My 2025 Flashback Weekend Recap

 by Patrick Bromley

Another great year of Chicago's very best horror convention!

This was my fifth (!!) year hosting Flashback Weekend, the annual horror convention that takes place in Rosemont, IL, (just outside of Chicago) every August for the last 23 years. I started out as a post-COVID fill-in moderator because my Horror BFF Heather Wixson couldn't come out from LA to host and I wanted to do the Friday the 13th: A New Beginning panel and have since become a full-fledged co-host of the weekend. Getting the chance to talk about some of my favorite horror movies with the people who helped create them, getting to spend the weekend surrounded by like-minded horror fans, getting to hang out with Erika and Rosie and Adam Riske and Mike -- all of it makes for some of the most fun I have all year.

Prior to this year's costume contest on Saturday, Flashback owners/operators Mike and Mia Kerz were presented with an award for running one of the absolute best conventions in the country. I couldn't agree more. What they have done to turn Flashback from a small, homemade convention into a national destination event is nothing short of incredible and every year their hard work pays off. This year had one of the best guest lineups in recent memory, probably because the convention was celebrating a bunch of movies and franchises I hold very dear.

The panels kicked off Friday night with a live recording of F This Movie hosted by me and Mike with special guest Adam Green. By now you may have already listened to the episode so I won't go into much detail here except to say that Green remains one of my favorite filmmakers and raconteurs in general, always funny and telling great stories (not surprising, since he's been podcasting at The Movie Crypt for almost 15 years). I ended up coming off like a dipshit Chris Farley but Adam and Mike were great and the panel was a lot of fun, starting off the weekend on a great note.

Following our live podcast on Friday was a really cool event called "Friday Night Frights," a kind of talk show hosted by Svengoolie (Rich Koz) with special guests Robert Englund, Joe Dante, Barbara Crampton, and musical guest Tuesday Knight (A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master), who performed her original song "Nightmare" live on stage. Anything Svengoolie is involved with makes me giddy so naturally I had a good time at this, particularly when Joe Dante and B-Cramps -- two of my all-time favorites -- were on stage together trading stories of their careers. PS: every time we ran into Barbara Crampton all weekend she was the sweetest and nicest and best person (we are friendly on social media she remembers us from events like our Breast Cancer podcast-a-thon and our In Search of Darkness signing at Dark Delicacies last year) and insisted on taking pictures together. She always knows where to find the best light because she's a pro. She also still looks 30 years old, a comment I heard from anyone who saw her in person all weekend.

Saturday morning kicked off as it usually does, with co-host Steve Prokopy (who many of you may know from his days as "Capone" on Ain't It Cool News) interviewing author Jason Paul Collum and filmmaker John Borowski, both of who came to Flashback to talk about and/present new projects. I then got the chance to interview Amanda Wyss from A Nightmare on Elm Street and the aforementioned Tuesday Knight and it was probably the panel about which I was the most nervous, but my anxiety was unfounded (as anxiety so often is) because the two actors could not have been nicer and or more open about their experiences working within the classic franchise at very different points in its evolution. Like a lot of the actors from the series have become over the years, Wyss and Knight are great friends in real life and that camaraderie came through during their panel. They look out for each other and they care about one another and it was very cool to get to witness that firsthand.

Next up was a live recording of co-host Nick DiGilio's podcast The Nick D Podcast, with him, co-host Esmerelda Leon, and guest Dee Wallace, who absolutely crushed her appearance and was so much fun. There was something about her perky sweetness mixed with her occasionally dirty material (for example, Nick asked her about anyone remaking The Howling and she brought the house down making a jerk off motion) that made her one of my absolute favorite guest panels of the entire convention. You can listen to their entire conversation here.

Keeping the Howling train going, I followed up Nick and Dee Wallace with an interview with her co-star and Joe Dante regular Belinda Balaski. This was another panel I was nervous about, but she put me right at ease with her upbeat demeanor and no-nonsense answers. We talked a lot about working with Joe Dante -- she admitted her favorite role was in Amazon Women on the Moon, funnily enough -- and ended up talking a lot more about Food of the Gods that I ever could have expected. During the audience Q&A portion, someone tried to talk some shit about Gremlins 2 but I shut that shit down ASAP. You don't come to a horror convention and talk bad about any Joe Dante movie, much less one of the greatest sequels ever made.

Following that was the final panel for Saturday and the one I was most bummed to not host: a Hatchet reunion panel featuring Adam Green, Danielle Harris, Kane Hodder, FX artist Robert Pendergraft, and late addition Joel Murray, moderated by Steve Prokopy (plus a surprise -- and very memorable -- appearance by Robert Englund, who barged in at the start and shouted "Who do I have to blow to get on this panel?" to thunderous applause). From talking about their memories of the late Tony Todd to how the series came together and everyone got involved, the group was dynamic and entertaining and just great. As Steve told me backstage, a panel with any one of them would be memorable, so to have them all on stage together at the same time bantering and joking back and forth and even getting super emotional was a real coup. This was probably my favorite of all the panels this weekend.

