With Monster Mania coming up this weekend, I was reflecting on the previous (and only) MM event I went to a few years ago. This should have been written up on my blog ages ago and I dont know why I hadnt thought to write anything about it sooner! I was only intending to write up the event in general terms of what I observed/remembered. As I was dissecting the details of the event though, I realized that the Stacey Nelkin autograph experience alone was worthy of a few paragraphs.
Stacey Nelkin isnt that well known and was never on my radar as far as my faves. She really hasnt done a whole lot besides appearing as the female lead role in Halloween III. With that movie being one of my horror faves though, having the chance to meet her (or anyone involved with that movie) is huuuuuge!
Nelkin was part of the “Women of Horror” collection presented at MM that year. I really dont know how the event works and if they always have themes like this. The women of horror were in a room separate from a lot of the other actors, i.e. Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Anthony Michael Hall, The Walking Dead crew, etc. In fact I almost walked out of there without ever seeing them. Upon entering their corridor, I noticed significantly less traffic than in the rest of the event. When I saw her table, I got super excited and thought about how many times I have seen Halloween III. How surreal it was to have a living, breathing part of the movie right in front of me. No one was at Stacey’s table. She looked good for her age, but completely different than in the movie….must have had some work done. She was laughing and talking to her neighbor. As I approached she suddenly sat straight up and got really serious-looking as I got closer. The kind of reaction a guilty grade-school student has as a teacher catches them in the act. As obsessed as I was about Halloween III as a kid, you’d think I would have thought of better questions than “uhhhh…..hows traffic been”? She asked if I would be interested in her autograph (for $20). Of course I was, but I was empty-handed with nothing to sign. She had a stack of still shots from movies, and I picked out a familiar scene from H3 which showed her and Tom Atkins staring at some Halloween masks (see below for the picture complete with autograph)! She then asked what movie quote I would like her to sign on the picture. Hmmm….another complete blank. She then suggested a sexual quote from the movie–“Where would you like me to sleep Dr Challis?”, and like a jackass I lit up and said Oh yeaah! Thats a good one! While it WAS a good one, it was probably the same “good one” which had already been beat to death by other guys who came prepared with that line, or spoon-fed to guys like me with nothing to say. I hate being un-original, but hey…..you cant be on the ball every minute of the day, right? Besides, I actually took away more from this than the average autograph-seeker. I guess I was so surprised that no one was at her table, I just went the casual conversation route. My co-worker and I both observed event-goers getting their picture taken with several of the actors. Not wanting to miss out on the fun, my coworker stood a distance back as he got us both in the picture. Then he suggested she come out in front of her table so we could get a shot together (see below). Not bad! Had there been crowds of people there, I never could have gotten a picture like that. Finally we walked out of there, satisfied that we spent enough money on admission prices and autograph prices. As we walked towards the exit, my buddy said to me: “You know….you really should have asked her out”. I thought that was kind of ridiculous given the volume of people that comes through these places and she must get those kinds of requests all the time. With some more convincing, and consideration of how down to earth she was, I figured I would give it a shot. I kind of dicked around for about half an hour, until meandering back to the women of horror room. I slowly walked in and tried to project the appearance of doing a final lap around the place to make sure I didn’t miss anything. Once again, there was no one at her table, and she appeared to be looking at her phone. I got a little closer, and as our eyes met, I predictably announced that I was taking one last walk around to make sure I didn’t miss anything. I then asked how long she was in town for. She replied that she wouldn’t be there much longer either because she had to make her way back to NY. I told her that’s too bad because had she been around longer I would have invited her out for a drink. She then awkwardly smiled a little bit and seemed to pause, and replied, “yeah…Ill be heading out of here”. Feeling like I had exhausted the experience with the women of terror, and having seen enough, I wrapped it up and told her to have a great trip back…..and that I’ll see her again next time I watch Halloween 3……and that hotel room scene.