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HORROR 101: THE A-LIST OF HORROR FILMS AND MONSTER MOVIES VOL 1
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HOME - INTRO - REVIEWS - FEATURES - MYSPACE - BLOG - STAFF - CONTACT HORROR 101: THE A-LIST OF HORROR FILMS AND MONSTER MOVIES VOL 1
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It's that time once again folks, for yet another convention report. You know, when we started doing these reports in the beginning, they were pretty easy. But the more and more we do, especially with this show and the Cinema Wasteland show, they are getting harder and harder to do. Unless we just have a terrible time and have plenty to bitch about, these reports start to sound pretty much the same. But we'll keep trying. I do have one minor negative thing I want to mention. As we've said before, this show is put on by fans for the fans. Something that is very different than Creation/Fangoria. At the Chicago Fango show, we heard a lot of complaints from people spending the extra money for Gold Tickets and not getting anything extra for it, and even getting screwed by the whole pricing thing. At this last Flashback show, we did hear quite a few people mention something about the extra costs at the show, like the drive-in, the special ticket prices, or even getting photos in the HOSTEL chair. Now I understand there is cost involved in getting that stuff for the show. But as a fan, all of that extra money can add up to a very expensive weekend. And to some, it's just not worth it, or they simply can't afford it. Plus, I don't think it would be that big of a deal if it wasn't for the fact that you're already spending $15 to $20 for each autograph that you get. When you add that on top of everything, you can drop a several hundred bucks in the blink of an eye. So what's the solution? Don't know if there's an easy answer for that. I know that Mike & Mia, who run Flashback, are trying like hell to put on the best show they can. So my only advice would be to keep doing what you doing, but just keep in mind those extra costs to the fans. Okay, back to the good stuff. Well, kind of. But this bad thing had nothing to do with the show, but more so my abilities (or lack there of) as as photographer. First of all, we were pretty busy most of the weekend, so we were able to get as many photo opportunities as we normally do. We did spend some time in the Q&A sessions, but that area is just too dark for our camera and none of those turned out. So between that, and not having the settings correct on our camera, we have hardly any photos from this year's show. Major bummer. Maybe now is the time for me to finally go digital...
My son came along for this show for the whole weekend. Last year, he came out on Friday to meet Bruce Campbell. Of course, the photo I took didn't turn out..."Nice going, Dad.". So after many months of him bugging me, I decided now was the right time to start training him in the ways of....dealership. At first, there wasn't any guests in the lineup that he really knew, besides Priscilla Barnes, but I didn't think it would be wise for him to go over there...more on that later. But when Ken Foree was added, that made him pretty excited, since he's becoming a big fan of DAWN OF THE DEAD. At past shows, we've seen Mr. Foree be a little bit more 'business' than fan-friendly. So I was a little cautious when we went over to get an autograph and a picture taken, which once again, didn't turn out...."Nice going, Dad." But Mr. Foree was very nice and friendly to my son the times he went over there. And at the end of the show, after seeing that my son had won a DAWN OF THE DEAD PSP movie, Mr. Foree offered to sign it for free. That made my son's weekend. So it was really nice to see that there are some celebs out there that are treating the fans, especially the younger ones, the right way. Thank you Mr. Foree. You have given my son some more bragging stories for school this year.
You'll notice in our photo lineup, that there isn't one of Priscilla Barnes. The reason for that is that the couple of times during my tours through the dealer's room to get photos for this report, when I stopped by the area of the REJECTS stars, every time I tried to snap a photo of Barnes, her manager, assistant, or whoever this guy was, would put his arm up in front of her to block my shot. At first I thought that maybe he thought I was just trying to get a shot of her cleavage that she had promptly on display, but then realized that he just wasn't going to let anybody take pictures of her....for free. During the show, we heard several complaints about Barnes and even more so about the assistant. Her signing fee would vary quite a bit, some going as high as $35. What is that all about? Does she think that her newfound popularity is anything more than because of REJECTS? Yea, she may have some THREE'S COMPANY fans, but not that many. But it was cool to hear and see all the positive things about the other REJECTS cast, like Kate Norby (who is a real down-to-earth sweetheart), Geoffrey Lewis, and Michael Berryman. The times I was over there, they were always smiling and seemed like they were having a good time meeting their fans. We also were very surprised to see the huge line of people to see Roddy Piper. I figured that he would draw in more wrestling fans than horror fans, but there seemed to be a lot of THEY LIVE merchandise flying around. The few minutes of his Q&A that we caught showed that there were a lot of wrestling fans there, since that seemed to be the main topic of the questions.
We only made the Q&A session for Cerina Vincent and Barbara Nedeljakova for a few minutes, where Vincent was doing most of the talking. Every time I went by their tables, they seem to have a nice line there of people wanting to get stuff signed. Either that or just to stare at their....merchandise on display. Either though I'm not that big of a fan of HOSTEL, I think having the opportunity to have your photo taken sitting in the torture chair with Nedeljakova was a great idea. Not sure what the price was for that, but hopefully it wasn't that bad. But you know, if you're huge fan of that movie, that would be a great memento for your collection. Another first for this year's Flashback show was the Dark Art show. They had plenty of entries on display, quite a few of them were really awesome. I was kind of surprised to see the display set up in the corner of the dealer's room. Seemed a little too close to the people walking around. I do think it was a good idea to have it where everyone was walking by, but I think it could have been put off a little farther away. The main reason I say this is that a friend of ours had some of her awesome sculptures on display and she was a nervous wreck watching people walking by and almost running into her pieces with their handbags and stuff. But maybe they can change that around a little bit for next year.
And as usual, there was a lot of hanging out with friends and other like minded fans. Like we always say, it's like a big family reunion. From hanging out with Jill from Lix, or Pam & Ken from Cinema Wasteland, to all regulars, it's always a great time.
Since the heat was still way too high for our standards, we only caught one film at the drive-in. And that was on Saturday for FROM BEYOND. It had been quite some time since I've seen that movie, so it was cool to re-visit it. We were all hoping that this might be the uncut print that is suppose to be coming out soon, but we weren't that lucky. But none the less, it's still a cool movie. Just makes me more anxious to see the extra footage when it does come out. They've already announced their headliners for next year's Flashback Weekend. Robert Englund will be returning, and along with him will be Heather Langenkamp, making her first Flashback appearance. They also have Ashley Lawrence from the HELLRAISER series signed to appear as well. So right off the bat, it's looking to be a big show. Robert Englund always seemed to drawn in the crowds. We know that we will be there next year as well, once again having a blast. So keep up the great work, Mike & Mia. I'm sure if it wasn't for you and Flashback, Fangoria would have never bothered to try and come back to Chicago. As long as you keep doing what you're doing, and showing the fans how a convention should be put on in Chicago, you'll always have a crowd. ADRIENNE BARBEAU
ANDREW BRYNIARSKI
DANIELLE HARRIS
BARBARA NEDELJAKOVA
CERINA VINCENT
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This year, Flashback held a model kit competition.
Unfortunately I don't think too many people either knew about it, or there just
weren't that many people interested, which is a shame. Terry Webb, from
A couple of years ago, Marilyn Chambers was at
the Cinema Wasteland show. But at that time, we really didn't have
anything to get signed by her. Then about two weeks after that show, we
came across a German lobby card for RABID. So now that she was at this
show, this gave us that chance to get it signed. She also was very
friendly and interested in where I got the lobby card from.
Adrienne Barbeau made her return appearance to
the Flashback Weekend. We picked up her new autobiography when we were
over there talking to her. Such a sweet lady, always seeming so interested in
talking to her fans. It was a damn shame that we notice several times that
nobody was at her table. With the amount of genre films that she's been
in, she should have had a line all the time. But then again, maybe that
was due to the fact that she was here last year. Either case, it was a
shame.
And while on the subjects of art, another talented artist that we came across at
show was a guy named Putrid. What caught my eye to his table was the
incredible artwork that he had done for a album cover for a band called Blood
Freak. All we noticed was that some guy had drawn the title character from
the movie BLOOD FREAK, and was standing over a disemboweled woman. The
artwork was incredible. This guy's work reminds me so much of the great Bernie Wrightson. He has the same style, along with what I grew up with by
reading Creepy and Eerie magazines. Check out his site
One dealer that caught my eye wasn't
really a dealer, but someone promoting his upcoming restaurant. Now who
would bother getting a table at a horror show just to promote a restaurant?
Well, this isn't your ordinary eatery. It's called Monstro's Monster Cafe,
and will be located in Chicago. They are not opened yet, but will be
(hopefully) soon. From the details they were letting out, this sounds very
cool. They mentioned of having 3 different types of menus, Italian Horror,
American Horror, and Mexican Horror. How cool is that??? You can
check out their website 
