Raymond Castile's Basement of Horror

In this episode, I spend nearly three hours talking about a small bottle of water. Thank you to special guest star Rich Hurley from Dr. Durant's Sanctum! https://www.youtube.com/@UCRhm5EdND8m8QJngozkbH-w Here is a link to a film I mention near the end of the video. The Johnstown Monster: https://youtu.be/63CRbuRE_Tc?si=MisRiCwMZlls6FXe This is the 1972 U.S. television edit that runs 44 minutes. Th...

This episode explores the world of rubber gorillas made by companies like Imperial, Steven Manufacturing (Gigantor), Azrak-Hamway International, Ben Cooper, Vic's and others. Before getting into the toys, I talk about Phil the Gorilla, a legendary resident of the St. Louis Zoo in the 1940s and 1950s that helped spark my childhood love of rubber gorillas. Notes: While talking about the big Gigantor...

From 2013 through 2020, the Bangkok-based boutique custom toy company Distinctive Dummies produced a definitive line of Mego-style, 8-inch action figures based on Hammer Studios horror characters. Though unlicensed, the line represented the first (and long overdue) serious attempt to produce an authoritative Hammer toy series. Product Enterprise had made a stand-alone Hammer Dracula 12" figure, an...

In this episode, we look at pellet-filled stretchable rubber jigglers made by the Imperial toy company in the early 2000s. Imperial made two sets. The first was a generic monster series marketed for the Halloween season that included a vampire, werewolf, skeleton and witch. The second was a licensed Universal Monsters series with Frankenstein, Dracula, Wolf Man, Mummy, Bride of Frankenstein and Cr...

Before we talk about toys, we pause to reflect on the life of Bobby Beeman, a good friend, extraordinary human, excellent musician and influential toy collector who recently passed away. After commemorating Bobby, we examine the Universal Monsters fast food premiums from the late 1990s and early 2000s. Burger King offered a beautifully designed set of four monster action figures in 1997, probably...

Exploring the 1990s knockoff horror wrestling toys made by Mannix. Continue the monster talk by joining the "Raymond Castile's Basement of Horror" Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/644618149275833 Just be sure to answer the two security questions or you will be denied membership! Very few people bother to answer the security questions, so very few people get into the group. We run a...

The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical production of The Phantom of the Opera has spawned a sea of kitschy tchotchkes, knickknacks and souvenirs, but not many actual toys. In this episode, we look at a few delightful ALW Phantom "toys" made by Enesco, a company known for gift store items and collector novelties. We also take a peek at some classic Phantom of the Opera toys from past decades. Continue the...

This video features a look at the expanding Dracula and Frankenstein monster toys made by Funstuf in 1978, part of the company's Ani-forms line that included the Rage Cage Incredible Hulk and expanding Ben Grim The Thing. Before we talk about the Funstuf monsters, we spend time reminiscing about Bob Burns, a beloved Monster Kid pioneer who passed away Dec. 12, 2025, at age 90. Continue the monster...

In this episode, we meet the Louis Marx battery operated Whistling Spooky Kooky Tree, an iconic and infamously frightening mechanical toy from the 1960s. Probably inspired by the haunted trees in the Wizard of Oz, the Marx Spooky Tree waves its arms, rolls its eyes, open and closes its mouth and "runs" around unpredictably as it emits an eerie whistle. But after years in storage, will this vintage...

My friend Matt Jaycox sent me a delightful gift box, full of wonderful wrapped Christmas presents! I don't receive many Christmas gifts, so this was quite a pleasure. In face, I'm not sure I've experienced anything quite like this since childhood. Matt's daughters, Shelley and Emily, picked out one of the gifts. They have been very excited to see this video, so I hope they enjoy it! Thank you Shel...

What does it take to bring a licensed toy to market? What is the process, and what are the pitfalls? Toy industry veterans Mike Drake and Barry Eldridge provide a behind-the-curtain glimpse into the world of licensed character toys and collectibles. Have you ever wondered why a licensed toy doesn't look quite like the character does in the movie, TV show or comic book? Why are the colors off? Why...

In the first half of this episode, I talk about my adventure flying to Atlanta to appear as a guest on The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs on the Shudder streaming network and AMC+. It was a great honor to be invited, and a thrill to be interviewed by Joe Bob Briggs and Darcy, and great fun to appear as Coffin Joe in a U.S. television show. In the second half of this episode, I interview the ama...

Happy Halloween! In this video, we looks at some fun Halloween novelty "decorations," or at least that's how they were marketed. Between you and me, these are toys. Dolls. Foam-filled dolls with latex skin. They were produced by different companies, but we will focus on seven dolls made by Paper Magic Group during the early 2000s, plus a couple made by Lanka Novelties around the same time, and som...

Review of the new Shock Monster and Beast of Blood Mego-style action figures from Trick or Treat Studios. These are the first 8-inch costumed figures from TOTS, a company best known for producing Halloween masks. Continue the monster talk by joining the Basement of Horror Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/644618149275833 Just be sure to answer the two security questions or you will b...

At the end of the millennium, Don Post revisited their classic 60s/70s Universal Monsters masks, known as the "Calendar" masks because of their use in a famous 1960s monster-themed wall calendar. The masks had been out of production for decades and original examples were rare or extinct. Through a painstaking process, Don Post sculptors recreated the classic masks and made them available as deluxe...

Join Emmy Award winning makeup artist Barry Koper, Wētā FX Creative Art Director Gino Acevedo, and the legendary founder of Imagineering, Larry Liff, as they tell the story of how they created the greatest Halloween makeup and novelty company of all time. Hear them go into detail about the development of Vampire Blood, Evil Teeth, Scar Stuff, Creepy Skin, Incredible Melting Man makeup kit, The Fac...

Welcome to the eighth season of Basement of Horror! Thank you for sharing your Halloween season with us. In this episode, we examine the classic blue Monster box Halloween costumes issued by Ben Cooper in the mid-1970s. The series included Frankenstein, Wolf Man, Mummy, Creature, Bigfoot, Cousin Eerie, Uncle Creepy, The Thing (Ben Grimm), Female Vampire, King Kong, Godzilla. If you have seen other...

Welcome to our third "Monster Kid" panel discussion! Our guests in this episode are author, podcaster and musician Lyle Blackburn; author, influencer and Randomland host Justin Scarred; and super collector, MeTV personality and proprietor of the Crimson Ghost Mask Room, Rudy Munis. All three are lifelong monster fans with extensive monster memorabilia collections. We talk about everything from AHI...

Another fantastic Monster Kid panel discussion! In this installment, we issue a Halloween season post-mortem and look ahead to the Thanksgiving/Christmas holiday season. We show off some recent monster toy scores, talk about childhood Christmas monster memories, and go off on whatever creepy tangents enter our minds. We are pleased to welcome a new guest - the Rondo Award-winning Danielle Gelehrte...

The first in an irregular series of panel discussions with fellow monster enthusiasts. We discuss our Monster Kid origins, Halloween memories, and how monster collecting and fandom have evolved over the last 35 years. Panelists: Raymond Castile (your humble YouTube host) https://www.youtube.com/@RaymondCastile Brian Heiler - Brick Mantooth https://www.youtube.com/@BrickMantooth Rich Hurley - Dr. D...

Originally uploaded to YouTube Oct. 28, 2023