Hey there, friends! My name is Jake and I'd like to think of myself as an all around creative guy. I draw, I paint, I play the bass and write music, and most of all, I like to make movies. This blog will primarily be the central hub for everything I've worked on and will be working on. I've had several blogs over the years, but mostly more niche related material, and I wanted to really wanted a nice site for people to view my work. Although my movies have been primarily horror, I've been looking to branch out and write about anything I can think of, whether it be grim, funny, sad, I want to make entertaining material for everyone.
This website will also serve as a personal blog too. Weekly posts discussing various topics and other nostalgic pieces that tug at my heart strings, there is a ton to show to the world and I'm excited to bring my projects to the masses. As far as "personal" goes, even the title of the blog is sentimental to me. Having being a native to Dudley, MA for about 26 years of my life, there are a lot of great memories I have from growing up in that town. Between school and all the friends I made (and still have) it makes for some great storytelling and I'll always have a good time talking about my time in Dudley. Sheesh, I make it sound like I live across the country, but currently I reside in the city of Worcester, MA, which really isn't far from Dudley at all, but those memories flood my brain with greatness, and I really miss all the times I had in that town.
Dudley was a base of everything I did creative. Just about every short film I made was in Dudley, my band was from Dudley, and all of my close friends were from Dudley. That's why I chose the name "A Dude From Dudley", because that's who I am, and I truly love where I'm from. I'd like to think of Dudley as it's own creative muse, because when I'm in an artistic slump, I'll just look back at all of those great memories, and my brain starts to churn ideas out again.
I hope all of you enjoy my films, and whatever else I'll post on here. Expect a lot of nostalgia pieces and other funny stories from my past.
Holy shit was it a busy October! Between writing my film, watching movies, working alongside a Rocky Horror shadow-cast, and just working in general, I'm glad the month is over. Time to get back to this fucking thing, and update you on all the cool shit that happened this month. To start, I guess I'll tell you folks about the great time I had at Rock and Shock this year.
For those who don't know, Rock and Shock is an annual Horror/Cult convention in Worcester, MA. Every year, horror nerds like myself, head to the DCU center to spend an assload of cash on movies, posters, autographs, and much much more. It's a blast, and I look forward to destroying a months worth of paychecks on knick knacks and more movies every fucking year and the celebrity lineup was bonkers this year. With appearances from Bruce Campbell, Ray Wise, Felissa Rose, and yearly regulars like Adam Green, Bill Moseley, Kane Hodder, and so much more, youjr jaw just smashed the floor seeing all of these icons hanging out on the floor. If I had the money, I'd meet them all, but this year I was pretty chill and just stuck to meeting one of my biggest heroes, Adam Green. I get all starstruck meeting him, cause if it wasn't for him, or his incredible films, I wouldn't be the aspiring filmmaker I would of been today. He's the nicest dude ever, and I look forward to seeing him every time he's in Massachusetts. Thanks to him I got my copies of Hatchet 3 and Victor Crowley signed, and I got a kick ass Hatchet graphic novel, also signed by Adam. Fucking awesome.
One of my favorite booths to stop by every year, is the Morbid Visions tent. So far, for the past 3 years I've been buying movies from Filmmaker Brian Paulin, and I've been completely obsessed with his films ever since. I've reviewed one of his movies on here, a movie by the incredible name of FETUS, and every year since then I've been buying everything he's had at his table. By now I'm pretty sure I have all of his films, all signed by the gore-maestro himself, and on top of all of that, Brian is a wicked nice dude. If you want to check out his films, click the link here: MORBID VISION FILMS
And of course, I bought more posters for the Repugnant Dungeon!
This year, I actually wanted to focus on some of the panels going on this year. My girlfriend and I go to witness the hilarious two man show that was Adam Green, and Derek Mears. It almost wasn't even a panel, but two guys just riffing off of each other, and holy shit, I was dying laughing. I honestly hope those guys make a podcast or something, cause jeez, it was funny as hell. We also got to watch an independent filmmaking panel which included Brian Paulin, Alex DiVincenzo, Kyle Kuchta, Bill Fulkerson, and I completely forgot the other persons name, and the moderators name (yes, bad, I know), and we stayed for the Texas Chainsaw Retrospective with actors spanning all the movies including John Dugan, Ed Neil, Bill Moseley, Bill Johnson, and Dan Yeager. It was fucking awesome, and it just too cool to see John and Ed yucking it up with everyone. They were funny as hell!
All in all, it was another kickass wallet. My bank may hate me, but it was all worth it, and shit like this always reignites my passion to make movies. If it weren't for all of these icons, and fans, I wouldn't be here. Here's to another year of horrifying bliss, and I'm looking forward to what next years Rock and Shock has to offer.
June 7th of this year marked ten years since I've graduated High School. Holy shit... ten years already? Time seems to be moving faster and faster every goddamn day, and now I'm getting hit with the nostalgia bug and looking up all the old junk I created with friends over the years. I put out a compilation of shorts I made last year, but this blog post is dedicated to the most elusive of all the shorts I've worked on.
Tics is a short film that was directed by my good friend Lindsey Brodeur (Marble), and it starred Bob Brodeur, Tyler Aucoin, Wyatt Adams, and myself. I remember getting together with everyone at the old abandoned dye mill in Dudley, MA, which was about a 5-10 minute walk from all of our houses, and literally just coming up with shit on the spot. Purely amateur, but we were all 16/17/18 years old and we had no fucking idea what to do. We were also trying to make a deadline for the Shepherd Hill Horror Movie Festival that Ty and I were putting on at our high school, so it was thrown together all on the spot, but we had a hell of a time making it. Holy shit, I even remember all the stupid shots we had to keep retaking because we were goofing off so much, particularly the scene where Wyatt gets his throat cut by Bob.
Even editing it was a pain in the ass, because we swore way too much, and since this was for a school event, we had to edit out all the naughty fuck words, and we even had to edit the cut-throat scene because it was "too graphic". I mean, it was cheap as shit, considering all we used for blood was ketchup at the time, and you can see Wyatt smiling when he dies in the film, but the ninny's at Shepherd Hill just couldn't handle it. The swears were replaced with duck quacks, and the bloody stuff was cut out. Oddly enough, they kept the scene in the preview they were showing in the hallway leading into the auditorium, so have no idea what was going on... My first taste of the fucked practices behind the MPAA? Definitely felt like it. The whole experience was a blast though. Just seeing something we created together as a group of friends on the big screen felt great. Tics came in second place, and then Lindsey put the full version up on Youtube soon after. This is where is starts to get fucky, because it would be years before I would ever see Tics again, up until a few months ago.
So, in the original version of Tics, we featured two songs. One from Linkin Park, and the other from Shadows Fall. Back in 2008, Youtube didn't give a shit about copyright, and you could literally post anything with whatever music you wanted. If the artist was pissed off about you using their music, they would contact you directly. Now it's 2018, and if you even feature a 5 second long clip of some popular song, your video gets hit with a copyright violation. I don't disagree with this, but this is what made it hard to get and watch Tics again. It was an on and off situation. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't, but there was a time where the video was outright banned from being watched at all. You can actually find sites and other proxy's that will let you watch certain videos in other countries, but this was fucking gone. I tried emailing youtube to see if I could get it back, but there was nothing they could do, and it's been nearly a decade since Lindsey has touched her youtube channel. I was going to take the loss, but one day Youtube put its guard down, and I was able to watch it through a proxy server. If I was going to get it back, it was going to be now, because I had no idea when this was going to get lost again. I needed it back.
Thanks to a few "legal" programs I found online, I was able to rip the movie off of youtube. The only problem is that it would only capture the video, and no audio. I could listen to the audio fine, but it took me awhile to figure out what I should do. I took the harder route, because I was left with no options. I ripped the video, and then I replayed the video through the proxy and captured the audio through my phone. I then uploaded the audio from my phone to my computer, tossed the audio and video into iMovie, and then edited the audio to match the video. I took out the music and replaced it with free generic horror music from the web, and I cut down a scene where Wyatt is walking around for 2 minutes. It was an epic pain in the dick, but it was so worth it. I was able to save Tics from being lost, and it's the oldest piece of media I can find that I've created. There were others, but those will be lost forever. After the revival of Tics, I went on a quest to find more old shorts I made, diving deep into a rabbit-hole of nostalgic goodies. You can find most of them in a "Shorts Compilation" article I posted here, and I'll link it below.
Several months ago, Bob and I were chatting about old memories, and he came up with the idea of re-making Tics. I've been getting the filmmaking itch, and its been over a year since I've made a short. I started to come up with ideas and for the past few months I've been working on a script. When it came down to doing a remake of something we made in High School, I knew I had to go all out. I needed to flesh it out completely, add more characters, drama, and turn up the violence all the way to 11. My vision for Tics is more-so a psychological psychedelic splatter fest. I want it to be visceral, bleak, and since this version is all based around mental health, I want it to be a severe punch to the gut. As of now, the script is almost complete. I just need to do some fine tuning, come up with designs for effects, and figure out how I'm going to pay for all of this. I want to go balls out for this, and at the ripe age of 28, I don't have time to fuck around with a shit product. When I make this movie, I'm going to put my all into this, and I want to make it the best goddamn thing I ever made.
I'll keep you posted on updates as far as the making of Tics goes. Besides the actual movie, I have plans to make a "Making Of" documentary, and a couple other small clips from Youtube. Not sure when I'm going to be able to film, but I'm gearing for a spring of 2020 release. It's going to be brutal, but it's going to be a fucking blast too.
It's been about 7 years since I last played a gig, and close to 4 year since I've recorded anything. Life throws you curveballs, and it's a damn shame when those curveballs keep you from slamming around on stage with your buds. I still play and practice constantly, but there's truly nothing like being on stage, and ripping through uber fast and severely brutal tunes. It's an incredibly feeling. Even just practicing with a bunch of dudes and writing new material was a blast. The nostalgia of it all has been punching me in the face, especially when you have things like Facebook, and all it does is remind you of all of the awesome shit you did nearly a decade ago. Lately, it's been getting out of control, considering Naegleria's been broken up for 7 years, and every time I log on to social media, I'm hit with old live action shots, flyers, and videos of all of us doing what we loved best... play death metal. I figured this would be a pretty fun time to introduce some of you folks to a couple of the EP's I played bass on, and to discuss the great memories behind making these pieces of music.
Naegleria - Some Kind of Brain Eating Amoeba (2011)
I was in a couple "bands" in high school, but it was pretty hard to find people motivated enough to play really heavy metal. When I was 13 or 14 I really started getting into death metal. Of course I started with the O.G.'s such as Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Immolation, Death, and Suffocation, but my taste in this stuff just kept getting heavier, and nastier. In comes Rayne, who was the older brother of one of my closest buds, and in 2008, he had just formed an early incarnation of Naegleria with drummer Matt Clark. We all worked at the same restaurant, and after a couple months of prodding and figuring out what I'm into, he asked if I would be interested in playing bass for his band. I'm not going to go deep into a detailed history of the band, but I thought it was a pretty decent origin story.
Naegleria would eventually become a five piece consisting of Joel Krantz on vocals, Rayne Purcell on guitars/vocals, Tom Caron on guitars, Myself on bass, and Matt Clark on drums. With 4 years and a few dozen shows under our belt, it was a wild fucking ride, and I mean fucking WILD. The band would eventually come to an end in 2012. I've been asked by Joel several times to upload the entire EP onto youtube, so today, I said fuck it, and finally did it. Check it out, give it a listen, and let me know what you think.
Müłçh - nooneisrightandnothingisreal (2016)
5 years later, "Mulch" was formed. I wasn't the first bassist for the band, but due to the original bassist not working out, I was asked to play bass. I was joined again by Rayne on guitar, Mike Jacques on vocals, and we had a fictional member of the band who went by J. Quinn. It was definitely more a studio thing than anything else, cause well... we never played a show. It was discussed a couple times, but it was pretty cool enough just writing and recording some music. Mulch was a pretty weird band. It was a mix between super fast grind mixed with slower post-metal type of stuff. I got to experiment a lot with the bass lines, which was a first for me. When it came down to playing bass on the Naegleria EP, I pretty much played along with the guitar, kind of adding the technical aspect to metal bass playing. With Mulch, however, it was fast and brutal, but with some of the soundscapes Rayne came up with, I added weird, melodic bass-lines over it to make it sound insane. It was a very fun process, making those songs, and I'm surprised we haven't done anything else with it. The whole EP is on youtube and soundcloud, so I'll link them down below!
I don't think I'm never not going to be in a band or record something again, but in the mean time I'm just going to keep on writing, and pondering on the good times I had slamming on stage and recording music with my buds.
KEEP ON SLAMMIN'
Naegleria and others playing a basement show with Obsidian Tongue and Betrayed by Prophecy after getting kicked out of a VFW
One of my goals in life is to make my very own full length horror film. I write constantly, but mostly due to financial reasons, and I guess having no real movie-making experience, I haven't been able to really make one. Obviously it's hard, but you can still create entertaining stuff with very little, or no money. This is what this compilation is... a bunch of shorts I worked on, all of which I couldn't have done with out my buddy Tyler Aucoin. I'll provide a bit of commentary to these and I'll go from oldest to newest, but other than that, sit and enjoy.
So Ty and I have been making shorts since High School, and looking back, we should have at least a dozen of them uploaded. Sadly, a lot were lost over the years, and most of the ones I'm mentioning below were made within the past 4+ years. A friend of ours, Steve, had a ton of his shorts online. Some featuring myself, and a ton featuring Ty, but sadly, he took them all down a few years ago, and those would of been great to add. Luckily, I do have a very old one to share. Starting out this segment, TICS (2008)
Ty and Jake circa 2010
TICS (2008)
TICS is a short horror film Directed by Lindsey Marble (Brodeur). It was made for a horror film festival that Ty and I put on at our high school, and featured Bob Brodeur, as the killer, and the victims played by Wyatt Adams, Ty, and myself. This was filmed in an abandoned mill in the woods behind St. Andrew Bobola Church in Dudley, MA. I love how silly this is, and it's crazy to think that it's been ten years since this was made. The Mill was always a great go to for filming locations, but sadly it was demolished back in 2012.
S.U.N. (2013)
With boredom, comes art... and nonsense. I think the basic plot to this was "what if the Sun gave off radioactive waves that turned people into bloodthirsty psychopaths?" This was back when Ty and I went by the moniker "Red Mist Productions", and this is the only video on the defunct Youtube channel. Wondering why I added this? Well, some work was put into it. Mostly the sound design thanks to Ty.
Offering (2015)
Again, with boredom, comes art. Just like S.U.N., this was completely made up on the spot, but I was pretty impressed with the end result. This was filmed in Ty's backyard in Dudley, MA. I think this was around the same time I started watching some weird art films. Mix that with a bunch of pot, and we come up with this sacrifice sequence. Zero budget film-making at its finest. Also, around the 38 second mark, you can see the shadow of my arms, camera, and tripod right in the center of the shot. Hilarious.
Evil Dank (aka, the head crush test) (2016)
So this short was made to test out a head crush special effect we wanted to use in THE MASS MURDER. Thanks to my small collection of "Make Your Own Damn" Troma books by the great Lloyd Kaufman, I figured out how to make the cheap effect. A cantaloupe, a wig, and blood. That's it. It wasn't intended to be shown at the premiere of THE MASS MURDER, but some people thought it was funny and it was shown after our main feature.
The Mass Murder (2016)
I guess you can say this was our first "serious" short. Ty wrote the script based around guy who lost his mind and murdered a bunch of people inside of the old Hewitt Restaurant in Sturbridge, MA, and it was directed by an acquaintance of ours, Chris Latour. It was the first time we had a crew, with lighting, decent cameras, and a solid location, but this said crew wasn't too knowledgeable about making horror films. It was filmed on location at an abandoned Days Inn, and it was perfect. It was also the first time I only acted in something, and I'm not the biggest fan of being in front of the camera. I do have a few issues with the film, but all in all, it was a fun experience. About a month later we showed this film to a group of people at Starlite in Southbridge, and got a bunch of laughs (Mostly due to Ty's head exploding). The film wasn't intended to be funny, but a laugh is better than a "BOOOOOOO".
Analog Undead (2017)
So back in December of 2016, I was laid off from my job. Being the kind of guy I am I was going absolutely fucking nuts doing nothing in-between my job seach, so I figured I would try and make a short movie. Analog Undead was written on the fly, but it was left unfinished when I found a new job. I did everything on this, and it's the first time I made a movie without Ty, or anyone for that matter. I think it still has a lot of potential, and I did write much more to it. I even made fingers for a scene in which the possessed VCR bites them off. Who knows, I may bring this project back from the dead when I get a bit of a budget going.
Endless Way (2017)
Endless Way is a short film written by Ty, and it's about a young man battling his inner demons and addiction to opiates. We both have had friends and family who have gone through addiction, and Ty came up with this idea for a PSA disguised as a horror short. I find it pretty impressive, and I'm quite proud of the cinematography and sound design. It was also the first time I filmed with my Iphone 7s and the quality was superb. The Old Man is played by Ty's dad, and this was filmed on location at Westville Park in Sturbridge, MA.
Garden of Evil (2017)
Garden of Evil has been something Ty has been talking about since the 10th grade, and obviously a passion project of his. One day we just figured we would make an extremely short version of it for shits and giggles, and I think it came out pretty well. The original story is hell of a lot more fleshed out, but with no money or other people, this is what we came up with. Ty's dad comes back to get whacked by a lawnmower, and hilarity ensues. I really want to go back to this one, and hopefully turn this into a feature length movie.
And there you have it. Like I said, a lot has been lost over the years, and even finding TICS was a surprise considering how old it is. It just blows my mind, thinking about how far back all of this has gone, including my long friendship with Ty. Hopefully someone more stuff pops up, but I'm pretty content with the material we have made over the years. There will be more to come in the near future, and they will just keep getting better and better. Let me know what you think, and enjoy!
It's always fun to go through the horror groups on Facebook, or find small indie horror forums, just to find the one person that references the horribly underrated mockumentary BRUTAL MASSACRE. Whenever I mention it to other friends and cult movie goers, 95% of them have no idea what I'm talking about. It just blows my mind that a lot of people are unaware of this movie, and I'm writing this because I want more people to check it out. Honestly, it's got to be one of my favorite comedies ever made, so here's a completely biased review of BRUTAL MASSACRE: A COMEDY.
BRUTAL MASSACRE was released in 2007, written and directed by Stevan Mena. You may know Stevan from his other work such as Malevolence and Bereavement, two solid slasher films that, if you haven't already, should watch. But I'm not talking about his horror films, I'm talking about his comedy about a horror filmmaker trying to make his next big film. This movie stars David Naughton (An American Werewolf in London) as Harry Penderecki, a horror filmmaker struggling to create his new "masterpiece" after years of failure, and his film crew which consists of one of the best cast lineups in any cult movie. Brian O'Halloran (Clerks), Gunnar Hansen (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), Ellen Sandweiss (Evil Dead), Betsy Baker (also Evil Dead), Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead), and Gerry Bednob (The 40 Year Old Virgin). The movie has horror film nostalgia all over it, and that's where most of the comedy comes from in this. If anyone has ever made a short film, or a full on low budget feature length film, you already know all of the bullshit that goes into making a movie. BRUTAL MASSACRE is essentially breaking down ever aspect of the film-making process, well, as if every bit of the making of this movie was doomed from the start. Everything from pitching the film to some rich asshole who wants to change every bit on the script, to casting, pre-production, inexperienced special effect techs, etc etc. Anything that could go wrong on a film set, happens in BRUTAL MASSACRE, and it is hilarious from beginning to finish.
Fangoria Magazine refers to this movie as "The Spinal Tap of horror films", and that's essentially it. The offbeat humor and dry delivery of the dialogue is what makes this movie so great. David Naughton is just so awkward and goofy, and just completely unaware of his surroundings. Every time he takes one step forward, his film and crew take five steps back, and he spends most of the movie trying to round up his crew without committing suicide in the process. Other than David Naughton's portrayal of Harry Penderecki, Gunnar Hansen as the drunken Vietnam vet was the funniest character in the movie. He has some of the best one liners I have ever heard, and I quote them all the time. Even the other day my girlfriend was asking me to go to the store to get some things, and we joke around a lot so she was pretending to be a major asshole. That's when I yelled "I WAS IN THE NAM, PUSSYFART. I'LL TWIST YOUR HEAD OFF AND GO BOWLING". She didn't know what to say, and I was just cracking up... I mean as all 26 year old man-children would after yelling "PUSSYFART".
I understand that most people wouldn't get the humor or the film-making process, especially when all of the inside jokes refer to horror films, but BRUTAL MASSACRE even seems to be underrated in the horror community, and I don't get it. You'd think with a cast like this, and a story as funny as a low budget film-making crew making a ridiculous movie, would appeal to the typical horror nerd. Of course, like I mentioned, this is completely biased. I saw this movie when I was in high school and it just stuck with me. I personally find it hilarious, and as someone who has made a few short films, I just got it. I think it's just one of those niche films, where you really got to be into horror culture and film-making to really get it. Maybe you don't either, and you like off-beat, dry humor. I've read a bunch of negative and positive reviews, and usually it's directed towards the humor aspect or the self-deprecating of the indie film-making process, so I can see it as a movie that you either like or dislike. But, I'm one of the guys who loves it. I'm a nerd who's into making movies, and that kind of humor, so whenever I interact with other horror fans I always like to reference BRUTAL MASSACRE to see if they know what I'm talking about. I'm a fan, what can I say.
I know you can find this movie cheap on amazon and other streaming/rental websites, so if you have the couple extra bucks to blow on a movie, definitely pick up BRUTAL MASSACRE. I think it's just a great movie for the typical horror nerd, or the aspiring film-maker, or someone who just enjoys a good comedy. I'll post the amazon link and trailer below, and if you purchase it, let me know what you think! I'm always wondering how all of you react to the movies I like to write about, and if you want to chat and discuss more movies, you can always follow me on twitter or instagram as @jakeisrepugnant. Hope you enjoyed this completely biased, ultra-fan review of BRUTAL MASSACRE, and I hope to hear form you soon. Thanks!
So like I said in my previous review for FETUS, I went to Rock and Shock last weekend. My girlfriend and I went Saturday, and to our surprise, it wasn't really packed. Which honestly, was great for us. I'm a big awkward nerd, and being stuck in big crowds isn't my thing. This blog post is essentially my favorite highlights from this years Rock and Shock. The booths, the merch, the celebrities, and a neat little shorts panel I checked out. So lets get into the goods... here's my Rock and Shock experience.
Before we did anything, my girlfriend buy's a mug from Wild Bill's Soda, a company that makes soda the old fashioned way. The drinks were ridiculously good, but the best part was the fact that you could get free refills all day. Much better than spending $5 on a bottled water (I mean, it's unhealthy as fuck, but I'm a glutton anyway). After that we made turn to one of many lanes in the convention, and the first see is an amazing Lucio Fulci bobble head. I almost got one of these on Rotten Cotton last year, and considering these were a little cheaper than the RC ones, I had to get it. The first thing I see, it the first thing I buy. How compulsive is that? I got the bobble head from a both called "We <3 Michelle Bauer", and they also threw in a Michelle Bauer Scream Queens trading card, and the soundtrack to The Beyond. Too fucking cool, and a solid buy if I do say so myself.
