Please note: this will have explicit language in this, so I do apologize in advance. This letter represents my views and not the views of Film-Arcade.net as this will also be shared on the Film-Arcade.net Twitter page as well.
Before I go into this open letter about the clusterfuck convention that was Monster Maina 39, I want to give a little background about my convention life, I’ve been going to horror and comic con conventions since 2012. The last convention that had this level of disorganization that made so pissed was the 2014 Rhode Island Comic Con at the RI Convention Center where the organizers oversold tickets (like this convention) and the Fire Marshall shut down the show down as I was locked out after coming back for lunch and went home after a couple of hours. So I do know what a clusterfuck convention is and this convention was the definition of it. From that show, they’ve improved their convention by expanding their show to also include the Dunkin Donuts Center and Omni Hotel and had no major issues since.
Advice for Fans that endured this shitshow. (Please note, these are ideas as I’m trying to be helpful as I care about the horror community. Please use your judgement on this matter)
For fans who got locked out of this convention, you should demand a refund from the organizers by contacting them at their official website and/or contact the New Jersey Consumer Affairs Division to see if they can do anything. That’s a way for the organizers to hear your anger at this.
Those who were waiting in line outside for a photo op you should contact Wolf Studios Photography at info@wolfstudiosphotography.com or though their website and demand a refund. If they don’t do this or you want to do both, you should contact the New Jersey Consumer Affairs division to see if they can do anything.
Now to the open letter:
Dear Mr. Dave Hagan and the organizers of Monster Mania.
I was at your convention on Saturday as I came from Rhode Island with friends for the first time and I have to say we all thought this was the worst convention that all of us attended ever. I would even say this was even worse than the 2014 RI Comic Con which I attended by myself.
First, this convention should’ve been held in a big convention hall not a hotel. When you have a lineup like Tim Curry, Elvira, Paul Ruebens, Richard Dreyfuss, John Carpenter and four of the five kids from “IT”, you should’ve known there were going to be major problems. This is where you’ve should’ve moved this convention into a big convention hall. It would’ve make this a much easier and fun experience.
Second, you guys oversold on tickets and possibly photo ops. I’m sorry but that’s not cool. This felt like you only cared about how much money that you and you’re organizers can get out of the fans and taking rumored sweatheart deal that you got from the hotel. I also heard that whole op process was a mess. I was in one of them. The long Tim Curry line was bad. The line started at the left handside of the hotel’s restaurant then having to loop around to get to the right hand side of the line and in all of this middle hallway between the hotel desk to the restaurant and had three way traffic which made it a little claustrophobic. The only time you staff members in all of this was near the entrance of The Garden Room. This was ridiculous as they should’ve had someone at the starting point yelling that the Tim Curry line starts here. There was none of that as the only time they asked the people in line is when they were asking to show tickets near the entrance. Thankfully, I got my photo op with Tim Curry but the way this whole convention was run ruined that special moment as I’ll be thinking of the show for this chaos and not that moment. Also, I had a friend screwed out of a photo op because you were sending people outside because of photo op times being changed because of the whole mess with the IT kids photo ops which rumored to have happened which set up this chaos. Then, the Fire Marshall shut down the show restricting access to hotel guests only. That screwed people of photo ops. I felt sorry so my friend who had a photo op taken away from this mess and felt sorry for another guy who I heard was waiting outside for waiting for the six Jasons in costumes photo op from friends. That package cost over $300.
Third, the flow of the convention sucked. The Riverside Pavilion room felt like a free for all. It felt like there was no staff in the room directing the flow of the lines. It made the room so claustrophobic. There were no dividers between each of the tables. You had people lining up outside and in the hallways getting into the room. I couldn’t find any staff in the room and going through lines to meet the celeb I wanted to see was stupid. I even saw some lines outside which is ridiculous for this time of year. The hallways were packed. It was the worst line organization that I’ve ever seen for a convention. I never even got into the vendors room because pissed off from this chaos.
I’m telling you that I’m never coming to this show again but since I care so much about the horror community I’m going to give you some advice even though I shouldn’t because I’m pissed off at how this was awfully run.
First, you need a bigger venue. From what I heard about the history of this show, this show is getting bigger. If you care about your rumored sweetheart deal with the hotel, you and you’re organizers don’t care about your fans because you’re just greedy people and this show will become irrelevant because who would go to a show where this type of stuff happens. It’s plain and simple, you need a new location. The current location is in the middle of nowhere and it’s hard to park as there were cops ticketing cars that were parked illegally because there is no parking for a convention of this magnitude. That is another way that you’re screwing the fans.
Second, get rid of this stupid wristband system which you and Scare a Con uses because it sucks. This can also be applied to Rock and Shock as they have a hand stamped and ticket system which is even worse. This is the worst way to have an actual number count of people in the building. You need to go to a badge system where you can know the number of attendees that are in the building and scan who’s coming in and out. That means most likely moving the convention to an actual convention hall as it’s impossible to do a convention like this in a hotel. This system works with Rhode Island Comic Con and Terror Con.
Third, limit the number of tickets and charge more if you have to. I know you want to make this accessible to as many fans as possible but you can’t have episodes like this as it gives your convention a bad reputation and makes the people attending angry and very disappointed.
In summary, this was an awful experience even though got to meet one of my favorite actors Tim Curry as this convention is what it was supposed to be about for me. Instead, it was 2014 all over again as I had that special moment when I got to hold former ECW star Amish Roadkill’s ECW World Tag Team Championship only to have that ruined by people who don’t know how to set limits on tickets.
I stress enough, you’re mostly likely going to have problems again in August if you keep this show at the hotel because you’re bringing in Chandler Riggs who’s most likely going to be in demand at conventions after this season of The Walking Dead and Robert Englund who draws big crowds where ever he goes. If you keep this convention at this hotel, you and your organizers don’t care about the fans because you and your organizers only care about your greedy pockets and whatever sweetheart deals you can get from the hotel.
Yours Truly
Anthony T
