The Mummy Returns!

By Torey Haas

MonsterBuster trading cards! I fully plan to make these if Invasion is successful.

This past weekend we finished the final pick-ups for Allison's Invasion of the Undead webisode (which premieres next week as part of our Indiegogo campaign), a small shoot involving The Mummy, an ominous figure that appears briefly in Invasion and plays a much more significant role in the sequel, Siege of the Cat Goblin.

Yes, you read that right- there is already a sequel written for Invasion of the Undead, the movie that we're currently still trying to make. In fact there are two sequels, with the fourth (and final) movie existing as an outline as well. I was a huge comic book and superhero fan growing up (Spiderman and Captain America are my two favorites for anyone who's wondering), and I always loved how Marvel and DC created a universe of characters who would interact and team-up with each other. As a teenager I found the same affinity for Kevin Smith and his View Askewinverse, and being a huge horror fan I of course geek out over Stephen King's Dark Tower series, which if you aren't familiar with features characters and story elements from many of his other novels and short stories. With these inspirations in mind one of my goals with MonsterBuster is to create a similarly-styled universe of characters, with the Desmond and Jake series (of which Invasion of the Undead is the first movie) being the equivalent of the Dark Tower, or the story in which all of the other MonsterBuster movies are intertwined.

Most of our current movies are already related in subtle ways. I always wonder if any viewers out there pick up on any of these connections, but here's a quick breakdown anyway:

Troll Picnic: If you don't blink you can see graffiti that reads "B.O.N.E.S." in the first shot of Robin in Tryvester's cave. This same acronym reappears in Jake and Julie vs. The Boogeyman! and First Date, and we finally learn what it means in Invasion of the Undead.

B.O.N.E.S. in Troll Picnic...

... Jake and Julie vs. The Boogeyman!...

... and First Date.

Jake and Julie vs. The Boogeyman!: Julie's shirt reads "Devil's Hill High Dragons," and Devil's Hill is the fictional town where Ricky and Robin live in Troll Picnic; in fact Jake and Julie takes place before the events of Troll Picnic since Jake mentions his (presumably same-aged at the time) friend Ricky Stokes when Julie first asks him about Caroline Thompson. Jake is also the same Jake from Invasion of the Undead; does this mean there will be a rematch somewhere down the road between Jake, Desmond, a grown-up Julie, Ricky and the Boogeyman? Hey, I told you there are three sequels planned...

The Devil's Hill High Dragons logo, designed by Brian Hardison.

First Date: Apart from the aforementioned B.O.N.E.S. reference, Gwen wears the same Devil's Hill High shirt as Julie. Gwen and Chris (and I suppose Charlie) also work at SaveMore Groceries, the same store Desmond and Jake slave away at in Invasion. As to why Desmond and Chris are portrayed by the same actor, well, it's explained rather humorously in Invasion.

Werebum: MonsterBuster's most troubled production doesn't feature any overt references; Mick Feathers' coworker (Keyla McClure) was originally intended to be Gwen from First Date, but it didn't really play out that well so we kind of just swept it under the rug. A now-homeless Mick Feathers will cameo in Invasion of the Undead, which will finally tie Werebum in to the rest of the MonsterBuster Universe.

Gwen? Er, not really...

Crowscare: The ubiquitous Devil's Hill High Dragons shirt returns, worn this time by May's doomed friend Christie. May herself will return in Allison's webisode next week, marking the first time a MonsterBuster character will appear in more than one movie beyond just a name drop.

That shirt looks familiar...

Crowscare's May (Rachel DeJulio) as she appears in Allison's webisode.

Mario and Luigi: Since it's radically different from the rest of our shorts, Mario and Luigi (and its upcoming sequel Super Mario and Luigi) is intended to be a movie that the rest of the MonsterBuster Universe watches; if you're were lucky enough to catch the Invasion of the Undead teaser at the MonsterBuster Film Festival back in November 2011 you may have seen the Mario and Luigi poster hanging on the wall behind Desmond in SaveMore's video department.

The Mario and Luigi poster graces the back wall of the Savemore video department.

Making the Cut: Our 48 hour film is, like Mario and Luigi, a movie that exists within the rest of the MonsterBuster Universe. It even has a video game based on it, as you'll soon see in Katelyn Brammer's Harmony and Allison's Invasion webisode.

Making the Cut: The Video Game in Katelyn Brammer's Harmony...

...and in Allison's webisode.

Bath Salt Cannibal: In addition to a reappearance by the Boogeyman, Kevin Hicks' upcoming short movie also features a can of SaveMore candied cherries in a significant (i.e. horribly gruesome) role.

Our only projects that aren't related to the rest of the MonsterBuster universe are our Red Herring trailers, our Halloween make-up series with xteeener, and our Apocalypse commercials and PSA; I'll probably toss them on a SaveMore television in Invasion just to keep everything connected.

The Mummy, circa 2004...

But what about the star of this blog entry, The Mummy? One of my first student films at Georgia Tech was a short horror movie titled Bride of the Mummy; being an early student film it's extremely bad (I love the beginning where we keep cutting across the 180º line), but I always rather liked the Mummy character we created and I've wanted to bring him back for a while. I finally got my chance this past weekend; one of the most exciting moments for me thus far on Invasion was to see a new and much-improved Mummy (courtesy of MonsterBuster creature creator Tricia Gaulesky and performed by the original actor, my longtime friend Eric Davis) finally return to menace the MonsterBuster Universe. He's way more badass this time, as you'll see (fingers crossed) in Invasion and especially its sequel Siege of the Cat Goblin. Check out Allison's webisode next week for your first introduction to this sinister character!

... and 2013.

As always, thank you for reading. Hopefully this blog wasn't too self-indulgent, and if it captured your interest please check out our Indiegogo campaign for Invasion. If you're friends with me on Facebook or a fan of MonsterBuster you may be sick of hearing how thankful I am for your support, but I really can't thank everyone enough. We can't continue building the MonsterBuster Universe without your help!