6 I The Behrend Beacon
conntinned from
front page.
Midtown Tattoo is a fairly new
tattoo parlor, having opened in
April. Their table at the festival
advertised maga/ines their artists
had been published in and even
advertised a horror test discount
for attendees of the festival who
wanted to get horror-related tat
toos.
Across front Midtown's table
was the Erie Brewing Company,
which provided the beer that was
being served at the festival.
"This is our first time at the
Horror Fest." said Rebecca
Niemeyer. a representative of
Erie Brewing Co. “We're a big
sponsor of the fest. and are pro
moting our Railbender Ale."
Most of the vendors at the fes
tival were impressed by the festi
val's new venue, the Warner
Theater on State Street.
“Last year, the vendors were
separated from the film festival,
and were stuck all the way across
the street." said a representative
of Lost Classics DVD. a vendor
which specializes in out-of-print
films. "This is a lot better."
It wasn't just the vendors that
were impressed by the new loca
tion. many of the celebrities at
the event spoke highly of the the
atre as well.
"I was here in 2006. and it was
great then but its even better
now." said Tony Moran. Mike
Myers from the original
Halloween.
Three Legged Fox drops the beat in Bruno’s
Last Saturday night. 1 was
hanging out in my room, watch
ing Reservoir Dogs with three
friends, and feeling sick. When
nine o'clock rolled around, I
said, “let's call off going to
Three Legged Fox, 1 don't feel
too hot." I didn't want to get up
and risk vomiting to hear what I
thought was going to be just a
Bob Marley cover band.
At around quarter after. 1 was
feeling well enough to go grab
some food at Bruno's. We head
ed down and were hit with a wall
of music—good music. The
band started late and they were
about halfway through their first
song. I was surprised, impressed,
and overall glad that I showed
up.
Three Legged Fox played a
very tight show; they had their
mechanics down wonderfully.
Their style is a mix of grassroots
reggae and rock, in the tradition
of Dispatch. The drummer was
enthusiastic, the guitarist could
Arts & Entertainment
Along wit. joran. junnar
Hansen who played Leather face
from the original Texas
Chainsaw Massacre, and Kane
Hodder who played Jason in
Friday the VII were also at
the event, which marked three of
horror's biggest icons at the festi
val all at once.
Most of the vendors at the
event were artists selling their
work on prints, posters and T-
One such company. Screaming
Brain Studio, did quite a bit of
business at the festival. They
were selling mostly T-shirts, but
also had some sculptures for sale.
"We have actually sold quite a
bit of merchandise." said a repre
sentative. "We re here cause we
love horror, so this is the place to
be."
There were many new faces at
the festival this year, a clear sign
of the event's growth.
"This is my first time at the
horror fest." said Daniel Bird of
Coffintrust.com. "It's intimate.
but it's got a lot going on
Along with the new faces were
ones that have been there year in
and year out
"This is my third year at the
horror fest." said John Olas. a
local artist. "I love being here."
Thursday was the least crowd
ed day of the event, as not all the
celebrities had arrived yet.
"The first day is always kind of
slow," said Charity Walker, a fes-
Bv Jeff Kramer
eontributinx w riter
rpgs(X)4(« psu.edu
play pretty well, and the singer
was far more into it than he
should have been, seeing as he
was playing at Bruno's to about
12 people. The tragedy is that
they were playing at Bruno's to
twelve people. Three Legged
Fox deserves something better
than that. They should have
been playing in a much larger
venue to a much larger crowd.
I was so impressed by their set
that a friend and I decided to
split the cost of one of their CDs.
We took it back to my room,
popped it in. and chilled out.
The music that came out of the
sound system we had set up was
tragically disappointing. It was
what 1 feared they were going to
be in the first place—plain old,
more of the same, singing reg
gae.
Three Legged Fox played a
fantastic concert. 1 would have
bought one of their t-shirts if
they had any mediums in stock.
Ahove: Behrend sophomore Management major Pat Bedillion poses with
Kane Hodder of Friday the I3tli VII at the Eerie Horror Fest.
Left: A table selling Eerie Horror Fest merchandise.
tival employee. “There will be a
lot people here this weekend to
meet all the actors."
