Tag Archives: Frankenstein

Dan Curtis Lives!

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I would like to hope that Dan Curtis was very aware of the impact he had on young fans of the horror genre. From when he took a chance on a failing daytime soap opera, adding a vampire to see what happened, he never looked back. As a kid growing up in the late ’60s & early ’70s, I was flooded by countless characters, monsters, and other ghastly sites, all thanks to Mr. Curtis. While there as not been a constant stream of his work being released on varying formats over the decades, from VHS, to DVD, and now Blu-Ray, there still have been some that we have yet to see. But thanks to Kino Lober, now only do we get two of the three of his retelling of three classic monsters on Blu-Ray the first time, we also get four films he made for the Late-Night Mysteries series, which all aired in 1974. And if you order them now, they are damn near half price! Both are priced at $39.95 (which is a great deal already with what you’re getting), but now you can get each of them for $26.57! Just head over to Kino Lober by clicking HERE.

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Classic Monsters Modern Art Book

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Anthony Taylor, a celebrated writer whose work has appeared in Famous Monsters of Filmland, Fangoria, Screem, HorrorHound, Filmfax, and several books on a variety of genre subjects, as well as being the organizer of Atlanta’s Monsterama retro horror and sci-fi convention, now has a new book coming out. It is called Classic Monsters Modern Art: 20th Century Horror in 21st Century Illustrations, coming this September from Insight Editions.

According to the description, the book explores “the groundbreaking (and terrifying) pantheon of monsters from the 20th century’s greatest films and fiction interpreted by the world’s most exciting contemporary artists and illustrators in Classic Monsters, Modern Art!” With over 65 artists, taking on subjects like Frankenstein’s creature, Count Dracula, Elvira, Godzilla, King Kong, to more modern-day monsters like Freddy Kruger, this book will feature some amazing artwork of our favorite monsters, in full color, with Taylor giving us all the info needed about them!

Priced at $39.99, these 160 pages will be something you will find yourself paging through over and over, looking at the amazing work that went into each and every illustration. Definitely one for the library!

It’s Alive!

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I think it was around my 45th birthday when I had finally made the decision to get a tattoo. I’d been wanting to for a while, but first couldn’t decide what I wanted, but then I was always worried about any possible issues at work, since I did work in an office. Years ago, that would have been highly frowned upon but that dramatically lessened over the years. Plus, at that point in my life, I just didn’t care anymore. So, I got my first one, I think around 2010. Then for the next 9 years, I would go to a friend’s house for a tattoo party and add another one. From simple stitches around my wrist, to Italian horror, Hammer, and of course, Paul Naschy! But then I stopped, for a variety of reasons. But the itch to get more was always there.

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DtH – Episode 65: Universal Monster Rallies

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Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), House of Frankenstein (1944), and House of Dracula (1945).

Some say that the monster rally films marked the end of the Universal creature features, which could partially be true, but we feel it is for different reasons than the actual films themselves, and they still have a lot of merit to them. While the studio heads might not have cared too much about getting them made, those involved did their best with what they had. One of the biggest highlights of these titles is the cast of actors in them, some making their last appearances. You get to see Karloff, Chaney Jr., Carradine, J. Carrol Naish, George Zucco, Lionel Atwill, Dwight Frye, and so many other regular faces that will bring a smile to your face when they pop up onscreen.

While maybe running a little thin on ideas and decided to start combining monsters to hopefully bring back bigger box office returns, they still made films that we all still feel are entertaining and we feel are more than worth your time.

Movies mentioned in this episode:

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Book Review: The Karloff Compendium

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The Karloff Compendium
Published by Unstoppable Cards Limited, 2023. 328 pages.
By Stephen Jacobs

Boris Karloff is my all-time favorite actor, not just because Frankenstein (1931) is one of my all-time favorite films either, but due to his huge work in the genre throughout his career. Because of that fact, I will buy any book that comes out that is on him. Without question. When the news of this new one was going to be released, I immediately ordered it when it was available. It also helped because it was by author Stephen Jacobs, who had previously written probably the best Karloff biography back in 2011 entitled Boris Karloff: More Than a Monster (click HERE to read our review of that title). Honestly, I didn’t even read what the book was about before ordering it, because it didn’t matter. When it arrived, I finally paged through it briefly seeing that it was really a historical look at Karloff’s career, starting at the very beginning when he was a stage actor, going through to the end.

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Movie Plans for 2024?

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While I know we might be a little preoccupied with the upcoming holiday in a couple of days, or any end of year celebrations, but since it is also close to the start of a new year, has anybody thought of taking on a little movie challenge? One of the things that I hear some fans doing, which I have done myself, is to make a little checklist of a particular film series, or maybe a bunch from one director, or even a particular sub-genre, and make your way through them during the next year. There’s no time limit (unless you want to set it for yourself) other than trying to get them through within those 12 months.

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Discover the Horror – Episode 42: Universal Frankensteins

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Frankenstein (1931), The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Son of Frankenstein (1939), and The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942).

Time to go back to the source! The films that started a mythology, created the stereotypes, and taught us everything we were going to need to know about the mad genius that created a “monster” and the innocent, child-like creature that would eventually be known by his creator’s own name. In this episode, we look back at the first four Universal Frankenstein films, before the monster-ramas, when the main point was the creature and his maker. While there is a lot of material to cover in only one episode, we cover as much as we can, trying to show you just how important, entertaining and well-made these films are after close to a century.

Films mentioned during this episode:

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Soundtrack Review: I, Frankenstein

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I, Frankenstein
Released by Lakeshore Records, 2014
26 Tracks, with a total running time of 75 min.
Music by Johnny Klimek and Reinhold Heil

Okay, we can all agree that this is not a great movie. In fact, it is about as far away from Shelley as 2015 film Victor Frankenstein, and about as entertaining. But we are here to focus on the soundtrack, because as fans of movie music, we know that sometimes the music can be better than the film itself, and this is a perfect example.

The first word that comes to mind when listening to this score is epic. Right from the Main Title, it had my attention. I’m a sucker for operatic vocals in a score and this one starts out with this haunting voice over the building music. You can feel how big this movie is going to look just by the score. With a story about the title character fighting off demons and gargoyles throughout the running time, you need a big score to accompany it. And you have it here.

Klimek and Heil have created a great score here, one filled with quiet and somber themes, as well as cranking it up to the next level with plenty of pounding percussions, thundering strings, creating enough action in our ears that we can feel it.

While I can’t recommend the movie, which honestly is just damn silly, the score however is well worth seeking out.

Universal Classic Horrors at the Strand Theatre

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The Strand Theatre in Shelbyville, IN, has announced this year’s Friday Night Frights schedule and once again, makes me wish I lived closer to the theater! We all know and love the Universal Classic Monsters (or at least we should!) but few fans have had the opportunity to see them in a movie theater on the big screen. Well, if you live near the Indianapolis area, now you have your chance.

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Happy Birthday, Mr. Karloff!

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As a young horror fan, Boris Karloff was the first of my horror heroes, and all of these years later, remains my all-time favorite. He was the first one that I knew the name of the person who was behind the monsters that he played. That came from probably his most famous role as the creature in James Whale’s Frankenstein (1931), or possibly because he narrated the Grinch, but I would later learn and appreciate more and more of his roles.

One reason for this was due to Richard Bojarski’s book The Films of Boris Karloff, which I checked out so often from my middle school library that I was told I couldn’t check it out any longer, to apparently give others a chance to check it out. I would page through there, looking at all the different roles that he appeared in, especially the horror ones, and dream of the day when I might be able to stumble across it on TV some Saturday afternoon. Oh, how naïve we were back then, huh?

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