October | 2014 | Cavalcade of Awesome

Archive for October, 2014

AWESOME-tober-fest 2014: Fangoria’s Weekend of Horror ads

Posted in Fangoria, Genres, Halloween, holiday, horror, magazine, movies, nostalgia, pop culture with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2014, Elvira, Fangoria, Halloween, magazines, movies, Nightmare on Elm Street, nostalgia on October 28, 2014 by Paxton

Fangoria has been doing their Weekend of Horrors conventions for years. One of my favorite video tapes is the officially released recording of the the 85-86 Weekend of Horrors.

I watched that video tape until it literally disintegrated in my VCR. I’ve been meaning to get a replacement copy on DVD at some point here.

Anyway, as far as I know, I think Fangoria still puts these conventions on, but I can’t really find a lot of info online. It would be a life goal of mine to go to one at some point. Maybe, if they have one in New Jersey take a trip up, meet up with my boy Jay and spend the weekend celebrating horror movies. THAT would be awesome.

Anyway, every year you could find ads for the latest Weekend of Horrors in the pages of Fangoria. And it felt like they were always mocking me. Usually because they were in LA or Secaucus, NJ and I would NEVER be able to go there (until many, many years later). So let’s look at several years of in-house ads for Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors.

I think this ad may be advertising the show that they filmed for the above VHS. I’m not sure because it’s been so long since I’ve seen the video. The video tape was released in 1986, but I’m not sure when in 1986. So there could conceivably been another Weekend of Horrors they filmed instead. However, I’m fairly certain that this is the show that is in the above VHS video.

Lots of good stuff. Elvira is always a good, even though the ad says “tentative”. Plus, Dick Miller, Tobe Hooper, Rick Baker and Robert Bloch! That’s a pretty awesome lineup, especially in 1985.

This is for the 1989 convention. It’s an early ad as you can see, they haven’t really locked down any specific guests yet. The huge blurb at the top makes sure to mention a ton of past guests to the show. And it seems weird that this one was happening so early in the year instead of around Halloween.

Here’s a great ad for the 1994 convention with a rare LIVE appearance by Jack Nicholson who was very heavily promoting his movie, Wolf. Fangoria did a heavy push for Wolf that year and even had a special all werewolf issue in Fangoria #134. Other notable guests include Clive Barker (Rawhead Rex) and Wes Craven (Nightmare on Elm Street).

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AWESOME-tober-fest 2014: Fangoria fantasy babe pinups!

Just like their posters, Fangoria also liked to include pin ups of popular horror/sci-fi actresses. I have two of those for you.

First, take a look at one of my favorites, Elvira. This pin-up is from The Bloody Best of Fangoria Vol 5 in 1986. I love Elvira and have had a huge crush on her since my teens.

The second is a pin up from Fangoria #26 in 1983. It’s of Tanya Roberts who had just starred in The Beastmaster.

Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.

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AWESOME-tober-fest 2014: Zombie Nightmare (1987) movie review

Posted in Genres, Halloween, holiday, horror, movies, pop culture with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2014, Fangoria, Fangoria Movie Friday, Halloween, holiday, horror, magazines, monsters, movies, pop culture, reviews, zombies on October 24, 2014 by Paxton

Yesterday you saw the ad for the flick, Zombie Nightmare from 1987. It starred Adam West, Tia Carrere and Jon Mikl-Thor. I’ve loved the look of that ad since I first saw it in Fangoria so I decided that it was going to be this week’s Fangoria Movie Friday review.

The only thing I’ve ever seen on this movie was yesterday’s home video ad. I remember the image vividly from when I bought the issue. So, since I’m filling in holes in my cult horror movie watching this month, I decided to track down this movie and give it a watch.

The premise is simple enough. A guy is run over by a bunch of teens in a sports car and killed. He is resurrected as a mindless zombie by a voodoo priestess in order to get revenge on all the teens that were in the car. Bloodshed ensues.

It stars Adam West and Tia Carrere, so this should be 100% a winner. And I mean that in the most B-movie awesome way. Now that I’ve watched it, what did I think? In a nutshell it’s a bit disappointing. There’s definitely some high moments here and there. The aesthetic is early Troma, as it seems with all the movies I’ve picked this month. Not a whole lot of gore, surprisingly, but a metric ton of cheese. Production values are on par with something like Street Trash but that movie was endlessly more fascinating than this one. Do I recommend? Hmmm, not really. I don’t plan on watching it again, even though it amused me a bit during my viewing. Another movie this reminded me of was Hard Rock Zombies which I reviewed last year for AWESOME-tober-fest 2013.

Let’s look at some of the more choice moments of this movie.

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And the movie begins, and we see that right away, this movie has the potential to be several different kinds of awesome. Adam West in a schlocky zombie movie? Yes, please? Tia Carrere?! Yes! And maybe she’ll get topless for her kill scene. Those are the thoughts running through my head when I see the title cards.

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Wait…slick back hair, tight t-shirt, cigarettes rolled up in the sleeve. Did I put on The Outsiders by mistake? Is Leif Garret going to show up in a letter sweater?

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Oh, I see. Those greasers are here to endanger that young lady. And the husky, sweat panted dude is going to do something about it. And that something is participate in the most ridiculously choreographed fight scene I’ve seen since Miami Connection. Yes, husky sweat pants actually does spin around with the guy on his shoulders.

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AWESOME-tober-fest 2014: Zombie Nightmare ad (1987)

Posted in Fangoria, Genres, Halloween, holiday, horror, magazine, movies, nostalgia, pop culture with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2014, Fangoria, Halloween, magazines, movies, nostalgia on October 23, 2014 by Paxton

Today, I’m showing you a 1987 home video ad for Zombie Nightmare (1991) starring Adam West, Jon-Mikl Thor, Tia Carrere and Shawn Levy. This ad was on the back cover of one of my Fangoria’s and I’ve always loved the look of it. I’m surprised it doesn’t mention that Adam West and Tia Carrere star in it (well, to say they “star” in it is sort of an overstatement).

I’ve never seen the movie, but I’ve chosen it as tomorrow’s Fangoria Movie Friday review. So buckle your seat belts, I think it could be a bumpy ride.

Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.

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AWESOME-tober-fest 2014: Cult Classics tee shirts ad (1990)

Today is an ad for tee shirts of cult classic movie posters. The posters are printed on black tee shirts and in neon colors. I have to admit, these look pretty awesome. Check out the Lugosi Dracula and Wolf Man images. How about that Reefer Madness? That’s pretty bad ass. My one regret, they never offered them as prints. Only as shirts, pins and patches. Why? I would have bought pretty much every single one of these images as a poster to hang on my wall. They are so cool looking. Missed opportunity I guess. But imagine a jacket with these images as patches all over it. Sooooooo cooooooool.

The ad appeared in Fangoria #92 from 1990. Click it for BIGGER.