If you've been reading these for a while, you already know that I think Monstermania is far and away the best, and most underrated convention I've ever been to.  I'd say in the country, but I haven't been outside this little 5 to 6-state area in the mid-atlantic/northeast.  This particular run at the usual Cherry Hill location was slightly different for a few reasons...for one thing, I left early enough and my GPS took me on a certain route that actually bypassed the worst part of the traffic (thanks Garmin!).  For another, while I was once again staying with my convention-going friends Maura and Jess, as well as their friend Franklin this time, we instead booked a room inside the hotel where the convention was going on.  I also...unfortunately...had camera issues again when my camera died on me midday Saturday and there was no place for me to go to get a disposable replacement.  As a result, I'm gonna have to do something unorthodox and a little odd...I'm going to use pictures of things I got signed as replacements for panel pictures (I do apologize for that).  Suffice to say, no matter how much its charged beforehand, I'm charging my camera before every convention now.  In terms of guests, Monstermania did have a substantive number of good guests, but this time it did seem a bit culty, if you will.  We're talking a six-person Sleepaway Camp reunion and a large Friday the 13th Part V reunion after all.  But even then, the convention doesn't lose it's fun because it's held correctly and in a simple, logical configuration.  Real quick though, I gotta say in the interest of full-disclosure, no information about the following guests is presented below:  James Marsters, the Addams Family Reunion (John Astin, Felix Silla, Lisa Loring), any of the wrestlers (Iron Sheik, Nikolai Volkoff, and George the Animal Steele), Barbara Steele (regrettably, she cancelled).  I only have so much money and given that I forgot the pre-purchased tickets at home, I had even less.  Also, this time I specifically avoided the Friday the 13th 2009 reunion (Derek Mears and Travis Van Winkle) because I've done so many of those things even though they really are one of the nicest casts of any movie you'll ever meet.  So let's begin.

FRIDAY:

ADAM WEST:

I know what you're thinking.  What the heck does Adam West have to do with horror?  The answer?  Well...he was in an ep of Goosebumps and an ep of Tales from the Crypt.  Translation, not much.  But he's a nice enough guy,  He had his own room and table (its where they once put the Phantasm reunion).  Line moved VERY quickly which isn't surprising given it was Friday and very early on into the con.  He overcharges a bit, but seems generally nice (a lot of people seemed to be miffed about him but I think it was the price that did that, not anything he did).  I asked him if he'd been given a line on Family Guy that really really struck him as odd.  He went with "who stole my water?"  You'll also notice in the lower left hand corner...he has the "Adam We" photograph available for autographing.

MICHAEL BIEHN

My friends Jess, Maura, (pictured), and Franklin really really were jazzed to see Biehn.  He was there with his girlfriend (?) Jennifer Blanc (hence the banner since she was at the table next to him).  His line was absolutely crazy though.  It was a fairly short line, but he would talk to every single person who came up as long as they wanted to.  It's a nice gesture, virtually unheard of...but it really really drags a line out.  He was a really nice guy though, I have to say.  Later that evening, as we went back to the hotel room, we realized Jennifer Blanc was walking with us.  It turned out Biehn and Blanc were staying directly across the hall from us.  One hopes their room was better than ours though given they were guests.

James Duvall was also nearby.  I don't have a picture, but he's done a lot of conventions lately.  Was really really nice and spent a lot of time discussing film making and his upcoming projects with Franklin.

So during the hour of the Biehn line, I decided to get some other things done.  (One of the MANY benefits of not going to a con alone):

MICHAEL BERRYMAN:

Berryman was super nice.  Later on he was in an elevator with us and he just seems to be a super easy-going guy.  My greatest wish wouldve been if Monstermania had the time to do a panel with him and another awesome guest who sat at the table right next to his...Sid Haig.  Just a suggestion.

SLEEPAWAY CAMP REUNION:

In order:  Frank Saladino (Geno), Karen Fields (Judy), Paul DeAngelo(Ronnie), Desiree Gould (Aunt Martha).

Not pictured:  Jonathan Tierston(Ricky, who I met at Chiller the previous May), and Robert Hiltzik (Writer/Director...who I did meet, but had a bum camera by the time I did).

It has been long noted on these forums my deep, abiding love of the Sleepaway Camp movies.  The first movie was one of the two horror movies that started me on the path I am now when I was in college (the other being The Evil Dead).  So this was something I was really looking forward to.  I'm a bit surprised Felissa Rose was not there but I don't have a real problem with that.  The interesting thing about the stars and director of Sleepaway Camp....is that they don't like charging.  They charge very little, sometimes nothing for the autographs because they realize that it's the fans who built the movies up to where they are now.  DeAngelo only charged because I asked, for instance, and gave me an 8X10 as a bonus because he didn't feel right charging.  Hiltzik, when I asked about how much, he told me he should charge me.  The autographs (as you'll see later) all involved being a good fan or the "real star".  The humility of this cast is literally overwhelming.

WILL SANDIN:

The most amazing thing about horror conventions is that the people who appear at them are sometimes utterly iconic...yet you'd never recognize their names.  Will Sandin is a great example of this.  Sandin, when he was young, played child Michael Myers in the original Halloween.  He's seen literally for about 5 seconds of the movie yet the character is remembered forever since then.  He loves the conventions, meeting the fans, etc.  He wasnt the only one there as there was a minor Halloween reunion with PJ Soles and Tony Moran (who I've met at other cons).

KATHARINE ISABELLE:

The other big thing of the convention was a "Werewolf" reunion.  In addition to the next few photos, it included Belinda Balaski, Dee Wallace Stone, Dick Miller, and Katharine Isabelle(above).  It is here I would like to point out that I am an idiot.  I forgot that Dee Wallace Stone was the villain in The Frighteners and didn't get her to sign it.  Even more egregious to people who read my posts on the forums...I forgot Dick Miller was Uncle Willy in Tales from the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight.  So no pics of them.  I did remember that, in addition to Ginger Snaps, Isabelle was in Freddy Vs. Jason as "Gibb" and the little sister in one of my favorite movies, Disturbing Behavior.  She was really nice and surprised that someone had brought Disturbing Behavior to get it signed (it's better if you incorporate the deleted scenes...a lot better.  That's all I'm saying.)  More information is later about the panel with the rest.

AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON:

As part of the Werewolf reunion, they also had David Naughton and John Landis, representing An American Werewolf in London.  Naughton was supernice.  We talked with him about Brutal Massacre and about the difficulties of the famed transformation scene.  Landis, who arrived fairly late on Friday but still came downstairs and signed some, talked with us about the Masters of Horror dinners Mick Garris threw.  He still holds them now, just without the tv show.  Great guy.

FRED DEKKER AND NIGHT OF THE CREEPS:

Friday night's special event was a Q&A with Fred Dekker, director of The Monster Squad and Night of the Creeps.  They also, afterwards, gave away the dvd artwork shown above as a special gift, for free.  This is an exclusive cover of the October dvd release.  It's NOT the one that was chosen (though it does match the Blu-Ray).  Instead, elsewhere on the forums there's a thread that has the three choices in it.  The garish, yellow one was chosen.  Also, the free autograph was a bit rough given people kept cutting into the line, but as I thought, they brought plenty enough for everyone.  Afterwards, they showed the Director's Cut of Night of the Creeps (though they originally messed up the dvd...it was only the secnod time it had been shown in public).  Id've stayed for it, but it was after midnight and I was dead tired.  Moving on to the ceremonial hail of bullets:

