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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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The Rotting Zombie's Round-up of Horror News for August 2024

As always another month has flown by. Lately I have been getting far less time at the weekends to do my blog. It can be a challenge to balance a social life with doing this, especially when I do not have much time during the week to do anything due to working over ten hours a day four days a week (I do love the three day weekend this gives me though). On to the news.

Freestyle Digital Media have acquired Japanese fantasy-thriller The Divine Protector - Master Salt Begins. This is available to rent/own on all North American digital HD internet, cable and satellite platforms, as well as DVD from August 27th. The film is about an occult club at a girls high school in Tokyo who plan to summon a being known as 'Master Salt' in order to deal with a girl who has been cursed by an evil spirit.

Killer Tales is a three part anthology about normal people who are transformed into killers by circumstance. Directed by Frank Palangi and starring Aaron Lambert, Palangi, Teresa Tuttle, Erin Englehart, and Lori Tucker, this is now streaming on Tubi from Cinema Epoch.

Cryptid documentary Cursed Waters: Creature of Lake Okanaga debuted exclusively on Prime Video on August 13th and Blu-ray/DVD from Small Town Monsters. This looks at the British Columbia based lake and the legends surrounding a mysterious creature that has been sighted by many witnesses there over the decades.

Ripped to Shreds is a graphic novel adaptation of Michael Johnson's lost slasher screenplay from 1980. It was originally meant to be filmed that year, but after years of development hell the funding fell through and the production collapsed. Some forty five years later the story is finally getting told in graphic novel form, with the look designed to echo the eighties feel. The story has a group of friends searching Shadow Hills for a legendary maniac with a metal claw who they believe was responsible for the death of their friend. A Kickstarter for Ripped to Shreds is due to launch soon, details can be found here.

Coming from Scream Team Releasing is Worst Laid Plans, now available on collector's edition Blu-ray and VHS. This features three stories of vacation themed horror which has been adapted from the bestselling book by Grindhouse Press. 'Deep in the Heart' has a troubled family trying to reconnect while touring a cave system. 'You've Been Saved' is about two reunited friends whose road trip turns dangerous after one of them receives a cryptic note by a young girl. Finally, 'Taylor Family Vacation '93' is about a father who is trying to discover the identity of the person stalking his family, with the secret revealed within his video camera.

Z Dead End is a new horror film that comes from director Robert Resto and stars Kane Hodder (Friday the 13th series), Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp), Robert LaSardo (The Mule), Dave Sheridan (The Devil's Rejects) and John Fiore (The Sopranos). A deputy sheriff and a bunch of eclectic characters must survive against an onslaught of zombies who have came from the skies.

Finally for today, Mikki The Butcher begins production January 2025 and comes from Michael Moutsatsos. This horror is about a brutally disfigured man who having been tormented and bullied his whole life snaps, donning a mask of his favourite childhood cartoon character and heading out on a brutal rampage.

We Are Zombies (2023) - Comedy Horror Film Review

Co-directed by François Simard, Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissell (Summer of 84), We Are Zombies is a Canadian comedy horror film (based on the comic book series The Zombies That Ate the World) that stars the best movie monsters of all time - zombies (the title was a bit of a giveaway). I often find that films purporting to be comedic turn out not to be so. Initially I thought this would be the case here. As the film's story progressed however I came to find the irritating leads to be quite endearing.

The movie takes place in a dystopian near future in which the dead have returned to life. Rather than be the typical flesh eating kind, these undead are more an annoyance than anything, with the still alive humans forced to co-exist alongside the rotting reanimated who typically due to limited intelligence (as a result of brain damage) are only able to perform simple jobs. Various laws were passed, classing the undead as the 'living impaired', and a powerful organisation called Coleman were tasked with retrieving the recently dead and storing them at their facility should their family members opt to pay a fee for the service.
Maggie (Megan Peta Hill - Open Water 3: Cage Dive), her half brother Karl (Alexandre Nachi) and his best friend, Freddy (Derek Johns - The Boys TV show) are three small time crooks who have been posing as Coleman employees in order to steal zombies under the guise of retrieving them for the company and instead selling them to a shady fashionista. Their crime has resulted in the real Coleman employees - Rocco and Stanley (Patrick Abellard) being tasked with repaying the lost earnings, and to do this they decide to kidnap the grandmother of Maggie and Karl so they can demand a ransom.
Meanwhile, high ranking Coleman employee Hannity (Benz Antoine - Gothika) is working on a plan to make the docile zombies violent, in order to turn public opinion on them and get official permission to cull the undead. With everyone who dies returning as a zombie he fears that one day the walking dead will outnumber the living.

I wasn't that impressed to begin with, I found the protagonists to be irritating and I thought idiotic Freddy being infatuated with an obviously uninterested Maggie to be quite the tired trope. Over the course of the movie my opinion on them changed, the three had some fun chemistry between them, and I came to really enjoy their antics. I also thought that Rocco and especially Stanley made for fun comedy bad guys, they had some funny scenes that were amusing to watch. Some of the side characters were not as great, with one central character in particular being a bit annoying.

This is a world where people immediately return to life upon dying, retaining their memories and able to communicate still. It has resulted in life becoming a lot cheaper, with people not that fussed when people they know die. This both makes for some comedic moments, and also makes the bad guys harder to stop as they have to be beaten twice.

Thankfully, the make-up for the zombies is great, as were the special effects, especially for one specially modified one. There are a lot of cool moments, such as various zombie heads that are separated from their bodies but still moving, and a funny part where the protagonists accidentally get a ghoul wrapped around their van tyre, with the creature mildly trying to make conversation with them. For the most part they are not flesh hungry at all, but without too many spoilers this might possibly change in the film's third act when Hannity's plan is put into motion. That results in a few bloody high action sequences that feature such highlights as Freddy performing wrestling moves on them, and an amusing undead version of Mother Teresa.

The soundtrack is pretty decent, lots of eighties synth style sounds, and one fight scene that has a high energy drum and bass tune.

I was surprised just how much I came to enjoy We Are Zombies, it had a good blend of amusing characters, and while it was rarely laugh out loud funny, there were some highlights here and there. A much better film than it appeared it would be, I liked this different take on the undead, and enjoyed the special effects around them, making this worth a watch. It was also nice to see zombie legend George Romero mentioned as special thanks in the end credits (alongside a few other notable names). We Are Zombies streams exclusively on SCREAMBOX.

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Halloween Girl - Book Two: Dead Reckoning (2023) - Horror Graphic Novel Review

Halloween Girl - Book One: Promises to Keep was an interesting graphic novel that reminded me a lot of the style of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Protagonist Charlotte's battles to rescue her kidnapped son made for an entertaining story, something that the simple, yet effective art styles clearly set out. Halloween Girl - Book Two: Dead Reckoning, rather than escalate the conflict of what has gone before, actually serves as a prequel of sorts, with an insular look into Charlotte and her relationship with her family.

The seventy five page graphic novel is split over two parts, and in a back and forth way they explore Charlotte's past. I thought it was unusual that rather than chart the events leading up to her death, instead the book begins with Charlotte already a ghost, and her possibly initial return to the real world to try and fix old business. Much like the first book, it doesn't explicitly explain how things came to be. There was a comment about Charlotte not going towards the light when she died, but that's the only explanation for why she is now an Earth bound spirit. I liked the back and forth, where via flashbacks to her last night alive, haunting her mother's dreams, and meeting her son Luke without revealing who she actually is, you come to know her pain. It was fun seeing where the 'Halloween Girl' moniker originates from.

Where book one was high stakes and fantastical, this takes a more relatively grounded approach, with a Gothic feeling story that had the protagonist on fine form. Having died as a teenager, and bearing a grudge against her mother, especially now that the woman has raised Luke to believe she is his mum, she shows some immaturity in her dealings with the woman. This is mainly personified in nightmares and visions where she appears before her mother. I loved these sequences as unlike the normal look of Charlotte, here she is in a frightening form, covered with the injuries from the drunk driving incident that killed her, now fresh once again. There was never a sense she wished genuine harm, but it is the darkest that this character has been portrayed as.

I expected the black and white shading to reappear here and this didn't disappoint, with Elenora Garofolo's illustrations being spot on, panels being full of environmental detail, and expressive characters. They matched the bittersweet feel of Richard T. Wilson's tragic story very effectively. He had originally planned to continue on from the events of Book One, but due to the reception of the character of Charlotte decided to make book two an expansion of his 2014 screenplay. Learning that he wrote the original story the year his mum passed, as a way to cope, that pain can be seen. The year my mum passed away I certainly wasn't as productive or creative!

I would have been happy for more of the same, but to have this introspective look into the backstory of Charlotte was a nice surprise, the dark artstyle and the tragic story complimenting each other perfectly. Halloween Girl - Book Two: Dead Reckoning is due for release October 1st, an autographed copy can be pre-ordered on the Mad Shelley Comics website, here.

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The Sandman (2022) - Horror TV Show Review

When I was a young teenager, my local library started stocking graphic novels for borrowing. I recall that one of those was Neil Gaiman's The Sandman. I didn't appreciate it at the time, as the only lasting impression it gave me was that the artstyle was strange. Last year, a TV series finally got made of the graphic novels, and it had quite a buzz back then. I was not only late to the party, only beginning it when the bonus episode came out, but I also watched it in a stilted way, watching it sporadically over the past seven months or so. That all means this review might be fuzzy on details, apologies for that!

The Sandman is a dark fantasy/horror that is set in a world in which the Gods are real, but watch humanity from afar. Morpheus (Tom Sturridge) is the God of Dreams, and it is while he is on Earth seeking out one of his nightmare creations, The Corinthian (Boyd Holbrook - The Predator), who had escaped from the dream world, that disaster strikes. A man hoping to ensnare Death, instead accidentally captures Morpheus, and decides he will make do with this being instead. His items of power are stolen from him, and he remains magically imprisoned for the best part of a century. Finally managing to escape, Morpheus sets out to find his stolen items, as well as finally put a stop to the pain and suffering that The Corinthian has been unleashing on the world.

Season one takes place over twelve episodes, with that final episode 'Dream of a Thousand Cats/Calliope' being an anthology story seperate to the rest. The show as a whole has an anthology feel at times, as while the core plot point does concern Morpheus, he takes a back seat to other characters. Due to the power of the protagonist it often felt underwhelming with the places his quest takes him. The journey here is more important than the destination, as his power seemed to effortlessly give him success every time he had to deal with humans. I say humans, as the excellent fourth episode 'A Hope in Hell', has him travel to that titular place in order to battle Lucifer (Gwendoline Christie - Wednesday TV series, Game of Thrones TV series) in a special effects laden spectacle. 

Luckily, the parts of the show that are not dedicated to the main plot thread are a lot more interesting, and work wonderfully as stand alone episodes. '24/7' may just be the best of the lot, is certainly the darkest at the very least. In this one, John Dee (David Thewlis - The Omen) has headed to a diner, where the powers he has received thanks to one of Morpheus' stolen items means he has the ability to force people to tell their most hidden truths. What occurs over the next forty five minutes is pure horror, with John sat there in the diner, while the guests and staff alike's revelations leads to eventual murder and bloodshed. What was so great about that episode was how it was portrayed on screen. With so many characters to follow, events kept rewinding back in time, so that it was possible to see all the many different horrors that were taking place. 'The Sound of Her Wings' is like a companion piece, in this one, Morpheus shadows his sister, Death (Kirby - The Good Place TV series) as she visits those around London who have recently died. That was a beautiful and calming one. Then there was an episode that revolves around Morpheus, and his meet-ups every ten years with a man who he made immortal. Having the same location being shown over so many different time periods was a fun idea, leading to a great pay-off at the end.

I'm not familiar with the source material, but with season one you have an effective and emotive show, one that has a feel of melancholy to it. Sturridge was great in his role, but it wasn't as large as you might expect. There are a whole host of other characters and it is their stories and interactions that much of the show is centered on. Morpheus often felt like a 'full stop' to any plot, as he always seemed to appear at the end to solve it. With so many interesting characters this didn't become an issue with just a few that I found to be a bit lame (such as Cain and Abel, and Rose's missing little brother). Seeing as how this is based heavily on the source material this is a bit of an unfair criticism, but I wish the main plot had been that little bit more captivating, as it was all the side stories that really stole the show for me.

The Sandman was an excellently made and mournful series that made good use of a mostly strong cast, and had the budget to back up the effects needed to sell the world. While I wish the main plot had been more involving, all the little side stories were what really made this one shine. The Sandman is currently streaming on Netflix.

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

In my non-blog job it sounds like my work hours are going to change from a lovely four day week to a not so grand five day week. When that happens I will need to rearrange the days I do my blog. Currently I'm planning to go from writing the week's posts on the weekend to writing one a day during week days. All exciting stuff I'm sure.

Beginning with some music news. The Funeral March have released a new EP that was inspired by Greek mythology. This five track EP, titled 'Persephone', cites The Cure, Siouxie & The Banshees, as well as Neil Gaiman's The Sandman as influences. The press release states the '...new release...contemplates our mental and emotional undoing before that day comes' (in reference to the apocalypse). Check out the track 'Nite Nite' taken from the EP below.

The graphic novel series Halloween Girl (which I gave a very respectable 8/10 rotted zombie heads) has been nominated for the Rondo Awards. These awards have been going since 2002, and apparently are 'fandom's only classic horror awards - decided by fans, for fans'. Halloween Girl creator Richard T. Wilson has said of the nomination "...a Rondo Nomination is the Horror World equivalent of an Oscar - it just doesn't get much better!".

Horror film Bliss of Evil is one of Bayview Entertainment's newest acquisitions. It comes from director Josh Morris and stars Sharnee Tones, Jordan Shulte, and Michaela Da Costa. In this movie, a sound engineer and her girlfriend's band become trapped in a recording studio by a mysterious killer, and was apparently based on true events.

A Kickstarter campaign has been launched for Demon Squad 2, the follow up to Demon Squad which was featured on the classic TV series, Mystery Science Theater 300. This follows paranormal investigators Nick Moon and Daisy O'Reilly who get caught up in what appears to be a haunted house mystery. Genres included here will be adventure, science fiction and fantasy. For more details check out the Kickstarter page here.

A quick update for horror RPG Cursed Mansion, which I have mentioned in past news posts. The game was released on 30th March and can be purchased here. The retro styled top down game has you playing as a woman trapped in a dangerous mansion.

Calling Nurse Meow is an eleven short film anthology featuring the work of six different directors - Laura Barker, Joe Cash (Carnal Monsters), Jason Impey, Dan Urban, Kaylan Jordan-Sen and John W.T. This adult only anthology is based around the titular character (Kitty Kiss) '...and her psychotic, sexual and murderous ways'. The shorts sound varied, heading to Medieval times, World War II, the 1970's, and even into animated territory. The anthology comes from VIPCO and can be found on Amazon.

Goth pop artist Metamorph have released a new single, 'Witchlit', which is due on their new EP due out in Autumn this year. The press release states '...is a song of broken hearts, of abuse, power, twin flames, and the craving for love. When nothing makes sense in the light, we search in the darkest nights.'

Half Dead Fred became available to stream on Amazon from March 15th. This stars Corin Nemec, Jason London, and Tiffany Shepis, and is about the titular Fred, a detective who has gained the ability to see the dead after a near death experience which claimed the life of his son.

The Rotting Zombie's Round-up of Horror News for October 2022

It is October, the scariest month of the year. I do love this month, though watching horror all year around it isn't really too different. Still, the day this post goes up I am doing my second annual Halloween watch, with my dad and sister coming around for the delights of Halloween II. I have been playing a bunch of horror titles, the biomechanical body horror puzzle game Scorn, the Western themed rogue-like West of Dead, creepy card game Inscryption, and Layers of Fear VR (so far not much better than the non-VR version). With an hour time limit to write this, onto the news!

There is a trailer for Mahal Empire's newest film, Devil's Knight. This is directed by Adam Werth and stars Kevin Sorbo (Hercules: The Legendary Journeys), Isabelle Urganci (Bermuda Island), and Eric Roberts (The Pope of Greenwich Village). Taking place in the medieval world of Veroka, a King hires an elite group of monster hunters in order to track down and kill 'The Bone Devil'.

Goth-pop artist Metamorph has released a new full-length album, Kiss of the Witch which tells a gothic love story, with the press release stating 'Each song is a witchy world unto itself; sexy, romantic, intimate, with layers of symbolization'. The album was written and created by Margot Day and produced by Erik Gustafson.

October 4th saw the release on Blu-ray of Sam Mason Bell's Home is Where I Lay. This stars Jackson Batchelor and Annabella Rich and is about a woman who has a premonition of her death the night before her and her partner move into a new home.

A new EP has been released from electro-industrial band, Krate. It's The Hope That Kills You is a five track EP that has a general theme of hopelessness. As the press release states 'No matter how hard you try, in the end nothing else matters as all matter is destined to die'. This cheery sounding EP can be purchased from digital platforms, including Bandcamp.

Compendium of the Unmasked: The Hollow Raven is an upcoming graphic novel, 140 pages split over six books. This is a character driven horror story, the press release says it bridges multiple genres including mystery, crime-thriller, action, sci-fi, supernatural and psychological ones. It goes for a steampunk aesthetic. The plot follows the citizens of 'the lost lands' who find themselves stalked by Watchers during daytime, and hunted by creatures at night. There is a successful Indiegogo campaign currently running, which can be found here.

A ten year anniversary cut of Gregory Blair's Deadly Revisions has a release date of December 13th. Blair said of this new cut "I was itching to make little tweaks to the film, so I was thrilled to finally be able to do that". This stars horror icon Bill Oberst Jr (DIS, Zburbs) as an amnesiac horror film writer whose hypnotherapy and nightmares reveal troubling images that shouldn't be real.

Semi-open world video game Somber is now available on Steam. Developed by You Will Get There, this has the player assuming the role of a friendly creature fighting for justice. For this one the press release states 'Somber is what would happen if Tim Burton developed Limbo but included the game mechanics from the Ori series'.

Dark Tales from Channel X is a horror anthology that has been released on DVD via Bayview Entertainment. Starring Michelle Nunez, Angie Hansen and Sarah Schoofs, this is about a babysitter who finds herself in the world of 'The Viewer' who broadcasts seven stories of horror. I love anthologies, hopefully this one is one of the better ones.

Finally, news of Adam Werth's Bermuda Island. This one stars Tom Sizemore (Natural Born Killers), Greg Tally (Camp Pleasant Lake), John Wells (Arena Wars), and Noel Gugliemi (Training Day) and is about a plane crash that strands the survivors on a deserted island, with them discovering surviving the elements may be the least of their worries. This is due to release January 2023.

Wyatt Earp: Hollywoodland (2022) - Zombie Horror Graphic Novel Review

Wyatt Earp: Hollywoodland is a horror graphic novel that uses real life characters within its story. There was an interesting forward to this that talks about how Hollywood has glamorised people in movies that were really not good people in real life. An example used is of all the cowboys that have appeared in Westerns who were based on real people, like Butch Cassidy, Billy the Kid, and Wyatt Earp. This graphic novel may well be fantastical, but it also makes an attempt to explain that these legendary people really were not as great as the legends of Hollywood would have you believe.

This takes place in America during the prohibition years, after three Hollywood stars end up dead in mysterious circumstances, a film bigwig decides to hire Wyatt Earp to investigate. While the man is now eighty years old, it is hoped that this icon's involvement will calm down investors. To assist him he is provided with an actuary named Eddie. At first Wyatt has no interest, but after an attempt on his life by a zombie assailant, he decides he needs to get to the bottom of what is happening. He discovers that many iconic historical people from the days of the Wild West have somehow been brought back to life as intelligent undead, and slowly but surely he shoots his way up the chain of command, hoping to find and stop the mastermind behind it all.

I like fiction that melds truth within the story, and that is what happens here. Learning afterwards that in real life that Earp died at the age of eighty, it was interesting to follow him around on what to be his final year alive. Of course the walking dead aren't real, but there insertion here perversely results in sowing the seeds of Hollywood's obsession with Westerns. While a detective investigation at its heart, mainly this story (written by Brian W. Donnelly) revolves around Earp as he follows a series of simple clues and gets in battles with lots of notable Wild West zombies. There wasn't much variation with this serving as a series of one on one gun fights, with the eventual revelation of who is behind it perfectly fine, if not that exciting. This may be because I'm not clued in to historical figures of the Wild West, heck, I didn't even realise Wyatt Earp himself was a real person before reading this!

This features pen, inks and art by J.C Grande and makes much uses of light and shadow, with characters constantly half in the shade. It leads to some expressive and moody artwork, but on occasion I did struggle to make out what was happening, especially during the more action packed scenes. There is a lot packed into this 94 page graphic novel, essentially commenting on what the forward was talking about. This goes for quality over quantity, and these undead may have a taste for flesh but are restrained in their needs, still leading to some fun scenes of violence. Wyatt Earp: Hollywoodland currently has a successful Kickstarter going, which can be found here.

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Halloween Girl - Book One: Promises to Keep (2022) - Horror Graphic Novel Review

It was back in May of this year when I first heard of Richard T. Wilson's Halloween Girl. Now, just in time for Halloween, comes Halloween Girl - Book One: Promises to Keep, which brings together the first seven issues combined into a 170 page graphic novel. I already covered my thoughts on the first three issues previously so I will try and talk more about the graphic novel as a whole.

Eighteen year old ghost Charlotte is the protagonist of the series. Despite being dead she discovers she has powers that let her combat supernatural evil in the world. Her son Luke has been kidnapped by a shady secret society known as The Hollow, and so Charlotte finds herself forced into going up against them. On her side is the enigmatic Poe, together they take on a terrible power that might have made a deal with the devil himself...

Despite being a unified story there were five different artists used over the run. Mostly the art is similar in style, with the exception of Pietro Vaughan whose stark black and white really stood out for his entry in Chapter 3: The Forgotten Boy. Almost my favourite art in the whole book, though I really loved the messy shading style Eleonora Garofolo used in the final two chapters. That one featured so much detail, and the shading was just perfect.

The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for 15th October 2022

It is hardly the most exciting news, but I have realised I am able to stream from my phone directly to my TV. That has meant that I can actually watch films for review in comfort rather than sitting on my chair in my office. Anyway. onto actual news.

I have reviewed a few issues of Richard T. Wilson's Halloween Girl and now a graphic novel has been released bringing it all together. Charlotte is a teen ghost who has teamed up with her supernatural friend Poe in order to go up against a shady secret society named The Hollow, who have kidnapped her son. This started as a short film, and then was spun off into a web series, Under the Flowers, before being made into a comic series. The graphic novel is now available from comic shops and bookstores, including Barnes & Noble, I plan to put up a review of this next week.

Crime Traveler: The Adventures of Dave Slade is a short film that won Best Psychedelic Fantasy Short Film at Retro Avant Garde Film Festival (2020), Best Horror/Thriller at the Golden Wheat Awards Festival (2022) and Best Sci-fi Film at The Hollywood Monthly Film Festival (2022). It stars Nicholas M. Garofolo (Sweet Revenge, Deranged Foxhole) as Slade, a man who is told that in the future he is a very important person. This is the catalyst to Slade becoming the hero he was always destined to be. The film can be seen on Amazon and Reveel, and is due to head to Troma in the future.

A teaser trailer has been released for a new series, Herbert West: Reanimator. This sees the titular character as 'he navigates through a universe of Lovecraftian lore'. This is set to star Zan Alda (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) with others confirmed, including Mike Ferguson (Amityville Uprising), Jackson Everest (Camp Pleasant Lake), BJ Mezek (Death Count) and Lisa Hinds (Night of the Tommy Knockers), with Joe Castro on the crew working on some of the special effects. The show is set to delve into many H.P Lovecraft storylines in a way 'that will honor the original work'. Production is due to start this October, 

Finally, a horror film based on NFTs has been announced, It had to happen sooner or later, perhaps later in this case as NFT appear to be crashing and burning at the moment. The film itself is also named NFT which is to come from writer/director Jonas Odenheimer (Classroom 6) and will star Najarra Townsend (The Stylist). The set-up does sound interesting, it follows a group of millennials who are trying to get rich off of selling NFTs. However, after buying a NFT collection said to be cursed they soon find themselves in paranormal danger. The teaser trailer for NFT has been released.

The Rotting Zombie's Round-up of Horror News for August 2022

Hello again for another round-up of horror news that has fallen into my rotted inbox. I've set myself a time limit of one hour to write this post, so I shall see how far that takes me into news land.

Starting off with news about the horror comic Halloween Girl, with issue four releasing today. Even better is news that the 170 page graphic novel is due for release this October (titled Halloween Girl - Book One: Promises to Keep). This brings together seven issues of the series, a series that is about an eighteen year old ghost who finds herself pitted against the nefarious secret society, 'The Hollow'. 

Industrial rock band, Industry of Doom have released their four track debut EP, including among it, track Let the Devil Dress in Black. The duo are made up of Gentleman Vox and KÖSNIK, the press release states: 'Industry of Doom is a nihilistic re-invention of your past while self destruction is a thread throughout the lyrics. It's about the power of brainwashing and manipulation'.

I get sent the JustWatch UK streaming charts weekly, but it is only on occasion there is anything worth writing about. This week however is different. First up, the top 10 most films streamed in the UK. In third place is the enjoyable Prey which was finally a decent entry in the Predator series. In fifth place was Orphan, it makes sense this popped back in seeing as how a prequel, Orphan: First Kill (featuring the same actress from the original) has emerged. Finally, Jordan Peele's fantastic Get Out has creeped back in, sitting at tenth place.

Over in the top 10 TV shows streamed in the UK you have The Sandman at second place (something I am certainly going to check out), and in seventh place you have What We Do in the Shadows. I loved the film so have always intended to get into the show.

I've mentioned it before, Paramount Pictures horror film, Smile, releases in cinemas on September 28th. A new poster has been unveiled, keeping the creepy vibe. I genuinely hope this horror is something great, and not just another forgettable mainstream horror film that fails to leave an impression.

The September releases for the Arrow streaming subscription service have been announced. Key highlights include a season of films from Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, including Rashomon and The Hidden Fortress. Also appearing is Tourist Trap, a slasher set in a deserted wax museum in which a group of travellers have been lured. It stars Chuck Connors (Soylent Green) and Tanya Roberts (Sheena). There are a series of curated films revolving around the mutant tag. These include Head of the Family, Hideous, Mutant War and Trapped Alive. Subscriptions to the service costs £4.99 a month, or £49.99 annually.

Staying with Arrow, on 10th October dark urban chiller Take Back the Night premieres on the service. This the debut feature from Gia Elliot and is about an artist who is attacked by a supernatural creature. With the police not believing her wild account, she realises she must hunt down the creature herself. This was designed as 'an allegorical story of violence against women and the dangers of victim-blaming wrapped in a classic monster movie'.

Finally, back to music, Morningstvr have released their debut solo album, The New Salem via Blvsphemy Records. The press release says of the release '...encapsulates a love for occultism, history and horror films. It is a transformative spiritual journey into the new studio album'. 

Age of Ultron Vs. Marvel Zombies (2015) - Zombie Graphic Novel Review

Age of Ultron Vs. Marvel Zombies is the final graphic novel I currently own that uses the Marvel Zombies licence. Like Marvel Zombies: Battleworld that released the same year, this one takes place in the 'Battleworld' (a place where different multiverse have combined into one large whole). I had heard bad things about this, but it didn't really do too much wrong in actuality.

The Hank Pym from the Western world of 1872 is sent over 'the wall' (a huge structure designed to keep the worst multiverse worlds of Battleworld away from the rest) for the crime of trying to construct a clockwork metal man. The bad part is ruled over by three factions, zombified Magneto who controls the undead population in the Deadlands, Ultron who rules over the robots of Perfection, and a reptilian force (who don't factor into the story). Before Hank can fall prey to any of these he is rescued by the trio of Jim Hammond, The Vision and Wonder Man who take him to a protected settlement they've named Salvation. As an alternate version of Hank was the one who created Ultron in the first place, the three hope this Hank will be able to identify a weakness in the humanity hating robot and finally put an end to his reign of terror. Meanwhile, sick of fighting each other, the robots and zombies have decided to team up, merging to become zombie cyborgs in order to destroy Salvation.

This graphic novel brings together Age of Ultron Vs. Marvel Zombies issues 1-4. Perhaps due to the short length it was decided to also include issue 1 of Age of Ultron, an issue which sits awkwardly at the end of the novel. I assume that was to get people interested in that storyline, especially as it ends on a big cliffhanger. It didn't have zombies but it was set in a post apocalyptic world. As for the zombie story itself, by now pretty much every Marvel hero and villain has made an appearance several times over. Still, it was fun to see these characters again. On the undead side you have Magneto, Sabretooth, The Vulture, M.O.D.O.K and Owl as the ones I immediately recognised. On the hero side my favourite appearance was a Punisher who appeared to be from the 17th Century, armed with flintlock pistol and sword and wearing a Witchfinder style hat. A lot of the other heroes I didn't really recognise, as always this is something that will give a lot more enjoyment if you are familiar with the characters.

Halloween Girl - Issue 1 and Issue 2 (2020-22) - Horror Comic Review

Last week on April 30th the second volume of the Mad Shelley Comics' Halloween Girl was released. Now, I hadn't actually heard of this but apparently it is based on characters that appeared in the film The Halloween Girl and its sister web-series Under the Flowers. The star of this is an eighteen year old ghost named Charlotte, who, along with her supernatural friend Poe do their best to protect Charlotte's hometown of Crystal Springs from an evil secret society known as The Hollow.

Starting with issue 1 (VOL.1: Secret to Keep, Chapter 1: Candy From Strangers), this had a story written by Richard T. Wilson, with art by Stephen Mullan. While I wasn't a hundred percent clear on any of the backstory the story itself was easy to follow. After a trip into the 'In-Between', Charlotte is provided clues as to what she should be doing in order to protect her town. In this case it is a Halloween bucket in which a giant spider was dwelling. Back in the real world she spots a young boy wearing a spider costume being bullied and so makes herself corporal in order to intervene.
The art is in black and white and was crisp and simple. Panels were not deeply detailed but I liked the cleaness this created. A lot of the issue revolved around conversations but the panels remained interesting by utilising plenty of different angles so that instead of a static feel the panels felt dynamic, like the characters were actually moving around. The horror slowly introduces itself leading up to a cliffhanger finale that made me glad I also had the second issue to read!

Issue 2 (Charlotte's Web) wraps up this particular story and was more action packed then the first. Again at thirtish pages this was something I breezed through. This two issues almost reminded me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in how they were paced out. A 'villain of the week' type situation that nonetheless ties into a greater tale. These first two issues worked at establishing Charlotte as the protagonist she needs to be, discovering powers she didn't know she had.

Halloween Girl was an enjoyable read, the clear art allowed characters to show their emotions on their faces, while the story was easy to follow. For me personally I would have preferred a darker story, but it certainly headed in that direction after its non threatening beginning. While the ongoing story didn't dig its claws into me there is potential for this to become greater. Vol. 1 is set to be comprised of seven issues, issue 2 is out now via Kindle Comics (Amazon), with a third one due out later this year.

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Marvel Zombies: Battleworld (2015) - Zombie Graphic Novel Review

It was just last week when reviewing Marvel Zombies Destroy! that I stated I felt like it was a series of diminishing returns for each new entry in the Marvel Zombies series. I began to wonder if the problem were the books themselves, or if I was just jaded with it all. Now I have read Marvel Zombies: Battleworld I can confirm it was the former, as this one was a real return to form.

This takes place within the context of the Secret Wars arc. No idea about any of that but at least this begins with a page of text explaining things. Basically the multiverse has been destroyed and Dr. Doom was somehow able to create one giant world made up of different realities put together. Elsa Bloodstone is a member of S.H.I.E.L.D who spends her days on the Wall. This huge construct is what separates the zombie infested Deadlands from the rest of the world. One night she gets in a fight with a zombified Red Terror, she defeats him but not before he teleports them both over two hundred miles into the Deadlands. It is there she encounters a young amnesiac child, and with a horde of zombies in between her and the path back to the Wall, she instead decides to go with the young child's gut feeling that they need to head in the opposite direction, further into the unknown of the Deadlands.

While not perfect I did really enjoy reading Battleworld, and with Elsa you have a strong willed protagonist. Before I have criticised the amount of humour stuck into a serious story, here though that humour fits in with Elsa's jaded outlook on life, and her grudging mission to keep the mystery child safe. Her journey is punctuated with frequent flashbacks to the harsh treatment she endured at the hands of her father, the immortal Ulysses Bloodstone. The flashbacks intercut the main story going on as well as her father's words appearing as speech bubbles. She is in constant battle with herself to ignore the teachings he gave her, she frequently has to go against her deep seated instinct to instead become her own person. The main plot may be her and the child's journey but Elsa's past experiences shape a lot of the story, especially towards the end with some unexpected and cool revelations.

Marvel Zombies Destroy! (2012) - Zombie Graphic Novel Review

There is currently a Kickstarter running to get funds to make a Zombicide board game based on the Marvel Zombies property. It looks amazing, but alas, the price is too steep for me. Currently, to get everything, which includes the base game, the X-Men Resistance, Galactus the Devourer, Fantastic 4: Under Siege, Guardians of the Galaxy Set and Hydra Resurrection expansions would cost $550 (around £410). So, sad news for me not being able to stomach that cost, but it did remind me that I was still part way through my reading of all the Marvel Zombies graphic novels. There were five main graphic novels and since then a series of seemingly unrelated goes at bringing everyone's favourite (and more obscure) heroes into the rotting world of the undead. The last one I read was Marvel Zombies Supreme back before the pandemic struck, and now I have read Marvel Zombies Destroy!

Howard the Duck, working for A.R.M.O.R has recruited a whole bunch of heroes for a very dangerous mission. It turns out there is an alternate reality in which the Nazis won the second world war by unleashing a zombie virus that changed their soldiers all into zombies. Having completely conquered their world, they now seek to create a device that will allow them to invade other realities. Leading the team of heroes, alongside Howard, is Dum Dum Dugan, a former Howling Commando. Their plan is to travel to the zombie reality and destroy the Nazis stronghold. An already impossible mission is made harder by the realisation that the Nazis have already turned a whole bunch of former superheroes into the undead, as well as the entire population of Asgard led by a zombified Thor.

The story was action heavy and full of twists and turns along the way. If things had been played seriously I think Destroy! could have worked out a lot better. There is a bodycount that racks up and up throughout with many of the initial team of twelve meeting their ends in various bloody and gruesome ways. This could have felt daunting and horrific if played right. Unfortunately then the writing is often played for laughs, this felt at odds with the serious situation going on, it couldn't help but bring down the tone when in-between well known (and not so well known) heroes meeting their ends there is corny dialogue and terrible one-liners all over the place. The twelve core members of the team are made up of Howard the Duck, Dum Dum Dugan, Battlestar, Red Raven, Eternal Brain, Gur, Dragoon, Dynaman, Taxi Taylor, Flexo, Blazing Skull and Breeze Barton. Out of all those I had heard of just two before reading this. Some more recognisable ones do appear, including Loki, Bucky and Red Skull.

Monsters (2021) by Barry Windsor-Smith - Horror Graphic Novel Review

Earlier this year my best friend brought me a graphic novel that was recommended to her by someone at a comic book store. That novel was Monsters which was created by Barry Windsor-Smith (who has worked on Avengers, Daredevil, Conan, as well as wrote and drew the Wolverine origin story 'Weapon X') and was his first book in sixteen years. It apparently originally started life as a 23 page Hulk story in the mid eighties. I was warned that this wasn't a happy story, but that also meant it would fit right at home on The Rotting Zombie.

The novel takes place over a variety of different time periods and actually occurs in a similar fashion to an idea I once had for a short story. That is that Monsters almost takes place in reverse order. After a wild prologue set in 1949 we skip forward to 1964 where a young homeless man, Bobby Bailey is trying to join the army. The recruiter, Sergeant McFarland knows the boy isn't fit to serve but had special instructions to contact a man working on a top secret project codenamed 'Prometheus' should someone meeting certain criteria apply to join. The boy is taken away, where he soon becomes a test subject in a project that had been devised by the Nazis to create a super soldier, this leads to quite a nasty outcome for Bailey. McFarland meanwhile having a power similar to the 'Shining', begins to get supernatural visions about Bailey's fate, with guilt eating him up he sets out to right the wrong he thinks he may have caused. This leads to a story that falls back in time, at first heading back to the late forties when Bobby's father Tom returns back from World War II a changed man, then to the end of the war when Bobby's mother, Janet, anxiously awaited her husband's return, and then even earlier to show the moment that changed Tom during his war time experiences.

Things start off on a dark footing and this is a vibe that persists throughout the 365 page novel. I was surprised to find the style of leaping back through time, after the first section the majority of the book takes place in the past before returning to the present for the final part. It is obvious the 'Monsters' in the books title only tangentially refer to Bobby's horrific transformation. There is an 's' on the end of that title for a reason as a lot of characters here fit that term very easily. From the cold army officers happy to let the twisted experiments occur, to the ex-Nazi scientist working for them, all the way to Bobby's nasty father, a man who beats his wife and child. All fit that title. The time skips are put to good use, with each jump backwards more and more pieces of the puzzle come together, and you find two very different families unknowingly intertwined with each other throughout the years. I loved how parts of the story are mentioned but it is only later on that their purpose becomes clear, even going as far as to show the same scene but changed to fit whichever character is remembering it.

The art throughout the book is fantastic, this is all black and white with intricately detailed panels. Characters are full of emotion yet drawn realistically, the whole novel looked like a work of art. It is often dialogue fed with each new panel transitioned using flowing speech. One tiny issue I had was in the middle where a lot of pages are made up of Janet's personal diary entries, the writing joined up was occasionally a little hard to read, yet like a magic eye picture I could always make sense of what initially seemed like a mass of jumbled letters. As to the story though I had no complaints, I enjoyed how everything was linked to each other. I would say by the end when we return to the present day of the mid sixties I had almost forgotten who the characters here were, and what their fates had been, that was a small thing though. The war had an effect on humanity that persisted throughout generations, it was interesting to see that explored here with a slight supernatural angle to it, it made for a maturely told story that couldn't ever get dull. Despite the more action packed moments at its heart this is an exploration into one family's turmoil with the horror coming from the situation rather than any outside force.

I wouldn't say I enjoyed Monsters in the sense it was a happy and fun read. I did think it was a very effective story, one that used the medium of art to tell its story in a satisfying way. It's been quite the week for getting to the end of good books, Barry Windsor-Smith's Monsters was well worth a read.

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Saga of the Swamp Thing: Book One (2012) - Horror Graphic Novel Review

This past weekend I haven't had much chance to work on my blog, actually real life stuff happening for once! This has resulted in me dipping into my 'break glass for emergency' blog posts. Needing to fill that out I have finally gotten around to reviewing Saga of the Swamp Thing: Book One. I finished reading this a month or so ago so I can't imagine this will be the best review, certainly as I'm not too used to reviewing graphic novels. Saga of the Swamp Thing is made up of the stories that Northampton based legend Alan Moore wrote. Book One is made up of issues 20-27, originally published as The Saga of The Swamp Thing back in 1984.

Now I'm not sure how much influence Moore had in changing the direction and motivations of the titular character here but this begins with quite a change. The first issue of the book, Loose Ends has the army hunting down Swamp Thing and eventually 'killing' him. It was a bit of a dizzying way to start and had a variety of characters who I had no idea about. As Moore took up writing duties mid-way through an ongoing story this explains why things begin already in progress. It is second issue, The Anatomy Lesson where things begin to change with the revelation that Swamp Thing isn't a former human somehow transformed into a plant creature, but instead a plant creature that took on the memories of a dying human. This brings an identity crisis that is only resolved when Dr. Woodrue, a man obsessed with becoming a plant, initiates a disaster that could spell the end for humanity. This begins in Swamped and continues over Another Green World eventually getting resolved in Roots. The second half of book one is about a demonic entity that is after a deadly monster that has latched itself onto a young orphan boy. This takes place over the remaining issues of The Sleep of Reason..., ...A Time of Running... and ...By Demons Driven! 

As a teen I picked up a bunch of random Swamp Thing comics that had him travelling through time. It was a wonderful series of stories and I admit my main hope for getting Saga of the Swamp Thing was that I would be able to locate that arc. Despite that not happening yet I still really enjoyed my time with this. I always thought this character was like the Captain Planet of comic book heroes, all his stories to do with saving the environment and not much more. I liked all the horror elements that this graphic novel brought. Both with the murderous villains and the style of the stories. The Anatomy Lesson felt like proper horror, Swamp Thing taking on the role of a silent antagonist hunting down his captor, the whole issue narrated by someone at that point not directly involved. The later demon influenced series of stories had some clever writing, in particular the sinister man (quite possibly a devil) who is able to see the grim fates of the people he meets, reminded me of Leland Gaunt from Needful Things, preceding it as that character didn't emerge until the early nineties. 

The book ends with the main stories resolved but with plenty of loose plot threads left open to take the story in interesting directions, I'm especially interested to see what happens to Swamp Thing's human best friend Abbey's boyfriend. The art throughout this felt very eighties in style, in my opinion the art throughout that decade in comic books was excellent, they really don't make things as detailed as that era anymore sadly, at least with the big heroes. I did struggle at times to follow the story in that it was quite obtuse in how it all plays out, on occasion some of Moore's words seemed a bit melodramatic, such as when he relates the rain as if 'someone had taken a razor blade to the sky' or something similar. Still, I have Book Two ready to go and having enjoyed this one a lot I am excited to see where else this dark journey takes me.

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