A History of Terror Films essays

A History of Terror Films essays Little twelve-year-old Tommy Jones stood at the newsstand counter. All he had in his hot little hand was $.50. His whole weeks allowance. A princely sum for those days. After all, this was the summer of 1965. These were the years of civil uprise, the Beatles, and the peak of the monster craze. So here was little Tommy, contemplating what to do next. You see, a certain magazine caught his attention. A ghastly image of a werewolf graced the cover. In all its graphic gore, the werewolf snared out at him. Tommy had never seen anything like it before. He was held transfixed by the image of the werewolf on the cover. With trembling hands, he took the magazine off the rack. Leafing through the magazine he sees all these pictures of monsters. Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolfman, and The Mummy, all these great images. He just had to have this book. But $.50! His whole weeks allowance. He would not have anything left for later if he bought this book. Why for $.50 he could get three comic books and still have enough for a couple of candy bars. He decides that the comics and candy will have to wait. He brings the magazine to the clerk and hands over his hard earned money and he takes possession of his new prize. This magazine had a peculiar title; Famous Monsters of Filmland. And it was filled with picture after picture of all the grand monsters of the silver screen. Karloff, Lugosi, Chaney, Frankenstein, King Kong, The Creature from the Black Lagoon. They were all there. Tommy takes the magazine home and is initiated into a strange new world of monsters and other ghastly images. 1965 was the year of the monsters. The Addams Family, The Munsters, The Outer Limits were the top TV shows of their day. TV in particular had become horror happy, showing the old classics of Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr., Frank ...