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The Backbrain mentioned it back in 2008. Kaiju Search-Robot Avery (in that squeaky mechanised voice of his) commented:

Remember this? We thought it might’ve been the trailer for David “The Rock” Nelson’s films, “Killer Cicadas” and “Attack Of The Giant Cicadas”, which are still forthcoming … Well, we know now that it wasn’t, huh? It’s still a faux trailer for a non-existent film but all of our enthusiasm, plus the endless commenters on the vid’s YouTube page and the director’s love for classic 50′s atomic monster flicks, has convinced the director to expand on it. He hopes to turn it into a feature film and is still attempting to secure funding. Any interested investors should contact him through his two websites [linked below]. Awesome, huh?

Awesome? Sure! Director Jeff Barklage has provided us with some neat images and new test footage that looks like it came straight from a 1950s low-budget exploitation studio — actually it looks better than the output of many original films of this kind.

First off, here are some new miniature effects shots that Barklage and his crew have been shooting for their retro creature feature about “giant insects attacking mankind, what else?” [Note: If the following video doesn't run on this page, go here to view it.]

He explained: “I shot this with my RED ONE camera… .yet went totally old school in the way it was shot: real living cicadas crawling on and around miniature set pieces I constructed, shot outdoors using real backgrounds and skies in a forced-perspective manner to integrate the miniatures into reality and to meld the illusion together. They were also overcranked to give a sense of scale in the insect’s motion.”

Like this….

Check out more of the great production shots in the Gallery below.

Links:

• Official website: www.barklage.com
• Agent: TDN ARTISTS
• online reel
• Vimeo Reel

Source: Jeff Barklage via Avery Guerra

Gallery:

Source: Quiet Earth via Avery Guerra

[Scratches arm, pats cat, removes some zombie detritus from under the table ... been meaning to get rid of that for a while ... oh, you're back? Cool looking movie, eh?]

Well, things have been moving along at the usual languid shuffle pace of the classic zombie, but two trailers have now surfaced along with more images and an 8-minute behind-the-scenes video. Check them out! They’re infused with irony and a wry humour. And zombies from outer space, of course!

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Behind the Scenes:

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Gallery of Images: Click to view

Source: via Avery Guerra. Written by Robert Hood.

The Curse of the Phantom Shadow (US-2012; short [approx. 30 min.]; dir. Mark Ross)

Synopsis:

The year is 1948 and the United States has a new enemy, The Phantom Shadow. This dark figure has diabolical plans for captured scientist, Dr Hammond and his War Department weapons of mass destruction. When the Phantom Shadow launches a treacherous missile attack on key locations in the United States, the government takes action.

There is only one man to call, Agent 236, an elite government agent. Agent 236 has been dispatched to launch a rescue.

Along the way, Agent 236 is befriended by a  spunky, sarcastic gas-station attendant ,who just happens to have pinup-girl good looks.  She also just happens to be in the market for a little action and excitement. Luckily, Agent 236 is the man of her dreams. Agent 236 puts the station attendant and her tow truck into service in pursuit of the Phantom Shadow and together they take on the most diabolical villain the world has ever faced.

“Our film takes place in 1948,” explained director Mark Ross. “We have professional actors, some of which have been in Hollywood productions.” The Backbrain asked him  what inspired him.

As a kid growing up in the 1970s/1980s I was a huge Star Wars fan. After I learned that Star Wars was influenced by pulp magazines and movie serials, I started to track them down and soon fell in love with the source material. I have always had a huge affinity for the 1940s, as my father was a 16mm film collector. Growing up, my dad screened classic movies in our basement. Before there were VCRs or DVD players, our family watched full length movies on a cold New England night.

My father was both an engineer and cinematographer. He gave me my first movie camera when I was in grammar school. By the time I was in 4th grade my father had already taught me stop motion animation. He had also introduced my to radio dramas, decoder badges, and his vintage 1940s Gilbert Erector set. Before I knew it, I was already trying to find a way to combine all of these interests.

The short film is well underway, and looks great (as you can see from the promotional video below) but more money is need to complete the task. Hence, like many others before him, Mark is making a play for backing through the Kickstarter website. “Until recently,” he explained, “we were 100% self financed from my personal savings. We are now trying to raise money to finish our production.”

The Backbrain asked Mark what he was aiming to achieve through this film:

I’m trying to put together a concept film that will demonstrate the skill and talent of my cast and crew. It is my hope that someone will see this movie, and fund us to shoot either a feature-length film or television pilot based upon these characters and story situations. I would like to be able to bring back my entire cast and crew for a full-length movie, and beyond that a series of films based upon these characters.

