No. They did more than that. They really, really did it.
Thriller is on DVD.
You remember — that show from the 60s that we all watched religiously, every week and it didn’t matter when it went into summer reruns because we couldn’t get enough of it? Summer reruns. Man, there’s a blast from the past. And you younger readers, you keep hearing us older fans gassing about Karloff’s Thriller and how great Pigeons From Hell was (yes Farnham, it’s here in all its winged glory) and how we wish you could watch it someday — well — you can.
The brain trust at Image Entertainment has outdone itself with this boxed set. But before I tell you about how wonderful everything is, I want to note that I was really disappointed with the Arthur Hiller commentary. Don’t get me wrong; it’s not because it wasn’t fascinating, it was wonderful, really. But it ran over the pilot episode. No fear, you can watch the episode without the audio commentary, but it was the most annoying session I’ve ever sat through. And I sat through it all because Hiller was such a wonderful subject! I’d rather have had either a) Hiller discussing the episode as it rolled along or b) a series of stills behind the audio commentary so I wouldn’t have been so distracted. I wanted to watch the show, not listen to these guys gab about Thriller in general. While the episode was touched on now and again, it really was an Arthur Hiller interview that didn’t include specifics about the scenes rolling behind it.
That’s it; my only gripe. This set is killer.
All 67 episodes, remastered (they’re glorious) and presented on 14 DVDs with more than 50 hours of goodies; as I’ve stated, they really, really did it. I may have other gripes regarding the audio commentary, but I haven’t watched all 100+ hours of the thing so I can’t tell you yet. I confess I’m fair drooling to get back to the tube and watch hours and hours over the next several days as well as listen to what Larry Blamire, David Schow and Lucy Chase Williams have to say, not to mention all the others (but those three are my friends, so, ya’ know) including cast members, crew… there are 27 in all. This set is going to keep me busy for months, months I say! And then I can start watching them again over the holidays.
Now to the meat of the matter; bear in mind that I’ve not watched these episodes in 35 years give or take. That’s a rather long time, yes? I don’t even remember the pilot, mayhap I never saw it. The Twisted Image is a Leslie Nielsen vehicle and the story of a stalker interrupted. Nielsen’s character has not one, but two loonies banging around his office and his home. This piece is truly gritty and were it a feature length film it could really get down and dirty with the thrills. They only had an hour and packed an amazing amount of action into those 60 minutes. They really don’t make TV like this anymore. I hear you bellowing, “Oh yeah? What about The Sopranos?”— yeah, yeah, yeah; but they had season after season and buku bucks and didn’t tell the story entire in one measly hour. Not the same thing. The Twisted Image is tense drama laid out with a fine hand, acted beautifully, photographed like a dream and they did it all in 5-6 days. And that’s just the pilot!
The second episode is Child’s Play; a little morality tale about what happens when Dad spends all his time working and not paying attention to the wife and kid. A touch over the top on the result of his workaholism, but the point gets made. In this writer’s opinion, not one of the best but it was early days, after all, and it wasn’t for lack of script. In fact, the scenes between the husband and wife are far more real than I care to remember, having gone through a divorce myself. The script— and the performers — nailed it. Another Hiller directed piece and his visual punctuation of the argument in the cabin is, I admit, compelling. It’s just not quite what I expect from Thriller. Don’t dismiss it on my say so however. Please don’t do that. It’s well worth watching and the tale is one that can always use retelling, especially in this high-speed world.
It’s a gem of a collection, what I’ve seen of it thus far, and based on those two episodes alone I’m going to recommend that all and sundry glom onto one right away. It’s in stores today so drag yourselves out and plonk down the plastic. $150 sounds like a lot, I know, but what you get in this set is worth far more. Bring it home and spend some time this weekend scaring the bejeezus out of yourself. I can’t say it any better than your host for this series, Karloff the Uncanny; “As sure as my name’s Boris Karloff, this is a thriller.”
He’s back! Everyone’s favorite ghoul-about-town is here to share his picks for some of horrordom’s most howlingly attractive leading ladies! Join Ghouly Irv now for a survey of his favorite shapely shock stars!
Let us know which of your favorites the Ghouly One neglected to mention over at the Famous Monsters of Filmland Forum! And while you’re visiting, take some time to catch up on the terror-ific installments you missed the first time around here on FM, like Terror-ific Trivia Worth Repeating, Ghouly Kids, and more…
First coming to the world’s attention with his 1963 debut feature The Cry (exhibited at Cannes), a film of documentary realism and social criticism that displeased his native government, Jires found his talents put on hold as Czechoslovakia’s state-supported film industry turned down script after script he subsequently submitted for production. It wasn’t until 1968 that Jires reappeared on the scene with The Joke, adapted from the novel by Milan Kundera as an ambitious drama attacking totalitarianism.
I’ve yet to see either of those films, but based on what I discovered with Valerie, I’d be eager to explore more of his works. While Jires is typically noted as one of the earliest directors associated with the movement known as the Czech New Wave, it’s fair to say he should also be more popularly recognized for creating this truly unique film that should be spotlighted in any history of 1970s horror.
Mix themes of emerging female sexuality and Czech folk legends into the dream logic of Dreyer’s 1932 Vampyr; blend in the experimental daring of Bill Gunn’s Ganja and Hess and Jan Svankmajer’s Alice; sprinkle with the sinister humor of Jose Mojica Marins’ Coffin Joe epics, and you get some sense of the weird spell cast by this creepy and poetic account of 13-year-old Valerie’s (Jaroslava Schallerova) twisted odyssey through the early stirrings of adolescence.
The film opens with a classic scene of invasion–a device dating as far back on film as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari—when a strange man invades Valerie’s room and steals a pair of earrings from her as she sleeps. Upon awakening, Valerie discovers she’s entered a new stage of life when she receives her first period, dripping menstrual blood upon a flower. Valerie shares this development with her grandmother (Helena Anyzova, delivering a truly uncanny performance), her deathly pale and aloof guardian, who encourages her to play hostess to visiting missionaries.
Valerie’s attention is quickly drawn to a group of traveling performers passing beneath her window, and sees (for what will be merely the first of many encounters) a chalk-white, bald, grotesquely toothy figure bearing more than a passing resemblance to Max Schreck’s Count Orlok garbed in flowing black robes reminiscent of Bengt Ekerot’s figure of Death in Bergman’s The Seventh Seal.
As the story progresses—perhaps it’s better to say floats oddly onward—the young Valerie disturbingly becomes an object of lust for nearly every member of her family. When her aged grandmother makes a pact with the vampiric monster to trade eternal life in exchange for the inheritance of the household, it is suggested that the creature may represent Valerie’s departed father, returning to feast on his own daughter’s blood in hopes of reincarnating himself.
Appearing then on the scene is a man who declares himself to be her brother and protector—but, as the film soon reveals, absolutely no one in Valerie’s life is to be trusted alone with her. While curiously observing men and women of the town openly and heatedly coupling in various sweaty combinations, Valerie is repeatedly assaulted by near-rapes as visions of ghouls and a “plague of chickens” erupt in the town.
In this vampire story, religious figures are to be feared just as much as the undead, when one of the visiting missionaries corners Valerie in her bedroom and rips open his robe to run his fingers across his hairy chest while praising the attractiveness of Valerie’s breasts. Given magic talismans earlier in the film, Valerie manages to escape many perils, repelling the repellent “holy man” and later freeing herself from being burned alive at the stake when she is accused—surprise!—of being a witch after begging off sex with her tormentors.
Eventually, Valerie is brought into an erotic and frightful confrontation with the bloodsucker claiming to be her father, and just when it appears the girl may have emerged intact from the nightmarishly bizarre series of events seemingly unleashed by the onset of her puberty, the film leaves us just as uncertain of the nature of reality as Christopher Nolan’s Inception would four decades later.
Valerie and Her Week of Wonders is a real find (check around and you’ll discover I’m hardly alone in that opinion), and a neglected work of subversive horror and fantasy filmmaking. The cinematography of Jan Curik, production design by Ester Krumbachova, and costumes by Eva Lackingerova are effectively fused into a potent work of surrealism that calls to mind not only the work of Lewis Carroll, but the cheeky aesthetics of ‘70s softcore erotica and a bewitching approach to nightmare folklore found in little-seen films like Russia’s Viy.
Also due for special recognition is the editing work done by Josef Valusiak, who assists Jires in twisting and turning the feeling of sequences from the oddly beautiful to the amusing to the eerie to the shocking, over and over and over again, constantly toying with your expectations.
The movie is fixed in the logic and style of dreams throughout, making it one in which you will either “go with the flow” early on or, if you demand less enigmatic storytelling, quickly abandon out of frustration. The soundtrack, mostly consisting of post-dubbed dialogue, contains a dynamic and unsettling mix of music and sound effects that adds to the otherworldly nature of the story.
Other reviews for the film have touched on its wealth of historic symbolism. While I don’t doubt the movie is rich with added meanings, I have to confess I haven’t the background in Czech folklore or history to effectively discuss them. No doubt there’s an entirely other level at which others can and will appreciate the film; I can only report that “simply” as a work of surrealism, shock, and inflammatory eroticism, it more than rewards viewers who might similarly lack the chops to engage in roundtable analyses of any buried sociopolitical themes. As for how the film deals with a very young protagonist’s sexual awakening, I will say that the picture is explicit enough to feel incendiary while avoiding true exploitation. The possibility that any viewers might derive the wrong kind of satisfaction from a film this steeped in its artistry would be, I’ll say it plainly, beyond the scope of my commentary.
Put even more directly: Valerie and Her Week of Wonders is a must-see for fans of the macabre and a genuine cult masterwork. It’s the perfect film for those seeking a bracing antidote to the routine, the predictable, the safe, and the uninspiring. It’s a stunning revelation that, even in the midst of a suffocating deluge of vampire-themed product and stories that trade in teasing and tricking audiences with now-you-believe-it, now-you-don’t meditations on reality, those things can instantly seem fresh and exciting all over again.
George D. Allen produces the MovieFrightFarevideos hosted here on FM, and also writes articles for and produces videos for theMovies UnlimitedblogMovieFanFare.
What a difference two years make. When writer/director Guillermo del Toro first announced his plans to co-write and direct Peter Jackson’s long-awaited adaptation of The Hobbit, that news was met with a somewhat mixed response. While del Toro had often been associated with darker genre fare such as Pan’sLabyrinth or The Devil’s Backbone, there was little doubt that the gifted filmmaker would bring a unique sensibility to the project, which would be split into two films.
But earlier this summer, del Toro announced that he was leaving The Hobbit after working on the screenplay for both installments and overseeing most of the design for part one. The reason for his departure was the continuing lack of a start date for production in the wake of rights co-owner MGM’s continuing financial problems. With obvious reluctance, and no shortage of high-profile projects awaiting his attention, del Toro and his family returned to America.
It’s a few weeks later and the visibly weary filmmaker is sitting in a San Diego hotel suite, an untouched lunch in front of him as he finally nears the end of a long day of press interviews. He’s come to Comic Con International to promote the upcoming release of Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, a remake of the little-known 1973 TV movie about a couple that inherits an old mansion inhabited by tiny demon-like creatures. The new version, which stars Katie Holmes and Guy Pearce, is directed by Troy Nixey and produced by del Toro from a screenplay he co-wrote with Matthew Robbins. While reaction to the film has been hugely positive, its coverage has been somewhat blunted by Disney’s recent announcement that del Toro would be tackling a remake of The HauntedMansion, which had been previously made as a less-than-successful 2003 comedy starring Eddie Murphy. Not only that, but there is no shortage of questions about other del Toro-related projects, including The Witches, Frankenstein and At the Mountains of Madness to name a few.
For the sake of clarity, let’s get The Haunted Mansion out of the way first. “That’s not the next movie I do,” notes del Toro. “That’s the next movie we announced after The Hobbit. The next movie I’m going to do is actually going to be announced in two weeks and it’s a project that has been with me for 13 years.
