Top 5 Horror Videogames of 2015 - In Video Format

It was one of my new year resolutions for 2015 to put up an actual live video on YouTube, unfortunately I didn't get around to doing it until this week. It will be quite apparent that this was rushed out as it is quite badly filmed and I free styled a lot! Still it is achieved and as a test run it went ok, for certain there is a whole continents worth of room for improvement...



So there you have it, the only way is up. If you disagree with any of these choices then feel free to let me know in the comments below, and should I not do a blog post tomorrow then Happy New Year from The Rotting Zombie HQ.

Call of Duty: Black Ops III - Overview of the zombie segments (Playstation 4)

In November the latest game in the Call of Duty franchise was released, on it's own that doesn't deserve a mention on the blog but of course it features the excellent Zombies mode that Treyarch always include in their games. On top of this mode though there are a couple of other cool extras that make this instalment the most horror packed one yet.

In Zombies up to four players must survive wave based rounds of zombies attacking, each round the zombies get stronger, faster, and more plentiful. Dotted around the map are new items you can buy (using points gained from killing the undead) as well as power ups from vending machines, and new areas to open up. New to Black Ops III are 'Gobblegum' machines that give you a limited time perk such as having your knife do five times as much damage or being able to quickly reload.

Fallout 4 (2015) - Post Apocalyptic Video Game Review (Playstation 4)

A few months back I mopped up the remainder of Fallout: New Vegas in anticipation of Fallout 4 being released. While the trailers for this new generation game didn't blow me away I had faith that it would have no option but to be a great game if it stuck to the formula of what came before. Now after around a hundred and five hours of play time I am finally ready to write my review.

For the first time in a Fallout game you get to experience life before the nuclear bombs fall and destroy the world. Starting the game as either a man or a woman in Boston in 2077 your peace is short lived when air raid sirens go off. Fleeing to a nearby fallout shelter with your partner and baby you are tricked into entering cryosleep. Two hundred years later and you are awoken from your long sleep only to see your partner shot dead in front of you and your baby; Shaun kidnapped, before you can react you are knocked out again. Awakening a while later you leave the confines of Vault 111 to discover a nuclear wasteland and set out into it to try and rescue your son...

Pod (2015) - Horror Film Review

With Pod I have finally seen all the films I wanted to see before making my nominations for this years Fright Meter Awards. If you are a regular reader of my blog then I am sure that is music to your ears as these past few weeks I have not shut up about them.

After receiving a bizarre message on his answer phone from his brother; ex-soldier Martin (Brian Morvant) Ed (Dean Cates) and his alcoholic sister Lyla (Lauren Ashley Carter) travel up to the remote lakeside house where Martin lives to have an intervention. In the past Martin has suffered mental health problems and it is feared he has relapsed. Upon arriving a manic and babbling Martin warns his siblings that he has captured something he calls a 'pod' and has it locked up in the basement. Is what Martin saying true, or as the family suspect has he gotten ill again?

Zombie Killers: Elephant's Graveyard (2015) - Zombie Horror Film Review

I just have two more films I want to watch before making my nominations for the 2015 Fright Meter Awards, unfortunately the film I chose to watch today was Zombie Killers: Elephant's Graveyard. Now I just have to mention unfaithful box covers once again, the front cover for the DVD was fine enough but the back showing a group of soldiers against the back drop of a ruined city...there is not even a hint of any sort of city in this film, why must ruined cities always feature on low budget zombie film covers?

Zombie Killers takes place around six years after zombie apocalypse suddenly took over the world. The town of Elwood is a thriving community who live behind flimsy looking wire fences out in the countryside of America and is ruled over by Doc (Brian Anthony Wilson). It has survived by evicting any infected inhabitants and also from being protected by the self proclaimed Zombie Killers; a small group made up of young adults led by Seiler (Billy Zane). That's about it for plot, I mean there is some proper story eventually but it's so far into the film to say anything would be a spoiler.

Tremors 5: Bloodlines (2015) - Horror Film Review

I have always had a soft spot for the Tremors films and while none have ever matched the Kevin Bacon led first in the series they still have not been bad films. Tremors 4: The Legend Begins came out over ten years ago and was a prequel so I didn't know what to expect from this new entry in the franchise.

Burt Gummer (Michael Gross; the only actor to appear in all five films as well as the short lived TV series) now works as a professional monster hunter who is called to a wildlife preserve in South Africa along with his new cameraman Travis (Jamie Kennedy) by Erich Van Wyck as it is feared the monsters that have plagued Gummer before have appeared in the area. In the Tremors universe the monsters of the piece go through three stages, there are the Graboids (huge worm type creatures), Shriekers (bipedal beasts), and finally the Ass-Blasters (who use their internal gases to fly), it is the Ass-Blasters who are thought to have appeared. With Van Wyck's motivations not being at what they first seemed, and with the South African monsters having evolved differently it is up to Gummer and Travis to save the day.

Zombieworld (2015) - Zombie Horror Film Review

The box art was enough for me to tell Zombieworld was going to be a bad film, but as it had zombies in it and was a contender for this years Fright Meter Awards I gave it a watch regardless. It is a compilation of thirteen different zombie stories ranging from the ridiculous to the serious, most of which were pretty consistent in low quality. I will do a mini review of each of the films on offer so may seem like a weird post.

The concept for the piece is that it is 2013 and undead apocalypse has occurred. TV reporter Marvin Gloatt (the talented Bill Oberst Jr. in a wasted role) is broadcasting on the last on air channel and isn't even going to let a zombie bite stop his constant reporting. Each of the short stories is billed as a different report from around the world. Dark Times is a P.O.V short that has civilians running away from an incident into woodland, eventually the person who we are seeing the film from is killed and comes back as a zombie. This was kind of novel but not too exciting, though there was an amusing scene with a guy armed with a golf club.

A Quick General Update

Hey, just a brief update to mention my updates for my pages and channels on various social media and stuff. My blog is the main place I'm based, the other pages are mere satellites and so tend to get left alone to (literally) rot a lot. I have had a look at improving them and so that has nearly been done.

The Rotting Zombie Facebook page (here) now has a new banner, in general the page is just used to post links to new blog posts but occasionally any news I get that is too small to include in a post is put there. The Rotting Zombie Twitter (here) is not doing too badly, again I mainly post links to new blog posts, but also include thoughts on anything horror related I have seen lately. The Rotting Zombie YouTube channel (here) is very basic at the moment, I have changed the banner today but as you can see it is far from perfect, though amazingly it took me two and half hours to even get it looking like that! Mainly I just upload any PS4 footage I feel appropriate though by years end I hope to put up an actual video (mainly as it was my new years resolution for 2015 to put up one). Finally I have now put up a link to my Instagram page (here).

So yeah, check those out and subscribe if you so wish and as it is nearly time for Krampus to come calling I will say Happy Christmas and hope it is terrifying for you all.

Bound to Vengeance (2015) - Horror Film Review

I have seen so many horror films this month, it really has reignited by passion for the genre, Bound to Vengeance is another such film that I utterly adored. It is a revenge fantasy in the vein of Last House on the Left and Julia.

This movie starts where many end with the heroine of the piece; Eve (Tina Ivlev) managing to escape from her captor after having been kept chained up as a sex slave for the past six months. As she goes to kill him however he reveals a chilling secret, she was not the only girl he had captured and should he die the locations of the other victims will never be known. Rather than going to the police (and likely due to temporary madness on her part) she decides to take the man captive and have him drive around town to all the various places the other captives are at. Each new place brings with it darker and darker revelations with Eve slowly losing the remaining grip on her sanity...

Z Nation: Season 2 (2015) - Zombie Horror Show Review

When I first started watching season one of Z Nation I really was not impressed in the slightest, I felt it was boring and stupid with too many unlikeable characters. Yet by the end of the season I was completely hooked with its refreshing lack of desire to take itself too seriously and by the never ending slew of original ideas for zombie drama. With a cliffhanger ending I was pumped for season 2 and just hoped it would carry on blazing the path of madness. There will be spoilers for season 1 and no doubt mild season 2 spoilers here.

The show picks up almost immediately where the first ended with a panicked Murphy having accidentally triggered the launch of nuclear warheads to key locations around America. The gang (made up of Warren, Doc, Mack and 10K) manage to escape the base they are at, with Murphy and a now zombified Cassandra also fleeing. Citizen Z who was also bombed manages to survive but at the cost to the integrity of his base, in a last ditch attempt to help he puts out a broadcast on all frequencies requesting the capture and delivery of Murphy in exchange for a huge reward. This message sets up the basis of the series with seemingly everyone in existence hunting for Murphy...

Dead Rising: Watchtower (2015) - Zombie Horror Film Review

I really wasn't expecting much when sitting down to watch Dead Rising: Watchtower, after all not only was it straight to video but it is based on a video game and movies of games are generally terrible (House of the Dead and Doom springs to mind). For once however it seems someone has actually played the source material as this is chock full of references and nods.

Watchtower takes place between Dead Rising 2 and Dead Rising 3 (both of which I have only partially played). In this world zombie outbreaks have occurred previously (the events of the first two games in the series) but there is a prevention in the form of Zombrex; an anti-virus injection that must be administered every 24 hours. Chase Carter (Jesse Metcalfe) is a small time reporter and has entered a quarantine zone in Oregon with his camerawoman Jordan in order to do a story on the treatment of the infected. However while he is there a new zombie outbreak occurs, the Zombrex no longer seems to be working and infected are turning into the living dead at an alarming rate. Jordan escapes to a military blockade but Chase becomes trapped in the zone where he teams up with an infected woman named Crystal (Meghan Ory) and soon realises there is more to the events than at first seems...

Let Us Prey (2014) - Horror Film Review

Coincidentally this is the second film in a week I've seen that involves a police woman on her first day at her new station, the first being Last Shift. Let Us Prey is the opposite end of the pond though taking place as it does in a small town in Scotland.

Pollyanna McIntosh stars as Rachel Heggie; a policewoman who has recently been transferred for unknown reasons to a small Scottish town. On her first night she soon discovers the station she is to work at is staffed by a trio of corrupt and sadistic officers who make it clear right away that they do not like her. A mysterious man (Liam Cunningham) ends up being locked up in the cells who seems to have a strange power, he is able to see into the souls of anyone he comes in contact with and see their darkest secrets. It seems the eight people; both police and prisoners alike have been drawn together for a reason and that by the time midnight comes around this reason will be revealed...

Some Kind of Hate (2015) - Horror Film Review

Becoming a catch phrase of mine but it is another day and another possible contender for the Fright Meter Awards watched, this time it was the ghostly slash em up Some Kind of Hate. While I didn't enjoy this movie it was refreshing to give a review score that wasn't six or seven out zombie heads out of ten for once!

After striking back at the bully who has made teenager Lincoln Taggert's (Ronen Rubinstein) school life hell for several years the loner is sent to a reform school out in the middle of nowhere. Though he makes a few friends including ex cheerleader Kaitlin (Grace Phipps) he soon comes under attack from a new set of bullies. After a beating Lincoln retreats to a restricted area of the compound where his angry cries summon the extremely angry spirit of Moira; a girl whose bullying led to her death. Moira agrees to help the boy get revenge but her methods are deadly and he discovers that there seems no way to stop her murderous rampage...

Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead (2014) - Zombie Comedy Horror Film Review

Another day another Fright Meter Awards contender watched, though today it was actually a zombie film and so more relevant than usual to The Rotting Zombie. Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead is an Australian horror comedy that as the title hints at is mostly a road movie.

After a strange meteor shower takes place people begin changing into undead ghouls with seemingly no pattern to who becomes infected and who doesn't. Benny (Leon Burchill) is out on a hunting trip in the bush with his two brothers who both turn, meanwhile after receiving a desperate phone call from his sister Brooke (Bianca Bradey) warning of the unfolding chaos Barry and his wife and young daughter flee the city to head out to the country. Along the way he is forced to kill his family. Eventually Benny and Barry meet up and with an armoured car powered by zombie blood they start off on a mission to find Brooke, but what they don't realise is that she has been captured by the corrupt army and has been experimented on...

Last Shift (2014) - Horror Film Review

Another day and another film that happens to be up for nomination for the annual Fright Meter Awards, though coincidental this time as I was sent the film for review anyway. Last Shift was written by Anthony Diblasi and Scott Polley while it was also directed by DiBlasi, I loved the idea behind this one and so hoped it would live up to the potential.

Juliana Harkavy (The Walking Dead) stars as Jessica Loren; a rookie cop whose on her first night of the job. Her first assignment is simple, she is to perform the last shift alone at a police station that is due to close the next day, everyone else is already based at the new one but someone was needed to wait for the hazardous waste crew who are due to show up sometime in the night to collect left over hazardous evidence. Things start to go wrong almost immediately with a crazy homeless man who keeps breaking in, then later things take a turn for the weirder with doors opening on their own and objects moving around. Not wanting to embarrass herself on her first day on the job she tries her best to ignore all this but soon she has no option but to confront her fears, but is this just part of an elaborate hazing ritual or is something more decidedly supernatural occurring?

The Final Girls (2015) - Horror Comedy Film Review

The Final Girls is yet another horror that people on the Fright Meter Awards committee have been raving about. The film is like a horror version of The Last Action Hero with a similar plot device used of people getting sucked into a fictional world.

Max (Taissa Farmiga from American Horror Story) is attending a special screening of Camp Bloodbath; a cult 80's slasher which Max's late mum (Marlin Ackerman) was a character in (a blatant parody of Friday 13th). Not long into the showing and an accidental fire breaks out in the cinema which results in Max and her friends heading for a fire exit behind the screen, but rather than get to the exit they somehow end up inside the world of the film. They soon discover they are unable to leave and realise the only way back is to survive to the end of the movie when the final girl kills the Jason look-a-like butcher. Due to their meddling they accidentally get the heroine of the piece killed and so must now work together to defeat the murderer themselves, but for Max she has a different goal, she wants to save the character Nancy who was the role her mum played...

WolfCop (2014) - Horror Comedy Film Review

Out of all the many classic movie monsters it is werewolves that are by far my least favourite type, I just find something inherently unexciting about them, too animal like and not monster enough. WolfCop is another film I brought based on the fact it had been getting some love on the Fright Meter Awards committee member page, though the fact this is a comedy made me hope it would be better than what the genre usually offers.

Leo Fafard stars as Lou Garou; an alcoholic washed up cop in a small town that has been over run with crime. One night while investigating reports of a disturbance out in some woodland Lou is ambushed by some shadowy figures, coming to he finds it is morning and he is back at home, though has a strange pentagram carved into his chest. He returns to his wasted life but the next night under the light of a full moon something horrifying happens, Lou is somehow now a werewolf! Using his new found strength and sense of smell he sets out to clean up his town, but it seems that whoever caused him to become a werewolf in the first place has some sinister plans in store for him...

Seruta (2016) - Fantasy Film News and Trailer

From the sounds of it black and white indie British film Seruta is more of a fantasy type rather than a horror but it does sound pretty interesting, taking place as it does in ancient Britain 700 years before the Roman conquest. It is set to explore the mythology of the British Isles and is directed, shot and edited by Steven Lyons with Merlyn Roberts producing and starring in the film.

The Celts; horse warriors from the continent have invaded the lands where the Friac tribe live, and so Ontahil in order to save his people must travel to the Isle of the Dead to become a warrior and gain favor from the Gods (by facing the initiation known as Seruta). I have included the teaser trailer below that is very fantasy like featuring both monster type creatures and even a zombie thrown in for good measure.

Seruta is currently beginning it's second cycle of production with the new trailer being released as part of a drive to raise funds to complete. Roberts says of the shoot 'So far it has been a challenging but rewarding project to work on. Ninety percent of the film has been shot on location in forests or by the sea and the elements have been both cruel and kind to us'. This sounds like something different and the topic is not one that has been explored that much, check out the trailer...

Victor Frankenstein (2015) - Horror Film Review

I wasn't expecting much from Victor Frankenstein despite an interesting enough trailer, I just felt that it would be too tame and have yet to see Daniel Radcliffe really shine in anything, however I was pleasantly surprised.

Radcliffe co-stars as a hunchback who is rescued from a life of abuse at a travelling circus by Victor Frankenstein (James McAvoy) who recognises his scientific intellect. After curing his deformity and giving him a place to live he names him Igor and introduces him to his life's work. As everyone knows of course Frankenstein's desire is to create life and with Igors help he gets the knowledge he needs to fulfil his dream of creating man. However with a devoutly religious rogue detective after him (Daniel Mays) and a sinister wealthy benefactor with his own agenda will things go according to plan?

Bunny the Killer Thing (2015) - Horror Film News

Anyone reading from outside of America; this wont really apply to us at all as this is U.S.A based news, however with a trailer to share and being a Friday it seemed like a quick and easy post to do!

Bunny the Killer Thing is a horror comedy from Finland, in it a group of friends head to a remote cabin for a winter weekend, however they soon find themselves at the mercy of a horny six foot tall half man half monster creature whose only desire is to mate. I have included the teaser trailer below but be warned it is NSFW featuring many shots of the creature with it's male member (thankfully fake) showing.

Toronto's Raven Banner and US based distributor Artsploitation Films have picked up the rights for a stateside Blu-ray/DVD release early next year while FilmRise will be doing the VOD release. Artsploitation's Ray Murray says of the film: "Depending on your view, Bunny is either a horribly offensive film wallowing in scenes of rape, nudity and sexual depravity or is a hilarious, inventive and blood-drenched spoof of monster movies. We hope most will side with the latter". If that sounds like your thing then be sure to check it out.

Creep (2014) - Horror Film Review

It is December and the cut off point for the Fright Meter Awards nominations is fast approaching and so I find myself panic watching as many of the films up for nomination as I can, it's a good thing I work better under pressure! Today's film was Creep, I knew nothing about it so when it started and I discovered it was from the found footage genre my heart sank (as always when it comes to that genre). The film actually has a recurring motif of hearts and so that last sentence was accidentally clever by the way.

Aaron (Patrick Brice who also directed and co-wrote this) turns up at the mountain home of Josef (Mark Duplass who also co-wrote) after answering a Craigslist ad. Josef has hired him to follow him around for a day filming everything he does. He soon reveals that he has a terminal illness and wants to create a video diary for his unborn son which seems like a decent enough idea, however things soon take a turn for the creepy when the first thing he wants Aaron to do is film him having a bath. From there things only get stranger and it begins to seem like Josef is less interested in making a film for his child to be and more about getting close to Aaron...

My Master Satan (2016) - Horror Film News

My Master Satan is an upcoming short horror film from Denver filmmaker Dakota Bailey and looks to be pretty bananas. It is actually a sequel to Satan's Coming for You that Bailey previously made and stars the main characters from that one that I admit I haven't heard of.

Alister (Dakota Bailey) and Bubba; two drug addicted maniacs go on a killing spree whilst in pursuit of LSD, along the way they engage in all sorts of violent acts as well as meet up with their serial killer friend Woody. Apparently it all culminates in them having a huge acid trip and once again seeing Satan.

I don't know if knowledge of the previous film is needed or if this can be seen without that, it is hard to make out much in the all too brief trailer (included below). Uniquely this very indie horror was filmed on a VHS camera so I imagine the low quality will be embraced. Personally I love VHS, takes me back to my younger days. It was hard to tell from the trailer if this would be good or not but I wish Bailey and his crew all the best. My Master Satan is released on February 16th 2016.

A Christmas Horror Story (2015) - Horror Film Review

A Christmas Horror Story is a seasonal horror anthology featuring four different tales taking place on Christmas eve, it is kind of similar in style to Trick r' Treat in that while the four stories are unrelated from each other they do intercut at several points and all take place in the same town (mostly).

The four stories are quite different in scope but all have a festive theme to them, they straddle different genres but thematically go together. A group of students researching for a project break into a sealed wing of their school where a year previous two people were found murdered in a ritualistic fashion, but upon going to leave they discover themselves locked in and at the mercy of a ghostly presence. A squabbling family are hunted by the anti-claus Krampus in snowy woodland after a boy maliciously breaks a figurine of the beast (second film in three days I have seen with Krampus in it!). After returning home from a trip to private land to steal a Christmas tree Scott and Kim start to fear something terrible has happened to their son Will, The final story while all this is going on is Santa is at the North Pole battling a zombie outbreak that has turned his elves into bloodthirsty ghouls!

Goodnight Mommy (2014) - Horror Film Review

The Fright Meter Awards Committee have been going on about how good Goodnight Mommy (Ich Seh, Ich Seh) is for ages now and I so I thought a view was in order. This is an Austrian horror from directors and writers Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz and may just be the most straight up horror I have seen in a while.

Twins Lukas and Elias (Lukas and Elias Schwarz) live at a remote home deep in the Austrian countryside with their mother (Susanne Wuest) who has recently returned from having cosmetic surgery done. However the heavily bandaged woman acts far meaner and differently than the boys remember and soon they start to fear she is an impostor, but just what lengths will they go to to prove she is not who she says she is?

Krampus (2015) - Horror Film Review

The trailer for Krampus was pretty odd, it seemed to blend comedy and horror together in a way that didn't really feel right, however coming from director Michael Dougherty (of Trick 'r Treat fame) I was pretty interested to see what his spin on a Christmas horror would be. Krampus does it's best to slowly drip the reveal of how the antagonist goes about his business so there will be minor spoilers in my review.

It is a few days before Christmas and Tom (Adam Scott) and his wife Sarah have her sisters unliked family over for the holidays. The couples son Max (Emjay Anthony) who still believes in Santa gets upset with all the fighting and squabbling going on and in a fit of anger he rips up the letter he had written to him and throws it out the window. His disillusionment however has had the effect of summoning a terrible blizzard that heralds the arrival of Krampus; the anti-claus to his household. Soon the once divided family must band together to try and survive the nightmare that Krampus brings...

Attack on Titan: Part 1 (2015) - Fantasy Film Review

I did a review of the Anime series of Attack on Titan last year and so after watching the first live action film last night I thought I may as well do one for that too. Since coming out I have heard mostly negative reports about the quality of the movie but I wanted to see for myself, especially as while I like the anime I am not in as much love with it as many fans seem to be.

