FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND Will Always Be An Inspiration To Us!

 

I was looking for some inspiration tonight, so I dug out my copy of the first issue of SPACEMEN magazine, and inspire me it did. Covers painted by Basil Gogos have a tendency to have that effect on you. SPACEMEN was the third movie magazine put out by James Warren and Forrest J. Ackerman in 1961 after their first publication FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND became so popular, and that magazine probably has more to do with why we do this than anything else.

The first issue of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND CAME OUT IN 1958, and I'm not completely positive, but I think the first issue I got at the newsstand was this one which was # 9 that

came out in 1960. After that, we tried to buy them all as they came out, and ordered as many back issues as we could afford, which wasn't many.

 

In 1960, Warren came out with their second magazine FAVORITE WESTERNS OF FILMLAND, which changed it's name by issue # 3 to WILDEST WESTERNS. There were no monsters, and more gags, so kids got bored, and the magazine only lasted six issues.
 

 

In 1962 Warren Publishing came out with SCREEN THRILLS ILLUSTRATED, which was a great magazine that covered serials and movies that didn't fall into the 'Monster' category, but it never really seemed to take off, and folded after ten issues. To this day, nobody seems much interested in this magazine, and I think I still have all my copies.

 

Other purveyors to the crown were the magazines CASTLE OF FRANKENSTEIN, and........

.........FANTASTIC MONSTERS OF THE FILMS.

These two magazines I actually liked, but they still just did not not compare to 

FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND! The bar was just raised too high!

We always thought HORROR MONSTERS was a joke. Their covers were so bad compared to those of FAMOUS MONSTERS!

And HORROR MONSTERS sister publication titled MAD MONSTERS wasn't much better at all! The Creature looks like he's about three feet tall on this cover!

MAD MONSTERS, HORROR MONSTERS, and this one shot from 1962 titled WEREWOVES AND VAMPIRES, were all Charlton publications. The price was only thirty-five cents, but they still didn't seem to be worth that much to us.

There were a few more entrants into to the monster magazine race like this MONSTER PARADE from 1958, and ........

..................This MONSTER MANIA from 1967. Take note of the scary fonts they came up with for the word monster.

in 1964 Warren tried to reinvent themselves and came out with MONSTER WORLD, but it wasn't even good enough to compete with the original, and paled in comparison to FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND, and because of that, it only lasted for ten issues.

In more modern times, SCREEM was the only magazine that came close to being what FAMOUS MONSTERS was. One of the main reasons SCREEM was good is because frequent Dungeon contributor Greg Goodsell was also writing reviews and interviews for them!

 

Well, that's my personal journey through the world of monster magazines, and I'll leave you where I started with another issue of SPACEMEN. This 1965 Yearbook has a very cool cover done by comic artistes Russ Jones and the beyond phenomenal Wally Wood.

While doing this, I stumbled on a blog that hasn't had a new post since 2010, but is a complete list of all the monster magazines of the 60's and more, and it's all lined out in a clear and concise manner, so if you'd like to see more of these fabulous covers, then head on over to the

MONSTER MAGAZINES blog. It's very well done!

THE SCREAMING SKULL In Color - 1958

So, here's another recent colorized horror movie from Allied Artists, this time it's THE SCREAMING SKULL where you are assured a free burial if you die of fright while viewing it at the theater. Eegah and I didn't see this one when it came out, but we did have the 1 sheet poster!

The story's about newlyweds Erik and Jenni Whitlock who move into the home of his late wife Marianne who died under mysterious circumstances a few years earlier. Jenni has history of mental illness, and when things start to get weird, she doesn't know if it's real or just her imagination playing tricks on her...

Here's the complete cast, left to right, Russ Conway as Reverend Snow, Tony Johnson as Mrs. Snow, Peggy Webber and Jenni Whitlock, John Hudson and Erik Whitlock and Alex Nicol as Mickey, the mentally challenged gardener.

The day after Erik and Jenni arrive, Erik has to go into town to take care of business. I used this still because it just looks cool.

Lots of back story going on here. Mickey adored the dead Marianne because they worked on the gardens together, she was like his mother figure. He misses her a lot.

Jenni is getting ready for bed when she hears something like a door slamming shut. As a kid, this is a part that we could only wish for, Peggy gots some dangerous curves there!

She puts on her nightgown and goes into a room where a skull is on a shelf in a cabinet. She ends up throwing it out the window to the ground below. Erik is away that night.

Then, someone or something is pounding on the front door so Jenni goes down the stairs to see who or what is there. In this shot, you get to see through her gown, revealing that she's not wearing a slip! Fairly risqué  for 1958.

Well, when she opens the door, this is what she sees. It rolls over to her and she faints.

A painting of Marianne seems to be bugging Jenni so Erik takes it and has her set it on fire in the back yard near Marianne's gravesite.

As Erik and Jenni put the embers out, she rakes over a spot and uncovers the skull, which makes her faint, again! Erik picks the skull up and hides it in the pond where Marianne had died.

But when Erik goes back to find the skull, it's gone! Mickey must have taken it so Erik physically assaults him, slapping him hard five times, but Mickey denies taking it.

After Erik leaves, Mickey looks around in the greenhouse and finds the skull beneath some leaves. He takes it to Reverend Snow to show him. 

Erik has decided that him and Jenni are leaving the place that night. Jenni goes to the greenhouse to say goodbye to Mickey but cannot find him. But, she does see Marianne's ghost there, the thing starts chasing her and she runs screaming back to the house.

Upstairs, Erik is fashioning a noose for Jenni. His plan is to make it look as if she has committed suicide, you see, he killed Marianne so that he could inherit her estate, and Jenni also inherited an estate from her deceased parents. Connect the dots!

After chocking Jenni out, he hears that crazy pounding on the front door and goes down to see who's there...

Surprise, surprise!! It's Marianne, there for revenge.

Erik runs outside trying to get away from the skull but it keeps following him.

It corners him in the pond, and of all things, it starts biting him on the throat!

Reverend and Mrs. Snow show up to console Jenni, who was not killed by Erik as he got distracted by the pounding on the door.

So, Erik got what he deserved, bringing this wild story to an end. Hope you enjoyed this colorized tale of horror...

THE SAINT - "Sibao" (1965)

 

This week's Sainturdy Night Special is brought to you in part by the law firm of Dewey, Cheatham, & Howe, where you're sure to get a fair shake whether you're innocent or not. For all services unlawful or illegal, they're the guys to turn to!

Roger Moore is the angelic Simon Templar, and Simon Templar is "The Saint."

So what the Hell is a Sibao you ask? Well, besides being the name of this Episode 21 from the third season of "The Saint," it's also the name of a beautiful woman!

For some reason. stories about voodoo in the country of Haiti seem to be a lot more believable that say, something about some white guy swinging through the trees in Africa.

 

"Voodoo Drums!"

"Sibao" opens in a bar in Haiti, with voodoo drums, and this guy doing his voodoo dance.

He wears a simple skull face masque, but it's pretty effective in the Creepy Department!

Then, POOF! He disappears into thin air right in front of everybody. Pretty cool trick, but is it really a trick, or is it voodoo?

The patrons of the club are pretty impressed.

 

Simon Templar, who just happens to be sitting at one of the tables is pretty impressed himself.

This is the lovely Sibao as played by Jeanne Roland. Jeanne might only have 15 credits to her name, but most of them are good ones, besides "The Saint," she appeared in four other crucial 60's TV shows where they needed an exotic looking woman that included "Secret Agent," "The Avengers," "The Baron," and "Man With A Camera." On the big screen, she was in "The Curse Of The Mummy's Tomb," "Casino Royale," and "You Only Live Twice."

Simon Templar's pals are Nicholas (The Night My Number Came Up) Stuart as Atherton Lee, and Jerry (Lolita) Stovin as Tony Kreiger.

Atherton is cool, but Tony is a real dick. It's hard to imagine that Simon Templar would have much to do with a guy like him.

Tony even turns into a bigger jerk the more he drinks, and he drinks a lot!

Tony is being such an ass, he's really starting to attract the attention of some of the local guys! He was even annoying me!

John Carson is some weird cat named Theron Netlord. Theron thinks he's a big shot, and he's forcing Sibao into marrying him. With a name like Netlord, I can see how a person could get pretty full of himself, especially these days!

John had a long and varied career, that ranged from "Blood Beast From Outer Space" to "Poirot." When I said varied, I meant it.

 

Jerkface Tony pushed too many people's buttons, including Netlord's, and when leaving the bar, his brakes fail miserably. Not only does he die when he hits this tree, but on the way here, he uncontrollably hit Sibao and her brother. Sibao gets a big cut on her leg, and is okay, but her brother dies, and now there's going to be a need to have a big voodoo ceremony!

Turns out Tony wasn't really Tony, but instead was this guy named David Grant, and he wasn't really drunk, but was in Haiti doing some investigating. It was all a show.

 

Netlord decides to serve up some free lunch at the wedding with himself on the menu.

 

Voodoo?

Can Simon Templar figure it all out?

You're just going to have to decide that on your own, and HERE's the place to do it! 

And you can either thank The Lord, or thank The Lord!