Who Are These Unholy Savages Who Hunt Out Their Victims By Sound Alone?

It’s been a long time since i’ve updated this blog with a new “Feature Creature”, and for that i am sorry! I’ve been caught up with a number of commissions that have eaten up my free time, but i aim to rectify that and continue doing “Feature Creature” paintings. This week, i finally tackled a monster that i’ve wanted to paint literally since i started this blog, but never got around to for one reason or another. I’m talking about one of my favourite fiends of all time, the ravenous templar knights, the blind dead! For my money, the most purely METAL of all creatures. For example: The blind dead were once ancient templar knights who turned against their religious order to worship foul and abhorrent gods, practicing bizarre rituals involving drinking the blood of virgins to attain eternal life! Eventually, the townspeople of a local village got real fed up with that shit, stormed the templars’ castle, and slaughtered the lot of them. But before they did, they poked out the templars’ eyes to prevent them from finding their way back from HELL. Awesome. Of course, it didn’t work, so now the templars wait for their ancient grave-sites to be disturbed by the unwary, so they can rise as mummified fiends on undead horses, hunting the living by listening for their panicked heart-beats in their unending quest for BLOOD! Damn. The movies themselves (There are four.) vary in quality, but the films are held together by their spooky atmosphere and totally iconic monsters. Anyway, i hope you enjoy my tribute painting, and i highly recommend you check out some of the films. Here’s a trailer!

Feature Creature Sticker Set Volume 3! Coming Soon!

Hey guys, sorry for the long hiatus in “Feature Creature” entries. I promise i’m going to try and fix that very soon. I have a lot of ideas for future pieces that i’m excited to get started on. For now, i wanted to show you something i did for fun that is going to end up being the first sticker in the next “Feature Creature” sticker set, a creature from the little-seen British weirdo sci-fi horror, “XTRO”. I’m going to try and make this sticker set a jumbo 8-pack! I really can't recommend "Xtro" enough. It's bizarre, and disturbing, and there's really nothing else much like it. You should definitely check it out, if you have the constitution. Anyways, stay-tuned for more information! You all rule! - Trevor

LONG LIVE THE NEW FLESH!

Hey guys! I've been busy with quite a few different projects, but i wanted to do a Feature Creature piece as a palette-cleanser of sorts. I just purchased the Criterion release of "Videodrome" and gave it a watch after not having seen it for a year or two. It's really an amazing, unsettling film, and you should definitely check it out. It involves a pirate television channel named "Videodrome" that provokes mutations of both the body, and mind. James Woods grows a vagina on his chest that works like a VCR. It's the best. Anyway, here's the illustration i did! I hope you guys like it. Below i've also included a mock-up of how it would look as a t-shirt, what do you guys think? Would you buy it? The back would hypthetically have "LONG LIVE THE NEW FLESH" written on it in white. Let me know! Check out the trailer for "Videodrome" here!

PUFFED SHOGGOTHS!

From beyond space and time, at the border between realities where our world, and theirs, grows weakest, the old ones wait to take back this puny planet and rule forever on a throne of suffering and madness! But while you’re waiting for that to happen, I thought you guys might want to check out a project that i’m working on with heaps of amazing illustrators and artists! It’s a book of art inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft, one of the most influential horror authors of all time. The book will feature 45 artists, illustrators and creative types, each tackling their own personal vision and experience with H.P. Lovecraft. I’m hoping to debut the book at the “Toronto Comics and Arts Festival” on May 11th and 12th of next year. It’s still in early stages, but i may be looking into a Kickstarter down the road to put everything together. Click through the following link to see a list of confirmed contributors, links to their respective portfolios, and a small sampling of work for the zine! Click here!

"In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream."

Today's "Feature Creature" is as close to a perfect film, in my opinion, as you can probably get. At least in the science-fiction-horror arena. Of course, i'm talking about "Alien", Ridley Scott's terrifying 1979 classic. I recently rediscovered this film, and it kicked me so hard in the guts i had to do a really special "Feature Creature" for it. I really wanted to capture the suffocating atmosphere that the film has in droves, as well as one of my favourites, concerning the fate of the spaceship captain, "Dallas". But i definitely had to have Ripley front and center. She's the heart and soul of the entire "Alien" franchise. I hope you like it. As fate would have it, today marks the release of the new science fiction film by Ridley Scott, "Prometheus", which is supposedly set in the same universe as "Alien". I'll be putting up some very LIMITED prints of this piece in the next couple days, so stay tuned. This is Trevor Henderson, last surviving member of the Nostromo, signing off. Watch the trailer here! (It's seriously one of the scariest trailers ever made, and it ruins NOTHING.)

"The Lurking Fear" by H.P. Lovecraft

Hey guys, haven't updated in a while. I've been working on a new project which i hope to tell you all about very soon, but in the meantime, here's an illustration. This is for one of my favourite stories by H.P. Lovecraft, "The Lurking Fear". It's quite under-rated, and is one of his best earlier works. More information soon, but in the meantime, you can read "The Lurking Fear" here!

Feature Creature Stickers - Set 2! Now On SALE!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/99013291/feature-creatures-series-2-cult-horror The second series of cult horror stickers is here, expanding it’s horizons to include new and more fiendish foes than ever before! Each sticker is roughly 3 - 4 in…ches, with the Gremlin sticker measuring 5 inches across! The stickers are printed on semi-glossy sticker paper, and each sticker is original art, and is hand-cut. With this purchase, you will get six horrifying mugs from your favourite creature features! There’s only ten sets available at the moment, so get yours quick! * Nightmare Demon (from “An American Werewolf In London” 1981) * Zombie (from “Zombie” 1979) * Vampire Amy (From “Fright Night” 1985) * Stripe (from “Gremlins” 1984) * C.H.U.D. (from “C.H.U.D.” 1984) * Alien Invader (from “They Live” 1988) Six more of the most charismatic faces in obscure horror history, in sticker form! Now that’s a deal!

Thanks! For everyone who isn't obsessed with Tumblr like i am, here's the link to a STICKER GIVEAWAY i'm running on Tumblr, with a one-of-a-kind Jumbo "They Live" sticker! Check it out and reblog it / like it, for a chance to win! http://aplacebothwonderfulandstrange.tumblr.com/post/22327855589/featurecreature-http-www-etsy-com-listing-990

Beware The Moon!

In 1981, John Landis directed one of the best horror-comedies of all time (In my humble opinion!). It's the story of two friends, Jack and David, backpacking across Europe. After a run-in with some unsocialable locals at a pub named "The Slaughtered Lamb", Jack is killed by a werewolf on the moors, with David surviving with a light mauling. Before long, The next full moon is approaching, Jack is appearing to David as a rotting corpse, cheerfully telling him to commit suicide, and it won't be long before David turns into a werewolf. Totally the best werewolf movie ever made, if only for the amazing Rick Baker special effects, the amazing soundtrack, and the relationship between the two leads that gives the film a beating heart. Griffin Dunne deserved a great career, damn it! At least he was in "After Hours", another amazing movie. See it if you haven't, it's a classic. Check out the trailer here!

Obey! Marry and Reproduce! Consume!

This week's Feature Creature is John Carpenter's sci-fi action film, "They Live"! Here's the plot synopsis: "Nada, a down-on-his-luck construction worker, discovers a pair of special sunglasses. Wearing them, he is able to see the world as it really is: people being bombarded by media and government with messages like "Stay Asleep", "No Imagination", "Submit to Authority". Even scarier is that he is able to see that some usually normal-looking people are in fact ugly aliens in charge of the massive campaign to keep humans subdued. " It's cheesy, paranoid fun for the whole family! I've been kind of obsessed with the design of the aliens in this film recently, so i thought i'd do up a painting! Working on some cool things coming down the road in the near future, so keep an eye out. A million thanks to everyone who purchased a sticker set, i'm eternally grateful. It won't be the last of them, that's for sure. Here's the trailer!

Feature Creature Sticker Set #1!

