Shadow Castes: Book 1 - Aspects (2011) by Scott Harper - Horror Novel Book Review

I received the eBook version of author Scott Harper's Shadow Castes: Book 1 - Aspects way back in 2012. Once again, to my shame I have only just this moment (at time of writing) finished reading it. As can be gathered from the novel's title, this is the first book in a series (and from what I could find on the net, a sequel has yet to be released). Unlike other books of Harpers I have read, such as Predators or Prey? and Necromancer, this is purely the start of an ongoing story, rather than present a self contained story, it very much sets up future events with no real resolution to anything.

Felix is a tormented man. He is forced to live away from society in a remote woodland home due to being a werewolf. His daily struggle to control his wolf side is interrupted by the arrival of a beautiful woman; Nephele. She tells Felix that she travels the world seeking to help werewolves deal with their condition - being a werewolf herself who has discovered a way to co-exist with the beast within.
Elsewhere, psychic vampire Eugene lives in his Gothic mansion with his spirit guide; Charlotte. They want nothing more than to find a way to make Charlotte's form solid, as the pair are in love and want to be able to be together. A less noble psychic vampire named Drake is on the loose nearby, getting joy out of tormenting his victims.
Finally, there is the hunter; a tormented man living on the edge, determined to hunt and kill werewolves, due to his wife and unborn child being killed by one in the past. He teams up with a determined young woman after evidence of a werewolf pack hunting in the city is discovered.

Shadow Castes is a mixture of romance and horror. With the exception of the dastardly Drake, each of the subplots going on is made up of a male and female character either in love, or falling in love. Having read previous books of the author, I have come to expect his reluctance to make his female characters anything but flawlessly beautiful. Nephele is the chief of these characters, spending the majority of the novel naked, with a few sex scenes peppered in. I often state werewolves are my least favourite monster, but here at least things felt a little different. Werewolves here aren't people who literally transform into wolves, but the spirit of the wolf contained within them is able to manifest in a solid 'shell' that encapsulates the host.
The werewolf part was the main story in the novel, second in line was the hunter's story. I liked that this character initially appears as an antagonist figure, before vanishing for much of the middle of the novel. The next time he reappears there is more context provided that suggests he has good reason to do what he does. Then there is the Ying and Yang of Drake and Eugene. The former is notably cruel and horrid. Eugene on the other hand seemed completely wasted here. He spends the entire novel in his mansion not really doing anything of note at all.
Being the first book in a planned series, you could forgive the lack of much forward momentum in the story, but it would have been nice for all the various characters to at least be aware of each other by stories end.

Action is kept to a minimum here. There are moments of high action, but mostly each of the subplots have lots of romance and talking, but not much threat. This was well written and felt brisk with its 239 pages.
The preference for attractive flawless women works better with a novel that I feel is likely intended to include romance and horror both, and there is an adequate blend of the two genres here.

Never judge a book by its cover. With Shadow Castes: Book 1 - Aspects, I expected this to be romantic drivel, based on cover alone. To be fair, I enjoyed reading this, and I was surprised that the werewolves here were not irritating to me. Ending on a decent cliff-hanger (that may never be resolved), this was a decent start to a series, even if I did wish it contained a full story, alongside the beginnings of one.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Saturday 17th January 2026

This week has been the first of four in which I work on my blog full time. It's a learning process, mainly as I nap an awful lot! Roughly two and a half hours a day of blogging time is interrupted by not being able to keep my eyes open and going for a snooze, quite annoying. Anyway, my second news post of the year and it's a real doozer...though I say that not having actually looked at what will be included.

January 20th sees the release of horror film House Sitter, announced by Cleopatra Entertainment and coming from Reaper Films. Directed by Christopher Leto (Death Blow, Creeper in the Woods), the press release states this is a throwback to horror films of the 90's, and that it is a home invasion thriller with a twist. The synopsis sees three friends house sitting for a rich and mysterious man. It is while doing that that the friends find themselves being hunted by a masked killer, and clues found around the house point to something more sinister being in play. House Sitter stars Cristina Méndez (Sorry For Your Loss, Frost Park), Evan Eiglarsh (48, Frost Park) and David Varrieur (Do Not Open, Diary of a Serial Killer).

Written and directed by Keke Soikkeli comes Isle of Doom; a horror about a group of friends who find an island with a sinister history is deserving of that mythos, after they make the fateful decision to go on a camping trip to the place. Isle of Doom is now available on Digital platforms in the USA and Canada, including to rent/buy on Amazon Prime.

Finally for today, Fighting Owl Films have revealed the official trailer for Demon Squad: Tooth and Claw. A sequel to cult indie horror-noir Demon Squad (featured on season 13 of Mystery Science Theater 3000), this sees a spate of violent deaths in a Southern city pointing to evidence of a werewolf being on the loose.

The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Friday 18th April 2025

Another week, another trio of horror news stories. Not much to say other than life is flying by at a pace that is almost hard to keep up with, day bleeds into day and week bleeds into week in a dizzying way. Onwards to the news.

A third film in the Axeman At Cutter's Creek series is on the way, titled Axeman At Cutter's Creek: Absolution. I only saw the first, but I thought  that one impressed despite its obvious low budget, remember the axeman looking great. Once again directed by Joston Theney, this new film is going to star Nicole Alexander, Brittney Kade, Mindy Robinson, Hannah Hueston, Veronica Lavery, Morgan Bussler, with Michael Wayne Foster taking on the mantle of the titular Axeman this time around. There is currently an Indiegogo campaign running to get funds so the director can make the very best film he can, so check out the page to learn more.

Australian director Luke Sparke has released the first trailer for his upcoming prehistoric sci-fi horror Primitive War. Featuring Jeremy Piven (Old School), Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica), Ryan Kwanten (True Blood) and Nick Wechsler (Revenge), this is about a recon unit who infiltrate an isolated jungle valley in search of a missing platoon.

Finally for today, The Fairfield County Four is an upcoming found footage werewolf film that is to star Joe Bob Briggs (The Last Drive-In). The story follows four internet personalities who go missing while working on an episode of their reality series - 'The Cryptid Project', with the only evidence as to what happened to them coming from recovered camera footage. This comes from director Joshua Brucker (Mothman).

The Rotting Zombie's Round-Up of Horror News for February 2025

2025 has been continuing unexpectedly interesting in my personal life this year, while I'm trying to keep my rotted beak out of Reddit too much as there is some terrible things happening around the world at the moment it seems. Also, I have to say, I really dislike the apparent Nazi in charge of Twitter, but due to having the most followers on that platform I am stuck having to use it. I am however on Threads and Bluesky now. With that out the way, onwards to the news...

New werewolf film Byte is now on Tubi. The weird synopsis states a group of friends discover a phone app that claims to be able to transform people into werewolves, which coincides in a series of gruesome attacks around town. Written/directed by Eddie Lengyel (St Patrick's Day: The Sluagh Awakens), this stars Kayden Bryce (An Intrusion), Marshall Vargas (Specter) and Carlie Allen (Shredded).

Final Days: Tales from the End Times is a new anthology that as the title suggests is based around the apocalypse. Five different directors bring five different tales of the end of everything, with the film starring Robert LaSardo (Bloodthirst), Kayla Kelly, Seth Boyer, and Rodney B. Snyder. It is currently available exclusively on Amazon Prime Video to rent or buy, and beginning March 28th 2025, Terror Films Releasing will be releasing it across a variety of digital platforms.

The American Ripper is the latest horror film from ITN Movies. Said to be inspired by The Shining and Joker, this comes from filmmaking couple Chuck and Karolina Morrongiello who were responsible for all aspects of production, from acting to directing, the soundtrack, and editing. The synopsis has a newly married couple moving into a new house. It is here that the husband swiftly turns into a homicidal maniac, torturing his new wife, and killing anyone who gets in his way. The American Ripper is currently available on Tubi and Amazon.

Don't Get Eaten is a family horror-comedy set for digital debut for North American VOD platforms and DVD on March 4th 2025. The story is about a zombie apocalypse prepper whose wife is fed up with her husbands obsession with making zombie survival videos. On the advice of a couples therapist, the family head away for a technology free weekend, but it is here where an actual zombie apocalypse begins. Written and directed by George Simon and Joseph Simon, the cast include among them Justin Kilduff, Melinda Rose, Dale Dobson, and Reese Ravencraft.

Finally for today, March 11th 2025 sees the release of Troma Entertainment's Eating Miss Campbell on Blu-ray. This is a high school horror comedy about a vegan-goth introvert (Lyndsey Craine - Book of Monsters) whose affair with teacher Miss Campbell (Lala Barlow) results in the girl getting a taste for flesh and deciding to try and win the schools 'All You Can Eat Massacre' contest. Though not a sequel, Vito Trigo (Return to Nuke 'Em High), Lloyd Kaufman (President of Troma Entertainment), Dani Thompson (Video Shop Tales of Terror), and Laurence R. Harvey (The Human Centipede sequels) all reprise their roles from My Bloody Banjo.

The Yorkie Werewolf (2024) - Comedy Horror Film Review

I've said it before and I will say it again; werewolves are just about my least favourite type of movie monster. Thankfully, the Michael DiBiasio-Ornelas written and directed comedy horror The Yorkie Werewolf does things a little differently, with a unique take on the traditional werewolf. With an amusing first email speaking about the movie, I had hopes the humour within the film would appeal, as humour can be so hard to get right. On the whole it succeeds, though does have its less good moments.

Jenny (Isabella Jaimie) is a witch living in a small American town. In the past there had been a localised war between the creatures of the night and the mafia based in the town, but a peace of a kind had been secured. This all changes when Jenny's coven are attacked by the mafia, with her mother ending up dead. In the process, Jenny inadvertently gets cursed to be a werewolf, though rather than a ravenous wolf, she instead turns into a pint-sized were-Yorkshire terrier (played by Risa Mei - Unicorn Overlord voice work). Teaming up with a timid vampire named Chris (Jacob Rainer), they set out to get revenge against the mafia boss - Big Nick (Juan Salvati), someone who turns out to not only be Jenny's father, but who is also a powerful warlock.