In the world of the film humans live behind three gigantic circular walls that were built hundreds of years in the past as a means to defend humanity against the might of the Titans. The Titans are huge humanoid monsters who exist only to eat people, have not been seen for a hundred years, and so are almost a myth. Eren (Haruma Miura) and his friends Mikasa and Armin sneak out to the outer wall but while they are there a being known as the colossal Titan appears and destroys a part of the wall. In this gap flood an army of Titans who start killing all they see. In the chaos Eren looses Mikasa and it seems she has died. Two years later and all humans have retreated behind the second wall, Eren and Armin are now part of the military and are part of a task force tasked with travelling though the Titan infested lands in order to find a way to block up the gap in the outer structure...

Prototype 2 (2012) - Horror Video Game Review (X-Box 360)

Back in 2010 I played through Prototype which is an open world horror game set in New York after zombie apocalypse erupts. In that game you played as hoodie wearing Alex Mercer who has gained monstrous powers that lets him absorb humans letting him see their memories, as well as turning his body into a deadly weapon. I did enjoy it but felt it got far too hard and frustrating. Maybe Prototype 2 will learn from the mistakes...

Prototype 2 takes place three years after the conclusion of the first game, you play as U.S Marine James Heller who returns from a tour in Iraq to discover his wife and daughter have been killed after a second zombie outbreak in New York. Figuring Alex Mercer is to blame the solider tracks him down but is easily defeated by the super being, yet rather than kill Heller, Mercer instead infects him, turning him into a mutant like him. Mercer then tells him that he wasn't the one who started this new outbreak, it is instead an evil organisation called Blackwatch who are using the chaos as a way to test out new strains of a mutant virus. Full of anger Heller sets out to destroy all those to blame for his loss.

Outpost 31 Isn't Responding (2015) by Videogram - Horror Music Single

I love Magnus Sellergran's work under the Videogram name, he makes beautiful synth filled tributes to the exploitation and horror films of the 1980's. Back in September he released a new single which is a tribute to John Carpenter's classic remake of The Thing.

The single features two tracks which are both inspired by the film and were originally intended for the new Videogram album Pre-Cert (out now) but came to be released alone. First track Outpost 31 Isn't Responding is five minutes of nostalgic bliss, the influence of the films main theme is obvious and so the synth beat and constant drums conjured up images of the ill fated science station in my mind. Second track Antarctica at two minutes is over all too soon but is another track full of mournful synth and repetitious beat that is a fun listen.

The art work is by U.S artist Van Davis, you can check his site out here if you like what you see. The single is out now on Bandcamp (here) for the cheap price of $2, while his other work, including his new album can also be purchased there. Outpost 31 Isn't Responding is also available on iTunes for £1.58.

The Unkindness of Ravens (2016) - Horror Film News

I am actually pretty excited by this news for upcoming Scottish horror The Unkindness of Ravens. It is to be directed by Lawrie Brewster who did 2013's memorable Lord of Tears; a film that has stuck with me ever since I first saw it despite some small issues I had. Lawrie describes this new film as "an intense horror/fantasy film that's kind of (a) cross between Apocalypse Now and The Evil Dead."

Jaime Scott-Gordon (who had an integral bit part in Lord of Tears) stars as Andrew Alburn; a homeless army veteran suffering from PTSD. His flashbacks he has are full of ravens and so he travels to a remote Scottish retreat hoping to overcome his fear of the birds. Being a horror nothing goes to plan and Andrew ends up not only battling his own inner demons but also that of demonic birds.

Fallen Soldiers (2015) - Zombie Horror Film Review

Fallen Soliders; the final film of this years UK Festival of Zombie Culture was also unfortunately the worst of the bunch, a poll was conducted in the run up to the event with four different films to choose from, I'm pleased to say this wasn't my choice, though to be fair none of the four choices looked particularly interesting.

It takes place in 1815 in France where the British are at war with the French forces and starts with British deserter John Cross (Matthew Neal) hijacking a coach that contains a Belgian noble couple; Celine and her husband. His goal is to make it to a British dressing station as he has an urgent message to deliver. Along the way via a series of flashbacks he reveals his horrific experiences in order to convince Celine of the importance of his mission, but will she believe his outlandish tale?

Cooties (2014) - Zombie Comedy Horror Film Review

Another day and another review of a film I saw at this years UK Festival of Zombie Culture, this time the film is Cooties; a comedy zombie film set at an elementary school. People have been raving about this in the Fright Meter Awards Committee Facebook page pretty much all year and so my expectations were high, but not impossibly so.

Elijah Wood stars as Clint; a supply teacher who is covering English during Summer School at the elementary he used to go to as a child. On his very first day however he not only has to contend with the other teachers who are a strange bunch (including among them Rainn Wilson as Wade) but he also finds himself at the centre of a viral outbreak which has transformed the majority of the moody students into flesh hungry ghouls. Barricaded into their office the teachers have to try and find away to escape the horrors who will stop at nothing to kill all adults...

Me and My Mates vs. The Zombie Apocalypse (2015) - Comedy Zombie Horror Film Review

As is always the case with the films of the UK Festival of Zombie Culture as the week after draws on my memory of the films I saw gets more and more patchy. Today's film review is for Australian zombie comedy Me and My Mates vs. The Zombie Apocalypse that had it's UK premiere at the event. The movie was from the producer of last years Australian film Theatre of the Dead so I hoped it would be better than that one.

The film is set not too long after zombie apocalypse has hit Australia and three friends; Joel (Jim Jefferies), Darryl (Alex Williamson) and Roy (Greg Fleet) have arranged to meet up at the telephone exchange they work at once they have all gathered weapons and supplies. They meet up as arranged, Roy bringing along his daughter Emma, but it turns out all they have combined are several crates of beer, a beloved multi purpose tool, and a shotgun named Betsy. The group decide to use the exchange centre to call the military for assistance but with rumours of the army brutally killing everyone infected or not is that really the wisest choice?

Darkest Day (2015) - Zombie Horror Film Review

Out of all the films being shown at this years UK Festival of Zombie Culture it was Darkest Day that I was least looking forward too, the title and poster image both did little to enthuse me while the trailer was pretty forgettable. However while this does suffer in a few places it was perhaps overall my favourite film of the event.

Dan (Dan Rickard who also directs) wakes up on a beach in Brighton with no memory of how he got there. He discovers the city deserted and in a state of destruction and soon encounters roaming hordes of frenzied infected who attack anyone they see on sight. Rescued by a girl he follows her to her home where she lives with a group of young adults. Dan discovers that zombie apocalypse has happened, the majority of the population have been evacuated to 'safe camps' by the military but the group he ends up with are immune to the disease and so choose to live out their days doing what they want. For whatever reason the army are after Dan, and he and his new friends soon find themselves the subject of a lethal hunt from both the callous soldiers and the angry infected.

Nightmare City (1980) - Zombie Horror Film Review

So this past weekend was the annual UK Festival of Zombie Culture, the first film shown was the not bad Maggie that I reviewed previously this year. The second film of the event was Umberto Lenzi's Nightmare City (known as City of the Walking Dead in the U.S); an Italian zombie cult classic that bizarrely I had never heard of before. This film is a favourite of both Eli Roth and Quentin Tarantino and it's easy to see why. As is the case every year with my reviews of the films of this festival my memory will probably get steadily worse over the course of the week.

An unmarked military plane lands at a commercial airport ignoring requests for identification. Once landed it is soon surrounded by police and military who request the passengers to come out of the silent vessel, and that they do, hordes of unstoppable, near unkillable figures armed with all sort of weapons erupt out the blackness of the craft killing everyone in their way. Local TV reporter Dean (Hugo Stiglitz) witnesses this mayhem and sets out to warn the population but events soon escalate and he finds himself in a life or death struggle to find his wife and escape the sweeping death and destruction consuming the...nightmare city.

UK Festival of Zombie Culture 2015 - Event Overview

Last Saturday was the annual UK Festival of Zombie Culture held at the Phoenix Arts Centre in Leicester. The event is now in its ninth year and is the fourth year I have attended. My report on 2013 and 2014 can be found clicking on the links. After bailing on the final film at last years event I felt I had something to prove to myself this time around and so was determined to make it all the way to the end.. It can and does get tiring watching 13 hours of films, my method of coping last year was alcohol but that was a fail, this year my secret weapon was energy drinks.

Arriving at the venue pretty much spot on for midday I passed the organiser; Zombie Ed being interviewed by the local news and headed into the first showing. Previously I had got a 'goodie' bag for being one of the first 200 through the doors, not this year, though seeing as it usually consists of leaflets and old copies of Shock Horror magazine I wasn't too fussed. The first film was Maggie (starring Arnold Schwarzenegger), I had seen this earlier in the year and had thought it was ok if a little slow paced, and my opinion did not change watching it again. I think many had expected an action packed romp rather than a touching story about a father and his daughter and so didn't enjoy it. I spoke to some people later in the day and they all seemed to share the opinion that it was awful.

Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (2015) - Zombie Comedy Horror Film Review

I was pretty hyped for watching Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse for two reasons; first zombie films (outside of The UK Festival of Zombie Culture) are quite rare to get to see on the big screen and secondly the trailer was laugh out loud funny.

After a janitor at a research laboratory accidentally causes a zombie uprising, the small nearby mountain town quickly gets over run by the walking dead. However for friends Ben (Tye Shridan), Carter (Logan Miller) and Augie (Joey Morgan) they know none of this as they have headed out to the woods on a Scouting expedition and it is only when Ben and Carter have sneaked back into town to go to a party all the popular kids are going to that they realise the extent of what has happened. They team up with a bad-ass strip club bartender; Denise (Sarah Dumont) and Augie (who has gone looking for them) in order to save the rest of the still living population that just so happens to be the party goers.

Slashing Through the Snow (2015) by Venus de Vilo - Horror Music Album News and Impressions

I first mentioned Dublin based horror-shock musician Venus de Vilo back last year (here) and now she is about to release a Christmas themed three track album titled Slashing Through the Snow that she describes as "one of the world's only ever horror themed...Frightmas albums".

This album features the tracks Santa's Slay, Mistletoetag, and The Night Before Christmassacre all of which are full of clever tongue in cheek lyrics that do a good job of twisting Xmas conventions into a horror theme. All three songs are quite stripped back and bare but this just makes it easier to hear the lyrics which were a lot of fun. The Night Before Christmassacre in particular stood out, this song tells a story about the time St Nicholas arrived at a house one fateful Christmas eve to cause mayhem and blood shed.

Buying the album also gives you access to a bunch of bonus stuff that include a digital fully illustrated lyrics and comic book, as well as a calender (named here Killendar) for 2016. While the songs don't musically sound Christmas like at all the actual lyrical content is very on point, albeit with a sadistic twist to the season of good will. If you want to get this album for yourself it comes out on Friday 13th November and will be able to be purchased from here for the low price of €4.99.

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (2015) - Horror Video Game Review (PS4)

Hot on the heels of Everybody's Gone to the Rapture I started The Vanishing of Ethan Carter; another similar game that originally came out in 2014, but then got remade and released earlier this year for Playstation 4. The game is a horror based adventure that has you exploring a lonely vista.

There is not much of an introduction, you are thrust into the game as Paul Prospero; a paranormal detective who arrives in Red Creek Valley, Wisconsin in the 1970's after some fan mail by 12 year old Ethan Carter who lives there troubles him (psychically troubles him maybe?). The place is deserted and through your travels in search of Ethan you discover that the boy seems to have awoken an ancient evil known as The Sleeper while exploring an old burnt down house. This being slowly starts to possess his family one by one leading him to flee.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare - Exo Zombies Map 4 'Descent' (2015) - Video Game Map Impressions (Playstation 4)

With Call of Duty: Black Ops III coming out in only a matter of hours now I thought it was about time I put down my impressions of Descent; the fourth and final Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Exo Zombies map. This last map is included in the Reckoning map pack and I reckon I have not really got value for money as this is yet another map pack I own purely so I can play Exo Zombies.

At the conclusion of Carrier the four strong team of Captain Lennox (Bruce Campbell), Lilith (Rose McGowan), Kahn (Bill Paxton), and Decker (Jon Bernthal) encounter the now zombified Oz (John Malkovich) and after briefly fighting him they leave the doomed carrier in an escape pod. They arrive at an underwater Atlas base known as 'The Trident Retreat', but after dispatching the surface guards they find out Oz has already seized control of the base which is now swarming with zombies...

Party Night - Horror Film News

Troy Escamilla who is the owner and editor of the Fright Meter Blog, as well as President of the Fright Meter Awards committee (of which I am a member) has just announced the creation of Fright Meter Films. This production company is to specialise in horror films as well as true crime documentaries.

The first film planned for this new company is as the blog title suggests Party Night. This is to be written by Escamilla and is to be a homage to 80's slashers such as classics Hell Night and Prom Night. The synopsis is simple enough; six friends decide rather than attending their schools after prom party they are instead going to hold their own little shindig. However their choice of location is a secluded house near a river which also happens to be the hunting ground for a sadistic killer...

Party Night is in the early stages of pre-production and planned to be filmed in Houston next summer for a release towards the end of 2016. Escamilla is to be the executive producer and is currently interviewing for a director. A crowd funding campaign is to hopefully be launched in the next few weeks, while a website is on it's way to creation. If you wish to check on the progress of the film in the meantime you can check out the Facebook page here, or follow the film on Twitter (@PartyNightMovie). As always there can never be too much horror and from what I know of Escamilla he is very passionate about the genre and so this could indeed be great.

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture (2015) - Apocalyptic Video Game Review (Playstation 4)

Well first off this isn't really horror as such but it is very apocalyptic. Aside from Gone Home this is the first so called 'walking simulator' I have played. That game took place just in one large house, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture takes place in an English village and its surrounding areas so was much larger in scope.

You play as an unknown person who finds them self in the fictional village of Yaughton in Shropshire. For reasons unknown it seems that you are the very last human on Earth, or at least in the local area. As you explore you find clues that point towards Yaughton being sealed off from the outside world due to some type of flu epidemic, and that over time the residents one by one began to vanish. You encounter ghosts/echoes in time of the occupants of this place who play out scenes from the past, and by adventuring you slowly piece together the tragic events that led to the apparent Rapture.

Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) - Horror Film Review

After a long month of reviews here is the final horror film to be reviewed for my Halloween celebrations. Halloween III: Season of the Witch was a huge disappointment when I first watched it as I had fully been expecting a Michael Myers horror, I had even put off watching the rest in that iconic series while I waited for this to be posted to me. As everyone knows this is the one film in the series to have nothing whatsoever to do with that particular killer, originally each of the Halloween films was due to be a stand alone piece, just using the theme of that great holiday as inspiration but after a poor reception for Season of the Witch that plan was dropped.

Halloween III opens on 23rd October 1982 with a terrified man on the run from cold suit wearing figures. Eventually he comes across a gas attendant who takes the poor man to hospital. This is where Daniel Challis (Tom Atkins) meets the man who desperately tells him "They're going to kill us. All of us! All of us!" before fainting. Challis takes him for a crazy person but soon the man is found murdered, his attacker committing fiery suicide, and when the man's daughter Ellie shows up looking for answers Challis feels compelled to team up with her to trace her Dad's final movements. This leads them to the sleepy town of Santa Mira; the home of the Silver Shamrock Halloween mask company...

Moth (2016) - Horror Film News and Trailer

Happy Halloween! Later today I shall post the final of my sixteen horror film reviews I have been doing as part of the celebrations for Halloween 2015, but first a small bonus post featuring the trailer for found footage horror Moth which comes from directors Jozef Gallai and Gergo Elekes (Bodom). I covered this and featured the teaser trailer back in April (here).

Moth concerns itself with the Mothman legend and as a found footage there is a small bit of worry as that genre is so easy to get wrong. However I though Bodom wasn't that bad and had some interesting moments so if the strengths of that movie can be built on there may be something special here. Anyway, check out the brand new trailer for Moth yourself...

The Walking Dead: Season Two (2013-14) - Zombie Horror Video Game Review (X-Box 360)

I really loved season one of Telltales The Walking Dead adventure game, it made you care about the characters, especially the relationship between Lee and his ward Clementine. That game ended relatively optimistically and so I never felt a sequel was needed. Finally after putting it off for a year I played through season two, but should this new chapter in Clementine's life have been left untold?

It is nearly two years since Clementine's journey with Lee and after a series of misadventures she finds herself with a new group of survivors. Their plan is to head north as there is rumour of a settlement named Wellington which is walker (zombie) free. However she soon finds this group are being hunted by a ruthless man named Carver and his cronies for reasons unknown and soon she gets caught up in events.

The Last Witch Hunter (2015) - Fantasy Film Review

You kind of know what to expect when you go to see one of Vin Diesel's power fantasies. In the Riddick series he played an unbeatable bad-ass in a nightmare sci-fi world, in The Last Witch Hunter he plays an unbeatable bad-ass in a nightmare fantasy world.

Diesel stars as Kaulder; a witch hunter who was cursed by a witch with immortality, and so for the last 800 years he has been roaming the planet doing what he does best. In that time a truce has been made between the witches and the hunters, they now have their own council who work to ensure that they don't interfere in the world of man. When Kaulder's trusted aid (Michael Caine) turns up seemingly dead he realises that someone is working to destroy the fragile truce and bring doom and destruction back to mankind, and so he teams up with his new aid (Elijah Wood) and a friendly witch; Chloe (Rose Leslie) in order to stop this plan.

Dog Blood (2010) by David Moody - Horror Book Review

It was just over a year ago that I read Hater; the first book in the Hater series and now I have finally gotten around to reading the second book Dog Blood. These are horror stories that seem almost like an off shoot of the zombie genre. There are the normal people; the unchanged and then there are the Haters who have an overwhelming desire to kill anyone who are not like them but who retain their basic humanity in all other aspects of their lives. There are going to be spoilers about Hater here as a warning.

Dog Blood takes place around three months after the events of the first book and explores the deepening war between the unchanged and the Haters. The majority of unchanged are now grouped together in shanty towns at city centres, protected by the military, one such unchanged is Mark whose home in a hotel room holds a deadly secret. Danny McCoyne meanwhile has adapted to his new life well but his desire to find his hater daughter Ellis has made him more inclined to self preservation and less interested in fighting, and so he has more self control than most. While searching for her he becomes embroiled in a plot to bring the war to a new devastating level.

Halloween: Resurrection (2002) - Horror Film Review

For this finale entry in the original series I was expecting something along the lines of the insipid Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later yet I was both surprised and delighted to find a film that has well stood the test of time, both innovating as well as being a decent Myers film.

The unrelated prologue set in 2001 has killer Michael Myers (Brad Loree) heading to the insane asylum where Laurie Strode (Jaime Lee Curtis) has been kept for the last three years after murdering a man she had mistaken for the masked psychotic. With that storyline over the film begins proper in 2002. An internet web show run by Freddie (Busta Rhymes) and his DangerTainment company has planned something special for Halloween. Six competition winners are going to get to spend a night in the childhood home of Myers, their every move broadcast to the web, however predictably the killer turns up and soon starts slaughtering the group. With no one to help (due to the authorities and viewers all thinking the murders are fake) Sara (Bianca Kajlich) and her fellow survivors must find a way to escape the house of hell.

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth (2014) - Horror Video Game Review (Playstation 4)

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is a remake of the similarly titled flash game that came out 2011. It is a procedurally generated dungeon crawler that draws on religion heavily for it's story. If you want a measure for what this games like then think the dungeon sections of old school Zelda made into an entire game.

Isaac and his very religious mother live together happily until one day she starts hearing the voice of God who tells her Isaac is full of sin. First she takes his clothes and belongings away from him but unsatisfied the voice tells her more needs to be done. Next she locks him in his room but again she is told more must be done. Finally the voice tells her that to prove her faith she must sacrifice Isaac. As she approaches his room with a kitchen knife he desperately searches for an escape, in his search he discovers a trap door leading to the basement. With no other choice he flees...

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015) - Horror Film Review

Wow, they just keep churning these out, I felt for sure Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension was about the ninth or tenth one in this often tedious series but it is only the sixth. To make things try and feel fresh this time around for once you can actually see the ghost haunting people via the use of a magical camera.

It is December 2013 and Ryan, his wife Emily and their daughter Leila have recently moved into a new house, it is not long before Ryan discovers a strange video camera and a box full of old home movies. The camera is strange in that it seems to be able to pick up things that are not visible with the naked eye. His brother Mike is staying at the house after a messy break up and one night while stoned the two decide to watch some of the home videos; what they see is quite odd. The videos from the late 1980's feature two girls; Katie and Kristi (from Paranormal Activity 3) who are being hypnotised by a creepy cult guy and who seem to be able to see into present day. The strange camera starts to pick up more and more hidden activity in the house and soon the family come to the shocking conclusion that some sort of ghost has a special interest in their young daughter.

Bloody Knuckles (2014) - Comedy Horror Film Review

Bloody Knuckles is a Canadian horror directed by Matt O'Mahoney due for release by Artsploitation Films. It features as it's main focus a severed hand which acts in the vein of Thing from The Addams Family crossed with Ash's evil hand off of Evil Dead II with a bit of Idle Hands thrown in for good measure, obviously making the film a horror comedy.

Travis (Adam Boys) is a controversial underground comic writer who tries his best to offend with his publication. After his latest issue pokes fun at local Chinese businessman Leonard Fong he finds himself kidnapped, for Mr Fong is secretly the head of the Golden Dragons; a local criminal gang. Wanting to give a lesson he orders his gang to cut off Travis's writing hand. With his lesson learnt a defeated Travis abandons his art, but things don't go so smoothly when his now somehow sentient severed hand inexplicably turns up wanting revenge on the Golden Dragons...

Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later (1998) - Horror Film Review

I did not like Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later when I first saw it, after the pretty good series before this felt like a bump up into main stream territory, to be honest I'm still pretty lukewarm on it. Also I have only just noticed what a long ridiculous title it has.

H20 is a direct sequel to Halloween II and completely wipes the time line of Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, and Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, as far as this is concerned those three didn't even happen.  So it has been twenty years since Laurie Strode (Jaime Lee Curtis) had a night of terror when her brother came for her and she is now the headmistress of a private school. She still lives in fear of Myers whose body was never found and so gets extra jumpy every Halloween, it seems she has good reason to be nervous as this time he does come back, but with her son in danger Laurie decides this time she is going to confront her demons and fight back.