B-Movie Vixen TAAFFE O'CONNELL To Make First Convention Appearance at DAYS OF THE DEAD: Atlanta

B-Movie vixen, TAAFFE O'CONNELL, infamous for her role in the Roger Corman sci-fi classic, GALAXY OF TERROR, makes her first horror convention appearance at DAYS OF THE DEAD: Atlanta.

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Continuing their celebration of cult cinema, it is with great pleasure that DAYS OF THE DEAD announces the first time appearance of B-Movie vixen, TAAFFE O'CONNELL, for their upcoming Atlanta show in March.

While O'Connell's early career consisted primarily of TV show appearances (Three's Company, Happy Days, Dallas, Laverne & Shirley, Blansky's Beauties), she achieved lasting fame within the B-movie, horror film universe for her role as 'Dameia' in the Roger Corman 1981 sci-fi cult classic, GALAXY OF TERROR.

Trapped on an alien world, her character and fellow crew mates find themselves in a giant pyramid built by an ancient culture who used it as some kind of playground/testing area for their children. The adult human characters unwittingly confront these "monsters" from their own minds, but they also have more adult, psychological fears attached to them. The confrontations prove deadly to the crew of the Quest, the ship in the film, since most of them cannot overcome the sense of terror and humiliation generated by their attackers. O'Connell's character, 'Dameia', reveals at one point she has a visceral fear and hatred of worms. Later, she is attacked by a malevolent 12-foot long giant worm. The psychological fear that 'Dameia' confronts is sexual in nature, because the giant worm proceeds to rape and kill her.

The initial cut of the scene, which has the monster fully stripping O'Connell, was sexually graphic enough to lead the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) into giving the movie an X-rating. A nude O'Connell is seen wrapped in the creature's tentacles, covered in slime, and being loudly climaxed as she's killed. Small clips of O'Connell's face while her character was climaxed as well as certain motions deemed too "adult" by the monster were made by the film's editors to get the movie's rating changed to R, according to the 2010 Shout! Factoryre-release of GALAXY OF TERROR. Even with the minor changes, the released cut of the scene was so notorious that it and O'Connell achieved cult status the world over.

Taaffe, also appeared in the cult holiday slasher, NEW YEAR'S EVIL, where she played the ill-fated nurse "Jane." She also played a wisecracking USO showgirl, "Honey," in the trashy women-in-prison exploitation outing CAGED FURY and an insatiable German nymphomaniac, "Brigitte Fritz," in the amusing lowbrow comedy romp HOT CHILI. More recently, Taaffe has popped up in the low-budget fright features THE STONEMAN and DISMEMBERED.

DAYS OF THE DEAD II: The Dead Walk invades the Wyndham Peachtree Conference Center just outside Atlanta, GA, March 9th - 11th.

For more information, visit the official DAYS OF THE DEAD website athttp://www.DaysoftheDead.net, launching later this week!