Oct 14 2012

Rock and Shock 2012

My Experience at Rock and Shock 2012

by Jason Harris

Another Rock and Shock has come and gone. The New England Horror Writers were there once again. We have been there for the past four years. This year saw less atttendees then last year, but last year’s guest line-up included Robert Englund, whose line went on forever and never seemed to get any shorter, and Ace Frehley, former lead guitarist of KISS. This year had Heather Langenkamp, of Nightmare on Elm Street fame, Anthony Michael Hall, of televison series The Dead Zone and movies The Breakfast Club and Weird Science, and another former KISS member, Peter Criss.

Before getting to Rock and Shock, the wife and I went to fellow NEHW member Trisha Wooldridge’s house, where we were staying over the weekend. We were also going to be joined by another NEHW member Kristi Petersen Schoonover, who would be arriving later that night. It’s always a party when the NEHW members get together.

After leaving Trisha’s house, we drove to Annie’s Book Stop in Worcester to talk to the owner about her bookstore. The wife and I were picking her brain since we’re opening our own bookstore called Books and Boos in Colchester, CT. It was a very informative 40 minutes.

I was there the entire weekend and Saturday was the busiest day. Friday started off with Breakin’ into the Biz panel, which included myself, T.J. May, Matt Bechtel, and Kristi Petersen Schoonover, who ended up as moderator since there wasn’t anyone from Fangoria magazine there to do the job like there were for the other panels during the weekend. The panel went well and there were a lot of suggestions and advice given to the people in the audience.

Heather Langenkamp, Tracy Carbone, Stacey Longo, Trisha Wooldridge, and Lisa Marie on the Women in Horror panel. Photo by Jason Harris

The audience grew a little bit for the Women in Horror panel, but that was to be expected since Langenkamp and Lisa Marie (Ed Wood, Mars Attacks!) joined NEHW members Tracy Carbone, Stacey Longo, and Trisha Wooldridge. This panel had Jack from Fangoria, moderating the panel. One thing surprised me was that the audience didn’t asked two many questions when that time came. Four questions were asked of people on the panel and two of those questions came from me. I asked Heather how was it working on Just the Ten of Us and if she would do another television show. She said, she would love to do another tv series. It was also nice to hear that she will be in the next Star Trek movie titled Star Trek into Darkness, but she couldn’t say what character she’s playing. It was also great talking to her and Lisa Marie when the panel was over.

Tracy Carbone, Sean Whalen, and Stacey Longo. Photo by Jason Harris.

On Friday, it was great talking with Sean Whalen who was in The People Under the Stairs and Twister, and many other movies. Check out his credits on the Internet Movie Database by clicking here. He gave Carbone, Longo, and myself some good ideas.

I introduced myself to Doug Bradley, who portrayed Pinhead in most of the Hellraiser movies except the last one, since I conducted a phone interview with him a few weeks ago. You can read the article here.

I was hoping to interview Hall on Sunday since that was the day his manager, John Boitano, said would be the best day since it’s the slowest of the convention. On Friday, I had the feeling it wouldn’t happen since there was a sign on Hall’s table stating he wouldn’t be at the convention until 2 p.m. on Saturday. When Saturday came, he didn’t show up at his table until 3 p.m. Later on Saturday evening, he took a break and a sign said he would be back at 5:45 p.m. He didn’t get back from his break until 6:15 p.m. Seeing those signs, physical and figuratively, told me that Hall wasn’t going to keep an interview with me on Sunday. It would have been cool to interview him, but it wasn’t disappointing. I did interview another filmmaker, Ryan Convery, on Sunday about his movie Mourning Wood, which is about “humping zombies.” There will be an article and a movie review coming in the near future.

It was great meeting Tony Todd (Candyman), Brian O’Halloran (Clerks), and Sig Haig (House of 1000 Corpses) this weekend. I won’t get autographs since I am not paying $20 or more for an autograph unless they are selling a movie or a book. I will shake their hands and tell them I love their work.

There was a Horror in the Movies panel on Sunday, which Rob Watts, Bracken Macleod, myself, and Stacey Longo were on. Longo ended up being the moderator when Jack from Fangoria couldn’t do it since he had to do something else. It was attended by a good number of people.

There will be another post with pictures tomorrow.

Oct 12 2012

The NEHW at Rock and Shock

The New England Horror Writers will be appearing at Rock and Shock this weekend. There will be plenty of members manning the booth all weekend. They will be selling and signing their books.Epitaphs is one book in particular which will be on hand. It’s the first anthology produced by the NEHW. This Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of this collection being published. Here are the authors who have stories in Epitaphs that will be at the convention this weekend: Mike Arruda, Scott Goudsward, Stacey Longo, Paul McMahon, Kurt Newton, L.L. Soares, K. Allen Wood, and Trisha Wooldridge. Tracy L. Carbone, the editor of the anthology, will also be on-hand.

Other NEHW members, who will be at the convention, are Ashleigh Homon, Adam Cesare, Bracken Macleod, David Price, Gene Munson, Jason Harris, Jack Haringa, Jan Kozlowski, Kelli Jones, Kristi Petersen Schoonover, Matt Bechtel, Patrick Rahall, Rebekah Murphy, Rob Watts, T.J. May, Paul Tremblay, Bob Booth, and Jennifer Yarter-Polmatier.

They will also be four panels that the NEHW members will be involved in. This is the second year the organization has been on different panels. This year on the Women in Horror panel members , Carbone, Longo, and Wooldridge will be joined by Heather Langenkamp of Nightmare on Elm Street fame and Lisa Marie of Sleepy Hollow and Mars Attacks! fame.

The other panels will be “Breaking into the Biz” with Harris, May, Bechtel, and Schoonover, and “Horror in the Movies” with Harris, Longo, Soares, and Macleod.

Oct 11 2012

Doug Bradley Talks about Pinhead, Masks, and Clive Barker

By Jason Harris

Doug Bradley

Doug Bradley, best known for the role of Pinhead in the Hellraiser movies, doesn’t think of himself as a horror icon. He jokingly said it sounds like there was a morning where there was a letter on his doorstep stating, “Dear Mr. Bradley, you are now a fully accredited horror icon with a membership card enclosed.”

He credits his appearances at conventions for helping him become known to his fans since he isn’t recognizable with the make-up on.

“I have always said that every actor’s biggest enemy is anonymity.”

Pinhead

He is known more as Pinhead then the character of Lylesburg in Nightbreed.

There’s always an interest in Nightbreed and that interest has been raised recently with the attempt to restore it back to the movie Clive Barker intended to have released in 1990, Bradley said.

Bradley and Barker became friends in high school in Liverpool back in the 60s when they were in a play together. He describes his friend as “the most extraordinary person I’ve met.” He says he “tries not to throw the word genius around lightly,” but he does apply it in Barker’s case.

Bradley said people expect Barker “to be weird and fucked up and sacrificing virgins [and] biting the heads off live chickens. For all I know, he may do all of that,” he jokingly said.

He considers Barker, “very funny, very witty” and a person with an “extraordinary imagination to be able to produce the movies that he has, the short stories, the novels, and his artwork.” He’s “a person with a tremendous sense of the absurd and the ridiculous.”

“For all these decades, it has been a privilege to be close to that process,” Bradley said.

Barker is one of the reasons he turned down portraying Pinhead in the ninth installment of the franchise, Hellraiser: Revelations, which came out last year.

“I didn’t feel like the movie was in anyway, shape, or form a serious attempt to move the franchise forward nor reinvigorate it in any way, shape, or form. I felt it was something of an insult to the franchise, to Clive, to me, to all the people who had worked so hard on the series over the years.”

Bradley hasn’t seen the movie, which had a microscopic budget and a brief shooting schedule, he said. He has heard about the movie from fans and nothing of what he is hearing about it is good, he said.

When he first became Pinhead, it took him five to six hours in the make-up chair, but it was shortened to about three to four hours by the time he made the eighth movie in the franchise. The longest time he was in the make-up for was 18 hours. It all depended on what was needed of him, he said. He could be needed for one scene or for several.

These days he is enjoying just acting and doesn’t have any aspirations to direct.

“I wouldn’t shy away from the possibility of directing, but it’s not something I have a desire to do necessarily.”

Besides acting, he has written a screenplay and a book. The impetus for his book, Behind the Mask of a Horror Actor, “goes back to his relationship with Clive” and how they were always working together for ten years in the theater before Hellraiser.

“We were always using masks one way or another as part of our work. I always had a fascination for it before I came to Pinhead so I guess I just had the ideas in my head …”

When asked about writing an autobiography, he isn’t thinking about writing one because it feels to him if you write one “your life and career are over,” which he feels he is nowhere near that point yet.

“If you are writing your autobiography, you want to make yourself sound as interesting as possible. You want to make your life story as interesting as possible. I don’t know if we’re necessarily capable of telling the truth about ourselves.”

Bradley recently read Lance Henriksen’s autobiography, Not Bad for a Human.

“He has an amazing story to tell particularly in terms of his early life and his journey into the profession. I truly enjoyed reading it.”

Bradley will be attending Rock and Shock this weekend at the DCU Convention Center & The Palladium in Worcester, MA.

Oct 6 2012

The Good and Bad of the 2012 NEIBA Fall Conference

By Jason Harris

The New England Independent Booksellers Association 39^thAnnual Conference took place from Oct. 3 through 5 at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence, Rhode Island.

I will start with the good first. I went to the first day of the conference on Wednesday. I was looking forward to the panel “Social Media 2.0: Beyond the Basics: Using Social Media to Drive Sales and Customer Engagement.” As the NEHW Director of Publicity and Webmaster and Marketing Director and co-owner of Books and Boos, a bookstore, I knew I could learn something from this panel. The panelists were Sarah Rettger, of Newtonville Books in Newton, MA., Mary Allen, of Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center, VT., Kirsten Hess, of R.J. Julia in Madison, CT, and Ann Kingman of Random House.

The panelists mentioned there are ups and downs when using social media. One downside is that you have to use it five times a day, Hess mentioned.

One thing I was surprised to hear was the fact that the panelists don’t like Hootsuite, which could help with having to be on social media five times a day. The reason is it’s not genuine and people know it from seeing where the message is from. “Voice is important” when posting in social media, Hess said.

Hess also mentioned that people should be looking at other Facebook business pages, not just look at the book business.

Allen mentioned that people love photographs and live pictures of things with authors. She wasn’t talking about pictures of authors reading from their books either. She’s talking about a picture of them making a funny face or something behind the scenes before they become professional to do their reading.

Hess said customers want to see the people who sell them their books.

If you own a bookstore or any type of business, a good word to keep in mind is “partnerships” with other businesses in your community, Allen said.

Rettger said you should do what’s best for you and not to force it.

The other panel I checked out was “It’s All About Customer Service: Strengthening the Brick and Mortar Advantage.” This one wasn’t has interesting to me as the Social Media one, but it did contain some good ideas. The panelists were Susan Mercier, of Edgartown Books in Edgartown, MA., Ann Carmichael, of Kennebunk, ME, Michael Kanter, owner of Cambridge Naturals in Cambridge, MA., and Karen Corvello, of Baker & Taylor.

Kantor said that customer is all and everything. Stores should be kept cleaned and stocked, he said.

“My goal is for customers to leave the store and say ‘wow’ that was an amazing experience,” Kantor said.

He has noticed that in many bookstores employees are indifferent.

It was mentioned that every customer should be greeted as they come into the store.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” Carmichael said. She also said that customer service begins on the sidewalk before the customer even comes inside. This means that the landscaping to the windows to the building itself has to be in the best shape possible.

Now we come to the bad of NEIBA. I had a couple of assignments on Thursday, which kept me away from the conference. I was able to attend on Friday and I wish I didn’t. The main reason I was going to go on Friday was to attend the panel, “Think Tank Round Tables – New ideas for New Business.” This is how the program guide described the panel: “Whenever booksellers get together the room seems to fill with new ideas. This 45-minute ‘think tank’ is an opportunity to gather – at tables organized by small, mid and larger-sized stores – and talk with each other about what exciting things you’ve done in your store in the past year and what things you’ve learned at the Fall Conference you’re going to do. We hope this will be a useful and focused way to wrap up the educational offerings of the Conference.”

When I got to the convention center, I found out that the trade show exhibit room was already shut down and packed up. It only went on one day this year and that day was Thursday. I didn’t realize this would happen from the program guide. I figured it would go on the entire conference. This was the first year they only had it for one day I was told. NEIBA was trying something new this year. Hopefully, they will go back to having it open all three days next year.

After being disappointed about the trade show, I went to the room where my panel was going to be held. I was about twenty minutes early so I waited outside the room. As it started getting closer to the 11 a.m. start time I wanted to the door. Once it got to 10:55 a.m., I was leaning against the doorway and started to worry. When I heard Steve Fischer, of NEIBA tell Neil Strandberg of the American Booksellers Association to continue talking and that he had plenty of time and it was around 11:10 a.m., I started getting upset. Later on, Fischer said that Strandberg could continue until 11:30 a.m. The last twenty minutes of the supposed panel I went to see was used to continue the discussion of the Kobo e-reading program, which was the subject of the previous panel. I had made a two hour and fifty minute round trip from Connecticut for nothing and I wasn’t happy about this. If NEIBA wasn’t going to have the panel they promoted in its program then they should have gotten the word out. Instead of still promoting it, by having the panel’s name and description listed on the wall outside the convention center’s conference room.

Oct 5 2012

Actor Talks about the role of Michael Myers in the Original ‘Halloween’

Actor Talks about the role of Michael Myers in the Original Halloween

By Jason Harris

Actor Tony Moran portrayed the 23-year-old Michael Myers in the original Halloween (1978).

He had a great time on the movie and compares John Carpenter to a computer because of the way he had every shot planned out.

“We never shot more than three shots for every scene,” Moran said. “He was pretty amazing.”

He considers Jamie Lee Curtis, his Halloween co-star, “really cool and really good.”

“[She] was a down to Earth chick.”

When asked if there were any scenes filmed that didn’t make it into the movie, Moran didn’t know of any.

Moran was asked to be in the sequel, but turned it down.

“I didn’t want to wear a mask,” Moran said about his reason for turning down the sequel.

The mask was uncomfortable and “really hot,” he said.

“You couldn’t breathe through it. The only holes through it were for the eyes.”

When asked how long he was in the mask on a typical day, he replied. “It seemed like forever.”

Moran received credit in the sequel since footage from the original was used in it, he said.

He doesn’t plan on seeing Rob Zombie’s Halloween remake.

“It’s a remake of me so I won’t watch it.”

Moran is proud to have portrayed the character of Michael Myers

Tony Moran

and wouldn’t want to be known for Freddy Krueger or Jason Voorhees, two other horror icons from Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13^th fame, respectively. He states “Halloween started it all …”

Moran has added producer to his resume when he took on that job when a guy messaged him on Myspace and sent him a script for Beg, a short film. It’s now a full-length movie starring his friend Tony Todd, P.J. Soles, and Michael Berryman, who he got to be in the movie. Debbie Rochon is also in Beg.

He would love to work with director Martin Scorsese and actor Robert De Niro.

“They are brilliant.”

Moran will be appearing at The Nightmare Factory, located at 2 Museum Place Mall in Salem, MA. from Friday through Sunday.

Sep 27 2012

Massachusetts Native Talks about Writing and Hollywood

by Jason Harris

J.P. Ouellette

J.P. Ouellette has worked on a number of films in Boston such as The Box and The Fighter. Working in the city allowed him to “learn filmmaking from some of the best crews around” while being at home.

“The mix of local and Hollywood talent brought my knowledge of film to the next level,” Ouellette said. Being an assistant to great storytellers like Richard Kelly was better than grad school.”

Kelly was the writer and director of such movies as The Box and Donnie Darko.

Ouellette started working in Hollywood after taking a risk in order to pursue his writing career. He states that “Los Angeles is the best place to be for an emerging writer.”

“The whole city is dedicated to the film business, and there are endless opportunities here to build your resume.”

