Rue Morgue Festival of Fear - Blog and Pics

[Despare]

I made it finally (super late) but we took a while finding a phone card, and finding our way around... when I finally called Urge it was too late (Sunday around 11 I think). I'm going again next year though, it was a blast! I might put some pics up in the pimp your photos thread so as not to defile Urge's gorgeous pics with my trash. :)

[urgeok2]

Originally Posted by Despare

I made it finally (super late) but we took a while finding a phone card, and finding our way around... when I finally called Urge it was too late (Sunday around 11 I think). I'm going again next year though, it was a blast! I might put some pics up in the pimp your photos thread so as not to defile Urge's gorgeous pics with my trash. :)

no ! put them in here !

all the rest of mine are pretty messy so yours will probably be the good ones :)

[urgeok2]

ok ... here we go.

The Interview with Tobe ran much longer (happily) than i expected - so i had to rush around after that to make it to the con on time.

I stopped for a couple of street dogs - thank god - because i always forget to eat at these things. eventually the sensory overload has me walking around in a sweaty daze.

I had to go back to where i parked my car - swap out the unnessessary photo gear with DVDs i wanted to get signed. By the time i dragged my stuff back to the con and made it through the sign in line i was soaking wet with sweat. - attractive - i know. I eventually went into the washroom and did the cold water and towel thing until i felt refreshed again.

finally at 2:00PM the doors opened to the early bird folks. I ran around to see what deals there were with the vendors - suprised to see that Sid Haig was already at his seat for signing (the guests dont usually show up until 5:00 or 6:00 ... this guy was a work horse.

1st thing i did is to hit Suspect Video - one of the 2 essential video stores at the con. I bought Spider Baby and Faster Pussycat Kill Kill to get signed as well as a couple of others.

Sid's line was still short at that point so i went straight there and got Spider Baby signed. Nice guy - likes to joke around ... shared my grief that Galaxy of Terror wasnt available on DVD.



From there i went to Cinema 1 - the other essential DVD place and found that they were selling several Tartan Asia Extreme titles for $8.99 each .. so I bought 10 titles and a couple of other things. Now I have an additional heavy bag to haul around that i attached to my case (that had wheels and a handle)
this case would pull out of my grasp and fall over spilling half the contents every time i ran over taped down cables or carpet edges - so in other words - every 5 minutes.

Swinging past the guest area i saw Tura Santana had arrived so I popped in her line ... nice gal .. very friendly and obviously having a good time ...
She insisted everyone sit on her lap to get their pictures taken with her .. i told her i'd kill her but she made me anyway ...



I popped by Tobe Hoopers signing - the promotional guy i met later wouldnt let me pay to get the 3 DVDs i had to get signed - and gave me a promotional photo for me to scan and pass onto chris for the newspaper article - but it didnt get used either. I got Lifeforce, Texas Chainsaw 2, and Invaders For Mars signed. the picture someone took of us was horrible but I told Tobe i would be back with my son the next day and we'd get a good one then


After my stuff falling over and me getting heavier and heavier with every purchase and freebee i figured i'd better make the 30 minute trek back to the car, unload a lot of weight and change t-shirts. I bought a Video Dead t-shirt despite the lighter - more flimsy fabric - but became greatful as it was nice and light - so i changed into it and felt cooler immediately.

On my return i was suprised to see Ruggero Deodato had arrived ... and i was pissed because i just left my Cannibal Holocaust laserdisc back in my car. there was no one at his table so i decided to go over anyway.
Before i got there - Rugerro's assistant was all excited and asking me where i got the Video Dead t-shirt so I told him (he bought one soon after)
I got Ruggero to sign a photo - saying i'd be back the next day with my son and the laserdisc ... I did get a picture - then he started asking me about my camera (he has the D200 - i have the D300 ... so i gave it to him to check out.

