New exhibition celebrates cinema’s monstrous icons

Iconic monsters from cinema’s history are being celebrated in a new exhibition that opens this week at The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum.

Dinosaurs, Dragons and Monsters will showcase a range of historic memorabilia relating to ‘creature features’ through the ages.

These range from a one-fifth scale model of a Jurassic Park velociraptor, originally gifted to Sir Richard Attenborough for his role in the film, to photos taken on the set of the 1961 British film, Gorgo. There are also promotional materials and other ephemera, including a King Kong-branded bubble bath from the 1970s.

The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum, on the University of Exeter’s Streatham campus, is home to one of the largest collections of material relating to the moving image in Britain. An accredited public museum and academic research facility, it holds a collection of more than 90,000 items, 1,000 of which are on public display in its galleries.

“Monsters originate in folklore, myth and literature, and have symbolised a diverse array of themes and fears,” said Matthew Lee, Assistant Curator at the Museum, and curator of the exhibition. “And for more than a century, they’ve been a key part of cinema as well, terrifying and thrilling us in equal measure, while occasionally eliciting sympathy and challenging our view of what it is to be ‘monstrous’.

“We hope the exhibition offers visitors a fascinating journey through the darkest lagoons, deepest oceans, densest jungles and outer limits of space.”

Frankenstein is one of culture’s most iconic monsters, but is also a sympathetic figure, manipulated by his creator – and a 1970s Frankenstein board game features, along with Gizmo, one of the puppet stars from Gremlins (1984).

Phil Wickham, Curator of the BDCM adds: “We have some fantastic exhibits on monsters among our collections, so it is great to have this opportunity to showcase them and celebrate their impact upon modern culture.”

Dinosaurs, Dragons and Monsters is open to the public until Christmas. Entry is free and open every day and more details can be found on the website or via social media @bdcmuseum.