The Camp Blood Convention Situation

Normally, I wouldn't bother writing about situations like these. I was a huge supporter of this event back in 2009 and did a lot of promotion for that show and also was looking forward to attending. After the announcement in late July 2010 that the convention was being postponed, I was pretty disappointed and felt terrible for the fans that had already spent a lot of money. I have stayed silent since that time and have read many forums and blogs on the topic.


Recently, talk has heated up and doubt has been placed on the event once again as the new convention date of May 13th is quickly approaching. I am going to write about this now as I have been sent a good number of emails concerning the new alligations that people have been making. People want to know what I know. One thing that I will say is that most everything I know is second hand knowledge, and that is never proof postive of exactly what has happened.

Now, I have read every single bit of info on this whole situation as it started to unfold. Concerns go back much further than this month, or the postponement in July 2010. My recollection goes back to January 2010 when Mario Kirner and his Friday the 13th Props Museum were to be featured at the Camp Blood event. Mario was trying to solidify the arrangements of shipping his props to the United States from Germany and he could not settle on an agreement with John Gray, the promoter of the event. In essence, cost and where to ship the props were the hold up in the deal. Apparently, Mario could not get the proper shipping address or the correct person to put his cargo's attention to. Eventually, poor communication on the part of the show led Mario to back out.

Around February and into March of 2010, vendors started asking where they could ship their merchandise that they were going to sell at the convention. Reading the Camp Blood forums, those vendors were not getting responses via email on where to ship their product. Then in July 2010, one of those would-be vendors placed a call to the hotel where the event was to be held and that is when all of this unfortunate mess really began. As most everyone knows now, that hotel basically cancelled whatever agreement they had with Camp Blood LLC. And as most everyone knows, the convention community, the Friday the 13th fans, and even other organizers were stirred into a frenzy. The convention was rescheduled and new hotel eventually booked.

After the intitial storm calmed in late Summer of 2010, all stayed quiet. During that time. there were still small rumblings of guests that were never contacted to be part of the show at all, personal emails posted in forums and the usual bashing of the show. During this down time in the Fall of 2010, I can say that I have been in contact with a few celebrities that were mentioned to be a part of the show as well as people within the convention circles and things were not looking very good. Outside of these facts that are first hand from the mouths of the people involved, I cannot definitevly say what is exactly true or not.

The only advice I can offer is follow the story lines that have unfolded and make your own decisions on what has happened. There is a lot of stuff I have been told and some I know as fact, but I won't post any of that here as it really isn't the business of the general public. I encourage people to read up on what has happened, but try to keep an objective mind. Some people get caught up in the Internet bashing and maybe the promoters of the event have brought it upon themselves. However, look at the facts.

You can no longer buy tickets to this event as the show's Paypal account has been closed. There has been no update on this event since Late Summer 2010, possibly even July? Friday the 13th actors and actresses are publicly stating that they are now not attending. However, The Crowne Plaza, where the convention is to be held, is stating that Camp Blood is scheduled to take place there. A positive sign for those people who are still planning on attending. The promoter initially offered to refund people that could not absolutely make it to the event, but now seems to be backing off of that statement. Also, the webmaster of the official website has stated in their forum that he has not had the time to update the site to eliminate certain guests that will not be attending. So, that list is not current or accurate.

Closing out my thoughts, I won't speak on this again in a public forum. I feel everyone's pain. I bought plane tickets and had to reschedule to another destination and lost money doing so. I can understand everyone's frustration. It has been a terrible experience for everyone invloved. Reputations have been ruined and frienships have been broken. I just hate seeing this drag on for as long as it has. I wish John could lay some doubt to rest and just say one way, alright only half or less of our inititial guest are going to show, or the other way, the show is cancelled.

I wish John and convention luck as they are going to need to throw one heck of a show this May to erase any doubts. Please leave your thoughts below and keep it civil and on point. It would be appreciated!