Sunday, March 31, 2013

PREY- zombie short film

Lately I've been getting back into watching zombie horror films and earlier today I came across this marvelous short, fourteen(14) minute film called Prey, directed by Cal O'Connell. If you're a fan of the "zombie" horror movie then this short film is well worth watching!


THE TEN COMMANDMENTS(1956) - trailer

I am not an evangelical person and haven't been for a long, long time. While not an atheist(by definition) I tend to be agnostic and my opinions regarding the existence of "God" remain fairly murky. Still, there are occasions when I like to believe that there is someone watching over all of us. Several movies inspire those thoughts inside me and one of them is a film I watch every year on ABC: The Ten Commandments(1956). This epic movie is, in my opinion, one of the best films ever made!


Saturday, March 16, 2013

Evan Brehany's The Smoking Storyteller


Due to an audio issue subtitles have been added to this video. Evan "G2Kmaster" Brehany is a member of  two online communities, MONSTERLAND FORUMS and KAIJU GALAXY.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Arachno-mania: SPIDERS 3D(2013)

I recently ordered an "on demand" movie through my cable TV provider(A T & T U Verse) called SPIDERS 3D(2013)(in HD). This sci-fi/horror movie is directed by Hungarian Tibor Takacs and stars Patrick Muldoon, William Hope("Aliens" fans will recognize him as the guy who played LT Gorman in the '86 film) and Christa Campbell.

As the title of this movie implies it's all about the spiders in this feature and you better believe there are a lot of them. The film's synopsis: a secret Russian space station is hit by small meteors and a large chunk of this station, which was home to some creepy alien DNA splicing with spiders, breaks off and crashes back to Earth, specifically impacting in New York city. Under the streets and inside the damaged subway station hostile, mutant alien spiders quickly replicate and take over the subway station. Military and scientists quarantine the area trapping a subway transit manager(Patrick Muldoon), his scientist wife(Christa Campbell) and their daughter inside the quarantine zone. Given how bloodthirsty and increasingly large the alien spider hybrids are becoming you can bet being in close proximity to them in and around the infected subway station is no day at the beach. Victims pile up, both military and civilian alike as these marauding and drooling spiders, armed with snapping jaws and razor sharp teeth, prey on soldiers and scientists alike. The lead scientist and officer in charge(William Hope) believe they can contain these arachnoid mutations which we learn were originally created by Soviet scientists way back in the 80's and during the last days of the Cold War in an effort to collect and militiarize(for lack of better word) the super strong silk made by these alien-spider mutants. 

Despite the growing rampages of the three meter wide mutant spiders the worst is yet to come as everyone inside the quarantine zone soon discovers as the gargantuan queen spider-alien erupts out the subway and onto the streets above. This eight legged monster, as large as a two story house, squares off against the U.S. Army in a deserted area of the city. Eventually the colossal female spider descends back under the streets for one final showdown with subway transit manager "Jason Cole"(Patrick Muldoon). (no other spoilers)

Observations:  while this movie has obvious production value limitations and predictably pedestrian acting the overall special effects and CGI effects are solid, especially those used to render the smaller(bot not small), three meter wide alien-spider hybrids. The CGI for the larger female queen spider isn't quite so realistic but by this point in the movie you won't care. There is some gore in this movie, mostly that of appendages chewed or torn off soldiers by the hostile spiders and a couple of shots showing soldiers ripped in half with blood and innards splattered all over the floor. Obviously not dinner time fare here but the gore in this film isn't over the top at all.

I like this movie for what it is: a discount budget sci-fi/horror action movie. It's definitely worth a Netflix rental but may be hit or miss as a DVD/Blu Ray purchase. I do think Spiders 3D(2013) is a definite upgrade from the typical "SyFy made for TV or original movie" celluloid garbage we horror and sci-fi fans are subjected to on a regular basis. This movie comes to DVD/BD on March 12, 2013.

To order SPIDERS 3D on Blu Ray click this link: SPIDERS 3D Blu Ray release

The trailer:

Friday, March 1, 2013

Making of the Godzilla Suit!

GODZILLA 2000(1999) - Metaphorically speaking by Evan "G2KMaster" Brehany

In GODZILLA 2000(1999), Godzilla attacks nuclear power plants as a way of acting on his nuclear metaphor role a la fifteen(15) years earlier in THE RETURN OF GODZILLA(1984) ...and not attacking them to feed off the energy either - Godzilla is nature talking!. While agencies are trying to find a new alternative energy source, it seems things are not progessing fast enough for nature's liking ... not that nature doesn't think humanity doesn't deserve a chance seeing as that Godzilla protects humans from a seemingly invincible foe.

With the human characters, particularly scientists, there is the resurgence of the "kill vs. study" Godzilla conflict. This argument, which has been in the franchise since the original 1954 Godzilla film, has the same arguments for the kill Godzilla argument: human safety. As Katagiri says, "in the meantime, he just levels Tokyo." For the opposing argument, there are two supporting details given. The lesser deals with the duality of humanity, those willing to make the sacrifices thinking of the possible greater good the study of Godzilla would bring as opposed to others who want to destroy Godzilla due to a lack of clear understanding of Godzilla (example: "Anything we don't understand, we try to destroy. The CCI is ground zero for that kind of lunacy"). Unlike previous entries, GODZILLA 2000 transforms the assumption that studying Godzilla would be beneficial for humans into reality as it ties into the plot, revealing the secret's of Godzilla's durability.

Of course the human characters in this Toho film are not aware of such themes. What they are aware of is that in this chapter of Japan's history with Godzilla, public opinion of Godzilla's treatment and use of the scientific knowledge surrounding Godzilla is radical enough to prompt people to work independently, pooling their resources and even getting their daughters involved with the study of Godzilla. Such is the struggle between Katagiri, one of most simple villains you will see in this movie franchise. His foil is Shinoda, who goes up against Katagiri's goverment funded Godzilla feud with his small, six member Godzilla Prediction Network(GPN) tasked with science based investigations of Godzilla. Meanwhile, we have the journalist Yuki who, unlike "Yuri Tachibana" from GODZILLA, MOTHRA & KING GHIDORAH-ALL OUT MONSTERS ATTACK(2001),  is covering the actions of Godzilla as "hard news". Indeed, the end of Japan's "Tiger Economy" years, a subtext to films like GODZILLA VS KING GHIDORAH(1991), is now something that gives added significance and importance to the work the GPN is doing AND goes to reporter Yuki's intentions: the reporter does care about Shinoda and his daughter Io personally and isn't just a career driven(and financially exploited) reporter. Yuki is concerned that Io and Shinoda are both alright when their involvement in the extraterrestrial's plans turns deadly.

That is all what GODZILLA 2000 is about. When Shinoda says at the end of the movie, "Godzilla is inside each one of us", I believe he means that humans are coming closer to gaining redemption from Godzilla. Humans want to make points just like Godzilla and for the better. How? A good illustration of this is the ressurection of Orga which is an accident as efforts are made to find a new source of alternative energy all  while characters like Shinoda try changing the official thinking from the tragic "we must kill the monster" to a world where Godzilla can just simply be contained and studied to benefit humanity.

The American trailer:



This analysis s courtesy of Evan "G2KMaster" Brehany, a resident of Warner Robins, Georgia and dedicated fan of Japanese kaiju films. Evan is now a contributor to "Packmule's Pen" and has graciously agreed to share some of his written submissions on Toho Godzilla films and other interests in this blog. Evan is member of MONSTERLAND FORUMS and KAIJU GALAXY.