What do you call that void between Halloween and Christmas? Well, back in the day we called it Thanksgiving, but one day of gluttony is not enough to fill the time. Can’t we come up with some kind of Thanksgiving-leaping mashup between our two favorite holidays?
We can. It’s called HorrorHound Weekend.
The HorrorHound convention has not made its way to Cbus since 2012, but it is back this year to celebrate all things horror. Given its November schedule, Nathan Hanneman, editor and chief of HorrorHound magazine and founder of the conventions, decided a Christmas theme would be appropriate.
“One of our main themes is HorrorHound Haunted Holidays,” says Hanneman. He points to the convention’s family-friendly orientation as one element that sets HorrorHound apart from other genre conventions.
“When I was growing up as a kid, I wasn’t allowed to buy horror magazines because they weren’t kid-friendly,” he says. Of the holiday theme, he says, “You can’t get more family friendly than that.”
Many of the genre’s most iconic holiday horror is being celebrated with photo opportunities suitable for framing (or for Christmas cards, if you still do that kind of thing). Who doesn’t want a Christmas card image of themselves, Zach Galligan and a little gremlin?
I do.
Along with Galligan, Chris Sarandon and Ken Page from A Nightmare Before Christmas will be on hand, as well as Jack Frost’s Scott MacDonald, and Robert Brian Wilson and Eric Freeman of the Silent Night, Deadly Night series.
An almost complete ensemble reunion of American Pie will also be on hand, which seems odd until you realize how many of them have starred in horror films—Tara Reid (Sharknado), Mena Suvari (Stuck), Shannon Elizabeth (Thirteen Ghosts).
You can also meet genre favorites Tom Atkins, Art Hindle, Tom Morga, Ted White and scads more.
There’s plenty more for a genre fan to find at the convention, including vendors with tee shirts, magazines, comics, movies and memorabilia. It’s all part of the enormous entity that is HorrorHound.
“I started out just as a fan. In the 90s I was a big comic book and toy nerd,” he says. He began working for one of the first online magazines about toys news. It eventually blossomed into the HorrorHound magazine, and later, the full HH empire, which includes the magazine and conventions as well as podcasts, merchandising, music, film distribution and more.
While he runs annual conventions in Cincinnati and Indianapolis, he wasn’t sure he was ready to do a third convention in a year, but an outpouring from Columbus fans changed his mind.
“So many people kept asking for it,” he says. “Finally I was like, let’s do it.”
And for some hometown love, HorrorHound brings a little Fritz the Nite Owl madness to the convention. The weekend includes 23 episodes of Nite Owl Theater screening throughout the hotel and available in guest rooms via closed-circuit TV.
Fritz’s version of Gremlins screens Saturday morning, his Krampus is scheduled to run Saturday night, and somewhere in between is a wrap party honoring seven years of Nite Owl Theater.
“Fritz will be there with the team at our Nite Owl set up,” says Mike McGraner, Nite Owl Theater producer. “We will have a brand new t-shirt by Joel Robinson, every poster we’ve have ever made and a possible debut of the Fritz action figure.”
The festival runs Friday, November 3 through Sunday, November 5 at Crown Plaza Columbus North, 600 Double Tree Ave.
For ticketing information and a schedule of events, visit horrorhoundweekend.com
Read more from Hope at MADDWOLF and listen to her podcasts FRIHT CLUB and THE SCREENING ROOM.