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DanXIII

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Horror Fuel

Movie Review: Seaside (2018)

Daphne (Ariana DeBose) has it tough as she works a right shit job and has to care for her hard-luck momma (Sharon Washington). But all isn’t dumpster fires and frowns for our heroine, as she is having a secret fling with Roger (Matt Shingledecker), a dude in kind of a similar sitch as he is charged with caring for his old (literally) man… until Pops buys the farm that is. We soon learn Rog has inherited a seaside beach house, and he drags ol’ Daphne out there where she meets Susanna (Steffanie Leigh); one of Roger’s exes. Now let me just say the film opens with a crime scene and we have to piece together who is the victim in that scenario… so put your weird-ass Sherlock Holmes hat on and try to cram those puzzle pieces together into some sort of clear picture! While that set-up may seem to have some spark to it, I have to say Seaside

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Aug 26, 2019
Horror Fuel

Blu-ray Review: Cruising (1980)

A serial killer has marked gay men frequenting New York’s meat packing district; home to the S/M and leather scene, and he’s been dismembering them like a beastly butcher! Thankfully police officer Steve Burns (Al Pacino) is placed deep undercover onto the streets to try and draw the killer out. Soon our hero becomes almost completely isolated from his previous life as his new fabricated existence consumes him. Will Steve be able to catch the killer and remain who he is? Comprised of a stellar cast (besides the aforementioned Pacino; Paul Sorvino, Karen Allen, James Remar, Ed O’ Neill and the Maniac himself Joe Spinell round out the roster), a brutal mystery to solve, a deep-dive into a subculture not often examined, and the unbeatable grit and grime of late ’70s/early ’80s Manhattan; Cruising is a rock-solid horror film dressed in thriller clothing. Among all of that goodness, there is of course the ol’ elephant in the room that should

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Aug 24, 2019
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: Nefarious (2019)

Darren (Buck Braithwaite), Lou (Nadia Lamin), Jo (Abbey Gillett) and Mas (Omari Lake-Pottinger) are scratchin’ and survivin’ in an environment of poverty. Trying to get over, they become indebted to ye olde local crime lord; a totally reasonable and not at all violence prone individual…just fuckin’ with you; this dude makes them worried about their continued existence 24/7. Meanwhile, richie-rich sumbitch Marcus (Toby Wynn-Davies) and his disabled bro Clive (Gregory A. Smith) get even richer when they win the lottery. Hearing this bit o’ news, our troubled heroes decide to get their steal on to improve their shitty lives…this of course doesn’t go as planned. Violence ensues! Now of course home invasion thrillers are nothing new, and at it’s core Nefarious isn’t either…it has all the tropes of the genre, but I don’t think re-inventing the wicked wheel was the goal here. Co-Writer (along with Matthew Davies)/Director Richard Rowntree instead decides to concentrate on a slick visual style (aided and

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Aug 24, 2019
Horror Fuel

Short Film Review: We Know You Are Home (2018)

Due to an increase of missing children, Halloween is almost outlawed in the town April (Julie Landriault) calls home, but that doesn’t stop her from getting a gig house-sitting on our favorite haunted holiday while the owners are out doing Satan knows what. Our heroine settles in for a night of fright flick classics on the beastly boob tube when she receives a chilling visit from some ghostly trick r’ treaters (Johnny Elston, Ricky Elston, and Daniel Elston) who may not be what they seem… and before long those sheet-covered supernatural shit heels are in the house, and that’s when things get positively preternatural for Alice! Written and directed by Andrew J.D. Robinson, We Know You Are Home is an effective expansion of his previous short, Trick r’ Treat (which I reviewed right here). The entire affair is a fangtastic Halloween spookshow replete with sheet covered spectral beings, forbidden rooms, family secrets, and plenty of good ol’ spine chilling suspense…

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Aug 23, 2019
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Horror Fuel

Movie Review: Hoax (2019)

A group of attractive young folks are fucking around in the woods (literally) when something that appears for all the world to be the legendary Bigfoot rips the gang from asshole to elbow. Enter: Down on his luck reality TV producer Rick Paxton (Ben Browder) who assembles a crack team, who’s ranks include the great Brian Thompson (Cobra, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation), to schlep out into the woods and prove the murders were committed by the legendary cryptid, all for the sake of high ratings. Naturally, it doesn’t take long for something to begin hunting our heroes, and as tensions within the group mount, the truth they have to confront is way more than they bargained for. So what’s good with Hoax? Well, the Colorado countryside is scenic as all fuck, and is put to good use to make the group feel well and truly isolated. Speaking of the group, the acting is strong among our protagonists, with lead Cheryl Texiera

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Aug 17, 2019
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: Debunkers, Inc. (2019)

The Debunkers; amateur detectives, video game enthusiasts, eternal virgins… okay, I made that last bit up, but it can be inferred with a large probability of being true… wait, where was I? Oh yeah, The Debunkers; Link (Josh Pinkowski), Snake (Izzy Pollak) and Dr. Mario (Blake Kevin Dwyer)… along with new recruit, Canadian foreign exchange student Shiek (Nicole DuBois) are the premier mystery debunking business in their town, a town that doesn’t exactly seem like it would be a hotbed of mysteries which makes their profit margin rather low I’d wager. Of course that all changes when two desperate girls, Heather and Joyce by name, come a-knocking with a real puzzler… figuring out who put the murder biz on their gal pal Nina. With a murderer around, The Debunkers will surely die… the end… okay, maybe they will prevail and become true heroes… but my money is on their demise. Look, I’ll lay it on the line here, Debunkers Inc.

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Aug 16, 2019
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: Empathy, Inc (2018)

Poor Joel (Zack Robidas) has lost his job, but all is not food stamps, pot noodles, and The Price is Right for our hero as an old friend invites him to invest in a new company Empathy, Inc. What exactly does this operation provide to it’s customers? Why the ability for it’s rich-ass customers to experience life as someone that has nothing by inhabiting their body through VR technology and therefore appreciate what they have in life more. Absolutely nothing will go awry here. Now honestly, unemployed Joel could just wait a bit and experience this for real minus all the technology and doo-dads, but I digress… So, what does Empathy, Inc have going for it? First of all; director Yedidya Gorsetman and screenwriter Mark Leidner have delivered a hell of a tight sci-fi thriller with a nice undercurrent of mystery that keeps your putrid peepers locked on the screen throughout, and the truth behind the VR experiment pays off

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Aug 16, 2019
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: Nekrotronic (2019)

From the dawn of time, a cadre of Nekromancers has battled legions of demons for the fate of the world. As it is the age of smart phones being perma-glued to people’s hands (though as you will see, this film gives zero-fucks about presenting anything as lofty as social commentary); the Queen of the Underworld (the always jaw-dropping Monica Bellucci) is developing an app that will allow those dastardly demons to wage cyber warfare on an unsuspecting mankind who think the app is a simple ghost finding program, rather than a means of swipin’ their very souls. This brings us to dopey sanitation worker named Howard (Ben O’Toole) and his equally clueless best friend (Epine Bob Savea). You see Howard’s legacy is to become the ultimate Nekromancer and he is tasked with ending that arcane app and the Queens machinations for good. Our world is pretty much fucked. Coming from Co-Writer (along with Tristan Roache-Turner)/Director Kiah Roache-Turner (who previously brought

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Aug 5, 2019
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: Into the Dark: School Spirit (2019)

Goody-two-shoes Erica (Annie Q) unbelievably finds herself slammed into weekend detention, and before you can say “This shit seems like The Breakfast Club” she suffers the barbs of the various reprobates stuck in there with her as well as the ‘tude of the gruff-as-all-shit Vice Principal runnin’ the show. Said hard ass makes our “heroes” clean up the school as punishment, before retiring to his office to appease that ol’ demon in a bottle. Talk among that gang of goofs soon turns to the urban legend of a g-g-ghost dressed as an admiral that haunts those hallowed halls…and the fact some of them believe said specter is behind students that have recently gone missing. Soon the kids end up being locked in the school, and of course what was thought to be mere legend is in fact a murderous reality! Definitely the most lightweight of the Into the Dark series thus far, School Spirit is a by the numbers, teen

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Aug 1, 2019
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: Wicked Witches (2018)

Mark (Duncan Casey) you dumb ass…when will you ever learn? You got fucked up, cheated on your wife, and got your ass kicked to the curb. has a problem. After his most recent night of drugs and infidelity, his wife has kicked his ass out. You’d think that would definitely fill his dance card of stupidity, but you’d be wrong as he heads to his friend Ian’s (Justin Marosa) farm where he used to get his party on in days past. Wait, that doesn’t sound like too bad of a decision…and on the surface it isn’t…but just you wait… You see, ol’ Ian is acting like he has murder biz on his mind, and it seems Anton LaVey is his interior decorator, and a whole slew of dudes have gone missing in the surrounding area. And that’s where the “stupid” comes in, because Mark decides to stick around. Anyway, nothing stops his good times roll, and party is thrown…a party

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Jul 30, 2019

More from DanXIII

Horror Fuel

Movie Review: Seaside (2018)

Daphne (Ariana DeBose) has it tough as she works a right shit job and has to care for her hard-luck momma (Sharon Washington). But all isn’t dumpster fires and frowns for our heroine, as she is having a secret fling with Roger (Matt Shingledecker), a dude in kind of a similar sitch as he is charged with caring for his old (literally) man… until Pops buys the farm that is. We soon learn Rog has inherited a seaside beach house, and he drags ol’ Daphne out there where she meets Susanna (Steffanie Leigh); one of Roger’s exes. Now let me just say the film opens with a crime scene and we have to piece together who is the victim in that scenario… so put your weird-ass Sherlock Holmes hat on and try to cram those puzzle pieces together into some sort of clear picture! While that set-up may seem to have some spark to it, I have to say Seaside

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Aug 26, 2019
Horror Fuel

Blu-ray Review: Cruising (1980)

A serial killer has marked gay men frequenting New York’s meat packing district; home to the S/M and leather scene, and he’s been dismembering them like a beastly butcher! Thankfully police officer Steve Burns (Al Pacino) is placed deep undercover onto the streets to try and draw the killer out. Soon our hero becomes almost completely isolated from his previous life as his new fabricated existence consumes him. Will Steve be able to catch the killer and remain who he is? Comprised of a stellar cast (besides the aforementioned Pacino; Paul Sorvino, Karen Allen, James Remar, Ed O’ Neill and the Maniac himself Joe Spinell round out the roster), a brutal mystery to solve, a deep-dive into a subculture not often examined, and the unbeatable grit and grime of late ’70s/early ’80s Manhattan; Cruising is a rock-solid horror film dressed in thriller clothing. Among all of that goodness, there is of course the ol’ elephant in the room that should

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Aug 24, 2019
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: Nefarious (2019)

Darren (Buck Braithwaite), Lou (Nadia Lamin), Jo (Abbey Gillett) and Mas (Omari Lake-Pottinger) are scratchin’ and survivin’ in an environment of poverty. Trying to get over, they become indebted to ye olde local crime lord; a totally reasonable and not at all violence prone individual…just fuckin’ with you; this dude makes them worried about their continued existence 24/7. Meanwhile, richie-rich sumbitch Marcus (Toby Wynn-Davies) and his disabled bro Clive (Gregory A. Smith) get even richer when they win the lottery. Hearing this bit o’ news, our troubled heroes decide to get their steal on to improve their shitty lives…this of course doesn’t go as planned. Violence ensues! Now of course home invasion thrillers are nothing new, and at it’s core Nefarious isn’t either…it has all the tropes of the genre, but I don’t think re-inventing the wicked wheel was the goal here. Co-Writer (along with Matthew Davies)/Director Richard Rowntree instead decides to concentrate on a slick visual style (aided and

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Aug 24, 2019
Horror Fuel

Short Film Review: We Know You Are Home (2018)

Due to an increase of missing children, Halloween is almost outlawed in the town April (Julie Landriault) calls home, but that doesn’t stop her from getting a gig house-sitting on our favorite haunted holiday while the owners are out doing Satan knows what. Our heroine settles in for a night of fright flick classics on the beastly boob tube when she receives a chilling visit from some ghostly trick r’ treaters (Johnny Elston, Ricky Elston, and Daniel Elston) who may not be what they seem… and before long those sheet-covered supernatural shit heels are in the house, and that’s when things get positively preternatural for Alice! Written and directed by Andrew J.D. Robinson, We Know You Are Home is an effective expansion of his previous short, Trick r’ Treat (which I reviewed right here). The entire affair is a fangtastic Halloween spookshow replete with sheet covered spectral beings, forbidden rooms, family secrets, and plenty of good ol’ spine chilling suspense…

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Aug 23, 2019
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: Hoax (2019)

A group of attractive young folks are fucking around in the woods (literally) when something that appears for all the world to be the legendary Bigfoot rips the gang from asshole to elbow. Enter: Down on his luck reality TV producer Rick Paxton (Ben Browder) who assembles a crack team, who’s ranks include the great Brian Thompson (Cobra, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation), to schlep out into the woods and prove the murders were committed by the legendary cryptid, all for the sake of high ratings. Naturally, it doesn’t take long for something to begin hunting our heroes, and as tensions within the group mount, the truth they have to confront is way more than they bargained for. So what’s good with Hoax? Well, the Colorado countryside is scenic as all fuck, and is put to good use to make the group feel well and truly isolated. Speaking of the group, the acting is strong among our protagonists, with lead Cheryl Texiera

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Aug 17, 2019
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: Debunkers, Inc. (2019)

The Debunkers; amateur detectives, video game enthusiasts, eternal virgins… okay, I made that last bit up, but it can be inferred with a large probability of being true… wait, where was I? Oh yeah, The Debunkers; Link (Josh Pinkowski), Snake (Izzy Pollak) and Dr. Mario (Blake Kevin Dwyer)… along with new recruit, Canadian foreign exchange student Shiek (Nicole DuBois) are the premier mystery debunking business in their town, a town that doesn’t exactly seem like it would be a hotbed of mysteries which makes their profit margin rather low I’d wager. Of course that all changes when two desperate girls, Heather and Joyce by name, come a-knocking with a real puzzler… figuring out who put the murder biz on their gal pal Nina. With a murderer around, The Debunkers will surely die… the end… okay, maybe they will prevail and become true heroes… but my money is on their demise. Look, I’ll lay it on the line here, Debunkers Inc.

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Aug 16, 2019
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: Empathy, Inc (2018)

Poor Joel (Zack Robidas) has lost his job, but all is not food stamps, pot noodles, and The Price is Right for our hero as an old friend invites him to invest in a new company Empathy, Inc. What exactly does this operation provide to it’s customers? Why the ability for it’s rich-ass customers to experience life as someone that has nothing by inhabiting their body through VR technology and therefore appreciate what they have in life more. Absolutely nothing will go awry here. Now honestly, unemployed Joel could just wait a bit and experience this for real minus all the technology and doo-dads, but I digress… So, what does Empathy, Inc have going for it? First of all; director Yedidya Gorsetman and screenwriter Mark Leidner have delivered a hell of a tight sci-fi thriller with a nice undercurrent of mystery that keeps your putrid peepers locked on the screen throughout, and the truth behind the VR experiment pays off

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Aug 16, 2019
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: Nekrotronic (2019)

From the dawn of time, a cadre of Nekromancers has battled legions of demons for the fate of the world. As it is the age of smart phones being perma-glued to people’s hands (though as you will see, this film gives zero-fucks about presenting anything as lofty as social commentary); the Queen of the Underworld (the always jaw-dropping Monica Bellucci) is developing an app that will allow those dastardly demons to wage cyber warfare on an unsuspecting mankind who think the app is a simple ghost finding program, rather than a means of swipin’ their very souls. This brings us to dopey sanitation worker named Howard (Ben O’Toole) and his equally clueless best friend (Epine Bob Savea). You see Howard’s legacy is to become the ultimate Nekromancer and he is tasked with ending that arcane app and the Queens machinations for good. Our world is pretty much fucked. Coming from Co-Writer (along with Tristan Roache-Turner)/Director Kiah Roache-Turner (who previously brought

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Aug 5, 2019
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: Into the Dark: School Spirit (2019)

Goody-two-shoes Erica (Annie Q) unbelievably finds herself slammed into weekend detention, and before you can say “This shit seems like The Breakfast Club” she suffers the barbs of the various reprobates stuck in there with her as well as the ‘tude of the gruff-as-all-shit Vice Principal runnin’ the show. Said hard ass makes our “heroes” clean up the school as punishment, before retiring to his office to appease that ol’ demon in a bottle. Talk among that gang of goofs soon turns to the urban legend of a g-g-ghost dressed as an admiral that haunts those hallowed halls…and the fact some of them believe said specter is behind students that have recently gone missing. Soon the kids end up being locked in the school, and of course what was thought to be mere legend is in fact a murderous reality! Definitely the most lightweight of the Into the Dark series thus far, School Spirit is a by the numbers, teen

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Aug 1, 2019
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: Wicked Witches (2018)

Mark (Duncan Casey) you dumb ass…when will you ever learn? You got fucked up, cheated on your wife, and got your ass kicked to the curb. has a problem. After his most recent night of drugs and infidelity, his wife has kicked his ass out. You’d think that would definitely fill his dance card of stupidity, but you’d be wrong as he heads to his friend Ian’s (Justin Marosa) farm where he used to get his party on in days past. Wait, that doesn’t sound like too bad of a decision…and on the surface it isn’t…but just you wait… You see, ol’ Ian is acting like he has murder biz on his mind, and it seems Anton LaVey is his interior decorator, and a whole slew of dudes have gone missing in the surrounding area. And that’s where the “stupid” comes in, because Mark decides to stick around. Anyway, nothing stops his good times roll, and party is thrown…a party

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Jul 30, 2019
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