238: This Clutter of Genre Stuff in my Head

Movie Meltdown - Episode 238 This week features the first of our coverage from Fandom Fest 2013 including an interview with writer/director Fred Dekker. The man who created "Night of the Creeps" and "The Monster Squad" sits down to tell us about becoming interested in filmmaking, how those genre classics came to be and just how much it takes out of you when your labor of love isn't as well received as you had hoped. It's a very real and honest conversation from a man that truly loves movies.   And as Greg and Bryan take over a conference room, we also discuss... Pacific Rim, The Avengers, The Sugarland Express, Cape Fear by way of Dirty Harry, Cameron Crowe, Power Rangers, people you sort of know listening to the show, being a celebrity, Universal Monsters, the fingerprints of the director, UCLA, Godzilla, Lifebuoy, TriStar Pictures, Dick Smith, crushing disappointment, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, strong female characters, generic aliens, too much information for our brains, Jaws, Lawrence Kasdan, The Twilight Zone, Tom Atkins, trying to not get sued, Robert Zemeckis, remakes, Robin Scherbatsky, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Steven Spielberg, being a writer, William Stout, adjusting Robocop, Brit Marling, people, gonna make a comeback, King Kong, The Marx Brothers, Super 8 movies, USC, Laverne & Shirley, Doug Wildey, Animal House, based on preexisting material, Hal Holbrook, Rick Baker, Ricochet, redefining yourself, changing the paradigm, 3D Phantom Menace, having your picture taken, seeing how it's made, Hitchcock and Orson Welles, House, Bill Paxton and Quaker Oats, Stan Winston, Tales from the Crypt, preparing for long-distance space travel, you control the experience, Francis Ford Coppola, discovering Shane Black, coming full circle, Robert Wise, the giant apes are going to start to die, Warren Oates, Fancy Bane, watching old black and white movies on TV, owning your own digital effects house, a big hit in Germany, using the medium to tell the story, Paul Schrader, W. C. Fields and being universally loathed.  "It was the first time... I could see the fingerprints of the director. That I felt like there was a vision and a voice here... and that's what I want to do."