Meet the new Famous Monsters of Filmland Editor

Ever since Famous Monster Magazine won their lawsuit against Ray Ferry and kicked his sorry ass to the curb they seem to be making the right decisions - and that continued yesterday with the announcement of their new Editor - Jessie Lilley.

Jessie had previously edited and published Mondo Cult magazine, and she now takes over the reins of the newly reincarnated Famous Monsters Magazine. Bravo to the new regime for this smart choice of editor!


Read the whole story here:
http://www.famousmonstersoffilmland.com/fm-welcomes-jessie-lilley-as-editor/

You know, I think I forsee a rival to challenge Rue Morgue in the Rondo Awards next year...

3rd Naschycast is up and running!

Rod Barnett and Troy Guinn have posted the third Naschycast over at The Bloody Pit of Rod. This month's movie is the Paul Naschy werewolf flick, Night of the Howling Beast. Go swing by the website, give it a download and a listen and tell em' Doc Gangrene sent ya!

My thoughts on the 2009 Rondo Award winners

The 2009 Rondo Award winners were announced last night and there were some surprising results in some categories.

A few random thoughts on the awards...

Glad to see District 9 win best film. That rocks. It was such a creative and stylistic movie. And Avatar lost. Nuff said.

The William Castle Collection looks great. I gotta pick up that set.

Glad to see the extensive horror host documentary American Scary get the recognition it deserves. Very cool!

Best Magazine/Podcast/Artist of the Year/Best Article - Rue Morgue won all of these categories. Shows they have a huge fan base. I have to say though, no one does a more rockin' podcast. Great interviews and kick ass music. Glad to see them win that one, and Gary Pullin is an amazing artist, too.

Max the Drunken Severed Head wins Best Blog - Bravo! Max rocks. His website is updated daily, packed with fun stuff, and is always an interesting read. Plus he's a great guy.

Favorite Horror Host - this category is called "Favorite Horror Host" because some of the hosts got their nose bent out of shape the first year at the term "best" - whatever you bunch of big babies - haha (I can say that cause I'm a host too). I was very happy to see Count Gore DeVol win this one. Well deserved!! Congrats Count!

LINDA MILLER AWARD FOR FAN ARTIST OF THE YEAR - a fan artist named Linda Miller passed away this year, and Dave Colton named this award, a new category added this year, after her. I thought that was a nice gesture. The winner was Robert A. Scott. Not familiar with him, but congratulations Robert. This was one category I didn't vote in, as I really find it a bit strange... what is the definition of "fan" and "pro"? Unpublished? Interesting - But nonetheless there are many talented folks out there, and this is a way to recognize more of them.

Hall of Fame - I was very disappointed that Morgus the Magnificent wasn't added to the Hall of Fame. This was his 50th anniversary as a host last year. The timing was too perfect. This was his year. The host they added to the HOF was Sammy Terry, another fine addition and a host who definitely should be in there, too. But I'm sorry, this year should have been Morgus. I don't think this category is a numbers game, like the other ones. I think this one they hand select from among those nominated. Really have to wonder why they chose Sammy instead of Morgus...

Dennis Druktenis was added to the HOF, and I am VERY glad he was added. His magazine, Scary Monsters, has the monster kid spirit more than any other magazine. Plus Dennis is a really cool guy.



Congratulations to all who won - Here's the full list of winners below:



2009 Rondo Award Winners


BEST FILM OF 2009

DISTRICT 9



BEST TV PRESENTATION

DOCTOR WHO: End of Time



BEST CLASSIC DVD

AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON:

FULL MOON EDITION





BEST CLASSIC HORROR COLLECTION

WILLIAM CASTLE COLLECTION





BEST CLASSIC TV COLLECTION

ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS

(SEASON FOUR)





BEST RESTORATION

FAUST (1926) Restoration by Murnau Foundation





BEST DVD EXTRA

AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON: 'Beware the Moon' documentary





BEST DVD COMMENTARY

Director Fred Dekker: NIGHT OF THE CREEPS





BEST INDEPENDENT FILM OR DOCUMENTARY

AMERICAN SCARY (John Hudgens, Sandy Clark





BEST BOOK OF 2009

BELA LUGOSI AND BORIS KARLOFF: The Expanded Story of a Haunting Collaboration, by Gregory William Mank





BEST MAGAZINE

RUE MORGUE





BEST ARTICLE

'Bad Moon Rising,' by Jovanka Vuckovic (with Bruce McVicar), RUE MORGUE #93





BEST COVER

MONSTERS FROM THE VAULT #26 by Daniel Horne





BEST WEBSITE

DREAD CENTRAL





BEST BLOG

THE DRUNKEN SEVERED HEAD





BEST CONVENTION

MONSTER BASH





BEST FAN EVENT

TRIBUTE TO FORREST J ACKERMAN, Hollywood, organized by Joe Moe





FAVORITE HORROR HOST

Count Gore De Vol





BEST HORROR AUDIO SITE

RUE MORGUE RADIO





BEST CD

STAR TREK II: WRATH OF KHAN (James Horner; Film Score Monthly/Retrograde)





BEST HORROR COMIC BOOK

BATMAN: GOTHAM AFTER MIDNIGHT, by Steve Niles and Kelley Jones





BEST TOY, MODEL OR COLLECTIBLE

Twilight Zone Talking Tina (BifBamPow)





COUNT ALUCARD'S

CONTROVERSY OF THE YEAR

Studios offer some classics on DVD-Rs





FILM MOST IN NEED OF DVD RELEASE OR RESTORATION

ISLAND OF LOST SOULS (1932)





WRITER OF THE YEAR

GREGORY WILLIAM MANK





ARTIST OF THE YEAR

GARY PULLIN





LINDA MILLER AWARD FOR

FAN ARTIST OF THE YEAR

(In memory of the late Linda Miller)

ROBERT A. SCOTT





DVD REVIEWER OF THE YEAR

KIM NEWMAN





MONSTER KID OF THE YEAR

Eliot Brodsky

Monsterpalooza convention organizer





MONSTER KID HALL OF FAME:



BILL LEMON and RAY MEYERS

Makers of Aurora monsters



DENNIS DRUKTENIS

A 'Real' Monster Kid



SAMMY TERRY

A Midwest horror legend



BILL WARREN

Chronicler of the sci-fi era



FREDERICK S. CLARKE

Cinefantastique publisher

Happy Birthday Roger Corman

April 5 marks the birthday of the one and only Roger Corman, one of my favorite filmmakers. You have given me many hours of entertainment with your movies, and I'd just like to say thanks and hope you have a great 84th birthday!

An Interview with EC Comics' Al Feldstein

Hi Al. Thanks for taking the time to do this interview.
No problem.

The old EC headquarters have been turned into condos. Guess the neighborhood has changed quite a bit since the days you were running EC from that building. I heard Patrissy’s, the Italian restaurant Bill Gaines loved so much, has closed as well. Did you guys used to walk there from work?

Patrissy's was on Spring Street, half a block East of Lafeyette Street, which is one block south of Spring Street, corner of Lafayette Street...which is where the E.C. building stood. So we just had to walk a short block and a half to reach it.

I've read you guys used to do some scripting of comics over lunch, is that true?

As best as I can recall, we did very little "scripting" at Patrissy's. We would take off for lunch at Patrissy's after we had nailed down the plot for the day's required script.  After lunch, I would write it. Lunch at Patrissy's was usually the place for small talk; like whether we should recognize Red China. Just kidding.

To me the best part about the old EC books are the Ghoulunatics. Tell me about creating those characters if you would.

I had been writing and drawing western, crime and romance stories for E.C. and Bill...while continuously bugging him that all he was doing as a Publisher was imitating whatever sold... and imploring him to be an "Innovator" instead of an imitator.

Finally he gave in and asked me what I thought would be an innovation in comics...and I suggested "Horror"...because I remembered as a kid, listening to "The Witches Tale" and "Lights Out" and "The Inner Sanctum" on radio...and loved being scared out of my wits.

So he agreed to try what I had in mind as an experiment in his "Crime Patrol" and "War Against Crime" titles. Recalling that an integral part of those radio shows were their Hosts...I created "The Crypt Keeper" as the host of "The Crypt of Terror" for Crime Patrol and "The Vaultkeeper" as the host of "The Vault of Horror" for "War Against Crime."

The sales checks showed a marked improvement in those two titles when their horror stories appeared...so Bill agreed to change their titles and give The Cryptkeeper and The Vaultkeeper their own books.

Later on, I introduced "The Old Witch" as hostess of "The Witch's Cauldron" in "Tales From The Crypt"... and, based on the success of the other two "Horror" titles, Bill decided to drop another poorly-selling title and give the old gal her own book, "The Haunt of Fear."

Bill lived to see the worldwide success of Tales from the Crypt, with the 1971 and 1973 Amicus films (Tales from the Crypt and Vault of Horror) and again with the 1989 HBO series. I am sure both he and you must have felt truly vindicated after the way you were attacked by Fredrick Wertham and his Congressional Cronies.

We both were delighted with the recognition of our work given us with the Amicus films, except that I was horrified with the depiction of their hosts.

However, when the HBO version of "Tales From The Crypt" was introduced, Bill's and my relationship has been severely strained because I had retired from MAD. And so he did not allow...or give me credit for the creation of the title, the host...and for the adaptation of all of my stories.  
   

Were you happy with HBO’s interpretation of the Crypt Keeper?

Not at first. I found the cackling, lisping, obnoxious puppet a bit irritating...and not exactly what I had in mind. But he grew on me.

You were born on October 24th. Think having a birth date so close to Halloween had anything to do with your affinity to horror? 

It never occurred to me. I think the radio shows were far more influential.

Tell me more about what you’re up to nowadays. I see from your website that you’ve been spending a good deal of time painting.

That's what I do now...Western, Wildlife, Landscape and Sci-Fi/Fantasy paintings. The Sci-Fi Fantasy paintings are mostly commissions for "Cover-Revisited" versions of my old E. C. covers.

Are you doing any writing nowadays, or pretty much strictly art?
When I retired from MAD, I made a choice between "writing" and "fine art" and my love for art won.


 
I know you do some convention appearances as well. Do you enjoy going to shows and meeting fans?

I love it. It is a great ego-stroking experience...and I am amazed at how the popularity of the E.C. products of the '50's has continued to survive over the decades...with a new audience developing with each generation. I am grateful to Russ Cochran and his "collections" and "re-prints" for that.

 

What upcoming convention appearances will you be making?

I will be at the Motor City ComiCon in Novi, Michigan this May.


Thanks again for spending some time with me and I look forward to meeting you at a show in the future.

Ray Harryhausen Podcast on Cinephobia-radio

Stuart Feedback Andrews, host of Cinephobia Radio (and Rue Morgue Radio) posted a fantastic interview with stop motion animation master Ray Harryhausen on the second episode of his podcast. He chats with Ray for a full 30 minutes about his work and career, a really in depth and well done interview.

He also talks to writer Tony Dalton in this episode about the career of Ray Harryhausen - check it out here:

http://www.cinephobia-radio.com/vault/ray-harryhausen

and check out all his other episodes while you're there. Great stuff.

monster survey for Universal Studios

My buddy Scott Essman over at Universal asked if I could post this on my website. It's a survey to generate information to give to the Universal upper brass. Takes only a couple of minutes and is all about classic Universal monsters. Help provide your insight...

Classic Monster Enthusiast:

Kindly take this survey about the classic monster properties - it will take 90 seconds of your time and provide us with valuable information about the market for these films among the people who TRULY care about them... thanks in advance for your help:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LHTW753

THANKS TO YOU guys who have the sites that burn that flame!!!


Best,
Scott Essman