Recent Stories with tag Malcolm McDowell

Saturday, October 30: Celebrity Guests and Horror Screenings Galore

I won't lie. All of the scientific panels holding sway at ZomBcon make for interesting and lively brain food. But the big draw for yours truly (as well as the lion's share of attendees, undead or otherwise) is the galaxy of cult movie fixtures at hand.

Bruce Campbell, a battle-hardened veteran of everything from standard-issue horror cons to Xena conventions (he was a recurring guest star on that Lucy Lawless TV show in the 1990s), delivers advice on "How to Kill a Zombie" at one of ZomBcon's best-attended Undead Labs. Before and after that session, he signs autographs for fans and engages in an amusing Q&A at the Phelps. Sadly, I miss Campbell officiating over a renewal of wedding vows for a horde of the Married Dead. The actor's a total wiseacre, alternately cajoling and kidding attendees with the amusing candor of your smart-alecky older brother. Typical fan-to-actor exchange:

Fan: Are there any movies you regret having done?

Campbell: Not if I get paid [laughs]. If you pay me, your movie's my favorite damned movie ever!

Fan: Will there ever be an Alien Apocalypse 2?

Campbell: There shouldn't have been an Alien Apocalypse 1...... (more)

When there's no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the earth; or the Seattle Center grounds, at least.

The first ZomBcon took place in the Emerald City over Halloween weekend, and for a good-sized crowd of horror fans, obsessives, and curiosity seekers it was manna from heaven.

ZomBcon shared the same basic make-up as your typical fan con--celebrity guests; panels of authors, actors, and directors; and merchandise booths stocked to the max with apropos tchotchkes. And Seattle's already played host to some well-attended horror conventions in the last couple of years, thanks to local organizers at Crypticon. But the singularity of focus--and the quality of guests--made this one pretty unique.

Undead flesheaters have hit honest-to-God pop-culture zeitgeist status over the last few years, what with the popularity of recent reimaginings of the zombie sub-genre on film (the not-quite-a-zombie-flick 28 Days Later, Shaun of the Dead), in video games (the Resident Evil series and Left 4 Dead), and in various print incarnations (Max Brooks' World War Z and the timely spoof Pride and Prejudice and Zombies).

It turns out zombie fans in general (and ZomBcon's organizers in particular) take their walking dead seriously. In addition to seminars with the architects of fictional zombie lore, ZomBcon's crew brought along several medical experts to disseminate potential zombie outbreaks and zombie physiology in hard-line scientific fashion. Yeah, on one level it's pretty silly to hear Harvard psychiatrist Dr. Steven Schlozman wax intellectual on the mechanics of the zombie brain, but on another level, it's pretty damned cool (check out Schlozman's thoughtful thesis on said topic if you don't believe me).... (more)

Proud zombie papa George Romero (left) meets and greets at ZomBcon.

Yes, that's film director George Romero hanging out with a genuine Seattle zombie. Romero, Evil Dead actor Bruce Campbell, character-acting god Malcolm McDowell, and many other cult film luminaries were in town over Halloween weekend for ZomBcon, Seattle's first "Zombie Culture" convention. Fun and viscera were had by all.

The SunBreak's resident Horror/B-Movie Evangelist (that'd be, um, me) was there for (almost) every rotting corpse, scary movie screening, and zombie attack. Stay tuned to the SunBreak for detailed reports and interviews over the next few days.