Cinema Wasteland Fall 2009 Show

Here is the early info...

October 2nd, 3rd, and 4th

Holiday Inn Select
15471 Royalton Road
Strongsville, OH 44136

www.cinemawasteland.com

MARTINE BESWICK - Jamaican born beauty, Martine Beswick, did some modeling work before seeking a career in films. She caught herself a minor break when she got the job dancing over the psychedelic screen credits in the first 007 flick, DR. NO (1962), which led to the role of “Zora” the gypsy girl in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (1963) as well as “Paula Caplan” in THUNDERBALL (1965). Martine stayed busy with TV work between her Bond film appearances, and scored the role that really got her noticed when she duked it out with Raquel Welch as “Nupondi” in the sci-fi classic, ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. (1966). About this time, she also became part of the Hammer Film studio system and starred in the enjoyable turkey, PREHISTORIC WOMEN (1966), the thriller, THE PENTHOUSE (1967), and the best of the trio, DR. JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE (1971). In the 70’s Martine made her way to Hollywood and worked steady in film and TV work through the mid-1990’s. Some of the other films Cinema Wasteland fans may recognize from Martine Beswick’s resume include the Damiano Damiani spaghetti western A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL (1966) with Klaus Kinski, Oliver Stone’s second feature SEIZURE (1974), made for TV horror film DEVIL DOG: HOUND FROM HELL (1978), as “Xaviera Hollander” in THE HAPPY HOOKER GOES HOLLYWOOD (1980), as well as Fred Olen Ray’s CYCLONE (1987), THE OFFSPRING (1987) with Vincent Price, EVIL SPIRITS (1990) with Karen Black, TRANCERS 2 (1991), and NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW (1995), as well as numerous television shows. Martine hasn’t made a U.S. convention appearance in a number of years, so let’s all show her she made the right choice in choosing a Wasteland show to come back to this October.

CAROLINE MUNRO - Actress, model, and pin-up Caroline Munro landed her first modeling job for Vogue at the age of 17 after her mom entered her into a “Face of the Year’ newspaper competition and she won. She moved to London to pursue modeling and found small uncredited acting jobs in films like the James Bond thriller, CASINO ROYAL (1967). Although she had no lines and went uncredited as Vincent Price’s dead wife “Victoria” in the two popular DR. PHIBES films, they did help land her a Hammer Films contract and Caroline went on to become Christopher Lee’s victim in DRACULA A.D. 1972 and battle bloodsuckers in CAPTAIN KRONOS: VAMPIRE HUNTER (1974). More noticeable roles came as the slave girl and love interest in THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD (1974), acting alongside Peter Cushng as “Princess Dia” in AT THE EARTH’S CORE (1976), as Bond Girl “Naomi” in THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (1977) and as “Stella Star” in STARCRASH (1979). When it comes to pleasing more hardcore horror fans, Caroline has those bases covered as well. She played “Anna” in director William Lustig’s MANIAC (1980) and “Jana” in THE LAST HORROR FILM (1982) with co-star Joe Spinnel, showed up in slasher flick SLAUGHTER HIGH (1986), Jess Franco’s FACELESS (1988) Luigi Cozzi’s THE BLACK CAT (1989), and the recent indy feature FLESH FOR THE BEAST (2003).

CERINA VINCENT - Shortly after moving to LA, Cerina landed a job as “Maya” the yellow Power Ranger in several episodes of the popular television series. She quickly moved from the TV screen to the movie screen with roles in the popular comedy NOT ANOTHER TEEN MOVIE (2001), and the fan favorite horror outing CABIN FEVER (2002). After CABIN FEVER, Cerina found success and regular work appearing in hit television shows like MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE, FELICITY, CSI, and ALLY McBEAL to name a few. Other films that Wasteland fans may recognize Cerina from include the David Lynch short film DARKENED ROOM (2002), as the park ranger out to stop a monster in IT WAITS (2005), action-horror hybrid SEVEN MUMMIES (2006), SASQUATCH MOUNTAIN (2006) with Lance Henriksen, RETURN TO HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL (2006), and the thriller TOXIC (2008) to name a few. Currently, Cerina splits her time between acting and writing. She is the co-author of a weekly lifestyle column on the popular Huffungton Post, as well as co-author of the successful book, “How to Eat Like a Hot Chick”, and it’s recently released follow-up, “How to Love Like a Hot Chick” and has appeared on several TV shows to promote both books. Cerina has kept a low profile on the convention scene for a couple of years now, so we couldn’t be happier that she accepted our invitation to join us this October.

How about a Rare Gathering of Directors who made “B” Movies so much Fun?!...

WILLIAM GREFE - Born and raised in and around Miami, writer, director, and producer, William Grefe gave the world some of the most enjoyable films the drive-in’s had to offer in the 60’s and 70’s. When biker and racing films started to become popular, Grefe made RACING FEVER (1964) the first speedboat racing film, and followed that up with his first horror film, STING OF DEATH (1965) a year later. During his career, he touched on all popular genre’s, including crime drama’s with THE DEVIL’S SISTERS (1966) and THE HOOKED GENERATION (1968), biker films WILD REBELS (1967) and WHISKEY MOUNTAIN (1977), the comedy THE GODMOTHERS (1973) and several other horror and exploitation films, including DEATH CURSE OF TARTU (1966), THE NAKED ZOO (1971), STANLEY (1972), IMPULSE (1974) with William Shatner, and MAKO: THE JAWS OF DEATH (1976). Early in his career, he was second unit director on the infamous I EAT YOUR SKIN (1964) and did the shark scenes in the Bond film LIVE AND LET DIE (1973). Bill Grefe continued to write and produce films into the mid 1990’s and even returned to directing with the drama, ELECTRIC SHADES OF GREY (2001).

NICK PHILLIPS - As the son of America’s first film road showman S.S. Millard, and movie producer Frances Millard, it was probably inevitable that Nick would get into the movie business himself. Better known to horror, fetish, and exploitation film fans as Nick Philips, he jumped into the business in his early 20’s directing over 25 exploitation and nudie films like LUSTFUL ADDICTION (1969), FRAULEIN LEATHER (1970), DR. CHRISTINA OF SWEDEN (1970), LES CHIC (1972) with Rene Bond, VICIOUS BLONDES (1972), GUNBLAST (1974), and ROXANNA (1970), FANCY LADY (1971) and PLEASURES OF A WOMAN (1972), a trio of films with Ushi Digard. In 1975 Nick made his first horror film, SATAN’S BLACK WEDDING, and followed that with one of his most popular movies, the low budget “Crazy Fat Ethel” outing known as CRIMINALLY INSANE (1975) staring Priscilla Alden as “Ethel Janowski” the overweight woman who kills and eats her victims in order to hide the bodies. That movie proved so popular that Nick and Alden did DEATH NURSE (1987), CRIMINALLY INSANE 2 (1987) and DEATH NURSE 2 (1988) as follow-up’s to the original film. A few of the other films Nick Philips has done that Wasteland fans may recall include DOCTOR BLOODBATH (1987), CEMETERY SISTERS (1987) and the low budget quickie, DRACULA IN VEGAS (1999). Nick will be making his first ever convention appearance this October, and we couldn’t be happier to have him on board.

JOEL M. REED - Devoted fly fisherman, Joel Reed, may have only wrote and directed half a dozen films in his thirteen year film making career, but I’ll be damned if they aren’t six great “Wasteland” films! He started out with SEX BY ADVERTISEMENT (1968) and CAREER BED (1969), a couple of sexploitation films, before helming the action-adventure-exploitation classic, G.I. EXECUTIONER (1975) a few years later. The anthology horror-comedy BLOOD BATH (1976) was next, and that was followed by his most well known film, THE INCREDIBLE TORTURE SHOW (1976), better known to every fan as the black comedy classic, BLOODSUCKING FREAKS, when Troma changed the name for release in the late 70’s. His last film, NIGHT OF THE ZOMBIES (1981) starred adult crossover actor, Jamie Gillis, and featured Joel himself as a Neo-Nazi CIA informer. Joel Reed has only done an appearance or two over the years so we couldn’t be happier that he accepted our invitation to join us for October’s show.

