RONDO AND BOB opens in-person Houston Horror Film Festival

RONDO AND BOB opens in-person Houston Horror Film Festival June 25

Filmmaker Joe O’Connell’s new documentary, RONDO AND BOB will open the Festival on Friday, June 25, at 4 p.m.

"We are thrilled to kick off the 2021 Houston Horror Film Festival with a screening of the compelling documentary feature RONDO AND BOB.
Horror fans will surely relate to and be charmed by this Texas-made
film, which showcases Bob as a huge horror fan who has turned his
admiration and fandom for Rondo Hatton into the primary inspiration for
his work on classic films such as THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE and THE HILLS HAVE EYES.
Additionally, fans will be treated to appearances from many recognized
and iconic faces in horror,” said Troy Escamilla, Founder/Film Festival
Director.

“The Houston Horror Film Festival is the perfect place to screen our telling of two icons of horror,” said O’Connell. "It's a great honor to be chosen to open the fest. It shows
our hard work on RONDO AND BOB paying off."

RONDO AND BOB focuses on Robert A. Burns, a horror film legend for creating the look of seminal films THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, THE HILLS HAVE EYES, RE-ANIMATOR and THE HOWLING. Burns concocted iconic Leatherface masks and scoured the countryside for bones that filled the low-budget CHAIN SAW set.

Burns was obsessed with actor Rondo Hatton (aka the Creeper), an average man
whose face was transformed into a distorted mask by acromegaly because
of his deformity found his way into films in the 1930s and 1940s.

The film reveals both men's lives/careers through recreations, archival
footage and interviews to reveal Burns as a normal-looking man who was
brimming with creative weirdness and Hatton as a regular guy cursed with
a hideous look. Burns thought himself incapable of love while Hatton
found his soulmate.

SPARK OF THE DOCUMENTARY
Burns' longtime friend Gary Kent, who plays Rondo’s doctor in the reenactments in the RONDO AND BOB, introduced then film journalist Joe O'Connell to Burns in 2000. Burns gave O'Connell a copy of his unproduced screenplay RONDO AND MAE.
The documentary which includes reenactment segments follows Burns as he
searches for Rondo's widow, Mae Hatton, and learns his idol's true
story.

"The visual genius Bob Burns brought to horror films
is enough to rate a documentary, but I was drawn in by his obsession
with Rondo Hatton. I was compelled to tell both men's very human
stories,” said O’Connell.

Kent is the subject of O'Connell's first documentary DANGER GOD about Kent's B-movie/stuntman career. Kent was partial inspiration for Brad Pitt's stuntman character in the film, ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD.

About filmmaker, Joe O’Connell
O’Connell is a former film industry columnist for The Dallas Morning News, The Austin Chronicle, and Austin American-Statesman. He’s writing a book about the Ross Sisters, three contortionists from West Texas who found fleeting fame in the 1940s.

DETAILS FOR RONDO AND BOB:
When: 4 p.m., Friday, June 25
Where: Houston Horror Film Festival,
Houston Marriott South at Hobby Airport, 9100 Gulf Freeway, Houston, TX 77017
Admission: $ 15-day pass available at HoustonHorrorFilmFest.com
(Limited COVID seating)
Links: RondoAndBob.com
Houston Horror Film Festival schedule link
https://www.houstonhorrorfilmfest.com/2021-film-selection--schedule.html