From Zombos' Closet

Movie Pressbook: The Mummy (1959)

Here's the movie pressbook for Terence Fisher's neatly scripted The Mummy; greatly enhanced by Peter Cushing's energetic performance and Christopher Lee's looming presence.

Jungle Jim in Mark of the Gorilla (1950) Pressbook

Nazis dress up as apes and go looking for gold. Jungle Jim (Johnny Weismuller) has other plans for them.

Movie Herald: The Invisible Man Returns (1940)

This Spanish language herald for El Hombre Invisible Vuelve (1940) is not in my collection. Yet. Emoviez has it for "Buy It Now" on eBay. These pictures were taken by emoviez.

Movie Herald: Conquest of the Planet of the Apes

This movie herald (tabloid-style) was a promotional item for Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. I don't recall seeing it when I hit the theater back in 1972 to see the movie. Heralds, like pressbooks, aren't used anymore, but I was pleasantly surprised when one for Silent Hill (2006) popped up.

Movie Pressbook: Dead of Night (1972)

Here's the movie pressbook for Dead of Night (1972), also known as Deathdream. A Viet Nam vet returns home. Or something that looks like him. An eerie, slow boil of terror. One of the decade's best horror movies, but under-appreciated today.

Movie Pressbook: The Black Panther (1956) with Sabu

Movie Pressbook: Terror in the Haunted House (1958)

Also known as My World Dies Screaming (1958). Howco International specialized in B-movie distribution of double bill fare to theaters and drive-ins. The movie's poster art is tacky, kind of weird in its use and placement of one screaming head and four grinning skulls, and actually quite good at stirring up interest.

Comic Book Review: American Vampire Second Cycle, Issue 1

Zombos Says: Very Good

Skinner Sweet, former hellion on horseback, is now hellion on wheels as he hunts down bad guys along the border. Pearl Jones, former aspiring actress, is now acting like a mother hen, gathering up orphaned vampire children. She lives in a comfy homestead, he lives in a train car buried in the desert. He also talks to a skeleton named Kitty. It's been a long haul since Sweet stopped being so sour and turned nice, so he's entitled to a few eccentricities. 

Issue one of American Vampire, Second Cycle, starts off with a hint at dangerous things doing a lot of killing in the Mexican territory of Arizona in 1811, and leaves off with another hint that those things are still around in 1965, and have moved into the vicinity of Juarez. Pearl's newly-found orphan, May, has a large bite mark not even Pearl has seen before. When asked about it, May says cryptically "The Gray Trader." I hate prescient kids mouthing cryptic words. They're creepy little bastards who know and don't tell, but they're quick to tell you you're going to die, but don't press for any more useful information because this is only the first issue.

I expect Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque to reveal more in the upcoming issues, but this first one ably delivers the mystery and the menace to set up the coming action, flowing them across great-looking panels and well-balanced talk versus silence. Snyder has a knack for concise writing that blends expositive and persuasive words easily with well-placed cussing, making his vampire lore a compelling mix between the classic Gothic overbite, a 30 Days of Night viciousness, and an American Gothic mood sweeping across his time-periods. Albuquerque captures it, embellishes it, and refines it. His art isn't very detailed, but he energetically zooms in and out and creates a tense forward motion linking through every panel from first to last. He's one artist who zings with the right colorist because he leaves room for its vibrancy and shadowing. Dave McCaig knows how to take advantage of that room.

DC Comics provided a courtesy copy for this review.

Mexican Lobby Card: Atacan Los Monstruos (1972)

The Mexican lobby card for The Twilight People (1972) with Pam Grier.

Mexican Lobby Card: Espiritismo (1962)

Satan, three wishes, bad idea; they all come  together badly in Espiritismo. This Mexican lobby card for the movie comes together much better, though.

Lake of Dracula (1971) Mexican Lobby Card

The Japanese produced trio of  vampire movies referred to as the Bloodthirsty Trilogy (a loose one at that, really), evinced stylish Gothic chills similar to Hammer's. The three are Vampire Doll (1970), Lake of Dracula (1971), and Evil of Dracula (1974). Here's the Mexican lobby card for Lake of Dracula.

Mexican Lobby Card: Tales of Terror

The Mexican lobby card for Tales of Terror (1962), directed by Roger Corman.