Oh, the horror: ‘Trophy Heads’ may not yield a statuette, but fans devour

Cult horror impresario Charles Band on the set of his latest opus in downtown LA, “Trophy Heads”

This week, while everyone else has been pontificating and speculating about the Academy Awards, I went to a loft building between Little Tokyo and Skid Row and got an inside glimpse at the other side of Hollywood: the film empire of Charles Band and his Full Moon Features.

In his 30 year career, Band has produced and directed hundreds of films, mostly of the horror variety. The cult classic series Puppet Master and Re-Animator are perhaps his most famous titles; this week, he and his team were working on a new web series called “Trophy Heads.”

While Band’s films might never earn a trophy of the Oscar variety, their low budgets make them almost instant cash-cows – proving that just because you don’t necessarily win the adulation of the Hollywood masses, you can make a living in the biz.

And Band has left an indelible mark aside from stoking the frenzy of his cult classics: He’s discovered some first-rate talent, behind the cameras as well as in front of them. Demi Moore in Parasite, Helen Hunt in Trancers, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a frolicking plant fairy in Troll.

While A-list flavor-of-the-month celebrities come and go faster than you can say, “envelope, please,” Band and his crew keeps on doing what so many people come to southern California to do: Work in the movies. (Even if they do go straight to DVD and streaming.)

Oh, and there’s merch, too.

Dolls, posters, magazines at D Day of the B Movies, this Saturday at Dark Delicacies in Burbank, 3512 W. Magnolia Blvd. 2-4pm.