Fear of the Living Dead (2010) - Short Horror Film Review

Fear of the Living Dead is a sixteen minute long, very low budget Canadian indie horror directed and co-written by Randy Smith in his directorial debut. Generic and derivative, but coming out at the tail end of the zombie boom in the early 2000s, this has sound problems and some suspect acting, but plenty of undead.

It is two weeks after a zombie outbreak and Her (April Campbell - We Are the Missing, Smash Cut uncredited) appears to be the sole survivor. She spends her days looting homes for supplies, and battling the undead. One day, the house she breaks into is found to be inhabited; a young man (Mike Tarp credited as Him), who is just as surprised to see Her as she is Him. After he discovers that she is immune to infection, he teams up with the woman, figuring survival in numbers will be easier. Some days later after coming under attack by a horde, the duo escape in a car, with the man alleging he knows of a remote location where the two will be safe from the walking dead.

This was the kind of low budget zombie film that I live for, and which makes me such a fan of the horror sub-genre. The undead are a varied bunch of bloodied, but basic zombies who often have their arms outstretched in the generic way undead in early media were portrayed as doing. Blood stained and slow shambling, these looked effective on camera. The film moves along at a pace, but hits its stride in the thrilling mid-film sequence where the man discovers the perils of bringing a loud gun to a zombie fight. This led to exciting scenes of the two running gauntlet style through a band of rotters, though it was hard to not see the empty space either side of the zombies that would have made for a more sensible, though less exciting looking scene if the protagonists had taken it! The two main characters were fine, but the male character fell a bit into the pitfall of looking too young for the role he was meant to be playing, while both were guilty of acting very nonchalance about the outbreak even though the short took place just two weeks into it. There were some sound issues, at times dialogue sounded so muffled that I struggled to make out what was being said.

A generic title and with few surprises, Fear of the Living Dead wasn't a fantastic short, but in the zombie genre that isn't an essential factor. With issues for sure, but this was still an entertaining and fun little film that I took nostalgic enjoyment in watching. Also, a bonus point for the film's cover having nothing whatsoever to do with the movie, a classic zombie film trope!

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Dead Space: Martyr (2010) by B.K Evenson - Horror Novel Review

Earlier this year I discovered a geeky yet fantastic lore-cast (The Lady of Lore). Each episode, the host goes through a video game series, giving her perspective on what the story for it was. One of these was a delightful four hour lore-cast about the Dead Space series of games. It was only after listening to it that I realised that part of the explanation was based on Dead Space novels; something I had no idea existed. Normally I am not that keen on spin-off novels from video games as they are usually terrible in my experience. B.K Evenson's Dead Space: Martyr however was a fantastic read, giving fascinating lore that simply was never found in any of the games.

The novel takes place three hundred years prior to the events of the Dead Space video games and chronicles the first experience humans have with the alien marker discovered on Earth. For those not in the know, markers are large statue type creations of likely alien origin that basically emit a signal that can cause people to transform into nightmarish monsters. From the video games I knew of the 'Unitology' religion - a religion that worships markers as God type creations. I also knew that the founder of this religion was named Michael Altman. The novel is interesting at showing how this man came to be this religious leader, for when the novel starts he is just a research scientist. A strange signal had been recorded off the coast of Mexico, and it is discovered that it is emanating from some sort of object deep below the sea. Altman's research into this strange signal gets the attention of the very shady corporation known as DredgerCorp; run by the intimidating Markoff. Not really given much choice, Altman is offered the chance to work at DredgerCorp's floating lab facility that has been placed above where the mysterious object is located. Crew are sent down in a submersible vessel to get a closer look at the object, they discover a strange alien looking object covered in strange glowing runes. There becomes a problem in that most of the people who travel down to look at the device end up going violently insane at some point during the journey. Altman however for some reason seems mostly immune to the negative effects of the marker and so becomes the chief pilot for the vessel. Markoff wants to bring it to the surface, convinced the marker could contain the key to unlimited energy, while slowly, members of his team and the scientists he's hired start to become convinced the marker is a God-like creation, and that Altman's immunity to its terrible effects must mean he has been chosen as the spokesperson for it.

I came to this book unfortunately knowing full well the story that would be told. I hadn't known that the lore-cast had been basically giving a synopsis of the whole book, so I can't tell how well some of the surprises would be on a fresh read. It is clear from the off that Altman isn't the religious figure he was later made out to be in the games. He is fascinated with the marker, and his curiosity is perhaps one of his weak points which causes many problems for him. He isn't religiously fascinated with the marker, for him it is an irresistible object of scientific curiosity. As the book goes on, and more and more people start to see him as some sort of herald, Altman wants none of this, especially when his girlfriend - Ada, also starts to believe the device to be Godly in nature.
The story then covers the initial discovery of the marker, and how Altman was turned against his will to be a figurehead for a new religion he had zero personal belief in.
Being a prequel, I was prepared for no necromorphs (what the monsters people transform into are known as), or if that if they did appear there would be only a handful. Without going into the reasons why, there is a necromorph outbreak that makes for quite the thrilling, brutal, and gory third act, things became more action based than I had anticipated.

The novel is well written, and split into a lot of chapters and sections throughout the 488 pages. It was paced well with a slow ramp up of peril, both from the marker itself and the shady organisation Altman finds himself ingrained with. I thought he was an interesting character in that he has flaws for sure, he seemed like a fly getting closer and closer to the centre of a spider web, and even without knowing, I think I would have been able to guess that this might not really end on that positive a note. It was actually a particularly bleak finish! This adds to the game's universe rather than takes away from it. Not only was it great learning about the origins of 'Unitology', I also never realised until reading this that the term 'dead space' refers to the zone around the marker itself which the monsters are unable to penetrate. You also are given a lot of information about the hallucinations the marker causes, with their origins as whether it was designed as a protection against the marker, or an effect of the marker looked into but left purposely vague.

I really loved Dead Space: Martyr, and as the first step in my quest to chronologically experience all the series has to offer over a multitude of media formats, this was a great starting point. Evenson also wrote a second novel titled Dead Space: Catalyst that is also a prequel to the games, so that shall be my next port of call.

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Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic (2010) - Horror Film Review

I still remember the hoo-ha surrounding the video game Dante's Inferno upon its release in 2010. This was a God of War style ultra violent action adventure game that was based upon Dante Alighieri's famous series of poems from the 1300's, specifically The Divine Comedy 1: Inferno. Being the early 2000's still, this was a time of edge, and so what better way than to have a ridiculous over the top violent game starring a rage afflicted protagonist. It was while doing admin on my index that I finally got to 'D' and so editing my review of the game I was reminded that there had been an animated film, Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic released at the same time. I had always assumed it was a prequel to the game itself and so had little interest in seeing it, but with Apple Airplay not working today, I decided to check out this film on Amazon Prime Video.

Rather than a prequel, this in fact tells the far more interesting story of Dante's journey into the depths of Hell, so the story mirrors the events of the game. Returning home from the Crusades, Dante (Graham McTavish - The Hobbit trilogy, Castlevania TV series) is shocked to discover the love of his life, Beatrice (Vanessa Branch - Pirates of the Caribbean film series) dying, having been attacked by a stranger. Her soul being pure is destined to go to Heaven, however, it is then Lucifer (Steve Blum - The Mandalorian TV series) appears and states that as Dante broke his pact to be faithful to Beatrice while away fighting, her soul is his to take. Dante, convinced he didn't break that promise is enraged, and after Lucifer takes his love away to Hell, Dante pursues, determined to fight all the demons of Hell in order to rescue her. Along the way, Dante is reminded of just how sinful a person he really was.

I already felt the video game was a speed-run through the nine circles of Hell, so a ninety minute film was going to be even more so. This is almost a step-by step recreation of the game with some story elements changed. Just from what I noticed, in the game it was the Grim Reaper's scythe that Dante was armed with, here it is just a nameless demon whose weapon he takes. There was also more of a motivation for Lucifer here, with it all being a plan designed to get himself freed. From what I recall of the game that wasn't actually the case. Each circle of Hell is preceded by a title card, and it is a swift downward path. 

Zombie (2010) - Short Horror Film Review

Zombie is a short twenty minute long horror film that was directed by Thomas Caruso in his debut directorial effort. This was adapted by a novella of the same name by Joyce Carol Oates, with the screenplay written by Bill Connington (Poughkeepsie is for Lovers), who also stars in the lead role.

Quentin (Connington) is a strange Norman Bates type man who struggles to control his affection for teenage boys, something that has led to him becoming a registered sex offender. His ultimate dream is to create a 'zombie', a sex slave who will obey his every command. The short acts as a kind of video diary from the troubled man, charting his hopes, and following his latest obsession, in the form of a delivery boy (Kelly Van Dilla).

From the synopsis this should be obvious that Quentin isn't a protagonist that it is easy to sympathise with. After the 2010s was when a new style of found footage horror came to be established, that of having the protagonist be the villain of the film, such as can be found with Capture Kill Release, Be My Cat: A Film for Anne, Creep, and A Guidebook to Killing Your Ex. In that respect Zombie feels almost slightly ahead of its time. It may not be a found footage (outside of the very first scene), but it channels the spirit of that in the way this plays out, with Quentin narrating from start to finish. For such a unpleasant role a good actor was needed, thankfully Connington is perfectly cast. This is a character who believes himself to be a good person who is just misunderstood, but from his actions it is quite clear he is a real creep. I loved the acting brought to the role not only with his delivery of his lines, but the subtle acting he does.

Due to the subject matter this goes to some nasty places, particularly in one key scene, but it all comes around to complete the story in a satisfying way. Zombie was first performed as a play, before being made into a short film. Over the years it has been screened at eighteen film festivals, as well as won five awards, and can now be viewed on YouTube, with future plans to make this into a feature film.

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Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge: Special Edition (2010) - Comedy Horror Video Game Review

With Return to Monkey Island having been released this month, and with it following on from the events of the second original game, I knew I just had to play through the first two. With The Secret of Monkey Island I chose to play using the dreadful new artwork, mainly so that I could hear the new music mixes and spoken dialogue. Loading up the sequel, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, there was actually the option from the start to enjoy the original game as it was, but with the dialogue also spoken. I fully expected that would be the way I chose to play, that is, until I saw how expressive and surprisingly good the updated graphics were this time around. Spoilers for the first game to follow.

The game begins with my new favourite phrase 'in medias re', basically the story begins halfway through. Haplass pirate Guybrush Threepwood is dangling over a huge pit, a treasure chest in one hand, his other holding the rope that is preventing him from falling to his doom. Threepwood's former love interest, Elaine Marley appears, and it is while asking how he came to be in this situation that the story skips back to the start of the game. Threepwood had arrived on Scabb Island as part of his search for a legendary treasure known as Big Whoop. He discovers while there, that the treasure was discovered on a mysterious island, and that the people who found it split their map of the place into four pieces so that no one else would ever discover it. Unfortunately, Threepwood also encounters Largo LeGrande, a pint-sized bully who used to be LeChuck's right hand man. This inadvertently results in him providing LeGrande with the final ingredients needed to resurrect LeChuck's body as a zombie.
With LeChuck back to life and wanting Guybrush dead, the young pirate realises that the power that Big Whoop is said to provide may be enough for him to escape LeChuck's clutches forever...

I enjoyed replaying The Secret of Monkey Island, yet it also made me realise that that first game, while good, didn't have as much of an impression as its sequel. Everything this time around is so much better. There are more wacky characters to interact with, the story is a lot more involved, the wonderful pixel graphics are more detailed, and this features some of the very best video game music that was ever created, something I still believe today. While you can play the game using the original point and click interface (of commands and items being kept in the bottom third of the screen), the updated controls thankfully don't follow the cumbersome controls of the first re-make. Instead, there is a much better feeling control scheme, more like what The Curse of Monkey Island did. My memory of how to do the first game was a bit fuzzy, I imagined it would be the same for LeChuck's Revenge, turns out it wasn't. Outside of one moment (where I briefly forgot to get the cook out the kitchen you had to rattle some bins), I remembered all the puzzles and solutions, and this is a game where it doesn't mind you doing things out of step. Even if it makes no sense for where you are in the story, you are able to collect items before you are aware (within the story) that you require them.

House of Bones (2010) - Horror Film Review

From the brief synopsis of the Jeffery Scott Lando (Roboshark, Savage Island) directed House of Bones I assumed it was going to be a found footage movie. Well, it turns out it isn't, instead this is a haunted house film that throws everything but the kitchen sink at the viewer in order to scare them. The plot is almost nonsensical, the editing often confusing, yet at least there is a variety to be found.

The crew and cast of a TV ghost hunting show arrive at a plantation home that has been the site of plenty of mysterious deaths over the years. With the show's ratings falling it is hoped that this one will reverse their fortunes. Included among the group are a cameraman, investigator Greg (Marcus Lyle Brown - Battleship), producer Tom (Ricky Wayne - Real Steel), as well as a psychic, Heather (Charisma Carpenter - Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer). It isn't long when things start going wrong, one of the crew members vanishes into thin air, an ectoplasm type substance is discovered within the walls, and all the exits won't open. The hunters come to realise that they have fallen prey to the house itself, and that it does not want them to leave.

This is a pretty dumb movie that becomes a victim to some of the tropes it parodies. It begins in a good way, after a brief prologue set in the 1950s we then get the super (purposely) cheesy intro credits to the show within the film. This is one element that causes a disconnect, House of Bones never seems to know if it wants to be a scary film or a funny one. This can be seen with an entire comedy side plot going on with one of the presenters begrudgingly travelling to the house, played entirely for laughs. This then feels weird when we go back to the house where an attempt at proper horror is going on. The editing throughout was off, the many techniques used to flip between scenes, as well as the bombastic music made it feel like I was watching one of those actual ghost hunting shows.

All About Evil (2010) - Horror Film Review

The Joshua Grannell (better known as his drag persona, Peaches Christ) written and directed comedy splatfest that is All About Evil is something that I can see not appealing to everyone. Apparently this film only had a limited theatrical run upon its release in 2010 and since then it has been very hard to find. That has all changed with a Blu-ray release coming on June 10th from Severin Films and a North American streaming release on Shudder arriving June 13th.

Deborah Tennis (Natasha Lyonne - Russian Doll) has taken over the ownership of her father's beloved but unsuccessful indie cinema after he passes away. With its closure threatened by her nasty stepmother, Deborah ends up killing her in cold blood, the incident recorded on the cinemas CCTV system. Due to a series of errors she ends up accidentally playing the CCTV footage of the murder to the patrons waiting for a film to start in the theatre, and unexpectedly they lap it up, figuring it to be an experimental short horror. Deborah relishes this new found fame and sets out to make more horror films featuring real victims rather than actors. As her fame increases, she hires several helpers, including the old projectionist Mr. Twigs (Jack Donner - Stigmata), a criminal psycho, as well as twin sisters recently released from a psychiatric home (Jade and Nikita Ramsey - A Haunting at Silver Falls). Together they set out to make bigger and more violent films, until a young teenage fan, Steven (Thomas Dekker - A Nightmare on Elm Street) begins to get concerned about the amount of missing people whose last known whereabouts was the old cinema.

This is comedic but not in the sense of telling lots of jokes. Instead it is comedic due to the larger than life personalities of many of the cast. The villains are comically evil and delight in the murders they cause. It can be quite fun when the antagonists are all together, each with their own things going on, from the silent twins doing the usual The Shining style trope of acting as one, to the creepy old man Mr. Twigs, and Deborah herself who sees herself as a serious actress and so dresses up in various costumes for her snuff films. Countering all this is the protagonist Steven who really was a bit of a bland character. Being a horror movie fan he is seen as weird by many of his peers, his teacher in particular thinks he is a high school killer in waiting. It is his love of the genre that is used as a weapon in the films later sections. My favourite performance went to Steven's mother, played by Cassandra Peterson (best known as Elvira).

The Maze (2010) - Horror Film Review

Back in 2016 I reviewed Nocturne, a fantastic supernatural horror directed by Stephen Shimek. I think it is a good thing that I didn't discover The Maze was also directed by Shimek until after I had seen it as otherwise I may have been disappointed with this mostly bland horror. A cornfield sounds good as a location for a slasher film to be set at, yet it soon becomes clear the setting is actually kinda dull. A mid film twist arrives to save us all from this boredom thankfully, but that twist I can't go into detail about for fear of spoilers.

