Let's Talk About Horror Fiction and Film

[RJDiogenes]

That's a great Marathon. All of those are fantastic films. I have them all on DVD except Hunchback of Notre Dame, which I really need to get at some point. "Sanctuaryyyyy!"

[Spaceman Spiff]

Yes! YEEEEESSS!

For the first time ever eight of the most iconic cinematic masterpieces of the horror genre are available together on Blu-ray as Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection debuts on October 2, 2012, from Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

From the Press Release:
Digitally restored from high resolution film elements in perfect high-definition picture and perfect high-definition sound for the first time ever, Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection brings together the very best of Universal’s legendary monsters—imaginative and technically groundbreaking tales of terror that launched a uniquely American movie genre. This definitive collection features eight films on Blu-ray, a collectible 48-page book featuring behind-the-scenes photographs, original posters, correspondence, and much more. Each iconic film is accompanied by an array of bonus features that tell the fascinating story of its creation and history, including behind-the-scenes documentaries, filmmaker commentaries, interviews, storyboards, photo galleries, and trailers. Especially appealing for fans are a never-before-seen featurette about the restoration of Dracula (see a little of that below) and the first ever offering of Creature from the Black Lagoon in its restored Blu-ray 3D version.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Also, there's some potentially interesting news regarding Dorchester Publishing (Leisure Horror), who we've discussed in this thread.

A few months back, Dorchester pretty much collapsed after barely trying out their ebook/POD business model. And since authors weren't getting paid royalties or getting their rights reverted back, not many people had sympathy.

But now Amazon is bidding to buy their assets.

There are no guarantees, but the way Amazon's been courting authors, it seems like potentially a good deal for these authors. There's no telling if Amazon would be required to fork over the monies owed, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did it anyway just to pull these authors in.

Here's hoping.

[RJDiogenes]

Spaceman Spiff wrote:

---

Yes! YEEEEESSS!

It seems like I just bought those Legacy collections. This collections looks really nice, though. Interesting that Phantom of the Opera is included. I guess he didn't get a Legacy collection because he never had a sequel or appeared in a sequel, poor guy.

Spaceman Spiff wrote:

---

Also, there's some potentially interesting news regarding Dorchester Publishing (Leisure Horror), who we've discussed in this thread.

A few months back, Dorchester pretty much collapsed after barely trying out their ebook/POD business model. And since authors weren't getting paid royalties or getting their rights reverted back, not many people had sympathy.

But now Amazon is bidding to buy their assets.

There are no guarantees, but the way Amazon's been courting authors, it seems like potentially a good deal for these authors. There's no telling if Amazon would be required to fork over the monies owed, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did it anyway just to pull these authors in.

Here's hoping.

Actually, the article does say that Amazon would pay all outstanding royalties to authors. This would be great news for everybody concerned. While I love real physical books, e-publishing is much more profitable and affordable (and environmentally friendly). My e-book is priced at only 99 cents, yet I make three times more from every sale than I do from one of my paperbacks. It also makes it easy to keep classic stuff available and you can carry it all around with you-- my Nook is full of a library's worth of stuff like Lord Dunsany, Algernon Blackwood, Clark Ashton Smith, H Rider Haggard et mucho al.

[drmidnite66]

RJDiogenes wrote:

---

It seems like I just bought those Legacy collections. This collections looks really nice, though. Interesting that Phantom of the Opera is included. I guess he didn't get a Legacy collection because he never had a sequel or appeared in a sequel, poor guy.

The 1944 Boris Karloff thriller "The Climax" was conceived as a sequel to "Phantom". It was to star Claude Raines, Nelson Eddy and Susanna Foster continuing their roles. However, Raines wasn't available so the characters were changed - only Foster carried over and Karloff was cast as the "villain".

If Universal was inclined to do so they could have created a Legacy set with these two films as well as the silent 1925 version of "Phantom" ...

[RJDiogenes]

Thanks, that's very interesting. I don't think I've ever seen The Climax, so I'll have to track it down. It's kind of a shame it didn't turn out as planned.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Another year, another renaming of this thread. Man, this year has zipped by.

What's everyone reading and watching this year? I'm reading this Halloween anthology on Kindle. It's pretty good so far, though there are occasionally some that don't have much to do with Hallowe'en beyond being set at that time. But there are plenty that jump into that particular pile of leaves and roll around in it.

The Universal Monsters Blu-ray set is fantastic. I can't believe how good they look in high definition. I got it for about $40 cheaper than that listed price--it's gone up since the pre-order. However, the UK version of the set is much cheaper, and since Universal doesn't do region coding, it's the smarter buy. Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein looks similarly great in hi-def.

Other than that, I keep tuning in to TCM's Hallowe'en schedule.

[RJDiogenes]

I should start getting my reading and DVD list together. I have the whole week off this year.

That Halloween anthology is in my Shopping Cart. I'll have to see if it's available for the Nook. It looks pretty good.

I'm kind of in a Hammer mood this year, so I'll be watching and recording stuff from TCM, definitely. I was going to buy Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires, but it's now out of print. There's a couple of Hammer box sets, so I might get one of those.

[Starbreaker]

I've been rewatching The Walking Dead from the beginning and I've been reading Those Across the River, a novel about Civil War plantation ghosts.

[Brendan Moody]

I just ordered the complete series set of the original Dark Shadows, so I'll probably be watching that this Halloween season... and next Halloween season, if not the one after that. I also bought the Blu-ray set of the Alien movies, so I'm watching those when I can find the time. I'd like to rewatch the original Halloween and the Scream movies, but I don't know if I'll get around to it.

I haven't been doing much horror reading lately, but I did enjoy The Night Class by Tom Piccirilli. For a while there it was rough going-- Piccirilli's stylistic reach exceeds his grasp, making the book feel more lurid than chilling-- but by the end I was surprised how compelling it was in its way. I'll certainly read more of his work when I can. Piccirilli recently had surgery to remove a brain tumor, and while he's doing well his insurance doesn't exactly make such surgery cheap, so the publishers of the e-book editions of his work are currently waiving their portion of the royalty and sending the proceeds directly to him. There's a list of the titles, which are pretty cheap as e-books go, here.

I also read Five Degrees of Latitude, a debut collection of five novellas that I think would really appeal to fans of late nineteenth and early twentieth century supernatural fiction. There are echoes of Machen, Blackwood, M. R. James, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, but the stories never feel derivative. The print edition is an expensive hardcover from Tartarus Press, but there's also an inexpensive e-book, available either from the publisher (in MOBI or EPUB) or from Amazon (in Kindle format, obviously). I wrote a review of Five Degrees of Latitude here.

Last night on a whim I pulled a couple books off the shelf and reread two stories by Reggie Oliver, one of my two favorite contemporary writers of ghost stories. (The other is Glen Hirshberg.) They were both still chilling. One, "Bloody Bill," is unavailable except for expensive out-of-print limited editions, but the other, "The Children of Monte Rosa," is in one of the three Oliver collections recently made available as an e-book. You can get Masques of Satan from Amazon's Kindle Store or in MOBI or EPUB direct from the publisher, Ash-Tree Press, which over the past year has made a lot of new and classic ghost story collections available again in e-book form. The other two Oliver collections in e-book, The Dreams of Cardinal Vittorini and Mrs Midnight, are from Tartarus Press, and can also be ordered direct from the publisher in slightly pricey but handsome trade paperback editions.

[Greg Cox]

drmidnite66 wrote:

---

The 1944 Boris Karloff thriller "The Climax" was conceived as a sequel to "Phantom". It was to star Claude Raines, Nelson Eddy and Susanna Foster continuing their roles. However, Raines wasn't available so the characters were changed - only Foster carried over and Karloff was cast as the "villain".

FYI, the nitpicky editor in me is compelled to point out that it's Claude Rains, not "Claude Raines."

Nothing personal. For some reason, nobody seems to spell it correctly anymore. I swear, I see "Raines" more often than "Rains" these days, at least on the internet. It's a bit of pet peeve.

And don't get me started about Bela "Legosi" . . .

[MLJames]

Speaking of Bela, he's going to be part of my pre-Halloween vampire movie marathon. I'll be going through his version of Dracula, the original Nosferatu, and the PBS Count Dracula starring Louis Jourdan.

On the literary side, I've been going through a bit of a Richard Matheson kick. I just finished rereading I Am Legend, and I'm about to start Hell House.

[RJDiogenes]

I was tempted to buy that complete Dark Shadows collection, but even at 50% off it was still too steep for me at the moment.

Nice of Piccirilli's publisher to waive their share of the profits for him. I'll look over those books and pick up a couple.