women of classic horror

Yes monsters are totally cool, awesome and a blast to watch as they do their scary deeds, BUT how could anyone not take notice of all those women of classic horror whom we ourselves would take on these beasts to save and carry off behind the credits. Is it just me or do monsters have great taste in women, whether they are a big as King Kong or as dead as a Mummy, they sure know how to pick them. One of my all time favorites is Evelyn Ankers who is not only a total knockout but has a long list of horror movie accomplishments such as The Wolf Man, The Ghost of Frankenstein, Son of Dracula, The Frozen Ghost, The Mad Ghoul, The Invisible Mans Revenge amongst others. What a woman!!!! How about Julie (Julia) Adams, once again a hottie and has some of the sexiest stills from The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Fay Wray, Elsa Lanchester and Caroline Monro and just about every woman to show up in Hammer film, most notably Veronica Carlson. To my beautiful women of classic horror I salute you and if I need to have monsters in my dreams to have you there as well then so be it and bring on the nightmares.

Classic horror monster collection

My classic horror monster collection I accumulated during the 70's is gone, gone, gone. I still remember taking my now priceless Aurora Models and smashing them together as I staged pretend monster fights. Why would I commit such a unforgivable act upon such great pieces of memorabilia. Well, I was young, stupid and incapable of thinking beyond the moment. Aside from my Famous Monsters magazines which I continued to buy up until they stopped publishing them,(at least the Forry Ackerman version) I was now back where I started and had to wait for new releases or re-issues to once again possess these great treasures. First it was a well detailed Universal Dracula and Wolf Man figure in a grocery store claw machine and I found myself once again on the hunt. One day while browsing at Toys R Us, I noticed that some very well made figures of the main Universal Monsters had been released by a company called Sideshow Toys. Not long after came the Polar Lights re-issues of the Aurora Models. More from Sideshow was next and I was snatching these items up like water in the desert. This is great, I've once again got a fairly respectable collection of all sorts of Monster collectibles, and just when I thought it couldn't get any better, here comes Ebay. Although I must admit that I would much rather first search out and find a item on the shelf somewhere, if I must, I can go to this new auction site and find just about anything as long as I wanted it more than the hundreds of others that were bidding on it as well. When I decided to save time and money and just collect one particular monster (The Creature), I for one moment considered putting the remaining part of my collection up for bid, but once that ridiculous thought was squashed I came to my senses and now will never let them go again. It may have once been "seek and destroy" now it's "seek and acquire. A partial sample of what I have acquired.

King Kong|Godzilla

King Kong, Godzilla, Gidrah, Rodan, Gamera, what about the big monsters, do they fall under the category of science fiction? or, are they also part of the classic horror gang? I remember as a kid these big beasts right there with Frankenstein, Dracula and the rest. I remember them as Aurora Models and full time residents in my Famous Monsters mags. In my opinion you can't really separate these greats into different categories or genre's. Sure the universal monsters have fought it out amongst each other, as well have the big guys, and if you tried to have The Wolf man take on Godzilla or The Creature pick a fight with Rodan, the outcome is obvious, but they do come together in their pursuit of scaring the kageebee's out of us and wreaking as much havoc as possible. So whether it's a giant tarantula or ant, a half man, half fly, or even a undead vampire, half man half wolf, or just body parts given new life, they all are classics and what a good monster movie is all about. Now don't get me wrong, a monster is not required to be a good classic horror movie, evil villains do a great job as well and I'll speak about them in a later blog.

Famous monsters of filmland

The great debate on Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine still goes on for some. Others are set in their ways and will not waiver. What is this friction that has taken from some the holy grail of magazines? Well I guess it depends on who you ask but in a nutshell it goes something like this. After FM publisher James Warren became too ill to continue as publisher and left the magazine, Editor Forrest Ackerman was unable to continue with a quality and organized magazine and ceased publication. A number of years later Ray Ferry took on resurrecting the much missed Famous Monsters and used a style a bit too close to that of Forry Ackerman. Although Ferry convinced Ackerman to come back as editor, he never took him seriously or gave him a fair shot at being a influence in the contents of his long time monster magazine. Forry eventually had enough and left for good. Ferry didn't inform the readers of this change and continued to publish Famous Monsters in a fashion the was so similar to the way Ackerman did that law suits eventually were filed and in came the courts. Ackerman won the original ruling as well as a appeal put out by Ferry and up to this day Ray Ferry still publishes FM even after bankruptcy and a efforts to force him to sell the trademark. So what is one to do, continue to read the magazine and support Ray Ferry or boycott it in support of Forry? I'm not totally sure what all the facts are, there is plenty on the web from both sides to read and decide for yourself so I guess we are left with this dilemma and I'd love to hear the thoughts of others.

horror hosts

------------------------- ---

Horror hosts for the most part if done properly are a great addition to the classic horror experience. People tend to remember the hosts just as fondly as they remember the movies they ran for us. Some have gone on to be rather famous and others just moved on, I just hope they got the message of just how special they are to us. As I have mentioned in earlier blogs, here in Seattle from the late sixties until the about 1978, we had Nightmare Theatre hosted by the late Joe Towey as the Count. Joe was not only our late night vampire, but also was a big part of the J.P. Patches show (though this time behind the scenes), a local cartoon show that was very popular during it's run. The movies were top notch classic horror, they played all the Universal Monsters and Hammer greats as well. Nightmare Theatre would start off with the theme music, and a coffin in a castle room, the coffin would open up revealing a skeleton that would before our eyes transform into the Count. Then the Count would be his light hearted self and if I remember correctly he had a skull named Pamela he would talk to sometimes. I had two live encounters with the Count. One was by chance when my family was at the Seattle Center house and the Count was running around the upper level, what a awesome surprise. The other encounter was when my cub scout troop took a tour of Channel 7 and we got to see the Nightmare Theatre scenery and The Count himself. It was a sad time when Nightmare Theatre went off the air, especially since no live footage was kept, it was all recorded over. Joe Towey has passed away now and I wish I took the time to go visit him and thank him for all he did for me as a kid. Well I am now, and I hope we all take the time to give thanks to all the horror hosts who gave a great scare, great movies and great memories. Two thumbs up Joe.

horror movie remakes

--------------- ------------------------------

Remakes........What about all these remakes. Has there really been one that did any justice to the original, or should it just be left alone. At this time there is one in the works for one of my farvorite movies and favorite monsters, The Creature from the Black Lagoon. The thought of what they might do to a already perfect monster is really scary. Milicent Patrick, whom is responsible for the design of the original creature (sorry Bud, you don't get credit here) did the perfect job in her design and I hope those involved in the remake take some notice of that. I know how people seem to think that you need to adjust to the times and people today like bigger, badder and gorier. Hogwash I say, just take a look at what they did to Godzilla in that remake, I'll take the guy in a suit any day over that very forgettable remake version. These days when we see a werewolf movie they turn into some kind of oversized dog on steriods instead of a half man, half wolf like Lon Chaney Jr. and Henry Hull. The Mummy remakes don't even have a proper mummy in them. Sure the new effects are nice and should be used to some extent but let's not overdue it and take away what should go to the real star the monster. Call me old fashioned and biased I'm fine with that because I know what creepy really is, give me the old soundstage full of fog, howling wolves and a monster that is tasteful not overdone, oversized and doesn't even make a good model kit. Anyone seen Jack Pierce anywhere? ---------------------------

Universal|Hammer

We all know that the two big dogs of monster movie making are Universal and Hammer. Universal was the one there in the beginning and set the foundation. Hammer came in later to revamp and in some way resurrect the fading classics. Universal monsters are the most recognizable of course and Hammer had some very interesting takes on them. Hammer's Frankenstein monster was a lot more like Mary Shelly envisioned it, but as their Dracula went, they followed Universal in the way of a more attractive and charismatic character. Both Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee gave us great interpretations of the role but if you want a more true to character choice, that would have to be in the film Nosferatu with Max Schreck. Another obvious difference between the two are that Universal was done at a much earlier time and didn't have any of the elements that Hammer was able to include. Other than color of course Hammer wasn't relying just on the creepy atmosphere, music and characters as Universal had to, but they could also add the elements of gore and sex. As a young kid watching the Hammer films, I had no problem noticing that scantily dressed, big breasted woman, and of course all the extra full color blood spilling everywhere. Whether is was Werewolves, Mummies or Vampires we got a great treat from both and I hope the younger folks out there will find them and appreciate them as well. Long live the classics.

horror collecting

What is one to do? I tried to be a good collector of Horror memorabilia, but with so much out there, thank you very much Sideshow Toys, and Ebay making almost anything available, which item do you get? how do you afford it all? Trust me I tried. So unless you happen to have a unlimited amount of funds and room to store it all, you are ultimately faced with this dilema. Well, after my failed attempt at having it all, I decided it would be best to just settle on one paticular monster and put my money and efforts into that. Of course that doesn't mean that when something really cool comes out I won't stray and add some other monsters item, but for the most part I am now just collecting Creature from the black lagoon items. I thought the obvious Dracula and Frankenstein items would still be just too much on there own. Now it turns out no matter what you choose you still are faced with the same problem just on a bit smaller level. Which Creature item should I get next, how do I afford it and where do I put it all. Oh well, if you are going to have problems, these are the best kind to have. As for all the other monster items I collected prior to my moving to just the Creature, well, I originally told my wife those would be sold off and room made for other things. yeah right folks, of course many years later they are still here with me where they belong. maybe some day I'll get myself to actually take one out of the package and play with it. or maybe not.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

classic horror on tv

You didn't have to always wait for those late night horror shows to see some great classic stuff.

Television was doing fairly well adding some great content. Some of my favorites are Dark Shadows, Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Night Gallery, The Night Stalker, and even if you wanted to add some comedy, you had The Munsters and The Addams Family. These were great fillers to get you to the next Frankenstein and Wolf man duel. Dark Shadows really stood out for me, Barnabas Collins was a very spooky character and they even threw in ghosts and werewolves to boot. I was born in 1964 which was just by chance also deemed the "year of the monsters" I think maybe there is something to that.

Horror movies vhs dvd

These days it is very convenient and easy to watch one of your favorite horror classics, We have VHS and DVD's always at the ready for us. But back in the day, if it wasn't scheduled to be on TV or showing at a local theater your only other course of action was maybe playing a 8mm version on your movie projector. Seems like that would be a real bummer, but I'm not so sure of that. Having things so readily available seems to take away the fun and the anticipation, unlike staying up late for that special surprise you've waited all week for. I seem to find myself more likely to watch a horror flick when it is on TV then pop in one of my tapes or DVD's. I don't know why, it just seems better that way. Unfortunately the frequency these movies are on the tube is getting to be less and less, even around Halloween we are starting to see more of the Jason, Freddie and Michael Myers type movies instead. The SciFi channel was fairly generous when it first started and was showing on a frequent basis a good Dracula or Frankenstein clip, but my how things change. The new generations seem to like the have it now and must be as gory as possible mentality. But give me a black and white television with some fog and howling wolves and I am good to go. Lon Chaney, wherefore art thou?