Rejoice, Jeepers Creepers fans! First on the list this week has gotta be that in addition to part 3 of the Victor Salva franchise entering post-production, part 4 is also officially a go! Diabolique Magazine posted a detailed interview with Gina Philips, who is set to return in part 3 as original character, Trish, along with Jonathan Breck, our original Creeper. She’s confirmed that both parts 3 and 4 will feature flashbacks to tie the separate films together. Philips will now play a mother, concerned that the Creeper will return to claim her son just as he did with her brother, Darry, played by Justin Long, in the original. Oh, Justin Long! We still love you. Your horrible walrus transformation in Tusk made me cry. Don’t judge me. I actually like that film. Determined to protect her son, Trish sets out on a mission to destroy the Creeper.

In the interview, Philips makes it very clear that despite rumors she’s never turned down a role in the franchise but that original propositions for a continuation with her character weren’t seen as a good fit, prompting Salva back to the drawing board to write a new film. It’s been noted that Trish’s presence in part 3 is brief and serves more to pave the way for things to come in part 4, which supposedly is all about her.

“Trish is in me – she’s with me – it’s not hard to come back to who she is at the core. But a lot has changed for Trish over the years. She’s a mother; she’s been through a lot. I haven’t gone through anything like what this character has been through – and I’m knocking on wood as I say this because I’m pretty superstitious – but I am a mom now and I understand that journey of, once you become a parent, you would do anything for that child as far as beg, borrow, steal, kill or die for your child. It was easy to put myself in that place because it parallels my life.”

As for the official plot synopsis of part 3, it takes place on the last day of the Creeper’s 23-day feeding frenzy, as the skeptical Sargent Tubbs teams up with a task force hellbent on destroying the Creeper for good. The Creeper fights back in gory glory as its enemies grow closer than ever before to learning the secrets of its dark origins. 
​
For more information on the new films, including details on budget restrictions and the influence of this on the evolution of the franchise, as well as personal anecdotes from Philips, check out the interview on Diabolique Magazine’s website.

​Producer James Wan is teaming up with writer Greg Russo (from Mortal Kombat, which the two previously worked on together) to lead the reboot of the Resident Evil franchise which is set to feature 6 full-length films. The cast will be entirely new. James Wan producing is great news for fans, and for those unaware the series is the second highest grossing horror franchise of all time behind Alien. Not much more is known yet, so stay tuned for more news.

Who would be your pick to fill Alice’s shoes?

​Let us know in the comments below.

​The new version of The Mummy with Tom Cruise and Sofia Boutella is set to introduce a new Dark Universe encompassing many favorites of yore from our beloved famous monsters. Johnny Depp will be playing The Invisible Man, with Javier Bardem as Frankenstein’s monster and Russel Crowe as Dr. Jekyll.

The concept of the new Dark Universe is the organization Prodigium, led by Dr. Jekyll. According to Bloody Disgusting, their mission “is to track, study and—when necessary—destroy evil embodied in the form of monsters in our world. Working outside the aegis of any government, and with practices concealed by millennia of secrecy, Prodigium protects the public from knowledge of the evil that exists just beyond the thin membrane of civilized society…and will go to any length to contain it.”

So essentially it’s like the Ministry of Magic (for all you Potter fans out there) but an entirely separate universe (obviously). 

Bride of Frankenstein is scheduled for release in February 2019. That’s a long time to wait for the next installment, and we’re not sure yet how The Mummy will be received by audiences. But it’s an ambitious and noble undertaking, and for fans of classic horror and series such as Penny Dreadful it’s definitely worth being excited about.

​Schwarzenegger’s aging yet lovable mug will once again grace the silver screen in a Terminator sequel produced by James Cameron and directed by Tim Miller of Deadpool fame. Not much more is known about the new reboot other than that Genisys is rumored to be wiped from the board in the new storyline.

I actually enjoyed Salvation for what it was, although I know it’s an unpopular opinion. With Schwarzenegger’s return though, and Cameron and Miller’s involvement, we can hopefully set moderate expectations for this latest edition.

​There’s news from Danny McBride on the latest Halloween (2018).

It’s been an interesting turn of events to see our beloved funny man from Eastbound and Down and Pineapple Express pursue, apparently, his horror movie passions. His involvement with Alien: Covenant was a bit underwhelming for me, primarily because his comic talent was totally underutilized in the same vein that the acting talents of Charlize Theron and Guy Pearce have also been underutilized in the new series.

That said, it’s intriguing that McBride has co-written the script for the latest edition to the Halloween franchise with David Gordon Green (also from Pineapple Express and Prince Avalanche with our beloved Paul Rudd) and the influence of John Carpenter, who has given his official okay on the project.

All that’s currently known is that intentions are toward Carpenter’s original ideals for the first film. From what we’ve read, this means a throwback to the simplicity of the slasher film without involving over-complex supernatural elements. With no previous horror films under their belts as writers, it will be interesting to see how this plays out. But as a die-hard fan of Pineapple Express, we have faith.

This isn't the only transition from comedy to horror we've seen lately, à la Jordan Peele with the wildly successful Get Out. Impress us, McBride and Green! 

​An article from Birth.Movies.Death on Wednesday hinted at details for expanding the mythology of the John Wick universe in Chapter 3.

According to Chad Stahelski:

“We want, not so much to go bigger on the third one, but to show you more of the intricacies of the world… I feel like there are all these different subtleties that I skipped over in Number Two, that I’d like to go back to on (chapter three) and show you the inner workings of different parts of New York. So rather than massive set pieces, I’d like to show you cooler and more intricate ones… I think it would be a mistake budget wise and creatively to just go big and blow up a freeway. That’s not our gig. That’s a comic book or a Bond gig. We want to show you cool and intricate details. What are those little details in everyday life? Hopefully – we make people look at garbage collectors and cleaner vans and homeless people a little differently now.”

Stahelski co-directed John Wick: Chapter 2 with David Leitch (known for stunts on multiple films such as Fight Club and 300 and now Director of the highly anticipated Atomic Blonde). According to Birth.Movies.Death, Stahelski is now attached to the Highlander reboot, which we will detail later, so we’re not sure how much of a hand he will play in direction of part 3.

Collider has some interesting theories on where they think Wick’s character will go emotionally in part 3, so check that out now!

​An official Get Out follow-up from Jordan Peele’s production company, Monkeypaw Productions, has been announced for March 15th, 2019. According to Birth.Movies.Death we have no clue yet about the storyline, characters, or cast. But it will be another social thriller with a budget of about $25 million – roughly 5 times that of Get Out.

​Monkeypaw will produce the film with Universal while continuing smaller projects with Blumhouse. Mondo also released some limited edition Get Out posters this week. They are always on top of the game!

​Suffice to say this is exciting news, and with the additional announcement last week of Peele’s HBO series, Lovecraft Country, the sky is the limit for Peele and crew, and we support this wholeheartedly!

​In television and streaming news, our minds were pretty blown away by the official Castlevania trailer, which was released on Wednesday. We’ve been waiting SO LONG for this since the Netflix series announcement in January.

​It launches July 7th, which is right around the corner, and we LOVE the addition of the original Nintendo game system and cartridge (which he actually BLOWS – bad move, bro! no moisture) as part of the actual trailer. Is this going to be super-meta? Even a little meta? Let’s hope so! Even if not, the visuals are absolutely gorgeous, going in the vein of anime/manga styling. The music is equally impressive. Netflix is really killing it the past year, and we are totally okay with this.

The new trailer doesn’t give us much in terms of characters or plot, other than “the man who killed Dracula,” but it is gorgeous!

​What are you most excited for? Which Castelvania game is your favorite? And which plot elements or characters do you hope the series includes?

The Game of Thrones Season 7 trailer was also released Wednesday.

