CategoryReviews
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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MoviesNewsReviewsTrailers
The Evil Dead franchise began with Evil Dead in 1981, Sam Raimi’s classic starring the oh so “groovy” Bruce Campbell. After several installments, director Fede Alvarez took the franchise in a new, more serious direction in 2013 with Evil Dead, starring Jane Levy. The second installment of the new branch of the franchise has just landed in theaters, Evil Dead Rise. Being the Evil Dead lover that I am, I headed to the theater to see it. I went into it knowing that it would be very different from the first Evil Dead I fell in love with and trying to keep an open mind. This is key for horror fans. You must compartmentalize and see the two branches separately. Evil Dead Rise moves the franchise out of the forest and into the city. It tells the twisted tale of two estranged sisters whose reunion is cut short by the rise of flesh-possessing deadites, thrusting them into a primal battle
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ForeignIndieMoviesReviews
Maya (Hannah John-Kamen, whom you may remember from 2018’s superhero romp Ant-Man and the Wasp, but she’s been in an ass-load of other cool stuff) and Jamie (Douglas Booth) are more than ready to get the fuck out of Dodge after being accosted by thugs, so off they trot to the safety and serenity of the Irish countryside where absolutely nothing can ever go wrong. Once there they move into the home bequeathed to J-Dawg by his recently croaked aunt… but the country home comes with a warning; honor the old ways and pay tribute to the mysterious Redcaps rumored to haunt the land every day, or there will be unspecified static heading their way! Of course our heroes forget that shit Day fuckin’ One, and the town drunk is spirited away by those creepy Caps… but of course the body-count doesn’t stop there and before you can say “Guinness” our protagonists are up to their asses in goblins, psychotic
Continue reading →
GamingProductReviews
At first, it looks like a children’s game, and the plot sounds like a fairy tale, but dude, you are NOT ready for what’s ahead of you in Bramble: The Mountain King! After the demo went viral on Halloween 2022, the hype was indeed real for Merge Games and Dimfrost Studios’ dark adventure inspired by dark Nordic tales. I would like to give a big thank you and Tack to Merge Games and Dimfrost Studios for the reviewing opportunity! Bramble: The Mountain King is a dark Nordic adventure following Olle, a little boy who is on a mission to save his sister who was kidnapped by a troll and taken to the Mountain King. Olle then journies through a dark world where dangerous creatures from Nordic folklore stalk the woods. Now onto the game itself! Bramble: The Mountain King‘s controls are relatively simple, I just wish there was a better tutorial system in place at the game’s start. Headphones are
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesReviewsShort Films
The Dream Machine Cowriters/codirectors Josef Hermansson Embring and Philip Sterner have crafted a trippy work, Swedish short The Dream Machine. A young man (Alec Toselli) buys the titular device advertised on late-night television in hopes of easing his insomnia, or at least coming to grips with it, but this being a science fiction thriller, naturally using the machine leads to odd consequences. The filmmakers make the most of a small, sparsely decorated apartment, almost bare except for technology circa the short’s early 2000s-setting. The result is a mind-boggling lo-fi mind bender. The Fore-Men Writer/director Adrian Bobb’s The Fore-Men reveals its secrets slowly, and quite satisfyingly so. Sophia Walker and Gabriel Darku give fine performances as they star as what seems to be the lone survivors, at least in their area, of some cataclysmic event that brought the far past and present colliding together. Bobb makes the most of using what viewers don’t see to build mystery and tension and then
Continue reading →
GamingParanormalProductReviews
Not often do I get the chance to check out a game that I’m actually quite hesitant to play after seeing the trailer, but here we are folks. I want to give thanks to Feardemic Games and NC Studio for picking away at my facade of “Pft! I got this!” gaming attitude with Project Nightmares Case 36: Henrietta Kedward. Project Nightmares Case 36: Henrietta Kedward follows an individual who through science and the paranormal is sent into a dream with a psychic connection to a doll with evil energy attached to it that once belonged to Henrietta Kedward, a reclusive elderly woman whose life is shrouded in mystery as well as the paranormal implications surrounding her. While in this dream You will encounter an evil presence that’s well aware of your intrusion and will stop at nothing to kill you. Not onto the game itself! Project Nightmares Case 36: Henrietta Kedward‘s controls respond well and are easy to learn surprisingly
