[EVENT REVIEW] Texas Frightmare Weekend 2025
Halloween Summer Camp is the perfect way to sum up Texas Frightmare Weekend 2025. The warmth of summer approaches while being face to face with Deadites, Art the Clown, Predator Hunters, A Dream Warrior, Re-Animated corpses, Ghost Face killers? and not to mention, a couple of CREEPS.
This was our first year covering TFW, and the locals showed us the utmost hospitality! We made friends while in line, chatted with vendors, and made awesome connections with some awesome folks. Texas, you’re a force to be reckoned with! We definitely can’t wait to see what other horror offerings y’all have for us.
Day 1 of TFW started with a bang! There weren’t any panels on Friday, but they did have the 80’s prom for guests to attend. We opted out since we knew we would have a busy Saturday, but that didn’t stop us from walking the con floor and checking out the vendors as well as the cosplay. Not only did cosplayers show up, but they got down to business. I’ve seen a good number of cosplayers in my 10 years of attending conventions, but Texas, you truly blew me away.
While walking around the floor, we chatted with some local vendors, grabbed some goodies, and enjoyed a quiet night at the con. Saturday was going to be a whole different story, so we got back to our hotel to rest up. For the 2nd day, we mapped out our schedule on the free TFW app, and it truly saved the day! The panels we attended were Storm King, Easel Dead: Dead By Drawn, Teen Dream to Scream King: A Conversation with Devon Sawa, and A Couple of Creeps: A Conversation with Mark Duplass & Patrick Brice. Sitting in on a conversation with your favorite celebrity or artist is one of the coolest things you can do at a convention. Each panel was more intriguing than the last. Storm King spoke about what stories are most engaging and how you can write a better story that will keep readers interested. Easel Dead had artists Timothy Pittides, Gary Pullin, and Matt Ryan Tobin who each spoke about their experience in the genre and how grateful they are to continue to create art for their favorite horror films and show people that art can take you so far.
Devon Sawa’s panel was packed with fans from ‘Casper’ to ‘Hunter, Hunter’ The Q&A portion had fans asking their favorite celebrity crush what it was like working with Christina Ricci, is he afraid of flying because of ‘Final Destination’ or did he get to keep the Inhaler from ‘Idle Hands’ The final panel of the night was with Mark Duplass & Patrick Brice at their first convention ever! What an absolute treat that was and they also brought a special guest “Peachfuzz” They both spoke about how they had no idea the success ‘Creep’ would have and how they were so grateful to the fans and Jason Blum for giving them an opportunity in this space.
The big ticket item for the end of Saturday however was “Last Fan Standing” with our B-Movie horror king Bruce Campbell. The original show started in 2015 and ran on and off for two years at comic cons. This was a separately ticketed event and we decided to attend and I’m so glad we did. Bruce was hilarious of course, but the panelists that were chosen knew their Horror trivia. Even our Friend Adam of Deep Cuts Coffee and the only Dallas panelist surprisingly enough was a contestant on the show! Unfortunately he didn’t make the cut but he gave it his all and the crowd deemed him the champion regardless.
For the final day of the Convention we did our vendor rounds, attended Terror Has No Shape: A Conversation with the Stars of The Blob, Shawnee Smith & Kevin Dillon. The duo hadn’t seen each other since they auditioned for the film back in ‘86 and we got to see their chemistry in real life. They shared stories about the stunts, Shawnee had a spinal tap during filming, Kevin’s stunt doubles broke collar bones, arms, ribs, you name it. There was also a fan who lived in Louisiana where they filmed ‘The Blob’ and got to share what it was like living in that small town.
Meeting celebrities, connecting with horror fans and spending far too much money on horror shirts, toys and whatever else people are selling is the quintessential reason Horror conventions are the place to be. Even if you go for a day, you’ll have memories that last a lifetime and new friends that will stick with you until the end of time.
Photos and words by: Krystina Alfonso
