Day 3: June 4, 2006

So, final day, man has this been one helluva ride.  It’s been crazy, exhausting and exhilarating all at the same time.  I’ve schmoozed, shopped and watched some awesome panel discussions, and I can’t believe it’s almost over.  Man, it’s been one helluva ride.  Yeah, I know I said that already, but it warrants saying twice.  At any rate, without further adieu let us get on with the show.

The first thing I’ve noted is that the crowd today has really died down since yesterday.  Maybe it’s the smaller lineup of guests today, maybe it’s the fact that it’s a Sunday, or maybe it’s the fact that Bruce Campbell isn’t showing up today.  I don’t know, I’m not an expert.  What I do know however is that this change in pace is quite nice, especially after the last two days which seemed to be going a mile a minute.  My plan’s basically to take it easy, catch some panels, maybe a screening or two, and then head out and rest up for work tomorrow.  That should be easy, right?

Started out by viewing some trailers for upcoming movies that for the most part look so bad that I doubt they’ll even be direct-to-DVD.  With such titles as Header and Insecticidal, you know it’s gonna be fun.  However, they did show trailers for both Skinwalkers and The Descent which both look extremely interesting.  All right, no more DVDs.  My money is low enough as is.  Gonna grab an ice cream instead.  That’s healthier, right?

Decided to take in a screening after all.  Not having Showtime, I missed out on The Masters of Horror series.  Looking at the schedule I caught that they were doing a screening of one of the more controversial episodes, Homecoming, and knew I had to check it out.  The screening itself was held in the same room with the photo ops and wasn’t the largest in the world, but it did the job right.  The guy running the projector saw we were a few minutes ahead of schedule and just started showing random trailers for some of the original Godzilla movies, including King Kong vs. Godzilla.  I could ponder the bigger questions in life, yet I find it easier to wonder how many times Tokyo is bothering to rebuild itself if they know that it’s going to be destroyed by a giant monster within a matter of days anyway.  Ah well.

All right, Homecoming was awesome.  My own political beliefs aside, I must say that it was a rather biting and solid commentary on the world that we live in today.  I’ve always said that if you want real commentary on major social issues of the times you watch horror flicks, and this one did not disappoint.  I could go into a full review for it, but considering the amount of work I’ve got before me I’ll probably hold off on that one for a bit.

Getting out of the screening I caught the last half of their panel discussion on The Omen remake with the director and one of the producers.  They showed a trailer, a teaser and a few random scenes from the movie.  It looks decent enough, but nothing too exciting really I’d say.  The hanging scene, though unfinished in the cut they showed us, was pretty cool though.

Next up was a retrospective on the career of Bob Clark, where after a montage of his best films (including non-genre pictures like Porkys and A Christmas Story), Tony Timpone got up and gave him a lifetime achievement award.  He’s been keeping very busy, looking over the remakes for Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things and Black Christmas.  He speaks very highly of the Children remake, though he didn’t have much to say on Black Christmas.

The Sin-Jin Smyth panel was up next, and though the clip looked decent there’s nothing really to report on it.  I was sitting in the back of the theater much of the time and there was a woman with a baby screaming most of the time.  Toddlers and horror just don’t mix.

Next however was the days big event, where Guillermo del Toro and partner in crime Doug Jones took the stage for nearly an hour.  Jones was pretty soft-spoken for the most part, and del Toro, well, for lack of a better word the guy’s funny as hell.  He’s foul-mouthed and extremely enthusiastic, and through his accent it’s all the more entertaining.  They started out by showing a good five-minute demo reel/trailer of Pans Labyrinth and, man, I’ve no interest in fantasy usually but this one looks like it’s going to kick ass.  A lot of talk went up around Hellboy and the inevitable Hellboy 2.  The true highlight of that discussion came when someone asked about a rumor that del Toro wouldn’t be directing Hellboy 2, whereupon del Toro said that he would personally sodomize whoever started it because it was so ludicrous.  They want to do it, they just haven’t found the funding for it yet.  After going on a long discussion about how he wants to make movies for children that are terrifying, the time is up.  However, he has some original concept drawings for Hellboy and does a quick “guess a number between 1 and 10” game in the audience to see who would win them.

The whole schedule of the day gets thrown to hell as they toss an event in at the last minute, but considering it’s an auction for charity (one run by William Shatner for disadvantaged youths as it may be), it’s all good.  I could recap it in its entirety, but instead here’s the rundown.

Entry banner for recent Chicago Weekend of Horrors: $60

Zombie comic book art by Josh Meters: $10 (at this point I’m thinking they aren’t going to get as much money as they initially thought)

Bruce Campbell banner: $160 (so much for my last theory)

Lance Henriksen banner: $80

Now, on either side of the main stage they had banners decorated with dozens of horror movie pictures, and throughout the event I saw everyone in the panel discussions sign each of them.  At first, I was confused.  However, these were next up on the auction block, and it all made sense.  Considering how cool these things looked and how many people had signed them, it’s no surprise that one went for $180 and the other went for $220.  Results are then announced for the raffle to win a signed Bruce Campbell picture.  The winner’s not here.  Lovely.

Entry banner for Burbank Weekend of Horrors: $130

Guitar signed by almost all convention stars with it’s own signed coffin case: $1,000

7-string guitar in a soft case, both signed: $900

 I know they were expecting more money and the auctioneer was clearly disappointed at points, but still, nearly three grand went to charity, so it’s not a wasted day in the slightest.

Another big one up next where we have the KNB panel.  Well, only B showed up actually, but since he’s got a lot to say it’s all good.  Nicotero was supposed to show up, but he got caught up with Grind House in Texas and couldn’t make it over (take that naysayers who claim the film to be dead!).  After an awesome clip reel that goes on for quite a while (but since it’s KNB time doesn’t matter), Howard Berger comes out and takes the stage.  He speaks of their current projects, Grind House, Masters of Horror Season 2, and Transformers.  Most of his talk was about Sin City and though some people tried to get bits of info about Grind House, they have little luck.  This one’s big on secrets.  Some time is spent on why Kurtzman left KNB, and in the middle of the story once again we get some lovely technical difficulties as an autograph signing’s audio bleeds through over the loudspeakers.  Lovely.  At any rate, as its wrapping up he brings out his Oscar for Chronicles of Narnia to much applause and goes off to sign some autographs.

Up next is a Future of Horror panel with directors Scott Glosserman (Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon), Phillip Chidel (Subject Two), Michael Bassett (Wilderness) and Chris Sivertson (The Lost).  They show previews for each, and though the first two look all right, Wilderness looks like it’s going to kick ass.  A bunch of convicts are sent to an island for survival in a character building exercise only to find it’s the home of a deranged hunter with a penchant for cleaning and dressing their bodies like an animal.  Oh yeah.  The Lost was pretty cool, and I’m sure you can find my review of it somewhere in the archives here.  At any rate, by this point I’m flat-out exhausted and want to call it a day, so after my farewells with The Caretaker and Lee Perkins, I’m out of here.

It’s been an awesome time, let me tell you.  I honestly cannot choose a favorite moment of the bunch as it was really just a bunch of wonderful experiences tied together.  Elation at finally finding Battle Royale.  Finding out that Roddy Piper was an incredibly nice and gracious guy.  Hanging out with Lee Perkins who also remains one of the kindest and most genuine people I can recall.  Homecoming.  Bruce Campbell.  Feeling good about spending more money than I should because the stuff I got was so cool.  It’s been an awesome time.

I got a lot of screener DVDs and other materials that will soon get reviews, but until then, I just gotta say… Caretaker, you rock.