Event Recap: Carolina Fear Fest 2024 (Raleigh, NC, May 25-26)

After having such a great time at Carolina Fear Fest 2023, attending this year’s show felt like a no-brainer – if the guest list and the location wasn’t enough of an incentive to make the drive from Jacksonville, NC to Raleigh for the weekend, this year also marked the fifth anniversary of the convention, with a lot of the marketing naming the event “5 Years of Fear.” Being a sucker for milestones, I knew this wasn’t going to be a show to miss. Needless to say, the weekend was a success, and I’m already excited for what the next five years have in store for this convention.

While I was at last year’s show for only one day, I managed to make it to this year’s event for the two main days, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned about this convention, it’s that the people behind the scenes have a great grasp on how to run their event – they’ve found a fantastic home at the Jim Graham Building of the North Carolina State Fairgrounds, which is a phenomenal venue that’s spacious enough to fit everything under one roof, and their wall-to-wall hour-by-hour programming ensures that it’s impossible to get bored because there’s always something going on. While it’s a horror convention, they still cater to many interests, having designated stations for gaming, from VR to board games, along with costume contests, and makeup effects demonstrations. This was also the first Fear Fest that had a tattoo company onsite to give people tattoos all weekend long (shoutout to 910 Tattoo Company from my hometown of Jacksonville, NC). Along with the vendors and celebrities, there’s no shortage of things to see and do at Carolina Fear Fest. 

There was no shortage of vendors and artists at this year's show, and it was fun to reconnect with familiar faces and make new friends. In the seven years I’ve been attending horror conventions, Hollywood Joe’s Memorabilia has been at a decent amount of them, so it was great to see Joe at Fear Fest for the first time and to catch up after not seeing him for a few years, along with checking out his new autograph displays, including the likes of Boris Karloff and Vincent Price. A friend I made at last year’s show was Wes Flanary, who was the featured artist for the 2023 convention, and getting to see him again was also a pleasure. After buying a Dracula print from him last year, it only felt right to even it out with a Nosferatu print this year. He’s an artist whose work I can’t recommend enough, he always puts out quality stuff and it’s always fun to see the next thing he creates.

It’s hard to pick standout vendors because there were so many different types, from Horror Struck Hot Sauce to the horror-themed Hawaiian shirts from Bone Brigade Supply Co, to the various merchandise and memorabilia outlets, but I always tend to gravitate towards the artists. One of my favorite booths of the weekend was Art of Angela, who’s actually based out of my college’s town of Wilmington, North Carolina. Specializing in comic book art, not only was her work instantly engaging, but Angela was a super fun and friendly person to talk with, along with her booth partner Travis Bannister and husband Evan Goldstein – it would’ve been easy to spend the entire weekend talking with them, but there so many other places to be and people to see throughout the convention.

Another wicked talented artist I came across was Toni Vingle, who had plenty of different prints and designs that focused on both the horror genre and the metal music industry, with some musical highlights coming from bands like Sleep Token, Slaughter to Prevail, and Motionless in White. What caught my eye the most was her rendition of slasher icons gathered around a poker table, so despite the current lack of space on my walls, getting that print was a no-brainer. Again, Toni’s talent is undeniable after just one glance at her work, and she was another great person to talk with. Being another local NC artist, I’m definitely looking forward to seeing her at another show in the future. 

Something I’ve noticed at this show more than others was the amount of vendors that specialized in 3D printing – the first group that I saw was E 3D Printing, who offered all kinds of 3D art creations, from mini-busts to custom framed 3D art prints. I can’t remember coming across any 3D printed works at a horror convention before this show, so getting to talk with these guys about their workflow and processes to make their products was a really interesting experience. As a horror collector, I was shocked with how lightweight these products were, along with the level of detail that they had. I’ve never seen 3D printed designs used in this context, so getting to see some of my favorite monsters and slashers being created from the printers of different vendors throughout the convention was super cool.

One more 3D artist was Shawn from 3D Nutz, and I was completely mesmerized by his work – every corner of his booth was covered in hand-painted 3D renditions of iconic horror characters and monsters throughout the history of the genre, from the Creature From the Black Lagoon to The Thing to Brundlefly to Art the Clown. The list was endless, and the attention to detail with his work was impeccable – writing about it really doesn’t do it justice. Shawn was extremely fun to talk with as well – he’s a guy that’s not afraid to speak his mind and shoot straight when asked a question or for his opinion on something. He travels pretty regularly at shows across the country, so if he’s at a show near you, I highly recommend stopping by his booth.

