Famous Monsters of Filmland got its start in the late ’50s and it was an important source of genre film coverage at a time when information on sci fi, fantasy, and horror movies was sparse.
What Is It?
Famous Monsters of Filmland was a magazine produced by James Warren and Forrest J. Ackerman (aka Forry Ackerman) that first appeared in 1958 and had a primary focus on monsters and horror movies. It delivered articles, pictures, artwork, extended summaries, and more covering horror and sci fi films (mostly the former) from the silent era to contemporary releases (with an emphasis on retrospectives). And all of this was presented in glorious black and white! (Except the covers.) It also had a large section in the back selling merchandise by mail order related to these films, offering one of the few places at that time where fans could buy genre collectibles. (There was no Amazon.com or Ebay back then!) The magazine proved very popular through its first decade of existence and would continue to publish new issues, though with a fair amount of reprinted material in the late ’60s and into the ’70s. It would see a resurgence in the mid-to-late 70s as the blockbuster era took hold of the theaters, but that would not last too long, and the final issue of the original run was published in March 1983.
Created By: James Warren, Forrest J. Ackerman
First Published: February 1958
Final Issue: #191, March 1983
Legacy:
Famous Monsters of Filmland was one of the first (if not the first) magazines to focus on genre films (later including television shows), and it set many precedents for the sci fi and fantasy magazines that would follow.
A Closer Look:
It may be hard for many people today to understand, but there was a time when there was no internet, and during those days of old many would turn to magazines and newspapers to get information. And when it comes to sci fi and fantasy movies, there was a particular dearth of information available well into the 1970s. Famous Monsters of Filmland filled that gap to an extent, though it focused mostly on horror, and many of its articles were looking at older movies and television shows (especially in the early-to-mid-1970s when it padded out its issues with reprints.) But during an era when there were just a handful of television stations, and not many theaters playing older movies (nor any home video options), an issue of Famous Monsters delivered a treasure chest of information to genre fans.
It had extensive articles about movies and television shows (more so for the former) with plenty of pictures and often extended summaries. (And spoilers were on full display with no warnings! Shudder at the thought, spoiler-phobes!) There were many genre entries covered in its pages that you had little hope of seeing on television or in the theaters at that time, and you accepted the Famous Monsters coverage as possibly the only record you would ever have of the film or show. And while the writing was directed at the adolescent level with plenty of silly puns, you accepted that because of the amount of movies and TV shows it touched on and because there were few other options on the magazine stands.
Famous Monsters had its own charm, and most of that came from Forrest J. Ackerman’s gleeful approach to the material. Ackerman was a true fan of science fiction, fantasy, and horror and that comes through in his editorial direction of the magazine. To an extent, this was like a professional fanzine, with a fair amount of gushing over the movies and shows in the content. But that was okay because it just proved that this was a labor of love for the writers (particularly Ackerman). And while many of the films did not quite live up to their coverage in the magazine when we eventually got to see them, it was sure fun reading about them.
In the mid-70s, as blockbusters like Jaws, Star Wars, Alien, and more started drawing large numbers of people to the theaters, Famous Monsters began to give more coverage to the newer offerings and also started to pay more attention to television shows. But as higher quality magazines like Starlog, Fangoria, Cinefantastique, and more began to crowd into the stands with their glossy, full color pages, Famous Monsters got passed over as a quaint relic from the past. It ended its initial run rather quietly with its 191st issue in 1983, but it is still well-remembered by those of us who read it while it was on the stands and recognized as an important early genre publication.
The Story Continues:
One year after Famous Monsters ceased publication, Monster Land hit the stands to fill the gap and Forry Ackerman was briefly involved with that. He left the magazine, though, and it only produced a total of seventeen issues. In 1993, portrait photographer and monster movie fan Ray Ferry revived Famous Monsters of Filmland when he found that the trademark for the magazine had not been maintained. Ferry lured Ackerman back, though he did not stay long and eventually filed a lawsuit against the new publisher for libel, breach of contract, and misrepresentation. Private equity investor Philip Kim took over the logo and title in 2007, and the magazine would get back on a regular schedule for about a decade. But in 2017 it was announced that it would reduce its publication frequency to once a year. The magazine appeared to be starting over at #1 with an issue that was dated Dec 2023, but from what I can tell, that never came out (the website still shows it as a pre-order). The Famous Monsters website is active, though, and it is posting articles, so perhaps the print mag will return at some point.
Should It Be Rebooted?
For all practical purposes, Famous Monsters has been rebooted several times. But a publication with a different name may have done it the best. Scary Monsters hit the stands in the early ’90s, and that one has had a steady run since it came out. That follows very closely to the look and feel of Forry Ackerman’s magazine, and many would probably consider it the better successor to the original (you can get more info from its website). It does appear that an official reboot of Famous Monsters is on the way if the promised issue #1 does arrive, so we will have to wait and see how that turns out.
Interesting Facts:
Famous Monsters of Filmland started off as a one-shot magazine produced by James Warren and editor Forrest J Ackerman to cover the Shock Theater syndicated package of movies released to television which included 52 Universal horror movies from the 1930s and 1940s like Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, and more. But the magazine proved so successful that a second printing was required and that led to the ongoing publication.
The companion magazine Monster World was released in the late ’60s which followed a very similar format to Famous Monsters. It only lasted ten issues, though, and those were retrofitted as issues #70 to 79 of the main publication in order to speed up the arrival of the 100th issue.
Where Can you Read It?
Sadly, an omnibus edition collecting Famous Monsters of Filmland has never been produced. You can purchase back issues on Ebay and from other sellers of collectibles, but those can get quite pricey. Most of the issues are available at the Internet Archive, so you can peruse those to get an idea of what the magazine was like or to recollect the good old days of reading it.
