Sunday, June 24, 2007

Texas Frightmare Weekend 2007: photo gallery

All things dark and bloody.

By John P. Meyer

I'm not going to pretend: some journalistic assignments are tough, nail-biting, insomnia-producing affairs that require a reporter to enter into uncomfortable situations and delve into the kind of material he'd just as soon never have known about.

This wasn't one of them.

Saturday afternoon at the 2nd annual Texas Frightmare Weekend was a frackin' blast, folks. Organizer (and parts professional) Loyd Cryer has pulled together a great sensory overload entertainment packed with horror film paraphenalia and more recognizable creepshow luminaries than you can shake an axe handle at.

One small caveat: the hall was a bit warm. You might find yourself working up a sweat. I guess when you cram hundreds of horror fans into the confines of such a space (a hallway and two big meeting rooms, in addition to the screening room), it overloads the cooling capabilities of the place. Tough on the pancake makeup, though.

So I ducked into the darkened (and much cooler) screening room to take in some previews of shows coming to DVD. Reps from both Anchor Bay (Hatchet; Behind the Mask) and VCI (The Stitcher) were on hand to run clips of their latest productions and answer questions from the enthusiastic (dare I say bloodthirsty?) viewers. At one point in the digital presentation, a reincarnated zombie hatchet dude twists the head clean off some poor shlub; when the noggin parted from the neck and the blood fountain gushed forth, people in the auditorium actually CHEERED. (It was that kind of crowd.)

I've got to say, the VCI folks have it all over Anchor Bay in the colorful nomenclature department: shortly after touting an "exhumed edition" of Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (crowd applause) they mentioned another forthcoming opus called Dead Girls Don't Say No (riotous applause).

The media facilities in the Omni Dallas Park West Hotel are pretty impressive - not sure how much of the Frankenstein's lab of video/audio gear was already resident and how much Loyd's crew brought in for the event, but in any case there was a dude running the centralized mixing board and repositioning cameras all through the presentation.

The atmosphere of the hall was buoyant and upbeat; even the security blokes were courteous and helpful. I was made to feel like everyone in the house was actually glad to see me, and I'm betting this had something to do with pre-event staff orientation (well done, Loyd!). Furthermore, the parking was managed better than at any volume event I've attended in ages, with radio-connected crew steering arrivals to the best open spots.

Anyway, enough talk: have a look at the photo gallery for some of the sights at the show.

And if you're reading this before noonish on Sunday (June 24), head on over. You'll have several hours to check out the craziness before something wicked that way goes.

Related stories

• AFI Dallas teams with Texas Frightmare Weekend for Night of the Living Dead 40th anniversary gala at the Inwood (Jan. 29, 2008)
• Movie review: The Orphanage (El Orfanato) (Jan. 11, 2008)

See more stories in:

• Arts > Movies / Film > Film Festivals > Texas Frightmare

Comments

Chad Jones Staff

When planning a horror convention, I feel it's your first responsibility to ask "Hey, is Clint Howard available?"

1 year, 5 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )