Festival of Fear 2007
By: Mike Pereira
It’s that time of the year where Toronto celebrates the horror genre at Rue Morgue’s Festival Of Fear and this fourth edition is no exception. You have names such as Adrienne Barbeau, H.G. Lewis, Angela Bettis, Malcolm McDowell, Greg Nicotero, George A. Romero and making a rare convention appearance, Dario Argento! It’s easily the strongest line-up since year one with the likes of George A. Romero, Bill Mosley, Kane Hodder, Tom Savini and Doug Bradley.
Day One was rather uneventful since Angela Bettis delayed her panel till the following day. The only saving grace was “The Godfather Of Gore” himself, Herschell Gordon Lewis. His panel was full of funny and insightful anecdotes. Apparently, he is offended by modern horror’s obsession with snuff and pointless, unexplained torture.
Day Two made up for the shaky start by delivering one great panel after another. Dario Argento was an absolute blast! It was funny, moving (!?) and highly informative. He was saddened when talking about fellow Italian director and genre icon, Lucio Fulci. Argento tried to kickstart a collaboration with him but Fulci’s increasing battle with diabetes ruined this dream project. Fulci was very enthusiastic to do a remake of “House Of Wax” and was working on it until he suddenly had a diabetic attack at his home. Fulci was found dead in a corridor with chocolate smeared on his face which he was trying to take to stabilize his condition. Argento has a great respect for Lucio Fulci.
During the panel, Dario also mentioned that “Cat o’ Nine Tails” is his least favorite movie in his filmography. Also, one question on many fans’ mind concerning why the last chapter of Argento’s “Animal Trilogy, “Four Flies On Grey Velvet” was going to see the light of day on home video was answered. Unfortunately, he doesn’t think it’ll ever be released since it’s got rights issues with Paramount which seemingly can’t be resolved. Surprisingly, he’s not to keen on it coming into the surface either.
Right before this intimate and interactive was concluded, Argento suddenly voiced his anger towards the Toronto International Film Festival. He is utterly against the notion of horror films being marginalized into a “Midnight Madness” program and not being placed with higher profile, Hollywood films. Dario obviously upset, called it “racist” and a great injustice to the genre. On that note, if you are not aware already, Argento’s climax to his “Three Mothers” trilogy, “Mother Of Tears” is getting its world premiere at the TIFF in September. This year’s line-up is a potential blast!
Next up, was KNB special effects legend, Greg Nicotero. Kicking off his panel was a killer promo reel of KNB’s brilliant work. Greg was full of entertaining and informative anecdotes. A humorous little side was how he was almost going to be a doctor before George A Romero enticed him with the “Day Of The Dead” gig which changed his life forever. Also, Nicotero’s biggest influence is make-up legends, Tom Savini and Rob Bottin. According to him, KNB’s biggest special effects challenge was the spectacularly brutal car collision sequence from Tarantino’s “Death Proof”.
Another cool piece of info was that KNB has created a design up for consideration for the upcoming “Creature From The Black Lagoon” remake. The present time, the film is still in development but according to Nicotero, it’s seems to be falling into an “Indiana Jones with the monster” scenario. He would love to build the creature.
Nicotero is really excited about the recently wrapped Frank Darabont’s Stephen King adaptation of “The Mist”. He was the Second Unit Director, as well as did the creature effects on it and had a total blast during the production. It’s apparently very faithful to the book and is also, quite bloody!
Greg Nicotero also, announced that he was currently attached to make his directorial debut on the potential third season of “Masters Of Horror” with an adaptation of Joe Lansdale’s 1988 novel, “The Drive-In”. It’s not official yet but let’s hope it’ll become a reality.
The day came to a conclusion with none other than Adrianne Barbeau. First off, she has aged gracefully and looked nowhere near her age of 62! Adrianne eagerly dropped great stories of her eclectic career from Go-Go dancer for the mob, to the original Rizzo in the stage production of “Grease”, to scream queen that we know and love today in such classics, John Carpenter’s “The Fog”, “Escape From New York” and “Creepshow.
She is presently writing a vampire series. The first one is titled; “Vampires Of Hollywood” about a scream queen who happens to be a vampire. It is tentatively scheduled to release between January and March.
Adrianne’s part in Rob Zombie’s “Halloween” re-imagining was cut out of the film which she expected would happen since it was a cameo. It was an ad-libbed scene in which Dr. Loomis is trying to get Michael Myers’ adoption papers. Apparently, the running time was an issue and three characters were cut out of the final cut. If you look well, you will see Adrianne on the theatrical poster.
That’s a wrap for now but looking forward to the third and final day which will feature an interview with “Sisters” remake director, Douglas Buck, intimate and interactives with Malcolm McDowell, plus one with George A. Romero and Dario Argento…together!!! There will also be some coverage on the “Speak Of The Dead: An Evening With George Romero” event. Till next time, folks.
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