Tom Devlin's Monster Museum

While we were in Las Vegas in July, we had the chance to drive out to Boulder City. If you haven't been, it's cute little town right outside of Vegas (a 30-minute drive), that's right on the outskirts of Hoover Dam. We were also able to drive the short distance to overlook Lake Mead. I've been excited to visit Tom Devlin's Monster Museum, right in the heart of the city, for a long time.

Tom Devlin is a make-up effects artist for movies and has been in the business for over 20 years. He's worked on a ton of films, including Butcher House, Mega Piranha, Puppet Master: Axis Termination, and Camp Twilight. Sure, you've probably never heard of these, but that doesn't make him less impressive. 

Tom strives to preserve the art of special effects throughout history, in order to teach others the history of them and how to improve upon current techniques with things that may have worked well in the past, but by also trying new things in the ever-evolving industry. 

Let's head inside! The Monster Museum opened 5 years ago and is a must for anyone who loves horror, thinks make-up effects are awesome, or really just wants to see some cool movie memorabilia. If you are not good with the dark, lifelike figures, or small spaces, this might not be the museum for you, since you walk into this hallway:

Now, you probably already know that I'm afraid of haunted houses and the dark, so this would not have been a museum I would have gone to alone. I may have felt differently if there were most people there, but were the only ones inside when we arrived. The first part of your self-guided tour is devoted to the classic monsters and those that portrayed them, like Lon Chaney. 

I have a terrible overactive imagination when it comes to things like this, so the low lighting kind of freaked me out, thinking that I saw figures move, but I can assure you that it was eyes playing tricks on me, because everything inside is static. There aren't any people dressed up waiting to jump out at you, or animatronics waiting for you to walk past to be triggered. You might worry about that same thing in the rooms that have Ghostface and the all the iterations of Jason from Friday the 13th.

Past the classic monsters and actors, you get into the amazing horror movies and monsters from the 80s. When we visited Vegas last year, we visited a movie memorabilia collection called Cineloggia that had props and costumes from several movies, including some little heard of horror flicks, but also from the Hellraiser series. 

Cineloggia didn't have complete mannequins, just costumes, but Devlin has recreated the whole make-up effects of the Cenobites that are on display, complete with Pinhead and the Lament Box in an alcove that gave Hellraiser II vibes. 

There was a whole long hallway case with 80's movie props that were actually used in the films. Some movies I'd heard of and some I hadn't. Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead is now on my list of movies to watch. Last year I came away from Cineloggia with the need to watch a terrible-sounding movie about a killer turkey called ThanksKilling, which was so bad it was good. We then watched ThanksKilling 3, because there is no second movie. (It's a whole thing.)

I'm always impressed by what people can do with latex and how amazing even bad masks can look with some aging and creative coloring.

We both realized we'd never seen any of the Puppet Master movies, so that was one of the first movies we watched this Halloween season. It's exactly and also completely not what you expect it to be. I'm looking forward to watching the sequels at some point. All of the dolls in this case murdered someone in the first movie.

There are more of the newer movie monsters here, too: Freddy, Michael Myers, Beetlejuice (if you consider him a monster), Gremlins, Chucky, Ghostface (he was the header to my previous blog post), and Leprechaun. I will say the lighting could be a lot better - or worse, I suppose - as it's very difficult to take any sort of decent pictures in most cases. This isn't a fancy museum. It's strictly there to showcase the make-up and appliance work. Some rooms have great backgrounds and props and others are just blank black walls with plaques telling you about the movies. 

Once you've survived the many small rooms, you come out at the gift shop (surprise!), where you started, and you're given the opportunity to go have a sit-down in their little theater that shows documentaries about other make-up artists and effects work. We watched a film about the people who were the main prosthetics and appliances for the Planet of the Apes franchise. Learning the tips and tricks of those that came before is imperative to effects artists now in developing new techniques, but falling back on tried-and-true methods that can look just as good and also save time and money.

