By JOSHUA “PROMETHEUS” SCAFIDI
September 8 through September 10 marked the second annual Silver Scream Convention, thrown by none other than theatricore metal band Ice Nine Kills in Danvers, Massachusetts! To learn more about the band’s lead singer, Spencer Charnas, and his motivations for creating this insane horror convention, you can check out RUE MORGUE’s interview with him here!
We attended the con again this year, and the place was packed! I couldn’t help but wonder what the unsuspecting hotel guests must have thought when they came down to the lobby to see a 9-foot demon of Hell walking around with a Starbucks cup. Seriously though, there were a ton of great cosplayers in the building – and they were everywhere! It was as if horror took this hotel over for the weekend, and I was totally in my element.
There were two main rooms featuring guests. One of those rooms was a huge open space lined with vendors and celebrity booths. The other room, just down the hall, was a bit smaller, featuring guests only, no vendors. A third room was a room set up for photo ops with many of the guests and, of course, a panel room.
The biggest draws over the weekend were Tony Todd, Spencer Charnas, wrestler Chris Jericho, Skeet Ulrich and Dead Meat James and Chelsea Rebecca of the Dead Meat podcast. Their lines were non-stop all weekend, and I didn’t get a chance to chat with them.
Funny story: We did run into this guy – Alex Vincent (aka Andy from Child’s Play and the hit TV series Chucky). Coming in from the parking lot, I actually slammed the door in his face! Accidentally, of course. I apologized, and Alex couldn’t have been cooler about it. We laughed, and he told me he did it to someone else earlier in the day. Then he let us snap a pic for the article! Look for Alex in the upcoming Season 3 of Chucky. Sorry again, bud!
C.J. Graham was in attendance; You may know him as Jason from Friday the 13th Part 6: Jason Lives – one of my favorite installments of the series. C.J. was very kind, happily chatting with every fan who stopped by. He’s a very cool guy to chat with if you ever have the chance. Thanks, C.J.!
We got to meet Jenna Kanell from Terrifier, Terrifier 2 and Renfield. Jenna was all smiles every time we walked by her booth and seemed to be enjoying herself. We said, “Hi!” and then let her return to doing her thing with the fans.
Set up next to Jenna was Leah Voysey from Terrifier 2. Leah can really sing! No, I don’t mean like in the movie. Ice Nine Kills performed Saturday night as part of the convention and called her up on stage for a duet of their song “A Grave Mistake” with Spencer Charnas – and she killed it! We saw you, Leah, hell yeah!
Joe Bob Briggs and Darcy the Mail Girl from The Last Drive-In were hanging out, signing autographs and chatting it up with everyone coming by their booth. It was awesome getting a chance to say hello!
Adam Green, director of the Hatchet series, was in the building. We missed him the first time we stopped by his booth on Saturday but caught up to him on Sunday to get a quick pic.
You might know this guy – Robert Brian Wilson from Silent Night, Deadly Night, my favorite Christmas movie! He was such a nice guy. He even picked up the trusty ol’ ax for us! PUNISH!
We also met with some of the folks behind the upcoming Spooky World documentary, Spooktacular, executive-produced by Tom Savini. Pictured is Anthony Landry, one of the doc’s producers, and director Quinn Monahan. They were awesome! If you’re unfamiliar, Spooky World was America’s first haunted theme park, and back in the day, it was glorious – an early breeding ground for the horror culture we all know and love today.
We got to meet Christopher Nelson, the special FX artist from the newest Halloween trilogy! Special FX is the lifeblood of horror, and this dude does some great work!
There were many others we wanted to chat with but did not get the chance due to time constraints. William Forsyth and the legend himself, Tom Atkins from Halloween 3 and many other films, were there. Don Shanks, who played Michael Myers in Halloween 5; Tom Morga, who played “Not Jason” in Friday the 13th Part 5: A New Beginning; Dick Warlock, who played Michael Myers in Halloween 2; and Christine Elsie from the Child’s Play series were a few that I, unfortunately, missed along with so many other great guests!
One unique thing about this convention you won’t find at any others is the Ice Nine Kills Museum. It was a room all to itself, stacked with screen-used props from their videos. It was awesome, especially if you’re a fan of their music. Check this one out!
Difusional Studios, an award-winning cosplayer, had a booth set up and, like last year, was decked out in an amazing costume and makeup. Just look at those eyes!
The Silver Scream Con was an absolute blast this year! If you love horror conventions, make sure it’s on your radar for next year. We’ll see you there!
