Monster Mask Mash-Up

I'm still alive, just preparing for tomorrows "festivities."  In case you still need some ideas on what to wear for Halloween here's some monster mask ads from the 70's and 80's...

Famous Monsters 1976

Leave it to Famous Monsters to have a collection of "classic" monsters, and a nice selection of hands too.  I was curious about the adjusted for inflation price on these masks, and so I checked out the CPI Inflation Calculator. The basic cost of these masks are $40, and figures out to $159.50 in 2011 dollars!  Kids of the 70's, I guess you saved up your allowances for like 3 years if you bought of these.

With the release of Star Wars comes the Star Wars masks...

Starlog 1978

... and the Star Wars knock-off masks too.  I'm a big fan of Spacetrooper and Death Invader.

Starlog  1978

If you bought those Star Wars masks back in 1978 for $39.95 I've got some good news and bad news...

Fangoria 1981

The good news is that in this 1981 ad, Darth Vader is $49.99, and Chewbacca is $64.99.  Good move on purchasing early. Although what's with that price jump?  Did the cost of fake hair go through the roof in 3 years?  Sorry if you bought C-3PO back in 1978, you could have saved five bucks if you simply waited a few years.

Here's some interesting and original masks from Death Studios who are still in business...

Fangoria 1981

I think like the Astroroth the best.  The Hell Spawn's "bony finger-like" mouth is a unique design.

Next is a Count Fangor mask.  Count Fangor was a comic that ran in the pages of Fangoria for a short while.  I don't think he ever caught on, but I guess he was popular enough for his own mask.

Fangoria 1980

Finally here's an ad for the famous (well sorta famous) Halloween III (1982) masks...

Fangoria 1983

These masks are supposedly fetching big prices from collectors today.  I'm actually surprised that original "Silver Shamrock" versions even exist.  Every rubber mask I had when I was a kid started to rot within about 5 years.   If any mask collectors reading this who would like to leave a comment on how you preserve your old  masks I'd be interested to hear about it.

This ad also gives me a reason to post this clip...



Hmm, maybe I should have made this post 7 days ago.

The Second Scariest Film Clip in the World

Here's a follow up to the post I made last October.  This is another one of those real life Bigfoot reenactments that left a big impression on me when I was a kid...



Here's a very accurate quote left by joeyvader on YouTube...

 It says it took them a couple of hours to get back to sleep...I think it would have taken me more like a couple years to get back to sleep...

Exactly.  Who could ever go back to sleep after an experience like that?  I was a kid living in the suburbs, and I had a hard time sleeping after watching this.  I don't know what I would have done if I was supposed to go camping a day or two after seeing this.    

Halloween Horror Double Feature

For Halloween let's have a "Horror Double Feature" with a couple of movies by some hometown boys (well, my hometown) who made good.

Here's an article about Evil Dead (1983) by the Detroit Free Press from May 3, 1983...

Please click to enlarge if you wish to read (I probably didn't need to say that)

... now let's jump to April 10, 1987 for another Detroit Free Press article, but this time it's about Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn (1987). As an added bonus the movie review is also included...


If you were some of those lucky collectors out there maybe you picked up one of these cute, but rare Evil Dead Haunted Cabin toys back in the day...

The Wasp Woman Animated Poster

I wanted to animate this poster for The Wasp Woman (1959) for two reasons - first, if you check out the trailer below, the actual wasp woman in the movie looks nothing like how she appears on the poster...


... and secondly, this is practically the only time a man is the "victim" in posters like these. Enjoy...

Music Videos from Hell: Part 3

Now it's time for my last scary music video post. These posts have been so exceptionally popular that Vh1 has contacted me, and I've agreed to turn them into a series of specials. Please look for Music Videos from Hell right after Lindsay Lohan's new reality show WTF Am I Doing to my Life? airing sometime in 2011.

Anyway let's look at a scary video now. In Between Days by The Cure is another one of those videos that's accidentally creepy. The song is very happy, but the trippy florescent makeup is spooky. I don't know what the stop-motion socks are all about.

The Cure - Inbetween Days from feelthemonster on Vimeo.

Let's jump from 1985, to the present day and take a look at Kids by MGMT. This video is a depiction of a small child's nightmare. I'm sure the band has gotten some sharp criticism for apparently terrifying a toddler thru nearly the entire video. (FYI: the actual song starts about 1 minute in)



I'm pretty sure the kid is OK, and wasn't traumatized by the experience in the slightest. Although those monsters were nothing compared to the horrendous futuristic wardrobe the band wears. Silver clothing is so unflattering.

Well I've save the scariest video for last. So if your nerves can take it, brace yourself for the most frightening music video ever...


I don't blame you if you had to look away. The horror... the horror...

The Killer Shrews Animated Poster

The Killer Shrews is a ultra super low budget horror film from 1959 that's surprisingly about giant mutated killer shrews. Let's look at the trailer...



The shrews are mostly played by dogs dressed in what looks like burlap and discarded hula skirts. There's also a puppet sometimes, but neither the puppet or dogs look much like shrews. So for my animation I've used actual shrew art...

Original Pin the Fangs on the Vampire?

Here's a scary poster from the June 1975 issue of Dynamite magazine...


This psychedelic image of Christopher Lee from the Horror of Dracula (1958) wasn't just something you were supposed to stare at with your black light on, nope it was part of a party game. It's a monster variation of "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" called "Pin the Fangs on the Vampire."

A quick Google search has informed me that this game is still being played - particularly if you're planning a vampire themed party. Athough I think at today's parties the image of Dracula is being replaced with one of Edward Cullen.

The Beast With a Million Eyes Animated Poster

The Beast With a Million Eyes is a movie from 1955 about an alien entity taking over the minds of earth creatures. Check out the movie clips below...



Supposedly, the alien was never going to be a shown on screen, but that changed after the movie was screened for exhibitors who demanded to see a monster. Heck, there's a monster on the movie's poster after all. So with very little money to work with the job went to the talented Paul Blaisdell. Blaisdell who designed an articulated puppet which looked nothing like the creature in the poster art.

The "Beast" from The Beast With a Million Eyes

Blaisdell went on to create some very iconic low-budget movie monsters like the She Creature and the Saucer Men. Anyways, people who went to see The Beast With a Million Eyes never saw the monster on the poster in action until now...



I took some shorts cuts with this animation. For example I don't have the time to animate each tentacle on the creature's face. Since the woman was wearing sexy lingerie suitable for the bedroom, I thought I'd start her off sleeping. She and the monster are in some sort of vague abstract environment (is that fog, sand or snow at the bottom?) so maybe she's still dreaming.

Revenge of the Creature in 3D

Last year I ran a series of posts about 3D glasses. Most of the 3D glasses I have were from TV promotions, and here's a flier for one such promotion - Revenge of the Creature...

Farmer Jack was a once popular, but now defunct Metro Detroit based supermarket chain. I can't find a single Farmer Jack commercial on YouTube, but someone called Skiz316 has uploaded the entire Farmer Jack jingle...

Music Videos from Hell: Part 2

It's time for another one of my very popular "scary" music video posts that have become the talk of the Internets...

Jeopardy by the Greg Kihn Band was released March of 1983 according to Wiki. The Wiki also says Michael Jackson's Thriller video was released December 2, 1983. If this is correct it's interesting to note that Greg Kihn came out with a zombie music video 10 months before Michael. Michael went on to became a music superstar, and this was Greg Kihn's only #1 hit. Maybe if the zombies in Jeopardy had the dance skills of the Thriller zombies things might have been different.

Also Jeopardy is a true music video - it was actually shot on video...


Now here's a video that's a little more current, Back Against The Wall by Cage The Elephant isn't trying to overtly scary like Jeopardy. It's just plain creepy, but it's also one of my favorite songs released this year...



Do those ugly garden gnomes look familiar to anyone? I think they resemble the scary little creatures from the 70's TV movie Don't Be Afraid of the Dark.

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (TV 1973)

Monster Bulletin Board

Hey look it's another one of those posters from the Scholastic book order things you got back in elementary school. I blogged about a Real Fake Wacky Packages Poster a couple of years ago, now just in time for Halloween I present a "funny" Monster Bulletin Board poster from 1978...


Hmm, those "Marian Sunglasses " were ahead of their time...

