AIP's Monster Maker

 

I have known who Paul Blaisdell was for years, but aside from his movie work, didn't know anything else about the man.  My appreciation for his work and him in general has now risen a lot.  He was a phenomenal artist and a pretty good actor.  He did so much with the meager budget he was given; in a fair world he would be as well known as Jack Pierce or Stan Winston.  He sure made memorable monsters, no one can deny that!

This book was written in 1997, long before a lot of AIP's movies were even released on VHS, let alone DVD, so that's interesting to think about.  Palmer goes into the plots a lot more than is needed now, since we can watch most of the movies any time we want to in this far future of 2021.

There is a lot of great behind the scenes information, and it's well illustrated.   I'd be interested in an updated version.  The story about the She-Creature being in The Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow is fun to read.  Too bad he didn't talk to Sanita Pelkey, though.