HEX Screamfest 2019 Review: Resurrected Houses & Games (Calgary Event)

October 12, 2019 at 8:08pm
By Jason Stettner

HEX, the Halloween and Entertainment Expo in Calgary runs from October 11-14, 2019. It is located within the BMO Centre at Stampede Park. This in turn provides an indoor venue for the show. It should be noted that past years have had part of the show being outside.

This event also includes Screamfest Resurrection, a continuation of what was noted as the last year in 2018. It makes sense to bring it back, and to combine it within this convention style. So what you get is that the general area is filled with a variety of shops/presentation areas and then a back half of that being used as a celebrity station.

There’s also a special stage for presentations that go on throughout the night and some other small activities. Activity wise you can jump in to watch a movie screening at any point, there are panels and also workshops. You can get a look at this in the video, but keep reading for thoughts on it.

You might also check out the axe throwing, or the locked room area. The locked room section was somewhat hard to notice, they really didn’t present it very well and I saw no one in line for it the entire time.

I believe that’s because it was hard to notice what exactly it was. If you’re an adult, there’s a beer gardens which is of a satisfactory sizing, carrying a good variety of options. Overall, I felt they did a good job with this expo style.

There are a number of booths, activities to do and it’ll provide some time for you to venture through. I felt they could have used the space more, the celebrity area felt a bit excessively large and they could have let the rest of the show breath a bit more as it came across as condensed.

This is the main convention area, there’s also Screamfest which is a split off section with fog and great lighting. Here you’ll find a number of spooky houses to travel through that includes “Bates Motel”, “Walking With the Dead”, “What Lies Beneath”, “Clown Town” and “Reapers and Grimm”.


If these regular houses aren’t enough, there’s a premium zombie house that can be visited. This requires a form to be signed, and it’s really awesome to tour. The creatures within will jump at you, possibly grab you and it’s a good time.

There’s also some choice in this, and generally provides a good time allotment for time. In the middle of these houses are some carnival type games you can play, and remember that this is all within a spooky place which is really great to be within. In general, I felt they did a good job with this horror convention.

There’s a lot of potential here, and it was really nice that everything was inside. There were some food trucks outside, as well as inside, but you can easily spend the whole time indoors being warm. I recall the previous year where the houses were outside and it was chilly, so it’s nice to see this head inside. There’s quite a lot to do, and see here. If you’re into the celebrities there are options to interact and this could be a really good event for the city going forward. I hope to see it expand, and I feel there’s a lot of value content wise in there.

Something that’s great for the younger ones, and options for adults as well. It’s a good evolution for Screamfest, I would perhaps also like that event to split off after and continue throughout the month. I feel they’re limiting things by just having that element only take place over a single weekend. You can check out our Calgary hub for more coverage from within the city.

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