In an effort to reduce how much paper is used at Hallowscreen, I've created two more ways of getting our schedule in addition to the physical, printed brochure and the web-based version of the schedule.
Click here to download our schedule as an epub document hosted by MediaFire.
Click here to download the inside of our brochure as a PDF, also hosted by MediaFire.
If I'd remembered about QR codes earlier, I would've put them on the posters...ah well, next year!!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Chatting up the Hallowscreen on local access TV!
Here's the video of me on local access television talking up the Hallowscreen! I excised my parts from the whole show because of YouTube's length restrictions. You should definitely check out the Sarasota Chalk Festival's Denise Kowal in the video at the bottom of this post for the rest of the episode!
Lori chatting up Hallowscreen:
Denise Kowal chatting up the Sarasota Chalk Festival:
Y'all know that I'm really not that big a fan of crowds and attention and stuff. I get really nervous when I do Q&A for my own films. I've done live TV before - closed circuit stuff at school and that sort of thing - and I've been interviewed before. I really prefer to be behind the cameras as opposed to in front of them. Last night, I received an email from Denise asking me if I would go with her to be on At the Movies. I may feel uncomfortable with that stuff, but I am in the film business. No one can promote my stuff but me, right?, so it's a good opportunity to get used to it so I said yes. Well, first I said EGADS, and then I said yes.
Cut to today: Denise picked me up at 6:20 and we headed over to the Comcast broadcast studio where we met Gus Mollasis, the host of the program we were going to be on: At the Movies. As befitting public access, it was a small studio with a cramped green room, but cozy and personable all at the same time. We sat and went over what we were going to talk about in brief so we wouldn't go on completely cold. We trudged into the studio and chatted some more as we donned our lavaliers and got comfortable. They had a quarter of a wall covered with old 3/4" decks that they don't use anymore and are just sitting there for storage. I haven't seen a 3/4" deck since I graduated from high school, so that was pretty neat. Another couple of minutes and we were off and running!
The broadcast went smoothly and I'm pretty happy with everything I was able to say. My Nancy Hair was totally in effect, too! (you'll notice that I am wearing an I Am Nancy pin...in fact, it's the one that Heather Langenkamp gave me at Spooky Empire. :D ) He put me on the spot with that "what films should I see" thing, but I think I handled it pretty well. lol
Gus Mollasis is a great guy and I'm so glad that we was able to fit me in without any notice. I'm also glad I thought to bring a brochure with me so he could look it over to have fodder for questions.
Eight days until the festival starts! Whoa!! And five until my birthday!! Hahaha!
Lori chatting up Hallowscreen:
Denise Kowal chatting up the Sarasota Chalk Festival:
Y'all know that I'm really not that big a fan of crowds and attention and stuff. I get really nervous when I do Q&A for my own films. I've done live TV before - closed circuit stuff at school and that sort of thing - and I've been interviewed before. I really prefer to be behind the cameras as opposed to in front of them. Last night, I received an email from Denise asking me if I would go with her to be on At the Movies. I may feel uncomfortable with that stuff, but I am in the film business. No one can promote my stuff but me, right?, so it's a good opportunity to get used to it so I said yes. Well, first I said EGADS, and then I said yes.
Cut to today: Denise picked me up at 6:20 and we headed over to the Comcast broadcast studio where we met Gus Mollasis, the host of the program we were going to be on: At the Movies. As befitting public access, it was a small studio with a cramped green room, but cozy and personable all at the same time. We sat and went over what we were going to talk about in brief so we wouldn't go on completely cold. We trudged into the studio and chatted some more as we donned our lavaliers and got comfortable. They had a quarter of a wall covered with old 3/4" decks that they don't use anymore and are just sitting there for storage. I haven't seen a 3/4" deck since I graduated from high school, so that was pretty neat. Another couple of minutes and we were off and running!
The broadcast went smoothly and I'm pretty happy with everything I was able to say. My Nancy Hair was totally in effect, too! (you'll notice that I am wearing an I Am Nancy pin...in fact, it's the one that Heather Langenkamp gave me at Spooky Empire. :D ) He put me on the spot with that "what films should I see" thing, but I think I handled it pretty well. lol
Gus Mollasis is a great guy and I'm so glad that we was able to fit me in without any notice. I'm also glad I thought to bring a brochure with me so he could look it over to have fodder for questions.
Eight days until the festival starts! Whoa!! And five until my birthday!! Hahaha!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
At the Movies with Gus Mollasis
Hey everyone (who lives in Sarasota anyway...) Tune in to BlabTV (Comcast 189) at 7 tomorrow night to see Sarasota Chalk Festival director Denise Kowal and myself talk about our events with Gus Mollasis, host of At the Movies!
Thursday, October 14, 2010
The Hallowscreen Film Festival is looking for volunteers!
The Hallowscreen Film Festival is looking for responsible volunteers (read: no pay, except in gum and gratitude!) for our Halloween weekend event! The film festival is being put on in conjunction with the Sarasota Chalk Festival, an event to raise money (via donations) and awareness for the Avenida de Colores, a Sarasota-based 501(c)3. There is no charge for admission to either the film festival or the Chalk Festival. The festivals will take place in downtown Sarasota, in the area where South Pineapple Avenue and South Orange Avenue converge.
We request that all volunteers are 18 or older as this film festival shows mostly rated R films and as one of the functions of the volunteers will be to check IDs at the door, it doesn't seem right for the volunteer to not be able to see the movies they're carding for!
We need volunteers for the following days:
Friday, October 29, 2010, from 6pm-midnight. 6pm-9pm is the VIP party and 9 pm-midnight is the open to the public portion. The opening night film will be shown during both sections. The volunteer may be called upon to change discs as well as card attendees to verify that they are 17 or older for our films.
Saturday, October 30, 2010, from noon-midnight. Obviously, we don't expect volunteers to stay all twelve hours, but we're running films that entire time. Switching discs and checking IDs will be the main jobs for the volunteers. There is also an outdoor portion to this event, from 6:30 until 8, featuring local band World Collision playing a brand new, original score live to the silent film Nosferatu.
Sunday, October 31, 2010, from noon-midnight. Obviously, we don't expect volunteers to stay all twelve hours, but we're running films that entire time. Again, switching discs and checking IDs will be the main jobs for the volunteers.
Other functions that may be asked of the volunteers: help tearing down / putting up A/V equipment if the tech crew so asks, go-fer / errand runner, sell t-shirts that help to raise money for the Chalk Festival / Avenida de Colores.
There are no paid positions on the Hallowscreen staff. In fact, the entire staff is one person.
To apply, please send your name, availability, and contact information to Hallowscreen@gmail.com . Please use: "Volunteer for Hallowscreen" in your subject so the email doesn't end up in Spam. Volunteers are responsible for getting themselves to and from the event, which is in downtown Sarasota. Finally, serious applicants only, please. Please don't volunteer your time only to not show up and not even let us know that you're not showing up.
To learn more about the Chalk Festival, please go to their website: www.chalkfestival.com .
To learn more about the Hallowscreen Film Festival, please visit our blog: hallowscreen.blogspot.com .
We request that all volunteers are 18 or older as this film festival shows mostly rated R films and as one of the functions of the volunteers will be to check IDs at the door, it doesn't seem right for the volunteer to not be able to see the movies they're carding for!
We need volunteers for the following days:
Friday, October 29, 2010, from 6pm-midnight. 6pm-9pm is the VIP party and 9 pm-midnight is the open to the public portion. The opening night film will be shown during both sections. The volunteer may be called upon to change discs as well as card attendees to verify that they are 17 or older for our films.
Saturday, October 30, 2010, from noon-midnight. Obviously, we don't expect volunteers to stay all twelve hours, but we're running films that entire time. Switching discs and checking IDs will be the main jobs for the volunteers. There is also an outdoor portion to this event, from 6:30 until 8, featuring local band World Collision playing a brand new, original score live to the silent film Nosferatu.
Sunday, October 31, 2010, from noon-midnight. Obviously, we don't expect volunteers to stay all twelve hours, but we're running films that entire time. Again, switching discs and checking IDs will be the main jobs for the volunteers.
Other functions that may be asked of the volunteers: help tearing down / putting up A/V equipment if the tech crew so asks, go-fer / errand runner, sell t-shirts that help to raise money for the Chalk Festival / Avenida de Colores.
There are no paid positions on the Hallowscreen staff. In fact, the entire staff is one person.
To apply, please send your name, availability, and contact information to Hallowscreen@gmail.com . Please use: "Volunteer for Hallowscreen" in your subject so the email doesn't end up in Spam. Volunteers are responsible for getting themselves to and from the event, which is in downtown Sarasota. Finally, serious applicants only, please. Please don't volunteer your time only to not show up and not even let us know that you're not showing up.
To learn more about the Chalk Festival, please go to their website: www.chalkfestival.com .
To learn more about the Hallowscreen Film Festival, please visit our blog: hallowscreen.blogspot.com .
Monday, October 11, 2010
Spooky Empire, Part the Second
I awoke and headed down to the hotel restaurant Augustine's for breakfast. I got overpriced silver dollar pancakes, pretty good potatoes, and to see one of the actors brought in for the weekend being a douche because he was running late and he ordered the wait staff around like little more than chattel. I won't say who he is because maybe he was having a bad day and perhaps doesn't deserve to have his name dragged through the mud, but still. Wheaton's Law must always be in effect: Don't be a dick.
After breakfast, I meandered over to the con and got in line for the first photo op: Heather Langenkamp and Robert Englund. Since Robert Englund's solo op was first, I thought it would be prudent because the lines were a bit of a mess. I didn't care about being first (though that was cool because Mr. Englund and Ms. Langenkamp hadn't settled into a rhythm so I got to see a little behind the Con versions of themselves), I just wanted to make sure I got in there! I didn't know that Mr. Englund would have a glove...every picture I saw that he wore one, I just thought it was provided by the fan so I didn't have an appropriate pose in mind when I went in. Guess I'll have to take another one next time the two of them are in a con near me! Oh darn!
The photo op process is one that, by necessity, goes quick. The printing process takes about an hour or so so I went off to take in more of the con. I bought a couple of shirts: one is a composite of the posters for Nightmares 1-6 (although they used an Asian version of the Nightmare 1 poster, but at least Nancy's represented by the original Nightmare 3 art!) and the other is a shirt for Lucio Fulci's Zombie. :D I may have been there to meet Heather Langenkamp, but I'm still a fan of horror!
My next photo op was with Ms. Langenkamp solo and wasn't supposed to happen until 4:30 so I kill some more time walking around and taking in the environment, then I got into line around 3:45 / 4:00. Then I found out that they were going to smush the one-on-one photo ops for Ms. Wyss, Ms. Langenkamp, and Mr. Saxon into the same time frame as the trio photo op and they pushed it an hour. I figured that was to give more time to the John Carpenter photo op, but then I learned that I was the only one to buy the photo op time for Ms. Langenkamp. (Turns out there were two of us, but judging by this book's cover, I was the less scary one...) So, I went outside to chat with my mom until it was time to get into line for the photo op when two ambulances pulled up.
There are a lot of things that happen at cons. There was a table selling real metal Freddy claws (dulled down, I'm sure, but not collapsable and people are stupid.) People cosplay, some with real weapons as part of their ensemble. Some cosplay in outfits they really shouldn't be wearing and for a multitude of reasons. And some people are just jerks and bring these attitudes in with them. I'd been witness to some douchiness already, mind you, so I thought some stupid fan did something stupid. I found out the next day that the ambulances were for John Carpenter because he'd had a seizure.
Ho. Ly. Crap.
He's okay and when he showed up on Sunday for the Q&A, he looked fit as a fiddle, but that was shocking news, especially when I heard it from a source outside of the con. No one talked about it. A stupid fan does something stupid, you don't hear about it. When one of the fathers of modern horror suffers a seizure at the convention where you're conventioning, you'd think it would've been talked about, but no...weird...
Back to Saturday: I got into line for my solo photo op and got my photo taken with Ms. Langenkamp again. She took a moment to thank me (remembering my name!) and said I should stop back by so she could give me an I Am Nancy button (even though I was already wearing one.) I wasn't about to pass up another I Am Nancy button! I lost my first one in New York when I was there for a film festival and Arlene Marechal and the I Am Nancy crew were nice enough to send me more, but I plan on giving some of those away during Hallowscreen if I'm able to secure a special teaser clip to play. I wanted the movie, but Ms. Langenkamp told me they just submitted to Sundance. Sundance gives special attention and consideration to premieres and it wouldn't be a world premiere anymore if Hallowscreen got it. I hope they get in to Sundance!
Once the photo was printed out, I went in to the autograph room and got her to sign it. She couldn't believe that I didn't have a favourite quote, but liked it when I asked her to sign it with a lyric from the Just the Ten of Us theme, "Life is a race and I know I can win it." Uplifting. Wholesome. Not "screw your pass!" or "9, 10 Never Sleep Again!" or anything like that. Hahahaha! I thanked her again and left to go to the special effects panel hosted by Rick Rodriguez.
Rick isn't a very engaging host. He lost the interest of the once-packed house pretty early on and they all started talking amongst themselves which was very rude, but he seemed to be more focused on name dropping and the effects demonstrations than actually talking to us. To be more precise, it felt more like a long, slightly boring version of Universal's Horror Effects Make-Up Show with pauses to sell products that were made by some of his colleagues. Personally, I wondered why they didn't get Ms. Langenkamp's husband, David LeRoy Anderson, to come in and talk about effects. His work is top notch, but he's not local so maybe that's why the organizers didn't bother. Instead, this guy showed the KNB anniversary reel (he's not a part of KNB so I'm not sure why it was there), a clip from the original Day of the Dead (his army zombie ripped out Miguel's throat at the end of the film, but you don't see the zombie in the movie, you just see the rope latex effect of Miguel's throat), and a few effects clips from other movies.
After that, I went back to my room to give myself time away from people before I went to the VIP party. I got there just in time to see G. Tom Mac play "Cry Little Sister" and see a little kareoke, but a large group of people and alcohol do not a friendly mix make so I hung around for a little bit, then went to see She Wolf Rising at the Freak Show Horror Film Festival. The trailer makes it seem a little goofier than it actually is...it's more of a mindtrip fairy tale of sorts, but Tiffany Shepis was excellent. I talked to the associate producer, Glen, after the film was over about picking up a copy for my festival and he said that I could pick up the back up DVD from the festival organizer the next day so with that all worked out and the movie over, I went back to my room to get some sleep. Sunday was a big day after all!!
~~~~~
I got up early on Sunday and the first thing I noticed was that the world was spinning. Again, I don't drink and I don't do drugs so it could only mean one thing: my vertigo decided it wanted to dance. Yay. I was dizzy, depending on the position my head was in, from 9 am until I went to sleep around 10 pm, but I wasn't about to let it put a damper on the final day of the con!
The VIP badges are good for getting into the convention area early. Mainly, that applies to the dealer's room. I planned on going back to get one of the 3D Elm Street posters so I went in, but, alas, they were all sold out and there were several sprinkled throughout the dealer's room. They had a plethora of Friday the 13th 3D posters, but no Elm Street. Ah well. Instead, I found a WGON shirt, then I got into the VIP line for the first Q&A of the day: Return of the Living Dead!
I love RotLD, not enough to get autographs, but I'm so glad I went to the Q&A! They were all hilarious and warm and they were kind enough to pose for group photos after the show. When the Q&A was over, they asked the staff to lower the house lights and for the audience to illuminate our faces with our cell phones. I was the fastest on the draw with the flashlight app on my phone so they all pointed at me and took my picture. If I can find any, I'll come back and post them.
Immediately following them was the Q&A with John Carpenter! All the general admission schlubs had to get out, but us VIPs got to stay where we were. That's the kind of perk I can enjoy! ;D
That is actress Erin Gray next to him. I don't know why she was his handler, but I thought it was pretty cool regardless. He seemed to take the constant Halloween questions (and questions about the sequels that he has no part in) in stride, but when asked about his newest project, The Ward, he didn't really say much. Now, don't get me wrong, I love Halloween and Escape from New York and Big Trouble in Little China and Cigarette Burns and everything, but I really wanted to hear more about The Ward as it's a new project and he says it's old school horror probably coming out next year. Most importantly, though, it was good to see that he felt well enough to be there!
After that, they kicked everyone out, even VIP, to reset for the Elm Street panel...which was pointless because as soon as I got to the back of the VIP line, they ushered us back in. I lost my seat, though, and ended up a whole seat to the right. :D At first, they were saying it was going to be just Robert Englund, which would've been fun, sure, but I wanted to hear from the whole cast, not just him...then, at the very last second, they brought out more chairs! Yay! The whole cast was coming out!
You'll notice that some of the photos use the flash and some don't...this is the story for all of the photos I took during the Q&As. I didn't want to blind anyone because I wanted to take lots of pictures, but the lights on stage weren't quite good enough for flashless photos. Then, the light wasn't all that good to focus by, either. Ah well. I tried!
Anyway, the Q&A was great. Of course, the questions were focused on Mr. Englund, who does talk a lot, but he tried to involve the other cast members. I was able to ask my question before the end of the Q&A and it went something like this: "This is mainly for Ms. Langenkamp, but I'd love to hear Ms. Wyss weigh in as well. Freddy wouldn't be who he is without Nancy, you need to have the strong hero to balance the strong villain. Were you aware at the time that Nancy would be so important or was that something that dawned on you as the popularity in the film grew?"
I meant the question as more of a Feminist / Woman in Horror type question as opposed to a character centric question, but I really liked the response Ms. Langenkamp and Mr. Englund gave which was that the two of them (mostly Mr. Englund) went for a Beauty and the Beast style energy not so much in the romantic sense (though that was there, too), but in the sense of these diametrically opposed beings struggling with each other and yet they're part of the same energy. Originally, Freddy really was just a dream, a part of Nancy's subconscious as a young girl burgeoning into womanhood. A real life pedophilia scandal in the area around the time Elm Street was being filmed made Wes Craven decide to tone down the pedophiliac aspects of the character, and then producer Bob Shaye wanted the possibility of sequels so he and Mr. Craven fought over the ending until we have what now ends the film.
My favourite thing about Nancy is that she defeats this demonic child murdering pedophile without the conceit of superpowers. Even the series' next strongest female character, Alice, has superpowers in the dream as the Dream Master (which really doesn't help her much at all, to be honest.) Nancy doesn't belong to any clique, she's beautiful in a very real way, she's very smart...she's a regular girl who's been thrown into this impossible circumstance and no one will believe her when she warns them about what's happening. The same thing goes for movie!Heather in Wes Craven's New Nightmare unless you want to call being a dedicated mother a superpower to which I would concede.
This very same thing is what I hate about remake!Nancy: they made her a freaky artist chick, said she knew what was going on when she had no flippin' idea until the Glen surrogate told her what was up, and made her little more than a plaything for Jackie Earle Haley's terrifying portrayal of remake!Freddy. Without that equality between the main characters, the whole story is lost.
And I'm babbling. But I won't delete it, so there. :P
After the Q&A, Ms. Langenkamp happened to pass by me out in the hall so I was able to thank her once more and she thanked me, too! By name! I suppose it's silly to be so giddy that she remembered my name, but I don't care. She remembered my name! :D
Still on a high, I wandered around a bit. The con was winding down and I watched actors pack up their wares to head back to their hotel rooms or catch the next flight out. I thanked Linnea Quigley for coming out (and soon after discovered that she was going to be at a film festival in Ybor which is about an hour north of me, but I'll be at a friend's Halloween party) then remembered that she had a presentation at 4:30 so I went to see that. She and this dude named Erik have put together a half hour comedy pilot about paranormal investigators. Funnily enough, Steve Gonzales from Ghosthunters was in the audience. The show needs work...all the jokes are too "hey, look at me, I'm funny! See? See how funny I am?!" There were a couple of funny bits, but they would've been better with a more subtle build up. At least, they would be in my opinion. I booked out of there kinda fast only because I needed to make sure I was able to pick up the back-up DVD for She Wolf Rising from the Freak Show Film Festival and I wanted to attend the awards ceremony. Ms. Quigley's thing was supposed to end within ten minutes of the ceremony starting, but either the presentation ran late or they started the awards early because I made it back in time only to hear the final award: Best Feature went to Kiss the Abyss.
