Fangoria 2008 - mini report

Who says horror is dead? There may be a few corpses strewn about, but the pulse is strong (sadly, yes… Dimension is making a Pulse 2, but that is another story). The proof is in the blood-pudding: Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors L.A. has grown so huge, that it was moved from its longtime home at the Burbank Marriott to the massive Los Angeles Convention Center. What's more, there was a porn-party next-door! (Everyone was hoping for overflow, but Fango and Adult Con were not close enough to get past first base.)

The festivities kicked off on Friday April 25, and culminated in one of the best panel lineups seen at a Fango in years. While most of the panels consist of new movies and old favorites, seldom seen are so many people behind the scenes of genuine and genre-transcending classics like 1960's Psycho. But Panel moderator and director of the Psycho Legacy documentary, Robert Galuzzo, pulled it off without a hitch (insert your Hitchcock pun here).

Guests from all four movies assembled, including: Hilton Green (Assistant director, Psycho; producer, Psycho II-IV), Tom Holland (Writer, Psycho II), Andrew London (Editor, Psycho II) Chris Hendrie (Deputy Pool, Psycho II), Lee Garlington (Myrna, Psycho II-III), Kurt Paul (“Mother,” Psycho II-III), Katt Shea, (Patsy, Psycho III), Juiliette Cummins, (Red, Psycho III), Donovan Scott (Kyle, Psycho III), Mick Garris (Director, Psycho IV), and Cynthia Garris (Ellen Stevens, Psycho IV).

Several clips were shown from the documentary (check out the MySpace page here http://www.myspace.com/thepsycholegacy) and I have to say, it's very impressive. The best thing about it, is the humor and unique perspective of the interviewees (up-and-coming horror directors Adam Green and Joe Lynch drew the biggest laughs). This isn't (your) Mother's documentary — there is definitely some welcome out-of-the-box thinking at work here!

Throughout the big weekend, horror.com got exclusive interviews with Adam Rockoff (author of Rise & Fall of the Slasher Film, and screenwriter of a new movie, Wicked Lake), Terrance Zdunich (writer / actor from the forthcoming Repo! The Genetic Opera), Gunnar Hansen (actor in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and the brand-new Brutal Massacre), Sid Haig (Spider Baby, the Devil's Rejects… and perhaps our next U.S. President?), Chuck Williams (Bubba Ho-Tep, and an as-yet unnamed horror comedy with Bridgette Marquardt of Playboy fame), Adam Gierasch (director, Autopsy), Jace Anderson (writer, Dario Argento's Mother of Tears), and a few fun surprises!

Just a few of the other big names at the show this year: George A. Romero, Clive Barker, Angus Scrimm, Rob Tapert, Tiffany Shepis, Ken Foree, Joe Dante, Tony Todd, Shawnee Smith, and Lynn Lowry.

Special thanks must go to Tony Timpone of Fangoria, and Monica Gillen of Creation — you guys are the best!

[click the image above to enlarge]

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