When I was a kid I loved monsters.
As soon as I was able I filled my bedroom with them.
Posters, models, toys, comics, key rings, books: if it was monstrous it went in.
What I can't remember is when it all started and when it ended. I don't have a single photograph of my creature-featured sleeping quarters so it's hard to date the period.
You can get an idea of what it looked like in the film Salem's Lot. Mark, the young hero, is also a horror hound.
Here he is in that oft-assumed defensive pose of the monster nut as he's regaled by his Father for being an oddball with "Why do you waste your time with monsters son!" or something similar, a tirade I'm pleased to say I only had once from my Dad until he gave in and accepted the grue.
Salem's Lot is set in the Seventies. Stephen King published the novel in 1975. the film was made in 1979. My own monster craze began years before this though, in the late Sixties I would guess. I would have been 9 or 10 years old. Maybe earlier. Its hard to say.
The Seventies scene above feels quite late in the horror craze. At least from my own experience. Certainly my beastly bedroom was done and dusted by 1977 when my Dad sold up and I got a flat. Only the Aurora Witch survived the move.
The longevity of the monster fad on film is even starker in the flick Super 8. Set in the summer of 1979 the Spielberg/ Abrams movie is basically an homage to monster-filled childhoods everywhere and a nostalgic epitaph to one of the greatest crazes ever.
The film's hero Joe, like Mark in Salem's Lot, is chastised by his straitlaced Dad for messing with plastic fiends like the Hunchback he so lovingly cares for.
So this is 1979 in America. At least on film. I was 18 by this point and have no idea what 10 year olds where into back then. My monsters were gone and my life was filled with the more banal gremlins of early adulthood.
Just how long did the monster craze last and when was yours readers?
Remember,America is a big place,and what was popular in ,say, California may have been different than what was popular in Minnesota or Connecticut at any given time.From my own perspective,monsters didn't seem to be a booming trend in 1979 New Jersey.The late 60's early 70's was definitely when the craze was at its peak for me .Sure ,I carried the torch for them,and if I looked hard enough, I found some.A good example is Aurora Monsters.Plentiful in the early 70's, they were gone from the scene by 1979.A few Aurora dinosaurs were re issued by Revell,and I snapped up an Allosaurus(or Dragon Dinosaur,as Revell called it) and built it.BTW, I still have it.Star Wars and Sci Fi seemed to be the replacement trend for monsters in '79.Even Famous Monsters Magazine was sporting covers with Darth Vader, Cylons and The Alien by then.But fear not for the Monsters.At age 49,I have always had monsters in my life.Of course the internet has been a big help for about the last 15 years or so, but even without it, my eyes are still sharp and on the lookout for monsters!
ReplyDeleteFascinating that Brian. The monster craze was over for me in the early seventies I reckon too but like you my monstrous heart has always kept beating. I love nothing more than reading trashy horror novels whilst on holiday, which is exactly what I'm doing. Currently I'm starting the Black Death about an outbreak of the plague in modern New York! I also keep the torch alive with a huge collection of horror comics including straight runs of the first years of creepy and eerie, the classics. I have other comics like nightmare and psycho by skyward, the horror mood! Great covers!
DeleteGreat reading Woodsy. Would you be able to reconstruct your beastly bedroom by memory, if not in real life then at least virtually by Photoshop? Would be a thrill to see!
ReplyDeleteThanks arto. Hmm, reconstruct my bedroom? Not sure. I will have to pick the scabs off my murky memories and see what oozes out!
DeleteThe Monster Craze hit me so hard that I made a restaurant out of it. Monster Cafe Saltillo
ReplyDeleteI have introduced the monsters to Mexico for the past 8 years. It has been a delight.