Sunday, November 21, 2010

NOT for the faint of heart.

Or the squeamish.

Or the prudish.

Or anyone with taste, intellect and maturity beyond that of a pre-adolescent boy growing up in the '70s.

If you recall the Johnson-Smith Novelty Co. Horror Record sold in the backs of comic books for years:
 ... and if you remember sneaking, trading, reading and delighting in the ghoulishly gruesome comics put out by Eerie Publications in the '70s, not Eerie and Creepy (put out by Warren) but these titles:



... then this post is for your Inner '70s Monster Child's pure joy.

Jason Willis, the cool collector/sharer of Hallowe'en and horror vinyl and cassettes via his famously followed blog, Scar Stuff, has recently created an amazing animatic of the B-side 'story' from the Johnson-Smith record set to characters/scenes from numerous covers of those gory, bizarre, lurid magazines.

And HOLYyourmomwilltaketheseawayfromyou, did he do a fantastic job.

I want to warn you about visual content, because it's pretty dank and red and exploitative, but honestly? It's all so unbelievably over the top, so old school girl-is-always-the-victim, so clearly based on 'give me something to put on the cover so we can put out another title this month' shock-itude -- it's all just so outright bizarre! -- that I'm more concerned with the best resolution for your viewing pleasure than with offending anyone.

It's not for little kids. It's not for sensitive older kids. It's surely not for smart, mature, or easily offended grown ups.

It's pretty much just for damaged Horror Children from a specific era.

And it makes me smile bigly and hugely every time I watch it -- over and over.

Enjoy:


Okay, seriously? The narrator sounds more like Criswell with each listen.

And what is the deal at 4:43...  Frankie's torn off his own arm to use as a hammer to drive the stake into Drac's heart. What?!

Jason, it's all just perfect.

Makes me want to go to the Thrifty by my grade school, get a cup of Chocolate Nut Crunch and peruse the magazine aisle like I did so many times after school.

DUMDUMSHRIEKPLOPS!

6 comments:

  1. I do not remember these, I doremember the comics....but not the records, but my hubby does and he thinks this is the coolest find ever! Looking forward to checking it out when we get back in the states! Thanks for sharing.

    Cheers!

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  2. You are quite welcome, your Majesty! Just you enjoy your trip and have safe travels... and PLEASE have a pint for the S&P!

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  3. That was really cool! They should make a dvd with stuff like this on them!

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  4. Creeper, I couldn't agree more. Maybe Jason's working on just such a project... or maybe, if there are other cool freaks out there like him who can do this kind of thing, we can get a bunch of contributors and just put one out ourselves. Narrow demographic but what a thing to own!

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  5. Why thank you, sir! I'm humbled and flattered and all sorts of good stuff by your kind comments. I really had a lot of fun putting this thing together (heh, though finding appropriate images to go with the already extant soundtrack was more of a challenge than I'd initially suspected it might be), and the experience has definitely kicked far too many other "future project" type notions into my head.

    As an aside, your haunting work is truly inspired & terribly cool. Talk about a tremendous amount of work -- it really staggers my brain to think about the creation of this stuff. Really great!

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  6. Jason, what a fine surprise! Been a fan of your blog for a long time, and when I saw the video up I just *had* to share it with the S&P... it just makes me smile every time I watch it. I can imagine the tedium of Photoshopping all the elements, finding matches for lyrics, etc. A real labor of love, though!

    And thank YOU for your own kind words about my haunting work. It's amazing, the hobbies, the notions that get caught in the mental lint trap of Monster and Hallowe'en Lovin' Kids.

    It's very cool to hear from you.

    Everyone, I'm calling drinks for Jason on the house the rest of the year.

    DUMDUMSHREKPOP!

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