Directly behind me, was the Troma booth. The only thing that really pisses me off about the Troma booth every year, is that Lloyd Kaufman is never here! What the fuck, Lloyd? But Troma convention guy Ron Mackay is a super nice guy, so I got over it. I picked up 5 movies from Troma (and I totally regret not getting that Toxic Avenger hot sauce). I picked up Pro-Wrestlers VS Zombies, something a friend and I have wanted to see for awhile, VHS Massacre, an amazing documentary on Cult films and the decline of physical media, Symphony in Blood Red, which is a giallo style film, Electric Apricot: The Quest for Festeroo, Les Claypool's directorial debut, and a compilation called From Asia With Lust, which featured 2 really sleazy japanese rape and revenge flicks (it was buy 4 get the 5th free so why not). I really wish I brought more money, but I was trying to be good, and one day I'll eventually have the money to buy ALL THE TROMA STUFF.
In the early afternoon my girlfriend wanted to check out a Short Film panel happening on the 3rd floor. It seemed pretty interesting, and there were a couple shorts that really stuck out for me. One was called The Root of All Evil, which was about a pagan Halloween tree that killed all those who disrespected Halloween tradition. The second one I can really remember was called Mannequin, a short slasher about a killer store Mannequin who kills retail associates at night. It was a fun little panel, and I was pretty impressed with the shorts I enjoyed. It kind of made me think about the local horror community, and the possibility of find people like this to help me on my future films. Definitely a great way to network with other filmmakers.
I remember following my girlfriend over to some Halloween bath bomb whatever booth, but passing buy, I caught a film called "FETUS" on this gore covered table. I walked right back around to check it out. I mean come on, it was called FETUS. The booth was a film company called Morbid Vision Films, and man at the helm of this incredible booth was Brian Paulin. I picked up FETUS and bought another one of his films called Blood Pigs, which he told me was voted "Goriest Film of 2010" by Rue Morgue Magazine. I could say no. Just take my money and let me whine about it later, I NEED FETUS AND BLOOD PIGS. After that I picked up a few posters; a couple Japanese Godzilla ones, a poster for the collector's edition of They Live, and Frankenhooker. Buy 2 get 2 free, which is pretty awesome for a con. Actually, this is one of the cheapest cons I've ever been too. Even some of the same collectibles I saw at Boston Comic Con that appeared at Rock and Shock (such as some of the Living Dead Dolls) were $20 to $30 dollars cheaper. The only really thing you'd be spending a lot of money on at Rock and Shock, was meeting the celebrities. Speaking on celebrities...
I only met two famous people at Rock and Shock this year, but they were the ones that counted the most in my opinion, and a lot of the other celebrities I've met at past Rock and Shocks, or other events. The first person I met was actress Barbara Magnolfi, from one of my favorite films ever made, Suspiria. She was honestly too great, and a very nice lady. She left a fun Olga quote, signed her lithograph, and took a photo. Meeting one of the greatest giallo actresses from one of my favorite films of all time was just a dream come true. The other actress I had to meet this year was the amazing Tiffany Shepis. I've talked about her countless times on this blog, and I could definitely rank her in my top favorite Scream Queens of all time. We was just as great as I thought she was. Very personable and loved to interact and chat with fans. We talked about Scarecrow (check out my old Scarecrow podcast!) and a few of her other films, such as Tromeo and Juliet, Night of the Demons, Sharknado 2, and Bonnie and Clyde VS Dracula. I'd definitely love to meet her again, and maybe do some kind of interview for The Repugnant Playhouse!
That was basically my day at Rock and Shock. I feel like I'm a direct kind of guy when it comes to cons. I search for the stuff I really like, and I don't dilly dally too much at booths. I was there for about 5 hours, which was more than enough time for me to look at everything. It was definitely a fun afternoon, and I had a blast meeting all the people I met. I truly hope cons like this never disappear, because conventions like Rock and Shock are the best for those true genre fans. It really caters to the blood hounds and gore fiends in us all, and I'll obviously be back again next year.
