From the Vault:D.C. Cab

There are some of these flicks that I love and the flicks that I will watch anytime because they make the top of the list.

I know that I primarily watch the horror films but I like movies of all kinds. I like Drama, and comedy as well as some of the lesser known flicks.

A film from 1983 is one of my personal favorites I don’t know why I love this film but I just do.

The film is D.C. Cab.

Honestly this film could not be made today. In our political correct world that we live in now I honestly think that this film could not be made. This flick is anything but politically Correct.

D.C. Cab is also the second film by director Joel Schumacher who would go on to helm Batman Forever, as well as the ill-fated Batman and Robin. Schumacher also helmed The Lost Boys, Falling Down, Phone Booth, and The Phantom of the Opera.

Originally titled Street Fleet D.C. Cab is a film about the misadventures of the D.C. Cab company in Washington D.C. The main character of the film who’s point of view the story is told is Albert Hockenberry played by Adam Baldwin.

I got to meet Mr. Baldwin a few of years ago at the Dallas Comic Con where he was promoting the release of Serenity and I told him that I loved this film to which he laughed and replied “That Was Fun”.

You can tell that was true if you watch this flick they had some fun.

The drivers of D.C. Cab are one of the motliest crews put on film.

Paul Rodriguez is in the role of Xavier, a want to be gigolo that constantly strikes out with the ladies but according to him “It’s Tough to be a man, Baby”.

Bill Maher as Baba, a struggling musician that when he is not on a political rant (it is Bill Maher anyway) he is warding off the “Big Fear”.

Real life twins Peter and Paul Barbarian as the Bodybuilding twins Buddy and Buzzy who use any opportunity to use their strength to compensate for their lack of brains.

Homeless man Mr. Rhythm (Whitman Mayo) who is always present to give advice to Albert for the cost of a quarter.

The best driver of the lot Ophelia (Marsha Warfield) who is the only real normal member of the staff when she is not being robbed by a punk in a ski mask is constantly being recruited by the competition emerald cab company.

Otis Day stars as Bongo the reggae loving driver from Cleveland though easily mistaken for a man from Jamaica. 

One of the more colorful characters is Dell, played by Gary Busey. Dell is the outspoken conspiracy buff that is constantly on edge.

Many of the movie’s best scenes feature Dell either breaking the tension with his comments or his other eccentricities such as raiding a strip club for his money that he was stiffed or yelling at a woman in a drive in.

The funniest scene features Dell and Albert checking out the new car speaker system.

The late comedian Charlie Barnett  is Tyrone Bywater one of the main characters in the film. 

Tyrone is embittered and obsessed with buying his Mercedes Benz and is in love with pop star Irene Cara. 

Tyrone’s trademark is the fact that he almost always wears green rollers in his hair and frequently tries to rip-off his passengers.

Mr. T is Sampson The most honorable driver in the cab company. Sampson frequently clashes with a local drug dealer that he can’t keep the neighborhood children away from their fancy car.

When D.C. Cab was released Mr. T was a the height of his popularity and was the main actor featured on almost all of the promotional materials for the movie. This brought controversy due to the rating of the film and Mr. T’s young fan base.

Mr. T considered himself to be the one character that remained clean while walking through the mud of the film.

The D.C. Cab  Company is owned by Harold Oswelt who was a Vietnam vet that came home and started the company. Harold is the father figure to many of the drivers particularly Albert who is the son of one of his best friends during the war.

Harold is married to Myrna who works in the office and dreads her job. After taking reward money that was intended to go to the drivers Myrna leaves Harold and hooks up with the Cab inspector Ernesto Bravo who is obsessed with shutting down the Cab Company.

D.C. Cab’s long suffering dispatcher is Miss Floyd played by Gloria Gifford.

The narrative of the film follows Albert Hockenberry who hitchhikes to Washington D. C. from Georgia after the death of his father to meet up with Harold Oswelt who was his father’s old friends. Albert is looking to begin his own Cab Company.

The other drivers of the company are all looking forward to their “Big Break” in which they can all leave the cab company and start their own careers. Taking Albert under their wings the other drivers all begin to treat albert with respect seeing him as one of them.

