Conventions

Heads up, Atlanta. We've got some news to help soften the pain of your recent sports woes. Baseball and football may not be your thing, but you're all over it when it comes to horror. Mark your calendars for March 9th-11th for the Days of the Dead Horror Convention. Giddyap!

Some of you may not know that the San Diego Comic-Con has a little sister known as WonderCon, which is typically held in San Francisco, but this year things are going to be a bit different. Due to renovation work taking place at Moscone Center South, the Con's usual home, the powers-that-be have opted to relocate it to the Anaheim Convention Center for its 2012 run of March 16th-18th rather than cancel or postpone it.

The celebrity guest list for the 2012 Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (C2E2) is starting to take shape with the announcement that Josh Gates will appear at the annual pop culture convention, where he will be the focus of a high profile panel and will also do a signing. C2E2 will take place April 13–15, 2012, in the North Building at the McCormick Place Convention Center.

As 2011 winds down, it's time to start planning your horror convention calendar for 2012, and we've got a great one for you to start with. The Mad Monster Party will be held on March 23-25 in Charlotte, North Carolina. A huge list of celebrities is scheduled to attend, and in the most recent announcement festival organizers report that Rutger Hauer will be on hand to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Blade Runner!

Horror fans, today is a sad day indeed. The folks at Creation Entertainment announced this morning via their Weekend of Horror Twitter account that they've scrapped any plans for upcoming WOH events during the next year.

As it's been doing for years now, the Rock and Shock festival in Worcester, Massachusetts, delighted fans again this past weekend (October 14-16) with three days filled with screenings, celebs, and music. If you are a horror fan on the East Coast, this is your Graceland.

If Rock and Shock 2011 doesn't get here soon Glenn Ciano is going to burst. Why is that, you ask? Because Glenn makes his feature film directorial debut with Inkubus, and the film will be having its world premiere this Saturday night at Rock and Shock 2011 in Worchester, MA and he can't wait to unleash Inkubus on the unsuspecting world.

Horror conventions are a great time. You get a chance to see some of your favorite genre stars up close and personal, buy some cool swag, and hang out with a bunch of like-minded individuals. A good time had by all. But someone has decided to amp up the fun quotient. Say it with me ... Mad Monster Party!

As a Chicago native, I spent many fond weekends as a fan attending Flashback Weekend so it's an incredible honor for me to be returning to my hometown this weekend to serve as one of the convention's co-hosts. I'll be moderating some panels and running around enjoying all the horror hoopla so if you happen to be there, make sure to look for me and say hi!

Everyone knows that in horror sequels are inevitable. When you hit the right chord and people dig it, it only makes sense. Determined to prove that the sequel can be as good the original, Days of the Dead has announced not one but two shows next year.

Hey, indie filmmakers out there, do you have a finished film that skews toward the unconventional side of the horror genre? Well then, the PollyGrind Film Festival in Las Vegas may be right up your filmmaking alley.

This past Memorial Day, members of The Night Crew podcast were invited to act as panelists and moderators for the annual horror media convention known as Crypticon Seattle.

The Texas Frightmare Weekend ran this past April 29th-May 1st in Dallas, and as Dread Central's only North Texas operative, it fell to me to bring you everything I could from the con. Unfortunately, for the past month I was held captive by an illicit donkey show south of the Border that's also a front for a Satanic drug cult. Just the other day I managed to escape and file this report.

Hey, kids! Do you love your horror sumthin’ fierce? Are you lookin’ for a place to mingle amongst your fellow fiends and bask in the warm, green glow of famous zombies and assorted masters of horror? Well then, Saturday Nightmares is the place for you! This June 3rd-5th, the Sheraton Meadowlands Hotel in East Rutherford, NJ, goes to HELL...and plays host to horror’s elite.

Upstate New York gorehounds are getting spoiled by Chris Alo, Tad Leger and Grindhouse Releasing, presenters of Hudson Horror Show III: A Tale of Two Holocausts. After two successful previous ventures, organizers welcomed their largest crowd thus far to the Silver Cinema in Poughkeepsie for a film festival featuring a quintet of classic movies and loads of rare, memorable trailers.