Before Amazon. Before the internet. Before comic book stores became a thing. I am talking the mid to late seventies, where if you wanted something specialized you would need to go through mail order; not by going online but by ordering out of a catalog.
Continue reading “THE BASEMENT BACK IN TIME: The Heroes World Catalog”
Welcome to another edition of Monstrous Mask Reviews. This time I am reviewing a mask from Death Studios, a company that has been in business for as long as I can remember. Death Studios has always been known for their quality, both in super-thick latex and paint jobs that look so good, you believe they sent you the mask used in the catalog photo.
I have been a fan of Death Studios since the 1980s, when I first ordered from them, and I have never been disappointed by anything that I received. Jeff Death, the owner, makes every mask by himself from casting to airbrushing. He is fantastic at making sure his customers are satisfied.
Continue reading “MONSTROUS MASK REVIEWS: Alien Dead 2.1 by Death Studios”
Welcome to my latest Monstrous Mask Review. Once again Trick Or Treat Studios is represented with another of their fine creations. The only downside of this review is that this mask is no longer available directly from Trick Or Treat Studios, though it can be found from other mask distributors who have unsold inventory and it shows up from time to time on eBay and on Amazon.
Continue reading “MONSTROUS MASK REVIEWS: Ugly Rumor by Trick Or Treat Studios”
The year was 1978 and I was going to be turning eleven in May. I had kept seeing a commercial on television for a new toy coming out and I was so excited. It was a talking robot by one of my favorite toy companies Mego, and it was called 2-XL (as in “to excel”). This toy at the time sold for just over $50 and because it used 8-track tapes, each of which was a different topic, I honestly did not think it was something I would ever be able to have.
Continue reading “THE BASEMENT TOY BOX: Mego’s 2-XL, The Robot With A Personality”
We are in difficult times. I am writing this on April 24, 2020, and thanks to the coronavirus we have been in self isolation for about a month now. This has affected everyone differently. Children are being home-schooled, doctors are seeing patients through Telehealth and non-essential retail stores have been forced to close. You truly don’t know what you’ve got until it is taken away from you, almost overnight.
Continue reading “BASEMENT BUSINESS REVIEW: Electric Buddhas in Portland, Maine”
I grew up on Godzilla and Gamera movies. I just could not get enough of them and would scour the weekly TV Guide, trying to find any listings for these movies to be shown the following week. This was prior to VCR’s, so if I wanted to see the movie, I would have to be available at the time of broadcast or be made to wait until the next time it was put into rotation. Ahhh…the growing pains of being a child in the 1970’s.
One of my favorites of the Toho movies is the 1956 film RODAN, or Sora no Daikaijū Radon as it was known by its original Japanese title. This film was released in Japan on December 26, 1956 and then later in the United States on August 6, 1957. Personally I prefer the Japanese versions over the United States’ dubs but thankfully, in the case of RODAN, care was taken to maintain its serious tone and some of the editing actually helped the pacing of the film.
Continue reading “KAIJU KONNECTION: Rodan (1956)”
I started reading “Famous Monsters of Filmland” magazine in the late 1970’s. Though I couldn’t always find it on the newsstand, when I did I made sure to buy it. It was a magazine that was easy to fall in love with. Not only were the articles and photos amazing, the magazine gave a feel of being a part of a monster family. And of course there were the ads in the back from Captain Company, that featured every monster-themed item you could ever hope for.
Continue reading “THE BASEMENT BOOK SHELF: Fantastic Monsters of the Films (Gwandanaland Comics)”
If you are a regular reader of the Basement of the Bizarre, then you know how much I loved growing up in the 1970s. There were just so many things to love as a kid, especially a kid with interests that most kids didn’t share. I loved monsters, comic books and collecting insects. Comic books were a huge part of growing up and one thing that I loved as much as the stories were the ads from companies such as the Johnson Smith, Co., Honor House and of course, the Gayle House. Gayle House was best known for their ad to invite your friends over for a haunting, thanks to a record with scary sound effects.
Continue reading “MONSTROUS MASK REVIEWS: The Blue Banshee by Trick Or Treat Studios”
I have been a lover of Godzilla movies since the early 1970s, when I could watch them almost weekly on the various UHF stations that were available in my area. Over the years I have collected all of the movies on DVD, slowly replacing them with the blu-rays, as they became available. When Criterion announced the release of this collection I became very excited. Not only is Criterion known for releasing the best copies possible, but the entire Showa series was being released at once and I was very happy with their release of the original film, GODZILLA, in 2012.
