Fangoria Weekend of Horrors 2009: Just Not for Us Anymore

Eric Diaz’s take:

The first time I attended Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors Convention was way back in 1991 when I was 16 or so. The horror movie genre was in a weird place at that time; the 1980’s were the glory years of horror for sure, but by the end of that decade the Freddys, Michaels, and Jasons had burnt themselves out. Sure, Silence of the Lambs (kind of a horror flick?) had just won the Oscar for best picture, but it seemed in the early 90’s like the best days of horror were over. The convention goers at that 1991 Con were mostly a lot of dudes wearing Megadeth T- shirts and greasy long hair, but these were the horror die-hards, the kind of guys you knew in high school who had pin ups from Fangoria and Gore Zone of special effects blood and guts instead of naked chicks selling beer. But even though the con was filled with mostly those guys, it wasn’t only those guys. There was still room for people of all shapes and sizes who liked horror flicks.

Well, flash forward to the 2009 Weekend of Horrors Con at the LA Convention Center. Now it seems the only people going to this thing are those guys who wore the Megadeth shirts, although now it’s a Rob Zombie shirt instead. The long greasy hair has in many cases been replaced by a shaved head and tats, but it’s really all the same idea in the end. It was kind of a sad site seeing how few attendees there were at this convention. True, I’ve been spoiled by the San Diego Comic Con, with its 125,000 plus attendees. But I realize that is an unfair comparison, since there really is no other Convention that even comes close to San Diego in terms of size and scope. No, I guess I was hoping more for a Wizard-World-like atmosphere, nothing huge, but still something of an event. Upon our arrival at the Convention Center there were so few people I actually wasn’t sure we were even in the right place. But this was indeed what a Fangoria Weekend of Horrors was like in 2009.

We hit the dealer’s room that, although pretty cool, was also pretty small. You can pretty much hit the whole thing in less than half an hour; depending on how much money you are there to spend. Needless to say, my spending budget was zero, so it was a quick trip. But like any dealers room at one of these cons, cool shit can be found if you just know how and where to look.

I was hoping to go to more celebrity panels, always the highlight of any convention for me. But the only real celebrity panel I got to attend was the Hellraiser reunion panel, with Clive Barker speaking along with “Pinhead” Doug Bradley and original film star Ashley Laurence. I’ve got to admit this hour long panel was a real treat, as Barker is really fun to listen to. There was a nice symmetry to seeing Clive at this Con, as his panel was the first one I saw way back at the ’91 convention. He was as witty and fun to listen to now as he was back then, although now he sounds a bit like Marge’s sisters on The Simpsons, but after another few hundred thousand cigarettes. Apparently he’s had some polyps removed from his throat, hence the permanent obscene phone caller voice. I know this because in true Convention fashion, some fan (probably with Asperger’s Syndrome) got up to the mike and asked “hey man, so like, what’s up with your voice?” making everyone uncomfortable and slightly embarrassed. Wouldn’t be a true convention Q&A without one of those.

Finally, we capped off the Con by witnessing the triple threat finale of The Costume Contest, The Tattoo Contest, and finally, The Fangoria “Spooksmodel” Contest.  The Costume Contest was pretty fun, although there were probably more underwhelming outfits than great ones (and if by some chance you happen to read this: Whoever came dressed up as Fatso from Killer Klowns from Outer Space, you were totally robbed. You shoulda won. Just sayin’). The Tattoo Contest seemed to me like a “why bother?” Sure, there were some impressive tats to be seen, but it feels like it was pandering to the Fangoria demographic’s fashion aesthetic and had nothing really to do with horror movies. If you are gonna have one of these, why not have a “You’re Too Fat For That T Shirt” contest at the next comic convention? Same logic applies. Finally, we got to the magic moment, The Spooksmodel contest. Apparently being the Fangoria Spooksmodel consists of being a hot chick who likes horror and can perform some act that amuses and/or titillates the typical horror obsessed male fan. They can be a difficult audience to please, to be sure. Of the ten contestants, some were embarrassing, some were amusing, and several were both.

And so we came to the end of our Weekend of Horrors adventure, which turned out to be more of a just a Saturday of Horrors as we didn’t come back for seconds on Sunday. I’ve gotta say, I’m glad the con exists still, even though it does seem like a shadow of its former self. I love the horror genre as much as I ever did, but now this con seems more cliquey than ever, more like a club meeting than a convention. I don’t have any tats or piercings, I don’t just wear black at all times, nor do I have long hair or a shaved head. Nor am I a woman with enormous fake breasts. And because of this fact, I was given looks like I was an outsider from more than one person, even though I’ve owned John Carpenter’s Halloween on VHS, Laser Disc, DVD AND Blu-ray. Does this mean I’m not part of the club anymore, just because I don’t wear the uniform? This might have been the only real horror I came away with this weekend.

