The
summertime always seems to be a great time for horror fans, with all sorts of
conventions and events happening all over the Midwest
and surrounding areas. This past weekend Days of The Dead returned to Indy for
what I believe was the second time. This convention boasted celebrity guests
such as Roddy Piper, Tom Savini, John Waters, Ace Frehley, Gunner Hansen, Bill
Moseley, John Kassir, Felissa Rose and much more.
Being of
little monetary means,We were only able to attend on Saturday. Fortunately for us,
everyone seemed in high spirits and seemed to be genuinely having a great time.
Usually our goal when we first arrive at a convention is to get a lay of the
land. Being veterans of Indy’s Horror Hound Weekend, we had a general idea of
how these things are ran. So we started off in the main room, walking around
checking out all the celebrities in passing and all the vendor booths we could.
Inisially we thought the convention was rather small, but to our surprise there
was another room dedicated mostly to vendors, (which is my favorite part of
conventions) this room was filled to the brim with posters, memorabilia,
artwork, and bootleg DVD's!
After we
got a general lay of the land we decided to attend the original Leatherface
panel featuring the first 3 actors whom played the notorious Leatherface in the
original 3 Texas Chainsaw Massacre films. The panel was head up by Spider One
(aka Michael Cummings) of Powerman 5000 fame and Rob Zombie’s younger brother.
Spider was the MC of sorts fielding questions from the audience as well as
asking a few of his own. All questions we directed toward the 3 original
Leatherfaces’ (Gunner Hansen, Bill Johnson, and R.A. Mihailoff) as well as the
new comer Sam McKinzie whom plays Young Leatherface in the upcoming Texas Chainsaw
Massacre 3D. The panel was great and shed some insight into some issues with
filming these movies as well as small stories from the sets.
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| (Left - Right) R.A. Mihailoff, Bill Johnson, Gunner Hansen, Sam Mckinzie & SpiderOne |
After we
left the TCM panel we made are way through the convention once more having fun
taking pictures with fans in costumes, talking briefly to some of the celebrity
guest and even taking some time for photo ops with a few of them as well. See
pictures below. We got a chance to talk with a lot of people. John Kessir was
very friendly initiating the conversation with the voice of the Crypt Keeper
from the TV series Tales From The Crypt. Also Felissa Rose of Sleepaway Camp,
and Return to Sleepaway Camp was/ is probably the sweetest woman we have ever
met. She was very personable with everyone that walked up to her table, and was
an all around sweetheart she even said we were cute!
This
convention was really fun, but it did have some down falls. The most notable
disappointments were the last minuet losses of Danny Trejo, and Derek Mears.
These things are to be expected in the world of conventions, but it was still a
bummer. Danny had last minute call to the set of Sons Of Anarchy, and Derek
unfortunately lost his mother. Derek and his family are in our thoughts and
prayers as he deals with the difficult loss. The other thing we kept noticing
what that some of the events and panels seemed to be kind of thrown together
and or unorganized. That was unfortunate since some of the event could have
improved tremendously if they would have run a bit smoother.
Regardless,
We still had a great time and can not wait for Days of The Dead to return next
year. Come back on Friday for another movie review! Also this Friday we will be
going to Terror in the Aisles 11 in Chicago
for a Clive Barker Triple Feature with Hellraiser, Candyman, and the NEW
extended cut of Nightbreed (Cabal Cut), so keep your eyes peeled for coverage
and photos of that. For more information on that and Days of the Dead Weekend
please visit Days Of The Dead and Terror in The Aisles.
