What horror movie fan convention do you recommend we go to?
I’m partial to Wonderfest because they bring me in as a guest each year and I host a movie live there. This year we’re screening the short film we shot called The Dreadful HallowGreen Special. I always have a packed house for that and it’s a lot of fun – we have some special fun things planned to go along with the movie this year.
Monster Bash is always a really good convention too. I’ve been there a couple of times and it’s great. I hear good things about Horror Hound and Chiller too.
Who have you been most excited about interviewing?
I’ve been lucky to meet a lot of really great celebrities. I really enjoyed talking with Ben Chapman (The Creature from the Black Lagoon, pictured), Forest J. Ackerman (Famous Monsters of Film Magazine), and Zacherley.
They are all legends in their fields, and both Ben and Forry have passed away now, so meeting them was really special. Another of my favorites is Bob Burns, the actor and memorabilia collector.
Bob is one of the nicest guys in the world and I’m proud to call him a friend. He also has some really great stories.
What inspired you to make the public service announcement films?
The PSAs were an idea of Cameron McCasland’s, my director. It was a chance to use monsters and horror to promote environmental and safety issues, which I thought was a great idea. It also harkens back to former Nashville horror host Sir Cecil Creape (Russ McCown), who used to do a series of PSAs for the Tennessee Dept. of Tourism back in the 70s.
He did those out of costume, and one in particular I remember had aliens in it. They are on Youtube now. So that was kind of a neat tie-in to the former Tennessee host.
Have you ever thought about making your own horror movie?
Many times, and I have helped out (and appeared in) other folks films, too. But a feature is SO much work that I doubt I’ll ever go there. I don’t have the time or equipment needed to do a proper job of it, and there are enough half-assed horror movies out there already.
What is the worst film you have ever seen?
Man that’s a tough one. I’d probably go with the remake of Psycho. I detest that piece of crap. It is one big plagiaristic rip-off. It’s a shot for shot remake in color with a few extra scenes tossed in, like Norman Bates jacking off (with full masturbatory sounds, no less) – it’s a tasteless, tacky, ham fisted-remake that really pisses me off.
Hitchcock would NOT have approved, and I don’t either.
You see, I have a theory when it comes to what is a bad movie. To me the worst movies are not the low budget films with cheap effects. Those movies are doing the best they can with what they have to work with. There is a real sincerity to those films in most cases – they want to make a good movie, are trying hard to make a good movie, and the only thing holding back their vision is lack of resources.
To me the absolute worst films are the big budget shit-piles, the ones that have no excuses. They have millions of dollars in the budget and SHOULD get everything right. There is no excuse for those films to suck.