David J. Howe's Blog, page 18

Review: The Santa Clarita Diet (2017)

Netflix
does it again with this quirky ten part series starring Drew Barrymore.
Barrymore plays Sheila Hammond, an every-Mom housewife living in Santa Clarita,
California. She’s married to Joel (Timothy Olyphant) and they have a somewhat
dysfunctional daughter Abby (Liv Hewson). One day, Sheila undergoes a
transformation – involving projectile vomiting a copious amount of yellow goo
... and a strange red organ-like object – into a flesh-eating zombie.  The series basically follows how her husband
and daughter cope with this, and how she herself manages to survive the rigours
of modern life while needing to chow down on corpses each day.



It’s
a comedy, and so not to be taken too seriously, and it’s also supremely
entertaining. The gore effects are strong indeed, and occasionally you could be
forgiven for thinking you’ve strayed into the gorehouses of Jigsaw or
Leatherface, but that adds to the impact. All the leads are brilliant, and play
their parts to the max. Oliphant is especially good as the husband who has to
come to terms with the fact that his wife now eats the living, and wonders
whether he will become the next meal!






Thematically
it’s similar to I Zombie, with its zombie teenager, and it has the same
likable feel to it as that show.




Really
enjoyable, some great moments, and a good setting make The Santa Clarita
Diet another winner from Netflix.

Warlord Games

This week I was lucky enough to be invited along to Warlord Games' premises and factory in Nottingham for a sneak peak at some of the Doctor Who line which they have coming up, and also to have a look at how the figures are actually created!



Warlord launched their first Doctor Who game, called Exterminate! the other week, and this is a 'Dungeons and Dragons' type skirmish game, where your imagination is the only limit, and which can be played with all their various metal miniatures as 'inspiration' pieces. There was a launch day for this as well, and I was there, watching the game being played, and seeing how it all worked.



One of the most incredible things about the metal miniatures is the amount of detail that they get into the figures. They really do look like the actors and creatures they are supposed to be. This is because each figure starts life as a little model, and for current series characters, they also have a 3D computer model of the actor, so sculpting tends to be limited to the costumes - but even there there are 3D Models available of some things, so on occasion, no human intervention is needed!





Playing Exterminate!

For these figures, they will then print a 3D model in the right scale for initial checks. This is then used to create molds and then these to create masters, everything being approved along the way. Then finally the master is used to create casting molds, and the metal is then poured into these and spun, the centrifugal force pushing the metal into the mold and creating the figures.  They are then removed from the mold and checked.  Any which are not correct are discarded and the metal reused.



If a 3D model isn't available, then one is created. But other figures start life as a hand sculpted figure, which are then cast to create a master, and then it follows the same process as before. It's involved and time consuming, and is by far the most expensive element in the process.





Mold for metal Davros figurines.

There are also plastic models, and these are outsourced for creation.



For the 'sets' - houses and bridges and vehicles - these tend to be cast in resin, and so there's a similar process, except that the master mold is in silicone, and the resin is poured into each mold to create the pieces needed.  Before this happens though, the kit needs to be broken down into moldable pieces and it is figured out where the resin will be poured in.



There's also consideration for air holes and just how the air will escape when the resin or metal is poured. There is a lot of knowhow and technical skill involved - far more than you might think!





Resin components in there molds, setting.

Out of these processes come the figures and kits ... everything you need to build vast armies of Doctor Who monsters and characters.



At the factory we also saw the packing process where the boxes are hand-packed with the right figures, all of which have passed several points of approval and inspection before they reach this point.



Warlord have a licence to produce the Doctor Who figures, and they have an impressive selection of items waiting in the wings.  On display we saw some of the items coming up ... including Ogrons, Missy and Davros ... and a set of every design of Cybermen, including an amazing Tomb set, created as a prototype for the moment, but intended for production.





Prototype Tomb of the Cybermen scenario

They would like to see more of this sort of set created in the future, building the history of Doctor Who into an all-encompassing gaming system which allows free reign in time and space, and which can take in places the Doctor has visited ...





Frazer Hines was with us, and here he
looks at something of interest ...

The painted figures are most impressive. Given that they are such a small size (25mm), the detail that the painters get into them is nothing short of mind-blowing.



Warlord have plans for a great many more figures and sets and games ...and Doctor Who provides an almost unending source of figures and ideas!  It's a perfect match!



Warlord's figures and the Exterminate! game can be purchased direct from Warlord at http://www.warlordgames.com or https://doctorwhotimevortex.com/







Here's a selection of the painted figures.  Remember that these are just 25mm tall!





Missy and Davros





Cybermen!





More Cybermen!





Even more Cybermen!





Running Cyberman!





Clockwork Droids





Clara, Strax and Madame Vastra





12th Doctor and Clara





Vashta Nerada





Zygons!





Rose and 10th Doctor





Wilf, Donna and Martha





Ogrons!





The Ghost and Mr Syn





Judoon!





And of course, a Dalek!

C is for Children

There have been many hundreds of books published on Doctor Who, and many approaches taken over the years ... but this year has seen the first pre-school Doctor Who titles made available ... one really does wonder who the target audience for this stuff is!  Personally, I think it's the adults who love the retro-kids concepts being played with!



The first book is T is for TARDIS, a pretty traditional picture book where we go through the alphabet and picture items from Doctor Who which start with that letter ... thus we kick off with A IS FOR ANGEL ... but we also have Amy pictured eating an apple, and there's also an adipose there for good luck ... I IS FOR IMPOSSIBLE and lo, we have Clara, along with an Ice Warrior ... and so on.





The imagery is basic but cute, and of course they have problems with Y where it is apparently for ALLONS-Y!!  (However there are Yeti pictured ... what about Yartek as well?) And X is for EXTERMINATE but at least we have a picture of an X-Ray as a poor chap is blasted ... but no Xeraphin?

It's a tricky one as is it for kids? In which case it doesn't really matter ... or is it for adults, in which case including other monsters would be fun ... so under W (where we have simply WARRIOR and a picture of the War Doctor, we could have had War Machine, Warrien, Weed Creature, White Robot, Wirrn, Wolf Weeds and Wood Beast ... and that's just from the Classic series ...



At £9.99 for a slim hardback, this is perhaps a step too far ...



Of far more interest are a new series of Mr Men mash-up books with Doctor Who which celebrate each Doctor, depicted in classic Mr Men style ...  There are four titles in the initial release: Dr Twelfth, Dr. Eleventh, Dr. Fourth and Dr. First and each tells a story about that Doctor, featuring some classic monsters into the bargain.

In Dr. First, the Doctor comes up against the Cybermen while being grumpy ... the Fourth Doctor escapes from a Dalek via some coincidental techniques ... the Eleventh Doctor teams up with River Song and narrowly escapes from Zygons, Silurians, Angels, snakes and a giant spider to rescue his fez ... while the Twelfth Doctor tries to stop Missy as she steals things all over the place.



The books are in the same small format as all the other Mr Men titles, and are actually really cute and diverting ...  Just the thing for bedtime stories ... And at £4.99 each are are a much cheaper proposition than the picture book ...

SciFi Weekender 8

I've not been posting quite as much here of late ... mainly because I've been busy on several projects, and with several other real-world things also taking up my time!  But with the SciFi Weekender 8 event now past, I can finally find some time to blog!



So what is SciFi Weekender?  I have been asked that on several occasions ... is it like a ComicCon people ask ... or is it like a Festival?  A little of both, but not quite like either is the correct answer. The best way to describe it is as a weekend-long party at which everyone can geek out over whatever their Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror passion is ... there's lots of partying ... live music and cabaret acts and dancing in the evenings (and sometimes during the day too) ... lots of genre guests from film and television ... artists guests from the comics ... author guests who pen the literature that people like to read ... and cosplay ... lots of cosplay ... It really is a weekend experience like no other!





Linzi Gold and Jericho Rose on the Thursday night

For me, the journey to SFW has been fascinating indeed. Sam and I started to get involved several years back now, when we were guests of the event, and since then we have helped with the author track, helped with the other guests ... and then from last year, Telos Publishing became a co-sponsor of the event, along with Chic Festivals, Area 51 and Sci-Fi London ... so we were even more involved in the organisation.



