Another month another comic con. Wait? What? This isn’t a comic convention? A horror convention?!! Where have you been all my life!?
For one weekend in February Screamvention took over the Red Cow Moran Hotel in Dublin and for those two days February turned into FebruGORY with horror icons flooding in from all over the world to spend some time with their fans! For something so new and niche it’s always interesting to see how it turns out and below you’ll see what I took from this weekend.
Based in the Red Cow Moran Hotel in Dublin this was also a first for me, and it was great to finally see a new venue for once. And at first I was a little dubious upon entering but the place definitely grew on me and suddenly became a great atmosphere for this type of convention, the velvet curtains and dim lighting definitely set the mood for the weekend. My only issue with the layout and location was the entrance to the main hall was a small, narrow staircase. And with myself and others parading around in a Predator suit, and others with some elaborate and large costumes it could be a bit of a squeeze alright. Other than that I liked the choice of venue and the overall atmosphere and layout. Splattered across the walls of the con were posters of various horror films which is a small touch but it definitely was a great choice and I really enjoyed walking down the hall past the various off rooms and seeing framed horror posters, it just touched my horror heart to say.
Photo Courtesy of Paddy Murphy
One of the best things about this convention was the panels, all of which were super informative and seriously laid back. Although that can be a double edged sword for the organizers and attendees, on one hand the speakers can be very rigid and scripted, or they can be too loosey gooosey and things can be uttered that can cause some offense to the attendees. Thankfully the panels at Screamvention were very laid back and on the good side, there was no shortage of immature humor but c’mon its always nice to hear Kane Hodder talk about him making fart jokes behind the infamous Jason mask. But then there came the parts that were WAY too laid back, to the point where cringes were made, lets just say I will never be able to listen to the Kenan and Kel theme in the future without rolling my eyes! That was probably the most horrifying part of the entire convention in my opinion. But alas it was saved with some seriously sexy burlesque dancers (which you will see the Predator’s recation to this in the album linked below) and also with some pretty cool and sometimes humorous magic by the awesome Steve Spade, still can’t get over how his volunteers never copped on to some of the tricks he pulled, fair play good sir!
Photo Courtesy of Paddy Murphy
SV was a very small convention with not a lot to write about, the main floor held the entire convention (basically) other than the Screening room and the Coffin room which was situated just past the reception. Also being only two days definitely was a pressure for the organizers to fit as much as they could within the 8 hours a day. But there was a dramatic change in the turn out for Saturday and for Sunday; Saturday was a good day for turnout and attendees but Sunday was a bit of a disappointment in my eyes, in some cases I kinda felt a bit bad for the guests as most of the time they were sitting at their desks updating their twitter or playing Candy Crush or something. But this isn’t all bad though, on a positive note the die hard fans that attended both days now had the time to spend more time chatting with their favorite guest without the hindrance of a line or hassle from staff to move on!
From what I’ve heard they have major plans for next year and I am seriously looking forward to it with some of the suggested or hinted at guests. For their attempt at the first horror only themed convention, I think they had a good first run, a change in venue and a better structure and a little bit more discipline on time keeping would be great (Panels that should’ve started at 4:30pm would not start until 5 or so, which made me miss out of 2 interviews sadly)
Photo Courtesy of Predators Ireland
In summary, for the first horror con in Ireland it was a success, with great atmosphere, informative and witty panels, amazing and friendly guests, laid back atmosphere and some seriously fucked up movies (yes I’m looking at you Jessica Cameron and Heather Dorff!), it was everything we horror/gore hounds could ask for!
Adam.
To check out all the Predators Ireland action from Screamvention just check out the photo set below!
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1109330669078391.1073741834.254001044611362&type=3
Akroview 