MONSTER FANTASY
Vol. 1 No. 4
October 1975
Mayfair Publications
Editor: Tony Tallarico (?)
This is the last issue of MONSTER FANTASY that was published. It's demise is most likely attributed to the top 2 reasons why most magazines fail -- poor distribution and/or poor sales.
In my estimation, MONSTER FANTASY was one of the better monster 'zines of the 1970s, mainly because of it took the genre seriously and the articles were more than a few hundred words long. There was some meat to the material, in other words. Take for instance, the "book length" story of Lon Chaney in this issue. The B. Gellman Jackson piece that ran 30 pages in a single issue was nearly unheard of for the times, even in non-monster 'zines.
Also notable in this issue are articles on the horror films of Jack Nicholson, a HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS film story in pictures, an ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN retrospective, a history of zombie cinema, and a look at the girls of dinosaur movies.
As mentioned in earlier posts about this magazine, Tony Tallarico is generally mentioned as the unnamed editor of this magazine. If it's true, then Mr. Tallarico should be commended for a fine entry into the realm of monster magazines.
Out of all the monsters, Frankenstein's creation seems to have the most success with the ladies. Dracula may be good at sneaking up on the unsuspecting female who swoons for his hypnotic affection, but when it comes to out-and-out uninhibited and unabashed lasciviousness, Frankie takes the, uh.... cheesecake.
Case in point: Here is just one instance of Henry's laboratory-spawned offspring (or someone dressed up like him) scaring the daylights out of a bare nekkid babe ... and who knows what else?
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| A horror high-five? |
[SOURCE: High Time 1965]
One of my favorite "guilty pleasure" B-Horror movies is CURSE OF THE FACELSS MAN. It's a straight up horror thriller from beginning to end. It was directed by Eddie Cahn, who also directed another of my favorite low-budget monster melodramas, FOUR SKULLS OF JONATHAN DRAKE (see my article on this movie in MAD SCIENTIST #30).
CURSE OF THE FACELESS MAN is reviewed in the August 16th, 1958 issue of HARRISON'S REPORTS. Filmed at L.A.'s Griffith Observatory and Malibu Beach, it was released in the same month on a double-bill with IT, THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE, another Cahn fifties fright film that is generally referred to as the inspiration for ALIEN. Included here is a COFM lobby card set.
Promoted as a "Reviewing Service Free From The Influence of Film Advertising", HARRISON'S REPORTS was a weekly newsletter that was "devoted chiefly to the interests of the exhibitor", which meant it was not a typical Hollywood fan magazine that pandered to the studios for exclusive access to the stars and lots of free media in the form of stills, photos and other studio hype.
It was edited and published in New York from July 5, 1919 until September 1, 1962 by P.S. Harrison, who at one time had a column in MOTION PICTURE NEWS. In its 44-year run, HARRISON'S REPORTS printed more than 17,000 feature film reviews over more than 2,200 issues.
The year 1958 saw a bumper crop of science-fiction/horror thrillers that was unprecedented. It seemed like a week or two didn't go by without a new double-bill of something gigantic along with something hideous hitting the theater screens and, especially, the drive-ins. HARRISON'S REPORTS enthusiastically included these films in its pages.
Today's post features reviews from a pair of sci-fi thrillers from HR's August 16, 2016 issue, one with people shrunk to the size of puppets and one with a man who expanded into a giant monster. ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE (aka WAR OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE) and WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST were both released on June 18, 1958, by American International. Accompanying the reviews are a set of promotional stills from ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE and a lobby card set from WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST.
