The MovieNauts

So I found myself involved in a YouTube Channel called the MovieNauts (linked below), I discovered I have not blogged about it yet, and thought I should really let people know I am involved in this by now. We discuss some of our favorite cult movies on the channel, which presents new episodes once a month.

Gary Hill invited me to join the monthly broadcast on YouTube over a year ago. I was not sure how this would go at first, or how I would fit in, but I think we've worked our way into a groove at this point. He works with independent filmmakers and has appeared in a few. He also works on a lot of the behind-the-scenes technical aspects of the show. So, on the show he covers a lot of the newest independent films, sometimes from people he knows, and other times movies he admires.

Ron Fuchs created the show. It's his baby, really. He came up with the idea for the show and has a few others similar to it, like ProgNaut, which discusses music. He tends to cover a wide array of cult films, and is especially knowledgeable of slashers of the 1970s to the 1990s on the show.

As Classic Camp, I mainly like to discuss the old cult movies, of course, but we each branch off into each other's territory from time to time. I've covered a lot of my favorite Poverty Row films of the 1930s to the 1950s, Bela Lugosi, Paul Naschy films, and plenty of kaiju films.

Anyway, linked below is the channel, so check it out. Each show runs a little over an hour, so sit tight, and watch, or let it play in the background while you work around the house of something. We're closing in on two years of episodes. We also respond to comments, so feel free to comment or suggest films we should discuss in future episodes.

 (7) The MovieNauts - YouTube

Black Figures in Classic Horror Films

This blog post came from a series of posts I made a few years ago on my Facebook group, Classic Camp's Classic Horror Emporium. Being February is African American history month, I thought it would be a good time to honor some of the pioneers in the history of horror movies. I understand there are not a lot of Black people in Classic horror cinema, but in some ways, that makes honoring those who did appear that much more important.

Duane Jones, the star of Night of the Living Dead, was one of the first Black people to star in a role that did that did not specifically call for a Black actor. In fact, he was a last minute replacement for a white actor who left the role. All the racist subtext with his interactions with the character Harry Cooper was entirely unintentional.

But Duane Jones was more than just an actor. He was also an English professor at New York State University, where he also directed plays at their Maguire Theater on Old Westbury campus. Although he is best remembered for his starring role in the previously mentioned George A. Romero Classic, he appeared in other horror films such as Ganja & Hess, Vampires, To Die For, and Fright House, with none other than Grandpa Munster himself, Al Lewis. Jones suffered an untimely death due to heart failure at the age of 51.

No movie or role is more iconic, in my opinion, than William Marshall in Blacula. Don't let that silly title or obvious blaxsploitation era film fool you, this is actually a really good film by any measuring stick, and mostly because of Marshall's iconic performance. It would redefine jump scares for the next 20 years.

This led him to a sequel, Scream, Bacula, Scream, and several other horror roles throughout his career. His deep, booming voice made him a great choice. One of my favorites was when he played The Grim Reaper in an episode of Benson, when Benson has a near death experience. Fans may also recognize Marshall as The King of Cartoons on Pee Wee's Playhouse.

Next up in famous African Americans in Classic horror films is Mantan Moreland! He was a comedian best known for his bug-eyed reactions to anything scary happening on screen. Yes, I am aware that this is a reaction that is outdated and perhaps even offensive today, but he also would have the best funny lines and his delivery was legitimately funny. His most famous role was the recurring part of playing Charlie Chan's driver, Birmingham Brown, but he also had parts in two zombie comedies, Revenge of the Zombies and King of the Zombies, as well as appearing in A-Hanting We Will Go with Laurel and Hardy, and in the serious horror film, Spider Baby in the 1960s.

It is also interesting to note that his comedy at least cracked barriers if it did not break them. He was almost chosen to replace Shemp in the Three Stooges after Shemp passed away, but they decided to go with Joe Besser instead. While I loved Besser in The Abbott & Costello Show, I think most will agree he never really fit in with the Stooges. Would Moreland have done any better? I have a hard time thinking he could have done any worse, but only our imaginations can answer that for sure.

The next Black History Month Classic horror figure is Ernest Morrison (sometimes known as "Sunshine" Ernest Morrison), who is probably best remembered for his part as Scruno in many of the East Side Kids comedies. This includes two horror comedies, Spooks Run Wild and Ghosts on the Loose, both featuring Bela Lugosi. The group most prominently featured Leo Gorcey and Hunts Hall and changed names several times during their very long run. Although Morrison only appeared in the East Side Kids version of the gang, they also went by the names Dead End Kids, Little Tough Guys, and the Bowery Boys. However, Morrison also appeared without the gang in a serious horror movie, The Ape Man, also featuring Bela Lugosi.

Morrison began his career as a child actor in the early silent version of the Our Gang comedies. He also appeared in a number of other silent comedies alongside such early comedy giants as Harold Lloyd and Snub Pollard. His child roles go all the way back to 1916 when he was only 4 years old, so it could certainly be argued he did break racial barriers.

The next African American history month honoree in Classic horror cinema is none other than the legendary Pam Grier. Although Grier is best known for roles in Blaxsploitation action flicks such as Coffy and Foxy Brown, she also had prominent roles in the previously mentioned Scream, Blacula, Scream, as well as the Ray Bradbury adaptation Something Wicked This Way Comes, as well as The Twilight People, an episode of Monsters, and a personal favorite, Mars Attacks.

One thing to admire about her roles is that she's no scream queen, but a real badass! As Grier once said and is printed in my copy of the book Fast and Furious: The Story of American International Pictures, "I took the parts no other Hollywood actress would because they didn't want to be demeaned or mess up their nails. If I held out for those sweet, pretty, demure roles I'd still be waiting."

Some may resent AIP's jump into the Blaxsploitation market, but when AIP was confronted by the Coalition Against Blaxsploitation, vice president Richard Zimbert noted the money his company threw at Black businesses. "We've got Black publicists. We've got Black people all around the country. We advertise in Black media. Blacula had an all Black cast, a Black director."

The next Black History Month honoree in Classic horror film is the first African American to ever win any Oscar, Hattie McDaniel. Forgive me if this one is a little bit of a stretch, but if finding Black people in Classic films is difficult, and finding Black people in Classic horror films is even harder, finding Black women in Classic horror films is nearly impossible. But McDaniel was a phenomenal entertainer in American history, who was rarely able to display her full potential. Although she was usually relegated to the typical roles available to Black actors during her era, which were most often maids, butlers, and other servants, she was often able to provide a little extra depth to those characters that few of her contemporaries were capable of. Her abilities to achieve this are best exemplified in the film that won her the Academy Award for best supporting role in Gone With the Wind, and it would be about 25 years before another African American would win another Oscar (Sidney Poitier for best actor in Lillies in the Field in 1964 if you're wondering). McDaniel also appeared in a number of all Black cast musicals where she could really display her talents for not only acting, but also singing and dancing.

So what was her contribution to Classic horror cinema? She appeared alongside Bela Lugosi (who's name keeps coming up in this series) in Murder by Television (which is technically more of a mystery / thriller) in 1935. The photo above is a screenshot of Hattie McDaniel in that film where she plays a cook.

The next Black History Month honoree is an unsung hero of the legendary 1933 King Kong, Noble Johnson! He earned billing for his role as the witch doctor in that Classic film, and he even returned to appear in the sequel, Son of Kong, but his Classic horror movie appearances don't stop there. He also returned to Skull Island (well actually, he returned to the Skull Island movie sets, complete with the giant log) for another personal favorite, The Most Dangerous Game as well as its remake A Game of Death, and he had notable appearances alongside Boris Karloff in The Mummy and Murders in the Rue Morgue with Bela Lugosi. Finally he also appeared in the comedy / horrors The Ghost Breakers with Bob Hope, and Mummy's Boys with the comedy team Wheeler & Woolsey.

But Noble Johnson's career goes further than just playing natives. He was a pioneer of what today are termed "race films," movies specifically for Black audiences with all Black casts played at Black theaters in Black neighborhoods from the 1920s to the 1950s.

In a strange case of synchronicity, Noble Johnson was childhood friends with horror legend Lon Chaney (Sr.), and they even rekindled their friendship in Hollywood, even though they never made a film together. Johnson lived a very long life. Although he stopped making movies in 1950, he lived well into his 90s and died in 1978.

Speaking of King Kong, the next Black History Month honoree is notably from the 1976 King Kong remake, Julius Harris. Although I like to remember him for his portrayal of Boan in Kong, the only survivor of the famous giant log scene, I chose a photo of him as Tee Hee a bond villain from the Live and Let Die, because he's probably more recognizable from that film. Yet, his horror credits go beyond these two roles. He had a major role in Shrunken Heads alongside Meg Foster, and had smaller roles in Grave Secrets: The Legacy of Hilltop Drive, and Darkman. He also appeared in episodes of the genre television shows Friday the 13th, the Series, The Incredible Hulk, Amazing Stories, and Eerie, Indiana. Additionally, he appeared in several mystery television shows including the Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries, Murder, She Wrote, Hart to Hart, Kojak, Jake and the Fat Man, and Dragnet (1990).

According to the IMDb, he began his acting career on a dare. He was working as a bouncer in a New York night club where many actors used to go, and he was challenged to try out for a part in Nothing But a Man, and he got it! He then appeared in quite a few Blaxsploitation films, including Super Fly, Shaft's Big Score, The Godfather of Harlem, and Hell Up in Harlem. He continued taking parts well into the 1990s and passed away in 2004.

Another Black History Month honoree is most famous in Classic horror cinema for his role of Hallorann in The Shining, Scatman Crothers! The Scatman had a unique look and voice that made him instantly recognizable in anything he appeared in. A few other genre films he appeared in include the hagsploitation flick Lady in a Cage starring Olivia de Havilland , Twilight Zone: The Movie, Deadly Eyes, and if I can count it as horror One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (well, it's at least horror adjacent, anyway). He also had early genre television appearances in Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Climax! as well as Kolchak the Night Stalker, Bewitched, and voice work in The New Scooby Doo Movies and Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo. He actually did a lot of voice work in animation and he is often remembered as the voice of Hong Kong Phooey. But he is probably most famous for his part as Meadowlark Lemon in the Harlem Globetrotters.

Scatman's real name was Benjamin Sherman Crothers, and he was born in Terre Haute, Indiana. He was also a songwriter, singer, and musician, making him a full entertainer. And here's a bit of trivia; he was born the year Halley's Comet came to Earth (1910) and died the year it returned (1986), a recognition he shares with Mark Twain, but with different appearances of Halley's Comet.

Another Black History Month honoree in Classic horror cinema is a little more modern - Tony Todd. Best known as the title character in the Candyman film series, Todd also had a real breakout when he played Ben in the Night of the Living Dead 1990 remake, but his notable horror credits don't even end there! He also appeared in Vampire in Vegas, Hatchet, Dead of Night, and a 2006 version of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde where he plays the title role. And just how far have we advanced in racial relations when when a Black actor can play that title role?

But wait, there's more! Todd also had appearances in numerous horror television shows, including a late 80s television series of Werewolf, X-Files, Master's of Horror, and he even did voice work for What's New Scooby Doo where he voiced a gargoyle. Then there's the work he did in science fiction and fantasy series, such as several variations of the Star Trek television series, Hercules, and Xena, Warrior Princess, and we finally have someone who can rival some of the Classic genre actors.

Additionally, he did a lot of work on the stage as well, including playing Othello, and that can be great training. Just one more notable horror credit would be in 2016 when he played in an audio drama version of Dracula, again as the title character. Todd has since passed away, but he was taking parts in horror movies and other genres up to the very end.

For the last few Black History Month honorees in Classic horror cinema, I thought I would honor at least a few people behind the camera, starting with a true pioneer in Black cinema, Oscar Micheaux. Long before the Blaxsploitation craze of the 1970s introduced the world to characters like Shaft, Super Fly, and Foxy Brown, and actors like Fred "The Hammer" Williamson, Jim Brown, and Jim Kelly, there was writer, producer, and director Oscar Micheaux, making films for primarily Black audiences who attended Black theaters in Black neighborhoods as far back as the 1920s and 30s. These were pretty far off Hollywood films with pitifully low budgets, but they often took on Black issues of the day like the KKK and being falsely accused of murdering white women.

Micheaux started out as a writer in South Dakota, writing novels and selling them to his white neighbors door to door. Eventually, he decided to make films of some of these stories and things bloomed from there. He made a total of around 40 movies, but sadly, many of these are lost to the sands of time. 

At least a few of them can be categorized as horror films! One whose description particularly caught my eye was A Son of Satan, where a man is challenged to stay the night in a haunted house. Although lost, The Conjure Woman is also bound to have supernatural elements. A few other titles that are eye catching to a Classic horror film fan include The Devil's Disciple, Black Magic, and Phantom of Kenwood.

Although his films are termed "race films" today, any study in film history (including horror film history) should include some notation about Oscar Micheaux.

My last Black History Month honoree in Classic horror cinema I am honoring the director of Blacula, William Crain. Throughout this series I talked a bit about blaxsploitation films of the 1970s and race films of the 1920s and 30s, but it should be noted that although these films gave work to Black actors and were pioneers in creating movies specifically for Black audiences, more often that not, the people behind the cameras, directors, producers, etc., in both cases, were white. People like Oscar Micheaux and William Crain were actually anomalies even in these genres.

Crain only has 10 directing credits to his name on the IMDb, but two of them are horror movies, the aforementioned Blacula, and The Watts Monster, which is also known as Dr. Black and Mr. Hyde. A few other non-horror directing credits under his name include episodes of several famous television shows, including The Duke of Hazzard, Mod Squad, Starsky and Hutch, and Designing Women. Another notable credit is that he was assistant director of the film Brother John starring Sidney Poitier.

There was an excellent interview with William Crain on the Without Your Head podcast, which can be found here.

I hope you enjoyed my look at Black contributors to Classic horror films, and if there is anyone you feel I may have overlooked, please feel free to note them in the comments.

A Little More About the Origins of Classic Camp

 I've blogged on several occasions about this alternate ego of mine, Classic Camp, including discussing the name's origin, and more recently about one of my favorite movies that I feel epitomizes the name. The name Classic Camp represents my favorite topics, Classic film (especially Classic horror films, but not limited to those), Classic rock music, Classic literature, and sometimes I am embarrassed to say, but it's true, Classic pro wrestling, which I am not getting into here today, but perhaps one day I will.

So I thought some people may be wondering where I acquired my interest in all things Classic. The short answer is, I really don't know. It's just kind of always been there, somewhere in my DNA.

I saw a friend on Facebook recently criticizing the latest Stephen King novel, Fairy Tale, because it included a kid of 17 who was familiar with actor Jimmy Stewart and several of his works in the novel (I have not read that Stephen King novel, by the way). He said no teenager would know old classic black & white films like that. Well, I am here to say, I was that kid. Yes, even at 17. Let me put it this way, I listen to more 80s music today than I did in the 1980s. My friends and family will verify this.

I remember in the days before I got cable TV, so I must have been 8 or 9, watching a show on PBS called Matinee at the Bijou. It was just like being back at an old-time theater. It would start with a few trailers for movies from the 1930s to the 1950s. Then it would show a few cartoons, newsreels, a short subject, and finally a chapter out of serial, like Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers. Each week they would show the next chapter of the serial. They even followed that up with a B-movie movie, like one from the Bowery Boys series, but it was usually edited for time.

My mother would often tell me about going to the movies during that era, how she had a crush on Leo Gorcey of the Bowery Boys. Both of my parents were older than most of my friends parents. They weren't even Baby Boomers, although I am a member of Generation X. Perhaps their advanced age contributed to this interest. I also grew up close to my grand parents who lived through the 1930s, so they probably had some influence as well.

Even after we got cable, some of my favorite shows were those from early television, such as The Jack Benny Program, Burns & Allen, and You Bet Your Life, as well as some of the early horror related shows such as The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. I also started watching Night Flight on USA Network because their final feature was often an old, poverty row horror film from studios like Monogram or PRC. (I was a latchkey kid from the age of 11, so I watched a lot of television growing up).

When I became a teenager and my interests shifted from film to music, I started listening to the legends of rock, like Led Zeppelin, The Who, and The Doors, more often than listing to more contemporary bands of the time.

I have gathered a bit of a following online for these interests. For instance, I run a Facebook group, Classic Camp's Classic Horror Emporium, which has amassed over 1000 members. I assume many of the members follow the group simply for the nostalgia, and I'm fine with that, but to me it is more than just nostalgia. Old film, literature, and music are time capsules to how people lived and their attitudes during those eras. It's understanding where we came from as a society and understanding where we are going now. Perhaps that sounds a little corny, but my true feelings about it are in there somewhere.

I also try to over-glorify the past. I understand many terrible things happened in our history. Things like segregation, internment camps, antisemitism were rampant then, and unfortunately still exit today. And none of those things deserve to be glorified in any way. But I enjoy gaining a better understanding of what those attitudes were then, and I feel it does help me understand the world today a little better. Perhaps it even helps me understand how to better counter those negative attitudes today.

I do still follow some modern franchises though. I don't want to be that old man yelling at the cloud, or saying "Get off my lawn!" to the younger generation. In fact, I think some of the exclusive shows on modern day apps are some of the work on television and movies in decades. But I lay just a little extra attention if they simply provide a wink and a nod to any of the old Classics, even if it's just an Easter egg-style reference.

Anyway, that's what I have today. Please enjoy the short video below of the intro to an episode of Matinee at the Bijou, one of my favorite shows when I was just 9 years old.

King Kong vs. Godzilla (1963)

 

I thought it might be good to occasionally use this blog to discuss some of my favorite topics, such as Classic movies and Classic rock music as well as the usual writing and publishing. These topics bring the blog back to some of the origins of the name Classic Camp. So today, I thought I would blog about one of my all time favorite movies, King Kong vs. Godzilla (1963) and the first time I had the opportunity to see this movie. Some sources might place that film at 1962 because that was the year of the original Japanese release, but because I have not seen the Japanese version (but I would love to) and this is mainly about the American version of the film, I place it in its American release date of 1963.

This film always had an aura about it for me. I mean, how could it not? The two biggest and baddest monsters of all time duking it out on screen. I had seen photos of the movie in several books about horror movies, which were my first introduction to the genre. I wanted to see so badly, but it seemed to only come on cable, and my family did not have cable yet. I asked friends and relatives to record it on their VCRs for me when it came on cable, but it never seemed to work out. We didn't have our own VCR yet, so I would have to see at their place.

Finally, in the spring of 1984, when I was 11 years old, my family got cable. I used to the check the TV schedule every week to see when some of my favorite movies that I had never seen were going to come on, like the 1933 King Kong or the one for this blog. At last I saw it there on the schedule, in black and white. King Kong vs. Godzilla was coming on WGN channel 9 in Chicago, but at 4 o'clock in the morning on a Saturday night. I contemplated if I should even attempt to see it, but decided I just had to. I would not tell my parents I was going to do this.

I slept on the couch that night, which was not unusual for me then since I used to stay up late watching all the great television, such as Night Flight on USA network, which introduced me to many Poverty Row Horror movies. I set an alarm next to the couch and set it for a few minutes before 4 am so I could wake up and see the movie. I stayed up until around 2 or 3 am, as I usually did, watching late night movies. But when my head hit the pillow, I could not sleep a wink. I was too excited to see the greatest movie battle of all time. So I just laid there for over an hour until my alarm went off. I stopped the alarm instantly so my parents would not wake up and tell me to get back to sleep, or worse yet, make me go to bed in my own room.

