While Denver, CO has always had a strong horror culture, 2015 sees the Mile High City hosting its very first Horror Convention in the form of the Colorado Horror Con & Halloween Film Festival. Founded by the team of horror enthusiasts Scott Bullock, John E. Wilkins, and Gerard Schott, the inaugural Colorado Horror Con promises a unique horror experience that will feature not only the typical celebrity fare, but also an independent film festival, live music, fashion shows, and a horror burlesque, just to name a few.
We caught up with the busy trio to not only find out more about the festival, but also to get the scoop on where these wacky weirdos are coming from in organizing such a massive horror event!
Hey guys, thank you so much for sitting down with us. I’m assuming you’re big horror fans yourselves, what started your interest in the genre? What are your favorite films?
John: I was fascinated with Halloween for as long as I can remember; the morbid imagery tied in with Autumn festivals made a huge impression on me as a kid, and inspired me to create haunted houses in my garage. The modern vernacular is “home haunts,” and now there’s a whole cultural movement with it, but for me I was the only one I knew as a kid who was doing anything like it, and I loved it. Also the late night TV programming that made a huge impression on me included syndicated episodes of Kolchak: The Night Stalker, one of the first monster-of-the-week shows. There was a rather beat up porkpie style straw hat that was handed down to me, and I used to run around wearing it, pretending to be Karl Kolchak writing stories one moment and staking vampires the next. Horror, to me, is the most fertile and massive theater in the imagination.
Scott: Much like John, my fascination with horror started at a very young age. Ironically enough, Kolchak: The Night Stalker was also served as my first awareness of the genre. I remember watching the episode called “The Vampire” and being scared to death! At the same time, however, I couldn’t peel my eyes away from the screen even though my mind kept telling me it was just too much to bear. Four or five years later, I saw a number of horror films right around the same time when HBO and Cinemax first launched. I remember watching Halloween, Phantasm, and The Brood. I was so inspired by the likes of John Carpenter, David Cronenberg, and George Romero that I started making small little movies of my own.
Gerard: My brother James used to take me to the drive in. He was 19 I would have been 12-13. Back then the 88th and North Star (drive ins) would show a “Dusk ’til Dawn” type screening of horror films, usually about 5 titles. That’s where I was first exposed to Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Toolbox Murders (both the original versions). Can’t recall what happened next because I lost my mind completely and ran out naked into the darkness.
It seems Colorado is the destination for Halloween this year, beyond the horror con, what else are you involved in?
John: I write primarily horror fiction, and my art has always leaned in a darker/weirder direction. To pay the bills I do what I love: freelance commercial art (a term I use to indicate that hand skills take precedence over point-and-click in my art creation) and work in a mask and makeup department at a higher end costume shop.
Scott: I’m involved in the independent horror filmmaking scene and have worked on a number of horror movies. I’m currently trying to get an independent feature launched that I can direct. The script has gotten a lot of attention but the fundraising is a time-consuming, laborious, and thankless task that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy!
Gerard: Local events in Northglenn, Frightmare Haunted House, Dead Zone Scream Park, & the Denver Zombie Crawl
This is the first year for Colorado Horror Con, what made you want to start a horror conference?
John: For almost a decade Gerard and I had done many conventions and art shows as vendor-exhibitors, and collected experiences that prompted us to want to try it from the promotion and coordination end. Scott had a lot of experience in the film/cinema industry and we decided as a team to knit together the concept of a horror convention and film festival that runs together. Had you attended many prior to launching your own? Over three dozen, almost always as an artist-exhibitor.
Scott: I’ve wanted to do a horror convention and film festival for a long time, but the stars didn’t align properly until Gerard, John and I started talking about it. We realized that there wasn’t a horror convention in Colorado, per se, so we sought to fill that void. I’ve attended many horror conventions, some being much better than others. We want ours to have a homegrown feel to it, unlike some where you just feel like another member of the herd parading through the aisles.
Gerard: John and I have been under serviced vendors at other themed cons for 10 plus years each. Never been to a Horror Con
What goes into planning and organizing a horror convention? Do you guys have a division of labor?
John: Much more than you ever dreamed. First and foremost, the biggest and most time consuming part is covering the basics (having enough supplies and doing a lot of research) and patiently developing an online social media presence that allows you to meet potential vendor-exhibitors and those interested in attending your event. Do you guys have a division of labor? We do: Scott Bullock is our Film Festival Coordinator and Director; Gerard is our Graphics Guru, Merchandising coordinator, and Artist Relations; I am our Social Media Writer, Guest Relations and Liberal Arts Coordinator. That being said, our responsibilities have overlapped from time to time, and the benefit of that to us is being able to jump in at any time. What are the biggest challenges of this process? The late nights and sacrifices involved to make it as epic an event as we possibly can.
