2026 Flashback Weekend Svengoolie Talk Show!

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Less than two weeks after G-FEST, Flashback Weekend, a.k.a. my favorite horror con, set up shop in the very same hotel. Despite the short time between these events, however, it felt like a lifetime. Just that previous Monday, strong tornado-producing storms plowed through the Midwest, and my humble town of Homewood, Illinois got slammed by an F-1. My entire neighborhood was strewn with busted trees and electric wires. Nobody was hurt, thank God, but despite ComEd’s best efforts, we had no power all week and still hadn’t when I arrived at Flashback Weekend on Friday. This made for one rotten week! The heat was so unbearable that at one point I attempted to sleep outside on my deck (until two raccoons got into a dispute below me). Fortunately, my friend Jason Lucas, whose power returned that Wednesday, invited me to stay with him for a couple of days. Regardless, I had very little sleep that week and admit to being a bit ill-tempered at the beginning of this event.

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Robert Englund Toasts Svengoolie at Flashback Weekend!

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(Continued  from my last post) 

Don Johnston and I greeted the crew as they pulled into the hotel’s private parking lot. Accompanying Svengoolie were his Executive Producer, Jim Roche; Associate Producer, Ella Larschield; camera person, Korey McElligot; and social media specialist, Jennifer Vlad. After being stuck in near-standstill traffic for 90 minutes (due to the Lollapalooza Festival taking place in Chicago’s Grant Park),  they looked as if they were ready to kiss the ground upon exiting their cars.

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Mike Bogue’s “Watching the World Die: Nuclear Threat Films of 1980s!”

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The book is set up by year. After a brief introduction, each year from 1980 through 1990 gets a full chapter; with the qualifying films from each year listed. Every film gets a detailed synopsis along with some insightful background information. Bogue’s witty banter and astonishing facts act like the Bonus Features from a Criterion Collection Blu-ray. I can honestly say, I’ve never learned such interesting things about movies I’d never even heard of. I was also shocked to read that The Day After garnered ABC-TV 100 million viewers during its single airing. If ABC earned those kinds of numbers today, they’d quickly get to work on its sequel The Day After the Day After while planning the trilogy’s wrap-up – A Few Days After That. 

I hope you’ll pick up a copy of this book and see how cool it is for yourself. While the subject matter may seem dated, it has become oddly relevant again in today’s world. It’s an engaging book that brings awareness to movies in desperate need of a spotlight. And on that note, I’m gonna go and try hunting down some of those right now…

Flashback Weekend 2023 concludes with Dick Warlock!

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I had an early start that Sunday morning at Flashback Weekend loading up my car before having breakfast with my friends. The day was to be short and sweet as I’d already accomplished my convention goals save for one…meeting Dick Warlock. As mentioned in my first Flashback post, Warlock would prove something of a hidden gem at this event. Although horror fans knew him best for playing Michael Myers in Halloween II (1981), he proved to be something of a hidden gem with a rich Hollywood history as a stunt double. His resume’ had sent gasps through the audience during his Q&A session with Dick Digilio as well as providing great entertainment for his taped Svengoolie interview on Saturday. Today would be my turn to meet him.

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Andrew Neiderman’s PIN: An Above Average Paperback from Hell

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Most of the vintage horror paperbacks in my collection are a lot more fun to look at than they are to read. I should know. I plowed through as many as I could last year before landing myself in a reading rut; fatigued from an overdose of absurd plotlines and bad writing. Lately, I’ve had more success with modern novels while peppering a few old pulpy Paperbacks from Hell in-between. My latest choice, PIN by Andrew Neiderman (1981), proved a pleasant surprise. Despite featuring many of the fantastical elements of your typical ‘80s horror paperback, there are interesting psychological twists as well. Consequently, PIN is more sophisticated than many in its genre.

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C.J. Graham and the Jason Voorhees/Frankenstein Connection

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So far as personality traits are concerned, there’s little doubt that C.J. Graham’s an Alpha. With a level of confidence that could give Gene Simmons a run for the money, he’d prove his formidability at the 2020 Days of the Dead convention in Indianapolis. It was there Graham, like Alex Vincent from Child’s Play, would find himself the lone participant in a would-be reunion. Covid-19 would turn the event’s Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives panel into a one-man show. But despite portraying the mute character of Jason Voorhees on-screen, ‘the man behind the mask’ had plenty to talk about with his audience.

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