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HORROR 101: THE A-LIST OF HORROR FILMS AND MONSTER MOVIES  VOL 1

2003

You know, I have a hard time believing that this was the fourth year for Ken and Pam’s Wasteland show.  It seems like yesterday when Ken was telling me about starting his own show.  We have been there since day one, and still can’t think of a show that we have more fun at.  As a dealer, it’s clearly the easiest one for us to do.  Never any hassles or problems.  Plus people come there to spend their hard-earned cash.  As a fan, there’s more than enough dealers to keep me broke or at least that keep tearing me away from my own table.  And the celebs are always friendly, and very accessible.

This time out, there weren’t too many celebs there that I hadn’t seen at other shows over the years.  But for someone who hasn’t been going to 5-6 conventions a year for the last 10 years, this had a pretty decent lineup.  You had 6 cast members from the original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD: Russ Steiner, John Russo, Krya Schon, Karl Hardman, Marilyn Eastman, and Bill Hinzman.  Being the film was made 35 years ago, these opportunities aren't going to be around that much longer.

You also had most of the cast from EVIL DEAD, including the always entertaining Tom Sullivan, the man who really created the Evil Dead.  Joining by the Ladies of EVIL DEAD, making a rare appearance was Hal Delrich, who played Scotty.  This made a great opportunity for me to add one more signature to my Turkish EVIL DEAD poster.   Now if I can only catch Sam Raimi at a horror convention…like that is going to happen again.

Making her second appearance at the Wasteland show was the loveable Italian Demon lady, Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni.  She spoke of her working with some guys named Argento and Bava, and now working on her music and painting.  She is always a joy to see.

But one of the real surprises for me was seeing Robert A. Burns.  I figured I’d have him sign my TEXAS CHAINSAW poster, then I’d be on my way.  But while I popped in for his Q&A to snap a few pics, I started to listen to his stories of being a set designer and working on a few other low budget classic films, like THE HOWLING, TOURIST TRAP, and THE HILLS HAVE EYES.  Not only was Burns very entertaining, but also very enlightening to what a set designer really does, and about the times that if they’re really good, not getting credit for what they’ve done since nobody notices it.

One of my favorite highlights of the show has always been the late night hours spent in the movie room watching classic drive in films.  You can never see THE GREEN SLIME too many times.  Plus, seeing the ultra-rare Bill Rebane classic RANA: THE LEGEND OF SHADOW LAKE is a once in a life time chance…Okay, so I’m a big fan of Rebane.  And if that wasn’t enough Rebane, they also screened MONSTER A GO-GO. 

We always look forward to this show.  And now with them doing two shows next year, it’s even better.

ROBERT BURNS

CORALINA CATALDI TASSONI

EVIL DEAD REUNION

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD REUNION