My first ever trip to Bowlers Exhibition Centre had me attending the For the Love of Horror convention.
A celebration of all things horror as some of the biggest names in the business come down to meet the fans. In addition to the guests (which saw a huge Lost Boys reunion), there were some incredible stalls selling all kinds of horror merch for me to drool over.
Cosplay was strong at this convention, much more so than even bigger shows like Showmasters. Everyone was so lovely and friendly and this just reinforced the fact that horror fans are the best damn fans in the world!
The Venue
When arriving at the exhibition center a giant fairground had been erected by the entrance. Consisting of waltzers, a carousel, a funhouse and more. It was great to see such a cool variety of rides but there was a 3-tier ghost train advertised that was nowhere to be seen.
Having a ghost train at a horror event really is the highest of compliments but sadly it wasn’t meant to be. I was rather looking forward to that and had my eyes on getting some great POV footage on the ride to add to our horror compilation of content over the weekend.
When stepping inside the venue, wow. A sea of all things horror as we stepped down towards the stage area to be greeted with floods of fans.
The venue is actually quite sizeable but the sheer number of people crammed in there made the room look tiny!
The giant stage hosted various Q&As over the day and there was adequate seating. So many seats in fact that the walkways either side of the stage were rather restrictive.
Everyone was being funneled through tiny gaps either side of the stage to get past. There was traffic there all day. It was incredible to see it so busy I just wished there was a bit more room to get around. The same goes for the traders’ hall where the corridors between stalls were very narrow indeed.
Thankfully as the day went on things settled down a bit and you could breathe once again.
I couldn’t believe the sheer number of people at this event. The queues for each guest were well laid out and Monopoly Events had this well organized.
The one problem we had was at a photo-op where people were queuing up for photo-shoots they weren’t scheduled to have yet. As a result, the crowd was holding up people that were due to have their photoshoots right there and then.
There were two staff members to look after easily 400 people so the math just didn’t add up there. Thankfully security stepped in and they were incredible. They dealt with the crowd very quickly. This made up the numbers for the lack of staff members around the photo op area.
The staff have a mountain of a job over these convention weekends and they certainly deserved a beer or two at the end of the day.
The Guests
What a line up of guests For the Love of Horror had this weekend. A full Lost Boys reunion with Kiefer Sutherland making an appearance on Sunday only.
We had Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith and Costas Mandylor from the Saw franchise. Kane Hodder having photos as himself AND as Jason which is a Friday the 13th fans dream come true. The list really is endless.
Sid Haig’s passing made the weekend an emotional one indeed. His table was still set up next to Bill Moseley regardless and a donations pot was set up in his memory and fans could have a memorial poster in exchange for their donation.
A minute’s silence was a nice touch and many cosplayers around the event were dressed up as Captain Spaulding himself.
A really lovely way of commemorating his legacy and the convention organizers clearly showed some serious thought into how his memory should be honored as this weekend’s events.
In addition to the guests, the prices for autographs and photos were much cheaper than most conventions.
The most expensive person was Kiefer Sutherland (£80) but this made sense as his convention appearances are few and far between.
Everyone else was very affordable and this reflected in the huge queues for them all day!
Thankfully I had spoken to many of the guests the day before in a much more relaxed and less chaotic environment. I want to express a huge thank you to Kane Hodder, Bill Moseley, the guys from IT and of course Tobin Bell for taking the time out of your day to speak to me yesterday it was an honor. I’ll never forget it and it was a pleasure to spend time with you all yesterday!
You’ll no doubt never read this but it’s the thought that counts. Right?
Photo-Ops
The photo-op sets were a mix of detailed and very basic sets. The more detailed sets were involved in the paid guest photo-ops. The free photo-ops were a little more basic bar a few. We had a bed with some rope around it for a free exorcist photo, no theming, just a bed which was lame.
Other than that the more detailed free ops were cool. We had a Chucky one along with a Good Guys Trick or Treat Studios doll.
My favorite by a country mile was the Saw cube trap, I sat in the detailed chair, popped on the straps and entered the cube.
The fact that all of these photo-ops were free was incredible. You’d be charged at least £5 for them at any other convention.
The Saw bathroom was another set, not heavily detailed and certainly not movie quality but a nice reproduction nonetheless. This was the set where we had our paid photo with Tobin, Shawnee, and Costas. Photo ops are always rushed because of how quickly they need to get through them.
If you want to speak to the stars themselves I’d get an autograph as you may only just manage to get a ‘hello’ out of them in the timeframe they allow you for photos. This is the same at any convention. It’s just how it goes.
Scare Maze
The free to enter scare maze was a nice touch. After going to Scarefest the other week I was expecting this to be an upcharge attraction but was pleasantly surprised to find it was free of charge.
Upon entering a 20ft crawl space actors were in there with us creeping me out. The crawl space was easily the best bit of the maze. In my VLOG I completely forgot to give the maze the credit it was due (as at the time I thought it was an upcharge attraction included free in our press access).
You come out of the crawl space and into an environment that looks like you’re in the middle of a fire and a girl is screaming in a cage at you!
This was amazing it really was. The crawl space was perfect. The rooms thereafter, however, were very poor.
There was a Saw room with a tiny pendulum trap and a lady on a chair. That was it. Thereafter was a clown room with about 9 balloons in there and a few clowns who didn’t say a great deal to us. Finally, there were some tied up zombies that we were being pushed towards by a moving wall. That was pretty cool but it certainly wasn’t scary.
I thought a horror convention would really step it up but when we were queuing up and around five 8-9 year old girls were infront of us going in, we knew that it wasn’t going to be the brown pants experience we were hoping for.
The zombies I met in the queue line were scarier than anything we witnessed inside!
As all scare maze enthusiasts know, every run-through is completely different than the next. As we only did it once I can only comment as such.
Vendors
I think the vendors at For the Love of Horror blew any other event I’ve attended out of the water. Horror art, customized horror display units, mask makers and curiosity dealers. Some of the things on display were insane.
Snakes and octopuses in wet specimen globes were very interesting indeed. Movie quality masks that would cost over £1000 from a big company being sold for £90-£150 all hand-made. I could have stayed in there all day!
The range of items on offer was incredible. Not necceasrily things you need but things you REALLY want.
With the arrival of Paralysis Escape Rooms, I could have spent all day shopping in there for items to display in the museum!
Two vendors that I think deserved a special shoutout are Artist Jamie Read and mask makers RubberGorilla. These two stood head and shoulders amongst the rest for me at the convention. Such detail and talent. Mind blowing!
For the Love of Horror VLOG
What an experience For the Love of Horror was. The level of detail in some of the fan made costumes was insane (a female Hellraiser one in particular).
The time and effort gone into making this convention a reality is also to be commended, the guys have done a great job!
Whilst some of the walkways could have been wider and the ghost train not being present was a little disappointing everything else was spot on. There’s no other horror con in the country on the same scale or level as this.
It really is THE horror con to visit in the UK, there’s such a special atmosphere over a con weekend but throw horror fans into the mix and that atmosphere increases tenfold.
If you want to meet some of your favorite horror stars then this is the place to be! If you want to grab some unusual items you just won’t find at any other convention then this is the place to be!
The perfect event for the best genre fans in the world.
May they bring many more events to us in the near future! Thank you to Monopoly Events for inviting us to For the Love of Horror.
