CategoryReviews
Honest horror reviews of films, series, games and books — no hype, no spoilers, just whether it is worth your time and your nerves.
3,439 stories
IndieMoviesReviewsThriller
Tom (Jim Schubin) and Eve (Chloe Carroll) get a wild hair up their asses that they can put one over on the eggheads runnin’ your friendly neighborhood research project and score fifty grand in cold, hard cash. All they need to do is convince everyone they are married, and get locked up good n’ tight in a futuristic smart house cum lab for a month (while wearing fancy futuristic suits as a bonus) while the scientists wrap their noggins around why couples stop being all lovey-dovey. What could go wrong? Fuckin’ plenty, because as Tom really seems to be gettin’ his jollies in his new environs, Eve begins to suspect that Tom is a tad different from the man she thought she knew… as she tries to navigate a slippery-slope that leads into madness! In The Honeymoon Phase; the debut feature from writer/director Phillip G. Carroll Jr., we get a near-perfect slice of sweet, sweet Twilight Zone pie, as our
Continue reading →
MoviesNewsReviewsTrailers
I reviewed Shudder’s Z back in May, so of course, I was excited to get my hands on the Blu-ray a couple of days ago. As I sat down to watch it with a bag of popcorn, I couldn’t help but wonder if the movie would stand up to my original impression and the 5/5 score I gave it. I was wrong to even question it. It turns out, the Blu-ray is even better. The picture is crisp and the sound is great. The story itself is fresh, clever, and absolutely unnerving. A lot of people had an imaginary friend as a kid. Imagine if that friend came back when you were an adult and it is hell-bent on destroying your life by using your innocent child. That’s the premise of Z. The movie follows Elizabeth (Keegan Connor Tracy), a mother whose 8-year-old son has a new playmate, an invisible friend named Z. As her son’s behavior becomes more menacing
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesReviews
The fine fiends at Wild Eye Releasing must have known ol’ Dan XIII needed a bit of a jolt to round out his sinister summer, and they sent me a large selection of outre offerings to feast my putrid peepers upon! So, in the interest of offering my not so humble opinion on what the creepy company has on hand; I’m going to devote the next few columns to revotin’ reviews of their various terror tales! Part One of our deep dive will feature five, count ’em five titles available from Wild Eye Releasing; Virus of the Dead, The Velocipastor, The Baylock Residence, Pickaxe, and Ouija Shark! First up, Virus of the Dead: If there’s two things that cats what love the horror biz dig it’s arcane anthologies and zombies…so it stands to reason that many of you boils n’ ghouls would be curious to check out a flick that combines those things right? Well, you’re in luck because the
Continue reading →
GamingProductReviews
As you can guess by the title, I’ve never played a “souls” game before. I never experienced the soul-crushing repetitive nature of playing, dying, and repeating for hours at a time that makes one question why they put themselves through such mental torture…but I want to, and Cold Symmetry and Playstack were more than happy to test my resolve with their soulslike game Mortal Shell. Mortal Shell takes players to a dark world full of creepy looking enemies, creatures, and mystery as they play as a being that takes over the remains of four dead warriors and fights their way through enemies in order to attain glands from certain enemies to appease the mysterious monstrous prisoner. Now onto the game itself! Leading up to getting the review copy of Mortal Shell I watched and studied gameplay videos of Dark Souls in which this game is said to be like. Long story short, YES, Mortal Shell is on the same level
Continue reading →
GamingIndieProductReviews
A great big thank you to the folks at Perfectly Paranormal for allowing me to review their puzzle platformer, Helheim Hassle! Helheim Hassle follows the misadventures of Bjørn, a 14-year-old Viking that’s not really into the idea of dying in battle and going to Valhalla. As fate would have it, Bjørn dies in an act of bravery resulting in him going to Valhalla. Fast forward to the present, we meet Pesto who is from a Hell going to Helheim (Viking Hell) but ends up needing Bjørn’s help (to read runes) in return for his help, Pesto will help Bjørn go to Helheim, the only downside is… Pesto’s magic makes allows Bjørn’s limbs to fall off and move on their own. Onto the game itself! Controls can be a bit to master as certain buttons dictate what limb you want to fall off and take control of. It will take patience as some moments will require you to make decisions quickly
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
Commander Konstantin Veshnyakov (Pyotr Fyodorov) is doin’ the Major Tom bag back round ‘83. Well on the way back home, Veshnyakov has the unpleasant discovery that they are not alone in the capsule. One crash landing, an amazingly worse for wear co-pilot, and incarceration in a secret facility later we learn that our hero is a host to a parasitic alien that gives him remarkable regenerative abilities… but, like he has to have a giant space creature inside of him, just a-ridin’ around… Enter: Tatyana Klimova (Oksana Akinshina), a hot shot psychiatric doctor with unconventional methods of treating patients, who’s brought to the facility by hard-ass Colonel Semiradov (Fedor Bondarchuk) to look after our deadly duo. The problem is, the longer Klimova is at the secret base… and I mean, she couldn’t leave even if she wanted to… the more she learns that there are many more secrets involved than just an alien-infested spaceman… and living through the project’s conclusion
Continue reading →
MoviesReviewsThriller
Director Robin Pront’s serial killer thriller The Silencing is chock full of genre-film tropes and red herrings, but solid performances and crisp cinematography help raise the film to the level of being a perfectly serviceable thriller. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones; Headhunters) stars as Rayburn, an alcoholic former hunter who has transformed his old hunting grounds into a wildlife sanctuary. He is emotionally haunted by the disappearance of his daughter five years earlier. He sees someone heavily disguised on one of his trail cams hunting down a frightened, bleeding young woman and goes in pursuit. The other main character is Sheriff Alice Gustafson, played by Annabelle Wallis (Annabelle; Peaky Blinders). She is so protective of her younger, screw-up brother that she is willing to go beyond just bending the law to keep him out of further trouble. As astute readers might guess, Rayburn and Gustafason cross paths in their mutual quest to determine the identity of the killer and stop
Continue reading →
GamingIndieProductReviews
All In! Games and Ovid Works sent me down the Kakfkaesque rabbit hole with their first-person platforming game, Metamorphosis. In Metamorphosis you play as Gregor Samsa who woke up one morning and realized that he turned into a bug and is now employed at a company called Tower who holds all the answers as to why this happened to Gregor and how he can turn human again. Along his journey, Gregor sees the world of insects and meets interesting individuals. Now onto the game itself! Mastering the controls is easy thanks to a tutorial in the beginning plus being made not complicated, to begin with. The movement of Gregor as an insect is fun as the movements are quick and mechanical much like a bug. Gregor can crawl up walls with the help of yellow goo that he finds piles of in certain places. The sound is amazing and I suggest wearing headphones for it so you won’t miss the
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesReviews
Ol’ Pike (Dennis Haggard) and his fellow survivors of the apocalypse traipse across the damnable desert on their way to the epicenter of said apocalypse; Jawbone. Seems hot n’ dusty, but it’ll be a dull journey no doubt; I mean a tumbleweed here, some sand n’ scorching sun there…. maybe a cannibalistic demon-oid freak or two… Yeah, we are in for a joltin’ journey indeed cats n’ creeps, as along with the oppressive conditions of that sandy death-trap, and those goddamned monsters mentioned up yonder, Pike n’ pals must deal with a wacko known as The Magistrate (Ron Jason) who is fixin’ to raise an army of cannibal creatures of his own! Coming from director Joaquin Montalvan (who co-wrote the flick along with Eunice Font, and S.E. Feinberg), Cannibal Corpse Killers delivers a solid punch of low budget thrills n’ chills, and offers us a look into a world that comes off as a cross between Lamberto Bava’s Demons and
Continue reading →
MoviesNewsReviewsShowStreaming TVTrailers
I was nine when I watched my first episode of “Are You Afraid the Dark?” Even as a kid I loved all things dark and spooky. That hasn’t changed since I became an adult. When I heard the news that the series was coming back as a limited series event I was eager to recapture a bit of nostalgia. So, how does the new limited series event stack up? I am happy to report that I am more than pleased. Even as an adult, I truly enjoyed all three episodes that make up the DVD. The story follows a new girl at school who is invited into the mysterious Midnight Society but to join she has to create a truly terrifying tale. And boy does she succeed. However, after joining the group her story comes to life bringing the dark carnival she sees in her nightmare to light. The group finds themselves on a mission to save a school mate
Continue reading →
More from Reviews
IndieMoviesReviewsThriller
Tom (Jim Schubin) and Eve (Chloe Carroll) get a wild hair up their asses that they can put one over on the eggheads runnin’ your friendly neighborhood research project and score fifty grand in cold, hard cash. All they need to do is convince everyone they are married, and get locked up good n’ tight in a futuristic smart house cum lab for a month (while wearing fancy futuristic suits as a bonus) while the scientists wrap their noggins around why couples stop being all lovey-dovey. What could go wrong? Fuckin’ plenty, because as Tom really seems to be gettin’ his jollies in his new environs, Eve begins to suspect that Tom is a tad different from the man she thought she knew… as she tries to navigate a slippery-slope that leads into madness! In The Honeymoon Phase; the debut feature from writer/director Phillip G. Carroll Jr., we get a near-perfect slice of sweet, sweet Twilight Zone pie, as our
Continue reading →
MoviesNewsReviewsTrailers
I reviewed Shudder’s Z back in May, so of course, I was excited to get my hands on the Blu-ray a couple of days ago. As I sat down to watch it with a bag of popcorn, I couldn’t help but wonder if the movie would stand up to my original impression and the 5/5 score I gave it. I was wrong to even question it. It turns out, the Blu-ray is even better. The picture is crisp and the sound is great. The story itself is fresh, clever, and absolutely unnerving. A lot of people had an imaginary friend as a kid. Imagine if that friend came back when you were an adult and it is hell-bent on destroying your life by using your innocent child. That’s the premise of Z. The movie follows Elizabeth (Keegan Connor Tracy), a mother whose 8-year-old son has a new playmate, an invisible friend named Z. As her son’s behavior becomes more menacing
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesReviews
The fine fiends at Wild Eye Releasing must have known ol’ Dan XIII needed a bit of a jolt to round out his sinister summer, and they sent me a large selection of outre offerings to feast my putrid peepers upon! So, in the interest of offering my not so humble opinion on what the creepy company has on hand; I’m going to devote the next few columns to revotin’ reviews of their various terror tales! Part One of our deep dive will feature five, count ’em five titles available from Wild Eye Releasing; Virus of the Dead, The Velocipastor, The Baylock Residence, Pickaxe, and Ouija Shark! First up, Virus of the Dead: If there’s two things that cats what love the horror biz dig it’s arcane anthologies and zombies…so it stands to reason that many of you boils n’ ghouls would be curious to check out a flick that combines those things right? Well, you’re in luck because the
Continue reading →
GamingProductReviews
As you can guess by the title, I’ve never played a “souls” game before. I never experienced the soul-crushing repetitive nature of playing, dying, and repeating for hours at a time that makes one question why they put themselves through such mental torture…but I want to, and Cold Symmetry and Playstack were more than happy to test my resolve with their soulslike game Mortal Shell. Mortal Shell takes players to a dark world full of creepy looking enemies, creatures, and mystery as they play as a being that takes over the remains of four dead warriors and fights their way through enemies in order to attain glands from certain enemies to appease the mysterious monstrous prisoner. Now onto the game itself! Leading up to getting the review copy of Mortal Shell I watched and studied gameplay videos of Dark Souls in which this game is said to be like. Long story short, YES, Mortal Shell is on the same level
Continue reading →
GamingIndieProductReviews
A great big thank you to the folks at Perfectly Paranormal for allowing me to review their puzzle platformer, Helheim Hassle! Helheim Hassle follows the misadventures of Bjørn, a 14-year-old Viking that’s not really into the idea of dying in battle and going to Valhalla. As fate would have it, Bjørn dies in an act of bravery resulting in him going to Valhalla. Fast forward to the present, we meet Pesto who is from a Hell going to Helheim (Viking Hell) but ends up needing Bjørn’s help (to read runes) in return for his help, Pesto will help Bjørn go to Helheim, the only downside is… Pesto’s magic makes allows Bjørn’s limbs to fall off and move on their own. Onto the game itself! Controls can be a bit to master as certain buttons dictate what limb you want to fall off and take control of. It will take patience as some moments will require you to make decisions quickly
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
Commander Konstantin Veshnyakov (Pyotr Fyodorov) is doin’ the Major Tom bag back round ‘83. Well on the way back home, Veshnyakov has the unpleasant discovery that they are not alone in the capsule. One crash landing, an amazingly worse for wear co-pilot, and incarceration in a secret facility later we learn that our hero is a host to a parasitic alien that gives him remarkable regenerative abilities… but, like he has to have a giant space creature inside of him, just a-ridin’ around… Enter: Tatyana Klimova (Oksana Akinshina), a hot shot psychiatric doctor with unconventional methods of treating patients, who’s brought to the facility by hard-ass Colonel Semiradov (Fedor Bondarchuk) to look after our deadly duo. The problem is, the longer Klimova is at the secret base… and I mean, she couldn’t leave even if she wanted to… the more she learns that there are many more secrets involved than just an alien-infested spaceman… and living through the project’s conclusion
Continue reading →
MoviesReviewsThriller
Director Robin Pront’s serial killer thriller The Silencing is chock full of genre-film tropes and red herrings, but solid performances and crisp cinematography help raise the film to the level of being a perfectly serviceable thriller. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones; Headhunters) stars as Rayburn, an alcoholic former hunter who has transformed his old hunting grounds into a wildlife sanctuary. He is emotionally haunted by the disappearance of his daughter five years earlier. He sees someone heavily disguised on one of his trail cams hunting down a frightened, bleeding young woman and goes in pursuit. The other main character is Sheriff Alice Gustafson, played by Annabelle Wallis (Annabelle; Peaky Blinders). She is so protective of her younger, screw-up brother that she is willing to go beyond just bending the law to keep him out of further trouble. As astute readers might guess, Rayburn and Gustafason cross paths in their mutual quest to determine the identity of the killer and stop
Continue reading →
GamingIndieProductReviews
All In! Games and Ovid Works sent me down the Kakfkaesque rabbit hole with their first-person platforming game, Metamorphosis. In Metamorphosis you play as Gregor Samsa who woke up one morning and realized that he turned into a bug and is now employed at a company called Tower who holds all the answers as to why this happened to Gregor and how he can turn human again. Along his journey, Gregor sees the world of insects and meets interesting individuals. Now onto the game itself! Mastering the controls is easy thanks to a tutorial in the beginning plus being made not complicated, to begin with. The movement of Gregor as an insect is fun as the movements are quick and mechanical much like a bug. Gregor can crawl up walls with the help of yellow goo that he finds piles of in certain places. The sound is amazing and I suggest wearing headphones for it so you won’t miss the
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesReviews
Ol’ Pike (Dennis Haggard) and his fellow survivors of the apocalypse traipse across the damnable desert on their way to the epicenter of said apocalypse; Jawbone. Seems hot n’ dusty, but it’ll be a dull journey no doubt; I mean a tumbleweed here, some sand n’ scorching sun there…. maybe a cannibalistic demon-oid freak or two… Yeah, we are in for a joltin’ journey indeed cats n’ creeps, as along with the oppressive conditions of that sandy death-trap, and those goddamned monsters mentioned up yonder, Pike n’ pals must deal with a wacko known as The Magistrate (Ron Jason) who is fixin’ to raise an army of cannibal creatures of his own! Coming from director Joaquin Montalvan (who co-wrote the flick along with Eunice Font, and S.E. Feinberg), Cannibal Corpse Killers delivers a solid punch of low budget thrills n’ chills, and offers us a look into a world that comes off as a cross between Lamberto Bava’s Demons and
Continue reading →
MoviesNewsReviewsShowStreaming TVTrailers
I was nine when I watched my first episode of “Are You Afraid the Dark?” Even as a kid I loved all things dark and spooky. That hasn’t changed since I became an adult. When I heard the news that the series was coming back as a limited series event I was eager to recapture a bit of nostalgia. So, how does the new limited series event stack up? I am happy to report that I am more than pleased. Even as an adult, I truly enjoyed all three episodes that make up the DVD. The story follows a new girl at school who is invited into the mysterious Midnight Society but to join she has to create a truly terrifying tale. And boy does she succeed. However, after joining the group her story comes to life bringing the dark carnival she sees in her nightmare to light. The group finds themselves on a mission to save a school mate
Continue reading →
