Showing posts with label Tom Savini. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tom Savini. Show all posts

Friday, May 9, 2014

Texas Frightmare Weekend 2014: Day Three


If Saturday is the best day of TFW, then Sunday is the worst day - because it's the last! But I still managed to pack in a whole new group of memories and experiences.
 
One of the first things I see that day are a couple of great Jigsaw puppet costumes, complete with red tricycle. The kid was seriously adorable.
 

 
I still needed to get Tom Savini to sign my Dawn of the Dead poster, but he wasn't at his table yet, so I took the opportunity to do a few quick laps around the rooms and commit to some of the swag I wanted to get. One booth had a plethora of 11x17 available for the best deal, and it took me a while but I finally picked out the four I wanted: Child's Play, Return of the Living Dead, The Omen, and Shaun of the Dead.
 

 
Speaking of The Omen, at the booth next to the one with the posters is another booth that does original t-shirt designs. And they have an Omen t-shirt! As one of my bestest horror movie buds, I had to have it. Thank you again to the vendor for this awesome shirt!
 
 
And here's just some more random cool artwork and costumes!






 
I saw my friends again when I went back to go meet Tom Savini, and as my photographer she got some great pictures of him signing my Dawn of the Dead poster. For some reason, Savini still made me nervous as hell, though, and Heather actually tells him that I am scared to death of him! It's true, I don't know why. It actually broke the ice a little bit for me, good thing! I told him what a wonderful job I thought he did with the Night of the Living Dead remake and he seemed very appreciative. Our pictures are a little fuzzy but I don't care.
 




 
I don't have a picture or anything but it was around this time that I decided that I have to at least talk to Sharni Vinson, and tell her how much I loved You're Next. What a darling! She asked me what I thought of A.J. Bowen and when I tell her that I love him too and he's one of my new favorites, we just end up gushing over him, and also Ti West, Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard, and Joe Swanberg. She tells me that I absolutely have to see The Sacrament, which I had forgotten was coming out around this time. Will do, Sharni! Thank you for the reminder, and thank you for being so sweet!
 
As I'm hanging around the Terminator area of the floor, I get to be almost front and center for one of those wonderful candid convention moments. Robert Patrick was having fun getting on the microphone and announcing the other guests - "On the floor we have Scott Wilson, one of the greatest living actors!" "Michael Biehn, star of THE TERMINATOR!" and then he says "Also on the floor we have Linda Hamilton! Star of... KING KONG LIVES!" Apparently Linda didn't like that, and I got this great video of her running after Robert and pushing him around. I can't seem to get my iPhone videos to load on here, but Texas Frightmare Weekend shared it on their Facebook page if you want to watch!
 
Now it was time to use my last line skip to meet the one and only Sarah Connor - LINDA HAMILTON! I had thought earlier that it would be cool with me if I didn't end up meeting her, and I am so glad I changed my mind! This woman was awesome!


 
Another great convention moment happened right before it was my turn to meet Linda. Her Children of the Corn co-stars Courtney Gains and John Franklin came over to her table to say hi, so everybody that was nearby got an impromptu Children of the Corn reunion picture! Killer.



 
Sweetheart Linda was of course a joy to meet, all smiles and giving everybody kisses and talking to the fans like she already knew them. TFW can invite her back any time they want, I'm sure everybody else who got to meet her would agree! Loved her to death, and I love the picture I got of us holding up our lady guns.

 

 
My last meeting of the event was with Jen and Sylvia Soska, the Twisted Twins. What awesome chicks! They greeted everyone who came through their line with a big hug and were so nice and easy to talk to. I complimented them on American Mary, and told them how hot it made me for Katherine Isabelle, which they readily agreed with. I'm pretty sure it was Jen who said that she gave her a lady boner, and I am totally with her on that. Anyway! I chatted with them as quickly as I could, but I really could have talked to them for so much longer about Amerian Mary. I wasn't sure what to expect of the twins before this, and I'm so glad I got the opportunity to meet them and find out. They were sincerely nice and appreciative, and really seemed to be there for the fans. Loved them, I really did, and this was a great final meeting for the convention! Thank you, Twisted Twins!
 

 
 
After this, things were pretty much over. I had some money left so I went over to a vendor table that was selling DVDs for a pretty good price yesterday and an even better price today - 99 cents! I picked out four DVDs, but three of them were multipacks with more than one movie on them, so I really ended up getting 19 full movies for 4 dollars. Badass.
 
 
I also loves me some buttons and FINALLY found some cool ones that I wanted to add to my collection.
 

 
People started packing up and another fantastic convention experience was over. I was actually worried that I wouldn't be as excited about my second convention as I was about my first - PFFT! It was a totally different experience this time around and though there were a few panels that I missed out on, I still could not be happier with all the things I was able to accomplish and all of the amazing people I met - celebrities, vendors, and other attendees.
 
I had promised myself that this year I would make more of an effort to talk to more people, and because I did, it really deepened the convention experience for me. This is something that we can do to connect with other fans, where we can geek out and totally be ourselves and not have to sort of censor what we say sometimes, lest we be judged by non-horror fans. I'm definitely addicted to conventions now, and if anybody wants to find a good one to go to, I really think that Texas Frightmare Weekend is it.
 
Once again, I'd like to give a shout-out to everybody that helped make Texas Frightmare Weekend possible. Everything ran smoothly and it was organized and there was just an aura of fun everywhere you went. Next year will be TFW's tenth convention and I cannot wait to see what they have in store for that celebration! Until 2015, thank you TFW and everybody that attended or was a guest or vendor, for a weekend of pure horror geek bliss!
 
 


Thursday, May 9, 2013

My Experience at TEXAS FRIGHTMARE WEEKEND 2013: Day Three


Boo, last day! I don't want it to end! 

First on the agenda was the Dee Wallace panel. I have so much more love for this woman now! Even before the panel, she was cool. The guy gets on stage to introduce her and first says, "As you can probably tell, I am not Dee Wallace...", and Dee comes out from behind the curtain and yells at him, "Then get the fuck off the stage!" Dee was a good talker, hilarious, and seemed to be having a fantastic time. Love, love, love her. I really need to see Lords of Salem now!










I was terrified that I might have missed my opportunity with Mary Lambert, but thank goodness she was still there on Sunday! I waited until it seemed like I could have some time with her and we ended up chatting for a good five minutes or so, while I geekily complimented her on the awesomeness that is Pet Sematary and asked questions. I believe this was Mary's first convention appearance ever, and she made the comment to me that she was enjoying hearing all the fan's insights (like mine!) to the movie. No doubt this was probably the best encounter I had all weekend, as I have always admired this woman and what she did with Pet Sematary. So happy she took the time to talk with me and gave me a wonderful memory!



More random pictures of the goings on...



Marilyn Burns!


Though extremely cool, these Lament Configuration puzzle boxes,
with glass dome and turntable, were just too rich for my blood!
Still freaking awesome.

My last big event of the weekend was a panel with a true legend - Tom Savini. I got there early to guarantee an awesome seat (second row aisle!) and couldn't wait to hear this man speak. When he was introduced, he just strolled up to the table and said, "What do you wanna know?" People asked great questions that got Savini talking about his influences and inspirations, his experiences on different movies, and just his overall work as a teacher, director, effects master, and actor (Hey, Sex Machine!). One thing that I thought was funny, considering my slightly uncomfortable meeting with him on Friday night, was a story he told he told about another encounter with a fan. He said if you Google his name that one of the first things to pop up is "Tom Savini is a dick" and that that came from a misunderstanding during a fan meeting. He also talked about Lost Boys: The Tribe a little bit, and when he asked the audience if any of us had seen it and several of us said yes (including me), he got this surprised look on his face and said "You have?!" Haha, too funny. This whole panel was just another great memory from the weekend! So glad I was there!






His daughter called him during the panel and we all yelled "Hi" at her.



I had been wandering around these rooms for two days and it wasn't until Sunday that I noticed the Cryptkeeper at the FearNet table. I saw him and said something dorky like, "Oh my god, the Cryptkeeper!" A lady there asked me if I wanted a picture with him. "Hell yes, I do!"


Okay, so one of the coolest things to happen this weekend was these two awesome chicks that I met. A few weeks before the convention, I was looking online for tips and stuff from people who have been to conventions before and I found a video on YouTube from two girls who had just been to 2012's Texas Frightmare Weekend. Say hello to my new friends, Heather and Acacia!


I ran into them a few times throughout the weekend, probably freaking them out at first when I was all "I watched your YouTube video!" Nah, they thought it was cool. Their video gave me some great little tips that I used when I went to TFW and it was awesome that I actually saw them there! Things were winding down kinda early on Sunday, which is when I ran into them again and we hung out for a while, and I went with them while they visited Sean Patrick Flanery's and Jon Bernthal's tables again. 



This was also when I scored a great gift for my friend back home who is also a Walking Dead and Shane fan. I gave Jon my little notebook (that I was using to take notes of every cool thing that happened this weekend) and asked him if he would write "Hi Ashley" for her, which he did and also signed! My friend was beyond happy with her gift and I was happy to do it for her! 



And that's pretty much it! Needless to say, this was THE BEST weekend of my entire life. I have to give a shout out to Loyd Cryer, the creator of Texas Frightmare Weekend, for giving me an absolutely amazing first horror convention experience! Big thanks also go to all the TFW staff, the guests, the vendors, and the attendees! Everybody was nice, courteous, helpful, and fun, and gave me so many great memories. I've already told my bosses at work that I'm taking off the same weekend next year for 2014's Frightmare! Again... BEST. WEEKEND. EVER!!!


Read my DAY ONE experience here!
And here's DAY TWO!

Will I see YOU at Frightmare next year??