Top Trump Horror Cards

In my box of memories I have the Top Trumps Horror Cards, dating back to the late 1970’s. The artwork is nicely splashy watercolours, and I’m surprised how gruesome and bloody some of them are. Looking at them now I recognise some of the original inspirations, and I’ve been able to find the original source image and include it below.

However, many of the originals elude me, so I need your help. Check out each of the cards below, and ping me @muteboy to tell me what they are based on. If you can find the actual source image, all the better – I’ll include your name and the image below. Try and find the exact actual shot used if possible! Yes, Gargantua looks a bit like the Creature from the Black Lagoon, but the pattern of scales on the chest is different, and the artist was clearly not inclined to improvise.

Let’s find these monsters!

Card Image Description Artwork Source
Top Trumps Horror - title cardTop Trumps Horror - game instructions Cover of the pack, with Dracula See below
Top Trumps Horror - other set title card - Devil PriestTop Trumps Horror - back of the Devil Priest card Devil Priest
Cover of the bonus pack you could send off for
Top Trumps Horror - free pack offer Collectors free gift card
You collected these and you could save up for other packs.
n/a
 Top Trumps Horror - collection checklist Another cover card, this time with the checklist of available packs on it. n/a
 Top Trumps Horror - Dracula Dracula Christopher Lee in ‘Dracula’ (1972)
(found by mjp)
dracula
 Top Trumps Horror - Prince of Darkness Prince of Darkness The demon mask from ‘Onibaba’ (1964)
(found by mjp)
prince_of_darkness
 Top Trumps Horror - The Risen Dead The Risen Dead
This looks a bit Fulci.
Not Fulci. Not Peter Cushing. Anyone?
 Top Trumps Horror - The Freak The Freak This is from the 1966 Hammer movie ‘The Reptile’, but I can’t find the exact still it’s copied from.
 Top Trumps Horror - Man Eating Plant Man-Eating Plant  See Hypnogoria!
 Top Trumps Horror - The Ghoul The Ghoul ‘The Monster Maker’ (1944)
(found by @ThatColdShiver)
The-Monster-Maker-Still-2
 Top Trumps Horror - Lord of Death Lord of Death Lon Chaney in the 1925 version of ‘The Phantom of the Opera’. He crops up elsewhere in this set, under different names.
(found by mjp)
lord_of_death
 Top Trumps Horror - Vampire Bat Vampire Bat
Could this be original artwork?
 Top Trumps Horror - The Thing The Thing
Interesting, this one. I think this was drawn before the Carpenter movie, yet it does show a dog with weird legs growing out of it. Anyway.
It’s from the movie ‘Angry Red Planet’.
(found by mjp)
the_thing
 Top Trumps Horror - Maggot Maggot See Hypnogoria!
 Top Trumps Horror - Phantom of the Opera Phantom of the Opera ‘The Abominable Dr Phibes’ (1971)
(found by Richard Littler)
dr-phibes-2
Top Trumps Horror - The Hangman The Hangman Lon Chaney again, in ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ (1925)
(found by mjp)
the_hangman
 Top Trumps Horror - Incredible Melting Man Incredible Melting Man This was taken from a still used in many of the posters for the 1977 movie.
(found by mjp)
incredible_melting_man
 Top Trumps Horror - Two Headed Monster Two Headed Monster The first trial of the experiment that would put “a white bigot’s head on a soul brother’s body” in ‘The Thing with Two Heads’ (1972)
(found by mjp)
two_headed_monster
 Top Trumps Horror - Fu Manchu Fu Manchu Boris Karloff in ‘The Mask of Fu Manchu’ (1932)
(found by mjp)
fu_manchu
Top Trumps Horror - Skeleton Skeleton
This does look a bit like something from ‘Army of Darkness’ but the cards were made even before ‘The Evil Dead’.
 See Hypnogoria!
 Top Trumps Horror - The Sorceress The Sorceress  See Hypnogoria!
 Top Trumps Horror - Headhunter Headhunter The Genie from ‘The Thief of Baghdad’ (1940)
(found by Richard Littler)
(also found by @ThatColdShiver)THE THIEF OF BAGDAD, 1940
 Top Trumps Horror - Zetan Warlord Zetan Warlord
I’m sure I’ve seen this somewhere.
 See Hypnogoria!
 Top Trumps Horror - Cannibal Cannibal
Top Trumps Horror - The Gorgon The Gorgon
Bit of a mess this one.
Top Trumps Horror - Godzilla Godzilla
Why is he dressed up?!
 Top Trumps Horror - Werewolf Werewolf Michael Landon in ‘I Was a Teenage Werewolf’ (1955)
(found by mjp)
werewolf
 Top Trumps Horror - The Mad Axeman The Mad Axeman
 Top Trumps Horror - The Executioner The Executioner  See Hypnogoria!
 Top Trumps Horror - Madman Madman See Hypnogoria!
Top Trumps Horror - Granite Man Granite Man Looks a bit “made up”, if you know what I mean.
Top Trumps Horror - King Kong King Kong
Obviously this is just King Kong, but I can’t find the exact still used.
Aha! It’s not King Kong, it’s Konga, a knockoff from 1961! Read about this and other knockoffs at Den of Geek here.
(found by mjp)
konga
 Top Trumps Horror - Ape Man Ape Man
 Top Trumps Horror - Circus of Death Circus of Death
 Top Trumps Horror - Gargantua Gargantua
It’s not the Creature from the Black Lagoon, because the details on the scales don’t match up (and considering the artist was just copying, I doubt they improvised).
‘It! The Terror from Beyond Space’ (1958)
Spotted in the feed of @Dr_GialloI couldn’t find an exact match for this image, but judging by the big dark shadows behind the monster, it came from the same publicity photo shoot as these:
it_terror2
it_terror1
Top Trumps Horror - The Mad Magician The Mad Magician Lon Chaney in ‘London After Midnight’ (1927)
(found by mjp)
mad_magician