​We're thrilled that Daenerys finally makes it to Westeros after 6 seasons of meandering through Essos! Will she claim the throne? Despite hinting at her success, we all know the trademark brutality of this show, so most likely not. But how will they handle this? Allowing her to seize the throne seems almost too easy and definitely too much of a happy ending to her story, but that leaves the task of presenting her fall as intriguing and complex rather than anti-climactic. 

And how will we see Jon’s lineage impact his storyline?  How will his character evolve in light of this new reveal? If he is actually Targareyen, which was heavily suggested in flashbacks from last season, what will his role be in Dany’s quest for the throne? 

As for Arya, she looks like she has finally made it to the North while Petyr continues to act as the devil on Sansa's shoulder. Will Sansa be the queen who dethrones Cersei per the prophecy of Maggy the frog? Will Petyr maneuver her there?

What do you guys think? And what are you most excited about in season 7?

That’s all for this week’s breakdown. Stay tuned next week for more news in review!

If there’s something we missed that you’re excited about, please let us know in the comments below!

What were you most excited about in horror news this week?

If you saw the above image and thought to yourself, "Wow, that looks like a dude riding a flying crocodile," then you are indeed correct. Mostly anyway.

Crocodile Fury marks our third visit to the group known at Alamo Drafthouse as Video Vortex: VHS insanity from beyond the universe. 

Each month, the group showcases a film, always prefaced by our hosts with fun behind the scenes info and trivia. Add to the experience fellow appreciators of the obscure as your theatre mates as well as some beer and popcorn, and you pretty much have the most amazing date night ever. You know. If you’re into that sort of thing.

This past visit, they even held a competition between two of the audience members. The prize? VHS copies of Crocodile Dundee parts I and II. Of course.

Our first foray to the event was The Brain followed by Things and now the bizarre Crocodile Fury. Next up is Desperation Rising for which we’ve already bought tickets. Suffice to say, we have loved every one and look forward to watching each new film to which we otherwise would have never been exposed. ​

I’d like to start chronicling these adventures to a) give mad props to the guys in charge of running Video Vortex without whom we wouldn’t have these oddities to enjoy, especially in Dallas, and b) spread the love of these wackadoodle films!
​
So where do we begin with a film that contains vampires, zombies, witches, and crocodile shapeshifters?
​
The Vortex team pitched it like this:

Godfrey Ho apparently purchased the rights to previously made Thai films for a very cheap price, then expanded them into full-length features with added footage. He then marketed them with badass looking posters that made the films look way cooler than they actually are (well, I guess that's debatable) to get people in the theaters. 

Based on this, we'd assume there's a Schwarzenegger type macho man and a super hot babe fending off deadly crocodiles with the help of special forces units in the expanse of an enormous body of water. There's guns and explosions and boobs. Right?  

Wrong. Mr. Muscles is not even present (unless that's supposed to be the Master of the Sea), and if the babe is supposed to be Monica, the only Caucasian female in the cast,  we're not sure why she's in the mouth of a croc on the poster since she has more to do with the hopping vampires.

Sound bizarre yet? All this combined with, as mentioned, Greek subtitles, makes the viewing experience completely insane. In a very good way. 

The audio is dubbed. The scenes which were added to the existing footage have no real correlation to the rest of the film other than the random appearances of hopping vampires and zombies.

​We follow a group of villagers who are plagued by crocodile attacks and Jack (it should be noted that all the main characters have bland white people names like Donald and Jack), "a man of faith," who is attempting to get to the bottom of all the craziness as well as a group of demonic crocodiles who shift between human and crocodile form and live in a den which seems to exist in some type of alternate dimension beneath the river. 

There is also Monica, the "witch with Freddy Krueger fingers," whose primary spellcasting technique involves waving her hands in a ball-like motion while chanting, "hummahummahummahumma," and sometimes pointing her fingers with an added "dink!" sound effect to summon or dismiss her minions.

​So, basically what I'm saying is I already know my Halloween costume for this year.

 
​The crocodiles are of course incredibly fake looking puppets, and much of the time during attack sequences they don't even open their mouths but simply sway their noses toward victims who scream in chaotic terror. There are a lot of close-ups of croc teeth meant to instill fear. Or hilarity. Villagers seem to fall aimlessly into the water and yet manage to land precisely inside their assailants' jaws, but when rescued later they have no wounds or signs of bleeding.

One crocodile does steal a baby. Why, you ask? Why not?

So what the hell are all these crocodiles doing? Well, Monica decides to work with Cooper, the Master of the Sea World, to take possession of the villagers' souls. Monica reanimates the dead into her vampire minions while Cooper sends demonic crocodiles to make them into one of their own. For some reason we have Jack, too, because Ho needed to add enough extra scenes for a full-length film. And in the midst of all this mayhem is also some romantic drama.

Because let's be real: at the heart of this film is actually a love story. Yes, that's right. Crocodile shapeshifter and human forbidden love. And crocodile shapeshifter-crocodile shapeshifter love. Or something. We think.

 
If you can find a copy of the VHS somewhere, don't hesitate to snatch it up, no matter the subtitle language. 

Video Vortex screenings are held nationwide, so if you're interested in joining the fun then check out your local Alamo Drafthouse.

Have you been lucky enough to see Crocodile Fury? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

​Hey, guys!

Each Friday we’re going to talk about our favorite tidbits of industry news from the week.
​
So, let’s dive in!

​Top on the list, of course, is Sunday’s new series launch of Twin Peaks on Showtime. I haven’t sat down yet to watch (although I’m planning on it tonight), but what I’ve read so far about audience response has been overwhelmingly positive in every aspect hardcore fans would hope for – zany, funny, creepy, amazing music, and generally awesome. We’ll follow the series more closely as it progresses, so stay tuned for deeper thoughts. In the meantime, drop everything you’re doing and go pop that on your television screen!

In other TV series announcements, four others in particular were of note last week:

The first is Jordan Peele’s Lovecraft Country coming to HBO. It’s being marketed as “racially charged” while combining social and horror influences, so we certainly expect this to continue in the vein of the unanimously successful Get Out.

Peele is set to Executive Produce along with J.J. Abrams, but showrunner/lead writer will be Misha Green (also executive producing). The series will be based on the 2016 novel written by Matt Ruff and takes place in 1950’s Jim Crow America featuring main character Atticus on a quest to find his missing father. Lovecraft Country will be anthological, and, according to Deadline, aims to “reclaim genre-storytelling” from the African-American perspective.”

Green is primarily known for creating the television series Underground but has also worked on Helix, Spartacus, Heroes, and Sons of Anarchy.

Fingers remain crossed that Peele and Abrams will at least have some writing and directorial influence, but regardless – it sounds like a recipe for awesomesauce.

​The second, which you can read about in greater detail on our spotlight piece here, is the new Netflix series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. This is a prequel series produced by The Jim Henson Company coming exclusively to Netflix with release date yet to be announced. But there’s some amazing content on their website and a lot to be excited about, so go check it out!

​Third, fans of the 2013 science fiction/action thriller Snowpiercer should be excited! A new series continuation is coming to TNT (an interesting network choice).

Daveed Diggs has been cast as frontman Layton Well. From what we know so far, he, like Chris Evans' character in the film, lives at the back of the train with pet rats and a reliance on Chronole.

For those unfamiliar with the original story, we find ourselves in a post-apocalyptic ice age setting in which survivors have boarded a train which continuously cycles the same year-long track. It’s divided into a social cast system, with the poorest or “lowest” living at the back eating manufactured bars of bug guts while the upper class dine swankly and party in hot tubs. To summarize, anyway.

For people who haven’t seen the film (or haven’t read the French graphic novel), we won’t say much more here other than we highly encourage you to check it out. It was one of my favorite science fiction films of the past few years, and I’m really curious to see which direction they choose to take with the storyline and characters as well as how TNT will handle the graphically violent and incessantly dark nature of the tale.

Fourth, also coming to Netflix is a series based upon the book series, The Witcher, also known by the hugely successful video game franchise, which reportedly follows the novels closely.

Forbes published an interesting article on the announcement with casting choices, which you can read and debate here.

As for my lame, old school PS3-owning ass, I finally have a PC worthy of playing Witcher 2, so I’ll hopefully be getting around to that sometime soon.

In the meantime, what are you guys most excited about for this installment?

​Also this past Thursday, Mondo released some absolutely gorgeous limited edition Labyrinth posters and pins. I wanted to snag one super badly, but of course I missed the window before they sold out. By the time I decided which poster I wanted, at around noon on the only day they were available, both the standard and variant were already gone. Mondo sells like hotcakes! Beautiful, beautiful hotcakes. But check these out if you’re a fan. You might be able to find a resell somewhere.

In science fiction/horror film news, Alien: Covenant opened this week to an underwhelming $36m.

For an extensive analysis or “everything explained” on the film, check out FoundFlix’s breakdown here.

Personally, I wasn’t thrilled with Covenant, but I wasn’t a huge fan of Prometheus either. The best way I can summarize is that to embrace the “new” Alien franchise means a complete rejection of everything we’ve been familiar with in past editions. What does that mean? Well, the most interesting parts of both Prometheus and especially of Covenant have much more to do with AI than of an alien species. For me, it really seems more in line with a longterm science fiction television series than a film franchise. But fans should go see the film and decide for yourselves!

The Gate celebrated it’s 30th anniversary this week. I remember watching this film for the first time ever on a cold, cold Halloween night (yes, even in Texas!) by the fireplace with my awesome horror and sci-fi obsessed mother. It quickly became a favorite. No wonder, since it’s garnished a huge cult following over the years.

Bloody Disgusting published a pretty awesome article on a 3D remake “that was never made” which you can read more about here.
​
The remake was announced in 2009 and was set to be led by Alex Winter of Bill & Ted fame. Check out the Bloody Disgusting article for more detail and images. And in celebration of one of our cult favs, please go buy the blu-ray release from Vestron Video and relive your childhood nightmares!

Our fav dudes from Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, have teamed up to form the horror-comedy production company, Stolen Picture, with their first official project titled, Slaughterhouse Rulez. FINALLY!
​
The plot of the film includes a boarding school and an incident of fracking unleashing deadly effects. Let your imagination run wild with that one! With Pegg and Frost on board, we’re sure it will be fantastically hilarious! You can read more about Slaughterhouse Rulez from Deadline, here.

​Horror icon George A. Romero is shopping around his new zombie flick, Road of the Dead, for financing.

The plot concerns zombie prisoners racing cars on an island to the delight of wealthy humans.
Romero has reportedly handed off directorial duties to Matt Birman, a worthy choice with loads of experience in the genre.

To read more about the film in depth, see Bloody Disgusting’s write-up here.

​For Marvel fans, fear not – the most lovable and adored Tom Hardy has been officially announced to play Venom in the upcoming Spider-Man spin-off from Sony. Not much is yet known about this new spin-off, but The Guardian published a pretty sweet article about why they think Hardy will be amazing, which you can read here.

Director Ruben Fleischer of Zombieland encourages good vibes.

​In event news, the Famous Monsters Convention takes place this Friday-Saturday, May 26th – 28th in good, ole Dalles, Texas. Guests feature: Sarah Karloff (Boris’ daughter), Butch Patrick from The Munsters, Ricou Browning of the infamous Creature from the Black Lagoon (which I grew up watching in 3D glasses with my dad), Diane Franklin, cast members from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Shinji Higuchi (Director of Shin Godzilla and Attack on Titan I & II) and Sean S. Cunningham (writer and creator of the Friday the 13th franchise).

There are also tons of awesome screenings, including Akira, Shin Godzilla, and some lesser known indie flicks, as well as panels with Sarah Karloff, Shinji Higuchi, Sean S. Cunningham, and The Next Generation cast, among others.

The convention also features an amazing build your own lego mini-Godzilla event available throughout the weekend as well as FREE (yes, we said FREE) laser tag. Rest assured, there will be some impressive cosplayers, vendors and photo ops abound as well.

You can purchase tickets and read more about the convention here.

That’s all for this week’s breakdown. Stay tuned next week for more news in review!
​
If there’s something we missed that you’re excited about, please let us know in the comments below!

As soon as I read the announcement this past Thursday morning, I immediately went in search of every detail I could possibly find about the new Jim Henson Company series coming to Netflix.

Every time I got sick as a child, we'd rent The Dark Crystal from the grocery store (because that's where you rented movies in those days) to make me feel better. We finally got it on VHS years later, and it was like finding the Holy Grail. I also remember getting my first VHS of Labyrinth from a family friend, who managed a Blockbuster, because in those days movies weren't as easy to buy. I proceeded to screw up the cover by actually trying to solve the maze with a pen. But anyway. That's another story. 

For me, films like Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal fueled a huge and significant portion of my childhood imagination and fascination. The depth of the worlds, the memorable characters, creatures, voices, and music, the whimsical ornateness of the visuals, the adventure and even haunting, frighthening elements of the stories aren't just watched - they are experienced and cherished. 

On the series' official website, the team has put together a beautiful timeline of the entire Dark Crystal universe, which you can fall in love with here.

Take your time exploring because there are some really amazing photo galleries of characters and Skeksis, urRu and Pod People artifacts as well as behind the scenes footage. There is also an informative timeline tracing the making of the original film from its origins in 1976 to its U.S. premiere in 1982 and UK/France premiere in 1983. If you need to cram for Dark Crystal trivia night, there is also an Encyclopedia and a Glossary.

Look at this awesome artwork!

The 10-episode fantasy-adventure series comes to Netflix as a prequel, taking place many years before the first film, with release date currently unannounced. It will be filmed in the U.K. and will feature fantastic creatures by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop™ and the original film's concept designer, Brian Froud.

The series will be directed by Louis Leterrier (Now You See Me, The Incredible Hulk), a self-professed and passionate fan of The Dark Crystal universe. It will be produced by The Jim Henson Company and executive produced by Leterrier, Halle Stanford and Lisa Henson (Henson's daughter and acting CEO of the company). Writers include Will Matthews (Life in a Year) and Javier Grillo-Marxuach (Lost, The 100), among others.

The involvement of both Lisa Henson and Brian Froud is promising. We know that the Jim Henson Company's influence will keep the new content close to its source material. 

So what's the story?

For those unfamiliar with the timeline of the entire Dark Crystal world, there is a book entitled, The Dark Crystal: The Novelization, written by A.G.H. Smith in 1982 and based upon the script and production notes of the film. It features gorgeous illustrations from Brian Froud and divulges in much greater detail the mythology and history of Thra.
 
Reportedly, Smith gave a draft to Jim Henson, who returned it with 20 additional pages of notes. So we know his input played a large role in the novel's creation. This expanded lore now serves as the foundation of the mythology for The Dark Crystal universe and will be utilized for the new series.
 
In other historiography, the graphic novel series entitled The Dark Crystal: Creation Myths from Achaia Studios Press delves into the origins of Aughra, urSkeks, Skeksis, Mystics, Gelfling, and the Dark Crystal itself.
 
​We read the tale of Aughra's birth and of her son, Raunip, the evolution of her relationship with the Gelfling and their development on the planet, the arrival of the urSkeks, the division into the urRu and the Skeksis, and much more awesomesauce.
 
There is also a continuation of the original film's story, taking place hundreds of years later. Originally planned as a film, it sadly failed after 12 years of development to ever make it to production.  The story did eventually take shape in the medium of a 12-issue comic book series called, The Power of the Dark Crystal. Presumably these might be used to continue the series on Netflix, but we'll have to wait and see!.
 
The existing world timeline presents us with 3 currently known eras: The Age of Innocence, the Age of Harmony, and the Age of Division.
 
Based on this, I'm hypothesizing that this new tale will take place long after the births of Aughra and her son, Raunip, as well as the arrival of the urSkeks. But hopefully, we will at least get to see some cool, albeit perhaps brief, backstory footage on the creation of the Castle of the Crystal and the construction of The Great Observatory, embellishing upon the lore of the original film.

Fan guys and gals, better start swiping up your Dark Crystal memoribilia because with the launch of the new series the original value will grow. I had to snag one of these Kira and Fizzgig Pop!s as well as the hardcover copy of Smith's novel. At Texas Frightmare Weekend, we spotted this gorgeous original poster, and now I'm cursing myself for not snatching it up!

If you're not a part of memoribilia-obsessed nerd culture, no worries. You can simply fantasize about the splendor in anticipation of more news for Age of Resistance!

What are you most excited about for the new series? Let us know in the comments below!

2017 marks my first journey to Texas Frightmare Weekend, but I certainly hope it won’t be my last! With Fantastic Fest 2016, more of a straight forward film festival, having been my only previous exposure to anything similar to a horror convention, I really didn’t know what to expect. What an experience! It’s honestly taken me a few days to process all the input.

This was the convention's 12th year, and it takes place in good ole Dallas, Texas, so near and dear to my heart, at the Hyatt in DFW airport. We were blessed with some gorgeous 70-80 degree and beautifully sunny weather, and this year featured thousands of people from all over the country (well, and world) in attendance.
           
There’s plenty of random IG photos in case you’re interested in what it’s all about. Search hashtag #TFW or #texasfrightmareweekend, and you’re sure to get a load of results. 
           
There were some initial setbacks with the entire Stranger Things cast cancelling and later on in the weekend The Walking Dead group (save for Pollyana McIntosh) as well. Turns out the most likely cause was attendance at the MTV Awards. But attending guests are listed here. For me, personally, Dario Argento and the Fright Night panel were enough to make it worth while. But there were also: Malcolm McDowell, Freddie Highmore, Nestor Carbonell, Danny Lloyd, Michael Berryman, Dee Wallace, and many others. So plenty horror fandom to appreciate!
           
The weekend kicked off with screenings of The Thing at Alamo Drafthouse with cast and crew members Thomas G. Waites, Wilford Brimley and Dean Cundey, and Army of Darkness including a Q&A with Ted Raimi. Time only allowed for us to join one of these, but The Thing in 35mm at Alamo Drafthouse was well worth it to see on the big screen and to witness the group discuss the film and answer audience questions.

Mondo also put out some limited edition posters as well as a board game, THE THING: INFECTION AT OUTPOST 31, for the 35th anniversary screenings. FoundFlix and I got to dabble a bit with the board game at the Mondo table, and we can't wait to pick up a copy. The Thing posters, as well as a few others,  feature a standard and variant. In regard to The Thing, both are gorgeous and wonderfully capture the cold, isolated, tense and pervasive tones of the film. 

Mondo also had amazing poster editions for Phantasm, Halloween II, An American Werewolf in London, Friday the 13th Part 3, Phenomena, and Wes Craven's New Nightmare.

For links to other great recaps of the convention, please skip to Other Media, at the very bottom of this article.

​

• Ran into Amanda Bearse in the ladies’ restroom. Had that awkward moment where I wanted to go over and say, “OMG I love you” and shake her hand, but then realized – we’re in a restroom. This is private time. How would I feel if I was trying to wash my hands and someone came up and did that to me? Instead I smiled at her on her way out, nodded as my line partner said, ”Hope you have a good day – YOU ROCK.” She gave an enthusiastic, “THANK YOU.” She’s also adorable.
• Sitting at the hotel bar proved to be fruitful. We saw Ted Raimi 2 out of 3 nights as well as multiple other celebs. Also had Fouldflix subs come up and spread the love. The last night, we witnessed the Soska Sisters chilling as well as Dario Argento and Udo Kier conversing over beers. It was good times. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in those conversations but *sigh* guess I have some transportation devices to create.
• There were multiple staff members walking about in costumes for photo ops: Mike Myers, Jason, Jack from Nightmare Before Christmas, the Boogeyman, Groot, Freddy Fazbear from Five Nights at Freddy’s, and even more from fans. My most regrettable moment is missing photo op with the GLORIOUS couple who represented Elisabetha and Vlad from Bram Stoker’s Dracula pre-vampire transformation. That’s some serious fan-dedication to detail, and I am in love. Even the Frightmare panel said they couldn’t concentrate while Vlad was looking so good in the back of the room. Let’s not get into my obsession with Dracula here …
• Who doesn’t love people watching? It’s like going to Wal Mart in Mexico (which yes, I’ve done) times 10. We have so many different types of people here for so many different types of things. As an observer, I overheard conversations about typical, run-of-the-mill horror to niche audiences. What matters over all of this – we’re here for a purpose – HORROR. And it was really cool to overhear all the love, admiration, excitement, and giddiness over this common passion.
• The Secret Screening was presented by Unearthed Films. Their rep came into the screening room fully tossed, exclaiming “Aw, fuck yeah!” and bragging about how the screening of the film had caused others to vomit on themselves and pass out. It’s “a SECRET,” he kept insisting. And it’s, “EXPERIMENTAL.” Based on this, I was expecting some pretty shocking shit in the first 15-20 minutes, but instead all we got were incessant voiceovers in a British tone reminiscent of Oliver! “Muh-thah, wheh are you?” … “I’m in the bathroom, Daniel.” But she’s not actually in the bathroom. And then it’s just walking through streets and this weird voiceover shit repeating while he self-mutilates, and he talks about someone he wants to fuck in blood. Or whatever. I don’t know. We honestly lost interest and walked out. But go check those guys out if you want.
• In another bathroom experience, I ran into a fan who confessed her life story/weekend drama to me. I’m one of those people who is constantly greeted with strangers’ secrets. I guess I have that vibe. I don’t know. But when this girl said the highlight of the weekend for her was meeting Freddie Highmore, the bathroom attendant overheard and chimed in that had driven Freddie and the other Bates Motel dudes to the airport. She said they acted like a group of teenage boys who were friends, and it was fun to see them joking around. What a cool experience! And my stranger-friend exited the bathroom feeling wowed.
• While browsing the Full Moon Features booth, Charles Band just happened to be present. We were eyeing the blu-ray collection of Subspecies as a) it’s one of my favs, and b) boyfriend says it’s OOP! So we scooped the last available copy up while Band came up and started discussing his favorite Full Moon films with us. We both ended up with unsolicited autographs – my Subspecies collection and the boyfriend’s Torch doll. And Band also threw in a free copy of Trophy Heads, which we proceeded to watch at home that night along with the original Subspecies. In the Puppet Master panel, Band had mentioned the classics of Full Moon that were genuinely good films – Puppet Master and Subspecies. I think he latched onto this appreciation and wanted to share with us Trophy Heads, which he also directed. Truth be told, I enjoyed this film a lot. The chemistry and acting between Jaqueline Lovell and Denice Duff are incredibly entertaining and worth the watch alone! We wanted to chat with Band about this on Sunday, and I also wanted to get my fantastic Subspecies poster signed, but he was then vacant from the stand. NEXT YEAR!

​For $65 for a standard weekend pass and free parking, it seems like a pretty sweet deal to be exposed to so much awesomeness. Granted, I live in Dallas, so the price of airfare and lodging don’t apply. But if you’re so inclined, it’s a worthy investment full of memories and, maybe more importantly, memorabilia. After all, there’s a reason we love this shit.