Lloyd Cryer proves to be the undisputed Con-King of Texas with a near flawless show that raised the bar for every other show to follow in 2010.

Earlier this year, Texas Frightmare Weekend revealed it would be celebrating its 5th anniversary by bringing back some of its most popular guests from its past conventions, which included such names as Bill Moseley, Sid Haig, Doug Bradley, and Betsy Palmer. Off to a respectable start, few fans anticipated Frightmare’s next move when they shocked the horror con community by announcing it would be bringing legendary director John Carpenter to the Lone Star state in what was to be a convention appearance of the rarest kind. Not having appeared at an event of this kind in well over a decade, the hermitic Carpenter has been at the top of guest wish lists for as long as horror shows have existed. Easily one of the most influential directors in the horror and sci-fi genres, the master auteur behind such classic films as Halloween, Assault on Precinct 13, and The Thing, was somehow coaxed out of hiding by promoter Lloyd Cryer and brought to the great state of Texas, much to the excitement of film aficionados everywhere.

.

But it didn’t stop there! Despite being able to rest their laurels on being the first show in as long as anyone could remember to bring Carpenter back onto the circuit, Frightmare soon followed with the announcement that they would be adding another icon of the horror genre to their roster – the godfather of the modern zombie film, Mr. George A. Romero. Over the proceeding months, Frightmare rounded out its list with more big names and fan favorites, such as Lance Henrickson, Margot Kidder, Derek Mears, Kane Hodder, the Mistress of the Dark herself, Elvira, and the first ever convention appearance of Julian Sands. They also added a bevy of excellent events, including the North American premiere of Tim Sullivan’s 2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams, a reunion of John Carpenter’s Christine, and a massive Hollywood prop auction featuring authentic screen used props from films such a Piranha 3D, Resident Evil: Afterlife, and the Nightmare on Elm Street series.

The Good

When the headliner of your show is none other than the legendary John Carpenter, bringing in fans won’t be very hard to do – however, with such a big name on your bill, it’s rather easy for things to turn into a bonafide clusterfuck. Luckily, Texas Frightmare has some of the best organizers in the business along with the most helpful and friendly staff I have ever experienced at a horror convention, bar none. There were some minor hiccups during the first few hours of Friday’s Carpenter signing, but these issues were quickly remedied and the end result was a system that ran silky smooth, didn’t have fans waiting in lines for hours, and saw as many people as possible getting to meet the legendary director. In this con-goer’s humble opinion, it was more impressive to see Lloyd and company identify an early snag and put their problem solving skills to work – swiftly make things right – then if there had been no snag to begin with. Other promoters would consider themselves lucky to have such a high caliber crew as Loyd has at his disposal with Texas Frightmare.

Another impressive aspect of the show was the excellent value VIPs got for their money. Aside from being the only way to guarantee an autograph and photo with the master John Carpenter, the first autograph autograph for each VIP holder was included in the price of the ticket (a $30 value). Furthermore, VIP’s were granted line cutting privileges for the show’s larger guests (including George Romero, who’s line throughout most of Saturday was a constant 2 hour wait), the customary preferred seating at all screenings and panels (which proved a must to get in to the Christine cast panel), and a goodie bag bursting at the seams with awesomeness, including two shirts (of your chosen size), two DVDs, two horror comic books, a Sideshow Collectibles gift card, and the usual assortment of stickers, key chains, and other knick-knacks.

Also noteworthy for VIP ticket holders was Frightmares Saturday night VIP party. My only other previous VIP event experience on the convention circuit is with Spooky Empire’s now infamous bash, which I gleefully anticipate every year for its open bar, drunken karaoke, and all manner of poolside debauchery. Given standards it had to live up to, I was a a bit skeptical when I first entered Frightmare’s VIP party room, set up with cocktail tables, a huge island station with all manner of hors d’oeuvres, and wait and bar staff at the ready – this seemed much more akin to a semi-formal reception than what I was typically used to. Despite my early reservations, this set-up proved to be quite enjoyable and much more effective in providing what these types of events are all about – extended face to face time between fans and guests in a more relaxed setting that is sometimes impossible on the convention room floor. The majority of the guests showed up for the party and were formally announced as they arrived, including the two big stars, Romero and Carpenter, the latter spending much of his time outside with the smoking crowd putting away cigarettes and telling stories form his long and legendary career. The food, which ranged from Swedish meatballs, to eggrolls, to buffalo wings, to spinach dip, was all quite delicious and the drinks were much more reasonably priced then at the hotel bar. All in all, the soiree atmosphere seemed to work successfully in creating the ideal environment for both fans and guests, and the more low-key and somewhat classy affair definitely served to make everyone much more comfortable leading to more personal interactions by everyone present.

