March 13, 2010

Horror Stalks The Newsstand

The nice people over at SFX magazine have graced me with a copy of their new Horror Special, and I certainly don’t mind giving them a plug here, considering how much I enjoyed the issue.

There’s an amazing amount of material in here, profusely illustrated, and I love how vintage horror films get their dues along with the contemporary fare. For instance, an interview with makeup man Rick Baker on the new Wolfman (with stunning photos) segues into an article about the 1941 original. The vintage stuff includes a look back at the original Wicker Man, the so-called “blaxploitation” horror films of the Seventies, a history of Spanish fright films, and a fascinating look at lost silents.

Ultimately, what I liked best was the Brit-centric material that never gets much attention on this side of the Atlantic: There’s a review of all 74 notorious “video nasties”, and a great article about the legendary Pan Book of Horror series.

And finally, a Frankenstein moment: The news section of the issue previews an upcoming book, Hammer Films: The Unsung Heroes, by Wayne Kinsey…

The picture here reveals the prop-head trick behind Peter Cushing’s harrowing brain-drill operation in Frankenstein Must be Destroyed. It’s just one of the rarely or never-before-seen pictures to be collected in the new Hammer book, coming from Tomahawk Press.

Kudos to editor Ian Berriman for a seriously good job. Makes you wish that the publishers at SFX would turn their Horror Special into a regular, ongoing magazine.


See a complete and very impressive list of contents on the SFX website.


No comments: