Godzilla vs. King Kong is a forthcoming 2020 release by Legendary Films and Warner Bros. A battle of the screen’s most famous monsters, not seen since the 1962 Japanese movie King Kong vs. Godzilla, will follow Kong: Skull Island – due for release on March 10, 2017, and Godzilla 2 in 2018.

It is expected that kaiju monsters such as King Ghidorah, Mothra and Rodan will also be the subject of new US franchises.

Press release:

“Following Legendary’s and Warner Bros. Pictures’ 2014 success with the global reinvention of the Godzilla franchise, the companies have come together to create an epic, new shared cinematic franchise. All-powerful monsters become towering heroes for a new generation, revealing a mythology that brings together Godzilla and Legendary’s King Kong in an ecosystem of other giant super-species, both classic and new. Monarch, the human organization that uncovered Godzilla in the 2014 film, will expand their mission across multiple releases.”

Zombie Croc is a 2015 American supernatural horror film directed by Robert Elkins (Backwoods 2: The Revenge of Caleb; Nightmare at Bunnyman Bridge; Zombie Isle). It was produced by Worldwide Multimedia and American Eyesore Films.

Cast:

Brittney Scalf, Apryl Crowell, Crystal Howell, Tony Jones, Lafnmn Jones. Ken Peebles, Dewey Brandon Collins, Vivian Thompson, Linda Witt, David Witt, Jerry Eugene Long, and Alyssa Wheaton.

Trailer:

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Related: Baron Samedi, Haitian Loa and Voodoo – article by Daz Lawrence

Crabs! is a 2016 American horror comedy monster movie written and directed by Pierce Berolzheimer.

Toronto-based Raven Banner also serve as executive producers and worldwide distributors: “We never thought we’d say this but we are so happy to have Crabs!” said managing partner Michael Paszt as reported by Screen Daily.

Main cast:

Jessica Morris (Bloody Murder; Decadent Evil II; The Dead Want Women), Dylan Riley Snyder, Bryce Durfee, Allie Jennings and Chase Padgett.

Plot:

Mutated by nuclear runoff in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, a horde of murderous horseshoe crabs descend on the sleepy town of Mendocino, California…

Cast and characters:

• Jessica Morris as Annalise Menrath
• Dylan Riley Snyder as Philip McCalister
• Bryce Durfee as Hunter McCalister
• Allie Jennings as Maddy Menrath
• Chase Padgett as Radu
• Robert Craighead as Sheriff Flannigan
• Katrina Landa as Willa
• Kurt Carley as The Limulus

Wikipedia | IMDb | Facebook

Related: Attack of the Crab Monsters | Guy N. Smith | Island Claws | Night of the Seagulls

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Boar is a 2015 Australian horror film directed by Chris Sun (Charlie’s Farm) from a screenplay co-written with Kristy Dallas. It should not be confused with the 2015 film Wild Boar.

Main cast:

Griffin Walsh, Christie Lee Britten, Nathan Jones, John Jarratt, Roger ward, Melissa Tkautz, Hugh Sheridan, Simone Buchanan, Bill Moseley, Steve Bisley, Ernie Dingo

Plot:

In the harsh, yet beautiful Australian outback lives a beast, an animal of staggering size, with a ruthless, driving need for blood and destruction. It cares for none, defends its territory with brutal force, and kills with a raw, animalistic savagery unlike any have seen before. Believed nothing more than a myth, a legend brought to life by a drunken local, the beast ventures closer to civilisation, closer to life, and ultimately, closer to death. It’s brutal, it’s bloodthirsty, it’s boar…

Trailer:

IMDb | Facebook | Related: Razorback

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‘A city screams in terror!’

The Creature Walks Among Us is a 1956 science fiction horror film. It is the third and final instalment of the Creature from the Black Lagoon horror film series from Universal-International, following 1955’s Revenge of the Creature.

The film was directed by John Sherwood (The Monolith Monsters), a longtime assistant director, from a screenplay by Arthur A. Ross (Creature from the Black Lagoon; Satan’s School for Girls) .

Main cast:

Jeff Morrow (This Island Earth; The Giant Claw; Octaman), Rex Reason (This Island Earth), Leigh Snowden, Gregg Palmer (Scream).

Plot:

Following the Gill-man’s escape from Ocean Harbour, Florida, a team of scientists led by the deranged and cold-hearted Dr. William Barton (Jeff Morrow) aboard theVagabondia III. to capture the creature in the Everglades.

Barton is mentally unstable and apparently abusive husband to his wife Marcia (Leigh Snowden), as he becomes very jealous and paranoid when Marcia is with other men. Their guide Jed Grant (Gregg Palmer) makes numerous passes on Marcia, with Barton becoming paranoid about the two.

Marcia accompanies Jed and Dr. Tom Morgan (Rex Reason) on their initial dive to look for the Gill-man, despite her husband’s fierce objections. During the dive, Marcia swims too deep and is overcome with the “raptures of the deep,” temporarily losing her mind, removing all her scuba gear. This forces Jed and Tom to abandon their hunt for the Gill Man to swim back and save her.

During the capture, the creature is badly burned in a fire leading to a surgical transformation…

Buy: Amazon.com

Reviews:

“Without question the weakest film of the series, The Creature Walks Among Us isn’t entirely terrible – the early scenes of the Creature in the swamp are as effective as any in the earlier films (admittedly, some of them may well be lifted from the earlier films), and his final rebellion is impressive, though brief. But the remodelling of the Creature is frankly unforgiveable, leaving him looking more like Tor Johnson than the classic Gill Man.

It’s interesting to make him a sympathetic character (Barton is the real monster here), but we don’t get to see enough of him to really relate to him as a character, or to understand why he is so easily domesticated.

The cast do their best with what they have, but this sort of cinema was definitely on the way out by the time the film was released, and compared to what was being made elsewhere – not just by Hammer, but on films like Les Diaboliques – it must have seemed pretty hokey stuff. Nostalgia improves it somewhat, and fans of 1950s monster movies will probably find enough here to make it passable.” David Flint, Strange Things Are Happening

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

“All in all, it’s an interesting idea for a film, but also a rather desperate one, and that desperation is part of the movie’s undoing. The creature’s transformation is too far-fetched to leave so largely unexplained (or rather, to leave supported by so many muddled, inconclusive, mutually contradictory explanations) as The Creature Walks Among Us does.” Scott Ashlin, 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting

“For a film that runs at 78 minutes The Creature Walks Among Us is all over the place when it comes to pacing, with around 35 minutes dedicated to the chase through the Everglades (which recycles a lot of underwater footage from the first movie) and the bulk of the rest concerning itself with Dr. Barton chastising his wife for nearly getting raped (twice) by the menacing Jed.” Gary Collinson, Flickering Myth

“This one’s better than Revenge but that’s not a hard thing to be…and it’s a difference of degrees. If you’d like to see a once-promising horror franchise run itself down like an old watch The Creature Walks Among Us is defiantly your film. Everyone else: skip back to the original. Or do what I do and jump forward to one of the many, many, many other aquatic monster movies it inspired.” David DeMoss, And You Thought It Was… Safe (?)

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Cast and characters:

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image thanks: Wrong Side of the Art!

‘You’ll never know what bit you!’

CobraGator is a 2015 American action horror film directed by Jim Wynorski (Chopping Mall; Piranhaconda; Gila!) and executive produced by Roger Corman.

The internet is oddly devoid of any forthcoming release details, let alone a trailer or even a teaser…

Cast:

Jesse Bernstein (Death Tunnel; 13 Days), Bryan Clark, Savannah Goldsmith, Aaron Groben (Nightcomer; Attack of the Killer Donuts), Lauren Parksinson, Paul Logan (Curse of the Komodo; Cannibal Taboo; Vampire in Vegas), Michael Madsen (Species; BloodRayne; Scary Movie 4), Jack Teague, Grace West.

Filming locations:

Tallahassee, Florida

IMDb | Image thanks: The Journey

Tasmanian Devils is a 2013 Canadian horror film directed by former child actor Zach Lipovsky (Leprechaun: Origins; Dead Rising: Watchtower) from a screenplay by Brook Durham (Mammoth; Red: Werewolf Hunter; Bering Sea Beast).

Main cast:

Danica McKellar (Hack!; Scooby-Doo! Abracadabra-Doo), Kenneth Mitchell (The Bequest), Mike Dopud (Alone in the Dark; BloodRayne; Final Destination 5), Roger R. Cross (The Chronicles of Riddick; The Strain; Re-Kill); Terry Chen (Bates Motel; Evil Feed; Godzilla); Apolo Ohno, Rekha Sharma.

Plot:

When a group of BASE jumpers enter into a forbidden portion of the Tasmanian wilderness, they didn’t foresee that one of their group would die in the process. They also didn’t expect for their friend’s blood to awaken ancient and gigantic Tasmanian devils that would swiftly seek to make them their supper.

The group finds some assistance in three park rangers that arrive to arrest the group for trespassing, only to find that they too are in danger of becoming the deadly beasts’ prey. One by one, people start to die…

Reviews:

“There are so many satisfying moments in this movie that it is easy to forget the low budget despite how cheesy everything looks. Everything about the movie that at the outset made me believe it would be just another Syfy crapfest eventually evolved into something great. Not just good or watchable mind you, but genuinely great.” Stupid Blue Planet

“Too silly to take seriously and taking itself far too seriously to have fun with, Tasmanian Devils needn’t bother anybody’s list of monster flicks this year.” John Noonan, HorrorNews.net

“There is little here that you haven’t seen countless times before. Annoying characters you can’t wait to see die: check. A clumsy and unconvincing love interest subplot: check. Incompetent direction and unconvincing special effects: check. It is fair to say Tasmanian Devils does little well but at least the pacing is brisk to help make sure it isn’t completely boring.” Adam Cook, Letterboxd

Cast and characters:

Danica McKellar as Alex
Kenneth Mitchell as Jayne
Mike Dopud as Anderson
Roger R. Cross as Simon (as Roger Cross)
Terry Chen as Walsh
Rekha Sharma as Lisbon
Apolo Ohno as Stone
Joseph Allan Sutherland as Danz (as Joseph Sutherland)
Scott McNeil as Whitfield
Julia Sarah Stone as Kid

Choice dialogue:

Simon [Roger Cross]: “I can’t believe this is real. What are we watching?”

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb

The Abominable Snowman is a 1957 British horror film directed by Val Guest for Hammer Film Productions. It is based on a 1955 BBC television play, The Creature, written by Nigel Kneale (The Quatermass Xperiment and sequels), who also wrote the screenplay adaptation for the film.

Main cast:

Forrest Tucker, Peter Cushing, Maureen Connell, Richard Wattis, Robert Brown.

Plot:

Dr. John Rollason (Peter Cushing), his wife, Helen (Maureen Connell), and assistant, Peter Fox (Richard Wattis), are guests of the Lama (Arnold Marlé) of the monastery of Rong-buk while on a botanical expedition to the Himalayas.

A second expedition, led by Dr. Tom Friend (Forrest Tucker) arrives at the monastery in search of the legendary Yeti or Abominable Snowman.

Despite the objections of his wife and the Lama, Rollason decides to join Friend’s expedition. Whereas Rollason is motivated by scientific curiosity to learn more about the creature, Friend seeks fame and fortune and wants to capture a live Yeti and present it to the world’s press…

Reviews:

“For once an engaging monster is neither bombed, roasted nor electrocuted. For this welcome courtesy, as well as its thrills and its nonsense I salute The Abominable Snowman.” The Sunday Times, 1957

“an intelligent but commonplace adventure thriller with the Yeti little more than background figures… a little too ponderous and hence unexciting” Bill Warren, Keep Watching the Skies! American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties. Volume I: 1950–1957

“A gripping essay in the macabre, tensely directed by Val Guest and spoiled only by some very obvious studio mountains: Hammer at its most subtle.” Alan Frank, The Horror Film Handbook

“the film conveys a taut, paranoid atmosphere; set largely in wide open spaces, it’s remarkably claustrophobic in scale.” Marcus Hearn and Alan Barnes, The Hammer Story. The Authorised History of Hammer Films

“The story’s modest albeit effective narrative conflicts transferred well from the small to larger screen. Kneale and Guest intelligently kept the focus of the filmic adaptation not on the special effects the larger budget allowed, but on creating a chilling atmosphere and foreboding sense of dread.” David Coleman, The Bigfoot Filmography

Buy from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

” … combined with excellent performances and convincing production design, easily make it the best of a quartet of films about the Yeti produced in the Fifties (the inferior others are The Snow Creature, Man Beast and Half Human).” Gary A. Smith, Uneasy Dreams: The Golden Age of British Horror Films, 1956-1976 

“A thin horror film with intelligent scripting: more philosophising and characterisation than suspense. The briefly glimpsed Yeti are disappointing creations.” Leslie Halliwell, Halliwell’s Film Guide 

Release:

US: Anchor Bay released a widescreen anamorphic DVD in 2000.

UK: Icon Home Entertainment DVD in a 16×9 2.35:1 widescreen transfer from the original Regalscope, renamed “Hammerscope” by the company.

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

Choice dialogue:

Rollason: “It isn’t what’s out there that’s dangerous, so much as what’s in us.”

Wikipedia

Arachnicide – aka Spiders – is a 2014 Italian action horror film directed by Paolo Bertola (Virtually Dead; The Witch of Malbacco). It is also known as L9 Commando.

The film is unleashed on DVD in the US on May 10, 2016 via Midnight Releasing.

Main cast:

Riccardo Serventi Longhi, Crisula Stafida, Gabriel Cash, Filippo Galati, and Marco Conte.

Official synopsis:

“After years of experimenting, a researcher succeeds in creating an incubator that accelerates plant and animal growth. This technology is controlled by a powerful criminal organisation and is being used to accelerate the growth of plants needed for the manufacture of narcotics and illegal drugs. To destroy the laboratories they operate, the United Nations put together an elite team of operatives.

The L9 Commando is a task force composed of six of the best soldiers from different Special Forces Units. After successfully taking down the drug operation, the L9 Commandos are called on for an important mission that brings them to Albania, where they discover a sinister plan that could destroy everything. Arachnicide or die!”

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

Trailer:

IMDb | Artwork by Gary Marta Design

‘Evil lies beneath the surface. It has risen for revenge.’

Swamp Devil is a 2008 Canadian supernatural horror film directed by David Winning (Are You Afraid of the Dark? [TV series]; Black Swarm; Mutant World) from a screenplay by Gary Dauberman (Blood Monkey; Annabelle and sequel; It) and Ethlie Ann Vare. It is the thirteenth film in the Maneater Series.

Actor Bruce Dern broke his leg on camera running in the woods, one week into the shoot. He finished the film on crutches with various photo doubles and camera tricks employed to complete production.

Main cast: 

Bruce Dern (The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant; Twixt; Coffin Baby), Cindy Sampson (High Plains Invaders; The Shrine; Supernatural), Nicolas Wright and Robert Higden.

Plot:

Melanie Blaine returns to her small backwoods country hometown of Gibbington to check on her estranged ex-sheriff father Howard, who’s the primary suspect in a series of grisly murders. Nice guy local Jimmy Fuller helps Melanie out and she eventually finds her dad and discovers that something not human and much more sinister than a mere mortal man is responsible for the killings…

Reviews:

“… despite a silly concept and even sillier-looking villain, the content is treated with a straight face that’s oddly admirable. The cast commits fully, and Bruce Dern’s veteran presence anchors the film. The pace is thankfully brisk, elevating it to the level of benign background filler rather than irritating, change-the-channel garbage.” Mark H. Harris, About.com

” … the strength of David Winning’s work is evidenced whenever it relies on mood, mystery, and evolving character back stories as opposed to when we see the initially Harry and the Hendersons meets Bigfoot meets The Incredible Hulk-like CGI Swamp Devil… ” Jen Johans, Film Intuition

“The first third of Swamp Devil is rather anemic. A lot of talk and little action is all that greets the viewer. The last hour or so, however, is much more fun as the swamp devil starts to terrorize characters on screen in the woods. It’s all fairly routine, but if you’re into this cheap monster genre, then you should be reasonably diverted by this low budget runaround.” Justin Felix, DVD Talk

Buy: Amazon.com

” … what makes this one work is an emphasis on characters (there’s only like 10 people in the movie) and an actual motive for the monster. Usually these things are unleashed and just kill whoever they come across; not that there’s anything wrong with that, but they all start to blur together after awhile.” Horror Movie a Day

Cast and characters:

• Bruce Dern as Howard Blame
• Cindy Sampson as Melanie Blame
• Nicolas Wright as Jimmy Fuller
• Robert Higden as Jones
• Allison Graham as Deputy Jolene Harris
• James Kidnie as Sheriff Nelson Bois
• Bronwen Mantel as Shelly
• Kwasi Songui as Bigg
• Mari-Pier Gaudet as Lisa Jones
• Jenna Wheeler-Hughes as Young Dream Girl
• Marc V. Denis as Young Howard

Buy: Amazon.com

Filming locations:

Montréal, Québec, Canada

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb | Related: Man Thing

Monsterland – aka Monster Land – is a 2016 American horror anthology film directed by Graham Denman, Jack Fields, Erik Gardner, Andrew Kasch, Patrick Longstreth, Sander Maran, Robert Mclean, The McCoubrey Brothers, Corey Norman, John Skipp, Frank J. Sudol

It should not to be confused with the 2008 and 2009 movies of the same title.

In the US, the film is released by RLJ Entertainment on June 7, 2016.

Main cast:

Josh LaCasse, Ebon Moss-Bachrach.

Plot:

Amidst a bloody backdrop of chaos and carnage, one panicked, lowly survivor of the Monster Apocalypse takes shelter in a movie theater to buy himself a few extra moments of precious life.

Little does he know, he’s taken a flying leap out of the frying pan and smack dab into the fires of hell by attending the last movie marathon he’ll ever see. Welcome to Monsterland…

Trailer:

First Man on Mars is a 2016 American science fiction horror film produced, written and directed by Mike Lyddon for his Reel Progress productions. It was shot on Super-16mm film.

TomCat Films are distributing the film internationally.

The film stars Kelly Murtagh, Benjamin Wood, Robert John Gilchrist, Sam Cobean, Candace McAdams, Jeffrey Estiverne, Marcelle Shaneyfelt, Kirk Jordan, 

Plot:

In 2003, billionaire astronaut Eli Cologne began his journey through space to become the first man on Mars, but something went horribly wrong.. Infected by an alien organism on the red planet, he returned to Earth a crazed, savage monster with an unquenchable thirst for human flesh.

The space craft crashed undetected in a remote part of Louisiana during Hurricane Katrina, and he’s been hunting both human and animal prey in the swamps for years. Beautiful yet domineering scientist Dr. Martine Munro was in charge of the Mars Mission and Eli Cologne’s secret lover. Now that she’s received a signal from the transmitter on the lost space craft, she and a few bumbling, nerdy scientists head to the sleepy town of Black Bayou in search of the lost astronaut. For small town sheriff Dick Ruffman, it’s a race against time to find the man-turned-monster before he kills again…

Related: First Man in Space | The Incredible Melting Man

IMDb | Official site

The Prey is a 2016 American horror monster movie produced and directed by The Hensman Brothers, i.e. Cire Hensman [as Eric Hensman] and Matthew Hensman. It was scripted by the latter based on a story by Gustavo Sainz de la Peña. The original title was The Lost Patrol.

The film stars Danny Trejo (Dead in Tombstone; The Burning Dead; 3 Headed Shark Attack), Nick Chinlund (Hallowed Ground; The Chronicles of Riddick; Below), Kevin Grevioux (Underworld: Rise of the Lycans; screenwriter of I, Frankenstein), Aria London, Fahim Fazli, Cleo Anthony, Reka Rene, Ryan McIntyre, Justin Arnold, John David Gregory.

Plot:

U.S. soldiers in the Middle East become trapped in a cave that is inhabited by a deadly creature…

Filming Locations:

Santa Clarita, California, USA

IMDb  | Facebook |

‘There is one birth announcement the world could do without.’

Little Devils: The Birth is a 1993 Canadian comedy horror film directed by George Pavlou (Rawhead Rex; Underworld) from a screenplay by producer Elliott Stein.

The film stars Russ Tamblyn, Marc Price, Nancy Valen, Wayne McNamara, Stella Stevens (The Manitou), Donald Saunders, Jerry Levitan, David Campbell, Henry Roth and Tania Leil.

Review:

There is only one thing in this world I like more than a Jaws rip-off: a Gremlins rip-off! From the cream of the crop (Critters) to the bottom of the barrel (Munchies), no matter how garbage a Gremlins rip is, I can’t help but have a good time. The needlessly lengthily titled Little Devils: The Birth is Canada’s contribution to the sub-genre.

Ed Reid (Marc Price) makes his living writing porno tales for some filthy rag — a filthy rag that everybody in this universe reads because everybody knows (and seemingly loves) his stories. Ed’s life is pretty okay. He has a pal called Doc (Russ Tamblyn). Doc hangs out with weird homeless people and can no longer get it up since his time as a med student cutting up cadavers. Despite his lack of sex drive, Doc still hangs out in strip clubs.

Through Doc, Ed meets Lynn (Nancy Valen), a super hot stripper lady who doesn’t take off her clothes when she strips. I can only assume Doc came to know Lynn through his sad strip club addiction, and her lack of nudity appealed to his sexless leanings. Ed’s existence isn’t all fun times with strip clubs, porno mags and weird homeless people. His vacuum-obsessed dominatrix landlady (Stella Stevens) is desperate to fuck him. Oh, and his upstairs neighbour, Lionel (Wayne McNamara), is moulding little devils out of living mud.

Lionel’s world is very much not peachy. It is, in fact, a total nightmare. His apartment is chaos. He’s addicted to lemon soda. A couple of scenery-chewing gangsters want to chop his fingers off because of a debt he owes them. At first, it’s unclear if Lionel is insane or an evil vengeance-fuelled geek. But once the tiny mud devils he’s made begin their murderous rampage, we learn who’s really in charge.

Even before the monster madness kicks in, I was quite taken with the cast and characters of Little Devils. No-one is necessarily good here, but everyone puts in a stellar effort. Marc Price hams it up something fierce. Even when he’s dancing, very much out of time, like a goof in his apartment or pretending to orgasm as Lynn shakes his hand, he is quite likeable in the leading role.

Wayne McNamara is equally fun as the sobbing, demented Lionel and gets the chance to turn into an unlikely protagonist in the film’s finale. Russ Tamblyn (The Haunting; Twin Peaks) is as cheesy and lovable as ever, and Nancy Valen brings a rebellious 90s charm to the proceedings.

However, it’s the final half an hour where the goo and goofs are pummelled onto the screen. The little devils themselves are stiff and awkward with limited facial expressions, but they’re adorable as fuck. They each carry a different tiny weapon, which is a great touch. Though they lack the personality of a gremlin or even a munchie, their design is commendable and, more importantly, gooey.

Director George Pavlou, best known for Clive Barker-scribed Rawhead Rex (1986), keeps the action coming thick and fast. As the battle between humans and tiny monsters ensues, the music pounds out pulsating synth beats that would be more at home in an 80s film and blaring electronic guitars. People get set on fire. Monsters melt. All the action is captured competently and slickly.

I guess my tastes really don’t align to the users of IMDb. At this point in time, Little Devils: The Birth sits at a shockingly low 2.3 — a rating it is utterly, utterly undeserving of.

While this is no Gremlins, Little Devils is a blast from start to finish. I went in expecting dull garbage, instead I found scratching my head about its poor reputation. I would take Little Devils over Munchies or even Ghoulies (1984) any day. I would, however, not take it over Ghoulies III: Ghoulies Go to College (1991), but who would? That’s the Citizen Kane of Gremlins cash-ins.

Dave Jackson, Guest reviewer via Mondo Exploito

Availability:

Sadly, Little Devils does not appear to be available on DVD outside of an obscure Brazilian release under the title of O Aniversário Do Demônio. Unless you can find a copy of this DVD, it’s VHS or nothing.

IMDb

Red Billabong is a 2016 Australian action horror creature feature film written and directed by Luke Sparke.

The film stars Dan Ewing, Tim Pocock, Jessica Green, Sophie Don, Ben Chisholm, Felix Williamson, John Reynolds, Yutaka Izumihara, Bruce R. Carter, Emily Joy, Philippe Deseck, Gregory J. Fryer, Col Elliott and Selina Kadell.

A release in Australian theatres is set for August 25, 2016.

Plot:

In the Australian Outback, two estranged brothers discover old secrets and family lies. As their friends start to go missing they fear they are being stalked by someone or something from their worst fears…

IMDb | Facebook | Twitter | Official site

Kong: Skull Island is a 2017 American action adventure 3D monster movie directed Jordan Vogt-Roberts from a screenplay by Max Borenstein, Derek Connolly, John Gatins and Dan Gilroy, loosely based on King Kong (1933) by Merian C. Cooper and Edgar Wallace. The film is a reboot of the King Kong franchise and will serve as the second instalment in Legendary’s Godzilla–Kong film series.

The film is being produced for Legendary Pictures by Debbi Bossi, Jennifer Conroy, Alex Garcia, Jon Jashni, Eric McLeod, Mary Parent, Nicholas Simon and Thomas Tull. It was formerly known as Skull Island.

Principal photography began on October 19, 2015 in Hawaii. Kong: Skull Island is scheduled to be released by Warner Bros. in the United States on March 10, 2017.

Main cast:

Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman, Terry Notary, J.K. Simmons, Michael Keaton, John C. Reilly, Jason Speer, Tom Wilkinson, Toby Kebbell, Shea Whigham, Russell Crowe, Raj K. Bose, Jerald M.S. Pang, David James Sikkink, Paul S.W. Lee, John Huser, John Ortiz, Thomas Mann, Marc Evan Jackson, James Edward Flynn, John A Weaver, Corey Hawkins, Michael C Hollandsworth, Eugene Cordero, John West Jr., Jason Mitchell, Tian Jing, Will Brittain.

Plot:

In the 1970s, a diverse team of explorers is brought together to venture deep into an uncharted island in the Pacific—as beautiful as it is treacherous—unaware that they’re crossing into the domain of the mythic Kong…

Wikipedia | IMDb | Twitter

Chosen Survivors is a 1974 American-Mexican science fiction/horror film directed by Sutton Roley (Sweet, Sweet Rachel; Satan’s Triangle; The Curse of Dracula TV series) from a screenplay written by H.B. Cross [Harry Spalding: House of the Damned; Witchcraft; Curse of the Fly] and Joe Reb Moffly, based on Spalding’s storyline. The Bats is an alternate title.

Main cast:

Jackie Cooper, Alex Cord (Point of Terror; The Dead Are Alive; Uninvited), Richard Jaeckel (Grizzly; Day of the Animals; The Dark) Bradford Dillman (The Mephisto Waltz; Bug; Piranha), Diana Muldaur (The Other), Pedro Armendáriz, Jr. (The Vampires; Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark), Lincoln Kilpatrick (The Ωmega Man; Piranha [1995]), Gwenn Mitchell, Barbara Babcock (Salem’s Lot), Cristina Moreno, Nancy Rodman and Kelly Lange.

Plot:

After being selected at random by a computer to seek safety in an underground bomb shelter on the eve of a nuclear attack, a group of refugees makes a horrible realisation: They’re sharing the space with a colony of vampire bats. And since going back above ground isn’t an option, they’re forced to stay and fight for their lives…

Buy: Amazon.com

Reviews:

Intelligent plotting, sexual and psychological drama and an offbeat directorial approach make this quite a unique little movie. Director Sutton Roley was obviously trying to break out of TV with this one, though he was a master of top TV shows for decades. Skewed camera angles are effectively used to show the disorientation of the survivors as they arrive, wide-angle lenses to accent their claustrophobia.” Black Hole Reviews

“The film suffers from cheesy special effects and a dreary droning score, but — being a performance-based melodrama — is most adversely affected by a capable cast uninspired by the script’s clichéd dialogue … Nevertheless, it conjures up some intermittent suspense and unease, thanks to Sutton Roley’s able direction and some exceptional bat wrangling.” Tim Lucas, Video Watchdog

“Even though the characterizations are somewhat trite, and the melodramatic histrionics tend to be excessive, there are still plenty of positives to be found in Chosen Survivors. From an aesthetics standpoint, the cinematography and lighting, along with the framing and blocking of the actors, are executed in most unusual ways. Characters and objects are commonly placed equidistantly from each other within sparse, static settings.” Matt Martell, DVD Drive-In

“The script by Harry Cross plays loose with logic and character, and we’re given little background outside of exposition by the group psychologist (an effective Bradford Dillman). Still, the archetypal personalities make for some interesting debate, which comprise sections of the film between deadly vampire bat attacks.” Technicolor Dreams

” …if you look closely, you’ll see what a prize sirloin this is amongst the other science fiction steaks.” Cinefantastique

“Another misfit group united by disaster; more shocks than suspense, and not much characterisation, but for adventure/horror addicts it will pass the time.” Leslie Halliwell, Halliwell’s Film Guide

“The characters and plot are straight from stock and recall the heyday of the fifties ‘B’ picture. Nonetheless, the film works well within its own undemanding limits.” Alan Frank, The Science Fiction and Fantasy Film Handbook

Cast and characters:

• Jackie Cooper – Raymond Couzins
• Alex Cord – Steven Mayes
• Richard Jaeckel – Major Ellis
• Bradford Dillman – Peter Macomber
• Diana Muldaur – Alana Fitzgerald
• Pedro Armendáriz, Jr. – Luis Cabral
• Lincoln Kilpatrick – Woody Russo
• Gwenn Mitchell – Carrie Draper
• Barbara Babcock – Dr. Lenore Chrisman

Release:

The film was released theatrically in the United States on May 22, 1974 by Columbia Pictures.

The film was released on DVD in a double feature with The Earth Dies Screaming as part of MGM’s Midnite Movies series.

On October 4, 2016, the film is released on Blu-ray by Scream Factory.

Wikipedia | IMDb | AFI | Image thanks: Critical Condition | Technicolour Yawn

‘This legend is real.’

Chupacabra: Dark Seas – released on DVD as Chupacabra Terror – is a 2005 American horror film directed by John Shepphird (Jersey Shore Shark Attack) from a screenplay co-written with Steve Jankowski (who also plays Admiral Williams). The film is a Regent Entertainment production for the Syfy television channel.

Main cast:

John Rhys-Davies (Beasts; Anacondas: Trail of Blood; The Half Dead), Giancarlo Esposito (Bones), Dylan Neal (Vampire Bats; Locusts; Ice Road Terror), Chelan Simmons (It; Monster Island; Snakehead Terror), Paula Shaw (The Centerfold Girls; Freddy vs. Jason; iZombie) and David Millbern (The Slumber Party Massacre;  Ice Spiders; The Nurse).

