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Preview: The Fangoria Weekend of Horrors (Chicago)
By James VanFleet
Mar 1, 2006, 23:59

Ellen Sandweiss did it.  She’s the one who finally got me completely, utterly geeking out over the upcoming Chicago Weekend of Horrors (March 4^th and 5^th).  I don’t know why it took this long for the damn thing to sink in.  After all, I’ve known for about a month that I’ll be seeing people I’ve never dreamed of seeing in the flesh.

People like Mick Garris, who’s responsible for some of the best TV horror ever.  George Romero, who pioneered an entire subgenre and set the standard for sociological, smart horror.  Stuart Gordon, who continues to live the dream of adapting Lovecraft and getting paid for it.  I mean, we horror fans practically genuflect to these guys.

Damn it, though, knowing that Ellen Sandweiss will be there is what finally got me into spaz mode.  Most people who read this website probably know that Ellen Sandweiss was the best actor in The Evil Dead (yes, better than Campbell).  She also had to endure the most pain and misery – after all, it was she who caught the eye of a certain lascivious tree.

And most people who watch The Evil Dead have a weird communal experience with it, since it was made by a bunch of kids who simply wanted to scare the shit out of audiences in the best, most gruesome way.  I know I was one of those goofs – immediately after watching it, I picked up a camera and tried to duplicate those wacky camera moves.  For horror fans, making your own Ram-o-Cam is a rite of passage.

You have to understand, I’ve never been to a horror convention.  I live in Iowa.  We have don’t have much to keep us busy out here, besides corn, alcohol, and their bastard child, ethanol.  And, I guess, homemade Ram-o-Cams.  For me, this is big news.

Some of the other names are a little less familiar to others, but they’ve got me jazzed.  Mark Borchardt will be there, the man who was the subject of one of the best documentaries ever made, American Movie.  If you’ve seen that film, you’ve seen the type of passion that fills so many people who make horror movies.  Max Brooks, author of the classic Zombie Survival Guide, will make a visit.  His book is really kind of brilliant, a shockingly thoughtful and reasonable manual for dealing with revived corpses. I’d love to talk with James Gunn, whose Slither looks like a great throwback to 80’s horror.

Tony Timpone, the man behind the Fango WoH, tells us that an event like this takes “six months of work, probably more.  I squeeze in all the planning between regular Fango duties.”  I figured that he had to track a lot of these people down for a horror convention, but no.  "People and studios are throwing guests at us right until the last minute. We actually had to turn down a lot of horror celebs and presentations because we were totally booked."

Other things will be a blast.  Getting signatures from the luminaries.  Watching Timpone emcee the show.  Chatting with other horror geeks.  Fango just announced a costume contest with a $500 prize.  Makes me wish I’d had the foresight to make an Ash costume.  Then again, blue button-down, corduroys, and some elf-shoes, and I’ll be all set.  And for those of you who don’t get the elf-shoes reference . . . for shaaaame.

The Caretaker, Dave Dreher, and I will be reporting from the floor for that weekend, doing everything we can to give you fresh announcements, brand-spanking new interviews, and hopefully some surprises along the way (here’s a hint: it involves the Caretaker, Misty Mundae, and a big vat of lime Jello).

Until then, it’d probably be best to get ready by heading over to www.Fangoria.com.  They have the full story, the full roster of guests, and they were the people who put everything together.  A special thanks goes out to them.  I asked Timpone if he had advice for a con-virgin like me, and his answer was to the point: “Get there early!”  Advance ticket sales have been through-the-roof, and they’re expecting to sell out quickly.

Well, with guests like Ellen Sandweiss, what do they expect?