Monster Double Feature In Sacramento!

Join us on Saturday, January 12th at the Crest Theater in Sacramento for a super double feature of BEAST WISHES and the brand new documentary, MEN IN SUITS!

Click below for more information!

http://www.facebook.com/events/478656072173892/

Beast Wishes Goes Mobile!

Now you can access the BEAST WISHES website from your handy mobile device! Just punch in http://www.beastwishes.com in your mobile browser, and our brand new mobile version of the site will magically appear. You can watch trailers and videos, look at on-the-set photos, check for upcoming BEAST WISHES appearances and screenings, and even purchase your own limited edition DVD of the film, right from your phone! It's fun to do! Come visit Bob and Kathy and the whole BEAST WISHES gang today!

Great Reviews For Beast Wishes!

The excellent reviews keep coming in for BEAST WISHES!

Here's one from the FILMEDGE website:

monstrously-good-documentary-offers-beast-wishes-from-bob-and-kathy-burns/

And if you missed it, here's the recent Dread Central review:

dreadcentral.com/reviews/beast-wishes-2012

More to come! Stayed tuned!

Dread Central Loves Beast Wishes!

 The extremely cool horror news website Dread Central posted a terrific review of BEAST WISHES! Check it out!

Dread Central's BEAST WISHES review!

A big Beast Wishes thanks to whole Dread Central crew, especially the mysterious "Dr. Gash!"

Son Of Monsterpalooza A Chip Off The Old Block!

BEAST WISHES was screened this past weekend at Eliot Brodsky's first SON OF MONSTERPALOOZA convention, held at the Burbank Airport Marriott. A slightly scaled-down version of the April show, this Palooza was still a grand time, filled with monsters, art, celebrities and parties!

The BEAST WISHES screening was once again a tremendous success, with the audience cheering and laughing throughout the film. Bob and Kathy Burns, looking healthy and happy, attended on both Saturday and Sunday. Other cast members who showed up during the three-day festival were Rick Baker, Tom Woodruff, Jr., Dana Gould, Pat McClung, John Goodwin, Steve Wang, David J. Schow, William Stout, Frank Ippolito and William Malone. Among the many celebrities in attendance were Lance Henrickson, Lisa Marie, FRIGHT NIGHT director Tom Holland, Doug Bradley and Joyce Meadows.

We enjoyed handing out with Frank Woodward, director of the upcoming documentary MEN IN SUITS, which also features Bob Burns, Tom Woodruff and Joe Dante.

There were so many amazing artists there, displaying their work and sharing their experiences with both peers and fans. Once again, Mike Hill proved he is the king of life-size reproductions of classic horror characters. This year it was Elsa Lanchester, Boris Karloff and Colin Clive from THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN.

One of the highlights came early on Friday evening, as Trish got to meet the incredible Dick Van Dyke. It was a very special moment for her, and we gave him a copy of our film. Dick a is monster movie fan since childhood.

Later on, this scared Trish so bad she ran and hid.

A great weekend. Thanks Eliot!

The Carmel Art & Film Festival!

One of the first sights upon our arrival in Carmel

We just returned from an amazing adventure in beautiful Carmel-By-The-Sea, California, as we screened BEAST WISHES at the Carmel Art & Film Festival.  It was four days of films, panels and parties in one of the most charming towns on the west coast. As usual, our film was very well received, and we really enjoyed meeting other filmmakers and sharing our experiences. The highlight of the weekend had to be the Filmmakers Beach Party on Saturday night, where we dined on barbeque, drank wine by the light of many bonfires, and marveled at the stunning array of stars above us. We made new friends who we may end up working with on future projects. We left Carmel with renewed enthusiasm and passion for the craft of filmmaking.

Big thanks to organizers Erin Clark and Tom Burns and their terrific staff of volunteers, for making this one of the most memorable chapters in our BEAST WISHES journey.

 

Trish and Frank on the Red Carpet

The Filmmaker's Beach Party
Can you find Trish?

The Usual Beast Wishes Suspects

How's this for a lineup? Taken at a recent screening panel for one of the studios. From Left to right: Frank Dietz, Trish Geiger, Bob Burns, Kathy Burns, Rick Baker, Joe Dante, Tom Woodruff, Jr., Pat McClung and John Goodwin. And on the table in the front: King Kong, Mighty Joe Young and Bernie the Gorilla!

Beast Wishes Meets Clint Eastwood!

The BEAST WISHES directors are headed up to beautiful Carmel By The Sea, California this week to screen the film at the Carmel Art & Film Festival. We're thrilled and honored to be an official selection at this prestigious event. Clint Eastwood and Cloris Leachman are among the special guests we are looking forward to meeting. If you're in the Monterey area, please join us for our screening on Friday, October 12 at 12 noon at the Youth Center Upper Theater (at Fourth Avenue and Torrence).

Beast Wishes Roars On!

The last few months have been a whirlwind of activity for BEAST WISHES! We screened at the Feel Good Film Festival in North Hollywood, The Lumiere Theater in San Francisco, The Docutah Film Festival in Saint George, Utah, and at a major animation studio!

John Goodwin, Trish Geiger, Andrew Kasch, Bob Burns,
Pat McClung, Kathy Burns, Tom Woodruff, Jr. and Frank Dietz
at the Feel Good Film Festival Screening.

 

Next up is Clint Eastwood's Carmel Art & Film Festival in Carmel, CA!

We are also in conversations with many distribution companies, and looking at broadcast options.

But in the meantime, we do have some limited edition DVD's available. If you would like to own a signed copy of the film, please contact us at benevolentmonster@gmail.com, and we'll send you the details.

We hope to see a lot of Bob and Kathy Burns fans at Son Of Monsterpalooza, October 26-28 at the Burbank Airport Marriott!

BEAST WISHES is now an award-winner!

Well, It's been an amazing few weeks. Trish and Frank first traveled to WonderFest in Louisville, Kentucky, and were joined by Bob and Kathy, and one of our guest stars, the incredible artist William Stout. We had a great time talking with fans, and screened BEAST WISHES to a enthusiastic full house on that Saturday evening. The crowd enjoyed it so much, they gave us a standing ovation. And there were quite a few of you there, so that made it even more special.

We've submitted BEAST WISHES to a whole bunch of film festivals throughout the country, Canada and even Sitges in Spain! We are very pleased to tell you that so far we have been accepted in the Feel Good Film Festival (Aug. 3-5 here in North Hollywood) and the Docutah Film Festival (Sept. 5-9 in St. George, Utah). And we h ave been invited to participate in the Montreal HorrorFest (Sept. 14-16). We have also been contacted about screening the film in San Francisco and for the crew over at Walt Disney Feature Animation.

If you are local to the L.A. area, The Feel Good Film Festival will take place at the Laemmle Noho 7 theatre. BEAST WISHES will be screened on Sunday, August 5th at 4 pm. If we can fill up that theatre for our screening, we might have a shot at the Audience Favorite award. So save the date! Tickets for this special evening are available NOW at https://www.laemmle.com/purchasetickets.php?m=MC0wMjItMDgwNTIwMTItMTYwMC0xNQ==.

This past weekend, we attended the Fright Night Film Festival (also in Louisville!), and we are very thrilled and honored to tell you that BEAST WISHES took home the award for Best Documentary! So we thank you all once again, for kickstarting this project, and making BEAST WISHES come true. And a big congrats to our incredible crew, who helped us shape this film into something deserving of awards like this. So thanks Matt, John, Other Frank, Andrew, Justin and Rani!

Here is a photo of the very first award presented to BEAST WISHES:

DVD Cover Art For Beast Wishes

Here's a sneak peek at the cover art for the upcoming DVD!

From left to right on the bottom row are Rick Baker (GORILLAS IN THE MIST, ED WOOD), Joe Dante (PIRANHA, THE HOWLING, GREMLINS), Dana Gould (THE SIMPSONS, UNITED MONSTER TALENT AGENCY), John Landis (AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON) and Greg Nicotero (THE WALKING DEAD). More info on how to order soon!

Beast Wishes Screening A Smashing Success!

We are thrilled to report that the April 12th premiere screening of BEAST WISHES was a hit with the audience. The response was overwhelming. Before the film we showed several short subjects. First, a new trailer for DARK AND STORMY NIGHT, which was produced by Trish Geiger and featured Bob Burns' final appearance as a gorilla in a feature film. Next up was Frank Ippolito's DRACULA'S DAUGHTERS VERSUS THE SPACE BRAINS, starring Neil Patrick Harris. After that was Greg Nicotero's incredible short film UNITED MONSTER TALENT AGENCY, which features cameos by our friends Bob and Kathy, David J. Schow, Frank Darabont, Dana Gould and Sam Witwer, Then came the feature presentation, which was so well received we couldn't have been happier. A Q&A panel followed, hosted by actor/comedian Dana Gould. Answering questions about the making of the film and the legacy of Bob and Kathy were Trish and Frank, Pat McClung, John Goodwin, Steve Wang, Frank Ippolito and composer Christopher Drake. It really was a grand evening, and big thanks go to Taylor White of Creature Features for sponsoring the event.

The marquee at the Arclight Cinema on the big night.

From left to right: Comedian Dana Gould, Trish Geiger, Kathy Burns, John Goodwin, Frank Dietz, Chris Drake, Bob Burns, Steve Wang, Pat McClung and Frank Ippolito. Photo by Eileen Colton.

Next up is WonderFest in Louisville!

ONE WEEK FROM TONIGHT!! BEAST WISHES PREMIERE!

Please join us one week from tonight for the World Premiere of BEAST WISHES! Thursday, April 12th at the beautiful Arclight Cinema in the heart of Hollywood. The show starts at 7:30 pm, and will be followed by a Q&A with the cast and crew, hosted by actor/comedian Dana Gould! Don't miss out on this grand evening honoring Bob and Kathy Burns! Get your tickets today at www.creaturefeatures.com!

BEAST WISHES - The Fantastic World Of Bob And Kathy Burns! Presented by Creature Features, our documentary will premiere at the ArcLight Cinema on April 12th at 7:30 pm. This will be followed by a Q&A with many of the film's participants, hosted by actor-comedian Dana Gould! It's sure to be an evening to remember! And it's right before the wonderful Monsterpalooza convention, so some of you out-of-towners might a get a chance to be there.

Tickets on sale NOW at www.creaturefeatures.com. This will likely sell out, so get your seats now.

Thanks for all your support! We'll see you there!

There's Tracy!

You found him. Good job.

Where's Tracy?

See if you can find Tracy the Gorilla among this class of fourth-graders. Don't give up, he's in there somewhere!

We'll show you where he is in tomorrow's Beast Wishes Blog!
(Photo courtesy Christopher Drake)

A Monkey And Mummy Mystery Solved!

What do the two photos have in common?

The little girl in the photo with Tracy the Gorilla is the same woman dusting the Mummy, in a scene from Greg Nicotero's amazing short film, THE UNITED MONSTER TALENT AGENCY!

It's Beth Hathaway, costume designer and fabricator at KNB FX! Beth is just one of the many guest stars appearing in BEAST WISHES. In the film, she tells the story of Bob Burns showing up at her 8th birthday party as his GHOSTBUSTERS alter ego, Tracy. Years later, Beth would create the costume for THE THING in Bob and Kathy's final Halloween spectacular.

Thank you, Beth, for sharing your fond memories of Bob and Kathy in BEAST WISHES!

A Monkey And Mummy Mystery!

Here's a BEAST WISHES photo question! What do these two pictures have in common?

Tune back in tomorrow for the answer!

The Strangest Of Things

Glenn Strange, the wonderful actor who portrayed the Frankenstein Monster in HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, HOUSE OF DRACULA and ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN poses with his character during an early Halloween show at Bob and Kathy Burns' home.

In his later years, Glenn was "like a second Dad" to Bob. You can hear Bob talk about their friendship (and many other famous folks) in BEAST WISHES!

Glenn and Bob on the set of the CBS series GUNSMOKE.

Come visit and "Like" us at our BEAST WISHES Facebook page!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Beast-Wishes-The-Bob-and-Kathy-Burns-Movie/136028563147264

And tune in tomorrow for another cool photo!

It All Started With A Trip To The Movie Show...

For Bob Burns, it all began at a movie house like this one, showing this particular film, FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN. And what happened immediately afterward? Well, it looked something like this:

The entire tale will be revealed in BEAST WISHES - The Fantastic World Of Bob And Kathy Burns!

COMING SOON!!

Please share this blog with like-minded friends and bloggers. We'll post something new every day!

Thanks for your support!

Mighty Joe Dante!

A current resident of Bob's Basement who shares
his first name with our guest star.

We had the great pleasure of filming an interview with director Joe Dante, who created such classics as PIRANHA, THE HOWLING and GREMLINS. Joe spoke of his great admiration and fondness for Bob and Kathy Burns, and the importance of men in gorilla suits, among other things. Take note of the very nice nice paperweight to Joe's left in the photo below:

Welcome to BEAST WISHES!

The story of a man, a gorilla...and the woman who loves them both!

Welcome to the Beast Wishes blog! Here we will be documenting the journey of our documentary feature, BEAST WISHES - The Fantastic World Of Bob And Kathy Burns. Produced and directed by Frank Dietz and Trish Geiger, the film tells the story of how Bob and Kathy became the goodwill ambassadors of sci-fi and horror fandom, and how they inspired so many to share their creative talents.

Our many guest stars include John Landis, Rick Baker, Greg Nicotero, Joe Dante, Chris Walas, Dennis Muren, Tom Woodruff, Jr., Alec Gillis, Steve Wang, John Goodwin, Dana Gould, William Malone, Matt Rose, David J. Schow and many others.

And of course, Bob and Kathy Burns.

So follow us as we post behind the scenes photos, announcements of screenings and appearances, updates on the DVD release and a lot more!

THE WALKING DEAD'S Greg Nicotero on the set

with filmmakers Trish Geiger and Frank Dietz.