It’s a veritable Monster Mash. Toronto’s Rue Morgue Festival of Fear just announced its lineup, and you’re going to want to go during August 24-26. “Suspiria” director Dario Argento will be the guest of honor. George Romero will be there, too.

There’ll be a rock show with Gwar (are they still around?), a panel discussion with Romero, and a screening of "Demons 2.” A premium pass which gets you a goodie bag of swag is only $53 and tickets go on sale tomorrow.

As that wonderfully scary hustler Ron Popiel would say: But wait. There’s more! A lot more.

“Joining Argento will be special guest and Argento collaborator George Romero (Night of the Living Dead, Diary of the Dead), British acting iconoclast Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange, Rob Zombie’s Halloween), genre actress Adrienne Barbeau (Creepshow, The Fog, Carnivale), godfather of gore Herschell Gordon Lewis (Blood Feast, Two Thousand Maniacs!), genre actor/director Angela Bettis (May, Toolbox Murders) SFX guru Greg Nicotero (Grindhouse, Sin City, Land of the Dead), cult-film phenomenon Michael Biehn (The Terminator, Aliens, Grindhouse), acclaimed horror artist Basil Gogos (Famous Monsters of Filmland) and Sean Astin (The Lord of the Rings, The Goonies).”

 
All this makes me weaker in the knees than the time I saw "The Exorcist" for the first time as a wee lad.  The Suicide Girls and “Buffy” actress Charisma Carpenter will be there, too. Plus, your ticket gets you into a Sci-Fi expo and a Video Game expo. It’s all part of Fan Expo, and it sounds like terrific fun. Dang the gods! Why is this on the same weekend as Lollapalooza?