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Actor Lance Henriksen, star of “Aliens,” is part of a “Near Dark” vampire reunion at this year’s Flashback Weekend. |
I know all about the sacrifices that Mike Kerz made to turn his dream of a horror convention into a reality.
I met Mike when he was a manager at One Schaumburg Place Cinemas, and he had this crazy idea that if a celebrity came to visit, more people would know about the theater and come to see movies at it.
So he invited Karolyn Grimes, who played little Zuzu Bailey, Jimmy Stewart’s daughter in the Frank Capra classic “It’s a Wonderful Life,” to visit the Schaumburg theater. More than 2,000 fans streamed into the place to meet her.
And the Loews employees grumbled.
“These people aren’t buying tickets!” they complained.
Then, Mike brought in cult idol Bruce Campbell, star of the infamous “Evil Dead” horror films, to promote his book “If Chins Could Kill.”
An estimated 3,000 people lined up around the theater to see Campbell.
And the Loews employees grumbled even more. (Read more…)