Horror Roundtable - Week Ten
Name your most memorable convention experience.
One time, many years ago, I found myself standing in the men’s room urinal next to the great Jim Brown. While doing our business, Mr. Brown let out the loudest, longest, stinkiest fart I’ve ever heard/smelled in my life… I’ve never seemed to be able to shake that memory away…
Watching my friends rip off their shirts and flex for Lou Ferigno. All the time Lou saying “Where are your muscles, I can’t find your muscles!”
One of my best memories was at a Star Trek themed con. I am not a huge Star Trek fan by any means, but the lure of underground DVDs was just enough of a lure to make me want to go.
Once inside there was the usual assortment of Trekkies and what not. Me and my wife purchased some really great flicks and we were just strolling along amongst the dealer tables commenting on how we didn’t really have any interest on meeting anyone from Star Trek let alone pay fifty bucks for their autograph. Suddenly I pass this one table that was dealing in vintage posters and I literally did a doubletake.
Adjacent to the table was a impromptu cardboard sign with the Sharpie scrawled message. “Ed Neal ‘The Hitchhiker’ from THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE”. Then after reading the sign I look over at this tall gangly man and he saysm “yep, it’s me!” I could not believed it. I grabbed my wife and it took her a moment also to realize who was standing at that table.
There he was, Ed Neal, the highly caffine fueled tall son-of-a-gun who long ago asked the question, “do you like headcheese?” He was one of the coolest down to earth guys you could ever meet. He was never mentioned as being a celebrity guest at the con. He was just there to sell posters and sell the a autograph or two. His autographs were also way affordable compared to all of those other sci-fi “stars”. He answered my many filmgeek questions that I had to ask.
That day I met the Texas Chainsaw Massacre Hitchiker and lived the tell the tale and have a autograph to prove it. Without a doubt that was one of the coolest things for me to happen at a con. Especially considering that out here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Cons are rare commodity.
David Z. - Tomb It May Concern
A very small meeting will always loom large for me. After flying first class to Sweden (and then getting stuck barely able to get OUT of the country) I spent a day with Bo-Arne Vibenius, the director of Thriller:A Cruel Picture in Stockholm. Accompanied by Swedish filmmaker Fred Anderson we were there to license Thriller-and did so. But the best parts of the day were in viewing Thriller with Bo-arne, getting probably the only english language commentary there will ever be, as well as viewing the extraordinary and bizzare follow up film he made, Breaking Point. We had hopped off a plane and gone directly to our meeting, so as exhausted as I was with the time swap and overnight flight it was right into giant bottles of beer, salmon and girls with guns and demented porn viewings-as well as some truly hilarious stories about making banned films in Sweden. We went to the producer of Ninja Mission’s store (and bought a copy!), we tried to find a rest room in the middle of Stockholm (right near where the seedy bits of Thriller were shot) and visited used tape shops galore. Big fun! No matter how disappointed I was with many aspects of that project, that day will remain my finest geeky 72 hours…ever! Ah, and in Stockholm I did note that there were many many beautiful women, and 9 times out of 10 you would want to marry both them… and their mom too!! Ah yes…Sweden rules.
Sean T. Collins - Attentiondeficitdisorderly Too Flat
I’ve never been to a horror con per se, but I’ve got a semi-quasi-horror-related con experience I remember quite fondly: being in the audience for the sneak-preview screening of the pilot episode of Lost at the San Diego Comic-Con in 2003. My wife was with me at the con that year, and we went to the screening with absolutely no expectations–to be blunt, we were there simply because she had a huge crush on Dominic Monaghan, who was in the show and in attendance. But right from that opening sequence’s harrowingly intense plane-crash aftermath and on through the out-of-nowhere monster attack and overall air of mystery, we were well and truly hooked. Once we returned from SDCC, we told everyone who’d listen (and many who wouldn’t) that come the new television season, the one show they had to watch was Lost. To this day I’m thrilled that we were the first people we knew to jump on that particular bandwagon.
Steven - The Horror Blog
Billy has already mentioned the legendary Lou Ferrigno incident, which I have pictures from but can’t seem to find at the moment. It literally stopped half the convention in its tracks, which considering the size of said convention is quite an accomplishment. I’ve gone to the major Toronto Comic/Anime/Sci-Fi/Gaming/Horror geek fest for around a decade now, and each year there’s been at least one incredibly memorable moment. One of my favourites, if one of the least flamboyant or illegal, is when Leary and I met Warwick Davis. We kept the conversation light and brief, determined not to ask what was really on our minds for fear that we wouldn’t like the answer. As we were walking away, Leary spun around and stepped back to the table cutting the next guy in line off, unable to control himself. “When’s the next Leprechaun movie coming out?” Davis flipped. He stepped up on his chair and started raving about Leprechaun In The Hood. “It’s Leprechaun meets Pulp Fiction!” Leary and I began screaming and wailing with joy! A new Leprechaun! Starring Ice-T! As a pimp! The excitement in the room was palpable, or at least it was in our small portion of the floor.
September 12th, 2006 at 1:28 pm
Missed this one - meeting Ingrid Pitt and Caroline Munro, both lovely and happy to sign anything! Saw Dean Stockwell as well but he looked pissed so left him alone.