Crumb Catcher (2023) - Comedy Horror Film Review

The screener I received of the Chris Skotchdopole directed and co-written comedy horror film (in his feature length directorial debut) - Crumb Catcher, stated the screener link was only viable for seven days, so after two weeks I figured it likely wouldn't work. Thankfully, it did, and I was exposed to this very dark and twisted comedy horror, with the empathises more on the horror side of things. While not nearly as bleak, the humour here reminded me of the type used in the shocking comedy horror of The Coffee Table.

Newly-wed Shane (Rigo Garay - The Leech) wakes up the day after his wedding to new wife, Leah (Ella Rae Peck - Blackout) with no memory much of the night before. He discovers their envelope containing guests monetary contributions to the new couple is empty, and he receives an odd text from a woman named Rose (Lorraine Farris - Natural Born Killers) who insinuates that he did something with her the previous night. Confused, but wanting to put it behind him, the newly weds head out to their honeymoon location, a remote and posh woodland home. Later that evening they are surprised to get a knock at the door, and even more surprised when they see that it is John (John Speredakos - Blackout), an odd caterer who had been working at their wedding. He states he had arrived there to give the couple the top of their wedding cake which had gone missing, but his true intentions are made clear when he says he wants to give the two a presentation on a novel device he has been working on, something he calls the 'crumb catcher'. It turns out that John's wife is Rose, and that they are blackmailing Shane to invest in this product unless Shane wants Rose to send the video she took of the pair being 'intimate' to his new wife. This begins an unsettling night of chaos and terror, as the eccentric John becomes increasingly deranged in his effort to sell his device.

This small in scope character drama mainly features a cast of just four. The larger than life John is the focal point of this, and Speredakos steals the show with his wild and chaotic performance. John is like a bull in a china shop, unable to take no for an answer, and reaching some Mr Bean heights of awkwardness and clumsiness. Think of a more horror styled version of Basil Fawlty from the British sitcom Fawlty Towers. With this character though there is an ever present feeling of danger. The man is huge as it is, but early on, Leah notices he is carrying a gun, which while never referenced by John, makes his weirdness more unsettling. Rose was more complicated, she seems at her wits end with John's desperate behaviour, but it always felt to me like this could all be an act. Her blazing arguments with her husband increase to the madness, creating even more of an odd feel to the evening. It made sense then that Leah and Shane are much more normal in how they act. Leah was fine, but I didn't really think much of Shane. He has no memory of the event with Rose, and due to the couple being obvious con-artists, I figured he would have likely been date raped, it was all too convenient. Shane instead, maybe due to confusion, is ready to believe that he willingly cheated on Leah. I enjoyed the flashes of a more dark side to John that are brought to the forefront, it made the uncomfortable night that little bit more perilous. 

It may be a comedy horror, but there aren't many laughs to be found here. It is more a jet-black humour that propels the story, initially the comedic part being the new couple feeling too socially awkward not to interact with the manic John. Much of the film takes place within the remote house, though things change up into something more dramatic for the third act. There were some decent effects used to simulate being drunk, and the way the camera spins around the room during the 'Crumb Catcher' presentation really added to the feeling of confusion and being out of their depths for the protagonists. At one hour forty five, this went along at a fair pace, only really in the third act did things sometimes feel a little dragged out. Much like The Coffee Table, there is a feeling of social horror here, and this combined with the farcical nature of the story created an interesting blend.

I had no idea what Crumb Catcher would be when I started it up. Another film that isn't feel good, and whose humour was quite twisted. The strong central performance of Speredakos made this a movie that I couldn't look away from, even if the core idea was relatively simple. Crumb Catcher came to the ARROW streaming service on July 14th.

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No Tears in Hell (2025) - Horror Film Review

Having not read the synopsis, I had assumed No Tears in Hell would be some sort of demonic possession type story, which I was fully on board with. Directed and co-written by Michael Caissie (Hunter's Moon), this is actually a grim and gory film about a serial killer, and I discovered at the film's end that it was actually inspired by the real life serial killer known as the Siberian Ripper.

