Lanny Helton, the artist/owner of Frightful Facades, has been creating intricate handmade replicas of famous horror film houses from cardboard and craft sticks for over half a decade! He’s also branched recently to build decorations for YOUR horror home — from light switch covers to refrigerator magnets to light-up action figure display stands. Lanny shared his artwork, why horror architecture is endlessly fascinating, the struggles of being a one-man creative business, and his personal connection with the genre.

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LINKS for More LANNY HELTON:

• Lanny Helton / Frightful Facades on Etsy = https://etsy.com/shop/frightfulfacades
  
• Lanny Helton / Frightful Facades on Instagram = https://www.instagram.com/frightfacades/
  
• Lanny Helton / Frightful Facades on Facebook = https://www.facebook.com/frightfacades/

FULL Written Transcript: HorrorFam.com Podcast Interview with Lanny Helton

*HorrorFam.com Podcast Intro Music*

Lauren Spear: I’m Lauren Spear and you’re watching or listening to the HorrorFam.com Podcast, episode number 37. My guest today is Lanny Helton of Frightful Facades! He creates light-up replicas of horror houses. Like, he’s got Nancy’s house from A Nightmare on Elm Street and Michael Myers’ house from Halloween and the cabin from the Evil Dead movies…

Lanny Helton: Yes!

Lauren Spear: And… And it’s really cool!

Lanny Helton: Thanks for having me on, Lauren. Yeah. Yeah. I do have about 13 different houses. The ones that you mentioned are the more popular ones.

I have one in the background here which is the… *gestures behind himself* Amityville which I will… Let me let me bring up here real fast for you. *picks up the Amityville house replica and shows it to the audience*…And let you see it… It’s lightweight and it’s made out of cardboard, basically, and craft sticks. But it lights up and it also glows in the dark! I’ll put it back here… *returns the Amityville house to the table behind him*

Lauren Spear: And these are all handcrafted houses?

Lanny Helton: Yes! Correct. I do resin as well. Over here on this side, I have a few of my resin displays. I have a small resin, Evil Dead one, and I have a few other… Like the light switch covers right here. *reaches behind himself and picks up a light switch cover he made*

Here’s a light switch cover example right here. This happens to be the Friday the 13^th, but I do… *returns to the Jason Voorhees light switch cover/plate behind him*

I’ve mixed it up some because of what I can do… I can take the model that I have — the full-size model — and apply it in different ways. Like I can make keychains, I can make light switch covers, I can do dioramas… Which I am working on! Which you had mentioned earlier, which I don’t have, but I can scale them in any way using resin.

Lauren Spear: Okay. Well, so the people are confused: When we were talking earlier [before recording], and I was excited because Lanny has been toying with the idea of doing scenes – diorama scenes – for people’s action figures.

Lanny Helton: Yes!

Lauren Spear: Like you could have your Jason from Friday the 13th action figure in a scene from the movie!

Lanny Helton: Yes! And, also, the one that I was just working on this morning was the furnace room for Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street. And they’re going to be about eight inches tall, maybe 12. And it’s just going to be a stand that has a hollow stand that you can put accessories into and a background that has the boiler. Or the log cabin for Jason. And I might put it inside a plastic case where you can have lights on it. I haven’t got that far with it yet, but I think that’s what I’m going to do. *nods*

Lauren Spear: That’s really exciting! My grandparents on my mom’s side did dollhouses and miniatures and they had a miniature shop.

Lanny Helton: Ah.

Lauren Spear: So, I’ve always been really into small houses and stuff. But how did you get into this?

How did you get into building [horror house replicas]?

Lanny Helton: I had built, when I was little, different things…

When I was younger, I watched these movies and I… You know, Ghostbusters and A Nightmare on Elm Street and Back to the Future… And I saw a bunch of the stuff that was in there and I was like, “Hey I gotta do the backpack from Ghostbusters! I gotta do a model of the DeLorean!” or you know… And that’s what I did.

I made them out of cardboard because they didn’t have those things [available to buy] back then. And, so… I wish I had pictures of them now!

But the one that I kind of maintained keeping with was the Nightmare on Elm Street house. I do have one that has a full back on it, from when I was little. But then people said, “Well, you know, why can’t you just do that now?” I kind of got to the fact that if I was going to make the FULL house, it would keep me from doing OTHER houses. You’d have to build everything in there. And not everybody knows what all’s inside the house anyway! You’re not going to know how many light switch covers, how many rugs, what the color of the drapes are. You just want to know what the outside of the house looks like.

