Monsters From The Basement

Blood At The Beach III Review Posted

mainmonster — Thu, 23 May 2013 03:22:18 +0000

Be sure to check out our coverage of Blood At The Beach! We had so much fun at the show. Great guests, great friends and great times!

Click here to see our review

Ray Harryhausen 1920 – 2013

mainmonster — Tue, 07 May 2013 22:39:55 +0000

I am saddened to learn of the death of Ray Harryhausen today. One of my childhood heros has moved on he was 92 years old.

Here is a report from the Rock Till You Drop website written by Ryan Turek:

It is with great, great, great sadness that we report today that Ray Harryhausen has passed away.

The man was a legend and someone I had met and spoken with many times – as both a young fan of his work and, later, as a journalist.

His early contributions were one of the many reasons I became fascinated with the genre. When I was in elementary school, my teachers would show us films like The Golden Voyage of Sinbad and Clash of the Titans just before we let our for holiday break – and I was blown away. His contributions were a regular diet in my education of cinema. And because my father was so integral in exposing me to Harryhausen’s career, I wanted him to weigh in: “Passing of one of the true greats and a childhood hero. Very sad, but he lived a long, productive life and inspired probably everyone in the special effects field. Nice we had the chance to meet him years ago…”

I have to say, gang…the passing of Harryhausen hits hard. Inside, find the family’s official statement and more.

Raymond Frederick Harryhausen

Born: Los Angeles 29th June 1920

Died: London 7th May 2013.

The Harryhausen family regret to announce the death of Ray Harryhausen, Visual Effects pioneer and stop-motion model animator. He was a multi-award winner which includes a special Oscar and BAFTA. Ray’s influence on today’s film makers was enormous, with luminaries; Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Peter Jackson, George Lucas, John Landis and the UK’s own Nick Park have cited Harryhausen as being the man whose work inspired their own creations.

Harryhausen’s fascination with animated models began when he first saw Willis O’Brien’s creations in KING KONG with his boyhood friend, the author Ray Bradbury in 1933, and he made his first foray into filmmaking in 1935 with home-movies that featured his youthful attempts at model animation. Over the period of the next 46 years, he made some of the genres best known movies – MIGHTY JOE YOUNG (1949), IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA (1955), 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH (1957), MYSTERIUOUS ISLAND (1961), ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. (1966), THER VALLEY OF GWANGI (1969), three films based on the adventures of SINBAD and CLASH OF THE TITANS (1981). He is perhaps best remembered for his extraordinary animation of seven skeletons in JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS (1963) which took him three months to film.

Harryhausen’s genius was in being able to bring his models alive. Whether they were prehistoric dinosaurs or mythological creatures, in Ray’s hands they were no longer puppets but became instead characters in their own right, just as important as the actors they played against and in most cases even more so.

Today The Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation, a charitable Trust set up by Ray on the 10th April 1986, is devoted to the protection of Ray’s name and body of work as well as archiving, preserving and restoring Ray’s extensive Collection.

Tributes have been heaped upon Harryhausen for his work by his peers in recent years.

“Ray has been a great inspiration to us all in special visual industry. The art of his earlier films, which most of us grew up on, inspired us so much.” “Without Ray Harryhausen, there would likely have been no STAR WARS”

George Lucas.

“THE LORD OF THE RINGS is my ‘Ray Harryhausen movie’. Without his life-long love of his wondrous images and storytelling it would never have been made – not by me at least”

Peter Jackson

“In my mind he will always be the king of stop-motion animation”

Nick Park

“His legacy of course is in good hands

Because it’s carried in the DNA of so many film fans.”

Randy Cook

“You know I’m always saying to the guys that I work with now on computer graphics “do it like Ray Harryhausen”

Phil Tippett

“What we do now digitally with computers, Ray did digitally long before but without computers. Only with his digits.”

Terry Gilliam.

“His patience, his endurance have inspired so many of us.”

Peter Jackson

“Ray, your inspiration goes with us forever.”

Steven Spielberg

“I think all of us who are practioners in the arts of science fiction and fantasy movies now all feel that we’re standing on the shoulders of a giant.

If not for Ray’s contribution to the collective dreamscape, we wouldn’t be who we are.”

James Cameron

Jewel Shepard’s Audio Interview Posted

mainmonster — Tue, 07 May 2013 12:23:14 +0000

Ever since I saw “Return Of The Living Dead” for the first time I was a fan of Jewel Shepard. I have wanted to talk to her for this website for a long time and that dream came true at Days Of The Dead Atlanta 2013. We talked about ROTLD and much much more. Hopefully we will be seeing a lot more of her in the future. In the meantime check out our latest Monsters From The Basement audio interview!

Click here for our interview with Jewel Shepard!

Check out the latest Babe From The Basement, Lily Monstermeat

mainmonster — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:32:18 +0000

Lily is a model and jewelry designer from Austin, Texas, now living in Ontario. When she was younger she would buy jewelry she would notice that a lot of it would tarnish and not keep its color. She started making her own that lived up to the standards that she expected in jewelry. Since 2000 she has been creating quality jewelry that her customers can be 100% happy with. She has done pieces for everyone from Cyndi Lauper to Clive Barker. Her modeling resume contains everything from glamor to horror and everything in between. Click on the link below to check out our latest Babe From The Basement Ms. Lily Monstermeat!

Click here to check out Lily’s page!

Blood At The Beach May 10 – 12, 2013 Virginia Beach, Virginia

mainmonster — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 16:32:19 +0000

It is time for another Blood At The Beach Horror Convention. The show will be held in Virginia Beach, Va at the Virginia Beach Norfold Hotel And Conference Center the weekend of May 10-12, 2013. We attend both BATB shows last year and had a blast. This one promises to top the previous two with great guests and vendors from around the country!

Click here to view the awesome guest list so far

Full Moon Tattoo And Horror Convention 2013 Review

mainmonster — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 12:57:57 +0000

The 12th annual Full Moon Tattoo And Horror Convention was held Easter Weekend in Nashville at the Nashville Convention. This is one show that keeps getting better and better.

Check out our review and pictures by clicking here

Check out our pictures and review of The Mad Monster Party in Charlotte, North Carolina

mainmonster — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 16:13:22 +0000

We had the pleasure of attending the second Mad Monster Party in Charlotte, NC. A first class show all the way!

Click here to see our review of the Mad Monster Party Convention!

Horror Icon Richard Brooker passed away today!!!

mainmonster — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 20:39:42 +0000

Horror icon Richard Brooker has passed away. Brooker played Jason Voorhees in the third installment of the Friday The 13th film series and was the first Jason to wear the hockey mask that became the killers trademark look. Details are not really known yet but it was reported that Booker posted on his Facebook page yesterday that he wasn’t feeling well.

RIP RICHARD BROOKER!

Audio Interview With Steve Dash Posted

mainmonster — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 13:54:12 +0000

There have been several actors who have appeared in the Friday The 13th films as Jason Voorhees but the very first Jason was Steve Dash. He starred in Friday The 13th Part 2. (If you remember Jason’s mom was the killer in the first installment.) Steve was a guest at this years Full Moon Tattoo And Horror Convention in Nashville Tennessee. He was nice enough to take some time out of his Sunday morning to talk with me for Monsters From The Basement. We talked about how he got his start in show business on up to the projects he is working on now. Be sure to check out our interview with Steve Dash!!

Click here to listen to our interview with Steve Dash

Audio Interview With John Kassir Posted

mainmonster — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 13:20:30 +0000

Who can forget the HBO series “Tales From The Crypt” and the host of the show The Crypt Keeper? The one thing about the show that stood out was his voice. The voice of The Crypt Keeper was supplied by John Kissar. John was a guest at last years Days Of The Dead Convention. He was nice enough to take a few minutes out of his Sunday morning to sit down and talk with me. We talked about his carreer from Star Search all the way up to his part in the new film “Jack The Giant Slayer”. I really enjoyed doing this interview and I hope you will enjoy it as well!

Click here to listen to John’s interview