Re: The Long-Forgotten Haunted Mansion Effect Thread 7: Further Realms of Fright
I have to say that taking "The Victorian Ghoul" and explicitly renaming it "The Hatbox Ghost," with the possibility of a copyright infringement against a company known to get nasty about such things, is suspicious and highly suggestive, considering the fact that we know Del Toro has been trafficking in HBG models. In other words, I'm with THBG on this one. Too much coincidence.
(And I'm not just saying that because THBG likes the hat, either! But thx, THBG)
Re: The Long-Forgotten Haunted Mansion Effect Thread 7: Further Realms of Fright
You know, the sculpt on the gallery website and the one on Illusion Industries' page appear to be cast of different materials. Also, the one at Illusion Industries looks as though it's been painted or tinted. The file on the company's website is titled "Hatbox Ghost," not "Victorian Ghoul." So, someone changed their mind somewhere and for some reason.
Re: The Long-Forgotten Haunted Mansion Effect Thread 7: Further Realms of Fright
Harry Knowles of AICN is pilfering from me, so I'm returning the favor. Here's yours ghoully actually scribbled by the hand of Director Guillermo del Toro. Not bad doodling, if you ask me.
---------- Post added 03-22-2012 at 01:20 AM ----------
Just when you think that it can't get any better...
This is the sculptor:
I have found my people!
Re: The Long-Forgotten Haunted Mansion Effect Thread 7: Further Realms of Fright
Quote:
Originally Posted by
HBG2 
Something just occurred to me, and it has nothing to do with HBG2's hat re-sizing which is wonderful. Do you think that this character really looks old enough? I got so caught up in the eyes and the artistic style that I really didn't scrutinize the face much as a whole. Then, when I finally did, I realized that this looks more like a weathered, dead 50 to 65-year-old, perhaps 70 at the most, than a really ancient hunchback.
I don't know. What do you think?
---------- Post added 03-22-2012 at 01:54 AM ----------
Maybe the eyes need to be slightly less realistic, like a cross between this and the leering peepers that we've grown so accustomed to.
Re: The Long-Forgotten Haunted Mansion Effect Thread 7: Further Realms of Fright
I'm just glad the "Victorian Ghoul" at least appears to be unrelated to the pending production. While it may have been inspired by the Hatbox Ghost, it's too far off the mark, stylistically. That was my biggest complaint about the 2003 film. Except for one scene, the beautiful sets were just too far removed from what's actually seen inside the attraction. They need to capture Claude Coats' style for the sets and Blaine Gibson's character sculptures to make it look and feel right.
Re: The Long-Forgotten Haunted Mansion Effect Thread 7: Further Realms of Fright
The age of the HBG is an ambiguous feature. On the one hand, he is depicted as very old (hand shaking on the cane); on the other hand, he is presented as the groom ("with each beat of his bride's heart...").
I hadn't thought of it before, but this may be an additional clue to the crime mystery implied by the original scene. All things being equal, no normal girl would want to marry a wizened old man, so there's at least the suspicion of a forced marriage and therefore a motive for her to murder him.
Have we mentioned that those guys were brilliant?
Marc Davis could tell a joke in a fraction of a second. I don't know if it was him or X (or someone else) responsible for the attic, but it presents a fairly complete murder mystery in less than a minute. The very first thing that greets your ear is a heartbeat, and the first thing you see is a ghostly, skull-like head, leaping up from a hatbox. The severed-head-in-hatbox cliché is introduced. Then you see a morally ambiguous bride ghost, and you see where the heartbeat is coming from. In front of the bride, another ghostly head leaps from a hatbox, repeating the motif in juxtaposition with her. Lastly, you see the HBG, and now at last the clues come together. He must be the groom, but he's old and evil-looking, so there is reason to suspect a forced marriage. And he's the murder victim foreshadowed throughout the attic, hideously displaying the crime. It's in synchronization with her heartbeat, which suggests that she is the perp. None of this is explicit, so you're doing detective work here, piecing together a puzzle.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y32...r-Bullet-5.jpg
"This is a nine-to-five, baby cakes; no overtime. The old man had some dirt on sweet young thing, some family skeleton. But, hey, he's willing to bury the hatchet if she'll wear white for him and give him something to live for besides Jack Daniels. I guess she figured out pretty quick that that diamond on her finger was her ticket to a lot more if she had the stomach for a little impromptu surgery. Call it severance pay. I don't know about ghosts, but I've seen a few pink elephants, sugar. Spooks? Suits me fine; I take the clues wherever I can find them. You can't be choosy in this business, sweetie."
Re: The Long-Forgotten Haunted Mansion Effect Thread 7: Further Realms of Fright
Total subject change. I have practically zero photos of this rather large crypt in the graveyard.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y32/danolson/gg-4.jpg
Here's a shot of the WDW one:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y32/danolson/g-2.jpg
It must be a bear to photograph, but if any of you Disneylander's want to try, it's a sizable fixture that you never see pix of. It's behind the second bulgy crypt, to the left of the picnic couple.
Re: The Long-Forgotten Haunted Mansion Effect Thread 7: Further Realms of Fright
Unless she is a gold digger. She marries them old and outlives them, killing them when she is impatient to get ahead in standing and power.
It is fun how a random sculpture can create such a whirlwind of activity. HBG, your hat is a better fit although I don't mind the original style. I have seen that twisty style in several horror pictures so I didn't connect it to Seuss right away.
Re: The Long-Forgotten Haunted Mansion Effect Thread 7: Further Realms of Fright
The sculpt hat brought to mind for me, actually, the Child Catcher character in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang rather than Dr Seuss (still creepy, but too comical overall in style - Disney connection via the Brothers Sherman as well)
http://www.lovefreo.com/wp-content/u...ildcatcher.jpg
Re: The Long-Forgotten Haunted Mansion Effect Thread 7: Further Realms of Fright
Quote:
Originally Posted by
HBG2 The age of the HBG is an ambiguous feature. On the one hand, he is depicted as very old (hand shaking on the cane); on the other hand, he is presented as the groom ("with each beat of his bride's heart...").
I hadn't thought of it before, but this may be an additional clue to the crime mystery implied by the original scene. All things being equal, no normal girl would want to marry a wizened old man, so there's at least the suspicion of a forced marriage and therefore a motive for her to murder him.
Have we mentioned that those guys were brilliant?
Marc Davis could tell a joke in a fraction of a second. I don't know if it was him or X (or someone else) responsible for the attic, but it presents a fairly complete murder mystery in less than a minute. The very first thing that greets your ear is a heartbeat, and the first thing you see is a ghostly, skull-like head, leaping up from a hatbox. The severed-head-in-hatbox cliché is introduced. Then you see a morally ambiguous bride ghost, and you see where the heartbeat is coming from. In front of the bride, another ghostly head leaps from a hatbox, repeating the motif in juxtaposition with her. Lastly, you see the HBG, and now at last the clues come together. He must be the groom, but he's old and evil-looking, so there is reason to suspect a forced marriage. And he's the murder victim foreshadowed throughout the attic, hideously displaying the crime. It's in synchronization with her heartbeat, which suggests that she is the perp. None of this is explicit, so you're doing detective work here, piecing together a puzzle.
Wow – I never noticed there was an actual storyline connection between the 1969 original attic scene and the Constance attic scene.
Re: The Long-Forgotten Haunted Mansion Effect Thread 7: Further Realms of Fright
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Kreepy Karl Unless she is a gold digger.
She forgot to dig the gold tooth out of his head!
Re: The Long-Forgotten Haunted Mansion Effect Thread 7: Further Realms of Fright
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Grinning Ghost Wow – I never noticed there was an actual storyline connection between the 1969 original attic scene and the Constance attic scene.
Oh yes. There's a lot to dislike about the Connie addition, but I give them credit for going back to the original story contours of this scene and also for staying within the HM imaginative universe. It's mainly the explicitness of the Connie thing that spoils it for me. There's no mystery to solve, no secondary possibilities, no ambiguity in the bridal character. Is there anyone who isn't kinda bored with "Crazy Connie and her five husbands" by now?
----------------
Just for the halibut, some more experimental vandalism.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y32...yingaround.jpg
Re: The Long-Forgotten Haunted Mansion Effect Thread 7: Further Realms of Fright
Ahhh, much better. I think the thing about the other, non-vandalized (!) sculpture was that the eyes weren't there. I think that the eyes on the Disney HBG are definitely knowing, as another poster said, while the eyes on "Victorian Ghoul" were sad, tired looking eyes that just made it look old. Great job, HBG2, for "fixing" the original sculpture.
Re: The Long-Forgotten Haunted Mansion Effect Thread 7: Further Realms of Fright
Harry just posted this in the AICN talkbacks:
Quote:
I was just contacted by the company & the sculptor. It was sculpted shortly after Guillermo announced it as a project as a pro-active bid to get involved in the project by the sculptor, Martin Astles - the lead sculptor at Illusion Industries. So it was made in an attempt to land a gig. BTW...
Re: The Long-Forgotten Haunted Mansion Effect Thread 7: Further Realms of Fright
Apropos of nothing being discussed, here comes Aunt Lucretia all the way from Phantom Manor for your viewing pleasure:
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...er-d4tneot.jpg
Source: Phantom Manor - Staring Bust by ~Frangster on deviantART