Set in Alaska in the 1990's, this stars Luke Baines (The Mandalorian TV series, Shadowhunters TV series) as Alex, a young man who holds a burning rage within him. Creepy Alex is unsurprisingly a serial killer, he picks victims off the streets, typically homeless teens, and brings them back to his decrepit apartment where over a period of days to weeks he tortures and kills them. His loving mother (Gwen Van Dam - Halloween uncredited) helps her son to dispose of the bodies, and also partakes in consuming the corpses. His mother begins to get concerned with Alex, his victims have became more random, while he is being sloppy in clearing up his crimes. This causes a detective to start to suspect there may be a killer on the loose in the city.

No Tears in Hell was a moody, dark, dank, and depressing horror that was the epitome of feel bad. It features a narration from Alex who initially appeared to be set-up as an anti-hero of sorts. This super serious edge lord character feels that he is doing the world a service by getting rid of undesirables. From start to end he is a terrible person, always choosing the darker option when there is the chance of the slightest hint of light. I hadn't realised this was based on a real person, so I am glad that I never once felt anything in common with this evil protagonist. The real killer apparently chose teenagers as his victims, and occasionally ate them. Here, Alex eats all his victims, with his justification being that the world is a harsh place and he has to do what he can to survive. We are kind of shown the film from his perspective, with him seeing himself as a wolf, which is shown on screen by infrequent inserts of close-ups of the creatures. His mother is equally twisted, being the person who encouraged Alex's behaviour from since he was a young child, but she has a vague (extremely vague!) good side to her in that she wants him to only pick people with no family. Sure, that is for self preservation but there are some good scenes where she is trying her best to discourage potential victims from entering Alex's apartment after finding out they had people who would miss them. Side characters mainly exist only to be victims, none of these were particularly bad, but the acting wasn't always world class. I thought Baines was great in the lead role however.

Feel good this was not, the sets are grimy and gross, and there are no end of body parts being sawn off victims, and blood. The torture porn genre is not a favourite of mine, and while this doesn't quite go as deep into body trauma as that, this still has plenty of unpleasant scenes, such as when Alex cuts off a victims tongue, and lobotomises another victim by hammering a corkscrew device into their brain via the eye socket. None of this was happy watching, but I had to say this was actually well made. Outside of some external shots of Alex's apartment block this all took place in a limited number of locations that created a consistent tone to the film world. The special effects were pretty good, and severed body parts looked as they should rather than fake props. The film's score was also decent, memorable at least as I haven't been able to stop myself humming the depressing theme tune ever since I finished the movie. At an hour and forty five minutes in length this had the potential to drag and feel slow, yet it never did for me. I might not have liked what was going on but I was engaged with the story, and drawn into the miserable film world.

I had no idea until the screens of text at the end that this was based on a true story. Typically that would be very loose, but I was surprised how much of this was things that had happened, even if it seems the motivations of the protagonist were simplified. I didn't really enjoy the film, true crime serial killer stuff where victims are tortured is not really my thing. I will state the film was very well made though, and for that it should get credit. No Tears in Hell comes to digital and VOD platforms on 12th August via Scatena & Rosner Films.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for 7th August 2025

I am back for a second round of news stories, feeling aware that my inbox is getting a bit full, though it has certainly been far worse in the past. I am writing this on Sunday after having got back from swimming, the first time I've done that in about twenty five years. Anyway, enough waffling, onwards to the news.

Fear Anonymous is a new film that was directed by Bron Theron, and starring Gerard Marzilli, Tyler Gaylord, Rashida L. Hudson, Tod James, Sarkis Bakalyan and plenty of others. It takes place at a Sunday afternoon support group where people gather to explain what scares them the most. One week, a young man named Tyler joins, which leads to a shift within the dynamic of the group. The movie takes place in the same film universe as Theron's previous film Half Dead Fred, with the director explaining that this takes place the day after the events in that film where Freddy Nash visits a haunted house. I'm not entirely sure, but I believe this to be an anthology.

VIPCO and BayView Entertainment have released the documentary Areas Of High Strangeness: Stimson Hospital, it is now available on digital platforms worldwide, including to rent/buy on Amazon Prime Video. Written and directed by Jeffrey Checker, this follows the Demon Hunter Society as they explore the allegedly haunted Stimson Hospital in Eaton Rapids, Michigan.

Finally for today, Iconic is a thriller from director Matthew Freiheit that has recently came to MoviVue. The film concerns a social media influencer who struggles to keep their sanity after being stalked by a violent stalker. MoviVue is a new streaming service that features curated indie horror gems, with filmmakers on the platform getting up to fifty times more profit than traditional streaming platforms.

The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Tuesday 3rd August 2025

They say the older you get the faster that time appears to move, that certainly seems to be the case with me as I can barely believe it is August already! The year is literally zooming by. Onwards to yet another collection of horrific horror news.

Jared Masters (Feral Female, The Nightgown) has revealed his latest movie, and has launched an Indiegogo campaign to raise funds to help fund it. Bigfoot Breeds is a comedy horror that surprisingly enough deals with the cryptid Bigfoot. The synopsis states it is about three sorority girls who take on a challenge to spend the weekend in a remote woodland cabin, in an area said to be deep in Bigfoot territory, though they have chosen breeding season as the time to do this. The press release promises a reliance on practical special effects, '...a script so sharp it could shave a yeti, and performances that will make you question your sanity...' For more info, check out the Indiegogo page here.

Let's see if you can tell the age of this last news story. Spirit Springs is a new horror that was released on streaming platform Screamify on 13th June. The story concerns a band named 'Midnight Misfits' who stay at a remote mansion on the Florida springs while on tour. One of the band members has a swim, which causes an ancient spirit to awaken and begin to claim souls. The film stars Avaryana Rose (Bitter Souls), Greg Cipes, Ashanti Moore, Tristan Green, Tyler Charly and Austin Nix, with John K. Eagle Jr. as director.

Finally for today, Eureka Entertainment have announced the North American release of The Island, a cult Hong Kong survival horror film (1985) that is said to be Hong Kong's answer to films such as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and The Hills Have Eyes. Coming on Blu-ray in a brand new 2K restoration, this joins The Masters of Cinema Series as a limited edition release from 14th October, and is limited to 2,000 copies per territory. Directed by Po-Chih Leong, this is about a teacher and his small group of students who go on an excursion to what they believe is an uninhabited island. Turns out the place is actually home to three psychotic siblings and their equally crazed mother.

Minor Anger Issues (2025) - Short Horror Film Review

Minor Anger Issues is the latest short film from Turkish writer Erdeniz Tunç and director Can Sagir (Shadow of Violence, Ancient Voice). I have always appreciated the films from these two, and after the more thriller orientated previous short, I figured this new one would follow a similar path. I was pleased to see it actually blends the horror and thriller genres into an entertaining blend.

At a school, a teacher explains to the older brother of a troubled school kid that the boy needs to learn to control his anger issues. Staying with the older brother due to the parents splitting up, the brother believes this turmoil may be the reason for his misplaced anger. Later that day while the boy is sleeping in bed, two intruders break in, and come to learn the minor anger issues of the young boy may be more than they can handle.

At six minutes forty five seconds, this was a compact short that told its story in a lean and effective way. The first part takes place at the school, and it is about halfway into the story that the horror part begins. I assumed this was going to be a home invasion film in short form, but with minimal though effective special effects, this becomes something different.

Not too much more to say about Minor Anger Issues, I was delighted with the change-up of expectations and it told its story in a minimalist fashion, combining to make something worth a watch, and also the best short I have seen yet from this duo.

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Slender Man (2018) - Horror Film Review

I don't often get to a stage in my blog where I have space to review films of my own choosing. Why oh why then did I decide to check out the critically panned Slender Man, especially considering I knew it to be a bad film. Directed by Sylvain White, and based on a cool Creepy Pasta (basically the modern day version of urban legends) created a tiny way back in 2009, this film apparently was a bit of a mess to make, with drastic re-writes to try and distance the movie from the negative press the idea of Slender Man was getting (stemming mainly from two girls who conspired to murder their friend and blame it on the figure making them do it). These changes in the film's story were late enough that even trailers showed character death scenes, when the final version boringly features zero deaths even remotely near showing on-screen. 

Four teenage friends - Wren (Joey King - Independence Day: Resurgence), Hallie (Julia Goldani Telles), Chloe (Jaz Sinclair - Gen V TV show), and Katie (Annalise Basso - Ouija: Origin of Evil, Oculus) are bored and decide to look up a way to try and contact urban digital legend the Slender Man. After around a minute of searching online they discover the summoning video, which they all watch but then dismiss it as an internet hoax. As the days pass, the four begin to experience inexplicable hallucinations and nightmares, with things getting more serious when Katie vanishes into thin air during a school field trip. The remaining friends now knowing the Slender Man is real at first seek a way to rescue Katie, but then later on it becomes far more about self preservation from the figure's grasp. 

Surprisingly, it isn't the lack of any type of body count that really pulls Slender Man down, it is more how it tries to be a jack of all trades and inevitably becomes a master of none. The horror is so inconsistent here, with barely any rules as to what the characters will go through. One friend vanishes, another goes insane (I assume anyway, the character just kind of exits the film never to really return), the remaining two getting increasingly paranoid and plunging into waking nightmares. The horror mainly takes the form of limp jump scares that never worked, semi-effective nightmares (one character being stalked by a multitude of Slender Men within a compact library was maybe the film's highlight scene), and poor CG. The CG in particular was very off putting as it looked like the type of CG you might find in an early 2000s film. It is hard to be scared when characters are impaled or grabbed by obviously computer generated tentacles.
The design of the titular antagonist isn't a bad one, the relative newness of this fabricated urban legend meant it was hard to take it seriously. It appeared in some decent enough scenes, usually anything out in woodland made for at least a couple of decent shots of the tall faceless being blending in with the trees.

The story was all over the place. You have to have a bit of suspension of disbelief that the real ritual for summoning the creature is readily available online with the smallest of searches, and that it is guaranteed to work. Much is made of modern technology, and it is sometimes put to decent enough use. I liked when characters receive video calls from the being that then show a first person perspective of it walking through the victim's home. Not so good was a mid-film investigation montage that again speed runs through the investigation, as if it was just checking off a box on a to-do list, the character swiftly finding what she wants to know with the minimum of searches on her laptop. Originally, there was planned to be a kill count, it sounds like this was going to be a more traditional horror. With that kill count abandoned however, there are just a whole bunch of scenes that end up unresolved. Characters vanish from the story with little fanfare, and rather than feeling mysterious, it just feels like the endings to the characters fates ended up on the cutting room floor.

Slender Man was a bloodless, generic, lazy and dull horror movie that really was as bad as it had been made out to be. Perhaps with not so much of a knee-jerk reaction to claims it was glorifying real world crime, this could have been somewhat entertaining. Instead, this is a muddled and meandering mess of a movie that doesn't seem to know what it is trying to achieve.

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The Rotting Zombie's Round-up of Horror News for July 2025

As I write this I'm on day seven of my self imposed exile from the world, I haven't so much as put one foot outside, and have only seen a friend on two of those days. Coming up to the weekend, so I have three and bit days left before I have to leave this paradise and return to the real world (I so miss that time alone, next time off work isn't until late November). Onwards to the news.

A teaser trailer for Magnificent Motion Picture's Until There Is One has been released. Sounding a bit like an indie Squid Game, this sees a viral billionaire influencer who launches an online event in which hundreds of contestants are locked within a large warehouse, with the last person standing winning a large cash prize.
In a side hustle, the film is hoping to break the Guinness Book of World Records for most on-screen kills in a slasher film. To aid with this, there is currently an Indiegogo campaign running where there is an opportunity to become a victim and join the cast. The cast currently includes Matty Cardarople (Stranger Things), Douglas Tait (Halloween Kills), Douglas Vermeeren (Black Creek), Lauren Marie Taylor (Friday the 13th Part 2), Ron Sloan (Friday the 13th Part V), and Brett Wagner (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre). For more details head to the Indiegogo page here.

I've never heard of it, but 2009 award winning comedy horror Dogtooth is set to return theatrically across the UK and Ireland via a 4K restoration that has been overseen by the movie's original director - Yorgos Lanthimos. Coming from Vertigo Releasing, Dogtooth tells the story of a couple that had decided to raise their three children on the outskirts of a large city, within a fenced off property, free from any outside influence. Their peace is threatened with the arrival of an outsider who begins to cause their fragile reality to crack. Dogtooth's new 4K restoration releases from 29th August.

