Who are we?

Scroll down and read about our dark and twisted lives . . .

 

Horror of Horrors!

Posing with the Drive-In Movie Critic, Joe Bob Briggs, at the 2019 Creature Feature Weekend in Gettysburg, PA.

 
 
 

Scott

“From childhood, I have not been as most others have been. At an early age, my primary interest seemed to focus on otherworldly beasts of prehistoric times, or the pantheon of Universal monsters, or giant radioactive mutants or the creations of a legion of mad scientists.

At age five, my "bedtime" stories were often Edgar Allan Poe -young readers edition.  I had pleaded with my parents that this was what I wanted to fall asleep to - visions of a beating disembodied heart, victims entombed within catacomb walls, family curses. Cheery images to slumber to.  A calendar that I'd sent away for, showing Don Post monster masks, hung on the wall of my bedroom at this time. It soon proved to be unnerving, and had to be removed.

 As I grew to adulthood, my interest in such things grew, and I enjoyed the expanding pantheon of cinematic horror. I have had a concurrent and abiding interest in history, and have been fortunate enough to work in the field, meeting my co-hosts and many of my other friends while working at the state historical society.

 The three of us have been frequently getting together on the weekend to share drinks, and view monster movies, and have enjoyed ourselves immensely. So, it was a very short step to agree to start a podcast, (knowing the world is desperately short of, and in dire need of them) and share our love for such films with whoever might care to listen in.” - S.C.

 

Mary

“I will always think that “Beauty and the Beast” is a monster movie. Don’t get me wrong, I know how ridiculous that sounds. But a movie about a mysteriously cursed, terrifying, magical creature and a young woman’s compassion towards him? Sounds like a monster movie to me.

From this childhood “brush” with the bizarre and extraordinary, I was drawn to the thrilling and enigmatic world of horror. Stories of Sherlock Holmes and the macabre crimes he solved to Poe’s visions of masked partygoers succumbing to the Red Death appealed to my curiosity of the dark and ghoulish things that lurked in the shadows of my imagination.

The more familiar I became with horror, the more I sought comfort in it. In my darkest moments, monsters provided a welcome escape from the horrors of reality. I felt a strange care for creatures that were feared and despised. The monsters were just misunderstood, wounded creatures. Just like me. 

Now, with my dear friends, I enjoy delectable boozy concoctions and abiding camaraderie as we appreciate the bizarre and the ghoulish, the eerie and the ghastly, together. Join us, if you dare!”

 

Dave

“It’s a late Saturday evening, in Prescott, Wisconsin, circa 1974. I am perhaps 10 years old, and, as usual, staying at my grandparent’s house for the night. I am comfortably ensconced in a tan naugahyde couch. There is a bowl of warm, buttered popcorn on the coffee table, next to a tall glass of Kool-aid. The manila folders that serve as my drawing paper are stacked nearby, a freshly sharpened no. 2 pencil well within reach. 

I am anxiously awaiting the image of a gaudily-lit set with coffin to appear on the TV screen in front of me. The sight of a hand slowly lifting the lid will thrill me, and the gravelly rumble of the narrator’s voice will chill me, as it always has.  The title, “Horror Incorporated”, will splash across the screen, accompanied by spiraling screams that will cause me to shrink into the faux leather . . . and wonder if my grandparents will wake up.

It begins . . . and for once, I am ready to capture poor Larry Talbott’s transformation from good-natured fellow to ravenous beast, all by the light of the cinematic moon. 

Over the years, I have been a U.S. Marine, a costumed interpreter at historic sites, a picture book illustrator, history painter, a jack-of all-artistic trades with pencil, ink and paintbrush. And yet, at my very core, I am a Monster Kid, raised on the Universal classics, the Hammer horrors and Toho’s lumbering nightmares.

Join me for a cocktail, and tell me how YOU fell in love with monsters . . .”