This past weekend was HorrorCon International’s inaugural event, and it was rocky, to say the least.

We arrived on Saturday to a half-full parking lot and a con floor that appeared to be even more dead. In contrast, CatCon LA in June (at the same venue) had us parking across the street because the parking lot filled up so quickly. The Reef LA Mart is a venue designed for cons: distinct alcoves perfectly house vendors and the walkways are wide and forgiving. This is a nice departure from the crowded and claustrophobic walkways of other cons. However, with limited vendors, the con felt spread out and empty. Further, the aisles twisted and turned with small offshoot rooms for signings and vendors.

Despite the setup and lack of attendees, the vendors are always the shining light of any con. Many of my favorites from Monsterpalooza showed up with a handful of newcomers too. Notables were the following: The Art of Eric O’Neill, whose Frankenstein oil painting is always a personal favorite; Crossroads Escape Game, a horror-themed escape room that had a mini escape room to solve for a discount code; Sick Soaps, selling slasher, haunted mansion, and skull/brain shaped soaps; Cesar 237 Art, whose surreal art and horror photography is the perfect blend of creep and class; and Tim Gore, whose three-dimensional art and shrunken heads lacked sales–his Instagram quoted “HorrorCon was a bust, zero attendance and 4 total sales.”

And it wasn’t just vendors there. Heretic Horror House previewed their first foray into a non-extreme haunt. This was easily the highlight of HorrorCon with fans lining up over 30 minutes early and eventually spanning across the entire con floor. We even spoke to fans that came to HorrorCon just to support Heretic. Deviating from their normal, no waiver was signed this time. A mask was placed over my head with plastic wrap obscuring my vision. Then I was thrust into a maze of plastic and sheets. I won’t spoil what happened inside, but it was disorientingly fun and scary. This may mark the start of Heretic trying something a bit more appealing to the masses, and I am very excited to partake.

Overall, the convention was fun because of the vendors, a new haunt experience with Heretic, and great friends that make any con fun. Furthermore, a handful of great cosplayers were out to take pictures with fans and horror kids alike. But even with these pluses, a con can’t survive without attendees. HorrorCon can try to improve attendance by moving the con away from the beginning of haunt season. With many other events to choose from, a first-year con is a hard bet to take. Further, scheduled only a week after Son of Monsterpalooza may have added to the horror con-fatigue. HorrorCon does have a lot to improve upon, but I hope they do find their footing and generate a new horror convention for Southern California.

HorrorCon International ran from Friday, September 25th from 1:00 pm to 9:00 pm and Saturday, September 26th from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm.