Live Experiences
01 FIRST SHOW / MOTOR CITY NIGHTMARES
HORROR FANS
NEEDED A HOME.
WE BUILT ONE.
It got slightly out of hand.
It started with ideas from me and members of my film crew. A convention, with a film festival. Originally: build a convention so people have to watch our movies. It got slightly out of hand.
The first show.
I was pregnant with my youngest. Dee Wallace, Kane Hodder, and others joined us — many would return over the years. That first event was hard. But we kept going, and the show grew into a community of its own.
02 YOUR PEOPLE
YOUR PEOPLE
Horror fans needed a home. We built one.
People told me they’d crossed something off a bucket list. Met someone they never thought they’d meet. Some got engaged here. Some got married. Before a show was even a memory, people were booking the next one.
The films brought us together. Then we built places to meet in person — to meet our heroes, learn something, and come back to each other.
COMMUNITY / BELONGING
03 TAKE IT WITH YOU
MEMORIES
More than a weekend.
I taught workshops, including scriptwriting. People still tell me those experiences inspired them. That’s the part I carry with me: what happened here didn’t always stay here.
Rocky Mountain Nightmares
WE TOOK IT TO DENVER.
We took it to Denver.
I brought the convention concept to Denver for a couple of years. The first show was strong, and I loved the city and the people. People still ask me if it’s coming back.
Ve Neill’s Vampire Weekend
VE AND I BUILT
THIS ONE
TOGETHER.
LIVE MAKEUP
A beautiful gathering with its own personality.
This was the only convention I built with a true partner: Ve Neill, the three-time Academy Award-winning makeup artist. We built it together — something specific to the things and people we loved.
Live makeup demonstrations. The Lost Boys, Beetlejuice, and Edward Scissorhands. A major Face Off reunion. And, of course, a Vampire Ball. A beautiful gathering with its own personality.
Live makeup / Face Off reunion / Vampire Ball
45 years / Crystal Lake Nightmares
Crystal Lake Nightmares
THE RIGHT PEOPLE. THE SAME ROOM.
45 YEARS / ≈80 GUESTS
12 FILMS / WORLDWIDE FANS
More like a giant family reunion.
45 years of Friday the 13th
My friendship with Sean Cunningham and his family was at the heart of this one. Sean gave me the freedom to create it, made videos, attended, and showed up for me. His family was part of it, too.
Roughly 80 guests from across the franchise’s history. Cast and crew who hadn’t seen each other in years. Fans coming from around the world. It felt less like another convention and more like a giant family reunion.
Some fans were overwhelmed just seeing everyone together. Paramount Scares joined as a sponsor and captured interviews — because so many people who weren’t usually in the same place finally were.
Some of it, I made by hand.
Even the VIP gifts. Bringing people together was one part of the work. Making something for them to take home was another.
One person. Many worlds.
Different tools. Different worlds. Same instinct.