monstermovieblog

Monday, April 19, 2010

Virginia Fly Fishing Festival - The Aftermath

Well, the big show of the season is over. The weather was highly cooperative except for the wind but that didn't seem to bother the crowd. The turn-out was great for the 10th anniversary of the festival in Waynesboro with some 1,100 visitors on Saturday. The crowd was substantially smaller on Sunday but no less enthusiastic than the big crowd on Saturday. Steve Englund (Headed Out) came over from Blacksburg for the Saturday schedule and he was running the cash register and selling gear in a matter of minutes. We were glad that he was able to come out and enjoy the festival and hang with us for the event. We met some new friends and were able to visit with the old and a good time was had by all! I think the festival is on the right track and with a little tweeking here and there, will be the showcase fly fishing festival on the East Coast for years to come. We are honoring all the specials from the show on the website for the next week so if you were a little hesitant to get that gear from us you really wanted but were afraid to pull the trigger, come visit us at the FFB Website and partake in the goods now. Soon to have ALL HD videos on our site and then some more soon! So, be on the lookout for those new videos.

Monday, March 29, 2010

Get Ready With Your Finger Missles And Robot Punch! The Shogun Warriors Are Coming To The Big Screen!

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Sources: Ain't It Cool News / Avery Guerra

If you were a pre-teen in the late 1970s, and you didn't at least have one "Shogun Warrior" toy, you were a social outcast.........at least in the circles I ran in.....way back then.

With the success of the "Transformers" movies, and the pending "Robotech", "Voltron" and "Battletech" films, I was honestly counting the days until this giant robot franchise was going to be snatched up by some Hollywood studio.

Indeed, Mattel's classic line of giant robot toys, called "Shogun Warriors" is going to be developed into a live-action film by Jules Urbach, and as you may have guessed, is going to be in 3D.

Tentatively entitled "Gaiking", the film is being slated for a 2012 release. If it ends up being a hit, then Urbach already has ideas for a sequel, titled "Shogun Warriors".

According to Urbach, the film will not take place on Earth, but on several alien worlds, and unlike "Transformers", will not be a GCI cluster-f**k. Instead the film maker and his staff intend on using life-sized robots.

Yes, you read that right, life-sized "Shogun Warrior" robots. I don't know quite how they intend to pull that off, but Urbach insists that the only way to get the 'true feel' of these titanic machines is to use life-sized props.

I can't say that I disagree with that idea, if they have the skill, and funding, to make it work properly, without it looking ultra-cheesy.

The project originated as a 7-minute short called "Gaiking / Shogun Warriors" which was produced for Cameron and David Fincher's "Heavy Metal" project. After the completion of that film, Urbach began securing the rights to the other robots from the toy-line (the Shogun Warriors were a collection of giant robots from various Japanese animated series), and now, according to the film maker, his film will feature more of the robots, than the Marvel Comics series did.

Now, I know exactly what you are thinking. The "Shogun Warriors" line of toys featured a few very prominent names from Japanese pop-culture, including, The Great Mazinger, Godzilla, and, unofficially, Rodan.

Was Urbach able to secure the rights to use any of these characters in his film? Will we see Mazinger (called Mazinga in the toy line) in the movie? Could the film maker have been able to cough up enough dough to get Toho to let him use two of their prize properties, namely Godzilla and Rodan?

Urbach isn't saying, yet, which robots are going to be in his movie, except Gaiking....and that's kinda a given. Though, he does plan to reveal all at this years Comic Con, which I will be attending.

Don't think for a second that I won't be pushing people aside and stepping on children to get into that panel.

Could Godzilla and Rodan be making cameos in "Gaiking" or the sequel "Shogun Warriors"? My money says no, but wouldn't that be freaking awesome if the were!

Here is some history, for those of you young people who weren't lucky enough to have been around in the late 70s:

(From Wikipeadia)

Shogun Warriors were a line of toys, licensed by Mattel during the late 1970s that consisted of a series of imported Japanese robots all based on then-popular giant robot anime shows. They were originally manufactured in three sizes, the 24-inch (610 mm) plastic versions, the 3.5-inch (89 mm) diecast metal versions and the slightly taller but much more detailed and articulated 5" diecast versions. There were also several vehicles offered and a set that could be put together to form Combattra (Combattler V).

The most attractive features on these toys were the spring loaded launcher weapons such as missiles, star shuriken, and battleaxes. Some robots were able to launch their fists. The later diecast versions of these toys were also attractive for the ability to transform into different shapes. Raydeen, for instance, was changeable into a birdlike spaceship. These "convertible" editions were the precursors to the "Transformers" line of toy robots but unlike the later toyline it was not unusual for minor dissasembly to be required to achieve the secondary form. There was even a robot named Megatron in issue #18 of the comic, then the name was used multipe times for the leader of the evil Decepticons from Transformers. Also, the second form was not always an apparently useful one, a "giant skull" for instance.

Like certain other toylines of the 70s, the Shogun Warriors came under pressure due to safety concerns regarding their spring loaded weapons features. Children would launch the weapons and hit other children or pets in the eye, or else they would swallow the plastic missiles. Toy manufacturers were facing new regulations due to reported child injuries as a result of playing with these toys. Consequently, many toy companies were forced to remodel existing toylines with child safe variations (such as spring loaded "action" missiles that would remain attached to the toy). For this reason, as well as decreasing sales, the Shogun Warriors toyline disappeared by 1980.

Several of the anime from this toyline were seen in the 80s as part of Jim Terry's Force Five series.

Shogun Warriors was licensed in 1979–1980 for a 20-issue series by Marvel Comics, which was written by Doug Moench and featured art by Herb Trimpe. In the comic, the Shogun Warriors were created by a mysterious group called the Followers of the Light. Human operators were chosen from all around the world to operate the massive robots in order to battle evil.

The series is firmly rooted in the Marvel Universe, as evidenced by their interactions with Doctor Demonicus in issues #12-14 and the Fantastic Four in the last two issues of the series. Issue #15 was a fill-in issue written by Steven Grant with art by Mike Vosburg. The series took a dramatic turn with issue #16, as the Shogun Warriors' mentors were destroyed by the Primal One and his followers. This alien force decided that Earth's technology had outpaced its morality, and so it was their duty to destroy the Shogun Warriors as well as other powerful humans, including Reed Richards and Tony Stark.

Though he never appeared in the comic series, Red Ronin (a robot created for Marvel's Godzilla comic) was mentioned occasionally and was frequently talked about in the letters pages.

Speaking of Godzilla & Rodan:

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Sexy Busty Blonde, Juli Ann, Is A Vision Posing In Her Adorable Polka-dot Bra

Source: Aziani

Julia Ann heats things up! Her gorgeous smile and divine body are ready for some real lovin! She is a sexual creature that is classy and elegant! She really enjoys modeling and showing off her special goodies for the camera.

The Mummy's Kiss (2003)(Frontline Entertainment)

Written By: Donald F Glut
Source: Frontline Entertainment

Ana Harwa, a beautiful young University student, assists her fiancé Professor Carter Moore and his assistant Tina Kim in the college warehouse as they open the crate containing the 3,000-year-old mummy of Hor-Shep-Sut. The mummy, along with other artifacts from the evil sorceress Hor-Shep-Sut's Egyptian tomb, were collected by Ana's uncle Dr. Wallis Harwa, a famous archaeologist possessing minor psychic abilities. The mummy's face is covered by a gold mask in the image of Osiris, Egyptian god of death and resurrection. When Ana touches the mummy's arm, she faints and "remembers" Ancient Egypt -- images of an illicit love affair between the Princess Hat-Em-Akhet, Ana's look-a-like, and Hor-Shep-Sut. When Ana again revives, she is strangely cold toward Carter. has a gold streak in her hair, just like the Princess', and asks that the mummy not be unmasked.

Following her encounter with the mummy, Ana progressively becomes more "distant," at the same time losing interest in Carter and becoming more curious about Ancient Egypt. She borrows a book about mummies from her Uncle Wallis.

That night, a curious security guard removes the Osiris mask and, in doing so, frees the sorceress' spirit revives the mummy, which promptly drains off his life energies, reducing him to a smoking, dried-up corpse. When partner Chuck Jefferson investigates the other guard's disappearance, he encounters the living mummy, which then transforms into the beautiful human form of Hor-Shep-Sut. Via a kiss, Hor-Shep-Sut drains away Chuck's "ka" - his spiritual twin - reducing him to a mindless and obedient "zombie" slave. The following day, the entire Egyptian collection - plus the two guards - are gone. Dr. Harwa fears that the theft may involve the supernatural.

Hor-Shep-Sut, after setting up the artifacts from her tomb in an abandoned theatre, longs to renew her love affair with Hat-em-Akhet. Having already felt Ana's touch, she knows that the Princess' reincarnated spirit exists in this new millennium, just waiting to be awakened. She prays to the deities Osiris and Isis for advice.
Appearing from the Afterlife, they instruct her that she must first increase her magical powers by draining off the "kas" of young women, and then…

Encountering Ana at the college and immediately recognizing her as the reincarnated Princess, Hor-Shep-Sut -calling herself Ramsay Amun -- begins her subtle campaign to reawaken Hat-Em-Akhet time-buried spirit. Meanwhile, Carter has his own problems. Although he believes he loves Ana, she is now more involved with Ramsay than with him. The other coeds at the school, finding Carter extremely attractive and charismatic, constantly try to seduce him. Furthermore, loyal Tina is secretly in love with Carter, but, knowing he loves Ana, will not "cross over the line" and reveal her true feelings for him.

Consulting Dr. Harwa, Carter learns the legendary account of Hat-Em-Akhet and Hor-Shep-Sut, as revealed in an ancient papyrus scroll: Pharaoh, after learning of the forbidden love affair between his daughter and the sorceress, had his Nubian warriors capture Hor-Shep-Sut. Promptly, the royal embalmers trapped Hor-Shep-Sut's spirit inside her body by affixing the mask of Osiris to her face. Then, while the young woman yet lived, they cut out her heart, placing it in a canopic jar (now on a shelf in Harwa's office), then wrapped up and entombed her body. Dr. Harwa, noticing the striking resemblance between his niece and the Princess as depicted on the scroll, fears the worst, while Carter, a man of science, is skeptical.

The worst does happen. Ramsay increases her powers by seducing Helena and Yvonne, two of Carter's more amorous students, draining off their "kas" and reducing them to "zombie" states. Then, learning from Osiris and Isis that she must retrieve her missing heart and then join it with Ana's, Ramsay magically attacks Dr. Harwa and steals the canopic jar. Then, via a mystic amulet, she lures Ana to the theatre where she plans to cut out her heart and perform the ritual by which the Sorceress and Princess can become lovers again throughout Eternity.

Learning via the dying Dr. Harwa's psychic impression where Ana has gone, Carter - at last starting to believe in the supernatural -- and Tina rush to the theatre, where they are menaced first by the enslaved Chuck, and then Helena and Yvonne. Prevailing, Carter and Tina interrupt Ramsay's ritual just as she is about to cut into the sleeping Ana's chest to remove her heart. Ramsay attacks Carter with her magical powers. Thinking fast, Tina grabs the Osiris mask and forces it back onto Ramsay's face, causing her to return to mummy form. Before she dies, however, Ramsay manages to transfer her spirit into Ana's body. In the end, Carter finally realizes he loves Tina after all. But while the lifeless mummy of Hor-Shep-Sut is again crated up to be put back in storage, the sorceress' spirit has apparently survived in the form of Ana.

THE CAST

RAMSAY AMUN/HOR-SHEP-SUT..................................AVA NICHE
ANA HARWA/PRINCESS HAT-EM-AKHET.......................SASHA PERALTA
PROF. CARTER MOORE....................................GEORGE THOMAS
TINA KIM..................................................AYSIA LEE
DR. WALLIS HARWA......................................RICHARD LYNCH
OSIRIS...............................................ARTHUR ROBERTS
ISIS..................................................KATIE LOHMANN
CHUCK JEFFERSON...................................DAVID JEAN-THOMAS
HELENA...............................................REGINA RUSSELL
YVONNE..................................................DIANA ESPEN
SHIVA.................................................ROSALYN MACIE
CARRIE................................................ELINA MADISON
JEANNETTE..............................................RHODA JORDAN
DICK WALTERS...........................................STAN BENNETT
WAITRESS...................................................KAILA YU
COLLEGE TEACHER #1........................................TONY CLAY
COLLEGE TEACHER #2........................................GARY DEAN
EMBALMER #1...........................................DOUG GOODREAU
EMBALMER #2.......................................BUDDY D. FRIEDMAN
MUMMY...................................................SYVIA ROYIK

Johnny Sokko And His Flying Robot Coming To DVD Exclusively Through Amazon

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Sources: TV Shows on DVD / Avery Guerra

MGM is about to release the long-awaited Japanese television series "Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot" on DVD exclusively through Amazon.com

The seven DVD set will include the entire run of the series, which has been high on Japanese monster movie fans lists for over a decade.

The exact date of this release has not yet been disclosed, but fans will be able to preorder it very soon (see link above).

The series, called "Giant Robo" in Japan was produced by Toei Company Ltd., and aired on NET (now TV Asahi) from October 11, 1967 to April 1, 1968, with a total of 26 episodes. The English dubbed version of the series was produced by American International Television as "Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot".

The entire series was first broadcast in the United States in 1969 by American International Television, and became quite popular in syndication over the next several years, particularly from 1971-74 when it reached its peak in distribution. The series was still in active syndication through the early 1980s. In 1970, several episodes were edited together to create the movie Voyage Into Space, which has now reached cult film status.

The series was astonishingly violent by American standards of children's programming in the 1960s (in its home country of Japan, though, it was no more violent than any other tokusatsu airing at the time). Gunplay are staples of every episode of the series, and the series' two child leads - Johnny Sokko and Mari Hanson (Mari Hanamura in the Japanese version; a 9-year-old girl introduced in the seventh episode who speaks 39 languages and is a crack shot with a firearm) were frequently seen shooting along with the rest of the Unicorn agents. In one episode, Johnny and Mari are captured and tied to trees by Gargoyle, and are within seconds of being executed by firing squad, when Unicorn agents rescue them. Oddly enough, though practically every Japanese anime exported to the United States during that period was edited due to violent content, Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot seemed to have escaped close scrutiny in that regard, and what editing was done on the show seemed to have been more for the purposes of squeezing in another commercial or two rather than in the interest of curbing the show's violence.

Plot:

The Earth is under invasion by a terrorist group called Big Fire (Gargoyle in the US version), an illuminati style organization led by the alien Emperor Guillotine, who spends almost the entire series in a multicolored space ship hidden at the bottom of one of the Earth's oceans (presumably the Pacific) whence he issues his orders to the members of Gargoyle (frequently referred to in the series as "The Gargoyle Gang").

The members of Gargoyle, as it turns out, are an ambitious but somewhat incompetent bunch who appear to have a fairly high mortality rate due either to Unicorn actions or Guillotine's own fits of anger. Their wardrobe is an interesting collection of what appears to be an assortment of castoffs from Soviet officers, wartime Wehrmacht personnel, Central American guerillas, and the designers of Italian sunglasses. In addition, at least one Gargoyle member is always seen with a beatnik beard. Most of Gargoyle's members wear berets adorned with a skull on the front. All members of Gargoyle have an explosive device implanted within their bodies that can be detonated in the event they are captured, though this seems to be used only rarely.

Guillotine himself has a large blue head with tentacles extending from the bottom of the head; not unlike Cthulhu. He wears a long robe, and carries a staff with a white orb at its furthest end. Like his head, the rest of his body is blue. He is capable of growing to an enormous height, though this is only seen once in the series; specifically, it is only seen in the last installment, where he himself actually fights, and loses to, the Flying Robot.

Guillotine leaves day-to-day matters in the hands of various commanders; principally Spider (a human who is eventually killed by a spray of acid), Doctor Botanus (Doctor Over in the Japanese series; a silver-skinned alien capable of teleportation), Fangar (Red Cobra in the Japanese series, and also alternatively referred to as Dangor the Executioner in the US series - a bizarre alien with a pegleg and crutch, a greatly enlarged forehead, protruding upper teeth, and a costume that looks like a traditional striped prison outfit in front and a red velvet jumpsuit in back), Harlequin (Black Dia in the Japanese version, who has a fascination with the suits of playing cards), and The Golden Knight (Mr Gold in the Japanese series; a gold colored armoured knight).

The group captures scientists to create an army of giant monsters to rampage the Earth. But fate stumbles on a little boy named Daisaku Kusama (Johnny Sokko in the US) and a young man named Jūrō Minami (Jerry Mano in the US), the latter is secretly Member U3 of the top-secret peacekeeping organization, Unicorn. Daisaku and Jūrō are shipwrecked on an island after the ocean liner they were on was attacked by a giant sea monster called Dracolon, and are captured by members of Big Fire. When trying to escape, they end up in an elevator that leads down to a huge construction complex where a giant robot is being built. Pharaoh-like in appearance in that the design of his head resembles the headdresses worn by the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt, this nearly indestructible humanoid robot is being built by captive scientist Dr. Lucius Guardian, who decides to give the two escapees its control device, a miniature transmitter built into a wristwatch. The robot can only be controlled by the first voice recorded in his electronic brain; however, he first needs to be charged up by atomic energy. Dr. Guardian helps Daisaku and Jūrō escape, only to be shot to death, but not before he set an atomic bomb that destroyed the base, the resulting explosion activates the giant robot, which moves to Daisaku's every command. As the controller of the robot (heretofore known as "Giant Robo," or just "Giant Robot" in the US), Daisaku is invited by Jūrō and his chief Azuma to join Unicorn as its 7th member, U7. As U7, Daisaku fights the evil forces of Big Fire with the help of U3/Jūrō and Giant Robo.

The Tragically Funny Story Of 'The Lizard Boy'

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Sources: Undead Backbrain / Avery Guerra

I know that the title for this article looks like it was taken straight off of the Weekly World News or some other grocery store rag, but I assure you that it pertains to a movie.

No, really, a horror movie.

Surprised?

Well, it looks like another independent film director, in this case, Paul Della, has chosen to explore what kind of mayhem can happen when man tries to play God.

And what generally happens when someone tries to play God?

um.......bad stuff?

Correct!

To be persice, a government funded scientist creates a half-man-half-lizard who goes on the warpath in a small town.

Here is the synopsis:

A small mountain town is terrorized by a half-man, half-reptile creature when renowned geneticist, Dr. Gino Conti, contracted by the Defense Sciences Office to develop a top-secret hybrid animal, pursues personal experiments in an effort to reconcile his tragic past. An entertaining sci-fi thriller with plenty of action, drama, humor and bits of gore, Lizard Boy raises questions about modern genetics while harkening back to the monster movies of old.

Della describes his film as a “sci-fi tragicomedy”, which seems to fit the bill considering our "Lizard Boy" is a poor outcast....with wicked ninja skills.

A lizard-ninja? Are we sure that this thing didn't come from the Weekly World News? .....yeh, we checked.

Speaking of tabloids, it is interesting to note that Lizard Men have been seen all over this country, mostly in South Carolina. I don't think that any of those reports mentioned the creatures kicking asses like ninjas. Then again, who would report that? People would think that you are crazy or something........lol......ahem.

Here are more photos from "Lizard Boy":

Hot Beautiful Italian Goddess, Mariah Milano, Poses In The Kitchen

Source: Aziani

The one and only, Mariah Milano...The Italian Goddess is back and we are very excited to show you more of her! She is modeling her pink girly girl sexy lingerie, and she knows how to work it! She has the entire amazing package from her hair down to her cute little toes. The word that comes to mind is "phenomenal"!!