There is no finer way for a horror fan to spend a weekend than at a horror convention. From July 30th through August 1st, the Chicago area was blessed with Flashback Weekend’s Horro’Rama Drive In (www.flashbackweekend.com). There were celebrities, endless film screenings, movie and memorabilia vendors and a “drive-in” style theater set up in the parking lot every night. Though I unfortunately could not participate in the entire weekend, there was plenty to do and see during the last two days of the convention.

Three of the main celebrities present during the convention were Angela Bettis (May, Toolbox Murders), Joe Bob Briggs (Joe Bob’s Drive In Theater, MonsterVision), and George Romero (Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead). All three signed autographs during part of the daytime convention. In addition, George Romero did a couple of Q&A sessions. During these sessions he spoke of two new projects he has coming up: Diamond Dead (www.diamonddead.com), a “rock n roll horror movie” according to it’s website, and Land of the Dead, which will in a sense pick up where Day of the Dead left off.

One of the underground horror films screened at the convention was August Underground’s Mordum, created by Toe Tag Pictures (www.toetagpictures.com). Mordum is not for the squeamish; but fans of more shocking, gory, boundary-pushing horror films may enjoy it. The movie follows three young serial killers, two male and one female, who film the gruesome murders they perform. Victims are tortured, and their bodies are exploited both before and after their deaths. In one particularly disturbing scene toward the end of the movie, one character even has sex with a young girl’s dead body. Afterwards the staff of Toe Tag Pictures discussed their work and took questions. One of their main arguments for the film is that it pushes at the limits of the horror genre.

I agree that it does, though only in one direction: shock and disgust. While it’s vital for the horror genre to grow in all directions, including this one, I found myself skeptical of some of Toe Tag’s ideas. I would hate for horror to get tunnel vision by only focusing on how to be more and more disturbing. On the other hand, that type of film does bring up interesting questions about what we find shocking, why it’s shocking to us and why in the world we still want to see it. For example, the age of a victim seems to vary little in many horror films. Mordum may have hit on something by introducing the body of a young girl- youth implies innocence, and corruption or violence performed upon a child can create a unique reaction from an audience. Even less graphic films could use the presence of younger victims to their advantage.

Between Saturday and Sunday night three movies were shown, drive-in style, in the Rosemont Holiday Inn parking lot. Each night trailers from past decades preceded the movies. Some were for horror films such as The Devil’s Rain, Little Shop of Horrors and The Pit and the Pendulum. But many were for old adult movies, some of which contained a “bad girl” stereotype. In other words, the main character would be a young girl with heightened sexual awareness and freedom, which often just gets her into trouble. These adult movies certainly provide an interesting look at the values society had in the past and how those values defined what people found arousing.

On Saturday night, the drive-in featured Day of the Dead and The Toolbox Murders. For those not familiar with it, Day of the Dead is third in Romero’s series of zombie movies. Like the previous two movies, there is a group of people trying to escape the hordes of zombies that have come upon the world. Day is somewhat similar to Dawn of the Dead in that the group of potential survivors consists of mostly men, but also one woman. This one female character seems to symbolize hope for the world. As long as that one woman lives, repopulation can occur.

The Toolbox Murders starred Angela Bettis from May. In the movie, Bettis and her husband move into an apartment building with a strange history. As tenants turn up missing, she takes on the role of the investigator and in a sense transgresses her gender for a while. Bettis’ character becomes the most active, pushing and prodding for the building’s mystery to be solved. She’s resourceful, insistent and determined. By the time Bettis’ husband and the landlord realize they should have listened to her, she has gone one step too far and finds herself in danger. The characters turn back to traditional gender roles more and more as the film reaches its climax. Bettis’ character becomes the running, screaming, helpless female and her husband gets to be the hero. However,in the final scene, the hero is absent and Bettis is saved by human instinct in combination with her own prior resourcefulness. The film’s pace was sometimes slow, and they could have written a better ending, but overall it was a decent movie.

On Sunday night the drive-in featured Invasion of the Blood Farmers. It’s one of those movies we can truly call: “so bad it’s good.” The visuals weren’t terrible and the general plot was okay. The acting was even decent at times. The true downfall- or should I say highlight- of Blood Farmers was the writing. It was all about the dialogue and the details of the story. The main female character was very blonde and completely vapid, a perfect victim. Conversations between her father and fiancé were corny and lacking any kind of depth. Although they are both supposed to be scientists, no signs of real intelligence are seen until at least half the movie is over. The ending was awkward, a bit confusing and too quick- I tore my attention away for a second or two and was lost. I had to turn to my companion and say, “What the hell just happened?” Even she wasn’t entirely sure. But all in all, we agreed that this was a great drive-in horror movie, the type that we could perfectly envision being viewed, scrutinized and torn apart by the MST3K crew.

Conventions always attract an interesting crowd of people. You see obsessed fans alongside people with only a casual interest in whatever the convention’s focus is. It has been, and perhaps still is, thought that most fans of horror are male. The more people I meet, the more I get the feeling that this has changed- the ratio of male to female horror fans seems to be balancing out. Flashback Weekend helped to confirm this feeling of mine. On the other hand, if one looked carefully enough they might have noticed that most of the women at the convention were there with at least one guy. Some were dating or married to their companion,some were just friends in a big group.

But nonetheless, it was rare to see a woman, or a group of women, there without at least one guy with them (my female friend and I were part of this small percentage). Whether they were dragged along by a significant other or just as excited about the horror genre, I was still glad to see something close to a balance being achieved.

Those who missed this horror-filled weekend will be happy to know that Flashback Weekend will return to Chicago next year. One, two and three-day ticket packages are available, though tickets for single events are also sold. The three-daypackages are a little over $100 each, but they are well worth it. They include every event: screenings, Q&A and autograph sessions, demonstrations, and of course the drive-in. If you’re only interested in the drive-in movies, single tickets were about $10. Information about next year’s convention will be at www.flashbackweekend.com, including schedules, announcements about guests and screenings as well as hotel and ticket information.

Hope to see you there!

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