Vampire Bela Lugosi

Sasha Stone –  Santa Monica Mirror  

What is it with bloodsuckers lately?  They’re everywhere – hot, sexy and in demand.  The Twilight series is as popular as it’s ever been. The Twi-heads (fans) showed up in such high numbers at the recent Comic-Con that it threatened to bring down the whole thing.  The passion for the lead vampire, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) continues to grow daily. 

HBO has True Blood, which also features a brooding, reluctant vampire lead, Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) and is slightly more explicit than Twilight.  Somewhere in the middle of these two is BBC America’s new series Being Human.  It isn’t as saucy as True Blood, but it isn’t as tame and maudlin as the Twilight films, which is probably a good thing all the way around.

Being Human centers on three “monsters” who are just trying to cope with daily life: a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost.  It hardly sounds like this could be shaped into a really good show but it has been, thanks in large part to the writers who deliver laugh-out-loud jokes amid the horror.  And it’s due to the seriousness of their individual predicaments – the ghost is in love with her ex-fiance after her sudden death.  The vampire can’t really date women because eventually he’ll need to feed on them.  The werewolf feels and acts the most human but every once in a while he must transform.

Finally, the success of Being Human lies with the talented actors who never stop believing who they are, thus, we don’t really stop believing either.  At some point, their alternate forms become not unlike our own manifestations.  We’re not in the supernatural realm but we know loneliness.  Annie (Lenora Crichlow) plays the ghost who can’t stop making tea (even though she can’t drink it) because it makes her feel human.  George, (Russell Tovey), the werewolf who can’t bear his new life, works at the hospital with Mitchell (Aidan Turner), the vampire du jour.

The pattern of the vampires stories lately seems to be that there are good ones and bad ones.  In Being Human, the three characters who live together are still stuck on the good side of things.  They are constantly being threatened by the bad ones to come to the dark side. 

In the latest episode, Annie has figured out how that while some humans can see her, some can’t, most notably her ex-fiance.  She can’t yet let go because she feels the way she did the day she died.  He, of course, has now moved on with a new girlfriend.  Annie keeps bringing him back.  This is how a true haunting is born.

 There is a rivalry between Mitchell and George where women are concerned.  Mitchell is the cute one, but he’s also the more dangerous one.  The trouble with vampires is that they’re very hard to resist.  This is true of all of our popular vampires of late.  Women can’t say no to a little friendly nibble.  The more they love their women the less likely they are to bite.

Alison Flood – guardian.co.uk

Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison are starring as zombies and Ringo Starr as a ninja in the latest addition to the publishing’s hottest, and oddest, new craze: the monster mash-up.

Alan Goldsher’s Paul is Undead: The British Zombie Invasion has been snapped by US publisher Pocket Books for publication in June next year, following in the footsteps of the surprise hit Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which was published this spring, and the forthcoming Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter and I Am Scrooge: A Zombie Story for Christmas, all out this autumn.

Goldsher’s story starts in a Liverpool maternity ward in 1940, as a newborn Lennon is bitten by a zombie and doomed to wander the Earth for eternity. When he meets McCartney in 1957 he “bites off Paul’s ear and sucks out his mate’s grey matter, after which he spits a healthy amount of his own brain into Paul’s carotid artery – and thus is born the greatest songwriting team in rock history,” according to Goldsher’s version of the encounter.

Harrison is quickly zombified, and “seventh level Ninja Lord Ringo Starr” is then welcomed into the fold. The Beatles enslave “hundreds of lusty teenage girls”, invade the US where they mind-meld millions, releasing albums with hidden messages such as “Please please me by biting your young”, “Dear sir or madam, won’t you eat your neighbour”, and “All you need is eternal life”.

Their world begins to crumble when Lennon starts to date eighth level Ninja Lord Yoko Ono, and a band called the Zombies – whose members, Goldsher says, are not actually zombies – seeks revenge.

