Report: FANGO WOH-2

Part 1 /
Part 2

Hey guys and dolls, Arrow here with Part 2 of
my FANGORIA WEEKEND OF HORRORS

report/ramblings/whatever you want to call it

(read Part 1 here). Today was CLIVE BARKER DAY,
so you can be sure that there were more people in the house while the energy level was higher.
GOOD SHITE! Here’s how my day went overall, daddy-os!

Dante Tomaselli is an indie directors that I highly respect. I dare
you to find a more ambitious, talented and rock and roll director out there.
HORROR is still on my fav film list! The SATAN PLAYGROUND panel were in
good spirits and who can blame them, it was revealed that the film just got
acquired by ANCHOR BAY for distribution. CONGRATS GUYS!

CLIPS:


We were show the Satan’s Playground trailer but since I’ve seen the film and I
encourage you to
read my review of it here, where it will
disclose more than what I can sum up in 10 lines about the spooky trailer.

Here’s what Satan said to me:

– Dante Tomaselli is a
horror director and that’s all he wants to do…horror. Nice!

– Dante Tomaselli is eyeing
out Jessica Harper (of Suspiria fame) to be the lead in The Ocean

– The Ocean will be his
most Giallo inclined film in terms of visual style.

– Expect Felissa Rose, Ellen Sandweiss
and Danny Lopez to all make appearances in The Ocean. Judith O’Dea of “Night of
the Living Dead” fame will also make an appearance.

-This must be said; Ellen
Sandweiss is sizzling hot! Wow! Baby looks good!

-In related NEWS, Anchor
Bay has revealed that we should expect CEMETARY MAN to hit the DVD racks in
2006. I sure hope so, I love that freaking film!

One thing I heard a lot this weekend out of genre
filmmakers mouths was “the fear of being pigeon-holed” as a horror director. How
swell was it to hear the total opposite from Mr. Tomaselli who SOLELY wants
to do horror. For me this was a rewarding sit down for many reason. Not only was
the panel engaging but I also finally got to meet Dante in person and he wound
up being a class act!

REEKER gets
my must-see film that I hadn’t heard much about before today tag! It looks like
good gory and funny fun with a “smell” equaling death (that’s what I got out of
it)! Somewhere between a smelly Cabin Fever and well…Cabin Fever!
Here’s the lowdown kids!

CLIPS: We
we’re show clips and the trailer. One clip had a car ram into a deer (Cabin
Fever anyone?) to then reveal a man with half his head sliced off. OUCH! Another
clip showed Eric Mabius as a yuppy drug dealer selling some candy to one of the
lead’s out of his 9 1/2 Weeks like loft. When asked by the lead if the
drugs were good, Mabius answers him by punching him clean in the face; I laughed my
ass off! Lastly we were shown a clip with Michael Ironside doing his
schtick; good
clip
and great lines! Remember this one “Half a trucker”. LOL!

I encourage you to

view the
trailer for yourselves here!

The panel flashed this
at me:

-Director
David Payne set out to
make a fun and cool horror movie. That was his goal.

-The film was shot on 35
Mm.

-The Eric Mabius character
wears braces in the film (???) and he also acts as a “red herring” in terms of
the mystery.

– Michael Ironside came on
set a dedicated professional and gave the director three types of “Ironside
acting modes”. So when directing him, Payne would say “Michael give me # 1 for
this scene” or “Michael give me number 2 for that scene”. Hilarious!

-Actress Tina Hillman who
plays Gretchen in the film also co-produced the film.

-Director David Payne
broke in the business through being a craft guy. He then graduated to writing
screenplays for Roger Corman to then finally direct.

