Category Archives: Archival

Slime on the Walls of the Spaceship

Posted on Wednesday, September 22, 2010 by Robert Hood

Highly respected Japanese filmmaker, Kinji Fukasaku, who died in 2003 at the age of 73, having just directed a hugely successful sci-fi/horror satire, was responsible for several classics of Japanese, and indeed world, cinema. His films include the “The Yakuza … Continue reading →

Posted in Archival, Horror, Japanese, Monsters in general, News, Science Fiction | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Weekend Fright Flick: MANT!

Posted on Saturday, June 12, 2010 by Robert Hood

Matinee is an intelligent, moving and under-appreciated comedy directed by Joe Dante in 1993. Set in Key West (just the other side of water from Cuba) at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis (October 1962), it features John Goodman … Continue reading →

Posted in Archival, Exploitation films, Giant Bugs, Giant Monsters, Weekend Fright Flick | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Gallery of Bachrach Kong Art

Posted on Thursday, May 27, 2010 by Robert Hood

Recently put up for auction is an amazing archive of original camera negatives, with modern contact prints of each, by Ernest A. Bachrach, dating from 1933 and the production of one of the world’s greatest monster films. Bachrach was the … Continue reading →

Posted in Archival, Film, Giant Monsters, King Kong, Pictorial art | 2 Comments

Deep Sea Monster Reigo Gets Closer

Posted on Monday, December 7, 2009 by Robert Hood

深海獣レイゴー　特報 Shinkaijû Reigô [aka Deep Sea Monster Reigo; Reigo vs. Yamato; Reigo the Deep Sea Monster vs. The Battleship Yamato, A-140F6] (2008 [2005]; dir. Shinpei Hayashiya) This independent Japanese daikaiju eiga [giant monster film] — which combines WW2 history with … Continue reading →

Posted in Archival, Daikaiju, Film, Giant Monsters, Independent film, Japanese, Trailers | 10 Comments

A Skeletal Kong

Posted on Wednesday, November 25, 2009 by Robert Hood

The metallic endoskeleton for stop-motion SFX guru Willis O’Brien’s King Kong (from the 1933 film of the same name) has just been sold at auction by Christie’s of London. This particular version of the mighty Kong — 55 centimetres high, … Continue reading →

Posted in Archival, Film, Giant Monsters, News | 1 Comment

Frankenstein 1910

Posted on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 by Robert Hood

Credited as the first film version of Mary Shelley’s classic horror novel, Frankenstein (1910) was written and directed by J. Searle Dawley for the Edison Manufacturing Company. For a long time it was considered lost, represented only by a few … Continue reading →

Posted in Archival, Film, Horror | 1 Comment

Ilya Muromets

Posted on Saturday, November 14, 2009 by Robert Hood

The main purpose behind this entry into the Backbrain archive is simply to note the existence of an old film I hadn’t known about — one that features a very cool monster. Eye-Filling Spectacle! Man Against Monsters! Ilya Muromets [aka … Continue reading →

Posted in Archival, Daikaiju, Dragons, Film, Giant Monsters | 4 Comments

War Eagles Memorabilia

Posted on Tuesday, September 22, 2009 by Robert Hood

An Undead Backbrain article on the never-made Willis O’Brien project War Eagles remains one of this site’s most read entries, one which continues to generate interest. Now correspondent Richfrog has drawn my attention to the fact that pictures and other … Continue reading →

Posted in Archival, Dinosaurs, Giant Monsters, Where's the Film? | 17 Comments

Giving Form to the King of the Monsters

Posted on Wednesday, April 1, 2009 by Robert Hood

This documentary has too many priceless images of the development of both Godzilla and the Godzilla suit not to post in here. Slightly abridged to fit the YouTube format, it is by Godzilla expert Ed Godziszewski chronicling the evolution of … Continue reading →

Posted in Archival, Daikaiju, Giant Monsters, Godzilla | Leave a comment

Little Ending of Horrors

Posted on Monday, March 23, 2009 by Robert Hood

One of my favourite films is, I’m happy to admit, the 1986 musical version of Corman’s 1960 original, Little Shop of Horrors. Love the performances, love the choreography, love the music, love Audrey II in all his increasingly nasty glory. … Continue reading →

Posted in Archival, Giant Monsters, Music, Where's the Film? | 4 Comments