Cinefantastique - 2nd ish

CINEFANTASTIQUE - the 2nd issue (Feb. 1971)

Everyone recognize who that is on the cover of the 2nd issue? No?
I didn't either.
Anyway, it's Jonathan Frid (as Barnabas) and Kathryn Leigh Scott (as Maggie) from House of Dark Shadows, which is also given a positive review inside by Clarke. The back cover is self-evident. Clarke's Sense of Wonder editorial examined the difficulty of defining what constitutes a horror, fantasy and science fiction film.

The big article, however, was STOP FRAME-THE HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE of FANTASY FILM ANIMATION by Mark Wolf. This was a lengthy 15-page piece, beginning with the late 19th century, covering The Lost World (25), King Kong of course, almost all the works of the big two - Willis O'Brien & Ray Harryhausen - through Valley of Gwangi (1969), and explaining rear screen projection. It's too bad there were only b&w stills in the mag at this point. A 2nd installment was promised.
The Reviews included The Brotherhood of the Bell (a TV Movie I'm unfamiliar with), Taste the Blood of Dracula, Watermelon Man, The Mind of Mr. Soames, The Vampire Lovers, The Body Stealers, No Blade of Grass, Scrooge, Hauser's Memory (another TV movie) and Trog. There were a lot of vampire movies at this time, a few I don't mention here. This issue also began the SHORT NOTICES feature, which were just more brief reviews.

In the back, NEWS AND NOTES was about "THE SCORE" - Mark Stevens wrote about what he felt were the year's best film scores; most of these were not in the sf genre, though Colossus the Forbin Project figured prominently. There was a short blurb on John Carradine, who had been cast in a film named The Seven Minutes. The first letters page (letters about the first issue) also made its appearance.

There was also the COMING section, of coming films. The ones I never heard of and perhaps not made: Barracuda 2000 A.D. Beast of the Yellow Night Blood For Blood The Bloody Judge Bury Him Darkly Cadaver The Difference The First of January (this may have ended up as Z.P.G.) G.O.O.-Galactic Octopedular Ooze I am Legend (ended up as The Omega Man) The Possessors Stranger in a Strange Land (Heinlein's novel - never made) Vampire Thrills When the Earth Cracked Open Zeppelin vs. Pterodactyls - these latter two were planned Hammer films never made, but posters exist.