In the second part of our look back at the Piccolo Explorer Book of Mysteries, we discover what this 1980s children's book series had to say about sea mysteries, fabulous beasts, ghosts, and even devils and demons!
Showing posts with label monsters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label monsters. Show all posts
Sunday, 26 April 2026
HYPNOGORIA 306 - Piccolo Explorer Book of Mysteries Part II
Sunday, 23 February 2025
HYPNOGORIA 279 - The Return of the Wolf Man
We take a look at the latest incarnation of the Universal werewolf in Wolf Man (2025) written and directed by Leigh Whannell!
Previous chapters in this series can be found here - The Wolf at the Door: a Werewolf History
Sunday, 28 April 2024
HYPNOGORIA 258 - Kaiju History I - Ancient Origins
A new monster-sized podcast series begins! We explore the origins of the kaiju movie, and in this first chapter delve into ancient Japanese legends and folklore and discover the forebears of our modern cinematic titans - the yokai!
Find all the podcasts in the HYPNOGORIA family here plus more articles on the weird and wonderful here -
Sunday, 31 March 2024
HYPNOGORIA 256 - The History of Universal Horror Part XXXIII
In this penultimate chapter of the history of Universal horror we look at two late monsters movies from 1957, the forgotten dinosaur adventure The Land Unknown and the unique alien menace of The Monolith Monsters. We also learn how Universal dealt with new rivals from across the pond, Hammer Films!
Find all the podcasts in the HYPNOGORIA family here plus more articles on the weird and wonderful here-
Sunday, 18 February 2024
HYPNOGORIA 253 - The History of Universal Horror Part XXXII
In this chapter we discover the cavalcade of monsters and mutants unleashed by Universal in the mid 1950s! Jack Arnold brings back the Gill-man in in Revenge of the Creature, and brings Richard Matheson's The Incredible Shrinking Man to the screen. Plus we have the rampages of The Deadly Mantis and the menace of The Mole People!
Find all the podcasts in the HYPNOGORIA family here plus more articles on the weird and wonderful here-
Sunday, 21 January 2024
HYPNOGORIA 251 - The History of Universal Horror Part XXX
In this new chapter of horror history we look at Boris Karloff's last role in a Universal horror, and see the birth of a new famous monster the Gill Man in The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
Find all the podcasts in the HYPNOGORIA family here plus more articles on the weird and wonderful here -
Sunday, 11 June 2023
HYPNOGORIA 244 - The History of Universal Horror Part XXVII
In this chapter of Universal horror history we learn how the famous monsters returned to the silver screen, when Dracula, the Wolfman and Frankenstein Monster met Abbott and Costello, an unlikely resurrection in more ways than one!
Find all the podcasts in the HYPNOGORIA family here plus more articles on the weird and wonderful here-
Monday, 18 April 2022
COMMENTARY CLUB - Easter Special 2022 - Gamera Vs Jiger
Thanks to a random search involving the word "egg", we've ended up with a kaiju movie from 1970 - giant radioactive turtle Gamera takes on grumpy devil dinosaur Jiger!
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If you enjoyed the show, we have a little campaign to raise money for Alzheimer's Disease research! Any donations gratefully received!
COMMENTARY CLUB JUST GIVING PAGE
COMMENTARY CLUB on iTUNES
COMMENTARY CLUB on STITCHER
COMMENTARY CLUB on GOOGLE PLAY PODCASTS
If you enjoyed the show, we have a little campaign to raise money for Alzheimer's Disease research! Any donations gratefully received!
COMMENTARY CLUB JUST GIVING PAGE
Sunday, 14 November 2021
HYPNOGORIA 194 - The History of Universal Horror Part XV
1942 continues to be a bumper year for Universal, with Kharis rising from the grave once more in the shape of Lon Chaney Jnr. in The Mummy's Tomb, delivering old dark house thrills in Night Monster with Bela Lugosi, and pitting two titans of terror against one another in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man! Plus the great detective Sherlock Holmes, as played by Basil Rathbone, begins a long running series of film adventures at Universal!
