What a great time to make it out to Chiller Theatre - on their 13th Anniversary!!! Thanks to some very good friends of mine, I was able to make the excursion to New Jersey this year in order to take in the Convention and do a little much-needed maxin' and relaxin'.

A self-professed "Chiller Virgin", I had no idea what to expect. All that I knew for (almost) sure was that I was about to meet my all-time favourite genre actor, Bill Moseley (of House of 1000 Corpses, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, and Night of the Living Dead '90). I have had the pleasure of knowing/corresponding with Bill for years over this here Interthinger, but had never met him in person until this past weekend (Nov. 1, 2003). When The Tenebrous (of The Tenebrous Empire) and I first arrived at the Convention (held at the Sheraton Hotel), we were awestruck by the crowd already in attendance. We made our way into the main lobby and then right back out the back end - searching for the point at which the lineup ended. We finally came to that point waaaaay out the back door, across the lawn and halfway into the parking lot. Wowsers! Remarkably, the line moved fairly quickly, and despite the amount of people standing ahead of us we were able to get our wristbands and were set free within about three quarters of an hour.

Unfortunately, the lineups didn't end there. There were lineups for the bar (which we never checked out - because of the lineups!), there were lineups to get into the various vendors' rooms, and there were defintely lineups to get inside The Tent where all the most wicked-bad of stars were signing autographs and posing for photos. We did vendors first (from which I bought nothing but Nightmare Before Christmas swag) and then we did The Tent. There were scheduled "events" going on all day, but there just wasn't the time nor the will to bother with any of those. What we wanted was inside The Tent, anyway.

Our first "stop" inside The Tent was the House of 1000 Corpses region (consisting of Sid Haig and Bill Moseley). Luckily, we didn't have to punch and claw our way very far through the sea of people, as Sid was sitting right before us on the right. Bill's table was set up beside Sid's, but Bill was nowhere to be seen. "He takes more breaks than a..." Sid explained. I think he later finished the sentence, but he trailed off as though he couldn't quite think of anything.

There he was... Captain Spaulding (he also appeared in Spiderbaby). Larger than life, and just as indimidating - even without all the clown makeup. We actually had seen him earlier, stepping out of The Tent and taking a cool strut outside amid his revellers. The man is HUGE, and he was dressed in blue jeans, boots and his Captain t-shirt from Rotten Cotton. I have the very same one :) Sid autographed an 8x10 of himself for me, inscribing "The bigger the cushion, the sweeter the pushin'" as I requested. Actually - funny story - he seemed certain that the line was "The softer the cushion...". Both myself and The Tenebrous very gently assured the hulk that his was, in fact, mistaken. After all, I doubt that he himself has sat down to watch the film more times than the two of us collectively. We phreaks. Flat-out. 

The Captain then posed for photos with us (included below) and amused us to no end when he quipped, in full Cappy manner, "I don't think that shit is workin'!" while The Boyfriend of The Tenebrous fumbled a bit with the camera. We took more shots than we needed, just to be safe, and it seemed like we were all standing there grinning for an eternity.  Both of our heads barely came up to the guy's shoulder - it was unreal! We said our goodbyes to Mr. Haig and headed off to gawk at some more of our idols.

A few tables down from the Corpses crew was Dan Calfa (from Return of the Living Dead, and Weekend at Bernie's). Unfortunately, Mr. Calfa must have been on a break as I didn't see him. Movin' on... As we toured around, I became more and more aware of how many Bretheren in Horror I have out there in the world. WOW!!! People were everywhere, beaming from ear to ear at the chance to meet up with some of their favourites. Linda Blair was in attendance (but I didn't see her), as was Sean Yseult of White Zombie fame (now with Rock City Morgue - who played at the after party on Saturday night).

Then came The Shock!!! I hadn't noticed his name on any of the guest lists, but there he was... Kane Hodder! I've always held a very soft place in my heart for Jason Voorhies of the Friday the 13th films, and Kane has ALWAYS been my favourite Jason! I even remarked to him how happy I was to see him there, and what a surprise it was. He said it had come as a surprise to him, as well. I picked out the evillest Jason photo he had on his desk, and he signed it to me 'Kane Hodder   JASON". I posed for a photograph with him (included below) though he couldn't stand up as he was suffering from a bit of a bum leg. Had he seemed a little less tired, cranky, I would have asked him to pose for another photo to show the KILL! tattoo he has on the inside of his bottom lip.

When I spun around after chatting it up with Mr. Hodder, I noticed that Mr. Calfa had returned to his table. Unfortunately, there was quite a lineup in front of him, and I was getting thin in the wallet at that point. Each autograph costs in the neighbourhood of $20 US (given the cost of the prints and the fact that this is how a lot of these guys make a living) and I was on a very tight budget as those who know me personally can attest to. Everything had to be done on the uber el cheapo. Besides, I still had my Hero to get through.

I could see him sitting back at his table now. Bill Moseley. Chop Top. Otis. Oh, baby!

The lineup in front of his table was HUGE, and there was some mullethead that just wouldn't walk away. He stood there blubbering and eating up everybody's time. Perhaps The Tenebrous and I were just getting cranky from being on our feets all day and standing directly behind not one, not two, but a FAMILY of stinky punks. We tried to wait patiently as I kept catching Bill's eye. I really couldn't wait to meet him in person.

We finally made it up to the front and centre of his table and I introduced myself as "Shari of Arachnia dot com". He recognized/acknowledged me immediately, and we reminisced our longstanding Internet relationship (if that's possible?). I selected a Chop Top photo from his table (as that's still my favourite role) and asked him to sign it to me with the inscription "Get that bitch!" I had my wallet in my hands and asked him how much I owed him for the print and he replied "You don't owe me anything! You're a 'far-out fan'!" While he was in the generous frame of mind, we had him pose with us for several photographs (included below) and some serious blubbering - as The Tenebrous and I are in love with him, deeply. He kills like no other.

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