Hollywood Studio Magazine (1973)

and terrifying tale that will keep audiences on the edge of their seats. MGM _ produced the camp and sometimes funny, “House of Dark Shadows’ TV series as a feature-length film, and brought out a sequel, “‘Night of Dark Shadows,” both of which did an excellent business for the studio. “Ben” the horror story of a boy’s love affair with rats sent as many people to the bathroom to vomit as it sent them under theatre seats in fear, but it was also the subject of a sequel. Often, the title of modern horror films sound like comedy lines. Gone is the dead serious approach to monster film making. A quick run down of some recent efforts sounds like a series of Bob Hope one-lines: ‘‘Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster,” 1965, “Jessie James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter,’ 1966, “‘The Horror of It All,’ 1964, “Ghost in The Invisible Bikini,” 1966, “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken’? Universal’s hilarious scare-spook starring Don Knotts, and “Bride and the Beast.” “Night of the Living Dead,” which was reported to have been produced for less than $100,000 has become a cult film, and it regularly scares the daylights out of sophisticated horror buffs. At one point, Universal decided to try a humorous approach to horror and using Abbott and Costello as ploys, did a series of funny movies that involved their famous monster creations. These are some of the titles: A DIDOitmeamas eGostellousMecteyD Tr: Jekyll,’ “‘Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein,’ ‘“‘Abbott and Costello Meet The Mummy,” and “Abbott and Costello Meet The Killer.” The Japanese have entered the read lower column left me “King Kong,” 1933, Fay Wray (RKO). Moe teas t800 == +: . =e Pak ie * horror film market and in so doing produced some excellent monster movies. Two of them “Godzilla,” and Goazitla’s: Revenge,» were masterpieces of special effects and compare well with the all-time classic monkey monster, “King Kong.” Roger Corman who for time appeared to make nothing but Bikini Beach type pictures eventually turned his talents to the horrible and macabre and in short order turned out a number of Edgar Allen Poe classics. Some. of. the, titles he selected are: “The Conqueror Worm,” “‘The Edgar Allen Poe Special,” “‘Fall of the House of Usher,’ ‘“‘The Oblong Box,” ‘‘The Pit. and-the. Pendulum,’”: and ‘Premature Burial.” Most of the Corman films have used Vincent Price to good advantage, although Boris Karloff was once included too. Other movie makers have tried to use classical heroes of mythology as monster themes: “Hercules in New York,” “Rodan,” and “Reptillious:” Almost every kind of sinister creature in the natural world has been made into a monster at one time or other. Alligators were the villains of a film called, “The Alligator People,” and Alfred Hitchcock made ordinary birds the subjects of horror in his Universal classic, ““The Birds.” “‘King Dinosaur,” did for the dinosaur what “King Kong,’ did for apes — scare people to death. In an effort to update old monsters, producers have turned out movies like, “Atom Age Vampire,” “‘Billy the Kid vs Dracula,’ “‘X, Man with X-Ray Eyes,” and “‘Cry of the Banshee.” One of the most frightening films ever made, ‘Psycho,’ used natural looking human characters and relied on suspense to tell the story. Many critics consider this Alfred Hitchcock’s finest film. Clearly movies on monster and supernatural subjects have come a long Way. since ““The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’” was banned in Los Angeles after protests by the American Legion, Actor’s Equity and the Motion Picture Directors Association. It is hard to guess what may loom over the horizon in the way of horror movies, but one thing is abundantly clear, the monsters of Hollywood and other film capitols are not dead, they are only slumbering, waiting the opportunity to come forth and scare hell out of theatre audiences. They are part of the magic, and yes, horror of Hollywood’s past. *** HOLLYWOOD STUDIO 9