Boasting its best event yet, HorrorHound Weekend once again raises the bar as the best in the Midwest.

HorrorHound Indianapolis 2010 Recap

By: Mr. Chainsaw

My first experience with HorrorHound Weekend was slightly over a year ago for their 2009 Indianapolis show, and I’ll be honest with you, aside from being rabidly excited for the scheduled Lost Boys reunion, I didn’t go in expecting much. You see, I’m originally from Florida, and my long standing yearly tradition of attending Spooky Empire’s Ultimate Horror Weekend in Orlando has, through the years, set the bar extremely high as to what I’ve come to expect out of a genre convention. Making the 4 hour drive from northern Illinois to Indianapolis, I was constantly reminding my wife: “You know, this isn’t gonna be Spooky, but let’s just try and have a good time and make the best of it.”

In the end, I was right – HorrorHound was nothing like Spooky Empire. That being said, I didn’t have to try very hard at all to enjoy myself because the show was great just as it was. Sure, it wasn’t nearly as big as my old home state convention, and hanging out poolside in a 40 degree Midwest March isn’t nearly as sexy as a 90 degree Orlando October, but HorrorHound had had enough great things going for it that it could stand firmly on its own merits. This was a show by the fans, for the fans, run by a competent staff that had the event whirring like a well oiled machine, and it was quickly obvious that everyone involved worked damn hard to make it that way. Aside from a great guest line-up, HorrorHound had tons of other things to make me fall in love with the show such as Mask-Fest (for which I instantly vowed to return the following year regardless of whatever else was scheduled) and some excellent film screenings, including some of the only showings of Dark Night of the Scarecrow and the hotly buzzed, Martyrs. Needless to say, my initial assumptions about HorrorHound couldn’t have been more wrong, and I had an awesome fucking time. I knew I would be back for 2010.

And what a year 2010 looked to be in the early going! In the early going, HorrorHound announced master of horror, Clive Barker, as a headlining guest for their show, quickly complimenting his appearance with a reunion of one of my favorite zombie films of all time, Romero’s Day of the Dead. By the time all was said and done, HorrorHound Indy had added a Vampira tribute featuring over 75 horror hosts from around the country and gave us a proverbial happy hour throwing in George Romero as an ass-kicking chaser to Barker. Hotel rooms for the event were hard to come by as far back as November as con-goers all across the country made their plans for the weekend. It was very clear that this was going to be one monster of a show.

So did HorrorHound Indy 2010 end up surpassing its predecessor? Read below to find out:

The Good

Clive Barker. George Romero. Elvira. Do I really need to say much more? In a year where, early on, so many conventions across the country are going for broke by bringing in big name guests as well as pushing top notch events to entice horror fans, HorrorHound not only kept up with the pack but emerged as a leader. While always a fan-favorite, HorrorHound has always been considered by many on the circuit as a high quality 2nd tier show – not quite large enough to be named among some of the elite, but still a very well run convention aimed at pleasing the genre aficionados. With this year’s Indianapolis outing, HorrorHound has shown it deserves to be mentioned along side bigger productions by gaining some ground on top tier competition such as Monster Mania and Spooky Empire, absolutely decimating its previous attendance records by a large margin and bringing some excellent exclusives such as the debut screening of Barker’s Nightbreed UNCUT, a Vampira tribute featuring over 60+ horror hosts from across the country, and the return of Mask-Fest.

Not be outdone by the marquee names, HorrorHound’s 2^nd and 3^rd tier guests were equally impressive and comprised of names rarely seen at other conventions such as Tom Noonan, Richard Lynch, David Hess, and none other than Joe Bob Briggs himself. Other names included a six guest Day of the Dead reunion, a trio of Clive Barker related guests comprised of Ashley Laurence, Doug Bradley, and Simon Bamford, and a handful of more obscure, but equally appreciated, names such as Robert Z’Dar (Maniac Cop), Catherine Mary Stewart (Night of the Comet), and Lloyd Kaufman (Troma). Whether you were a connoisseur of classic franchises or more cult fare, HorrorHound Weekend had something for all tastes.

