Thursday, July 7th
I’d been looking forward to this year’s Monster Bash for quite some time. The fact that they were going to have guests from the film Robot Monster actually had me excited for a show. That doesn’t happen often these days. Plus, I just love the feel of this show, not to mention the killer dealer room.
Next month, at the annual Flashback Weekend will be taking place at the Crown Plaza, in Rosemont, IL., one of the many guests that will be attending is legendary director Don Coscarelli, the man who gave us the highly memorable film Phantasm. Phans had been hearing that the original film was getting the remastered treatment for an upcoming release, but now you can have the chance to see this new print screened at a theater!
Last weekend, we were at the Cinevent Classic Film Convention in Columbus and had a lot of fun. Sure, it would have been nice to have a few more bodies coming through the door, but that didn’t stop us from selling a few things, meeting a few people (including another die-hard Naschy fan), as well as picking up a few things for my own collection. This show is a good old fashion memoribilia show. No guests charging money for autographs, but just a bunch of dealers selling everything from posters to lobby cards to stills and much more. Yes, this wasn’t just a horror show, but we were still able to find some good stuff. Although, I have to say, when you come across a table with about 8 stacks of movie posters, each about six inches high, and the dealer says “all posters are a buck each”, you know your back is going to killing you when you’re done going through them all, but you do it anyway. We’re going to plan on going to this show again next year and see how it goes. If we do well again, maybe we’ll make this a regular stop on our World Tour!
One of the things that I really love about Monster Bash is the guests that they get are not the ones that you’re going to typically see at most shows. Sure, that may be because of the ones they do try and get are from the older and classic films. And by that I mean ones that came before the 80s! Not that there is anything wrong, but most of those names you will be able to see at a half a dozen different shows throughout the year. But like Cinema Wasteland, Ron Adams at Monster Bash tries to do it a little different.
There is an old fashion movie memorbilia show that has been running since the late ’60s, called Cinevent. This is not like modern day conventions because there are no celebrities here. It is just about the memorbilia and keeping old movies alive and well. It is not a horror show, but of all genres. They screen old movies throughout the entire weekend, so it really is about the movies. The only money exchanging hands here besides paying to get in, is in the dealer room. So it will be a nice change of pace then some of the other shows that we do on a regular basis.
Last year at a different show, a group of the usual suspects that I hang around with during the afterhours, we’re having our usual meeting on solving the whole cold fusion problem, as well as a couple of other world issues, when we were joined by another gentleman who asked if he could join our little assemblage. We welcomed this stranger into our discussions and quickly realized this guy knew his shit and we became good friends after that evening. Over the next 18 hours, Scott Bradley, our newest soldier, was told by several people that he should really plan on making it out to Cinema Wasteland, since that was THE show for diehard fans. And so he did, making his first (of I’m sure to be many) appearance this last April. And he was not disappointed.
This weekend, we will be making our 29th trip out to Strongsville, Ohio, for the Cinema Wasteland Movie and Memorabilia Expo, as we’ve been doing since Sept. of 2000. No other show out there has run this long, being held at the very same hotel since the first one, and has created a reputation for being a show for the real die-hard movie fan. This is one of the few shows left that really is about celebrating the movies and the people behind them. There is always plenty of things going on to keep a movie fan occupied and entertained. From the Q&A panels to the film screening in two different rooms, you will never be bored. This time out, you’ll get the chance to see titles like The Green Slime (1968), Queen of Outer Space (1958), and Stanley (1972), all screened from 16mm prints! In the video room, you can watch classics like King Kong Escapes (1967) or Psychos in Love (1987), and much more.
In Cincinnati this last weekend, it was our first stop on the 2016 Kryptic World Tour, and boy, was it a doozy! I’ve been doing this show since the very beginning and am always amazed at the crowds they bring in each and every time. Of course, in this day and age, being a dealer at any convention is always a challenge, since you’re competing not only with other dealers, but more importantly, with the price of autographs and Photo Ops. But I have to say I was thrilled to see so many people stop by our table over the 3-day weekend and purchase a book (or two, or three) from us. It showed me not only that the interests in horror reference books is still out there, but also the desire for fans to learn more about the genre we love. And I have to say, that makes this old man pretty happy.
Now that we’ve made it past the holidays, putting the old year into all but memories, it is time to get ready for this new one and start planning our Kryptic World Tour for 2016. Our first stop in the new tour won’t be until the middle of March, at the HorrorHound Weekend in Cincinnati, but we are counting the days for that. A few weeks after that, we’ll be heading out to Ohio again for the Cinema Wasteland show. We have posted below our full schedule of shows (that we know of so far) that we are planning on attending. There might be one or two more that we’ll add later on in the year, such as maybe a movie marathon or drive-in event, but we’ll let you know when we find out.
Next weekend, I will be making the trip to Mars…Mars, Pennsylvania, that is, for the October Monster Bash Conference! Last June, we did our first Bash and had such a great time that I knew I wanted to come back for more. Of course, this is going to be an interesting trip since I will be making it on my own. The rest of the Kitley crew can’t make it for a variety of reasons, so that means it is just going to be me. Hopefully I’ll survive the 7 hour/500 mile drive each way! Unless I can con some poor SOB to make the trip with me!
I 
was bummed to hear that Barbara Steele had to cancel due to illness and wish her a speedy recovery. But the Bash head honcho Ron Adams didn’t waste any time in getting a replacement. In fact, a BIG replacement! Mr. B.I.G. himself, Bert I. Gordon, director of such classics as Food of the Gods, Empire of the Ants, The Amazing Colossal Man, The Cyclops, and many more. He will be joining the rest of the guests, such as Anne Serling (Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling’s daughter), Blue Demon Jr., Jeremy Ambler, Lisa Marie, Felix Silla, and Pat Priest..
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