My Weekend of Horrors

I had an eventful time this past weekend, mainly because Creations WEEKEND OF HORROR CONVENTION at the Marriott Hotel by LAX, where I got to meet a bunch cool people, as well as made some new contacts and met one of my filmmaking idols.

More on that in a bit.

Though the convention began on Friday (ending on Sunday). My buddy Feo Amante (of FeoAmante.com) and I only went Saturday & Sunday.

Our day started though someplace else, in West Hollywood, where we met up with (and Feo interviewed) rising Hong Kong movie star Vincent Sze…

…who is garnering much attention with the techno-thriller web series URBAN WOLF directed by French filmmaker Laurent Touil Tartour.

Here’s a photo of Laurent (taken from his Facebook page):

Filmed in 2009, the plot focuses on an American tourist named “Justin Case” who freshly lands at Paris airport in France and immediately is pursued and terrorized by a malevolent security camera operator.

The series has won awards at the Los Angeles ITVFest (Independent Television Festival) and DragonCon, plus it was considered as “one of the most compelling example of new media storytelling” via AFI DigiFest by the American Film Institute.

Here’s the trailer:

Vincent is very humble and down-to-Earth, with hopes of breaking into the Hollywood movie-making machine and be ultimately be known as an international star. I wish him the best of success.

Here’s a couple of pics we took together.


(that’s Feo Amante on the far right)

You can watch all 15 webisodes of URBAN WOLF here at CRACKLE.COM

After, Feo & I left Vincent we headed over to the last hour or so of Saturday’s shenanigans at the Weekend of Horrors. We didn’t go down onto the convention floor. Instead, we kicked back at the Champoins bar upstairs, where some of the guests and patrons were unwinding.

One of those guests was my aformentioned filmmaking idols, Italian horror/thriller maestro Dario Argento. He was sitting alone at the bar, watching an international bike race (it seemed), and was quickly inundated with request for photos during his alone time. I didn’t approach him for a photo that night (though I badly wanted to, since I figured I may never get the chance to meet him again). I did shake his hand and told him that I am a long time fan as many others have all weekend).

I also unexpectedly ran into some friends from the San Francisco Bay Area (Ike & Wendy) whom were down here for the convention:

After Feo & I talked with some friends, we split for the night.

We returned much earlier on Sunday, and then I did get have my photo taken with my idol. I also manged to slip him a copy of my supernatural horror short SPEK.TER.

Whether he watches it or even ends up liking it is another story; I just wanted to hand him a copy as a gift. I was already able to give one of his actresses Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni awhile back, whom told me she liked it – that was nice of her to say.

Anyway, here’s my pic with Dario.

I also ran into the ultra-cool cinephile/movie critic Kim Morgan who was there for the AMERICAN GRINDHOUSE panel (which she appears in, and I unfortunately missed). I can’t wait to see this documentary though.

Here’s a pic of me & Kim:

(photo c/o Staci Layne Wilson)

and here’s the trailer to AMERICAN GRINDHOUSE:

The only panel I managed to see was director Tim Sullvan’s panel for their upcoming sequel to his 2001 MANIACS (a remake of the Hershell Gordon Lewis classic 2000 MANIACS), titled 2001 MANIACS: FILED OF SCREAMS.

A friend of Feo’s (and now myself) producer Sean Fernald, had edited a short behind-the-scenes documentary that was shown to the patrons, which he did an introduction for Tim.

(photo c/o Staci Layne Wilson)

Afterwards, was a Q & A with Tim and his cast, featuring Christa Campbell, Kevin “Ohgr” Ogilvie of Skinny Puppy (and REPO: THE GENETIC OPERA fame), Choptop and Otis himself: Bill Moseley (another REPO: THE GENETIC OPERA alumni), Ryan Flemming and the great Lin Shaye (who appeared in the first 2001 MANIACS as well). Not pictured was actor & editor Adam Robitel.

You can view more photos from the panel (including some of the other pics in this blog) on my Facebook page (click on the title link, if you’re already a friend)

Back to Sean Fernald. He produced a stylish horror film titled RED VELVET that impressed Dario Argento enough for the maestro to email Sean and tell him how much he enjoyed it. Yesterday, the former penpals got to meet face to face.

Here’s a pic of Sean with Dario (and a copy of RED VELVET), taken from Sean’s Facebook album.



(RED VELVET Trailer)

Also Argento-related, were a couple of actresses whom appeared in movies he either directed or wrote & produced. In this case, Italian actress Barbara Magnolfi (who plays “Olga” in SUSPIRIA)




(SUSPIRIA International Trailer)

and Geretta-Geretta (the infamous movie theater demon in the Argento produced; Lamberto Bava-directed DEMONS)

(photo  taken from her Facebook page: )

(DEMONS Trailer)

And the trio reunites. I was told this was the first time that Barbara and Dario have seen each other in 25 years (taken from Geretta’s Facebook page).

You can check out Barbara online at:

Barbara Magnolfi’s website
Barbara’s Facebook
Barbara’s Twitter
Barbara’s myspace

and

you can check Geretta-Geretta at:
Geretta’s website
Geretta’s Facebook
Geretta’s Twitter

And speaking of Barbara, I have been corresponding with her off and on for nearly two years and she instantly recognized me when I arrived at her table. Very cool & sweet woman.

Lastly, here’s a photo of myself, Feo and Sean several days earlier at a special SCREAMFEST mixer for the WEEKEND OF HORRORS event.

(photo c/o Sean Decker)

For other perspectives on the WEEKEND OF HORRORS event check out my friend Staci Layne Wilson‘s article at HORROR.COM (click on the title link)

and this article at SHOCK TILL YA DROP (click on the title link)

Thank you for reading!!!