Jared Master's entertaining indie comedy horror film Feral Female is now out On Demand, VHS, and DVD. The film, which concerns an Australian big game hunter who has been hired to capture a feral beast in LA's Griffith Park, received an 8/10 from me, with me saying 'A picturesque location..., fun characters, lots of silly dialogue and a lack of tepid humour...meant that I was drawn into this film world...'

Joe Boi's Code Blue novel is now available on Amazon in paperback and on Kindle. The story features PTSD survivor; former army medic Ariel Arcardo. She now works at a hospital where she is unfortunate enough to witness an invasion of a legion of demonic creatures within the hospital walls. Her only escape lies beyond nine floors, each of which is ruled by a different terror.

Mentioned back in my March round-up, the eigth horror feature from Acrostar Productions - Perfect Soul, is now in production, with a new Indiegogo campaign going to raise funds to complete filming. For more details about this horror that stars a woman who is guided by mysterious witches purporting to be her family, check out the Indiegogo page here.

Swine and Dine is a short horror film that comes from Black Ave Films and had its premiere at Smodcastle Cinemas on July 27th. Described as a '...dark, suspenseful short film that delves into the chilling world of industrial farming'.

Heading to festivals soon is Michael Moutsatsos' Camp Slasher Lake, described in the press release as a '...retro grindhouse nightmare...'. This stars Andrew Pierson as Splatter Jack, and the film has been shot as a short-form grindhouse experience. A feature length version of this is in pre-production. Pierson says of the movie "We shot this thing like it was ripped off a dusty VHS and left to rot in a gas station horror bin."!

Dangerous Animals is a shark based horror film that released on digital and physical across the UK and Ireland starting 25th July. The film follows rebellious surfer, Zephyr who ends up captured on a shark obsessed serial killer's boat! Following a world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, and a theatrical release on 6th June, Dangerous Animals came to digital on 25th July, with physical editions releasing on 8th September.

Finally for today, David Cronenberg's The Shrouds releases on digital platforms from 11th August. This stars Vincent Cassel as Karsh, a businessman who in the wake of his wife's death invented technology that allows the living to monitor their lost loved ones in their 'shrouds'. After a series of graves are desecrated, including his wife's, Karsh sets out to deliver revenge.

Ziam (2025) - Zombie Horror Film Review

Netflix has quite a good track record when it comes to Asian zombie films. I had heard a little bit of buzz about the Thailand based Ziam. This action heavy zombie horror coming from Kulp Kalijareuk (who directed and co-wrote the movie) had plenty of very cool looking undead, though the limited setting and basic story didn't do too much to make itself stand out from the horde.

In the near future, the world has fallen into anarchy due to dwindling food supplies. This has resulted in mass riots and a breakdown in law and order. Due mainly to the strong leadership of one man, Thailand has fared surprisingly well with law and order somewhat still upheld by the militarised police, who follow this leader. Singh (Mark Prin Suparat) is a former Muay Thai fighter who now works on protection details for lorries that smuggle food across the border. Meanwhile, his doctor girlfriend Rin (Nuttanicha Dungwattanawanich) works at the local hospital. Contaminated fish smuggled into the country (that happened to be the latest lorry that Singh assisted with) has the unfortunate side effect of infecting people who eat it into flesh hungry ghouls. Not knowing about zombies, the first victim is taken to the hospital where he swiftly dies, and then reanimates. It isn't long before the hospital is in chaos with violent undead taking over the place. Discovering the place is in lockdown, Singh travels there to find Rin. Not wanting the infection to spread, the police have been authorised to blow up the site, though first they have instructions to retrieve the leader and his terminally sick wife who are both situated at the top of the building. During his search for Rin, Singh discovers a young boy, together the two search for Rin, unaware about the explosive countdown occurring in the basement.

