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The main hacksaw-to-the-head image is from Horror Express

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Monster I-Scream Spoons were a 1960s novelty item sold in the USA as part of the huge Universal monsters merchandising industry. The spoons featured The Mummy, The Wolf Man, Frankenstein’s Monster and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. A set of twelve spoons cost just one dollar.

We are grateful to Crypt of Wrestling Tumblr blog for a couple of these images.

Horror-themed spitballs – rubber balls that when filled with water and squeezed, squirt the water back out – were manufactured and sold by American company Entertech in 1989. There were four sets with two spitballs each, moulded into horror heads: Freddy and Victim; Jason and Victim; Dracula and Frankenstein; Slimer and the Ecto-1 from The Real Ghostbusters.

Entertech claimed on their packaging that the water could travel as far as eighteen feet which seems highly unlikely. But several feet would certainly have been fun enough!

We are grateful to Dinosaur Dracula! for the images above.

Cassandra Peterson (born September 17, 1951) is an American actress best known for her portrayal of the horror hostess character Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. She gained fame on Los Angeles television station KHJ wearing a black, gothic, revealing, cleavage-enhancing gown as host of Movie Macabre, a weekly horror movie presentation.

Born in Kansas, Peterson grew up near Randolph, until her family then moved to Colorado. According to a 2011 interview, Peterson states that as a child, while other girls were occupied with Barbie dolls, she was more fascinated by horror-themed toys.

In the late spring of 1981, six years after the death of Larry Vincent, who starred as host Sinister Seymour of a local Los Angeles weekend horror show called Fright Night, show producers began to bring the show back. They asked 1950s horror hostess Maila Nurmi to revive The Vampira Show. Nurmi worked on the project for a short time, but eventually quit when the producers would not hire Lola Falana to play Vampira. The station sent out a casting call, and Peterson auditioned and won the role. She and her best friend, Robert Redding, came up with the sexy punk/vampire look after producers rejected her original idea to look like Sharon Tate in The Fearless Vampire Killers.

Peterson’s Elvira character rapidly gained notoriety with her tight-fitting, low-cut, cleavage-displaying black gown. Adopting the flippant tone of a California “Valley girl“, she brought a satirical, sarcastic edge to her commentary. She revelled in dropping risqué double entendres and making frequent jokes about her cleavage.

The Elvira character soon evolved from an obscure cult figure to a lucrative brand. She was associated with many products through the 1980s and 1990s including Halloween costumes, comic books, action figures, trading cards, pinball machines, Halloween decor, model kits, calendars, perfume and dolls. She has appeared on the cover of Femme Fatales magazine five times.

Her popularity reached its zenith with the release of the feature film Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, co-written by Peterson and released in 1988.

Buy Elvira, Mistress of the Dark on DVD from Amazon.co.uk

In 1985, Elvira began hosting a home video series called ThrillerVideo for U.S.A. Home Video and later International Video Entertainment (I.V.E.). Many of these films were hand-selected by Peterson. Choosing to stay away from the more explicit cannibal, slasher and zombie films of the time, these were generally tamer films such as The Monster Club and Dan Curtis television films, as well as many episodes of the Hammer House of Horror television series. She refused to host Make Them Die Slowly, Seven Doors of Death, and Buried Alive, so the videos were released on the LIVE Home Video label without Elvira’s appearance as hostess.

The success of the ThrillerVideo series led to a second video set, Elvira’s Midnight Madness through Rhino Home Video. In 2004 a DVD horror-film collection called Elvira’s Box of Horrors was released, marking Elvira’s return to horror-movie hosting after a ten-year absence. In September 2010, Elvira’s Movie Macabre returned to television syndication in the U.S., this time with public-domain films.

Elvira appeared in comic books from DC Comics, Eclipse Comics and Claypool Comics. DC published a short-lived series in the mid-80s titled Elvira’s House of Mystery.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a number of Elvira-themed computer games were produced: Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, Elvira 2: The Jaws of Cerberus and Elvira: The Arcade Game.

Two Elvira-themed pinball machines were produced by Bally/Midway: Elvira and the Party Monsters (1989) and Scared Stiff (1996).

In the early 1990s, Peterson began a series of successful Elvira calendars featuring characteristically provocative and campy poses in various macabre settings.

After several years of unsuccessful attempts to make a sequel to Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, Cassandra and her manager and then-husband Mark Pierson decided to take matters into their own hands and finance a second movie themselves. In November 2000, Cassandra wrote and co-produced Elvira’s Haunted Hills.

Buy Elvira’s Haunted Hills on DVD from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

The film was shot on location in Romania for just under one million dollars. With little budget left for promotion, Cassandra and Mark screened the film at AIDS charity fund raisers across America. For the many people in attendance, this was the first opportunity to see the woman behind the Elvira character.

In 2012 Peterson became an investor in Comikaze Entertainment Inc., which hosts Comikaze Expo, one of the largest pop culture conventions in the United States. She and fellow investor, Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee, were guests of honor at the inaugural Comikaze Expo in 2011. Comikaze CEO Regina Carpinelli refers to Peterson as the “Mistress of the Board”.

Buy Elvira’s Movie Macabre 12-film DVD set from Amazon.com

Buy Amok Time Elvira 7 inch action figure from Amazon.com

Buy Elvira’s Movie Macabre: Bloody Madness on DVD from Amazon.com

Buy Elvira’s Move Macabre: Giant Monsters on DVD from Amazon.com

Wikipedia | Elvira’s Movie Macabre episode guide

Stretch Screamers is a series of electronic toys manufactured by Games Quest/Manley Toys Limited of Hong Kong.

As their name implies, Stretch Screamers could be stretched, causing them to apparently scream (they were battery operated). The figures could also to be squeezed and balls of coloured liquid would pop out the top of their head or eyeball.

At one point in the early 2000s, the toys were quite popular, so much so that they had their own McDonald’s Happy Meal mini version toy line in 2003. However, they have since been discontinued and have been known to fetch high prices online.

Characters: 

“Mummy” – “Wolfman” – “Angry Alien” – “Ghoul” – “Frankenstein” – “Scary Cyclops” -“Gross Gargoyle” – “Creature Screamer” – “Blister Beast” – “Dracula” – Bugz series (“Oozers” – “Mad Scientist” (Happy Meal)

Buy Stretch Screamers Ghoul from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Buy Stretch Screamers Mummy from Amazon.co.uk

Buy Stretch Screamers Creature from Amazon.com

Buy Stretch Screamers Happy Meal Mummy from Amazon.com

Wikipedia | Thanks to Tony Clarke from Psychotronic Movies for inspiring this post

Balzac (typeset as BALZAC) is a Japanese punk band formed in 1992 in Kyoto. The band was founded by singer and songwriter Hirosuke Nishiyama, who has remained the only constant member of the band since its creation. Balzac was highly influenced by the sound and image of the famous horror punk band the Misfits and, especially during the very early years, Glenn Danzig’s Samhain, adopting and combining the musical and visual style of both bands to create their own. Despite the horror themes and imagery, the band’s music tends to steer away from being the cartoony flotsam many newcomers to horror punk/horrorcore resort to, though they are happy to exploit their look visually through toys and merchandise.

The band has gained a certain amount of recognition and exposure outside of their native country, where they are very well known. Currently they have five official clothing brands (Shocker!!!, Dementia 13, Culture, XXXxxx and Balzac) with one store in Japan, plus three online stores (Shocker Webstore, Shocker World Wide and Shocker EU). They also have their own official record label called Evilegend 13 Records on which they have released EPs, singles and videos. Balzac is also well known for its toy releases, some created by the companies T.W.I.M. and Secret Base, and its extensive discography and side-projects.

The current line-up of the band consists of Hirosuke Nishiyama (vocals), Atsushi Nakagawa (guitar/chorus), Akio Imai (bass/chorus) and Takayuki Manabe (drums/digital effects/chorus). Musically the band has drawn from punk, pop, industrial and noise, across their various releases.

Singer Hirosuke Nishiyama was originally the lead singer for Astrozombies, a band heavily influenced by the legendary Japanese rock group Gastunk (themselves pitched somewhere midway between the Misfits and Iron Maiden). After releasing just one demo cassette, entitled The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hirosuke decided to disband and started his next project, Balzac, in 1992, named after the French novelist and playwright, Honoré de Balzac, more through the way the name sounded than any artistic inference. The band’s first line-up consisted of Hirosuke Nishiyama on vocals, Yoritsugu “Anti” Azuchi on bass, Tetsuya on guitar and Naoki on drums. During that time the band released their first demo cassette, which was limited to 13 copies only, entitled Scapegoat666.

In 1993, having undergone a slight line-up change (to become a regular occurence), they released their second demo cassette, Descent of the Diabolos, going on to release the band’s first single, “The Lord of the Light and of the Darkness”, on their own record label, Evilegend13 Records. Over the next few years the band released four more singles, “Atom Age Vampire in 308″ (on MCR), “Isolation From No. 13″ (on HG Fact), “When the Fiendish Ghouls Night” (on Evilegend13 Records), and were part of some various artists compilations. Having toured Japan extensively even before the release of their first single, they had developed a dedicated fanbase in their home country.

By 1995 the band managed to release their first full-length album, The Last Men on Earth, after being signed to Alchemy Records. Comparisons to the Misfits are inevitable and entirely justified but their speed and energy are evident throughout, as is their knowledge of horror films – the instrumental opener ‘Night of the Blood Beast’, ’13 Ghosts’ and ‘Day the Earth Caught Fire’ and intriguing and great fun, though the Misfits-alike choruses are a little too familiar and cause the listener to err on the side of caution.

1997 saw the release of Deep – Teenagers from Outer Space and saw them much improved in a studio setting, powerful production, even greater speed and ferocity and catchy songs which were more obviously drawing on their own talents, ironically just as a resurrected, Danzig-free Misfits appeared. Now being headed by original member and long-time bassist Jerry Only, Balzac was asked to open for the Misfits when they came for their first Japanese tour. This would mark a milestone in the band’s career, which would lead to much success for Balzac outside of Japan in the coming years. Their third album, 13 Stairway – The Children of the Night appeared just a year later, prolific releases being quite common for Japanese bands, especially rock and punk groups. They launched a full-scale all-Japan tour to promote their album and played to sold-out crowds.

In 1999, Balzac released a split single, “Oldevils Legend of Blood”, with friends and fellow Japanese rock band Sobut. They released a special 12-inch version of “Isolation From No. 13″, a remixed tape as a special box set with toy industry friends, T.W.I.M (The World Is Mine) whose headquarters are in Nagoya, as well as playing on a Gastunk tribute album. On Halloween they released one of their most popular singles, “Into the Light From the 13 Dark Night”, on vinyl, CD, and cassette. It would be re-recorded in many different versions over the next few years. They also released the flexi 7-inch including “Neat Neat Neat,” a Damned cover. This year also marked the beginning of the band’s own fan club, the Fiendish Club a somewhat outrageous steal from The Misfits’ Fiend Club; it offered fans a great way to stay in touch with the band and to receive some very rare items at the same time; Japanese and international wings of the club were eventually opened to satiate demand.

2000 saw The Misfits back touring Japan, and Balzac was there opening for them once again. The band were now popular enough that, again, like The Misfits (and in fairness Kiss and many other bands), more unusual merchandise began to appear, notably, Medicom Toy Co. versions of band members. Soon after, they released another figure, this time a 12-inch RAH version of the band’s mascot, the Paperbag Man, luridly packed with various accessories. In December 2000 Balzac released their next full-length album, Zennou-Naru Musuu-No Me Ha Shi Wo Yubi Sasu, a concept album more industrial in style than previous releases, though it still sold extremely well. Balzac opened their first retail store in Osaka, Japan – “Shocker!!!”, enabling them to sell their own original Shocker!!!! brand merchandise, as well as musical releases. Hirosuke also has his own clothing brand called “Dementia Thirteen” which is also available through the store. More recently, they have also launched yet another clothing brand, “Culture”, and are in the process of fully releasing another one called “XXXxxx”.

In early 2001 the band released numerous singles, as well as a box set featuring the artwork of Japanese manga artist Suehiro Maruo, which had been used on the album Zennou-Naru Musuu no Me ha Shi wo Yubi Sasu. They also opened their second retail store, Coffin, in Kyoto. The following year, Balzac released a split single with The Misfits covering the songs “The Haunting” and “Don’t Open ‘Til Doomsday” as a medley, while The Misfits covered the Balzac’s “Day the Earth Caught Fire”. In April 2002 Balzac released their fifth full-length studio album a double disc set called Terrifying! Art of Dying – The Last Men On Earth II. The first disc was mostly new material while disc two was a complete re-recording of the band’s first full-length CD, The Last Man On Earth. On Halloween the band was invited to play in New York City, USA, with The Misfits, making this the first time the band played live outside of Japan. They were received very well and would be asked back to tour the following summer.

2003 would be another breakthrough year for the band, touring with The Misfits, The Damned, The Dickies, and Agnostic Front, as well as releasing a maxi-single entitled “Beware of Darkness as part of a special 4-figure toy set from Medicom Toys Co. The video for the song was recorded in the USA and was released in May 2003. There was a censored, as well as uncensored version, due to the graphic nature of the video. They also released their first USA CD, Beyond the Darkness, on the newly founded Misfits Records.

In 2004 they released their sixth full-length album, Came Out of the Grave, released in a special edition long-box with a Be@rbrick figure inside. During that summer they played a large festival with American punk rock band Rancid, and released a tour documentary about their first USA tour, The Fiend Fest, later playing their first tour in Europe.

By 2005 they had released the single “D.A.R.K”. Soon after they released a mini album entitled Dark-Ism. 2006-2008: Deep Blue & Hatred, following this only a year later with their seventh full-length album, Deep Blue: Chaos from Darkism II in March. It was coupled with a special Skull Bat figure, also in 2 limited colours. Not content with this rapid release rate, they also performed as Zodiac, releasing a full-length Zodiac album, Beware On Halloween.

In 2008, Balzac released their eighth full-length album entitled Hatred: Destruction = Construction. It marked a return to the heavier and darker side for the band, reminiscent of some of their earlier work. It was released in a regular edition, as well as a 666mm special edition featuring artwork by comic book artist Liam Sharp.

Around May 2009, the band gave the first hints on the process of making their next full-length album. They also released a couple of toys, shirts, pens, mugs and other items in collaboration with the Japanese company Sanrio, more specifically their character Hello Kitty, having the famous cat donning the characteristic skullsuit, another nod towards early Misfits. Further releases followed, their longevity and output allowing for multiple ‘best of’s’ and collections.

Discography:

1995: The Last Men on Earth
1997: Deep – Teenagers from Outer Space
1998: 13 Stairway – The Children of the Night
2000: Zennou-Naru Musuu-No Me Ha Shi Wo Yubi Sasu
2002: Terrifying! Art of Dying – The Last Men On Earth II
2004: Came Out of the Grave
2005: Dark-Ism
2006: Deep Blue: Chaos from Darkism II
2007: Paranoid Dream of the Zodiac
2008: Hatred: Destruction = Construction
2008: The Birth of Evil (Re-recordings of Demo material)
2009: Paradox (Mini album)
2010: Judgement Day
2012: Deranged

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

Creepy Creatures two-sided jigsaw puzzles were produced in the US in 1974 and 1975 by H-G Toys Inc, of Long Beach, California. Featuring the Frankenstein Monster, Count Dracula, Egyptian Mummy, the 100 piece puzzles came in coffin-shaped boxes were 9.5″ x 20″, except for the Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde jigsaw which was a whopping three feet tall!

H-G Toys also produced Godzilla and Planet of the Apes jigsaws.

You can read more about Creepy Creatures puzzles and other monsterabilia in Scott Stine’s Trashfiend: Disposable Horror of the 1960s and 1970s, published by Headpress.

Buy Trashfiend from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

The Do-It-Yourself Werewolf Kit was an American set of novelty items sold in 1964 for one dollar by Victor Specialities – who also sold a vampire version – of Derby, Connecticut. In return for this vast sum purchasers were promised ‘…the thrill of a deathtime! Become a werewolf and take the whole family out for a bite … you can crawl from the noxious slime of foul fantasy as you mouth the spell and the evil transition takes place that will turn YOU into a creature from the Tombs of Horror… a Werewolf!’

