Monster! #8: August 2014

My wife bought me this zine so I'm reviewing it on her account. Hands-down favorite article this issue was Stephen R. Bissette's on fungus-horror cinema--it was rewarding and thorough--and good fun to boot. Especially enjoyed the spotlight on William Hope Hodgson's influence on horror media from Lovecraft to ...uh, THE GREEN SLIME, apparently! My second favorite was Eric Messina's review of (blush!) SNOW DEVILS--a movie I love simply because I saw it as an easy-to-please kid (plus its cool, if fakey model cities and rocket ships--whose appeal is that they're obviously toys, I guess). I haven't seen too much attention given to it, or its whole little sub-genre of Euro/American-dubbed-release sci-fi films (THE GREEN SLIME included) so the content this issue was a welcome surprise and MONSTER! #8 was yet another very entertaining read. Oh, and I love the cover! Wow. Gr! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Issue #8 may be the best issue yet. Editor/Jack-of-all- trades Tim Paxton continues with Part 5 of his look at the House Of Ramsay, India's premiere film company of monster weirdness (Can't wait for the book Tim!). I always learn something new with these articles and it wants me to see them all the more. Greg Goodsell looks at Roger Corman's NOT OF THIS EARTH (1957) and the two remakes (1988 & 1995) and offers more information on the movie then I ever heard of before. Great article. Brian Harris interviews WOLFCOP (2014) director Lowell Dean. If you haven't seen the movie, I suggest you do. There's a slew of monster movie reviews, including an extended review of KNIGHTS OF BADASSDOM (2013) by Adam Parker-Edmondston. An extended and detailed look at all the Paul Naschy/Waldemar Daninsky werewolf films in chronological order by writer Louis Paul and where you can find them for purchase. Stephen R. Bissette takes a long look at pre-1970's fungus horror films (Why has no one thought of this before and why is the theme song for THE GREEN SLIME now occupying my brain?). And, of course, the always helpful movie checklist at the end of this 74 page zine which allows you to locate any film reviewed in the issue by just looking up the title, along with tidbits of information about each film not mentioned in the actual reviews themselves. All zines should have this feature because it make looking up a title extremely easy. Please support this zine by buying all the issues you may have missed and if you haven't bought an issue yet: Shame on you. One of the few zines I read in one sitting from cover to cover without looking at the clock and watching the hours click away. Another great job, Tim!

Wow, I'm sorry I didn't hear of these mags sooner. If you're a fan of monsters, and awesome monster movies these are great! Not quite digest size, they are smaller than your average magazine, but packed with so many pictures, reviews and articles, they seem gigantic! High quality is the best way to describe these gems, and they contain so much information and cool stuff even as a old guy, they make me as excited now as I was back in the 70's and 80's picking up the latest issue of Famous Monsters or Fangoria. I bought 2 issues and immediately ordered 7 more!

One of the best publications out there! If you are a fan of everything monster, from the well known to the obscure and/or foreign, this is for you.

No words are adequate to describe something that brings back fond memories of childhood.

The delivery was very prompt and greatly appreciated.

Great research.

Greatest magazine I never heard of !!!!!!!!!