Regardless of your ticket package, there was plenty to love about Texas Frightmare and enough to do to justify staying the weekend. While its Carpenter/Romero one-two punch is as good as any you’re likely to see this year headlining any show, complimentary names such as John Amplas, Margot Kidder, William Katt, Derek Mears, Lance Henrickson, Elvira, Julian Sands, and Danielle Harris offered something for every horror fan. Much to my surprise, an unannounced Lucky McKee (May) had purchased a table in the vendor room and was signing and meeting fans as an unofficial guest. The Christine reunion panel was easily the event highlight of the weekend, with fans being treated to a kinetic display of chemistry between the films cast as well as humorous quips from director John Carpenter (who was presented with a Lifetime Achievment Award at the end of Q and A session). Not to go unmentioned, the Hollywood prop auction went on for over 10 hours right outside the main hall, and featured literally hundreds of covet-worthy items for fans to bid at or even just admire and ogle up close.

The Bad

Try as I might for the sake of parity, there really is very little negative you can say about Texas Frightmare Weekend. Some detractors have been quick to hang onto the initial 2 hours of confusion that came on the first day of John Carpenter’s signing, but more telling is how quickly Lloyd and his staff were able to troubleshoot through any problems and make the necessary adjustments to have the rest of the weekend run as smoothly as anyone could ever hope. A few fans on the Frightmare forum have also launched complaints about how not everyone present was able to buy autograph tickets for Carpenter, though how some people figured they could show up half way into the convention’s second day and secure a chance to meet one of the most influential directors of all time in the horror and sci-fi genres is beyond me. If you wanted to meet Carpenter you had to either shell out for the VIP package, come early the first day, or stay the weekend and hope you got lucky (which, in fact, many fans did).

If pushed to do a bit of nit-picking, I would say that I would have liked to have seen more Carpenter related guests at Texas Frightmare Weekend. While the Christine reunion was great, and I definitely had great experiences with all of those stars, it would have been nice to have seen some of the stars from The Thing, Roddy Piper or Keith David accompanying Meg Foster from They Live, and maybe even some of the potentially attainable Halloween guests such as PJ Soles and Tony Moran to compliment Charles Cyphers. With as stacked as their guest list already was, complaining about adding a few more names may seem trifling, but with a headliner as big as Carpenter is, I would have liked to see him a bit more widely represented by a few more people who have appeared in his films. But again, as stated earlier, I’m nit-picking.

The Ugly

There’s no way to put this delicately, but the food service at the Sheraton’s restaurant and sports bar was fucking terrible and there was no excuse for it. They rarely seemed to have more than one wait staff and one bartender available throughout the day and even at times during the night. Knowing you would have a busy convention weekend with thousands of hungry horror fans eager to give you their patronage, wouldn’t it have made some sense to put on a few extra employees? Friday night we waited well over an hour for a burger and drinks, though our party wised up and began ordering several rounds at a time to compensate. On Saturday afternoon, despite the sports bar being almost empty (most likely due to the terrible service sending fans looking for other means to feed themselves) we waited for over an hour and a half for a quesadilla and chicken fingers which we ended up canceling in favor of ordering a pizza when after asking why our order was taking over 90 minutes, the staff still had no idea where it was, what happened to it, but “would go check on it” (for the 3rd time, mind you). Many of the con-goers we spoke to informed us that they had encountered similar problems with the hotel restaurant and sports bar at past Texas Frightmare events and even other past conventions, signifying that this was not a one weekend oversight. Truly a shame given not only how beautiful the Sheraton was as well as how excellently organized and aiming to please the Texas Frightmare show was by comparison.

——————————————

Without question, Texas Frightmare Weekend was the best convention experience I have had since Spooky Empire’s 2008 show. While many of the pros discussed in this recap were geared towards the VIP package, Frightmare’s helpful staff made every fan their priority and went to great lengths to make sure each and every patron got the best damn show possible for their dollar. Despite having arguably the best guest roster of any show so far this year, the true star was Lloyd Cryer for not only orchestrating a monster of a show to near perfection, but also making us feel right at home in the Lone Star state. With my inaugural experience, Frightmare won me over as a patron for life and while I never did get to try that Texas barbeque, there will definitely be another opportunity when I return next year.

On behalf of From Dusk Till Con, I would like to personally thank Lloyd Cryer for taking good care of Erin and I during our visit to the state of Texas and going above and beyond the call of duty to fix a few  issues that arose with us throughout the weekend (through no fault of Texas Frightmare).

Finally, a shout out is due to the FDTC message board crew who partied it up with us all weekend long or even just shared a few minutes of sporadic down time: Bub, Target Jon (and brother Vance), Richard Malone, Danny 84 (and girlfriend Jenni), Flyboy, Dementia, Mrs. V, Ccarba, Re-Ev, and Jelly Bea. Honorary mention goes to Joe Knetter for unnecessarily showing us the tattoo of his face on his ass, Meg Foster for sharing her fish sticks, and Derek Mears for being the coolest person to throw back drinks with since Bill Hinzman.

Click Here to Comment About This Piece