Cinema Wasteland is Always a Great Place to get your “Living Dead” Fix!...

GEORGE KOSANA - Behind the scenes, George was the production manager on George Romero’s NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968). In front of the camera, he played “Sheriff McCelland,” who not only carried shells way to big to fit any guns he carried, but got to utter the immortal lines, “Yeah, they're dead. They're all messed up.” when commenting on how slow the ghouls are to a reporter. George also showed up in Romero’s THERE’S ALWAYS VANILLA (1971), as well as the police chief in John Russo’s THE BOOBY HATCH (1976). George Kosana is one of the last people with a role that required dialogue in NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD to do a Wasteland Show, so we’re happy he’ll be with us this October.

JOHN RUSSO - Writer, director, producer and occasional actor John Russo will always be best remembered as the guy who wrote the screenplay for George Romero’s NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968), where he also played a reporter and a “lead” zombie that gets into the farmhouse among other behind-the-scene duties. As a writer, Russo has seen his books or screenplays for RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD (1985), THE MAJORETTES (1986), and VOODOO DAWN (1990) all turned into films. As both writer and director, Russo brought the world the 70’s sex comedy THE BOOBY HATCH (1976) which was also the first screen role for Dawn of the Dead’s David Emge; the cool misguided Satanists horror flick MIDNIGHT (1982), the vampire film HEARTSTOPPER (1993) with Moon Zappa, and the killer Christmas tale SANTA CLAWS (1996), among several others, to the screen. These days, John Russo is still very much active in the independent film making scene and continues to make movies like his latest, SALOONATICS (2002), while running John A. Russo’s Movie Academy in Pittsburgh where he shares his 35+ years of experience with students eager to learn the in’s and out’s of independent movie making. Currently, his zombie story, ESCAPE OF THE LIVING DEAD (2009), is in pre-production with horror vets Tony Todd and Kane Hodder attached to play rolls in the film.

JOE SHELBY - Joe did double duty in George Romero’s DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978). He showed up early in the film as “Martinez”, the bandit who had his people hold up in the apartment building the S.W.A.T. team was surrounding. Later, he appeared as a Motorcycle Raider when he showed up as the first van driver when the raiders stumbled across the mall our heroes were taking refuge in. He also appeared as a cop in BLACK DAHLIA (1998) and as “Jonathan Blake” in the recent SLAVEZ OF HORROR LAND (2005). Joe’s been working on his own horror film based on the legend of the “Green Man” for a couple of years now. Stop over and have him fill you in on the production or show you some of the promo reel he might have with him come show time.

RUSS STREINER - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania native Russ Streiner may be best remembered as one of the original producers of George Romero’s NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968), where he also played Barbara’s ill fated brother “Johnny” in an uncredited role. Russ was also the producer on George Romero’s THERE’S ALWAYS VANILLA (1971), John Russo’s THE BOOBY HATCH (1976) and the 1990 remake of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1990), directed by Tom Savini. Russ has also directed and appears as an actor in a few films, including THERE’S ALWAYS VANILLA (1971) and THE MAJORETTES (1986). Still very much active in the independent film scene around Pittsburgh, you can find Russ working as an instructor at the John A. Russo’s Movie Academy in Pittsburgh, and as the producer of ESCAPE OF THE LIVING DEAD (2009) as it gets ready to begin shooting.

NICK TALLO - Behind the scenes, Nick has carved out a career working behind the camera as a grip, cameraman, or working the lights for too many films and TV shows to count. He’s worked on several horror films all Wasteland fans will know, including KNIGHTRIDERS (1981), CREEPSHOW (1982), SLEEPAWAY CAMP (1983), DAY OF THE DEAD (1985), NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD 1990, all the way through the recent MY BLOODY VALENTINE (2009). Nick has taken a few rolls in front of the camera, including playing “Bomba,” the grenade-tossing Motorcycle Raider in George Romero’s DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978).

Let’s Not Leave Out These Equally Important Returning Guests!

A. GHASTLEE GHOUL -The host of the Dayton and Springfield Ohio area’s long running, late night, horror-comedy schlockathon known as “The Ghastlee Movie Show” just rounded out twenty years of spewing video-vaudevillian cheese and sleaze to the untold millions... ah, hundreds... OK, dozens of fans held captive by his wit and wisdom over the years. Regularly joining Ghastlee for a Cinema Wasteland weekend is long time cohort in crime, Jeff McClellan: American, as well as Louu the XXXmas Devil, Suspira, and Mayhem Zann; members of the garage-punk band, SPLATTERTUDE. In addition to having Ghastlee and his band mates prowling our dealer and guest room all weekend long, why not join A. Ghastlee Ghoul and the motley band of “Ghastlee Nite Players” every Saturday night, beginning at 8:00pm in Movie Room 1, as he presents A GHASTLEE NITE AT THE MOVIES LIVE SHOW, where he hosts a night of music, comedy, skits, interactive games and prize giveaways that has become somewhat of a drunken Saturday night tradition at Cinema Wasteland over the years. A. Ghastlee Ghoul has been with us since our very first show and we’ve sort of adopted him as our official Wasteland horror host. And although many a horror host has come and gone from Cinema Wasteland shows over the years, you can always count on Ghastlee, (along with Son of Ghoul), to be with us twice a year. And if you need a Ghastlee fix between Wasteland shows, don’t miss A. Ghastlee Ghoul’s Splattertude radio show, which has recently moved to his own splattertude.com site so fans can now download the shows.

AMY LYNN BEST - Amy Lynn Best, a Pittsburgh PA native, has studied acting and dancing since she was three years old. She co-produced and co-starred in the independent feature horror film, THE RESURRECTION GAME (2002), and like many independent film producers, she learned the film business from the ground up. On the short haunted house film, TENANT, Amy studied cinematographer from that film's director of photography, Bill Fuller. Out of necessity, she learned the basics of grip work, camera operation, and the fine art of line producing. Since meeting her film making husband, Mike Watt, she has acted or worked on nearly a dozen films, including the critically-acclaimed feature, AMERICAN NIGHTMARE (2000), DR. HORROR’S EROTIC HOUSE OF IDIOTS (2003), along with ABATTOIR (2007) and SPLATTER MOVIE (2008), the latest from her and Watt’s Happy Cloud Pictures.

RON BONK - Ron began making movies in 1992. Although his main interest was in directing and producing, the necessity of making sure his movies sold with honest accounting also fell on his own shoulders, so he ventured into distribution. With the success he had marketing his own productions, other filmmakers offered Ron their work to distribute as well. It wasn’t long before the demands of a running a successful B-movie distribution company took over any time he had left for directing so in recent years, Ron has become more of a producer; establishing two production divisions of his company in St. Louis and Lexington and making movies to meet marketplace demands. His company, SRS Cinema, now represents over 200 movies and Ron has directed or produced over 25 feature motion pictures over the years. Among his many ventures, Ron established the B-Movie Hall of Fame in 1998 and the B-Movie Film Fest in 1999. Both have gone on to great acclaim and he hopes to establish a museum in Syracuse for the Hall of Fame one day.

42nd STREET PETE - Long time Wasteland friend, 42nd Street Pete, is our “go to guy” when it comes to all things Grindhouse. Why? Because he was there. He lived the era. In the Grindhouse heyday through its demise in the 80’s, the guy lived Times Square and all of the good, bad, and ugly, that went along with it. Hookers, peep shows, drugs, bums, mobsters, and the infamous grindhouses were all part of Pete’s life. Back in 2004, Pete hosted UNCONVENTIONAL, a look at the 13th anniversary of the Chiller Theater convention in New Jersey. A couple years back, he started hosting 42nd STREET PETE’S 8mm MADNESS; DVD collections of forgotten 70’s stag loops. Recently, he’s found himself in a few soft core spoofs like THE INSATIABLE IRON BABE (2008) and BATBABE: THE DARK NIGHTIE (2008). He’s also hosted a couple of Drive-In and Grindhouse movie panels at past Cinema Wasteland shows that always drew a full house. Always willing to help out when it comes to keeping a Wasteland weekend moving along, we’ll find something for Pete to do or host come October’s show as well.