“The reality is, The Haunted Mansion came as an opportunity and being a Haunted Mansion nut, I couldn’t pass it up. But it’s not even written; there is no screenplay yet. It’s just the announcement.”
Del Toro is much more interested in discussing Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, which will be released by Miramax on January 21, 2011. As far as the reason for remaking a semi-obscure TV horror film from the seventies, “When a movie is ingrained in you, in a way it becomes yours,” is the response. “The other day I finally found a story I read as a kid. For forty years I’ve been looking for it because I’ve never seen it reprinted anywhere else, so every bookstore I went, I looked for it and finally last week I found the damn story. I’ve been Googling it since Google came out and Yahoo before that and I finally found the story, but when I read it, I found that I had made up three-quarters of what it is.
“The same thing happened to me with Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark. The movie I loved as a kid when I saw it again in the nineties, I said, ‘Jesus, I made up most of the stuff that I liked the most!’ The stuff that was there was great, but I felt I did have a different take on that story and I feel it’s a genuine take. It’s not driven by mercantilism or numbers; no one was clamoring for this remake. If you put all the people who know Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark in one room, it would not be a very large room and yet it was driven by a genuine desire to honor that story.”
For the remake, which del Toro had planned to direct himself at one point, the mythology of the original creatures was changed entirely. “The ambiguity is still there,” he notes, “but it’s an ambiguity that has a different origin.
“In the original story, they were creatures that nobody knew where they came from, nobody knew what they wanted and nobody knew what happened other than they absorbed the people in the house, and I loved that ambiguity, but I wanted to make them have a more Algernon Blackwood/Arthur Machen root, which is they are ancient fairy entities that predate mankind and that love dragging people down like the children in fairy tales. I always found the notion of the tooth fairies very creepy, so I thought it would be really interesting to let you come to the realization that these could be really nasty tooth fairies and that changes a lot of things.
“We took a very calculated approach, because originally I wrote this movie to direct myself, so I was incredibly tactful and careful in writing it; but after Pan’s Labyrinth, I thought it was a repetition to do another tale about a dark fairy universe, with a young girl in the center, so I thought I was going to let somebody else take a whack at it.”
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark is the latest project that del Toro has taken on as producer, putting a promising young filmmaker in the director’s seat, in this case Troy Nixey. It’s a role he wants to continue while directing his own projects, assuming one doesn’t preclude the other. “It does if something goes wrong, and I’ve had both experiences. I’ve had the experience where everything goes well and you are essentially a glorified bodyguard and then when it goes wrong, you have as equal a share of weight as the director.
“What I love about doing this is I can take risks that a normal producer doesn’t. I can go and support mainly first-time filmmakers, which gives us stuff like The Orphanage or Don’t BeAfraid of the Dark, or I can support a filmmaker’s dream project, like Vincenzo Natali and Splice. He had been trying to make Splice for years and couldn’t get the money, so fortunately I became a vehicle for him to get that money, so it’s a real privilege. From now on, I’m trying to concentrate on first or second-time filmmakers and continuing to do that and trying to concentrate on really beautiful stuff that I want to present.”
Turning the subject to his own next project as director, del Toro shakes his head impatiently as if sensing that A) he’s going to have to go through the usual checklist of long-standing projects and B) there isn’t all that much he could say if one of them was about to happen. But surely these films have become metaphorical millstones around his neck, where he is forced to address them over and over until they’re produced or abandoned? “That’s the way I am,” he insists. “With the exception of The Hobbit, I have never given up on anything in my life. I had to renounce TheHobbit, not give it up, so it was a renunciation out of pure need and my situation being not sustainable anymore.
“Other than that, I stay with the stuff. Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark took over 13 years to get made; I wrote it with Matthew Robbins in 1998. The movie I’m going to do next has been with me for the same amount of time. I still carry Monte Cristo with me, The List of Seven, The Windin the Willows, The Witches; all those things I carry around as long as I can keep them alive. I would love to make them someday but some of them go away.”
Among the projects that del Toro can talk about is the third and final volume in his best-selling vampire trilogy, which was begun in The Strain and continued in The Fall. “I’m having a blast with it,” he declares with genuine enthusiasm. “I really cannot emphasize enough how much fun it is for me to write fiction; I really enjoy it, and how much of a kinder blank page it is for me. With the blank pages of a screenplay, you know you’re going to be in a cage of present; you have to write everything in present and you cannot write anything that you cannot demonstrate with the camera, so you’re very limited and you cannot even put any purple in the prose. So I’m doing that right now.
“There are a couple of left field things that are going to come over in the next couple of months, but I’m going to be starting a movie in May-June so it’s already decided what movie it is. The people that are going to be doing it with me are great but we are not yet at liberty to discuss it.” The director grins mischievously. “You know, I would love to whisper it in your ear. But it’s something, as I said, that has been with me for so long.”
It’s now been a month since that conversation took place. Just after Comic Con, the news was “leaked” that del Toro’s next project was indeed his adaptation of the H.P. Lovecraft story, At theMountains of Madness, which would be shot as a 3-D film for Universal with no less than James Cameron acting as producer. It’s a project the director has wanted to do for years, which certainly tallies with the hints in the previous interview. With that in mind, was del Toro ready to confirm that news?
Well, the answer is not just yet. With the deal just about done, he still can’t make a formal announcement, which means the rest of this chat has to fall into the realm of hypothetical for now. “We hope everything goes right, and it would certainly be a dream to find the opportunity to do Mountains the way I have tried for nearly 15 years, but it’s still premature to announce that it’s a fact. We will know soon enough, but it’s still in progress.”
One fact that can be reported is del Toro’s relationship with Cameron, a long-time colleague and confidante. “We’ve been friends for 20 years now, and the one project I’ve wanted to do for those 20 years, before I even got the rights to write the screenplay, has been Mountains ofMadness. So we’ve discussed it over the decades plenty of times, but the fact is, I’ve always found a moment to show Jim my movies before I locked the cut and he’s always given me the privilege of seeing his movies in the early stages.
“This interaction has given us both a really good taste of what it like to be working together so I do hope that everything comes to fruition and we do Mountains together, because it’s a great combination of a personal relationship. It’s also an incredible opportunity to get one of the finest minds on the planet going into the biggest adventure of my career.
