Bargain -Bin Books #2 - H.P. Lovecraft's 'Re-Animator'

(Published by Adventure Comics 1991)

"Of Herbert West, who was my friend in college and in after life, I can speak only with extreme terror."

So begins Herbert West- Reanimator, the serialised gruesome tale by H.P. Lovecraft. First published between February and July in 1922, it has gone on to be among the most well-known Lovecraft stories, but definitely not the most loved. 

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Movie tie-in #2: Star Wars - Episode 1 - Racer

(Nintendo 64, 1999)

Despite the fact that Star Wars fans went to town on The Phantom Menace on its release, the huge draw of the title meant that video game fans were to be treated to a cash-in based on the license. Luckily enough, with it being the Star Wars franchise, the game was developed by LucasArts, who had a pretty solid reputation for not just licensed products, but their own original titles, also.

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Dragonslayer (1981)

"When a dragon gets this old, it knows nothing but pain, constant pain. It grows decrepit... crippled... pitiful. Spiteful!"

Despite a reputation for making 'safe' kids films for all the family to enjoy, there was a point in the late 70's and early 80's when Disney pushed the envelope for what many would consider to be 'children's entertainment'. It was an unusual time for it, too, as in the USA at this point the important 'PG-13' rating had yet to be invented, and would only come into existence after Spielberg terrified one-too-many children with the likes of Poltergeist, Gremlins and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. In the UK, there were similar issues, with films either receiving the rating of 'PG' or '15'. It's important enough to understand that the difference between a 'PG' in the UK and USA mean quite different things; in the States, "Parental guidance strongly suggested – most material may not be suitable for children". Whereas in the UK, " This means a film is suitable for general viewing, but some scenes may be unsuitable for young children". So basically, it meant that there were tougher guidelines for what could be shown in a PG film in the UK, resulting in many films getting a re-classification to a 15 cert (such as Poltergeist, Sixteen Candles and Gremlins getting bumped up to a '15') or else they got cut by distributors to omit offending imagines to maintain the important 'PG' rating.

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