You don't have to be all that involved with reading horror novels or watching scary flicks or attending Halloween-themed mazes to know that a particular ghoulie has garnered the lion's share of attention in recent years.
Or shall we say the zombie's share of attention. The undead have been big business as of late, like vampires were a decade ago, but any monster maven can tell you that the shambling moaners ruling pop culture at the moment are just one of many monsters worthy of our attention.
And eeks, too, of course. Son of Monsterpalooza, an annual three-day convention in Burbank, unleashes a whole cavalcade of creepies each and every year upon a grateful, ghoulish-at-heart fandom. The party, which will growl/glower/shamble at the Marriott Burbank Hotel and Convention Center from Friday, Sept. 18 through Sunday, Sept. 20, is all about saluting those spookies who fill up our films, our books, our TV screens, and our nightmares.
Count on the titans of make-up artistry to be in the house and doing what they do best (applying scars and whiskers and such to very impressive latex masks and bare skin). Count on vendors vending their werewolf-y, ghosty wares, things like figurines and toys and t-shirts and beyond. Count on movie people to be out in force with their oogie-screamy cinematic works.
And count on fans in their vampire capes and undead get-ups posing for pics and greeting other frightful supporters of the scariest genre.
Of course, stating that zombies and Dracula-type characters have been popular in recent years isn't in any way a diss; they're well-known because they so thoroughly scare and intrigue us. And that's a positive in a world where many film fans claim they've seen it all.
Even the most knowledgeable of monster mavens will likely see something new, make-up wise or costume-wise or design-wise in Burbank. Creators are always bushing boundaries in this realm and fans are forever asking for more.
The Scene
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Halloween has truly kicked off, monsters of Southern California. Shamble for Burbank to groan with gratitude along other monstrous multitudes.
