Wednesday, October 15, 2008

"Enter If You Dare!" plus...



The Disney book 'Enter If You Dare,' Scary Tales From The Haunted Mansion, was published on Halloween in 1995. The spooky stories inside are geared toward the pre-teen audience who devoured the "Goosebumps" series, was written by Nicholas Stephens, with about a half-dozen black-and-white illustrations inside by Sergio Martinez.


The tales are basically generic ghost stories that happen to take place in or around the Haunted Mansion, which even in the cover art seems to be "a" Haunted Mansion" rather than "the" Haunted Mansion. Instead of being the backgrounds of the various inhabitants we are familiar with, or adventures of those that come into contact with them, the stories could really be about any haunted house. One feels that the Haunted Mansion title was bestowed simply to help sell it. It's not that it's a bad book by any means; it's just not something that a true HM fan will feel connects with their much-loved manse of familiar spooks.

The best thing about it is the cover art and the sparse illustrations inside, and if you don't have the book I know you will enjoy seeing some of the art here.

And for your enjoyment, here is an illustration from a 1984 issue of Monsterland. Elvira and the classic monsters are like peanut butter and chocolate; they're even better together! I wish she could make one more movie using all of them in it, before she's too old. Wouldn't it be a hoot?

This is the front and back of my favorite-ever Halloween card that I've received, all of which I have saved over the years. I display this on a table-top each October.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

actually it would be quite a hooter if Elvira could join forces with the monster squad. LURVE yon blogs, espesh movie ads. yellow newsprint, big screen dots... drool!

Frederick said...

Arthur,

Thanks for the comment! Truly, Universal should get smart and team up Elvira with their classic monsters, and make it a decent budget!

Glad you like the "Held Over" blog also; those old ads are a lot of fun to revisit!