COLUMN: Aaron's Backstage Pass: Crypticon 2012

This past weekend I attended the 7th Annual Crypticon horror movie convention at the Double Tree Hotel in Bloomington, MN. Crypticon started on Friday and went until Sunday evening.

If you have not read my previous column or do not know what Crypticon is, I will explain it briefly.

It is what I call a horror/sci-fi movie fan’s dream.  You get to spend three days with people that share the same interests as you and you get to meet a lot of the celebrities that starred in or made your favorite horror/sci-fi films. Plus there are events going on all day to keep you very entertained.

Nick Kaufman is the man behind Crypticon. He spends all year planning and getting ready for the show. I think Nick does an amazing and you can see all of the hard work he puts into it.

When you see Nick at Crypticon he is usually pretty calm and is more than happy to stop and talk to people attending the show. He makes sure everyone is having a great time.

The staff is also amazing. Nick has a lot of family and friends working at Crypticon and they are always friendly and very helpful.   

This was my 6th year at Crypticon and I had a blast. I would say that this was their best year for many reasons. In the past few years Crypticon was usually around the 1st week in November.  

This year, Nick moved the date of the show to the last week in September. The weather was amazing, you didn’t have to worry about bad roads and it didn’t interfere with deer hunting. 

Nick also had a great line-up of guests this year:

• Sid Haig(The Devils Rejects)
• Richard Kiel(Moonraker)
• Tom Savini, David Hedison(The Fly)
• Robert Jayne (Tremors)
•  Cerina Vincent (Cabin Fever)
• Richard Brooker (Jason, Friday the 13th 3)
• Melanie Kinnaman (Friday the 13th Part 5)
• Sean Whalen (People Under the Stairs)
• Taso Stavrakis (Friday the 13th)
• Tony Curran (Underworld Evolution)
• Peter Shinkoda. 

There were also paranormal guests that talked about ghost hunting and did psychic readings.

There was a tattoo room, where people could get tattoos. I was very surprised at how many people got tattoos.  I didn’t see an empty chair all weekend.

On Saturday there was a silent auction and there were a bunch of great items to bid on. I can’t remember where the money went, but it was for a local charity.

There were two dealer rooms this year. This is where the celebrities were if you wanted to get an autograph or picture with them. They were all very friendly and were excited to talk to fans.

There were also a ton of venders this year selling movies, t-shirts, posters, art, and promoting movies.

Each day was filled with many different events going on. There were question and answer panels with all of the guests. You could ask them about their experience making certain movies or about themselves. They were very open and willing to answer questions. I really liked these Q & A sessions.

They were very interesting and the rooms were always packed full of people. 

On Saturday there was a car show and that was very cool. A bunch of people brought their unique cars to show off at Crypticon. My two favorite cars were the “Ecto-1” from Ghostbusters. That was amazing. It was very detailed and you swore it came off of the movie set. My other favorite car had a coffin that could be lowered and raised from the roof. It is really cool and if you watch my video you will see it.

There was a costume contest and that was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed seeing all of the unique and creative costumes that people came up with. There were a few different categories such as best kids costume, movie, and original. The audience chose the winners and that was a lot of fun.

On Saturday night there was also a celebrity dinner. You had to buy an extra ticket and seating was limited.  You could eat dinner with a bunch of celebrities from the show. I think this year it was Sid Haig, Richard Kiel, David Hedison and Tom Savini. This is great and the tickets go fast, so if you plan on going to the dinner you have to get rights away.

Another thing that Crypticon did this year was charter a trip out to “The Haunting Experience on Highway 61.” For an additional price, you could buy a ticket for this event. You would get on a bus at Crypticon and they took you out to a haunted hayride and a bunch of haunted houses. I heard that this was a lot of fun and very scary. 

Then on Saturday night was the first ever “Zombie Prom”. People dressed up like zombies and partied all night and DJ SLT provided the music. There was even a king and queen crowed.

I had an amazing time this year at Crypticon. I really enjoyed talking to all of the celebrities and asking them a ton of questions about the movies they were in. I also enjoyed talking to all of the people attending the show and going to all of the different events going on. I am really looking forward to Crypticon next year.

For information on Crypticon or to buy tickets go to.  www.crypticonminneapolis.com

Aaron Chalich is a columnist for KSTP.com blogging about the latest entertainment news.