Created by Nature or Science? Invasions of Monsters and Octopuses

Hi Woodsy,

I don't own any of these. I sold the octopus set ages ago, but here are some photos.

Regards

Tony E.

Anyone else got this kind of stuff?

i mostri: Italian monsters

I adore this Baravelli catalogue cover, showcasing their release of the Mego universal monsters.

What a great image! I love that purple castle!

Have you any Mego?

When Monsters Form a Mob!

Just when you thought it was safe to go into the castle there's even more monsters! 

Brian's Monster Base is overrun! 

New Jersey will never be the same! 

Anyone got any monsters too?

🦇

Brian's Mego Mad Monsters!

Monster Base, New Jersey is just packed with monsters.

And what do you do when you've this many Megos?

Get more! 

Yes!

Brian certainly has his hands full at Monster Base!

😂

A Face Only A Mother Could Love!

 Ed's comment about the robot car made me chuckle and as it's Mother's Day here in the UK it reminded me of two other faces.

This is Hammer's monster from the film The Reptile, 1966.

And here's the face of a creature from James Cameron's recent Avatar sequel.

The same mother? 

PS. I love the Reptile!

The Company of Wolves: It's Mysterious My Weekly

 I adore the fantastical magic of The Company of Wolves. Based on Angela Carter's short story, it's a film I just love and is up there with The Fearless Vampire Killers as a rare but rewarding treat.

Seeing it again this week I noticed some publications in the bedroom set, one particularly mysterious, as I simply cannot find another example!

This mystery is the magazine on the bed. It's visible on the film poster and in the film itself you can see it's a A My Weekly with the words The Shattered Dream on the bottom. The picture looks like the girl in the film. It could well be a made up prop. What do you think readers? 

Less of a mystery are two more publications in the heroine's bedroom. I can see the Take of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle but what's the other one? 

Monstrous Movie Music

I saw these amazing CDs for sale, all monster and sci-fi movie themes.

I assume they're copies of much older LP records. 

Does anyone know? 

Del Toro's Frankenstein

 As recommended by Bill, I watched the first half of the new Guillermo Del Toro's Frankenstein on TV.

And wow! What a treat for the eyes. Clever, lush, big and bold, it's a fabulous production and a worthy entry in Promethian Shelley  telly. 

Watching Del Toro's sumptuous gothic feast made me think of Aurora monsters, Tim Burton, Bernie Wrightson and the 1970's TV film starring Michael Sarrazin, itself an enfant terrible of evening TV which shocked us all with its decapitation scene. Yuk! 

There's even a similarity between Michael Sarrazin and Del Toro's leading man Oscar Isaacs!

Are you watching Frankenstein?

 

I've gone Bats!

 We picked up a jiggler sucker bat tother day 

Perfect for Halloween!

It reminded me of a 1979 toy I would have loved as a kud in the Sixties,

Mattel's Gre-gory!

The big bad vampire bat.

Here's a comic and. I couldn't find a TV spot.

Besides it's rubbery action, Greg's unique selling point was a blood pump in its chest!

 I wonder if it sold well?

Operated by a pump button on its back, this feature has dried up now in most Greg-gories by the sounds of it ( as attested by You Tube videos on the toy).

Is this haunted tree mouse a toy you had or remember Gruesome readers?

Monster Base Meobius!

Hi Woodsy,

Here's my Moebius Giant Insect and Dr Deadly kits!

BrianF

Monster Base

NJ USA

Aurora Monster Scenes Giant Insect

Hi Woodsy

Aurora was a US model company, who were most famous for their monster kits, mainly based on Universal horror movie characters from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. In the 1970s Aurora followed up their original kits from the 1960s with a series of smaller scale Monster Scenes.

These proved extremely controversial, as the subjects included various torture devices, and a girl character called The Victim. The line was quickly withdrawn from the US market, and the last few kits were only released in Canada.

The classic horror monsters were Frankenstein, Dracula, and a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde figure that could be built as either character. The whole range had a very short production life – 1971 only - although the kits were all re-issued by other companies in later years.

One of the last, Canada-only kits, was the Giant Insect, which I had always thought was an Aurora fantasy design. It was part Dragonfly, and part Scorpion, with a few bits from other creatures thrown in.

Well, it turns out this might not be the case after all. Because the Giant Insect bears a strong resemblance to the giant Dragonfly in the film Monster On The Campus (1958).

A regular dragonfly lands on a Coelacanth (a prehistoric fish, once thought extinct) in a lab, and reverts to its prehistoric form. So does an unfortunate scientist, who transforms in to a murderous caveman.