I was able to get She Wolf Rising from Robert Massetti and then went to my room because the return bus was to leave at 5:15 in the morning. The vertigo went away while I watched something on my iPad before turning it off to go to sleep and other than a little bit of dizziness today, which might have just been tiredness, I've been vertigo-free since I woke up! Yay!
So...long story short (too late), I got to meet my heroine and she was absolutely lovely. I had a great time and I'm glad I was able to do the con at my own pace instead of trying to please a group of people because I was there just to meet Heather Langenkamp and I did a lot of waiting to make sure I got to meet her / see her. All of the other experiences were like the sprinkles on top. It was well worth the time, effort, and money to go to the con and I'm so glad I did it!
As I ate dinner last night, the last actor I saw before heading back to my room was Robert Englund...a nice, circular way to close out a fabulous weekend.
Not that she'll ever read this, but thank you again, Ms. Langenkamp! And thank you Spooky Empire for having her as a guest!
After breakfast, I meandered over to the con and got in line for the first photo op: Heather Langenkamp and Robert Englund. Since Robert Englund's solo op was first, I thought it would be prudent because the lines were a bit of a mess. I didn't care about being first (though that was cool because Mr. Englund and Ms. Langenkamp hadn't settled into a rhythm so I got to see a little behind the Con versions of themselves), I just wanted to make sure I got in there! I didn't know that Mr. Englund would have a glove...every picture I saw that he wore one, I just thought it was provided by the fan so I didn't have an appropriate pose in mind when I went in. Guess I'll have to take another one next time the two of them are in a con near me! Oh darn!
The photo op process is one that, by necessity, goes quick. The printing process takes about an hour or so so I went off to take in more of the con. I bought a couple of shirts: one is a composite of the posters for Nightmares 1-6 (although they used an Asian version of the Nightmare 1 poster, but at least Nancy's represented by the original Nightmare 3 art!) and the other is a shirt for Lucio Fulci's Zombie. :D I may have been there to meet Heather Langenkamp, but I'm still a fan of horror!
My next photo op was with Ms. Langenkamp solo and wasn't supposed to happen until 4:30 so I kill some more time walking around and taking in the environment, then I got into line around 3:45 / 4:00. Then I found out that they were going to smush the one-on-one photo ops for Ms. Wyss, Ms. Langenkamp, and Mr. Saxon into the same time frame as the trio photo op and they pushed it an hour. I figured that was to give more time to the John Carpenter photo op, but then I learned that I was the only one to buy the photo op time for Ms. Langenkamp. (Turns out there were two of us, but judging by this book's cover, I was the less scary one...) So, I went outside to chat with my mom until it was time to get into line for the photo op when two ambulances pulled up.
There are a lot of things that happen at cons. There was a table selling real metal Freddy claws (dulled down, I'm sure, but not collapsable and people are stupid.) People cosplay, some with real weapons as part of their ensemble. Some cosplay in outfits they really shouldn't be wearing and for a multitude of reasons. And some people are just jerks and bring these attitudes in with them. I'd been witness to some douchiness already, mind you, so I thought some stupid fan did something stupid. I found out the next day that the ambulances were for John Carpenter because he'd had a seizure.
Ho. Ly. Crap.
He's okay and when he showed up on Sunday for the Q&A, he looked fit as a fiddle, but that was shocking news, especially when I heard it from a source outside of the con. No one talked about it. A stupid fan does something stupid, you don't hear about it. When one of the fathers of modern horror suffers a seizure at the convention where you're conventioning, you'd think it would've been talked about, but no...weird...
Back to Saturday: I got into line for my solo photo op and got my photo taken with Ms. Langenkamp again. She took a moment to thank me (remembering my name!) and said I should stop back by so she could give me an I Am Nancy button (even though I was already wearing one.) I wasn't about to pass up another I Am Nancy button! I lost my first one in New York when I was there for a film festival and Arlene Marechal and the I Am Nancy crew were nice enough to send me more, but I plan on giving some of those away during Hallowscreen if I'm able to secure a special teaser clip to play. I wanted the movie, but Ms. Langenkamp told me they just submitted to Sundance. Sundance gives special attention and consideration to premieres and it wouldn't be a world premiere anymore if Hallowscreen got it. I hope they get in to Sundance!
Once the photo was printed out, I went in to the autograph room and got her to sign it. She couldn't believe that I didn't have a favourite quote, but liked it when I asked her to sign it with a lyric from the Just the Ten of Us theme, "Life is a race and I know I can win it." Uplifting. Wholesome. Not "screw your pass!" or "9, 10 Never Sleep Again!" or anything like that. Hahahaha! I thanked her again and left to go to the special effects panel hosted by Rick Rodriguez.
Rick isn't a very engaging host. He lost the interest of the once-packed house pretty early on and they all started talking amongst themselves which was very rude, but he seemed to be more focused on name dropping and the effects demonstrations than actually talking to us. To be more precise, it felt more like a long, slightly boring version of Universal's Horror Effects Make-Up Show with pauses to sell products that were made by some of his colleagues. Personally, I wondered why they didn't get Ms. Langenkamp's husband, David LeRoy Anderson, to come in and talk about effects. His work is top notch, but he's not local so maybe that's why the organizers didn't bother. Instead, this guy showed the KNB anniversary reel (he's not a part of KNB so I'm not sure why it was there), a clip from the original Day of the Dead (his army zombie ripped out Miguel's throat at the end of the film, but you don't see the zombie in the movie, you just see the rope latex effect of Miguel's throat), and a few effects clips from other movies.
After that, I went back to my room to give myself time away from people before I went to the VIP party. I got there just in time to see G. Tom Mac play "Cry Little Sister" and see a little kareoke, but a large group of people and alcohol do not a friendly mix make so I hung around for a little bit, then went to see She Wolf Rising at the Freak Show Horror Film Festival. The trailer makes it seem a little goofier than it actually is...it's more of a mindtrip fairy tale of sorts, but Tiffany Shepis was excellent. I talked to the associate producer, Glen, after the film was over about picking up a copy for my festival and he said that I could pick up the back up DVD from the festival organizer the next day so with that all worked out and the movie over, I went back to my room to get some sleep. Sunday was a big day after all!!
~~~~~
I got up early on Sunday and the first thing I noticed was that the world was spinning. Again, I don't drink and I don't do drugs so it could only mean one thing: my vertigo decided it wanted to dance. Yay. I was dizzy, depending on the position my head was in, from 9 am until I went to sleep around 10 pm, but I wasn't about to let it put a damper on the final day of the con!
The VIP badges are good for getting into the convention area early. Mainly, that applies to the dealer's room. I planned on going back to get one of the 3D Elm Street posters so I went in, but, alas, they were all sold out and there were several sprinkled throughout the dealer's room. They had a plethora of Friday the 13th 3D posters, but no Elm Street. Ah well. Instead, I found a WGON shirt, then I got into the VIP line for the first Q&A of the day: Return of the Living Dead!