Comedy horror films can be a bit hit and miss, and there are some types of humour that just do not appeal to me, and which do rear their head in this movie. Still, I loved the in medias res prologue that had a chaotic scene out in snowy woodland, with various terrified mobsters being attacked. It displayed some of the simple, yet genuinely amusing dialogue that can be found throughout The Yorkie Werewolf. My hopes appeared to be dashed in the very next scene however when recurring jokes about bodily functions started up, something I never find funny. Thankfully, while there is a bit of a recurring joke around wind to be found throughout the story, those type of jokes were kept to a minimum and so I was able to look past them. The jokes here were never stomach achingly funny, but they did make me smile on occasion, again, especially with the silly dialogue that I loved. Maybe my favourite line in the movie was when someone was dying and they exclaim "Agh no! I had big dreams!"
Jenny made for a bit of an anti-hero, someone who is feisty and whose temper can sometimes get the better of her, but was likeable enough. Chris was similarly not that bad a character, a few fun jokes around his blood intake, and I liked how weedy he was, despite being a vampire. Salvati gave a spirited performance as the antagonist here, reminding me more than anything of a less scary version of Pop from English sitcom The League of Gentlemen. He made for a fun villain and he fitted the comedic tone of the film world well.

There was a good mix of action and more low-key scenes here, and as I said in my intro, this take on a werewolf was something memorable. Jenny changes into a tiny were-terrier who manages to look super cute, but is also shown to be very deadly. The costume design didn't look that realistic, but it really suited the vibe, gave a slight Ewok type look. There is a body count here, with a lot of blood shown on occasion, which was nice. The story was straight forward enough, it includes some drawn out scenes that didn't add much, but which were funny. I especially liked one long scene where Jenny and Chris visit gun shop owner Cliff (Roy Ward) and quiz him on the type of things he sells.

If the whole film had been bodily function jokes then I would not have enjoyed it as much as I did. Thankfully, most the humour comes from other sources, and while not laugh out loud did their job. I loved the werewolf design, and while some scenes seemed a little clunky with the pacing, overall, I had a good time with this. The Yorkie Werewolf was released on January 7th from Deskpop Entertainment.

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Werewolf Serenade (2024) - Comedy Horror Film Review

I was initially put off by the title of Daedalus Howell's comedy horror film Werewolf Serenade and that is due to having little time for werewolves as a movie monster. I find the traditional transforming into a wolf a dull concept. Thankfully, this film does things a little different with the change being more 'on the spectrum' than a typical black and white human to wolf construct.

Howell stars as Peter MacTire - a jaded college professor with little interest in his job, whose wife, Julia (Emily Keyishian) is in a mental institute after a mental health crisis. When Peter's colleague and friend Stuart Solomon (Matt Standley) is found dead, the long suffering college dean decides to put Peter in charge of Solomon's special project he was doing for a rich benefactor - Konrad Beissen (Mark P. Robinson). It turns out that Konrad had tasked the man with investigating a Nazi project from the second world war that was designed to find a way to transform men into werewolves. He had actually been successful, creating the compound, something that near alcoholic Peter inadvertently drinks believing it to be wine. Soon a change comes over the man, he becomes more confident and stronger and realises that he is now a werewolf. Konrad however has also had the compound and believes that Peter is unworthy of the special abilities that he now possesses.

This indie comedy horror was mostly a lot of fun from start to finish. Helping this throughout is the soundtrack that is split between classical music and more jaunty jolly music. This means that even during the most thrilling moments, the tension and atmosphere is diluted purposely by the soundtrack, so the horror is slight. The comedic element becomes a little too much into focus by the time the eighty minute movie reaches its farcical third act, with a silly chase sequence that went on for quite a while, and a background character pulled into the forefront who it turns out is actually quite irritating when they get more screen time to shine. Of that third act I must also state it had an underwhelming conclusion to the antagonists path that wasn't adequately displayed on screen.

As I said, I think people changing into wolves is a bit of a boring thing. Here however, people change but only in certain ways. Often it is just the eye colour that changes on the werewolf, occasionally they get hair on their hands and face as well as long claws, the hair does actually suit Peter due to the impressive mutton chops he sports anyway. I liked this more subtle change, and it fitted the comedic tone of the film. Werewolf powers are not displayed that much, one scene has Peter somehow climbing up a sheer wall, while he is shown to have super sensitive smell and hearing abilities. Action scenes are kept to a minimum, they serve their purpose, but the story isn't centred around horror, there isn't really much of a downside to being cursed with being a werewolf in this film world.
I thought that Howell was the standout character of the movie, it is always good when the protagonist turns out to be the most entertaining character. I also thought Robinson was good as the bad guy, with lots of scenery chewing to be had by him.

With a good turn by Howell and a story that while silly was also mostly fun, this indie comedy horror was entertaining for what it was. I personally liked how werewolves were handled within this film world, and while the third act was a little too much like a farce, it still left me pleasantly surprised by the time the end credits on this rolled. Werewolf Serenade is now streaming on Amazon.

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Hellhounds (2024) - Horror Film Review

I've said it many times in the past but I really don't rate the werewolf much as a movie monster. Something about people transforming into goofy looking wolves never feels exciting to me. The Robert Conway written and directed Hellhounds didn't do much to change my mind when it came to that particular monster, while it also seemed to have some editing issues that made scenes more confusing than they needed to be.

Mia (Dana Kippel - Reflect) is a bounty hunter trying to track down a sadistic killer (Daniel Link). Her search for him has led her to the home of biker Alias (Nathaniel Burns), realising they share the same goals they decide to team up. They learn that the man is hiding out at a remote criminal hideout known as 'The Scrapyard' and so form a plan to infiltrate it. Unknown to them however is that a centuries old werewolf with links to Alias' past called Lucella (Eva Hamilton - Blood Harvest) is there, and that she has recently turned a young man named Kevin (Cameron Kotecki) into a werewolf also.

