In what was a totally unexpected and unplanned twist, my friend hit me up yesterday and asked me if I wanted to go to Monster-Mania in Oaks, PA. And, my reply was pretty much fuck yeah! This would be my first time ever in Pennsylvania and to a Monster-Mania not in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
Some members of the The Monster Squad cast members were also present. That's one of my favorite movies of all time, so I had to meet at least one. And, so I went up to Ashley Bank, who played the little girl Pheobe. She was super sweet in person and called us troopers for coming in this shitty weather. She also joked with how her fellow LA folk freak out on the roadway when it rains over there, even slightly.
Now, admit ably these last couple of days have been hard for me, with my doggy, Zoey's, birthday coming up next week on the 16th and the first anniversary of her passing being next month on the 12th. So, it was good to have something to do if only get my mind off of things. And, the guest was fucking stacked! We were going on Friday, which is when New York and New Jersey got hit with a shitty rain storm. With the holiday weekend and bad weather our drive in took four fucking hours, but we got there and had a blast.
The first celeb we went up to was the gorgeous Robyn (Twin Peaks, Twin Peaks) Lively. She might have been the highlight of the con (though, to be fair, everyone was super nice to us), being so incredibly friendly and sweet. She talked to both for a nice amount of time. And, in my case, happily showing me pics of the Twin Peaks convention she and other members of the cast attended two weeks ago in Orlando, Florida. You see, I had bought the cover to my complete series Blu-ray to get signed, and I told her how that was one of my all time favorite TV shows of all time. I don't think I can stress, how awesome she is in person. She even, remembered us as she left and waved goodbye to us, later that night!
I then decided to meet some of the cast and crew of Terrifier 2. I haven't seen this sequel, which has become a critical and box office hit, in spite of its indie/ low budget status. That being said, I am a huge fan of the splattery first film.
First I went over to meet Elliott Fullam. I've been a huge fan of him, having followed his metal channel Little Punk People for the longest of time. He's interviewed legends like Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, King Diamond, etc, and done a great job of that. It's great to see him in a franchise horror flick with such a following. He's really a cool and friendly, little dude, in person. He also liked my battle-jacket, which is always flattering to hear.
His costar the gorgeous Lauren LaVera was sitting next to him. And, she was so sweet and all smiles, as I met her. I've been hearing great things about her performance in the slasher sequel and can't wait to see it for myself!
The last of the those from this movie that were there, that I went up to, was the writer/ director/ FX artist of both movies: Damien Leone. We talked to him for a bit and learned that he once delivered flowers to the Godfather house in Staten Island! And, that a doctor now lives there.
The last celeb I met, might be the one I was most pumped to meet: Devon Sawa! Funny thing was I was watching this past Wednesday's excellent episode of Chucky and loving his acting as the asshole priest. As such, I thought to myself how much I would love to meet and low and behold it happened! He was really cool and friendly in person as he talked to us.
He also asked me who's autograph I had on my DVD of Final Destination. I told him that it was Ali Larter. And, how I got it at an old Fangoria Weekend of Horrors, when she and the rest of the cast were promoting the second flick. He said that damn that's a long time ago, which, of course, it is! In all the talking we had with him and being how tired I felt, I almost left said DVD on his table. But, he he called out to me telling how I had forgotten it. Glad he did because replacing her autograph is close to impossible!
After that I visited the Elm Street house! Well, at least a background set up of it, anyway.
These are the autographs that I got:
Devon Sawa: Final Destination
Elliot Fullam: Terrifier 2 pic (which was shot in the character that he plays room but with his record and art collection)
Robyn Lively: Twin Peaks
Ashley Bank: The Monster Squad
Damien Leone: Terrifier
One thing I really liked was the fact that they had a big ass dealer's room, a couple with some good deals. I didn't buy a whole lot of swag, but I did get:
A KidRobot Phunny Godzilla
And, from Severin Films Booth:
The Strange Vice Mrs. Wardh
Nightmare Castle
Day of the Animals
I've seen all three of these movies before, and they're all fucking good!
We headed home at closing time 10PM, which meant we got home late. We were dead tired (and hungry!), but we had a blast. I would definitely go back to this version of Monster-Mania!
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