Lost and found: CREATURE(1985)

One of my guilty pleasures in life is watching low budget sci-fi/horror movies and CREATURE, a film directed by William Malone, is certainly one of them. Anyone who has watched this movie, originally released theatrically back in May, 1985 knows that it is a blatant "Alien" rip off. In Creature(1985) we learn at the onset that two competing corporations, one American and one German, are vying to secure a valuable area of alien archaeological artifacts located on "Titan", a moon of the planet Saturn. The German corporation manages to land a spacecraft at the site on Titan first where two of its crew members, wandering through the ancient alien ruins, disturb a "sleeping" alien creature that quickly awakens, then attacks and kills them.

Later an American spaceship also lands at this site on the surface of Titan and, not surprisingly, encounters a hideous and bloodthirsty alien monster that immediately sets about stalking and killing the American team sent to the site.


Wendy Schaal in CREATURE(1985)


The alien creature in this movie looks a lot like the iconic "xenomorph" from Ridley Scott's Alien(1979). The monster kills by physical assault and numerous scenes show the hostile monster gnawing on the necks of its victims. The recently awakened creature also has the ability to transfer small, nasty looking spores to victims' scalps which render them pale skinned, wild eyed zombies and also dedicated to killing those still unaffected by the creature. The special effects are largely pedestrian and the acting is serviceable, enhanced to some degree for me by the lovely Wendy Schaal and creepy, leering Klaus Kinski. Kinski is later replaced by an obvious double after becoming infected by one of the creature's spores and "zombiefied".

There's some decent scenes of shock and gore in this film, the latter highlighted by one sequence in which a crew member(infected by the alien creature's miniature spore) has his head blown apart by another crew member packing a formidable hand held firearm. The reveals of the alien monster are brief and scatter shot throughout the movie, no doubt an effort by director William Malone to minimize the effects shortcomings of the monster which was obviously rendered through the use of "man in a suit". At the conclusion of the film we get a better look at the monster as it attacks and jacks up one of the movies' main protagonists, tossing him around like a rag doll outside the derelict German spaceship. The design of the alien creature is decent. The action sequences in which the monster attacks the crew members throughout this film not so much.


Long in the tooth: the monster in CREATURE(1985) looking for its next victim


The movie was made on an estimated budget of $750,000 and generated about $4.5 million at the box office. Creature(1985) was, according to IMDB, filmed in a 2:35.1 widescreen aspect ratio and I've seen some screen caps of this movie at German websites showing off marvelous looking widescreen images.

DVDs and VHS copies of this movie I've seen for sale at eBay, Amazon and other websites are all unfortunately in full screen(1:33.1) aspect ratios. My R1 DVD copy is the Diamond Entertainment release and is a VHS like quality transfer.

I've seen some mention that Retromedia, a few years ago, made some inquiries about securing original elements from this movie in order to release a widescreen version of CREATURE but thus far no widescreen release has happened. Maybe Blue Underground will show some interest in this movie...or not.

The American trailer for Creature(1985) aka "The Titan Find":

Donald Fagen - I.G.Y. (What a Beautiful World) (HQ)

Getting Hammered: Iconic movie studio's new YouTube channel

The iconic British movie studio Hammer Films has its own YouTube channel. This film studio, created in 1934, is best known for its marvelous horror and sci-fi movies released during the '50's, '60's and '70's. Hammer Films has enjoyed a recent resurgence and is again producing movies including the 2012 horror film The Woman In Black which stars Daniel Radcliffe(star of the "Harry Potter" movies).


Five(5) full length Hammer Films movies are already available for viewing on their YT channel including a favorite of mine, The Quatermass Xperiment(1955) directed by Val Guest.

To access Hammer Films' official website click on the title of this blog entry or this link: HAMMER FILMS website

Pick your poison: The Black Scorpion(1957)

One of my great escapes from reality, all while in the comfort of my living room recliner, often involves watching one of my beloved 1950's B movie "monster on the loose" creature features. These generally low(er) budget movies produced during the '50s feature various humans, animals or insects that have been exposed to atomic radiation, growing to enormous size and then becoming an immediate menace to anyone around them which results in climactic and predictable showdowns between these irradiated mutations and those members of local towns and military forces that are actually brave enough to hang around and fight these monsters.

