Days of the Dead came to Chicago November 22-24 and was held at the Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hare Hotel & Conference Center. This is a horror convention that combines nostalgia with fresh content, bringing together an impressive lineup of celebrity guests, unique horror-themed activities, and opportunities for fans to connect with one another.
A key highlight of the convention was its stellar roster of guests, including legendary singer Alice Cooper and actors such as Michael Cudlitz, John Kassir, Bill Moseley, and Mira Sorvino. While this is a larger convention it has the feel of a smaller one, it’s not hard to get up an personal with the celebrities. Even Alice Cooper was only a few feet from the general populace.
Unfortunately there were a few problems with the event. The photo ops were right next to the up escalator however, there was no down escalator to be found. If you had difficulties with stairs for any reason you had two choices. You could slowly hobble down two flights of stairs, or go all the way to the other end of the building to take an elevator and walk all the way back. It was not a quick process.
Downstairs also had a few hidden gems. There was a photography studio room set up by Daxorr Studio, it was a great place to get some low-cost photos of your cosplay. There was also a vendor that was stuck down there as if they were an after thought. Wulfgar Props was told to set up on the corner just down from the celebrity photo ops, then they were later told to move two other times so they wouldn’t interfere with the photo op line. Overall, it seemed that the communications between the different departments of Days of the Dead was definitely lacking.
At the end of the day, Days of the Dead Chicago was a great con if you wanted autographs. It was a good con if you wanted to pick up some B-movies or talk to fellow horror fans, but it was small and in my opinion only worth a one-day visit.
However, there was pretty good cosplay on site, the problem with the cosplay was that the lighting was not that good. If you found on area that was good for photos, five feet away it was bad. Here are the cosplay photos I took on the floor.
To see what cosplay conventions are coming up
be sure to check out our Cosplay Convention List!
