Categories
Film & Television Series Toys & Collectibles

Hair ‘Em, Scare ‘Em: NECA’s Universal Monsters Wolfman Action Figure

A Just Another Spooky Sunday Installment

NECA, action figure, the wolf man, universal monster
NECA’s newest Ultimate Universal Monsters Action Figure Celebrates the 80th Anniversary. of The Wolfman. (Photo courtesy of NECA)

NECA (National Entertainment Collectibles Association) has just announced the second selection in its roll-out of Ultimate Universal Monsters Action Figures. Following the Frankenstein Monster, as portrayed by Boris Karloff NECA will release The Wolfman, honoring the film’s 80th anniversary year.

Categories
Toys & Collectibles

Frank Incensed… Mezco’s 1st Universal Monsters One:12 Figure

mezco toyz, universal monsters, one:12 collective
Mezco’s thrilling evocation of Karloff’s Frankenstein Monster enraged.

October 2016 will see the release of the premiere Universal Horror Movie figure in Mezco ToyzOne:12 Collective product line. It’s only fitting that the first to appear should be the cadaverous creation of Dr. Frankenstein. The 1931 film (Frankenstein) launched the now classic series of monster movies that would grow to include Dracula, The Wolf Man, The Invisible Man, The Mummy and eventually The Creature From The Black Lagoon.

Categories
Film & Television Series SkeletonPete Says

No Bikini Atoll: My Beach Party Blogathon 2015 Post

Ghostinvisiblebikini

(Editor’s Note: Oowee, got in just under the wire with this one. Thanks to Ruth of Silver Screenings and Kristina of Speakeasy for a neat excuse to write about one of my all-time guiltiest pleasures.)

Oh man, it’s literally the eleventh hour for posting a review Speakeasy/Silver Screenings’ 2015 Beach Party Blogathon, so here goes…

The Ghostess with the Mostest…
Released in April of 1966, on the tail end of American International Pictures’ (AIP) beach party film chronology, The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (GitIB) stands as my favorite in the series.

What makes GitIB so much fun is its kitchen sink nature. It feels like there was a tacit acknowledgement that the “endless summer” of the surfin’ 60’s might actually be waning after all and a pull out all the stops attempt to buoy this baby was required. It shares a “more is better” affinity with the latter Universal Pictures monster rallies of House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula.

beach party films, beach party blogathon, ghost in the invisible bikini
Cecily (Susan Hart) hips her “Hiram Baby” (Boris Karloff) to his new existence.
Too Much Monkey Business…
Couched in the – even then – hackneyed trappings of the “Old Dark House,” The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini could pass for a live Scooby Doo episode. It also greatly resembles the previous generation’s Kay Kyser vehicle You’ll Find Out, (1940) even sharing Boris Karloff as a cast member. The one twist in the script is that the villains have no idea they are being thwarted by real ghosts. Those ghosts are portrayed by Susan Hart, as Cecily, the titular see-thru character, and Karloff as former carnival owner Hiram Stokely, her surprised to find himself deceased beau.
beach party films, beach party blogathon, ghost in the invisible bikini
Gorilla My Dreams: Mighty Monstro in classic carrying the heroine mode.
Poe Knows…
The rest of the large GitIB cast is run through a series of the oldest story and sight gags in theatrical history. There’s an inheritance at stake, a multitude of revolving walls, secret passages and falling chandeliers, portraits that watch you, an escaped carnival gorilla, damsel in distress on a buzz saw, a grand guignol waxworks, and a string of Mack Sennet style chases. Fans of Roger Corman‘s Edgar Allan Poe films can have a heyday perusing this movie’s mis en scene. To my eye Stokley’s chamber of horrors was also the set of many an AIP EAP romp. Can anyone help out with specifics here?

Original series leads Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello are replaced by another post-Disney kid, Tommy Kirk, and Deborah Walley in the hero and heroine roles. Beach film stalwart Harvey Lembeck, does mega slapstick throughout, returning for his last ride as motorcycle gang leader Eric Von Zipper.

