Per Matt
I have officially survived a lot of horror this weekend. First of all, I flew into a tropical storm before touching down in Florida. Unfortunately, with all the turbulence I absorbed, I won’t be needing to ride any roller coasters any time soon. I’m just glad I didn’t eat anything before flying… That was the bad horror. All the good horror was supplied by Fatality Fest, a bloody fun con held in South Florida this past weekend.
The 2013 Fatality Fest in West Palm Beach, FL was the initial horror convention produced by ADA Management Group. The con combined a horror film festival with celebrity panels, vendors and events.
After the vendor and exhibitor room opened, Friday’s main event was the movie screening of Men In Suits. This was a documentary featuring the actors behind the costumed creatures of Godzilla, Robby the Robot, The Gill Man, The Predator, The Alien and more. Some of the actors interviewed for the movie included Doug Jones, Haruo Nakajima, Misty Rosas and Tom Woodruff Jr. Director Frank H. Woodward gave a lively panel afterward, discussing the pros and cons of CGI vs. actors in creature suits.
Saturday began with the movie screening of Psycho Street, which offered an anthology featuring otherworldly nudity, rape, paganism and burlesque dancing. Afterward, filmmakers labeled Psycho Street as “Creep Show on steroids.”
Ernie Hudson’s panel was a highlight of the weekend. The interview room was packed as he discussed working on Ghostbusters, Oz, The Crow, Congo, Dr. Who and hinted about working on an upcoming TV series by director Frank Darabont. Could this project be Lost Angels? Only time will tell.
The Fatality Fest costume contest followed, with not one, but two Jasons from Friday the 13th making their gruesome appearances, along with a little Batgirl and a sexy Vampirella.
The movie screening for Girls Gone Dead was up next. This was a funny, gory Spring Break spoof of Girls Gone Wild, offering lots of nude coeds and cameos by Beetlejuice, Ron Jeremy and Jerry Lawler. This felt like a great ’80s throwback film.
American Mary was the final screening of the night, which discussed an alternate outlook on body modification… with rape. Saturday night’s official After Party happened at Off The Hookah, accented with Zombies, DJ Jayr and celebrity guests.
Sunday started with a screening of The Good Sisters, a movie about pagan sisters attempting to fit in among their neighbors of an unusual apartment complex. Afterward, actors Debbie Rochon and April Burril joined with Director Jimmyo Burril to discuss the film and hand out autographed movie posters. Also noteworthy: the sisters spoke actual, researched chants, which the actors were careful not to invoke anything negative, in real life.
After the panel, we spoke with April and Jimmyo Burril for a quick interview.
We ended up walking around the vendor room and chatting with attendees for the remainder of the afternoon and catching Joe Bob Briggs for a great interview. This was the highlight of the weekend. He is so full of great movie-based stories, it’s a shame he wasn’t asked to speak at any panels. Regardless, he’s got some breaking news, which we will post in his interview.
All in all, it was a fun-filled horror convention, even if the elements didn’t quite allow for outdoor partying.