So I got up and turned on the television, but kept the volume down low, again so I would not wake up the parents. Because it was so low, I had to sit about two feet from the screen. And I stayed up for the whole thing. My heart was pounding so hard, I never even felt sleepy. I don't think it's much of an exaggeration to say I lived for that moment.

At 6 am the movie ended. The sun was starting to glow over Lake Erie, the first time I stayed up until the sun started to show. I went to bed, but even then I still found it hard to sleep. I figured I would sleep until noon or later since I stayed up so late, but I wound up waking up around 10 or 11 am to the sight of my mom sitting in the living room reading the Sunday morning paper. I told my mother I stayed up to watch the movie, and she actually said that was fine, like she knew I would be doing this at some point after we got cable.

After that, I caught that movie every chance I could, and found it often came on WOR Channel 9 in New York, which has since gone defunct. When we finally got a VCR around 1989, one of the first VHS tapes I purchased was, of course, King Kong vs. Godzilla, and I used to watch it about once a week for the first few months after I got it. Then I slowed down to about once a month. I'm surprised the tape did not grow worn out. In fact, the DVD version of that film I own today is still a transfer of that old VHS copy I purchased so long ago. And I still watch that film about once a year to this day. I would say it is the movie I've watched more times than any other in my entire life.

I assume most monster kids have similar stories about a movie they were forbidden to watch, either because of the content or the time it came on. But don't those make the best memories? Don't they make those movies the most special? There is something about the forbiddeness of horror movies and horror stories that make them that much more special. Feel free to share any of your own similar stories and memories in the comments.

My Second Scholarship Haul

Some time ago, I won a scholarship, and a short time after, I posted about my first scholarship haul. Recently, I made my second scholarship haul (pictured above), which I would like to discuss today.

Starting with the lower left is a book titled It's Alive: The Classic Cinema Saga of Frankenstein by Gregory William Mank. I was very excited to get this book because I still remember pouring over it as a ten-year-old kid after borrowing it from my local library. Published in 1981,this was the very first book on Frankenstein films, and although it is chock-full of interesting stories about the development and creation of the classic Universal Frankenstein films, it is also filled with out-dated information. For instance, it talks about deleted scenes, such as the Monster tossing the little girl, Maria, into the water as though it is a deleted scene in the original 1931 film. This scene has been restored since the 1990s. It also mentions that Mary Shelley visited the actual Castle Frankenstein in Gernsheim, Germany. However, it is very unlikely Mary and her husband, Percy, ever visited actually visited the castle after all, even though they were within ten miles of the castle.

And this evidence is presented in the book to its right, Making the Monster: The Science Behind Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Published just last year, Making the Monster by Kathryn Harkup is proving to be a fascinating read. It examines all of the science mentioned in Mary Shelley's novel and explains exactly what she was referring to in the book. Yet, it is more than just an annotated version of the Frankenstein novel, because Harkup proves to be a great story-teller, making this an extraordinarily fun read. While It's Alive is currently out of print (I had to hunt down a used copy), Making the Monster is available from Amazon and other book sellers. I highly recommend it.

The two DVDs at the top of the photo are seasons one and two of a television show titled The Frankenstein Chronicles. While I haven't had a chance to view it yet, it has been receiving rave reviews from all over the globe. I think it was originally produced by the BBC, and one should be advised that the DVDs will not play on most DVD players in the United States, unless you have a region-free DVD player, like I do. 😁 It is available on NetFlix. (I didn't provide a link because I don't have NetFlix.) The story follows a private investigator looking into mysterious murders that may or may not involve a certain mad doctor and his creation. I'm very much looking forward to it.

I will likely have two or three more hauls from the scholarship money as I still have not used up even half of it yet. I've outlined two more chapters for an academic conference I'm attending (stay tuned to this blog to find out how that went), and I plan on using much of my summer writing and researching as much of this project as I can. Wish me luck.

Eat me! Thanksgiving Horror

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I got to thinking (dangerous, I know), what horror stories go well with this holiday? And eventually, it came to me: Cannibalism stories!

So let's hear it, what are some of your favorite stories involving cannibalism, either in books, short stories, or film? I want to hear about all sorts of stories that involve people eating people in all of its various forms.

By the way, the photo is from my Facebook group. You can join us here.

Photos from Monster Fest 2018

Here are some photos of my presentation, Franksploitation, Frankenstein exploitation films from the 1950s to the 1970s, at this year's Monster Fest. I'll provide more information on this even soon.

About That Scholarship

Last blog post I talked about some recent successes I've had as a writer. It's been a while, but I finally have a few. On the other hand, I also had another rejection letter in my inbox the other day too. Anyway, the biggest of those success was winning the Horror Writers Association Rocky Wood Memorial Scholarship for Non-Fiction Writing. This has led to some interesting developments so far. One of the schools I work for, Paul D Camp Community College, set me up to be interviewed by the local newspaper, the Suffolk New Herald,  for an article. I also notified my alma mater magazines. We'll see if they choose to cover this or not.

This is not some ego burst, but an attempt to draw up some interest in the project to hopefully sell books whenever I can finish it and get it to an agent and/or publisher. I'm also working on a presentation for Monster Fest next week on this very project.

I actually applied to both the Rocky Wood Memorial Scholarship and the regular HWA Scholarship. Sometimes you have to throw your hat into many rings before one decides to take you in, just like my last blog post, "Throwing Shit Against the Wall." After they reviewed all applicants for several weeks, I received an email asking if I could be more specific about what I will do with their funds. So I did several things to accomplish this. The easiest was to create a wish list on Amazon.com.

I also knew I might need money for photos for the book, but I had no idea about the legalities of even using photos for books. I did know one thing, however, I knew David J. Skal wrote what I consider the best horror book I've ever read (and I've read a few), with The Monster Show. I friended Skal on Facebook, and interacted with him enough. This was not enough for me to say I "knew him" but enough to know he seems very approachable about this topic. So I Googled his name and found his author page, which provided me with his email, and I asked him about how to get photos. He proved to be as approachable as I previously thought as he replied to my email within 2 hours. I added this to my budget.

The third part of my budget was to purchase research articles. I work for two different higher education facilities, which allow me access to their article databases. These databases are enormous, and can provide a large amount of the information I'll need to write the book for free. However, while the majority of these articles are free, sometimes you have get an inter-library loan to get some of the articles. And these inter-library loan articles are often not free. I searched for some articles I knew I would have to pay for to get an idea of how much to budget for this. I found two articles that I felt were exemplary, one cost $6 and the other $36. So I budgeted as though these were the higher end and lower end of the articles I'd need.

They reviewed this for about another week or so, and then sent me an email telling me I won the scholarship. Now some of my colleagues at Paul D Camp are asking if I can do a presentation on my progress as I go. And I still need to contact someone to help me with the methodology, but that's a topic for another blog post.

Throwing Shit Against the Wall

I am from a blue-collar town in Pennsylvania, Erie to be exact. For whatever reason, everything up there relates back to various excrements and the crotch. We don't say a business went belly up, we say it went "tits-up." If an idea didn't work out, we say it "shit the bed." It's just part of the colorful way we talk.

So when we're trying all sorts of things to be successful, sometimes we'll say we're just "throwing shit against the wall to see what sticks." For some time now, I've been doing just that, and FINALLY, I have a few things that have stuck. Mind you, most of these things I was working on all summer in the hopes of drumming up some business during my slow time of the year as adjunct faculty. But then when things began to come in, it really began to pour.

First off, I spent part of my summer shopping my resume and a few clippings around to a few of the newspapers in the area to try and drum up business, keep busy, and bring in a few extra dollars. Well, they finally got back to me as soon as classes started again. I'll still work in a few articles into my busy schedule. I feel it is important for a writing teacher to continue writing for an audience anyway. And getting paid for it is always better than not.

Then the poem I sold at the beginning of summer is finally published in Teach. Write. Here it is. I seem to have a regular place to publish some of my more literary works since this is the second time they published my work. I have a personal essay I worked on over the summer that still needs some work, but when I do send it out, I will likely send it to them first. I like the publication a lot, and I think the piece is a good fit for them anyway. Their homepage is here.

Third, and most importantly, I just won the Horror Writers Association Rocky Wood Memorial Scholarship for Non-Fiction Writing for a non-fiction book idea I have on the history of Frankenstein in film. This is actually a really big deal. They split the award between myself and another writer, Joseph Maddrey, who seems like a real heavyweight, having published eight books and written and produced over 50 hours of documentary television. It's a tremendous honor just to be named in the same breath with someone with these kinds of accomplishments.

I'm sure I'll post much more about this scholarship and the project in the coming weeks and months. In the meantime, since winning this scholarship, I've received two more rejection letters in my email, but somehow, they don't seem so bad now.

CC's Top 100 Classic Horror Movies

I’ve created my list of the top 100 Classic Horror movies of all time. “Classic” is here defined as being released in or before 1976. Feel free to criticize it, deconstruct it, or if you feel appropriate, praise it. What movies did I miss? What did I rate too high? Or too low? What did I get just right? Anyway, here’s my list, and if you have enough gumption, feel free to post your own top 100list or top 10, or whatever, just have fun with it.

1. King Kong (33)

2. Psycho

3. Bride of Frankenstein

4. Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (20)

5. Jaws

6. Witchfinder General / The Conqeror Worm

7. Dracula (31)

8. Pit and the Pendulum

9. Frankenstein (31)

10. Night of the Living Dead

11. The Invisible Man

12. Phantom of the Opera (25)

13. The Exorcist

14. The Mummy (32)

15. The Thing From Another World

16. The Old Dark House

17. Masque of the Red Death

18. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

19. Black Sunday

20. Invasion of the Body Snatchers

21. Horror of Dracula

22. Freaks

23. Blacula

24. Texas Chainsaw Massacre

25.The Black Cat (34)

26. White Zombie

27. A Clockwork Orange

28. Bedlam

29. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (39)

30. The Wolf Man

31. Rebecca

32. Nosferatu (22)

33. Theatre of Blood

34. Cape Fear (62)

35. Sweeny Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street

36. The Body Snatcher

37. Mad Love

38. The Curse of Frankenstein

39. Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde (31)

40. House of Wax

41. House on Haunted Hill

42. Creature from the Black Lagoon

43. Phantom of the Opera (62)

44. The Unholy Three (30)

45. Gojira / Godzilla, King of the Monsters

46. Vertigo

47. Deep Red

48. I Was a Teenage Werewolf

49. The H-Man

50. The Raven (35)

51. Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde (41)

52. Little Shop of Horrors (60)

53. The Lost World (20)

54. The Blob

55. Castle of Blood

56. The Beast of 20,000 Fathoms

57. The Giant Gila Monster

58. Curse of the Werewolf

59. The Abominable Dr. Phibes

60. Dead Men Walk

61. The Birds

62. Mystery of the Wax Museum

63. The Last Man on Earth

64. Island of Lost Souls

65. The Monster (25)

66. Doctor X

67. Them!

68. The Raven (63)

69. The Cat People

70. Frankenstein’s Bloody Terror

71. Destroy All Monsters

72. The Mad Monster

73. Die! Monster, Die!

74. Murders in the Rue Morgue (32)

75. The Black Room

76. Werewolf of London

77. The Flesh Eaters

78. Plan 9 From Outer Space

79. Black Friday

80. The Haunted Palace

81. Hunchback of Notre Dame (22)

82. Rodan

83. Two Thousand Maniacs

84. Frenzy

85. Nightmare Castle

86. The Beast with 5 Fingers

87. The She Beast

88. King Kong Vs. Godzilla

89. The Killer Shrews

90. The Ape Man

91. Dr. Phibes Rises Again

92. Tower of London (63)

93. Hunchback of the Morgue

94. Don’t Look in the Basement

95. Revenge of Frankenstein

96. Black Sabbath

97. House of Dracula

98. Dracula, Prince of Darkness

99. The Leopard Man

100. The Mad Magician