8mm and Super 8mm Horror – flicks on film

The ‘clicking’ of the projector, the strobe-like flashing on the parallel walls, a rectangle of pure white in the dark, and presto! there’s monsters in my bedroom…

When I was a youngster, we didn’t have VHS, DVDs, or On-demand movies. We had to watch and wait, for the 6 or 7 television channels available, to air our favorite films. They would show up maybe once or twice a year. (Sometimes never.) However, that didn’t stop some of us, especially us monster fans, from wanting to take our favorite monsters home with us.

When I was about 13, I had saved up enough money from shoveling snow and handing out flyers for businesses to send away for a Super 8mm projector. I had seen the ad in the back of Famous Monsters of Filmland and got a money order made out to Captain Company. It was about $24 which would probably be like $100 today. The big brown truck delivered the projector and it came with one complimentary film reel.

The films were only 15 minutes in length each, like highlight reels, touching on the main points and action scenes of the movies they were edited from. Some films were even edited into a new simpler story line, rearranged in sequence to support the edited plot. I didn’t care; I was in it for the monster scenes, not the stories.

One of my fave things to do with this new projector…

My neighbor’s house was very close to ours and the side that faced us had only one small bathroom window. The house was all white. I used to aim the projector out the window so it could shine a giant image of Ghidorah onto the house. For some reason that was the only film it would work for, I guess because of the strong contrast of the scene itself. The image was very light, ghost-like, but I thought it was cool and me and my friends would laugh, trying to scare people walking down the street.

Here’s a look at some of the 8mm and Super 8mm films of the time (1960’s – 1970’s). Mine are long gone, but luckily some people had saved these and shared the box covers on the internet. I just collected the images here, so thanks to all you collectors for sharing. Some of these I owned and others I would have eventually purchased if VHS and Cable TV didn’t make their debut in the early 1980’s.

 

Vintage Monster Magazines – Famous Monsters and beyond

Famous Monsters – my collection

I started collecting Famous Monsters of Filmland Magazine when I was a wee lad. I had held on to my fave issues and recently purchased a few from eBay and other channels to replace ones that I lost or had deteriorated over time.

These are my two favorite issues:
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The Godzilla/Toho special issue #114 and the King Kong special issue #108
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Also one of my fave issues below – it has seen better days:
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Features Frankenstein Conquers the World, issue #39
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Two great Harryhausen issues #37 and # 117
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I also love this Gorgo issue # 50
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I got this in mint condition
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King Kong 1976 issues:

#125 and #132
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I discovered the world of monster movies and special fx thru the pages of Famous Monsters. Knowing how the movies were made did not detract from the films – instead it made me appreciate the craftmanship even more.
It was in the back of these FM Magazines of the 1960’s and 70’s that I discovered the fantstic Aurora Model Kits, bought an 8mm projector and monster movie film reels (leading to begging my mom for a 8mm movie camera) and obsessed over monster movie masks, movie posters and macabre products of the time.
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I recently purchased a new issue, July 2013, mainly because of the beautiful Cthulhu artwork on the cover. When I opened it they had 20 pages of the original Kong, too! I was sold.

Famous Monsters #287
It’s not the same as the old issues when Forrest Ackerman was at the helm but I’m glad I picked this one up.
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Monsters of The Movies by Curtis Publishing

Monsters of the Movies only had 11 issues before they closed in the 1970s. It was close to the quality of Famous Monsters.
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Issue #1 (King Kong) Issue # 5 (Godzilla) and issue # 6 (The Mummy)
This was one of my all time favorite depictions of a mummy

Monster Land

MonsterLand was around for a while but I didn’t like it as much as the others.
I only have one issue of Monster Land:
 

Kong and Harryhausen’s 7^th Voyage in the same issue #16
it also had an interview with Peter Cushing

the center page (gatefold) was a color poster
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Hope you enjoyed a look at my personal collection. Thanks for tuning in…
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Related posts:
Sci Fi Boys – documentary movie review

Horror art – Famous Monsters – cover art 

Aurora – model kit – w/conversion

Horror Art – Famous Monsters – cover art

Famous Monsters of Filmland Magazine –  cover art

Famous Monsters of Filmland, created by Forest Ackerman, often featured painted portraits or painted scenes from films for their cover art. Sometimes they were the films poster art but often they were contracted for FM specifically. Most were painted by artist, Basil Gogas. Many of these paintings later became the vhs box or dvd/blu-ray cover art for the films themselves. This magazine was my introduction to horror movies. Many issues had the behind-the-scenes look at horror films and their special effects. But it was the vibrant covers that first caught my eye.

  
  

  
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Monsters of the Movies soon followed in FMs footprints but would never reach the popularity of Forest Ackerman’s publication and only lasted for 8 issues.
  
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I currently own the following issues in my collection:

  
The King Kong and Godzilla issues of FM are my fave. I purchased them when they came out and had saved them for many years, but they got damaged. So I repurchased them within the last 10 years from another collector. Now they are in plastic and out on a magazine display rack I have in my work room.
  
The Mummy art on Monsters of the Movies is awesome. Click pic to see a larger view.

I have a few more on my list to purchase, I’ll do an update in the future.