What kind of music am I talking about? The kind that you hear when horror fans are looking at horror memorabilia! Okay, maybe not the more recent fans might make those sounds after those big-headed toys that are flooding the market, but I’m talking about old school memorabilia, like original posters and lobby cards. Now, someone of my stature and income, would never be able to afford to even touch some of these items, let alone buy them. And if I did have that kind of money, I wouldn’t be able to sleep with the knowledge floating in my head that there is a piece of paper in my house that is worth thousands and thousands of dollars! That, my friends, is why I love poster books. These give fans a chance to see items that they’ve never seen before, in all their beautiful and colorful glory. But also, the more important aspect of these kind of books is that they archive these images. Some of these posters are already close to a hundred years old, so we know as the years go by, they are going to be harder and harder to even see. Because of these kinds of books, future generations will be able to gaze upon the incredible artwork that was used on these posters and other different kinds of promotional material. It is part of our movie history and one that needs to be kept alive.
One of the guys doing that is James Gresham. I first met James last year at the Cinevent Classic Film Convention in Columbus, Ohio, when he came by our table and we started talking about books and movie posters. Such a wonderful and friendly guy and so much fun to chat with. As we were talking, he mentioned that he had put out a couple of books on movie posters, Children of the Night, which came out in 2007, and then followed in 2010 with They’re Already Here! Children covered the horror films of the ’30s, ’40s and into the ’50s. The second book focus mainly on the science fiction posters (though quite a few of them we know are really horror!). Each one is filled with images of posters, lobby cards of a wide variety and are just amazing to look at. To his amazement, I told him that I actually had copies of both of those books and that I would have to remember to bring them to the next show to have him sign them, which I did!
Because I am forever waving the flag that print is NOT dead, when I see a book coming out or already released that is something that I would be interested in reading, I want to make sure others know about it as well. And of course, one of those subjects is on horror films.
Don Coscarelli. The man that created an amazing cinema legacy with his Phantasm series, not to mention a few other incredible cinematic journeys he’s taken us on, and usually outside of the Hollywood system. I can’t even fathom how hard that must be, and to do for it for over 40 years.
When I first really got into horror films, one of my favorites was The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971), starring the wonderful campy Vincent Price. Even though he was the villain, you always rooted for him! And even though he never actually “talked” in the film, he still commanded your attention each and every frame he was on screen. With a beautiful mixture of horror and humor, director Robert Fuest and Price created a highly memorable character that we got to experience in not only the first film, but its sequel, Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972).
Never too early to start to promote an upcoming book, right? Especially one that helps shine the light on not only the horror genre, but a specific part that often goes unnoticed, or at least not getting the attention it should. But thanks to author and scholar Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, maybe that can change.
With year being the 200 year anniversary of the publication of Mary Shelley’s immortal tale, Frankenstein, I was hoping that there would be some sort of celebrating going on during the year. And it didn’t take long for author Christopher Fraying to appease that desire.
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