Houston Horror Film Fest 2025 Recap

I am definitely a bit late with this recap since Houston Horror Film Fest was August 8th through the 10th. Geez, that’s a month ago! But life happens, and my daytime job keeps me pretty busy. If you want to know my greatest wish, it’s to be able to travel and write horror.

But I digress.

The Houston Horror Film Fest was the first convention I attended since I was a guest at the 2017 Comicpalooza, can you believe it? I go into this a bit in my biography, but there was definitely a period where I did not embrace my love of horror. Not like I do now.

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed it! I went as an attendee, but I think next time I may buy a vending table. That is certainly one of my future goals as an author, getting out and about more!

Here is an overall recap of the fest weekend:

Day 1: A Surprise Start and Indie Horror at Home

My sister actually surprised me and my partner with tickets to the film fest since she had two extras. We ended up not going on Friday because of work and life stuff, but we did end up seeing Weapons directed by Zach Cregger, which was a phenomenal film. When we got back home, we watched The Ugly Stepsister directed by Emilie Blichfeldt, which I’ll do a deep dive into at some point in the future.

From my understanding, there were no panels at the fest on Friday, just film showings and the vending market going on, so I don’t feel like I missed out. It was certainly a fun evening.

Day 2: Packed Parking, Panels, and a Standout Scream Queen Moment

This is when we actually went to the Houston Horror Film Fest! We got there in the morning, and I’m glad we did because parking was CRAZY. People were even parking in the middle of the lot, lol. We started our day with some breakfast at the in-hotel restaurant and then did a sweep around the market. Lots to see, but I never buy anything on the first day. Still, it was good to get a feel for what everyone offered.

Next, we saw the film screenings, starting with Forgive Me (2024), which was directed by Cameron Sun. The film is about a young Asian woman named Jessica who deals with racism while coming to terms with her own cultural identity. Loved this one and found it to be really well done.

Next, there was the micro collection of films that, I believe, were 5 minutes or less. There were some wild choices in there, and some, like A Mother’s Love, that were extremely well done, especially with an unexpected ending. My personal favorite was Skeeter, about a man raised by mosquitoes. It had the entire theatre rolling in laughter.

After checking out more of the market, grabbing some snacks, and taking lots of videos and photos, we made our way to the Scream Queen Panel, which featured Dee Wallace (Cujo, E.T., The Howling, etc.), Traci Lords (Shock ’em Dead), Holly Marie Combs (Charmed), and Bai Ling (The Crow). I absolutely loved this one, and there was a lot of emphasis on audience questions. The conversation mainly drifted to the filming process, craft, and generally, managing expectations as a woman.

One of my favorite lines came from Dee Wallace, who said, “Don’t let their fear hold you back,” in reference to someone wanting to get into horror film acting.

It was a great panel, but afterward we decided to leave the con. We went to Alamo Drafthouse and saw Together, directed by Michael Shanks. We weren’t particularly fond of this one, but that is a rant for another day.

All in all, it was a great first day at the fest.

Day 3: Villains, Oddities, and Saying Goodbye

My sister couldn’t join us on the last day, so my partner and I went solo. We spent much of the morning grabbing some delicious horror-themed treats that vendors were selling and then doing a bit of shopping. We ended up buying some oddities for our collection: a beautiful butterfly in a gold frame and a goat skull. Gotta love that duality.

Next, we hit up the Villains Panel featuring Peter Cowper (My Bloody Valentine), Quinn Lord (Trick ’r Treat), Don Shanks (Michael Myers), and Lee Wadell (Scream). I really enjoyed this panel because it was fascinating to see the thought process behind creating a villain. I believe it was Don Shanks who said he had a specific song in mind when he moved with the character. Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees, for example, quickened the pacing and movement. As a writer, it was insightful to understand the way they tackled portraying these villains, knowing that they couldn’t use words to outright shape how the audience felt fear.

There was other stuff to see and do, but honestly, after the panel, my partner and I were exhausted. Thus, our time came to a close. We came back home and completely crashed, though we did manage to grab more horror snacks for later.

FREE Horror Writing Resources and Book Progress

Just a quick note: I know in my last update I mentioned that I would create The Horror Hub, which was intended to be a monthly subscription for writing tools. But…I just... couldn’t do it. It felt weird to charge people for that sort of thing.

So, the horror resources are now all free!

I’ve added more resources than I originally intended too, but there’s still some work to do. I think that making it free not only makes it widely available, it also takes the pressure off of needing to get it done by a certain date, so just FYI. I hope you enjoy it though and, of course, I’m also open to suggestions.

I’ve also hit a snag on my prompt book series, but the good news is I have a draft of the next one: 500 Horror Writing Prompts: Folklore. I just need to edit it. I’m hoping to get that done in the next few weeks, and hopefully the last will come by October, but we shall see!

Hope you are all having a great start to fall!

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