Contents
The Making of King Kong: A Natural Horror Adventure
The success of King Kong is primarily ascribed to the compelling nature of this monstrous beast and the state of the art special effects that brought him to life. Less often recognized is the extent to which the success of King Kong can be attributed to its place in the history of both documentary and classic Hollywood cinema. To truly understand the forces that conspired to create this awesome ape, we need to consider the origins of filmmaking, early natural history film, and the birth of film genres.
They Went for a Little Walk: The Mummy in Fact, Folklore, Fiction, and Film, Part 2
Egyptomania took hold of Europe and North America—this remarkable civilization was then thought to have flourished a mere millennium after the Earth’s creation in 4004 B.C.E.—and it has retained its hold on us ever since. Mummies, in particular, stimulated imaginations. Some of them remained so lifelike; what if they, in fact, came back to life?
Three Genre Gems You Might Have Missed: Ravenous, Session 9, and Frailty
Count these three in the orphaned category: Ravenous (1999), Session 9 (2001) and Frailty (2001), all movies that pretty much fell through the cracks of the system. While most films are sold with comparisons to other films they resemble, these films are best characterized their differences with mainstream fare. No wonder they didn’t make the grade in your local mall mega-theater. They’re all readily available on VHS and DVD, however, and they’re just the kind of thing that might appeal to readers of this monster magazine (into which one may sink one’s teeth).
The Return of Chandu: A Must for Lugosi Completists
Alpha Video, a company with a large slate of bare bones DVD releases of old films, has released The Return of Chandu’s twelve chapters in two volumes sold as separate DVDs. While I certainly found this serial interesting and worth my time as a Lugosi fan, I’m going to give these discs a mixed review and leave it to you to decide if Chandu is worth your time.
Jack Pierce: The Man Behind the Monsters
In 1998, Scott Essman, a lifelong monster movie fan, decided he wanted to produce a project that would pay homage to the man who gave a face to the monsters we know and love. With the films still under copyright, using clips would be prohibitive. Essman chose to produce a play. Two years in the making, the play “Jack Pierce: the Man Behind the Monsters” was performed only once. The performance, however, was recorded and is now available in DVD format.
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