Signed, Screamed, Delivered: My Horror Con Diary from Weird Worcester
Horror conventions have been around for many decades, and they always draw a multitude of folks across country and around the world because they are a huge sociable get together. It isn’t just the guests (some are better than others as I’ll explain soon), it’s the merch for sale that you’d only usually find on eBay or various marketplace websites. It’s the chance to catch up with friends, or to finally meet in the flesh people you only speak to online because they live a million miles away or whatever.
This quick article is partially a personal point-of-view, my opinion, and a generalisation. I could write one of the biggest essays by pooling together other people’s findings plus a complete world history of the convention scene — it’s huge, but decided to stay small fry, just my lil fish in a giant dark ocean, so to speak.
It’s all about the memories, the atmosphere, the fun and a chance to see who’s the greatest star in person. As a kid I’d be flicking through my Mum’s issues of Starbust, I’d imagine going to some of the early ‘80s horror and sci-fi get togethers advertised. As a teen I’d drool over the full-page adverts in USA horror mags. If one happened to arrive in my home city, Hull, I’d be there, later dragging my kids along. Then I thought, why wait for them to come to me? Why not travel out?
I’ve been regularly attending UK horror cons since 2016 all ‘round the country and seen some sights. Sid Haig walking up behind a Captain Spaulding cosplay fella and saying, “I’m sure I’ve seen you before.” Sid was a wonderful person. He spoke about things like Spider Baby to me and went straight into character as I accidentally started to walk away forgetting to pay for a signed pic and figure. “I don’t think you’ve paid me yet, boy!” My blood ran cold.
I’ve seen Linnea Quigley lost for words as a guy I’d been chatting to in the queue presented her with his artwork to sign — Linnea in the nude. I’d heard about Tom Savini being a 70 percent dickhead most of the time and haven’t come across him yet but avoided Elvira when I saw (as I was at a table beside her) the conveyor belt way she was with people — smile, sign, pic, smile, go away, repeat. I witnessed Kane Hodder winding up Doug Bradley. Ian McCulloch was outstanding. I was so over the moon when I presented my Survivors boxset to be signed. He told me many things about the series. Note: I always ask for personalized, my name on the pics, etcetera. I see many dealers with arms filled with stuff to go onto eBay. Cool, more money for the star and extra cash for them selling, but I’m a hoarder, everything is framed and hung!
I need a totally different article to fill up with the guests I’ve spoken with. I’ll simply mention Robert Englund. He is my Partner in Gore, Willow’s, top tier pinnacle of guests and she was kind of unable to speak when meeting him. She was the same with Heather Langenkamp. He joked to calm her down, then saw her Freddy tattoo and grabbed her arm studying the whole of her horror sleeve which made her even more speechless. Richard Brake went out of his way to record a TikTok video with my sister plus an extra vid for her media studies tutor. Brooke Theiss (of Nightmare on Elm Street 4) recorded a Severed Cinema promo vid with me, and Amelia Kincaid discussed sewing techniques with Willow after seeing Willow’s Angela Night of the Demons cosplay costume was all hand stitched and made from scratch.
Most of the guests don’t charge for selfies. Some events won’t allow selfies, so you sneak a pic of them signing. Some stars charge for a pic, it’s whatever.
Back end of last year we attended For the Love of Horror and were bombarded by crazed hoards in their thousands, packed like sardines down the aisles. (This year’s will probably be just as bad since Simon Pegg, Ted Rami, Terrifier cast members, and many others have been announced). Earlier this year we went to Horrorfied, a brand-new convention and the turnout was totally insane! Apparently, they didn’t expect that many. Erm, you had Robert Englund and Lance Henriksen as your main guests, what did you expect?
It was at that event that my buddy director Tom Lee Rutter passed me a flyer for Weird Worcester. He and a few more of my pals — all under the banner, Treasured Films, yep that upcoming UK label I did an article about not long back (see article ‘Treasured Films Is Digging Up the Dead… And We’re Loving It’ here) had chucked this together with what Willow and I agreed was a hardcore horror line up. Big stars to the elite rabid horrorhounds in the know, but no household names. Couldn’t imagine a million people arriving to this one!
To name a few who were sat at their tables, the badass Hammer himself, Fred Williamson. Geretta Geretta of Demons, Rats: Nights of Terror, and such. I interviewed her a few years ago for Severed Cinema (see ‘Not Just a Demon: A Severed Cinema Interview with one of Playboy’s Sexiest Scream Queens of All-Time’ here). The famed cult director, Enzo G. Castellari, two stars of Cannibal Holocaust — Carl York and Francesca Ciardi, Lamberto Bava himself, the long-suffering heroine of Fulci movies Catriona MacColl, Silvia Collatina of House by the Cemetery, Margie Newton of Zombie Creeping Flesh — to name but a few at Weird Worcester. Thirteen altogether.
We travelled over four hours by train to get to the quaint historic city of Worcester. By far not the longest we’d journeyed but definitely the one cursed by the most delays. We checked into a reputed haunted inn for two nights. Dating back to the fourteenth century, The Cardinal’s Hat is highly recommended to anyone staying up those parts (make sure to eat next door at the Singapore Restaurant — Yummy). We then arrived outside Weird Worcester an hour early the next morning. As is standard with us, we chatted to folks in the queue and listened to one of the promotor’s voluntary working friends who had a hand full of wristbands as he told us a few of the names that they’d attempted to get for the event but had fallen through due to the money they were asking. I’ll give you a couple of clues, one used to be a James Bond, the other had a part in the Dark Knight flicks. Both are linked to movies released via Treasured Films.
Once inside, we headed to Geretta first who seemed a little out of it, trying to last minute organise stuff on her table. It turned out she’d been busy translating language to language for various people all morning she told us. We all had a chat and a laugh for a while. Next came Fred Williamson. “What’s up, dawg?” he greeted us, “They say dawg now, and not dude.” Whilst we were hanging around with him for a bit, Enzo and his agent sat at the next table kept holding up original posters for him to see. That’s another thing about these gatherings, it gives movie folks a chance to see one another again, hang out, have a giggle — it’s all very sociable. Throughout the day we got to Catriona, Margie (who agreed to do an interview some time in the future for Severed Cinema) plus Carl and Francesca of Cannibal Holocaust. Lamberto and Enzo were unfortunately constantly bombarded by large queues, so we hit the merch stalls instead, both of us buying t-shirts, DVDs, and so on.
The processing system worked really well without a fuss at this convention (for us anyways). Pay ahead in advance for a professional photo, keep an eye on the times allocated to your guest of choice (ours were Fred, Geretta, Margie, and Catriona — we grabbed table selfies with Fred also and the Cannibal Holocaust duo), go to a desk set up in front of the guest tables (one desk covered two) and buy your autograph, get a ticket, get to the star, get a signed pic off the table or get your shizz signed, however you want. This allowed for more talking time and a relaxed environment where you don’t feel hurried on.
Throughout the two days, guests had a half an hour Q&A which is standard. In the past we’ve sat through a gaggle of cenobites, Richard Brake, and such, telling some wonderful stories and jokes. This time around we listened to Catriona and Silvia reminiscing about Lucio Fulci, how they got their movie parts, how they felt afterwards (like Ian McCulloch, Catriona kind of shunned them for many years until she was invited to a screening of one of the films and she understood just how they’d stood the test of time. Silvia has always been a horror fanatic so has, like the late David Warbeck did, proudly embraced the scene). Speaking of David, wow, what love Catriona still has for her sorely missed co-star. She basically did say that if he were alive and at Weird Worcester — and they both agreed he definitely would have been there — he would be talking non-stop. David wasn’t in the movie game for the acting; he did it for fun because he just enjoyed himself. The gun loading scene in The Beyond was discussed much to everybody’s amusement, as was Fulci climbing into a coffin to demonstrate how easy it is to play dead.
The Cannibal Holocaust duo Q&A was also fantastic even though we had to duck out mid-way due to one of our photo shoots coming up. Carl (wearing a turtle shirt) spoke in depth about the animal abuse. He especially brought up the pig. Without reading the script totally, only getting dallies, he befriended this cute little pig on set one day, then read in the script how he was to shoot his new buddy. He asked Ruggero if he wanted Carl to aim the gun, say “Bang” and expect the shot to be edited in afterwards. “No, you shoot for real, you kill it. We only have one pig, so you cannot mess it up!” Carl refused and the crew were cold with him from that moment on. “You see, they realised that I’m an actor and not a murderer!” The interesting story of how he got the part was due to the size of his feet… I hope that each Q&A was filmed (we saw a camera at the back) as these are priceless half hours and deserve to be captured for eternity on future releases.
Another great reason to head to these conventions as I stated above is to catch up with people you haven’t seen for a while. The night before whilst exploring the streets and alleys of Worcester, I heard, “Jay?” It was director, David VG Davies (see interview here) the director of Animal Soup (see review here) and Blaze of Gory (see review here) who was setting up a merch stall the next morning.
At the convention we ran into Severed Cinema regulars, Darren Ward, Sam Mason Bell, and SN Sibley (no way am I linking ALL their reviews, to hell with that!) plus I met in person Luke Duum of Tumanduumband (see review here).
That’s the genuine heart and soul of these get togethers like Weird Worcester. The people. Those who travel near, far, and wide to be part of something bonding like a big dysfunctional family. I see YouTube vids and other articles saying how the scene isn’t the same anymore. The bigger whales I guess aren’t. At the end of the day, it’s a business for some. However, the smaller ones still have the buzz, it just depends on what you go there for. Another excellent UK one for fans that I’ve heard about (sadly running the last time this year) is Weekend of the Dead, devoted to George Romero’s zombie flicks. The finale is in November (Weekend of the Dead 2025 – We don’t stay Dead).
Another thing I love seeing is the future of horror fanatics, the cosplay kids. Young girls dressed like Megan or that demon child from Terrifier 2. Boys covered in blood carrying a machete, etcetera. My close friend, Spyda, has attended events with us. His daughter generally goes as Chucky.
It’s family fun!
The gang behind Weird Worcester truly worked hard to formulate a memorable, friendly, and relaxed convention. As much as we enjoy the bigger events, sometimes a breather is needed. If there’s ever a second one, see you there…
Photo credits for the article — me, Willow Brian, and Alan Hoare.
