Fright Night Film Fest And Fandomfest Report

The following is a guest post from our good friend and colleague Marc Ballard. The Fright Night Film Fest/Fandomfest show was this past weekend. This is the 6th year of the show, and with a line up of talent like they had it was poised to be a good one. Media guests included Horror Icon John Carpenter, Henry "The Fonz" Winkler, Larry Drake(LA Law) and many more. Comic guests included artists Mark Kidwell and Robert Brown. The show was held at the Fern Valley Convention Center, and the show ran from Friday to Sunday with a weekend pass costing $45. On the first day of the show, there was a long line to get in. Over 1100 people came thru the door on Friday, and the show was packed. The heat was a factor on the Fandomfest side as the room did get rather warm. On Saturday, the lines started early that morning with over 3000 people attending during the day. The vendor hall and guest areas were packed. I talked to a couple of the guests like Sharon Hill from Dawn of the Dead and Addy Miller from Walking Dead, and both said they were busy all day and the show was great. Eric Stuart, who is the voiceover actor from Pokemon said the show was very busy. Even though it was hot, the people kept coming in. On Saturday night, there were 2 film premieres Overtime and Cross. Both showed to packed houses. After the film premieres, there was a ball with music until midnight. Sunday came and the show started off a little slow as everyone was tired, but a good crowd still eventually showed up. There were a few missteps at the show, but these happen at every convention. Someone gets moved from one day to the next or a timing change happens, but overall everything ran very smoothly. As far as sales for the show, since it's mostly a horror show, most of the sales were horror items. Tarot the Black Witch #1 sold for $35, Dr. Giggles #1 and 2 sold for $10, an outfit worn in the movie My Bloody Valentine sold for $100, Batman cookie jar sold for $30, and Walking Dead SDCC edition sold for $30. Autographs ranged from $10 to $30 for some of the bigger stars. Overall the show went great, lots of people, and sales seemed to be good. The heat was bad but with almost every state having heat index's in the 100's that's something you can't help. Next time, I'll be at the Creation Star Trek Con in Nashville from July 29-31. After that, I'll be at Wizard Chicago. Keep up with me on Facebook Marc "comic city" Ballard or hit the site at www.comiccitytn.com, see ya on the road.