When the actors did arrive,
they were equally as excited to
meet the fans.
"The fest is so cool,” said
Edwin Neal, the Hitchhiker from
the 1974 Texas Chainsaw
Massacre. "We've got to meet a
lot of neat people."
Neal was attending the festival
as part of a reunion of the surviv
ing cast of the original Texas
Chainsaw Massacre. It was only
the second time the entire cast
had been together since the film’s
release. The first time was last
Spring in Philadelphia.
On Friday night, there was a
special screening of the film and
then a Q& A with the cast. During
the Q&A. the cast talked about a
number of memorable scenes
from the movie, such as the infa-
mous freezer scene, the meat
hook scene. and when
Leatherface cuts himself with his
own chainsaw. It was even the
first time some of the cast mem
bers. such as Teri, had seen the
film on a big screen since it’s
original premiere in 1974.
One of the first questions
asked dealt with the 2004
remake.
"The producers of that film are
cowards with no talent." Hansen
responded
The cast even discussed some
surprising details of the film’s
production aspects.
"We originally thought the
film wasn't going to be
released." said Neal. "I even
asked that the film never be
shown, and when I knew it was I
asked to have my name left off
the credits."
In a one-on-one interview with
Three Legged Fox was a good
live show, there's no denying
that, but as I said, their sound
from their studio albums didn’t
exactly transfer to their perform
ance. That leaves some ques
tions. Mainly, why? They only
have one album released, and the
"organic roots rock” they
describe on the website only
shows on two tracks, yet every
track on their Live @ Grape
Street album uses much more
distortion and cymbals.
Even "Jah Light,” arguably the
most traditional reggae song on
the studio album has a more rock
feel when played live. This isn’t
an uncommon phenomenon, and
it’s not specific to just reggae
groups, but Three Legged Fox
seems like a much tighter act
than one that would let some sort
of error mess up their groove.
All in all. Three Legged Fox
played a mean live show; it’s just
a shame that they had to play at
Bruno’s of all places.
The Behrend Beacon, many of
the cast members expressed grat
itude that their movie has
become a cult classic, and has
been influential in the boom the
horror industry has been experi
encing for the last 10 years.
“It’s a sweet dessert all these
years later to know how revered
our film is. and to have our
famous dolly shot, the scene of
me walking toward the house and
the camera films me from
behind, to be taught in directing
classes," said McMinn. "All the
time I have people saying to me.
‘hey can I get that butt shot?’"
"We just wish that the young
filmmakers believed in their own
“Hcppr films put one.bil
liondollars into die econ
omy last year;'You put up
the bucks, now you put
up your voices.”
-Sid Haig of House of 1,000
Corpses
creativity more instead of relying
on CGI." said Neal. "There's
nothing wrong with well-done
CGI, but just to rely on it day in
and day out and to use it instead
of creativity, the scenes tend to
feel soulless, the human emotion
is missing and it becomes more
mathematical."
“I'm not a big fan of the new
generation of horror movies. In a
lot of ways, the modern horror
films got to be only about vio
lence. but our movies got really
popular." said Hansen. "With
them being so popular there's
more of a chance that some-
body’s gonna give some young
guy a little bit of money to make
a movie that's a complete break
through and that's gonna change
horror movies."
It’s not just actors that attended
the Horror Fest, but many film
makers as well.
“Our film summer school was
in the festival last year and the
year previous, said Ben Trandem
of RCF Films. “We’re trying to
Janet Neff Sample Center
far Manners & Civility
“We must keep our
compass pointed
get another feature off the
ground, we've got a few scripts
in the works.
Paul Von Stoetzel. of Killing
Joke Productions, had a particu
larly gruesome yet truthful film
screening this year. His film.
Snuff: A Documentary About
Killing on Camera, takes inter
views and snippets of supposed
Snuff films to try prove, or dis
pel. the myth.
"When it came down to it. we
broke it into sections of what a
snuff film really is. The archaic
idea is that it's a film of some
body being murdered," said
Stoetzel. "We examined the idea
of what a snuff film is today, with
Iraq and with serial killers. With
that, it's the real deal. At no point
did 1 want to decide for people
what it was and say this is this
and that is that. I just wanted to
play with the idea of what a snuff
film is. We eventually did end up
back to the original concept of
what a snuff film is and ran with
that also."
