Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered a form of speculative fiction alongside science fiction films and horror films, although the genres do overlap. Fantasy films often have an element of magic, myth, wonder, escapism, and the extraordinary.
Kim James Newman is an English journalist, film critic and fiction writer. He is interested in film history and horror fiction—both of which he attributes to seeing Tod Browning's Dracula at the age of eleven—and alternative history. He has won the Bram Stoker Award, the International Horror Guild Award and the BSFA award.
Raymond Frederick Harryhausen was an American-British animator and special effects creator who created a form of stop motion model animation known as "Dynamation". His works include the animation for Mighty Joe Young (1949) with his mentor Willis H. O'Brien ; his first color film, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958); and Jason and the Argonauts (1963), which featured a sword fight with seven skeleton warriors. His last film was Clash of the Titans (1981), after which he retired from filmmaking.
John Irving Bloom, known by the stage name Joe Bob Briggs, is an American syndicated film critic, writer, actor, comic performer, and horror host. He is known for having hosted Joe Bob's Drive-in Theater on The Movie Channel from 1986 to 1996, the TNT television series MonsterVision from 1996 to 2000, and The Last Drive-in with Joe Bob Briggs on Shudder beginning in 2018. In 2019, he was named the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards' Monster Kid of the Year, and in 2023 was inducted into the Rondo Hatton Awards' Monster Kid Hall of Fame.
Famous Monsters of Filmland is an American genre-specific film magazine, started in 1958 by publisher James Warren and editor Forrest J Ackerman.
Rondo Hatton was an American journalist and actor. After writing for The Tampa Tribune, Hatton found a career in film due to his unique facial features, which were the result of acromegaly. He headlined horror films with Universal Studios near the end of his life, earning him a reputation as a cult icon.
Timothy Ray Lucas is an American film critic, biographer, novelist, screenwriter and blogger, best known for publishing and editing the video review magazine Video Watchdog.
Jonathan Rigby is an English actor and film historian who has written several books. Video Watchdog magazine described him as occupying "a proud place in the advance guard of film researchers, writers and critics," and in 2020 he was inducted into the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards Hall of Fame.
Caroline Jane Munro is an English actress, model and singer known for her many appearances in horror, science fiction and action films of the 1970s and 1980s. She gained prominence within Hammer and horror circles, starring in Dracula AD 1972 and Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter (1974), garnering a cult following for the numerous films that she starred in. She also acted in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973), and in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). In 2019, she was inducted into the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards' Monster Kid Hall of Fame.
Synapse Films is an American DVD and Blu-ray label, founded in 1997 and specializes in cult horror, science fiction and exploitation films. It is considered a boutique DVD label.
A monster movie, monster film, creature feature or giant monster film is a film that focuses on one or more characters struggling to survive attacks by one or more antagonistic monsters, often abnormally large ones. The film may also fall under the horror, comedy, fantasy, or science fiction genres. Monster movies originated with adaptations of horror folklore and literature.
Glenn Erickson is an American film editor and film critic. A graduate of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, he started in the film industry in 1975 as an editor of low-budget films and later worked in minor technical crew capacities for the major films Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and 1941 (1979). As an editor, his credits include supplemental documentary materials for DVD releases of films, including The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (1966), Buckaroo Banzai (1985) and To Live and Die in L.A. (1985). He was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2001 for his editing of the Jack Cardiff montage tribute screened at the 73rd Academy Awards presentation. In 1997, he produced the restoration of the original ending to Kiss Me Deadly (1955).
John Walsh is an English filmmaker and author. He is the founder of the film company Walsh Bros. Ltd. His film work on subjects such as social mobility and social justice has received two BAFTA nominations.
The Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award, often called the Rondo Award, is an annual award founded in 2002 that honors journalism, scholarship and film preservation in the horror genre, particularly of classic horror film and their modern-day counterparts.
Flash Gordon: The Official Story of the Film is a book by John Walsh published on November 27, 2020. This is a behind the scenes look at the making of the film Flash Gordon from 1980. Walsh had previously written Harryhausen: The Lost Movies.
Ray Harryhausen: Titan of Cinema is a book by Vanessa Harryhausen. Daughter of stop motion animator Ray Harryhausen, the book was written to mark her father's centenary in 2020, examining his life and films through 100 personally selected objects from his archive.
Escape From New York The Official Story of the Film is a book by John Walsh published December 14, 2021. This is a behind the scenes look at the making of the film Escape from New York from 1981. Walsh had previously written Harryhausen: The Lost Movies and Flash Gordon: The Official Story of the Film.
Dr Who and The Daleks: The Official Story of the Films is a book by John Walsh. It is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the films Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. The large format coffee table style book tells the story of how the original television series Doctor Who was adapted twice for cinema audiences.
The Wicker Man: The Official Story of the Film is the sixth book by John Walsh, published October 24, 2023, as part of the film's 50th anniversary.
WonderFest is an American fan convention focusing on science fiction and horror, held annually since 1992 after two years as a predecessor event. "One of the biggest hobby events in the country," it takes place in Louisville, Kentucky, and is the site of the annual presentation of the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards.