Oh man, "Feature Creature" stickers have arrived! These were a lot of fun to produce, and i plan on doing a couple different sets if they go over well. Each sticker is about 3 inches by 3 inches on glossy sticker paper, and I'm going to put... them up on my Etsy store tomorrow afternoon. If you want a set reserved, just message me with your name on facebook, and i'll put a set on the store reserved for you. For $5.00, you'll get the following six stickers...

* Belial (from "Basketcase" 1982)
* Creep (from "Night of the Creeps" 1986)
* The Fly (from "The Fly" 1958)
* The Demon (from "Curse of the Demon" 1957)
* Cropsey (from "The Burning" 1981)
* Necronomicon (from "The Evil Dead" 1981)

Some of the most charismatic faces in obscure horror history, in sticker form! Now that's a deal!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/TrevorHendersonArt

Thanks!

"Terrifying!! All the Dark Forces of Black Magic ... Hurled Against a Man And a Woman Who Dare To Scoff!"

Dr. John Holden, in an attempt to expose cult leader Julian Karswell, is slipped a piece of paper containing a death curse! As strange occurences keep happening, John Holden becomes convinced that he is being stalked by a demon. His only chance, slip the cursed paper back to Karswell without him realizing it! And time grows short...

"Curse of the Demon" is creepy, old-school gothic horror, very much in league with the classic "The Haunting". The titular demon is seen quite early in the film, which was very much not the director's intention. The demon was supposed to be always hinted at and glimpsed, without ever showing the audience a good look at it's face. The producers of the film thought otherwise, and eventually, the demon was decided to be featured prominently in the film and poster art. I love the creature design, obviously, but i'm a huge sucker for films that can get away with hinting at the horrible. Your mind is your own worst enemy in these cases, and will scare you with what is suggested, not shown.

That said, "Curse of the Demon" is still surprisingly suspenseful for the time it was made, and the monster (realized through puppets, sound-effects, and fog) is really damn cool! Plus, it's the only monster movie referenced in a Kate Bush song (Hounds of Love), so it's got that going for it. Check it out!

Take a look at an early scene from the film here!

"The Ultimate Experience In Grueling Terror"

Do i even need to talk about "Evil Dead"? I don't need to talk about "Evil Dead". It's safe to say you've probably seen that film. For the few who haven't, the plot goes like this: Group of teens goes to a cabin in the woods. Bad things happen thanks to a demonic book called the Necronomicon Ex Mortis, the book of the dead. It's an amazing horror film, made on a below shoe-string budget, that took off and launched the careers of Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell. The Necronomicon is such a cool looking prop, i decided to focus the design of my poster on it. A version of this Necronomicon drawing is going to be part of a set of limited edition stickers down the road, with some other iconic images from some 80's horror favourites. Hope you like it!

"I'd give my life to be dead. " - Francesco Dellamorte

Probably the last great Italian horror film, "Dellamorte Dellamore" (Literally "Of Death, Of Love") plays out like a Terry Gilliam directed, existential arthouse zombie film. And it's a wonderful.

Francesco Dellamorte (Rupert Everett) is the caretaker of Buffalora cemetery, in a town in the North of Italy. He lives a peaceful life with his mute assistant Gnaghi, except for the fact that the recently buried dead rise after seven days. Francesco goes through his days, nonchalantly destroying the walking dead, until a mysterious woman enters his life.

Heavily inspired by a long-running Italian horror comic, "Dylan Dog", "Dellamorte Dellamore" is a much more faithful adaptation than the recent Brandon Routh starring "Dylan Dog" film, which i hear is dreadful. "Dellamorte Dellamore" is criminally underseen, thanks in part to an American release in only 6 screens.

I hope you like that illustration, and it inspires you to seek out this gem of a film.

Check out the trailer here!

"Something is alive in the funhouse!"

Hey guys. Returning from a long absence of Feature Creature entries, this week's entry celebrates a great monster from an alright movie, "The Funhouse". Directed by Tobe Hooper in 1981, "The Funhouse" subverts the classic slasher movie formula of teens being offed by a killer, taking it to weirder, scummier places.

