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LA Weekly Blogs, August 18, 2009
How to Survive Vampire Con Without Getting Bit
By Gendy Alimurung
(Lots of great photos! Excerpts below with applicable photos linked.)
These are things you should know when going to Vampire Con, or the convention dedicated to vampires. It happened this weekend at the Music Box Theatre along with Vampirella's Ball. It was the first event of its kind.
. . .
8. Bring cash.
To buy stuff like this. Miscellaneous bat parts. Vampire psychic readings. Cross jewelry. Coffin couches. The cost of parking alone will bleed you dry.. . .
11. Speak the language...of death!
Make reference to True Blood, Twilight, Buffy, Bram Stoker, Bela Lugosi, Dracula, Vampira, Nosferatu, The Hunger, Count Yorga, The Lost Boys, Angel and the like. Otherwise, people will suspect you have been living in a coffin for the past hundred years. Extra credit if you can identify any of the DJs (Xian Vox of Wumpskate and Malediction Society, or DJ Pumpkin, or DJ Gary Calamar, music supervisor of True Blood) or acrobatic acts (Lucent Dossier and Angela Eve). Also makes for ice breaker if you spot a cute girl.. . .
13. If this guy offers to bite you, step away.
He is funny. Like your great uncle Morty who asks you to sit on his lap. Beware! He will lunge for your carotid artery and attempt to "welcome you into the land of the non-living" faster than you can say "No fangks."
examiner.com, August 11, 2009
DVD review - Vampira: The Movie - Documentary
Maila Nurmi Horror star
by Terra King
(Excerpts)
What an amazing person she was. . . .
This documentary contains a very rare interview with Ms. Nurmi. It gave her carte blanche to speak about what she wanted to speak about. That is one of the reasons I loved it so much. It didn't have a narrative, it didn't need one.
Ms. Nurmi (who was Finnish,) discussed everything from the invention of Vampira so she could become an evangelist, to her relationships with James Dean, Ed Wood, and Marlon Brando.
She talks about the Bondage and Discipline side of Vampira. This woman was completely ahead of her time. I would have loved to have known her. . . .
Even the soundtrack is good. Original score is by Ari Lehman, songs by The[e] Merry Widows and Count Smokula.
Miss Maila Nurmi passed away of natural causes on January 10th, 2008 at 85.
blogtalkradio
Metal Monday with Annie Christ and SHU, August 10, 2009
Bryan Schuessler will discuss the movies Luci Fulci's A Cat in the Brain, Vampira: The Movie, and if there is time Thicker Than Water- an indie film about a girl that turns into a vampire and the family keeps her alive by keeping her supplied with fresh humans for harvesting the blood of. I will be talking with the Metal band, Guillotine. We will also be taking calls and discussing Metal Music in general. Call in and get a FREE t-shirt!
Friday the 13th Blog, August 2, 2009
Interview with Ari Lehman (The First Jason)
by jasonsfury
(Excerpts)
Ari Lehman has been a Friday fan’s dream. He is a highly accessable and always willing to talk to fans and answer whatever questions they may have. Ari is a frequent visitor at the Guts and Gory boards and always offers his input into getting what fans want at conventions.
Steve De Roover of www.moviepulp.be / www.dvdinfo.be caught up with Ari and asked him about all things Friday.
. . .
After Friday The 13th you stopped acting and you did start with a successful musical career. That is completely different than acting. Can you tell us more about that and how did that come about?
Actually, as explained above, I was a musician all along, and chose music due to the immediacy of the experience. Filmmaking takes massive amounts of time, and you get no audience reaction until about a year later. I am very glad to be touring the Horror/Metal scene with FIRSTJASON. The band is a trio, that features the Bassist, “Nefarious”, who also plays with MACABRE, and Drummer, “Cleaver” who tours with THE CRO MAGS too. I have also had some success composing, performing and recording soundtracks for several independent films, including VAMPIRA THE MOVIE, about the original Horror Vixen, Maila Nurmi. This film got the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Independent Film of 2007.
[Notes:
The "Black Shirley" project which Ari mentions after this is not a VAMP Productions project.
Friday the 13th Blog did another good interview with Ari back in October 2008, which can be read here.]
Associated Content, January 21, 2009
Documentary Review: VAMPIRA: THE MOVIE
by Kevin L. Powers
(Excerpts)
Maila Nurmi passed away early last year (2008) so it's only fitting that I look at the 2007 documentary VAMPIRA: THE MOVIE by director Kevin Sean Michaels. . . .
Vampira was born out of Nurmi's need to earn money to make her dream of becoming a traveling preacher a reality but her creation would soon have a life of its own. When Vampire appeared in the '50s no one had seen or experienced anything like her and in Michaels' documentary he traces the beginning of Nurmi's life and career as a horror-host icon through Nurmi's own words. Nurmi, a recluse who disappeared from the spotlight long ago, is very candid about her life as Vampira with the ups and the downs. Vampira was a pop phenomena during her first year on television (sadly almost all of the episodes from her show have been lost but there are clips contained within this documentary) who was sadly fired and blacklisted when her contract (or written agreement as she likes to call it) was not renewed.
. . .
The film is a unique look at a woman who had a profound effect on the horror-host identity to which many people of our current horror-hosts are indebted. Nothing can be more true then the opening of the film which has Count Smokula singing a song about Vampira. Now that's a legacy if I ever saw one.
Heavy Metal Magazine,
January 2009 issue
VAMPIRA: THE MOVIE
(Excerpts)
If you never saw the Vampira show back in the 1950's you probably wonder why anyone would care about a L.A. horror show host who only lasted about one season, from 1954-1955, with a brief revival on another station that didn't last either. Vampira: The Movie chronicles the brief rise and long decline of Maila Nurmi's fame, from becoming an overnight sensation in the mid-50's to someone who retired from show business and was largely forgotten except by punk rockers and horror aficionados. What's really striking about this film is that it illustrates how extensively Vampira illustrated pop culture, despite the relative paucity of her oeuvre. . . .
. . . this film should answer just about every question you ever had about Vampira, Maila Nurmi, and everything she inspired. Director Kevin Sean Michaels has fashioned the ultimate cult film about one of the cult film world's most fascinating figures. I give this documentary a big thumbs up. It's a fascinating glimpse into the quixotic, decades long making of a cult figure. . . .
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