Horror awards honor Robot Monster, Godzilla, What We Do in the Shadows, George Pal bio, more

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Written By Chris Well

A record-breaking number of voters for the 22nd Annual Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards backed GODZILLA MINUS ONE as the best genre film of 2023.

Named after an obscure B-movie villain of the 1940s, The Rondo Awards honor the best in classic horror research, creativity and film preservation.

The past few weeks we’ve been talking a lot about remembering the 1950s alien horror MST3K-ified movie Robot Monster—and now the movie is being honored by The Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards. The 70th Anniversary 3-D edition of Robot Monster restored by Bob Furmanek and 3-D Film Archive was named for BEST BLU-RAY and BEST RESTORATION OR UPGRADE. Robot Monster also got an honorable mention for FAVORITE COMMENTATOR OF 2023 (for Greg Moffett, Mike Ballew, Eric Kurland, and Lawrence Kaufman), and was a runner-up for BEST EVENT (for “A Deeper Look 3-D Robot Monster in NYC”).

More about the movie and the reissue here:

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About the awards

The Rondo Awards are named after horror actor Rondo Hatton (1894-1946) who was a journalist that found a career as an actor because of his unique facial features. Featured by Universal Studios in a number of horror movies, he became a cult icon.

The Rondo Awards honor the best in classic horror research, creativity and film preservation. This year’s e-mail vote was conducted by online community the Classic Horror Film Board. A Rondo Awards Ceremony will be held June 1 at the WonderFest Convention in Louisville, Kentucky.

In addition to the awards for Robot Monster, other awards this year include:

  • BEST FILM OF 2023: Godzilla: Minus One (directed by Takashi Yakazami)

  • BEST TV PRESENTATION: What We Do in the Shadows

  • BOOK OF THE YEAR: George Pal, Man of Tomorrow (written by Justin Humphreys)

  • BEST CLASSIC MONSTER FICTION: The Book of Renfield: Revised Edition (written by Tim Lucas)

  • BEST DOCUMENTARY: Attack of the Killer Tomatoes Retrospective (directed by Dan Fowler)

  • FAVORITE COMMENTATOR OF 2023: David J. Skal (Freaks)

  • BEST EVENT: Blobfest “Run-Out” at Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, PA

  • BEST BLU-RAY EXTRAS: The Giant Gila Monster / Killer Shrews (Film Masters): Ray Kellogg documentary (by Daniel Griffith’s Ballyhoo Films)

  • BEST INDEPENDENT FILM: When Evil Lurks (directed by Demian Rugna)

  • BEST MAGAZINE (modern): Fangoria

  • BEST MAGAZINE (classic): Classic Monsters of the Movies

  • BEST COLUMN: Kim Newman’s Dungeon (The Dark Side)

  • BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL OR COLLECTION: The Art of the Zombie Movie (by Lisa Morton)

See the whole official list here: Here are the winners of the (Gasp!) 22nd Annual Rondo Hatton Awards

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Chris Well

Chris Well been a writer pretty much his entire life. (Well, since his childhood.) Over the years, he has worked in newspapers, magazines, radio, and books. He now is the chief of the website Monster Complex, celebrating monster stories in lit and pop culture. He also writes horror comedy fiction that embraces Universal Monsters, 1960s sitcoms, 1980s action movies, and the X-Files.

https://chriswell.substack.com/
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