Elvira and The Universal Classic Monsters

To honor the spirit of Halloween, here's a full-page reproduction of a painting by Robert Redding, from an issue of Forry Ackerman's 1984 "Monsterland" magazine.

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Elvira's Movie Comic Adaptation Cover

From 1988 comes the cover of the magazine-format comic adaptation of "Elvira: Mistress of the Dark." A nice painting that makes Elvira look about 16, but the details in the crowd faces is where most of the humor comes from.

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Full-Page Ad for Thriller Video With Elvira

From a late 80's large-format video industry magazine comes this full-page ad for Thriller Video featuring the incomparable Elvira!

(Click on image to enlarge... you know you want to.)

1990 Article on Monster Maker Paul Blaisdell: Part 2

Last time, if you recall (if not, read it here), we opened the pages of the May 1990 issue of Cinefantastique, to look at their in-depth retrospective on one of the genre's least-known monster makers; Paul Blaisdell. Least-known by name, that is... but his work has been seen and appreciated by several generations of monster movie aficianados. This time I finish posting the rest of the pages on this talented but somewhat tragic figure whose creations figured so prominently in our monster memories.

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1990 Article on Monster Maker Paul Blaisdell

Although many monster movie fans know his work well, few know much about the man behind so many of the memorable creatures from the low-budget flicks of the 50's and 60's... Paul Blaisdell. I have scanned and am posting (in two parts) this extensive series of articles from the May 1990 issue of the best genre mag ever made, in my opinion; Cinefantastique. We Monster Kids grew up on the movies, and the images of these monsters in various magazines, but never hearing much about their creator. Find out the whole story now!

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Come back for Part Two very soon!

"Thriller Video" flyer featuring Elvira

Way back in the 80's, Elvira hosted and hawked the horror "Thriller Video" line. Here's one of the flyers listing the various releases, consisting mostly of episodes of "Hammer's House of Horror."

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More ads for these videos featuring Elvira, coming soon!

Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed 1969 article

From issue #14 of Castle of Frankenstein, (see the cover here, from a previous post on another blog) published in 1969, comes this short preview of the next Hammer sequel "Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed."

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In the publicity still above, we see a good example of the sneaky "Cushing Grope," a maneuver he often makes with his bosomy co-stars. Watch for it every time he "assists" a female costar... he subtly moves his thumb into direct contact with the starlet's breast! Peter, you sly old dog you. I wonder how many of them noticed it? If you look for it in his films, you will see it as a signature move.

Below, another page from the same issue, on a previous entry in the Frankenstein series of films.

Young Frankenstein article from 1975

This time we look into Issue #25 of the awesome Castle of Frankenstein magazine, published in June of 1975. I bought this when I was 16 from a tobacco/magazine store, when I lived in Ft. Lauderdale. I can still smell the fragrant pipe tobacco scent of these kinds of stores, and associate it with my magazine treasures that I found there, like this one.

The beautiful wrap-around cover from "The Time Machine" was a sight to behold, and made my fingers almost tremble with excitement as I snatched it from the stand. That movie has always been one of my favorites, and seeing it featured on the cover was too exciting to me. I'll feature the article on the movie soon in a future post over on my other blog "Fantastic Flashbacks;" this time, we're looking at the "Young Frankenstein" article. A classic comedy that honors the movie is it spoofing so well that it really fits in as a sequel to them!

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Great art but innocent Weena is painted just a bit on the slutty side.

"The Corpse" story from Nightmare #13

Another post imported from my first blog "Sweet Skulls," that spotlights The "Nightmare" issue #13 cover and story. If you missed it there, enjoy it now, here!

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In the summer of 1973, my skinny, bookish young 14-year-old self saw this issue of Skywald's Nightmare on the magazine rack at Chichesters Pharmacy on Vineville Avenue in Macon, GA. A cold thrill coursed down my spine, not only because I knew the Skywald mags to be the good stuff, but because the cover art was truly the fabric of nightmares. The beautifully rotting face of the living corpse on the cover was riveting. I quickly snatched it up, had it paid for and out of the store within 30 seconds flat.

Driven mad by high gas prices, he just had to let off a little steam.

Now, most all of the items that I would pick up at the drugstore during the weekend stay's at my Grandma's house, I would read as I walked back from the drugstore. Be it the latest Star Trek novelization, comic book, Monster Times, Famous Monsters, Castle of Frankenstein, Planet of the Apes, Dracula Lives, etc., they would all be perused as I walked the four blocks back home. But the rare issues of Skywald's Nightmare or Scream I lucked upon were saved til the night-time hours. It wouldn't be right to read them in the bright light of the daytime... no. That would be missing some of the special thrill.

After chowing down on the bagful of cheese Krystals I brought home for our supper, watching Kung Fu and the Saturday Night Movie on TV with Grandma, and finishing all the other magazines or comics I had bought, then... and only then...when it was after midnight, came the time for Nightmare. I retreated to my room, with a bedside lamp and a candle lit on the dresser. With a bottle of blue cream soda and some snacks on the table, I would almost reverantly take out the issue and open it. The horrors inside were devoured and absorbed into my young monster-hungry mind, filling it with delicious chills.

This is the first time I've presented an entire story in the Sweet Skulls blog. Usually I only feature the skull-centric cover art. But as I took out my old copy of this issue and scanned in the cover, I re-read the story and decided it would be a shame not to share the whole thing with you. So I spent about an hour scanning in the pages, then another hour cropping and formatting the images for posting. It took another hour to upload them to the blog page. The time required for all this is another reason I don't do it much; how Karswell does it on a daily basis is a mystery to me. I also don't want to encroach on territory already excellently covered by his blog "The Horrors Of It All," but since he mostly features pre-Code comics, and this is from a B&W horror magazine, I thought it was worth doing. As I have time, and if the story is good enough, I may do it again occasionally.

In the page details posted above you can see some of the panels that I really liked. Now, here for your enjoyment (I hope), is the complete story of "The Corpse," scanned in high-resolution. The ending really went differently from the expectations one usually has in these "revenge of the living dead" stories, another reason I liked it so much as a teen.

There you go... bet ya didn't see that one coming, did ya? Well, maybe you did, being so smart and all, but 14-year-old Fred didn't, and that's the standard I judge these old stories by.

Here's a bonus scan of a splash page about H. P. Lovecraft that I thought was well done. It looked like I did after I fell asleep reading the magazine and dreamed about all that weird stuff! Unlike most, I actually enjoyed my nightmares... they were like a realistic movie, and the scarier the better.

1974 Article on Hammer's Mummy

From the first issue of "Movie Monsters," published in December of 1974, comes this review of Hammer studios 1959 version of "The Mummy." This is a movie I like, and watch at least once a year (during October, when I watch one horror movie an evening). The writer of the article has a somewhat lower opinion of the film, but it's still interesting reading. I enjoyed Christopher Lee's version, which was much scarier and dangerous than the old Universal mummy, where the intended victim could avoid it easily unless they froze in terror or it snuck up on them. I loved Hammer's re-interpretation of the classic monsters, and this film was no exception. Lee's towering form and great makeup, combined with his dynamic intensity made an unstoppable engine of death.

First, the cover of the mag... nice painting of the Cyclops!

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And, the article itself...

Bonus: Click the picture for a hi-rez image of another one of the Mummy posters!