If you’re a horror fan, a true horror fan, you basically would recognize, “Hey, that’s the house from so-and-so” or whatever, but you’re not going to recognize everything on the inside. So, that’s how I…

I just want to keep it simple, you know.

Lauren Spear: Yeah. That makes sense. Yeah.

My friend Christi has a picture of herself being like… *does an impression of Christi Bandy fangirling* outside of the Nightmare on Elm Street house.

Lanny Helton: Nice. Nice. Yeah.

I think there’s a guy in North Carolina that built a full-size Michael Myers house, I believe.

Lauren Spear: Oh! I went to the Michael Myers house. It’s in Pasadena!

Lanny Helton: Yeah, I’ve seen that one, too. Yeah, nice. Is it, like, even on the inside…? Are the rooms accurate on the inside or is it just the outside?

Lauren Spear: Oh, it’s the actual filming location, so it’s the actual house.

Lanny Helton: Ahhhhhhhh! Wow! Nice. Yeah.

I, um, went ahead…

But, but basically how I actually started prior to any of this building of my actual houses was I went to a Comic Con with my son and he really wanted to dress up and I’m like, “Well, I’m not sure…” You know, what I wanted to do at that point.

So, I built him a full-size replica of the power loader from Aliens. It was a suit that he could wear. And it wasn’t heavy, but, you know, of course, he’s kind of younger and he’s complaining about, you know… He didn’t want to wear it around all day! So, we were there, you know, eight hours or whatever. And then we got to the competition part. And right before we got on the stage, he’s like, “I don’t want to do this anymore.” And I’m like, “Wait a minute!” I’m like, “We can’t do that. You know? We’re about to win!” So, I kind of helped him, but we got through that.

And, anyway, he won Best of Show. And that was right before I started this business. So, yeah, that kind of kicked me into the business.

Lauren Spear: That’s great!

Have you considered making different, like, props for horror fans to do cosplay with in addition to your frightful facades?

Lanny Helton: I’ve had people ask me about doing either that or work making practicals for horror movie directors or movies. And I can do all… I mean, I wouldn’t… I wouldn’t be opposed to doing any of that.

If any of your listeners are wanting to do that, they can certainly contact me. I, uh… This is just my, you know, my way in, but I, I certainly would like to apply this in different directions, you know, in many different directions.

Lauren Spear: Okay.

And can you tell me a little bit more about your frightful facades?

Lauren Spear (continuing): Like, you mentioned that they go on the wall and they light up. How does that all work?

Lanny Helton: Yeah, what I do is…

How I start is I would look at whatever it is, the house that I’m looking at, and I would try to scale everything. I’m bad about mathematics. That’s the thing. I do the best I can to scale it. I can’t tell you what scale this is back here *gestures to the Amityville house replica*, but I try to get it as accurate as I can.

And then what I’ll do is… How I found the easiest to work is to create a template in which I can kind of try to mass produce. That, see, that’s…

Right now, you’re probably one of the first to hear this, but I’m kind of going back and doing a lot of redoing on a lot of my designs because I want to make them more streamlined and more efficient. You know, maybe like from a feng shui type of thing. You know? Maybe where I can just kind of get in and make them cost efficient by mass producing them. Like, maybe make… Instead of making, you know, two at a time make maybe five at a time if I can!

Lauren Spear: Yeah.

Lanny Helton: And try to cost that. But it it’s…

Lauren Spear: Try to find a way to batch them.

Lanny Helton: Batch them. Yeah. It’s still labor intensive, but I’m gonna try to make… REFINE the design so that I can do that.

Lauren Spear: Yeah! Okay.

And for your light switches… What… How…

What made you go into light switches?

Lanny Helton: I can’t, you know, I just thought that maybe doing stuff that was just pretty straightforward, like the house was nice. But I’d spent that time making the design! And I’m like, “Can’t I really take that and do something ELSE with it?”

And somebody mentioned doing Christmas ornaments. And I’m like, “Yeah…” I mean, I tried that one time, and I did sell a few…

But then I was like, “Well, let me see… If I owned a man cave or a horror cave or, you know, some cave or whatever… ANY kind of room that I would put all this stuff in… What would I want in there that I didn’t already have?”

You know, if I had a bunch of NECA stuff, or if I had a bunch of masks, or if I had a bunch of posters… What is something ELSE, that I didn’t have, that I would want in there? And I said, “Well…” And I kept thinking! “Well, maybe, you know… This, that, and the other.” And I came up with a few things that I didn’t think anybody would have. So… *nods*

Lauren Spear: Yeah! *nods*

And, yeah, sorry; it’s not… It’s not light switches, it’s light switch plates. Like, covers. *gestures with her hands to indicate a plate covering a switch, correcting her wording error when initially asking her question*

Lanny Helton: Yes. Yes.

Lauren Spear: The one… The one that I liked was the Evil Dead one where you had the cabin at the top and then underneath you had the Necronomicon.

Lanny Helton: I actually sold out of all those two weekends ago! Yeah. I wish I had one.

Lauren Spear: Yeah. Those are neat!

Lanny Helton: Yeah. Yeah.

Lauren Spear: You got some behind you though! *gestures to Lanny’s display table* You showed the Jason one did you want to… *trying to hint he should show off more of his art to the camera*

Lanny Helton: One is the… *shows a light switch plate* The Freddy Krueger Nightmare on Street one. *replaces the NOES cover behind him* And then I have…

Lauren Spear: *attempts describing the light switch cover for listeners* That’s Freddy’s sweater on the bottom there and then and it’s got the…

Lanny Helton: *holds up the next cover* Here is the Halloween one. And it’s got the pumpkin on there.

Lauren Spear: Yeah! And Michael Myers’ house. *chuckles*

Lanny Helton: I have a few, like… *puts the cover back in its display spot and grabs a 2-3” magnet* Here is a magnet, a kitchen magnet. It’s just a… It’s got a magnet on the back, but that’s the Michael Myers house.

Lauren Spear: Ahh! So you can have Michael Myers’ house on your fridge.

Lanny Helton: Mm-hmm. The one, the one that sells the most on Etsy is this one. *puts the magnet away and grabs a keychain to show to the camera*

It is a, it’s a, you know… A book bag zipper! It’s a key chain, but it’s the Evil Dead chainsaw. This sells out quite a bit. In fact, I sold one today! Probably about… Right before the show. Maybe about three hours ago? I sold one. So, yeah. *places the keychain back on the display stand*

But all the stuff that’s over here on this side is resin. So, this is handcrafted here… *gestures to the Amityville house replica* But all that other stuff is resin. *gestures to the light switch covers and keychains*

Which it’s got its pros and cons, resin. I’m not an expert at using that medium, but I think I’ve used it for about a year now. And it’s, I mean, it’s okay; but, you know, if there could be an advancement of some kind beyond that, I would appreciate it. But for right now, resin’s okay. I can deal with it.

Lauren Spear: Yeah. That’s what I make my nails out of. *laughs*

Lanny Helton: Oh, you do? Okay. I saw your nails there. So, yeah, those are resin?

Lauren Spear: Yeah. *thunks her nails on her desk to show Lanny how hard they are [note: the powerful sound of Lauren’s nails was edited out because it was determined painful to listen to with headphones]*

Lanny Helton: Okay. Wow. Nice. Yeah.

Lauren Spear: But, yeah, they do have their pros and cons [in terms of the materials being easy to work with]. *chuckles, thinking about the issues she had curing the clear resin top coat she encases her nails in when she first started*

Lanny Helton: Yeah. At first I thought it was gonna be…

Like you’d have to be like in that suit that Marty McFly had. You know? When you’re, like, uh, you know… He had the bio suit. That’s what I was thinking when you had to do it!

It’s not THAT bad! But it can be messy and it’s temperamental. Especially right now.

Lauren Spear: Yeah!

Lanny Helton: Right here in the south, we have fluctuating temperatures and, uh, it… It doesn’t like it. It likes sort of consistency.

Lauren Spear: Yeah. *nodding*

Lanny Helton: It doesn’t like a lot of the… *moves hand up and down to indicate the rising and falling temperatures caused by terrible weather* You know?

So, right now, the other reason why I didn’t print any of those dioramas is because it’s, like, 32 [degrees Fahrenheit outside]. It’s been 32 for a couple of days now! So, it needs to get a little bit warmer for me to do that.

Lauren Spear: Yeah… Yeah. That makes sense…

Lanny Helton: Even though… *probably responding to Lauren’s concerned expression* My house is not 32! But it’s just, for some reason, if it is anywhere outside, it doesn’t like it.

Lauren Spear: Yeah. *nodding in understanding* Probably humidity and stuff, too. My dad would probably know more about that [since he has a background that involved mixing art chemicals], but I don’t know. *laughs*

Lanny Helton: So, well, I do want to say…

I guess I’ll kind of ‘flip the script’ and

I want to ask YOU a real quick question:

Lanny Helton (continuing): You said you’ve been to the Michael Myers house. You’re… You’re, you know… You have an obsession with horror and stuff. What would you say your… Maybe your favorite, ummmm… I’m gonna say your favorite house. Of the movies! What would be, personally, the best house architectural-wise that YOU like?

Lauren Spear: Oh! Gosh. Um. You know, I…

I really like the Nightmare on Elm Street house, actually. Like, it’s… There’s something about it!

And… *Lauren’s AuDHD Trivia Brain activates in real-time* And how it didn’t get its iconic red door until movie number two!

Lanny Helton: *laughs and nods* I have people asking me about that! They’ll say…

On my model, I have the red door, and they’re like, “Why don’t you have the BLUE door?” And I’m like… *throws hands up/shrugs* You know? I like the red one best! *laughs*

Lauren Spear: Yeah, well, yes. Like, the red door is just… It’s… It’s more memorable.

Lanny Helton: Yes! And, to me, it’s a little more EVIL.

Lauren Spear: Yeah!

Lanny Helton: Blue, it’s maybe hokey a little. I like the red one.

I didn’t know this until recently, but Frank Darabont wrote the screen… I don’t know if he was credited, but he wrote the screenplay for Dream Warriors.

Well, I heard that he directed one of the Stranger Things. The new Stranger Things episodes. One of their… Like, the last season that they have? He directed one of them! That’s what my son told me. And I have to find out which one it is or whatever, because he’s a, you know, he’s a good…

I like him. He did Shawshank Redemption, and he’s a good director.

Lauren Spear: Yeah. I don’t know about the new episodes. Like, they’re not all out yet. And I don’t, I don’t watch it week by week. So… *chuckles*

Lanny Helton: Oh, okay.

Lauren Spear: But I guess that’s kind of revealing that we’re filming this in advance. *laughs hard and gestures to the ‘Friday, January 16, 2026’ show date on the marquee behind her* [Fun Fact: all episodes of the HorrorFam.com Podcast are filmed at least three weeks in advance so Lauren has time to edit the videos + images and type up the written transcripts!]

Lanny Helton: Yes. Yeah. *chuckles*

Lauren Spear: Yeah, but you mentioned your Etsy store and that you just sold your keychain on Etsy.

Is that the best place that people can find these?

Lanny Helton: Yes. Yeah. For right now.

I’m working on a website. And I, you know, it is FrightfulFacades.com, but I don’t have it live yet.

The best place to buy my stuff is Etsy.

And I will say that two months ago, I was in danger. They pretty much cut my… They banned me. And I had to fight to put my stuff back on there.

But I’ll say to your listeners out there: If you’re into horror and you do your own stuff and it may not be licensed or whatever, don’t give up. Don’t let that be an issue to you. I’ve been to many different conventions and nobody’s said anything to me.

I’ve even sold to the creative director of Universal Studios Florida! I sold him a Michael Myers house and HE didn’t shut me down. So, don’t become dissuaded by whether or not you have to obtain a license.

But Etsy recognized the fact that I was on there selling for them and making money for them. And I’ve been on there for such a long time that they renewed my account. But it was a problem at one point. I think, when I…

I’ll show you what the problem was! *reaches behind himself to grab something from his display table*

Lanny Helton (continuing): Um, it was this thing right here. *holds up keychain with an “Upsidedown” amp/speaker design* This is the Eddie Munson… It’s the Marshall stack, but it’s got a bunch of vines and stuff growing on it. They didn’t like this. And, so, they thought that it was a counterfeit. Like I had produced [fake AI art being sold as a product]. And this is something I made on my own! But they thought it was a counterfeit product and it wasn’t like that at all.

But, um, yeah, they didn’t like… *returns the keychain to the display table*

I guess because of the new Stranger Things, they got really kind of, you know… Defending the fact that I didn’t need to have that on there. It’s on there now! But I had to take it off for, like, a couple of weeks.

Lauren Spear: Ah, okay. Yeah.

Sometimes, uh, with fan art and licensing it gets kind of murky sometimes.

Lanny Helton: Yes.

Lauren Spear: But you also mentioned conventions!

Do you have any upcoming conventions?

Lanny Helton: I was in Memphis two weeks ago and that was my last show for [2025]. But what I’m really trying to gun for this year is Spooky Empire. And I’ve been there before. It is a major show. If you haven’t been, or if anybody listening hasn’t been, it’s a very good show. And I’ve got a vendor friend who does it, but I need to get back in there.

I’ve done Days of the Dead before. I’ve done…

I want to do Texas Frightmare! I haven’t done… I’ve signed up for Texas Frightmare before, but I had to cancel because of personal reasons.

But if I can do a major show — one major show [in 2026] — I want to do one of those.

Lauren Spear: Oh, okay! *nods*

And in addition to doing small houses, you’ve also worked on large houses as well, right?

You’ve done haunted houses?

Lanny Helton: Yes. I used to produce back in the ‘90s. I…

Me, my brother, and two friends were all producers for local haunted houses in Mississippi. And they were pretty major. They were two major haunted houses that we did. Um, and I’m…

One was Slaughterhouse and one was Club Dead and they both, uh, made pretty good money back. But that’s where I kind of got into doing a lot of the practical effects and all that stuff. And, and it was fun. And, I mean, if I could go back and do that kind of thing…

That’s another thing I’d like to do is, is do another haunted house. They’re just… They’re fun.

Um, of course, you have some problems with them. It wasn’t it wasn’t entirely easy street. I had somebody that had nearly died that I had to rescue there but… Um… That was kind of harrowing. I…I was a little, uh, I was a little stressed out because of that moment. But, other than that, you know…

You can’t run a business and have it just, you know, continuously work smoothly. There’s always going to be something that… That happens. You know?

Lauren Spear: Were your decorations just like too scary?

Lanny Helton: Yeahhh. Well. I wish that were the case, but no. We just had somebody who… Who decided that they were going to, uh, not adhere to certain safety protocols that we had in place.

They decided they wanted to get on this this certain “ride” that we had. It wasn’t really a ride. It was more like a display, but…

It was a mine shaft. It actually moved into… into… *uses his hand to demonstrate a mine cart effect rolling on a track to scare people in a Haunted House setting* That moved towards the people! Like, the people would walk down this path and the mine shaft would stop like right there. *uses his other hand to show where the guests were supposed to walk versus where the spooky mine cart would normally stop*

Lauren Spear: *cringing, starting to understand what happened* Ohhhhhhh…

Lanny Helton: Pretty much somebody decided that THEY were going to…

We had a dummy in the cart. And they’d ride, you know, down to the people. And he took the dummy out decided to BE a dummy and got in the cart! And when it got to the end of the track, it hit something and flipped. And he was inside it and it flipped on him and it… It kind of knocked him out, but a lot of people dragged him out. But he had… His his tongue fell and… He swallowed his tongue. And I had to basically get that out, but…

Yeah. He, uh… It was kind of… It was kind of harrowing there for a second. But, you know, he was okay.

Lauren Spear: Whoooaaa! Okay. *laughs awkwardly, feeling terrible that she accidentally made Lanny relive that experience*

Well, I…

I can see why you went from the big houses to

“let’s just do the houses WITHOUT the people!”

Lanny Helton: Yes! *chuckles*

Yeah. We don’t we don’t need a whole lot of that! And it’s just…

I usually have a lot of people at different shows tell me they want to see this house, that house, or some other house. And, my thing is, I have so many different houses that I try to tend to focus on the ones that are the easiest to do and the more memorable.

Like, you know, if somebody says, “can you do Hell House?” or “can you do The Conjuring?” or “can you do this house?” To me, it has to be a little more memorable. And, so, I try to focus on, you know, the Amityville, the Psycho, the Nightmare, because I don’t want to get too far.

And they’ll also tell me, “Can you do Arkham Asylum?” “Can you do Resident Evil?” You know. Raccoon City. “Can you do something like that?” I don’t, you know… Family Guy! I’ve had people say Family Guy and Full House and, you know, the… Tatooine! Luke’s home.

And I don’t want to get into doing all those other things! I don’t know. Maybe eventually. But for right now, I’m satisfied with, you know, the Amityville and, you know… At least the 13 that I’ve done so far.

Lauren Spear: Okay. Yeah. Like, the House on Haunted Hill — the actual house in that [movie] — it’s just kind of squares… *chuckles*

Lanny Helton: Yeah. And it’s got kind of a medieval, like, uh… Where the driveway comes in. There’s a kind of a medieval part and then the rest of it… It’s all over the place!

And some houses are not really going to look as good handcrafted. You know?

Lauren Spear: Yeah!

Lanny Helton: I can only do so much with…

Now, it would look good resin! But that’s why I’m leaning more into the resin. Maybe eventually I can do stuff like that.

Lauren Spear: Plus, you have to like figure out, like…  

Because it… *gropes the air with her hand, trying to get her brain to trigger the descriptors she needs to finish her sentence*

They’re FLAT to be on the wall! So, you kind of have figure that into the equation as well! Like, “Which of these 3D houses can I make fit onto a wall?”

Lanny Helton: Yes!

Lauren Spear: Yeah. *chuckles*

Lanny Helton: I’ll tell you…

I don’t have the Psycho house pictured, you know, anywhere here… *gestures to his display table* But THAT one is a pain for me to do!

And, you know. there’s certain houses that people… If they say, “I want to go ahead and order that,” I’m not going to tell them “no.” But, at the same time, in the back of my head, I’m thinking, “Oh, man. I gotta do this house again!” *laughs* You know? It is um… *shakes head, thinking about the enormous creative undertaking* So, that’s…

When I go back and redo these houses, like I was talking about earlier, that’s one thing I want to do. Kind of try to see if I can improve the designs and make them easier to do and all that stuff. So, yeah. *nods*

Lauren Spear: Because they’re… They’re SMALL, too! So, you’ve got a lot of tiny parts to work with.

Lanny Helton: Yes. Yes.

And with the Psycho house there’s a lot of…

Lanny Helton (continuing): In the porch there’s a lot of dowel action. Going around porch and everything. And it gets a little intricate. Yeah.

Lauren Spear: Okay. So, people can find you on Etsy and sometimes at conventions, but where can they find you online for your social media and to see photos of all of these things?

Lanny Helton: I’m on Facebook and Instagram, and also there’s another platform called Slasher, and it’s been out for… I’ve been on there for maybe two years.

But most of everything that you can find me on is either going to be under my name here. *points to the “Lanny Helton” nametag that’s appearing on screen whenever Lanny speaks*

Or, I think it’s… I can see it on MY sub-screen. It may not be. It may not show up. *laughs* Anyway, “Lanny Helton.”

Or, it’s going to be where this sign is. *points to the Frightful Facades logo in the background* If you see any pictures with that logo — the mascot there — that’s pretty much where I’m at.

But most of the ones like are obvious, like the Facebook, Instagram, Slasher, Etsy.

I do have a YouTube channel, but… And that’s what I’m probably going to do eventually. When I redo the models, I’m going to do some build videos. But I haven’t… I have to figure out how I’m going to do that to where I don’t give away all the secrets and everything. But, you know.

Lauren Spear: Yeah. *chuckles* Let people know that these are handcrafted, but not enough so that they can handcraft them themselves.

Lanny Helton: Yes. Yes. *nods*

Lauren Spear: I got you. I got you. All right.

And you mentioned that you’re going to be doing the videos on YouTube, but…

You’ve also done a horror short film, correct? Back in 2011?

Lanny Helton: Yes. Yeah, I have a credit. An IMDb credit as a director.

I went to film school in Florida back in the ‘90s. So, I have a degree in video production. But I did a short with an actor friend who’s in Los Angeles. In fact, I’ve worked with several…

They’re not A-list, but, I mean, they do a good job as actors. And I’ve worked with a couple different ones from the area and done other projects. But the one that I’m talking about, referring to, he’s in Los Angeles. He lives in Los Angeles now, but we worked on it. And it’s a five-minute short, but it… It was good.

And we, we put it in Telluride, the horror film festival, and they screened it and gave us a credit for it. So, yeah.

Lauren Spear: Aww. That’s awesome!

Lanny Helton: I can’t give away too many… You’ll have to look! It’s called Descent. It’s on Facebook. You can use my name with the word “Descent” and you should see it, but I don’t want to give away too much of it because it’s short.

Lauren Spear: Yeah!

Lanny Helton: It’s got a really quick twist to it.

Lauren Spear: Yeah. *chuckles* It’s actually on your IMDb page! I was able to see that there.

Lanny Helton: Yes!

Lauren Spear: One of the things that I thought was interesting was that… It doesn’t really show much of the OUTSIDE of the house! *laughs*

Lanny Helton: Yes! *laughs* Yes. Yes. You are you are correct. *nods* Yeah.

Uh…

I am related to a famous actor from the Hollywood area.

Lanny Helton (continuing): His name is Percy Helton. And he’s done a number of shows. TV shows and movies from the ‘50s to the ‘70s. He was in Green Acres, Beverly Hillbillies, Outer Limits, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, A Star is Born, White Christmas… A lot of films. Different films.

Lauren Spear: That’s really cool! *giggles* Character actor!

Lanny Helton: Yes. Yes, he is. He was a big character actor. Yes.

Lauren Spear: Very cool!

Have you done any acting, Lanny?

Lanny Helton: I was like in an improv theater when I was little, but I didn’t like it. I mean, I was okay. We had a couple skits where people were, you know, okay. Funny and all that. But I didn’t really want to. I’m better behind the camera, you know.

Lauren Spear: *giggles and starts to say “Me too” but remembers she’s been working extra hard to get better at speaking aloud/being filmed* That’s fair enough. *understanding nod*

All right. Is there anything else that you wanted to talk about or tell the audience before we get going?

Lanny Helton: Well, I do want to say that I appreciate people like you who support artists and, you know, upcoming filmmakers and people that are in the industry and especially the horror genre. And I just… It’s great to have people like you that support people like us.

Lauren Spear: *genuinely touched* Oh! Thank you!!

*suddenly remembers that she forgot to ask the one question she asks every HorrorFam.com Podcast guest* Um…!

What’s your what’s your favorite horror movie?

Lanny Helton: I would have to say probably Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. I like that.

Lauren Spear: I love Dream Warriors! Yeah. *chuckles*

Lanny Helton: It got into the fact that you could take people that actually could have the possibility to FIGHT the bad guy instead of just being constantly… You know, like a slasher. You’d always get people that were killed all the time. Now you could have people that could fight back!

Lauren Spear: Yeah! *giggles, loving the joys that come with horror films that have the heroes triumphing over evil*

Yeah. I’d say that my favorites from the series are number one, just because you need it to kind of set up the whole idea, and then number three.

Lanny Helton: Yes, yes. *nods*

Lauren Spear: All right. Well, thank you so much, Lanny!

And for those who have been watching this, if you want to see even better pictures of Lanny’s art — like in case, you know, the holding it up to the camera wasn’t good enough — we’re going to have all sorts of pictures in the transcript for this just go to HorrorFam.com/Lanny-Helton and you’ll be able to read everything that we were saying and see additional photos of all of his work and everything like that.

So, thank you very much, Lanny Helton for being on the show! And, everyone listening: Be sure to check out Frightful Facades!

Annnnnd… Yeah! Thank you. Byyyyeeeeeeeeee!! *waves*

Lanny Helton: *chuckling, waves like Lauren is waving*

*outro music starts to play*

*Tina Spear meows to announce Bloopers*

*BLOOPER ONE begins*

Lauren Spear: Yeah. Yeah. *nods* Um. So… Etsy and conventions occasionally and… did… is there a place…that… it… PLEHHH!!! *gets so tongue-tied trying to speak as quickly as her thoughts that she visibly gags on her words.* Sorry! *embarrassed laugh* That’s a “Time Out” for me!

Lanny Helton: *laughs* That’s fine. That’s fine.

Lauren Spear: *collects herself to try again* Okay…!

*BLOOPER TWO begins*

Lanny Helton: That was FUN!!

Lauren Spear: *happy laugh* I’m glad!

*outro music resumes*

Images for this episode were provided by Lanny Helton, were screenshots from the actual episode, or were purchased from MovieStillsDB (movie stills) and CineMaterial (movie posters).