The film begins in such a dizzying manner that I initially assumed it to instead be a trailer. A scene of a woman running while being chased by a man was broken down into so many tiny shots that it became really hard to work out what was going on. Thankfully when Hellhounds gets past this prologue things calm down a bit. The editing and directing often became an issue especially in the more action heavy scenes. This unfortunately reared its head in the finale that had so much happening off screen that it became hard to keep up. The werewolf transformation scenes rarely looked great, with CG often used to instantly transform people into werewolves in a way that looked a bit silly. Even this is removed for that finale, with people turning into werewolves and werewolves turning back into people off screen at a baffling rate, so it was never clear what was going on. This even led to the antagonist leaving that scene entirely without me having noticed until a good minute or two later.

Mia and Alias were fine, but there was nothing that special to either of them. Alias' secret was so obvious that when it was revealed I was confused as to why such a big deal was being made of it, I had figured that it must have been shown earlier such was the lack of surprise. Their journey is only part of the plot, with Lucella and her new recruit having a lengthy subplot that only met up with the main story right towards the end. An even slighter subplot was some kidnapped people of the killer Mia was after, trying their best to survive. When it comes to character names there were some bad ones here, at least it is referenced in film that 'Kevin' isn't a fitting name for a werewolf, then there is the killer himself who has the imposing name of 'Dave'.
The setting is at least one part of this done right, this had a real American desert vibe to it, with a film full of drinking, bikers, scantily clad women and a stereotypical soundtrack 'hard-rock' Americana feel to it.

I'm never that keen on werewolf movies, so Hellhounds was never going to be something particularly exciting to me. While shot traditionally there was a grindhouse vibe to this at times, with plenty of blood and unneeded titillation. It is certainly watchable, but it was never designed to be anything deeper than some mindless entertainment to kill an hour or so.

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

Yet another month has flown by, with a summer that has been both humid and wet in near equal measure. Still haven't won the lottery so I am still unable to do this blog full time. A ghoul can dream! Onwards to the news.

Freestyle Media have acquired dark thriller The Midnight Gag for an August release for North American VOD platforms and DVD. The film is about a private detective - Travis Jackson, who is caught up with a brutal serial killer after a client of his is attacked by the psycho. This begins a series of strange events where Jackson has to figure out what was really the cause of his clients attack. Written, directed and produced by Luc Ziann (The Redneg), this features Ziann in the lead role, alongside Brodin Ference, Morgan Oijen, and Anna Garoucheva Gonzalez. 

Isaac Rodriquez's Visher is described as a virtual horror with it sounding like the events of the movie are shown via a webcam of a woman that an obsessed online scammer has hacked into. Through the webcam the scammer witnesses a series of haunting events within the woman's home. This is out now on Amazon Prime Video.

Round the Decay is a folk horror monster movie whose inspirations include Pumpkinhead and The Cube. Written and directed by Adam Newman (Everwinter Night) this is about a woman who returns to Newport Valley several years after a tragedy occured there. This stars Victoria Mirrer, Damian Maffei (Strangers: Prey at Night), Sienna Hubert-Ross (Terrifier 3), Melody Kay (The NeverEnding Story III), Phil Duran (Breaking Bad), Sarah Nicklin (The Black Mass), Rachel Pizzolato (Mythbusters Jr.) and Roger Clark (Red Dead Redemption II) and is due out this Halloween season.

LGBTQ Southern Gothic thriller Ganymede debuts on Cable and Digital VOD on August 6th 2024. This award winning film (winner of Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature Film at the 41st Reeling International Film Festival and the Pride Award at the Chattanooga Film Festival) is about a small town wrestler who begins to be stalked by a monstrous creature after he develops a crush on his gay classmate. It stars Jordan Doww (Reach), Pablo Castelblanco, David Koechner (Anchorman), Robyn Lively (Teen Witch), Joe Chrest (Stranger Things) and Marissa Reyes.

Cleopatra Entertainment are due to release comedy horror Cocaine Werewolf on Blu-ray and DVD on 13th August 2024. This takes place in Pennsylvania where a low-budget film crew must survive against a hungry werewolf. The release includes a bunch of special features including trailers and a slide-show.

Halloween slasher Creeping Death has been acquired by Cineverse for the SCREAMBOX streaming service. This one is about Tim, whose peaceful Halloween night with his mother is interrupted by the arrival of friends, one of which appears to have broken a sacred tradition between humans and otherworldly deities known as Aos Si. This is based on writer-director Matt Sampere's short film of the same name, and marks his feature length debut.
Also coming to SCREAMBOX is the mockumentary Haunted Ulster Live. In the vein of Ghostwatch and Late Night with the Devil, this takes the form of a live broadcast from 1998 at an apparently haunted house in Belfast. The found footage was the feature length directorial debut of writer-director Dominic O'Neill.

Spanish rural thriller The Wait has came to Film Movement for a North American release this fall. Starring Victor Clavijo (Before the Fall), Ruth Diaz, Manuel Moron and Pedro Casablanc (Strange Way of Life), this follows a groundskeeper of a remote hunting estate whose life begins to fall apart after accepting a bribe from a veteran hunter. The press release states this '...offers a terrifying vision of loss'.

Finally for today, the award-winning sci-fi dimension hopping movie Ingress is to be released on 13th August 20234 on Cable and TVOD by Glass House Distribution. About a woman with the unwanted ability to shift between alternate realities, I gave this a respectable seven out of ten in my review stating '...got me enough in the feels that I did find myself getting a bit teary in the epilogue...'

The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Tuesday 5th December

The Dark Room arrives on Blu-ray on December 26th from Bayview Entertainment. This horror comes from directors Kenny Scott Guffey and Jake C. Young, and stars iconic 80's actress Diane Franklin (Better Off Dead, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure), Brandon Ludwig (A Night of the Undead) and Kayla Perkins (Wicked Ones). Mentioned previously, this film is about a photographer who uncovers something disturbing while developing photos for a local religious leader. Something that may have something to do with a series of murders taking place in the town. This can be pre-ordered at Deep Discount.

Monster Mash is a new horror anthology out now, again via Bayview Entertainment. This contains within it three short films, Whispering Hollow Road 'A dark shadowy noir with a monstrous twist', The House 'A modern gothic tale of lycanthropy', and Homebound Horror 'A grimy grindhouse tale of revenge of extraterrestrial proportions'. I do love anthology films. This can be purchased on Amazon.

Finally for today, SAVAGE The Bigfoot Legend...Lives is also out now, again from Bayview Entertainment, on VOD. Starring Martin Kove (Karate Kid) and Lisa Wilcox (A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master), this Jordan Blum directed terror is about a forest fire at a national park that causes a Bigfoot to go on a murderous rampage. Head here to rent or buy the film.

Wolf Hollow (2023) - Horror Film Review

I say it every single time I watch one of these types of film for review, but I will say it again, I really don't rate werewolves as a decent movie monster. From the title alone, I assumed Wolf Hollow would be another entry in that sub-genre of horror and I was right. Directed and co-written by Mark Cantu, this one may have had a terrible plot, but I found myself enjoying it, thanks to the design of the creatures, some cool special effects, as well as some surprisingly fun characters.

A young film crew out on a location scout in rural Pennsylvania get more than they bargained for when they discover the place they are scouting, Wolf Hollow, lives up to its name, with many of the inhabitants werewolves. With one of the crew, Ray (Noah J. Welter) having previously ran away from the area a year previously, his reappearance leads to lead werewolves, Evie (Felissa Rose - Craving, Sleepaway Camp) and Bart (Brian Ceponis - Occurrence at Mills Creek) going on a murderous killing spree, determined to both kill him and his new friends.

The prologue left me confused, dazzled and unsure if this movie was going to be worth the eighty minute run-time. I found the claustrophobic directing and many quick cuts in editing to be off-putting, making things hard to see. As is often the case, thankfully, when the film begins proper, things do improve. The directing remains the same for the action sequences, a dizzying amount of quick cuts, but this works at keeping the threat of the werewolves feel real, without having to linger too much on the werewolf costumes. I can't say I ever really got used to the way the cameraman felt part of the scenes, spinning his camera in all directions despite this not being found footage, but it worked for making these scenes feel chaotic. Talking of the werewolves, they reminded me of the look of the creatures from the classic Dog Soldiers movie, walking upright, and able to operate with some intelligence, they were the best kind of portrayal of this old movie monster.
Complimenting all the killing are some lovely special effects, that include people having their limbs ripped off, insides pulled out, even a nice shotgun to the eye effect. These are all joined with plenty of blood, making these many scenes one of the highlights to be found here.

On the other side of the coin is the terrible plot. Ray knew full well that Wolf Hollow was home to werewolves, not only that, he knew these werewolves would not be happy to see him, yet he still convinces his friends that it would be a great location for shooting the film they are working on. There is never any blame put on him even when it all becomes apparent, but I felt the blame did fall squarely on his shoulders. Many of the protagonists were either bland or unlikable, especially with the awful Beth (Jess Uhler), who just seemed horrid for the sake of being horrid, to turn her frenemy, Alex (Christina Krakowski) into more of a main protagonist. As for Alex, she seemed a bit too over the top at times, a bit too screamy and shouty compared to the rest. Special mention has to go to Brandon Krum as Lucky Steve, the best character of the whole film. Sure, he may be a comedy character, but he was also a capable bad-ass, not letting his impressive injuries prevent him from playing a key role. He also had my favourite line of the movie when after having been attacked by werewolves several times, but still surviving, he says "Hey guys, I think I may be immortal, I don't think I can die!". This comical confidence never got old with this fantastic character.
The main story took place at Wolf Hollow, but the various subplots, such as a werewolf attack at the local police station, never seemed to go anywhere. At least, I thought it was a neat little twist that the police were well aware of werewolves existing, but had previously been content to just leave them alone as long as they didn't bother them.

The plot for Wolf Hollow may have been terrible, and the direction and editing sometimes a bit too in your face, but I did enjoy the many action scenes, thanks to the good special effects. Add in some cool characters to be found among the chaff, and you had a film that while not perfect, was still an entertaining ride.

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It Be an Evil Moon (2023) - Comedy Horror Film Review

I have said it many times before, but werewolves are perhaps my least favourite type of monster. I find the notion of a human turning into a wolf not that exciting. The myths and legends of werewolves stretch back thousands of years, so that is more a me problem, but it always leads to me not really feeling keen about watching a werewolf film. It Be an Evil Moon is a comedy horror film set in northern England and Scotland, written and directed by Ben Etchells (in his feature length directorial debut) and points go to it for trying something a little different. However, the balance between horror and comedy isn't that well implemented, with this feeling almost like two seperate films.

Freddy (Ian Ray-White - Darkest Hour uncredited, The Eschatrilogy: Book of the Dead) is a cowardly loner who lives with his bed bound elderly mother (Sue Moore). Having been fired from his job at a lab, he makes a living by making drugs for a local crime boss (Rod Glenn - World War Z uncredited), while in his spare time he works on his passion project; a cure for baldness (a noble cause speaking from my own personal experience of this confidence draining malady!). His experiments using wolfsbane bring with it success, and so he uses it on himself with initial wonderous results. With his new found confidence he finally asks out the woman he has loved from afar, and with a newly found strength the serum also brought, he begins to get his revenge on all those in his life who have caused him so much misery. Unfortunately for him however, the positive effects of the serum also come with increasingly worse effects, and soon Freddy begins to grow huge claws on his hands, and develops a snout on his face. While not that upset with these new changes, he decides to head to a remote area of Scotland to live in peace, but the crime boss's psychotic chief enforcer (also played by Glenn) is hot on his heels, looking for revenge.

If this had stuck to being a comedy, or if this had played it straight as a horror, things would have gone better. The first half of the movie was front loaded with humour, some dark, while other humour more bizarre and surreal. An early highlight had the enforcer character throwing a guy off a bridge into the path of a speeding train, one example of the dark humour that hit. Elsewhere, the comedy is more surreal than funny, such as Freddy's mums obsession with bananas, and the man's frequent fantasy dreams in which he is dressed as a cut-price knight (complete with bubble wrap armour and wooden sword and shield). Freddy was a hard character to really like too much, he is a relatively innocent person in a world of horrid characters, but he is very strange, often talking to himself about how he is going to become 'Freddy, King of the World', and finding himself endlessly amusing. There was a slight feel of Suburban Commando of all things to his first half journey. Everyone in his life who causes him so much grief, from the local criminals, to his passive aggressive next-door neighbour are dealt with in various ways as Freddy comes into his own.

The second half becomes much more serious and even a little mean spirited. There are two characters who get treated very poorly by the film, despite them being the nicest most likeable characters to be found in it. I did think this whole section was good, after a meandering plot-less middle, the film pulled itself together for a satisfying finale. By this point the comedy was completely gone, making it feel an entirely different film. With the humour not landing too well for me, I came to really wish the whole movie had been as impactful as the later half.

For someone who doesn't like werewolf films, It Be an Evil Moon was enjoyable to watch. Freddy spends most the movie slowly transforming, with his change not requiring a full moon to be in effect. A slight Jekyll and Hyde feel to his change, but it was novel that the protagonist isn't really that fazed, perhaps due to not having any decent friends or loved ones to worry about. The effects used were not fantastic, but they served the purpose well, by the film's conclusion I though these effects had become a whole lot better. There is a bodycount, but nearly all the kills are shown just off camera, something that never really felt that good. There was one kill where blood is flying from off camera everywhere, that one did look decent. Worst effect has to be a flock of seagulls attacking Freddy in a comical scene, these looked very much CG, maybe for comedic effect, maybe due to budget constraints.
Often there was good cinematography, something that becomes more easier to achieve once the story moves to beautiful looking remote areas of Scottish countryside. My favourite shot was one that was looking down at a puddle on the ground, with the reflection of a character showing from it.

Comedy horror films can be great things when handled well. It felt like It Be an Evil Moon couldn't quite work out its identity. Personally, I enjoyed the later part of this film far more than the eccentric first half, the lack of humour actually benefited this. The mismash of two different styles didn't fit together well, something which did hamper my enjoyment, though there was goodness to be found within. It Be an Evil Moon premiered at the City Screen Picturehouse at The Dead Northern Horror Film Festival, and can currently be streamed for free on Tubi and Amazon Prime.

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Werewolf by Night (2022) - Horror TV Show Review

I loved the first round of Marvel superhero films, and it ended on the perfect note. This second round of films just isn't really doing it for me, there just feels like a spark is missing, outside of that fantastic Spiderman and Dr. Strange double bill. It's also annoying that the films are intended to be watched in tandem with the many TV shows. All that is to say I've only just gotten to Werewolf by Night, a Marvel TV special from last year, one that serves as a loving homage to the classic horror films of the fifties.

The wielder of a powerful and destructive magical gem dies, with instructions that the new owner of his gem will have to win a hunting contest against a terrifying monster before he can get it. A group of hunters arrive at the man's funeral, these include among them, the friendly Jack (Gael García Bernal), and Elsa Bloodstone, a character I last read about in Marvel Zombies: Battleworld (here played by Laura Donnelly), and who was the daughter of the original owner of the gem. The hunters soon head into a maze, where they are encouraged to take each other out in their quest to defeat the beast and claim the gem for their own.

This was mostly in black and white, with the homage to old horror films being very evident from everything to the font design and music, to the pacing of the story. It also meant that this was allowed to show more blood than you would typically expect for a Marvel show, which was nice. The fifty six minute special was split across two different sections. The first had the hunters in the maze hunting the mysterious monsters, it was here that it become clear Jack wasn't like the other hunters, when he is shown attempting to help the monster to escape. Elsa is shown to be a capable fighter, and also more noble than the bloodthirsty others. I'm assuming all the characters were from the comics, but their names were not really ever given, so it was only one or two characters I did actually recognise.

With 'werewolf' in the title, I felt it was obvious where this would head to, and it did, with the second part of this revolving around a character who is secretly a werewolf, culminating in an exciting fight sequence.

The black and white purposely dated feel to this made it feel a bit outside of normal Marvel stuff, not as grating as the tedious The Eternals was, but it didn't feel too much like Marvel. The story was fine, entertaining enough, if light on any kind of surprises. I wouldn't go as far as to say this was dull, but there was nothing here that would call me back for another watch, especially when it seems to have no bearing at all on the current overarching Marvel storyline. Werewolf by Night can be streamed on Disney+.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for December 8th 2022

I'm in the beginning stages of a cold at the moment so I will likely keep this news post brief today (turns out it was actually Covid). I'm watching so many different relevant shows at the moment but am not really close to finishing any of them. At some point the dam with burst and there will be a slew of show and book reviews. Anyway, onto the news.

Dark Force Fest is a three day festival that is coming from VampireFreaks, the team behind Triton Festival and Dark Side of the Con. This new festival is going to bring the newest trending artists from Gothic, Industrial, Darkwave and the Post-Punk scenes. The event is going to occur from March 31st to April 2nd 2023 in Parsippany, NJ at the Sheraton Parsippany hotel. The festival is going to include over thirty bands, including Suicide Commando, ACTORS, Rabbit Junk, Video Vision, Empathy Test, Solar Flake, BILE, Psyclon Nine and Das Ich. For more details check out here.

Italian horror Screams From The Swamp comes to Blu-ray on December 27th from VIPCO and Bayview Entertainment. In the film, after Angela's husband and son die in hospital, she becomes obsessed with secretly following the doctor who operated on them. Her paranoid obsession is luckily well founded as it turns out the doctor and his colleagues kill people for fun in their off time. She decides in order to take down these killers she will turn to 'dark otherworldly forces', as you do.

Finally in this short news anthology, Werewolf Cabal is coming soon to VOD platforms. The story is about an American author who discovers a werewolf worshipping cabal after travelling to a remote British town to collect an inheritance. The film stars Vernon Wells (Mad Max) and Dani Thompson (Christmas Slay) and will be coming to all the usual places, such as Amazon Prime, TubiTV and The Roku Channel.

The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology November 26th 2022

I'm approaching the end of my week off of work (at the time of writing), a week in which I certainly had fun, but felt I could have achieved more than what I did. I did play through some horror games at the very least, as well as got addicted to The Good Place, a show I had been meaning to watch for ages.

Gothic/occult wave Russian duo, Raven Said have released a new EP titled Chants to Dissolve, which is available on CD and digital formats (via Bandcamp). The press release states the EP is '...about the spiritual essence that represents a certain alchemical phase of Solve' whatever that means. The press release is also keen to state that this Russian duo are '...very much against the war in Ukraine'.

I had to mention upcoming feature film, Wolf Story for that cover image alone. The film has gone into post production with principal photography completed. The story has been described as a spin on a typical rom-com, with a college professor who accidentally becomes a werewolf, and then uses his new powers to stop an evil occultist plot. This stars Daedalus Howell, who also wrote and directed this, also in the cast are Emily Maya Keyishian, Mark P. Robinson and Alia Beeton.

Classic horror RPG Cursed Mansion has had a release date of Friday 13th of January 2023 announced. Alongside this news was a new trailer for the game

Finally for today, Bridgehurst Asylum for the Sane was released on Blu-ray on November 22nd. This takes place during the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1919 and finds a young woman who is wrongfully sent to an asylum that is run by corrupt owners. This comes from Bayview Entertainment.

Bewere (2019) - Short Horror Film Review

Bewere is a short twelve minute horror that was directed by J. Budro Partida and written by Joy Y. Lin (99 Bottles of Beer). As the title slightly implies, this is about werewolves for are one of my least favourite movie monsters. This short wasn't bad, not taking itself too seriously, while putting some answers to questions about werewolves that I hadn't ever considered before.

Rich college kid Aaron (Andrew P. Logan) has managed to track down a man purporting to be a werewolf, a man named Oz (Joseph Fotinos). He offers him a substantial amount of cash for Oz to turn him into one himself. Once he is turned however, Aaron tells the man he has no intention of paying him and heads off, and it isn't long before Aaron has also turned his best friend, Drew (Ray Roberts II). In this cautionary tale however it may have been a good idea to have honoured his deal, as this may have resulted in Oz revealing some pretty essential information to the new werewolf and his pal.

While twelve minutes in length it is only around nine minutes of actual film excluding the credits, though is a quick after credit sequence. The cast of three hold this together well, though it is the character of Oz who is the essential one, and the person who was the more fleshed out of the three. The werewolves here are people who literally turn into wolves and so during that whole sequence it is actual wolves and other animals being shown, rather than people in hairy costumes. There was always something a little goofy about the film and this results in a third act which was both really quite gross as well as amusing. I can't really say much more for fear of spoilers, but I enjoyed where this ended up going, even if it was very messy, not one to watch while eating that's for sure!

I may not be a fan of werewolf movies but a short one like this I was perfectly fine with. It did something different to any other werewolf film I have personally seen, and best of all it's free to watch. Bewere premiered on the Dark Matters' YouTube channel on June 17th.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for 12th May 2022

Now for a news round-up, it still feels so refreshing to be mostly up to date with my inbox, even if to get here I had to purge quite a lot of older news stories. As has been the case for most my activities of the past few weeks, I shall be writing this post with Rammstein's great new album Zeit playing in the background.

The Frenzy Moon is a practical effects werewolf movie that currently has an Indiegogo campaign running to raise funds for the effects team to work on sculpting. This is going to come from director and author Gregory Lamberson and is a spin-off of his novels The Frenzy Way, The Frenzy War and The Frenzy Wolves. The set-up for the movie has six college students and a mysterious stranger battling a pack of werewolves at a secluded cabin. While werewolves are one my least favourite movie monsters I can't deny the enthusiasm Lamberson talks with on the Indiegogo page. For details, including the usual assortment of perks check out the campaign page here. 

Due out on May 17th in the US is Girls Nite Out (originally released as The Scaremaker). This is about a group of college students whose night time scavenger hunt is interrupted by a killer dressed up in a bear costume! The brand-new 2K restoration is due for release by Arrow and will include new interviews with the stars among other extras.

The Zombies Walking is a new single from New Zealand based System Corporation. While the track was written before the pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine it retroactively becomes relevant to those things as the song is about being led astray by those in power. Singer/lyricist Scott Newth says of this "Somehow, it's become way too easy to be misled by, what seems to me anyway, crazy ideas and theories. All this unease, it never seems to transition to real change in any way." While I admit including this news purely for the song title, it isn't a bad track, I liked the thudding drums.

Finally for today, Showtown American Pictures and Cineview Studios have released the trailer for another upcoming werewolf movie, The Beast Comes At Midnight. In this film an outcast teenager seeks out the help of four popular kids after he discovers one of them is being tracked by a werewolf. This is due to come to theatres Summer 2022 and stars Michael Pare, Michael McKeever, Madelyn Chimento, Kyle Oifer, Samantha O'Donnell, Dylan Intriago and Eric Roberts.

Werewolf Castle (2021) - Horror Film Review

Out of all the movie monsters I would probably rate the werewolf somewhere near the bottom. I don't know why, but I just do not get excited by them, even the very best of the genre, such as An American Werewolf in London, The Howling, and Dog Soldiers I thought were merely ok. Due to this I can't say I had much excitement in my heart when I sat down to watch Werewolf Castle. This horror film, written, directed and co-edited by Charlie Steeds (Death Ranch, An English Haunting) I'm please to say, broke the mould and was pretty darn great considering its indie status.

It's Dark Ages England, or perhaps a fantasy world, but either way, a pack of werewolves is plaguing the land, wiping out village after village in their savage attacks. After his own village is attacked, a young timid man, Thorfinn (Peter Lofsgard - Vampire Virus, The Mummy) teams up with a roving band of knights. Their goal, to travel to the castle of the local King in order to seek his help in stopping the attacks. However, every step of the way the group are under attack by the werewolves, and with the groups numbers ever dwindling it may well fall to the weakest member to complete the mission.

Things didn't start off well, it pretty much opens on an awkward sex scene involving Thorfinn with a girl in a barn, which is thankfully cut short by the werewolves attacking. You can tell my initial lack of interest in the film in that I'm not one hundred percent sure what the aim of the group heading to the castle actually was. It may have been to seek the King's help, it may just as well have been that this was where it had been reported the werewolves had originated from. I admit I wasn't really paying attention. However, over the course of the film I began to really get into this. The first part I began to pay attention to was the locations used to film at. The location scout did a fantastic job, sure a lot of this is filmed in woodland, but it appears ancient and not just like any old wood was chosen. The same goes for the waterfall and cave locations, both looked very old and were used to the best of their abilities.The one part that lets this down a little bit is the titular castle, it is in complete ruins which didn't make the most sense, but the more jarring thing was the obviously modern additions such as the white painted metal handrail that is attached to the spiral staircase. Obviously they wouldn't have been able to remove these due to health and safety laws, but it did detract slightly from the atmosphere.

The Beast Comes at Midnight - Horror Film News

The director of cult vampire film Cold Hearts, Robert Angelo Masciantonio has signed on to direct new werewolf movie The Beast Comes at Midnight. The film revolves around a young podcaster (Michael McKeever) whose interests lie in investigating all things paranormal, serial killers and conspiracy theories. He finds out the small town he lives in is under attack by monsters. The only people who believe his wild claims are a cheerleader (Kylissa Katalinich) and a sideshow fortune teller (Robert Bronzi) who was once a monster hunter. Masciantonio joins musician and film composer Dennis Tenney (Night of the Demons 1 and 3, Leprechaun 3 and 4). 

Executive producer Todd Oifer says of this film: "We are setting out to make a monster movie with practical fx and a riveting story that appeals to both lifelong horror fans and new followers of the genre. In the vein of classics like The Lost Boys, Silver Bullet and Phantasm that star young actors thrust into extraordinary and fantastical situations. The team felt only Robert A. Masciantonio could deliver the goods."