Living Dead Dolls Presents Lord of Tears - OwlMan

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As a child I used to read loads of stuff on mysterious creature sightings and legends and watch anything that even hinted at these things. One of the most intriguing to me was a sighting of a humanoid owl in Cornwall in 1976 when two schoolgirls spotted this strange creature and drew pictures to show what they saw.

We used to go camping in Cornwall a lot when I was young so whenever we were there I'd keep my eyes peeled hoping for the chance to see this strange being for myself.

When I got a bit older I discovered that in America they had a Mothman and also a Goatman and this cemented my interest in what I later found out are called Cryptids.

Over thirty years have past since I discovered These creatures but my fascination for them remains as strong as it was when I was little.

Around 7 years ago I came across a trailer for an indie horror from Scotland called Lord of Tears, in it where images of an Owl Man and so of course I just had to see this film.

I was so glad I did, it's the kind of film that is secretive about it's story line and reveals it through events, real and imagined that play out over the course of the film.  

The events are played out through a series of feelings, repressed memories, nightmares and strange things taking place, so that the whole story only makes sense at the end when you piece together what you saw.

So for almost the entirety of the film, you, the viewer are in the same position as the main character who is trying to make sense of what is going on around him... 

I can't tell you much I loved this style of story telling, it's so refreshing to not have to deal with a thin plot and a load of jump scares like so many films these days.

I watched it twice more after that first time.

Then suddenly it was really hard to find and as there was no dvd available to purchase of it, I had to wait and hope it would soon be released to I could watch it again.

Even though, when it came out in 2013 there was no dvd to be had I placed it on my birthday and Christmas lists anyway and waited...

This Christmas, I got my wish - my son and his girlfriend bought it for me (yay!) so of course I had to watch it again right away!

One of the things I love about this film is the fact there is such a small cast (9 people) with most scenes featuring just two.  

I find that there is something very special about films with a small cast, it feels more personal; like you are being told the story by a friend. 

Which is exactly how this film plays out; it centres around a School Teacher called James Findlay who visits his old childhood home - a mansion in the Highlands after the death of his mother where he discovers deep secrets of his past that his parents kept from him through their estrangement and unravels the strange repressed memories that had been haunting his dreams.

All this he relays to his friend / colleague Allen on his return as he tries to come to terms with what he discovered.

The thing that really drew me to this film was the image of Moloch (the Canaanite God associated with child sacrifice) who appears to the main character several times throughout the film in the guise of a man shaped being with an owl's head and long talons for hands, which is why another name for this film is OwlMan.

 I prefer the original title to be honest as to my mind it's more mysterious, but that's neither here or there really!

So when I received an email from Mezco toys back in October announcing their new release - The Lord of Tears OwlMan - I just had to have him so he went on my wish-list too...

 I didn't get him, he's pre-order at the moment but last week I went looking for him again and placed an order for him.

As he is expected to ship in July he'll be an early / belated birthday present for myself.

So expect another post about him as soon as he arrives!

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🎈 Living Dead Dolls Presents: IT Pennywise (1990) 🎈

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Anyone that knows me knows I have a deep rooted fear of clowns, they also know that I have always loved Pennywise - that demented clown monster created from the mind of Stephan King for his novel IT!

So it probably goes without saying if you read my blog, when I found out that Living Dead Dolls had immortalised him as played by Tim Curry, there was no way I wasn't going to fall in love with him and have to add him to my collection.

Screen Rant

Yeah, I know it's weird, but for some reason it's the evil clowns that I can bear, perhaps because they are not hiding their true selves behind their makeup, I dunno, I just know that in terms of IT or Pennywise The Dancing Clown, he's always seemed to me to be a quirky little weirdo and of course it doesn't hurt that in the 1990 Mini- Series, TV Adaptation of the novel, he was played by Tim Curry - one of my favourite actors! 

The promotional photographs they used made my need to own him even worse... his little face looking out of a storm grate, as he did in the novel and mini-series when he "made friends" with little Georgie Denbrourgh, right before chomping down on his arm!

In keeping with that scene the Living Dead Doll version has been moulded with his mouth wide open and his Huge pointy teeth exposed ready to chow down on some fresh frightened child meat!

The front of the box is designed to resemble the cover of the Mini Series dvd, which shows Pennywise having ripped through the paper and looking out above it from the right hand top corner, this is also the same image I used as a header at the top of this post.

 The back has the image from the promotional shot above with a really cute close up of Pennywise exposing his teeth just before he attacks in the top right corner, which is shown in the photograph below.

He comes with a little red balloon and has a whole in his right hand which enables him to hold onto it for posing.

 The red balloon is significant as it is often shown during the mini series to let the characters and audience know that Pennywise is nearby and so build up the tension.

His outfit is identical to the one worn by Tim Curry in his portrayal of Pennywise in the miniseries, which is much closer to the description in the novel than the one worn by Bill Skarsgård in the 2017 film.

real nobody

The "make up" his been given is also spot on, the only thing I would have loved would for him to have mini leds in the centre of his eyes with a little switch to enable me to turn on and off his "Deadlights" ... in fact I might actually do this to him if I can get small enough leds and work out how to do it without damaging his factory paint in the process. 

I absolutely love this little guy, he's just perfect, and definitely one of the coolest Living Dead Dolls out there... I'm so glad I managed to get him and add him to my collection, he fits nicely between my Living Dead Doll collection and my Horror and Music Action Figures.

Well that's all for now, I'm planning to a review of my 2017 film Pennywise Action Figure when he arrives so stay tuned for more IT!

Hugs,

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The Big Bad Wolf - Living Dead Dolls Presents: Scary Tales Vol.1

Living Dead Doll's Big Bad Wolf is one half of a two doll set (sold separately) which take the form of one of the World's most famous Fairy Tales - Little Red Riding Hood by The Brother's Grimm, they were released to coincide with the 13th Anniversary of the birth of Living Dead Dolls.

In true Living Dead Dolls style Little Red Riding Hood has been given a Gothic makeover and the, who in the best part of the story has dressed as Red Riding Hood's Grandma, in an attempt to trick and eat her is wearing Granny's nightdress and bonnet which are covered in poor old Granny's blood after he's made a delicious meal of her!

Little Red Riding Hood and The Big Bad Wolf were the first two dolls produced in the Scary Tales series of exclusives, which now numbers six and a half Volumes. 

Out of the two dolls in Vol.1, my favourite is The Big Bad Wolf, he's just so adorable with his little face painted to look similar to Lon Chaney jr's iconic Wolf Man, minus the Granny Glasses that is!

http://www.fanpop.com

After taking him out of his box and checking him over I noticed two very cool things... 

He has a very long and soft tail, and even better, it's wired so it can be placed in different positions to make him even more posable.

I couldn't help wanting to know what he looked like under the nightdress, yeah I know that sounds pretty bad, but I wanted to know if the fur completely covered him body, although I suspected it didn't...

So here he is nakie, as suspected the fur doesn't completely cover his body, it looks more like leg and warm warmers than wolf-like fur!

Even though he isn't completely fur covered, he does have some other very cool things going for him...

His fingers are long and clawed to look more bestial and tipped with cute black little talons and matching black toenails.

He also has balled joints at his shoulders, but not on his hip joints, and his head is on a ball joint, both of which allow for much better posability.

I checked him out on Amazon and found four for sale, the prices he's going for on there are pretty crazy... which I guess probably means he is getting quite hard to find.


Luckily I find mine for £24.00 - 3, 5 and 9 times cheaper than on Amazon, so I guess it goes to show he can be found at a nicer price than on Amazon so my advice to anyone wanting their own little Wolfie is avoid Amazon and keep searching, if it's to be, you'll find him!

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💀 Living Dead Dolls (and Herbie!) Presents ... Leatherface! 💀

Leatherface was bought for me as a Christmas present by my Son when they were released in 2007, as he knew all about my soft spot for the Sawyer / Hewitts family, I have no idea why but I always root for them, they are a weird innocence and are oddly sympathetic characters even though they are right sadistic freaks that you really wouldn't want to meet!

Leatherface especially is childlike, this is further illustrated in the recent prequels where he is shown doing his lessons (spelling) using an electronic toy such as those made by Leapfrog for toddlers and preschoolers.

2008 Christmas pressie from Aaron ... wooot!

This doll is an Exclusive and was produced in a limited run only so they are quite hard to come by in the U.K. - I decided to double check that last line, having not researched him since Aaron bought him for me, so I hop footed it over to Amazon and wow, check out this screenshot...

Amazon.co.uk Screenshot - 2 minutes ago!

I'm shocked how much it would set me back to buy him now, Aaron saved up his pocket money for over a month to buy him for me, if he'd been the price he is now I'd of had buckleys of owing him!

I had to wait for him to arrive from America, he wasn't available for sale in the U.K at the time and after the two weeks of tenderhooks Customs held him to ransom for £10.00!

Even so, with the initial cost, shipping cost and Customs charge combined he's still 

I love this little guy so much, he's just the cutest... He's now £138.10 - £162,42 more than he originally cost in 2008 - almost tripled in value!!

Not that I'd part with the little guy, I adore him, he's just so cute..

                          

He comes in a really cool box which opens like a door at the front to reveal a clear viewing pane, to get at him you have to open the box at the top.

                                                  

The Back of the box reads... "The collectable you are about to purchase is an homage to the tragedy which befell a group of five youths. Had they lived very,very long lives, they could not have expected nor would they have wished to see as much of the macabre as they were to see that day. For them an idyllic Summer afternoon drive became a nightmare. The events of that day were to lead to the discovery of one of the most bizarre crimes in the annuals of American history... The Texas Chainsaw Massacre."

He wears navy blue trousers, an ivory shirt, cowboy boots, a blood splattered apron and stands 12 inches tall and comes with his own little chainsaw (also covered in blood splats) and has the cutest little pot belly!!

He sometimes watches The Texas Chainsaw massacre with us at Halloween, although he always gets angry at the end and waves is chainsaw around!

☞ The Creature from The Black Lagoon - Living Dead Dolls: Birthday Prezzies 2015 ☜

Living Dead Dolls Promo' Poster 

As  soon as I saw this promotional poster for the Living Dead Doll Exclusive: The Creature From The Black Lagoon I was smitten. I showed it to Aaron, expecting him to say "Yeah, that's cool" and yay he preordered it immediately as a surprise Birthday prezzie for me!

I'm not sure why, but The Creature has always been my favourite movie monster, like Frankenstein's Monster he is an innocent who, through no fault of his own is introduced into "the world of humans" and as a consequence is misunderstood and falls fail because of it.

If you've read my post about the Universal Studios Monsters Signature Series by Hasbro / Kenner, you'll already know a little about this iconic movie monster's design and my love for this particular beastie, if not and you're interested, you can access that post by clicking the link above.        

       Living Dead Dolls advertising.

While the Hasbro Creature is as close to the iconic designs imagined and drawn up by Millicent Patrick, I can't help loving the unique twist that the Living Dead Doll designers came up with, of course this is due in part to the fact that they couldn't reuse their existing moulds as they often do, but instead had to create a whole new one in order to produce this doll.

 The resulting design has given the Creature a more humanoid appearance, and also a more innocent and childlike look.

I love the attention to detail on this doll, he's perfect, right down to his scaly feet. Like The Creature from the Universal films, he has overly large hands (paws?) in relation to the rest of his limbs. These are covered with tiny bumps (suckers?) and he looks just as good from behind as he does from the front.

Unlike other Living Dead Dolls he is articulated at the wrists and ankles as well as the standard hips, neck and shoulders.

His box is decorated on the front with graphics and writing which resembles the artwork used on the lobby posters from the original Creature from The Black Lagoon film.

The back of the box has a "seal" depicting Frankenstein's Monster and reads "Universal Studios home of the original Monsters".

                                              

The sides of the box also bear this seal as well as a picture of the real Creature, below which is the film title emblazoned in yellow, again resembling the lobby posters from the original film.

                    

                                               As you can see he's a bit of a joker!

☞ Norman Bates & Marion Crane - (Psycho) - Living Dead Dolls: Birthday Prezzies 2015 ☜

When I saw this promo' poster advertising the latest offering from Living Dead Dolls, I just had to have them!

Psycho has long been one of my favourite films, the atmosphere is electric and unrelenting, Hitchcock was truly a master of the genre.

Living Dead Dolls Promo' Poster

 I love that it is in black and white and that the horror is not derived from gore or blood letting everywhere, but from the quiet unassuming way in which Antony Perkins depicts Norman, the idea that the most dangerous people are not always openly scary and can come across as a really nice, friendly person until it is too late and once you find out your mistake it is too late, your life is forfeited because of it...

I really love the packaging on these two dolls, the front of each box is decorated according to each of the character's perspective during "the shower scene" of the original Psycho film.

Marian Crane's box depicts the moment when Norman (dressed as his mother) pulls back the shower curtain and raises the knife to slash her to death, and the doll's expression conveys the shock and fear shown on Janet Leigh's face when she is surprised in the shower. 

While Norman's box shows the same moment from Marian Crane's perspective, her hands are depicted raised in order to try and fend off the blows in an attempt to save her life.

Living Dead Dolls advertising

Marian comes wrapped in a "Bate's Motel" towel, screaming for her life...

Living Dead Dolls advertising

While Norman comes dressed as his mother complete with blonde wig over his dark hair which can clearly be seen and his trousers and men's boots poking out underneath, his face is contorted in a mixture of rage (at that filthy girl!) and a scream which he emits just as he's about to attack!