HorrorHound Convention descended upon the Midwest last weekend, September 6-8, in Indianapolis, Indiana. This three day event took place at the Indiana Convention Center in downtown Indianapolis. Fellow writer Amanda and I were fortunate enough to attend it for Nerds and Beyond, and we were so glad we did. Not being huge horror movie experts we didn’t know exactly what to expect, but we were happily surprised at the amount of fun we had. Here are some highlights!
Celebrity Encounters
We arrived Saturday around noon, picked up our passes at registration and then headed to the vendor room right away. We had some time to kill before the panels started so we figured we’d check that out first. We were surprised to find table after table of celebrities taking selfies, signing autographs and chatting with fans. Each celebrity had their own table with price points for selfies and autographs, giving fans lots of variety on which of their favorites they wanted to meet.
A highlight for us was meeting one of our favorites, Scott Patterson. Most well known for his role as Luke on Gilmore Girls, he also appeared in Saw IV, Saw V, and Saw VI as Agent Peter Strahm. Scott was very kind and gracious and we appreciated him taking a few minutes to chat with us.
Another celebrity we saw on Saturday was James Marsters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Runaways fame. As a fan of Buffy, I was excited to see him.
Saw Cast Share Filming Experience And Favorite Death Traps
The Saw cast included Tobin Bell (Jigsaw), Shawnee Smith (Amanda Young), Scott Patterson (Agent Peter Strahm), Sean Patrick Flanery (Bobby Dagen), and Dina Meyer (Detective Allison Kerry). We knew this panel would be a fun experience before it even started. Sean Patrick Flanery arrived early to warm up the crowd — which mostly included jokes and lots of cussing. Scott Patterson came early too, walking through the crowd and sharing his snacks with fans.
After the rest of the panel arrived, a moderator asked the cast several questions and then opened it up to the audience for fan questions. The cast reflected on their experiences working together and what it was like to shoot a horror movie. Tobin Bell shared his experience working on intense scenes with Donnie Wahlberg in some of the early films and then also reflected on the collaboration it required to create a horror movie franchise like Saw.
A theme of the movies are “death traps” that the character Jigsaw puts people through to test their will to live. A fan asked the panel which of the death traps were their favorites. Tobin Bell shared that is the most common question he gets from fans. He and the others answered that it was hard to pick a favorite but shared a few that were the most memorable and gruesome. Another fan asked Scott Patterson why he chose to play a character so different from his previous role in Gilmore Girls. He shared that he liked the unique opportunity and professional challenge of playing such a different role. Joking about playing Luke for so long on Gilmore Girls, he teased, “I needed a break from all that fluff!”
Scream Cast Reflects On How The Franchise Changed Their Lives
Celebrity panels also included the cast of Scream; Neve Campbell (Sidney Prescott), Rose McGowan (Tatum Riley), Jamie Kennedy (Randy Meeks), Matthew Lillard (Stu Macher), David Arquette (Deputy Dwight ‘Dewey’ Riley), and Elise Neal (Hallie McDaniel) of Scream 2.
Being a huge fan of the Scream franchise, I was thrilled to see the majority of the original cast on stage! Each member of the cast was announced and rewarded with applause. After being seated, they were asked about how they got their roles and why they wanted them. Overwhelmingly, they were all attracted to working with Wes Craven and attributed him with their successful careers. The love for Wes Craven was shared by all of the cast members as they remembered him with fondness and admiration. When they were asked about what it was like working on the movie, they reminisced about how young they were at the time and how they partied a lot after late night filming and slept during the day. Another question posed to the panel was how they felt about each of their character’s death scenes — apart from Neve, whose character Sidney doesn’t die. They all seemed pretty happy with how their deaths happened and Rose McGowan spoke about how she did her own stunt in her death scene. She also helped with costuming her character, Tatum. Matthew Lillard, also known for voicing Shaggy from Scooby Doo, was asked about his Dungeons and Dragons company. He followed up with telling the audience to “fly your freak flag.”  Wrapping up the panel, the entire cast told the audience that these conventions are their way of thanking the fans, and they showed that by giving us a standing ovation.
Cosplay Of The Day
Fan conventions like these are fun because Amanda didn’t bat an eye when I casually announced, “Oh look, there’s a guy carrying a severed head, we must be going the right way.” The Indiana Convention Center is a large venue that often hosts multiple events at the same time so at first it wasn’t immediately obvious there was a horror convention going on downstairs. When we first got there, we weaved through the building and passed some professional and educational type events along the way. We wondered aloud what all those professional people must think as they break from their event and then suddenly stroll by some guy carrying a fake severed head.
Like most conventions, fans showed off some serious cosplay creativity. As we wandered through the crowd it was nothing to see two Michael Meyers cosplayers chatting away or a Pennywise disappear into the restroom for a bathroom break. One of the most impressive though were the giant creepy clowns. Kudos to those folks for pulling off such an elaborate costume.
The day was packed with a lot of fun things to see and people to meet, and the weekend wasn’t even over! Stay tuned for a recap of Sunday!