Good times at Horror-con Bizarre AC III

If you ever need something to renew or reboot your interest in something, go to a convention themed for that something. Conventions serve as a great way for like minded creative people to come together and share their love for the genre they create for. Bizarre AC III brought actors, authors, special effects people and a lot more to Atlantic City, New Jersey this past weekend for a fun and frightful experience.

Yours truly, Father Evil, and my brother.

The 28 days infected experience was definitely the way to get the blood going, in a really immersive experience. This was not your average haunted house deal, you pretty much get thrown into the most frantic point of a horror film, this was set up in the parking garage of the hotel hosting the event. You did not feel like you were in the hotel as soon as you walk in.  You're greeted by a swat team officer trying to help you get out, he doesn't last long so you are left on your own. After that you have to navigate through fog, a busted down police car and all kinds of creepiness to make it to the end.  You have some flags, like one would wear for a flag football game. If you can make it through the experience with at least one flag, you've survived without infection. If you lose your flags, you're a goner.

That's not all there was to do though, roaming through the property you'll encounter a lot of characters that haunt many horror conventions. We ran into our old friend Father Evil, who was there to make sure he added some new souls to his flock and reclaim some old ones, including this sites founder...

Gone too soon

Good thing he let us get through the entire convention first. A lot of friendly faces were on hand to help you look the part if you felt you were under dressed for not showing up in costume. Since we didn't make it through the course and got infected, we had to be put down. Make artists on hand did some fine work to make it look like you were put out of your misery at close range. Check out the work of David Mass on the bullet to the head make up:

As mentioned earlier, a lot of people from pop culture and horror were there to share their creations and take part in our love for horror. Author Brandon Halsey was on hand to promote his book "Bliss" about a dangerous drug that has dangerous effects on people. He was there selling copies and signing autographs for his latest book. Available for purchase now, click the image below for more details:

Halsey's latest work.

Roberts and I

Everyone that took part in Bizarre AC III was very friendly and accommodating, including one of the stars of a film that kept my interest in Martial Arts, Eric Roberts from Best of the Best and plenty of other films. Don't let his Hollywood life fool you, in conversation he let us know he had been training in Tae Kwon Do since he was four.  Really nice guy and a pleasure to meet.

If you needed to take a load off, you could do so in while rewinding to the old days with old consoles. Level Up Entertainment and Farpoint Toys had a really nice retro living room set-up that we spent a lot of time in. I got play Mortal Kombat, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, and Killer Instinct like I was a kid again.  If this sounds cool, click the links and look them up because they did a great job in making an old guy feel young.

New Jersey has always had a good horror-centric culture in it and is home to some of the best horror-cons in the country. This is only the third Bizarre AC event held but something tells me this will be as big as the Zombie Walk in Asbury Park and we're looking forward to the next one.

Check out more details on their website| Bizarre AC