Well, it’s hard to believe that the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors 2006 has come to a close. This event, which happens once a year, is emceed by Anthony Timpone, the editor of Fangoria for the past 21 years. He is to be commended for bringing some of the best people in the horror industry to the fans. What follows now are highlights of most of the events that took place on Saturday, September 30 and Sunday, October 1 (I was unable to make it to the Friday show). I have done my best to paraphrase the comments of the guests, but it was difficult to hear them under the circumstances. There was a tremendous crowd present on Saturday, mostly to meet the cast of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE BEGINNING. This is not surprising given the cult following of the 1974 and 2003 versions. We were in a large room, and the audio of the sound system was not up to par. I hope that in the future this is an issue that is rectified as it is quite difficult to hear some people talking when they do not project their voice into the microphone.
Saturday began at 11:00 a.m. with entry to the convention. Within half an hour, Lloyd Kaufman, the man behind Troma, talked about and showed scenes from his latest film POULTRYGEIST, an eponymously-punned spoof on director Tobe Hooper’s 1982 box office hit POLTERGEIST. I can remember scouting agents coming to my college in October 1989 when they were looking for extras to appear in Troma’s SERGEANT KABUKIMAN. I signed up for it but was ultimately not chosen. I should have had a sit-down with Mr. Kaufman about that…
Next on the agenda was Harry Kumel, the director of the film DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS, and he appeared with William Lustig of Blue Underground. The company recently released this film on DVD. Kumel commented that movies today are far more explicit than they have been in the past, but at the same time he does not feel that movies should go back to the Val Lewton type of moviemaking (the power of suggestion in films like CAT PEOPLE and ISLE OF THE DEAD), where what you imagine is far more horrifying than what is shown on screen. William Lustig should be proud to have added this film to people’s DVD collections.
Next up was Anchor Bay Entertainment and their previews for their upcoming offerings. Among the goodies they have lined up for next year are a new deluxe edition of the RE-ANIMATOR and 1978’s THE MANITOU with Tony Curtis and Susan Strasberg. When I asked about the absence of MEET THE FEEBLES which had been on their “coming soon” list two years ago, the spokesperson said that even though was removed, they are working on it and still need to clear certain rights.
A welcome surprise to all of this menace and mayhem was the presence of Carey Anne Fleming of Dario Argento’s JENIFER episode which he did for the first season of the MASTERS OF HORROR on Showtime. The 5’8” statuesque blonde plays a horrifically disfigured woman whose body looks like it belongs in Perfect 10 magazine. Carrie Anne was decked out in a black dress and looked stunning. She recalled getting the part of Jenifer because the actress who originally was cast had an allergic reaction to the prosthetic make-up and bowed out (the same way that Buddy Ebsen was deprived of celluloid immortality when he had to hand over his axe and funnel to Jack Haley in THE WIZARD OF OZ). Carrie Anne’s appreciation for Argento's use of color in such films as SUSPIRIA and INFERNO made her excited to work with a true master of the art form.
Next up was Haley Joel of ABOMINABLE, a new film that was also previewed. She talked about the difficulties of shooting the film in the night, since the hours of darkness are not conducive to getting the film done within the seven hours that they had been allotted by Mother Nature.
SATAN’S PLAYGROUND, the new film from Dante Tomaselli, was also previewed, but Dante was unable to appear because he’s in Puerto Rico scouting locations for his new film THE OCEAN.
I am looking forward to Adam Green’s film HATCHET, the story of Victor Crowley and his brother and the horrible tragedy that befell them. The director and Kane Hodder were on hand to hype the film and it looks great. Amazingly, it was filmed in swamps near New Orleans just four months before Hurricane Katrina made landfall and permanently changed the scenery.
R. Lee Ermey, Jordana Brewster, Diora Baird, and director Jonathan Liebesman we on hand to answer questions about THE TEXAS CHANSAW MASSACRE: THE BEGINNING and sign anything the fans brought to them. Tony Timpone asked R. Lee Ermey what keeps the series going, what gives it longevity, etc. R. Lee Ermey feels that the extreme violence is in the film success. He hates the idea that “less is more”, and likes the notion that the more blood and violence there is, the better. Jordana Brewster said that it was very easy to react to the violence because it was so extreme and awful, while Diora Baird said that she herself was such a wuss that she couldn’t bear to read the descriptions of the violence in between the dialog.
THE GRUDGE 2 was also previewed, and director Takashi Shimizu and co-star Amber Tamblyn were present to talk about it. The daughter of actor Russ Tamblyn, Amber discussed the need for the filmmakers to carefully shoot the ending so as to garner a PG-13 rating.
There was then a panel for THE RAGE, but I missed it. Nature called.
John Saxon then took the stage and answered some questions about his prolific career. His favorite film of his is BLACK CHRISTMAS. This is one of my favorites, too, and that’s saying a lot since he was in A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and TENEBRE.
Ron Perlman made an appearance to discuss THE LAST WINTER with writer and director Larry Fessenden on stage with him. It appears to be a low-key type of horror film, and I’m looking forward to this as it is a nice respite from the in-you-face brutal violence of so many other films of late.
The major announcement of the evening concerned the premiere of Fangoria TV and Fangoria Radio. Dee Snider enthusiastically promoted Fangoria Radio on the Sirius Satellite Network, as did comics editor Scott Licina and animator and producer Voltaire who does the stop-motion bumpers for the channel. Find out more about these great channels at http://www.fangoria.tv and http://www.fangoriaradio.com/
The evening ended with an enthusiastic crowd “ooohing” and “aaahhhing” to clips from SAW III. Director Darren Lynn Bousman said that he’s content with the first three films (he didn’t direct the first one), but, SAW IV is probably in the works!
Sunday started off with a bang when I watched the uncut screening DVD of REST STOP, a terrific low-budget horror film shot in 18 days in April 2006 in and around Los Angeles, CA. This movie comes out on DVD on October 17, 2006 and is worth seeing.
PENNY DREADFUL, a great little horror film by director Bryan Norton, features Betsy Palmer of FRIDAY THE 13TH fame as a psychic who comes to “clean” a house with a terrible secret. The film is very effective, and makes me long for the old TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE episodes.
Max Brooks, son of director Mel Brooks, was very funny. He talked about his book THE ZOMBIE SURVIVAL GUIDE (http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/zombiesurvivalguide/) and his days writing for “Saturday Night Live”.
Writer and director John Shiban, actress Jaimie Alexander, and effects creator Jamie Kelman talked about their work on REST STOP and the challenges of shooting in a confined space on a soundstage. The film is very brutal and unnerving and provides some genuine scares in the tradition of DUEL, DELIVERANCE, and BREAKDOWN.
Mariano Baino, the director of DARK WATERS, discussed the new deluxe DVD of this film.
Actress Raine Brown, who has worked with Dante Tomaselli on HORROR and SATAN’S PLAYGROUND, was joined by her fellow cast members from ANGEL’S BLADE.
The highlight for me was meeting William Finley, a favorite of mine since I saw him as Emil Breton in Brian DePalma’s SISTERS and as Winslow Leach in PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE. He mentioned that a French Region 2 DVD of PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE is available and has a great documentary on it that the Region 1 DVD does not have.
Tim Sullivan was a blast to listen to. He and I were born in the same hospital(!), but now he lives in Venice, California and rights horror films. He is responsible for 2001 MANIACS, DRIFTWOOD, and SNOOP DOGG’S HOOD OF HORROR which he co-wrote and co-produced.
All in all, it was an entertaining weekend, and I look forward to next year’s show.
