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.

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...

"Strange Change" Model Kit Ad

The "Strange Change" model kit ads (originally posted on my first blog, Sweet Skulls.)
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I've been having a blast going through my collection bookcases lately, mining them for material to post on my blogs, here on Monster Memories. Usually, the only time I would get into them very much was when I was packing them up for a move. That was a killer; if you look at them in this picture, you might never guess that they would fill up ten banana boxes each. That's 30 heavy boxes total. I hope I never have to move them again, but that's hoping for too much, I suppose. Otherwise, I only reached into them occasionally as I was looking for something to read on a bathroom visit that threatened to be of extended length. Under such circumstances, you grab what you can off the top of a stack and hoof it!

Now, though, I am seeing things I haven't seen in years, re-discovering items I had forgotten I had. In many cases it's like seeing a friend you haven't come across in years.

Anyway, these ads for the "Strange Change" model kits from the early 70's were something I had forgotten about completely. It must have been well over 30 years since I saw these ads and thought about them! Or course, I never owned one of the kits; if you've read this blog much you know I kept my collecting to things like books, magazines and comics that could fit flat in a drawer, for easy hiding and quick packing. But that didn't keep me from reading and wishing!

"Ah, excuse me, do you have any toilet paper over there? Hello?"

The Vampire was the one I wanted most; I mean, changing from a "living" vampire to a skeleton, and back, how incredibly cool was that? I thought it was the coolest idea in the whole line of hobby kits put out in the MPC line, including the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean kits. It was like a scene from a Hammer Dracula movie!

"Goodbye, I'm off to the age of dinosau....Aaaiieee!"

I always thought it was "strange" that the time machine had the monsters appear inside the craft, but I guess they were taking dramatic license, and assumed that we kids would figure it out that it wasn't merely a fatal design flaw by a careless inventor.

"Close it, close it! Gosh, this is my private time, Mom!"

The Mummy was kind of neat, but he only got a little distressed and dishevelled in his change, not that big a difference. I think the Wolfman would have been a better candidate for a dramatic change. But what would they have put him in? A dog kennel?

If they wanted a truly strange change, they could have made one where Frankenstein's monster changes into the Bride! But that would have been a little ahead of it's time.

Of course, the ultimate would have been to make one with Vampirella; where she changes between slightly dressed and completely undressed! Ah, one can dream...