If you think you’d like to help Mark complete his film and fulfil these ambitions, check out the Kickstarter site to see what rewards your pledge will get you.

Source: Mark Ross; Kickstarter. Written by Robert Hood

The series is described thus by Davis: “MORAV: Missions plunges you in to the middle of World War III with a giant robot crew and an embedded news correspondent as they fight for survival in a terrifying robotic war.  MORAV examines the human condition under the most extreme life and death situations.”

If that sounds like your cup-of-tea (or coffee or motor oil or whatever beverage you prefer), go to the Kickstarter site and pledge them some money. There’s plenty of information there to show you what you’re backing. Frankly, it looks superb.

Davis has already achieved an enormous amount, in terms of background development and franchise building, having completed an excellent graphic novel set in a world caught up in a massive near-future war, with action, drama and giant robots as well as developing many of the robotic stars. Take a look at this appeal video to get an idea of the quality he is aiming for.

Go read about it — and put your money where your enthusiasm is. You’ve got about 8 hours from… now!

More details about MORAV, the franchise, on Robot War Espresso. I’ve been meaning to do a piece on the excellent graphic novel, which I’ve read and thoroughly enjoyed. Must get to that. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: MORAV: Missions succeeded in obtaining the funds targeted through KickStarter. Congratulations to Fon Davis and crew! Looks like the giant robot wars really begin now!

Then George Lucas gave us Tatooine, Luke Skywalker’s desert planet.

Seeing that image in Star Wars, many scoffed and said it was impossible to have a planet orbiting two suns. How often have you heard that kind of nit-pickery in the aftermath of a science fiction film viewing?

Now there’s this, an artist’s impression of Kepler-16(AB)-b:

Yes, astronomers have discovered a binary system with an orbiting planet — Kepler-16(AB)-b or “Tatooine” as it is being dubbed.

So much for the nit-pickers.

• Written  by Robert Hood

In the cinema the best known versions of Wells’ novel have been:

1. the 1953 creature-feature directed by Byron Haskin and starring Gene Barry and Ann Robinson, in which the plot is moved to the States, the key POV character becomes a fairly typical 50s scientist rather than a low-level journalist, and the Martian tripods are re-imagined as flying saucers on legs of invisible energy; and
2. Steven Spielberg’s much-maligned 2005 blockbuster, still set in the US, with Tom Cruise as the POV character — this time a working-class heavy-equipment operator with poor family skills who finds some redemption through adversity — and beautifully rendered Martian machines with the appropriate three legs but a rather logically flawed if visually spectacular “origin”.

Among the film versions that have appeared over the past few years, one of the more interesting was made for Pendragon Pictures by Timothy Hines in 2005 and subsequently released to DVD. It remains faithful to Wells’ novel, by setting the story in England at the turn of the century and not playing around with the Martians and their machines, or with the main characters. The film grossed US$7 million — not bad for a low-budget independent that didn’t have a major cinema release — yet the director considered it a failure. “The 2005 film was both rushed and severely over-scaled with highly compressed post-production deadlines,” Hines told SFcrowsnest.com.

As a result the same crew has taken a new approach to the material, having made a re-make of/addendum to the first — War of the Worlds: The True Story:

The movie goes the route of Welles and the Mercury Theater of the Air production, adopting a mock-documentary approach, using footage ostensibly taken during the invasion — which occurred as Wells described it but knowledge of which was subsequently suppressed by the world’s governments.

“It’s not a documentary. It’s a mock-documentary, like a CNN documentary on steroids with action and horror.” (Hines)

The Premise:

A 1965 film crew captured the memories of the last living survivor of the war between Earth and Mars that took place c1900. The filmed memoirs, discovered in a vault in 2006, were found  with hours of previously unknown footage of the alien/Earth apocalypse, the actual Martian invaders and their war machines. This is the motion picture presentation of that eyewitness account. (Source: Official website)

Trailer:

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Early Teaser:

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This looks like a potentially exciting film to me, with a rationale and an air of authenticity that takes it well beyond many of the “found footage” (camera-verité style) pseudo-dramas that have haunted cinemas and DVD stores since The Blair Witch Project was a huge, and hugely unexpected hit, in 1999.

Hines began a Special Engagement tour on 23 July this year, in Seattle, Washington. He is currently touring the film through the US and Canada — a tour that will last well into 2012. Check out the huge list of remaining engagements here. If the Martians are coming your way, think yourself lucky. The rest of us will have to wait for the DVD release.

Sources: Official website; Facebook; Pendragon Pictures. Via Avery Guerra. Written by Robert Hood.

Laputa: Castle in the Sky

Reviewed by Robert Hood

There is a distinctly steampunk — or perhaps more accurately retro, post-Industrial — aesthetic  to Hayao Miyazaki’s typically luminous fantasy anime, Laputa: Castle in the Sky. Technological imagery combines with more fantastical elements to create the sort of magical ambiance  quintessential to Miyazaki’s grandmaster status in the field of animation. Though science fiction in general appearance, replete with flying machines, robots and advanced, if ancient, technology, much of the film feels like magic. The combination makes for a wonderful two-hours of family entertainment — profound simplicity, darkness wrapped in auras of light.

After an opening scene in which a young girl (Sheeta) falls from a huge dirigible while trying to escape both a mysterious enemy and air-pirates, the action shifts to Pazu, an engineer’s apprentice at work in a vast mining construct, clearly well past its prime. He sees the young girl not so much falling as floating down from the sky, apparently carried to safety by the glowing pendant she wears around her neck. He catches her in his arms.

This encounter is the beginning of an adventurous journey that involves spectacular chase scenes, pseudo-fascist troops, air battles, puzzles to be solved — and a mythical flying castle that is what remains of an ancient civilisation whose power had been vast but has long since been lost to ground-dwelling humanity. Many seek the source of that power, however, and Pazu must not only help Sheeta escape them, but also unravel the mystery of who she is and how she is connected to Laputa.

Though the sinister pirates convincingly turn into eccentric comrades during the unravelling of the narrative,  and the overall tone of the film is one of well-meaning optimism, there is a dark and melancholy undercurrent as well. It is this that creates the film’s complexity and gives an effective texture to the story. If nothing else, evidence of human civilisation here is in various stages of decay — from the mining township of Slag Ravine, which appears to be living under the shadow of economic decline, to Laputa itself, which is the last evidence of an advanced civilisation that has now all but disappeared. Parts of it are overgrown, crumbling, with only the natural reserves — kept up by a strange and strangely endearing robotic ecologist — surviving to the end. In that end the island in the sky becomes more or less a huge tree (the Tree of Life?), with the debris of greatness entangled in its roots — a significant symbol of the continuity of the natural world and the ephemeral nature of humanity’s creations, no matter how magnificent.

This new Blu-ray edition of Laputa: Castle in the Sky is absolutely beautiful, evidence, if any were needed, that traditional cel animation can stand up to scrutiny against CGI and in some areas perhaps even surpass it. Apparently 69,262 traditional “cels” and 381 colors were needed to give Laputa its radiant splendor, and there is no stinting on the quality of the animation itself. The luminosity of this transfer to Blu-ray has to be the best the film has ever looked and is more than worthy of this great work of animated cinema.

If you love Miyazaki’s work, you will need to upgrade to this edition, which you can watch with its original Japanese soundtrack or with an effective English dub. If you don’t love Miyazaki’s work… what’s your problem?

Laputa: Castle in the Sky is released on DVD and on Blu-ray by Madman Entertainment.

He features in the theoretical film Earwigs, brainchild of filmmaker Bruce LeGrow. At the moment Earwigs exists only as a trailer, made initially for a faux-trailer contest, but — as is increasingly common practice, it seems — its director, LeGrow, has ambitions to expand the project into a feature-length film. It would, obviously, be a retro Sci-Fi homage film in the vein of The Lost Skeleton of Cabavra (US-2001; dir. Larry Blamire), in this case referencing the giant-bug genre that hit its peak in 1954 with Them! (US-1954; dir. Gordon Douglas) — the Earwigs poster above not accidentally borrowing its central image from the famous poster for that film.

From the trailer itself and the speculative synopsis LeGrow provided, however, the film will give equal attention to assorted “unstable scientist” flicks dating from the Time of The Drive-In Double Feature — “a twisted world where science and love collide”.

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Synopsis:

Dr Rutherford’s home life is in shambles. His wife is an abusive gossip who spends most of her time complaining about her husband on the phone. Amidst his current studies for the military, the doctor has been working overtime to develop a serum that would alter the human brain. The serum is intended to unleash the brain’s full potential for empathy and compassion. After a few failed attempts of using the serum on his wife, and selling it as a “love potion” to local hoodlums, the doctor stumbles upon the missing ingredient in his own basement laboratory. Earwigs!

Earwigs are the great mothers of the solitary insect world. Earwigs care for their young well after the second molt! Through a series of radical experiments, the doctor manages to extract the “caring gene” from the brain of an earwig. He carefully adds it to his powerful serum.

Inevitably a domestic dispute ends with Dr Rutherford kicked out of his own house. Now residing in the military laboratory, the doctor turns his sights to his sexy lab assistant Diana. He propositions that they each drink his serum and start a new loving life together. Diana declines and flees the scene. In a moment of desperation the doctor takes the serum and is strangely mutated into an earwig.

Dr Rutherford, now more earwig than man, lurks throughout the city. He has a sinister motive to capture women and create his own “perfect” family. After abducting Diana from a car at lover’s lane, the giant earwig creates an evil sanctuary in an abandoned barn on the edge of town. From here he uses his psychic powers to summon and command a vast horde of earwigs.

The earwigs crawl inside their victims, effectively turning them into mindless slaves of the earwig’s evil will. Fear and suspicion reign supreme amidst the plethora of strange occurrences around town. More young women are disappearing, and a manhunt begins for Dr Rutherford. Rumors abound that the recent phenomenon is part of an elaborate Communist attack on freedom. The military suspects Dr Rutherford is involved in this red plot, and begins an investigation. Meanwhile, Private Buck begins his frantic search to find and save his young love, Diana.

The town is in an uproar. It’s becoming impossible to determine who is under the earwig’s command. Greasers and nerds unite after a horrific incident at the sock-hop, and Private Buck finally uncovers the location of the giant earwig’s lair. The earwig threat is growing exponentially. A series of incidents finally prompts the army into action. Heavy artillery moves throughout the countryside. A massive stand-off occurs once the army descends upon the earwig’s lair. Will mankind triumph over the earwig’s lust for power? (source: Bruce LeGrow)

As well as expounding on the location shoots he undertook to film the Earwigs trailer, director Bruce LeGrow (as pictured above) explained to the Backbrain the inspiration behind making Earwigs:

Earwigs was one of those ideas that seemingly came out of nowhere. There was a call to create a fake horror/ sci-fi trailer to screen at the local Silver Wave film festival. I had just moved out of an earwig-infested house, so I already had earwigs on the brain! It felt natural to make a monster movie about earwigs in a 50s sci-fi context. Earwigs seem to be the only bugs that didn’t have their own creature feature in those days. I am a big fan of the ’50s sci-fi film — “Creature from the Black Lagoon”, “Them”, and “Tarantula” in particular.

Being a non-CGI effort (in keeping with its 1950s inspiration), Earwigs required hands-on monster-makers — not to mention a full-size giant earwig. LeGrow explained the process:

While we were shooting I had tasked a few talented folks to work on some specific props: the “earwig helmet” for when the doctor becomes the half-man-half-earwig, and the “giant earwig” for the final scene in the farmland lair. The “earwig helmet” (pictured below) is made entirely out of cardboard. It consists of many molded layers of cardboard that are stacked on top of one another to create the contours of an earwig’s face. It is a fun prop to wear around!

The giant earwig went though a few mutations to end up as “hilariously scary” as it did. There was a team of people working on the head, which is ultimately a broken BBQ with copper tubing as antennas. The BBQ was covered in paper-maché and painted black. The completed head was then mounted on a 2×4, which was in turn attached to a chicken-wire frame covered in garbage bags! Andrew Long hid behind the mighty beast to operate the arms and give the evil earwig some creepy movement.

Getting the ’50s period look?

This project could not have been made without the generous help and equipment from the New Brunswick Film Co-op. Luckily I was able to get my hands on some 16mm film, and within a week of the initial idea, shooting began. Shooting on 16mm film with an aaton camera added to the ’50s aesthetic, and provided some great experience.

Wardrobe, hair and make-up were major undertakings. Under the supervision of 1950s experts Jenn Chaisson and Jody Dickinson, I had rented a plethora of period-specific wardrobe from Theater New Brunswick. This combined with the help from talented hair and make-up artists Christine LeBlanc, and Terri Richards (who I always called at the last minute!… Sorry!), made the ’50s came alive!

In the first day of shooting we completed all of the mad scientist lab scenes. These were shot in an operational entomology lab with the help of lighting wizard Chris Giles. For the lover’s lane scene I was lucky enough to wrangle a ’54 Ford. A beautiful setting for an earwig abduction! The tank scenes were shot at a local tank monument, and many of the final scenes in the trailer were shot at a local farm. The farm house mysteriously burned down in the middle of production. It was a shame to lose such a wonderful location to vandals.

