Category: Horror

13 Intriguing Facts About the 1962 Graveyard Smash the “Monster Mash”

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Me-TV presents 13 Intriguing Facts About the 1962 Graveyard Smash the Monster Mash.  Here are three of my favorites…

THE CRYPT-KEEPERS FEATURED SOME KEY FIGURES.
“The Crypt-Kickers” band behind the original “Monster Mash” recording featured Gary S. Saxton, who wrote the 1960 smash hit “Alley Oop” that Pickett said inspired his song. The flip side of the record featured Leon Russell (whose “A Song for You” has been covered by more than 200 artists) on “Monster Mash Party.” Russell played piano, which he also did on songs for bands like the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean. Elton John calls Russell a mentor. Considering this track record, it makes even more sense why the “Monster Mash” single took off.

THE BEACH BOYS LOVED TO PLAY IT LIVE.
Several successful cover versions of “Monster Mash” exist, including a memorable version by the Beach Boys. They made it a feature of their live show, where Mike Love came out of “his cage” to step up on vocals and the audience would flip out. Later the punk band the Misfits would revive the song again for audiences in 1997, as it was a favorite childhood song of the band’s bassist, Jerry Only, who said the decision to cover it was a “no-brainer” for the heavily Halloween-themed band who performed on the holiday every year. We wonder whose fans loved it more. Hear Beach Boys fans lose their minds screaming in response to the song below. (Click over to see the video of the Beach Boys playing the Monster Mash.)

PICKETT APPEARED IN FILMS OF VARIED CLASSIC GENRES.
When Pickett wrote “Monster Mash,” he was also an aspiring actor. He went on to appear in a handful of films that matched his heavy sense of genre, including the beach party movie It’s a Bikini World (1967), a foray into biker culture in Chrome and Hot Leather (1971) a horror movie (of course) Deathmaster (1972), and a novelty sci-fi film, Lobster Man From Mars (1989). Additionally, he wrote a bunch of musicals like Frankenstein Unbound.

 

“The Walking Dead” Poster Homages to Classic Movie Posters!

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Horror fans will recognize that The Walking Dead poster above pays homage to the original Night of the Living Dead poster.

That’s just one of the many classic poster adaptations for The Walking Dead that Greg Nicotero had created.  Others include homages to Alien; Back to the Future; Blade Runner; The Exorcist; Ghostbusters; The Omega Man; The Shinning; The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; Psycho; The Thing; Raiders of the Lost Ark and more.

 

“Aliens” – 20 Facts You May Not Know

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Neil Gaskin and Film ’89 present Fact File – No.1 – Aliens (1986).  Here are three of my favorites…

2. Sigourney Weaver salary for Aliens was 28 times more than that of the first film:  Weaver was paid $35,000 for the first film and $1 million for the sequel. (she went on to earn $4 million for Alien 3 and $11 million for Alien: Resurrection).

5. For a science fiction film, it did usually well at the Academy Awards:  Aliens was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including a Best Actress nomination for Sigourney Weaver. It unsurprisingly won for Sound Effects Editing and Visual Effects.

14. It was the last roll of the dice for one of its stars:  Lance Henriksen had privately pledged to quit acting if this part didn’t work out for him after years of journeyman roles. It proved to be one of his most successful films.

Jonathan Maberry: Born with a Love of Storytelling

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Jonathan Maberry: Born with a Love of Storytelling is an interview with, well, Jonathon Maberry.  Fans of Mayberry’s fiction as well as folks who’d like advice on writing should check it out.

If you don’t know… Jonathan Maberry is…

…a New York Times best-selling and multiple Bram Stoker Award-winning suspense author, editor, comic book writer, magazine feature writer, playwright, content creator and writing teacher/lecturer. Jonathan Maberry was named one of the Today’s Top Ten Horror Writers, and his books have been sold to more than two-dozen countries. Jonathan is known for his writing that spans several different genres; including horror, mystery and young adult fiction.

Source: The Reading Lists.

 

David Gallaher on High Moon and More!

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David Gallaher was recently interviewed by Stefan Blitz for Forces of Geek.  Gallaher (who along with artist Steve Ellis) talks about their Harvey Award-winning series, High Moon and more.  You can read the interview here.

As for High Moon you can get it at the link that follows – and I recommend that you do!  High Moon Volume 1: Bullet Holes and Bite Marks

 

The Original Ending to “Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?”

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If you’re a Twilight Zone fan, then you have to admire Rod Serling’s writing.  Best known for his twist endings, Serling could lead you down a path to believe one thing and then in the last scene come up with a reveal that made you understand something else.  It was often the difference between a good story and a great one.

One of the best Twilight Zone twist endings takes place in Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?.  Serling’s tale unfolds as a typical sci-fi story with a potential crashed alien space craft and a group of travelers stuck in a remote dinner during a bad snowstorm.  Serling ups the ante by dropping clues that one of the passengers is the alien!

To ratchet the tension Serling makes a case for each passenger being the alien.  Then like all really good scary stories, Serling makes us think all is well and – BAM! – he drops the twist ending on us… except in Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?, Serling follows the twist with a second twist that turns the episode into a classic.

Would you be surprised to know that wasn’t the ending that Serling had originally written?  Over at Shadow & Substance they have the lowdown on the way the story was supposed to end (it still would have been good, but without the classic double twist).  Click over and you can read Sterling’s original ending and learn more about the episode.