This past weekend's HorrorHound Weekend convention saw the unveiling of the first series of action figures from brand spankin' new toy company Creatureplica, whose mission is to add research-accurate toys of cryptozoological heavyweights like Bigfoot to the collections of those who are fascinated by the beasts that just might be roaming around here on Planet Earth, undiscovered and unseen by man.

Noticing a lack of serious toy lines dedicated to cryptid beasts, sculptor Jean St. Jean started Creatureplica to fill that void, and he says that his action figures will bring these mythical creatures to life in a way that we've never before seen, from other toy companies. While most on the toy scene depict monsters like Sasquatch and the Loch Ness Monster as being fun and cartoony, St. Jean is all about sculpting them based on witness accounts and extensive research, showing us what they truly might look like, if they're really out there.

Due out this coming Fall, Series 1 of the line is comprised of Sasquatch, the Yeti, a werewolf from Lousiana lore known as the Rougarou and even the Horror Hound, the mascot for HorrorHound Magazine (seen directly above). Each of the figures measure 8" to 9" tall and include a themed display base, and the only one they haven't yet shown off is the Rougarou. A variant of Sasquatch will also be available, with dark brown fur and glowing red eyes.

Learn more, and see more, over on the Creatureplica website and Facebook page!

Face Off Episode 611
“Freaks of Nature”
Original Airdate: 25 March 2014

In This Episode…

The contestants each select a strand of mutated DNA. After they choose, they find out what their mutation is (think X-Men) and work with a digital artist to make their sketches. Makeup artist Valli O’Reilly is the guest judge.

The Creations

Niko had magnetism, so he creates a mutant made of coils that generate the magnetism. The coils took him forever to create, but they came out really nice. Ve liked the character and loved the metallic paint job. Neville thought it was more of a costume than a makeup, but he still loved it. Valli was impressed with the meticulous amount of work he put in, especially for the time he had.

Tyler had wall crawler. He wanted to make a fly-like creature mid-mutation. It looked quite scary. Neville thought the sculpt was beautiful, especially around the nose and the mouth. Glenn thought it was superb. He can see the backstory instantly, and thought he nailed the quintessence of mutation. Ve was impressed with the subtle, nuanced paint job.

Daran had panoramic vision. He had weird white blobs all over his model which was supposed to represent the whites of an eye. LED lights were initially intended to shine beneath, but they got yanked out before going on stage. Valli didn’t get it. Ve didn’t get it. Glenn didn’t get it - and thought the anatomy was wonky.

Graham had tunneling - kind of a weak mutation. So he made a mole man - kind of a weak premise. Neville was disappointed that he went with such an obvious choice. Ve thought that it wasn’t well done. Valli didn’t realize it was a mole at first.

The Verdict?

Tyler wins. Graham goes home for his lack of originality.

Dig It or Bury It?

This episode just didn’t spark anything in me. It wasn’t bad; it wasn’t particularly engrossing. Part of the problem may have been the largely average makeups. The other problem may have been George, yet again, whining that he hurt. This time it was his shoulder. Suck it up, dude. No one cares.

Prophecies?

Next week, it’s an industrial revolution.

If there is one thing missing from bookshelves and libraries, it is children's picture books about Satanic abuse. Written in 1990, Don't Make Me Go Back, Mommy: A Child's Book about Satanic Ritual Abuse by Doris Sanford was meant to help therapists identify Satanic child abuse (as opposed to regular child abuse?) in their patients. In actuality, it is just terrifying. The author claims the text was "based on months of intensive research into the nature and practice of satanic ritual abuse," but it just comes across as minutes of panicked tabloid research from the McMartin trial. 

"Fun" fact: this book is part of Sanford's "Hurts of Childhood" series, which also covers "generic" sexual abuse, parental alcohol abuse, "feeling different," living with a stepfamily, and dealing with divorce.

The same year that a giant spider went on a rampage in the film Wild Wild West, late artist Louise Bourgeois gave birth to a mega-sized arachnid of her own, with the incredible sculpture you see above. So prominent were spiders in Bourgeois' art that she was nicknamed 'Spiderwoman,' and it was in 1999 that she created her piece-de-spider-resistance, titled 'Maman' (the French word for Mother).

