Friday, May 21, 2010

The Monster Movie Report 05/21/10 - The Return Of Dracula, The Creature, Frankenstein? Giant Spiders And Eggs Run Amock!

Written By: Ken Hulsey

Famous Monsters To Bring Back The Creature, The Mummy, Frankenstein And Others To The Silver Screen?
Source: Bloody Disgusting / Avery Guerra

Just wanted to tip everyone off to some interesting news that is breaking at Cannes.

According to a source at the movie festival, the newly revived, "Famous Monsters of Filmland" magazine has announced that they are getting into the movie making biz.

So far, the magazine, once owned by the legendary publisher, Forrest J Ackerman, has a slate of five classic Universal horror franchises that they either wish to relaunch, or remake.

Check out these titles: Dracula: Reborn, Mummy: Resurrected, Frankenstein: Regenerated, Werewolf: Reloaded and Creature: Returns.

Not much else has surfaced about these potential new monster films, obviously based on the classic monster films of the 30s, 40s and 50s.

Is this true? Could "Famous Monsters" be about to start making their own films?

We'll wait and see. This could just be a rumor.

I wonder what Universal will have to say about this?

Tibor Takacs And Nu Image Are About To Unleash SPIDER IN 3D!
Sources: JoBlo / Avery Guerra

Are we living in the second 'golden age' of monster films or what?

If you are a huge fan of classic monster movies, like me, then you should be literally smiling ear-to-ear with all the news of remakes and monster movie franchises be 'reborn' or 'relaunched'.

As most of you know, Universal is presently working on reworking all of their classic monster films, namely "Creature From the Black Lagoon", "Frankenstein" and "Dracula" for a modern audience, and, if you read my article yesterday, it looks as if the publishers of "Famous Monsters of Filmland" magazine are looking to produce a series of their own films based on these monsters as well.

Then, of course, there is the news that Legendary Pictures will be producing a new "Godzilla" movie for a 2012 release as well.

Amazingly enough, the films of the next decade are starting to look a lot like the ones seen in the 1950s' and 60s', with film makers leaning more towards films that feature creatures from outer space and monsters that can step on tanks and swat airplanes, and thanks to "Avatar", just about all of these new, 'retro-style' films will be coming at you in 3D.

For those of you who don't know, 3D films are another throw-back from the 1950s' as well.

That brings me to today's topic, a newly announced giant monster flick called "Spider In 3D", which is just beginning production at Nu Image studios. The film, which will be directed by Tibor Takacs (The Gate) is an obvious homage to films like "Tarantula", "The Deadly Mantis" and "Black Scorpion". Films that used to make peoples skin crawl some 40+ years ago.

Here is the synopsis:

A new species of poisonous spider is discovered in the caves of Afghanistan and inadvertently makes its way to New York City where it mutates to gigantic proportions and wreaks havoc on the entire city.

Sounds kinda like the plot for "Tarantula" and "The Deadly Mantis" mixed together doesn't it?

As I mentioned before, "Spider In 3D" is in the early stages of development, so there is no cast or producers attached to the film yet.

3D Spiders attacking New York? You can't get any more retro than that. Well, unless you make a movie about a giant ape attacking New York that is.

This Egg Will Eat You For Breakfast!
Source: Avery Guerra

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.

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"LEGENDARY PICTURES TO DEVELOP AND PRODUCE MAJOR MOTION PICTURE BASED ON TOHO COMPANY’S ICONIC MONSTER, GODZILLA

Burbank, CA – March 29, 2010 – Legendary Pictures announced today that they will develop and produce a new film based on Toho Company’s famed GODZILLA character. Through the terms of the agreement, Legendary Pictures has acquired the rights to produce a movie inspired by Toho’s Godzilla, a franchise the Japanese company created and has nurtured for over fifty years.

Toho’s GODZILLA franchise boasts one of the most widely recognized film creatures worldwide, resulting in a series of books, television programs, video games and more than 25 films worldwide. Legendary intends to approach the film and its characters in the most authentic manner possible. The company will, in the near future, announce a filmmaker to helm the film for an intended 2012 release. The film will fall under the company’s co-production and co-financing deal with Warner Bros. Toho will distribute the film in Japan."

"Godzilla" is coming back -- this time, with Legendary Pictures taking the lead, co-producing and co-financing with Warner Bros. for release in 2012.

Legendary announced Monday it had obtained rights to the iconic monster character from Japan's Toho Co., which has overseen more than 25 "Godzilla" films. Toho will release the pic in Japan.

Legendary said it's planning to announce a director shortly.

In addition to Legendary, producers on the new film will be Dan Lin, Roy Lee and Brian Rogers. Yoshimitsu Banno, Kenji Okuhira and Doug Davison will exec produce.

"Godzilla is one of the world's most powerful pop culture icons, and we at Legendary are thrilled to be able to create a modern epic based on this long-loved Toho franchise," said Thomas Tull, Chairman and CEO of Legendary. "Our plans are to produce the Godzilla that we, as fans, would want to see. We intend to do justice to those essential elements that have allowed this character to remain as pop-culturally relevant for as long as it has."

Legendary noted the film will fall under its co-production and co-financing deal with Warner Bros. Legendary's productions with Warners have included "The Dark Knight," "300" and "The Hangover."

Speculation about a new "Godzilla" has been active since last summer. The Bloody Disgusting web site reported in August that the project was in development.