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| Occasionally, even an Ambassador of Horror just has to let it all hang out. For those brave souls looking to get a little more insight into the Fool behind the Views, step into my office. And shut the door behind you – things might get a little noisy, what with the chainsaws, roaring beasties, screaming, etc. |
September 11, 2007 “Dr. AC on YouTube” Hi Guys, Yes, it's true, I have really, really small eyes... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu5pDXVr6_I Hope you enjoy! Fool out. August 15, 2007 “Horror 101 book looming large” Hey kids, Whoever said dreams and nightmares couldn't come true can just shut the hell up. July 23, 2007 “Fool Does Flashback, or 500 Magnets and Counting…” Hey kids! Back at it after another fun-filled horror con weekend – this time it’s Flashback Weekend in my own Chicago stomping grounds. This is the 6th year that Mike and Pam have been trotting out the summertime goods, and my 3rd visit to the party. Coming hard on the heels of HorrorHound Weekend in Indianapolis, I wondered if my horror enthusiasm would hold up, not knowing if I would be seeing many of the same guests and vendors. I need not have feared. In addition to the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET reunion, there were plenty of cool celebs, fellow horrorphiles that I haven’t seen since last year, and some awesome dealer exhibits. The event started off early Friday afternoon to set up the Kitley’s Krypt table with Jon and his able-bodied, 15 year-old son Nick. Nick’s getting to be a veteran of the show routine, so much so that he’s starting to get a little uppity to his elders. No respect from these whippersnappers, I tell ya. Unfortunately, he’s also growing like a damn weed, so one dares not beat up on him too badly for fear that payback will be extremely painful in a few years. Anyway, we get set up in a heartbeat, and then realize that we are sharing a corner with none other than the illustrious John Saxon of ENTER THE DRAGON, BLACK CHRISTMAS, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and about a zillion other flicks. Right next to him is Ronee Blakely, who plays Nancy’s mom in ANOES as well as her Oscar-nominated turn in Robert Altman’s NASHVILLE. Also within spitting distance are: Freddy himself Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, Charles Fleischer, and Amanda Wyss from the original flick, as well as three of the ANOES3: DREAM WARRIORS cast, Ken Sagoes (the black one), Ira Heiden (the geeky wizard one), and Rodney Eastman (the mute one), plus 4&5’s Lisa Wilcox. Just before the dealer room opens, our booth-buddy Cool Jon Stone from Ohio shows up, and lays out his treasure trove of hard-to-find flicks in a flash. Yes, this looks to be a most exciting weekend... Until they open the doors and the line to get a Robert Englund autograph chokes the aisle and no one can get to any of the dealer booths. This could be very, very bad. Kitley talks to a few people and eventually, after about an hour, the line is redirected out the door closest to Englund’s table and out into the hallway. This is much better, especially since his line never seems to get any shorter than 35-50 people long the entire weekend. Freddy’s a popular guy, it seems. In the two weeks since HH, I’ve picked up a few refrigerator magnets to promote the upcoming release of HORROR 101, five hundred to be exact. I set them on the table and wait for people to snap them up. When this does not occur, I create a “Free Magnets – Take one” sign and sit back down behind the table. Friday night is not the most hoppin’ night for the Krypt, but we still do all right. (Plus, I buy a kickass pair of Godzilla slippers for Michelle, who is most appreciative when I bring them home. Yeah, baby, that’s what I’m talkin’ about.) That night we go out to dinner with Frank Franco and Steve Bejma from Classic Horrors, who do some kickass artwork/silkscreening for t-shirts, canvas bags, etc. (check out their site at www.graphicsbyartman.com) and our good friends Ryan Olsen and Dave Kosanke from Liquid Cheese, one of the greatest fanzines in the Midwest. Much serious horror-nerding ensues, with impassioned discussions raging over the Peter Jackson KING KONG remake and the BLIND DEAD series, as well as some interesting sidebars into the adult film industry and war stories from previous horror conventions. Online discussions are fine and dandy, but they will never replace a good old-fashioned face to face chat over a plate of fried mozzarella sticks. Never. Saturday is the big day, with a ton of people flowing in throughout. Michelle also comes out for the day and is immediately attacked by a scary costumed clown and hides under the Krypt table for awhile. I’m standing out in the aisle, passing out H101 magnets right & left, and it seems like we’re getting a really good response. Or maybe people just need magnets to hold their shopping lists. Either way, we go through all 500 in about 4 hours and I’m known for the rest of the weekend as either “the book guy” or “the magnet guy.” Hey, I can live with that. While most of the day is spent shilling, Michelle and I do take a break to head in and listen to the ANOES reunion Q&A, which is quite entertaining. Mssr. Englund is most gracious about being classified as a horror icon, but it is John Saxon who seems to receive the most respect from the hardcore fans. Meanwhile, Charles Fleischer is just a nutbar, breaking into a cacophony of cartoon voices before writing