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Would You Buy Gene Roddenberry's Rolodex For $1280?

By Reel Distraction (Subscribe to Reel Distraction's posts), Posted Sep 13th 2010 11:10AM
Filed under: Features, Discussion Posts, Sci-Fi

Here's a fun tease for Star Trek fans: according to a recent post at Boing Boing, a dedicated Trekkie just bought Gene Roddenberry's Rolodex for $1280 at an auction. So far, the purchaser has only uploaded one image from the buy: the above-pictured William Shatner info card. Apparently the Rolodex also included cards for Leonard Nimoy, Majel Barrett Roddenberry, and Carl Sagan's secretary!

Although I'm sure much (if not all) of the contact info is outdated, this is definitely a cool buy. Perhaps not $1280 worth of cool, but value is all in the eye (and bank account) of the buyer, isn't it?

Sci-Fi Poster Art of the Day: The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)

By Reel Distraction (Subscribe to Reel Distraction's posts), Posted Sep 10th 2010 9:45AM
Filed under: Features, Discussion Posts, Sci-Fi

This week we've shown you two "incredible" sci-fi posters: The Incredible 2-Headed Transplantand The Incredible Petrified World. Today's Sci-Fi Poster Art of the Day brings the thematic trilogy to a close, and is my favorite by far: The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957).

The film's U.S. promotional artwork is average at best, featuring a tiny man and a giant cat. I much prefer how the film was advertised in Italy, and that's what I'm showing you today. Rather than just slap a tiny guy next to a big cat, the Italian poster - under the name Radiazioni B-X: Distruzione Uomo (B-X Radiation: Destruction Men) - shows the titular character surrounded by massive scientists and all manner of bizarre-looking scientific equipment. This version of the poster is substantially more visually interesting and, as an added bonus, allows you to pretend that the shrinking man ends up trapped inside fancy pinball machine.

Click through for the full poster, a teaser trailer that - for some reason - was narrated by Orson Welles, and the film's absolutely melodramatic but rather touching final monologue.

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Sci-Fi Poster Art of the Day: The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant (1971)

By Reel Distraction (Subscribe to Reel Distraction's posts), Posted Sep 9th 2010 10:02AM
Filed under: Features, Discussion Posts, Sci-Fi
This brain wants to LOVE... This brain wants to KILL!
Two heads grafted on the body of a giant... The most fearsome living force ever created by man.

Yesterday's "Incredible" Sci-Fi Poster Art of the Day wasThe Incredible Petrified World. Today's "Incredible" art features a much more enjoyable film: The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant (1971). In TI2HT, mad scientist Bruce Dern(!) grafts the head of a killer (Albert Cole) onto the body of a mentally challenged man-child (John Bloom). Mayhem, of course, ensues.

Fans of biker movies will want to watch for writer/director/stuntmant Gary Kent. Fans of TV shows about monsters living in small-town America will want to watch for Pat Priest. And fans of Casey Kasem will want to watch for Casey Kasem.

The film is in the public domain and can be downloaded for free at Internet Archive, although I recommend that you watch it via MGM's fantastic "Midnight Movies" double feature DVD, which pairs TI2HT with 1972's insano, race-bating The Thing With Two Heads.

Click through for the film's full art, which gets bonus points in my book for featuring multiple female abductions, a two-headed fox, and an angry two-headed cat. I've also included trailers for The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant ("The most intimate terror a woman ever felt") and The Thing With Two Heads ("It seemed like a good idea at the time"). And come back tomorrow for one more piece of "Incredible" sci-fi poster art.

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Sci-Fi Poster Art of the Day: The Incredible Petrified World (1957)

By Reel Distraction (Subscribe to Reel Distraction's posts), Posted Sep 8th 2010 10:20AM
Filed under: Features, Discussion Posts, Sci-Fi
SEE
Terror In The Center Of The Earth!
Caverns Of Forgotten Men!
Monsters! Earthquakes! Volcanos!

For the rest of the week, the Sci-Fi Poster Art of the Day will feature an "Incredible" film, starting with today's The Incredible Petrified World (1957). I thought its octopus-centric art would be particularly appropriate given yesterday's announcement that Sharktopus will be playing at Fantastic Fest.

The film features some hinky-sounding science - a group of marine explorers discover a man who has been living in an underwater cave more more than a decade thanks to volcano-provided fresh air - and, thanks to the wonders of the public domain, can be downloaded for free at Internet Archive. Click through for the full poster (which includes painted-art John Carradine) and a stock-footage-heavy trailer. And be sure to come back tomorrow for another "Incredible" sci-fi poster.

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Hilariously Bad 'Fantastic Four' Human Torch Costume

By Reel Distraction (Subscribe to Reel Distraction's posts), Posted Sep 3rd 2010 4:35PM
Filed under: Features, Discussion Posts, Sci-Fi

The above Fantastic Four Human Torch Playset would make a perfect addition to Mainway Novelties' product line. And even though it'd almost certainly result in life-threatening injuries, I'd rather give my kid that play set above than see him wearing the below costume monstrosity. Seriously... who would do this to their child?
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E.T. Wants You To Drink Responsibly

By Reel Distraction (Subscribe to Reel Distraction's posts), Posted Sep 1st 2010 12:10PM
Filed under: Features, Discussion Posts, Sci-Fi

After sparking a nationwide underage drinking epidemic* with the scene posted after the jump, Spielberg and crew apparently felt compelled to have America's Second-Favorite Alien** encourage responsible alcohol consumption. The result, as documented by Flickr user that geek in the glasses, is a strange "Know Your Limit" Coors-sponsored ad that features E.T. as a bartender.

I haven't been able to confirm that the ad in question is legit and not just a clever Photoshop mock-up, but it looks convincing enough to me. Click through to see the full ad, while you ponder what it means if you've reached the point in your life where you need to take drinking advice from a puppet.

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What We're Watching: TerrorVison, Madman Marz, Phobia 2

By Reel Distraction (Subscribe to Reel Distraction's posts), Posted Aug 31st 2010 7:25PM
Filed under: Features, Discussion Posts, Horror
TerrorVision, directed by Ted Nicolaou, 1986

The summer after my freshman year in college was a turning point for me as far as movies go. A buddy and I found an issue of Maxim that had a "50 Worst Movies Of All Time" list, and we thought it'd be funny to go through all of them. There were some films that belonged on the list (like Plan 9), but many that didn't (Timerider and Deathrace 2000 come to mind). Looking back, I think the author of that list just picked a bunch of "b-movies" that had outlandish plots.

As the summer went on, however, I began to transition from laughing at the movies we watched to being legitimately interested in them. (I would eventually complete that transition when I moved to Austin and started attending Weird Wednesday screenings on a weekly basis).

One of the last films I saw that summer was Terrorvision. It wasn't on the list, but I'd come across it in the video store while renting other movies on the list. The VHS box art looked great, and I was bummed to find out that the video store had actually lost its copy of the film: all they had left was the display box. Luckily, I was able to purchase a copy from - I believe - eBay. I don't remember how much it cost, but I remember that my friend and I ended up really loving the film.

And although I was worried that I wouldn't like the film as much now as I once did, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I ended up enjoying it. The movie is goofy as hell, but there's a fantastic (and rather large) creature design and two of cinema's worst (and most dementedly entertaining) parents. Well worth watching if you've never seen it, and worth revisiting if you have.
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