ZombieConX Review

I spent last weekend getting infected...and it wasn't half bad.

"Infected? You Will Be!" was the promotional motto for last weekend's local Horror Genre convention, ZombieConX. Since it had been eons since I had the opportunity to attend a fun filled fan convention, I wasn't going to miss this con held just a 10 minute drive from my apartment.

I decided to go both Saturday and Sunday to take in all the creepy gory splendor. I got there a little too early as I had to wait in a small line of darkly dressed people for about an hour or so. The only entertaining moment that occurred was when the "Zombie Dolls" (spoke models for the con that were dressed in tight black paramilitary outfits) stormed past the line pulling along a captured zombified girl as they hollered things like, "Keep clear! We have an infected!!!", just prior to opening the doors. Cute. It's nice to know the organizers put a little fun and imagination into it.

Finally they started to herd people into the ticket lines. After a little confusion of what part of the table you actually purchased the tickets at, I got my two day tickets and headed into the main vendor/autograph hall. Apparently getting there early paid off quite well since the first 50 people in line received a free ZombieConX T-shirt. Trey cool, dudes!

Although the vendor section of the con was a little on the sparse side, it still had a whole bunch of cool people to talk to. I met one artist named Billy Tackett who is a painter that takes famous iconic images from the past and present and then adds a zombiesque touch to them. I bought a T-shirt with his Uncle Sam artwork on it. Then I met another artist named Mike Natarelli who was not only a tattoo artist, but also did some incredible genre / pop-culture etchings on glassware that has to be seen to be believed.

I also met a gentleman by the name of T. Glenn Bane who is an author and a Role Playing Game designer. He will have a book coming out soon called "The Gnoming - Haikus from Hell" which will feature a story of a small town infested by an army of demonic garden gnomes. Parts of the tale will be told in Haiku prose. I poop you not! He's going to pull it off.

There were also a cadre of small, independent fill makers either selling or promoting their movies. I ran into one group that just released their movie The Landlord. Apparently the movie has its own built in drinking game. So of course I picked up a copy. I haven't watched it yet. I'll let you now how it is.

I was hoping for more vendors (especially a T-shirt vendor with Horror movie images on them. Maybe next year.), but when you're at smaller con, you make the best out of what you have, and being able to talk and converse with these folks was pretty cool.

Then there were the celebs that showed up for selling autographs and Q & A sessions. All of them were quite gracious and friendly and were having as much fun as the fans coming to the show. Especially Scout Taylor Compton and Dee Wallace. Sid Haig was also there signing for fans.

One of the funny things about Saturday's events was that they held the Q&A sessions on the other side of the convention hall which was having some geriatric wellness seminar. So it was a regular site to see a bunch of people dressed as zombie clowns or zombie clergy walking down the hallway along with older people and their walkers. I guess you had to be there to appreciate the vision.

I went to a number of cool as frell Q&A sessions. There was one with some stars of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre that was more of a comedy improv theater than a Q&A.

There was one called The Great Zombie Debate which I thought would be some authors and fans talking about zombie mythos. But instead it was darn near every celebrity and author going at it on the subject of what was more horrifying, the slow traditional zombie or the newer, much faster zombies from movie like 28 Weeks. Everybody was getting into the quasi-heated discussion. Especially Scout Taylor Compton.

The Halloween: Then and Now seminar was just as good since actors from the original Halloween movies and the newer Rob Zombie redo's were there. Over the course of the half hour the subject matter changed to how Hollywood is made up bean counters and they're the ones who make the decisions on what movies get made and that is reflecting in a lot of these crappy remakes and unoriginal material that is infecting our Horror movie culture right now. All they care about is money and not plot, story or performance. Sad.

One of the last Q&A's I attended was the Wisconsin Paranormal Investigators. It's our own local group of ghost hunters. Though most some of them are skeptics more intent on debunking haunts rather than capturing ghosts, they did have some spooky stories to tell. Check their website!

I'm hoping this will be an annual con and they start to grow more. It has tons of potential of being up there with the likes of Chiller Con or Horrorfind Weekend! Perhaps getting more vendors with collectibles and souvenirs would be a start on expanding the con. I definitely plan on attending next year and spreading the word of the undead that infest Milwaukee's Wyndham Hotel!


I'm off today so I plan on spending much of it playing some Dead Space that I rented for the weekend. So far, it's pretty phenomenal when it comes to sc-fi survival horror! I'll have a review soon. Also watch for some possible Haunt reviews and more Horror movie reviews coming soon. I'm also hoping that my buddy Bruce will have his DragonCon diary up here soon. Perhaps after Halloween.

That's all for today! Until next time, Stay Vertical!

Zangz: