THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2008

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For The Rock, It's Showtime

David "The Rock" Nelson is right at home in his Des Plaines basement...errr, dungeon.

For many people, Halloween is just a day when mostly kids get dressed up in funny or scary costumes. But for Des Plaines horror filmmaker David "The Rock" Nelson, Halloween and frightening people are a way of life all year long.

Nelson will appear on WGN Morning News on Friday, Oct. 31 showing clips from his latest movies "The Great Horny Toad Monster" and the "Giant Cicada".

Nelson has appeared on the WGN Morning News each year on Halloween since 1997.

Before Halloween, Nelson will appear in a Chicago All Star Wrestling event on Saturday, Oct. 25 in Brookfield. The 192-pound Nelson will compete in a "pose off" against 300-pound wrestler "The German." Nelson called The German "flabby".

Nelson's basement---or dungeon, as he calls it---is decorated with classic horror movie posters, skeletons and figurines from the horror genre.

With 33 self-produced features and short films to his credit with titles like "Pumpkin Man," "Devil Ant" and the "Mummy Returns," Nelson claims to have been producing horror movies since he was seven-years-old. He says he produced his version of "Mummy Returns" two years before the major Hollywood film of the same name.

Portage Theater in Chicago screened Nelson's films last year. He is currently trying to secure a screening at the same theater for this Halloween season.

"The Daily Show" on Comedy Central and "Wild Chicago" featured Nelson in past years, he said.

The Monster Bash horror convention in Butler, Pa., has featured Nelson as one of its speakers for the last several years.

---Tom Robb