The All Monsters Attack convention is run by the same showrunners as the Days of the Dead convention and is held in the same hotel as Days, the Crowne Plaza in Rosemont. This year’s All Monsters Attack happened from May 9 to 11, 2025. This convention is focused on kaiju movies from Japan and therefore this convention has more of a science fiction feel to it. Many stars were flown in from Japan and all events were held in one unified ballroom, including the panels.
There was a curious tent on the show floor, black and mysterious, with flaps. A peek inside showed creepy dolls, each with a story of being haunted. Visitors to the tent were treated to their own guided tour. The inside of the tent never had much lighting, giving a spooky, crawling feeling while seeing these objects. There was one doll that was supposedly too haunted to photograph.
The VIP party was held in Caddyshack, a restaurant in the Crowne Plaza Hotel owned by Bill Murray and his brothers. There was a raffle and pizza along with some of the celebrity talent showing up, including one of the actresses who played the Tonnika Sisters in the Mos Eisley Cantina scene from Star Wars (1977). The Tonnika Sisters, though shown briefly in the movie, have a distinctive appearance. Star Wars expanded universe fiction has been written about them and a fictional backstory about them has been conceived by fans. As you can tell from context, with the Tonnika Sisters being in Mos Eisley, a “wretched hovel of scum and villainy,” they fall into the said category. The Tonnika Sisters are scheming and not to be trusted, having been found on a casino ship swindling not only the unsuspecting but also targeting other criminals. Angela Staines, who portrayed one of them, was on the show floor and talked about how she wished her forthcoming Star Wars toy made it in time for the All Monsters Attack. Today she is still very tall and statuesque, cordially talking with her fans.
The biggest draw of the weekend were the voice actors of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987). Their fans lit up when they saw them. After all these years, these actors still have a commanding hold on the imaginations and childhoods of so many. All four of them were there, Barry Gordon, Townsend Coleman, Cam Clarke, and Rob Paulson. On Saturday each of them had long lines with some of the Turtle voice actors taking the time to talk to each fan. The whole Monsters Attack show had a more personal feel to it, less of a conveyor belt with each celeb guest.
There is so much more to the kaiju film genre than the Godzilla movies. It is a rich cinematic area filled with imagination. The heyday of the kaiju genre was the 1950s and the 1960s, with about sixty-plus kaiju movies made and released from Japan during the 1950s to the early 1970s. The kaiju genre in the 1960s became psychedelic and kid-focused for its target audience. Though a person would assume that the kaiju film is only about giant monsters duking it out in a city that looks like a toy model, it is about far more than that. The range of imagination in these movies is vast–from alien invasions to dimensions surrounding the earth to political Cold War conspiracies. One of the best kaju movies from the 1960s is Destroy All Monsters. It includes all of the major kaiju monsters and it is filmed expertly and innovatively.
The oldest stuntmen still alive who suited up as Godzilla in the Japanese movies had their own panel on Sunday and it was of high interest to conventioneers. There are two still with us, and they had a translator on stage with them as they expounded on their experiences and what it means to be the original suitors of this classic icon.
It still has to be confirmed but All Monsters Attack for next year will be held in a new hotel! It will be combined with Days of the Dead potentially for a wholly new and larger experience. We look forward to attending and reporting on that one as well. As always, we hope to scare you there!
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