Davi de Oliveira Pinheiro Goes Beyond the Grave

Posted on Monday, February 2, 2009 by Robert Hood

There is a synchronicity between art, detectives and the restless dead and Brazilian director Davi de Oliveira Pinheiro has set out to explore the boundaries.

In post-production is Beyond the Grave [aka Porto Dos Mortos] (Spain-2009; dir. Davi de Oliveira Pinheiro) — a noirish, apocalyptic, zombiesque, western hybrid that follows “the unstoppable hunt of the vengeful cop Lockheart (Rafael Tombini) for Adam, a supernatural serial killer”. Set in the post-apocalyptic wastelands of a “dystopian Brazil”, it features “returners” — the living dead — which complicate Lockhart’s attempts to deal with his demonic nemesis.

“It’s a violent and emotional experience, mixing possession, black magic, the living dead and intense doses of suspense, character work and spanking action”, Davi commented.

Trailer (go to the website to see a HD version):

In conjunction with this — or perhaps as a sort of flipside — Davi de Oliveira Pinheiro has produced a short film that takes a more experimental approach to the art/detective nexus. “The Soul Detective” is a 9-minute film about a psychic investigator and the nature of art.

Synopsis:

A detective enters a train car were he finds different manifestations of a force that haunts the place. Using his telepathic powers he tries to enter the mind of a recently deceased man before all his memories vanish.

“The Soul Detective” is is the fifth and last episode from V2 Cinema’s Brazilian web series Boundaries of Thought: Think Tank. It is based around an interview with filmmaker David Lynch — and Lynch features in the film, snippets of his thoughts punctuating the detective’s surreal search for a truth that lies beyond death.

Said Davi de Oliveira Pinheiro:

“The interview was not made to be a piece of ‘cinéma vérité’ [cinema of truth], but as a sound and vision experiment, to see how an opinion can become a fiction completely different from its original intent. The short was structured over atmosphere and instinct, with the use of free association.”

On the association between Beyond the Grave and “The Soul Detective” the director commented,

“Beyond the Grave is a popular movie with experimental echoes. I turned that around and made an experimental movie with popular echoes, resulting in ‘The Soul Detective’. I was interested in questions of rhythm, internal movement and the search of new soundscapes.”

You can view the very Lynchian “The Soul Detective” in its entirety here:


The Soul Detective from Think Tank on Vimeo.

The online Think Tank series is made up of visual essays, made by Brazilian directors, within reach of all through the Internet. Every month, an unpublished short-film featuring highly respected personalities from movies, theater, music and plastic arts appeared online. The directors Márcio Schoenardie, Fernando Belens, Gustavo Spolidoro, Camila Gonzatto and Davi de Oliveira Pinheiro showcased their particular views of art to the world using this experimental medium.

Split between five shorts, directed by five different Brazilian filmmakers, it presents almost an hour of interviews and visual essays. Lynch, Beto Brant, Philip Glass, Fernando Arrabal, José Padilha and Wim Wenders are among the stars of each segment. The series was a spin off from the international seminar Boundaries of Thought (aka Fronteiras do Pensamento, 2007-2008) held in Brazil.

Posted in Film, Ghosts, Horror, Independent film, Trailers, Zombies | 1 Comment

The UFOs are Coming

Posted on Sunday, February 1, 2009 by Robert Hood

The Backbrain definitely has a deep, dark space in it where classic ’50s flying saucers zoom and zip and zap and materialise in middle-American settings to scare the inhabitants and instigate invasion proceedings.

A while back I posted (on our sister site Undead Brainspasm) information about a new retro-50s scifi horror flick called Alien Trespass, which is said to feature flying saucers, ray-guns, invading aliens, one-eyed monsters, an astronomer and a feisty waitress — and as more and more of its imagery appears I find myself becoming very keen on the idea. Directed by an X-Files alumni, and displaying the clean wholesomeness and primary colours of a 1950s society that exists only in our cinema-fueled imaginations, it looks like it will be a lot of fun — and all in a good way.

Alien Trespass (US-2009; dir. R.W. Goodwin)

Set in 1957, a fiery object from space hurtles into a California desert mountaintop. A murderous creature — the Ghota, bent on destroying all life forms on the planet — escapes from the flying saucer. A benevolent alien, Urp, inhabits the body of Ted Lewis (Eric McCormack), a local astronomer, and with the help of Tammy, a waitress from the local diner, sets out to save mankind.

Check out these new images, provided by Bloody-Disgusting.com.

No one-eyed monster, but you can catch a glimpse of him in the trailer here — or go to YouTube to watch the larger HD version.

Posted in Film, Flying Saucers, Science Fiction | Leave a comment

Screech of the Fighting Owl

Posted on Sunday, February 1, 2009 by Robert Hood

Fighting Owl logo

Undead Backbrain frequently highlights small, independent film producers who are engaged in making exciting and (sometimes) innovative genre films. Fighting Owl is one such.

Formed in 2003 as an umbrella company for student films, it is now engaged in the development of several projects, in various stages of production. Says the website:

“Fighting Owl Films focuses mainly on the production of ‘genre’ films, which can encompass action, horror, science fiction and anything in between. Why genre films? Because it’s what we enjoy. Genre films are a lot of fun to make and they’re just as fun to watch. They allow filmmakers to tell stories, share ideas and sometimes tackle controversial topics with subtlety as opposed to an ‘in your face’ approach. But that doesn’t mean we’re ruling out ever producing a full-blooded drama, comedy or romance; we’re just waiting on the right script.”

In the meantime below are descriptions of some of their projects.

The Night Shift (US-2008; short [20 min.] dir. Thomas Smith)

What if you could live for eternity? What if you had to spend eternity working in a cemetery whose inhabitants can get a little frisky? Rue Morgan has such a curse. Every night, with his trusted pal Herb, a limbless skeleton, he guards the cemetery, making sure nothing gets in or out. This is one of those nights…

The cool thing here is that you can watch this neat little film for yourself, online. SFX may be limited, but script, acting and direction are all effective. It’s an entertaining piece and well worth your time to check it out:

Hoax

This one is in pre-production and features one of Kaiju Search Robot-Avery’s favourite things — a lake monster. The plot description leaves it as somewhat ambiguous whether or not a monster actually turns up, but we have it on reliable authority that if you’re a lake monster fan, you won’t be cheated.

The sleepy town of Glenmore is just like another other, only it’s home to Bessie, a thousand year old lake monster – or so the locals claim. Trouble is, Glenmore has relied on tourism dollars its entire existence and Bessie hasn’t been spotted in years. To save the town from going under one shop owner and his son mount a not-so elaborate hoax to bring Bessie back into the headlines and tourism back to Glenmore.

lake monster pic

[Okay, the above image isn’t a conceptual drawing relating to the film — it’s by bpkelsey and is taken from one of Worth1000.com’s thematic contests. But I wanted a picture and that’s a good one!]

Writer/director Thomas Smith commented to Avery:

“The film is sort of a drama rolled in with a horror film – think Jaws. The creature isn’t seen terribly often until the end. Up until that point there are just a few hints here and there. We’ll probably go into production on it sometime this summer – we’re in the midst of production for another film at the moment.”

The film he’s referring to is:

Purefoy promo poster

The Strange Experiment of Doctor Purefoy

Corey is failing her undergraduate biology class. In an attempt to pass the class and graduate on time she begins working as an assistant for Dr. Purefoy, her eccentric biology professor. He makes requests and saddles her with tasks that appear mundane and harmless. But as things become more bizarre, Corey begins to wonder what exactly Purefoy is planning.

Smith describes it as “a mystery that’s sort of Frankenstein from the assistant’s perspective.”

There is much more material on other Fighting Owl’s short films on their website. All up, the Fighting Owl looks like a group to watch out for. The Backbrain will do just that and release updates when we get them.

Source: Official website via Kaiju Search-Robot Avery

Posted in Film, Ghosts, Giant Monsters, Horror, Independent film, Lake Monsters, Zombies | 2 Comments

Pride Cometh Before Zombies

Posted on Wednesday, January 28, 2009 by Robert Hood

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single zombie in possession of a good appetite for human flesh, must be in want of a tasty brain or two.

However little known the feelings or views of such a decaying monster may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the brains of the local inhabitants, that he is considered as the rightful target of some one or other of their zombie-killing daughters.

“My dear Mr Bennett,” said his lady to him one day, “can’t we send Elizabeth over to Netherfield Park and let her smash open the head of the handsome but decaying corpse that has taken up residence there?”

This is NOT a quote from a new book written by Jane Austen in collaboration with Seth Grahame-Smith — Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (Quirk Books, 2009).  I’m not sure whether the actual text will be funny or just lame, but it has me intrigued.

Synopsis:

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies features the original text of Jane Austen’s beloved novel with all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie action. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton—and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she’s soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers—and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead. Complete with 20 illustrations in the style of C.E. Brock (the original illustrator of Pride and Prejudice), this insanely funny expanded edition will introduce Jane Austen’s classic novel to new legions of fans.

If Mr Grahame-Smith has done some clever textual mixing and matching it could very well be hilarious, but I’d be less impressed by blocks of zombiesque narrative shoved in without much re-sculpturing of Austen’s original.

Still, if nothing else, it’s a bit of a curiosity. It goes on sale in April.

Posted in Books, Weird stuff, Zombies | 4 Comments

Obscure Godzilla Posters

Posted on Tuesday, January 27, 2009 by Robert Hood

We’re all familiar with the standard Godzilla posters, beginning with the original Japanese one:

Gojira poster 1954

But there are many many others. As an excuse to reveal a poster that Kaiju Search-Robot Avery discovered on the Kong is King messageboard, here is a bunch of less-well-known Godzilla posters, starting with the one Avery found — which advertises the US version by dissing King Kong and offering up a Godzilla who has — very early in his career — clearly let himself go.

Here’s a poster from Belgium for Godzilla vs Gigan, featuring a big pile-up of kaiju, though the one that is supposed to be Godzilla looks more like The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms:

Godzilla vs Gigan: Belgium

Or this fantastic Polish effort for The Terror of Mechagodzilla — or perhaps Godzilla vs The Yellow Submarine would be more appropriate:

Terror of Mechagodzilla Poland

Here we have a rather strange poster for Godzilla vs Megalon, in which… somehow … the two skyscraper-sized monsters end up on either tower of what might be the World Trade Center:

Godzilla vs Megalon poster

This US poster for Godzilla vs the Thing manages to both obscure what “the Thing” is and to hint that it’s some kind of tentacled Cthulhan monstrosity, even though this nomenclature was a rather silly attempt to obscure the fact that Godzilla’s opponent was a giant moth — a monster that might not appeal to the target 14-year-old US male:

Godzilla vs the Thing poster

Then there’s this one, a rather snazzy rendering of the main US poster for Godzilla, King of the Monsters:

And finally a recent poster, rather stylish, advertising the British Film Institute’s release of the original Gojira:

Sources:

Posted in Archival, Daikaiju, Film, Giant Monsters, Godzilla, Pictorial art, Posters, Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Reptisaurus Attacks!

Posted on Thursday, January 22, 2009 by Robert Hood

Undead Backbrain has been following the progress of Christopher Ray‘s monster movie, Reptisaurus, for some time now. We don’t have any new information regarding its release, but Fred Olen Ray (executive producer, the director’s father and experienced B-flick maker) has provided a number of images of the titular monster in action:

Reptisaurus

Looking good!

Addendum: Fred Olen Ray comments on the release of Reptisaurus: “”The film has been delivered to Japan already and will be coming out there soon. The US will be along shortly.”

Posted in Comics, Film, Giant Monsters, Update | Leave a comment

Monstrous Big Stories

Posted on Monday, January 19, 2009 by Robert Hood

Daikaiju! cover

Remember Daikaiju! Giant Monster Tales, edited by Robert Hood and Robin Pen? It was a much-lauded collection of 26 original giant monster stories — and the anthology ended up winning a Ditmar Award (Australian Hugo) for Best Collection in 2005.  I know it’s been a few years now, but the book’s still around and has spawned two sequels — Daikaiju! 2: Revenge of the Giant Monsters and Daikaiju! 3: Giant Monsters vs the World. All were published by Agog! Press in Australia and in conjunction with Prime Books in the US, and are still available on the Amazon and Barnes & Noble websites, in soft and hardcover.

At the time of publication Daikaiju! was the first original anthology of Really Big Monster stories to appear and it proved a success with fans, even gaining a positive response from literary reviewers who wouldn’t be seen dead watching a giant monster movie.

Now, however, there are other giant monster anthologies appearing. Permuted Press has just released Monstrous: 20 Tales of Giant Creature Terror, edited by Ryan C. Thomas.

Monstrous cover

The only authors I know are in it are (impressively) Guy N. Smith of the Crabs! books fame, Steve Alten and Cody Goodfellow — the latter of whom was also in Daikaiju!

Well, you certainly can’t have too many giant monster stories, I reckon. I’ll be getting a copy.

But I hope readers won’t forget the Daikaiju! books in the process of plunging into this one.

Posted in Books, Daikaiju, Giant Monsters | 2 Comments

The Week in Brainspasm

Posted on Monday, January 19, 2009 by Robert Hood

Check out the following news and updates on our sister site, Undead Brainspasm.

Update: Flowers for the Dead

Behind the Scenes of an upcoming zombie film homage to Night of the Living Dead

Update: Alien Trespass

New trailer for classy 50s scifi B-flick homage

Evil Giant Bongs

Sequel to the Full Moon stoner horror film, Evil Bong — Evil Bong 2: King Bong — featuring a giant possessed bong (of course)

FInally, Outlander arrives

Much anticipated vikings vs alien monster film finally has a screening date

New: Jack the Giant Killer

J.D Caruso of Disturbia fame is helming a remake of the 1962 Nathan Duran/Jim Danforth stop-motion classic.

Posted in Undead Brainspasm, Update | Leave a comment

Update: Tuatara

Posted on Sunday, January 18, 2009 by Robert Hood

A while back, we brought up the subject of a fascinating stop-motion scifi project named Tuatara (which you can read about here), wondering whether the long-fomenting ambitions of its creator (“Michael S.”) were likely to be coming to fruition any time soon.

Tuatara pic

Michael S. has been in contact with Kaiju Search-Robot Avery and has explained his intentions.

“The plan as now: ten minute episodes with 30-second opening titles and 30-second closing credits = 11 minutes (15 min. TV time slot without commercials). This is how shows like “Metalocalypse” and “Invader Zim” are done. But, unlike these two, the series will run consecutive episodes with dramatic story arcs that will be resolved in later episodes, via cliffhangers, etc. — so that the first 9 episodes can be edited together to form a 90-minute feature. Good idea, eh?”

Indeed. Michael S., who has worked as an effects technician in major films such as The Abyss and Total Recall, seems to have given a lot of attention to detailed models and setting, which promise to offer stop-motion and giant monster fans something very special indeed.

On the subject of his timetable for the project, he added: “I am hoping to have the first episode ready for the next big rush of film festivals for 2009.”

Checkout this gallery of production stills (click images to enlarge).

You can see more on Michael S’s MySpace page.

Posted in Animation, Film, Giant Monsters, Independent film, Robots, Update | Leave a comment

Vincent Price and the Black Widow

Posted on Saturday, January 17, 2009 by Robert Hood

The music video below features Vincent Price and Alice Cooper, performing “The Black Widow” from Cooper’s classic album Welcome to My Nightmare. The performance is from a TV Special called “Alice Cooper — The Nightmare” that aired on 25 April 1975 and later released to home video — Alice looking much less scary than he does these days. Vincent Price’s introductory monologue is an extended version of that on the album (one of my all-time favourites), but notice the authority with which he delivers every syllable. What a voice!


Worthy of note is the fact that the TV Special (produced by David Winter) was nominated for a Grammy but lost out to Duran Duran.

Posted in Horror, Music | Leave a comment