Once Earwigs was in the can, I shipped it off and focused on the sound edit. I was fortunate to be able to work with Lex Gigeroff (of LEXX fame), who was a great help in the pre-production stage, and who delivered an energized performance as the narrator for Earwigs. At the helm of the sound edit was my good friend Gregg O’Donnell. We really wanted the audio to feel like a true 1950s movie. The challenge was that the movie had to be a modern take on this style, and everything needed to be decipherable. With a budget of zero dollars, and no analog equipment, the atmosphere was created using digital effects such as generated turntable noise.

The score was written and produced within two weeks, and production for the ’50s style do-wop song “My Baby Left Me for an Earwig”, took a full week on top of that. Gregg wrote, mixed, and produced the music for “My Baby Left Me for an Earwig”, with no live instruments other than vocals. I wrote the lyrics and sang lead vocals, while Gregg supplied the backing harmonies.  This was a fun piece to make, and hopefully it will bring some attention to this film!

Click here to listen to The Hot Rod Daddy Oh’s singing the theme song “My Baby Left Me For an Earwig”.

Is there more? Or will there be?

Unfortunately I had to cut some scenes to make a streamlined two-minute trailer. These scenes include some earwig psychic power, a government counsel meeting, another mad scientist scene, and a night at the theater. Logistically the theater scene was the most difficult to pull off. A great number of great women spent a lot of time to prepare for the screen. In the end the scene turned out great, but had to be cut for time purposes. These deleted scenes are still intact in the extended cut of Earwigs that is currently in its festival run. For now only the 2 minute version is posted online.

Earwigs is still in its festival run, having already screened at the International Horror and Sci-fi festival in Phoenix, and at the Famous Monsters festival in Beverly Hills. On April 1st Earwigs was named one of the top five trailers in the “Hobo With a Shotgun” fake trailer contest. Earwigs was also screened at the 2011 Phoenix Comicon on May 27th.  The trailer is currently in the International Movie Trailer Festival and needs votes! (You can find the trailer and vote for it @ http://www.internationalmovietrailerfestival.com/imtf/index.php/trailer-2011/ )

I would love to make Earwigs into a feature-length film. I am currently brainstorming ideas and writing a treatment. The trailer leaves things fairly wide open for a feature. This is good, but it creates a challenge on how to tell the story. I want Earwigs to be fun within its genre, rather than being campy and poking fun at it. I could write a script that could be made with a shoe-string budget, but I am currently going for the grand approach!

More images from Earwigs are available in the Gallery.

Source: Bruce LeGrow via Avery Guerra; Facebook page.

A B-film from the 1950s or 60s, right? Wrong! It’s Zombies from Outer Space (Germany-2010; dir. Martin Faltermeier), though the retro vibe seems to be the intention. Writer/director Martin Faltermeier’s Zombies from Outer Space clearly references the low-budget science fiction horror flicks of Hollywood’s past, with its period setting and melodramatic scifi approach. The creators describe it as “the first folkloristic Bavarian 50′s B-Movie ever made”. Beautiful woman, local cop, visiting square-jawed US military hero, alien invasion, flying saucers, zombies…. in fact… zombies from outer space….

Synopsis:

Bavaria in the late fifties. One day the life of Maria, a young girl, changes when she stumbles upon the dead body of an woman. Scientist Dr. Robert Hölzlein and the American lieutenant John Welles, stationed in Bavaria, are commissioned to solve what is obviously a murder case. But trouble seems inevitable as both are interested in the beautiful Maria.

As more and more dead women are discovered in the area, along with mysterious sightings of unidentified flying objects, fear and mistrust grows among the inhabitants.

While inspecting a crop circle Lieutenant Welles finds a dead alien, and an autopsy of the strange corpse leads Hölzlein to a terrible conclusion. Too late he discovers the connection between the dead women and the inexplicable UFO visitations. Before he can alert the population, however, undead aliens rise from their tombs beneath crop circles throughout the district, their aim to destroy humanity. Will the two rivals, Robert and John, realise in time that their only chance for survival is to work together?

Check out the trailer. It’s in German, but that flying saucer crosses all language barriers!

[Just added: now in English, with subtitles]

Currently in post-production, Zombies from Outer Space will be released with English subtitles and will run in several Festivals in 2011. A new trailer is in the works and will be released on YouTube before the year’s out. Watch this space.

Meanwhile, check out this great set of images from the film:

There are more in the Gallery at the end of this article.

Source: IMDb; Official website; Facebook page; MySpace page; YouTube gallery. Via Avery Guerra. Written by Robert Hood.

Gallery: