HorrorHound
is sponsored by the magazine of the same name and is growing as a convention
every year. Parking was nigh impossible this year and the halls in the dealer’s
room were warm and impassible. I’m much more into comics than straight horror,
but I attended last year with my friend Rob and we had a blast. This year we
went again, along with Rob’s fiancée Lisa. If anything it was even more fun.
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John Noble of Fringe and LOTR |
We
started out in the main celebrity room, where the stars and crowds gathered.
This room held the most popular visiting celebs, such as folks from The Walking Dead, the Daredevil TV show and numerous old
horror/slasher flicks. Rob was there for one reason—(well, two reasons really)
to meet Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. We both loved Cassandra Peterson’s look
and persona, and admired someone who could make a living for over 35 years with
a look inspired by Vampira and two other assets, which you can probably guess.
Of all the celebrities, Elvira’s line was the longest by far. That was
surprising to me; probably not many people under 40 even know who she is. However,
there were men, women, groups and families waiting patiently for hours to meet
her, get an autograph and/or get a photo with her. There were masses of adults
and kids dressed like her. We skipped her line for now, hoping it would die
down later in the day.
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Jon Bernthal |
I
went over to meet actor Jon Bernthal, who was a freak. He has had a busy career
as an actor with a reputation for intensity. He has portrayed characters in The Walking Dead, L.A. Noir and is presently playing Marvel anti-hero The Punisher in
season two of Daredevil, which hit
Netflix on March 18. I love the Punisher and hoped he had some Punisher photos.
He did:
Bernthal’s
line went relatively quickly. He and his assistants had a small Sony boombox
set up with music blasting to discourage conversation. The dark-bearded Bernthal
was dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, with dark sunglasses and a baseball cap
cocked a few degrees to the right. When posing for pictures with fans, time
after time he did the Fonzie “thumbs up” motion, which was weird. I
didn’t get a picture with him, but when he was signing my Punisher photo I told
him I was a big Punisher fan and looking forward to watching the show. He just
said, “I hope you enjoy the performance,” and I was out of there.
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Scott Wilson |
I
then walked over to meet Scott Wilson. Most people know him as Hershel from The Walking Dead, but Wilson has had a
50-year career as a character actor, appearing in the original In the Heat of the Night, In Cold Blood and dozens of other
classic Hollywood films. I didn’t get a photo or autograph, but just chatted
with him a moment about his work while the lines were short. I asked about the
film In Cold Blood, starring him and
the infamous Robert Blake. He said, “Oh, now you’re going back a ways,” as if
he was surprised anyone recognized him further back than The Walking Dead. I asked if they really filmed the movie, based a
book by Truman Capote about the murders of a Midwestern family, in the places
where the actual events happened. He didn’t really answer, saying something
about Capote writing a brilliant novel and the film just following the novel. In
the middle of our talk, a family wheeled up a disabled young man in a
stroller-type chair to meet Scott. He
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Scott with a Disabled Fan |
instantly went over to greet the boy,
high-fived his brother and posed for pictures with the entire family. He made
that kid feel like a million bucks. He then came back to me and we finished our
conversation. How exemplary, I really respected that.
Next,
into the dealer’s room. The room had rows and rows of dealers, selling
everything from edgy art to music to magnets, dolls, movies and masks, all with
a bloody horror theme. Some items were not for the easily offended. There were
also some celebrities set up in there, such as German actor Richard Sammel
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Booth from the Dealer's Room |
from
The Strain, and Stephen McHattie and
William Forsythe from a million different movies. I wanted to tell Mr. Sammel
how much I enjoy his role as an evil vampire monster on The Strain, but I was afraid he would suck out all my blood and throw
my body in a ditch. We saw Seth Gilliam from The Walking Dead introduce himself to William Forsythe, which was
cool. Gilliam is such a good actor you just want to punch him in the face for
being quite the convincing jerk on television. We somehow restrained ourselves.
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The X-Files Panel |
The
only panel I attended was the X-Files
panel. The actors really couldn’t say much—the miniseries has finished and
further episodes are planned but not scheduled. I did ask actor Mitch Pileggi
if he better enjoyed playing heroes like FBI Director Skinner on X-Files or villains such as his neo-Nazi
character on Sons of Anarchy (not an
original question, I admit). He said he enjoyed the variety, but pointed out
his SOA character eventually came
around to being a good guy. Uh, sorry to disagree, but the character had a swastika
tattooed on his chest. Not sure how that qualifies him as anything but a tool.
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Elvira Signing |
At
the end of the day we tried Elvira’s line again. It was still the longest in the
house and she was just getting back from a break. I wanted to get an autograph,
but Rob’s dream was to get a photo with her. The line went quickly, but when
we neared the front, one of the con volunteers announced that Elvira’s eyes
were getting tired because of all the camera flashes and she wasn’t taking any
more photos with fans. Rob was crushed! When we got up to her, she was in full
Elvira makeup, the jet-black wig and deep-cleavage black dress. She looks
fantastic, especially for being in her 60s. We still got autographs. I told her
I liked her in Pee Wee’s Big Adventure—she
played a biker chick, not Elvira—and she reminded me there is a new Pee Wee
movie on Netflix. “I’m not in it,” she said with a pouty, mock sadness. “His
loss,” I remarked just as sarcastically. “I’ll tell him that,” she said with a
smile. Rob is a big pinball guy and owns several pinball machines (nights at
his house are infinitely entertaining) and asked her about the licensed Elvira
pinball machine. She said she used to have one but never played it. Too bad, Elvira
playing Elvira pinball would make for a fun picture.
Despite
Rob’s crushing disappointment at not getting a photo taken with the Mistress of the
Dark, we went home happy and I took tons of photos. Speaking of which ...
This
year’s cosplay was the best ever. Here are some examples.
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A Demon Angel? |
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Back of the Demon Angel |
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Twins from The Shining |
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The couple that plays together ... |
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A Happy Happy Clown |
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A very young Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy |
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Some ... Green Chicks? |
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A snatch of Elviras |
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Presenting the Mad Max Family |
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A good 10-foot Demon costume |
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Creative Witches |
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Getting a huge Dragon costume upstairs |
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The Dragon completed. Probably 15-feet tall. |
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A cross-dressing Kali
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Except
for the parking problems and Elvira’s aging eyes, we had a great time at this
year’s HorrorHound. I’m sure we’ll head back next year!
"A snatch of Elviras"? Really, sir? Really?
ReplyDeleteDon't blame me! Is it worse than a murder of crows? Memes have to be started somewhere ... :)
ReplyDeleteThis looks fun! A bit gross, but way entertaining!
ReplyDeleteYou've hit the nail on the head, Liz!
ReplyDelete