OCTOBERFEAST – Christopher Lee

Lo! The vortex on the horizon – do you see it? Surely you must! It’s a gargantuan cyclone, an indomitable mass of swirling purple and orange and black. Those protesters who’ve spent the last month screaming at the revelers, naysaying and posturing themselves above the traditions of candied-chaos? Well, they’ll be summarily swept away, fallen victim to the natural disaster that’s been summoned by the OCTOBERFEAST celebrants to end the festival most tempestuously.

It’s the Tornado of Souls.

Look closer! At the top of the soul-storm is a wicker chair, stationery despite its position. The twister slowly diminishes as makes its way towards the campgrounds, giving all present parties a better view of both the chair and the individual sitting in it. He is aged but regal. Grey-haired but black-hearted. Avuncular but assailing.

Riding into the grand finale of the OCTOBERFEAST on a goddamn tornado-chair, this is figure represents evil incarnate in a way no other ever has.

This man is Christopher Lee. And he’s responsible for more cinematic villainy than anyone else on the planet.

Still active today, 89-year old Sir Christopher Lee has been appearing in movies since 1948. In his sixty-three year career, Lee has been featured in nearly two-hundred different movies and has assumed a wide variety of roles. However, the thespian is best known for portraying flesh and bleed manifestations of evil itself. When a hero needed a formidable foe, Lee was the guy for the job.

To put it another way – Christopher Lee dreams up the stuff about which our heroes have night terrors.

So, how many classic antagonists are forever indebted to Lee’s masterful acting? Two? Three? Four? Way more than that, jabroni! Take a peek at this long, but incomprehensive, list of villains played by Christopher Lee:

– Frankenstein’s monster
– Dracula
– Kharis the Mummy
– Fu Manchu
– Rasputin
– Jekyll/Hyde
– The Man with the Golden Gun
– Dr. Catheter (Gremlins 2!)
– Saruman
– Count Dooku
– Willy Wonka’s Dentist/Daddy

Unholy smokes! That litany reads like the Evildoer’s Who’s Who, and yet Christopher Lee has lent his voice to every single one of `em. And more. In fact, if you’re a fan of film chances’re that Christopher Lee has helped construct the obstacles that one of your favorite heroes has had to surmount. Without Lee, no villain. Without the villain, no hero.

So on this glorious conclusion to OCTOBERFEAST, let us take the time to honor the still-growing legacy of Sir Christopher Lee. Look! He’s right there, sitting in the wicker chair that the Tornado of Souls wafted onto into our Dancehall of Darkness. He’s beckoning us, waving us over with his skeletal-yet-strong hands, smiling that enticing smile of his many mountebank performances. Something tells us to pause, to turn back and flee.

But we continue forward, drawn to the man in the wicker chair.

Long live Lee.

Long live the OCTOBERFEAST.