Most of these films aren't broadcast on television much anymore though a handful still make the rounds on Turner Classic Movies(TCM). These kinds of movies make no sense and yet I find myself still as enamored with them today as I was when I was kid. Go figure.

One such film that still appears on TCM is The Black Scorpion, a black and white movie originally released to theaters in 1957, produced by Warner Brothers and directed by Edward Ludwig. The cast includes Richard Denning, Carlos Rivas and Mara Corday.

As 1950's "giant creatures on the loose" movies go The Black Scorpion is IMO above average and will well entertain B movie "creature feature" enthusiasts for ninety minutes, I think.

In The Black Scorpion a geologist and a doctor are studying the effects of volcanic activity in a remote and rugged village of San Lorenzo, Mexico. One effect they hadn't counted on: the volcanic activity has caused a rupture in the Earth nearby and prehistoric, giant sized scorpions have made their way to the surface from their subterranean lair, the enormous arachnids preying on cattle and the local citizenry. The scientist, doctor and local military all quickly get together to come up with a plan to stop the marauding, over-sized scorpions. Their initial efforts fail and even larger scorpions emerge from their underground nest, attacking a passenger train. Eventually the largest of these prehistoric scorpions, a house sized monstrosity, emerges and has a showdown with the military and scientists in a local stadium. (no other spoilers)


Pincer movement: giant scorpions attack each other as well as the locals in THE BLACK SCORPION(1957)

For me the special effects are the reason to watch this film. Richard Denning, who plays geologist Henry "Hank" Scott, is fairly bland and unimaginative...not that he really would realistically be anything else in a movie like this. The only time Denning's character shows any real personality is when he's putting the moves on co star Mara Corday, who plays Teresa Alvarez. The other cast members are also generally likable but uninteresting overall.

The special effects are handled by Willis O'Brien in this film and look, for the most part, fairly good. Like Ray Harryhausen, Willis O'Brien uses "stop motion" to bring the giant scorpions to life and the stop motion sequences look pretty good. There are, to be sure, numerous and redundant close up shots of the scorpions that focus on the facial features of these arachnids. Perhaps to add even more menace to these creatures, the giant scorpions are given jaws with rows of teeth and the ability to roar both of which are anatomically inaccurate. The giant scorpions also seem to have the ability to foam at the mouth and slobber which is of course absurd but no doubt an effect added by the film's producers to try and frighten theater audiences seeing this movie for the first time.




In summary The Black Scorpion follows the same proverbial "recipe" as do other '50's creature features but Willis O'Brien's stop motion effects make this movie a must DVD for any monster movie fan's collection and also worth checking out for more casual fans of giant monster movies.

This movie has been uploaded to YouTube and can be watched there for anyone interested.

The 2003 Warner Home Video R1 DVD of The Black Scorpion is available for sale at Amazon and can be seen by clicking on the above DVD cover art image or this link: The Black Scorpion

The trailer:

MAKING OF THE GODZILLA SUIT by Ed Godziszewski

Check out this thirteen minute examination of the origins of the Godzilla suit by author Ed Godziszewski:

Gfantis Vs Thing - G-Fest fan film

A new short film produced by "Dojo Enterprises" has made its way online. This short production made its debut at this years' G-Fest, an annual Godzilla fan convention held in Chicago, Illinois earlier in July. Check it out by clicking on the below video:



Great work here and I look forward to more fan short films from Dojo Enterprises!

Dirty Laundry (short film)

In 2004 actor Thomas Jane played "Frank Castle" in The Punisher. I've always thought Jane did a marvelous job at bringing "The Punisher" to life on the big screen and the actor has reprised the role again in an unofficial short film that debuted at the recent San Diego Comic Con. It's called Dirty Laundry and is terrific. Check it out by clicking on the video below:

