Haunting Horrors

October is my favorite month of the year, due in no small part to the cooling of the weather and those first whiffs of autumn wood smoke that waft between the increasingly bare trees. The skies tend to the overcast as night comes more quickly, and the vestments of the holiday season begin to spring up in the form of fat, round, candle-lit pumpkins and skeletons dancing in the doorways. I'll take it over December or any other month.

But for some reason lately, here in Tulsa, it's been feeling like Halloween all year round. Be it the Underground Horror mini-cons that Art Sunday always keeps on the horizon, or the new Oklahoma Horror Film Festival put on by Joel Hulett that saw more than 60 creepy and gory examples of new horror films as well as a good dose of how-to seminars and talents, it seems lately that there's always something just around the corner for the discerning fan of all things macabre.

And so it goes with the Second Annual Sci-Fi Horror Weekend (this year subtitled: The Revenge), which boasts a slew of cult horror stars, special screenings, events and general bloody fun.

Opening Friday, the first afternoon roster boasts panels from Joe Bob Briggs, the not-to-be-missed host of Monstervision, encyclopedia of all things B-horror film related and generally funny guy that he is. He's followed by a special screening of the Halloween staple Dark Night of the Scare Crow. Not to lack for variety, that screening will be followed by a performance by the sexy nerd comedy troupe The Damsels of Dorkington, after which the night is to be capped off with the first night's Screampunk Ball.

The next day things get started earlier with live-action Evil Dead: The Musical (which will also be performed the night before at The Boomstick Theater down the road in Drumright), though as of this writing it is unclear whether there will be a splatter section (one hopes). That slice of goodness is to be by followed by celebrity panels with Zach Galigan (Gremlins I and II) and Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes), which are bookended by Charles Band's Full Moon Horror Roadshow, which Ain't It Cool News describes as "an old style variety hour show, but with boobs and gore!" What's not to love? The night wraps up with a Zombie PSA and the closing out of the festivities with another Screampunk Ball so the last ones left standing can dance with the undead.

But that hardly covers it, with tons of vendors at the fest hawking their unique wares, scream queen contests, SFX demos and costume contests among other pagan delights.

The Sci-Fi Horror Weekend begins Friday, Oct. 22 at 4pm, continuing through Oct. 23 and takes place at the Tulsa Select Hotel, 5000 East Skelly Drive (south of I-44 and Yale). One-day tickets cost $15 while weekend tickets go for $25. Tickets and information can be found on the web at scifihorrorweekend.com.