Category Archives: 1950s

In Memory of Bela Lugosi

A nice looking colorized photo from Dracula, and a video tribute in memory of Bela Lugosi who passed away August 16, 1956.

Japanese Footage and Restored Ending to “Horror of Dracula”

For a while now we have heard of the lost footage from Hammer’s Dracula (U.K.)/Horror of Dracula (U.S.) that was found in Japan, and that a few seconds of this footage was incorporated into the ending in the restored Blu-ray of the film released in the UK. This footage has surfaced on YouTube and it […]

Hot Wheels Releasing Universal Horror Cars

I haven’t owned a Hot Wheels car since I was a kid, let alone purchased one. But this will change later this year. Hot Wheels is releasing a special collection of special pop culture cars, including a set devoted to Universal Horror films. The picture included with this post is from the Creature from the […]

United Monster Talent Agency

In honor of Universal Studios 100th anniversary, their release of Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein on the big screen with Turner Classic Movies and Fathom Events, and Halloween on Wednesday, I am drawing attention again to a great short film I’ve looked at previously. It’s The United Monster Talent Agency.

Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection

Projected Fears: The Thing From Another World as Gothic Horror

I am currently reading and enjoying Kendall R. Phillips’ book Projected Fears: Horror Films and American Culture (Praeger, 2005). The book is similar to David Skal’s The Monster Show in that it connects horror films to their context in American culture. Phillips’ book is a little different in that it selects certain films which the […]

Beware of…..Mant!

Matinee (1993) by Joe Dante, is a marvelous yet neglected comedy film tribute to 1950s science fiction/horror. It brings together a number of elements, from 1950s science fiction to the showmanship of William Castle to the cultural tensions and fears of doomsday associated with the Cuban Missile Crisis. A facet of Matinee is the film […]

The Horror! The Horror!: Controversial Horror Comics of the 1950s

“THIS BOOK CONTAINS: MURDER! MAYHEM! ROBBERY! RAPE! CANNIBALISM! CARNAGE! NECROPHILIA! SEX! SADISM! MASOCHISM … and virtually every other form of crime, degeneracy, bestiality, and horror!” The words above appear in a report from the mid-1950s titled “Comic Books and Juvenile Delinquency” from the Committee on the Judiciary’s investigation of juvenile delinquency in the United States. […]

Kevin McCarthy Passes Away at 96

Various media outlets are reporting that Kevin McCarthy, the actor who starred in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) has passed away at the age of 96. As fans of the history of science fiction cinema know, Invasion of the Body Snatchers stands out as one of the classics of 1950s science fiction/horror. McCarthy’s work […]

Documentary: Monsters from the Id

As regular readers of this blog are aware, I am a huge fan of 1950s science fiction/horror, those films that had an early formative influence on my love for the fantastic. In reading through a science fiction magazine today I came across a documentary that makes interesting use of these films as it argues for […]

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