Looks like an updated version of Gigantor or Johnny Sokko...
The Mighty Grand Piton is a short film about a young British girl, Connie, who travels to the Caribbean Island of Saint Lucia for her school holidays with her family. There, she accidentally awakens a giant robot buried under the Twin Piton mountains on the south of the Island. This robot seems compelled to protect Saint Lucia but his origins are mysterious. No one knows where he came from or how long he’s been there. During the many years he’s lain dormant, The Mighty Grand Piton, became nothing more than the stuff of legend.
The Mighty Grand Piton is the brainchild of Wesley Louis, whose parents were born in Saint Lucia before moving to the UK. Connie, whose character is based on an amalgamation of Wes’s nieces and nephews, is also an embodiment of his own experience of visiting the Caribbean. Specifically, the story references his memories of engaging with a culture and community that he grew up just hearing about. We also get a sense in this film what it was like seeing for the first time a landscape that could not be more different from where he was born in London.
I wonder how long until Disney steals this one? lol
This morning Adi Shankar released Power/Rangers, a “bootleg short film” directed by Joseph Kahn (Torque, Detention), co-written by Dutch Southern (Bad Turn Worse) and starring James Van Der Beek (Dawson’s Creek) and Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica). Described as “a twist on the Power Rangers mythos”, the short film is a a well crafted brilliant fx-heavy send-up of dark and gritty fan films while also somehow being a fun addition to the genre.
If you haven't seen this yet, prepare to be amazed!
Avatar Press and Mischief Maker Studios proudly announce that legendary comic book writer Garth Ennis will be premiering his short film, Stitched, at San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday evening, July 21, at 8:15pm in the convention’s Room 6DE. Featuring Ennis’s debut as a filmmaker, Stitched blends supernatural horror with a contemporary war story, creating a terrifying landscape which will be explored further in an ongoing monthly comic book series.
The fifteen-minute long film is written and directed by Garth Ennis, best known as the writer of such best-selling comic books as Preacher, The Punisher, The Boys, and Crossed. A Mischief Maker Studios production, Stitched was produced by Brian Pulido, Francisca Pulido (The Graves), and Ed Polgardy (Laid To Rest). Adam Goldfine served as Director of Photography, while both Garth Ennis and William Christensen, the founder of Avatar Press, served as Executive Producers.
In Stitched, three survivors of an American helicopter crash (played by actors Tank Jones, Lauren Alonzo, and Kate Kugler) struggle across the high mountains of Afghanistan. They’re injured, without food, water, or medicine, and moving through Taliban-controlled territory. Among the sun-bleached rocks, they discover something worse than enemy fighters: an ancient supernatural power – murderous, unstoppable, and serving a twenty-first century evil.
“I’ve been thinking about (directing films) for a number of years now,” says Ennis. “Ever since the interest in a Preacher film became more solid, and the options on it and The Boys were picked up. I've written screenplays and treatments for things like Crossed, but I haven't really devoted myself to a film project before, not the way I have with Stitched. I've always loved movies; my comics are much more heavily influenced by film and TV than they are by other comics. So having a go at this seems quite natural.”
Hosting the premiere of Stitched at San Diego Comic-Con marks a first for the convention; although it regularly host panels featuring actors or sneak peak footage of upcoming films, SDCC has never previously premiered a film on-site. San Diego Comic-Con is the largest convention in the western hemisphere, drawing 130,000 attendees annually. With Ennis being a name brand in the comic book community, the convention anticipates that his one-evening-only film premiere will draw a maximum capacity crowd. San Diego Comic-Con attendees will also have an opportunity to purchase exclusive early release DVDs on site for an autographing opportunity with creator Garth Ennis.
The footage filmed for Stitched comprises the opening conflict of a script intended as a full-length feature film. The full Ennis-penned script will be the basis of the first story arc in the upcoming, ongoing comic book series. From the behind-the-scenes footage available on the DVD release, Ennis says, “Stitched is going to have legs beyond just this 15-minute short. Most immediately, we're going to launch a new comic drawn by the always-excellent Mike Wolfer. The first series will tell the complete story that the film only begins.” The first issue of the comic book series will be released in November alongside the nationwide Stitched DVD release.
Garth Ennis, a critically acclaimed writer from Northern Ireland, has been working in the comic book industry for over 20 years. He is most easily recognized as the creator of Preacher from DC/Vertigo, as well as a long-time contributor to Marvel Comics’ The Punisher. His previous comic book work published by Avatar Press includes Dicks, 303, Chronicles of Wormwood, Streets of Glory, and the increasingly popular Crossed franchise, a horror survival series set in a world overrun by sadistic homicidal maniacs.
Avatar Press is a groundbreaking independent publishing company which produces a wide variety of cutting-edge comic books, graphic novels, and original web content. Their high-quality publications include the work of such industry luminaries as Garth Ennis (Crossed, Chronicles of Wormwood), Warren Ellis (Freakangels), David Lapham (Caligula, Crossed: Psychopath), and Alan Moore (Neonomicon). They also produce a diverse range of licensed projects including the classic zombie epic Night of the Living Dead and George RR Martin’s Fevre Dream. Their action-oriented Boundless Comics imprint publishes Brian Pulido’s original Lady Death and Mike Wolfer’s reimagining of the classic femme fatales Pandora, Hellina, and Widow in the series War Goddess. For more information about Avatar Press, their publications, and creators, please visit www.avatarpress.com.
Mischief Maker Studios, owned by Brian Pulido and Francisca Pulido, is a multi-media entertainment company that develops, produces, and controls a library of properties and storylines, and partners with world renowned creators and clients to realize their full sales potential across all media platforms including film, television, print, online, mobile, gaming, and merchandising. Their first feature film, The Graves, sold to After Dark Films, Lionsgate, Syfy and a dozen international distributors. For more info, visit: www.MischiefMakerStudios.com.
For more information on the Stitched film, its DVD release, the film premiere at San Diego Comic-Con, and the comic book series, please visit the website www.FearTheStitched.com
Last December I posted an article about a great new animated giant robot short called "Godaizer" which has been a three year labor of love for film maker Hillary Yeo. Today, thanks to Yeo, I was able to view the finished product and let me tell you I was left nearly speechless. What Yeo has been able to capture is the pure essence of both the giant robot and giant monster genre in one amazing 20-minute film.
Think of "Godaizer" as "Tetsujin 28-go", "Mazinger", "Ultraman: The Next" and "WXIII: Patlabor the Movie 3" all assembled together to mash up in a perfect union with a bow on top.
There is no way that any fan of either Japanese anime or Tokusatsu could walk away from this one without feeling totally satisfied. The animation is beautiful and seamless, the robot design for "Godaizer" is timeless, (as if it jumped off the screen from a 70s Japanese cartoon) the monster is a nasty looking as can be and the combat sequences look pure Tsuburaya/Tanaka/Honda.
Written By: Ken Hulsey Sources: Twitch / GODAIZER Web Site / Avery Guerra
If you have actually taken the time to read many of my articles here at MIN, you have undoubtedly noticed my tendency to bitch and moan about copy-cat films, the fact that film makers seem to all make the same type of film at the same time, i.e. Bigfoot films and giant shark flicks, and the use of CGI animation over old-school stop-motion effects. That being said, you will probably be surprised to learn that there is one genre out there that no matter how many films get produced, I won't complain about it, that is, the giant robot genre, and I am actually thankful that the latest improvements in CGI effects have given film makers the tools to produce quality work on a small budget.
I know, you just fell out of your chair.
True, many of these films are either homages, or based on existing robot franchises, which I suppose makes them copy-cats, none the less, but I love them anyway.
Today's film, "GODAIZER", is an homage, it is CGI, it's story seems to be based (heavily) on "Tetsujin 28-go", some of the mecha looks exactly like the ones in "Macross" and the monster looks kinda like the one from "Ultraman: The Next." In fact some of the story looks like it may have been inspired by "Ultraman: The Next" or possibly "WXIII: Patlabor the Movie 3", which to me doesn't matter, because it looks like one hell of a cool short film.
"GODAIZER" has been a three year project for film maker Hillary Yeo who has poured both heart and soul into creating a visually stunning tribute to the great giant robot anime of the 1970s and 80s.
When I say stunning, I mean stunning. Though the animation in "GODAIZER" is computer generated, I has all the qualities of hand-painted art.
Truly beautiful.
No word yet on any release info on this one, so we'll just have to wait and see what develops.
Until then, here is the trailer plus a few stills:
Written By: Ken Hulsey Sources: Robert Hood / Avery Guerra
For the last couple of years American independent film makers have caught a major case of the 'Bigfoot Movie Crazies' with at least a dozen movies about the legendary beast being put into production. Now, it seems that the trend has spread across the Pacific to Australia, where low-budget movie maker Cole Bayford has decided to feature the countries own version of Sasquatch in his short film entitled "Yowie".
The film itself is actually a graduate project for the Griffith University Film School: Bachelor of Film and Screen Media Production Program in which Bayford is currently enrolled and is being filmed in actual Yowie country, Springbrook, NSW, a location where the creature has been sighted numerous times over the years.
Bayford had this to say about the project, "The themes in Yowie are of young love, jealousy and the ‘what if’. What would you do if you witnessed a death in the bush? Yowie explores the reality of basic human instincts and reactions. The film showcases the strength of relationships and the importance of communication between people in terror. The story delves into the speed of emotional change and rising paranoia’s effect on decisions.'
Sounds like some pretty well thought out stuff.
Here is the official synopsis:
Deep in the Australian bush, a legend lies dormant. In an effort to rekindle their relationship a couple drives into the hills for a romantic retreat. James and Vivian find themselves caught between a breakdown in their relationship and a fight for survival against a mysterious beast. What seemed like a new beginning is now a terrible encounter with the unknown. After James mistakes Angus, a harmless bushman, for the Yowie, he shoots him dead. The only way they can endure is to find a way to trust each other again, which, in this extreme situation, is easier said than done. Will they survive the night? And if they do, where will they stand after all that’s happened? This myth is deadly…
"Yowie", which is being produced by Jarred Bocca and stars Rupert Raineri, Anna Kennedy and Brendan Smoother, may only run for 10 minutes, but it looks as if Bayford has managed to squeeze a big film into a little package.
Bayford adds, “A younger audience and those of all ages who love tension and drama can sink their teeth into this psychological thriller."
Look for "Yowie" to hit the film festival circuit in 2011.
Written By: Ken Hulsey Sources: Douglas Bankston / Avery Guerra
You may, or may not, remember back in June when I posted an article about film maker Douglas Bankstrom's perils at trying to produce a short film called "It Came From Beyond The Mountain!" an homage to the 'big-bug' films of the 1950s like "Them!", "The Deadly Mantis", "Black Scorpion", and most notably, the 1955 Jack Arnold classic, "Tarantula".
Tom make a long story short, Bankstrom's dreams of producing a full-length feature film fell way short and all the indie film maker could afford to produce was a mere four-and-a-half minute monster tribute.
Granted, what Bankstrom was able to cram into his mini-movie was quite good, pity he wasn't able to find enough green stuff to make the movie he wanted to. It could have been really something.
Well, as fate would have it, the film maker was able to get his hands on some more money, not a lot of money, but enough to extend "It Came From Beyond The Mountain!" to a staggering 10 minutes and 38 seconds.
Okay, it's not as long as one of Peter Jackson's 'month-long' movies, but it was the best that he could do ....... give the guy some slack.
Bankstrom refers to this new version of his film as the 'director's cut'.
A classic! Long thought to have been destroyed in the great vault fire of '59, a print was discovered during the police raid of a reclusive collector's home and can now be seen for the first time in 40 years! Teens are terrorized by a giant rampaging spider mutated in a 1950s atomic test gone awry, featuring a mad general, a freight train and a mind-numb... I mean bending... climax that will make your brain turn into some sort of quivering, gelatinous substance. This restored director's cut features footage found under a bed in room 927 in the Roosevelt Hotel.
Lots of old film footage is found like that.
So, without further ado, here is the new, and improved, director's cut of "It Came From Beyond The Mountain!"
Written By: Ken Hulsey Sources: Jesse Blanchard / Robert Hood / Avery Guerra
It has been said over a billion times, if you ever want to be really good at something, you need to practice, practice, practice.
If you want to be good at football? You need to practice. If you want to be good at baseball? You need to practice. A good writer? Practice. Painter? Practice.
Practice, practice, practice ....... okay, I know you all get it.
But, what do you do if you want to be a better movie maker?
You can't exactly go out and make a movie every day. That costs a lot of money.
Do you film your wife, or life partner, doing naughty things with a handi-cam?
No, um ....... well, maybe, but film makers never really talk about that stuff. No, you make short films in preparation for filming the 'really big one'.
Well, at least that's what you do if you a film maker with as long a list of credentials as Jesse Blanchard, who has made over 43 films in eight years including the documentary, and film festival fave, "The Ranch", and one of George Romero's favorite zombie flicks, "Run For Your Life."
The 'big one' that is looming just over the horizon for Blanchard is the 3D monster film "Chompers 3D", but in preparation, practice if you will, he has just completed the short film, "Space Bugs", a great little sci fi/horror about alien insects that come to Earth to feed on people, and cause their heads to pop like a ripe pimple.
I know ...... eeeeewwwww!
Here Blanchard gives us a little history on how "Space Bugs" came to be:
Mutant Bugs attack Portland, Oregon. A young girl rushes home to warn her husband. Will she get there in time?
The original idea for Space Bugs was a ticking time bomb that shoots down from space and latches onto someone’s arm. The Hero then spends the next three minutes running through total chaos trying to get the thing off of him. However, I couldn’t connect with a 3D person to do the effects I wanted. So, I tweaked the idea into Space Bugs so that I could produce the bugs without any 3D work.
Originally, I was going to use LED lights for the bugs. I ordered a whole bunch from China and got heaps of hearing-aid batteries to power them. I was really excited about this approach and planned on throwing them past the camera and pulling them around on wires. But, another failure. The LEDs were not bright enough. I could either see them or light the set and see my actors. So, back to the drawing board.
Eventually, I ended up using a whole bunch of tricks including homemade ooze covered light bulbs, flares, flashlights, and one shot with LEDs.
The Bugs’ point-of-view shots were a ‘homage’ (rip-off) of Sam Raimi’s monster cam from the Evil Dead series. I tried to one up him by mounting the camera on a board two storeys in the air. This end shot flying into the house took a long time to get right. And I’m certain the neighbors were a little confused seeing me running over and over again at a house with my camera on top of a 16ft board.
I made Space Bugs completely on my own including all of the writing, shooting, editing, and effects. I’m practicing for my next feature Chompers 3D which will be much more ambitious, much more fun, and whole lot scarier.
Here is the finished product:
And here are some concept drawings of the "Space Bugs":
Written By: Ken Hulsey Sources: Douglas Bankston / Robert Hood / Avery Guerra
If parody is the sincerest form of flattery, then film maker Douglas Bankston must really love the giant insect movies of the mid to late 1950s. To put it bluntly, his film, "It Came From Over The Mountain", may very well be the best satire of the giant monster genre to come along in quite some time.
It's all there, a giant tarantula, wacko scientists and military types, teens straight out of Mayberry and, of course, the bomb. Everything that made for B movie gold in the era before The Beatles.
Films like "Them!", "The Deadly Mantis", "Black Scorpion", and most notably, the 1955 Jack Arnold classic, "Tarantula" are the obvious influences that Bankston drew upon when he conceived his film.
Though the film maker wanted to make "It Came From Beyond the Mountain" into a feature film, three and a half years, two computer meltdowns, software peculiarities, unforeseen technical difficulties, scheduling disasters, inopportune equipment failures gale-force winds, locusts and the random acts of God later, a short 4 minute and 43 second movie is all he could produce.
Bankston, however, notes that with more funding, he could have made it longer, "....you’re right — ICFBTM absolutely should be a feature film, but I only found so much loose change under my couch cushions. (I really should start inviting wealthier friends over.)"
Granted, you can only go so far with the money in your wallet, or in your furniture, but Bankston really got the most for his money, and though his film may be just shy of 5 minutes in length, it certainly has the feel of a much larger production.
Here is the synopsis:
Man treads on dangerous ground while trying to tame the atom, but power-mad General D.E. Williams doesn’t care — it’s his last day on the job at Pearl Lake Weapons Range anyway. His reckless detonation of a nuclear bomb unleashes an eight-legged mutation that exacts 1950s, B-movie-style revenge on all who get in its way.
or
A classic! Long thought to have been destroyed in the great vault fire of ‘59, a print was discovered during the police raid of a reclusive collector’s home and can now be seen for the first time in 40 years! Teens are terrorized by a giant rampaging spider mutated in a 1950s atomic test gone awry, featuring a mad general, a freight train and a mind-numb… I mean bending… climax that will make your brain turn into some sort of quivering, gelatinous substance.
As Bankston soon learned, stop motion effects are expensive and time consuming, so he took a page out of Arnold's book and used real tarantulas for his film as well, though, as John "Bud" Cardos learned in making "Kingdom of the Spiders", that presented other problems.
This is how Bankstom explained how conversations between himself and his effects man usually played out:
"… the number of effects shots skyrocketed. Because of this, I turned to visual effects artist Erik O’Donnell, whom I met through a friend, to help out … Our first conversation went something like this:
Erik: This movie sounds great! I’d love to help! Me: Perfect. I’ll get you the footage. Erik: How many effects shots are there? Me: Uh…12?
After the number of effects shots reached 40, I had to tackle the remaining effects myself because Erik would pretend he wasn’t home every time I came around."
Don't worry Doug, we all have friends like that.
The film maker goes on to explain how one of the shots, a scene taken directly from the 1957 Edward Ludwig film, "The Black Scorpion", involving a train and the giant tarantula, was achieved.
"Somewhere outside of Mojave, I found the perfect location with the perfect background to shoot the miniature freight train. It had to be in the middle of nowhere because the train would be on fire and it was the height of fire season. I didn’t need any witnesses to my pyromania. I had bought a bunch of HO trains and track off eBay, and the morning of the shoot I set up a stretch of about 30 feet of track and wired the power transformer to my Jeep. Everything was ready to shoot. Then in the span of about 10 minutes, the nice, calm morning turned into 40 mph wind. The small HO-gauge train just spun its wheels because the track happened to be facing into the stiff wind – the angle for the perfect background. The background was unacceptable if I ran the train downwind. I compromised and turned the track somewhat. This helped, but the wind, now coming toward the train at an angle, frequently blew the freight cars off the track. There is plenty of footage of me running into frame chasing after tumbling box cars as I curse the stinging sand, the wind, and even God himself. The footage was useless anyway. I had borrowed an Innovision Probe Lens for the day. Apparently, the Innovision’s adapter that attaches the Probe Lens to the XL1S was loose. The wind shook the Probe Lens violently meaning the image was all over the place and off the camera sensor. I returned the lens at the end of the day and pointed out the problem. The adapter was loose because of one tiny screw that could be tightened with a jeweler’s screwdriver. “You almost never have to worry about this,” I was told by the equipment manager as my jaw clenched and my knuckles whitened. I was in the Mojave Desert. In the middle of nowhere. In 40 mph wind. I did not have a jeweler’s screwdriver."
"For the re-shoot, I charted the wind conditions for Mojave for over a month. Finally, one day, the wind was calm. I raced back to the location, set up and shot the miniature train. My oil fire idea wasn’t working – or lighting – so at this point in the frustrating game I put flame directly to train."
"To put the live-action engineer into the train engine, I basically bought a piece of plywood, cut a square out of it, painted it chroma key green and mounted it between two C-stands, then put a second green piece of plywood behind it. The actor stood between the two pieces. The engineer’s hat flew off when I yanked the black string that was tied to it."
And that's how low-budget monster movies get made folks, with a few bucks and a lot of good old fashioned ingenuity.
As a model train nut, I cringe at the thought of a HO train being set ablaze, but in the spirit of true independent monster movie making, I can forgive.
Update: I was just forwarded an email from Douglas Bankston where he mentioned that he was able to rummage through some wealthy peoples furniture, check local pay phone return slots (do those still exist?) and knock off a little girls' lemonade stand to come up with more funds for an 11 minute, 'extended director's cut' of "It Came From Beyond the Mountain."
So far, however, all of Bankston's attempts to get his, new-and-improved, film online have fallen short of his expectations.
Once Bankston finds a suitable home for his film, I will let you know!
Here is the entire film, not just the trailer, plus some behind the scenes shots from "It Came From Beyond the Mountain":
Written By: Ken Hulsey Sources: Alexander G. Seyum / Avery Guerra
What do you do if you are a Ironworker who has found it hard to find work during these rough economic times?
Why, you go to film school and make a werewolf movie of course.
It may sound like a joke, but that is exactly what Alexander Seyum did after he got laid off from his job as a boilermaker, he bit the bullet and decided to follow his dreams.
Seyum explains, "..I'm a student film maker currently at The Los Angeles Film School in Hollywood. But I wasn't always a film maker. I was a Union Boilermaker local#92 and an Ironworker for 5 years. During that part of my life I was writing short stories, poetry and recording music as my side projects. The recession hit and my Union lost a whole lot of work. So I had to make a hard decision at that time in my life. Wait for the work to come back or take a leap of faith and follow my dreams and become a film maker. So I decided...become a film maker! I grew up watching horror films, being inspired by Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsesse, Oliver Stone, Quintain Tarantino and Stephen King."
For his first film project, Seyum decided on a making a short werewolf movie entitled, "Darkmoon", which is part "American Werewolf in London" with a good portion of the 1941 Universal classic, "The Wolfman", added into the mix.
On "Darkmoon" the inspiring film maker teamed up with FX artist Zoie Roman, and his fellow Los Angeles Film School classmates, to create a modern film with the look and feel of the classics.
Roman was obviously inspired by the makeup created by Jack Pierce for Lon Chaney Jr when she designed the look for the werewolf in "Darkmoon". (See Below)
It is so refreshing to see young film makers reverting back to the way movies used to be made before CGI came on the scene.
The film, which is about 15 minutes long, and cost about $1800 to make, was originally a short-story penned by Seyum called, "The Beast of Forest Greens", which the film maker turned into a screen play.
Here is the synopsis:
For the past fifteen years there has been a myth about a creature lurking near the city of Los Angeles...today these sightings have reached an all time high."
As someone who has lived in Southern California most of my life, I can tell you that there are all kinds of 'creatures' lurking around LA .......... some human, some trying to pass for human. You really have to see it to believe it sometimes.
Presently "Darkmoon" is in post production and Seyum is pondering over a list of potential film festivals to submit it to.
Here are some behind-the-scenes photos and the trailer for "Darkmoon":
Eggs have always gotten a pretty bad rap as being...well.....bad for you.
You know, that whole Cholesterol thing.
Well today I have an egg that is very, very, bad for you, not because it may lead to a potential cardiac issue, but because it is 200 feet tall and mad as hell.
Take that FDA!
Born as a lark, "Giant Egg Attack!", has grown (literally) from a joke movie trailer, to a music video/song, to a pseudo religion and a modern bit of folklore, to a short film.
Let me explain. Last year two Norwegian musicians, Geir Are Mo and Jan R. Bakken, took their love of monster movies and combined it with their love of omelets, to create a fake movie trailer about a giant egg that runs amok.
Though the whole thing was created as a joke, the two Viking descendants envisioned much, much more, from their creation.
Geir Are Mo explains, "Yes, the trailer was just a faux. But I will make more videos of it [The Egg] in the future."
"I’m actually a musician and me and a friend [Jan R. Bakken] have a band to make silly and weird music just for the fun of it. At one point it all evolved into a [pseudo] religion, made up out of dumb lyrics and themes, where we were supposed to pray to forks (yeah, the thing you eat with. In Norway, it’s called Gaffel). Later I recorded a song called “The Mortal Egg That Eats Me”. (If you’re interested, you can find almost all the songs here http://www.tonne.co.nr/)."
"Anyway, as a joke we decided to make the Eggs a mythical gigantic creature in the “gaffismic religion” we created — so that’s where it all started. We later thought about how cool it would’ve been if it was in a giant monster movie. So last summer [Jan] came over to my house. We filmed a few shots around the farm where I live and later that night I finished the trailer."
From that trailer, and song, the whole giant Norwegian egg idea kinda took on a life of it's own, and before the duo knew it, they were working on series of short films, which then in turn, mutated into one, not so short film.
Though Geir Are Mo and Jan Bakken's first love is music, the pair have been working on "Giant Egg Attack!" in their spare time and have been able to put together some fun shots of the Egg rampaging through a city.
"There is still a lot of work to be done ....... Sadly this has taken too long time because of things getting in the way. However, the video WILL be finished when I've got some time to work with it!"
Indeed, film making can be rather time consuming. So, I guess we will have to be patient for "Giant Egg Attack!" to be completed.
Here are a couple examples of what the two Norwegians have been able to do so far:
A religion that worships forks? Giant eggs? Boy, the folks in Norway sure love their breakfast foods. I bet Denny's or IHOP would make a killing there.
Written By: Ken Hulsey Sources: Quiet Earth / Sneakhype / Avery Guerra
Okay, here's the question, "What do you do if you are one of the best special effects guys in Uruguay, you have six months to kill, and ya got about $300 (US) in your pocket?"
The answer, you make one of the coolest giant robot short films of all time.
That is exactly what Aparato Post, and fellow effects man, Fede Alvarez, did.
The short film that I am referring to here is called "Ataque de Pánico!", or in English, "Panic Attack!" and it is almost five minutes of pure, unadulterated, giant robot mayhem.
The film starts with a young boy playing with his robot toys down by the riverside. Suddenly 'real' giant robots start marching on the nearby city. The boy is shocked at what he is seeing.....wouldn't you?
To be honest, I have had fantasies like this while playing with my "Shogun Warrior" toys....as a youth.........okay.....last Thursday.
Anyway, the giant bots start blowing the crap outta everything in site. There's missiles flying around, stuff blowing up and people running around like scared ants.
It's frigging awesome!
Then a bunch of UFOs attack and then there's this giant bomb that goes off!
Apparently somebody doesn't like Uruguay!
The effects seen here are really grade A, and unless I miss my guess, somebody is going to be knocking on good old Aparato and Alvarez's doors very soon wanting them to work on their film, or produce a full scale movie based on "Ataque de Pánico!"
Okay, you really just gotta see the clip! (plus another photo below)
Yeh, six months and $300 is what it took for this to be made!
Written By: Ken Hulsey / Armand Vaquer Sources: Avery Guerra / Daisuke Sato / Robert Hood
Just about everyone who reads Monster Island News is a fan Japanese monster movies featuring "Godzilla", "Gamera" and their kin. Well today I want to talk about a film from the land of rising sun, that you have probably never heard of, and that you probably will never see, unless you convince it's creator otherwise. I will get to more about that last part in a moment.
The film that I am talking about is the 2007 creation of monster suite maker Daisuke Sato (Godzilla: Final Wars, Gamera The Brave, Ultraman Max and a many more) called "The Foghorn".
You may be sitting there wondering, "The Foghorn...where have I heard that before?" Well you may or may not know that a short story, by that title, written by Ray Bradbury for the Saturday Evening Post, was the inspiration for the 1953 film "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms". A film, which in turn, was one of the inspirations, along with the fate of the Japanese fishing boat Lucky Dragon, that producer Tomoyuki Tanaka used in developing his own monster movie called "Godzilla" (Gojira).
So you can see how a Japanese film maker would be interested in making his own film based on Bradbury's story.
Sato explains, “I decided to film ‘The Fog Horn’ partly because of its connection with Gojira and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, but the main reason is that it has been my favourite of Ray Bradbury’s writings for a long time. Ray Bradbury’s fiction is very poetic. ‘The Fog Horn’ impressed many Japanese people, and of course me, too, because of the enchantment he brings to it, evoking the tragic agonising of the monster and giving it a profound poetic quality.”
Here is a synopsis of the Bradbury story:
Johnny has been working with McDunn at the old lighthouse for the past three months. The lighthouse is situated on a rock 2 miles out to sea, and Johnny is looking forward to “shore leave” the following day. That night, McDunn tells him about a huge sea creature that comes to the lighthouse every year to cry out at the fog horn [mistaking it for the cry of its own kind]… and tonight is that night! The two make their way to the top of the tower and watch as the monster ascends and begins its yearly ritual. Very fascinating indeed, but when McDunn turns off the fog horn the monster shows its true, primitive nature!
Though Sato and his crew at Replica Co. Ltd poured their hearts into making their little film, they never really planned on releasing it to the public.
“We made The Fog Horn as a demonstration of our technical skills,” Sato explains. “It has not been released, not even in Japan. There is actually a problem with the copyright of the original, and so that is why we haven’t yet released it to the public. But if there is enough demand for it and a lot of people want to see it, then we’ll definitely release it. If we do, it will be as a DVD or online.” He added that he would definitely add English subtitles for international viewers."
That's where you come in. If enough fans want to see "The Foghorn", then the film makers will release the film.
You can help make this happen by leaving a response to this post (HERE). The makers of "The Foghorn" will be visiting Monster Island News from time to time to find out if the fans really want to see their film. If there are enough responses, then they will pursue a release.
The future of this film is in your hands, so spread the word!
Here is the trailer, some productions pics, and screen shots from "The Foghorn":
Attached: Prior Posting
You Can Help Get "The Fog Horn" Released!
by Armand Vaquer
There's a new daikaiju movie from Japan that has not been released. The director needs your feedback on whether to release it in Japan and around the world (particularly in the U.S.). A fellow fan sent this to me and requested that it be posted.
The request is as follows (please forgive the all-caps as that is how I received it):
HI, IF YOU CAN HELP IN AY WAY EITHER BY POSTING THIS SCOOP UP ON YOUR SITES OR BY JUST LEAVING A COMMENT ON THE BLOG UNDER THE ARTICLE OR EVEN BY SHARING THIS NEWS WITH OTHERS THAT MAY BE INTERESTED IT WOULD BE SO GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!! IT'S TO SAVE A NEW [DAIKAIJU] GIANT MONSTER FILM I FOUND FROM JAPAN THAT HAS NEVER BEEN RELEASED NOT EVEN IN JAPAN!!!
THE DIRECTOR IS GIVING US FANS THIS ONE OPPORTUNITY TO VOICE IF WE WANT IT RELEASED OR NOT. IT'S A VERY SIGNIFICANT FILM TO BOTH AMERICAN GIANT MONSTER FANS AND JAPANESE DAIKAIJU FANS!!! I KNOW YOU GUYS ARE EXTREMELY BUSY BUT IF YOU COULD JUST TAKE THE TIME TO READ THIS ARTICLE AND MAKE A DECISION IT WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED. NOTE: INTERESTED RADERS WILL NEED TO POST ON THE BLOG AS THAT IS WHERE THE DIRECTOR WILL BE FOLLOWING. ANYONE WHO LEAVES A COMMENT ON THE SITE DOES NOT NEED TO REGISTER OR CREATE ANY SORT OF ACCOUNT. IT REQUIRES AN E-MAIL AND ANY NAME AND NO SPAMM WILL IN TURN BE RECIEVED. ALSO PLEASE FEEL FREE TO REPOST THIS INFO AS WELL AS THE TRAILER OR PICS ANYWHERE TO HELP SPREAD THE WORD. THANKS FOR ANY SUPPORT YOU CAN GIVE!!!
Fans are encouraged to leave replies about the film here on Monster Island News as well. Everything posted will be forwarded to the makers of "The Foghorn" - Ken
Written By: Ken Hulsey Source: Quiet Earth / Avery Guerra
Rookie director, Andrew Nowrojee, has just completed his first short film entitled "Lone." The film follows the survivor of a global holocost in his persuit to find fellow survivors and ultimately after not finding any, build himself a robot companion. Oddly enough the new robot "buddy" that he builds looks a lot like "Wall-E" or "Johnny 5", but then again all robots these days kinda look like those two "droids", so maybe we shouldn't come down on Nowrojee for not coming up with a different looking design.
Now let's be perfectly honest....if I was the last surviving male on planet Earth, I would be looking for one of those "real-looking" love dolls. You know those expensive ones in the backs of magazines....in fact maybe two or three different.....wait, wait....uhum. I got off track.
Then after...er that....I would build me some kind of "droid." C'mon having your own robot would be cool!
Look for "Lone" to screen at the Imagine Festival in New York City.
