Zombos' Closet

VHS Box Art Coming at You Courtesy of Charles Band

Either get yourself to a nunnery or this website. I highly recommend the website. Charles Band is duplicating some classy-trashy VHS artwork for you VHS artwork mavens. Here's the press release...

"LOS ANGELES, CA, Feb 7, 2013 – Horror legend and home video pioneer Charles Band had been putting off his warehouse cleaning for years.  But during a recent overhaul of his extensive collection of collectibles, he unwittingly resurrected a veritable treasure trove of vintage horror limited-edition VHS boxes coveted by horror fans and serious collectors.   Starting February 12, fans will be able to purchase these original boxes with authentically duplicated VHS copies inside..."

"Also found in the collection were original boxes of the first horror video games on the planet, from Wizard Video’s sister company, Wizard Video Games.  The Atari 2600 game boxes for Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween will be released TBD 2013 from Full Moon.   At the time of release, these titles were deemed too violent for children, and were either banned or sold by request-only, making them an extraordinarily rare find as well."

Website: www.Wizardvideocollection.com

Facebook page at: http://bit.ly/WizardVideo

Every month beginning February 12, 4 titles will be on sale at $50/title.

Rollout schedule:

FEBRUARY 12

RETURN OF THE ZOMBIES

TRAUMA

OASIS OF THE ZOMBIES

DEMONIAC

 

MARCH 12

A VIRGIN AMONG THE LIVING DEAD

FEAR

BREEDERS

HEADLESS EYES

 

APRIL

I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE

BLOOD CASTLE

MANDINGA

TORMENTOR

MAY

ZOMBIE

MONSTER HUNTER

SPACE VAMPIRES

THE SCREAMING DEAD

 

JUNE

SS EXPERIMENT

DREAMANIAC

SAVAGE ISLAND

EROTIKILL

 

JULY

ZOMBIE LAKE

SPACE ZOMBIES

ZOMBIETHON

BEST OF SEX & VIOLENCE

 

AUG

FILMGORE

HELLTRAIN

POSSESSOR

FAMOUS T&A

 

SEPT

THE INVISIBLE DEAD

BEAST

THE MISS NUDE AMERICA CONTEST

FIEND

 

OCT

FRAULEIN DEVIL

WHITE SLAVE

ESCAPE

PARASITE

Making Mama's Special Effects

Matt Mirandi sends this info on the special effects used in Mama (written up by Mike Olson). Matt says: "I wanted to point you to this feature from The Credits—a digital mag that highlights Hollywood’s less heralded makers). Really, really creepy video of Mama VFX performer, Aaron Weintraub performing a movement test in a warehouse somewhere. Beyond that the piece has the interesting backstory about the pains that the crew went to achieve Mama’s water-logged hair throughout the process (and blending the real and the CGI).

Read the full article, Mommy Issues: Making Monsters with Mama. 

Here's an excerpt from the article:

...But Muschietti, who also co-wrote the script, was blessed with more than a green light from executive producer Guillermo del Toro. He also owes much of his success to visual effects supervisor Aaron Weintraub and Javier Botet, the French contortionist who brought Mama to (after)life.

Take Andy Serkis, stretch him to seven feet tall and give him flexibility straight out of Cirque de Soleil and you have the actor who plays Mama’s titular character. “He’s very frail and can get his body into all these weird positions,” says Weintraub of Botet, and it is those contortions that serve as a physical manifestation of Mama’s tortured past, as well as the present-day horrors she’ll visit upon anyone who gets close to the “daughters” she’s adopted.

Thanks Matt.

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Hairy Scary Monsters

Here's a monsterkid version of Wooly Willy!

Night Gallery at One Way

A pleasant bite at Crazy Burger, then a nighttime walk past One Way Gallery in Narragansett, Rhode Island reveals these two engrossing pieces of horror art. I couldn't make out the artist's name. Perhaps he's a child of Pickman...

The Tell-Tale Heart HDFor iPad

ZC Rating 4 of 7: Very Good

Given the multimedia and color capabilities of the iPad for displaying magazines and newspapers, the natural next step for novels and short stories may be to embellish their words with sound, illustration, and animation. The tricky part as I see it is not to subvert the author's original vision with a different intent by doing so, but to enhance his words in more dynamic fashion. This would especially help "sell" older works of fiction to a younger audience OD'ing from YouTube watching those dancing (insert your own plural noun here).

The Tell-Tale Heart HD for iPad is a good indication of how effective this enhanced story-telling can be. Edgar Allen Poe's short tale of murder, madness, and terror is known by many who've probably never read the original story, but have seen its derivatives often enough. Dwayne Ferguson's illustrations, with small highlighting animations here and there, allows Poe's tension-building framework to not only come through, they intensify its dark tone using grim, stark artwork, and subtle sound effects.

I chose to read it with my internal voice instead of listening to the voice narration--you turn it on or off by tapping the little skull on the bottom right. I found Hunter Wolf and Janet Hubert's voices were too melodramatically pitched and overly enunciating Poe's words, which are all ready dramatic enough. Either way, you'll find this version of The Tell-Tale Heart a wonderful way to capture Poe's classic horror experience.

A complimentary copy was provided for this review.

If you like this format for story-telling, you may find Hasso Wuerslin's Dead Books series also entertaining.

And Still More: English Horror Movie Lobby Cards

Here are more examples of the subdued layout employed by English language lobby cards: a picture framed by text and illustration. In contrast, Mexican lobby cards usually go heavier on the illustration and shrink the picture.

 (cards courtesy of Professor Kinema)

 
 
 
 

More English Horror Movie Lobby Cards

Here are examples of English language horror movie lobby cards that minimize illustration and text in favor of a larger picture highlighting action or actors. World Without End is still a guilty pleasure of mine. (These cards come from the Professor Kinema archives.)

English Horror Movie Lobby Cards

Unlike Mexican lobby cards, English language horror and sci fi cards usually have a larger picture surrounded by a more sedate layout of illustration and text.  

 Lobby cards courtesy of Professor Kinema.

Ballantine Paperback Covers: Glimpses into the Fantastic

After posting the Penguin Paperback horror book covers, I rummaged through my shelves to find these Ballantine paperbacks I've had so long I forgot about them. Of course I've read them; Bradbury, Lovecraft, and Burroughs had probably the strongest influence on me as I slid headfirst into teen age.

The last book from ACE, Edgar Rice Burrough's Back to the Stone Age: A Castaway in Pellucidar, is the first paperback book I ever read. I picked it up at Phil Seuling's comic book shop off of 86th Street in Bensonhurst Brooklyn. I picked up a lot of books, Warren magazines, and comics at Phil's. I would ride my bike after school to get there. Phil was a great guy. His wife was wonderful, too. When they hit a rough patch after he started playing around with a younger girl, things sort of faded away, quietly. It wasn't much fun going to the shop after that.

The second I pulled these books from their mylar bags I couldn't resist opening Back to the Stone Age and sticking my nose inside, close to the spine. There's a scent, of browning paper, fading ink, and living memories, also browning and fading, you'll never get from a Kindle. That's a shame.

The Art of Penguin Science Fiction and Horror

 Chindi, all knowing, all seeing, alerts us to this collection
of Penguin science fiction cover art.

 

And from the Penguin Blog, here are some horror covers to be fearful of.

Coralie Bickford-Smith is a Senior Designer at Penguin. Here she is talking about the covers for the Gothic Horror series of Red Classics published by Penguin.

 

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Me and Cthulhu From Day After Art

Chris at Day After Art has Cthulhu-ized me with one of his Cthu-You portraits. Take that you zombie-izers! Slimy, briney, tentacles beats rotting flesh any day. So, should I call myself John-Soggoth? It seems like a natural. That turtle-neck sweater really sets the tone, don't it? Thanks Chris!

Artist Andrew Wodzianski Mimics Castle Horror Flick

Courtesy of Mary J. Lohnes, freelance writer, and the College of Southern Maryland's News and Events...

 

"This year marks the 50^th anniversary of William Castle’s classic B-horror flick House on Haunted Hill. Artist Andrew Wodzianski has survived more than a night with the haunted house, producing the exhibition “House,” and will treat five guests to his own form of reward as part of this month’s gallery show, costume party and fundraiser at Flashpoint Gallery in Washington, D.C.

"As a tribute, Wodzianski will engage in some gimmickery of his own. As part of the opening reception for his Flashpoint Gallery solo “House,” on Oct. 8 in Washington, D.C., he will mirror the actions of the film’s star Vincent Price and invite the public to spend the evening in the gallery and participate in their host’s possibly sinister scavenger hunt. Clues will be made available on opening night through the reception “stewards,” (several nurses and a funeral director) with additional clues given to guests that register for their host’s (Wodzianski) Twitter feed http://twitter.com/househuntDC."

Wodzianski’s “House” exhibition runs at Flashpoint Gallery Oct. 8 – Nov. 7.

For information on Wodzianski’s show and other Flashpoint Gallery events, visit http://www.flashpointdc.org/.

For information on Wodzianski's third solo exhibit at the Fraser Gallery, "Abra Cadaver," Oct. 9 to Nov. 14, visit www.thefrasergallery.com.

To view Wodzianski’s other paintings, visit http://www.wodzianski.com/. For information on CSM, visit www.csmd.edu.

Night of the Living Dead Reanimated And Old Time Radio Horror Animated

  Interesting zombie horror news, especially regarding the old time radio horror facelift...

Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated is a mass collaborative artistic re-envisioning of George A. Romero's 1968 cult classic, Night of the Living Dead. International artists and animators were invited to select scenes from the film and reinvent them through their artwork. Their varied works are organized and curated into an art show hung in the time line of this cult classic film.

Neoflux Productions will be employing a similar approach in creating artistically animated video tracks to accompany Old Time Horror Radio Dramas. By combining these well written and aptly preformed stories with our artwork, 'Unseen Horror' will usher these classic tales of the macabre into our visual culture and represent them to a new generation of horror fans.

To sign up for more information, go to http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/unseenhorror/

The Day After Art Strikes A-cute Fear

Chris Zenga must have had a teddy-ble childhood. His zombears appear not only in his nightmares, but also in his artwork. Attacking the classics first, is there no end to his black and white and gray madness?

"I don't have a career as an evil scientist, but what you are about to see is the first series of my Classic Monsters. These are black and white illustrations of the classic monsters that have played a huge part in why I do what I do today.

"In this first series, I have exhumed for you Zom-bear-tep the Mummy and the Bride of FrankenTedd. Next is the InvisZomble Bear, followed by the WolfBear. Last, but not least, is Tedd the Ripper. Ted the Ripper is a piece that I did to support the B.R.A.F.F. organization and some of the proceeds of this Zombear will go to support braff.org.

"All the Classic Monster illustrations will be available as print reproductions, along with my Illustrations for B.R.A.F.F. and other The Day After creations in my Red Bubble store. They will be available in black and white and in oil-painted versions in the coming months. Also look for the Classic Monsters - Series 2 that will include QuaZombearmoto, FrankenTedd's monster and The Gil Tedd. Finally in Series 3 you will get to see PhanTedd of the Opera and Teddula with his brides."

The Day After Art will be at FanExpo (Rue Morgue Festival of Fear), August 28th through 30th, 2009.

Chris Zenga on Facebook.

Joshua Hoffine Has a Devil of a Time

Joshua Hoffine's new devilish photograph is hot. You can read how he created it on his blogsite.

This photograph was shot in my studio. I constructed a set with a floor that was raised three feet off of the ground. My good friend Jason Coale, who works as a professional scenic designer, acted as supervisor. My friends Damien Vela and Matt Tady helped with all of the carpentry...

View more of his horror portfolio.