Tag: monsters

Monsters enthusiasts of all stripes will congregate this weekend in Hollywood for the inaugural Aliens to Zombies Convention, an event that will bring together visual-effects artists with specialists in the other-worldly for panel discussions, creature-crafting competitions and more. Todd Masters, a monster-maker himself, co-organized the event with Bruce Haring, the director of JM Northern Media, which runs the DIY Convention and multiple book festivals. Masters, who founded MASTERSFX, the company that handles effects for shows including “True Blood” and “Falling Skies,” used his industry connections to assemble panels that kick off Saturday starting at 11 a.m. at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Participants will include “I Am Legend” effects artist Shaun Smith, Zombie Research Society founder Matt Mogk, “Encyclopaedia of Hell” author Martin Olson and Amalgamated Dynamics co-founders Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr., whose effects resume includes “The Thing” prequel ...

John Landis is best known for his hit comedies — films such as 1978’s “Animal House,” 1980’s “The Blues Brothers,” 1983’s “Trading Places” and 1988’s “Coming to America” — but he’s also walked on the dark side. The 61-year-old directed the 1981 horror classic “An American Werewolf in London,” which featured Rick Baker’s Oscar-winning makeup design. Landis and Baker reunited two years later for Michael Jackson’s landmark 1983 music video “Thriller,” and in 1992, Landis directed the vampire movie “Innocent Blood.” Now he’s exploring his love of the genre in the new book “Monsters in the Movies: 100 Years of Cinematic Nightmares.” The 320-page book, which features glorious photographs from the famed John Kobal Collection, is divided into types of monsters: vampires, werewolves, mad scientists, zombies, ghosts and mummies. Landis also engages in conversation with his longtime friends who have ...

The low-budget sci-fi thriller “Monsters,” which opened Friday in New York and Los Angeles, is just the latest in the never-ending line of alien and monsters flicks that have been popular for decades. Directed by Gareth Edwards, the movie revolves around a news photographer and his boss’ daughter who must travel through an “infected zone” in Mexico filled with aliens to reach the U.S. border. Though the film concentrates more on the budding romance between the characters than the massive creepy crawlies, it does recall the classic creature features from the 1950s — a decade obsessed with alien encounters and fears of nuclear war.  What follows is a look back at some of the best of the genre from that decade. “The Day the Earth Stood Still” (1951) Science fiction always has been a perfect lens for authors and filmmakers ...

My colleague John Horn has been raving about “Monsters,” Gareth Edwards’ low-budget thriller about a young couple forced to travel through some very dangerous territory. Horn says Edwards tried to shoot his film, which opens in New York and Los Angeles on Friday, on the run, relying as much on improvisation as scripted dialogue.  That approach was informed by the frustration Edwards felt when he had to deal with difficult visual-effects departments on the British television productions “End Day” and “Perfect Disaster.” “I got so frustrated with the process,” Edwards told Horn. “I have 50 people around me who are supposed to make my life easier, and they’re really making it harder. There has to be an easier way. The whole point of the digital revolution is pointless if you still need so many people following you around.” With just a ...