HorrorHound Weekend 2011 and a Few Updates
Wednesday, April 6th, 2011
Greetings Deadites!
With Spring finally starting to peek around the corner, the air is absolutely charged as we’re heading full-tilt into convention season. Conventions are one of my favorite parts of the Horror and Haunted Attraction industries, and I was thrilled to finally be able to visit HorrorHound Weekend this year in Indianapolis, IN. It was tremendous fun–celebrities, great music, awesome parties, crazy freakshows, and more. I stopped to snap a few photos and did some video of the event–I hope you enjoy them!
I had a great conversation with Edward Douglas of Midnight Syndicate. I’m not sure if many of you Deadites are aware, but Midnight Syndicate is coming out with a new album in August called Carnival Arcane which will be a circus themed album (and long overdue, if I do say so myself!). Ed is tremendously excited about this release (as am I), and you can bet you’ll get a review of it as soon as I have a copy! Ed is a very talented composer and always a great guy to chat with. I was very happy to see him and catch up at the show. Ed–if you’re reading this, hope to see you and Sarah at Midwest Haunters!
Along the way, I was also able to meet a couple other well-known Horror icons, such as Catriona MacColl (of House by the Cemetery, The Beyond, City of the Dead, etc. fame) and Lloyd Kaufman (CEO/Director/Mastermind behind Troma Entertainment). Lloyd has been an inspiration ever since I was a kid watching the Toxic Avenger movies as well as all the other b-grade masterpieces Troma releases (Rabid Grannies, Cannibal the Musical, Terror Firmer… the list goes on and on!) It was really cool getting to chat with him about Troma’s latest film Poultrygeist, especially as I found it just as entertaining as the first time I saw the Toxic Avenger.
It was also cool getting to meet Catriona MacColl, as I’m a rabid Lucio Fulci fan and House by the Cemetery has to have one of the most beautiful and well made scores I have ever heard. I only wish I could have met Walter (Romano) Rizzati too! That would have been a picture I would have killed to have taken!
Dario Argento was supposed to make it to the festival this year, but unfortunately had to cancel last minute. That would have been quite the collection of Italian horror filmmakers and actors in one location–a very cool idea! What I would love to see is a gathering of the Italian directors and composers from the time (if they’re still alive of course) go into the discussion of atmospheric elements and how the scores were composed and what considerations were made for different parts of the films. Maybe that’s just me being a crazy Horror music nerd, but hey–that’s what I’m here for!
And of course, you can’t have a crazy fun convention weekend without some crazy fun parties… I’ll leave that one to your imagination–but here’s some of the Cutthroat Freak Show I witnessed in the hallways during the Saturday night party. If you get a chance to see (or book!) Cutthroat Freak Show, definitely pay him well–he puts on a great show and the crowds love him!
Well Deadites, I hope this little update has been a fun one! Be sure to keep your ears on the ready–I’ve been collecting a small army of albums to review, and you’ll be able to hear them very soon on Rotting Flesh Radio. I’ll also be doing some AWESOME coverage of Midwest Haunters Convention coming up in June, as well as gearing up for an exciting 2011 haunt season (details will be coming soon, as I have a few delectable tricks up my sleeve…)
~Gruesome Joe