Fear Fest’s guest lineup this year was even better than last year’s – unfortunately, Bill Moseley had to cancel after getting hit by a cyclist and sustaining four fractured ribs and a fractured pelvis. Thankfully, he’s been able to recover and is doing much better now. Perhaps the biggest guest in attendance was David Arquette, who obviously drew a crowd for his involvement in the Scream franchise, let alone all the other iconic films and TV shows he was a part of. While I didn’t get to talk with him on camera due to the long line he had all day, I was able to shake his hand and have a quick conversation with him, and he was as kind as you could imagine. Even with the long line, he didn’t seem like he was in any hurry to move on to the next person, and he was really attentive to everyone in line when it was their turn to meet him. As a diehard Scream fan, it was awesome to be able to talk with him about the franchise for as long as I was able to. 

As a credentialed press member for Carolina Fear Fest once again this year, I had the chance to conduct interviews with a few of the celebrity guests when they were available, and I had a great time talking with everybody this year. The first person I talked with was Alex Essoe, perhaps best known for acting in Doctor Sleep (2019) and Midnight Mass (2021), along with The Pope’s Exorcist (2023), and our conversation was one of my favorites of the whole weekend. Getting to talk with her about some of her popular roles, as well as her work in one of my favorite anthologies, Tales of Halloween (2015), was really fun, but what I probably had the best time talking about was her love for the classic era of Hollywood cinema and her music career. Music is obviously a big part of my life, and I also grew up watching classic movies (which is probably obvious when my favorite actor is Lon Chaney), so getting to talk with someone who was enthusiastically involved with both of those things was a blast. We ended up talking for almost 25 minutes, but it felt much shorter than that, probably due to how easy it was to talk with her. 

It was a similar experience interviewing Jonathan Breck, known for portraying the Creeper in the first three Jeepers Creepers films, because he had stories for days and had no problem taking his time telling them. For someone who played such a sadistic killer in the movies, he had one of the best senses of humor, especially when recollecting some of his set memories from those films. With the Creeper character returning to the world every 23rd spring according to the movies, it was even more special to be able to talk with him during the 23rd spring after the release of the first Jeepers Creepers movie, and he seemed to be amused by that as well. While he’s probably spent his career talking about this franchise, he still talked with the same enthusiasm and engagement as if it was his first time being asked about it.

Speaking of long-running franchises, it was great to speak with Heather Langenkamp, known by millions as Nancy Thompson in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. Having met her once before in 2018, it was nice to talk with her again, and it felt surreal to be doing so in a more semi-professional environment (my interviews are relatively casual, but still). Not wanting to spend too much time talking with her in the event that she’d end up with a long line waiting for me to wrap up, I was happy to take just a few minutes asking her about her favorite moments from the iconic franchise that she had a hand in bringing to life, and it was an honor to hear her compliment my interviewing skills after we stopped filming. As one of my shortest interviews (next to Dee Wallace from last year’s Fear Fest), it was still a fun one to do and I’m glad I was able to celebrate 40 years of A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) with one of the best final girls of all time.

The last person I interviewed was Beatrice Boepple, who portrayed Freddy Krueger’s mother, Amanda Krueger, in A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989). Along with the franchise’s 40th anniversary, this particular sequel was celebrating it’s 35th anniversary, so on top of talking with the final girl from the first film, it was equally great to talk with the woman who played as the mother of the famous slasher. I loved hearing Boepple’s perspective on the franchise and the lore of the Krueger family, as well as going from someone who wasn’t invested in the franchise to writing an entire book outlining the origins of Freddy and Amanda Krueger’s characters. After we stopped filming, we ended up talking for another 20-25 minutes, and it was just as fun of a conversation as what was seen in the interview itself. The role that she played was such an important one in the franchise, and it was cool to see how she’s embraced it in recent years and to hear how passionate she’s become and her character and her story. Even if you’re a casual Nightmare fan, I highly recommend reading her book The Krueger Curse: A Nightmare Before Elm Street, and if she’s at a convention in or around your area, definitely take the time to at least shake her hand. She’s a great person to talk to, and you won’t regret meeting her.

All in all, Carolina Fear Fest 2024 was a success, making for yet another fun-filled weekend in the Raleigh area. After attending just two shows, this convention has quickly become one of my favorites, and I can’t sing the praises of the staff and venue enough. It’s awesome to have a horror convention so close to my hometown, and it’s definitely a show that I plan on attending every year that I’m able to. I’m glad I was able to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the convention with everyone in attendance that weekend, and I speak for everyone when I say I can’t wait to see what the NEXT 5 Years of Fear has in store.

For all video coverage and interviews from the event, click here.

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