Exclusive: Tentacles Are a Sign of Corruption

Posted on Sunday, March 6, 2011 by Robert Hood

A few days ago I was talking about tentacles as a sign of Lovecraft’s Old Ones. Today we have new indie film where the tentacles aren’t so much Out There as In Here. And clearly they can make you very sick.

This image is a piece of artwork for the film The Corrupted (written and directed by John Klappstein and Knighten Richman), in which a group of attractive 20-somethings get mixed up in a series of bizarre and frightening happenings while holidaying in an idyllic lakeside cabin. Yes, tentacled creatures that possess folk and make them act in a very anti-social manner are involved. Something similar always happens during these kind of peaceful getaways — yet travel agencies never think to mention it in the brochures!

The film, made by Spooktree/ImWithHobo studios, premiered in May last year and played to great success at the Edmonton and Calgary International Film Festivals.

The creatures clearly prefer to inhabit beautiful young women. Understandable really.

Tease Synopsis:

A young man, Jeremy, is sitting on a beach strumming his guitar slowly. He is a recovering junkie and is enjoying some time off at a lakeside cabin. After playing mournful music on his acoustic guitar for a few minutes, he sees a strange woman walking slowly down the beach toward him. She whispers in his ear that she ‘wants to show him something’….

Teaser Trailer:

Full Trailer:

Co-director John Klappstein talked of the hardships involved, which, apart from the usual, featured director of photography Kalon McClarty getting struck by lightning during rehearsals on site.

Like any indie movie, to bolster a smaller budget we needed three things: free stuff, free time, and lots of ingenuity. We had to cold-call, cajole, and canoodle in order to get what we needed. Thankfully, something Jason [Thompson, the producer] was very proficient at.

But in the midst of that antagonistic weather, Klappstein embraced the wonder of indie filmmaking with gusto:

… there we were: sheltering from an electrical storm in a donated cabin on donated land, with an underpaid crew doling out shots of vodka, illuminating scared actors with donated lights. After all that sacrifice and hardship, I knew that if a lightning strike couldn’t stop us, then nothing could. We completed the shoot over a hellish 15 days.

By the end of it, we were a bunch of scrambled eggs. But no matter how dire the circumstances, the Corrupted team found a way. This must be the mentality of the film. If you can’t solve a problem with money, use ingenuity. If no one will give you money (see: government grants), then go do it anyway. If you have to, cut out scenes, or simplify special FX. Limited time and resources guarantee compromise. So embrace that from the start: aim high and ruthlessly trim until you have the best movie you can make.

This decade is the first time Hollywood quality visuals are in the hands of the micro budget. I for one am excited to see the resulting, new world of indie movies. I hope that The Corrupted is a step in that direction. (Source: Seemagazine)

Looks like fun. Hopefully we’ll all be able to see it before too long.

Full Poster: click to enlarge

Lots more pictures in the Gallery below.

Gallery:

Posted in Exploitation films, Film, Horror, Independent film, Monsters in general, News | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

VelociPastor: Is This a Movie You Want to See?

Posted on Sunday, March 6, 2011 by Robert Hood

Here’s an unusual blend of subgenres. It’s American Werewolf in London meets Jurassic Park (or maybe Carnosaur), with more than a dash of The Incredible Hulk! It’s The Exorcist sequel we never saw, where the conflicted priest becomes a superhero vigilante, Punisher-style.

Man of the clawth. Sometimes the prayers become the prey.

Actually it’s a faux trailer for a film that doesn’t exist called, evocatively, The VelociPastor, directed by Brendan Steere. The question the director is asking is: do you want to see a proper feature-length version? Now’s your chance. You can decide!

Synopsis:

A priest loses his parents, and in his hour of darkness begins to question his faith. Of course, during this dark period he is also scratched by an ancient piece of ember, allowing him to transform into a dinosaur and give in to his baser urges. Soon he discovers that indulging in these murderous desires might not be all evil. Sometimes, to make things right, people have to die. Sometimes a lot of people. Enter the man of the clawth. How long has it been since your last confession?

Production comments from the director:

We actually f**ked the film up manually. I mean, there are some digital scratches in there, but 85% of that degradation is the real thing. We shot the film (16mm Kodak’s Vision3 500T stock), and before exposure, I took it into my bathroom, which is the only room in my apartment with no windows, so it was basically a darkroom. Once inside, I proceeded to take the film and scratch it over everything in the room, trying to make it literally look like it had been dragged through a parking lot. For extra measure, we then sealed the film back up and baked it in an oven at 200 degrees for ten minutes, which gave it an extra washed-out and faded look. All of this can be achieved in After Effects of course, but honestly, where’s the fun in that?

Another neat thing: the suit had actually been hanging around in my garage for three years, left over from an old feature film I directed in my high school days. The school bought the suit (paid for it in full — and it was a couple of thousand dollars), but then rejected the script for the film we were gonna shoot on the grounds that it was ‘too violent’. F**k that, whatever. The point is, they let me keep the suit. I’m honestly not sure they remembered they bought it. So technically that amazing dinosaur costume was commissioned with American tax dollars, and honestly, I can’t think of anything more badass than a ‘dinosaur costume’ tax.

On Cast and Crew:

As for the crew, it was a smattering of my friends here at film school, all of whom are amazing and have their own shit. All of them can be found linked from Vimeo.

The cast consisted mainly of friends and family, with the notable exception being Matt Ziegel — the VelociPastor himself — who is a wonderful actor I’ve got some projects coming up with soon. Matt operates out of Manhattan, as I do.

On Brendan Steere:

I’ve been writing/directing/editing films for nearly half my life. At nineteen, I’ve directed three feature films and countless shorts about any damn subject imaginable, though horror films are definitely my preferred genre. I’m currently attending SVA in Downtown Manhattan for Directing. I’m churning little things out all the time while working on larger projects like the VelociPastor feature (which is currently being written —  we’ll see when we get to that one. Maybe as early as this summer). I update videos, blog, etc. here and people can follow me on Twitter.

On the future of The VelociPaster:

I’ve sent this trailer out to some film fests, hoping one will pick it up. If there’s a positive enough reaction, the feature will get underway.

So, if you want Brendan to make a film out of this exercise in cinematic tongue-in-cheekiness, leave a comment either at the end of this article or on YouTube. He assures us it will make a difference.

  • Brendan Steere via Avery; Poster illustrated by Wyeth Yates

Gallery:

Posted in Dinosaurs, Exploitation films, Film, Horror, Where's the Film? | Tagged , , | 12 Comments

Exclusive: Poisoned — New Zombie Horror from Israel

Posted on Friday, March 4, 2011 by Robert Hood

Poisoned is a zombie comedy, filmed in Israel by David Lubetzky ( דידי לובצקי ) and currently in the final editing stages.

Synopsis (short):

What makes this night different from all nights?

On this night, the army really marches on its stomach! Passover at the base can be a real blow. Especially if you are a custodian stuck with  a psychopathic commander, you’re high school crush has suddenly arrived and all the soldiers have become flesh-eating zombies.

But who’s not used to suffering at the Seder?

Synopsis (long):

Bino Aharonovitch is a legendary Israeli war hero. His son Danny (David Shaul, pictured on right below)) is far from it. He does his national service as an assistant custodian in a remote base which serves as the home base of “Nachlieli” (the Wagtail) — one of the IDF’s elite units. He spends his days avoiding the violent soldiers and his OCD captain.

But on Passover night, the worst night for an Israeli custodian, his life is about to change. His high-school crush Maya (Orna Shifris) arrives to deliver vaccines to the fighters. She mistakes Danny for one of the fighters and shows interest in him for the first time. Danny keeps up the lie, but fate has different plans. The vaccine makes the elite troops turn into flesh-eating zombies who go on killing the rest of the soldiers in the base.

Danny, being the only one left uninfected, runs for his life — until he finds out that he isn’t the only survivor. Used to avoiding conflict, he now realizes that this time there is no escape.

Danny is going to have to utilize his only skills in order to save himself and his love — gardening skills!

Undead Backbrain spoke to the director David Lubetzky (pictured above, on set) about the film:

I am the writer, director and co-producer of Poisoned. The movie is a 50-min long zombie comedy set in the Israeli army. It began as an idea for a feature film written by me and my friends at the Tel Aviv University Film School. We decided, with the support of the university and a couple of public funds in Israel, to pursue making this complicated film as a university project — although it remains mostly an independent and self-financed film.