“I think Jim is an ideal guy to bounce ideas off of; he loves the screenplay that Matthew Robbins and I wrote years ago, but I also have some really audacious ideas about designs and so forth, and you couldn’t ask for a better partner and sounding board than that, and it’s not just about the 3-D. It’s about having a really strong partnership in the moment when I feel I’m finally at a stage in my career and craft to tackle a movie this size.”
And while such discussions remain strictly hypothetical, it’s certainly worth mentioning that the technology finally exists to do justice to a film like At the Mountains of Madness, where they might not have been ready a decade or even five years ago. “I would agree with that,” concedes del Toro, “but it’s not just the technology; it’s also the fact that there are two or three movies in my list that are Holy Grails for me, that are mountaintops that I have to prepare to reach and Mountains is the one because as a director I feel that I finally have the tools to tackle it. It’s a very difficult movie from every perspective.”
While the status of Guillermo del Toro’s next project may still remain the subject of conjecture, there is no doubt whatsoever that the director is itching to get behind the camera again. “The reality is that part of the reason that made urgently needing to come back to Los Angeles was very direct,” he maintains. “I needed to start fulfilling the obligations and projects that were languishing or at risk of disappearing, so when I left New Zealand, I left with a very strong sense of purpose. I think what would be ideal is if my next film is a film I’ve been looking to do for a decade and a half.”
And that just leaves room for one more foray into the -ahem- hypothetical. “Look,” promises del Toro, “when we finally announce my next film, it may not be a surprising announcement. It may be something that people already know about, but it would be a complete and official and well-prepared announcement and hopefully won’t be just a leak or unofficial piece of news. I would love to be able to do a proper announcement on what my next movie is but as always, it’s taking more time than one expects!”
The 2010 edition of the San Diego Comic Con International exploded on the scene July 22nd, as colorful and spectacular as the nightly fireworks display over the city’s Sea World park, threatening to burst the fortress-like walls of the San Diego convention center as over 126,000 fans packed the building and Famous Monsters of Filmland was there in the heat of the action!
Little could Comic Con founder Shel Dorf have imagined that the convention would grow to such monstrous proportions when he organized “The Golden State Comic Con” in the basement of the U.S. Grant Hotel back in 1970. Comic books are still the heart and soul of Comic Con, but over the years as the convention has grown, it has embraced related media like magazines, toys and Hollywood, itself, where the studios roll out news about their big, upcoming titles. And the late, founding Editor of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine Forrest J Ackerman would have undoubtedly been proud to see and hear about the re-birth of his beloved periodical, and the fact that news of future plans for the FM brand vied for fan excitement, on par with the excitement generated by things like the announcement of the final cast of the AVENGERS movie!
NO REST FOR THE FM TEAM
Fresh and invigorated from their own Famous Monsters Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana a short two weeks earlier, the FM crew, led by Publisher/Owner Philip Kim, Editor-In-Chief Michael Heisler, and Editor Jessie Lilley, collectively and tirelessly spoke with thousands of fans that visited the FM booth over the five day event.
FAMOUS MONSTERS IS BACK—BIGGER AND BETTER THAN EVER
Fans eagerly approached the FM booth and picked up copies of Famous Monsters numbers 250, the special tribute issue to Forrest J Ackerman, and 251, the official re-launch issue. Comic Con was the only place readers could get all of the fabulous variant covers under one roof if they wished. Eyes popped and jaws dropped as fans who remembered the magazine from their childhood approached the FM booth, recognizing the famous Famous Monsters logo. All had stories and fond reminiscences to share of which issue was their first, found at their respective local drug store magazine racks. Fans who are now parents delightfully showed the new Famous Monsters off to their children, introducing a whole new generation to their favorite monster mag. Famous Monsters and its fans may have grown up, but the child within has remained very much alive!
As magazines, posters, t-shirts and FM-branded apparel flew off the tables and shelves, the FM booth was visited by many stars and celebrities through-out the convention. Longtime fans of every stripe in entertainment, like writer-director Frank Darabont, wrestler Jerry Lawler, actor D.B. Sweeney and many other stopped by to wish the new venture and re-launch well. Lucky fans could have Bela Lugosi, Jr. or FM cover artist William Stout autograph their magazines or prints of FM covers for free.
BEYOND THE PAGES OF FM: THE FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHT
But the big news concerning Famous Monsters could hardly be contained as rumor swirled to such a degree that Harry Knowles (of Ain’t It Cool News) had to blurt out an announcement at the Expendables panel he moderated on Thursday, just moments before introducing stars Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis to avid action fans: that he, himself, the one-and-only Harry Knowles, had become Editor-In-Chief of the Famous Monsters of Filmland website! The agreement between Knowles and FM publisher Philip Kim was signed at the FM booth earlier in the day, creating a memorable historic moment for fans present to witness it. Although it’s too early to reveal details about the FM website under Knowles editorship, expect on all-new Harry Knowles, very different from the one we’ve come to know and love at Ain’t It Cool News. As Knowles himself wrote at his site recently, “What you’ll see is a lot of Passion for the classics…To create a place for Families, Kids and Geeks like us (to) share a loving passion for the fantastic odd things that make us all the nieces and nephews of FJA (Forrest J Ackerman).”
The news of Knowles stewardship of the Famous Monsters website (to be launched in October, coinciding with Fantastic Fest) was elaborated upon during the FM panel discussion on Friday afternoon.
The FM panel, moderated by yours truly, included the FM team of Philip Kim, Michael Heisler and Jessie Lilley and special guests Bela Lugosi, Jr., artist William Stout, film producer Ted Chalmers, and filmmaker Joe Moe.
Editor-In-Chief Michael Heisler revealed the fabulous cover art for the Diamond and Captain Company editions of FM #252, and teased the audience with hints of the rich content to come. A rousing discussion with future website editor Harry Knowles ensued, with talk of the synergy and relationship that the website will have with the print magazine. Again, no detailed plans were revealed as all is “top secret” at the moment, but the relief of finally being able to talk about the FM website after months of negotiations was palpable and felt by all on the panel.
