Another preserved worm that just happens to be available on Ebay. With the crass commercialism out of the way… I think I may have figured out why the epoxy resin teeth on some worms pick up the dye used to color the water. Before I close up a jar I add a few grains of …
Category: Articles
Jul 26 2015
Latex Longevity
This is a followup to Saturday’s post about the effect on long term immersion on the kind of latex creatures using in “things in a bottle”. After 48 hours out of the solution the worm has dried and shrunk back to it’s original size. Based on that I think it’s safe to say that the …
Jul 25 2015
“Thing in a Bottle” Longevity
Today I opened up a latex “specimen” that I bottled up in June of last year. Why? To test the effects of time on both the bottle seal and the critter inside. The seal, consisting of an internal and external layer of silicone for the lid and a coating of melted wax, was in absolutely …
Jul 24 2015
A Discovery of Earth Shattering Importance
I think I may have made a major breakthrough in the field of “Thing in a Bottle” technology. It’s downright embarrassing how little discoveries like this make me giddy. Heh. One of the reasons I don’t make solid polymer clay or resin creatures is that they’ll eventually break after repeatedly hitting the glass inside a …
Jul 23 2015
Teeth
I’ve been on a “things in a bottle” spree for about a month, cranking out Halloween decorations for friends looking for something to add to a shelf display or mad scientist’s lab. In the process I’ve picked up a few more refinements to the “Making a Thing in a Bottle” tutorial and its followups (here …
Jul 22 2015
Making A “Thing In A Bottle”: Addendum II
This is a followup on the original post featuring the Making a “Thing In a Bottle” tutorial. Since then I’ve made about three dozen more bottled specimens, progressively refining the technique as issues impacting the long-term stability of the projects pop up. I’ve previously written about ways to insure an air-tight seal. This post will …
Jul 21 2015
Making A “Thing In A Bottle”: Addendum
Based on a few experiments I carried out over the weekend I’m going to add one more step to the Making A “Thing In A Bottle” project from back in March. As you can imagine, that tutorial has been getting an increasing amount of traffic as Halloween approaches. In the vast majority of cases it …
Jul 20 2015
Making A “Thing In A Bottle”
There are a couple of tutorials for creating “Things in a bottle” floating around, but this is my approach. It’s a relatively simple process that’s designed to produce a high-quality prop from cheap, readily-available materials. First off, you’re going to need a “thing” to bottle. For this example I’ll be using a tissue sample from …
May 27 2015
Famous Nude Statue Featured in Movie
It took three months for Alvin K. Bubis, producer of “The Devil’s Hand,” currently showing at the Leathbridge Theatre, to convince Linda Christian to allow her famous nude statue to appear in the picture. Filmgoers will recall that this undraped, lifesize, perfect likeness of Miss Christian was the talk of Hollywood several years ago. Tyrone …
May 20 2015
Robert Kinoshita (1914-2014)
Robert Kinoshita was born in Los Angeles, California in 1914. His architecture and design degree in from the University of Southern California prepared him well for his future career in film. Some sources claim the first film he worked on was One Hundred Men and a Girl in 1937, but his earliest confirmed work in …
Apr 14 2015
Movie Review: The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
My article, The Creature from the Black Lagoon Still Holds Us Captive, first appeared in the British magazine We Belong Dead, issue number 13. I highly recommend you pick up a copy. WBD is the best fan written magazine available today covering classic horror. This issue in particular is a tribute to the Creature from …
Mar 04 2015
The Worm Turns
Surprisingly enough, I do a lot of decorating for Halloween. I used to be involved with a number of haunted house attractions and loved the kind of big, flashy props that those environments require. Electric chairs with flashing strobe lights and maniacs wielding roaring chainsaws are certainly effective, but as I’ve grown older I’ve developed …
Feb 28 2015
The Importance of “Invisible Ghost”
It’s all too easy to dismiss Invisible Ghost as just another Bela Lugosi poverty row movie. It has a low budget, inaccurate title and seemingly nothing else to make it stand out above its fellow bargain bin fare. Notice my use of the word “seemingly.” That’s due to the presence of Evans the butler. Despite …
Feb 19 2015
Mr. Vampire: 30 Years of Fear
Mr. Vampire was released on November 7, 1985 and the world has never been the same. I had originally planned on reviewing the film in honor of its 30th anniversary, but scuttled my plans after discovering both the American DVD and VHS releases are grossly overpriced and it would be cruel of me to recommend …
Feb 04 2015
Producers Insure Horror Patrons Against Insanity
Europix-International Ltd., the producers of the new triple horror program, ORGY OF THE LIVING DEAD, which opens soon at the Leathbridge theatre, is taking no chances! Because of the terrifying nature of the program, they are insuring the sanity of every patron who enters the theatre. Anyone who loses his mind as a direct result …
Jan 05 2015
Movie Review: The Return of the Vampire (1944)
Zombos Says: Good Bela Lugosi's career didn't fare well after his initial fame with Dracula. Having apparently failed the makeup screen test for Frankenstein—though he wasn't overly found of playing the monster anyway—his reserved and aloof demeanor kept him from ingratiating himself with the Hollywood in-crowd. That, and the rapidly rising stardom of Boris Karloff …