Famous Monsters

I'm not much of a convention goer. I went to a few Doctor Who conventions back in the mid to late 80s and excluding this year I went to Inconjunction, here in Indianapolis, the past couple of years and presented panels. Inconjunction is a fan produced convention put on by a local science fiction club called The Circle of Janus. The guests are primarily literary guests from the science fiction and fantasy community. My first Inconjunction was back in the 80s when I was promoting our Doctor Who Fan Club, The Whoosier Network, and getting signatures on a petition to show the local PBS station the popularity of Doctor Who. The Whoosier Network has maintained a strong presence at the convention since.

My attendance has been sporadic at best. Panels I presented in 2008 and 2009 were all concerned with horror. "The Evolution of Universal Monsters", "Cheesiest Monsters From A -Z", "An Introduction to The British Horror Film", "Universal and Hammer: An Analytical Comparison" and "The Concept of Horror in the Doctor Who Universe" were the topics I presented using Power Point.

The convention I enjoyed going to most took place in Butler Pennsylvania a few years ago. Monster Bash is an annual event celebrating classic horror movies. In 2003, I took my son Jason and we had a fabulous time. We met Julie Adams and Ben Chapman from The Creature From the Black Lagoon and Kevin McCarthy who discussed his work on Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Sarah Karloff shared tales of her father and Don Reese, a comedian with a horror slant, was terrific, and Jason was selected to be made up by former Univeresal make-up artist and CSI contributor John Goodman.

Kevin McCarthy with Pod

In the midst of Monsters

The lovely Julie Adams and the Creature (the late
Ben Chapman)

Jason and I admiring the actual King Kong Aperature

Jason turned into the Monster


Last week Jason and I jumped at the chance to attend the Famous Monsters Convention held at the Wyndham Hotel here in Indy. This was a celebration of the return of Famous Monsters of Film Land Magazine. Philip Kim the new owner of the publication is committed to fulfilling the vision of the late great Forry Ackerman who spearheaded the magazine during its glory years.

As a "Monster Kid" of the 60s I have always been fascinated with the Horror/ Monster genre, and Famous Monsters along with Aurora Monster Models and watching Nightmare Theatre with Sammy Terry (a film tribute was honored Sammy at the convention and his son was collecting signatures to petition the Indiana State Museum to have a permanent exhibit of Sammy) was a staple of my childhood and has continued with me my entire life.

Below Sammy is Judith O'Dea from the original Night of the Living Dead- "They're coming to get you Barbara." After viewing a beautiful print of NOTLD projected on a theatre sized screen, we were treated to the majority of the cast discussing their involvement in the film and its history.

Jason found himself distracted from many of the events going on at the convention. There were quite a few beautiful woman at the convention particularly during the first day when a Beauty contest was held.

One particular beauty who wasn't in the contest but a guest was Cerina Vincent. Many would remember her as the foreign exchange student who walked around school naked in the film "Not Another Teen Movie". The movie did nothing to display her acting talent but did exhibit her physical attributes. Cerina's work in horror films since then has been where she has carved out a nice little niche. I believe she is one of the top actresses in horror today. She may be best known for her scene in Cabin Fever where the skin on her leg begins sluffing off as she is shaving her legs in the bath tub. She was excellent in the film but she has also had prominent roles in Intermedio, Sasquatch Mountain, Seven Mummies, Return to House on Haunted Hill and what I believe is her best work in which she had the lead role It Waits. Hers was the only autograph I got at the convention and she was kind enough to have her picture taken with me. She like everyone else we spoke with was very personable and appreciative of the fans.

Another guest I enjoyed speaking with briefly was Terrance Zdunich, Graverobber from Repo The Genetic Opera. He is the driving force behind this horror film rock opera which has become a cult hit and is becoming a hit at midnight showings much like its predecessor The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Terrance is a composer, artist and writer and lent these considerable talents to the making of the film. Anthony Stewart Head also stars in the film as the Repo Man. Friday night I attended the midnight showing of the film in the theatre and the place was packed. Many were in costume and a large contingent interacted with the film. It was fun.

It was our intention to see the Lost Boys panel but because it was held in the hotel bar Jason wasn't allowed. We turned our attention to a movie being screened called Downstream which we both enjoyed. The story, written by Famous Monster's Philip Kim, is a quite enjoyable post-apocalyptic flick well worth seeing. It will be available on DVD this fall.

On Saturday we attended a Return of the Living Dead panel and a panel honoring Famous Monsters and Forry Ackerman. The biggest hoot of the convention took place Saturday afternoon/ early evening when Charles Band who is the creative force behind Full Moon pictures and has been responsible for producing and or directing the Puppet Master, Trancers and Subspecies series of films. He has also been very involved with many of the films of Stuart Gordon like Re-Animator and From Beyond. His Road Show tours the country and for the convention he presented a scaled down version of the show. He told a variety of behind the scenes tales of hilarity and then topped it off by selecting members of the audience who volunteered to be players in a short skit. The selection process alone was incridibly funny. This show probably should have taken part in the bar (The bar wouldn't have been large enough to hold the vast number of people attending) as it it was truly intended for mature audiences and I noticed there were some kids watching. I think this was unfortunate and should have been avoided.

It appeared Sunday's attendance was a little more reduced and the Mick Garris panel I attended surprisingly had only a handful of people show up. For those unfamiliar with Mick's work, he is the man who got most of the famous directors associated with horror together for the Masters Of Horror series originally presented on ShowTime. He also has been responsible for the direction on many of the better presentations of Stephen King's work like The Stand and the mini series of The Shining and Desperation. Because there were only about 6 of us show up, he sat down at a table with all of us and we had a very enjoyable conversation for a little over an hour. He discussed his current interviews he is doing with famous horror personalities called Post Mortem on Fear Net. He talked about subjects technical in nature and told amusing stories about his early work in films. He was happy to answer our questions and expressed his appreciation of being able to sit down with some fans and talk with them rather than standing at a lecturn speaking to a crowd. It was a special way to wind down my convention experience as Mick is an extremely personal guy as well as engaging. I look forward to his next film when he brings us King's Bag of Bones.

I almost didn't go to the convention having trouble justifying the expense and I did spend to much money not only on the tickets but also on merchandise. I found a couple of movies I have been looking for to add to my collection as well as a number of magazines. I could have spent alot more though. The only regret was not purchasing a back issue of Famous Monsters of Film Land. I have a small collection of early back issues but the issue I'd like to have the most is FM#30. It featured a column on The Powers of Dracula and I can remember having this issue as a kid and thoroughly digesting Dracula's powers. I found a copy in pretty good condition for $60, but I had already spent too much.

Jason and I both had a great time and I hope Phil Kim will bring it back to Indy some time in the future.