Five friends have travelled out of the city for an outing to their county's largest corn maze. These friends, who include among them Jordan (Shalaina Castle - Slashdance), Cole (Brandon Sean Pearson - Natures Plague), Alison (Clare Niederpruem - Nocturne), Will (Kyle Paul - Gotham) and Collin (Tye Nelson - Terror Island) arrive after closing time due to getting lost. Despite the maze being closed for the day they decide to head into it, and then decide to play a game of tag. Unknown to them however there is a sixth person hiding out in the cornfields, someone whose version of tag is a lot more deadly than the others...

At the halfway mark of The Maze I was finally interested in what was happening. This follows the tropes of the slasher genre enough that not only has a character gotten the equivalent of a twisted ankle by this point, but they are the 'final girl'. With forty five minutes to go and the cornfield location spent I was intrigued where this would head. If the whole film had followed the route of the first half then this would have been looking at a much lower score, likely around a two or a three out of ten. The friends are a dull bunch and seemed far too old to be playing a game of tag. One sole good idea here was that The Maze begins with a prologue of a mortician examining a badly burnt corpse that is wearing a necklace. It is later revealed that whoever is 'it' in the game of tag has to wear that self same necklace, placing the prologue in the future. It seemed like who the identity of the corpse was would become important and much is made of this necklace constantly swapping characters, heck, even the killer ends up wearing it for a time. Not much really comes of this though, it felt like a bit of a wild goose chase with this petering out and having no impact on anything.

The Dead Undead (2010) - Zombie Horror Film Review

I have my first time off my day job since February and it came to me on Friday evening that I should use my holiday time to get through some of my zombie films and books I have yet to experience. This blog, as the title may suggest, was created to celebrate everything undead. Over time this has spread to include all horror, so it is always nice to dip my toes back into the sub-genre that I so love. With zombie films you hope for one of two things, either that the film is great, or that the film is terrible, anything else usually results complete boredom, but which would The Dead Undead fall into? 

A bunch of annoying stereotypical teens pull up at a remote lakeside motel for a weekend of partying, however they soon find themselves assaulted by scores of strange creatures. Luckily for them a team of heavily armed people show up. This group, led by Jack (Luke Goss - Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Blade II), and including among them, Viper ( Matthew R. Anderson, who also co-directed), Doc (Edward Conna, the other co-director, as well as writer of this) and Gabrielle (Spice Williams-Crosby - Star Trek V: The Final Frontier) do their best to save the teens, and while they are only partly successful the survivors are thankful enough. Their saviours quickly explain that these creatures are actually vampires who got infected by drinking the blood of mad cow disease afflicted cattle. Due to this the creatures cannot survive in sunlight, and Jack just happens to know the location of their daytime hiding spot.

The co-directors of The Dead Undead are both stuntmen. This was the directorial debut of both men and this can kind of be seen with the quality. The film is not a good movie, but it never tries to come across as one. Instead the directors seemed very aware of their limitations and set out to make something that was undeniably fun entertainment. The whole set-up of mad cow disease infected vampires is ridiculous and is an idea that can't be taken seriously. I loved that there was a switch and bait early on with the main leads, all but one of what appears to be the main cast (the irritating teens) are gone before the movie's first act is even over. This is a good as they made the first ten minutes or so the worst part of the film. The armed group are a lot better. It's a slight spoiler to say that it is revealed very early on that they are secretly vampires, but these are the nicest vampires I think I have ever seen. Because they are vampires we are treated to some wonderfully cheesy flashback moments to show how each member of the group first got turned. This includes a trip back to Viking times, the Vietnam War and the Wild West. The inclusion of these zombie-less flashback sequences really added to the stupidity of the movie and were a most welcome inclusion. The Viking scene the best as not only did the costumes there look terrible, but characters still spoke with American accents!

Marvel Zombies 5 (2010) - Zombie Graphic Novel Review

It had to happen eventually, and with Marvel Zombies 5 it finally has. This series has gone off the rails, but thankfully in a way that I happened to love. Gone is the attempts at horror that previous books in the series have tried, and here there is instead plenty of humour, crazy ideas and dimension shifting.

With a zombie virus now present in the main Marvel universe, Morbius has found a way to maybe find a cure. A planestorm event is occuring over five different realities (planestorm being 'permutations of highly unusual incident manifesting across multiple alterniverses'), and this particular event happens to feature five different zombie outbreaks occurring at the same time over five different realities. It is hoped by sending Machine Man and Howard the Duck to these different places they will be able to collect a sample of each zombie type in order to create a antidote. So this unlikely duo find themselves over the course of five issues in a Wild West world, a world where H.G Wells War of the Worlds actually took place, a medieval world, a cyberpunk one, and a reality identical to our own.

Marvel Zombies 4 (2010) - Horror Graphic Novel Review

Earlier this year I was happy to discover that in the years since I read the first couple of Marvel Zombies a lot more of them had appeared. I excitedly snapped up as many as I could find...and then promptly didn't read them. Now with a blissful week off of my day job I have returned to this cool series once again. Marvel Zombies 4 is a direct sequel to Marvel Zombies 3, and again takes place in the main Marvel universe.

After the events of the last graphic novel, in which the invading creatures from the Marvel Zombies universe were wiped out at the A.R.M.O.R (alternate reality monitoring and operational response) HQ it is discovered that one of the zombies managed to escape. Deadpool, now reduced to just a head had been rescued by Simon Garth, who himself is also a zombie, though one created by Voodoo magic. The two of them end up at the base of Black Talon, who recognising the deadly power of the virus that Deadpool is infected with intends to sell him as a weapon to The Hood, who is secretly being controlled by Dorammu. Meanwhile a special A.R.M.O.R team led by Morbius, and calling themselves the 'Midnight Sons' head out to find and destroy Deadpool before he is able to infect anyone else.

The previous Marvel Zombies story seemed less complicated, this time around there are a few different moving parts. Again the cast are mainly made up of obscure Marvel characters, referred to as Z-list within the novel. As well as the vampire Morbius you have the werewolf Jack Russell, the witch Jennifer Kale, the Satanist Hellstorm, as well as Man-Thing. As usual I class any Marvel characters who haven't appeared in recent films as obscure ones, but even here with these it seems there is some admission that some of these are quite unknown. Simon Garth was a character created in the 1970's, he fits well being a zombie, after the main story that takes place over four issues there are also three additional stories - Altar of the Damned!, Zombie! and Night of the Walking Dead which are all reprints from Simon Garth's original appearance in Tales of the Zombie.

I thought the story was more interesting than the previous entry, and it is an evolution of the main story in that the Marvel Zombies virus manifests itself in a different form than before. This makes for some striking panels bathed in red, as a later development is that virus infused red rain begins to fall over an island. There are lots and lots of undead here, made up of both fish-men ghouls, as well as normal zombies. This made for some gory and bloody scenes of action that had more of a horror oriented angle. The idea to use the monsters of the Marvel universe rather than the more traditional heroes lent this story more of a horror feel. This doesn't affect Deadpool though who maintains his wise cracking ways regardless of what is going on. The art by Kev Walker in particular was very strong for this, it has plenty of large panels with plenty of colour to them. The three Simon Garth stories after the main one are in black and white, but maintain a dark tone to what happens in them.

Each additional story in the Marvel Zombies saga features more and more obscure characters, but due to the art and the story itself I was still very interested in this. I liked the idea of a team of monsters teaming up to fight undead. Some elements of this really make me wish the original novels had been more heroes versus undead rather than undead heroes versus world. Still we are finally getting more of that now, so as always I am interested to see where this wonderful series ends up next.

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Orgy of the Damned (2010) - Horror Film Review

I didn't realise how literal the title for director Creep Creepersin's Orgy of the Damned was when I sat down to watch this Gothic erotic vampire movie. I thought it would be an orgy of blood and violence, not an actual orgy! So, much of this wasn't my thing at all, this features a hell of a lot of nudity, and many pointless joyless sex scenes that felt like soft-porn. Scratch beneath the superficial surface and there is an actual story trying to get out, even if it was never that well explained.

Fosco (Domiziano Arcangeli who also wrote this) is the 300 year old head of a family of vampires who reside in a large mansion, and who partake in a never ending orgy, all in a bid to 'feel alive'. At a nightclub Fosco becomes captivated by Fauna (Naama Kates) and so invites her to his mansion, which she agrees to, bringing along her boyfriend Micah (Vincent Hoss-Desmarais) in the process. All is not well in the household, Fosco feels something essential is missing from his life, while his wife Sabina (Lorielle New) plots with their son Dimitri (Greg Maness) to take over control of the family.

You can never accuse this film for not living up to its title as that is an ongoing event in the background that often times drags in the main characters. Rather than be anything erotic though I found myself wondering just how boring it must be to live in a perpetual orgy, and with so many naked people I was pondering just where they would all keep their clothes so that they didn't lose them. For the first two thirds of Orgy there are a lot of sex scenes. The film opens on one; Fosco and Sabina with Dimitri watching, then later on there are loads slotted in, and most (but not all) felt unnecessary. I kind of understand the mindset the vampires have, and how this has affected the things going on. All of them seemed bisexual which I guess you would eventually become if you had that much time to kill. By the time the final third of the movie comes around most the cast have become suitably clothed, except for protagonist Fauna who does the opposite and starts walking around the mansion clothes less. The nudity is occasionally full frontal, but a lot of the time the characters are laying in such a way as to hide themselves somewhat.

Evil Intent (2010) - Horror Film Review

Evil Intent is an insular dramatic thriller that takes almost exclusively in the one small apartment, and it revolves around the concept of 'gaslighting'. The term gaslighting originated in the late 1930s and refers to the psychological manipulation of a target in order to make them think they are going crazy. I have an intimate knowledge of this due to a long running inside joke me and my best friend have that I was the person responsible for bringing this term back into general use, and so this film constantly entertained me due to it being nothing but a 75 minute gaslight on a poor victim.

Stephanie (Giovanna Leah) lives with her two friends Kelly (Libby Baker - Criminal Minds, Modern Family) and Tricia (Andrea Rabold), and she just so happens to be dating Paul (Jason W. Griffith) whom Kelly used to date. Weirdly it seems that she is fine with her ex boyfriend now seeing her best friend, but that is only on the surface. Unknown to Stephanie both Kelly and Tricia are in the midst of a plan to make her think she is going insane, but will their plan succeed or will the poor victim figure things out?

The single setting and the cast of just five characters (Glenn Berggoetz who also wrote and directed this rounds out the cast as a psychologist) makes this feel quite claustrophobic which helps with removing any kind of distractions. The low key drama of this reminded me a lot of Tricia Lee's Clean Break that also took place mostly in the one nondescript apartment. There really isn't much horror to be found here at all with much of the running time being the two women pranking Stephanie. She is on medication for some unknown psychiatric disorder (with it said she once had a psychotic break) and so while Kelly replaces the medication with fake ones, Tricia does her best to make Steph think she is hallucinating and hearing voices in her head. This is the majority of the movie with Paul there every now and again but not really having much to him, he spends chunks of the film out the picture, but he is harmless enough, if a little dense.

The Trouble with Terkel (2010) - Animated Comedy Film Review

The Trouble with Terkel is a Danish made animated film that was directed by Thorbjorn Christoffersen and Stefen Fjeldmark. Now this shares a lot of its style of humour from Sausage Party, that was a film I could barely stand due to its focus on trying to be as offensive as possible. As such the type of humour to be found in this movie is the absolute polar opposite of what I enjoy, there wasn't a single joke here that amused me and so that could not help but make me dislike what I saw.

Terkel (Mike Olsen) is a typical teenager in what appears to be an alternate dimension in which it is normal for everyone to be foul mouthed and nasty to each other. One day he starts getting death threats from a person unknown and he starts to fear for his safety. It all comes to a head on a school camping trip organised by his teacher Mr. Balsac (Shark Firestone).

This is pretty mediocre stuff, but thankfully at least the animation is fine enough. It is nowhere as near as good as Pixar but I have seen far far worse. The animation is functional even if characters look unfinished, and they have a kind of unique look to them in that they resemble muppets in how they move. While I thought the actual script was awful the voice actors all do actually pretty good jobs, there was no one at all who I felt were bad at their lines, and it was great to see (well, hear) Chad Ridgely (Massacre on Aisle 12, 6.66 PM) as the voice of Uncle Stewart. This has English dubbed over the original language and no attempt is made to lip sync so is a lot of flapping mouths with no sound coming out. There are quite a few song and dance numbers throughout this, none of them were any good, and one rap played out in the original Danish with not even subtitles to help make sense of what was being said. The one concession was a header saying something like 'this next part will make no sense', stuff like this just added to the unpolished feel.

Dead Rising 2: Case Zero (2010) - Zombie Horror Video Game Review (X-Box 360)

As a promotion for Dead Rising 2 rather than give a demo instead we were treated to a mini prologue taster called Case Zero set in a self contained area that would show off what the main game was going to be like. However I never was able to complete the roughly hour long game, time and time again I tried but always gave up, as a result I never did play Dead Rising 2, Dead Rising 2: Case West, Dead Rising 2: Off the Record, or indeed Dead Rising 3. With the fourth numbered game coming to X-Box One this December I thought it was high time I played through all the existing ones.

You play as Chuck Greene who arrives at the sleepy town of Still Creek with his daughter Katey having escaped a zombie outbreak at Las Vegas. While looking for petrol to refill your car it gets stolen taking with it the essential Zombex medicine that your infected daughter needs to take once every 12 hours to stop her turning into one of the undead. Now you have one day to search the town for more medicine, as well as an alternate mode of transport, all before the military turn up. Things are made harder by the fact that there has also been a zombie outbreak in Still Creek...

Fallout: New Vegas (2010) - Post Apocalyptic Video Game Review (X-Box 360)

I brought Fallout: New Vegas when it came out back in 2010, so yes, it did take me five years to finish. In that time I had two playthroughs, my first took me all the way to the end of the game but my interest faded as I waited for the DLC to be released. My next play through started a year or so back, I have finally finished it today. Now I kind of had to panic play as I learnt Fallout 4 is due out next month and I didn't want this to still be hanging around. As such for my final push I put the difficulty down to very easy, this was not due to the game being too hard, more that I needed to quickly mop up what was left, namely the four DLC packs.

It is 2281 and four years after the events of Fallout 3, though you play as an unrelated character in an unrelated place. Two hundred and four years since nuclear Armageddon destroyed civilisation, you play as a courier who had been charged with delivering a package to New Vegas, the game starts with you a prisoner of Benny; a small time gangster. He executes you and buries you in a shallow grave. However you somehow survive this ambush and wanting revenge, as well as answers of just what it was you were delivering you head off into the Mojave wasteland. This is a world where two giant armies; that of the NCR (The New California Republic) and Caesar's Legions (modelling themselves on Ancient Romans) are gearing up for war, your actions will have a direct outcome on who wins.

Blood Drive (2010) - Zombie Videogame Review (X-Box 360)

Blood Drive is a vehicle arena racer/shooter in the vein of Twisted Metal, the big difference and what drew me to it is that each of the arenas you battle in are full of the rotting undead as well as other combatants.

The game takes place in post zombie apocalypse America, a new sport has emerged in this new world; 'Blood Drive' where people fight for fame and glory. The latest Blood Drive championship is taking place at Las Ruletas where there are six arenas in which the six people of various backgrounds fight for the cup.

This was released as a budget title and it is clear to see from the average graphics and dull generic American rock music that it doesn't do much to hide the fact. Depending on what cup you choose there are a variety of different challenges to win at. Each new cup is unlocked after the previous one has been beaten. It starts off with just a few rounds but by the time you unlock the final cups there are thirty rounds to get through, with no way to save you are expected to do it all in one play through which for a thirty round cup is I would guess around two hours, and two dull hours at that.

I think there is something like six different types of round in the game. The race based ones include a straight up race where every thirty seconds the person in last place is eliminated, and one where you have to get through the most check points. Other modes require you to kill the most zombies, kill the most of everything (zombies and fellow drivers) with the final two rounds being keeping hold of a gold skull the longest and killing zombies but with the lowest scorer being eliminated every thirty seconds. None of these are particularly fun, the zombie killing ones are the best due to the simple fact that the car controls can be pretty loose and so manoeuvring your vehicle through the petty checkpoints which require you to pass them with perfect accuracy is an unpleasant and frustrating mission.

