The Texas Frightmare Weekend is a three day horror convention event which takes place annually in the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex. True to its motto, “The Southwest’s Premier Horror Convention”, their goal is to provide fans with an unrivaled experience by celebrating all aspects of genre films. Texas Frightmare Weekend hosts celebrity appearances, autograph signings, screenings, exclusive parties and horror memorabilia vendors from all over the country. The event is also extremely proud to have featured the rising talents of many Texas “Frightmakers” in screenings, panel discussions and Q & A’s.
Since age 12, I have loved horror movies. I used to be terrified of them when I was much younger, what kid isn’t but when one of my friends tried to convince me that they weren’t real, he proceeded to put “Poltergeist” in his VCR and came to the point in the movie where the guy is in the bathroom and begins to slowly pick his face apart until all the flesh is lying in the sink and there’s only a partial skull remaining. He paused the movie right there and moved it forward, one frame at a time and suddenly, watching the scene progress from this new point of view, wasn’t scary any more as it didn’t look real and thus, my fear of scary movies abdicated and a new-found love of this genre, one that was unfamiliar yet intriguing, took its place.
In today’s volatile film-making climate, if you want to produce a movie that you hope will make money, the horror genre is your best bet. You could make a really good drama filled with Oscar-worthy performances and the odds are, it will never see the light of day, outside of some family members and friends. Or you could make a horror film, where conventions like the Texas Frightmare Weekend, will allow you, as a vendor, to participate, set up your own stall and shine a light on your movie so that the rest of the world will be made aware of its existence. As far as I know, there is no Texas Drama Weekend and if there was, I highly doubt there would be much of a turnout.
I actually came across an ad online a while back which was promoting the Texas Frightmare Weekend at which point, I decided to check them out. Realizing what the event was comprised of and the amount of celebrities from the world of horror and suspense that would be appearing, and the fact that this was their 10th year in existence, I made it my mission to attend this year, for my very first time. I reached out to Loyd Cryer, the founder and owner of Texas Frightmare Weekend and he was so gracious in giving me some Press Passes to attend the event. And boy, what an event it was.
There were celebrities such as Skeet Ulrich and Neve Campbell (“Scream”), Malcolm McDowell (“A Clockwork Orange”), Kim Coates (“Sons of Anarchy,” “Silent Hill”), Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, Brad Dourif (“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, “Child’s Play”) and many, many more.
There were vendors selling horror-themed T-shirts, movies, hand-crafted memorabilia, props, artist’s paintings, drawings, sketches and so much more. Then you had booths set up with all of the various celebrities. You could bring your own item for them to sign or you could choose one of the many photos they already possessed and they would sign them for you and then you could have your photo taken with them. There were so many people I would have loved to meet but with such a huge event and so many attendees, in order to meet them all, you would literally have to take advantage of the event’s full three days in order to do so. I only had one day so I made the best of the time I had.
I had the opportunity to meet Kim Coates, a terrific character actor who has been around since the 1980s and who made his very first impact on me as one of the bad guys in the Bruce Willis actioner, “The Last Boy Scout.” Mr. Coates was also seen in “The Client,” “Waterworld,” “Black Hawk Down,” “Pearl Harbor” and most recently, “Sons of Anarchy.” He was in terrific form and genuinely seemed to love meeting his fans and meeting him was one of the highlights of my day.
The other highlight was when I had the opportunity to meet Robert Rusler. He, like Mr. Coates, is an actor who has been around since the 1980s and appeared in such iconic movies as “A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge” and the John Hughes comedy, “Weird Science,” in which he co-starred alongside Robert Downey Jr. Mr. Rusler was another celebrity who genuinely appeared to be enjoying himself and as I posed with him for my photo op, my friend Brian, who seemed to be taking forever to get the shot, left Mr. Rusler and I with big, stupid fake grins on our faces, much to everyone else’s amusement at which point, after finding out I was Irish, proceeded to sing Danny Boy in my ear. If only he knew how much I hated that song!
There was a reunion with the cast of the aforementioned “A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge” including the film’s director Jack Sholder and the main cast which consisted of Mark Patton, Robert Rusler, Kim Myers and Marshall Bell. Unfortunately, Mr. Krueger himself, Robert Englund was not present. They sat on stage and talked about the movie 30 years later and the impact its had on fans and horror movie buffs in general. The questions were then opened to the audience.
While waiting for the cast and crew reunion of “Phantasm,” Brian and I walked into the auditorium where Victoria Price, Vincent Price’s daughter and author of ‘Vincent Price: A Daughter’s Biography,’ related stories from her father’s life that have inspired her to continue sharing both his cinematic legacy and his passionate philosophy of life. I only caught the last half of this event and by the time it was over, I wished I had attended it from the very beginning. I always liked and admired Vincent Price but listening to Ms. Price talk about him not just as an actor but also as her father and friend, gave me a new-found respect for him as she shared many of her memories of him via photographs and old home movies.
Right after, was the “Phantasm” reunion with the cast and crew including the series’ creator and director of the first four movies, Doc Coscarelli, David Hartman, the director of “Phantasm: Ravager,” which will be released this year and the cast of the first film in the series including A. Michael Baldwin, Bill Thornbury, Reggie Banister, Kathy Lester and the Tall Man himself, Mr. Angus Scrimm, to which he received a standing ovation. Mr. Scrimm also paraphrased some of the Tall Man’s most famous lines which the audience loved.
There were also movie screenings throughout the weekend including “Wolfcop” (you can read my review here), “Gutterballs 2,” “Dreadtime Stories,” “Bloodsucking Bastards,” “Sacrament” and “Killing Mr. Right.” For horror enthusiasts like myself and my friend Brian Hardin who attended the event with me, we were in heaven. Both of us grew up watching and loving horror movies, good and bad and being to walk around this event which was devoted entirely to that genre, made me wonder why I had never attended this or indeed, any other similar-themed event before. But one thing is for certain, I will most certainly be returning next year and you never know, seeing that my nickname is Fred, a moniker that was bestowed upon me in college because of my love for everything Elm Street, I might just appear in character. Or not. We’ll see.