Besides the step-by-step instructions for ‘changing a human being into a WEREWOLF!’ customers also got a calendar showing the Full Moon and New Moon for all 12 months, a ‘learned treatise on the subject of Lycanthropy and some fangs ‘for those who have trouble growing their own.’ Plus, six photos of ‘the world’s all-time favorite wolfmen.’

How could anyone not be disappointed with this kit? Well, unless they actually expected that they could turn into a werewolf, of course.

Garden Nightmares are a series of horror-themed gnomes to add a touch of the ghoulish to any garden. Garden Nightmares have been created by RevenantFX and can be ordered via their website. Horror fans will doubtless recognise which movies inspired each gnome!

The Babysitter Killer

The Crystal Lake Slasher

The Woodsboro Ripper

Karen Cooper Zombie

The Springwood Terror

The Killer Clown 1

Leatherface Texas Chainsaw Gnome

The Groovy Cabin Conquerer

‘Great for ghoulish fun… anywhere!’

The Frankenstein Monster Speaker is a 1960s novelty horror-themed item. There’s no mention of Universal on the packaging so perhaps these were swiftly withdrawn and why they are now so collectible? Only $5.98 at the time but now  going for as much as $8,995.00 on eBay!

Image thanks: WFMU

Lego Dimensions Scooby-Doo is a 2015 video game that joins the already announced Marty McFly, Gandalf, Batman and Doctor Who in the Lego brand mashing adventure.

The Scooby-Doo content is part of the Starter Pack for Lego Dimensions, but the Team Pack expansion enables players to take control of Scooby or Shaggy and drive the Mystery Machine around any of the fourteen campaign levels.

The expansion pack also unlocks the Scooby-Doo open world levels that can be explored to find hidden bricks and mysteries to solve.

In the trailer below, Scooby and Shaggy run through the Ghostbusters HQ, Ninjago homelands and DC Comics cityscapes before stopping off at Hill Valley and Homer Simpson’s house.

Lego Dimensions is released on Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 on September 27th in the US and September 29th in the UK.

Buy from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

NB. If this post seems like blatant product placement, it’s not. We’re big Scooby-Doo fans. And if you did buy the game it’d help us with our web-hosting. Meanwhile, this piece on the supposedly left-wing leaning British Daily Mirror newspaper website IS product placement.

Horror Classics Mystery Minis are 2.5″ collectible vinyl figures of iconic genre characters such as Freddy Krueger, Ghostface, Michael Meyers, Jason Vorhees, Pennywise, Chucky, Leatherface, etc. The fun part is that Mystery Minis are sold in a “blind box” therefore ensuring that purchasers have no idea which figure they will receive and determined collectors have to spend more to get the full set!

To date, there have been two series. There are rare glow-in-the-dark and blood splattered versions.

Buy Mystery Minis from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Funko is a pop culture company located in Everett, Washington, USA. Funko was founded as a bobblehead company in 1998. Since then, the company has expanded rapidly and currently holds more than 150 licences including: Lucas Films, Marvel, Hasbro, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, DC Comics, Sanrio, and Disney.

Gods & Monsters

Lurid Trumps are a card game based on the fondly remembered Top Trumps of the 1970’s and 1980’s, themselves based on an even older game called Quartets. The third in a series of four covering the so-called Video Nasties films banned in Britain during the 1980’s, the final two sets will cover the Section 3 films – those which were not banned outright but which could still be seized by local authorities and the owners/sellers tried at magistrates courts.

Produced by UK-based company, Gods & Monsters, Lurid Trumps are a card game playable by two or more players. Each player is dealt an equal number of cards from a shuffled pack, keeping the face of the card shielded from prying eyes. From the dealer’s left, each player in turn reads a category and score from their top card – the highest value wins, the winner taking all the cards played in that hand and placing them at the bottom of their stack. The ultimate winner is the player left with the most cards.

