The Monster Show by David Skal

[Moonshadow]

Has anyone read this book? I picked it up at Half Price Books today and it looks quite interesting. It's an overview of horror in popular culture of the 20th century. Just thumbing through it, I saw there's commentary on not just films, but also things like the Aurora models kits, Famous Monsters, comics, and with a lot of social context to it. I'm looking forward to digging into it this week.

[mike c]

I've read The Monster Show numerous times. Always enjoy it.

Skal's certainly a lover of the genre, and knows his names, places and dates. I like his 'voice'; he reads as calm and inviting, never hyperbolic or gushing.

I like the historical/cultural context it presents, and it's a good reference book to a degree.

On the other hand I get pretty annoyed by his relentless obsession with Freudian symbolism (you'll see it early and often). Skal's a good writer, a devoted fan and a lover of the genre but that doesn't mean he can't sometimes step in it with psychological or philosophical over-reaching. Sometimes, a horror film's just a horror film.

Still, it's a very good read.

Never saw it with the Edward Gorey cover, though... I'd love to have that edition. Beautiful!

[typhooforme]

I agree with Mike.  Skal goes overboard at times with the symbolic mumbo-jumbo.  Remember the line attributed to Freud: "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."  But it's a fascinating read and there are many things to be learned there!  I was bowled over by the information about "les mutilées" of WWI, for instance.  I had never thought about how many true "faces of horror" existed--with plastic surgery in its infancy--among the veterans who suffered grievous injuries.  Fascinating stuff!

[Radioactive Rod Whitenack]

It's a great book. I quoted from it twice; once for a college research paper, and again for a feature story I wrote as a journalist years ago. Skal is very scholarly and obviously comes from a college literary background. His style is much less of the fanboy/fanzine/Internet style we've become used to in recent years, and much more the style of scholarly journals that college professors and professional students use when publishing research studies.

He really loves the subject, however, so it never becomes dry and clinical.

[mike c]

His style is much less of the fanboy/fanzine/Internet style we've become used to in recent years, and much more the style of scholarly journals that college professors and professional students use when publishing research studies.

No doubt about that.
Unlike many recent publications, Skal's books carry the weight of professionalism and dogged research; even where I might not entirely agree with a conclusion here and there, he approaches the subject matter and his analysis of it with calm conviction and a level of scholarship no longer practiced (and in some cases even remotely understood) by the vast majority of genre 'journalists' publishing today.

[Wich2]

Pretty much concur with you learned gents. David's stuff is ALL first-rate; but he can lay the subtext stuff on a little thick.

He seemed to say, at one point, that the main inspiration for the early 20th Century monsters were the monstrously maimed vets of the First World War.

Until he said that the main inspiration was the misunderstood, hidden, & hounded homosexual community.

They can't both be the "Main!"

-Craig

P.S. - he posts over at the CHFB on occasion

[Moonshadow]

Thanks for the input folks. I had hoped to start reading on my lunch hour today but work got in the way! I plan to read a little before bed tonight. Just flipping through it, I can tell I'll have to resist the urge to start with some of the later chapters, and force myself to begin at  the beginning and work my way through.

By the way, I seem to recall seeing Skal do commentary on one or more of the Universal Legacy dvds - is that right or am I thinking of someone else?

[Radioactive Rod Whitenack]

Yes, you're right. Skal does commentaries on several of the Universal Monster documentaries included on the DVDs.

[Moonshadow]

I've been devouring this book on my lunch break! I see what you all mean about Skal's frequent returns to Freudian thought, but that's minor compared to the amount of information presented. I feel like I have learned a lot about early horror films - and it's been entertaining too. I'm very glad I picked this up.

[dlhenderson]

It's a really good read, although I do agree with the observations above. I never knew until I read this book that James Bama's depiction of the Frankenstein monster on the Aurora model kit had been caught "playing with himself" (?!). I really liked Skal's description of Vampira ("Eyebrows like boomerangs from beyond the grave..."). Here's the Penguin trade paperback that most of us are probably familiar with.

[Moonshadow]

I continue to really enjoy Skal's book. As I was reading today, I was struck by this comment from film critic Nelson B. Bell in 1932, on the popularity of horror films with the American public:"Many are without employment, many are employed only by virtue of having accepted drastic curtailment of income, many lead their lives in a state of constant dread of the disaster that may overtake them at any minute. This is a state of mind that creates a vast receptivity for misfortunes more poignant than our own..." The more things change....!

[Moonshadow]

I finished the book today. I'm glad I got it. I particularly enjoyed the chapters on the early days of film, as I had little knowledge of this era. Skal's insights regarding the cultural mindsets of the various time periods were intriguing. The end of the book did drag a bit for me though. I could have done without the chapter that focused on the woman who thought she was a vampire - that contributed very little to the book I felt. But all in all it was informative and entertaining.

[Opera Ghost]

David did a great rendition at Monsterpalooza, reading as Bela Lugosi in the "Too many Creeps" script reading


OG

[Sir Masksalot]

This title is on my Halloween re-reading list this month. Mine is an inscribed first edition with
the Gorey jacket perfectly intact, just as shown in Moonshadow's post. Through its pages I
enjoy getting reacquainted with the likes of Tod Browning, James Whale, Diane Arbus, Vampira,
Stephen King, Forrest Ackerman, et al. Unlike some of you, I admire Mr Skal's ability to spot
all the veiled metaphors in our favorite horror classics.

the woman who thought she was a vampire

'Any guesses as to who "Megan" the vampiress of chapter twelve really is?
The book only reveals her as a part-time actress in sitcoms.