Last weekend saw my yearly pilgrimage
to London, Ontario for
Shock Stock #7.
Three days of rain caused some
minor flooding at my place, so I didn't get to the festivities as
early as I would have liked, but I made it. There was no way a little
water was going to keep from this year's scumbag soiree. I have to
apologize for the lack of pictures, I think I just got caught up
in everything this year to properly document it.
After the ball hockey tournament
debacle
last year, Grimbrothers James & Jake decided to
pull up stakes and move to another venue. After six years at the
Centennial Hall, Shock Stock invaded the Ramada Inn. A pair of
conference rooms were used for the vendor village and two for
screenings and Q&A's. By the end of the weekend, everybody
was in agreement this place was superior and a much needed change of scenery.
We pretty much took over the entire
place and I couldn't believe how accommodating the establishment was,
considering how rowdy things got at times. The tiny in-house bar was
overwhelmed the first night, but they did their best to accommodate
Saturday's festivities when Miss Shock Stock took place in the
hotel's restaurant. There was something beautifully makeshift about
it that felt just right. Blood and boobies in a place where a few
hours later there would be a breakfast buffet sounds like wonderful magic to
me.
The layout was nice and compact and it
was really convenient that it took place in the same building as most
of the attendees were staying. I hear there are some shows in the
States (like
Cinema Wasteland) that operate like this and it's a
great idea. I was down the street at the HoJo to save a few bucks,
but I'll definitely be splurging and getting a room in-house next
year.
I picked up a shit-ton of merch. I
didn't have my wingman Schwartz with me this year, so I think I
overdid it in his absence. He's the one who usually goes overboard, so I couldn't be
the voice of reason this year. There also just seemed to be a lot of
stuff that called to me this year.
Also, for some reason I bought a pile
of buttons even though I never wear them.
Apart from the vendor village, I
watched some shorts, the cream of the crop being
The Butcher Shop's
newest
Human Cattle,
Kyle Hytonen &
Derek Lukosius'
Infirmity and
Chris Giroux's
Scraps.
The one horror Q&A I did attend was
actress
Caroline Williams of
Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 among others.
She was very lovely and had some great stories about
working in the business. Here are some bloody bits;
On her first impressions of Tobe Hooper;
“He was short, and bossy and said
'fuck' all the time. He had a big cigar and Dr. Pepper going all the
time. He wasn't into the esoteric of acting, he didn't want to hear
my motivations. He was like, 'this is the shot, this is how we're
doing it, this is what I want you to do' and that was it.”
On working with Dennis Hopper;
“The value of working with Dennis is
that's how I learned the technique of film acting because the way you
look on camera, the way you're lit, the size of the frame, those
things are essential to an actor. That way you can make more of a
creative contribution. I didn't any of those things until I met
Dennis. When we were blocking our scenes together on the stairs,
Dennis was saying 'I don't want to sit on this side, I want to sit on
that side because the woman should look pretty in a movie even if
she's bad (character-wise) so Caroline you come sit over here' because that
was my good side. He had already gauged what that was. He knew
everything and it was instinctive with him.”
 |
| Actress Caroline Williams |
On seeing TCM2;
“I went with friends of mine and we
sat in the back of the theater and there was a girl sitting in front
of me going, 'she doesn't cry pretty'. So I had to listen to this
bitch talk about me the whole time. But I had a great time. It was
very well received by the fans for the first couple of weekends and
then after that it kind of dropped off the map. But, you know, it
gave me a place to go, as I've told Tobe before, without him and
without this film, the rest of my life wouldn't have happened in
quite the same way.”
On fan love for Stretch and TCM2;
“I think it's that crazy quilt of
characters that Stretch encounters. It's like Dorothy in Oz. You
know, you've got The Tin Man and The Scarecrow, but they happen to be
Chop Top and Leatherface, and The Cook and all these crazy
motherfuckers underground. Watching her go through her journey and
ultimately save the day. I mean, I got to follow Marilyn Burns as a
Final Girl under the direction of Tobe Hooper. That's kind of a big
deal too, you know? Because I couldn't lift Marilyn's performance,
that would've been impossible. This one was very balls out and comedy
and just had so many crazy moments. I think the movie endures partly
because it hasn't been remade and it doesn't dilute the impact of
seeing it for the first time.”
On indie film financing;
“I think that's the future of indie
horror. You do have to find, and I hate to say it, real estate
investors. They will capitalize their investment thoroughly, they are
willing to put the money into it that needs to put into it to make
sure the project comes to complete fruition and they know they will
not get an immediate return on their investment. It could take a year
or two before they get their money back. These are the kind of guys
that are willing to take some chances. And as an alternative revenue
stream, if you're a young filmmaker, or writer or producer, start
thinking about real estate investors. Wilson DaSilva is one of the
biggest redevelopers in Toronto, he bought Anchor Bay Canada and
renamed it United Front Entertainment.”
It was a terrific weekend that just
felt like one big hangout. It was nice to get away from mopping up
water from my kitchen floor and get greasy for a couple of days. As
always, the Vagrancy Brothers know how to do it up. Here's to next year!
