At Fangoria, the Faithful Gather for a ‘Woodstock of Horror’

F angoria’s Weekend of Horrors returns to Los Angeles for the 16th year this weekend with some of the top horror talent in film and television speaking during the two-day event.

Celebrity guests include director John Carpenter, who will discuss his latest film, “Ghosts of Mars”; James Marsters, who plays Spike on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”; Oscar-winning special-effects artist Stan Winston; Cassandra Peterson, who will talk about her new movie, “Elvira’s Haunted Hills”; and Kane Hodder, who has played killer Jason Voorhees in the last four “Friday the 13th” movies.

Among the panel discussions will be one on the original “Planet of the Apes” movies and TV series.

Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors is co-produced by Fangoria magazine, a popular horror publication. The magazine began in 1979 and has a circulation of 250,000.

Tony Timpone, editor of Fangoria since 1986, discussed what’s in store at the Weekend of Horrors.

*

Question: Are horror films really date movies?

Answer: Absolutely. I think for a guy out on a first date, there is no quicker way to a woman’s heart than a horror movie. She’s usually screaming and clutching him the whole time, so I think horror films are great date movies. I always used them as date movies. I met my wife on Halloween. We have gone to plenty of horror films. She’s not into the more modern kind; she’s more into the old-fashioned “Dracula”-type stuff.

Q: I agree with your wife. It seems that contemporary horror films are becoming progressively gorier.

A: They were for a while, but I think Hollywood realizes that in order to have a mainstream, crossover appeal, they can’t go for over-the-top blood and guts. That is why films like “The Blair Witch Project” and even “The Sixth Sense” were successful, because they left a lot to the imagination. The scares were more simple.

The well-rounded fans are into all kinds of horror movies--the traditional Universal monsters, the Hammer horror films of the ‘50s and ‘60s. I think the age of the slasher movie [is over]. I think when they started satirizing it in the “Scream” movies, they didn’t have any place to take it after that. I think that’s why films like “Valentine” and “Urban Legend: Final Cut” weren’t successful because the whole slasher thing has been played out now.

Q: Have you loved horror movies since you were a kid?

A: I grew up reading a magazine called Famous Monsters of Filmland and watching horror movies on TV. I always loved the Universal monster movies as a kid, and then I graduated to the Hammer horror movies and then the Edgar Allan Poe films that Roger Corman did.

Q: What have been some of your more recent favorites?

A: I think 1999 was a great year for horror because we had “The Blair Witch Project” that came out of nowhere and really took the world by storm. I also thought “Stir of Echoes” was a really good ghost story, and I really got caught up in “The Sixth Sense.” This summer there have been a few good horror movies as well. There is a movie coming out I loved called “Jeepers Creepers” and another one coming out called “Session 9.” It was scary in a “Blair Witch” type of way.

Q: What was the genesis of the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors?

A: As a magazine, Fangoria became very popular in the mid-’80s because there was a boom in slasher films and horror films. . Fangoria is a very fan-based publication, and our readers are very dedicated. We thought the conventions would be a great place for people to come together--sort of a Woodstock of horror.

Q: Does the festival just focus on new horror films or does it also pay tribute to the vintage movies?

A: We do have vintage guests at our show. We have had Boris Karloff’s daughter and Bela Lugosi Jr. But for the most part, [attendees] are fans of the modern scene. This year we are trying to get more of the nostalgia audience with a separate room with celebrity autograph signers--actors and filmmakers from the ‘50s and ‘60s. We have the actor who played Blacula, William Marshall; Sid Haig, who was in a lot of schlock movies in the ‘70s; and Mary Mitchell, who was in Francis Ford Coppola’s [early] film, “Dementia 13.”

When I program these conventions, I really go for diversity. I try to hit as many bases as possible. There are so many different elements of horror, it would be foolish just to target one specific subgenre of the genre. I try to have some of the old-timers, some of the new people, TV people. We are always looking to enlarge our audience, so having a James Marsters from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” really helps us increase our profile and our audience.

Q: You are moderator of the “Boogeymen” panel, which closes the festival. Who will be participating?

A: The exciting thing about the “Boogeymen” panel is that we have been able to put all the titans of terror on one stage at one time, and they are all coming together to promote this new DVD that’s coming out from Universal called “Boogeymen.” It’s a collection of clips from the best and bloodiest horror movies of all time. It’s coming out Oct. 2.

The “Boogeymen” are Clive Barker; Robert Englund, who is Freddy of the “Nightmare on Elm Street” movies; Tobe Hooper, the director of “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”; Gunnar Hansen, who starred in “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”; Kane Hodder, who plays Jason in the “Friday the 13th” movies; Peter Atkins, who has written several horror films like “Wishmaster”; and the star of “Wishmaster,” Andrew Divoff. This is really the highlight of the weekend. We have had them separately, but the fact that we got them all together at once is pretty exciting for us.

Q: Is this year’s biggest guest director John Carpenter?

A: Yes, he doesn’t do too many conventions. The last one he did was in 1996 for “In the Mouth of Madness.” This year we made a strong effort to get him back again because he is really a big fan favorite, and he’ll probably be signing autographs for two days.

We’ll show trailers and clips from [the guests’] new movies, and they’ll take questions [from] the audience. They will be onstage for about a half-hour, and then we’ll put them behind a table and sign autographs for the rest of the day.

This is the best way for them to reach their audience and bond with the fans. I think they are feeling they are giving something back to their fans. They feel like they are doing something for their biggest supporters by being there in person.

Q: Do fans dress up as their favorite horror characters?

A: We do a costume contest on Sunday, so you tend to see a lot of people show up in costumes. Other times, a lot of people just let their hair down and come in costume for the whole two days just because they feel a kinship with the other members of the horror community.

Q: I would imagine this convention is more a of a guy thing.

A: Most of the fans are primarily male. But there are plenty of women fans too. Guys definitely bring their girlfriends. We have had guys make up their girlfriends [as characters] who show up.

*

Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors, Saturday and Sunday, noon-7 p.m. at the Pasadena Center, 300 E. Green St., Pasadena. $19 a day in advance through Ticketmaster outlets. At the door, tickets are $23 a day; $16 for children 7-12; free for children 6 and younger with parent or guardian. For information, call (818) 409-0960 or go to https://www.creationent.com.