Stars of 'Night of the Living Dead,' 'Poltergeist' and 'Walking Dead appear at Terror con

MALRBOROUGH — The dead, the demonic and the demented ruled Terror Con this past weekend at the Royal Plaza Trade Center.

'They're coming to get you, Barbra'

It was zombie royalty with several cast-members of the “Night of the Living Dead.”

Judith O’Dea, the first lady of the zombie apocalypse and George A. Romero’s answer to the classic Hitchcock blond, is still elegant, engaging and ever so grateful for the fans of 1968’s black-and-white, low-budget, horror blockbuster.

Even today, O’Dea is overwhelmed by the film’s longevity and success.

“It is beyond amazing,” O’Dea said. “We never dreamed. We just hoped to make a film that would enable us to go on to make others, bigger, better films. We never dreamed. This has given us a legacy that, of course, we will never forget.”

O’Dea credits the longevity and success of “Night of the Living Dead” to Romero for making a groundbreaking film that endures and keeps finding a new generation of fans.

“We broke barriers with that film, having a black man (Duane Jones who played Ben) as the lead with a white woman; young girl kills mother; everybody dies,” O’Dea said. “Things like that didn’t happen in horror films back them but it did in ours. I believe that the reason why we’re still around.”

Russ Streiner, who played Johnny (Barbra’s brother) in the “Night of the Living Dead,” credits the film’s longevity to the fans.

“We made the best picture that we could make at the time on the budget that we had but it’s the fans that have kept it alive now for 56 years,” Streiner said. “A lot of the success of ‘Night of the Living Dead’ come from the fans themselves. It’s something about that film that resonates with them. And the fans are as much a credit to the success of that film as we are.”

The sibling chemistry between Barbra and Johnny (as played by O’Day and Streiner) comes off as genuine in the film, the two actors said.

“It was pretty much spontaneous,” Streiner said. “Johnny was obviously a bit of a pain. And she didn’t tolerate much of her brother’s foolishness. That’s why Johnny was around for only seven or eight minutes of the film. And Barbra carried the ball from there. Except, Johnny comes back.”

In the opening scene, Barbra and Johnny are visiting a cemetery. The two confront a ghoul that kills Johnny and attacks Barbra, but she escapes.

O’Dea said the most terrifying scene to shoot was when Johnny, her brother, comes back with a gaggle of ghouls to the bordered-up farmhouse that she’s hiding in with Ben and others.

“That was frightening, because they were all acting,” she said. “They were all touching me and they didn’t stop. It was scary. And what you see on the screen is true.”

Only 9-years-old when they made the film, Kyra Schon, who played Karen Cooper in the original “Night of the Living Dead,” starred opposite her real-life dad, Karl Hardman, playing her father in the film.

“He was my real father," Schon said. "I didn’t kill him. I only ate his arm.”

In addition to eating her father’s arm, Schon also kills her mother in the film.

“When I stabbed Marilyn, (who plays) Helen, my mother. I was stabbing into a pillow. She was nowhere near me. She wasn’t even in the room,” Schon recalled. “So I stabbed into a pillow and I said to my dad, ‘How many times do you want me to do this?’ He said, ‘Just keep going.’”

O'Dei was asked if “Night of the Living Dead” had a happy ending and Barbra and Ben survived that harrowing day, what kind of relationship would Barbra and Ben have after surviving the zombie apocalypse?

“Barbra is dear to my heart. You really gave me something to think about. What would Barbra have done?” O’Dea pondered. “She comes to. She fights to survive. She survives. I like to think that Ben would have helped Barbra go to her family because she lost her brother, obviously, and that they would have that bond for the rest of their lives. I don’t see them becoming a romantic couple, which happens so often in films nowadays. I think that he would have helped her survive this thing.”

' You only moved the headstones! '

When he was 9-years-old, “Terror Con” guest Oliver Robins played Robbie Freeling in 1982’s “Poltergeist.”

“I had so much fun making it. I just felt so lucky to be in that film. I wasn’t a real actor at the time. I done one commercial,” Robins said. “Whenever someone asks me what was the first thing that you ever acted in, I say, it was a fertilizer commercial.”

Robins, who said he grew up in a real-life haunted “whore house” in New York, is attacked by a demonic clown doll and killer tree in “Poltergeist.”

“People say, ‘Were you afraid of clowns because of the movie?’ I say, no, I was afraid of clowns before I did the movie,” Robins said. “When they were casting for the movie, they didn’t tell me the story at all, they said, ‘Oliver what are you afraid of?’ They just wanted to get to know me as a person. And I said, ‘I’m afraid of clowns. I’m afraid of trees.’ I’m basically afraid of everything the character of Robbie Freeling is afraid of in the movie. They said you are the living carnation of Robbie.”

