Event Report: The 2011 Eyegore Awards Celebrate the Best and Brightest of the Horror Genre

Steve Barton   |  

Sep 25, 2011

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This past Friday night, September 23rd, the Halloween season officially kicked off in style with the 2011 Eyegore Awards held at the Globe Theater at Universal Studios in Hollywood as part of the opening night of Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights. Hosted by genre veteran and previous Eyegore winner Corey Feldman (who was joined on stage by a wisecracking zombie scarecrow), many of horror’s biggest names came out to celebrate our favorite time of year and pay homage to several of the genre’s biggest contributors and newcomers alike.

The evening kicked off with actor Thomas Jane (The Mist, Deep Blue Sea, “Hung”) presenting an Eyegore statue to long-time friend David Arquette, who’s been best known to horror fans as Deputy Dwight “Dewey” Riley from Wes Craven’s Scream since its release almost 15 years ago now.

Arquette graciously accepted his award, saying “I really want to thank you all. This is a big honor- I really believe that. I believe in horror films, and in fact, Rob Zombie’s one of my favorite directors. So thank you to all of you wonderful freaks out there who live horror everyday- this is just a fantastic honor.”

Next up, Variety’s Brian Gott presented an Eyegore Award to Bailee Madison from Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, celebrating her potential in the horror genre based on her work in the film as tormented tot Sally.

11-year-old actress Madison, who exudes a poise way beyond her years, welled up at one point during her speech and paid special tribute to everyone who worked on Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, including producer Guillermo del Toro, who really helped her “hone her craft.”

After paying tribute to one of the genre’s newcomers, the Eyegores once again switched things up to celebrate another a longtime icon of modern horror- Rainn Wilson, who’s best known to genre fans worldwide as “Fishboy” since the release of Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses back in 2003.

Since Corpses, Wilson has also become a pop culture figure on an entirely different level with his performance as awkward beet farmer and paper salesman “Dwight Schrute” on NBC’s “The Office.” Wilson accepted his award with enthusiasm from Zombie saying, “I never thought I’d ever be standing here with you freaks, getting an Eyegore Award at Universal. I mean- have you guys ever seen a movie where a cheerleader isn’t getting shot in the face by a shotgun? Do any of you here even know who Katherine Heigl is?”

“Look, I get recognized for a lot of different things now, especially Dwight, but the thing that always gets me the most excited is when someone comes up to me and yells ‘FISHBOY!’ That is always the one I love the most.”

Following Wilson, Calico Cooper paid tribute to another Eyegore Award winner of the evening- her father, legendary shock rocker Alice Cooper, who’s warped vision was also being celebrated in one of the brand new mazes which is part of this year’s Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights in Hollywood. Cooper, who’s on tour currently supporting his newest album, accepted his award via a pre-taped vignette.

After that writer/director and horror alum James Gunn (director of Slither and writer of the Dawn of the Dead remake) took the stage to present the next Eyegore Award of the evening to another veteran of modern horror, funny guy Jamie Kennedy, who first endeared himself to genre fans as horror movie buff “Randy Meeks” in 1996’s Scream.

Kennedy, who was in a humorous mood during the ceremony, accepted his Eyegore by saying “A lot of fans were sad that I died in Scream 2. A lot of people were probably sad that I didn’t die in Son of the Mask 2.”

The final Eyegore of the night was awarded to actress Emma Bell, who first wowed horror fans with her haunting performance as doomed skier Parker O’Neil in Adam Green’s Frozen. Since then she also was a featured player during Season One of “The Walking Dead” and gambled with Death in Final Destination 5.

Rising Scream Queen Bell humbly accepted her award from presenter Green, declaring her experience making Frozen as being “awful to work on. Just truly awful because Adam really did make me pay every step of the way while we were shooting. No, no- I’m only kidding.” (pause) “Joking aside, I am so super proud of Frozen and for everyone who worked on it, and I am so honored and thankful to the entire horror community for everything- I so appreciate this award.”

The evening concluded with Halloween Horror Night’s Creative Director John Murdy and star of the upcoming prequel The Thing, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who honored up-and-coming filmmaker Brent Bokovoy, who was named the winner of the 2011 Halloween Horror Nights Short Film Competition. Bokovoy’s short film debuted during the Eyegore Awards ceremony before he was presented with the $1,000 cash prize by both Murdy and Winstead.

Make sure to check out our full gallery of images from the 2011 Eyegore Awards ceremony below!

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