Here are this year’s participants in G-FEST’s (Godzilla Festival) annual costume contest!
Author Archives: Dave Fuentes
G-FEST Celebrates 50 Years of Gamera!
On Saturday July 11th a gathering of Gamera (Japan’s 2nd most famous monster) fans celebrated the giant turtle’s 50th birthday! It was one of the highlights of this year’s G-FEST (Godzilla Festival) as the kaiju reptile was a favorite of mine growing up back in the ‘70s. Though I prefer reliving those films via Mystery Science Theater 3000 these days, I believe his 1995 return, Gamera: Guardian of the Universe, is one of the best in the genre. The “50 Years of Gamera” panel was moderated by August Ragone and Kyle Yount. This was another big draw for me as I’ve wanted to meet Mr. Ragone for some time now. His contributions to both the horror host realm as well as Japanese monster fandom is far too numerous for me to list here. Suffice it to say, we encourage everyone to check out and follow this Rondo Award winning writer/commentator on his own blog, The Good, the Bad, and the Godzilla. Yount moderates his own Kaiju themed podcast, appropriately named KaijuCast which you can check out HERE.
The Godzilla and Monster Models of G-FEST XXII!
The following photos were taken at G-FEST XXII! These were all entries in their annual model contest!
Masaaki Tezuka & the Proper Etiquette for Accepting a Godzilla Movie!
Many (if not all) of us adult Godzilla fans first became enthralled with the “King of Monsters” back when we were kids. Director Masaaki Tezuka is no exception; tracing his love for Japan’s greatest unnatural resource at the age of seven when his parents took him to see King Kong vs Godzilla. From then on he’d dream of one day making his own Godzilla film before finally seeing his ambitions realized nearly forty years later when TOHO Studios handed him the reigns of Godzilla vs. Megaguirus. He would go on to direct two more Millennium (1999 – 2004) Godzilla films and I remember my son and I anxiously awaiting G-FEST XI when we’d get a special big screen sneak peek of his last one, Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. Fast forward eleven years and Tezuka would become G-FEST’s Guest of Honor and participate in a two-hour Q&A with us fans. Here are some highlights from that momentous occasion…
G-FEST XXII: Godzilla takes Chicago!
Once again fans of Godzilla and giant Japanese monsters converged on the Crowne Plaza hotel in Rosemont, Illinois to celebrate G-FEST (Godzilla Festival). This marked its twenty-second gathering and my twelfth in a row as what started out as a fun event to take my Godzilla-obsessed six year old son, Alex, to had since become a family tradition. My last three kids would follow in Alex’s footsteps and over the years we’d partake in just about everything the convention had to offer; art contests, kaiju poetry, costuming, model-making, and the film festivals playing at the nearby Pickwick Theater.
Anime’ Midwest 2015 was an Anime-zing Experience!
Terror from Beyond the Daves is pleased to welcome guest teen writers, Jade & Leia Fuentes!
On the weekend of July 3-5th Anime Midwest took place the Donald E. Stephen’s Convention Center in Rosemont. Though we’re big fans of Japanese animation, this was our first year attending the event and we weren’t sure what to expect.
Terror from Beyond the Dave 