Since the Aurora kit was only released in Canada, it is now rare, and very expensive. The Moebius re-issue from 2008 is much easier to find, and it was a sales listing for this kit that mentioned the movie link.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/387791419535

The Aurora/Moebius Giant Insect is certainly not an exact match for the movie Dragonfly, but it is very similar. Aurora clearly changed the design just enough so they did not get sued.

The Giant Insect is a simple, snap-together kit, like the rest of the Monster Scenes range. It comes with clear parts for the wings and the bulging eyes.

The head and mouth are a different shape; the kit has larger mandibles and teeth; the eyes are horizontal rather than vertical; and the tail curves up and over, rather than being straight. But it has six legs, four wings, and is really ugly.

Supposedly, all the Aurora Monster Scenes kits were to a constant 1/13th scale, but the Giant Insect must have been a lot larger, if it is compared to the original giant dragonfly in the film. It seems odd that Aurora based this model on such a relatively obscure movie as Monster On The Campus, when most of their kits were taken from better known sources – movies, comics, and the works of Edgar Allan Poe.

There is a book on the Aurora Monster Scenes kits, by Dennis Prince and Andrew Yanchus, but as I do not have this I do not know what it has to say about the Giant Insect. 

Does it mention the apparent movie link anyone?

Four photographs from Ebay, Worthpoint and a Monster on the Campus movie still from Ebay - not exactly the same as the Aurora kit, but very close.

Have you got the kit? Do you like Aurora?

Paul Adams

New Zealand

Monster Jam

Hi Woodsy.

The Monsters are all tuning up for a howling good time at Monster Base this Halloween.

More to come!

-BrianF 

Monster Base 

NJ USA

For Your Eye Sockets Only

 What can I say about Alien Earth, the new TV series on Disney+?

Superlatives don't really cover it.

Think supremely fantastic and cringingly yucky in equal measure, maybe somewhere round the dripping joints between films like the Thing and Sputnik grafted onto a waiting open Alien.

Not for the faint-hearted and completely compulsive. 

For me the current icky award goes to one of the show's smaller varmints.

But before I reveal it, it's interesting to dawdle over some precedents ... But watch out!

This golden oldie sets the scene, a movie that terrified me as a kid and one I know as the Trollemburg Terror! Is it one you know?

This is the box art to a model kit.

Cuneo's painted slithering devils spring to mind as well, as introduced to us on MC by Wotan 17 years ago.

I just couldn't help jiggling this into a clip, but it's Cuneo's artistry.

Similarly Bill brought us his fondness for rubber uglies on MC and this oily eye-squid fits right in (a phrase which comes into its own on Alien Earth! 🐙 )

Once more I was compelled to meme it.

But none of these wrigglers can prepare you for the truly cringing orb that is Alien Earth's small and parasitic crawling eye!

You've been warned!

Yuk!

Rob's Movie Monsters

Woodsy,

Just inspired by your recent post on HR Giger to gather up pix of some of my favorite movie monsters.

As you can see, they tend towards the fanciful & fantastic. I've always gravitated towards the bizarre and unusual in creature design, and the stuff that came after Alien lost me entirely.

Anyways, a short list:

Godzilla (Showa-era ONLY!)

Rodan (Showa-era ONLY!)

Hedorah (Showa-era ONLY!)

The Trollenberg Terror

Rat-Bat-Spider (Angry Red Planet; I know Wotan HATES this movie!)

The Crab Monster

It Conquered the World

Alien from The Atomic Submarine

Gamera (Showa-era ONLY!)

Guilala (Showa-era ONLY!)

Behemoth, the Sea Monster

Metaluna Mutant!

Just so folks don't think I am beholden to all 50s and 60s monsters, I will say that I never cared for the Creature from

The Black Lagoon, or the Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. Too "normal."

I like my monsters WEIRD.

Rob C

USA

Window SIL and other Giger Covers

In between ALIEN filming HR Giger was in demand for record sleeves too.

One I recall when I was young is ELP's Brain Salad Surgery, it's cover boasting the spikes and bones of Giger's biomechania. The central window gives you a glimpse of ....

A high-cheekboned lady reminiscent of SIL in SPECIES. 

More cheekbones appeared on Debby Harry's Kookoo cover and this time Giger's gone skewer crazy.

 I'm sure there are more Giver sleeves. Do you know any readers? Has he designed anything else? Book covers? Wallpaper? God forbid, Bathroom furniture? 

All My Ducks in a Row

 Imbued with an urge to spring clean the attic, I've stacked my old VHS tapes and sorted them alphabetically (yep, I've too much time on my hands!).

In a similar vein I've uncrated my old horror paperbacks and lined them up neatly in a bookcase.

When I get time (!) I'll sort these alphabetically too.

Always good to have a cold beer to hand when doing stuff like this!

Are you spring cleaning readers?