Tagged: monsters

The Woods #1: One of the Best Debut Comic Books of Recent Times!

As far as debut issues of comic books go these days I’d say the Boom! Studios debut issue of ‘The Woods” is one of the best! It’s a great little sci-fi/horror story that involves an entire High School (yes the building and all of the students and faculty) being transported to a strange forest seemingly on another planet. That’s the least of their worries though as they soon find out they are not alone there. With no idea how or why this happened students and faculty go head to head with each other trying to figure out the best plan of survival. This is a great start to hopefully a great series, the first issue has a little bit of a “LOST” which I adore, being a giant fan of that tv series. It also reminds me a bit of the tv show because of the mysterious situation, which for the time being there is no explanation for that they have found themselves having to deal with. It leaves me wondering what’s next and longing to read the next issue. It’s a lot of fun, with fair parts of horror, gore and comedy mixed in at just the right amounts.

The artwork done by Michael Dialynas is also alot of fun here and adds to the strength of this debut. It’s a really great to find a good solid first issue and a new series to look forward too. I’m finding it harder and harder to find books I want to stick with by Marvel or DC. I actually realized that at the moment I am not reading ANY tltles by the big two. Now that could easily change at any moment, but it’s a bit shocking that I’m not absorbed into any title right now that they are offering and at four or even five bucks a pop now a comic book better be good!I am open to suggestions also because at that price it’s not exactly easy to sample the platter, as comic books can easily add up every week at these prices. So here’s a little comic I think is a safe bet, The Woods was a damn fine fun ride-check it out!

Handmade Monsters From Portland Oregon!

I had to take a moment here to share with you a little something awesome I stumbled upon recently! Being a giant fan of anything and everything monsters it was to my surprise to pleasantly find out about Nightmerriment!

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Nightmerriment is a one man operation out of Portland Oregon run by Matthew Hopkins. Hopkins is a puppet/monster maker and his creations are incredibly creepy, cute and fierce all at the same time. I guess when I first got a glance of his work I pictured him working in the Jim Henson Workshop, putting together monster puppets for movies like The Dark Crystal or Labyrinth. Self described as monster art somewhere between sculpture and puppetry, his creations look like they could come to life at any moment despite being showcased like taxidermy on wooden mounts.

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Most of his creations from what I understand are for sale, so in fact we all could own a little creature of our own! Hipsters aren’t the only thing found in Portland these days, now we’ve finally got something real cool to brag about-hand made Monsters!

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Check it out and Nightmerriment’s facebook page and follow his creations!

For Fans of John Carpenter’s “The Thing”!

I decided last night to re-watch the more recent prequel/re-boot “The Thing” from 2011 as I thought I may have been too tough on it the first go round. What I discovered is that it was even less impressive the second time. This is due mainly to some rather crappy CG which replaced Studio ADI’s incredible practical monster effects they crafted for the movie. Many were outraged by the fact that their work was CG’d over and with good reason. Had the movie stuck with the original footage it may have made it the perfect companion piece to the Carpenter version, one of my all time favorite movies ever. Anyway it made me long for a real inventive monster movie, I’ve already stated how excited I am for Harbinger Down, which is the upcoming monster movie from the team who’s practical fx were replaced for The Thing reboot. The movie boasts to be a full on showcase for the power of practical monster effects in the age of CG. However there still isn’t a trailer! Hurry it up guys!

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Well luckily us fans of The Thing have another movie to look forward to that’s set to release. Blood Glacier, an awesome looking monster movie from Austria set to release May 2nd here in the USA boasts similar claims to Harbinger Down. This one claims to utilize some amazing practical monster effects as well with a little tasteful CG thrown in for good measure. The plot sound quite intriguing as well and carries a message regarding our environment, which is basically to stop fucking with it! Check out the synopsis and the rad trailer!

“The gates of hell are made of ice in this tense horror thriller paying homage to The Thing and Assault on Precinct 13. Four technicians and scientists at an alpine research station discover a glacier of blood high in the mountains. Testing the red liquid oozing from the ice, they discover a new alien organism with the astonishing capability of transforming the local wildlife into horrific hybrids and monster mutations. With the Minister of the Environment hiking to the station for an official visit, many frightening questions must be answered if the confrontational team are to survive and cope with the giant wood lice, the beetle-foxes, crossbred flying predators and much, much worse…”

 

 

Step Aside Jason “Saturday The 14th” is Here!

What? You never heard of the 1981 movie “Saturday the 14th”? Well I thought I’d give it a shout out today as it’s indeed Saturday the 14th! This little long forgotten horror comedy, produced by Julie Corman, wife of Roger Corman! it’s a fun little low budget horror spoof starring Richard Benjamin whom most people remember as the main character from Westworld.

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This one though is jam packed with a ton ridiculous man in rubber suit monsters, schlocky 80’s effects galore and full on corny humor, it’s the perfect movie to follow up everyone’s Friday The 13th parties! It’s streaming on Netflix too so check it out already!! It’s been many years since I’ve seen it, hmmmm….Saturday The 14th party anyone?!  Could be a new trend in the making!

Is “Revival” the Next Walking Dead?

I have been reading the new image series “Revival” the past few months and it’s quickly shaping up to be one of my favorite monthly titles. I am making bet that it becomes the next big hit for Image comics. I still am a big Walking Dead fanatic, though for me the story has gotten a little dull over the past year or so. Even with the “shocking” death of Glenn recently I think Kirkman needs to shift gears in the series and bring The Walking Dead story to some new fresh levels. The Walking Dead is feeling a little to “dead” lately, as I have said before “shocking” deaths don’t necessarily equal great story telling.

So I am pleased to report there’s a great new series that does deliver us some fresh new ideas on the “undead” a genre which to be quite honest is boring the shit out of me lately. New zombie movies? I don’t even care to see ’em anymore. I’m so burnt out on the zombie thing it makes me kinda sick to my stomach. However this ain’t the case with Revival. So far they’ve crafted an intriguing little story set in my home state of Wisconsin. Yeah there are undead, but not your typical, these people rose from the dead on day in this small contained area of the country. They aren’t mindless creatures, they return to their former daily lives. The only thing is these undead have quite a temper and on top of that you’ve an eerie thin white creature wandering through the forest and a bizarre religious “Limp Bizkit” listening exorcist taking care of possessed teenagers. Yeah it’s a fun one and it’s all in the hands of a small town detective named Dana. So if you’re looking for a cool, original and refreshing horror “farm noir” adventure then you need to grab Revival ASAP! I’s bound to be big.. Also for a great interview with the series creators Timm Seely & Mike Norton check Comicbookresources.com and get the full scoop!

MAD GOD: Probably the Coolest Thing I Have Laid Eyes On This Year!

I have just seen the Kickstarter video for legendary stop motion / effects master Phil Tippett’s latest movie he’s recently started working on again and it looks incredible!Seriously before you read on check out the Kickstarter video! Phil is famous for his work on little films called The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Jurassic Park & Robocop to name a few.

All I really need to say watch this teaser and if you’re interested check out the interview with Harry Knowles. It’s even better news to know the movie reached it’s funding goals on Kickstarter! So it will be a reality and most likely one of the most amazing little movies of current times…

The Walking Dead #100 Predictions!

Wow I can’t believe we’re almost one hundred issues into The Walking Dead! Still one of my most anticipated comic books every month. Kirkman never thought it would become the sensation it is today. So now obviously this has gotten us all wondering what the hell is going to go down in the big issue? What could possibly top some of the last surprises we’ve endured? Carl getting shot, Tyreses’ death, the Governor being “killed” by Michonne, Lori and the baby’s death and most recently Abraham’s death were hands down some of the most intense and emotional deaths in comic book history. But is issue #100 going to be purely witnessing,  once again, deaths of our current roster of Rick’s minions? Only time will tell, however here are a couple things I think would be a big surprise for this milestone issue.

First let’s think about what Kirkman could possibly do to blow our minds. I have felt for quite sometime that perhaps Lori and / or their baby may not actually really be dead! My guess is that sometime soon, perhaps even in this next issue Lori could be revealed to still indeed be alive. We really only saw her get shot, it was never confirmed by anyone that she was truly dead. My guess is this would be a major move Kirkman has at the very least considered. Would this shock you?

Second would of course be the big one. Rick biting the dust! I am certain this won’t happen soon but I am certain it will happen and perhaps Carl will lead the team or grow into a leader. However imagine if Rick was bit and the disease took. This alone would pack a powerful punch, the issues that follow showing the remaining members of his group watching him slowly descend into becoming the walking dead. Imagine Carl and say Michonne heading out into the world on their own. This, when it happens is will be a powerful end or new beginning to the book.

I guess anything could really happen, however I highly doubt Michonne has anything to worry about as she just made her wildly popular tv appearance. Personally as much as I love the title I’d love to see it move into a different direction. I have been a little bored with this whole “setting up a community” thing for quite a while now. I would love to see them on the road again, it’s so much more exciting and I think more believable. I mean how many times are we going to see the gang meet up with psychotic people and get into an altercation? It’s all been good and fine up til now but i think we need to get a little more adventure back into the title.

Listen up Kirkman, I think a logical choice of action would be perhaps them trying to get to an island somewhere and finding a boat? Get to some water. I know that’s been an idea in movies already but so was your whole opening to the story which was basically a blatant rip from 28 Days Later. Expanding on that concept would be very intriguing. I think searching for a small plane or meeting a pilot would be a great exciting new direction for the crew. It seems a little strange to me that the characters seem content with giving up and just accepting making a community somewhere. They need someone who’s looking for solutions and bigger answers to the problem other than Rick’s flawed one dimensional thinking about restarting civilization at some purely random location without knowing what the hell is really going on. Doesn’t anyone wonder what the big picture is?!

I also am NOT a fan of Kirkman stating there will never be explanation for the undead. I feel not exploring that idea is uninspired. What if there was a mutation? What if there was more than just zombies out there to fear? The book needs something new and exciting to happen in it or we’ll get the same scenarios happening over and over. Yeah we all get it, the living people are more scary than the zombies, how about letting that idea rest for a bit and get back into the monsters being more threatening? It’s time to introduce some new ideas into this book while still keeping with the tone so far. So I hope for something great to down in issue #100 and not just an issue where more supporting characters die off. What about you?

Real Life Scooby Doo!? Saturday Morning Massacre!

I have just read a review for “Saturday Morning Massacre” at Ain’t It Cool and it’s mighty clear they thought it was one of the coolest movies around! Basically the premise is that of a real life Scooby Doo adventure, two male and two female mystery hunters and their dog cruise the countryside in their vintage van in search of things that go bump in the night! Only after solving countless mysteries they come to the conclusion that ghosts and monsters really don’t exist, that is until they venture into one creepy old mansion. There they come face to face with pure evil and their ghost busting skills are put to the ultimate test!

Sounds pretty rad to me and they so far described it as equal parts comedy and true horror. So naturally I hunted down the trailer to see what all the hype is about and found the trailer to be a little bland. What do you think? This movie premieres in LA later this month but otherwise has no release date. I hope it lives up to the Aintitcool hype-meter!

Vintage Toy Monsters Are Still The BEST!

I am not sure what made me think about this today but I thought I needed to pay a little respect to one of the coolest toys ever-Stretch X-Ray! He appeared in 1979 as Stretch Armstrong’s most deadly enemy and man was this guy the envy of all kids including myself! He was such a hard ass with his see through “x-ray” body that you could even see all his inner organs!!

 This guy was so much of an improvement on the Stretch Octopus character who I always thought was kinda a douche!! I mean check out his lame face they gave him! Some one needs too kick Stretch Octopus’ ass to the moon already!

Now it’s a no brainer obviously that Stretch X-ray was way cool but was he as cool as Stretch Monster though? I don’t think so-but I have a soft spot for any monster who resembles the Incredible Hulk’s arch enemy The Abomination. And what’s up with young Spock playing with Stretch Monster in this pic below? Ummm…AMAZING!

 Thinking of Stretch Monster has also led me on a wild goose chase on the internet today desperately trying to figure out the proper name to one of my other favorite monster toys from the 80’s. This particular toy monster was green as well and infact quite similar to Stretch Monster in looks. He was probably almost 2 feet tall, green and actually kinda resembled Whiplash from the Masters of the Universe line of action figures. The cool thing about him was that you could crush him into a ball as he was filled mainly with air and then from what I remember you could inflate him back to his normal size by pulling something on his belt? Does this ring a bell for anyone?? Anyway if anyone knows what I’m talking about please let me know-it’s killing me as I’ve been searching on ebay and You Tube for commercials of this bad ass! Anyway the thought of Stretch X-Ray once again proves that vintage monsters still rule the school!!!

Santa and More of His Secret Weirdo Buddies…

A couple days ago I did a blog about The Krampus, a feirce Christmas demon of Austrian folklore who terrorizes naughty children around the holidays and was good buds with Santa. Now you better believe there’s more Christmas creeps than just the Krampus from folklore. So let’s see who else joins the ranks of “good” ol’ Saint Nick’s bad boy buddies. Here’s a few more legendary x-mas party poopers to brighten the holidays for all the naughty kids of the world!

First up is Knecht Ruprecht (pictured above), Continue reading