SON OF GHOUL - With over twenty years and somewhere in the neighborhood of over 1,000 shows under his belt, Son of Ghoul is Akron and Cleveland’s longest continuous running horror host, as well as a long time regular here at the Cinema Wasteland show. Live in the Cleveland or Akron area? Then by all means, see if you can’t catch Son of Ghoul’s movie show every Thursday afternoon and Friday night. A life long Three Stooges fan that can actually boast that he owns all 190 Columbia produced Three Stooges shorts on 16mm film, Son of Ghoul presents a trio of Stooge Shorts every Saturday at Noon in Movie Room 1. After all, Cinema Wasteland and the Three Stooges go together better than drunks and strippers!

TOM SULLIVAN - Tom was the makeup effects man, prop builder, stop motion animator... ah, hell, he did so much behind-the-scenes work that I feel Tom is at least partially responsible for the entire look and feel of Sam Raimi’s cult horror favorite, EVIL DEAD. He also worked plenty an uncredited job on EVIL DEAD 2 and did some work on THE FLY 2 for Chris Wallas. A talented artist, Tom has also done illustrations for collectible card games, film production companies, book illustrations, and designed the ultra-cool “Book of the Dead” DVDs for the Anchor Bay limited edition EVIL DEAD and EVIL DEAD 2 releases. Currently, Tom worked on TOM SULLIVAN’S BOOKS OF THE DEAD comic series from Dead Dog Comics. Tom is a regular here at Cinema Wasteland and has become a real fan favorite guest. He has his own “Sullivan Museum Room” at the show where he puts original EVIL DEAD props, storyboards and artwork on display for all attending fans to see up close and personal. It’s always our pleasure to have Tom as part of our Cinema Wasteland Family and let him get a little credit where credit is due - with the fans. Be sure to stop in and see what Tom has in store for all you fans this time around. Could be new art, new film projects, another comic book series...

MIKE WATT - Writer, director, and journalist Mike Watt wrote and directed THE RESURRECTION GAME and Bloody Earth Film's A FEAST OF FLESH (aka "Abattoir") through Happy Cloud Pictures, which he co-founded with the lovely and talented Amy Lynn Best and the less lovely but also talented Bill Homan. He also wrote the screenplays for SEVERE INJURIES, WERE-GRRL, SPLATTER MOVIE: THE DIRECTOR'S CUT, DEAD MEN WALKING for The Asylum and THE SCREENING for G. Cameron Romero. He's the current editor of Sirens of Cinema Magazine - if you aren't reading it, that's proof that children have truly been left behind.

Addiitions

Arch Hall, Jr.
As the son of actor, producer and director Arch Hall, it was probably inevitable that young Arch Jr. would find himself used in some of his father’s films. I doubt he figured the half a dozen films he starred in would remain popular to this day, but I can’t imagine there are too many Wasteland fans out there that haven’t seen most, or all of them. First up was the juvenile delinquent classic, THE CHOPPERS (1961), where Hall led a band of car thieves who stripped and sold car parts to a crooked junkyard owner. Next up was the cult classic EEGAH (1962) about a group of teens who find caveman Richard Keel living in the desert. A musician himself, it’s easy to see how the Ray Dennis Steckler directed WILD GUITAR (1962) was a natural fit for Hall. Filmed in real time and loosely based on real life killer Charlie Starkweather, THE SADIST (1963) may be Arch Hall Jr’s most well known movie and he puts in a great performance as the psychotic “Charlie Tibbs” as he terrorizes a group of stranded motorists. The uneven spy spoof, NASTY RABBIT (1964) and western DEADWOOD ‘76 (1965), where Arch plays a guy who is mistaken for “Billy the Kid”, rounded out his film career, and not long after DEADWOOD ‘76 Arch Hall Jr. began a career as a pilot for Flying Tiger Airlines. Now retired and still playing music, Arch Hall isn’t all that into doing these kinds of shows. We couldn’t be happier that he’s decided to join us this October for a rare appearance to meet with fans and talk about the classic and cult films he had a part in.

