Horror Roundtable - Week Sixty-Five
Name the horror-related item which you have spent the most money on.
Oh, that’s easy. I know I mentioned the Supernatural Law impulse buy a while back, but the single most expensive item is my complete series of the black-and-white hardcover Gemstone reprints of Tales From the Crypt, The Vault of Horror and The Haunt of Fear. The black-and-white editions are out of print now, and Gemstone is releasing reprints in full color, but the oversized black-and-white printing just makes Graham Ingels’s inks look so damn good. The set cost me about $300 all told, but it was worth every penny.
Sean T. Collins - Attentiondeficitdisorderly Too Flat
If I had to guess–and I do have to guess because I don’t keep track of these things and don’t really purchase anything more expensive than a DVD box set pretty much ever–I’d say the omnibus hardcover edition of Clive Barker’s Books of Blood. But now that I look I see that that was only $40, maybe $50 with shipping. So maybe the three-disc Dawn of the Dead set? But looking on Amazon that’s got a $50 list price, and there’s no way I paid list for it. Hm. I guess I’ve just never spent a lot of money on horror-related items.
I’m not big on memorabilia anymore (too much crap in my basement) but i remember spending a few hundred bucks on a really good looking “Freddy Glove” about 12 years ago. It was hand-made and had real sharp knives for fingers. It was amazingly dangerous… and, of course, still sits on a child-accessible bookshelf in my place. HAH! No worries, though… no kids live here!
Ooooh, this one’s easy. I’ve always been a huge fan of Chuck Jarman and “Bump in the Night Productions.” They’re a great little outfit that does some amazing mask and prop work (among lots of other stuff). Once they had some replica severed heads on sale that I think were left over from a movie shoot. The damn thing was like 275$, and I had no use for it whatsoever, so of course I picked it up. I did try and use it for a short film, but that never got finished and now it just sits in a box in my attic. It does make for a great story though, and I always get a laugh whenever I’m digging through boxes and I scare the shit out of myself when I find a severed head in one. Now, explaining this to new ladys in my life, that’s not quite as fun.
Dave - Rue Morgue’s The Abbatoir
Aside from the mummified body of Vincent Price, which I use to drive in the carpool lane, I think it’s the original French/ Eyes Without a Face/half-sized poster I picked up at ComicCon this year. The seller marked it down to $125 from $180, and I spent almost $200 more getting it framed. I love it!
(As far as my Price corpse goes, I don’t even wanna tell you what I shelled out for the hermetically-sealed case to keep it in mint condition. Getting it dipped in UV-coating alone almost broke the bank!)
Jeff O’Brien
Probably my first GOOD VCR back in the day so I specifically watch cool horror films like American Werewolf, The Thing, Dawn of the Dead etc.
I have been lucky enough to find most of my horror junk at reasonable enough prices. I’ve probably spent the most on DVDs–box sets, bootlegs, etc. The Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th box sets come to mind immediately.
That’s a boring answer, I know.
OK. If it was possible, I’d totally pay a couple of hundred bucks for a night with Tiffany Shepis.
Ya know, thinking about it all, I would have to say my major horror expenditure over the years has been all the horor mags I’ve purchased. Individually not a lot (unless I’m looking for that one must-have thing to fill out a space in my Famous Monsters or Eerie collections) but overall it adds up into a big amount. I’ve been reading Fangoria since the beginning so yeah… oh my god.
I need to go throw up…excuse me.
And on that shameful note, we conclude this week’s Roundtable. Please show your appreciation by checking out the sites linked to above, and we’ll see you next week.
September 22nd, 2007 at 8:48 am
I just couldn’t think of anything I spent that much on. While I’ve bought some paperbacks at relatively exorbitant prices, in absolute dollars I don’t believe I’ve ever spent enough on any single item to raise anyone’s eyebrows. Sorry!
September 22nd, 2007 at 7:39 pm
It wasn’t one of my favourite questions, but it was a simple one to answer, and considering I sent it out so late I chose simple over good. The most expensive horror item I own is the Blind Dead box set, but that was a gift from J. so I didn’t buy it myself. The most expensive horror item I did buy would probably be two prints by Basil Gogos, one of the Frankenstein Monster and another of his Bride. They’re lovely. You can set them up so they’re looking at one another.
September 25th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
I keep forgetting to send in my answers for the Roundatble, but I’d have to say uncut Japanese import Laser Discs of Suspiria or Bava’s Danger Diabolik were my most expensive buys before the invention of DVDs (but Danger Diabolik isn’t a horror film). I think both discs cost me about $175 bucks a piece.