Reviews

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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Reviews

Annihilation Review: Lovecraft Done Right

There’s a sense of unease all throughout Annihilation, the latest film from Ex Machina director Alex Garland. The strange color palette, booming techno-esque score,and oddly detached performances from the actors add up to a film that is immensely strange, beautiful, and utterly alienating. Few films have really nailed down what made Lovecraft’s monsters so powerful; not just that they were skyscraper sized, tentacled freaks, but that they were completely and utterly inhuman, unimaginable, beyond comprehension. Now since Annihilation is a film, and those generally have to be viewed with your eyes, the spectacle is made a little more sensible. But just a little. Almost every aspect of Garland’s masterpiece remains amazingly alien. The monsters and menaces of Annihilation are a result of a following star, smashing into the Florida Everglades, and infecting the land with an odd rainbow glow. Recalling Lovecraft’s seminal tale, The Colour Out Of Space, The Shimmer, as this forsaken land is coined, warps everything in it’s

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Capt McNeely

Feb 24, 2018

ReviewsTrailers

Sound, Sex, And The Devil: ‘American Satan’ Is Simply A Triumph

As I sat down to watch American Satan I had the misconception that the film I was about to watch would be about music, I was wrong. What I watched unravel on the screen was much, much more. In the beginning, we see a rock band, “The Relentless”, come together, Johnny (Andy Biersack), Lily (Jesse Sullivan), Vic (Booboo Stewart), Leo (Ben Bruce), and Ricky (John Bradley), their manager. Playing their first big show at the Whiskey, they take the stage and see a packed house, that is until people’s social media notifications begin to pop up, notifying the crowd that Metallica is playing down the street. As the bar empties the band sees Elias, the record exec (Mark Boone Junior) one of the members met earlier in the day. As he walks out the band lays down their instruments and leaves. Just when they are at their lowest they meet the Devil himself, played by Malcolm McDowell. After they agree

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Kelli Marchman McNeely

Feb 4, 2018

ForeignIndieMoviesReviewsTrailers

Growing Up Sucks: Review Of ‘Don’t Grow Up’

We all had or still have that fear of growing up, where we have to abandon the little things that entertained us as children, see the world differently, and overall just changing into someone different than who we once were. In Thierry Poiraud’s 2015 horror drama film Don’t Grow Up or as it’s called in Europe Alone (Don’t Grow Up), makes the idea of growing up a death sentence on a fictional island where a strange virus only affects the adults, turning them into ravenousness killers. Warning: lots and lots of Spoilers ahead! Don’t want the story spoiled? Scroll down to the final picture. The story revolves around a group of teens who live in a home for children. Bastian (Fergus Riordan) who tried committing suicide as a result of blaming himself for his little sister’s death, Liam (McKell David) a brash individual who always brags about how rich his father is all the while being neglectful to his girlfriend

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Capt McNeely

Feb 3, 2018

BooksForeignGamingReviews

A Picture Tells A Story: Review of ‘Fatal Frame’ (‘Gekijōban Zero’)

Any gamer worth their callused thumbs and carpel tunnel will tell you one of the best horror video games ever made would be the Fatal Frame series. Fatal Frame otherwise known as Zero in Japan and Project Zero in Europe is a horror video game series that’s deeply rooted in Japanese culture and folklore putting players against violent ghosts and the only weapon you have is an old camera with magical powers. Sounds silly, but the games are anything but, I’ve played many horror video games over the years and watched many horror movies as well but none of them have literally haunted my dreams like Fatal Frame. Needless to say, when I heard they were making a movie based off the first game I squeed how no man should but alas, the film was canceled which was possibly a good thing since it may have been whitewashed beyond recognition. I found out sometime later that eventually there was a

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Capt McNeely

Jan 13, 2018

GamingProductReviews

Is It Time For A Real ‘Call Of Duty Zombies’ Game?

Call of Duty has been one of the most influential and successful video game franchises out there. You say the name and most people know what you’re talking about, but the last few years it seems many fans shrug at the mention of the game or talk down about it now regardless of what critics say about the games. What official critics say and the stats showing the sales of games are one thing but the biggest concern is, are the fans happy with the games? For years the game’s roots were mainly entwined in World War II but then ‘Activision’ left the past and came into a more modern era with Modern Warfare (2007) which seemed to have re-spark interest with old fans and opened the door for new fans. Not long afterward fans were taken into an alternate historical reality with Black Ops (2010) which eventually took the series towards more of a futuristic approach, but it was

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Capt McNeely

Jan 2, 2018

Reviews

BLACK MIRROR’S Most Horror Inspired Episode Yet Is Also One Of It’s Worst

“Black Mirror” has proven itself time and again to have some of the best writing in television. “Twilight Zone” with a technological twist, the series has never shied away from the darker side of sic-fi. Episodes like “White Christmas” and “Shut Up And Dance” have told stories more horrifying than just about anything else you’ll be likely to see on the boob tube. It’s unfortunate then that it’s most horror inspired episode yet, “Black Museum”, is such a dud. Using a toolbox that will by now be familiar to “Black Mirror” fans (consciousness transferal being the most prevalent) “Black Museum” tells three tales of horror, set around artifacts in the titular tourist attraction. Of course, this being “Black Mirror” there’s a macabre twist in each story, which include a doctor who get’s a robotic implant, letting him feel other’s pain a comatose woman uploading her consciousness into her boyfriend’s head an executed murderer’s digital projection tortured for the tourist crowd

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Capt McNeely

Dec 30, 2017

ReviewsTrailers

Horror Fuel’s Top 10 Horror Films Of 2017

As 2017 draws to a close it is time to celebrate those genre films that stand out above all others as the best of the best, the Top 10 of 2017. 10. Tragedy Girls Tragedy Girls centers on “two death-obsessed teenage girls who use their online show about real-life tragedies to send their small Midwest town into a frenzy, cementing their legacy as modern horror legends.” Executive producer Kerry Rhodes (interview) stars opposite Deadpool’s Brianna Hildebrand, X Men: Apocolypse’s Alexandra Ship, and Hall Pass’s NicWhelan. The cast also features Josh Hutcherson (The Hunger Games), Craig Robinson (Hot Tub Time Machine), Kevin Durand (The Strain), and Jack Quaid (The Hunger Games, Vinyl). 9. The Vault The Vault, the first of its kind combines the robbery genre and the horror genre and the result is fantastic. In order to save their brother Michael’s life, the Dillon sisters, Leah and Vee have organized a bank robbery, but when the upstairs vault doesn’t have

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Kelli Marchman McNeely

Dec 28, 2017

Reviews

Movie Review: Cannibals And Christmas Lights – ‘Mercy Christmas’ Is A True Gift

When you think about the holiday season one of the first things that pop into your mind is the food and sitting around the table with your loved ones. Every family has its own traditions and many times that includes meals. That’s exactly what the holiday horror film Mercy Christmas is about, with a twist. The Robillard family has a unique way of celebrating the holiday. When Michael Brisket gets drafted to work on his boss Andy Robillard’s presentation during Christmas he thinks things couldn’t get any worse. He’s about to discover that he’s very wrong. Michael isn’t the most popular guy at work. When he throws a Christmas party he’s heartbroken when no one shows up, that is until his boss’ beautiful secretary Cindy arrives. After a night of games and eggnog, Cindy invites Michael home for the holidays. Thinking he’s hit the jackpot he agrees. At first, Cindy’s family seems great, but that changes when his boss walks

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Kelli Marchman McNeely

Dec 14, 2017

GamingNewsParanormalProductReviews

Questions Are Answered, A Review Of ‘Resident Evil 7’s DLC, ‘Not A Hero’

I waited until midnight of the 12th and got the free DLC ‘Not a Hero’, installed it and played it. The only complaint I had about the game was that it was an hour long, being a free download I guess there’s really nothing to be too upset about. The controls for the game are the same as the main story but you’re equipped with only two weapons, a high powered pistol, and a semi-automatic shotgun. You also have a knife and grenades. The options you set up for the main story carry over into the DLC (screen brightness, subtitles, language, etc). Onto the story (Possible Spoilers) first thing, if you have not played the main story, play that first or else the ‘Not a Hero’ makes no sense. The story takes place immediately after the events of the main story. You play as Chris Redfield, a veteran character from the game series, before I continue I’ll address the big

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Capt McNeely

Dec 12, 2017

ForeignIndieMoviesReviews

The Avant-Garde Charm Of ‘A Page Of Madness’

When we think of Japanese Horror (J Horror) we think of movies like Ju-on (‘The Grudge’) Ringu (‘The Ring’) and classics like Kwaidan but those we’re dealing with the supernatural, things that some will feel they have a zero and donuts chance of encountering or telling themselves “It’s just a movie.” But an experimental film in 1926 took everything a step further by touching on the subconscious fear of the audience, reality itself. The film, A Page of Madness was directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa and released in Japan in 1926 and was feared lost after WWII till Kinugasa rediscovered the film in 1971 in a storehouse that he hid it in. The silent film has received a lot of mix reviews, a lot of the negative ones are based on the fact that they literally don’t know what’s going on. Unlike most western silent films movie buffs are used to, Japanese silent films did not have intertitles, we now call

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Capt McNeely

Nov 30, 2017

Reviews

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