monsters

Mark Lilly works at the Department of Integration and is trying to help the good citizens of the Big Apple -- some of who also happen to be werewolves, vampires and demons. His zombie roommate (who he found on Craigslist) and his sexually aggressive demon boss (also his office fling) are just a few in the cast of quirky characters (human and non-human) that keep him quite busy. You can catch the trailer for the series after the jump. I'm glad that the show features other characters like conjoined robots and mermaids in addition to the standard horror fiends. Also, does anyone else love that '2 Legit' t-shirt?

I think the animation is alright (someone loves Charles Burns), but I'd love to see a live-action version of this story on the big screen. Mark's zombie roommate, Randall Skeffington (voiced by Kurt Metzger) is played as a lovable slob, but he's still the kind of guy I would play video games or watch movies with. When I think of roommates in films, I instantly think of someone highly annoying. Actors like Renee Zellweger (she would always be asking for advice), Hugh Grant (zzzz...), Alan Tudyk (I love Joss Whedon but I can't stand this guy), anyone from the cast of Friends and Franklin from TCM (die!) would make supremely irritating co-habitators. What about the role for best demonic boss/love interest? The brunettes have my votes: Monica Bellucci, Edwige Fenech, Salma Hayek and Julia Voth.

Now, what about your picks?

This year's SXSW film festival is shaping up quite nicely--I'm bummed I'm not going just for the fact that I'll be missing Amer--but one of the most intriguing titles featured in the Midnighters section of the programming is Gareth Edwards' Monsters. The genre exercise finds a journalist leading a tourist through an infected zone between Mexico and the United States. Apparently the infected are people who've come into contact with a crashed NASA space probe from six years earlier--meaning they're now some kind of extra-terrestrials.

That's pretty much all we know about the film at this point--and appears it'll be all we'll know until it actually premieres next month. Our friends at Twitch did manage to score a first image from the film (pictured above), which shows a wary traveler looking at a map of the infected zone. We have no clue what the monsters of the title will look like, but sometimes that's better. I hate when a movie shows me everything in trailers and stills.

Edwards and crew are adamant that the film will make its festival debut cold--no trailers, no promos, no clips...nada. I doubt we'll even get another still from the movie, so enjoy this one.

We'll be bringing you more on Monsters and the rest of the horror offerings playing at SXSW when the festival kicks off on March 12th.

Before great publications like Fangoria came about, there was Famous Monsters of Filmland, a 1958 magazine put out by Warren Publishing who is known for other amazing mags like Creepy and Eerie. Editor Forrest J. Ackerman enthusiastically approached every issue about the classic monsters he loved like the Wolfman and King Kong. Eventually he branched off to interviews with the people behind the scenes, including makeup artists and screenwriters--you know, the people who often go overlooked. The magazine obviously showed that Ackerman had a deep reverence for creatures and creators alike, which made the publication one of the most popular go to horror/sci-fi/fantasy sources of the 1960's. The magazine folded in 1983 after 191 issues, but according to their website (and thanks to H101 for Tweeting the news), FM is back from the dead!

According to the website, FM wants to stay quiet about a lot of the details but they did offer some tidbits to look forward to:

- In order to make sure that FM gets as wide a release as possible, we've teamed with IDW Publishing. Not only are they one of the largest comic publishers in the country, recipient of Diamond Distributor's "Publisher of the Year" award 4 times, publisher of such hit comics as 30 Days of Night, Joss Whedon's Angel, Locke and Key, and Transformers; they also happen to be huge monster kids.

"Famous Monsters is partially responsible for my lifelong love of horror, so to be involved in helping the magazine relaunch itself into the dreams-or nightmares-of new generations of fans is amazingly gratifying to me," said Chris Ryall, IDW's Publisher/Editor-in-Chief. "Phil's plans for the magazine are respectful to the brand's history and very forward-thinking at the same time, and I'm happy to be a part of it."

Check out more details about this development and my horror anthology recommendation after the jump.

By: Kevin Kelly

If you're a fan of the classic Universal Studios movie monsters, including Dracula, Frankenstein, the Werewolf, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Mummy, and more, then you've probably found yourself haunted by a severe lack of ginormous books that focus on your obsession. With Halloween just around the corner, Michael Mallory's Universal Studios Monsters: A Legacy of Horror arrives just in time.

It's chock full of over 300 black and white and 25 color behind-the-scenes photos, original movie posters, publicity shots, and articles from people like James Whale (director of Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, and many more), makeup marvel Jack P. Piece, FX man John Fulton, and more. It's officially endorsed by the studio, so I'm not sure if this will be the Bela Lugosi tell-all expose that you're looking for.

The whole package is 252 pages long, and at 9" by 12 ", it can double as a blunt object if you need to brain anyone. Check out an exclusive pic from the book just after the break.