Zombies and Cigarettes (2009) - Short Zombie Horror Film Review

Again, taken off the Ultimate Zombie Feast DVD I own, this short zombie film - Zombies and Cigarettes comes from Spain, co-directed by Rafa Martínez and Iñaki San Román (the later who also wrote this). The film is very indie, and doesn't put a fresh spin on films about the undead. It is however, a prime example that within this sub-genre of horror, you don't need much originality as classic zombie stories never get old or dull.

At the end of a day at the shopping centre where he works, Xavi (Samuel Viyela) is treating himself to his favourite ice-cream. On his way out, while trying to impress a girl he is attracted to; Carol (Aroa Gimeno), he accidentally knocks over some cases of a new perfume, and gets covered in the stuff. Almost straight after chaos erupts at the centre. Without explanation, a zombie outbreak has occurred, causing panic as shoppers and staff alike try to flee the fast moving, flesh hungry ghouls that have infested the mall. Xavi accidentally slips over and knocks himself out, waking some time later in a back area store room, having been rescued by three others. The ice-cream merchant, Carol, and sports shop employee - Kendo (Javier Ríos) bring Xavi up to speed, informing him of their plan to make it to the underground staff car park where they are going to use Kendo's boss' car to escape.

The 17 minute short horror starts with a small prologue that takes place deep into the film. It did feel a little pointless as it didn't really leave me with too many questions. I really enjoyed the film. Often with bigger budget movies, there would be sets instead of real locations, here, it is obviously a real shopping centre that has been borrowed for the movie. The initial outbreak was fantastically and chaotically done. People running around, falling over, getting trapped in revolving doors, falling off balconies, while the running zombies leap at their victims to drag them to the ground. So much was happening in this scene that it was a real delight to watch. My favourite part had a man wearing a chicken suit run past the camera just as the iconic 'Wilhem scream' sound effect plays. 
After this exciting intro, the action moves down to the service floor where there is less spectacle, but still a decent amount of undead running around. I thought this part was also fun, though a scene where the floor is plunged into darkness for an extended amount of time seemed a bit pointless.

The zombies looked great in that low budget indie type of way. Plenty of people firing guns at them, and some nice close up action, such as Xavi's use of a metal baseball bat. It seemed some of the effects, such as blood on the floor may have been CG, but if it was, it wasn't that distracting, and makes sense the owners of the shopping centre wouldn't want fake blood spilled everywhere. Blood looked great, and the make-up effects for damage to characters was satisfyingly fun.
The story of the outbreak and end to the zombie outbreak was very simple, especially with how it concluded. This did fit the vague amusement of how hard forgettable Xavi is trying to be the main protagonist, but really he doesn't really achieve much, ending the film much as he was when he started.

Zombies and Cigarettes has barely an ounce of originality to it, but it didn't need to It tells a straight forward indie zombie story in a very capable way. There are plenty of undead, plenty of entertaining characters, and of course, as the title may suggest; plenty of people smoking cigarettes for some reason.

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DoN't cOME HeRE (2025) - Horror Film Review

The annoying to type DoN't cOMe HeRE was a by the numbers indie horror movie that nonetheless had some interesting ideas to it. Directed by Douglas Thomson and written by Brook Judge, the limited woodland setting almost caused boredom at times, but the mystery of who was responsible for the horror kept me mostly invested.

Jill (Joan Iyiola) and Vivian (Arazou - Ready Player One uncredited) are two American students who have gone to Spain on a summer working holiday. Stopping in a rural town, they encounter a group of rich English friends in a local pub, and with Jill taking a shine to one of them; Peter (Nikolas Salmon), they decide to join them. Together they decide to spend the next day together before going their separate ways, with Jill suggesting they go on a drive together for a hike and picnic. Ignoring the warnings of a local woman (Lina Mira - Pan's Labyrinth) about staying away from the area they are heading to, the group drive on, and initially everything goes according to plan. At the spot they pick for their picnic, Vivian goes off on her own to relieve herself, but doesn't come back. A panicked Jill begins to suspect something has happened to her friend, the group search for her, eventually heading back to their truck where they find the grisly discovery of Vivian's skinned corpse! With their truck sabotaged, the group head off into the woods to try and find a way back to the main road. Whoever killed Vivian isn't done with the scared group however, and one by one, they begin to get picked off by the unseen killer.

While a slasher, this had the feel of a whodunnit due to the variety of characters introduced early on who could be the ones responsible. There was a disgruntled hitchhiker that Jill and Vivian had refused to pick up, an angry local couple (one of whom was the woman warning the group to stay away), and then there is the infighting of the group. With Jill not knowing the others, she begins to suspect that one of them may be responsible. To be honest, that part was a little stupid, not only did it seem strange the friends would have turned on each other, but there would have been evidence of them having committed the crime, rather than still being kitted out in their pristine brightly coloured clothing. Jill was set up as the protagonist, but she was a bit annoying, when late in the movie, Michael (Onur Cocen) states to her that she has been wrong about absolutely everything she has suggested, I couldn't help but agree. That isn't to say the other characters are much better, all rich English young adults, they might have been a bit stuck up, but I liked the obvious camaraderie they had.

The killer forever remains off camera for the most part. This did lead to a little bit of boredom not really seeing kills happen on screen, but it also kept the mystery going of who exactly was responsible. There are a whole bunch of kills, though to my knowledge there are only actually two that are shown, usually characters are either discovered dead, or they are being attacked by someone just out of shot. Thankfully, one of the rare on-screen kills was also the most surprising and fun.
The woodland setting was very samey, with the group walking down various small pathways, at least there was a small change in location for the final act, which saw the survivors holding out in a remote cottage they find. The eventual reveal was almost surprising, I did think some of the potential suspects were set-up as obvious red herrings.

A simple story, and an unexciting location, as well as the lack of many on-screen kills did cause a slight bit of fatigue before the end credits rolled after ninety minutes. I did end up mainly enjoying DoN't cOME HeRE, was a nice bit of escapism after the more serious movies I watched for review this week.

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Blasphemous II (2023) - Horror Video Game Review (Nintendo Switch)

Blasphemous was a fantastic metroidvania that breathed new life into the crowded genre for me, styling itself as it did on religious horror. After recently playing through it again in order to see the newly added canonical ending as part of the final DLC (Wounds of Eventide) I moved onto its sequel, Blasphemous II. With early indications this was also a great game I was excited to get into it. Could it possibly live up to the excellence of that first game though? Spoilers for the canonical ending of Blasphemous to unavoidably follow.

As a quick recap, Blasphemous saw you as a resurrected penitent who was tasked with defeating a Pope like figure who was using the 'miracle' for his own perverted means. The miracle is an unexplained phenomenon that has the power to twist the wishes of the devout, often turning them into monsters based on the guilt they hold within their heart. After the penitent one defeated the mystical beings who were secretly controlling the miracle, that power left the land, and the penitent one fell down dead, due to the miracle's power no longer sustaining him.
A long time later (according to many people online it is about a thousand years later, though I don't recall anything in game stating it to be that long), the miracle returns to the land in the form of a gigantic beating heart containing an unborn gigantic mystical being floating in the sky above a giant city. The miracle's return brings the penitent one back to life, where he is tasked to make his way to this giant being and stop it from being born, as it has been judged to be a false God.

Initially I was very impressed with Blasphemous II, and don't take that to mean I didn't enjoy this, it was a great game, it just didn't live up the lofty heights of the first for several reasons. Upon starting the game you are given a choice of three different weapons. There is a giant metal ball on a chain, slow but powerful, and has the ability to ring bells that create floating platforms to appear. There are twin rapiers that are quick but weak, these also grant you the ability to teleport between mirrors dotted around the various rooms. Finally is a barbaric looking sword, this one has a powerful downward slash move that can be used to break through vines blocking doorways. My issue with these weapons is that the ball on a chain was by far the best weapon, it may be slow but it has a big reach and can often hit enemies multiple times as it swings by them. Outside of one boss fight designed for its use, I only used the rapiers for the teleport sections, and as for the sword, I never once used it in a combat situation. With the metal ball being so powerful it outclassed the other weapons far too much, making their inclusion feel a bit pointless. Each of these weapons has its own skill trees, granting various bonuses.

The item screen is better designed for the sequel, no longer do you have to switch in and out the special abilities you gain over the course of the twenty five hour or so game (roughly the same length as the first), but they aren't as interesting. You get four abilities that allow you to explore and open up more of the game world, but included among these are a very unoriginal double jump and air dash; useful, but not very exciting. There are no end of side quests to complete, with various grotesque friendless dotted around the map. Many of these are located in the central hub area, where there are a variety of shops. The fervour gained from killing enemies are now used solely for buying new items, with the upgrade trees dependent on a seperate currency earned or found around the levels. You have new wooden statues you can equip that give various buffs, and the rosary beads are back. As always, everything has lore attached to it, but where before you always seemed to get several paragraphs of lore, now, many objects give you just one or two sentences.
There are two endings, to get the good ending one of the steps is to collect the thirty three floating cherubs hidden around the game. On paper that didn't sound too bad, but I spent two or three hours right at the games end searching every inch of the maps for the remaining two, meaning that was one of the dullest parts of the game.

The design of the world isn't as memorable for the sequel. The first game had locations that seemed to naturally and logically lead off into each other, here the design felt more gamelike, with seemingly random locations all dumped on top of each other, making this feel much more like a video game than an authentic atmospheric world. Some areas do shine, I thought the wood area made for a decent change, a return to a key area from the first game now in ruins was neat, while there was a fantastic level set in an upside down cathedral covered in wax, that place really invigorated me late into the game due to its combination of fascinating design and fantastic music. In general the soundtrack is great, I wouldn't say it had as many memorable tunes as before, but there are still some great ones here.

Along with plenty of new enemies types, a large chunk of enemies return in the exact same form as before. The game also liked to reskin these a lot, so later game saw you battling different coloured and tougher versions of earlier enemies. My favourite of the new enemies was this weird combination between a bishop and a slug, and old crones who were eaten by crows upon dying. Sadly, many of the special kills that were unique to each enemy type have been devolved. Most special kills now all use the exact same animation. Bosses are also nowhere near as memorable. The first game had a heavy reliance of horrific screen filling monsters, the few human adversaries you faced made for a nice change. Here it is the complete opposite, nearly every boss encounter is against a human enemy, with only a couple of giant bosses. While the boss encounters were all a lot of fun, they really were nowhere near as memorable, I'm not sure why it was felt these needed to be changed.

Blasphemous II is a great video game, but it loses some of the cohesiveness of the first, with a world that felt far more artificial, and bosses that were a bit underwhelming in terms of design. There were some lovely changes made here (thank God spike pits no longer cause instant death!), some not so good changes (automatic markers on the map showing you where to go to next) and a smoother feel, but I wish it had made its world as hauntingly intimidating to explore. Where Blasphemous was a nine out of ten, very close to a ten, this one is a solid eight. Hopefully, like that one, there will be a lot of DLC added over time, which I will be sure to get,

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The Coffee Table (2022) - Comedy Horror Film Review

The Coffee Table (original title La mesita del comedor) is a Spanish horror film directed and co-written by Caye Casas which includes comedy so jet black that it can sometimes struggle to be seen. This vantablack comedy horror felt like a skit from surreal British sketch show Jam stretched out into a feature film. Annoyingly, the screener email requested that a very early film changing twist is not revealed within the review, so I'm going to have to do my best to dance around that particular elephant in the room.

Middle aged couple, Jesus (David Pareja) and María (Estefanía de los Santos) have recently had a baby, something which has caused them conflict in their relationship. The film begins with the couple at a furniture store looking at a hideous glass coffee table, something which Jesus is determined to buy from the sleazy salesman (Eduardo Antuña), as a response to feeling powerless in a lot of the other decisions made in his life. Once the table is delivered, Jesus discovers one of the screws is missing, so the glass top can't be attached to the base, he requests the salesman brings the missing screw around. Meanwhile, with Jesus' brother and new girlfriend coming round for dinner in the evening, María heads out to do some shopping, leaving her husband in charge of looking after the baby. It turns out buying that coffee table may well be the worst decision Jesus ever made...

The majority of the movie was like watching a car crash in slow motion. Something extremely terrible has happened, and Jesus is the only one who knows about it, and so in a farcical way does everything in his power to prevent others from finding out his secret. Even the viewer is not privy to the exact details as the biggest event in the movie takes place off camera. By the time his brother and girlfriend have arrived, as well as the nextdoor neighbours teenage daughter and her dog, the tension has ramped up to unsustainable levels. The horror comes mainly from the plight Jesus finds himself in, as the viewer it is obvious everything is going to come crashing down around all the characters, so it's an endurance race watching the horrific event play out. The subject matter is so unspeakably dark that at times you forget you are watching a comedy horror, but there are signs if you are looking out for them, such as with the baby's name (Cayetano), which everyone who hears it reacts with barely concealed dislike. There was also lighter comedy with the salesman, a fun performance from a well suited actor. The acting throughout while in Spanish, still seemed believable, Pareja in particular had a tough role to do, which he performed admirably.

The majority of The Coffee Table takes place within the confines of the small apartment the couple live in, with the pacing leading to events ramping up in a believable way. The camera work was perfect, often lingering on characters facial expressions, and the script was designed to be as obliviously cruel as possible, each line spoken innocent without context known, but pure agony knowing all the details. Jesus' torment is reflected by both visual and auditory hallucinations which really helped with bringing his inner turmoil to the forefront for the viewers.

I did not enjoy my time with The Coffee Table, but I was completely hooked watching it, a morbid curiosity meant I had to see how this would all end up. Very well shot, with great choice of actors, this supremely dark story is something that is sure to stick in the memory. The Coffee Table begins a limited theatrical run starting in Los Angeles at Laemmle Glendale on April 19th, and it will arrive on DVD and VOD on May 14th.

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Bird Box: Barcelona (2023) - Horror Film Review

I enjoyed 2018's Bird Box, even if I found it a little bit inadvertently derivative of A Quiet Place. It was only the other week that I discovered a sequel was in the works, an unrelated story set in Barcelona, Bird Box: Barcelona, so it was a pleasure to discover this had been released last week. Me and my best friend were both fans of the first film so we settled down to watch it, however it was only myself who managed to complete it, details of which are to follow later in this review.

Sebastián (Mario Casas) and his daughter Anna (Alejandra Howard) are introduced as survivors of the apparent invasion of creatures who have the ability to turn anyone who sees them suicidally insane. While out on the streets of Barcelona they come across another group of survivors, and so Sebastián tells his daughter to hide while he tries to find out if they are hostile or not. He befriends the group and is led to their hideout, an old bus station warehouse. That evening however, while everyone else is sleeping, Sebastián reveals his true colours, forcing all the survivors outside where they are quickly exposed to the invaders, for he is one of the special people who have gone insane, rather than suicidally insane. In his mind the invaders are angels, he believes he is doing God's work and that each person who dies has their soul free to ascend to Heaven, his daughter is actually a hallucination who promises he will be reunited with his dead wife and Anna if he carries on doing God's work. After befriending a different group of survivors he learns that there is a safe haven in a mountain top castle on the other side of the city, so he convinces them to make an attempt to head there. Initially he plans to kill them all, but his experiences during his journey slowly begin to make him question if everything he believed to be true is actually so.

So, the part that made my friend stop watching this was the reveal that the protagonist is actually the antagonist. It was a brave decision to have that prologue twist as it made it a lot harder to root for Sebastián at all. My friend didn't like how horrible everything was, as the man does kill a lot of innocent and good people. Like Bird Box, the story is split between the present day and the past, but the split is a lot less even, with roughly ten percent of the movie being made up of flashbacks that reveal how Sebastián came to be infected. While he is a somewhat sympathetic character, there was no getting away from the fact that he was causing people to die, and good people at that, and so it was hard to care for him. Around the end of the first act there are two more protagonists introduced, and thankfully these two were a lot better. Claire (Georgina Campbell - Black Mirror - episode 'Hang the DJ') is an English speaking woman, and she is looking after a young German girl, Sofia (Naila Schuberth), who got seperated from her mother during the height of the invasion some nine months previously. They become the heart of the story, with their journey mirroring that of Malorie and her children in Bird Box. While the majority of the movie is in Spanish, I did find it slightly distracting that Claire was the only English speaker, it makes sense I guess, but was a bit jarring her speaking English when all around were understanding what she was saying and responding in Spanish which she too is shown to understand.

Up until near the end I had a slightly higher score in my head for Bird Box: Barcelona, but it was the similarities that brought this down a bit. Characters trying to make it to an apparent safe haven was an identical storyline to the first movie, and as this went on the comparisons felt more and more obvious. Outside of the initial twist that Sebastián wasn't a good person there wasn't really anything more, his path to redemption was of course going to happen, with events not really going anywhere different to what I expected. Much like the first film, you never see the invaders, something which is a very good idea, it creates in your mind something far more better than anything that could be shown on screen. There is a greater explanation for what happens to the people who see them, but thankfully there still isn't a concrete explanation. It seems each victim sees what they want to see, the twisted protagonist seeing them as angels, others seeing them as aliens and all manner of other things. Some fun news ideas were here, such as one group using blindfolded dogs to lead them through the streets. The death sequences are all lovely to see, each victim killing themselves in different ways, and the scenes of mass death, such as people in a subway station all throwing themselves onto the train tracks as a train is approaching were always fun and grim to see.

Get over the initial hurdle of having a bad guy as the lead character and there is a lot to enjoy here. It can be very dark at times, but it ends with a feeling of hope for those trying to survive. Very well made, this was a film I'm glad I decided to take off my blindfold and look at. Bird Box: Barcelona is currently streaming on Netflix. 

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Dana (2020) - Short Horror Film Review

Dana is an award winning short eighteen minute long thriller that was written and directed by Lucía Forner Segarra (this received more than one hundred and twenty festival selections and forty two awards). This initially seemed to be inspired by the #MeToo movement, but it actually came about after the director herself suffered an assault, with the film made as a cathartic outlet for her trauma. At its heart this is a revenge thriller, a subgenre of horror that I typically enjoy, and with this Spanish entry I certainly did.

Thais Blume stars as Diana, a woman who while walking to her car late one night is attacked by a would be rapist. Having killed the man in self defence, she returns to to her caravan home traumatised. As the days pass and no one visits, she realises she has gotten away with her possible crime. She sees this as an awakening and becomes a vigilante who protects woman that find themselves under assault, leaving her calling card at the scene of every murder.

There is a lot packed into this eighteen minute film and it goes along at a fast enough pace that it tells its story competently. Blume is the highlight of the film, perfectly cast, she shows both strength and frailty in her role. Aside from best friend Tomás (Niko Verona) the rest of the cast only have fleeting appearances, many of which appear as various rapists set during a montage of murder. I think it was important for the protagonist to have a male best friend to show that her actions aren't created from hatred of men, more that she has taken matters into her own hands due to a failing criminal system.
This reminded me of #MeToo due to the snowball effect her actions bring to the film world, and while this is fantastical in how this normal woman becomes an unstoppable killer, it was a satisfying film to watch. Special mention goes to the blood spray mask that she brings with her, added a nice little comedic element to all the bloodshed that occurs.

With a great soundtrack that includes eighties synth among the musical choices, and with a strong and believable lead in Blume, Dana was an enjoyable thriller, impressively paced and with a story that seemed vaster than its short run time.

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Everyone Will Burn (2021) - Horror Film Review

Everyone Will Burn (original title Y todos arderán) was directed and co-written by David Hebrero, the film goes along like an inverse The Omen. Instead of an unsuspecting protagonist discovering their child is in fact the antichrist, this reverses things by having the main lead knowing exactly what they have gotten into, and happy to go along with things. It leads to a kooky horror that has a strong vein of black humour running through it.

The film begins with María José (Macarena Gómez) just about to kill herself. Her plan is interrupted however by the arrival of a teenage little person (Sofiá García) who María initially mistakes for a young girl. She intends to take the girl to the local police station, figuring she is lost, but on the way she is stopped by police, with events leading to the girl psychically causing the two officers to die. Realising that the teenager is tied to an ancient prophecy that heralds the end of the world, Maria, with hatred in her heart for the local villagers who she holds responsible for the death of her child in the past, decides to look after the child she names Lucía, happy to help to bring about the end of the world.

I liked how Everyone Will Burn conceals the fact that it is an indie horror, and it does this by having a lot of what happens occur in the background or off-screen entirely. Events take place in a world where strange plagues and disasters are occurring throughout. All of this however is only mentioned over news reports, with characters never really directly confirming this. There is a large body count here, but many of the deaths occur while the focus is on scenes were that is not happening. It all ties into a starting set of story cards that speak of an incident in the town in 1980 that nearly brought about the end of the world, but which was stopped. Taking place some forty years later, many of the characters are people who lived through that earlier event and have been shaped by it. It made a change to have a chunk of the cast readily accepting that evil is occuring, as well as to have the 'heroes' portrayed as the bad guys, and the heroine definitely being an anti-hero.

The Sacred Spirit (2021) - Comedy Drama Review

One of the many films joining the Arrow streaming subscription service in March is the Spanish comedy/drama/sci-fi film The Sacred Spirit (original title Espíritu sagrado). Written and directed by Chema García Ibarra this surreal movie plays its comedy with a super straight face and was all the better for it.

The film begins with Charo's daughter Vanessa (and twin sister of Verónica, played by Llum Arques) having recently gone missing with the story all over the local news. Elsewhere, Julio (José Angel Asensio), the head of a small group of ufology enthusiasts made up of misfits has recently died, he left his belongings to José (Nacho Fernández), who just so happens to be Charo's brother. Unknown to the rest of the group, who believe the aim for them is to be taken by aliens, Julio and José had a secret plan, one that involves bringing an ancient spirit into the world, using a young child as the vessel.

The Sacred Spirit takes place in a bizarre world, but one that within its context feels completely normal. The humour here is deadpan and comes from the many characters. I would say it kind of shares similarities with Napoleon Dynamite in the way the comedy plays out. There is nothing laugh out loud funny here, instead it is the dialogue that is said, and the way it is spoken by the deeply earnest characters. It seemed to begin with that Charo was going to be the protagonist, but this instead falls on José. This man, obsessed with Egyptian mythology (his apartment that he shares with his Alzheimer's afflicted mother is full of gaudy and tacky Egypt themed knick knacks) was strangely likeable despite the film hinting at a darkness that he may be involved in. He genuinely believes that an ancient spirit is going to return to the world, and that he alone is the one who can get this done, there is almost a sadness with José and despite everything I didn't want anything bad to happen to him. That comes with many of the characters who while extremely weird had an innocence to them that made them endearing. The UFO group for instance have share a strong bond.

The Odd Perspective (2020) - Thriller Film Review

The Odd Perspective is the third film I have seen of Spanish director, Yolanda Torres (The Afterglow, The Forsaken) in the past few weeks. Having enjoyed his previous films I was pretty sure I would also get on well with this thriller. I will readily admit I struggled to make out much of what was going on, but I sure enjoyed the ride.

Christopher Hunter (The 12) stars as Aleix Martin, a synergist with the gift of being able to see patterns in reality. He returns to his home city after some years away, this is due to the recent death of his father, who was a supreme court judge. It isn't long before he has gotten himself involved in the search for a serial killer, Aleix's brother (Arne Gottschling - Suicide Club) is a detective in charge of the case and hopes his brothers unique skill set will help him catch the killer.

I don't know what a synergist is and I was none the wiser by the films end. From what I could tell, Aleix is a troubled genius whose special ability to see numbers and patterns in everything is almost like a curse to him. He spends vast chunks of the film distressed, pacing back and forth repeating phrases and sequences over and over. At times it seems he has a 'mind palace' which is displayed as a swiftly edited series of images and movements, usually while a line a character has previously said plays over and over on repeat. Occasionally the numbers Aleix sees literally appear on screen as floating images. I didn't understand any of this, but then I am not the smartest person out there. Regardless I still found myself caught up in events. From humble beginnings the story opens itself up into something far grander, so that by the films conclusion it felt like this story had only been half told. I'm not sure if a sequel to this was planned, or leaving the story so relatively unresolved was purposeful.

The Afterglow (2014) - Horror Film Review

After having seen and enjoyed Yolanda Torres's horror film The Forsaken I was interested to see how other films of his compare. The Afterglow is a horror he co-directed with Joan Álvarez Durán (who also wrote the story for this one), and it features a few of the same actors from Torres's other film.

After his brother dies of an unknown illness, Oliver (Paul Coster - Cyborg Invasion) discovers he had been living with a young woman, Laura (Claudia Trujillo - The Forsaken). This woman had apparently tried to kill herself after finding his brother dead, and while she survived her attempt she has lost all memories of who she once was. Oliver decides to help Laura recover, hoping she will regain her memories and be able to give more details of his siblings final days. The more time they spend together the more they begin to fall in love, but it seems the closer Oliver gets to Laura, the more sick he also begins to get...

The Afterglow is certainly not a fast paced horror, the story moves at a glacial pace and its story remains wrapped up in a mystery. This was a mournful film that has at its core a love story, but one that is draped in melancholy and loss. It keeps with it an ever present sorrowful piano score that occasionally seemed a little heavy handed but sure helps this keep its bittersweet edge to it. The film centres squarely on the two main characters, the older Oliver, a successful author who finds himself drawn to the mysterious, younger Laura. Then there is Laura herself, someone who is a blank slate due to having lost her memories. Just who she was, was a question that kept me drawn to this, whether she was malevolent or innocent kept me guessing. Don't expect any moments of thrilling horror though, outside of some nightmare sequences that features a reoccurring man speaking in riddles, and a flashback sequence showing Oliver as a child seeing a ghost, it is all just suggested.

The Forsaken (2015) - Horror Film Review

There are few things better than when a film you have zero expectations for blows you away with its quality. Such was the case with Yolanda Torres's The Forsaken (the director of The Odd Perspective, and co-director of The Afterglow). I was hooked from the very first shot of the movie, all the way to the end credits, I just could not look away.

A band of criminals that include among them, Mr. Bodie (Ian Breed - The Afterglow), Mr. Quartermass (Paco Perez), Mr. Blake (Pol Ferraris), Mrs. Peel (Sarah Tyler Shaw - The Afterglow), and Number Two (Alberto Esparza - Anunnaki The Fallen of the Sky) arrive at an abandoned house deep in the the Spanish countryside. They have very recently kidnapped the daughter of a wealthy businessman (Sara, played by Claudio Trujillo) and the house has been chosen by their boss as a place to lay low until the ransom is paid. It is not too long into their stay when they begin to notice strange things occurring, names written in blood mysteriously appear, strange noises can be heard coming from the locked basement, and not one of them is able to make a conscious effort to exit the house. The door to the property is unlocked, but each person is strangely unwilling to leave. It soon becomes apparent there is something evil lurking in the house, something that can see into the soul of a person and see the true ugliness lurking there.

I loved this movie, I'm so glad it remained consistently atmospheric and thrilling throughout. As it got towards the end I was praying that it wouldn't drop the ball, and indeed it doesn't. The singular location, along with the survivors of a botched crime, and their hostage of course, was a similar concept to that used in Reservoir Dogs. Add in a stunning soundtrack that felt like a lost John Carpenter classic (most resembling the theme tune to The Thing with added sinister whistling) and a cast of characters who just about managed to stay the right side of cliche and you have a slow boiling horror show that constantly had me wondering what was going to happen next. The opening of a camera zooming in on the house, and then slowly sweeping around the rooms added atmosphere before things even started, this brought to mind the beginning of The Evil Dead. Then for the films finale there is a sequence that reminded me a lot of the ending of Return of the Blind Dead, no bad thing.

Omnivores (2013) - Horror Film Review

I have to get this out the way to begin with - the screener I received for review didn't have any subtitles, and as this was a Spanish horror that caused quite the problem for me. The sole word I know of Spanish is 'si' so that didn't really get me too far. I could have simply not reviewed this, I could have also asked for a screener with subtitles, but as I had scheduled in this movie for review anyways I decided to press ahead. As it is this wasn't the first film I have reviewed in which I didn't really know what was going on, that would be Turkish horror Baskin,which at least had a lot going on visually. Needless to say, take this review with this information in mind as I'm sure if it had been understandable it would have at least a single point higher rating.

This story is put together from my understanding of the film. After a boy's mother dies he is left with no choice but to consume her in order to not starve to death, eventually he is discovered and rescued by someone else. This child either grew up to be a wealthy businessman, or he grew up to be a butcher (I'm not sure which). In present day the wealthy businessman offers his rich clients a delicacy that is very hard to find, and also quite illegal. His butcher abducts people from off the streets and slices them up for food. A food critic (Mario de la Rosa - Hellboy, Terminator: Dark Fate) discovers all this and decides to check it out for himself, with the possible aim of secretly trying to find a way to stop it.

It doesn't take an understanding of the Spanish language to know this really wasn't my type of horror. Consumption of human flesh as a horror topic ranks up there with insects as one of my least favourite types of horror. In real life I really like meat, I often don't feel like a meal is a meal unless it contains some sort of meat. The idea of eating human flesh though is something repulsive, and so I felt queasy throughout Omnivores. This by default made me not like the film, I didn't enjoy the topic, and I was glad when it was all over. That is just me though, ignore that if it is the sort of thing that does appeal.

Feedback (2019) - Horror Film Review

I am having a frankly terrible evening, I won't bore with the details, but it ended with me returning home to find my review of Feedback I had spent forty five minutes writing earlier in the day had straight up vanished, apparently it hadn't saved when I had clicked on the 'save' button. So this review is a re-write from memory. Luckily though I feel this review is a better written one than my first.
I liked the idea behind Pedro C. Alonso's Feedback, it sounded to me quite similar to Truth or Dare with the way a captured person was forced to reveal their darkest secrets at pain of torture (it reminds me far more of a film that was set on a small plane I reviewed many years back, can't for the life of me remember what that was called). I was also quite happy to see a few actors among the cast who never fail to make any film they are in immediately at least a bit better.

Jarvis (Eddie Marsan - The World's End) is a famous London based radio presenter who against his boss's wishes (Norman, played by Anthony Head - Repo! The Genetic Opera, Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series) is going to do an expose on outside interference into the Brexit referendum. He goes on air, but just as he is planning to do this things start to go wrong. Initially Jarvis suspects Norman is interfering but he soon finds out that the studio has been invaded by two masked men (one of which is played by Richard Brake - 31, 3 From Hell). The duo want Jarvis to carry on his radio show as normal, but to speak about exactly what they tell him to, with their aim seeming to be to get him to talk about an incident he was part of that took place some ten years previously...

While the story was enjoyable enough an idea on its own it really became a lot better due to the quality of the actors here. To be honest I don't think it is possible for Brake to put in a bad performance and here I really liked his acting. While one of the masked villains was all rage and aggression, Brake's character was far more measured, and even kind of reasonable. I enjoyed this shifting of expectations, and he gets some good moments. It was also nice to see Marsan in a leading role, having previously only seen him in The World's End. His character on the surface is a mild mannered, yet opinionated cockney but beneath the surface lies an aggressive and self centered streak that Marsan is great at showing. I did think this character wasn't treated the best in terms of the plot, there were some bits that felt a bit off towards the end. The film only has the seven characters, but thankfully nearly all of them were enjoyable, just one character who to me felt a bit cliché and unbelievable.

Blasphemous (2019) - Horror Video Game Review (Nintendo Switch)

From the very first moment I set eyes on metroidvania action game Blasphemous I just knew that regardless of quality it was something I just had to play. I loved the pixel graphics, and I thought the gothic look was amazing. So as soon as it came out I snapped it up on the Nintendo Switch, and thankfully it turned out to be a damn stunner.

The story here is never explicitly explained, what story there is I pieced together from cutscenes, as well as the lore that can be read for most the items you get in the game. I'm sure my summary is incorrect, but I am purposefully putting my own thoughts as to what is going on, rather than researching it. Blasphemous takes place in a world where religious apocalypse has come to pass. Fervent religious belief has manifested in the form of the coming of 'miracles' which have corrupted the peoples of the land in a variety of ways. It seems the most pure of heart have been transformed into living statues, while the most corrupt have been judged as guilty and changed into murderous versions of their former selves. You play as 'The Penitent One', a mask wearing man who sets out on a quest to bring about an end to the time of miracles.

The metroidvania style of 2D platformer is one of my favourite styles of games, yet I have found that the tone is really important for my enjoyment. Take Hollow Knight for instance, that is a wonderful game, and yet I haven't played it in months, the insect theme not really appealing too much. Then there is Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night which was touted as a replacement for the much missed Castlevania games. While that is a delightful game, and does feel like a homage to that series that is another that I have not played in some time despite being deep into it. With Blasphemous I adored the game world, the dark gothic look with overt religious themes to the landscapes and enemies you face, it felt like a video game that would have been created had there been such things in Medieval times. The game world is a dark and moody place, this came across at times like a 2D Bloodborne. This is fitting as there are many elements that have had people calling this very Dark Souls in style.

Agapornis (2018) - Short Horror Film Review

Agapornis (Love Birds) is a short Spanish horror that comes from director Jose Mellinas (who was an actor in [REC] 3: Genesis as well as Game of Thrones). Mellinas also co-wrote this with Rosario Curiel, and appears in a small role within the short. This is a black and white horror that goes for a Gothic vibe, rather than over the top violence and jump scares.

After their mother passes away sisters Laura and Alicia inherit her remote house. Alicia had been away from the family for quite some time and her sister resents her for leaving her alone with her possessive mother, and her mother's boyfriend Mario. It also turns out there is a forgotten secret from the families past that just may come back to haunt Alicia...

While I didn't feel the overall story was conveyed as well as it could have been I did like the oppressive mood this created. The black and white 1970's setting gave off a moody feeling, while the interaction with the two sisters makes it clear there is an unaddressed issue. The horror comes in the form of a mysterious radio that their bird obsessed mother adored. This radio keeps turning up in the most random of places, always accompanied by a loud distorted cackle. This reminded me a bit of The Twilight Zone, I could see this with a little bit of adapting working great within the structure of that classic show. The twist here though didn't feel like it had the impact it should have. With a run time of just under fifteen minutes I felt some aspects were not able to be explored fully which left me with questions. It is nice to leave stuff to the viewers imagination but for me these lost elements led me to being a little confused as to characters motivations.

This does have some good moments though, especially the final scene that weirdly made me think of the monster from the DLC for The Evil Within video game (The Assignment). I liked how the voice of the mother echoes to make it sound like her voice is coming from a speaker. It all ends on a somewhat ambiguous note. While there is a good atmosphere built up just from the creepy house alone I found the obvious horror moments to work well, and found this to be engaging.

Despite a few issues with how the story was told here I think that altogether this worked even if at times it seemed to be just on the cusp of being creepy, rather than actually being so. Agapornis is currently in a festival run, being shown around the world.

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Cold Skin (2017) - Horror Film Review

I have been getting a whole bunch of films sent for review lately which actually turn out to be pretty darn good. When I sat down to watch Cold Skin (directed by Xavier Gens - Hitman, and with a screenplay co-written by Jesus Olmo - 28 Weeks Later) I admit to not really expecting much. I was surprised then to find a film that not only told a fresh feeling story, but also one which was a quality product from start to finish, even if at times it takes itself perhaps a little too seriously.

In 1914, just before World War I breaks out an unnamed man (David Oakes) arrives at a remote antarctic island to take on the year long position of weather observer. The only other inhabitant is a grizzly man calling himself Gruner (Ray Stevenson - Outpost, The Book of Eli) who looks after the strangely fortified lighthouse there. On his first night on the island he finds his cabin assaulted by monstrous creatures that seem to have came up from the sea. Eventually he forms an uneasy alliance with the hostile Gruner who explains that the creatures attack en masse most nights, together they fight them off day after day, but slowly as the duo's methods get more and more brutal the man begins to question just who the real monsters are.

I really quite enjoyed Cold Skin due to a wonderful sense of place it has. The film is mostly held together by the three main actors who all do sterling jobs. The man is more an instrument at first for the viewer to see the unfolding horror from a fresh perspective. He is a bit of a blank slate in that his motivations for taking the isolated job are never explained and his past is never explored. As the film progresses he becomes the Ying to Gruner's Yang, starting to question if the pointless violence and bloodshed is all worth it. By the movies end I liked what they did with his character, it opened up interesting suggestions of the real fates of other characters. Gruner on the other hand is a far more bitter and dark person. It is never revealed exactly why the island is attacked night after night and so there comes a timeless quality to the regular fighting, like it is something that has occured for eternity. It was interesting how these two characters were polar opposites in lots of ways but are brought together by a common goal. The third character is that of Aneris (Aura Garrido) who is a non hostile monster that is almost like a pet to Gruner. For a role that has no dialogue at all Garrido puts a lot of emotion and feeling into her performance, more impressive when she is in heavy make-up for her role. Her plight is almost like a twisted mirror version of The Shape of Water, thankfully while this does have a fantastical element to it this is a much better film than that odd one.

Asmodexia (2014) - Horror Film Review

Asmodexia is a Spanish horror film about exorcism directed by Marc Carrete. Sometimes a film creeps up and takes you by surprise and I happily admit this is one such film, from the beginning to the very end I was glued to the screen, the language barrier just adding to the mystery.

Lluis Marco stars as Eloy; an elderly exorcist who travels the back roads of Spain with his fifteen year old granddaughter Alba (Claudia Pons). Together they are called upon to perform violent exorcisms to expel spirits from possessed people. Meanwhile a troubled woman with ties to the duo's past resides in a mental institute biding her time, while her cop sister is on the hunt for them...

Apocalypse of the Dead/Zone of the Dead (2009) - Zombie Film Review

I noticed yesterday that I have not been as up to date with zombie posts as I originally intended to be when creating this blog. Despite owning over seventy zombie films, my zombie film reviews are few and far between due to my terrible goldfish memory. I brought Apocalypse of the Dead kind of by accident, as I thought I was getting George Romero's latest travesty Survival of the Dead, luckily it was a happy accident! Note that in America the film was released under the title Zone of the Dead.

The film is set in Belgrade, Serbia. A group of agents are tasked with taking a dangerous prisoner across the country so that he can be transferred to Britain. Unfortunately this occurs the same time the Serbian army are doing an 'exercise' in the area which results in the accidental unleashing of a green gas that turns all who come into contact with it into a flesh eating zombie. Pretty soon the agents, their prisoner (who seems to know more about the zombies than anyone), and some random civilians are holed up in a police station as hordes of undead batter on the windows. To survive they are going to have to work together.

The film was released in 2009, so is quite modern in look, and the film is more professional than I expected with good zombie effects, and a rocking soundtrack.  Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead) stars as an Interpol agent. He is looking his age in some ways, but despite being kind of tubby now, he is still real cool. The other acting is of various qualities.  

Ken is one of the only naturally English speaking actors in the whole film.  Despite being made and filmed in Serbia the whole thing is in English. Some characters are good at English. Others look and sound like they are reading a language they do not understand, this is especially of note with the Presidents secretary. Her pronunciation of English is so bad that I really struggled to understand what the heck she was trying to say, I could only make out a few words of anything she said. The third set of actors are those who basically cannot speak English at all, these actors are dubbed...terribly! I can't understand how terrible dubbing can be, special note goes to the porter at the train station who has his back to the camera anytime he speaks! Hilarious. It was obviously made to appeal to an English speaking audience, but Serbian with English subtitles might have been preferable.

The plot is very generic, but this one of the things I really liked about the film.  With the exception of the evil biker gang/military unit all zombie conventions happen, such as one of the humans being bitten, later to unexpectedly turn, the survivor who has a panic attack and pulls down the barricades protecting the group etc. There are a few cheeky nods to Dawn of the Dead;  for instance when one of the survivors suggests barricading themselves in a Shopping Mall, Foree says something to the effect of "trust me, that would not work, eventually the zombies would get in" in a knowing way.

The zombies themselves are cool, and borrowing from the Left4Dead games there are even special infected.  The first victims to turn to zombies are able to run and climb, and have inhuman animal roars they can use to direct the normal zombies. The zombies are made up to look far different than just people in make up, they look like monsters. There is lots of cool violence with various body parts being sliced off, and various decapitations, as well as a severed head using its still attached spinal column to flap around on the floor like a fish.

Apocalypse of the Dead was surprisingly fun to watch. Generic as hell, but I love that in the zombie genre. Do not be put off by the utterly terrible DVD cover art! It's misleading but less than the almost identical cover art for the awful The Zombie Diaries.

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Cannibal Apocalypse (1980) - Zombie Horror Film Review

I saw Cannibal Apocalypse last night. The most plausible zombie film I have ever seen. For many years it was banned in the UK, and for many years the only version available in the USA was a ridiculously cut version. But now sense has prevailed and the film is available fully uncut.

The film starts off in Vietnam. A dramatic rescue of two American prisoners of war is elicited. However one of the rescued soldiers bites a chunk out of his rescuers arm. After this point the film moves to Atlanta, about six months later. One of the cannibal Americans has been released from the mental home he had been in. He immediately tries to contact his captain from Vietnam (the man whose arm he bit) as they used to be buddies. The captain wants nothing to do with him though, as he is suffering himself, having vivid nightmares, and generally feeling quite odd. The released man; Charles Bukowski now disappointed, heads to a cinema where his urges overtake him and he attacks a woman; biting a chunk out of her neck. After dramatic action he is apprehended and re-admitted to the mental home. The police note his cannibalism which leads to the doctors realising anyone bitten by the two rescued POWs would have been infected by the same rabies type virus. The infected POW's head out on a murderous rampage in an attempt to get back to Vietnam.

The film feels more plausible as the infected aren't undead, they are just infected. They remain rational, and can control their urges to an extent. Their infection leads to them having a near psychotic hate of all non infected, as well as the urge to feed on human flesh.

It is obvious to see which scenes got the film banned. It is an Italian film coming out the same time as City of the Living Dead and The Beyond. The violence is not disturbing now, if it ever was (or maybe I'm just desensitised). There's eyeball gouging, dismemberment, flesh tearing, and someone even gets their tongue bitten off! The film overall carries a melancholy tone, and I felt quite sad after seeing it, kinda depressing. A fantastic Goblin style soundtrack though. So many zombie films have excellent soundtracks, this is no different.

Cannibal Apocalypse was very violent in places, but mostly downbeat, worth seeing for a different kind of zombie film.

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