I love RotLD, not enough to get autographs, but I'm so glad I went to the Q&A! They were all hilarious and warm and they were kind enough to pose for group photos after the show. When the Q&A was over, they asked the staff to lower the house lights and for the audience to illuminate our faces with our cell phones. I was the fastest on the draw with the flashlight app on my phone so they all pointed at me and took my picture. If I can find any, I'll come back and post them.
Immediately following them was the Q&A with John Carpenter! All the general admission schlubs had to get out, but us VIPs got to stay where we were. That's the kind of perk I can enjoy! ;D
That is actress Erin Gray next to him. I don't know why she was his handler, but I thought it was pretty cool regardless. He seemed to take the constant Halloween questions (and questions about the sequels that he has no part in) in stride, but when asked about his newest project, The Ward, he didn't really say much. Now, don't get me wrong, I love Halloween and Escape from New York and Big Trouble in Little China and Cigarette Burns and everything, but I really wanted to hear more about The Ward as it's a new project and he says it's old school horror probably coming out next year. Most importantly, though, it was good to see that he felt well enough to be there!
After that, they kicked everyone out, even VIP, to reset for the Elm Street panel...which was pointless because as soon as I got to the back of the VIP line, they ushered us back in. I lost my seat, though, and ended up a whole seat to the right. :D At first, they were saying it was going to be just Robert Englund, which would've been fun, sure, but I wanted to hear from the whole cast, not just him...then, at the very last second, they brought out more chairs! Yay! The whole cast was coming out!
You'll notice that some of the photos use the flash and some don't...this is the story for all of the photos I took during the Q&As. I didn't want to blind anyone because I wanted to take lots of pictures, but the lights on stage weren't quite good enough for flashless photos. Then, the light wasn't all that good to focus by, either. Ah well. I tried!
Anyway, the Q&A was great. Of course, the questions were focused on Mr. Englund, who does talk a lot, but he tried to involve the other cast members. I was able to ask my question before the end of the Q&A and it went something like this: "This is mainly for Ms. Langenkamp, but I'd love to hear Ms. Wyss weigh in as well. Freddy wouldn't be who he is without Nancy, you need to have the strong hero to balance the strong villain. Were you aware at the time that Nancy would be so important or was that something that dawned on you as the popularity in the film grew?"
I meant the question as more of a Feminist / Woman in Horror type question as opposed to a character centric question, but I really liked the response Ms. Langenkamp and Mr. Englund gave which was that the two of them (mostly Mr. Englund) went for a Beauty and the Beast style energy not so much in the romantic sense (though that was there, too), but in the sense of these diametrically opposed beings struggling with each other and yet they're part of the same energy. Originally, Freddy really was just a dream, a part of Nancy's subconscious as a young girl burgeoning into womanhood. A real life pedophilia scandal in the area around the time Elm Street was being filmed made Wes Craven decide to tone down the pedophiliac aspects of the character, and then producer Bob Shaye wanted the possibility of sequels so he and Mr. Craven fought over the ending until we have what now ends the film.
My favourite thing about Nancy is that she defeats this demonic child murdering pedophile without the conceit of superpowers. Even the series' next strongest female character, Alice, has superpowers in the dream as the Dream Master (which really doesn't help her much at all, to be honest.) Nancy doesn't belong to any clique, she's beautiful in a very real way, she's very smart...she's a regular girl who's been thrown into this impossible circumstance and no one will believe her when she warns them about what's happening. The same thing goes for movie!Heather in Wes Craven's New Nightmare unless you want to call being a dedicated mother a superpower to which I would concede.
This very same thing is what I hate about remake!Nancy: they made her a freaky artist chick, said she knew what was going on when she had no flippin' idea until the Glen surrogate told her what was up, and made her little more than a plaything for Jackie Earle Haley's terrifying portrayal of remake!Freddy. Without that equality between the main characters, the whole story is lost.
And I'm babbling. But I won't delete it, so there. :P
After the Q&A, Ms. Langenkamp happened to pass by me out in the hall so I was able to thank her once more and she thanked me, too! By name! I suppose it's silly to be so giddy that she remembered my name, but I don't care. She remembered my name! :D
Still on a high, I wandered around a bit. The con was winding down and I watched actors pack up their wares to head back to their hotel rooms or catch the next flight out. I thanked Linnea Quigley for coming out (and soon after discovered that she was going to be at a film festival in Ybor which is about an hour north of me, but I'll be at a friend's Halloween party) then remembered that she had a presentation at 4:30 so I went to see that. She and this dude named Erik have put together a half hour comedy pilot about paranormal investigators. Funnily enough, Steve Gonzales from Ghosthunters was in the audience. The show needs work...all the jokes are too "hey, look at me, I'm funny! See? See how funny I am?!" There were a couple of funny bits, but they would've been better with a more subtle build up. At least, they would be in my opinion. I booked out of there kinda fast only because I needed to make sure I was able to pick up the back-up DVD for She Wolf Rising from the Freak Show Film Festival and I wanted to attend the awards ceremony. Ms. Quigley's thing was supposed to end within ten minutes of the ceremony starting, but either the presentation ran late or they started the awards early because I made it back in time only to hear the final award: Best Feature went to Kiss the Abyss.
I was able to get She Wolf Rising from Robert Massetti and then went to my room because the return bus was to leave at 5:15 in the morning. The vertigo went away while I watched something on my iPad before turning it off to go to sleep and other than a little bit of dizziness today, which might have just been tiredness, I've been vertigo-free since I woke up! Yay!
So...long story short (too late), I got to meet my heroine and she was absolutely lovely. I had a great time and I'm glad I was able to do the con at my own pace instead of trying to please a group of people because I was there just to meet Heather Langenkamp and I did a lot of waiting to make sure I got to meet her / see her. All of the other experiences were like the sprinkles on top. It was well worth the time, effort, and money to go to the con and I'm so glad I did it!
As I ate dinner last night, the last actor I saw before heading back to my room was Robert Englund...a nice, circular way to close out a fabulous weekend.
Not that she'll ever read this, but thank you again, Ms. Langenkamp! And thank you Spooky Empire for having her as a guest!
Spooky Empire, Part the First
They say that you should never meet your heroes. After meeting one of mine this weekend, I can tell you that meeting one's heroes doesn't always end in tears of sadness.
This past weekend was Spooky Empire's Ultimate Horror Weekend. When they announced Heather Langenkamp, I kept my eye on their website almost every day to make sure they hadn't already started selling, and thus sold out of, the VIP tickets. I don't think of myself as a VIP and I'm not a partier, but I did want to get into those Q&As faster to get the good seats because my good camera has a nice zoom, but not back-of-the-room nice.
I'm also not an autograph hound, but my mom said I should get something signed and suggested the Just the Ten of Us crew shirt that producer / creator Steve Marshall gave to me years ago. At the last second, I decided to also bring my favourite poster which is an original Fango freebie of Heather Langenkamp and Robert Englund as Nancy and Freddy all dressed up. Judging by the Freddy make-up (yes, I can place a Freddy picture by make-up), I'd say it was taken around the time they made Nightmare 3.
