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

Update: Amphibious 3D

Pictures from Amphibious 3D (Indonesia/Netherlands-2010; dir. Brian Yuzna) -- Indonesia's first 3D movie and no doubt the world's first 3D giant scorpion movie -- just keep surfacing on the Celsius Entertainment website.

As news of an expansion into various European markets continues, here are two more pics to add to those already on Undead Brainspasm and on Undead Backbrain.

• Source: Avery

New Trailer for Planzet

Negalon: The Monster From Mars director Jun Awazu's alien invasion movie, Planzet, has spawned another trailer. For the first one, check out this Undead Backbrain article.

New Trailer:



From the Showa period giant monster tradition of Negalon, he appears to be embracing the US 1950s flying saucer aesthetic. If I can't have giant monsters, I'm happy enough to accept flying saucers and rayguns -- though there's also a bit of mecha giant robot action detectable there!

Source: TwitchFilm via Avery

Daimajin Kanon: New Trailer

The new TV Japanese series Daimajin Kanon -- based on the classic Showa period Daimajin movies -- is looking pretty good to me. Here's the latest trailer:

For more information, see these previous Undead Brainspasm articles and these Undead Backbrain ones: here and here.

Meanwhile, here's some pics of veteran actor Tsunehiko Kamiziyou in the studio with the "Demon God", giving him a voice through some post-production dubbing. Hard to say how pleased Daimajin is. He looks a little grumpy.

And believe it or not, here's one of the Big Guy's co-stars:

• Sources: Sanspo.com; Nikkansports; via Avery

Demeking Pictorial Update

In his perpetual wandering through the vast wastelands of various monster-infested bywaters of the Internet, Kaiju Search-Robot Avery has discovered a hitherto unknown screenshot of the titular kaiju from the movie Demekingu [aka Demeking; Space Monster Demeking] (Japan-2009; dir. Kôtarô Terauchi):

He also found some better-quality versions of two other Demeking items -- namely the following pic:

and the poster:

 

Meanwhile the real question remains: when are we going to get to see this film?

• Main Undead Backbrain article on Demeking
• Source: Somewhere in the bowels of this site: https://blog.so-net.ne.jp/

Dinoshark Previewed

Dinoshark (US-2010; dir. Kevin O'Neill)

Roger Corman-produced B-monster rampage flick featuring a big prehistoric shark.

Teaser:

And here's a clip. Watch the old guy leap! I apologise for the annoying ad that comes first.

And here's another:

Source: SyFy Channel ia Avery

Update: Daimajin Kanon

News regarding the remake/update/continuation of the 1960s movie franchise Daimajin has been limited, but here's some more imagery from it, discovered by Kaiju Search-Robot Avery while wandering the dark pathways of the internet.

For those who don't know or who have forgotten, the Daimajin films were made in the heyday of Showa-period (specifically 1960s/1970s) Japanese daikaiju eiga -- when men were men, women were women and monsters were men in intricate "rubber" suits rampaging through even more intricate miniature cityscapes or -- in the case of Daimajin -- medieval towns and landscapes. Daimajin differed from the Gojira and Gamera franchises in being a cross-fertilisation between Tokusatsu (SFX films) and Jidaigeki (period drama, usually set in the Edo period of Japanese history). It featured a gigantic stone statue of the God of War, which would come alive when evil threatened the land or when he was disrespected, in order to defend the innocent and punish evil.

The three Daimajin films were:

• Dai Majin [trans. Great Majin] (1966; dir. Kimiyoshi Yasuda) [aka Majin, Monster Of Terror; Majin, the Hideous Idol (US, 1968), Daimajin]
• Dai Majin ikaru [trans. The Giant Majin Grows Angry] (1966; dir. Kenji Misumi) [aka The Return of the Giant Majin (US, 1968)]
• Dai Majin gyakushu [trans. The Great Majin's Counterattack] (1966; dir. Issei Mori) [aka Majin Strikes Again]

They were quite formulaic, as were many of the film franchises of the time, following an almost ritualistic narrative template, but nevertheless both dramatically effective and spectacularly entertaining.

The much-anticipated revival of the franchise by Kadokawa Publishing, who acquired the rights to Daiei's original series some time ago and have been developing it since, debuts in April on Japanese television in a late-night timeslot, with a reported budget of 1 billion yen (US$11,000,000) -- an extraordinarily huge budget for a dorama (Japanese adult TV drama) of that kind. KawaiiJoyuu reports that college student Rikuna Yuka, aged 21, was selected from among 1000 other young women who auditioned for the role of the series human protagonist.

She commented on playing the role of Kanon:

"In the dorama Kanon is able to experience personal growth despite the coldhearted and painful life in the city. Just like her I was able to learn a lot during the filming and think that I grew up a bit myself."

As you can tell from this statement, the revival show is not to be a period drama, but instead is set in the modern world.

"This time the heroine will be a college student called Kanon who keeps on singing prayers that awake the giant god of war. Once again Daimajin will have to deal with a lot of bad guys."

Apparently there are an abundant supply of strangely dressed bad guys in weird headgear at hand to become the target of Daimajin's wrath.

The studio is definitely taking the series seriously. With a total of 7 months filming and over 1 billion yen spent to recreate Daimajin with state-of-the-art special effects, they're not mucking around. According to KawaiiJoyuu, "an ordinary late-night dorama has a small budget of like 7,000,000 yen ($78,000) per episode, but this 26-episode-long epic series had almost fourfold the amount."

 

  

  

 

• Sources: KawaiiJoyuu, NewType The Live; via Avery
• Undead Backbrain article; Previous Brainspasm article