Tom Devlin's Monster Museum is right on the main street when coming in Boulder City. They have signings and meet & greets with horror icons like Cassandra Peterson (who plays Elvira), and you can even book a tour with Tom himself for less than expected, which I hope to do in the future. Regular admission is just $20 per person. You can totally make a whole day out of a visit to Boulder City, NV between this, visiting Hoover Dam, or even just Lake Mead, and doing a walking tour on your own around town, while also checking out all the cool statues along the streets.

If you enjoy horror movies or even just cool make-up effects, what movie has some of your favorites?  

Scary Travel Movies

I adore Halloween and almost everything that comes with it. Each year I try to consume as much spooky media as possible, including horror movies and scary podcasts. If you also enjoy such things, then this post is for you. I've got a long list of great horror movies that revolve around travel, which you would think would scare me off from a lot of things, but actually haven't. 

Ghost Face at Tom Devlin's Monster Museum in Boulder City, NV

I feel as if you can definitely learn a lot from these movies, even if it's just how not to get ripped off or how not to trust strangers. So, let's delve into some movies I have enjoyed and recommend for all horror lovers:

Cabin In The Woods (2012) - If I have to pick a favorite horror movie, it's a tough call to not immediately choose this one. I may have issues with Joss Whedon, but this movie is fairly perfect in my eyes, including the amazing twist you get halfway through and then an even twistier twist later on. In short, a group of college friends take their RV to one of their cousin's cabin in the woods to get away from it all. The cabin turns out to be much more than a cabin and the worst decision anyone's ever made, but there's a reason they're there and doing everything they do. It's amazing and if you haven't seen it, I urge you to rent it right now.  

Cabin Fever (2002) - A group of friends stay in a cabin in the woods. Before they've arrived, a virus has been released into the local water supply. It kills people slowly and painfully by causing them to decompose while they're still alive. After swimming in the lake, this group begins to show signs of infection. The cast is awesome and 20 years later I still have feelings about a particular scene that has stuck with me.

Psycho (1960) - While you can watch the remake, the original will always be it for me, plus it includes a lot of firsts in film that make it even more important. Marion Crane is given the day's deposit for the real estate company she works for, but instead of going to the bank, she absconds with the money in order to pay off her boyfriend's debts so they can get married. Trading in her car on the way, she finds herself pulling off into a roadside motel when the rain becomes too heavy to drive in. Cabin 1 is free...and, well, you know the rest.

House of Wax (1953 & 2005) - I'll admit, I loved both of these movies. The first is a black and white Vincent Price film that was properly scary even 70 years later. Several people have mysteriously gone missing with their lookalikes found in the newly-opened wax museum. In the 2005 remake a group of friends heading to a football game end up needing a new fan belt for their truck and go to the nearby town to await the return of the mechanic after a funeral he's attending. While waiting, they go to the town's "famous" wax museum and find more than they bargained for. This one stars Jared Padelecki (before Supernatural took off), Paris Hilton, and Elisha Cuthbert.

The Shallows (2016) - One of Blake Lively's best movies, in my opinion. After her death, she heads to a secluded beach that her mother wrote about in her journal when she was pregnant with her. She gets dropped off by a local and eventually meets two guys who are also there to surf. They leave and she decides to catch one last wave. In doing so, she is pursued by a huge shark that seems intent on eating her no matter what. The rest of the movie is her story of surviving and trying to make it back to the beach alive, with only herself to count on.

Turistas (2006) - Three American tourists go on vacation and a bus tour where the bus breaks down. The three of them connect with some others from their bus and head down the cliff to the beach where a party is taking place. Drinking is involved and drugs and, long story short, a surgeon who sells organs on the Black Market.

Hostel (2005) - Probably one of the hardest movies to watch and the one that may have deterred a lot of people from hostels, train travel, and strangers. Americans travel to Slovenia and meet some new friends who they go drinking with. When they wake up, they learn they've been sold to a torture chamber for rich people. It's terrifying and disgusting and one of the few movies I had to watch certain scenes through my fingers.

Old (2021) - I know this movie got a lot of bad reviews, but I really feel like M. Night Shyamalan has started finding his voice again. Several families go on vacation to a luxury resort and are dropped off on a private beach and told they would be picked up later. None of them have any idea where they are and they don't appear to have any cell service, so they can't call for help when things start to go wrong. Everyone begins aging rapidly and there's only one way out that isn't dying quickly of old age.

