Famous Monsters Forryever

Movie Poster Monday: The Eye Creatures, 1965. Larry Buchanan's dirt-cheap color remake of Invasion of the Saucer-Men, shot around Dallas for ~$40k. Its on-screen title got botched into "Attack of the The Eye Creatures." Pure AIP schlock. #MoviePosterMonday #BMovie

Two decades of Basil Gogos cover art for Famous Monsters of Filmland in one reel, from his 1960 Vincent Price debut to his 1980 Mother from Psycho. Watch the gallery: famousmonstersforryever.com/wp-content/upl… #BasilGogos

Jack Pierce built the flat skull on one idea: a surgeon in a hurry opens the cranium the fastest way, drops the brain in, and clamps the lid shut. And those are electrodes in the neck, not bolts. Boris Karloff carrying all of it. #BorisKarloff

That caped figure is Jonathan Frid as Barnabas Collins, the reluctant, guilt-ridden vampire who saved ABC's Dark Shadows (1966-71) and became the template for every brooding bloodsucker since. #DarkShadows

I ran six cover brackets across the whole original FM run, then faced the six champions off head to head. Grand Champion by a 51 to 49 hair: issue 56, Basil Gogos's Karloff memorial Frankenstein. Who did you vote for? famousmonstersforryever.com/wp-content/upl… #BasilGogos

A somber spotlight in our "Taking a Bite Of..." series: Famous Monsters of Filmland issue 103 (December 1973), graced by Basil Gogos' iconic painted cover of the Creature from the Black Lagoon—widely celebrated as one of his most vibrant Gill-man portraits. Yet beneath that vivid exterior lies an unusually poignant, memorial-heavy edition. Released months after Lon Chaney Jr.'s passing in July 1973, it serves as a heartfelt primary tribute to the Wolf Man himself, with deeply emotional content including a rare inscribed photo from Chaney Jr.'s final year (personally dedicated to Forry Ackerman) and symbolic headlines reuniting him with his father "thru Death's Door." Additional eulogies honor Veronica Lake, George Macready, Arthur P. Jacobs (Planet of the Apes producer), Robert Ryan, and Jack Hawkins—making this one of the magazine's most reflective, grief-filled issues ever published. Dying to Keep the Memory of Famous Monsters of Filmland Alive! Which Universal Monster legend's legacy hits you hardest—the Wolf Man, the Creature, or another? Dive deeper into these timeless pages (and my full graded collection) via the link in bio. Thanks for Looking! 💀💀💀💀💀 #FamousMonsters #LonChaneyJr #CreatureFromTheBlackLagoon #ClassicHorror #UniversalMonsters

Happy Frankenstein Friday! The hunchback tormenting Karloff's Monster with fire isn't Colin Clive, it's Dwight Frye as Fritz, the original lab assistant (and yes, Fritz, not Igor). He played Dracula's Renfield that very same year. #FrankensteinFriday #DwightFrye

Thumb-Thru Thursday flips through FM issue 90 (May 1972): an uncredited Scream and Scream Again cover, plus Forry's tender Tor Johnson farewell inside. Watch the full thumb-through: famousmonstersforryever.com/wp-content/upl… #ThumbThruThursday

FM #29, July 1964: an uncredited cover for The Flesh Eaters, a scrappy Long Island gore pioneer, plus a werewolf story by a 14-year-old reader printed next to the pros. Peak monster-kid clubhouse. famousmonstersforryever.com/cover-library/… #TheFleshEaters

Werewolf Wednesday: the Wolf Man over a victim, while a good man screams underneath. Lon Chaney Jr. made Larry Talbot the most tragic of all the Universal monsters, the one role he guarded as his own. #TheWolfMan #LonChaneyJr

Henry Hull in Werewolf of London (1935), Universal's first werewolf. The makeup leaves most of his face working, the opposite of the full-coat approach Jack Pierce took with Chaney six years later. #WerewolfOfLondon

That's Lon Chaney Jr. under Jack Pierce's makeup as the Monster in The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), his only turn in the role, menacing a cool Sir Cedric Hardwicke. Bela Lugosi's Ygor sets up Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. #UniversalMonsters

Movie Poster Monday: a lobby card billing him only as Karloff the Uncanny in The Mummy (1932). He wears the famous bandages for mere minutes of screen time. Karl Freund's directing debut, Jack Pierce's 8-hour makeup. #BorisKarloff #TheMummy

FM's Mummy covers in one reel: Karloff's Imhotep and Chaney's Kharis, painted by Whitman, Prezio, Gogos and Kelly. One monster, one makeup man, four artists. Watch: famousmonstersforryever.com/wp-content/upl… #TheMummy

Step into the shadows with this chilling still of Lon Chaney Sr. as the hypnotic "Man in the Beaver Hat" from the legendary lost silent film 'London After Midnight' (1927), directed by Tod Browning. Chaney's masterful dual role—playing both Scotland Yard inspector Edward C. Burke and a ghoulish vampire suspect—featured his self-designed makeup with wired eyes, sharp teeth, and that iconic top hat, creating one of horror's most enduring images despite the film's disappearance. The last known print perished in MGM's 1965 vault fire, but Forry Ackerman kept its legacy alive through Famous Monsters of Filmland, showcasing rare stills in issues like 4 (1959) with an article on Chaney's makeup secrets, and inspiring Basil Gogos' haunting covers for issues 20 (November 1962) and 69 (September 1970), both reimagining this very pose in vivid color. Dying to Keep the Memory of Famous Monsters of Filmland Alive! What's your take on cinema's greatest lost treasures? Comment and explore our archive for more unearthed horrors! Thanks for Looking! 💀💀💀💀💀 #LondonAfterMidnight #LonChaney #LostFilm #ClassicHorror #SilentHorror

That surprisingly human snarl is Henry Hull as the Werewolf of London (1935), the first mainstream Hollywood werewolf, six years before The Wolf Man. Jack Pierce's fuller makeup was swapped for this sleeker, half-transformed look. #WerewolfOfLondon

A few of the earliest Famous Monsters issues, 1959 to 1961, when Albert Nuetzell and a young Basil Gogos painted the covers. Issues 4, 5, 6, 10, 11 and 13, all CGC graded. Browse them in my collection: famousmonstersforryever.com/collection/ #BasilGogos

FM 169, Nov 1980, graded CGC 9.6: Basil Gogos trades monsters for Mother, painting the mummified Psycho corpse in his feverish color. A Clash of the Titans preview waits inside. Full graded flyover: famousmonstersforryever.com/wp-content/upl… #BasilGogos

Today in "Famous Monsters Forryever...Taking a Bite Of..." we're revisiting page 76 from Famous Monsters of Filmland 111 (October 1974) – topped with Basil Gogos' iconic, chilling cover painting of possessed Regan from The Exorcist, widely regarded as one of his greatest masterpieces! With the brand-new Planet of the Apes TV series premiering just a month earlier in September 1974, ape-mania was at fever pitch. Captain Company wasted no time offering these coveted ADDAR snap-together plastic hobby kits: Dr. Zaius and Cornelius at $2.50 each, General Aldo, Ursus, and Zira at $3.50 – though poor Caesar the Ruler got hit with an epic typo at a whopping $13.50! The page also showcases FM's passion for monster makeup, inspiring countless young creators with affordable latex werewolf noses (touted as from the classic Wolf Man mold), creepy skin lumps, and self-adhesive face fur – all for under $3 total. Dying to Keep the Memory of Famous Monsters of Filmland Alive! Did you ever build one of these ADDAR ape kits or experiment with Captain Company makeup as a kid? Share your stories below! For more classic pages and my full graded FM collection, head to the link in bio. Thanks for Looking! 💀💀💀💀💀 #FamousMonsters #PlanetOfTheApes #TheExorcist #BasilGogos #VintageHorror

Frankenstein Friday: Basil Rathbone is the son come home in Son of Frankenstein (1939), Karloff's last Monster, on Jack Otterson's astonishing Expressionist sets. The same year Rathbone first played Sherlock Holmes. #SonOfFrankenstein #BasilRathbone