View-Master is one of my all time favorite, and most cherished childhood toys. I can't even begin to count the hours spent staring into my viewer and being whisked away into other realms of fun and fantasy. A very simple, but none the less brilliant concept from the age of innocence, made all the more magical by the gorgeous artistry put into the tiny sets and sculptures (in particular the mind bending work of
Florence Thomas and
Joe Liptak.) So that of course brings me to the point of this post: I've heard people describe the ones that utilized this more puppety look as "creepy" or some nonsense, though aside from the
Dracula, Frankenstein, and
Wolfman reels (and maybe
Casper the Friendly Ghost), I can't really think of any other examples where
View-Master actually did delve into the ACTUAL realm of "creepy." And then I recently saw someone online having a fun time making
View-Masters that don't really exist for films and shows that definitely deserve the
3D TRU-VUE treatment, and I decided to buckle down and make a few myself.
CLICK HERE for
PART TWO: Talking View-Master Reels
And speaking of spooky
View-Master scenes, some of my favorite imagery actually comes from a Christmas VM-- that being the bone-chilling spectres from
A Christmas Carol (aka
Scrooge) set. So what's a guy to do when putting the reels on a scanner doesn't really work for me as it apparently does for others? I aim my iPhone camera into the viewer and take a handful of not totally great, but surprisingly halfway decent shots. Enjoy!
Happy holidays, everyone! Lots more spooky stuff on the way...
11 comments:
The weird 3D-ness of some view master reels always threw me, a bit. A little jarring and like, not perfect versions of the source. Not sure if that makes sense.
I would have bought some of these had they been real. And I think they would have had a hit with at least the Abbott and Costello set!
I'd love to have an "Abbott & Costello Meets Frankenstein" Viewmaster reel! Add "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" too! I've never seen the "A Christmas Carol" reel. Looks like a good one.
Holy crap I never knew these existed I must find some!!
Sweet. When I was reading the intro I anticipated you'd do one about THE CAR, but I am also delighted to see you've included CITY OF THE DEAD. And I would sell a pinkie toe to get my hands on a View-Master version of CURSE OF THE DEMON, the titular effect of which would look just super duper in stereoscopic 3D. Man, what a dream.
I love this Christmas Carol stuff too. I like the way that's flipping tradition on its head, looking over spooky Christmas stories at Halloween instead of the other way around.
View-Master horror fun for the monster kid in all of us.
View-Master missed a large market by not tapping into the little horror fans back then.
I've still got a few Viewmaster reels kicking around...my favourites being some Tom Baker era Doctor Who ones and some Dukes of Hazard ones!
Would have loved some more spooky themed feels though! Those Christmas Carol ones are awesome!
Glad every one enjoyed these fictional reels, I have a handful of talking reel versions up next-- stay tombed!
Those viewmasters frames look surprisingly good. Now---if I could convince you to take a picture from each eye, and line them up side by side.... ;)
I don't know these View-Master things.
On a side note, I watched Hotel Horror last year. Not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination, but great fun all the same.
I saw your "The Car" Viewmaster on someones YouTube video about Viewmaster reels and thought (hoped) it was real! Congratulations of getting me very excited for 40 seconds until I found your post about making a set of faux horror ViewMaster reels. I might have to print your cover out and attach it to some lame set I own and then display it in my collection just to give me a smile every time I see it! THANKS!
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