Tucson Terrorfest, a local film festival dedicated to the blood, guts and gore of the horror movie genre, is getting bigger this month.
The fright fest, happening downtown, from Thursday, Oct. 24 to Sunday, Oct. 27, is expanding to include a horror convention aspect, which will take place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Ramada by Wyndham hotel, 777 W. Cushing St., on Oct. 26 and 27.
Movie effects artist Max Cervantes, who has worked on films such as “Beetlejuice” and “Batman Forever” will be the guest of honor.
And more than 30 local artists from all over Arizona and Southern California are signed on to sell their creations at the con, including JT Blake, who creates pop culture, sci-fi, fantasy and horror mixed media art, and artist Rudy Flores, who has been creating creepy crawly creatures for months for Terrorfest and the upcoming Tucson Comic-Con.
“As a fan of horror, it is exciting to see the community celebrate the genre,” said Flores, who is best known for turning Tucson residents into little green toys for his Army Man Project a few years back. “It gives fans a chance to discover and artists an opportunity to create.”
Terrorfest founder David Pike said he added a convention this year for the simple reason that one didn’t exist.
“There has always been talk about a convention in Tucson,” Pike said. “People said this needed to happen. There is definitely an audience for it.”
Pike had a similar reason for starting the Terrorfest’s film festival in the first place.
At the time, in 2011, Phoenix had three horror-themed film conventions and Tucson had none, Pike said.
Pike was already running his Arizona Underground Film Festival.
“I was getting a lot of horror submissions to the Underground festival, which includes horror but isn’t strictly about horror,” Pike said. “I felt like there needed to be more of an outlet for these types of movies.”
While not as large of an affair as his Underground festival, Pike still has about 25 films ready to screen for this year’s Terrorfest.
The festival will include cult classics and newer horror flicks.
Pike will be screening a restored and remastered version of the 1922 film, “Nosferatu” on Oct. 26.
“It is almost like a must-see for horror fans,” Pike said.
The festival will also be screening the 1968 film “Spider Baby,” with Lon Chaney, Jr. and cult horror figure Sid Haig, who died last month at age 80.
Haig celebrated a resurgence in his career after director Quentin Tarantino cast him as a judge in the 1997 film, “Jackie Brown.”
In recent years, the character actor was best known for playing Captain Spaulding in the Rob Zombie horror film franchise that started with “House of 1000 Corpses” in 2003.
“He was an actor who would support horror,” Pike said. “He put his all into everything he did and would support anybody who wanted to make a really good horror movie. To me, that’s a great guy.”
Newer horror films being screened this year include the buzz-worthy “Tennessee Gothic” and “The Barge People,” which Pike describes as a “hillbilly English movie.”
Pike said he is starting the convention part of Terrorfest out small, but hopes to grow all aspects of the festival in the years to come.
“Hopefully, this will be a breakout year for us,” Pike said.