and/or doodling for the remainder of the session. Next is Adam Green, the writer/director of the upcoming slasher film HATCHET and I gotta say, if the sneak peek is any indication, this is gonna be one fun, gory mofo. Plus, Green is a captivating speaker, whether he’s talking about the movie or his childhood idolization of Dee Snider. By the end, he’s won over pretty much everyone in the crowd, in spite of his unnecessarily snide slam of Rob Zombie’s HALLOWEEN. Judge not, Adam, lest... Saturday night, we go out to dinner with our friends Jill and Chris from LixOnline, purveyor of fine genre/t-shirt wear, as well as my buddy Lawrence from FearNet and his sexy (but classy) “sticker girls,” Adriana and Gabby. Unfortunately, being from the east coast, they don’t know what to do with this monstrosity we call Chicago Deep Dish Pizza and nearly pass out from the strain of eating one slice. Later than evening, we hang out with our indie filmmaker friends John and Drew from Wisconsin, as well as misfitsdan and C_Evil from the IMDb boards while watching lovely Chrystyne from the FearWerx table swim in the hotel pool (sigh). The most surreal part of the evening is between screenings of the original ANOES and DREAM WARRIORS, when Heather Langenkamp, Amanda Wyss and Ronee Blakely all stop directly in front of us and shovel pizza into their mouths like there’s no tomorrow. I cry out, “Breathe, ladies, BREATHE!” If nothing else, I will be able to say that Nancy from NIGHTMARE offered to share her ‘za with me. Sunday is a little calmer, but that’s okay. Breakfast is highlighted by an unexpected visit to our table by Michael Berryman, who stops by just to say hi and ask how our show is going. Can you get any cooler than that? Michelle and I also have a terrific 10-minute chat with Lew Temple, one half of the unfortunate Banjo & Sullivan duo from THE DEVIL’S REJECTS, and darned if he isn’t just the nicest guy around. It’s celebrity encounters like this that make up for all the Andrew Brynarskis out there. Still passing out H101 fliers and chatting with various fans and dealers who stop by to see if there are any “end of show” sales. Later I talk to Lloyd Kaufman at Troma and he tells me to send him an email and he’ll give me an endorsement quote for HORROR 101. Funny, he doesn’t ask me to send him a copy of the book itself, which I find a little odd. Then again, this is Lloyd we’re talking about… Our friends Phil, Kristin, and her gang stop by to say hey as the event begins to slowly come to an end. I pick up a few flicks from Stone, including the 1961 3-D classic THE MASK and John Carpenter’s pre-HALLOWEEN television flick, SOMEONE’S WATCHING ME. Shake hands with John Saxon and get a big hug from Ronee Blakely and that’s about all she wrote for Flashback ‘07. Good times, good times. Got a few weeks before HorrorFind out in Baltimore rolls around, where we’ll get to meet Gary and Sue Svehla of Midnight Marquee, our illustrious publishers. Plus Udo Kier and Malcolm McDowall are headlining. Should be great fun. But that will be the last show for a while, and a good thing too. I’m not used to this short turnaround between conventions – Fool needs a chance to breathe a little. Fool out. July 9, 2007 “HorrorHound Convention (July 6-8, 2007)” Howdy folks, Just got back from an outstanding weekend in Indianapolis for HorrorHound’s inaugural convention. It was my first out-of-town show, having only attended Chicago’s offerings up to this point – I gotta say, there are certain pleasures of the con experience that can only be derived from hanging out with fellow horror fans in the hotel bar until 3am, crawling to one’s hotel room to pass out, then waking up and, en route to breakfast, seeing Tom Savini doing his morning elliptical workout and Sid Haig drinking his morning cuppa joe. Quite a treat. Of course, attending an outatown show means that you have to first get there, which ended up being half the fun. For the 4-hour drive, it was Jon Kitley of Kitley’s Krypt, his son Nick (also attending his first non-Chicago con), our pal and brilliant artist Matt Carr aka PUTRID and myself riding along in the minivan, rapping about horror flicks, playing “name that movie title,” munching Doritos and M&Ms, and just having a great time. Pulled into Indy, found the hotel, and the first thing we see as we enter the lobby is a sign saying “Welcome HorrorHound horror convention…and Something Something Jesus Association.” I turn to Jon and say, “This is going to be interesting. Maybe we can organize a softball game for later.” We head into the dealer room and discover that Nathan and Aaron of HH have set us up with a sweet locale, about 20 yards in from the main doors in the first aisle, right next to co-sponsors Bloody-Disgusting.com’s table. Basically, it’s pretty hard to miss us, which is never a bad thing. Load in, set up, and at 5pm, the doors open up and the regular crowd shuffles in. Met so many great people over the course of the next three days that my brain is still spinning, my throat still scratchy from the nonstop blather. Much pitching of the forthcoming HORROR 101 book to anyone who would listen – an exercise made that much easier thanks to the awesome silkscreened shirt (sporting Brett Harrison’s cover art) that my beloved femalien laid on me as a birthday present a week earlier. It was also the first time that I had thought to print up some promotional material, and was pleased to see so many people walking around with our bright green fliers gripped in their hands or stuffed into their swag bags. Chatted with numerous indie artists, writers, filmmakers and there was much DIY love in the air, everyone being so supportive, passing business cards and making plans for future collaborations… It was an amazing thing. I make a mental note to myself that once I have book in hand, not to trade away too many copies of H101 for DVDs or cool-ass posters. I also make a note that this is not going to be easy. We also watch a sneak preview of the New Zealand horror/comedy BLACK SHEEP and darned if it isn’t as much fun as everyone said it was going to be. No CGI, great acting, spirited direction, and loads of energy, laughs, gore and killer sheep. The Fool says check it out. What would a convention be without the celebrities? I had the distinct pleasure of chatting with Mssr. Savini face to face after exchanging several emails about his gracious H101 Foreword, and he was very polite, generous and supportive, and even assented to having his photo taken with yours truly. Funny guy, too. Another treat was meeting CANDYMAN’s Tony Todd, whom I had also known from his work in regional theatre. He seemed to enjoy meeting a fan who appreciated his work in the Goodman’s production of King Hedley II as much as his hook-handed efforts. James Duval, aka “Frank the bunny” from DONNIE DARKO, even sat down at our table in the bar one night for a few minutes at the bequest of a couple of our newfound Tennessee friends. And of course there were the warm & casual hugs and handshakes with convention regulars Sid Haig, P.J. Soles, Bill Moseley and Ken Foree. These guys are pros and always make their fans feel special for that brief moment of interaction. It may be all an act, but if so, it’s a wonderfully convincing one – keep it up, my lords and ladies. But the most pleasant surprises came in the form of THE HILLS HAVE EYES’ Michael Bailey Smith and HOSTEL’s Jennifer Lim. The former is a huge, imposing figure but what a sweetheart he turned out to be, talking humbly about his stumbling into the business while accompanying a friend to the audition for A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 5: THE DREAM CHILD, where he was instantly cast as “Super Freddy.” Since then, he’s worked up a storm, tons of film and TV appearances, including several episodes of CHARMED, until striking genre pay dirt in Alexandre Aja’s remake of THHE as Pluto. He also graced us with a few personal details, such as the fact that he used to date AMERICAN GLADIATORS’ ultra-buff femme fatale Zap (nee Raye Hollitt). Great, great guy, and to see his work as Ben Grimm is about the only reason I can think of to break out a copy of the 1994 Roger Corman version of THE FANTASTIC FOUR. However, every time I walked by Lim, best known to American audiences as “the eyeball-blowtorch gal” from HOSTEL, it seemed like she was rarely being approached by fans, and I could understand their reticence. After all, her role didn’t allow her to show a whole lot of range and really, what was there to say except, “That was pretty gross” or “What’s Eli Roth really like?” So, Sunday rolls around and I figure I’ll stop by and say hey, just to break up the monotony for her. Well, turns out she’s got this amazing British accent which was a bit of a shock, and as the conversation went on, I learned that she’s constantly working in London (where she makes her home) theatre, and has a few new British film and TV projects in the works. But apparently, her deepest heart’s desire is to play a companion to Dr. Who for a few episodes. I tell her I’ll work on it. The conversations with she and Smith were among my favorite experiences of the show – these are folks who are truly thankful for the opportunities that Life has handed them and gracious with their time for fans. I wish them both all the best, and look forward to their upcoming projects and future encounters. Now if only I could say the same for Andrew “Leatherface” Brynarski. What a monumental ass. Watching him trying to lord his way around the bar with his karaoke-loving bimbo in tow was embarrassing for all concerned. Likewise on my “naughty” list is Tommy Lee Wallace, who was uber-stingy to Jon when it came to autographing items and refused to have his photo taken. Sigh. Um, HALLOWEEN III wasn’t really all that great, my friend, not sure where you’re getting the ego. As for the Crazy Babysitter Twins from GRINDHOUSE, all I can say is, Enjoy your 15 minutes, ladies, ‘cause the clock’s a-tickin’. So, pose for as many trashy pseudo-lesbian photos as you can while the irons are hot. Finally, Sunday evening rolls around and following a dynamite Mexican meal, we hit the road. Energy is low but spirits are still high…until we hit a massive traffic jam on the Chicago-Indiana Skyway where we drag to a near-stop and limp along for over an hour. At 10pm on a Sunday? Whuh. Thuh. Fuh. Eventually we get home and crash hard. I’ll have some photos up sometime later this week. In the meantime, many thanks to everyone who made the weekend the special event that it was, friends both new and old, and especially Kitley for allowing me to be his loyal hunchback assistant. Looking forward to Flashback Weekend here in Chi-town in two weeks – which is about how long it will take me to recover from HH. Congrats to everyone at Bloody-Disgusting and HorrorHound for a job well done. Fool out. June 28, 2007 “Ramblings and Ruminations” Howdy folks, This past week marked my 20th anniversary of being a "professional" actor. There have been more than a few