The connection to FM’s past was touched on with humor and reverence when FM’s unofficial Ambassador of classic horror, Bela Lugosi, Jr. spoke, along with long-time Forry Ackerman friend and caretaker Joe Moe, sharing stories with the audience and speaking of their unwavering support of the new Famous Monsters of Filmland.
As the brief hour allotted to the panel discussion sped by, FM owner Philip Kim was able to sketch some of the amazing future plans, which include (beyond the new website in October) other manifestations of FM in New Media, including the possibilities of web-based video content and a host of other FM-related projects still on the drawing table.
Famous Monsters of Filmland is back, and the future looks bright indeed for all fans of the fantastic, both in print, on the internet, and in the world of filmed media, both traditional and new. Had Forrest J Ackerman lived to see this amazing revival of one of the most important aspects of his life’s work come this far, and reach even farther into the immediate future, I think he’d be very proud. Speaking for myself and the rest of the FM team, we’re extremely proud to continue to serve, and to keep the legacy alive for fellow fans and the new fans just discovering all things Famous Monsters.
The new era of Famous Monsters of Filmland officially launched July, 2010 with a gathering of fans at Indianapolis’ Wyndham Indianapolis West hotel and the debut of the all-new FM #251. FM spoke to fans, celebs and volunteers to help write this (Cyclopean) eye-witness report.
FRIDAY JULY 9
Publisher Phil Kim, FM magazine editor Jessie Lilley, editor-in-chief Michael Heisler, and a host of staff members begin their day before 7:00 a.m. to make the final preparations for the first time convention of the new FM. They are all aware that they have high expectations to meet. A large and successful horror convention had been held in Indianapolis in March, and they will be compared to a wide variety of horror-related conventions held around the country, as well as being judged against memories of previous Famous Monsters conventions in past decades by earlier owners of the famous name. At the same time as the FM con, G-Fest, the annual Godzilla con, was being held near Chicago, and a Twilight convention was also being held in Indianapolis. The Famous Monsters Con had a lot to compete with!
Fate had not been uniformly kind to the convention; a number of celebrities, such as actress Margot Kidder, actor Eric Roberts and others canceled their appearances, and headliner Thomas Jane had to withdraw the night before the show’s opening due to a personal tragedy. But more than 90 celebrity guests in all attended, including Mick Garris, William Forsythe, Ernie Hudson and Billy Drago, as well as cast reunions for Night of the Living Dead, Return of the Living Dead, and The Lost Boys. Popular con guests such as Tony Todd, Tom Savini, William Stout, and Danielle Harris were on hand. Musical acts like G Tom Mac, and Sinners and Saints rocked the (haunted!) house.
With a crowd of people showing up on Friday, and with registration confined to a hallway rather than in the more spacious lobby, getting in meant a wait of up to 30 minutes for some. But the fans were patient and polite, which was deeply appreciated by the staff and volunteers.
After the occasional headaches of the sometimes-congested registration, the convention took off. Among the highlights for the kick-off day were:
• The mayor of Indianapolis, Greg Ballard, cut a blood-red ribbon to officially open the event.
• A beauty parade and contest was held which creature-featured a bevy of beautiful women.
• Screenings took place of the films The Lost Boys, the original Night of the Living Dead, The Telling, Downstream, From a Place of Darkness, My Bloody Wedding, Famous Monster, The Devil Within, Crustacean and many more. There were panels following several of the screenings, including a panel with most of the surviving NOTLD cast members and one with cast members of The Lost Boys. These were well-attended and were cited by various con-goers as highlights of the FM Con.
Another hugely popular event on Friday was the midnight screening of Repo! The Genetic Opera with co-writer, co-composer and star Terrence Zdunich. Fans packed the large screening room, and the audience could be heard shouting responses and cheers throughout. Mr. Zdunich has created an undying cult classic, if the vocal enthusiasm of the audience is any indication.
Late in the evening there was also live music from G Tom Mac (who composed the often-covered original song “Cry Little Sister” for The Lost Boys), accompanied by Lost Boys actor Brooke McCarter.
SATURDAY, JULY 10
As expected, attendance on Saturday was larger than the day before. Lots of “things” to see and do: a large number of vendors with a wide variety of merchandise for people with a taste for the macabre, numerous film screenings with accompanying panels, and a tattoo contest that was very popular.
Throughout the weekend too there were plenty of attendees in costume (including ghosts from Disney’s “Haunted Mansion,” a Predator, and a ten-foot-tall Grim Reaper), all enjoying seeing things and being seen; some were almost as popular as the celebrities there!
Staff writer for small-town newspaper The Harlan Daily Enterprise Jason Edwards tells FM that the access to the celebrities was a big plus for a convention he loved. “At many of the conventions I have attended there is sort of an invisible wall most celebrities will not cross or can’t cross because of their table arrangement. The celebrities at FM could all be approached to talk with or take a quick picture with. I also felt that the celebs at the FM Convention truly wanted to be there, unlike some of the other conventions I have seen them at.”
The celebrities appeared to have enjoyed themselves, chatting with fans at length and posing for photos. Tony Todd, Kane Hodder and Danielle Harris were seen posing with machetes for one photo, a “preview” of their work in the upcoming film Hatchet 2.
There were plenty of celebrities on the Famous Monsters of Filmland/Forry Ackerman Tribute panel, and each described what Forrest Ackerman and FM meant to them. A significant highlight of the panel occurred when Kevin Burns, trustee of the estate of first FMOF editor Forrest J Ackerman, publicly turned over the estate to new FM publisher Philip Kim. Kim emphasized that Forry would have wanted FM to evolve and cover modern-day directors, makeup and effects artists and movies alongside the classics of the silver scream, just as Forry had done in the pages of the original FM. Phil Kim then shared the covers for FM #252. Editor in Chief Michael Heisler followed by showing the cover for the first of a retro series of special FM publications: issues 70 through 79, the “missing” magazine issues from the original run by the Warren publishing company. Editor Jessie Lilley described the efforts that have been made to distribute the new FMOF online and in stores around the country.
Fan Dustin Jablonski told me that he really enjoyed the panel and found it “enlightening,” and added, “Afterwards I spent more time perusing the dealer’s room and noticed a lot of people talking about Forry and their Famous Monsters magazine collections.” He felt that “the spirit of Forrest J Ackerman” lived on at the convention.
Saturday also featured director Charlie Band’s Full Moon Horror Roadshow, a loud and raucous rockin’ stage show and promotional extravaganza from the renegade independent filmmaker, short concerts with the bands Saints Among Sinners and Noman, a Corey Haim Tribute, a tattoo contest, a dark magic show from illusionist Ron Fitzgerald, a V.I.P. FM Re-Launch Party and of course, a plethora of film screenings.
At the tattoo contest there was creepy art on display that even Leatherface would have been proud to own. Tattoo contest judges were tat legends Lyle Tuttle and Bob Tyrell. Bob also brought examples of monster art done by his father — fortunately, these were done on paper!
As part of the V.I.P. Party, some of the celebrities were honored with “Lifetime Achievement Awards” from FM. They were Billy Drago, Tom Savini, William Stout, Basil Gogos, and Indiana horror host Sammy Terry (represented by his wife and son). Bela G. Lugosi, son of Dracula, brought bottles of his new line of “Bela Lugosi Wines” to present to the honorees. Basil Gogos remarked how he’d never been given wine with an award, and how he pleased he was by it, and Tom Savini looked stunned as he remarked how much he wanted to buy a bottle and how he now didn’t have to buy one!
At The Lost Boys panel members of the cast answered questions and shared memories with the audience about working on the 1987 film that changed the way vampires are portrayed onscreen. They gave some moving answers when asked about the late Corey Haim, who they remembered fondly; actor Brooke McCarter in particular got choked up remembering his friend. He also shared that he had completed a film, The Uh-Oh Show, with gore grand master Herschel Gordon Lewis.
A panel that generated a lot of buzz during the con were the reunions of cast and crew members from the first Night of the Living Dead (more original cast assembled than ever before at any show!) and “George Romero’s…OF THE DEAD Trilogy” Reunion, including the screenwriter of the original NOTLD John A. Russo, makeup special effects artist and “Blades the Biker” Tom Savini, and Day of the Dead cinematographer Michael Gornick. FM staff members received glowing comments on these repeatedly.
One event that was packed past seating capacity was a screening of classic monster movie clips. Perhaps surprising because they were all shown in Super 8 sound, a now-defunct film medium. But to see Creature from the Black Lagoon in a low-tech version of 3-d was a thrill for the enthusiastic audience.
Some celebs mentioned they loved older horrors, too. Actor Joe Pilato from Day of the Dead was overheard telling a fan that his favorite films were F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu and the Universal films Dracula and Son of Frankenstein. He added that he loves black and white films, and prefers horror films that create “dread” rather than “disgust.” Another horror film he mentioned as scaring him was the 1976 original version of The Omen.
Classic horror films were represented at the con in Cortlandt Hull’s display of life-size classic monster figures (many fans were spotted taking pictures of themselves in front of it), at “Monsterama”, a screening of of vintage monster movie trailers, and in Sunday’s screenings of Creature From the Black Lagoon and It Came From Outer Space in 3-D.
SUNDAY, JULY 11
The final day featured more films and panels for a variety of fans. As the con organizers had hoped, the attendees for the weekend were all ages. Zach Allen, a young fan who came for the full weekend, was asked what he thought about the con’s strengths and weaknesses: “I had a wonderful time at the convention. There was definitely an abundance of celebrities. Terrance Zdunich, Danielle Harris, and Ed Gale stand out in my mind as I am a big fan of those three. The vendor hall was very impressive.” His friend Haley Dillon wrote to FM to say “It was a highly memorable experience and definitely one that has potential to be an annual event.”
When asked how FM could improve the con, Allen said, “My biggest complaint would have to be about the organization of the costume contest. At any rate, the show was amazing (especially for the inaugural event) and I would love to see them back in Indy in the future. Everyone at the show was super nice.”
Con guest Billy Drago, so evil onscreen, would not hesitate to agree that horror fans are nice people and not morbid or malign. As he explained to one attendee, “It’s ’cause we get it out of our system.”
A screening and panel for the documentary Autopsy of the Dead, a panel with noted horror director and Masters of Horror creator Mick Garris, and a panel on horror filmmaking called “FM Film School” were perhaps the best attended parts of Sunday, the lightest day of the whole affair.
Phil Kim looks forward to more cons, calling this one “the first in a series of horrific gatherings hosted by your friends at FM.” That ought to please Indianapolis Business Journal columnist Lou Harry. He attended both the FM Con and the sci-fi and fantasy con InConjunction. He said in his online column on July 17th, “My inner 12-year-old (who read Famous Monsters and sat through Star Wars twice on its opening day) was very, very happy at both. And I’m looking forward to attending both in 2011.”
The team behind Famous Monsters thanks everyone who came and supported this new event, and looks forward to many more in the years ahead!
Hello, monster mavens. Let me introduce myself to all you cognescenti of the creepy.
I’m Max Cheney, better known by my onscreen moniker of “The Drunken Severed Head.” I’ve been given some space here to write about many things: the intersection of the screen and the scream, the mad monsters of movies and magazines, the art of alternate worlds and the dark denizens of the diabolic. In short, if it’s something that belongs in the dark, I’ll talk about it here. I’ve been taking a cockeyed look at such stuff for over three years at my blog (the winner of a Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award, he said modestly), and now I’m happy to have more corners to explore at Famous Monsters.
If you want to know more about me (and perhaps you’re just strange enough to), I was interviewed for Famous Monsters, and you can read my answers to the eerie queries here.
I’m a very social sort of severed head, and prefer to sharing the spotlight to hogging it. So I’d like to share some space here with acclaimed artist Frank Dietz, a former Disney features animator whose art graced the convention program for this year’s Famous Monsters Convention.
MC: Hi Frank. How did you come to be the artist for the FM Con program?
FD: Jessie Lilley, the editor of the new FM, approached me about it while we were both appearing at Monsterpalooza. She told me that there were going to be a lot of “famous zombie” guests at the con, and I immediately envisioned a crowd of zombies, a mash-up of old and new. From Bela to Bub and beyond. I managed to squeeze in five actual convention guests as well. I wanted the cover to have the “feel” of the programs from the New York FM cons of the 70’s, which I still have to this day.
MC: Whose likeness on it was the hardest to capture and why?
FD: I decided that I really wanted to include Forry Ackerman in the design, and recalled that he had done a cameo as a zombie in Return of the Living Dead 2. But when I couldn’t find any photos to reference, I had to just use my imagination to “zombify” Uncle Forry.
MC: What “famous monster” would you like to draw or paint for a Famous Monsters cover?
FD: Which “famous monster” wouldn’t I like to do! Oliver Reed’s werewolf is a favorite, as is Vincent Price as Dr. Phibes. I’d love to do Andree Melly from The Brides of Dracula. The scary Blind Lady from House on Haunted Hill. Chris Sarandon from Fright Night. And Lina Leandersson as Eli from Let the Right One In.
MC: What are some of your favorite covers of the past, and why?
FD: There are so many great Basil Gogos covers, it’s difficult to chose. But I love the Karloff Frankenstein and Lugosi Dracula portraits, the March Hyde, and that wonderful “scene” from The Mummy’s Tomb. I also love Sanjulien’s Karloff from The Bride of Frankenstein. Beautiful, subtle colors. The Kong versus the pterodon and the Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man covers also did it for me.
MC: Any monster of film history, or horror film actor, that has never had a cover that you think should?
FD: Aside from the several that I’ve already mentioned, I’d say The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, The Thing, General Ursus from Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Cushing as the Grimsdyke ghoul, and just for fun, Trog!
MC: You went from Disney to Dracula. How did it happen that you left animation for drawing monsters?
FD: I was drawing monsters long before I started at Disney! But while I was there, during Hercules, I think, I developed the “Sketchy Things” signature style that I’ve become known for. When the traditional animation era ended at the studio, I returned to screenwriting and just continued the Sketchy Things series. By that time I had built up a strong fan base, and was appearing at conventions all over the country, so it wasn’t a difficult transition!
MC: Talk about what you drew as a kid. Were you noticed for it? Did monster magazines or monster movies inspire you then?
FD: Alice Cooper said to me, “I know you! You were one of those kids that were always drawing monsters on your desk in grade school! Me too!” And he was right. I was sketching monsters since I was five years old. My art teachers recognized my abilities, and were always encouraging me to draw something other than monsters, with very limited success! Once I discovered Famous Monsters, I had a whole library of images to incite me. FM was so inspirational, because it not only told me of movies I had yet to discover, it showed me how they were made. Seeing photos of Jack Pierce applying makeup and Ray Harryhausen animating made me realize that people actually made a living creating all this wonderful stuff. And I decided early on that I was going to work in the film industry, one way or another.
MC: Any medium you haven’t tried yet that you’d like to?
FD: I’ve worked in pencils, ink, oil paint, watercolors, markers, pastels and even crayons. I love them all. I’m more excited about the subject matter than the medium. I’m always thinking about what would make a really cool piece, that my fellow Monster Kids would look at and smile.
MC: Frank, I appreciate you answering some questions here in my inaugural Famous Monsters post.
FD: Thanks Max!
Thank YOU, Frank! And thank you, reader, for taking time to read this.
Few people within the entertainment industry have so successfully mastered and effectively entertained the masses across multiple forms of media as Rob Zombie. From his outrageously popular albums with White Zombie and as a solo artist, to his directorial efforts on movies such as The Devil’s Rejects and his Halloween remake (the highest grossing Halloween installment in history), to the animated feature film The Haunted World of El Superbeasto, Zombie has emerged as a prototype of the culturally savvy post-modern Renaissance Man.
In addition to his well-documented exploits in music and cinema, Zombie has additionally carved out a thriving niche in the aggressive world of comic books. Since 2003’s Spookshow International title, the man known by millions as the Superbeast has maintained a steady presence in the four-color format. “I started collecting comics in the early 70’s,” he explains. “I remember the first book I ever bought was a Fantastic Four. Growing up, my comic tastes were pretty limited to either Marvel or DC. It seemed like there were only about ten titles, so it wasn’t hard to collect everything.”
Along with a sturdy diet of comics, this period of Zombie’s adolescence was also profoundly influenced by another publication: Famous Monsters of Filmland.“Famous Monsters was a part of that weird time period I remember as a kid during the late 60s monster boom,” he recalls. “But there wasn’t that much to be had for a typical kid. It seems absurd now because everything is everywhere, but I remember convincing our parents to drive us somewhere so we could buy Famous Monsters because that’s all there was. And looking through them and thinking wow, check out all these movies that we’ll never see!”
“Famous Monsters of that time felt like a cool club,” Zombie continues. “It wasn’t judgmental, because everyone reading it loved monsters.”
Bolstered by his devotion to comics and monsters, Zombie’s unique path through life was essentially assured. Before embracing superstardom, he worked as an art director for a porn magazine and as a production assistant for the television series Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, ultimately rocketing to national prominence with his band White Zombie. The success of his music career opened numerous creative doors that the tireless entertainer had been hoping to explore.
In 2003, Zombie and writer Steve Niles pooled their talents to form CREEP Entertainment International, a collective steeped in both men’s love of comics and all things horrific. “It is a rare moment when you can find someone to collaborate with,” remarks Zombie. “We did a couple of books together. The Nail was my idea, and we did another one, Bigfoot, which was his idea. And we each had one more thing but we didn’t get to go any further.” The venture at the time was intended to encompass movies and music, including a rumored Lords of Salem comic that would feature an album to be released in conjunction with the book. “For whatever reason we only did the two books. It was fun. We’re still friends and nothing ended for bad reasons. I had movies and he was busy with other comics.”