Scott: The list of things that go into organizing a convention and festival is daunting and, at times, overwhelming. We knew it’d be a lot of work, but I’m not sure we were prepared for exactly how much. It’s a steep learning curve, but one we’ve managed to deal with fairly well. Or division of labor is exactly as John described, and it does overlap fairly often. We’re a small team, so being able to wear many hats is crucial and often necessary. The biggest challenge in all of it is juggling everything without letting anything drop. This is especially difficult when you’ve got a job to go to and a family that wants to see you once in a while. (Laughs)
Gerard: Everything! Every dollar, every minute, every brain cell. I do all the real work (I’m sure the other two wrote the same thing). WAY TOO MUCH AMAZING stuff to choose from out there in the world.
How did you go about assembling a guest list from scratch?
John: We took the approach of what cool things we always wanted to see in a con, and just started contacting people. We’re children of the 70’s and 80’s, so our absolute first contact was Basil Gogos, a modern-master artist who happened to paint a boatload of cover art for Famous Monsters of Filmland. And that’s when the rollercoaster started!
Scott: We looked at what would be important to us if we were attending a convention and festival. As was stated, we’re all children of the ’70’s and ’80’s, so we knew we wanted to contact people from that era of horror film making. Once the first couple of guests signed on it emboldened us to keep reaching out to others.
Gerard: Daydreaming on the internet.
Who are some of the guests that will be at the first Colorado Horror Con that people will be excited about?
John: We have a ton of national celebs, but right in the middle of it all Joe Bob Briggs 
is going to be our Master of Ceremonies. That’s huge in and of itself. On a local level, we have dozens of vendor-exhibitors, and a few like Bloodlust Productions LLC, Pretty Scary Girls, Image Audiovisuals, Bloodshed Deathbath Productions, Groovey.TV, and My Gal the Zombie stand out because of their amazing sponsorship, quality product, and amazing enthusiasm about what we are doing. Local professional artist Robert Elrod has been one of our biggest cheerleaders, and the local KISS tribute band—ROCKISSITY—has literally pounded the streets with flyers and social media marketing for our event. When vendors like this—and I only named a few—work this hard and believe in our event, the natural result is that attendees will get excited about what they have to offer And it’s a ton.
Scott: Ha! Well, our attendees should be excited about all of our guests, otherwise I’d have to question their motives for attending in the first place (laughs). There’s no doubt that people will be excited about Joe Bob Briggs. He’s a horror icon and is much beloved. Basil Gogos is a rock star artist; anyone familiar with Famous Monsters will be familiar with him. Debbie Rochon is a legend in the independent horror cinema world. She’s been in so many films it’s virtually impossible for fans of the genre not to be familiar with her. 
Lynn Lowry has worked with legendary directors David Cronenberg and George Romero. She’s been acting for a long time and is capable of a lot of diverse characters.
Gerard: All of them! Not kidding!
Along with celebrity guests, what kind of events do you have planned for the attendees?
John: Costume ball, DJ, live bands, movies, Q & A sessions with independent comic book industry artists and creators, a dark fantasy themed fashion show, a live zombie makeup fx contest, costume contests, horror burlesque, and on and on and on…
Scott: The film festival is going to be a lot of fun. We’re flattered that so many filmmakers chose to submit their works. It’s truly going to be an international festival as we’ve had films come to us from almost every continent.
Gerard: Ah… How much time you got? You MUST visit coloradohorrorcon.com. Buckets and buckets…
Finally, do you have any announcements you can make about Colorado Horror Con for RockRevolt readers?
John: We really want live music and performance art/acts to be the highlight and VIP aspect of our CHC/HFF VIP events. Most VIP experiences focus only on celebs interacting with the audience in a panel discussion fashion—and we have that and we always will. But we believe the heart of the VIP part of our show should also include the excitement that comes with live performances incorporating or surrounding horror-themed aesthetics. We’d love to have a lineup of veteran acts alongside local up-and-comers. This inaugural year we have D3R$H@, Lowdead, 
Lusty Kitten Productions, Pretty Scary Girls, Rockissity, Scissor Sweethearts, and more announcements are probably coming in these final days before the con. Exciting times!
Scott: As John said, there will be a lot of emphasis placed on live performances: local bands, DJs, sideshow performers, etc. We also have a lot of guests who are making their first appearance in Colorado, such as Basil Gogos and Bob Elmore, who played Leatherface in Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2. We’ll become more diversified as time goes on, but we love putting a lot of energy into local talent. I’m amazed by the amount of talent that exists in Colorado; everything from writers, to filmmakers, to artists. It
can all be found in Colorado and we’re going to shed as much light on it as possible.
Gerard: Don’t miss this blowout! You’ll be sad reading about it later if you do!
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