Monster-Mania 52, Nov. 2022

In what was a totally unexpected and unplanned twist, my friend hit me up yesterday and asked me if I wanted to go to Monster-Mania in Oaks, PA. And, my reply was pretty much fuck yeah! This would be my first time ever in Pennsylvania and to a Monster-Mania not in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. 

Now, admit ably these last couple of days have been hard for me, with my doggy, Zoey's, birthday coming up next week on the 16th and the first anniversary of her passing being next month on the 12th. So, it was good to have something to do if only get my mind off of things. And, the guest was fucking stacked! We were going on Friday, which is when New York and New Jersey got hit with a shitty rain storm. With the holiday weekend and bad weather our drive in took four fucking hours, but we got there and had a blast.

The first celeb we went up to was the gorgeous Robyn (Twin Peaks, Twin Peaks) Lively. She might have been the highlight of the con (though, to be fair, everyone was super nice to us), being so incredibly friendly and sweet. She talked to both for a nice amount of time. And, in my case, happily showing me pics of the Twin Peaks convention she and other members of the cast attended two weeks ago in Orlando, Florida. You see, I had bought the cover to my complete series Blu-ray to get signed, and I told her how that was one of my all time favorite TV shows of all time. I don't think I can stress, how awesome she is in person. She even, remembered us as she left and waved goodbye to us, later that night!

I then decided to meet some of the cast and crew of Terrifier 2. I haven't seen this sequel, which has become a critical and box office hit, in spite of its indie/ low budget status. That being said, I am a huge fan of the splattery first film. 

First I went over to meet Elliott Fullam. I've been a huge fan of him, having followed his metal channel Little Punk People for the longest of time. He's interviewed legends like Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, King Diamond, etc, and done a great job of that. It's great to see him in a franchise horror flick with such a following. He's really a cool and friendly, little dude, in person. He also liked my battle-jacket, which is always flattering to hear.

His costar the gorgeous Lauren LaVera was sitting next to him. And, she was so sweet and all smiles, as I met her. I've been hearing great things about her performance in the slasher sequel and can't wait to see it for myself!

The last of the those from this movie that were there, that I went up to, was the writer/ director/ FX artist of both movies: Damien Leone. We talked to him for a bit and learned that he once delivered flowers to the Godfather house in Staten Island! And, that a doctor now lives there. 

Some members of the The Monster Squad cast members were also present. That's one of my favorite movies of all time, so I had to meet at least one. And, so I went up to Ashley Bank, who played the little girl Pheobe. She was super sweet in person and called us troopers for coming in this shitty weather. She also joked with how her fellow LA folk freak out on the roadway when it rains over there, even slightly.

The last celeb I met, might be the one I was most pumped to meet: Devon Sawa! Funny thing was I was watching this past Wednesday's excellent episode of Chucky and loving his acting as the asshole priest. As such, I thought to myself how much I would love to meet and low and behold it happened! He was really cool and friendly in person as he talked to us. 

He also asked me who's autograph I had on my DVD of Final Destination. I told him that it was Ali Larter. And, how I got it at an old Fangoria Weekend of Horrors, when she and the rest of the cast were promoting the second flick. He said that damn that's a long time ago, which, of course, it is! In all the talking we had with him and being how tired I felt, I almost left said DVD on his table. But, he he called out to me telling how I had forgotten it. Glad he did because replacing her autograph is close to impossible!

After that I visited the Elm Street house! Well, at least a background set up of it, anyway.

These are the autographs that I got:

Devon Sawa: Final Destination

Elliot Fullam: Terrifier 2 pic (which was shot in the character that he plays room but with his record and art collection)

Robyn Lively: Twin Peaks

Ashley Bank: The Monster Squad

Damien Leone: Terrifier

One thing I really liked was the fact that they had a big ass dealer's room, a couple with some good deals. I didn't buy a whole lot of swag, but I did get:

A KidRobot Phunny Godzilla

And, from Severin Films Booth:

The Strange Vice Mrs. Wardh

Nightmare Castle

Day of the Animals

I've seen all three of these movies before, and they're all fucking good!

We headed home at closing time 10PM, which meant we got home late. We were dead tired (and hungry!), but we had a blast. I would definitely go back to this version of Monster-Mania!

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TERRIFIER (Review)

Title: Terrifier
Writer/ Director: Damien Leone
Cast: Jenna Kanell, Samantha Scaffidi, David Howard Thorton, Catherine Corcoran, Pooya Mosheni
Year: 2017 (Released in 2018)
Min: 82

We start with a prologue, where pretty talk show host Monica Brown (Katie Maguire) is interviewing a horribly disfigured woman. This poor woman survived an attack by a killer named Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton). Art, himself, is actually watching the show from his TV set, while applying his makeup. After the show, Monica is in her dressing room talking on the phone. She makes some mean and bitchy comments about the victim, only to have said victim come in and gouge her eyes.

We then cut to, Halloween night, where two beautiful friends, drunk Dawn (Catherine Corcoran) and Tara (Jenna Kanell) are heading home after a clearly fun night. They soon encounter Art, who is carrying a large, black, plastic bag with him. Victoria is rightfully creeped out by him, but Dawn doesn't take it very seriously. When, they both head to a pizzeria for a bite to eat, the clown also walks in quickly there after. Dawn still finds it all rather funny and even takes a selfie with him. Soon after, he does something that is enough to get him kicked out of the eating establishment (we quickly learn that he left the bathroom covered in shit and piss!). The girls eventually go their own way.

Unbeknownst to them, the employee and the manager (whose decapitated head gets carved like a fucking jack-o-lantern!) of the pizza joint get slaughtered by Art. Meanwhile, their car's tire has been slashed. Tara thinks its the scary looking clown, but Dawn doesn't believe it is. Either way, they end up calling Tara's sister, Victoria (the lovely Samantha Scaffidi) to pick them up.

Tara needs to take a piss really badly, so she ends up going in a nearby building. Soon there after, Dawn hears on the radio about two people getting killed at the pizzeria that they just left by a clown! It soon dawns on her (pardon the pun) that Tara was right all along! It's too fucking late though, as Art is in the car. He soon turns his attention to Tara, and will do the same with Victoria when she finally arrives at the rat infested, dump of a building, where the majority of the remaining film will occur at.

Let's not mince words here, Terrifier is the best slasher movie since Hatchet II, hands down! This is 80's inspired splatter done right. It's brutal, uncompromising, and gory as fucking hell. The movie has been garnering strong word of mouth and reviews and is rapidly gaining an ever growing cult following, all of which it rightfully deserves.

Writer/ director Damien Leone has crafted a movie that doesn't simply play oving tribute to stalk and slash movies of their golden age but manages to surpass many of them. This is due to the fact that he doesn't have some cookie cutter bullshit that does the same tired shit over and over again. He also does not play it safe taking it to a far more extreme level than many of the weak ass Friday the 13th sequels and their ilk never had the guts to partake in.

Leone is also very apt at adding much tension and suspense. The pacing is fast and tense, resulting in a short running time that flies by. Most of the time when I watch a movie of this type I just sort of look at the screen and not much else. Watching this one, though, I was screaming at the screen and the characters, telling them to run, hide, fight back, whatever the scene dictated. I don't think there is a better sign that you have done a good job, then getting the audience to shout and be invested in what is happening onscreen.

To achieve this you need to care about the characters and for them to be played by a talented cast. The girls aren't just there to provide eye-candy, though they are certainly gorgeous. You actually don't want to see them die. Most of the cast are unknowns, save for the gorgeous Catherine (Return to Nuke 'Em High Vol. 1 & 2, Sociopathia) Corcoran, who is one of my personal favorite, current scream queens.

But, extra praise must be given to David Howard Thorton. He is perfectly terrifying as Art. Without saying a single word, he manages to be menacing and utterly bone-chilling. His creepy ass smile will fucking haunt you. And, for those of you who are scared of clowns, be prepared to clean the shit from your undies. Cause, Art manages to be more disturbing than Pennywise is on his best day.

Of course, it also helps that his look is unsettling to begin with. Also solid are the gore FX. Decapitation, slashings, stabbings, blood spurting gunshots, eye gouging, cannibalism, and bludgeonings hit the viewer with no mercy. Included in these acts is a snatch to head bisection that is more than likely the year's most memorable and shocking kill and probably one of the vicious kills by a psycho killer since the glory days of Lucio Fulci. Throw in a little bit of nudity, courtesy of Corcoran, and you have something that gives you everything you want and more.

Terrifier is a killer slasher movie and destined to become a modern, cult classic. The movie is brutal, vicious, and does not fuck around. It is also a shit load of fun and keeps you invested throughout its running time. Suspenseful directing and characters you actually give a flying fuck about played by a solid cast help things even further. And, here is hoping Art becomes the next big slasher villain, especially as how he is bought to life by Thorton. Distributed by horror website Bloody Disgusting, Terrifier is currently streaming on Amazon. It is an absolute must for those who like their throwback horror movies to be as uncompromising as possible.

4 out of 4

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