Dear FM Kids of All Ages,
Welcome to the Movies Unlimited page on Famous Monsters of Filmland! This exciting partnership between FM and MU is a natural, joining the most celebrated brand in film monster fandom with the world’s oldest and most reliable home video mail order company.
During the daylight hours here in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, I enjoy the job of producing/directing/editing our regular video podcasts on MovieFanFare, MU’s new blog for movie collectors. At MovieFanFare we cover all genres in every era, offering publishing space to contributors whose knowledge of and devotion to all things movie-related is unmatched.
As for me, I have nourished an undying affection for famous monsters (and Famous Monsters of Filmland) since I was a child hunkered down in front of the television set catching the Saturday afternoon broadcasts of “Mad Theater,” which showcased the charming talents of local stage magician Joe Zawislak—better known as horror host Dr. Shock—as well as an endlessly mesmerizing cycle of the greatest chiller classics.
My enthusiasm for the eerie manifested itself not only through repeated (and repeated) viewings of horror films, but in the “play” I enjoyed that bore a growing resemblance to a full-time job! Organizing a film production group amongst my friends shortly after 
receiving my first Super-8 film camera at the age of 12, I kept myself busy after school and during summers with an anthology series called The Dark Factor—when I learned how eggshells could make great “creepy old lady” eyeballs; how a Black & Decker rotary hand pump came in handy when blood needed to spew from hacked-off limbs (or torn-up faces!); how aspiring actors were willing to endure great discomforts in the service of scaring friends and family; and how watching these homemade horrors in the dark with a (paying!) crowd that laughed, shrieked, and applauded offered natural highs that only shock-related cinema can provide.
While our primary wheelhouse at Movies Unlimited is all things DVD and Blu-ray (and we have one of the most lavishly praised catalogs in the business to prove it!), you can trust that we’ll leave no (tomb)stone unturned when it comes to matters horror, sci-fi, and fantasy related. We love to see our famous monsters in books, comics, on the live stage, in our toyboxes–pretty much anywhere they prowl. It’s said you can’t “do it all”…but why not try?
Be sure to tune in as we launch MovieFrightFare, our series of video podcasts featuring “Ghouly Irv” Slifkin, who will invite you into his crypt for reviews of, news about, and celebrations of the old and new greats of the gruesome variety. Plus, we’ll have contributors sharing their insights about the uncanny in what we hope will prove to be entertaining articles you’ll want to talk about. Sure, we’ve all heard and said some variation of “we love Boris Karloff” (or Bela Lugosi, if you fall on his side of that fairly routine either-or choice that only manages to frustrate the true fan…who loves ‘em both!) countless times—but every writer/fan always has his (or her) own unique voice, and there are always new stars to rave about, new scripts in the pipeline, new creature features to invade our frightmares.
We’re looking forward to being a part of this fang-tastic fan community, and hope you’ll do us the honor of commenting, offering suggestions and ideas, and making MU your home for popular, rare, and hard-to-find genre classics just as FM is your home for celebrating the best of the movie macabre.
Until next time, when MovieFrightFare makes its first appearance on this page…Ghoul-Bye!
George D. Allen writes for the Movies Unlimited DVD Catalog and produces the Movies Unlimited Movie Buzz podcasts. He aspires to one day perform Shakespeare (again) and get a movie project out of Development You-Know-Where; George is currently shooting the scary short Night of the Moonbats. Email him at georgea@moviesunlimited.com
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