“I don’t feel like I’m up to speed enough [on comics] because I don’t really have time to read the books anymore,” Zombie says in regard to the current comic book scene. With a packed schedule of writing and recording albums, touring, publicity appearances, and writing and directing movies, it’s a miracle the horror rocker has time for any side projects at all. Fortunately, the storyteller in Zombie had something to say, and Image Comics gave him the forum to express himself with the recently released Whatever Happened to Baron Von Shock?
“The inspiration came from living in Hollywood and from people I know,” Zombie explains of the eight-issue comic which reveals the fickle nature of celebrity through the story of Leon Stokes and his alter ego, the television horror host Baron Von Shock. “I don’t want to mention their names, but there are several people I’m friends with that are sort of that type of personality. They did a movie role 25 years ago and that’s their entire identity. One friend in particular…if a studio remade his movie and didn’t ask him to be in it he’d be so crushed, he would be destroyed.”
Unleashed on May 26, issue 1 of Baron Von Shock stunned the industry, and Zombie, by selling out in less than a week. “It took me by surprise, because you never know what to expect,” he says. “It’s not like playing a show and sensing what people are feeling. You just do the comic and it goes out into this vacuum. But the feedback has been amazing!”
More realistic in tone, Baron Von Shock eschews the signature creeps and beasties of Zombie’s previous comics work such as Spookshow International, Bigfoot, and The Haunted World of El Superbeasto, for a more dramatic, and surprisingly cinematic, storyline. “I kind of saw it as a movie,” he explains. “Baron Von Shock was something I had sitting around for a long, long time. And I hate when a project hangs in limbo. That’s why I thought I’d turn it into a comic, then a graphic novel, then you have something concrete that makes it getting turned into a movie that much easier.”
“With something like Superbeasto which was just every kid’s idea of what Scooby-Doo could be if it were filthy, there wasn’t a master plan,” he continues. “I would literally make it up as I went along. With Baron Von Shock I actually wrote the whole thing as a finished script from start to finish so it actually made sense. It’s more real life stuff, so there’s no cheap ways out of it.”
“The great thing about the people I’m working with on Shock,” Zombie adds, “Is that I was allowed to do whatever I wanted. My comics are a way of getting things out of my system, but it’s really hard to find people you can work with. We had one person who started the book and bowed out after a couple of pages. Some can’t draw nudity and some don’t like the language.”
With the release and success of Whatever Happened to Baron Von Shock? (“It’s the classic Hollywood story”), Rob Zombie has once again proven that his appeal as a multimedia horror auteur has far from waned. With regard to potential future plans in comics, Zombie is open, yet noncommittal. “There are a few ideas I have partially written that, again, if I can find a good artist that gets it, I want to do. So I’m just looking for the right person.”
Deadline is reporting that Guillermo del Toro’s next feature will be H.P. Lovecraft’s ‘At The Mountains of Madness’. Del Toro (Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth, Blade II) will be directing and James Cameron (Avatar, Aliens, Terminator) will be producing. The film will enter pre-production in the next few weeks and will shoot in 3D next summer. The story involves a discovery made during a scientific expedition to the South Pole in the 1930s that suggests humans came from an alien life form.
Watch the Famous Monsters Stake of the Union Panel at Comic-Con 2010. Join the FM staff with guest panelists Bela Lugosi, Jr. (son of legendary Dracula actor Bela Lugosi), William Stout (Return of the Living Dead, Raiders of The Lost Ark), Harry Knowles (Ain’t It Cool News), and other special guests as we unveil the covers for FM 252, a special time-lost Famous Monsters of Filmland #70, and reveal even more shocking news about the future of Famous Monsters of Filmland!
Over 50 years and 249 issues (give or take!) in the making! Famous Monsters of Filmland is proud to present, for your entertainment, the sometimes inspiring and sometimes shocking, at turns awe-inducing and yet occasionally quite absurd, remarkable yet for the most part obscure, not-entirely-true history of perhaps the greatest (or at least one of the most ubiquitous) cameo and walk-on performers of all time: Forrest J Ackerman!
This special celebratory issue of FM is devoted to discussion of dozens of cinematic classics (and not-so-classics) from several decades of filmmaking — all seemingly unconnected, yet linked forever in fandom’s minds and hearts by the presence (however unnoticed) of the unforgettable Ackermonster. We’re talking Dracula vs. Frankenstein, Queen of Blood, Kentucky Fried Movie, the 1976 production of King Kong, Equinox, Return of the Living Dead Part 2, and many, many (too many?) more!
Our tongue-in-cheek salute to our Uncle Forry’s illustrious film career will close out the previous era of FM and point the way to the new. Join us, won’t you? Now available for ordering in our online store!
NOTE: FM will be honoring all legitimate orders for FM #250 placed with Filmland Classics through March 31, 2010. Please see this page for more information. This issue will not ship before June 21, 2010.
The day is finally here! Famous Monsters of Filmland #251 is now on the FM Store for pre-sale. There you’ll have the option of buying individual issues or an annual subscription. Now, I know the question that is on many of your minds (partially because many of you have already asked): How do I get all four of the variant covers?
I am more than happy to oblige with an answer:
1. Primary Cover: Richard Corben – This will be available in all outlets that place orders through Diamond Comic Distributors — comics shops, book stores, etc. This is not currently available through our Online Store.
2. Incentive Cover: William Stout (pictured above) – This will be available at comics shops serviced by Diamond as an incentive cover, in a ratio of one copy to every 10 Primary Covers ordered. This is not currently available through our Online Store.
3. FM Online Exclusive Cover: Basil Gogos (below)- This cover is available only through the FM Online Store. It will not be sold through Diamond.
4. Famous Monsters Convention Cover – This will be sold only at the FM Con in Indianapolis.
And to satisfy all the rest of your FM needs, please stop by the store and take a look around. As more specific details become available on retailers and other sales info we’ll be posting them here.
You remember — that show from the 60s that we all watched religiously, every week and it didn’t matter when it went into summer reruns because we couldn’t get enough of it? Summer reruns. Man, there’s a blast from the past. And you younger readers, you keep hearing us older fans gassing about Karloff’s Thriller and how great Pigeons From Hell was (yes Farnham, it’s here in all its winged glory) and how we wish you could watch it someday — well — you can.
