Alien Storm (2026) - Sci-fi Horror Film Review

Alien Storm, co-written and directed by Adam Werth (Devil's Knight, Arena Wars) is the latest film from Mahal Empire. Over the years there have been consistently entertaining movies put out by them. The budget may often be low, but these always looked like they were fun to make. With such an ambitious global story here, would that be able to be adequately told in a little over 70 minutes?

A strange unnatural mist has began to appear in key areas all over the globe. Areas afflicted with this mist lose contact to the outside world. This alarming news is something the American President (Kevin Sorbo - Devil's Knight, Without a Body) bizarrely has only just been informed of - informed that key cities around the world have already gone dark, and that many areas in the US are now in the process of being lost!
Frank is the owner of a successful business, and happens to be hosting a large dinner party at his mansion when the mist appears. With reports on the TV stating to stay inside away from the mist, Frank invites his guests to use his newly constructed bunker, to stay there until the all-clear is given from the government. This might be a too little too late step for the guests though, as it becomes clear that as well as the mist, some sort of monster has infiltrated the grounds of Frank's property.

To cover such a global feeling story in such a relatively short run time was quite ambitious and the scope of the story is never that well realised. The prologue and President's briefing scenes attempt to show this, but more successful was the small montage of different news anchors reporting on the unfolding story.
Within the film, there is some discourse about whether the creatures are alien or demonic. This was just one area where it felt like this was trying to be a low budget version of Signs. In this case, the creatures look more like men in monster costumes. What they lack in realism they make up in numbers, a decent amount appear. You may never forget these don't look like actual monsters, but I did think the glowing red eyes they had made for a unique look, especially in the mist.
There are plenty of action scenes and a high body count. Many kills are shown via fast editing of monster attacks, which sold the kills well I felt. Following previous films, this is quantity over quality, with a huge cast of characters, most of which barely get screen time to give themselves personalities, these are mainly here to be cannon-fodder for the aliens. Some of the cast at least are given more to them, to make them less than one dimensional - such as the rivalry between two former sport stars, and Brian, the loveable albeit stupid uncle character.

There were pacing issues here, and some less than great set-design. With the former, there was barely much of a story here at all. Characters go out of their way to get in danger, and the resulting finale felt rushed through. High action and high stakes for sure, but this finale felt uncomfortably constrained in a ten minute burst. It wasn't an abrupt ending, but ended soon enough that a block of text appears on screen to explain what happened afterwards.
The bunker door for the bunker played a key role in the story, yet the door itself looked pretty wobbly, with the two doors that make up it never really coming together and closing properly. Didn't seem very effective for a supposedly tough door. The mist was overused, though only in the sense that every time it appeared it made everything look the same misty white, obscuring the environments and making it hard to make much out. The bunker interior did look fantastic however, a highlight of the locations used in the movie.

Alien Storm may have been a bit overly ambitious, but I enjoyed it. There was a streak of nihilism that made for an interesting feel and vibe. There were bound to be some less than amazing acting in the large cast, but I enjoyed the characters, regardless of how simple they were. There were parts of this that reminded me of the zombie sub-genre of horror, never a bad thing at all to discover. Alien Storm was released on 21st July and is available to rent or buy on Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video.

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GO Team Agents of C.A.N.U.C.K "Bitter Rivals/African Assault" (2023) by I.D Russell - Comedy Action Novel Review

I've read a bunch of author, I.D Russell's novels in the past. He is someone I discovered while watching his film adaptation of his comedy thriller; The Killing Death. There, I liked the silly type of humour that also came with moments of bloody horror. Earlier this year, Russell sent me a whole bunch of his more recent novels, the first of these I chose to read was his comedy action novel; GO Team Agents of C.A.N.U.C.K "Bitter Rivals/African Assault".

I might be mistaken, but I believe this novel is a spiritual sequel to The Revengist series; a comedy crime trilogy. The GO Team are a secretive Canadian elite special squad who carry out dangerous missions around the world that few others would be able to complete. Set in the 1980s, the once powerful GO Team is now a shadow of its former self, with the outfit only having three agents to its name. Hunglo is the Asian kung-fu expert, Brutal Suzy is an expert sniper, while Doll-Face (Jessica) is the newest member and an all rounder. During a routine mission, these agents discover America's flashy and non-secret version of GO Team, their one named Uncle Sam Squad, soon becomes known worldwide for always getting the job done with minimal casualties. With Uncle Sam Squad beating GO Team to their every mission, the Canadian outfit get closed down, seen as no longer needed. Desperate to stay relevant, the team go rogue, certain if they carry out one last mission, that their use to the world will be recognised.

First off, GO Team is a great novel. The humour is transferred here effortlessly, and it very rarely misses. To be honest, I came here for more of Frank Malone. This detective character may be a clone of Police Squad's Frank Drebin, but I adore the character and his matter of fact literal view of the world. Sadly for me, Frank barely features here. Mentioned in passing, he only makes on appearance for a third of a single chapter. He was on glorious form when he did appear, and the rest of the book was so entertaining that his mild role wasn't an issue.
The book's title suggests a double header, but Bitter Rivals and African Assault flow together much more smoothly than that. The only real link between the two are the chapters dedicated to sadistic dictator Mbunga, demonstrating how cartoonishly evil he is. For all the breezy larger than life characters, there are some strong moments of darkness, including a few scenes of torture and plenty of harsh threats. Though, mostly, the novel runs more comedic than anything else.

GO Team felt like action figures brought to life upon the pages. Each character has a strong personality and iconic look. This vibe was purposeful, with the story never trying to take itself super seriously. One amusing mid-book part has GO Team trying to infiltrate Uncle Sam Squad's huge and impractical mobile fortress. This whole part screamed M.A.S.K to me (something I loved as a child), especially with the location of a petrol station named Boulder Hill. As a child I had the M.A.S.K base, of course set at a petrol station with that same name. That whole part of the book had GO Team at its best, funny, exciting, and unique in equal measure.
The protagonists of the novel reminded me a bit of the characters from Archer. Not so much incompetent, as competent, but constantly finding themselves in ridiculous situations. They were a likeable bunch, so were fun to follow around.

You may well wonder what a review of a comedy action novel is doing on a horror blog. Initially, my excuse was that the novel includes Frank Malone; a character who has feature in comedy horror novels previously. For purists however, there is horror in a form that was very close to my heart, that appeared in the closing sections, but which I won't speak of for fear of spoilers. I enjoyed GO Team Agents of C.A.N.U.C.K "Bitter Rivals/African Assault". Sure, the portrayal of the African characters all being prone to superstition did feel a bit antiquated, but mostly the novel was forever on point. Maybe the 'African Assault' part of the novel could have been extended slightly, to feel less like a fever dream (taking place over the back third of the novel), but overall, this was a wonderful blend of comedy and action.

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Lars Shrike Walks the Night (2024) - Sci-fi Film Review

Sci-fi is often a not too distant cousin to horror, so, the Gary Walkow (The Trouble With Dick) written and directed Lars Shrike Walks the Night seemed on paper like a good fit for this humble blog. I admit, more than anything, I was interested in this due to Kelsey Grammer (Frasier, Cheers) starring. This very low budget, indie arthouse thriller was far more slow paced than I had anticipated, full of philosophical musings rather than moments of action.

Lars (Grammer), suffering amnesia, finds himself wandering a strange desert. All he can remember is his name, and that he had recently escaped from a prison based on an alien prison planet. The man has the clothes on his back, and an A.I controlled rifle, which is rapidly losing power. Lars' journey sees him travel down a narrow ravine, which results in him somehow ending up in modern day California. In a library, Lars discovers that he may actually just be a character from a sci-fi novel, and decides to track down the author of the novel in order to try and discover the truth of who he actually is.

For the first ten to fifteen minutes, this looked like it would just be a very cheaply made sci-fi B-movie. I thought to myself that Grammer must have fallen on hard times to have agreed to star in this. Whether that is the case or not, this turned out to be a more intelligent film than first impressions had suggested. It is relatively early on when Lars finds himself on Earth, but much longer before he realises this fact. It was somewhat amusing looking at Earth technology through an alien lens. Taking the form of such moments as Lars believing homes to be prison cells, and being mystified when he attempts to use a PC.
The sci-fi plot soon transitions into a more arthouse look at what it means to be alive and having freewill. This becomes more a visual essay, and while light on action, there are some interesting ideas to be discovered here, but it is a slow paced film.

The majority of the movie has Lars on his own. There are a handful of side characters, but just the one felt like they were really integral to the story playing out. This isn't something that takes itself super seriously - the talking gun for example is patently ridiculous, while Lars continuing confusion when dealing with modern day Earth is always exaggerated. His wanderings through desert and later California is a lonely and isolating trek, his journey constantly narrated by David Clennon, who starred in the 1987 sci-fi movie tangential prequel; The Trouble With Dick. All the philosophical musings on the nature of man made for an interesting subject, but the story suffered as a result. It increasingly felt more abstract, culminating in an open ended finale, resolving this somewhat, without too much really happening.

Less a film and more a study into the nature of humanity, Lars Shrike Walks the Night soon loses its sci-fi disguise. Grammer was great in his unexpected role, but the slow pace and more artsy feel meant that while the dialogue might have had merit, what actually happens wasn't quite as exciting. Lars Shrike Walks the Night came to VOD on July 24th.

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Home (2026) by Trivia - Music EP Review

Trivia are a Sunderland based punk duo whose debut EP released on 18th July. Impressively, the two members; Hannah Hays and Lydia Stubbs are young teenagers, 14 and 15 respectively. Home is the title of their debut, and features five tracks over 20 minutes. As always, no clue what I'm doing when it comes to music reviews, so don't expect Shakespeare here.

Titular track 'Home' opens up the EP. Four minutes of high energy pop punk which reminded me of the style of B*tch Alert. Next is 'Schizophrenia', an early contender for best track. This features three minutes of mildly snarling singing with a heavy drum beat that was literal music to the ears. Giving a bit of a Courtney Love sound is middle track 'Where Do You Go?', another good one, and another thundering drum beat. Penultimate track 'Fade' continues the blistering punk rock sound, until 'Tonight' closes out the EP. At five minutes, this last track did wear out its welcome somewhat due to the repetitive nature of it.

Trivia's debut EP Home was a good listen, with the three tracks in the middle especially good to hear. I enjoyed it, and at 20 minutes was a perfect length all in all. Trivia have recently been picked up by Serial Bowl Records who are releasing the EP as a CD.

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The Mortuary Assistant (2026) - Horror Film Review

The Mortuary Assistant is a film adaptation of the video game of the same name in which you surprisingly play as a mortuary assistant. I haven't played the game, nor do I know much about it, but I can say it has been sat in my wish list for a while, so eventually I will get around to playing it. I decided to use my time with the movie trying to see if I could decipher what the game itself would involve; a fun little side quest I set myself. This was directed by Jeremiah Kipp (Crestfallen, Contact), with the screenplay coming from Tracee Beebe and Brian Clarke (the later being the creator of the video game this is based on).

Rebecca (Willa Holland - Gossip Girl, Straw Dogs), is a new mortuary assistant who has recently completed her training, allowing her to work unsupervised. She is also a recovering drug addict who has made it to one year free, important as it gives the character a dark backstory. Her creepy boss, Raymond (Paul Sparks - House of Cards, Thoroughbreds) had told her she would never be needed in the mortuary at night, but one dark and stormy evening he contacts her, telling her he is out of town, so she is needed to deal with some bodies that have been delivered there. Things begin fine, but then Rebecca begins to experience strange goings on. Power fluctuations, ringing phones and doors being knocked on, but no-one being there, and hallucinations of a manically grinning white humanoid. It isn't much later that she discovers she has become possessed by a demonic entity that had been residing in one of the corpses she had been working on, and now it is feeding off of her trauma to try and fully take control of the woman. Luckily for her, Raymond is all too aware of this risk of the job, and he has knowledge of how to deal with the situation. He is also someone looking to save his own skin, and so, rather than assist in person, he instead locks Rebecca in the mortuary and gives her some obtuse instructions via the phone.

Watching this, I hoped it would be doing something similar to the excellent The Autopsy of Jane Doe. Setting wise and situation wise those two films were quite similar. This film mostly takes place over a single night, with Rebecca all alone doing her best to adapt and survive to the hell she has found herself in. The hallucinations she experiences have consequence for her outside of being scary, as these hallucinations are able to physically hurt her. She is visited by these deadite style imitations of people who were/are close to her, with their torment revolving around an incident in Rebecca's past that the film keeps flashbacking to. In the present, Raymond does his best to bring both our protagonist and the viewer up to speed on the lore of the film world. I thought Sparks was great in his role, an interesting character who comes across as neutral rather than good or evil. The help he offers is sincere and legitimate, but he is also someone that doesn't want to put himself at unnecessary risk.
Her journey has her shunted through a series of hallucinations and dream sequences heaped on top of each other, transporting her through time and space. This created a dreamlike feel where I could never be too sure what was really happening and what was imagined, which caused the film's stakes to be drastically lowered. It is hard to fear for the safety of a protagonist when a lot of what she is facing may all be in her head.

