The Housecore Horror Film Festival was struck by tragedy following a successful weekend when its founder Corey Mitchell suddenly passed away. While the Austin community and the metal community were hit hard by this, perhaps no one was impacted more than Philip H. Anselmo, who not only ran the Festival with Mitchell, but was also working with him on his autobiography, Mouth For War: Pantera and Beyond. Anselmo commented on his friend’s passing to the Austin Chronicle in an article, but via his publicist, has issued an official statement:

“This is stunning. After a weekend of incredible bands, awesome horror films and masses of fantastic people, tragically, unexpectedly, and with heart-crushing reality, co-founder of The Housecore Horror Film Festival, Corey Mitchell, passed away Monday, October 27th 2014, after the event ended. This is devastating on so many levels, I can’t and won’t go into how tremendous a loss Corey’s untimely death truly is. I was introduced to Corey first and foremost as a best-selling crime author, and shortly after that meeting I agreed to have him as my co-writer of an unfinished novel I’d been working on. It was his idea to create a horror and film festival that would became The Housecore Horror Festival. He had a vision, and no one worked harder than him to see the event through. But forget festivals. Forget books. We lost a great friend. From all of us here at Housecore Records, we extend our utmost condolences to his wife, Audra, and his two beautiful young daughters. This is devastating on countless personal levels, and I’m finding it difficult to type these lines. We lost a brother. We lost a great man with a passion for everything that we love. He will be unfathomably missed… RIP Corey. His legacy will never be forgotten, nor will his friendship. With supremely heavy hearts, we mourn. Sincerely – Philip H. Anselmo”