The Rotting Zombie's Round-up of Horror News for January 2023

I haven't been sleeping well lately so I'm going to try and just get straight into the news due to being quite tired. My last blog post for the week, so once this is done I'm home free! Because it is a zombie film, comedy horror Mike & Fred Vs. The Dead is getting top billing this month. The film comes from Anthony Leone and is about two stoners whose simple favour of picking up Mike's grandfather results in them caught up in an unfolding nationwide zombie outbreak. The cast includes Amy Cay (Quarantine Chronicles), Brian Patrick Butler, George Jac and Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp) and is due for an August release.

 

Dick Reno: Monster Slayer is a horror comedy from ThunderKnight Entertainment that is currently in production. This is about the titular monster slayer who finds himself on a mission to defeat the evil vampire Count Moldark. Included among the cast are Richard Tyson (Kindergarten Cop), Vernon Wells (Mad Max 2), Harley Wallen (Ash and Bone), Dawna Lee Heising (The Paradise Hotel), Jimmy Drain (The Dead Rose), Erika Monet (Realm of Shadows), and Lindsey Kells (The Initiation).

I mentioned this last month, and now Scream VI has an official trailer out. Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, this latest entry moves the killings to New York after four survivors of the last movie head there hoping for a new start. Series regulars such as Courteney Cox are joined by a new cast which includes among them Samara Weaving, Jack Champion, Henry Czerny, Liana Liberato and Dermot Mulroney. Scream VI comes to cinemas March 10th.

The Dark Room is a new psychological horror thriller that currently has an Indiegogo campaign running to raise funds. It comes from directors Jake C. Young and Kenny Scott Guffey, whose previous film A Night of the Undead is due to be released by Bayview Entertainment. The story sees an amateur photographer who finds something troubling in the photos he was sent to develop by a pastor, something related to a series of disturbing decapitations in the area. Actor and musician Trevor Lissauer (Sabrina The Teenage Witch, La La Land, American Vampire) has been confirmed to be among the cast. For more details check out the campaign here, currently it has raised £592 of its £3,231 goal with nineteen days to go.

It turns out my culling of my news inbox has resulted in me hitting the bottom of it sooner than expected, and so the following will be the final bit of news from me for January. An official trailer has been released for the alien abduction sci-fi film Static Codes. I included a trailer for the film in a post back from October, but looks like this one may be different. The film follows a paralysed man who is convinced his wife was abducted ten years ago during a car accident, and so is obsessed with finding her.

All of Us Are Dead: Season 1 (2022) - Zombie TV Show Review

Having finished watching The Good Place and wanting something new to watch, me and my best friend decided to take a look at the South Korean zombie show All of Us Are Dead. This twelve episode series mainly takes place within the confines of a high school that had been the centre of a zombie outbreak and mainly features a cast of teenagers. It was so good that yesterday (at the time of writing) me and my friend spent seven hours watching through the final seven episodes. This is a heck of a good show.

After a student gets bitten by a hamster in the school's science lab, a chain of events unfold that lead to a citywide zombie outbreak. It turns out the science teacher had secretly been working on a virus that had been designed to give the weak a means to fight back against their oppressors. The injured student is taken to the city hospital, while back at the school, the school nurse who had tried to treat her, finds herself infected also, and pretty soon nearly the entirety of the school is full of flesh hungry undead. The students of one class form a group and together they try their best to survive against the relentless hordes, while trying to find a way to alert the outside world to their predicament. These characters include Lee Cheong-san (Chan-Young Yoon) and his best friend Nam On-jo (Park Ji-hu), calm and collected Lee Su-hyeok (Park Solomon), and the large yet kindly Yang Dae-su (Arvin Lee). Also at the school are a separate group of students also doing their best to survive, as well as the school psycho Yoon Gwi-nam (In-soo Yoo, one of the standout actors), who thinks the outbreak of the undead is the best thing to ever happen to him, and who has a personal grudge against Cheong.
Meanwhile, out in the city, you have a detective who discovers the source of the outbreak, and the firefighter father of Nam On-jo who is split between his desire to rescue his daughter and to help those who need his assistance in the here and now. 

At roughly one hour an episode this was a season that packed so much into it. There are moments of downtime, yet each episode is full of thrilling and bloody conflicts against the undead. Being students, these characters aren't armed with weapons. For much of the show in fact, these teenagers use their brains and mobility to avoid their aggressors. The cast were so likeable and All of Us Are Dead is frequently laugh out loud funny. A perfect balance between horror and humour is present through at least two thirds of the show. This can even occur seamlessly in the same scene. Genuine horror and terror one moment, genuine comedy the next, was so impressive how well done this fine balance was. By the end of the season when the stakes have gotten higher a lot of his comedy falls by the wayside, but it is still present in the dialogue that characters say among themselves. This also falls into some of the side stories, the serious detective character in particular had a silly feel to his subplot, due to the comedy characters he kept encountering. One sequence took the form of a drone shot that had the detective and a cowardly cop running around the streets only to keep bumping into groups of zombies, the footage sped up to give it a 'Benny Hill' style comedy feel. These side stories were important for showing the overall picture outside of the school, with parts that take place within military command trying to contain the situation, and at the evacuation facility, giving more context to the outbreak.

The zombies are the real highlight here, there are just so many of them. At first they seem like a copy of the ones from Train to Busan. These are fast zombies whose bones are constantly making snapping noises. Here though, the zombies are very uncoordinated, they lunge at their victims, often missing and going flying into walls and through windows, they also are quite good at getting jammed in tight spaces due to the mass of uncoordinated limbs. This makes for so many really thrilling chase sequences.
There was also a different zombie type that made for some very interesting moments, with some victims discovering that they appear to be asymptotic to the virus, with the perks that brings. The amount of action sequences is crazy, and these are made up of such impressive visual choices. A girl standing on the roof of the school ready to jump looks down to see multiple zombies bursting out of the windows below where she is stood. Later, a man's attempt to stop the approaching zombies in a stairwell by blasting them with a water hose gets a neat exterior shot of his battle from some distance from the building he is in. Mixed in with all this are found footage type moments, such as the headcam footage of SWAT team members, or a vlog that someone is trying to make about the outbreak, and each episode (near enough) opens with footage from recordings the scientist made when he was trying to find a cure to the deadly virus he had made.
The highlight scene for me was the battle that took place in the school library between Cheong and Gwin-nam, the two students racing across stacks of bookcases while fighting, with the undead below sprinting around trying their best to grab them. Over the season I lost count of the times it seemed like the characters were in a siege type situation that looked legitimately hopeless, only for them to find a way out in the nick of time. Somehow this worked time and time again, sometimes even in the same episode. More than once I recall turning to my friend and saying "there is no way they could possibly get out of this!" only for that to somehow happen, in a way that rarely felt like a cheap solution. There are plenty of noble sacrifices made, with the majority of the characters combining into a group who were all prepared to give up their lives if it meant they could save their friends. 

Twelve hours of just following the class of students around their school may have gotten a little stale, so I really appreciated the side stories. What I liked about these was that you never really knew how far along characters would get in their stories before they got swiftly ended. There were at least a few of these that end on a shockingly sudden end before any kind of resolution happens. That, along with a good death count even among the core cast kept me never sure of who was going to survive or not. I guess you could say some of these side stories could have been better developed. The main focus is always on the school, with probably around 25% of each episode going to these other characters. I had wondered how the momentum could be maintained of such high action for twelve one hour episodes. This just about manages it, with the final episode being the weakest, due to the fact that the story was all but wrapped up in episode eleven.

I loved my time with All of Us Are Dead, it was such a good show. A post-Covid world in which characters are aware of zombies in media (one even referencing Train to Busan) was refreshing enough in itself, but with a crazy amount of undead, endlessly inventive set pieces, and a near perfect balance of horror and humour made for something that was a real thrill ride to witness.

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Zombies, Run!: Season 3 (2014) - Zombie Running App Review

I have loved the idea of Zombies, Run! ever since I first heard of it. A running app that is part radio drama and part running aid, helped in no small part by some outstanding actors playing the roles. It took me around six years to get through the sixty odd missions from season 2, which just shows how little I actually ran in that time. With season 3 you have another sixty, but am happy to say this one took me two years to get through (which I acknowledge is still a long time!). Spoilers for the previous seasons to follow.

After the shock cliffhanger of season 2 in which a large proportion of Able Township's population under mind control got up and left the compound for parts unknown, this season has you, again playing the non-verbal role of Runner 5 as you try to find out who is behind this latest evil. This includes you tracking down the way this mind control was carried out, investigating the shady headquarters of the Comansys science corporation, and identifying the mysterious leader of the group that is using the brain washed people as unwilling slaves and soldiers.

Rather than be split up into main missions, side missions and bonus missions, all sixty to be found in season 3 are main line missions. Variation is the order of the day and this time things go to some interesting places. You get a few missions that essentially take place within your own mind, quite a few missions set in London, far away from Able Township, and even some missions that take the form of flashback sequences. These include the moment that Able and New Canton first fell out with each other, as well as why runners became to be known as numbers rather than by their names. The story despite my reservations was really interesting, it tackled something that shows like The Walking Dead never did. It also surprised by having the antagonist turn out to be someone I really hadn't suspected. Definitely someone more cerebral than physical, which works when you are passively playing the role of someone whose key skill is running rather than fighting.

By this point there is a solid cast of characters, with my favourite being the return of the slimy character Simon. Turned traitor in season 2, this time around he forms a convenient alliance. I don't know who the voice actor is for this character but he was just perfect. This character gets the most developed character arc in the whole season, outside of the antagonist. With the lack of side missions, I'm not too fussed as some of those had previously felt pointless. As a running aid, this is primarily used at the gym when I'm rowing or on the cross trainer, and so gone are the days of running around my local wood while using this. Later seasons strayed away a bit from woodlands and so while it is not ideal to not be running while using this, I can still enjoy the story despite a reduced layer of immersion.

I'm never keen on the trope of there always being a bigger and badder antagonist behind the orchestrations of a previous antagonist, this time that idea was handled well. It both builds on the story that has taken place while increasing the scope of the zombie infested world. This was as always a joy to get through. A quick look tells me there are currently nine seasons out there, so I better get exercising.

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Halloween Ends (2022) - Horror Film Review

Despite Halloween being my favourite horror franchise, I managed to end up missing seeing the latest entry Halloween Ends when it was in the cinemas last year. Due to this I eagerly pre-ordered the Blu-ray of the movie, having absolutely loved 2021's (Halloween Kills). Where that film was everything I loved about this franchise, with this one, I appreciate what director David Gordon Green (Halloween Kills, Halloween,) was going for, but it made for a film that kind of sucked.

It is four years since Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney) went on a rampage through the town of Haddonfield, a rampage that culminated in the death of Laurie Strode's (Jamie Lee Curtis - Halloween series) daughter. The masked killer hasn't been seen since and the townsfolk are trying to do their best to move on. In the meantime, Corey (Rohan Campbell) had become ostracised due to the accidental death of a young boy he caused while babysitting, and Laurie noticing this decides to introduce him to her niece, Allyson (Andi Matichak - Halloween Kills, Halloween), someone who is also treated differently due to her having survived her encounter with Myers. Laurie quickly comes to regret her decision, as she comes to see the similar signs in Corey that she once saw in Michael, and that may be down to the fact that the young man has accidentally discovered the hiding place of Myers and has become something of a student of his.

I'm glad that I didn't really hear many spoilers before heading in to Halloween Ends, but that also meant I went in unprepared for what type of movie this would be. Despite the iconic killer being in the movie, this very much felt like a post-Myers world. It's a look at how a community and its people can recover from such dark events, and how their anger can be misplaced onto others not deserving of it. I came to this expecting a typical unstoppable killer storyline, to be honest that is exactly what I wanted to get. Instead, while there is a bodycount that falls into double figures, barely any of these are down to Myers. It's a very slight twist that Corey is the one who is going around murdering people, but this happens relatively early into the film, and it isn't designed to be a mystery, the camera clearly shows that he is the one doing the crimes. Sadly, Myers barely even features here (he doesn't even make an appearance until nearly forty minutes in), and when he does he has becoming a shadow of his former self. Whether due to old age or down to the injuries he sustained in the previous two films I don't know, but he is someone who can easily be overpowered now, something that the annoying Corey takes advantage of.

Some of the writing here was terrible, but at least there were no comedy characters to be found. Corey started off as a compelling character, but his heel turn felt so swift and out of place that it felt like scenes were missing. One moment he was a sympathetic outcast, the next he's acting like he thinks he is the coolest and most edgiest person to ever live. I totally didn't understand what his character arc was meant to be.
It's not a secret that I have never liked Laurie Strode as a character, that's one of the things I enjoyed so much about Halloween Kills. She spends the majority of the film in hospital, convinced she's the main character of the Myers saga when she isn't. Here the roles are reversed, she has moved on from Myers and whether indirectly or not he is now the one seeking her out. While the film trailers were all about the final epic battle between the two, this doesn't come until way late into the film, but least it was entertaining while it lasted.

The kills also at least look fun, with some inventive deaths among all the stabbings. I think the highlight was a character getting a blow torch to their face, and a head stamp effect that looked suitably gory. The most gory is saved to the end, something I won't go into details about. The film's score was also a good part of this. I liked the modern take on the classic sounds of Halloween. There are of course many call-backs to previous Halloween films, including fun use of a knitting needle, and characters being in the same positions as iconic shots from earlier movies.

I would have been more than happy with more of the same with Halloween Ends. I do appreciate there was an effort here to really close up this latest trilogy of films in the franchise, but I didn't find the character of Corey to be that interesting, and to be honest, I just wanted Myers on yet another rampage. I can't see myself returning to this one for a while, perhaps with the distance of time its message and novel approach will be appreciated more.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Wednesday 25th January 2023

Back with more news as I often do in a regular news anthology post. Personally, I've watched through season one of the fantastic All of Us Are Dead, a wonderful South Korean zombie show that takes place in a high school. A review to follow later this week.

On 21st February The Long Dark Trail is released on Blu-ray and DVD from Cleopatra Entertainment. This is an independent horror film that was shot in the forests of northwestern Pennsylvania. The press release states it was inspired by graphic novels such as Preacher and Hellblazer, as well as horrors of the 1970's such as Deliverance and The Hills Have Eyes. This comes from writers/directors Kevin Ignatius and Nick Psinakis (the later who also stars in this), and is about two brothers who after fleeing their abusive father, head on a journey through a dark forest to meet their mother who is residing in a commune there. This was an Official Selection at the Weekend of Fear Film Festival, IFI Horrorthon, Blood Window Film Festival, and the Be Afraid Horror Fest!

Pasture comes to Blu-ray on January 31st from Bayview Entertainment. This is directed by Sean Hardaway and stars Sarah J. Bartholomew, Hunter Brosig, and Gabriel Grant. The film tells the story of a schizophrenic woman who is abducted by a crazed doctor and experimented on.

Finally for today, Michael Moutsatsos is currently running an Indiegogo campaign in order to raise funds for his horror film Contaminate. Outside of the pitch video there are not many details for this film, it sounds like it is going to be a slasher and has the tagline 'In a mad world only the mad are sane'. Check out the Indiegogo page here for a few more details. Currently it has raised £85 out of a £8,123 goal with forty six days to go.

The Long Night (2022) - Horror Film Review

The Long Night (also known as The Coven) is a horror film about a demon worshipping cult that was directed by Rich Ragsdale (The Loop) and co-written by Mark Young (Southern Gothic) and Robert Sheppe. While this had a good premise, it didn't really deliver, spending too much of its first half not really moving the plot along.

Grace (Scout Taylor-Compton - An Intrusion, Halloween) was orphaned as a child and has become obsessed with finding her real parents. Her search has led her to a remote plantation house in the deep south, where a man who lives there may be able to give her the information she needs. So the woman, along with her boyfriend Jack (Nolan Gerard Funk - Ghost Light, Riddick) travels there from their New York apartment in search of answers. They find the place deserted so decide to wait around to see if Grace's contact comes back. That night however, they find the place surrounded by animal skull wearing robed cultists, and soon discover that they have no way to contact the outside world to get help.

I like films about cults and devil worshipping, so I was approaching this semi-interested. Due to the way the cult acts it didn't make for the most exciting of films. They look the part at least, and I appreciate the creepiness of them just standing there silently, but when that is pretty much all they are doing they soon wear out their welcome. Much of the middle act is Grace and Jack walking around the house while freaking out about the intruders with not much more really happening. The third acts falls into arthouse territory with a series of flashbacks/hallucinations that Grace experiences that set things up for a finale that didn't really go anywhere that exciting. A shout out goes to the random book that falls off a wall at one point, which conveniently explains who the cultists are and what they are trying to achieve. Sure that was good to get that backstory, but I thought that perhaps it could have been provided in a better way.

The film was well put together which made me early on think this might turn out be ok. I enjoyed the first act with the couple journeying to the place, not that I felt that they made for a great couple, there seemed to be something off about their chemistry. I thought Taylor-Compton was good in her role, but the character of Jack seemed to fade into the background whenever there was more than just him on screen. There are a few other speaking roles (aside from their leader the cultists don't speak), including a fun little scene at a petrol station, and a stand out scene featuring Deborah Kara Unger (Silent Hill: Revelation, Silent Hill). There is a bit of action and a small body count, but mostly the film tries to deliver its horror with strange dream sequences.

I think if the cult had more bite than bark then The Long Night would have been improved. As initially unsettling as silent hooded cultists are, they soon lose their power to scare through inaction. With more happening during the second act, and a more streamlined and eventful finale this would be better, but as it is, at least it doesn't outstay its welcome. The Long Night is due for release on January 30th from High Fliers Films.

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Genevieve Rises (2023) - Short Horror Film Review

The creepy doll, Genevieve first appeared in the horror anthology Urban Fears back in 2019, and since then she has gone on to appear in a second anthology, 2021's Two Twisted Tales, as well as a variety of short films; Genevieve, Genevieve Wrecks Havoc, Camo vs. Genevieve, finally (for me at least) culminating in the forty five minute long Genevieve, which combined the earlier shorts into one whole, with the addition of extra scenes. I figured this was where the story of this particular creation ended, but a quick look at IMDB states that 2022 saw the release of Genevieve: Blood & Guts and Genevieve Strikes Again. Now, Nicholas Michael Jacobs is back with another entry in the series with Genevieve Rises, a film that he directed, wrote, produced, edited, scored, and acted in, also co-responsible for the cinematography.

Jeff (Nicholas Michael Jacobs) returns home one evening and happens to notice a strange book in his basement that he had never seen before. Figuring it may belong to his girlfriend, he sends her a text, then in the meantime begins browsing the handwritten 'Book of Souls', which he idly reads aloud from. This turns out to be quite a bad idea as it summons the mischievous doll..

If you have seen any of the other short films then you can probably guess the format of what happens here. The plot here is very similar to a lot of the other ones, resulting in the usual bizarre sight of someone wrestling with what is obviously a non-moving doll (there is a reason that the director refers to these as comedy horrors). There felt like there was maybe more of a supernatural element to this, but what made this feel different to me was the fun prop the doll gets to use, something which is hinted at in the intro title sequence to this thirteen minute film. This prop was my favourite part of Rises, was a fun addition that looked good on camera due to the sound effects added for it. Another highlight here was the score, fitted the visuals very well.

Despite the large number of entries in the series, it never really feels like the base idea is evolving too much, sometimes it can seem like a complete reset, rather than a continuation of what has come before. As much as I enjoyed this, it would be nice to get more variation in the general format. Still, for me it had been over a year, and so it was fun to return to the world of the creepy looking ever giggling doll (archived voice work of Alan Maxson I believe), especially with the creation of these shorts seeming to be more polished each and every time. Genevieve Rises is currently being submitted to film festivals. Check out the fab teaser trailer below.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for 19th January 2023

My second news post of the month, or 'new' as I keep accidentally calling these posts, sure makes me look professional! Starting with some Arrow Video US releases. On 10th January The Executioner Collection came to Blu-ray, which brings together two of Sonny Chiba's martial art movies (The Executioner and The Executioner II: Karate Inferno). Also released on that date was was Roger Corman's H.P Lovecraft inspired The Dunwich Horror, apparently one of the most successful film adaptations of the (racist) master's work. This stars Dean Stockwell as a man who is on a journey to retrieve the Necronomicon from the library of the Miskatonic University.

I infrequently mention the JustWatch top 10 UK streaming film and show charts, and this time around it is a top 10 for the whole year, not just a particular week. Now the top 10 film chart isn't too relevant here. Personally I was pleased to see The Batman at number 2 in the list. I guess Doctor Strange in the Multitude of Madness is a good fit, this Marvel movie is in at number 3 and included a zombified Doctor Strange for a portion of the movie. Always good to see.
The top 10 series chart is more interesting. Number 1 sees the almighty Stranger Things, the latest series was very long, but also mainly very enjoyable. This is followed by The Addams Family spin-off Wednesday in third place, as always, I have still only seen the first two episodes of this so can't really comment other than to say I'm liking it so far. Finally, in sixth place was The Walking Dead, my favourite TV show, so was good to see it made the list.

Finally for today, Vvmpyre have recently released their new full length LP, Neon Night Fright. The group are inspired by horror, with many of the tracks focussed on themes of vampirism, such as with He Will Always Be, Neon Night Fright, Surrender and Freedom of Death. Elsewhere, tracks such as Offering and Black Cube get their inspirations from cult horror such as The Omen and Susperia.

Bermuda Island (2023) - Horror Film Review

I believe that this is the first horror film I have reviewed on this blog that had an IMDB release year of 2023. Bermuda Island was directed by Adam Werth (first assistant director on Tommyknockers, Bridge of the Doomed), with a story by Michael and Sonny Mahal. I've never seen the TV show Lost, but the idea here of survivors of a plane crash finding themselves on a very strange island gave me vibes of that regardless. 

After an aeroplane on its way to Puerto Rico inexplicably finds itself in the middle of a tremendous storm, the pilot is forced to crash land in the sea. The survivors wash up on a seemingly deserted nearby island where they think their main troubles are behind them. That evening however, the group are attacked by a group of humanoid monsters, but end up being saved by the mysterious Bruce (John Wells - One Must Fall). He reveals that he got stranded on the island many years back, and ever since has been in a nightly struggle against the group of monsters. With his expertise at surviving he offers to lead the group, but roughly half of the survivors decide to instead splinter off and instead follow the leadership of argumentative FBI agent Victor (Wesley Cannon - Death Count). Bruce's group, who include among them the main-ish protagonists Damon (Victor V Gelsomino - Tommyknockers) and Carolyn (Sarah French - Bridge of the Doomed, Death Count) soon learn the island has even more bizarreness than the lethal monsters in store for them.

