CategoryReviews
Honest horror reviews of films, series, games and books — no hype, no spoilers, just whether it is worth your time and your nerves.
3,463 stories
AdaptationMoviesReviews
Helen (Virginia Madsen) and her friend Bernadette (Kasi Lemmons) are just a couple o’ ladies on their way to complete a thesis at the college they attend… a thesis revolving around the local urban legend of a supernatural menace known as the Candyman (the legendary Tony Todd) who has been rumored to stalk the absolute living nightmare of the tenements of Chicago’s Cabrini-Green if anyone is foolish enough to utter his name five times before a mirror. And why wouldn’t they strut right on into the horribly depressed an violent projects? I mean besides the dangerous fellows out front, there’s the matter of the very real titular grotesquery; a son of a slave that was murdered for falling in love with a white woman who has come back from the dead with a real hatred for… well, everyone. Add in his meat hook hand, and belly full of bees guaranteed to take your ass out like My Girl-style Macaulay Culkin,
Continue reading →
HalloweenReviews
There are only 94 days left until Halloween, and if you are like me, I go BIG every year. The neighbors have come to expect a show. So it’s time to start planning and stocking up on spooky decorations. I stumbled across HalloweenCostumes.com and ordered a few things to get me started. The website is massive, featuring everything you could need for a killer Halloween, including props, decorations, costumes, and spooky decor, but let’s be honest, you don’t need a holiday to have cool horror-themed items around the house. So, I ordered four items, a ghost, a floating witch, a standing witch, and a wreath. They arrived in a matter of days. You may be wondering if the items look like they do on the site. The answer is yes. You get exactly what you ordered and they come ready to go, with all animatronics coming with batteries already installed. The wreath ($19.99) features a skull and pale yellow/white flowers
Continue reading →
MoviesNewsReviewsThrillerTrailers
Nic, struggling with PTSD after finding her friend murdered, joins her friends for a day of kayaking. While having fun, a rogue (one more aggressive than usual) great white begins to hunt them, and the children that are playing in the water. After one of them is killed and a child injured the women, which have landed on an empty, secluded island must enter the water again to get help. That’s the premise of The Reef: Stalked, the sequel to The Reef. Unlike most killer shark movies with terrible CGI, Stalked features live sharks, like the 2009 original. And for that I am thankful. As a shark lover, I can’t stand to see those fake AF sharks. The movie turns a stunning, big, beautiful great white into the villain. I will say this, I don’t like to see sharks turned into villains. They aren’t murderous, they don’t form grudges, and they don’t have motives. They simply are what they are,
Continue reading →
NetflixNewsReviewsStreaming TVTrailers
Netflix’s animated series “Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous” has just debuted its fifth action-packed season. You may be thinking, why is she reviewing a kids’ show? The simple answer is, that it’s a great series. The series follows a group of six teenagers chosen for a once-in-a-lifetime experience at Camp Cretaceous, a new adventure camp on the opposite side of Isla Nublar who must work together to survive after things go very wrong. Camp Cretaceous goes beyond just entertainment, teaching viewers about the dinosaurs that the teens come in contact with, survival tips, and more. It also deals with very serious themes such fear and death. As for the characters, they aren’t one dimensional like in most children’s series. They have depth, they are sympathetic and relatable, and are pretty realistic. They are voiced by Paul-Mikel Williams as Darius; Jenna Ortega as Brooklynn; Ryan Potter as Kenji; Raini Rodriguez as Sammy; Sean Giambrone as Ben; and Kausar Mohammed as Yaz. Returning
Continue reading →
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MoviesReviews
He’s Watching, the latest feature from director Jacob Estes (Mean Creek; Don’t Let Go) is bound to frustrate some viewers while keeping others glued to the screen. I fell toward the latter; this film that started out as a family project filmed during COVID-19 lockdown has its share of slow moments and found-footage tropes, but it also delivers an effectively eerie atmosphere and believable performances from two real-life siblings, Estes’ teen daughter Iris Serena Estes and his younger son Lucas Estes. Iris and Lucas are left to their own devices when a virus that affects only adults puts their parents in the hospital. The kids send messages to Jacob and their mom (Gretchen Lieberum) that go unanswered but are seemingly being watched by the parents. The siblings think that each one is being pranked by the other, with tension and incidents escalating and lots of bickering going on, but soon enough they realize that something called The Closet Creeper has
