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THE NY TIMES - DECEMBER 17, 2006
A "NIght" with George RomeroFrom Old Horror Role, Newfound Celebrity
by Karin LipsonSTEVE DASH had traveled as far as Germany to meet his fans from "Friday the 13th, Part 2," but today he'll find out if he also slays them on his home turf of Long Island.
The Bethpage resident - who played the hooded serial killer Jason Voorhees in the second film of the popular slasher series - is a star attraction of the "Fantasy and Horror Holiday Spectacular" beginning at 1:30 p.m. at the Cinema Arts Center in Huntington.
There's also an arts and craft show on a fantasy and horror theme; a showcase of horror shorts by local filmmakers, starting at 4:30 p.m.; and a screening of "Friday the 13th, Part 2," at 7:30 p.m. Mr. Dash will introduce the 1981 film and lead a question-and-answer session after the movie.
A retired New York City police officer, Mr. Dash, 63, now works as an executive with a Hickville cab company. He regularly heads for weekend horror conventions in cities from Cleveland to Bottrop, Germany. But, he said, "I've never done one on Long Island."
That may be because his celebrity is relatively newfound. Through he hacks, stabs and skewers his way through much of this movie, his head encased in a sack with a single eyehole (the trademark hockey mask wasn't used until Part 3), Mr. Dash - then known by his legal name of Daskawisz - get screen scredit only as Jason's "stunt double." Another actor, Warrington Gillette, who appears as the hideously-deformed unmasked psycho-stalker, is listed as Jason.
But with some recent books about the making of the movie, Mr. Dash said, he has gained recogition among fervent "Friday" followers. And he's content to relieve the horror of it all - profitably - at those
conventions, where he sells and signs photos and memorabilia (including autographed machetes in their sheaths).It was at one such [horror convention] show in October that Mr. [Steve] Dash met Alexia Anastasio, 25, a Northport artist and filmmaker, and Kevin Sean Michaels, 36, of Queens, also a filmmaker. As the respective creative forces behind CAMP Festival and Vamp Productions, they have brought several events to the Cinema Arts Center and are the co-presenters of today's event.
Ms. Anastasio, who also works at the arts center as a graphic designer, included films by several colleagues in the showcase, "to make it like a group effort," she said. Her own film, "Church 4 Sale,"
a ghostly story about the breakup of a lesbian couple, will be screened, as will Mr. Michaels's "The Last Days of Rik Mortis," a glam rocker-meets-zombie morality tale. (Those relationships never end well.)There will also be a flesh-and-blood zombie in attendance named Void, a member of the Ghouligans, a horror-comedy group. Its video taped escapades, several of which will be screened, are far more antic than horrifying. "It's total camp," said Void, a k a Sean King of Rocky Point. "We're kind of a live-action cartoon."
The Ghouligans, meanwhile, are not to be confused with Ghoul a Go-Go, the hosts of a public access TV show who will be screening a special segment.
All this may sound more Halloween than "happy holidays," but "some people like spooky stuff all year around," said Dylan Skolnick, associate director of the Cinema Arts Center. "Some people would like to have a spooky Christmas."
Don't tell that to one young Wantagh resident who recently saw "Friday the 13th, Part 2" on TV. After the movie, the distraught 7-year-old girl called her grandfather, Steve Dash. " 'Poppy, did you really kill
all those people?' " he recalls her asking him. "No, Nicole, it's only make-believe," Mr. Dash assured her. "It's only me, Poppy."Tickets for the "Fantasy and Horror Holiday Spectacular" on Dec. 17 are available at the Cinema Arts Center, 423 Park Avenue, Huntington; the office opens at 1:30p.m. Tickets are $9; $6 for members. For information, visit www.cinemaartscentre.org or call (631)423-7611