Just a short drive from Los Angeles lies a haven for horror fans: CreepIE Aftermath in Ontario, California. Ontario is known for an international airport and the largest retail shopping destination in the state (Ontario Mills Mall), the city is also the home to CreepIE Con that occurs usually in February of each year. CreepIE con takes place in the geographic region of Southern California known as the Inland Empire. Hence the Creep I.E. Con. While this is not Los Angeles, much of the draw of L.A. is brought to this convention. CreepIE Con has become popular enough to garner a second convention that now takes place later in the year known as CreepIE Aftermath. This year’s Aftermath took place from September 20th through the 22nd and is held at the Ontario Convention Center. Paul and I have attended CreepIE before and this was our first time checking out Aftermath.
Returning to Aftermath was the Fear Farm Haunt, their maze was military themed and kept the jump scares coming throughout. During spooky season, Far Farm IE offers 3 mazes, a haunted hayride and zombie run. A regular So Cal presenter is Art’s Sideshow (museum located in Montclair, CA). Art’s Sideshow provided a static display of horror’s greatest clowns, along with various cosplayers intermingled.
LM Treasure’s also participated, providing statues from various horror movies such as Ghostbusters and Gremlins. LM Treasures has a showroom located in Fontana. Both Montclair and Fontana are located near Ontario, CA which could add to an out of town attendees itinerary of places to visit should you be staying beyond the 3 day convention window.
An arcade room was available for attendees again this year to check out and play video games. A first for the convention was the inclusion of lucha libre, from the Masked Republic Wrestling. Matches occurred every two hours and provided exciting wrestling for con attendees to watch. If you’re also a Star Wars fan, it was a treat to have the 501st Southern California Garrison Inland Empire Squad in attendance. “The 501st is a worldwide international costuming organization dedicated to celebrating Star Wars” (https://www.501st.com/mission.php). Throughout the day members of the organization were walking around and there was a table with props, and catalogs of their available merchandise.
This convention continues to improve with each iteration in numerous ways. One improvement was the inclusion of panels. Panels included: an E.T. reunion, Nick Castle and Tom Atkins hosted a panel, a live podcast panel from Talk to Me Scary was presented and The Terrifier 3 cast also hosted a panel. While not as many panels as bigger conventions, having any at all was a welcomed addition from attendees.
I’ve attended numerous conventions and what really sets IE cons apart from others are a larger inclusion of smaller independent vendors. Much of the items to purchase were handmade or came from an original piece of artwork. Paul and I made several purchases, our first one to carry all of our con goodies came from the Scream Queen Club. This Art the Clown with flower glasses Andy Warhol style will become a staple for us to use at future cons. Squaredy Cats had unique artwork and plushies of square cats depicting horror characters. It is hard to explain this style in words, so please check out their website and socials to see more cool examples. Sincara FX had unique masks and accessories as well as some crocheted pumpkins that we picked up to decorate our home. Diosa Oldways Tiendita had beautiful candle offerings and Mexica wares. We picked up these Cheech and Chong candles.
David Howard Thornton (Terrifier) was in make-up for a POSE photo op. We have never done one of these in the past but jumped at the chance to see Art the Clown in full costume and makeup. Based on my research, Thornton does not regularly wear the full costume and makeup at conventions. It was very evident based on the numerous t-shirts being worn by attendees that many were there to see him and the rest of the Terrifier 3 cast. I will warn attendees that these photo ops are not personable as they happen quickly. It is just a photo opportunity, you pre book your photo, get in line at an assigned time, and when you get to the photo your photo is snapped, and that is it. If you want to chat with, take a selfie, get an autograph, etc. You must wait in a celebrity’s line at their table. Fees vary for this and the POSE photo ops and not they are not included in convention tickets cost. This is standard of all conventions. Numerous celebrities were in attendance including: Tom Atkins, Juliette Lewi, Dee Wallace, Henry Thomas, Nick Castle, Ron Pearlman, JD Pardo, and much more.
Cosplayers and costumes are a staple at any fandom convention that one attends and this one did not disappoint. A few notable people that we met and/or ran into again were So Cal Leatherface. Check out his social media as he regularly posts his outings as well as support for things going on in the community such as charity events, news, etc.
We also met a large group of cosplayers that included Chosen_Alpha_777. His mashup of Art the Clown and Captain America was very unique. Lastly, we ran into Halloween Town Jack, a regular So Cal attendee that is also willing to take photos with others. I encourage readers to check out all of the social media of these cosplayers as they put in a lot of work to attend and at the positive atmosphere of the horror community.
Having attended the flagship show of CreeepIE Con previously, we were able to take notes of numerous improvements. The set up for meeting celebrities for meet and greets was much more organized and navigable as there seemed to be more space for this. February’s event had only two food trucks and this one had four food trucks as well as food stands with food and drink to purchase. If imbibing is your thing, alcohol was available in more than just one place this time around. Outside where the wrestling and food were located, there was also much more seating and tables available. My favorite addition to the con was the Saturday Afterparty. This was included with ticket price (whereas other cons typically charge a separate fee for this). The afterparty featured performances by two bands the first was Nightmare on 80s Street. The band members were all dressed up as horror villains and while they played 1980s music, movie scenes from that decade played on a large screen behind them, adding to the ambience. The second band was the Red Hot Cholo Peppers, a Red Hot Chili Peppers cover band. I heard they played a great set, we unfortunately were not able to stick around and catch it. This afterparty was a great way to enjoy a late snack, cocktail, and take in the entire day. There was also an official costume contest at the after party.
If you are looking for a convention that has a lot to offer and is large but not overwhelming, I highly encourage you to check out CreepIECon or their Aftermath convention. Pricing is very reasonable and you can experience the best parts of the con in one day. Make sure to check out which celebrities will be there and on which day, the same goes for panels if you are wanting to attend a specific one as they are not all necessarily the same ones on each day.
I also want to note that even though the con took place in September like much of the country we are having extreme heat and inside the convention hall the air conditioner was working very well. THis was greatly appreciated! Next year’s CreepIE Con has already been announced Jan 31-Feb 2, 2025 and celebrity announcements are already starting to be dropped on their social media. I have a feeling we will get a Lost Boys cast reunion as Jason Patric and Alex Winter have already been announced as attendees! Additionally, Retro Palm Springs,“a nostalgic fan convention” has been announced that will be held by the same company that brings us CreepIE. This convention will take place May 3-4, 2025 at the Palm SPrings COnvention Center. If you want to know about any other conventions we have visited check out these other blogs: such as Midsummer Scream or CreepIECon February con.
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