PopHorror Let's Get Scared
What a wild weekend!
This year’s Silver Scream Con, the fourth annual horror convention hosted by Spencer Charnas and his horror-inspired metal band, Ice Nine Kills, was nothing short of amazing. Every year, this con gets better and better. I’ve been covering this con since its inception in three years ago – 2024, 2023, and 2022. What started off as a tribute to Kevin Barbare’s Rock and Shock Horror and Music Convention, which ran in Worcester, MA for 16 years and had to stop in 2019, Silver Scream Con 4 has become it’s own mutated monster, bringing in horror fans from all over the US.
Held in the DCU Center in Worcester, MA, from September 12-14, 2025, Silver Scream Con 4 brought the horror community back together again, just in time for Halloween and a creepy New England fall. The guest lineup was spectacular, the panels informative and well-attended, and the live INK show on Saturday, September 13th kicked off with a line of fans wrapped around the block hours before the show even started. It’s always electric when you combine horror and music.
Which famous faces were in attendance, you ask? The event hosted a ton of celebrities, including INK’s own Spencer Charnas and Nadia Teichmann, Scream’s Skeet Ulrich, Matthew Lillard, and Rose McGowan, Terrifier’s David Howard Thornton, Catherine Corcoran, Leah Voysey, Michael Leavy, Victoria Hayes, and Damien Leone, F13’s Kane Hodder and Ken Kerzinger, Halloween’s Tyler Mane, NOES’s Heather Langenkamp, Re-Animator’s Barbara Crampton and Jeffrey Combs, WAAF’s Mistress Carrie, The Lost Boy’s Jason Patric, Machete’s Danny Trejo, Hellraiser’s Ashley Lawrence and Doug Bradley, SFX wizards Tom Savini and Greg Nicotero, and the Cryptkeeper himself, John Kassir, among many others.
The lines were long and honestly a bit confusing, as it was hard to tell where a line ended and a group of people were just standing around. Horror fans were standing elbow to elbow with cosplayers, vendors, panelists, and celebrities. If these type of ticket sales keep up, Silver Scream Con 5 may have to be held in a larder venue next year to accommodate all of the horror goodness.
Photo ops are always a big draw, and Silver Scream Con 4 did not let us down. Fans could get their pics taken with any of the attending celebs, either at their tables or in a separate photo shoot. Prices were decent, although group photos ran into the hundreds of dollars.
Celebrity panels were packed with people and information. Some of the highlights of the weekend include the Behind the Masks panel with Kane Hodder, Tyler Mane and Ken Kerzinger, Your umber’s Up with Skeet Ulrich, Matthew Lillard, Rose McGowan, and Ghostface voice actor Roger Jackson, Re-Animator Reunited with Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton, Machete Speaks with Danny Trejo, Godfathers of Gore with Tom Savini, Greg Nicotero, and Christopher Nelson, What’s in the Box? with Ashley Lawrence and Doug Bradley, The Woman of Our Dreams with Heather Langenkamp, The Many Works of Art with a ton of Terrifier peeps, an INK panel, a costume contest, and the Reign in Horror Trivia hosted by Jose Mangin. There was an after party for anyone in possession of a VIP ticket called the RIP Party of the Rails.
Last year at Silver Scream Con 3, it was announced that Terrifier’s David Howard Thornton and Catherine Corcoran would star in an upcoming video for the band aptly titled “A Work of Art.” This year was no exception, as a giddy Matthew Lillard told the world that he would join other INK alumni, including Bill Moseley, Taylor Scout-Compton, Joe Bob Briggs, Terry Kiser, Ricky Dean Logan, Andrew Bryniarski, Jose Mangin, and Demi Lovato, in starring in a music video. To the surprise of no one, the song is called “The Laugh Track.” Lillard also revealed that the band will collaborate with him to create a horror-inspired bourbon called Horrorwood Reserve in two editions, Silver Scream and Golden Age, fermented from Heirloom Bloody Butcher corn.
Final Thoughts
It’s refreshing to see horror and music return to New England in the form of Silver Scream Con. Big thanks to Spencer Charnas and Ice Nine Kills for putting this show on every year, and for growing the event exponentially since it’s inception. Here’s to hoping for many more!
