FLINT, MI -- If there is one thing I know about horror it's this: Dead is never dead.

Just ask Jason, Freddy and Jaws.

So it is with that in mind that I read the news this week that the Flint Horror Con won't be back next year.

Full disclosure: I am an unabashed fan of Flint Horror Con. Flint Journal reporter Amanda Emery is one of the organizers and the group was kind enough to let me help judge its two-line scary story contest this year.

I'm also a big fan of the horror genre.

I grew up on Stephen King novels and have seen George Romero's "Dawn of the Dead" more times than I can count.

For the last four years, the Flint Horror Con has introduced the city to a slew of actors and props that would likely have never found their way to Flint.

Its 2011 debut at the Masonic Temple featured one of the guys who has appeared with Freddy Krueger in not one but two Nightmare on Elm Street movies. The next year, Dr. Satan from Rob Zombie's "House of 1,000 Corpses" showed up.

For this year's show at the Riverfront Center, fans were treated to the 1958 Plymouth Fury that terrified moviegoers in "Christine," the iconic Green Goblin truck front from "Maximum Overdrive" and Pazuzu from "The Exorcist."

Pretty cool stuff for anyone who grew up reading "Fangoria" and mixed Caro syrup with red dye and lucky charms in hopes of becoming the next Sam Raimi.

While I have selfish reasons for not wanting to see the Flint Horror Con disappear, I also think the event and ones like it are good for the area.

Not only do they give people another reason to come downtown, they also boost the vibe around town -- even if just for a day.

These are hard events to bring off, relying on grassroots efforts that are truly labors of love.

Here's hoping that supporters of the Flint Horror Con will find a way to bring it back in some form.

Because if there is one thing horror fans love, it's a sequel.