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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Reviews
In the eighties it was camping, for more recent years it was computers, and most recently the quickest way to Horrorville in cinema is to use a ridesharing company. Writer/director Michael Nader’s The Toll goes beyond the usual thriller angle of either the driver or the passenger being a potential killer to drop its two main characters off in a supernatural zone not too far from the original destination, yet at least one dimension away. Cami (Jordan Hayes) is exhausted from a series of flight delays and less than thrilled about visiting her father at his rural home. Her rideshare driver Spencer (Max Topplin) is a socially awkward, talkative person, and after an initially uncomfortable start to their ride, things take a turn for the weird and deadly when the pair journeys into an area where their phones and Spencer’s car stop working. After a while of playing the blame game and distrusting each other and then having to trust
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MoviesNewsReviewsTrailers
Justin P. Lange’s new supernatural horror The Seventh Day has just been released. The film follows exorcist Father Peter (Guy Pearce) who teams up with a rookie apprentice for his first day of training. As they plunge deeper into hell on earth, the lines between good and evil blur, and their own demons emerge. I’ll be honest before I sat down to watch The Seventh Day I had assumed it would be your average exorcism movie, I can now tell you that I was wrong. Seventh Day is far from the exorcism movies we’ve come accustomed to. What we usually get is a movie that’s predictable with a story we feel like we’ve seen a hundred times. Truthfully, we haven’t gotten a really good exorcism movie since The Exorcist III, until now. I have a talent for guessing the way a movie will end, but this movie left me completely surprised and packs one hell of a twist that you
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesReviewsThriller
Estranged college chums Francis (Liam Aiken) and Jean Paul (Joe Adler) re-unite as ol’ JP has some sort of malady and could use a helping hand or two, and Francis is down on his luck and needs a place to stay. Also in the abode is JP’s twin sis, Vivian (Annalise Basso), whom Francis has a past with… but JP tells Francis to stay away from her as she’s become violently unhinged… but as is the way, the two do meet, and Viv has a doomsayer bag to lay all upon our hero involving her brother. Also in the mix is the eponymous Bloodhound, a crawling, faceless figure springing forth from JP’s nightmares that exists only to destroy the occupants of whatever house he decides to grace with his unholy presence… so Francis is in for one hell of a visit, that’s for damn sure… The Bloodhound, a slow-burn, loosey-goosey interpretation of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviewsThriller
Look, most of you lot want nothing to do with A Serbian Film… I know I didn’t ever want to again… but it got sent my way for review from the fine fiends at Unearthed Films and MVD Entertainment, so here we are… The long and short of A Serbian Film goes as follows: ex-porn star Miloš (Srdjan Todorovic) is livin’ the quite life with his wife (Jelena Gavrilovic) and son… though he does return to “the biz” when low on dough. This opens the door for Vukmir (Sergej Trifunovic), a director of questionable motives to enter the scene with his “art film” he wants ol’ Miloš to do his magic in… but this being a film of questionable motives, the film is a sort of snuff film… and that’s the most pleasant aspect of the production…a production that may be the end of Miloš body and soul… Writer/director Srdjan Spasojevic (along with co-writer Aleksandar Radivojevic) go waaaay too far
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MoviesReviews
Dr. William Weir (Sam Neill) is brought on board the Lewis and Clark, a deep space rescue vessel under the command of the no-nonsense Captain Miller (the legendary Laurence Fishburne); the mission at hand: explore the Event Horizon… a ship (shaped like a massive crucifix no less) Weir designed that went missing near a black hole seven years prior… before mysteriously re-appearing, which 9 out of 10 dentists will agree “es no bueno”. Naturally, the blue-collar spacers aren’t in any way equipped to handle what they encounter on that doomed ship; namely, an evil presence that tortures them with horrific hallucinations before moving on to forced suicide and oh so very many more nasty surprises! Will Miller and his crew have the sinister sack to survive this hell off (waaay off) Earth scenario, or will they come to lament their joltin’ journey into extra-terrestrial terror? On the special features of this very release; Event Horizon‘s scribe, Philip Eisner, said he
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Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
Writer/director Stacey Gregg’s Here Before (U.K., 2021) is a Northern Ireland-set feature in which a mother begins to believe that the new neighbors’ young daughter may be the reincarnation of her own deceased daughter. The film is a gripping examination of grief bolstered by a terrific performance from Andrea Riseborough. Laura (Riseborough) is a rather well-adjusted person, considering her daughter died a few years earlier. She still grieves, but has a seemingly happy, loving relationship with her husband Brendan (Jonjo O’Neill) and their teen son Tadgh (Lewis McAskie). When new neighbors move in next door with a little girl of their own — Niamh Dornan as Megan — who would be right around the age of Laura’s daughter, Laura and Megan hit it off with rides home from school and dinner invitations. Things take a puzzling turn for Laura, though, when Megan insists that she has been in the area before — according to her parents, she hasn’t — and
Continue reading →
GamingNewsProductReviewsTrailers
A big thank you and flailing of tendrils to Asmodee Digital, and Artefacts Studio for the opportunity to take a look at the tabletop RPG turned Video game, Arkham Horror: Mother’s Embrace. The game is based on the popular “Arkham Horror” board game series by Fantasy Flight Games that takes place in the world of H.P. Lovecraft pitting everyday people fighting to protect their sanity while being pulled into the world of cosmic horror. Arkham Horror: Mother’s Embrace takes place in the 1920s where an acquaintance to an astrology professor from Miskatonic University finds her murdered in her own home by cultists, setting off a chain of otherworldly events tied to a comet she’s been researching. Now the friend along with others ventures out to solve her murder and the strange occurrences surrounding it. Now onto the game itself! When it comes to controls it’s a bit overwhelming at first but quickly you get the hang of it, along with
Continue reading →
GamingNewsProductReviews
A big thank you to All In! Games and PolyAmorous Games for the chance to check out their alternate history Walking-Sim, Paradise Lost. The game runs similarly to Firewatch and The Suicide of Rachel Foster, while Firewatch was a good game and The Suicide of Rachel Foster desperately tried to copy it and failed to live up to its own hype, is there hope for this game or is it doomed to be left out in the cold of nuclear winter? Let’s take a look at Paradise Lost. Paradise Lost takes place in an alternative history where WWII lasted over 20 years and ends with Germany nuking most of Europe after moving all their desired citizens into a massive underground bunker system with the hopes of eventually returning to the surface with a new super army and ending the war in their favor, this never happened as the bunker is invaded by the Polish resistance who then take the bunker
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsReviews
Writer/director Mickey Keating’s latest horror film is Offseason, a terrific, atmospheric chiller that blends Lovecraftian themes, Southern Gothic, conspiracy thriller, and other elements. The result is a brooding stranger-in-a-familiar-yet-strange-land offering that delivers the creeps quite satisfactorily. Marie (Jocelin Donahue) and her significant other George (Joe Swanberg) travel to the island where her mother Ava (Melora Walters), a once famous actress, was buried after the cemetery caretaker wrote, saying that Ava’s grave had been desecrated. The couple must get past the Bridge Man (Richard Brake), who initially refuses them admittance to the island because storm season is starting, and once they do, they find the locals to be less than welcoming and forthcoming — with no sign of a caretaker. Marie and George attempt to leave the island the same way they came, but instead find the road blocked where it was open just moments earlier. They then find themselves in increasing danger as they try to piece together the strange
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsReviews
Using the real-life 1987 Max Headroom signal hijacking of a television broadcast and the viral Tara the Android video of “I Feel Fantastic” as jumping-off points, director Jacob Gentry’s 1999-set Broadcast Signal Intrusion is an effective thriller that dwells in the realms of paranoia and conspiracy theories. Bolstered by a top-notch performance from Harry Shum Jr. as a widower who stumbles on the mysterious titular event and finds himself obsessed by it, the film is an intriguing journey down a curious rabbit hole. Shum Jr. portrays James, who repairs audio and transcribes VHS media to DVD. One night, he accidentally catches sight of an eerie broadcast of a person dressed up like a TV character — a female robot adopted by a typical 1980s sitcom family — whose voice is masked by audio garble. When James learns that there are actually multiple broadcasts, including one that may or may not actually exist, he begins trying to piece together connections to
