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Cover | Welcome
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Lean in close, my fiends. Here's a story about things that go bump in the night. Recently the villagers of Burbank, California noted that something unusual was going on up at Castle Burns. All during the month of October strange unnatural figures darted in and out of the darkness on the surrounding grounds. The peculiar sounds of lost souls wailed along with the buzz and thud of power saws and heavy hammers. When screams began to ring out in the night toward the end of the month, the villagers realized that the terror that had haunted their town years before had finally returned. They knew what they had to do. They lit the torches, marched to Castle Burns... and got in line for the latest adventure in Halloween fun by Bob Burns and his friends. But let us go back to the beginning of this bizarre tale of madness and mayhem to the brilliant genius who started it all. |
| It's been 20 years since they last organized
such an event, but once again sci-fi expert and archivist Bob Burns and
his wife, the crafty and resourceful Kathy, created a monster of a Halloween
show based upon the original sci-fi film classic, The Thing From
Another World. From his headquarters atop his weird collection
of arcane objects, Bob sent out the word and the top effects people in
the film world rose like zombies to do his bidding as the elite of the
industry came with the regular public to view his out-of-this-world production
on All Hallow's Eve. Who is this creator of monsters and worlds, Bob Burns? His name is whispered in trembling tones among the fevered fans of the truly cool and ancient stuff. He worked on the effects for classic sci-fi and horror films of the 50s through the 70s, learning all the unholy secrets of their makers before they passed on from unspeakable means. He was seen as one of Paul Blaisdell's huge brained aliens in Invasion of the Saucer Men. He was Tracy the gorilla in the original Ghostbusters (the Saturday morning TV series of the 70s). But better than all that, he has collected some of the coolest props from the greatest genre films of all time. As documented in his book, It Came From Bob's Basement, he has the steel skeleton (stop motion armature) from King Kong, the space ship from The Day The Earth Stood Still and the original Alien Queen from Aliens. Bob even has the original Time Machine from the 1960 movie. And it works! I use it all the time to go back and get tons of original monster magazines from the 50s and 60s (Shhh. Don't tell Count Gamula or he'll want me to cut him in). |
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 If you're going to build a military post in your front yard, it helps to have an army of friends. Fortunately, that was no problem for Bob Burns, one of sci-fi's fandom's fondest figures. ©2002 Casey Losey |
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 The completed set ready for the Halloween crowds. ©2002 Kathryn Indiek |
These films are not only entertaining records of fun Halloween events of the past, they also offer a chance to see the work of Academy Award-winning make-up artist Rick Baker and ILM's top effects supervisor Dennis Muren back when they were first getting into the film business. Other award winning effects masters who worked on past shows were Bob and Dennis Skotak (Aliens to Terminator), Greg Jein (Star Wars to Star Trek model maker), John Goodwin (who just won an Emmy for make-up on C.S.I.) and many more. Walter Koenig appeared in one year's show and Gene Roddenberry's Girl Friday and collaborator on Star Trek, D.C. Fontana, wrote the scripts for many of these productions (including The Thing). Fiend fans, it just doesn't get any monstrously ghouler than this. |
| What's that? So WHO showed up to see this FREE
show over five nights during Halloween? Besides the crowds of fans who
came to enjoy the frightening fun, here's a list of the top genre filmmakers
and creature creators in the world that attended and screamed in delight:
Rick Baker, John Landis, Frank Darabont, Bernie Wrightson and Guiermo
Del Toro! Greg Jein, Don Glut, Don Coscarelli, Bill Malone, Mick & Cynthia
Garris, Robert Kurtzman, Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger (of KNB Effects),
Randy Cook, Angus Scrimm, Ann Robinson, Frankie Thomas and Jan Merlin
(stars of Tom Corbett, Space Cadet), Tom Weaver, Scott MacQueen,
Jan Henderson, John Morgan, Bill and Beverly Warren, original Thing
movie cast member William Self and yes, even Count Gamula showed up from
the Lone Scar State to work in the show. Last but not least, Texas' own
master fantasy sculptor, Joe Riley, who created masks and hands for this
awesome event, showed up for the occasion and surprised Bob with a new
Glenn Strange Frankenstein mask for his collection.
I hope many of you were able to enjoy the historic horror event in
person. If not, then don't miss he DVD when Bob Burns' The Thing
invades the DVD racks sometime next year. Pleasant dreams for now, creepy
kiddies, and remember, when you are shivering in your bed tonight just
keep telling yourself over and over, "It's only a Halloween
show." For more info on the show check out the official Bob
Burn site at: Tell him Spooky Sam sent you. Editor's note: Spooky Sam Park, a writer based in L.A., fulfilled a Monster Kid's dream this Halloween by becoming one of the crew of the Bob Burns' Halloween show. I know it was lot of hard work but I also know how much he enjoyed being a part of it. Bob told me, "Sam's one of the most hard working and helpful guys we've ever had on a show. But don't tell him I said that. " Don't worry, Bob. He won't hear it from me. |
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The
Thing Part 2
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Bob
Burns
