Cinema Wasteland spring 2018
You know what the weirdest thing about Wasteland is? How many photos of me end up on the internet showing my real face, and not some costume!
I always hate it when it takes a week to get a con review out….but then again Wasteland takes about that long to recover from.
I admint, I was particuarly excited to meet a couple of Pulp Fiction alumni (from THAT scene with Ving Rhames, Bruce Willis….and the ball gag). They were amused that I brough a VHS to be signed. I wish I could say there was some nobel, retro reason, but really, it was just the only thing I had laying around and looked better than a printed out photo would.
Also in attendance was Jackey Neyman Jones, the daughter of Harold Warren – the 
Master of Manos. I was looking foreward to meeting her and hearing about the making of Manos. What is intriguing about it was how the movie was kind of tucked away in the family history. No one spoke of it. The film itself vanished and Jackey spent years trying to find out what happened to it…that is, until on day, her father was dozing in front of the television set which happened to be playing Mystery Science Theater 3000. he woke with a start as he heard familiar music and sound effects – and there was Manos : The Hands of Fate on television. He called her immediately and announced “Guess what I just saw on television?”. Jackey found a number for Comedy Central and connected with someone in the offices and the Manos revival began there. I grabbed a copy of her book because I really wanted to get more of the story – I was lucky too. She sold out by mid day Saturday!
She wasn’t the only one selling out of books though. I managed to grab the last copy of the new Charles Band book about Full Moon Entertainment and the VHS era. After watching Stuntman Gary Kent’s documentary about his career, I was also after his biography…but my Friend Brandy managed to snatch up the last copy of that one! It’s okay, 42nd street Pete is working on getting it re-released. I’m sure I’ll see it pop up at Wasteland again soon.
I was delighted to see Michael Berryman back at Wasteland (he refers to me as “Matt with the Hat”) and charging a lower fee for autographs than last time at that! I ended up bringing him my Crow post card and a 
printed poster from Voyage of the Space Aliens – fun to be able to talk about that film and explain we’d actually seen it on the big screen (I also wandered over to Cleveland Cinema’s table to thank them for that). He shook his head remembering the lack of expertise on the stunt coordinater’s part, particularly in the chainsaw scene.
“The wanted me to use a real chainsaw and cut this outline around the actor. I looked at him and said ‘I’m not doing that!’. They eventually found someone else to do it and I told the actor ‘Whatever you do, DON’T move.’. he looked worried and asked ‘Really?’ I mean, one slip and they could have killed the guy!”
Berryman reminisced about hanging out with Brandon Lee, heading back to the trailers and strumming guitars. To this day, he still jeeps in touch with Rochelle Davis – the young woman who played Sarah in the Crow.
My friends from Horror Chicks were there to meet up with Dee Wallace and make her an honorary member, presenting her with a shirt. Dee’s a sweetie and another regular on the con circuit as well as a returning guest at Wasteland. My buddy Chris and I got to talk to her about her recent film Red Christmas, another indie flick we got to see on the big screen up at the Capitol.
no wasteland is complete without a Ghastlee Night at the movies. I’d bumped into Ghastlee earlier in the day.
“I’ve been trying to holler Hi to you all day!”
“Sorry, bad hearing and busy con – you know how it goes!”
“Horrorhound too, I saw you up there and tried to get your attention, but you didn’t seem to hear…”
“um Bob, I wasn’t AT Horrorhound….”
“Well then that guy must be really confused about why I was yelling at him….”
Of the various antics in the show, my personal favorite was the reenactmen of a scene from Cujo, where the dog is attacking Dee Wallace in the car. The scene was recreated with a folding chair, a piece of cardboard with the middle cut out and a puppet. My friend Rhonda lost her voice screaming.
That’s the thing about Wasteland, it’s great guests, and good times with friends. it’s everything I want in a party – watching bad movies with friends (and the people who made those movies), hanging out and doing interesting things. Ah well. Another six months and we’ll be doing it all again!
Argo City Comics 