CategoryReviews
Honest horror reviews of films, series, games and books — no hype, no spoilers, just whether it is worth your time and your nerves.
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Film FestivalsForeignReviews
Director Jean Luc Herbulot’s Senegal/Congo coproduction Saloum is an insane mind-blower. This genre mash-up is as fun as it is suspenseful and poignant. Bangui’s Hyenas is a trio of mercenaries — Chaka (Yann Gael), Rafa (Roger Sallah) and Minuit (Mentor Ba) — on a mission to bring a cartel drug lord to Dakar, Senegal, with a load of gold on hand. When their plane encounters a problem, they are forced to land on the Saloum Delta. The four men seek shelter at a lodging camp run by a man named Omar (Bruno Henry), who Chaka claims to know, though Omar doesn’t recognize him. Minuit senses that Chaka is keeping a dangerous secret from the rest of the trio, and a mute woman guest named Awa (Evelyne Ily Juhen) complicates matters when she threatens to expose the men, who are going under aliases, to local police captain Souleymane (Ndiaga Mbow) unless they let her escape with them. Herbulot, who cowrote the
Continue reading →
NetflixNewsReviewsStreaming TV
Director Christopher Alender and writer Marcos Gabriel (Muppets Now, Memorial Day) take us to a dark and ancient place in the supernatural horror film The Old Ways. The film centers on Cristina, a journalist who has returned to her native lands to write an article about disappearing cultures. After traveling to a forbidden place Cristina wakes up in chains in a strange old home in the jungle where an old man and a bruja (witch) refuse to set her free because a demon lies within her. The film takes the horrors of possession, fear, depression, inner turmoil, and demons and spins them into a tale that has the best of both the old world and the new. Yes, this is a horror movie, but it is also about so much more. It’s about a woman coming home to literally face her demons, it’s about learning understanding, and respect, it is about family, and finding your place in the world. There
Continue reading →
ReviewsTrailers
It’s been five years since horror heavy hitter James Wan has directed a horror film, well, he’s back with the new movie Malignant. Earlier this month he promised it would be “new and different”, by god he was right. You’ve never seen anything like Malignant before! I will tell you this, I was not prepared for the level of bat shit insanity this movie reaches when I hit play. And it was awesome! The film centers on Madison (Anabelle Wallis), trapped in an abusive marriage. After a head injury, she suddenly begins to have shocking visions of grisly murders. Madison’s torment worsens as she discovers that her waking dreams are in fact terrifying realities and her past is coming back to haunt her. Anabelle Wallis does an amazing job of giving viewers a relatable character that they can have sympathy for. When the big twist comes, she rises to the occasion. Speaking of the twist, all I can say is
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignReviews
Beginning with one of the most harrowing scenes in recent memory, writer/director Kate Dolan’s Halloween-set Irish horror outing You Are Not My Mother serves up traditional European folklore in a modern urban setting. The result is one of the most thrilling, eerie cinematic experiences of this year. High-school student Char (Hazel Doupe) reluctantly accepts a ride to school from her seemingly depressed mother Angela (Carolyn Bracken), who almost drives the car straight into a horse. Angela disappears later that day but returns in a few days; however, she now seems to be in lighter moods, more active, and more engaged regarding spending time with Char. At first the bullied teen seems cautiously optimistic about her mother’s new behavior, but soon Angela begins displaying increasingly disturbing bearings. Char’s grandmother Rita (Ingrid Craigie), who makes talismans for protection, warns Char about a supernatural presence behind Angela, but Char wants none of that because she has heard schoolmates and neighbors mock her family
Continue reading →
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I recently sat down to watch the new horror film Blood Conscious by writer-director Timothy Covell. The film follows Brittany (DeShawn White), her brother Kevin (Oghenero Gbaje), and her boyfriend Tony (Lenny Thomas) as they head to a cabin to join her mother and father for some family time. Unfortunately, things go very wrong for the trio when they find that an armed man has murdered their parents and their neighbors. His reasoning, they weren’t people anymore, they were demons. This movie has a character problem. Right off to bat we learn that Tony’s a prick, Brittany lets him walk over her and her brother and Kevin is weak. These are the characters we are meant to care for, cheer for? They are mostly unlikable with Kevin being the only halfway redeemable character in the film. The next issue are the demons. They look like people and act like people, save for a higher level of aggression. The fact that
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignReviews
Director Blaine Thurier’s Kicking Blood is a stylish vampire film that, like The Addiction (1995) and other entries in the genre, deals with these undead creatures’ thirst for blood as a chemical dependency. Anna (Alana Bale) is one such bloodsucker, and when she invites alcoholic and suddenly homeless Robbie (Luke Bilyk) to her place and tells him “I’m going to suck your blood and get high . . .”, he invites her to do that but after one last request. He then pours a bottle of booze down the sink and proclaims that he will never drink again as long as he lives. Intrigued by his oath, Anna refrains from biting him, and as she goes on to admire his determination to stick to his promise when giving in to his cravings would be so easy, she begins to rethink her lifestyle. Her vampire partners with whom she hunts, Nina (Ella Jonas Farlinger) and Boris (Benjamin Sutherland), are none too
Continue reading →
Reviews
Ol’ rich-bitch Arthur (Michael Craig) discovers his wife tits up (or more accurately “down”) in the swimming pool, and the police get suspicious… especially since this is his third marriage featuring a murdered wife and a large life insurance policy. Without anything to directly tie the Art-ful Dodger to the case, he walks away free as a beastly bird… seems reasonable… His troubles are far from over however, as soon he’s hitched to a woman named Julie Spencer (Carroll Baker) who just showed up a-swimming in the same pool wife number trois met her untimely demise…. but as one would expect, Jules has more to her than meets the eye, and soon the couple are balls deep in suspicion as the tension between them grows, and the shadow of death grows longer! Will Julie become the fourth mother fuckin’ victim? Lord, I wish that was the title… The first thing one should realize about The Fourth Victim, is that this
Continue reading →
GamingIndieParanormalProductReviews
When I first heard of this game, I saw it on a post on Twitter showing testing of the combat animation and was instantly taken in by the look (though it was roughly done) but now Tormented Souls has been unleashed and PQube was amazing enough to let me have a look-see at their game that touts its bringing back classic survival horror. Tormented Souls follows Caroline Walker, a young woman who was suddenly called on to visit an abandoned mansion that is also a hospital, upon arriving she is knocked out and wakes up in a nightmarish scenario where twisted creatures roam the halls and her only weapon is a nail gun. The controls of the game are very smooth and can be mastered quite quickly and handle very much like the classic survival horror games we grew up on! No surprise as the game is heavily inspired by “Resident Evil” and “Silent Hill”, which you definitely see a
Continue reading →
GamingProductReviews
Those who have been reading past articles of mine may have noticed that I covered Song of Horror a lot as the premise of the game caught my attention and got my spooky meter going as I do love a good scary game. The wait is over and I can now finally say a big thank you to Protocol Games and Raiser Games for the opportunity to review! Now let’s see if the long wait was worth it! Song of Horror follows 13 playable characters as they investigate the mysterious disappearance of famed mystery writer Sebastian P. Husher and his family. The investigation immediately goes out of control as the disappearances revolve around a mysterious music box and an otherworldly entity known simply as the Presence is responsible and has ensnared the investigators as well. If you are a fan of the old-school survival horror games, this is for you! Immediately you will notice that the game is set up
Continue reading →
NewsReviewsShudderStreaming TVTrailers
Shudder’s new haunting film Martyrs Lane will arrive this September. Ahead of its release, we’ve got a spoiler-free review for you. In the film, a young girl, Leah, makes a new mysterious friend who comes in and out of her window every night. While the little girl wearing angel wings doesn’t look threatening, not everything is as it appears to be. Leah’s mother and father, who is a minister, are struggling with something they, and her big sister, have kept from Leah. As the story unfolds we learn the little angel’s true intent. The first thing you need to know is this isn’t your average horror film. Is it scary? No, not exactly. You’re left with a heavy heart more than fear. Featuring a dark and unnerving atmosphere, I was left with an uneasy feeling from the time I hit play until the closing credits. Young actress Kiera Thompson, who plays Leah, and little Sienna Sayer who plays the little
Continue reading →
More from Reviews
Film FestivalsForeignReviews
Director Jean Luc Herbulot’s Senegal/Congo coproduction Saloum is an insane mind-blower. This genre mash-up is as fun as it is suspenseful and poignant. Bangui’s Hyenas is a trio of mercenaries — Chaka (Yann Gael), Rafa (Roger Sallah) and Minuit (Mentor Ba) — on a mission to bring a cartel drug lord to Dakar, Senegal, with a load of gold on hand. When their plane encounters a problem, they are forced to land on the Saloum Delta. The four men seek shelter at a lodging camp run by a man named Omar (Bruno Henry), who Chaka claims to know, though Omar doesn’t recognize him. Minuit senses that Chaka is keeping a dangerous secret from the rest of the trio, and a mute woman guest named Awa (Evelyne Ily Juhen) complicates matters when she threatens to expose the men, who are going under aliases, to local police captain Souleymane (Ndiaga Mbow) unless they let her escape with them. Herbulot, who cowrote the
Continue reading →
NetflixNewsReviewsStreaming TV
Director Christopher Alender and writer Marcos Gabriel (Muppets Now, Memorial Day) take us to a dark and ancient place in the supernatural horror film The Old Ways. The film centers on Cristina, a journalist who has returned to her native lands to write an article about disappearing cultures. After traveling to a forbidden place Cristina wakes up in chains in a strange old home in the jungle where an old man and a bruja (witch) refuse to set her free because a demon lies within her. The film takes the horrors of possession, fear, depression, inner turmoil, and demons and spins them into a tale that has the best of both the old world and the new. Yes, this is a horror movie, but it is also about so much more. It’s about a woman coming home to literally face her demons, it’s about learning understanding, and respect, it is about family, and finding your place in the world. There
Continue reading →
ReviewsTrailers
It’s been five years since horror heavy hitter James Wan has directed a horror film, well, he’s back with the new movie Malignant. Earlier this month he promised it would be “new and different”, by god he was right. You’ve never seen anything like Malignant before! I will tell you this, I was not prepared for the level of bat shit insanity this movie reaches when I hit play. And it was awesome! The film centers on Madison (Anabelle Wallis), trapped in an abusive marriage. After a head injury, she suddenly begins to have shocking visions of grisly murders. Madison’s torment worsens as she discovers that her waking dreams are in fact terrifying realities and her past is coming back to haunt her. Anabelle Wallis does an amazing job of giving viewers a relatable character that they can have sympathy for. When the big twist comes, she rises to the occasion. Speaking of the twist, all I can say is
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignReviews
Beginning with one of the most harrowing scenes in recent memory, writer/director Kate Dolan’s Halloween-set Irish horror outing You Are Not My Mother serves up traditional European folklore in a modern urban setting. The result is one of the most thrilling, eerie cinematic experiences of this year. High-school student Char (Hazel Doupe) reluctantly accepts a ride to school from her seemingly depressed mother Angela (Carolyn Bracken), who almost drives the car straight into a horse. Angela disappears later that day but returns in a few days; however, she now seems to be in lighter moods, more active, and more engaged regarding spending time with Char. At first the bullied teen seems cautiously optimistic about her mother’s new behavior, but soon Angela begins displaying increasingly disturbing bearings. Char’s grandmother Rita (Ingrid Craigie), who makes talismans for protection, warns Char about a supernatural presence behind Angela, but Char wants none of that because she has heard schoolmates and neighbors mock her family
Continue reading →
NewsReviewsTrailers
I recently sat down to watch the new horror film Blood Conscious by writer-director Timothy Covell. The film follows Brittany (DeShawn White), her brother Kevin (Oghenero Gbaje), and her boyfriend Tony (Lenny Thomas) as they head to a cabin to join her mother and father for some family time. Unfortunately, things go very wrong for the trio when they find that an armed man has murdered their parents and their neighbors. His reasoning, they weren’t people anymore, they were demons. This movie has a character problem. Right off to bat we learn that Tony’s a prick, Brittany lets him walk over her and her brother and Kevin is weak. These are the characters we are meant to care for, cheer for? They are mostly unlikable with Kevin being the only halfway redeemable character in the film. The next issue are the demons. They look like people and act like people, save for a higher level of aggression. The fact that
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignReviews
Director Blaine Thurier’s Kicking Blood is a stylish vampire film that, like The Addiction (1995) and other entries in the genre, deals with these undead creatures’ thirst for blood as a chemical dependency. Anna (Alana Bale) is one such bloodsucker, and when she invites alcoholic and suddenly homeless Robbie (Luke Bilyk) to her place and tells him “I’m going to suck your blood and get high . . .”, he invites her to do that but after one last request. He then pours a bottle of booze down the sink and proclaims that he will never drink again as long as he lives. Intrigued by his oath, Anna refrains from biting him, and as she goes on to admire his determination to stick to his promise when giving in to his cravings would be so easy, she begins to rethink her lifestyle. Her vampire partners with whom she hunts, Nina (Ella Jonas Farlinger) and Boris (Benjamin Sutherland), are none too
Continue reading →
Reviews
Ol’ rich-bitch Arthur (Michael Craig) discovers his wife tits up (or more accurately “down”) in the swimming pool, and the police get suspicious… especially since this is his third marriage featuring a murdered wife and a large life insurance policy. Without anything to directly tie the Art-ful Dodger to the case, he walks away free as a beastly bird… seems reasonable… His troubles are far from over however, as soon he’s hitched to a woman named Julie Spencer (Carroll Baker) who just showed up a-swimming in the same pool wife number trois met her untimely demise…. but as one would expect, Jules has more to her than meets the eye, and soon the couple are balls deep in suspicion as the tension between them grows, and the shadow of death grows longer! Will Julie become the fourth mother fuckin’ victim? Lord, I wish that was the title… The first thing one should realize about The Fourth Victim, is that this
Continue reading →
GamingIndieParanormalProductReviews
When I first heard of this game, I saw it on a post on Twitter showing testing of the combat animation and was instantly taken in by the look (though it was roughly done) but now Tormented Souls has been unleashed and PQube was amazing enough to let me have a look-see at their game that touts its bringing back classic survival horror. Tormented Souls follows Caroline Walker, a young woman who was suddenly called on to visit an abandoned mansion that is also a hospital, upon arriving she is knocked out and wakes up in a nightmarish scenario where twisted creatures roam the halls and her only weapon is a nail gun. The controls of the game are very smooth and can be mastered quite quickly and handle very much like the classic survival horror games we grew up on! No surprise as the game is heavily inspired by “Resident Evil” and “Silent Hill”, which you definitely see a
Continue reading →
GamingProductReviews
Those who have been reading past articles of mine may have noticed that I covered Song of Horror a lot as the premise of the game caught my attention and got my spooky meter going as I do love a good scary game. The wait is over and I can now finally say a big thank you to Protocol Games and Raiser Games for the opportunity to review! Now let’s see if the long wait was worth it! Song of Horror follows 13 playable characters as they investigate the mysterious disappearance of famed mystery writer Sebastian P. Husher and his family. The investigation immediately goes out of control as the disappearances revolve around a mysterious music box and an otherworldly entity known simply as the Presence is responsible and has ensnared the investigators as well. If you are a fan of the old-school survival horror games, this is for you! Immediately you will notice that the game is set up
Continue reading →
NewsReviewsShudderStreaming TVTrailers
Shudder’s new haunting film Martyrs Lane will arrive this September. Ahead of its release, we’ve got a spoiler-free review for you. In the film, a young girl, Leah, makes a new mysterious friend who comes in and out of her window every night. While the little girl wearing angel wings doesn’t look threatening, not everything is as it appears to be. Leah’s mother and father, who is a minister, are struggling with something they, and her big sister, have kept from Leah. As the story unfolds we learn the little angel’s true intent. The first thing you need to know is this isn’t your average horror film. Is it scary? No, not exactly. You’re left with a heavy heart more than fear. Featuring a dark and unnerving atmosphere, I was left with an uneasy feeling from the time I hit play until the closing credits. Young actress Kiera Thompson, who plays Leah, and little Sienna Sayer who plays the little
Continue reading →
