ATLRetro

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

The horror! The horror! Atlanta kicks off its Halloween celebrations with a bang! Spook up the weekend with a whole lotta horror classics by haunting on down to the sixth annual Monsterama Convention (Little Shoppe of Monsterama) invading the Atlanta Marriott Alpharetta and haunting all your senses this weekend (Sept. 27-29)! From legendary actors to spook shows to monstrous sightings, here are our top reasons to get your classic monster fix at MONSTERAMA 2019!

1) SILVER SCREAM SPOOK SHOW. Kool Kat Shane Morton, a.k.a. ghost host with the most, Professor Morte and the Silver Scream Spook Show featuring the Go-Go Ghouls terrify with a live spook show, followed by a monstrous screening of Jack Arnold’s REVENGE OF THE CREATURE in 3D (1955) on 16mm, Saturday beginning at 4pm!

2) FANGTASTIC FILM. It’s monster movie madness with screenings of hellacious classics (most screening in 16mm) including Lucien Hubbard’s THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (1929); Enrique Lopez Eguiluz’s FRANKENSTEIN’S BLOODY TERROR (1968); Leon Klimovsky’s DR. JEKYLL VS. THE WEREWOLF (1972); Denis Sanders’s INVASION OF THE BEE GIRLS (1973); EDGAR ALLAN POE Shorts scored by Valentine Wolfe; Michael Reeves’s THE CONQUEROR WORM (1968); John Badham’s DRACULA (1979) in its original theatrical color; Russ Meyer’s BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (1970); Mario Bava’s BLACK SUNDAY (1960) and more!

3) GHOULISH GUESTS OF THE BIG SCREEN. Catch some killer guests including Jackie Joseph [LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS]; Ian Ogilvy [RETURN OF THE SAINT (78-79); DEATH BECOMES HER (1992); THE SORCERERS (1967)]; Jane Merrow [THE SAINT (1965); THE PRISONER (1967); THE AVENGERS (1967)]; Pauline Peart [THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA (1973); CUBA (1979)]; and so many more!

4) HAUNTED ARTISTS. Without killer artists there would be no monsters to love! Get your fill with the creaturific Kool Kat Mark Maddox; comic artist Craig Hamilton [AQUAMAN; GREEN LANTERN]; comics colorist Matt Webb[FLESH AND BLOOD]; and so many more!

5) MONSTER MAKE-UPS & MORE. Get goregous with monster make-up galore as part of this year’s Makers Track! Kevin Meaux delivers a monstrous “Painting Masks” panel, Fri. at 6pm, followed by Shane Morton’s “Grande Illusions – Special FX from Stage to Screen” panel at 8pm. On Sunday at 11:30am “Make Monsters” with FACE OFF’s Roy Wooley, and so much more monster make-up mayhem in between! Stick around for a creeping cornucopia of frightful faces and monster masks!

6) MONSTER ATTACK!  Award-winning illustrator, Mark Maddox teams up with jack-of-all creative trades, Jim Adams, Kool Kat Madeline Brumby and Clay Sayre letting loose upon the unsuspecting public a monstrous creation, their podcast MONSTER ATTACK! Maddox and Adams’s beastly baby aired its first episode on January 11, 2016, diving head first into the monster madness that started it all for these monster kids [William Castle’s spine-chilling, THE TINGLER (1959) and Douglas Hickox/Eugene Lourie’s THE GIANT BEHEMOTH (1959)]. Catch the Monster Attack! squad at 1pm on Sunday!

7) WARPED WRITERS. Writers make the monstrous world go ‘round, so check out guest authors including our Kool Kat of the Week Nancy A. Collins [SONJA BLUE Series; VAMPIRELLA; SWAMP THING]; Amanda Dewees [NOCTURNE FOR A WIDOW; A HAUNTING REPRISE]; Dacre Stoker, Bram Stoker’s great grand-nephew (DRACUL; DRACULA THE UN-DEAD); Charles Rutledge [DRACULA’S REVENGE]; Jeff Strand [EVERYTHING HAS TEETH; FEROCIOUS; BLISTER]; Neil Vokes [FRIGHT NIGHT; THE KEY ETERNAL]; John Horner Jacobs [SOUTHERN GODS; THIS DARK EARTH]; and vampire aficionado J. E. Browning [GRAPHIC HORROR: MOVIE MONSTER MEMORIES], and so many more!

8) SCARE-TASTIC SHOPPING. Horror cons are the perfect place to stock up on both classic horror memorabilia, cult classics on DVD and creepy clothing, costumes and accessories. So come on down to the dealer’s room and check out all the toys, collectibles and monstrous goodies you can get your ghoulish little hands on!

9) MONSTER PROM. Hey all you boils and ghouls, get frightfully funky at this year’s Monster Prom, Saturday at 8pm! Dust off the old rat-infested tux, clear out the cobwebs, shine up your shoes and get ready to do the Monster Mash, and maybe even Time-Warp into the wee hours of the morning with DJ Rebecca Perry!

MONSTERAMA main con hours are Fri. Sept. 27 from 2 to 12 a.m.; Sat. Sept. 28 from 9 a.m. to 12 a.m.; and Sun. Sept. 29 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more info, visit the MONSTERAMA official website here.