Saturday, July 4, 2026

HORROR COMBO/DOUBLE-BILL POSTERS


You're not likely to find a double bill at a theater these days unless it's a special showing of some sort. I don't know when they died out, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it had something to do with the increasingly high production costs and studios wanted to squeeze every penny out of each one of their expensively-made movies. While it's not anywhere near the same experience, you can create your own double-triple-or more feature right in your own home. Back in the day, you'd feel ripped off if you didn't get a double-feature and maybe a cartoon if you went to practically every theater on the planet.

Today's post celebrates the "combo" posters from monster movie double-features in the proverbial "good old days." Some are from the original runs and some are from revivals and re-releases.  Some are cool, like the BLOOD SUCKERS and BLOOD THIRST and GHOUL-ARAMA combos and some are downright crudely designed.

What I like about them is some of the crazy taglines meant to lure the theatergoer into emptying their pocket change: "See the Unholy Feast of the Damned!", "Sickening Horror to Haunt Your Nightmares!", "Tons of Monster Fury vs. Out-of-This-World Fright!", and--wait for it--"A Ghastly Elegance That Suggests Tennessee Williams"! But, what the heck is OKEFENOKEE doing playing with THE MONSTER FROM PIEDRAS BLANCAS?

Also, don't miss the "Witch Deflector" freebie given out to patrons for the showing of Lon Chaney Jr.'s WITCHCRAFT. Yikes!


















HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA!



Okay, fellow citizens of the good ol' US-of-A -- time to stow political gripes and other social differences for one day and together, celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, one of the most important documents in human history.

Come back later today for your daily dose of monsters!

Friday, July 3, 2026

OPEN IT OUT IF YOU DARE!


"Welcome to Monster Mag! Blood rich colour and full gloss gore is what we have to offer
every month."

British customs workers in the 1970s took their job very seriously. Accordingly, when a shipment of Jan and Roger Cook's second issue of MONSTER MAG poster magazine arrived from Italy on the shores of England it was summarily confiscated and destroyed. A few copies landed in Germany and France which made it highly-collectible to English-speaking fans.

Miraculously, the next issue was cleared, even though it still contained much of the bloody and gruesome content that got the previous issue stopped in its tracks, this time the cover had a banner that read "For Sale to Adults Only". Maybe that helped.

MONSTER MAG was a thin 8-pages, but the attraction was the monster-sized, 24" x 36" poster revealed when you unfolded the magazine's pages.

The first run of the 'zine lasted for 14 issues, published from 1973 to 1976 before it . . . well . . .  folded. Dez Skinn picked it up later in 1976 and published three more issues. Almost four decades later in 2014, Skinn teamed up with former editor Cook to reprint the rare second issue in English from a French copy--one the custom agents had luckily missed!

NOTE: This is the fourth issue and is an admittedly low-quality scan, but it's all I've got.

View more of MONSTER MAG HERE.

MONSTER MAG
Vol. 1 No. 4
1974
Top Sellers, Ltd.
Editor: Roger Cook
Art Director: Gordon Winchcomb
Cover: Photo cover
Pages: 8 (Plus open-up poster)
Cover price: 20p (about 25-cents or so in U.S. currency)