A Fly In Amber

A Very Late Edition

Better late than never...

I had rightfully assumed that I would make bi-weekly installments into this blog, not unlike my Monster! fanzine of old. A bold statement indeed, and one that I failed to follow through with. Times are not what they were when I first published MONSTER! in 1988. Back then MONSTER! was a bi-weekly single sheet 'zine that was free (postage donations appreciated). I did all the writing for most of the first ten or so issues.  After a review in Factsheet Five other faithful monster-addicts donated their time and talents. The rest was a minor (or major, depending on who you talk to) publication in the bustling Silver Age of Fanzines (1985-1995) before the implosion of distribution.  The Internet made-self publishing a heck of lot easier ... albeit electronically.

With David Todarello (left) on the set of our 1988 TV movie cable show.

Now back to 2012...
and trying to get back to a schedule. When a zine (eventually) paying subscribers like I did with MONSTER! I had to get the zine out on a regular basis. This web-based version does lend itself to sloppiness as I have no subscribers that pay for what they read. I do have electronic followers (hey!!!), but this blog is free. I don't feel all that bad when I'm late with an article or whathaveyou; even when I'm a month over due (like today). Back in the 80s and 90s folks expected an exciting zine  chockfull of reviews and articles.

This is 2012 and time for some filler.

For those of you that may have missed out on my paper-zine, here are some photos to peak your interest. One of these days I'll get around to scanning in what I have of my MONSTER! fanzine and make them available as Print On Demand. But... that's a project for later this year or next (if at all, depending on if I get okays from various authors of some of the important articles and reviews by folks in the know).

Two 90s Movie Zine classicks can be your for only $10!

MONSTER! had something like 50 issues.. well, kind of. I cheated with some double issues when longer articles from folks like Horacio Higuchi became regular contributors. These lead to a 1990 ( or 91?) over-sized yearbook of reprints (which I have no copies of), a limited edition MONSTER! ZERO and eventually the magazine MONSTER! INTERNATIONAL (see photo to your right) which ran for four issues.

For those interested, copies of MONSTER! INTERNATIONAL #3 and 4 are available for $10 ppd in the USA. For folks over 18, please.  Interested? My PayPal address is "orlof@oberlin.net". Overseas or Canadian orders contact me first for S&H rates. I will even throw in a copy of PHOTO FIENDS #3, a zine I published while I was in High School -- if you promise not to laugh. It was 1978 and my composition skills were even worse than they are now! However, I did score with a Paul Blaisdell interview.

Yes, I admit it, this was a blatant attempt at unloading some of my old magazines.

This weekend (fer sure) I'll have something with a little more BITE. In the meantime, here are some additional MONSTER! related images. Caio.

Badly scanned page from MONSTER! ZERO special edition

Assorted beat-up issues of the digest-sized 'zine MONSTER!

COMING SOON: Print On Demand....

The Literate Monster; Part 1: Ancient History

MONSTER! Isn't just about film or tv shows that feature creatures... first and foremost it should to be the written word. No chicken and the egg argument here. Films a can be such an easy fix, a quick cerebral shot of visual stimuli.  Sitting down and reading a good book (or a bad book for that matter, will tend to engage me on a wholly different level  as much as the thought-provoking ones do) is hardcore monster-loving. Growing up as I did, with a home full of weird shit (I kid you not) getting hooked on all things rooted in the supernatural was not an option. My mother, bless her current state of insanity, read to us as kids and filled my noggin with tales of Oz (from the original large hardcover editions), Blue and Green and yellow and Purple fairies, Hercules and The Greek Gods, Madeleine L'Engle, Wind in the Willows, Uncle Wiggly, Raggedy Anne and Andy, and all the creatures that came with those stories. Mom was also good at letting us watch any monster movies or TV shows that came on, just as long as we did our homework and played outside with the other kids from time to time. Early memories of family get-togethers crowded around the small TV set to watch “Dark Shadows” during the week and monster movies on the weekends are still the most vivid parts of my childhood.

There have always been movies, and there have always been books.

Monsters have always been with me where ever I look.

The Screaming Skull and The Outer Limits furor,

The spectral unease of cinematic horror.

But the thing under the bed

Was always there after I read

High strangeness with Bradbury, Lovecraft, and dread.

Okay, dumb one-off improvisational bit of poetry there. Just popped into my head as I jotted the first sprawling two paragraphs on my iBook G4. But it was added to make a point that, as benign as they may be, Monsters have always been a very important part of my life. And this was true no matter how much I was terrified of them. You would think growing up down the street from Oberlin's graveyard would have steeled me for such encounters. Nope. was scared  shitless of ghoulies and ghosties, and there are times in my adulthood where I still get the willies when I'm out and about, at night... in the graveyard (or my creepy basement). Never seen a ghost or anything I would call supernatural; so why am I obsessed with the monsters and their seemingly important aspect of my well being? To my way of thinking, such improbable entities are essential for me to keep this waffer thin grasp on what I consider sanity.

Series of 1970s hardback books available by subscription.

Monsters in all their variety forms and manifestations are my religion. Seemingly the only one that I can relate to. They are my faith. I have faith that there maybe some such critters out there... be they mummies shuffling after folks, piecemeal Frankenstein monsters forever looking for solace in their sole existence, giant kaiju stomping cities, or Naag and demons from Hindu mythology that attempt to co-exist with humanity. These are all my wants and desires. To see these things. To experience them. All forms both literately and cinematic.

Most of what I have written about in my magazines and on this blog has been movie oriented. Which is not a bad thing. The visual element of accepting monsters into my life has been there since I was a toddler. I have posted a few entries about books that influenced me, one about “The Monster Times”and another about Vernon Grant's “A Monster Is Loose In Tokyo”. Both made me what I am today. Recently, though, I have had the pleasure of purchasing a few tomes of knowledge that I have found immensely entertaining.

Let me share one with you.

I was in the middle of authoring another installment about the Indian/West Bengali Nag “Snake Goddesses” movies when I happened to dump coffee all over the VCD and DVDs. In the past I would have immediately cursed my bad luck and stomped around my office bellowing and getting all shades of pissed off. Instead, I shrugged my shoulders, cleaned up the mess and set the soaked VCD and DVD sleeves aside to dry. They're just movies. Now had I done that with one of my new books, that would have sucked. Especially David D. Gilmore's “Monsters, Evil Beings, Mythical Beasts, and all Manner of Imaginary Terrors”.

I had only recently discovered Gilmore's 2003 tome, published by University of Pennsylvania Press, whilst researching an article on Indian horror films. The review I read so intrigued me that I had to order it (thank you, half.com). Upon pouring through this wonderfully breezy yet scholarly work I am glad that I had only begun to write something very similar earlier this year. Gilmore successfully put my take on the idea and importance of monsters in culture to bed with a glass of water and a pat on the head. It's that good.

Apparently a huge fan of the cinematic approach to monsters, Gilmore delves far deeper into mankind's psyche than mere fiction. With a delight I can totally relate to, he gleefully discusses the dark places of the human psyche as well many of the historical “facts” of a variety of monsters. As a reader I was lead through ten chapters of information-laden but thoroughly entertaining chapters covering all aspects of monsterdom the world over. In particular, chapters “The Ritual Monster” and “Our Monsters, Ourselves” struck me as being both very personal for the author as well as the reader (me).

My only regret is the sparsity of plates illustrating the book. If Gilmore ever thought of expanding this work, it would make an enthralling coffee table edition.

Not my photo: my copy of this essential kids book no long has its dust jacket.

As an endnote, may I suggest a few other books that fall into this Monsters as Myths and Monsters as Entities. Early in my life as a tot, I was fascinated with sea, and especially the Jacques Cousteau/Rod Serling TV specials were my fantasy fodder as a kid in the 60s.  I KNEW sea serpents where down THERE in the ocean. Sure, cinema and TV gave me Godzilla, The Creature, Gorgo, and the rest of the gang.  But it was books that helped fill my imaginative void …. and scare the crap out of me at the same time.

When I was five my mother bought me Lois and Louis Darling''s “The Sea Serpents Around Us”.  A children's book that covered the life and times of sea and lake (and loch) monsters that I knew where out there. The book, written and illustrated by the Darlings, filled me with wonder and dread.

