HorrorHound Weekend 2013
By Christian Greschel
Edited By Noah Wullkotte
On March 22nd, I attended HorrorHound Weekend at the Sharonville Convention Center in Cincinnati, OH. After finding out that the weekend passes were sold out and the day tickets were most likely gone, I immediately sent an email to the right people so I could volunteer. I was given a T-Shirt and two passes for the convention. I showed up Friday and was sent to monitor the Costume Zombie party. My job was to make sure the attendees were satisfied.
One woman had a broken foot and was still walking on it. Her husband politely asked for a chair and I happily got her one. I’ve broken my foot before and knew what she was going through. Unfortunately the crowd didn’t enjoy the music. They played mostly horror themes and songs from horror films. I felt that they needed more dance music to entertain the crowd instead of just talking into a microphone and playing music at a very low volume.
But the costume contest was great. They asked anybody who was in costume to get in line. I was surprised at a few costumes that were very well done. One was an Alien costume based on the movie series Alien. He added a set of mechanical wings to the costume and the mouth bobbed up and down as the head moved. It looked like it was eating. Another nice touch was the electric source that was used to make the teeth light up. The orange glow of the light was bright and hypnotizing.
Many zombies filled the line along with Walking Dead impersonators. Another costume I thought was great was the elaborate Frankenberry costume. The thing was 4 times my size. It had a fully detailed mask along with a detailed costume from head to toe. The party ended at 1 am and I proceeded to walk into a hallway full of people still wanting to party. I felt that the stage could have been used longer for entertainment purposes since many people just wanted to dance.
Saturday, March 23rd
I woke up at 5 am sharp and still needed some rest from going to bed at 2am after a day of volunteering. I woke up and started to get into costume and makeup. I would be ready by 9:30 am. On the way to the Sharonville Convention Center, I noticed that the parking lots from the tennis club and the local high school were completely full. It looked like an army of car dealerships, but without the salesmen. I was dropped off and I quickly grabbed my hook and mask. I put my mask on and walked across the street. Of course some of the drivers that stopped at the crosswalk were in shock, but so was I.
The lines were already big leading into the building and then I later found out that those lines wrapped around the outside of the convention center. I was completely surprised and the fun was about to begin. I was already wearing my pass, so I didn’t need to get in line. I walked around the parking lot for a while and entertained people. Many wanted to have a picture taken with me and I gladly accepted. I was surprised at how many young children wanted a picture with me, so I decided to scare the adults and high five the kids.
As the day went on, the lines were finally inside the convention center at around 1 or 2 pm with the exception of the lines for Norman Reedus from The Walking Dead. So I still scared and entertained people in that line. I suddenly look over at some old cars rolling in and I thought to myself, “Woah!, those are sick!” I walked over and to my surprise many of the car owners asked for pictures of me attacking their friends in their cars. It was like a classic scene of a killer on the roof of a car. I eventually got bored and decided to walk back into the building and it was literally an ocean of people.
Music from the band Harley Poe played live. The Dent Schoolhouse was selling some merchandise and some makeup jobs as well. Bud Stross surprised the crowd with some magnificent female zombies. There was no chance of me entering the autograph rooms because of the massive amount of people waiting in the various lines. Instead I ventured through the vendor hall where some celebrities were.
I saw Butch Patrick, Dean Cundey, my good friend Kitty Zombie, and Rhino from TNA Wrestling. I didn’t bother to meet anyone because of the large crowds, but Kitty Zombie had decided to take a break from pictures to say hello. The weather was great and the people were all excited to be there. The only bad part about Saturday was the traffic throughout the convention center.
Sunday, March 24th
On Sunday I was scheduled to volunteer from 10 am – 2 pm. I was originally scheduled to stand against the wall to check for wristbands and that was fine because it was when they opened and the crowd wasn’t as big on Sunday. I thought maybe it was because of church and because people had work or go to school the next day. Then the weather struck. Snow and sleet fell from the sky making some decide to go home. The ones determined to get in and meet celebrities endured the cold and stood outside.
I was quickly moved to stand at the entrance of the autograph room which featured actors from House of 1000 Corpses. Actors included Bill Moseley, Irwin Keyes, Sid Haig, Jennifer Jostyn, Walter Phelan, and Robert Mukes. Man, he is huge! That room also had Lew Temple, Scott Wilson, Michael Madsen, Diane Franklin, Tom Savini, Tony Todd, and Tim De Zarn. I was there to direct traffic and make sure that fans had passes just in case anyone snuck in.
The flow of traffic was not as bad as it was on Saturday. I still had fun at the doors while working with another haunter who worked at The Dent Schoolhouse. While seeing some people who looked tired and unhappy, I started to entertain them while working at the same time. Answering questions in multiple voices can be quite amusing. The Backwoods Oddities’ Alan Zeus Shell had requested a picture with me because it was our first time meeting in person and I made him laugh with my squeaky voice saying “Have a nice day.”
When my shift ended, I attempted to meet some celebrities and take photos with them. I was low on money and I went to anybody who didn’t charge a ridiculous price of $20 for a simple picture with them. I met Bill Moseley (very enjoyable to be with), Jennifer Jostyn (charged for pictures, but I still talked to her), Sid Haig (awesome guy to talk to), and Walter Phelan (pretty cool dude). He wasn’t afraid to just walk outside for a smoke. This shocked me because he was just out in the public and very open with fans. Rhino said that he remembers when he was a kid and poor. Now he’s an adult and still poor. It was very amusing. I walked into the room that Norman Reedus was in and I’m glad I didn’t try to meet him because that room was still full even with not as many people there.
Sunday was fine other than the weather and that was perfect for me. The halls weren’t packed with people and I was actually able to get something to eat at the food court without having to wait a long time. A company based out of Dayton, Ohio called Zombiedogs served some strange hotdogs. I had the Calling in Dead hotdog. This consisted of a hotdog in a sub sandwich bun with macaroni and cheese as its condiment. It was very tasty if I might say. Nate Deadwood of Team S.T.A.R. had stated that the team was going to try to get Zombiedogs to appear at the next Cincinnati Zombie Walk. The day ended on a good note because I was able to take pictures with some of my favorite actors.
HorrorHound Weekend was very fun and exciting. I didn’t really go there to meet celebrities, but I still had fun just being with my friends and being able to entertain as either my normal self or Al Canibal. I have something that I like to call Haunter’s Withdrawal Disorder. As a matter of fact I’m sure we all do. If HorrorHound doesn’t feature any cool celebrities (which I highly doubt), just show up in costume and makeup and see how much fun it is scaring people or just get pictures with people in costume.
I plan on attending more horror conventions that come to Cincinnati. HorrorHound Cincinnati had plenty of complaints about how hectic it was. Well, it was only hectic due to the unexpected masses of people feeling the need to meet Norman Reedus and the rest of the Walking Dead cast. The HorrorHound Weekend page on Facebook received many slanderous posts from disappointed fans. Unfortunately most fans only wanted to meet the Walking Dead cast which made it chaotic.
HorrorHound Weekend was very fun. The owners were originally not going to have another Cincinnati convention for a while after last year due to the lack of space they were limited to in the hotel formerly known as Sheraton. But the increase in size of the Sharonville Convention Center had attracted the owners and allowed for a great show to be held here in Cincinnati.
For more information on HorrorHound Weekend, please visit www.horrorhoundweekend.com.