Fred “The Hammer” Williamson
In college, Fred Williamson excelled in football, and after graduating from Northwestern University, he went on to become an all pro defensive cornerback - first as an original Oakland Raider, and then with the Kansas City Chiefs. His football career found him in four Pro-Bowls as well as playing on the winning team in the first Super Bowl. Following football, Fred went to Hollywood and found work in TV before landing his first film role as “Capt. Oliver “Spearchucker” Jones” in Robert Altman’s MASH (1970). It wasn’t long before Fred was establishing himself as an action star in the emerging “blaxploitation” film genre with powerful roles in films like THE LEGEND OF NIGGER CHARLIE (1973) and its sequel, HAMMER (1972), BLACK CAESAR (1973), HELL UP IN HARLEM (1973), THAT MAN BOLT (1973), THREE TOUGH GUYS (1974), ADIOS AMIGO (1976) and several others. Shortly after starting his own production company, Po’ Boy Productions, he wrote, produced, and starred in BOSS NIGGER (1975) directed by Hollywood veteran Jack Arnold. In 1976 he directed his first feature, MEAN JOHNNY BARROWS, and through his Po’ Boy Productions company has produced, directed, and starred in almost forty films since. Like many stars of the 1960’s and 70’s, Williamson caught the attention of European producers who used him in several B horror, sci-fi, and action films in the 1980’s, including Enzo Castellari’s THE NEW BARBARIANS (1982), 1990: THE BRONX WARRIORS (1982), and Lucio Fulci’s THE NEW GLADIATORS (1984) to name but a few. Other films of this time include ONE DOWN TWO TO GO (1982), Bill Lustig’s VIGILANTE (1983), THE BIG SCORE (1983), DEADLY IMPACT (1984) and THE BLACK COBRA (1987) which spawned a few sequels. As the 1990’s approached, Fred Williamson found himself as busy as ever. In 1996 Robert Rodriguez used him in the cult horror outing FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, and director Larry Cohen brought together Williamson, Jim Brown, Pam Grier, Richard Roundtree and Ron O’Neal for the cult classic, ORIGINAL GANGSTERS (1996). With another thirty five plus credits to his name since ORIGINAL GANGSTERS, including eight films currently in various stages of production, it doesn’t appear that Fred “The Hammer” Williamson has any plans to slow down his film schedule. We couldn’t be happier that he accepted our invitation to join us this October, where I’m sure, he’ll have even more new films and appearances to talk about with attending fans.

Lynn Lowry
The lovely and alluring Lynn Lowry began acting professionally at age of 17. Her first film role was a small part in THE BATTLE OF LOVE’S RETURN (1970), directed by and starring Lloyd Kaufman, the man who founded Troma. Her next role was an uncredited part, when in 1970, after director David Durston already had his cast and script ready to go, just couldn’t let her get away and cast her as a mute member of a gang of Satanists in his Drive-In classic, I DRINK YOUR BLOOD. In 1972 she played opposite Mary Woronov in LOVE, DEATH which led her to her first “real” acting job playing a dual role (again opposite Mary Woronov) in the revenge-thriller, SUGAR COOKIES (1973) which required Lynn to act in the nude for the first time. Radley Metzger’s SCORE (1973), a soft core semi-documentary flick really paved the way for Lynn to cash in on her sex appeal, and one of her finest roles was as Richard Liberty’s neurotic daughter “Kathy” in George Romero’s THE CRAZIES (1973). Lynn also appeared in David Cronenberg’s THEY CAME FROM WITHIN (1975), the Jonathan Deme film, FIGHTING MAD (1976), and cult favorite CAT PEOPLE (1982). In the early 80’s, Lynn moved to the Los Angeles area where she began acting in local theater, taking the occasional film role, and and singing old folk songs and show tunes with her own band. The past few years have found Lynn returning to acting and she can be found in several horror films, including anthology horror outing DEAD THINGS (2005), SPLATTER DISCO (2007) with Ken Foree, BEYOND THE DUNWICH HORROR (2008), the serial killer film BASEMENT JACK (2008) and THE OCEAN (2009) with Ellen Sandweiss, Ed Neal, and Judy O’Dea. She also co-wrote and starred in SCHISM (2008).