Convention Re-Cap: HORROR REALM

Created on Monday, 26 September 2011 18:44

Last Updated on Friday, 09 March 2012 09:12

Written by Mr. Chainsaw

Hits: 714

Guest correspondant, Derick Jay Reid, gives us a full recap of this year's HORROR REALM fall show, held September 16th-18th in Pittsburg, PA.

-------------------------------------------------------

Review by: Derick Jay Reid

I've been an outsider most of, if not all of my life.  I could be called an underdog, a misfit, a rebel... There aren't many places outside of punk rock shows that I feel like I truly belong.  Walking into the Crowne Plaza, located in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, PA... I felt an immediate comfort.  It could have been the big smiles I received as I approached the registration desk. It could have been all the old friends I anticipated speaking with again.  It could have just been the central air of the hotel... Whatever the reason, I felt that today was going to be a good day for a Horror Show.

This was Horror Realm's third official convention but the promoter's of this show have been putting on many quality events including book signings by local and national authors, movie screenings/ Q&A's at a recently renovated theatre, and even their own Zombie Gras this past March.  They started off small and have grown with each show.  This year's Horror Realm featured celebrities included a few convention circuit regulars:  Bill Moseley, Linnea Quigley, Howard Sherman, Lenny Lies, Kyra Schon, Russ Streiner, John Russo, Joe Bob Briggs and Ken Foree and more.  Ken Foree has also been a consultant to the Horror Realm staff for the past few years. 

My wife, my son and I immediately ran into a bunch of friends that we hadn't seen for a while.  We hung out with them for awhile and took in alot of the vendors.  One of my friends is an old-school VHS nut.  He's always looking for rare VHS tapes.  Horror Realm was the place for him.  The Bastards of Horror Table was where he could be found for most of the convention.  We sifted through box after box of VHS flicks... him spouting off random knowledge about each one.  And when he found one that he didn't know anything about, he'd set it aside, as if to say "I'll find out about you later."  I don't know how many movies he bought that day but I overheard him saying he had bought over 40 movies the night before.  Horror Realm even has a special viewing room that only screened VHS titles that have yet to be released on DVD.  When I went to check out the VHS room, they were watching old school ECW matches.  

While checking out the vendors, I bumped into Jason Nagy, who runs Zombies and Toys.  He's becoming a regular vendor at many shows and his blog at www.zombiesandtoys.com is becoming pretty well known on the horror scene.  While talking with Jay, he asked if I had met Terry.  The "Terry" he was speaking of was Terry Callen, of Screaming Brain Studio.  I was familiar with Terry's work but i don't recall ever meeting him.  Jay introduced us and We BS'd for a minute and I bought a sweet print that Screaming Brain had done for a screening of "Day of the Dead" at the Hollywood Theatre, here in Pittsburgh.  Everyone should definitely check out Screaming Brain Studio at     
http://www.screamingbrainstudio.com

Before moving on from the Zombies and Toys booth, my son leaned from my arms and reached into a large crate filled with stuffed zombie creatures.  He pulled out a grey zombie cat and pushed it to his chest.  "Cat!...Meow!"   Okay! getting this!  We'll name him Church! The rest of the vendors were awesome.  Loads of great artists including Josh Emerick who had amazing Basket Case artwork.  I was going to pick some stuff up but needed to save some cash for autographs.  

Horror Realm is one of the smaller shows that I go to and honestly, I wish there were alot more shows like it.  It's a grassroots kinda show. They don't have a bunch of huge sponsors, they don't get HUGE guests with HUGE guarantees... the size of the show definitely adds to the experience.  You get a lot of face time with the guests and it is much more laid back.  Guests don't seem to be over charging for autographs or merch.  And i didn't feel pressure to buy anything from the guests. Normally I won't approach someone's table if i don't intend to buy anything from them.  This show was different, i felt like i knew everyone there and at least wanted to stop in and say "Hi."

My first celeb encounter of the day was with Debra Gordon, who was in Day of the Dead and Bloodsucking Pharaohs in Pittsburgh.  She was super grateful and excited to meet the fans.  She signed my Day of the Dead poster that has been signed by 12 others on the cast and crew.  I had the opportunity to talk with Bill Johnson who played Leatherface in the original TCM2.  Again, he was more than grateful and accommodating to my screaming 18 month old son.  Bill signed a Breakfast Club style TCM2 mini-poster for me and also the recently released Fright Rags TCM2 mini-poster and took a photo with my son and I... And only charged me $20... that's something you don't often get at some of the bigger shows.  Decent face time, cheap autograph price and a free photo.
I talked with Amy Lynn Best and Mike Watt, who were promoter's of one of the first conventions I ever went to, Genghis Con in Pittsburgh.  I had spoke with them a few other times at Cinema Wasteland and both of them are members of the Horror Conventions Group on facebook.  ...plug plug... https://www.facebook.com/groups/HorrorConventions/
but i don't think they remembered me... which is fine because they go to A LOT of conventions and meet A LOT of people.

I stopped to talk with Kyra Schon, of Night of the Living Dead, for a moment before we decided to head home.  Kyra was selling a painting of her father, Karl Hardman who played Cooper in NOTLD.  His resemblance to Hunter S. Thompson in the painting was uncanny... the long cigarette holder he grasped in his hand only added to the similarities.  I stopped by to say hello to Linnea Quigley, Bill Moseley and Lori Cardille and her father Chilly Billy as we made our last rounds before leaving.  Lori was so thankful that we had stopped by to say hello... "I remember you guys!  Thanks for coming out!"

We only stayed for a few hours, as my son was being a typical 18 month old monster and wanted to run around everywhere.  If there wasn't such a crowd there, we probably would have felt more comfortable letting him run around.  But we'd lose him so quickly in a crowd like that.

Anyone looking to have an unforgettable experience at a Horror convention, should really try to make it out to a Horror Realm show.  They have events year round that are punctuated by their Zombie Gras event in March and their full convention each September.  They are the little guys, the underdogs, the rebels, the misfits.  And they are getting bigger and stronger with each show they put on.  I anticipate big things for this show, yet i can't see them trading in their values just to pull in huge crowds or guests.  It seems they have pulled a page from the book that Cinema Wasteland has written and they are doing many amazing things to emulate that show.  Which in my opinion is one of THE best shows going.

So do yourself a favor... keep up to date with Horror Realm on Facebook and through their official page.  www.horrorrealmcon.com
They are always promoting something and their shows are a blast.   Big shout outs to promoters Sandy Stuhlfire, Rich Dalzotto and the rest of the Horror Realm crew for being such great hosts to fans, celebs, vendors, authors and artists alike.

Be sure to check out Derick's Facebook group dedicated to horror conventions at http://www.facebook.com/groups/HorrorConventions/