As
much as I dislike certain aspects of living in New Jersey (the traffic, the
dense population, the way people assume I say things like "New Joisey"--that's
North Jersey!) there are still a few things to keep a lifelong horror fan
from going nuts from all the nothing there is to do. One is ChillerCon, which
doesn't come around often enough because I'm always stuck in some prior obligation
when it does, and then there are the people 
from
Exhumed Films, housed most of the time at the Harwan Theater in Mt. Ephraim,
but who are now moving to another location nearby, at least temporarily (check
out their website for more info). EF has made the summers in New Jersey more
tolerable with Friday night double features of the movies you can only find
at the video store or on Ebay. So far this season, they've presented Creepshow/Children
Shouldn't Play with Dead Things, House by the Cemetery/Shock,
and Fright Night/Near Dark. Last summer they invited Bruce Campbell
to introduce and talk about Evil Dead 2 as well as sign autographs
and answer audience questions. He was a good sport, despite the constant dumbass
questions like "When is Evil Dead 4 coming out?" (it's not) and "When
are they going to write Evil Dead 4?" (they aren't). Especially after
expounding for 20 minutes on his busy career in television and non-horror
movies, people will still only hear what they want to hear and that's how
we end up with dumbass questions. (I should also point out that in the summer,
the Harwan gets to be about 9,000 degrees so everyone's patience is a little
shorter and tolerance is a lot lower--except for the stars themselves.) Tom
Savini was their latest guest, appearing June 2 to introduce and talk about
his version of Night of the Living Dead. And, oh yes fright fans, it
was very, very cool…and there were PLENTY of dumbass questions.
With disposable camera in hand, my man and I got in line around 9:15, despite
the fact that the movies don't really start until 10:30 (and they don't REALLY
really start until well after 11) but I knew from the Bruce Campbell appearance
that people would be coming out of the woodwork to see a celebrity. Luckily
there were 
only
about 10 people in line when we got there--until a whole crowd of people showed
up who were apparently friends of the people directly in front of us and suddenly
there were about 30 people in front of us. (Note to people who do that--the
people behind you DON'T like when you do that and yes, we ARE making fun of
you.) Soon though, the linecutters were forgotten as who should come walking
around the corner but the Wizard of Gore himself, Tom Savini. He asked for
a cigarette and made his way down the line, stopping to chat, shaking hands,
and taking a photo with one nervous Jersey girl who has been a fan since she
was little, bonding with her dad over Dawn of the Dead and Creepshow.
The first thing that entered my mind when I saw him standing in front of me
was "I thought he'd be taller." The second thing was "Wow, here's
a nice guy and he's making a lot of fans really happy when he could be off
in Hollywood hanging with celebrities."
After a while he went inside to sign autographs and sell some videos, books,
and photos. He signed everything you asked him to though, not just his own
merchandise. And he didn't charge to autograph other things you brought in,
unlike some celebrities who shall remain nameless ("dadadadadada Batman!").
One guy 
had
him sign all four of his Zombie Dawn of the Dead action figures, including
"Motorcycle Man" who is really Tom Savini's character from the film but with
hands, as he put it, "bigger than the Creature from the Black Lagoon's".
I bought his first special effects how-to book, including how he did the great
effects in The Burning, Friday the 13th, Creepshow, and,
one of my personal favorites, Maniac. After a while, he got up in front
of the screen and talked a little about some NOTLD little-known facts.
He told us to notice the scene in which Barbara has fled the cemetery in the
beginning and has lost her shoes on the way. He wanted Patricia Tallman to
run in one take from the woods to the barn, then up to the main house, which
would require her to run across a gravel and stone strewn yard. His solution?
When she runs and leans against a haystack to "catch her breath", it's
actually to allow someone off-screen to put shoes on her to prevent her from
cutting up her feet. When that scene in the film shows up, it's amazing how
obvious it is that someone's putting shoes on her, but damned if I never noticed
before. He gave away other little trivia bits, like how Laurence Fishburne
and Eriq LaSalle both auditioned for the part of Ben, but lost to Tony Todd.
Then he left the stage until after the movie.
Anyone who's ever been to Exhumed Films' nights knows that the best part of
the evening isn't the double features or celebrity guests--it's the previews.
Films that are hard to find if not lost in a vault entirely somewhere, but
their trailers remain to give us all a laugh and make us reminisce about the
past. Some that I've seen are real riots, like "The Embalmer!" (When
you spell terror, it's spelled "THE EMBALMER!"), Three Tough Guys
(starring Isaac Hayes AND Lino Ventura!), and Dracula's Dog (See it's
eyes glow! Like a doberman with 
someone
shining a flashlight in its face!) Others are films I would love to see on
the big screen--Suspiria, The Prowler, and Return of the
Living Dead. We all applaud them, partially to acknowledge the classics
and partially because, well, most of them are so damn funny we just have to
applaud. After NOTLD, Tom came back onstage to answer questions--and
that's when we got some real howlers. All of the fans who are the models for
the Comic Book Store Guy on the Simpsons were out in droves last night. We
had questions like "How did you feel when Joe Spinell died after Maniac?"
(how the hell are you supposed to feel when a friend dies suddenly?) and "I
heard you were in Vietnam.", but Tom gamely answered everything. We really
got to know a little more about the man behind the makeup, and I got to ask
a question of my own, which I guess someone else might think is a dumbass
question, but we all have our opinions. I asked what it was like to work with
Dario Argento on Trauma and if he planned on collaborating with him
in the future. From the reply I got, he doesn't have any plans but would work
again with Dario "in a minute." He then went on to excitedly describe
the personality of my favorite Italian horror director as a lot of fun, full
of energy, as just a very sweet man. He revealed Dario's passion for playing
with Tom's upright video arcade games, and I was just really amazed at how
different the director of Suspiria and Profondo Rosso is from
what I assumed in my head. I assumed he would be dark and serious, possibly
scary himself. At least not from Tom's description…he even sounds fun to be
around. He said that despite the fact that Dario speaks no English and that
he himself hasn't spoken Italian since he was little, they communicate in
other ways, either with facial expressions or gestures. I'd also like to add
that someone did bring up The Ripper, and Tom apologized again for
being in it, and when asked why he did it gave an answer I think I can accept
more than if he'd said he'd found it to be worthwhile--"They gave me a
whole lot of money for a few hours work" was the basic gyst of his reason.
So, the blame lies elsewhere, for the most part. Tom was largely not responsible
for it, although as he reminded us, "Everyone [in this business] has a
'Ripper' in their lives…even Rick Baker has 'Octaman'." Point taken…
By
the time the Q&A session was over, it was well after 2 a.m. and we decided
we should go. I had my photos, my autographed book, and a memory of my night
with Tom Savini that I couldn't wait to share with all my horror friends.
If you're in New Jersey and a horror fan, there is hope for you yet because
you don't have to go anywhere near the boardwalk to have fun on the weekends!
And Justin, I've got a seat saved for you when you get to America again…next
up, City of the Walking Dead and Man from Deep River, Italian
cheese at its finest. See you there…
Exhumed
Films (the site for the people who put on these great shows)
Savini.com
(the official site of the great man himself!)