For this year, I ended up scheduling the whole event and creating the programme which was given out to everyone. This was a year's worth of effort and planning ... helping to get the guests on board, the authors, liasing with Matt from Area 51 and Jonni from Chic to pin everything down ... Matt also did the final, spectacular design of the programme booklet and the end result, after months of work, was hopefully a guide to the whole event, allowing attendees to plan their own Weekender experience.  It seems to have gone down well too, which is very gratifying.





Sam Stone interviewing Nicholas Brendon

We also arranged the author track, with top names Darren Shan, Simon Morden, Justina Robson, Freda Warrington, Steve Lockley, Paul Lewis and of course Sam Stone all appearing to talk and sign books.  We were based at 'Author Central' in the Spaceport arena, and hosted signings there. Greatest thanks to Mick, Tracey and Caitlin Herod for helping out on the stall ... Sam and I were so busy over the weekend that we were only able to make fleeting appearances there ourselves!



The only downside to the weekend was the weather! We arrived on Wednesday in torrential rain which didn't let up until Friday morning ... the place was flooded! Wet and muddy, great pools of water everywhere, and you got soaked every time you went out!  But there's not much we can do about that unfortunately!





Peter Purves and Frazer Hines



Daphne Ashbrook and Yee Jee Tso

The weekend kicked off on Thursday with a couple of introductory panels, which seemed to go well, and then in the evening, we were treated to the band Jericho Rose who performed a brilliant 45 minute set. They are Manchester based, and their lead singer is Linzi Gold, Sam's daughter, who also sung at last year's Weekender ... They also nailed two covers: 'She Sells Sanctuary' and 'I Believe In A Thing Called Love' ...



This was followed by SFW Allstars ... a different vibe before the DJ, in which Daphne Ashbrook, Sam Stone, Linzi Gold and Yee Jee Tso sung, and Frazer Hines compered (and I did a little comic shtick with Frazer). Again this seemed to be well received ... and so we collapsed off to bed (well, to the cabin and wine and brandy before bed).





Peter Purves, Linzi Gold and Frazer Hines brave

The Tombs

Friday and the first full day ... I moderated a panel in the morning with the Who Companions ... and then spent a lot of time dashing between the Spaceport and Timeport arenas for various reasons ... We did a little 'Opening the Tomb' sketch as I had arranged for the set from the Doctor who 'The Tomb of the Cybermen' to be there thanks to it's builder Sam Rendell, who had also arranged for a Cyberlegion to be present ... so I penned a couple of little sketches for Frazer, Wendy, Peter, and then Frazer, Daphne and Yee Jee to perform ...  Unfortunately Wendy Padbury was unable to attend due to sickness, so Linzi Gold stood in!



These went well I felt, with smoke and music and Cybermen emerging from the Tombs ... One attendee told me that this brought goosebumps up and threw him back to hiding behind the sofa watching it on television ...



We had a launch party for Telos' new books on the Friday with free wine ... it all went down well but I was a little disappointed at the turn out. We were launching titles by Freda Warrington, Paul Lewis, Sam Stone, and a special 'Tales from the Weekend' book of stories from all the attending authors.  Luckily sales at the table were good over the weekend, making up for the slightly small launch!  But this did mean that we had lots of wine left over to drink ourselves!



A Cyberman emerges ...



Saturday night we didn't get to see anything!  We were so tired after the day that after we had eaten we just crashed back at the cabin ...  At least this meant we got a little sleep!



And Saturday dawned bright and early ... with some much needed sunshine ... and the Cosplayers were out in force having been denied the opportunity due to the awful weather beforehand.



I managed to be late for my own panel in Starbucks!  Which amused me ... but my excuse is that I was over in the Owners Lounge for the Trooper Meet n Greet and got back late!  We had another Tomb Opening, and then there was the Just a Minute gameshow on Main Void!  Linzi Gold again stood in for Wendy Padbury, and we had a lively time with dance-offs, Joker interruptions, misunderstandings and laughter ... I hope everyone enjoyed it!



Then it was dinner and finally over to the Main Void to socialise, listening to 'The Dark Room' presentation, before Pat Sharp took to the decks to take us into the night ...



The CyberController



So exhausted and happy, I managed to not see much of anything that I wasn't directly on stage for ... I did manage to see Sam interviewing Nicholas Brendon, and the 'surprise' Buffy singalong afterwards ... It was great to very briefly catch up with Gareth Lloyd Jones, Professor Elemental, Chris Cross and Jimmy Vee, and to chat with the awesome Darren Shan and our other authors.



Unfortunately Justina Robson had a family emergency in the middle of the event and so had to excuse herself from Saturday's activities ... and we lost Phil Ford and Wendy Padbury to illness before the event started ...  But none the less we all had a great time.



I collected a lot of feedback from attendees over the course of the weekend, and this will all be fed into the mill for next time ... when, if at all possible, we want to make the Weekender even bigger and better!





LINZI GOLD/JERICHO ROSE PICTURE (C) DAVID J HOWE. OTHER PICTURES (C) AIDAN MORAN

Review: Doctor Omega's Parallel Adventures: The Silent Planet

Doctor Omega is a strange beast indeed. We've all heard of Doctor Who of course, and probably most people know that it started in 1963, having been created by a committee at the BBC ...



But in 2003, American-based French writer and researcher Jean-Marc L'Officier, 'discovered' a French science fiction novel from 1906 by Arnould Galopin called Docteur Omega. A 1940s reprint of the French book contained illustrations which showed the eponymous Doctor as bearing great resemblance to William Hartnell's portrayal of Doctor Who, and so L'Officier decided to translate the French Docteur Omega to create a novel which contained a great many references and allusions to Doctor Who (I've not read it, but reportedly it includes sonic screwdriver, time travel and a grand daughter). Really playing up the possibility that the one could have inspired the other (it didn't, it's all just coincidence).





A very 'Hartnell' look for Doctor Omega ...

This Doctor Who-ised translation was published in 2003 (available here): http://www.blackcoatpress.com/fiction-doctor-omega.html) and given a very Target book-esque cover, and heavily promoted off the back of the imaginary Doctor Who connection.



The book was followed by a newly written sequel consisting of many short stories: Doctor Omega and the Shadowmen (Available here: http://www.blackcoatpress.com/fiction-doctor-omega-and-the-shadowmen.html)



The original novel was then translated again in 2013, without adding in all the gratuitous Doctor Who references, and this is available here: http://www.lulu.com/gb/en/shop/arnould-galopin/doctor-omega/paperback/product-21150648.html





The original novel

There's also an audio of this later translation, read by John Guilor. Copies are available here (at time of writing): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Omega-Fantastic-Adventure-Mars/dp/B00M5AJBP8/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484126882&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=doctor%20omega%20advernture%20mars



To confuse things further, John Guilor was hired by the BBC to impersonate William Hartnell's voice for 2013's 'The Day of the Doctor' Doctor Who story on television, but for the reading of the original novel, he chose not to do it in Hartnell-ese.  As he explained: 'I felt that he should only sound vaguely familiar and I also thought
that people would listen to how well I was impersonating Hartnell (or not) rather than the story - and the story's great!'



Now we come to 2016, and Doctor Omega gets another life in the 'Parallel Adventures'.  I'm not quite sure what they are meant to be parallel to ... maybe Doctor Who? Or maybe it's that the 'Tuner' (which I keep disconcertingly hearing as 'Tuna') that the Doctor travels in, moves across dimensions and space in a parallel fashion ...



The first CD, The Silent Planet (perhaps after C S Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet (1938)) has been written by John Peel, a prolific and successful writer and novelist, and he has based this very much on the original text by Galopin, so there are no blatant Doctor Who-isms on show. To completely befuddle everyone though, John Guilor is back narrating it, but this time he is performing Doctor Omega as though he were played by William Hartnell playing Doctor Who.



Thus we have a curious CD, which runs for a little over 21 minutes, which sounds like a Doctor Who missing adventure if the TARDIS was called a Tuner ... And it's not at all bad. The plot is slight, but then there's only 21 minutes to play with, and it has elements of War of the Worlds about it, as well as some gadgetry and other things pertinent to the contemporary writings of Wells and Verne and so on ...



The packaging is really nice. A gatefold card cover containing the CD and a little black and white mini-comic called Galapagos Planet by Steve Andrews. Indeed the CD is raising money to help save and preserve the Galapagos Tortoise population ...



So on the surface this has nothing whatsoever to do with actual Doctor Who, and yet can be listened to as a First Doctor adventure, or as something completely different ...



Copies of the new CD will be available in the UK from Who Dares Ltd at some point soon (http://www.who-dares.co.uk/)



Here's a trailer!

Review: Howling II: Your Sister Is A Werewolf (1985)

The
Howling (1981) is one of those seminal horror films. Something so unique
and so good that it’s hard to see how it could be bettered. Gary Brandner’s
superb novel about a colony of werewolves was translated brilliantly to the
screen by Joe Dante, and with make-up effects courtesy of Rob Bottin, the final
film is just sublime. With this effort, however, you distinctly get the feeling
that it was a different film entirely, and they just slapped the Howling moniker on it to cash in on the
original … but then you realise that Brandner has a co-credit on the
screenplay, and start to wonder what on earth happened!




Howling II seems to have a few subtitles. Your Sister is a Werewolf is the one on this Arrow release, but
IMDB favours Stirba – Werewolf Bitch
which is possibly more accurate. Whatever you call it, the film is a mess from
start to end. Nominally it’s following the story of Ben White (Reb Brown),
brother of Karen White from the first film. But the shots we see of Karen are a
different actress to Dee Wallace in the original, and even the clips we see of
Karen transforming in a TV studio look totally different and are not as good as
the original. Anyway, Ben is investigating his sister’s death, and in the melee
of ideas there’s more werewolves, a Queen Werewolf called Stirba (Sybil
Danning) who wolfs-up and spends much of her screen time in bed with two other
werewolves having wolfy sex, there’s black magic, forbidden books, all sorts of
lore about killing werewolves by stabbing them in the heart with silver (mixing
up vampire lore there too), there’s dungeons and orgies, and kidnappings, and
one of the worst performances of all time from Annie McEnroe as a reporter
called Jenny, who drifts through the film being weak and hopeless as all the
carnage erupts around her.






It’s hard to know where to start
pointing out the faults – the whole film is a fault! Lots of it seems jumbled
in together with midgets being possessed and having their eyes popped out, old
women transforming into Sybil Danning, and Danning strutting around wearing a
black leather and copper swimsuit, along with overlarge chaps and shoulder pads
… It’s a camp nightmare! Even the scene where she rips open her cloak to reveal
her breasts is reportedly repeated seventeen times during the closing credits!




And striding through all this,
there’s Christopher Lee! Wandering through the madness and looking as though he’s
wishing he’d taken another film – any other film – than this one.




Basically it’s about as bad and
as crazy and as inept as any low budget eighties horrors. There are films out
there far more worthy of your time and money.




ARROW FILMS: Release Date: 14th November 2016




SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

 



Brand new digital transfer



High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations



Original Mono Audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray)



Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing





Audio commentary with director Philippe Mora



Audio commentary with composer Steve Parsons and editor Charles Bornstein



"Man, Monkey, Wolf"! - an interview with Philippe Mora



Leading Man – an interview with actor Reb Brown



Queen Of The Werewolves – an interview with actress Sybil Danning



A Monkey Phase – interviews with special make-up effects artists Steve Johnson and Scott Wheeler



Behind-the-Scenes Footage



Alternate Opening and Alternate Ending



Still Gallery



Theatrical Trailer



Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys



 







FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Michael Blyth

Review: The Initiation (1984)

Not one of the best or most
memorable of slasher films, The
Initiation comes over today as something of a pale imitation of the best of
the genre. It’s interesting that the same year it was released, Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street was also
released, and Craven’s film is superior in just about every way.




In The Initiation, Kelly (Daphne Zuniger) is plagued by bad dreams,
caused by some trauma she suffered as a child. Not to be put off, however, she
wants to become a member of her school’s sorority, and the initiation involves
breaking into her dad’s department store and stealing the clothes from the
security guard.




