Looking for something a little different to show off this Halloween? How about a wind-up Dracula and Frankenstein?
Both are available from Paul Smith and have the looks of the classic movie interpretations. Just wind them up and watch them hobble about the table.
Sadly, there's no sound from these 10cm figures, but as they're only £5 each, you can't really complain. And yes, we do know it's really Frankenstein's monster, not Frankenstein!
Find out more at the Paul Smith website
Via Retro To Go
This week 20th Century Fox will be unleashing their all new NTSC Region-1 The Fly DVD Collection
Besides the three movies mentioned above, The Fly Collection also includes a bonus DVD with a Vincent Price A & E Biography made in 1997, a short feature called Fly Trap: Catching a Classic, still galleries, poster art galleries and more!
The Fly Collection promises to be a real treat for anyone interested in classic science fiction films and monster movies. Few films have been as influential as the original Fly (1958). The film spawned numerous sequels and remakes, but it still has plenty of surprises to offer first-time viewers.
For more information about The Fly Collection please see Amazon
- Kimberly Lindbergs
Hammer revisited the Frankenstein tale on numerous occasions, with The Horror of Frankenstein generally regarded as one of the worst. But wait...it's not all that bad.
Without any of the Hammer big guns on the cast list, it stars Ralph Bates as Victor Frankenstein, skipping the misunderstood genius role in favour of the evil, sadistic madman. After bumping off his father, Frankenstein heads to university in Vienna to learn his trade as a doctor, then returns to the family castle to expand his interest in anatomy.
However, anatomy needs body parts - cue an arrangement with the local graverobber (Dennis Price) and a few dastardly deeds by Frankenstein to top up the numbers.
Despite a mishap with a brain, the monster (played by David Prowse - best-known as Darth Vader and the Green Cross Man) is created, but due to that mishap with the brain, not as intended. Enter a monster with a square head with an interest in killing the locals and eating pigeons and a doctor desperately trying to cover it all up.
British film studios have never had the affluence of their US counterparts, so a bit of cost cutting was always necessary to keep things moving along. In fact, it wasn't uncommon for movies to use the same set for more than one movie - as was the case with Hammer's The Reptile.
This film doubled up with the previously-reviewed Plague Of The Zombies, both using an unnamed Cornish village in the Victorian era. And the plot isn't a million miles away either - mysterious deaths, fearful villagers and a suspicious-looking bloke in a big house.