Fan Expo 2009, Part 1: Corman among Men

Spent the weekend at the Fan Expo here in Toronto, and my geek hangover lingered on today. My wallet hurts from buying art and vintage movie posters; I’m drained from walking that floor, talking to hundreds of people and participating in/hosting panels; and I’m still feeling the effects of being a bit punch drunk from the giant crowds that descended on the Convention Centre during the day, followed by being literally drunk at the parties at night. No complaints, of course – there are a helluva lot worse ways to wear yourself down.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Fan Expo, it’s a weekend-long Con(vention) that takes place once a year at the end of August. It has five components: Anime, Comics, Gaming, Horror and Sci-Fi, and there are hundreds of vendors and artists related to all of those fan needs in one giant room (that smells pretty funny when packed with tens of thousands of nerds, many in sweaty spandex). There are also related panels and celebrity Q&A’s, autograph sessions and off-site events. Rue Morgue magazine (my day job) runs the horror component, which is called The Festival of Fear. Movies, naturally, play a large role and this year our guest of honour was Bruce Campbell. You could also see Udo Kier, Barbara Steele, Leslie Nielsen, James Duvall (Frank the Bunny from Donnie Darko), Linda Hamilton, veteran Canuck actor Art Hindle and Tobin Bell (a.k.a. Jigsaw).

For me, it was all about one guest, though: Roger Corman. His influence on film as a director/producer simply can’t be overstated, from his crazy low budget rubber suit monster movies and his horror comedies Bucket of Blood and Little Shop of Horrors to his classy Poe adaptations (mostly) starring Vincent Price; his crazier genre pics such as Death Race 2000, Piranha, House, Rock ‘n’ Roll High School and the awesome Humanoids From the Deep; the iconic art house films he distributed in North America, including Ingmar Bergman’s Cries and Whispers, The Harder They Come and Fellini’s Amarcord. Not to mention, he gave a staggering number of famous Hollywood directors, actors and writers their big breaks (some of them are listed here).

I’m normally not much of an autograph guy, and I’m definitely not one to get starstruck, but Corman is it, as far as I’m concerned, so it was a thrill to attend a panel where he talked about his career, gave some insight into how the film industry has changed and told some tales, including one about his acid trip, which he decided he should take before making the movie The Trip. Eighty-three-year-old Roger Corman talking about how much he enjoyed hallucinating a gold clipper ship with jeweled sails fly through the air, before turning into a woman, isn’t the kind thing you’ll forget anytime soon. He also described how he’d anticipate trends in audience tastes and the market (Hells Angels in the headlines = make movies about bikers, using real Hells Angels, no less!), and how he survived and thrived when major studios wanted him gone (taking a chance on young talent, for starters). I should mention that the panel was hosted by Rue Morgue Radio’s Stuart F. Andrews, who walked us through Corman’s career with a series of very well-researched questions. He even covered one of Corman’s least successful but best (and most socially conscious pictures) The Intruder, starring a young William Shatner as racial agitator in a small town, based on the Charles Beaumont novel. The filmmaker said that the topic was so incendiary at the time (the early ‘60s) that the production was run out of three different towns by local law enforcement. If you ever get a chance to meet or see Roger Corman speak, do so because he’s very eloquent, captivating and gracious.

As you can see, I had the privilege of meeting Corman in-person (for the second time – the first was San Diego Comic-Con a few years ago) and this time I had him sign my big weekend purchase: a massive French movie poster (it’s about the size of four standard-sized movie posters) for Masque of the Red Death (featuring the famous image of the red Vinnie Price head). Of course, I will now be starting a chain of meth labs in order to pay to have it framed, but – barring any major shack  explosions – it’s worth it. (That buy pretty much cleaned me out but, I also picked up a Spanish Cannibal Girls poster for my Canuck horror one-sheet collection – geeky!)

I also had him sign my copy of How I Made 100 Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime, his filmmaker’s autobiography. This is one of the best books on filmmaking I’ve ever read, as it blends Corman’s personal history with insider business info, the philosophy of an innovative artist/businessman and some compelling anecdotes about working with some huge names in cinema – and you don’t have to know anything about the man or his work to be entertained by it.

I’ll end this geek-out by highly recommending it as essential movie lover reading, so you can see for yourself why Corman is the man, and everyone else in the world didn’t make the Vincent Price Masque of the Red Death. Ha!

-Dave Alexander