Frightmare in the Falls – A Fitz of Horror Convention Recap

November 3, 2019 Gothic Bob Off Horror

A few days before ‘Frightmare in the Falls’ I was talking with Doug Esper about meeting up when I was leaving for Ohio Friday of last week. This would be the first time I traveled to Ohio for anything other than film work this year…and the prior times were thanks to Doug. I met Doug a bit before April of 2017, online, right around the time I had four loved-ones pass away in the matter of a few weeks. One being my best friend’s 15 year old son, and two others being my Dad and Uncle…in the same week. Those events drove me to say “Life’s Too Short!” and try to meet my childhood hero, Faith No More’s first commercially successful singer Chuck Mosley. Doug was playing percussion for Chuck, who was trying to make a comeback. I quickly learned Doug grew up a town over from me (small f’n world) and I think that helped facilitate me booking them a gig, later (October to be precise) that year. Fast forward, I spoke with Doug for months – they came to Buffalo – we had dinner, joked about music, bathroom issues, woes about critics and talked about how Chuck and I were getting back into film. A month later Doug called me with a shaky voice, Chuck passed away. Two years later I’m driving back and forth to Ohio to film a part in Drew Fortier’s ‘Dwellers’, Drew having played guitar with Chuck and Doug briefly.

Doug and I talk about meeting up for food or something, because we’re fat kids in fat dad bodies. That’s when Doug asks “Did you see [Dave] Ellefson and Drew [Fortier] are appearing in Niagara Falls, October 26th?” My response was a resounding “Nooooo! WTF!”, as I live in Buffalo, New York and wondered how I didn’t know my new friend Drew was going to be anywhere near me. He lives in Indianapolis, after all. I had bookmarked Frightmare in the Falls but quickly disregarded it, as we had already planned a family vacation the same weekend. A friend coming nearby changed everything. I also wanted to meet his friend and our film’s producer (for Dwellers), Megadeth’s Dave Ellefson. After some arm twisting on the wife, vacation was pushed out 2 days. I called Fitz and asked him to get me a media pass, he got me two, so I called fellow indie filmmaker John Renna to join me because I know he’s insane and fun. It was ON!

You better believe the real Ghostbuster II whip, Ecto-1, was in attendance!

The horror-con was at Scotia Centre Bank, which was also hosting a “Meat Industry and Wine” convention the same day. We walked by Ecto-1 and a nice replica of Thor the “Supernatural” Impala, which was cool considering Julian Richings was present. Frightmare had a nice sized, square room with lots of DVDs, tees, toys (knives and other trinkets), makeup, photo booths and even records. There was crowd pleasers like a “Stranger Things” mock living room set that you could pay a fistful of bucks to basically get a new social media profile picture. I was anxious, like most others, to get right to the back of the room, where all the stars were. Renna kept me disciplined though and we perused each booth until we got there. It was absolutely crammed in the back and the crowd of people were mimicking the classic game ‘Snake’, as to not clog up and block the merchandise booths down the left or right sides of the convention.

Just a cool-ass Skeletor bust, from The Devil’s Latex Company, next to our favorite Jason masks.

Kane Hodder was clearly the most popular booth. We’d get to him right-away but I was on a mission to see my dear friend Drew Fortier, so I cut through the winding snake and Drew and I hugged it out. Dave Ellefson’s flight was held up so it wouldn’t be till almost 4 p.m. that he got there. Luckily, fate would have Craig Lindberg right next to Dave’s table, separated only by Julian Richings who wasn’t present when I made my visit. We visited John Dugan (Grandpa from Tobe Hopper’s ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’). He looked and sounded absolutely great considering the battle he’s had: surgery to remove cancer and subsequent jaw reconstruction. He told us he’s still putting up the good fight but it’s had its challenges.

John Dugan discussing merchandise with fans.

After a photo with the giant, imposing R.A. Mihailoff shaking my hand and holding the back of my neck while doing so (People talk about Trump trying to have an imposing handshake…R.A. let me know he could destroy me!), Renna caught up with Makeup Artist extraordinaire; Craig Lindberg (SNL and tons of filmwork). He was proudly promoting Greg Lamberson’s Johnny Gruesome but came around to greet us. That’s when things got even more fun! Craig says “hold on a minute” grabs a silicon mold and puts it on Renna’s face. “I made this from my face but I think this’ll be fine. John, will you be my model?” Renna tried suggesting I do the honors but alas…my mustache and beard would spoil that.

Craig Lindberg tries out his silicon ‘Eye of the Beholder’ mold on his new model, John Renna.

It wouldn’t be long before Craig’s demo/panel would start so, with little time left before Renna’s transition to a wrinkled pigface, we went and had a 2 p.m. breakfast. He had poutine and I had a Coffee Crisp and a Pepsi. When in Canada! After our quick snack and afrer Renna took the poutine upstairs with him and dripped gravy all over the escalator, Craig went to work and transformed my giant-sized friend into a giant sized…hideous pigfaced doctor. I stepped out briefly, but respectfully, a few times to cover William Forsythe’s panel, where he explained: how he first met Rob Zombie in front of a huge statue of John Wayne, how wonderful Rob is, how his Firefly family really is like a family and that it’s absolutely absurd that people think Sheriff Wydell is inspired by George W. Bush. There was not an empty seat in the room and he’s the type of guy you could sit and listen to for hours. I got wind that ‘Beers with Jason’ was starting soon, so I quickly ran downstairs to grab photos with everyone that I could. Lines had dwindled down and you’d almost never have known there was a horror convention. SUCKERS! I had planned it all perfectly! I made my rounds and literally didn’t even have to wait for Bill Moseley, who was also a wonderful human. He must’ve walked around his table hundreds of times that day to pose for photos. All of the stars at this convention seemed really selfless and humble. Lew Temple asking me how my weekend was made me feel like Chris Farley in that SNL skit with Paul McCartney “…um…ugh…awwwwesome.” I told him how I had postponed vacation to be here and he said “you made the right call.” I definitely did! I got to see sneak footage of Dwellers too!

Thanks Rue Morgue, Boss Fitz, Craig Lindberg and all the other wonderful people at Frightmare in the Falls. Special Thanks to John Renna for the wonderful company and stories!

Tony Moran, R.A. Mihailoff, Craig Lindberg, John Dugan, Dave Ellefson & Drew Fortier, Miko Hughes, Julian Richings, and Ashley Palmasano (who is in ‘A Quiet Place 2’ with me).