Cryptomundo
for Bigfoot, Lake Monsters, Sea Serpents and More

“I’m happy to say that in the few weeks since I sent that email out, her condition has improved dramatically. I spent time with her at the hospital on Sunday. Her jaw is wired shut, so she communicates by writing. But we sat around and talked and joked like normal. She denied it, but I’m pretty sure I even caught a couple smiles.”

Read: An Update On Jamie Belty, The LEGEND OF GRASSMAN Crew Member Who Was Assaulted With A Hammer »

The film begins with New Mexico State Police Sergeant Ben Peterson (James Whitmore) discovers a little girl wandering the desert near Alamogordo, New Mexico, mute and in a state of shock. More mysterious deaths and disappearances occur in the area. When a store owner named Gramps Johnson is found dead, his store literally torn apart, his empty rifle bent and twisted beside the body, the cops theorize that there is a maniac killer on the loose. But, as Peterson’s boss points out (after Peterson’s patrol partner Ed Blackburn, played by Chris Drake, disappears without a trace), Gramps’ 30-30 was emptied and “Ed Blackburn was a crack shot. He could hit anything he could see. So unless your killer is armored like a battleship, there’s no maniac in this case.” It’s up to the coroner to deliver the verdict that “Gramps Johnson could have died in any one of five ways: his neck and back were broken, his skull was fractured, his chest was crushed, and here’s one for Sherlock Holmes. There was enough formic acid in his body to kill twenty men.”

Read: Them! (1954)(Warner Bros) »

Some small independent films never get the kind of grand premieres that big-budget Hollywood films do. Instead of star-studded events at the Pantages, Cinerama Dome, Egyptian or Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, these smaller films normally get their first viewing at a local movie house or drive-in.

When you are a high school film maker then, sometimes, your school auditorium will have to do.

No there won’t be any stretch limos, or A-list celebrities at the premiere of Gretchen Kessler’s, “The Legend of the Loveland Frogmen”, but if the young film maker continues on this path, they may be showing up for one or more of her films screenings in the future.

Read: THE LEGEND OF THE LOVELAND FROGMEN – Premiere Info »

I was just forwarded a very sad e-mail from “The Legend of Grassman” director, Tyler Meyer. According to the film maker, one of his volunteers on the film, 23-year-old Jamie Belty, was attacked this past weekend in her apartment by an ex-boyfriend with a hammer. Reportedly the young woman is in critical condition in a Cincinnati hospital.

Read: A Call Out To All Fans To Help THE LEGEND OF GRASSMAN Crew Member After Assault »

That brings me to today’s topic, a newly announced giant monster flick called “Spider 3D”, which is just beginning production at Nu Image studios. The film, which will be directed by Tibor Takacs (The Gate) is an obvious homage to films like “Tarantula”, “The Deadly Mantis” and “Black Scorpion”. Films that used to make peoples skin crawl some 40+ years ago.

Read: Tibor Takacs And Nu Image Are About To Unleash SPIDER IN 3D! »

Just wanted to tip everyone off to some interesting news that is breaking at Cannes.

According to a source at the movie festival, the newly revived, “Famous Monsters of Filmland” magazine has announced that they are getting into the movie making biz.

Read: Famous Monsters To Bring Back The Creature, The Mummy, Frankenstein And Others To The Silver Screen? »

Film maker James Baack has been working night and day for just over a year now to create what very well might be a very unique entry into the Bigfoot movie genre entitled, “The Bloody Rage of Bigfoot.”

Read: The New Poster For James Baack’s BLOODY RAGE OF BIGFOOT – Cast And Crew On MNBRT Radio »

This past week I was contacted by independent film maker, Andrew Stengele, about his plans to film a very Japanese Monster heavy documentary this upcoming summer, tenatively called “Kings of the Monsters”.

Read: Andrew Stengele’s Documentary KINGS OF THE MONSTERS Will Look At Creatures Real And Imagined »

In 1976 Dino De Laurentiis had scored a big hit internationally with their re-make of “King Kong”, which starred Jeff Bridges, Charles Grodin, and Jessica Lange. The Hong Kong based Shaw Brothers Studio wanted to catch the wave of “Kong’s” popularity by producing their own giant ape film. Not wanting to pay for the rights to use the name “King Kong” the studio created their own monster who was inspired by both the early human ancestor, the “Peking Man”, and the legendary Yeti of Himalayan folklore.

Read: The Mighty Peking Man (1977)(Shaw Brothers Studio) »

Here’s the list, followed by my grade, then reviews of these picks based upon the criteria of whether they are really cryptozoologically-worthy and whether I think they have already been exploited in film and television. Images.

Read: Future CZ TV: Top Ten Cryptids »

The storyline revolves around failed pop star Kanako, who returns to her hometown to live with her beloved grandmother. Yet no sooner does she return home than a pair of crazed couples out on a drinking binge run over and kill her grandma. With the old woman gone, Kanako takes to running the family shrine, but to make matters worse, the drunken killers managed to disturb that structure—which is the keeper of kappa, one of Japan’s many yokai creatures, in this case a benevolent, human-like turtle. Resurrected, the kappa is welcomed into town by the villagers.

Read: The Brand-New Death Kappa Poster »

Over the past ten months many people have refereed to film maker Brian T. Jaynes film, “Boggy Creek”, as a remake of the late Charles B. Pierce’s 1972 cult classic, “Legend of Boggy Creek”, but as we wade through the severed limbs in these photos, it becomes evident that we have an entirely different type of movie on our hands here.

Indeed, from this batch of photos, which were just released by the Facades FX creature shop, who is doing all the effects work on “Boggy Creek”, it would be better to compare Jaynes movie to “Friday the 13th” than the work of Pierce.

Read: New Behind-The-Scenes Photos From Brian Jaynes BOGGY CREEK »

Finally, filming has begun on what is easily the most ambitious, and turbulent, fantasy film in the history of Chinese cinema, “Empires of the Deep.”

The film, which centers around an undersea kingdom ruled by mermaids, took about a year-and-a-half to get out of the development stages, due to rotating directors, leading ladies, and financial issues, began shooting, in earnest, April 22nd, under the direction of Michael French, who just recently stepped in to replace film maker Jonathan Lawrence, who in turn, replaced the French director Pitof.

Read: Cinematic Terrors Rise From The Deep – Mermaids, Giant Crabs, Giant Squid And The Lake Van Monster »

In a sleepy beach town, several friends, down on their luck and facing eviction, meet a stranger claiming to hold a map to legendary local treasure. It had been lost at sea when a ship carrying Mayan relics capsized in a storm off the coast of the Carolinas in 1718.
Now, all they have to do to resolve their financial woes forever is get to the island and locate the booty.

However, they soon find the island is a breeding ground for the mythical alien creatures known as Chupacabras, and that their existence on the island is irrevocably tied to the treasure they’ve come to claim.

The story reaches its climax, with a twist ending no one will see coming….

Read: Trey Howell Is Doing A Chupacabra Movie The Old-Fashioned Way In THE NEST »

Film maker Justin Buettner has just such a Bigfoot movie called, “Sawtooth”, which was filmed in the ‘first-person’ style made famous in such films as “Cloverfield” and “The Blair Witch Project”.

Read: New Photos And Trailers For Justin Buettner’s SAWTOOTH »