Midsommar (2019) - Our main character goes on a trip to Sweden with her boyfriend and his friends after her sister kills herself and her parents, leaving her severely traumatized and causing her boyfriend to put off breaking up with her, even though their relationship was bad before the tragedy happened. They all get caught up in "traditional" Midsommar rituals that get weirder and weirder the longer they stay. The writer/director Ari Aster, who also did Hereditary, has a lot of interesting things to say about his movie, including that he doesn't view either of his movies horror, but he's probably the only one.

House of 1000 Corpses (2003) - 4 friends are roadtripping across the country in order to write a book about roadside attractions. When they stop for gas they meet a clown named Captain Spaulding who owns an attraction called The Museum of Monsters and Madmen which tells the legend of Dr. Satan. In order to research this local legend, they pick up a hitchhiker who claims she lives near the tree he was hanged from and they offer to take her home so she can show it to them. Shockingly, her family is a bunch of psychopaths and things end badly for these teens. Arguably, this is Rob Zombie's best film. In my opinion it has everything, including Rainn Wilson and Chris Hardwick being idiots, Karen Black being incredibly creepy, and whole lot of killer mutants. This was followed by The Devil's Rejects and 3 From Hell, neither of which had the same campy feel that I loved.

Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974 & 2003) - I understand the love a lot of people have for the original, I've watched it several times and pretty much always side with Leatherface. A group of friends are traveling to visit one of their father's graves and old farmhouse. Along the way they pick up a hitchhiker who seems to have quite a lot going on and none of it good. At the old farmhouse, several of them wander off and end up at the home next door and become murder victims. I prefer the 2003 remake with Jessica Biel, who actually tries to survive. The plot is different to update with the times, but the outcome is mostly the same.

Jeepers Creepers (2001) - The original follows a pair of siblings going home from college on Spring Break. They are followed by a truck driven by a person who has seen them witness him carrying dead bodies to an old abandoned church. The rest of the movie is them trying to survive. The monster is loosely based on the Jersey Devil, even though it takes place in Florida. Barely a travel movie, Jeepers Creepers 2 (2003) is also great. This movie follows a high school basketball team on the bus to an away game when a tire blows and strands them on the roadside of the same town, just 3 days after the events of the first movie. Chaos ensues and a scarecrow in a cornfield is involved. 

Us (2019) - If you haven't seen this Jordan Peele movie about a family on a vacation with some friends that they don't seem to enjoy, you might be missing out. While this has socio-political undertones, the horror aspect is amazing. The story is that every person has a double underground that is forced to live in secret and live their life like their above-ground counterpart. They have figured out how to break free and are out to seek revenge on their other selves.

The Green Inferno (2013) - This Eli Roth movie can be difficult to watch if torture porn is not your thing. A group of activists go on a trip to the Amazon when their plane goes down and they are captured by a group of cannibals. You know what happens next. It's very graphic. I would have been much more disturbed by this movie, but Roth shot on location with an actual native tribe who had never actually seen movies or TV. He explained what he wanted and showed them the most disturbing movie he had, Cannibal Holocaust, which is a movie that inspired his horror career and includes a movie within a movie called The Green Inferno. The tribe thought this movie was hilarious and, while filming, asked to be covered in more and more fake blood.

Final Destination (2000) - An oldie, but a goodie. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. A group of high schoolers are on a school trip and have just gotten on the plane when one gets a vision of the plane going down and everyone dying. A handful of them get off when he raises concerns, only to watch his vision come true as the plane has just taken off, killing everyone on board. The rest of the movie is them trying to evade Death as it comes back for them.

Brokedown Palace (1999) - While not really a horror movie, I included this because it's about a thing I always think about: getting arrested in a foreign country. While I never do anything that would probably land me in jail/prison, I think it's not that an uncommon fear. In this movie, Claire Danes and her friend go on a trip and her friend trusts a guy she just met and ends up carrying drugs for him, and they get caught and both end up in prison with a sentence of 33 years.

