*spoilers*
Last week I finally got the Deadly Spawn DVD. I watched it last
Sunday night with the lights off and I was not dissapointed though I was a little worried Some stuff I really liked about this.: *spoilers*
The pre-credits opening. I like this because it reminds me of the blob with a more malicstic monster, I like the screaming of the second camper as he dies, and the shadow of the Spawn in the tent light (creepy with the monster's breathing and the lights out)
The build up before and the wife's demise. I love how she enters the basement area where the Spawn is (without realizing it) and we hear her heartbeating faster and louder until a arm clamps on her shoulder. We think "oh it's just him, huh?" and it turns out that the Spawn was eatting Sam's arm followed by the violent death of his wife. Ouch!
Normal people conversations: Not as intersting as Taratino but I liked the scenes without the monster because they felt genunine, they were nicely written and I wasn't going "come on come on end!"
The adult Spawn and little Spawn. I'm defintiely adding the Spawn on my list of "Monsters I hope I never meet". It's death look deadly and it just has that "plain evil" look, not to mention I liked it's drool effect and the effect of the baby tadpole spawn swimming in the water. Damn good effects
And the conclusion in the attic was really great also. Damn what a fine horror movie. I've allready watched it three times (two other times with the seperate commentaries) The only thing I don't like about the DVD was that awful smell that comes out of the case when you open it.
I reccomend this one.
Ahhh, gotta love this flick. Great special effects. The gore. The creatures. The awful music...
Anyone seen the sequel, Metamorphosis: The Alien Factor (1993)?
I submitted a review to this site for Alien Factor a looooong time before Andrew went to Iraq. No word yet. Maybe I'll put it on the messageboard if I can find it.
My two favorite parts of Spawn were the scene where the baby spawns attacked the old lady tea party and the scene where the blonde enters the house obliviously, almost gets bitten in half and when the guys finally get the door shut she utters one of the most realistic reactions to a monster I've ever seen. Not even so much what she said as how she said it. I saw this in the theater when I was eleven or so and it scared the hell out of me.
Finally... The Deadly Spawn gets the respect it deserves.
I truly love this film and I remember how much it scarred my mind as a kid.
I must have dreamt about that hideous creature for days after viewing it.
The effects are great and they still pretty much hold up today.
It's sad how the new "know-it-all" generation has no appreciation for these
films due to the advent of CGI laced, Hollywood monstrosities.
Ted Bohus, the producer, is a very kind man. I've e-mailed him a couple of times and his responses were very friendly and personal as opposed to your typical Hollywood "A-hole" blanket response used by *cough* Tom Savini. *cough*
I plan on buying the DVD myself even though I already rented it on Netflix.
Definitely a film worth adding to your monster DVD collection.
films due to the advent of CGI laced, Hollywood monstrosities.>
I appreciate it a lot, but I know what you mean. I do have several friends who appreciate this older stuff and I'm glad I could help get them on the right path (they still like CGI stuff but depending on how it's used I can like CGI also, but special effects forever!)
"Ted Bohus, the producer, is a very kind man. I've e-mailed him a couple of times and his responses were very friendly and personal as opposed to your typical Hollywood "A-hole" blanket response used by *cough* Tom Savini. *cough*"
In all fairness, do you think Savini's impersonal response may be due to the fact that he probably gets about ten thousand times more fan mail than Bohus?
I haven't talked to Ted Bohus before, I'd love to though, Sugar_Nads, if you care to share the e-mail.
lol...to hell with sharing! I'm here! And no, Tom doesn't get THAT much more mail than I do. Have you checked out the website yet? www.deadlyspawn.net
Thank you guys for supporting our little film!---Ted
Hey Ted (If you really ARE Mr. Bohus...)!
Deadly spawn was great, and Metamorphosis ROCKED!!!
You rock!!!
I heartily concur with Mr. Monkey. I made a special trip to town on New Release Day when "Deadly Spawn" hit DVD. I have an old ex-rental VHS copy of "Metamorphosis," but we'd love a DVD of that bad boy too!
Thanks for making great movies and keeping us fans rolling in the red stuff.
(deep cool voice like it's a talk show) No, thank YOU Ted for making such a great film and being such a cool guy,! Oh yeah!
Metamorphosis is out on DVD already. Its released by Lion's Gate, but it doesn't have any special features except a trailer.
Booo!!!!
Well then, that hardly counts, does it? Bring on the special features!
Metamorphosis is a very rare film (before the DVD was available the VHS went for $93 on Amazon.com!) and thus made little money for the distributors, and Lion's Gate tends to skimp out on extra features (See most of their direct-to-video releases for proof) unless there is a large demand for the film, which there clearly isn't.
I e-mailed the writter/director of metamorphosis, Glenn Takakjian, though.
He's a really nice person.
Hey, you guys are GREAT! Thanks for the kind comments. Yes, this is really me. Like I said, check out my website www.deadlyspawn.net
Yeah, Lions Gate never even asked me to do a commentary or supply and supplimental material. The DVD looks and sounds great though.
I'm starting on a new film in June or July called HELL ON EARTH. lol...It will have what you want...monsters, hot chicks and plenty of red stuff.
I made a few other films that haven't been released yet (except in limited dist). This Thing of Ours is a mob film starring Vincent Pastore, Frank Vincent, James Caan, Pat Cooper, Chuck Zito, etc. And the other is called Destination Fame starring Joe Jackson, Cuba Gooding, Jordan Knight, AJ Gil, Mario, etc. Hopefully they will be released in the upcoming year.
I couldn't wait to get back to horror though. I made a couple of quickies, The Regenerated Man and Vampire Vixens From Venus (USA Up All Night)
Deadly Spawn also has tee shirts and a really cool hand puppet coming out this Halloween. Also a brand new CD Soundtrack. You can read all about it on my website. Thanks again, guys!---Ted
I checked out the website, and I must say it's very well done. I love that graphic of the spawn creature hatching out of Earth. It's great that you've got a shirt on Rotten Cotton - they're a great company. That spawn handpuppet looks pretty damn cool as well. Hopefully it will retail within the pricerange of a recent college graduate looking for a good job. Hey, Ted, you need any writers or actors? ;)
Do you happen to own any props from Metamorphosis?
Such as creature maquettes or anything like that?
Howdy! I think most of the props from Metamorphosis have disintegrated by now. Some were used for other creatures because the armatures were very expensive.
Thanks for the kind words about the website. I'm trying to make it a fun place and keep it updated often. I'd love to do what Peter Jackson is doing with www.kongisking.net
Yeah, the Spawn Puppet looks real cool. And it's BIG! I hope to get my advance copy soon. I'll take a photo and put it on the website.
lol...sure, I could always use local actors and effects techs. Soon there will be an address on www.horrorbizfilms.com so you can send stuff there. I'll check back here as often as I can to answer any questions.---Ted
It's always nice when filmmakers come onto boards to chat with fans.
We appreciate your coming here.
This is only the second one I've been on. It's fun!---Ted
I have to hand it to you - I've seen some pretty stupid security guards in the movies, but the young guy from Metamorphosis wins the all time award.
"Hmm. A suspiscious jacket hanging on a railing... I'd better investigate and leave my key in the door..."
If there's a Level 4 biolab with security that bad, I hope Al qaida doesn't find out about it.
Lol...I know, Metamorphosis had it's fair share of stupid moments, but that just added to the fun. I thought the special effects were excellent, there were some rather unpredictable moments, awesome monsters, and one hell of a twisted ending!
Mr. Bohus-- You should work with Glenn Takakjian again.
He's yet to direct anything else since metamorphosis.
BTW: I wasn't criticizing the movie for that dumb guard - I loved this flick and couldn't stop laughing. In that respect, I found it quite different from the original, which -- although not totally serious -- was a seriously scary movie. Of course I saw Spawn when I was 11 and I saw Metamorphosis when I was 32, so that may have colored my perspective.
I liked metamorphosis better. Yeah the acting was terrible and it was cheesy but that added to the fun.
The effects were AWESOME.
This was before the horrors of CGI took control...
Yeah, Metamorphosis was a hoot. lol...work with Glenn again? Well, we had a hard time. Everything is patched up now, but it was pretty rough going then. When my book comes out, you can read all about it.
The creatures, which I designed 90% of were cool. No CGI, all anamatronics, optical effects and stop motion. ILM has invited me to their studio to screen the film and give a talk. Maybe after the current film I may take a vacation out there.
And, yes, Metamorphosis has its cheezy moments, but that's the best I could do for the budget. lol...there are films with 1000 times my budget that can be pretty cheezy as well. I'd love to have 10 million (still ultra low budget by Hollywood standards) so I could really blow your eyes out! Soon.....
Last week I helped a friend make a 3-minute horror movie as a lighting exercise for his TV production class. We killed me using a monster toy from the Duke Nukem 3D video game. It strangles me in was is possibly the worst forced-perspective shot since "Teenagers from Outer Space," and it was articulated enough that I was able to make a little stop-motion with it. We're going to try to get it posted online somewhere, and when we do, I'll get a link up to it here. That way, Ted, whenever you're feeling down about FX hiccups in your movies from budgetary restrictions, you can watch it and feel a whole lot better.
Man, all this talk about "Metamorphosis"...I'm gonna have to watch it again tomorrow after work now. Not that that's a bad thing ;)
What's the book gonna be called, Ted?
The book is called. Making Low Budget Science-Fiction Films: A Real Horror Story. You can see the cover on my website www.deadlyspawn.net Go to the TEXT page and then access the IN PRODUCTION page. It tells about the book, the new film, HELL ON EARTH and various Deadly Spawn tee shirts, toys, cd's, etc. Do any of you fine people go to the horror con's? Chiller Theatre? Monster Bash, etc?
I live in Massachusetts, unfortunately horror convention are rare around here.
Question for you Ted...
A while back I got an E-mail from an effects artist named Brian Quinn, who said he worked on Metamorphosis. He claimed he was trying to get some toys made for the creatures from metamorphosis--any truth in this?
I loved the monsters in Metamorphosis. Having one on my shelf would be a slice of heaven!
Hi. Yes, Brian worked on the film. They did make a model kit of the main Metamorphosis creature. I have one, but forgot which company made it. Maybe I'll post pictures of the creature and the Spawn kit from Alternative Images on the www.deadlyspawn.net website. Maybe if they release Metamorphosis on cable or TV there will be more interest in the toy potential. The Deadly Spawn hand puppet from Bump In The Night looks cool though.....
Do you know if the model is available on line anywhere?
I found the Deadly Spawn model kit at www.gremlins.com
Just go to the search and type Deadly Spawn. It's sort of a deformed kit...but, pretty cool.
I'll look for the Metamorphosis kit. I'll probably put pix of both kits on my website soon.
www.deadlyspawn.net
Thanks Ted!
By the way, what will Hell on Earth be about?
I've looked online for info on Hell on Earth but have yet to find any.
What phase is the production in?
Howdy! Go to the website www.deadlyspawn.net
Then go to the TEXT page and access the IN PRODUCTION page. There is a synopsis and artwork. It should be fun.
Sounds cool, do you have an estimate budget yet?
Yes, ultra low. In the $40,000 to 60 range. Tom Savini (lol, I know, I know) may be helping.....