In Robbie’s room in “Poltergeist” were a pristine and vast collection of “Star Wars” action figures, ships and playsets that any toy collector would trade their soul to the dark side to get their hands on. So I had to ask Robins what happened to those much sought-after collectibles.

“I don’t know,” Robins shrugged. “I really wanted it all but I couldn’t keep any of the ‘Star Wars’ stuff. George Lucas and Steven (Spielberg) are friends and he gave him all the toys to be in the movie too. I would have loved to have all of them.”

Although Oliver said filming “Poltergeist” was like going to camp, he soon found that not all film experiences were as fun as a Spielberg project. Still, he continues to act and, most recently, Oliver wrote, directed, produced, and starred in the horror movie “Celebrity Crush,” which is currently streaming on Apple TV+

'Fire walk with me'

If Ray Wise didn’t do another acting job, he would still always be fondly remembered for playing Leland Palmer, father of doomed homecoming queen Laura Palmer on “Twin Peaks,” and Leon Nash, one of the ruthless members of Clarence Boddicker’s gang in “RoboCop.”

And there’s that short but sinfully sweet stint he did as the Devil on “Reaper.”

When ask if it ever gets tired being linked to Leland Palmer, Wise with an infectious laugh and a beaming smile that lights up the room assuredly said, “No, I’m very proud of being Leland Palmer. It was a long time ago, 30 years I believe. And people still love and watch it.”

When he found out that he was Laura’s killer, Lynch called Wise up and said, “Ray, it’s you. It has always been you.”

“I hated the whole idea. I didn’t want to be the killer of my own daughter on the show. And I was hoping and praying it wasn’t me. It could have been anybody else,” Wise said. “It could have been Ben Horne, Richard Beymer. I would have preferred that.”

While he loved doing “Twin Peak” and “RoboCop,” the role he loves the most and was born to play was that of the Devil on “Reaper.”

“It should never have been cancelled,” Wise shrugs. “I could have played the devil forever. My whole idea for the devil was a combination between a talk show host and a good used car salesman. I wanted to meet somewhere in the middle.”

Before parting ways, I asked him the secret of his longevity and ageless good looks.

Without missing a beat, Wise smiled, “I signed a contract with the Devil … You have to sign it in blood.”

The Book of Greg Nicotero

When it comes to zombies, George A. Romero, Tom Savini and Greg Nicotero are the undisputed (un)holy trinity of the zombie apocalypse.

Nicotero’s first major special effects makeup job was on Romero’s “Day of the Dead,” working under the tutelage of Romero and Savini.

Not only was Nicotero responsible for all those iconic and innovative zombies seen on “The Walking Dead” and all its subsequent spinoffs, he has also directed 40 episodes of “The Walking Dead,” as well as directing the much anticipated, Season Two opener of “The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon” which premiered just a few hours after “Terror Con” wrapped up.

“The best thing about ‘Daryl Dixon’ is that it’s different, Nicotero said. “And, now, that we have Carol (Melissa McBride) as part of the cast, it gives us an entirely new vibe because it has the DNA of the original ‘Walking Dead’ but it feels fresh and different because of the locations (in France). The locations are a character of the show.”

When I credited the horror make-up legend for “reinventing the zombie,” Nicotero quickly but politely corrected me and said he just “refined” it and gives credit to the success of the zombie genre to one of his mentors and some unlikely sources.

“Everything zombie related stems from George (A. Romero). George was the guy who created the genre,” Nicotero said. “I will equate the resurgence in the zombie genre to first-person video games because when ‘Resident Evil’ and ‘House of the Dead’ came out, all of the sudden, it made the zombie genre appealing to a whole new generation of people and, most specifically, younger people. So they were playing video games and shooting zombies. Then you had the ‘Resident Evil’ movie and the ‘Dawn of the Dead’ remake and ‘Shaun of the Dead’ and each one of those did something. ‘28 Days Later’ was really one of the first. That, sort of, revitalized the genre because you had fast zombies. But, if you want to be specific about it. They’re not even zombies (in ’28 Days Later’). They’re infected people.”

Although he has been making memorable, jaw-dropping zombies at various stages of decay and creepiness for 15 years for “The Walking Dead” franchise, Nicotero promises that season two of “Daryl Dixon” has bigger, better and even different zombies in store.

“We leaned into a lot of the elements we did in season one with the French scientists experimenting with these drugs to adrenalize the zombies,” Nicotero said. “You see a little bit in season one. In season two, we continue that.”

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Stars of 'Night of the Living Dead,' 'Poltergeist' and 'Walking Dead appear at Terror con