I’ve been into movies as long as I can remember, but Monster movies where my first love!
My folks did not share my love of Movies or Monsters for that matter.
However they always tolerated and sometimes even encouraged it.
On Saturday nights there was a local TV station had a shock theater that ran a horror double feature…
it was called Midnight Madness.
( to be fair it ran from 11 pm to 3 am , but 11 O’clock Madness doesn’t sound as good )
I was only allowed to watch the first film, because I had to be in bed by 1 am. ( keep in mind i was 8 at the time) . Although my mom always had a VHS tape ready, so I could record the second movie and get up extra early Sunday morning watch it, while the rest of the family got ready for church.
This system worked great until one week when the original 1931 Frankenstein was shown.
To but it mildly I was obsessed, I watched the tape everyday after school . This went on for at least two weeks …
When my mother ” accidentally ” recorded over it !
I remain unconvinced .
It was around this time my dad and I were in a second hand book store and I spotted this magnificent Bastard!
MOVIE MONSTERS by Alan Ormsby was my bible, I read it cover to cover, I know not how many times. My eight year old mind tried to absorb every word and picture.
The book not only gave you a history of Cinematic horror …
But It gave you instructions on how to become a monster yourself .
Not to mention a script for your very own monster movie!
Then after carrying the book everywhere with me for months, the unthinkable happened …
I lost it!!!!
Luckily my elementary school library had a Hard Back copy , so I hatched a evil plot of my own.
I decided to check it out and not return it.
This worked great until the end of the school year. When my dad had to pay for the ” Lost ” Library book, In Order to get my Report card. ( He was not Happy )
I felt even worse a few months later, when I found my original copy at my grandmothers house.
( Ok I admit it as I was kind of a little shit as a kid, But my dad was Awesome )
Larceny aside, this little book helped lay the groundwork for the film fandom that has shaped the rest of my life .
As you can see I still love books on movies ( monster or otherwise )…
But I paid for all these.
-Lee
Photos courtesy of Bonnie Redmond.
