Fun, family and budget friendly weekend con for horror enthusiasts! The online ticket prices were a reasonable $20. 12 or 15 would have been nice but this price included access to all of the panels and photo op areas. The largest section of the venue was dedicated to the vendor area. Booths of merchandise with no shortage of shirts, stickers, and novelty tumblers. It had the standard large array of drop-shipped keychains and print-on-demand graphic tees with Red Bubble designs which were none too interesting. There were a few stand out booths that got my attention such as horror themed perfume and body oil, and taxidermied ducklings; unfortunately, they were packed in between AI designed air fresheners and overpriced VHS resellers. As far as variety goes the vendors were lacking. The merchandise was also limited almost exclusively to horror movies and shows leaving much to be desired from horror game enthusiasts(with the exception to the rule being Five Nights at Freddy’s). There was a wonderful face painting station, and the two gals working it were absolutely lovely and super friendly! There was also a small but exciting haunted house to walk though that made an incredible use of a very limited space! One of the best purchases we made were some independently produced fan films, a continuation of The Halloween H20 storyline, The Haddonfield Nightmare and The Last Nightmare Part 1, sold to us by the director and two of the actors! There was also a section to meet actors from popular horror franchises, but we didn’t spend too much time in that area. We also did not attend any of the panels.
Overall, it was worth the money to attend. The peak of Arizona summer did effect the general vibe, but the cosplayers persisted, despite it all. Security was a little lacking, our bags were not checked and we were able to leave and comeback from every building freely. Nonetheless, a good way to spend a Saturday!