THE WORLD'S MOST SCARCE FILM MAGAZINE! ORDER MONSTER MAG NUMBER TWO HERE!

 

Believe it or not, the long-lost 1973 second issue of MONSTER MAG is finally available in English, 41 years late!

Deemed unsuitable for an all-age market, the entire print run to the English language MM #2 was destroyed by HM Customs & Excise back in 1973, leaving an annoying gap for collectors who have snapped up the German and French editions for as much as £1000 each, just to fill their gaps!

Now, finally, series creator Roger Noel Cook and relaunch editor Dez Skinn have come together to produce an authentic limited edition full-size reproduction of this absurdly rare item.

Identical to the real destroyed thing except for the Quality company symbol replacing the original Warner Bros symbol on the cover and a reference to the digital remastering in the editorial block (to avoid any naughty passing off) it is now finally available.

Stocks are limited, so order now to avoid disappointment.

NOTE THAT YOU MAY BE PRE-ORDERING AS COPIES WILL BE MAILED OUT WEEK COMMENCING JUNE 9, 2014.

Payment can be made by post by cheque or postal order.
Send orders, payable to Quality, to:

QUALITY – MONSTER MAG #2
345 DITCHLING ROAD
BRIGHTON BN1 6JJ
ENGLAND

UK: £9.95 each + £1.25 postage (add 25p for each additional copy). Ebay/Paypal users can order it now from: tiny.cc/MM-2.
Or check our website: http://dezskinn.com/quality-shop-1/

DEZ SKINN'S MONSTER MAG IS BACK!

Long before video nasties, multiple TV channels. DVDs, downloads and the like, MONSTER MAG ruled! The original horror films poster mag, it was launched in 1973 by prolific Dr Who scriptwriter Roger Noel Cook and ran for 14 issues. Following a short absence it was revived by Dez Skinn in 1976 for a further three issues before morphing into The House of Hammer.

Outside of its high profile for gore making it highly collectable, with back issues regularly selling for £20/$30, it has a far greater claim to fame... By accident, its second issue has become the world's most scarce film magazine.

While French and German editions can sometimes be found on eBay - where they sell for as high as $1250 - there are no copies in existence of the English language number 2, having all been destroyed by HM Customs on arrival from its Italian printer, deemed unsuitable for an all-age market (a For Adults Only band was added to covers from issue 3 and stickered for a rereleased issue 1).

Another frustration for collectors is that in vol 2 #3 (issue 17) editor Dez Skinn promised that the next issue would be a "Double X" Special. But it never happened. Instead the legendary House of Hammer was launched.

With Roger Cook and Dez Skinn both working together again, there's some long-overdue tidying up they're promising to prioritise...

A FRIGHTENINGLY GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL : THANK YOU

Teetotal Peter Cushing Jokes for the Camera: Well, that's it for another year. Thank you to everyone who took part, for your photographs, your comments and likes! I see we had a rush of NEW FOLLOWERS several times during the day. To you, A VERY WARM WELCOME... and to EVERYONE...Thank You in honour of Peter Cushing, you made it a very special day!

BUMPER BUNDLE BIRTHDAY PRIZE: COMPETITION NOW CLOSED!

Just in case you missed it, during the Peter Cushing Birthday posts on Monday... here is our Peter Cushing Birthday Quiz / Competition...with our biggest and very handsome Prize Bundle yet, just waiting to be grabbed, by one lucky winner.

Just EMAIL your answers to : theblackboxclub@gmail.com BEFORE SUNDAY 1st JUNE 2pm gmt.

The competition is open until SUNDAY 1st JUNE at 2pm gmt. The winners name will be announced ONE HOUR later at 3pm gmt. Remember there are FOURTEEN QUESTIONS to answer in total. GOOD LUCK EVERYONE. HAVE FUN!

SOMETIMES THE BEST THINGS COME IN THREES! HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEE CUSHING AND PRICE!

THE BIRTHDAY BOYS! Peter Cushing was born today 26th May 1913. Vincent Price was born 27th May 1911, Christopher Lee was also born on May 27th 1922.

TROY HOWARTH'S 'THE AMICUS FILMS OF PETER CUSHING' : 'WANDERING HANDS AND MANNEQUINS'

For their next collaboration, Cushing and Amicus would once again revisit the anthology format.  Asylum was a jigsaw puzzle of a confection written by Robert Bloch.  Like The House That Dripped Blood, it was structured as a mystery, with the linking segment helping to build the film to a final, shocking reveal.  The four segments were of higher-than-usual caliber: “Frozen Fear” tells of a husband (Richard Todd) who chops his wife (Sylvia Sims) into little pieces and is understandably perplexed when the pieces (neatly wrapped in brown paper) come back to life.

 “The Weird Tailor” tells of a mysterious gentleman (Peter Cushing) who hires a tailor (Barry Morse) to make him a most unusual suit; “When Lucy Comes to Stay” tells of a young woman (Charlotte Rampling) whose friendship with Lucy (Britt Ekland) leads to disastrous consequences; and “Mannikins of Horror” tells of an inventor (Herbert Lom) who creates mechanical homunculi.  The film is capped-off by the surprise reveal of the deranged doctor whom the protagonist (Robert Powell) has been searching for.

Bloch’s inventive screenplay ensures that every piece of the puzzle fits together to create a satisfying whole.  Roy Ward Baker, directing his first film for the company, handles the material with style and flair.  Baker, whose past credits included A Night to Remember and Quatermass and the Pit, never seemed much at home in the horror genre, but Asylum proved to be a notable exception.  Clearly inspired by the witty and suspenseful material, he pulls out all the stops and delivers one of his best films.  The cinematography by Denys Coop is appropriately atmospheric, while Douglas Gamley’s score makes inspired use of barnstorming classical music to set the right Gothic tone.

The stories are very effective on the whole, with “The Weird Tailor” emerging as the weakest of the bunch. Even so, it benefits greatly from the fine performances from Cushing and (especially) Barry Morse.  Cushing’s portrayal of the guilt-ridden “Mr. Smith” again allows him to channel his sense of real-life loss into the role he was playing, but his screen time is limited.  There are also fine performances from Herbert Lom, Patrick Magee, Robert Powell, Richard Todd and Charlotte Rampling. The film proved to be another hit for Amicus, and they were only too anxious to continue their association with Cushing; happily, the feeling was mutual.

David Case’s novel “Fengriffen” was a Gothic mystery in the mold of “The Hound of the Baskervilles.”It caught the eye of Milton Subotsky, a voracious reader, who optioned it for a film adaptation.  Surprisingly, he didn’t elect to pen the screenplay himself. Instead, he entrusted the writing to TV veteran Roger Marshall.  Once the script was in place, Subotsky and Rosenberg assembled a top notch cast and a skilled crew, headed by director Roy Ward Baker. The end result proved more problematic than Baker’s previous sojourn into the world of Amicus horror.

The story tells of a young couple (Ian Ogilvy and Stephanie Beacham) who return to the groom’s ancestral home to start a new life together. On the night of their wedding, the bride is attacked and raped by an unseen presence. She believes the supernatural is at work, but the husband is skeptical. Eventually, the sage Dr. Pope (Peter Cushing, of course) is called in to investigate.

The cast does the best it can under the circumstances, but veteran actors like Cushing, Herbert Lom and Patrick Magee have too little to do.  Cushing plays Dr. Pope like a variation on Sherlock Holmes.  He doesn’t enter into the story until fairly late, however, and he is given little to do beyond fiddling with his props.  Lom makes a strong impression as the debauched nobleman who brings a curse upon his family, but his screen time is limited, while Magee is completely wasted as the family doctor who lives in fear of the curse.  Ian Ogilvy, who had risen to genre stardom as the juvenile lead in Michael Reeves’ three horror films (The She Beast, 1965; The Sorcerers, 1967; Witchfinder General, 1968) is very good as the distraught husband, while Stephanie Beacham (who had recently played Cushing’s granddaughter in Dracula AD 1972) is inclined to overact as the hysterical wife.

And Now The Screaming Starts! comes off like something of an Amicus copy of a Hammer film: the period setting and emphasis on shock effects would not have been out of place in one of their films, the use of Oakley Court for the exteriors is very much a Hammer touch, and the single narrative sets the film apart from Amicus’ usual fare.  If nothing else, it served to show up just how difficult it was for Hammer to do this kind of material as successfully as they did.  Slow, plodding and predictable in the extreme, And Now The Screaming Starts is one of the less successful collaborations between Cushing and Amicus. 

Written By Troy Howarth

Edired and Images By Marcus Brooks