Monster Mania 9 Convention Report



David (who posts on Phantasm-Community as 'theinferno' and will be typing here in RED) and I left our hotel at about 9:15 AM. We arrived at the Crown Plaza Hotel about half an hour before the doors opened. Once inside; we scoped things out quickly finding the locations of Angus' and Reggie's booths.

They were empty but two fans were already in line for our Tall Man. We stepped in behind them and inspired nearly a dozen other people to do so. A few minutes later, in walked our hero (or villain?) carrying a John Ford book in one hand and toting a small piece of luggage in the other. Inside that luggage as we would see, he had no less than ten different stills for fans to have autographed. There were stills from all four Phantasms, Subspecies and Incident On And Off A Mountain Road. Rare stills, too.

I introduced myself as Dustin and what I could only call a blast of recognition came over his face... "Oh, you're Dustin McNeill!". I was delighted that he remembered me from our various communications over the past several months. I pulled out the first item I wanted signed, a 1974 record of 'Korngold: The Classic Erich Wolfgang'. Fans in the know will recall this is the album Angus won a grammy for writing the liner notes in as Rory Guy. To say he was taken back by seeing such a rare item was an understatement. He began telling everyone nearby how he went about writing the notes with Korngold's son and such. He signed it 'To Dustin McNeill - a writing colleague - Rory Guy AKA Angus Scrimm'. How charming! I also had him sign my 11x17 Phantasm poster which Don had already signed and Reggie would sign soon.


Angus autographs my 1974 edition of the album that won him a Grammy award (click to enlarge). (Photo Credit: David Smith aka 'theinferno')
The Rory Guy/Angus Scrimm autograph up close. (Photo Credit: Dustin McNeill)


After Dustin was done hogging Angus' attention I had my turn.  Since he didn't have a clue who I was, I was ecstatic to introduce myself as photographer for the Phantasm Archives.  He asked if I was going to attend and take pictures of the interview and told him I would be there.  (But unfortunately the interview did not work out.)  So as to not keep up the other phans I chose the print I wanted signed--a nice promo shot from Phantasm II--and had him personalize it.

Oh, whatever. I wasn't hogging... Angus just likes to talk to fans. David and I left his table after what must've been a five minute encounter and shopped around the convention for a while. We found our way upstairs and caught the first twenty minutes of a Child's Play screening before deciding to check back for Reggie. Low and behold, he had finally arrived. His line had wrapped around the corner of the next room and moved slow as dirt, but this brings me to a point I'd like to make. Reggie (and Angus to a slightly lesser extent) takes his time with each guest. He gets your name and shakes your hand. He converses with you about whatever... it's really awesome. I kid you not, we counted the line for Danny Trejo (parallel to our own) and he saw 20 people in the amount of time it took Reggie to only see five. I dig the Regman's style on this matter. Same with Angus.

I introduced myself to the Regman and he too recognized me from my website. "Oh, so you're Dustin! Man, I wish Gigi hadn't just walked away!" I had Reggie sign my poster as well as two photos I'd picked up. He personalized one from Phantasm with "Dustin - keep your balls in the air! - Reggie Bannister" and my Phantasm II photo with "Dustin - get the f*ck back! - Reggie Bannister". If you're wondering what's up with that vulgar second signature; it's the line he says in the photo from Phantasm II. I swapped numbers with the Regman to later plan out our evening interview and went on my way; although I'd planned on returning to see Gigi anyway.


Reggie autographs my Phantasm poster (click to enlarge). (Photo Credit: David Smith aka 'theinferno')
My Phantasm poster signed by Angus, Don and Reggie up close. (Photo Credit: Dustin McNeill)

I had my same introduction with Reggie, and had a chance to chat a bit.  I told him about a thread in the Phantasm-Community forums about which was the best weapon--the quad barrel, flamethrower, chainsaw or the tuning fork.  Reggie explained that he was personally fond of the quad barrel for its power and resemblance to his guitar.  He said it was just comfortable.  But also made note of the power of the tuning fork.  At that point I decided on my print which was a good one of him with the Quad.  He personalized it "Hey David...Keep your pockets full-o-shells dude.  Reggie Bannister."  Probably the BEST autograph ever.

The convention was pure bliss for the fans entirely because of the celebrities involved. Ironically, Monster Mania 9 was incompetently put together, poorly promoted, and abysmally executed but the celebrities made it worthwhile. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that Phantasm had by far the second biggest number of supporters among the convention, secondly only to The Devil's Rejects. Our Phantasm boys had longer lines than Halloween, Child's Play, Fright Night, Friday the 13th and Day of the Dead combined. Reggie's line actually had to be rerouted down an ajoining hallway at one point because it grew so long. They gave an entire room to the Halloween crowd which I never once saw come even close to appearing full.

We returned to Reggie's booth a little later on where I finally met the Regman's lovely wife, Gigi. I'd been e-mailing her back and forth since the start of summer was happy to finally meet in-person. The Bannisters were in town shooting a horror movie, Amel J. Figueroa's 'Hush' and we were introduced to some of the cast and director while we loitered around Reggie's table. I even managed to get a photo from Gigi signed 'Dustin - Thanks for the interview! Vampi '07'. How lovely.

We spent the next few hours shopping and perusing the dealers' rooms. I bought a 1998 issue of Fangoria with a cover story of Phantasm: Oblivion and the entire 'Army of Darkness vs. Re-Animator' comic series for mucho less than the cover price. David and I both went in together on a resin statuette of the Puppet Master doll 'Blade' from Full Moon Models.

Before we zoom ahead, we also got a chance to watch a screening of Anchors Bay's flick 'Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon'.  Quite a fun experience with the crowd there.

Zoom forward five hours where Ballroom C is about to come alive with a series of Q&A's with the stars. Starting at '5 was Warwick Davis, followed by Angus and Reggie at '6 followed by a Devil's Rejects Q&A at '7. David and I had a strange feeling that we'd better snag front-row seats for the Warwick Davis session because there probably wouldn't be many folks leaving the ballroom in-between Q&A's. We were right and no one gave up their seats in the time separating Warwick and Reggie/Angus. Lucky for our thinking ahead; again, we had front-row seats. The room for the Phantasm Q&A was packed full; every seat filled. Fans sats in the aisle-ways and stood in the back in the doorways. It did my phan-heart good to see so many people turn out to support our little horror/sc-fi franchise. To read a transcript of the Q&A session, click here.

I didn't get to spend as much time with Angus as I'd hoped but it was a joy to see him in-person. I've found him to be a gentlemen of such immeasurable class these past few months and seeing him in the flesh, he's no different. Likewise, Reggie and Gigi welcomed us with open arms and were extremely accommodating. These three fine people were warm to us and all other fans who attended the convention and it truly meant a lot to meet the minds behind our favorite film series. It will not be soon forgotten.

As my first horror convention/celebrity meeting, or whatever you want to call it, it could not have gone any better.  I was quite touched by the way Angus, Reggie and Gigi treated us and the rest of the fans.  Because they gave so much of their time and effort to each person, including myself, my faith in humanity still exists.  All three are loving and caring people who are quite passionate about what they do, and who they do it for.  And they do it for the phans!

Angus poses with a fan and his tiny but Tall creation (click to enlarge). (Blurry Photo Credit: David Smith aka 'theinferno')