CategoryReviews
Honest horror reviews of films, series, games and books — no hype, no spoilers, just whether it is worth your time and your nerves.
3,431 stories
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
Two strangers, one home in a trailer park, and one dark and stormy night make for one exciting feature destined for my Top 10 Horror Films of 2023 list in the Australian chiller You’ll Never Find Me (2023). Codirectors Josiah Allen and Indianna Bell have crafted a tense film ready to burst at the seams with suspense and dread. Patrick (Brendan Rock) tells whoever is knocking at his door as rain pours down heavily in no uncertain terms what they should do, which involves profanity and being unwelcome. The visitor (Jordan Cowan) is persistent, though, and Patrick reluctantly lets her in. From this simple premise, Allen and Bell — working from a screenplay written by Bell — deliver a slow burn film loaded with anxiety and mystery during which viewers know something is off but cannot figure out the motivations of each character — until a secret is revealed and a dizzying third act follows. You’ll Never Find Me is
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MoviesReviewsTrailers
From writer-director Scott Walker comes the monster movie The Tank, about a family who discovers dark secrets hidden by their family. In the film, “After inheriting a mysterious, abandoned property, a family accidentally releases a long-dormant creature that terrorized the area for generations. When it comes to monster movies, a decent monster is critical. The Tank’s monster looks like a giant, sharp-toothed salamander covered in ooze with a human-like body, and it looks pretty decent. And it’s most definitely practical. When it comes to the special effects, I’m a bit confused. The practical effects all look good, but I can’t say the same about most CGI effects. They are dreadful. So, why not go all practical? The next issue is the story. Why the hell are the characters making terrible decisions constantly? I mean, really? Jesus. I get that they needed to find a way to further the storyline, but making characters stupid isn’t the best way to go about
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Film FestivalsMoviesReviewsThriller
Writer/director Olivia West Lloyd’s Somewhere Quiet is a drama/mystery feature with horror and thriller elements. Psychological fear and illusions vs. reality are in constant play. Meg (Jennifer Kim) was the recent victim of a kidnapping and naturally she is still suffering PTSD from the ordeal. Her significant other Scott (Kentucker Audley) is having difficulty with her state, including her distrust of him and her wanting to discuss the details of her kidnapping. The couple takes time away from their lives in the city to spend a quiet retreat at his rather remote family estate in Cape Cod. Not long after settling in, though, a woman named Madelin (Marin Ireland) makes her presence known. She is a brusque person who is immediately at odds with Meg. Scott and Madelin tell Meg that they are cousins, and here Somewhere Quiet begins to further cloud Meg’s grip on reality. Already prone to visions, hallucinations, and flashbacks, she now may or may not also
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsSci-Fi
The Bystanders The invisible-to-people titular characters in director Gabriel Foster Prior’s U.K. science-fiction comedy The Bystanders aren’t exactly guardian angels, but they do have similar tasks in that they are assigned humans to watch over. If you get a positive-minded Bystander like rookie Peter Weir (Scott Haran), you could be in good shape, but if you’re stuck with a more jaded one such as Frank (Seann Walsh) — well, all bets are off. Peter, an anonymous office worker and a perennial second-place personality still stinging from a childhood chess championship loss, switches his charge Sarah (Georgia Mabel Clarke), a music label employee who is trying to get noticed at her job, with Frank’s ambitionless man-child Luke (Andi Jashy) in an effort to become Bystander of the Year. A budding friendship turns into rivalry, and Prior — who cowrote the screenplay with Jack Hughes — delivers a winning comedy of ill manners. Haran and Walsh have terrific comic chemistry together, and
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GamingParanormalProductReviews
Fictional Games made their mark on the gaming world with Amnesia: The Dark Descent which became a massive hit thanks in part due to the neverending trove of youtube videos featuring obnoxious overreactions. When the game finally came to console I will admit I was disappointed in how the hype that was built up to it fell flat on its face as I felt the game was more tense than scary with only one good jumpscare in it. I’ll admit I never got around to playing the sequels (A Machine for Pigs, and Rebirth) so I can’t 100% say how they faired against the first game, but Amnesia: The Bunker, definitely outranks the first! I have to give a big thanks to Fictional Games for the reviewing opportunity! Amnesia: The Bunker follows Henri, a French soldier fighting in the First World War. After being injured on the battlefield, Henri wakes up in a bunker where he’s one of the few
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ProductReviews
As a coffee addict, I was excited to receive a box of the three newest flavors of coffee from Central Perk, which is a “Friends” themed coffee company. So, are they any good? The first bag, titled “Oh.My.Gawd!”, is a medium roast that, according to the package, has hints of butterscotch and Coca. After sampling it, I can tell you that you can taste a hint of butterscotch, but it is subtle, not too sweet. It has a great taste. It’s smooth and slightly rich. The next coffee I tried is called “Moo Point,” which is a decaf, medium roast. I could taste the hints of Honey and Coca. While I prefer my coffee to have caffeine, I will say that it is good. If you are just looking for the taste of coffee, this is the one is for you. The final flavor, “Gunther! Espresso,” is my favorite out of the bunch. I like my coffee like I like
Continue reading →
BooksGamingParanormalProductReviews
The most important part of Tatble Top RPGs that help bring the world to life for the players is not just the terrain, an awesome set of dice, or a super creative imagination… it’s the miniatures who take on the soul of the players. Miniatures are the lifeblood of TTRPGs as players assemble, paint, and come up with the backstory for each tiny character they work with. Some miniatures are strictly used for certain game series but many players have chosen to be chaotic and bring different miniatures into their worlds, and one group of miniatures is perfect to bring a bit of dark chaos into your tabletop world. Meet CounterSpell Miniatures from 1985 Games the same awesome folks who made the VHS Dice Sets! These miniatures are from the world of Shadewood, a dark forest world where wonders and horror await adventurers. I’ll admit right now, I’ve never worked with Miniatures before, so the results how the final products
Continue reading →
MoviesNewsReviewsThrillerTrailers
From director Herbert James (“Jamie”) Winterstern comes the action-thriller Supercell which sees a teenage boy join a group of storm chasers in a bid to find himself and to learn more about his father. I’ll admit I had low expectations going into this film. Let’s be honest. There are a ton of shit natural disaster movies out there. But Supercell isn’t one of them. Supercell features sympathetic characters, a must for any movie, such as the main character William, played well by Daniel Diemer (“The Midnight Club”). You want to cheer for this kid. And it was great to see Skeet Ulrich, best known for his role in Scream, in action. The film also sadly features Anne Heche in one of her final roles. Academy-Award nominee, three-time Golden Globe, and Emmy winner Alec Baldwin stars as a storm guide and a total prick. When it comes to a natural disaster movie, especially one with tornadoes, the special effects must be
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviewsSci-Fi
Greenpeace activists Lee (Robert Marius, who is the ultimate ’80s dude with his Long Beach t-shirt, acid-washed denim vest, and frosted tips) and Jane (Marina Giulia Cavalli) head off to a remote tropical island, bulky-as-fuck camcorder in tow, in order to investigate reports that a military-run chemical company is chucking radioactive waste into a nearby active volcano without a singular fuck given. Once they ninja-shit their way into the facility, our heroes find that all of the stories were indeed true… but unfortunately their unwanted presence is brought to the attention of the company’s Badass-In-Charge, Col. Kovacks (Rambo: First Blood Part II‘s Charles Napier, who has a serious hard-on for Houston in this flick) who proceeds to capture Lee while Jane escapes courtesy of some truly action-packed shit! Once lost in the wilds, Jane befriends American expat/professional (or is it for pleasure… ) snake-milker Bob (Daniel Bosch, proving his superiority at looking like a young Jeffrey Combs) who helps her
Continue reading →
GamingProductReviewsThriller
A homebody is a person who stays home and does not venture out much, but what if you are forced to not be a homebody and go hang out with friends, at a strange house, with a killer on the loose? Well, then you have Rogue and Game Grumps’ horror-puzzle game Homebody. I want to thank Rogue and Game Grumps for allowing me to check out the game. Homebody follows Emily, a young woman with severe agoraphobia who is going to a rented house to hang out with her old friends who she has not seen in over a year. While at the house strange events take place where a masked killer attacks Emily and her friends and every time Emily dies, she loops back to after she arrives at the house. Now onto the game itself! Homebody‘s controls are pretty simple and limited making it easy to get going with the story which seems to drop you right into
Continue reading →
More from Reviews
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
Two strangers, one home in a trailer park, and one dark and stormy night make for one exciting feature destined for my Top 10 Horror Films of 2023 list in the Australian chiller You’ll Never Find Me (2023). Codirectors Josiah Allen and Indianna Bell have crafted a tense film ready to burst at the seams with suspense and dread. Patrick (Brendan Rock) tells whoever is knocking at his door as rain pours down heavily in no uncertain terms what they should do, which involves profanity and being unwelcome. The visitor (Jordan Cowan) is persistent, though, and Patrick reluctantly lets her in. From this simple premise, Allen and Bell — working from a screenplay written by Bell — deliver a slow burn film loaded with anxiety and mystery during which viewers know something is off but cannot figure out the motivations of each character — until a secret is revealed and a dizzying third act follows. You’ll Never Find Me is
Continue reading →
MoviesReviewsTrailers
From writer-director Scott Walker comes the monster movie The Tank, about a family who discovers dark secrets hidden by their family. In the film, “After inheriting a mysterious, abandoned property, a family accidentally releases a long-dormant creature that terrorized the area for generations. When it comes to monster movies, a decent monster is critical. The Tank’s monster looks like a giant, sharp-toothed salamander covered in ooze with a human-like body, and it looks pretty decent. And it’s most definitely practical. When it comes to the special effects, I’m a bit confused. The practical effects all look good, but I can’t say the same about most CGI effects. They are dreadful. So, why not go all practical? The next issue is the story. Why the hell are the characters making terrible decisions constantly? I mean, really? Jesus. I get that they needed to find a way to further the storyline, but making characters stupid isn’t the best way to go about
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesReviewsThriller
Writer/director Olivia West Lloyd’s Somewhere Quiet is a drama/mystery feature with horror and thriller elements. Psychological fear and illusions vs. reality are in constant play. Meg (Jennifer Kim) was the recent victim of a kidnapping and naturally she is still suffering PTSD from the ordeal. Her significant other Scott (Kentucker Audley) is having difficulty with her state, including her distrust of him and her wanting to discuss the details of her kidnapping. The couple takes time away from their lives in the city to spend a quiet retreat at his rather remote family estate in Cape Cod. Not long after settling in, though, a woman named Madelin (Marin Ireland) makes her presence known. She is a brusque person who is immediately at odds with Meg. Scott and Madelin tell Meg that they are cousins, and here Somewhere Quiet begins to further cloud Meg’s grip on reality. Already prone to visions, hallucinations, and flashbacks, she now may or may not also
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsSci-Fi
The Bystanders The invisible-to-people titular characters in director Gabriel Foster Prior’s U.K. science-fiction comedy The Bystanders aren’t exactly guardian angels, but they do have similar tasks in that they are assigned humans to watch over. If you get a positive-minded Bystander like rookie Peter Weir (Scott Haran), you could be in good shape, but if you’re stuck with a more jaded one such as Frank (Seann Walsh) — well, all bets are off. Peter, an anonymous office worker and a perennial second-place personality still stinging from a childhood chess championship loss, switches his charge Sarah (Georgia Mabel Clarke), a music label employee who is trying to get noticed at her job, with Frank’s ambitionless man-child Luke (Andi Jashy) in an effort to become Bystander of the Year. A budding friendship turns into rivalry, and Prior — who cowrote the screenplay with Jack Hughes — delivers a winning comedy of ill manners. Haran and Walsh have terrific comic chemistry together, and
Continue reading →
GamingParanormalProductReviews
Fictional Games made their mark on the gaming world with Amnesia: The Dark Descent which became a massive hit thanks in part due to the neverending trove of youtube videos featuring obnoxious overreactions. When the game finally came to console I will admit I was disappointed in how the hype that was built up to it fell flat on its face as I felt the game was more tense than scary with only one good jumpscare in it. I’ll admit I never got around to playing the sequels (A Machine for Pigs, and Rebirth) so I can’t 100% say how they faired against the first game, but Amnesia: The Bunker, definitely outranks the first! I have to give a big thanks to Fictional Games for the reviewing opportunity! Amnesia: The Bunker follows Henri, a French soldier fighting in the First World War. After being injured on the battlefield, Henri wakes up in a bunker where he’s one of the few
Continue reading →
ProductReviews
As a coffee addict, I was excited to receive a box of the three newest flavors of coffee from Central Perk, which is a “Friends” themed coffee company. So, are they any good? The first bag, titled “Oh.My.Gawd!”, is a medium roast that, according to the package, has hints of butterscotch and Coca. After sampling it, I can tell you that you can taste a hint of butterscotch, but it is subtle, not too sweet. It has a great taste. It’s smooth and slightly rich. The next coffee I tried is called “Moo Point,” which is a decaf, medium roast. I could taste the hints of Honey and Coca. While I prefer my coffee to have caffeine, I will say that it is good. If you are just looking for the taste of coffee, this is the one is for you. The final flavor, “Gunther! Espresso,” is my favorite out of the bunch. I like my coffee like I like
Continue reading →
BooksGamingParanormalProductReviews
The most important part of Tatble Top RPGs that help bring the world to life for the players is not just the terrain, an awesome set of dice, or a super creative imagination… it’s the miniatures who take on the soul of the players. Miniatures are the lifeblood of TTRPGs as players assemble, paint, and come up with the backstory for each tiny character they work with. Some miniatures are strictly used for certain game series but many players have chosen to be chaotic and bring different miniatures into their worlds, and one group of miniatures is perfect to bring a bit of dark chaos into your tabletop world. Meet CounterSpell Miniatures from 1985 Games the same awesome folks who made the VHS Dice Sets! These miniatures are from the world of Shadewood, a dark forest world where wonders and horror await adventurers. I’ll admit right now, I’ve never worked with Miniatures before, so the results how the final products
Continue reading →
MoviesNewsReviewsThrillerTrailers
From director Herbert James (“Jamie”) Winterstern comes the action-thriller Supercell which sees a teenage boy join a group of storm chasers in a bid to find himself and to learn more about his father. I’ll admit I had low expectations going into this film. Let’s be honest. There are a ton of shit natural disaster movies out there. But Supercell isn’t one of them. Supercell features sympathetic characters, a must for any movie, such as the main character William, played well by Daniel Diemer (“The Midnight Club”). You want to cheer for this kid. And it was great to see Skeet Ulrich, best known for his role in Scream, in action. The film also sadly features Anne Heche in one of her final roles. Academy-Award nominee, three-time Golden Globe, and Emmy winner Alec Baldwin stars as a storm guide and a total prick. When it comes to a natural disaster movie, especially one with tornadoes, the special effects must be
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviewsSci-Fi
Greenpeace activists Lee (Robert Marius, who is the ultimate ’80s dude with his Long Beach t-shirt, acid-washed denim vest, and frosted tips) and Jane (Marina Giulia Cavalli) head off to a remote tropical island, bulky-as-fuck camcorder in tow, in order to investigate reports that a military-run chemical company is chucking radioactive waste into a nearby active volcano without a singular fuck given. Once they ninja-shit their way into the facility, our heroes find that all of the stories were indeed true… but unfortunately their unwanted presence is brought to the attention of the company’s Badass-In-Charge, Col. Kovacks (Rambo: First Blood Part II‘s Charles Napier, who has a serious hard-on for Houston in this flick) who proceeds to capture Lee while Jane escapes courtesy of some truly action-packed shit! Once lost in the wilds, Jane befriends American expat/professional (or is it for pleasure… ) snake-milker Bob (Daniel Bosch, proving his superiority at looking like a young Jeffrey Combs) who helps her
Continue reading →
GamingProductReviewsThriller
A homebody is a person who stays home and does not venture out much, but what if you are forced to not be a homebody and go hang out with friends, at a strange house, with a killer on the loose? Well, then you have Rogue and Game Grumps’ horror-puzzle game Homebody. I want to thank Rogue and Game Grumps for allowing me to check out the game. Homebody follows Emily, a young woman with severe agoraphobia who is going to a rented house to hang out with her old friends who she has not seen in over a year. While at the house strange events take place where a masked killer attacks Emily and her friends and every time Emily dies, she loops back to after she arrives at the house. Now onto the game itself! Homebody‘s controls are pretty simple and limited making it easy to get going with the story which seems to drop you right into
Continue reading →
