Shock Stock 2018!

Last weekend was yet another greasy edition of Shock Stock. I barely had time to recover from the Carpenter Brut show the night before I was speeding down the 401 to London, Ontario.

It was once again at the Ramada this year - I have no idea the Vagrancy Brothers convinced the hotel to have us all back – black magic perhaps – and the party spread out over the entire grounds. I found out that everyone staying there this weekend was involved with the Con, except five or six long-term guests and I'm sure they were warned. Shock Stock even had its own beer this year.

The Good Samaritan screened on the night before I arrived, but I hear it went over well. When I got there Saturday morning, the place was already hopping. I met up with Schwartz and we picked through the VHS. I have to say I was very good this year, only coming away with one poster and three tapes.

I don't speak Italian, but I love that it appears someone is comparing Mattei to Hitchcock in that poster. Plus, I also couldn't resist picking up this Phantasm magnet from The Butcher Shop that I've walked by year after year.

Effects guru Carlos Henriques was showing off his Jason Part 7 bust at the show which was pretty fucking sweet.

Ok, I'm lying. I'll be spending more money at the Twisted T's online store, as they have some new designs available there that weren't at the show. There were some new vendors this year that had some cool stuff. Hipster Lasers in particular caught my eye with their custom cutting boards.

There were several panels over the course of the weekend, but I only made it to two. The first was Kane Hodder with two of his onscreen rivals Lar Park Lincoln (from Friday Part 7) and Parry Chen (from the Hatchet series). This was a fantastic time with lots of great stories. I was especially happy Hodder got to talk about his experience working on the video game. Check out the audio from the Q&A below.

The second was a live recording of The Witch Finger Podcast. You may remember I mentioned that I was surprised that I had never run into Yasmina Ketita at Shock Stock before. Well, lo and behold, she and her two podcast sisters had a booth this year.

The live show was really fun and I think it improves the experience when you can actually watch along with the movie that they are covering. It also has nothing to do with me winning trivia at their show. My knowledge of fictional character Bennett Tramer netted me this sweet VHS board game.

As with last year, the dining area gave way later in the night for some live entertainment, including a pretty lively performance from Blood Opera.

Sunday was pretty low key. I took in an entertaining documentary about Lloyd Kaufman & the history of Troma called Greetings from Tromaville and walked the show floor one last time. The day ended with The Crystal Shockers, the awards ceremony for which two of my compatriots won honours – Mike Pereira for Best Director (Zandavi Lives) and Ry Barrett for Best Actor (The Heretics, Zandavi Lives & The Good Samaritan)

And then I was heading back home. I've been away from home the last two weekends, so I'm looking forward to some R&R thi-- Texas Chainsaw Marathon?! Awww maaaan.

DKTM 350

Good afternoon. Here's what I've got for you this week.

Niagara Frights.

There is a new horror convention descending on the Golden Horseshoe come this fall. Frightmare in the Falls will be hitting Niagara this November 11-12th.

There have been conventions out this way before, but this one seems to be more horror-centric - like the short-lived ventures of years past like MacabreCon and Dark Carnival - so let's hope this one sticks. They have certainly got some star power involved with the likes of Kane Hodder and Tom Savini, but the real draw for me is the appearance of Christine herself, the 1958 Plymouth Fury.

If you're interested in attending, tickets - that are a fraction of what you'd pay at Fan Expo I might add - are available here.

...Sitting In A Tree

With a new Annabelle movie out this weekend, it looks like Full Moon took it upon themselves to riff on it, using one of their most enduring properties.

I have to admit, I am intrigued. For more Blade though, you can check out Puppet Master: Axis Termination Episode One: War Toys over at Full Moon's Amazon Channel.

Dance of the Dead.

I wanted to end of things with a cool little video created by YouTube user Jarvis City. It's a sharp little ditty compiling some dance sequences from various horror films. Enjoy!

If you liked this, you can check out some of his more long-form vids, including ones about slashers and lady killers.

