Thursday, 31 October 2024
LUSTIGE GESPENSTER PARADE: GERMAN HORROR STICKERS
I recently saw this sticker set online.
Horror Parade and Lustige Gespenster Parade.
By Americana of Munich.
The albums look great!
Fantastically detailed cards and pages.
They came in 10 pfennig packets. You got three sticker pictures.
Well over a hundred!
The art looks original and not lifted.
What do you think?
Anyone got a set?
It's In the Trees!
These lights hung in our garden reminded me of My favourite horror film, Night of the Demon. What's yours readers?
Halloween Movie: Impulse
I always liked Tim Matheson in National Lampoons Animal House, so when I came across the movie Impulse years ago his face felt familiar.
Impulse is an eco-horror/ sci-fi film from 1984 about a small American rural hamlet where the good folks turn nasty after some even nastier chemicals get into the water.
It recalls movies like The Crazies and The Andromeda Strain.
I've only seen it the once but really enjoyed it, so for Halloween it's my film recommendation.
Impulse, 1984.
Background:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impulse_(1984_film)
The full Movie:
Strange Old Toys
There were some really strange toys around in the States in the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies. So strange that I've always been fascinated by them. You might even think them ugly. Did you have anything like these or any other strange toys?
First up is Vincent Price's Shrunken Head set! You could dry out apples and attach hair and key chains. I didn't have one but oh I wish I had! A classic from the late monster craze.
https://www.atomictourism.us/2019/12/24/atomic-reactor-steam-plant/
Back to atom splitting, this Lone Ranger Atom Bomb toy ring is from the 1940s and maybe the first toy to dabble in nuclear physics.
Gilbert got there Atomic Energy Lab in first though, in 1950. Just 5000 were sold. With it cloud chamber and uranium ores the set allowed kids to see alpha particles collide. Not a great seller but what a toy! I'd have blown my room up!
You can read more on Wiki
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_U-238_Atomic_Energy_Laboratory
Dark Shadows has always been on my bucket list of shows I missed and want to watch. One of the odder playthings to emerge from it in 1970 was Josette's Music Box. I've listened to the tune and can imagine it giving young kids the creeps to be honest. Still, a fabulous bit of Dark Shadows kit and I for one would have loved it!
On my target list for my collection, I'm unlikely to ever own this beautiful oddity.
The 'bomb' on top allowed kids to peer through a spy hole to gawp at the thrilling mysteries of polonium.
You can find out more - if you can take it - here:
https://www.orau.org/health-physics-museum/collection/spinthariscopes/lone-ranger-atom-bomb-ring-spinthariscope.html
Perhaps my favourite odd toy is Horsman's Self Propelled Action Bed, released on the success of the film Bedknobs and Broomsticks.
The bed had mystery non-fall action and came with a doll which was supposed to look like Angela Lansbury but didn't. A strange item for a toy don't you think?
Beneath the bed lay the battery case, motor and non-fall device.
I wonder if the Action bed sold well?
Oddly enough, I'd love one. You?
Which strange toys have you come across?
The Dry Grimoire
Whenever I stay away from home for any length of time I write a short horror story.
Returning from the Continent on a long ferry voyage I wrote The Dry Grimoire.
It's quite a grisly tale so be warned if you do choose to indulge.
https://thegargoylesdispleasure.blogspot.com/2024/10/the-dry-grimoire.html?m=1
The Ghastly Ones - A Very Strange CD
I found this music video on You Tube, an instrumental, by a group called The Ghastly Ones (there was a movie called The Ghastly Ones, directed by Andy Milligan - which was banned in Britain, where it was classed as a Video Nasty).
The interesting part is that the video features a make believe Aurora box top of a grave digger - or a grave robber.
Apparently, this is the cover for their 2005 CD All Plastic Assembly Kit. Some photos of the cover show the Aurora name spelt as Augora.
Very weird.
Here is some information on the group and the CD.
Paul Adams from New Zealand
MONSTER MASH UP
ok people as its Halloween (in UK anyway) here's a run down of famous monsters and aliens, how many can you identify? If you can get the monster and the film/show, its double points!
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| NO1 |
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| NO2 |
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| NO3 |
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| NO4 |
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| NO5 |
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| NO6 |
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| NO7 |
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| NO8 |
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| NO9 |
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| NO10 |
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| NO11 |
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| NO12 |
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| NO13 |
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| NO14 |
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| NO15 |
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| NO16 |
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| NO17 |
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| NO18 |
Well done - the answers are:
1. I Married a Monster2. Thermians from ‘Galaxy Quest’3. The Glob – Outer Limits ‘Don’t Open Till Doomsday’4. The Invisibles – Outer LimitsInseminoid (misnumbered!)5. Calvin from ‘Life’6. Beachball Alien ‘Dark Star’7. Zandozan – ‘Last Starfighter’8. ‘Fiend without a Face’9. Carpenters ‘The Thing’10. Quatermass II11. Sil from ‘Species’12. Andromeda from ‘Andromeda Strain’13. Chewits Monster from TV Ad14. Martian Camera – ‘War of the Worlds’15. Demogorgon ‘Stranger Things’ Season 116. Quatermass Xperiment17. Martian from Quatermass and the Pit18. Cloverfield alien ‘Cloverfield’
THE COBWEBBED ROOM: 'SKELETON IN COFFIN' Novelty
I miss this old dormant monster blog a lot. It would be perfect for Halloween reading.
The skeleton in coffin was one of my fave little toys as a kid. I got it from Ellisdons by mail order using a postal order. Remember them!
Did you have a restless skeleton?
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Paul Vreede's New Spacex Toys Website
A beautiful and comprehensive site dedicated to the world of Tri-ang SpaceX and Golden Astronaut Toys
Ed Berg's Toy Blog: Toys and Stuff
