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AWESOME-tober-fest 2019: Fangoria Mail Order VHS ads

Posted in AWESOME-tober-fest, Blog Series, Fangoria, Halloween, holiday, magazine, movies, pop culture with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2019, Fangoria, Halloween, pop culture on October 16, 2019 by Paxton

It doesn’t get much more 80s than mail order horror VHS tapes. And Fangoria magazine is rife with all kinds of awesome mail order VHS ads. Here are a few.

From Fangoria 21 (1982). Driller Killer! Snuff! I’ve never heard of Snuff. I’m going to have to look that up. Look at the prices. $44.95 for ONE tape (plus $3 s/h, of course). That was the sell through price! Before that studios used rental pricing and it was over a hundred bucks!

From Fangoria #23 (1982). An Unholy 9. I love that. A few gems in here too. The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Fulci’s Zombie. Man, that I Spit on Your Grave is a tough watch.

From Fangoria #54 (1986). I love the art on this Mail Order Nightmares! from Mail Box Video. Silent Night, Deadly Night is a classic. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Make Them Die Slowly, but it sounds AWESOME.

This is from Fangoria #49 (1985). It’s not a mail order ad, per se, it’s actually a call in phone order. It’s still a pretty great ad. I *totally* remember that Doctor Gore VHS cover. I never got to get it, but I remember it in Fangoria a lot and I think it showed up at my local video store.

Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.

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AWESOME-tober-fest 2019: Fangoria Scream Greats: Ghostbusters

Posted in AWESOME-tober-fest, Blog Series, Fangoria, Ghostbusters, Halloween, holiday, magazine, movies with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2019, Fangoria, Ghostbusters, Halloween, pop culture on October 14, 2019 by Paxton

Okay, here we go with the third week of AWESOME-tober-fest. Now I’m going to switch over from Elvira to a more general Fangoria focus and we’ll look at posters, pin-ups, interviews, articles and ads from all eras of Fangoria.

One of the best things about Fangoria are the Scream Greats posters. I showed you one of Elvira’s last week. This week, here’s a pretty great Ghostbusters poster featuring Slimer that appeared in issue #40 from 1984.

And just a few issues earlier, in Fangoria #36, they did a whole article on the ghosts in Ghostbusters.

Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.

AWESOME-tober-fest 2019: Elvira Scream Greats poster

Posted in AWESOME-tober-fest, Blog Series, Fangoria, magazine with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2019, Elvira, Fangoria, Halloween on October 7, 2019 by Paxton

Last week I did a full week of Elvira. All Elvira, all the time. I had so much fun, I’m going to do it again. So this week is going to be all about Elvira as well.

As you saw last week, Elvira has been all over Fangoria, especially in the 80s. Along with articles there were several pinups, which you also saw. Elvira even made it onto one of the coveted Scream Greats posters.

Scream Greats

I thought this image seemed an odd one to choose for the Scream Greats poster. It looks like they’re still building the sets behind her. But, now, after seeing the movie just recently, I realize that *was* the set. They were restoring an old house in the movie and that’s where this shot was taken. She’s even wearing those weird buckle pants in the movie.

Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.

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AWESOME-tober-fest 2019: Elvira Mistress of the Dark (1988) movie review

Posted in Fangoria, Halloween, holiday, magazine, movies with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2019, Elvira, Fangoria Movie Friday, Halloween, movies, review on October 4, 2019 by Paxton

So this week has been all about Elvira. You’ve seen articles and centerfolds. Elvira has permeated pop culture especially during the Halloween season. She has popped up in many random movies as a fun cameo. But there have been two Elvira specific movies released and I have watched neither of them. So I thought now would be a good time to do that.

Today, for my very first time, I’m taking a look at the first Elvira movie; Elvira Mistress of the Dark from 1988.

movie poster

I can’t believe I’ve never watched this movie. It’s fun, it’s campy. It’s the perfect Elvira movie. Mostly comedy, with some spooky genre elements added in. I had a lot of fun with it.

Let’s take a look at a few highlights from the movie.

Title cards.

on the TV show set
The show opens up with Elvira on the set of her late night TV show. It’s a low budget local station so naturally she wants to get out of there and go to Vegas to become a showgirl.

This is an anchorwoman at Elvira’s TV station waiting to go on after Elvira finishes her show. She’s not very nice. She’s played by Tress MacNeille. Tress is sort of a legend in voice over animation work. She does voice work for Simpsons, Futurama, Animaniacs, and SO MANY other shows. Check out her IMDB. It’s insane. But, funnily enough, Tress would voice the character Booberella on The Simpsons which was a parody of Elvira.

A lot of this movie is what actors pop up from other genre pictures.

teens
Here are a few of the teens Elvira befriends in the movie. On the far left, is Ira Heiden, who played Will in Nightmare on Elm Street 3. To the right of Ira is Kris Kamm who’s been in a ton of TV like Quantum Leap, 21 Jump Street, and Coach.

Hey, it’s Kenicky! From Grease!

villain!
Here’s the villain, Vincent. He plays this up pretty well. He’s appropriately evil and English. This guy has also been in a bunch of genre stuff like Star Trek VI: Undiscovered Country, the old Fox TV show Werewolf, the Max Headroom TV series, Needful Things and Michael Bay’s Transformers.

Apple Slice!
Edie McClurg! I love 80s movies for vintage product placement. We get a scene at a town picnic and in it we see a bunch of old soda cans like this Apple Slice as well as a few vintage Diet Pepsi cans.

Elvira finally gets to Vegas at the end and we get to see a whole overblown Vegas number. It’s campy but fun.

This was a fun movie to watch. Yes, it was campy, but that’s Elvira’s whole shtick. The movie was entertaining and I enjoyed it. Glad I finally watched it.

So next week. I had so much fun doing Elvira this week, that I think I’ll do it again. So, expect to see another week of Elvira goodness. I’ll look at more movie and TV appearances as well as a few other surprises. Come back next week to see what I have in store.

Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.

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AWESOME-tober-fest 2019: Elvira Busts Out

Posted in Fangoria, Halloween, holiday, magazine, movies with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2019, Elvira, Fangoria, Halloween, movies on October 3, 2019 by Paxton

In Fall 1988, Elvira was getting ready to release her first movie, Elvira Mistress of the Dark. And, of course, she got some coverage in the September 1988 issue of Fangoria (issue #77).

I’m honestly surprised she didn’t get a full cover for her first movie. She always had a great relationship with Fangoria. But if you are going to get bumped, Freddy Krueger in a new movie is the news that’s going to bump you. *Especially* in 1988. And *especially* if the magazine has available to them a pic of Freddy with a baby arm coming out of his head for the cover.

This article is an interview with Cassandra Peterson about making the movie Elvira Mistress of the Dark. She talks about having the longest bit of dialogue to do on the first day and that no one really explained to her how to play the character on the big screen. Sometimes she was playing it too big, sometimes she played it too small. It took several days to work it out and get comfortable. She also makes sure to play up the humor in the movie. She wants people to know it’s not a horror movie per se, it’s a comedy. And she hopes that people understand that when they go see it.

It’s a pretty good article, but it always is with Cassandra Peterson. She’s always funny. Unfortunately for this movie, New World Pictures went bankrupt the day the movie was released and instead of opening on 2500 screens, it opened on 600 screens. Even though it tanked at the box office, it has since picked up a big cult following on the home video market.

I think I’ve made it pretty clear that I love Elvira and I have since the mid to late 80s. As you see, I bought her appearances in magazines, I loved it when she was the Coors Light “spookswoman”, and when she had bizarre cameos in movies like Stroker Ace. We even covered her 1986 MTV Halloween Special on the Nerd Lunch 2017 Halloween Special. But for some reason, I never got around to watching either of the Elvira movies.

So tomorrow, for Fangoria Movie Friday, I’m going to take a look at her first movie, Elvira Mistress of the Dark, from 1988. Should be fun, I can’t wait.

Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.

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