Happy 2010!

Hope all you Monsterammers have a great year in twenty ten... mine has begun in fine form with many new beginnings. Can you belive the ol' Monsterama is entering its' 5th year? If you have time, go back through some of the older posts and let me know which ones you liked best...

Excelsior!

One of my heroes, Stan Lee, reads The Night Before Christmas. Enjoy, true believers!

Hope You Were Good...

... 'cause a visit from Krampus isn't as fun as it looks.

Cryptid Claus

Here's a nasty little holiday treat for you, with a warning from the film itself: "What you are about to see may traumatize you for life", especially if you still want to believe in Santa as a benevolent magical elf. Finnish filmmaker Jalmari Helander's short films Rare Exports Vol. 1 and 2 pose the awesomely bizarre question: 'what if Father Christmas was a rare species of cryptozoological wildman that had to be hunted, captured, and trained by specialists?' The resulting faux documentaries are sublimely disturbing, and, I'm happy to say, are soon to be reworked into a feature film! Be careful next time you sit on Santa's lap...

All Hallow's Oh-Nine!

Happy Hallowe'en everyone!

Secret Disguises

Anyone dressing up as Secret Saturdays or Tutenstein characters this Halloween? Please send me your photos, and I'll post them here on Monsterama! And if you're in the Philippines, I'd love some pics of the Secret Saturdays Pumpkin Party where "...Doc, Drew and Zak Saturday are giving out prizes to kids who can help them solve mysteries by identifying the disguised villains who are trying to sneak into their Halloween party."

Twilight Zoo

All this month, the little town of Elora, Ontario (just a short drive from where I live) will be full of freaks and frights as they kick off another wonderful Monster Month. As he's been doing for a decade now, local artist Tim Murton has covered the town's quaint old buildings with white creepy creatures in nightmarish proportions, called, appropriately, The Twilight Zoo. This year Elora is expanding their claim on the holiday by adding the first annual Monster March... a grand Halloween Parade through the darkened downtown streets. I will personally join in the March as my gruesome alter ego Prof. Primate, the Devolved Doctor on Saturday October 24th beginning at 6:00 PM. Please join us, won't you? Thanks again to Halloween Town for making it super easy to pull the costume together.

Hollywood Hallowe'en!

Seeing as I'm in Burbank during the Hallowe'en season, it's only fitting to dedicate a post to the legendary Bob Burns. Bob is responsible for inspiring and directly mentoring some of the greatest horror FX guys in the business via his annual Hallowe'en 'shows', and he's got a gorgeous site featuring a documentary in four parts, with a new segment added each week leading up to All Hallow's Eve. Prepare to be blown away by some of the best private hallowe'en props and FX ever built. The film is riveting, and HIGHLY recommended Monsterama material. Jan Alan Henderson has an interview with the amazing Mr. Burns here. Thanks to Scott J. for the links!

Zombie Plague

They're going for the World Record of undead, so if you're in or around New Orleans on October 31st 2009, put your best zombie suit on and shuffle on down! From Humid Beings, "The multifaceted, ever evolving troupe, The New Orleans Bingo! Show is spearheading the attempt to break the Guinness Book of World Records “Largest gathering of Zombies“. Up until recently, the USA held the record with 3,894 zombies in attendance. The record was recently topped at the Big Chill festival in Ledbury, UK in August with an incredibly close 4,026 people.

Skeletown

Check out the pleasantly postmortem world of Skeletown by Monsterama pal Rhode Montijo (who was, FYI, nearly the character designer for my show Tutenstein!), which he describes as "...inspired by the Mexican folk art of Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead)-A holiday that celebrates the lives of those who have passed." Adorable stuff that continues in the grand calavera tradition of Jose Guadalupe Posada-- one of my all-time favourite graphic artists. Hurry up, Rhode! I can't wait for the book!

Beating Hearts

Seems like a good time to point out to all you broken-hearted creeps like me that St. Valentine wasn't only the Patron Saint of love, but also of bee keepers, epilepsy, fainting, and plague. I plan to celebrate St. Valentine's day tomorrow by eating honey until I pass out. Since tomorrow is also about the mating of birds... a la Chaucer's lines, "For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne's day, Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate."... I also recommend a viewing of Hitchcock's The Birds. Bah Humbug.

Happy 2009

Some updated *official* news on the Secret Saturdays toy line coming from Mattel next year. And speaking of Mattel, this might just be the coolest Barbie ever! Hitchcock is one of my favorite directors of all time... just watched Spellbound again last night, in fact, thrilling all over the Salvidore Dali dream sequence. I think I'll watch Rebecca tonight. My kind of Christmas movies!

Merry Cryptids!

Creature... GOOD!!!

My favourite classic monster is Dr. Frankenstein's creature, as you might have guessed. In fact, I've built a lifesized one myself recently, and not out of paper, either. I hope to get him working (with small scale motion detector stuff) in time for All Hallows... I'll let you know how it goes. Cool Frankenstuff here...

Have A Ghoul Yule

Remember to help out a monster this Christmas.

Dear Santa...

... I want North American Region Code DVD's with English subtitles of last years' Nekome Kozo (Cat-Eyed Boy) based on the maga by Umezz, and the live action Kitaro movie, please. And all of these Shigeru Mizuki toys. Thank you.

The Veil Thins...

The best of Boos to you and yous.

It's Never Too Late

... But you really ought to hurry if you want to grab a great costume, decoration, or prop for Halloween. Fright Catalog has some spectacular stuff, and a handy shipping time estimate right on the site (North Americans can get stuff in 24 hrs!). And if you're in the London area this weekend, it's not too late to haul your carcass to The 12th International Halloween Festival at Queen Mary College, Mile End Road, from 12noon-8pm. Tarot readers, a Pagan craft market,lectures, and workshops... sounds like a party to me!

Make Tracks

If you hurry, you might still be able to snag a copy of Make magazine's awesome Halloween special edition. It is seriously fabulous, with gorgeous full page artwork and a cover by Seth, detailed articles on Haunters and how to build some of your own animatronic props, tips on creating gross makeup, and much more. If your local bookseller is all sold out (and it wouldn't be surprising!), you can at least follow the link to some terror-iffic online tips.

Hallowe'en Town

I was hanging out on Magnolia Boulevard this afternoon checking out all the drop dead gorgeous pin striping on display for the hot-rod studded 'Be-Bopping In The Park' and finally got the opportunity to visit the new Halloween Town location. It felt like home, naturally. Too much fabulously fearsome goodies to describe here... spend some time creeping around their site to get the idea. What I'd really like to know is how they get the murder of real-life crows to skulk around the outside of the store!