Other cast members are a convergence of old and new Hollywood of the mid-1960’s. It’s an aspect the film shares with the contemporaneous Batman TV series, which premiered on ABC TV a few months earlier. Karloff, Basil Rathbone, Patsy Kelly, Jesse Young, and even Francis X. Bushman appear alongside the bevy of beach kids, with Rat Pack scion Nancy Sinatra and Claudia Martin representing a changing of the guard.

beach party films, beach party blogathon, ghost in the invisible bikini
Nancy Sinatra sings “Geronimo” backed by the Bobby Fuller Four.
Teardrop City…
Sinatra offers a catchy pop tune “Geronimo,” backed by The Bobby Fuller Four. Fuller can be seen gyrating wildly through the instrumental “Swing A-Ma Thing” wielding an awesome Vox white teardrop guitar. The group serves as “house band” throughout the film. All songs are credited to series regulars Guy Hemric and Jerry Styner. The Les Baxter soundtrack is augmented by drip-drop reverb laden sound effects.
beach party films, beach party blogathon, ghost in the invisible bikini
Susan Hart, as the transparent title character, boogies through the end credits with the AIP teen troupe
SkeletonPete Says…
Historically Ghost in the Invisible Bikini represents a last innocent romp prior to the LSD exploitation and sensationalism of films like Riot On Sunset Strip, Pysch-Out and The Trip. Those films in turn presaged studio system killers like Five Easy Pieces and Easy Rider. Think of the cultural gap between The Monkees’ September 1966 pilot episode and their cinematic swansong Head and you’ll get my point.

I love the film because it incapsulates my late pre-teens with remembrances of the aforementioned Batman and Monkees TV series, The Munsters, Aurora plastic model monster kits, Famous Monsters of Filmland and Monster World magazines, Top 40 from a transistor radio speaker, The Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations” on the AM airwaves, and begging my pop to take me to see Karloff in AIP’s Lovecraft adaptation Die Monster, Die.

Categories
Toys & Collectibles

High Stakes: Van Helsing Joins Diamond Select Monster Series

Diamond Select Toys' Van Helsing action figure prototype as seen at Toy Fair 2014.
Diamond Select Toys’ Van Helsing action figure prototype as seen at Toy Fair 2014.
Van the Man…
Diamond Select Toys is taking the opportunity to expand the monster line with a unique design of their own. DST’s Van Helsing, is an armed-to-the-teeth vision of the vampire hunter with a wizened and battle scarred countenance. With his axe, rifle, pistol and bandolero of wooden spikes he’s clearly a determined and formidable foe for the feral creatures of the night.

With many of us still cringing from the loopy Hugh Jackman misstep of 2004 Van Helsing was a risky choice. Fortunately DST presents him as an effective cross between the grandfatherly character portrayed by Edward Van Sloan in 1931 and Anthony Hopkins’ frenzied doctor of Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula (1992.)

The Van Helsing “Select” version is the most ornate of the three new Wave 5 boxed packages. The base provides a cemetery scene with dual tombstones and vicious vampire bride Mina Harker pouching from her grave.

More Monsters…
I’ve been stalking Diamond Select Toy’s fifth wave of Universal Monsters figures since they first appeared as early prototypes in DST’s Toy Fair Booth back in 2013.

These two newest 7 inch scale action figures present Boris Karloff as The Monster from Son of Frankenstein, and a new version of The Creature From the Black Lagoon. The Jean St. Jean sculpts are created with “super articulation,” giving the models many more poseable points of movement than their previous incarnations.

DST has announced these items in blister-carded Toys “R” Us Exclusive configurations (already on the shelves) as well as “Select” boxes, available shortly in comic book shops, or for pre-order. The “Select” versions add extraordinarily detailed bases and props.

Inspector Krogh "lends a hand (and arm) to Karloff's "Son of Frankenstein" TRU Exclusive. Image Courtesy of Diamond Select Toys.
Inspector Krogh “lends a hand (and arm) to Karloff’s “Son of Frankenstein” TRU Exclusive. Image Courtesy of Diamond Select Toys.

The Monster is portrayed with a slightly more gaunt look than Karloff lensed in the original 1939 film. He is clothed in his signature “Son of” wooly vest, a look that will forever remind me of Sonny Bono’s preferred garb in the 1960’s. In addition to more articulation The Creature update trumps its Wave 1 predecessor with, to my eye, a sculpt more accurate to its film appearance and a glossier aquatic paint finish.

“Armed” and Dangerous…
The “Select” Son of Frankenstein comes with an awesome Kenneth Strickfaden inspired piece of electrical laboratory gear that will remind old school collector’s like myself of the similar rig that was part of Aurora’s classic Bride of Frankenstein tableau. No Son of Frankenstein collectible would be complete without the wooden arm of Lionel Atwill’s Inspector Krogh for the monster to swing around. For me it’s a must have, and I’m glad to report it comes in both packaging configurations, so you won’t be torn (hee, hee.)

SkeletonPete Says…
While I’m happy to learn that Diamond Select will continue to offer Universal Monster figures in another wave next year, I also applaud the initiative to bring some of their own creative juice to the monster mix.

The Aurora Plastic Model Company did this quite effectively in late 1960’s. Their Forgotten Prisoner of Castle Mare, The Witch, and The Guillotine models were equally cherished by collectors. In fact they are the only intact original Aurora models I still have. The others succumbed to an ill advised tangle with a barrage of firecrackers one fateful Independence day.

Categories
Toys & Collectibles

Mama Weer All Crazee Now: Mezco Completes Pyscho Trio

Mezco Toyz' Adds Norman's Mother to Their Psycho Selection
Mezco Toyz’ Adds Norman’s Mother to Their Psycho Selection

Get Your Motor Running…
The good folks at Mezco Toyz revved up their engines for this month’s American International Toy Fair with a special press peek at their upcoming offerings. The company is not only celebrating the sweet sixteenth birthday of their Living Dead Doll Series but has announced a Sons of Anarchy figure and collectible line for release in summer of 2014. The advance viewing was a perfect opportunity to get some unfettered photos of this newest Mezco merch especially an unexpected Psycho treat.

Norman’s Mom Has Got It Goin’ On…

"Mad Moma" Norman Bates Gets the Mezco LLD Spin
“Mad Moma” Norman Bates Gets the Mezco LLD Spin

After focusing on the Sons of Anarchy and Breaking Bad characters, I peered across the room in Mezco’s sanctum sanctorum for an unexpected surprise. Perched on a display shelf, comfy in her rocking chair and shawl, sat Mother, the desiccated grande dame of the Bates family. The wonderfully creepy creation is rendered as a “roto-plush,” with molded cast hands, feet and head and a plush body, like dolls of old. She perfectly compliments the Norman and Victim dolls released last year. She’ll be ready for release this coming summer. Keep your Raggedy Ann away from the shower stall.

Mommy To Mummy…
Karloff's 1932 Mummy is the Next Universal Monster Emerging from Mezco in June 2014.
Karloff’s 1932 Mummy is the Next Universal Monster Emerging from Mezco in June 2014.

Not far from Mother stood her Universal Pictures kin, the equally shriveled Karloffian Mummy. The Mummy is the third in Mezco’s effective angular stylization of the classics. Frankenstein’s Monster and The Creature from the Black Lagoon are currently available with The Mummy slated for June of this year. Still in the works and pending design approval is Mezco’s Creature from the Black Lagoon Living Dead Doll.

SkeletonPete Says…
I expect to post a full gallery of images from Mezco’s Toy Fair preview on Thursday, including Living Dead Dolls Series 27 featuring “Myths and Legends from Around the World,” Sons of Anarchy, Breaking Bad, Axe Cop, 1966 Batman villains Mez-itz, and more.

I’ve also been meaning to share some fun “beauty shots” of the all white “test shot” Creature from the Black Lagoon I scored at the Mezco sale last summer.