This past weekend Days Of The Dead invaded the Tarheel State for the first time as a fifth addition to their already packed circuit.
by Adam Holtzapfel
Now that the weekend has ended it’s time to reflect on Days Of The Dead’s first show in Charlotte, North Carolina. Boasting a line up of fan favorites like C.J. Graham, Bill Moseley, Sid Haig, and Tony Todd the show also brought in some rarely seen names in the area like Vinnie Vincent. The guest list also included Dee Snider, Cassandra Peterson, Linda Blair, Ted Raimi, and more.
As the show began Friday, fans were rabid to get in the door showing up as early as 2:30pm to grab their tickets. Once the show began the crowd flocked to vendor tables, celebrity tables, panels, and films.
The Black Track featured panels with your favorite stars as well as several after hours events.
The event is split up into two separate tracks of programming. The first is the Black Track featuring panels, FX and costume contests, and after hours events.
East Coast Horror Group founder Michael Exler moderated the panels and regardless of how many of these he has done he always has new questions for those he has interviewed before. Fans were treated to a one man show from Ted Raimi and a one man show from Derek Mears. One of the stand out events on the Black Track was the DOTD Fan Summit.
The fan summit allowed attendees and vendors to interact with promoters Adolfo Dorta and Rick Lara. The chat ranged from everything like how DOTD started to suggestions to make certain aspects better for vendors and fans. There were about 30 people in attendance and it led to a great conversation with a lot of suggestions. You rarely see someone in this position open themselves up to feedback and that’s one thing DOTD does right whether it’s in person or email or on social media.
The Blue Track is your home for everything independent.
The second track of programming is the Blue Track. The Blue Track focuses on several aspects of horror that seem forgotten about like Sin & Salvation, Household Makeup (using what you have at home versus going out and buying the expensive makeup for your gore), Bigfoot 911, Breathing Life Into Your Haunt Monster (a round table for haunt workers to discuss their roles and how to improve), and more! What works for this is it gives people an alternative option or those heavily focused on independent horror get a chance to attend a panel with the filmmakers.
Charlotte got treated to the best in Independent horror.
One thing DOTD has prided itself on is the independent film festival. Focusing on the truly independent films currently in the scene vs the what I like to call Wal-Mart indie films (think films in the vein of Old 37 where they just appear on the shelf). The stand out films to me at this show were Bong Of The Living Dead, 10/31, I’m Dreaming Of A White Doomsday, Frankenthug, Close Calls, and the shorts block. For fans that remember the era of horror hosts on TV the Nite Owl Theater pairs legendary Ohio host Fritz the Nite Owl with A Nightmare On Elm Street. Unfortunately Terror From the 80’s was canceled due to a last minute change that resulted in overlapping sound between the black track room and film room.
Overall the show was great, the only issue I saw was where the last minute change forced the film room to be next to the black track room which resulted in overlapping sound between the two. In it’s first year in North Carolina, DOTD put on a great show and from overhearing other fans it was well enjoyed and received.
