Annual Celebration of All Things B Is Coming

September is the month when all you lucky folk over there in the States (and anyone elsewhere with enough money and annual leave) can truck along to Franklin, Indiana, where the annual celebration of B-Movies -- genre exploitation at its best -- offers up a massive program of monsters, mayhem and madness on a low budget. This year's roll-call includes everything from giant ticks, homicidal hillybillys and killer clowns to Cthulhan sea-monsters, kung fu vampires, triffids and beach blankets. As well as all the US stuff, there are flicks from Japan (Varan the Unbelievable),  UK (Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires), Australia (Dead-End Drive-In), India (The Robot) and other parts of the world that have been long been forgotten by civilised man. There's vampires (Fright Night), zombies (Night of the Comet), superheroes (Captain America and Batman), evil children (Village of the Damned), and rabid lumps of red jelly (Son of Blob). In short, there's something for everyone (except that strange guy that lives in your basement and only watches French comedies).

There are also the world premieres of Fred Olen Ray's Dino Wolf [aka "Dire-Wolf"], David A. Prior's Night Claws, Jim Wynorski's Camel Spiders, and screenings of other hotly anticipated titles such as The Millennium Bug, El Monstro Del Mar, Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, The Robot [Endhiran], Tales of an Ancient Empire, Asylum's Dragon Crusaders, the late great Paul Naschy's Empusa, Henry Barrial's Pig, Vincent Lannoo's Vampires, Beverly Lane and many, many, more!

Host Bill Dever says:

We are very pleased to present this year's B Movie Celebration line-up. Unlike other years we have purposefully sought out new works and world premieres. As well we have discovered numerous sources of 35mm prints. Where possible we will present the film in its original method, ideally 35mm.

As well, many of the films will be presented by the filmmaker themselves. Each main title will be accompanied by selections from our shorts program.

Without further delay, here are the films for this year's B-Movie Celebration:

Angry Red Planet
Atomic Submarine
Baberellas
Batman (1966)
Beach Blanket Bingo
Beverly Lane
Bio Hazard 2
Bloody Ruby
Boss
Camel Spiders
Captain America (1990)
Daughters of Darkness
Day of Anger
Day of the Triffids
Dead End Drive-In
Desperate Living
Dino Wolf
Dragon Crusaders
El Monstro Del Mar
Empusa
Francis The Talking Mule
Fright Night
Ganja and Hess
Killer Klowns From Outer Space
Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires
Man Made Men
Naked Obsession
Night Claws
Night of the Comet
Night of the Demon
Pig
Rare Exports
Shape of Things To Come
Son of Blob
Tales of an Ancient Empire
The Day Time Ended
The Farmer
The Forbidden Zone
The Joys of Jezebel
The Millenium Bug
The Mountie
The Robot
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
The World Sinks Except Japan
Ticks
Twins of Evil Documentary
Underground Entertainment
Vampires
Varan the Unbelievable
Village of the Damned
Virgin High

For more info and description of the goodies, check out the website here.

And you can read about the special guests as well, such as B-film directorial superstar Jim Wynorski, FX gurus The Chiodo Brothers (Killer Klowns from Outer Space), Bryan Wilson of Psycho Beach Party fame, scream queen Brinke Stevens, Kevin Tenney (Witchboard, Night of the Demons) and many more.

Source: Bill Dever via Avery Guerra; official website.

Exclusive: Get on Ya Camel (Spider) and Ride!

Camel spiders -- you know, those nasty-looking spiders that have been one of the lasting B-grade legacies of the war in Afghanistan and Iraq -- get big in Jim Wynorski's latest non-T&A epic, Camel Spiders (US-2011; dir. Jim Wynorski).

Camel spiders are real, but have become the subject of a huge number of myths, especially after the following picture did the rounds of the blogsphere:

Big, eh? In fact, if you check the size of the barely visible hand holding the dead spider, it's not so big -- its apparent size being the result of forced perspective. Here is a neat list of current myths about camel spiders (collected on camelspiders.net):

1. Camel spiders can move at speeds over 30 mph, screaming while they run.
2. Camel spiders can be as large as a frisbee. 
3. Camel spiders venom is an anesthetic that numbs their prey. 
4. Camel spiders can jump three feet high.
5. Camel spiders get their name because they eat the stomachs of camels.
6. They eat or gnaw on people while they sleep. Due to the numbing effect of their venom, the victim is unaware until they awake.

In reality, camel spiders, which are not actually spiders as such but Solifugae and thus part of the Arachnida family along with spiders, scorpions and the like -- have a max. leg span of about 12 cm (4.7 in), with a body length reaching 7 cm (2.8 in) (which is bad enough, I reckon), and they run at speeds of up to 16 km/h (10 mph) (which is still rather impressive). They are mostly found in deserts -- and not just in the Middle East and are also known as wind scorpions or sun spiders. Apparently they don't scream, disembowel camels, anesthetize humans in their sleep and eat them, or any of that fun stuff. (Source)

Wynorski's camel spiders will, of course, veer toward the fun variety rather than the real ones (only bigger), as shown in this early teaser for the film [note: at the request of the producers, we've been asked to remove this teaser trailer from YouTube. Sorry, folks!]:

Ah, they're always fun, are giant spiders, even if they don't get to daikaiju size. Something to look forward to on SyFy.

Synopsis:

Based on actual creatures that for years have tormented our armed forces in the Middle East, these creatures have invaded the southwestern deserts of the United States. The Camel Spiders now freely hunt for prey, unafraid of any predator - including man. No place is safe no one is beyond their paralyzing sting. In the end, a small band of hearty fighters are forced to make one last stand against the creatures. (IMDb)

A Roger Corman produced film for CineTel Films, Camel Spiders stars C. Thomas Howell (from ET, The Outsiders, Red Dawn, The Hitcher and in recent times assorted Asylum exploitation flicks), Brian Krause (Charmed, Beyond Loch Ness and the upcoming Area 52), GiGi Erneta (El Chupacabra, Risen, Fire From Below) and Rocky DeMarco.


Some Production Stills:

• Source: Jim Wynsorki via Avery Guerra. Written by Robert Hood
• Take a look at another upcoming "war against mutant camel spiders" movie called Extraction, featured a while back on Undead Backbrain.

More Monster Cruise News

We've had word that Jim Wynorski's monster comedy, Monster Cruise, has been picked up by "All Channel" for North American TV distribution. Avery has also confirmed that there is a DVD, but no details are available at this time.

Below the poster we have the first teaser trailer for the film, which reveals a few interesting facets of the film we didn't know about -- namely that the monster isn't the only cryptozoological curiosity that inhabits the lake! We also have an exclusive clip from the film.

Meanwhile here is the first teaser trailer and an exclusive SFX clip showing the monster:

Clip:

• Previous Undead Backbrain article
• Monster Cruise on Undead Brainspasm
• Source: Bill Dever via Avery Guerra

Wynorski's Monster Sighted

The paparazzi have been on the job around Lake Monroe in Franklin, Indiana, hoping to get shots of the monstrous star of Jim Wynorski's new cryptozoological comedy, Monster Cruise, which is premiering at this year's "B Movie Celebration" in Franklin, Indiana, on September 24-26.

Pre-empting that gala event, they've captured some great shots of the digital monster cavorting in Lake Monroe -- and, as the above poster suggests, "cute" seems to capture what the opening night audience is in for.

This river "cruiser" is certainly rather shiny...

... though it does seem to have a bright future.

For more information on the B-Movie Celebration, see this previous Brainspasm article.

• Source: Bill Dever via Avery
• Undead Brainspasm article for more information on Monster Cruise

News of the Monster Cruise

It has been announced that Shay Baker and Kayla Gill -- stars of Jim Wynorski's monster comedy, Monster Cruise -- both did well in the 2009 Golden Cob Awards, to be precise Best Rising B Movie Actor for Baker and Best Rising B Movie Actress Runner-up for Gill. The Award ceremony will be held at this year's "B Movie Celebration" in Franklin, Indiana, on September 24. This event will also see the premiere of the Monster Cruise, which is to be the opening film. The world premiere will take place at the Historic Artcraft Theatre in Franklin, Indiana at 7:00 pm. Tickets for the premiere are US$25 and include a wine and cheese reception afterwards.

If you go along maybe you'll meet the main star:

Other films-of-interest screening at the B-Movie Celebration are the Asylum's Megapiranha and The 7 Adventures of Sinbad, as well as Jim Wynorski's other big monster flick Dinocroc vs Supergator, Slime City Massacre, and lots of classics.

• Source: B-Movie Celebration site; via Avery Guerra
• Previous Undead Backbrain/Brainspasm articles

Dinocroc and Supergator on the Move!

On the eve of the premiere SyFy Channel showing of Jim Wynorski's giant monster mash-up, Dinocroc vs Supergator -- incidentally one of the last films of genre legend David Carradine -- we have a bunch of pictures, along with a great SFX reel.

Why don't we just go out for dinner!

Supergator prefers take-away:

Dinocroc likes 'em bikini-wrapped:

Seconds?

Hey! Save one for me!

SFX Reel: it's looking pretty damn good here! Immediately below is the theme music. Let it play over the SFX video that follows!

• Source: Jim Wynorski via Avery; Written by Robert Hood

Update: Monster Cruise Latest Press Release

I'm going to take the lazy route here. Rather than re-writing and expanding on a recently received press release for genre legend Jim Wynorski's latest film, a "family-friendly" monster comedy about a Monster Cruise around Lake Monroe in Franklin, Indiana, I'm just going to dump the whole thing on you... after this exclusive first peek at the monster itself:

PRESS RELEASE

Monster Cruise Shines A Light On Emerging Mid West Talent

Shay Baker, one of the stars of the upcoming movie Monster Cruise is treading water on Lake Monroe, Indiana wearing a green garbage bag on his head. The director, Hollywood veteran Jim Wynorski yells cut. Shay thoroughly soaked climbs out of the water. He is smiling from ear to ear.

Three weeks prior to this, Shay Baker (centre in first pic below), former Ball State Theatre student, was working in a pickle factory.

“Last year Paul Wallace and I were sitting around campus fantasizing how cool it would be to be in a hit comedy,” says Shay Baker. “Well, fast forward one year and that fairy tale has come true.”

Monster Cruise features a cast of up and coming Mid West talents including Paul Wallace, Shay Baker, Ervin Ross, Kayla Gill (second pic below) and Erin Neufer (third pic below), along with veteran performers, David De Spain, Jason Smither, Gerard Pauwels, Stacey Dixon, Jim O’Rear and Jim Hardin. For many it was their first film but all agree it won’t be their last.

“It was really serendipity at work,” says Bill Dever, producer of Monster Cruise. “Many of these actors we had worked with before and we knew exactly what we were getting, with the actor we didn’t work with before they really just fell into our laps, and they worked out better than we could have ever hoped”

“I came to Indiana not really knowing what to expect,” says Jim Wynorski. “I was pleasantly surprised to say the least. Not only were these kids world-class talents, their attitude and professionalism was second to none. Mark my words, these Indiana actors are going to go far.”

The family-rated comedy Monster Cruise is currently finishing post-production.

 

•  Source: Jim Wynorski via Avery

Cleavagefield: The Slime

We haven't heard much of Cleavagefield for a while -- but I have a question for you. Do you want to see some chicks with prominent cleavage get slimed by the titular monster? Well, here it is:

• Source: The Wambank via Avery

Dinocorman vs Supercorman

First Roger Corman, B Film King, brought us Dinocroc (US-2004; dir. Kevin O'Neill), which featured genetic experimentation using the DNA of a prehistoric predator that has a one-night stand with the DNA of a modern-day crocodile, resulting in bloody hybrid-monster rampage.

Then Rog decided to produce an unofficial sequel called Supergator (US-2007; dir. Brian Clyde) that featured genetic experimentation using the fossilised DNA of a prehistoric alligator, resulting in bloody hybrid-monster rampage.

Now we hear that the busy Jim Wynorski is set to direct Dinocroc vs Supergator (though frankly I'm disappointed that Corman has left his proposed Dino Shark out of the mix). I have no official idea what it will be about but I suspect it will feature genetic experimentation and that the two revived dino-creatures will go on a bloody hybrid-monster rampage, culminating in a punch-up of prehistoric proportions.

Hey, it's what genetic experimentation is for!

• Source: B Movie News via Avery