The Mortuary Assistant had good atmosphere to it, but ultimately was never scary. The tendency to introduce moments of surprise terror with a musical intro led to those parts always falling flat. The confusing story led to moments when I wasn't exactly sure what Rebecca was trying to achieve, nor how she knew to do it. Within this, there are a few scenes of intense action, which were always fun to watch. The special effects were decent enough, and the make-up work on the various corpses looked neat. The prime antagonist here wasn't that iconic looking, appearing like no end of similar looking creatures in multitudes of short horror films. I do appreciate he was based on the creature from the video game, so not like there was any wiggle room to change its look.

I liked The Mortuary Assistant but I didn't love it. It will be interesting to play the video game and see if this movie retroactively improves or worsens the experience. There was atmosphere in spades here, but with a confusing story and a lack of scares, that atmosphere was squandered. Shudder original The Mortuary Assistant came to Blu-ray and DVD on 20th July thanks to Acorn Media International.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for 21st July 2026

The best laid plans of mice and men, a Saturday mostly wasted, instead of concentrating on this little blog. One film review down, but not the three I intended. Still, tomorrow is another day, hopefully I will get a good working ethic then!
Of course, none of that makes sense now, this was written last week prior to be deciding to be lazy and take a week off blogging. I blame the hot weather! Onwards to the late news.

Coming out on July 28th is Cleopatra Venom's new horror film - The Withering, on Digital video. The film concerns an old woman with terminal cancer. This lady becomes obsessed with a strange amulet she gets a hold of. This device siphons the life force of others in her town, keeping  her fit and healthy. The more she uses this however, the more sick the rest of the town become, as she becomes younger and stronger, the town begins to die, and is up to the woman's sister to come to the town's aid and destroy the device.

The Hoodoos is a supernatural horror comedy that became available to stream from July 1st on Amazon, Google TV and Vudu. Directed by Jonathan Waler and written by Sean-Michael Argo, the film is a combination of voodoo and a heist. The synopsis has a heist crew breaking into an abandoned plantation and stealing Confederate gold coins. With begrudging sorcerer in tow (due to magical wards), the crew head out, unaware that they will each encounter a sentient voodoo doll that is thirsty for mayhem.

Finally for today, news that Bayview Entertainment have acquired indie thriller; Grace of God. This Doomsday cult horror comes to streaming this summer. Written and directed by JT Kris, the film follows a 13 year old girl who becomes indoctrinated into a cult, and upon realising its darkness, seeks a way to escape.

Sick Puppy (2025) - Horror Film Review

Sick Puppy is a fitting title for a film as twisted as this. Written and directed by Jay Reid (in his feature length debut), this horror about a serial killer may appear to tackle hard subjects, but it also never strays too far from the darkly comedic.

John (Brett Geddes) is a serial killer. He likes to abduct young women, strip them naked and then lock them up in his basement, where he forces them to act as if they were a dog for his perverse sexual pleasure. Eventually, he will get bored of them/kill them in a fit of rage, and the cycle begins anew. Surprisingly, this is something that his loving wife, Charlie (Natasha Calis) is all too aware of. While she doesn't like her husband doing this, she still supports him, even going as far as to help him to dispose of the bodies. This unique hobby of John's is causing friction in the marriage however, Charlie getting jealous of the attention he gives his victims. After John promises to give up the abductions (to instead focus on his passion for pottery), Charlie is overjoyed. This leads to a chain of events where the roles get inadvertently reversed, with Charlie discovering she too has a passion for killing.

So, as can be inferred, the protagonists here are very much anti-heroes. Despite being a monster, there is something almost innocent to John. Sure he is sick and depraved, but he also very much loves his wife, and the joy he begins to get from making basic pottery was a bit endearing on screen. Charlie wasn't quite as innocent, having no moral issue to John's killings, no remorse for the victims, and only opposed to it for selfish reasons - she was not a good person.
The characters here are all of the small town type, and many share a history, having grown up together. You have a former school bully, now turned detective; Dale (Dylan Taylor - Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City) with his terrible attitude to life, and Mia (Rachel Boyd) - the flirty teenage daughter of a client that groundskeeper John works for, who acts as a kind of Lolita type character. This later acts as a constant temptation for John, with it alluded to that he likes young girls. To be fair to him, the scenes featuring him and Mia were some of the most amusing, with them having more of a friendly rivalry feel than disturbing love interest vibe. Again, John isn't a good person, but his restraint and patience for Mia was handled well. Over the course of the movie, John grows and changes as a person, while in contrast, Charlie seems to devolve into the secret monster she always was.
You would think with people dropping like flies around the couple that they would become suspects, but ineffective local law enforcement is the excuse given for why that isn't the case. This covered up some leaps in logic, but there are still some holes to be found if you examine the plot a little too closely.

