Reel Monsters Podcast guest Jacob Larson shares how Creature from the Black Lagoon, Monster Bash, and The Phantom of the Opera brought silver screen scares to pinball arcades in the 1990s.
Hosted by AJ Danna: http://www.ajdanna.com/
Reel Monsters Podcast theme song by Alexander Taylor: https://www.alexandertaylormusic.com/
Reel Monsters Podcast logo and key art by Will Davenport: https://www.instagram.com/davenportwilldraw/
Reel Monsters Podcast guest Jacob Larson shares how Creature from the Black Lagoon, Monster Bash, and The Phantom of the Opera brought silver screen scares to pinball arcades in the 1990s.
Hosted by AJ Danna: http://www.ajdanna.com/
Reel Monsters Podcast theme song by Alexander Taylor: https://www.alexandertaylormusic.com/
Reel Monsters Podcast logo and key art by Will Davenport: https://www.instagram.com/davenportwilldraw/
Cameras are rolling... rolling, rolling!
Boris:Sound speeding.
Scientist:The time has come for our celebration of cinema's classic Reel Monsters!
AJ Danna:Hello, everyone! I bid you welcome to episode one of Reel Monsters Podcast. I'm your host, AJ Danna, and I'm grateful you're tuning in. Thanks for joining me. Before we dive into today's monster topic, if you would like a bit of an overview of what to expect with Reel Monsters Podcast, feel free to give a listen to the introductory episode titled "I Bid You Welcome." In essence, Reel Monsters Podcast is not necessarily a film review podcast, but moreso focused on celebrating the legacy of cinema's classic monster characters through pop culture, brand tie-ins, theme park attractions, and other related subjects of interest. There will often be guests to discuss how the classic monster stories influenced them, and oftentimes how their careers directly relate to continuing the classic monster stories of today and tomorrow. Now, today's monster topic takes us back to the glorious 1990, when the Universal Monsters brand was everywhere. The ripple effect from the 1990s felt into the early 2000s definitely had an impact on me as a monster kid, and I've met a couple other people who experienced a similar side effect. I've got another creator on the show today to talk about our shared appreciation for and history of one particular group of classic monster products. If you were alive in the 1990s or 2000s, chances are you'll know the ones we're talking about. Anyone out there a fan of pinball machines? Well, today's guest definitely is... and he's also a pinball machine repair man on the side. How cool is that? But before we begin, I do secretly invite each of my real monsters podcast guests to begin their interview with a cheesy mad scientist laugh to keep that Halloween and horror vibe alive. So, without further ado, please welcome to Reel Monsters Podcast... Jacob Larson! Oh, fantastic laugh, my friend. Very good to have you here. Welcome aboard, Jacob.
Jacob Larson:How's it going, everybody?
AJ Danna:Now, for those who don't know you, tell us a little bit about yourself and your work in the haunted attraction community, and then we'll get started on today's topic.
Jacob Larson:I actually operate and design a home haunt called Pirates Cave with my dad in Orange County, California. He started in 1999, and I've just grown up with that in my life. So I've kind of grown up in the haunt family. But yeah, over time, I became an actor in the haunt and over time just began helping him design it and create it. So the past couple of years we've gone on to create bigger productions at our house. And yeah, it's really grown. But yeah, on the side I am a graphic designer, a freelance graphic designer. So I've done lots of logos and graphics for different haunted attractions, which is very cool to see your logo in different parts of the world. It's very cool to see that. I started this up only a year ago now, but it's, it's very, very cool. But anyways, I do fix pinball machines on the side as well. Like you mentioned, I've grown up being a fan of pinball machines. My dad actually had three pinball machines in our garage since I was a little kid... Indiana Jones by Williams, Judge Dredd by Bally, and Star Trek Next Generation by Williams, so I've grown up playing them and just kind of learning a couple things on how to fix them since I've been young. But in the past couple months in November I actually learned they have pinball leagues where people actually compete to win cash prizes and trophies. And I've really met some interesting people and learned more about pinball. So I'm now fixing clients' pinball machines, and I've been working on a guy's collection of thirty pins for about three months now. And he has Monster Bash and Creature from the Black Lagoon. So I'm glad I have the experience in learning those machines, because those are some of my favorite ones in horror themed pinball.
AJ Danna:Absolutely, my friend, Monster Bash and Creature from the Black Lagoon are two of my favorite machines as well. And that is actually what we're here to talk about today. You are one of the very few people I know who has this very rare intersection of pinball knowledge and Halloween knowledge put together, and that is exactly why you are on the show today to talk about some of these classic monster pinball machines. Now, classic monsters have been the subject of pinball machines for quite some time, but not necessarily licensed classic monsters, which did happen in the 90s with Creature from the Black Lagoon and Monster Bash, but prior to that, there were also other monster machines. Tell us a little bit about that.
Jacob Larson:Stern actually made the first horror themed pinball in 1979. It was Dracula. So that one was was an old solid state pinball with the digit scores and no ramps or anything. It's just kind of those basic looking games from the early 70s and 80s. But it actually had three flippers, which was pretty unusual at that time, because most games only had two flippers. But yeah, that's another one I've actually had the chance to work on. But yeah, it's really cool from the artwork and everything, but I don't believe it was actually a licensed Universal Monster compared to Monster Bash and Creature from the Black Lagoon. From there, Bally and Williams actually made games like Elvira and the Party Monsters, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. But it wasn't until 1992 when Bally acquired the rights for one of the original Universal Classic Monsters, which was Creature from the Black Lagoon.
AJ Danna:Yeah, Creature from the Black Lagoon is a really unique pinball machine, too, for anybody out there who hasn't played it. It doesn't take the typical approach to a classic monster theme that some of the other productions do nowadays. For example, it doesn't take place in a gothic castle (and neither does the movie, for that matter.) But the interesting approach they took for the Creature from the Black Lagoon pinball machine really ties it into the era in which the Creature from the Black Lagoon movies were popular.
Jacob Larson:Yeah, so the theme of the game is actually like you're viewing a 50s movie in the drive-in. So you're viewing Creature from the Black Lagoon at the drive-in, and one of the main tasks of the game is to spell out "F-I-L-M" in order to start the multiball. So spelling out "film," you have to hit certain lit shots, like spell out the paid lanes at the very top or hit the snack bar targets. So all of those go into the multiball, the game and also the narrative story of the game. But yeah, one of the main things in that game is the Creature in the center of the game, which is one of the first holograms they actually used in a pinball machine. And they featured songs like Rock Around the Clock, Get a Job, Summertime Blues, and all those 50s inspired songs to really sell that vibe of the 50s drive-in.
AJ Danna:That is something I really love about that machine. It's such a unique aesthetic that reminds me of almost... did you ever get to visit the Fry's Electronics store in Burbank?
Jacob Larson:Not in Burbank, but I visited I visited a Fry's shop before.
AJ Danna:They had such heavy theming in their stores that was more than a retail experience, and the Burbank venue was themed to 50s drive-in monsters, which I love. This machine also has the hologram element, as you mentioned, which apparently is very hard to replace.
Jacob Larson:Yeah, so um, that's one of the things I've learned from some of the people who operate on those games, as well - that hologram fades out over time. So how that works is there's a light and it goes through a kind of a film which has the Creature in it. And somehow that hologram begins to fade over time. Obviously, the manufacturers have now gone out of business... Williams and Bally are no longer around. But they can't sell those parts anyways, because they no longer have the license for that property. So people over time, the past couple of years, have sold replacement holograms, but they come and go because the licensing people catch on. But one of the things I'm replacing for my client's machine is you can actually put a video screen mod underneath the hologram now. And that actually interacts with what targets you're hitting in the game. So if you hit the snack bar targets, you'll see the little snack bar targets dancing underneath the hologram on the playfield. It is a little pricey, but it's a good alternate to the original piece in the game.
AJ Danna:I love that! I feel like sometimes, when these machines are remade or modded or upgraded, there are some things that we can achieve with today's technology that simply weren't possible when these machines were first created. And something along those lines that really enhances the effects of the machine definitely sounds like it would be worth the price. Now, an original Creature from the Black Lagoon machine seems like it's kind of hard to come by, at least out in the wild. I've only seen a handful. Do you know about how many units were produced of these?
Jacob Larson:Bally produced 7840 units of Creature.
AJ Danna:Very cool, very cool. I have come across two of them in person, at least in the local Los Angeles area. There is one at Horrorcade, which is a pop up at Rad Coffee. And there's also(at least last time I checked,) there was one at a second run movie theater in the valley. And that was kind of the perfect place for me to first play that machine because the second run movie theater had cheesy neon lighting inside and, you know, you could smell the popcorn and like... what better place to play this 1950s Creature from the Black Lagoon machine than in a second run movie theater.
Jacob Larson:Wow, that's a great experience for first time playing it. Wow.
AJ Danna:And I already enjoyed the aesthetic of the machine from the flyer. I had bought a flyer for Creature from the Black Lagoon at the store Creature Features which was in Burbank, and is unfortunately no longer with us. But the flyer featured the Creature'ss hands kind of coming around to play the machine. And there's just so much to love about this machine. It's very memorable. It's got a lot of sound bites I like, like the gentleman yelling, "Move your car!"
Jacob Larson:Yeah, you can do a better voice impersonation than me. But my favorite sound effect in the game has to be the ball save sound effects. So, if you drain the ball within (I think) ten seconds of first plunging it, it will give you the ball back and the guy says, "Stay cool, daddio." And that's just my favorite sound bite, out of any game... it's like my favorite ever.
AJ Danna:That's a good choice. A couple of my favorites come from Phantom, which we'll be talking about later. But do you know who performed the voiceovers for this Creature from the Black Lagoon machine?
Jacob Larson:Yeah, so a lot of the VO (the voiceover) in the game was actually done by workers at Bally. So I know Paul Heitsch, who was in charge of the game's music, was actually one of the VO artists in the game. And Allison Quant, who actually worked in the front office of Bally at the time. So they wanted to just use people within their office because it was cheaper than just hiring outside of the company. (Sorry to tell you that, AJ.) But yeah, so they actually used people within Bally to voice the game, which is very interesting to know. But they also used, for the dot matrix display... they modeled a lot of the characters after people who worked on the game.
AJ Danna:Yeah, I always find that to be fascinating when you can acquire a license to a property, but not an all-inclusive license. And I believe in the case of Creature from the Black Lagoon, the actor likenesses weren't usable either, correct?
Jacob Larson:Yeah, so they got the rights to use Creature since that's, like, a costume... that's a prosthetic. But they couldn't use the characters in the movie. I think there's like a scuba diver on the back glass, and the girl that Creature is holding in his arms. They couldn't use the actual likeness of the characters on the back glass and the playfield. So they had to use people from Bally once again to model the faces after, which is very interesting. But no, it's interesting that they can't acquire the rights to everybody. Maybe that's an extra additional cost on top of the licensing of the movie title and Creature, but I'm unaware of that.
AJ Danna:You know, I find it to be fascinating when the process of having to adjust for something like that ends up giving the table a unique identity all of its own, you know, the fact that it doesn't have certain elements of the film. And the fact that it's set within this 1950s drive-in kind of gives it its own Creature from the Black Lagoon brand identity in a way similar to what we're seeing at Halloween Horror Nights now... with the classic Universal Monster mazes. They are of course inspired by the films, but they're also building their own world... and on the topic of building their own world with a unique product, the next machine we are talking about is also a licensed Universal Monsters machine. This one is from 1998... Williams continued to use the rest of the monster licenses... this is one of my favorite pinball machines of all time. This is Monster Bash.
Jacob Larson:Yeah, so this game actually probably has to be my favorite playfield ever created.
AJ Danna:One hundred percent. This machine is more advanced
Jacob Larson:I just love how this game plays. I love the than some machines I'm seeing created nowadays. You know, this is a machine that holds up. It's got so many physical elements to shots. I love all the little features like hitting the Frankenstein when he comes up for Frankenstein Multiball. the table... you've got the monster figurines, and you've Dracula comes out from his coffin, you have to hit him with got some great art in the playfield. And for anyone out there who hasn't played Monster Bash, the general premise of the the ball and like the little... almost similar to Creature... machine is similar to that of the song Monster Mash. But in this case, each of the Universal Classic Monsters plays an instrument in a band (The Monsters of Rock,) and they're trying to get the band back together. You have to acquire how the little cutout underneath the playfield has the Creature each of the monsters and their instruments in order to activate the Monster Bash Monsters of Rock mode, where they play their song (sings) "Monster Bash...!" Not Monster MASH, make no mistake... Monster BASH, and it really is one heck of a fun machine. This machine is a party, and in my opinion, one of the best pinballs ever made. off the left side of the game. It almost reminds me... like, when I think of this game, I think of Blues Brothers. They're trying to get the band back together. Like, they have to go pick up all the band members and stuff. And yeah, I think it's just such a cool game in that aspect. Like, you have to get all the characters and you have to get all the instruments... and the instruments are actually acquired inside of each of the monsters' modes. So you have to start the modes to get the monster, but you have to hit the monster... you have to hit Dracula a certain amount of times to get his instrument... or you have to hit the outer loops to get the Wolf Man instrument, as well... you could get more out of your game, if you hit those certain shots within those modes.
AJ Danna:There is really good replayability with this machine because it is a machine that builds and builds and builds and builds, where you can have a good game without acquiring the instruments... but once you once you get a taste of it, once you unlock one of the monster modes, you want to go back and get the others. It is a bit of a challenge to acquire some of these... you know, the creature shot is on the far left side of the table, and is quite hard to to acquire in certain play modes, but it's a lot of fun because each of the monsters gives a little bit of a voiceover quip when you acquire their mode. You've got the Wolf Man, who kind of sounds like Wolfman Jack, and the Bride of Frankenstein is primping... getting ready to meet Frankenstein. It really is such a fun machine. And I think something that makes this machine stand out are the music and sounds by Vince Ponticelli. You know, when you are creating a table based around music and classic monsters, that music is going to be a pretty big part of it. And the music definitely delivers in this game.
Jacob Larson:And the one aspect of the game that I don't think the players get to appreciate as well, but if you're standing off to the side and watching somebody play, you get to appreciate... the screen that shows a lot of video elements when you hit certain shots. One of my favorite ones is in the Ball and Chain mode with the Bride of Frankenstein and Frankenstein's monster... it's like they're about to get married, and she chucks the bouquet of roses at him and then smacks him with a pan. And every time you hit those ramp shots, she, like, smacks him with a pan on the head. I think it's just like the funniest thing, that aspect of the game. It just adds so much more interest to it, but not a lot of the players get to focus on it because you're trying to keep that ball in play and your focus is straight down on that play field. But occasionally you get to look up... I think there's a lot there that not a lot of players get to appreciate unless you watch somebody play off to the side.
AJ Danna:Oh, one hundred percent... I thought the same thing when I was watching one of my best friends play this machine recently. There is something to appreciate on every level... like, this machine is not just a good gameplay experience, it's an experience, period. You know, it's got those little elements like the display screen, and it's got the figurines that maybe you can't necessarily be focusing on while you're playing. And I had first played this machine when I was probably ten years old. You know, this was the first horror pinball machine I found. And it is very accessible in that way... kids can watch somebody play it, and they're not going to, you know, see anything that's too graphic or too scary. This is just an all around really fun machine, and it feels like Halloween. So, tell us a little bit about the team behind the Monster Bash machine.
Jacob Larson:So yeah, the designer behind the game was George Gomez. He actually went on to design other games after this, such as Lord of the Rings, Deadpool, and The Beatles, so he's actually still designing games today. And we had Kevin O'Connor who did the art in the game. In an interview I read about, with him and somebody who interviewed him, he said they had a lot of complications with Monster Bash (with the art) because they had to create the monsters and make them not look like the actors underneath those prosthetics in those costumes. So he said it was very difficult to make Frankenstein's Monster not look like Boris Karloff... he thought it was a very interesting aspect where he had to alter the characters and send in approval to them. And he kept having to change it because maybe their nose or their facial expressions looked too similar to them. So he had to alter a lot to make sure the licensing company was okay... I mean Universal was okay... with with the way the monsters looked.
AJ Danna:That's actually something that strongly permeated the Universal Monsters brand existence in the 1990s. You'll notice with the original art for, for example, Fright Nights and the early years of Halloween Horror Nights, that iconic Universal Monsters logo from the 90s that we saw on the Pizza Hut advertisements and, you know, pretty much anywhere... where it's got all of them over the globe that says, you know, "Universal Classic Monsters," they had to develop versions of these characters that did not share the likeness to Bela Lugosi or Boris Karloff. And this is something that still remains a factor to this day. You have companies such as our friends at Chaney Enterprises who still own the Lon Chaney likenesses, and the same can be said for Bela Lugosi and his family. And this table is no exception to that. Similar to Creature from the Black Lagoon, the likenesses can't be seen in Monster Bash, making it a very unique representation of the classic monsters. And there's a bit of a creative liberty to that aspect because they do look unique to this table, and that makes it even a little bit more unique and fun in my opinion. Now, this is a game that's a little bit easier to find, in my experiences, because there have been a couple of remakes... but in the beginning, how many machines were produced for Monster Bash?
Jacob Larson:Yeah, originally Williams only produced 3361 units of Monster Bash, which isn't a lot, if you compare it to a game like Creature from the Black Lagoon, where they produced 7840 units of it... the 3000 isn't a lot. But it wasn't until 2018 when Chicago Gaming Company actually remade Monster Bash, and they're still remaking a lot of those 90s games. So just recently, they released Cactus Canyon, and they released Medieval Madness. So they're actually reintroducing these games, so they can actually make these games more widespread so they're easily playable in more areas... because over time you have these games... these older games from the 90s just start disappearing, whether they get too beat up, they can't be played anymore, or they just start disappearing from the public eye in pizza parlors or arcades. So I think it's great that Chicago Gaming Company actually is reintroducing these games. And I would love if we could get pinball back up to where it was in the 90s again.
AJ Danna:Absolutely, I agree. And I would love to see pinball restored to that point, as well. I think the virtual pinball games are actually helping with this, though it's not quite the same as playing a physical machine. You know, putting pinball virtually is kind of a double edged sword because you've got these classic machines having new life, but it's only through a video screen like every other game. But that being said, Monster Bash is one of the machines that you can play at this point in Zen Pinball FX 3 (as is Creature from the Black Lagoon.) And when these machines are remade, sometimes they're given new life with new elements... like you mentioned, Creature has the video screen you can upgrade now instead of the hologram. And something that I really like about Monster Bash is that you can get an alternate translite artwork from Flyland Designs, designed by Brian Allen, that is officially licensed from Williams that has a little more modern approach to the Universal Monsters characters. Again, they don't have the likeness to the classic actors, but they're a little more grisly, a little scarier looking. And interestingly enough, this alternate translite artwork, even though it is licensed from Williams, features a couple of other horror characters that maybe shouldn't be there in a Universal Studios machine. They've got homages to Regan from The Exorcist, and Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street, Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre... and in the world of licensing, these are Warner Bros. properties in some cases, not Universal, but it is fun to see them in this Monster Bash setting. And obviously, they are unlicensed... they're just parodies and homages. But yes, anyone out there who is looking for an alternate translite for Monster Bash, the one from Flyland Designs is quite fun.
Jacob Larson:You know what's great too, that I've noticed from working on these machines, is Flyland Designs actually sells side art blades. So, if you aren't familiar with what side art blades are... on the inside of the cabinet of a lot of these (on all these games, actually) they just have a black cabinet. But what you can do with these machines is you can buy big sticker decals from places like Flyland Designs, and you can install them on the inside of the cabinet. And they will add an extra layer to the machine and more theming. So Flyland Designs actually sells an art blade kind of with the same characters from the translite that you can have on the side of the machine, on the inside of the playfield. I think that just adds a lot of depth to the machine. That's obviously something that's an additional add-on to the machines that doesn't come with the games, but they do add a lot of depth. So the client that I've been working with on his thirty pinballs, that's actually a request he made to me... he wanted to install side art blades on all thirty of his machines, which is definitely a big task, because one of the biggest things about adding those blades in is you have to take the playfield completely out of the game. But yeah, it's definitely adding another layer to the game that wasn't originally in the games when they were produced.
AJ Danna:about Easter eggs and cheat codes, so to speak. And Monster Bash has a very famous one. Tell us about it.
Jacob Larson:Yeah, so, there's actually an Easter egg in Monster Bash called Lyman's Lament, which is a reference to the game'ss programmer. So when you first hit the start button, before you actually launch the ball, if you want to do this, you have to press the left flipper button eleven times, the right flipper button once, the left flipper button five times, the right flipper button once, the left flipper button six times, and finally the right flipper button once... but then after that, once you hit the launch button, then you want to hit into the scoop (which is right next to the right ramp,) and that will start the hidden mode. I know that's a lot of steps, but you can just rewind it right before you play the game. Just rewind it and you can get this Easter egg which plays different music while the game's programmer, Lyman Sheats, actually commentates the game and how you're playing. So I believe when you drain the ball, there's a couple different spiels... but I have played with somebody when they did the little secret Easter egg... when he drained the ball, he's like,"Wow, that sucked!" or whatever. He will actually, like, make fun of you if you don't do well. But yeah, it's a cool reference to the games programmer. Sadly, this past January, he actually passed away, which is very sad to hear. I'm glad his legacy lives on through these games, and especially this Monster Bash Easter egg.
AJ Danna:Absolutely. That is such a fun way to become sort of immortalized with your creation, especially in a fun table like Monster Bash... thank you very much, Mr. Sheats. And so, to any of you out there who have yet to play the Lyman's Lament mode in Monster Bash, now you know how. But we are not done with our classic monster podcast discussion just yet... because there is one more machine from Data East that I find to be a noteworthy addition... Phantom of the Opera. This has got to be one of the most beautiful machines to look at... like, this aesthetic is so elegant, and yet also menacing and creepy(as the Phantom of the Opera story should be.) The backglass has a very unique element to it that many other machines don't have. Tell us about that, Jacob.
Jacob Larson:Yeah, so the one element on this backglass that hasn't been really seen in other pinballs was a special printing technique that Data East tried out. And it's basically like a two way painted element. There's a painted element behind the back glass, and then there's another... almost sticker... on top of it. So when the lights from behind the back glass light it separately, they light up the Phantom's face behind the mask, which is very cool, because when you walk up to the game, you just see the Phantom with his infamous mask on (where you can't see his face.) But during the game, when you hit certain shots, or hit certain targets, his face will light up from behind the back glass behind that mask, and will reveal his true identity. It is a very unique element that I had never known about, because I actually haven't played this game before. But seeing videos on YouTube of how the element works, and seeing people play it, it's just a very cool, unique element to this game that hasn't really been seen before.
