EXCLUSIVE! Texas Frightmare Weekend - Day Two

Fairuza Balk poses with a cool car.

I got off to a late start as far as Texas Frightmare Weekend is concerned. Movie Geek Feed co-hosted a screening of Star Trek across town, so I had to go do that first and then ran right over to TFW. My timing couldn't have been more perfect, as Fairuza Balk just happened to be touring the Hearse & Shock Rod Show outside when I arrived. I got a great picture of her standing with one of the cars. What a priceless shot.


There were all kinds of really cool hearse hot rods, as well as other souped up horror themed trucks and cars.


Laid to Rest Gang (L to R): Director Robert Hall, Johnathon Schaech, Jana Kramer, Anthony Fitzgerald, and Bobbi Sue Luther

As soon as I headed into the building, I hit the screening room for the Laid to Rest Q&A. Director Robert Hall and the cast answered questions dealing with everything from "Will there be a sequel?", production, special effects, etc. Robert talked about how important the special effects were to the movie and to him. He is a special effects artist and runs Almost Human, which is an FX house that has worked on Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles, Quarantine, The Crazies, and more.


Derek Mears and Tyler Mane

Then, after walking around the Dealer Room for a while, I headed back to the screening room for the Next Gen Boogeyman Q&A with Derek Mears and Tyler Mane. Seeing these two guys onstage together trading insults with each other and talking about who's stronger is about as close to experiencing Michael Myers vs. Jason as we're ever going to get. Those two guys are monstrously tall.


Tobe Hooper, Hunter Carson, and Karen Black

Directly after the Boogeymen Q&A, they did a salute to Invaders from Mars, which included a Q&A session with director Tobe Hooper with actors Karen Black and Hunter Carson. Tobe talked about how they came up with the concept of the aliens. Carson and Black discussed how it was to work together as mother and son on a movie. I had no idea, but apparently Hunter Carson is Karen Black's son. Very cool behind the scenes stuff was shared.


Dick Miller

Next up was the Dick Miller Retrospective, which was very cool. They showed excerpts from a lot of Miller's films and TV series, which included Gremlins, Gremlins 2, Star Trek, Chopping Mall, and many more. After the film retrospective, the man himself hit the stage for a very honorable and rare Q&A session. he spoke about his beginnings with Roger Corman and other life experiences. It was great to get to see this legendary actor in person.


Barbara Steele in the middle. (Photo by Ian Aberle)

I was pretty excited about the screening of the 1960 Black Sunday, mainly because I had never seen it and Mario Bava directed it. I'm a big fan of classic horror movies, so this was right up my alley. It starred Barbara Steele (The Pit and the Pendulum, etc.) as a witch who comes back to life as she promised to avenge her death. Really good stuff. They nailed an iron maiden (or Devil mask, as they called it) to her face, so when she comes back from the dead, she has big nail marks in her face that add to the freakiness of her scenes. Ms. Steele was supposed to be in attendance for the screening, but couldn't make it for unknown reasons.


Emily Hagins and her mother Megan Hagins.

The screening of Pathogen was next. What more can I say about Pathogen that I already didn't say in the review you can read here. How can you not be impressed with a 16 year old girl who directed her first zombie movie at age 12. Director Emily Hagins answered all kinds of questions after the screening. She talked about how she got the funding and grants. She even talked about her mother doing all the make-up and where they filmed everything. She also showed a short clip of her new movie The Retelling that she's working on right now.


The iMurders Gang (L to R): Christie Botehlo, William Forsythe, Director Robbie Bryan, and Brooke Lewis.

As I'm writing this, I'm realizing that I pretty much lived in the screening room all day Saturday. iMurders was on the agenda for the second to last film of the night. This movie is a great little who-done-it that I recommend you check out. It has a little tinge of slasher to it, as well. They had a prize giveaway raffle at their table in the dealer room, so they announced the winners after the screening. Very good promotional tactic. Pretty cool prizes, too. The big one was one of those mini laptops. They really seemed to have their stuff together when it comes to promoting. They handed out mouse pads and posters to everyone who wanted one. Then director Robbie Bryan brought up the cast that was in attendance which included William Forsythe, Brooke Lewis, and director Bryan's wife Christie Botelho. They talked about working on securing distribution for the film and a possible sequel that Tony Todd's FBI Agent would be the center of. Forsythe shared how he wanted to do the film because everyone involved in the creative process was so genuine and driven.


The Retardead guys. (Photo by Ian Aberle)

I skipped out on the screening of Retardead because I wanted to grab the iMurders director and cast to do some interviews. They were extremely cool people and you'll be able to see the interviews I did with them as soon as I get them posted on my MGF YouTube Channel. That just about wraps up Day Two. (Article by Eric Shirey)