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
If you are looking for a film that is decidedly different from just about anything you have watched recently, look no further than director Isti Madarász’s Hungarian feature Halfway Home (Átjáróház, 2022). This film, which boasts supernatural elements galore, is perhaps the most charming, whimsical consideration of love and death that you are likely to see this year. Kriztián (Péter Bárnai) and Ági (Vivien Rujder) were both rescued from a hospital fire at birth. Kriztián was raised by a witch, which may help him after he is late for a first date — the pair are unaware of each other’s shared hospital story — with Ági. His tardiness resulted in her accidental death. Luckily for Kriztián, he has just landed a new job as a morgue attendant where the dead who have something left undone before their demise wait for a certain period, ascending into Heaven if their desire is fulfilled or meeting with a sadistic demon if it is
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesReviews
Becky’s back, and that’s bad news for another bunch of neo-Nazis. In The Wrath of Becky, Lulu Wilson reprises the titular role in this sequel to 2020’s Becky, in which a preteen girl wastes a group of white supremacists who killed her father. This time around, a trio of them hassle her at the restaurant where she waitresses, and after she embarrasses one of them, they invade the home of the woman with whom she is staying and do some nasty business, including stealing her beloved dog Diego. Interestingly, the codirectors and writers of Becky didn’t repeat their roles for this sequel, which was helmed by Matt Angel (who also costars as one of the baddies) and Suzanne Coote, and written by Angel with Coote receiving a story credit. The pair give the sequel a decidedly more humorous tone than its predecessor, and I had a blast watching Becky deliver comeuppance to the villains and get herself out of trouble,
Continue reading →
MoviesNewsReviewsTrailers
Unlike most of our reviews, this SISU review contains some spoilers because, damn it, I need to talk about this movie! Let’s start at the beginning, with the film’s name. “Sisu is a Finnish concept described as stoic determination, tenacity of purpose, grit, bravery, resilience, and hardiness, and is held by Finns to express their national character. There is no translation for the word.” Written and directed by Jalmari Helander (interview) and produced by Petri Jokiranta, SISU stars Jorma Tommila, Aksel Hennie, Jack Doolan, Onmi Tommila, and Mimosa Willamo. Set in during WWII, a gold prospector (Jorma Tommila) crosses paths with a squad of Nazis in northern Finland. Once they learn that the man is carrying gold, they set out to steal it. But it doesn’t take long for them to realize they’ve messed with the wrong man! In reality, they have tangled with a legendary ex-commando who you wouldn’t want to cross. I’ll start with the cinematography. Making a
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesReviews
Director Colton Van Til takes a trippy deep dive into the dark heart of a 1950s American family in Meltdown: A Nuclear Family’s Ascension into Madness. This impressive fear-fare feature combines disorienting visuals — those with photosensitive epilepsy or other photosensitive issues are hereby warned — with a chilling mystery and heated drama. Political candidate for city office Norman (William Elsman) and his wife Ruby (Hannah Beck), who served as a nurse in the armed forces, put on a brave front as Norman ramps up his campaign, with the unexplained disappearance of their youngest son a few years earlier still weighing heavily on them. Their teen daughter Joan (Maleah Goldberg), meanwhile, is secretly dating Galen (Finn Roberts), the son of Norman’s Bible-verse–spouting political rival George (Eric Hanson) and his heavily drinking wife Teresa (Celena Rae), and their preteen son Harry (Joshua Weatherby) is freely going against his parent’s wishes. If that all sounds volatile enough already, add a dinner party
Continue reading →
MoviesReviews
Back in ’85, an ass-load of that White Gold is hucked out of a plane down Appalachia way where it is partially consumed by a black bear. As fate would have it, the intended recipient of that shipment gone very fuckin’ astray, one Syd White (Ray Liotta), is none to happy about his drug’s current whereabouts, so he entrusts some of his best men; his constantly crying, recently widowed son Eddie (Alden Ehrenreich) and the put-upon, though decidedly more competent Daveed (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) to bring that coke back right quick! Of course that bear has been tearing anyone within paws reach a new asshole, so retrieving those bags o’ fun will be a bit dicey for our “heroes”… and when you add in a lovelorn Park Ranger (played by prolific character actress Margo Martindale to comedic perfection), a cache of stab-happy pop art punks, kids playing hooky, and an intrepid out-of-town flatfoot (Isiah Whitlock Jr.) that task goes from
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MoviesNewsReviewsTrailers
The Evil Dead franchise began with Evil Dead in 1981, Sam Raimi’s classic starring the oh so “groovy” Bruce Campbell. After several installments, director Fede Alvarez took the franchise in a new, more serious direction in 2013 with Evil Dead, starring Jane Levy. The second installment of the new branch of the franchise has just landed in theaters, Evil Dead Rise. Being the Evil Dead lover that I am, I headed to the theater to see it. I went into it knowing that it would be very different from the first Evil Dead I fell in love with and trying to keep an open mind. This is key for horror fans. You must compartmentalize and see the two branches separately. Evil Dead Rise moves the franchise out of the forest and into the city. It tells the twisted tale of two estranged sisters whose reunion is cut short by the rise of flesh-possessing deadites, thrusting them into a primal battle
Continue reading →
ForeignIndieMoviesReviews
Maya (Hannah John-Kamen, whom you may remember from 2018’s superhero romp Ant-Man and the Wasp, but she’s been in an ass-load of other cool stuff) and Jamie (Douglas Booth) are more than ready to get the fuck out of Dodge after being accosted by thugs, so off they trot to the safety and serenity of the Irish countryside where absolutely nothing can ever go wrong. Once there they move into the home bequeathed to J-Dawg by his recently croaked aunt… but the country home comes with a warning; honor the old ways and pay tribute to the mysterious Redcaps rumored to haunt the land every day, or there will be unspecified static heading their way! Of course our heroes forget that shit Day fuckin’ One, and the town drunk is spirited away by those creepy Caps… but of course the body-count doesn’t stop there and before you can say “Guinness” our protagonists are up to their asses in goblins, psychotic
Continue reading →
GamingProductReviews
At first, it looks like a children’s game, and the plot sounds like a fairy tale, but dude, you are NOT ready for what’s ahead of you in Bramble: The Mountain King! After the demo went viral on Halloween 2022, the hype was indeed real for Merge Games and Dimfrost Studios’ dark adventure inspired by dark Nordic tales. I would like to give a big thank you and Tack to Merge Games and Dimfrost Studios for the reviewing opportunity! Bramble: The Mountain King is a dark Nordic adventure following Olle, a little boy who is on a mission to save his sister who was kidnapped by a troll and taken to the Mountain King. Olle then journies through a dark world where dangerous creatures from Nordic folklore stalk the woods. Now onto the game itself! Bramble: The Mountain King‘s controls are relatively simple, I just wish there was a better tutorial system in place at the game’s start. Headphones are
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesReviewsShort Films
The Dream Machine Cowriters/codirectors Josef Hermansson Embring and Philip Sterner have crafted a trippy work, Swedish short The Dream Machine. A young man (Alec Toselli) buys the titular device advertised on late-night television in hopes of easing his insomnia, or at least coming to grips with it, but this being a science fiction thriller, naturally using the machine leads to odd consequences. The filmmakers make the most of a small, sparsely decorated apartment, almost bare except for technology circa the short’s early 2000s-setting. The result is a mind-boggling lo-fi mind bender. The Fore-Men Writer/director Adrian Bobb’s The Fore-Men reveals its secrets slowly, and quite satisfyingly so. Sophia Walker and Gabriel Darku give fine performances as they star as what seems to be the lone survivors, at least in their area, of some cataclysmic event that brought the far past and present colliding together. Bobb makes the most of using what viewers don’t see to build mystery and tension and then
Continue reading →
GamingParanormalProductReviews
Not often do I get the chance to check out a game that I’m actually quite hesitant to play after seeing the trailer, but here we are folks. I want to give thanks to Feardemic Games and NC Studio for picking away at my facade of “Pft! I got this!” gaming attitude with Project Nightmares Case 36: Henrietta Kedward. Project Nightmares Case 36: Henrietta Kedward follows an individual who through science and the paranormal is sent into a dream with a psychic connection to a doll with evil energy attached to it that once belonged to Henrietta Kedward, a reclusive elderly woman whose life is shrouded in mystery as well as the paranormal implications surrounding her. While in this dream You will encounter an evil presence that’s well aware of your intrusion and will stop at nothing to kill you. Not onto the game itself! Project Nightmares Case 36: Henrietta Kedward‘s controls respond well and are easy to learn surprisingly
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
If you are looking for a film that is decidedly different from just about anything you have watched recently, look no further than director Isti Madarász’s Hungarian feature Halfway Home (Átjáróház, 2022). This film, which boasts supernatural elements galore, is perhaps the most charming, whimsical consideration of love and death that you are likely to see this year. Kriztián (Péter Bárnai) and Ági (Vivien Rujder) were both rescued from a hospital fire at birth. Kriztián was raised by a witch, which may help him after he is late for a first date — the pair are unaware of each other’s shared hospital story — with Ági. His tardiness resulted in her accidental death. Luckily for Kriztián, he has just landed a new job as a morgue attendant where the dead who have something left undone before their demise wait for a certain period, ascending into Heaven if their desire is fulfilled or meeting with a sadistic demon if it is
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesReviews
Becky’s back, and that’s bad news for another bunch of neo-Nazis. In The Wrath of Becky, Lulu Wilson reprises the titular role in this sequel to 2020’s Becky, in which a preteen girl wastes a group of white supremacists who killed her father. This time around, a trio of them hassle her at the restaurant where she waitresses, and after she embarrasses one of them, they invade the home of the woman with whom she is staying and do some nasty business, including stealing her beloved dog Diego. Interestingly, the codirectors and writers of Becky didn’t repeat their roles for this sequel, which was helmed by Matt Angel (who also costars as one of the baddies) and Suzanne Coote, and written by Angel with Coote receiving a story credit. The pair give the sequel a decidedly more humorous tone than its predecessor, and I had a blast watching Becky deliver comeuppance to the villains and get herself out of trouble,
Continue reading →
MoviesNewsReviewsTrailers
Unlike most of our reviews, this SISU review contains some spoilers because, damn it, I need to talk about this movie! Let’s start at the beginning, with the film’s name. “Sisu is a Finnish concept described as stoic determination, tenacity of purpose, grit, bravery, resilience, and hardiness, and is held by Finns to express their national character. There is no translation for the word.” Written and directed by Jalmari Helander (interview) and produced by Petri Jokiranta, SISU stars Jorma Tommila, Aksel Hennie, Jack Doolan, Onmi Tommila, and Mimosa Willamo. Set in during WWII, a gold prospector (Jorma Tommila) crosses paths with a squad of Nazis in northern Finland. Once they learn that the man is carrying gold, they set out to steal it. But it doesn’t take long for them to realize they’ve messed with the wrong man! In reality, they have tangled with a legendary ex-commando who you wouldn’t want to cross. I’ll start with the cinematography. Making a
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesReviews
Director Colton Van Til takes a trippy deep dive into the dark heart of a 1950s American family in Meltdown: A Nuclear Family’s Ascension into Madness. This impressive fear-fare feature combines disorienting visuals — those with photosensitive epilepsy or other photosensitive issues are hereby warned — with a chilling mystery and heated drama. Political candidate for city office Norman (William Elsman) and his wife Ruby (Hannah Beck), who served as a nurse in the armed forces, put on a brave front as Norman ramps up his campaign, with the unexplained disappearance of their youngest son a few years earlier still weighing heavily on them. Their teen daughter Joan (Maleah Goldberg), meanwhile, is secretly dating Galen (Finn Roberts), the son of Norman’s Bible-verse–spouting political rival George (Eric Hanson) and his heavily drinking wife Teresa (Celena Rae), and their preteen son Harry (Joshua Weatherby) is freely going against his parent’s wishes. If that all sounds volatile enough already, add a dinner party
Continue reading →
MoviesReviews
Back in ’85, an ass-load of that White Gold is hucked out of a plane down Appalachia way where it is partially consumed by a black bear. As fate would have it, the intended recipient of that shipment gone very fuckin’ astray, one Syd White (Ray Liotta), is none to happy about his drug’s current whereabouts, so he entrusts some of his best men; his constantly crying, recently widowed son Eddie (Alden Ehrenreich) and the put-upon, though decidedly more competent Daveed (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) to bring that coke back right quick! Of course that bear has been tearing anyone within paws reach a new asshole, so retrieving those bags o’ fun will be a bit dicey for our “heroes”… and when you add in a lovelorn Park Ranger (played by prolific character actress Margo Martindale to comedic perfection), a cache of stab-happy pop art punks, kids playing hooky, and an intrepid out-of-town flatfoot (Isiah Whitlock Jr.) that task goes from
Continue reading →