After Hatchet was supposed to be a panel I was hosting with Spencer Charnas, lead singer of Ice Nine Kills, but he had to cancel his appearance at Flashback due to a sinus infection and an upcoming tour. To be totally honest, I was a little relieved about not having to do the panel because I don't know a ton about his band, though I did watch a bunch of their videos to prepare and they were cool. Andras Jones (who fought invisible Freddy in Nightmare on Elm Street 4) did a live set of original music next, followed by the annual Sinister Visions Costume Contest, always a highlight of Flashback Weekend. It's runs shorter and more smoothly since they instituted a limit on the participants, which is a nice change. I would think it would be more competitive, too, but there are still a lot of Jasons and Freddys and Art the Clowns that get up there. The winner of this year's kid contest was the cutest, tiniest M3GAN you've ever seen, while the winner of the adult contest was a very impressive homemade zombie that look completely professional and even lit up and billowed smoke on command. It was a good time.

Saturday night, Erika and Rosie (who joined me mid-day Saturday because it's Rosie's favorite weekend all year) and I attended the VIP party for the Ultimate Badge holders plus staff and celebrity guests. We haven't gone every year -- sometimes my anxiety gets the better of me and we just hang out in our hotel room instead -- but I'm glad we went this year because we got to hang out with our friends that work at the convention (we're all too busy during business hours) and we got to talk to Joe Dante and Barbara Crampton and Ken Kirzinger and Dee Wallace got to tell Rosie how beautiful she is and that she should be an actress and Erika got to tell Dee Wallace that one of our son Charlie's favorite movies is Secret Admirer and Rosie hit it off with fellow 13-year old Antonella Rose of Terrifier 3 fame and they were messaging each other on Tik Tok by the end of the night. We all went to sleep that night really happy. Such is the power of Flashback Weekend.

Sunday meant the final day of Flashback. It also meant that Erika and Rosie had to take off so they could attend a series of meetings for Rosie's new dance company that she made. After Steve Prokopy interviewed Nick Digilio about his forthcoming book 40 Years, 40 Films (which you can order here), I got to spend my morning interviewing Freddy vs. Jason star/stunt performer Ken Kirzinger, the nicest man to ever play a machete-wielding slasher. It's because he's from Canada. He talked about his stunt career, about working opposite Robert Englund, about his disappointment over not being allowed to do the full body burn in FvJ, and about his experiences working on other horror movies I love like Bad Moon and Wrong Turn 2. Up next, Nick got to interview Joe Dante for a full hour (most of the panels only run about 30-45 minutes, but Sundays main events all went 60) and covered everything I would have hope he covered without slobbering all over himself like I would have done. Steve P. followed that up with a Re-Animator reunion featuring Barbara Crampton, Jeffrey Combs, and Bruce Abbott, which was very insightful about acting and working with the great Stuart Gordon to make transgressive art. Finally, it was my turn again to host the Terrifier panel because as the biggest fan of the franchise out of the three hosts, I've become the de facto expert. The panel was huge with seven participants (Damien Leone, David Howard Torton, Lauren LaVera, Elliott Fullam, Samantha Scaffidi, Amelie McLain, and Antonella Rose) plus me so I didn't get to spend much time with any single cast member, probably only a question or two, but I think everyone had a good time. At least I hope. I'm guessing I'll see them again for Terrifier 4 in another couple of years.

With that, us three hosts were finished. There was one more panel, "The Kills of Terrifier 3," but that was being hosted by Kill Count/Dead Meat creators and YouTubers James A. Janisse and Chelsea Rebecca -- who, it should be mentioned, were super nice and had a table in the dealer room with a long line the entire weekend. People love YouTube. I stayed for a little bit of it before heading back into the showroom to begin breaking down some of the equipment.

And that was that! My favorite Flashback Weekend came to a close. There are so many people to thank for making it such a a special one! Thanks to the celebrity guests for being so generous with their time and talent and for all being so nice. Thanks to the amazing staff for being great and welcoming. Thanks to the Masters of Ceremonies Dann and Morgan Gire for all the cool videos you posted and for all the extra stuff you did all weekend long, including bringing Flashback mascot Baby Calvin. Thanks to Kat McGill for taking so many great pictures (many of which I've used here). Thanks to my Horror BFF Heather for first bringing me to Flashback all those years ago. Thanks to my co-hosts Nick and Steve for being so cool and keeping things running smoothly in the panel room. Thanks to Shawn, a great sound man and super nice guy, for recording our live podcast. Thanks to all the wonderful people I got to meet over the weekend, whether it was because they had a nice word to say about an interview they saw me do or we just struck up a conversation about a t-shirt or a movie. Horror fans really are the best. Thanks to Mike and Adam Riske for hanging out. Thanks to Erika and Rosie (and Charlie, who was once again attending a sleepover party with his friends) for the constant support and love.

Most of all, thanks to Mike and Mia Kerz for putting this weekend on every year and letting be a small part of their huge horror family. Every year, guest I speak with from the attendees to the celebrities comment on how much they loved the vibe of Flashback: how relaxed it is, how well run it is, how much it feels like a family. And it does! Mia and Mike have cultivated that feeling over two decades and it has trickled down to everyone else. I'm very fortunate to have been a tiny part of the best horror convention in Chicago.

To stay up to date on all things Flashback for next year, check out the con's official website www.flashbackweekend.com. Those of you who are still on Facebook should join the official Flashback Weekend Facebook group, which is a great horror community and where the Flashback attendees are posting photos with celebrities from the weekend.

When can we start planning for next year?