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.

(Click on image to view full-size.)

Orgy Of The Living Dead

Today's monster memories are of..."Orgy of the Living Dead."

Click the images to see a hi-rez versions.

(This post was originally written for an older blog of mine, "Sweet Skulls." I'm re-posting it here so those of you that missed it can enjoy it anew!) Folks, you are looking at one of the single most horrific, (and to my teen self, thrilling) pieces of artwork for a movie ad ever made, that ever fell under the category of "never appears in the movie." When this showed up in the newspaper on the movie ad page back in spring of 1972, my dark little heart skipped several beats as I feverishly cut it out to put in my scrapbook.

You see, I could never go see the movies they advertised, both because I was underage (13 years old), but also because my parents would never let me. The newspaper ads were often the only thing I could collect in association with the films I could never go see. So, I could only longingly feast my eyes on the promotional artwork, and imagine how awesome the movie must be. Little did I know then, that what I imagined was so much better than the actual movie. As I know now, the artwork was much better than the film, and misleading as to what you would see.

Right up front you should be warned that there is no orgy; not even a petting party... and precious few living dead, and those are of the vampiric variety and not zombies. The titular "orgy" was actually the name of the triple-feature under which all three of the films would show: "Revenge of the Living Dead," "Curse of the Living Dead," and "Fangs of the Living Dead." What I little dreamed was that the three films were not even related! One would think that they were all in a series of films that connected, like the Apes movies making the rounds in the butt-numbing "Ape-o-thons," but no... they were three movies completely unrelated to each other, simply renamed to make it seem that way.

But you have to hand it to the promoters here: they did a great job of packaging and promoting the films to maximum effect. The titles, picked to capitalise on Romero's zombie movie, though there were no zombies; the artwork, depicting an imaginary character that never made an appearance; and the idea of "three-movies-for-the-price-of-one" which made it a real bargain. Similar to a cheap smorgasboard of crummy food, you might complain that it didn't taste that good, but you had to admit you sure got a lot for your money.

The zombie/vampire artwork, indeed, the entire campaign, was created by Alan Ormsby, who was a multi-talented man indeed. Besides being an artist, he was a director and actor. You may have seen one of his more famous movies: "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things," another of those movies talked about in awed whispers on the playground. But I'm most in awe of his artwork for the promotion, which remains famous to this day. Look at the detail on that gruesome death's-head: rotted skin peeling back to show an exposed skull: with a hole in said skull revealing the brain beneath! An empty eye socket! A hole for a nose!

My 13-year-old mind could scarcely conceive of such horror. It was the most gory image I had ever seen, even considering the monster magazines I was beginning to get interested in, as I could find them. This was before I had found the comic magazines such as "Tales From the Tomb" and such, which took gore to a new level. Those I would find later, and we'll take a look at some of the outrageous images available to any kid, in a future posting.

Having such an impact on my impressionable mind, the image stood as the pinnacle in scary movie artwork, and was never surpassed. (Inspired, I drew my own copy of it, being somewhat talented in drawing things I could look at. Using felt-tip markers, I colored in my version, supplying the blood and gore that the paper ad didn't have.) So when, about ten years later as a young man I happened upon the entire press kit for the movies in a south Florida collector's shop, I snatched it up like a starving zombie gnoshing upon a handfull of fresh entrails. This was a true find! And seeing the entire ad campaign made me appreciate even more what went into promoting this event.

Here is the front of the actual press kit:

Inside page of the poster-sized pressbook:

Page three of the kit:

The ad I had seen and saved from the local paper (and still have, taped in my scrapbook) was only a small part of the overall kit.

Included with the kit was a sample "Madman 1 Sheet," that the theater owner could order to hand out to patrons (see below). On the front here was a photograph of a raving lunatic in a straitjacket, presumably a viewer who was driven insane by seeing the movies. The copy on the other side read, in part: "This is John Austin Frazier. It has been reported that he now resides at a Mental Hospital, the result of attending a showing of "Orgy of the Living Dead!" Because of this tragic event, we, the producers, have secured an insurance policy, insuring the sanity of each and every patron. If you lose your mind as a result of viewing this explosion of terror, you will receive free psychiatric care, or be placed, at our expense, in an asylum for the rest of your life! We urge you to take advantage of this protection! The insurance is free - anyone entering the theater without it does so at his own risk. Remember: WE WARNED YOU!!!

The copy about the handout reads "This hair-raising 'Madman' special one sheet, taken directly from ORGY's key art, is a guaranteed attention-getter! The Madman's distorted face screams out in anguished horror while the text of the poster contains a WARNING note for those about to enter the theater! A guaranteed crowd-raiser that will draw a quick line at the box office!" I'm sure it did.

Front of the handout:

Back of the handout:

Screengrab from the trailer for the film featuring the raving madman...
There is also copy in the kit about the trailers, TV spots and radio ads that the owner could order to help promote the event. Of particular interest is the language used to describe certain ones of the radio ads: "Two of the spots have been specially prepared for Black audiences, and all convey the spirit of the show-biz excitement that will draw the crowds to your box-office!" One supposes they sprinkled in some jive-talk in those.

Well, if you ever ran across this image of a skull with skin rotting from it in your youth, and it haunted your memory, now you can revel in it till your eyes ache. Thanks, Alan, for contributing not only to success of three movies that were ill-deserving of it, but mainly for enriching our childhoods (?) with such a lasting image.

Tomb of Dracula #4: "Death Vow"

As the doors of the collection cabinet slowly swing open on squeeking hinges, the thunder of the spring storm echoes through the sighing trees. With trembling fingers I take out the ancient publication of "The Tomb Of Dracula" #4 from its resting place, blow off the cobwebs and dust, and remove it from the protective plastic bag. The scrawled text is briefly visible as the lightning flashes through the wind-blown drapes, revealing the date it was written: the fourth month of the Year of Our Lord nineteen-hundred and eighty. The stories in it were created at a time when the memory of vampires was still terrifyingly fresh in the minds of men, and not relegated to the bedtime stories told to frighten children. Cast your gaze, if you dare, on the painting of the cover below, and feel the terror anew...

(Click on images to enlarge.)

From this issue I present the entire story titled "Death Vow." In its pages we learn that the price of evil's promises are far too costly; yet the grace of God can still triumph in the end.

It is sad, but true, that there will always be others who fall for the temporary and deceptive "solutions" offered in times of weakness by the powers of darkness... let us hope that none of my readers are among that number.

The Thing That Couldn't Die poster

From 1958, the poster art for "The Thing That Couldn't Die"

(Click on image to enlarge.)

That's a nice trick there, walking on water...

Remembering The Forgotten Prisoner

(Click on images to enlarge.)

"He’s the last remaining prisoner from years gone by. Long since passed, and now all that remains are his bones as proof to his existence. His crimes have long been forgotten. His sentence fulfilled. However, this unfortunate prisoner was lost in the system, and now his bones are the only remains that hang from the dreaded shackles of his prison cell. Until now."

Note: this is a re-post imported over from my earlier blog, "Sweet Skulls." It fits in nicely with the theme of "My Monster Memories," so in case you missed it over there, you can enjoy it here.

Oh, man... this brings my younger days back so clearly I can actually smell the model glue and paint. And the giddy, light-headed feeling I had while working on it in 1974 had very little to do with the fumes. Even today, taking out my little Prisoner model invokes such a strong sense of nostalgia that it almost hurts. Among the relics of my youth, only a few survive, and I'm grateful this one did. I had stored it away in a box of collected goodies in my grandmother's guest bedroom closet. Since her house was my one refuge from the strain of a controlling and intolerent stepfather, I kept the things I treasured there, for I had seen more than one item go into the flames of the trash barrel simply because my having them irritated him.

He was an ex-Army sargent, a hunter and construction worker with a sixth-grade education; while I was a bookwormish monster-loving kid who had an artistic bent. Needless to say we clashed, and I always came out on the losing end, being a pacifistic kid who loved nothing more than finding a quiet place to read my comic books. Unfortunately, that also irritated him. That's why my weekend stays at Grandma's house, a haven of love, freedom and normalcy, loom so large in my good memories. Stress-free afternoons reading my newest Monster Times or Castle of Frankenstein, putting together a model, and evenings watching the good stuff on TV: "Kung Fu," "Planet of the Apes," Night Stalker," and the Saturday Night Movie.

The Skeleton in my closet

Over a decade after I built my Forgotten Prisoner model, I re-discovered it in that box in the closet when I went to bring the things I had stored there into my own home. It was in several pieces, but easily fixed and lovingly touched up (except for a missing foot). It was funny, for he had become forgotten for awhile, but he was relocated, restored and placed in a collection bookcase for safe-keeping. Now he comes out yearly and joins the Halloween decorations on the mantle.

It's ironic that the one model that is most remembered by Monster Kids is the one called The Forgotten Prisoner. My lonely friend, you are not forgotten. You are fondly remembered and loved. I think I related to you a lot.

As much as it means to me, you won't find a picture of my own Prisoner on this page; my efforts are painting him were amaturish next to these awesome examples and not worthy to be compared. But you will see some great interpretations of the Prisoner paint job, all of which are terrific. Enjoy!

http://www.lowbudgetrecords.com/models/prisoner.htm

http://gobedelighted.blogspot.com/2007/09/talk-like-pirate-day.html

http://www.monstersinmotion.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/11444




http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=171006

The two images above come from a great FP page: http://www.tylisaari.com/models/fp/forgotten.htm

http://www.horror-wood.com/skeleton.htm

http://www.bobbysmonstermodels.com/prisoner.html

http://www.monstersontheshelf.com/id59.html

http://www.majormattmason.net/stevendemarco/prisoner.htm


http://www.markatherton4.com/prisoner.html

http://plmodels3.tripod.com/mindiola2.htm

http://museum.theclubhouse1.net/submissions/scottterry1.htm

http://home.earthlink.net/~steven_demarco/id12.html

http://www.professorplastik.com/monster_site/proscenium/kits/prisoner_kit/prisoner_kit.htm

http://s94.photobucket.com/albums/l118/S_Coffey/?action=view&current=IMG_0129.jpg

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/showphoto.php/photo/27515/cat/500/ppuser/15338

A new larger version is available! Wow, but for the price I would possess this...

http://www.monstersinmotion.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/663

Here's a Youtube video of "a" forgotton prisoner that's pretty funny. Not a re-creation of our beloved bones, but in the same spirit.

Update: All these years I thought that the awesome and iconic box art was done by James Bama, who did the other monster model box covers.... but in my Facebook roamings, I came across the actual artist: Mort Künstler! Visit his official website here or the Facebook fan page to see more awesome art!