Toy designer making crazy 1980's style monster movie

Cafe Society
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**Toy designer Jerry Macaluso directing crazy 1980’s style creature feature called “Portal Popperz”, basically about evil Pokemon and it looks like a whole lot of fun. ** I just hope it meets its funding goals so it actually gets made.

Dread Central article

*Do you like Pokemon? Do you like horror movies? Do you have fond memories of watching 1980’s creature features like “Gremlins” and “Critters”? If so, then what in the heck are you waiting for? Click the link to the Kickstarter HERE, check out the campaign, and if you like what you see (and want to see more) then please make a pledge. **After all, this awesome film will only come to life if it reaches its funding goal. **

Portal Popperz is about an augmented reality game called Portal Popperz that has become a cultural phenomenon, and it seems like everyone has their eyes glued to their smartphones trying to catch the digital creatures. But when a motley crew of misfits discover the Popperz are spawning in the real world, it’s up to our unlikely heroes to halt their path of destruction.

Directed by special effects artist and toy designer, Jerry Macaluso, Portal Popperz will focus on traditional practical effects, puppets and good old-fashioned rubber monster suits.*

Personally, I’ll take good ol’ fashioned puppetry and prosthetics over the crap CGI we see wayyy too often these days. Remember “The Thing” prequel? It may not have been a great movie story-wise but at least if they had kept the practical effects instead of scrubbing over them with crap CGI it would have been worth watching and may have actually been scary.

What do you guys think? Personally, I think this idea is really cool and love the notion of taking something essentially not scary like Pokemon and then making it evil. What are some other typically non-scary things that you think would benefit from a little horror makeover? And are there any things that aren’t meant to give you the creeps but do so anyway?

And where do you stand on CGI vs. Practical creature effects?

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I actually prefer practical effects, but in a few cases I think CGI is okay.

Kids these days may not think the Ray Harryhausen effects were cool, but I grew up with them. Those animators had to work their ass off to get those effects. The skeleton fight in Jason and the Argonauts is a classic.

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Cg is just another tool in the tool box. Jurassic Park wouldn’t have been possible without it, but it was implemented judiciously and with care. The dinosaurs moved believably and with weight. You can tell quality when the artist puts a lot of consideration into how weight moves; poor artists’ animation is almost always floaty. A lot of cg these days is floaty and shiny and lifeless. People like Roger Rabbit and hate Jar Jar Binks not because of the medium that brings them to life but because Roger thinks, not particularly well, but he thinks; Jar Jar just reacts without rhyme or reason so we hate him.

Cg is also seen as a magical patch by cheap executives as a bandaid for their lack of foresight, and so the art suffers.

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OMG I remember watching all those Harryhausen movies on TCM when I was kid. *Jason and the Argonauts *is a classic. I loved The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, too, especially the Cyclops.