In this exciting episode of Horror Heals, Corey Stulce dives deep with the legendary Dave Hagan, founder of the iconic Monster-Mania convention—a haven for horror fans worldwide. From heartfelt memories of watching double-feature horror films with his father, to the humble origins and incredible growth of Monster-Mania, Dave shares what makes this convention uniquely personal and enduring. Monster-Mania isn’t just a con; it’s a tribute to Dave’s late father, a sanctuary for horror enthusiasts, and a place where fans become family.

How Monster-Mania Makes Horror a Safe Haven

A Dedication to Family

Dave Hagan shares how Monster-Mania is a lifelong tribute to his father, whose love for horror films inspired Dave to create a space where fans feel seen, understood, and embraced.

Creating a Horror Haven

Hear how Dave’s introverted personality shaped Monster-Mania's welcoming vibe, making it a space for introverts and horror lovers to connect without judgment.

From Fandom to Family

Corey and Dave bond over the transformative power of horror conventions, with Corey sharing personal moments from attending Monster-Mania that inspired the Horror Heals podcast.

Epic Fan Moments

From falling off the stage to a fire marshal’s intervention, Dave reveals behind-the-scenes chaos and how fans turned even the wildest moments into cherished memories.

Monster Mania’s Unlikely Love Stories

The convention has sparked countless friendships, relationships, and unforgettable memories among horror lovers.

Notable Quotes

Dave Hagan: “The shows have always been and always will be a dedication to my dad… Sundays in a movie theater with him were as close to heaven as I could get.”

Corey Stulce: “Horror movies are something that Kendall and I first bonded over when we started dating, like this mutual love of horror…finding kinship with those characters because they’re outsiders, just like us.”

Key Takeaways

• The Power of Community
• Monster Mania isn’t just a horror convention—it’s a welcoming, accepting space for those who may feel out of place elsewhere. Dave shares stories that show how horror unites people.
• Mental Wellness Through Horror
• Corey and Dave discuss the unspoken bond horror fans share, particularly for those who identify as introverts or feel like outsiders in other spaces. This convention and genre offer a comforting community where everyone belongs.
• Legacy in Every Detail
• Dave’s fatherly dedication shows in every Monster Mania detail. From hosting costume contests to mingling with fans, he has turned Monster Mania into a true community celebration.

Don’t Miss Out on the Next Part of Dave Hagan’s Story

Curious about what it takes to keep the horror community alive and thriving? Join us next time as Dave shares the ongoing evolution of Monster Mania and how they keep fans coming back year after year.

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Hello, boys and girls. It's your old pal, John Cusir, the voice of the Crypt Keeper. And I want to welcome my good fiends of the Horror Heals podcast. Is horror good for mental wellness? But of course it is! I delight in the delicious deaths of pitiful people on the silver screen.

So get ready for a hell of a good time with my new fiends Cory and Kendall on the Horror Heels Podcast.

Right, Horror Heliacs, welcome back to the pod. Today, we've got an absolute legend with us, Mr. Monster Mania himself, Dave Hagen. If you've ever stepped into a Monster Mania convention, then you know why we're so excited. This man turned his love of horror into a thriving horror fanatic haven where fans become family and introverts form their tribe. So Dave, it's a pleasure to have you. Hey, Dave, welcome to the podcast. Hey, Cory, how are you? I am doing fantastic.

I wore this jacket just so you'd recognize me. I wouldn't be the guy who I want. I'm tired of it. The flashiest jackets at all our shows. And I've been talking about this a couple of times on our other podcast, Family Twist, and recording for this one that it's real, because I'm kind of an introvert, believe it or not. Dude, I am too. That was one of the things I was going to talk about. Like you would not know it from, you know, I'm forced into being the representative for the show and I do the

Q and A is in the costume contest hosting. But the reality of it is I'm the guy at the party that's not talking. You know, I'm the wallflower, you know? Same. And that's yeah. So I found that the and I like dressing like this. It's not like I don't like it. It's just but it does draw attention to me. And that way I don't have to start a conversation. Somebody's already coming up to me. Yeah. And then once it's you know, once it started, then I'm totally fine. Now, is that at the shows specifically at the conventions or?

Is that regularly? I started, I started wearing blazers just because I don't know. kind of liked the look. Actually. It's so funny. My partner brought one home from like lost and found at some point. And I was like, I really liked it. I'm like, I like this whole idea of like maybe blazers and jeans or something. And then I got a red velvet smoking jacket from somewhere. And I started wearing, that was the only jacket that I wore when we were living in the West coast to con. So, but I I'd wear that jacket with like a tee shirt and like van shorts and like, you know,

skater shoes. It wasn't until I started coming to your shows that I started full suits, you know, and like, you know, and the shoes and everything, you know, going matching and stuff like that. Like, and I think I'm even going to like step it up a little bit more this year. I think I'm going do a con where it's just going to be red suits. But I just had my eyebrows tinted for the first time because they're so light. But I think I'm going to have them tinted red to match the suit. wow. I'll never forget.

