Episode 004: Blood Oaths and Bar Tabs: Horror Conventions and Cinema Wasteland

It’s the quest of every ultra-fan: finding fellow obsessives to share in the collective joy. 

Fan conventions provide a meeting place and an outlet for like-minded folk.  What’s it like to really find your tribe? 

In this episode I talk about horror conventions, my pilgrimage to the “Anti-Convention” known as “Cinema Wasteland” and meeting a group of fellow obsessives I call “the Algonquin Round Table of Horror.”

 

Convention History

1936- Philcon: First “Fan Convention”. Science Fiction Convention, held in Philadelphia. There were 9 attendees.

1975 World Fantasy Convention: first Convention where there’s a strong presence of horror under the Fantasy umbrella.

1991- World Horror Convention – the first true Horror Convention.

 

Convention:

Cinema Wasteland Movie and Memorabilia Expo- Holiday Inn, Strongsville, Ohio (shows every April and October)

Created by Ken Kish and Pam Kish

 

Movies Discussed (In order of appearance):

Alien (1979) Dir: Ridley Scott

Friday the 13th (1980) Dir: Sean Cunningham

Creepers (Phenomena)-(1985) Dir: Dario Argento

Saw (2004) Die: James Wan

Halloween (1978) Dir: John Carpenter

Paranormal Activity (2009) Dir: Oren Peli

Killdozer! (1974) Dir: Jerry London

Gargoyles (1972) Dir: Bill Norton

Satan’s Triangle (1975) Dir: Sutton Roley

Street Trash (1987) Dir: James M. Muro

Whiskey Mountain (1977) Dir: William Grefe

 Mako: The Jaws of Death (1976) Dir: William Grefe

Stanley (1972) Dir: William Grefe

Kill the Scream Queen (2004) Dir: Bill Zebub

The Worst Horror Movie Ever Made (2008) Dir: Bill Zebub

 Dickshark (2015) Dir: Bill Zebub

Demons (1985) Dir: Lamberto Bava

 

 

The Algonquin Round Table of Horror:

Jon Kitley: Kitley’s Krypt/ HorrorHound Magazine

Bryan Martinez: The Giallo Room (YouTube)

Matt “Putrid” Carr: Freelance Illustrator

Ryan Olson: Deadspeak Design/ The Cold Beyond

Billy and Vanessa Norcera: Evilspeak Magazine/ Surgikill

Damien Glonek: Living Dead Dolls

Bryan Schuessler: Shuizmz

Gregg Olheiser and Jill Van: LIX

Dave Kosanke: Liquid Cheese

 

Filmmakers/Actors/Vendors:

Photographer Jim Sorfleet and model Kat McGill of SnS-Photo

Mike Watt and Amy Lynn Best- Happy Cloud Productions

Fred Vogel- Toe Tag Pictures (August Underground)

Bill Zebub- Bill Zebub Productions

Jane Arakawa- Actor “Street Trash”

Mike Lackey- Actor “Street Trash”

 Roy Frumkes-Producer/Actor “Street Trash”

Dan Curtis

Val Lewton

Tobe Hooper

Wes Craven

Kane Hodder

 Doug Bradley

William Shatner

 

This is S.A. Bradley, and I’m a life-long horror lover. This podcast combines horror history, personal observations, common themes, and cultural trends to tell a story with each episode.  Here we talk about all things horror. Horror movies, books, comics, hosts, conventions.

 The door swings wide here, and all types of horror are welcome.  Each episode covers some aspect of horror with lots of viewing or reading suggestions for you to check out.  I want to start conversations with people about all types of horror. 

I’ve been a fan all my life, and I love all the different styles: Classic Universal Monsters, Slasher Films, Found Footage, French Extreme, Asian Extreme, Korean Ghost Stories, J-Horror, Hammer Horror Films, Amicus Films, Glass Eye Pix, EC Horror Comics, Creature Features, Horror Hosts, Italian Zombie movies, Spanish Zombie movies, George Romero Zombie movies, Giallo, Silent Horror Films, Nature Run Amok, Atomic Age Horror, Roughies, Exploitation, Horror Literature, Serial Killer, Halloween, B-Movie, Splatter films, ghost stories, Folk Horror, supernatural, body horror, torture porn, VHS, Psycho