I wanted to be tough. Instead they called me adorable.
Growing up, my mom wanted to be a paranormal investigator and get a degree in parapsychology at Duke University where they had a program known as the Rhine Research Center which studied paranormal experiences from a scientific perspective. The research center later became independent, but it was always my mom’s dream to be a part of it. Then she became a young mom, and instead of investigating the paranormal, she began investigating whether it was my older brother or I who had painted the kitchen walls with peanut butter and flour. (It was both of us.)
Everything about the paranormal was a large part of my childhood. My brothers and I started watching scary movies at the same time we were watching cartoons. Over the years, I veered off to anime and action, leaving the gore behind, but my brothers pursued all that was bloody and monstrous, becoming the biggest horror movie nerds I know.
For many years, I lived abroad working on movie sets in Europe, but tragedy recently brought me back to the United States to be home with my family and friends. I was close to my brothers growing up, and now that I’m home, I want to renew that close bond we always shared. So this year, when an annual horror movie convention came around that my brothers attend every year, I decided to go with them. It’s custom for people to dress up in costume at the convention. Originally, I was going to go as a zombie Egyptian, but one day while shopping around an outlet mall I came across a very inexpensive Freddy Krueger outfit and decided it was perfect. It was tough. It was formidable. It was a manifestation of the anger I’ve been feeling since my best friend passed away. With a limited budget, I searched for the cheapest FX makeup I could find to destroy my face with a true Freddy Krueger burn look. (The makeup came to under $20.)
A novice to FX makeup effects, I watched countless online tutorials on the day before applying the fleshy gel to my face. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize how long it took the gel to dry and ended up late to the convention, much to the displeasure of one of my brothers and his girlfriend as they picked at their Korean BBQ across the hotel from where the convention was taking place, waiting for me to arrive.
My apologies that the following images are a little dark. But then again, this is Freddy Krueger...
The convention turned out to be a lot funner than I expected, even as one of my brothers, who was running on no sleep, kept finding empty chairs to snooze in as we paraded between the speeches, presentations, celebrities, and stalls of merchandise. Ghost stories were told by a local paranormal investigative team. A local playhouse put on their rendition of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. And I learned how to make a budget horror flick, causing me to momentarily consider giving up my ambition of making documentaries on the empowerment of women for slasher movies.
The biggest surprise of the convention was how many people wanted to take photos with me in my costume. There were plenty of Freddy Kruegers there, but I was the only one with the clawed glove. To my disgust, my inability to keep a straight face earned me the reputation of the “adorable” Freddy Krueger. I wanted to be tough, but I couldn’t stop smiling, thus deeming me cute instead of fearsome.
Maybe next year when I return as the zombie Egyptian, I’ll be able to look mean. But I doubt it. Not when evil teddy bears are dancing in front of you, and you’re being chased through the stalls by motorized robots from Dr. Who.
At least I got to spend time with my brothers. That was the most important thing, even if it meant peeling fake flesh from my face and hair for weeks after.
A Note From A. E. Scholer
With the full support of my brothers, I started this blog in an effort to raise money for decent equipment and travel costs to begin developing documentaries about women empowerment. You can support me in my efforts by following me @aescholer and by reading, upvoting, and resteeming my posts. Any support is greatly appreciated. I’ll continue to strive to bring the Steemit community unique, quality content including the full release of my novel Sleeping Brides for free on Steemit, chapter by chapter, in the coming weeks.