One of the organizers of the
event is Behrend's own Mark
Steensland. a professor of Media
Studies and Vice President of the
Horror Fest.
"The festival is going very
well, especially the new venue."
said Steensland. "The last time
the Warner had movies was in the
70s. Its been wonderfully
restored and its exciting to be
here showing movies."
Each year. Steensland takes a
personal role in the festival,
doing his part to be hospitable to
the many guests the festival
brings in.
"I picked up Sid Haig (of
House of 1,000 Corpses]- first
thing this morning and took him
to an interview at Rocket 101."
said Steensland. "Rudy Scalese.
the director of development for
nala films came to campus to
speak in my screenwriting class
es. It was a great benefit for the
students and was exciting for me
as an instructor to bring some
thing like that to campus."
Steensland was particularly
optimistic of the films screening
this year.
“The judging committee
watches all the movies that come
in and decide what's worth show -
ing." he said. "We're really get
ting the cream of the crop this
year, this is the best stuff that's
out there."
Steensland's film. Peckers.
screened on Saturday.
Peekers told a chilling tale in
which neighbors come together
to deal with an unusual event, but
get sucked in themselves.
Also on Saturday was a town
hall meeting by Sid Haig, of
House of 1.000 Corpses and The
Devil Rejects.
“How’s it feel to be in the loan
business?" Haig asked the spec
tators. "Because you all are.
Whether you want to be or not.
you are bailing Wall Street out of
direction.”
Barack Obama
Friday, October 17. 2008
this mess
Haig criticized the bailout
plan, and banks for giving out
mortgages they knew people
couldn't pay.
Haig also spoke about public
schools, claimine that children
are taught to be too dependent on
“We're really getting the
cream of the crop this
year, this is the best stuff
that’s out there."
-Mark Steensland. Behreiul
Professor ol Media Studies
technolouv
"If we took away all the elec
trollies in schools, kid'- woiildn I
be able to wipe iheir own butts.
The main message ol Haig's
town hall was that horror huts
and young people in
should not be apathetic toward
politics
'Horror films pm one hiilion
dollars into the economy
year. You put up the bucks, now
put up your voices
lktie was eleai'K skn t<>
earth, admiuii)-.' li.
chance of winmiie the piemler.
Am I cumin win.' \e •'.ml
Haic. "Hut il I . .in make urn
believe vou have ihc j'mm; in
make chance, then that u ;im .;•
good ax being pre-adeni
Haig has piv\iimx ic.uL'idnp
work. Hi' xcrw'x ax a pasioi ai
l.Miiscrxal I.lie ( liiiii h in
Modcxlo. ( alllornia. aioin
Ficric Horror I e-h he-ulant
Gregg Ropp.
Ropp w as eMreiiu l\ opiuni'-i
ot'the lestivai this >eai. as ii.i\ lna
the e\ent at the Warner ha-- Ivea
a goal ol his lor L|inte Mime time.
"The Warner is huteer. ami
more prestigious than om pn\i
oils \enucs." said Kopp We
started at die roadhouse in Mo l.
which had 250 scats. wc wcai to
the eric playhouse in root' and
2007. which had 500 mats and
was a \er\ bcaiinlnl theatre, hut
now were at the Warner Iheairc
which has alwa\s been a dream
of mine. I used to see a lot of
rock bands here. I grew up m this
theatre basically and u.h even
lucky enough to see a few ol the
movies that showed here back m
the 70s before they stopped
showing movies, and I kept
thinking 'my god. this is such a
beautiful venue."'
Ropp believes the festival has
finally found it's home.
"This feels like home lor the
first time. We have nothing but
fond memories of the Roadhouse
and the Hrie Playhouse. 1 kind of
miss the playhouse, but it almost
felt like a transition period. It felt
like we had training wheels on.
Now we're driving. It feels very
different this year. It just feels
right when you walk in
own moral
in a true
eeitei a!
had hill