Crestwood House Monsters- Frankenstein

We're nearing the end of our Friday Night Frights exploration of the Crestwood House Monsters books before diving head first into the Zone Base Halloween season. While there's still plenty more books to cover, these last two weeks need to go out with a Friday Night Fright bang! So it's time to pull out the big guns and the heavy hitters to bring the show home. Who better than Frankenstein to do so with?

One of the main Universal Monsters and certainly most relatable, Frankenstein's Monster is an icon of horror. I've loved the big guy ever since getting a Remco doll of him at an extremely impressionable age (I was a freaking toddler). It glowed in the dark and would give you a hug. The hug was a play feature intended as him grabbing a victim, but homeboy just needed a hug. Who doesn't? I got him and my brother got The Mummy. Years later upon moving into a new house, my father acquired a rather large model yacht in which he proudly put on display in the living room. For that yachts lifetime in our home, it bore two passengers. Frankenstein and the Mummy. Who were out for a lovely day at sea.

The book is presented above in it's entirety or can be downloaded from the link under it. Know what, the monster got two more books in the series. I suggest you give them a look too!

Crestwood House Monsters- The Wolfman

Things are getting hairy around the base, and that's because it's Friday Night Frights time! We're coming around the corner of the end of Spooky Summer and into the Halloween season. Mid August is when the pumpkin spiced mayhem goes into effect and with it, Friday Night Frights will go into hiatus until November. So I figured a good wrap up of the Crestwood House Monsters exploration we've been doing would be with the heavy hitters! Not that I'm out of these classic books, just it's time to spice things up a bit, and given that spice will be of the pumpkin variety... I think you get my point. Spooky shit.

The Wolfman is one the more layered stories from the Universal Monsters gang. Larry is convinced he has become a werewolf and is the one responsible for the recent murders in town. Everyone thinks he's loosing his mind while looking for the source of the killings while the guilt is tearing Larry apart. I'd like to point out the cover of the book though, that's not The Wolfman. That's the Werewolf of London which Universal released six years prior to The Wolfman. Frankly, I've always found it's story to be better than Larry's adventure.

Wilfred is a scientist who travels to Tibet in search of a rare plant. While there, he's attacked by a werewolf. Back in London we see that Wilfred's wife is bored of him being locked away in his lab and not paying attention to her. Wilfred is now a werewolf and is murdering locals at night. Afraid of what he might do, he locks himself away in hopes of keeping his wife safe. His wife, all the while getting increasingly more and more fed up with him ignoring her and locked away in the lab. In case the situation wasn't complex enough, an old flame comes calling.

Several of the Universal Monsters tend to make the viewer feel sympathy for them. In the werewolf movies that theme is really driven home. They're sad movies under all that fur and fangs. The book is in it's entirety in the above preview or available to download for free from the link underneath it.

Crestwood House Monsters: Godzilla

Continuing our Friday Night Frights excursion into the legendary Crestwood House Monsters books, I thought Godzilla would be super appropriate as Kaiju Con.Line was last weekend. Admittedly last weekend probably would have been a better time, but I was in a Blob mood. Gnaw meen brah? I was already a fast fan of Godzilla when I stumbled onto this entry into the Crestwood House Monsters books. Between movie showings on cable and various toys at our house, I loved every bit of it.

Information wasn't as readily available as it is now back then, especially when you were in the 3rd grade. That's part of why I loved these books so much. They proved a great resource for my young mind to learn more about those cool movies Grandpa Munster would show on TBS. You can read the entire book above for free or download it to your tablet from the link in the viewer.

Crestwood House Monsters: The Blob

Friday Nights mean Frights here on the base! Continuing on our excursion into the Crestwood House Monsters books, I thought another fitting for the summer season story would be The Blob. Honestly it's because I associate the 80's remake with summer more than anything, but hey... work with me a little here. Between seeing the various commercials on TV one summer, and then the following summer regularly seeing the cardboard standee at the local video store, it's just a summer time movie in my head.

The Blob is the story of a weird slime from space consuming every person in it's way. The blob gets bigger the more people it eats and before you know it, things get really out of hand. Even with the classic movie represented above in it's Crestwood House form, all I can think of is the standee at the video store. I was a horror fan from a very early age, but usually was instructed to pick from the kids section on our visits. While picking out a collection of cartoon episodes of Centurions or Peanuts, I'd eye the boxes of the horror stuff that was literally in the same aisle.

I don't know if the shop staff were being jerks, or it just somehow worked out that way, but I can still see other kids bawling their eyes out at the various cardboard standees of Freddy Kruger and company staring at them. Me, I liked looking over the boxes as much as I could. I still miss the horror section of the video store. Preferably in the VHS era when those boxes had so much character. Ironically I don't know if the remake Blob still exists. The movie is probably in a discount bin at Walmart somewhere. But the blob substance used in the original movie, it never dried out and is still kept in a bucket. Weird.

The preview above shows the full book, but if you want to download it to a tablet or phone, you can do so for free by following it's links.

Crestwood House Monsters- The Mummy

Friday night is the time for frights, aight? Going down our weekly look at the legendary children's book series by Crestwood House as we enter a summer holiday here in the US, I figure The Mummy would be pretty appropriate. It's so hot I'll be walking like old Imhotep by the end of the weekend and smelling like baby powder. Summer is a Spooky Season and nothing is more terrifying than chaffing. Ow.

It looks like the full book is in the preview this time, but if you want to download it to your phone or tablet for free, follow the link in the viewer.

I've always been more partial to Karis than Imhotep as far as the Universal Mummies go. Whenever you think of a traditional Mummy, you're thinking of Karis. Imhotep just left his tomb is the bandages and went about sorcery. I generally like Karis's movies better too. Though there on all the Universal Monsters signage, there's Imhotep. I'd say it's because Imhotep was in the original and Karis was in all the sequels (not counting remakes). But Jason wasn't the killer in the original Friday the 13th either. It's not fair. Karis, I appreciate you man.  Just wanted you to know that dude.

Crestwood House Monsters: The Creature From The Black Lagoon

Hey, it's Friday night and you know what that means? Well, for a little bit, something different. Variety is the spice of life. Gnaw meen brah? I thought we'd spend a few Friday nights going over the much beloved Crestwood House Monsters book series. I was just a kid who loved robots and monsters (and misadventure!). Sometimes when your a kid it's hard to enjoy the things you love. Especially in the 80's and 90's. I sure the decades before had the same problem, but I can only speak from my own viewpoint. Duh.

The weekly trip to the school library often was an outlet for the very things I wanted to enjoy. Random paranormal books were always present, as were comic strip collections. But what was really a winner on those dusty shelves was the Crestwood House Monsters. Little hardback books individually focusing on a classic monster. I loved these and reread them over and over. I'd love to have a set of my own one day, thankfully they're available online. For free even, not late fee's or anything. No foolin' mister.

We're going to start off with a personal favorite of mine, The Creature from the Black Lagoon. My love for the Universal Monsters isn't a secret around here. The ghoulish gang have been around forever and find their way on a ton of stuff. The Gillman was one of the last of the monsters (if you don't count Chucky) and one of the more unique. He never appeared with the others officially (Monster Squad really skirted around legalities) and has always stood out to me. There's a limited preview of the book above and if you feel like reading the entire thing, it's free to do so (just follow the links).