Voger used his psychic abilities, which rival those of Criswell, to hear my mental cries into the void and get to work on a looooong overdue sequel. Now some eleven years after the debut of Monster Mash, Son of Monster Mash is finally crawling its way out of Twomorrow Publishing's crypt.
This time, Voger expands his bestiary to include chats with stars such as Gloria Stuart of The Invisible Man and Ricou Browning of The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and filmmakers such as Roger Corman and Ray Harryhausen, as well as my favorite horror host, Zacherley (click here to find out why I'm so fond of Zach). The author puts each of Universal's monster series in handy nutshells. There's also more of a focus on Hammer Horror this time, which scratches a definite itch for me since I've been on a huge Hammer kick this Halloween season.
Son of also expands the discussion to the pre-cinema age, to discuss its origins in the lit of Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker, and opens the pages of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine and EC's infamously gruesome horror comics. That includes an interview with William Gaines about the senate subcommittee that murdered his business. Voger is a courageous interviewer who does not shy away from asking uncomfortable questions.
There are also more lavish images of vintage monster toys and Halloween costumes, cartoon stills, and comics panels, because simply staring at a Monster Mash book without having to navigate all those hard-to-pronounce words is one of the supreme pleasures of perusing a Monster Mash book. I was particularly pleased to see a full-page spread on monster-packaged candy cigarettes, a delightfully substance-free product that was a staple of my childhood Halloweens that you definitely won't be seeing in shops this year.
Perhaps best of all is a tantilizing tidbit tucked at the end of Voger's acknowledgements. It already has me champing at the bit to reserve a copy of Bride of Monster Mash!
