Recent Stories with tag ZomBcon

Just to the right of the tumult that is the autograph line for George Romero at ZomBcon, a man stands casually in front of a dealer's table, smiling unassumingly at passersby. Bright eyes twinkle from behind his glasses, and his tousled salt-and-pepper hair and aware-but-genial expression suggest a good-natured academic who's wandered into this den of undead mayhem by mistake.

But I know better. He's Martin the Vampire.

John Amplas began acting at age ten, honing his craft in various community theater ventures in Pennsylvania before studying at Pittsburgh's prestigious Playhouse School as a teenager. He's appeared in several films, and currently serves as associate professor of the Theater and Arts department at Point Park University, putting his four decades of experience in theater and film to work educating a new generation of actors and filmmakers. Impressive as these accomplishments are, however, Amplas is in Seattle thanks to his long association with director George Romero. He's appeared in a half-dozen Romero pictures, playing everything from a dyspeptic vengeful ghoul in Creepshow to an earnest scientist in 1985's Day of the Dead, but his most memorable portrayal remains his first for the director: the title character in the director's 1977 movie, Martin.

Released just a year before Romero blew the horror genre wide-open with Dawn of the Dead, Martin tells the story of a young man who may or may not be a vampire, satisfying his bloodlust amidst the dessicated husk of a small Pennsylvania industrial town. It's one of the director's most subtle pieces--less a horror flick than a haunting character study for most of its running time--and Amplas' incredible work in the movie gives it much of its quiet power. Few screen sociopaths this side of Norman Bates manage to engender such a beguiling combination of sympathy, pity, humor, and revulsion.

The SunBreak caught up with Amplas in between ZomBcon panels and screenings, and true to form, he offered choice insights on his finest film role, his years as part of George Romero's repertory company, and his career as an educator...all without sucking a drop of anyone's blood.

Martin's one of the great overlooked horror movies of the 1970's, in large part because of your work in it. How did you become involved with the production?

Thank you! I was acting in a play in my senior year [of college], and George Romero happened to see it. He contacted me, and two or three months later--fall of 1976--we started filming.

I heard that George re-wrote the script to accommodate you. Is that true?

Well, George told me that when he first wrote Martin, he'd written the character [as] much older. Then when he saw me, he went and revised the script to make Martin a younger man.... (more)

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.