Hey, did you know I love
horror movies? By now you should, and if you don't then it probably
just means that it's been too long since I've written anything. Good,
bad, or just awful I love them all. Although I'm getting weary of
this new SyFy channel trend of making ridiculously bad horror movies
on purpose. They're much more fun for me when the filmmakers are
operating under the delusion that they're doing something really
good. It's like a Mystery Science Theater 3000 movie I was watching
with the husband one night, and IMDB said that the guys who made the
movie thought it would be funny if it ended up there. That bugged me,
and it's the same with horror. Sharknado was fun and all, but it got
old pretty quick. Much like Tara Reid at a party (more on her later
though). So anyway, it seemed like a natural thing for me to go to
Days of the Dead, and I'm glad my horror buddy Sharron suggested it.
So along with our other horror pal Rich we headed off to the Sheraton
for a day of terror, mimosas, and money wasting.
First off, we were
extremely early. Not that we thought we were. The Thing cast reunion
panel (the main reason we were there in the first place) was set for
1pm. We thought if we got there early we could get the lay of the
land, grab a mimosa, and be in line early for the panel. We got there
right at opening and you could still hear power drills going so they
were clearly not ready when we were. It's important to note though
that the bar in the Sheraton doesn't open until 12:30, so never go to
anything there that might be greatly enhanced by a drink as early as
we did. Unless you're packing your own.
A few of the celebrities were
set up though, and by the time we had figured out where everything
was going to be happening there was already a pretty good sized line
for Keith David. His was the only autograph I really wanted anyway. I
mean he was great in They Live and The Thing, and just about
everything else he's ever done. But since I'm also a huge video game
nerd I was more interested in having him sign my copy of Mass Effect
3. I wanted to thank him for helping me save the universe, but the
line was getting longer, and he was trying to keep it moving, and I
got flustered. So I didn't say the most insanely dorky thing
I've ever even thought of saying to someone I respect. I guess that's
probably okay. It's bad enough that my friends heard me say it. Note
to self: kill friends.
On either side of Keith David were Meg Foster
and Richard Masur. Meg Foster's eyes have always creeped me out so we
moved over to Richard Masur. He turned out to be a really nice guy.
He had this super cool Swedish poster of The Thing that he signed for
Sharron, and since she was admiring an 8x10 of his head in a fridge
from It he just gave it to her. He also called us girls so that went
a long way toward making us like him. We had a little time to wander
before the bar opened and we could finally get our mimosas before
hitting the panel. There were guys wandering around in really
elaborate makeup and costumes all day. We saw a surprisingly
unsettling group of 6 Michael Meyers wandering around together. There
were tons of zombies, an awesome Tucker and Dale (Tucker was even
carrying around a severed torso), and Juggalos. The Juggalos were the
scariest of all. I wanted to ask them how magnets work, but I kind of
thought those guys wouldn't have a great sense of humor.
The Thing panel was really
good. So good that I'm going to have to write a separate post about
it do it justice so check back with Needless Things soon. Of course
you should be checking in daily anyway, but that's not the point
right now. Speaking of needless things, I did buy some useless crap.
I had brought con sized cash with me, and couldn't have it go to
waste just because the con was small. I blew $15 buck on buttons and
pins to jazz up my boring bag, and tossed $30 away on a fridge
magnet. Before you judge me it was a really cool fridge magnet. It
was a zombie Ash hand carved from wood from the Evil Dead cabin and
carrying a jar of earth from around the cabin. Judge its coolness for
yourself:
Let's never tell my
husband I spent that much money on a magnet. And since he never reads
my posts the only way he'll find out is if one of you tell him. I
will find you...
So the illustrious
proprietor of this site didn't arrive until the afternoon, and Rich
went off with him to watch the Dee Snider/guys from Rob Zombie movies
panel. As Sharron and I had no interest in that we opted for the bar.
I feel like I'm supposed to like Rob Zombie, but I just don't. I hate
that whole backwoods, white trash murder family thing that he does.
It totally ruined the new Halloween for me. But then that's fairly
sacred ground for me. The bar was hopping by this time, and we took
the only empty seats at the bar without even looking at who was
around us. We sat chatting and watching some weird Olympic sport
where you ski and then shoot a rifle. I don't know what it's called,
but it's really weird. Then we start looking around. In the seat next
to Sharron is some dude, and next to him is the infamous Tara Reid.
We soon realize that the two dudes flanking her are her handlers, and
it's even more obvious that it will take two of them to keep her
upright for long. She's really tiny so I'm sure one would normally
suffice, but she's also pretty drunk so probably the reason for the
back up dude. Plus it's probably hard to get double teamed if you
don't have two guys. Sorry, that was mean, but since it made me
chuckle I'm going with it. Unfortunately, the bar was too crowded for
us to be able to discreetly eavesdrop on their conversation. Honestly
it didn't seem like it was a very coherent conversation anyway. The
handlers did us a solid though by holding our seats for us during a
smoke break so that was nice. Once we were aware of Tara Reid's
presence it did become impossible to pay attention to anything else.
It turns out that it's really hard to stare at someone on the sly,
but everyone else was doing it, and she seemed to not mind. Or notice
really. I think she was pretty far gone because when the bill came
she seemed to think that she had paid already. It took both handlers
to explain that she hadn't paid yet (at least for this particular
trip to the bar). When she finally tottered away (that's the only way
to describe the way she walked in her huge heels) Sharron snapped a
picture of her bar tab. The fact that her bar tab was less than $30
supports my multiple bar trips theory. I don't know if she's cheap or
just couldn't do math, but she tipped less than 20% too. Since there
were probably 200 people lined up for her signing session I know she
made some money that day. And if anyone ever wants to sleep in the
same bed that Tara Reid slept in she stayed in room 229.
By this time we were
starting to run out of steam so we headed back down to the dealer
room for one last pass before heading out for the day, and I finally
ran into the man in the mask. But as he was popular and tipsy we
didn't see him long before he wandered away like the important boss
man he is (since he's not paying me I feel entitled to crack wise).
So money squandered, time killed, and beers drank I left the Days of
the Dead both more and less satisfied than I wanted. I think if they
get themselves better organized they could really turn it into
something. As it stands now it's just a nice little con where you can
hang out for a reasonable price. If the guy who played Oogie Boogie
in the Nightmare Before Christmas cancels on you then you know you're
not quite there yet. Maybe next year I'll have something REALLY good
to write about. Maybe next year I'll work up the courage to say
something horrifyingly dorky to Keith David.
-Beth V
May I ask where you got the Evil Dead magnet?
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