Greetings from beautiful Burbank California where Monsterpalooza 2014 is in full effect. I’m having a blast so far–perhaps too much fun in fact. After checking into the Marriott, the first things I did was contact one of the city’s finest medicinal marijuana delivery services: Charity Collective. Big Val came out with a bad of goodies from which I selected a variety of treats to enhance the festive mood. I settled on an eighth of Blue Dream that smelled sweet as candy (can’t really go wrong with Blue Dream) and a gram of a seriously dank indica called Abusive (as in, it really fucks you up). I also splurged on some delightful edibles. I was in fine form when the event kicked off at 6 PM.
Read some details about the first night of Monterpalooza after the jump.
My biggest accomplishment of the day was meeting the actors who played the 4 original Cenobites and the actress who plays Kristy Cotton in the first two Hellraiser movies. An attempt to record the feat with my buddy Milo behind the laptop-cam proved hilarious. Unfortunately, my lack of an external mic made the resulting footage completely inaudible, lost in a frenzied din that surrounded us.
First I met and talked to Ashley Laurence (Kristy Cotton) who seemed a bit overwhelmed; the convention had just kicked off an hour earlier and she hadn’t really settled into her table yet. Next up, I got to ask Doug Bradley (Pinhead) a couple questions; I’ve got to admit that, even without makeup, he’s a very imposing figure. I tried to make a couple jokes, but he soon tired of me and threated to tear my soul apart if I didn’t move on from his table. I had a much better time chatting it up with the Chatterer, Nicholas Vince, who gave me some insight into the new scenes being added to Nightbreed: The Cabal Cut. He also shared his book of short stories (which I’ll discuss in-depth in another follow-up). Next, I had a really interesting time talking to Simon Bamford (Butterball). An interesting thing about Simon is he looks like a sweet fellow, almost hobbit-esque. Definitely a contrast to the bloated disgusting Cenobite he portrays. I got some really fascinating insight into Butterball, including the fact that he was supposed to have dialog. The only reason he’s mute is because the fake teeth Simon had to wear made proper pronunciation almost impossible. Want to know what Butterball’s lines would have been? That shall be revealed in a future blog. Finally, I spent over 10 minutes talking to Barbie Wilde (Female Cenobite), mostly about her new book: The Venus Complex. She’s a beautiful, vivacious character who seemed to revel in the conversation as much as I did. It’s kind of embarrassing, but I had run out of money before I got to her table and lacked the appropriate donation for my autograph. She signed my Lament Configuration anyway when I promised to return after I hit the ATM. She commented that if I stiffed her, she’d seek me out and my suffering would be legendary. Awesome lady.
I managed to take in the screening of scenes from the upcoming documentary about Vampira but I barely had time to make the rounds in the convention center itself which is literally stuffed with amazing art and memorabilia. 11 PM seemed to roll around way too quickly (possibly due to the time altering effects of the special brownie I had consumed back up in my hotel suite). Thank Baby Satan that this is a 3 day convention, because there is so much to absorb.
I had planned on taking in the sneak preview of scenes from Harbinger Down (an upcoming Horror/Sci-Fi starring Lance Henricksen) this morning, but some stooge decided to schedule it for 10 AM. Luckily I’m awake for the rest of today’s screenings. I’m most excited about seeing Screamfest’s presentation of Horror shorts tonight. Another goal of mine for today is to sneak in an interview with Lawrie Brewster, the director of the Scottish Gothic Lord of Tears (which is screening in it’s entirety tomorrow afternoon). Also, Saturday promises to be much busier than yesterday, so the people watching should be epic.
Check back tonight and tomorrow for more on what I’m up to and who I’m talking to. Time for me to get back in the mix!
bloodandgutsforgrownups.wordpress.com 
Leave a comment