Music Videos from Hell: Part 1

For some Halloween fun, I was thinking about taking a look at some scary music videos.

Sometimes they are intentionally "scary" like Michel Jackson's Thriller directed by John Landis, but other times I think the scariness was unintentional. I'll be showcasing both kinds of music videos this month.

The Aphex Twin video for Come to Daddy directed by Chris Cunningham is intentionally scary. Very aggressively scary, and according to the Wiki, "The music video was positioned number 35 in 100 Greatest Scary Moments, as voted by Channel 4 viewers in 2003."

Okay if you've never seen it, brace yourself for some seriously messed up stuff...


Man that's unpleasant to watch, but it's also genius. Chris Cunningham is a master at creating disturbing imagery. Check out his Rubber Johnny short for more of his expertly crafted grotesque weirdness.

Next is a video that I don't think was intended to be scary, but it is. Can your nerves withstand Bonnie Tyler and Total Eclipse of the Heart directed by Russell Mulcahy...



Wow there's everything but the kitchen sink this this video. It's so over the top you could write a dissertation on the underlying themes and symbolism.

Anyway as the video starts it's candles, slow-mo doves, and silk fabric blowing around. You may think it's just going to be some boring video filled with artsy romanticism, but then at the 45 second mark a school boy walks though the door with glowing green eyes. What the hell?

After the guy with the glowing green eyes there's so much other crap going on by the end of the video you practically forgot about him. Then wham! You get hit with the "Boys Choir of the Damned" who not only have the scary glowing eyes, but one boy even levitates.

I'm not sure the makers of this video were aware of how scary this stuff was. I think they were going for something more stylized than scary, but they unintentionally created a nightmare. Seriously what's scarier - the glowing eyed ghost pirates from John Carpenter's The Fog, a R rated horror film that was released around the same time as the music video...

John Carpenter's The Fog

... or the possessed boys choir from Total Eclipse of the Heart?

I don't know about you, but for sheer creepiness the ghost pirates ain't got nothing on that boys choir.

The Scariest Film Clip in the World

Hey it's October, and time for a month long celebration of scary stuff until we reach the big day ol' day of Halloween.

In all honesty I don't know what the hell I'm going to post this month. I really have nothing planed so I assume we'll both be surprised together. Okay let's get going because the suspense is killing me.

I guess we'll kick off the month with what might very well be the scariest film clip in the world. I watched this film on TV at a young age, and this scene kept me awake at night for weeks...



Terrifying right? I lived in a very suburban neighborhood, with only a few small wooded areas here and there, but I was certain there was a very good possibility that Bigfoot could smash his hairy arm through my bedroom window one night. I was a kid who loved watching monster movies of all kinds, and never had a problem when it was Hollywood make-believe, but this damn thing was another story - it was supposedly real!

This film is one of Sun Classic's "great" documentaries The Mysterious Monsters (1976) and it's available on DVD. If I had children I'd buy this film, and show it around Halloween time for a good scare. I'm pretty sure today's modern internet kids with their iPads, Wii's and 8-Track tape players would still freak out at this stuff.

Boo!

Strange Change Machine

So that was a fun summer... let's see if I can get this blog back on track now.

In the late 60's the mighty Mattel toy company introduced the "Strange Change Machine" which was a fun little toy that was basically an electric hot plate with a plastic dome on top. You could heat up special little plastic cubes which unfolded into monsters and dinosaurs.

Check out the awesome commercial...



Man, I love that narrator and groovy science fictiony music. Indulge me while we watch the "extended dance mix" of the same commercial (but unfortunately worse video quality)...



Anyway, there are a lot of sites out on the vast interweb if you wish to know more about this toy, but what those sites don't have are big clear scans of Strange Change Machine instructions...


... and on the flip-side of the instructions, a full-color "landscape map" of The Lost World.

Monster Love

Because Valentine's Day was less than a week ago, I thought I'd try some sort of romantically themed post. So how about something romantic, but with monsters, or what passes as romance with monsters. Monsters usually aren't the candlelit dinners and walks on the beach types.

Check out this fun page from National Lampoon Presents Peekers and Other True Facts (1982) called Carried Away by Bill Moseley which featured 10 photos of movie monsters carrying off woman.

Click image to MONSTER-SIZE it!

Movie monsters today don't seem to be carrying off the ladies like they use too. Maybe modern monsters have to go through some sort of sensitively training.

Anyway there are a ton of these "monster carrying woman" shots as you might have guessed, and after quickly leafing through my personal collection of horror movie books I've come up with a few more...

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari 1920

As you can see this monster carrying off a woman goes way back to the silent era with The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

Man Made Monster 1941

I love old horror movie trailers, and to make this post more exciting (thanks all you busy YouTubers) I've included a few trailers. Now you can see the monster carrying a woman action if you watch the trailer for The Atomic Monster, aka Man Made Monster...

Robot Monster 1953

From Hell It Came 1953

Here's a trailer for From Hell It Came ...

The Alligator People 1959

I know this picture above doesn't show a woman being carried away. It's only a struggle now, but I assume it's a moment before the alligator man carries the woman away. Maybe I should watch The Alligator People sometime to find out.

Beach Girls and the Monster 1965

The above picture seems to only be a publicity photo. Judging from the trailer below the monster in the Beach Girls and the Monster only attacks the girls...

It! (aka Curse of the Golem ) 1967

The Horror of Frankenstein 1970

The Horror of Frankenstein 1970

Yeah "Frankie" is no longer carrying the woman, but I had to include this second shot from The Horror of Frankenstein for obvious reasons.

You're welcome fellas. (FUN FACT: That's David "Darth Vader" Prowse as the Creature.)

Now that you've seen those pictures, and if you watch the trailer below, maybe you'll be like me and wonder why they didn't feature this actress and her gravity defying breasts more prominently in the trailer (look fast at the 1:36 mark). It could only have helped ticket sales.

 Dracula vs. Frankenstein 1971

This mush faced creature has to be the ugliest Frankenstein monster ever, and Dracula is kinda unconventional looking too if you view the trailer below...

Movie posters also prominently feature this iconic image...

Captive Wild Woman 1943

This movie is confusing. Is it a about a mad scientist who turns a girl into a ape, or is it about girl who has a psychic bond with animals? Whatever it's about, it doesn't look like any gorillas are carrying away women from what's in the trailer below...

Invasion of the Saucer Men 1957

Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster 1965

"See the kidnapping of the Earth maidens for the love starved slaves of a sterile planet!" shouts the announcer in the trailer below. (FUN FACT: Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster is also known as Mars Attacks Puerto Rico. Which is a damn good title too if you ask me.)

Robots also got in on the carrying away women act too (the "Ro-Man" from Robot Monster doesn't really count as a robot because I think he's more monster than machine)

The Day the Earth Stood Still 1951

Gort does carry Patrica Neal in The Day The Earth Stood Still, but that isn't Patrica depicted on the poster. If you check out the trailer you'll see a quick shot of Gort carrying Patricia...

Forbidden Planet 1956

Robby the Robot never carries anyone in Forbidden Planet, but it still makes for a cool looking poster.

Demon Seed 1977

Just for the edification those budding movie buffs out there, with all these robots walking away with hot women in their arms, the first time a machine actually impregnates a woman is in the Demon Seed.

Giant insects (or arachnids if you're gonna get technical) get the ladies too (well, at least on the posters).

Tarantula! 1955

Missile to the Moon 1958

The giant moon spider in Missile to the Moon is twice the playa his earthbound cousin is.

The Wasp Woman 1959

Since turnabout is fair play here's one poster where the guy is getting carried away. But this scene only happens on the poster, and the poster artist takes great liberties on what the "wasp woman" actually looks like as you can see from the trailer below...

Happy Halloween... I'm exhausted

Hey gang it's finally Halloween, and I'm exhausted.

Although I didn't participate in the whole official Halloween Countdown thing it sure felt like I did. Sadly I wanted to do one last Haunted Mansion animation for Halloween, but I just didn't have the time. It was going to be my most elaborate one too, but I'm putting it on the back burner for now. Don't worry, I'll have it completed one of these days.

Well I guess I should give you something for your Trick-or-Treat bag... Oh look, I've got a box of Universal Studios Monster Cookies from 1998 for you!