Days of the Dead Atlanta Review

Skull and Bones Entertainment invades Days of the Dead Atlanta!

We arrived to Days of the Dead Atlanta Thursday evening and immediately went to the pre-party at Jekyll and Hyde’s. While there, we watched Goddamn Zombie as well as First Jason. There were quite a few other convention attendees, and everyone was able to drink, eat, mingle and have a great time before the REAL fun started on Friday.

Friday morning we woke up and walked around the hotel lobby, where it wasn’t unusual to see a celebrity grabbing a cup of coffee or checking in. Conventions are great for fans because it’s probably the only opportunity you get to casually occupy the same space as the people you admire from the movies you love. Once the doors opened we immediately went to the celebrity signing areas to do a walk through and talk to those celebs we’ve become acquainted with and meet those who we hadn’t before. We also wandered through the vendor room, immediately seeing things that made us say “I want that!” There was no shortage of awesome stuff in the vendor room that’s for sure!

Ashley with a "monster" at the Monsters Ball

Once nighttime rolled around it was time to get ready for the Monsters Ball, one of the unique events DOTD has to offer. Monsters Ball is an after-hours party where costumes are required. Where else can you go hang out with friends, drink and dance with a giant baby? Only Days of the Dead! DJ Tre provided the music and it was a great time for everyone to loosen up a bit and have fun.

Saturday had everyone off to a bit of a slow start, trying to recover from the night before. Once we were up we headed downstairs and went to the Men Behind the Mask Panel, which was by far the funniest and most entertaining panel we’ve ever attended. The men did not disappoint, or hold anything back. From stories about how Derek Mears relates to Jason Voorhees, to Tyler Mane in a bathroom with Ken Foree, smashing things. It was definitely a panel you wouldn’t want to have missed.

Once that was over, we stayed in the room for the next panel which was Scream Queens, which was awesome, as most conventions make everyone but VIP leave after one panel and before the next, forcing you to get back in line and possibly lose your good seats. Days of the Dead did a great job at making it convenient for the fans. The Scream Queens panel consisted of Barbara Crampton, Amelia Kinkade, PJ Soles, Linnea Quigley and, honorary Scream Queen, Mark Patton. It was an awesome panel, all of the ladies as well as Mark, were great at answering everyone’s questions, and it was a very informative and fun experience. We’ll definitely be attending future Scream Queen panels at Days of the Dead.

Saturday night was the VIP party, which was not a party to miss. Many celebrities came out to have a drink and maybe a dance, with everyone, which made for a great party. Just a handful of the celebrities we saw or spoke with were Sean Whalen, Alex Vincent, Brian Steele and Ari Lehman. Will Bozarth, of Goddamn Zombie was able to speak about the Fix the Chapel cause, and in minutes we were able to fill a hat with money to donate to it. It was good to see that even while partying and having fun, everyone could take a couple of minutes and a couple bucks, to donate to a really good cause. We were able to get some great footage of the party, which you can see below.

Mark Patton and Mark

Sunday we spent the day getting interviews for Skull and Bones Entertainment. We started with Mark Patton, who is aone of Mark's idols, and the first person he’s ever interviewed. It was an excellent interview and Mark Patton was very kind and gracious. Our next interview was PJ Soles, who was a total sweetheart. She is someone we’ve both looked forward to meeting and she was nicer than we could ever imagine.  We also interviewed J LaRose and Tyler Mane, who said his ritual for interviews is to kill the person doing the interview at the end; you’ll have to watch to see if Mark survived. Lastly, we interviewed Sean Whalen and Nick Principe, who starred together in Laid to Rest. We then interviewed two of the men who made Days of the Dead possible, along with Bill Philputt, Adolfo G. Dorta and Rick Lara with From Dusk Till Con. After our interviews it was on the road back to Florida, as we reminisced about the awesome times we had the whole way home. 

We’d like to thank Adolfo Dorta, Bill Philputt, Rick Lara, Wyndham Peachtree City, Mark Patton, PJ Soles, J LaRose, Tyler Mane, Nick Principe and Sean Whalen for contributing to our review. And also Adolfo, Bill and Rick for making the weekend possible. It was by far, the best convention we’ve attended so far.

Unfortunately, we did not have time to do everything we planned, and missed Roddy Piper's Comedy Show, as well as Chamber of Horrors, and Bill Moseley and Sid Haig's Q&A Panel. To check out the coverage we did get, including the Men Behind the Mask Panel, Scream Queens Panel, VIP Party, and interviews with: Mark Patton, PJ Soles, J LaRose, Tyler Mane, Nick Principe, and Sean Whalen, visit our Youtube page www.youtube.com/skullandbonesent