Sunday, September 28, 2008

'MONSTERS OF THE MOVIES' & 'HORROR COSTUMES AND DISGUISES' - Carousel Books






These 2 books by Carousel with their similiar looking covers are great for the younger readers looking for brief descriptions to some of the famous monsters seen on the silver screeen[Monsters of the movies] or for wanting to turn into a monster for Halloween etc [Horror costumes and disguises]. Both volumes are a little larger than the average paperback but are slim volumes with a page count of just over 100 pages. 'Monsters of the Movies' by Denis Gifford was first published in 1977, the book's contents basically are a whos who of some of the famous and not so famous movie monsters, each monster has a page which tells the reader about that monster in the form of a introduction based on the film in which the monster appears in. The monster introductions are illustrated by a black and white photo of them from the film. There are the more familiar screen monsters here such as The Bride of Frankenstein, Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde, Dracula, Frankenstein, King Kong etc, then there are unusual ones such as The Blood Beast terror, The Electric Man from 'Man made Monster', The Manster, The Raven [Boris Karloff as Bateman from 'The Raven' (1935), Zaroff etc. All in all 46 monsters are covered.

"Making Horror costumes and Disguises' with words and pictures by Malcolm Carrick was first published in 1978 is a fun guide for the child who wants to scare their freinds, neighbours etc with their ghoulish make-up and costume creations. The book simply explains what is needed for your costume or disguise and how to make or create it by easy to understand text and drawings. There are some interesting ideas that can be done by using just ordianary things found in the home. Here the book shows you how to make a false head, wigs, noses, teeth, blood, wrinkles etc, sounds like a do it yourself Dr.Frankenstein guide doesn't it? Character costumes and make-up include Dracula, Skeleton, Freakystein, Ghoul, Mummy, Werewolf, Nasty Gnome, Headless ghost, Rasputin, Zombie etc. Here's a good one... what about Mad Mushroom. Yes the book has it all. There are 2 other books in this Carousel series - Science Experiments and Making Magic both by Malcolm Carrick.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

'GHOUL' magazine 1976 - New English Library






The dissapointing thing about 'Ghoul' magazine was that there was only the first issue published, which is such a shame as it could of been something really great. It reminds me somewhat of the other 1970's horror magazine 'World of Horror', both have a similar feel and style.

As well has the usual horror film features and reviews, 'Ghoul' would have a lighter side with the section Ghoul Gazette which was in the style of a newspaper which contained funny ghoulish stories, adverts and pictures. The cover of the magazine is a close-up of Dracula from the New English Library novel 'Dracula Returns' by Robert Lory and inside is a centre spread of the full picture which was the wraparound painting on the novel, the poster here printed minus the wording. Contents of 'Ghoul' are as follows:


'Beyond Terror' - Staff members telling what phobias, fears, nightmares they have.

'I meet the great Indestructible - Exclusive interview with Count Dracula' by Hans Clutcher - Spoof interview with the Count.

'Things aren't what they used to be!' by Denis Gifford - Horror films of the 1940's

'Horror-Scope' - Monster horoscopes with the birthsigns Suckdritus the Vampire, Fangus the Werewolf, Gnawus the Slime-Beast, and Crushem the Golen.

Christopher Lee - brief description about the actor illustrated with film stills

'Ghoul at Large' by R.Chetwynd-Hayes - Short story by the horror writer

'On the Prowl' - Chilling news from the scream scene.

'Kiss me quick' - funny captions to monsters kissing in films stills.

'Ghoul Gazette' - Spoof 2 page newspaper.

'Masters of Horror - 1.Edgar Alan Poe' by Walter Gillings - Profile of the master horror writer.

'Some new pleasures prove' - by Charles Birkin - Short story

'Celluloid Screams' - Gallery of 4 horror film posters

'Preymate of the month' - in which the readers were invited to send in their ghoulish monster creations, the one featured in this issue was called Octopus Man.


Also featured in this 1st issue were adverts for 'Science Fiction Monthly' magazine and 'The Monster Club' by R.Chetwynd-Hayes and also a competion to win a Mettoy Vampire kite. The back cover as shown above is an advertisement for a number of New English Library Horror titles.