I think every kid is a natural monster buff.

October 17, 2023 12:26 PM

1981.. CBS News... Charles Osgood... Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Monsters... But Were Afraid! [50m] A strange news-ish coverage of monsters of all sorts. Includes some really interesting mask and physical prop work from the age of physical effects.
posted by hippybear (5 comments total)

OMG, I saw this on TV! I was ten and would check out every book at my library related to movie monsters and monster make-up and special effects, over and over and over...it's just a shame we didn't own a VCR back then, I would have worn that tape out watching this thing.
posted by mittens at 1:09 PM on October 17, 2023 [1 favorite]

I guess I'd say, even despite this being very old fashioned in its presentation, it might be a good way to introduce a child of around 10 to all sorts of things -- monsters, movie magic and special effects, the history of cinema... I mean, it's interesting as an adult, too, but knowing it was broadcast in the Eighties on CBS as part of the news division tells you that it isn't ever going to go too far in the direction of scary and is going to be more about informing the audience.

i think it's a really great hour of television, honestly.
posted by hippybear at 2:11 PM on October 17, 2023

OMG, I saw this on TV! I was ten and would check out every book at my library related to movie monster

Those books! When I was a kid, my dad was doing night classes to get his bachelor's that were held in a local high school. I'd hang out on the library and read those books obsessively while he was in class.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 2:22 PM on October 17, 2023

I remember watching this when it originally came on. Haven't seen it or heard it mentioned since. Awesome!
posted by Liquidwolf at 4:56 PM on October 17, 2023

When I was a kid, I used to like old monster movies without actually seeing them. I would read about them in A Pictorial History of Horror Movies and Famous Monsters of Filmland, but there was no home video in those day, no cable, and the few broadcast stations we could pick up didn't exactly run Boris Karloff marathons.
posted by pracowity at 9:25 AM on October 20, 2023