Toooooo Cooooooool!!! Yeah, that describes it best. Father Geek here just received the following from one of our British Agents. And you can bet that both Harry and I would LOVE to be there for this event... great films, great guests, great fun! However, at least we will be attending Tarantino's little film fest/party here in Austin during that same time period. It will be TOTALLY DIFFERENT, but loads of fun none-the-less. That's what makes events such as these so great... there are 10s of thousands of funtastic flicks lying around forgotten out there and when someone takes the effort and time to organize them into a festival with a few hundred like-minded fans attending, well, its near impossible not to have a hell-of-a-great-time...

Saw your plug for Fright-Fest - be great if you could also give a plug to the other genre-fest happening in the UK that weekend (24th-26th August): The 12th Festival of Fantastic Films.

The FFF mixes new movies with a stack of vintage classics. This year's programme includes a full George Pal retrospective, including such obscurities as THE GREAT RUPERT (starring Terry Moore and a stop-motion squirrel). Also lined up are JUST IMAGINE, THE BRUTE MAN, MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH, MAD LOVE, etc - dozens of classic SF and horror flicks, all off prime 16mm prints where possible.

New films include the world premiere of Don Dohler's latest, ALIEN RAMPAGE, plus David Teague's THE SANDMAN, Eric Lavoie's SILENT INVASION and plenty of other new indie fare. Also, the UK premiere of Italian director Ivan Zuccon's superb Fulci-esque Lovecraft movie L'ALTROVE/THE DARKNESS BEYOND and its sequel UNKNOWN BEYOND.

This year's guests are Ray Harryhausen, Forry Ackerman and Paul Naschy. The festival is held in a big hotel so everyone attending can socialise all weekend. And it's over in Manchester - which is a heck of a lot cheaper place to hang than London!

Best of all is this year's screening of the orginal KING KONG. Sure, you've seen it a million times, but check this out... Back in the 1930s, a young lad named Ray Harryhausen saw KONG and decided he wanted to make films like that. He asked the Grauman's Chinese cinema manager about the lobby cards he saw on display there and was told they were loaned by a young man named Forrest J Ackerman. And thus began a legendary friendship.

Fast forward to August 2001 and the Festival of Fantastic Films: a brand new, pristine 35mm print of KING KONG, screened in an original 1930s cinema which has been faithfully restored, introduced on stage by both Ray and Forry. It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and any British monster fans (or American ones - the FFF usually attracts some foreign visitors) should do everything they can to be there. Admit it, Harry - even you are a bit jealous on this one.

Full details of the FFF are at Their Site!

And no, I'm not one of the organisers, but I've been going for the past six years and wouldn't miss it for the world.

Best,

MJ Simpson