Rocky Mountain Nightmares

I was lucky enough to attend the Rocky Mountain Nightmare Horror Expo and Film Festival in Denver. I have loved horror my entire life but never attended a Horror Convention. I though about wearing my Ghostface cosplay but that was too predictable so I wore my A-Train cosplay and through some blood on my suit and my face. I only went on one day but that was more than enough. I had so much time to chat with celebrities and discuss some of my favorite movies.

I met producer, writer and director James Balsamo who graciously filmed a death scene with me that will be in his upcoming movie Robot Dracula. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt25384570/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_cl_sm

I met one of my favorite all-time horror actors in Kane Hodder. I didn’t even know he was going to be there and this was a great surprise. Friday the 13th is one of the first horror movies I ever watched as a kid. We had some great discussions on him playing Jason and him acting in a soap opera. Since I had on the costume of a speedster in A-Train I thought it would be cool to take a photo based on the horror trope where Jason’s victims always run away and he manages to catch them while walking. Here is a photo of me running as he pretends to walk. I asked him could Jason catch a speedster and Kane seems to think so.

Next up on my celebrity list was Jonathan Breck who plays the Creeper in the Jeepers Creeper franchise. Well three of the four movies. We don’t talk about number four. We actually did discuss the fourth movie as I complained how the fourth movie was far below the quality level of the previous three. Jonathan hadn’t seen the fourth movie but mentioned he and none of the original people involved in the first three movies were involved in the fourth. It was disappointing to see a franchise I had known since I was high school fall so low for a cash grab. I actually spoke to other attendees about the fourth movie and they felt the same way. Jonathan said he didn’t expect the success that came from the first film but is very thankful for the loyal fanbase.

I spoke with writer Stephen Hibbert about the current writer’s strike in Hollywood. As a retired writer he stands with the writers and agrees with their demands. Let’s hope all the studios meet their demands soon. In the event you didn’t know the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike is an ongoing labor dispute between the Writers Guild of America labor union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

Andrew Divoff was delightful to speak with. I spoke with him for almost 30 minutes. We talked about Wishmaster and many other projects he has been in. He was surprised to find out my favorite movie role of his was A Low Down Dirty Shame with Keenan Ivory Wayans and Jada Pinkett-Smith. His performance in that was great and it is a movie I watched a lot growing up.

The best part of the expo was probably meeting creators involved in Terrifier 1 and 2. I was disappointed in myself as a horror junkie for not knowing about these two movies. I don’t know if it was because I was living overseas when they came out. It is incredible that Terrifier 2 made $10 million at the box office on a $250,000 budget. I met the director Damien Leone, producer Phil Falcone and actor Johnath Davis. I talked with them about the practical effects used as all the blood and gore was not done with CGI. I spoke with Johnath about his role and mentioned I know black people don’t survive in this movie and wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t make it. I told all of them I would watch Terrifier 2 that night as it was available on Amazon Prime Video. I watched it and it didn’t disappoint. It definitely earned its Rotten Tomatoes Tomato Meter of 85% and Audience Score of 80%. How did I miss this return to gore that made people pass out and vomit in cinemas? It was worth the wait. I’m hoping to speak with them on a future podcast about the success of the movie. Here is a video of me speaking with actor Johnath.