Infestation – upcoming Giant Bug flick

An upcoming movie in production now is a Giant Bug film called INFESTATION
Official Site

We got giant bugs out of nowhere eating people, which is always a good thing!

Our hero, Cooper, awakes to find himself nauseous, weak and covered in webbing, hanging from the ceiling of an office where, just minutes ago, he started his new job. As he struggles out of his slimy prison he comes face to face with his opponent – a grotesque, powerful and very angry bug. All 3 ft of it.

And so begins a hideous, nail-biting, comedic, all-action adventure to find a safe haven while constantly outwitting an infestation of monstrous proportions. As Cooper embarks on his journey, he befriends a ragtag group of survivors including Sara, a feisty attractive female. Although the situation is dire, Cooper can’t help himself from trying to solve his dating problem while trying to save his life.

Will they make it to safety before they are picked off one by one? And what other surprises are in store for our group of unlikely heroes?

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About the director

Kyle Rankin has been writing and directing for fifteen years.

Two independant features and four award-winning shorts led to the opportunity to co-direct Miramax’s THE BATTLE OF SHAKER HEIGHTS through PROJECT GREENLIGHT 2.

He has, most recently, created the internet-based series HELLHOLES.

Thanks to Avery for the scoop

Beelzebufo ampinga makes other frogs look like ants

It is well known that we like gigantic animals here, as well as teeny-weeny ones. In this case we have another example of a gigantic animal: Beelzebufo ampinga, the frog from Hell! Literally! Beelzebufo are breed in Level 4 of Hell for use in torturing souls. As you probably know, there are occasional escapes from Hell, where souls, demons, and horrible monsters escape and run rampant upon the world. The Jersey Devil, Mothman, Rush Limbaugh, all monsters from Hell that are still loose on the Earth this day. And now it is evident that some of the Beelzebufo escaped long ago and died, their fossilized remains being found by human scientists who quickly lump them into modern phylogenies. Which is probably for the better, because if the public was aware of the massive leak of nasty things from Hell, they would panic like there’s no tomorrow. Unless they are like me, and prepared to deal with minions of the darkness. If someone tries to sick these Beelzebufo on me, I’ll be dining on frog legs for a month! MuHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Giant Frog Jumps Continents, May Have Eaten Baby Dinosaurs

ScienceDaily (Feb. 19, 2008) — A giant frog fossil from Madagascar dubbed Beelzebufo or ‘the frog from Hell’ has been identified by scientists from UCL (University College London) and Stony Brook University, New York. The discovery of the 70 million year-old fossil frog, of a kind once thought unique to South America, lends weight to a new theory that Madagascar, India and South America were linked until late in the Age of Dinosaurs.

The new frog resembles living Horned toads (ceratophryines or ‘pac-man frogs’) in having a squat body, huge head and wide mouth. With a body length (not counting the legs) of up to 40 cm — longer than a rugby ball – and a weight of around four kilos (10 pounds), it is more than twice the size of its largest living relatives.

The fossil, published in the journal PNAS, enters the Malagasy history books alongside meat-eating dinosaurs, plant-eating crocodiles and giant snakes, all very different from the present day animals of Madagascar.

Professor Susan Evans of the UCL Department of Cell & Developmental Biology says: “This frog, a relative of today’s Horned toads, would have been the size of a slightly squashed beach-ball, with short legs and a big mouth. If it shared the aggressive temperament and ‘sit-and-wait’ ambush tactics of living Horned toads, it would have been a formidable predator on small animals. Its diet would most likely have consisted of insects and small vertebrates like lizards, but it’s not impossible that Beelzebufo might even have munched on hatchling or juvenile dinosaurs.

“Madagascar has a mainly endemic frog fauna whose history has generated intense debate, fueled by recent phylogenetic studies and the near absence of a fossil record. Our discovery of a frog strikingly different from today’s Madagascan frogs, and akin to the Horned toads previously considered endemic to South America, lends weight to the controversial paleobiogeographical model suggesting that Madagascar, the Indian subcontinent and South America were linked well into the Late Cretaceous. It also suggests that the initial spread of such beasts began earlier than that proposed by recent estimates.”

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Beelzebufo ampinga vs. the largest known living Malagasy frog, Mantydactylus ampinga. Guess which one would be dinner?

Hong Kong Edison Chen Sex Photo Scandal Continues

The Sex Photo Scandal starring Edison Chen and lots of famous female talent continues, despite the slowdown of new content on the internet. A few photos of Rachel Ngan are the latest to arrive, but on February 14th, and things have been quiet since then. As we reported before, there have been several batches of photos released showing Hong Kong celebrity Edison Chen having oral sex with several top female talents, including Gillian Chung, Cecilia Cheung, and Vincy Yeung. The news continues to dominate the Hong Kong media, making this the story of the decade.
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EEG boss Albert Yeung is getting egg on his face. He is a terrible man, has massive Triad connections (Triads are Chinese gangsters) and has ordered a beat down of a talk show host who talked bad about him and is probably behind the Carina Lau kidnapping and videotaped rape tragedy. This is not a nice man, and the fact his darling underage niece Vincy Yeung is now naked across the internet and revealed to be a sexual conquest of a videographer playboy is probably driving Albert Yeung mad inside. It is no secret the Triads are all over the entertainment industry in Hong Kong (although there has been some cleanup) with instances such as Wong Jing getting his teeth busted out, Amy Yip forced to appear naked in Sex and Zen or face disfigurement, Andy Lau was threatened at gunpoint to do a film, Jackie Chan was almost killed back before he was famous (and his life was saved by Jimmy Wang Yu, who Jackie Chan repaid by making two films for him, including the great Fantasy Mission Force!)
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This episode is another example of a giant, corrupt system straining under itself as its excesses cause it to become weak and disgusting. Albert Yeung and his goons’ control over the entertainment industry is in danger, and his family is part of the collateral. Playboy Edison Chen is probably in danger of Triad retaliation, legal repercussions, and getting smacked by some ladies. Gillian Chung is in danger of losing her career, is nicknamed things such as Abalone Gill and Black Bao, and has lost the support she had during her previous photo incident. Bobo Chan got her wedding canceled and is probably out of a job as well as the fiancee. Cecilia Cheung is in danger of losing her marriage to Nicholas Tse, as photos may have been taken while she was supposed to be dating him. NO official word on if they are going their separate ways. The other women are probably dead career wise as well. At least in legitimate film, all of this women have a future in low-budget category III fare. Think of it as a reverse Hsu Chi! The Hong Kong Police force is facing large protests, massive criticism by the press, and probably angry calls from Mainland China. China faces an embarrassment of worldwide proportions while they go into stupid “morals” mode before their Olympics hosting (they even banned horror films! how ridiculous!) Hosting the Olympics doesn’t make you a legitimate country, not arresting innocent people is the key! (and I hold every country to that standard, even the one I live in) Drama will still unfold, and we will be there.

All of this is in light of the fact this is probably a giant extortion attempt. This Kira or whoever he is (or they are) has worse pictures, movies, and who knows what else. And we may never know if he gets what he is asking for. But I do not believe the flood of photos will stop. I think more will surface, but we won’t get a big batch appearing all at once. This will be a slow trickle until the incompetent police force or the corrupt EEG executives force Kira to release a large batch just to make them look like the chumps they are one more time.

The photos so far are totally not located at : http://www.phimhongkong.com/edison_chen_sex_scandal_gillian_chung_bobo_chan_cecilia_cheung_.htm

Not at all!

Upcoming Monster Flick – Serpent Lake


Got sent this info from a reader named Avery(thanks!) An upcoming independent monster film called Serpent Lake due out in summer 2009. It’s about a monster like the Loch Ness one that comes around every 30 years to eat lots of tasty humans. It’s fun seeing more of these Loch Ness style films popping around, first Beyond Loch Ness on SciFi Channel and now this. It’s a good time to be a fan of lake monsters eating people. Hopefully Joel Trujillo will deliver the goods and we get a fun ride! Check out the preview video at the bottom of the plot synopsis from the production site:

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Every 30 years, in the summer there is a mysterious unidentified creature claimed to inhabit Astaire’s freshwater lake in Minnesota.

Along with Loch Ness monster Nessie and Lake Champlain’s Champ, this monster is one of the best-known mysteries of crypto zoology. Most scientists and other experts find current evidence supporting the creature’s existence unpersuasive and regard the occasional sightings as hoaxes or misidentification of known creatures or natural phenomena. Minnesotans believe in this legend, even though their theories may vary. The creature thought to be a plesiosaur being the most popular of these theories. But unlike Loch Ness or Lake Champlain, there is no canal linking Serpent Lake to the sea raising the question,” Where does this creature come from? And during this time some people in or around the lake come up missing.

Serpent Lake Update
Big Dog INC., JFT Productions and writer director Joel Trujillo are giving fans a sneak peak to Serpent Lake the upcoming film for the summer of 2009.

Teaser clip:

JFT Productions Website

Godzilla's back in CGI form!

Godzilla returned to the big screen in 2007. What, you didn’t know? Neither did I, because no one bothered to tell anyone! Actually, Godzilla had a two minute cameo in a dream sequence in a film called Always 2 (not a sequel to the Mel Gibson movie about frozen pilots) In the cameo, Godzilla is 100% CGI. Want to see what he looks like? Here he is:
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Review of the film Always 2: Electric Boogaloo

Special bonus:
We all remember the American Godzilla CGI Travesty. But imagine GINO if he wasn’t such a travesty! Thanks to the blog at Jabootu.net, we can see what the original design was!

“1149. Pre-production maquette of Godzilla. (TriStar, 1998) Based on input from the original powers that be, the look was to be a traditional, Toho-style Godzilla – to be easily and immediately recognizable by the viewing audience. Jan de Bont was originally slated to helm the latest production starring this legend among film legends. A production delay and re-shuffling of staff lead to a different direction in the look of the title monster. This was the Stan Winston Studio revisitation of the iconic screen character, long before Matthew Broderick or Roland Emmerich became involved in the final version of the movie that was shot. Measures 43 in. tall x 63 in. long (head to tail). $12,000 – $18,000”

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They threw it all away and crapped all over the American audience. Then they had the audacity to blame us for the mess. Suck it, Emmerich!

Live action Robot Taekwon V

Korea’s first animated feature film was Robot Taekwon V, released in 1976. In America, it was known as Voltar the Invincible.

Plot stolen from wikipedia:

Dr. Kaff (or Dr. Cops in Korean), an evil scientist bent on world domination, creates an army of giant robots to kidnap world-class athletes and conquer the world. To fight off this attack, Dr. Kim creates Robot Taekwon V. Kim Hoon, the taekwon-do champion eldest son of Dr Kim, pilots Robot Taekwon V either mechanically or through his physical power by merging his taekwon-do movements with the robot. Comic relief is provided by Kim Hoon’s younger brother, elementary school student Kim Cheol. He has fashioned himself as “Tin-Can Robot Cheol” by cutting eyeholes in a tea kettle and wearing it on his head. Kim Hoon’s girlfriend, Yoon Yeong-hee, is a pilot and taekwon-do practitioner. She can also operate Robot Taekwon V with buttons and levers, and pilots Kim Hoon in and out of the robot.

Basically, creator Kim Cheong-gi took the Japanese Mazinger Z, and modified it into a Korean-nationalistic giant robot epic. Sequels were spawned, and money was made. But nothing has happened for a while, until now. A live action Robot Taekwon V is going to be released in 2009. It will be directed by Won Shin-yeon and some effects tests have shown up online.

Link to effects test.

Looks pretty impressive. I wonder if the will keep the camera angles used there, as it makes it look like another found footage film with the human-held camera impression.

Robot Taekwon V
Robot Taekwon V