I also read copious editions of Famous Monster of Filmland, Castle of Frankenstein, and just about any other magazine I could get my hands on. Luckily we Paxton's are a literary lot and always had stacks of books and magazines piled everywhere. TV wasn't always encouraged, even tho movies have always been a big deal in our family, we had to find other way to entertain ourselves when the "idiot box" was showing non-monstrous material.  I grew up in the 1960's and 70's:  prehistoric days of before the video tape boom, cable TV (at least in Oberlin) and our town only had one movie house. The public library did have 8mm movies we could borrow … which we did A LOT … but as kids we had to make due with what was on the tube and what we read in magazines and books. Comics were fine for us and I devoured Charlton ghost titles, as well as Marvel's Frankenstein series (well, the Mike Ploog classics) and the reprints of early creature features in series like  “Where Monsters Dwell”. 

In fourth grade I stumbled across the 1959 book of famous ghost and goblin tales called “The Thing At The Foot Of The Bed and Other Scary Tales”. I bought it at a “discarded” book sale at the local library. Already unnerved by the prospect of seeing a ghost by watching films such as THE SCREAMING SKULL, THE HAUNTING, TURN OF THE SCREW, and even Bert I. Gordon's TORMENTED, I was introduced to additional  imagined terrors from being able to see a ghost by “peering at them from between a dog's ears”. The book is long out of print and was originally a collection of tales from various sources such as “The California Folklore Quarterly”, Stith Thompson's “Motif Index of Folk Literature”, and so forth.

By the time I was in Junior High School I had acquired a “real job” of delivering newspapers and had money to buy more books and magazines. I was very eager to read fictional and as well as account of “real” monsters. Oberlin had a wonderful college bookstore, and as a mail order junkie (John Smith Catalog, Littleton Stamp and Coin Approvals, and others), I also ordered discounted books by the bulk thru the post (currently Edward R. Hamilton offers such a service), and was part of the Science Fiction Book Club. I loaded up on Bradbury, Lovecraft, Burrough's Mars series, the Jim Wynorski edited “They Came From Outer Space”, and more. Fiction was fairly easy to obtain.

I wanted the “fact” stuff. The hard stuff. Monster porn.

The scary books on monsters was harder to come by cheaply, at least at a paper boys “salary”.

Still, I did have my sources of discounted hardback books thru the mail. We Paxtons love our catalogs.  In the 70's I indulged myself with editions of Montague Summers “The Werewolf” as well as the appallingly gruesome “The Book of Werewolves” by the 19^th Century author Sabine Baring-Gould, the fascinating “The Mystery and Lore of Monsters” by C.J.S. Thompson, Jeffrey Burton Russell treaties on The Devil; Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity”, “The Supernatural” by Douglas Hill and Pat Williams, and even pulpier material like Robert and Frances Guenette's “The Mysterious Monsters”, and Roy P. Mackal's “The Monster of Loch Ness”.

Oh, I bought a good deal more, but lost a few boxes of books in two dreadful floods the past ten years. Nevertheless, you get the idea of what I was searching for. I wanted to know what monsters were. I had never seen one, but I wanted to. I dearly desired the chill, no the THRILL of seeing something not the norm. I even subscribed to a book service called "Out Of This World" which was my first exposure to the writing of Charles Forte. Wow, there was some guy like me. And he wrote about the unexplained. Not monsters per say, but the unusual, the unexplained or unusual aspects of our world. Monsters were hinted at in Forte's world.

As fiction was never far from my shelves and I read all the pulpy novelizations of the DR. WHO series. Loved those Brit monsters. Other horrors were read in vital collections such as “The Monster Book of Monsters” edited by Michael O'Shaughnessy. Collecting the Pan or Arrow horror anthologies that were published annually was also a treat.

As the 80s progressed I entered the “zine” scene with my magazines “Video Voice”, “Naked! Screaming! Terror!” and, of course, “Monster!” and in the 90s with “Monster! International”. The advent of the internet exposed me to even more monster films and TV shows. As readers of this blog knows I buy A LOT of unknown creature features from the world over. Anything with the slight chance of being something I've never seen or experienced holds a spell over me. It could be a crap from from West Bengali, but if there's a monster in it I AM THERE!

