In the 1950’s, there began a renewed interest in horror entertainment. The Universal Studios monster classics (beginning with 1931’s Dracula and Frankenstein) came back from the dead (bad joke, right?) Local and regional TV stations began hosting “Creature Feature” or “Chiller Theater” type movie shows on Friday or Saturday nights- usually beginning at midnight, and often presented by a local character in a campy themed costume. In addition to the aforementioned Universal classics of the 30s and 40s, were lower budget “B” sci-fi movies featuring giant bugs, experiments gone wrong, or alien invaders of some sort or other. Among these were many of the Hammer Horror films from the late 50s.
By the 60s, monsters were even bigger than ever. The Adams Family and The Munsters were big hits on TV. Warren magazines published horror comics Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella to add to their already popular Famous Monsters of Filmland. These often sported illustrated cover art by one of the most celebrated fantasy illustrators of all time – Frank Frazetta. And Aurora Plastic Corporation had begun transitioning their scale figure kit focus to monsters as well. The rights to the Universal Studios vault gave them an entry into the horror movie craze that had been ramping up, and 1961’s Frankenstein set the tone for the next 20 years (even after Aurora had sold off its molds and rights to its rival kit company Monogram.)
The monster line-up eventually included Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy, The Creature, Wolfman, The Phantom of the Opera, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Witch, The Forgotten Prisoner, The Hunchback, King Kong, and Godzilla. The Bride of Frankenstein, along with several kits in the “Torture Chamber” series (believe me, parents LOVED that theme!) didn’t stay in production very long, but most of the others were repurposed into horror/ racing car mashups (Frankenstein’s Flivver, et. al.) They also had multiple re-releases, with changes like glow in the dark “Frightening Lightning” or neon “Luminator” versions. Over the years, those same kits have been re-packaged under new brand names many times. Some used Aurora molds, but others had to be re-tooled, as the originals had become worn out, damaged, or lost over time.
This brings us to today. A walk through your local hobby store likely has many of those re-released and re-branded monster characters. Additionally, there have been a bunch of kits that were obviously inspired and heavily influenced by Aurora. Companies like Moebius, Monarch, X-Plus and Atlantis are making styrene plastic model kits of subjects that look and feel A LOT like Aurora originals, right down to the stylized company logos on the box covers. At retail prices up to $50 (sometimes considerably more,) they may seem a little scary when compared to the $2.00 I remember paying for ones in the early 1970s. It’s a good thing we monster kids can scrape together a little more allowance these days.
-Toph
