Jay Langley and those Bloody Amazing Scarebears!

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While checking out the vendors at this year’s Days of the Dead Chicago, I was pleased to see that Jay Langley and his signature Scarebears were among them! I love sinister toys and particularly enjoy gruesome Teddy Bears which a few amazing artists out there have been crafting; and each with their own unique touches. We’ve featured a few of them on this site but, after spotting Jay and his latest batch, I realized (to my great shame) that the Scarebears had yet to be one of them. That’s pretty surprising since I was an instant fan when I first saw them a few years back; enamored with their EC Comics’ style gore and signature skulls with eyeballs! They’re also affordable by convention standards and obviously a big hit with many of my fellow horror buffs who I often see walking around with one at events. I own two of them myself and look forward to adding more of them before my Terror Dave days are over.

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Cassandra Peterson (Elvira) Q&A at “Days of the Dead!”

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After the great autograph signing experience, I had with Cassandra Peterson, a.k.a. Elvira Mistress of the Dark, I was anxious to attend her special Days of the Dead Q&A panel later that same night. We walked through the hotel, past an indoor swimming pool, and outside to an enclosed tent set up for panels and events. This wasn’t the most ideal situation considering the snowstorm and frigid temps made the tent pretty cold despite additional space heaters. I felt particularly bad for a couple of attendees dressed as Frank n’ Furter and the half-naked “Rocky” from The Rocky Horror Picture Show.  It wasn’t long after we took our seats that Cassandra made her way on stage. Below is taken from an audio recording that night…

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Svengoolie’s Ambassador to the Mistress of the Dark!

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For me, one of the biggest draws for this year’s Days of the Dead Chicago was the appearance of Cassandra Peterson a.k.a. Elvira: Mistress of the Dark! I’ve had the pleasure of meeting her a few times before (the first of which I discussed HERE) and later enjoyed her brief reboot of Elvira’s Movie Macabre on our local Chicago station WCIU; the same channel as Svengoolie before he’d go national via MeTV a few months later. That was an exciting time since they were the two hosts I’d grown up with. From age eight to fourteen, I idolized Rich Koz’s Son of Svengoolie (now simply “Svengoolie” with the blessing of his predecessor) before our local WFLD 32 station got swallowed up by the corporate FOX. It was also around that time when I discovered Elvira after renting some of her “Thriller Video” hosted films from my local mom & pop video store. I also remember making frequent road trips in my ’20s to all neighboring Illinois and Indiana Suncoast Video stores in an effort to collect all of her Midnight Madness VHS tapes. That’s one thing we collectors have lost in our modern Internet world; that good old fashioned thrill of the hunt!

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An Extraterrestrial Reunion with D.B. Sweeney from “Fire in the Sky!”

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Three years ago I wrote a fan piece on the 1993 alien abduction thriller, Fire in the Sky. The film was based on what was labeled a “true story” and based on the account of Travis Walton who, after disappearing for five days, claimed to have been abducted by aliens. We Daves like to keep an open mind and are fans of the film due it’s credible handling of the material and convincing performances from a stellar cast that included Robert Patrick and the late James Garner. The role of Travis Walton was played by D.B. Sweeney who was one of the featured guests at this year’s Days of the Dead Chicago. The 54 year old Sweeney has remained active in Hollywood as an actor/writer/producer and also doing voice overs for Oprah’s OWN Network. He’ll also play the Mayor of Chicago in Spike Lee’s controversial Chiraq opening in theaters this weekend.

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Chicago “Days of the Dead” 2015!

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I was on my way to this year’s Days of the Dead Chicago when the first big, fluffy snowflakes appeared. Despite the local news crowing about it all week, I remained in denial until the evidence was sticking to my windshield and hindering my traffic time. Part of me was hopeful the bad weather meant dealing with fewer crowds at the event but those dreams were soon dashed after I arrived at the Marriott Hotel in Schaumburg and was immediately directed to a guest overflow parking garage. Never underestimate the devotion of a horror fan; not only does it defy the elements but remains strong even after Halloween.

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Celebrating Mexico’s “Day of the Dead” in Elgin!

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While the weather in Chicago was pretty horrendous on Halloween, the following day was an entirely different story. In fact, it was almost sunny enough to offset the whole “Halloween is over” depression many of us horror/monster fans go through every November 1st.  The weekend, however, wasn’t over yet…

Just the week before I’d been up in Elgin, Illinois to celebrate their amazing Nightmare on Chicago Street event.  While I was there, I’d been alerted to more upcoming festivals taking place and reminded why it’s fast becoming my favorite city! One is Krampuslauf taking place in December which recreates a Northern European festival celebrating Krampus; a more sinister version of Santa Claus. Continue reading →