HYPNOGORIA HOME DOMAIN - Full archive, RSS feed and other useful links
Sunday, 7 November 2021
HYPNOGORIA 193 - The History of Universal Horror Part XIV
In this chapter we see Universal riding high on the success of The Wolf Man, and launching a record-breaking number of horror movies in 1942, including a new addition to the Frankenstein saga with their newly crowned king of horror, Lon Chaney Jnr. donning the famous square skull and neck bolts!
Find all the podcasts in the HYPNOGORIA family here -
HYPNOGORIA HOME DOMAIN - Full archive, RSS feed and other useful links
HYPNOGORIA HOME DOMAIN - Full archive, RSS feed and other useful links
Sunday, 15 August 2021
HYPNOGORIA 187 - The History of Universal Horror Part XII
In this chapter we look at a landmark year for Universal horror - 1941 - the year that brought us the first appearances of Lon Chaney Jnr. , Evelyn Ankers and the men the monsters feared... Abbott & Costello! In this show, we discuss Man-Made Monster, Horror Island, The Black Cat with Basil Rathbone and Bela Lugosi, and Hold That Ghost!
Find all the podcasts in the HYPNOGORIA family here -
HYPNOGORIA HOME DOMAIN - Full archive, RSS feed and other useful links
Wednesday, 31 July 2019
THE 'ORRIBLE 'OUSE OF TERRIBLE OLD TAT - The Rise and fall of the Fiendish Feet Part II
Welcome back dear fiends to another rummage in the 'Orrible 'Ouse of Terrible Old Tat! Last time we recounted the glorious ascent of the Fiendish Feet, an early '90s spooky snack that rose to dominate the world! Well, the chiller cabinets of your local Asda anyhow... However all empires fall, and despite being seemingly unstoppable, time was running out for the Fiendish Feet...
For three glorious years, the Feets marched on, an unstoppable force of horror and bad puns. But of course things were to come to an abrupt end in 1992. And what finished the Foots wasn't the rise of some rival product, but an enemy within. Freaky faces and painful punning names aside, the real draw of the Fiendish Feet were, well, their feet! People liked this funny yogurt pots that totter on two little legs, and so what did St. Ivel do in the black year of AD 1992? That's right, they ditched the charming pot with legs design. Yes, St. Ivel had became St. Evil, and committed the cardinal sin of changing a successful format.
In November 1991, they had launched yet another spin-off range, this time jumping on the then very fashionable fromage frais bandwagon. Basically dairy firms had realised they could sell less yogurt, in smaller pots, and for the pretty much the same price, and therefore maximise profits from the gullible public who didn't realise that it was just a thicker yogurt and not the proper cheese derived French dish at all. And so, we got Fiendish Feet Fromage Frais - little mini-pots, weighing in at only 50g, and sold in packs of three not four. This diminutive trio consisted of Tiddly Wink (raspberry), Masked Menace (apricot*), and Sneaky Beaky (strawberry). Now thanks to their smaller size, these pots didn;t have the well loved, and indeed well moulded, pair of legs and feet. Instead the lower half of the pots were contoured to give the impression of two legs. And frankly it just wasn't the same.
However St. Evil, I mean, St. Ivel thought differently. Perhaps the pots were cheaper to make this way. Anyhow they pushed ahead with this new format in 1992, and introduced the pretend leg contoured pots to the main range. However some one had an inkling that this change wasn't going to play well with the Feet Faithful, and hence the final two rangers were rebranded as Fiendish Faces. Firstly we has the "Real Fruit Yoghurt" range - which saw the original foursome reborn. And then later there was a range of Fiendish Faces Freezable Mousses in August 1992. But this was to be the final end for the Fiendish Feet.
For not only had their raison d'etre, their legs and foots, gone, but this final range couldn't be bothered to do a range of flavours. Yes, we had four new characters - Snow Joke, Freddy Frostbite, Drip Dastardly and Eski Moan - but the trouble was they were all strawberry flavour. And hence unsurprisingly the range came to an end. After all, what is the big deal about being able to freeze a mousse anyway? It might be handy for parents doing the once a month big shop, but hardly a selling point for their spawn.
But that wasn't quite the end, the Fiendish Faces once again reappeared in the late 1990s. However this return was to be short -lived, as they returned in their smaller fake leg contour pots, again losing their own fiendish USP. Likewise these made a similar error in pitching to grown-up rather than kids. These were "bio pots" - now that might be a big magic buzz word for the kind of people who wanted "and this was made with fruits that agreed to be the dessert in the first place" assurances all over the packaging, not cartoon monsters and bad joke names. They are generally of the opinion food just have lots of sciency sounding words on it, and picture something natural like a picture of a twig on it. Meanwhile the only things bio that might excite the average kid are bionics and biological warfare. And with that double fail the revived Fiendish Faces vanished rather quickly.
However if they'd brought back the pots with proper legs and feet... Well, that could be a different story....
For the full history of Fiendish Feet, do visit http://www.radiofeeds.co.uk/fiendish/ which has pictures of all the characters and lots of the merchandise! You'll believe a bumbag can have fiendish feet!However if they'd brought back the pots with proper legs and feet... Well, that could be a different story....
Wednesday, 24 July 2019
THE 'ORRIBLE 'OUSE OF TERRIBLE OLD TAT - The Rise and Fall of the Fiendish Feet Part I
Welcome back dear fiends to the 'Orrible 'Ouse of Terrible Old Tat! Now then when scholars of the scary gather together and talk of horror themed tat aimed at kids, generally the 1970s and early 1980s steal the limelight. Conversations revolve around spooky snacks such as Horror Bags crisps, Mummies sweets, and Haunted House lollies. However in 1989, several strange creatures waddled into our fridges and would haunt chiller cabinets throughout the '90s - the dreaded Fiendish Feet!
No one really knows where these bizarre creations came from - were they the result of some cheap charlie fuelled meltdown in a marketing office kitchen? Did some bright spark reckon they could create the dairy equivalent of the popular and long-running snack Monster Munch? Or were they merely the product of some boffin announcing that plastic moulding had advanced to a point where you could make yogurt pots with feet? Who knows! Perhaps it's a mystery best left unsolved. However what we can confirm was that the Fiendish Feet range were made by leading purveyor of dairy and dessert products St. Ivel.
As we have mentioned in other explorations of assorted novelty themed snacks, in the '90s there was a distinct shift in the casual eating market. While in previous decades assorted sweets, snacks and munchies had been designed to appeal to kids, in the late '80s some one, probably a hideous yuppie, had the revelation that the pocket money market wasn't where the big bucks were. After all, kids had very little money - they were paupers and povs when you thought about it! They'd didn't even have a filofax, nevermind a ten grand performance bonus burning a hole in their pockets! And so increasingly the snack market set its sights on the grown-ups, and one resulting boom area was posh ice creams for grown ups, and supposedly healthier snacks in the shape of assorted low fat yogurts and mousses.
So then in this context, it is all the more bizarre that in November 1989 a quartet of weird beings appeared in stores. Sold in multi-packs of four, the Fiendish Feet had arrived. The original four flavours were Spooky Wooky (banana flavour), Fangs a Lot (strawberry flavour), Frank 'n' Stein (raspberry flavour), and Rattle 'n' Roll (chocolate flavour). Weighing in at 125g per pot, they were a decent sized yogurt, no health food thimble servings here, and despite being low-fat, they sported some classic tasty flavours.
Despite their somewhat bizarre concept and appearance, Fiendish Feet quickly became a huge hit. And more bizarre two legged horrors were soon scuttling into fridges across the land. Firstly poor old Fangs Alot would often be given some time off, and have some seasonal substitutes taking his place in the multipacks - a snowman themed beastie called Ivor Cold Toe (strawberry) at Christmas, and the self explanatory Hot Cross Bunny (also strawberry) taking over his spot at Easter.
A second range soon followed too. Called "Dairy Desserts" this was a second multipack featuring new characters - Howling Wilf (banana), Horrible Herman (strawberry), and Pharaoh Nuff (chocolate flavour). Meanwhile Dooya Finkisaurus brought us a new flavour - toffee apple. Oddly Pharoah Nuff was later replaced by a character called Slurpy Burpy, and no one is sure why. Possibly because they'd misspelled "pharaoh" and feared the ire of the nation's teachers. That's not a fact, but I'm going with it...
In July 1990, a third wave of Fiendish Feet saw St. Ivel changing tack slightly, for this new additional quartet were sold separately, rather than in multipacks of four. This range was dubbed "Monster Mousse" - perhaps the clearest clue we'll ever get that the origin of the Feet was indeed a dairy copy of Monster Munch crisps. Anyhow, this range brought us Tongue Twister on old favourite strawberry flavour, and a return of Pharaoh Nuff, back on toffee duties. But the remaining two of the Monster Mousse quartet were offering brand new flavours - Snortilla the Grunt gave us black currant and Melting Marvin delivered orange.
The following year St. Ivel shook the range up again - this time literally! This new foursome of Fiendish Feet were the Tremblers, which were descripted as "yogurt jelly with sauce". Basically the yogurt came with a fruity syrup sat on the top and the idea was that you gave the pots a good shake to mix the two together before opening. Why they weren't called something more fitting like "Spooky Shakers" I'll never know, but then again I don't like cocaine enough, or indeed at all, to work in a 1990s marketing agency. Anyhow, the Tremblers were - Trembling Trev (strawberry), Flossie Flame (banana and toffee), Moaning Mummy (orange), and Mesma Eyes (redcurrant and raspberry).
There was no doubt about it, the Feets were a smash hit and kicking all competition to the kerb. And like many novelty snacks of yesteryear, there were various offers to get assorted Fiendish Feet tat in the usual collect tokens from the packets deals. There were mugs, fridge magnets, bumbags, and storybooks. And at one point, probably drunk on the success of the Feets, some bright spark tried to expand the range into savoury spreads with the creation of Cheesey Wheesey. Sadly the cheese-based variety didn't catch on, leaving poor old Cheesy Wheesey as the only one of his kind.
There was seemingly no stopping the march of the pint-sized fiends. However it was not to last! In the shadows, an enemy lurked, a fearsome foe that would bring down the empire of the Feets...
So then in this context, it is all the more bizarre that in November 1989 a quartet of weird beings appeared in stores. Sold in multi-packs of four, the Fiendish Feet had arrived. The original four flavours were Spooky Wooky (banana flavour), Fangs a Lot (strawberry flavour), Frank 'n' Stein (raspberry flavour), and Rattle 'n' Roll (chocolate flavour). Weighing in at 125g per pot, they were a decent sized yogurt, no health food thimble servings here, and despite being low-fat, they sported some classic tasty flavours.
Despite their somewhat bizarre concept and appearance, Fiendish Feet quickly became a huge hit. And more bizarre two legged horrors were soon scuttling into fridges across the land. Firstly poor old Fangs Alot would often be given some time off, and have some seasonal substitutes taking his place in the multipacks - a snowman themed beastie called Ivor Cold Toe (strawberry) at Christmas, and the self explanatory Hot Cross Bunny (also strawberry) taking over his spot at Easter.
A second range soon followed too. Called "Dairy Desserts" this was a second multipack featuring new characters - Howling Wilf (banana), Horrible Herman (strawberry), and Pharaoh Nuff (chocolate flavour). Meanwhile Dooya Finkisaurus brought us a new flavour - toffee apple. Oddly Pharoah Nuff was later replaced by a character called Slurpy Burpy, and no one is sure why. Possibly because they'd misspelled "pharaoh" and feared the ire of the nation's teachers. That's not a fact, but I'm going with it...