Godzilla Remake Officially Announced At Comic Con - CinemaBlend.com

Godzilla Remake Officially Announced At Comic Con - CinemaBlend.com

Missing in action: King Kong

While Godzilla will always be my all time favorite movie monster I also happen to like King Kong a great deal as well. Kong has had a great career in movies beginning with the 1933 classic King Kong. This movie was later "re-imagined" by Dino DeLaurentis in another movie of the same name in 1976, a film featuring a 40 foot tall Kong rendered through a man in a suit and some animatronics. Ten years later Kong was revived(literally with a heart transplant) in King Kong Lives(1986). I happen to like both the '33 and '76 King Kong films(but not the '86 movie so much). In my opinion Kong looks best in 2005's King Kong, a movie directed by Peter Jackson. Kong stands 25 feet tall in the '05 movie, a size downscale obviously but the exploits of the big ape in this movie are awesome, especially the sequence where Kong fights and ultimately kills three(3) V-Rex dinosaurs and for the most part all while holding Ann Darrow(played by Naomi Watts) in one hand!

The trailer for King Kong(1976):





Toho, which owns the rights to Godzilla, also has featured King Kong in two(2) films: King Kong Vs Godzilla(1962) and then again five years later in King Kong Escapes(1967). In the '62 film Kong's size is ramped up to 45 meters in height(just over 148 feet) so that he can realistically match up for battle with 50 meter tall(165 feet) Godzilla. Kong survives Godzilla's flame breath and, with the help of strength enhancing lightning strikes, takes the fight to Godzilla in the climactic Mt. Fuji battle. The two eventually fall into the sea, Kong surfacing and promptly swimming away, presumably to return home to Faro Island where he can drink the islander's red berry juice in peace. As for Godzilla, he doesn't surface, something which has caused great debate among giant monster movie fans. Some, as I do, take this to mean King Kong won the fight and Godzilla was knocked out in the underwater skirmish that followed after both creatures plowed into the sea. Others believe Godzilla simply swam away underwater and that the fight was a draw.

In the 1967 Toho-Rankin Bass co-production King Kong Escapes, Kong is 60 feet tall and must battle his robot equivalent, "Mechani Kong", a metal monstrosity created by an international terrorist called Dr. Hu(played by the late Eisei Amamoto). This movie, loosely based on an episode of the 1966 Rankin Bass cartoon called "King Kong", is great fun.


Rock on: King Kong throws a boulder at a giant octopus in KING KONG VS GODZILLA(1962)


Numerous and mostly sub par rip off films have been produced to try and capitalize on King Kong's popularity: Konga(1961), the absolutely atrocious Paul Leder directed A*P*E(1976), The Mighty Gorga(1969) and the Shaw Brothers produced The Mighty Peking Pan(1977) (aka Goliathon), the latter a movie I think is decent and has some quality miniature effects. Some years ago a movie about a giant ape appeared on SyFy(formerly the Sci-Fi Channel) but it was so bad I cannot even remember the name of it.

It's been nearly seven years since we've seen King Kong in a full length feature film. While I would be delighted to see a "King Kong Vs Godzilla" remake by Toho with Shusuke Kaneko as the director I also know there's about as much a chance of this happening as finding a four leaf clover.

At this point I just want to see King Kong again on the big screen in a quality movie. Can someone, will someone please bring the big ape back to theaters?

The Toho trailer for King Kong Escapes(1967):

SVENGOOLIE to appear at G-FEST 2012!

G-FEST, an annual Godzilla convention traditionally held every summer in Chicago, Illinois will again come to the Windy City on July 13 - July 15. These conventions. which usually draw over 1000 people, always feature marvelous guests, discussion panels, a great lineup of giant monster movies(including Godzilla films of course) and the infamous "dealer's room" for those who want to purchase kaiju toys and other collectibles straight from the dealers themselves.

Two very special guests will be appearing at G-Fest XIX: actor Akira Takarada, who has appeared in numerous Godzilla movies as well as Satoshi "Bin" Furuya who played "Ultraman" in the original 1966 Ultraman TV series.

The movie lineup for G-Fest XIX: King Kong(1933), The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms(1953), Gorgo(1961), Giant Monster Gamera(1965), Godzilla King Of The Monsters(1956) & Godzilla Vs Destoroyah(1995). For more info on these films click the link: G-FEST XIX movies

For more info on G-FEST XIX click this link: G-FEST XIX -registration & general info