From Zombos Closet

Halloween Sighted: Michaels Stores 2017

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You can always count on Michaels Stores to bring Halloween in early. Lots of decorations, Lemax Spooky Town, and fun wood and plaster craft items you can paint this year to showcase your Halloween mojo. Skeletons, skulls, and Day of the Dead are once again staple themes, and you can go with either a black and white motif or add splashes of color. Either way, I'm always thrilled to see their shelves filled with the creepy and the spooky. Here's a sampling of what's in store and waiting for you. The Lemax Spooky Town display wasn't up yet, but I'll be back to snag some photos for you.

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Monster Mania No. 2, 1967
Tribute to Hammer Issue

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Monster Mania was one of the more worthwhile reads in monsterkid horror magazines from the 1960s. Russ Jones, in his Editor's Desk entry for this issue, laments how tough it is to find fresh material and photos. "How many more times can the Frankenstein story be told? How many more times will the same stock shots of the immortal Bela Lugosi as Dracula be printed?" Indeed. And he didn't have the Internet to contend with, where pictures and the same material are shared (and ripped off) faster than a cold. I liked Monster Mania's simple but efficient layout and coverage, and this Tribute to Hammer issue is a keeper. Terrence Fisher talks horror, One Million Years B.C. gets reviewed, Chris Fellner explores The Intriguing World of Hammer Films, Christopher Lee is spotlighted, and Peter Cushing, too. And…the product ads are to die for. How many did you send away for? Take that, Amazon.

Comic reader version:  Download Monster Mania 2  (More magazines in the morgue over here.)

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Monster Mania No. 2, 1967
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The Woman in Green (1945)
Mexican Lobby Card

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I'm a big Sherlock Holmes and Watson fan. The Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce series was a well-worked update to the characters. Here's the Mexican lobby card for The Woman in Green. Henry Daniell as Professor Moriarty was a perfect choice: he clearly showed, for me, that reptilian countenance Doyle wrote about. The ending is rather silly, though: Professor Moriarty is certainly more clever than that. 

Woman in green lobby card

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Curse of the Faceless Man (1958)
Mexican Lobby Card

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This is one of those horror movies that seems to impress more than its production should warrant. The music is pretty good for a budget horror, and the love storyline, of ancient man and reincarnated woman, brings a certain tragedy and out of time element to it all. But Richard Anderson was practically comatose throughout, and the voice-over wasn't needed. Still, once the music kicks in and Quintilus rises, albeit slowly, there's a definite eerie mood that begs you to yearn for more (an effect I also experienced with The She-Creature).

Curse of the faceless man lobby

The Tiger Woman (1944)
Mexican Lobby Card

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By now you probably have gotten the feeling I'm into Republic Pictures Serials, and jungle movies. Now, if Linda Stirling had actually worn the outfit shown in the illustration for this Mexican lobby card, well, I'd have liked that too. Of course, there are social considerations to discuss and argue in these older jungle movies and serials: how white men and women always seem to find themselves ruling over native tribes, and unlikely stuff like that. Or how the prop and art departments kept coming up with mismatching wardrobes for the culture and time period (yes, budget, I know). I wouldn't mind, though, wearing those puffy pants (see the inset scene). Those are awesome. And don't forget the boots.

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