I went up on Thursday, catching the Greyhound at 6:30 in the morning (it was late, though...go figure), and went to Universal to partake of yummy, yummy butterbeer at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and to take photos of some of my favourite things in the park with my good camera.
I went back to my hotel around 6 so I could get my VIP badge and on the way to Walgreens, I saw my first actor: Robert Englund. Well, to be more precise, I heard him before I saw him, mostly because his back was to me. As I was walking past, his handler (Mrs. Englund? I dunno...) gave me the greatest death glare ever! I wasn't going to bother him anyway. At most, I would have nodded and said, "Hello Mr. Englund," but that death glare warned me off ! Woe be to he or she who fucks with Robert Englund while that woman's around!
I saw my second actor when I was heading back across the street after Walgreens: Heather Langenkamp! She was too far away to extend a civilized greeting to and she was in the middle of a conversation with her handler (or patient friend) and I'm not that kind of fan. I kept going, but I'd be lying if I said that I didn't squee a little in excitement and, of course, call my mom and text anyone who would've remotely cared. I didn't fansplode and I didn't, as I became fond of saying over the weekend, get any fan on her.
Later on, I went to the pool-side pre-party and watched Jaws 3D. There were quite a few actors there, people I like and all, but I'm not that kind of fan. It's enough that I got to see them, you know? I didn't even ask Stephen King for his autograph the last time I saw him, I just waved like an idiot and kept walking. Anyway, during the party, I saw Amanda Wyss (she played Tina in A Nightmare on Elm Street.) I kept looking around for John Saxon so I could complete my pre-con ANoES sighting set, but alas, I didn't see him there. The night was still young when Jaws 3D ended, and so am I, but I was tired so I broke rule number 2 of con-going and went back to my room where I watched Wes Craven's New Nightmare on my iPad then went to bed.
Side-note: New Nightmare is my favourite of the sequels. I hate the fifth claw and there are things that don't make much sense, but it's a solid, ahead-of-the-curve film and everyone, Ms. Langenkamp in particular, was so brave to do it. I love it and she's spectacular in it.
By the way...the con-going rules are as follows:
1.) Once you get your badge, you never leave your room without it. Even if you're going to a restaurant at 5 in the morning, you never leave your badge behind. This is a rule I follow at film festivals, too.
2.) Whatever you do...don't fall asleep! I learned this one when I missed the late Kevin Smith (Ares from Xena) being awesome in the hotel bar with all the Xenites when I attended a Xena con back in 1998. However, the idea of staying awake to see if any actors are hanging out at the bar has always seemed creepy to me, not the least of which because I don't drink. Or smoke. Or do drugs.
3.) Attend all of the events you can. You never know when, or if, you'll see anything like this again.
~~~~~
The next day was Friday, the first official day of the convention. The zombie walk they had planned, hosted by the Deadite Empire, wasn't scheduled to start until around 4 or 5 so I got up and decided to get some breakfast and go for a bit of a walk. Who should I see as I headed toward Perkins? Heather Langenkamp! I didn't need to abide by con rule 2! I was lucky enough to see her twice pre-con! She was having breakfast at one of the hotel restaurants; I just giggled to myself as I passed and continued on my way to Perkins.
After breakfast, and my walk down to Wonderworks, I had to leave the zombie walk pre-party to attend to some Hallowscreen business back at the hotel. It was then that I realized that I didn't have any sunblock on. At least my rosacea wouldn't be as pronounced in the photo ops with Ms. Langenkamp! By the time I got back to Uno's Chicago Grill (leave it to a restaurant to be ground zero for the zompocalypse), quite a few really amazing zombies and survivours had shown up and I just started taking pictures of every one! There were TONS of ghouls including Mr. Bill Hinzman, who played the first modern ghoul in cinema for George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead, and Mr. Mike Christopher who played the Hare Krishna ghoul in Dawn of the Dead! They were both in costume and joining in on the festivities! How awesome is that?!
The zombie walk lead everyone who participated to the host hotel where the con was already going. I'd never been to a con like this before so I had no idea what the signing schedule would be like. It turns out that the poor actors are cooped up in a large room signing almost the entire time! Granted, they're making upwards of $200 or $300 an hour signing things over and over, but still...I'd want to get up and check out the rest of the event. I guess that's just not feasible for people like Ms. Langenkamp and definitely not for Mr. Englund.
Anyway, I (again) heard Mr. Englund before I saw him and wandered into the big autograph room and then saw Ms. Langenkamp signing away so I squeaked, went back to my room to get my memorabilia, added a fourth rule to the con-goers list (never leave what you want signed in your room during normal con hours!), and returned and took my place in her line. Then I looked around to see who all was around her: The Return of the Living Dead cast was in the middle of the room. Mr. Saxon and Ms. Wyss were to Ms. Langenkamp's right. In front of Mr. Englund were Kim Myers and Mark Patton from Nightmare 2 and next to them was Ken Sagoes from Nightmares 3 and 4. Beyond that, I honestly couldn't tell you who was where. I was there specifically to meet Heather Langenkamp and was trying to think about what I was going to say when I got to her table.
Apparently, the VIP passes were also supposed to get someone to the front of the autograph line, but I don't remember that as part of the perks for getting the passes. As far as the autograph lines are concerned, I'm glad the Spooky Empire crew didn't honour that if it was a perk because it wouldn't have made that much of a difference: I saw a lot more VIP passes than I saw general admission wristbands.
The thing about the lines at a con is that they're long. That's not the bad part, though. The bad part is the attitude of most of the people in the line especially concerning the length of the line they're in. I was willing to wait for however long I had to in order to meet Ms. Langenkamp. I'd been waiting since I was eight or so, what was another thirty or forty minutes? Besides, it gave me time to calm my nerves. ;D
Finally, I got up to her table and we shook hands and I showed her the memorabilia and started rambling: she loved seeing the original poster because not too many people still have that. The shirt, and the fact that I know Steve Marshall, made her do a double take, and she was gracious when I wanted to give her a copy of my movie. She may not ever watch it, but at least I got the courage up to give it to her! I was also able to tell her nearly everything I wanted to, about her being my hero and how she's the reason why I'm in the business and how much I admire her and everything. I may have sounded a bit weird, but I don't care.
When it came time for her to sign something on the photos and the shirt, though...I was stymied for quotes. My favourite Nancy bits aren't really quotable, they're moments, like when she steps between Rod and Glen when Rod takes out his switchblade or when she confronts her mother after the nightmare at the Katja Institute. I left the decision up her to and on the poster she told me not to fall asleep (hahaha!)
Then we had to think of something for the t-shirt. I haven't seen an episode of Ten of Us in so long because Warner hasn't released it on DVD. I've been watching the Gag Reels (also sent to me by Steve back in the day) and I only really know quotes from that! Thankfully, the guy next to her, one of the people behind the wonderful Elm Street documentary Never Sleep Again (get it...seriously) said that the only Marie quote he knew was the one used in the documentary where she says that it's "like A Nightmare on Elm Street up there!" (He got the quote wrong, it's actually "It's like something out of A Nightmare on Elm Street", but he can't be blamed because hell, I didn't get it right at the time either and she can't be blamed because Ten of Us was, what, 22 years ago?) I thought the quote was hilarious in my weird sense of humour way so she put that on the shirt. I thanked her and floated away so others could have their chance to talk to her, too. I went outside to call my mom and tell her that Heather Langenkamp is a sweetheart, then I posted the same to Facebook and Twitter.
I did have my point and shoot camera with me. No, I didn't ask her for a photo. She'd already given me so much of her time and the people behind me...well...I didn't want to get lynched. Besides, as a filmmaker who does her own cinematography, I wouldn't have been happy with what was taken. ;D I already planned on getting the photo ops so no need!
After I got off the phone, I bought my tickets for the photo ops the next day (one of myself with Ms. Langenkamp and Mr. Englund, then one with just Ms. Langenkamp and myself) roamed the con a bit, then watched the ending of A NIghtmare on Elm Street 3 and stuck around for Ken Sagoes' Q&A. He's so cute and a really funny guy as well! I think he'd make a great Coach if they ever make a Left4Dead movie. Not Louis...Louis is a little whiney.
During the Q&A, Ken (he admonished me later for calling him "Mr. Sagoes") mentioned that he had written a screenovel (that's my term for it, it's a mix of a screenplay and a novel) and hoped that everyone would come back and get it. He said his villain is scarier than Freddy and Jason and Michael so I had to pick it up! Besides, I like to see what some of my favourite people do on the side, you know?
Since I'm not a fan of Repo: The Genetic Opera or Kiss, I went back to my room at the end of the night instead of hanging around for the midnight parties, and went to bed. Saturday was another day, after all!
This past weekend was Spooky Empire's Ultimate Horror Weekend. When they announced Heather Langenkamp, I kept my eye on their website almost every day to make sure they hadn't already started selling, and thus sold out of, the VIP tickets. I don't think of myself as a VIP and I'm not a partier, but I did want to get into those Q&As faster to get the good seats because my good camera has a nice zoom, but not back-of-the-room nice.
I'm also not an autograph hound, but my mom said I should get something signed and suggested the Just the Ten of Us crew shirt that producer / creator Steve Marshall gave to me years ago. At the last second, I decided to also bring my favourite poster which is an original Fango freebie of Heather Langenkamp and Robert Englund as Nancy and Freddy all dressed up. Judging by the Freddy make-up (yes, I can place a Freddy picture by make-up), I'd say it was taken around the time they made Nightmare 3.
I went up on Thursday, catching the Greyhound at 6:30 in the morning (it was late, though...go figure), and went to Universal to partake of yummy, yummy butterbeer at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and to take photos of some of my favourite things in the park with my good camera.
I went back to my hotel around 6 so I could get my VIP badge and on the way to Walgreens, I saw my first actor: Robert Englund. Well, to be more precise, I heard him before I saw him, mostly because his back was to me. As I was walking past, his handler (Mrs. Englund? I dunno...) gave me the greatest death glare ever! I wasn't going to bother him anyway. At most, I would have nodded and said, "Hello Mr. Englund," but that death glare warned me off ! Woe be to he or she who fucks with Robert Englund while that woman's around!
I saw my second actor when I was heading back across the street after Walgreens: Heather Langenkamp! She was too far away to extend a civilized greeting to and she was in the middle of a conversation with her handler (or patient friend) and I'm not that kind of fan. I kept going, but I'd be lying if I said that I didn't squee a little in excitement and, of course, call my mom and text anyone who would've remotely cared. I didn't fansplode and I didn't, as I became fond of saying over the weekend, get any fan on her.
Later on, I went to the pool-side pre-party and watched Jaws 3D. There were quite a few actors there, people I like and all, but I'm not that kind of fan. It's enough that I got to see them, you know? I didn't even ask Stephen King for his autograph the last time I saw him, I just waved like an idiot and kept walking. Anyway, during the party, I saw Amanda Wyss (she played Tina in A Nightmare on Elm Street.) I kept looking around for John Saxon so I could complete my pre-con ANoES sighting set, but alas, I didn't see him there. The night was still young when Jaws 3D ended, and so am I, but I was tired so I broke rule number 2 of con-going and went back to my room where I watched Wes Craven's New Nightmare on my iPad then went to bed.
Side-note: New Nightmare is my favourite of the sequels. I hate the fifth claw and there are things that don't make much sense, but it's a solid, ahead-of-the-curve film and everyone, Ms. Langenkamp in particular, was so brave to do it. I love it and she's spectacular in it.
By the way...the con-going rules are as follows:
1.) Once you get your badge, you never leave your room without it. Even if you're going to a restaurant at 5 in the morning, you never leave your badge behind. This is a rule I follow at film festivals, too.
2.) Whatever you do...don't fall asleep! I learned this one when I missed the late Kevin Smith (Ares from Xena) being awesome in the hotel bar with all the Xenites when I attended a Xena con back in 1998. However, the idea of staying awake to see if any actors are hanging out at the bar has always seemed creepy to me, not the least of which because I don't drink. Or smoke. Or do drugs.
3.) Attend all of the events you can. You never know when, or if, you'll see anything like this again.
~~~~~
The next day was Friday, the first official day of the convention. The zombie walk they had planned, hosted by the Deadite Empire, wasn't scheduled to start until around 4 or 5 so I got up and decided to get some breakfast and go for a bit of a walk. Who should I see as I headed toward Perkins? Heather Langenkamp! I didn't need to abide by con rule 2! I was lucky enough to see her twice pre-con! She was having breakfast at one of the hotel restaurants; I just giggled to myself as I passed and continued on my way to Perkins.
After breakfast, and my walk down to Wonderworks, I had to leave the zombie walk pre-party to attend to some Hallowscreen business back at the hotel. It was then that I realized that I didn't have any sunblock on. At least my rosacea wouldn't be as pronounced in the photo ops with Ms. Langenkamp! By the time I got back to Uno's Chicago Grill (leave it to a restaurant to be ground zero for the zompocalypse), quite a few really amazing zombies and survivours had shown up and I just started taking pictures of every one! There were TONS of ghouls including Mr. Bill Hinzman, who played the first modern ghoul in cinema for George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead, and Mr. Mike Christopher who played the Hare Krishna ghoul in Dawn of the Dead! They were both in costume and joining in on the festivities! How awesome is that?!
The zombie walk lead everyone who participated to the host hotel where the con was already going. I'd never been to a con like this before so I had no idea what the signing schedule would be like. It turns out that the poor actors are cooped up in a large room signing almost the entire time! Granted, they're making upwards of $200 or $300 an hour signing things over and over, but still...I'd want to get up and check out the rest of the event. I guess that's just not feasible for people like Ms. Langenkamp and definitely not for Mr. Englund.
Anyway, I (again) heard Mr. Englund before I saw him and wandered into the big autograph room and then saw Ms. Langenkamp signing away so I squeaked, went back to my room to get my memorabilia, added a fourth rule to the con-goers list (never leave what you want signed in your room during normal con hours!), and returned and took my place in her line. Then I looked around to see who all was around her: The Return of the Living Dead cast was in the middle of the room. Mr. Saxon and Ms. Wyss were to Ms. Langenkamp's right. In front of Mr. Englund were Kim Myers and Mark Patton from Nightmare 2 and next to them was Ken Sagoes from Nightmares 3 and 4. Beyond that, I honestly couldn't tell you who was where. I was there specifically to meet Heather Langenkamp and was trying to think about what I was going to say when I got to her table.
Apparently, the VIP passes were also supposed to get someone to the front of the autograph line, but I don't remember that as part of the perks for getting the passes. As far as the autograph lines are concerned, I'm glad the Spooky Empire crew didn't honour that if it was a perk because it wouldn't have made that much of a difference: I saw a lot more VIP passes than I saw general admission wristbands.
The thing about the lines at a con is that they're long. That's not the bad part, though. The bad part is the attitude of most of the people in the line especially concerning the length of the line they're in. I was willing to wait for however long I had to in order to meet Ms. Langenkamp. I'd been waiting since I was eight or so, what was another thirty or forty minutes? Besides, it gave me time to calm my nerves. ;D
Finally, I got up to her table and we shook hands and I showed her the memorabilia and started rambling: she loved seeing the original poster because not too many people still have that. The shirt, and the fact that I know Steve Marshall, made her do a double take, and she was gracious when I wanted to give her a copy of my movie. She may not ever watch it, but at least I got the courage up to give it to her! I was also able to tell her nearly everything I wanted to, about her being my hero and how she's the reason why I'm in the business and how much I admire her and everything. I may have sounded a bit weird, but I don't care.
When it came time for her to sign something on the photos and the shirt, though...I was stymied for quotes. My favourite Nancy bits aren't really quotable, they're moments, like when she steps between Rod and Glen when Rod takes out his switchblade or when she confronts her mother after the nightmare at the Katja Institute. I left the decision up her to and on the poster she told me not to fall asleep (hahaha!)
Then we had to think of something for the t-shirt. I haven't seen an episode of Ten of Us in so long because Warner hasn't released it on DVD. I've been watching the Gag Reels (also sent to me by Steve back in the day) and I only really know quotes from that! Thankfully, the guy next to her, one of the people behind the wonderful Elm Street documentary Never Sleep Again (get it...seriously) said that the only Marie quote he knew was the one used in the documentary where she says that it's "like A Nightmare on Elm Street up there!" (He got the quote wrong, it's actually "It's like something out of A Nightmare on Elm Street", but he can't be blamed because hell, I didn't get it right at the time either and she can't be blamed because Ten of Us was, what, 22 years ago?) I thought the quote was hilarious in my weird sense of humour way so she put that on the shirt. I thanked her and floated away so others could have their chance to talk to her, too. I went outside to call my mom and tell her that Heather Langenkamp is a sweetheart, then I posted the same to Facebook and Twitter.
I did have my point and shoot camera with me. No, I didn't ask her for a photo. She'd already given me so much of her time and the people behind me...well...I didn't want to get lynched. Besides, as a filmmaker who does her own cinematography, I wouldn't have been happy with what was taken. ;D I already planned on getting the photo ops so no need!
After I got off the phone, I bought my tickets for the photo ops the next day (one of myself with Ms. Langenkamp and Mr. Englund, then one with just Ms. Langenkamp and myself) roamed the con a bit, then watched the ending of A NIghtmare on Elm Street 3 and stuck around for Ken Sagoes' Q&A. He's so cute and a really funny guy as well! I think he'd make a great Coach if they ever make a Left4Dead movie. Not Louis...Louis is a little whiney.
During the Q&A, Ken (he admonished me later for calling him "Mr. Sagoes") mentioned that he had written a screenovel (that's my term for it, it's a mix of a screenplay and a novel) and hoped that everyone would come back and get it. He said his villain is scarier than Freddy and Jason and Michael so I had to pick it up! Besides, I like to see what some of my favourite people do on the side, you know?
Since I'm not a fan of Repo: The Genetic Opera or Kiss, I went back to my room at the end of the night instead of hanging around for the midnight parties, and went to bed. Saturday was another day, after all!
Friday, October 1, 2010
Hallowscreen news and other things...
Whew! Things have been crazy around these parts. I've been working feverishly on the Hallowscreen Film Festival (the Sarasota Fringe Film Festival is no longer a part of the name or the organizational team, they're sponsors.) My workload has pretty much tripled and none of it is paid...thankfully, I love what I'm doing and it'll put my name out there in the community so it's a matter of balance...or rationalization. I'm not picky. ;D
I'm still working on the schedule, but you can check out what we'll be screening by heading over to the new website: hallowscreen.blogspot.com. It's going to be so much fun!! Like I said in the blog, I'm not too proud to put my own movies in the festival so aftershock and Without/Within will be shown! (But I'll also pull them if I need time or something. One never knows!)
The Hallowscreen Film Festival is now a completely free event - it costs nothing to submit and there's no admission fee. We'll have donation boxes set up at the venues with the money going to the Avenida de Colores, a 501(c)3 arts education program here in Sarasota. Hallowscreen is part of the Sarasota Chalk Festival, a HUGE, international performance / street art event that's happening over Halloween weekend. Seriously, it's going to be amazing! Amazingly amazing! Edgar Mueller will be here, for pete's sakes, and it's his first American installation!
I know this is pretty last minute, but I'll be at the GreenHome WamaLama Green Business Expo tomorrow at Robarts to promote the event. If you're at the expo, stop by and say hi!
I'm still working on the schedule, but you can check out what we'll be screening by heading over to the new website: hallowscreen.blogspot.com. It's going to be so much fun!! Like I said in the blog, I'm not too proud to put my own movies in the festival so aftershock and Without/Within will be shown! (But I'll also pull them if I need time or something. One never knows!)
The Hallowscreen Film Festival is now a completely free event - it costs nothing to submit and there's no admission fee. We'll have donation boxes set up at the venues with the money going to the Avenida de Colores, a 501(c)3 arts education program here in Sarasota. Hallowscreen is part of the Sarasota Chalk Festival, a HUGE, international performance / street art event that's happening over Halloween weekend. Seriously, it's going to be amazing! Amazingly amazing! Edgar Mueller will be here, for pete's sakes, and it's his first American installation!
I know this is pretty last minute, but I'll be at the GreenHome WamaLama Green Business Expo tomorrow at Robarts to promote the event. If you're at the expo, stop by and say hi!
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