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Now in our fifth calendar year
PCR #204. (Vol. 5, No. 8) This edition is for the week of February 16--22, 2004.
Matt's Rail

LA FLORIDIANA
Book Review: "Welcome to Paradise"
 by Will Moriaty
THIS WEEK'S MOVIE REVIEW
"Monster"
 by Mike Smith
ODDSERVATIONS
Music News...Letter Re: Missing Persons
 by Andy Lalino
THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
30 Bands That Made The '80s NOT Suck, PART II
 by Terence Nuzum
CREATURE'S CORNER
The Return of "Horror"....R.I.P., Julius Schwartz
 by John Lewis
BLACK DOG
Hate Groups in America
 by Joshua Montgomery
SPLASH PAGE
Super Commercial Sunday – Follow up....More on Why EW is Full of Idiots....A Night Out with Uncle Creepy....Slushpile
 by Brandon Jones
MATT'S RAIL
Masters Of Horror Axed....The Monster Classics Are Back!
 by Matt Drinnenberg
MIKE'S RANT
In Defense....Movie News....The Brits Award Show....A Plug....Mel's Movie....Oscar Time....Meet The Beatles, Part 5
 by Mike Smith
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MASTERS OF HORROR AXED
That's right, monster fans. Imagine my incredible suprise the other day when I went to my web site and it wasn't there. Regular readers have probably figured out by now how that came to pass. Quite simply, Ray Ferry, who continues to claim to own Famous Monsters of Filmland [the magazine and trademark] even though he doesn't, more than likely contacted Yahoo and told them he did own it (as he's presumably done in the past), and I was infringing on his copyright and TM. The obvious initial outcome of this treachery, of course, was the pulling of my site.

The really humorous thing about it all is that I transfer to a new server this week, where I'll have no restrictions, and because of it had just downloaded every single page on my web site to disc. Lucky, lucky me. Also, Jim Warren has asked that the covers not be used while he tries to reclaim the FM trademark which he claims should never have been available to RF in the first place, so I would have pulled my covers regardless. JW, as all true FM fans know, is the co-creator of FM along with Forry Ackerman back in the '50s. He is held in the greatest esteem by many, of which I am one, and I have no problem not showing covers for him, even if he doesn't own them yet, because hey....HE'S JIM WARREN!!! Sure, RF will more than likely see the pulling of my site as a victory, which is baseless, ridiculous, and not founded in reality. I've more than shown my desire to express my rights as an American, and legally display cover images on my site, in spite of monts..MONTHS...of threats. Boiled to the base, I honor and treasure the likes of Forrest Ackerman and Jim Warren more than I am filled with dismay for Mr.Ferry. Warren asks us not to show covers, we will honor his request.

Now...does any of this mean I'm not going to contact Yahoo? No. Just because I thwarted his plot doesn't mean truth should be put aside. Will anything come from it? I do know that a representative of Yahoo has contacted the law firm holding the FM trademark, so you'd think this wouldn't happen. The former Masters of Horror home page says it is "currently unavailable", which would seem to mean "not deleted" but they've yet to reply to my numerous emails or phone call. One would hope for justice, but in this day and age where liars advance in spite of truth, in almost every forum, who knows.

My stupid part in all of this is that I allowed it to get to me. Truly bothered at his threats. So much so that I have been seriously contemplating legal action. There are several people who are almost begging me to. But really, what does that do or prove. Nothing. Get all bent out of shape because some guy doesn't want me to show some covers he doesn't own??? I only regret I allowed myself to be a bad representative of my Lord. Not that I'm against holding people accountable, as there are unfortunately a lot of folks who need to be, but for something so ridiculously small? Sure, he's harassing me. In more ways than one. Honestly, it's pathetic, small, and sad.

As far as the site .... it should be back up shortly but not on Yahoo. The new link for MASTERS OF HORROR will be www.mohfans.com

Hope to see you there soon!

THE MONSTER CLASSICS ARE BACK!!!
Sometime last year, Universal pulled all DVDs off the shelves that pertained to their now classic lineup of Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolfman. As a result, some of those now out of print titles started fetching pretty nice sums of money from Ebay purchasers. Being a seller of more than a couple of those titles I stumbled upon, I can personally attest to that.

Since that time, the big question on the lips of genre fans has been "Are they coming back?", and if so..."When?".

The answers are "Yes, they are", and "very, very soon".

On April 27th, Universal will release 2-disc sets of legacy collections involving Drac, Frank, and Wolfie. Released for the first time on DVD will be the long-anticipated House of Dracula, which was the final serious installment of the classic monster series back in the '40s.

Broken down by set, we have:

Dracula: Dracula (1931 spanish version), Dracula's Daughter, and Son of Dracula.

The Frankenstein discs have Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, Son of Frankenstein, Ghost of Frankenstein and House of Frankenstein.

The Wolfman will offer Wolfman, Frankenstein meets the Wolfman, Werewolf of London, and She Wolf of London.

The biggest worry about this release was that Universal would not include the special features available on the individual discs, but it appears that they will. There is also talk that some of the prints may be improvements over the previous DVD editions.

Universal Studios' Monster Legacy Gift SetThese will be offered as individual Legacy sets or as a boxed collection set. The collection set includes busts of Lugosi's Dracula, Karloff's Frankenstein, and Chaney's Wolfman, sculpted by the masters at Sideshow Collectables. I must say...they are rather impressive.

Prices for this awsome set have varied, but I've found them online via preorder for $55.99 for the whole set, plus busts! Not too shabby.

And the really great thing is there are at least 5 of these movies I haven't yet acquired on DVD, so I can more than justify my purchase...even if I will now own 2 of each of several of them. Hey, what can I say. It isn't like you don't know this about me already......

RONDO AWARDS
I'd like to thank all of you who voted in the Rondo Awards. I'm very happy to note that both Jim Warren and Forrest J Ackerman were not only voted MonsterKid's of the year, but inducted into the Rondo Hall of Fame! Congrats to both of these marvelous men. Very well deserved.

Till next time, take care and God bless,
Matthew

"Matt's Rail" is ©2004 by Matthew Drinnenberg. Webpage design and all graphics herein are creations of Nolan B. Canova. All contents of Nolan's Pop Culture Review are ©2004 by Nolan B. Canova.