Hercules Recycled 2.0 (2020) - Comedy Film News

Hercules Recycled 2.0 is described as an 'insane, redubbed hybrid comedy/adventure set in a future where the power's run out and the world has collapsed into primal chaos'. It is stated that it was put together using nine old 'sword and sandal' movies to create a semi cohesive whole. The edited films have had additional work put on them, which includes 'two teenagers in togas, Eyezilla, a mercenary mariachi band, a space puppet, the kitchen sink (literally) and over 150 CGI effects'.

This was directed and co-written by Don Moriarty in his feature length directorial debut and the crazed story tells of a man in a chaotic future, former exercise show host Burt Galaxy who must seek out a lost energy formula that can restore civilisation. 
Hercules Recycled 2.0 is out now and can be seen on Amazon Prime Video here.

The Mark of the Bell Witch (2020) - Horror Documentary Review

The Mark of the Bell Witch is a new documentary from director Seth Breedlove (Momo: The Missouri Monster, Terror in the Skies). Having seen a few of his documentaries now I would say that this one is my favourite. Previously they have been about legendary monsters and creatures, but this time it is instead focussed on the supernatural. I had heard of the Bell Witch but I hadn't ever heard any details about it and so I was interested to discover this supposedly true tale of terror.

During the first decades of the 19th Century the Bell family were terrorised by a supernatural presence that came to be known as the Bell Witch. Initially it made itself known by creating strange noises from within their property, but as time went on it began to attack family members at night, and to slowly develop a voice, calling itself 'Kate'. Over time this spirit came to be known in the area and many people would travel to the property to encounter it for themselves. Eventually there became four separate entities that were apparently haunting the family, and Kate indicated that the terror was all happening as she wished for the head of the Bell family, John Bell to die. Eventually he did die in strange circumstances and the encounters gradually faded away. All that is according to the legends about the Bell Witch.

The documentary is an hour and a half long and I did wonder how they would find enough material to fit such a time frame. Well, it turns out there is a heck of a lot to the legend, and over twelve chapters various parts of it are talked about. This isn't a documentary that sets out to prove or disprove the legend, instead it presents evidence from people of the time in a neutral fashion. The majority of this is shown via narration and recreations. The recreations are done in black and white and feature plenty of supernatural images, such as the ghostly appearance of the witch and her creepy voice. I'm glad they went this route, at its heart it's a ghost story so I'm glad it was shown this way rather than in a more dry logical sense. The biggest thing I got out of this was thinking how great this would be as a season of The Haunting on Netflix (The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor). It has so many of the classic ghost/demonic presence stories you see in such things as Paranormal Activity and Insidious. Things such as a force passing itself off as someone or something it might not actually be, and the way it increases in power the more people pay attention to it. It has all the classic tropes, but taking place so far in the past was pretty cool to hear about.

OverKill - Short Comedy Horror Film News

I remember fondly the video game Manhunt that came out on the Playstation 2. It had you going up against various despicable gangs as part of a twisted snuff film, and one of the gangs were lunatics who all wore 'smiley face' masks. While on holiday once I got the idea for a slasher film in which the killer wore one such mask, and so I was delighted to see the poster for the short comedy horror film OverKill where it sounds like someone else has used a similar idea.

This film comes from writer/director/editor, Alex Montilla (Cheat Day, Hot Tub Time Machine) and takes a fun look at the slasher genre. It is business as usual but the survivor of a college kid massacre discovers the killer literally cannot be stopped. This has been described as '80's slasher movie by way of "Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner" cartoons. OverKill was the winner of 'Best of the Fest' at Ethereal Horror Fest, and stars Amy Letcher, Mike Hall and Will Coffin.

My mask:

Devil's Prey (2020) - Horror Film Review

Devil's Prey is a supernatural horror that was written, directed and edited by Lincoln Casimir in his feature film debut for all those roles. It is a bit of a crazy film, to me it felt like an episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation on drugs. All the pieces are there to tell a logical and well meaning story, but it felt more overly produced than was needed, making for a dizzy and disorientating movie.

