The history of the Monster Movie Club is as strange a story as you could ever imagine. One dark and stormy night as we were sitting around a campfire burning in a trash can on East 7th Street and Avenue A, a low wailing noise was heard from nearby St. Marks Place. A thin mysterious figure, one thought perhaps he was from Eastern Europe, appeared and gave us a mysterious key to unlock a dark basement crypt. Was this key giver’s name really Stanley Strychacki, as he claimed? Or was it actually Alucard spelled in reverse? And what was the true meaning of the street number, 57?

Thus it came to pass that a trio of artists, Susan Hannaford, Tom Scully, and Frank Holliday, hypnotized by Stanley’s sparkling smile and old-world charm, made their way past the spiked iron gates, descended the dark steps and fumbled with the key. The only restriction the mysterious man made, when he handed over the stewardship of his crypt – activities must be quiet so as not to draw attention from the neighbors.

The three were still in the afterglow of Susan’s successful theater production, “The New Wave Vaudeville show”- co-produced by Tom who did the audio-visual tech, where Frank designed the sets as well as performed. Frank’s verdict on the space – “Paint it black”.

It was decided to transform the crypt space into a screening room and theater space. They had the connections to talent, a large circle of friends, and the experience. Tom and Susan had programmed films for many years previously and were particularly interested in B Movies, Drive-In exploitation films, as well as late night TV Creature Features. And so it was that “The Monster Movie Club” began in May 1979. In addition to the weekly film program, “The Monster Movie Club” threw many special events for its members which included Contests, Field Trips, Costume Balls, and Prizes. It was also the first event in the calendar year (before there was a Club 57 calendar) under the venue’s restructuring that quickly brought fame and actual customers to Club 57.

Well before home video rentals, and hundreds of cable TV channels, they were credited as being the first to have celebrated and created film programs of low budget horror on a regular basis, which they say, started the trend of schlock cinema later. At that time, these forgotten films were rarely seen, unless you could track down, rent and project them in 16mm film prints. “The Monster Movie Club” is credited for reviving many films that had all but disappeared since the 50s and 60s, having had their run at the Drive- In and then fallen out of distribution. It was a surprise success, and we had to limit membership after a few months.

The Monster Movie Club was a true Grind-House atmosphere where you could shout comments at the screen. They met on Tuesday nights. Susan dressed up as a Monster or Creature and sat at the door greeting members and collecting the $1 dues. She also created the Member’s Newsletters that were mailed to them every week. Tom ran the projector. They both pored over film catalogs, found rare prints through collectors, programmed the films, as well as created the (now very well known) posters as a team.

Even now The Monster Movie Club lives on, in the warped memories of the members, on this website, and also as part of a major exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC celebrating Club 57 which grew out of that very same basement where our story began. Read about the show here and here.

Enjoy the website, order our T-Shirts and other merchandise, and please don’t forget to check out the link to the Club 57 Artists Fund. The Monster Movie Club will contribute $5.00 from every sale to the Club 57 Artists Fund. It’s a ghoulish good cause.

Thanks Monsters !

Monsternally yours,
Susan Hannaford, Chairman
Tom Scully. President