The first two series of Video Nasties Lurid Trumps covered the 72 films banned outright as a result of the Video Recordings Act 1984, which required all home released videos to be assessed and rated by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). The 72 films listed by the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) were each given a rating on their respective cards. The categories are:

Gore Score

Gratuitous Sex

Infamy Level

Nasty Rating

Each is given a rating out of 100 – no one card is impossible to beat. With the first two sets having sold out within days (and now commanding absurdly high prices on internet auction sites), Gods & Monsters have now released the penultimate set, covering the murky world of titles classed as “Section 3”. These films were liable to get a conviction under the lesser section three of the Obscene Publication Act:

3. In section 3(5) of the Video Recordings Act 1984 (exempted supplies), for paragraphs (b) and (c) substitute—

“(b)does not, to any significant extent, depict any of the following—

(i)human sexual activity or acts of force or restraint associated with such activity,

(ii)mutilation or torture of, or other acts of gross violence towards, humans or animals, or

(iii)human genital organs or human urinary or excretory functions, and

This would mean the confiscation and destroying of video tapes ordered by a magistrate but were not considered to be capable of getting a conviction at the High Court – though there were examples of guilty pleas at Magistrates Court.

The list of the Section 3 titles is as follows:

Abducted

Aftermath

The Black Room

Blood Lust

Blood Song

The Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll

Brutes and Savages

Cannibal (aka Last Cannibal World)

Cannibals

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith

The Child

Christmas Evil

Communion

Dawn of the Mummy

Dead Kids

Death Weekend

Deep Red

Demented

The Demons (Jess Franco)

Don’t Answer the Phone!

Enter the Devil

The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein

The Evil

The Executioner

Final Exam

Foxy Brown

Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th Part 2

GBH

Graduation Day

Happy Birthday to Me

Headless Eyes

Hell Prison

The Hills Have Eyes

Home Sweet Home

Inseminoid

Invasion of the Blood Farmers

The Killing Hour

The Last Horror Film

The Last Hunter

The Love Butcher

The Mad Foxes

Mark of the Devil

Martin

Massacre Mansion

Mausoleum

Midnight

Naked Fist

The Nesting

The New Adventures of Snow White

Night Beast

Night of the Living Dead

Nightmare City

Oasis of the Zombies

Parasite

Phantasm

Pigs

Prey

Prom Night

Rabid

Rosemary’s Killer (aka The Prowler)

Savage Terror

Scanners

Scream for Vengeance!

Shogun Assassin

Street Killers

Suicide Cult

Superstition

Suspiria

Terror

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

The Thing

Tomb of the Living Dead

The Toy Box

Werewolf Woman

Wrong Way

Xtro

Zombie Holocaust

Zombies Lake

Zombies -Dawn Of The Dead

As with the previous sets, the cover card will feature a key figure in the history of the Video Nasties saga: following in the footsteps of Mary Whitehouse (Series 1) and former BBFC zealot James Ferman (Series 2), Series 3 will feature Graham Bright, an MP who was particularly outspoken about films he’s never actually seen, going as far to suggest that some of the films had the power to even corrupt innocent dogs who may be watching! Having been made a Sir (British democracy at its finest?), keen dog-protector Bright is now a highly-paid Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Commissioner, although he finds it difficult to attend meetings that finish “too late in the evening”…

Monster Old Maid is a 1964 card game created by the Milton Bradley company from Springfield, Massachusetts for children aged five to ten years-old. Based on the card game Old Maid, it comprises a set of nineteen cards featuring Universal monsters, plus an additional instruction card. The rear of the cards feature a spider web with the word ‘monster’ written across.

Characters in the set include Creature from the Black Lagoon, Dracula, Frankenstein, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Wolf Man, The Mummy, and The Phantom of the Opera. Dracula’s Daughter (image taken from Hammer’s The Brides of Dracula, which Universal distributed in the US) was the Old Maid card.

We are grateful to The Retroist for the information above and Lost & Found Vintage Toys for the directions image.

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70s Monster Memories is a 2015 British book from the writers of We Belong Dead magazine.

The 400 page full colour soft back book contains over seventy chapters covering nearly every aspect of 1970s horror fandom – books, mags, posters, trading cards, TV, model kits, comics, movie tie-ins, super 8 and much more.

