Halloween is one of my all-time favourite holidays and we're
more than a week into the month of October. So your ghoulru has decided to conjure
up this list of Halloween-related events happening now in the Sacramento area
where he is broadcasting this blog from. I know many of you are not from here,
but I have a couple links that might be of use to you that may direct you to
some special Halloween events near you.
A list of Halloween Events
Sacramento Horror Film Festival, Oct. 9 – 11: Yes, that's right. This festival of fearful films by indie directors is going
on right now! It was started back in 2007 and has been going since. It shows
both feature and short films.
Sacramento Area Authors talk about their post-apocalypticnovel, Oct. 16: Authors Louis Grivetti and Sargent Reynolds talk about their
latest novel, The Cave, set in a
post-apocalyptic future, at The Avid Reader bookstore in Davis. But no zombies
in this one (unless they make a surprise appearance; yours truly can't say
since he hasn't read it yet.) But there's something even scarier in it than the
living dead: a much more plausible apocalyptic event and so one that can more
likely happen. You can find out more about it in the article I wrote for
Examiner.com.
Sinister Creature Con, Oct. 17 and 18: This con emphasises cinematic makeup and special effects artists of horror
films, but it will feature other kinds of artists too. These include the cast
and crew from several movies such as actress Nell Campbell from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, actor Gerrit
Graham from the cult classics Phantom of
the Paradise and TerrorVision,
actress Judith O'Dea from the original Night
of the Living Dead and John Russo who co-wrote the screenplay, and actor
Miko Hughes of Stephen King's Pet
Cemetary. Other creative pros who are scheduled to be there are Josh
Hancock, author of the meta horror novel, The
Girls of October; Comic book horror-parody artist Paul Allen; and
Industrial Light and Magic's Fon Davis. There will also be plenty of dark and
weird merchandise for sale.
I'll be at this one on Saturday, hopefully with some swag which I
have not even had time to put together yet. I meant to do my own illustration
based on my cover for The Hidden to base my book marks and post
cards off of. However, I have not gotten that far yet since I've been busy with
clients' projects and with the book’s stories themselves. So I'm thinking about
doing a stock photo-based version of the swag using Canva.com’s software and
hope to have them available for Sinister. If I can crank these out on time I’ll
either have them on hand or at a swag table, so look out for me there and please
feel free to say “hi” if you see me!
Empire's Comics Vault Halloween Comics Fest and Mini Con,
Oct. 31: There will be plenty of free Halloween themed comics for both kids' and adults'
trick-or-treat bags! But there will also be horror/monster comic book creators selling
signed copies of their work, a pumpkin carving contest and a costume contest.
For Our Far Out Neighbours . . .
And for those of you not in the area, below are two links to
lists of Halloween/horror events throughout the nation. For those of you
outside the U.S.: sorry, I haven't been able to find anything referring to
events in your areas, since Halloween is mostly a North American, U.K. and
Irish holiday (but I'm not familiar with the sources of these last two). Try
doing a Google search using the phrase "horror conventions near me”. To tell you the truth, I'm not even familiar with the sources
below that much, so please contact the facilitators of these events before
making a trip.
http://www.fearshop.com/podcast/2015-horror-conventions.asp This one is a calendar for the entire year, so for October events
you need to scroll down towards the bottom.
Preview of Coming Attractions
Next time I'd like to talk about one of the two movies Gerrit
Graham (mentioned above) played in, Phantom
of the Paradise. I've been fascinated with this movie for a long time, as
much as it freaked me out (partly because I was too young to get the satire) when
I first saw it when I was 14. I think I said I would also discuss childhood
bullies and horror fiction, and I may have a Halloween treat tale for you at
the end of the month. So join me here next week to find out more!
Is there any great Halloween events you know of that didn’t make
it on the above list? If so, list them in the box below, especially if they’re
outside Sacramento!
Until then . . .
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| My auntie put a Day of the Dead costume on this "Barbie" doll . . . permanently! Photo Credit: Yolanda Cota |
Lots of fun stuff happening in your area! We have a few haunted houses and a train in my area. Plus I'm an hour away from Indianapolis, and they have a whole scream park going on. Yet, with a small child, I'm doing stuff like the pumpkin patch with a corn maze and a Trick or Treat trail. Still fun, though!
ReplyDeleteHalloween at all levels is fun, all the way from the kiddy cutest to the terrifyingly scariest! There's a haunted train ride in my area of Sacramento too, a Halloween train at this time of year and a zombie train throughout other times of the year. Really neat.
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