After a series of misadventures The Cabbies come into possession of a Violin and receive a $10,000 reward that is promptly stolen by Harold’s wife. Angered the drivers begin to leave the company until Albert donates his savings to the company and the drivers. The Drivers all begin to make the changes to their company giving it a complete overhaul and growing the business over time.

When Albert comes upon a kidnapping of an ambassador’s children he himself is kidnapped as well however he is mistaken for one of the kidnappers and the other cabbies all realize that they need to help Albert out of the situation because they feel that the cops aren't going to help him leading to their greatest misadventure of them all.

Many people make fun of the film because of the cheesy plot and the scenes but the movie always make me laugh.

The funniest scene by far is the scene where Albert and Tyrone make the Run on the railroad tracks.

You have to see the scene to understand it.

I know that many on the internet bash the film but I am one of its strongest defenders. This honestly is a flick that I don’t get tired of seeing and it makes me laugh every time I see it.

I would definitely recommend this flick to all of you out there. However like I said earlier this flick is anything but politically correct so be warned. 

Texas Frightmare Weekend 2013

Well Another Frightmare has come and gone.

This was the first Frightmare since 2007 that I did not produce a Full DVD set of the convention.

Loyd had to discontinue the DVD as it had become a royalties issue with some of the guests.

I’m not upset about it because first off people just don’t buy DVDs anymore and I always said that I would produce the DVDs as long as both the fans loved them as well as Loyd wanted the DVD.

That and all of the equipment that we used was all lost in the fire anyway and I don’t think that I could produce a DVD this year because all that I had was my Canon XA10 that I purchased with the Insurance money combined with my current mental state with not just the fire but what I was going through in my personal life at the time.

That being said don’t fret my Friends I am still The Official Videographer of Texas Frightmare Weekend as I have launched a YouTube Channel for the Southwest’s premiere horror convention

http://www.youtube.com/user/texasfrightmarevideo

The Channel features QnAs that I was able to film as well as videos from the past years that I will convert and upload soon.

I’ll have them uploaded to the channel soon.

The event kicked off on Friday evening and I started getting my footage  I almost got trampled when they opened the doors to the convention, If you watch the video  you will see some of the footage.

I spent most of the weekend shooting QnAs that have been uploaded to the channel for you all to see. Many thanks to Bradley for helping me meet the guests and decide who wants to be filmed and who will decline.

That is something that I do want to talk about. Cameras in the conventions are one thing because everyone is scared of the video cameras because of the videos being posted on the internet. Everyone is scared of where the video will end up and what it is for. There ends up being a lot of people that go around and try to film the guests in an embarrassing moment or saying something that may be controversial and it makes everyone nervous.

I always pride myself on the  fact that I will spend the Friday evening going from Table to Table introducing myself to the guests and their handlers and telling them who I am and that I am with the convention and that I will gladly give them a copy of anything that I shoot to use for whatever they want to use it for and I find it interesting how many of the guests are happy and thankful that I did just that and to tell them that if they see me filming that is what I am doing with the footage. Others that don’t know me their handlers do and many of them will vouch for me and say “He’s cool”.

I had at one point the handler saw me filming a guest from behind and told me that I can’t film and when I turned around he recognized me  and said “Ooh it’s you sorry didn’t recognize you without the Hat” Which is another reason for the hat, He then proceeded to ask me if I still had some of the footage from the year before.

That prides me to know that I have in fact developed a good reputation with the guests and the management teams.

There was also the Slasher QnA with Nick Castel, Lou David, and Ted White.

I also shot the David Naughton QnA. I don’t know why but I wanted a Dr. Pepper.

When I wasn’t running around with the Camera, or hanging out with Anjanette, Ray, and Sean at the Full Moon Table celebrating Ari Lehman’s Birthday.

I was talking to Thommy Hutson who I worked with (though not directly) on the Elm Street Legacy.

 Thommy was there promoting More Brains a Return of the Living Dead retrospective, which I will recommend that to all of you Return of the Living Dead fans out there. Thommy was nice to give me a free copy of the documentary and I will have the review for you here soon.

The other reason that I stay sober on Saturday night I was reminded on Sunday morning when half of the guests and fans shamble in the room like zombies. One particular guest that I am not going to name here came walking in the room looking like he had just auditioned for the walking dead. When I asked him if he had a good time last night he looked at me and said “UUUH Yeah and I’m feeling in now” to which I replied “Here at Texas Frightmare Weekend we call that Sunday Morning.

That got a laugh from the volunteers as well as the other fans there in agreement. 

Lyle Blackburn was there promoting his book The Beast of Boggy Creek which I have reviewed on this very blog  as well as his QnA for Monster Bizzaro with Rue Morgue Magazine. After the fire Lyle was nice enough to give Anjanette another copy of the Beast of Boggy Creek to me and he was at the event selling The Legend of Boggy Creek which when I asked him how much he gave it to me for free. Great Guy.

I also spent a lot of time with Bloody Mary aka Bobbie Weiner and the class that she taught on make-up at the Texas Frightmare Weekend 101.

Then it was off to the VIP party on Saturday night hanging out with my old friends Stephen Brodie, Cassie Shea Watson. I was filming so I did go down and get some footage of the Scaryokie event down in the lower levels of the hotel…I’ll tell you kiddies I almost didn’t make it out of there alive because It was crazy.

After the VIP party I enjoyed a Stogie in the back by the pool area with many of the Frightmare fans that I have come to know over the years and then I went back and partied with Tyler Mane in the Scaryokie area. Don’t worry I’m still on the wagon, Yes alcohol flows freely at the TFW but you can still have a blast and not have a drink.

My personal favorite QnA was the Gulager Family QnA with Director John Gulager and legendary actor Clu Gulager and John’s wife Diane Goldner and Cassie who joined the QnA because she starred in Feast 2 which was directed by John Gulager.   Kristy Jett was the moderator of the QnA.

The quest to rebuild my autograph collection has begun again. Anjanette was highly helpful in getting me some autographs back after the Fire with Joe Bob Briggs’ autographed books as well as others.

Dispite the fact that his hand was I a cast Clu Gulager was still there signing autographs which shows me the devotion that the guests have with their fans.

It is common knowledge that I am a James Bond fan and Caroline Munro was one of the guests. I found myself frequently at her table conversing with her about not just The Spy who Loved Me, but also about the Abominable Dr. Phibes which she played the role of Phibes’ late wife Victoria. When she offered me an autograph I could not resist a signed publicity still from The Spy Who Loved Me.

Nick Castle who I know as the original Michael Myers was also in attendance and as much as I wish that I still had my Halloween Collector’s edition that had been signed by many of the cast and crew of the film but I don’t, However I was Happy to have a signed 8/10 of one of my favorite shots from the film.

I also ran into some of my horror friends from Austin like Tina Byram from the Austin Film Meet and Lisa aka Bunny Voodoo from Blood Over Texas and I had to tell them about the fire to explain why I am back in Dallas and no longer in Austin. I may return to Austin someday but I first have to rebuild my life first and I figure that the best place to start may be where I began.

Texas Frightmare Weekend is here and they are the ones that brought me to the dance and they are the ones that I am going to dance with for now. Not to mention that Anjanette, Ray, Stephen, Keath, and Lar among others are here for me and it is also good to know that I have a strong group of supporters down in Austin if I ever decide to return there.

When the show was over I decided to rest out by the pool area because I was tired and I seriously didn’t take the size of the Venue into consideration when I did the runaround at the beginning of the video and I was dead tired.

So I enjoyed my cigar and had a small conversation with Meg Foster who was outside waiting to be driven to her flight home and soon enough I was ready for some Wingstop to officially bring Texas Frightmare Weekend to a close.

Until Next Time. 

HAuNTcon 2013

Well Kiddies I’m back in business. April 25^th-28^th was my first shoot back in the business and that shoot is none other than HAuNT Con at our old stomping grounds at the Sheraton DFW Hotel.

