Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl

(This had been a draft I had never posted, I have no idea when it was written.  I guess I wanted to add stuff, but since I vaguely even remember the movie, it probably will never be completed.  So this is all you get, even though it seems complete to me...)

With a name like Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl, you pretty much get what you expect, albeit with a few twists along the way.  The movie was a pretty wild ride.  Deep down the plot is actually kind of decent, but there are a few moments that are just... I don't know... out there.  Bizarre.  It should be noted that the film not particularly horror, just gory as hell.  Gallons of blood is spilled throughout the movie in comedic fashion.

The film opens up with a boy and a seemingly sickly girl who get accosted by three girls who can basically be summed up as Frankenstein monsters.  One of the Frankenstein girl's kicks the boy out of the way, and the goes for the sickly girl, who reveals that she is titular Vampire girl as she bites the neck of the first Frankenstein girl.  An overly violent battle ensues.  As Vampire girl is about to finish off the third Frankenstein girl, the music changes to some bubblegum j-pop music that doesn't quite fit the scene, and the opening credits start to play.  This pretty much sets the feel for the movie.  Exaggerated violence, mixed with unfitting happy music.

** There is really no way to give a synopsis of the movie without spoiling it (so don't read past here I guess?)**

The first scene of the movie is pretty much actually the last scene.  After the opening credits the rest of the movie is a told from the perspective of Jyugon, the boy from the opening scene.  His whole life changes on Valentines day.  In Japanese culture, a girl gives chocolate to the boy she likes.  Monami, aka Vampire girl, gives Jyugon homemade chocolate.  Jyugon already has a girlfriend, Keiko who is part of the Gothic Lolita subculture.  She is also the spoiled rotten daughter of the vice-principle.  She more or less forced Jyugon to be her boyfriend.  Monami gives Jyugon the choclate and runs off.  Jyugon eats the choclate and pretty much starts tripping out.  Turns out the chocolate was made with Monami's blood, which turns Jyugon into a half-vampire.  Eventually Keiko finds out about Monami and Jyugon, and learns that Monami is a vampire.  In a confrontation Keiko falls off the top floor of the school and dies.  She is later turned into Frankenstein Girl.

Not only is Monami a vampire, she can also manipulate blood.  In a battle scene she is cut on the arms, but can harden the blood into swords which are her main attacks.

The Frankenstein Girl is pretty weird.  She really is a Frankenstein monster, patched together from various students.  The most bizarre feature is the two arms sewn together which she can wield as a boomerang, or she can screw it into her head and use it as a propeller and fly.

What I found weird was that the character Igor was actually a servant of Monami the vampire, rather than Frankenstein.  In fact Igor actually fights the man who makes Frankenstein girl, clad in armor made from bones.

This movie is not for everyone.  It is very gorey, with blood spurting everywhere.  If the film were to take itself seriously, it does have a decent plot.

Dream about Vindictus

I've been playing a lot of Vindictus lately, something about two weeks ago I never would have thought I'd be doing.  I typically hate MMO's, but theres something about this one.

Anyhow, the dream:

I guess I was some big important noble type guy or something.  I don't think I was a specific class in Vindictus..  I was defending a castle against hordes of Gnolls.  The gnolls hadn't reached the castle gates yet.  There were quite a few other characters, but I mainly remember there were quite a few Evies.  We were all in a tower of the castle, which is very similar to the Golgotha Assault map from Unreal Tournament '99.  The Evies were hurling ice spears and fireballs as the Gnolls climbed the hill to essentially where the first spawn location would be (in UT terms).  I was using a crossbow, which as far as I'm aware, is not possible in Vindictus at the time of this writing.  At first I had no bolts and was using regular arrows, but because of that, my aim was really off, and I couldn't hit any of the gnolls.  The gnolls were also firing back with bows and one hit a guard using a real bow, so I took his weapon and was finally able to hit the gnolls.

Unfortunately by this time the gnolls had infiltrated the castle and were coming down one of the hall ways.  We made a strategic retreat back into the main hall.  We barricaded the main doors with anything we had, which wasn't particularly much.  We even used a few of our dead allies.  Unfortunately there were some of the jelly blob monsters, and they were able to squeeze through the cracks of the door and enter the main hall.  The Fiona's and Lann's began attacked the blobs as they came in, but I yelled "No!  We have to kick them to get a title!"  So we all started kicking the blobs to death.  But one of the Evies made a mana-bomb too clse to the barricaded door, which exploded, and destroyed the barricade, and additionally the door itself.  The gnolls tried to rush in, but the mana-bomb weakened the floorboard which collapsed as they came in.  Some of our team jumped down there to take care of the monsters.  I stayed up top with a few other party members, as more gnolls kept coming and they all jumped over the hole in the floor to where we were.

We fought off the gnolls for quite some time without much trouble.  There were enough debris for the Evies to make healing ergs from.  After awhile, two gnoll leaders came in and leapt at us.  (In Vindictus terms, I guess they would have been Veteran Gnoll Captains.  They were NOT chieftains.).  The main hall we were fighting in really wasn't that large, and so fighting two large gnolls in close corners proved to be very difficult. Fiona was tanking the gnolls with her shield while the rest of us attacked from the rear.  The Evies repeatedly slammed Ice Blast at them, and I went in using a smash combo, and backed out quickly before they decided to attack me instead of Fiona.  It worked for awhile, but one caught on and attacked one of the Evies, smashing her upside the head with its large club.  She went down for the count.  There was a column in the hall, which I used for cover to regain stamina.  The gnoll didn't see where I was, so I doubled around the column and attacked its backside.  Fiona started to go on the offensive attacking the one gnolls that stayed focused on her.  I tried to stay behind the column to confuse the gnoll that I was fighting to keep it from killing the other Evie.  The captain I was fighting fell quickly between my attacks and Evie's.  Once it was down we helped Fiona and quickly fell her adversary.

And thats where the dream ends.  Its kind of weird that a dream actually had an ending, to be honest.  Usually I wake up somewhere in the middle of the big events of the dream.

MegaCon 2011

MegaCon was like two weeks ago... I've been too busy with classwork to post the pictures. Now I have the time, so here we go.

We'll start with the Lego displays. They were pretty cool this year. The Super Hero stuff was getting old, so its a nice change.

(Click on pictures to see full size).

A very violent Operation Overlord done in Lego. I like the random pairs of legs without bodies littered around.

There will always be the Star Wars scenes at any convention, but this one was pretty original I think. This is the scene where Luke blows up the Death Star from whatever movie that happens in (I haven't watched Star Wars in years).

There's the big pirate ship, and then two Lego girls sunbathing on the beach in the background. The girl in the water better get out, there's a big sea serpent in the water. This picture came out kind of bad and artifact-y.

I honestly don't remember ANY of Fantasia, but I thought this was pretty neat. Its fitting since the convention is in Orlando, and DisneyWorld is like 10 minutes away at most.

This picture didn't come out too well either. This is a little medieval fantasy town right outside the castle. I like the stone henge thing with the ogres. Or maybe the army of dwarves.

Here's the castle mentioned in the previous picture. The serpent and the sharkman are my favorite parts.

Another view of the castle. In front of the dragon is a skeleton of a horse. I didn't even know there were Lego horse skeletons.

Here's some like, futuristic geo-dome thing. Amongst the people playing soccer there are aliens. There are a few people climbing the outside of the structure, I'm guessing they're supposed to be maintenance workers or something.

Just a better closeup shot of the scene.

This is by far my favorite part of the Lego display. Its Jurassic Park. They recreated quite a few scenes of the movie.

The main focus of this picture was supposed to be the car, but the green kind of blends in with the ground behind the car. I have no idea what that dinosaur in the front is supposed to be.

This is a recreation of the beginning of the move where the triceratops is dying. In front of the triceratops, where you can see the flash is a mound of brown. I think its supposed to be the triceratops feces, just like from the movie.

The infamous scene where the T-Rex eats the guy on the toilet. The Lego T-Rex is really cool. I want one...

I have no idea... The aliens are abducting the triceratops.

Alright, thats all for the Lego, now on to what everyone was waiting for, the cosplays.

First off the Assassin's Creed guy. I have yet to play the game despite having it. I like how the sun blocks out his face. That was unintentional. The guy's costume is nice, theres a lot of detail in it.

Sander Cohen and random Splicer. Sander Cohen is awesome, he's my favorite character from Bioshock (granted there are only like 5 characters in the game...).

Shiek really is a girl, at least in this case (I'm of the opinion that Shiek is a guy in the games). Also, having never played Majora's Mask, I have no idea what that thing is supposed to be. Is it Majora? As far as I'm aware, that is Majora's Mask its wearing.

This was pretty cool. Its all the equipment Link carries around in the games. I wish I got a picture of him later when he was actually carrying it all around the floor.

Poor Luigi. He gets shafted. No Yoshi for him. I mean, come one. Daisy gets a Yoshi, why doesn't Luigi? He's more important than she is!

My sister and I always talk about how far a costume has to go before its furry. I honestly don't know about this one. It is a full suit, but its Bowser... I dunno.

Rydia from Final Fantasy VI. Its a bad angle, but I guess that plushie she's holding is supposed to be the Mist Dragon.

OH MY GOD, THEY KILLED KENNY! YOU BASTARDS!

Not entirely sure if she's supposed to be Esmerelda from Hunchback of Notre Dame, or just a random belly dancer. Regardless, at least she is happy and enjoying herself.

Random wizard dude. He's not very enthusiastic.

The Men in Black. The dog is the sole reason for taking this picture. I'm kind of curious who the kid is in relation to the man.

This guy was pretty cool. Some sort of Marine from the Warhammer 40,000 universe. I don't know anything about the Warhammer series. He had quite a few talismans with text written on them, there were a few on his back too, but the picture I took of his backside didn't turn out at all. This guy was pretty much stuck standing at the entryway all day. Every time he tried to move, someone else would want to take a picture.

During MegaCon, there was a cheerleader convention (somehow there always is every year...). A whole bunch of cheerleaders they're picture taken with him. Must have been awkward.

The old lady and the skeleton thing from Howl's Moving Castle. I haven't seen Howl's Moving Castle in a loooong time so I don't remember names or anything.

Random Klingon. I'm kind of curious how he made the forehead.

Sakura form Card Captor Sakura.

There is some unwritten law that there must always be a fat Sailor Senshi. Venus fills that role this year. At least Jupiter(?) counterbalances it. And Tuxedo Mask is pretty neat, although the hat looks a bit small for his head.

Random Steampunk people. They really were random in that they weren't together, but they were walking through the same aisle about ten feet from each other that I thought they were together.

Velma from Scooby Doo. She has the right build for Velma, although I think her bust size is a little big.

Shredder from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I like that the costume is obviously hand made.

Kid Robin walking into the picture of Speed Racer, with a dorky looking Link in the background. A 3-in-1 shot!

I've never seen a Jack Skelington cosplay.

Damn Spiderman, trying to always be the center of attention! Though to be honest, I might have already taken a picture of the Iron Man at a previous convention.

Another Steam Punk guy. His Bionic Hand was pretty cool. Too bad it turned out a bit blurry.

Yeah... Um... yeah....

POWDERED TOAST MAAAAAAAANNNNN!!!

A very unique costume. Never seen one before, probably won't see another.

Thats all the cosplay pictures, now on to the stuff we bought.

Angevon bought these little Pokemon finger puppets. She tells me they are (from left to right) Feraligatr, Omastar, Seadra, and Murkrow.

I bought these Ultraman toys. The look to be something like from McDonald's toys. Sorry Ultraman, but I think you can't fit into your space ship, and that the Lobsterman is going to snap your head off. Yes I have no faith in the hero. It should be noted I've never watched Ultraman.

I also bought this Gundam toy. There was quite a bit of assembly required, and his butt keeps falling off. The picture makes it look really big, but its really about the same size of the Lobsterman of the previous picture. I have also never watched Gundam.

Why did I buy stuff from shows I've never watched? Basically since they were inexpensive, and they're pretty cool.

Thats all for MegaCon 2011.

Hausu

This was an interesting movie.  I liked it, very retro and Japanese I felt.  But at the same point I don't really know what to think of it.

Hausu is a Japanese Horror film made it 1997 by Toho.  Toho was made famous by Godzilla and other giant monster films.  Though there is more to the story than horror.  While horror is the overall theme, I felt the movie was trying to encompass as many genres as it could, and wasn't entirely sure what it really wanted to be.

 

Yes, thats an eyeball.

The premise of the movie is seemingly generic enough.  School girls visit a the house of one of the girls' aunt only to slowly disappear one by one.  But honestly, in the first 30 minutes of the film I wasn't even sure if I was watching the right movie.  It didn't feel like a horror movie at all.

Her face is shattered.

The movie starts out with two friends talking about how they will spend there summer break.  One of the girls, Oshare, finds out her widower father has been seeing a woman and intends to bring her to the family's annual vacation.  Oshare is not happy and refuses, and decides to bring all her friends to her aunt's house.  The aunt lives in a large estate in the middle of a forest all by herself.  The aunt is crippled and has to use a wheel chair.

Kitty!

The film is really out there.  Its surreal, and cheesy, all mixed together under a central horror plot.  There characters are all pretty much arch-typical.  The smart girl with glasses, the girl that eats too much, the strong aggressive girl, etc.  The characters don't hurt the plot, if there really even is a plot to begin with.  

OH GOD KITTY IS EVIL!

Slowly the girls all disappear.  And as they disappear the wheel-chair driven Aunt gets stronger, even so that she doesn't need to use the wheel chair anymore.  And then there's the cat.  The cat is clearly more than it seems.  Its eyes glow a demonic green color, and the cat is usually present when something bad occurs.

Cheesy Special Effects.

The end of the film is what really threw me off guard.  I'm not entirely sure how I was supposed to feel.  It was quite melancholic, but it also seemed to be trying to have a moral too.  I can only think that it was bittersweet?  And that doesn't really feel right.

Her time has run out.

The effect of the film are cheesy.  The glowing eyes of the cat for starters.  In one scene there is a flashing zigzag border around the screen as if to emphasize the horror of a girl being eaten by a possessed piano.  The film was obviously filmed on budget.  Backdrops are obviously painted.  I'm fairly certain few (if any) of the "outdoors" scenes were really even outdoors.

OMNOMNOM!

Despite the budget, I believe the film is strengthened by them.  If the film were made today, I think it wouldn't be as effective.  It would just be another horror film.  Whereas the film as it is, is clearly a cult classic.

Not entirely sure how the piano was able to eat her...

While Hausu is not entirely scary, it is a somewhat violent (?) film, no matter how comedic the blood is.  Hausu might not be for everyone.  If you're looking for a bizarre (a man turns into a pile of bananas, if thats not bizarre I don't know what it) comedic horror film that will make you say WTF out loud at some points than I can't recommend this enough.