And now you can catch some footage featuring the most minimal SFX in a giant monster movie ever! Filmed entirely in camera, using perspective techniques and fingers!
Giant Cicada attacks a landmark
Giant Cicada eats a pedestrian!
Says Kaiju Search-Robot Avery:
Here’s at least some of this year’s Halloween special appearance of David “The Rock” Nelson on WGN TV News out of Chicago, Illinois. He’s absolutely nuts in it as usual, and we get to see a tiny bit of footage from both Killer Cicadas and Attack of the Giant Cicadas! It’s so terrible it’s terribly funny and just plain fun! When The Rock’s involved there’s never a dull moment.
And while we’re on the topic, here’s a faux movie trailer for another giant cicada movie, “Attack of the Giant Killer Cicadas”, this one not quite as no-budget as Nelson’s, but close. It really captures that ol’ Bert I. Gordon ambiance. View it here.
What you’ve just experienced is a trailer for a documentary about one of the most infamous indie filmmakers you’ve never heard of, David “The Rock” Nelson. Nelson has produced over 30 genre films — all of them notoriously no-budget. He is certifiably insane, yet somehow has achieved the status of a latter-day poster-boy for indie filmmaking.
Nelson’s work has become something of an obsession for Kaiju Search-Robot Avery, too, so I suggested that instead of hiding in the background, he should write up the article himself. He did. Well done, Avery!
David “The Rock” Nelson, Only Slightly in Focus
by Avery Battles
David “THE ROCK” Nelson, the infamous Z-grade, zero[no] budget backyard filmmaker from Des Plaines, Illinois, is at it again! As stated in the title of a 2007 documentary about him, “Can’t Stop the Rock!”, there seems to be no stopping this insane and out-of-control madman. He has been dubbed “The Ed Wood Of The 90s And Beyond That, Even” and “America’s Two-Fisted Filmmaker”. Many see him as a nuisance. To others he is an inspiration. Then, of course, there’s the majority of us, who don’t know exactly what to make of him. Whatever the case, he’s here and he doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon.
So who is this one-man filmmaking machine?
In the early 1960s, at the ripe young age of just 7 years old, David Nelson had big dreams of becoming a monster movie filmmaker. He asked his parents to buy him an 8mm camera, but at the time they couldn’t afford one. However, they did manage to purchase him a Kodak 120 photo camera, in front of which he would pose in his Halloween costumes and masks. Later in the mid ’60s, after forming a ‘monster club’ with some other neighborhood kids — one of whom’s father owned a super 8 mm movie camera with which he would shoot short monster films featuring his mates — he made his acting debut. It was in a 3-minute short called “The Ant Devil”. Looking at the film now, no one could have predicted that one of these young boys would eventually grow up to become an infamous filmmaker nor that the title creature of the short, a 6-inch plastic toy ant, would later be revived to star in films from that future filmmaker.
In high school Nelson would take two years of photography, which would later help his filmmaking career tremendously. In the early 1970s he would become fascinated with boxing and bodybuilding and would train furiously after school with his boxing coach. Subsequently he would join the marines, serving from 1976 to 1980, where he was given the nickname “Corporal Oo-Rah”. There he joined the boxing team and then found God and, as he puts it, “was saved”. It was also in the marines while stationed in the Philippines that he finally purchased his first dual-8 movie camera.
After the marines he would join a bible college and major in evangelism. While there he also took up wrestling. Upon graduating with a BA degree, he would start preaching at any given opportunity anywhere, from missionary churches to street corners. To make a living he became a door-to-door salesman selling encyclopedias, dictionaries, and medical books. The whole time, whenever given the opportunity, he’d film daily events with his video camera. This material is often incorporated into his films alongside other stock footage.
Finally in the early 1990s his love of “Monsta” movies, as he loves to call them, would take center stage as he began filming a series of short films and features starring such famous monster icons as Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy, the Werewolf, and others. These sport such insane titles as “Frankenstein And Dracula vs. Sodom Insane”, “The Giant Fly”, “Dracula From Space”, “Miss Werewolf”, “Mummy A.D. 1993″ and of course the “Pumkinman” and “Devil Ant” series.
All up, he has produced 33 features and shorts so far. He films them on 8/8mm. film and edits them to VHS, then transfers them to DVD. In his career he has befriend many famous B-movie celebrities, including actor Conrad Brooks (pictured with Rock on the right), director Roger Corman, gore-splattered FX wizard Tom Savini, horror host Svengoolie, Forrest J. Ackerman and others, some of whom would appear and act in films such as “Conrad Brooks vs. The Werewolf” and his personal favorite “Demon Monster From Outerspace”.
Even innocent bystanders can unknowingly become victims in his films as he’s always on the look-out for unsuspecting celebrities and civilians to attack with his notorious plastic “Devil Ant” prop (see below), while catching it all on film to incorporate into his next feature. Nelson has been known to tape public footage of just about anybody and edit it into his films. Just ask Hilary Clinton, Fred Olen Ray, Harou Nakajima and Kenpachiro Satsuma, among others.
Nelson’s personality is quite explosive and unpredictable as he has been regularly known to rip off his shirt and break into an air-boxing match or to flex his muscles for the cameras during live public appearances. He’s been the subject of two documentaries: the aforementioned “Can’t Stop The Rock” and “Baby Food And Monstas”. He is also an annual Guest Of Honor at the “Monster Bash” that takes place each June in Butler, PA, and has appeared on WGN TV News out of Chicago several times, as well as on “Wild Chicago”, Comedy Central’s “Daily Show” and the “Jon Stewart Show”.
The Demon Monster
He will be making a special return appearance on WGN TV News, his 13th to date, this Halloween October 31st, between 7 and 9 in the morning. There he will be presenting footage of his latest “Monsta” movies in segments during the 2-hour broadcast. You can expect “The Giant Horny Toad Monster” [a.k.a. "Son Of Gila Monster"], the double bill “Killer Cicadas” and “Attack of the Giant Cicadas” [a.k.a. "Oo-Rah vs. The Cicadas"], and the short vids “The Giant Grasshopper Monster” and “The Giant Cricket Monster”. Is this something you can afford to miss?
The Giant Fly
Information on The Rock and his films, including how to get copies, can be obtained through the links below as well as contacting the man himself.
What is $quid? Well, there are a couple of answers to that question — and here’s the first:
$quid, then, is an short film directed by Daley Pearson and Luke Tierney, and starring Josh Lawson and Ed Kavalee. It was released in 2007, runs for 7 minutes and is about a giant squid in the Brisbane River — a squid seeking revenge and money. Hey, who isn’t?
But that’s not the end of it. Pearson and Tierney have now expanded the award-winning short into a feature length film of the same name.
What’s it about? Well, it features “a giant squid that terrorises a New Year’s Eve cruise on the Brisbane River.” We’re urged to think Anaconda directed by the Coen Brothers.
Commented the filmmakers, “We’re calling it a Romster Comedy. That’s a genre we invented which is a romantic, monster, comedy.”
Kaiju Search-Robot Avery asked Daley Pearson a few questions about the project:
Avery: When do you plan on releasing this film?
Pearson: $quid is set for release late this year, early next year.
Avery: Is there a distributor?
Pearson: A few international distributors are currently looking at the film for cinema release. And we are hosting test screenings in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne City in Australia in the coming months. This is to gauge an audience reaction to the film.
Avery: Do we get to see a Squid?
Pearson: Yes. You get to see a giant squid in the film.
Here is a still from the film, showing the Brisbane River in all its creepy glory:
The Backbrain has started a list of kaiju-related forums, as recommended by Kaiju Search-Robot Avery. Right now, there are only two links, but there will be more. You will find the link on the right, under Pages. Or go directly there.
fromUchu daikaiju Girara [trans. Giant Space Monster Guilala]
(1967; dir. Kazui Nihonmatsu)
[aka The X from Outer Space (US, 1968)]
Monsters have rights also!
Guilala is best known and loved (not to mention derided) as the “giant space chicken”? Whatever he is, Guilala definitely takes the prize as the “craziest kaiju ever”. He arrives on earth as an alien spore attached to a space shuttle and quickly grows into one insanely weird-looking monster, before beginning to wreak havoc on the world. The film itself might not be the crowning glory of the Japanese daikaiju eiga genre, but Guilala wins this particular contest of ours hands down. [By the way, he isn't a giant X, despite the title of the Americanised version of the film -- but the "what the hell IS that?" response suggested by the anonymous letter X expresses the feelings of all those who view him...] News that Guilala is finally being given a second film after all this time — in Girara-no Gyakushuu Touyaku Samitto Kiki Ippatsu [lit. Guilala’s Counter Attack: the Touyaku Summit One-Shot Crisis], directed by Minoru Kawasaki and due for release later this year — has provoked the most excitement we’ve had in kaiju fan circles since Godzilla’s swansong in 2004.
Below is a remodelling of Guilala by (I think) Ulf Lundgren (source):
A montage of scenes of Guilalanese rampage:
The Japanese trailer (and yes, it looks better in widescreen):
first introduced inDaikaiju Gamera
[trans. Giant Monster Gamera] (1965; dir. Noriaki Yuasa)
[aka Gammera the Invincible (US, 1966)]
Gamera! Gamera!
You’re so groovy, Gamera!
You’re so groovy, Gamera!
You are groovy, Gamera!
Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury
There’s a big monster headed our way
Coming out of deep freeze
Whether we like it or not
Here it comes, flying down
Go! Go! Go!
Down it with jet flame
Groovy, groovy Gamera!
Groovy, groovy Gamera!
You are groovy, Gamera!
The creators of this Japanese kaiju hero, the “friend of children”, were either big-time drug users or had incredible imaginations. In their attempt to rip off the success of Toho’s Gojira (Godzilla) but to do something different with the concept, Daiei Studios came up with something very different indeed! A giant fireball-spewing, often bi-pedal, jet-propelled flying turtle from space! (Or, in Kaneko’s superior 1990s trilogy, a bio-engineered Gaia figure, designed to protect the Earth.) The huge lumbering creature retracts his legs, shoots flames from the holes and takes to the air, spinning like a giant nuclear-powered top. All you strange supporting kaiju villains beware! Groovy!
A collection of Gamera trailers (US versions):
Gamera vs Zigra trailer (original Japanese version):
And the trailer for what might be the best daikaiju eiga of all time, Gamera 3: Iris kakusei (1999; dir. Shusuke Kaneko) [aka Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris):
first introduced inMosura [trans. Mothra]
(Japan-1961; dir. Ishiro Honda) [aka Mothra (US, 1962)]
and then she co-starred in Mosura tai Gojira [trans. Mothra vs Godzilla]
(1964; dir. Ishiro Honda) [aka Godzilla vs. The Thing (US-1964)]
Listen, when the girls came to us, we did nothing to help them, so why would they help us? [from Godzilla vs Mothra (1964)]
A giant moth seems simple enough, right? A giant moth that is a deity to the inhabitants of an irradiated island (most commonly known as “Infant Island”)? A moth that is mankind’s only hope against Godzilla? A moth that is perpetually reborn, but is willing to fight for “good relations” even in its larval state? And what about a magical giant moth that can take on various forms, including “Fairy Mothra”: a tiny form that can spread into many; “Mecha-Mothra”: an armored version of the titular beast; and “Aqua-Mothra”: an aquatic take on the creature? This mystical creature never ceases to amaze with its endless array of magical tricks — and remains extremely popular in its home country. Best of all it comes equipped with two tiny twin magical singing fairies…
fromSan daikaiju chikyu saidai no kessen
[trans. Three Giant Monsters’ Decisive Battle for Earth]
(Japan-1964; dir. Ishiro Honda)
[aka Ghidrah, The Three-Headed Monster]
Naoko Shindo: Oh it looks like they’re having a conversation. Oh Shindo, what do you think they’re saying to each other? Detective Shindo: Huh, how would I know? You expect me to understand monster talk?
This space monster, the arch-nemesis of Godzilla the king of all monsters, is definitely one of the most insane creations to date to grace our list — a giant golden-scaled, triple-headed dragon kaiju from space that can spew lightning bolts from its mouths with destructive consequences. In its original screen appearances it even had golden hair! Over the years there have been many various different takes on the creature, including a cyborg version developed by the Futurians, but no matter what form he takes Ghidrah or King Ghidorah easily steals the show with every appearance and is popularly considered the most genuinely fearsome of the lot.
The trailer for Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster:
My name is Robert Hawkins. It’s 6:42 AM on Saturday, May 23rd. Approximately seven hours ago, some thing attacked the city. I don’t know what it is. If you found this tape, I mean if you’re watching this right now, then you probably know more about it than I do.
After months of very addictive, and seemingless endless, viral marketing campaigns online giant-monster watchers were all anxiously awaiting the chance to finally see what producer J.J. Abrams’ “Cloverfield” really was? Speculation had been both desperate and absurd. Fans raced to the theater in excitement to finally catch a glimpse of the titular beast, only to leave the theater scratching their heads wondering exactly what the hell it was that they just had seen? Some sort of sea creature? An alien? Glimpses of it within the film itself are fragmented, partial and fast, but what we do see has amazing impact. This is a film where we got to feel what it might be like to be right in the middle of a giant monster attack, as it wove its powerful 9-11 allegory.
You can get a better idea of the creature’s overall shape from this composite shot using a newly released model:
And here are two paintings inspired by Clover…
I couldn’t find the artist’s name, but the image, which was apparently painted by a fan immediately after seeing the film for the first time, came from this site.
And this stunning piece, titled “The Stockholm Incident” by the artist (samsonsreaper), comes from here (click on the image to view it full size — it’s worth it):
from Birth of a Legend: The Story of the Wawa
(US-2007; dir: Steve Wiggins)
Every town has a local legend. Sweet Tee was no different — it’s just that Sweet Tee’s legend was eating people.
This tiny little indie just came out of nowhere — “nowhere” being Alabama, of course — to take the kaiju community by surprise. It features one of the most insane creature ideas ever — a giant atomic swamp monster formed out of “radiated plastic fishing worms” merged with “catfish DNA”! The craziest thing of all is the fact that it doesn’t even fit that description in ways that one might imagine it would. Hell, even the name is nuts: “WAWA”, which stands for “West-Alabama-Whoop-Ass”. This is one crazy kaiju that has to be seen to be believed.
Sneakin’ closer … closer … closer…
Gotcha!
It just wants to be loved!
“Clean your windscreen, sir?”
“I’m lookin’ for me contacts … and you’re not helpin’!”
