Get your 'con on... this weekend!

Any Chicago-area DIE-hard fans just chomping at the bits to get up close and personal with your favorite horror celebrities?

Flashback Weekend (August 9-11) and Wizard World (August 8-11)are offering fans the chance to come face to face with their favorite stars this weekend. Flashback's headliner is George Romero and cast members from Dawn of the Dead. In addition to many pop culture icons, sci-fi and action stars, Wizard World features stars like Linda Blair and Buffy's James Marsters and cast-members of tThe Walking Dead. You can even purchase tickets for some professional photo ops at both shows via Celeb Photo Ops for both shows -- most stars at Wizard World and one night only with George Romero

The 2 conventions are literally right across the street from each other in Rosemont, IL this weekend, and can be tons of fun during and after the shows, as you are bound to bump into some of the stars at the hotel bars and restaurants as the night progresses. None of this comes cheap though, so if you get starstruck very easily, you may need to break open the piggy bank soon.

Happy Birthday Tom Savini!

Today's birthday is a big one in the world of horror. Mr. Tom Savini, the Godfather of Gore, the Sultan of Splatter, turns 64.



A graduate of Carnegie Melon (as is our own Aly Greaves, costume Queen and adapter of upcoming CARMILLA), Tom got his big break, as I am sure most of you know, when he was tapped by George Romero to provide a wrist slashing effect to the movie Martin. The very next year, Romero enlisted him for Dawn of the Dead, and the rest, as they say, is history. The list is too long to put here, but some of the highlights include Friday the 13th, Creepshow, Maniac, Trauma, Monkeyshines, Necronomicon, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, and Day of the Dead. Savini has worked, as an actor, director, or makeup artist with the likes of Dario Argento, Tobe Hooper, Twisted Sister, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, to name a few, and has even voiced himself on an episode of The Simpsons.



Savini runs the Special Effects Make-Up and Digital Film Programs at the Douglas Education Center in Monessen, Pennsylvania. He is the author of several books on special effects including Grande Illusions I and II (1983, 1994) which detail the production and mechanical workings of many of his famous film effects. He is also associated with other books including Horror 101, by our very own Aaron "Dr AC" Christenson, for which he wrote the foreword.

So, from the very bottom of our black little hearts, everyone at WildClaw would like to send a big and bloody Happy Birthday to Tom Savini. We cannot imagine where we would be without you.