It has been my pleasure to welcome Bridgeport to the Vault of Horror, and I hope to be able to do so for some time to come. Coming fresh off my second monthly installment of BEDLAM AT THE BIJOU in the city's historic downtown district, I have to say it is just about the most fun I've ever had. Sharing my passion for horror with like-minded individuals, and opening the minds of intelligent folks giving it a chance for the first time? Count me in!
And speaking of "Count", that brings to mind my *next* BATB presentation, happening next month on Thursday, November 15. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
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| The Bedlam faithful take in the undead goodness. |
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| The Captain in human guise prepares to bloody up some moviegoers. |
Last Thursday night, I had the privilege of screening a zombie double feature made up of White Zombie and The Last Man on Earth (yes, I know it's technically not a zombie film, but anyone who's seen it knows why I included it.) Just like my first Godzilla/Them double feature last month, it was truly a blast bringing these flicks back to the big screen with fans old and new on hand. I cannot thank those who came out to support the event enough.
I am especially grateful to the Bijou's tireless Molly Ann Sabas, who put up with all my anal retentive crap and made sure everything ran smoothly from a technical standpoint. I was very excited to see my zombie-themed photo montage pre-show flash on the big screen prior to the movies. I must also thank the amazing Chad Anderson, who took more great pictures of the event, and Michael Barnes, who designed another fantastic poster for the event (I'm officially stealing a copy of every poster he creates for BATB!).
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| One of our adventurous patrons gets zombified by Cruella! |
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| Dr. Paffenroth drops some zombie knowledge. |
The lovely Captain Cruella was on-hand to zombify a few of our patrons right there in the Bijou's sumptuous lobby, and the Bram Stoker Award-winning author and good friend Dr. Kim Paffenroth made the trek all the way from Westchester to be my special Q&A guest. Just as it was last month, the Q&A was my favorite part of the evening, and I got a huge kick out of some of the very thought-provoking questions that were asked and answered.
And what can I say about seeing Bela and Lugosi and Vincent Price up on the big screen? These movies will never be as enjoyable as they are in an environment like this, and the Bijou is such a beautiful venue for it. I'm not sure what was more enjoyable--feeling the excitement of long-time fans as they witnessed these movies 20 feet high, or watching the rapt discovery of those who had never seen, or maybe even heard of them, before.
I was proud to discuss the unique cultural zombie phenomenon at length, and will be equally proud next month when BEDLAM AT THE BIJOU returns with my next double feature: "The Count Begins". I cleverly called it that because I'll be screening a double feature of the first two screen adaptations of Bram Stoker's Dracula: the original 1922 Nosferatu, and the classic 1931 Universal film Dracula. I'll be joined by another great horror non-fiction author, Paul Bibeau--whose book Sundays with Vlad proves what a Dracula aficionado he is. I'm also working on scoring some live musical accompaniment for Nosferatu, which should be enthralling. And of course, what would a Dracula double feature be without some wine specials? After all, he may never drink it, but that doesn't mean we can't.
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| The good Doctor and myself. |
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| Sharing the stage with our newly minted zombies. |
So I hope you'll join me for the next BEDLAM AT THE BIJOU, coming up Thursday, November 15 at 7pm. If you love these movies, or want to discover them for the first time, I encourage you to come down to the Bijou Theatre. For more info, check out the Bijou website!
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