[urgeok2]

Next i went to see Kristy Swanson. Lord is she beautiful. If you wanted a proper picture of her you had to buy a phoro op pass - which i did (pictures to be taken professionally in a seperate room 6:00pm that night) but we could get pics of her signing stuff. (she signed my laserdisc of Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

I took pics for the guy ahead of me and he took some for me - and when she saw my cam she asked to see it - then took a terrible picture of me that i'll only keep because she took it :) lovely girl and very fun:)

I popped by the horrorfest booth and checked out the 8 Films to Die For box sets (1st 2 years) we cant get them up here unfortunately. Got my picture taken with the gal in the booth (she has a small part in Butterfly Effect 3)
She was a lot of fun, but as i noticed through the next 2 days she seemed to be losing her entheusiasm rapidly ... (maybe had to deal with too many jerks and weirdos)

I only found out later that this was the girl that Lilmissscareall was competing with !



nice enough, attractive girl ... but in all honesty - lilmissscareall is way hotter.


I popped by another booth run by a local Canadian horror filmmaker ... bought 3 of his films and got a pic of a really pretty, bubbly girl in one of the films.
Really nice folks ... and honestly friendly.




I also met Edward James Olmos that night (no photos please) and got American Me signed ...he was nice to chat with ... probably glad to have a break from Battlestar Gallactica fans (although he said he's directed some of those episodes too)

I think the last guy I met was Henry Winkler who signed my Lords of Flatbush.
He was selling childrens books he wrote so I said when my son comes the next day, we'd come by and check those out.
(this happened Sunday)

I stopped by Suspect Video and picked up the Saw Trilogy for a young lady i know and got it signed by Shawnee Smith. I'm sad to say that she's the one person at the con that looked like she didnt want to be there. she rarely smiled - and when she did - her eyes werent smiling and her mouth was a tight line. made me uncomfortable to speak to her. she was overcharging for her autograph as well ...and i noticed that for the entire weekend she barely had anyone in her line. Maybe she was having a bad weekend - i dunno.
Kind of felt bad for her because it would be a fucking horrible place to be if you didnt want to be there.

found out Linea Quigley wasnt able to make the con due to sickness - that was a bummer. Also Gaslight Studios - the FX house that did Diary of the Dead, etc. Supposedly they had to get a project completed .... i was disappointed because i had brought them a DVD of the pics i took of them when Chris interviewed them last year.

All I can remember after that was getting my photo op done with Kristy Swanson (who was very sweet there too) and then driving home to unload my loot, send photos of Tobe to Chris - and then crashing hard with an aching knee and feet.


Saturday up next ....

[The_Return]

Wow...sounds like it was a blast!

I'm going to be there next year for sure...I'm already putting money aside :)

[_____V_____]

Wow...







...woW.

[neverending]

Man, what an amazing experience.

[urgeok2]

Saturday !

Bundled up the family, loaded up the van, picked up a friend going to the con (for comics) and off we went.

We got there around 11:00 and waltzed right in.

Before hitting the main floor i saw a gal with amazing legs setting up a small table - with DVDs and stuff. I went over to see that she was promoting/selling a horror documentary (about movies and fans called Celluloid Horror - by Ashley Fester. turns out this gorgeous girl was the director. I took her pic, and my wife took some of me and Ashley.

I have better pics but i'm including this one because it's funny ..
My wife was having trouble with the camera and kept hitting the shutter release when we werent ready - 3 times in a row. by the 6th - 7th picture we were just laughing.

Really cute girl .. devastating legs.



once downstairs we went straight to Ruggero - who signed my Cannibal Holocaust laserdisc - he was interested in the cover - and then got a pic with my son ... he lifted him up on the table right on top of the pictures he brought :)




From there we went and saw Tobe again. I insisted the promoter guy take money this time and got Eaten Alive signed for some chap in the UK, TCM for me, and Invaders for Mars - for Karen Black. (i'll explain this one later)

got a much better picture with Tobe :




right next to Tobe was a display of weird curiosities - stuffed 2 headed chickens, etc ... my kid was staring with great and perplexed interest.

[neverending]

Amazing stuff!

[urgeok2]

had to leave work - goin' home time..

I'll see if i can finish the rest tonight at the risk of boring everyone to tears ..

(i figured at least the guys would get a kick out of the pretty girls ... more of them to come as well)