Head Vampire
Movies Editor

"Why Monsters at Play, Lawrence?"

Well that's a good question my fiend. Designing and building the site, that's the easy part. The name however, is another story altogether. After days of sifting through hundreds of ideas for the name, it finally hit when Tom turned to me and said (in that sweet Austrian accent of his) Monsters at Play (that's right, give Tom all of the credit for the name... and the accent for that matter). Instantly, I knew that we had just found a name for the site. It's been over 2-years now and we're still going strong with absolutely no sign of stopping any time soon. The Monsters have truly taken over.

"OK, Lawrence, that makes sense, but you've just told us about the name! What about the idea for the site and its content, where did that come from?"

Slow down pardner, I was just about to get to that!

Make no mistake about it, I'm a film fan. But I'm especially fond of the weird and wonderful cinema that satisfies a smaller niche market of fans. I felt that these films were NOT getting the proper exposure that they deserve on the net. Sure, there are hundreds if not thousands of sites covering these films, however, only a small portion of them are truly getting the job done. I wanted a site that supplied intelligent, fun reviews from an educated fans perspective. You want horror news? You go to one of the hundreds of sites that swipe that news from each other on a daily basis. You want insightful, intelligent, fun criticism from a group of fans, (notice I said fans, NOT fanboys) then you come to Monsters At Play! After being turned down as a reviewer on 'another' review site that shall remain nameless (a site that I don't even LIKE mind you) I was determined to open the doors of my own site, a site that would get it right.

When Monsters At Play first entered the scene, August of 2001, I was the only reviewer for the film section. Now, 2+ years later, I have assembled one hell of a review team - I'm thankful for them each and every day. We've grown to the point where we don't just review DVDs either. We review books, mags, soundtracks and have become a safe haven for the independents. We offer coverage of film festivals, interviews and opinion pieces. What I'm most proud of though are the articles that are submitted by the independent filmmakers themselves. This is exclusive content that you will find nowhere else on the net. The Monsters give the independents a chance to tell their stories in their own words - we love this and we're always happy to help, sharing their voice.

In closing, I want to thank all of our loyal readers, new and old for keeping us afloat. Monsters At Play is a labor of love for all involved, but especially for me. It's my baby and I'm always proud to watch it grow and flourish. As long as you keep stopping by, we'll keep pumping out the content. You all rock my nuts!

Email Lawrence - lawrence@monstersatplay.com

Meet More Monsters

	Lawrence P. Raffel	Head Vampire	Movies Editor
	Michael Johnson	Mad Scientist	Games Editor
	Carl Lyon	Monkey With a Straight Razor	Senior Staff Writer
	J. Read	El Jeffé Grande	Senior Staff Writer
	Gregory S. Burkart	Kinky Count Klaus	Senior Staff Writer
	Wren Leach	Succubus	Staff Writer
	Bradley Harding	That Snow Ghost	Senior Staff Writer
	Christopher Hyatt	Electric Golem	Junior Staff Writer