Greetings fiends!  The Horror Nerd here still recovering from another awesome weekend at NJ Horror Con & Film Festival.  Once again, Ryan Scott Weber and his hard working staff put together a great show.  Despite some last minute challenges, everything went smoothly and I can honestly say that I had a great time, and that the show is growing and maturing quite nicely.

A testament to the hard work a mentioned comes from the fact that just a few weeks before the show, the host venue, the Showboat Hotel in Atlantic City, NJ announced that they had signed a deal with Netflix to allow them to shoot a movie the same weekend.  This meant that the usual space used to house the convention, on the first floor of the hotel, would be unavailable.  Everything had to be moved to the second floor.  I must say, when I arrived at the hotel, I was thinking that this could either be fine, or it could be very bad, depending on the layout of the second floor, which I had never seen.  Well, I am pleased to say that it worked out quite well and I personally didn't see any significant issues.  It was just a different layout, and those of us who are regular attendees simply adapted to it.  Anyone coming to the convention for the first time would have not even known any better.  The vendors, artists, authors, etc. were all placed in a long, wide corridor that stretched the length of the hotel.  The majority of the celebrity guests, along with some additional vendors, were in a large room with a lot of space, which led to less crowding than I had feared.  I never had any problems moving through any of the spaces.

As far as the guest lineup goes this time around, there was a stellar mix of guests from various genres, beginning with headliners Christina Ricci ("The Addams Family", "Casper"), Charlie Sheen ("Major League", "Two and a Half Men") and Peter Criss (KISS).  Sadly, I did not get a chance to meet Charlie, but I heard that he was great and I saw a lot of my friends getting photos with him in his Wild Thing costume from "Major League", which was very, very cool.

There was an array of other awesome guests as well including Claudia Wells ("Back to the Future"), who, by the way, is absolutely one of the nicest, most gracious people I have ever met.  Diane Franklin ("Better Off Dead", "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure") was her usual charming self.   Carmen Electra was every bit as stunning in person as she is on screen and in print and she was very nice during the few minutes I got to spend chatting with her.

Some other notable guests I had a chance to speak to were George Wyner ("Spaceballs"), Edward Furlong ("Terminator 2"), Amanda Wyss ("A Nightmare on Elm Street") and Heather Langenkamp ("A Nightmare on Elm Street") among many, many others, including the fan favorite Soska Sisters, Jen and Sylvia.  They are always incredible with the fans, making every single person feel important and special.

I NEED to point something out.  I can't quite put my finger on it, but there's something about NJ Horror Con that seems to make the celebrity guests a lot more comfortable (for lack of a better word).  Everyone was so amazing with the fans, coming out from behind their tables to actually engage with people, and giving them a great experience.  Some of the guests are known for this (Diane Franklin is a prime example), but most of the other guests seemed to be much more outgoing at this convention.  Whatever Ryan and his team are doing, they need to keep doing it!

One of the highlights of NJ Horror Con & Film Festival is the Saturday night Scaryoke.  This time around, it was hosted by the amazing Man of 10,000 voices, Michael Winslow ("Police Academy").  It's hard to describe how great Michael was as host.  He entertained the fans all night with his ridiculous array of sound effects, and how he does it will remain a mystery for all time.  Everyone had a blast belting out their favorite tunes and one of Michael's "Police Academy" co-stars, Marion Ramsey, also got into the act, and as it turns out, she has a great singing voice!  The Scaryoke event is always such a great time, and the fact that so many of the celebrity guests participate makes for a very special evening for the convention attendees.

Another great time was the Film Festival awards.  I think it's very important to note that the Film Festival is a big part of this event.  Being filmmakers themselves, Ryan Scott Weber and Festival Director Tony Goggles make sure that they give independent filmmakers a forum to have their work seen by horror fans.  

This time around the awards ceremony was hosted by Jen and Sylvia Soska, along with Little Miss Risk herself, Tristan Risk.  These ladies brought such energy and excitement to the awards, and made all of the winners feel special.

Special shout out to Chris Waters who, once again, designed and fabricated the trophies that were handed out.

Honestly, I could go on and on about this show and what a great time it was.  Of course, there were little issues encountered along the way, but many of these had nothing to do with the convention itself.  I'm being completely honest when I say that if there were any serious complications, they were handled well by the convention staff because I personally never saw any of them.  I think Ryan and staff did a great job basically completely rearranging the layout of the convention three weeks before showtime.

I was grateful to be invited back as press, and to have the opportunity to interview so many amazing celebrity guests and I am very much looking forward to the next NJ Horror Con & Film Festival which will be held once again at the Showboat Hotel in Atlantic City, NJ on March 27th-29th, 2020 and I hope to see ALL of you there!

​The Horror Nerd