AJ Danna:Absolutely... and another one of those elements, as we were mentioning with, for example, Creature earlier, the back glass for Phantom is easier found without the mask, because that is something that either gets removed, or is just hard to find nowadays, which makes this machine kind of hard to repair. From what I hear, the magic mirror element is also quite hard to find. Once you lose the original, you're probably not getting it back. This machine is somewhat of a relic in that way. Because although there are people creating elements similar to the ones we're seeing with, for example, Flyland Designs, Phantom of the Opera doesn't have a whole lot that you can do to fix it once it's broken. And for that reason, it probably is better played in the virtual modes, which you can find on Pinball Arcade at the moment(and a couple other places I believe.) But this machine... speaking of the backglass... this machine also has one rather unique element. And that's that the artist, Paul Faris, used his daughter as the model for Christine on this machine. And the character of Christine is a little... scantily clad, shall we say, in this machine, and therefore they have "modesty decals" that you can add to the Phantom of the Opera machine to cover some of the visible cleavage on Christine, and make it a little bit more family friendly, which of course I appreciate because the monsters should be accessible to everyone. But this model of Christine is one of the more novel-accurate portrayals that we've seen in recent years, with her blonde hair. And it is interesting to note for that reason that this pinball machine, Phantom of the Opera, is based solely on the novel. It's not the Universal license. It's not the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, and they do a really good job honoring elements from the novel. You've got the Don Juan Triumphant sheet music, you've got the Phantom's letters and characters from the novel all drawn onto the playfield, just creating a really faithful rendition of the IP... and, of course, a beautiful, beautiful machine to look at. But not just to look at! The music and sounds by Kyle Johnson on this machine are very unique, giving an interesting soundscape to the Phantom of the Opera. And the voiceover... we were going back to mentioning earlier how some of your favorite lines came from Creature from the Black Lagoon... I'm a big fan of The Phantom of the Opera voiceover lines, such as the iconic,"Shoot the catwalk!" For those who don't know, the catwalk in this game refers to the ramp because everything on the playfield is the theater... the Paris Opera House, including the organ element which also looks like the chandelier. And when the ball shoots the organ, and it lifts up, you see another rendition of the Phantom unmasked underneath. So just an all around really beautiful machine. And I've seen a lot of customizations... people have added candles and masks to the top of the machine, similar to what we see on the flyer. But yeah, this is definitely one of my wish list machines. I would like to have a Phantom unit, but unfortunately, they are quite hard to find nowadays.
Jacob Larson:And quite expensive.
AJ Danna:Yes, you know, I think that's the thing kind of preventing me from carrying out all of my pinball dreams at the moment. But thankfully, we do have places like Horrorcade right now, the pop-up at Rad Coffee, which has quite a few horror based machines that we can visit anytime... and of course, websites on the internet with pinball maps to find these machines. So, if you're listening to this podcast, and you have not yet played Creature from the Black Lagoon, Monster Bash, or Phantom of the Opera, feel free to look up on the internet where you can find these machines. There are several resources that will give you places to play these unique pieces of classic monster history. So, on that note... Jacob, if you could create your own pinball machine, what would it be?
Jacob Larson:That's super tough, because there are a lot of titles that we haven't seen yet that I would like to see these companies make. But I would definitely want them to make a Jaws pinball machine, because that has to be one of my favorite movies of all time, right up there with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. I don't know if Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho would make a great game... I feel like you have to have a lot of elements to the movie in order to make these shots in the game, or certain narrative aspects of the game. But I feel like JAWS has those elements, everything from chasing the shark down with the yellow barrels... there's a lot of cool modes you could add to this game. And I just I just love that movie. So I am really hoping they do make it soon, because I would love to see it. But how about you, AJ? I would love to know what you would like to see from them.
AJ Danna:Oh, you know, that is a good question. And while I think that over, I want to point out to our listeners out there that there is a Jaws machine virtually in Zen Pinball FX. But it's not something that we can see translated into the real world because a lot of the elements they added to that machine are very specific to the video game format. For anyone out there who hasn't played that game, they add a lot of virtual elements like figures that move... and your ball can make crazy trick shots and whatnot. So the Jaws machine within that game isn't something that can be played practically. And I agree with you that if they were to create one that could be played practically, there are so many elements that could really make for a unique experience. And I'll actually kind of fight you on this one... I think Psycho does have enough elements to work, simply because Halloween doesn't seem to have enough elements to work, either... and yet, Michael Myers got his own machine, which is actually a pretty fun machine! I think I'm actually going to go with Psycho for this answer. I have a couple others that are brewing around up in my head, but Psycho seems to be one that you've got me thinking about. You could have Detective Arbogast on the staircase, you could have, of course, the fruit cellar, the shower, the car... there are so many different elements of Psycho that really could make for unique trick shots. And, like, what if the ramp goes up to the upstairs of the Bates mansion? You know, or you can sink the ball like you would sink the car? I don't know, I feel like you've got it... you're on to something there.
Jacob Larson:That's true. And now that I think about it, Psycho would make a good game. If they could get the licensing from Universal for both Jaws and Psycho, I would love to see them go back to using Universal's licensing for maybe other non-horror games, as well. I think it would be great to see them collaborate with Universal again.
AJ Danna:We are seeing a lot of niche and obscure brands getting representation now, too, which I find to be quite fun. But you know, when you think about machines... like Indiana Jones, you know, for example... we've got these iconic franchises creating a really iconic playing experience as well. So I completely agree with you on that. And while we're talking about iconic movies and monsters, who is your favorite classic monster?
Jacob Larson:That is another really tough question because I relate to so many different ones on different levels... but I would probably have to say Frankenstein's Monster. I grew up... like, I didn't necessarily grew up watching Frankenstein, like the original Frankenstein movie and the original Classic Monsters movies... but getting to watch them recently in the past couple years, I've really gotten attached to them. And same with seeing those characters at events like Halloween Horror Nights. I think it's great that the Universal Monsters are getting represented back into our culture and Halloween again. I'm glad that the community is loving to see these characters back in the mazes at Horror Nights, and we're seeing another uprising with these characters... last year having the Bride of Frankenstein maze, which you had the pleasure of acting in, actually... and everything from the Universal Classic Monsters, Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman... I think these mazes are just... like, there's an uproar for them again. I like these characters. I would just love to see them do more with them. And I would even love to see... maybe even them integrating a permanent walkthrough back into the park, where maybe even Walking Dead is, because obviously we had House of Horrors. I don't know how long ago that was. But I sadly never got to walk through that. And I'm so bummed about that. I'm so bummed. But I think with this new uprising of Universal Classic Monsters, it'd be great to see another permanent walk through with these characters.
AJ Danna:I completely agree. The House of Horrors ran from 2007 to 2014. And the space that was previously occupied by Walking Dead and House of Horrors has quite a bit of monster history in and of itself. We've got the Mummy Returns maze and the Van Helsing attraction, which were all in that space as well. Which reminds me, stay tuned to Reel Monsters Podcast for episodes specifically on those attractions in that space. There will be much more of that to come. But I completely agree with you, Jacob... I think now is a time when the Universal Monsters brand is stronger than it's been... like... since the 90s. You know, we had the Doritos tie-ins, we had the Pepsi tie-ins, and these pinball machines and attractions... the 90s were such a ripe time for the Universal Monsters brand, which is largely what inspired Reel Monsters Podcast in the first place. You're going to hear a lot of what we talk about is from the 90s, and is brand tie-ins. I completely agree with you. I hope we do get to see more of these characters in walkthrough attractions. And in general, I am looking forward to the future of a classic monster media, which we'll be covering plenty of here on Reel Monsters Podcast. But before we go, Jacob, tell everybody what's next for you and how they can connect with you on social media.
Jacob Larson:Yeah, so, Pirates Cave has opened up a lot of doors for my future career. So I'm excited to see where that leads me. But yeah, I'm hoping to gain a couple more clients in my pinball repair business. So if you listen to this podcast and own a couple of pinball machines, feel free to reach out to me. My Instagram is@jacoblarsondesigns. You can find me on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and my email is jacoblarson04[at]icloud[dot]com. If you want to reach out to me and need your pinball repaired, I would love to repair your pinball for you. So just feel free to reach out. And even if you just want to talk pinball, I love talking pinball! I love talking horror, and I'm so grateful that you invited me on for this, AJ. Thank you so much.
AJ Danna:You are very welcome, Jacob. And thank you very much for joining us on the very first full length episode of Reel Monsters Podcast. Get in touch! Have him repair your pinball machines, and get some graphic design work, too, while you're at it. That just about wraps today's interview up, so..."keep it reel," monster fans! I'm AJ Danna, and I'll see you next time on Reel Monsters Podcast. Reel Monsters Podcast theme song by Alexander Taylor. Reel Monsters logo and key art by Will Davenport. Reel Monsters Podcast is an unofficial fan tribute to the classic monster stories of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, and is not sponsored by any of the entertainment entities discussed. Any and all opinions expressed within Reel Monsters Podcast are those of my own or those of my guests. Stay tuned and subscribe to Reel Monsters Podcast for even more monstrous discussions!