By Paul Chapman – The Telegraph

 A multibillion-dollar railway tunnel project in Auckland, New Zealand’s biggest city, is at risk after Maori protested it will plough through the realm of an ancient swamp monster

Auckland’s council regards the NZ$2.6 billion (£1.3 billion) cross-city rail link as vital to solving problems with traffic gridlock, and the city’s mayor has staked his political future on getting it built.

But the area’s Ngati Whatua tribe say the monster, known as a taniwha (pronounced tani-fa), lives in a centuries-old stream that now flows underground through concrete pipes, beneath which the new rail tunnel will burrow.

Glenn Wilcox, a member of the Maori Statutory Board, a watchdog for Maori interests, stunned councillors when he asked them at a meeting what was being done to protect the taniwha, named Horotiu.

He complained that no one from his iwi, or tribe, had been consulted about the taniwha, which he said “was here first”.

Taniwha, often depicted as dragon-like creatures, play a powerful part in Maori folklore, using their supernatural powers both to protect the local tribe and to become fearsome opponents if aroused to anger.

“As kaitiaki, or guardians, they protect people, but they also get up and bite you if they do not like what you are doing,” Mr Wilcox said.

Cameron Brewer, a city councillor, accused Mr Wilcox of “letting off the T-Bomb” by raising the prospect of a taniwha being in the way of the prestigious project.

Len Brown, the mayor, insisted: “I am satisfied that appropriate consultation with iwi on the proposal has occurred since it was first raised, and will continue to occur.”

Councillors will be chastened by a precedent set in 2002, when construction of a stretch of road between Auckland and Hamilton was halted after protesters complained that it was cutting through the domain of a revered one-eye taniwha.

Local Maori attributed a high number of road deaths in the area to the taniwha being angry.

Ranginui Walker, a respected Maori academic, said at the time: “You have to placate local demons, deities, taniwha. Don’t tempt fate.”

The government’s road building agency was forced to divert its new Waikato Expressway around the controversial area at extra expense.

by Mike Ryan – Yahoo Movies

“Star Wars,” which came out in 1977, gets a lot of the credit for shaping the box-office blockbuster landscape that still defines the summer movie season. But 1975′s “Jaws” — which celebrates the 35th anniversary of its release this week — completely changed what a summer film is supposed to represent… for better or for worse. It goes without saying that “Jaws” is great film, but its greatness, in the long run, may be far less important than its influence.

“Jaws” is considered the first “event film.” A film so huge, that, without seeing it, a human being is subject to joining the scrap-heap of popular culture. A lot of films try to be “event films” — for instance, this season’s “The A-Team” and “Robin Hood.” They were not event films. “Toy Story 3″ is an event film; “Avatar” is most definitely an event film. Why did “Avatar” do so well at the box office? Because no one wanted to be the only person alive that had not seen “Avatar.”

How do we know “Jaws” was the first event film? It’s interesting to note the films that topped the box office in the seven years prior to “Jaws’” 1975 release:

1968: “Funny Girl”
1969: “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”
1970: “Love Story”
1971: “Billy Jack”
1972:”The Godfather”
1973: “The Exorcist”
1974: “Blazing Saddles”

No doubt, some of the greatest films of all time are on that list. But what’s missing is the consistency of the event film. No disrespect to Barbara Streisand, but in no way could a film like “Funny Girl” (again, for better or for worse) be the biggest box-office draw today. It should also be noted that the biggest box-office draw of 1974, “Blazing Saddles,” grossed $119.5 million in the U.S. The next year, “Jaws” more than doubled that take by grossing $260 million to become, at the time, the highest-grossing film of all time (until “Star Wars” came along two years later).

Now, take a look at the highest-grossing films in the seven years after the release of “Jaws”:

1976: “Rocky”
1977: “Star Wars”
1978: “Grease”
1979: “Kramer vs. Kramer”
1980: “The Empire Strikes Back”
1981: “Raiders of the Lost Ark”
1982: “E.T.: the Extra-Terrestrial”
1983: “Return of the Jedi”

This is a seismic shift from what we had seen before. Of those seven years, only the eventual Best Picture winner, 1979′s “Kramer vs. Kramer,” doesn’t qualify as an event film. Number two that year? “Star Trek, The Motion Picture.” And if it weren’t for two “Star Wars” films, “Smokey and the Bandit” and “Smokey and the Bandit Part II” would be on this list, too.

