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bethje and I spent the majority of this weekend at the Monster-Mania Convention. We saw several movies and panel discussions, and had a good time overall.
When we got to the hotel, we exchanged our tickets for armbands, which we had to wear throughout all three days of the convention. Kind of an odd system. Some people there had badges instead, which made more sense. I guess they must have bought their tickets in a different manner.
The first film we saw was Halloween 2, which I had never seen before. (Of that series, I had previously only seen the first and the unrelated third one.) Dick Warlock, a stuntman who played Michael Myers and a cop in the movie, introduced it. I thought the movie was pretty good. I liked Donald Pleasence's part in it, and it revealed why Michael was after Jamie Lee Curtis' character (although the explanation for why no one knew this in the first movie was a bit ridiculous).
At some point on Friday, we examined the dealers' tables. I didn't expect to buy anything, but I ended up finding something I didn't expect: an Oz lunchbox with art by Eric Shanower. That was a nice surprise, and I did end up buying it.
Later on Friday evening, we saw Freddy vs. Jason, with an introduction by Ken Kirzinger, that film's Jason. We then stuck around for the midnight showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, complete with a live cast and audience participation. I had seen it with the audience participation before, back at school. That was actually the first time I saw it, which was probably a mistake, since it's harder to get the audience's jokes when you're seeing the movie for the first time. I had never seen a live cast performance before, though, and Transylvanian Nipple Productions did a good job. Dr. Frank-N-Furter killed Eddie with a Freddy Krueger glove, which was an amusing touch.
On Saturday, I had a hell of a time finding a parking space. I ended up dropping off Beth and then driving around Cherry Hill, ending up parking at a shopping center a fair distance away. I had to miss Tony Todd's introduction for Candyman, but I did get to see the movie again, and got to hear from Tony later (as you'll find out shortly). After Candyman, we attended the Women of Modern Horror panel discussion with Betsy Palmer (Mrs. Voorhees from Friday the 13th), Lisa Wilcox (Alice from Nightmare on Elm Street Parts 4 and 5), and Danielle Harris (from the fourth and fifth Halloween). That was interesting, although I thought the panelists were a bit mismatched, with Betsy coming from a completely different background from the two younger actresses.
While waiting for the next movie to start, we sat through a panel featuring musicians from Blue Oyster Cult and the Alice Cooper Band. Since I'm not a fan of those bands, the panel wasn't as interesting as it might have been. I did kind of like the one Alice Cooper guy's take on theatrical rock shows. He said that, when a band just plays their songs on stage and doesn't make any effort to put on more of a show, you might as well just sit at home and listen to their albums. I don't necessarily agree with him in all situations, but I could kind of see where he was coming from.
Anyway, the movie that we were waiting for was actually the original Nightmare on Elm Street, with an introduction by Robert Englund himself. He told us a story about a scene they didn't use, and mentioned that there were several endings floating around. Since he had mentioned alternate endings, I was kind of disappointed that it had the same ending it does on the video.
After that came a Vincent Price tribute, and then the Men Behind the Mask and Makeup panel discussion with several horror actors: Dick Warlock, Gunnar Hansen (the original Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre), Tony Todd, Sid Haig (Captain Spalding from House of 1000 Corpses), and C.J. Graham (Jason from Friday the 13th Part 6). They had some interesting things to say, including some rips on the presidential election of 2000. I particularly enjoyed Gunnar's criticisms of the Chainsaw remake. He said he didn't like that Leatherface was explained as being essentially "a kid from Columbine"; and that Leatherface's family was too big, without the clearly defined roles the different family members had in the original.
Next was another panel discussion, this time with Robert Englund and Ken Kirzinger. The room was totally packed for that event. Robert, especially, had a lot of interesting stories to tell. He made a few comments on how the horror genre was often unfairly stereotyped as having endless sequels and remakes, when that's also true for many other types of movies. Finally, after dinner at Friendly's, we ended the night with a midnight showing of Chainsaw, with an introduction by Gunnar.
Sunday was a shorter day, but still fun. We attended the tail end of the Women of Modern Horror panel, as well as the Mask and Makeup panel again. We had wanted to see Lisa Wilcox introduce Nightmare 4, but she must have started early, so we missed it. After Nightmare 4, we saw Freddy's Dead, the only movie besides Halloween 2 that I was seeing for the first time at the convention, and it was pretty amusing. I appreciated the crazy teacher, the Nintendo jokes, and the development of Freddy's back story.
