Oh, the horror

BURBANK — Gore, blood and zombies reigned at this year’s Weekend of Horrors, headlined by some of the entertainment industry’s more terrifying stars.

Hundreds of horror film fans attended Creation Entertainment’s three-day fright fest at the Burbank Marriott; vendors displayed their dark-themed artwork and sold scare-genre merchandise, including zombie jerky.

While the vendors provided plenty of entertainment for ticketholders, fans were eager to see the event’s high-profile celebrities, including horror film director Clive Barker, cast members from the cable show “True Blood” and “Army of Darkness,” and “Burn Notice” star Bruce Campbell.

Celebrities fielded questions from fans and signed autographs.

Campbell asked some of his devotees to show off tattoos that they had gotten in honor of his films.

“If you don’t support creative cinema or creative forms of entertainment, they will go away,” he told fans. “You have a lot of power. If you don’t like the way movies are going out there, just don’t go see them.”

He encouraged fans to dig around for alternative films.

Dozens of fans at the convention were decked out in their best rendition of their favorite horror film characters.

Wearing a striped suit with powder-white makeup and a wig, Ventura resident Caitlin Spille, 21, was hoping to impress fellow horror film fans with her Beetlejuice costume.

The longtime horror fan has attended several dark-entertainment-themed conventions in the past.

The conventions, she said, offer unconventional vendors and a chance to interact with some unique people.

“I feel like it is my type of people,” Spille said.

Horror films, she said, offer something that other movie genres don’t.

“You don’t have to take them seriously,” Spille said. “It’s kind of like a dream, watching like a nightmare.”

Attending the horror convention was a no-brainer for diehard fan Vincent Ponce.

Ponce follows every aspect of the horror genre, from the comic book industry to films.

“Just the influence alone drew me out here,” he said. “It’s a celebration.”

The 37-year-old West Covina resident became a horror fan after battling his fear of watching horror films as a child.

He has a tattoo of Freddy Krueger, the lead character in “Nightmare on Elm Street.” As a child, he feared Freddy Krueger most.

“Two years it took me to get over him,” Ponce said. “That’s why I had to put him on my skin.”