Contents:

Foreword by Dez Skinn

The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of by Eric McNaughton

For The Love Of Print and Paper by Vincent Simonelli

The Most Important Decade of My Life by John Llewellyn Probert

Zoinks!! (Or How I Would Have Got Away With It, If It Wasn’t for You Meddling Kids!) by Steve Gerrard

Horror Film Books of the 70s by Ian Taylor

The World of Horror by Cranston Macmillan

Aurora – The Golden Age of Monster Models by Robert Morganbesser

BBC Death & Horror Sound Effects LP by Daz Lawrence

He Was A Teenage Movie Critic: David Pirie by Darrell Buxton

Fanzines of the 70s by Richard Klemensen

A Time It Was: Dez Skinn Interviewed on House of Hammer by Tony Earnshaw

Something In The Night: The BBC Christmas Ghost Stories by Matthew E. Banks

Super 8mm – A Personal Journey Through The History of Horror At Home by Darren Allinson

Famous Monsters A Go-Go. An Interview With The Legendary Basil Gogos by Ernie Magnotta

Horror On Vinyl by Daz Lawrence

A New World of Gods & Monsters – The Books of Denis Gifford by Tom Woodger

The Monster Times For Changing Times by J.M. Cozzoli

An Invitation To Scaryland: The Horror Film Books of Alan Frank by Tony Earnshaw

The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires LP by David Flint

Dave Swift, Memories of a Monster (Toy Collector) by Stephen Jacobs

The 70s Works of Nigel Kneale Graham Payne

Remembering Famous Monsters by Jim Knusch

Horror in the Cinema: Ivan Butler by Stephen Mosley

The Price of Fear…Brought To You by Vincent Price Peter Fuller

King Kong in Birmingham! by Dave Swift

Horrors From Screen to Scream by Paul Sparrow-Clarke

La Cabina: Allegory of an Era by Daniel Arana Garcia de Leaniz

Softly, Softly Catchy Ripper. Barlow & Watt and the Investigation of the Whitechapel Murders by Clare Smith

Scary Humour with Cracked’s For Monsters Only by J.M. Cozzoli

Monster Movie Reference Books:The 1970s Explosion by Dustin Jablonski

“Our Latest Diversification….” Hammer Presents Dracula by Tom Woodger

When A Ten Year Old Boy Met the Universal Monsters by David Brilliance

Horror Food by Daz Lawrence

Lorrimer Publishing. Cinema of Terror, Catastrophe, Kung Fu, Freaks, Vampires, Mystery & Monkeys! by Darrell Buxton

Poster Magazines by Richard Gladman

Memories of the Loch Ness Monster by Timothy Mitchell

Reference Guide to Fantastic Films: An Appreciation by Darrell Buxton

The Books That Made Us Scream – An a-Z Guide to 70s Tie-Ins by Dawn and Jonathon Dabell

Quasimodo’s Monster Magazine by Cranston Macmillan

I Was A Teenage Monster Kid by Tony M. Clarke

Public Information Horror by Daz Lawrence

Tele-Horrors of the 70’s:Fearsome Highlights by Troy Howarth

“You’re Gonna Need A Bigger Wallet!” by Steven West

1970’s Horror Vinyl:Releases in the U.S. by Ryan Brennan

The House of Hammer – A Personal Journey by Tim Greaves

Memories of A Pictorial History of Horror Movies by Peter Benassi

Marvel Comics & the Monsters by Moonlight by Martin Dallard

Memoirs of a 70’s Monster-Kid by Ernie Magnotta

Peter Underwood:The Legendary Ghost Hunter Who Wrote the First Biography of Boris Karloff by Ben Underwood

Cinefantastique – The Most Fantastic Magazine of All Time by Robert Morganbesser

Thriller by Brian Clemens by Perry Thomas

Horror Top Trumps by Daz Lawrence

My Journey Beyond the Vincent Price Screen Adventures by Peter Fuller

The Books of Calvin T. Beck by Douglas Whitenack

Legend Horror Classics by Cranston Macmillan

Horror Double-Bills by Neil Ogley

Monsterkid Models of the 70’s by Eric McNaughton

Horror in Four-Colours by Jules Boyle

The Film Classics Library by Eric McNaughton

Movie Monsters: The Magazine with a Mortality by Rate Darren Allinson

But Was It Aaaaaarrrt?! by David A. Brooks

The New Avengers. The Acceptable Face of 70’s Horror by Cleaver Patterson

Collecting Movie Posters by David McConkey

Mego Mad Monsters by Michael Hauss

The Horror People by Stephen Mosley

For Adults Only! by Cranston Macmillan

Terror on the Tube: American TV Horror Movies of the 1970’s by Steven West

Dracula Paperbacks by Eric McNaughton

No Cure for Crabs (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying & Enjoy the Pulp Paperbacks of the 1970’s) by Steven West

The Thirteen Monsters of Aurora by Martin Cage

The Dark Shadows Paperbacks by Eric McNaughton

Monsters of the Movies Magazine by R. Bruce Crelin

Monsters of the Movies – The Mystery of Issue 2 Cover by Pierre Fournier

Shock Theatre Cards by David Flint

Creature Feature Cards by Eric McNaughton

Appointment With Fear by Wayne Kinsey

Afterword by Alan Frank

Publication date is 20th December. The book can be ordered via this link:

http://webelongdead.co.uk/product/70s-monster-memories/

Buy: Amazon.com

Creatureplica is an American company that produces action figures based on cryptozoological creatures.

Buy set: Amazon.com

They have issued four figures to date: Himalayan Yeti, HorrorHound, Louisiana Rougarou and North American Sasquatch (click on images to enlarge).

Buy: Amazon.com

Press blurb:

“True dedication to native folklore, witness reports and historical record is the basis for the genesis of Creatureplica and the creation of our sculptural depictions. Our initial wave is in scale with 6” and 7” action figure lines, fully articulated with environmental bases.

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Until now, serious crypto toy lines were as rare as the creatures themselves. Prepare to enter the primordial woods and frozen wastes of the world and explore it’s darkest corners. There are things undescribed by science on the fringes, stomping through the forest, chittering in the shadows. Join us in our quest. And Beware.”

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Godzilla Game is a 1963 American board game created by Ideal. The game included board with artwork depicting Godzilla, four plastic conical game pieces, a small wooden red disc to represent a “radioactive missile”, and a cardboard spinner.

This was the first Godzilla toy produced in the United States, and only the second Godzilla toy ever made (the first being a simple suction-cup dart gun set with Godzilla artwork on the cardboard backing made in Japan in 1955).

“Object: To get your marker to the Rocket Launch Area in order to fire the missile at Godzilla’s vital spots.”

Thanks to Board Game Geek for info.

The Strange Changing Series model kits were sold in 1974 by Model Products Corporation, usually known by its acronym, MPC, a Michigan-based company. The model kits were re-issued in 2012 by Round 2 Models.

Here’s the blurb for The Strange Changing Vampire:

“Open the lid on this ornately engraved casket and you’ll find a snarling vampire leering at you. Close it, open it again and he’s changed into a harmless bag of bones. Close and open it again and the vampire’s back. That’s the Strange Change.”

Source: twentiethcenturykid.tumblr.com

Classic Horror Funko Mopeez are plush dolls introduced in July 2016. There are five classic horror figures in the collection:

Michael Myers (Halloween), Jason Vorhees (Friday the 13th), Ghost Face (Scream movies), Freddy Kreuger (A Nightmare on Elm Street) and Chucky (Child’s Play).

The dolls are 3.5 x 6.3 x 4.5 inches in diameter and weigh 4.5 ounces. They are all available via Amazon.com

‘This game is rotten!’

Zombie-Opoly is a 2013 American board game created by games manufacturer Late for the Sky of Cincinnati, Ohio. It is based upon the classic capitalist board game Monopoly.

The game includes six silver player pieces consisting of a shovel, a severed ear, a femur bone, a hammer, a zombie boy and a human remnant.

Gameplay:

You are trying to collect the four different spaces that are labelled: VooDoo, Virus Outbreak, Pandemic, and Mad Science. Players purchase favourite zombies and increase the rent by buying Boxes of Flesh and trading them in for a Screaming Human.

It’s all fun and games until someone gets sent to ‘Buried’ and is under ground and clawing their way to the surface for three turns! Choose your token and shamble to RRrrrrrr! You may soon be re-animated… or you may just be blood spewed and bitten.

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