Six sea kayakers paddle down a tidal estuary into a privately-owned valley in Devon, where they intend to camp for the night. Making their way along the narrowing estuary they reach marshy wetland, with bleached trees standing in an expanse of mudflats… and from the branches of these dead trees hang the bones of animals. Though they’re a little spooked by this sight, the group pushes on, traversing a creek worming its way through a marsh filled with brown reeds. After heading down a widening river overhung with trees, they reach a flat meadow, which they decide will be the place to pitch camp. But, after something ghastly happens to one of their group when she wanders into the trees clinging to the sloping side of the valley, the kayakers are plunged into an ever-worsening, nightmarish situation from which there is no escape until the next high tide…
MONUMENTAL is the latest novel from Adam Nevill, and it is a real page-turner! With the estuary’s tidal cycle enforcing a ticking clock element on the story, the reader knows that everything happening in the plot will be dictated by this tight timeline, plus the enclosed valley environment itself ensures this yarn becomes a nerve-shredding contained survival-horror experience that piles extra pressure onto the protagonists who find themselves with very restricted routes of escape. I don’t want to go into too much detail with regard to the plot, as only the limited edition hardback copies of MONUMENTAL have been published so far, but I will say that as soon as the novel begins Nevill immediately and effectively sketches-in the character dynamics between all the kayakers – and the way in which he introduces the Wyrm Valley really places you there in the landscape with the unsuspecting group. It will come as no surprise that MONUMENTAL deals with ancient pagan terror, with the particular horrors depicted here sticking in your mind long after you’ve closed the book. What’s really cool is the way Nevill has continued expanding upon his pantheon of fearful entities lurking in the same region of the UK that has also been featured in his books THE REDDENING, CUNNING FOLK and THE VESSEL. Though each of these novels are standalone stories, there is definitely the suggestion that South West England is the focal point of an accumulation of primordial evil.
The unspeakably loathsome central thing in MONUMENTAL (which I REALLY want to describe to you but I am using all of my willpower to restrain myself from doing so!) is a repulsively outstanding horror that H.P. Lovecraft would’ve been proud of! And talking of classic writers of yesteryear, the action beats later in the story, with lead character Marcus taking on swarms of pallid terrors, have the exciting vitality of Robert E. Howard’s propulsive prose. Honestly, this is a book that’s simultaneously horrific and extraordinarily exciting!
This is my signed limited edition hardback copy!
Nevill’s novels THE RITUAL and NO ONE GETS OUT ALIVE have both been turned into movies, and MONUMENTAL is screaming to be adapted for the big screen too. Come on Hollywood, somebody make this into a movie now!
Adam Nevill explains how he oversees his horrifically cool imprint, Ritual Limited, in Imaginator Magazine’s Folk Horror Special Edition Volume 2.
Starring Isacco Salvi, Martina Capaccioli, Marco Cevoli, and Marcello Castiglioni. Written by Samuele Breschi and Isacco Salvi. Directed by Samuele Breschi. Produced by Luca Boni, Marco Ristori, Valentina Cau and Mario Niccolò Messina.
The ritual written down on these pages will invoke death and destruction..
A group of friends perform a ritual, reciting the words, “Who will scare the crows away.” After they do this, and before the ritual can be finished, a stranger enters the house, drags one of the friends, David (Salvi), outside – and then the stranger cuts his own palm, allowing the blood to spill onto David’s face. From then on, matters only get worse for the group, and it transpires that a creature will hunt them down until only one of them is left alive…
This US film, shot in Italy, is far from perfect, but has some well-done passages, the musical score is very good in places, and there’s enough intrigue in the story to ensure viewer interest is maintained.
Isacco Salvi plays David
MAN IN THE FIELDS is director Samuele Breschi’s debut movie and, despite the uneven acting (the cast members all seem to be Italians speaking English, with some being more accomplished thespians than others), it’s a good first effort.
The friends really shouldn’t take part in this ritual…
One of the highlights of the film is the pagan-god-in-human-form creature that David turns into; it is a damn cool-looking skull-headed creature! It rips off the skin of David’s girlfriend like it’s a bloody onesie (the flayed skin still has its scalp attached)! The creature then drapes the girlfriend’s skin around its shoulders like a pashmina!
Our Lord the Flayed, Xipe-Totec, stalks the world…
The action scenes could’ve done with being shot with a bit more panache, but the film remains enjoyable nonetheless, thanks to the skull-headed man-creature and the effort that the filmmakers put into creating it; its face has muscles and eyes located beneath the bone of its animal skull-like head. It’s a pretty ace beastie.
The mythos surrounding the events taking place in the movie revolves around two figures; the ‘Man in the Fields’ (who is the stranger we saw earlier, who is supposedly one of the ‘first men’) and ‘Xipe-Totec’ (a dark deity known as Our Lord the Flayed), who is the god of agriculture and spring.
Yikes! It’s the Man in the Fields himself!
The ensuing plot sees an older dude, Jonathan (Castiglioni), joining the action. He is the survivor of the massacre of a family from years earlier, and he’s the one who supplies the others with details regarding the occult situation that they’ve become entangled in.
Marcello Castiglioni plays Jonathan
Breschi and co-writer Isacco Salvi make some dubious plot choices, such as having Rob (Cevoli), one of the surviving friends who has become a bit of a psycho, deciding that the best way to deal with the horrific events he’s witnessed is to go to a house party! Though I guess this story choice does allow for some slo-mo mass panic and carnage scenes at the party later on.
The house party ends badly!
The movie is flawed, for sure, but it does deserve kudos for its attempt at creating an absorbing mythology that sees the spirit of the nature god Xipe-Totec (which possesses the body of its victims, who develop the signature skull-like head) linked to the Man in the Fields in an ongoing cycle of rebirth and slaughter; the Man in the Fields, it seems, triggers the physical manifestation of Xipe-Totec (remember how he dripped his blood on David) so that Xipe-Totec becomes flesh in the physical world, after which the Man decapitates the god-creature to ensure that he remains immortal.
Top marks for the use of practical effects.
The Man in the Fields remains immortal thanks to the cycle of rebirth and butchering he perpetrates…
Hi!If you pre-order directly from Monster Zone you’ll get issue 11 before it’s available from Amazon or anywhere else… and your copy will come with a FREE A4 limited edition Witchfinder General poster! If you are based in the UK or EU you can pre-order NOW! See links below…
TO ORDER A COPY IF YOU LIVE IN THE UK:
Imaginator Issue 11 – UK
Folk Horror Special Edition Vol 2.
Interviews with David Gregory, Ian Ogilvy, Adam Nevill and many others!
Loads of folk horror film reviews, plus a look at folkloric movie monsters!
£22.99
TO ORDER A COPY IF YOU LIVE IN THE EU:
Imaginator Issue 11 – EU
Folk Horror Special Edition Vol 2.
Interviews with David Gregory, Ian Ogilvy, Adam Nevill and many others!
Loads of folk horror film reviews, plus a look at folkloric movie monsters!
£35.99
Imaginator issue 11 is crammed with LOADS and LOADS of folk horror-related goodies. Honestly, this magazine looks bloody wonderful!
Just take a look at the amazing contents…
Director DAVID GREGORY is interviewed about the making of his awesome feature-length documentary SUZZANNA: THE QUEEN OF BLACK MAGIC (2024). Find out how and why he felt compelled to tell the story of Indonesia’s horror icon: Suzzanna! David also shares a collection of superb illustrations that were featured in the film, all of them depicting Indonesia’s scary folkloric spirits & creatures.
Horror author superstar ADAM NEVILL, the writer of THE RITUAL, THE REDDENING, CUNNING FOLK and many more fear-filled novels, explains how he oversees his horrifically cool imprint; Ritual Limited! Discover which book cover design he likes the most…
IAN OGILVY spends some time with Imaginator, looking back at the making of WITCHFINDER GENERAL (1968), the pivotal British horror movie now considered to be one of the ‘unholy trinity’ of key folk horror films!
RUPERT RUSSELL, son of the madly creative genius Ken Russell, goes into detail about the process of developing THE LAST SACRIFICE (2024), a phenomenally enjoyable documentary examining the links connecting a macabre 1940s murder mystery with a renewal of interest in British paganism and the birth of folk horror films in the 60s & 70s… it’sthe true crime genre meets The Wicker Man!
Writer and director AISLINN CLARKE talks about making the moody, spooky Irish-language folk horror film FRÉWAKA (2024)! She explains how her own upbringing in Northern Ireland informed the film’s depiction of the melding of folkloric and Catholic beliefs and imagery…
A conversation with top creature designer IVAN MANZELLA, the man who produced the stunning creature concept work for the fabulous folk horror flick THE HALLOW (2015)!
Special makeup effects expert SHAUNE HARRISON recounts how he went about creating the malevolent-but-charming Far Darrig goblins featured in the extremely enjoyable UNWELCOME (2022)!
FOLK HORROR MOVIE REVIEWS; the stunning WITCHHAMMER (1970), the exceptional IL DEMONIO (1963), the mind-bending A FIELD IN ENGLAND (2013) and all the other movies included in the Severin Films boxset ALL THE HAUNTS BE OURS: A COMPENDIUM OF FOLK HORROR VOLUME 1 are reviewed! Plus there are reviews for Malaysian folk horror film INDERA (2024), the US smash hit WEAPONS (2025), and more.
ANDREW MICHAEL HURLEY, the very talented author of STARVE ACRE, considers the importance of place and location in folk horror!
An 8-page special feature looking at the development of the trolls seen in TROLL HUNTER (2010), with creature designer HÅVARD S. JOHANSEN and 3D designer RUNE SPAANS both interviewed about their work on this amazing found-footage folkloric movie gem!
Special effects & makeup genius TOM WOODRUFF JR. is quizzed about building and starring as the cult favourite folk-demon PUMPKINHEAD!
Writer-director DAVID A. ROBERTS throws some light on the filming of OLDER GODS (2023), a sinister and mysterious movie that mixes folk horror with cosmic horror!
Because there’s a bunch of incredible interviews this issue focusing on creatives who’ve helped to conceptualise or build such famed folk horror critters as Pumpkinhead and Rawhead Rex, Imaginator contributor Noah Kneal has written a big tie-in article called HERE BE MONSTERS, which looks at some of the monstrous creatures of myth and legend that’ve stomped and stalked and slithered their way through folk horror flicks over the years; Noah selects his favourites!
Director Shaun Munro describes how he shot his fantastic-looking short film UNDERTONE (2025)!
Robert Allsopp, a top movie armour maker and costume prop maker, chats about the work he did on the luridly fun, bloody, rip-roaring 1986 folk horror fantasy film RAWHEAD REX!
Also in this issue: the Radioactive Reviews section boasts reviews of the cave monsters survival horror movie BONE KEEPER (2025), the Nam-soldiers-versus-dinosaurs film PRIMITIVE WAR (2025)… and more!
Starring Zelda Adams, John Adams, Toby Poser, Lulu Adams and Sofia Macaluso. Written, directed and edited by John Adams, Zelda Adams and Toby Poser. Produced by Toby Poser. Wonder Wheel Productions
The film features shots of flies and maggots…
Jake agrees to take his adult daughter Mickey, who is suffering from cancer, to meet a healer called Solveig. They will stay in Solveig’s ivy-covered, isolated house (which is located near a cairn of rocks) for the next few days as the mysterious woman attempts to deal with the tumour in Mickey’s belly. Jake is skeptical, but Mickey is willing to give Solveig a chance, so she listens to the healer’s many musings, though a series of flashbacks make it clear to viewers that Solveig is actually a witch…
The house by the cairn…
MOTHER OF FLIES is the latest work from that low budget independent filmmaking team – the Adams family. Father John, mother Toby (Poser) and daughters Zelda and Lulu Adams have been responsible for releases including HELLBENDER (2021), WHERE THE DEVIL ROAMS (2023) and HELL HOLE (2024). With their latest project they succeed in making it look very good, with contrasty and saturated colours ensuring the visuals are stunning. The acting is acceptable but not exceptional, as is the general dialogue, but the many voiceover monologues spouted by Toby Poser as Solveig, which are meant to sound poetic, significant and deep, are actually irritating and dull.
Toby Poser as Solveig
Zelda Adams as Mickey
John Adams as Jake
Lulu Adams as a hotel worker who supplies some vital information regarding Solveig to Jake
“Trees bind the heaven to earth, roots clenching down the dirt, leaves grasping high in the sky…” Yada yada yada. Solveig’s unending blathering doesn’t add anything to the really quite astounding visuals, and I’d even say that they severely detract from the impact of all the scenes they’re added to. It would almost pay to watch the film with the sound turned off!
Solveig often brandishes clusters of thorns
Solveig believes that things in the state of death are as relevant as when they were living
Above: two shots from a film that does boast a lot of striking imagery
Okay, there is a bunch of interesting things to look out for, like Solveig’s use of a snake’s egg to initiate the removal of Mickey’s tumour, a process that requires the witch to allow a snake to slither into her mouth, which she then regurgitates into Mickey’s mouth later. Flashbacks to the time Solveig dealt with the stillborn child of a woman, bringing it back to life and incurring the wrath of the villagers, is pretty intriguing and utilises a very realistic-looking prosthetic dead baby. There’s a grisly tumour removal scene too; this involves Solveig transforming the tumour-lump into the form of a foetus (providing me with the excuse to feature this movie on the Monster Zone blog as this tumour-child is kind of a monstrous thing, right? Plus – Solveig is eventually revealed as a horror-hag – and films with scary witches can definitely be included on this blog – go and search for my review of the hag-tastic flick THE PALE DOOR )
MOTHER OF FLIES does contain some grisly moments
Yikes!
Towards the end of the film some tension is created when Jake finally finds out that he and Mickey have been staying in an abandoned patch of land next to the cairn of rocks (known locally as The Witch’s Tit), which is the resting place of Solveig’s corpse. Jake, upon hearing this, speeds back to save Mickey, but the film itself cannot be saved, unfortunately, because the striving-to-be-elegiac-and-meaningful monologues scupper everything. Even a flashback showing Solveig getting stoned to death by villagers with faces coated in lime is sucked of all drama because the footage is overlaid with the same endless, flowery, empty verbiage uttered by Toby Poser. What a pity. Still, the film does look good.
Starring Guo Xiwen, Chen Linsheng, Thomas Fiquet and Li Guangbin. Written by Shi Chao. Directed by Fugui. Produced by Zhang Jun.
I guess you don’t need to be told this, but the above scene doesn’t happen in the movie…
A dude gets his leg bitten off!
Luo Han (Linsheng), an alcoholic former biologist, leads an expedition to crocodile-infested Hell Island to help a rich businesswoman (Xiwen) search for her missing brother, but it ain’t gonna be easy because there’s a mega croc on the loose.
Checking out the Hell Island beach…
There’s nothing new here, but I gave the film a watch anyway, as I’m a sucker for exploring-a-monster-infested-island-type adventure movies.
Croc attack!
Mainland Chinese killer critter films are rarely content to feature just the one monster, and MEGA CROCODILE is no exception, giving us the extra bonus of seeing leeches, deadly plants, elephant bugs and regular-sized crocs too. The large man-eating plants, referred to as rafflesia flowers, are a fun diversion: you can’t go wrong with fiendish flora, right? The leeches that drop from a cave roof could have provided us with a fun, repugnant scene, but the little, pink CGI leeches are unrealistic and not at all gross. The normal (but very aggressive) CGI crocodiles are shabby-looking whenever they’re on-screen, but the ‘elephant bugs’ did have real potential. These beetles hide in the clothing of an infected female scientist and (so Luo Han claims) are capable of imitating human speech, which is how they were able to make the semi-comatose scientist sound like she was repeatedly calling for “help”, to attract more victims to the bugs. This is a compelling concept, but it is not explored. The beetles are immediately fragged with a grenade and that’s it for them. The main monster, the titular mega crocodile, suffers from substandard CGI effects, just like the rest of the critters.
Monster plants! Yay!
Another shot of the monster plants! Let’s yell ‘Yay’ again!
Story-wise, there’s a lot of elements used in other, similar killer critter flicks… Secret underground experimental lab? Check. A hero with a drinking problem? Check. Dumb, trigger-happy, canon-fodder merc-types? Check. A funny, buffoonish secondary character? Check. There’s also a plot ‘twist’ concerning one of the ragged survivors, who is revealed to be a devious expert from the lab who wants to get his hands on the experimental data, which also happens in DEEP SEA MUTANT SNAKE (2022).
Hiding from the mega croc!
Lapses in logic and plot holes abound: where did all the regular crocs disappear to in the latter part of the film? Where is the poisonous smog that Luo Han keeps talking about? The secret lab only experimented on crocodiles, so what explains the existence of the other lethal plants and creatures? Viewers will probably find themselves not particularly concerned by these questions, because by the end of the movie they will have already forgotten they’d watched it.
The actress is shocked by the poor standard of the CGI!
But… the film does include monster plants, right? And I love killer flora flicks, so I guess I have to give the film kudos for including those toothsome rafflesia flowers!
Starring Kate Jones, Lisa Saeboe, Louise Molesworth and Kevin Gilligan. Directed by Lisa Saeboe and Kate Jones.
Inspired by Þórdís, a Prophetess who dwelt at the base of the mountain Spákonufell (near a village called Skagaströnd on the Skagi peninsula in Iceleand), the filmmakers add the folklore creature known as a tilberi into the mix. We’re shown a woman creating the little monster by wrapping wool around a bone (in the legends this bone is usually a human rib) – and the wool is secured to the bone with twine. The woman goes to a (very artistic-looking) church to drink communion wine, which she dribbles into the mouth of the tilberi that is wedged firmly between her cleavage. Later we see the woman feeding her woolly familiar by using a dagger to make an incision in her inner thigh, allowing the worm-thing to drink her blood. Finally, after a local busybody villager discovers her cuddling the furry tilberi, we see the woman (and the tilberi) being burnt at the stake.
NIGHT OF THE TILBERI is a short film made by two former NYC School of Visual Arts graduates; artist/filmmaker/set designer Lisa Saeboe and painter/filmmaker/sculptor Kate Jones. It is a visually striking, artsy, quite brief film that has no dialogue, but it does boast an impressive analog synth score by Brooklyn-based producer/singer/multi-instrumentalist Rare DM.
The film, broken up into mini-chapters titled Creation, Sacrament, Feeding, Surrender and Sacrifice, is an audiovisual art-piece, with costumes provided by the Museum of Prophecies, and impressive Icelandic landscape shots mixed with nudity. The imagery explores the archetype of the witch as an empowered feminine identity seen by wider society (as personified by the villager) as deviant, too sexual, and anti-establishment, deserving of capital punishment.
In Icelandic legends the tilberi, a creature sent out by its witch mistress to gather milk taken from other people’s sheep and cows, is commonly depicted as a small, long-bodied, fur-covered, legless worm-thing with a hairless semi-anthropomorphic face situated at both ends of its body. In this short the creature is, indeed, depicted as a furry, wormy critter (though with just one head), and the lil’ beast appears in many shots squeezed (in a rather phallic fashion) between the woman’s breasts. This tilberi-nestled-in-a-woman’s-cleavage detail is actually an established part of the tilberi folklore. At first, when smaller, the tilberi is shown to have a tiny head with feminine lips, and later, when it has grown larger, its head becomes gold-coloured and more skull-like.
The smaller version of the tilberi has a head with human-like, full lips…
…and when it gets bigger the tilberi’s head becomes more like a human skull
The Icelandic TV movie TILBURY, released in 1987, follows most of the same lore, but presents viewers with a creature that is revealed to be a long-nosed, butter-vomiting man-like being masquerading as a British army officer called Major Tilbury! Of the two representations, I must say that I prefer the snaky/hairy/worm-like version of the tilberi seen here!
The filmmakers use very lo-fi puppets to bring the tilberi to the screen, but that’s just fine considering the art movie nature of the project
Starring Eva Melander, Eero Milonoff, Jörgen Thorsson, Ann Petrén and Sten Ljunggren. Written by Ali Abbasi, Isabella Eklöf and John Ajvide Lindqvist. Directed by Ali Abbasi. Produced by Nina Bisgaard, Piodor Gustafsson and Petra Jönsson. Meta Film Stockholm/Black Spark Film & TV/Sveriges Television/Kärnfilm/Film i Väst
This indie-style drama, an adaptation of John Ajvide Lindqvist’s short story GRÄNS (he is the author of LET THE RIGHT ONE IN), is about Tina – a troll who thinks she’s a human, living her unexceptional life in modern society, experiencing moments of happiness, excelling in her job as a border control officer (thanks to her troll senses) and, ultimately, finding herself feeling contempt for both what some humans are capable of doing and what awful acts trolls are also willing to perpetrate.
This Swedish release, which manages to romanticise the unromantic, sees Tina reevaluating her place in the world after meeting another of her kind. After frolicking in the lake with her new love, Vore (Eero Milonof), and taking part in some startling troll sex, Tina’s joy at finally meeting a soul mate is erased when she discovers what he is doing to get back at humans for their secret and terrible treatment of trolls back in the 1970s…
BORDER is a strikingly original and nicely understated melding of folklore, believable drama, romance, body horror moments, and crime plotting, incorporating troll-related details including their ability to smell shame and other feelings in humans, their affinity with wild animals, their love of eating bugs, and their susceptibility to being pursued by lightning during storms. The folkloric concept of the changeling is used as a key, very dark plot point.
Above: two shots of the ‘hiisit’ – an unfertilised egg that Vore produces, which he is able to mould into the shape of a human baby to act as a changeling…
Eva Melander’s performance as Tina is mesmerisingly low key and credible, conveying her submerged feelings clearly, even through the layers of prosthetics she wears to give her a Neanderthal-esque troll appearance.
BORDER is a small, perfectly formed movie that sticks in the memory.
Starring Ken Chang, Zhou Xiaochuan, Hu Xueer, He Qiwei and Li Junyao. Written by Lin Jianfeng. Directed by Luo Le. Produced by Michelle Mou. Sunrise Entertainment/Tencent Video
Who will survive this tomb-filled quest?
Aka CANDLE IN THE TOMB: XIANGXI SECRET, this tomb-raiding fantasy adventure, based on Zhang Muye’s novels, has hero Hu Bayi embark upon a search for what lies beyond Mount Pingshan.
What Hu Bayi uncovers includes loads of palace-tombs, toxic centipedes that crawl from funeral jars, booby traps, riddles, and a humungous, six-winged centipede monster.
Swarms of poisonous centipedes surround the adventurers
This production uses the formula that a lot of these Chinese-made adventure films follow: it starts with a full-on action-adventure-fantasy sequence, replete with danger, exotic locales and a monster, then it cuts back in time to a character telling a tale regarding these events.
A dude leaps straight at a giant, winged centipede-monster!
MOJIN: MYSTERIOUS TREASURE is a by the numbers Chinese fantastical adventure that’s merely adequate most of the time. It’s not as consistently entertaining as others of its ilk, but it DOES showcase a massive, flying, multi-winged centipede with a tooth-filled face… so how could I not give this film a go?! Plus, the film includes a rather nicely-done fight scene at the beginning, where the adventurers battle an almost unstoppable mummified warrior that emerges from a stone coffin.
Above: two shots of the reanimated warrior, who sports a rather cool-looking helmA multi-eyed monster centipede with many mouthparts!
The CGI is passable (most of the time), we get the usual digitally-created environments of dark, ancient tomb locales, and the story includes a secondary character who, as is always the way, turns out to be a selfish bad guy willing to murder Hu and his mates so that he can keep what is discovered all to himself. The villain this time is Joe, played well by Zhou Xiaochuan, who finds a legendary sword, which somehow infects him, mutating him into a lumpy-fleshed monster-man who kills the centipede-critter. The mutated/infected Joe then meets his own end when he is impaled on a stone throne. Hey, I admit that this film does have its interesting moments!
Above: three pics of Joe after he becomes a sword-wielding, lumpy-skinned adversary!
Other cinematic romps focusing on the heroic Hu Bayi character include CHRONICLES OF THE GHOSTLY TRIBE (2015), MOJIN: THE WORM VALLEY (2018), THE LEGEND HUNTERS (2021), and MOJIN: THE LOST LEGEND (2015).
This is the Monster Zone blog, so let’s finish with a few more shots of the massive centipede critter…
Starring Bob Mathias, Rosanna Schiaffino, Alberto Lupo, Rik Battaglia, Carlo Tamberlani and Susanne Loret. Written by Gian Paolo Callegari, Sandro Continenza and Daniel Mainwaring. Directed by Silvio Amadio. Produced by Giorgio Agliani, Gino Mordini and Rudolphe Solmesne. Gino Mordini/Giorgio Agliani Cinematografica/Illiria Film
The Cretans like to put on dance numbers before they send their sacrificial victims into the labyrinth…
The kingdom of Crete, ruled by Minos, regularly feeds young maidens to the fearsome Minotaur to keep the gods happy. But Princess Phaedra of Crete is far from happy when her mother’s deathbed confession reveals that she actually has a twin sister. This sister, the dying queen explains, had been given away to strangers in a far-off village because the queen had feared that one of the two sisters might have been given up to the Minotaur as a sacrifice. The king sends men to bring his long-lost daughter home, but Princess Phaedra (Schiaffino) sets plans in motion to have her sister bumped off so that she will have no future rivals for the throne of Crete.
A blonde sacrificial victim is grabbed by the Minotaur’s huge hand during the film’s opening sequence…
The twin sister, Ariadne (also Schiaffino), seems doomed as Phaedra’s goons ravage her village, killing the local men and abducting any women who could be the forgotten princess, but she’s saved by the fortuitous arrival of two heroic warriors: Theseus (Mathias) and Demetrios (Battaglia).
Theseus, the son of Aegeus, king of Athens, has been away on various adventures with his friend Demetrios, who is a Cretan citizen. Demetrios is amazed by Ariadne’s resemblance to his country’s princess, Phaedra, whilst Theseus finds himself falling in love with her.
Above: various lobby cards
As the plot unfolds, we follow events in Athens and Crete, with Princess Phaedra’s ruthless right hand man, Chirone (Lupo), relentlessly trying to deal with Theseus and get rid of Ariadne. He is quite willing to use the threat of torture and a pit of hyenas to achieve his aims, and the story eventually leads, of course, to Theseus venturing into the Minotaur’s lair…
Italian poster
Also known as THE MINOTAUR, THE WILD BEAST OF CRETE in the US and WARLORD OF CRETE in the UK, this is an Italian peplum that is typical of many of this genre’s releases in that the filmmakers focus more on the colourful human conflict and drama, keeping the fantastical elements to a minimum. We do get an interesting sequence, though, where a badly injured Theseus, who’s just fallen off a cliff with an arrow in his back, is saved by Amphitrite, the Goddess of the Sea, who has the hots for him. Theseus’s heart belongs to Ariadne, however, so Amphitrite has to make do with helpfully filling him in on events that’ve happened on the surface world while he was recuperating (including a war between Crete and Athens, which Crete won).
Amphitrite, the Goddess of the sea
Bob Mathias, Rosanna Schiaffino and Alberto Lupo
Though the fight scenes are rather lacklustre, the production has some handsome sets (including a bull-headed entrance to the labyrinth), there are lots of leggy, scantily-clad women, and the film features male leads who are not the muscled bodybuilder-types usually cast in these roles (Bob Mathias was an American decathlete who won gold medals at the 1948 and 1952 Olympic Games). Rosanna Schiaffino is quite striking looking, resembling Sophia Loren in some ways, and her acting skills are decent enough to enable her to play the two sisters as quite different characters.
US three sheet poster
But… what about the goddamn Minotaur I hear you ask?! Well, this is where the film becomes increasingly frustrating, because (after an opening shot of the Minotaur’s hand grasping for a nubile victim) the movie keeps you waiting and waiting and waiting for the moment we finally get to see the beast. This eventually occurs at the very end of the film, when Theseus gets around to actually venturing into the labyrinth (which is pretty much a cave system), where he encounters the mythical monster. At last!
The Minotaur has some big, sharp teeth!
The Minotaur in this swords-and-sandals flick is an odd-lookin’ critter. It sports a pair of horns, but the decision was made, it seems, to not give it the visage of a bull. Instead, this Minotaur (created by Carlo Rambaldi) has a bear-like body and a grotesquely large, toothy, almost simian head. I assume the creature’s oversized cranium was made so big to house the mechanisms used to give it a bunch of goofy-but-quite-effective facial expressions.
Rosanna Schiaffino in a publicity shot with the Minotaur
Though Theseus’s skirmish with the monster is rather brief, the Minotaur’s downfall is memorably grisly: Theseus burns out both of its eyes with a fiery torch and then bashes its head with a rock!
Theseus burns out the Minotaur’s left eye……and then he burns out the right eye! Ouch!
The film, as a whole, is certainly watchable, but it really needed more scenes of hyena pits and sea goddesses. And it definitely required more footage of the titular Minotaur!
This issue boasts loads of mouth-wateringly marvellous Godzilla-related contents, plus a massive celebration of the bloody & brilliant cult classic SHOGUN ASSASSIN. There are other goodies too, including reviews of a bunch of entertaining movies, including MONSTER SHARK and RIVER OF BLOOD.
Forming part of this issue’s massive Godzilla movies zone is a series of 12 mini-articles, written by a selection of creative people (artists, actors, directors, publishers, and so on), who each choose their favourite Godzilla film to praise!
In this issue…
A TRIBUTE TO GODZILLA 51 pages are devoted to Godzilla – the King of the Monsters!
The Godzilla-tastic contents include:
JORG’S TOP FIVE GODZILLA MOVIES Director Jörg Buttgereit, famed for his transgressive arthouse-horror movies NEKROMATIK (1988), DER TODESKING (1990), NEKROMATIK 2 (1991) and SCHRAMM (1993), shares with us his top 5 Godzilla movies!
RUSSELL FOX PRAISES… GODZILLA (1954) Russell Fox, the comic book illustrator who has credits that include work for 2000AD and cover art for Dynamite Entertainment’s PURGATORI comics, explains why this Godzilla flick influences his style.
ALLAN BRYCE PRAISES… MOTHRA VS. GODZILLA Allan Bryce, the convivial editor of the very popular magazines THE DARK SIDE and INFINITY, gushes about his fave Godzilla film.
WILLIAM MARTELL PRAISES… GODZILLA MINUS ONE William Martell, who is the writer of films including NINJA BUSTERS, DROID GUNNER and HARD EVIDENCE (and the author of the incredibly helpful how-to book on writing for the movies: THE SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING), informs us why this Big G film ticks all the boxes!
KEN MILLER PRAISES… DESTROY ALL MONSTERS The editor of IMAGINATOR magazine loves this film – and now he’s going to tell you why.
HANS KAUFMANN PRAISES… GODZILLA (2014) Hans Kaufmann, the director, writer, editor and producer of the social-drama-meets-Taxi-Driver movie THE WORKING MAN (2019), fills us in on why he thinks this US Godzilla release is so good.
DAVID FITZGERALD PRAISES… SHIN GODZILLA David Fitzgerald, the FX artist & actor who helped create the barbaric outfit worn by the god-monster in RAWHEAD REX (1986) and starred in the M.R. James parody horror film SQUEAK AND I’LL RUN TO YOU (2021), reveals that he likes the look of Shin Godzilla’s teeth!
RICKY BAKER PRAISES… GODZILLA MINUS ONE Ricky Baker, editor of the kung-tastic magazine EASTERN HEROES and the co-author of THE NEW ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO HONG KONG MOVIES, highlights what makes this modern Godzilla classic rock!
DIALLO JACKSON PRAISES… KING KONG VS. GODZILLA Diallo Jackson, the writer/creator whose work includes short stories, novels, and the comic book THE PARANORMALS, reveals why this film was appointment viewing for him.
RAIMUND HUBER PRAISES… GODZILLA MINUS ONE Raimund Huber, the director of thrilling, kinetic actioners like BANGKOK ADRENALINE (2009) and KILL ‘EM ALL (2012), divulges why he thinks this Godzilla movie stands out.
JOE CASTRO PRAISES… GODZILLA VS. THE SMOG MONSTER Joe Castro, the special effects artist who has created numerous great-looking practical (often very splattery) FX gems for productions including BLOOD FEAST 2: ALL U CAN EAT (2002), BONEHILL ROAD (2017), THE BEAST COMES AT MIDNIGHT (2023) and TERROR TOONS (2002), reveals how this Showa era Godzilla film inspired him to join the movie business.
RUSSELL SHAW PRAISES… GODZILLA MINUS ONE Russell Shaw, the actor who has starred in WITCH (2024), ADVENTURE BOYZ (2019), THE LOCKDOWN HAUNTINGS (2021), ESCAPE (2023) and many more films, describes why this is, for him, a truly impressive Godzilla movie.
MARK DUFFIELD PRAISES MONSTERS FROM AN UNKNOWN PLANET Mark Duffield, who is the writer, director and cinematographer of the Thai-based supernatural movie GHOST OF MAE NAK (2005), and the writer, director, producer, editor, art director and cinematographer of the fine Victorian-set Gothic horror film DEMON (2012), fondly remembers seeing this Godzilla film in the cinema back in the 70s…
GODZILLA VS. MARVEL Read about GODZILLA VS. AVENGERS, and find out why the one-shot comic GODZILLA VS. THOR is so very, very good!
GODZILLA – KING OF THE KAIJU A 16-page appreciation of EVERY ONE of the city-trashing behemoth’s many, many movies!
THE MISSING MONSTER FROM GODZILLA VS. KONG Hollywood Creature Designer Ken Barthelmey talks about a beast he designed for GODZILLA VS. KONG, which never made it into the movie…
GODZILLA POSTER GALLERY Feast your eyes on a sumptuous selection of stunning Godzilla artworks.
ULTRA HD HAVOC! Johnny Burnett raves about Godzilla movies released on 4K UHD and Blu-ray!
A CELEBRATION OF SHOGUN ASSASSIN
40 pages are given over to honouring SHOGUN ASSASSIN and the LONE WOLF AND CUB films & comics! This includes an overview of the superb, gory samurai flick SHOGUN ASSASSIN, plus a quick lowdown on every LONE WOLF AND CUB movie and TV show, and there’s a dive into the world of the original manga too!
VOICE OF DAIGORŌ! Gibran Evans, who gave Daigorō his voice in SHOGUN ASSASSIN, talks to us!
MASTER POSTER PAINTER! An interview with Jim Evans, painter of the iconic SHOGUN ASSASSIN poster!
Plus – SHOGUN ASSASSIN and LONE WOLF AND CUB Blu-rays & DVDs are reviewed!
RADIOACTIVE REVIEWS
Movies reviewed include THE LAST SACRIFICE and MONSTER ISLAND. Guest reviews from horror novelist Ramsey Campbell and scriptwriter William Martell!
Monster Island
LIGHT AND SHADOW Plunge into the striking b&w world of artist Russell Fox’s fantastical comic book illustrations!
Some of these articles originally appeared in issue 2 of FILM FRENZY, a magazine Ken Miller edited and co-published through Eastern Heroes. Now that he’s running his own publication, Ken decided to share some of those contents, notably the SHOGUN ASSASSIN features, because, well, they’re great, especially the interviews with two key figures connected to the making of the movie: Jim Evans and Gibran Evans. Hopefully more readers will now get the chance to enjoy this material!
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 