Strangely, my favourite parts of Bermuda Island all occurred before the appearance of the monstrous island inhabitants. I really enjoyed the first act which did a great job at introducing the various characters, due to them all waiting around together to board their flight. There were too many characters to get a good hold on who they all were, but included a bunch of fun roles, such as the flamboyant gothic singer Midnight (Greg Tally - Tommyknockers), two bright and cheery half-brothers, Diego (Noel Gugliemi - Training Day, The Fast and the Furious); a drug lord being taken to trial, and an incessantly complaining 'Karen' type character. I also thought the gun fight that opened the film was fun to watch, if near totally unrelated to anything else in the movie, and the whole section that takes place on the plane, and the subsequent crash were all fun. The highlight of the movie for me was Bruce, I found him to be a fascinating character for the most part, certainly stood out in his scenes.

The monsters in the movie kind of look like the Predator, but are green and wearing loincloths. To me, they always looked like people dressed up in costumes rather than actual monsters and so it was always hard to take them as too much of a threat. That is despite a gigantic bodycount, far more people end up meeting their ends than I expected, and these are all shown in scenes that feature lots of blood and gore. Limbs are severed, insides are pulled out, and no end of characters have their throats torn out, all lovely stuff. Being a film with more than its fair share of comedic characters (not a complaint, I enjoyed these characters more than the more serious ones), it is probably not a surprise that these deaths don't really seem to affect the characters too much. It led to some weird moments, such as Damon and Carolyn going off on their own to have a half naked swim in a pool of water the very next day after the group first encounter the monsters. The amount of times characters got picked off as they slept or lay injured made it seem like there was organised watch, but it did keep the film from ever becoming dull.

There was a lot of strangeness with the island, with some unexpected twists and turns along the way. I found it interesting that there was never an explanation given as to the origins of the creatures. Less good for me was a late film heel turn which didn't really make much sense, it at least made the actions of earlier in the movie a little pointless. This particular twist came out of absolute nowhere, while it almost got turned around to some sort of an explanation, the movie frustratingly cuts to credits swiftly after, leaving me slightly confused as to what had happened and why.

With a stunning location, lots of bloody kills, and a varied cast of characters, Bermuda Island was a fun indie horror that never took itself too seriously. I found elements of the plot to be a little poorly developed, it had quite an abrupt ending, and I wasn't completely on board with the design of the monsters, but I would be lying if I said I didn't have some fun watching this. Bermuda Island is released January 20th in North America on VOD, Blu-ray and DVD through Gravitas Ventures.

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The Mummy: Resurrection (2022) - Horror Film Review

The Mummy: Resurrection is a British horror that comes from writer/director Steve Lawson (Jekyll and Hyde, Ripper Untold, Pentagram). Even if I hadn't known the director I would have easily been able to figure it out as this has an extremely similar style to his other films set in Victorian era London. Due to the similarities and a slightly wasted premise, this one didn't really do too much to excel.

Felix (Melvyn Rawlinson), a famed archaeologist, discovers the hidden burial place of an Egyptian princess, whose sarcophagus is said to be cursed. Fast forward to six months later and the elderly man has summoned his two nephews to his London home to announce that he is soon to pass away. Archie (Rafe Bird) is a bookish man whose study of the sciences have gave him the knowledge to be able to resurrect the recently deceased. The other nephew, Everett (Chris Bell - Ripper Untold) is an unscrupulous waster who has gotten into deep debt with a local murderous loan shark. Felix explains to the two men that he has the cursed sarcophagus hidden in his basement, and that it is to be bricked up upon his death. After Felix suddenly dies that night, after accidental exposure to the sarcophagus, Archie realises that the Egyptian curse actually has a scientific explanation, and is down to a toxin the coffin is coated in. Meanwhile, desperate to raise money to pay off his loan shark, Everett decides to blackmail Archie into assisting him. Their bizarre plan is to use Archie's knowledge of bringing the dead back to life, in order to resurrect the Egyptian princess' body and put her on display.

The reason this film felt so similar to Lawson's others is the exact same type of method used to simulate the film taking place in Victorian London. The main way this is done is by only featuring exterior shots of buildings, typically the top corner of one. Aside from that, and one tiny scene set in an alleyway, the entirety of The Mummy: Resurrection takes place in dimly lit singular rooms. This gives it a unified look that made it look so similar to the other films that at a glance it would be near impossible to identify them. The plot here felt a little stupid, the protagonist Archie may be painted as a hero type, yet he is very morally grey even without Everett's blackmail. This made him hard to really root for, in their own ways they were as bad as each other. Then you have Archie's love interest, Felix's maid, strangely continuing her job as a maid despite forming an attachment with the scientist whose house she works at.

I was expecting a modern day B-movie about a killer mummy, and instead we got something that was far less than that. This felt like a mash-up between Frankenstein and a mummy film. Outside of a few nightmare sequences, the titular mummy only makes a living appearance deep into the third act. Before that, the perfectly preserved corpse (that looks nothing like the misleading cover art) just lays there. It wasn't that the film was terrible, more that the format began to feel extremely familiar. Where I was more lenient before in my reviews, here it just felt almost pointless making yet another in this ilk. I appreciate it probably saves a heck of a lot on cost using the same techniques and seemingly same locations to film, but it doesn't make for a memorable movie. Lawson showed promise with Pentagram, so he is able to come up with compelling ideas.

Despite my over familiarity with the look of the movie, there is something of a guilty pleasure to be had watching it. The performances were perfectly suited, Bell in particular played his role well, but the plot was a little silly, and it was mainly light on any type of horror. The Mummy: Resurrection was due for release at the start of this month, thanks to High Fliers Films. 

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Alchemy of the Spirit (2022) - Film Review

I removed the 'horror' part from the title of this post as Alchemy of the Spirit only partially goes into that territory. Written and directed by Steve Balderson (Hell Town, Firecracker), this is a poignant and frequently melancholic study into the human spirit. As that may sound like, this is most certainly an arthouse movie, one that at times became almost like an essay brought to life.

