Scare-A-Cuse 2012

By John Engell September 19, 2012

As I mention in my profile, I attend numerous horror conventions throughout the calendar year. Most of those excursions entail hours of travel time to surrounding states (New York is not a horror hotbed) and a good deal of expense (the ever rising cost of gas, and tolls). So needless to say I was excited when I read several months ago that Upstate New York would be hosting its very own event entitled Scare-A-Cuse, and I was impressed when I saw the guest list (many of whom I had never met before) for this regional con in only its second year of existence. With less than a 45-minute drive from my front door to the venue, I decided to purchase a full 4-day pass. Thursday night featured a mixer, but Friday kicked things off.

That morning I sat in on my first panel, which I have always passed on prior purely due to time constraints. Because the con began early on Friday opposed to the more traditional evening start time, celebs were slow to show. It was a good half hour into proceedings before all four participants had made an appearance. Michael Berryman of Wes Craven's "Hills Have Eyes," dominated the conversation, which was very informal. The discussion was entertaining, but not terribly informative as the questions posed to the celebs by the audience dealt primarily with how to succeed in the industry. Then Michael went off on an old grudge about being mislead into thinking he would be cast in the "Hills" remake, which coincidentally I had already heard almost word for word the night before when I put in my Region 2 Arrow Video copy of "Deadly Blessing" and listened to Berryman's interview included in the bonus features. Without a moderator things quickly denigrated into a bitch session.

From there I hit the floor and browsed the vendors- another activity I rarely have the time to really enjoy. There were far fewer booths than the larger cons, but perhaps that helped quell my spending. I did purchase several cheapo dvds for my collection- Three documentaries from a budget indie distribution studio called SRS Cinema (how budget? The dvd sleeves have other titles printed on the reverse side); One on John Russo's film-making, one on Tom Savini's makeup effects, and one on the 25th Anniversary of "Night of the Living Dead" convention. Also snagged a used copy of "The Convent" starring Adrienne Barbeau, which will be reviewed here next week. Got a Freddy figure and couple different copies of the 100th issue of "The Walking Dead."

Then it was time for autographs. Highlights? - Adding Judith O'Dea's sig to my "NOTLD" poster, and meeting the beautiful Barbara Nedeljakova of "Hostel" fame.

Cheers

Cheers to John Russo for not being rigid with his pricing. The majority of convention celebs charge a flat fee for an autograph (typically $20) whether it be on something of theirs or an item of your own . Celebrity's refusal to tier their pricing ie. $10 for your item signed (logical seeing as it doesn't cost the celeb anything other than a few seconds of their time) or $20 for anything on my table signed (makes sense taking into consideration the cost they incur at printers) has deterred me from getting many guests. When I told Russo what I was interested in (the original screenplay for "Return of the Living Dead," his novel "The Awakening" and a poster for his film "Midnight"), he bundled the items for a very reasonable price. He made money, and is now receiving free publicity, and I left happy and as an even bigger fan of his work.

Cheers to Derek Mears, who now resides in my top 5 convention experiences of all time. I must confess I had passed on him before (which I now regret), once again because of lack of coin. Derek was an absolute pleasure. He took his time with each fan in his line. He patiently answered questions even the mundane ones. He graciously discussed Wes Craven's "Cursed" with me, in which he played the werewolf. He was a gentleman to all and a model by which most celebrities at these conventions could learn a thing or two from in regards to how to treat their fans. Speaking of which...

Jeers

Jeers to Danielle Harris. Danielle was late to the floor Friday despite the fact that the convention technically began Thursday. No matter, I had that full event pass so I returned Saturday with the sole intent of meeting Danielle. When I approached her table (the area was as barren as a post-apocalyptic wasteland) she had her face buried in her cell phone. I had to say hello twice before she would even acknowledge me (she asked me to hold on, before she lost her thought). I would have left at that point if her handler didn't already have my twenty bucks. She then scribbled her name on my dvd cover (after asking me several times what my name was), answered a couple questions I had about the film (I typically forgo questions while getting a graph out of courtesy to my fellow fans who are waiting), but since there was no one in sight I figured what the hell. She answered the questions briefly, one of which concerned filming locations for the epic "Stakeland." When she said the Catskill Mountains, I replied "Oh, so close by?" and her response was "I don't know where we are." Hhmmm. Danielle I've said it before about other celebs and I'll say it to you again. If conventions are an imposition to you and your schedule, if they impede upon your personal life, if you have better things to do then by all means do your fans a favor, and don't take their money.

Notwithstanding, Scare-A-Cuse was a success and an event I will pen in on my next year's horror convention calendar!