FROM THE DESK OF CONTRIBUTOR COLE WILLIAMS
The fourth annual Texas Frightmare Weekend horror convention haunts North Texas this weekend. The Sheraton Grand Hotel-DFW International Airport will host celebrity guests, movie screening, aisles and aisles of memorabilia, and more.
This year’s guest of honor is rock icon Alice Cooper, who will be signing autographs throughout the weekend and, on Saturday, receive a lifetime achievement award for his roles in rock and horror history. Other notable scare masters attending include Tyler Mane (‘Halloween’), Corbin Bernsen (‘The Dentist’), and director Tobe Hooper (‘Poltergeist’), who showed up Thursday night for a 35th anniversary screening of his classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, joined by stars Marilyn Burns and Teri McMinn.
Events include Q&As with Linda Blair (‘The Exorcist’) and with the cast and crew ‘Walking Distance,’ as well as the fest’s signature Saturday morning Zombie Walk, where attendees meet at a restaurant, get done up in gory zombie makeup, and shamble en masse to the convention.
Screenings will run throughout the weekend, starting tonight (Friday) at 6 p.m. with ‘Fright Flick,’ a self-described “campy” slashfest about breaking into the movie biz. Other notable screenings include Mario Bava’s Italian classic ‘Black Sunday’ and the much newer ‘Pathogen,’ a low-budget zombie fright that garnered buzz for being created and directed by a 12-year-old, Emily Hagins of Austin. And then there are the, uh, unique screenings, most notably ‘Retardead,’ a movie about “special” zombies.
And, of course, there will be vendors, tons of vendors, peddling everything from posters and props to action figures and the much beloved bootleg DVDs, and there’ll also be a lot of up-and-coming filmmakers on hand promoting their projects.
Texas Frightmare Weekend runs through Sun., May 3, at the Sheraton Grand Hotel-DFW International Airport (4440 W John Carpenter Fwy, Irving, 972-929-8400). Tickets, which can be bought at the door, are $25 per day or $60 for the entire weekend. Children under 6 get in free. For more info, visit www.texasfrightmareweekend.com.
The 8th Annual Fred’s Fest is this weekend at Fred’s Texas Café (915 Currie St, in the West 7th Street corridor by the Cultural District, 817-332-0083).
Saturday’s lineup features Sally Majestic, Boxcar Bandits, Soulever Lift, Blackland River Devils, The Me-Thinks, Terry Rasor, Katsük, John Burleson, Kyle Everett, and Scott Copeland.
Sunday is Spoonfed Tribe, Grimy Styles, The Rivercrest Yacht Club, Bastard Sons of Skoalfield, Champa, My Wooden Leg, Darrin Kobetich, St. Frinatra, Kurt South & The Healers, and Scott Copeland. Admission is free.
See Thursday’s Weekender for more cool things going down this weekend.
The Rivercrest Yacht Club had to cancel.