Thursday, March 29, 2012

1971 "House That Dripped Blood" article

"The House That Dripped Blood" was one of those films that I grew up wanting to see, but never did until recently when it came out on DVD. I loved all of the Amicus anthology films, like "Tales From The Crypt," "Asylum," "From Beyond The Grave," "The Vault Of Horror," and others. The images from the film in Famous Monsters and other magazines interested me, but above all that POSTER! What an image! It stuck in my brain over the years as one of the best and most horrific movie posters I had ever seen. From issue #86 of FM, published in September of 1971, comes this article on the film. The cover of the mag featured the poster in the only color version of it I had ever seen, and I think to this day it's one of my favorite FM covers. I have to say, however, that the Amicus anthology films had some of the best posters to come out of any studio.

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Bonus: From the same issue, a write-up on a horror fan lucky enough to be able to build his own home theater, a rare thing in those days. I can only imagine the fun he and his friends had over the years. UPDATE: Out of curiosity, I googled Wes Shank to see what he has been up to, and you can see for yourself at these links: "The Man Who Owns The Blob" article, another interview at Monsters411.com and his own website "The Blob Book" by the writer himself! Very cool!



Bonus: the back cover of the same issue, featuring the alluring and full-hipped Vampi. My 12 year-old self was turned on by the ads for Vampi in these mags, and I drew her several times. Wish I still had those drawings! I used to save everything I ever drew, but much of my artwork mysteriously disappeared over the years I was home. I think my mother used to throw them away if she didn't like the subject matter, which was most of the time.


Thursday, March 22, 2012

1977 FM Article on Hammer's Dracula Films

From issue #133 of the venerable Famous Monsters magazine, (published April 1977) we find an awesome article on Hammer's Dracula films with Christopher Lee, with rare behind-the-scenes photos from several of the movies. First, the cover with a fantastic colorful painting of Robby...


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Robby was uncredited for having first invented the Vulcan hand salute.



And the anticipated fang-tastic feature itself...