When you make microbudget films, you generally don’t go looking for things to spend money on. You look around at what you already have and try to figure out how to recycle it.
We (and by “we” I mean “Bill Black”) invested quite a bit into the construction of the Nyoka Fights Back sacrificial altar set in Bill’s backyard, so when I was writing Stormy Tempest: Season Three I was thinking about ways that we could incorporate some of those elements into the Stormy films. Bill purchased a huge cargo net to keep the suburban Florida plantlife at bay, to prevent it from obscuring the beautiful Nyoka set that he and Chris Casteel had constructed. For a while I was planning to have Clayton use the net on Stormy (which remains a good idea and will likely be used on some unsuspecting future heroine)… but then I hit on the idea of using the net to create a monster!
My original idea was to use this big cargo net and weave vines and palm fronds and leaves and stuff into it and make it a huge, formless, hulking mound that could menace Stormy. We could maybe make a tentacle and have that slither out from under the mound and grab her. Fun… and inexpensive! Armed with this idea I incorporated the cargo net creature into the script. Bill loves classic monsters so I didn’t even run this idea by him, I just wrote it into the script so that I could spring it on him.
Sure enough, Bill’s first comment about the script was that he was VERY excited about having Stormy run into a classic monster… but he didn’t want to do something lame like stick a bunch of vines into a cargo net. He wanted a MONSTER! Childhood enthusiasm for classic creature features was rapidly taking over. Then he contacted Chris Casteel, which brought in a whole second whirlwind of childhood enthusiasm!
It was a glorious geek-fest!
Suddenly we had ideas and emails flying all over the place trying to figure out what we wanted to do, what we could actually afford and how to pull it off. I’ll write another blog entry about the construction and design of the suit after the release of the next Stormy film, which will be titled “Stormy Tempest: Caress of the Moss Monster“, but for now here’s a look at the Moss Monster himself and his lovely damsel in distress. We took a few moments before the start of filming to capture the photos below, which were inspired by publicity stills of Julie Adams and The Creature from the Black Lagoon. I’ve included the Creature images also. Enjoy!
Julie Adams and The Creature from the Black Lagoon
Stormy Tempest and The Moss Monster
May I have this dance?
I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.
Does this outfit make my hips look big?
I could fight back… but instead I’ll strike a pose!
Lori Nelson from Revenge of the Creature
Nicola Rae swoons in the arms of The Moss Monster
He’s not a classic monster unless he can arm carry a helpless maiden all the way back to his lair.
Ouch! We didn’t even bother to try this one. That poor woman has no spine!
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
These shots are really cool. It shows you guys have a lot of respect for the classics. I’ll take a guy in a monster suit over a CGI cartoon any day of the week.
Great Stuff. I’m very impressed the way you incorporated those wonderful old classic images into your upcoming Stormy Tempest episodes.. Thank you in advance for what I am confident will be another 1st class piece of work.
Hi Jim. Actually these are just some production stills that we took for the fun of it. They aren’t shots you’ll see during the movie itself.
However, I think that last picture of Stormy being carried might have been taken during the actual filming of a scene. Stormy doesn’t pose with her hands on her hips, but there IS a shot in the movie where the Moss Monster towers over her. And there is a scene where he pulls on her leg instead of her arm. And later there is a scene where he holds Stormy up while she is passed out.
So, uh… on second thought I guess we DID incorporate most of these into the film. Must have been a subconscious thing.
You’re welcome!