Toxic Alien Zombie Babes From Outer Space to Help Save Cinemas - Sci-fi/Horror Film News

This month I have been experimenting with putting up a blog post daily, with the hopes being that I may be able to get rid of my monthly news post round-up. I have David Black (Sinister Symbiosis), the writer and producer of upcoming sci-fi/horror film Toxic Alien Zombie Babes From Outer Space to thank for the idea, as his film was the first in a good few years that received its own news post, and I found it was not too much extra work for me to get done on the weekend during my blog time.

Anyway, it is another week and another press release about his upcoming movie. The film is now going to be offered to all cinemas worldwide for free, which is a cool thing to offer. Toxic Alien Zombie Babes From Outer Space pays homage to b-movie sci-fi and horror of the 1950's to 70's while also keeping current by including such topics as the pandemic, murder hornets, 5g and various conspiracies. David Black said of the offer "Challenging times like these necessitate creative thinking. We've been under stage 3 and 4 lockdown from the moment we started filming so we had to come up with unique ideas to make this movie. I believe that if cinemas wish to survive then they will have to open their minds too and find new ways of doing things. We are offering them an opportunity to screen a film and keep 100% of the revenue. It's now up to them as to what steps they take next." The film will be free to cinemas in January 2021. For more details about the film check out its Facebook page.

Chop Chop (2020) - Horror Film Review

Chop Chop is a farcical crime horror that felt like one of those stoner movies where characters are bounced from ridiculous situation to ridiculous situation, but with murder and mayhem instead of comedic hijinks. It was directed and co-written by Rony Patel (In Me) in what was debut feature film role as director. He also had a hand in the editing, production design as well as being a producer on the film. This was an odd horror that always kept the viewer guessing as to the real intentions of the mysterious protagonists.

Liv (Atala Arce) and Chuck (Jake Taylor) have their romantic evening ruined by the appearance of a sinister serial killer (David Harper) who is there on the pretence of delivering pizza. They end up inadvertently killing the man, and then make the decision to dispose of the body themselves, rather than alerting the authorities. This begins a surreal night in which the couple go on a calm and collected mission to dispose of the corpse, yet each step in their journey results in a higher and higher body count from the two. It seems they really are having the worst luck.

The way Chop Chop plays out makes it at times feel like a bit of a black comedy, as each situation the couple find themselves in results in no end of mistaken intentions. It can be inferred from the films wafer thin story that they are not entirely innocent people, which can be seen both in the unemotional way they deal with death, and the contacts they have that are obviously not on the right side of the law. The film is split into Quentin Tarantino style episodes, each one with its own title card. An early example titled 'Brother' leads into the realisation from Chuck that the pizza guy they killed had an identical twin brother. These title cards often give obscure hints as to the direction the movie is going to head in. Speaking of Tarantino this at times felt like an indie homage to Pulp Fiction with the way scenes build upon each other.

Stories of the Dead (2018) - Zombie Horror Anthology Book Review

Stories of the Dead is a zombie anthology with a difference. The book was created as a tribute to the late great George A. Romero and so each of the eighteen stories contained within it have their undead based on the style of walking dead he created. In fact eight of these are directly linked to some of the films that Romero put out. This collection was edited by David Owain Hughes and Duncan P. Bradshaw (Class Three) and they both have stories featured here.

The anthology can be neatly split into two styles. Those which directly take their influences from the films, featuring the same locations and characters, and those who take Romero's world of the walking dead and create their own unique stories. As much as I love Romero it is only The Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, and Day of the Dead films from his zombie series that I enjoy. Diary of the Dead and Survival of the Dead were both forgettable, while Land of the Dead was so terrible that I found myself going to watch it twice at the cinema. I just couldn't believe how bad it was, and so had to see it a second time to make sure that I wasn't the problem. Thankfully then it is only Romero's first three zombie films that have stories dedicated to them here.

It starts off with Dan Howarth's Grounded that takes place in a NASA control room and shows a possible catalyst for the zombie plague. Aside from the bizarrely quick way this 'space radiation' manages to get about the place this was a classic zombie story featuring plenty of trapped survivors battling a force they don't understand.
Beekman's Diner by Jeff C. Stevenson is where I saw the potential for this anthology. It slowly dawned (of the dead) on me while reading this that it serves as a prequel to Night. Harry, Karen, and Helen are at a diner when the zombie plague reaches them, they of course being the doomed family who are found hiding out in the basement in Night. This, as with many other stories all felt like fan fiction, but that is of course because they are fan fiction, but written by competent authors.
Mama by Nikki Tanner still takes place during the events of Night, but with a different farmhouse, and seemingly (by the upbeat conclusion) a different reality to that of the films. Here abuse, both sexual and physical is explored, being a bit of social commentary into proceedings as was standard with Romero.
The Last Scare of Johnny Blair is Nathan Robinson's contribution to the anthology and as the title suggests is all about Barbara's ghoulish brother, Johnny. It was fun to see a possibility of what he was up to during the events of Night (the remake seemingly).
The final story based around the first movie is Collateral Damage by Anthony Watson. In this one a posse member discovers his dark but truthful calling in life.

#Alive (2020) - Zombie Horror Film Review

I had heard good things about #Alive and thought the trailer looked good, so I was excited to get around to watching this Netflix zombie film. Being a South Korean movie it is hard not to compare this to Train to Busan. While it is not as good as that movie it is still a solid zombie movie in its own right, especially considering it is director/screenwriter, Il Cho's debut feature length movie.

While the rest of his family went away on vacation, Oh Joon-woo (Ah-In Yoo) stayed behind, being a big gamer and a generally lazy person. For him it turns out this was a good decision as one day he wakes up to discover a zombie outbreak occurring in his city. Pretty soon he is barricaded in his apartment and swiftly running out of food and drink (his laziness meant he hadn't been shopping like he had been meant to). The last message he received from his parents before the network went down was to 'survive', it is that singular goal that drives him. At his most desperate time he becomes aware of a fellow survivor in the apartment block opposite to him, Kim Yoo-bin (Shin-Hye Park). While they cannot meet, they slowly, over the course of several days find ways to get in contact with each other and start to form a friendship.

This isn't the first zombie film I have seen that takes place in apartment blocks (that would be the German Siege of the Dead), but it is the first film I can think of where the protagonists thinking was in line with mine. I have often said if somehow a zombie outbreak occurred in real life I would hole up in my house, though I realise that like Oh Joon-woo my supplies would be extremely limited. I liked with this film that there is never some grand plan to make an escape, the characters main goal is to survive, and with all the creature comforts of home that is seen as the place to do it. There are little moments here that work really well, such as Oh still playing online games until everything goes down. I am not sure the characters portrayal was totally my thing. I get that Oh is meant to be a bit dense, and certainly not used to having fend for himself, but I found the exaggerated physical acting for comedic effect to be a bit grating at times. The character has a good contrast with Kim, she is someone who personality wise is almost the polar opposite of Oh. She always comes across as deadly serious and someone who always plans ahead.

9th Dawn III: Shadow of Erthil - Fantasy Video Game News and Trailer

The latest installment in Valorware's 9th Dawn franchise, 9th Dawn III: Shadow of Erthil was due to release on Steam, iOS, Android, X-Box One, PS4 and Nintendo Switch on Tuesday 6th October. I have never heard of this series before, but I will let the press release do the talking...

'9th Dawn III is a huge 2D open world RPG and "collect-a-thon" dungeon crawler packed full of adventure, allowing you to explore dungeons filled with more than 270 unique monsters - and enough treasure, loot, and rare materials to last a lifetime. There are also 1,400 uniquely drawn items to collect - including more than 300 weapons and 550 armor types and accessories!'

This indie RPG takes place in a typically sounding fantasy world, taking in fields, snowy regions, forests and mountains. As you play you can unlock spells and abilities and level up your crafting abilities. You can also recruit monsters to fight alongside you (upto a maximum of ten). In addition you can recruit a companion who too can also have upto ten monster fighting alongside them. Also included in the game is an in world card game that includes 180 collectible cards, and fishing mini-games. On PC and consoles local co-op is an option. Check out the trailer below to see if it looks like your thing.

Abigail Haunting (2020) - Horror Film Review

Abigail Haunting is a no thrills low budget paranormal horror that was directed and co-written by Kelly Schwarze. It could easily be seen as a slow burn as not much of note happens from the very beginning to the end. With a decent enough protagonist I didn't mind my time here, though is not going to leave much of an impression.

After escaping from an abusive relationship, Katie (Chelsea Jurkiewicz - The Tormenting of Jones) returns to her childhood home. There she finds her foster mum, Marge (Brenda Daly) is now suffering severe dementia and lives as a shut-in. Katie decides to spend a few days there, but she can't shake an unsettling feel about the place. The longer she stays the more she begins to suspect that something is haunting the place, something that relates to a dark secret from Marge's past.

Barely anything happens during this eighty minute horror, and even when it does it is so slight as to be quite forgettable. Objects occasionally move around on their own, Katie experiences audio and visual hallucinations, and sometimes Marge does creepy things. Aside from that not much else occurs. Thankfully Katie has someone to talk to outside of the monosyllable speaking Marge, in the form of a childhood friend she rediscovers, Brian (Austin Collazo). The scenes with them together were the most interesting, only in that it makes a difference for her not to just be wandering around the house on her own. A lot of the horror revolves around a large garage area that Katie was always warned not to go into as a child. What could be an interesting revelation is told in a strange way that seemed to suck away any importance.

There isn't really much more to say about Abigail Haunting. On the one hand it is perfectly watchable, has decent performances from the small cast, and seems to be filmed competently. On the other hand though it doesn't succeed as a horror, those moments are few and far between and manage never to make much of an impact. There are elements to the story that I did find interesting, but the basic plot is roughly explained without giving the viewer a reason to really get invested with it. Abigail Haunting is due for release on 25th January 2021 thanks to High Fliers Films.

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3FORCE Releases New Track "The Watchers" (2020) - Music News

With October obviously being the most hallowed month of the year for lovers of horror I am filling up my blog schedule with smaller news posts. I get so many emails that often I have to pick and choose what gets covered in my monthly news post. Things, like 3FORCE's new track would often not make the cut just due to lack of time. Sure, this music isn't horror, but anything with synth is always associated to me with the sounds of the eighties, the era that arguably included some of the most fun horror films ever created. While absolutely nothing to do with the upcoming video game Cyberpunk 2077, this track still reminded me that that game is due to arrive in November (even if it is sadly at the cost of crunch). Onto the actual news...

EDM/synthwave group 3FORCE have released a new track titled The Watchers. This four minute journey into the world of cyberpunk follows previous release Pursuit, in paving the way towards their next full-length album. The track is available on all platforms from independent synthwave label FiXT Neon. For more details on how to stream or purchase the track head here.

Hall (2020) - Horror Film Review

Hall (directed and co-written by Francesco Giannini) had its world premiere at Frightfest this year, and has been selected at the Blood and the Snow Film Festival 2020. This is a film that grabbed me from the very start, the story is like a jigsaw, with additional pieces revealed to the viewer as it plays out. It also does that  thing that I like so much in movies, starting in the present and then switching back to the past to show how events unfolded.

Naomi (Ymiko Shaku - the voice of Aya Brea in the Parasite Eve II video game) is sat slumped against a wall in a hotel hallway, gasping for air, infected with some type of horrific disease, as are many others in the hallway. Rewind to four hours earlier in the day and Val (Carolina Bartczak - X-Men: Apocalypse), her husband, Branden (Mark Gibson - Exit Humanity), and their daughter, Kelly (Bailey Thain - Pet Sematary) arrive at the hotel as part of their road trip. Kelly plans to leave her abusive husband, but is just waiting for the right time to do so.

Hall spends the first two acts cleverly jumping back and forth between the two time periods. The majority of the present is spent with an obviously extremely sick Naomi as she slowly crawls down the titular hallway. As she journeys you slowly get shown what has become of the other guests. The part of the movie that takes place four hours previously mainly focuses on Val and her family. You get a real sense of what the family is going through, thanks to Bartczak and Gibson who bring their characters to life by the subtle ways they act around each other. It is very obvious all is not right with their relationship, but the way they slip in and out of their personas, depending on if their daughter is around or not was something quite special. I'm not usually keen on precocious children in films, I find it offputting, yet the character of Kelly just works. Thain brings with her a mature performance that works when you consider that the character herself would have picked up on the tense signals that both parents are shown to be trying to hide from her.
It would have been nice to get more time spent with the character of Naomi, despite her big presence in the present sections she only gets a few scenes before that. It is enough to know that she has fled an abusive relationship, which makes her into somewhat of a mirror image for Val. Hall does not have a good view of men, the key male characters are all bad people (including Julian Richings (Blood Hunters, Septic Man), with the female characters shown to be victims, yet also shown to be survivors, whether literally or figuratively. It was interesting to see how the side characters exist outside of the main characters, while occasionally they interact there storylines are mainly completely separate.

In Darkness I Wait (2020) - Short Horror Film Review

It began with The Pale Faced Lady, a 10 minute short horror film that released towards the start of 2019. This introduced the titular ghostly woman, though the story wasn't so much about her as about a girl whose journey took her to the house it haunts. Towards the end of last year came She Will Return which focussed on the origins of the ghost, and now chapter 3, In Darkness I Wait has released which could possibly be the last in the series.

Ashton (Sam Love) and his girlfriend, Mara (Hannah Swayze) have headed to the dilapidated house of horrors which the pale faced lady (Rachel Taylor) haunts, with a singular goal in mind. The place holds bad memories for Ashton, as it was the home of his abusive uncle. He intends to burn it down to the ground, little realising the untold dangers he has put himself and Mara in. The pale faced lady is never keen on letting visitors leave...

Each film in the series has been better than the last and that is the case here. It helps that there is a bit more of a logically paced story this time around. It builds upon what has come before, and it plays to the strengths of the previous films. Paradoxically the pale faced lady is at her very best when she is doing nothing at all, merely appearing on camera in her fixed stance, just staring, this creates genuine chills. At many points during this there are moments that seem to be set-up to give jump scares, but thankfully that cheap way of making thrills is never utilised. It was strange to think, but I was mostly reminded of the opening prologue of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard while watching this, both with the modest size of the building, but also with elements such as the mannequins that move around off camera. 

This was again written, directed, and edited by Jeff Payne and as ever the editing in particular is very strong. I felt that there was one sequence with the character of Mara that felt a little fabricated to create scares rather than feel natural, but for the most part this flowed really well. I liked that the character of Ashton seemed to be a bit of a klutz, and I thought his particular journey was great. It leads to an ending that I adored, I re-watched the final shot of the film itself multiple times to just appreciate the amazing cinematography of that scene. The end credits repeat the idea of She Will Return by showing clips from the short to reveal the pale lady hiding in plain sight during several scenes, a nice touch.

This saga has improved with each entry, and there has been restraint in not bombarding the viewer with the ghost, but instead dripping it throughout, giving it a presence that feels far more Japanese in style than American. As fun as the story is, it is the set design, the lighting, and editing that has always been the star of these films, almost worth watching just for that alone. In Darkness I Wait made its world premiere on September 24th and can be seen on YouTube.

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The Dark Frontier (2020) - Horror Anthology Book Review

Back in August when I reviewed the animal horror anthology Animal Uprising! I was offered the chance to review another anthology, the western themed The Dark Frontier. I used to read so much as a teenager but nowadays barely get through more than four or five books a year. Maybe due to not reading as much as I should, with this anthology I discovered a new genre that I somehow didn't know even existed, which combines the feel of the Wild West with the post apocalypse.

The Dark Frontier is split into two different styles of story, those that literally take place in western times America, and those that certainly do not, but whose vibe makes it feel like they share common traits. What all stories also share in common is a feeling of taking place in a world whose outcome is already set in stone. Many of these worlds are doomed, so much so that the characters who populate the tales are too small cogs to have much effect, this in its own way creates a feeling of vast emptiness, and desperation, echoing the endless plains of the dark frontiers. I must add that after the final story there is an interesting afterword that explains exactly how the order of the stories were put together, it was neat to see the reasoning.

This all kicks off with Cargo Mountain by Charles R. Bernard. This was the story that introduced me to the concept of the future meeting the past as I was quite thrown when the protagonist here is shown to have a motorbike. I'm very on board with the idea thankfully! This one had a dreamy atmosphere which I loved, have to admit I had no idea how it ends, it just seemed to finish abruptly, but that seemed to go well with the feverish feel.
The fifth story, The Harvestmen by Aubrey Campbell returns to the post apocalypse with a story about a woman with a magical gun capable of destroying the gigantic demonic spider like creatures that have overrun the world. Almost a companion to this one is Take the Desert with You by Joanna Parypinski that features a protagonist who wasn't as innocent as at first appears. Both these stories are really quite bleak which is always a good thing.
I wasn't entirely sure about Douglas Smith's Memories of the Dead Man. It had some really neat ideas to it, but the titular 'Dead Man' character cemented in my mind Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator and so that was all I could think of when reading this, which was a bit distracting. It's a classic story of revenge and features a psychotic biker gang and plenty of violence so was still a decent read.
At the time I read it The Bride's Road by Hawk and Young was my favourite. This sci-fi yarn felt like A Clockwork Orange mixed with Logan's Run. I enjoyed the idea of a future regressed society shepherded by robotic drones who are seen by the people as religious beings, a lot of cool ideas.
The final story that felt post-apocalyptic was the Mad Max feeling One Way Out by Bryan Dyke, that tells the story of a ranger trying to make his escape from a twisted cult's compound in a dark future world. Like so many of the stories here I would love to read more from this world, it was fascinating, even if slightly cliche at times.

ARROW - New Horror Streaming Platform Launching in North America

Arrow Video have announced details of their new subscription based streaming service, ARROW. This became available in the US and Canada on 1st October. It promises to bring 'a selection of cult classics, hidden gems and iconic horror films, all curated by the Arrow Video team.'

Immediately on the service straight away are a whole host of films that includes The Deeper You Dig, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Crumbs, The Hatred, Cold Light of Day, Videoman, The Herschell Gordon Lewis Feast (a collection containing over a dozen of his best films), Hellraiser 1 & 2, Elvira, Ringu, the complete Gamera series, as well as 'full collections from the ARROW archives packed with exclusive extras, rarely seen interviews and documentaries.'

The service will come to iOS, tvOS, Android, Fire TV, Roku and on the web here. There is a 30 day free trial, with subscriptions at $4.99 monthly or $49.99 annually. A UK rollout is planned in 2021.

Abominable (2020) - Horror Film Review

It is almost comforting to find that indie films such as Abominable are still being made. The style and the format of creature features like this has been the same for countless years. Directed by Jamaal Burden (Elves), this horror occasionally delights with its good looking practical effects, yet for the most part is one long slog to get through.

A group of armed researchers have headed to a mountain top in order to find a mythical plant that is said to grow there. This plant is rumoured to hold the cure to cancer among its many other benefits. The recon team vanish without a trace and so the rest of the group split up. Two groups are tasked with setting up relay beacons, so that Pete (Justin Prince Moy) can radio back to base the teams location. They soon discover they are not alone up on the mountain, a yeti is also there, and it has an innate instinct to protect the mythical flowers at all costs.

Typically films follow a three act structure, with Abominable though it just felt like one long act. After a nice little prologue showing the conclusion of the previous ill fated expedition to the area we are introduced to the cast. They are already up in the mountains, and they all speak so much techno-jargon that I was never really sure exactly what was going on. Sarah (Katrina Mattson), the main protagonist for instance is often shown doing something on some big blue tablet like device, no idea what though. Of the five or six main characters there was barely any development for them. You find out the leader has brain cancer, and that one of the group hopes to find the plant to help cure his sick wife, but aside from that these characters are blank slates. It was hard to really care about these people, going the other way I didn't find them unlikeable either, they were just people and nothing more or less.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (2020) - Zombies Reveal Trailer and News

I decided late last night that I should probably try and do a blog post for each day of October. With nothing planned I figured I would give some Call of Duty: Zombies news. Me and my best friend love that mode in the Call of Duty games. In fact, with last years entry not featuring the undead at all we decided to skip it. Thankfully, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War will feature a Zombies mode, and last Wednesday a trailer and news for it dropped.

It appears there will be a single map at launch, Die Maschine which takes place in the same location as the very first Zombies map, Nacht der Untoten. Instead of a straight remake this map looks to be a whole lot bigger, featuring an eighties aesthetic, a large underground laboratory, and the ability to leave the ruined building itself and explore the surroundings. This starts off a whole new storyline that takes place in the same universe as the Black Ops Zombies world, but with a different set of characters.

For the first time your weapon class is the same across all three game modes, Multiplayer, Warzone and Zombies. This means that rather than start the wave based survival game with just a pistol you can instead bring your whole class load out with you. Baggsy the LMG! Also, previously the only way to end a game in this mode was by dying, but now you will be able to radio an evac chopper. This will instigate a few rounds of intense corpse battling before you are able to make your escape. Finally, while there only seems to be the one map at launch, all future maps will be free. On the one hand this is great, but going by Battlefield V there may not be the usual four additional maps, maybe just a couple. Time will tell. The Battlepass for the new Call of Duty will go across all three game modes, so if there is anything half decent that is zombie themed I may have to pick it up. Needless to say, after seeing this new trailer I immediately pre-ordered the game. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War releases on November 13th.