The festivities kicked off actually on September 29th, when B-movie
mogul Charles Band brought his traveling horror road show to a
surprising stop in Clearwater. We arrived a few minutes early and
noticed a healthy line to get in. Not surprisingly, we encountered a
legion of recognizable faces, including PCR regulars John and Ashley
Lewis, Rick Danford and Stephen Biro.
My interest in Band’s work goes way back to the glorious late ‘70s, when
sci-fi/horror films such as “Tourist Trap” and “Laserblast” helped scar
me for life. Band is mostly known for horror films featuring Lilliputian
figures, such as The Puppetmaster series, “Ghoulies”, and most recently,
“The Gingerdead Man”.
Being that this was the first “horror road show” I’ve ever attended, I
didn’t know quite what to expect. The atmosphere was certainly there in
all its Gothiness at the Majestic Club in downtown Clearwater.
Honestly, it’s one of the best-looking alternative clubs in the Tampa
Bay area. Upon walking in, friend Andrew Allan and I encountered a
display case full of classic creatures from Band’s franchise of fright
films.
Beyond the Dolls, a glorious guillotine was awaiting a female victim
near the stage. Beside the stage was a dealer’s table full of Full Moon
merchandise, which was selling like hotcakes. I mean, I saw horror fans
walking around with printer boxes full of DVD’s. It was like a
mini-con! I was taken aback at how many out-of-area fans were in
attendance. Some mentioned they drove all the way from Naples and
Melbourne to attend!
There was a reasonable admission price, and for the money Band appeared
on stage and gave fans a few treats. He seemed to spend a lot of time
telling stories (a particularly long one about “Gingerdead Man” star
Gary Busey), then moved on to a well-produced Full Moon clips reel. The
live highlights of the night were an on-the-cheap horror stage show, in
which Band asked for (toasted) volunteers (mainly a trio of hotties) to
act out a lesbian-tinged monster attack scene. It wasn’t too difficult
to convince the girls to play it up and take it off (at least one did).
After the titillation came a decapitation, with yet another sultry
blonde in peril in the name of Full Moon.
Later in the evening, we got the opportunity to meet Band in person, and
he signed my “Laserblast” laserdisc! I have to say the whole evening
was an original, incredible horror experience that was truly out of the
ordinary. I was pleased at the fan turnout, and thought how good it was
to get a real taste of old-fashioned showmanship for a new era.
Aside from the thrill of being immersed in the light of the Full Moon,
an incredible moment came before the show when I chatted with Mr. Lewis.
I’ll never forget him pointing at the Majestic’s marquee, and saying to
me, “Andy, it was here in the early 1970’s when I saw ‘The Vampire
Lovers’ back when it was a movie theater.” I tell you, I got chills.
To have been standing in a place where I once knew played a Hammer
horror film in that great decade was awe-inspiring. Thanks for the
memories, John.
Screamfest (Orlando)
Not much to add after Ed Tucker’s excellent man-at-the-con report.
Andrew Allan and I arrived around noon, and we immediately ran into DPB
uber-fans Ed Tucker and Lonnie Dohlen. Being that we recently arrived,
we were not able to do lunch with Ed/Lonnie this time around. I felt
bad in that I’ve had to bow out of lunches with Ed at past conventions!
I’ll have to make it up to him by treating him next time.
We entered the sizable dealer’s room, which is where we ran into horror
superfan Mike Wilbur, who flew in from Arizona to attend (actually, he’s
from Tampa, and it was a good excuse to see his family). Mike’s a vet
at these kind of cons, and quickly offered up both good advice and a
practical assessment of the con’s organizational layout.
Our first order of business was to investigate the dealer tables. It
was just as Ed wrote – there was no shortage of bootleggers. Sure,
there were some cool toys there, but the prices for everything seemed a
bit high. I walked out with an Elvira Movie Macabre double-feature DVD
and a Klaus Nomi CD.
We ran into a ton of other horror players: Abyssmal Entertainment’s
Stephen Shea, who was promoting his new film “Hoodoo for Voodoo”, Jason
Liquori, Terry Cronin and Pat Martin from the Melbourne Independent
Filmmaker’s Festival (M.I.F.F.)/3 Boys Productions/Students of the
Unusual comic book, Stephen Biro of Unearthed Films, Chris Woods + Simon
Lynx, horror authors Jeff Strand and Lynne Hansen, “Horror’s Hallowed
Grounds” host Sean Clark, and others. The only friend I regrettably
missed was Relic Films’ Greg Rivera – and I was standing in front of his
booth for over an hour! Don’t know how we managed to miss each other,
but I hope to catch up with him at the next event.
Quick reminder: 3 Boys Productions’ big cinematic event M.I.F.F. (see
above) is coming up soon: November 9th, 10th and 11th in Melbourne, FL.
It’s one of the best film festivals you’ll ever attend, and there’s
even the annual horror night scheduled on Friday the 10th. I encourage
all film and horror fans to attend.
The celebrity list was pretty good; despite all the horror celebs, I was
most excited at meeting Go-Go Jane Wiedlin, who was a delight to chat
with. I actually forgot her autograph at her stand, and about 20
minutes later she was nice enough to come and deliver it to me! Jane
rules. The other celeb I really wanted to meet was “Bad Dreams” starlet
Jennifer Rubin, though I would have to relegate meeting her at the next
con due to time restrictions.
All-in-all I’d say Screamfest was worth the visit. Had I an additional
day to spend, I think I would have been able to enjoy it more, instead
of having to cram all the day’s duties into a few hours. I sadly missed
many of the indie horror film screenings and celeb speaking engagements.
Andrew and I left at about 6pm, and made it back to Tampa Bay a few
hours later, and made preparations to attend the HHPS the following day.
Halloween Horror Picture Show 2006 (Tampa’s Ybor City)
Fresh off Screamfest, Andrew and I were off the next day to attend Rick
Danford’s always-impressive production: The Halloween Horror Picture
Show. This year’s lineup of films were excellent, but the event has yet
to capture the mojo of Danford’s previous success, the great Saints &
Sinners film festival.
Despite the absence of heavy-hitter sponsors, Rick has never failed to
deliver to fans great horror films (both shorts and features), quality
(if not a quantity of) celebs, and an interesting locale.
I won’t get into details, as Nolan provided excellent coverage in a
previous edition of PCR. We did not get to see as many horror films as
we wanted (I caught the last minute of Rolfe’ Kanefsky’s “The Nightmare
Man” starring sexy Tiffany Shepis), but we did manage to mingle quite a
bit, including a lengthy chat with the horror webmaster himself Nolan
Canova and actor Gus Perez. Nolan looked much healthier than I
anticipated (heard he was suffering from the flu at the time, and has
since had a relapse). We also spent time conversing with horror starlet
Tiffany Shepis, and later on P.J. Soles of “Halloween’ and “Rock & Roll
High School” fame, who arrived later in the evening.
P.J. was at the event in promotion of her new film “Death by
Engagement”, as was its charming and enthusiastic producer, Pennie
Orcutt. P.J. and Pennie make a dynamite team in promoting their horror
features, and got many in the crowd fired up at seeing their new
neo-slasher. For fans, another opportunity to view “Death by
Engagement” is coming in early November, at M.I.F.F. (see above).
Pennie Orcutt is scheduled to be in attendance, so make sure you go out
to support the film and to say hi to Pennie!
There were a few other familiar faces in the crowd, including
documentary filmmaker John Casimiro, there doing interviews for his
popular cable access show, Greg Lamberson (“Slime City”), Stephen Biro,
and others. A big mention to very talented horror authors Jeff Strand
and Lynne Hansen who have not only never missed a HHPS, but have seen
nearly every film in the schedule! Rick, is there a special medal you
can pin into (*ouch!* - I mean “onto”) them? I’m calling Ripley’s!
Andrew and I had to leave relatively early, but before leaving we got to
see popular horror actress Krista Grotte (“Filthy”, “The Nightmare
Collection”) who was there as a special guest in promotion of her status
as an up-and-coming horror star. I hadn’t seen Krista in quite a while,
and it was fun to catch up.
So, by the end of mid-October, I’d say it’s been a fun and busy
Halloween season so far. I’m wrapping up the month’s festivities with
no less than two Halloween events/parties this weekend. I hope to make
it out to various haunted houses in the bay area for at least one night
before Halloween. I love going out and seeing what people do with their
local haunted houses. And let’s not forget the great horror programming
on the boob tube this year. TCM gets the award (stealing it from IFC
and AMC in previous years), largely due to their impressive TCM
Underground series, hosted by Rob Zombie. Tonight’s offering is
Romero’s ’68 classic “Night of the Living Dead” followed by his ’73
shocker “The Crazies”, which is the only time I can remember this film
ever airing on cable TV. Bravo, TCM! Last week they screened the Russ
Meyer double-feature “Faster, Pussycat, Kill! Kill” and “Mudhoney”.
Honestly, I thought I’d never see the day when those classic cult films
would play on a cable network. The last time I was this happy was when IFC played
Bava’s “Bay of Blood” and Argento’s “Deep Red” a few Halloweens ago.
I’d have to say it’s been a fun season, and hope to wrap it up on
Tuesday, Halloween, with a bloody bang!
"Oddservations" is ©2006 by Andy Lalino. The Oddservations banner is a creation of Andy Lalino. All other graphics are creations of Nolan B. Canova. All contents of Nolan's Pop Culture Review are ©2006 by Nolan B. Canova.
