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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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Horror Fuel

Opinion: Remaking ‘Resident Evil 4’ Would Be A Bad Idea

CAPCOM’s biggest release of 2018, Resident Evil 2, was a hit with critics and fans, myself included. The game is a remake of the original but not in a traditional “remake” sense. With the exception of the Orphanage level and a few extra scenes (or scene rewrites), the overall plot was the same along with the stories of the game’s two main heroes Claire and Leon. The major changes to RE2 obviously were the graphics and art making it more detailed to a real-world scenario, and the adoption of the third-person over-the-shoulder view for players, the first time this was seen in the “Resident Evil” game series was the 4th installment of the game, Resident Evil 4. There’s been some rumbling around the internet from fans wanting to see the RE2 remake magic happen again but with Resident Evil 4. The 2005 game took players out of Raccoon City and to a fictional location in Spain (where the locals spoke

Continue reading →
Feb 17, 2019
Horror Fuel

Blu-ray Review: Beast of the Yellow Night (1971)

During World War II, a murdering, raping, shit heel of a human named Langdon (John Ashley) encounters Satan (Vic Diaz) in the woods, and pleads for his life. Ol’ Scratch spares him as long as L-dawg becomes his servant, which he does…I mean, what’s the worst that could happen? Well, Langdon becomes a pseudo-werewolf eventually, so there’s that. Before all that mangy madness though, Langdon inhabits the bodies of various people over a quarter of a century, making them be the worst they can be to give the Devil his due. Eventually Langdon ends up in the body of a dude named Phil…who just so happens to look just like our “hero” (confused yet)? anyway, langdon has enough of Satan’s shit and try’s to enforce his own will into his existence…and that’s where the werewolf comes in as he turns willy-nilly into a mass murdering monster mutt-man. Before long Inspector de Santos (Leopoldo Salcedo) recognizes Langdon and is hot on

Continue reading →
Feb 17, 2019
Horror Fuel

Blu-ray Review: Invasion of the Blood Farmers (1972)

After an opening explaining the evil machinations of a surviving race of Druids known as Sangroids to resurrect their queen via blood draining shenanigans (all provided by a voice over that sounds like an unholy union between James Mason and Dr. Frank N. Furter) we learn just where this evil rite is to take place…no, not at Stonehenge or some other ancient place of pagan worship…nope this thing is going down in the cradle of ultimate demonic terror…Westchester County, New York (shivers). Who can stand in the Druids way as they kidnap the townsfolk and harvest their blood? Well hopefully Don (Bruce Detrick), his girlfriend Jenny (Tanna Hunter), and her father, Dr. Roy Anderson (Norman Kelley) ‘cuz that’s all we got. We’re doomed. Man Invasion of the Blood Farmers has it all. You like overly dramatic stock music that plays as characters merely talk or change their clothes? How about ADR that sounds like it was recorded via a tin

Continue reading →
Feb 16, 2019
Horror Fuel

Blu-ray Review: Next of Kin (1982)

Linda (Jacki Kerin) inherits a retirement home called Montclare from her mother…now that is one hell of a thing to inherit…I mean what young woman wouldn’t want to own a mega-creepy house jam-packed with weird ass old people, and dreadful secrets (more on that in a tick)? I know for a fact that is exactly the number one wish of women ages 18 to 24…that and like Pogs or some shit… Anyway, Linda reads her mother’s diaries which detail some off-the-wall shit, like the fact someone was watching her and her tenants were dying under some fishy circumstances. Guess what? Like mother like daughter because L-dawg starts to see someone on her ass, and those geriatric jokers in her care begin dropping off…and before long, she is in a fight to keep both her sanity and well-being intact! Filled with breathtaking shot composition, a janky, off-kilter aesthetic, pitch perfect slow-burn pace, stunning location, and genuinely creepy moments, Next of Kin

Continue reading →
Feb 16, 2019
Horror Fuel

Blu-ray Review: Happy Birthday to Me (1981)

Ginny Wainwright (Melissa Sue Anderson) has got it all; she’s a looker, popular as balls, and is a member of the “Top Ten”; an elite group of the most popular and privileged students (a.k.a. obnoxious douche nozzles…mostly anyway). Because this film is older than dirt (from 1981 to be precise, when the legal drinking age was 18…though from the looks of this cast 18 was far in the rear view mirror), these “high school kids” gather at a local bar every night for drinks. As fate, and slasher movie tropes would have it, one night their pal Bernadette (Lesleh Donaldson) fails to show…mainly because a black gloved murderer slashed her throat. As our gang goes about the normal pursuits one does when worried sick about a missing friend; namely jumping drawbridges, racing dirt bikes, having experimental procedures to fix your traumatized brain after a car accident (on that damn bridge again), and stealing underwear (I know that at least one

Continue reading →
Feb 15, 2019
Horror Fuel

Blu-ray Review: Night of the Living Dead (1968): 50th Anniversary Edition

I fucking hate reviews like this…Night of the Living Dead is regarded by multitudes as the one of, if not the, greatest fright flicks ever made; and I am definitely one of those folks! You’ve most likely seen the film, read countless reviews and studies of it, and loved it for years, so what can your’s cruelly add to the mix? Well…umm…I swear a lot… In case you’ve never seen Night of the Living Dead, as improbable as that is, here’s a sinister synopsis for your arcane asses: Barbara (Judith O’Dea) and her brother Johnny (Russell Streiner) head out to visit their father’s grave. Once there they are attacked by a zombie (Bill Hinzman in a role forever enshrined as a horror icon). John-John buys the farm and Babs gets her flee on and finds herself at an abandoned farmhouse where she is joined by the heroric Ben (Duane Jones). as time passes the duo discover other refugees inhabiting the

Continue reading →
Feb 14, 2019
Horror Fuel

Blu-ray Review: Nightwing (1979) and Shadow of the Hawk (1976) Double Feature

Mill Creek Entertainment sent over a double feature Blu containing the fright flicks Nightwing and Shadow of the Hawk…two pictures I sure as shit had never heard of…so with out further ado, let’s get acquainted with these and see what’s what boils n’ ghouls! Nightwing: Down New Mexico way, ol’ Youngman Duran (Nick Mancuso) is John Q. Law for the local Hopi reservation…a reservation that’s balls deep in cattle mutilations. Enter Abner Tasupi (George Clutesi) a medicine man that seems to be pushing eleventy billion years old. This coot claims he cast a spell to end the world this very night…well one person’s world did end, Abner’s as by morning he is dead as are a shepherd and his flock. Among that headache, Duran is tasked to keep the grizzly goings-on secret as oil has been discovered on the reservation, and the locals don’t want anything to fuck up that deal let me tell ya. Soon the source of the

Continue reading →
Feb 14, 2019
Horror Fuel

Blu-ray Review: Hostel (2005) & Hostel Part II (2007) Horror Double Feature Blu-ray and DVD Combo

Hostel: Horny goofs/college students (same difference) Paxton (Jay Hernandez) and Josh (Derek Richardson) are trekking Europe with their Icelandic pal Óli (Eythor Gudjonsson) letting their dicks lead them to as much sex as humanly possible. Their exploits take them to Slovakia where they stay at an opulent hostel (itself one hell of a movie time fantasy if my experiences are to be trusted…and they are creeps, they are…) sharing a room with the gorgeous Natalya (Barbara Nedeljakova) and Svetlana (Jana Kaderabkova). As expected sex is had…but shit goes south six ways to Sunday when our protagonists find themselves at the mercy of the hostel’s true purpose; a place where unsuspecting travelers are lead to their doom as victims of an elite club of wealthy patrons who get to enact their deepest torture fantasies on live, unwilling victims! Will anyone make it out with their lives and bodies intact? One of the forerunners of the now rather cliche torture porn genre,

Continue reading →
Feb 14, 2019
Horror Fuel

Blu-ray Review: A Study in Terror (1965)

Victorian England: Saucy Jack is stakin’ and slayin’ and generally rippin’ the ‘hores of Whitechapel a new one! With that level of mayhem on the streets, it doesn’t take long for Sherlock Holmes (John Neville) and Dr. Watson (Donald Houston) to get involved in solvin’ that creepy case right quick…especially after they receive a box containing a surgical bag with the scalpel missing. Their investigations take them through a list of possible suspects and from locations as diverse as a stately aristocratic manor, a pawn shop, and a soup kitchen all in the name of ending the terror of Jack the Ripper before he kills again! Full to the brim with Tempera paint blood, heaving bosoms, fog enshrouded streets and the fun of seeing Holmes and Watson work through one of the most notorious crimes in history; A Study in Terror is one fine time in the ol’ horror biz indeed! Comprised of a superb cast, with Neville and Houston

Continue reading →
Feb 14, 2019
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: Overlord (2018)

One of the films I’ve been most looking forward to seeing is Julius Avery’s Overlord. It’s just arrived on video on demand and last night I finally got to see it. The film opened with a scene of a fleet of ships and a squadron of planes headed to the beaches of Normandy. As a battalion of nervous soldiers sit in a plane they are given their mission, to take down a tower in a small village that’s jamming the signals of the Army. As bullets rip through the plane the men scramble to jump, though many never make a safe landing. Only a few soldiers make it and regroup. Suddenly a woman appears and after talking leads them to her village where Nazis patrol, guarding the church where the tower stands. This is the first time we really get a chance to get to know the soldiers, most importantly Boyce (Jovan Adepo) and Ford (Wyatt Russell). We also learn

Continue reading →
Feb 13, 2019

More from Reviews

Horror Fuel

Opinion: Remaking ‘Resident Evil 4’ Would Be A Bad Idea

CAPCOM’s biggest release of 2018, Resident Evil 2, was a hit with critics and fans, myself included. The game is a remake of the original but not in a traditional “remake” sense. With the exception of the Orphanage level and a few extra scenes (or scene rewrites), the overall plot was the same along with the stories of the game’s two main heroes Claire and Leon. The major changes to RE2 obviously were the graphics and art making it more detailed to a real-world scenario, and the adoption of the third-person over-the-shoulder view for players, the first time this was seen in the “Resident Evil” game series was the 4th installment of the game, Resident Evil 4. There’s been some rumbling around the internet from fans wanting to see the RE2 remake magic happen again but with Resident Evil 4. The 2005 game took players out of Raccoon City and to a fictional location in Spain (where the locals spoke

Continue reading →
Feb 17, 2019
Horror Fuel

Blu-ray Review: Beast of the Yellow Night (1971)

During World War II, a murdering, raping, shit heel of a human named Langdon (John Ashley) encounters Satan (Vic Diaz) in the woods, and pleads for his life. Ol’ Scratch spares him as long as L-dawg becomes his servant, which he does…I mean, what’s the worst that could happen? Well, Langdon becomes a pseudo-werewolf eventually, so there’s that. Before all that mangy madness though, Langdon inhabits the bodies of various people over a quarter of a century, making them be the worst they can be to give the Devil his due. Eventually Langdon ends up in the body of a dude named Phil…who just so happens to look just like our “hero” (confused yet)? anyway, langdon has enough of Satan’s shit and try’s to enforce his own will into his existence…and that’s where the werewolf comes in as he turns willy-nilly into a mass murdering monster mutt-man. Before long Inspector de Santos (Leopoldo Salcedo) recognizes Langdon and is hot on

Continue reading →
Feb 17, 2019
Horror Fuel

Blu-ray Review: Invasion of the Blood Farmers (1972)

After an opening explaining the evil machinations of a surviving race of Druids known as Sangroids to resurrect their queen via blood draining shenanigans (all provided by a voice over that sounds like an unholy union between James Mason and Dr. Frank N. Furter) we learn just where this evil rite is to take place…no, not at Stonehenge or some other ancient place of pagan worship…nope this thing is going down in the cradle of ultimate demonic terror…Westchester County, New York (shivers). Who can stand in the Druids way as they kidnap the townsfolk and harvest their blood? Well hopefully Don (Bruce Detrick), his girlfriend Jenny (Tanna Hunter), and her father, Dr. Roy Anderson (Norman Kelley) ‘cuz that’s all we got. We’re doomed. Man Invasion of the Blood Farmers has it all. You like overly dramatic stock music that plays as characters merely talk or change their clothes? How about ADR that sounds like it was recorded via a tin

Continue reading →
Feb 16, 2019
Horror Fuel

Blu-ray Review: Next of Kin (1982)

Linda (Jacki Kerin) inherits a retirement home called Montclare from her mother…now that is one hell of a thing to inherit…I mean what young woman wouldn’t want to own a mega-creepy house jam-packed with weird ass old people, and dreadful secrets (more on that in a tick)? I know for a fact that is exactly the number one wish of women ages 18 to 24…that and like Pogs or some shit… Anyway, Linda reads her mother’s diaries which detail some off-the-wall shit, like the fact someone was watching her and her tenants were dying under some fishy circumstances. Guess what? Like mother like daughter because L-dawg starts to see someone on her ass, and those geriatric jokers in her care begin dropping off…and before long, she is in a fight to keep both her sanity and well-being intact! Filled with breathtaking shot composition, a janky, off-kilter aesthetic, pitch perfect slow-burn pace, stunning location, and genuinely creepy moments, Next of Kin

Continue reading →
Feb 16, 2019
Horror Fuel

Blu-ray Review: Happy Birthday to Me (1981)

Ginny Wainwright (Melissa Sue Anderson) has got it all; she’s a looker, popular as balls, and is a member of the “Top Ten”; an elite group of the most popular and privileged students (a.k.a. obnoxious douche nozzles…mostly anyway). Because this film is older than dirt (from 1981 to be precise, when the legal drinking age was 18…though from the looks of this cast 18 was far in the rear view mirror), these “high school kids” gather at a local bar every night for drinks. As fate, and slasher movie tropes would have it, one night their pal Bernadette (Lesleh Donaldson) fails to show…mainly because a black gloved murderer slashed her throat. As our gang goes about the normal pursuits one does when worried sick about a missing friend; namely jumping drawbridges, racing dirt bikes, having experimental procedures to fix your traumatized brain after a car accident (on that damn bridge again), and stealing underwear (I know that at least one

Continue reading →
Feb 15, 2019
Horror Fuel

Blu-ray Review: Night of the Living Dead (1968): 50th Anniversary Edition

I fucking hate reviews like this…Night of the Living Dead is regarded by multitudes as the one of, if not the, greatest fright flicks ever made; and I am definitely one of those folks! You’ve most likely seen the film, read countless reviews and studies of it, and loved it for years, so what can your’s cruelly add to the mix? Well…umm…I swear a lot… In case you’ve never seen Night of the Living Dead, as improbable as that is, here’s a sinister synopsis for your arcane asses: Barbara (Judith O’Dea) and her brother Johnny (Russell Streiner) head out to visit their father’s grave. Once there they are attacked by a zombie (Bill Hinzman in a role forever enshrined as a horror icon). John-John buys the farm and Babs gets her flee on and finds herself at an abandoned farmhouse where she is joined by the heroric Ben (Duane Jones). as time passes the duo discover other refugees inhabiting the

Continue reading →
Feb 14, 2019
Horror Fuel

Blu-ray Review: Nightwing (1979) and Shadow of the Hawk (1976) Double Feature

Mill Creek Entertainment sent over a double feature Blu containing the fright flicks Nightwing and Shadow of the Hawk…two pictures I sure as shit had never heard of…so with out further ado, let’s get acquainted with these and see what’s what boils n’ ghouls! Nightwing: Down New Mexico way, ol’ Youngman Duran (Nick Mancuso) is John Q. Law for the local Hopi reservation…a reservation that’s balls deep in cattle mutilations. Enter Abner Tasupi (George Clutesi) a medicine man that seems to be pushing eleventy billion years old. This coot claims he cast a spell to end the world this very night…well one person’s world did end, Abner’s as by morning he is dead as are a shepherd and his flock. Among that headache, Duran is tasked to keep the grizzly goings-on secret as oil has been discovered on the reservation, and the locals don’t want anything to fuck up that deal let me tell ya. Soon the source of the

Continue reading →
Feb 14, 2019
Horror Fuel

Blu-ray Review: Hostel (2005) & Hostel Part II (2007) Horror Double Feature Blu-ray and DVD Combo

Hostel: Horny goofs/college students (same difference) Paxton (Jay Hernandez) and Josh (Derek Richardson) are trekking Europe with their Icelandic pal Óli (Eythor Gudjonsson) letting their dicks lead them to as much sex as humanly possible. Their exploits take them to Slovakia where they stay at an opulent hostel (itself one hell of a movie time fantasy if my experiences are to be trusted…and they are creeps, they are…) sharing a room with the gorgeous Natalya (Barbara Nedeljakova) and Svetlana (Jana Kaderabkova). As expected sex is had…but shit goes south six ways to Sunday when our protagonists find themselves at the mercy of the hostel’s true purpose; a place where unsuspecting travelers are lead to their doom as victims of an elite club of wealthy patrons who get to enact their deepest torture fantasies on live, unwilling victims! Will anyone make it out with their lives and bodies intact? One of the forerunners of the now rather cliche torture porn genre,

Continue reading →
Feb 14, 2019
Horror Fuel

Blu-ray Review: A Study in Terror (1965)

Victorian England: Saucy Jack is stakin’ and slayin’ and generally rippin’ the ‘hores of Whitechapel a new one! With that level of mayhem on the streets, it doesn’t take long for Sherlock Holmes (John Neville) and Dr. Watson (Donald Houston) to get involved in solvin’ that creepy case right quick…especially after they receive a box containing a surgical bag with the scalpel missing. Their investigations take them through a list of possible suspects and from locations as diverse as a stately aristocratic manor, a pawn shop, and a soup kitchen all in the name of ending the terror of Jack the Ripper before he kills again! Full to the brim with Tempera paint blood, heaving bosoms, fog enshrouded streets and the fun of seeing Holmes and Watson work through one of the most notorious crimes in history; A Study in Terror is one fine time in the ol’ horror biz indeed! Comprised of a superb cast, with Neville and Houston

Continue reading →
Feb 14, 2019
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: Overlord (2018)

One of the films I’ve been most looking forward to seeing is Julius Avery’s Overlord. It’s just arrived on video on demand and last night I finally got to see it. The film opened with a scene of a fleet of ships and a squadron of planes headed to the beaches of Normandy. As a battalion of nervous soldiers sit in a plane they are given their mission, to take down a tower in a small village that’s jamming the signals of the Army. As bullets rip through the plane the men scramble to jump, though many never make a safe landing. Only a few soldiers make it and regroup. Suddenly a woman appears and after talking leads them to her village where Nazis patrol, guarding the church where the tower stands. This is the first time we really get a chance to get to know the soldiers, most importantly Boyce (Jovan Adepo) and Ford (Wyatt Russell). We also learn

Continue reading →
Feb 13, 2019