Johnny Legend is a name that quite a few people might not know, and that’s okay. But if you ever had the chance to meet him, you’d never forget. He was an actor, director, wrestling manager and promoter, rockabilly singer, but most of all, he was a true lover of cult films and their filmmakers. I had the chance to meet him a couple of times over the years, and you never forget that. That man just exploded with passion with every work he said whether he was talking about Jack Hill’s Spider Baby or come other underground cult movie. He appeared in Bride of Re-Animator (1990), Severed Ties (1992) and even the Andy Kaufman biopic Man of the Moon (1999). On the laserdisc release of Spider Baby, there was a little piece outside of a midnight screening of the film, where some of the cast was there along with Jack Hill, including Sid Haig. They were all being interviewed by Legend, who praised the film so much. And this was a few years before Haig would be a big star because of House of 1000 Corpses.
This Legend passed away on January 2nd, and with that, the cult world lost one of its biggest supporters and mouthpiece. Truly a one-of-a-kind person. Rest in peace and know that because of the passion you passed on to others, they will now continue to pass on the love of the weird and the strange. Thank you, Mr. Legend!
At my very first horror convention, back in April of 1988, John Carl Buechler was there. He had brought two of his creations with him, Jason from Friday the 13th Part 7 (1988)and the beast from Cellar Dweller (1986), which you could see from across the room because it was so tall. I still have the black and white still of that creature on it that Buechler graciously signed for me. He was so friendly and approachable. He had worked on so many movies that I devoured in the ’80s, from Ghoulies (1984), Re-Animator (1985), Crawlspace (1986), From Beyond (1986), Dolls (1987), Bride of Re-Animator (1989), to even the more recent Hatchet (2006). I still think the look he created for Jason in the entry, that he even directed, is still the best looking ever created on film.
As we all know, it is very hard for a sequel to top the original, or even come close. And when you’re talking about the original Re-Animator, it would seem to be an impossible task even to think about. But producer turned director Brian Yuzna did just that with his 1989 film Bride of Re-Animator. And you know what…it’s actually pretty damn entertaining!
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