There are eight characters to choose from but despite seeming to have a lot of back story for each one there isn't really an easy way to find it out, you get information on loading screens, and vague things the characters themselves say but other than that there is nothing which makes it a shame. I played through the game as Jackson who seems to be based on Mad Max, other combatants include Reggie who drives an ambulance, and a few other potentially interesting people. There are six arenas to play though, some better designed than others. These include an airport, a stadium, factory, town, car park and casino, more choice would have been better.

The zombies themselves are plentiful but the game features some bad pop up, all of the undead can be mown down quite easily apart from the super zombies which have been stolen straight from Left 4 Dead and include leaping ones, tank ones, and fat poison ones who explode when hit. Not only can you car destroy these but there are a variety of weapons you can collect to destroy them with such as grenade launcher, rail gun and mines. Each character also has a special ability, such as Jackson who has a shock wave effect that kills everything around him.

The only option to play the game is cups, even the option to do a single race has to be unlocked. Multiplayer is also an option, I didn't actually try this mode myself. With dodgy controls, a lack of aim and some far too long cups it is really hard to recommend this, even if you love zombies. All I can really say in the positive is that least the presentation is well done with announcers talking in between matches and some cohesive design choices.

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Beyond the Grave (2010) - Zombie Horror Film Review

Beyond the Grave is a Brazilian post apocalyptic zombie film that has won 14 international awards and been selected for over 80 film festivals world wide. I call it a zombie film yet these undead ghouls take a backseat to what feels like a Mad Max/Western mash up.

After the seven gates of Hell opened up and unleashed the living dead onto the world mankind fell into ruins. In this dead world  Rafael Tombini stars as an unnamed police officer who is still trying to do his job. He is hunting a supernatural figure known as the 'Dark Rider' who not only may be responsible for unleashing the apocalypse but also has ties into the officer's past before the world ended. His travels lead him to a small group of friendly survivors but when their safety becomes threatened he sets off on a path of revenge.

Beyond the Grave has a lot of trappings of the Western genre. From the nameless hero who is too busy with his mission to be a good guy to the mournful music and long shots of empty vistas (usually an unending road here) as well as slow action scenes the officer is like a modern day Clint Eastwood, albeit one who wears a black suit and wears a cracked pair of spectacles. Only talking when necessary and armed with a samurai sword and pistol he is an interesting character and one who spends the film with a bulletless gun (after using all his ammo in the intro sequence) that makes for some interesting scenarios. His opposite; the Dark Rider dresses like a cowboy and wears a gas mask. This being of evil is able to come back from the dead and is armed with a gun that fires bullets made from bones. Out of all the characters in the film these are two who really stand out being polar opposites of each other and both fixed with a drive to defeat the other.

There are quite a few zombies to be found here but they pose such little threat that no one really takes them seriously. They move painfully slowly and often don't even seem interested in the living though their bite will turn one still. With the supernatural element it is suggested they go wherever the Dark Rider goes but they are figures of pity more than of dread with the Rider and his lackeys who are the real monsters of the film.

The Kill Bill style story of revenge is quite well handled and gives drive to root for the officer, a mid film plot twist I did not expect and really was quite brutal and unexpected. The middle of the film has a short interlude set before the apocalypse which was a nice buffer for the 90 minute piece while either side is lots of mournful silence and driving around punctuated with lo-fi action set pieces. The bad guys all have distinct looks to them and there are some interesting ideas used. One of the bad guys is armed with a harmonica that plays a note that makes people's ears and eyes bleed for instance.

While in Spanish there is not too much dialogue to begin with anyway. There are musings on the futility of living and the lack of trust in the world now that no one can really be trusted, while the best parts come as the officer is driving around in his cool looking car and a lone radio station broadcasts music inter cut with a man talking about his sad past and how the world has ended. This radio is used to flesh out the back story of the world in a more natural way than characters suddenly mentioning the cause.

The film has quite a low budget it seems but this works for the wasteland where the only places visited are dilapidated, blood smeared buildings and special effects are practical ones that just gave me a nostalgic hit of 70's and 80's exploitation films. My only real complaint there is that a crossbow that is used quite a lot is completely silent, at times I got briefly confused when people fell down dead until it showed the close up shot of a wooden bolt sticking out of them. A big finale that I was looking forward to (and turned out not exactly the finale) was over all too quickly and left me a bit disappointed. The characters all seem fine, there was no one that particularly seemed terrible, was just a shame that the English subtitles were not perfect and so sometimes I had to translate in my head what was actually meant to be said.

Beyond the Grave was an interesting piece, very different to the norm and I loved how the zombies were handled with them seeming like victims rather than true monsters. A sombre look at the fate of mankind with a great soundtrack. This is currently free to watch on Hulu USA.

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Flu (2010) by Wayne Simmons - Zombie Horror Book Review

I met the author of Flu; Wayne Simmons at last years Leicester based Zombiefest and found him to be a really nice and friendly guy. I picked up this book whilst there and have finally gotten around to reading it. Flu is set in Northern Ireland, the only Irish zombie tale I knew of before this was the average Boy Eats Girl film.

A deadly new strain of flu swept Ireland that the government were struggling to contain due to it being airborne. The infected were quarantined but things rapidly devolved as the authorities went to more and more desperate methods to deal with the outbreak. The virus mutates again with the result being that the victims of the disease reanimate upon their deaths. Six weeks later and the survivors are few. A woman named Geri meets some thugs, meanwhile another woman finds herself under the protection of a middle aged man; Pat who used to be a gunrunner for the IRA. Elsewhere retired Major Connor Jackson is called back into service and whisked away to a secret Army base where bizarre experiments on the undead are being performed.

These three plot lines run concurrently and for the most part are entirely separate from each other and provide stories that have different feeling and emotions to them. The most interesting one was that of Geri and the people she ends up surviving with. Characters who initially seem to be bad get moulded via their actions into people to root for. Ones who appear to be good guys are revealed to be far more human. In general the events here feel much more real than the usual stereotypes, characters are shown to have a whole range of emotions and motives. Pat and Karen have a more insular dynamic going on with much of their time being in confinement from the outside world. Pat has regret for some of his shady past and sees this new world as a way to make amends almost. For Karen Flu charts the loss of her innocence whether for good or bad. Jackson's storyline is much more simple and has some traditional elements from the zombie genre but is interesting nonetheless.

The zombies of Flu are a mixed bag, they are able to hunt in packs and show limited signs of intelligence, feed on human flesh and are slow and lethargic. The flu virus makes the victim bleed out of every orifice, the results is that the zombies here are pretty much deaf meaning guns are at the forefront of the action. As grim as this world is I think it is preferable to the chocking suffocation of David Moody's Autumn series where any noise is sure to draw the attention of the undead.

Nothing much seems to happen during the book yet the characters were so interesting that I didn't mind at all, they are more fleshed out, in part due to flashbacks of events that happened before the apocalypse. It is a common problem in zombie books that people have no idea how to combat the living dead, here is no different with the idea of zombies seemingly unknown to the survivors until they are faced with them. An airborne virus being the root cause spices things up as any character at any time can suddenly contract the virus even if they are safe in hiding. this lends a more tense aspect.

All the troubles Northern Ireland has faced in the past contrast with the present, issues becoming less important when people must unite to survive but in the realistic way Simmons writes some things are hard to forget. His down to earth writing is what wins the book for me, sometimes bloody and violent, other times more sedate. Sometimes he travels down paths somewhat too predictable but is always well written and vivid.

Flu is well worth a read if your into your zombie fiction and due to the somewhat open ending I was pleased to see there is a sequel titled 'Fever', so will have to check that out!

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Alien Breed 3: Descent (2010) - Horror Video Game Review (X-Box 360)

I have not done a blog post in a week, stupid insomnia and work really draining me. Still not great as am writing this review while slowly succumbing to the effects of some trusty Zopiclone, such is life! Alien Breed 3 is the third and final part in the revamped series and again is an isometric shooter. While the plot is hardly Shakespeare there will be some spoilers ahead as a warning.

Conrad is still on the ancient space hulk that the ship he was travelling on (the Leopold) got embedded in. With his friendly computer A.I taken over by the evil A.I of the alien infested ship at the end of the second game, and with both ships on a collision course with an icy planet things don't start off on a great note. More pressing then the impending crash though is that this evil A.I has dreams of bringing the horror of the alien menace to the entire universe via Conrad's ship, the Leopold, so he must find and destroy the A.I core before it can download itself into that ship and make good its escape.

I don't know if it was due to the time that had elapsed since I played the last two games in the series but I found myself really enjoying Descent even if yes, technically it is more of the same. The evil A.I is a great character and the voice actor is fantastic coming across as a smarmy British guy, plus the logs that reveal backstory are actually interesting this time around and really give him some depth, with his story as a twisted scientist creating the alien creatures as part of a secret project before releasing them on his fellow ship mates, and becoming immortal by downloading his consciousness into a computer program.

The A.I's interactions with Conrad is constant throughout the six hour play time (again set over five levels) and forever enjoyable, threatening, shouting, taunting and offering Conrad the power to join up with him. Sadly it is all one way as Conrad's thoughts are displayed via lines of text that are totally out of eye view so I often missed them. The levels much like before are created as a series of almost maze like structures with switches and computer terminals needed to be accessed to bypass destroyed structures and blocked doorways. You are constantly attacked by the alien hordes who are here in much greater numbers than before, especially the last few levels were you are rarely given time to breathe as you come under constant assault from all sides. There are a lot more bosses in this third instalment, and while kind of formulaic are actually quite a lot of fun to fight. These bosses include a huge alien (obviously based on the Queen alien from those films) that keeps popping up as a recurring threat.

Water is the big innovation here and is used a hell of a lot in the rapidly sinking ship (spoiler zone: the ship crashes into an ocean on an ice planet). With this water comes a new type of electricity based enemy, as well as having the option to run taken away whenever you're in it (slowing you down as it does). I found the flooded areas quite fun as it was something different. Also something that seemed new were fixed angle sequences which were more cinematic than what I remembered previous. One in particular that saw you traversing the ships roof with magnetic boots and a space helmet really stood out. Unfortunately as much as I loved these new types of things I had really hoped I would get to leave the space hulk and explore the planets surface. Two whole games all set on the same ship was a bit too much really even if it was enjoyable. A couple of new guns are introduced but the assault rifle is still king.

This is certainly the hardest game in the trilogy but is the best crafted one and has the most new ideas. Some things still irritate such as the gun turret stations that technically you can use to easily fight the aliens, but the turrets themselves seem almost non existent in supply. With a great antagonist though this could actually be my favourite in the trilogy. Gone are the unsure baby steps of Evolution (though that had a great sense of place), thankfully ditched are the terrible babysitting parts of Assault. With less exploration and far more action it really is a close call. Basically if you have the other games and are unsure of whether to finish off the trilogy then I say yes, do that.

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