Primarily made out of steel, the sculpture was created for London's Tate Modern gallery, and it measures a towering 30-feet high, and over 33-feet wide. The abdomen and thorax were crafted out of ribbed bronze, and so detailed is the mega-spider that it even includes an egg sac with 26 marble eggs inside of it.

In addition to the original piece, which still stands in London, a small handful of bronze castings were also made by Bourgeois, and they've each found permanent residence in countries like Canada, Spain, South Korea and Japan. Some of the other pieces can often be found on tour, appearing everywhere from New York to Russia, France to Mexico.

A true spider invasion, though thankfully one that poses no threat to us humans. That is, unless those eggs start hatching...

Filmmaker Francis Xavier is deep in principal photography in Los Angeles, CA on his latest feature, the dramatic ghost tale Less Than A Whisper, and we've got the goods.

Written, produced, directed and starring Xavier (who previously helmed the 2012 horror flick Poe), Less Than A Whisper revolves around (according to the official synopsis) 'Robert (Xavier) and Taylor (Spanish star Sonia Monroy) Usher, who expect to be happy in their new home in Northridge, California where years ago, murder and mutilations destroyed the former residents. Initially the past doesn’t matter to the Ushers, until those who caused the deaths come back; those that live in the earth, those that need, those that are not human. The Ushers' house stands between them and what they must have, and they are coming.'

Rounding out the cast is Serena Lorien (Lazarus: Day of the Living Dead), Arielle Brachfeld (Chemical Peel), Carlee Baker (Lucky McKee's The Woman), Les Feltmate, Irv Becker, Jason Kolucki, Bonnie Pavone, Guy Towe, Maria Costello and our own Sean Decker (who you probably won't recognize, given the role). Xavier and Michael Kureth executive produce, alongside producers Jo Ann Smith and Floria Hamdam. Lance Bowling serves as director of photography, with music by Andrea Centazzo and special makeup effects by Babak Eskandari.

Says Xavier regarding the film, "This is a story that I've been waiting to make into a film for many years now. On one side there’s a super-dark movie about death [and] on the other there’s an indulging drama.  In a way I think it’s almost perversely appropriate [for the story]. What I intend on delivering is an adult, meaningful, exciting, and challenging ghost story.  I think a movie should make a comment on the things that affect our lives, and it's my thinking that an audience will sit still, listen and watch a well-told story. I truly believe Less Than A Whisper is that story."

Stay tuned for more, and in the interim (and for a 'behind the scenes' look) visit Less Than A Whisper on Facebook. 

If movies and TV shows have taught us anything over the years, it's that the zombie apocalypse is all but inevitable, and that we will all someday have to fight off hordes of the undead, who want nothing more than to take bites out of us and turn us into them. How can you make sure you're one of the few survivors? Well, it just might depend on where you choose to live.

Real estate website Estately has done extensive research to determine which U.S. states are the most and least prepared for the impending apocalypse, ranking each state based on 11 key pieces of criteria, ranging from obesity rates to the number of active military personnel in any given area. Other pieces of criteria include the number of guns in a state and even the number of paintball enthusiasts, with the site suggesting that skills on the paintball field could translate to skills in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Kinda makes sense, doesn't it?!

After doing all their research, they determined that Alaska is the best place to go if the dead start rising from their graves, and that New Jersey will be the first to fall - sorry, Jay and Silent Bob! Other states with high survivability rates include Wyoming, Colorado and Ohio, and states like Mississippi, New York and Connecticut join New Jersey on the very bottom of the list. Also towards the bottom is Georgia, which is worthy of noting because it's where The Walking Dead takes place.

Check out the full chart over on Estately, to find out how your state ranks.

And be sure to grab yourself the official Walking Dead survival kit, which will come in handy no matter what state you find yourself in when grandma lunges for your neck!

Not only is Benjamin Ironside Koppin a video editor/camera operator here at FEARNET but he's also a filmmaker, with a handful of shorts under his belt. Today we're happy to report that Koppin has completed production on his first feature length horror flick, which he describes as the love child of John Carpenter's Halloween and Natural Born Killers, with a little Psycho thrown in the mix. Is your interest piqued? Because it should be!

In Made Me Do It, which also stars FEARNET's own Kyle "Splatty" Van Vonderen, college student Ali Hooper and her little brother are attacked by a masked maniac, and the key to them surviving the night lies in unlocking a secret from the killer's past. Filmed over the course of six days, partially with the hand-crank camera the late Tony Scott used in films like Man on Fire and Domino, Made Me Do It is a psychedelic trip inside the mind of a murderer.

The film will be hitting the festival circuit later this year, and you can check out two short teaser clips below. Learn more on the Made Me Do It Facebook page.

At Paleyfest 2014, we caught up with The Vampire Diaries stars Nina Dobrev, Ian Somerhalder, and Paul Westley, as well as new showrunner Caroline Dries. They filled us in on the death of Katherine, a season of transitions (both off-screen and on), and who the new "big bads" are.

In the second episode of the very first season of The Walking Dead, Rick and Glenn came up with a pretty genius way of blending in with the walkers, using zombie blood and guts to mask their human scent with the scent of death, and completely avoid detection. It totally makes sense, and one chemist believes that scent-masking could indeed be the key to survival, once the dead inevitably rise from their graves.

As we spotted over on NBC News, Raychelle Burks is hard at work on developing a cologne titled Eau De Death, which she considers to be zombie repellent in a bottle. The putrid cologne is actually comprised of two chemical compounds that are emitted from decaying flesh, with the molecule that produces that lovely rotten egg smell being added in for good measure. "This cologne is an evasive method, which when coupled with zombie mannerisms, would be effective in avoiding a zombie attack when moving among a zombie horde," says Burks.

Eau De Death is still currently being developed, as Burks wants to make sure it's absolutely perfect, before going to market.

Check out a fun video from the American Chemical Society below, which talks more about the cologne, and explains why science is as important a zombie survival tool as crossbows and handguns.

If you don't want to wait for Eau De Death to hit the market, you might want to look into the Zombie for Him and Zombie for Her fragrances, which smell of dried leaves, moss and mushrooms!

See, it's a man. But it's also a candle. It's a mandle! These wax candles by Stexe are meant to mimic the old dime-store toys of the 1950s-1970s. Plus, when they melt, they look like the melting zombie from Indiana Jones.

Stexe shop owner Stephen Bell showed us how he makes his melting mandles - and some of his other goodies.

$15.00 at Etsy.com

I wore glasses in my early high school years, and it wasn't all that uncommon that someone would toss the old 'four eyes' comment my way. But I suspect even the biggest of bullies wouldn't hurl such an insult at this newly discovered uber-predator, who quite literally has four individual eyes.

UK's Mirror reports that scientists are fairly baffled by the discovery of this four-eyed creature, which they've dubbed the Glasshead barreleye. The unique fish has actually evolved an extra set of eyes, to help it better detect prey and avoid potential predators. Found 1,000 meters deep beneath the surface of the water, in the Tasman Sea, the Glasshead barreleye's extra set of eyes give it a 360-degree field of vision, making it remarkably well adapted for deep sea survival.

One set of eyes is on top of the fish's head, pointing upwards, while the extra set is on the sides of its head, which allow it see anything that passes below or to the sides. A true predator, built for the hunt.

Suddenly, four eyes doesn't seem like such an insult, now does it?!

There's nothing that puts a smile on our faces more than awesome parents who use their creativity to bring a whole lot of magic into the childhoods of their children, and in the past we've seen a dad make his infant daughter an Aliens Power Loader costume, a mom hand-make her son a DIY Jason Voorhees doll and one highly creative couple even brought their kids' dinosaur toys to life while they slept, for an epic series of photos. If you enjoyed those stories, then you're gonna love this one!

