Guests | Movies | Notes | Pictures | My Summary

Guests

Featuring 11 cast members from Halloween 2007.

Character Actor
Dr. Sam Loomis Malcolm McDowell
Morgan Walker Udo Kier
Laurie Strode Scout Taylor-Compton
Annie Brackett Danielle Harris
Lynda van der Klok Kristina Klebe
Kendall Jacks Courtney Gains
Nurse Wynn Sybil Danning
Grant Clark Ezra Buzzington
Cynthia Strode Dee Wallace Stone
Nole Kluggs Lew Temple
Big Joe Grizzly Ken Foree

Halloween Alumni

Cancelled Nancy Loomis
Parts 1&2 Charles Cyphers

Movies

August 10:
Indoor Movies *seating limited
5:30pm – 8:00pm: Indie Film Screening
An Evening Giallo (runtime 7 min)
Dracula’s Mother (runtime 15 min)
Mr. Buttons (runtime 24 min)
Pleasures of the Damned (runtime 85 min)
Outdoor Movies
Weather Permitting - Approx. start time depending on darkness 8:30/9:00pm
First Showing: Darkstone Entertainment Presents: Skeleton Key 2 w/15min Q&A commentary
Second Showing: To Be Announced

August 11:
Indoor Movies *seating limited
10:05am – 11:05am: Ghouligans! (runtime 60 min)
11:10am – 12:50pm: Chill (runtime 85 min) w/15 min Q&A commentary
1:00pm – 3:00pm: Café Death Presents: Better Living Through Killing (runtime 99 min) w/15min Q&A commentary
3:15pm – 5:30pm: Darkstone Entertainment Presents: Skeleton Key 2 (runtime 110min) w/15min Q&A commentary
5:40pm – 6:00pm: Los Locos Vs Zombie Squad
6:15pm – 8:00pm: Anchor Bay Presents: Trailers & commentary / Q&A
Outdoor Movies
Weather Permitting - Approx. start time depending on darkness 8:30/9:00pm
First Showing: To Be Announced
Second Showing: To Be Announced

August 12:
Indoor Movies *seating limited
11:00am – 1:00pm: Title to be announced
1:15pm – 3:15pm: Café Death Presents: Better Living Through Killing (runtime 99 min) w/15min Q&A/commentary
3:30pm – 4:45pm: GRUESOME (runtime 8 ½ min)

Notes

Pictures

Memorabilia
Weekend Pass
Program Cover - Clockwork Zombie

Actors
Malcolm signing a rare Japanese Alex Doll
Malcolm standing on a chair to pose with a big guy
Udo Kier, Kristina, Scout & Danielle
 Ezra during my interview
Malcolm on Day 3
Malcolm & Udo Kier posing with a magazine

Others
Autograph Line Sign for Malcolm & Udo
Guy dressed as Alex in the costume contest

My Summary

My exclusive interviews
Malcolm McDowell 8/10-12/07
Ezra Buzzington 8/10/07
Sybil Danning 8/10/07
Lew Temple 8/1107
Courtney Gains 8/11/07
Dee Wallace Stone 8/11/07
Scout Taylor-Compton 8/11/07
Kristina Klebe 8/11/07
Danielle Harris 8/11/07

    Friday night - The trip was to take a between 3 and 3 1/2 hours, but because of the usual construction and toll booth back ups it took an extra hour. I wasn't able to get a room in the Marriott hotel where the convention was, so instead I has to get a hotel across the street. They lied saying it was only .09 miles from the convention, but that includes woods and a six lane highway going both ways! What a bunch of scammers, there was no way to easily get there except to drive. If you walked you would need a machete and Frogger like instincts. At the hotel was a busload of people all wearing Boston Red Sox clothes and I thought there was a trip that had to be almost 3 times longer, just to see a baseball game, so lame. 
    The event didn't start until 5pm so that's when I got there. There was a huge line to get in and it was for those without tickets. The line with tickets was very short. You had to turn in your ticket, the orange one I scanned, for a bracelet to wear for the weekend. They had stacks of programs and I was happy to see the cover had a Clockwork tribute with a 'zombie' dressed like a droog clutching a bottle, I would decide later the bottle represents Udo. I don't know if it is officially a zombie, but I like to call it that because of the director of Halloween.  I went to the celebrity room to see if Malcolm was there, but he wasn't. There was a huge line to get in, but it was really only waiting for Malcolm and Udo, then I found out that most of them were really there for Malcolm. You could just walk right in the room for the other people. So I went around the other side which very few were doing to see who else from Halloween was there. The front of the room was just blocked off for the two of them and the rest of the people are in the open room or the other 85%. I saw Ezra and talked to him, he didn't have a scene with Malcolm, but still offered what stories he could and was very cool. Then I went and talked to Sybil Danning who definitely had a scene with Malcolm because of stills that are out there and she had a couple on her very well stocked table. We talked a little while then were interrupted by autograph seekers, then we'd talk, then back to signing, which went on for half an hour. It's absolutely amazing how many people come over and are willing to spend $25 a shot to get their stuff signed. I'm not into autographs, so it's weird to me. One guy spent $140! I mean one, OK, but everything you own…? It's also a whole new ballgame when you are on the other side of the table because I was waiting. They think you work with the person or are related to them, suddenly you've become more important. She was by herself and I helped take pictures of people who wanted to get them with her and they had no one else to do it for them. I also handed her pens to make things run smoother. She is very nice and a shrewd business woman. She would see people with the Halloween posters they wanted signed and then would mention she had original double sided Grindhouse posters she would offer signed for $50. She also had rubberbands, but the trick was finding them right away. This became a running joke for us every time I saw her - where are the rubberbands? She would see what they wanted signed and point out 8x10s of the corresponding films she had - including many Werewolf Women of the SS from Grindhouse. Very shrewd. I didn't know it then, but later I found out she had more 8x10s from more different roles than every other else there combined! It was an interesting look into what goes into these type of conventions from a different perspective. One guy came up who said he was a Marine from Afghanistan who finished his final tour. He was getting drunk as he had some kind of rig hooked up to a backpack so he could suck beer from a tube. One girl and a boy came up to have mini a Grindhouse poster signed, but didn't have enough money, so she worked it out. Later their father who was a vendor there came up all mad about it. He couldn't believe anyone would charge $25 for an autograph, $10 maybe if you brought the item. She explained she worked out a better price for her, then he denied that was his kid. Then he flipped around saying that was his kid. She calmly explained that she doesn't get paid to come there, the only money she gets is from signatures. He still kept going on and on and people don't do that and I said Malcolm is $25 and he stopped for a second. She said no one else ever complained at any show she did. I saw him later and he had some mini Halloween poster signed by at least 6 people, so I don't know what his problem was. I came back to tell her this fact and she was perplexed by the whole thing. After she said that the reason she left Austria like Arnold was to be in movies and do this. I gave her a greeting in Austrian and she was surprised asking me how I knew that. I told her I had been there. She asked if I had seen her Girls and Corpses magazine. I said I did see it online because it was Halloween related and that the idea is pretty gross, but I wasn't sure if it was a goof or not. She said it was an actual magazine, not just online, but she hadn't seen it yet. She got me a water when the crew brought her one and thanked for my patience and invited me back and hang out any time. I told her I didn't know she would be putting me to work. She stopped for a second and said I didn't force you, but I told her I was kidding. She's a very nice person and an absolute professional at how these conventions are run.
    During this time Malcolm arrived, no longer sporting the beard from Halloween & Heroes. He was dressed very casual in blue jeans, Chuck Taylor type sneakers and a button down shirt. The line for MM never stopped and he only took one short break. He was getting wild goofing on Udo by yelling things over to him like to hurry up or take some of his line. He got into it at one point to stand on his chair to pose with a huge guy.  He knew I was coming told his promoter to look out for me and introduced me. He said look what my life is reduced to - signing stuff, that's why I never do these. He let me hang out with him for the last hour and it was quite a setup they had going. One to take the money and get the name they wanted for the item on a sticky pad and to choose from a small fake Clockwork poster, Alex still, Soran still or Halloween still or the full size poster. Of course you could bring your own item. The next woman took the item and put them together. He asked me how long did it take to get there and I said a little over 3 hours and he thought that was a long trip. He also asked what the latest news was because he still isn't online much and I mentioned about the Kubrick Exhibition in Rome and he confirmed he would be there. I said I'd heard that he had an emergency that made him cancel the last trip to Italy. He said his baby was really sick with the flu and he felt bad when I told him that people were really bummed about him not going. I told him I just passed 10 years with the site and he put his hand on my arm to thank me, not saying anything, it was a cool moment. I was surprised to see how many brought up Tank Girl DVD covers, some signed by Lori Petty. Malcolm and I both agree at how bad the film is. He said the cast, crew and sets were great, but they never had a script. Every time another one came I'd say oh, no not another one. He says people love the film. The girl who was working next to him loved the comic and therefore the film. thinking it was a great adaptation. I told her she didn't want to know what Malcolm said about the film and he said to tell her. I said the quote was "If you like Tank Girl, you'll like anything they put on the screen." He said see? She just turned away. He was signing some Alex pictures and going right across the face. When I pointed it out he said are you giving me a hard time? But then after he changed and started signing above which did look better. One of the last guys brought up one of a Crime Cure Boy dolls and MM had no idea what it was. I told him it was from Japan and cost about $400 and he didn't believe it. When the guy nodded his head Malcolm said the worst thing was he didn't get a piece of the merchandise. I said it was because it was all bootlegs. He was happy when people brought an if…. DVD cover, he's so proud of them releasing the uncut version after all this time. He would agree to pose for any picture if he didn't have to get up, but he made an exception for people in wheelchairs. He told me to take pictures for people because I knew what I was doing, he didn't like to sit there waiting for someone to figure out how to use the camera. He has not seen Halloween, but thinks it's going to kill. One woman was dressed in a dominatrix type gynecology outfit with a mask over her face. MM was asking why, is she a germ phobe? He finally got her to remove the mask. If someone said ACO was their favorite film he said they had good taste. He's certainly not bitter about it or anything and was trying to have fun, even if he was tired. If someone had a Halloween poster to sign he would say they are going to love it. He loves Donald Pleasance, but has never seen the original because he's not into horror films, he's just in them. At one point he asked who was the girl next to Scout. I said Kristina. He looked blank. She plays Linda. Nothing. One of the three girls. He gave up and said "I've never seen the film, so I don't know anything about it." It's wild that he really has no idea what the story of Halloween is, the original or the one he's in!
    As it got later, his signature would get shorter. One guy asked what his favorite film was and he says always the next one. What about older ones? If, ACO, OLM! not Caligula and I reminded him of Royal Flash. A girl came in the line with a long neck beer bottle sticking out of her pocket and Malcolm asked what she was doing with it and she said she wanted to get rid of, Malcolm said to give it to Udo. He was ready to go because he hadn't eaten anything. When he left for the night he told me he'd see me tomorrow, then he went on to give Udo a hard time some more saying what a beautiful man he was. Everyone look at the beautiful man. The door led out the back of the kitchen and snuck around the back of the lobby. On the way out I took a picture for one guy and ran into Lew Temple as he was leaving and set up an interview for tomorrow.
    The dealer room was open until 10pm, so I went to check it out. When I first went to conventions like these 15 years ago that was all I cared about. I would save money up for 2 months just to buy stuff. Back then there was no cheap internet access and no eBay, so this was the only way to get movie items and books and was where I got some of my first vintage Clockwork items. Now the idea of dealers selling overpriced collectibles seems archaic. Today I'm only interested in interviewing people for my site. The room was so far removed from the celebrity room that you had to take an escalator downstairs to get there. If I was a dealer I wouldn't like being that far from the main action.  At the bottom of the escalator they had a table of flyers and the like for other kinds of horror themed events. There was a dealer and across from them was the main selling area for the official convention gear. I saw they had a t-shirt with the Clockwork zombie image so I had to get that. They had nothing else with that image, so that would be my only purchase of the show. Making a right turn takes you down a wide hallway with a high ceiling, there's the bathrooms and little tables, then in the left corner is where the setup with the Michael Myers costume was. They let you take as many pictures as you wanted of the costume and I saw no one paying to have their picture taken with it. They had a separate Myers mask and some other movie props from Saw. Across from that was a DVD company that was doing some loud giveaways and such. Making another right and there were other movie companies and horror authors and if you made another right that was the dealer room. It was wide open on the right and that's where Tom Savini was set up. To the left was the bulk of the dealers and it was pretty quiet and well spaced. I'm used to shows like Chiller Theater with wall to wall people and almost no room to walk. I saw one Clockwork shirt and an X-rated Insert poster for the insane price of $250. One guy had a picture of some of Malcolm's characters he drew and made a print out of it. It was very light making it hard to see and he had only average talent and one character that looked like Kisnki from Nosferatu. He also wanted $10 for an ACO video and had ACO music playing. In the early 90s most dealers had bootleg VHS movies of titles that were rare or never released. Now of course it is all DVDs. Some of the same stuff which is kinds sad. I would think now they would crack down on this more, but they didn't seem to care. I saw a couple of different dealers who made high quality dolls, but the rest of the things were pretty junky or stuff I could get online cheaper, even with shipping. On the one hand it's sad because I have great memories from those times and money to spend, but on the other hand I'm glad since it allows me to spread my purchases out and save money. I checked everything out and went out of the dealer room and there was an exit that led to a 50s style restaurant that is literally underground and under concrete which is bizarre enough. To make it worse there was only 3 people inside and it looked like something out of a horror movie, certainly anything by Stephen King. Even stranger is you could go downstairs outside and go right to it, but no one was. So I headed out back to my hotel to get setup to start writing this and get caught up with other work, it was a very long day.

Saturday - If you were into autographs the best deal was to get an original double-sided Halloween 2007 poster signed for $30. This included the poster which would cost you almost that much anyway online and they usually burn you for $10 shipping, so it would be cheaper to get it at the show with one signature. People that planned on getting everyone to sign a poster, and plenty of them did, weren't going to get it cheap. Start with $30 and get Malcolm to sign it, then $20 for Udo, $25 for Sybil, $20 each for the three 'girls' and at least $15 each for 5 others. That equals $210 and might be a little more. That's crazy. I saw at least one guy getting 3 posters signed thinking he would resell them and taking pictures of people signing them as his proof, but he would have to aim at $250 to make any real profit and I just don't see people paying that without the thrill of meeting the people in person. It also seemed the big thing was to have them sign and write their character name. The poster gets very crowded fast with all those signatures and I saw up close a few times members of the cast looking for a good place to sign.
    First I talked to Lew Temple. He remembered me from last night and was very friendly. He also worked with Rob in the Devil's Rejects said Malcolm would've been great in that film too. He's a classic Texan, which means he has an accent, he's as down to earth as anyone, wears a cowboy hat, a flannel shirt and chews tobacco. He might be as far from what people think a Hollywood actor is that you could find and that's a good thing. During the interview he showed pictures from all his scenes, which aren't too many, but are graphic, like a slideshow. When I asked about any improvs he did in the film he launched into a screaming expletive rant right in my face that felt like he was trying to catch me offguard, so I just took it and smiled. He's a very real, very cool guy. After I saw people lining up to meet him and he would pose for pictures willingly and even let kids wear his hat, they like him and he's genuinely nice to them.
    I next talked to Courtney Gains because he plays the cousin of Lew's character and he just gave me a little information about him. He broke into film in the legendary Children of the Corn as Malaki. He's the one with red hair and was young at the time and today as an adult he looks like an intense version of that guy. He revealed a cool insight into what makes Michael tick in the asylum and what they do to set him off. He described his role as more of a cameo and he's looking forward to seeing who else pops up. Of all the people I talked to, he was the one that I felt hit the nail on the head when it comes to the remake. He was also as nice as can be and very cool. He was right near his fellow Corn castmate John Franklin who wasn't getting as much attention, maybe because he wasn't in Halloween.
    Dee Wallace Stone was on the other side of Lew. She had more of a line, but thankfully it did break for a while where I was able to talk to her for a good stretch. She is pretty small and still in good shape. She has been in a ton of films and had a banner mentioning some of them and many stills to refresh your memory. and I was shocked when she said that now Rob was her favorite director...I mean she's worked with Spielberg and ton of other famous people. Plus Rob wasn't there, so it's not like anyone forced her to say it. This really made me so much more interested in the film. She didn't want to give anything away with her character. Right when I was done, someone walked up and she said perfect timing, so it was very pleasant.
    Everyone couldn't be nicer except for Ken Foree. I have no idea what his problem was, but he was like why are we paying tribute to Malcolm McDowell? When I said well, you were in Halloween with him, he acted like he wasn't even in the film. Then he said his role was only 2 seconds, even though he had a stack of posters there to sign. He said there wasn't enough to talk about. All he would say was he would check into it. It was the only time someone wouldn't talk to me, but I got the bigger stars, so it didn't really matter and I didn't go back later.
    I was set to interview Malcolm at lunch around 1pm, but because the line was so long they pushed it back. I didn't want to miss him when they closed the line in case is happened so fast, so I just watched the flow of humanity. The line was 50% longer to start than it was last night. There were some really heavy people and weird families. I noticed people with all sorts of posters and thought who are they? These are not people I hear from on my site, so my theory is most of them just come to these events to get their stuff signed by whomever is there, it could be any star up there and they would be just as interested. One guy asked if he could sign it to his droogie and Malcolm said he never heard anyone use that term. I could've interviewed the three Halloween girls who were right there, but didn't want to miss out on interviewing Malcolm in person for the first time in 5 years. I knew I could get them later and hoped the lines would be shorter.
The line seemed to never end and literally twice as many were there for Malcolm over Udo. I noticed Udo seemed to have a glass of wine in front of him at all times. I talked to Sybil again for a little bit - she definitely was prepared with her rubberbands today. She said she always liked to have a picture of her at her table for herself and asked me to take the picture. Before we could line it up a crowd appeared for her and she ran back to her table. But I did take a couple pictures for her later when they left.
    By this point there was even a large line for Danielle Harris and one for Ernie Hudson. I was quite surprised that one of the guys from Ghostbusters and not even one of the biggest stars had such a following. At one point I heard a young woman say where is Ernie, he's the one I want to see the most and can't find him. She couldn't find him because of the line. I sat and watched Malcolm in action singing, smiling, shaking hands, posing for pictures. He also had his assistant giving him PGA updates on what I think was her Blackberry. I saw the guy who made the drawing of Malcolm arrive dressed up like a droog, he was the only one who did that. He gave Malcolm one of his drawings and I laughed when Malcolm didn't recognize the same character that confused me.
    Every once and a while Chris the promoter would be running by on the phone and said he didn't forget about me. Finally around 2pm they closed the line and the staff didn't want me to go that way toward the front tables. I said Malcolm was calling us over and they were like yeah right, then they saw him do it and were shocked. Malcolm, Udo, his assistant, two staff, Chris, myself and my wife were led through the back of the kitchen, out the side, through the lobby and to the left where the fancy restaurant was. Malcolm asked me if I knew who Udo was and I said he was a legend. He looked at me in surprise and I said it was because he was in as many films as he was. Malcolm seemed to have no idea of that fact. On the way he showed me a 3" gold Caligula coin magnet someone made him. He asked me, "Can you believe it?" I said I guess they didn't know what he thought of the film and he admitted it was true. He started to tell me about the DVD and I said I did want to ask about that. We had to wait to go in because they shut the kitchen down early, even though they had reserved a table. So that needed to be cleared up. Udo was singing a guestbook or something and Malcolm was busting on him to pay for it all and to give his bank account number. So we all had to stand there and hang out for a bit. 
    On the way to the table we had to walk all the way to the back and when we passed a table of people I heard one girl say about Malcolm "That's Terence Stamp! He was in Superman 2 and blah blah" I was laughing at what a dope she was and probably how for years she'll be telling how she was in the same restaurant as him. I sat next to him and my plan was to ask him about all his earliest TV work, the only stuff I can't track down on video and have little or no information on. He looked at the menu, said it was the same as last night and he would have a Caesar salad and salmon. I was waiting for him to make and obvious Caligula joke about him eating a Caesar salad, but none came. He handed me the menu and it was short with some weird choices, I didn't want to spend any time looking at it when I could be asking questions and decided on chicken fingers. When the woman came over to fill up water glasses, Malcolm wanted to order, but she said just a minute, obviously she wasn't up to the task and Malcolm wasn't happy with her. He couldn't believe how lame the service was. Instead we had to wait for Kasif the waiter who had a thick middle eastern accent. I didn't care, because that meant more time for my questions. Because we weren't alone it was me asking about projects and then Malcolm telling stories allowing everyone at my side of the table to be entertained. No one else seemed to speak at all. When he went off on a tangent, I had to go with it and could easily fill in the blanks as I'm familiar with all his films so I would go with whatever he went to. If he asked what a film was about or who was in it I would tell him. He also couldn't believe it could take so long to make a salad. After about a half hour he left for the bathroom and the food started to arrive. It seemed like they were screwing things up and weren't sure what Malcolm ordered and he wasn't there to answer, so we had to tell them. When he came back I was only able to ask a few more questions before the food arrived. Mine came with fries and he asked if he could have some and I said sure. I waited until he ate some and started talking before I asked more questions. Then I had to eat, balance the camera, talk and drink all at once which was tricky. When I asked about The Caller I said it was rare to see a two person film. He asked if I'd seen his one man show yet and I said I have an audio tape of it. He said I could borrow his personal DVD copy of it to watch tonight if I brought back the next day. I said that wasn't a problem. I got to ask a few more questions and he excused himself to catch more of the PGA tournament so he could watch Tiger Woods, he asked Chris to take care of our meal and he would pay him later.
    Udo wanted to pay for his own meal, but didn't have his money and asked Chris to get his per diem and Chris said he had to go up to his room to do it. Udo then harassed him about it asking where his office was. He said his room was now set up as his office with a staff of 5 and Udo told him to have his secretary get it for him then. It seemed that with Malcolm gone Udo saw his chance to take over the conversation as was talking about his latest films. I introduced myself and asked if he had many scenes with Malcolm in Halloween. He said all of them were with Malcolm, but he would talk about that later. He explained about this movie he just did called Castle Killer and how he fought with the director about his character who painted using the human skin of his victims for his canvas. He would put 5 skins together to make and they wanted him to show the paintings to his visitors. He said how could he show anyone these things without being arrested. He would have to allow only other killers inside. They wanted him to paint and he said he just through the blood buckets on it the canvas. He wants control of all his interviews and that some woman just did a 12 page interview with him and she didn't take any notes or record it and it's perfect. He doesn't know how she did it. He also has to know were the character came from, who his parents were, all the background, etc. That's the first thing he asks a director. If he says he doesn't know he asks him why not, it's his character. So then he'll be forced to make up a back story himself. Even if it never was told or got on screen, that's how he found the character. I think he said for Halloween he would carry a picture of his mother in his coat and he would touch it, though we wouldn't know why he was touching his pocket, but it meant something to him. He also said like Malcolm he has never done a convention like this and doesn't think he'd want to do it again. He's really busy, did 6 films this year and doesn't need the money, so he doesn't need to do it. He feels bad having to charge the fans because they are his fans and he could never physically take the money like Sybil Danning. He doesn't have anything against her, but he felt if he had to feel the money in his hand he couldn't stand in. In the past he would sign for free like when he went to a show only to meet George Romero. The line was for all these people and when he said he would sign for free they all came to him. I think he was stalling so he didn't have to go back and was a bit tipsy. He had white and blacks striped socks he called his silly socks and when he went to pay his own bill he was excited because his bill was number 1444. He said that was his lucky number he was born on the 14th of October in 1944. I said that makes him a war baby and he said yeas it was better to be born near the end of the war like he was.
    The only ones left to talk to were the three main girls. Surprisingly Scout who is fourth billed in this film had no line when I went back to the room. The red haired headshot of her that appears on the imdb and she had at her table is very deceiving. It makes her look so much older and like a movie star, which it is designed to do. In person she looks like a normal teenager, which is good, because after talking to her that's the way she should be right now, a normal young lady, not an image or someone else. I like real people and that's what she was. She certainly did not act like someone who was about to star in a major film in 3 weeks. She was very talkative and had a lot to say about Malcolm and some interesting stuff happened between them. She was dressed very comfortable and casual, completely covered from head to toe with a large hat while the girls on either side of her were definitely showing more skin and cleavage. She said he's been mentoring her and calling her with advice since the filming ended. She loved talking about Malcolm and I was able to help her find the title of one of his films she was looking for and we talked uninterrupted for almost 15 minutes. She was very fun to talk to and I hope she has a great career ahead of her. When Malcolm came back to the room he went over to see her and was messing with her hat playfully and it backed up everything she had said about their relationship.
    After I went to the table on the left next with Kristina and since Scout went up to her room there was room to sit and she cleared off a seat for me. At first she was all girly about being interviewed on camera because she was worried about her looks, but I showed her footage of Scout and she calmed down. Things went even better when she said she was friends with Charlie McDowell's partner Eli and I mentioned I had interviewed him and had a copy of Bye Bye Benjamin. It was going well until people came over, then it was stop and start, but I'm used to it and sometimes it makes things better. She was very nice to fans and agreed to post for pictures even if they didn't buy anything, which others didn't do. So it wound up I was there a while and she was sorry for jumping up and down, but I understood that it's part of the job - meet and great and making a little money. Then something weird happened. Out of nowhere it became the actor's autograph exchange program. Udo came over and they spoke in German, then Alex Vincent and one other guy possibly Tom Woodruff. The weird thing was a couple of people wanted her to sign an original Halloween print, a film made before she was born. She said she wanted some of that memorabilia for herself now that she's involved with the film and a guy gave her one and a Michael Myers figure. She would sign extra things like her film lines "totally" or "rock it commando". I was also able to pick up a double sided unsigned Halloween poster there because I needed one for my collection and it is such a cool collage of images where Malcolm is shown a few times. I guess she was distracted with all the attention and was desperate to go the ladies room and she hoped I got enough and I told her I thought she did. I think she felt a little bad, but she was very cool and I had no problem at all with her doing her thing.
Danielle was the final interview and I was surprised she is so tiny. She was professional and answered everything quick, but didn't elaborate too much, so it felt like it went very fast, which I'm sure it did. It was kind of rapid fire until I got into her feelings about the remake since she was involved in the original franchise. She was very different from the other girls, maybe because she's older and this isn't as new to her, but she was nice about everything so I didn't mind.
    After that I want back to the hotel to drop stuff off and relax a little. I went back right before the celebrity room was to close to get some more pictures, a signed item and to hang out until it was over so I could get the DVD from Malcolm. People started showing up for the costume contest including a fat guy dressed up like Gene Simmons in full Kiss garb and a fat Silent Bob who seemed too into his role. I asked the guy at the door what the count was for people coming to see Malcolm since it was the end of the day. He said 472 for Malcolm and 211 for Udo. He said last night was close to those numbers. I told Malcolm and he couldn't believe his total was so much more. He said not to tell Udo, he'd get mad. We talked some more and I mentioned how many Clockwork bands there were and he said he knew. Someone brought up a heavy, small, day glow Orange Clockwork poster that he said he had seen a lot of lately here and asked me about it. I thought it looked like some sort of bootleg. The line suddenly died and he jumped up to go back to his room to watch golf. Patrick Burns from Haunting Evidence was trying to get a picture with him like any other fan and Malcolm told him he would be back. He said he'd get me the DVD and when he returned after 15 minutes he told me he forgot the DVD. He signed a few more things and the line closed.
    For those of you who hand celebrities things thinking they keep them all, think again. In this case the staff divided up what was there amongst themselves and left things no one wanted on the floor. You are better off showing an items instead of giving it unless it's something they can fit in their pocket like that Caligula magnet
    So I waited until he was done and one of the staff asked if he could help me and I said yeah, I'm leaving with Malcolm. Once again they didn't believe me and were surprised when I did. He said to come with him to his room and he moved like a shot, stopping once to get his bearings in the massive hotel that branched off in every direction. I thought that might be the way he has to move so people can't stop him, follow him or harass him. I had to move fast to keep up, I was surprised for an older guy just how fast he could move with little effort. I asked if they wanted him to be a judge at the costume contest and he said oh yeah, they asked and he politely declined because he had other things to do. There were people everywhere and he successfully dodged them all. One dork said "Loomis" and he said hey. It was so lame, but I thought it was interesting that character was what he'd pick to yell instead of Alex or whatever, but I guess it's because the convention was all about Halloween.
    His room was the Chesapeake Suite and at first he couldn't get the door open and I thought for a second he might have to renew his key, which would've sucked, but then it opened on the second time. He invited me in and gave me his copy of the Never Apologize program from Cannes. I was thrilled because I tried to get one on eBay, but the guy wanted a fortune for shipping, so I missed out. He gave me the disc and said I could watch it or make a copy and asked when I was leaving tomorrow. I told him noon and said that was good so I could bring it before I left. I asked if he wanted I could drop it off later and he said I didn't have to. He was very cordial and we shook hands and I left.
    So I ended the night by watching Never Apologize back at the hotel on my laptop for 2 hours and thought how many people can say they watched an actor's personal copy of their own film. It's such a great performance film and it was a great day.

Sunday - The autograph signing was supposed to start at 11am so I got there right about then so I could catch Malcolm before the madness began. I wanted to personally hand him his DVD and thank him. I didn't want to give it to staff and have something go wrong like it getting lost. He wasn't at his table and there was already a line, but half as long as the day before. So I made the trek to his suite, knocked on the door of the suite and he answered, he was glad it was me, he was worried it was the staff coming to get him already. I told them there was already a line, about half as much as yesterday. His face dropped and he asked if I was kidding, I shook my head no. He said, well…everyone is so nice, but he wanted more time to relax. He was watching the PGA tournament and the place was huge. It has a hallway that led to a living room area where the TV was, that was connected to a dining room area with a table and a bedroom off that which was it's own room. It looked like there were 2 bathrooms. The smallest, lamest rooms cost $115, so I could only imagine how much they get for a room this size. He was dressed very casually again - jeans, sneakers, white t-shirt and black zippered hooded sweatshirt. We talked about Never Apologize and he asked my thoughts about it and I told him. After we talked about how rowdy the crowd was getting last night from all the drinking. He said Udo Kier was in the bar last night and got so drunk that he was fighting with the fans. They have security for them, but we don't need him. The funny thing was no one thought they would need a guard to protect the fans from Udo! It got so bad that the police were ready to carry him away. It was a very big mess and could've gotten worse. He had a wicked grin and I realized he likes to talk about celebrities like anyone else, even though he is one! He said to contact his new agent if I ever needed anything, thanked me for coming and said to have a safe trip home. I said you are welcome and we shook hands and I left thinking what a kind, decent man he is, no Hollywood BS with him, just a regular guy.
    On the way out we checked out the art show since it was near his room. If I hadn't passed it the night before when I was following him I would've had no idea where it was. That seemed to be a theme for the convention, things were so spread out. I'm sure if you asked the staff they could direct you, but this art room was halfway across the hotel from the celebrity area. All of the art was hung up and pretty small, no huge canvases. The prices for prints started reasonably from $10 up to the $100s. There were all kinds of styles and mediums and I saw some cool stuff, some junk.
    After I cut the bracelet off and after wearing it for over a day and a half it still felt like it was on me for the rest of the day. It's really so uncomfortable.
    I think the major failure of the convention was that they had all these Halloween actors, probably the only time they will all be together in public and they didn't have any trailers, spots, footage or anything to show from the film. Not one of them, and I've talked to them all, have seen the film, so it would've been great for everyone. They were able to do it at the Comic Con the week before. If they weren't going to do that, they could've at least had a Q&A penal discussion with the cast which was a no brainer. It would've been great fun to see them interact and tell stories and Malcolm shines in these scenarios. They certainly could've had them all come up front in the celebrity room and take a break from signing.
    Whenever someone finds out who I am they ask if I've met Malcolm and I say many times. Then they always ask what he's like. People who come up to him on line and talk for 5 seconds may think they've met him, but they haven't. That's not really him or the way to meet someone, that's just going through the motions. I have met him, he knows who I am, we talk about things that have nothing to do with the business. I've been with him just hanging out and while he is a film legend, he's really just a regular guy. He's like a rich uncle and acts like family. He's completely normal and down to earth and I'm totally at ease talking to him because I know him and his career. His just decent and gracious. When I started this site I had no idea what he was like in person and it's so great that he is so cool, otherwise I would just like the man on the screen, which isn't the real man. It makes me appreciate his work that much more, because for someone so nice to be so good at playing villains so well means that he's the best at what he does.

Note: I've read a couple people saying the saw Malcolm acting drunk or kissing a guy at the bar. Not true. When you think crazy, think Udo - it was him every time. I don't know how you could get a taller British actor confused with a smaller German one anyway...

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