I headed out Friday night to check out Monster Mania 2012 at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Cherry Hill, NJ. These cons are always a ton of fun. Most of the actors and actresses signing autographs are really nice, and if you really want to dig around in that dealer room you can most likely find what you're looking for. We pulled up around 6pm after sitting in traffic on 1-95 for an hour, and were greeted by a line for the Walking Dead cast room as soon as we walked in. Jeffrey DeMunn ("Dale") was a hot commodity. We waited an hour to meet the man, mostly because he took a lot of time with his fans and spoke to everyone. He was extremely pleasant (and looked very different without that beard). Usually Friday nights are the best time to come for autographs, because it isn't nearly as crowded as Saturdays. Steven Yeun ("Glenn") was at the table next to Jeff, without a line at all. I was able to walk right up to him. Again, very nice guy. I got my autographs on my big Walking Dead picture that I've been working on, and moved on. I already had the pleasure of meeting Normal Reedus ("Daryl") at another event, so it was no big deal to me that he wasn't there on Friday night. Here's some pictures, excuse my wild hair.
Next stop, dealer room. This place is always packed. There's lots of handmade goods, autographed memorabilia, movies and movie paraphernalia , etc. You can peruse around here for quite a while and no matter what your tastes, you will likely find something. The dealer room has 3 main sections. The first section you walk into is a big room on your left. This room had a stand with autographed photos mostly from horror films and a tattoo booth. One stand was selling a variety of oddities such as fetal pigs, mummified rats, etc. Naturally, there's also stands selling photos of mainly the stars signing autographs. Rip off by the way. Everyone signing sits at a table with a selection of photos you can choose from that are included with the price of an autograph. These photos are usually always the same as the ones they sell in the dealer rooms, so don't buy them beforehand.
The next leg of the dealer stands included lots and lots of t-shirts, DVD's and Blu-Ray, action figures, etc. I picked up a few cool shirts from the Fright Rag stand. There was a guy selling some gorgeous Hellraiser models that I was very tempted to get. Hellraiser was obviously a popular theme, as many of the actors were there signing. It's a shame Clive Barker couldn't be there. I've always been a big Hellraiser fan, but I also love some of his other lesser known books such as Imajica. Feel better soon Clive!
Of course the Troma guys were there, selling DVD's and other such things. A lot of the DVD's for sale are bootleg, which is a turn off for me. But if you're in the market for some rare, hard to get stuff and aren't a huge collector type, theres a little of everything. I bought one rip at a MM con a while back of Nekromantik and the quality was excellent. Check out the review of that one as well, fun little film. The biggest part of the dealer area is where all the fun begins. Again, tons of DVDs if you're willing to sift through bunches of boxes. Beautiful artwork and custom jewelry all over the place. It can be a really dangerous situation if you're like me and don't know when to put your credit card away. I didn't do too bad though. I walked out of there with some t-shirts, a cute little Chestburster ring, and a Facehugger plush toy :3
We headed back to the autograph room where they had a bunch of people, but I was mainly there for the Hellraiser cast. Doug Bradley (Pinhead) was there, nice guy and took time to take pictures and ask questions. It's also pretty obvious he does NOT support a Hellraiser remake (who really does?). Bradley does a lot of cons, so he doesn't charge much for autographs like the rest of them. I got to speak in length to Nicholas Vince (Chatterer). What a great guy. I made sure to tell him how the Chatterer ruined my childhood, I couldn't have been more than 6 or 7 years old when I first saw Hellraiser. He has a new book coming out called What Monsters Do. Please check it out and support a really nice guy who loves his fans and does a lot for the horror community.
I skipped the rest of the Hellraiser cast for a few reasons. A) It was closing time by this point, B) I couldn't find a really nice big poster to get everyone's autographs on and C) I just ran out of damn money in this place! I did happen to catch Tom Savini on the way out and snag an autograph from him. A lot of these guys are regulars to these types of conventions, so I'm hoping to catch them all again. I wish I was going for the weekend, but maybe next time. If you're interested in attending in the future, I would highly recommend booking a room at the Crowne Plaza VERY early. Staying at the hotel is one of the best parts, a lot of the actors and actresses are there and you can run into them at the bar. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay this time and last time I booked too late and got stuck at the Day's Inn. Either way, it was an awesome night and definitely something for everyone.
The next leg of the dealer stands included lots and lots of t-shirts, DVD's and Blu-Ray, action figures, etc. I picked up a few cool shirts from the Fright Rag stand. There was a guy selling some gorgeous Hellraiser models that I was very tempted to get. Hellraiser was obviously a popular theme, as many of the actors were there signing. It's a shame Clive Barker couldn't be there. I've always been a big Hellraiser fan, but I also love some of his other lesser known books such as Imajica. Feel better soon Clive!
Of course the Troma guys were there, selling DVD's and other such things. A lot of the DVD's for sale are bootleg, which is a turn off for me. But if you're in the market for some rare, hard to get stuff and aren't a huge collector type, theres a little of everything. I bought one rip at a MM con a while back of Nekromantik and the quality was excellent. Check out the review of that one as well, fun little film. The biggest part of the dealer area is where all the fun begins. Again, tons of DVDs if you're willing to sift through bunches of boxes. Beautiful artwork and custom jewelry all over the place. It can be a really dangerous situation if you're like me and don't know when to put your credit card away. I didn't do too bad though. I walked out of there with some t-shirts, a cute little Chestburster ring, and a Facehugger plush toy :3
We headed back to the autograph room where they had a bunch of people, but I was mainly there for the Hellraiser cast. Doug Bradley (Pinhead) was there, nice guy and took time to take pictures and ask questions. It's also pretty obvious he does NOT support a Hellraiser remake (who really does?). Bradley does a lot of cons, so he doesn't charge much for autographs like the rest of them. I got to speak in length to Nicholas Vince (Chatterer). What a great guy. I made sure to tell him how the Chatterer ruined my childhood, I couldn't have been more than 6 or 7 years old when I first saw Hellraiser. He has a new book coming out called What Monsters Do. Please check it out and support a really nice guy who loves his fans and does a lot for the horror community.
I skipped the rest of the Hellraiser cast for a few reasons. A) It was closing time by this point, B) I couldn't find a really nice big poster to get everyone's autographs on and C) I just ran out of damn money in this place! I did happen to catch Tom Savini on the way out and snag an autograph from him. A lot of these guys are regulars to these types of conventions, so I'm hoping to catch them all again. I wish I was going for the weekend, but maybe next time. If you're interested in attending in the future, I would highly recommend booking a room at the Crowne Plaza VERY early. Staying at the hotel is one of the best parts, a lot of the actors and actresses are there and you can run into them at the bar. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay this time and last time I booked too late and got stuck at the Day's Inn. Either way, it was an awesome night and definitely something for everyone.