–
Arielle Kebbel who plays Cookie in the film is such an "Arrow Approved" looker.
DAMN! SEE HER SITE
HERE

The Reeker panel reeked of
independent spirit where enthusiasm, bluntness and a good sense of humor
prevailed. And where did Mabius get his clothes! Loved that “Thomas Jane” vibe! The film itself looked like a hoot and I for one have it up on my
bedpost
of flicks 2 bag

CLIVE
“THE MAN WITH A HEART OF GOLD” BARKER

I was outside
having a cigarette when Clive got out of his limo with his entourage and walked
into the convention center. When I got back in, it was clear to me that Barker was
the main event of the weekend where I hadn’t seen so many folks in the
Convention Room thus now. Barker’s panel, hosted by the animated Tony Timpone
wound up being a different type of sit down with an emotional and
blunt Barker taking the microphone and having all of us in the room “thinking”.
From his hard upbringing, to the hardships that came with being gay and the Studio
BS that he’s gone through, this panel was heavy meal.

Here’s what Clive had to
say:

– Clive started painting
some more after all the bull-shit he went through with
Hollywood studios. At least expressing himself in that fashion gives him total
control.

– His books
destined for children named ABARAT tell stories half with prose and half with
images.

– He always
paints the images first and then finds the story that goes with them.

– Clive always
re-read his books out loud to himself after finishing them up; it is for him the
ultimate test as to the book’s quality.

– He took a
year and half to write ABARAT BOOK 2, he finished it, read it and then tossed it
in the trash where he hated it. He then re-wrote the whole book.

– His next
novel will be called THE SCARLET GOSPEL where he will aim to return to his roots
and shock the hell out of people.

– THE SCARLET
GOSPEL will be set in hell and will clearly explain the nature of Pinhead,
untangle the contradictions that the films have created about him and give him a
dignified death, where Dimension Films can’t reach him.

– His book
after THE SCARLET GOSPEL will be ABSOLUTE MIDNIGHT which will be even darker
than the latter.

-John
Harrisson adapted his first 2 ABARAT books into screenplays.

– Disney has
acquired the film rights to ABARAT

-Barker is
now producing THE PLAGUE under his own Prod Company. The film tells the tale of
children falling asleep for 10 years to wake up with dark appetites and desires.

– His Prod
Company aims to deliver hard R pictures shot on a modest budget.

– Clive’s
next film as a Producer will be an adaptation of his short story “The Meat
Train” which he says will be a hardcore movie shot in New York.

-Pinhead VS.
Michael didn’t happen because the people behind the Halloween franchise didn’t
want Michael demeaned by Pinhead. They felt that their characters and mythology
were a step above the Hellraiser world. Basically Pinhead wasn’t good enough to
be in the same film as Michael…okay…

-Universal
dropped Tortured Souls The Movie because their film DOOM dealt with demons and
hey didn’t want two demon films on their slate…again…okay…

-Tortured
Souls will happen and Clive just might direct it…YIPPEE!

– One of
Clive’s favorite movies is Destroy All Monsters. He would love to see a film in
that vein that would have all of the current top genre villains battle it out,
with the match ending with the film Studios set aflame.

-Clive will
be introducing a line of Plush Toys to the world called “Jump Tribe”. The toys
will be aimed at 5/6 years old and will come with little books that tell the
toys’
story.

– Clive wants
to return to the world of CABAL but he’s thinking outside of movies…maybe a TV
series. They’re is already some talks as to the project.

-Clive is
into writing for children now of late where he wants to give them a refuge from
the hardships of life.

– He believes
that imagination is the key to reaching the next evolutionary stage.

WOW, what a
panel. You just had to be there to understand just how heartfelt it was. I now
know why Clive means so much to many. It was great to see the chap again and I
for one hope he goes back to directing ASAP. Hellraiser, Lord of Illusion (Director’s Cut) and even the Studio butchered
NightBreed are all superior works and we need a guy like him within our genre
and behind the lens NOW!

CHARLES “GROUNDED
HOLLYWOOD” BAND

After a
couple of drinks to digest the moving Clive Barker panel, I waltzed in the
Charles Band panel and caught a couple of interesting bits. It should be said
that Band came across as a true veteran of the trade. Confident, knowledgeable,
grounded and flirting with the ladies. A bonafida industry type!

Hop on this Band Wagon:

– They have a
great script for Subspecies 5 but being that the budget is high (40 Million) and
that it is no longer cheap to shoot in Romania (with all the productions going
on), they’re holding off on it. He doesn’t want Radu in LA, he wants him in
Romania.

– They’re
will a PRISON DVD (YES!!!), its being worked on now.

– In the case
of The Gingerdead Man, Gary Busey had 6 lines in his “Live Busey” scene. The actor had Band shoot
one line at a time which Band thought was odd. But when Busey wound up
improvising in between each takes, he finally got it and was happy as to the
result.

-When Busey
came in to do the ADR (record his lines for the killer cookie) on The Gingerdead Man, Band was nervous. The lines were already
set and the film shot, hence Busey couldn’t improvise. Luckily for Band,
Busey was off to meet some gal and what should’ve been a 6 hours process took half an
hour with Busey, saying the exact lines in a flash and then barging out. Must have been a
cutie waiting for him!

CHECK OUT THE GINGERDEAD MAN TRAILER HERE

Straight up,
it’s the funniest shite I’ve seen since I looked down my pants.

GROOVY TRAILER MOMENT: I got to see the trailer to Larry Fessenden’s
next film
THE LAST WINTER starring Ron Perlman and James Le Gros.
Atmospheric, polished and mysterious, that trailer had me my the hacky-sack!
Loved the snowy setting (the film is set in Alaska) which reminded of of "The
Thing". I can’t wait Larry! BRING IT! See some on location stills from
THE
LAST WINTER here!

STEPHEN KING’S GOTHAM
CAFÉ

JULIE SANDS

Last but definitely not
least was a special screening of Jack Edward
Sawyers short “GOTHAM CAFE”. Actress, Writer, Hottie and Producer
Julie Sands was on hand to present the film which is based on one of
Stephen King’s short stories (King liked the film so much that he
gave her the right to use his name in the credits and lent his voice for an
off-screen phone call in the flick).

The film itself was a hoot! Granted, it took me awhile to
get into it where it first felt an inch too artsy for my tastes. But once the
Pyscho Chef went coo-coo (brilliantly played by Cullen Douglas…that
Chef was NUTS! ) and the gore went splat; the flick rushed forward with style,
panache, intensity and mucho laughs. One of the biggest surprise for me was
seeing Julie Sands open up her shirt in the film to reveal huge, implanted yet
quite lovely breasts trapped in a bra.

I found her okay onstage but after viewing the film, I
perceived her in an “another” way. And look out for that Mick Garris cameo as a
Priest! After the film, Sands went on to share with us that Cullen was so
convincing in his audition that both the Police and the Mayor (who was in the
same building where the auditions took place) rushed into the room where they
though somebody was getting killed. Now that’s acting!

EXTRA PICTURES 4 U

Actress Nicole Roderick and I from the promising looking
NIGHTMARE (

See the
website here )

And that was that on that! Both Deke and I stayed at the Hotel for an extra
night (where we were too bushed and drunk to drive) but much to our dismay everybody had left
the premises. So all that was left to do was watch SEINFELD on TV, finish the JD
bottle and take shifts as to whom would use the bathroom when “whack attacks”
surfaced. Another wonderful Con! Thank you JoBlo.com and Fangoria for making it
happen! Thanks to Deke Richards for coming along and for his fine work.
And thank God I survived the US Customs (they hate me there for some reason).

PS: You know what, with all this said and done, my favorite
moment of the weekend was
when on our way back to Montreal, we stopped to buy booze in some small US town
and happened upon a nearby lake. That lake moved me…

The simpler things in life are the ones
that make the
most sense to me now of late.

Arrow out…

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Source: Arrow in the Head