Elderly artist Oliver (Xander Berkeley - Air Force One, Terminator 2: Judgement Day) awakens one morning to discover his beloved wife Evelyn (Sarah Clarke - Twilight, 24 TV series) has died in her sleep. Full of grief, the artist decides that rather than report her death to the authorities, he is instead going to try and preserve the body, in order to create his magnum opus, with her as his inspiration. With perfect timing, his manager Alex (Mink Stole - All About Evil, Neighbor) tells the artist that she has managed to get him the job of creating an art installation at a prestigious gallery, so he decides his latest work will be for that installation. Whether due to supernatural means or down to his intense sorrow, the spirit of his wife appears to him. She informs him that guides from the afterlife have told her that she will be able to spend five days with him, but after this time she will be gone forever. 

Having avoided reading the synopsis, it didn't take me too long to realise the type of movie this would be. Alchemy of the Spirit is an ultra slow burn, but one that thankfully avoids overstaying its welcome by rocking in at a ninety minute run time. For the lack of much that occurs within the film storywise, I didn't actually find it that dull at all. This is a movie with a dreamlike feel to it, where the fantastical and real merge in a way that made me unsure what was actual and which was within the mind of Oliver. Berkeley carries much of the film, though Clark's character Evelyn also features quite a bit. She is where it becomes most arthouse, with her descriptions of what it's like to be dead, and her spoken essays on the nature of reality and the human spirit mixed in with disparate images of her, such as her standing in a sun drenched meadow surrounded by artificial butterflies.

Outside of this metaphysical dreamlike fugue Oliver finds himself in, there is a more grounded story taking place in the background. First is the fact that the man has tried to preserve his wife's body in a bathtub full of ice. With his busybody manager constantly finding excuses to visit his house (and able to smell the decay which is never mentioned from Oliver's perspective), there was a low level feel of threat of him being found out. Like the more spiritual plot though, this itself felt airy, especially later on when it seems he is going to be found out but somehow isn't. This more real part of the film does however suffer from an ill placed reaction from one of the side characters, whose over the top startled exclamations sounded unintentionally funny to my ears. 
This may not sound much like a horror, but it does feature some moments. In particular, there are some nightmare sequences that impressed, such as one where Oliver accidentally tears through the self portrait he is painting, only for blood to start coming out of his own neck in the exact place the painting was torn. Then there is the ominous five day countdown, each passing day represented by a celestial star floating in a vast distant nebula. This gave a feeling of something bad on the horizon. There was one outdoors sequence that really stood out for me, a simple walk to the shop on a typical looking day somehow felt full of menace and peril due to the editing and visual effects.
The film is helped by some good artwork, in particular the death mask that Oliver is working on looked great. The plot was leading up to the reveal of what the artist had been working on, frustratingly that is never revealed on camera, but I can see how that probably wouldn't have lived up to the hype.

Alchemy of the Spirit was a beautiful and occasionally moving film, but one whose central idea wasn't something I could really get invested in. Despite the slow pace and lack of much plot, this was one that didn't get boring, mainly due to the wonderful acting, directing and cinematography throughout. Alchemy of the Spirit is now available on Prime Video and VOD.

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Kiddo (2022) - Short Horror Film Review

Kiddo is a fourteen minute short British horror film that recently premiered on Alter. The film, directed and co-written by Brett Chapman is a horror at its heart, yet it also is designed to question elements of the meat industry by giving a human twist to make things more relatable.

Kiddo is the nickname given to a middle aged woman (Lisa Howard) by the stern farmers who she lives with. Jasper (Paddy Stafford) is soon to join the family business, and shares with Kiddo his intent to look after her despite his father Bev's (Toby Gaffney - Coronation Street soap opera) misgivings. Kiddo finds herself on a familiar bus trip with a load of excitable teenagers, being driven to a remote rural fun park by the farmers, where she tries to placate one of the more nervous passengers. She knows however what really goes on in the park and decides finally that enough is enough.

Kiddo doesn't tell its story in a linear fashion, instead it opens with the bus journey, with key moments from the protagonist's recent past playing out, before things go back to present day. Knowing that this was a film with a message at its heart, I got the most obvious analogy straight away due to the barcoded pale pink jumpsuits with Kiddo and the teenagers all wear. The general idea gives an anthropomorphic personification to animals to demonstrate the darkness of mass animal slaughter. This reminded me a lot of Baptiste Rouveure's unsettling French horror Anonymous Animals, it had a similar idea of humans being treated like animals, though in that case the animals in turn were acting like humans. That is the very base of the analogy though, as the events can be transposed onto any number of topics. Both Stafford and Gaffney stood out as the farmers, their very northern accents couldn't help but give a rough mean edge, something that is complemented by the cold way they deal with their charges. By nature, the protagonist was a much more understated character, but Howard brings a lot of emotion to the character purely by her facial expressions.

It is when the group arrive at the gaudily decorated fun park that the horror begins in earnest, though there had been a terse edge to the film before hand. Horror has always been good at reflecting societal issues, and it isn't a secret that the meat industry has some cruel practices to it. That does make me feel slightly guilty due to loving meat, and while the message with Kiddo was clear, it isn't something that is really going to affect me. Where this excels for me was how effectively it tells its story. This was a very well made film with the actors bringing a believability to such an outlandish story. I appreciated this was played straight as a horror, with no comedic moments to be found at all. This grounded the story and gave it more of a brutish unsettling atmosphere.

Short horror films can be throwaway and disposable, they can be so concentrated on trying to generate scares that they fail to achieve much of anything. It makes me appreciate gems like Kiddo all the more. This was a great film that balances neatly between giving a message about an important topic, but also succeeding as a horror in its own right.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Friday the 13th 2023

Well, I couldn't not do a blog post on such a day as Friday the 13th! Sadly, I have no news on that iconic (and mostly terrible) franchise, but I do have some fresh choice cuts from my news animal.
Starting with news of the trailer for upcoming Evil Dead horror film, Evil Dead Rise. This sounds like it is going to be standalone (possibly a quasi-sequel to the last one), certainly isn't going to include the legendary Bruce Campbell, but that doesn't temper my excitement. Admittedly 2013's Evil Dead didn't make much of an impression, but at least it tried to be its own thing, rather than a straight remake. With Evil Dead Rise, the action has moved to an inner city apartment block, very The Grudge 3, but I'm more than excited to go see this, and judging by the trailer it will keep the straight horror that the remake went for.

With music news now, The Hate Club is a Ukrainian metal band from Kyiv, who are now based in Los Angeles. While they are currently working on their debut album, they released an official music video for their track Burn in Hell towards the end of last year. The video is animated and is a follow up to the music video for their track My Name is Legion from their Death of the Protagonist EP. It takes place in a demonic wasteland where humans are fighting back against the monstrous invaders. Evan Streb who did the animation stated 'For inspiration I turned to 40K, Oddworld and Fury Road to fill in the details and bring it to life, importantly including a lot of references to the weapons the Ukrainians are using to defend themselves...'.

Ravage Nation is out now (I believe) on DVD and Blu-ray and is the latest entry in the Ravage series. Written and directed by Michael Moutsatsos, this sounds like it takes place in a near future post apocalyptic world in which a virus has mutated much of humanity into zombie-like creatures and hybrid creatures. A world where these mutants hunted the humans survivors for sport. It stars Jake Scozzaro, Ed Gage, Steven Natale and Joshua Salazar Fallat. The trailer can be viewed on Vimeo.

Finally for this edition, American Cannibals comes to Blu-ray on January 31st from Vipco and Bayview Entertainment. Described in the press release as 'Part movie, part documentary, REAL modern-day vampires', this tells the story of an amateur documentary crew who set out to make an expose on 'real' modern day vampires.

Paralysis (2022) - Horror Film Review

Paralysis is a supernatural horror that was written and directed by Levi Austin Morris, who also played a significant side character in this. Sleep paralysis plays a role in the film, and I haven't had a fun experience with those in the past, supernatural sleep paralysis horrors such as Conjuring: The Beyond and Dead Awake failing to leave much of an impression. Thankfully, while this idea is featured, it isn't a key cornerstone of this slow burn horror, with the title working more as a double meaning.

Haley Stone (Allison Lobel - Obscura) has fallen into a reclusive lifestyle after a recent death in the family. She ignores phone calls from family and friends, has recurring vivid nightmares, and has stopped taking her (possibly antipsychotic) medication. Recently her nightmares and hallucinations have gotten worse, and her brother, Nicky (Levi Austin Morris), who lives with Haley, hasn't helped due to him frequently vanishing for hours at a time with no warning. In desperation, she contacts a paranormal expert, Anissa (Lisagaye Tomlinson), as she fears that what she is dealing with is of a supernatural origin.

There's a mild twist around a third into Paralysis which is an essential part of the story. While I won't spoil that here, I also thought it was very obvious, so I'm not entirely convinced it wasn't meant to be really obvious to the viewer from the start. Being an indie film there are minimal actors here, a cast of eleven, though those who actually appear on screen would bring that down to around six or seven. This means a lot of the movie has Haley on her own, with it not really clear to begin with if her troubles are down to her mental health problems, or if something more sinister is going on. Her brother Nicky is perhaps the second most featured character, but there is no deep look into what sort of a person he is, he certainly gets important scenes that give him more depth, but often when he appeared he always felt like he had his own private problems going on that were occurring outside of his scenes.
One of the more key side characters is Anissa, she has a late appearance in the film, but stays around, working as a guide for discovering what is really going on in the house. I thought she was the most interesting character, if only due to the fact that Haley is such a mess the whole movie that her perspective felt unreliable, and so was good to get a different one.

The horror comes from the hallucinations or sightings Haley keeps having. While sleeping she has visions of a ghost of an old woman (Bethany Koulias - Obscura), who physically attacks her, and later a more demonic looking man (Emerson Gregori) who wears a cool looking mask. The horror is slight, often relegated to doors opening and closing on their own, and the ghostly figures wearing white contact lenses (simple yet effective) standing around. The story is more psychological, with a contrast between the haunting Haley is suffering and her own personal demons, which have put her in such a bad place of unending grief. As a character says in the film (to paraphrase) 'grief is temporary, love is eternal'. On the subject of the horror, the best thing that Paralysis does is its dream sequences. Frequently you see scenes only to discover they were all taking place within Haley's head, and sometimes you get almost arthouse-lite nightmare sequences with recurring imagery.
Impressively, the film was shot using an iPhone, something I would have never guessed due to the quality of the directing and cinematography in general.

Paralysis will not be for everyone, especially those expecting a film that aims to be scary. This was never especially so, and nor did it really stand apart, the idea of an isolated person being haunted has been done countless times. This more uses the idea of the supernatural as a way to explore the grieving process, that is presented well here, helped by the mournful soundtrack. A little slow paced at times, but nonetheless, this was a solid indie horror. For more details you can check out the IMDB page, or Paralysis' Facebook and Instagram pages. 

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Down and Out in Vampire Hills (2022) - Short Comedy Horror Film Review

I first heard of the Craig Railsback (Dark Classics) directed short comedy horror film Down and Out in Vampire Hills back in September of last year. Written by Dr. Heather Joseph-Witham (Vampires in the Big Easy), this brings vampires to a modern setting. While this sometimes felt a little aimless, the gentle humor and cheery world made for an entertaining short.

Penelope (Dawna Lee Heising - Garden Party Massacre, Ballet of Blood) is an ancient vampire who in recent years has fallen on hard times. Now living out of a tent in Huntington Beach California, with her human manservant Harold (Ken May - Night of the B*stard, Clown Motel 2), they try to come up with ways to make money. Penelope is a vampire however, and so whatever she tries her hand in usually results in mayhem and murder, however unintentional that may be.

There was a feel of What We Do in the Shadows to this short film, what with the immortal protagonist trying to survive in a modern world not built for her. She made for a fun character, with Lee Heising having good chemistry with May, an important factor as they are the focus of much of the film. I can't say that I found this particularly amusing, yet I didn't dislike the humour either. Jokes about sex and bodily functions are my least favourite type of humour, and so anything that doesn't resort to that is ok in my book. There are some amusing scenes here, particularly the more gore soaked ones that are played for laughs. Despite a body count, there wasn't a feeling a malice here, the world is bright and cheerful, helped by the nice soundtrack that keeps things feeling jolly. This is an indie film, so some of the effects aren't amazing, yet it has consistency to the filmmaking that made this charming. My biggest complaint was the pacing of the story, it sometimes felt aimless with where it was heading. The plot point of the two main leads having to do various odd-jobs to get by was perfectly fine, it was just that the film felt a bit meandering in how it told this story.

At twenty two minutes in length, Down and Out in Vampire Hills had plenty of variation, even if it did sometimes feel like a series of skits rather than one large story. Special mention goes to the vampire props that Penelope had. It was very simple, red contact lenses and vampire fangs, yet it was also very effective, making the character pop more on screen than if it had been more understated. With not an unlikeable character to be found, and plenty of fun moments (such as an encounter with a vampire hunter), I enjoyed watching this, a good soundtrack, and a chilled feel combined to make a feel-good, if slightly unpolished low budget comedy horror.

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Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) - Post Apocalyptic Film Review

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome holds a strange place in my heart as it was until recently the only entry in the Mad Max series that I hadn't seen, and that was despite me having owned it on VHS for a good fifteen years or so. All I knew about it was that it was the entry that no one really spoke about, other to mention that the famous singer Tina Turner plays a character in the movie. Going in, I had built up my own idea on what the film was about, it didn't live up to my expectation, and initially I hated it, but with the distance of days I did come to appreciate aspects of the movie.

Beyond Thunderdome takes place around fifteen years after the end of Mad Max 2, with road warrior Max (Mel Gibson - Braveheart, Lethal Weapon series) still roving the wasteland of a post apocalyptic Australia. Fuel, which had become an increasingly rare commodity, is now near non-existent, with Max now travelling in the skeleton of his iconic muscle car which is pulled along the dunes by a team of camels. After his car, camels, and possessions are stolen by an opportune thief (Bruce Spence - Mad Max 2), Max tracks the man to a nearby town, the chaotic Barter Town. It is here that he impresses the town's ruler, Aunty Entity (Turner), and in return for helping him get his possessions back she wants him to head to the underworld and kill a rival of hers. It is the underworld where Barter Town gets its power, from methane gas produced there by thousands of pigs. The underworld is ruled by a little person, The Master (Angelo Rossitto), who is carried around on the back of hulking behemoth The Blaster (Paul Larsson), and it is the later that Aunty wants killed, so that she can cement her hold on Barter Town.

First impressions were mixed, this was extremely eighties in feel and sound, both not bad things. The initial arrival at Barter Town was full of wild background characters, the idea that it is the only semblance of civilisation is well established. I loved the opening showing Max in his current mode of transport, it really made it feel like this was much further into post apocalypse. My problems with this started almost immediately due to Spence playing a near identical character to the one he played in Mad Max 2. There he was an ally of Max, and so to have him as a low level antagonist was really confusing and I kept wondering why the two didn't recognise each other. I do like Spence as an actor, but to have him play a completely different character, yet remain identical in appearance did start things off on a confusing foot.
Tina Turner was fine, not as terrible as I imagined, but she certainly wasn't a highlight of the movie. Her soldiers were also fine, but showing the film's PG-13 rating there is not much violence shown on screen, most keenly displayed with one of her key underlings getting numerous comedic 'death' scenes only to show up again unharmed in the next scene.

Over the years I had built up the titular Thunderdome to be a vast arena where vehicular combat was required to succeed. The Mad Max films had always been heavily in bed with vehicles afterall, so I figured that would be the direction this went in. I was pretty disappointed then to discover Thunderdome was a tiny fighting arena, even if it did feature the very best fight sequence of the movie. Max and his adversary both in bizarre human sized elastic band harnesses, that allow them to spring around. This was almost the highlight of the film for me, as things later on took a turn for the different.

Beyond Thunderdome is essentially two different films clumsily bolted together. The first half was very Mad Max, all the way to the conclusion of the initial storyline. The second half has Max finding himself in a desert oasis where he discovers a tribe of children who speak in caveman like broken English (originally this film wasn't even going to be a Mad Max one, instead it was intended to be Lord of the Flies but in the post apocalypse). Their backstory was cool at least, when the nuclear war occurred an aeroplane crashed, with the survivors finding themselves at the oasis. These passengers have long since died, but their children became the tribe, whose distorted knowledge of the old world has been passed down in legends. This was very post-post apocalyptic, gave me a Horizon Zero Dawn feel. On a separate level I did wonder how there were so many children, made me feel there must have been at least a bit of inbreeding among them! The children changed the vibe of the film, with this increasingly beginning to feel like a kids adventure film in the style of The Goonies or something, due to the way they effortlessly keep defeating the evil adults in such silly ways (such as the repeated use of a frying pan in one sequence). It was this childish feel that made me begin to dislike Beyond Thunderdome more. Looking at it objectively, this is to Mad Max one and two what Army of Darkness was to The Evil Dead and Evil Dead II, a more mainstream sequel that dumbed down the somewhat more serious aspects. It all culminates with an entertaining final act in which vehicles finally get a chance to shine, it was fun but did feel a little bit like a rehash of the chase sequence from the second film.

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome is easily the worst of the films in the franchise, but I wouldn't say it was a bad film. This fever dream of a movie has lots of interesting elements to it, and its depiction of a far flung post apocalyptic world had some great parts to it. The slide into a zany kids movie was a tonal shift I hadn't expected, and was by far the worst decision here. It's telling that by the end, my father (who I was watching this with), had completely lost interest and was on his laptop. I had lots of issues with this, but it did something different and unexpected and so I'm glad I finally got around to watching it.

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