Of course things aren’t as simple
as that, and when you add in some escaped prisoners from a local sanatorium,
then the deaths start to add up. The main issue, from a plot perspective, is
that the killings are random. No-one who dies deserved to die – this is one of the common tropes in this genre of
film: usually if you are young, if you have sex, you die … but here there’s not
even that tenuous morality to save you. People are bumped off left and right
and the viewer is left to try and guess who the killer is …






Of course it’s a curveball at the
end which answers the question of why Kelly is having the nightmares … but
ultimately it’s not very satisfying.




ARROW VIDEO: Release Date: 7th November 2016



SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS


Brand new restoration from original film elements
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
Original Uncompressed Mono PCM audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing


Brand new audio commentary by The Hysteria Continues
Brand new interview with actor Christopher Bradley
Brand new interview with actress Joy Jones
Original Theatrical Trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Justin Osbourn








FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic James Oliver

Review: Vamp (1986)

Another eighties horror film, and
this time something which has something of a poor rep, but it’s hard to see
quite why. There’s a lot to like in Vamp.




It’s ostensibly the tale of a
couple of young men about town, Keith (Chris Makepeace) and AJ (Robert Rusler)
who, in order to pass a College initiation ceremony, have to procure a stripper
… so they head for the most jumping joint in town after procuring a ride from
Duncan (Gedde Watanabe), a rich, but lonely, loser. They end up at the place
where Queen Katrina (Grace Jones) performs, except that she’s a vampire queen
and just about all the other performers at the club are also vampires. All
except, strangely, for Amaretto (Dedee Pfeiffer), a familiar young girl who, it
turns out, once kissed Keith. AJ is killed by Katrina and becomes a vampire
himself, and Keith and Amaretto have to escape from the vampires, corrupt
police and a psycho-albino vampire … Duncan is also vampirised, and it all
comes to a head as they flee through the sewers and stumble across the
vampire’s lair …






The film is great fun, and in
common with gems such as Fright Night
(1985) and Return of the Living Dead
(1985), it doesn’t take itself too seriously. There’s some smashing make-up
effects, Grace Jones is as weird and kooky as you would expect her to be – one
distinctly gets the impression that for her stage routine, they just pointed
the camera and let her get on with it – and Dedee Pfeiffer is cute and perky
and ‘girl next door’ as anyone from Night
of the Comet (1984) or pretty much any other eighties horror flick. There
are also elements which seem to have been borrowed by From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) … and lots more besides.






It’s a film to enjoy with a few
beers, and to snuggle up with the girlfriend (or boyfriend) … as such were
these films designed to be.



SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS


High Definition digital transfer
Original mono audio
Subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
One of those Nights: The Making of Vamp - a brand new documentary featuring interviews with director Richard Wenk, stars Robert Rusler, Dedee Pfeiffer, Gedde Watanabe
Behind-the-scenes rehearsals
Blooper Reel
Image gallery
Dracula Bites the Big Apple (1979) – Richard Wenk’s celebrated short film
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by the Twins of Evil




First pressing only: Booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic Cullen Gallagher

Review: The Guyver (1991)

The Guyver is a film which somehow passed me by! It's also quite hard to categorise, being a sort of superhero movie, where the hero is as mutated and twisted as the bad guys ... oh, and they all look like monsters ...



Based on original Manga and Anime, the film has an immediate feel-good credential as the amazing FX artist Screaming Mad George is involved as both FX and co-director ... and it's a good call as the film relies on various mind-blowing transformations and monsters for its impact.



The idea is simple: as an opening sequence of text tells us: there are alien monsters among us, who can disguise themselves as humans ... and the only thing that can defeat them is a human using a transformation device called a Guyver. So enter Sean (Jack Armstrong), who stumbles upon the Guyver device after it is smuggled out of the Chronos Corporation HQ. It changes him into this amazing super weapon ... and from that point it's fights and chases and action as the alien monsters all want to get their hands on it!





To be honest, it's pretty much exactly the same as watching Power Rangers only slightly more for adults. The monsters all look like creations from that show, or perhaps early Lost in Space and have the same habit of throwing dialogue and quips in all the time as they fight. It's certainly not to be taken seriously!



