Columbus Moving Picture Show This Weekend!

This weekend we are making our return to Columbus for the Columbus Moving Pictures Show, formally known as Cinevent. We haven’t been there since before the pandemic, so we are not only very excited to make our return, but excited to be part of a new beginning of the show under new management. For those that don’t know, the Cinevent Classic Film Convention ran for over 50 years! One of the co-founders, Steven Haynes, had passed away in 2015, and his son Michael took over for a few years. But they sold it to new owners and have changed the name to The Columbus Moving Picture Show, promising to keep the spirit of Cinevent alive and living. This is a good old fashioned movie memorabilia show, where you can find posters, stills, lobby cards, and just about any other kind of stuff related to movies. Granted, they tend to be on the classic side, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have “younger” movie related items. I’ve always found a few gems each time I’ve gone.

Cinevent Next Weekend!

Seems like forever since our last stop on this year’s Discover the Horror World Tour. But next week, we’ll be heading to Columbus, Ohio for the annual Cinevent Classic Film Convention. This is taking place from Thursday, May 23rd, to Sunday, May 26th, at the Renaissance Columbus Downtown.

Hard to believe, but this show has been running for over 50 years. And unlike most shows, this is all about collecting and memorabilia. While there are a few guests, they are mainly authors and film historians, so there is no autograph lines drawing people from the dealer room. Just a good old fashioned collector’s show. While this isn’t a horror show, there is still plenty enough to keep me interested and browsing, and I usually come home with a few good things.

This show has films playing all weekend long, starting at noon on Thursday and running until midnight. On Friday and Saturday, they are running from 9am until midnight. Most of the films are not in the horror genre, but this time out, I’m going to have the chance to catch the 1974 exploitation film Fangs (also know as Holy Wednesday) on Saturday night! Since we’re actually staying at the hotel this time, it will be no problem catching that one!

Cinevent Next Weekend

 

Next weekend, we’ll be heading to Columbus, Ohio for our next stop in the 2018 Kryptic World Tour. We’ve been going to this show for the last couple of years and have a lot of fun. Granted, this isn’t like your normal movie convention since this one isn’t really about guests or celebrities, but about movie memorabilia. And lots of it. You’ll find tables with stacks and stacks of posters, lobby cards, and stills, just waiting for you to go through each stack, one by one! And when they are usually priced at a buck a piece, it makes you want to sit down and start!

Cinevent Part 3: Writers, Writers, Everywhere!

At one point during the first day of the show, a gentleman walked up to my table and we started chatting…the usual stuff, movies, posters, and such. We were talking about the classic Universal monster films and some of the posters for them. I mentioned that I would be scared to death to own something like one of those, just because of the value, I’d be terrified that something would happen to it. He mentioned that some time ago, he had purchased an original one-sheet for The Invisible Man, but had to get rid of it for that same reason. Then he mentions that he put out a book some time ago called Children of the Night, which was a book on movie posters. Of course, I have that book in my library, which I quickly told him, which made him smile even more! His name is James Gresham and is a super nice guy and such a pleasure to chat with. Children came out in 2007 and is a comprehensive guide to classic horror posters, lobby cards, and other items. For someone like me that will never be able to afford these kind of items, it is a great way to at least be able to see some of them and the beautiful artwork. He followed up this book in 2010 with They’re Here Already, which is the same kind of book, but covers the science fiction films of the 1950s. Again, so much fun to look through. These are both beautiful hardcover edition books that are a bit pricey but well worth the money if you are a fan of this kind of poster art.

Cinevent: Part 2 – The Dealer’s Room & Fantastic Finds

Now, before you get all excited and run out to this show, let’s cover a few things first. The prices on some of the items you’ll find run the spectrum. Some dealers will have a table full of one-sheets or stills with a big sign stating “$1 EACH”. Of course, you have to go through each and every stack because you never know if you’re going to come across a real gem in there! You just never know. I have to say from experience, after that first stack, your back is killing you and you start to wonder if it is even worth it! But $1 posters is hard to pass up.

On the other end of that, you have some dealers with items on the slightly high side. You have to remember that these are original pieces of film memorabilia, which can go for big bucks. Such as an insert for the 1951 film Them!, which had a price tag of $1000. Or even a lobby card for the 1957 film Curse of the Demon that was going for $650…just for the single card! There are posters and even the bigger 3-sheet kind of stuff, but those are so high that I don’t even ask. I’m not saying that these are overpriced, but those are the going rates. You need to be a dealer/collector with some serious cash to be playing in that field, one that I know I never will.

Cinevent Classic Film Convention – Part 1

Out of all the cons that we set up each year, there is none that we do  that is quite like Cinevent. By that statement, I don’t mean that it is better or worse than the rest of them, just completely different. This show is like stepping back in time, to an era when conventions where just about memorabilia. A place where movie fans would go hoping to find some new pieces for their collections. Or spend time in the movie room where there is a constant stream of movies being screened on 16mm. The only thing that you paid for was to get into the show and then whatever you were buying from the dealers. There were posters, pressbooks, stills, lobby cards, soundtracks, books, and of course, movies, but in many different formats from 8mm, 16mm, to VHS. Today at this show, it is still the same. Cinevent has been around longer than any con that I know of, with next year being their 50th anniversary. So the fact that they have been going for 5 decades is pretty damn impressive. You won’t see the huge crowds here like at the bigger shows. But with the several hundred people that do come through the door, it is definitely worth it for us to come back each year.

World Tour Continues…

Last weekend, we were at the Cinema Wasteland show and just had a blast, as usual. They were having a Night of the Living Dead reunion, but to be honest, I never even made it to a single panel. I think this was the first time I didn’t take one single picture of any guests while I was there. It might have had something to do with that I was running the table by myself for the most part, though my good buddy Scott was there to watch it when needed. But really, and especially at this show, it really is about seeing my old friends and having the time to hang out and talk about the thing that binds us all together…horror movies! It really is the highpoint of the conventions for me these days. Maybe I’m just spoiled since I’ve been going to these things for close to 30 years and not too many guests that I either haven’t seen, or just don’t feel like paying the autograph fee, so I never even bother going up to talk to them. Ken does a good job keeping the prices low at Wasteland, but other shows…not so much. I know it’s a shame because there are some guests that are so nice and great to talk to. But more than not, these days they are there to take money from you and could really care less about a fan, unless your wallet is out. Yeah…bitter attitude from Old Man Kitley.

The Kryptic World Tour 2017

Yes, 2016 is just a few weeks away from being in the history books. Some might consider it a bad year, some a good one, but it definitely has been an interesting on. So as we all look to 2017, with hopes of a much better world, what better way to do that by announcing the dates for our 2017 Tour! And yes, we can call it our World Tour, even though we are not leaving the states. I mean, they do call it the World Series and they never leave the country, so why can’t we, right? Then again, maybe if that lotto ticket finally hits, maybe we will make it across the pond. Stranger things have happened!

But none the less, we’ve updated our Tour list on the top menu that shows the conventions that we are planning to be at this year, or at least the ones closest to the first part of the year. There might be some additions to that, but we’ll update those as we go. We also have them listed below.

Kryptic World Tour Invades Cinevent

There is an old fashion movie memorbilia show that has been running since the late ’60s, called Cinevent. This is not like modern day conventions because there are no celebrities here. It is just about the memorbilia and keeping old movies alive and well. It is not a horror show, but of all genres. They screen old movies throughout the entire weekend, so it really is about the movies. The only money exchanging hands here besides paying to get in, is in the dealer room. So it will be a nice change of pace then some of the other shows that we do on a regular basis.