Chiller Theatre: October 2024

The weekend of October 25-27, 2024 marked another epic edition of Chiller Theatre, the greatest con in the universe! This was a stacked guest list, so my friends, and I were pumped as fuck for it! We went on that Saturday, the 26th, prepared for the epic time that we would be having.

The first person that I went up to was the celeb, that I was most pumped to meet on this day: the gorgeous Jill Schoelen! Schoelen starred in many a horror film including The Stepfather, Phantom of the Opera, Popcorn, Cutting Class, and more. I let her know that I had the biggest crush on her as a kid, and that she was one of my all time favorite scream queens. While, she thanked me for the former comment, it's the later one that she seemed to appreciate the most. 

She signed my recently purchased copy of the recently released 4K disc of The Stepfather. Put out by Scream Factory this is superlative transfer of this masterpiece. I actually also told her about my love for that classic, and it was cool that she was wearing a tee of it that day! Schoelen was so sweet in person, that she talked to my friend Freddie and I for a while. 

She gave out a folder with her picture, listing all her work, and promoting her upcoming (next year to be more exact) horror/ comedy Christmas movie: Twist. This movie will also mark her return to acting which is awesome as fuck! She is honestly one of the sweetest and most amazing celebs, I have ever met. I cannot possibly say enough good things about her. 

The next celeb I went up was Ian McCulloch, star of Italian horror favorites Doctor Butcher M.D. and Lucio Fulci's classic Zombie, that later of which is one of my all time favorite movies. As such, I was so excited to meet him. That's another thing that made this Chiller so awesome, we had the return of stars of Italian horror and Godzilla movies return (more on that in a bit). 

Anyway, McCulloch told me that he had met his youngest fan ever, the day before in the form of a seven year old! That's crazy! I think letting kids watch bloody and wild Italian horror movies is parenting done right! Anyways, he also told me that the dude who played the famous worm-eyed zombie (from the posters and artwork) was a stuntman with a huge car and World War II memorabilia collection, as well as a staff of ten who work for him! What a cool and wild fact! He also told me that about ten years ago he did this con with him. Man, I wish I had known/ been there! That guy is one of my favorite zombies ever, and I'd would love to meet him! Anywho, McCulloch signed my Blu-ray copy of Zombie.

As I said, Godzilla stars also returned to Chiller. There were two, I only went up to the lovely Tomoko Ai. She was my favorite female character/ actress in a Godzilla flick, having played the complex and lovely cyborg from the awesome last movie in the Showa era: Terror of Mechagodzilla. She is also the only actress to ever appear nude in a Godzilla movie, well sort of. As the character is topless. But, her boobs are prosthetics, cuz she is a cyborg being operated on, Makes sense, I suppose. She didn't know much English but was very pleasant to meet being all smiles, sweet, and grateful. She signed the page of Terror in the amazing and, apparently, now out of print Criterion Godzilla set.

The last celeb I met that day was the gorgeous Jill Terashita. She was in Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland and, another one of my favorites, Night of the Demons (she is also this site's inaugural Horror Crush). She was so sweet in person! Incredibly talkative and energetic, she was a pleasure to converse with. She told and showed me her ghost photography that she is doing now. It was very cool and intersting to see and hear about. 

There were many more guests that I wanted to meet, but I did want to get some merch (you can see that and my autographs towards to end of this article). And, I couldn't afford it all. So, I opted to end my autographing with her and went to dealer's room. Afterwards, we all got dinner, so that we could then return for the famed Chiller party!

This was the first time in years that we actually stayed for the party instead of cutting out early. Being able to stay at my friend Alan's place meant we could drink and party! The party was a complete blast, of course. There was not a whole lot of cosplay (well that we saw, anyways), but the two dudes doing Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of the Kiss Dressed to Kill cover were awesome! 

Anways, we drank, talked, met some cool new friends, saw old ones, and, of course, talked to the great Kevin Clement, who without there wouldn't be any of this. He is truly the man, an awesome person, a friend, and my fellow May 29er! 

At one point during the party, I commented with my friend scream queen, Brandy Noir about how weird it was to see the party stop so that con attendees could watch the Yankees and Dodgers game on the TV. That was definitely a first! We mentioned our disdain for sports, but you probably don't care about. Unless you agree with us, in which case, yay for you! 

The following are my movies that I got signed that day:

Terror of Mechagodzilla (from the Criterion Godzilla Showa Era set)- Tomoko Ai
The Stepfather (along with the free folder she handed out to her fans)- Jill Schoelen
Zombie- Ian McCulloch

Swag that I bought that day:

Screem magazine (LOVE that Creature from the Lagoon and The Shape of Water cover!) that got me a free copy of Ruby on Blu-Ray. I've never seen that blaxploitation movie but have wanted to for ages. The other two movies, that I bought, I've seen and love.
The Sadness 4K (I actually got that at the Vinegar Syndrome booth)

Cemetery Man (at the Severin booth. I bought the Blu-Ray cuz the 4K set, which, to be fair, does come with amazing soundtrack was $60. Meanwhile, the Blu-ray was only like $20 and was selling like hotcakes. I bought the last copy!)

 

And, so ended another edition of the greatest of all cons! As always we're already pumped for April's edition. Who amongst you went this time around? Who did you meet? What were the highlights for you? Let me know in the comments section below. 

