To unleash the demons of The Gate, director Tibor Takacs needed the right special effects artist — and he found Randall William Cook. “When you talk to special effects people, a lot of them talk about limitations,” Takacs told Cinefex. “‘Well, you can’t do this and you can’t do that.’ But with Randy Cook it… Read More Demons of the Gate
Although Critters was released two years after Joe Dante’s Gremlins, director Stephen Herek maintains that the script for the film was originally written by Dominic Muir far before Dante’s film entered production; Gremlins did, however, serve as a catalyst to greenlight Critters: Herek unsuccessfully attempted to sell his project to various studios, but it was… Read More Critters
To bring to the screen the creative Monster effects of his long-sought martial arts film, John Carpenter hired Boss Film Studios, headed by Richard Edlund. “Twentieth Century Fox had a very good relationship with Richard Edlund and Boss Film,” Carpenter said, “and I’ve always been impressed by their work — so we decided to go… Read More Monsters in Chinatown
JACK You really scared me, you shithead. DAVID Are you going to help me up? Jack takes David’s extended hand to help him up when THE WOLF MONSTER SPRINGS! EXT. MOORS – NIGHT The lunging beast brings Jack down in one fell swoop. David falls back on his ass. Jack is screaming and struggling as… Read More Four-Legged Hound from Hell
I’m an insect who dreamt he was a man and loved it. But now the dream is over – and the insect is awake. Screenwriter Charles Edward Pogue first approached producer Stuart Cornfield to produce a remake of The Fly, one of the most influential science-fiction films of the 1950s. The core concept the two… Read More Brundlefly
“I really hate the creature film convention that says you have to wait until the end to see the monster,” said Bong Joon-ho, director of The Host, addressing the horror’s early revelation in the film. “One hour and all you’ve seen is just the tip of the creature’s tail. I really wanted to break that… Read More Horror of the Han River
The question of whether or not we are alone in the universe has been answered. The Alien invaders of Independence Day are not seen up close in the film until Hiller knocks one down after its craft crashed. The creature is subsequently seen within a laboratory where the film recreates a key sequence concept common… Read More Invaders on the Fourth of July
The development of Outlander and its alien monster, the Moorwen, stemmed from director Howard McCain’s interest in Old English folklore — and particularly, the epic poem Beowulf. The would-be director discovered the story in 1992, and immediately began to envision a film version of the poem. In a time when The Lord of the Rings… Read More Moorwen
In adapting Gary Brandner’s 1977 seminal horror novel The Howling director Joe Dante hired John Sayles — a writer he had already collaborated with on Piranha — to completely rebuild the story, after the first drafts — written by Jack Conrad and Terence H. Winkless — proved unsatisfying. “One guy tried to adapt the book,”… Read More Howling Beasts
Marcus Nispel — originally at the helm of End of Days — was fired from the project after various disputes regarding budgetary and creative matters. Replacing him was Peter Hyams (director of The Relic), with visual effects supervisors Eric Durst and Kurt Williams still attached to the project after Nispel’s dismissal. As a result of… Read More Harbinger of the End
Monster Legacy 