Wow, a very packed and fun filled convention. Let me tell you my ass is laying on the couch all day today to recover. Late nights, fun fun fun, even some fun drama!

Friday night I met up with my friends Michelle and Nick, who travel down from North Jersey for the convention. We decided to try and deal with the lines and meet as many people as we could that night, but in reality didn’t really get to all that many people. I think we waited the longest for “The Boondock Saints.” I have to be honest, I only saw half the movie, and I wasn’t sure how it fit into a “Horror Movie” convention. I only really wanted to meet Sean Patrick Flannery. I got him to sign a “Young Indy” photo, but because it was getting late, they decided for photos to just have us all do a group photo with all the starts.

I will say, after talking to them, hearing them talk, and the fact that they really hung out with all their fans, I’m gunna have to finish the movie. It’s not that it was bad, but it’s not my normal cup of tea, and I shut it off one night to go to bed. I do hear the 2nd one stunk royally, and they only gave hints of a possible third one (that might take place in between one and two I think they said).

We also met Felissa Rose that night. What a hoot she was! She was Angela in “Sleepaway Camp.” She was so funny and had such cool stories to tell. Michelle then got it in her head that I must have a certain item at home I could bring Felissa, which would make taking pictures even more humorous and fun for her. Felissa thought it was a hysterical idea . . . I said I knew of a store and would see if I could get one. However shucks, time wasn’t on my side! I will admit, I did not fancy the idea, it made me uncomfortable! If you know the movie, you can probably guess what the item is 🙂

Friday night was the first bit of drama at the hotel. After all the signing was done, everyone hangs out in the loby and restaurant/bar at the hotel. A couple showed up in wedding attire and was taking photos with all the people who dress up and walk around as characters. I don’t know if they specifically got married because of/at the convention, or if they just wanted the photos for fun. The honeymoon didn’t last long though . . . as later a mysterious couple was having a fight and throwing clothes from the 5th floor window of the hotel. The cops came, and it turns out it was the newlyweds!

Saturday was a new day, and I was beat. I got very little sleep the night before, so I was dragggging. However it was a great day and I met a lot of cool people. Sadly I still need to practice my smiling as apparent from some photos 🙂

Much of the cast from “Pet Semetery” was there. Meeting Dale Midkiff was a treat, cause he was the sexy in that movie! I also told him that I got sucked into alllll those 8 million “Love Built Me An Outhouse” movies on Hallmark. He said “I am so sorry!” He asked if I saw the first one with Kathrine Heigl, saying that was his favorite. That to me says something, cause there are always rumors out there about her attitude and difficulty.

Denise Crosby was a hoot and like Felissa, had soooooo many good stories to tell. I really should have asked her to film a message for John, something like “John, if you didn’t work 24/7, you could have met Tasha Yar.” John is a big Trekkie. She also had a stuffed “Church” cat from the movie to pose with in photos if you wanted.

Finally there was little Miko Hughes, who played baby Gage in the movie. However he’s best known as the kid who said “Boys have a penis, girls have a vagina.” It was fun to hear him talk about the few memories he had of filming the movie, as well as Denise and Dale’s story’s about him on set.

Of course the big star of the convention, aside from the Boondocks, was John Carpenter himself. It was so cool to meet the guy who wrote and directed my most favorite movie ever “The Fog!” His Q&A session was also amazing, as he is just so hilarious and has a mouth on him. I also got to meet Ty Mitchell, who played Andy in “The Fog,” Adrienne Barbeau’s son.

Finally . . . I got the answer to a question that has always bothered me, and one that even google has been unable to answer (except for what people have assumed). In the movie Andy wakes his mom up to show her the neat gold coin he found, which then turned into a piece of wood. He then asks if he can have a “Stomach pounder and a coke.” What the hell is a stomach pounder? I have always wanted to know. People on google believe that it is code for pop rocks, alluding to the myth that Mikey from the Life cereal commercials died while eating pop rocks and drinking a coke. Others say it’s a QuarterPounder, but with a name change as they didn’t want to pay royalties. Not so though! It is actually a small single serving heavy twinkie/poundcake-like confection. The name was something between mom and son, a family dish/nickname for the item. Mystery solved!

However meeting one guest, someone who I was not expecting to be there as she wasn’t on the original guest list, blew my mind. It turned out she was John Carpenter’s rep/agent, and was there for him, but the convention people told her she should just bring some photos and set up a table in the room with him just in case. Good thing she did, cause I was one of the people who wanted to meet her. Seriously, I think she probably made the whole convention for me. Not that the others weren’t awesome, but this was a surprise treat from my childhood.

Oh yes, I am talking about Miss Erin Gray, Colonel Wilma Derring herself! Next to “Wonder Woman,” “Buck Rogers” was probably my most favoritist (kid word) show to watch when I was little. I of course had to have her sign the “Space Vampire” photo for me, as I remember that episode used to terrify me (along with the guy with the glowing hands).

After all the signatures, line standing and Q&A sessions we went to, it was time to relax a bit before calling it a night. Michelle and Nick had decided to stay Saturday night too, which they normally don’t. They booked a different cheaper hotel a bit later on though. It was right down the road, they thought it would be okay. Thought being the key word . . . The problem is once you pass the hotel the convention is, you are caught between Cherry Hill and Philadelphia, and in between is Camden and the outskirts of Camden. It gets ghetto fast, and this hotel was Gheeeeettttooooo!

From the minute we pulled in and walked around looking for the lobby, we knew it was bad. There was one hotel/building clearly where the (white trash) guests were staying, and a second separate hotel that had clearly been converted into a weekly/monthly renters complex. We got the room key and were afraid to go in. At first it didn’t seem bad, oh it had not been updated in decades, but it didn’t seem bad.

Then the music from the room next door began pounding through the walls. Then I noticed the baby cockroach crawling on the mini-refrigerator. Michelle dared to use the bathroom, screaming “There are pubes on the floor!” Then for some unknown reason we found toilet paper wadded in the doorframe corner, a long with a hell of a lot of cobwebs in the ceiling corner. Nick said he’d forgo the 75 bucks and they could drive home, but Michelle took charge and got them a full refund. Oh did I mention as we were leaving a domestic dispute occurred? Apparently some white trash guy smacked his girlfriend, and they all started screaming and getting the neighbors who they apparently knew involved in it. YEah, it was time to go!

We just went back to the convention hotel and hung out for a bit. Many of the stars were in the lobby just talking to people, taking photos and what not. Then there was some poor unfortunate kid who drank far too much and put on a show for everyone. We all watched him try and keep from falling down, and we were just waiting for him to puke everywhere. He eventually vanished, to where nobody knows. He swore to everyone though he wasn’t driving. He kept trying to call people on his phone until some girl took it and put it in his pocket saying he didn’t seem to be having much luck on the phone.

So that was Monster Mania in a nutshell!