Larry (Paul C. Kelly - Driftwood) is a serial killer who targets children. A victim of sexual abuse as a child he sees himself as a victim and someone who is unable to fight against his urges. When a young girl goes missing, two detectives suspect Larry (the girl's next door neighbour) may be involved, but they have no proof. Meanwhile an angel of death, Luke (Adam Silverman) is caught up in a battle of wits with a demon, Roam (John K. Hart - Crown of Thorns), the former wanting Larry to redeem himself, the later wanting Larry to fully commit to the darkness so that he can take his soul away.

This was a crazed movie that never really pauses to take a breath. Within the first few minutes we are introduced to Luke who during a casual conversation happens to mention he is dead. We learn of a missing girl, and the detectives as well as the girl's parents immediately suspect Larry, who then casually (though making it seem like a joke) tells the detectives he molests children. We then spend the rest of the movie split between three chaotic storylines. The majority of the movie in a breath of fresh air follows Larry, who (likely) rapes and murders aside is a bit of a soft character. He has a sick mother in a nursing home, he has the abuse he suffered as a child, and he has constant dreams and visions of both Luke and Roam. He spends the movie flitting around from location to location speaking to people who act completely unsurprised that he is having visions of angels and demons.
The first subplot involves the two bumbling detectives, these swiftly end up relying on a local psychic to help them solve their case for them. Despite closely watching Larry they somehow miss him doing what he does worst, even when it is painfully obvious the man has secrets to hide.
The second subplot is where Devil's Prey is at its most bizarre. Here, Luke speaks to his superior on how best to save Larry's soul, and occasionally has a war of words with Roam.

Music Round-up for Autumn 2020

I currently have 65 emails sitting in the news section of my inbox, inundated with news at the moment. This is no bad thing, but does mean some items dating back to the middle of October are reaching their 'sell by' date. It's about time for my monthly news, so I have decided to remove the music news into its own post.

Cassetter's horror track 'Slasher' has gotten a Cyberpunk remix from Extra Terra. The song has been infused with 'grim, futuristic edge spiked with hints of Extra Terra's dubstep style. The remix is out now on all platforms, from FiXT Neon.
FiXT have recently signed Void Chapter. This project comes from Otto Cate, Adam Fielding and Brian Skeel and is said to 'deliver an exhilarating audio journey through dystopian sci-fi worlds'. They have released two full-length instrumental albums, The Sprawl and The Uprising with new vocal based material dropping in 2021.

Canadian hard rock/heavy metal band Boneyard released their new album, Oathbreaker on October 24th. The band are led by vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Pamtera and includes members from previous bands Tyrant, Septimus and Powerslave. Initially they were a cover band but have been creating original music for the past three years. For more information check out their website.

Boston, MA rock band Above Snakes have released a new single, Never Alone, and to go with it is a zombie based animated visualiser. Singer, Johnny Skulls (great name) says the song is about "living a chaotic lifestyle...and just when you're at your worst, that special force pulls you back into reality giving you a new lifeline". The music video for the track released on November 13th.

Ethereal Darkwave duo The Palace of Tears have revealed their new album, Of Ruination. This album features seven tracks 'of somber beauty and otherworldly seduction'. It contains themes of love, death and 'the search for truth in a world filled with grief and the longing for connection'. The track listing is as follows, Terra Ephemera, Thy Womb Full of Black Nectar, Masque L'Intrigue, Tears of the Moon, Cold Dead Skin, Shadows Of Whispering Phantoms, and Of Ruination. It is out now digitally, with a limited CD edition to follow.

Following on from her last single The Day I Died comes Gothic singer, Elle Noir's new song, Like A Black Doll. This is the title track from her upcoming EP. She says the song is about "a traumatic situation of my childhood, which I do not talk about but have been able to elaborate on over the years thanks to music."

Dark Rock artist Sharone has released a second song off her upcoming LP, Morbid Illusion. The track, Fade Away is described as her empowerment anthem and features a video about a wounded warrior confronting death.

Now, Dungeon Synth is a subgenre of music I have never heard of before, but US based Sombre Arcane fit into that apparently. They have recently released a video for their new track, Ancestral Seat Of The Barovian Scourge. The song was inspired by a Dungeons & Dragons module that the band have been playing together for 8 years. That is something to be respected, kinda jealous of that long game!

Another new music video, this time with Dawn of Ashes who have one for their song Sleep Paralysis. They use elements of HR Giger, Zdzislaw Bekinski and Clive Barker, with the video focusing on corruption, police brutality and human rights. This is taken off their new album The Antinomian that came out in July thanks to Artoffact Records.

I have more music news to share, but I will leave it here for the moment, happy listening and see you on the other side of the cassette tape. I say tape, as that is the best my car offers me when it comes to providing me music sources, thank God for smartphones!

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

Another month of this darn year has passed, but in happier news England's second lockdown is about to come to an end, though leaving that to head to Tier 2 which isn't a lot better, but at least me and my support bubble can eat out, and I will be able to get my awful hair cut! I have been trying to cut down on the amount of news mentioned in these round-ups, but with less films seemingly coming out this year it has meant the amount of news I am receiving as increased dramatically!

Video games to begin with. I am currently playing the first person 'walking simulator', Visage. This game, that takes place within the confines of a haunted house was deeply inspired by the fantastic P.T demo.
The latest Call of Duty, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War came out in November. This thankfully includes Zombies. Currently there is just the one map, Die Maschine that is a wonderful remake of Nacht der Untoten. There is also Dead Ops Arcade 3. This is an overhead level based zombie battling shooter which has you on a mission to defeat the gorilla who kidnapped your pet chicken.
November 5th saw the release of Outbreak: The Nightmare Chronicles, which is the third game in the Outbreak series and has come to Nintendo Switch. This is a third person single player adventure that is inspired by classic Resident Evil and Silent Hill.

A new documentary focusing on the Grindhouse horror classics from the 1970's and 80's has been released, coming from Dustin Ferguson. Stale Popcorn & Sticky Floors features interviews with a whole host of icons such as Lynn Lowry, Brinke Stevens, Mel Novak and more. This was due for release on Halloween.

James Mackenzie's An American Zealot has released an official trailer and poster. This is about a Catholic schoolgirl who plans to murder her best friend's abortion doctor and about the ramifications of deciding to do this.

The director's cut of the great found footage horror Hell House LLC came to Amazon Prime on Friday 30th October. The director's cut includes a host of extras such as cast auditions, scouting of the iconic location, behind-the-scenes clips and more.

The November releases for online subscription service ARROW includes the launch of Ban This Sick Filth! which is a rotating catologue of some of the more controversial horrors, currently includes We Are the Flesh, Orgies of Edo, The Baby, The Woman and Bat Pussy. Other November releases included documentary The El Duce Tapes, the Essential Giallo Collection, the Female Prisoner Scorpion Collection and exclusively, He Came From the Swamp: The William Grefé Collection, which includes Sting of Death, Death Curse of Tartu, Mako: Jaws of Death and more.
The Arrow Video US release schedule for November included Lake Michigan Monster (11/03), Burst City (11/10), Silent Running (11/17), and He Came From the Swamp: The William Grefe Collection (11/24). These all release to Blu-ray.

Terror Films has acquired the worldwide digital rights to Sean Roberts home invasion horror The Night They Knocked. In this one a group of friends staying a remote mountain house get visited by a murderous group of travellers. It was nominated for Best Director and Best Feature Film at the New Jersey Horror Con. This had its online premiere at the Kings of Horror YouTube Channel on November 6th.

This year has been a prolific one for filmmaker and actor Shane Ryan. Choke released in May, followed by Heartbeat, which was followed by the lockdown inspired thriller Sinful, as well as Quarantine Girl. More recently was sci-fi action flick Attack of the Unknown. Ryan is currently finishing up his Ted Bundy Had a Son trilogy. That in itself was a follow up to his Amateur Porn Star Killer series which is due to get a 4th edition DVD release in a few months, along with Ryan's homeless drama, The Girl Who Wasn't Missing from Wild Eye Releasing. Other films of his that are in various stages of development are LGBT coming of age drama, This Girl, This Boy, arthouse horror film Red Oedipal, God Got Ill, The Owl in Echo Park, American Virgins, Trash Kids, Throwaway Girl and the Japanese film Sasebo. On the anthology side of things he has been involved with Philia, Gore Theatre 2, Gore Grind, 60 Seconds to Die 3, Awesomely Righteous & Radical, and made the short Autopilot for the #CormanChallenge. 

Human Hibachi (2020) - Horror Film Banned on Amazon - Horror News

Human Hibachi became available by video on-demand from October 23rd exclusively on the film's website. Apparently the film was deemed too extreme to be viewed on Amazon. In the movie a man documents his girlfriend's 35th birthday on his phone, but things take a very dark turn as the night plays out.

Director Mario Cerrito (The Listing) said of his film: "So when I made this film, I knew some of the stuff that I put in it might exclude us from platforms like Amazon, however, I wanted to see my vision through so I wasn't going to let that hold me back. The main goal was to make something different...something that will be remembered and I'll take that over being rejected by a platform any day."

Human Hibachi can be viewed on it's website, here. Mario Cerrito and his team are currently working on a new horror, titled The House in the Pines.

Neighbor No.9 (2020) - Short Horror Film Review

Neighbor No.9 is a short  German language, Austrian horror film that comes from Wilhelm Müller, who describes himself as a hobby film maker. From his back catalogue it seems he specialises in exploitation films, having had his shorts featured in a variety of anthologies such as Tony Newton's Faces of Fear, Gore Grind, Gore Theatre 2, Grindsploitation 8, and in Shane Ryan's Faces of Snuff and the upcoming Ted Bundy Had a Son. The type of films in these types of collections are not something I personally find appealing at all. I find them downright nasty and a bit pointless, but I guess that is the point, to show the depths of human depravity.

Stefan Schanda plays the titular 'neighbor no.9', a heavily tattooed deviant who lives in a run down attic apartment, the walls adorned with cut outs of naked females, the man himself definitely a bit perverse, as can be seen with the introduction to him laying in bed making love to a pig's head. One day while out shopping he encounters a young woman (Mulier Sine Nomine) whose car has broken down and who says she is an influencer on her way to an important photo shoot. The man however has different plans for her...

Before even watching this I had a good idea where it would end up, and I was correct in my assumptions. This is exploitation and so nothing but bad things were going to happen here. I will say that I thought the design of the man's apartment was very fitting. Nearly the first five minutes of the short has the camera travelling around his flat, taking in all the detail of his own drawings and the posters and cutouts on his walls. This was good set design and really seemed to go with what we are shown of this character. The rest of the movie goes by at a much quicker pace with the body horror starting around ten minutes into this twenty one minute film.

Being presented as an actual short film rather than as a found footage style horror meant there was more time for things to occur, it was all as nasty as expected, with dismemberment, torture, and a knife stuck where a knife really shouldn't ever be (brought to mind the opening of the darn awful Headless). The special effects were not the worst out there, sure some parts looked a bit fake, but there is editing that switches up the real actress and the prop that is done well enough to create an illusion. These types of films often feel a bit aimless, but I admit the end of this was darkly suggestive. Did I enjoy Neighbor No.9? Not really, but then it isn't my thing. If this is your type of film then you will probably get some enjoyment out of this, it is competently made and well put together. Neighbor No.9 is due to come out on DVD in the future.

SCORE:

Progeny (2020) by Shaun Hutson - Horror Novel News

British horror author Shaun Hutson has released a new hardback novel, Progeny. This is a sequel to his best selling 1983 novel, Spawn. Hutson said of this new novel: "Progeny works as a stand-alone novel, but for fans who have read Spawn, there is a whole back story there that adds another level to reading Progeny. I always wanted to go back and revisit some of my earlier work and see how I could develop the work over 35 years later. Spawn was always one of those stories that was left with strands that could be picked up and spun into something more horrific than the original"

The original cover artist for Spawn was called back to design the cover for the sequel, and this is Hutson's thirty ninth novel under his own name. Caffeine Nights Publishing who published Progeny also published a paperback version of his 2019 hardback novel, Testament. There are also eBook and audio versions of these. Check out the website for more details.

Host (2020) - Horror Film Review

Host is an English horror film which takes place entirely within the confines of a Zoom call. The whole film was apparently shot entirely on that video call app, which makes sense when you take into account this was all filmed during the first England lockdown earlier this year. The effectiveness of this horror was slightly lost on me for two reasons. Firstly, I have never used Zoom and so haven't ever been in a similar real world situation of talking to multiple people on video calls, and secondly 2014's Unfriended had a very similar idea and so took away a lot of the impact this would have otherwise had on me.

A group of friends are bored during lockdown and so have decided to hire a spirit medium (Seylan Baxter - Macbeth) to hold an online seance with them via Zoom. The medium warns them to take it seriously, but one of the friends, Jemma (Jemma Moore - Doom: Annihilation) can't resist pretending to have come into contact with a spirit. Not long after this the medium loses her internet connection, which is bad as each of the Zoom members begin to experience scary happenings within their own homes. It seems that Jemma's jape has allowed an evil spirit to be summoned, and with no one to help them out the friends must try their hardest to find a way to break their unwanted connection to the spirit world.

At fifty six minutes long I figured the reduced length would help in telling a more concise story. I appreciate now the story that Unfriended brought as Host suffers a bit from the lack of much plot. The friends have accidentally summoned an evil spirit...and that's it. What follows is a roller coaster ride of ups and downs, there are blips of scary activity followed by moments of down time which occasionally frustrated. It kept seeming like anytime the film got unnerving things would settle back down again. I felt like a more relentless pace would have benefitted the shorter run time. It is just under halfway into the movie that the horror really begins and there are some super effective moments. If you have seen Unfriended you will be likely correct on where the film is going to go, and if anyone is going to survive or not. What was unique about this one was having it take place during lockdown, reflected in what characters are talking about and how they act. For instance, at one point a character flees their home, but before doing so they ensure they have put a facemask on.

Midnight Releasing - Latest Horror Film News

What follows is an account of the latest horror films released from Midnight Releasing. An account I pertain to be true and which was written in good faith in our year of the Lord 2020.

Without A Body is available to watch online or video on demand via Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, Google Play, X-Box, Vimeo, YouTube, Fandango, Plex and Flixfling. When I reviewed this back in April I said of it: "...this did its job as escapism, to be honest anything that does that in these current times is fine by me".

Also out is the intriguing Lake Artifact. This is about five friends who get trapped in a deadly time loop at a remote lakeside cabin. In my review in July I said "...the unexpected surreal humour added rather than detracted from the film...the often straight faced humour from the cast gave this film a warm feel".

Another one here with Stained. This is a strange modern day retelling of the Shakespeare classic play Macbeth. While it was all a bit bizarre I said of this "There are some decent moments here..."

Finally, a new trailer has dropped for The Devil's Heist. The clues' in the title as this is about a group of thieves who unknowingly rob a bank that is owned by Lucifer and ran by witches! This is directed by Fernando Acevedo and stars Bryan Sapphire, Sandra Rosko, Sheri Davis, and Mike Ferguson.

The Odds (2018) - Horror Film Review

The Odds is a very tense psychological horror that combines elements of the torture porn subgenre of horror. I would be lying if I said I enjoyed this, but what I did appreciate about this was that I was on the edge of my seat for the entire near one hour forty run time. This was written and directed by Bob Giordano in what was his feature film debut for both roles.

A woman (Abbi Butler - And Then It Goes Dark) desperate for money has heard about a secret and highly illegal game in which players participate in increasingly dangerous rounds of a game for a cash price of a million dollars. She manages to get a place in the game and this is where the movie starts. She is told by her game master (James J. Fuertes - Venom) that she is playing concurrently with others from around the world, and that she has to be the sole winner to get the cash prize. With each round more and more twisted than the last she must draw on her inner strength to have the physical and mental will to carry on.

I'm not keen on films that feature a lot of torture or mutilation so wasn't looking forward to those parts. The Odds manages to completely side step that aspect by heavily implying what is happening but doesn't actually show it. Rather than a cop out this was effective, the insinuations work very well, and avoid any subpar special effects. Of the game itself there are around seven rounds (I think). It starts off tame enough with the players having to see who can hold their hand over a candle flame the longest. It would be a spoiler to talk much more about the challenges themselves, safe to say it is revealed very early on the final round is the most deadly, with it a known fact that not all players ever survive the game. Along the way the challenges are nasty, especially one that involves losing body parts, and one involving a foot that I winced my way through (despite nothing actually being shown on camera). It is testament to the actors that I was still fully invested and coiled like a spring with anxiety.

Bayview Entertainment - Latest Horror Releases

I've been getting a bunch of emails telling me about new Bayview Entertainment releases so thought I would share them all here. On the 'HNN Presents' label comes the first bunch. 

Fabula and Profondo are now out on DVD. In Fabula a former detective (Denis Frison) arrives in a small Italian town which has a serial killer on the loose. He soon discovers the killer is inspired by fairy tales, and his investigation leads to a nightmare revelation about the killer's motive.
Profondo sees Leo arriving in a small seaside village. He goes in search of the 'Red Devil', which is a legendary marine animal that has inspired folklore in the area.

Psycho Therapy and Keeping Rosy are also now out under the 'HNN Presents' label. The former is about a therapist who goes insane and starts going after her patients.
Keeping Rosy is a British psycho-thriller. It stars Maxine Peake (The Theory of Everything) as a business woman who snaps and kills her cleaning lady after a tough day at work. Using her coldness she has learned through her daily life she works to cover up the crime.

Toro Loco Bloodthirsty is an action comedy from Chilean genre specialist Patricio Valladares. This follows a grizzled stranger who arrives in small town ruled over by a ruthless crime boss and his paraplegic son. With the help of a young woman, her geeky brother and a drag queen, the stranger sets out to clean the town.

Female Werewolf is about a mentally unstable woman who believes she may be a werewolf. This comes from Chris Alexander and is a HorrorNews.net presentation.

The final two releases from HNN Presents are Bunny The Killer Thing and If He Hollers. I reviewed the comedy horror Bunny back in 2018 and said of it "...this is a film so wonderfully shot and with such a likable cast that I was glued to the movie right up until the very end".
If He Hollers is a Mexican thriller about an innocent bachelorette party that goes very out of control after a group of female friends encounter a cowboy and secretly give him Viagra.

Reap and Insanity are two more horrors from Bayview Entertainment. In Reap a mysterious stranger arrives at a house party and informs the guests that they are all destined to die that night. They are told they must find replacements so that they can escape their destinies.

Insanity has a group of friends heading to an island for a class reunion. There, old grudges from their past come back to haunt them leading to mayhem.

Released on 16th November was Waratah. This one is described as 'An exciting, terrifying, and humorous psycho-thriller'. An ambitious actor and an albino with mental powers are connected by the sweet and innocent Trey Swift.

Finally, on 27th October the lovely Teacher Shortage came to DVD. I have had dealings with the director, Troy Escamilla and can assert that he seems like a great guy who really loves his slasher movies. In my review back in February I said "The soundtrack is killer, the kill scenes look wonderful...this was a blast to watch from start to finish".