Today was a day filled with DVD, movie, and television related panels. We sat through many of them, and got a two for one to boot.The program printed by the comic convention folk is sometimes misleading and sometimes very unclear. Such was the case with this morning’s first panel on the new releases from Anchor Bay Entertainment. If you have followed my articles over the years, many of you know my weird fandom (obsession some may call it) with Charisma Carpenter. When I saw her name listed as appearing to discuss new DVD releases, I knew we had to be there just to get a picture.
She was just as charming as ever, and looked great for being the same age as me, and for just having a kid not too long ago. Her new film Voodoo Moon will be released on DVD in the coming months, and it looks to be a good horror film in the same way Rosemary’s Baby had you freaking out.
Briefly: Many years ago a small town went nuts and half the town killed the other half, and then flooded it under a lake. Only two children escaped a boy and a girl. All grown up, the boy is having visions and needs the help of his sister (Carpenter) to put an end to the evil.
Chada says I took a million pictures of Charisma, but that isn’t true. My camera will only allow me to take 256 pictures – so there. I didn’t want to blind the presenters so I tried to keep my flash photography to a minimum, which unfortunately resulted in many blurred photos.
The beautiful Charisma Carpenter
There were a couple other releases that look promising including Lightning Bug featuring Queer as Folk star Hal Sparks. From the Anchor Bay site we find out: “After relocating with his alcoholic mother to a small-town in Alabama, an ambitious would-be horror make-up artist tries to realize his dreams but first must overcome daunting odds — not the least of which is his mother’s monstrous boyfriend. Luckily, he meets a kinder-spirited video store clerk.”
“We’ll hold our own lights if it helps get this movie made!”
Interestingly this is a semi-autobiographical story of make-up wizard Robert Hall’s life growing up.
Tagged as Evil Dead II meets Something About Mary, Dead and Breakfast finds six friends stranded in the middle of nowhere and are forced to spend the night at a bed and breakfast. By morning the chef and owner of the B&B are dead and the friends are the focus of the investigation. Things only get worse when the residents of Lovelock are possessed by an evil spirit and all hell breaks loose. This is one I definitely want to pick up when it comes out on DVD September 6.
As I said earlier, the program schedule isn’t the best when it says who is and who is not appearing at a particular panel. Imagine my surprise and joy when they previewed “Man with the Screaming Brain” and man god Bruce Campbell walked out on stage for a very funny and very to the point Q&A.
Hail to the King, baby!
Bruce ponders the question, “Will there every be an Evil Dead 4?”
Evil Dead II DVD
If I could choose someone to star in one of my films, Bruce would be the go to guy. He rocks. One moment he can be very funny and flippant, then the next he can be very serious. Such was the case when a young man next to us asked, “What can I do to make films?” Campbell responded the way I have always responded to my students, “Learn your craft and master it.” He went on to explain that the most successful people in the industry understand completely the tio of writing, production, and selling. Without all three, you might be good, but you’ll never be great.
As for The Man with the Screaming Brain, the trailer gives mixed vibes. It’s got Bruce Campbell in it, but the story reminds me of the Steve Martin flop, “All of Me”. And having read the comic (written by Campbell) it just comes off as mediocre. Who knows, in a few years it too could become a cult classic like Evil Dead and Army of Darkness.
Oh… Don’t expect to ever see Evil Dead 4. Bummer. But I did get to meet two of the people I wanted to at the show.
While waiting for DC’s Justice League/The Batman panel, who should we see walking down the hall but legendary stop motion animator Ray Harryhausen.
We decided to go in and listened as Ray and other panel member discussed the history of King Kong, how it reflected the life of the director, and general reminiscing. Unless you are a huge King Kong/stop motion fan this panel could put you to sleep very quickly, but it was still interesting.
We wrapped up the day of TV and movie panels by attending the DC Justice League Unlimited/The Batman panel. They showed the most recent episode “Divided We Fall” (airing tonight July 15, 2005) to a packed house of over 800 people. I’ve already seen it and the episode that airs next week called “Epilogue”, and my greatest fear after seeing the season finale, was the entire DC Animated universe created by Paul Dinni and Bruce Timm come to an end.
There is good news, and even better news. DC announced Cartoon Network will be airing a new season – that is the good news.
The even better news? Three words – Legion of Doom. Yes, the villains have united and have formed their own club, complete with a secret clubhouse.
Look familiar? If you grew up in the 70’s it better. We were informed that the Legion of Doom storyline would comprise a large portion of the season, and we can expect to see Legion of Superheroes episodes too. With Paul Dinni at the helm, I am confident this will not be the Challenge of the Superfriends.
Any other info about next season? Stargirl will have an episode that one panelist said was his favorite, and the love triangle between Vixen, Green Lantern, and Hawkgirl will become even more interesting when Hawkgirl meets a certain Carter Hall.
In between panels, we ran around and picked up a slew of Batman back issues, stood in line for a bunch of stuff, including the show release of the Thanos mini-mate figures. Chada and I also got a wiff of many interesting geek smells, and saw many costumed fans.
“Is that Stan Lee over there?”
Ummm…..yeah…
The Frank Cho Liberty Meadows statue.
Me and the Luna Brothers. Watch these guys, they will be huge in the next couple of years.
Creator of Martin’s Misdirection webcomic.
I don’t know what the hell these things are, but Chada had to buy one…
Tomorrow is the big day, Bryan Singer will be at the show to talk about the new Superman movie. I expect the largest hall in the convention center to be packed to the rafters with people trying to catch a glimpse of the Man of Steel.
Until tomorrow true believers!