The reasons that I say that was our old stomping grounds is that many of you will know is that was the location of the Texas Frightmare Weekend from 2009 to 2011 so this was a location that I am familiar with and I have to admit that I know it like the back of my hand.

The weekend for me started out great…Actually it started out on a Wednesday for me hopping on a Bus for the Haunt Tour.

Thanks to Leonard Pickel and Steve Colberg for giving me the pass to attend the tours.

It was awesome to attend some of the Haunts that had come to the DFW area in the time that I was in Austin and to revisit some of the old Haunts that I attended in the past.

I was also included with the group that was in charge of the media and we truly enjoyed ourselves that week

.

I was also not alone that weekend. I was joined by many of my old Frightmare brethren including Anjanette who is a longtime friend and has always been there for me when I need her the most as well as Parrish Randall who trust me we had a blast filming at HAuNT con.

I also liked reconnecting with many of the Celebrity guests that I have gotten to know that I had met at the last HAuNT Con in 2005 

Like Reggie Bannister. I had a great conversation with him and his wife GiGi. 

Here is a picture of us in 2005

As well as Edwin Neal that I have also met in 2005.

Parrish and I also went around on Sunday and shot the booths.

and then there was Godzilla.

I realized something this weekend.

I think that there were some points this weekend that I realized that I still have to talent to make something great. The videos that Parrish and I did honestly were just us goofing off and the videos turned out great. That was Parrish and I goofing off. I am looking forward to us working on something that we actually give 110% to.

I realized Saturday Night during the party that I am going to be ok after the Fire.

And then on Sunday HAuNT Con had the Haunter's Garage Sale where local Haunted Attractions sell their used collections. 

I did a walk through the first time while shooting and I did another and then I saw them. 

I had a collection of Universal Monster Cardboard Displays from when I worked at Blockbuster and they were some of my most prized possessions. When they were lost in the fire I was Devastated among the other treasures that I loved.

With the help of a add on Craigslist of a man in Florida and the help of my family I was able to regain Frankenstein's Monster as well as the Creature From the Black Lagoon for a reasonable price but the standups of Dracula and The Wolfman were going on ebay for $200.00 and I can't afford them. 

Dracula and The Wolfman were sitting on the wall for sale for $15.00 each. However the ATM did not work and I had no cash and that was all that they were taking. Then the owner of the Haunt recognized me    He was the owner of the Slaughterhouse Haunted House in Deep Ellum and he gave them to me for shooting his Haunt. Now the Gang is all here. It's nice to have something back that I lost.  

Now it is time to get back to work. 

By the Way please check out my Hauntshooter YouTube Channel and subscribe if you like it. 

Thank you. 

From the Vault: No Holds Barred

I know that it is no secret that I am a wrestling fan. I am not the closet wrestling fan type I am open about the fact that I am a fan. I am going to say that I am the veteran fan and many of the greatest moments in my life revolve around Pro Wrestling and the WWE.

Be it that the first time my friends and I went into Dallas without our parents was to go to a Taping of Raw and my first trip alone was to attend Wrestlemania X7 in Houston at the Astrodome.

I will also admit that I am a Hulkamaniac I admit that I always have been. Now I am not going to say that I am the ultimate Hulkamaniac because I have quite frankly met them and I have nothing on them.

Say what you want but Hulk Hogan is one of the most influential personalities that along with Vince McMahon turned wrestling into what it became in the 1980s.

I am loyal mostly to Hogan however I have to admit that during the Monday Night Wars I was often watching Monday Night Raw on USA instead of Monday Nitro on TNT.

Okay I will admit that I watched Raw and watched the repeat later on that night because I didn’t like the direction that WCW took with many of the wrestlers and I have to admit that I also don’t watch too much of Impact because quite frankly TNA sucks. As a result I can’t say too much that I am a loyal Hulk Hogan Follower.

The same rule applies to Hulk’s movies.

Suburban Commando I was in the Theater for as well as Mr. Nanny, and I was a loyal viewer to Thunder in Paradise and I loved the Shadow Warriors movies.

However I did pass on a couple of films that featured the Hulkster, I was given a pass to a screening of 3 Ninjas High Noon on Mega Mountain. I also passed on the Secret Agent Club and the Ultimate Weapon and I wished that I passed on Santa’s with Muscles.

However I have to give credit to the movie that started it all and that movie is No Holds Barred.

Now Hulk Hogan admitted in his book My life Outside the Ring that he and Vince McMahon wrote the script in one weekend while they were in a hotel room smoking Weed so off the you can’t expect too much with this flick.

Hulk Hogan plays the role of Rip, The World Wrestling Federation Champion who’s popularity has attracted the attention of the World Television Network chairman Mr Brell (Curt Fuller) who wants Rip to wrestle on his network. However after Rip declines Brell has him attacked in his Limo that does not go as planned.

Brell then uses his connections to make life difficult for Rip by sending beautiful corporate spy Samantha Moore (Joan Severance) to seduce him but after Sam develops feelings for Rip Brell has her attacked only for her to be rescued by Rip on his Harley Davidson. 

Deciding to make some competition for Rip (and the WWE) Brell then creates his own show called the Battle of the Tough Guys where he offers $100,000 Tax Free to the winner of the challenge.

The challenge is answered by many Bikers and Truckers but it is won by a monster of a man Zeus (Tiny Lister). Zeus remains undefeated when the event is taken to other locations and begins to challenge Rip to a fight.

When Rip’s brother Randy is severely beaten and hospitalized by Zeus, Rip accepts the challenge leading to a match on WTN.

No Holds Barred was a failure at the Box Office but has maintained a cult following over the years and finally received a DVD release in 2012.

What hurt No Holds Barred is mostly the fact that the film depicts wrestling as an actual sport but you have to admit that at that time the WWE was trying to pretend that the show was real.

The movie also featured much over the top action but again look at the movies that were out during that time.  Just look at the Stallone move Over the Top.

The flick also features the adult humor that was too before it’s time. Exampling is the sequence that Rip scares a Limo Driver into soiling himself.

The film was not intended for children however that was Hogan’s Fanbase at the time, The Hogan fans all grew up and began to watch the film hence the cult following.

To promote the film the WWE hosted an event where the movie was shown to Pay Per View Audiences and then they saw the event after the film that featured the Main Event with Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake vs Zeus and Macho Man Randy Savage in a steel cage match.

Zeus appeared in the WWE in 1989 claiming that he should have received top billing in the film over Hulk Hogan and at the time Hogan was feuding with Macho Man Randy Savage so Beefcake was added into the mix and the match was had.

Hogan pinned Zeus after three atomic Leg Drops to get the win.

To continue the promotion of the film Zeus remained in the WWE teaming again with Savage to again face Hogan and Beefcake at that years Summerslam main event and teaming with "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase and his Million Dollar Team against Hogan, Jake “The Snake” Roberts and Demolition.

In 1996 Lister made an appearance in World Championship Wrestling joining the Alliance to End Hulkamania at the Uncensored Pay Per View in a Doomsday Cage Match against Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage.

Lister has gone on to have roles in other films most notably as Deebo in the Friday trilogy of films, as well as the Fifth Element and was featured in a small role in the 2008 Batman film The Dark Knight.

The movie is likable for the scenes that follow Rip in his real life. You see two sides of the character in the scenes such as the fancy restaurant where the snooty maître d' discovers that Rip is in fact a regular diner in the restaurant. The Flip Side to the scene is where Rip and Sam are at a less fancy establishment that is soon robbed and the Robbers are quickly dispatched by The Hulkster with Hank Williams Jr’s music in the background.

One other interesting aspect of the film is the fact that in real life that turned out differently.

It would not surprise me if Ted Turner was the inspiration for the Evil Network head Mr. Brell.

Vince McMahon and the WWE had a well-documented feud with Turner and his WCW that all wrestling fans came to know as the Monday Night Wars.

After the steroid scandal of 1994 Hulk Hogan did in fact go to wrestle for the WCW along with many of the WWE’s other well established talent.

That being said the movie is still one of my guilty pleasures and I will recommend it to all Hulk Hogan fans.