Flashback Weekend is Chicago’s longest-running Horror Convention, as featured on both The E! True Hollywood Story and Anchor Bay’s THE EVIL DEAD Ultimate DVD Set!

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MIDWAY DRIVE IN

Visit the Midway Drive-In site for information on special Flashback Weekend Events of 35mm screenings held throughout the year!

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Celebrity Guests

John Carpenter / Debra Hill cast reunion and a 25th anniversary of JOHN CARPENTER'S THE FOG event featuring Adrienne Barbeau, Tom Atkins, Charles Cyphers, and Nancy Loomis


Bruce Campbell
is confirmed for July 29-31, 2005!

Film Added to Drive-In line-up

Bruce Campbell will be screening his new film MAN WITH THE SCREAMING BRAIN at the Horro’Rama Drive-In.

We will also show (at least) one of his EVIL DEAD trilogy classics at our 35mm Drive-In on the big screen.

Also showing at the drive-in will be a special 35mm 25th anniversary screening of John Carpenter's THE FOG (1980). The screening will be introduced by Adrienne Barbeau, Tom Atkins, Charles Cyphers, and Nancy Loomis.

Details and more titles to follow.

Check back soon, and join our Mailing List!

Discount Hotel Rooms now available

We are happy to announce that we will be at the same location as last year. Only the name of the hotel has changed. The Holiday Inn O’Hare International is now the Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hare. The hotel has been upgraded to a Crowne Plaza Hotel, and has undergone a $20 million renovation. Located just 1.5 miles from O'Hare International Airport, the Crowne Plaze Chicago O'Hare is beautiful and spacious. The ballrooms for our convention are on the main level, with easy access to the guest rooms, bar, and food court. [ MORE ]

2005 HOME . 2005 CELEBRITIES . 2005 DRIVE-IN . 2005 EVENTS

Watch the Flashback Weekend Tribute to Matt McGrory Video at
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-0_1kAoIqA

 

ANCHOR BAY ENTERTAINMENT presents

FLASHBACK WEEKEND CHICAGO HORROR CONVENTION & DRIVE-IN 

JULY 29-31, 2005
 CROWNE PLAZA CHICAGO O’HARE  ROSEMONT, ILLINOIS

Our fourth annual Flashback Weekend Horror convention was a MAJOR success! Thousands of fans packed the convention and Drive-In, making this the largest, most spectacular open-air horror film festival/Horror Convention in the country!  The weekend featured two extraordinary events -

Chicago’s most complete Horror/Movie Memorabilia convention by day featuring a stunning dealer’s room and special events …and

A marvelous, nostalgic recreation of the Drive-in at night featuring not only 35mm screenings of classic and premiere showings of horror films, but timeless, vintage trailers, live celebrity introductions and a fantastic concession stand!

Nightly Outdoor Drive-In!

There was nothing quite like the drive-in experience in the 50s, 60s, and 70s! Our nostalgic Drive-In festival recreated the experience and featured a colossal 20’ x 40’ outdoor full-size Drive-In screen with 35mm projection and stereo sound - the likes of which is not to be seen at any other US horror convention!  Guests were treated to live appearances by renowned celebrity guests, screenings of full-length features, memorable vintage drive-in intermission trailers, and classic horror drive-in coming attractions.  Of course, to make the experience complete, there was a full concession stand selling drive-in style snacks and beer.

Flashback MC Dann Gire and “THE MAN WITH THE SCREAMING BRAIN” co-star Tamara Gorsky kicked off the Friday night Drive-In Events. Attendees were awed by a festival of classic 60’s and 70’s drive-in and cult coming attractions (from the Flashback Weekend archive). During intermission, they were charmed by rare vintage retro drive-in intermission ads.

The cast of “THE EVIL DEAD’ took to the Flashback Drive-In Stage to introduce a beautifully restored 35mm print of “THE EVIL DEAD’. Bruce Campbell, The Ladies of the Evil Dead, Rick Demanicor, and Ted Raimi then held a “EVIL DEAD” trivia contest and gave away copies of the current DVD edition of “THE EVIL DEAD”
(DVD’s were courtesy of Anchor Bay Entertainment).  Our presenting sponsor Anchor Bay Entertainment was on hand during the “EVIL DEAD” Drive-In introductions and at the Saturday EVIL DEAD panel discussion to film segments for their ultimate “EVIL DEAD” Log Cabin Special Edition DVD release. Look for it in 2007 from Anchor Bay!

To celebrate the release of Rob Zombie’s “THE DEVILS REJECTS”, we held a retrospective screening of a beautiful 35mm print of “HOUSE OF 1,000 CORPSES. Bill Moseley, Sid Haig, and Matt McGrory (Tiny Firefly) introduced the screening.

