TX Wizard World & Fear Fest

November 7th – 9th
Arlington Convention Center
Arlington, TX

My experience at Wizard World & Fear Fest started Friday evening. I was in a mad rush from Irving to Arlington so I wouldn’t get to the Fear Fest screening late. The vendor room closed at 6PM and I got there at about 5:30PM, so I had a little time to run around the floor and get an idea of how it was laid out. I immediately was not a fan of the floor layout, which was very confusing and seemed to not have much of a pattern to it. A lot of the actors and artists hadn’t arrived yet, so it looked kind of bare.

I had the wonderful opportunity of running into Ben Templesmith, who is the artist of a few of the 30 Days of Night books, Fell, and is the writer / artist of his own series, Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse and Welcome to Hoxford. After quickly introducing myself and asking him for an interview on Sunday, I made my way to the Fear Fest screening room, which had about 30 people in it.

I couldn’t believe it. A screening of the classic film The Monster Squad, with the cast in attendance to introduce it and there were only 30 people there. Well, good for me. Plenty of good seats and areas for me to video tape the later introductions. The room was set up well, with two screens on each side of the room, so there really wasn’t a bad spot in the house. The sound was a little low for me, but it wasn’t too distracting. As ridiculous as it sounds, I had never seen The Monster Squad, so it was pretty cool to get to it for the first time on a semi-big screen. Very good film that I can’t believe I missed growing up. It’s like mixing the Universal classic monsters (Frankenstein’s Monster, Dracula, Wolf-Man, The Mummy, and The Creature from the Black Lagoon) together with The Goonies. If you haven’t seen it, definitely go out and rent it immediately. Unfortunately I missed the introduction by the cast for the film, so that was kind of a bummer.

Next up, was the cast introduction to Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers. The two faces of Michael Myers from the film, Tom Morga and George P. Wilbur, came up to the podium and introduced the movie by telling us what parts they were in and gave a little background on the production. After that, they left the stage and the movie started. I got the intro on video, so you can check it out when we post it on our You Tube channel. What can be said? It was the return of Michael Myers and Donald Pleasance, who had both been missing from the third film which stepped outside of the world of Michael Myers. It was Halloween back to the way it should always be.

Ron Sloan and his head from Friday the 13th, Part V

The Friday the 13th, Part V: A New Beginning screening was the one that everyone was anticipating and waiting for, in my opinion. There were two guys in particular that everyone was there to see – Corey Feldman and Miguel A. Nunez, Jr., who had been in several classic films and TV shows including The Return of the Living Dead, Leprechaun 4: In Space, Lethal Weapon 3, and a long-running role in the Vietnam drama Tour of Duty. Unfortunately, some of our hopes were dashed when we received word that Mr. Feldman would not be in attendance for the screening. The rest of the cast and the director all came out and said a few words. They mostly let director Danny Steinmann do the talking, who went into some of the script details and what was changed, etc. Miguel was pretty funny and spoke to the cast like he was running for office and all professional. Then, the movie started. I’m sitting there watching and soon realize, that I had never seen this chapter of the series. I couldn’t believe it. Surprisingly, it is one of the smartest and best installments in the series. You could really tell that Mr. Steinmann was trying to go in a different direction than the previous ones and wanted to challenge the audience, turning the film into more of a who-done-it than the typical Jason killing spree. I was pleasantly surprised. The cast stayed through the entire film, adding funny commentary from their seats.

Saturday was kind of hectic, as I had to leave by 2:00 in the afternoon to get from Wizard World / Fear Fest and drive out to Parker, TX for the long-anticipated Dallas 30th Anniversary Cast Reunion. I arrived at the convention center and was greeted by “Parking - $5.00” signs, to which I was having nothing to do with. I drove down a quarter of a mile to the Rangers’ Ballpark lot, carried 400 House posters and postcards back down to the venue, and I got to the event around 11:30.

There were way more people there on this day. The floor was packed with vendors and attendees. I had a little time to run around saying hi to some of the actors from the screening the previous night before meeting my friend Eddie, who was going to be taping the Friday the 13th, Part V Q & A.

I also got a chance to talk to and shoot some photos of Ari Lehman (played Jason as a child in the first Friday the 13th movie and has a band called First Jason now), Tom Morga (Halloween 4 and Friday The 13th, Part V), George P. Wilbur (Halloween 4 and 6),

and Harry Manfredini (composer of the Friday the 13th and House soundtracks).

I did get a chance to get my picture taken with Corey and Susie Feldman before I had to leave, so that was cool.

Sunday went by so fast, I can barely remember what all I did. You know what they say, time flies when you’re having fun. I went to the Danny Trejo Q & A to tape it for the You Tube channel. Danny is an incredibly nice guy and shared with the crowd some of the things that are most important to him, like his charity work and such.

He also shared some about his experiences with different actors and directors, including Rob Zombie, Quentin Tarantino, and Robert Rodriguez. It was pretty interesting, considering the star power he has had the good fortune to work with – everyone from Robert DeNiro and Nicholas Cage to Malcolm McDowell. You’ll be able to hear some of it as soon as we get it posted on our You Tube channel.

I also had the chance to interview Ben Templesmith, who is a really nice and talented guy. I actually watched him give a girl a critique of her work, because she asked him to. He was helping her pick out certain pens and drawing tools that would help her out with her work. It was great to see him so willing to help her out. That interview will be posted on our You Tube channel as well.

I interviewed Eye Witness author / artist Robert Luedke;

Artist Michael Weisner and Writer Aaron Sinn of The Librarian: The Curse of the Judas Cradle comic; and the artists for Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash - Jason Craig, Thomas Mason, and Rex Stabbs.

I also got a chance while hanging out with them to get a really cool picture of Corey Feldman in between two Jason masks. Thankfully, Eddie Medina and his wife showed up and took over filming duties of The Monster Squad / Two faces of Michael Myers Q & A session.

Overall, it was a fun time and all the actors and artists I had the opportunity of spending some time with were very nice. It seemed like everyone was having a good time and there was a lot of cutting up and camaraderie amongst the different cast members of the movies.

Is it the greatest con I've ever been to? No, but it was definitely a lot of fun and I do plan on attending again next year. Thanks to Wizard World and TX Fear Fest for the press passes. (Article by Eric Shirey)