• On Robocop 3:  "I should've fought for more effects, directed my script."
• Directing Tales from the Crypt, Dekker did his favorite story, The Thing From the Grave
• Dekker is extraordinarily proud of the dvd and wants to use it to prove that there is a market for a sequel which he already has ideas for, though he doesn't want to say what they are.  However, "[He] would not make a sequel to Night without Tom Atkins".
• Is currently writing a sequel to Cliffhanger.
• Thinks idea of rumored sequel to The Monster Squad is a terrible idea.
• In Dekker's opinion, Monster Squad was revolutionary for it's time, and Harry Potter owes a large debt to it.
• On Rebooting, Dekker says that for all the ones that work, there are 12 to 20 that don't.
• DVD has tons of interviews on it.
• Dekker liked Slither.  He's facebook friends with James Gunn and thinks it owes more to The Fly because of the degradation of Michael Rooker's character.  Also says Night of the Creeps was not remotely original in and of itself.
• Dekker met Stallone through Demolition Man.
• Tom Atkins or Steve Marshall:  both had great personalities in different ways.  Steve Marshall was a character in Night of the Creeps, Tom Atkins WAS Night of the Creeps.
• Halloween 3 is his favorite Tom Atkins movie
• Atomic Age or Godzilla was his Monster Squad sequel idea, but Monsters vs. Aliens already did it.
• I asked him who he'd name the characters after, if there were any other directors he didn't use (he said he'd never been asked that).  He said he thought the original was kinda cute but it's been done since then, so if he did the sequel, maybe he'd use spaghetti western directors or something.
• The movie House had very little other than that it was his idea.  He was distracted, so his roommate took it.
• DVD will have 5 documentaries, all the deleted scenes, 2 commentaries, a trivia track, and both endings
• The TV Version of Night of the Creeps has many scenes that were put in to make the movie longer
• Demolition Man was meant to be Wizard of Oz, but they took out Kansas (needed to have the 80s, which he concieved but didn't write)
• His proudest moments as a director were the premiere of The Monster Squad and filming the scene in Night of the Creeps were Tom Atkins has his flashback and stutters while he talks.
• He reconciled with Tom Noonan after years of fighting at a Monstermania.  Bogus with a goofy grin was not what he wanted.
• When discussing Stan Winston, Dekker choked up.  Said he really missed him and that he was a geek.  He loved what he did and thrilled at reinvineting makeup.
• Wants to work with Paul Giamatti, Vince Vaughn, and Sarah Polley, and Colin Farrell.

SATURDAY:

I'm going to begin Saturday with the costumes of the con because they were the last shot I took with my camera.  I decided it was a tie between:

On the left, I have to give it Rorshach because of the grappling gun.  The Comedian's okay, but the Rorshach is dead on.  On the right, I have to give you props if you wander around the convention floor on stilts.  On Saturday, he had changed into a worse butcher outfit, so I will recognize him for this far better and creepier one.

Before I went in to take in the panels, I did go meet up with Lloyd Kaufman again.  I wanted to ask him about Bloodsucking Freaks because in an interview with The Onion years ago, he said he regretted picking it up.  I asked if that was still true, and he said it was because it's a very misogynistic film toward women on an almost mean level and that, while we've learned since then and it's a good and funny film, it's really a bit more extreme in that area than most Troma work.  Now then, panel time.  After skipping the Friday the 13th 09 panel, I was going to go see the Adam West one.  Then I stepped inside and heard someone ask him what else he had done besides Batman.  And that was when I realized that one wouldnt have enough respect.  So I left and came back in later for:

HALLOWEEN REUNION:

Again, I really apologize about having to do it this way.

PJ Soles, Tony Moran, and Will Sandin did the Q&A for the film.  All were really nice, receptive to questions and appreciative of the fans.  I learned such things as:

• For Halloween now, Soles trick or treat's with her son, Moran gives out the really good candy.
• Soles and Moran will be starring in a movie called Beg.
• Being in the mask and hearing himself breathe helped Moran get into the role of Michael Myers.
• On Rock and Roll High School, PJ Soles said the Ramones had issues with their lines but were still really cool to work with.
• For Will Sandin, to his mom it was just another role, his dad was okay with it, and his sister got scared at the premiere.
• PJ Soles says the remake wasnt better because she didn't like how Michael Myers was already on the path to serial killer-dom earlier in his youth in the Zombie film.
• According to Moran, Halloween is still effective due to its psychological impact.
• On working with Brian DePalma and John Carpenter, Soles said DePalms sets the scene and lets you go, while Carpenter is more tender and hands-on.
• Jamie Lee Curtis wanted to play Lynda originally and was a lot of fun.
• There was nothing in the script about Laurie Strode being Myers sister until the sequel hit.
• According to Soles, working with Bill Murray on Stripes was fun and he had his highs and his lows.
• At the time they didn't realize what it would become.  Moran thought it wouldnt last.  Was kinda jaded and told a funny story about how he didnt used to do conventions and tried to hide what he'd done, and then kids would come around his house on Halloween, every so often dressed as Myers and freaked him out, making him think they'd found him.  Said he's been humbled by what happened and is grateful for it.
• Soles wasn't told about the nude scene in the film, only knew Bob and Lynda "go upstairs".