A capacity crowd packed the drive-in Saturday evening for the Chicago premiere of Bruce Campbell’s feature directorial debut “THE MAN WITH THE SCREAMING BRAIN”. Bruce Campbell and “BRAIN” co-stars Ted Raimi and Tamara Gorsky introduced the screening.
 
Next up was a screening of John Carpenter’s THE FOG” introduced by a FOG cast reunion featuring Adrienne Barbeau, Tom Atkins, Charles Cyphers, and Nancy Loomis.

Guests were fascinated by the scope of the event and after the features ended, left the drive-in breathless in anticipation of the next event! Guests entered our Drive-In event by “walking in”!  They enjoyed the evening’s open-air motion picture entertainment from the comfort of their own lawn chairs. The weather was perfect!  The drive-in was a massive success and will return at future events.

Special thanks to Anchor Bay Entertainment, Dinsdale Releasing, and Lions Gate Films.

Convention Activities!

The convention activities included a spectacular and gigantic dealer’s room, autograph sessions, a DVD screening room, live entertainment and more! We pride ourselves on bringing in the biggest names in the business, and this year was no exception. Our extensive list of celebrity guests included:

Horror film legend Bruce Campbell (signing copies of his first novel, the best selling “MAKE LOVE THE BRUCE CAMPBELL WAY”) and an “EVIL DEAD” reunion featuring Ted Raimi, the lovely Ladies of the Evil Dead (Theressa Tilly, Ellen Sandweiss, and Betsy Baker), and “Scotty” Rich DeMancor (Hal Delrich), and Tom Sullivan and his “EVIL DEAD” museum.

Adrienne Barbeau and a cast reunion of  “John Carpenter’s THE FOG”, featuring Tom Atkins, Charles Cyphers, and Nancy Loomis (“HALLOWEEN”).

A “HOUSE OF 1,000 CORPSES” reunion featuring Bill Moseley, Sid Haig, and Matt McGrory (Tiny Firefly). 
                  
From “CHAOS”, Director David DeFalco, producer Steven Jay Bernheim, and co-star Sage Stallone. Sage is also the founder of Grindhouse Releasing and has restored such Horror Classics as “THE BEYOND” and “CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST”.

“I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE” star Camille Keaton, “CARNIVALE” co-star Tim DeKay, Michael Berryman of “THE HILLS HAVE EYES”, J.R. Bookwalter director of “THE DEAD NEXT DOOR”, Jason Paul Collum (director of “SOMETHING TO SCREAM ABOUT”), Co-star of many Dario Argento classics Corolina Cataldi-Tassoni. 

We were thrilled to have Chicago Television Legend SVENGOOLIE (Rich Kos) back for his second Flashback Weekend appearance. SVENGOOLIE also hosted the first Flashback Weekend Costume contest!

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of “FRIDAY THE 13th”- the First Jason, Ari Lehman from “Friday the 13th”; and the Real Jason, Steve Daskawisz (the hooded Jason from “FRIDAY THE 13th Part 2”).

Local cable has become the home for a new breed of Horror Hosts and we had two of them as guests.

Aurora, IL is the home base for THE BONE JANGLER and Noctuma. THE BONE JANGLER is currently seen in 21 states.

The Chicago area’s north suburbs are the home for UNDEAD JOHNNY and DEMENTIA from the “WORLD OF THE WEIRD MONSTER SHOW”. The show is inspired by SCTV, and is wickedly witty and clever.

Check out their website at www.wowmonstershow.com to see if they air in your neighborhood!

Our Master of Ceremonies was the esteemed Dann Gire - Daily Herald film critic and President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.  Always cool and groovy WGN 720AM film critic Nick Digilio and “Ain’t it Cool News” always hip critic Steve “Capone” Prokopy were the renowned co-hosts of the weekend’s events.

Matt McGrory 1973-2005

We had the pleasure of having Matt McGrory as a guest as part of our “HOUSE OF 1,000 CORPSES” retrospective. In addition to his role as Tiny Firefly in “CORPSES” and Rob Zombie’s “THE DEVIL’S REJECTS”, Matt has also appeared in many other films, including Tim Burton’s “GO FISH” and “THE DEAD HATE THE LIVING”.

Matt was a great guest, and he and his girlfriend Melissa were both super-nice. When I saw him off at the airport the Monday Morning after Flashback 2005, Matt said that he had a lot of fun at Flashback, and we discussed his returning to Chicago for Flashback Weekend in 2006. Sadly, that will never happen.

Just a little over a week after seeing Matt off at the Airport, I received an e-mail from Matt’s manager Aine informing me that Matt had passed away on Tuesday 8/9/05. Those who had the pleasure of meeting Matt at Flashback Weekend 2005 (which was Matt’s last convention appearance) found him to be a super nice guy with a heart and soul as large as his 7’ 6” frame. To us as show promoters, he was a dream-guest – a true gentle giant.

Our heart-felt condolences go to his girlfriend Melissa, his family, and friends. Matt will be missed.

Flashback Weekend Staff

Flashback Weekend’s Rodney Crain has put together a touching video tribute to Matt McGrory. To view it, visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-0_1kAoIqA

SPECIAL EVENTS

HACK/SLASH

We were happy to continue our association with Chad Wise and the New Millennium Theatre Company. Over the past two years, they have presented such amazing live productions such as “EVIL DEAD: THE MUSICAL”, and “BOOMSTICK: A MAJOR PARODY OF DARKNESS”.

This year they presented the premiere of their adaptation of the underground comic book “HACK/SLASH”. “HACK/SLASH” is a multimedia fright fest featuring digitally projected backdrops from the actual comics, blockbuster fight scenes, scantily clad co-eds, and plenty of spraying blood. The premiere was a major hit, which played to a standing room only crowd! Special thanks to Chad Wise, the NMTC, and the cast and crew of “HACK/SLASH”.

We look forward to the 2006 New Millenium Theatre Company presentation at Flashback Weekend!

“FIRSTJASON” in Concert

What if Jason Voorhees was the front man for a Heavy Metal Band? If you have ever asked yourself this question, chances are good that you are a dedicated Horror fan. Flashback Weekend attendees got the answer as FIRSTJASON rocked the house during the opening night Flashback Weekend 2005 festivities!
Drawing upon his 20 years of experience as a professional musician, touring internationally and making records for major labels (Interscope, Tuff Gong), Ari created FIRSTJASON specifically for Horror Fans, especially the fans of Jason Voorhees and "Friday the 13th". " Ari's powerful vocals emphasize the compelling lyrics that depict the inner workings of Jason's mind, as he rants and rages a vengeful warning to child abusers.

Flashback Weekend Costume Contest Hosted by SVENGOOLIE

We were honored to welcome back Chicago TV legend SVENGOOLIE (AKA Rich Kos). Svengoolie greeted guests, signed autographs, and hosted a Q & A and MC’d the First annual Flashback Weekend costume contest. There were many, many great costumes (check out the photos), and everyone had a blast! Start getting your costumes ready, because we are looking forward to having Svengoolie back to MC our costume contest in 2006!

The Chicago Premiere of “CHAOS”
Possibly the most brutal film ever made, “CHAOS” is a cautionary tale of two teens who throw themselves in harms way. Two girls, looking to score some ecstasy at a rave, follow a young man to a house where terror awaits. There, a gang of felons capture and torment the girls drawing them into a nightmare of violence.

 Flashback Weekend hosted the Chicago Premiere of “CHAOS”. The premiere tickets went really fast, and attendees lined-up well in advance for the screening. The film lived-up to the surrounding controversy, and the preview audience was shocked and captivated by the raw power of the film. Appearing in person was the Director of “CHAOS”, David DeFalco, Producer Steven Jay Bernheim and co-star Sage Stallone.

The Flashback Weekend Channel

As a bonus to those attendees who had a room at the Crowne Plaza, this year marked the debut of the Flashback Weekend TV channel. On the hotel in-room televisions we had a channel dedicated to our event which featured great Horror Highlights including an Anchor Bay Entertainment trail reel, and other great coming attractions including the preview for “CHAOS”, a “HACK/SLASH” short film, highlights of past Flashback Weekend events, and vintage Drive-In intermission ads and count-down clocks and many other special programming, including the New Millennium Theatre Company’s 2004 presentation of “BOOMSTICK: A MUSICAL PARODY OF DARKNESS”. 

Film Panel
For our annual Sunday afternoon independent film panel discussion, Daily Herald film critic Dann Gire moderated a fascinating dialogue on the return of Grindhouse Cinema. Sitting in on the panel included industry heavy weights including “THE EVIL DEAD” star Bruce Campbell, “CHAOS” director David DeFalco, Grindhouse Releasing founder Sage Stallone, Jay Bliznick of Dinsdale Releasing, and WGN film critic Nick Digilio.

A special thanks to our presenting sponsor Anchor Bay Entertainment, the celebrities, and attendees - they made the event an enormous success.

Mike and Mia Kerz
Flashback Weekend

 

PHOTOS

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More photos on the 2005 DRIVE-IN and SCHEDULE pages!