The main thing I had heard about Ziam (a play on words with Siam being another name for Thailand) was that the protagonist doesn't fight zombies with guns or other weapons, but instead uses his fists and feet! This sounded like a very risky way to fight the undead, and I can't say it ever felt particularly effective. Singh is able to fight off scores of the rotters at once for sure, but his attacks are mostly defensive, knocking the creatures to the ground rather than actually killing them half the time. It did look great on camera, there is no small number of these insane sprinting horrors. There was also a good mix of human antagonists that led to some lovely looking three way fight scenes between the trigger happy police, Singh, and the zombies. The highlight of this was Singh's fight against the police leader. A typical well choreographed fight sequence along the lines of something you would see in a movie like The Raid, but made so much better by the occasional break in fighting as both combatants have to stop to dispatch approaching undead before continuing the fight!

The zombies look fantastic and increase in number and danger as the ninety five minute movie proceeds. Without going too much into spoilers, something happens in the third act that makes these crazed ghouls even more insane and scary looking. It becomes really thrilling, especially a late scene that sees Singh trapped in a car as zombies from every conceivable angle smash their way in to him. There is lots of blood to go with these ghouls, blood spraying absolutely everywhere throughout the film.

The story was a bit too basic for its own good, extremely simple, and restricted almost entirely to the hospital. You could tell the more indie nature of the budget with outdoor scenes that never failed to feel very artificial looking. Lots of entertaining fight scenes with Prin Suparat, and the child actor was actually quite entertaining with a good amount of sass in him (such as when he giggles at a struggling zombie whose arms and legs are all encased in plaster cast). Rin was also fine, a decent enough character. The cast was pretty small with not many notable standouts. 
Despite the occasional obvious budget constraints, there were some great directing choices. One highlight was a slow sweep around the hospital, with the camera passing through walls and floors to give a great overview of the utter chaos going on. There was a slow motion blurred effect given for close ups of the undead which also worked well, due to the great zombie make-up. Some silly moments here, one part saw a character caught in the epicentre of an explosion, only to be shown moments later completely fine while all around him are in various states of destroyed limbs. The ending was also a tad cheesy, and the odd mid-credits scene that seemingly hinted at a sequel came out of nowhere.

Ziam was a neat zombie film that did something a little different with its reliance on martial arts. Plenty of very freaky looking undead, and some neat stylistic choices was let down really only by a barebones and unoriginal story that sometimes felt a little too by the numbers. Ziam is currently streaming on Netflix.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Tuesday 29th July 2025

The first of two news posts for this week, this one bringing together three news stories of terror. Onwards to the news.

The Horror Collective have acquired Super Happy Fun Clown ahead of its FrightFest international premiere. This comedy horror comes from Patrick Rea and stars Jennifer Seward (The Stylist) as a former child prodigy who grown up is now a clown for hire. Over one terror filled night she decides to take inspirations from classic movie monsters and infamous killers. Super Happy Fun Clown will play on 24th August at 16:00, in Odeon LUXE West End, Screen 1.

Road Head is a LGBTQ comedy horror that has its worldwide digital debut on VOD platforms and DVD today. Directed by David Del Rio, this tells the story of three friends who encounter a deranged cult after taking a road trip to the Mojave Desert.

Finally for today, the excellently titled Zombie Sluts Stripclub Slaughterhouse. This is directed by Robbie Lopez (The House That Eats Flesh), and stars Andrew Pierson as a bouncer at a strip club that gets caught up in a zombie outbreak. This is currently in pre-production with a trailer coming soon, and strangely isn't the first, second, or even third zombie film I have heard of that takes place within a strip club!

Killing Time (2019) - Short Horror Film Review

Killing Time is a short sixteen minute film that was directed and co-written by Scott Lake, and was a film that took me about sixteen minutes to locate on IMDB also, due to many many films coming out under that title!

A masked man sneaks around the home of a family one night where he systematically murders them all. Starting with the children, he then proceeds to kill the wife before waking the husband (Jay Allen Tucker - Pool Ghouls) up and taking him to the front room where he proceeds to try and explain his actions.

It is hard to really talk too much about this one as there are some pretty integral spoilers that would be needed to be known. Obviously filmed with an indie budget, there were elements  here that didn't look so great on camera, with an obvious lack of special effects. On the story side of things also there are parts you just have to accept and move past on. The integral twist is poorly explained within the short, mainly due to the short run time, both the viewer and characters are expected to just take it at face value despite the lack of much evidence.
Despite all that though, this told a captivating story, doing more with its silent moments than with its scenes of dialogue. He may be a man in a balaclava but there was something in the actors actions that made him seem familiar with the home he was in, leading me to guess the odd reveal before it happened. The first kill scene took me by surprise, though with just a sound effect to sell the kill it took me a few moments to realise it had even happened. After that I was more interested, the mystery of the piece keeping me wanting to know why the events were happening.

There was good atmosphere with Killing Time and credit is due for trying to tell a more 'out-there' story than you might expect. From the opening to the end I was engaged with this. There might have been some concessions to budget and story-telling time, but this was a decent short with a well paced tale and an effective soundtrack.

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The Haunting of Prince Dom Pedro (2025) - Comedy Horror Film Review

The Haunting of Prince Dom Pedro is the latest film from director Don Swanson (Occurrence at Mills Creek, A Wish for Giants) and was something far different to what I expected. This is a comedy horror with an empathises on comedy, the horror being so slight as to me almost non-existent. 

A group of high school Latin American History students are not paying particular attention during the lesson on Prince Dom Pedro, and subsequently do bad during the exam on it. Their disrespect to the Prince somehow has real world consequences as one by one the friends turn up dead, seemingly killed by the Prince's angry spirit. The two surviving friends - Jayden (Rachel O'Day) and Kayden (Madeline Sclichter) begin to suspect they have been cursed, and go on a quest to locate a book on curses that may be able to help them.

The film has a story that is mostly full of nothing. Red herring quests that seem to always have them getting nowhere near the truth. The horror, if that is what you can call it, is mostly the friends hearing the disembodied voice of Prince Dom Pedro threatening them, yet never seeming to understand what he is saying to them due to him speaking Portuguese. The few death scenes are very brief and sudden, with the ghost able to kill his victims simply by touching them. The story overall was a bit too simple. It was never clear why they had become cursed by the ghost, and the meandering story that sees the protagonists not really achieving anything at all didn't really seem to serve a purpose. Other than have the characters meet ever eccentric weirdos, such as Gamemaster (Lorin Foster) who purports to be the best board game player in the world. There are also two full length musical numbers where characters are watching someone perform on stage, I didn't quite see the importance of these parts either.

This film world has a light tone to it, this made the comedy feel like it was something from a teen drama. There is a sense of unreality with characters who don't really act the way you would expect them to when bad things happen. The young leads never seem that fussed with what is happening, and the surreal side characters add to a 'twee' type vibe. The humour was mostly strange, such as the adverts that play at the film's start and are then constantly referenced by characters advertising these. One of them is Bigfoot Unleashed: Part VII, with one of the leads repeatedly talking about the film, and it even playing in its entirety after the end credits. I wouldn't say this was a funny movie, but it had a consistent light heartedness to it, regardless of what was going on. I guess if there was any message to be learned, it would be to not have such a dependence on phones, as almost every character here seems addicted to phone use, much like the real world if a little exaggerated. 
This was filmed on a micro-budget (being a SAG-AFTRA micro-budget agreement production), which is obvious to see. Limited locations, set dressing, and a cast of actors who while not always the best, all shared enthusiasm for their roles, none of them standing out in a bad way.

The Haunting of Prince Dom Pedro was inoffensive and carried a simple charm to how it played out. The horror was so slight as to almost be non-existent. Limitations to the story telling did leave me a little lost at times, but with plenty going on, and a friendly vibe, I can't say I ever found this one to be boring, and the low budget didn't really get in the way of anything. This was designed in a purposeful way with the tone presented intended, but it wasn't quite what I was hoping for.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Thursday 24th July

At the time of editing I am on day six of my self imposed exile from the world, in which I live in my own pocket dimension for ten days. I am still loving it, the life of a recluse is something I would love to do, but alas, I have to work! Onwards to the news.

The Summer We Died is a new horror film that comes from Tahoe Joe director Dillon Brown. Coming from Horror Dadz Productions, this is now streaming on Amazon Prime, Fawesome and on Kings of Horror's YouTube channel. A sleepy town has a strict summer curfew placed on it after a spate of violent killings, this spells bad news for a group of rebellious girls who like nothing more than to skate. Ignoring the curfew they head out, unaware of just how close to the mysterious killer they are. Described as a '...gritty, glittering, and blood-soaked love letter to youth on the edge', director Brown says of it: "It's 'Saved by the Bell' meets an 80s slasher - with teeth...it's about being young, reckless, angry...and alive".

