A Night of Tokusatsu!

Teruyoshi Nakano. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Tonight, I attended another event with SFX director Teruyoshi Nakano and Toho SFX crew member Takashi Naganuma. As always, it was a fun event.

Takashi Naganuma, keeping safe with his mask. Photo by Brett Homenick.

The last two months were a real dry spell in terms of events. Practically nothing of note took place. So it was wonderful to see some familiar faces whom I hadn't seen in months (and months!).

 That's all for now. I'm looking forward to being more active in the weeks to come!

Back in Town!

Masamitsu Tayama playing the guitar. Photo by Brett Homenick.

On Friday, September 25, I was able to take in a performance by Masamitsu Tayama, which I was long overdue for. Tayama-san was supposed to have a show last October, which was cancelled at the last minute due to the massive typhoon that hit the Kanto region at the same time. Earlier this spring, he was scheduled to have another concert to make up for the cancellation, but it too was postponed (due to the coronavirus). Suffice it to say, the timing was really awful.

Thankfully, there were no typhoons to speak of, and Tokyoites seem to have learned how to manage life with the coronavirus (more or less), so this performance went on as planned. I noticed that the crowd for this show was about half that of previous concerts, which I guess is to be expected. I didn't mind that, of course. The smaller, the better!

It was another great performance. After the show, I got to spend a few moments with Tayama-san, who's always great to see in person. I just hope the next show won't get cancelled!

Even More Content on Vantage Point Interviews!

Reuben Leder running sound on A*P*E (1976). Photo © Reuben Leder.

A couple of brand-new interviews have just been published on Vantage Point Interviews. The first one is with Reuben Leder, the co-screenwriter and sound man on the cult classic spoof A*P*E (1976). There are plenty of behind-the-scenes photos and memories to entertain any Monster Kid!

The other interview is with Faith Clift, an actress who was married to Academy Award-winning screenwriter Philip Yordan. Ms. Clift discusses her part in the Christopher Lee/Peter Cushing thriller Horror Express (1972), as well as her starring role in one of my favorite overlooked horror flicks, Cataclysm (a.k.a. The Nightmare Never Ends). Many of her scenes in that film were recycled in Night Train to Terror (1985), a rather infamous cult classic in its own right.

Check 'em out today!

New Content on Vantage Point Interviews!

Yours truly with Niisan Takahashi in April 2013.

I'm very pleased to announce that the interview we conducted with Gamera series screenwriter Niisan Takahashi in April 2013 has finally been translated and published on Vantage Point Interviews. For a variety of reasons, the interview was extremely difficult to translate properly (it was recorded in a noisy restaurant, for starters), so I couldn't be happier that, after much effort, it's  been completed at long last.

I'd also like to plug my interview from last spring with Tsuburaya Productions script supervisor Atsuko Tanaka, who worked on Ultra Q (1966), Ultraman (1966-67), Ultra Seven (1967-68), and other classic TV programs. It got a bit lost in the shuffle, so I felt it needed a shout-out.

Enjoy!