PINELLAS PARK — The ninth annual Tampa Bay Screams Horror Convention will be held Friday, June 28 and Saturday, June 29 at the Pinellas Park Performing Arts Center, 4951 78th Ave. N., Pinellas Park.
Opening hours are Friday from 5 to 10 PM and Saturday from noon to 5 PM. Advance tickets can be purchased online with single-day passes starting at $20 and two-day weekend passes starting at $30. Parking is free.
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit tampabayscreams.com
The indoor event is described as “a fun weekend for fans, collectors and cosplay artists” and will feature some of the biggest names in horror, a “Dealer's Dungeon” vendor hall, a film festival and more.
Tampa Bay Screams organizer Andy Larino said this year's event will feature some familiar faces in addition to the four Florida performers making their first appearance.
This year's celebrity guests include Michelle Bauer, Fred Olen Ray, Erin Brown, Jeff Lieberman, Seth Sklari, Joel Wynkoop and April Hunter.
Michelle Bauer is an actress, model and B-movie scream queen. She starred opposite Richard Allan Hench in the 1986 supernatural horror film “The Tomb.” She has appeared in dozens of films, including “Terror Night,” “Nightmare Sisters,” “Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge” and “Dinosaur Island.”
Fred Olen Ray is an Emmy Award-winning film producer, director and screenwriter who has worked on over 200 feature films across a wide variety of genres. He currently heads Retromedia, a production company specializing in home entertainment releases of Ray's new films and his extensive back catalogue. Ray's earlier work includes “Demented Death Farm Massacre” (1971), “The Brain Leeches” (1978), “Scalps” (1983) and “Biohazard” (1985).
Erin Brown has appeared in several independent horror films, including Tony Todd's Shadow: Dead Riot and the 2006 film The Lost, based on the Jack Ketchum novel of the same name. Brown appeared in an episode of Showtime's Masters of Horror. She won Best Actress at the 2012 Polygrind Film Festival for her performance in the post-apocalyptic Western short This Girl's Gun.
Best known among horror fans as the director of the 1976 cult classic “Squirm,” Jeff Lieberman's resume also includes directing such films as “Blue Sunshine,” “Before Dawn” and “Satan's Little Helper.” Lieberman is credited as the screenwriter for “The Neverending Story 3,” which was released in 1994.
Seth Scrary played Orville in the 1972 Zombie cult classic, Kids Don't Play With Dead Things.
This year's special guest will be returning local actor and director, “King of the B-Movies,” Joel D. Wynkoop, who has appeared in more than 30 independent films, including “Killing Spree” (1987), “Wicked Games” (1994), “Creep” (1995) and “Always Midnight” (2006).
“Fans love this convention because of the quality celebrity guests and vendors, and it's really worth it because fans get to meet real cult movie stars without having to wait in long lines,” Wynkoop said. “Plus, Tampa Bay Screams supports independent filmmakers, writers and artists, giving them the opportunity to reach new audiences and fans as vendors and at the film festival.”
Tampa Bay Screams brings together fans, celebrities and artists for an experience they'll never forget, and attendees return year after year for the fun and fellowship.
For more information and updates about Tampa Bay Screams, visit tampabayscreams.com or www.facebook.com/tampabayscreams
