Having just watched the so-called remake of the Romero classic, Day of the Dead (US-2008; dir. Steve Miner), I was intending to review it — fairly and without prejudice, even though Romero’s original remains what is for me the best of his Living Dead films, fan opinion notwithstanding. However, I happened to read this review of Miner’s effort and more-or-less agreed with everything said — which can pretty well be summed up with this sentence: “Where Romero created a film about isolation and explosive cabin fever that became a philosophical look at the end of humanity, Day of the Dead 2008 quickly becomes just another zombie film by the numbers.”
Suddenly I couldn’t be bothered penning my own condemnation.
So instead check out this fantastic clip of one of Romero’s 1985 zombies de-zombifying himself:
Now that’s a better zombie movie than the 2008 whatever-it-is.
Note that I don’t even mention the hyped-up dead, who not only run at super-speed — except when it’s convenient for the protagonists that they don’t — but manage to defy gravity by crawling along the ceiling and generally acting like ninjas.
A zombie apocalypse/crime thriller hybrid novel sees release today: Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry (St. Martins Griffin; trade paperback).
Synopsis:
When you have to kill the same terrorist twice in one week there’s either something wrong with your world or something wrong with your skills… and there’s nothing wrong with Joe Ledger’s skills. And that’s both a good, and a bad thing. It’s good because he’s a Baltimore detective that has just been secretly recruited by the government to lead a new taskforce created to deal with the problems that Homeland Security can’t handle. This rapid response group is called the Department of Military Sciences or the DMS for short. It’s bad because his first mission is to help stop a group of terrorists from releasing a dreadful bio-weapon that can turn ordinary people into zombies. The fate of the world hangs in the balance….
With endorsements such as these, from two giants in the field, it’s looking like a good bet.
“I had a fine old time reading PATIENT ZERO. Jonathan Maberry has found a delightful voice for this adventure of Joe Ledger and his crew: while the action is heated, violent, and furious, the writing remains cool, steady, and low-key, framing all the wildness and exuberance in a calm rationality (given an almost comic edge) that renders it as palatable as your favorite flavor of ice cream. This is a lovely feat, and Maberry has written a memorable book.” – PETER STRAUB
“A fast-paced, creepy thriller that as prickly as a hospital needle and sounds a little too convincing. This guy is good.” –JOE R. LANSDALE
Can a film be far behind? Seems to me this wouldn’t be a bad thing, as the book appears to be putting quite a different slant on the genre. I look forward to reading it.
Not content with all those items in the previous post, Kaiju Search-Robot Avery has come up with a new crisp image (click to enlarge) of the poster for Chohatsu Daikaiju Gehara [Long-haired Giant Monster Gehara] (Japan-2009; short; dir. Kiyotaka Taguchi), as well as a gallery of production shots and images from the film, some of which make Gehara look very sinister indeed (see below).
Using his latest investigative software upgrade, Kaiju Search-Robot Avery has ferreted out some new pictures and other trivia related to Chohatsu Daikaiju Gehara [Long-haired Giant Monster Gehara] (Japan-2009; short; dir. Kiyotaka Taguchi), including a Brazilian video review “of the recent production of the Japanese channel NHK”.
The short, 15-minute film, which uses traditional daikaiju eiga techniques with comedic intent, was screened on TV in Japan on 25 February. Under the longstanding Japanese tradition of truth in movie titles, it features a large, hairy monster named Gehara.
The above appears to be a sketch for the poster or an early conceptual image, but my ability to translate the Google translation of the Japanese site where it came from is limited. If you want to give it a go, here is where I got it.
Meanwhile, below is a group of shots from the film:
It reflects on the enduring popularity of daikaiju eiga that this film was not only made at all, but was made using traditional techniques, includes at least one traditional kaiju actor in its cast and has been met with desperate enthusiasm among fans. Moreover, Gehara has already received the cute Super-Deformed treatment:
and has appeared as the inevitable toy, which really makes him a legitimate kaiju:
Looks rather more gormlessly cheerful in this form than he does on the poster (see next post), I must say, where the gormlessness veers toward the maniacal!
Below is a Brazilian “video review” of the film. It includes pictures you can see above and in the Backbrain’s previous article on Gehara — and it isn’t in English — but it is interesting to try and guess what’s being said:
A gallery of images is available on the Backbrain here.
New trailers for Jeff Leroy’s giant alien rat opus, Rat Scratch Fever, have appeared. Lots of great giant monster action! Note the “old school” kaiju SFX.
Brief Synopsis:
A mission to a uncharted planet returns with unwelcome guests: an army of giant killer rats. They take control of the remaining astronaut, eventually destroying Los Angeles.
New Official Trailer:
Old Trailer, New Edit:
Leroy lists his influences as “Bert I. Gordon, Gerry Anderson, Ishiro Honda, Sam Peckinpah”, that is, cheap exploitation Big Things, classy puppetry, traditional daikaiju eiga and loud, confronting violence. Go, Jeff!
He also comments that Rat Scratch Fever is now completed and he’s working on having a free screening in Los Angeles.
Though I argue rather rabidly that “pure-bred” zombie apocalypse films — you know, those in the “end-of-the-world by viral cannibalistic corpses” sub-genre initiated by George A. Romero in Night of the Living Dead (1969) — must by definition feature ambulatory corpses, I am willing to admit that there is a class of apocalypse film that is so heavily influenced by the living dead tropes that some leeway has to be afforded them. I have heard it argued that the genre should be defined not simply by the inclusion of the literally dead, but by the presence of any form of brain-death or destruction of individual identity, including madness — and maybe such commentators have a point. Yet this approach seems rather problematic to me, and besides, not having the frisson of unnatural re-animation involved tends to significantly change the metaphorical basis of these films.
28 Days Later… is, of course, the most prominent contemporary example. Though the fact that its “monsters” aren’t dead or returned from death and can be shot and killed does, for me, exclude the film from entry to the Temple of the Living Dead, there’s little question that in other ways it looks like a zombie-apocalypse film and any extended discussion of the subgenre has to include it. Sometimes such films are a way of invigorating a genre that does tend, at times, to become rather repetitious.
Well, here’s another of this kind of zombie-apocalypse film — one of what I have elsewhere referred to us the “Nearly Dead” kind. This one takes quite a different approach and, from what I understand of it, offers considerable potential via its intriguing premise.
Pontypool (US-2009; dir. Bruce McDonald)
Synopsis:
Shock jock Grant Mazzy has, once again, been kicked-off the Big City airwaves and now the only job he can get is the early morning show at CLSY Radio in Pontypool Ontario, which broadcasts from the basement of the small town’s only church. What begins as another boring day of school bus cancellations, due to yet another massive snow storm, quickly turns deadly when reports start piling in of people developing strange speech patterns and evoking horrendous acts of violence start piling in. Bu there’s nothing coming in on the news wires. Is this really happening?
Before long, Grant and the small staff at CLSY find themselves trapped in the radio station as they discover that this insane behaviour taking over the town is actually a deadly virus being spread through the English language itself. Do they stay on the air in the hopes of being rescued or, are they in fact providing the virus with its ultimate leap over the airwaves and into the world?
Pontypool is based on a popular novel, Pontypool Changes Everything by Tony Burgess, who also wrote the script. Filmed in the basement of the former Victoria-Royce Presbyterian Church in Toronto’s West End, the film will have its theatrical premiere in March. Visual Effects are being done by the Mr. X Special Effects House in Toronto. Mr. X’s credits include such genre works as Resident Evil, Dawn of the Dead (2004), the recent Death Race remake, and Max Payne. It stars Stephen McHattie as the shock-jock Grant Mazzy and Lisa Houle as Mazzy’s producer, Sydney Briar.
Newcomer Georgina Reilly was cast as Laurel Ann Drummond, the radio station’s know-it-all technician.
Trailer:
And here is a clip that features some of the “monsters” turning up…
Here at Undead Backbrain, we like to show an online zombie or ghost film for your weekend viewing pleasure — whenever the opportunity arises, at any rate.
So here’s one for today. It’s a bit late… sorry. Upload issues.
The Horde: Desolation
Two years after a worldwide infection from an unexplained virus is unleashed, most of the earth’s population has been destroyed. The virus turns people into animalistic cannibals (zombie-like), and the government tries to control it as much as possible. When there looks like there is no hope of keeping the virus at bay, they resort to extermination of everybody outside the controlled areas. This is where we find our two heroes, Morgan and Buddy, who just want to live what life they can. Now they must run from the infected cannibals and their own government. (QuietEarth)
Click here to view the film. It requires Quicktime.
Well, the film’s on the way now, and to prove it director Cerrato has just put a teaser trailer on YouTube. It’s an early “rough cut” and a work-in-progress, and it doesn’t give us much direct big bug action to be going on with. But what there is is suggestive of great things. Just pay attention during the final few seconds of this clip.
Any kaiju fan who hasn’t been living under a skyscraper-sized rock (and in fact anyone out there who knows what the word “kaiju” means) should have heard of Kaiju Big Battel. Described as “a modern conflict of epic proportions” and “the world’s only live monster wrestling spectacle”, Kaiju Big Battel is a unique sporting entertainment based on Japanese giant monster aesthetics. It has “evil villains, menacing alien beasts, and giant, city-crushing monsters”, all of them threatening to destroy the planet Earth.
“Who will save the helpless humans from total ruin? The Heroes, of course, and the Heroines, too. A few privileged humans also get in on the action, as they try to contain danger within the three-roped arena of Kaiju Big Battel.”
Kaiju Search-Robot Avery recently penetrated to the heart of the Beast, determined to get to The Truth. He spoke to Chief Kaiju Officer and Creative Director of the World-Crushing Entertainment, Rand Borden.
Avery: Rand, how about giving us a run-down on what exactly Kaiju Big Battel is and what it consists of – by way of a little history of yourself and the project?
Rand Borden: I’m a kaijuholic. The seeds of Kaiju Big Battel were planted in 1994 when I began to build my own kaiju suit while still a student at The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, aka SMFA [in Boston]. It took about a year to complete as I was working in the dark. There was not much of an internet then, so info on kaiju costume-making was hard to come by.
I’d been a big fan of Ultraman [the live-action, giant superhero-vs-monsters TV show] as a kid and this brought it all back. Creating the kaiju it was immensely enjoyable so I decided to make some more. I soon had three kaiju suits and Halloween was just around the corner. The Revolving Museum, a local gallery, was planning its annual Halloween fundraiser and my friend had connections there. Somehow we ended up on stage, beating each other up amongst a hastily constructed city made out of cardboard. The crowd loved it.
Four months later we were asked to repeat it at SMFA. There was a Printmaking symposium going on and for the opening night the print faculty wanted us to entertain. We had one problem: there was no stage. We gathered up some wood and started building one and as it went up it transformed into a wrestling ring-like structure. The ropes were weak and there was little padding, if any, but it looked the part and even better it gave the Kaiju a reason to fight.
Also in the weeks building up to the event I cranked out several costumes with stuff I had lying around. A pair or scrubs, a child’s wolverine mask, bananas-in-pajamas heads I’d made for Halloween, a California Raisin costume and a bootleg Power Rangers mask quickly became Dr Cube, American Beetle, The Plantain Twins, Silver Potato, and Powa Ranjuru. To pay for materials we printed up some T-shirts and made trading cards on the School’s presses, which we sold at the show.
From there, the show grew and evolved. In 1998 I went to Japan for the first time. As luck would have it the place I was staying was just up the road from Tsuburaya Studios, the home of Ultraman. I went to take a look and was taking pictures outside and the security guard waved me in. They were repairing suits in the parking lot and he let me get up close to see what they were doing. As I was watching, a man crossing the lot from one building to another stopped and asked if I knew Brad. I said no and he insisted I did and ran back to where he had come from. Brad Warner came out to greet me. He was the only American working there — I believe he was second-in-charge of the International Department. He took me on a tour of the place while I made mental notes on how things were made, while snapping pics. I was close in my construction techniques but I learned more that day than I’d managed in the last four years of experimenting. The way I build the suits has changed very little since that time.
Avery: It’s obvious that the show is heavily inspired by Japanese kaiju television and cinema. Which ones in general have been most influential to Big Battel’s creation?
RB: Initially Ultraman as I grew up watching it, but Ishinomori Shotaro’s huge output also inspired me in the early 90s when I rediscovered my childhood passions for monster destruction.
Avery: What goes into the making of the live shows and where do you find the experienced crew members for such events?
RB: It takes about a month of prep time. Making miniature buildings takes up most of that time. Other things to be done are suit repair, rehearsal, props and of course writing the script and lead-up stories for the Web. [Examples of what Rand is talking about here can be seen on the Kaiju Big Battel website.] A lot of the crew start out as interns that never really leave. Some people just have a love for it or for performing in front of a crowd. Also people bring others into it, their friends, and they want to have fun performing together. Very rarely do we have tryouts.
Avery: What types of merchandising based on the show have there been and has any been particularly successful?
RB: A quick list includes T-shirts, Trading Cards, Clocks, Hot Sauce, Magnets, Pins, DVDs, Vinyl Toys, Posters, Stuffed Kaiju, Menko, Greeting Cards … and I know I’ve missed others. DVDs and T-Shirts tend to sell the best overall, but one of my favorites is “REAL MEAT”. When someone “dies” in the show we cut him up into little squares and package it. The Vinyl Toys that are made by Marmit in Japan are the ones I love most. It was a dream come true for me as I collect kaiju toys and Marmit has been my favorite producer for a long time.
Avery: Would you say that the show has done well as a whole?
RB: Yes, as it’s how I make a living!
Avery: In the kaiju fan community there seems to be a degree of discrimination against Kaiju Big Battel, to the point that many are quick to dismiss it or ignore its existence altogether. Why do you think that this is? How would you address these individuals?
RB: I don’t know. I haven’t a clue but to tell you the truth: I do this for myself. I’m a kaiju fan and I try to do things that I think would be fun to watch. I don’t associate with the kaiju fan community in the States all that much. It’s not that I dislike it, it’s just that I’m a bit of a workaholic and spend all my time in the studio. The Japanese kaiju community, however, has been very supportive. Every time I visit Japan I meet new people who love it. Manga artist Naoki Karasawa went so far as to tell me I was the “True heir of Tokusatsu [live action special effects]”. It’s hard to receive a better compliment than that. If the fans of Japan can accept me and what I do, then that is enough for me.
Avery: Would you describe the show as a spoof/parody of the kaiju genre or more as a tribute?
RB: I love 70s Japanese TV and live-action kid shows appeal to me the most. I grew up in the ‘70s watching this stuff on the UHF channels. The spoof/parody is really on the wrestling side of things.
Avery: What would you like the audience to take from the experience that is Kaiju Big Battel?
RB: A trip back to childhood, bringing back those Saturday afternoons sitting in front of the TV all day. The fresh but familiar feelings of fun.
Avery: How many different kaiju have been made for this show and have any been particularly popular amongst the fans?
RB: There has been over 100 characters altogether, but not all of them are kaiju. This number includes the Heroes as well as the human cast. Fan favorites from the Kaiju category are Kung Fu Chicken Noodle, Sky Deviler, Call-Me-Kevin, Unibouzu, and in his time Midori no Kaiju.
Avery: Who is responsible for creating these characters, the designing of the suits, building of the miniature sets, and overall SPFX?
RB: I design about 95% of every thing, suits, miniatures, website, merchandising, etc. I come up with the basic story for the characters and then pass if off to someone else to make into coherent paragraphs; I am more of a visual person than anything else. In building things I maybe do 60%-70% of the work and direct the rest. The shows, on the other hand, are written by everyone involved, from the performers to the interns. Everybody puts their ideas into the pot and I just try to steer it in the proper direction. Mainly making sure things stay to character and don’t get too offensive — although sometimes things slip by. The video is edited by a crack team of interns. They work up the rough cut, then I go in and tighten it up and add effects, titles, etc.
Avery: What will the fans have to look forward to in the future from Kaiju Big Battel?
RB: The plans are always changing, so even I don’t know too far into the future. I do hope to finish the “Rogue Soup and Bug” film this summer, if money permits. [You can view the trailer by clicking here or watch it below.]
Avery: In closing, is there anything you’d like to add? Perhaps something you would like to say to your fans past, present, and future?
RB: Thanks for all the support. I hope you will continue to enjoy what I do.
“Rogue Soup and Bug” DVD trailer:
Kaiju Gallery:
The following is Page 1 of the Kaiju Big Battel manga, written byStudio Kaiju and drawn Shawn Pero. You can read the whole thing here.
We’ve scored another load of pictures from what might be the most talked about giant rat film ever — at least since Damian Lee’s 1989 sequel to Mr B.I.G.’s 1976 Food of the Gods.
Rat Scratch Fever (US-2009; dir. Jeff Leroy)
Lead rat-catcher Sonja (Tasha Tacosa) faces the future:
Dr Steele (Randal Malone) — a Dr Phibes fan with an unhealthy interest in vermin:
Party Time for Rats:
The Pest Control Hotline:
How to deal with the rats infesting the White House:
