Now is the time to get your talons on a pair of Limited Edition A5 prints – signed and numbered by Imaginator Magazine’s cover artist… Zilla Man!
One print boasts Zilla Man’s rendition of the iconic ALIEN, and the other print is Zilla Man’s illustration of the ‘Spacebug’-stage Brundlefly creature from THE FLY!
You can frame them, Blu Tack them to your bedroom wall, or use them as monstrous bookmarks – it’s up to you!
Links below to order copies in the UK, Europe and USA…
Creature Feature Limited Edition Prints – UK
Two limited edition A5 prints (one of the ALIEN and one of THE FLY) – signed & numbered by cover artist Zilla Man.
£11.99
Creature Feature Limited Edition Prints – EU
Two limited edition A5 prints (one of the ALIEN and one of THE FLY) – signed & numbered by cover artist Zilla Man.
€19.99
Creature Feature Limited Edition Prints – US
Two limited edition A5 prints (one of the ALIEN and one of THE FLY) – signed & numbered by cover artist Zilla Man.
Imaginator magazine’s CREATURE FEATURE SPECIAL EDITION includes an article that dives into the feverishly sensationalistic and hugely entertaining world of the Filipino Blood Island movies! I love these flicks! The chlorophyll man rocks, right?!
Imaginator #9 includes loads more monster-tastic content, of course, including chats with top movie creature-creators Chris Walas, Steve Wang and John Dods: they speak about developing such cool critters as PREDATOR, THE FLY and THE DEADLY SPAWN!
You can check out more information regarding this issue HERE!
Starring Toby Poser, John Adams and Anders Hove. Written by John Adams, Lulu Adams and Toby Poser. Directed by John Adams and Toby Poser. Produced by Matt Manjourides and Justin A. Martell.
‘A hole new kind of hell’
Tentacles erupt from the water!
This flick begins with a large tentacle extending from a Napoleonic soldier’s arse! And why not, eh?! Jumping to the present, a Napoleonic soldier’s (still-living) body is pulled from a fleshy cocoon in the muddy soil near a fracking operation, and a killer parasite begins to infect one victim after another.
Oh no! An arse-tentacle!
We learn that the parasite-mollusc always chooses male victims because their sperm is needed to fertilise the egg of this creature, and little nuggets of extra information regarding the mollusc-thingy are revealed, keeping the plot kinda interesting, but the narrative drive is continually stalled by the filmmakers’ decision to constantly halt proceedings for yet another scene of characters standing around, chatting.
Yikes! It’s a tentacled monster!
The creature’s host-hopping activities lack the variety and impact of THE THING (1982), but the effects turned out to be more impressive than I imagined; I’d assumed various tentacle shots were CGI, but they were achieved via stop-motion animation on green screen, then motion-tracked into live action plates. Wow! These tentacle shots are supplemented by quick cuts to a practical creature model. The critter itself, when it is seen clearly at the end, is a novel little squid-beast with an eye encircled by protruding teeth.
Small tentacles sometimes poke from a victim’s mouth…
…and we get to see a mini-tentacle slither from someone’s eye…
…and sometimes tentacles protrude from various facial exit-points at the same time!
HELL HOLE, made by the Adams Family – father John Adams, mother Toby Poser, and daughter Lulu Adams – is definitely a watchable film that really could’ve been better with a less repetitive plot.
Watch out for the squid-thingy!
But, hey, the movie earns a thumbs-up because it does include folks exploding and, of course, it features arse-tentacles too!
Do not trust the royal family of the kingdom of Aurea…
Starring Millie Bobby Brown, Ray Winstone, Angela Bassett, Brooke Carter, Nick Robinson, Robin Wright and Milo Twomey. Written by Dan Mazeau, directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, and produced by Jeff Kirschenbaum, Chris Castaldi, Jonathan Loughran, Morgan Bushe and Emily Wolfe. Netflix, PCMA Management and Productions, Roth/Kirschenbaum Films
Elodie and her family should have stayed at home…
Elodie (Millie Bobby Brown), one of the daughters of Lord Bayford (Ray Winstone), becomes betrothed to Henry (Nick Robinson), the prince of the wealthy island kingdom of Aurea. Elodie agrees to the marriage initially because the riches being paid for this union will mean much needed money going to her father’s poor, needy land, but then Elodie finds herself actually starting to like Prince Henry, and it all seems too good to be true… and that’s because it is too good to be true! Henry’s elite royal family, headed by the imperious Queen Isabelle (Robin Wright), intends to feed Elodie to a grudge-bearing dragon!
Prince Henry seems like such a nice chap…
…but when Henry and the royal court dress up like this, then you know it ain’t going to end well…
Millie Bobby Brown is okay in the earlier scenes, which boast some luscious fantasy visuals of mountains, knights, royal courts and castles, but she gets far better, I think, once her character is put under duress in the subterranean cavern that Prince Henry has thrown her into.
This is a damn cool-looking fantasy film image!
The film as a whole becomes more immersive once we find ourselves in the cave system with Elodie, who must keep her wits about her as she attempts to stay out of the grasp of the dragon. The script benefits from an efficient forward momentum, with new plot developments keeping the story interesting, like the inclusion of the helpful messages (written by a previous sacrificial princess) that Elodie finds and uses to evade the fire-breathing beast. A cool touch is the discovery of glowing grubs, which are a neat way to provide the heroine (and us) with a light source. These grubs also have healing properties, which prove to be useful later in the tale. To keep the location from becoming samey, the cavern is subdivided into different zones, like a vertical tunnel lined with sharp crystals, a cave filled with stalactites & stalagmites, and so on.
A bioluminescent cave-grub creature!
A vertical cave shaft that is lined with sharp crystals
There are a number of striking visual sequences in the movie, including a flock of burning birds seen whirring through the cavern, a shot of ice melting as dragon-breath blasts it from above, and a later shot of flames lighting up the sky over the dragon’s mountain domain, which looks especially fantastical.
Dragon flames illuminate the night sky…
The female dragon is a pretty fine creation. She has a sleek build, with a solidly-built, ridged neck. Her throat glows before she breaths lava-like flames, and she possesses a long, prehensile tail, a spike-festooned head, a neck covered in spines, and large wings. This dragon has a characterful face, looking a little bit like Draco from DRAGONHEART, and, just like Draco, she can speak. I am not usually a big fan of talking movie dragons, but the way this one speaks, with a female voice courtesy of Iranian actress Shohreh Aghdashloo, it works quite effectively. The dragon also has a legitimate reason to want revenge on humans…
A damsel-versus-dragon face-off!The dragon’s body-structure gives her something of a stylised, heraldic look
DAMSEL’s plot machinations sees Elodie’s younger sister Floria being chucked into the dragon’s lair (because Queen Isabelle realises Elodie has evaded the dragon), and it all becomes really quite thrilling as Elodie goes back into the danger zone to save her sis! Elodie finally tips the balance in her favour after she finds the chance to explain to the dragon that the vengeful beast has been lied to over the years with regard to the identities of the sacrificial princesses.
Many of the caves are large enough for the dragon to fly around in
The dragon’s flame-breath has a lava-like quality to it
Robin Wright is sufficiently dastardly as the queen of the island kingdom, Ray Winstone is all right as the father who finally attempts to do the right thing, Angela Bassett is good as the stepmother who smells a rat, and Millie Bobby Brown just gets better and better as the film progresses. She looks very striking as the burnt, bruised, ragged, dirty heroine who eventually finds a way to exact revenge on Queen Isabelle and her sneaky, ruthless clan…
Elodie becomes more battered and bruised as the story progresses, but she will get her revenge!
There is SO MUCH monster-tastic wonderfulness enclosed in this issue!
Imaginator magazine’s CREATURE FEATURE SPECIAL EDITION is available all over the world (UK, US, Netherlands, Japan, Brazil, etc) via Amazon and other fine retailers!
PREDATOR Award-winning creature designer/creator STEVE WANG talks about designing and building one of the most iconic alien characters ever created for the screen… the original PREDATOR!
DRAGONSLAYER Special effects & make-up effects titan CHRIS WALAS recounts what it was like helping to bring to life the greatest-looking movie dragon: Vermithrax Pejorative!
ALIEN Actress VERONICA CARTWRIGHT is interviewed about working on the classic genre movies ALIEN, INVASION OF THE BODYSNATCHERS and THE BIRDS! She describes the day they shot the bloody Chestburster scene!
WEREWOLVES A look at the awesome practical creature FX used in WEREWOLVES (2024)! One of the actor-producers tells us what it was like to work with Frank freakin’ Grillo!
ELDRITCH ENCOUNTERS Horror fiction author, editor and critic RAMSEY CAMPBELL reviews two films made by the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society!
CREATURE FEATURE REVIEWS Noah Kneal, Simon Pritchard and Ramsey Campbell review a bunch of monster movies! Titles include BOGIEVILLE and ALIEN FROM THE ABYSS!
THE DEADLY SPAWN JOHN DODS chats about making the gorgeously gooey, triple-headed monster star of THE DEADLY SPAWN (1983), plus he covers other pivotal moments in his career, including building creatures for SPOOKIES (1986) and NIGHTBEAST (1982)!
INTO THE DEEP 2025 is the 50th anniversary of the release of JAWS… and it is also the year that Richard (Hooper) Dreyfuss is unleashed upon the world in a brand new shark movie: INTO THE DEEP! Action director CHRISTIAN SESMA tells us all about it!
BEASTS OF BLOOD ISLAND A dive back into the lurid, tropical, colourful world of Eddie Romero’s Filipino fright flicks!
SQUIRM Director JEFF LIEBERMAN reminisces about his incredibly enjoyable killer bloodworms opus SQUIRM!
HORROR QUEEN Exploitation movie star GERETTA GERETTA chats about starring in RATS: NIGHT OF TERROR (1984) and the insanely kinetic DEMONS (1985) – plus she even reveals what the recipe is for making demonic movie drool!
MONSTROUSLY TALENTED This interview with KEN BARTHELMEY, a mega-gifted concept designer and illustrator who focuses on Creature & Character Design work for big Hollywood movies, includes lots of very impressive concept artworks for such films as THE TOMORROW WAR, GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS and GODZILLA VS. KONG!
SHE’LL BLEED YOU DRY MADALINA BELLARIU ION stars as a sultry and sometimes savage vampire in the impressive UK horror movie DRAINED! Here she chats about playing a vampire and playing a werewolf, and also fills us in on what it was like co-starring with Scott Adkins in a recent action flick!
NO ONE GETS OUT ALIVE The supremely talented Creature Designer KEITH THOMPSON discusses how he conceptualised the surreal and wonderfully macabre god-monster that appears in the memorable finale of NO ONE GETS OUT ALIVE (2021), the movie adaptation of the Adam Nevill novel!
THE FLY Oscar-winning creature-creator CHRIS WALAS returns with a second interview this issue! Here he talks about the amazing work he did creating Brundlefly for David Cronenberg’s utterly wonderful THE FLY!
A VVITCH – GRAPHIC NOVEL UPDATE Artist and writer Russell Fox treats us to another sneak peek at more sumptuous-looking illustrations that’ll be appearing in his upcoming folk horror graphic novel A VVITCH! (More of his work can be viewed in issue 8 of Imaginator)
BONE KEEPER This is a new movie, which has recently finished principal photography, about a group of friends being hunted by a malevolent monster in a cave. Director HOWARD J. FORD and creature effects VFX supervisor GIORDANO AITA talk about working together on BONE KEEPER, and they share with us some ace images of the development of the cave creature!
THE MAN WHO WAS MOLASAR Actor Michael Carter is asked what it was like to wear the incredibly distinctive and damn cool Molasar muscle suit in THE KEEP. He also speaks about the makeup application process he underwent to become Bib Fortuna in RETURN OF THE JEDI, and he chats about playing a memorable London subway victim in the all-time 80s horror film classic AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON!
RADIOACTIVE REVIEWS To finish off this issue there are a couple of non-monster movie reviews, including one for the Italian Mad Max ripoff 2020 TEXAS GLADIATORS!
Wow! So much lovely stuff is jammed inside this single issue!
LIMITED EDITION PRINTS You can buy two Limited Edition Creature Feature Prints, signed and numbered by Imaginator’s cover artist ZillaMan, via this LINK!
Starring Jack Kesy, Jefferson White, Adeline Rudolph, Leah McNamara, Suzanne Bertish, Joseph Marcell and Martin Bassindale. Written by Christopher Golden, Mike Mignola and Brian Taylor Directed by Brian Taylor. Produced by Jeffrey Greenstein, Yariv Lerner, Mike Richardson, Sam Schulte, Les Weldon and Jonathan Yunger. Campbell Grobman Films/Dark Horse Entertainment/Millennium Media
Tom Ferrell, Bobbie Jo Song and Hellboy
In 1959 Hellboy, who is accompanied by BPRD agent Bobbie Jo Song, has an occult adventure in the witch-filled woods of the Appalachians, where he teams-up with the stoic hillbilly hero Tom Ferrell and encounters the hellish Crooked Man, whilst also hunting down an escaped funnel-web spider that houses a demonic entity.
The demon-possessed funnel-web spider is capable of growing to giant size! Yikes!
This is an engaging, more compact instalment of the Hellboy saga, underlining the horror aspects of the comic book source material and deftly maintaining a folksy supernatural tone throughout.
This insect is actually a witch’s familiar
Jefferson White is particularly good as Tom, a character inspired by Manly Wade Wellman’s pulp horror protagonist Silver John, Adeline Rudolph plays special agent Bobbie Jo Song nicely as someone who views all the supernatural occurrences and practices from a very scientific perspective, and Jack Kesy is actually a really good Hellboy.
Hellboy and Tom Ferrell
The Crooked Man himself (played by Martin Bassindale) is an interesting screen bogieman, though he did look scarier, I think, in the comic book version, as illustrated by the late, great Richard Corben.
A page from the comic book, written by Mike Mignola and drawn by Richard Corben
There’s a lot of cool, interesting content and imagery in the movie: a witch refills her skin-suit by crawling back into it whilst in the form of a raccoon, and a supernatural black snake slithers from between a character’s legs and slides down her throat in a continuous cycle – and there’s other memorable stuff, including the lowdown on how to make witchballs.
HELLBOY: THE CROOKED MAN is not as big scale or glossy as its predecessors, but this works to its advantage, helping the film to come across as more faithful to the vibe (and often more modest scope ) of many of Hellboy creator Mike Mignola’s original yarns.
I really enjoyed this flick, and I would definitely like to see more Hellboy films told in this style!
Starring Hiroki Hasegawa, Yutaka Takenouchi, Satomi Ishihara, Ren Ôsugi and Akira Emoto. Written by Hideaki Anno. Directed by Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi. Produced by Minami Ichikawa, Yoshihiro Satô, Masaya Shibusawa, Taichi Ueda and Kazutoshi Wadakura for Toho Pictures.
Toho put its Godzilla movie series on hold for a while after the release of the hugely entertaining Godzilla: Final Wars (2004), which was the final entry of the Millennium era. Toho eventually decided to shoot a new Godzilla flick in 2016, called Shin Godzilla, which was the first Japanese Godzilla movie of the Reiwa era.
This iteration of Godzilla initially has large, unblinking, fish-like eyes!
Shin Godzilla was a huge critical and financial smash in Japan. However, some western fans complained about the amount of time that was spent in the film focusing on the politicians and bureaucrats trying to work out what to do as the crisis deepens, but I think that watching how all the many viewpoints, red tape and opinions swamped the decision makers added quite a bit of realism to the story.
I liked all the scenes of the authorities trying to work out what to do!
The movie adds new twists to Godzilla’s lifecycle, with the creature evolving through different forms, which I really liked: you can’t just keep doing the same old schtick every time. In this iteration of Godzilla we see him transform from a low-sprawling aquatic beast to upright god-reptile. We watch him continually adapt, utilising atomic breath and then photon beams. Maybe old school Godzilla fans might not like this updating of his abilities, but I thought the ever-evolving powers and adaptations kept the story intriguing. Even the ending leaves viewers with a mystery: the last shot of Godzilla’s tail hints that an even weirder evolutionary step was underway within the great beast…
Above: two shots showing Godzilla letting loose with photon beams!
The devastation shots of boats & debris being pushed down the river as a wreckage-wave effectively replicated real disaster imagery seen during the 2011 Japanese tsunami, and I liked the many scenes of Godzilla stomping through the city seen in extreme long shot, giving an expansive view of the creature’s progress through Tokyo.
Helicopters get ready to attack!
Oh, and I loved the way the Japanese forces not only used tanks and jets and helicopters against Godzilla… they also utilised ‘train bombs’ too – cool!
You could argue that there were some odd design choices, like the early-stage googly fish eyes, for instance, but these strange, unblinking eyes do look quite unsettling!
The earlier-stage Godzilla has grotesquely-wobbling gills and freaky, staring eyes!
Ultimately, there is a lot to enjoy with this version of Big G, who, once in adult form, looks quite different to his typical body shape, with very tiny eyes, a longer neck and jawbones that can detach, allowing his mouth to widen (Godzilla’s mouth can also really extend vertically). Not only is the Godzilla in this film quite a unique design, this great beast looks pretty damn scary and creepy too!
Little beady eyes and a mouth that’s full of sharp teeth!
Shin Godzilla was the first Japanese Godzilla to be rendered primarily through CGI, though he somehow retains a slight suitmation vibe, maybe because actor Mansai Nomura portrayed Godzilla through motion capture.
This is a Godzilla film, so there’s lots of devastation!
Shin Godzilla is a very fine Godzilla movie. ‘Nuff said!
Yes, you read that correctly: issue 9 of Imaginator is going to be a CREATURE FEATURE SPECIAL…
Here’s a taster of some of the interviews that will be in this issue…
Also in this issue…
Steve Wang talks about creating the PREDATOR!
Chris Walas talks about creating his Oscar-winning makeup effects for THE FLY!
Veronica Cartwright talks about confronting the ALIEN!
There’s a chat with Michael Carter, who played Molasar in THE KEEP! The talented actor was also Bib Fortuna in RETURN OF THE JEDI and he was a very memorable victim of AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON!
Plus – actress Geretta Geratta is interviewed about her films DEMONS and RATS: NIGHT OF TERROR!
And there’s going to be so much more, including reviews of a bunch of monster movies, including these beauties…
Starring Masaaki Daimon, Kazuya Aoyama, Reiko Tajima and Akihiko Hirata. Written by Jun Fukuda and Hiroyasu Yamaura. Directed by Jun Fukuda. Produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka.
Cool poster
Also known as GODZILLA VS. BIONIC MONSTER and GODZILLA VS. COSMIC MONSTER, this kaiju flick came out to celebrate Godzilla’s 20th anniversary.
This poster is ace!
The movie presents us with our massive reptilian hero tackling his mechanical doppelgänger: Mechagodzilla! This marvellous, monstrous machine is controlled by alien ape-beings who come from a planet orbiting a black hole! Failing to beat his robo-twin in combat on his own, Godzilla is assisted by dog-faced Okinawan god-monster King Caesar (aka King Seeser). Godzilla’s beastly buddy Angiurus returns, and is now capable of leaping at his foes, leading to a very physical fight with Mechagodzilla!
Above: three colourful kaiju pics!
Mecha-G is definitely the stand-out element in this film, with the robo-beast firing rockets from its fingers, discharging lightning bolts from its chest, emitting colourful beams from its eyes, and creating whirling forcefields with its spinning metal head! Woot!
The fights in GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA are really enjoyable, full of multiple explosions and animated power beams. Even Mechagodzilla’s knees are lethal, as they are capable of firing projectiles at Godzilla and King Caesar!
Godzilla and his robotic nemesis!
This film is fun, fun, fun! The ape-aliens look goofy, goofy, goofy! And Mechagodzilla is cool, cool, cool! No wonder the titanium terror went on to become one of Godzilla’s most popular foes.
Yes! Issue 8 of Imaginator magazine is now roaming the world!
There are loads of links to places it can be bought HERE!
I am so proud of this issue!
I love the way the magazine looks, design-wise, and I think it contains a wealth of wonderful folk horror-related contents that anyone with even a passing interest in the sub-genre will enjoy reading!
Check out the magazine’s contents…
FOLK HORROR RISING
Noah Kneal looks at what makes Folk Horror so special… and ponders why the sub-genre continues to go from strength to strength.
ALL THE HAUNTS BE HERS
Ken Miller talks with Kier-La Janisse, the director of stunning folk horror documentary Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror.
Screenshot
REMEMBERING THE RITUAL
Dan Nicks reminds us why The Ritual (2017) is such a wonderful melding of folk horror and survival horror.
THE MAN WHO UNLEASHES HORRORS
Ken Miller speaks with Adam Nevill, author of such scrumptiously sinister folk horror books as The Reddening, The Ritual and Cunning Folk.
MAKING THE MONSTER!
Charlotte Quist supplies the lowdown on how the awesome and freaky Jötunn god-monster was created for the film adaptation of The Ritual.
DREAMING OF THE JÖTUNN
Talented Concept Artist and Creature Designer Keith Thompson reveals to Ken Miller how he designed the monstrous, marvellous movie beast featured in The Ritual.
FOLK HORROR MOVIE REVIEWS
Noah Kneal and Ken Miller review loads and loads of folk horror flicks… and horror fiction writer, editor and critic Ramsey Campbell provides a guest movie review too!
THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED
Writer, director and producer Sean Hogan chats to Ken Miller about his menacing, brooding, brilliant film To Fire You Come at Last.
“WHO IS THIS WHO IS COMING?”
Sebastian Starkey clarifies why Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad is such a fine ghost tale, then checks out the various adaptations, homages and parodies inspired by the story.
DESIGNING THE PERFECT WENDIGO
Creature Designer, Concept Artist and Illustrator Guy Davis divulges to Ken Miller how the fantastic folk-creature from Antlers (2021) was conceived.
SEQUENTIAL TALES OF TERROR
Artist and writer Russell Fox spills the beans on his stunning-looking folk horror graphic novel A VVitch. His illustration work is so good!
DEMONFINDER WARLOCK
Actor Russell Shaw tells Ken Miller what it was like playing the demon-hunting, bewhiskered, time-travelling protagonist in the wild, medieval-set movie Witch (2024)
RADIOACTIVE REVIEWS
The movies reviewed in this section are non-folk horror flicks (though some are folk horror-adjacent). Top scriptwriting guru and author William Martell supplies a guest film review.
I think this issue rocks – and I think you will agree once you’ve read it!
Devoted to every kind of movie and TV monster, from King Kong to Godzilla, from the Blob to Alien. Plus monsters from other media too, including books and comics.
Monster Zone 