Thursday 28 April 2016

COVER ART-ROCITIES #28



The world of 1970s paperbacks brought the world of terrible books two things. Firstly a slew of witchy, occult flavoured novels that not only boldly stepped onto Dennis Wheatley's turf, but were also an excuse for writing saucy smut. Secondly however the end of the decade saw the beginnings of novelty formats - embossed fonts, foil stamped titles, and most gloriously of all, the double page art spread just inside the cover! 

And this pair would meet spectacularly in this edition of Jane Pankhurst's Isobel - saucy cover and then open it up and get this paperback equivalent of a heavy metal gatefold sleeve! This demented and gorgeous art was the début of Rowena Morrill, who would go on to be come a highly respected illustrator! 


Yes Virginia, there is a crocodile pretending to be a jawa with a boob out! 


Wednesday 27 April 2016

TOMB OF THE TRUMPS #26 - Dracula Pack XII


Welcome dear fiends once again to the haunted chamber of tat that is Tomb of the Trumps! However this week for a change, we actually have some quality finds in our lurid art autopsies! And we kick off with a name that surely needs no introduction! 


Now the Phantom of the Opera has already made a couple of appearances in this series before, courtesy of the great Lon Chaney Snr. For his marvellous depictions of the disfigured Erik have already been ripped off, I mean, inspired a couple of early cards, The Hangman and the Lord of Death. 

However I'm sure it will come as absolutely no surprise that by the time we actually get to the old Phantom himself at last, in true Horror Trumps fashion,  the image gracing the card isn't him at all! For while this fellow at an organ certainly looks the part, he doesn't hail from any version of Gaston Leroux's classic horror tale. No, it's an entirely different well-loved horror icon, the abominable Dr. Phibes!  


Now in fairness, the legendary Phibes does owe something of a debt to the Phantom - for like Erik, he is a musical, genius, loves playing the organ, and the first movie features a starling unmasking scene where his disfigured skull-like visage is revealed. And what's more both are a dab hand at creating memorable set-piece deaths for their victims. 

Played by the great Vincent Price, the not-so-good Doctor wreaked havoc in two cult movies directed by Robert Fuest. The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) saw the undying genius taking revenge on the surgical team that failed to save his wife by recreated the Biblical plagues of Egypt, while the sequel Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972) saw him devising similarly ornate deaths for all those standing between him and the fabled Waters of Life. 

Now I am a huge fan of these movies, and for more information on this celebrated duology and the possible sequels that never materialised, tune into these pair of episodes from my podcast - I thank you!


So then, onto our next exhibit! And rather appropriately this too is another cult classic getting a spurious new title in the Trumps-land!  


Now then, while you may be forgiven for thinking that this card was inspired by demoniac imagery from some medieval horrors, in fact this Satanic chap isn't in fact even a gentlemen! Actually this card is derived from a famous still from a classic Japanese film - Onibaba (1964)




Onibaba, which literally means "Demon Hag", was written and directed by Kaneto Shindo and was inspired by a Shin Buddhist parable. Critics are seemingly unsure as whether this movie should be classed as a period drama or a horror movie, but it is widely agreed to be a classic. Set in the 14th century, the story tells of two women, one older and one younger, who kill passing warriors and samurai and sell their armour and weapons for profit. However this set-up get more complicated when they team up with a soldier Hachi, and then things go badly awry when the older woman acquires a demon mask from one of her victims...

However for some bonus points, that's not the only rip-off in this card. Yes, that bloodied blade at the top has been borrowed too - for if you look closely you can see that it is the titular device in  this poster! 


Based  - very loosely  I might add - on the Edgar Allen Poe tale of the same name, The Pit and The Pendulum (1961) was actually the second of a series of movies inspired by Poe which were helmed by Roger Corman. They nearly all starred the great Vincent Price, and several, like this one, boasted a script by the great Richard Matheson too. A first class horror pedigree I'm sure you agree for a humble blood-splattered blade! 

Next time, there's a distinct touch of the grave to the next two cards we will be excavating here... 


Sunday 24 April 2016

HYPNOGORIA 34 - MYSTERIES OF THE MUMMY Part VIII - The Chronicles of Kharis


This week we investigate the further adventures of Universal Mummy Kharis! Now played by the great Lon Chaney Jnr., Mr Jim Moon breaks into The Mummy's Tomb (1942), encounters The Mummy's Ghost (1944) and falls prey to The Mummy's Curse (1944). We also regrettably discover what occurs when Abbott & Costello Meet The Mummy (1955)




DIRECT DOWNLOAD -  The Mysteries of the Mummy Part VIII

Find all the podcasts in the HYPNOGORIA family here -

HYPNOGORIA HOME DOMAIN - Full archive, RSS feed and other useful links

HYPNOGORIA on iTunes

HYPNOGORIA on STITCHER

CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

Friday 22 April 2016

FOLKLORE ON FRIDAY - Strange Burials


Over the last few weeks we've been excavating the folklore and legends linked to William Mackenzie's tomb on Rodney Street, a striking monument often referred to as the Great Pyramid of Liverpool. We have discovered that tales that Mackenzie was buried inside, seated at a table, to cheat the Devil of his soul, and how his cloaked spirit stalks the area, appear to be very recent additions to Liverpool's ghostly lore. And last week we learned these tales may well have their inspiration in a ghost story, The Tractate Middoth, penned by the great MR James, who in turn may well have been inspired by folklore surrounding other real life weird burials. 

Last week we learned how possibly James had been inspired by tales of the burial of "Mad" Jack Fuller. However while it is often claimed that this Georgian eccentric was buried in a pyramidal moment and seated at a table in full evening dress with a roast dinner before him, similar to Mackenzie and James' Dr Rant, there doesn't appear to be any talk of his ghost walking the area or any other tales of anything sinister of spooky. So then perhaps we should look elsewhere. And certainly there are other possible sources of inspiration, for there appears to have been a fad for unusual burials from the 18th century onwards. 

The remains of John Baskerville sketeched by Thomas Underwood

Many versions of the William Mackenzie legend state that he was a vehement atheist and gambler, which is how he ended up playing cards with a sinister stranger and wagering his soul away. And while there appears to be very little evidence at all in his diaries and contemporary writings that Mackenzie was either an atheist or given to gambling, there were other strange interments and odd funeral arrangements in the final wishes of various radical thinkers and rebels. For example, Birmingham printer John Baskerville, who invented the Baskerville font we still use today, was a staunch atheist, and in particular was opposed to the notion of bodily resurrection on Judgement Day favoured by some branches of Christianity. And so, he instructed that he was to be buried, standing up, not "laid to rest", in his own garden. And indeed when he died in 1775, he was buried according to his wishes - at least until his house was demolished and Birmingham Library built on its ground. Then Baskerville's body was displayed to the public for some years, before finally being re-interred. However in Birmingham Library archives, there is a sketch of his body made by Thomas Underwood in 1829, and with it you can see a preserved piece of Baskerville's shroud, and it is said anyone who touches it will be cursed! 

Closer to the tales we have been discussing is the philosopher Jeremy Bentham, who instructed that after his death in 1747, his mortal remains were to be preserved and displayed in a glass case. It is usually thought that Bentham hoped the transformation of his mortal remains into what he referred to as an Auto-Icon would break down some of the taboos around death, in particular the religious objections of the day to doctors performing autopsies and learning from dissecting human cadavers. Although others have proposed it was merely an eccentric act or vanity or some macabre joke on Bentham's part. Either way however it is alleged that Bentham's ghost has been seen many times strolling around the University College of London where the Auto-Icon is still on display. However Bentham's shade appears to a benign presence rather than the somewhat sinister spectre of Mackenize or the down-right terrifying Dr Rant. 

The Auto Icon of Jeremy Bentham

But there is one weird burial that does seem to fit very nicely both the dread phantom of The Tractate Middoth and the spooky tales of the Rodney Street Pyramid. Not far from St Mellion, Cornwall is Pentillie Castle, a country house built by Sir James Tillie in 1693. Also in its grounds, at a location he dubbed "Mount Ararat" , Sir James erected a folly, a three storey gothic tower. On his death in 1713, Sir James will instructed that his body should be interred inside the Mount Ararat tower. And what's more his mortal remains were to be fastened to his favourite chair, dressed in his finest clothes, and surrounded by his books, fine wines and his pipe to await the resurrection. 

Whether these instructions were intended as a morbid mocking of religious beliefs, an act of bizarre piety, or merely an eccentric whim, no one is entirely sure. Possibly it was some mixture of all three, for a contemporary of Sir James, William Hals reports that his will was "atheistic in principle" but also demonstrated "an utmost submission to the will of Divine Providence". Whatever the truth of the matter however, it was not long before accounts of his eccentric burial were being embroidered. A few decades later it was being claimed that he had also instructed his servants to bring his seated body fresh wine and food every week, which the poor souls continued to do for some two years before the decayed state of the corpse made the job impossible. In these elaborate stories, it was claimed that Sir James, a self-made man, had such a high opinion of himself and his admittedly impressive rise to riches, that he believed that death could not hold him and he would resurrect himself - hence the servants bringing him fresh food every week. Furthermore over the years, Sir James often was painted as "a celebrated atheist of the last age" (William Gilpin in Some Observations on the Western Parts of England 1798) and it was said that the restless shade of this impious fellow now stalked the night, and locals avoided the folly-turned-mausoleum after dark for fear of meeting his ghost. 

Statue of Sir James Tillie at the Mount Ararat folly

Sir James Tillie's burial proved to be something of a bone of contention among antiquaries and historians in the 19th century, for the folly clearly held no body, only a statue. Some argued that the corpse had been removed and buried properly in a local church, while others held that he had been interred beneath the folly itself. The argument would continue into the last century and were only finally resolved in 2013 when renovation work uncovered a sealed vault beneath the folly containing an ancient skeleton and leather-covered pieces of wood, thought to be the remains of a chair. 

Given that Sir James' strange post mortem affairs have been so widely discussed over the years, earning a mention in many different tomes and journals, it is hard to see how as an antiquarian such as MR James would not have been familiar with the tale. And certainly the lore and legends do seem a good match for old Dr Rant. However there are clear parallels with the tales told of William Mackenzie's monument too, and indeed with the shared concept of a blasphemous burial there is arguably a closer correlation with the Mackenzie stories than with The Tractate Middoth.  And so, it might be the case that the stories that have grown up in recent years about the pyramid tomb of Liverpool were perhaps directly inspired by the legend of Sir James Tillie. 

However the talk of losing a hand of cards with the Devil does remind me of another old well-known legend... More on that next time! 

The Mount Ararat folly

Wednesday 20 April 2016

TOMB OF THE TRUMPS #26 - Dracula Pack XI


Welcome once again to that benighted realm of old horror tat that is the Tomb of the Trumps! No, don't touch that! You look with your eyes not with your hands! ...Anyhow, now that you're all behaving yourselves, let's unveils this week's lurid exhibits! First up, we have this goggle-eyed twonk! 


Now quite why this being was called Maggot we know not. For he is not some species of fly larvae, and is also clearly of a far too strapping build to warrant a name that implies being small and 'orrible. Although 'orrible and slimy 'e certainly is - enough to make me drop me aitches all over the shop! But enough quibbling over nomenclature, for considering some of the title/image combos served up by these deck, Maggot is definitely at the sensible end of things. So then where does this fellow originally hail from?

Well, as fans of tatty of TV SF may well have guessed, this beastie is actually one of the many silly aliens that menaced the Robinson family in the classic show Lost in Space! And here he is getting up close and personal with the nefarious Dr Smith! 


Yes, this was Keema who appeared in the episode The Golden Man in Season 2 of the cult series, and originally appeared in a somewhat less drippy from as, you guessed it, a golden man. Airing on December 28th 1966, this episode had the Robinsons encountering Keema who claimed to fighting against an evil frog - no, seriously! However in classic/cliche style (delete as applicable) it turned out that the nice and bling looking Keema was really the nasty one and the frog was nice. In traditional fashion, in the end the shifty sod was unmasked as being even more disgusting looking - yes, Keema didn't really look like a space glam rocker, but more like a meatball that had lost a fight with a pizza... 


Yes, this is one of those very rare instances where the Horror Top Trumps card actually is an improvement on the original! Anyhow, we are sticking with the outer space theme for our next exhibit! 


Now this knobbly horror will surely be easily identified by lovers of classic old SF flicks. And neatly enough, once again this is the revealed true form of a nefarious alien up to no good - the titular creature from 1958's I Married A Monster From Outer Space! 



Now if you don't know, this movie tells the tale of Marge Farrell (Gloria Talbot, no relation to Larry) who has just got hitched to Bill  (Tom Tryon). However very soon Marge suspected that he isn't quite the man she married. Is Bill ill? Unfortunately for Marge, Bill has been taken over by a monster from space, part of a covert invasion from a race facing extinction thanks to their own females dying out! Things look grim for humanity as these aliens just happen to be immune to bullets, but luckily for us, they prove to be powerless against dogs. And hence after their advance party has been torn to shreds by a pair of German Shepherds, the invasion is called off, and Marge is reunited with the real Bill who was stashed in their spaceship. 

And things turned out pretty well for Bill in real life too, with Tom Tryon making a successful leap from acting to writing, and penning a string of novels. And these days Tryon is probably bettered remembered as a novelist, having written several books such as The Other and Harvest Home that are now regarded as modern classics of weird fiction. 

Next week, we are once again in classic horror territory, with a pair of mis-titled cards featuring images from cult fright flicks! 



Monday 18 April 2016

HYPNOGORIA 33 - MYSTERIES OF THE MUMMY Part VII - The Coming of Kharis


In this episode, Mr Jim Moon travels back into Universal horror history to witness the birth of a new movie monster, Kharis the Mummy! We take an in-depth look at The Mummy's Hand (1940), a movie that not only kick-started the Universal Mummy franchise but was to have a huge influence on all subsequent mummy movies! 




DIRECT DOWNLOAD -  The Mysteries of the Mummy Part VII

Find all the podcasts in the HYPNOGORIA family here -

HYPNOGORIA HOME DOMAIN - Full archive, RSS feed and other useful links

HYPNOGORIA on iTunes

HYPNOGORIA on STITCHER

CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

Friday 15 April 2016

FOLKLORE ON FRIDAY - Beneath the Pyramids


Last time we gathered together, we were telling tales of the Great Pyramid of Liverpool. As was recounted then, according to local lore this striking monument was the tomb of the noted engineer and railway pioneer William Mackenzie, and according to local legend, Mackenzie was interred seated within the pyramid holding a winning hand of cards. This elaborate and unusual burial was allegedly a ruse to cheat the Devil of a deal for his immortal soul, and one which apparently succeeded for Mackenzie's ghost has haunted the Rodney Street area of Liverpool ever since.

However is there any truth to the tale? Well, let us just say the evidence is not particularly strong. To begin with, and perhaps most damningly, this eye-catching tomb was not actually erected at the time of Mackenzie's death. As an inscription on the monument itself makes clear, it was put in place some sixteen years after his passing. Indeed the inscription also indicates that its creation coincided with the death of Mackenzie's second wife, and in fact the grave contains not just Mackenzie but both his first and second wives! Hence it would appear that Mackenzie was buried in the conventional fashion when he died in what was a family plot, and the pyramid only added on top much later when all intended to buried there had passed away and been interred. Given that it is highly unlikely that Mackenzie was embalmed and stored until the pyramid was erected, we can safely assume that the oft-told tale of the police discovering the tomb had been broken into and discovering a seated skeleton inside is a later embroidering of the eerie stories attached to this unusual monument. 

From combing assorted tomes and archives it would appear that the tale of Mackenzie's Devil-cheating burial appears to be a relatively recent addition of Liverpool's ghostly tales and folklore, for I can find no earlier reference to it before the 1980s. Of course this does not prove that locals weren't spinning yarns about the pyramid tomb before then, but judging from the story's appearances in print, the tale of Mackenzie being buried seated inside the tomb only became widespread and well-known in the last couple of decades. Hence it would appear to be a truly modern piece of folklore. But where did the tale originate?

Mr John Reppion, author of 800 Years of Haunted Liverpool (2008), has advanced an interesting theory that possibly tales of Mackenzie's unusual burial were perhaps inspired by one of the ghost stories of MR James. In the tale The Tractate Middoth, which appears in the second collection of James fiction, More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1911), we have the following passage - 

"Well, Mr Garrett," said Mrs Simpson, who had not yet resumed her work, and was looking at the fire thoughtfully, "I shall tell you the story. You will please keep it to yourself, if you don’t mind? Thank you. Now it is just this. I had an old uncle, a Dr Rant. Perhaps you may have heard of him. Not that he was a distinguished man, but from the odd way he chose to be buried."
"I rather think I have seen the name in some guidebook."
"That would be it," said Miss Simpson. "He left directions — horrid old man!— that he was to be put, sitting at a table in his ordinary clothes, in a brick room that he’d had made underground in a field near his house. Of course the country people say he’s been seen about there in his old black cloak."

Dr Rant in the 1966 adaptation in the Mystery & Imagination TV series

Now here we certainly have several intriguing parallels: not only the curious burial, but also Dr Rant's spectre being seen in the area dressed in a black cloak, in the same way the shade of William Mackenzie is reported to appear the Rodney Street area. Although thankfully Liverpool's phantom hasn't been spotted sporting eye sockets filled with cobwebs like James' Dr Rant. In recent years, Jamesian scholars (myself included) have wondered whether Dr Rant was inspired by the legend of William Mackenzie, but of course as recent research has shown, the tales around Mackenzie's tomb appear to be far more recent, making it more than likely Mr Reppion's theory that the James story influenced the Liverpool folklore,rather than vice versa,  is indeed correct. 

However The Tractate Middoth may well have been inspired by another legend featuring a pyramidal tomb. For in a quiet corner of Sussex, in the churchyard of St. Thomas à Becket, Brightling, is a strange pyramid just under eight meters in height. This weird monument is the burial place of a famous local eccentric, 'Mad' Jack Fuller. As well as being the local MP and squire of Brightling, Fuller built many follies in the area, as was the fashion among Georgian gents like himself. However his most famous construction was his pyramidal tomb, and according to local lore, he instructed that he was to be buried inside, seated in full evening dress and top hat, at a table with a roast chicken and a bottle of wine! Now the story of his unusual burial had been circulating since the early 20th century, but sadly renovations in 1982 revealed he was actually interred in the usual fashion beneath the edifice, with no sign of fine wines or roast dinners in evidence.

The stories of Mad Jack's burial seem like a good fit for the origin of Dr Rant. Interestingly Fuller had been school at Eton, and given that James himself studied and taught there, so its certainly possible that he may have heard the tales about this old boy's unusual funeral arrangements. Also as James spent many of his holidays journeying the highways and byways of England, visiting antiquarian sites such as old churches and mansions, and even penning two guidebooks based on his travels, it is also possible that he had heard the story of Mad Jack's tomb on one of these jaunts. However the problem with this theory is that earliest appearance of the tale in print comes in 1920, some years after The Tractate Middoth was written.

Of course, before the tale was set down in print in 1920, there may well have been stories circulating orally which James could have heard. However James does have the hero of the tale mention that he had heard of Dr Rant and his burial in a guidebook - which perhaps gives us a clue that he was indeed inspired by a written source. And some recent research has uncovered some other possible models for Dr Rant, which in turn also may have influenced the Liverpool legends of William Mackenzie, which we shall examine in the next instalment... 


A few years ago I performed a reading of The Tractate Middoth as the centre piece of my Jamesian Christmas special which you can hear here - Christmas Eve at Kings  Be warned though, as it is a Christmas special, it is a very festive show!


Wednesday 13 April 2016

TOMB OF THE TRUMPS #25 - Dracula Pack X



Welcome! Come in! Sit down! No, not there... that might leave a stain... Yes, there will be fine! So then, welcome once again gentle reader to the Tomb of the Trumps, a weekly exploration into old horror tat that I genuinely think may well be eroding my sanity... But I'll be in good company then this week with these two demented gentlemen!  


Now then, once upon a time there was a horror flick entitled "The Mad Magician" - it was made in 1954 and starred the great Vincent Price. This early 3D shocker saw Price as a master of stage magic using his skills to take revenge on a host of enemies and rivals. However this card has precisely bugger all to do with that particular movie! Instead, what we have here is the return of a familiar face... 


Yes folks, it's the great Lon Chaney Snr. again! This is his fourth appearance over all, and his third appearance in this set - seriously, I'm beginning to think I should rename this deck the Chaney Pack! However this time it's not another incarnation of Erik from Phantom of the Opera (1925) - here we have the Man of a Thousand Faces in another of his terrifying own make-up jobs, as a vampire in London After Midnight (1927). Sadly this horror-themed mystery movie directed by Tod Browning, who would go on to direct classics such as Dracula (1931) and Freaks (1932), is now sadly lost, although hopes persist a copy may turn up somewhere. Tod Browning himself would later remake the movie in 1935 as Mark of the Vampire starring Bela Lugosi as the titular fiend.  And in 2002 Turner Movies reconstructed a version using the extensive set of stills taken during the production and it has been released as part of Lon Chaney DVD collection. 

Anyhow, time to move on to our next card... Now don't confuse this chap with last week's Mad Axeman...


Mercifully, there are no melting Satanic goats involved this time, and this chap is considerably easier to identify. Now while "Madman" isn't a bad title for the card, "Mutant Man" would be nearer the mark. For this is exactly what he is - a unfortunate fellow mutated and driven homicidal by slow poisoning from dodgily dumped chemicals. 


He appears in the 1972 Brit SF horror flick Doomwatch, produced by cult studio Tigon and directed by Hammer regular Peter Sadsy. Now the movie itself was a big screen spin-off from a popular BBC series of the same title. Devised by Dr. Kit Pedlar and Gerry Davis- the creators of Doctor Who's Cybermen - Doomwatch followed the investigations of a group of boffins faced with assorted ecological and technological threats to humanity. It's probably best remembered these days for the episode Tomorrow the Rat which saw a young Robert Powell being menaced by man-eating rodents. However the movie, while it did feature appearances from the regular cast of the TV show, cast two familiar faces to lovers of cult movies/TV as a pair of new characters to star in the big screen adventure. Hence we have Ian Bannen and Judy Geeson dispatched to a remote  isle where something nasty in the water is making monsters of the locals, proving yet again, that like The Wicker Man and Nothing But The Night, remote Scottish islands were to be avoided at all costs in the early '70s. 

Next time, we encounter two horrors whose origins lie beyond the stars.... Well in tatty old SF movies at any rate...

Sunday 10 April 2016

FROM THE GREAT LIBRARY OF DREAMS 18 - MYSTERIES OF THE MUMMY Part VI - Lot No 249


This week we gather round the cosy fireside of the Great Library of Dreams to hear a classic tale of mummy terror - Lot No. 249 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a story that would provide the template for many a mummy movie...


