In perusing a list of monster movies on Wikipedia recently, my son discovered a movie called 20 Million Miles From Earth. When he clicked on the link to the entry on the movie, there he was, once again… Ray Harryhausen, master special effects artist in stop-motion animation.
It wasn’t our first encounter with Harryhausen’s work. My son had early encounters with Greek mythology due to my own fond memories of spending hours at my grandma’s poring overD’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Mythology
Well, let me tell you, that was not his reaction. First, he became obsessed with watching the scene again and again. If she had been real, those glowing eyes would have had him stuck permanently in place. Luckily, Medusa is not real. And I could prove it. I found pictures of the model online, like this one. Still, she is a fascinating creature, and according to this video, a very complex piece of stop-motion animation. And even once the initial fascination with Medusa had passed we kept tripping over Ray Harryhausen’s movies. The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms
While Harryhausen worked more in the fantasy and science fiction genres, it all kind of blends together for my monster kid, and the creatures Harryhausen created are memorable. He’s still alive, at age 92, and if you’d like to learn a little more about him, he has an official website. In the past couple of years he’s also published several books through Aurum Press, with the most recent (and most easily available) being Ray Harryhausen’s Fantasy Scrapbook: Models, Artwork and Memories from 65 Years of Filmmaking
; a band called H.P. Lovecraft; and a zillion products for your favorite cultists, including a 
, perfect for baby showers(and yes, I did receive not one, but two of these at mine). And, of course, there are movies.
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