Tuesday, January 24, 2012

"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!

Friday, January 13, 2012

"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!

Friday, January 6, 2012

"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!

Monday, January 2, 2012

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!