It Conquered the World (1956), The She-Creature (1956), and It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958)

Monsters of the classic era, such as the days of Universal monsters, everyone knows the name of Jack Pierce. But a couple of decades later, there were still plenty of guys creating some incredibly memorable monsters, on probably a 100th the budget that Pierce had. And while the monsters they created are at least recognizable, even they don’t know the film. But ask who created these unique monsters, and you might get that blank stare. Mention the name Paul Blaisdell… and you still might get that blank stare. So, we’re here to change that!

We’re going to cover 3 titles that Paul Blaisdell worked on, as well as going over just how important this guy was in the realm of monster makers. Creating these creatures for literally “hundreds” of dollars, in his garage, with only the help of his wife Jackie and later friend Bob Burns, and yet still came up with the likes monster fans had never even imagined until they showed up on screen! That’s one of the reasons we started doing this podcast from the beginning, to help others discover not only the films, but those that worked behind the camera. So grab a notepad, sit back, and hear about an amazing and creative talent, and the wonderful monsters that Paul Blaisdell gave us.

Movies mentioned int his episode:

I recently saw a video online of a young man on the spectrum, who had taught himself how to play the piano, before he played an original and beautiful composition called ‘Reflections’. In his opening speech, he said, “Different does not mean wrong. Different minds see different worlds.” I know he was speaking about himself and other neurodivergent individuals, how they react to the world, as well as how the world reacts to them. But what I found interesting in that statement is that it made me thing about us as movie fans, and our opinions on, well… movies.

The Hallow (2015), The Ritual (2017), and Antlers (2021)

Cryptids occupy a couple of different categories in modern life. One of them is fun, if a bit kitschy and silly: think concrete bigfoot statues sitting in whimsical gardens or funny little Mothman plaques hanging on the wall. But another is truly terrifying, buried down deep below the surface of our culture and our geography, a place where most people refuse to even touch the soil, much less dig. On this episode, we are going to dig deeply into those terrifying cryptid myths and uncover some wonderful horror films. Because in the last decade or so, a handful of filmmakers have chosen to put spade to soil and go deeply into that taboo territory and yielded some wonderfully horrific results.

Films mentioned in this episode: