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Making Monsters Famous by Mike-oh

Issues 100 and 101 were my introduction to the guilty pleasure that is Famous Monsters of Filmland.

Famous Monsters of Filmland. When I was a kid, I was fed a weekly diet of monster movies, thanks to the Uncanny Film Festival and Camp Show hosted by Dr. Mazeppa Pompazoidi and the permissiveness and outright influence of my father, a long time horror movie buff. How big of a horror movie buff was my dad? My dad, apparently used to dress up like the Mummy and haunt the small town of Coffeyville, Kansas back in the fifties when he played football for the Junior College there. This, he did just for the fun of it. What a panic, huh?

Anyway, by the time I was ten years old, I had watched Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, Son of Frankenstein, House of Frankenstein, Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman, Dracula, Return of the Vampire, The Wolfman, The Mummy, The Creature of the Black Lagoon, Revenge of the Creature, King Kong, Godzilla, Rodan, Yog, Mighty Joe Young, Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein, The Fly, The Invisible Man, almost all of the Planet of the Apes movies, and regular summer episodes of Dark Shadows, the vampire soap opera featuring Barnabas Collins, the main vampire.

This was all very cool stuff back then. And I guess it was a fairly popular corner of pop culture considering that there even was a daytime soap opera about a vampire and a werewolf. There was also a Saturday morning cartoon called "The Groovy Ghoulies" which was an Archie spinoff by way of Sabrina. These were the days of monster breakfast cereals like Count Chocula and Frankenberry.

And Famous Monsters of Filmland was helping to feed the appetite of monster fans everywhere with it's monthly pulpy monster goodness. I was only ten years old when I started reading the magazine. It just cost a buck back then which was equal to the price of three or four comic books. So I didn't pick up a copy every month. But I sure flipped through the pages at our local U-Totem (old school convenience store) every time I spied a new issue.

For all of you who may not know what Famous Monsters of Filmland is, it's a crudely published fanzine for classic monster movie buffs. It's basically a showcase of photos from a wide variety of monster and sci-fi flicks from the 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s. All the movies I listed earlier would be featured in some form or fashion in at least every other issue along with a wide assortment of photos of cannibals, guillotine victims, headless brides, walking lumps of dripping flesh, hairy beasts, mad scientists, space aliens, missing links, guys with hatchets in their heads, severed limbs, melted faces, half eaten people, and other such offenses of nature. So you can see the appeal.

The editorial was never much to speak of. I'm sure nothing was ever rewritten before it was published. Many of the articles were just listings of fans' names that had requested specific photos from specific movies to appear in that particular issue. Thankfully absent were long winded articles about the psychology behind monster movies or the supposed symbolism intended or otherwise incorporated by the filmmakers. None of that tripe. Just a nice basic showcase of fairly cheesy, unbelievable movie gore. Yum.

When I started writing this article, I did a little online research and came to find out that Famous Monster of Filmland is back in print and has been since 1993. They have a website which does a pretty good job of describing what these magazines are all about. here's an excerpt for your edification.

If you're like us, you love classic horror movies. You would agree there's something magical about those halcyon days of the Ghoulden Age of Horrorwood. And those of us over 40 (and a lot of young monsters too) have an added love for those special times way back during the monsters craze of the 1960s. Unlike any other publication, FM was the very first monster fan magazine and the original monster craze lives on in our magazine and books! You won't find gore or sleazy exploitation titles in FM like other "cult" movie magazines. And you won't find lame "historians" analyzing the classic films trying to discover hidden psycho-sex themes and implications. What you WILL find is informative and entertaining reviews and features that celebrate the classic horror and sci-fi films for exactly what they are: a lot of fun!

FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND is like no other classic monster magazine anywhere. Issue after terror-ific issue, FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND is your guide through the corridors of Classic Horrorwood. Each issue is packed with dozens and dozens of rarely seen vintage fotos from treasures like FRANKENSTEIN, DRACULA, THE WOLF MAN, THE MUMMY, THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, to silent masterpieces like THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI, NOSFERATU, THE MAN WHO LAUGHS, to the beast (and worst!) Shock Theater TV classics like CURSE OF THE FACELESS MAN, THE WASP WOMAN, FRANKENSTEIN 1970, MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS, THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE and many many more.

The fotos in FM are BIG! Each issue is packed with loads of sharp, crisp, clear full page and half page pictures, all digitally restored to showcase their original horror-ific splendor! No other classic filmonster magazine in the world comes anywhere near matching FM in print quality! FM -- under the direction of editor/publisher Ray Ferry -- is the undisputed best in quality. Each issue features dozens of great fotos, plus a giant centerfold print. FM is the home of classic horror, sci-fi and fantasy--the terror treasures from the early days of silent films through the ghoulden days of the 1930s, 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s.

FM was the world's first filmonster magazine (started in 1958!) and today it is still the first and fear-most magazine of choice for true fans of the classic monsters. Whether you are a charter monster lover, or a young monster just discovering these "scream gems," FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND will thrill you and chill you in a way unmatched by any other monster movie magazine!

I was in Titan Comics, one of the Dallas comic book stores that I frequent, when I came across a box of Famous Monsters of Filmland. I rifled through the box and found a couple of issues that I remembered owning as a kid. Issue 100 and 101. They are partly pictured above. What a joy. As a bonus, the issues were half off becasue Titan was having a back issue sale throughout their store. So I snatched them up and went back to my office where I ignored everything else so I could experience once again a little Hollywood horror.

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