Ellie Murphy
DCU Center, 50 Foster St., Worcester, MA
Oct. 2–4, 2026
Single day and weekend passes are available at silverscreamcon.com.
The Silver Scream Con 5: “A New Beginning … Bigger and bloodier in 2026, because these days, you’ve gotta have a sequel.”
The wait is finally over … Break out your metal-clawed glove, prop machete, talking Chucky doll or the long white nightgown you lucked out on at Goodwill two years ago. Shake off the cobwebs — or don’t! That red balloon that’s been mysteriously floating in the dark, unholy corner of your basement? Grab that, too! Pretending to be normal is so tiresome. Lucky for us, New England’s premier horror convention offers an escape from that trap.
Silver Scream Con is the malevolent masterpiece of Spencer Charnas, frontman of Boston-born metalcore and horror-inspired band Ice Nine Kills (INK). Charnas reflects, “Creating an immersive experience like Silver Scream Con was a dream of mine for as long as I’ve been into horror and music and started attending horror cons myself.” He’s created his own “unsafe haven” for horror buffs, film legends and INK’s devoted “Psychos” to intermingle and coalesce. The bone-chilling convention has grown from its 2022 debut gathering 5,000 attendees, to a walloping 15,000 horror fans last year in Worcester. Additionally, Charnas’ vision went international for the first time in 2025, hopping across the pond to London.
Con producers George Vhalakis and Mike Winegar describe the experience as a “major comic con with fans meeting their cinematic heroes, cosplayers dressed up as horror icons like Michael Myers, Art the Clown, Ghostface and Jason from Friday the 13th…a family-friendly environment with like-minded individuals who all share a love for horror.” Bring enough fake blood for the whole family! Precocious children of all ages are welcome (children 5 and under are actually free all weekend).
Whether you’re there for the killer Q&A panels, photo ops, cosplay contest or merch tables full of horrifying collectibles, this fandom holds a little something for every bloody body. But what makes this event truly unmissable are its top-name celebrity guests!
In its fifth iteration, the con features a horde of fresh and familiar faces, including stars such as Golden Globe winning Oscar nominee Linda Blair (“The Exorcist,” “Chained Heat,” “Savage Streets”), comedy and horror star Nick Swardson (“A Haunted House”), Oscar and Golden Globe nominee Juliette Lewis (“Cape Fear,” “Natural Born Killers”), Joel David Moore (“Hatchet”), “Terrifier” franchise creator-director Damien Leone and David Howard Thornton (“Art the Clown”), David Arquette (“Scream”), Malcolm McDowell (Rob Zombie’s “Halloween”), Celeste O’Connor (“Scream 7”), Ethan Embry (“Scream 7”), Devon Sawa (“Idle Hands”), Shawnee Smith (“Saw”), Alice Krige (“Silent Hill”), Ruby Modine (“Happy Death Day”), Jeff Daniel Phillips (Rob Zombie’s “The Munsters”), Adrienne Barbeau (“The Fog”), Noah Garrett (“Scream 7”), Andy Robinson (“Hellraiser”) and more. Meet the talent behind iconic masked roles, such as “Ghostface” performers Lee Waddell, Noah Garrett, Jeremy Conner, and Chris Durrand, and the Creeper himself, Jonathan Breck (“Jeepers Creepers”).
Darkness reigns supreme among comedic performers — the entire Broken Lizard troupe behind “Super Troopers” (Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske), Steve-O (“Jackass”), Nick Swardson (“Grown Ups”), Joel David Moore (“Grandma’s Boy”), “Jerky Boys” creator Johnny Brennan and the “Scary Movie” team of Lochlyn Munro and Jon Abrahams.
Musical guests include Detroit’s demented hip-hop duo Twiztid, as well as The Funeral Portrait frontman Lee Jennings. Watch out for WWE legend Amy Dumas (aka Lita) and her high-flying Litasault. Finally, no Silver Scream is complete without its queen, Nadia Teichmann, Spencer Charnas’ real life partner, model and actress often featured in INK’s music videos. Panels will be hosted by returning “master of panels” journalist Ryan J. Downey.
INK’s Silver Scream Con-Cert at the Palladium is sold out, but single-day and weekend passes are still available for Silver Scream Con 5.
Really, this woeful weekend offers us a chance to express ourselves — in a modern world that feels as if it’s hanging on a knife’s edge, we really have to ask ourselves: “Why so serious?” Smear on a frightful grin and prepare to let your freak out …