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
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
Director Christian Tafdrup’s Speak No Evil (Gæsterne; Denmark/Netherlands, 2022) may be the most uncomfortable horror film in recent memory, as it puts social niceties, including acting “correctly” and politely, under a microscope and plays with the ideas of what horror is before delivering an absolutely harrowing third act. Danish family Bjørn (Morten Burian), Louise (Sidsel Siem Koch), and their young daughter Agnes (Liva Forsberg) meet Dutch family Patrick (Fedja van Huêt), Karin (Karina Smulders), and their young son Abel (Marius Damslev) during a trip to Italy. The two families strike up a casual friendship during the trip, and a few months later, Patrick and Karen invite Bjørn, Louise, and Agnes to spend a weekend with them at their home. Things start off a bit uneasily when Patrick insists that vegetarian Louise taste the wild boar he has prepared for their first meal together, and things get increasingly uncomfortable from there. Speak No Evil starts off as pitch-black comedy of manners
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
After a serious case of credits with training montage we get down to the meat n’ potatoes of Disciples of Shaolin; namely the arrival of Shaolin-style kung-fu bumpkin Kuan (Alexander Fu Sheng, who tragically died at age 28 from injuries sustained in a car accident in 1983) who arrives in town in the hopes of obtaining work at the local textile mill via his friend/fellow Shaolin kung-fu disciple Huang (Chi Kuan-Chun). Spoiler: Kuan obtains a job at the textile mill. And, what a job it is; fuckin’ around with looms and blatantly showing off his marital arts prowess exactly as Huang asked him not to do. Good thing too, as it’s just this kind of ass-kickin’ showboating that quickly results in our hero becoming the right hand man to the boss of the factory himself! Now, why would the boss need someone with those skills so damn bad in an industry based on thread count and long-lasting fabric durability? Because
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesReviews
After a work place accident in which he just stood idly by as a man went up in flames, delusional psycho/flame enthusiast Donny Kohler (The Soprano‘s Dan Grimaldi) returns home to find his beloved (not to mention horribly abusive) mother dead. It’s at this point the voices in his head take over and tell him he can both enjoy loud disco music (hey, I said he was a psycho) and should really consider making a flame proof room where he can burn women alive… as one does. Donny takes to that advice like a mother fucker, and begins piling up the BBQ… which he dresses and arranges in a room… but hey, he kept his Mom’s corpse too, so it’s kinda his thing… Speaking of dear ol’ mama, her voice soon begins a competition with the other voices in Donny’s deranged dome, and it isn’t long before our “hero” begins seeing visions of the walking dead! While definitely knowing which
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesReviews
The Changed Director Michael Mongillo takes the basic premises of such classic paranoia-driven horror and science fiction fare as Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and The Monsters are Due on Maple Street (1960) from the original The Twilight Zone series, and gives them a fresh, current spin with his feature The Changed (2021). The result is a finely acted, taut chiller that puts today’s social climates under a gripping cinematic microscope. Mac (Jason Alan Smith) has anger issues that he is trying to work on, but that won’t be easy as he notices that his neighbors and others with whom he comes into contact are acting differently, in a way that he can’t quite figure out. His neighbor Bill (Tony Todd) tries to offer him some subtle reassurance over a morning cup of coffee, but as the day progresses, things get increasingly stranger — and more dangerous. When fellow neighbor and high school student Kim (Clare Foley) comes to
Continue reading →
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MoviesReviews
If you’re in the mood for a testosterone-fueled fright-fare outing in which World War II soldiers battle a coven of shape-shifting witches, complete with not one, but two scenery-chewing officers including one such portrayal by Mickey Rourke, you’re in luck. Warhunt delivers in those departments, and though it has its setbacks, it’s entertaining throughout. Rourke plays Major Johnson (that name has to be intentional humor), an eyepatched U.S. officer who has a group of soldiers go into enemy territory to retrieve the secret contents of a downed aircraft in 1945 Germany. The sergeant (Robert Knepper) in command of the troops is leery of Johnson’s handpicked proxy to accompany the group, surveyor Walsh (Jackson Rathbone). He is also skeptical when rumors of witchcraft start sifting through his troops. Meanwhile, Johnson is on safer ground, working with codebreakers on cracking an archaic Germanic code. If it is seduction by witches and plenty of bloodletting and nightmarish illusions you want, it is plenty
Continue reading →
Comic Books/Graphic NovelsGamingProductReviews
Back in 1999, I had a Nintendo 64 console and that sucker got me through a lot of things by offering me hours of escapism from the hells of puberty and entering High School. One of the games I played the hell out of was Shadow Man, at the time it was a pretty badass game with memorable moments, and I played the hell out of it. Since then I’ve gone on to play many other games and developed memories and loves for other titles, with some of the N64 ones slowly fading away and just becoming pleasant memories. That was till Nightdive Studios came kicking down my Nistolgia door with a remastered version of Shadow Man, and I would be crazy to have said no and let this opportunity pass! For those not familiar with the game, Shadow Man is about Michael LeRoi who by day looks like a normal human man but at night he becomes Shadow Man,
Continue reading →
MoviesReviews
Charlie Gunther (Nick Panouzis) is back from ‘Nam with a head full of bad wiring and PTSD flashbacks for days… he also considers himself a real lady-killer… literally. As the female body count rises, Chuck gains notice from both the police and the local conglomerate of right wing businessmen that run a hidden cabal dedicated to eliminating rapists and murderers from the streets permanently utilizing ex-vets as their instruments of vigilante justice. That lil’ secret sect begins sweating bullets when Charlie goes rogue, which leads to the Colonel Kurtz surrogate Eric Stern (played to the hilt by the awesomely named Barron Winchester)… an ex-army muckety-muck who provides the vets for the aforementioned dirty work… going completely ballistic to maintain order among the chaos of his crumbling micro-empire. While all of this seems like an incredibly awesome grindhouse experience… and at times it is… the over-all experience runs a tad on the uneven side at times. Things start off promisingly enough
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
In an even shittier version of New York than the 1980’s version this here flick was (supposedly) shot in, the city streets are crowded with punks, armored nazi security guards, mutants, and at times, more fog than 20 or more Fulci films. How do you pacify a destroyed city on the edge? Why by showing the people the eponymous Endgame; a program where contestants fight to the death among the ruins while wearing glam-rock face paint (and outrageous attire… for instance, Demons‘ Bobby Rhodes plays Woody; a contestant that dresses like a gladiator with a fabulous feather rimmed cape and an uzi… this shit is fucking tight n’ outta sight) for cash money in rather large amounts. The two best players: Ron Shannon (Zombi‘s Al Cliver) and Kurt Karnak (Big George Eastman… just start with Anthropophagus); former friends, now rivals who are ready to have their final skirmish… but before that can happen, Ron walks away from the contest after
Continue reading →
MoviesReviews
Phantom of the Mall… that’s one of the most ’80s concepts I can possibly imagine, so let’s see what the age of rampant consumerism and questionable fashion choices has wrought this time, shall we? A new mall is being opened (which those in charge think will actually help juvenile delinquency… ) and gal-pals Melody (Kari Whitman) and Susie have just become full-fledged employees… but that’s no big deal as the place let’s Pauly fuckin’ Shore (as Buzz) dish out scoops in the food court, which if his well-known habit of “wheezin’ the juice” is considered, will have that place shut down by the Board of Health by noon… You know what else might make the mall’s progress a bit dicey? Melody’s old flame Eric (Derek Rydall) is prowling the mall’s ventilation ducts putting a murder on anyone unfortunate enough to cross his path! Why is Eric so pissed? Well, he’s been completely disfigured courtesy of a mysterious house fire (a
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
Writer-type Hans van Arnhim (Pierre Brice) sets out down Holland way to visit the eccentric Professor Gregorius Wahl (Herbert A.E. Böhme) who lives in an old windmill which contains a carousel of female statues, which Hans has been sent to research. Just seems like some shit you’d find at the Playboy Mansion during it’s heyday to me… Anyway, the Prof. carries himself in a manner that just screams “fuckin’ horrible hidden secret”, but Hans continues his work anyway… probably because Wahl’s daughter Elfie (Scilla Gabel) is both easy on the eerie eyeballs, and immediately hot n’ horny for ol’ Handsy Hans… who returns the admiration despite having a full time main-squeeze; namely one Liselotte Kornheim (Dany Carrel)… Kornheim sounds like Valhalla for Nu-metal bands that can’t get into the real deal because they simply don’t rock hard enough… Any-fuckin’-how, push comes to shove, and Hans kinda/sorta murders Elfie… as one does… but she probably wasn’t long for this world as
Continue reading →
More from Reviews
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
Director Christian Tafdrup’s Speak No Evil (Gæsterne; Denmark/Netherlands, 2022) may be the most uncomfortable horror film in recent memory, as it puts social niceties, including acting “correctly” and politely, under a microscope and plays with the ideas of what horror is before delivering an absolutely harrowing third act. Danish family Bjørn (Morten Burian), Louise (Sidsel Siem Koch), and their young daughter Agnes (Liva Forsberg) meet Dutch family Patrick (Fedja van Huêt), Karin (Karina Smulders), and their young son Abel (Marius Damslev) during a trip to Italy. The two families strike up a casual friendship during the trip, and a few months later, Patrick and Karen invite Bjørn, Louise, and Agnes to spend a weekend with them at their home. Things start off a bit uneasily when Patrick insists that vegetarian Louise taste the wild boar he has prepared for their first meal together, and things get increasingly uncomfortable from there. Speak No Evil starts off as pitch-black comedy of manners
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
After a serious case of credits with training montage we get down to the meat n’ potatoes of Disciples of Shaolin; namely the arrival of Shaolin-style kung-fu bumpkin Kuan (Alexander Fu Sheng, who tragically died at age 28 from injuries sustained in a car accident in 1983) who arrives in town in the hopes of obtaining work at the local textile mill via his friend/fellow Shaolin kung-fu disciple Huang (Chi Kuan-Chun). Spoiler: Kuan obtains a job at the textile mill. And, what a job it is; fuckin’ around with looms and blatantly showing off his marital arts prowess exactly as Huang asked him not to do. Good thing too, as it’s just this kind of ass-kickin’ showboating that quickly results in our hero becoming the right hand man to the boss of the factory himself! Now, why would the boss need someone with those skills so damn bad in an industry based on thread count and long-lasting fabric durability? Because
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesReviews
After a work place accident in which he just stood idly by as a man went up in flames, delusional psycho/flame enthusiast Donny Kohler (The Soprano‘s Dan Grimaldi) returns home to find his beloved (not to mention horribly abusive) mother dead. It’s at this point the voices in his head take over and tell him he can both enjoy loud disco music (hey, I said he was a psycho) and should really consider making a flame proof room where he can burn women alive… as one does. Donny takes to that advice like a mother fucker, and begins piling up the BBQ… which he dresses and arranges in a room… but hey, he kept his Mom’s corpse too, so it’s kinda his thing… Speaking of dear ol’ mama, her voice soon begins a competition with the other voices in Donny’s deranged dome, and it isn’t long before our “hero” begins seeing visions of the walking dead! While definitely knowing which
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesReviews
The Changed Director Michael Mongillo takes the basic premises of such classic paranoia-driven horror and science fiction fare as Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and The Monsters are Due on Maple Street (1960) from the original The Twilight Zone series, and gives them a fresh, current spin with his feature The Changed (2021). The result is a finely acted, taut chiller that puts today’s social climates under a gripping cinematic microscope. Mac (Jason Alan Smith) has anger issues that he is trying to work on, but that won’t be easy as he notices that his neighbors and others with whom he comes into contact are acting differently, in a way that he can’t quite figure out. His neighbor Bill (Tony Todd) tries to offer him some subtle reassurance over a morning cup of coffee, but as the day progresses, things get increasingly stranger — and more dangerous. When fellow neighbor and high school student Kim (Clare Foley) comes to
Continue reading →
MoviesReviews
If you’re in the mood for a testosterone-fueled fright-fare outing in which World War II soldiers battle a coven of shape-shifting witches, complete with not one, but two scenery-chewing officers including one such portrayal by Mickey Rourke, you’re in luck. Warhunt delivers in those departments, and though it has its setbacks, it’s entertaining throughout. Rourke plays Major Johnson (that name has to be intentional humor), an eyepatched U.S. officer who has a group of soldiers go into enemy territory to retrieve the secret contents of a downed aircraft in 1945 Germany. The sergeant (Robert Knepper) in command of the troops is leery of Johnson’s handpicked proxy to accompany the group, surveyor Walsh (Jackson Rathbone). He is also skeptical when rumors of witchcraft start sifting through his troops. Meanwhile, Johnson is on safer ground, working with codebreakers on cracking an archaic Germanic code. If it is seduction by witches and plenty of bloodletting and nightmarish illusions you want, it is plenty
Continue reading →
Comic Books/Graphic NovelsGamingProductReviews
Back in 1999, I had a Nintendo 64 console and that sucker got me through a lot of things by offering me hours of escapism from the hells of puberty and entering High School. One of the games I played the hell out of was Shadow Man, at the time it was a pretty badass game with memorable moments, and I played the hell out of it. Since then I’ve gone on to play many other games and developed memories and loves for other titles, with some of the N64 ones slowly fading away and just becoming pleasant memories. That was till Nightdive Studios came kicking down my Nistolgia door with a remastered version of Shadow Man, and I would be crazy to have said no and let this opportunity pass! For those not familiar with the game, Shadow Man is about Michael LeRoi who by day looks like a normal human man but at night he becomes Shadow Man,
Continue reading →
MoviesReviews
Charlie Gunther (Nick Panouzis) is back from ‘Nam with a head full of bad wiring and PTSD flashbacks for days… he also considers himself a real lady-killer… literally. As the female body count rises, Chuck gains notice from both the police and the local conglomerate of right wing businessmen that run a hidden cabal dedicated to eliminating rapists and murderers from the streets permanently utilizing ex-vets as their instruments of vigilante justice. That lil’ secret sect begins sweating bullets when Charlie goes rogue, which leads to the Colonel Kurtz surrogate Eric Stern (played to the hilt by the awesomely named Barron Winchester)… an ex-army muckety-muck who provides the vets for the aforementioned dirty work… going completely ballistic to maintain order among the chaos of his crumbling micro-empire. While all of this seems like an incredibly awesome grindhouse experience… and at times it is… the over-all experience runs a tad on the uneven side at times. Things start off promisingly enough
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
In an even shittier version of New York than the 1980’s version this here flick was (supposedly) shot in, the city streets are crowded with punks, armored nazi security guards, mutants, and at times, more fog than 20 or more Fulci films. How do you pacify a destroyed city on the edge? Why by showing the people the eponymous Endgame; a program where contestants fight to the death among the ruins while wearing glam-rock face paint (and outrageous attire… for instance, Demons‘ Bobby Rhodes plays Woody; a contestant that dresses like a gladiator with a fabulous feather rimmed cape and an uzi… this shit is fucking tight n’ outta sight) for cash money in rather large amounts. The two best players: Ron Shannon (Zombi‘s Al Cliver) and Kurt Karnak (Big George Eastman… just start with Anthropophagus); former friends, now rivals who are ready to have their final skirmish… but before that can happen, Ron walks away from the contest after
Continue reading →
MoviesReviews
Phantom of the Mall… that’s one of the most ’80s concepts I can possibly imagine, so let’s see what the age of rampant consumerism and questionable fashion choices has wrought this time, shall we? A new mall is being opened (which those in charge think will actually help juvenile delinquency… ) and gal-pals Melody (Kari Whitman) and Susie have just become full-fledged employees… but that’s no big deal as the place let’s Pauly fuckin’ Shore (as Buzz) dish out scoops in the food court, which if his well-known habit of “wheezin’ the juice” is considered, will have that place shut down by the Board of Health by noon… You know what else might make the mall’s progress a bit dicey? Melody’s old flame Eric (Derek Rydall) is prowling the mall’s ventilation ducts putting a murder on anyone unfortunate enough to cross his path! Why is Eric so pissed? Well, he’s been completely disfigured courtesy of a mysterious house fire (a
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
Writer-type Hans van Arnhim (Pierre Brice) sets out down Holland way to visit the eccentric Professor Gregorius Wahl (Herbert A.E. Böhme) who lives in an old windmill which contains a carousel of female statues, which Hans has been sent to research. Just seems like some shit you’d find at the Playboy Mansion during it’s heyday to me… Anyway, the Prof. carries himself in a manner that just screams “fuckin’ horrible hidden secret”, but Hans continues his work anyway… probably because Wahl’s daughter Elfie (Scilla Gabel) is both easy on the eerie eyeballs, and immediately hot n’ horny for ol’ Handsy Hans… who returns the admiration despite having a full time main-squeeze; namely one Liselotte Kornheim (Dany Carrel)… Kornheim sounds like Valhalla for Nu-metal bands that can’t get into the real deal because they simply don’t rock hard enough… Any-fuckin’-how, push comes to shove, and Hans kinda/sorta murders Elfie… as one does… but she probably wasn’t long for this world as
Continue reading →