A bunch of teenagers decide to hide out overnight in their local travelling carnival's funhouse, only to witness a murder and end up being stalked by the deformed son of a carnie! Everything feels slightly dirty and menacing, and the film manages a really great atmosphere, but much of the film is a little slow. The monster, though, has always stuck with me since i first saw it as a kid. Ostensibly a guy in a halloween mask, the way it's shot and lit in the film was enough to burn it into my young retinas.

I hope you like my humble tribute painting.

Here's the trailer!

"The Most Fun You'll Ever Have... BEING SCARED!"

The brainchild of a collaboration between horror legends George A. Romero and Stephen King, "Creepshow" was an 80's campy horror classic. Inspired by the infamous horror comics from the 1950's such as "Tales From The Crypt", "Haunt of Fear" and "Vault of Horror", "Creepshow" was an anthology consisting of five shocking tales of monsters and zombies, with a wrap-around story to tie it all together.

The beauty of the anthology film was that if you thought the plot or the acting stunk, you only had to wait about ten minutes, and you'd get a brand new movie. My favourite of the five stories involved a horrible wolf-monkey monster that's found in an ancient crate under the stairs of a university. Somehow, it's stayed alive without food since 1834, and eventually it's utilized to get rid of a professor's obnoxious wife.

Besides that gem, we get a villainous Leslie Nielson, two seperate stories involving the vengeful walking dead, a Stephen King starring story where he gets infected with plant life from a meteor, cockroaches by the thousands, and some wicked animation to tie everything together. If you grew up with some of those vintage horror comics like i did, you owe it to yourself to see this movie. It's just a lot of fun.

Check out the trailer here!

"If you've never seen a melt movie before.... be prepared!"

"Street Trash"! "Street Trash" is something else, man. One of the sleazier and weirder horror comedies to emerge from the 80's, "Street Trash" concerns the homeless population of New York City, and the trials and tribulations they face. Whether it's avoiding Bronson, the insane Vietnam-vet who rules over the local junkyard, or just dealing with getting their next meal, life is tough.

Unfortunately, it's made quite a bit tougher when a local liquor store clerk unearths a crate of Tenafly Viper in the walls of his establishment. He sells the stuff to the local homeless at a dollar a bottle, not realizing that one sip of the rancid booze is enough to make a man melt into a pile of technicolour ooze!

Surprisingly competent, given the subject matter, "Street Trash" is pretty damn entertaining. It's never boring, often very funny in the vein of South Park or any of the Troma films, and the melt sequences are wonderfully realized.

If you've ever wanted to see a man melt into a neon mass of screaming flesh and then flush himself down the toilet, this is the film for you.

You can check out the trailer here!

"Kill one and two take its place!"

What starts as an eerie police procedural in the New Mexico desert, turns into an impressively shot and acted creature feature. It's revealed that nuclear bomb tests in the desert have mutated ants into gigantic crawling monsters, ravenous for human blood! It's up to the local authorities, and later, the army to stop them before it's too late.

Released the year after "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms", it may not have been the first irradiated giant monster movie, but it's influences were to felt for years. The influence of "Them!" can be seen in "Aliens" and "Starship Troopers", among others. The special effects hold up today, and were in fact nominated for an academy award in 1955.

Anyway, if you haven't seen "Them!", now's a good time! It's great fun.

Check out the trailer here!

Happy New Year!

Hey guys, i hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and is ready for a new year. I, for one, am excited about what possibilities the year may hold in store. I'm eager to get back on schedule with the "Feature Creature" updates, and i hope you are all excited to see some new monster art. I really appreciate all the followers i have on both Blogspot and Tumblr, it really does mean a lot to me.

I did a painting for my all time favourite creature feature, The Thing, partly as a warm-up excercise, and partly to try out a slightly different style. I went into this illustration to see if could do a painting for a children's book retelling of John Carpenter's "The Thing". Because, why not? I had the idea that the thing has to focus REALLY hard on whatever it's imitating, otherwise it just falls apart into a mass of tentacles and limbs. Hence the thought bubble.

Anyhow, i hope you like it, and i'll see you guys soon with a new illustration.

Thanks!