By Mike Lera
Ascending out of the graves and escaping from the catacombs, Son of Monsterpalooza and its myriad of horrors once again served as a spine-tingling segue into Halloween, offering fright fans a surplus of thrills and chills for their proverbial trick or treat bags and shocking-stocking stuffers.
Held at the Marriott Hotel in Burbank, CA Oct 11-13, SOM housed aisles of art pieces, multiple showcases, countless paraphernalia, parades of creature cosplay, rows of celebrity signings and dozens of photo ops – enough to make its con father, Monsterpalooza, proud of its abominable child.
Amongst SOM’s top features, The Return of the Living Dead (1985) stood as the show’s centerpiece, an old school horror-comedy zombie flick about a toxic gas that reanimates corpses hungry for brains. At a Q & A discussion panel commemorating Living Dead’s 40th anniversary, actors Thom Mathews, Linnea Quigley, Miguel Nunez and Allan Trautman reminisced over off camera “stuff” and the difficulties of 1980’s practical effects.
“Being inside that [zombie] suit was not fun, and because we were always behind schedule, I’d be sitting around in the costume’s headpiece for hours for no real reason!” recollected Trautman, who played the iconic “Tarman” zombie with the memorable line, “More brains!” “However, anytime you get to play a movie villain – it’s fun! You have to enjoy it. Otherwise, you’re not a good villain, because villains enjoy themselves.”
For horror geeks demanding clarity, ROTLD (directed by the late Dan O’Bannon) is not within the same universe as George Romero’s Night Of The Living Dead and its sequels, though it can be considered a “spin off” to the 1968 film.
Other panels and panelists included Kevin Durand (Abigail), Griffin Dunne (An American Werewolf In London), Mira Sorvino discussing Guillermo del Toro’s Mimic (1997) and Evil Dead’s Bruce “Ash” Campbell, whose autograph/photo line extended well into the parking lot.
Also joining the SOM fun was legendary heavy metalist Ozzy Osbourne and the entire Osbourne family, as well as celebs David Naughton (An American Werewolf In London), Wednesday 13 (Murderdolls), Natasha Henstridge (Species I-III), Kim Myers (A Nightmare on Elm Street 2) and Linda Blair (The Exorcist). A last minute SOM guest was horror filmmaker Eli Roth, talking with fans about his latest outings, Thanksgiving and this year’s Borderlands.
Monsterpalooza, The Son’s dreadful dad, will be resurrecting at the Pasadena Convention Center May 30th-June 1st, 2025. Miss it not!
All photos taken by Mike Lera