I attended my first convention last month. It was the second of three installments of HorrorHound Weekend this year and it took place in Indianapolis, Indiana. I spent the weekend in the company of tremendous friends and various horror heavyweights. I rubbed elbows with the likes of Lance Henriksen, Edward Furlong, Elvira, Ken Foree, Boyd Banks, Eugene Clark, Bill Zebub and even made out with Linda Hamilton. I even had time to squeeze in promotion for my book and this site. It was easily the best weekend of my life!
HorrorHound Weekend isn’t the first horror convention. Back in the eighties, Fangoria magazine hosted an annual Weekend of Horrors. For the 1985 edition, they had a film crew document the event for home video release. Only released on VHS, this has been a hard tape to find. You can purchase a copy online, but some VHS copies run a pretty penny. Just last week while perusing through Goodwill, I hit the jackpot! I found a copy of “Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors” on VHS for only forty-seven cents! Bingo!
After popping in the sixty-minute documentary, I slowly learned that, while this is a fun and breezy watch, it’s not the documentary I was expecting. I was looking for an in-depth breakdown of the events of a horror convention. While Kerry O’Quinn and Mike Hadley do this, they spread a lot of horror clips and interviews with icons throughout. While the interviews play into the convention aspect (the stars are the biggest highlight of any convention), the movie clips are not.
After awhile, “Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors” started turning into promotion for upcoming films (at the time). We got the full trailer for “The Toxic Avenger” and even had a five minute segment devoted to Tobe Hooper’s “Invaders from Mars” remake, which was set for release shortly after this video was released. These can be interesting watches, but play more like special features on a video release. Back then it may have been more revolutionary, but it doesn’t hold up whatsoever nowadays.
What does hold up are the clips from the short films entered in the 16mm contest. Each year, the convention holds a contest where short films from independent filmmakers are shown. Not only do we get to see interviews with them and shots of the awards presentation, but O’Quinn and Hadley grace us with some footage. Seeing clips from short films such as “It’s Not Just for Ice Cream Anymore” and “Night Watch” is a pure delight! As is hearing the thoughts and adulations from the filmmakers themselves!
Another special feature-esque segment would be the interviews with special makeup effects juggernauts such as Rick Baker and Stan Winston. These fare a bit better than the promotional clips I mentioned earlier as they do give insight into how things are done. Once again, not entirely in line with the feel of the documentary, but a nice little nugget of information. All of the interviewed celebrities either grew up loving horror and science fiction or have grown fond of it, so they feel like fans attending the convention!
The biggest disappointment with “Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors” is the lack of fan interaction. While there are interviews with fans sprinkled throughout, I would have preferred seeing more. They’re the heart and soul of the convention and quite a few are showcasing their talents. One lady in particular made her own Freddy Krueger mask that’s magnificent! More time devoted to her would have been greatly appreciated! At the very least, O’Quinn and Hadley wanted to show that horror fans aren’t freaks of nature by having them announce their “normal” job careers (such as teachers, cops, tax consultants, retail managers, etc.) and praise their love of horror and fantasy, not mock it!
“Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors” is a joyous watch, but there’s so much more that could have been done. A lot of the movie clips feel like padding, which is unfortunate considering that time could have been devoted to more footage from the convention. There was over forty-eight hours of footage they had. This was the best they could find? If you stumble upon a copy of this documentary, I’d recommend picking it up. Just don’t go putting down a huge sum of money for a copy.
Final Rating: B-