The script was written as a cross-genre film, combining a unique style of Israeli cult comedies and the zombie genre with all its conventions. The basis of the story is a coming-of-age story, set in an environment unique to Israel. Plus – zombies. The zombie genre until late didn’t exist in Israeli cinema. (We are now witnessing a renaissance in horror films, especially zombies. Coincidence? I don’t know). Through this combination, the film brings a new take on the genre, and hopefully has an appeal to both local and international viewers.

I have a lot of love for horror genre, and producing Poisoned was influenced by a few of the genre’s icons such as Shaun of the Dead, Evil Dead, Neil Marshal’s early work, and of course most of Romero’s body of work.

Since the movie has a parody tone to it, we nod at many other movies such as The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Die Hard, Scarface and even Blade, along with many Israeli comedy classics.

These days I am working on developing another horror comedy in the same genre.

By why is it called Poisoned?

The name “Poisoned” is a translation of the Israeli army slang word “Muralim”, meaning the love of the army and/or unit beyond anything else. As in “This guy loves the army; he is really poisoned”, for example.

Teaser Trailer:

Cast:

  • David Shaul – Danny the assistant custodian.
  • Orna Shifris – Maya the medic
  • Arthur Perry – Shauli the veteran
  • Rudy Saada – Menny the Captain custodian
  • Yehuda Fridman – Ben Dov the sergeant
  • Maggi Azarzar – Rona the secretary
  • Shabi Shavit – Shiloni the squad commander

Crew:

  • Didi Lubetzky – Writer and Director
  • Nadav Shlomo Giladi – Producer – NG Productions
  • David Michael Shachar – Cinematographer
  • Hilla Michowiz Setton – Editor
  • Co producer – Didi Lubetzky
  • Script Editor – Yael Oron
  • Score – Omer Vashdi
  • Sound – Vitali Grinshpon
  • Assistant Directors – Avishai Krashin and Shai Nir
  • Make-up effects -Keren Talias
  • Assistant Cinemtographer- Simon Birman

More images from the film and on set in the Gallery below.

Sources: Didi Lubetzky via Avery Guerra. Facebook page; photos taken on set by Simon Birman.

Posted in Film, Horror, Humour, Independent film, News, Trailers, Zombies | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Tentacles, Ancient Whispers and Monstrous Gods

Posted on Friday, March 4, 2011 by Robert Hood

An Overview of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos on Film

Few filmmakers have been successful in translating New England horror writer H.P. Lovecraft’s dense, adjective-driven tales of Elder Gods, Great Old Ones and the Horrors That Lurk Just the Other Side of Reality into effective cinema. Or so they say. For those poor souls who are unfamiliar with Lovecraft and his arcane writings, there is plenty of information on the web. Start with the Wikipedia entries for H.P. Lovecraft, Cthulhu Mythos and Great Old One and followed the links you’ll find on those pages. Even better, many of HPL’s stories are available for free download through Project Gutenberg. Collected Stories is a good place to start.

In brief, Lovecraft’s highly influential stories, taken together, posit a vast cosmic race of monstrous beings that once ruled the Earth but were driven off during the dark times of pre-history. Unfortunately, however, they’re still hanging around, lurking in hidden dimensions, waiting for foolish or ambitious humans to summon them back into the world. Most of our information on the Great Old Ones comes from a book called the Necronomicon, a sort of hideous grimoire written by the Mad Arab, Abdul Alhazred. Those who spend too much study time with the Necronomicon end up in lunatic asylums or worse, finding themselves face-to-face with some huge ancient monster intent on re-opening a gateway back into the world. These “dark gods” take multitudinous forms, but in the popular imagination tentacles play a large part in their physiology. Descriptions within Lovecraft’s stories tend to be vague and portentous. His deific monsters live in the darkness and when they make their appearance tend to drive the observer out of his/her mind.

The evocative but indirect power of Lovecraft’s writing offers considerable challenge to those working in an essentially visual medium such as the cinema. As a result filmmakers are often accused of violating HPL’s work and failing to capture its spirit. I’m not convinced. Changes are necessitated by cinema’s demands, and often require plot threads to be added to stories that are characteristically static and internalised. Many of the Lovecraft-inspired films work well, even if their effect is different from that of the original stories.

Dean Stockwell engrossed in the Necronomicon in “The Dunwich Horror”

Despite interesting earlier forays such as The Dunwich Horror (US-1970; dir. Daniel Haller), Boris Karloff’s Die, Monster, Die! (US-1965; dir. Daniel Haller — a version of “The Color Out of Space”), Roger Corman’s Poe-styled translation of “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward”, The Haunted Palace (US-1963; dir. Roger Corman), The Shuttered Room (UK-1967; dir. David Greene) and The Curse of the Crimson Altar (UK-1968; dir. Vernon Sewell), which was supposedly based on “The Dreams in the Witch House” though it bore little resemblance, it wasn’t until Stuart Gordon came on the scene that the movies began to feel even slightly Lovecraftian in their styling. His films, such as Re-Animator (1985, based on “Herbert West, Re-Animator”), From Beyond (1986), Castle Freak (1995, based on “The Outsider”), Dagon (2001) and most recently H.P. Lovecraft’s Dreams in the Witch-House (2005) from the Masters of Horror TV series, are somewhat more visceral and bloody than Lovecraft’s stories, at least on a surface level, but at their best they create an effective atmosphere of cosmic dread. The underrated Dagon in particular – despite cosmetic changes made to the setting and its conflation of several Lovecraft tales into a more dynamic plotline – reeks of Lovecraftian horror. The fact that a very in-your-face CGI Dagon appears at the end is fine with me.

An unfortunate discovery regarding parentage from Gordon’s “Dagon”

Other post-1985 Lovecraft-based films include The Unnamable (US-1988; dir. Jean-Paul Ouellette), The Resurrected (US-1992; dir. Dan O’Bannon, based on “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward”), the anthology picture Necronomicon (France/US; 1993; dir. Christophe Gans, Shusuke Kaneko and Brian Yuzna, with three stories based on “The Rats in the Walls”, “Cool Air” and “The Whisperer in Darkness”), The Lurking Fear (US-1994; dir. C. Courtney Joyner) and many, many short films.

Given Lovecraft’s prominence in the horror field, the difficulties inherent in translating his tales to the screen have meant that mainstream films based on his work have not been as common as one might have expected — and that one of the most successfully Lovecraftian films ever was not even based on his work: namely John Carpenter’s vastly under-appreciated In the Mouth of Madness (1994).

Horror novels prove deadly in “In the Mouth of Madness”

It’s strange how some films seem doomed to be devalued right from the start. Third in what Carpenter refers to as his “Apocalypse Trilogy” (the first two being The Thing and Prince of Darkness), In the Mouth of Madness is an effective exploration of communal perception and its role in forming accepted reality – and remains for me one of Carpenter’s most disconcerting films. It is also one of the best of the films based on or inspired by the Cthulhan imaginings of H.P. Lovecraft, with their vision of vast inhuman “Old Ones” intent on re-gaining command over the human world. Here, inter-dimensional conquest takes place via a phenomenally popular pulp horror novelist, whose works increasingly upset humanity’s psychic (and physical) stability and offer up a fiction that is designed to consume reality itself. Sam Neill plays an insurance investigator who is rather smugly adept at defusing the attempts of fraudsters to impose their small, self-serving views of reality on insurers and other financiers. “He’s an amateur,” Neill’s John Trent says of one such fraudster, and longs for the challenge of a true professional. In the end he gets his wish, but to an apocalyptic extent that totally overwhelms him … and, given the ending, us as well. If Carpenter’s The Thing was a study in claustrophobic paranoia, In the Mouth of Madness is its agoraphobic twin.

In recent times, production of Lovecraft-based films has been ramping up. In 2005, the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society made the well conceived and executed The Call of Cthulhu (US-2005; dir. Andrew Leman), which adopts film techniques current at the time the story was written to create a strong sense of period (it’s made in the manner of a silent-era film) and evoking an effective atmosphere of dread. It proved to be one of the most accurate renditions of the famous Lovecraft story ever. The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society has also created a terrific radio-play version of “At the Mountains of Madness” and have been working on a second feature film, based on “The Whisperer in Darkness”. It’s due for release this year. Below is the latest trailer:

[youtube A_ee9K9hXtw]

In 2007 Dan Gildark directed a modernised Lovecraft tale, Cthulhu, based loosely on Lovecraft’s “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”. Since 2005, the Masters of Horror TV series has featured the afore-mentioned Stuart Gordon effort Dreams in the Witch-House, as well as the pre-Lovecraftian Ambrose Bierce tale The Damned Thing (US-2006; dir. Tobe Hooper), which has a very Lovecraftian sensibility.

Other independent films, often shorts, crop up from time to time. Color From the Dark (US-2008; dir. Ivan Zuccon) is an independent feature film based on “The Color Out of Space”, which won best feature at 2009’s H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival — an annual festival that highlights hordes of shorts and independent features based on the Master’s work. Winning films from each year have been released on DVD; of the ones I’ve seen (which is in no way comprehensive), Zuccon’s effort is worth a look for the Lovecraft aficionado, as is Bryan Moore’s Cool Air (1999).

Meanwhile rumours of big budget Lovecraft tales have been around for some time, with features from the likes of Stuart Gordon (rumoured to be making “The Thing on the Doorstep”) and Guillermo Del Toro (with his big-budget take on “At the Mountains of Madness”) [but see Note below]— not to mention such Lovecraftesque monster films as Altitude (US-2010; dir. Kaare Andrews). In this one, a group of young folk flying high in a small plane find themselves looking a very Cthulhan multi-tentacled creature that inhabits the clouds directly in the eye.

Saying “Hi!” to monsters in the sky in “Altitude”

To finish, I direct you to an unusual set of Lovecraftian films. A while back I put together a Call of Cthulhu film festival that featured on Undead Backbrain. Check it out. You might be surprised by what you see. Well, amused at least, I hope.

  • Written by Robert Hood. This essay first appeared — and was written for — Monster Awareness Month, February 2011.
  • Source note: the image of Cthulhu Rising comes from regeneratormag.com, though the artist is unknown.
  • My review of In the Mouth of Madness that appears in this article was first published on my website.
  • Note: Since this article was written Universal has placed unwelcome conditions on Del Toro in regards to At the Mountains of Madness, and the filmmaker has abandoned the project — at least for the time being. Read about it here.
Posted in Apocalypse, Essay, Film, Giant Monsters, Horror, Lovecraft | 10 Comments

Evangelion Competition

Posted on Tuesday, March 1, 2011 by Robert Hood

Now you can win a copy of the Blu-ray release of the first film in Hideaki Anno’s rebuild of his influential anime series: Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone — courtesy of Madman Entertainment.

But before I give you the details, read the Backbrain’s review of Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone (Japan-2007; dir. Masayuki Yamaguchi, Kazuya Tsurumaki and Hideaki Anno) here.

Have you read it?

Good.

The Details:

To win a copy of this Madman Blu-ray edition of Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone, simply send your name and postal address to: backbrain@gmail.com. Put the words EVANGELION BLU-RAY in the subject header. The only proviso is that you must live in Australia. Oh, and you can only enter once. One week from now all entries received will go into the draw and I will get my cat Pazuzu to randomly pick a winner from the box. He’s become quite good at it and hardly ever cheats. The prize comes courtesy of Madman Entertainment.

Go for it!

Posted in Animation, Apocalypse, Competition | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Review: Evangelion 1.11 You Are (Not) Alone

Posted on Tuesday, March 1, 2011 by Robert Hood

Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone (Japan-2007; dir. Masayuki Yamaguchi, Kazuya Tsurumaki and Hideaki Anno)

Blu-ray edition reviewed by Robert Hood

Giant robots (known as mecha) and giant monsters (known as daikaiju): two of the most iconic elements of Japanese fantasy cinema. Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone mingles the two to surprising and indeed complex effect.

When Neon Genesis Evangelion came on the scene back in 1995/1996, it proved to be a massive success, both as a 26-episode TV series written and directed by Hideaki Anno and as a “supporting” manga by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. A remarkable work that profoundly influenced anime as a genre, it became compulsive viewing for many — as well as a lifetime obsession for Hideaki Anno, its primary creator. It has since been built upon, extended, re-worked … and yet never completely finished. Anno (in conjunction with others) has taken several shots at the ending, which, in the original series, was so metaphysical and abstract as to be well-nigh impenetrable — fascinating and suggestive without a doubt, and giving rise to interesting speculation, but slightly unsatisfying as well, with animation that was reduced to a series of static and surreal images by budgetary restraints. The show’s subsequent popularity allowed its creator to re-edit the penultimate episodes into Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death and then to re-do the ending in a less narratively opaque manner in Neon Genesis Evangelion: Re-Birth, and again, later, as The End of Evangelion – an alternate view of how the events played out. Yet still Anno’s ambition for the franchise remained incomplete.

In 2006 Gainax (the show’s production company) announced the coming of an animated film series referred to as Rebuild of Evangelion. It would be a four-film remake of the anime series, intended to finally fulfill Anno’s ambition for it — something he could not realise with the meagre budget and technology of the time. The animation would be upgraded according to modern technological advances and the story edited into a more cinematic narrative structure. The first two of these films have been completed: Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone (aka Evangerion shin gekijôban: Jo; 2007) and Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance (aka Evangerion shin gekijôban: Ha; 2009). Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone achieved the distinction of being 4th highest grossing anime film at the Japanese box office during 2007, and then went to DVD and further success, though the latter version was subsequently tweaked after complaints about overly dark scenes and various technical glitches. This led Anno to release Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone, which has now arrived on Blu-ray, with colour-correction, contrast fixes and the insertion of new footage. It would be easy to describe the result as a masterpiece if the original show itself hadn’t already appropriated that status.

In essence the story of Shinji Ikari is that of a boy, his father and a “squad” of hybrid robots — classic Japanese mecha — though that description nowhere near does it justice. It’s what Anno has done to the standard tropes of the mecha subgenre that makes the franchise so distinctive. Metaphysical nuancing, psychoanalytic examination of human relationships, political intrigue and narrative complexities abound, as a group of teenagers — born in the aftermath of the near-apocalyptic “Second Impact” (part of a complex back-story that only gradually reveals itself) — are revealed to be the only ones capable of piloting huge humanoid mechanisms, Evangelions or Evas, ostensibly built by the mysterious para-military organization NERV to fight a string of monstrous creatures known as “Angels”. These “Angels” arrive one after the other — bizarre in appearance and apparently malicious in intent, threatening a devastating “Third Impact” and the destruction of humanity. The narrative uses this framework to weave a complex set of themes that range from personal issues of depression and alienation to the nature of existence itself.

The Blu-ray of Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone is a wonder to behold. Rich in colour and detail, it has a powerful soundscape, flowing animation and stunning imagery – a mingling of traditional cel-animation and CGI that works beautifully. It comes with the original Japanese soundtrack (featuring excellent voice actors whose interpretation of the characters is definitive), clear and readable English subtitles, and an English-language dub option. Some decent extras (including the 1.0 version) and a 20-page booklet complete the package.

Despite being criticized as a “dumbing-down” of the first six episodes of the series, Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone remains a complex, metaphorically rich work that plays well in its own right. Dramatically it is more coherent than the original, though some depth may be lost through the tightening of events and the loss of story detail. Nevertheless this remake is a stunning upgrade of the earlier material. Visually it is rich and dynamic; narratively it remains exciting, intellectually challenging and emotionally involving. Though much is left unanswered by the end of this first film, it should be obvious even to the uninitiated that there are many aspects of the plot and the mysteries surrounding NERV, the Evas, the Angels, the teenage pilots and the connections between them left to be unraveled, and that subsequent films are likely to be doing just that. It isn’t a matter of there being no answers (as those who have seen the original Neon Genesis Evangelion would realize); simply that gaining those answers is the whole point of the series. In fact, the “re-build” should not be seen as replacing the original show, but as part of an ongoing dialogue between Anno and his vision – and a rebuild that can be easily appreciated by those unfamiliar with Neon Genesis Evangelion and its developmental history. One way or another, this is a must for anyone interested in anime or indeed in involving, intelligent SF/fantasy cinema.

Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone is available in Australia on Blu-ray (and on standard DVD) through Madman Entertainment.

Posted in Animation, Apocalypse, Daikaiju, Giant Monsters, Japanese, Mecha, Review | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

The $1 Film: The Vampire in the Hole

Posted on Sunday, February 27, 2011 by Robert Hood

Sometimes “low budget” simply doesn’t mean “cheapskate”. The film industry worldwide is full of talented people who want to work on a great project even if the prospect of payment is uncertain.

The Vampire in the Hole is a prime example. Spanish production company Lasoga Films have set out to make a commercially viable movie for $1 (or €1) — and if what directors Sadrac González and Sonia Escolano have achieved is any indication, the result is going to be superb. Check out this trailer:

Okay, so strictly speaking there’s no way footage such as you’ve just watched cost only $1 to make. Camera equipment, lighting, sound recording, actors, editing — it all cost something to someone. But the point is that here equipment, film assets, time etc. have been donated — or rather given in exchange for a percentage of any future profits. The film itself had no budget. The filmmakers had to obtain what they needed by finding people who were willing to be involved in the project. An awesome task, but one that has so far seen them drag on board professional actors and technicians from worldwide and looks set to result in a memorable vampire film.

The scenario?

Vampirism is a newly discovered viral illness whose initial stages spread as quickly as the flu. May has just turned seventeen and has become infected. She is the only vampire in her family and her neighborhood and, as such, her life changes dramatically. In her daily surroundings she is now seen as a monster: kids throw stones at her and she is bullied at work. However, May tries to adapt by following the rules and norms set by the government on infected citizens who wish to fit back into society.

Opinion is divided about what should be done with the “infected”. Should one accept them, or reject them? And this division foreshadows a future war where racism and intolerance will inevitably hasten the definitive rift between humans and vampires.

And apparently, as seen in this exclusive image provided to the Backbrain by the filmmakers, vampires are allowed to feed on “Vampire Farms” — prisons  containing murderers and pederasts.

Even the publicity collateral produced for this “no-budget” film is classy — much classier, in fact, than many mega-budgeted blockbusters and the whole ambiance of the film is beautifully atmospheric, displaying compositional care and superb design. Good SFX, too. Below are some examples.

More images appear in the Gallery at the end of this article, and you can see many more on the film’s Facebook page and on its website.

Pseudo Current Affairs Clip:

First Five Minutes of The Vampire in the Hole:

News Reports on Madrid TV (with subtitles):

Gallery:

Posted in Horror, Independent film, News, Trailers, Vampires | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Exclusive: The Mountain Wailer

Posted on Sunday, February 27, 2011 by Robert Hood

The Hispanic legend of La Llorona has long been a popular subject of Mexican supernatural cinema, spawning such films as The Crying Woman [aka La Llorona; The Ghost] (Mex-1933; dir. Ramón Peón), La Herencia de la Llorona [aka The Heritage of the Crying Woman] (Mexico-1947; dir. Mauricio Magdaleno), The Crying Woman [aka La Llorona] (Mex-1960, dir. René Cardona), The Curse of the Crying Woman [aka La Maldición de la Llorona] (Mex-1963, dir. Rafael Baledón), La Llorona del Río [aka The Weeping Woman of the River] (US-2001; dir. David Becerra), The Spirit Hunter: La Llorona (US-2004, dir. Jose Cruz), Curse of La Llorona (US-2007; dir. Terrence Williams), and even a Santo film, The Vengeance of the Crying Woman [aka La Venganza de la llorona] (Mex-1974, dir. Miguel M. Delgado).

La Llorona, or the Crying (or Weeping) Woman, is the spirit of a beautiful woman who wanders the rivers and mountain streams, weeping and wailing, dressed in a flowing white dress and looking for children whom she drags, screaming, to their death in the waters. There are a variety of folktales that recount the legend of her origin, but basically she is a mother who drowned her own children out of tragic love and now is doomed to search for them for eternity in rivers throughout the land. (Go here for a lengthy account.)

In Venezuelan story La Llorona is known as La Sayona, or the Mountain Wailer — and a new horror film explores the tale once more.

Deep in the Venezuelan mountains, no one can hear your screams. But you can hear hers…

Trailer:

The Mountain Wailer (US-2010; short; dir. Rob Garcia)

The Mountain Wailer is the story of two Mountaineers in Venezuela who encounter several horrors surrounding La Sayona. That’s as much as director Garcia is willing to share at this time, not wanting to give too much away. But he has offered Undead Backbrain some exclusive images, including concept art. Check the Gallery below to see them all.

Concept Drawing of La Sayona:

Written and directed by Rob Garcia, the short film was made for new production company Draconic Pictures and produced by Lionsgate subsidiary Tigergate, who are currently distributing it.

Addendum: A feature-length version is under development. In fact, the concept drawings above and in the gallery relate to that, rather than the short.

Look for it soon.

Gallery:

Posted in Ghosts, Horror, Independent film, News, Trailers | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Ultraman on Monster Awareness Month

Posted on Sunday, February 13, 2011 by Robert Hood

Click on this image now!

Spectacular, isn’t it? These are some of the monsters that feature in the Ultraman franchise, one of two paintings by Toshio Okazaki published in Shōgakukan’s 1979 edition of Ultra Kaiju (Shōgakukan Nyūmon Hyakka Series #97) (Source: Pink Tentacle)

I have to say that the various Ultraman series fascinate me. They should fascinate you, too. Sure, there are many reasons why you might be scornful or dismissive, but there are plenty more that suggest that the Ultraman phenomenon has much greater depth and power than you might have realised.

Go to the Monster Awareness Month website now, where you can see the other one of Okazaki’s paintings and read some of my thoughts on the Japanese superhero/daikaiju spectacle that is Ultraman — a franchise that has survived since the 1960s and is still evolving and feeding the box office in its native land. Arguably more popular than Godzilla, and certainly more undying on Japanese TV and in cinemas than the King of the Monsters has proven to be, it offers one thing at least that should attract readers of Undead Backbrain: really weird monsters. Lots of them.

I love it. If you want to know why, go read the article “Reveling in Absurdity: The Monsters of Ultraman”.

You can follow up by reading Ruth Merriam’s excellent appreciation of Ray Harryhausen’s Jason and the Argonauts (1963).

Posted in Animation, Daikaiju, Giant Monsters, Monsters in general, News, Ultraman | Tagged , | 3 Comments

New: Argentinian Zombie Horror

Posted on Sunday, February 13, 2011 by Robert Hood

Incidente (Argentina-2011; dir. Mariano Cattaneo)

Argentinian writer/director Mariano Cattaneo and his crew have recently completed work on a zombie horror film that takes a camera verité or “faux documentary” approach to the genre, in the obvious tradition of [Rec] (Spain-2007; dir. Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza) and its Hollywood remake Quarantine (US-2008; dir. John Erick Dowdle), with their on-the-spot doco/news reporter. Before those, of course, there was … well, I don’t really have to mention The Blair Witch Project, do I?

Tagline: “This is what they found…”

Apart from the “fake doco” horror standards, director Cattaneo also lists other influences, namely Demons by Lamberto Bava, and the Stephen King novel Desperation. In fact he sees Incidente as a demonic film rather than one that features mind-destroying infection (such as 28 Days Later…) or zombies as such. Here, demons are “using humans as clothing”. In essence the film is about a demon-ridden building. (Source)

Set in an abandoned five-story factory, Incidente was filmed in what almost amounts to real-time:

The film was made, between rehearsals and filming, over three weekends and one evening for scenes in the beginning: the police presentation.

He sees it as a way of pushing Argentinian cinema in new and exciting directions.

Alternate Teaser Posters:

“Turning on the camera, he began to record from that moment … everything will go to Hell!”

Portrait of the Director (Mariano Cattaneo) as an Action Hero, by Amanda Nara:

At the Release Party last November in Buenos Aires:

More Incidente release snaps here.

Sources: Cattaneo’s Blog; IMDb. Research: Avery Guerra. Written by Robert Hood.

Posted in Film, Horror, Independent film, Posters, Zombies | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments