Tag Archives: Rock and Shock

Oct 14 2012

Rock and Shock 2012

My Experience at Rock and Shock 2012

by Jason Harris

Another Rock and Shock has come and gone. The New England Horror Writers were there once again. We have been there for the past four years. This year saw less atttendees then last year, but last year’s guest line-up included Robert Englund, whose line went on forever and never seemed to get any shorter, and Ace Frehley, former lead guitarist of KISS. This year had Heather Langenkamp, of Nightmare on Elm Street fame, Anthony Michael Hall, of televison series The Dead Zone and movies The Breakfast Club and Weird Science, and another former KISS member, Peter Criss.

Before getting to Rock and Shock, the wife and I went to fellow NEHW member Trisha Wooldridge’s house, where we were staying over the weekend. We were also going to be joined by another NEHW member Kristi Petersen Schoonover, who would be arriving later that night. It’s always a party when the NEHW members get together.

After leaving Trisha’s house, we drove to Annie’s Book Stop in Worcester to talk to the owner about her bookstore. The wife and I were picking her brain since we’re opening our own bookstore called Books and Boos in Colchester, CT. It was a very informative 40 minutes.

I was there the entire weekend and Saturday was the busiest day. Friday started off with Breakin’ into the Biz panel, which included myself, T.J. May, Matt Bechtel, and Kristi Petersen Schoonover, who ended up as moderator since there wasn’t anyone from Fangoria magazine there to do the job like there were for the other panels during the weekend. The panel went well and there were a lot of suggestions and advice given to the people in the audience.

Heather Langenkamp, Tracy Carbone, Stacey Longo, Trisha Wooldridge, and Lisa Marie on the Women in Horror panel. Photo by Jason Harris

The audience grew a little bit for the Women in Horror panel, but that was to be expected since Langenkamp and Lisa Marie (Ed Wood, Mars Attacks!) joined NEHW members Tracy Carbone, Stacey Longo, and Trisha Wooldridge. This panel had Jack from Fangoria, moderating the panel. One thing surprised me was that the audience didn’t asked two many questions when that time came. Four questions were asked of people on the panel and two of those questions came from me. I asked Heather how was it working on Just the Ten of Us and if she would do another television show. She said, she would love to do another tv series. It was also nice to hear that she will be in the next Star Trek movie titled Star Trek into Darkness, but she couldn’t say what character she’s playing. It was also great talking to her and Lisa Marie when the panel was over.

Tracy Carbone, Sean Whalen, and Stacey Longo. Photo by Jason Harris.

On Friday, it was great talking with Sean Whalen who was in The People Under the Stairs and Twister, and many other movies. Check out his credits on the Internet Movie Database by clicking here. He gave Carbone, Longo, and myself some good ideas.

I introduced myself to Doug Bradley, who portrayed Pinhead in most of the Hellraiser movies except the last one, since I conducted a phone interview with him a few weeks ago. You can read the article here.

I was hoping to interview Hall on Sunday since that was the day his manager, John Boitano, said would be the best day since it’s the slowest of the convention. On Friday, I had the feeling it wouldn’t happen since there was a sign on Hall’s table stating he wouldn’t be at the convention until 2 p.m. on Saturday. When Saturday came, he didn’t show up at his table until 3 p.m. Later on Saturday evening, he took a break and a sign said he would be back at 5:45 p.m. He didn’t get back from his break until 6:15 p.m. Seeing those signs, physical and figuratively, told me that Hall wasn’t going to keep an interview with me on Sunday. It would have been cool to interview him, but it wasn’t disappointing. I did interview another filmmaker, Ryan Convery, on Sunday about his movie Mourning Wood, which is about “humping zombies.” There will be an article and a movie review coming in the near future.

It was great meeting Tony Todd (Candyman), Brian O’Halloran (Clerks), and Sig Haig (House of 1000 Corpses) this weekend. I won’t get autographs since I am not paying $20 or more for an autograph unless they are selling a movie or a book. I will shake their hands and tell them I love their work.

There was a Horror in the Movies panel on Sunday, which Rob Watts, Bracken Macleod, myself, and Stacey Longo were on. Longo ended up being the moderator when Jack from Fangoria couldn’t do it since he had to do something else. It was attended by a good number of people.

There will be another post with pictures tomorrow.