Which brings me back to David D. Gilmore's book “Monsters”. Reading it pretty much confirmed what I have always suspected, monsters are an essential aspect of human development. Some saw my fascination for things creature-filled as alarming (after my kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Ebihara, saw me drawing nothing but monsters, she apparently was very adamant that my parents take me to a therapist). Little did folks know that was normal. Hell, most of my family was into the supernatural in one form or another. My sister Kathryn.... she was obsessed with mice. That I just couldn't wrap my head around.

In conclusion, all I have to say is: Monsters have always been an important element in my life,and without their presence I would never have turned into the man I am now.

Be that for good or not-so-good.

The Devil, Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity; Jeffery Burton Russell, Cornwell Univeristy Press, 1977, 277 pages.


The Mystery and Lore of Monsters; C.J.S. Thompson, The Bell Publishing Company, 1973, 255 pages.


The Monster Book of Monsters, Michael O'Shaughnessy, Bonanza Books, 1988, 352 pages.


The Monsters of Loch Ness, Roy P. Mackal, The Swallow Press, 1976, 401 pages.


The Supernatural, Douglas Hill and Pat Williams, Hawthorn Books, 1965, 351 pages.


The Book of Werewolves, The Classic Work On This Dreadful Subject, Sabine Baring-Gould, Causway Books, 1973, 266 pages.


The Werewolf, Montague Summers, The Bell Publishing Company, 1975, 307 pages.


They Came From Outer Space, Jim Wynorski, editor, Double Day & Company, 1980, 363 pages.


Supernatural Horror in Literature, H.P. Lovecraft, Dover Publications, Inc., 1973, 112 pages.


The Thing At The Foot of the Bed and Other Scary Tales, Maria Leach, The World Publishing Company, 1959, 124 pages (? my edition is missing some of last pages).


Monsters, Evil Beings, Mythical Beasts, and all manner of Imaginary Terrors, David D. Gilemore, Univeristy of Pennsylvania Press, 2003, 210 pages.

Growing Up Monstrous

My sister Heather and me. As with most of the kids in my family we grew up loving monsters... all monsters. We have no bias towards any supernatural entities whatsoever. For us, Monsters are the norm.

Intermission Time

For those of you who are eager to read some paper, and by paper I mean a REAL magazine, I am involved with producing one with Brian Harris of Wildside Cinema. Besides my article on Bollywood Horror films (an extension of a blog post from February), I am designing the magazine. More about it when you can order this baby!

By the way, Brian is looking for contributors... contact him at the blog linked above. Deadline for articles, reviews, even comic art (!) for WENG'S CHOP #0 is April 20th. Short notice, I know, but I know some of you must have stuff sitting on your computer or desk or nigh stand or in the dark cobwebby recesses of your brain...

Cheers,

Tim

The Indian Collection, Part 6: DANCE, NAAGDEVI, DANCE

It has been over a month since my last entry and I really have no excuse as to my tardiness other than I have been busy. Too caught up in my life outside of the blog to make a simple entry. Yea, I know: lame. So, to make up for my very late return I will have something fun for MONSTER! fans out there.

But there won't be any of the usual suspects this time around. Nope. No zombies or giant monsters or yetis or anything like that. The monsters presented for this page will be the sexy kind. I present to you the bodacious and curvacious Hindu Snake Goddess Naag in some of her various supple forms. You know, slinky snake ladies from Indian films.

What, you've never seen any of these lovely cobra maidens strut their stuff? How many of you have seen Ken Russel's 1988 film THE LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM? In that fun film we have the sexy Amanda Donohoe as Lady Sylvia Marsh, a English/Roman pagan snake goddess (in part, sort of like the Naag, which isn't really a full-fledged goddess, more of a demi-god or demon) and her rather nasty habit of biting folks, and either turning them into snake monsters or offering them up to her god as a meal. To make a long story short, there is a segment in the film where she is coaxed out of her lair by using a record of old Indian snake charmer's music. I'm sure that Russel had seen some of the Nagin or Naag films prior to making his film.

Vinyl LP soundtrack from the film.

Okay, kinda sultry, but nothing when compared to the following list of snake ladies (not presented in chronological order of any kind):

In the 1986 film NAGINA we are presented with the writhing loveliness of actress Sridevi as the snake goddess/demoness/whathaveyou (and the musical talents of Laxmikant Shantaram Kudalkar and Pyarelal Ramprasad Sharma. In the film Rajni is a snake woman who has married a human to live a normal life. She is then tracked by Bhairo Nnath a religious man, who is capable of controlling snakes. The holy man want only one thing: the Cobra Jewel, and with it he can become very powerful. This plot element, the Cobra Jewel, is very popular in Naag cinema. In this scene Rajni confronts her tormentor and proceeds to perform a Naag Dance of Death...

 

The horn which Bhairo Nnath  and his minions play is the traditional snake charmer's instrument, and the melody that Laxmikant-Pyarelal created fot he scene above is based on a traditional "Naag" theme use din numerous films since the late 1940's. The earliest film I've seen someone play this melody was from 1951 entitled NAGIN. In that very entertaining (and hugely popular mainstream film), and while there was no overtly supernatural elements in the production's storyline, the film's leading lady was always entranced by the sound of the horn.

SIDE NOTE: A possible source for the popularity of the horn-playing snake charmer may have its roots in the mythological traditions that Lord Krishna subdued the river snake god Kaliya Naag with his flute. Seen to the left is a Mogul-era painting from the 1600's depicting Krishna and the defeated Naag and the snake god's many Nagin or snake wives.

History lesson aside, I am attracted to these types of films for various reasons. The obvious one is that the monster in these films is a very beautiful woman, and I admit I have fallen for her charms... no matter how deadly she may be. Actually, in most of these films the Naag is rarely an evil creature. Most of the time she is just trying to live her life with any hassles from humans, and is either hunted by a Cobra Jewel-hungry holy man or is threatened by some ruthless hunters. In any case, she has to defend herself and if she happens to kill some annoying "hairless apes" (my apologies to Lord Hanuman and Howard the Duck) then so be it.

In the 1976 film NAGIN (not to be confused the with 1951 film of the same name) a pair of courting naags are assaulted by some idiotic humans. During a particularly sexy dance number by the female naag in human form with that of her male partner in cobra form, the ignorant hunters kill the male thinking it was  a deadly snake about to put the moves on a hapless woman. Sadly, their rash actions bring down down upon them, as the Naag kills off the offending humans one by one. In the scene to your right one of the last remaining humans comes to realizes the mistake they made by killing the female naag's mate. Ooops!

Naag films are still as immensely popular today as films like Jennifer Chambers Lynch's 2010 film HISSS. Lynch, who wrote the film as well, also made the 1993 film BOXING HELENA and is the daughter of director David Lynch. This India/USA co-production thankfully varies slightly off the traditional Naag tales of vengeance. In this film a scientist learns that he has brain cancer and plans on using the supernatural powers of the snake gods to cure him of his disease and make him immortal. Of course, nothing goes as planned and everything ends horribly for all involved.

While I found HISSS to be mildly diverting, I miss the more fantastic elements of the older films. Nevertheless, Lynch does a good job translating some of the phantasmagorical elements of the naag demon to the English-speaking world. HISSS is easy to find if you are interested in this unusual hybrid. But the sexy just wasn't there for me.

I'm so jaded. I've seen over 20 of these snake goddess films. Most are fairly high budget in their production values, and some have even pack their films with top name Bollywood actors. SHESHNAAG is a fine example of made-to-order runaway hit. This 1990 films features a lush soundtrack by Laxmikant-Pyarelal and the acting talents of stars Jeetendra, Rishi Kapoor, and the super-sexy Telugu actress Rekha as the leading Naag.

Nothing sez hot snake love like two naag gods in heat... dancing up a storm in what looks like the foothills of the Himalayas.

My favourite film of this genre has to be the 1996 film DEVI that stars yet another hot Indian actress Prema as the snake goddess. But before we get to see her we are introduced to some dancing naags in their snake form. These snake are visiting our plane of existence on a day trip from Shiva's domain. In this scene they are worshiping the phallic idol associated with Shiva.  After this bit of praise they all return to the land of the gods, except for one which is trapped here by an evil wizard.

The stranded snake goddess must protect a naag-worshiping woman from her evil family as well as dodge the unwanted advances of the evil power-hungry sorcerer who is hell-bent (literally) on destroying Devi's reputation with Shiva. The film is full of some pretty cool special effects, great dance numbers by Devi Sri Prasad, and very beautiful snake ladies.

But not of the films I've seen concerning the world of the snake gods and goddesses have top-billing actors, wonderful soundtrack, or even a budget to speak of. For every DEVI or NAGIN or SHESHNAAG -- or HISSS for that matter -- we have two dozen films like NAAGLOK, JAI MAA NAAGDEVI, JUNGLE KI NAGIN, NAAG MOHINI, and NAAG MERE SAATHI.

But more about those films in my next blog entry!

Interimitus

Articles on the way; in the meantime here are a select bits of video and such to keep you occupied until I get around to writing something. Which is due Saturday. Which I haven't started. Which I'm sure all of you are waiting for....


I feel another obsession coming on... first MONSTER! Blog covered Indian horror, then Taiwanese fantasy... now Japanese animal demon films that include cat ghosts and now Dog Gods! Of course, I need to finish entries on those thoughts, but in the meantime here's a trailer from the 1977 film CURSE OF THE DOG GOD:

May I present a spooky cat-ghost sequence from the 1953 Japanese horror film "Kaidan Saga yashiki" aka GHOST OF SAGA MANSION. Sadly no subtitles... P.S. despite what you think,this is NOT a spoiler if you ever want to see the film:

 

A trailer for one of my favourite hot and sassy Hong Kong horror films... THE EVIL CAT. A film that, sadly, not too many folks know about:

A snippet from THE LADY VAMPIRE (1959); directed by Nobuo Nakagawa.

Another recent (post blog!) Taiwanese fantasy find: 白蛇大鬧天宮 "Snake Woman's Marriage" (1975); thrilling battle sequence between a monk and a large white snake with sound effects lifted from Hammer's QUATERMAS AND THE PIT! On a quick and casual viewing the film appears to be from the same legend that Tsui Hark's farmed for his very entertaining GREEN SNAKE (青蛇) from 1993 (starring my HK heartthrob Joey Wong), and the more recent HK 3D flick THE SORCERER AND THE WHITE SNAKE (白蛇傳說) which wasn't half bad despite an over abundance of CG. However, in this scene was have good old fashion rubber monster action! 

Oh, if you EVER think of fucking with Hindu The Goddess Durga or one of her devotees... don't. This dude did, and he had a very bad night (from the Telugu film AMMORU): 

Rockin' Indian giant monster action from the 1991 fantasy film AJOOBA. Starring Amitabh Bachchan (DON) and director Shashi Kapoor and the Soviet filmmaker Gennadi Vasilyev:  

SHIP OF MONSTERS -- what a cool film! When I was a kid I drooled over all the photos that appeared in Famous Monsters whenever they would run their "South of the Border Horrors" or something like that. Watched this film numerous times without subtitles, and recently acquired a .srt file and after some dabbling with time signatures I was able to make my own Spanish language copy with English subs... with some delays. Oh well. And now for one of the best scenes in the movie: 

In the meantime here's a snippet from one of those fascinating (for me at least) Japanese "Cat Ghost/Demon" movies; from 1954 it's director Bin Kato's GHOST CAT OF THE OKAZAKI UPHEAVAL (KAIBYO OKAZAKI-SODO). In this nail-biting scene we are witness to the possession of a young woman by a Cat Ghost! No subs and so-so quality, I must apologize: 

Miserable day out: too cold, windy with wet snow. To get into the mood I'll put on this WTF film of the day. A 1960's Indian film called SHIKARI... and wait for it... oh yea! —  

Back in the day I used to watch anything... really, almost any kind of film I could get my mits on. Korean Ghost comedies, any version of the tale of the Monkey King, any odd foreign flick by Franco or anything with even a brief nod to something the supernatural or monstrous. TOOTHLESS VAMPIRES was a favourite, and I sat thru it a coupla times even when the film lacked any subtitles...  

 




Vampire Bride (花嫁吸血魔, Hanayome kyūketsuma) is a very entertaining horror film; short and sweet with a fairly decent monster... but I can understand why it may not have been opted for export. It would have been too weird (ie: too Japanese) for 1960s mainstream U.S. consumption. Plus the creature is a bat-like monster/human hybrid and tends to flap its "wings" in a very modern-dance sorta way.



AND why am I not getting this blog done???  Probably because I've been watchin'' MAJIN MONSTER OF TERROR before I hit the sack for the night...