Feature: MEET NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD STAR JUDITH O'DEA at Tom Devlin's Monster Museum

Monsters, ghouls, ghosts, creatures, and things that go bump in the night have always fascinated people. One of them is Tom Devlin, who now owns and operates Tom Devlin's Monster Museum in Boulder City, Nevada. Judith O'Dea, one of the stars of the zombie film, Night of the Living Dead, will make an appearance at Tom Devlin's Monster Museum on Feb. 15.

For almost 20 years, Devlin worked professionally as a special makeup effects artist following his passion for monsters, horror movies, scary television shows, and Halloween. After years of working in film, television, and haunted attractions, Devlin followed another dream to open a museum to share his art collection with the world.

"My wife and I wanted to leave Los Angeles and raise a family, so we choose Boulder City," explains Devlin. "We always talked about opening a monster museum. I saw the building and decided we had to do it."

Night of the Living Dead, an independent horror film written and directed by George Romero, was released on Oct. 1, 1968, and grossed over $30 million. The franchise of subsequent films was released between 1978 and 2009, along with several remakes.

The original Night of the Living Dead became the first graveyard zombie movie and changed the fabric of zombie movies. O'Dea worked in the entertainment industry until the 1970s and took a break from acting to raise a family. O'Dea returned to acting in the 21st century and even reprised her role as Barbara in Night of the Living Dead: Genesis.

Devlin created a company to develop and provide creatures and special makeup effects on over 100 feature films. He also developed a line of Halloween masks for the haunted attractions industry. In 2011, Devlin appeared as a contestant on Season One of the SyFy reality series Face Off. He became a fan favorite with his winning horror villain, "Teddy Told Me To," a terrifying take on the teddy bear.

"There is definitely a difference between a horror show and monster movies. Monsters can appear in any genre of film, like, 'Mutant Ninja Turtles' and other superhero movies. At the museum, we focus on the horror world with classics like Frankenstein to Freddy Krueger." The museum is dedicated to preserving the history and art of monster characters before computer generated imagery (CGI) was extensively used.

Judith O'Dea, star of the 1968 version of Night of the Living Dead, will appear at Tom Devlin's Monster Museum, located at 1310 Boulder City Parkway, Boulder City, on Feb. 15 from noon to 4. The event is family-friendly with a ticket cost of $30, which will also include an autographed photo and selfie with O'Dea. For more information, visit tomdevlinsmonstermuseum.com.

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