Horror and sci-fi fans filled the Embassy Suites in Concord this weekend for the Mad Monster Convention, where actors and writers signed autographs, posed for photos, and answered questions from attendees eager to meet the people behind their favorite genre films. Fan Peter Morton described the scene as feeling like entering a giant playground of the best people and making new friends, a sentiment that echoed through the crowded convention halls over the multi-day event.
The gathering, held August 21 through 23, included a film festival as part of the programming, according to WSOC-TV. What might look to a first-time visitor like a single weekend gathering is actually part of a much larger, 14-year-old tradition. This year's Mad Monster Film Festival marked its 14th edition, continuing a competition series that has screened more than 300 genre features and short films since it launched in 2012, according to Mad Monster Film Fest.
A Convention With Deep Roots in Cult Horror
The festival's origins carry real weight among horror devotees. Its inaugural 2012 edition hosted the first-ever public screening of the 155-minute Cabal Cut of Clive Barker's 1990 film Nightbreed, a restored version that helped ignite a global fan campaign eventually leading to an official studio home-video release, as reported by Empire Magazine. The original theatrical cut had been heavily edited by the studio, turning the fuller version into something of a holy grail for genre fans for decades before that Concord screening helped change its fate.
Mad Monster itself is not a purely local operation. The brand was founded in 2010 by filmmaker Eben McGarr, who also publishes Mad Monster Magazine, per Forbes. In October 2022, McGarr partnered with Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor to acquire the historic Famous Monsters of Filmland brand, a magazine originally created in 1958 and considered a seminal title in the horror genre, with plans announced to relaunch the publication alongside new conventions and films, according to Consequence.
Two Annual Events Under One Roof
Concord's Embassy Suites now serves as the site of two distinct annual Mad Monster gatherings each year. The flagship Mad Monster Party is set for late February at the same venue, while its spinoff, the Mad Monster Expo, debuted over Labor Day weekend in September 2021 and has since become the home of the film festival, according to Halloween Daily News. The February event tends to lean into broader pop culture, while the August expo leans heavily into independent films and seasonal horror themes.
That structure exists in Concord specifically because Mad Monster officially relocated its primary base of operations to North Carolina in late 2022, after more than a decade of organizing fan events in the state, per Mad Monster's own announcement. The company had previously staged events across California, Arizona, and Illinois before consolidating its operations closer to Charlotte.
Star Power and a Growing Local Footprint
The events have drawn increasingly prominent Hollywood talent to Cabarrus County. February's Mad Monster Party this year featured Doug Bradley, Peter Criss, and Warwick Davis, following a February 2025 lineup that included Robert Englund, Jonathan Majors, and Meagan Good, according to CLTure. Those signings, Q&A panels, and photo opportunities are the same format that brought horror actors and writers face-to-face with fans at this weekend's expo.
The host venue itself is built for that scale. The Embassy Suites by Hilton Charlotte Concord Golf Resort & Spa features 308 two-room suites alongside the Concord Convention Center, which offers more than 45,000 square feet of flexible meeting space, including a 28,800-square-foot ballroom, according to Cvent. The complex sits on Bruton Smith Boulevard near Charlotte Motor Speedway, making it one of the region's primary event spaces for multi-day fan expos.
Tourism Dollars Tied to Niche Conventions
Events like Mad Monster feed into a hospitality economy that has been expanding across the region. Domestic and international visitors spent $679.41 million in Cabarrus County in 2024, an 8.7 percent increase from 2023 that ranked the county 13th statewide in total visitor spending, according to the Cabarrus County Convention and Visitors Bureau. That spending supported more than 5,000 local jobs and generated nearly $44 million in state and local tax revenue during the year.
The trend extends well beyond Cabarrus County. Total travel and visitor spending across North Carolina reached a record $37.2 billion in 2025, supporting more than 230,000 jobs statewide, according to research published by Tourism Economics and cited by the Office of the Governor of North Carolina. That statewide growth in tourism helps explain why niche pop-culture and horror expos like Mad Monster continue to find a welcoming home in Concord's convention facilities year after year.
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