From Art the Clown to Rose McGowan, Ice Nine Kills are bringing their Silver Scream Convention to the UK, and it's a horror fan's dream come true! But how did this unique blend of metal music and horror movies come to be? Let's dive in.
Macabre metalcore pioneers, Ice Nine Kills, are launching their Silver Scream Con in the UK for the first time. This event is part of their 'A Work Of Art' UK tour in December, named after their song for the holiday slasher film Terrifier 3. The convention will take place at London’s Cumberland Hotel on December 13th and 14th, right after their performance at OVO Arena Wembley on December 12th.
Silver Scream Con London is designed to be a celebration and meeting space for both Ice Nine Kills fans and the stars of the films that have inspired the band.
Frontman Spencer Charnas recalls the impact of meeting horror icons as a kid, saying, “I got to meet Kane Hodder, who played Jason Voorhees more than anyone [else] in the Friday The 13th franchise, and George P. Wilbur, who played Michael Myers in Halloween 4 and 6. Then I went to a con called Rock and Shock where I’d meet even more people from movies like Scream and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.”
The band launched their own horror convention in 2022, and have already hosted four successful conventions in the US.
“We started in Danvers, right outside of Salem, Massachusetts as an appropriately spooky place,” Spencer explains. “Two years later we would move it to where Rock and Shock used to be in Worcester, MA, and so now we’re taking it international!”
Conventions are a cornerstone of the horror industry, connecting fans with filmmakers and actors. But in the metal scene, where festivals reign supreme, Silver Scream Con is a unique fusion of these two worlds that Ice Nine Kills has embraced. While horror inspiration in metal isn’t new, it's the sense of community that truly excites Spencer.
“It’s a really natural extension of who we are,” he says. “We look at ourselves, at least since [2018 and 2021’s] The Silver Scream albums, as not just a band but treating it like a movie franchise, and so whether it’s the directors or the make-up people or the actors, we’re bringing these people altogether in one place with our fans to celebrate these films that inspired Ice Nine Kills’ music. You’re getting all of these great vendors selling tons of custom and exclusive merchandise, and it’s going to be a jam-packed, bloody weekend right before Christmas.”
Due to INK’s connection to the Terrifier films, writer/director Damien Leone and Art the Clown actor David Howard Thornton will be among the guests at Silver Scream Con London, alongside Art’s creepy sidekick Victoria Heyes, played by Samantha Scaffidi. And, in a previously unannounced exclusive, Rose McGowan of Scream and Planet Terror fame will also be present. The relationship between INK and the Terrifier team blossomed through shared experiences at US conventions.
“It was pretty clear right off the bat that there was such a strong crossover between people who loved Terrifier and Ice Nine Kills, because there’d be so many Ice Nine Kills shirts in the Terrifier line and vice versa,” Spencer says. “I grew up loving when the bands I loved joined forces with the movies that I loved. You had Dokken of course for [Nightmare On Elm Street sequel] Dream Warriors, Alice Cooper with [Friday The 13th instalment] Jason Lives, and then great soundtracks like The Crow and Freddy vs. Jason.