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The 10 Best Horror Movies of 1987

1987 marked another stellar year for the genre. There is a great variety of sub-genres represented here, as well as the most amount of sequels, we have yet had ranked. In fact, this year is so fucking good that, I had to put more honorable mentions, than any other year, I have covered so far.

Honorable Mentions:
Prince of Darkness
Dolls
The Lost Boys
It's Alive III: Island of the Alive
The Kindred
Creepshow 2
The Gate
Angel Heart
Nekromantik 

10. The Hidden- This pulse pounding mix of sci-fi, horror, and action from A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge's director Jack Scholder is one of the most rip-roaring genre films of the 80's. Featuring an evil alien with a penchant for fast cars, pounding metal music, hot strippers, and murder. And, Kyle MacLachlan does an awesome job as one of our buddy cop heroes.

9. Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II- This vastly superior sequel (which has zero to do with the generic and overrated first film aside from taking place in the same high school, Hamilton High) is a wonderfully sexy, sleazy, and gory good time. Filled with cool set pieces and fun moments, this movie is blast from start to end. It's villianess, the titular Mary Lou Maloney (Lisa Schrage) is one of the sexiest bad girls in horror history. It's also that rarest of horror movie, where the final girl (the beautiful Wendy Lyon) gets nude.

8. Opera- Dario Argento's style is on full display, in this his last truly great movie. It is a gore drenched, exciting, and suspenseful giallo. All while being beautiful looking and wholly captivating. It's heroine/ final girl, played by the absolutely gorgeous Cristina Marsillach, is very likable and compliments the films visual beauty. The driving heavy metal music on the soundtrack give it a further kick in the ass!

7. Predator- John (Die Hard) McTeirnan's 80's testosterone-filled classic has one of the coolest monsters in genre history. But, then again, it is handled by make-up god Stan Winston. The film is, itself, is gory, quotable as hell, and has some killer action scenes. A fucking badass mix of action, sci-fi, and horror, this is one of Arnie's best movies. 

6. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors- Chuck (The Blob) Russell directed and co-wrote, along with Frank (The Shawshank Redemption) Darabont and Bruce Wagner this amazing, wild, and highly imaginative sequel. Wes Craven even came back to work on the story and served as producer. The result is not just the best sequel in the franchise, but the finest slasher sequel ever made. It is leaps and bounds over the uninteresting and flat second installment and is filled with great FX and likable characters. There is also a returning John Saxon and the beautiful Heather Langenkamp who along with the rest of the cast (including Horror Crush Jennifer Rubin as the ultimate metal/ punk babe in Tayrn) give strong and way better than the usual, for these types of films, performances. Plus, the music by Dokken, including the amazing title song, "Dream Warriors", is fucking awesome in its own right.

5. The Monster Squad- Sometimes people want to compare this Fred Dekker classic to The Goonies, which is sort of a bummer. Honestly, this is the superior and more serious movie. The acting is great, as are Stan Winston's superior make-up FX. At the same time it plays loving tribute to the classic Universal monster movies, while adding a teensy bit of splatter. Add the memorable quotes, fun 80s music, and a fucking rollicking climax and you have a movie near and dear to my heart, as well as those of other horror fans. 

4. The Stepfather- This classy and well acted horror/ thriller is one of the best psycho killer movies of the 80s. It has an amazing performance by the great Terry O'Quinn as the title character. You will like him when he is nice, but when he snaps, holy shit! There are some great moments of tension and suspense and a sanguinary climax. It is also one of those rare horror movies where the final girl gets nude, in this scream queen and childhood crush, the beautiful and talented Jill Schoelen.

3. Near Dark- Kathryn Bigelow's masterful and perfect mix of horror, action, western, and romance is one of the greatest vampire movies ever made. It is also drenched in style and, as such, it is one of the most beautiful bloodsucker movies ever. It has one hell of a cast and some truly killer set-pieces. 

2. Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn- This is one of those movies that changed my life upon viewing it. As such, it is a film that I outright worship. One that is that rarest of sequels, IE: it fucking tops its already excellent first film. Sam Raimi's masterpiece is wild, bold, funny, and drenched in splatter. And, everything here is perfect (or near perfect): Raimi's style, the incredible, yet low budget FX, the dialogue, and, of course, Bruce Campbell's Ash.

1. Hellraiser- Like Evil Dead II, Hellraiser made me want to get into film. Clive Barker's directorial debut is one of the best debuts in the genre. The film is wonderfully original, something that is, sadly, ever so rare in our genre. And, on top of that it is also stylish, exciting, sexy, and gruesomely gory. 

Now, I would love to know what your favorite horror films of 1987 are. Tell me, in the comments section below. Also be sure to look at the preceding years, by clicking on the links below.

The 10 Best Horror Movies of 1980
The 10 Best Horror Movies of 1981
The 10 Best Horror Movies of 1982
The 10 Best Horror Movies of 1983
The 10 Best Horror Movies of 1984
The 10 Best Horror Movies of 1985
The 10 Best Horror Movies of 1986

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THE STEPFATHER

It's been a while, but I have a new review up on the Gorezone.net. It's for one of my favorites, the 80s classic, The Stepfather. You can read it here: http://www.gorezone.net/dvdcrypt/reviewstxt/stu/thestepfather.html

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