Well today I went to the Chiller Convention at the Hilton in Parsippany NJ. Overall, it was a great time and a fine convention to attend. I didn't know quite what to expect since this was my first time at this show but I was pleased with what I saw and will without a doubt go back again next year. I do hear they hold this show in October but call it their Halloween Extravaganza! So maybe I'll keep my eye on that and if I am not knee deep in prop building for my haunt I'll go check it out to see if it is any different.
So today I got there right at 11am and stood in line for only about 10-15 minutes. Luckily my buddy Ghoulish Cop was already there and holding a good spot at the front of the line. We walked right in and paid our admission to the show ($25) and then away we went!
We wanted to do a quick sweep of the show to see what was what so we just walked the floor quickly to get a feel for the show and what was there. I have to say it is a decent size show that you can easily spend a good amount of time at.
The show mainly focuses on Horror toys, memorabilia, movies etc. but they also have a handful of various artists selling unique items and then their are the celebrity photo and autograph opportunities.
We started our adventure by checking out the celebrities in attendance and one thing I have to say is I was surprised that everyone they had billed was there even though it was a Sunday. I figured maybe not everyone on the bill would be there all three days but it was a great turn out. To see who was at the show CLICK HERE! I did miss out on a few people I was hoping to see but I did have the pleasure of meeting Charlotte Lewis from the Movies Golden Child (which I love), Embrace Of The Vampire & Storyville.
I would have loved to take more pictures and get a few more autographs here and there but it's a little hard to spend the $25-30 per signing and photo op for everyone, still cool to see them in person though and if your lucky enough you can snap off a few pictures of everyone for free anyways.
So on to the vendors! As haunters me and Ghoulis Cop were looking for some inspiration for our haunts and did find a few cool artists/vendors to take note of.
The first was The Gemini Company. The Gemini Company was established in 1996 by John Weisgerber and is located in Brooklyn NY. Their table had the most appeal to me since they actually offer different types of skulls, sideshow gaffs and freakshow items. I actually purchased one of their Pickled Punk Candles which as you can see by the picture below is a two headed baby in a jar. If your wondering what the candle sent was well it was unscented...which is probably a good thing! I don't think I will be lighting it up any time soon and will most likely add it to my haunt this year.
The next vendor that Ghoulish Cop and I liked was Pure Terror Products. They had an assortment of uniquely carved skulls and various animal skulls. Some of these were decorative pieces, masks and simple wall mounts and they were decently priced. The website still seems to be in development but it seems they are adding more haunt related products which I will be interested to see.
The last vendor or in this instance artist that I will note is Terry Cruikshank. He had these really cool custom designed horror dolls that you can tell he put a lot of time into. I believe he said each takes around 2 months to design. I was surprised that the prices were really no more than $200 for these guys and I thought that that was pretty great considering the amount of work that goes into each. It was hard to pick a favorite but if I had to it would be the MJ Werewolf!
So to sum it all up, if you love the horror genre, meeting some iconic celebrities and talking to some interesting people than Chiller is for you. It's a great place to add some nice pieces to your horror collection and maybe even find some new artists that love working with horror as their inspiration for their work.
I had a great time hanging out with Ghoulish Cop, drinking some brews and talking some haunt and it was fun to walk away with a few new photos and autographs for the collection. I am looking forward to the National Haunters Convention next week!
Until then, Stay Frightful!
5 comments:
Nice write-up and pics!
Sounds like you had a great time! Good call on the MJ Werewolf- LOVE it.
Thanks guys! It was a really fun convention. I am hoping to make it to NHC because I am sure it will be just as fun there too!
Looking good! I like the new fender better, too. Looks like a fun picture.
Chiller
Hey, Violet Beauregard -- the girl who turned into a Blueberry in Charlie & the Chocolate Factory -- was on TMZ tonight! She works as a financial analyst for an insurance company. She says her company's satellite helped pinpoint bin Laden.
Now I wasn't paying attention at first, but I'm pretty sure that's what she said. And to think, we actually met the woman who helped take down the No. 1 terrorist!
Rich
Post a Comment