Halloween Nightmares: The Shock Monster

The 'box art' for this kit.

Here's another in the seven part series (at this writing at least) of another very endearing scene from the Halloween Nightmares collection put out by Garage Kits US. This scene shows a somewhat rotund trick-or-treater sensing something bad is about to happen as a gaunt scarecrow like monster is ready to pounce from behind.

As in the case of the previous kit I built (see 'The Melting Man' in this section of the site), the detail is outstanding and cast quality is excellent. Though I found a few seam lines on a figure and a bubble here and there on the base, there is nothing to truly complain about. The parts fit very well and were 'broken down' in such a way to disguise connection points so very little putty filling was necessary. For example, the Shock Monster's mouth is a scraggly mess of teeth, the lower jaw of which is its own piece. If it had been cast into the head, any painting would have been a serious challenge.

If I had a complaint (and it is a minor one to be sure) it would be that the Creature From The Black Lagoon design on the trick-or-treater's costume was a stick on application. I would have preferred a decal since I think they're more durable in terms of aging and adhesion fatigue over time. But that's just me.

Like the first kit I built, this one comes loaded with details you can elect to use or not, namely a pair of jack-o-lanterns with removable tops, a Creature mask you can position as you like and a length of picket fence which, I should mention, ties this kit with those on either side of it in the series should you purchase them.

The color pallet is up to the builder and copying the one shown in the manufacturer's version is fine. I went a bit different on the little boy's Creature costume by making the arms and back a bright gloss green that one would see in these cheap vinyl costumes from the 60's which was (I think) what the sculptor was aiming for.

The Shock Monster is something of an outlier in that it isn't based on any specific “classic” monster from what I can determine. He is cool looking however, so I went with a drowned corpse look albeit a very tall one. The skin has a plum color base with a medium washes of dark green. I then came back with several coats of a light gray until I got the appearance I was aiming for. Body wounds, cuts and bruises were applied in varying degrees of reddish maroon. I used very fine strands of red thread on the only eye to suggest a leering blood shot look. The teeth were all painted of white and then given a light coat of clear yellow as were the finger and toe nails.

The base is a remarkable display of detailing with dozens of individual leaves of varying tree species (I think I saw oak, maple & sumac), candy debris, sidewalk and street cracks and so on. Garage Kit US might want to consider selling these bases as stand alone products, they are that nice.

So there you have it. I have five more of these kits to go but I expect the others will be as an enjoyable build as these two were and I will looking forward to any future additions to the series. 5/10/19