Fans and Freaks: the Culture of Comics and Conventions brief movie review

Nashville filmmakers Stephen and Suzie Lackey spent two years traveling to conventions in the southeast and editing the footage together. Most of the film centers on a Dragon*Con that I attended, but there is also footage from Mempis’s Mephit Furry Con, Music City Con and Atlanta Anime Festival. There a are a few interviews with con guests such as Karen Black and Dick Warlock (Jason from Halloween II for those of you who don’t know). It also contains a bit of performance footage and interviews with various con attendees.

In the trailer they compare the film to Trekkies and Beyond the Mat. I don’t understand the BtM comparison, since BtM is a behind the scenes of the wrestling business. I guess they are the same in that they are both documentaries, much like Citizen Caine and Fight Club are the same in that they are both movies.

This film just seems to lack overall clarity and direction that documentaries need. I just felt like it was a compilation of Dragon*Con footage for the most part. They attempted to draw it together with interview footage from the owner of Nashville’s Outer Limits comic book store, but that only works to a marginal degree.

The filmmakers have plans to make a sequel, possibly involving cons in the north, but I would hope that they find more focus for their second film.