Jeff Witham, who for the three years since he moved to Arizona has flown in the event, made his annual appearance. First of all, I had more companions in attendance than usual. I had a good vibe about this year’s B-Fest from the start. As well, it’s made the official B-Fest T-shirt at least three times I know of (Tor Johnson twice, Criswell once). Imagine a Rocky Horror Picture Show that only ran once a year.

It certainly has the richest heritage of audience running gags. Of the films screened annually, (particularly with the loss of The Creeping Terror, pulled from the market some years ago), Plan 9 is pretty much the official totem of B-Fest. Still, the spiritual king of B-Fest is director Ed Wood, with Plan 9 From Outer Space included every year, and usually a bonus Wood flick to boot. Many of them are just junky but amusing genre films. Not that all the movies are, per se, bad. As I have for about the last ten years, I came with some friends, plunked down the ridiculously cheap ticket price (for the last few years, twelve bucks at the door), and settled in for an event unrivaled in Bad Movie Kingdom. In 1997, the magic dates were January 31st through February 1st. the following day, Norris is host to B-Fest, a solid twenty-four hours of junky movies.

on one Friday each January until 6:00 p.m. They proceed on to Norris University Center and then, finally, home in on the McCormick Auditorium. Every January, hundreds of people make their way to Evanston, IL, home of Northwestern University.

Vampira and tor johnson wax figure