Titans Terrors and Toys

Of the many, many news items that came out of this year's San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC), the one that really got my attention was the preview for Blair Witch , the upcoming sequel to the 1999 "found footage" hit The Blair Witch Project . This sequel, which was directed by Adam Wingard, is slated for release in September; up until now, this sequel has flown under the horror fan radar by going under an alternate title, The Woods . Even though it will be the third film in the franchise, Blair Witch will be a direct sequel to the first movie because of the main character's connection to a major character in the first film. The characters and events of the second film, Book of Shadows (2000), won't be involved in Blair Witch at all. Yet based on what I've seen and read about this sequel so far, it seems like it will follow the same plot beats as the first film: people go into the woods, people become trapped in the woods, people vanish in the woods. Wingard ma...

As a 3D film fan, I greatly admire the work of the 3D Film Archive . While the major movie studios push out both theatrical releases and Blu-rays of films that are shot on 2D and then converted into 3D during post-production, the 3D Film Archive has been involved in restorations of vintage films that were shot in 3D (both classic and obscure) in order to preserve their place in American film history. Previous Blu-ray titles that the 3D Film Archive assisted in releasing include Dragonfly Squadron (1954), Gog (1954), Kiss Me Kate (1953), Miss Sadie Thompson (1953) and 3D Rarities , a compilation of 3D film shorts that span from 1922 to 1962. 3D Film Archive's latest restoration effort utilizes a Kickstarter campaign to restore September Storm (1960). Not only was Storm the only American feature-length 3D movie made between Revenge of the Creature (1955) and The Bubble (1966) but it was also one of the few that was produced in Stereo-Vision, a short-lived process which...

Ovipositor, eggs, and cocooned victims not included. With this year marking the 30th anniversary of Aliens , it only makes sense for Hallmark to release an ornament based on that movie's main monster: the Alien Queen. Read on for my review and more photos of this Aliens collectible.

I have no idea what the state of UFO tourism is right now--especially since The X-Files stopped being the cultural phenomenon that it used to be back in the '90s--but Roswell, NM is still open for business. A friend of mine recently made a trip to this flying saucer mecca, and he's letting me post some of the pictures he took (as well as the postcard) of the UFO Museum in Roswell . Click below to see some pictures of this Atomic Age landmark, as well as photos from another UFO display in Erie, PA.

In today's world of monster toy collectibles, it seems like nothing is too obscure for the action figure treatment. Distinctive Dummies (DD for short) has been releasing 8-inch Mego-style action figures for years now, focusing on characters from horror films between the silent era and the 1980s. I've never bought any of DD's products but from what I've seen, they do a limited run of a set of figures before moving on to do another limited run of a new set of figures, and so on. The latest film freak DD has added to its collectibles roster is the titular character from The Incredible Melting Man , a z-grade creature feature from 1977. This figure is part of DD's new "Science Gone Wrong!" set, which will also include figures based on characters from The Manster (1959), Monster on the Campus (1958) and The Wasp Woman (1959). The only thing that anyone can honestly recommend about the Melting Man movie are the makeup effects that were done be Rick ...

To paraphrase an old adage, some toys never die ... they just get re-released with new coloring, sculpts and packaging. Case in point: Kenner's classic 18-inch Alien figure from 1979. Even though it didn't sell well when it was originally released as part of Kenner's poorly planned Alien toy line, it has gone on to have an impressive after-shelf-life. It became a prized item among toy collectors, and some companies in recent years have re-released the original sculpt with various degrees of changes ( larger sizes , all silver coloring , all gold coloring , etc.). Now, Super 7 plans to re-release this figure yet again, but this time with sculpt changes to match the Xenomorph's appearance from the first sequel Aliens . From what I've been able to gather from the prototype pics that I found around the 'net, Super 7's new Xenmorph figure will be ready for this month's San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) . The figure will come with exclusive SDCC prototype pa...