With Halloween just around the corner, Son of Monsterpalooza — a convention celebrating movie monsters — was just what I needed last weekend.
Comic-Con is my home away from home and provides a massive and wide-ranging geek fix. But Monsterpalooza and its smaller incarnation Son of Monsterpalooza are all about monsters — big, little, scary, cuddly, and everything in between.
This year was especially sweet because there was a Godzilla for the New Millennium panel featuring Japanese suit actors Kenpachiro Satsuma (Godzilla 1984 to 1995) and Tsutomu Kitagawa (Godzilla 1999 to 2004). This panel was one of, if not the best, panel I have ever attended thanks in large part to Satsuma.
Neither guest spoke English, so a young woman provided translation. But Satsuma seemed impatient waiting for his translation and began to just get up and act out answers to questions. What was the biggest challenge playing Godzilla? What accidents have occurred on the set?
The absolute highlight was his complete re-enactment of the final showdown between Gojira and Destroyah. For this he enlisted the aid of Kitagawa to play both Destroyah and briefly Godzilla Junior. Satsuma’s highly expressive body movements made clear why he is such a great suit actor and why Godzilla comes to such vivid life in the Japanese films. Suit acting – despite all the jokes about me in rubber suits – is an art and when done right it breathes so much more life into a character than CGI.
Kitagawa was not so physical in answering his questions but rather had some pithy answers. When asked about taking on the role of Godzilla after playing other kaiju, he said, “That’s when hell began.” And when asked how much the suit weighs, he said, “Imagine putting a person on your back, drag a tire behind you, put on a mask and blindfold yourself and that’s kind of what it’s like.”
The delightful panel ended with Satsuma teaching the packed house how to play Godzilla. I’m not one for getting autographs, but I wanted to show my appreciation for the show they gave us so I paid for their autographs (that’s the way they make money and make the long trip financially viable). I would have also been happy to just pay for a separate admission to their panel. I did shoot some iPhone video of the panel to preserve the memory.
While that was definitely the highlight of the weekend, there were other noteworthy panels. Early last Saturday was one devoted to the TV show “The Ghost Busters” with Larry Storch and Bob Burns (who played the gorilla Tracy in the show), in attendance. Storch looked painfully frail and seemed a little out of it — he is over 90 — but when he started to tell jokes he was amazingly sharp and hilarious. It’s as if his stand-up material is etched in his brain. A sample of his old-school jokes: Show me a prostitute with a gap tooth and I’ll show you a girl who whistles while she works. [insert rimshot] Bob Burns, who is something of a regular at Monsterpalooza, is always a delight and always filled with stories. An episode of the show was also screened, and it was a blast.
Two other notable panels were on George A. Romero’s underappreciated “Day of the Dead,” and on “Phantasm,” which is being revived. The “Day of the Dead” panel had almost all the main actors from the film, including Lori Cardille, Joe Pilato, Terry Alexander and Mike Trcic. Pilato, who played the obnoxious military guy who gets torn apart by zombies at the end, was asked how does an actor go about playing such an asshole? His answer: “When you are starving and you are offered a plate of scenery,” you eat.
The “Phantasm” panel also reunited almost the entire cast, including The Tall Man, Angus Scrimm. Clips from the film were played with live commentary from director Don Coscarelli and the cast.
The convention is also great because there are a lot of companies and schools showing off their makeup skills so you can find people starting their makeup in the morning and then being transformed into fantastical creatures by the afternoon. It’s spectacular. Vendors are also selling stunning horror props, artists with amazing creations and all sorts of collectibles to drain your wallet.
The con also hosted two art shows, one featuring the paintings of Clive Barker, and the other being The “Its Alive” Project. In 2011, the project celebrated the 80th anniversary of James Whale’s “Frankenstein” movie (plus raising money for St. Jude Children’s Hospital) by having a group of artists re-imagine the Frankenstein monster played by Boris Karloff. This year, they are back with 80 stunningly diverse re-imagined busts of Elsa Lanchester’s Bride. Plus 10 life-size statues. Barker’s art needs to be seen in person and up close to fully appreciate the way he paints. The paint is thick and almost sculpted, and conveys both a beauty and a violence.
Going to Monsterpalooza or its offspring Son of Monsterpalooza is always like returning home to your family. It’s a warm, affectionate community and it pays loving tribute to the people who create creatures, monsters and amazing practical effects.