My favorite aspect of last year’s Indy show, the aforementioned Mask-Fest returned once again this year and was bigger and better than before. Well worth the price of admission on its own, the event not only featured excellent masks and busts from the likes of The Prop Shop and Magee FX, but also had some authentic screen used props from such films as My Bloody Valentine 3D, Candyman, and the Hellraiser series. Vendors were very friendly and more than happy to allow potential customers try on a ghoulish assortment of masks and other costume pieces, as well as answer any questions presented to them.

The Bad

Taking preventative measures to ease up on overcrowding in anticipation for a much bigger show than last year’s, HorrorHound wisely broke up the overall show over a much larger space than usual, giving Clive Barker his own room, Elvira her own hallway separate from the main area, and moving Mask-Fest into a room all its own not only allowing it to be bigger and better than last year, but also giving those more interested in that particular event a haven away from the usual craziness of the vendor area. Friday went well, but come Saturday the convention grounds were a madhouse to put it mildly. In what ended up being a poor choice of location, George Romero was placed in the main room along with most of the other guests and the vendors, causing overcrowding at not only the hotel’s entrance, but inside the vendor area (Sid Haig’s line also greatly contributed to this). Shortly after noon on Saturday, the fire marshals temporarily shut the show down and began strict enforcement of how many attendees were allowed in the vendor room at one time, resulting in a 20-30 minute line just to get inside as well as a separate 20-30 minute line just to purchase tickets – neither seemed to sit well with fans. Four members of our party opted to leave a few hours earlier than planned due to the overcrowding problem effecting their overall enjoyment of the show – a sentiment shared by other attendees as well.

While those of us that stayed and stuck it out through to closing time on Saturday had to drive back to Illinois that evening, we heard that Sunday ended up going a little smoother when the HorrorHound staff smartly decided to shift Romero’s line into a different hall, alleviating some of the traffic leading out the front door – an adjustment that showed their ability to problem solve on the fly. Nevertheless, it’s very apparent that the attendance for the weekend was way more then anticipated and the show’s promoters were caught somewhat off guard. While I personally did not find this to be a deal breaker and had a great time nonetheless, it’s certainly something that the HorrorHound crew will want to address in subsequent shows. Perhaps renting out the entire hotel would be an option. 

The Ugly

Last year it was the Christian woman’s conference – this year, HorrorHound found themselves sharing the hotel with a war veteran’s reunion. Sadly, the group didn’t take kindly to freak show atmosphere we horror con-goers embrace, and many of the vets took a very belligerent attitude towards the HorrorHound attendees. In one particularly bizarre confrontation, one of the vets stood alongside the line of horror fans waiting to enter the vendor room and began yelling a barrage of rude remarks towards “all you deciding to play Halloween in March.” If that wasn’t enough, the gentleman then challenged anyone who thought they were game to a fight, which was met by stares of disbelief from the HorrorHound patrons. Luckily the fright crowd took the high ground and ignored most of this negative behavior, content to go on with their weekend in lieu of entertaining attempts at provocation. Perhaps this is just another point in making the case for next year’s show to simply rent out the entire hotel.

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Ultimately, HorrorHound raised its game and made a case for themselves to be considered among the best by putting together an excellent collection of guests and exclusive events that fans could only see at their show. While the weekend wasn’t without its hiccups, HorrorHound will most likely learn from the experience and use this to better prepare for increasingly bigger events in the future. Making huge strides from last year’s Indianapolis outing, it’s undeniable that this show has grown by leaps and bounds and it will be interesting to see what direction HorrorHound will take its continued success as it evolves into one of the major players on the convention scene. If 2010 was any indication, fans can bet that next year’s Indianapolis show will once again be one for the ages, provided that Nathan and the gang are able to address a few logistical snafus brought on by the increased popularity of the convention – given HorrorHound’s positive track record, there little reason to believe the show would not continue to stake its claim as arguably the best con in the Midwestern United States.

For more info on future HorrorHound Weekend events, visit http://www.HorrorHoundWeekend.com

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