For those who are less than enamoured of the new trend, however, there is some relief: Goldsher’s literary agent, Jason Ashlock, is unconvinced of its staying power, telling the New York Observer that “this monster mash-up craze can only last so long”. “We chose this idea because it was inventive enough with the Beatles element

that it could outlast what might not be a long-lasting trend,” he said. “We were trying to think of something that wouldn’t just be cool next year, but would continue to sell as an interesting item for many years to come.”

We haven’t heard anything solid about a “Thundercats” movie since Tyrese Gibson said that he might be involved with it over a year ago. It was supposed to be directed by video game veteran Jerry O’Flaherty, but there has obviously been no movement.

Movieline has now obtained several pieces of concept art created by O’Flaherty for the movie. The pictures feature shots of Lion-O, The Pyramid, Third Earth, and Mutant Attack.

“Thundercats” revolves around a group of humanoid cats who must flee the planet of Thundera, which is destroyed. Once crash-landing on another planet, Third Earth, they must thwart Mumm-Ra, an evil sorcerer bent on killing them off.

Directed by
  Jerry O’Flaherty

 Writer
  Paul Sopocy

 Producers
  Lew Korman … producer
  Palak Patel … production executive
  Richard Robertson … executive producer
  Paula Weinstein … producer

 Visual Effects Department
  Lyndon Barrois… animation director: Digital Domain
  Jim Hillin … look development technical director: Digital Domain
  Greg Maguire … creature technical director: zoogloo
  Kyle Mulqueen … digital artist

 Animation Department
  Lyndon Barrois … animation director: Digital Domain

Source(s) MovieLine,WorstPreviews

MagicalMountain.net

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – How do you carve out a niche as the principal Disney sculptor when you’re following a bona fide Disney Legend?  For Valerie Edwards, director of sculpting for Walt Disney Imagineering, the passing of the tools from the fabled hands of Blaine Gibson has involved the challenge of sculpting the likeness of President Barack Obama.
          
Edwards’ sculpting is for the Hall of Presidents attraction at Walt Disney World Resort.  The vintage attraction in the Liberty Square section of Magic Kingdom features Audio-Animatronics likenesses of all the United States presidents.  All previous “heads of state” were sculpted by Gibson, now 91 years old.
          
As Gibson was sculpting the bust of George W. Bush following his election in 2000, he “hinted at the possibility” his role might pass to his protégée, Edwards, when the next president came to office.  He’d been mentoring her for a dozen years and recognized the talent of the second-generation Disney artist.  Now a 21-year Disney veteran, Valerie is the daughter of Disney animator George Edwards, who worked on projects such as the classic film “Sleeping Beauty.”

Hall of Presidents attraction at Walt Disney World Resort

As for Valerie: She had a couple of very familiar “portraits” on her resume when she got the call to create the Obama bust.  She wielded the sculpting tools behind the uncanny
Audio-Animatronics figures of Captain Jack Sparrow and his feature-film nemesis, Barbossa, at the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction in Magic Kingdom.

Of her latest project, she comments, “It was a great challenge and, certainly for me, it was time to put my best foot forward.  After all, Blaine is a tough act to follow.

“There are techniques and tools that I learned to embrace from him and add to my repertoire,” Edwards continues. “For this kind of work, it’s not only sculpture as fine art, but sculpture as a mechanical art as well – because of all the internal mechanisms built into the figures. Blaine was the guy who developed this type of sculpture, and he had – and still has – so much to share.”

With Gibson providing oversight, Edwards’ hands were firmly on the tools for this latest “head of state.”  Here are some facts and insights about the project …

The Wonder of the Reducing Glass – A tool that functions like a magnifying glass – except in the opposite way – can be valuable to the sculptor: “It takes big things and makes them small,” Edwards says. “Using it, you change the scale of your work to see it as it will appear to the guest.  By changing your distance from your work, you also can match the scale of the reference you’re using. It’s such a valuable asset.”
 
Internet Research – To gather much of the physical information she needed to begin her Obama sculpture, Edwards pored over Internet photographs from the campaign that showed the candidate from many angles – from the back, the side and all views of his head. “On the Internet you can see so much and select what’s actually useful for detail, because what we’re creating has to be as realistic as possible.”
 
Art, Math and Science Converge – It helps that Edwards has a background in science as well as art. “Naturally, there is anatomy involved, but also math.  Because so many parts of his face are moving mechanically, you have to be vigilant about diameters and circumferences. The calibration all had to be done through photos and scientific references for musculature.”
 
From a Block of Clay – Edwards employed traditional sculpting methods to begin the Obama sculpture. “It’s about finding a pleasant overall look in the facial composition and paying attention to his speech patterns, the muscles that work his face and his expressions both at rest and during speaking. Once it’s done, there are a lot of progressive meetings to meet criteria of other groups that handle the figure and create the movement.”
 
Fine Tuning – Living up to audience expectations was “daunting,” Edwards says.  “Certainly this is a figure of a person everybody is acquainted with – they see him on the television and in media constantly. We had an expert anatomist look at it to make sure it was structurally sound and to guide us mechanically. We’re always working to find new materials and techniques that will deliver a more realistic figure – it’s a constant search for new materials and technology.”
 
Movement, Hair and Makeup – Once the presidential figure passes from Edwards’ hands to Audio-Animatronics programmers, myriad functions are keyed into the figure’s mechanical substructures for the mouth, eyes and every “perfectly synced facial movement,” she says. As the figure is completed, artists work on the finishing facial touches and hairpiece. Edwards checked on the figure while in the manufacturing phase “to make sure the external package was not compromised.”
 
Obama Delivers – Imagineers agree that the Audio-Animatronics Barack Obama is the most dynamic presidential addition – ever – thanks to new materials and refined technology. When the Obama figure begins to deliver the presidential oath of office on the Hall of Presidents stage, the array of subtle movements and facial expressions are convincing. And the words spoken by the president – including the oath of office and Obama’s thoughts on “the American dream” – are his own, recorded soon after his inauguration in the White House Map Room.

Get the How To book here!

   

Unfortunately, “Defying Gravity” will have to be listed as one of its well-intentioned mistakes, another of the many peculiar oddities churned out by broadcast and cable every year, every week, every moment of our earthbound little lives. While “Defying Gravity” might be a good title for a sitcom set in outer space, the gravity being defied here is of a more sober, serious, scientific sort.

At least the series makes an attempt to correct the estimates of space breakthroughs projected in 1968 by Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Kubrick and writer Arthur C. Clarke foresaw humans larking about the universe willy-nilly no later than the turn of the century. And there was that big spooky mission to “Jupiter . . . and beyond,” remember? Zero-gravity toilets had been invented but somehow communism had survived.

It isn’t made terribly clear, at least not in the first episode, what kind of planet Earth has become by the time “Defying Gravity” occurs. In fact, it isn’t clear what time “Defying Gravity” does occur. As the series begins, we don’t know when it is, but soon there’s a caption on the screen that says “2042 — 10 Years Earlier — Mars.” Ten years earlier than what? Never mind, because by the next commercial break it’s “5 Years Earlier” than 10 Years Earlier. It begins to seem like a game. Or a twist on that backward episode of “Seinfeld” when the mission’s destination was merely India.

Space travel can’t be all that common by 2042 or even 2052, because the crew of the big ship spend a lot of time talking about it. “Space travel is a fool’s game,” someone says, twice, followed by a meditation on how much water is being toted around in your typical human body (we’re 60 percent water, a scientist says). “Being an astronaut is all about control,” one space ranger philosophizes.

“Man belongs in space,” another crew member pipes up. “We’re resilient; we can adapt,” says somebody else or maybe the same one. “I’ve never felt more alive or more human,” says an astronaut as the crew settles down for a long trip to Venus that is also apparently going to be a six-year “grand tour of the solar system.”

It’s all terribly confusing, but then quite a bit of sci-fi gets by on passing off the terribly confusing as profoundly mysterious.

The unfortunate truth of this mission is that you’re going to need a whole lot of patience to get through even the first hour of it. Things do seem to be happening: One crew member’s vasectomy is reversing on its own (“bit of a sticky wicket,” as the British used to say); two potential crew members must report for physicals when large amounts of “calcified plaque” turn up inside them; one astronaut has to improvise an EVA (that’s extra-vehicular activity, as those of us who remember the ’60s will know) to save the ship, and an astronaut says she got pregnant from a one-night stand, but just how long are the nights out there in Spaceville?

Some of the special effects are beautiful and seem lavish for television, but as the movies of the past couple decades have shown, jim-dandy special effects can take you only so far, and now that TV shows are as special-effected as commercials have been almost since TV began, audiences have every reason to be jaded about them. The story has to be strong, and “Defying Gravity’s” isn’t.

There are no monsters, at least on the premiere, and that’s disappointing. Then again, considering all the sex talk, there might be some of those “monsters from the id” that Professor Morbius talked about in “Forbidden Planet.” That was the big, wide, scary one from MGM that gave us Robby the Robot — way back in 1956. “Defying Gravity” takes us not back to the future so much as forward to the past, and it takes its old sweet time about it, too.

Mark Gorelord – GoreMaster.com News

Here’s the story: “Trapped in a room with only one door and no windows. Their cell phones do not work and no one outside of the building can hear their calls for help. The group of seven people is under siege as the shape shifting creature tries to seep inside. They are picked off one by one until it is obvious that they cannot out wait this predator. A plan is hatched to retrieve the case that the creature came in to see if it holds any clue to control it or destroy it. When they finally do get the case, the creature breaks through the room’s barriers and they have to run a macabre gauntlet through the building to the outside world.”

‘Bio Slime’ stars Vinnie Bilancio, Victoria De Mare, Ronnie Lewis, Kelli Kaye, Gia Paloma, Magic J. Ellingson, Micol Bartolucci, Al Burke and Monique La Barr.

Makeup and Effects Crew:

Daniela Richardson … key makeup artist

Al Burke … weapons
Tom Devlin … special effects makeup
Magic J. Ellingson … grip: special effects department

John Karyus … special effects assistant

Special Effects by 1313 FX

Lee Perkins, a supporting cast member of “Live Evil” and star of “Katie Bird,” has taken some time to answer questions for fans on his experience with shooting on “Slime City Massacre.” Lee talks of working with Brooke Lewis, other projects, and how his character fits into the story of Slime City. Have a look at the full interview, with Lee, above.

Horror film Slime City Massacre will be released in March of 2010.

Here’s the story: In the wake of a “dirty bomb” attack, a New York City neighborhood known as “Slime City” has been evacuated, except for the homeless (“displaced refugees”). Four squatters searching for food in the ruins of the Zachary Devon Soup Kitchen discover a supply of mysterious wine. When they drink the wine, they are transformed into hideous slime creatures driven to murder – an intermediate step as they are possessed by the spirits of cultists who committed suicide years earlier.

‘Slime City Massacre’  Special Effects Department
  Rod Durick … special effects makeup
  Andrew Lavin … special effects makeup
  Craig Lindberg … special effects makeup
  Matt Patterson … special effects assistant
  John Renna … special effects crew
  R.J. Sevin … special effects
  Arick Szymecki … special effects

From esplatter.com

July 25, 2009 Before he enjoyed mainstream commercial success directing Clive Barker’s “Candyman,” Bernard Rose helmed this amazing 1988 dream-horror film that wowed critics who called it a thinking person’s “Nightmare on Elm Street.”

Charlotte Burke plays an overly imaginative 11-year-old British girl who, during an illness, falls deep into a fantasy world where she hooks up with a crippled boy (Elliott Spiers) that she’s never met before. She also has disturbing and frightening visions of her father (Ben Cross) and a dark, foreboding country house. The dreams become more and more frightening as the film goes on, in a film that is in many ways better than the more commercial “Candyman.”

While it mainly stars children, “Paperhouse” is intended strictly for adults and even features some terrifying make-up effects. Perhaps the fact that “Paperhouse” is a difficult film to pigeonhole — is it a horror film, a fantasy film, an art film? — that has made it a title that its makers have decided to no longer market in the United States. Or perhaps it’s hung up in a rights dispute. Who knows. The only thing we can be sure of it is that it’s unavailable.

The film hit VHS in the U.S. in 1990 and never saw another release. Considering what a good film it is, it’s ard to believe it never made its way to DVD — but it never did and there’s no sign whatsoever of any kind of release. In addition, child actress Charlottte Burke never went on to appear in anything else.

The film was based on the novel “Marianne Dreams” by Catherine Storr — also out of print.

Make Up Department
  Sarah Grundy … hair stylist
  Jenny Shircore… makeup chief
Special Effects Department
  Steve Crawley … wire effects
  Alexander Gunn … special effects technician
  Bob Harman … wire effects
  Alan Whibley … special effects supervisor

The longest running science fiction series in television history, “Doctor Who,” is a beloved pop culture icon in its native U.K.   Among U.S. viewers, however, coming out as a Whovian used to be a bit risky. Self-identified geeks once considered the classic series to be a little too geeky even for them.

BBC America, Russell T. Davies and David Tennant changed all that  over the past few years  — Tennant, especially. For three seasons the gregarious actor portrayed The Doctor with a combination of goofiness and gravitas, making him charismatic, sexy and at times even sinister. We believed it when centuries-old Doctor’s companions fell for him because, after all,  we had too. Tennant and Davies’ recent Comic-Con appearance drove the fans into a frenzy.

That’s why the news that Tennant’s run on “Doctor Who” would be coming to an end made our hearts ache a little.  The journey for his incarnation of  The Doctor is already in the process of ending. “Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead” had its BBC America premiere last Sunday. The next special, “The Waters of Mars,” arrives in the fall and enlists a new companion named Adelaide (Lindsay Duncan, familiar to “Rome” fans as Servilia of the Junii).  Tennant’s final special arrives at what would otherwise be the most wonderful time of the year, Christmas. Davies confirmed that it’s called “The End of Time,” and it will be at least an hour and a half, maybe more, with commercials.

The decision to leave wasn’t easy for Tennant but, as he explained to critics on Wednesday,  “I like the fact that I stand a chance of leaving an audience and myself wanting more rather than people asking when I’ve leaving.”

For the record, Davies announced he’d be handing the reins off to Steven Moffat in May 2008, before Tennant decided it was time for him to go — he hit us with that news last October.

The actor described the feeling of abandoning the role that brought him such love and acclaim in both the U.K. and the states as both very exciting, and very sad.  “It’s thrilling to be handing over the show in such good health, actually…we’ve all come on this journey together, and it feels like we’re coming to the end of something very special.”

As do we.

***Warning: Slight spoilers lie ahead.***               

Davies explains the arc for Tennant’s final four specials in a note on BBC America’s site:  “The mysterious Ood have told him that his song is ending soon; something deadly is waiting on Mars; Donna’s grandfather, Wilf, is experiencing strange visions; and a powerful psychic warns the Doctor that “He will knock four times…”  The end is coming.  But will the Doctor, and the human race, survive?”

Understandably, this Doctor isn’t ready for his number to be up. “I think this Doctor likes being this Doctor,” Tennant explained. “And I think he’s raging against the dying of the light…He knows the sands of time are running out. He’s been told. And the bell is tolling for him, and he doesn’t want to go quietly.”

Up next for Tennant is a television version of “Hamlet.”  He’s also in the midst of shooting a film called “St. Trinians 2.”

The next Doctor, 26-year-old Matt Smith, is a relative newcomer and the youngest of all the actors to play the last Time Lord. Karen Gillan was recently unveiled as his new companion.  The first of their adventures will premiere in spring 2010.

Source(s) – IMDB