Days of the Dead Indy 2015

I kicked off this years convention season with Days of the Dead Indy this weekend. Indianapolis and I have a tempestuous relationship, things always seem to go wrong in Indiana. But as far as big cons go, days of the dead is one of the better ones. They’re not immune to the inflation that has suddenly hit all the convention surrounding us it seems though as their admission price increase by $10. Still, they really try to give thier customers more bang for their buck – especially those extra bucks they are asking for now.  This con, unlike other bigger ones like flashback, seems to have more access to the celebrities. better with this
Despite my trepidition,  I almost always have a good time at days of the dead and this was no exception. I’m not exactly pleased about the rate hike, but something interesting they’ve chosen to do this time around is extended hours. The convention still hs reasonably normal hours but they’ve included parties and events going well late into the night, and this is a good thing, it’s one of the things that Wasteland and Shinboku con really excelled at and what made them work so well.

My main goal this weekend was really just to meet three people the last two remaining cast members from Dawn of the Dead, Galen Ross, and Scott Reniger – the last two I’ve never encountered before. Not just them though, but also to see George Romero again. I have recently started a day of the dead poster and needed his signature on it as well. George worries me. I can see why his charge is going up –  his hands shake. He seems a spry as ever was a delight during his panel…

but his hands shake.

Perhaps it’s just that the recent death of Leonard Nimoy has freaked me out a little. Still, it’s an image that just stays unnecessarily in my mind…I worry.

The cast was nice and chatty, and did a wonderful panel together. It was the usual suspects from Dawn, but still, I’ve never see them all together like this before. I learned a few things I’ve never known about the film before and that’s really why you do panels.

I also got to see Jon Schnepp, the producer of The Death of Superman Lives. This was interesting, I’ve been following the making of this movie while now and he told me it will be available in May! I cannot wait! We discussed how he wanted to release it, something He only now getting into and wasn’t sure what to do. He asked what I thought, and I do believe alot of the future is streaming, although I also like the idea of doing it as any event film, much the way Adam Green and Alex Pardee are doing with Digging up the Marrow. He mentioned he’d been to the premier in LA, being a friend of Alex Pardee. I mentioned that Cleveland would be an excellent venue for an event like this film, being the home of Superman and dropped the name for Akron Comicon.

One of the things that was really fun at this convention with the Photo ops. The 502 Legion was there which means there were a LOT of Star Wars people wandering around. Interestingly enough,
I got extremely nice picture in front of the Mellinium Falcon! ! Then there was  Skeletor and Evil Lynn. Remember a couple years back when I want to this same convention? I was unable to get my picture with them then, a situation I remedied this year. I got a second picture was George.  Back when I met him and find in Gettysburg I got a photo with him looking reasonably normal. This time around I got it in some make up and my photo involved me menacingly staring at him about to attack! This was just epic.

I don’t usually come to horror cons in costume, I prefer to look like myself for photos with the movie stars, but as I walked in I saw a big sign with the the lettering “free zombie make-up”.  I can hardly pass this up. is so rare for someone else to actually make me up and I was interested in seeing what techniques this artist used. We have a lot in  common  with greasepaint and latex, but also, this artist uses toilet paper! It was amazing, and I really wanted to see how she mixed colours and makes ridges.

Having something like this, getting made up, it’s one of those things I really like about this convention but those prices to continue forward and raise, I’m not sure how much longer I can continue to go. Still, of the bigger conventions I go to, I do believe that is why my favourite and I’m very glad I made the trip this weekend.

PS, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out the awesome that was the Walking Dead Lego build displayed in the middle of the dealers room –

March 2, 2015 | Categories: Horror Convention | Tags: Days of the Dead, George Romero, Horror Convention, zombies | 1 Comment