miles trod by these black character shoes since The Little Theatre of the Rockies in Greeley, CO decided to give a spirited youngster with a wispy mustache, bad haircut and big dreams a shot. I still remember cashing that first paycheck and thinking, "Wow. They're paying me and I'd do it for free. Cool." I'm also turning 39 on Saturday, June 30th. I mention this not to elicit a showering of "Happy Birthday" emails and/or gifties, but simply to put my musings to follow in context. One gets a little contemplative when staring a supposedly significant, socially imposed milestone in the face. So, hopefully you'll indulge me a little. Over the past two decades, there have been plenty of ups and downs career-wise. I've met so many amazing people in my travels, traveled to so many amazing places under the auspices of "working." The building of little families (which last 3 months or so), pretending not to care what the reviewers have to say, trying to bring something worthwhile to the table that also manages to entertain an audience – these are the things that performers go through. Our idea of a normal life is far from the norm. Yet we keep at it. However, over the past few years, I have felt another passion tugging at my heart – one which soon began to pull with as much fervor as the desire to be onstage (something which I would have never thought possible). As fate would have it, said passion was one which most rational beings would find even more frivolous than making a living pretending to be someone else: that of becoming an "expert" on horror films and monster movies. (Thank heavens I didn't spring that one on my mom as I headed off to college.) There were certainly days when I felt like a bit of a traitor to my actor sackcloth, feeling guilty that I would rather complete the Universal MUMMY series or watch Jason and Freddy slash it out than head off to O'Connor's to audition for a Chevy or Budweiser commercial. I was in the grip of an obsession and we artists must heed our obsessions. So, on I went, reading and watching and communing with fellow aficionados until I had seen over 1,500 genre films, most of which never have and never will receive a "thumbs up" from Siskel or Ebert (don't even get me started on Roeper). But more significantly, along the way I was hit with the inspiration to share the wealth – to create a "Horror Primer" for budding enthusiasts and/or closeted monster movie enthusiasts. Again, the logical side of me cried out, "It's a niche market, you're a nobody and no one will care what you have to say, reference books are dead thanks to the Internet, etc." But an Ambassador of Horror's gotta do what he or she's gotta do, so the past year became an all-consuming quest to assemble a crack team of contributors from all over the globe to write an essay or two on our favorite fright flicks. Against all odds and on the backs of a thousand emails, the seemingly impossible became a firm reality, one that will be published later this summer by the good people at Midnight Marquee, Inc. under the title "Dr. AC presents HORROR 101: THE A-LIST OF HORROR FILMS AND MONSTER MOVIES, VOL 1." Who woulda thunkit? We even have our own MySpace. If you haven't already, come check us out at: http://www.myspace.com/horror101_thebook Once we have a legitimate page-turning entity in hand, I promise to do my very best not to become an utter pest to all in the promotion of said labor of love. But I'd be lying if I said that I was anything less than proud of the fruits of the past 12 months' labors – as proud as anything I've ever managed to accomplish in my greasepaint. Much like my favorite endeavors in the theatre, it was the spirit of ensemble and community that kept the fires burning. I firmly believe that it was my time in the Chicago theatre community and elsewhere (along with countless "tech weeks") that granted me the patience and faith that in the end, everything would come together, no matter how hopeless or enormous the task seemed. My point? Not really sure I have one (we old codgers are inclined to just natter on at times, didn't you know that?), except that I wanted to share the news that it's *never* too late to pursue a dream, no matter how silly or bizarre. More importantly, remember to wear your passions on your sleeve – more likely than not, there's someone else out there with the same silly and bizarre interests just looking for a compatriot to bond with. In the past few years, I've been blessed to meet hundreds of like-minded folks – 78 of whom decided to join forces and create something where there was nothing there before. Do I feel old? Not at all. Feels like I'm just getting started. Thanks for listening, everyone. Enjoy the summer! Fool out. May 17, 2007 “Project: Share the Scare” Greetings, oh ye of blackened hearts and minds, possessing of a few moments to stop on by. Make yourself to home, you are most welcome… Well, here we are online again, which is where pretty much all of us meet and stay. Most of you I’ve never met face to face, and yet, through a few well-placed clicks on the keyboard, we’ve gotten to know each other a little – most of us have been drawn together by an interest in things that go bump in the night (easy now, get your minds out of the gutter). It’s very cool that after years after wishing we had someone to chitchat about your latest wild and woolly horror flick, now it’s but a flick of a switch and a click of a mouse, and voila! You’re among your kind again. But what about in the real world? Happily, my