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??

My Experience at TEXAS FRIGHTMARE WEEKEND 2013: Day Two

Back on Saturday for the biggest, most crowded day of the event! I still had one big meet and greet to do today because the guy wasn't there Friday night, but mostly it was a day of panels, a movie, looking at awesome artwork at the vendor tables, and taking more sneaky pictures of celebs.

I knew that the line for Jon Bernthal (Shane on "The Walking Dead") was going to be huge pretty much all day and there was so much more I wanted to do, so I had to brave the line right at the beginning of the day. They started lining us up and moving us around a little before 11:00 (when they opened for general admission). So we're waiting there... 11:00 rolls around, then 11:15, 11:30, 11:45 and the line hadn't even MOVED. What's going on? It was around the 11:45 mark that I look up toward the front of the line and Jon walks into the room! He wasn't even there the whole time we were waiting! Thank goodness, now the line can get moving.

Almost there!

Getting closer...

... and closer...

Finally it was my turn and I was surprised that I wasn't nervous at all, even though I flubbed my words a little bit when I was introducing myself. While he was signing my picture, I was finally able to say "I miss Shane so much!", told Jon what a fantastic job he did with the role, and wished him luck with his new show. Jon was such a nice dude (and yes, he looked damn good, too), especially when he stood up to take a picture with me. I had to ask for a hug - Jon just said "Come here, girl" and embraced me with his sexiness. Bliss! So freaking stoked that he was there and that I had such a great meeting with him. We need to do this again sometime, Jon.

Turns out that I got my meeting with Bernthal just in time to catch the "Full Moon Rising" werewolf-themed panel with David Naughton. Dee Wallace was also supposed to be there to represent The Howling, but she opted out of doing it for some reason. I had a prime seat for this panel, and I loved hearing David talk all about his experience making An American Werewolf in London.

Naughton had great stories about working with Rick Baker and getting the prosthetics made; being around real wolves for the scene at the zoo; and shooting in Piccadilly Circus. I had a question I was itching to ask and finally went for it and raised my hand. I said that this movie had the best transformation scene of any werewolf movie (which got a smile and nod from the moderator) and asked David to talk about what it was like filming that particular scene. Can you believe it took six days to shoot it? Great panel!

Once the fun with David was over, I only had an hour until the next panel I wanted to go to, but I was able to fill that time quite nicely, as subsequent pictures will show.

I took a sneaky picture of Nick Gomez (Tomas from "The Walking Dead").

 I saw some killer artwork.

I also saw many a mutilated Barbie doll, like these...

... and these...

 ... and these.

If I hadn't been wondering how I would get it home safely,

I would have totally snagged this amazing poster for The Thing.

 Jason, Freddy, and Leatherface were all kind enough to 

take a picture with me (great costumes, guys!).

 Wish I could've talked to the artists in this corner (if they were

there) because this shit was fracking COOL.

Oh man, I love that Misery one. 

 Norman continued to haunt me.

 Leave the Barbies alone, people! This is just wrong!

But also totally funny.

 Goshdarnit, Norman, why do continue to break my heart?!

(He also tweeted a picture of this doll, so I was all "Holla!

I totally have a picture of that doll, too!")

 I didn't have time to get into Danny Trejo's ever-growing line,

so I settled for a few sneaky shots.

 Until he noticed me one time and flashed the peace sign at me.

Fuck yeah!

 Dude in a killer Umbrella Corp costume.

Now it was time for one of the most anticipated panels, the Alien reunion with Tom Skerritt (Captain Dallas in Dallas!) and Veronica Cartwright. Tom was a little hard to hear most of the time even though I was pretty close, but Veronica was so animated and funny. Again, lots of great stories from the set of this iconic movie. Tom didn't say as much, but when he did talk he had some really profound and interesting things to say. Veronica also talked about her experience working with Alfred Hitchcock on The Birds as a child. I told myself that I was going to try to make it to at least one panel and one movie while at TFW, and I ended up going to one movie and FIVE panels. This was only number two - three more amazing panels to go!

Tom and Veronica, for your viewing pleasure!

This is when they were signing this little plastic facehugger

that the moderator brought out.

And here I think I got the best picture ever!

The day was still not over! Not as much time for lollygagging now as Danny Trejo's panel (which was officially called "Danny Trejo is Loco") was next, and from the people waiting outside the door for almost an hour, I could tell this panel was going to be packed. Still, I did yet more wandering to get some more sneaky shots of celebs that I didn't personally meet. Celebs like...

 Gary Busey (which is as close to him as I wanted to get)...

 Tom Skerritt again (cute picture!)...

 Lou David...

 Nick Castle...

 ... and Ted White.

Time for Machete! It was indeed a packed house for Danny Trejo's panel, but it sure was a riot! Danny just talked about his life, his time in prison and how he got into movies. He promises that Machete Kills, the sequel, will be ten times more awesome than the first movie. Yes! Danny is in real life exactly how I expected him to be - easy going, funny, and just a guy out to have a good time. He made the audience laugh a lot ("Machete don't text!") and it was a joy just to sit there and listen to him. Love you, Danny!

Whew, what a day. After finally getting some food in me and relaxing for a bit, the day was winding down. I had to debate with myself for a long time whether or not I wanted to hang around until 8:00 to catch the screening of Maniac because I was so wiped out. I finally just said Eff it, and headed into the room, where the movie had already started (just a minute or two though). Packed house, no seats. So I and several other people just popped a squat on the floor along the wall, and they actually turned out to be pretty good seats. I gotta say that I dug the movie a lot (still haven't seen the original, though - doh!), but mostly I enjoyed finally watching a horror movie with real horror fans. Everybody laughed at the same places I laughed, and clapped and cheered every time there was a kill or a cool effect. Fun time, indeed!

More cool stories from DAY THREE coming soon, with more from Dee Wallace, Tom Savini, and me finally meeting Mary Lambert!

Read about DAY ONE here!

Finally, DAY THREE is here!