DIRECT DOWNLOAD - Lot No. 249

Find all the podcasts in the HYPNOGORIA family here -

HYPNOGORIA HOME DOMAIN - Full archive, RSS feed and other useful links

HYPNOGORIA on iTunes

HYPNOGORIA on STITCHER

CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

Wednesday 6 April 2016

TOMB OF THE TRUMPS #24 - Dracula Pack IX


Welcome dear fiends to the strange and lurid world of Tomb of the Trumps! Once again we are hunting through cinematic tombs and exploring pop culture necropoli to discover the source of the frequently demented images that comprise the infamous original Horror Top Trumps! And we kick off this excursion into the weird depths with an encounter with a fellow who is something of a repeat offender in these explorations...


Now then, in a bizarre twist of fate, this card very nearly has a title that matches the image! I know, shocking isn't it! Anyhow, this ghoulish dandy presented above is a representation of The Red Death from Edgar Allen Poe's classic terror tale. To be more precise, this is actually our old friend Lon Chaney Snr. yet again, and what's more this Red Death, like The Hangman from a few weeks ago, is also taken from his classic silent version of The Phantom of the Opera too. For in that seminal silent movie, the hideous Erik attends a masque ball at the opera and comes dressed as Poe's personification of death, decay and disease... 


Once again Chaney, who the press of the day rightly dubbed the man of a thousand faces, created his own startling make-up for this scene. And a similarly startling make-up is the origin of the image that inspired our next card too! 


Now then folks, this one very nearly eluded me entirely! For the look of the Mad Axeman you could easily be forgiven for thinking that perhaps this was taken from some old demented comic featuring Frankenstein's monster! Indeed that top 'eavy 'ead and scrunched-up fizzog put me in mind of the long running version of Frankenstein's Monster created by writer and artist Dick Briefer that appeared in Prize comics in the 1940s! 


Alternatively you might be thinking that this card may possibly be the result of our Unknown Artist squashing up a still from a Universal Frankenstein flick - after all,  the Mad Axeman's garb does looks a little bit like the snazzy fleecy jerkin sported by the Monster in Son of Frankenstein (1939).  However, as it turns out, this card is nothing to do with Frankenstein in any incarnation at all! 

Purely by chance I was revisiting an old Robert Fuest flick. Now Fuest was of course responsible for the two classic Dr Phibes movies, and in the last year I'd also revisited two of his other cinematic outings And Soon the Darkness (1970) and The Final Programme (1973) for my podcast (see here and here respectively). Hence I thought I might as well revisit  another of his movies from that era, 1975's The Devil's Rain, a Satanic biker flick that features not only a young John Travolta and William Shatner, but Ernest Borgnine as the Devil! Now if that cast isn't notable enough, the movie features a climax where Mr Borgnine is transformed into a hell-goat and the whole gang of Satan worshippers are melted by supernatural acid rain! 

And it was in that memorably finale where all and sundry liquefy in a quite glorious splatastic fashion, I suddenly leapt up shouting "Mad Axeman!" For behold! Lose the horns and here he is! 


And there we have it - Ernest Borgnine as a melting goat-man! You'll never see Airwolf in the same light ever again now!

Next time we meet another two gentlemen who come bearing the epithet 'mad', but there'll be no liquefying goats I promise!

Sunday 3 April 2016

TOMEGORIA 15 - The Jewel of Seven Stars


In a special Tomegoria to tie in with our Mysteries of the Mummy series, Odile and Jim take a look at Bram Stoker's The Jewel of Seven Stars - a classic of Victorian mummy fiction, packed full of gothic chills and ancient Egyptian lore! 




DIRECT DOWNLOAD - TOMEGORIA 15 - The Jewel of Seven Stars

Find all the podcasts in the HYPNOGORIA family here -

HYPNOGORIA HOME DOMAIN - Full archive, RSS feed and other useful links

HYPNOGORIA on iTunes

HYPNOGORIA on STITCHER

CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS