The Slurpasaur thread

For the discussion of non-Toho monster media, tokusatsu franchises, and also for mixed discussion of Toho and non-Toho kaiju media.
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Re: The Slurpasaur thread

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Southern Mammoth wrote: Fri Apr 16, 2021 2:22 pm Another overlooked example are the dimetrodons in Journey to the Centre of the Earth. I'm fairly shore one is stabbed in the mouth with a mini-spear given its reaction.

As someone said above this was often not done because anyone though it was more realistic, most stop motion films of the time put them to shame. I was done purely for budget reasons, or just to be cheap. That said is all shows a clear lack of caring for the animels well being.
One of the things about Stop Motion was that it was both time-consuming and expensive. As a result, a lot of these movies ended up having B or C-list casts. Had This Island Earth and The Forbidden Planet--two notorious big-budget flops of their day--been more successful, then perhaps we would've gotten more movies in which producers were willing to splurge on both the FX budget and the cast. If Irwin Allen, for example, wanted to make The Lost World with an all-star cast, then most likely he would have devoted much of the budget to them instead of the effects.

Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959) actually an Oscar nod for Best Special Effects, but ended up losing to Ben-Hur.

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Re: The Slurpasaur thread

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I'd bet that members of the film crews had their reservations about the technique, but didn't raise too much noise because they wanted to keep their jobs.
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Re: The Slurpasaur thread

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It's sad that they put budget and time constraints over animal rights and safety.
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Re: The Slurpasaur thread

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Behold, The Giant Gila Monster* of 1959! Definitely one of the most major examples of Slurpasaurs that come to mins

*Actually a mexican beaded lizard for the zoologically informed.

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TBH, I just thought any kind of slurpasaur can work if the miniatures that surround it are actually good and high quality. Too bad the example here isn't one of them. Anyone got some examples?

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Re: The Slurpasaur thread

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Behold, The Giant Gila Monster* of 1959! Definitely one of the most major examples of Slurpasaurs that come to mins

*Actually a mexican beaded lizard for the zoologically informed.

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TBH, I just thought any kind of slurpasaur can work if the miniatures that surround it are actually good and high quality. Too bad the example here isn't one of them. Anyone got some examples?

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Re: The Slurpasaur thread

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I had The Giant Gila Monster on VHS and used to watch it all the time. Ah, good times.
TBH, I just thought any kind of slurpasaur can work if the miniatures that surround it are actually good and high quality. Too bad the example here isn't one of them. Anyone got some examples?
I suppose if we interpret slurpasaur to be any photographically-enlarged beastie, than probably one of the giant spider films (Tarantula; Earth vs. the Spider; or possibly The Incredible Shrinking Man) might fall into that category. It's been a while since I've seen them, though.

The 1959 release of Gigantis the Fire Monster also featured some slurpasaurs. While some of the footage is taken from Unknown Island (1948), the stop-motion sauropods and a brief glimpse of a Gila Monster and another lizard with a sail on its back are taken from other sources. Perhaps filmed by Edward Nassour?

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Re: The Slurpasaur thread

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H-Man wrote: Fri Apr 16, 2021 4:03 pm Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959) actually an Oscar nod for Best Special Effects, but ended up losing to Ben-Hur.
Between this and One Million BC, the Oscars are starting to look like a huge joke. :lol:

Well, a larger one than they already were, anyway.
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Re: The Slurpasaur thread

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tbeasley wrote: Wed Apr 14, 2021 6:37 am I just don't like it when animals are poked and prodded and made to fight/harm/kill each other. It's bad enough you have to dress them up/glue shit to them/etc.
This, basically. The only time I'd ever accept slurpasaurs in film is if they're portrayed in any other medium that isn't live action (being animated, CGI, or practical effects), though by that point they couldn't be classified as slurpasaurs in the technical sense.
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Re: The Slurpasaur thread

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In the case of Tarantula, I believe they used blast of air to guide the spider where it needed to go, such as the scene where the spider's legs disappear for a moment.
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Re: The Slurpasaur thread

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Southern Mammoth wrote: Fri Apr 16, 2021 2:22 pm Another overlooked example are the dimetrodons in Journey to the Centre of the Earth. I'm fairly sure one is stabbed in the mouth with a mini-spear given its reaction.
Huh...so this is the newly made technical term for what we always called "dressing up reptiles" to be Dinosaurs...Interesting.... I learned something new today...

At any rate- Yes most of them look bad, but I'll give the Dimetrodons in JttCotE credit for possibly being the most *realistic* looking for lack of a better term.

Also, has anyone notice in One Million years BC, the scene with a Tarantula, there is a cricket, or some sort of other insect in the shot for a moment? I thought it might have been placed there to encourage the spider to move, probably not intended to be in the shot.
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Re: The Slurpasaur thread

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o.supreme wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 12:45 pmAt any rate- Yes most of them look bad, but I'll give the dimetrodons in JttCotE credit for possibly being the most *realistic* looking for lack of a better term.

Well, except for the shot where you can see someone's hand placing it into position...

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Re: The Slurpasaur thread

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Al Diplodocus wrote: Sun Apr 18, 2021 6:41 am

TBH, I just thought any kind of slurpasaur can work if the miniatures that surround it are actually good and high quality. Too bad the example here isn't one of them. Anyone got some examples?
The film Night of the Lepus had decent looking miniatures, but it doesn't help that the film is B movie quality and rabbits aren't scary no matter how much ketchup you shmeer on the faces.
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Re: The Slurpasaur thread

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edgaguirus wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 2:24 pm
Al Diplodocus wrote: Sun Apr 18, 2021 6:41 am

TBH, I just thought any kind of slurpasaur can work if the miniatures that surround it are actually good and high quality. Too bad the example here isn't one of them. Anyone got some examples?
The film Night of the Lepus had decent looking miniatures, but it doesn't help that the film is B movie quality and rabbits aren't scary no matter how much ketchup you shmeer on the faces.
Clearly you never watched Watership Down. :P
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Re: The Slurpasaur thread

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o.supreme wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 12:45 pm
Southern Mammoth wrote: Fri Apr 16, 2021 2:22 pm Another overlooked example are the dimetrodons in Journey to the Centre of the Earth. I'm fairly sure one is stabbed in the mouth with a mini-spear given its reaction.
Huh...so this is the newly made technical term for what we always called "dressing up reptiles" to be Dinosaurs...Interesting.... I learned something new today...
I'm not sure if it's newly made. I've been using it since at least 2012, according to my posts at the Bad Movie Message Board. It probably goes back to the mid-2000s at the very least.

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Re: The Slurpasaur thread

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I first saw the term "slurpasaur" used on the Classic Horror Film Board.

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Re: The Slurpasaur thread

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Re: Journey.
No, the Dimetrodons in Journey came from the 1959 version.


I haven't even seen a clips of Night of the Lepus, so I can't comment. I will say, however, rabbits are scary if you're Leporiphobic.
Speaking of it, Night of the Lepus is apparently an adaptation of the australian satirical science fiction novel The Year of the Angry Rabbit, which is about a modified strain of myxomatosis backfiring and causing invasive rabbits to go feral, while some prime Minster ofuses it to take over the world. Why couldn't this film stick to this and get a Strangeglove-esque Oz New Wave movie instead?

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Re: The Slurpasaur thread

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A lesser-known slurpasaur film is Women of a Prehistoric Planet (1966). An iguana shows up to "menace" our heroes before being set on fire by a ray gun. According to the 1993 "Dinosaur" issue of Starlog, the director denied setting a real lizard on fire for the film. The film itself is only interesting in that it's an Adam and Eve story, in which our two progenitors are Asian.

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Re: The Slurpasaur thread

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edgaguirus wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 2:24 pmrabbits aren't scary no matter how much ketchup you shmeer on the faces.
Tell that to these guys -
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Re: The Slurpasaur thread

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Joseph Goodman wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 5:05 pm I first saw the term "slurpasaur" used on the Classic Horror Film Board.
Wow, I didn't know this forum existed. Is it still active?
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Re: The Slurpasaur thread

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Yeah, it's still active, though most of the posters there are much older fans.

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