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
ForeignMoviesReviewsSci-Fi
Arrogant ass/our hero/James Bond surrogate Jeff Sutton (Richard Stapley) arrives in Rio with a hot wad of stolen dough. This factoid becomes known to local crime-lord Sir Macius (George Sanders, the voice of the tiger Shere Khan in Disney’s 1967 animated adaptation of The Jungle Book) who sends out his masked assassins (one of many pieces of imaginative comic book style art design this flick possesses) to grab the cash, which puts the kibosh on his hot date with manicurist Lesley (Maria Rohm, a regular in the films of absolute legend Jess Franco… who just so happened to direct this film as well). Speaking of Lesley, she is in fact a resident of the retro-futuristic city Femina run by the female super-villain Sunanda (Shirley Eaton, whom you may remember covered in gold in 1964’s Bond flick, Goldfinger)… who just so happens to be assembling an army of women warriors (who dress as if they just walked out of an Alex
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsThriller
COLD MEAT (2023) Cold Meat should be gone into — no pun intended — as cold as possible. Learning too much about director Sébastien Drouin’s winter-set horror thriller before watching it would be doing a great disservice to yourself. Suffice it to give you the initial set-up: traveler David (Allen Leech) is traveling through an extremely snowy area in Colorado. He stops off at a diner, where he calmly intervenes when waitress Ana (Nina Bergman) is physically and verbally harassed by her drunken ex Vincent (Yan Tual), who leaves without further incident. When David gets back on the road, Vincent pursues him in a larger vehicle and David strands his car in deep snow when trying to elude the violent man. What follows is a combination of survival horror — taking place mostly in David’s car and its immediate surroundings — and another fear-fare element that would be a big spoiler to give away here, and there may be something
Continue reading →
MoviesNewsReviewsTrailers
From directors Eren Celeboglu and Ari Costa (interview) comes the brutal supernatural horror film All Fun and Games. All Fun and Games explores the elements of the cruelty inherent in children’s games – Flashlight Tag, Hangman, Hide & Seek – and what happens when the games go too far. When a group of teens finds a cursed knife in the woods, they unleash an evil demon that will not rest until it’s claimed all of their lives and souls in a terrifying death match. Children’s games are a huge part of the movie, furthering the deaths and the movie’s high body count. It is a comment on how the games of our childhood hide the darkness of their origin. One example is the game “Ring Around the Roses,” which is actually about people dying from the Black Plague. It also feels like they are a sort of commentary about the loss of innocence. The movie serves as a coming-of-age story,
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesReviewsThriller
FAILURE! (2023) Writer/director Alex Kahuam’s splendidly crafted one-take feature about the highly stressful day of a second-generation plastics factory owner James (Ted Raimi in an excellent performance) trying to come to grips with possibly having to sell his family business because of overwhelming debt and his daughter’s upcoming high-end marriage. James is a fast talker, and he’ll need to use that talent to the best of his abilities as he is visited by a wedding fitting party, some men as desperate for money as he is, and other characters ranging from the sympathetic to the deadly. Erenesto Lomeli’s crackerjack cinematography keeps viewers up close and personal with the proceedings, and the smooth one-take approach is bolstered by Kahuam’s razor-sharp dialogue. Raimi puts on a veritable acting clinic as his character is dealt one problem after another. A sizable supporting cast adds to the tension, which is peppered with occasional dark humor. Failure! is a thriller, but depending on your interpretation
Continue reading →
ForeignIndieMoviesReviewsSci-Fi
Every once in a blue moon I see a flick so incredibly difficult to write about that I’m nearly brought to tears… not because it’s a difficult task, but rather because someone has the goddamn balls to create a psychotronic mother fucking masterpiece and I’d rather all you like-minded cats n’ creeps would just watch the damned thing rather than reading my wicked words… and that is a thing of beauty and wonder indeed! If you didn’t heed my edict above and are still here, I’ll attempt to give you a rough sketch as to just what to expect story-wise from writer/director/genius Adrian Garcia Bogliano’s Black Circle… Celeste (Felice Jankell) is having a shitty go at things when her successful businesswoman sis, Isa (Erica Midfjäll), clues her in to a hypnosis record from the ’70s that has changed her life for the better. Incredulous, Celeste spins the platter nevertheless… and the results are third eye-opening to say the least! Further
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsShort Films
PAREIDOLIA (2023) Director Aaron Truss’s shock short Pareidolia — a word meaning the phenomenon of our minds attempting to make meaningful images out of patterns or objects when one does not exist, such as seeing a cloud in the shape of a sheep — is a fantastic work boasting top-notch production values, a cast featuring some familiar genre-film favorites, and an intriguing story that is ripe for being made into a full-length feature. Lecturer Sinead Chambers (genre legend Diane Franklin of Amityville II: The Possession [1982], Waking Nightmare [2023], and about 50 other acting credits) has begun experiencing pareidolia in increasingly disturbing ways, which she discusses with her friend Jean Clark (Carolyn Pickles of The Yellow Wallpaper [1989]), while priest Father Cavanagh (Graham Cole) makes a shocking discovery at a mortuary involving a very peculiar demise. Aaron Truss, working from a screenplay by Aiden Truss, invests Pareidolia with an eldritch atmosphere, a fast-paced approach, and a gripping dash of mystery.
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
Horror scribe Peter Neal (American television mainstay Anthony Franciosa) has just released his newest novel, the eponymous Tenebrae, and is all set to promote the living shit out of it down Italy way. No sooner does he set foot on solid ground (okay, slightly after) when he’s grilled by mystery novel super-duper fan Detective Germani (Giuliano Gemma) and his partner, Inspector Altieri (Carola Stagnaro), about a recent murder of a young woman… a murder inspired by (and physically utilizing) the pages of Neal’s novel… along with a big ol’ straight razor; a real case of shave and a haircut, two tits… Much like potato chips, our mysterious madman can’t stop at just one, and before long the list of extinct lovely ladies murdered in various and sundry ways (all inspired by Neal’s wicked words, natch) gets rather lengthy indeed. This all makes Neal absolutely bonkers to solve the mystery himself… which leads to red herrings and head trauma… but doesn’t
Continue reading →
MoviesNewsReviews
Anyone who knows me knows that I love anything involving sharks, and I love a good action flick from time to time. I was super excited when The Meg came out in 2018. So, of course, I was going to watch The Meg 2: The Trench. Well, I have, and now I have some thoughts. Warning spoilers ahead. The Meg 2 picks up years after the original events and sees a research team encounter multiple threats while exploring the ocean’s depths, including a malevolent mining operation, multiple megs, “the Kracken,” dinosaurs, and a bunch of bad guys. A few of the original cast members return to reprise their roles, including Jason Statham, Cliff Curtis, Page Kenedy, and young actress Shuya Sophia Cai. Unfortunately, their director let them down. I’m not even going to attack how the giant beasts were portrayed. Let’s go ahead and chalk them up to suspension of disbelief. There are many moments when things make absolutely zero
Continue reading →
GamingParanormalProductReviewsSci-Fi
In 2019, Invader Studios released their love letter to survival horror games of the past, Daymare 1998. Now they’re back with its prequel, Daymare 1994: Sandcastle. Players partake in events mentioned in the first game as they take on the role of Dalila Reyes, a former Marine and current member of the HADES unit, as she must survive unexplained horrors in Area 51. I want to thank Invader Studios for allowing me the chance to check out the game! Now to the game itself!Daymare 1994: Sandcastle‘s controls are standard for a third-person over-the-shoulder game. I wish there could have been a tutorial level at the game’s start, as you seem to be dropped right into the story. Regardless, I do like that you can look at the tutorial in the pause menu, which can be helpful if you have not played the game for a while and are returning to it. The sound design and soundtrack of Daymare 1994: Sandcastle
Continue reading →
AdaptationGamingParanormalProductReviews
Urban Legends, are the jangling keys to those who want to test their courage or the merit of the stories behind them, but what happens when you become part of the urban legend? That is what awaits players in The Bridge Curse: Road to Salvation, a Taiwanese game based on the film The Bridge Curse. I would like to give a thank you to Eastasiasoft Limited and Softstar Entertainment Inc. for the reviewing opportunity. The Bridge Curse: Road to Salvation takes players to Tunghai University where they take on the role of a group of friends who are live-streaming their attempt to perform a ritual that’s part of an urban legend on campus about a bridge where the spirit of a vengeful woman appears. As you can guess, things go wrong pretty damn quickly for this group of friends as the evil is unleashed, and they can’t seem to escape it. Now onto the game itself. Controls are limited which
Continue reading →
More from Reviews
ForeignMoviesReviewsSci-Fi
Arrogant ass/our hero/James Bond surrogate Jeff Sutton (Richard Stapley) arrives in Rio with a hot wad of stolen dough. This factoid becomes known to local crime-lord Sir Macius (George Sanders, the voice of the tiger Shere Khan in Disney’s 1967 animated adaptation of The Jungle Book) who sends out his masked assassins (one of many pieces of imaginative comic book style art design this flick possesses) to grab the cash, which puts the kibosh on his hot date with manicurist Lesley (Maria Rohm, a regular in the films of absolute legend Jess Franco… who just so happened to direct this film as well). Speaking of Lesley, she is in fact a resident of the retro-futuristic city Femina run by the female super-villain Sunanda (Shirley Eaton, whom you may remember covered in gold in 1964’s Bond flick, Goldfinger)… who just so happens to be assembling an army of women warriors (who dress as if they just walked out of an Alex
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsThriller
COLD MEAT (2023) Cold Meat should be gone into — no pun intended — as cold as possible. Learning too much about director Sébastien Drouin’s winter-set horror thriller before watching it would be doing a great disservice to yourself. Suffice it to give you the initial set-up: traveler David (Allen Leech) is traveling through an extremely snowy area in Colorado. He stops off at a diner, where he calmly intervenes when waitress Ana (Nina Bergman) is physically and verbally harassed by her drunken ex Vincent (Yan Tual), who leaves without further incident. When David gets back on the road, Vincent pursues him in a larger vehicle and David strands his car in deep snow when trying to elude the violent man. What follows is a combination of survival horror — taking place mostly in David’s car and its immediate surroundings — and another fear-fare element that would be a big spoiler to give away here, and there may be something
Continue reading →
MoviesNewsReviewsTrailers
From directors Eren Celeboglu and Ari Costa (interview) comes the brutal supernatural horror film All Fun and Games. All Fun and Games explores the elements of the cruelty inherent in children’s games – Flashlight Tag, Hangman, Hide & Seek – and what happens when the games go too far. When a group of teens finds a cursed knife in the woods, they unleash an evil demon that will not rest until it’s claimed all of their lives and souls in a terrifying death match. Children’s games are a huge part of the movie, furthering the deaths and the movie’s high body count. It is a comment on how the games of our childhood hide the darkness of their origin. One example is the game “Ring Around the Roses,” which is actually about people dying from the Black Plague. It also feels like they are a sort of commentary about the loss of innocence. The movie serves as a coming-of-age story,
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesReviewsThriller
FAILURE! (2023) Writer/director Alex Kahuam’s splendidly crafted one-take feature about the highly stressful day of a second-generation plastics factory owner James (Ted Raimi in an excellent performance) trying to come to grips with possibly having to sell his family business because of overwhelming debt and his daughter’s upcoming high-end marriage. James is a fast talker, and he’ll need to use that talent to the best of his abilities as he is visited by a wedding fitting party, some men as desperate for money as he is, and other characters ranging from the sympathetic to the deadly. Erenesto Lomeli’s crackerjack cinematography keeps viewers up close and personal with the proceedings, and the smooth one-take approach is bolstered by Kahuam’s razor-sharp dialogue. Raimi puts on a veritable acting clinic as his character is dealt one problem after another. A sizable supporting cast adds to the tension, which is peppered with occasional dark humor. Failure! is a thriller, but depending on your interpretation
Continue reading →
ForeignIndieMoviesReviewsSci-Fi
Every once in a blue moon I see a flick so incredibly difficult to write about that I’m nearly brought to tears… not because it’s a difficult task, but rather because someone has the goddamn balls to create a psychotronic mother fucking masterpiece and I’d rather all you like-minded cats n’ creeps would just watch the damned thing rather than reading my wicked words… and that is a thing of beauty and wonder indeed! If you didn’t heed my edict above and are still here, I’ll attempt to give you a rough sketch as to just what to expect story-wise from writer/director/genius Adrian Garcia Bogliano’s Black Circle… Celeste (Felice Jankell) is having a shitty go at things when her successful businesswoman sis, Isa (Erica Midfjäll), clues her in to a hypnosis record from the ’70s that has changed her life for the better. Incredulous, Celeste spins the platter nevertheless… and the results are third eye-opening to say the least! Further
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsShort Films
PAREIDOLIA (2023) Director Aaron Truss’s shock short Pareidolia — a word meaning the phenomenon of our minds attempting to make meaningful images out of patterns or objects when one does not exist, such as seeing a cloud in the shape of a sheep — is a fantastic work boasting top-notch production values, a cast featuring some familiar genre-film favorites, and an intriguing story that is ripe for being made into a full-length feature. Lecturer Sinead Chambers (genre legend Diane Franklin of Amityville II: The Possession [1982], Waking Nightmare [2023], and about 50 other acting credits) has begun experiencing pareidolia in increasingly disturbing ways, which she discusses with her friend Jean Clark (Carolyn Pickles of The Yellow Wallpaper [1989]), while priest Father Cavanagh (Graham Cole) makes a shocking discovery at a mortuary involving a very peculiar demise. Aaron Truss, working from a screenplay by Aiden Truss, invests Pareidolia with an eldritch atmosphere, a fast-paced approach, and a gripping dash of mystery.
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
Horror scribe Peter Neal (American television mainstay Anthony Franciosa) has just released his newest novel, the eponymous Tenebrae, and is all set to promote the living shit out of it down Italy way. No sooner does he set foot on solid ground (okay, slightly after) when he’s grilled by mystery novel super-duper fan Detective Germani (Giuliano Gemma) and his partner, Inspector Altieri (Carola Stagnaro), about a recent murder of a young woman… a murder inspired by (and physically utilizing) the pages of Neal’s novel… along with a big ol’ straight razor; a real case of shave and a haircut, two tits… Much like potato chips, our mysterious madman can’t stop at just one, and before long the list of extinct lovely ladies murdered in various and sundry ways (all inspired by Neal’s wicked words, natch) gets rather lengthy indeed. This all makes Neal absolutely bonkers to solve the mystery himself… which leads to red herrings and head trauma… but doesn’t
Continue reading →
MoviesNewsReviews
Anyone who knows me knows that I love anything involving sharks, and I love a good action flick from time to time. I was super excited when The Meg came out in 2018. So, of course, I was going to watch The Meg 2: The Trench. Well, I have, and now I have some thoughts. Warning spoilers ahead. The Meg 2 picks up years after the original events and sees a research team encounter multiple threats while exploring the ocean’s depths, including a malevolent mining operation, multiple megs, “the Kracken,” dinosaurs, and a bunch of bad guys. A few of the original cast members return to reprise their roles, including Jason Statham, Cliff Curtis, Page Kenedy, and young actress Shuya Sophia Cai. Unfortunately, their director let them down. I’m not even going to attack how the giant beasts were portrayed. Let’s go ahead and chalk them up to suspension of disbelief. There are many moments when things make absolutely zero
Continue reading →
GamingParanormalProductReviewsSci-Fi
In 2019, Invader Studios released their love letter to survival horror games of the past, Daymare 1998. Now they’re back with its prequel, Daymare 1994: Sandcastle. Players partake in events mentioned in the first game as they take on the role of Dalila Reyes, a former Marine and current member of the HADES unit, as she must survive unexplained horrors in Area 51. I want to thank Invader Studios for allowing me the chance to check out the game! Now to the game itself!Daymare 1994: Sandcastle‘s controls are standard for a third-person over-the-shoulder game. I wish there could have been a tutorial level at the game’s start, as you seem to be dropped right into the story. Regardless, I do like that you can look at the tutorial in the pause menu, which can be helpful if you have not played the game for a while and are returning to it. The sound design and soundtrack of Daymare 1994: Sandcastle
Continue reading →
AdaptationGamingParanormalProductReviews
Urban Legends, are the jangling keys to those who want to test their courage or the merit of the stories behind them, but what happens when you become part of the urban legend? That is what awaits players in The Bridge Curse: Road to Salvation, a Taiwanese game based on the film The Bridge Curse. I would like to give a thank you to Eastasiasoft Limited and Softstar Entertainment Inc. for the reviewing opportunity. The Bridge Curse: Road to Salvation takes players to Tunghai University where they take on the role of a group of friends who are live-streaming their attempt to perform a ritual that’s part of an urban legend on campus about a bridge where the spirit of a vengeful woman appears. As you can guess, things go wrong pretty damn quickly for this group of friends as the evil is unleashed, and they can’t seem to escape it. Now onto the game itself. Controls are limited which
Continue reading →
