CategoryReviews
Honest horror reviews of films, series, games and books — no hype, no spoilers, just whether it is worth your time and your nerves.
3,462 stories
NetflixNewsReviewsStreaming TV
Mike Flanagan, the brilliant mind behind Netflix’s “Haunting of Hill House,” Doctor Sleep, and Geralds’s Game, is back with his latest genre offering, the Netflix series “Midnight Mass.” WARNING SPOILERS! Now, if you’re expecting something haunting like “Haunting of Hill Houe,” you’ll be sorely disappointed. “Midnight Mass” is a whole different monster entirely. Instead of dark paranormal horror, we get religious horror. The series centers on an isolated island community that experiences miraculous events – and frightening omens – after a charismatic, mysterious young priest arrives. Religion is the main topic throughout the series, and there’s a fine line between too much and just enough. The constant preaching and non-stop bible quotes overshadowed the story and the horror we were promised. The tale of the characters and their struggles take a back seat to the hours of religious idealogy and sermons, which annoyed me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m okay with religion, but it felt like “Midnight Mass” was trying
Continue reading →
ProductReviews
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, we’re quickly reaching Halloween and it’s time to get festive! Time to break out the decorations and set up props in the yard and carve up some pumpkins, great traditions but it could use a bit of flair to help make it pop and to make you the popular house on the street, and Atmos FX is here to help make it so! A big THANK YOU to the awesome folks over at Atmos FX for making this review possible! I was sent a screen for my window that I can project the scene on, the screen is pretty light so I was actually able to just hang it over a curtain rod without having to use hooks (that were included). Then came setting up the projector they sent along as well. The ViewSonic M1 projector may be small but it packs a projecting punch! What I loved most about it was
Continue reading →
ProductReviews
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, we’re quickly reaching Halloween and it’s time to get festive! Time to break out the decorations and set up props in the yard and carve up some pumpkins, great traditions but it could use a bit of flair to help make it pop and to make you the popular house on the street, and Atmos FX is here to help make it so! A big THANK YOU to the awesome folks over at Atmos FX for making this review possible! I was sent a screen for my window that I can project the scene on, the screen is pretty light so I was actually able to just hang it over a curtain rod without having to use hooks (that were included). Then came setting up the projector they sent along as well. The ViewSonic M1 projector may be small but it packs a projecting punch! What I loved most about it was
Continue reading →
EventsFilm FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
Straight to VHS In the Uruguayan documentary Straight to VHS (Directamente para video; 2021), director Emilio Silva Torres chronicles his efforts to locate fellow countryman Manuel Lamas, the filmmaker behind the 1989 direct-to-video obscurity Act of Violence in a Young Journalist that became an obsession with some of those who have seen it. Clips of the movie shown in the documentary make apparent Act of Violence . . .’s non-existent budget — as do Lamas acquaintances who remember him borrowing equipment and not returning it — and its sometimes laughable content. Yet still, some Uruguayan cinephiles are engrossed with locating the creator of the film. Lamas is a difficult person to track down, and Torres finds that almost everyone involved with the making of the film wants nothing to do with being interviewed about it. Torres does not give up easily, though, which makes for an engaging quest. One frustrating element about Straight to VHS is that almost none of
Continue reading →
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BooksReviews
Plot “The devil is in the details” according to author P.D. Alleva in his novel Golem. This phenomenal book starts off with a phenomenal plot. A detective story, a horrific nightmare, a thriller, a view into the occult, and the spiraling of insanity all rolled up onto one package called Golem. As newly-badged Detective John Ashton digs deeper into a very public missing child case, he digs up much more than he bargained for and much more than even he believes. This novel is a journey into the darkest and most vile parts of horror and personally, I couldn’t put it down. As the the story races forward, the plot that Alleva reveals gets more and more intriguing as the devils in the dark swallow everything. Characters There are not a ton of characters in this novel (nor does there need to be) and the characters there are, are very memorable. Alleva stays away from from overused cliches while creating
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
Writer/director Randal Kamradt’s The Monsters Without (Philippines, 2021) is an interesting creature feature affair. It leans more toward fantasy and adventure than horror, but monster movie fans will want to check this one out for the wide range of supernatural beasts from Philippine folklore on tap, including the rather well-known flying, baby-eating Manananggal. In the English-language The Monsters Without, yablo (monsters) are real, and an ancient entity called Nameless (voice of Nick Medina) has risen to return the other yablo to their home dimension, a move that also threatens humanity. A Philippines-based team of scientists and soldiers called P.H.A.S.E. is the only hope to thwart Nameless’ evil plan. When Nameless kidnaps group leader Setsuko’s (Christina Yr. Lim) newlywed husband Rommel Romero (Jake Macapagal) — second in command at P.H.A.S.E. — matters get personal, and Sesuko and her teammates put themselves in harm’s way to try to rescue Rommel and save the world. Kamradt shows a deft hand at both action
Continue reading →
GamingIndieNewsProductReviews
The Farm 51 and All in! Games were awesome enough to allow me the chance to explore the decaying ruins of Pripyat and the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in Chernobylite, an FPS survival game that takes players to the most radiated zone in the world. In Chernobylite players take on the role of Igor, a Ukrainian physicist, who worked at Chernobyl doing research involving interdimensional travel along with his fiancé who went missing during the meltdown of the power plant. After the disaster, a new element was made that Igor is studying called Chernobylite that also has attracted the attention of the NAR who have taken over the wasteland. Along with the human threat, there are now also mysterious creatures that thanks to the Chernobylite, have traverse dimensions and now stalk the wasteland. Now onto the game itself! Once you get the game starting players will have to adjust the sensitivity as I noticed at the start I turn too slow,
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesNewsReviewsTrailers
From award-winning filmmaker, Miles Doleac comes a new tale of terror, Demigod, a macabre twist6 on the Cernunnos myth. In this supernatural tale, Robin (Rachel Nichols) and her boyfriend Leo (Yohance Myles) journey to her grandfather’s cabin after he passes away. After the couple encounters a hunter (Doleac) and his daughter they return to the comfort of the cabin and its warm fireplace, and soon fall asleep not knowing that a backwoods cult will soon take them. The couple, the hunter and his daughter, along with several others are taken to the heart of the forest where they will be released and hunted by a demigod. First, when are people going to learn to stay away from cabins in the woods? We’ve seen it a lot. Luckily, the film doesn’t feature many other tropes so we’ll let it slide this time. The story itself is unique and manipulates its environment around the story, not the other way around, turning its
Continue reading →
BooksHalloweenHoliday HorrorReviews
Plot The idea of a witch cursing a town and then coming back to fulfill that curse is a plot that has a special place in horror. Personally, I love when people resurrect plots that we know and love and put their own spin on it. In the middle school-aimed Cold Spell: The Halloween Curse of Winterhill, Jeff C. Carter shows his unique ability to take something we all know and love and make it feel new, fun and scary! In this plot, Carter introduces the witch, but then spends most o the novel focusing on the characters, making us get to know them, become friends with them, and care about what happens to them…then the carpet gets pulled away from underneath everything. Halloween stories (like Christmas movies) create the world of Halloween we all wish existed in our celebrations. A world where every house is adorned with jack-o-lanters, where every neighbor hands out full sized chocolate bars, and where
Continue reading →
Reviews
If you are like me, The Parapod: A Very British Ghost Hunt will be your first experience with Ian Boldsworth and Barry Dodds, and their wildly popular podcast The Parapod. No need to worry, though, as this fun paranormal documentary serves as both a fine introduction to the duo and their work and what must be a blast to long-time listeners to see the gents in film form. Boldsworth is a skeptic, while Dodds believes in such supernatural things as ghosts and curses. The crowdfunded film sees the pair travel — in a converted hearse with the Parapod logo on the doors — to reputedly some of the most haunted locations in the United Kingdom, such as the “screaming woods” of Pluckley and an underground crypt in Edinburgh said to be used by a coven. All along the road trip, Boldsworth sets Dodds up as the butt of jokes and pranks — such as rather suddenly being told that he
Continue reading →
More from Reviews
NetflixNewsReviewsStreaming TV
Mike Flanagan, the brilliant mind behind Netflix’s “Haunting of Hill House,” Doctor Sleep, and Geralds’s Game, is back with his latest genre offering, the Netflix series “Midnight Mass.” WARNING SPOILERS! Now, if you’re expecting something haunting like “Haunting of Hill Houe,” you’ll be sorely disappointed. “Midnight Mass” is a whole different monster entirely. Instead of dark paranormal horror, we get religious horror. The series centers on an isolated island community that experiences miraculous events – and frightening omens – after a charismatic, mysterious young priest arrives. Religion is the main topic throughout the series, and there’s a fine line between too much and just enough. The constant preaching and non-stop bible quotes overshadowed the story and the horror we were promised. The tale of the characters and their struggles take a back seat to the hours of religious idealogy and sermons, which annoyed me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m okay with religion, but it felt like “Midnight Mass” was trying
Continue reading →
ProductReviews
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, we’re quickly reaching Halloween and it’s time to get festive! Time to break out the decorations and set up props in the yard and carve up some pumpkins, great traditions but it could use a bit of flair to help make it pop and to make you the popular house on the street, and Atmos FX is here to help make it so! A big THANK YOU to the awesome folks over at Atmos FX for making this review possible! I was sent a screen for my window that I can project the scene on, the screen is pretty light so I was actually able to just hang it over a curtain rod without having to use hooks (that were included). Then came setting up the projector they sent along as well. The ViewSonic M1 projector may be small but it packs a projecting punch! What I loved most about it was
Continue reading →
ProductReviews
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, we’re quickly reaching Halloween and it’s time to get festive! Time to break out the decorations and set up props in the yard and carve up some pumpkins, great traditions but it could use a bit of flair to help make it pop and to make you the popular house on the street, and Atmos FX is here to help make it so! A big THANK YOU to the awesome folks over at Atmos FX for making this review possible! I was sent a screen for my window that I can project the scene on, the screen is pretty light so I was actually able to just hang it over a curtain rod without having to use hooks (that were included). Then came setting up the projector they sent along as well. The ViewSonic M1 projector may be small but it packs a projecting punch! What I loved most about it was
Continue reading →
EventsFilm FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
Straight to VHS In the Uruguayan documentary Straight to VHS (Directamente para video; 2021), director Emilio Silva Torres chronicles his efforts to locate fellow countryman Manuel Lamas, the filmmaker behind the 1989 direct-to-video obscurity Act of Violence in a Young Journalist that became an obsession with some of those who have seen it. Clips of the movie shown in the documentary make apparent Act of Violence . . .’s non-existent budget — as do Lamas acquaintances who remember him borrowing equipment and not returning it — and its sometimes laughable content. Yet still, some Uruguayan cinephiles are engrossed with locating the creator of the film. Lamas is a difficult person to track down, and Torres finds that almost everyone involved with the making of the film wants nothing to do with being interviewed about it. Torres does not give up easily, though, which makes for an engaging quest. One frustrating element about Straight to VHS is that almost none of
Continue reading →
BooksReviews
Plot “The devil is in the details” according to author P.D. Alleva in his novel Golem. This phenomenal book starts off with a phenomenal plot. A detective story, a horrific nightmare, a thriller, a view into the occult, and the spiraling of insanity all rolled up onto one package called Golem. As newly-badged Detective John Ashton digs deeper into a very public missing child case, he digs up much more than he bargained for and much more than even he believes. This novel is a journey into the darkest and most vile parts of horror and personally, I couldn’t put it down. As the the story races forward, the plot that Alleva reveals gets more and more intriguing as the devils in the dark swallow everything. Characters There are not a ton of characters in this novel (nor does there need to be) and the characters there are, are very memorable. Alleva stays away from from overused cliches while creating
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
Writer/director Randal Kamradt’s The Monsters Without (Philippines, 2021) is an interesting creature feature affair. It leans more toward fantasy and adventure than horror, but monster movie fans will want to check this one out for the wide range of supernatural beasts from Philippine folklore on tap, including the rather well-known flying, baby-eating Manananggal. In the English-language The Monsters Without, yablo (monsters) are real, and an ancient entity called Nameless (voice of Nick Medina) has risen to return the other yablo to their home dimension, a move that also threatens humanity. A Philippines-based team of scientists and soldiers called P.H.A.S.E. is the only hope to thwart Nameless’ evil plan. When Nameless kidnaps group leader Setsuko’s (Christina Yr. Lim) newlywed husband Rommel Romero (Jake Macapagal) — second in command at P.H.A.S.E. — matters get personal, and Sesuko and her teammates put themselves in harm’s way to try to rescue Rommel and save the world. Kamradt shows a deft hand at both action
Continue reading →
GamingIndieNewsProductReviews
The Farm 51 and All in! Games were awesome enough to allow me the chance to explore the decaying ruins of Pripyat and the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in Chernobylite, an FPS survival game that takes players to the most radiated zone in the world. In Chernobylite players take on the role of Igor, a Ukrainian physicist, who worked at Chernobyl doing research involving interdimensional travel along with his fiancé who went missing during the meltdown of the power plant. After the disaster, a new element was made that Igor is studying called Chernobylite that also has attracted the attention of the NAR who have taken over the wasteland. Along with the human threat, there are now also mysterious creatures that thanks to the Chernobylite, have traverse dimensions and now stalk the wasteland. Now onto the game itself! Once you get the game starting players will have to adjust the sensitivity as I noticed at the start I turn too slow,
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesNewsReviewsTrailers
From award-winning filmmaker, Miles Doleac comes a new tale of terror, Demigod, a macabre twist6 on the Cernunnos myth. In this supernatural tale, Robin (Rachel Nichols) and her boyfriend Leo (Yohance Myles) journey to her grandfather’s cabin after he passes away. After the couple encounters a hunter (Doleac) and his daughter they return to the comfort of the cabin and its warm fireplace, and soon fall asleep not knowing that a backwoods cult will soon take them. The couple, the hunter and his daughter, along with several others are taken to the heart of the forest where they will be released and hunted by a demigod. First, when are people going to learn to stay away from cabins in the woods? We’ve seen it a lot. Luckily, the film doesn’t feature many other tropes so we’ll let it slide this time. The story itself is unique and manipulates its environment around the story, not the other way around, turning its
Continue reading →
BooksHalloweenHoliday HorrorReviews
Plot The idea of a witch cursing a town and then coming back to fulfill that curse is a plot that has a special place in horror. Personally, I love when people resurrect plots that we know and love and put their own spin on it. In the middle school-aimed Cold Spell: The Halloween Curse of Winterhill, Jeff C. Carter shows his unique ability to take something we all know and love and make it feel new, fun and scary! In this plot, Carter introduces the witch, but then spends most o the novel focusing on the characters, making us get to know them, become friends with them, and care about what happens to them…then the carpet gets pulled away from underneath everything. Halloween stories (like Christmas movies) create the world of Halloween we all wish existed in our celebrations. A world where every house is adorned with jack-o-lanters, where every neighbor hands out full sized chocolate bars, and where
Continue reading →
Reviews
If you are like me, The Parapod: A Very British Ghost Hunt will be your first experience with Ian Boldsworth and Barry Dodds, and their wildly popular podcast The Parapod. No need to worry, though, as this fun paranormal documentary serves as both a fine introduction to the duo and their work and what must be a blast to long-time listeners to see the gents in film form. Boldsworth is a skeptic, while Dodds believes in such supernatural things as ghosts and curses. The crowdfunded film sees the pair travel — in a converted hearse with the Parapod logo on the doors — to reputedly some of the most haunted locations in the United Kingdom, such as the “screaming woods” of Pluckley and an underground crypt in Edinburgh said to be used by a coven. All along the road trip, Boldsworth sets Dodds up as the butt of jokes and pranks — such as rather suddenly being told that he
Continue reading →