His latest film, Captured, which he produced, wrapped in June and is scheduled for release in October of 2013, which is “a perfect time” to release it, Ouellette said. It’s about a rock band that goes off to shoot a music video where an escaped convict becomes obsessed with them.

“It is a classic slasher flick with a lot of psychological twists. It blends genres, and is made for the true horror fan who is tired of the same old thing.”

Ouellette became involved with Captured when writer and director Joe Arias hired him to write new drafts of the script.

“It took us (a lucky) 13 drafts to get the shooting script ready. It was the hardest writing sessions either one of us has been apart of, but it was worth it, this story will blow your mind!”

Captured took three weeks to film, but it was in the works for two years since Arias came up with the film’s concept, Ouellette said. He is in the process of working on the sound editing, special effects, and the score now.

“It’s been quite a labor of love. It’s all very exciting to see something you help create come together.”

Along with finishing up Captured, he is producing another horror movie, Do Not Watch.

“Due to the high-concept of this project, the synopsis is being kept under wraps.”

Not only has Ouellette worked on more than 20 movies in his career, you can take a look at his Internet Movie Database profile, http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1965594/ to see everything that he has worked on, but he has also found the time to write a novel, 2501. His writing and this story’s style was inspired by Arthur C. Clarke and George Orwell. Its “hard science-fiction blended with political overtones is something everyone can get behind.” The e-book can be purchase on Amazon by clicking here.

It originally started out as a script idea, but “it was way too involved for the screen at that time.”

“I really had to dig into the characters and the science in order to find my story. Funny enough, the book now represents the outline for the proposed film version.”

He is still looking for the right Hollywood screenwriter to adapt 2501. He could adapt it himself, but he wants to step back and let someone else take care of it.

“The projected budget for this Blockbuster is over $50 million, and that is not in my price range … yet.”

He “would love Steven Spielberg to direct [2501] because of the Stanley Kubrick feel of the story.” If that happens he would love to be on-set, which he would consider “a dream project for sure.”

He does have an outline for another book, but his screenwriting schedule is keeping him from working on it.

“With 2501, I had to isolate myself while traveling in Mexico, writing the first draft freehand while sitting on the steps of the Mayan Ruins. It is the only way to get a novel done in this distracting day and age.”

Ouellette has a number of directors such as John Carpenter, J.J. Abrams, Duncan Jones, and Kelly, who has influenced him. He says that Kelly’s film, Donnie Darko, is the reason he went to film school, he said.

He has worked with many directors and actors, and wants to work with many more.

“They all have their own style to this art, and I love learning from them.”

He doesn’t have a dream project. All he wants to do is “to keep making great movies, and create opportunities to make more of them.”

Sep 13 2012

Winner of the NEHW Email Raffle at the Hebron Harvest Fair

The NEHW is proud to announce that Marie Napert, of Amston, CT. is the winner of the email raffle.

Marie Napert holding her prize. Photo by Jason Harris.

Sep 10 2012

Pictures from the Last Day at the Hebron Harvest Fair

The vendor pass we received on Thursday. Photo by Jason Harris.

A new set-up for the NEHW booth on Sunday at the Hebron Harvest Fair. Photo by Jason Harris.

The sign promoting Sunday’s authors. Photo by Jason Harris.

Alec Wallman, winner of last year’s NEHW raffle at the 2011 Hebron Harvest Fair, stopped by to say, “hello,” and to purchase 52 Stitches. Author Stacey Longo is in the background. Photo by Jason Harris.

NEHW member books on the table. Photo by Jason Harris.

A different view of the NEHW table. Photo by Jason Harris.

A front view of the NEHW table at the Hebron Harvest Fair. Photo by Jason Harris.

Sep 8 2012

Pictures from Friday and Saturday at the Hebron Harvest Fair

Author Kurt Newton reads to a group of people at the Hebron Harvest Fair. Photo by Jason Harris.

Artist Cheryl Normandie standing next to her work at the Hebron Harvest Fair.. Photo by Jason Harris.

The above picture is just one of many that will be in this post. If any pictures catch your eye, feel free to call Normandie, who lives in Brooklyn, Connecticut, at (860) 779-0827. All photos of her artwork were taken by Jason Harris.