Monster! #13: January 2015 - Hammer Studios Special

by Tim Paxton, Steve Fenton (Editor), Troy Howarth (Contributor)

Our first ish of 2015 isn’t quite as fat as our last of 2014, but it nonetheless still totals just over 100 pages, and is crammed to the gills with mucho monsterrific goodness! Not only does Louis Paul give his film-by-film rundown of Hammer Films’ much-beloved FRANKENSTEIN series (all but one of which star Peter Cushing), but Troy Howarth follows with his similarly personalized chronological look back over Hammer’s equally beloved DRACULA saga (all but one of which star Christopher Lee and many of which costar Cushing). In his nostalgic “first time” reminiscence, Eric Messina tells about how Lucio Fulci’s ZOMBIE (1979) not only scared the hell out of him…but scarred him for life to boot! In addition, Stephen R. Bissette contributes an in-depth look back over / critical analysis of the three official cinematic adaptations thus far of Richard Matheson’s classic post-apocalyptic SF novel “I Am Legend”: namely, THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (1964), THE OMEGA MAN (1971) and I AM LEGEND (2007); also taking in a number of the various unofficial spinoffs/rip-offs and other related pop cultural ephemera along the way. Elsewhere, John Harrison covers the Topps company’s “Dinosaurs Attack!” trading card series, and his article also includes an exclusive interview with DA! co-creator Gary Gerani. And last but by no means least, MONSTER! creator/coeditor Tim Paxton continues his ongoing coverage of India’s foremost family of monster moviemakers in “The House of Ramsay, Pt. 8”; this issue discussing their revenge-from-beyond-the-grave shocker, GHUTAN (2007). All this and a whole whack of other international monster movie reviews too – including THE GIANT GILA MONSTER (1959), SNOWBEAST (1977), CURSE OF EVIL (1982), SPOOKIES (1986), CREATURES FROM THE ABYSS (1994), SOULKEEPER (2001), ALIEN APOCALYPSE (2005) and THE DEMON’S ROOK (2013) – as always with detailed video availability info provided in our back pages about all the titles covered within. In addition to those named above, M! #13 also includes written contributions from Greg Goodsell, Christos Mouroukis, Mike T. Lyddon and Steve Fenton; while MONSTER! / WENG’S CHOP publisher poobah Brian Harris contributes this issue’s guest editorial, with an invaluable assist from his darling daughter India!

Genres: Horror

102 pages, Paperback

First published January 21, 2015

Reviews

[Pinky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Candy for ghouls: thirty-four pages worth of Hammer-soaked Frankenstein/Dracula history, contagious nostalgia for Topps's Dinosaurs Attack! trading card series, an exceptional article chronicling half a century of Matheson-butchering from the every-dependable Stephen R. Bissette. The reviews delight and frustrate me. Tons of oddities worth seeking out, but, for all their passion, occasionally weak (a recent Dangerous Minds article on Spookies was more informative, though Eric Messina nailed it - perfect movie for boozing!), and I tire of the twelve-year-old-boy approach to women ["Ivan meets an incredibly hot bombshell (I couldn't help staring at her erect nipples all the time)..."]. Still, great overall.