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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MoviesNewsReviews
Often, blockbuster movies don’t live up to the hype, leaving viewers disappointed, especially regarding adaptations. Is that the case with the new horror film The Boogeyman? I can answer that. Warning: Spoilers Ahead Based on Stephen King’s short story, The Boogeyman, the movie centers on two families linked together by tragedy and an ancient dark entity that is out to kill them, the same monster that lurks in the darkness of children’s closets and under their beds. The movie doesn’t waste any time, opening with a baby sleeping in her crib who suddenly wakes up screaming in terror as a monster emerges from her closet. We see blood splatter, and her crying stops. This sets the tone for the movie, which is brutal at times. Next, we are introduced to another family: a father (Chris Messina), a psychiatrist, and his two daughters, who are mourning, having just lost their mother. The youngest soon reveals that a monster is stalking her,
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesReviews
Young Jonathan Graves (Peter Liapis) has just inherited his late father Malcolm’s (Michael Des Barres) estate and moved the hell on in with his girlfriend Rebecca (Lisa Pelikan). While exploring the arcane abode, the duo find an absolute ass load of Pappy Dearest’s Satanic paraphernalia, which quickly becomes an obsession with our hero… so much so he decides to invite guests (who you absolutely have to see to believe, and who’s ranks include Law & Order: S.V.U.‘s Mariska Hargitay) at his swingin’ new wave housewarming shindig to partake in an occult ritual… you know, just for funsies… right after some spontaneous breakdancing. And if you just said “awesome” to that, you’re already sold on this baby! However, said ritual appears at first glance to be a dud… but unbeknownst to one and all, one of his father’s homunculus demons, a titular Ghoulie if you will, is summoned forth. Meanwhile, Jonathan’s mood and life decisions grow ever shittier as he quits
Continue reading →
MoviesReviewsSci-Fi
Just outside of a small town, deep within a ravine, a gila monster has grown to enormous size (and magically became a bearded lizard which is in turn presented on miniature sets to simulate it’s large scale) where it promptly eats two folks sucking face out on Lover’s Lane. This causes the local teeny-bopper community to spring into action to assist the local sheriff (Fred Graham) in finding their chums, but even when their pal, ace mechanic/drag racer Chase Winstead (Don Sullivan, The Monster of Piedras Blancas) eventually locates the couple’s car and the mysterious damage it displays, no one expects a giant monster to be the cause… because they aren’t completely insane. The monster biz escalates however from attacks on cars and trucks, to trains… which finally gets people to start digging on the possibility of a dinosaur-sized lizard hissing it’s ass off all over town… Will Chase be able to save the town, and more importantly the sock
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesParanormalReviews
New York City medium Theresa (Adelaide Aste) is up to her usual shit… namely conducting a séance when something goes dreadfully wrong… one of the participants, Mary Woodhouse (Catriona MacColl, 1981’s The Beyond and The House By the Cemetery… all parts of Lucio Fulci’s “Gates of Hell” trilogy, of which City of the Living Dead is the first part… though none of the films are connected except by general themes) up and dies of fright after she has a vision of a priest, Father Thomas (Fabrizio Jovine) hanging himself in a New England cemetery (or the closest Savannah. Georgia can come to faking it) as the dead rise. Enter: Journalist Peter Bell (Christopher George, star of stage, screen, and Juan Piquer Simón’s 1982 batshit slasher flick Pieces) who snoops into Mary’s case, only to find she is still alive just as she’s being buried! Before you can say “H.P. Lovecraft”, our heroes consult with Theresa and are soon off to
Continue reading →
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ForeignMoviesReviews
During the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, two dudes get the shit-hot (minus the hot) idea of robbing a shipping container down South Korea way. Once said container is pried open a feral cat leaps out and attacks one of the would-be criminals, who then turns into a flesh-hungry zombie-like creature (of the fast moving variety) before falling in the drink and floating un-merrily down the stream to the posh Gangnam district. This spells impending disaster for former Taekwondo ass-kicker now office worker Hyeon-seok (Ji Il-joo) and his officemate/unrequited crush Min-jeong (Park Ji-yeon), because guess who shows up at work (after some wacky hijinks accompanied by cartoon music, naturally)? It’s the cat attack dude… c’mon, did any of you actually get that wrong? Anyhow, he’s now in the building biting mother fuckers willy-nilly and creating even more of a monster-based mess, and the impossibly bitchy owner of the building has ordered the doors sealed shut so no one will associate
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviewsSci-Fi
Arrogant ass/our hero/James Bond surrogate Jeff Sutton (Richard Stapley) arrives in Rio with a hot wad of stolen dough. This factoid becomes known to local crime-lord Sir Macius (George Sanders, the voice of the tiger Shere Khan in Disney’s 1967 animated adaptation of The Jungle Book) who sends out his masked assassins (one of many pieces of imaginative comic book style art design this flick possesses) to grab the cash, which puts the kibosh on his hot date with manicurist Lesley (Maria Rohm, a regular in the films of absolute legend Jess Franco… who just so happened to direct this film as well). Speaking of Lesley, she is in fact a resident of the retro-futuristic city Femina run by the female super-villain Sunanda (Shirley Eaton, whom you may remember covered in gold in 1964’s Bond flick, Goldfinger)… who just so happens to be assembling an army of women warriors (who dress as if they just walked out of an Alex
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsThriller
COLD MEAT (2023) Cold Meat should be gone into — no pun intended — as cold as possible. Learning too much about director Sébastien Drouin’s winter-set horror thriller before watching it would be doing a great disservice to yourself. Suffice it to give you the initial set-up: traveler David (Allen Leech) is traveling through an extremely snowy area in Colorado. He stops off at a diner, where he calmly intervenes when waitress Ana (Nina Bergman) is physically and verbally harassed by her drunken ex Vincent (Yan Tual), who leaves without further incident. When David gets back on the road, Vincent pursues him in a larger vehicle and David strands his car in deep snow when trying to elude the violent man. What follows is a combination of survival horror — taking place mostly in David’s car and its immediate surroundings — and another fear-fare element that would be a big spoiler to give away here, and there may be something
Continue reading →
MoviesNewsReviewsTrailers
From directors Eren Celeboglu and Ari Costa (interview) comes the brutal supernatural horror film All Fun and Games. All Fun and Games explores the elements of the cruelty inherent in children’s games – Flashlight Tag, Hangman, Hide & Seek – and what happens when the games go too far. When a group of teens finds a cursed knife in the woods, they unleash an evil demon that will not rest until it’s claimed all of their lives and souls in a terrifying death match. Children’s games are a huge part of the movie, furthering the deaths and the movie’s high body count. It is a comment on how the games of our childhood hide the darkness of their origin. One example is the game “Ring Around the Roses,” which is actually about people dying from the Black Plague. It also feels like they are a sort of commentary about the loss of innocence. The movie serves as a coming-of-age story,
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesReviewsThriller
FAILURE! (2023) Writer/director Alex Kahuam’s splendidly crafted one-take feature about the highly stressful day of a second-generation plastics factory owner James (Ted Raimi in an excellent performance) trying to come to grips with possibly having to sell his family business because of overwhelming debt and his daughter’s upcoming high-end marriage. James is a fast talker, and he’ll need to use that talent to the best of his abilities as he is visited by a wedding fitting party, some men as desperate for money as he is, and other characters ranging from the sympathetic to the deadly. Erenesto Lomeli’s crackerjack cinematography keeps viewers up close and personal with the proceedings, and the smooth one-take approach is bolstered by Kahuam’s razor-sharp dialogue. Raimi puts on a veritable acting clinic as his character is dealt one problem after another. A sizable supporting cast adds to the tension, which is peppered with occasional dark humor. Failure! is a thriller, but depending on your interpretation
Continue reading →
ForeignIndieMoviesReviewsSci-Fi
Every once in a blue moon I see a flick so incredibly difficult to write about that I’m nearly brought to tears… not because it’s a difficult task, but rather because someone has the goddamn balls to create a psychotronic mother fucking masterpiece and I’d rather all you like-minded cats n’ creeps would just watch the damned thing rather than reading my wicked words… and that is a thing of beauty and wonder indeed! If you didn’t heed my edict above and are still here, I’ll attempt to give you a rough sketch as to just what to expect story-wise from writer/director/genius Adrian Garcia Bogliano’s Black Circle… Celeste (Felice Jankell) is having a shitty go at things when her successful businesswoman sis, Isa (Erica Midfjäll), clues her in to a hypnosis record from the ’70s that has changed her life for the better. Incredulous, Celeste spins the platter nevertheless… and the results are third eye-opening to say the least! Further
Continue reading →
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MoviesNewsReviews
Often, blockbuster movies don’t live up to the hype, leaving viewers disappointed, especially regarding adaptations. Is that the case with the new horror film The Boogeyman? I can answer that. Warning: Spoilers Ahead Based on Stephen King’s short story, The Boogeyman, the movie centers on two families linked together by tragedy and an ancient dark entity that is out to kill them, the same monster that lurks in the darkness of children’s closets and under their beds. The movie doesn’t waste any time, opening with a baby sleeping in her crib who suddenly wakes up screaming in terror as a monster emerges from her closet. We see blood splatter, and her crying stops. This sets the tone for the movie, which is brutal at times. Next, we are introduced to another family: a father (Chris Messina), a psychiatrist, and his two daughters, who are mourning, having just lost their mother. The youngest soon reveals that a monster is stalking her,
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesReviews
Young Jonathan Graves (Peter Liapis) has just inherited his late father Malcolm’s (Michael Des Barres) estate and moved the hell on in with his girlfriend Rebecca (Lisa Pelikan). While exploring the arcane abode, the duo find an absolute ass load of Pappy Dearest’s Satanic paraphernalia, which quickly becomes an obsession with our hero… so much so he decides to invite guests (who you absolutely have to see to believe, and who’s ranks include Law & Order: S.V.U.‘s Mariska Hargitay) at his swingin’ new wave housewarming shindig to partake in an occult ritual… you know, just for funsies… right after some spontaneous breakdancing. And if you just said “awesome” to that, you’re already sold on this baby! However, said ritual appears at first glance to be a dud… but unbeknownst to one and all, one of his father’s homunculus demons, a titular Ghoulie if you will, is summoned forth. Meanwhile, Jonathan’s mood and life decisions grow ever shittier as he quits
Continue reading →
MoviesReviewsSci-Fi
Just outside of a small town, deep within a ravine, a gila monster has grown to enormous size (and magically became a bearded lizard which is in turn presented on miniature sets to simulate it’s large scale) where it promptly eats two folks sucking face out on Lover’s Lane. This causes the local teeny-bopper community to spring into action to assist the local sheriff (Fred Graham) in finding their chums, but even when their pal, ace mechanic/drag racer Chase Winstead (Don Sullivan, The Monster of Piedras Blancas) eventually locates the couple’s car and the mysterious damage it displays, no one expects a giant monster to be the cause… because they aren’t completely insane. The monster biz escalates however from attacks on cars and trucks, to trains… which finally gets people to start digging on the possibility of a dinosaur-sized lizard hissing it’s ass off all over town… Will Chase be able to save the town, and more importantly the sock
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesParanormalReviews
New York City medium Theresa (Adelaide Aste) is up to her usual shit… namely conducting a séance when something goes dreadfully wrong… one of the participants, Mary Woodhouse (Catriona MacColl, 1981’s The Beyond and The House By the Cemetery… all parts of Lucio Fulci’s “Gates of Hell” trilogy, of which City of the Living Dead is the first part… though none of the films are connected except by general themes) up and dies of fright after she has a vision of a priest, Father Thomas (Fabrizio Jovine) hanging himself in a New England cemetery (or the closest Savannah. Georgia can come to faking it) as the dead rise. Enter: Journalist Peter Bell (Christopher George, star of stage, screen, and Juan Piquer Simón’s 1982 batshit slasher flick Pieces) who snoops into Mary’s case, only to find she is still alive just as she’s being buried! Before you can say “H.P. Lovecraft”, our heroes consult with Theresa and are soon off to
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
During the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, two dudes get the shit-hot (minus the hot) idea of robbing a shipping container down South Korea way. Once said container is pried open a feral cat leaps out and attacks one of the would-be criminals, who then turns into a flesh-hungry zombie-like creature (of the fast moving variety) before falling in the drink and floating un-merrily down the stream to the posh Gangnam district. This spells impending disaster for former Taekwondo ass-kicker now office worker Hyeon-seok (Ji Il-joo) and his officemate/unrequited crush Min-jeong (Park Ji-yeon), because guess who shows up at work (after some wacky hijinks accompanied by cartoon music, naturally)? It’s the cat attack dude… c’mon, did any of you actually get that wrong? Anyhow, he’s now in the building biting mother fuckers willy-nilly and creating even more of a monster-based mess, and the impossibly bitchy owner of the building has ordered the doors sealed shut so no one will associate
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviewsSci-Fi
Arrogant ass/our hero/James Bond surrogate Jeff Sutton (Richard Stapley) arrives in Rio with a hot wad of stolen dough. This factoid becomes known to local crime-lord Sir Macius (George Sanders, the voice of the tiger Shere Khan in Disney’s 1967 animated adaptation of The Jungle Book) who sends out his masked assassins (one of many pieces of imaginative comic book style art design this flick possesses) to grab the cash, which puts the kibosh on his hot date with manicurist Lesley (Maria Rohm, a regular in the films of absolute legend Jess Franco… who just so happened to direct this film as well). Speaking of Lesley, she is in fact a resident of the retro-futuristic city Femina run by the female super-villain Sunanda (Shirley Eaton, whom you may remember covered in gold in 1964’s Bond flick, Goldfinger)… who just so happens to be assembling an army of women warriors (who dress as if they just walked out of an Alex
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsThriller
COLD MEAT (2023) Cold Meat should be gone into — no pun intended — as cold as possible. Learning too much about director Sébastien Drouin’s winter-set horror thriller before watching it would be doing a great disservice to yourself. Suffice it to give you the initial set-up: traveler David (Allen Leech) is traveling through an extremely snowy area in Colorado. He stops off at a diner, where he calmly intervenes when waitress Ana (Nina Bergman) is physically and verbally harassed by her drunken ex Vincent (Yan Tual), who leaves without further incident. When David gets back on the road, Vincent pursues him in a larger vehicle and David strands his car in deep snow when trying to elude the violent man. What follows is a combination of survival horror — taking place mostly in David’s car and its immediate surroundings — and another fear-fare element that would be a big spoiler to give away here, and there may be something
Continue reading →
MoviesNewsReviewsTrailers
From directors Eren Celeboglu and Ari Costa (interview) comes the brutal supernatural horror film All Fun and Games. All Fun and Games explores the elements of the cruelty inherent in children’s games – Flashlight Tag, Hangman, Hide & Seek – and what happens when the games go too far. When a group of teens finds a cursed knife in the woods, they unleash an evil demon that will not rest until it’s claimed all of their lives and souls in a terrifying death match. Children’s games are a huge part of the movie, furthering the deaths and the movie’s high body count. It is a comment on how the games of our childhood hide the darkness of their origin. One example is the game “Ring Around the Roses,” which is actually about people dying from the Black Plague. It also feels like they are a sort of commentary about the loss of innocence. The movie serves as a coming-of-age story,
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesReviewsThriller
FAILURE! (2023) Writer/director Alex Kahuam’s splendidly crafted one-take feature about the highly stressful day of a second-generation plastics factory owner James (Ted Raimi in an excellent performance) trying to come to grips with possibly having to sell his family business because of overwhelming debt and his daughter’s upcoming high-end marriage. James is a fast talker, and he’ll need to use that talent to the best of his abilities as he is visited by a wedding fitting party, some men as desperate for money as he is, and other characters ranging from the sympathetic to the deadly. Erenesto Lomeli’s crackerjack cinematography keeps viewers up close and personal with the proceedings, and the smooth one-take approach is bolstered by Kahuam’s razor-sharp dialogue. Raimi puts on a veritable acting clinic as his character is dealt one problem after another. A sizable supporting cast adds to the tension, which is peppered with occasional dark humor. Failure! is a thriller, but depending on your interpretation
Continue reading →
ForeignIndieMoviesReviewsSci-Fi
Every once in a blue moon I see a flick so incredibly difficult to write about that I’m nearly brought to tears… not because it’s a difficult task, but rather because someone has the goddamn balls to create a psychotronic mother fucking masterpiece and I’d rather all you like-minded cats n’ creeps would just watch the damned thing rather than reading my wicked words… and that is a thing of beauty and wonder indeed! If you didn’t heed my edict above and are still here, I’ll attempt to give you a rough sketch as to just what to expect story-wise from writer/director/genius Adrian Garcia Bogliano’s Black Circle… Celeste (Felice Jankell) is having a shitty go at things when her successful businesswoman sis, Isa (Erica Midfjäll), clues her in to a hypnosis record from the ’70s that has changed her life for the better. Incredulous, Celeste spins the platter nevertheless… and the results are third eye-opening to say the least! Further
Continue reading →
