Author Archives: Robert Hood

Moby Dick Gets an Asylum Makeover

I’ve always considered that Herman Melville’s famous novel Moby Dick, stripped of its encyclopedic details for the screen, readily becomes a full-on giant monster tale. The best version so far, John Huston’s 1956 adaptation, starring Gregory Peck as the bitter … Continue reading

Posted in Exploitation films, Film, Giant Monsters, Monsters in general, News | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

Up By The Roots

In horticultural mythology, the mandrake plant (family Solanaceae, genus Mandragora) — the roots of which supposedly resemble human organs, and in folklore, even whole human forms — was used in various mystical rituals and was said to have aphrodisiac and … Continue reading

Posted in Exploitation films, Film, Giant Monsters, Horror, Monsters in general, News | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Incredible HALKa

So this small guy has a passion for a girl who seems to spent a lot of time on display on her balcony. He gets mocked and bullied by the big guys. So he resorts to a green chemical concoction … Continue reading

Posted in Film, Giant Monsters, Humour, Indian, It's True! Really!, News | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Early Vampire Cinema 1916 to 1974: Part 2

Continued from Early Vampire Cinema 1916 to 1974: Part 1 Part 2: From Lugosi to Lee If Dracula dominated popular imagination as the defining representative of vampire kind up until recent times, it was Hungarian actor Béla Lugosi whose performance … Continue reading

Posted in Article, Film, Horror, Review, Vampires | 2 Comments

Early Vampire Cinema 1916 to 1974: Part 1

The following two-part article was written for Mark Deniz’s excellent Vampire Awareness Month, which is still running on his blog. Go there to check out a plethora of top-notch writings on the subject of vampires, ranging from reviews of significant … Continue reading

Posted in Article, Film, Horror, Vampires | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Look! Up in the Sky… It’s Super Shark!

It’s huge. It’s strong. It uses its fins to walk on the land. It flies through the air, leaping tall buildings with a single swipe of the tail. Yes, in the world of one-upmanship that is independent cinema, it was … Continue reading

Posted in Exploitation films, Giant Monsters, Horror, Independent film, News, Trailers | 3 Comments

Weekend Fright Flick: Space Bugs

Jesse Blanchard is a self-taught filmmaker who only recently discovered what he describes as “the joys of horror films”. Note: on that subject, John Carpenter says (on the commentary track for his Masters of Horror film Cigarette Burns): “Anyone who’s … Continue reading

Posted in Film, Independent film, Interviews, Monsters in general, Science Fiction, Weekend Fright Flick, Zombies | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Update: Future Fighters

Future Fighters is a big live-action mecha epic — full of space battles, giant robots and, as seems inevitable these days, 3D thrills. We featured it on Undead Backbrain last June, and now, in a press release issued for Comic … Continue reading

Posted in Independent film, Mecha, News | 2 Comments

Comic Con News

While exciting (or controversial) news from the recent Comic Con about upcoming genre films and projects, as well as a plethora of new posters, trailers and other advertising collateral, exploded onto the blogsphere, Undead Backbrain was too busy with things … Continue reading

Posted in Cthulhu, Daikaiju, Fantasy, Giant Monsters, Godzilla, Horror, News | 4 Comments

Sinbad Voyages Again in Dynamation!

At least one production studio — aptly named Giant Flick Films  —  is hell-bent on ensuring that their addition to a great cinematic tradition will replicate the sort of mythic monsters that made the originals so enchanting. Sinbad: The Fifth … Continue reading

Posted in Fantasy, Giant Monsters, Independent film, Monsters in general, News, Trailers | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments