|
(Bela Lugosi Christmas greeting by Sorko.) ...Yes, Christmas! What other time of year can turn sane individuals into zombies or lunatics while trying to find the perfect gift? Is it any wonder that a shopping mall was chosen for the locale in George Romero's Day Of The Dead?... |
Last year at this time, Crystal Guillory suggested some rather ghoulish gifts you might consider for all those little monsters on your Christmas list. Well, Crystal is at it again, as we see in....
By CRYSTAL GUILLORY Here we are, smack dab into the scariest time of the year again, dear readers. No, I am not talking about post-election time (boy, did that turn out to be scary!). I can see some of your with confused looks, scratching your heads, and checking the calendar. Go ahead, I will give you some time to do so. To those of you in the know, you know I am talking about Christmas. Yes, Christmas! What other time of year can turn sane individuals into zombies or lunatics while trying to find the perfect gift? Is it any wonder that a shopping mall was chosen for the locale in George Romero's Day Of The Dead? Malls are truly scary places, with the terror of trying to find a parking space, long lines, and inattentive (or over-attentive) salespeople. The mall can rival any haunted house in the world. Then there are the terror-filled family gatherings, forced meetings with relatives whose names you have long forgotten and who think of you as an eternal eight year old. Well, I can't help you through those holiday horrors. Sorry.
But...there are cases where you're in a relationship and have to purchase gifts for your significant other, and you're not sure what they want...but they do like monsters. Bingo! Here I can help. Needless to say this gift-giving can really make any person go bonkers at this time of year. I could go on but I really don't want to give you nightmares tonight. Rather I plan to supply some ghoulish gift suggestions for you as I did last year (you can read my gift suggestions for 1999 here). As you know by now, there are many interesting places on the Net that sell very cool monster stuff (and some non-monster but equally cool stuff). With this article I hope to show you some things that you put under someone's tree, or you could put these on your own wish list. Some of these are on my wish list, so if you know me and want to know what to get, consider this article your hint! Tee shirts are fun and functional gifts to give to people. The shirts come in all sizes and styles and images on the shirt. Tee shirts can be used to be personal expressions of the person's tastes and interests. For example, a person can have a tee shirt with their favorite transformer (more than meets the eye), Mexican wrestlers (know any Santo fans?) and Bela Lugosi (Dracula), to name a few. Then again a person can always give a tee shirt with the name of the coolest monster e-zine around). Yeah, I know I am sucking up to the editor on this one but trust me the tee shirt looks awesome!
Music too can be an excellent choice for a gift for someone and fortunately there are a variety of choices for the variety of tastes out there. Being that this is a monster fanzine I will focus on music that suits that particular taste. For the Monster Boomers, a person can give a piece of "Monster Mash" memorabilia (signed by Bobby "Boris" Pickett himself), as well as the CD and movie. That way you can "monster mash" all the time (I would say all year long but that has been said before). A person can also give the CD of the soundtrack from the classic Monster Boomer and kiddie monster puppet flick Mad Monster Party (you can read my article on that film here). This will be the next best thing to getting an action figure of Franchesca for a fan of this movie.
Or if a fiend..ah...friend desired the soundtrack of Creature From The Black Lagoon, you can order from the good folks at Monstrous Movie Music. Alas, you will have to provide your own bathing beauty though as well as your own Black Lagoon (sorry guys!). This company also boasts other themes in its collection as well and is worth a look for creepy Christmas shoppers. They have plenty of items to make your favorite monster fans happy.
Videos and DVDs do make great gifts for special people and are always welcomed additions to collections. If a friend is into horror hosts, what better gift is to give them the video of the horror host of the Internet: Count Gore De Vol. Before he became the reigning horror host of the information superhighway, the Count was the horror host of the Washington DC area for years (which is, in itself, a truly scary place). His video contains the best of his years on television. The demand for this video was so great there is a second video continuing the Count's legacy of televised terror.
If a family member (or significant other) wants a DVD or video of a classic horror movie, Creepy Classics *Hey, gotta visit Rondo for the holidays" ) is the place to turn. Creepy Classics does its best to provide the newest of classic video and DVD scares for the best price. Right now there are plenty of new releases on VHS and DVD for your monster fan, so keep that in mind. Finally.. where would the holidays be without toys? Not those kind of toys, sheesh people! What monster kid (or monster kid in a grown-up's body) would not thrill to seeing a figure of Frankenstein's Monster, the Wolf Man, or Dr. Phibes under the tree? Have no fear, a person does not have to know the Pumpkin King to get such monsteriffic toys, but rather knowing where to shop. Sideshow toys is the foremost purveyor of monster toys (and non monster toys) right now. This company has won the praise of many a monster fan for their beautiful recreations of the universal monsters (the Frankenstein figure was given an award, (just look at it .. it is true Karloff). The company has also the rights to make figures of Bela Lugosi, but that won't materialize until next summer (a gift for Christmas 2001 perhaps?). The figures and the Little Big Heads are true delights for any monster collector. Where to buy them? Why, from Dave Hagen at Monster Mania on-line. He's the guy who writes that neat monster collectibles column, The Collector's Crypt, in this little e-zine each month. These are also available at toy stores should you have to go out into the stores.
Another great place to shop online is the Attack Of The Clay People website. There they have a figure of the Abominable Dr. Phibes (one can almost hear the organ playing "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" as you look at this figure) Alas, there is no Vulnavia figure to go with him...perhaps a future accessory? The firm also stocks other clay creations suitable to put under the tree this season.
So there you have it, some more suggestions for ghoulish gifts this season. I do hope I have taken some of the present-buying pressure off of you. Now, if you'll excuse me. I have some shopping to do. Happy Holidays everyone! (Crystal Guillory is vice-president of the New Orleans Worst Film Festival to be held on June 10, 2000. Click here to read more about it. You can contact Crystal personally here.)
And happy holidays to you, Crystal! Once again, thanks for the swell gift ideas! Er...you didn't pull my name this year from the HORROR-WOOD gift pool? No? My luck's holding out... Article copyright © Crystal Guillory |
