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Capone wants you to come to Flashback Weekend in Chicago and chill with Romero, Coscarelli and tons of horror greats!
Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here.
Earlier this year when I interviewed George Romero, I mentioned that George would be part of a world tour celebrating the 40th anniversary of the release of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. In less than two weeks, Romero and seven cast members from that landmark film will be the a part of Chicago's premiere horror convention, Flashback Weekend, June 27-29, at which I'll be pulling double duty as a co-emcee and a rabid fanboy getting my posters and DVDs signed like a maniac. All details on the event can be found at http://www.flashbackweekend.com, but allow me to tell you about a couple of the great guests the event will feature.
As for as the NOTLD reunion, we'll have on hand director/co-writer Romero; Judith O'Dea (Barbra); Marilyn Eastman (Helen Cooper); John Russo (co-writer/crowbar zombie); Russ Streiner (Johnny/co-producer); Kyra Schon (Karen Cooper); Bill Hinzman (Graveyard Zombie); and George Kosana (Sheriff McCelan).
As if that weren't enough, Flashback is also celebrating the 30th anniversary of PHANTASM with the largest reunion of PHANTASM folks ever. We'll have the Tall Man himself, Angus Scrimm; writer-director Don Coscarelli; Michael Baldwin (Mike); Reggie Bannister (Reg); Bill Thornberry (Jody); and Kathy Lester (The Lady in Lavender). A lot of Ain't It Cool folks are friendly with Coscarelli (and he did a fantastic farewell video for the Alamo Drafthouse), and I can't wait to finally meet him.
As awesome as these two massive reunions are, the hormonal adolescent in me is most excited about the appearance of Elvira -- Mistress of the Dark, who will be on hand only on Saturday, June 28; her alter ego, actress Cassandra Peterson, will be on hand Sunday, June 29.
Also on hand this year will be The Ladies of THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE: lead actress Marilyn Burns from the classic 1974 original; and Carolyn Williams, who played "Stretch" in the 1985 sequel, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2.
The Babysitters from Rob Zombie's HALLOWEEN--Scout-Taylor Compton (Laurie Strode), Danielle Harris (Annie Bracket), and Kristina Klebe (Lynda)--will reunite in Chicago.
And returning to Flashback Weekend will be Eileen Dietz, the face of death and the possessed Regan from the original THE EXORCIST. Check out the web site for a few additional guests, but you get the idea.
One of my favorite aspects of Flashback Weekend is the outdoor film screenings. There's truly nothing like it in or around Chicago. This year's line up is stellar: on Friday, June 27 we'll play the original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, introduced by the reunited cast and crew. This will be followed by PHANTASM III: LORD OF THE DEAD from 1994. On Saturday, June 28, we lead off with the original PHANTASM, introduced by Don Coscarelli and his cast. Following that is the Chicago premiere of director Jonathan Levine's ALL THE BOYS LOVE MANDY LANE, which has been hopping around the festival circuit since the 2006 Toronto Film Festival. I've already seen and have fallen in love with Levine's follow-up film, THE WACKNESS, but I have yet to see this one. I can't wait. I've heard loads of great things about it from other AICN staffers, who seem to relish in rubbing it in when they've seen something I haven't.
There are loads of other fun things to do at Flashback Weekend, so come out and spend some time meeting these great guests. And if you can, come say hi to me as well. See you there, folks.
Capone
capone@aintitcoolmail.com
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...me some Phantasm.
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I'm 5233 miles away - can anyone give me lift?
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from what it was a few years ago. The past two years have been very lackluster and I blame the organizers. Having gone to this a few times now and seeing how half assed it is run, I decided to take my convention dollar elsewhere. When you can't even decide what time you are going to open the doors even though the posted time is 5pm on Friday (with said doors opening at around 6:30pm only after a near riot breaks out in the hallway); when your panels are so misguided that most of the stars end up looking at eachother and shrugging their shoulders because the moderators are so gaga over their fanboy lusts that they can't compose themselves long enough to move the show along; and when you run 35mm drive in type screenings for the first few years only to further cheapen a once great show by throwing DVD projections that we could watch in our homes with friends up on a screen... these and SO many more reasons compell me to warn any first timers away from this convention. There are a lot more MUCH better run cons out there for you to enjoy than to keep allowing the folks running this show to take your money for a sub par presentation. Sorry Flashback... you've lost a loyal customer (and my group of usually about five or six that I drag along with me to these things). I'll wait to hear from friends who are local to Chicago (and feel even more burned than I as they have gone every year since Flashback started) and see if things get any better with this year's Weekend.
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sure were do you want picking up from,and can you put a couple of quid in for petrol.should be about 5 grand unless it goes up again
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Still seems a bit weak though...For petes' sake change this from a prking lot to a place with Grass and you'd double the attendence for the screenings
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For the record, the comments from JackLucas are coming from someone that used to be affiliated with the Flashback Weekend event and hasn't been for quite a number of years, although he has tried to sneak in a couple times since. I'd guess he'd fall under the category of "disgruntled former employee." I believe the only thing he says here that is even remotely true is that the outdoor screenings are now shown on DVD, but that has nothing to do with the organizers. It has to do with the city where the event takes places essentially forbidding the organizers from doing the drive-in format any longer. Naturally I'm biased when it comes to his comments about the panel moderators, but considering I've been doing these for seven years and the co-emcee is a professional radio broadcaster with more than 20 years of experience, I'm guessing you can take those comments with a shovel full of salt, as well. Everything else he said is overly exaggerated horseshit. The only reason you would post something like this is to hurt the show, and that makes you a full-blown cockbag.
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ahhhh! to hit puberty in the eighties...
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posted this before, but this was the cover story in the fairfield weekly celebrating _night_'s 40th, and not really celebrating romero's work subsequent to _dawn_ very much at all: http://tinyurl.com/2m87qm . a fun read.
less fun: can one of you all heading to chi-town ask george why he has sucked so hard for a generation-plus now? thanks in advance! -
I agree with JackLucas.
I've gone to Flashback for the past five years and the past two or so have been weak.
The panels have been disjointed and unorganized. Whether it's the fault of the city or not, he's correct about the outdoor screenings. Sitting on hard-back hotel chairs for four hours kinda sucks. -
It is all over the map - And for First timers- the screenings are in the parking lot of the hotel- problem is its right next to the 294 Expressway! and 2 major Blvds where people can walk by and see for free- or you hear/see the cars drive by, and drive by and drive by. Did I mention it doesn't even closely resemble a Drive In feel? These bozo's need to rent a plot if land nearby and have it out there- there are so many Forest preserves a stone's throw away- it make no sense to do it the way they do. Imagine sitting in a forest preserve at night and catching a ZOmbie film - or better yet Friday the 13th!..sweet- not to give out ideas- but these goons need it. Sorry capone your $25 a night to MC fee should not let your integrity get in the way. This is a weak show and has been for 3 years
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Chicago has been screwed for the last few years as far as geek-cons are concerned. We get one - count it, ONE! - comicon a year now. So why schedule Flashback weekend at a hotel kitty-korner across the street from one of the the last few remaining comic book mega-shows in the country - let alone the city? I can only imagine that the dealer's room at Flashback will suffer massively since many of the same dealers would put up booths at Wizard World where the greater foot traffic would be. While I would not wish the organizers of FlashBack ill-will, I truly think someone needs to get their heads out of their asses when it comes to scheduling the con. Why not put the show together for sometime closer to Halloween? Put it together in conjunction with one of the many, very professional haunted attractions that dot the area in the fall months. But don't try to split the geek-bucks with WWChicago. We get few enough geek-event in this city now as it is.
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Gruntybear beat me to my question. Why schedule the two Cons on the same weekend? I plan to attend both, but since I have to split my time between shows, I will end up spending the same amount of money as previous years but I'll be forced to miss some events. I also know of people that normally go to Flashback that won't be able to attend this year, because they work in the comics industry.
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he obviously has me mixed up with someone else. I am just a normal everyday fanboy who has hit enough conventions to know when he is getting screwed over. The fact that you took my comments so much to heart shows who I may have been talking about (without stooping to your personal level of course). One need only check out the most recent Anchor Bay (a Flashback sponsor) dip into the Evil Dead cashpool (see: Evil Dead Ultimate Edition) to see Capone's "moderation" of a panel. (See: standing there with a slack-jawed fanboy gawk as the celebs do their best to make their way through questions on their own.) But, no... sorry man. My only connection to Flashback Weekend is my shelling out cash for tickets and a hotel room only to see the convention sink deeper and deeper into the kind of fuck-the-fans money grubbing that has ruined one convention after another over the years. Good luck with this year, though. I hope things improve.
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Jun 16, 2008 11:14:24 PM CDT
Okay Capone... Are you Eric from the Sunday night Nick D show?
by sherlockmonk
Just wondering. If not then are you on his show under a name I'd know?
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