I just signed a contract for my article on Rankin/Bass' Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town for issue #36 of RetroFan Magazine, due out December 2024. I am writing my Frosty the Snowman article right now for issue #30 of RetroFan magazine due out December 2023! Look for a big online article I did concerning Rankin/Bass' Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer this Monday online from ReMind magazine! I am sure it will get a gazillion shares!
Just to clearify, the NEW Rankin/Bass' Mad Monster Party Umbrella blu ray release out June 2nd, is a far superior release to the Lionsgate issue from several years back. We made several upgrades to the film print and you can now watch In it's original aspect ratio (We even added back Fracesca's YEAH! at the end of the movie). It does include all of the extras from the Lionsgate release, plus more...including a Tad Mochinaga animated appearance of IT (King Kong) on a TV show (Easter egg). The Deluxe version with posters, comic book, pins, etc. Sold out a few weeks ago. It is an Australian release, but it is all region, so can be watched on any blu ray player. I think this will be the new gold standard for Rankin/Bass blu ray releases going forward. - Rick Goldschmidt
Here is the info from Amazon: Filmed in the revolutionary stop-motion process, "Animagic", this beloved cult classic is presented in an all-new colour-corrected master from the original 35mm vault materials. Full of goofball gags and all kinds of horror movie puns. Mad Monster Party is as silly as it wants to be, and as silly as it should be, and going along with it makes me want to be silly, too.- DVD TALK From the studios of Rankin/Bass (creators of the timeless kid's classics Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman) comes this frighteningly funny Holiday monster bash! After discovering an anti-matter formula for total world annihilation, Baron Von Frankenstein (voiced by legendary horror icon Boris Karloff) decides it's time to retire from the monster-making business. But first he must invite all the card-carrying members of THE WORLDWIDE ORGANIZATION OF MONSTERS to the Isle of Evil - and inform this group of ghouls who will inherit his horrific legacy. When he announces that his human nephew, the mild-mannered soda jerk Felix, will be his successor, the monsters are mortified - and bumbling goofball Felix soon discovers that the entire guest list - including Count Dracula, the Wolf Man, the Mummy, the Invisible Man, Dr Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, the Monster's Mate (voiced by outlandish comedy queen Phyllis Diller) and more - are all out to eliminate him!By the end of the party, who will be the last monster standing? Written and designed by two of MAD Magazine's iconic 'gang of idiots', editor Harvey Kurtzman and legendary artist Jack Davis - and boasting infectious pop tunes courtesy of a Beatle-mop quartet of skeletons, Little Tibia and the Fibias - MAD MONSTER PARTY is guaranteed to "make everybody chuckle, the tots and their escorts, and even the monsters at heart" - THE NEW YORK TIMES Extras: NEW! 2023 colour-corrected master in correct aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and also alternate full frame 1.33:1. NEW! Audio Commentary by Rick Goldschmidt (historian/biographer for Rankin/Bass Studios) NEW! Introduction by Rick Goldschmidt. NEW! Easter Egg NEW! RANKIN/BASS Trailer Collection MAKING OF A CULT CLASSIC featurette IT'S SHEER ANIMAGIC! Featurette GROOVY GHOULS! THE MUSIC OF MAD MONSTER PARTY featurette UNEARTHING A CLASSIC featurette 2 Sing-Alongs Stills and Poster Gallery Original Theatrical Trailer
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