What do you think?
Rate this book
The Dynamite Monster Hall of Fame
(from the back cover): "Meet Godzilla, Dracula, the Wolfman, and the other freaky fiends, creepy creatures, and menacing monsters who star in your favorite films and nightmares. You've read about some of them in "Dynamite"; now learn the whole terrifying truth about them all.
Here's what the toughest critics are saying about THE DYNAMITE MONSTER HALL OF FAME.
"...Fangs a lot. This is a book I could really sink my teeth into."
-Count Dracula
"...Loved it! I was totally wrapped up in it!"
-The Mummy
"...Delicious! Simply delicious!"
-The Monster that Devoured Cleveland
Here's what the toughest critics are saying about THE DYNAMITE MONSTER HALL OF FAME.
"...Fangs a lot. This is a book I could really sink my teeth into."
-Count Dracula
"...Loved it! I was totally wrapped up in it!"
-The Mummy
"...Delicious! Simply delicious!"
-The Monster that Devoured Cleveland
78 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1978
9 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 15, 2025
this book is a fun romp through the classic monster movies. lots of cool trivia for a kid to read, and the narrators voice is witty and funny. this is super fun!
June 30, 2013
This was a totally seminal book for me as a kid, although I can't remember for sure whether it was "the first" book about monster movies I ever read. I certainly read it a lot of times, and it became a source for lists of movies I needed to watch. It influenced me, in the sense that I learned about some of my favorite monsters and monster-creators, and it inspired me to want to make monster movies when I grew up (alas, that was not to be).
For those who no longer remember, “Dynamite” magazine was a very popular kids’ magazine of the 1970s, somewhat more staid and parent-friendly than “Mad” magazine, but intended for an older audience than “Electric Company” magazine. It mostly covered media that kids were interested in – I remember issues with John Travolta, Cheap Trick, Battlestar Galactica and (later) Pac-Man. At Halloween we would often get some horror- or monster-themed stuff, and that was of course my favorite. This was a collection of some of the old Halloween issue articles, filled out with new material to be “complete” or at least complete enough for its audience.
Chapters cover Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, giant insect movies, werewolves, Godzilla, and the Mummy in reasonable detail. From that list, any horror fan can see that they were dealing mostly in pretty dated material, and certainly staying on the kid-safe side, but that was certainly fine with me. Later chapters discuss less easily definable topics, including a monster movie quiz, “famous monster sayings,” (movie quotes) a section on “movie monstrosities” (so-bad-they’re good psychotronic moives), and movie gimmicks, which include a few from William Castle. But the big pay-off for me was the chapter on Ray Harryhausen, which is where I first found out about his many great stop-motion effects extravaganzas. When I was a kid, I wanted to grow up to be Ray Harryhausen, and this book is basically why.
There are also a number of black and white stills from the movies, and interestingly as a child I wrote comments on some of them (eg: a picture of the Fly strangling a cop has a bubble saying “I wasn’t speeding!”). Such preparations made me an excellent audience when Mystery Science Theater 3000 came along. But that’s a story for another review…
For those who no longer remember, “Dynamite” magazine was a very popular kids’ magazine of the 1970s, somewhat more staid and parent-friendly than “Mad” magazine, but intended for an older audience than “Electric Company” magazine. It mostly covered media that kids were interested in – I remember issues with John Travolta, Cheap Trick, Battlestar Galactica and (later) Pac-Man. At Halloween we would often get some horror- or monster-themed stuff, and that was of course my favorite. This was a collection of some of the old Halloween issue articles, filled out with new material to be “complete” or at least complete enough for its audience.
Chapters cover Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, giant insect movies, werewolves, Godzilla, and the Mummy in reasonable detail. From that list, any horror fan can see that they were dealing mostly in pretty dated material, and certainly staying on the kid-safe side, but that was certainly fine with me. Later chapters discuss less easily definable topics, including a monster movie quiz, “famous monster sayings,” (movie quotes) a section on “movie monstrosities” (so-bad-they’re good psychotronic moives), and movie gimmicks, which include a few from William Castle. But the big pay-off for me was the chapter on Ray Harryhausen, which is where I first found out about his many great stop-motion effects extravaganzas. When I was a kid, I wanted to grow up to be Ray Harryhausen, and this book is basically why.
There are also a number of black and white stills from the movies, and interestingly as a child I wrote comments on some of them (eg: a picture of the Fly strangling a cop has a bubble saying “I wasn’t speeding!”). Such preparations made me an excellent audience when Mystery Science Theater 3000 came along. But that’s a story for another review…
May 1, 2017
This book has been sitting on my shelf since I was a little kid. I got it through my Dynamite magazine subscription. Does anyone even remember Dynamite magazine? I know I'm aging myself. This was a fun introduction to monsters in books and movies. I'm judging this as the child's book it is, and not from an adult's perspective. (I am just a kid at heart, after all.)
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews