CategoryReviews
Honest horror reviews of films, series, games and books — no hype, no spoilers, just whether it is worth your time and your nerves.
3,430 stories
GamingProductReviews
Eye strain is a big part of gaming, unfortunately. Hours in front of a screen, may it be a TV, monitor, or laptop can cause you to call it quits too early. This happens because of the unseen blue light coming from your screens that causes it. Thanks to companies like GUNNAR, gaming and working with your computer won’t put stress on your eyes. Since 2024 is the year of the dragon, GUNNAR teamed up with tokidoki to celebrate with the Year of the Dragon glasses! I want to thank both GUNNAR and tokidoki for sending me a pair to check out! If you’re not familiar with tokidoki, they’re a Japanese-inspired lifestyle brand that focuses more on Kawaii fashion. So as you can guess, the glasses are, well… Kawaii (meaning cute). The lens of the glasses is designed to block 98% of blue light and after putting them on, I did notice a difference while sitting in front of my
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
Director Andrew Cumming’s U.K. feature Out of Darkness (originally titled The Origin) is a magnificent-looking slice of survival horror set in the Stone Age, complete with a language devised just for the film (with English subtitles provided). There’s no denying the power of the majority of the film, but its climax and aftermath will surely leave audiences divided. Adem (Chuku Modu) is the leader of a small group of prehistoric people who have been wandering in search of a safe place to live that provides abundant food. The group — which also includes Adem’s young son Heron (Luna Mwezi), Adem’s pregnant mate Ave (Iola Evans) and his brother Geirr (Kit Young), elderly Odal (Arno Luering), and stray Beyah (Safia Oakley-Green) — is near starving, and some are beginning to doubt Adem’s ability to lead. One night, a mysterious, as-yet-unseen presence grabs Heron, and Adem becomes solely focused on finding his son, though the others feel that leading them into the
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesReviews
A man, let’s just call him The Janitor (Nicholas Cage)… since that’s about it as far as names go for this fella, gets stranded in a rural town after a set of misplaced spike bars, owned by the towns rather intense Sheriff (Beth Grant), blows out the tires of his super-charged sports car. This poses a problem as the silent stranger is low on the dough, so the town’s “cash only” mechanic takes our hero to meet Tex Macadoo (Ric Reitz), the proprietor of the soon-to-re-open Chuckie Cheese surrogate, Willy’s Wonderland, and he has a proposition for ol’ “Jan”; namely if he spends the night cleaning up the place he can have the tires free of charge. Small problem with that particular task; Tex fails to mention that Willy Weasel and all of his putrid pals come to life and these arcane automatons are out for blood! Credit where credit is due; The Janitor can definitely take care of himself,
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsShort FilmsThriller
Following are reviews of four of the offerings that screened as part of the 2024 Final Girls Berlin Film Festival’s Folk Horror short-film block. Nian Short chiller Nian (U.S., 2023), finds a Chinese American schoolgirl (Lauren Mei in a delightful performance) standing up to a racist bully with the help of a Chinese demon mask and the supernatural assistance of the titular mythological punisher of naughty children. Director Michelle Krusiec delivers a crisp commentary on racism and bullying that nails its fantasy aspects, with a nice amount of heart behind it. Days of Spring Writer/director Arianne Hinz’s Days of Spring (Netherlands, 2022) is a disturbing peek into the secretive world of a small group of young Dutch girls who surrender their individual wills to the group. Eleven-year-old Roos (Anoek Neervort) has invited her friend Ella (Maeve Hickey) to join the group but begins to question herself when the demands of the girls grows increasingly extreme, including animal sacrifice. Beautifully lensed
Continue reading →
GamingParanormalProductReviews
What would you do for the one you love? Would you forsake your oath to keep a promise and sacrifice others? This is what players will face in Focus Entertainment and DON’T NOD’s action-rpg Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden. When I first heard of this game and saw its trailer, I” admit I was stoked and could not wait to check it out. That day has come, and I was not disappointed! I want to give an enormous thank you to Focus Entertainment and DON’T NOD for this reviewing opportunity! Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden takes place in an alternate world where ghosts haunt the living is a fact and follow two Banishers, Antea and Red. Banishers are people who hunt ghosts that torment the living. The ghosts are either banished into the void to suffer their torment or are ascended, being allowed to pass on and become free of their suffering. Antea and Red come to the settlement of
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesReviews
Old man Pete Jensen performs one of those Satanic ceremonies that are all the rage with the ladies in the Bridge Club… or apparently with crazy ol’ coots who spend their days living off the grid, performing Black Masses, and absolutely pissing off a sizable portion of the population of Furnace Flats down New Mexico way. Anyway, Pete dies and before you can say “Faustian Deal” his young nephew Nick Richards (Ed Nelson) blows into town and takes up residence in Pete’s rustic shit shack… where he almost immediately meets and gets the hornies for Nell Lucas (Jean Allison), the daughter of the town’s doctor, Doc Lucas (Edgar Buchanan). Although smitten with the lass, Nick is cock-blocked by her beau, auto-mechanic David Simpson (Richard Crane), so he does what any sane, rational individual would do… he performs a magic ritual which causes David’s German Shepard to go completely insane and brutally maim him. Get this, Nick also commits other magic
Continue reading →
GamingIndieParanormalProductReviews
The first official Horror Fuel game review of 2024! Let’s check out Casper Croes and Top Hat Studios’ love letter to late 90’s survival horror games, this is Alisa: Developer’s Cut. Alisa: Developer’s Cut takes players into a maddening world where Alisa, a royal agent in the 1920s is hunting a notorious thief and ends up in a strange Victorian-like mansion where mechanical oddities lurk and Alisa must try to escape and keep her mind intact. The Controls for Alisa: Developer’s Cut by default are the old-school “tank controls” which, I have not used in a long time, but thankfully, you can switch the controls to “modern”. The graphics for Alisa: Developer’s Cut are nostalgic with pre-rendered backgrounds and low poly character models. The soundtrack for the game really hits deep inside with callbacks to the very first Resident Evil along with the horrible voice acting, which at first I thought was bad for this game till I remembered how
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
Police Officer Fui-On Shing (Tsu Hsiang, The Killer, A Better Tomorrow) is having himself quite the day. After visiting a Buddhist temple that forewarns him of ill luck headin’ his way sooner rather than later, he ditches his pregnant wife Chu (Siu-Fung Wong) to follow up on a lead on a bank heist supplied to him by his teenage orphan sidekick/ridiculous individual par excellence Power Steering (Wai-Kit Tse). After a chase, Shing gets the drop on the criminals at a construction site, but ends up getting a palette of rebar dropped on him instead. Left for dead, a magic cat sits on him (I have no idea) after which he is struck by lightning. As it would with anyone, both of those things result in his super-powered zombie resurrection… and he’ll stay a member of the walking dead as long as he keeps shocking himself with electric jolts. Along the way he gets mixed up with Power Steering’s kinda girlfriend
Continue reading →
MoviesNewsReviewsTrailers
Cocaine Cougar and Zombeavers move over; there’s a new creature feature on the scene, and it’s a killer. I’m talking about Slotherhouse. In this fun flick, a sorority takes in a sloth as a makot, not knowing that it is a psychopath with a taste for blood. The whole point of the movie, besides entertaining, is poking fun at how truly ridiculous the obsession with social media is, which is hammered home by the constant like counts shown for every character. The whole story is driven by a girl trying to up her likes to become the president of her sorority. To do so, she steals a sloth and makes it the sorority’s mascot. The Characters: Directed by Matthew Goodhue, Slotherhouse stars Lisa Ambalavanar, Sydney Craven, Andrew Horton, Bianca Beckles-Rose, Olive Rouyre, and Tiff Steveson as the house mother. All of the characters are stereotypical of horror movies; you’ve got the girl desperate for likes, the devoted boyfriend, the eco-warrior,
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
I’m a very hard sell on new zombie movies. In a subgenre of horror films that I personally feel is growing ever weaker on originality, I’m open minded, however, in finding new discoveries with a unique take on things. Director Thea Hvistendahl’s Norwegian feature Handling the Undead — adapted from Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist’s (Let The Right One In) novel, with a screenplay cowritten by the pair — is one such film, a remarkable dramatic take on the undead. Handling the Undead focuses on grief rather than gore as three families who have lost loved ones find that their deceased members have returned to life — in a sense — after a mysterious phenomenon occurs. The returned ones are weak, barely breathing and sometimes barely moving. The hope from their family members and lovers is felt along with confusion and unease. They have already been grieving, and some now fear that they may lose their loved ones once again.
Continue reading →
More from Reviews
GamingProductReviews
Eye strain is a big part of gaming, unfortunately. Hours in front of a screen, may it be a TV, monitor, or laptop can cause you to call it quits too early. This happens because of the unseen blue light coming from your screens that causes it. Thanks to companies like GUNNAR, gaming and working with your computer won’t put stress on your eyes. Since 2024 is the year of the dragon, GUNNAR teamed up with tokidoki to celebrate with the Year of the Dragon glasses! I want to thank both GUNNAR and tokidoki for sending me a pair to check out! If you’re not familiar with tokidoki, they’re a Japanese-inspired lifestyle brand that focuses more on Kawaii fashion. So as you can guess, the glasses are, well… Kawaii (meaning cute). The lens of the glasses is designed to block 98% of blue light and after putting them on, I did notice a difference while sitting in front of my
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
Director Andrew Cumming’s U.K. feature Out of Darkness (originally titled The Origin) is a magnificent-looking slice of survival horror set in the Stone Age, complete with a language devised just for the film (with English subtitles provided). There’s no denying the power of the majority of the film, but its climax and aftermath will surely leave audiences divided. Adem (Chuku Modu) is the leader of a small group of prehistoric people who have been wandering in search of a safe place to live that provides abundant food. The group — which also includes Adem’s young son Heron (Luna Mwezi), Adem’s pregnant mate Ave (Iola Evans) and his brother Geirr (Kit Young), elderly Odal (Arno Luering), and stray Beyah (Safia Oakley-Green) — is near starving, and some are beginning to doubt Adem’s ability to lead. One night, a mysterious, as-yet-unseen presence grabs Heron, and Adem becomes solely focused on finding his son, though the others feel that leading them into the
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesReviews
A man, let’s just call him The Janitor (Nicholas Cage)… since that’s about it as far as names go for this fella, gets stranded in a rural town after a set of misplaced spike bars, owned by the towns rather intense Sheriff (Beth Grant), blows out the tires of his super-charged sports car. This poses a problem as the silent stranger is low on the dough, so the town’s “cash only” mechanic takes our hero to meet Tex Macadoo (Ric Reitz), the proprietor of the soon-to-re-open Chuckie Cheese surrogate, Willy’s Wonderland, and he has a proposition for ol’ “Jan”; namely if he spends the night cleaning up the place he can have the tires free of charge. Small problem with that particular task; Tex fails to mention that Willy Weasel and all of his putrid pals come to life and these arcane automatons are out for blood! Credit where credit is due; The Janitor can definitely take care of himself,
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsShort FilmsThriller
Following are reviews of four of the offerings that screened as part of the 2024 Final Girls Berlin Film Festival’s Folk Horror short-film block. Nian Short chiller Nian (U.S., 2023), finds a Chinese American schoolgirl (Lauren Mei in a delightful performance) standing up to a racist bully with the help of a Chinese demon mask and the supernatural assistance of the titular mythological punisher of naughty children. Director Michelle Krusiec delivers a crisp commentary on racism and bullying that nails its fantasy aspects, with a nice amount of heart behind it. Days of Spring Writer/director Arianne Hinz’s Days of Spring (Netherlands, 2022) is a disturbing peek into the secretive world of a small group of young Dutch girls who surrender their individual wills to the group. Eleven-year-old Roos (Anoek Neervort) has invited her friend Ella (Maeve Hickey) to join the group but begins to question herself when the demands of the girls grows increasingly extreme, including animal sacrifice. Beautifully lensed
Continue reading →
GamingParanormalProductReviews
What would you do for the one you love? Would you forsake your oath to keep a promise and sacrifice others? This is what players will face in Focus Entertainment and DON’T NOD’s action-rpg Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden. When I first heard of this game and saw its trailer, I” admit I was stoked and could not wait to check it out. That day has come, and I was not disappointed! I want to give an enormous thank you to Focus Entertainment and DON’T NOD for this reviewing opportunity! Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden takes place in an alternate world where ghosts haunt the living is a fact and follow two Banishers, Antea and Red. Banishers are people who hunt ghosts that torment the living. The ghosts are either banished into the void to suffer their torment or are ascended, being allowed to pass on and become free of their suffering. Antea and Red come to the settlement of
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesReviews
Old man Pete Jensen performs one of those Satanic ceremonies that are all the rage with the ladies in the Bridge Club… or apparently with crazy ol’ coots who spend their days living off the grid, performing Black Masses, and absolutely pissing off a sizable portion of the population of Furnace Flats down New Mexico way. Anyway, Pete dies and before you can say “Faustian Deal” his young nephew Nick Richards (Ed Nelson) blows into town and takes up residence in Pete’s rustic shit shack… where he almost immediately meets and gets the hornies for Nell Lucas (Jean Allison), the daughter of the town’s doctor, Doc Lucas (Edgar Buchanan). Although smitten with the lass, Nick is cock-blocked by her beau, auto-mechanic David Simpson (Richard Crane), so he does what any sane, rational individual would do… he performs a magic ritual which causes David’s German Shepard to go completely insane and brutally maim him. Get this, Nick also commits other magic
Continue reading →
GamingIndieParanormalProductReviews
The first official Horror Fuel game review of 2024! Let’s check out Casper Croes and Top Hat Studios’ love letter to late 90’s survival horror games, this is Alisa: Developer’s Cut. Alisa: Developer’s Cut takes players into a maddening world where Alisa, a royal agent in the 1920s is hunting a notorious thief and ends up in a strange Victorian-like mansion where mechanical oddities lurk and Alisa must try to escape and keep her mind intact. The Controls for Alisa: Developer’s Cut by default are the old-school “tank controls” which, I have not used in a long time, but thankfully, you can switch the controls to “modern”. The graphics for Alisa: Developer’s Cut are nostalgic with pre-rendered backgrounds and low poly character models. The soundtrack for the game really hits deep inside with callbacks to the very first Resident Evil along with the horrible voice acting, which at first I thought was bad for this game till I remembered how
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
Police Officer Fui-On Shing (Tsu Hsiang, The Killer, A Better Tomorrow) is having himself quite the day. After visiting a Buddhist temple that forewarns him of ill luck headin’ his way sooner rather than later, he ditches his pregnant wife Chu (Siu-Fung Wong) to follow up on a lead on a bank heist supplied to him by his teenage orphan sidekick/ridiculous individual par excellence Power Steering (Wai-Kit Tse). After a chase, Shing gets the drop on the criminals at a construction site, but ends up getting a palette of rebar dropped on him instead. Left for dead, a magic cat sits on him (I have no idea) after which he is struck by lightning. As it would with anyone, both of those things result in his super-powered zombie resurrection… and he’ll stay a member of the walking dead as long as he keeps shocking himself with electric jolts. Along the way he gets mixed up with Power Steering’s kinda girlfriend
Continue reading →
MoviesNewsReviewsTrailers
Cocaine Cougar and Zombeavers move over; there’s a new creature feature on the scene, and it’s a killer. I’m talking about Slotherhouse. In this fun flick, a sorority takes in a sloth as a makot, not knowing that it is a psychopath with a taste for blood. The whole point of the movie, besides entertaining, is poking fun at how truly ridiculous the obsession with social media is, which is hammered home by the constant like counts shown for every character. The whole story is driven by a girl trying to up her likes to become the president of her sorority. To do so, she steals a sloth and makes it the sorority’s mascot. The Characters: Directed by Matthew Goodhue, Slotherhouse stars Lisa Ambalavanar, Sydney Craven, Andrew Horton, Bianca Beckles-Rose, Olive Rouyre, and Tiff Steveson as the house mother. All of the characters are stereotypical of horror movies; you’ve got the girl desperate for likes, the devoted boyfriend, the eco-warrior,
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
I’m a very hard sell on new zombie movies. In a subgenre of horror films that I personally feel is growing ever weaker on originality, I’m open minded, however, in finding new discoveries with a unique take on things. Director Thea Hvistendahl’s Norwegian feature Handling the Undead — adapted from Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist’s (Let The Right One In) novel, with a screenplay cowritten by the pair — is one such film, a remarkable dramatic take on the undead. Handling the Undead focuses on grief rather than gore as three families who have lost loved ones find that their deceased members have returned to life — in a sense — after a mysterious phenomenon occurs. The returned ones are weak, barely breathing and sometimes barely moving. The hope from their family members and lovers is felt along with confusion and unease. They have already been grieving, and some now fear that they may lose their loved ones once again.
Continue reading →