What was it? The sexiest category of the of the costume contest when you came up, man, I had so much fun with that. mean, that's just, you know, that's like the epitome of what I want our shows to be, you know, and it was so great that you felt I mean, for, know, an introvert such as yourself to feel that comfortable to come up and do that, man. And you killed it. You killed it. There might have been a little wine involved. Well, that always helps.

But it's funny that you say that because you know, at these shows, you can't be an introvert because everybody knows you like you're you're what more well known than like the top celebrity at the show. You're having conversations with thousands of people in black t-shirts and Michael Myers masks like all weekend long. And and it's funny, like I try not to be, you know, I mean, there's some promoters that, you know, you think they were the headliner, you know, like they they brag on themselves so much. And I'm the complete opposite. I'm kind of like.

Kevin Clement from Chiller. Kevin was always the behind the scenes guy. Like if you knew who Kevin was, you know where to find him. But for the most part, Kevin was just, you know, the guy quietly, you know, the, wizard of Oz behind the curtain. And I've tried to be that for the most part, although I really love doing the Q and A's. So, you know, hosting those and I love doing the costume contest. So I step out, you know, into the public eye for those two things, but for the most of it.

I don't want to be the famous guy. know, I just, I want to be the behind the curtains guy. I, know, the first few times I went to monster mania, I didn't go to the custom contest. think I was just exhausted by the time that came around, but they are so fun. won't miss one now. They are just so entertaining and just laugh out loud moments and know, unpredictable. Yeah. It's, it's my favorite part of, of the whole weekend. I get to do it. You know, my two sons host.

It's funny, my two sons are like the complete opposites of each other. Doug is the outward, boisterous kind of guy and Dave is like the reserved guy, but he'll hit you with a quiet one liner that like sneaks up on you. Like when you go, that's what he said. You know, I love doing it. And I like the unpredictability of it. To me, it's like, I don't know if you remember like the Gong show years ago. To me, it's like the Gong show. You never know what's going to happen, you know, and that's, that's the fun of it all.

people followed off the stage. Yeah, unfortunately, yes. All sorts of shenanigans. I fell off the stage in Maryland. Yeah, yeah, I was stepping down and the the the hotel didn't set up the stage steps right. So when I when I stepped down to the top step, the steps flipped. And man, I'll tell you, I took a friggin fall, man. I I thought I broke my collarbone and it was right before the costume contest, just as we were setting up and stuff like that. So.

I got through the costume contest. did that final, the shining photo op with, with everybody in the room. And then I thought I was going to the hospital, but I, I went to the hospital, like two days later, I think that Tuesday, but nothing broken or anything, but boy, it's all about falling off stages. You know, I can, I can add that to my list of things that I've done at my shows now. I'm going to lose the deck here. Just getting a little more, it's like 90 degrees here in New England, but, I'm sure you recognize the.

the shirt. there you go. Yes. Yes. Yes. This was my first. And boy, it was a doozy. Yeah, that one was a doozy. But I'll tell you, it's it's funny. So I was in line for the photo op with the kids when the fire marshal said, too many people, you know, in the hotel and shut the doors, which was like, I think horror fans are able to easily turn lemons at the lemonade. Like I

just happened to meet the nicest couple next to me and the guy was hysterical and just was like cracking wise with everybody around us. And it was just like an entertaining comedy show the whole time we out there. Like when we went back inside it and it feel like any time it passed. Yeah. You know, I've seen so many exaggerations about that. It really, within, within a half an hour, the doors were fully open and we were letting people back in again. He, just, completely shut the doors for 15 minutes. And then 15 minutes after that, it was, if one person left one could come in.

And then 15 minutes after that, was back to open doors. I've seen all kinds of stories about it that were just... yeah. It's a couple of now that just continues to be there. So that was my first show, but I would love to hear a little bit about the origins of Monster Mania. God. It started, guess, the very beginning of it was... Well, first of all, it's dedicated to my dad, who I lost and I adored. I lost him when I was...

19 years old, 19 or 18. I'm not quite sure which. And I idolize my dad, my dad, every Saturday and Sunday or Sunday, every weekend, my dad would take me, we lived in Philadelphia at the time. My dad would take me to these old movie theaters, like the big 40 foot screens, one screen per theater. They used to call them movie palaces. Like we used to go down center city in Philadelphia, all these beautiful, gorgeous movie theaters. And we would see

Double feature horror movies. So that always stuck with me and it grew my interest in horror films, the paranormal to a degree and all those things. So fast forward, I was writing for some movie magazines and I wanted to interview Sarah Carloth at the time the month, the universal monster stamps were coming out and, and her and Bala Gosi Jr. And Ron Cheney, we're going out and doing a lot of, press and promotion.

for the stamps that were coming out. So we were set up to do a phone interview and she says, why don't you come up and just we'll meet up in person at Chiller Theater Convention, which I didn't even know what that was. So I said, know, give me the details and whatever. So she gave me the address and the dates and all that, bought a ticket, went up and I was just completely blown away. I was like, wow, like I have found, you know, my home. I started becoming a vendor.

I used to, I was always collected movie posters and things like that. I was always the guy that my friends would come to see and say, you know, where'd you get that poster? Where'd you get this? And I would wind up buying it for them. was kind of like in the very beginning of the internet really becoming a big thing. Long story short, we became vendors and my sons would help me with it. I became a staff volunteer for this classic horror convention in Pittsburgh called Monster Bash run by Ron Adams. Incredibly nice guy.

So I was a staff member for him for a few years, then became a vendor at his shows and then helped Carolyn Monroe at one time be like her assistant, you know, when, her daughter couldn't or stepdaughter couldn't fill in for her one weekend in Ohio. And then we were coming back from the monster bash in Pittsburgh, my oldest son, Dave and I, and it was like a six hour drive home. So we were kicking around the idea like, if you were going to do a convention, what would you do? How would you do it? What?

You know, what would yours be like? You know, we could do this, that, and the other thing. But by the end of the six hour drive, I was like, wow, like we have an idea for a great convention, I think. And the Philadelphia area at the time had nothing like that. The only thing we had had creation used to come around with Star Trek conventions. Okay. so, I had gone to a couple of those and enjoyed those at the time. used this program called front page where you could create a website on your computer, but you didn't have to like upload it to the.

to the internet. I created this website and I said, what do you think? And Dave's like, are we going to do this? I said, well, I think so. So I had reached out to some hotels and the thing that really made us do it, the one hotel in Cherry Hill came back and offered us dates. And the first day was my father's birthday, September 26th. And I'm like, this something, you know, this is, you know, whatever it is in the universe.

is telling me this is what we should do. And I had heard like, you know, first conventions are always failures are going to lose a lot of money. And I had heard this from other promoters and we were lucky right out of the gate. You know, we, got on to, back at the time newspapers were a thing. And on Fridays, they used to have the pullout weekend entertainment section. We were on the cover. I've got them framed above me. were on a cover of three different pullout sections and the turnout was great. You know, like way better than.

way better than we were prepared for by my chief of staff an hour into it quit. wow. Ken Sykes was a friend of mine from coming to, used to host a horror movie nights at a local theater in New Jersey. And we did one in Philadelphia too. So a friend of mine from that said, you know, I'll fill in and he became our chief of staff for God, probably the first 10, 12 years. But the whole thing was, you know, it was all it.

It always was and always will be a dedication for me to my father, you know, for all those, it seemed like Sunday afternoon, double features, hammer horror films, Vincent Price films. And, know, we grew up in in a, in a neighborhood that, that was rough. And we grew up in the seventies when, there was a lot of, grew up in Philly. If you remember classic Saturday night live, they used to make fun of, Frank Rizzo being a Gestapo mayor. He was the mayor when I'm at this time period.

And was a lot of racial strife and a lot of, grew up in an area that wasn't the best. man, Sundays were Sundays in a movie theater with my dad for a double feature movie was as close to heaven as I could get, you know? So the shows have always been and always will be, you know, thank you to my dad. That's awesome. I love that because, you know, we've been doing this other podcast for a couple of years now, and there's just always seems to be, and I described it to one of our guests yesterday as like,

Like those FBI movies where they've got everything on the wall, the pictures and all the red strings are like connections through every time we talk to somebody. So I lost my dad at 17, Kendall lost his dad at 16 and guess who those guys, what they introduced us to. And my dad loved a good jump scare. Like he would be the guy hiding in the closet, just wearing a mask to scare the crap out of the kids. a flashy jacket, right? I don't know where I got that from. The mailman or something.

So it's interesting that you say that because that's something that horror movies are something that Kendall and I first bonded over when we started dating, know, like this mutual love of horror. And I think you kind of go back to being a young gay person growing up and finding kinship with those characters because those characters are going through maybe not exactly the same thing, but we certainly relate to them. So, and that's really why we started doing this. Cause I tried to talk him out of doing a horror podcast for months because one, I know how hard it is to do a good podcast.

because we've been doing one for a while. And two, was like, look, there's a lot of horror podcasts. There's not a lot of good horror podcasts, but there is a lot of horror podcasts. What are we gonna do? What is our thing? What do we have different to say? And really it was at Monster Mania, the last one I went to standing in line to meet Sam Raimi, there was a young kid who's clearly in duress. And I was like this close to just saying like, hey, I'm fine if you wanna step out of line. And when it's your turn, we'll jump right back in. But before I could somebody,

commented on the stack of DVDs he was holding and all that terror and anxiety melted away. And then he was fine for the rest of it. So when I had that aha moment, I'm like, okay, this is what it is. And then you were one of the first people I thought of like I wanted to have on because I'm sure you've heard how many of these stories like that, right? yeah. Yeah. mean, we've been responsible like in a lot of ways too. We've been responsible for a lot of couples getting together. had mentioned something on Facebook the other day, like

You know, Sid Haag met his wife at our show. and like we have staff members that have met their significant others at our show. I've met my current girlfriend at our show. It's just been one of those things, but what's your point with, with, know, the, the kid in line for Sam Raimi, I've gotten so many emails from people, you know, thanking me for having the show because just like I felt when I walked into Chiller for the first time.

You know, there's people that I think some people just aren't in the right place at the right time. They don't meet people that are like them quote, you know, like them. But then when they come to the, to the horror convention, they meet those people, you know, or they feel comfortable being themselves. You know, if it is, you know, the, the gay person that maybe is in an environment that's not supportive of that, then they come to the show and there's no judgment.

It's just, we, just accept everybody. And I've gotten so many emails from people that say, you know, like what, going back to my father and your father, you know, I get emails from people saying, you know, I got to meet, you know, this star with my mom. was the last thing that we did before she passed. You know, I got that email a couple shows ago. I mean, you get emails like that and it's like, it's not a business and it's not, it's not for making money. And it's not, it's.

It supersedes all that stuff. It's providing memories for people that are going to last with them for a lifetime. know? Yeah. I mean, you're bringing a community together. I mean, that's really what it is. And because like people, I think, of course we all know people are like, I can't watch horror movies. too scary or whatever. So they don't get into it. They don't know anything about it. then they'll watch the news. Exactly. But I'm like, you've got to experience, you just don't get it until you experience it. Like you've got to go.

to one of these conventions just to see it. So like my colleague that started a podcast the same time two years ago, she came to one with me a couple of years ago. My cousin until he moved to Europe was coming with me and I could definitely tell it was good for his anxiety as well. Like there was somebody who was there with a service dog, a therapy dog, a Rottweiler and he has a Rottweiler and he was just like kidding the candy store, loving on this Rottweiler while we were waiting in line to meet somebody.

Yeah. And it's just, but I've heard so many people, like I've been in line so many times, whether it's Robert Englund or Kane Hodder or Cassandra Peterson or whatever, just people like this movie saved my life. Your character saved my life. And then just like that, that has an impact. know, it's like, okay. And stars hear that all the time. You know, I mean, like every star is going to hear that from somebody at the show over the course of a three day weekend, you know, and, and I think it.

Well, I've had so many stars that like that have done their first show with us came back and said, you know, I can't believe what the interaction was like. You know, I thought it was going to be something totally different than what it was. It touches them when somebody's coming up and telling you that, you know, it's like, when I get these emails, like, wow, you know, like it really, you know, makes you stop and think and be thankful that you're in the position to do those things for people that are that other people react and accept what you do that much.

And be, you know, going back to the introvert thing, like to be that type of a person and get an email that thanks you and says that that goes a long way. You know, there's, a lot of like people love to, you know, crap on things on, on social media too. Like every one of those that you read, you know, is, like a dagger in the heart, you know? So like when you get an email, you know, that says that's how appreciative of, know, the time that them and their mom got to meet somebody, like it really, really.

changes your day. And that, my fiends, is part one of our Monster Mania origin story. Dave, thank you for sharing the first steps of this wild journey. From the chance meetings to those unforgettable fan moments, you've built something truly epic. So to all our listeners, whether you're a con regular or planning your first trip, just remember, Monster Mania is the place where weird and wonderful reign supreme. Tune in next time as we dive deeper into the madness, more behind the scenes stories,

and find out just how Dave and his sons keep the horror community growing strong one con at a time. Until then, remember, when someone asks, is horror good for mental wellness? You answer, of course it is. The Horror Heels podcast is produced by How the Cow Ate the Cabbage LLC.