Review: Caltiki The Immortal Monster (1959)

Sometimes a black and white film can surprise you ... and such it is with Caltiki The Immortal Monster. In some respects this is a reworking of The Blob (1958) and X The Unknown (1956), as it features a flesh-eating amorphous blob which goes on the rampage. Here, it’s an ancient Mayan god called Caltiki which rises from an underground pool when an archaeologist called Max (Gérard Herter) falls onto the creature trying to get some gold (a supreme moment of daftness) and it attaches itself to his arm. The lead archaeologist, Professor Fielding (John Merivale) cuts a bit of the monster off trying to rescue his friend and takes it back to the USA where it grows when subjected to radiation. As time passes, the creature (a single celled organism apparently) splits itself into multiple copies and they go on the rampage until the army stops them with fire.

What’s great about the film is that the effects, by Mario Bava, are pretty gruesome and impressive, with a face eaten away by acid, an arm reduced to a skeleton, and the blob-things themselves growing and moving at impressive rate. There’s a lot of model-work in the film too, something only revealed by flames being the wrong scale, but it’s impressive nonetheless.

There’s even a bit of sexy dancing for the dads, where the dancer has a torn off skirt and flashes her knickers far more often than an American film would usually allow at this time.

Overall it’s a superior example of the Italian horror/science fiction film, even if it rips off the ‘hungry blob’ movies mentioned above.  I also felt that perhaps Island of Terror (1966) had been ‘inspired’ a little, with its radiation-created blob monsters.

Directed: Ricardo Freda, Mario Bava

Story by: Philip Just

Arrow DVD Released 10 April 2017

Review: Pieces (1982)

Pieces is a crazy little Spanish horror film, dubbed into English, and containing so much randomness that trying to make sense of it is hopeless. It is, however, charming in its insanity, and if you like eighties slasher fare, then this is certainly one to add to the list!

The director went on to make Slugs, which is a far superior film, but in Pieces he cuts his teeth on the horror film, and manages to come up with something that is original whilst also being very derivative.

We open with a kid called Timmy doing a jigsaw ... except it’s a jigsaw of a nudie lady. Timmy’s mother arrives and is cross, taking the jigsaw from him and soundly telling him off. So Timmy does what any normal kid would: he gets an axe and chops his mum up into pieces. Flash forward forty years, and a masked and mysterious person is putting together the same jigsaw ... but before he completes each piece, he heads out with his chainsaw, and cuts a young, female, co-ed into pieces, taking away the part that corresponds with the next piece of his jigsaw ... he then completes that part of the puzzle, and moves to the next girl ... and the next ...

It’s a familiar concept perhaps, but I wonder in 1982 how original this was. Is there an earlier film which riffs on this idea? Sometimes we can forget that films which seem derivative today, were actually the first to do certain things.

The film therefore trots along at a pace, throwing up potential suspects as to who the killer actually is, with police who haven’t a clue, college girls who strip off at the least provocation, and even a random kung-fu dude who appears in one scene, never to be heard from again! And the acting ... oh the acting ... there’s so much scenery chewing and ham here that the filmmakers could have dined out for months. But as with this type of film, it seems not to matter ... what matters is the fun you can have with some buddies and some beer, counting the corpses as they pile up.

As usual the Arrow release is chock full of extras, as well as a CD of the incidental music, which primarily comes from CAM (Creazioni Artistiche Musicali), an Italian Music Library service. The main theme is particularly good, sounding like Goblin crossed with A Nightmare on Elm Street!

This Special Edition release also contains: two versions of the feature: Pieces, the US theatrical version; and Mil Gritos Tiene La Noche, the original uncensored director’s cut, presented in Spanish with original score by Librado Pastor; alternate re-score by composer Umberto; collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic Michael Gingold; soundtrack CD featuring the entire original score; limited edition 180 gram 12” vinyl of the original score; and finally a 100-piece jigsaw puzzle replica!

Directed: J Piquer Simon

Written: Dick Randall, John Shadow

Arrow DVD/Blu-Ray Special Edition. Released: 27 March 2017

Review: Evilution: The Conceptual Art of Chris Thompson

I've always been a sucker for artwork! Whether it be art books, prints, posters ... book covers, film posters ... the art always draws me in. Unfortunately to reproduce it well, and to do it justice requires some outlay, as I know only too well from Telos Publishing's forays into that area!

Enter Matt Doe and Andrew Skilleter, who together have revived Skilleter's 'Who Dares' company from the 1980s, and are now publishing a variety of items which showcase artwork. They did a new calendar featuring Andrew's art last year, and now have embarked on a new venture: limited edition art portfolios. And they're not all about Skilleter's work!

Just sent for review is Evilution: Variations on a Theme: The Conceptual Art of Chris Thompson. I was not aware of Thompson's art before, but I had seen the beautiful stained glass Dalek which adorned the cover of one of Big Finish's audio releases. Part of the confusion is perhaps that there is also a Chris Thomson who is an actor and does unofficial Who audios ... and Chris Thompson was a BBC designer on Evil of the Daleks in the sixties ... and there's even a Chris Thompson who works at Titan as their Brand Manager for the Who comics they produce ... so it's easy to get confused!

This Chris Thompson is an artist who was working for Jamie Anderson, son of Gerry, on some of the Anderson spin off material, and it was Jamie who directed the Big Finish Audio and got Chris in to do the cover ...

After that, it seems that Chris decided that Daleks were good to create, and so went off on various tangents to bring us 'what-ifs' of five other Dalek potentials, all based around different designs, materials, and concepts which were in force in the periods he was working with.  Thus Dalekzarkov postulates if the Daleks had been designed a few years earlier, and takes inspiration from Forbidden Planet and the Flash Gordon serials ... Dalekyuri is a what if the Russians designed a Dalek ... Dalekvinci postulates a casing created by Leonardo daVinci ... while Daleksan is a Japanese themed casing ...

All the images are reproduced on top quality A4 stock, and as a nice extra, there's a Dalekstainly image reproduced on tracing paper as well, so that light can come through it. I like that touch.

As well as the six prints, there's a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist, and a smashing little booklet which explains and guides you through all the artwork.

It all comes enclosed in a lovely A4 thick card folder, and the whole package reeks of quality, from the choice of materials to the foil stamping on the certificate.  Strangely, the cover, booklet and certificate all call it 'The Conceptual Art ...' but on the prints themselves, it says 'The Concept Art ...'.

The only gulp factor might be the cost, but as I said, to do something like this at a low quantity costs a lot per unit.  Thus the 'Artists' Limited Edition' costs £69.95 (this brings you everything I have discussed, including signed limitation certificate) and is limited to 50 numbered copies.  And the 'Collectors' Limited Edition' omits the signed limitation certificate and costs £49.95. This is limited to 100 copies.

Who Dares have plans for further Portfolios featuring different artists ... and I assume as long as they can sell them, they will keep producing them ...

For more details and to buy copies; http://www.who-dares.co.uk/shop/chris-thompson/

For full disclosure, I have written the introduction to a future portfolio, and this one was supplied to me for review purposes.

Review: City of the Dead (1960)

City of the Dead is a surprisingly good little film from 1960. It’s in black and white, unlike Hammer’s horror fare which by this time was in full colour, and the director makes best use of his palette of greys, creating a brooding, hypnotic landscape through which the characters stumble ...

The plot is tried and tested: a witch, Elizabeth Selwyn (Patricia Jessel) is burnt at the stake in the past, and curses the village and those who killed her ... flash forward to the present, and Christopher Lee plays a creepy professor, Driscoll, who recommends that one of his students, Nan (Venetia Stevenson), heads off to the village of Whitewood to investigate the myths firsthand.  The village seems constantly wreathed in low-lying mists and darkness, and of course everyone is behaving suspiciously ... until all is revealed that creepy Mrs Newless (Patricia Jessel again) is the reincarnation of the original witch. And that Nan is the next sacrifice ...

Except this isn’t the end of the story ... It’s somewhat shocking that Nan is killed half way through the film – shades of Janet Leigh in Psycho, which also came out in 1960. It’s up to Nan’s brother Richard (Dennis Lotis) and boyfriend Bill (Tom Naylor) to come looking for her ... retracing her steps, right down to discovering the underground tunnels and witches’ lair ... before all is resolved by a neat bit of invented legend, that the shadow of a cross causes witches to burst into flame!

It’s a fun film, and the performances are all pretty much first rate. Christopher Lee is great as the professor, and the rest of the cast seem to reach for the bar that he sets. The film also seems ahead of its time in terms of the look and feel of the settings, and the handling of the witchcraft element is similarly well done.  A superior example.

Directed: John Llewellyn Moxey

Story by: Milton Subotsky

Screenplay: George Baxt

Arrow DVD released 24 April 2017

Review: The Santa Clarita Diet (2017)

Netflix does it again with this quirky ten part series starring Drew Barrymore. Barrymore plays Sheila Hammond, an every-Mom housewife living in Santa Clarita, California. She’s married to Joel (Timothy Olyphant) and they have a somewhat dysfunctional daughter Abby (Liv Hewson). One day, Sheila undergoes a transformation – involving projectile vomiting a copious amount of yellow goo ... and a strange red organ-like object – into a flesh-eating zombie.  The series basically follows how her husband and daughter cope with this, and how she herself manages to survive the rigours of modern life while needing to chow down on corpses each day.

It’s a comedy, and so not to be taken too seriously, and it’s also supremely entertaining. The gore effects are strong indeed, and occasionally you could be forgiven for thinking you’ve strayed into the gorehouses of Jigsaw or Leatherface, but that adds to the impact. All the leads are brilliant, and play their parts to the max. Oliphant is especially good as the husband who has to come to terms with the fact that his wife now eats the living, and wonders whether he will become the next meal!

Thematically it’s similar to I Zombie, with its zombie teenager, and it has the same likable feel to it as that show.

Really enjoyable, some great moments, and a good setting make The Santa Clarita Diet another winner from Netflix.

Warlord Games

This week I was lucky enough to be invited along to Warlord Games' premises and factory in Nottingham for a sneak peak at some of the Doctor Who line which they have coming up, and also to have a look at how the figures are actually created!

Warlord launched their first Doctor Who game, called Exterminate! the other week, and this is a 'Dungeons and Dragons' type skirmish game, where your imagination is the only limit, and which can be played with all their various metal miniatures as 'inspiration' pieces. There was a launch day for this as well, and I was there, watching the game being played, and seeing how it all worked.

One of the most incredible things about the metal miniatures is the amount of detail that they get into the figures. They really do look like the actors and creatures they are supposed to be. This is because each figure starts life as a little model, and for current series characters, they also have a 3D computer model of the actor, so sculpting tends to be limited to the costumes - but even there there are 3D Models available of some things, so on occasion, no human intervention is needed!

Playing Exterminate!

For these figures, they will then print a 3D model in the right scale for initial checks. This is then used to create molds and then these to create masters, everything being approved along the way. Then finally the master is used to create casting molds, and the metal is then poured into these and spun, the centrifugal force pushing the metal into the mold and creating the figures.  They are then removed from the mold and checked.  Any which are not correct are discarded and the metal reused.

If a 3D model isn't available, then one is created. But other figures start life as a hand sculpted figure, which are then cast to create a master, and then it follows the same process as before. It's involved and time consuming, and is by far the most expensive element in the process.

Mold for metal Davros figurines.

There are also plastic models, and these are outsourced for creation.

For the 'sets' - houses and bridges and vehicles - these tend to be cast in resin, and so there's a similar process, except that the master mold is in silicone, and the resin is poured into each mold to create the pieces needed.  Before this happens though, the kit needs to be broken down into moldable pieces and it is figured out where the resin will be poured in.

There's also consideration for air holes and just how the air will escape when the resin or metal is poured. There is a lot of knowhow and technical skill involved - far more than you might think!

Resin components in there molds, setting.

Out of these processes come the figures and kits ... everything you need to build vast armies of Doctor Who monsters and characters.

At the factory we also saw the packing process where the boxes are hand-packed with the right figures, all of which have passed several points of approval and inspection before they reach this point.

Warlord have a licence to produce the Doctor Who figures, and they have an impressive selection of items waiting in the wings.  On display we saw some of the items coming up ... including Ogrons, Missy and Davros ... and a set of every design of Cybermen, including an amazing Tomb set, created as a prototype for the moment, but intended for production.

Prototype Tomb of the Cybermen scenario

They would like to see more of this sort of set created in the future, building the history of Doctor Who into an all-encompassing gaming system which allows free reign in time and space, and which can take in places the Doctor has visited ...

Frazer Hines was with us, and here he
looks at something of interest ...

The painted figures are most impressive. Given that they are such a small size (25mm), the detail that the painters get into them is nothing short of mind-blowing.

Warlord have plans for a great many more figures and sets and games ...and Doctor Who provides an almost unending source of figures and ideas!  It's a perfect match!

Warlord's figures and the Exterminate! game can be purchased direct from Warlord at http://www.warlordgames.com or https://doctorwhotimevortex.com/



Here's a selection of the painted figures.  Remember that these are just 25mm tall!

Missy and Davros

Cybermen!

More Cybermen!

Even more Cybermen!

Running Cyberman!

Clockwork Droids

Clara, Strax and Madame Vastra

12th Doctor and Clara

Vashta Nerada

Zygons!

Rose and 10th Doctor

Wilf, Donna and Martha

Ogrons!

The Ghost and Mr Syn

Judoon!

And of course, a Dalek!

C is for Children

There have been many hundreds of books published on Doctor Who, and many approaches taken over the years ... but this year has seen the first pre-school Doctor Who titles made available ... one really does wonder who the target audience for this stuff is!  Personally, I think it's the adults who love the retro-kids concepts being played with!

The first book is T is for TARDIS, a pretty traditional picture book where we go through the alphabet and picture items from Doctor Who which start with that letter ... thus we kick off with A IS FOR ANGEL ... but we also have Amy pictured eating an apple, and there's also an adipose there for good luck ... I IS FOR IMPOSSIBLE and lo, we have Clara, along with an Ice Warrior ... and so on.

The imagery is basic but cute, and of course they have problems with Y where it is apparently for ALLONS-Y!!  (However there are Yeti pictured ... what about Yartek as well?) And X is for EXTERMINATE but at least we have a picture of an X-Ray as a poor chap is blasted ... but no Xeraphin?

It's a tricky one as is it for kids? In which case it doesn't really matter ... or is it for adults, in which case including other monsters would be fun ... so under W (where we have simply WARRIOR and a picture of the War Doctor, we could have had War Machine, Warrien, Weed Creature, White Robot, Wirrn, Wolf Weeds and Wood Beast ... and that's just from the Classic series ...

At £9.99 for a slim hardback, this is perhaps a step too far ...

Of far more interest are a new series of Mr Men mash-up books with Doctor Who which celebrate each Doctor, depicted in classic Mr Men style ...  There are four titles in the initial release: Dr Twelfth, Dr. Eleventh, Dr. Fourth and Dr. First and each tells a story about that Doctor, featuring some classic monsters into the bargain.

In Dr. First, the Doctor comes up against the Cybermen while being grumpy ... the Fourth Doctor escapes from a Dalek via some coincidental techniques ... the Eleventh Doctor teams up with River Song and narrowly escapes from Zygons, Silurians, Angels, snakes and a giant spider to rescue his fez ... while the Twelfth Doctor tries to stop Missy as she steals things all over the place.

The books are in the same small format as all the other Mr Men titles, and are actually really cute and diverting ...  Just the thing for bedtime stories ... And at £4.99 each are are a much cheaper proposition than the picture book ...

SciFi Weekender 8

I've not been posting quite as much here of late ... mainly because I've been busy on several projects, and with several other real-world things also taking up my time!  But with the SciFi Weekender 8 event now past, I can finally find some time to blog!

So what is SciFi Weekender?  I have been asked that on several occasions ... is it like a ComicCon people ask ... or is it like a Festival?  A little of both, but not quite like either is the correct answer. The best way to describe it is as a weekend-long party at which everyone can geek out over whatever their Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror passion is ... there's lots of partying ... live music and cabaret acts and dancing in the evenings (and sometimes during the day too) ... lots of genre guests from film and television ... artists guests from the comics ... author guests who pen the literature that people like to read ... and cosplay ... lots of cosplay ... It really is a weekend experience like no other!

Linzi Gold and Jericho Rose on the Thursday night

For me, the journey to SFW has been fascinating indeed. Sam and I started to get involved several years back now, when we were guests of the event, and since then we have helped with the author track, helped with the other guests ... and then from last year, Telos Publishing became a co-sponsor of the event, along with Chic Festivals, Area 51 and Sci-Fi London ... so we were even more involved in the organisation.

For this year, I ended up scheduling the whole event and creating the programme which was given out to everyone. This was a year's worth of effort and planning ... helping to get the guests on board, the authors, liasing with Matt from Area 51 and Jonni from Chic to pin everything down ... Matt also did the final, spectacular design of the programme booklet and the end result, after months of work, was hopefully a guide to the whole event, allowing attendees to plan their own Weekender experience.  It seems to have gone down well too, which is very gratifying.

Sam Stone interviewing Nicholas Brendon

We also arranged the author track, with top names Darren Shan, Simon Morden, Justina Robson, Freda Warrington, Steve Lockley, Paul Lewis and of course Sam Stone all appearing to talk and sign books.  We were based at 'Author Central' in the Spaceport arena, and hosted signings there. Greatest thanks to Mick, Tracey and Caitlin Herod for helping out on the stall ... Sam and I were so busy over the weekend that we were only able to make fleeting appearances there ourselves!

The only downside to the weekend was the weather! We arrived on Wednesday in torrential rain which didn't let up until Friday morning ... the place was flooded! Wet and muddy, great pools of water everywhere, and you got soaked every time you went out!  But there's not much we can do about that unfortunately!

Peter Purves and Frazer Hines

Daphne Ashbrook and Yee Jee Tso

The weekend kicked off on Thursday with a couple of introductory panels, which seemed to go well, and then in the evening, we were treated to the band Jericho Rose who performed a brilliant 45 minute set. They are Manchester based, and their lead singer is Linzi Gold, Sam's daughter, who also sung at last year's Weekender ... They also nailed two covers: 'She Sells Sanctuary' and 'I Believe In A Thing Called Love' ...

This was followed by SFW Allstars ... a different vibe before the DJ, in which Daphne Ashbrook, Sam Stone, Linzi Gold and Yee Jee Tso sung, and Frazer Hines compered (and I did a little comic shtick with Frazer). Again this seemed to be well received ... and so we collapsed off to bed (well, to the cabin and wine and brandy before bed).

Peter Purves, Linzi Gold and Frazer Hines brave
The Tombs

Friday and the first full day ... I moderated a panel in the morning with the Who Companions ... and then spent a lot of time dashing between the Spaceport and Timeport arenas for various reasons ... We did a little 'Opening the Tomb' sketch as I had arranged for the set from the Doctor who 'The Tomb of the Cybermen' to be there thanks to it's builder Sam Rendell, who had also arranged for a Cyberlegion to be present ... so I penned a couple of little sketches for Frazer, Wendy, Peter, and then Frazer, Daphne and Yee Jee to perform ...  Unfortunately Wendy Padbury was unable to attend due to sickness, so Linzi Gold stood in!

These went well I felt, with smoke and music and Cybermen emerging from the Tombs ... One attendee told me that this brought goosebumps up and threw him back to hiding behind the sofa watching it on television ...

We had a launch party for Telos' new books on the Friday with free wine ... it all went down well but I was a little disappointed at the turn out. We were launching titles by Freda Warrington, Paul Lewis, Sam Stone, and a special 'Tales from the Weekend' book of stories from all the attending authors.  Luckily sales at the table were good over the weekend, making up for the slightly small launch!  But this did mean that we had lots of wine left over to drink ourselves!

A Cyberman emerges ...

Saturday night we didn't get to see anything!  We were so tired after the day that after we had eaten we just crashed back at the cabin ...  At least this meant we got a little sleep!

And Saturday dawned bright and early ... with some much needed sunshine ... and the Cosplayers were out in force having been denied the opportunity due to the awful weather beforehand.

I managed to be late for my own panel in Starbucks!  Which amused me ... but my excuse is that I was over in the Owners Lounge for the Trooper Meet n Greet and got back late!  We had another Tomb Opening, and then there was the Just a Minute gameshow on Main Void!  Linzi Gold again stood in for Wendy Padbury, and we had a lively time with dance-offs, Joker interruptions, misunderstandings and laughter ... I hope everyone enjoyed it!

Then it was dinner and finally over to the Main Void to socialise, listening to 'The Dark Room' presentation, before Pat Sharp took to the decks to take us into the night ...

The CyberController

So exhausted and happy, I managed to not see much of anything that I wasn't directly on stage for ... I did manage to see Sam interviewing Nicholas Brendon, and the 'surprise' Buffy singalong afterwards ... It was great to very briefly catch up with Gareth Lloyd Jones, Professor Elemental, Chris Cross and Jimmy Vee, and to chat with the awesome Darren Shan and our other authors.

Unfortunately Justina Robson had a family emergency in the middle of the event and so had to excuse herself from Saturday's activities ... and we lost Phil Ford and Wendy Padbury to illness before the event started ...  But none the less we all had a great time.

I collected a lot of feedback from attendees over the course of the weekend, and this will all be fed into the mill for next time ... when, if at all possible, we want to make the Weekender even bigger and better!


LINZI GOLD/JERICHO ROSE PICTURE (C) DAVID J HOWE. OTHER PICTURES (C) AIDAN MORAN