SLEEPAWAY CAMP REUNION:

The Sleepaway Camp panel was really well attended, though Tierston and Saladino did not take part.  Really down-to-earth and humble toward the fans.

• Isaac Hayes (who Hiltzik directed in Return to Sleepaway Camp) was a tremendous guy who always loved to tell stories form his past.
• The cast was unusual when the movie was made because of how young they all were.
• Paul DeAngelo's two brothers ragged on him about his role, Desiree Gould gets recognized from time to time, and Karen Fields was totally in the dark about the reception the film and her character had gotten.  She'd never done a convention before.
• Hiltzik said Karen's original role was supposed to be for a blonde, but Karen did a fantastic job in the role in the end.
  
• Hiltzik thought that horror was the most accessible genre, and wrote the film at the age of 25.  He came up with the beginning and the end, then filled in the middle.  And no one on the cast knew what the ending was.
• MPAA:  "We're really sorry, but we're going to have to give you an R".  Hiltzik:  "Great!"
• Sleepaway Camp Reunion is written, but he needs money to make it and is contemplating 3D.
• The female serial killer came out of a "need to do something different".
• Finishing Sleepaway Camp was easy.  Return to Sleepaway Camp was harder cuz funding fell through.
• Once and for all, Hiltzik did not direct Sleepaways 2 and 3.  Three different people asked him about it.  Stop it.  He even said, given the choice again, he wouldn't have licensed it.
• Felissa was 13 when given the role, her parents were understanding and her role is totally opposite her personality.
• Favorite films, horror and otherwise:  Hiltzik:  Bride of Frankenstein, Fields:  Audrey Hepburn films, Gould:  Likes a wide, varied group specifically mentioning Psycho, DeAngelo:  DeNiro movies, Psycho, and Exorcist.

FRIDAY THE 13TH PART V:

Apologies again.  Picture above used because it was directed by Danny Steinman who also directed Savage Streets.

The panel...which was fairly insane, but not Jason panel level nuts...featured Shavar Ross, Danny Steinman, Ron Sloan, Carol Locatell, and Miguel Nunez, Jr. (who was hilarious).

• Steinman insulated the cast from studio politics.
• In terms of plot, they were told to "turn Tommy into Jason"
• Working on Different Strokes with Gary Coleman taught Shavar Ross quite a lot.
• Kills were destroyed by the MPAA.
• Steinman was once attached to a sequel to Last House on the Left, but it ran out of money.  He made Friday the 13th part V first, then right before they started shooting it, the studio shutdown.
• Nunez mentioned how he loves going to conventions now because it allows them to meet genuine people, not hollywood phonies.
• Ross imitating Steinman during a famous.....water-related scene:  "That's not enough water!  Spray the breasts, spray the breasts!"
• Original name the cast heard when they were cast was "Repetition".  They were super pumped when they got to the set and found out it was a Friday the 13th.
• Sloan's favorite scene was when he died and his head was supposed to roll and look upward.  The MPAA cut that.
• Nunez was so cold, he didn't know if he could cry doing his scene.
• Locatell basically did her own makeup, making herself look dirty.
• Sloan got knocked out in a fight during the movie.  He also once went home to his mother...covered in stage blood.
• Steinman: The nudity amount...was very intentional.
• Shavar Ross had known Jaleel White of Family Matters since one of Flip Wilson's shows.
• Steinman's one casting gripe:  The mayor was a terrible actor.
• Nunez:  Return of the Living Dead was tons of fun, Life was great too.  They laughed and joked all night and played games for money.
• Nunez ran away from home with 3 bologna sandwiches to become an actor.
• The song Nunez sings in the movie was such that it had to be unrecognizable for copyright reason.
• Nunez:  Joey was the worst experience in my life.  The producers thought they were funnier than the actors.

WEREWOLVES:

No picture this time sorry.  I'd use the Katharine Isabelle autograph pic, but she actually didn't take part in the reunion.  So, the werewolf reunion was:  Belinda Balaski, Dee Wallace Stone, and Dick Miller.  Again, they were very nice.  Dick Miller seems a man of few words...and some minor hearing issues.

• Balaski's part in The Howling came about as being written into it after Piranha.
• Stone had to audition for Howling...and kinda pushed for them to cast her fiance...surreptitiously.  And succeeded.
• Miller didn't have to audition.  He usually doesn't have to.
• Stone on Halloween:  She was glad her character wasn't in the original and said it's not a remake really...it's a "robmake".
• Dick Miller always thought Little Shop of Horrors was a movie meant to be played straight.  If a movie is funny, and you play it funny, you're playing it straight.
• Stone:  Cujo was hell and gruesome.  They were freezing.
• Stone:  The Lassie she worked with was dumber than nails.  She couldn't catch socks.  The standin was smarter.  The dogs on Cujo were trained and very smart.
• Miller's favorite Dante films:  The Howling and The Explorers.
• Stone:  Longest day of the Howling was 15 hours.  In the script originally, there was no nudity.  Then they went into the barn and there were 8 topless women around the roof.  Stone objected, they called in the producer, he agreed, and they were pulled.
• Stone:  Working with Zombie is bliss.  Everyone brings their own thing in.
• Miller:  Gremlins was mostly adlibbed, Demon Knight was filled with problems.
• Miller on the Burbs:  "I get to play a garbage man", was also mostly adlibbed.
• Bucket of Blood was also mostly ad-libbed according to Dick Miller.
• Favorite directors:  Belaski:  Dante;  Stone:  Curtis, Dante, Peter Jackson; Miller:  Dante because he left you alone and directed by his castings.
• Stone on Peter Jackson:  He'll be in a new zealand winter...in a parka, shorts, and flipflops.  He's humane.  Zemeckis and Jackson paid for her flights during her husbands fatal illness and played with her daughter on set.  Special effects people even made a harness for her daughter so she could do what her mom was.  She also was the source of the idea that her Frighteners character would get younger as she killed (not older as was the original idea).  Jackson loved it and immediatly incorporated it.
• On remakes:  Belaski:  These movies are nothing like the movies of the 80s, Stone:  You can't capture the soul (she says that's why they're okay.  the other is still there with its soul)
• Stone further on Frighteners:  was immensely fun to shoot and to kill everyone.
• Stone on ET:  Shot in sequence, kids were great, Drew Barrymore was a director, lots of waiting, wouldnt let steven on set one day because he didnt have the ID badge, said the script was amazing and read it behind a locked door.  "It won't do a lot for me...but it will do a lot for a lot of people".
• Miller was asked how many movies he'd done.  He said well if I had to estimate I guess Id say...166.
• Roles they passed up: Belaski was offered Airplane!, Stone didn't really regret passing it up, but really wanted to do it and was working on a series.  They wouldn't hold it for her.  Miller was supposed to be the lead in Little Shop but turned it down for the smaller part.
• On Rob Bottin:  Was always excited about his work on The Howling, and was robbed of the Oscar.
• Fave scenes:  Balaski running to big ben, stone's husband slapping her in the bedroom, Miller explaining about werewolves in the bookstore.

AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON:

David Naughton and John Landis closed out my show with the American Werewolf panel (followed by a showing the movie, which I didn't stay for given time of night and need to drive home). Incidentally, the whole panel room was brought to us by Blood Night:  The Legend of Molly Hatchet.  Which we heard, many times.  It's out on dvd October 30.  I think it has potential.  The host of the show also thanked us for coming and broke down when we applauded him because he does this convention in honor of his late father who got him interested in conventions and the genre to begin with.  In terms of the panel though:

• The songs in American Werewolf in London were written into the script.  They got most of what they were going for.  Missed a Bob Dylan song(he was born-again at the time), Elvis's version of Blue Moon (he had to deal with Col. Parker), and a Cat Stevens song (he was Yusaf Islam at the time).  So as he put it, God, Allah, and Col. Parker.
• Makeup wise, the scleral shells in Naughton's eyes were very difficult to deal with.  When Rick Baker met Naughton, he told him "I feel sorry for you."  To do the shots, it was shot in reverse and out of order, sometimes backwards.
• Landis on Thriller:  Thriller was a good experience.  Michael wanted to be made into a monster.  Landis wanted a woman in it because, "Michael may be many things, but gay no."
• Landis on Black or White:  Michael was still sweet, but on another planet.  Tryed to fulfill his vision without it looking too crazy.
• On Comedy and Horror:  Landis wrote the script intending it to be horror.
• Things you mightve missed:  The main characters in American Werewolf are first seen in the back of a truck filled with sheep.  They're dropped off...outside The Slaughtered Lamb.  And are thereby doomed from the start.  Landis:  "I put the B in subtle".
• Landis pointed out, in terms of the silver bullet not being the killing implement:  "Vampire and werewolf mythos were created by Hollywood and an Edwardian (Bram Stoker)".  In other words, while there exist rules, they're malleable.  The silver bullet was added in "because he was listening to Lone Ranger while it was being written"
• I asked Naughton about how he responded when he saw he was gonna have to ask a boy for his balloons while naked.  He basically said it was par for the course.   Landis then learned something personal about Naughton through this that I will not repeat here out of respect for his privacy.
• Landis said he didn't intend to show the wolf that much, but fell in love with Baker's work.
• New DVD/Bluray will have documentary that has shot of Slaughtered Lamb from the outside.
• Landis once posed the idea of Creature from the Black Lagoon remake in 3D....they filmed footage as a test of their technology and the studio loved it.  In fact they loved it so much...they killed the project and rushed it, using it poorly on Jaws 3-D
• Landis wanted Jack Nicholson for a role he was casting at one point, Nicholson's agent said he wanted to meet with him.  At the time The Shining was out, so he went and saw it, was floored.  He then trekked up to Nicholson's cabin in Aspen...at which point Nicholson scared him half to death by diving out the door yelling "HELLO JOHNNY!"
• Landis's favorite Kentucky Fried Movie skit:  Fistful of Yen
• "Vampires all you need to do is put fangs on them.  Werewolves take work."
• On Twilight:  "It's written by a Mormon!"  Why the vampires can walk around in the daytime:  "Have you ever been in Salt Lake City at a time other than daylight?"
• The two most important things in directing for Landis:  directing and caring about the actor.
• On remakes:  He hopes they do because then he gets a lot of money.  The problem, according to him, is they're remaking bad movies.  That's the terrible ones, but good ones do exist (mentioned The Fly and The Thing)
• On Vincent Price and Thriller:  The song in the video is different.  To get such a long song they had to reloop the whole thing.  (They wouldnt give him the tapes, so Michael had to actually go down with them and take them so he could do so.  They duplicated them at 3AM, had them back by 430).  When Vincent ("call me Vinnie") had to redo his speech, it took him one take.  Then Landis asked for evil laughter...which is what you hear in the video.  One take.  Later Vincent would call him back because he had not gotten anything other than the 300 or so he'd been paid for each the song and the video.  Landis tried to get him the money, called Michael (who told him to call the higher ups), and they would not give it to him.  Later, when Michael was on trial the first time, Landis was in Tower Records in LA with Max, his son and Vincent was there.  He called to him from over the other racks.  "John, what do you think about our friend Michael?"  "Well, I think it's terrible and I really hope it all turns out in the end, I hope he didnt do it."  "WELL, HE CERTAINLY FUCKED ME!"

And on that note, this tired con goer is going to bed.  The next one I'm doing is gonna be a lot smaller and more lowkey so don't expect a huge report from that.

Until next time though, stick to the roads and keep clear the moors.  Beware the moon.