Thursday, December 31, 2009

Mallika and Jennifer Lynch Get Snaky



Seen as a sort of Slumdog Millionaire for horror buffs, snake-fanciers and males generally, Hisss (India/US-2010; dir. Jennifer Chambers Lynch) stars Mallika Sherawat, one of India's sexiest female stars, as a shapeshifting Naga. (If you don't know what a naga is, go read this article on Undead Backbrain to catch up on the whole part-woman, part snake thing.)

Here's director Jennifer Lynch and Mallika Sherwat on set:



Says producer Govind Menon:
I definitely want people to see this film and say it is the greatest horror movie made in the history of cinema –- better than Hitchcock, better than The Exorcist.
Ambitious, eh? He sees Hisss as a genuinely international film -- the first Bollywood film to have the sort of money and Hollywood co-production backing that Jennifer Lynch brought with her to the project. When asked why it will appeal to Western audiences, he commented:
The vampire has been around for 200 hundred years, but this character has been around for 5,000 years... It crossed all of these different countries and cultures [India, China, and the Far East in general].

However, I would've thought this was a far more down-to-earth reason:



Mallika said of her role in the film (which is performed without dialogue):
I’m happy to be a part of this. For a snake that doesn’t speak, my character in the movie is very sexy, it’s venomous and it can swallow whole. A story like this comes only once in a lifetime. It’s a popular legend you are part of...
She added:
As it is, my parents have disowned me! Now, when they see me making love to a snake…?! Oh my God! And it was a rubbery, slimy, slithering snake. And Jennifer would tell me, ‘Lick it harder!’ Yuck!





Click on the above image to see it much larger.

You can read a longer article (from which I took the above quotes) on Buzzine Bollywood.

For more pictures from Hisss, the trailer and more info on the film, read Part 2 of the Undead Backbrain article "Of Snakes and Women" here.

And just for good measure, here's some pictures provided by Avery, who gives Mallika his vote for "Sexiest Actress of the Year". He comments: "I know the female cast of Assault Girls are all equally super-sexy but this lady makes a man-eating serpent sexy."



 


InALIENable

So what do we make of this?

InALIENable (US-2008; dir. Robert Dyke)

Impressive genre cast: Richard Hatch (Battlestar Galactica), Walter Koenig (Star Trek -- and he wrote InALIENable), Marina Sirtis (Star Trek: the Next Generation), Erick Avari (various Star Trek series, Heroes, Daredevil, Stargate SG-1), Courtney Peldon (Skin Walker, Mortuary, and even a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode), Gary Graham (the Alien Nation TV series, Necronomicon, and, yes, an episode of Star Trek: Voyager), Jay Avovone (several episodes of The X-Files) ... and more.

Oh, and I apologise for the ad....



For Avery....

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Images of Death Kappa

Below are a few images of the crew (and main kaiju star) of Death Kappa (Japan-[in production]; dir. Tomoo Haraguchi).


 
 

Kaiju Search-Robot Avery has discovered this interview with director and SFX wizard, Tomoo Haraguchi.
Well, you know, it [making monster films] wasn't really a choice per se; it was just that I liked hanging out around the props. I mean, any kid would. I'd hang out in the art department and ask them to let me help make buildings for the monsters to destroy, or repair the monster suits.
I think it [using monster suits] also has roots in the Edo period, in the tradition of kabuki theater. Whenever an oni, or a tiger, or a giant snake, or some other kind of creature appears onstage, they're portrayed very similarly to the way Godzilla was -- by actors wearing suits. I definitely think that the idea of putting an actor into a monster costume came from that tradition.
Read the full interview here.


Thursday, December 24, 2009

The Rock, Gator Gal and the Snow Monster

No-budget trash-film maniac David "The Rock" Nelson premiered his latest film, Gator Gal [aka Alligator Woman, Gator Girl], on Chicago's WGNTV News this past Halloween. It was received, as always, with great enthusiasm by Rock's local fans:



(For the sake of completeness, here's an early promo he rang in to the station promoting his Halloween preview and trying to find a "voluptuous woman" to play Gator Gal pre-transformation.)

I have no idea if "The Rock" ever found his starlet, but the latest development comes via the world of wrestling:



So it seems that Nelson -- who plays Gator Gal himself -- has been attacking Chicago All-Star Wrestling champs! Below are snaps of Gator Gal with James "Lord Wellington" and "The German SUPAman"!






"The Rock" wanted to thank James "Lord Wellington" for sending him the pictures.

As a bonus for the long-suffering readers of Undead Brainspasm, we now offer a preview of an even more recent horror epic by  David "The Rock" Nelson, aired on WGNTV's Voicemail program on 9 December:



Message from "The Rock":
Until next time, my "Fiends", have a "Spooky-Fun" week, weekend & beyond, enjoy some good, ol' Monster movies, with some "munchies", "'Monster' Soda", "Java", or your drink of choice, & have a good, ol' time! Your "Fiend", "Rock"! David "The Rock" Nelson, "The Ed Wood of the Future ... & Beyond That, Even", -- & "dang" proud of it! "Yah, hah, heh"!
  • via Avery

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Have She-Rex Around for Christmas!

Prolific independent filmmaker Brett Kelly has asked Avery to remind readers that his latest dino epic -- "a tribute to the classic comedy of yesteryear" -- is now available on DVD.



Slapstick "buddy" humour (ala Abbott and Costello and the Ritz Brothers)! A lost island jungle! Lots of sexy cave-gals in fake fur and the huge T-Rex that they worship! In the same vein as Queen Kong, Caveman, Africa Screams, and other wacky horror/comedy monster romps of days of old! No digital dinosaurs employed! All stunts performed totally without CGI! What more can you possibly need for Christmas?

Oh, did I mention the gorilla?

 




The movie, complete with director commentary, photo gallery and trailers, is available from Amazon and direct from the folk that made it. You can also purchase She-Rex as a digital download for the cost of a cup of coffee!
This advertisement was brought to you by The Avery Battles Independent Film Support Institute. No money was involved -- just like the films themselves.

Friday, December 18, 2009

A Problem with Fire Ants

In July Undead Backbrain wrote about Invicta, a film that its writer-director Carolyn Banks calls “Horror Tra-La.” By that she means it's a mix of comedy, romance and horror -- the horror coming, in this instance, from an invasion of South American flesh-eating fire ants into rural Texas.

Now there's a trailer.

Invicta (US-2009; dir. Carolyn Banks)



Source: Avery

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Update: Amphibious 3D

More from Brian Yuzna's giant-arachnid-acting-badly flick, Amphibious 3D (Indonesia/Netherlands-2010; dir. Brian Yuzna) -- touted as Indonesia's first 3D movie -- which we last met on Undead Backbrain not long ago.



Produced by San Fu Maltha and Komodo Films, the film is scheduled to be released mid-2010 (November in the Netherlands, according to IMDb) and stars Michael ParĂ© (Bloodrayne, Bloodrayne 2, Virgin Suicides), Janna Fassaert (Couples Retreat) and Francis Magee (London River, Sahara, Layer Cake and Ricky Gervais' upcoming Cemetery Junction), among others.



Cast:
Michael Pare (US) : Jack Bowman
Janna Fassaert (Holland) : Skylar Shane
Monica Sayangbati (Indonesia) : Tamal
Francis Bosco (Singapore) : Boss Harris
Francis McGee (UK) : Jimmy Kudrow
Verdi Solaiman (Indonesia) : Andi
t.b.c. : Bimo
Mikael C. Jehian (Indonesia) : Aris
Mohammad Aditya (Indonesia) : Big Rudi
Steven Baray (Indonesia) : Rizal
Herlian Ujang (Indonesia) : Nanung
Bambang B.S. (Indonesia) : Tamal’s Uncle