Sam Irvin: Living the Dream of Every Monster Kid

Movie Meltdown - Episode 492 This week we sit down for an epic discussion with Sam Irvin. Sam is a director, producer, screenwriter - amongst many other jobs in the industry. Including being a published author as well as a two-time Rondo Award winner, for articles in both Scream magazine as well as Little Shoppe of Horrors magazine. He's worked with everyone from Brian De Palma to Cassandra Peterson and has had run-ins with amazing movie stars going all the way back to his childhood. So settle in and listen to the phenomenal tales of his journey to Hollywood and all the terrific projects he's put together.   And while we load up on lots of ketchup and plastic fangs, we also mention… programming kiddie matinees, Christopher Lee, Oblivion, William Conrad, a horror film fanzine, Hervé Villechaize, a VIP tour at Warner Brothers Studios, a big chain of movie theaters, Countess Dracula, Roger Moore, House on Haunted Hill, the creature starts to deteriorate, Famous Monsters of Filmland, Carrie, The Pit and the Pendulum, George Takei, Dracula with a beach towel for a cape, at Pinewood Studios, Kay Thompson, Peter Cushing, Cinefantastique, Dressed to Kill, Richard Chamberlain, I'm either killing people or giving them Christmas presents, Shelia E, I literally finished my last exam didn't even go to my graduation ceremony… went direct to the airport and got on a plane, the most famous casting session in the history of cinema, Isaac Hayes, Richard Lester, I'm watching this very strange duo, Diana Rigg, Phantom of the Paradise, Carel Struycken, Stephen Amell, you get invited to do the most bizarre things in this industry, Ingrid Pitt, Maud Adams, and they took me backstage afterwards and we all had champagne, Julie Newmar, Hieronymus Bosch murals on the walls, Pino Donaggio, Blake Edwards' The Great Race, Taste the Blood of Dracula, Sisters, dropping her in a different genre, The Three and Four Musketeers, the World Series and the Super Bowl, a cross between Dark Shadows and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Kirk Douglas come over here I want to tell you a story about this kid, I was naive enough to think... oh I guess this happens to all fans, Blow Out, Lifetime thrillers and Hallmark Christmas movies, ten seconds of Will Smith, the double bill of Plague of the Zombies and Dracula Prince of Darkness, Terry Sweeney, last gasp of stop motion animation, Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore, Christopher Lee invited me to lunch with him at Pinewood Studios, Two on a Guillotine, George Lucas, great old-time matte painters, Paul Bartel & Mary Woronov, Dante's Cove, they were all horror movies, Britt Ekland, it was the most embarrassing moment of my life, The Man with the Golden Gun and Richard O'Brien.  "There was a seminal moment in my childhood that determined that I wanted to be a movie director…" And for more on WonderFest, go to: https://wonderfest.com/