Oct 12 2012

The NEHW at Rock and Shock

The New England Horror Writers will be appearing at Rock and Shock this weekend. There will be plenty of members manning the booth all weekend. They will be selling and signing their books.Epitaphs is one book in particular which will be on hand. It’s the first anthology produced by the NEHW. This Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of this collection being published. Here are the authors who have stories in Epitaphs that will be at the convention this weekend: Mike Arruda, Scott Goudsward, Stacey Longo, Paul McMahon, Kurt Newton, L.L. Soares, K. Allen Wood, and Trisha Wooldridge. Tracy L. Carbone, the editor of the anthology, will also be on-hand.

Other NEHW members, who will be at the convention, are Ashleigh Homon, Adam Cesare, Bracken Macleod, David Price, Gene Munson, Jason Harris, Jack Haringa, Jan Kozlowski, Kelli Jones, Kristi Petersen Schoonover, Matt Bechtel, Patrick Rahall, Rebekah Murphy, Rob Watts, T.J. May, Paul Tremblay, Bob Booth, and Jennifer Yarter-Polmatier.

They will also be four panels that the NEHW members will be involved in. This is the second year the organization has been on different panels. This year on the Women in Horror panel members , Carbone, Longo, and Wooldridge will be joined by Heather Langenkamp of Nightmare on Elm Street fame and Lisa Marie of Sleepy Hollow and Mars Attacks! fame.

The other panels will be “Breaking into the Biz” with Harris, May, Bechtel, and Schoonover, and “Horror in the Movies” with Harris, Longo, Soares, and Macleod.

Oct 11 2012

Doug Bradley Talks about Pinhead, Masks, and Clive Barker

Doug Bradley Talks about Pinhead, Masks, and Clive Barker

By Jason Harris

Doug Bradley

Doug Bradley, best known for the role of Pinhead in the Hellraiser movies, doesn’t think of himself as a horror icon. He jokingly said it sounds like there was a morning where there was a letter on his doorstep stating, “Dear Mr. Bradley, you are now a fully accredited horror icon with a membership card enclosed.”

He credits his appearances at conventions for helping him become known to his fans since he isn’t recognizable with the make-up on.

“I have always said that every actor’s biggest enemy is anonymity.”

Pinhead

He is known more as Pinhead then the character of Lylesburg in Nightbreed.

There’s always an interest in Nightbreed and that interest has been raised recently with the attempt to restore it back to the movie Clive Barker intended to have released in 1990, Bradley said.

Bradley and Barker became friends in high school in Liverpool back in the 60s when they were in a play together. He describes his friend as “the most extraordinary person I’ve met.” He says he “tries not to throw the word genius around lightly,” but he does apply it in Barker’s case.

Bradley said people expect Barker “to be weird and fucked up and sacrificing virgins [and] biting the heads off live chickens. For all I know, he may do all of that,” he jokingly said.

He considers Barker, “very funny, very witty” and a person with an “extraordinary imagination to be able to produce the movies that he has, the short stories, the novels, and his artwork.” He’s “a person with a tremendous sense of the absurd and the ridiculous.”

“For all these decades, it has been a privilege to be close to that process,” Bradley said.

Barker is one of the reasons he turned down portraying Pinhead in the ninth installment of the franchise, Hellraiser: Revelations, which came out last year.

“I didn’t feel like the movie was in anyway, shape, or form a serious attempt to move the franchise forward nor reinvigorate it in any way, shape, or form. I felt it was something of an insult to the franchise, to Clive, to me, to all the people who had worked so hard on the series over the years.”

Bradley hasn’t seen the movie, which had a microscopic budget and a brief shooting schedule, he said. He has heard about the movie from fans and nothing of what he is hearing about it is good, he said.

When he first became Pinhead, it took him five to six hours in the make-up chair, but it was shortened to about three to four hours by the time he made the eighth movie in the franchise. The longest time he was in the make-up for was 18 hours. It all depended on what was needed of him, he said. He could be needed for one scene or for several.

These days he is enjoying just acting and doesn’t have any aspirations to direct.

“I wouldn’t shy away from the possibility of directing, but it’s not something I have a desire to do necessarily.”



Besides acting, he has written a screenplay and a book. The impetus for his book, Behind the Mask of a Horror Actor, “goes back to his relationship with Clive” and how they were always working together for ten years in the theater before Hellraiser.

“We were always using masks one way or another as part of our work. I always had a fascination for it before I came to Pinhead so I guess I just had the ideas in my head …”

When asked about writing an autobiography, he isn’t thinking about writing one because it feels to him if you write one “your life and career are over,” which he feels he is nowhere near that point yet.

“If you are writing your autobiography, you want to make yourself sound as interesting as possible. You want to make your life story as interesting as possible. I don’t know if we’re necessarily capable of telling the truth about ourselves.”

Bradley recently read Lance Henriksen’s autobiography, Not Bad for a Human.

“He has an amazing story to tell particularly in terms of his early life and his journey into the profession. I truly enjoyed reading it.”

Bradley will be attending Rock and Shock this weekend at the DCU Convention Center & The Palladium in Worcester, MA.

Oct 7 2012

The Birth of ‘Dark Discussions’

The Birth of Dark Discussions

By Philip Perron

If you miss your favorite ESPN show, go get it on a podcast. If you want to hear news from some of the biggest news agencies in the world, you can get it through a podcast and listen to it a day later. Podcasting has been a spectacular if not largely known medium that provides programming for those folks who prefer to listen to their favorite topics when they want and wherever they want.

Though satellite radio has been a great phenomenon where folks are able to listen to an eclectic mix of shows on books, movies, sports, news, finance, and even cooking, niche audiences still may not be fulfilled with what they really want to listen to. What about themes such as video games, gardening, or even something as specific as horror movies? This is where podcasting really has promise. Not only is it free, it requires nothing more than an audio digital device, a laptop, or even a smart phone.

As an avid fan of the arts, specifically books and movies, I was always visiting websites to read about the production of Martin Scorcese’s latest film or the progress of the next Stephen King novel. Then one day I came across an audio review on the film Cloverfield as well as an audio round table discussion about the film No Country for Old Men. Afterwards, I saw that these audio files were also being streamed from Apple’s iTune’s store for free.

Getting programs on my little iPod was a convenient way to listen to programs I wanted to listen to while doing my daily walks in the woods or working out or commuting to work. And with the wide variety of programming available I was able to search for shows discussing upcoming books and movies. And yet even more specifically books and movies within the horror and techno genres.

The interesting thing was that many of the podcasts I listened to were done by amateurs or simply people who did them for fun. Their shows were filled on topics they were passionate about. The discussions were probably the same ones they’d be talking about over a round of beers. They weren’t making any money, they weren’t making any inroads towards a more promising career, they were doing it simply because they loved talking about their focused topic.

Early 2011, I figured I could do it myself. While grabbing burgers with a few guys, I noticed our discussions focused around either sports or genre fiction which included horror, science fiction, fantasy, thriller, techno-thriller, and mystery. And having added a number of genre themed podcasts as part of my weekly listen to-do list, I did my research and started putting together the idea. What resulted was a genre themed topical podcast entitled Dark Discussions Podcast.

Finding two wonderful folks online through various genre themed forums, myself along with Eric Webster, of Ann Arbor, Michigan and Michael Darwin, of Hudson Valley, New York came together and put together a weekly show on topics that anyone from the New England Horror Writer’s group would be familiar with. Not to be tagged as specifically horror, the tag line “Your place for the discussion of horror film, fiction, and all that’s fantastic” seemed to fit.

The podcast basically focused at first on themed discussions or specific movies. Topics such as a retrospective of the director and screenwriter Frank Darabont as well as the franchise of the Planet of the Apes were some of the early weekly episodes. But also films such as Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window and John Huston’s Moby Dick have been a focus. It’s true, we are no experts but our perspectives as fans of genre fiction were as well thought out as some of the genre websites and magazines available. And at the worst, we provide another voice on both obscure works and genre classics.

Some of the inventive ways the podcast has expanded were by being contacted by some folks for reviews and promotion. Horror Realm, a convention every September in Pittsburgh, emailed and offered the podcast passes to their convention. M.J. Preston, the author of The Equinox, asked if we’d be interested in a free copy of his novel to review. However, it was co-host Darwin who really got it. While attending Horror Realm 2011 as press, he not only interviewed the film stars of some of horror fans favorite films, but he started interviewing the vendors and independent talent. What resulted was Dark Discussions Podcast helping out folks who need promotion of some really fantastic works that anyone who enjoys horror should know about.

This is where Dark Discussions Podcast in a sense merges with the NEHW group. After Horror Realm 2011, Dark Discussions contacted the folks at both the Rock and Shock and Anthocon conventions and received press passes to attend and promote their events. This is where our podcast became what some would call an unofficial promoter of the folks we met specifically at Anthocon and therefore NEHW. We interviewed such NEHW members as Charles Day, Gregory Norris, and Inanna Arthen. Small presses as Evil Jester Press and By Light Unseen Media, which had tables at Anthocon were also focused on.

So after a year and a half, the podcast keeps going. The listenership grows. And topics as wide ranging as modern novels as Scott Sigler’s Infected and independent cinema as Simon Rumley’s Red, White, and Blue are featured. As an inspiring writer, I know the work folks go through juggling their everyday lives with writing. With Horror Realm come and gone and Rock and Shock and Anthocon coming up, Dark Discussions looks forward to seeing everyone and helping you promote your new and wonderful works. As an inspiring writer, I know the work folks go through juggling their everyday lives with writing.

Oct 7 2012

Chat with a NEHW Co-chair

Author and New England Horror Writer Co-chair Stacey Longo will be on the Writer’s Chatroom (http://writerschatroom.com) on Sunday at 7 p.m. (EST). The chat will be moderated by NEHW member Lisa Haselton.

A lucky chatter can win a copy of Dark Things IV, which contains a story by Longo. You have to be present in the chatroom to win. To log into the chatroom, click here.

Longo will also be at Rock and Shock next weekend where she will be on the Women in Horror panel with Heather Langenkamp at 7 p.m. and on the Horrors in the Movies panel on Sunday at 12 p.m.

Aug 23 2012

Celebrities Coming to Rock and Shock

Celebrities Coming to Rock and Shock

by Jason Harris

Rock and Shock is lining up the celebrities for this year’s convention and it seems a new one is added every day. In the last two days, Heather Langenkamp (Nightmare on Elm Street)and Danny Trejo (From Dusk till Dawn, Machete) were added to the line-up. They join Doug Bradley, who portrayed Pinhead in eight Hellraiser movies and Lylesberg in Nightbreed, Sig Haig and Bill Moseley, who both appeared in House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil Rejects, Brian o’Halloran who portrayed Dante Hicks in the two Clerks movies and Anthony Michael Hall (The Dark Knight), who has been in the John Hughes’ classics The Breakfast Club and Weird Science and in The Dead Zone television series. These are just a few of the celebrities appearing at Rock and Shock.

If you are not into the movie celebs, there are also a star of the written word appearing at the convention. Author Jack Ketchum will once again bring his talent to Worcester. The writer of such novels as Red, Offspring, The Woman and The Girl Next Door, which all have been made into movies.

Wrestling star turned actor Diamond Dallas Page (The Devil’s Rejects) will be at Rock and Shock too.

It seems like the organizers of Rock and Shock can’t get enough of the music group, Kiss. They invited Ace Frehley, former lead guitarist of KISS, to last year’s convention. This year Peter Criss, the former drummer of the band, will be on hand signing autographs.

For a list of the other guests appearing at Rock and Shock, click here.

Rock and Shock takes place at the DCU Center, located at 40 Foster St., in Worcester, MA.

Feb 13 2012

Experiencing Arisia

Experiencing Arisia 2012

by David Price

When did steampunk become so popular, would someone tell me? I went to Arisia for the first time this year, which, for those who don’t know, is a yearly science fiction and fantasy convention in Boston. Now, admittedly, my convention-going experience is limited. When I was a kid, I used to go to some of the local comic book and Star Trek conventions, but that was over twenty years ago. Last year, I went to a horror convention called Rock and Shock, in Worcester, Massachusetts, and a horror writers’ convention called Anthocon in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Neither one of those prepared me for the spectacle I would find at Arisia.

I had expectations for Arisia. I’ve seen these kinds of things on tv, so I thought I would find a bunch of people dressed up like Starfleet officers, Klingons, Jedi, Hobbits, Elves, and Battlestar Galactica pilots. My expectations were, however, blown out of the water. Instead, it seemed like every science fiction fan woke up one morning and said, “Hey, I finally get that 1960s television show, The Wild Wild West. You know the show, right? Robert Conrad and Ross Martin were James West and Artemus Gordon. These two were a couple of James Bond types during the time of the Old West. It was half science-fiction, half western. The gadgetry they employed was far in advance of what you would expect for the period, with things like cyborgs, force fields, flamethrowers, and batman-style grappling hooks. The 1999 version starring Will Smith and Kevin Kline really sucked, but they played up the whole steampunk angle even more than the series. So that’s what steampunk is, this blending of Old West and Victorian era time period with science fiction elements.

If the the Arisia I attended is representative of what it is usually like, they could just call it a steampunk convention. There were plenty of people dressed up in costume, that’s true, but most of it had that steampunk theme. I saw one Starfleet uniform, one hobbit, and a couple of guys who might have been Jedi, but they didn’t have light sabers, so I couldn’t be sure. Dressing for the occasion seems to be the way to go at one of these things too, as I would say a good three quarters of the convention-goers showed up in costume. I was in the minority. It was fun to go there and people watch, though. Let me tell you something; nerd girls dress up in some of the, ah, *ahem*, most appealing costumes you could imagine. I’ll admit they surpassed what I expected. There may not have been any Slave Leias, but there was a scantily clad elven archer from the Lord of the Rings or Skyrim, a seductive assassin from the video game Assassin’s Creed, and a very revealing Poison Ivy from Batman wrapped in only, you guessed it, ivy.

All right, so I still decided I would go in there and enjoy myself. I like Doctor Who, Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica and Babylon Five as much as the next geek. Stepping into the dealer room was like entering some alternate universe, where geeks didn’t even know who the Doctor, Captain Kirk, Han Solo or Starbuck were. I wandered around and checked out everything they had to offer, but nothing really jumped out at me. I’m amazed to say that I walked out of Arisia without purchasing a single thing. When I went into the dealer room, however, it seemed the dealers got the same memo that everybody else did. It was Steampunk Central in there. I’m an introvert by nature and I have to admit that I found the place to be a bit overwhelming. I think I could have settled in better if I found some of the familiar Harry Potter and Star Wars elements that I expected to, but those things were almost non-existent, except for one notable exception. One of the highlights of the day was a life-sized stormtrooper cake that was on display. Towards the end of the day, it was sliced up and served to a very long line of hungry Star Wars fans. I passed on that, because hey, how good could it really be? If it was Darth Vader cake, maybe, but stormtrooper? It was probably just a cloned recipe, anyway.

The biggest lesson I learned from this convention, was that I should have made myself familiar with the schedule before I even walked in the door. There were hundreds of events that included movies, seminars, discussion groups, and even combat sword training. I know I would have enjoyed a bunch of those, and next time I intend to have a plan of attack. I missed the discussion I had planned to attend, which was a panel of critics wrapping up the science fiction movies from 2011. A friend of mine, Woody Bernardi, had what they call a “fan table.” Woody started a group called the Boston Science Fiction Association, which is really just a bunch of fans who get together and hangout sometimes. He got the fan table to drum up some more interest in the group. So far we’ve mainly been getting together for lunch at the Tavern at the End of the World, in Charlestown, Massachusetts. I agreed I would take a turn watching the fan table for Woody so he could go to some of the discussion groups that interested him. I think he was particularly interested in a tribute to Anne McCaffrey. I was happy to sit down and unwind a bit. I actually talked to more people sitting at that table than I had wandering around the crowded dealer room.

I look forward to the next one, though, now that I’ve had a chance to process the experience. As a writer, I dream of a day when people will be dressing up as characters from my fantasy novels. That would be something to see. Would I go in costume? I don’t think I’m ready for that yet. Of course, my ultimate goal is to be one of those guys sitting behind a table with a long line of people waiting to see me. I’ll be serving the Darth Vader cake, of course.

Oct 17 2011

Panels, Winners and more pictures at Rock and Shock

The most successful NEHW panel was the Women in Horror panel. It was moderated by Trisha Wooldridge and the panelists were Tracy Carbone, Stacey Longo, Kristi Petersen Schoonover, and Kelli Jones. When I talk about success, I am talking about the attendance level. This panel had the most people in attendance and it was at the perfect time slot of 1 p.m. on Saturday.

The other three panels were Small Press and Magazines on Friday at 6 p.m., The Writers Studio on Saturday at 12 p.m., and E-Publishing Workshop on Sunday at 1 p.m. All the panels were informative and successful. An unsuccessful panel would have been a panel with no audience. Since this was the first year for the NEHW panels, it will just grow as the convention grows and continue to get better and better year after year.

Necon E-books panel: (from left to right) Kelli Jones, Matt Bechtel, Bob Booth, and Jack Haringa

The NEHW booth had a raffle and the prize was a coffin full of books. A coffin looking box, not an actual coffin. The winner was Kelly Williams, of Enfield, Connecticut. Her name was drawn out of the raffle container Sunday afternoon.

The raffle prize and winner's name

Here are some more pictures of convention attendees, celebrities, and other things at Rock and Shock.

Woman with werewolf baby

Ken Sagoes a.k.a. Roland Kincaid in Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

Monster Golf at Rock and Shock

Roddy Piper talking with a fan

Derek Mears a.k.a Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th (2009)

 

Oct 16 2011

Horror Icons and Fans at Rock and Shock

Horror Icons and Fans at Rock and Shock

by Jason Harris

Rock and Shock is getting better and better. I was happy to be there on Saturday and Sunday. The NEHW organization fits in well at this convention. It was fitting that Robert Englund, the original and best portrayer of Freddy Krueger, was at this year’s convention. He was always my favorite horror movie actor.

Robert Englund holding his autobiography, Hollywood Monster

It was great seeing the people of different ages walking the convention. There were young and old people walking between the booths in the dealer’s room. There were people wearing different movie t-shirts, but some even went further and dressed up in costumes.

Logan Miller, of Lunenburg, MA., strikes a pose as Freddy on Sunday

These costumed attendees gravitated to the NEHW booth to hang out with the authors.

Author Kristi Petersen Schoonover meeting two Rock and Shock attendees

A horror fan brought two different conventions together within his costume when he created a zombie Stormtrooper.

Author Greg X. Graves with the zombie Stormtrooper.

When groups of horror fans weren’t meeting horror icons, they were walking through the dealer’s room looking for a copy of Evil Dead: The Musical or that cool looking movie related t-shirt like Children of the Corn or the original Piranha.

Uncle Fright and posse at Rock and Shock

One dealer, Joe, has taken his love of movies and started a glass business, Glass by Joe. He has been working with stained glass for three years. He creates glass works of films like Ghostbusters and Jaws. He has also put the image of Freddy Krueger on stained glass.Freddy's image on stained glass

Joe has even been commissioned by Kane Hodder, who has portrayed Jason Voorhees in a number of Friday the 13th movies, to create two pieces. Joe’s website is www.glassbyJoeo.com. Along with movie images, he also does landscapes, movie posters, and portraits to name a few.

Oct 15 2011

Rock & Shock Returns to Worcester

This article appeared at www.worcestermag.com.

Rock & Shock Returns to Worcester
By Trisha J. Wooldridge

Hordes of leather- and black-clad denizens of the underworld are crawling, walking or running into Worcester’s DCU Center and the Palladium this weekend of October 14- 16. There will be cries of terror, thundering earthquakes, and screaming guitar strings and fans. It’s Rock & Shock time again!
“I really enjoy coming to Rock & Shock because it’s New England’s horror con, and everyone we’ve met there has been great,” says Penny Dreadful, horrormovie hostess based out of Massachusetts and regular Rock & Shock guest. “This is New England’s big convention for all things monstrous and horrific, and there’s rock ‘n’ roll to boot!” Attendees to this year’s Rock & Shock get the added Shilling Shockers bonus of a free six-page preview of the upcoming comic, “Penny Dreadful’s Cauldron of Horror,” with artist Frankie Washington of Marvel Upper Dec art cards doing special signings on Sunday.
The DCU Center and Palladium host the unique convention pairing the horror industry with the rock and metal music industry. Not only do attendees get to meet horror icons such as Robert Englund and William Forsythe, but they get to see music legends like Ace Frehley and attend concerts given by local bands to headliners such as Insane Clown Posse.
Rock & Shock is the dark, evil love project of WAAF’s Kevin Barbare and Mass Concert’s general manager Gina Migliozzi. Based on both horror fans’ experiences at conventions, they wanted to create the unique event that is Rock & Shock. As the convention grows every year—with significantly more in 2011 than prior years, it’s excellent reputation grows with it.
“It actually makes it very tough to book the show because so many people want to come back here, year after year,” says Migliozzi. “You want to have them back, but you can’t because you have to have new people in, to keep it exciting and different.”
Barbare adds, “And if we weren’t a show where they wanted to come to or had a good experience with, it would be much harder to get them to come, even if they wanted the work.”
In fact, this year the convention has drawn the attention of Rhode Island’s Woodhaven Production Company, which will be hosting the world premiere of “Inkubus,” starring horror legends Robert Englund and William Forsythe, at Rock & Shock. It’s a full red-carpet affair drawing the entire cast, the director, writers and producer. Tickets are available exclusively as giveaways, by invitation or contest. Only paid attendees of Rock & Shock can attend the premiere and following Q&A.
Having the premier at Rock & Shock is “a win-win for everyone,” says producer Chad Verdi of Verdi Productions. “Rock & Shock benefi ts by having us there, and Rock & Shock is the best place to promote the movie.” He’s particularly looking forward to sharing this first red carpet of one of his movies with first-time director Glenn Ciano.
“We’re treating [Rock & Shock] like Comic-Con, getting all the actors there, doing panels,” describes Ciano, “taking a fan’s first route with this, because if it is going to get out there and be what we want it to be, the fans are going to have to take a part in how we do that.”
As an additional gift to Rock & Shock attendees, one of only five dolls made of Englund’s demon, Inkubus, will be raffled off at the convention. In addition to the doll, Rock & Shock fans will also be the first to hear about future projects with the character.
Another regular booth at Rock & Shock belongs to the New England Horror Writers, an organization founded in 2001 to provide peer support and networking to opportunities to authors who sell books, comics and other literature throughout the weekend. “I love that the New England Horror Writers’ organization is a part of Rock & Shock again,” says Jason Harris, New England Horror Writers’ director of publicity. “The written word fits in well at Rock & Shock. Without the written word, horror fans wouldn’t have Wes Craven’s creation, Freddy Krueger in ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street.’”
“The great thing about the New England Horror Writers’ being at an event like Rock & Shock is that there’s a unique energy—it’s our time of year, we love rock, we love scary movies,” describes New England Horror Writers’ member and author, Kristi Petersen Schoonover.
This year’s Rock & Shock still has more to offer. Starting on Thursday, where weekend ticket-holders can attend a preparty concert with Alisano and The Bones at the Palladium. On top of that, Fangoria Magazine is sponsoring an excellent panel track that includes Q&As with actors, screenwriters and filmmakers; a writing workshop with professional authors and editors; a look at publishing in the horror industry, including small press, ebooks and indie publishing; and much more.
There’s more reason than ever to check out the convention that continues to become the northeast’s premier horror media con — plus it’s right in our own back yard!

Worcester’s Rock & Shock Hosts Red Carpet Premiere of “Inkubus”
While Worcester DCU Center and Palladium are crawling with the torn shirts and band T-Shirts of recently undead or concert goers, some dark denizens will don tuxedos and dresses to strut down the red carpet for the World Premiere of “Inkubus,” the latest horror film starring icons Robert Englund and William Forsythe.
In this film, Englund plays the demon Inkubus who arrives during the last shift, a skeleton crew of officers closing Cranston Police Station, with the severed head of a girl so he can use his one phone call to contact retired detective Gil Diamante [Forsythe], who nearly caught him 13 years ago.
In addition to the intriguing plot, it’s interesting that this film with amazing star power behind it—Jonathan Silverman, Joey Fattone, and Michelle Ray Smith help round out the cast—is a local production filmed less than an hour away, in Cranston, R.I., at the old Cranston Police Station, employing local cast and crew.
“During ‘Inkubus,’ I drove twoand- a-half minutes from my house to the police station,” describes actor Tom DeNucci, who plays Offi cer Pax. “It’s something that wouldn’t have happened even a few years ago. Maybe a whole future generation of filmmakers could get churned out of Rhode Island because they see what we’re doing and say, ‘Oh, we can do that, too.’”
Producer Chad Verdi explains, “We want locals to support local filmmakers. And I can guarantee you, no one had more fun making these films than us and the actors. They’re coming to this red-carpet premiere because they want to come.”
Only attendees of Rock & Shock will be able to attend the World Premiere of “Inkubus.” Tickets are being given out via contests and giveaways throughout the convention. After the premiere, there will be a special Q&A. The movie will be released in theaters throughout nine states on October 28.