Anyway, the whole thing was pretty cool. I would never have gone if it hadn't been for Beth, who's more of a horror fan than I am. I'm glad I did go, though.
bethje and I spent the majority of this weekend at the Monster-Mania Convention. We saw several movies and panel discussions, and had a good time overall.When we got to the hotel, we exchanged our tickets for armbands, which we had to wear throughout all three days of the convention. Kind of an odd system. Some people there had badges instead, which made more sense. I guess they must have bought their tickets in a different manner.
The first film we saw was Halloween 2, which I had never seen before. (Of that series, I had previously only seen the first and the unrelated third one.) Dick Warlock, a stuntman who played Michael Myers and a cop in the movie, introduced it. I thought the movie was pretty good. I liked Donald Pleasence's part in it, and it revealed why Michael was after Jamie Lee Curtis' character (although the explanation for why no one knew this in the first movie was a bit ridiculous).
At some point on Friday, we examined the dealers' tables. I didn't expect to buy anything, but I ended up finding something I didn't expect: an Oz lunchbox with art by Eric Shanower. That was a nice surprise, and I did end up buying it.
Later on Friday evening, we saw Freddy vs. Jason, with an introduction by Ken Kirzinger, that film's Jason. We then stuck around for the midnight showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, complete with a live cast and audience participation. I had seen it with the audience participation before, back at school. That was actually the first time I saw it, which was probably a mistake, since it's harder to get the audience's jokes when you're seeing the movie for the first time. I had never seen a live cast performance before, though, and Transylvanian Nipple Productions did a good job. Dr. Frank-N-Furter killed Eddie with a Freddy Krueger glove, which was an amusing touch.
On Saturday, I had a hell of a time finding a parking space. I ended up dropping off Beth and then driving around Cherry Hill, ending up parking at a shopping center a fair distance away. I had to miss Tony Todd's introduction for Candyman, but I did get to see the movie again, and got to hear from Tony later (as you'll find out shortly). After Candyman, we attended the Women of Modern Horror panel discussion with Betsy Palmer (Mrs. Voorhees from Friday the 13th), Lisa Wilcox (Alice from Nightmare on Elm Street Parts 4 and 5), and Danielle Harris (from the fourth and fifth Halloween). That was interesting, although I thought the panelists were a bit mismatched, with Betsy coming from a completely different background from the two younger actresses.
While waiting for the next movie to start, we sat through a panel featuring musicians from Blue Oyster Cult and the Alice Cooper Band. Since I'm not a fan of those bands, the panel wasn't as interesting as it might have been. I did kind of like the one Alice Cooper guy's take on theatrical rock shows. He said that, when a band just plays their songs on stage and doesn't make any effort to put on more of a show, you might as well just sit at home and listen to their albums. I don't necessarily agree with him in all situations, but I could kind of see where he was coming from.
Anyway, the movie that we were waiting for was actually the original Nightmare on Elm Street, with an introduction by Robert Englund himself. He told us a story about a scene they didn't use, and mentioned that there were several endings floating around. Since he had mentioned alternate endings, I was kind of disappointed that it had the same ending it does on the video.
After that came a Vincent Price tribute, and then the Men Behind the Mask and Makeup panel discussion with several horror actors: Dick Warlock, Gunnar Hansen (the original Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre), Tony Todd, Sid Haig (Captain Spalding from House of 1000 Corpses), and C.J. Graham (Jason from Friday the 13th Part 6). They had some interesting things to say, including some rips on the presidential election of 2000. I particularly enjoyed Gunnar's criticisms of the Chainsaw remake. He said he didn't like that Leatherface was explained as being essentially "a kid from Columbine"; and that Leatherface's family was too big, without the clearly defined roles the different family members had in the original.
Next was another panel discussion, this time with Robert Englund and Ken Kirzinger. The room was totally packed for that event. Robert, especially, had a lot of interesting stories to tell. He made a few comments on how the horror genre was often unfairly stereotyped as having endless sequels and remakes, when that's also true for many other types of movies. Finally, after dinner at Friendly's, we ended the night with a midnight showing of Chainsaw, with an introduction by Gunnar.
Sunday was a shorter day, but still fun. We attended the tail end of the Women of Modern Horror panel, as well as the Mask and Makeup panel again. We had wanted to see Lisa Wilcox introduce Nightmare 4, but she must have started early, so we missed it. After Nightmare 4, we saw Freddy's Dead, the only movie besides Halloween 2 that I was seeing for the first time at the convention, and it was pretty amusing. I appreciated the crazy teacher, the Nintendo jokes, and the development of Freddy's back story.
Anyway, the whole thing was pretty cool. I would never have gone if it hadn't been for Beth, who's more of a horror fan than I am. I'm glad I did go, though.