Conner S. Che’s Take:

By three o’ clock in the afternoon I was sprawled out on a table in the outside dinning area of the L.A. Convention center. I wasn’t tired, though the Southern California heat was less than tolerable that day. No, I was at the moment immobilized by the panicking concern that I had absolutely nothing to write about. The moment Eric and I arrived at the convention I knew that the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors was at the very least aptly named – it was going to be a horrifying experience. (I know it’s a crap pun, please forgive me)

We met up with friends and fellow journalists from mondocelluloid.com, Shannon and Andy Roberts and set off to explore the dealer’s floor. The floor was half the size of a high school gymnasium and had the same smell of sweat, disappointment and testosterone. It might have been small but surely its quality would make up for its diminutive size!… or maybe not. There were the pre-requisite booths that every convention by law must have: Suicide Girls, t-Shirts, and posters booth, a booth with a porn star with preposterous sized breasts and Celebrity Signings. I went over to the celebrity signing section and noticed a sign that read “Corey Feldman”, but there was no Corey Feldman to be found. Where the fuck was Corey Feldman? Was there something more important he had to do than sell his signature for twenty dollars a pop? This was a question that was left unanswered.

The last time I was at Fangoria, about a year ago, there were a multitude of independent filmmakers with booths trying to achieve some grassroots exposure for their passion project. This year there was a serious lacking of talkative filmmakers. There was, however, an abundance of scowls. It was as if they saw our press passes slapped on our chest as signs that we were interlopers sent to poke fun and insult. I felt as if I accidentally wandered into a goth club dressed in all white and wearing a Wham! T-shirt. The press badge felt a little heavier as we left the floor to attend the Hellraiser reunion panel.

Clive Barker was by far the highlight of the convention. I remember watching the introduction on the VHS release of his 1990 film Night Breed and he looked so young and brash as he looked into the camera and said that the film presented was new and different in the genre of horror – a bold statement spoken from the perspective of a youth. In the medium-sized convention hall, Clive Barker walked onto stage as an elder statesman of the horror world. Of course, Doug Bradley (who played Pinhead) was also in attendance and so was Ashley Laurence (who played Kristy and who still looked as attractive as she did back in 1987, but with a better hair style). I was a little disappointed that Andrew Robinson (who played Kristy’s father, Larry) wasn’t there but it was mostly because I loved him as Garak on Deep Space Nine. The three spent an hour fielding questions from the moderator and reminiscing about the creation of the film. Ashley Laurence recalled a pep talk and demonstration by Clive about how the maggots were totally safe because her flesh wasn’t rotted right before they showered her with the creatures. It was pretty much your standard panel until Clive Barker struck on something that actually summed up the entire event for me. Clive was asked about a possible Hellraiser remake. The question was jeered by the crowd of attendees. Clive, ever eloquent, made an impassioned plea stating that artist should look the future and create something new instead of rehashing the past. He ended his answer by sternly speaking the words, “No more remakes!” to a roaring crowd.

Of course, away from the haze of a convention, we all know the truth. The truth is that Hellraiser will be remade with or without Clive Barker’s involvement and there isn’t a person that can do a damn thing about it. The truth is the studios have gone too far with remakes and artists should look to the future, but there is also a underlining truth that a convention like Fangoria is not for fans who want to live in that future. Fangoria is for those who want to relive the past. They cannot conceive of a future remake of Hellraiser being any good because it won’t be what they saw when they were a child. We are all are guilty of it, but the fans of Fangoria seem to be fortifying the walls of the convention center against the onslaught of a world who had passed them by.

After the panel we decided to go back to the floor to kill some time before the contests that would round out the day’s festivities. We paused for a second at the lobby of Fangoria and the whole place seemed devoid of life even though the convention hadn’t ended yet. We went home that night and discussed why the convention this year seemed less like Fangoria and more like Ghetto Con. It could have been the economy or the lack of organization by the event planners or maybe it was time marching on. I did have to defend the people who attended the show when conversation such as these devolved into slamming the show, as these conversations inevitably must (I also took part in the slamming too; I’m not a fucking saint). There were fans that looked like they had waited all year for this one event; not Wizard World, not Comic Con International, not the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo, but Fangoria. The goth kids and tattooed rockabillies and punks have adopted Fangoria as a home; a place they can congregate in comfort and ease in what they love away from the prying eyes of the rest of the world. It’s a place for them now and it’s OK that it is. It’s just not for me anymore and that’s going to have to be OK too.