Man, when I was a kid I loved movie monsters. Still do. Not so much the new monsters like Freddy and Jason, not the gore fests of today, but the old school monsters like Frankenstein, Dracula, the Mummy, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and the Creature.
Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde Action Figure! Exchangeable faces!
I used to love to sit about a foot away from the tube with some pals and watch those monsters do their nasty business. I also loved those ridiculous monster movie hosts and hostesses like Seymour, Moona Lisa, Vampira.
I always wondered why in those movies the people who encountered the monsters were so lame. I mean, the only really scary monster was the Wolfman, because he could run pretty fast and catch you pretty easily and tear you up with his teeth and claws. He was a wolf, after all. I figured you didn’t have much chance with the Wolfman because he was nimble and strong. It seemed to me, though, that victims in the Mummy and Frankenstein movies were always just freaking out too much and not using their heads. They’d just stand there screaming, all petrified and scared, not moving, and of course that gave the Mummy and Frankenstein, and a whole mess of other slow and uncoordinated monsters the chance to grab ’em by the throat and choke ’em. If it were me, I figured, I’d be dodging and running and jumping all over the place like a maniac getting the hell out of there before I’d let those monsters get ahold of my throat. So a good rule of thumb is, if you run into a monster, don’t freak out, don’t fool around, keep your head. Don’t let ’em grab you buy the throat and run like hell.
I had all the monster models as a kid too. Built them myself. They didn’t always turn out so well, I was a kid after all, impatient and with a skill level of ZERO. But I did my best, painted ’em up, usually got too much paint and glue on everything in my rush to get ’em done. Then I’d put them on display in my room. Had the Wolfman, the Phantom of the Opera, the Creature. Wish I had ’em now.
Giant Frankie Model! The Holy Grail!
And actually, I do. Or at least I’m getting there. I’ve done some digging, putting together a little collection of some of those cool monster models, old and new. I’m keeping a few of ’em for myself, the others I’ve got up for sale on at Captain Hollywood’s (almost famous) Curiosity Shop, adding them to my stock, a few at a time, as I find them, for all the monster lovers like me. I’ve got the Mummy, Dracula, Frankenstein, Godzilla, and quite a few others.
Revell Mummy.
Lookin’ Good!
The models have had an interesting evolution as castings and molds have been traded and resold from one company to another through the years. There have been name changes and later attempts to replicate the popularity of the models by making them glow in the dark. Maybe you’ll see a few on the Captain Hollywood site that might interest you. Give a click and take your pick. And always remember not to let the Mummy or Frankenstein get you by the throat. The Mummy’s a thousand years old for crying out loud, and Frankenstein stumbles around a lot because he’s made from dead people. If you get a good head start on ’em, take my word for it, they’ll never be able to catch you.
Cheers!
Captain Hollywood