Continue reading →
More from Reviews
Reviews
In the eighties it was camping, for more recent years it was computers, and most recently the quickest way to Horrorville in cinema is to use a ridesharing company. Writer/director Michael Nader’s The Toll goes beyond the usual thriller angle of either the driver or the passenger being a potential killer to drop its two main characters off in a supernatural zone not too far from the original destination, yet at least one dimension away. Cami (Jordan Hayes) is exhausted from a series of flight delays and less than thrilled about visiting her father at his rural home. Her rideshare driver Spencer (Max Topplin) is a socially awkward, talkative person, and after an initially uncomfortable start to their ride, things take a turn for the weird and deadly when the pair journeys into an area where their phones and Spencer’s car stop working. After a while of playing the blame game and distrusting each other and then having to trust
Continue reading →
MoviesNewsReviewsTrailers
Justin P. Lange’s new supernatural horror The Seventh Day has just been released. The film follows exorcist Father Peter (Guy Pearce) who teams up with a rookie apprentice for his first day of training. As they plunge deeper into hell on earth, the lines between good and evil blur, and their own demons emerge. I’ll be honest before I sat down to watch The Seventh Day I had assumed it would be your average exorcism movie, I can now tell you that I was wrong. Seventh Day is far from the exorcism movies we’ve come accustomed to. What we usually get is a movie that’s predictable with a story we feel like we’ve seen a hundred times. Truthfully, we haven’t gotten a really good exorcism movie since The Exorcist III, until now. I have a talent for guessing the way a movie will end, but this movie left me completely surprised and packs one hell of a twist that you
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesReviewsThriller
Estranged college chums Francis (Liam Aiken) and Jean Paul (Joe Adler) re-unite as ol’ JP has some sort of malady and could use a helping hand or two, and Francis is down on his luck and needs a place to stay. Also in the abode is JP’s twin sis, Vivian (Annalise Basso), whom Francis has a past with… but JP tells Francis to stay away from her as she’s become violently unhinged… but as is the way, the two do meet, and Viv has a doomsayer bag to lay all upon our hero involving her brother. Also in the mix is the eponymous Bloodhound, a crawling, faceless figure springing forth from JP’s nightmares that exists only to destroy the occupants of whatever house he decides to grace with his unholy presence… so Francis is in for one hell of a visit, that’s for damn sure… The Bloodhound, a slow-burn, loosey-goosey interpretation of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviewsThriller
Look, most of you lot want nothing to do with A Serbian Film… I know I didn’t ever want to again… but it got sent my way for review from the fine fiends at Unearthed Films and MVD Entertainment, so here we are… The long and short of A Serbian Film goes as follows: ex-porn star Miloš (Srdjan Todorovic) is livin’ the quite life with his wife (Jelena Gavrilovic) and son… though he does return to “the biz” when low on dough. This opens the door for Vukmir (Sergej Trifunovic), a director of questionable motives to enter the scene with his “art film” he wants ol’ Miloš to do his magic in… but this being a film of questionable motives, the film is a sort of snuff film… and that’s the most pleasant aspect of the production…a production that may be the end of Miloš body and soul… Writer/director Srdjan Spasojevic (along with co-writer Aleksandar Radivojevic) go waaaay too far
Continue reading →
MoviesReviews
Dr. William Weir (Sam Neill) is brought on board the Lewis and Clark, a deep space rescue vessel under the command of the no-nonsense Captain Miller (the legendary Laurence Fishburne); the mission at hand: explore the Event Horizon… a ship (shaped like a massive crucifix no less) Weir designed that went missing near a black hole seven years prior… before mysteriously re-appearing, which 9 out of 10 dentists will agree “es no bueno”. Naturally, the blue-collar spacers aren’t in any way equipped to handle what they encounter on that doomed ship; namely, an evil presence that tortures them with horrific hallucinations before moving on to forced suicide and oh so very many more nasty surprises! Will Miller and his crew have the sinister sack to survive this hell off (waaay off) Earth scenario, or will they come to lament their joltin’ journey into extra-terrestrial terror? On the special features of this very release; Event Horizon‘s scribe, Philip Eisner, said he
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
Writer/director Stacey Gregg’s Here Before (U.K., 2021) is a Northern Ireland-set feature in which a mother begins to believe that the new neighbors’ young daughter may be the reincarnation of her own deceased daughter. The film is a gripping examination of grief bolstered by a terrific performance from Andrea Riseborough. Laura (Riseborough) is a rather well-adjusted person, considering her daughter died a few years earlier. She still grieves, but has a seemingly happy, loving relationship with her husband Brendan (Jonjo O’Neill) and their teen son Tadgh (Lewis McAskie). When new neighbors move in next door with a little girl of their own — Niamh Dornan as Megan — who would be right around the age of Laura’s daughter, Laura and Megan hit it off with rides home from school and dinner invitations. Things take a puzzling turn for Laura, though, when Megan insists that she has been in the area before — according to her parents, she hasn’t — and
Continue reading →
GamingNewsProductReviewsTrailers
A big thank you and flailing of tendrils to Asmodee Digital, and Artefacts Studio for the opportunity to take a look at the tabletop RPG turned Video game, Arkham Horror: Mother’s Embrace. The game is based on the popular “Arkham Horror” board game series by Fantasy Flight Games that takes place in the world of H.P. Lovecraft pitting everyday people fighting to protect their sanity while being pulled into the world of cosmic horror. Arkham Horror: Mother’s Embrace takes place in the 1920s where an acquaintance to an astrology professor from Miskatonic University finds her murdered in her own home by cultists, setting off a chain of otherworldly events tied to a comet she’s been researching. Now the friend along with others ventures out to solve her murder and the strange occurrences surrounding it. Now onto the game itself! When it comes to controls it’s a bit overwhelming at first but quickly you get the hang of it, along with
Continue reading →
GamingNewsProductReviews
A big thank you to All In! Games and PolyAmorous Games for the chance to check out their alternate history Walking-Sim, Paradise Lost. The game runs similarly to Firewatch and The Suicide of Rachel Foster, while Firewatch was a good game and The Suicide of Rachel Foster desperately tried to copy it and failed to live up to its own hype, is there hope for this game or is it doomed to be left out in the cold of nuclear winter? Let’s take a look at Paradise Lost. Paradise Lost takes place in an alternative history where WWII lasted over 20 years and ends with Germany nuking most of Europe after moving all their desired citizens into a massive underground bunker system with the hopes of eventually returning to the surface with a new super army and ending the war in their favor, this never happened as the bunker is invaded by the Polish resistance who then take the bunker
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsReviews
Writer/director Mickey Keating’s latest horror film is Offseason, a terrific, atmospheric chiller that blends Lovecraftian themes, Southern Gothic, conspiracy thriller, and other elements. The result is a brooding stranger-in-a-familiar-yet-strange-land offering that delivers the creeps quite satisfactorily. Marie (Jocelin Donahue) and her significant other George (Joe Swanberg) travel to the island where her mother Ava (Melora Walters), a once famous actress, was buried after the cemetery caretaker wrote, saying that Ava’s grave had been desecrated. The couple must get past the Bridge Man (Richard Brake), who initially refuses them admittance to the island because storm season is starting, and once they do, they find the locals to be less than welcoming and forthcoming — with no sign of a caretaker. Marie and George attempt to leave the island the same way they came, but instead find the road blocked where it was open just moments earlier. They then find themselves in increasing danger as they try to piece together the strange
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsReviews
Using the real-life 1987 Max Headroom signal hijacking of a television broadcast and the viral Tara the Android video of “I Feel Fantastic” as jumping-off points, director Jacob Gentry’s 1999-set Broadcast Signal Intrusion is an effective thriller that dwells in the realms of paranoia and conspiracy theories. Bolstered by a top-notch performance from Harry Shum Jr. as a widower who stumbles on the mysterious titular event and finds himself obsessed by it, the film is an intriguing journey down a curious rabbit hole. Shum Jr. portrays James, who repairs audio and transcribes VHS media to DVD. One night, he accidentally catches sight of an eerie broadcast of a person dressed up like a TV character — a female robot adopted by a typical 1980s sitcom family — whose voice is masked by audio garble. When James learns that there are actually multiple broadcasts, including one that may or may not actually exist, he begins trying to piece together connections to
Continue reading →
