METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett will host his own horror convention, "Kirk Von Hammett's Fear FestEvil", early next year in San Francisco, California. The three-day event (February 6-8) will feature vending, live music, "Kirk's Crypt" private tours, panels, signings and special guest appearances. Among the special guests set to appear at the convention are makeup FX artists Greg Nicotera ("The Walking Dead", "Kill Bill 1 & 2", "Spiderman") and Tom Savini ("Dawn Of The Dead", "Day Of The Dead", "Creepshow"). Only one live music artist has been revealed thus far: San Francisco-based rockers ORCHID. In 2012, Hammett released "Too Much Horror Business - The Kirk Hammett Collection", an oversized 228-page hardback book documenting his love of all things related to the horror genre and features more than 300 photos of items from the collection of horror memorabilia he has accumulated over the years. The book also included three lengthy interviews with Hammett, who also wrote the captions for many of the photos. Hammett told the San Francisco Chronicle, "I've been into [horror] stuff since I was five years old . . . My love for this stuff is insane and totally obsessive-compulsive. It's just one of those things. I'm still waiting to outgrow it or get tired of it or get bored with it. But it does not seem to happen." Hammett, who has been collecting items and watching horror movies since he was a child, told Loudwire why he thinks the genre is so popular. He explained, "They're just fun. They're a fun experience. It's not unlike a roller coaster ride, you know? A good horror movie should have peaks and valleys, a good horror movie should move you emotionally, a good horror movie should be exciting to watch and energizing in a weird kind of way . . . horror movies deliver that." Hammett added, "I've always been attracted to the darker things in life. I was never one to go for light, airy stuff, even as a child. My whole aesthetic has always been one of the darker side. That rings true also in my tastes in music." Asked to name his favorite horror films, Hammett mentioned movies like 1932's "The Mummy" and a '70s low-budget cheesefest called "Dracula Vs. Frankenstein" before saying, "To me, it's just endless. I think about certain movies and I think, 'Oh, that's my favorite.' Then I think about others and I say, 'No, that's my favorite.' It's so difficult for me." Hammett has hosted Kirk's Crypt, a haunted house stocked with posters, film props, vintage comics and custom guitars, at the first two installments of the Orion Music + More festival, a music and lifestyle festival created by METALLICA and their friends at C3 Presents. For more information on "Kirk Von Hammett's Fear FestEvil", click here.
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