Macabre Daily Invades San DIego Comic-Con For Some "Horror Business"

San Diego is a wonderful city if you ever get the chance to visit Southern California. Perfect weather most of the year, and friendly, laid-back folks, great places to eat and drink, if one is just cruising around you’ll see why San Diego is one of the best places in California to vacation and get away from things. The 2024 edition of San Diego Comic-Con is now officially over and we had an amazing time as usual attending. All of pop culture is represented at SDCC and we were on the ground floor to bring you all things horror and Sci-fi for 2024 so, let’s dig in shall we?

FILMS

There was no shortage of crazy movie news from SDCC this year. From ALIEN: ROMULUS to the stuff going on at Marvel, there were tons of updates and newsworthy items that this reporter could by no means put down in writing or this article would be 30 pages long. Fans went nuts over Thursday’s programming and the news that DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE would get a fan screening in Hall H. That was huge, but it came with many angry fans who either didn’t get picked to attend the event or were chosen to see the film but then denied entry due to a designated line cap.

Then you had indie darlings like THE MAN IN THE WHITE VAN from Neon has been waiting almost three years for a proper release but will finally see the light of day, outside of the film festival circuit, and make a small theatrical run. This film is bonkers because so many child and even adult abductions happen every year and more than half of these victims are never found. Stars Sean Astin (The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Stranger Things), Ali Larter (ABC’s The Rookie, Final Destination), Madison Wolfe (The Conjuring 2) Brec Bassinger (CW’s Stargirl), Gavin Warren (Night Swim) and Skai Jackson (Jessie) attended the panel and answered a few questions for fans. We highly recommend you stay here at MD for any news about “The Man In The White Van”, it’s going to be a hit.

Going back to Alien: Romulus for a second, let us just say that the panel was full of great footage and even showed some behind-the-scenes shots of how, director Fede Alvarez, made sure to merge ALIEN and ALIENS into a new story that fits perfectly between two films. We already have our tickets for the film since it premiers in theaters on August 16th and we highly recommend you not miss this next entry in the ALIEN franchise, it’s gonna be a doozy.

TV

TV News and SDCC go hand and hand, we’ve learned that this is where it’s really at for all info concerning amazing shows on air or coming our way soon. Every TV studio and streaming service was in attendance this year. Networks like FX, AMC, and even Hulu showed some horror fans love with their reveals.

AMC’s Interview With The Vampire was a major treat as we saw a whole new teaser trailer for the upcoming third season as well as revealed some new casting news for both IWTV and its chronicle counterpart “THE MAYFAIR WITCHES". The gaslamp was also adorned with IWTV marketing which you can check out below as well as that third season trailer we mentioned.

Photo By Tony Ace

We were able to catch a few glimpses from the various WALKING DEAD panels that occurred since all three spinoffs of the original show, “DEAD CITY, THOSE WHO LIVE, and DARYL DIXON” all had panels this year.

Season three of DARYL DIXON was officially announced and will be titled “DARYL DIXON - THE BOOK OF CAROL” and will have a premier sometime in September of next year. We know star Norman Reedus is stoked for the next chapter in his spinoff as filming has begun already and things are being shaken up a bit.  Norman Reedus mentioned that the show will go from France to Spain as it’s local for season three. We have a feeling that this next season will be the series most ambitious and could make or break the series. From what we saw at SDCC this year, there is no shortage of “Walking Dead” related projects on the horizon. We have no new information regarding a film based on the characters from “The Walking Dead”, but we’ll keep you posted since that is also on the horizon as well.

This year also marked the final time “WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS” on FX will be at SDCC. The show is set for a final season and of course, all the stars were there for a panel…well everyone except for Kayvan Novak (Nandor) joined the panel via satellite. Novak did something ingenious and attended the panel as his character Nandor! He trolled the whole audience and stayed in character for the panel.

"There is no Kayvan, only Nandor," the actor said when moderator Eric Goldman questioned the various cast. Fans were treated to seeing Kayvan loom over the panel of his peers and oh yes, he had fangs on the entire time, naturally. There was also a signing after the panel by the cast at the FX booth.

Photo by Stephanie Alvarado

COLLECTIBLES

There is no shortage of collectibles at SDCC. Our wallets hate us every year when we attend but we love seeing new items from AMC, NECA, MEZCO, and Factory Entertainment were the major players. We will feature more images in our SDCC gallery so you can see what we mean. There was one collectible that caught our eye at the STORM KING COMICS booth. A painting by artist Cat Staggs, signed by John Carpenter, depicting everyone’s favorite boogeyman, Michael Myers. Check out our image below.

Photo by Stephanie Alvarado

Here are a few more images from our visit to SDCC. Now this is just the tip of the iceberg since we have over 400 photos to share and we’re still going through most of them. In the meantime, checkout what we have below.

San Diego Comic-Con is a beast in and of itself. From the crowded walkways to the bad parking and infinitely long lines for panels, SDCC is a test of endurance for even the most skilled convention goer. To say this year’s event went off without any issues would be folly as many people were not happy with the overcrowding of hallways and sitting areas.

We noticed the complete lack of panels in Hall H on Sunday. This is the first time that there was not a single panel in Hall H for SDCC’s final day and we have to admit, we miss Supernatural just for this reason. Supernatural would rule over Sunday and have some of the best guest stars and reveals. One year the show even had the band Kansas play “Carry On My Wayward Son” for the live audience. Now if that ain’t badass, we don’t know what is. Alas, this year felt a bit somber. We’re not sure if it was because the con seemed to be a testing ground for many new shows and films or that many past exhibitors, due to price hikes for rent, just couldn’t make SDCC. This is the third year in a row that Sideshow collectibles have been off of the vendor’s list for SDCC and man do we miss them.

We will be back with a whole slew of images from the con but in the meantime, we recommend you start planning for SDCC 2025. There are for sure going to be some amazing reveals, as usual, next year, and we plan on being there for all the Horror Business we can stomach.

The city of San Diego is in a bit of a flux as well considering the contract with Comic-Con International ran out as of this year. Fortunately, we can confirm that SDCC will be in San Diego once again in 2025 but what about 2026? That is very much up in the air and with the price gouging of hotels being the crux of the issue, we will see what happens and where SDCC will be in the next few years.

We hope to see you fiends there next year too!

Stay up to date with “The Dark Side Of Pop Culture” by following Macabre Daily on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.