For More Than Seventy Years the Horror Film Has
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WE BELONG DEAD FEARBOOK Covers by David Brooks Inside Back Cover ‘Bride of McNaughtonstein’ starring Eric McNaughton & Oxana Timanovskaya! by Woody Welch Published by Buzzy-Krotik Productions All artwork and articles are copyright their authors. Articles and artwork always welcome on horror fi lms from the silents to the 1970’s. Editor Eric McNaughton Design and Layout Steve Kirkham - Tree Frog Communication 01245 445377 Typeset by Oxana Timanovskaya Printed by Sussex Print Services, Seaford We Belong Dead 28 Rugby Road, Brighton. BN1 6EB. East Sussex. UK [email protected] https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/106038226186628/ We are such stuff as dreams are made of. Contributors to the Fearbook: Darrell Buxton * Darren Allison * Daniel Auty * Gary Sherratt Neil Ogley * Garry McKenzie * Tim Greaves * Dan Gale * David Whitehead Andy Giblin * David Brooks * Gary Holmes * Neil Barrow Artwork by Dave Brooks * Woody Welch * Richard Williams Photos/Illustrations Courtesy of Steve Kirkham This issue is dedicated to all the wonderful artists and writers, past and present, that make We Belong Dead the fantastic magazine it now is. As I started to trawl through those back issues to chose the articles I soon realised that even with 120 pages there wasn’t going to be enough room to include everything. I have Welcome... tried to select an ecleectic mix of articles, some in depth, some short capsules; some serious, some silly. am delighted to welcome all you fans of the classic age of horror It was a hard decision as to what to include and inevitably some wonderful to this first ever We Belong Dead Fearbook! Since its return pieces had to be left out - Neil I from the dead in March 2013, after an absence of some Ogley’s look at the career 16 years, WBD has proved very popular with fans. Many of Lionel Atwill, Darrell were with us during our original incarnation between Buxton’s in depth 1993 and 1997, but for most people issue 9 was look at the horror their first encounter with the mag. As a result i films of RKO, Gary get a lot of requests for those first, long out of Holme’s in-depth print issues. And this is where the idea of a look at Universal’s Invisible Man Fearbook comes in! What you have here is a series of films, collection of some of the best articles from Neil Barrow’s those original 8 issues. coverage of Curse of the Werewolf and so,so much more. We could easily have doubled the page count! If the Fearbook sells well, who knows we may yet see a Fearbook 2 next year! In it’s 5 year incarnation WBD went from an amateur, shoddily printed zine to a slick, professional looking mag. It was indeed a learning curve, but along the way we assembled a most talented group of writers and artists, many of whom still contribute to the 21st century WBD. If you look at issue 1 almost the entire issue was written by myself, but that soon changed from WBD 2 onwards as our popularity grew. The production of the zine was very old school, remember these were the days before internet and email! I would have to type up ALL the articles which were mailed to me, do all the page layout by hand literally using scissors and glue! I remember my delight when I finally managed to get an electronic typewriter to put together issue 7! How the world has changed! So, why did I start WBD in the first place. The honest answer to that is nostalgia. Like many readers I grew up in the 70s. I’d be hard pushed to pinpoint my first monster memory but it was one of three things - discovering Denis Gifford’s wonderful Pictorial History of Horror Movies book; accidentally stumbling across the first issue of Monster Mag in the comic book rack of our local newsagents and persuading my mum We Belong Dead Fearbook Page 3 to buy it for me; and seeing the box for when the ressurection of WBD was still (Wickerman, DHRFTG, Chaney’s the Aurora Glow in the Dark model just a pipedream); to Steve Kirkham Phantom)! I attempted some humour kit of Phantom of the Opera. These who, as always has done a fantastic job with a look at Jess Franco’s El Conde three things all intermingle now with of design and layout (a million miles Dracula (a real missed opportunity - the passage of time. The newsagents away from my amateurish scissor and the film and my humour!). But I think and Gussies model shop are long gone paste efforts of years gone by!); to my favourite article was my in-depth of course, but the memories remain. David Brooks our hugely talented artist look at what Hammer films were I wanted to recapture that sense of who supplied so much brilliant artwork available on VHS (yes there was a time wonder and excitement I felt every for those early issues (and indeed still before dvd and blu ray!). Saturday when I took the train to does - he is responsible for all but two the local town and discovered new covers and for the amazing cover of WBD 2 delights such as the Alan Frank books this Fearboook); and to my wonderful Bride of Frankenstein cover by Gary or Marvel’s Monsters of the Movies, or wife Oxana, it’s no overstatement Fellows. The Penalty. The Vampire my all time favourite World of Horror to say that this Fearbook would not Lovers by Gary Sherratt. The Good magazine. have been possible without her. She Old Days. Bride of Frankenstein. By the 90s these wonders were had to sit and type up every one of Vampire Circus by Peter Benassi. Freaks. long gone, replaced by endless mags these articles, no mean feat when you Reviews. Ingrid Pitt. Mask of Satan and books dedicated to gore and are not that interested in the subject by Steve Langton. Poe on the Cheap. slasher films. Of course that was simply and it’s not your first language! But Voices of the Dead. a reflection of the genre itself. But I she did the most fantastic job and Brux took a break from cover longed for a mag covering the classic without her constant love and support duties this time round, to be replaced age of horror and since no one was this Fearbook would not have been by Gary Fellows and his stunning producing one I decided to give it a go possible. So clutch your crucifix and portrait of Karloff from Bride. This myself. A word here about ‘the classic wolfbane and enter if you dare! Enjoy! issue saw our first letters page, age of horror’. I made a completely unimaginatively titled ‘Voices of the arbitry decision that WBD would cover Eric Dead’. I am a big fan of letters pages films from the silents to the 70s. It was and they are often the first thing I turn a purely personal definition and one WBD 1 to in mags. I am trying to keep the that I stick to with todays WBD. But it Cover of Christopher Lee as Dracula. letters page going in the new WBD, is not set in stone and I would be the Paul Benton looks at Atmospheric but who writes letters anymore in first to admit there have been many Horror. Analysis of Dawn of the Dead the age of the internet? I thoroughly wonderful horror films made since the by Jocelyn Munkelt. Dracula Has Risen enjoyed writing The Good Old Days end of the 70s, some of them deserving from the Grave. Story of a Collector. for this issue and I think the article is of the term ‘classic’ themselves. The Wickerman. Video View. Quiz. as relevant today as it was then. We had a pretty good 5 year Phantom of the Opera. Bram Stoker’s run of the original We Belong Dead, Count Dracula. Hammer on Video. WBD 3 even if our publishing schedule was a A great Brux cover for our first Grimsdyke cover by Brux. Short Sharp little erratic! But then things like life, issue. Apart from 2 articles, I wrote the Shocks. Late Night Horror. Hammer’s losing ones job and a painful break entire issue! Basically I just covered Cornish Chillers by Eric McNaughton. up did intervene from time to time some of my all time favourite horrors Silent Screams: The Golem. Why to disrupt things! But we weathered Peter Cushing? By Simon Flynn. the storm and are still here! And I am Making of Vampyre and Fangs by Bruce delighted to bring you this collection Hallenbeck. Picture of Dorian Gray by of some of the best from those 5 years. Steve Langton. Reviews. Voices of the Below you will find the full contents Dead. Vampyres. Captain Clegg by Keith of those early issues and I hope you Dudley. Horror Film Books. I Was an enjoy the delights we have assembled Underage Horror Fan by Peter Benassi. here for you. I have kept the articles Atmospheric Horror of Val Lewton. as they were for the most part, Films of Terence Fisher by Steven even if they are not that relevant West. Witchfinder General by Jocelyn to today (the taping films off TV Munkelt. onto video springs to mind) or the Now here’s a real oddity. WBD writer is talking about someone in was printed in 2 versions - an A4 with the present who subsequently died a black, green and white cover, and an (ie Ingrid Pitt, Paul Naschy) but A5 size with black on red cover.