Rock & Shock recap

Rock & Shock Recap 

 

I'll never forget, way back in 2006 I was trying to find something fun to do and I stumbled upon the site for Rock & Shock, a small horror convention that was around an hour away from my house. It was a toss up between attending this or a concert, I decided checking this out might be for fun. This was my first taste of what a horror convention was and I was pretty blown away at the whole set up and the general idea behind it. I was speechless to see all these actors, most of which were from movies I had grown up watching and loved sitting there signing autographs and talking with fans. The vendors was a place where they sold everything a horror movie fan could dream about, and there were crowds of people with all the same interest geeking out just as bad as I was. Well it's safe to say after going to Rock & Shock I began going to other conventions such as Monster Mania in NJ, and later working at several HorrorHound weekends. I have been to some pretty epic conventions, and some pretty lame ones.

Sadly Rock & Shock has become one of the lame ones.

Maybe it's because I'm spoiled. I know most of the people from HorrorHound and I'm part of their security staff. I've been able to meet some of my all time favorite actors/directors over the years and made plenty of epic memories. I also love Monster Mania even though I don't go that often since they always have the most rare and kick ass reunions. As the years passed and started to see how small Rock & Shock was compared to all the other shows out there. I have some great memories of this convention don't get me wrong. I've met some awesome people, bought some cool stuff, and even took my mother to this show back in 2008. It's the only convention close around Boston and I used to always enjoy my little drive down to meet some people, get some signed and hang out.

This weekend was a complete waste.

I'm not a big music fan so all the band stuff and concerts that happen later in the evening I've never paid much attention to. I'm a movie buff so I just go for the convention side of it. This year I was less than impressed with the line up. Over and over and over again they seriously book the same people for this show. They never get super creative with their line ups and I think that's what hurts them the most. The second thing that a friend of mine pointed out today was the fact their really cracking down with the vendors and now it seems besides a few really cool tables, it's all handmade junk and arts and crafts. Today while looking around the pretty lame vendor line up I saw a table selling fish and pets (…) really? This is a horror convention not a town fair!

The main reason why I go to these things is the bootlegs. Yep I'll admit it, I buy lots of them. This year there wasn't anything like that. In fact the few tables that were selling movies it was mostly all new stuff, nothing out of print of rare. There were no good old magazine or record tables, or even T-shirts. Instead it was all junk. There were shitty makeup tables where God awful makeup was being done, a table with handmade purses and cell phone covers, even a table with just paintings which I'll be the first to judge...looked awful.

The only amazing table was my friend Chris from London 1888, besides that I wasn't impressed at all.

As for the guests a lot of people canceled. I'm never really blown away by who they get. I remember talking to a friend a year or so back when they were thinking about holding their own show on the East Coast and I asked him why not Boston? I remember he shrugged and said he didn't want to step on Rock & Shock's toes. Are you fucking kidding me? Rock & Shock now sucks. Trust me, Boston is hurting for a good convention and so far there's zip.

My highlights were meeting a few guests, a couple for my sister and her husband, but for myself I met David Naughton from An American Werewolf In London. I think David from this movie is the reason why I find Jewish men so attractive. Not only was he in one of the best movies ever made he's also a Pepper! David was very nice and signed my VHS copy. Such a nice guy and was an honor to meet.

The other guest I met was Dale Midkiff from Pet Sematary. I was lucky enough to have met Dale last year at HorrorHound in which the two of us had a good laugh over how much we look alike. This time around I had him sign the new Bluray release of Sematary and showed him my Church tattoo which he was blown away seeing. Always a pleasure to see my long lost father!

As for loot it really wasn't impressive. I always buy myself a hoddie from this show which has become a tradition for myself. I'm wearing it tight now and I feel nice a warm...”mmm:”

I also got some bottle openers, a book on the making of The Evil Dead, a few cheap soundtracks, Terror On Tape, The uncut version of The Mutilator, and the complete series of Monsters. Not exactly a mind blowing run but like I said the vendors were horrible.

Still, a good enough time to try and get into the mood for the up coming holiday. Sadly though I think the only time I'm going to come back fro this show is if they get Zach Galligan again. (Hey a girl can dream right?)