horror-lovin’ social circle has expanded greatly in the past couple years, as I continue to wear my passion on my sleeve, go to conventions, etc., my reputation as “the horror guy” and/or “the creature feature man” has led me to some very lovely meet-ups with similar-minded folks. But schedules being what they are, I still spend far more time amidst my online friends than with real-life corporeal folk. We often talk about getting together to watch a movie, but when it comes down to making plans and following through…well, there’s the hitch. Easier to watch the damn movie alone and talk about it later. Consequently, a true “shared horror experience” is becoming less and less of a prized commodity, for better or worse. My challenge to everyone out there is to find 2-3 other people in your circle who share a love for horror, and make a plan for a Horror Movie Day/Night sometime in the next week. It can be the first time you’ve ever gotten together, or it can be the 400th , doesn’t matter. Now, each one of those people invites one other friend, someone perhaps unknown to the others. It’s our job to bring the masses together! Each person brings a fright flick they’ve never seen or one that they want to introduce to the others. (Yes, we’re talking about a double or triple feature, can you handle it?) Then, pop the popcorn, dim the lights and roll the films! Call it PROJECT: SHARE THE SCARE. Huh? Huh? Catchy, yes? Now, I know this is not as easy as it sounds, what with our busy, busy lives. But I’m planting the seed, hopefully it will grow. Even if you only get one in, the idea is NOT TO WATCH IT ALONE. Can you commit? Come on, I’ll bet you can… Extra points if you can get a “non-horror fan” to watch it with you. In other news, I sent off the “final” manuscript of HORROR 101, the book I’ve been shepherding for the past year, to the publishers on Tuesday. The good folks at Midnight Marquee will have it in their care for however long it takes until it becomes a bona-fide book, with fingers crossed for a late-summer/early fall release. It was a moment both thrilling and sad, to have turned over my (and the rest of the 77 contributors’) baby to other hands, but I know Gary and Sue will treat it right. The concept of the book is to be a sort of “Horror Primer,” covering the essential horror films and monster movies from the early days of the silent film all the way up to THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT and THE SIXTH SENSE. We have fans from all over the globe that have each contributed an essay (or two) to the cause, and the combined results are a wonder to behold. Already, we have gotten positive feedback from industry folk like Joe Dante and Tiffany Shepis, as well as writer types like John Stanley and Videohound’s Mike Mayo. Very exciting stuff. I’ll keep everyone posted. In the meantime, if you’d like to take a look at the fantastic cover art by Brett A. Harrison, do stop by my page where it is proudly displayed. Last, but not least, I’m planning to start a new feature here in MySpace land, called FOOL’S (inter)VIEWS. The idea is that I will do a little Q&A with various horror fans to share a few stories and hopefully a few laughs. It’s a place where you can feel free to plug various upcoming personal projects, some new movie you just discovered and want to promote, or just enjoy your 15 minutes of fame. If you are interested in participating, send a message to my mailbox with the subject heading FOOL’S (inter)VIEWS and we’ll get the ball rolling! All right, that’s about all the time and attention span I’ll ask of you for the week. The femalien and I are hoping to catch a double feature of HOT FUZZ and 28 WEEKS LATER sometime this weekend, I’ll let you know on Monday if we succeed. Until next time, dare to dwell in darkness, Fool out. May 4, 2007 “Torture Porn” Welcome, my friends! (That’s one of the great things about being on MySpace, we are surrounded by Friends.) I appreciate everyone stopping in and saying hi. It’s been a fantastic week of meeting new people and chatting with old friends over on the Fool’s Views. Do stop by if you haven’t already, good times, good times. Got a bit of a hot button for this week’s Shriek, so I hope I don’t offend anyone. But then again, that’s why our good friend Tom supplies the Comments option, right? I know the “torture porn” issue is a well-worn topic, but on Wednesday, my good friend BeetleJuice sent me the attached article: http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2069287,00.html Oh, can you smell the outrage? I wanted to get her a glass of water and a cold compress. Take it easy, dear heart, you’re going to overdose on indignation and righteousness. As always, my first response is the simplest: If you don't like it, don't watch it. But don’t tell me that I, as a rational thinking adult, can’t, shouldn’t or oughtn’t. ‘Cause then, I just gets riled. Granted, Ms. Cochrane is a movie critic, and as such, she's going to be required to view things that she may not be interested in or that may offend her sensibilities. But hey, guess what? That's why it’s called a J-O-B. You’re getting paid. It's work. You take the good with the bad. But you can't tell me – with the huge publicity push that GRINDHOUSE was getting – that anyone who paid their dough going into the cinema was overly shocked by what they saw. I saw it twice and enjoyed myself enormously. Cochrane’s wrong, it is all a big excessive joke, and if you don't get that, then you just don't get it. But a joke it is. My