Hulk-zilla!

Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2008 by Robert Hood

This is one big Hulk!

Incredible Hulk poster

Posted in Film, Giant Monsters | 2 Comments

New: The Vanguard

Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2008 by Robert Hood

The Vanguard (UK-2008; dir. Matthew Hope)

The Vanguard is a brutal and politically motivated post-apocalyptic zombie film, set against the backdrop of the East/West struggle over the last drops of oil.

Says director Matthew Hope:

“It’s all there [in the film], obviously, but what THE VANGUARD is trying to present is what is happening to us here. Part of what I was interested in was a quote by Mussolini: ‘Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, because it is a merger of state power and corporate power.’ Now, if the world is overpopulated and the corporate entity wants to survive, then why not cull the human race? Also, the genetically enhanced soldiers in the film, the Trackers, are based on child soldiers in places like Uganda where they were forced to fight. They were made to kill their parents so if they escaped, they had nothing to return home to.”

Quoted from Fangoria.

Official website.

Posted in Apocalypse, Film, Trailers, Zombies | Leave a comment

Old Ones Open New Business

Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2008 by Robert Hood

The Great Old Ones have decided that all that lurking in dark dank places, waiting for the Call that will bring them shambling into our world in order to re-claim it, isn’t getting them anywhere, so they’ve decide to go legit. They’ve opened up a babysitting service called the Chthonian Creche.

Cthuhu and child

Some scepticism about their motives has been expressed by the Lovecraftian Society of Arkham but spokesdemon Yog-Sothoth has denied the claim that they are merely intending to subvert the next generation of humans by “educating” them at an early age. “I love children,” he said. “We all love children. Bugg-Shash frequently takes a picnic-basket of them on rambles in the bush, Ythogtha, the Thing in the Pit, likes nothing better than to play peek-a-boo and Nyogtha has run guided tours of the nether depths for centuries. He loves showing kiddies the ropes.”

But do the Great Old Ones have the expertise to take care of young humans.

“Are you kidding?” Yog-Sothoth exclaimed. “Dagon will hold swimming classes, Ithaqua will show them how to walk on the wind, Yibb-Tstll, the Watcher in the Glade, will teach them patience, and Cthugha, the Burning One, will introduce the delicious little darlings to fire safety. Ammutseba, Devourer of Stars, will be in charge of the catering, Arwassa will take care of any wailing that is deemed necessary, and Cthulhu… well, he’ll handle Sleepytime — he’s good with kids [see picture above of the Master of R’lyeh cuddling a little one]. Gol-goroth will do something or other, but I’ve forgotten what.”

Apparently Zvilpogghua, otherwise known as Ossadagowah, will be taking elocution classes, teaching the kids how to pronounce difficult names, and Othuyeg, the Doom Walker, will be organising nature hikes.

“There’s a lot of us,” Yog-Sothoth added, “so everyone will be able to bring something to the feast.”

Source of picture: Dark Roasted Blend. Go have a look and check out some other pretty scary playgrounds while you’re at it.

Posted in Cthulhu, Fraudulent information | 2 Comments

Giant Mozzies

Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2008 by Robert Hood

There’s a tradition of giant roadside attractions in our culture, but I haven’t seen one of these before. An odd thing to celebrate with commemorative sculptures, I would’ve thought.

Mozzie 1
(image credit: Artem)

And to add a further weirdness, this one (by sculptor Valery Chaliy from Noyabrsk, Siberia) is a mecha-mozzie!

Mozzie 2
(image credit: ng.ru)

There’s a giant can of Buzz-Off just to the right of the picture.

Source: Dark Roasted Blend

Posted in Giant Monsters, Weird stuff | 3 Comments

Russian Giant Turtle?

Posted on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 by Robert Hood

All I know about this film is that it is Russian and dates from the late 1980s. It is supposed to be called Мутанты (trans. Mutant).

If anyone can supply authoritative information regarding exact date and the name of the director, I’d be grateful.

Source

Posted in Film, Giant Monsters, Query | Leave a comment

Update: The Arrival

Posted on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 by Robert Hood

The Arrival coverShaun Tan’s fantastic all-picture book (for want of a better term), The Arrival, has been nominated in three categories of the 2008 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards:

Best Graphic Album — New
Best U.S. Edition of International Material
Best Writer/Artist

Arrival pic 1

Shaun’s book has done nothing except sell like crazy and win awards since it was published — and believe me, all the kudos are well deserved. This is a book you will come back to again and again for the rest of your life. It’s beautiful, profound and … dare I say it? … a work of genius.

Arrival pic 2

2008 Eisner Award information via Newsarama.com

Previous article on the Backbrain here.

Shaun Tan website here.

Posted in Books, Graphic novels, News | 2 Comments

News: Sabriel on the Way to Hollywood?

Posted on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 by Robert Hood

Sabriel cover

The great news is that Garth Nix’s megaselling fantasy novel, Sabriel — the first book in his Old Kingdom Trilogy — may be filmed at last. Nix, who, as an ex-literary agent, has considerable knowledge of the industry and the clout of a string of bestselling books behind him, has put together a “dream-team” to bring the book to Hollywood — including co-screenplay writer Dan Futterman (actor and Oscar-nominated screenwriter of Capote), and producers Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner at Plan B (Brad Pitt’s company). The director will be Anand Tucker (Shopgirl, Hilary and Jackie). The full story of the long journey so far can be read on Publishing News Online.

Sabriel is an excellent novel — a fantasy … and a dark one. It deals with necromantic magic, the Land of the Dead and hordes of ghosts and zombies (or, as Garth prefers, “the disturbed dead” — no cannibalistic Romeroesque types here). It remains one of my favourite modern fantasy novels. Here is a description of the story from Nix’s website.

Sabriel is the daughter of the Mage Abhorsen. Ever since she was a tiny child, she has lived outside the Wall of the Old Kingdom – far away from the uncontrolled power of Free Magic, and away from the Dead who won’t stay dead. But now her father is missing and Sabriel is called upon to cross back into that world to find him. Leaving the safety of the school she has known as home, Sabriel embarks upon a quest fraught with supernatural dangers, with companions she is unsure of – for nothing is as it seems within the boundary of the Old Kingdom. There she confronts an evil that threatens much more than her life, and comes face to face with her hidden destiny…

Garth has often mentioned his hopes for this film, so it’s fantastic that he has been able to secure the commitment of some top-notch people in the business, ready to pitch the package to the studios later this month. I, along with the rest of his writing friends and hordes of salivating fans, will await the outcome of the negotiations with keen interest.

Posted in Books, Film, News, Zombies | 12 Comments

Zombie Fu

Posted on Monday, April 14, 2008 by Robert Hood

Got six minutes to spare? Dying for a bit of zombie action? Want to see a zombie/kung-fu cross-genre film made entirely using stop-motion photography?

Well, here it is, with a WARNING: This film contains an unreasonable amount of bloody puppet mayhem!

Zombie Fu was made by Jayel Draco and Kyle Varga.

Check out Jayel Draco’s website for a higher res version of the film.

Posted in Animation, Film, Zombies | 2 Comments

Interview: Sheri Wiggins

Posted on Sunday, April 13, 2008 by Robert Hood

Wawa poster

Birth of a Legend: The Story of the WAWA (US-2008, directed by Steve Wiggins)

Sweet Tee, Alabama, has a problem; a big, wormy, carnivorous mutation that comes out of the polluted lake to chew up the residents and generally cause trouble for everyone. Everyone except Sheri Wiggins, that is, who with her husband, director Steve Wiggins, is responsible for exposing the horror to the world.

Kaiju Search-Robot Avery asked Sheri about their new movie and how it came about.

“Birth of a Legend: The Story of the WAWA is a funny little film that pokes fun at good ole boys, the deep south and all that it represents. We not only poke fun at authority and the creature genre in and of itself … but we give it to clichés in general. We put political correctness out there for everyone to see just how insane it is.”

“I believe there will always be a place for downright good old monster movies … whether they scare the begeeze out of you … or whether they do send ups of the old “B’ movies of the 50s and 60s. There are always new ways to re-invent the good old man-eating monster.”

“Each and every character in Birth of a Legend: The Story of the WAWA was fashioned after someone from our quad city area, Florence, Muscle Shoals, Tuscumbia and good old Sheffield, Alabama. Even the names are similar to some of our most infamous/famous town folk.”

Read the full interview here.

Posted in Film, Giant Monsters, Interviews, Kaiju Search-Robot Avery, Lake Monsters | 2 Comments

Guidolon gets Bigger!

Posted on Saturday, April 12, 2008 by Robert Hood

Waitron

Meet Waitron, the daikaiju waiter!

Waitron is Todd Tennant’s latest creation for Frank Wu’s Guidolon project and it is representative of the new phase that it has entered — the full-length feature film years.

“The Tragical Historie of Guidolon, the Giant Space Chicken” began its public life as a story in the form of a screenplay that appeared in an anthology I edited with Robin Pen: Daikaiju! Giant Monster Tales (originally published by Agog! Press in 2005 and subsequently reprinted by Agog! Press and Prime Books in the US).

Frank Wu, the story’s author, went on to produce the story as a short film, with the help of assorted talented friends, including Todd. Here it is in all its 11-minute glory:

Frank used this short film as a “sample pitch” for a TV series, “Guidolon and Friends Half-Power Half-Hour”, but has now resolved to spend the next few years producing it as a feature film. You can find out all about Guidolon and his history here.

One of the other talented people Frank has worked with on the project is artist Suzanne Forbes, who has put a collection of her “Guidolon” working sketches up on Flickr.

Guidolon Trashes City

Guidolon 2

Posted in Animation, Daikaiju, Film, Giant Monsters, News | 2 Comments