The House That Splatter Built

The House That Splatter Built


This piece is based on the Body Eater-infested room found at the end of the first level of Namco's 1988 Splatterhouse video game. It was created specifically for a contest at Figure Realm (I came in 4th out of 38 entries).

One evening, two college students, Rick and Jennifer, embarked on an ill-fated trip to investigate the abandoned mansion of Dr. West, a brilliant parapsychologist who disappeared years ago under mysterious circumstances. Dark rumors about the unethical--some would even say unholy--experiments Dr. West conducted at his private estate are legion. Rick and Jennifer are determined to find out just how much of those stories are true. Forcing their way inside, the couple have only begun to explore the interior of the dilapidated building when they find that the structure is anything but deserted--it's crawling with a small army of ghastly monsters! While he does his best to fight off the abominations, Rick is knocked unconscious by the creatures' attack; the last thing he hears as the world fades into darkness is Jennifer's anguished scream . . .

Awakening hours later, lying on the filthy floor of a dungeon located somewhere underneath the mansion, Rick's already shocked psyche must immediately deal with another dilemma: While he was out of it, in addition to moving him here, someone, or something, affixed a hockey mask to his face that he cannot remove and, even worse, speaks to him. The artificial visage informs him that it is an ancient artifact called the Terror Mask, and, that only with the powers it imparts will Rick have a chance to save Jennifer from the host of fiends that have abducted her. Not liking this new development in the least, but lacking any real alternative, Rick sets out to get his woman back. Making his way through the corpse-strewn catacomb, battling bats and zombies along the way, whilst avoiding impalement upon hidden traps (all of which he accomplishes with surprising ease--the enhanced physical abilities the mask spoke of were not an idle boast), Rick comes to a ladder. Ascending it, he finds himself in an even more revolting room. A mangled figure, that is clearly not human, hangs from the ceiling and large piles of rotting meat line the walls. The stench is almost unbearable. And then the flesh begins to quiver . . . is it alive? No, but the wriggling things nestled inside the sticky mounds are. Rick has just stumbled upon a nest of Body Eaters, and they're ravenously hungry--will he survive?

Controversy over its gory content aside, Namco was also flirting with copyright infringement with the release of Splatterhouse. Rick is obviously "inspired" by Jason Vorhees from the Friday The 13th films, and the Body Eaters/Boreworms are copies of the chestbursters from the Alien franchise. Rick's hockey mask was changed for the North American Turbografx-16 (PC Engine in Japan) home release of the game, doubtlessly to try to avoid potential litigation.



Materials:
Newsprint, Kleenex, cardboard, white/hot glue, wire twist ties, sand, a paperclip, aluminum foil, plastic, nail polish, marker, and acrylic paint.

Dimensions*:
(*The maximum size values for Rick and the Body Eater will vary depending on how the joints are positioned; the numbers given assume a "neutral" standing pose for Rick and lying pose for the Body Eater.)

Rick: 2.7 cm/1.1 in. x 6.9 cm/2.7 in. (widest point x highest point)
Body Eater: 7.0 cm/2.8 in. x 1.3 cm/0.5 in. (widest point x highest point)
Diorama: 14.1 cm/5.6 in. x 10.0 cm/3.9 in. (widest point x highest point)

Articulation:
Rick: Twenty-five points; neck (2), shoulders (2), biceps (2), elbows (4), wrists (2), waist, hips (4), knees (4), and ankles (4).
Body Eater: Ten points; tail (9) and jaw.

Time:
Thirteen days in February 2009 (Feb. 6, 8, 9, 11, 17, and 19-26).





For comparison purposes, below are several images of Rick, Body Eaters, and the final room of level 1 from various Splatterhouse media

Epic! Automatically my favourite thing you've ever done.

I'm with Coopersville. This is awesome! Poses are great too btw.

YES! YES! YES!

That is some sick stuff MmM, really awesome! I've always wanted to play that game. I'm definitely gonna check it out now.

Woah, this is so awesome! I don't know what else to say.

Sublime... in a particularly gruesome and bloody way. :)

Thanks for the kudos, guys! If you'd like to see all the other entries for the contest, you can view them here:

http://www.figurerealm.com/ViewCustoms.php?CID=31

They're mostly G.I.JOE, Marvel/DC comics stuff, but there is some more obscure subject matter as well. Lots of neat-o stuff, check it out!


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Azrael


Three-headed, worm-like monsters that can be randomly encountered in Squaresoft's 1990 Nintendo Famicom video game Final Fantasy III. Azraels have 1,100 hit points (HP), are particularly vulnerable to dark-elemental/sword attacks, and worth $940 and 80 experience points, each, when slain. These creatures can only be found inside the crumbling 'Ancient Ruins' dungeon. When threatened, Azraels have the disturbing habit of multiplying, via fission. As such, a seemingly simple battle with a single specimen can quickly get out of hand if you don't finish it off quickly. There is no limit (other than the maximum number of enemy sprites that can fit on the screen) to the number of times an Azrael can copy itself in this manner--the only factor working in your favor is that a duplicate can't have more HP than the original (i.e., an Azrael that has 486 HP left will produce replicas with the same amount of health, and likewise, those clones will only be able to generate 486 HP Azraels as well). Keep hacking away, and, eventually, you'll whittle them all down to the point where they can easily be dispatched with a single stroke. The monsters Azrael and Haniel share the same game sprite, but have different color schemes/attributes.

Materials:
Newsprint, Kleenex, white glue, and acrylic paint.

Dimensions:

3.9 cm/1.5 in. x 3.9 cm/1.5 in. (widest point x highest point)

Time:
Two days; March 7 and 8, 2009.





For comparison purposes, below is a screenshot of a party of adventurers taking on a quartet of Azraels from the Final Fantasy III Famicom video game.

Nice stuff. the splatterhouse diorama is definitley one of my new favorites.

Cool! Azraels! A monster from a game I've actually played!

I fucking hate azraels.

Good sculpture though.

Wow, impressive stuff here. I've really liked a lot of your stuff so far, but the Splatterhouse one is definitely among my favorites.

Im with VileSlay here, the splatterhouse diorama is epic in many way. Bring back memories. <3

I thought the azrael was some sort of FF monster. Your sculpture compares excellent to the sprite. I prefer this one over the other two.

The Splatterhouse fan community saw the diorama and flipped out. They'd all buy one if it was on the market.