beautiful femalien, who is all woman and a major feminist to boot, was sitting right alongside me and laughing her ass off. So, there you go. As far as Cochrane’s railings of violence against women, last time I checked, there were just as many men getting munched, melted, and/or blown away in Rodriguez’s film, and Tarantino’s male antagonist gets just as good as he gives when it comes to payback. She also seems to overlook that HOSTEL was pretty equal opportunity, or more likely, she has selective memory on that issue. Now, I’m not denying that there is a long, and perhaps unfortunate, history of female victims in horror films. But the bottom line is, these are movies, and purely escapist ones at that. I don’t think any of the new horror guard has any serious political or ideological agenda on their minds when they make these pictures – a regrettable realization when I think about the previous generation of Romero, Craven, Carpenter, and Cohen, who actually were trying to say something. But regardless, for filmmakers to try and operate within someone else’s imposed moral parameters goes against what it means to be an artist, which is something that is sacred to my mind. I’m not saying it’s all good art, but then again, such an issue is entirely subjective; in the eye of the beholder, as t’were. Now, as far as the CAPTIVITY publicity goes, there I might have a problem. People driving along with their kids should not have to be subjected to that kind of imagery if they do not wish to. I haven't seen the offending billboard in question, but from the description, it sounds pretty intense. People who are not horror fans by nature probably shouldn't have to deal with it, and people who are horror fans know where to find such info. I thought the promotional material for HOSTEL was brilliant, nearly subliminal, with just the shadowy figure of the surgical tool. You don't have to be explicit, it just means you have to be smarter. Which is what I ask of people who make horror flicks. Any idiot can splash the Karo syrup around – can you do something interesting with the rest of your film, that's the real challenge. I will never, ever condone anything that amounts to censorship in art. If you don’t like the art in question, you can head out the same way you came in and probably get your money back if you whine loud enough. But promotional material is a different animal, in that it's in the name of commerce, and there I think we could stand with a little restraint. I suppose it's funny to call myself a dyed-in-the-wool horror fan and a prude in the same breath, but I do tend to be a little overprotective of the youth of our future. Do they need to be traumatized and/or desensitized at such an early age? At times, I do wish the metaphorical cookie jar could be placed on a slightly higher shelf in these days of instant access. I mean, I wanted to see boobs, blood and beasts when I was a kid too, but I was forced to wait until I was old enough (or I would sneak it in when Mom wasn't looking, in which case, I got the trauma I deserved). I’m sure I’ve oversimplified and/or clouded the issue in some people’s minds, but then again, I’m a big fan of everyone sampling a bit of everything and making up their own minds as to what they like, what they don’t, and what they want to see more of. I’ve seen a zillion characters meet with horrible onscreen ends, and I’m still a big ol’ sloppy sentimentalist with healthy relationships with my family, friends and romantic partner. Obviously, these films haven’t done me any real harm. In fact, I honestly believe that getting a cinema-induced cathartic release on regular basis helps make one a better person. Horror films and monster movies are good for you, says the Doc. All right, that’s enough of my yakking for now. I look forward to hearing what others have to say. The floor is yours. Until next time, dare to dwell in darkness, Fool out. April 26, 2007 “Life online – The Dinorsaur Filmography – I Was a TV Horror Host” Welcome back, my friends! I’m pleased to welcome any and all new faces to the madness, as well as you returning gluttons for punishment. As I’m sure you’ve learned in your own travels, the more is truly the merrier when it comes to appreciating horror – as long as you don’t talk during the movie, that is. Thanks for stopping by. Discovering life online is an extraordinary thing, isn’t it? I mean, in my “regular” life, I am (as I suspect many of you are) surrounded by people who just don’t get it. I can’t tell you how many times I get told I “don’t look like a horror fan.” Um, just what does that mean? Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Am I supposed to thank you or be insulted? And what exactly does a horror fan look like anyway? Yet, I come on here or the IMDb Horror Boards or bloody-disgusting.com or Kitley’s Krypt or a dozen other sites and it’s like Alex Haley at the end of ROOTS: One feels as though he/she has found his/her tribe at last. In the past, for many of us of a certain age, we had to make due with letters to Fangoria or folks met at conventions or just being lucky enough to encounter a fellow fan in our daily travels. But unfortunately, these occurrences were few and far between. Now, I wake up every morning and say hello to scores and scores of my fellow aficionados, throw out my thoughts about some flick I caught last night and within minutes, I have a dozen responses telling me yay, nay, or what have you. Glory days indeed. Plus, thanks to a few clicks of the mouse and some