By Dustin Hall
Welcome boils and ghouls! Tonight, ol’ Dustin is going to break formality to give you a first person account of horror. This tale takes place in Burbank, California, normally a place of sunny days and frolicking youth, turned instead, for one weekend, into a place of monsters and mayhem. In this place, the Masters of Horror come together to play, and to share their own haunted histories. I call today’s terror tale Son of Monsterpalooza.
September 20th I took a very nice girl to Disney Land. In exchange, the 19th was mine, all mine, to run and play at the Son of Monsterpalooza convention. Now, I haven’t gotten to go to more than a handful of horror cons in my years, so I don’t have a ton of examples for comparison, but personally I had a blast at the con, and hopefully a few of you dear readers might make it out yourself one of these days to take in what was a pretty damn good time. This particular convention is based around showcasing special effects and mask-creation skills from a number of very talented artists, many of whom have had their works showcased in the television series Face Off and numerous classic horror films. Of course, while the origins of the con lay with special fx and make-up, it has grown to include plenty of horror merchandise and iconic actors and directors over time.
My personal experience began with me walking in the door past the ticket-taker, and turning to realize that Sid Haig was behind me in line, waiting to have his booth space opened up by the convention attendees. Turning back around, I almost immediately run right into Tom Savini, who wasn’t even a guest at the con, but rather just walking for his own pleasure, and undoubtedly seeing what other FX geniuses had been engineering lately. This was just the beginning of many sightings of some of my heroes throughout the day.
The dealer hall isn’t huge, but has plenty of stuff to look at. Of course, given the nature of Monsterpalooza, many of the pricetags are out of the range of casual collectors. Statues, custom masks, FX and make-up equipment, props, and crafts all command a high price that people not creating their own horror film might not be able to pick up. However, even if you can’t afford the services of a world class monster sculptor, being able to see them create new fiends on the spot is still worth the time. And when you’re done reminiscing with the likes of the Chiodo Brothers, the impoverished among us can still go hunting for the usual fare of T-shirts, DVDs, posters, and action figures.
For myself, the highlight of the day was checking out the Masters of Horror reunion panel, which brought back four of the directors from the series, Mick Garris (The Stand), Tom Holland (Fright Night), Larry Cohen (The Stuff), and William Malone (The House on Haunted Hill) to reflect not just on the series, but also on their time in the world of horror cinema, and how it’s evolved over time. This was followed up with a long conversation with Tom Holland, who I found to be a very gracious speaker, open about the craft, both the art and the business behind it.
In fact, this was really the greatest asset of the convention. It wasn’t the biggest convention I’ve been to, by any means. And yeah, the guests were all typically selling something or charging for autographs and all that. But at the same time, it being a small con allowed for a lot of personal interaction that I’m not used to at most cons. The directors were happy to tell stories about creating scares for audiences, Tom Atkins (Night of the Creeps) was calling out weirdly to passersby, Lance Henricksen (Alien) was sharing hard boiled stories from hard sets, and Juliet Landau (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) was deep in conversation about her personal beliefs about the meaning of vampire mythology. Unlike most cons, there was time to sit and chat with your favorite creative minds. You could just run into Doug Jones (Hellboy) and Garris and Savini on the floor and say hello and strike up a conversation. It was, honestly, one of the most open and friendly convention experiences I’ve had in a while, compared to the cold and business-like demeanor that so many comic conventions have these days, and I recommend everyone to check it out before it grows into something more commercial and loses that unique charm.
For those interested, the original Monsterpalooza meets this spring in Pasadena, California April 22-24 of 2016, before the Son rises again next fall. Check out their Facebook or webpage, and watch for updates on guests and times!