The final episode of The Monster Club retells, w/ great fidelity, R. Chetwynd-Hayes’ short story “The Humgoo”; in the story, protagonist Gerald Mansfield spends a night in a church where he (conveniently) finds notes that explain his origins of Loughville—a village hidden by a spell & occupied by ghouls. In the short story, there is only text, but in the film, while Gerald reads, we see a series of seven illustrations. They’re not animated, but the camera pans & zooms over them for dramatic effect.
It’s strange. Cheaper than animation or live action? The use of the illustrations suggests that the notes Gerald finds are illustrated—though they’re not.
In the club itself, above the table where John Carradine enjoys a glass of tomato juice, is a “monsters genealogical chart”—Vincent Price uses it to explain “the basic rules of monsterdom.” The chart & the Loughville flashback illustrations were drawn for the film by illustrator John Bolton.