Continue reading →
MoviesNewsReviewsTrailers
Fans of the Jurassic franchise have been eagerly awaiting the final film, Jurassic World: Dominion and it’s finally out On Demand and VOD. I’m a huge fan of the franchise and I’m a bit of a dinosaur nerd (and not ashamed of it). So I was pumped to kick back and watch it last night. Jurassic World: Dominion plays heavy on nostalgia as they bring all of the main characters/actors from the previous films together, Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Dern, Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, Isabela Sermon, and BD Wong. We also see some of our favorite dinosaurs including Rexy and Blue, who have somehow given birth to a baby, Betta. It was a great idea, especially seeing that this is supposedly the final film of the franchise. A ton of new characters join the film including DeWanda Wise, Mamoudou Athie, Campbell Scott, and more. One of the main characters, Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) has grown quite a bit,
Continue reading →
MoviesReviewsThriller
Lux Aeterna begins with legendary French actress Béatrice Dalle (Betty Blue) playing herself (or writer/director Gaspar Noé’s version of her anyway) having a lengthy conversation with the star of her upcoming witch trial flick God’s Work, Lars von Trier muse Charlotte Gainsbourg. The fireside chat steers towards the perils they have faced in the entertainment industry (and seems agonizingly authentic even if it was faked for film), and as the conversation progresses we can’t help but think of the parallels between the way women are treated in a male dominated world and the witches of old… yeah man, this is an art house flick with plenty on its mind, and the point is hard to dismiss right down to the usage of sequences from Benjamin Christensen’s 1922 cinematic treatise on the evolution of witchcraft, Haxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages during the film’s opening. Naturally, the production goes slightly off the rails when a bunch of clueless dudes (an American director,
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
Sir Christopher Lee had one hell of a run, and while being one of the greatest screen Dracula’s of all-time he also found time to star in some of the biggest film franchises in cinema history such as Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings… he also found time to star in all-manner of seriously bizarre shit, such as the 1983 superhero parody The Return of Captain Invincible (which I reviewed right here) and much of the material that comprises The Eurocrypt of Christopher Lee: Collection 2 from those delightful devils at Severin Films! Kicking off this creepy collection is 1959’s Uncle Was a Vampire… Always one to get down with a fang bang, Lee stars as Baron Roderico, a vampire… imagine that! Anyway, Baron R picks up stakes (not literally, that would kill the auld fellow) and arrives at the castle of his broke as a joke nephew… only to find it has been converted to a hotel
Continue reading →
GamingIndieParanormalProductReviewsSci-Fi
If I told you there’s an FPS game that looks and feels like Crysis and COD, but it’s indie, you would probably think I lost my mind. Well, I just played a game just like that and I was quite surprised that I enjoyed it! Let me introduce you to Bright Memory: Infinite, an FPS by FYQD Studio and Playisim who I would like to take this time to thank for the reviewing opportunity! Bright Memory: Infinite takes place in China where players play as Shelia, a member of an organization called the SRO, who is working to understand a strange anomaly that had appeared in the sky over a province causing destruction. Shelia, with the use of a power suit and supernatural abilities, finds herself fighting soldiers from a military organization as well as ancient foes. Now onto the game itself! For all the FPS vets like me, you may have to get used to these controls as the
Continue reading →
EventsFilm FestivalsForeignIndieMoviesReviews
Chiaksan Mountain Writer/director Kim Sun-Ung’s science fiction/horror film Chiaksan Mountain leans heavily into the cabin in the woods scare-fare tropes — including a group of teenagers featuring an annoying girlfriend and an emotionally troubled main protagonist, being out of cell phone range, a local warning the disbelieving group members that they are destined to die, and so forth — but what it lacks in originality it makes up for in sheer gusto. A group of friends who are mountain biking enthusiasts go to the forest cottage of YeonJi’s (Kim YeWon) deceased father. Her cousin MinJoon (Yun KyunSang) is the group leader, and when floods of red light, ear-piercing noises, and strange entities in the woods begin terrifying the group, it’s just the beginning of horrifying things to come. The cast, which also features Bae GeuRin, Yoon JeWook, and Lee TeaHwan, does a solid job with performances, and the third act gets pretty bonkers. Director Kim builds the tension and mystery
Continue reading →
More from Reviews
AdaptationMoviesReviews
Helen (Virginia Madsen) and her friend Bernadette (Kasi Lemmons) are just a couple o’ ladies on their way to complete a thesis at the college they attend… a thesis revolving around the local urban legend of a supernatural menace known as the Candyman (the legendary Tony Todd) who has been rumored to stalk the absolute living nightmare of the tenements of Chicago’s Cabrini-Green if anyone is foolish enough to utter his name five times before a mirror. And why wouldn’t they strut right on into the horribly depressed an violent projects? I mean besides the dangerous fellows out front, there’s the matter of the very real titular grotesquery; a son of a slave that was murdered for falling in love with a white woman who has come back from the dead with a real hatred for… well, everyone. Add in his meat hook hand, and belly full of bees guaranteed to take your ass out like My Girl-style Macaulay Culkin,
Continue reading →
HalloweenReviews
There are only 94 days left until Halloween, and if you are like me, I go BIG every year. The neighbors have come to expect a show. So it’s time to start planning and stocking up on spooky decorations. I stumbled across HalloweenCostumes.com and ordered a few things to get me started. The website is massive, featuring everything you could need for a killer Halloween, including props, decorations, costumes, and spooky decor, but let’s be honest, you don’t need a holiday to have cool horror-themed items around the house. So, I ordered four items, a ghost, a floating witch, a standing witch, and a wreath. They arrived in a matter of days. You may be wondering if the items look like they do on the site. The answer is yes. You get exactly what you ordered and they come ready to go, with all animatronics coming with batteries already installed. The wreath ($19.99) features a skull and pale yellow/white flowers
Continue reading →
MoviesNewsReviewsThrillerTrailers
Nic, struggling with PTSD after finding her friend murdered, joins her friends for a day of kayaking. While having fun, a rogue (one more aggressive than usual) great white begins to hunt them, and the children that are playing in the water. After one of them is killed and a child injured the women, which have landed on an empty, secluded island must enter the water again to get help. That’s the premise of The Reef: Stalked, the sequel to The Reef. Unlike most killer shark movies with terrible CGI, Stalked features live sharks, like the 2009 original. And for that I am thankful. As a shark lover, I can’t stand to see those fake AF sharks. The movie turns a stunning, big, beautiful great white into the villain. I will say this, I don’t like to see sharks turned into villains. They aren’t murderous, they don’t form grudges, and they don’t have motives. They simply are what they are,
Continue reading →
NetflixNewsReviewsStreaming TVTrailers
Netflix’s animated series “Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous” has just debuted its fifth action-packed season. You may be thinking, why is she reviewing a kids’ show? The simple answer is, that it’s a great series. The series follows a group of six teenagers chosen for a once-in-a-lifetime experience at Camp Cretaceous, a new adventure camp on the opposite side of Isla Nublar who must work together to survive after things go very wrong. Camp Cretaceous goes beyond just entertainment, teaching viewers about the dinosaurs that the teens come in contact with, survival tips, and more. It also deals with very serious themes such fear and death. As for the characters, they aren’t one dimensional like in most children’s series. They have depth, they are sympathetic and relatable, and are pretty realistic. They are voiced by Paul-Mikel Williams as Darius; Jenna Ortega as Brooklynn; Ryan Potter as Kenji; Raini Rodriguez as Sammy; Sean Giambrone as Ben; and Kausar Mohammed as Yaz. Returning
Continue reading →
MoviesReviews
He’s Watching, the latest feature from director Jacob Estes (Mean Creek; Don’t Let Go) is bound to frustrate some viewers while keeping others glued to the screen. I fell toward the latter; this film that started out as a family project filmed during COVID-19 lockdown has its share of slow moments and found-footage tropes, but it also delivers an effectively eerie atmosphere and believable performances from two real-life siblings, Estes’ teen daughter Iris Serena Estes and his younger son Lucas Estes. Iris and Lucas are left to their own devices when a virus that affects only adults puts their parents in the hospital. The kids send messages to Jacob and their mom (Gretchen Lieberum) that go unanswered but are seemingly being watched by the parents. The siblings think that each one is being pranked by the other, with tension and incidents escalating and lots of bickering going on, but soon enough they realize that something called The Closet Creeper has
Continue reading →
MoviesNewsReviewsTrailers
Fans of the Jurassic franchise have been eagerly awaiting the final film, Jurassic World: Dominion and it’s finally out On Demand and VOD. I’m a huge fan of the franchise and I’m a bit of a dinosaur nerd (and not ashamed of it). So I was pumped to kick back and watch it last night. Jurassic World: Dominion plays heavy on nostalgia as they bring all of the main characters/actors from the previous films together, Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Dern, Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, Isabela Sermon, and BD Wong. We also see some of our favorite dinosaurs including Rexy and Blue, who have somehow given birth to a baby, Betta. It was a great idea, especially seeing that this is supposedly the final film of the franchise. A ton of new characters join the film including DeWanda Wise, Mamoudou Athie, Campbell Scott, and more. One of the main characters, Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) has grown quite a bit,
Continue reading →
MoviesReviewsThriller
Lux Aeterna begins with legendary French actress Béatrice Dalle (Betty Blue) playing herself (or writer/director Gaspar Noé’s version of her anyway) having a lengthy conversation with the star of her upcoming witch trial flick God’s Work, Lars von Trier muse Charlotte Gainsbourg. The fireside chat steers towards the perils they have faced in the entertainment industry (and seems agonizingly authentic even if it was faked for film), and as the conversation progresses we can’t help but think of the parallels between the way women are treated in a male dominated world and the witches of old… yeah man, this is an art house flick with plenty on its mind, and the point is hard to dismiss right down to the usage of sequences from Benjamin Christensen’s 1922 cinematic treatise on the evolution of witchcraft, Haxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages during the film’s opening. Naturally, the production goes slightly off the rails when a bunch of clueless dudes (an American director,
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
Sir Christopher Lee had one hell of a run, and while being one of the greatest screen Dracula’s of all-time he also found time to star in some of the biggest film franchises in cinema history such as Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings… he also found time to star in all-manner of seriously bizarre shit, such as the 1983 superhero parody The Return of Captain Invincible (which I reviewed right here) and much of the material that comprises The Eurocrypt of Christopher Lee: Collection 2 from those delightful devils at Severin Films! Kicking off this creepy collection is 1959’s Uncle Was a Vampire… Always one to get down with a fang bang, Lee stars as Baron Roderico, a vampire… imagine that! Anyway, Baron R picks up stakes (not literally, that would kill the auld fellow) and arrives at the castle of his broke as a joke nephew… only to find it has been converted to a hotel
Continue reading →
GamingIndieParanormalProductReviewsSci-Fi
If I told you there’s an FPS game that looks and feels like Crysis and COD, but it’s indie, you would probably think I lost my mind. Well, I just played a game just like that and I was quite surprised that I enjoyed it! Let me introduce you to Bright Memory: Infinite, an FPS by FYQD Studio and Playisim who I would like to take this time to thank for the reviewing opportunity! Bright Memory: Infinite takes place in China where players play as Shelia, a member of an organization called the SRO, who is working to understand a strange anomaly that had appeared in the sky over a province causing destruction. Shelia, with the use of a power suit and supernatural abilities, finds herself fighting soldiers from a military organization as well as ancient foes. Now onto the game itself! For all the FPS vets like me, you may have to get used to these controls as the
Continue reading →
EventsFilm FestivalsForeignIndieMoviesReviews
Chiaksan Mountain Writer/director Kim Sun-Ung’s science fiction/horror film Chiaksan Mountain leans heavily into the cabin in the woods scare-fare tropes — including a group of teenagers featuring an annoying girlfriend and an emotionally troubled main protagonist, being out of cell phone range, a local warning the disbelieving group members that they are destined to die, and so forth — but what it lacks in originality it makes up for in sheer gusto. A group of friends who are mountain biking enthusiasts go to the forest cottage of YeonJi’s (Kim YeWon) deceased father. Her cousin MinJoon (Yun KyunSang) is the group leader, and when floods of red light, ear-piercing noises, and strange entities in the woods begin terrifying the group, it’s just the beginning of horrifying things to come. The cast, which also features Bae GeuRin, Yoon JeWook, and Lee TeaHwan, does a solid job with performances, and the third act gets pretty bonkers. Director Kim builds the tension and mystery
Continue reading →