extended tapping of the keyboard, I’ve become legitimate friends with a good number of these people that I have never met face to face. Heck, thanks to the worldwide web, a bunch of us managed to collaborate on and complete a labor of love, known as HORROR 101, which will be hitting bookshelves sometime later this year courtesy of the good folks at Midnight Marquee. I’ll keep everyone posted on the progress of that last bit, you can rest assured. It’s a very strange feeling to introduce oneself by their username as opposed to what the rest of the “real” world calls us. For instance, picture this scene in the lobby of Chicago’s Music Box Theatre last October: “Are you Baseball Zombies? Dude, it’s me, Fool for Blood!” “No way! How the heck are you? I was just talking to UnholyOne and buddy 3_16, wondering if I was going to see you here.” As of this moment, I’m not sure if I could tell you what BBZ’s real name is offhand, but we know each other, we like each other, and we call ourselves friends. Such are the times we live in. I’ve also had the good fortune to chat with a couple of them over the phone in the past few weeks. Zombie_CPA and e_bathory, it was truly a treat to go ear-to-ear with you, and I truly look forward to meeting you face to face someday, somewhere, somehow. As I mentioned in Monday’s Fool’s Views, the past week featured a quick trip to DC. With the extended time on one’s hands before and during air travel, I love to grab one of the many cinema reference books off my shelf that I’ve been meaning to get around to and dig in. This weekend, during my brief travels to and from the nation’s capital, I got about halfway through Mark F. Berry’s extraordinary THE DINOSAUR FILMOGRAPHY (2002). As one might guess from the title, Berry has undertaken a Herculean task of trying to document every picture where a dinosaur or dino-like creature makes an appearance, from GERTIE THE DINOSAUR to the JURASSIC PARK films. While this in itself would be a worthy enough task for this giant monster movie lovin’ Fool, Berry has gone the extra mile and conducted an inordinate amount of research, even going so far as to contact the filmmakers and special effects artists for direct interviews whenever possible. Published by McFarland and available through Amazon, I can heartily recommend it for folks who’ve always felt like they were born about 60 million years too early. (Many thanks to “Santa” Kitley for hooking me up.) Continuing in a literary vein, a couple weeks back my trip to Dallas afforded me the opportunity to plow through the bulk of John Stanley’s I WAS A TV HORROR HOST (2007), an excellent read which serves as both an chronicle of the Creature Features author’s stint hosting for the Bay Area’s Channel 2 as well an affectionate and informative examination of radio and television horror hosts throughout history. Once again, thanks to the wonder of email, I’ve had the good fortune to correspond with Mssr. Stanley over the past few years and even broke bread with the man himself when I was out in San Francisco last March. (Well, it was a Denny’s, so I don’t know if you can really call it bread.) He is as engaging on the page as he is in person; a well-educated, dyed-in-the-wool horror & sci-fi nerd with stories upon stories to tell, featuring everyone from George Romero and William Shatner to Anthony “C-3P0” Daniels and Roger Corman. For ordering info, stop by www.creature.netwiz.net. Question for you: What is it about horror fans, or cinephiles of any stripe, that makes us such shameless completists? I mean, I didn’t inherently want to see all the James Bond flicks or the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET installments or Dario Argento’s entire filmography, it was more like an obligation. The reason I bring it up is, well, the mailman arrived today with my replacement copy of GODZILLA VS. MOTHRA/GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH double feature and I’m beside myself with geeked-out glee. Everything looks all right with the disc, which means that in less than four hours viewing time, I will have completed a lifelong goal of seeing all the Toho Godzilla flicks. Dubious bragging rights, perhaps, but they are my rights and you better believe that I’ll be bragging. Heck, that lightweight Jason Voorhees only made it through 11 pics; the big G has 28 to his credit and that’s not even counting the blight to humanity known as the “American version” or the mini-classic, BAMBI MEETS GODZILLA. Well, these eyes o’ mine are tired of looking at the flickering computer screen, which I suppose means that it’s time to wrap things up for now. As always, thanks for dropping in and muddling through to the end, and should you decide to leave your two cents, I’ll be sure to hit you back with some change. Until next time, dare to dwell in darkness… Fool out. April 19, 2007 “Where to begin? Let’s try the beginning.” Howdy folks. First off, thanks to everyone who has subscribed to the Fool’s Views blog and is willing to stop in and listen to my mindless babbling every week. I never, ever thought that I would be doing anything that involved a blog, and yet, here I am. I truly appreciate all you fellow cinephiles stopping in to share your thoughts, recommendations, brickbats, etc. It’s a good feeling. All right, a little about me. As you can tell from the profile, I’m a Chicago actor, been working professionally on stage and screen for 20 years as of this summer. Doing mostly theatre work, but I’ve also done the occasional commercial or