Tag Archives: horror-movies

Imaginator Magazine Issue 10!

August 28, 2025 Ken Miller Leave a comment

Issue 10 of Imaginator Magazine is available via Amazon and other fine retailers…

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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.

Posters for River of Blood and Monster Shark

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.

Actor Russell Shaw praises Godzilla Minus One

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!

Godzilla - King of the Kaiju title page - detail

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!

Detail from 'Ultra HD Havoc!' title page

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!

Shot of creature from Monster Island — 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!

Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell (1995)

August 26, 2025 Ken Miller Leave a comment

Promo art — Get ready for lots of low budget blood and gore!

Starring Shinichi Fukazawa, Masaaki Kai and Asako Nosaka. Written, directed and produced by Shinichi Fukazawa.

Naoto (Fukazawa) is asked by his ex- girlfriend, Mika (Nosaka), to take her to the haunted house that Naoto has inherited from his deceased dad. They are accompanied by a psychic (Kai), who is able to pick up on an ominous presence in the building. Later, the face of Naoto’s dead father (also played by Fukazawa) appears on a TV screen to warn his son that the psychic is possessed by the ghost of his murdered lover, who has the power to prevent them from leaving the house… and Naoto is informed that the only way to deal with the psychic is to hack him to bits!

Low budget gory things occur throughout the film

This very low budget film from Japan, also known as THE JAPANESE EVIL DEAD, looks really grainy (it was shot on Super 8) and manages to make Sam Raimi’s 1981 movie look like a big budget IMAX production in comparison! Shinichi Fukazawa filmed most of this flick in 1995, but it wasn’t released on DVD in Japan until 2012. It received an official international release in the UK by Terracotta Distribution in 2017, and since then Visual Vengeance has released the film on Blu-ray in America.

Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell artwork — Artwork for the Visual Vengeance release

There are lots of lo-fi FX to keep you watching BLOODY MUSCLE BODY BUILDER IN HELL, such as when the ghost drops a pendant into the psychic’s mouth, after which the pendant slithers from the victim’s mouth via jerky stop-motion effects, then bores through his eye, into his head! We also get to see a knife rammed through a head, skewering an eyeball on the blade’s tip. Some of the visual gore gags are fun, like when Naoto uses his chest expander as a kind of catapult to fire an iron bar through a zombie’s head. These effects are far from realistic, but I guess it’s the willingness of Fukazawa to try and put this stuff onscreen not matter what that counts.

As much as Fukazawa tries to emulate Sam Raimi’s first two EVIL DEAD movies (at one point the lead character even says “Groovy”), there’s a lack of real verve and bravura camera techniques compared to Raimi’s productions. The location lacks atmosphere too, with everything shot in close-up. But perhaps it’s churlish to be too critical about the film’s shortcomings, as there’s an I’m-doing-the-best-I-can determination to the proceedings, with Fukazawa trying to get as much up on screen as his budget (and his skills) will allow. Thus we get a severed head zipping about on a severed hand, more cheap and cheerful stop-motion footage, and a sequence where the dead girl uses body parts and blood to regrow herself à la a bargain basement version of what happens in HELLRAISER (1987).

A shot from Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell

The film ends with shots of a decomposing zombie body, again accomplished by stop-motion and amateur gore effects, that apes the finale of THE EVIL DEAD (1981), though it’s all done in a far less accomplished way, of course.

If you’re partial to do-it-yourself horror productions and you’re happy to ignore the many shortcomings, the non-existent budget, and a lack of professional technique, then this short, inexpertly-made, unpretentious homage to Sam Raimi’s classics just might be your cup of (tarnished) tea.

Imaginator magazine’s CREATURE FEATURE SPECIAL EDITION!

May 28, 2025 Ken Miller Leave a comment

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!

Amazon US:
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INTERNATIONAL BOOK RETAILERS…

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Buy Now

Okay… let’s check out the issue’s contents…

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!

Keith Thompson creature design for No One Gets Out Alive

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!

Water Monster 2 (2021)

December 30, 2024 Ken Miller Leave a comment

The aquatic being known as Lord Water Monkey

Starring Wang Zhener, Han Dong, Liu Lincheng and Wang Jianguo. Written by Chien Shih-Keng. Directed by Xiang Qiuliang and Xiang Hesheng. Produced by Guo Runze, Jing Wu and Xiang Weibin.
Beijing Tmeng Network Technology Co/Hainan Golden Seagull Media

A forensic doctor, Du (Zhener), ventures to a misty, boggy settlement called Shangshui Town to look for her missing brother. The townsfolk are not too willing to help her, however, because they are in thrall to a superstition involving an aquatic monster they call Lord Water Monkey, whom they fear might punish them if they get involved. Du digs deeper into the local mysteries, people continue to get killed, she finds her brother’s body, and plans are made to trap the swamp-beast, but things are not as they seem…

Wang Zhener plays the gun-toting doctor Du

This sequel to WATER MONSTER (2019), made by the same two directors, tells a different story with different characters, and is a pleasingly shot and art directed production, using the waterlogged, mist enshrouded locations effectively.

Central to the enjoyment of WATER MONSTER 2 is Wang Zhener’s performance as the outsider who, after black and white flashbacks, dreams, and meetings with various characters, learns that her name is actually Qingling and she originally lived in this town as a girl, involved in a tragic backstory inextricably linked to the origins of Lord Water Monkey. Zhener has a well maintained composure about her, playing Qingling/Du as a calm, smart and driven character. She really stands out, especially in a sub-genre (modern Chinese creature features) where many female leads teeter on being pretty, tough and rather one-dimensional. This film might feature a slimy, leaping marsh monster, but it is obvious that Zhener is totally committed to her role and really shines in every scene.

Wang Zhener is good as the forensic doctor

At one point the locals want to use Du as a human sacrifice

The town people’s ceremonies, aimed at appeasing the water monster, which they regard as a deity, imbue the film with a folk horror atmosphere, while a fast-paced sequence showing the eventual capture of Lord Water Monkey injects some vital energy into the tale. This set piece is full of invention, as Qingling and a group of locals use a series of elaborate boobytraps and other rope & wooden mechanisms to attack the Gollum-esque creature, keep the heroine out of harm’s way, and then trap the man-beast.

Above: two shots showing the local folks taking part in their Lord Water Monkey ceremony — Above: three shots showing the local folks taking part in their Lord Water Monkey ceremony

The story now takes an interesting turn, as Qingling uncovers information revealing that the town elders are corrupt, lying opium-smuggling gangsters: they are the real culprits behind the ongoing spate of child disappearances and murders! The slimy-skinned, hunched, ridge-backed water ‘monster’ turns out to be Qinghe, the biological brother of Qingling, a sibling she’d lost all memories of. Qinghe’s grotesque form is, it’s explained, due to a rare hereditary disease, and his feral nature was triggered by the vile actions of the elders many years ago. After these revelations, Qingling finally gets to fight back against the bad guys and really looks striking as she goes into action, keeping commendably cool, wearing her traditional cheongsam dress and toting a rifle that she’s ready and willing to use!

Above: two pics showing the poor deformed, slimy Qinghe — Above: two pics showing the deformed, slimy Qinghe

The titular aquatic monster is often CGI in the fast-moving action shots, but he looks much better when a practical creature suit is used, especially during the finale, where we can see Qinghe in more detail. Here the heavily deformed Qinghe is treated in an empathetic manner, as he overcomes his urges to harm his sister, then dies saving child slave opium workers from drowning. It’s actually quite a touching finale!

Above: four more shots of Qinghe, formerly known as Lord Water Monkey

WATER MONSTER 2 is well-handled, well-paced and is, all in all, an entertaining murder-mystery-creature-feature-drama.

Squirm (1976)

January 23, 2024 Ken Miller 2 Comments

Starring Don Scardino, Patricia Pearcy, R.A. Dow, Jean Sullivan and Peter MacLean. Written and directed by Jeff Lieberman. Produced by Samuel Z. Arkoff, Joseph Beruh, Edgar Lansbury and George Manasse.

Downed power lines in Georgia turn bloodworms into killer critters that begin to chow down on the local rednecks!

He's full of worms! — He’s full of worms!

SQUIRM is a cool example of the 70s trend for eco-horror/animal attack movies. The two young leads (Scardino & Pearcy) are likeable and, between the worm scenes, they try to figure out the identity of a missing skeleton in a SCOOBY-DOO-style mystery-solving fashion.

There are lots of shots of real bloodworms, which look gross when filmed close-up: they really do resemble mini-monsters! In this movie these worms scream too! Yes! Screaming worms! And they like to dangle from the shower as well!

They're in the shower! — They’re in the shower!

There’s some fine early makeup work by Rick Baker to look out for (and Rob Bottin was an uncredited assistant makeup artist on this production too). The ‘worm-face’ scene is great, revelling in shots of a character who has bloodworms crawling beneath the skin of his face! He yanks at the worms, trying to pull them out! These are really neat-looking practical effects! Rick Baker really shows here that he was a makeup effects expert worth keeping an eye on.

The ending is a nice merging of creepy house thriller & critter attack genres. It’s during this finale that the film comes up with its most impactful image; a man becoming submerged in a sea of worms that fill the room! If you don’t like worms you will not like this scene (or the movie)!

This is an enjoyable, wriggly, writhing, creepy-crawly, low budget, well-handled creatures-run-amok B movie that keeps you entertained throughout: it’s squirm-tastic!

Here are some posters…