February 13, 2005

Fangoria Weekend Of Horrors @ the Chiller Theatre Jan. 2004

Well, well. So, it appears that for this Fango event, they’ve partnered up with the Chiller theatre to bring this years Weekend Of Horror’s convention. Hmm… Honestly, as cool as this sounds at first, I was saddened by the move from the Brooklyn spot. Being from New York, I obviously enjoy being close to home. Plus, there’s certain things I enjoy about the Chiller cons (vendor’s, tents, etc.) and the Fango cons (panels, previews, free signings) separately. The idea of combining them seemed like I would lose the majority of things I loved about the Fango cons. But hell… this show involved a FRIDAY THE 13TH reunion. And with the buzz over the upcoming DVD box set, I was excited to meet a lot of people on hand.

The good? The guests, just as with every Fango con, were top notch. I was thrilled to meet the latest Leatherface Andrew Bryniarski, JEEPERS CREEPER’s Jonathan Breck, and Jennifer Rubin. Everyone was very approachable and although my buddy Ian monopolized most of the conversations while I paid for the autographs, we had a great time talking to everyone. Of course, the highlight was meeting various cast and crew members from the FRIDAY THE 13TH films. Amy Steel and Lar Park Lincoln were two that I really wanted to meet for years. Betsy Palmer was an absolute sweetheart, taking multiple pictures with me to make sure I got a good one. And Adrienne King rarely makes appearances, so I knew this would be special. The bad? Well, getting into the FRIDAY room was at least an hour wait. And when we did get in there, it was every person for themselves. It took a while to actually meet everyone in the room. And we missed some of the actors because they were talking at the panels. Problem number two? The panel room. It was so packed that we were unable to get in there at all during the day. I LOVE watching Fango’s trailer show and their panels. But this go round, I was denied. Overall, I had an amazing time. With Fango, I always walk away feeling I got my money’s worth and we met so many fantastic and nice people in the span of one day. Here’s hoping to Fangoria’s return to New York!  – Rob G.