When Mark Hamill (yes, him off of Star Wars) turns up and ends up being transformed into some giant beetle thing, you know it's not going to end well!  And the final battles against a giant monster (which is what the CEO of Chronos turns into) is likewise great fun.





And that really sums up the film ... it is great fun! Linnea Quigley (off of Return of the Living Dead) appears as a 'scream queen' when one of the monsters invades a film set on which she is working, and Michael Berryman (off of The Hills Have Eyes) plays Lisker, the lead monster creature ... Even Jeffrey Combs (off of Reanimator) makes an appearance as 'Dr East', playing off his popular role as Dr West in the Lovecraft films ...



There are fights galore, transformations aplenty, gloopy monsters in vats, enough bodily fluid to keep David Cronenberg happy for months, and a crazy plot which just about holds everything together. It's a great film in its own way, and a good way to spend an evening with friends and beer ...



ARROW FILMS: Release Date: 19th December 2016




SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

    



Brand new digital transfer of the Director’s Cut



High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations



Original uncompressed audio



Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing



Brand new interview with producer Brian Yuzna



Trailer



Image Gallery



Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Nick Percival



 



FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Fully-illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film

Review: Slugs (1988)

Slugs
is a gloriously rubbish slice of eighties hokum. If you like your horror films
silly and illogical with lots of blood and gore, then this is for you!
Nominally based on the novel of the same name by Shaun Hutson, the film
actually seems to have nothing in common with it except the title … oh, and the
slugs of course.




We open with a couple on a rowing
boat, and there’s a disturbance in the water. The chap fishing has one foot
dangling overboard, and the girl is about to take her top off … you know what’s
going to happen! Somehow the slugs grab the chap’s foot and drag him under
where there’s an explosion of blood! Then we’re in America where slugs have
gone carnivorous and are attacking people – speeded up! A man in a greenhouse
puts on a glove into which a slug has gone, and then screams and cannot get the
glove off! Mighty strong these things. The solution: to thrash around screaming
before grabbing an axe and cutting his own hand off! Then another woman
prepares dinner, not noticing the large black slug in her lettuce as she chops
it up. It’s then eaten with neither of the diners noticing the slug – or
tasting it … Then the man collapses in a restaurant later on and his face
explodes as slug larvae burst out of him! It’s all crazy daft stuff, with the
police not noticing the slugs or their trails, and these creatures popping up
all over the place and eating people!






It all ends in the sewers as Our
Heroes don yellow outfits and descend to try and find the source. What’s
interesting is that an earlier scene suggested there were giant slugs but we
never see any sign of them … But the solution seems to be to spray them with a
mixture of lithium and arsenic which a local school science master has in
industrial quantities! Madness. Of course all the sewers explode, as do several
houses for no reason … but a slug survives …






It’s a crazy mad bad film, but
it’s actually well made, and for the most part well acted (there’s a couple of
phone-them-in performances). The Arrow disk contains some nice extras including
an interview with the effects guy and some photos of the impressible model
shots that were undertaken. Even the supremely silly shot of a slug rearing up
and biting someone’s finger was fascinating – done with enlarged models: a
giant slug and a giant finger! Although silly, it does work well!



If you’ve a passion for the best of the worst of
eighties horror, then this is certainly one to add to your shopping list!



ARROW FILMS: Release Date: 26th September 2016






SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS







Brand new restoration from original film elements



High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation



Original Uncompressed PCM Stereo audio



Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing



Audio commentary with Slugs author Shaun Hutson



Audio commentary by writer and filmmaker Chris Alexander



Here’s Slugs In Your Eye – an interview with actor Emilio Linder



They Slime, They Ooze, They Kill: The Effects of Slugs – an interview with special effects artist Carlo De Marchis



Invasion USA – an interview with art director Gonzalo Gonzalo



The Lyons Den – an interview and locations tour with production manager Larry Ann Evans



1988 Goya Awards promo reel



Original Theatrical Trailer



Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Wes Benscoter


Fully-illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by writer Michael Gingold