Horror & Hotties Film Festival / MegaCon '07
After Shocks The foundation for any good film festival is the cinematic line-up, and ours was undeniably solid and true to the theme of the show. Our goal was to fuse horror with cult camp, as displayed by our following salacious and slimy selections: Devil's Den, Pervert! The Movie, Filthy, Tattoo Love Magic, GrisGrimly's Cannibal Flesh Riot! and Brian Pulido's There's Something Out There. Two features and four shorts. We thought it would be fun to mix a little showmanship into the witch's brew, in which conjured up the "Be the Next Scream Queen" and the ever-popular "Bloody T-Shirt" contests. We were hoping for a few women's libprotesters, but I guess they were afraid they'd get their chests drenched in the cold evening rainfall.
The contests were uber-fun. The Scream Queen contestants had to display a good set of -uh- lungs, as well as spout out a convincing orgasm! Congrats to actress Shade Burnett for her memorable performance. And let's not forget the chesty choir of brazen beauties who participated in the "Bloody T-shirt" competition.
Outside the Cooper Hall lecture hall was the place to gather and mingle. Several filmmakers, crew, horrorheads and on-screen talent were on hand to witness the ribald revelry, including ace cinematographer Dave A. Barrett, Chris Woods, JoelWynkoop, Shelby McIntyre, Stephen Biro, Chris Passinault, Jeania Ingle, Bruno Brasil, Rev. Brian Beazelbrain, and many others too numerous to mention.
Hope everyone had a damned good time, and we can't wait for the next one.
MegaCon 2006 Ed Tucker did an excellent job chronicling the behemoth that is this year's MegaCon, and there's little I can add word-wise, so I'll leave you with a few snapshots from the event.
A great big killer grizzly bear hug to all those 200+ brave souls who materialized for the first ever Horror + Hotties Film Festival at USF. Judging from audience reaction, the festival was well-received, despite the cold, rainy weather that potentially plagued turnout. I guess when organizing your first film festival, it's best to get as many things right as you can. Great movies, rabble-rousing hosts, practical pricing (it was free - how more practical can you get?), a little showmanship - we attempted to have it all, and somehow pulled it off, with very little time and precious few resources.
Of course, a crazed fan-fest such as ours benefits from a totally insane host...and who better than local celebrity Uncle Creepy from Dread Central? UC's a natural when it comes to whipping this group of cine-sharks into a ravenous feeding frenzy, and like the Carly Simon song - "Nobody Does It Better". Unc was complemented by the stunningly lovely Krista Grotte, a popular , up-and-coming actress/model, and star of the new screen shocker "Death on Demand". True to form, all eyes were on Krista when she took stage - especially during the Bloody T-shirt contest! Boys will be boys.
"Oddservations" is ©2007 by Andy Lalino. The Oddservations banner and Horror & Hotties ad graphic are creations of Andy Lalino. Photos from MegaCon '07 by Andy Lalino. All other graphics are creations of Nolan B. Canova. All contents of Nolan's Pop Culture Review are ©2007 by Nolan B. Canova.