Creature Feature

Examines unusual animal facial features and how they help the animals survive.

Updated to include the most movie mega-hits, this sci-fi, fantasy, and horror movie guide has it all--the shockers, schlockers, blockbusters, bombs, cult faves, rare gems, classics, groundbreakers, gorefests, space operas, sorcery, Euro-splatter, and everything in between.

This work offers a critical, colorful and informative examination of different types of monster movies, spanning the silent period to today. Chapter One focuses on dragons, dinosaurs, and other scaly giants from films like 1953's The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, an impressive stop-motion production that ushered in a new era of atomic-spawned monster films. Chapter Two examines "big bug" flicks, beginning with 1954's giant ant-infested Them! Chapter Three focuses on ordinary animals grown to improbable proportions through scientific or sinister experimentation, such as the huge octopus in 1955's It Came from Beneath the Sea. Chapters Four, Five, and Six look at films in which nature goes berserk, and otherwise innocuous animals flock, swarm, hop or run about on a menacingly massive scale, including 1963's The Birds and 1972's Frogs. Finally, Chapter Seven focuses on films featuring beasts that defy easy definition, such as 1958's The Blob and Fiend Without a Face.

Each page in this book is bursting with unusual creatures from the time of dinosaurs, all united by a common characteristic. From wonderful wings to terrific teeth, from tyrannosaurs to ancient turtles, this eclectic collection celebrates the diversity and similarities of the dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. Guaranteed to fascinate budding paleontologists.

The book features capsulised reviews of 4000 genre films of science-fiction, fantasy, horror, psychoterror and weird mystery; Reviews oddball films and novelties ignored by other popular movie guides; Coded so you can instantly see if a title can be rented or purchased at your local video store; Reviews of movies and offbeat fare made exclusively for videocassette and not listed in other encyclopaedias; 529 photographs, many exclusives from the author's private collection, plus 24 original sketches; Scores of hilarious lines of dialogue and classical movie tag-lines. Deluxe hardcover edition is signed by the author.

In this second book in the humorous, mystery-solving graphic novel series that's perfect for fans of Bad Guys, Sherlock Bones and his ragtag team hunt down a swamp monster! Sherlock Bones's home, the Natural History Museum, has added an exciting new exhibit, Reef to Shore, that includes a mangrove forest and shallow coral reef habitat, with touch tanks in between. When Sherlock overhears a that a swamp monster has been sighted, he gathers his team to investigate. At first Sherlock Bones suspects Nivlac, a quirky octopus with a talent for camouflage--and tank pranks. But then, loud bellowing leads Bones and team to the mangroves, where they find a horrifying long-haired green beast! Can they escape the creature--or is it too late for our beloved frogmouth bird skeleton and his ragtag mystery-solving team?

Jarrod Parker was the perfect teenager. Until the million-year-old monster in King Lake killed his little brother. Now Jarrod only cares about one thing: sweet revenge. He'll face down friends, zombies, even the end of the world to get it. NOTHING—NOT FRIENDS, NOT ZOMBIE SKELETONS, NOT THE END OF THE WORLD—WILL KEEP JARROD PARKER FROM REVENGE. Eons ago, visitors from outer space buried an item of unimaginable power in the primordial swamps that would one day become King Lake--a quaint little basin on the edge of Whisper, USA. Millions of years later, a comet’s radioactive waves awaken the monster slumbering beneath the lake. As the beast feeds on America’s sweet, delicious youth, brain-slugs infect the quiet town, causing victims to vomit up their kill-hungry, zombified skeletons. But for seventeen-year-old Jarrod Parker, none of that stuff matters much. For him, this isn’t about the Apocalypse. It’s about payback. Nothing--not his friends, not the undead, not even the end of the world--will keep him from vengeance. Collects the complete five issue series.

This whopping big McFarland Classic brings together 43 interviews with horror and science fiction movie writers, producers, directors and the men and women who saved the planet from aliens, behemoths, robots, zombies, and other sinister, stumbling threats--in the movies, at least. The interviewees reminisce about some of their great (and not so great!) films and tell their stories. This classic volume represents the union of two previous volumes: 1994's Attack of the Monster Movie Makers ("anecdotes are frank and revealing"--Video Watchdog); and 1995's They Fought in the Creature Features ("a fun book for all SF film enthusiasts"--Interzone). Together at last, this combined collection of interviews offers a candid and delightful perspective on the movies that still make audiences howl and squeal (though fear has long been replaced with sweet nostalgia).

These men and women saved the planet from aliens, behemoths, monsters, zombies, and other bloated, stumbling threats--in the movies, at least--and now they tell their stories. Julie Adams, John Agar, Richard Anderson, John Archer, Jeanne Bates, Billy Benedict, Turhan Bey, Lloyd Bridges, Ricou Browning, Robert Cornthwaite, Louise Currie, Richard Denning, Anne Francis, Mark Goddard, June Lockhart, Eugene Lourie, Jeff Morrow, Lori Nelson, Rex Reason, William Schallert, Don Taylor, George Wallace and Jane Wyatt give behind-the-scenes insights into such classic movies as Creature from the Black Lagoon, Forbidden Planet, Destination Moon and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. They also discuss the impact "monster-fighting" had on their careers and what they are now doing.

Encounter the John Stanley who hosted Creature Features in the Bay Area (1979-84) and meet the John Stanley who covered movie and TV celebrities for the San Francisco Chronicle (1960-1993). Together, they take you into the incredible worlds of sci-fi/fantasy/horror!