Read the rest of Mike Ryans great article HERE

by Liana Maeby – Yahoo Movie News

The star of “Jaws” has been found resting in a Los Angeles junkyard.

No, not Richard Dreyfuss — the shark! With the 35th anniversary of Steven Spielberg’s classic blockbuster just around the corner, an NPR reporter set out to track down the mechanical beast that struck fear into the hearts of so many.

In order to maximize their control over the creature, the “Jaws” filmmakers built three sharks for their 1975 movie. All created from the same mold, the sharks were dubbed “Bruce” after Spielberg’s lawyer, Bruce Ramer. The gigantic metal creatures were 25-feet long and weighed hundreds of pounds. The heads alone came in at 400 lbs. apiece, with jaws the size of a small human.

Bruce the Shark from Jaws

When reporter and “Jaws”-enthusiast Cory Turner set out to track down Bruce’s whereabouts, he went straight to the source — the movie’s director. A spokesman for Steven Spielberg explained that the original Bruces had all been destroyed, as no one had thought to save them.

But theories circulated on a Facebook page for the famous shark that another Bruce might be out there. After a little research, Turner discovered that a fourth shark had indeed been cast from the original mold, just months after its brothers were constructed. The baby of the Bruce family was created for display at Universal Studios Theme Park, where it hung by its tail for fifteen years.

In 1990, the shark was taken down and shipped out to destinations unknown. Turner picked up the phone and started dialing junkyards. He finally found the creature in a yard in the Sun Valley area of Southern California — just minutes away from Universal. Turner brought the team who built Bruce — art department members Joe Alves and Roy Arbogast to verify the shark’s authenticity.

“It’s the real one,” Arbogast told Turner after examining the creature. “It’s just kinda’ nice to see it again after 25 or 30 years. It’s amazing that it’s still here.”

Bruce’s discovery couldn’t come at a better time. There’s talk that Universal might be considering a 3D “Jaws” remake — with comedian Tracy Morgan in the shark-hunter role. Perhaps Bruce will find his way onto the silver screen once again.

"Willatuk: The Legend of Seattle's Sea Serpent"

By Sandi Doughton – Seattle Times

Of the 150 films and shorts in Seattle’s True Independent Film Festival (STIFF), only one features a creature from the depths of Lake Washington.

Which is not to imply that “Willatuk: The Legend of Seattle’s Sea Serpent,” hasn’t earned its STIFFY award for “best movie monster.”

After all, the wily Willatuk is able to cruise between the lake and Puget Sound via a secret tunnel. Match that, Godzilla.

And Willatuk is a hometown boy which gives him an edge at STIFF. Conceived in 2005 by local filmmakers, the festival is an alternative to the behemoth Seattle International Film Festival, which it audaciously overlaps. “We tend to show stuff that’s a little edgier, maybe a little more rough around the edges,” said managing director Clint Berquist. The festival runs at multiple venues from June 4-13. A third of this year’s offerings are from local directors.

They include “The Lobster and the Liver: The Unique World of Jim Woodring,” about the surrealistic Seattle cartoonist. Berquist’s own “Seattle Komedy Dokumentary” chronicles the city’s thriving stand-up scene in 2007.

The story of Willatuk grew out of Seattle director Oliver Tuthill Jr.‘s twin fascinations with the Loch Ness monster and its ilk, and Native American culture and history. The Northwest has its own sea-monster legends, with supposed sightings from the coast of British Columbia to the San Juan Islands.

Details on Seattle’s True Independent Film Festival HERE

Read the rest of Sandi Doughtons’ great article HERE!

The package claims the meat is aged to dead perfection in the Haunted Graveyards of Japan. And it’s juicy!  So far it’s only available in Japan. At last, Humans can now eat zombies!

mmmmm....Zombie Meat!

by Mike Fleming – Deadline.com

In the latest example of Hollywood alchemy that mixes real historical figures with flesh-eating zombies, Double Feature partners Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher have optioned Paul Is Undead, an Alan Goldsher novel that re-imagines the history of  The Beatles–with John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr re-cast as zombies.

Written as oral history, the book details how Lennon, a zombie guitarist in Liverpool, kills and reanimates McCartney, then does the same with Harrison and Starr. They create hits and bloody mayhem across the world, pursued by England’s greatest zombie hunter, Mick Jagger. They also engage in a battle with Eighth Level Ninja Lord Yoko Ono, and snack on the brains of swooning fans.

 ”I am a huge Beatle’s fan like the rest of the world and Alan’s mash up, which really showcases his love of music history and his appreciation of the zombie world, is a fun, funny read,” said Sher, who with Shamberg have teamed on more serious films ranging from Pulp Fiction to Get Shorty, Erin Brockovich and the upcoming Steven Soderbergh-directed Contagion, a film that stars Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law and Kate Winslet. “The illustrations are fantastic, and how can you not love a book where Jesus agrees with Zombie John Lennon, that the Beatles are in fact bigger than him. We will be going out to studios, financiers, and talent soon.”

While Beatles purists might be tempted to belt out a chorus of blasphemy, zombies are hot. Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov are working together on an adaptation of the Seth Grahame-Smith novel Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, and Lionsgate and Natalie Portman are adapting Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, a film David O. Russell is circling as director.

Civil War vet John Carter is transplanted to Mars, where he discovers a lush, wildly diverse planet whose main inhabitants are 12-foot tall green barbarians. Finding himself a prisoner of these creatures, he escapes, only to encounter Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, who is in desperate need of a savior.

Taylor Kitsch plays John Carter

Release scheduled for 2012. Directed by Andrew Stanton. Novel and characters by Edgar Rice Burroughs
 Cast
Taylor Kitsch … John Carter
Mark Strong … Matai Shang
Lynn Collins … Dejah Thoris
Willem Dafoe … Tars Tarkas
Dominic West … Sab Than
Also starring Ciarán Hinds, Bryan Cranston, Polly Walker, James Purefoy, Thomas Haden Church, Samantha Morton, Daryl Sabara as Edgar Rice Burroughs

Trivia
•           In 2004 – when the project was still known as “A Princess of Mars” after the book on which it’s based – Robert Rodriguez had originally been signed and announced as director and had begun pre-production early that year (it would have been his largest project to date with starting budget reported at $100 million). Rodriguez’ most notable contribution was to hire fantasy painter Frank Frazetta (whose most acclaimed works have included striking illustrations of Edgar Rice Burroughs novels, most notably the “John Carter on Mars” books) as production designer on the film. However, when Rodriguez resigned from the Directors’ Guild of America (DGA) the same year (due to a dispute over his film Sin City), Paramount was forced to replace him. The studio has a long-standing arrangement with the DGA in which only the organization’s members may direct Paramount films. He was replaced with director Kerry Conran, who had just finished Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. In 2005, Conran left the project and was replaced by Jon Favreau just before the release of Favreau’s movie Zathura: A Space Adventure.

•           “A Princess of Mars” was originally published as “Under the Moons of Mars” by Norman Bean (Edgar Rice Burroughs’ pseudonym) in The All-Story (six pulp magazine issues February – July, 1912). Burroughs was originally afraid that he might be ridiculed for writing such a tale, so he decided to use a pen name. The pseudonym was supposed to be a pun “Normal Bean” (as in “I’m a normal bean”) to reassure people, but the man who typeset the text thought it was a mistake, so he changed it to “Norman”.

•           Jon Favreau was on-board to direct John Carter of Mars until around August 2006. At this time Paramount chose not to renew the film rights, preferring to focus on Star Trek, while Favreau left to work on Iron Man. In January 2007 Disney regained the rights (they had rights to film the story previously: in the 1980s with director ‘John McTiernan)‘, and enlisted ‘Andrew Stanton’ from Pixar to direct.

Crew
Bill Corso … makeup supervisor
Chris Corbould … special effects supervisor
Peter Chiang … visual effects supervisor
Special Effects by 4DMax (3D Cyber scanning and digital modelling), Double Negative, Centroid Motion Capture (motion capture) and Legacy Effects (creature design)

Japanese kappa

By Aprill Brandon – VictoriaAdvocate.com

Oh sure, these days, vampires are just downright cuddly, thanks in part to the popularity of the “Twilight” series and other modern vampire tales. Yes, today’s bloodsuckers, with their roguish good looks and vegetarian attitudes, are pansies compared to their predecessors.

All around the world, there is folklore and myths surroundings vampires, each one different, and, in many cases, each one more horrible than the next (don’t even get me started on Japan’s kappa). Forget sparkling skin and an attraction to humans beyond that night’s dinner. Most vampire legends are scary enough to even make Edward and his sexy bed-head coif tremble.

According to an article in the American Chronicle, vampire-like spirits and beings have been recorded ever since mankind has been around. For instance, even the Sumerians, the earliest known civilization in the world, believed in the Akhkharu, a blood-sucking demon. The ancient Chinese wrote about hopping corpses, which would consume people’s chi (or life essence) and the ancient Egyptians had a goddess Sakhmet, who was consumed with, you guessed it, bloodlust.

In Malaysia, their version of the vampire is the penanggalan, a flying woman’s head complete with, no, not a smoking-

Penanggalan

hot body, but rather hanging entrails, according to an article in the online magazine The Traveler’s Notebook. Formerly a beautiful midwife, the penanggalan made a pact with the devil for supernatural abilities, and all she got for her effort was this lousy T-shirt. Oh, and a curse in which she had to detach from her body each night in search of the blood of newborn infants and pregnant women. As an added bonus, the intestines hanging out of the creature also left constant sores on whomever it grasps.

Yikes.

In Brazil, forget about Brad Pitt hanging out in your bedroom waiting to suck you dry. They have the lobishomen, a hairy and squat fellow with a hunched back, jaundiced skin and rotted teeth, according to the magazine article. However, in a M. Night Shyamalan twist, the lobishomen loves to prey on women, who then turn into nymphomaniacs after his bite (I’m sincerely hoping their lust did not include the lobishomen … talk about a walk of shame).

lobishomen

yara-ma-yha-who

In Australia, the indigenous people have a legend of the yara-ma-yha-who, which fed on humans and then … wait for it … regurgitated them, according to mythology writer Wayne Kreger in his article “Vampires Around the World.” Luckily (not), the victim usually survived. However, enough encounters with the creature would eventually slowly turn the victim into a yara-ma-yha-who.

In some of the older Slavic gypsy communities, it was thought that inanimate objects and animals could turn into vampires. So, just think about that the next time you start slicing a watermelon.

Other vampire lore from around the world, according to the Web site www.mythicalrealm.com, include:

Baobhan Sith

Africa has the Obayifo, a tree-dwelling, child-eating vampire.

Bulgaria has the Vapir or Ubour, which rises after 40 days in the grave to feed on blood and … (shudder) … excrement. Apparently it only has one nostril and sleeps with its left eye open.

In China, there is the Chiang-shi, a white or green-haired vampire that drew strength from the moon and could fly.

Russia has the Upyr, a delightful daywalking bloodsucker that loved children … for dinner. Oh, and it also ate those children with its iron teeth.

Those wacky Scottish lads had the Baobhan Sith, also known as the white women of the Scottish highlands. They were ghost-like vampires that could take the shape of beautiful women that invited men to dance with them and then drank their blood, because, you know, sometimes sith happens.

Amazon Specials!

Nosferatu

by Michael – MoviesOnline.ca

Vlad Tepes Impales the Burghers of Brasso

Drake Mefestta has begun shooting a documentary in Canada for The History Channel called “Real Vampires” which will take viewers into the life of real vampirism.

This special glance into the world of a real vampire assures to be a raw, straightforward and real documentation of this unique lifestyle. Drake will be presenting answers in an interview dispelling common myths as well as living with vampirism in society today.

This will give viewers an absolute and comprehensive understanding of the trials in leading a normal life, the relation between vampire and donor, the risks in revealing oneself, the methods of feeding in society today, and real opinions about how vampires feel of their depiction in modern society.  

Drake will also be giving an exceptionally rare look into the method of carrying out a live feeding on camera so that viewers can see the process from beginning to end and the effects of feeding thereafter.

Furthermore, Drake will be performing an original piano piece as well as to partake in an artistic conceptual piece called “The New York Story” depicting an intimate look into the isolation one faces in the life of true vampirism away from societies eyes done by photographer and visual mastermind Ivan Otis. Ivan has done work with some of the top music artists in the industry all over the world and this piece promises to be nothing less than extraordinary. 

Vlad Dracula

By Garth Franklin – DarkHorizons.com

There’s several zombie films in the works right now but none of them have anything close to the potential promise of “World War Z” based on Max Brooks’s best-seller.

Max Brooks

However there was fear that the project had become stalled in development in recent months and may not make it into production after all. Not so says the author.

“Paramount just renewed the option for World War Z, for half the time and twice the money, so that might signal interest” said Brooks in a recent interview with Fear.Net (via Sci-Fi TV. So where does it stand right now? “We still got our director, Marc Forster, who’s raring to go. Were all waiting on Matt Carnahan’s new draft, which should come in a month or so.”

Brooks says part of the hesitancy is the expense in portraying a global apocalypse – “You can’t do a cheap and dirty World War Z. It’s a world war, and I think that makes studio executives nervous. I think it limits its options, so that’s running against it.”