Monster Man Cometh

Greetings Children of the Night. At the urging of a reader, I am going to replace my usual weekly Face Off post with a little run down of this week's episode of Monster Man.

Last night was episode two of Monster Man and I...am...hooked! The personalities are great and nothing beats good old fashioned, hand crafted monsters. Another upside of this show, is it highlights all kinds of fun indie films I'm now going to have to try and track down and see.

Each episode seems to focus on two different films and two different projects for Cleve Hall, his daughter Constance, and the rest of the team at SOTA FX. This week's projects were a practical werewolf for Hallow Pointe, directed by Thomas J. Churchill and Princess Polly for Forbidden Zone 2.

Cleve and Constance Hall (image source)

“Hallow Pointe” is a chilling story about love, life and what lengths you go through to try and save someone; all told within the classic horror staple, a creature feature.  The filmmakers’ vision for the film is to bring back the feel of old school 80's horror (ie: “The Howling,” “American Werewolf in London”) giving fans something movies today are lacking – great creature development with hard core visual FX. - PRLOG

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 It's incredible the lengths this team goes to, to hand create these monsters; to make them seem real. I love the fact that some movies are moving back to practical effects and away from CGI. Constance did the sketch and they showed the actual process of moving from a ho-hum sketch to something spectacular. The team even took a field trip to an attack dog school (complete with Cleve in a bite suit) so they could all actually see the mechanics of a dog bite in action.

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For a peek at the teaser trailer, click here. This teaser trailer is what we got to watch being filmed on Monster Man.The landing site for Hallow Pointe isn't much yet, but you can find it here.

Final werewolf (image source)

The second film is something that I'm going to be excited to see. In 1982 Richard "Rick" Elfman, brother to Danny Elfman, made a cult classic film called Forbidden Zone. For those of you who haven't seen it, for shame! *wags finger* However, here is the website for you to catch up. It seems that Mr. Elfman is at it again and there is going to be a Forbidden Zone 2. Cleve and his team made a disgusting mask for the Princess Polly Character. I'm excited to see what they do with the newest installment. Besides, Danny Elfman is doing the music and that makes me a happy zombie.

Molding of Princess Polly (image source)

Final Princess Polly (image source)

 Here is the scene we got to watch being filmed on the Monster Man episode. It was also very interesting to watch the team trouble shoot. The Princess Started out in a gold bikini, but it was far too reflective to use in front of green screen. Now the princess wears royal purple.

On a random side note, in the 1980s there was an American New Wave band called Oingo Boingo, who were responsible for songs like Dead Man's Party and Weird Science. This band was fronted by the Elfman Brothers. It's funny to me to think of Danny Elfman writing 'real' music and not movie scores (even if the song Weird Science does blur that line).

I hope everyone enjoyed my Monster Man post and thank you for reading. I have a great idea for a new nail series that I'm hoping to start this week. I went to strip my ruffian last night and The Boy looked at me and said, "you're doing your nails again?! You're addicted." I didn't have the heart to tell him that most nail bloggers spend hours swatching new colors. :-) So needless to say, I'm a little behind in my new designs. I'm hoping to do my first one today.

Have a great afternoon!

Face Off Episode 210

Greetings children of the Night.

Alas, the winter season of Face Off is over. Yet, there has been a promise of a summer season. This makes me one happy zombie.

The season finale was interesting. Each of the three contestants chose a film genre: sci-fi, fantasy, or horror, and had to create three characters. All the contestants from this season came back to create teams to help each artist realize their vision. Michael Westmore even came in to mentor the finalists. Can I just say I am shocked it took them two seasons to tap that?

Each of the make-ups had to survive a vigorous dance routine. This episode was a clone of the zombie episode from last season with the song Zombie by Natalia Kills. If you've never heard it, shame on you. Here's the link. The dance was performed in front of a live audience who got to vote on their favorite. The judges still picked the winner but they could take the audience vote into consideration.

Ian had horror. For his team he chose Matt, Sue, and Tara. They created a Lucifer type character with two hell hounds. Glenn loved the concept but didn't feel the paint job was cohesive. Patrick loved the white Lucifer. I agree with Patrick. I was impressed with Ian's concept going back to the original definition of Lucifer as the bringer of light. Everyone agreed that he had an incredible and impressive sculpt but a very flat paint job.

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Rayce had sci-fi and his team consisted of Jerry, Miranda, and Heather. His concept was of a light and a dark entity tearing apart a female entity. He used a concept of four dimensions when creating his characters. They were absolutely beautiful and created a shadow like effect across the stage when they stood in a line. Sadly though, they showed the most wear at the the end of the dance number.

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 Lastly RJ had fantasy. His team was Beki, Brea, and Athena; "RJ's Angels." His concept was a little off. Honestly, I didn't even get it watching. He created an evil alchemist, Mother Earth, and a phoenix. Ve felt Mother Earth should have been prettier but Patrick loved the way the vines followed the muscle in her extremities. Even after a major change in the sculpt, the phoenix still ended up looking like an over sized parrot.

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The winner of this season was Rayce. I was a little disappointed, I would have liked to see Ian win but I am more than impressed he made it to the season finale. All three of the finalists with have *no* problem finding work in the future.


I was a bit disappointed in some of this season. It reminded me a lot of last season. Over all though the show is still a lot of fun. I'm also very pleased with the show they moved into the Face Off slot, Monster Man. Looks like I'll have something else to watch on Wednesday.

Face Off Episode 208

Burtonesque... has quite the ring to it doesn't it? From the time I was a kid I've loved Tim Burton and his work. The first movie of his I remember seeing was his original Frankenweinie (1984). This is now being remade and you *know* I'll be the first in line when it comes out. It's scheduled for my birthday weekend too!

Each artist was tasked with turning the mundane into the fantastic, a la Tim Burton. They were given a profession  to put their own spin on, similar to Edward Scissorhands cutting hair. The guest judge this week was Catherine O'Hara. If you can't have Burton himself (or for that matter Helena Bonham Carter) she's a really good choice.

Sue: Sue had the toymaker. This was a complete fail! The only aspect of this that was even remotely Burtonesque was the puppet and even that was sketchy. She bit off way more than she could chew causing her to actually ask the model to help her with the build in the end, instead of just doing the applications. Glenn said it best when he said [her] "build turned into a ballet of idiocy." 

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Beki: She had a baker. Instead of actually doing something original she chose to borrow directly from one of Burton's films. Her baker is a resident of Wonderland who went crazy when her love, the Mad Hatter, moved away. Beki chose to spend her entire three days building that idiotic cupcake. The make-up was awful and the dental appliance didn't even make sense! 

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Ian: Ian had the plumber. He went very safe with minimal appliances and a really eerie resemblance to Edward Scissorhands. The "hydraulic plunger backpack" though was awesome. The biggest observation about his work was that all the interest was put in the back of the character instead of the front.

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Matt: Matt's profession was the ice cream man. Holy cow was this ever awesome! He had cones, ice cream, chocolate syrup, and sprinkles everywhere. Ve and Cathrine were very impressed, feeling it was comical but horrific at the same time.

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Rayce: Rayce chose the cellist. This was my favorite creation. The character lost the love of his life, transforming it into a cello. The translation from the cello to the face of the character was flawless. The entire character was so romantic, soulful, and yet very very sad. 

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RJ: RJ's bellhop was hysterical. When I was watching him do the sculpt I was scared for him, it didn't strike me at all like something that would be classified as Burtonesque. The final product though, was astounding. The 'chest' of drawers was comical (especially with the clothing stolen from guests hanging out) and the bell on the hat was a perfect touch. Glenn thought it was the perfect mix of RJ and Burton.

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The top three were RJ, Rayce, and Matt. Rayce won and they sent Beki home. I completely agreed with their decision. What the hell possessed her to spend all that time on the cupcake? 

Over all this was a really good episode, then again, who doesn't love Tim Burton?

Face Off Episode 209

Greetings to my Children of the Night!

Holy cow, I know it's been forever. This Party Like A Pinup stuff for Pinups for Pitbulls has been taking over my life! It's for such a good cause though. I hope y'all don't mind.

Today I realized I still haven't caught y'all up on Face Off. Oh my word I am slacking! Today I'll post about episode 209- Dinoplasty, and tomorrow I should have episode 208 (the one I missed) up.

Dinoplasty was a really cool episode. It actually set records for viewership, at least according to Face Off's Facebook page. The remaining artists were sent to Los Angeles Museum of Natural History to wander the dinosaur wing for inspiration. Their goal this week was to create dino/human hybrids. After each artist decided on their dino and did some sketches, they headed back to the lab to begin work.

There was no guest judge this week, instead Cleve and Constance Hall showed up to give some pointers and tips. The Hall's had a mini series back in October called Making Monsters, and starting next week they will have their own series called Monster Man. Their appearance was a giant plug for Monster Man, which is more than likely going into the Face Off slot after the finale next week. Anywho, on to the creatures.


Sue: Her Hipster/Girl Power dino didn't go over too well with Glenn. However Ve adored it. Glenn actually couldn't get past the concept to look at the sculpt. Funny enough no one mentioned the sculpt; it didn't look that impressive to me. Sue chose the dinosaur she did for it's bright colors and the Mohawk in the back. 

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RJ: He also went a little clever with his Veloci Rapper. (he he he get it? Velociraptor... yeah never mind. I thought it was funny) Once again Glenn didn't like the concept but at least this time he could get past it to appreciate the sculpt and the make-up. Patrick really liked the flow from head to tail. Personally, I loved the details. The dino 'bling' sold it for me.

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Matt: Matt did a Holy Roman Emperor dinosaur. Seeing as how he chose the Tyrannosaurus Rex, I thought the emperor angle was clever. In the end though, his creature looked nothing like a dinosaur.  Ve liked the chest plate but the rest of the judges agreed with me; more demonic, less dinosaur. 

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Ian: My home town boy did it again with his Triceratops. I loved this idea. His was the most dino-y of all the creatures. It had very impressive hands and feet, along with the the head piece. The beak even looked a little slimy. While Ian was doing his application he ended up nixing the fat suit feeling it looked to comical. Later Glenn stated he wished the character had a barrel chest. *facepalm* Oh well, Ian still did an incredible job. 

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Rayce: Rayce chose his dinosaur for it's silhouette and he definitely used that to his advantage. He had some serious problems getting his latex to work right though. The tail stared out as a total disaster. However no one seemed to notice. They were too busy praising his face sculpt. The over sized eyes were just stellar.

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This week was a double elimination presented in a different format. Instead they chose who was going on to the finale. Rayce won this week, and with good reason too. Ve even said it made her like blue paint jobs. Both Ian *squee* and RJ were moved on the the finale as well. This meant that Matt and Sue were eliminated. Thanks to the Universe! I was getting so very tired of Sue and her whining. Was she talented? Maybe, but I couldn't get past her personality. 


Overall I loved the episode and can't wait for the finale. Living in Florida this means I've already heard about casting calls for next season. I'm so thrilled. I loved the last two seasons and I hope this show lasts quite a while.

Face Off - Episode 207

Greetings Children of the Night!

It's a dismal day here today is sunny *ahem* Florida. I, however, wouldn't even notice because I slept last night! Yesterday a lovely friend came and adjusted my neck and massaged my shoulder. Holy Cow is there a HUGE difference. If you've never had it done, find yourself a licensed professional and go have it done! No more pain, no more headaches... oh it is bliss.

Anyway, last night was the new episode of Face Off. Is it just me or is Sue a whiny pain in my a** and deserves to be shoved to the curb?

This episode started with an awesome floating police car and some sketches by Patrick Tatopolous for the new Total Recall film. Each artist was to take Patrick's sketches and turn them into an alien creation with Patrick as their client. 


Tara: She had a grand idea for these massive arm extensions. It really didn't work out. As a matter of fact, none of her creature worked out. She ended up ditching all the teeth as well as the arms. Not a good move Tara. 

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Ian: He made this really cool pig vampire creature. His appliances had some massive flaws including a huge tear. He managed to turn it all into battle damage. Patrick loved his creation more than his own sketch and Ve was impressed with his paint work as was guest judge LeVar Burton. 

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Jerry: His monster resembled some aqua-demon. At the risk of sounding unoriginal, it did resemble the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Ve felt it looked like a bad Halloween mask (I felt that way about RJ's creature). LeVar said the paint job made it look aquatic and Jerry threw a mini snit fit over that, not too mature. 

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Rayce: His was this incredible cyborg thing where the tubes have been fused with it's skin. Glenn was very complimentary; he felt the sculpt was massive in scope given the time given. LeVar loved the eyes as well. The biggest concern though is that the "actor" can't see out of the mask.

 

 

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  Sue: Her biggest point were the spikes coming out of her creature's skin. They didn't come out properly so she fashioned them  from nail extensions. Ve was impressed with her improv skills but she lost major points for the fact that she only did the face and painted nothing else (including her model's hands.)

 

 

 

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RJ: He too had some major molding issues, and just like Ian made the best of it. Due to a switch in molding materials his headpiece came out really really stiff. Over all though it was an impressive build including the arm pieces Tara couldn't pull off.

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Matt: His albino creature was middle of the road and got almost no feedback. Shame, I loved his paint job.

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Beki: She did the other cyborg. Her's had some incredible fluid-filled tubes. I found it interesting that both cyborgs were bright red.

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Ian won this round (yay hometown boy) and instead of getting immunity he received two tickets to the premiere of Total Recall. This week was a double elimination round and Tara, Sue, and Jerry were all put on the block. Tara and Jerry were cut. Tara saw it coming but Jerry (surprise) threw a fit. His attitude was making him lazy but I would have rather seen them cut Sue. I'm so over her nasty, whiny, attitude. 


Next week *drum roll* is Tim Burton!!!!!! That is going to be in competition with Tom Savini for my favorite episode and i haven't even seen it yet. See a clip here. I'm so excited.

Shoes!

Hello Children of the Night! How many of you celebrated Mardi Gras yesterday? We did. We had dirty rice, king cake, and hurricanes. Dinner was amazing but my king cake was a mitigated disaster. Oh well try again next year.

For those of you that are unaware, I have an affinity for shoes. I had a girlfriend this week send me a link to a Glamour Magazine contest. Tweet them a picture of your favorite shoes. How am I to pick one pair? Here are the three pairs I'm deciding between.

Iron First Zombie Stompers

Torrid

Not Rated

Help me decide my leaving me a comment!

Tonight is Levar Burton on Face Off. Can't wait! That and I get to have my neck and shoulders adjusted today. Thank you Jesus!

Have a Wicked Wednesday.

Face Off- Episode 206

Well day late but here it is, the Face Off Episode from Wednesday night; Triple Threat.

Here we see the end of the cliffhanger from last week. The foundation challenge started right away. There seem to be a lot of challenges this episode dealing with exhaustion and sleep deprivation. As the artists enter the stage again a series of runway models come out. Their challenge is a 'make under.' Turn these models into Plain Janes. Kim Greene (Scream 4, Terminator Salvation) is the guest judge. Rayce and his librarian win the challenge and immunity.


The spotlight challenge is old age make-up. Each team of three is given a set of twins to do an age progression. One is to be aged to 75, the other to 100. Greg Cannom, Oscar winning make-up artist (for Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) is the guest judge. McKenzie then returns to inform the contestants that they are not actually twins, but sets of triplets and the third sibling joins to be aged to 50 years. 


Beki, RJ, and Heather: Their concept was that as their model ages she becomes more gaunt so they start with a really overweight 50 year old (Beki). RJ does the 75 year old and when application time hits, RJ's model has a major allergic reaction to her makeups. Is it just me or does it seem like they're intentionally putting in models with allergic reactions just to see how the artists react? They substitute in another model but this model is significantly smaller, with a more delicate bone structure. RJ must "cut and dart the appliance like clothing." Heather has the 100 year old and hers has significant anatomy issues and looks more like a "melting zombie."

Beki (50)

RJ (75)

Heather (100)

Matt (50 year old), Tara (75 year old) and Sue (100 year old): This group did not work well together at all and I'm going to blame it on Sue's nasty attitude. She can't seem to work well with anyone. Their concept was an aging mobster and instead...well... no. Matt's creation was described at a 'were-chia' with it's puffy head and bad hair. Tara's make up was lovely but the shoulder length hair Ve found "distracting." The judges found Sue's make-up amazing. I don't think she took it far enough, I didn't think he looked old enough. 

Matt (50)

Tara (75)

Sue (100)

The final group was Rayce, Ian, and Jerry. They did and aging hippie. This one was my favorite. The judges felt that Rayce's 50 year old was far too subtle and she had diseased looking skin. Ian's 75 year old was also too subtle and his coloring was off. Jerry saved the group even if his was generic. 

Rayce (50)

Ian (75)

Jerry (100)

The top three were RJ, Jerry, and Sue, with Sue winning the challenge. They sent Heather home. 


Next week they will be creating aliens with Star Trek's Levar Burton as the guest judge. A sneak peak can be found here.










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Face Off Episode Four

I actually wasn't going to get around to posting today until I remembered that today is Thursday. That means Face Off was on last night. Last night was Night Terrors. They pulled a Scream movie bit and had Brea answering a cell phone at 3am (the witching hour) and getting everyone dressed and on a bus in 15 minutes. They were all driven to Linda Vista hospital, an abandoned hospital in Los Angeles that was built in the 1920s and is considered one of the most haunted locations in the country, where they were presented with their spotlight challenge.




Fears. We all have them, some more extreme or bizarre than others. This spotlight challenge the artists had to come up with a horror movie villain that personified a phobia. Once they chose a phobia they had 30 minutes, alone, in a dark room of the hospital, to sketch their creations. On day two the mystery judge was reviled; the incomparable Tom Savini! *swoon*




Here is the break down of each character:




Beki: Parasitophobia: The fear of parasites. She created this amazing (hideous) bug like creature. She also was the fastest sculptor by far, earning extra kudos from the judges.






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RJ: Xyrophobia or the fear of razors. The twisted, evil, doctor creature that RJ created is definitely something that would give me nightmares on the big screen. I could see this kind of character making an appearance in an Eli Roth film.






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Rayce: Cryophobia or the fear of frost, ice or extreme cold. This was an incredible design with a very poor application. His edges came up and were more than apparent. However due to his very creative design and follow-through of concept he still landed in the top three.






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Athena: Merinthophobia or the fear of being bound or tied up. Her concept of a rape victim gone rogue was excellent however her execution was just terrible. Her character was almost comical. I honestly would expect to see her creation in a Halloween party, not a movie.






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Ian: Odontophobia or the fear of teeth. Ian said he was going in a tooth fairy direction. I really expected to see some extension of a Del Toro Don't Be Afraid of the Dark monster. Instead, his slimy, disgusting, and completely MALE character was incredible. Is it just me or does he look like Ron Howard?






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Brea: Chemophobia or the fear of chemicals. Her creation was supposed to look as if it was covered with mustard gas burns. Instead it looked like a hairless chipmunk! It wasn't scary at all, instead it looked like something to pity.






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Heather: Ornithophobia or the fear of birds (this is where I make some vague reference to Tippi Hedren.) Her creature had a disgusting a symbiotic relationship with it's little bird minions.






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Matt: Xerophobia or the fear of dryness. Cool but not original. It looked to me a lot like the scarecrow from the first challenge.






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Jerry: Electrophobia or the fear of electricity. His character was a doctor that was obsessed with elector-shock therapy. This moron got overly cocky and completely recast his mask not even bothering to remove it from the mold until he reached the final looks stage. It cost him too. The entire thing was a total train wreck. Instead of looking like his character concept it looked like he left the mask in the car to melt.






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Sue: Hadephobia or the fear of hell. Her character was a demon (I think) and the elements on their own were really cool but they didn't really mesh together to form a single visual thought.






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Tara: Ommetaphobia or the fear of eyes. She had no idea where to go with this character. She actually over complicated the entire process by over thinking the fear of eyes. She eventually came up with a half-baked Egyptian thing, She's lucky she was safe.






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Ian won for his amazing tooth fairy. Not only was it an original and fleshed out concept, his MacGuyver-esque use of cling wrap to texture the chest won him some serious extra points. They sent Brea home. The judges agreed that it was a half-assed execution. Personally I would have sent that ass Jerry home. He's been on the bottom every episode. This so far has been my favorite episode, movie monsters AND Tom Savini!!! *swoon*




Next week Sam Huntington from Being Human guest-stars with a whole bunch of real-life wild animals. The artists must create "beautiful but deadly" makeups inspired by animals. Here's a clip.




I hope y'all are enjoying this season as much as I am.