In July 1990, a third wave of Fiendish Feet saw St. Ivel changing tack slightly, for this new additional quartet were sold separately, rather than in multipacks of four. This range was dubbed "Monster Mousse" - perhaps the clearest clue we'll ever get that the origin of the Feet was indeed a dairy copy of Monster Munch crisps. Anyhow, this range brought us Tongue Twister on old favourite strawberry flavour, and a return of Pharaoh Nuff, back on toffee duties. But the remaining two of the Monster Mousse quartet were offering brand new flavours - Snortilla the Grunt gave us black currant and Melting Marvin delivered orange.
There was no doubt about it, the Feets were a smash hit and kicking all competition to the kerb. And like many novelty snacks of yesteryear, there were various offers to get assorted Fiendish Feet tat in the usual collect tokens from the packets deals. There were mugs, fridge magnets, bumbags, and storybooks. And at one point, probably drunk on the success of the Feets, some bright spark tried to expand the range into savoury spreads with the creation of Cheesey Wheesey. Sadly the cheese-based variety didn't catch on, leaving poor old Cheesy Wheesey as the only one of his kind.
There was seemingly no stopping the march of the pint-sized fiends. However it was not to last! In the shadows, an enemy lurked, a fearsome foe that would bring down the empire of the Feets...
NEXT TIME - Discover who killed the Fiendish Feet!
* where baby chimps sleep.
Thursday, 14 March 2019
COMMENTARY CLUB 007 - The Mummy
This time round we are off to Egypt to discover what happened at the end of the 1990s when Universal resurrected one of their old classic monsters! Yes, Imhotep walks again with a little help from Stephen Sommers, and considerably more from the CGI boffins at ILM...
DIRECT DOWNLOAD - Commentary Club 007 - The Mummy
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If you enjoyed the show, we have a little campaign to raise money for Alzheimer's Disease research! Any donations gratefully received!
COMMENTARY CLUB JUST GIVING PAGE
Sunday, 17 June 2018
HYPNOGORIA 94 - Spawn of the Gill-man Part III
DIRECT DOWNLOAD - HYPNOGORIA 94 - Spawn of the Gill-man Part III
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Sunday, 20 May 2018
MICROGORIA 54 - The Hamlyn Book of Monsters
DIRECT DOWNLOAD - MICROGORIA 54 - The Hamlyn Book of Monsters
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Sunday, 18 February 2018
HYPNOGORIA 85 - The Shapes in the Water
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Saturday, 10 June 2017
HYPNOGORIA 59 - Are Mummies Zombies?
In this episode, Mr Jim Moon tackles one of the most troubling questions of our times, a question that has perplexed the minds of man for... ohh.. ages now! Yes, in this episode we attempt to settle once and for all the age-old question of are mummies zombies?
DIRECT DOWNLOAD - HYPNOGORIA 59 - Are Mummies Zombies?
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Thursday, 6 October 2016
FOLKLORE FLASHBACK #9 Strange Denizens of the Dark
In this selection from previous Folklore on Friday articles, we are once more rounding up assorted strange creatures and denizens of the dark. We encounter a highly bizarre hominid, the Man-Monkey that haunts the Union Canal, trace the history of the Cauld Lad of Hylton, and finally plunge into the weedy depths to unravel the truth about Jenny Greenteeth...
THE MAN-MONKEY
http://hypnogoria.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/folklore-on-friday-monkey-business-on.html
THE CAULD LAD OF HYLTON
http://hypnogoria.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/folklore-on-friday-cauld-lad-of-hylton.html
JENNY GREENTEETH
http://hypnogoria.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/the-truth-about-jenny-greenteeth.html
This is also available in podcast form here -
http://hypnogoria.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/microgoria-10-truth-about-jenny.html
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