Fan Expo 2016

Toronto's yearly nerd prom, Fan Expo descended on the city last weekend. I had distanced myself from the event since Rue Morgue left, but decided to go one day this year to see the sights and hang out with my buddy Schwartz.

It was a fun time, even if I did find myself looking for things to do by the end of the day. Fan Expo did feature a “horror section” tucked off in the corner, but it was pretty anemic. Aside from stalwarts like Black Fawn and Troma, there were none of the usual players there. Even the one horror panel I was intending to check out, The Blair Witch Reunion got cancelled at the zero hour. That was a bummer. However, there's was some cool genre stuff on display.

Lawn ornaments done right courtesy of Revenant FX

This guy was committed. Dick Warlock would be proud.

Awesome Twin Peaks fan art from Blood Club

Lego Book of the Dead (I think)

I picked up some cool stuff, including the new Creepshow doc Just Desserts on Blu-ray. Also, this amazing card set for five freaking dollars!

Toronto After Dark was there as per usual to announce the first nine titles in their 2016 line-up. Not pictured is the super awesome Polish mermaid musical The Lure.

So glad The Void is playing here in October!

After feeling the absence of horror at this Expo, I realized that it doesn't or didn't really ever need to be there. The emphasis at this type of event should be on comics and cosplay, which was always a big part of it, but it felt even more so now. 

Sorry, couldn't resist!

Horror-themed conventions live on in entities like Horror-Rama, Shock Stock & Dark Carnival and will continue to flourish as attractions and not afterthoughts. That suits me just fine.

It Came From The Archives 27!

Twenty-five years ago, Fangoria's perennial fan convention Weekend of Horrors made its one and only trip to Toronto (and as far as I know all of Canada). This milestone would have no doubt passed unnoticed if a reader hadn't happened to email me asking if I had any pictures of the event. After responding that I did, it clicked that the anniversary was imminent and thus perfect timing for another Archives post.

By this time in my life I was a full-on fanatic. I had been working at Major Video for almost a year and it was feeding my obsession nicely. I was watching more movies in a day than most did in a week. I don't think I had my driver's license by then, so thank goodness my older brother was gracious enough to shuttle us in. The guest list was impressive, even with the last-minute cancellation by Bruce Campbell.

Right-click to enlarge.

I remember the dealer's room being fairly large, and it was similar to Monsterpalooza in that there were several make-up demonstrations going on throughout the day. I've talked before about basically opening up my wallet to the poster guy, but there was lots of other great merch there, as well. I remember I picked up a T2 shirt that I practically lived in that summer. In retrospect, I wished I'd rifled through the bins of scripts they had at one of the booths.

Anyway, the photos. Given my limited photography skills, I'm surprised these turned out at all. Truth be told, it was probably my brother snapping all these pics. It's kind of amazing how much of this event I can remember considering it was a quarter century ago.

I think I spoke about my interaction with Kane Hodder in my Friday the 13th archives post. He was super cool then, and been just as cool the two times I've seen him since.

Tom Savini gave a memorable Q&A. I've seen a few people online tell the story of Savini getting down on his knees and apologizing to all in attendance for The Ripper, and it happened at this show.

Savini looks out into a sea of mullets.

Linnea Quigley was a sweetheart. If I recall correctly about the photo below, she had a bunch of people come up on stage and re-enact her cemetery dance scene from Return of the Living Dead, for which we judged the winner.

Below were the esteemed judges for the WOH's costume parade. Seated from left, Savini, Fangoria editor Tony Timpone, Quigley, FX artist Steve Johnson & Hodder. 

And the winners were...

3RD PLACE - GREG & STANLEY

2ND PLACE - THE DUKE & DUCHESS OF REALLY DIRTY THINGS

1ST PLACE - AQUARIUS

Nowadays, the GTA has over a half-dozen fan conventions a year, but in the early nineties, this thing was a revelation. For me, it was really the first time the curtain between film and reality was lifted. It was surreal to say the least. I hope you enjoyed these little windows into the past. Until next time...