Road Report: HorrorHound Convention 2016!

Every year, I get invited by my friend Tim to go to the HorrorHound convention and every year something comes up, be it an unexpected expenditure or otherwise, and I can't make it. However, this year I made sure my calendar was clear and set aside some extra cash to head down and take in the convention. I would have taken more pictures but the convention center was absolutely packed and you had to keep moving otherwise you'd get run over.

The main draw of the convention were autograph guests and horror icons such as Doug Bradley (Pinhead from "Hellraiser), Elvira, Nick Castle (Michael Myers in the original "Halloween"), Charles Cyphers, Kane Hodder, Ari Lehman, and WWF legends Demolition (Ax & Smash) and Chyna. While I didn't feel like dropping $50 per person on autographs, I wandered around the vendors room and checked out the Horror Host Hall of Fame Ceremony.

Elvira (R) with Count Gore de Vol

The Hall of Fame ceremony kicked off with an lifetime achievement award presented to Elvira. While she didn't stay for long (as the event was running late to begin with and she had to get to her autograph signing), I was able to get a somewhat decent picture of her accepting the award. The other reason I wanted to attend the ceremony is because my friend's girlfriend's step-dad (known on TV in the Dayton area as A. Ghastlee Ghoul) was being inducted as well. It was pretty cool to see clips of all the inductees such as The Adviser, Count Cool Rider, Dr. Morbius, and Ghost Host among others.

After the Hall of Fame induction was over, my friends and I wandered around the vendors area. There was a ton of stuff there that I was really could have bought, but my budget wouldn't allow it. So instead, I found some good stuff that wasn't too terribly expensive.

Funko dolls are an addiction and these were the best of the Funkos I could find from the one vendor that didn't have a horrible markup on them. I'm a big fan of anything Ghostbusters and this Slimer was perfect to grab there, too bad I couldn't find the other characters. Another thing I enjoy are the original Universal Monsters (The Mummy, Frankenstein, Dracula, etc.). Again, this was the best of the batch that I felt like getting.

Michael West is a local author that was peddling his wares at the show. My friend, his girlfriend, and I each bought a book for $10. This particular one called "Spook House" jumped out to me simply because the cover looked really cool. The old saying is to never judge a book by its cover so hopefully it's good but if it's not then at least I didn't pay that much for it.

Finally, the best thing I bought at the convention and then main thing I was looking for in the vendors room ... FRIGHT FLICKS!!!! If you've never heard or seen these cards, then you're missing out. It's only a 72 card set but features stills from the first three Nightmare on Elm Street films along with Alien, Poltergeist, Predator, Fright Night, and Ghostbusters. It's actually the only trading card series that features cards for the original Ghostbusters film from 1984. Nine cards per pack with one sticker and one stick of bubble gum (which I did not try).

The nine cards that were in the pack and I managed to get one of the Ghostbuster cards featuring Slimer raiding a food cart. The middle card of Freddy Krueger is from Nightmare on Elm Street II.

The back of the cards. There's a little story on the back and the marquee on the bottom tells what movie the still is from. I think this is a series that I'll definitely have to work on collecting, especially if I can find more packs. This pack cost me $5 but it's worth it because boxes of these go for about $70 or more on eBay.

This is definitely a convention I'll head back to next year as it was a lot of fun and for a person like me who digs horror movies, it was a great experience!