Grinning Skull presents, The Night of the Living Dead Collection. (Exclusive Payhip Store Releases)

So, since you all now know about the new Grinning Skull Payhip store https://payhip.com/grinningskullstudios , I want to let you know about the Night of the Living Dead Digital Collection, available exclusively from there. This new range is based upon the Original 1968 horror classic from maestro, George A Romero.

We have a variety of digital products available around this theme, starting with the Digital Collectors Pack.

Grinning Skull Studios is proud to present: The Night of the Living Dead Digital Collectors Pack.

This Digital collections contains all of our Night of the Living Dead range of products, all packed into a great zip file. Purchase this pack to save £$ on all these great products! Pack contains:

• Night of the Living Dead PDF Printable Poster-Book
• Night of the Living Dead PDF Cast & Press-Book
• Night of the Living Dead Original Movie Transcript PDF
• Night of the Living Dead MP4 Movie Pack
• BONUS: Virus Warning Outbreak Printable Poster-book

You can find this great bundle deal at our exclusive Payhip store at: https://payhip.com/b/8tFp

To further break down this deal, we’ll have a look at what’s in the pack. The first component as you can see from the bulleted list, is The Night of the Living Dead PDF Printable Poster-Book.

Grinning Skull Studios is proud to present; The Night of the Living Dead Printable PDF Poster-Book, part of the Night of the Living Dead range of digital products.

Inside you’ll find nine printable posters (sized at 3×3 A4) just print out your chosen design from the book using any home printer, assemble with tape/glue and there you go! Print out as many copies as you like, perfect for classic horror fans to adorn your walls with a cheap alternative to expensive posters and prints!

You can get a copy of this product on its own, by visiting here https://payhip.com/b/VXh2

We have the Night of the Living Dead Cast and press-book PDF.

Grinning Skull Studios present; The Night of the Living Dead Cast & Press-book PDF. Part of our range of Night of the Living Dead PDF range of digital products.

This PDF contains full cast, credits and advertising as well as original press book from the 1968 Original zombie horror classic movie. Find it here exclusive to our new Payhip store: https://payhip.com/b/MBp9

Next up, is the Night of the Living Dead Original movie Transcript PDF book.

Grinning Skull presents; The Night of the Living Dead original Movie Script book PDF, taken from the original 1968 classic horror movie!

Use this great PDF to stage your own version of the classic movie, read along with the movie and show your classic movie knowledge to your friends!!

You can find this PDF Ebook here at our Payhip Store https://payhip.com/b/XkwG

Coming next is the Night of the Living Dead Digital MP4 Movie Pack.

Grinning Skull Studios brings you: The Night of the Living Dead MP4 Movie Pack, part of our range of digital products from the original 1968 Movie classic.

Presented here is the original movie (in 1080p) and the original movie trailer. Get this MP4 movie pack direct and exclusive here https://payhip.com/b/RWD5

Last off, if you buy the Digital Collectors Pack containing all the above products, you’ll get a bonus of our LARP LAB: Virus Outbreak Warning Poster book PDF

Another in the ever growing LARP LAB series of printable props and game aids, Grim’s Apocalypse: Virus Outbreak Warning Posters #1.

Inside you will find five 3×3 A4 sized print yourself large warning posters to get you ready for the zombie apocalypse and warn your friends and family!

Easy to print out, stick together with clear tape or glue to boxcard or wood, assembles in minutes!! Best of all, you can make as many of them as you want, just repeat the process!!

Suitable for zombie themed LARP and RPGs, low budget home horror movie props, just for fun or for decoration in you home or for Halloween!

You can find this at both our Payhip Store: https://payhip.com/b/JZj3 and at our DrivethruRPG store https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/289136/LARP-LAB-Grims-Apocalypse-Virus-Outbreak-Warning-Posters-1?src=newest

Don’t forget to check out our most popular and up to date listings of most of Grinning Skull’s range of digital products at DriveThruRPG: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/8807/Grinning-Skull-Studios and now our Payhip Store https://payhip.com/grinningskullstudios

Thanks again everyone for your support and see you soon!

 

5 reasons I F*%king love Hawk the Slayer!

I’m sure this movie needs no introductions. You can call this one of my guilty pleasure’s of the celluloid variety, as ever since I first saw it, I loved it ever since.

In an age growing up where fantasy media was limited to a handful of films on VHS, no one could ever understand why I liked this movie so much, no amount of me telling them would make them understand why. So with that in mind, I’m going to present five reasons I fucking love that film, even to this day!

1. THE SOUNDTRACK

The music and theme tune on the movie is brilliant, a weird mish mash of synth-pop, fantasy and nostalgia. It suits the film and themes perfectly (I think) A real curiosity of sorts, but cool none the less. Check it out:

2. THE CAST

What can I say about the cast ensemble for this low budget fantasy movie? Well, lets begin with the iconic stars in this film. Jack Palance as the older scarred and evil brother (and Hawk’s Nemesis) Voltan, The giant Gort played by “Carry on” mainstay Bernard Bresslaw, Shane Bryant as Drogo, Annette Crosby (Margret Meldrew from one foot in the grave), Patricia Quinn (Rocky Horror show)  as the witch, Harry Andrews, Roy Kinnear, Warren Clarke, and so many more decent well known British actors. There’s even Ferdy Mayne and the guy who was the original Jabba the Hutt in Star Wars IV (the cut out bit that was later CGI and put back in) Quite a decent cast for such a low budget.

3. THE ACTION

The frantic and sometimes comical nature of the action scenes is something I hold a soft spot for. Crow’s multiple cut and edited arrow shots were pure cinematic cheese,  as kids I remember my mates wanting to be him in games we played at school. Even though Crow the elf, was in my opinion the least developed of the party of heroes, he was bad ass due to this quick cheapo edit effect!

4. THE CHEESE

Hawk the Slayer is no masterpiece of cinema. I admit that it  was never going to win Oscars for any part of the movie, acting or script. What makes it good is that it is not good. Sure, it’s entertaining enough, but it’s no LOTR trilogy, but it has that feel of my childhood days playing red box D&D home brew adventures. This film is cheesy as hell, a little bit camp, and ropey SFX, but I still love it just for old times sake!

5. THE HERITAGE

When I speak of heritage, by that I refer back to the cheese,in which the plot and setup of the movie, is pretty much just that of probably many of our childhood D&D and RPG games. Beat for beat, these standard fantasy RPG tropes are in force. The party of heroes, the hero’s brother being the big bad, defend the Abbey mission, raid the enemy camp, the showdown etc. How many of us out there used this movie as direct inspiration for our own RPGs, wargames, and LARP (trust me, loads of LARPers has cited this movie as inspiration, it’s almost like one anyway!) Also this movie has a real Hammer films vibe too, now that’s real heritage!

If you haven’t seen it, go away and watch it NOW, if your into RPGs, fantasy or similar. If you have, go re watch it.

I now retreat to dig out my DVD copy of it from the vaults to become a starry eyed 80’s kid again and remember good old times….

Crowdfunding Spotlight: Miniature Wargaming the Movie

It seems like an age has passed since I did a Crowdfunding Spotlight here, so I thought I’d draw attention to this very interesting documentary, all about the roots and whole aspect of the miniature wargaming hobby.

Containing interviews from industry luminaries, as well as the up and coming too, all in all it sounds like a great watch, and something different too (Well, as far as I know, there haven’t been any such documentaries before, let alone a movie!!) It’s something that we as a community should be supporting and doing our bit, so even if you won’t be donating to the cause, I’d emplore that you share the links to the KS page, to make sure that the film gets 100% funded in time (I’m pretty sure it will, since at the moment of writing it’s hit just over £7,000 of the target £10K needed!)

You can check out the KS page here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/954318608/miniature-wargaming-the-movie-0 and the website http://miniaturewargamingthemovie.com/ for more details on the project.

Good Luck guys!!

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Oh my F*%king God!! It’s Star Wars!! It’s f*%cking Star Wars!!

Holy fuck fuck fuckety fuck!! Yes you’ve probably seen it already, but it’s here, the new trailer for episode 7 is here!! I have faith now that Disney aint fucked up my beloved franchise. Thanks Mickey!! I’ve seen this a ton of times today, and I will probably gorge on it more over the next few weeks. JJ Abrams, we thank you.

Remember, the force will be with you, always…

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Grinning Skull at the movies: Avengers: Age of Ultron

So while I am busy on the PC today, I thought I’d have a rant about the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s latest entry to it’s continuity. Avengers: Age of Ultron.

If you ask if I’m a DC or Marvel comics fan, Marvel wins hands down. That’s why I was quite excited to get to see Avengers: Age of Ultron and see if it was living up to all the hype. Don’t worry, if you aint seen it, I won’t spoil it (much…)

The Avengers was never my first choice with the comics, although Thor, Cap, and Mr Stark’s separate adventures interested me, I always preferred the west coast avengers comic! Still, the way the MCU is going, any number of other characters could pop up for a cameo, so as a marvel fan, it’d be worth the watch.

This time, there was no need for any introductions or origins, straight into the action attacking a Hydra base, all guns blazing. Very impressive. It’s a shame that overall the story felt rushed, but I guess with all the information and characters to fit into it, some of it would suffer as a result.

It’s true the action scenes are second to none and I for one can’t fault it. There’s some mad comic book chaos which is welcomed, so if your a fan of pure comic calamity, its worth seeing just for that.

I’m going to pick out a few pro’s and con’s that niggled me during, without giving any major spoilers away.

Firstly, new characters. We’ll start with the main baddie, Ultron. Ultron had always been a fave of mine, and I think he was portrayed reasonably well. I had thought it would be cool to see him on the screen for decades, and they did not disapoint. James Spader was a good choice to voice the meglomanical menace.

Vision: Again, the vision is a pretty cool character, and as far as the look is concerned, they nailed it, however, his introduction seemed squeezed and more contrived than I’d like. Also nice to see him kicking ass.

The Maximoff Twins: Pretty much hated both the acting and portrayal. Didn’t feel anything like them. A better version of quicksilver exists in the recent X-Men: Days of future past. Their costumes and look were poor. I’m glad this version of quicksilver died (oops, sorry!)

Hawkeye: This time they spent a little more effort fleshing out a role for him, making him a bigger player. Still think he needs the mask to make him feel more “proper”

On a side note, it was good to see a few faces from the other movies, Falcon, Warmachine and other bit players that’ll pop up again in the MCU (Klaw in the new Black Panther movie perhaps?)

On to the Story. it was just OK, I suppose, not great. I guess if your looking for high brow and intellectual then this isn’t it (it’s the comics after all..) I’ve heard lots of people going on about how the plot is getting convoluted now, given all the crossovers and movies, and that it’s getting harder for the casual viewer to follow. I think not, rather the opposite, too basic and bare, Whedon focuses more on the relationships between the characters and not the ins and outs. Could have been better, but I understand the constraints with the whole jigsaw.

I guess, to sum up. It’s an OK movie, but it’s just that. Nothing more. Will I watch the next installents of the MCU? Fuck yeah!, of course! (but then, I would watch any old shite…)

3 Skulls out of 5.

 

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