Chiller Theater

[allosaur176]

Hey guys,

I will be making my first trek out to Chiller this year and was wondering if anyone here has ever been??

If so, can anyone share some reviews of the place, dealer rooms, etc??

 

[agliarept]

howdy,

is this the one in NJ? april 27th? if so me and a fellow board member are going, from what i remember the previous years its not very big and the dealers had so so replicas available. i went 2 years ago and it was fun, not a big con but fun to go for the day.

 

[Wes R]

When I saw the title i thought Chilly Billy was back on the air in Pittsburgh and nobody mentioned it lol.

 

[payton paison]

:lol Me too

When I saw the title i thought Chilly Billy was back on the air in Pittsburgh and nobody mentioned it lol.

 

[Probe Droid]

My brother and I were Chiller regulars for about 6 years, but it got so crowded we gave up. Hours on line to get into the celeb tent and more hours to get up to the dealer rooms. It was ridiculous.

Since then, it has moved to another, larger locale and I've heard it's better. I'm also referring to the October show, which drew people with little kids thinking it was a haunted house or something.

That being said, it's a small show and you can really get to talk to the celebs, etc. I've often thought of giving it another shot.

 

[Clutch]

I used to go years ago when there was more figure kit modeling going on. Had some great times there.

 

[Benign Robot]

Used to be the best garage kit show on the east coast, but has become an autograph show with one, maybe two very small dealer's rooms. If yer not into autographs or have to travel far it might not be worth the $25 to get in.

 

[allosaur176]

Thats for the info guys!!! I live a little over an hour away from the place, and as I have never been to a horror con before, I figured I would give it a shot..There are a couple of people I would like to get an autograph from, and was curious as to how big the dealers section was... I plan on going on saturday and take one of the younger guys I work with, with me... So hopefully it will be a fun time

 

[Gigatron]

I used to go every year, but a few years ago, it just started getting too commercial.

You need to buy tickets to see the guests, the autograph tent is away from the rest of the show, and the regular booth people are just porn stars and really old-time WWF wrestlers, both of whom are trying to sell you junk you didn't want in the first place. Then the rest of the building is just filled with middle-aged, sweaty perverts who follow both groups, around :lol

Last time I went, I got to meet Tom Savini - he was an awesome guy and would just talk and talk about everything and anything. Really down to earth. Two tables over was Lon Cheney III - he was an ass and wanted $40 for an autograph. Really?

The year before that, Lou Ferrigno was there, and you had to buy tickets to get into his roped-off section of the room. And his ***hole bodyguards wouldn't even let you snap a picture from outside the ropes.

Also, I hope they finally moved to a larger venue. I remember it being so packed, that you could barely move. You kind of had to move with the ebb and flow of the crowd.

-Fred

 

[eaviii]

Used to go back when it was in the Meadowlands. Flew in from Dallas and loved every minute. Stopped going some time ago. The Saturday night concert was the stuff of gods. Dead Elvi, Ubangis, some BOC folk. Really fun, esp inebriated. Mayhaps has changed. Amazing modeller presence then with garage kits you just never saw and a lot of superior talent. The autograhs weren't big back then, more pathos than anything (the Willy Wonka reunion cones to mind).

Please post followup if you go. Very fond place in my heart for the acolytes of the Cool Ghoul.

Doc

 

[Clutch]

All I know is I got to hang with Julie Strain and she really dug my Unnamable build.

This was back before digital cameras became the norm, kiddies.

 

[allosaur176]

I used to go every year, but a few years ago, it just started getting too commercial.

You need to buy tickets to see the guests, the autograph tent is away from the rest of the show, and the regular booth people are just porn stars and really old-time WWF wrestlers, both of whom are trying to sell you junk you didn't want in the first place. Then the rest of the building is just filled with middle-aged, sweaty perverts who follow both groups, around :lol


-Fred

So you have to pay to get into the Con, then pay another fee to get into the autograph section??

 

[Gigatron]

From what I remember, you had to pay to get into the show, which was held in the hotel. Then the autograph tent was outside. You didn't have to pay to get into the tent, but you had to pay for each autograph, which, if I remember correctly, were starting at $25. But the line for the tent was 3 hours, if you didn't make it the first stop. I know I wasn't able to make both the tent and the show in one day. I had to have my friend get some stuff signed for me, because I was working the night shift, that day.

-Fred

 

[.:MirrorminD:.]

I use to go to Chiller twice a year for about 5 years. It use to be fun but its to much of a hassle now. They have moved locations at least 5 times because they keep getting kicked out of the hotel where they have it.

The lines are long, I mean really long. Even if you had purchased your tickets in advance you still would have to wait a good hour to get in to the venue. If you didnt have tickets then you were waiting at least 2+ hours to buy tickets then you would still have to wait because of the fire code and they were only allowed so many people in.

As for autographs, well its expensive. Some of the people charge over $100 for an autograph but the average is about $30 now. Plus a lot of celebs will also charge for photos as well and they are usually a minimum $20.

Theres always tons of fights at them because people can't hold their liquor. The ATMs are usually out of money by Friday night.

Don't get me wrong it can be fun, but for me, its not worth it anymore plus the quality of celebs they get have been on a steep decline the past few years. Chiller is also known for announcing a celeb will be there even though the celeb has never heard of Chiller. Best example, the current Chiller was suppose to have 6 guests from Sons of Anarchy. That a lone was enough to make me go to it. But slowly they all cancelled. It turns out that none of them even knew about it, just some random person contacted Chiller staff and said he represented them. Of course the person didnt but it amazes me that Chiller would announce them on their site (they have since been removed) without a signed contract in place.

My opinion of it is at one time it was a great con with reasonable prices and lines but it got too big and Chiller didnt grow with the demands, plus with problems with locations and hotels and there far from friendly and helpful staff sans Kevin and Animal.

 

[goapebilly]

Chiller has moved a few times since some of the previous posts. Actually the tent ,did get crowded it was a bit easier to navigate. Now there is a small section called the pit ,which gets insane crowded from minute it opens till it closes.to small for the amount of guests,and the rest of the guests are all over the place . Its a decent show if looking for autographs, prices for them have gotten out of hand and nonsense about taking pictures. But my main complaint really are vendors , they are terrible! more then half selling overpriced bootlegs, and lots of poster vendors. Years ago they used to have awesome vendors, selling masks,horror sct-fi kits, toys etc. plus lots of small upstart horror vendors. Its worth checking out, i advise going friday preshow worth the extra money,saturdays are murder, but if you live close ,go sat night for concert its really great ,and no extra charge .
Ive been going since they had it at fairleigh dickerson university.Unfortunately there are no other decent shows here in the north east, except monstermania thats it ,any in nyc suck havent been good for a long time,probably due to cost of venue.