Plot:

Dr. Peña (Esposito), a cryptozoologist, manages to capture El Chupacabra on a remote Caribbean island and smuggles it aboard the cruise ship Regent Queen, commanded by Captain Randolph (Rhys-Davies) with the assistance of his young daughter, and ship fitness instructor, Jenny (Simmons). The Regent Queen has been experiencing a rash of burglaries, and Federal Marshal Lance Thompson (Neal) is brought on board to investigate.

Unfortunately, crew members sneak into the cargo hold on their break; their curiosity getting the better of them, they accidentally unlock the contained holding the creature. It kills them and escapes into the ship…

Reviews:

“First, it was actually paced pretty well. I watch a lot of bad movies where I can’t wait for the credits to roll, but despite its subject matter and dialogue, I remained relatively interested in the film. Maybe it’s just because I think cryptozoology and cryptids in general are pretty cool, but seeing someone talk about it somewhat intelligently, despite being in a film called Chupacabra Terror, was surprising.” The Wolfman Cometh

“Where drive-in horror movies of the 1950s were either moderately creepy or sublimely ridiculous, this schlocker misses out by relying on cheap thrills and parodistic laughs … The gore may satisfy die-hard monster mashers, but the cheesy-looking creature isn’t fit to touch the gills of the Creature from the Black Lagoon.” Robert Pardi, TV Guide

Cast and characters:

• John Rhys-Davies as Captain Randolph
• Dylan Neal as Lance Thompson
• Chelan Simmons as Jenny Randolph
• Giancarlo Esposito as Dr. Peña
• Paula Shaw as Millie Hartman
• David Millbern as Rick McGraw
• Luke Darnell as Ensign Peters
• Mark Viniello as El Chupacabra

Buy: Amazon.com

Filming locations:

The Turks and Caicos Islands

Release:

In the US, the film was released on DVD by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on May 3, 2005.

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image thanks: The Wolfman Cometh

Loch Ness Terror, titled Beyond Loch Ness on the Syfy Channel, is a 2008 Canadian horror television film directed by Paul Ziller (Pledge Night) from a screenplay co-written with Jason Bourque. It was produced by Lindsay MacAdam and Kirk Shaw for Insight Film Studios

Main cast:

Brian Krause (Camel Spiders; Poseidon Rex; Plan 9), Niall Matter, Amber Borycki, Carrie Genzel, Don S. Davis.

Plot:

James Murphy (Brian Krause) is a rugged cryptozoologist, who thirty years earlier, during a trip to Loch Ness, Scotland, had a fatal encounter with the fabled “Nessie” creature that killed his father, research assistants, and left James with a deep facial scar.

Thirty years later, James is hunting for Nessie, when his search leads him to the sleepy town of Pike Island, Ashburn, on Lake Superior. He encounters Josh Riley (Niall Matter), owner of a bait shop. Josh’s ex-girlfriend, Zoe, is going camping along with Brody and two others on a small deserted island on the lake. Josh’s uncle, Sean, attempts to prove Nessie’s existence but is eaten instead. James hires Josh as a guide while his mother, Sheriff Karen Riley, eventually finds Sean’s remains. She begins to suspect that an underwater predator is on the loose…

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

“The Case Against: Nothing, unless you count bad acting, silly death scenes, jingoism, rampant product placement, and awful pseudo-science. But if you did that everyone in the movie industry would be out of a job.” Eileen “Raptor Red” Stahl, Something Awful

“This is a surprisingly gory affair with Nessie and her kids chomping down on every human they meet right from the ropy opening at Loch Ness. The main cast are reasonably good but some of the acting for the smaller parts is terrible. The film employs a lot of CG and sometimes it works reasonably well but for the most part it looks terribly fake. It is more fun than your average made for TV feature and if you like monster movies you might enjoy this.” Eat Horror

“Looking at the movie “beyond” the logic of that underwater passage from Loch Ness to a lake in the USA, I enjoyed it on a different level. It got high marks for the intelligence of the cryptozoologist. I am fascinated by how characters can stroll into films nowadays and declare themselves, “I’m a cryptozoologist,” over and over again … Beyond Loch Ness is a fun ninety minutes of escapism, especially for the cryptozoologically-minded.” Loren Coleman, Crypto Mundo

Buy: Amazon.com

“I hate to admit this but Loch Ness Terror was a pretty fun, entertaining ride which certainly blasted the rest of the Sci-Fi Channel’s movies out of the water. It’s got plenty of Nessie action, has a decent pace and above all didn’t suck in all of the major departments.” Popcorn Pictures

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Cast and characters:

• Brian Krause as James Murphy
  Niall Matter as Josh Riley: Owner of a baitshop, and Zoe’s former boyfriend.
• Amber Borycki as Zoe: Josh’s ex-girlfriend and Brody’s girlfriend.
• Carrie Genzel as Sheriff Karen Riley: The local sheriff, and Josh’s mother.
• Don S. Davis as Neil Chapman: Sheriff Karen’s deputy.
• Sebastian Gacki as Brody: Zoe’s boyfriend, and Josh’ nemesis.
• Neil Denis as Chad: One of the campers, later killed by Nessie.
• Serinda Swan as Caroleena: One of the campers, later killed by Nessie.
• Donnelly Rhodes as Uncle Sean: Josh’s uncle. Later killed by Nessie
• Paul McGillion as Michael Murphy: James’ father, who is killed by Nessie.
• Alan Longair as Thomas Chapman
• Suzanne Ristic as Marge
• Rob Morton as Bill Maxwell
• David Lewis as Scientist #1
• Bart Anderson as Scientist #2
• R. Nelson Brown as Fisherman
  Sam Laird as Young James Murphy

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Wikipedia | IMDb | Related: The Loch Ness Monster (article)

‘Infinite evil’

Lurking Fear – aka H.P. Lovecraft’s Lurking Fear – is a 1994 American supernatural horror film, loosely based on the H. P. Lovecraft short story “The Lurking Fear”. It was produced by Charles Band’s Full Moon Entertainment and written and directed by C. Courtney Joyner (Puppet Master vs Demonic Toys; Prison); From a Whisper to a Scream).

Main cast:

Blake Bailey (The Killer Eye), Ashley Laurence (Hellraiser and sequels), Jon Finch (Frenzy; The Vampire Lovers), Jeffrey Combs (Would You Rather; Re-Animator), Allison Mackie, Paul Mantee (The Manitou; Day of the Animals), Vincent Schiavelli (Bone Chillers; Comedy of Horrors), Joseph Leavengood (Basket Case 2), Cristina Stoica, Luana Stoica, Adrian Pintea, Ilinca Goia, Michael Todd.

Latest release:

On 24 October 2016, the film is issued on Blu-ray by 88 Films in the UK.

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

Plot:

Ex-con John Martense (Blake Adams) returns to his childhood home of Lefferts Corner after serving time for a crime he didn’t commit. Martense visits family friend Knaggs (Vincent Schiavelli), a mortician who has been holding half of a map for him. The map leads to a graveyard where Martense’s father hid the money from his last heist.

Arriving at an abandoned church, Martense is confronted by Cathryn (Ashley Laurence), a young woman seeking revenge for the murder of her sister, and town doctor Dr. Haggis (Jeffrey Combs).

This group is quickly joined by a trio of criminals who are looking to find the money John’s father stole from them. What everyone is not aware of are the humanoid creatures lurking underneath the holy grounds…

Reviews:

“As with many Full Moon films, Lurking Fear‘s trailer is better than the feature it promotes. That’s unfortunate because Joyner had a wonderful professional cast who, with a cleaned-up script and a hands-on producer, could have made the film a standout among [Lovecraft] adaptations.” Andrew Migliore and John Strysik, Lurker in the Lobby: A Guide to the Cinema of H. P. Lovecraft

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

“… zippy little gem … The Morlock-looking creatures are nicely designed by Wayne Toth [House of 1000 Corpses; Wishmaster] and are a suitably nasty bunch, dragging any poor sod they can down into their subterranean abattoir. The product of years of inbreeding, they’re perhaps a fitting metaphor for just how incestuous the Full Moon production line once was.” Matty Budrewicz, UK Horror Scene

“With such a talented cast, a cool concept, and a fresh young director coming off a popular Trancers sequel, there’s no reason the final product should have been this lousy. I applaud Joyner’s effort to mix the horror, action, and crime film genres, but it just didn’t work. The end result is a somewhat boring creature feature, that apparently ruined C. Courtney Joyner’s taste for filmmaking.” The B-Movie Film Vault

“Lurking Fear is pretty spot on and cohesive. The action choreography and stuntwork is top notch. The acting is way better than I expected and I’m impartial to strong female characters. The gore, my favorite aspect of the movie, was amazing and performed through the use of practical effects and that really brought me back to a better time.” Horror Society

“It’s no masterpiece, but it’s a nicely done flick made by people who clearly strove to produce a good movie. The acting is uniformly good and nicely naturalistic, the characters tend not to do stupid stuff just to advance the plot, the settings are, again, quite fetching, the film is fairly brutal in terms of killing likable characters, and the script is actually *gasp* fairly well thought out, with one event actually leading logically to the next.” Ken Begg, Jabootu’s Bad Movie Dimension

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

“There’s an equally impressive cast here, with Combs at his hammy best as the sozzled quack, Finch genuinely menacing as a Cockney gangster and Laurence convincing as a Lara Croft type Amazon. Unfortunately the script doesn’t give them anything more than generic dialogue, and that adjective sums up the film as a whole. While the creatures have an interesting design, though wisely kept hidden for most of the running time, they’re not utilised in any particularly interesting manner.” Eric Hillis, The Movie Waffler

“Lurking Fear is loaded with graphic violence, monsters and gore, so fans of this fare will not be disappointed. And the cast is good…” John Stanley, Creature Features

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Amazon.ca

“The gore is generally weak, but I must credit the effects team and director for making so many attempts to please the Fangoria fans out there. There are a lot of dead body, corpse and skeleton scenes in which these props are used for more than just background. They come with a few laughs. The creature make-up is similarly ho-hum. But they embrace it. They don’t make you wait until the last 20 minutes of the movie to see it.” John Leavengood, Movies, Films and Flix

“The actors all seem game enough, but the characters are generally one-note … but as the story winds on, the people seem to have little function but to mark time when the creatures aren’t on screen. The monsters themselves are fairly well-executed but unmemorable…” TV Guide

Filming locations:

Buftea Studios, Bucharest, Romania

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image credits: The B-Movie Film Vault | The Movie Waffler