Famous Monsters

CREATURE FEATURES: THE SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY, AND HORROR MOVIE GUIDE by John Stanley. This is easily the best-blurbed book I've ever seen. “A must,” declares Leonard Maltin on the top of the front cover. “The Leonard Maltin of horror,” raves Fangoria at the bottom. Then to the back: “Never has so much worthless information been gathered together in one place,” observes Joe Bob Briggs, who knows of what he speaks. “I'm in awe of the man.” Frankly, I'm in awe, too. Stanley has seen everything, from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Night of the Living Dead to C.H.U.D. and Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter, and his short, razor-sharp, often hilarious reviews don't mince words. Excellent taste, too. The Bride of Frankenstein and The Creature from the Black Lagoon, two of my all-time favorites, five stars. Abraxus, Guardian of the Universe, starring former Minnesota governor Jesse “The Mind” Ventura, one star. I can open this masterpiece to any page and enjoy myself. How many books can you say that about?

THE MISFITS: LEGACY OF BRUTALITY (Plan 9 records). Like any self-respecting headbanger (age twelve), my first exposure to the Misfits came via Metallica's Garage Days Revisited EP, where they covered “Last Caress” and “Green Hell.” I bought Legacy of Brutality first, but Evilive, Earth A.D., and Walk Among Us, the cassettes of which I still possess, quickly followed. Four New Jersey punks dressed like skeletal zombie greasers and obsessed with B-movie monsters, Marilyn Monroe, the JFK assassination, and Elvis, the Misfits recorded some of the finest punk rock of that or any age. Towards the end, meaning '82-'83, they incorporated more hardcore elements into their sound, influencing the rise of thrash and speed metal, but the fifties-inspired stuff here, with its doo-wop harmonies and rockabilly stomp, including “She,” “Where Eagles Dare,” and “American Nightmare,” packs just as much of a wallop. “Night of the Living Dead” (best couplet: “this ain't no love-in/this ain't no happenin'”) and “Horror Hotel” both deserve special mention as classics (though you won’t find them here), while the dirge-like grooves of “London Dungeon” (also available elsewhere) anticipated the sort of goth-rock now perpetrated by Type O Negative. Save yourself the grief and pick up their coffin-shaped boxed set, why don’t cha, which contains all these and more. If you want to take it slow, however, say the twelve bucks lane, Legacy of Brutality will do the trick. Either way, a life without the Misfits is hardly a life at all.