So, what I've learned from horror movies is to be very wary of who I trust, don't go off alone, always tell people where you'll be, don't let someone have access to your bags, don't take drinks from strangers, don't pick up hitchhikers, always have roadside assistance when going on road trips, and never split up when things are going badly.

Share with me some of your favorite horror movies. They don't have to be travel-related.  

The Paris Sewer Museum

On each trip to Paris we have done something cool and weird. On our first and last trip we visited Père Lachaise Cemetery, on our second trip we went to the Catacombs, and on this most recent trip we went to the Museum of Hunting & Nature (Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature) and the Sewer Museum (Musée des Égouts de Paris).

A museum about the sewers may not sound that awesome to anyone else, but I found it while Google Mapping a day during my planning phase. At just 9€ a person, it was very affordable and totally different from anything else we've ever done. I wanted to do a handful of non-touristy things this trip and this appeared to fit the bill.

If you passed the museum on the street (it's located in a park right on the Seine), you probably wouldn't give it a second look. There's not a ton of stuff around it, but it's situated a few steps from the Pont de l'Alma and across the street from a Metro station and a Pierre Hermé location that serves macarons and ice cream. There's a great public water fountain right out front. This was one of the only places where the employees didn't speak English, so if you have a timed ticket that doesn't work - because you're early, like we were - you will have to explain your situation to the person at the front desk.

Once inside, we were immersed in the literal sewer and its history. Paris, having the first real sewage system, has had a tour in the sewers almost since the sewer was built. People were so enthralled by this new service that they wanted to see how it worked. So many people, in fact, that they built boats for tours and charged people admission. At some point, they stopped giving tours, and then turned this portion of the sewer into a (working) museum and then allowed people back to learn history on their own, instead of through guided tours by sanitation workers. 

Now, I'll tell you that I read the reviews of the museum before I purchased tickets and the most memorable, which actually pushed me to buy the tickets, was one that said "I only saw one sewer rat on my tour. I thought I'd see more, so this was disappointing." Now, I'm aware this was a working sewer and might contain rats and other unsavory things, but it's also a museum and amazingly clean. We actually did see a rat also, but it was far away and never came any closer to us down the tunnel. 

If you are afraid of rats, mice, bugs, are claustrophobic, or have a very sensitive nose, this is not a tour for you. We wore masks the entire time, but I did briefly take mine down to smell the air when I heard two people retching further down a tunnel section, but it honestly didn't smell worse down there either. Yes, it's a working sewer and yes it smells weird, but I didn't find it overpowering and off-putting. Some sections are worse than others, but still not enough to deter me from finishing the tour.

You follow a guide of numbered plaques that tell you about each section you're in. If you only speak/read English, there is a take-along guide for you to follow along. We took turns being a tour guide for each other and telling each other about the different pipes and waterways and cool dredger boats and sewer balls (giant rubber, wooden, or iron spheres that help clean the waterways - seen below). 

You'll also see old wooden dredgers and manholes (what you'd see under a manhole cover) and all the different pipes and digital equipment used now to monitor water levels. 

Some sections are very large and some are barely tall enough for a man to stand up in. You are not permitted to go through some tunnels, which would lead you into the labyrinthine pipe system where only trained sanitation workers dare to go.

Each section is a mirror of a street or walkway above ground and each street has a street sign in the sewer tunnels, which is kind of amazing and shockingly organized for what I expected. 

At the end of your tour, you can sit and watch a video about the inner workings of the French sewer system and see how it works through illustrations and illustrated maps. It's all in French, but if you paid attention to the tour guide or speak even a little French you can get the gist of it

After you've watched the video, or skipped it, there are small models, interactive videos, and old sanitation worker equipment and protective gear. There's also a small gift shop with some cool things in it. We purchased some postcards and t-shirts (only 8 euros!) and some other little things, but they have mugs, glasses, books, and more. We highly recommend this weird and informative activity. It only takes about an hour to walk through, but it's definitely worth it, and it's easy to get to.

Have you loved a "hidden gem" attraction on your travels that you wish more people knew about?