FearCon 2019

It hardly seemed that FearCon VIII had begun, before we were closing the doors after ushering the last stragglers from the building, early on Sunday morning. Perhaps that was the result of reining this year’s edition back in length. Last time, we ran through Sunday as well, but that always seemed a bit of a lame-duck day. This time, we instead finished on a Saturday night high, Voltaire making a welcome return to FearCon. He had previously appeared back in 2011, and was in equally fine form for us this time, despite some bastard thieving his rum [insert Capt. Jack Sparrow line here].

He wasn’t the only top-notch performance of the weekend, either. The heavy metal-horror stylings of Chiron proved very popular, and we appreciate them stepping up and pulling double duty, after the unfortunate loss of The Spider Hole on Saturday night, due to health issues [get well soon!]. The Phantoms of Phoenix delivered a storming set, and then there were the Agents of Lust… If you saw either of their sets – or their impromptu performance in the parking lot! – you’ll know what I mean, If you didn’t, mere words can’t do it justice. There are some pics in the slideshow. Go. Look. We’ll be here when you’ve picked your jaw off the floor.

Our celebrity guests were a joy. We were honored to stage a rare reunion of four cast members from I Drink Your Blood, in Elizabeth Marner Brooks, the completely irrepressible Ronda Fultz, Tyde Kierney and the ever-lovely Lynn Lowry. We screened their grindhouse classic on Friday night, after which they talked about the film (above) and answered audience questions. We can but hope to age as gracefully! Fred Williamson and Ken Foree also came back to FearCon by popular demand, and were as well-received and approachable as ever.

Michael Flanders was our panel organizer this year, and had put together a full slate of discussions, covering a wide range of topics. We also got to enjoy panels by local author Craig Chenery, and on Friday night, a deep dive into vampire lore and legend from expert Brent R. Myers. Saturday also kicked off with an At The Movies presentation of horror trailers and giveaways by Len Berger. [I’m looking forward to Aquaslash myself!] It closed with the much-anticipated Unipornicon Theater, re-enacting the very worst of erotic fan fiction. Safe to say, that lived down to expectations and, again, words can’t do it justice. I’ll just leave this GIF here. Jurassic Park will never be the same.

Local film-makers Bradford Uyeda, Tony Noyes, Adolfo Navarro and Dineta Williams-Trigg get their panel on

We had a strong slate of films this year, both feature and short. For the first time, we had a screening dedicated to shorts, and were pleased to welcome four of the directors to the event. They talked about their work after the program, discussing film-making in Arizona and sharing their experiences, as well as offering suggestions to those looking to get into the field. We were also pleased to welcomer John Woodruff, director of Animal Among Us, and one of the film’s producers, Cara Kidwell. Which seems as good a place as any to list the FearCon awards given out this year:

Best Film: She Never Died
Best Director: John Woodruff, Animal Among Us
Best Short: Athena, Christian Stahl
Best Local Short: Static Kinship, Adolfo Navarro
Audience Favorite: Undead in the West, Tony Noyes
Best Venue: Sun Studios

Yes, it’s only the second time since we started in 2006, that we’ve had FearCon take place at the same venue. Sun Studios really does feel like our home now though, offering everything we need: space for screenings, panels and vendors, not to mention the upstairs bar! Speaking of which, among this year’s biggest hits were the “blood bags” available there (below), combining fruit juice with your liquor of choice. Those proved such a hit we were all but sold out on Friday night, and had frantically to scour the city for further supplies of them on the Saturday morning. We are honored to be patronized by such hard-drinking people.

If you had any money which you hadn’t spent on alcoholic beverages, the vendors were ready to help relieve you of it, selling everything from DVDs through metal artwork and contact lenses to cupcakes [I suspect the positioning of Kiki’s Cupcakes, right by where Chris spent much of the weekend, was not coincidence…] And if you needed some fresh-air, you could pop outside and admire the selection of cars, including the Ghostbusters car, Lilith from Supernatural and a Zombie Response Unit which attendees got to “bloody up” with their own artistic flourishes.

Was it the best FearCon ever? It certainly felt like it should be highly-ranked. But as always, there’s room for things to be bigger and better, and plans are afoot for FearCon IX. Albeit extremely vague, some point off in the temporal distance, plans, which are massively subject to change, as we think better of them. We are open to suggestions, comments and thoughts as well – either email director@phoenixfearcon.com, or reach out on Facebook. We’d love to hear from you!

As for next time? We’ll be back. Don’t know when. Don’t know in what form. But stay tuned…

Thanks to [in no particular order!]

Ruben and Lara of Sun Studios for taking care of everything
Guests Elizabeth Marner Brooks, Ronda Fultz, Tyde Kierney, Lynn Lowry, Fred Williamson, Ken Foree and Craig Chenery
Performers Voltaire, Chiron, the Agents of Lust and the Phantoms of Phoenix
Michael Flanders and his panelists and Unipornicorners
Each and every film-maker (present or not), for letting us show their work.
Dee Astell for the Zombie Fashion Show
Eat My Meat for keeping the celebrities fed
Kiki’s Cupcakes for maintaining our blood sugar levels
Rodrigo Izquierdo of Reagle Photography – check out more of his amazing work!
Jeremiah for tag-teaming in the projection booth
The minions for letting Chris bend them to her will
The True Grit Tavern, for providing alcohol and the bartender
The Horror Show, who are working on a Nighmare on Elm Street fan-film, Dylan’s New Nightmare – check out the trailer here.
All the attendees, without whom…