Thurs, Oct 31st 7:30PM
FREE!
In 2001, the modern day master of movie make-up, Stan Winston, produced a series of remakes of various American International Pictures “Creature Features” for Cinemax. One of which was a retelling of the 1958 B-movie classic, How To Make A Monster, written & directed by Robert Rodriguez’s best bud, George Huang.
Much like the original, a curtain is pulled back, the video game industry’s in this instance: Clayton Software’s EVILUTION is a bomb among focus testers, so a trio of “bad-ass mercenary programmers” are brought in to salvage the game before its release date. Clayton Software’s intern is added to the mix, because the developers have only a four week long window to create the scariest final boss imaginable. There’s also with a million-dollar bonus for the one dev who can do the job, so competition is stiff between the three. Tensions are especially high when lighting strikes the studio during a motion capture session, which seemingly wipes away everyone’s work… and this is before the mo-cap suit comes to life and goes on a killing spree.
Huang has the gaze of an outsider, yet his commentary on the world of video game develop has salient points nonetheless. A stellar cast further enhances the experience, which includes fan fave Clea DuVall and “Queen of the B-movies" (as well as 1993's “Penthouse Pet of the Year”) Julie Strain, who provides the requisite amount of nudity for a cheesy horror flick (remember, this was made for Cinemax). And yes, the monster in the movie pretty damn awesome (remember, Stan Winston was involved).
“It's hard to dislike a movie that turns on the incredibly cornball reveal that it's title isn't in reference to its shuffling, homicidal soundboard of an AI-generated computer frankenbeast that's terrorizing the other characters (who can be counted off on less than two full hands), but is in reference to what it takes to get to the top of the cutthroat games industry” - someone on Letterboxd
“People who are into video games; scary movies this is a great combination.” – someone on Amazon (who gave the movie five stars)