Texas Frightmare Weekend Review – The Abbreviated Version

Due to some conflicts with work, I was only able to attend Friday and Saturday this year, leaving around 4:00 Saturday afternoon.  This doesn’t mean that I wasn’t able to soak in tons of genre goodness, grab some choice signatures and see some great friends.

We arrived at the hotel Friday afternoon, about 3 hours before the show opened, just in time to see a sweet ride pull up. 

 

After checking into our room, we headed down for a beer and to see who was around.  It was good to see some old friends, as well as make some new ones.  That is really what TFW is all about.  It never ceases to amaze me just how friendly and genuine horror fans are.

My plan was to get as many signatures Friday night as possible.  I knew from past experience that Saturday is a mad house and the lines are much, much longer, so I wanted to avoid that if possible.  As we made a game plan for signatures and our time at TFW, we noticed right away that the new venue was huge. The last couple of years at the old venue were always really packed, so it was nice to see so much more room.

As soon as the doors opened, we headed for Tom Savini’s table.  I wanted to get my 11×17 posters signed so I could get them back up to the room.  There were a few people in his line, but nothing too crazy.  I had heard from a couple of people that he could be difficult to talk to, but I found him to be friendly and very engaging.  I had him sign my Dawn of the Dead Poster as well as Friday the 13^th. 

 

Tom Savini

 

After Tom’s both, I headed for Gaylen Ross, figuring to get my Dawn poster done for the event.  I was able to walk right up to her booth, and she was very sweet and one of the nicest celebrities I have ever met.

 

Gaylen Ross

 

The same could be said for Barbara Crampton, who along with being very nice is still amazingly beautiful.  Her signature was the first on my Re-Animator poster, but hopefully it won’t be the last.  I looked around a bit for Ari Lehman, who for some reason wasn’t listed on the directory, but was in attendance.  I couldn’t find his booth, so I brought the posters up to the room and grabbed my Texas Chainsaw DVD and Behind the Mask print.

 

Barbara Crampton

 

 

George A Romero, Tom Savini and Gaylen Ross

Barbara Crampton

 

 

Meeting Gunnar Hansen, Ed Neal and Ed Guinn was very cool. I was surprised to learn that Ed Neal does a lot of voice over work, especially for the DC Universe.  He was hilarious and much goofier than I was expecting for The Hitchhiker.

 

Gunnar Hansen – Leatherface

Ed Guinn

Ed Neal

 

 

 

Hooper, Hansen, Neal and Guinn

 

One of the crowning moments was the Behind the Mask booth.  Director Scott Glosserman, Nathan Baesel, Ben Pace and Britain Spellings were having an absolute blast and were totally involved with the fans.  It took a while to get through the line because the guys were so talkative and friendly, but it was well worth it.  The guys all had fun with signing my print and even went as far as to personalize the van.

 

These guys were a blast. They even convinced Nicole, my wife, to get into the picture as well. Only other one to ever accomplish that was George Romero.

 

 

The Behind the Mask crew – Glosserman, Baesal, Spellings, Pace

 

After getting some photos, it was time to get ready for Prom.  I had a lovely date and decided to forego costumes and just get dressed up.  It was an amazingly mixed crowd as some people just showed up in t-shirts, some dressed up and some were in costume.  There were several Carrie costumes and just about every other horror icon you can imagine.  There was even a very cool Alien costume on the dance floor at one time.  We left the Prom around midnight and headed to the bar upstairs where several of our friends were hanging out.  We stayed up late drinking and telling stories.

 

Prom with my lovely wife Nicole

 

Saturday was insane in the exhibit rooms, but I was able to finally find Ari Lehman and have him sign the Friday the 13^th poster.  We ended up with a t-shirt for the wife and a couple of Winchester beer glasses for me, courtesy of T-shirt Bordello.  The last thing on my list was the Walking Dead panel.  It was a madhouse getting into it, but we were able to get some decent seats and really enjoyed the panel.  All the guests were very engaging and it was a very fun and informative 90 minutes.  We didn’t learn much about season 3, with the exception that Merle will be back.

 

Ari Lehman – First Jason

 

 

Friday the 13th – Savini and Lehman

 

It was a little sad to have to leave a day early, but I was looking forward to being back home after being on the road all week before TFW and knowing that I would have to leave again on Sunday.  Loyd and company did an amazing job again this year and I guess it is time to start planning for next year!

2012 Texas Frightmare Weekend Preview

Here we are, less than a week until my annual trek up to Dallas for Texas Frightmare Weekend.  I can’t believe that this will be my fourth year attending already.  I’ll have to take off some time Saturday this year as I have a flight leaving Houston on Sunday for work, which sucks, but I think the time spent there will still be great.

When it comes to autograph collecting, I generally only get things signed that I can and want to display.  Having limited space to display posters and pictures allows me to be a little more selective.  Here is what I am planning on getting signed this year:

Re-Animator 11×17 poster – Barbara Crampton
Dawn of the Dead 11×17 (already signed by George Romero) – Tom Savini and Gaylen Ross
Friday the 13^th 11×17 – Tom Savini and Ari Lehman
Texas Chainsaw Massacre Steelbook (signed by Hooper) – Gunnar Hansen, Ed Neal and Ed Guinn
Behind the Mask limited print by Chris Ott – Nathan Baesel and Scott Glosserman

I tossed around the idea of getting a They Live poster for Piper, David and Meg Foster to sign, but wall space dictated otherwise.  I also wanted to find something cool to have Lamberto Bava sign, but other than some limited edition Demons DVDs, nothing really caught my eye.

While meeting genre stars is always a blast, the best part of the weekend is always hanging out with likeminded fans, drinking the night away and telling stories.  Often times, guests of the convention make their way into the bar and are more than happy to hang out with the fans. 

This year Loyd and company are putting on a Friday night prom, in honor of the Carrie guests.  My wife and I are totally attending, as we started dating just after that time in our lives and are looking forward to going to our first Prom together.  It sounds like the attire will include Halloween costumes, formal attire and the usual array of horror t-shirts.

When it comes to screenings and Q&As, I always plan on catching a bunch of them.  The reality is that I miss most of them because I am hanging out with friends.  I am going to try and catch the Walking Dead and Before the Mask panels for sure, but other than that, I will play it by ear.

Drop me a line if you plan on attending and we can meet in the bar.  It’s always cool to meet fellow fans.