Happy Halloween!
Welcome to the First Annual Famous Monsters Halloween Film Festival.
“In the mid to late sixties Forry’s Ackermansion was the hub for (all five) stop motion animators, especially when Ray Harryhausen came to town. We’d meet for 8mm (not super 8 ) film-fests and gawk at the terrific collection of artifacts from Kong, Mighty Joe Young, props and models from Ray H’s work. It was pig heaven. Forry kept me going in the lean days by commissioning me to sculpt & fabricate creatures from covers of Sci-fi magazines from the 30′s and effigies from H.P. Lovecraft tales. On one occasion I was delivering a plaster sculpture of Cthulhu and took a turn to hard just as I was pulling into the driveway. Cthulhu went over and smashed to bits. Forry looked over the ruins with that bemused detached smile and paid me anyway. I was able to eat that month on the twenty five bucks. I’ll never forget Forry’s kindness, generosity and inclusiveness. He’d always let you know when something cool or fun was coming up. Like his buddies, the two Rays, he fueled inspiration for a generation of us in a time when there really wasn’t much out there.
What a great guy.” –Phil Tippett
The films we’re bringing you this year all rely on classical special effects, that is, those techniques developed in cinema prior to the rise of computer-generated imagery, or CGI. These techniques include miniatures, stop-motion animation, multiple exposure, rear (and other) projection and matte paintings. Digital technology was used only to edit and present, and occasionally to touch up the finished films.
This year’s entries include:
*The Pit and the Pendulum: A victim of the Spanish Inquisition is brought before a tribunal where he is condemned and sentenced to the dungeons. Awaiting his death, he struggles with hope and faith, while his captors employ fiendish machinations in their efforts to unhinge him.
*Rise & Fall of the Nazi Dinosaurs: Allied paratroopers attack a Nazi base in Antarctica, only to discover a secret project of prehistoric proportions. This stop-motion short draws inspiration from Jurassic Park, the novels of Alistair Maclean, and various conspiracy theories.
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The Seventh Skol: Version: The skeleton is an iconic image of the season, going back into humanity’s dark collective memories. In “The Seventh Skol,” Nick Hilligoss brings his skeleton character to a witty confrontation with Max von Sydow.
*The Call of Cthulhu: Based on perhaps the best-known of H.P. Lovecraft’s short stories, this film evokes the period and creepy tone perfectly with its silent-era style and mix of claymation and live action. The story centers on an ancient, evil god and a cult that will stop nothing at bringing it into this world.
Special thanks to Nick Hilligoss (The Seventh Skol), Alex Poutiainen (The Rise and Fall of the Nazi Dinosaurs), Marc Lougee (The Pit and The Pendulum), The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society and Sean Branney (The Call of Cthulhu).
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