The spring and summer are typically known as the convention season, especially in the horror community, as this is when it’s biggest conventions take place, such as Texas Frightmare, Horror Hound and Spooky Empire. As horror fans, we pay close attention to these conventions, hoping they’ll give us the opportunity to meet our favorite horror legends, as well as up and comers in the genre. Conventions in general are thought to be more for comic books and superhero pop culture, or primetime tv and Hollywood blockbusters, but over the years, these conventions has proved that horror fans should keep their eye on them as well.
Conventions across the country that aren’t exclusively horror, have continuously gotten great horror guests, and often times, they get horror guests that the horror conventions don’t, or can’t. When browsing actors credits on IMDB, it seems like almost everyone has starred in a horror movie at some point in their career. While many of these horror movies may not have been critical successes, or even classified as cult favorites, like the movies the guests at horror conventions are typically from, there’s bound to be fans of them out there, but these actors aren’t the first to come to mind when horror conventions are booking guests. Other times, a star might just be a little too pricey and in demand to be booked by conventions in the horror scene, since these are typically smaller and independently owned. These can be great things if you’re an avid horror con goer and have already met the guests rotating through the horror con circuit, and want to meet someone new.
I’ve seen plenty of examples of this, just in my home state of Texas!
In the past, I’ve met Robin Lord Taylor, who is known for his portrayal of The Penguin in Fox’s Gotham, but also stars in one of my favorite horror movies, Would You Rather, along with Gregg Sulkin who currently star’s in Marvel’s The Runaways, but also stars in the horror film Don’t Hang Up,and others, at Fan Expo Dallas. Last year, I even wrote an article about the horror guests at Fan Expo Dallas, and this year they have even more, like the cast of It (2017), INCLUDING Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard, which is something all the conventions who had these It guests last year were missing. The 2019 Fan Expo Dallas guest list also includes Mia Farrow, Linda Blair, Keifer Sutherland, Jason Patrick, Corey Feldman, Rainn Wilson, Rose Mciver, Tyler Hoechlin, Ryan Hurst, and Khary Payton. Fan Expo Dallas is usually a month before Texas Frightmare Weekend, so competition between the two conventions is always high, but this year it’s higher than ever as they’re taking place the same weekend. Texas Frightmare’s 2019 guestlist consists of Tim Curry, Robert Englund, Bruce Campbell, Barbara Hershey, and many more iconic horror stars. While I highly prefer the atmosphere of Texas Frightmare, Fan Expo’s guestlist for 2019 has certainly won me over (including their non horror guests), but sadly I won’t be able to attend either of them this year. Both cons have their pros and cons, which you can read more about here where I wrote a comparison of the two last year, why pick sides and spend all weekend at one when you could just spend a day at both? That’s what I’d be doing if I could!
In San Antonio, Texas from June 14th to the 16th, Celebrity Fan Fest‘s main attraction is what they’re calling “Aquacon”. Aquaman stars Jason Mamoa, Amber Heard, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, will be in attendance and all have credits in the horror genre. From Games of Thrones, All The Boys Love Mandy Lane and The Ward, and Us and the upcoming season of Black Mirror, as well as the reboot of Candyman, these stars have a wide array of credits, not to mention that there are plans to make a horror movie about the trench from Aquaman. Another guests known for their superhero role, with a horror past who will be at Celeb Fan Fest is Jeremy Renner who played the titular role in 2002’s Dahmer, about serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. While she’s not quite a horror guest, Kimberly J Brown, known for her role as Marnie Piper in Disney Channel’s Halloweentown movies is also attending the convention, and is sure to peak some interest in millennial horror and Halloween lovers.
In two weeks, Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke will be making her debut convention appearance at Houston’s Comicpalooza, along side her costar Nathalie Emmanuel. Another one of their standout guests is Wilmer Valderrama who starred in From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series, and The Dead One (2007).
These are just a few among many examples. If you’re a horror lover, go check out your local comic con’s website, and you might be pleasantly surprised.