New stills and a promo clip have been released for Popeye The Slayer Man ahead of its Prime SVOD release. The ridiculous story sees a group of friends sneak into an abandoned spinach factory in order to make a documentary about the legendary 'Sailor Man' who is said to haunt the place. They soon discover there is a lot of truth to this legend. With a reliance on practical special effects and the silly set-up, this has the chance to be entertaining. This stars Jason Robert Stephens as the antagonist character, and there is already talk of a sequel in the works.

Finally for today, psychological thriller Half Way Down is set for a shoot in Yorkshire this October. Casting is currently underway and Ryan Patch is set to direct. Written by Patrick Monger, this is described as a character driven thriller that centres on a grieving rural couple whose quiet existence is upended by the arrival of a teenage girl with a likely sinister secret.

Zombie Flesh Eaters (1979) - Horror Film Review

Of course, I own the classic Lucio Fulci (Demonia, The Beyond) zombie horror film Zombie Flesh Eaters (also known as Zombie and Zombi 2). It was one of the earlier films I picked up on DVD, so was surprised to see I hadn't ever reviewed it on this site. With the release of a new 4K version on streaming service ARROW, I figured it was about time I revisit this.

An apparently deserted yacht appears in the New York bay area and two police men are sent to investigate. They discover a strange blood soaked man who attacks and kills one of the officers before his partner ends him. The boat belonged to the doctor uncle of Anne Bowles (Tisa Farrow), someone who she lost contact with three months previous, so she wants to trace where the vessel came from so she can try and locate her uncle. Meanwhile, Peter West (Ian McCulloch - Zombie Holocaust) is a reporter who conveniently enough has been assigned a story on where the boat came from. The two end up meeting up and hiring a boating couple; Brian (Al Cliver - Demonia) and Susan (Auretta Gay). Together they head toward where they believe the boat originated from, an island that the locals see as a cursed place. Eventually arriving there, the group meet Dr. Menard (Richard Johnson), someone who is trying to survive and understand a disease that turns anyone affected into the walking dead.

Initially I was a little underwhelmed with this. In my head, I had been thinking this was Zombie Creeping Flesh, a film that I have fond memories of. Alas, it wasn't that, but it also meant that lots of this was film I had forgotten about. Some parts had stayed with me, the shark versus zombie battle, and especially one very gory scene involving a giant wooden splinter getting impaled through someone's eyeball! I hadn't recalled how relatively slow the film was, with zombies not appearing in force until the final act. I liked this drip feed of undead goodness, with the undead initially shown mainly under sheets. The last twenty minutes is where it really is at, a great siege sequence featuring plenty of ghouls. The make-up for these creatures is make-do at best, a repeated use of effects that kind of look like people have had paper Mache added to their faces, so that they can look suitably rotted, and able to house real worms and maggots. These corpses are able to effortlessly rip victims apart, at least the violence on the victims looked great, lots of spraying blood and torn flesh.

The story is straight forward, but was a classic tale. I loved that the outbreak was already going on by the time the protagonists had arrived. I thought Dr. Menard and his assistant (Stefania D'Amario) were great characters, in over their heads, but a ghoulish curiosity keeping them in the thick of the unfolding chaos. I also appreciated there wasn't ever an explanation for how the outbreak began, locals putting it down to Voodoo, but the doctor convinced it is some sort of natural creation. The island setting gave a bit of a Heart of Darkness vibe to the story, and the simple plot meant it was always easy to understand the motivations of the various characters.

Zombie Flesh Eaters is a classic of the genre, and is yet another statement that to make a good horror featuring the undead you don't need the best make-up effects, less is typically more. This sometimes doesn't have the scope to be able to sell the story beats it is trying to sell, and the dubbing is amusingly terrible at best, but this has a diverse soundtrack and some classic moments of zombie horror. The 4K version of Zombie Flesh Eaters arrives on ARROW on 28th July, and is the best way to currently see this flawed yet undeniable classic.

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