Rob and Tom Go To Crypticon 2012

Today was an eventful day.  A buddy and I decided to check out Crypticon 2012, a horror convention here in Minnesota, in hopes of scoring some awesome swag.  Unfortunately Ceej couldn’t make it due to him dying or something, but my friend Tom was up for it.  This wasn’t my first Crypticon but in the subsequent years the shows have gotten bigger while at the same time still feeling quite intimate.  This year’s guests didn’t disappoint.  Tom “Sex-Machine” Savini, Richard “Jaws” Kiel, Richard “Jason Voorhees” Brooker, Sid “Captain Spaulding”  Haig, Melanie “Pam the chainsaw wielder” Kinneman, and Cerena “I showed my tits and shaved off my skin in Cabin Fever” Vincent even showed up.

 

Tom and I got there around 2 and unfortunately we missed the Q&A session featuring Tom Savini.  It was a bummer but then we saw a 12 year old kid dressed up as Hannibal Lecter being wheeled around the hotel.  It kind of made up for it.

We hit up one of the dealer rooms and were greeted to the best site a horror fan could ask for.  Tons of people with a passion for horror, countless booths filled with various memorabilia, and the stars taking pictures and signing autographs.  Right away we heard Sid Haig’s unmistakable voice and he was to be our first stop of the day.  We chose the pictures we wanted signed and were able to chat with Sid about when we can expect to see The Lords of Salem.  He dodged the question unfortunately so we just made small talk and told him how much we love his work and that I loved him in Foxy Brown.  I’ve met him before and he really is an awesome, down to earth, kind of guy.  You can tell he appreciates his fans.  So of course we took a picture with him.

After thanking Sid for being awesome we decided to check out some of the stuff for sale.  A ton of toys, movies, posters, and more were all around us.

The urge to just start buying stuff was hard to resist. There was this killer Dawn of the Dead poster I saw that I just had to have so of course I grabbed it.

We walked around some more and ran into some colorful people.  Like this lady.

And this guy.

Then there was this guy.  This costume was freaking awesome.  It towered over everyone and he was walking around the convention messing with people.

 

After checking out all of the vendor items in one room, we decided to check out one of the other rooms in hopes for some more autographs.  We were lucky enough to meet and chat with both Richard Brooker (Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th Part 3) and Melanie Kinnaman  (Pam Roberts in Friday the 13th: A New Beginning) and I’m pretty sure Melanie was into Tom.  Tom and I also had a smoke with Richard.  So that’s cool.  I get to say I smoked with Jason Voorhees. But remember kids, smoking is bad.  So don’t do it.  Unless you have a chance to smoke with Jason Voorhees.

I was also lucky enough to have both of them, along with Tom Savini, to sign my Crystal Lake Memories book which is a must own if you’re a fan of the Friday the 13th series.  My goal is to get Corey Feldman, Kane Hodder, and Crispin Glover to sign this book.  IT WILL HAPPEN.

After chatting with Richard and Melanie we decided to see if Tom Savini was back in the other room signing autographs.  Tom Savini is one of my heroes.  The work this man has done is some of the best and most often copied effects work in the business.  It has always been a goal of mine to meet him and to tell him how much I love the work he’s done.  There was a bit of a line to meet him  but it was worth it.   Tom and I both were able to get his autograph on our limited edition blu-ray of Night of the Living Dead.  Savini even commented as Tom handed him the sleeve that he was still waiting on his copies.  We all laughed and then Savini mentioned that while the blu-ray has a commentary by him, that he honestly doesn’t remember doing it.  “It was 30 years ago!” he exclaimed before signing the rest of our memorabilia. Since Ceej couldn’t make it, I decided to be an awesome friend and get him an autograph as well.  It’s great.  I’m not going to spoil it yet, but once I give it to Ceej you can hear about it in an upcoming Brain Dead Radio episode.  He’s gonna love it.

I also got him to sign my favorite Dawn of the Dead poster I own.  The awesome UK version.

After meeting and getting our autographs it was time to pick up some more memorabilia.  I was able to score this sweet Freddy from my favorite of the Nightmare series (Dream Warriors).

I also got a chance to chat with artist Troy Holbrook who I am a big fan of.  He does some amazing crime scene photography.  He was at the first Crypticon I went to and I scored a great 3 piece photograph collection that hangs in my bathroom.  He had even more photos for sale, so I decided to grab yet another 3 piece collection that is going to look awesome above my current one.

I was unable to find a poster I was looking for though.  I really was hoping some dealer was going to have the Mondo poster for Dream Warriors.  Alas, it was not meant to be.  We chatted with some more people, talked to a group of guys dressed as the Ghostbusters, and then Melanie kept flirting with Tom.  We didn’t get a chance to meet Richard Kiel but we did say hi to him as he drove past us on his scooter.  The guy is HUGE. We both had a great time this year.

 

Each year the show gets better and better and I’ll definitely be going again next year.  Now it’s time to relax and watch Tony Todd fuck up some zombies.