Cinema Wasteland, Here I Come

It's been a while, fair readers. I must admit, I've been a busy gal and haven't had a chance to watch a horror flick in a long long time.

And chances are, I won't have a chance to watch any the next couple weeks (though I *DO* have Texas Chain Saw Massacre: A Family Portrait Revisited up next in my Netflix queue, so you can at least stay tuned for that).

However, I can share with you (with great excitement) that for my 30th b-day, my sister got me a one-day pass to the Cinema Wasteland Movie and Memorabilia Expo the last weekend in March, and I plan on hitting up as many movies as I can while I'm there.





I'm not sure yet which day I'm going (the only time I know for certain I *WON'T* be there is Saturday afternoon, which is a bit of a bummer since I'll be missing Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!), but these are the potential movies that I may the opportunity to see (and would LIKE to see) while I'm there:

THE ALIEN FACTOR (1979) A spaceship crash lands outside Baltimore and a trio of alien creatures emerge to terrorize the local townsfolk in this cult B movie gem from director Don Dohler. Look out for The Leemold, a reptilian monster that can suck the life force from humans. Side step The Inferbyce, a gooey clawed creature from beyond the stars; and beware the walking carpet known as Zagatile for rug burns can hurt plenty! Watch for local Baltimore thespian and Dohler regular, George Stover, and (semi-regular Wasteland attendee) TV Horror Host Count Gore DeVol sans make-up in a regular acting role.

ASTRO-ZOMBIES (1968) John Carradine and his hunchback assistant are creating “astro men” in a basement laboratory. The first of the creatures winds up with a killer's brain and runs amuck, mutilating women with various garden tools. Determined to create an astro-man that will obediently listen, but hampered by foreign agents led by Tura Satana, we find that greed eventually kills off everyone by the film's end. They just don't make 'em like this any more! One of director Ted V. Mikels most popular and well known films is still loads of fun and well worth a watch.



BIGFOOT (1969) A couple of bikers fooling around in the local Bigfoot graveyard must really piss off the Bigfoot population because Mister Foot interrupts and promptly makes off with one of the biker chicks. Her old man trails the creature with the help of aging con man John Carridine, who sees money in capturing the creature. It turns out that the Bigfoot creatures are kidnapping women in order to breed with them and save their race. One of the creatures has to battle a bear to protect a kidnapped biker chick and the sheriff finally shows up long enough to blow away one of the larger creatures so everyone can call it a day. Watch for Wasteland Guest, Haji, as one of the kidnapped biker chicks. It's been a few years since we screened this crowd favorite, so get ready for a real treat when we present the Drive-In classic, Bigfoot, complete with a bunch of original TV commercials from the era spliced into the film for added fun.



THE CRAZIES (1973) A US Army plane carrying a bacterial virus known as Trixie crashes near Evans City, Pennsylvania. When the virus gets into the drinking water, the locals begin transforming into psycho killers. The Army arrives in an attempt to save the remaining sane citizens and total chaos ensues. This low budget horror outing from director George Romero was a box office flop upon its initial release. In reality, it's one of his best films. It relies a lot on gore effects and death scenes to tell the story and the acting is top notch and above most of the early Romero films. Wasteland guest, Bill Hinzman (Night of the Living Deads graveyard zombie), served as director of photography so maybe well ask him to introduce the film on Saturday. I'm always surprised at the amount of George Romero fans that have never actually seen this film.

MANIAC (1980) As a child, Frank Zito (Joe Spinell) was abused. As an adult, he's a maniac! Prowling the streets of New York, Frank stalks and kills women, adding their scalps to the heads of his mannequin collection. One day Frank meets up with a photographer (Caroline Munro) and begins what he hopes is a normal relationship. Unfortunately his compulsions to kill remain and if she's not careful, Caroline may very well find herself another victim of a human monster! Although Wasteland guest Caroline Munro has starred in several great horror and fantasy films over the years, we know Wasteland fans demand a little gore in their diets. With top notch Tom Savini effects and a career performance from Star Spinell, MANIAC is one of the most notorious horror films of the early 80's and a real fan favorite.




They all clearly sound priceless.

So expect at least a few good, campy reviews at the beginning of April. Woot woot!