indie film. Never really had the urge to head out to LaLa Land to pursue a film career, mostly because I’ve never gotten a good vibe from SoCal. After all, a Fool’s gotta go home at some point, and I like Chicago’s public transit and theatre community. I’m not dead yet, so I suppose it’s still a possibility at some point. As far as my passion for fright films, I grew up watching Bob Wilkins on Creature Features on San Francisco’s Channel 2 (one of the few programs that my anti-TV mother would allow – I think she had a soft spot for Godzilla as well), but as I got older, my interests in film spread far and wide. In an effort to consume a bit of everything, I had to set my beloved monster movies by the wayside and it was Oscar winners, foreign flicks, and “classics” for a long time there. While I would still take in the occasional mainstream horror flick, I couldn’t devote my energies to it as completely as I had in the past. I bring up my theatre background because it was my career that eventually got me tossed back into the horror end o’ the pool. The summer of 2000, I was performing in an outdoor Shakespeare production of Twelfth Night, and a fellow castmate, David White, and I struck up a conversation about Alfred Hitchcock. Well, PSYCHO led to THE BIRDS and FRENZY, and it soon became apparent that we both knew our horror stuff. Then he asked me what I thought of Dario Argento. “Who?” I said. (I know, I blush even now.) “Dario Argento? Mario Bava? Lucio Fulci?” I shook my head in confusion, and from his expression, I could tell that he was slightly disappointed. (As it turns out, I actually had seen one film from each of them at that point: Argento’s SUSPIRIA, Bava’s BLACK SABBATH, and Fulci’s THE GATES OF HELL, but still had no idea who they were by name.) It was then that I realized that I had let my reputation as a horror fan slip, and I resolved to go back to “Horror U.” I started to check out reference books from the library, haunted the Hollywood Video shelves, and recorded nearly all of American Movie Classics’ “Monsterfest” offerings that October. Yes, I thank/curse you, David, for re-sparking the fires of Hell. But it wasn’t until I received John Stanley’s Creature Features Movie Guide as a Christmas present in 2002 that my education really began. (Say what you will about Mssr. Stanley’s opinions or the fact that there are times when it seems pretty clear that he hasn’t seen the movies in question – as a resource of titles and information, it’s a pretty damn good place to start.) One weekend while waiting around on a film set, I went through the entire thing, marking off the movies that I had seen, and, more importantly, the ones that I hadn’t yet seen, but always wanted to. When I returned from the shoot, I sat down at the computer and compiled the master list, which ended up being about 1100 titles long. I then truly realized just how much work I had ahead of me. And I got down to it. Flash forward to present day. I’ve now seen all the movies (with the exception of about 20 that I haven’t yet been able to track down – or been willing to shell out the big Ebay bucks for) on the list, as well as another 400, thanks to good people like Doug L, Lawrence R, and Don B. Along the way, I’ve discovered a couple of truths: 1) There is no end to the rabbit hole. The more you watch, the more you find. My “to-see” list is just as long as it ever was. At Flashback Weekend 2005, I had the good fortune to have Jon Kitley see my Godzilla T-shirt and shout across the room, “Dude, where did you get that?” and the rest is history. Kit’s been an invaluable friend and mentor, and it is with no small amount of pride that I refer to myself as his loyal hunchback assistant. He’s done more to lead me into the fringe, introduced me to more obscure films, and opened my eyes to more bizarre celluloid sights than anyone else I can imagine. Some days, I don’t know whether to thank him or clobber him. I can only wish each and every horror fan such a blessing as some point. Then, in January of 2006, I discovered the IMDb Horror Boards, and my whole life changed again. Suddenly, I had a community of like-minded folks to chat about any damn movie in the world that I had ever seen or ever wanted to see. I was no longer the smartest person in the room when it came to horror, and that was both terrifying and thrilling. I now understand that my education will continue until my dying day…and maybe then some. Finally, someone on IMDb invited me to MySpace to check out some pictures. “MyyyySpaaaace?” I whined, but I followed the link. As you can see, that was a year ago and I’m firmly addicted. Thanks, Crys. All rightie, I’ve gone on enough for now. That’s a little bit about who I am, and where I’m coming from. In addition to the weekly installment of the Fool’s Views, I’m hoping to do little rants like this about whatever genre-related encounters I’ve encountered over the past week, whether it be a good book I’d like to recommend, some celebrity who made my day by responding to me from their website, an upcoming convention or just some conversation I recently had with some youngster who thinks that the remake of THE FOG was the best movie they’ve ever seen. I figure we can have a little fun here. If you’re still reading, I thank you for hanging in there. And if you’re not still reading, then you don’t know what I’m saying right now and I should probably just stop. Until next time, dare to dwell in darkness… Fool out.
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