IT Came From The LIBRARY

A sample of the spook-tacular graphics I've been working on. 

Additional graphics found here. Event details here. 

Farwell Ray Harryhausen

i hold this man completely responsible for my medusa fixation. 

news like this makes me wanna stay home all day + watch every ray harryhausen movie ever made.

 

there's a great post with lots of pictures + a video at monster brains.

eyes stare in the darkness with no form

gold plated lobsters stuck in my throat

the best way to start any day, with the B-52s and Russ Tamblyn in War of the Gargantuas.

                           

mythical monsters

i found these LIFE magazine clippings in a old box of saved images and articles. illustrations by Roudolf Freund, wildlife artist and long time illustrator for LIFE.
click images for larger viewing.

if only...

Said the Shark - True Love from Iwave records on Vimeo.

a good way to start the day

originally posted at Monster Brains

We LOVE Boris K*

with over 100 blogs participating in the Boris Karloff Blogathon this week, i think it's fair to say no one does it quite like Boris. for me, his very name launches a million smiles throughout my entire being and a slight tingle up my spine. what is it about him, the stare, the voice, or the heartbreaking tortured sensitivity of the eternally misunderstood? i can't even begin to explain it, i'll just embrace it.

my Boris K offerings this week are more of the do-it-yourself variety... and if your up for the challenge, please feel free to join in. this week i have a few crafty tutorials planed in honor our boy Boris. So pull out the construction paper, glue + glitter, cause it's Things to Make & Do... with Boris Karloff. stay tuned for future posts.

be sure to visit Frankensteinia for more madness with Boris.

babes in halloweenland*

it's in the blood.

HULKenstein: Part 3

The two part episode of the Incredible Hulk entitled "The First" is an all out Frankenstein extravaganza. Episodes 12 + 13 of season four aired in march, 1981. The basic plot lines strongly resemble SON OF FRANKENSTEIN, with lingering elements from all three Frankenstein films. The HULK television series is produced by Universal Studios, so it's pretty much all in the family.

David Banner travels to a nondescript small town on order to study the research of Dr. Jeffery Clive. Clive was experimenting with gamma radiation thirty years before Dr. Banner. Although Banner is not the actual son of Dr. Clive, he is the next generation, and a fellow scientist. Experiments by both scientist's resulted in the anger induced metamorphosis of their respective test subjects. The only difference is that Clive found the cure, then pass away just days later. An angry mob caused him to fall to his death, or something of that nature [sounds familiar]. So, David Banner [with the help of Clive's old assistant, Frye] inhabits the deserted lab hoping to find the cure.

The parallels, similarities and such are quite numerous. Just starting with the character's names. Dr. Clive is clearly named for Colin Clive. Clive's vindictive assistant [and cured test subject] is Dell Frye, namesake of Dwight Frye. There is also the ever present lady-fair named Elizabeth. And don't forget the peacekeeper/law-man doing his best to stop trouble before it starts. There's murder, enraged townies with torches and villagers with guns. There's rooftop light shows and plenty of glowing gadgets, levers, and test tubes galore. Of course it all ends with the destruction of the lab and loads of heartache.

It's where the story deviates that things get interesting. In this story we have two creatures. David Banner becomes creature number one, the HULK. The HULK may be angry [and enjoys throwing things] but he never kills, because David is incapable of murder. The mean-spirited and manipulative Dell Frye is quite different. He tricks David into irradiating him again. When Frye gets mad and becomes his own creature, he always kills. This character may be named Frye, but he most closely resembles Bela Lugosi's Ygor. The crippled Frye comes across nice and helpful when he wants something, but quickly changes to show his true colors [in more ways than one]. Frye is a murderer with an incurable desire for revenge. Once he gets the strength back, there is no stopping him.

In these two creatures we have both sides of Frankenstein's monster split in two: the friend and the killer. It speaks to the cult of personality, nature vs. nurture, or is it nature + nurture. It's the abnormal, criminal brain versus the normal, benevolent brain in physical hand to hand combat. Plus you also have the adage of David Banner being both Frankenstein and the Creature all in one.

below are comparison stills from "The First: Parts 1+2" paired with various stills from all three Universal Frankenstein films.

check back next friday for more HULK.

HULKenstein: Part 2

yet another HULKenstein moment. this time taken from "A Death in the Family" episode two, season one of the INCREDIBLE HULK television series [November 1977]. here we see a kindly old man offering HULK a little food + booze. clearly an homage to the blind man scenes from the BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN. of course there's one major difference....

both scenes end in a blaze, but the difference is clear.
frankenstein's monster - "drink good"
HULK - drink bad, very bad.

check back next friday for the next HULKenstein installment.