There is a kill count, and it is varied enough to entertain. Strangulation, stabbings, and plenty of victim and attacker scenes of them rolling around the floor fighting each other. Blood looked good, and make-up wasn't half bad either.
The locations chosen are suitably grimy, especially the home of the depraved couple which was a bit decrepit looking. 
'Sick Puppy' applies to a lot of things here, obviously, the subject matter of John making his victims act like animals, and also, again obviously, reflected in the characters of John and Charlie. There is constant black humour that does work well on occasion. I thought the running joke of just how much John is into his terrible pottery was a good bit. The story was fine, with protagonists as terrible as these ones, I did wonder how the story would be wrapped up, I was pleased with the path this one took, was at once fitting, and also channelling some of that dark humour.

Sick Puppy was a twisted horror featuring a whole bunch of flawed and feral characters. A decent spin on a typical serial killer thriller, but without a character to care about, I left my viewing of this not really fussed about it either way. Sick Puppy is due to be released via High Fliers Films in the fourth quarter of this year.

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Pig Hill (2025) - Horror Film Review

Coming after Birdcall, the second of my animal themed horror reviews this week sees me get into the twisted world of the Kevin Lewis (Willy's Wonderland) directed Pig Hill. The subject matter of pig people is of course ridiculous, but to its credit, the film tackles that subject matter seriously.

There have been a lot of disappearances in and around the rural city of Meadville (that the end credits are very excited to state is a real place), and Carrie (Rainey Qualley - Ocean's Eight) has decided to write a book about this, hoping to be successful enough that she will be able to afford to move somewhere better. She is looking at the situation from the perspective of local legend, with many people believing human/pig hybrids live up in a remote area known as Pig Hill and they are responsible for the missing people. Of course, these investigations get the girl closer to the the truth than she ever realised she would.

Things do make more sense later on, but I was unprepared for the commitment to treating the silly subject seriously. As a protagonist, I really liked Carrie. She had a sleep-walking type of feel throughout Pig Hill that blended well with its more ethereal and hallucinogenic moments. It is rare to get a lead who is the movie's scene-stealer, but that was the case here. Qualley made each scene she appeared in better, purely by her being there. Not that she had too much competition, as a lot of the rest of the cast didn't seem as well...cast. Shane West (Gotham) plays Carrie's new love interest; Andy; a man with not one, but two tragic backstories to his name. He has such an earnest face and says his lines in such a matter of fact world weary resigned way that every word that came out of his mouth sounded fake. I could not take this character seriously, making for a character I did not care for at all. Better was Carrie's creepy brother, Chris (Shiloh Fernandez - Evil Dead), he has a real skill at oozing off-putting, too protective vibes in his relationship with his adored sibling. Back on the flipside there is Andy's best friend; a barman who is forced to have near enough his every line of dialogue come across as comedic, and out of place.

There are many dream sequences, lots of reality bending, and Carrie frequently hallucinates the pig man in various places watching her  - this all combines to make you feel something more supernatural may be going on. There was a trippy vibe to much of the film, with scenes bleeding into each other enough that you occasionally question if what you are seeing is real or part of a dream sequence. The occasional disorientating scene transition adds to the movie's default dream-like feel. When the story is eventually displayed in all its truth, it adds a different perspective to earlier scenes - certainly a grim subject matter! Gave me slight vibes of the Black Mirror episode 'Loch Henry'. I did really like where the film ended up going.

If you came to Pig Hill hoping for pig people, then sure, you will find them here, at least in some form. You will also get scenes of gore, sexual assault, and one over the top birth scene, invoking old school Peter Jackson gore-fests. I like that this tried to go somewhere unexpected with its story, and with good cinematography, editing effects and a good look, this horror wasn't terrible. Pig Hill is due out in the forth quarter this year, thanks to High Fliers Films.

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Luna Abyss (2026) - Sci-fi Horror Video Game Review (Xbox Series X)

I almost decided I wasn't going to review action game, Luna Abyss. A weird meld of sci-fi and horror taking place in an even weirder location. I haven't actually heard anyone talking about the game though, myself, I just stumbled across it on Xbox Game Pass. This meant I felt compelled to write a review in appreciation for the hours spent there. While flawed, this was still something that had something to it. My synopsis is based on what I believe was going on, shall try and keep spoilers to a minimum.

A couple of hundred years ago, a second moon suddenly appeared in the space around Earth. This moon was red, and upon being explored, was discovered to have a seemingly endless abyss going all the way down through it. The arrival of a second moon led to problems on Earth, with the red moon's gravity affecting the planet. With this disruption, some people decided to travel to the new moon and form a colony there; mining the abyss for the valuable resources contained within. Others were practitioners of a new religion who believed God was at the bottom of the abyss, and so travelled to the moon to be closer. Eventually, enough people went there that a city was formed. All was fine until one day a strange rot began to emerge from the depths of the abyss, anyone caught by this rot transformed into a mindless monster. After all had fled or been taken by this rot, the city was abandoned, and in present day, the moon is used purely as a penal colony. People born with red eyes on Earth are rounded up and sent away, as they are seen as being evil. It turns out these red eyes allow the humans to remotely pilot artificial constructs using their mind. This is put to effect in the abyss, were constructs are sent to scavenge for resources.
You play as Fawkes; a teenage girl imprisoned on the moon, she is told by an A.I construct; Aylin, that she has been chosen by an all powerful being named the 'All-Father' to use her red eye power to search the abyss for essential items.

The chaotic and sprawling world reminded me of Blame! The structures, while artificial looking, seem to spread on for infinity. Stone staircases, pipes, vents, and vast rooms make up the endless structure, so gargantuan that it doesn't seem possible that it was ever man-made. The signs of human settlements within the abyss gave some nice Bioshock vibes, that is reinforced with the many audio diaries scattered around the levels, buoyed up by lots of environmental storytelling. Outside of a handful of locations though, the meat of the game is abstract constructs devoid of life. With you travelling around the abyss, you never really get a good feel for the layout of it. Due to this, it never felt like too much of a 'lived-in' location, more like a collection of levels connected by pipe networks.

Luna Abyss is a first person adventure game that is a mix of shooting and platforming. There are also friendly characters you can interact with, though outside of hidden rooms, there are no side quests to be found. Over the course of the roughly 12 hour game, you get access to four sci-fi guns. These are essentially an assault rifle, shotgun, sniper, and rocket launcher disguised as something far fancier. Rather than ammo, the guns work on a cooldown timer and can overheat. In addition to using these to kill enemies (using a lovely Metroid Prime style lock-on ability), the guns can be used to assist with the platforming. The shotgun can be used to destroy blue forcefields, the sniper for purple ones, the rocket launcher can fire multiple rockets at the same time to hit switches. Enemies for the most part are made up of floating orbs of various types, and demonic humanoid creatures. There are a bunch of epic feeling boss battles against huge constructs, which is when a more 'bullet Hell' type of gameplay begins. As fun as the bosses were, they all take place in a formulaic way, with circular battle arenas for each one.

The meat of the game is platforming, the abyss is very vast in size, with Fawkes traversing this world with a combination of double jumps, boosts and the handy ability to take zero fall damage (you fall from some dizzying heights here). There was a steady stream of new abilities to help with the platforming, such as forming platforms out of ice, a grapple beam, and most fun - unlocking the ability to possess specific constructs to move around the levels. One of these has you on a train track, another allows you to magnetically stick to floating platforms, and one puts you inside of a heavily armed killbot. 

The look and feel of the game world is chunky, with environments feeling thick with substance. This allowed for a cohesive stitching together.
Voice work was a highlight, with many of the accents coming out of the weird constructs being regional British ones. Never was not strange to see a grotesque construct speaking with a soft northern accent! As a whole, I thought the voice acting was great.
There was a decent story here, with plenty of flashback cutscenes to try and explain vaguely what has been going on. Much of the story is revealed via audio diaries and notes however.

Excellent controls, quality voice acting, and a unique setting with an occasional U.K feel to it. I wish there had been more of a lean into Bioshock style human locations, as many of the levels here are more alien and remote in feel, while I found the lived-in areas to be a lot more interesting. Split between platforming and shooting, there wasn't too much variation throughout this, but it was good for what it was. Maybe missing something to really feel essential, Luna Abyss still worked at creating a compelling game world.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for 7th July 2026

We are deep in summer, and here in the U.K, my rotted corpse has somehow survived the first heat-wave. Enjoying a week of respite but I have heard rumour a second heat-wave is approaching. At the time this post goes up, well, it may already be here! The Rotting Zombie HQ relies on blu-tac a lot, it is in a sorry state with so many posters having came down due to the heat drying out the tac! Even had glue melt off the shelving in my front room, causing the shelf to fall off the wall! Onwards to a trilogy of terror plucked from the very bottom of my bloody news sack.

Back in May, indie horror film Susurrus was released by Ten-Headed Skeleton, who also wrote, directed and produced it. The subject matter for this movie was the 'Backrooms', something that I have only recently become aware of, and have found it all a fascinating place for horror. The synopsis has a group of woman who all find themselves trapped in the endless backrooms, all having been transported there when walking through doorways. The press release mentions both Cube and The Twilight Zone episode 'Five Characters in Search of an Exit', so of course that sounded appealing. Susurrus is available to watch online now.

The final chapter in the Corn Zombies saga; Revenge of the Corn Zombies, currently has a crowd funding campaign running. This third film, taking place six years after the initial outbreak, has survivors hiding out in an abandoned sanatorium. Directed by Steve Hermann, with SFX makeup by Beth Metcalf and Marcus Koch, and coming from Acrostar Productions the crowd funding page can be found here.

Finally for today, Frank Palangi's Tubi horror anthology; At Death's Door is now crowdfunding on GoFundMe for a sequel. The original anthology was adapted from Christopher Pelton's short story collection - Toe in the Water, I'm guessing this sequel will also follow suite. Production on At Death's Door 2 has officially commenced, with the first segment already completed. Check out the campaign page, here.

Birdcall (2026) - Short Horror Film Review

Birdcall is a fifteen minute short zombie(ish) film that tries its best to hide its indie budget. Directed by Justin Calandriello, and written by Halle Kott, the individual parts of this all work, but would it flow together in a satisfying manner?

The intro (bizarrely told via a puppet show), introduces us to the world of Birdcall. An avian disease has made the jump to humans, the disease causing victims to first rot, before making them become homicidally violent, and then finally mutating them into a new form. Scientist Jon (Sam Beaton) and his wife, Rosie (Vassiliki Gicopoulos) have travelled to a remote cabin. Rosie believes it is due to her insulting a superior of Jon's back at the facility that they have been sent away from the main facility, but unknown to her, Jon is infected, and has travelled to the cabin in order to test out a cure he has been working on.

There were a mix of styles here that meant at points the short didn't flow too smoothly. I liked the weird intro section, an easy and effective way to bring viewers up to speed on the film world. The whole short takes place inside the cabin location, the unnerving sounds outside indicating they are trapped here. The two characters are the focus of this short, and at times they revert to found footage moments where they leave video diaries. Jon was very arrogant, and him and Rosie's marriage is explored via dialogue indicating she is with him and his people for protection, making her initially quite a submissive character.

The plot goes as expected, some nice make-up to sell Jon's obviously increasingly rotting body. The constant monster calls from outside added atmosphere, though some of the sound effects did sound a little generic. The cabin was a decent location, but the side plots of what Jon and Rosie are doing did feel a little sporadic. 

Birdcall does a lot with a little, much of the horror implied rather than shown. The core-story wasn't something unique, though the set-up made for a little change. This was a good enough entry in this type of single location infection horror. Birdcall has its world premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival as part of the Official Selection of the Weekend Fantastique du Cinéma Québécois on July 31st.

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Breach of the Soul (2026) by Richard T. Wilson - Horror Novel Review

When I heard that the author of the Halloween Girl graphic novel series was releasing another book, I was of course interested to check it out. To my surprise, Breach of the Soul turned out not to be a graphic novel, but was instead a full blown novel set within the Halloween Girl universe. Skimming press releases once again led to surprise and delight. My question was; would a novel be able to do justice to the moral and magical world without the use of art to sell its ideas? For transparency, I was quoted not once, not twice, but three times at the back of the book about Wilson's prior works in the series.

The novel, over 198 pages, is split into two interconnected stories. The first of these is the 80 page long 'Part 1 - Julie and the Devils'. Here, a teenage runaway - Julie ends up in the woodland home of an evil witch. Luckily for her, there is a friendly ghost there to help her escape. She then learns that the witch is part of a Satanic cult who intend to bring ruin to the town Julie lives in.
'Part 2 - Fallen Masks' then takes place a little while later in the nearby town of Crystal Springs, where in a large graveyard, a certain teenage ghost - Charlotte, lives, alongside her much older friend Poe. They sense a darkness spreading over their town, with it felt that something evil must be responsible for causing the mild townsfolk to become embittered and lose their empathy for their fellow man. In the midst of the change, a killer emerges, determined to punish those he believes to be impure.

Breach of the Soul was such an easy book to read. The clear and simple words and fable-like layout of the story me getting through the breezy novel like a hot knife through butter. To begin with, I thought maybe this was more geared towards a teenage audience, but with plenty of swearing and some scenes of bloody terror, this wasn't actually the case. The two stories were very inter-linked, with the same characters reappearing in both. The stories also did feel quite separate, each one with its own adventure. Wilson's trademark 'heart' is on show in these stories. A universe where Heaven and Hell do actually exist in the afterlife. The heroes here aren't vengeance filled with hate towards their enemies, instead they do what they need to for the betterment of the innocent; acting both noble and selfless. Topics here in a roundabout way cover real life things that from an outsiders perspective have made America seem like it is in a death-spiral with itself. Covid and how people acted during it is mentioned, and more specifically it speaks of political divisions that have led people's relationships with each other fraying. It is nice in the Halloween Girl universe that this is able to be attributed to be literally caused by evil forces, and so can be fixed more easily than reality.

Julie, despite some bad judgements (she is just a teen after all), was a protagonist easy to like, and easy to root for. Like the graphic novels, Charlotte, Poe, and Alma were really likeable - nice characters full of kindness and understanding. These characters were the perfect foil to the evil of the Satanists and witch McKenna.

The book flew along at a fast pace, well written to the point that in my minds eye, I could see these events playing out. This may be a horror, but is one that keeps a positive outlook on mankind. Dark things do happen during the events of the book, but it never felt like good wasn't going to triumph over evil.

Breach of the Soul was a lovely read from start to finish. The story told effectively, the returning characters translated into purely words in a natural and entertaining way. I really enjoyed reading this. Breach of the Soul released on June 3rd.

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Fathers (2026) - Thriller Film Review

It was nice to see upon starting thriller, Fathers, that it was written and directed by Harley Wallen (Final Recovery, Beneath Us All, Ash and Bone), he has made some enjoyable films in the past. The mystery of the story for this one really drew me in, I just hoped it would all get tied together in a satisfying and cohesive bow.

Natalie (Kaiti Wallen - Final Recovery, Beneath Us All) is found one day lost and confused in the woods. It turns out she is the same person who was abducted outside her home as a child fifteen years previously. Unfortunately for her, she has lost her memory, and so is unable to help the police with finding where she had been and who she had been with all that time. Through a series of flashbacks, we see her under the care of a paranoid man claiming to be her real father (Harley Wallen). He has convinced Natalie that Calvin (Jerry Hayes - Final Recovery, Beneath Us All), the man she thought to be her actual father, is evil and has sent people out into the world to find and abduct her. In the present, unable to recall much more than fragments of memory, Natalie struggles to identify what is fact and what is fiction.

The film follows a back and forth structure between past and present over its near 100 minute runtime. The actress playing young Natalie (Emilia Wallen - Beneath Us All) was excellent in her role; a curious and kind child who was easy to like. Surprisingly, the abductor also presented himself well for the most part. Thankfully, this man believes himself to be the girl's father, and so there is no sexual or physical threat from him. The moments of action with him were effective, though the use of a red tint to indicate when he has lost control was an odd choice. I didn't like the present day Natalie. I get she is troubled and upset, but the permanent scowl on her face like she is smelling something bad, didn't endear me to the character.

I may not have been too keen on the protagonist in present day, but I was still very interested to piece together the pieces of the puzzle that made up the story, to see where things would end up. Sadly however, Fathers fizzles out rather than sticks the landing. It isn't an exaggeration to say the film literally cuts to credits mid-flow, leaving unresolved plot lines and a feeling of deep dissatisfaction. When seeing this, I exclaimed out loud "What the Hell!?", such was my surprise at the abrupt finish.  

I loved the back and forth between past and present, how clues as to what might be going on are drip-fed to the viewer. Scenes of peril were few and far between, but they worked and looked effective (outside of the red tint). A minimal use of special effects, but they did the job adequately. More than anything, it was the story that kept me hooked, even if it did lead to that unfortunate end. Fathers was a decent thriller, that was held back from being an essential watch due to a couple of smallish issues. 

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