By KEVIN HOOVER
Once upon a time, the horror convention landscape was ruled by behemoths. Their events dotted the map and commanded the attention of autograph hounds who’d trade countless hours (and dollars) traveling abroad for a few precious moments with the celebs who’d shaped their fandom. Those stories carried home would often spark the curiosity of enterprising horror fans who’d ponder: “Why don’t we launch our con?”
Most never make it past the daydreaming stage, but a choice few do and some even endure long enough to cultivate a fan base so devoted that they’ve earned their own distinction–just like the FrankenFam.
FRANKENCON, East Tennessee’s annual horror gathering, has spent the last five years carving out its identity with the help of a few solid friends: Joe Bob Briggs, Linnea Quigley and Brian Bremer, amongst others. From June 26th-28th, The Hilton Knoxville Airport in Alcoa, TN plays host to the 2026 iteration as it has for previous years, and it’s within those ballrooms where countless friendships have been formed, selfies have been snapped and memories have been made.
The event’s co-owners Cory Keelen and Richard Ewell recently recapped a half-decade of con hosting with RUE MORGUE.
FrankenFounders, including Cory Keelen (second-to-last) and Richard Ewell (far right).
How did the concept of FRANKENCON come to be?
Richard Ewell: Matt (Henry, also affiliated with FRANKENCON) and I were doing a podcast and Cory had a podcast–that’s how we all knew of each other. Matt had this crazy idea after COVID to have Felissa Rose do an event here in town, so he got a hold of the agent and worked it out. We have friends here with The Bird and The Book event center/restaurant that hosted it, and we did that in June of 2021. That was a big success. We wanted to do it again, but the more I looked into it, the more it made sense to turn it into a convention. I presented the idea to Cory and he was on board.
We came up with a name. I knew of the space, the hotel here in the town that I live in–it’s a great hotel with a nice ballroom. We did that and started with a one-day show which was FRANKENCON in 2022. It just kind of spiraled from there.
Your previous events have been one- and two-day shows, but this is your first time doing a three-day event. What went into planning it out?
Cory Keelen: Expanding into a third day, you have to come up with more programming. Last year was a good show but we felt like maybe it didn’t have as much programming as we’d have liked, particularly after-hours. We had to figure out how not to just pad another day but actually add the value of a third day to this year’s event. Sundays at conventions can be slow, so Richard came up with a couple of things. Our military members retired and active duty, and first responders are able to get in free on Sunday. And Sunday is themed around special effects: cosplay, special effects in movies, etc.
You’ve brought in some of the biggest names in horror over the years. Who has been your personal favorite guests?
CK: Michelle Bauer is one of the nicest human beings. She’s super sweet. And Brinke (Stevens) and Linnea (Quigley) are great. Rhonda Shear, same story. She’s one of the sweetest ladies you could ever hope to meet.
RE: Mine will probably surprise Cory because I don’t often talk about it, but James O’Barr (creator of The Crow) was my favorite. He’s a very nice person. And that’s actually the only panel I’ve ever hosted–I usually don’t host anything. I went to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park with him and his agent; that was pretty wild.
CK: I want to throw one more in there: C.J. Graham from Friday 13th Part VI was a class act. I sat down with him in the little restaurant on the premises. For people that don’t know, you pay a per diem so the guests can eat. And then, in his case, there was a reimbursement of flight expenses. I had this envelope of money and I wanted to get it to him as quickly as possible. Richard and I are like these people’s pseudo employers for a weekend, right? It’s a different kind of relationship. But we’re also fans. I didn’t want to bother him, but I wanted to make sure he had his money. So, I go in there and I say, “Hey, C.J. I’m Cory. I’m one of the guys that runs this thing, and I brought your money.” And he’s like, “Sit down, boss.” He kept calling me boss the whole weekend. I sit down and talk to him, making sure he’s good. And he’s like, “Come by the table. Anything you need, I’ll sign you guys a bunch of stuff.” He took good care of us. Richard’s mom came to the show, and he took a picture with her.
Now that we’ve talked about favorite guests, what have been your favorite moments?
CK: It doesn’t sound great for business when you say you’re going to have time to talk to these people and enjoy yourself and relax a little. I think that’s something we’ve really taken pride in, and we’ve tried to illustrate that to everybody. It’s hard to communicate that to new people that haven’t experienced it, but there’s a whole vibe we have that I don’t experience at any other shows. I’m not trying to throw shade on anybody; we love other cons. A lot of them are friends, but I haven’t seen the vibe we have at FRANKENCON at other shows, and we’ve consistently had that for five years. There’s no doubt it’ll be there this year, too.
RE: My favorite picture of all time is me and Cory with the Scream Queens (Brinke Stevens, Michelle Bauer and Linnea Quigley). I love that picture because it encapsulates what we this to be to others. You’re meeting these people that you’ve watched on TV. I had dinner with Brian Bremer, I think the second year, and that was pretty awesome. We were still kind of young in the convention space. He was very knowledgeable and very nice.
CK: For our first year, I was the one that reached out to Joe Bob and Darcy to secure them being at the con. I’m going to moderate this panel with them and I’m flipping out. I’m a big fan of theirs! I’m so freaking nervous about it, probably more nervous about that than the whole con going belly up financially and ruining everybody’s marriages. I got up on stage and decided to break the ice by singing the theme song to The Last Drive-In. I stuck the microphone out and everybody took the bait. I was like, “We got this. We’re going to fly this plane home.” I sat there with them, and I had my legs crossed, sitting my ankle on top of my knee. If you look at video, you see I’m just twitching that ankle so rapidly. I’m obviously very tense, but it ended up going really well. Someone took a picture and I’m actually smiling, and so is Joe Bob and Darcy. It’s my Facebook cover photo and it has been forever.
Richard and Cory flanked by scream queens Linnea Quigley, Michelle Bauer and Brinke Stevens. Photo courtesy of Cubster Cosplay Photography/Eli Borges.
What are some of the lessons that you’ve learned from a half-decade of running your own convention?
RE: Doing a con is much harder than anybody could fathom. There’s so much time and money and energy that goes into these. It’s cool to focus on the fun stuff, but when it comes down to it, this is a lot of work. I go to my wife’s family’s house every Sunday for dinner. They’ll help me do stuff, like making enamel pins. They’re going to help me bag some T-shirts. Really, it’s the things that nobody sees that are the hardest things to do. And we’ve also learned that nothing’s getting any cheaper.
CK: I think we can speak to misconceptions people have about conventions. Before, I would go to a con and if it’s really busy, I’d think they’re just printing money in there. And somebody may be printing money, but chances are the promoter is not that person. You could have a person who’s conceptually coming up with all this stuff. But Richard and I both have jobs and families. It takes so many people to put this together. Dixie Gers, she’s an independent filmmaker who helps out with so much stuff. Our friend Corrine Vitek helps with all the cosplay. Kaylie Guerrero helps MC different things. We’ve got Count Drahoon who’s basically hosting the whole con in his horror host persona. You have to have a village.