As we spotted over on The Huffington Post, Dreamworks animator Daniel Hashimoto utilizes his movie magic skills not just at work but also in his downtime, particularly when he's hanging out with his 3-year-old son James. Though James looks like an ordinary toddler at first glance, he's actually a pretty badass superhero, as his dad uses those animation skills to turn ordinary home videos into incredible action spectacles.

Check out a few of the creatively edited videos below and see many more over on the Action Movie Kid YouTube channel!

As we mentioned in last year's post about Ten of the Coolest Horror Toys That Were Never Released, NECA had at one point in time planned on releasing an action figure of The Ring's creepy character Sadako, which was to include television set and well display bases. From what I've heard, they ran into licensing issues, which resulted in the figure never making it past the prototype stage.

Though a company in Japan recently released a Sadako vinyl figure, and Mezco added her to their Living Dead Dolls line earlier this year, an articulated action figure of the well-dweller has still eluded us over the years.

That is, until now.

As reported by the website Good Kind of Geek, Bandai is getting ready to release the world's first fully-articulated Sadako action figure, as part of their S.H. Figuarts line. Much like the planned NECA figure, their Sadako comes apart at the waist and includes a TV display base, which will allow you to position the figure so that it looks like she's emerging from the TV. Extra hands and heads will be included, with a VHS tape serving as a fun accessory.

The figure is set for release in July, selling for approximately $45. Be sure to follow the S.H. Figuarts page on Facebook, so you're notified as soon as Sadako is available for purchase!

This Sunday night is of course the Season 4 finale of The Walking Dead, which we can be sure will be a shocking and heartbreaking one, as all of the show’s finales tend to be. It’s pretty much a guarantee that at least one major character will not make it to Season 5, and considering how invested we’ve all become with pretty much everyone throughout the course of this character-heavy season, I think it’s pretty safe to say that devastating will be a word we’ll be using to describe the episode, come Monday morning.

As fans of The Walking Dead, devastation and heartbreak are things we’re unfortunately all too familiar with. As we wait to find out what the hell is really going on with Terminus, we thought it fitting that today we pay tribute to some of those who have fallen throughout the seasons, by shining the spotlight on the most downright devastating character deaths that we’ve had to endure over the years.

So get your tissues handy and come along with us, as we relive some of those utterly heartbreaking moments.

Spoilers below:

SEASON 1 - AMY

Though death was of course a major element of The Walking Dead from the very beginning, it wasn’t until the fourth episode of the first season that we were dealt the show’s first major character death, when Amy (played by Frozen’s Emma Bell) suffered a couple fatal zombie bites. Introduced in the first episode of the season, Amy was the younger sister of Andrea, and though she died of blood loss at the end of Episode 4, it was in Episode 5 that things got really heartbreaking, when Andrea was forced to put down her zombified sister. Our first taste of true loss on the show, which quickly let us know the devastation we were in store for in the future.

SEASON 2 - SOPHIA

The first half of Season 2 was all about the search for Carol Peletier’s daughter Sophia, who disappeared in the very first episode of the season. At the end of the mid-season finale, Sophia was finally discovered, and the tears of horror fans the world over could be heard hitting the floor when she emerged from Hershel’s barn, as a zombie. Of course, this being The Walking Dead and all, we often have to endure the deaths of characters not once but twice, and the show doesn’t get much more devastating than the moment Rick Grimes was forced to raise his gun and shoot Sophia dead, right in front of Carol. A moment that was hard to watch, to say the least.

SEASON 2 - DALE

If there’s any character on the show that was universally beloved by everyone, including characters and viewers, it was Dale Hovarth, who was the oldest member of the original group of survivors. Dale was a genuinely good person through and through, and that’s why it was so emotional to watch him take his final breaths, in the 11^th episode of Season 2. After being ripped apart by a walker – the same walker that Carl had previously neglected to kill – Dale’s guts were spilling out and he was quite obviously injured beyond repair, forcing Daryl to put an end to his pain. Dale was a character that was simply too good to live in the world that the world had become, and though we knew his demise was inevitable, it didn’t make it any less devastating.

SEASON 2 - SHANE

Not long after Dale was buried, we were forced to endure yet another major character death in the following episode of Season 2, with Shane Walsh finally getting what had long been coming to him. Shane’s death was no doubt a conflicting one, given the fact that he had become a bit of a monster, but I personally always felt that Shane was deep down a good person, who had lost his way in the wake of the apocalypse. At the end of the second season’s 12^th episode, Shane tried to kill Rick, an attempt that ultimately resulted in Rick stabbing his former best friend in the heart, and ending his life. A sad moment no matter what you thought of the person Shane had become, made all the sadder when Shane returned to life as a walker, and was shot dead by Carl.

SEASON 3 - LORI

Season 3’s fourth episode started off on a downer of a note, with the death of T-Dog, and then quickly became even more devastating, when Lori Grimes went into labor, on the floor of the prison’s boiler room. Knowing that she wouldn’t survive a natural childbirth, Lori insisted that Maggie perform a crude C-section on her, sacrificing her own life to save the life of her baby. Lori indeed did die during the process, and in a moment that showed he was not a little kid anymore, Carl took it upon himself to shoot his own mother in the head, before she turned into a flesh-hungry monster. “Don’t let the world spoil you,” Lori told her son, in her heartbreaking final moments.

SEASON 3 - MERLE

From the very beginning, Daryl’s brother Merle Dixon was a total asshole, the kind of guy you were oftentimes wishing death upon. Though an evil son of a bitch both before and after the world went to shit, Merle redeemed himself in Season 3’s 15^th episode, launching a guns-blazing assault on the Governor and his men. Unfortunately, the Governor eventually caught Merle, beat him up, bit off his fingers and shot him in the heart. Though the kill occurred off-screen, we saw at the end of the episode that Merle had turned into a zombie, and it was Daryl who was forced to destroy his undead brain. Whether you forgave Merle in his final moments or not, it was certainly a sad moment, if only because of how sad it was for his much more likeable brother.

SEASON 4 - HERSHEL

Season 4’s mid-season finale was no doubt one of the most devastating hours in the history of television, and it was primarily the death of Hershel Greene that made it such an emotional episode. After being captured by the Governor, Hershel was murdered right in front of the prison gates, after Rick failed to convince the Governor that they could all live together, in peace. “Liar,” the Governor responded, before slicing a chunk out of Hershel’s neck with Michonne’s katana. As if that wasn’t brutal enough, the Governor soon finished the job by cutting Hershel’s head clean off. A character that will forever be missed on the show, that’s for sure.

SEASON 4 - MIKA & LIZZIE

The recently aired 14^th episode of Season 4 was another one of the most downright depressing hours I’ve ever experienced, which saw the death of not one but two main characters – both of whom were children. In one of the show’s more shocking moments, 11-year-old Lizzie Samuels murdered her younger sister Mika, intent on showing Carol and Tyreese that zombies aren’t so bad. Her plan was for Mika to return to life as a zombie, mistakenly thinking that her sister wouldn’t have interest in feasting on their flesh, but rather would just want to play. After being forced to stab Mika in the brain, Carol then made the tough choice of killing Lizzie, deeming her unfit to be around others. “Look at the flowers,” she told the little girl who had become a surrogate Sophia to her, before firing a bullet into her head. Yea. They went there. And it was a one-two punch of total depression.

If anyone wants to make any predictions as to which characters won’t survive this weekend’s season finale of The Walking Dead, feel free, because we’d love to hear your thoughts on what we’re in store for!

As far as artists go, Jeff Asper is a pretty unique one. So unique, in fact, that he was kicked out of traditional art classes in school, for putting too much of his own spin on the assignments he was given. Though that kind of creativity didn't fly in school, it's certainly working for Jeff nowadays, and his true artistic passion lies in turning found objects, a.k.a. 'junk,' into truly one-of-a-kind pieces of art.

One of Jeff's most impressive creations is no doubt his tribute to Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, which was welded together out of found objects. Though a beautiful piece on its own, which includes a handful of birds, a human skull and a spider web, the sculpture really comes to life when Jeff puts it in the proper position and shines a line towards it, revealing the truly masterful thing about this incredible work of art.

Check out the video below, to see what we're talking about!