THE CAREER THAT DRIPPED WITH HORROR

HERE IT IS AT LAST…

The Career That Dripped With Horror, the sequel to John Stanley’s “I Was a TV Horror Host” (2007) in which you will be exposed to nearly 800 photographs (many signed by movie and TV stars and in print for the first time) and around 80 monster-horror sketches, many taken from his “Creature Features Movie Guide” books.

You will enter a unique realm of science-fiction, fantasy and horror . . . what Stanley considers his deepest (and sometimes funniest) one-on-one interviews. He enjoyed almost six years as “Creature Features” host in the San Francisco-Bay Area and 33 years as an entertainment writer at the San Francisco Chronicle. This blending of two careers is one unique and awesome mixture of gory joy.

Stanley and his Creature Features predecessor Bob Wilkins

In the opening pages you’ll learn how, beginning in 1998, Wilkins and Stanley (former hosts on Channel 2’s “Creature Features” series, which ran for 14 years) “rose from the dead” and began appearing at special shows that attracted scores of their old fans. Among those responsible were SCOTT MOON, editor of “Planet X Magazine,” and TOM WYRSCH, who published Wilkins and Stanley scrapbooks. A clan was formed that included Mr. Lobo, host of “Cinema Insomnia”; Will “The Thrill” Viharo and wife Monica, known as “The Tiki Goddess,” who presented Wilkins-Stanley shows for years at the Parkway Theater in Oakland; Bob Johnson, who produced horror and sci-fi shows Bob and John attended at the Castro and Balboa Theaters in San Francisco, as well as shows at the San Francisco Giants ballpark; Lord Blood-Rah, aka Frank Wallace-Ailsworth; Miss Misery, famous for “The Last Door” and “Movie Massacre” TV series. And Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, showed up a few times to liven things up in her semi-intellectual style. (What did she have that Bob and John didn’t?)

Stanley with Cassandra Peterson and Bob Wilkins at a Comic Com in 2004

Also Featured in the Book:

STEPHEN KING: An interview early in his career about how he became a best-selling author of horror. And you’ll learn about his killer-car thriller “CHRISTINE,” and what happened the day film producer RICHARD KORBETZ drove the car onto Stanley’s “CREATURE FEATURES” set.

RIDLEY SCOTT is the Briton who directed “ALIEN” and went on to become a major producer-director. You’ll meet this fascinating chap when he stopped over in San Francisco to promote the film’s opening in the summer of 1979 and met Stanley at Dan Faris’ Cinema Shop.

CHRIS CARTER: The creator of “X-FILES,” which ran on TV for more than a decade, explains how his curiosity of the unknown led to a deeply-profound series about UFOs and ETs.

JULIE ADAMS: She reveals how a one-piece bathing suit changed her life forever when she swam into the clutches of THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON. And learn why those beautiful legs of hers were insured by Lloyds of London.

In a graveyard in Colma, you’ll meet “PHANTASM” director DON COSCARELLI and leading “Tall Man” ANGUS SCRIMM. It all keeps place inside a hearst!

More information about the book, and how to order an autographed copy of it at:

https://www.stanleybooks.net/career_that_dripped.html

The horror doesn’t end there!

Once you finish the book make sure to check out…

The Best of John Stanley, a brand new DVD showcasing his Creature Features years. This DVD presents two of John’s finest complete TV shows, which have been enhanced to high-definition (HD) and presented in a 16×9 format. Limited quantity!

The Best of John Stanley is a 90-minute collection of examples from many of his shows including Christopher Lee, Ray Bradbury, Chuck Norris, Leonard Nimoy, Robert Bloch, Max von Sydow, the one-and-only Ray Harryhausen, director Irvin Kershner, special-effects artist Ken Ralson and many more. There are also sequences from Stanley’s famous mini-movies such as “Nightmare in the Chamber of Horrors, “Christine” (Stephen King’s killer car, which actually pursues Stanley across the back lot of KTVU. There’s also a special sequence with Penn and Teller applying fire to the human tongue.

Trailers of Horror is a unique 90-minute collection in which Stanley presents the history of the theatrical trailer, starting in the 1930s with such memorable examples as “Dracula,” “House of Frankenstein,” “House of Dracula,” “The Wolf Man” and “King Kong.” Stanley then leaps into the 1940s and 1950s with such rare delights as “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” “It Came From Outer Space,” “The Creature From the Black Lagoon” and “Monster on the Campus.” He also covers Ray Harryhausen’s unique special effects with “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad” and “Golden Voyage of Sinbad.” It winds up with the classic James Bond thriller “Thunderball” and “The Wizard of Oz.”

The DVD set including an autographed copy can be found at:

https://www.stanleybooks.net/best-of-stanley-dvd.html

About John Stanley

For 33 years John Stanley was an entertainment writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, covering the leading movie and TV personalities from the 1960s through the early 1990s. During that time he was also host of “Creature Features,” an extremely popular Saturday night series in the Bay Area that ran for 14 years. (His predecessor, Bob Wilkins, hosted from 1971-1978.) Stanley’s book I WAS A TV HORROR HOST (2007) reflects the large number of personalities of fantasy-world personalities he interviewed on the air, including Robert Bloch, Ray Bradbury, Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, Ray Harryhausen, Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, William Castle and countless film directors and sci-fi/fantasy authors. Stanley (born 1940) has written 18 books during his lifetime, including six editions in the long-running “Creature Features Movie Guide” series (1981-2000), of which the fourth edition is still available. His latest book was THE GANG THAT SHOT UP HOLLYWOOD (2011) with profiles of Clint Eastwood, Robert Mitchum, Samuel Fuller, Karl Malden, James Stewart, Ida Lupino, Barbara Stanwyck, Carroll Baker, and many others. His novel WORLD WAR III (aka NAPALM SUNDAY) was a hit Avon paperback in 1976 and his 1980 Dell Press novel BOGART ’48 was recently reissued, with 42 photographs, by Ramble House, a mystery publisher. The latter book is also available in e-book format. He has produced many DVDS featuring material from his “Creature Features” shows as well as a documentary about film noir expert Eddie Muller.