My partner is a horror buff. I am more of a science fiction geek, but we manage to make it work. In any case, I grew up watching the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. I recall those being the only slasher movies without a lot of sex and nudity, meaning my parents actually let us watch them (they had a strict policy that showing boobs was shameful, but hacking up bodies with razor claws was fine). If only they’d known back then that I didn’t care about boobs, I may have been allowed to watch more movies. But I digress…
During our visit to Cologne, we hopped a train to Dortmund, Germany, for a day at the Movie Days Convention. There is enough of a crossover between sci-fi and horror that the fun to be had at these conventions can–at times–be interchangeable. I must admit, however, that we had both been a bit spoiled by the Gallifrey One convention in Los Angeles, which is very well organized. This was not so well organized, but was still an interesting way to spend a day. Here is an example of the chaos:
For those who may be unfamiliar with these types of cons, you usually have large dealer rooms set up with all types of wares based on different TV shows, movies, and comic books. Generally, a mixture of genres is represented. Then there will be a separate room for discussion panels. There are usually featured guests who do interviews, sign autographs, take photos with fans, etc. Many people dress up in costume. We don’t, but we also don’t judge. It’s a lot of fun and the people are harmless. And before you want to jump on the ridicule bandwagon, keep in mind that sports fans often behave in the same fanatical way, only they also tend to beat the shit out of eachother. Nerds at cons don’t do that. Mainly because most of them don’t know how to fight, but is that a bad thing? Anyway…
Like I said, there was a mixture of guests, including Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger), Ken Kirzinger (one of the Jasons from The Friday the 13th franchise), David Prowse (the guy in the Darth Vader suit for the original Star Wars trilogy), and several Walking Dead cast members. I cared most about Freddy and David Prowse, so those are featured most prominently in the photos. If anyone is wondering why the photos are random and we are not in them, it is because you are not allowed to actually hold up the line to get a photo with the star. For that, you must line up in a separate queue and pay $7000.
Oddly, I think my favorite part of the whole thing was seeing John Schneider there. I know these conventions tend to be a bit random, but I wasn’t quite sure why there was a Dukes of Hazzard display in the middle of all the gory horror movie merchandise. I guess the moral here is that the 70’s were as horrifying as anything Freddy or Jason ever did. So here are some shots of Bo Duke, who still looks good. I even accidentally on purpose took a photo of his butt. Because I’m immature.
The con was our sole reason for being in Dortmund, so we didn’t explore much there, but we may be back to see it more extensively some day. In the meantime, here are some shots of their subway.
And outside their train station. Oh, the detailed tourism information I am providing you in this blog entry (sorry, Dortmund)…
