived in Indy and made it to the showroom as quickly as we could. First on our list was to meet was Roddy Piper. I was never a huge wrestling fan, but the movie They Live is one of my favorites of all time. So, I wanted to be sure and get a chance to meet Piper. As a coincidence, Piper was scheduled to be in Marion on the following Saturday, so I was excited to actually have something to ask him about. When I got up to his table I shook his hand and asked him about appearing in Marion... and he was completely stumped. He had no clue what the hell I was talking about. It was pretty awkward. He signed my still, we shared a little small talk and I was on my way.
Not the best start to the experience. Quite frankly I felt a little bit dirty afterward. You'll notice that didn't post a pic of me with Piper. That was because he was charging $25 for a picture with him. $25! And the fact that his handler had to whisper how to spell my name in his ear was a little weird as well. I mean, my name is "Steve." Not exactly a Bumper Stumper, folks.
I chalked Piper's ignorance of his much hyped local appearance at the EWF Arena to Marion's perpetual bad luck with announcing big events and then later finding out that they were never gonna happen in the first place... but then, after the fact, I found out that he did come to Marion! The very next day! Not 24 hours after the man expresses complete ignorance of Marion, IN and the EWF, he shows up talking about how important it is to show support for these young wrestling organizations. I dunno. It just rings a bit hollow to me. A pretty disillusioning experience. You can read the C-T article about the Marion appearance over here. Or, even worse, you can chek out the shocking, straight from the horses mouth 4-1-1 on the Marion appearance, here. Yikes!
As we were waiting to meet Piper, I was a little saddened to see David Naughton sitting all alone at his table. So as soon as we finished with the Piper debacle we went over to meet him. He was super nice and signed my American Werewolf in London one-sheet. I pointed out to him that Jacob was wearing his Dr. Pepper shirt in honor of meeting him and he offered to sign that for him as well. A pretty great guy!Afterward, we decided to roam the floor a bit and do a little shopping. I stopped by the Synapse Films booth and picked up a copy of Thriller: They Call Her One Eye autographed by Christina Lindberg. Of course, she was originally supposed to be at the convention, but cancelled late in the game due to medical problems. I was bummed that I was not gonna be able to get my pressbook signed, but it's nice to have the DVD. Oh yeah... I got a t-shirt as well.
Next, Michael decided that he wanted to get Michael Berryman's autograph. He was pretty hard to miss in the show room and not just because of his appearance. He was all over the place chatting up fans and vendors. We stepped up, Michael picked out a picture for him to autograph and he just started talking to the boys and I like we were long lost friends. Really he was a super nice guy. He asked the boys if they had skipped school (which they had) and even asked them if they'd like to get a picture! After I had snapped their shot, I shook his hand and said "Thank you." and he asked if I would like a picture too! I can't say enough good things about this guy. Too cool!After that, we took all of our loot back to the room and got ready for the first film we had planned on seeing for the weekend. I had been wanting to see Hatchet since its initial release, but as soon as I heard that they'ed be screening an uncut version at Horror Hound I ceased all attempts to see it beforehand. I have to say that I'm glad I did. Seeing this film with so many horror fans and two of its stars in attendance was just unreal. It was a pretty great movie, but being free to cheer and clap for all of the gory violence made it all the better. The DVD comes out on the Dec. 18th and I suggest that everyone goes out and rents... no, buys it!
That was it for day #1. We retired to our rooms knowing that we were gonna be gettin' up at the buttcrack of dawn the next day.
Saturday (Day #2)
With a wake-up call from my mom, we got up at 6:00 am and went down to wait in line to get tickets to meet John Landis. Let me say that again... we waited in line to get tickets that guaranteed us the chance to meet him. The line to actually meet him would c ome later in the day. But first thing in the morning, we waited from approximately 7:00 am until 10:00 to get the tickets.
The time actually went pretty quickly. I met a guy from Fort Wayne and we talked up some serious horror nerd minuiae for a solid three hours. Not something that I get to do everyday... or ever... so that was fun. After getting our tickets we returned to the room to wait until 12:00 when we could go down and wait in another line to actually meet John Landis.
When we got down to the showroom, the line was HUGE. No joke, even though we were like sixth or seventh in line to get tickets, we were like the 250th person in the line to meet him. We waited an additional three and a half hours to meet him, but it was completely worth it. He signed my American Werewolf in London one-sheet, a convention poster and even warned Michael of the impending horrors awaiting him in adolescence. Too funny! Then as we were getting our pic snapped, he yanked Jake over into the shot too! Take a close look. He's got a death grip on Jake's arm. This was far and away the highlight of the convention!We had a little bit of time before lunch, so we figured it was a good time for Jacob to get Shawnee Smith's autograph. Her line was pretty long, but Michael and I waited with Jake so that we could snap a pic when he got up to her. A few minutes into our wait, we noticed Sammy Terry coming into the show room. Michael and I had missed him the day before and knew that we had to get in line right then if we had any intention of meeting him. So we split away from Jacob with instructions that he was supposed to call when he was getting close to the front of the line. Well, we hit the front of Sammy's line at the exact same moment Jacob was meeting Shawnee Smith. So, sadly, we didn't get a pic of Jake with her. I did, however get a picture with the legend of local horror programming, Sammy Terry!
Next we went out to meet Tricia, her mom and sister for lunch. We went to Bazbeaux Pizza, and I only mention this because if you've never been there you need to go. Seriously some tof the best gourmet-type pizza around. Check it out.When we got back, we were a little bit late for the next film we were planning on checking out, but just outta pure luck we made it just in time to catch a little bit of the panel discussion for Beware the Moon with Paul Davis, John Landis and David Naughton. It was fun to hear Landis talking about the film and answering fans' questions.
After the panel, we stuck around to check out The Zombie Diaries which we probably shouldn't have done. It was pretty much a steaming log. When you've created a zombie movie that can't even hold the attention of middle school boys... you are indeed a failure.
Sunday (Day #3)
Our last day at the Con was primarally a shopping day. I picked up a couple of DVDs and the boys bought some things too. I bought a copy of Tom Savini's Grande Illusions which I had wanted since I was Jacob and Michael's age. He signed it and posed for a quick pic with Michael. Also, we stopped by to meet Kane Hodder and Tony Todd who both had major roles in Hatchet. Tony Todd assured us that he'd be back for Hatchet Part II. I can't wait.On the way home we stopped at the Imax to check out Beowulf in 3D. It was pretty but didn't really come close to living up to the advance hype I'd read. Honestly, if the film hadn't been in Imax and in 3D, I probably wouldn't have liked it at all. That being said, though, Crispin Glover was pretty amazing as Grendel!
Anyway, that's the story of our weekend. It was a blast and we can't wait until the next one in March. They've already announced a few names and it looks like there's gonna be a Hellraiser, Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 and Return of the Living Dead reunion. Pretty amazing stuff. I better start saving my pennies now!
posted by Steve at
7:52 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home