The claims of Fango NYC’s death have been greatly exaggerated — by me!
In a recent blog post, I bemoaned the death of the New York City/swamps of New Jersey Fangoria Weekend of Horrors, which I’ve attended off and on since, oh, 1990.
(Note to self: I’m old)
My reasoning — Fango’s got nothing listed anywhere on the Internets, and my very late discovery that Fango was no longer associated with Creation Entertainment, the company that organized the shows.
Well, not soon after making my post known on Twitter, I received this reply from @FangoriaMag:
Fangoriamag@hollywoodchain Planning stages – and yes, you can embed the vid. If you hit the info tab there’s an embed code
(The part about the embed code is in response to my belly-aching about not being able to embed their “Trinity of Terrors” commercial on this site)
So, there it is — plans are underway for a NYC Fango!
I used to have indie director Glenn Baisely fill me in on insider horror convention news. He’s one of those guys who can’t keep anything confidential — a true gossip.
But Baisely is busy killing Mike Lane in the woods for his latest flick and occassionally threatening me with lawsuits, so I was completely in the dark regarding the Fango-Creation dissolution.
I INTERRUPT THIS POST TO PLUG THE LATEST VENTURE FROM LIGHT & DARK PRODUCTIONS:
“DOMINATION: RELLIK VS BLACK ROSE KILLER” screens 12 p.m. Oct. 24 at the Queens Public Library. No, it is not gay fetish porn, but a short film from Glenn Baisely, his first time behind the camera in about a decade!
I KNOW RETURN YOU TO THE ORIGINAL PURPOSE OF THIS POST:
BACKGROUND
I was psyched to see the Fango show return to NYC last June — and, I had a great time, mainly because I don’t go to horror cons for the horror cons.
It’s more about returning to your roots, you know, like De Niro in “The Deer Hunter.”
The show at the Jacob Javits Center in June just didn’t work. But, I’m defensive of the Creation-produced shows. It’s like — I can call my sister fat, but you better not (editor’s note: I do not have a sister).
I LIKED CREATION. THERE, I ADMITTED IT.
I always cringed when some geek would complain about his gold-star seating at Fango or a vendor wasn’t selling as many copies of his unwatchable, do-it-yourself horror flick. Get bent.
The head guy at creation, Adam, was always good to me and my rowdy cohorts. He’s a genuinely good guy.
I covered the Fango shows in NYC over the years for four newspapers in Connecticut and New York, including the Hartford Courant.
With Creation, you sent an e-mail, got on their press list and that was that. No problems.
Contrast that with Chiller, where a request for a press pass was met with hostility (weird, fanboy nonsense) or Monstermania, where my request for a receipt was met with a look of sheer amazement (then they used a magic marker to write my name and the dollar amount on a program).
SO WHAT’S NEXT?
That being said, the Fango shows in NYC lately had a sense of decay to them. Sort of like the last few newspapers I’ve worked at.
(I would embed their 30-second commercial, but Fango apparently forbids embedding their vids. That makes sense. Why would you want a 30-second spot for your new convention spread around the Internet?)
And, I’m happy to report, it looks like the prices are still reasonable — $20 for a day pass.
I’m a doughy white dude a year married and buying a house.
Hopping a jet to Vegas to watch George Romero look uncomfortable while sharing a “Night of the Living Dead” panel with John Russo just isn’t in the cards.
So, somebody clue me in:
WILL THERE BE AN EAST COAST FANGO CON THIS YEAR?!?!?!?!?!?!?
Last night my wife and I ordered “Trick ‘R Treat,” the much-hyped in the horror world movie that has already become a cult flick, thanks to a 100 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and strong word of mouth from genre journalists.
It’s certainly not the next “Dawn of the Dead” (‘78 remake I’m talkin) but it’s a thoroughly entertaining, sometime subversive, sometimes clumsy, horror flick.
I won’t waste space rehashing the plot, but I’ll say it’s an anthology — and, let’s face it, anthology horror usually suuuuuuucks. There’s never enough time to build characters, scares or story.
For every “Creepshow,” there are a hundred “Creepshow 2’s.”
“Trick ‘R Treat,” however, feels like early Stephen King.
The separate stories take place in one town, on Halloween. The story line jumps from here to there, a la “Pulp Fiction.”
It features some very dark humor — and, almost from the first frame, breaks the Hollywood taboo that children can’t be victims in horror movies.
(The movie is not exploitive, most of the proceedings are very tongue in cheek).
I suspect it will become “The Christmas Story” of Halloween flicks, a staple at pre-teen slumber parties.
Speaking of death, Halloween’s coming up, I’m told.
Two years ago this month I took my first trip to the Chiller Theatre Expo in Parsippany, N.J. (Note, Parsippany sucks, so I will not bother to check its spelling).
I had heard talk at June’s FANGO NYC convention that Chiller was looking to go “in another direction.”
A long-time indie filmmaker said he had a falling out with the Chiller organizers, due to the violent flicks he peddled at the Chiller Cons.
Another direction, fine. But, wow, I’m floored that Chiller has completely turned its back on the horror audience — the same audience that made Chiller such a huge success.
Or was it ever a success? Why would they make such a radical change if they were rolling in money?
And why would they implement the new “direction” at Halloween? Adds insult to injury, no?
Wrann is the writer-director behind “Hunting Season,” a taut little indie horror flick he made with his wife, Kimberly.
Expect Wrann to announce some major news for “Hunting Season.”
Namely, the $5,000 flick just landed a Video-On-Demand deal!
As of Aug. 1, “Hunting Season” will be available on cable systems nationwide, including Charter Communications, the DISH Network, RCN and Verizon FIOS.
{Pictured above, from left to right: Kimberly Dalton (Producer, Dalton Gang Productions), Kristina Powis (Burning Inside), Kristina’s Husband Peter, Kristina’s Brother Jamie, Nathan Wrann (Filmmaker, Dalton Gang Productions) and a Little Monster.}
Here is the trailer for “Hunting Season:”
Their second feature, “Burning Inside,” is a disturbing mind trip in the tradition of “Jacob’s Ladder.” It features some FX work by Brian Spears, who, by the way, is in the Woodstock, N.Y.-area this week filming “Bitter Feast,” starring James LeGros and Joshua Leonard.
(Spears is really making progress in the indie horror world. He recently acquired his first stalker, a certain New York-based filmmaker. I can’t talk about it due to advice from counsel.)
” . . . droll perfs, diverting f/x and handsome B-pic atmospherics ensure a good time for horror fans with a memory past last weekend’s slasher remake.”
