Though firmly established out east, this event is new to my Windy City, which already boasts the aforementioned Flashback Weekend,  two annual Days of the Dead shows, along with many more genre-related expos – including a monster-related one (All Monsters Attack) that I’ll be attending with my son tomorrow. As we’ve established, whether or not I end up talking about it on this site will depend entirely on my frame of mind. The point is that those of us living in “Chicagoland” (the city and its suburbs) aren’t exactly starved for entertainment.

I only learned of this one a couple of weeks ago. It turns out that leaving social media does wonders for your well-being, but is disastrous for being kept in the loop. I’m always down with experiencing a new horror con, but learning that Cassandra Peterson a.k.a. Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, would be in attendance, cinched it. I’ve been fortunate to have met her several times, and it’s always a pleasure. Last year, I picked up her autobiography, “Yours Cruelly, Elvira,” and hoped I’d have an opportunity to have it signed. With no time to spare, I began planning, which the Nightmare Weekend website made easier by not only listing the celebrity guests but also what each was charging. Considering how much some of them were, I’m guessing that was so fans had enough time to mortgage their homes before the big day.

Ms Peterson was only attending on Saturday/Sunday so I decided to go on Sunday (a slightly cheaper option). My eldest son’s apartment is about fifteen minutes from the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, so I saved money on parking by having him drop me off. 

I arrived about 15 minutes after they opened, expecting long lines and swarms of people littering North River Road wearing horror shirts and brandishing machetes. Instead, it was like a ghost town.

I entered the convention center and pulled my ticket up on my phone before arriving at Registration. There, I encountered a group of friendly volunteers with seemingly nothing to do. I picked someone available (eeny, meeny, miny, moe) and they greeted me exclaiming, “Oh, thank you so much for having your ticket ready!” – as if my efficiency made any kind of difference.

There were a couple of things I liked straight off the bat. For one, they provided a nice, sturdy badge with a lanyard rather than a wristband. For another, they gave everyone a nice event program.

For a horror convention, the space was immense. It was loaded with dealers, and I had trouble deciding where to look first. On the left was an arena where folks dressed as slashers would wrestle one another. There was also a main stage with rows and rows of chairs for celebrity guest panels. Across from that was a gaming area and numerous monster statues for photo opportunities.

In addition to a photo op spot, they also had three large spaces dedicated for celebrity guest signings. Indeed, the only thing missing from this event were actual patrons.

I’m not sure how things went on Friday and Saturday, but on Sunday morning, most of the vendors were looking at their phones, and the celebrity guests looked bored and irritated. The only person who boasted something of a line was Cassandra Peterson, who, by 11am, still hadn’t shown up yet (the event started at 10).

Rather than stand and wait for her to show up, I decided to keep moving and check out the hall. I only ended up buying some stickers from my friend Jeff Carlson from Mani-Yack Monsters.” I spoke of Jeff before as he designed Svengoolie’s 45th Anniversary shirt.

I also saw a friend running the Severin table but, unfortunately, he didn’t have the 4K/Blu-ray titles I was looking. He did promise to put them aside for me for Flashback Weekend.

Aside from the Elvira book, I did bring a few things for Special FX artist Robert Kurtzman to sign. He and his assistant (wife?) were pretty cool, and he only charged $20, which included a table selfie, which was the norm fifteen years ago when this blog began. Adorning his booth were numerous examples of his creations.

I had him sign my Wishmaster Blu-ray cover that had previously been signed by the monster himself, Andrew Divoff. I also brought along two Scream Factory posters: Tales From the Darkside The Movie (1990) and John Carpenter’s Vampires (1998).

When it came time for the selfie, I pulled out my cell phone before being stopped by his assistant. “OH, please,” she said while ogling my DSLR Canon. “Let me take your picture with that. I miss my old Canon so much!” I thought that was awesome.

This event boasted a Thanksgiving (2023) reunion (sans Patrick Dempsey, of course) along with Eli Roth. Although this film has a sequel along the way and may reach cult status at some point, I didn’t see many people visiting them. It could be the pricing, but these days, it’s the Terrifier actors getting all the attention, reminiscent of how it was with The Walking Dead actors years back. Speaking of which, the show’s creator, Greg Nicotero, was also in attendance along with actor Chandler Riggs a.k.a. Carl (“Coral!”) Grimes.

I returned to Cassandra Peterson’s line (which wasn’t much longer than when I left it) and firmly planted myself. It was 11:45, and she still hadn’t shown up. I was a little irritated, but learned it wasn’t laziness but rather another Chicago area commitment making her late. Looking around this barren hall, I could hardly blame her for double-booking. She finally showed up around noon, and the line moved quickly. It helped that I bonded with the two guys in front of me as we lamented the current state of STAR WARS and the MCU (in the toilet). 

Peterson no longer appears in costume (I’m not sure if she did in her photo op) and charges $80 for an autograph ($100 if it’s a Funko Pop) and no selfies or photography of any kind at her booth. I sure hope Svengoolie never takes this approach, lest I find myself out of a job. I was never more grateful for Horrorhound 2010 when it was $20 (including table selfie) and she was in costume.

Any annoyance I may have had regarding her tardiness or pricing (which is what most headliners are charging these days, to be honest) melted away as soon as it was my turn.

Before I get into the big moment, let me discuss the book itself.  I have read many celebrity and political biographies in my day but this is the first one where the story is just as interesting, if not more so, before they became famous rather than after. Cassandra, self-admittedly, was a groupie (albeit a chaste one, for the most part) and later a Las Vegas showgirl in her late teens, early twenties. Consequently,  she had numerous encounters with famous musicians and shares them candidly in her book. These stories ranged from positive and insightful (Elvis Presley) to pretty horrific (Tom Jones). To me, this was a rare glimpse at how some famous people really are. If she’d met them after becoming Elvira, it would have likely been a much different experience.

She delves into complicated familial relationships, addiction, losing friends and living in Los Angeles during the AIDS epidemic, and sexual assault. I went into this book thinking I’d consume a light-hearted romp, but experienced something far more moving. At the same time, the narrative is very clearly her voice, and you can totally “hear” Elvira throughout with no shortage of wit and sarcasm. In short, I loved this book!

I was happy to discuss some of these stories with her and tell her how brave I thought she was for being so forthcoming. She thanked me for my kind words and said everyone in her personal life was pushing her to share her story, but she was nervous about how the public would react. This made sense because when the book was released, the press focused almost exclusively on her being in a relationship with another woman, which barely gets discussed in print.

In lieu of her upcoming 45th Anniversary as Elvira in 2026, I asked if she’d be willing to do another SHUDDER special like the one she did for her 40th. She said she had a blast hosting on that channel and would love to do so again.

And I sure hope I can see her again. Despite meeting Elvira many times, this was the first time I felt I had an opportunity to encounter the lesser-known (though no less impressive) Cassandra.

~Dave