CategoryReviews
Honest horror reviews of films, series, games and books — no hype, no spoilers, just whether it is worth your time and your nerves.
3,465 stories
ForeignMoviesReviews
Along with new teacher Dr. Julian Olcott (Carl Schell)’s arrival at a school for delinquent girls comes a rash of werewolf related violence. Could our hero be the hairy-scary giving these troubled teens so much static? As the attacks continue we are introduced to a host of possible suspects, as well as a blackmail plot involving a lil’ of the ol’ teacher/student hanky as well as the panky. How do these elements relate to each other and will the werewolves reign of terror be stopped before the student body is used as a chew toy? The biggest problem with Werewolf in a Girl’s Dormitory is the title itself. Now, there is a girl’s dormitory for sure, and also a werewolf… but you know damn well that title suggests all manner of sexy-time adventures peppered with some good ol’ blood draining at the teeth and claws of a fur covered maniac… but this isn’t that picture. Rather we get a moody,
Continue reading →
GamingIndieNewsProductReviewsTrailers
I enjoy folklore outside North America, so I was stoked when Versus Evil and Breadcrumbs Interactive allowed me to play their action RPG that revolves entirely around Slavic Mythology, YAGA. YAGA revolves around the tale of Ivan, a blacksmith that’s unlucky, and missing a hand because of it! Ivan is tasked with quests from the Tsar that will take him into the wilderness where he encounters bandits and mythological creatures as he smashes his way through them to achieve greatness, as well as looking for a wife (to quiet his Grandmother). As all this happens, Baba Yaga watches from beyond, influencing Ivan’s journey. The controls of the game are simple and easy to learn as there are not many buttons used in the game. Ivan’s main weapon is a hammer which not only can be used to strike enemies but can be thrown like Thor’s hammer and strike foes at a distance before spinning right back to him. You can
Continue reading →
ForeignIndieMoviesReviewsThriller
Artsy-fartsy Megan (Fiona Glascott) lives in Dublin with her Eye-talian-oh hubby Leo (Pietro Ragusa), who’s uncle, Monsignor Domenico, has just bought the farm, much to the frowny-face of ye olde Catholic church. To that end, off our duo go to southern Italy to settle the matter of the ancient castle Leo has come to own thanks to his inheritance. Along the way our heroes sure have a swell-ass time drinking in the local color, and in Leo’s case reuniting with old friends. Left alone during the hot Italian afternoon, Meg goes snoopin’ after some strange supernatural occurrences began to occur (as they often do) and begins to unravel some family secrets that aren’t so hot, and there are those that want those deep, dark doings to remain hidden. At first Midday Demons may seem like something familiar, and in a sense it truly is… but, it manages to take tropes from a couple of tried and true genres of our
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MoviesReviews
Toby (Logan Miller); trauma survivor and participant in the ‘Lost and Found Program’; a kind of therapy that places troubled youths on remote islands where they are encouraged to reflect on themselves and their troubles, soon finds he is being stalked by some sort of preternatural presence and it’s going to take a whole lotta doing to survive this retreat! Thankfully he is joined by Madeleine (Kristine Froseth); a young woman raised on the island by her explorer-type parents. This lethal lady has survival skills and is good with a bow and arrow… but, her mother is not what she seems, and Maddie may have a secret or two of her own. Along the way we learn tidbits of the horrendous history of the island as Toby struggles to keep the beast at bay. Good luck kiddo. So what does Prey have going for it? Well the narrative, while derivative of The Most Dangerous Game, is mostly well-paced, loaded with
Continue reading →
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MoviesReviewsThriller
Way back in 1927, down Pennsylvania way; illiterate mill worker Billy (Chad Lowe) seeks some relief for his fucked up cheek by way of the services of folk magic healer John Reese (Donald Sutherland), who throws in a cure for Billy’s booze hound pappy as well. The two become a duo, with John teaching our hero to read… despite what Billy’s maybe/sorta girlfriend Alice (Mia Sara) thinks about John. Turns out her instincts were on the money as John is getting legal static about practicing medicine without a license, and being involved in the death of a young girl under his care. Well you can’t keep a shady cat down for long, and soon John is free and goading billy into joining him in a holy mission of spiritual warfare aimed at what he believes is causing on of those pestilences the kids are so into these days at a local farm. This brings dark times upon Billy indeed… As
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
Haxan definitely realizes the Devil is in the details; quite literally as Benjamin Christensen’s 1922 silent masterpiece that attempts to document the origins of witchcraft and it’s propagation down through the ages. After a lengthy history lesson on the mystical beliefs of years past, the film kicks into creative high-gear with a vignette (the film is comprised solely of these pieces instead of a traditional narrative) examining the ghoulish goings-on in a witch’s cottage; a fantastic piece of set design featuring effective use of contrasting warm and cool tints, as well as rich lighting that creates deep shadows where one can imagine evil forms lying coiled waiting to unleash all manner of mischief. Yet for all that sweet, sweet darkness we also get a streak of humor as we are witness to the outrageous results of the witch’s potions on a monk whom a woman lusts after. Also in the segment we get grave-robbing (for science purposes forbidden by the
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesReviews
Ethel (Dixie Gers) has gotten her ass in the soup right good this time. Institutionalized for the murder of her uncle Joe (Brian Dorton), she’s abused by patients and staff alike before finally using the fact that she was raped by some (dis)orderlies to leverage being transferred to he care of her aunt Joyce (Jenny Coulter). True to form, Ethel soon begins eating her aunt out of house and home (while watching cooking shows no less… at least she’s all in on that binge eating shit). Joyce reaches her limit and locks up all the food in the house which naturally leads to Ethel becoming a murder machine once more! But there are consequences for her ways, and soon all those missing persons begin to cause static for ol’ Ethel in the form of a police detective (William Allen Nugent) who becomes mighty suspicious of our anti-heroine… but Ethel is no slouch in covering her tracks. Will anyone be safe
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
After a piece of sheet music makes a young girl chuck a hairdryer into her mamma’s bath water we cut to a (mostly) female rock n’ roll outfit performing a song with almost the exact same melody as Bon Jovi’s You Give Love a Bad Name… and thus we begin the headlong plunge into cinematic insanity known as Paganini Horror! So that band? Well their management think they suck as of late… now if only they had something new they could play that would really appeal to every eager earhole world wide! Well as fate and a cameoing Donald Pleasence would have it, they are brought just such a piece; a forgotten work from the legendary Italian Violinist Paganini… I wonder if that could be that shit we saw earlier… nah! Anyway; our heroines trek out to a remote castle to film some slick-ass fright flick style “video clips” for their new masterpiece and before long are plunged into a
Continue reading →
ReviewsStreaming TV
As a kid, I was absolutely obsessed with Japanese creature features (still am, actually!) but there was only so much of that material available in my small mountain hometown. Occasionally my friends and I would trek to the nearest “big” city where there was a store that had all manner of import toys and magazines, and here is where my mania became even more intense as I wanted so badly to see some of the Far East flicks and shows mentioned in those petulant pages… and nowhere seemed to be kaiju ground zero more than the Ultra shows produced by Tsuburaya Productions, headed by man-in-suit wizard Eiji Tsuburaya! Anyway fast forward to like last week sometime, and those sexy devils at Mill Creek Entertainment have sent yours cruelly Blu-ray sets of the first two series set in the Ultra universe; 1965’s Ultra Q and 1966’s Ultraman! Let’s get balls deep in the Q to kick things off, shall we? Now
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesParanormalReviews
1998’s Ringu is the fright flick phenom that started a J-horror wave that spread across continents, and today I’m going to be putting my putrid peepers on a whole mess of them preternatural pictures, so gather the fuck ’round! First up is the “original” Ringu (this is technically the third film adaptation of Kōji Suzuki’s 1991 novel), who’s plot goes a lil’ something like this: After a gaggle of teenage girls begin dying seemingly from extreme fright, investigative reporter Reiko Asakawa (Nanako Matsushima), an aunt of one of the victims, begins to believe the tales of a cursed video tape she has been researching may be involved. Discovering the girls rented a cabin before their demise, our heroine treks out there and actually finds the damn tape… which of course she watches, even though she knows the evil within will most likely come a-callin’ on her soon. And what an “evil” it is; namely a tortured ghost of a mutant
Continue reading →
More from Reviews
ForeignMoviesReviews
Along with new teacher Dr. Julian Olcott (Carl Schell)’s arrival at a school for delinquent girls comes a rash of werewolf related violence. Could our hero be the hairy-scary giving these troubled teens so much static? As the attacks continue we are introduced to a host of possible suspects, as well as a blackmail plot involving a lil’ of the ol’ teacher/student hanky as well as the panky. How do these elements relate to each other and will the werewolves reign of terror be stopped before the student body is used as a chew toy? The biggest problem with Werewolf in a Girl’s Dormitory is the title itself. Now, there is a girl’s dormitory for sure, and also a werewolf… but you know damn well that title suggests all manner of sexy-time adventures peppered with some good ol’ blood draining at the teeth and claws of a fur covered maniac… but this isn’t that picture. Rather we get a moody,
Continue reading →
GamingIndieNewsProductReviewsTrailers
I enjoy folklore outside North America, so I was stoked when Versus Evil and Breadcrumbs Interactive allowed me to play their action RPG that revolves entirely around Slavic Mythology, YAGA. YAGA revolves around the tale of Ivan, a blacksmith that’s unlucky, and missing a hand because of it! Ivan is tasked with quests from the Tsar that will take him into the wilderness where he encounters bandits and mythological creatures as he smashes his way through them to achieve greatness, as well as looking for a wife (to quiet his Grandmother). As all this happens, Baba Yaga watches from beyond, influencing Ivan’s journey. The controls of the game are simple and easy to learn as there are not many buttons used in the game. Ivan’s main weapon is a hammer which not only can be used to strike enemies but can be thrown like Thor’s hammer and strike foes at a distance before spinning right back to him. You can
Continue reading →
ForeignIndieMoviesReviewsThriller
Artsy-fartsy Megan (Fiona Glascott) lives in Dublin with her Eye-talian-oh hubby Leo (Pietro Ragusa), who’s uncle, Monsignor Domenico, has just bought the farm, much to the frowny-face of ye olde Catholic church. To that end, off our duo go to southern Italy to settle the matter of the ancient castle Leo has come to own thanks to his inheritance. Along the way our heroes sure have a swell-ass time drinking in the local color, and in Leo’s case reuniting with old friends. Left alone during the hot Italian afternoon, Meg goes snoopin’ after some strange supernatural occurrences began to occur (as they often do) and begins to unravel some family secrets that aren’t so hot, and there are those that want those deep, dark doings to remain hidden. At first Midday Demons may seem like something familiar, and in a sense it truly is… but, it manages to take tropes from a couple of tried and true genres of our
Continue reading →
MoviesReviews
Toby (Logan Miller); trauma survivor and participant in the ‘Lost and Found Program’; a kind of therapy that places troubled youths on remote islands where they are encouraged to reflect on themselves and their troubles, soon finds he is being stalked by some sort of preternatural presence and it’s going to take a whole lotta doing to survive this retreat! Thankfully he is joined by Madeleine (Kristine Froseth); a young woman raised on the island by her explorer-type parents. This lethal lady has survival skills and is good with a bow and arrow… but, her mother is not what she seems, and Maddie may have a secret or two of her own. Along the way we learn tidbits of the horrendous history of the island as Toby struggles to keep the beast at bay. Good luck kiddo. So what does Prey have going for it? Well the narrative, while derivative of The Most Dangerous Game, is mostly well-paced, loaded with
Continue reading →
MoviesReviewsThriller
Way back in 1927, down Pennsylvania way; illiterate mill worker Billy (Chad Lowe) seeks some relief for his fucked up cheek by way of the services of folk magic healer John Reese (Donald Sutherland), who throws in a cure for Billy’s booze hound pappy as well. The two become a duo, with John teaching our hero to read… despite what Billy’s maybe/sorta girlfriend Alice (Mia Sara) thinks about John. Turns out her instincts were on the money as John is getting legal static about practicing medicine without a license, and being involved in the death of a young girl under his care. Well you can’t keep a shady cat down for long, and soon John is free and goading billy into joining him in a holy mission of spiritual warfare aimed at what he believes is causing on of those pestilences the kids are so into these days at a local farm. This brings dark times upon Billy indeed… As
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
Haxan definitely realizes the Devil is in the details; quite literally as Benjamin Christensen’s 1922 silent masterpiece that attempts to document the origins of witchcraft and it’s propagation down through the ages. After a lengthy history lesson on the mystical beliefs of years past, the film kicks into creative high-gear with a vignette (the film is comprised solely of these pieces instead of a traditional narrative) examining the ghoulish goings-on in a witch’s cottage; a fantastic piece of set design featuring effective use of contrasting warm and cool tints, as well as rich lighting that creates deep shadows where one can imagine evil forms lying coiled waiting to unleash all manner of mischief. Yet for all that sweet, sweet darkness we also get a streak of humor as we are witness to the outrageous results of the witch’s potions on a monk whom a woman lusts after. Also in the segment we get grave-robbing (for science purposes forbidden by the
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesReviews
Ethel (Dixie Gers) has gotten her ass in the soup right good this time. Institutionalized for the murder of her uncle Joe (Brian Dorton), she’s abused by patients and staff alike before finally using the fact that she was raped by some (dis)orderlies to leverage being transferred to he care of her aunt Joyce (Jenny Coulter). True to form, Ethel soon begins eating her aunt out of house and home (while watching cooking shows no less… at least she’s all in on that binge eating shit). Joyce reaches her limit and locks up all the food in the house which naturally leads to Ethel becoming a murder machine once more! But there are consequences for her ways, and soon all those missing persons begin to cause static for ol’ Ethel in the form of a police detective (William Allen Nugent) who becomes mighty suspicious of our anti-heroine… but Ethel is no slouch in covering her tracks. Will anyone be safe
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
After a piece of sheet music makes a young girl chuck a hairdryer into her mamma’s bath water we cut to a (mostly) female rock n’ roll outfit performing a song with almost the exact same melody as Bon Jovi’s You Give Love a Bad Name… and thus we begin the headlong plunge into cinematic insanity known as Paganini Horror! So that band? Well their management think they suck as of late… now if only they had something new they could play that would really appeal to every eager earhole world wide! Well as fate and a cameoing Donald Pleasence would have it, they are brought just such a piece; a forgotten work from the legendary Italian Violinist Paganini… I wonder if that could be that shit we saw earlier… nah! Anyway; our heroines trek out to a remote castle to film some slick-ass fright flick style “video clips” for their new masterpiece and before long are plunged into a
Continue reading →
ReviewsStreaming TV
As a kid, I was absolutely obsessed with Japanese creature features (still am, actually!) but there was only so much of that material available in my small mountain hometown. Occasionally my friends and I would trek to the nearest “big” city where there was a store that had all manner of import toys and magazines, and here is where my mania became even more intense as I wanted so badly to see some of the Far East flicks and shows mentioned in those petulant pages… and nowhere seemed to be kaiju ground zero more than the Ultra shows produced by Tsuburaya Productions, headed by man-in-suit wizard Eiji Tsuburaya! Anyway fast forward to like last week sometime, and those sexy devils at Mill Creek Entertainment have sent yours cruelly Blu-ray sets of the first two series set in the Ultra universe; 1965’s Ultra Q and 1966’s Ultraman! Let’s get balls deep in the Q to kick things off, shall we? Now
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesParanormalReviews
1998’s Ringu is the fright flick phenom that started a J-horror wave that spread across continents, and today I’m going to be putting my putrid peepers on a whole mess of them preternatural pictures, so gather the fuck ’round! First up is the “original” Ringu (this is technically the third film adaptation of Kōji Suzuki’s 1991 novel), who’s plot goes a lil’ something like this: After a gaggle of teenage girls begin dying seemingly from extreme fright, investigative reporter Reiko Asakawa (Nanako Matsushima), an aunt of one of the victims, begins to believe the tales of a cursed video tape she has been researching may be involved. Discovering the girls rented a cabin before their demise, our heroine treks out there and actually finds the damn tape… which of course she watches, even though she knows the evil within will most likely come a-callin’ on her soon. And what an “evil” it is; namely a tortured ghost of a mutant
Continue reading →
