Dark Inside (2011) by Jeyn Roberts - Horror Book Review

Dark Inside is the debut novel of Jeyn Roberts written for young adults. Despite being aimed at younger people it is still a book that deserves to be read by all.

A series of catastrophic earthquakes occur world wide devastating much of the Earth. With the earthquakes millions die, yet millions more become changed, now possessed by a great evil they exist only to cause chaos and butcher any survivors unaffected by the madness covering the globe.  Dark Inside follows four separate teens as they try to survive in the ruins of America.  Michael who teams up with a fellow group of survivors, Clementine who survives the massacre of her entire town, Mason who battles the evil threatening to over take him, and Aries who is set on her way by a mysterious young man who seems to know too much about the events that have happened.

Each chapter written in first person focuses on one of the four teens, with a fifth mysterious perspective from someone called 'Nothing'.  Each of the four (well five) has their own story going on in the world, so it is like reading totally different stories. This was a really well done method of telling the story, chapters that ended on cliff hangers were made all the more suspenseful due to it being several chapters before the hangers got resolved. The stories all feel like road trips, each of the four heading through destroyed towns, fighting and evading the 'Baggers' (what the crazed monstrous humans are called in the fiction) and just trying to find food and shelter to survive.

For a book aimed at young adults this is plenty grim with lots of violence.  The Baggers are insane to various degrees, some are totally crazy (one character says how he saw a Bagger snap his own neck after getting his head stuck between two posts) while others have degrees of intelligence able to work together, such as the groups who go house to house dragging out survivors and murdering them.  Other times Baggers even are able to hold conversations and pretend to be survivors, waiting for their time to strike which leads to some cool plot twists.  Roberts really doesn't shy away from describing the acts of the Baggers, such as school bombings, carers killing infants with poisoned juice, while descriptions of the crazies roaming the streets armed with crowbars, and baseball bats just brings images of violence to mind.

The main characters themselves are not perfect either, many with deep flaws, bad decisions are made along the way which leads to pain and suffering for other survivors. One such scene was straight out of 28 Weeks Later with someone abandoning his group to the mercy of the Baggers, while other characters argue, get drunk, and don't make any attempt to help people in need for fear of getting caught themselves. It is interesting that some characters who appear seem like they are going to be key people only to get killed a few chapters later, is a nice touch that anyone seems up for being killed off at any point.

I seriously could not put this book down, I read it in two sittings, only stopped the first time as it had gotten to 2AM, I even read it on the bus; I get travel sick really easily so just shows how much I was into it that I even chanced getting ill to read it. Nearly all the chapters end on cliffhangers, all four of the stories are exciting with some awesome scenes such as a chase through a blizzard, getting caught in the middle of earthquakes, and the suspense of being stalked through buildings leading to a spectacular finale which arrives perfectly paced. I can't remember the last time I was so engrossed in a book like this.

This book has everything a horror fan could want, no matter what your age. A thrilling road trip with a unique take on zombies, though with similarities to Brian Keene's The Rising (similar though his did have a talking zombie lion!). Interesting though I am not sure how this could be made into a series and still feel as fresh as it did here, but Roberts is definitely an author to keep your eyes on.

SCORE:

X-Men: Reign of Apocalypse - Action Videogame Review (Gameboy Advance)

X-Men: Reign of Apocalypse is a single player side scrolling brawler for the Gameboy Advance.  It features a load of characters from X-Men, unfortunately many of these are not seen.

Basically the X-Men are transported to an alternate dimension where bad guy Apocalypse rules the Earth.  Playing as either Rogue, Wolverine, Storm, or Cyclops you must battle though 11 boring levels to find a way to get back home.

This game is terrible! Each level sees you walking left to right (occasionally with a lift level) fighting various enemies such as sentinels, Hellfire club members, and other X-Men.  The problem stems from the fact that about 70% of the enemies you face don't even make it on screen.  Most the time I was the only thing on screen as I beat up invisible enemies off to the left or right.  To make things even worse this counted for bosses as well, without a lie every single boss bar 2 never even got to make it on screen, so I had no idea what character I was fighting! To ramp this insanity to the next level the end of game boss; as in the FINAL BOSS never made it onto the screen before being killed! I assume it was Apocalypse but do not know for sure.

This is a joke of a game, it is easy as heck, has terrible background art, repetitive music (only about 3 different tunes for the games 11 levels) and is dull as dishwater. Pathetic.

SCORE:

The Shadows in the Underworld - Horror Videogame Review (X-Box Indie)

The Shadows in the Underworld is heavily based on the works of H.P Lovecraft, the premise and everything about it is straight out of his terrifying tales of madness, of strange cults and ancient horrors.

It starts with you in Antarctica in a submarine, strange ruins have been discovered under the water so you head off to investigate.  Upon getting to the ruins an ancient door slams shut leaving you trapped in the madness of the almighty ancient City.  Coming under attack from deep sea horrors you must navigate the nightmare and find a way to escape before you are driven insane...

Each level has you exploring a maze looking for the exit and its key.  The key you usually stumble across literally right away.  There is a progress bar at the bottom of the screen to see if your heading the right way.  Each screen you go onto will usually lead to a sustained attack from the monsters of the deep. Your submarine has torpedoes, as well as a giant chainsaw, I virtually never used the missiles, chainsaw was king.  Items can be collected using your beam which level up your armour, chainsaw and missiles.

The game has a cartoony look which does detract from the premise a bit, samey backgrounds, and architecture are used with not much variation between levels.  Between levels you get the submarine captains diary entries, these are very Lovecraftian in their writings as the captain is slowly driven insane by the unending gigantic City he is trapped in.  The music is great as well despite a lack of variety, I guess being an indie game is the reason for this. I was really hooked on this, excitedly waiting for the next diary entry, it had a bit of a weak finish which was a shame, not quite the doom and gloom ending I expected but still again quite in vein with Lovecraft (by far the writer of the most scary stories ever told).

Had quite a bit of fun with this one, for 80 Microsoft points this is well worth picking up.

SCORE:

The Haunted World of El Superbeasto - Horror Film Review

I have said before that Rob Zombie is my favourite director. Seeing an animated film based on his comic book series I quickly snapped it up.  Written and directed by Rob Zombie I expected another masterpiece.

The film takes place in a weird world in which monsters co exist with humans.  Beasto (a famous masked wrestler super hero) witnesses a stripper Velvet Von Black being kidnapped by a henchman (henchgorrila) of bad guy Dr Satan who will get demonic powers if he marries Black.  Beasto and his sister Suzi X (voiced by Sheri Moon Zombie) head off to foil Dr Satan's plan.

This is one terrible film! The jokes all fall flat, as in all of them, there are many references to horror films (Jack from the Shining, Michael Myers from Halloween, and the main trio from The Devil Rejects (the highlights) all make appearances as do many other horror villains.  Further nods can be seen on some scenes which are homages to classics, such as a recreation of the famous party scene from Carrie. The humour is really terrible, It is almost embarrassing how funny the film thinks it is being.

A sub plot involves a horde of biker Nazi Zombies who show up many times throughout the film, there are thousands of zombies but even these cannot save the film.  Plenty of violence, and lots of nudity (especially breasts which nearly all the female characters get out at one point or another).  Musical numbers break up the monotony which would be good if not for the fact that every single song in the film is utterly terrible.

I suffered watching this rubbish, and I was so glad when it finally ended.  The film is a waste of space really, one to avoid.  A sad day for Rob Zombie, his awesome record is broken with this giant miss.

SCORE:

Bloodforge and Dragon's Dogma - Fantasy Videogame Previews (X-Box 360)

Bloodforge is a grim and violent fantasy slash em up that takes place in a Conan the Barbarian style world.  Here are my thoughts on the demo.

An unskippable story tells of how the main character (a barbarian) has nightmares of his fighting days.  He awakes to find the world on fire. Then he is attacked by monsters. That's it really. The action took place in an arena which saw waves of enemies jumping down from the cliffs to fight you. You have light and heavy attacks and when enemies are stunned they can be finished off (usually by slicing them in half). The game has a 300 style look to it with sepia colours giving everyone a bronzed look.

The demo was quite short, I hope the whole game is not just fighting enemies in arenas as that would get tiring quickly. Still it is bloody, and apart from the camera controlled well. Bloodforge is an X-Box Live Arcade game that is available for 1200 Microsoft points, kinda steep.

Dragon's Dogma is a Japanese made fantasy RPG. You fight through a fantasy land battling mythical creatures. The demo has two levels to try. The first is set in a castle, you play as a Knight. Plenty of goblins are around to fight, and it ends with a fight against a chimera (half goat/half lion/half snake).  You have three A.I controlled people with you who seem kinda competent. A nice bit happened when one of my colleagues held a goblin so I could finish it off.

The second level takes place in an open field. A griffin attacks you and your team. Fire spells set the feathers of the giant bird on fire which was a cool touch. The game doesn't look fantastic but was fun enough, is on my wish list for when it goes cheap enough.

Crysis 2 (2011) - Sci-fi Videogame Review (X-Box 360)

The first Crysis game was only released on the X-Box 360 as a downloadable game. I would have liked it but stuck at £15 it is a bit too expensive for my unemployed state. The first game as far as I can tell was set on a tropical island and had you playing as a man in a special suit battling tentacle alien creatures.

Crysis 2 takes place several years later, New York has come under alien attack, an attempt to evacuate the city has gone very wrong.  You play as Alcatraz; an elite soldier sent in by submarine to rescue a scientist who might have a way to defeat the Ceph (the name of the alien force). Your team are ambushed and you are rescued by Prophet (the super soldier from Crysis) who gives you his suit before dying. The Ceph are out to stop you, as well as a private soldier company 'CELL' stationed to New York to keep the peace, but who seem to have gone rogue.

The plot is all over the place and quite confusing, needless to say you are a super soldier on a mission to hunt down blue objective markers all over the big apple.  Your suit lets you jump long distance, become heavily armoured, and also to turn invisible.  You start off quite weak but by buying upgrades you can get to the point where by the end of the game you can pretty much just walk from objective to objective unimpeded.

This is perhaps one of the best looking games on the 360, up there with Rage certainly.  The game looks fantastic and you are never a few steps away from the next set piece with earthquakes causing the ground to up heave, and buildings to collapse as you traverse them.  The game has a real sense of place, you start off on the outskirts where you travel through evacuation posts, and quarantine tents. Times Square, Central Park, the Statue of Liberty and other iconic landmarks of New York all appear, heavily changed due to the place being one big graveyard of body bags and destruction.

Crysis 2 is action all the way, story plays into the action a lot when at least a billion times in cutscenes your suit gets terminally damaged resulting in you laying or crawling helplessly. Falling out a window, being swept away by a flood all look great in first person. Some vehicle sections break up the action but are not particularly special.

It is quite a long game, around seven to eight hours I would guess, and has a pulse quickening soundtrack but it is not all perfect.  Cutscenes feature a giant green 'A' button obscuring them, there are many weapons but they mostly feel the same to use, and the plot is one big mess. More variety would have been nice as well, and it is kinda funny that if you upgrade your stealth you can pretty much just walk past every single enemy without the need to engage. A lame excuse is made at the start of the game for why your character doesn't speak - he is hungover apparently...um ok.

Crysis 2 looks great, sounds great but maybe a little too much style over substance. Crysis 3 has recently been announced, I will keep my eyes peeled.

SCORE:

Grubbins on Ice: Costume Quest - Horror Videogame DLC Review

Costume Quest was a real fun, simple RPG about some kids who fend off a monster invasion during Halloween.  Grubbins on Ice is the first (and so far only) downloadable content for it.

Some weeks after the events of the Costume Quest Lucy and Everett discover a strange artifact, they accidentally trigger it which creates a portal.  Lucy heads into the portal to see where it goes, Everett meanwhile gets the other 2 kids and together follow.  They discover it leads to the home world of the monsters who invaded Earth in Costume Quest.  A monster called Araxia has taken control of the Monster realm which has led to an uprising.  Working with the monster rebels you must find a way to the top of the mountain where Araxia rules and defeat him as well as rescue Lucy (who he kidnapped when she appeared in his world).

At just under 2 hours there is not a lot of game here, but it is bright and fun, and more Costume Quest is welcome.  It follows the same format as before: going from door to door to battle monsters, as well as solving simple fetch quests.  You get access to 3 new costumes (that affect how you fight in battles) which include a Skeleton Pirate, a Yeti, and a flying Eyeball.

The enemies you face this time around are skull faced ones, the baddies of the first game now on your side that made a nice twist.  Short and very sweet Grubbins on Ice is worth a play if you loved Costume Quest.

SCORE:

Piggy (2012) - Horror Film Review

Piggy is a British horror film set in London written and directed by Kieron Hawkes. The film is more of a thriller than a straight up horror, no ghouls or ghosts here, just mean violent people.

Joe is a timid young man suffering social phobia living in London. His brother John is like a best friend to Joe and looks out for him. During an outing to a pub John gets in a scuffle with a local gang. Heading home alone John is set upon by the gang and murdered. One day a few months later Joe gets a knock at his door by a strange man, apparently a childhood friend of John who calls himself 'Piggy'. Piggy tells Joe that he can help bring his brothers killers to justice. A plan is set in motion to get revenge on the people who took away his brothers life so callously, but is Piggy really who he says he is?

At times this film reminded me of an English version of Fight Club with the confident, aggressive Piggy leading his young charge into more and more violent leanings as they go after the gang members one by one. The character of Joe has almost nothing to him, coming across like a empty vessel. Paul Anderson as Piggy more than makes up for this, his character larger than life, always moving around, almost insane in his mannerisms, he steals the show completely. The gang members themselves do not have much to them, coming across not so much as evil as just generic bad guys.

Piggy has a haunting score that gives atmosphere to the bleak, dreary landscape of London. Most the film is set at night, the few daylight scenes do nothing to ease the depressive atmosphere as they exude an almost dreamlike quality to them. Violence comes regularly, though a subtle pan away usually conceals the damage. One effective scene in particular had someone's head being kicked in, and the look of effort on the kickers face alone is enough to convey the effect.

At times the film did seem to drag, a few too many scenes of not much in particular, but for the most part this was an almost chilled out voyage into revenge that had a commentary behind it all. I watched the whole film expecting a twist that never came, instead a much more low key one happened that while interesting was also a tad confusing with some mild plot holes hastily paved over.

So a cross between Harry Brown and Fight Club with some Straw Dogs thrown in for good measure. A great soundtrack, interesting ideas, and at times original but sometimes Piggy was let down by a weak end and some needless padding.

SCORE:

Dark Shadows - Horror Film Review

Tim Burton certainly likes to stick to his style (that of over the top Gothic) and he certainly likes to stick to his stars with yet again another Johnny Depp fronted film, plus Helena Bonham Carter included for good mix.  All I had seen prior to this film was the poster for it, I had heard nothing good or bad about it.

In the 1800's a family is cursed when the son of a successful fishing business family; Barnabas Collins makes the mistake of breaking the heart of a Witch.  Furious she kills his family, bewitches his one true love to commit suicide and turns him into a Vampire.  For good measure she imprisons him in a coffin and buries him alive.  200 years later in the 1970's his coffin is discovered, after escaping it Barnabas heads to his home.  Discovering he is now in the future and that his future family are not doing well he vows to restore them to the Collins former glory.  It turns out however that the Witch who cursed him is also still alive and wants nothing more than to either finally have Barnabas for herself, or destroy his family once again...

The first hour of the film was ok, while not amazing it was certainly watchable with the usual Tim Burton trappings and gloomy, fairy tale look. It really did feel at times like the director was just going through the motions. The plot though is terrible, the Witch Angelique Bouchard just repeatedly mingling between trying to destroy Barnabas and trying to get him to join her.  Depp as the out of place Vampire does a good enough job, his old fashioned mannerisms and his interactions with 1970's technology amusing at times giving the fish out of water approach such as when he calls the first car he sees a Devil arriving to drag him to Hell.  His appearance is pure Burton, all black and greys.

Something happened about an hour in though, the film just lost its spark and turned into a monotonous dull affair, with nowhere to go the story just starts repeating itself until the over long, overly dramatic ending that far outstayed its welcome and kinda reminded me of the end of the Casper film from the mid nineties. You shouldn't find yourself praying for a film to end.  Most the characters are unlikeable, even Depp himself due to his random butcherings of the Townsfolk.

The acting is ok at times, though characters struggle to break out of their stereotypes, the usual Danny Elfman score, and of course the film looks really good. All in all one to avoid unfortunately, the sometimes bloody effects, and great direction can't save this film from mediocrity.

SCORE:

The Dead War Series: Book 1 - Zombie Horror Book Mention

I was alerted to a new zombie book: The Dead War Series by George L. Cook III. Details are scarce but having read the prologue it seems to be a simple balls to the wall zombie tale. Each book is intended to tell a different tale that all tie into the 'Dead War' which has the US Army battling hordes of undead in 2053.

The book is available on Kindle and can be found at Amazon for cheap purchase.  I just do not get on with reading books on electronic devices, I am old fashioned but unless I have a physical paper book in my hands I just cant concentrate on a story.

Still it is good that zombie books are in abundance nowadays and should not be knocked (unless they are terrible of course!).

Supernatural Tales - Danish Horror Compilation

Released on 6th May was Supernatural Tales; a DVD compilation of 16 short Danish horror films. These were all first shown at a Movie Battle competition in Denmark where the theme was 'Supernatural Horror'.  Previously there was a release based on the theme 'Wasteland Tales' which also sounds interesting.

Released by Another World Entertainment the double DVD  has over 280 minutes of horror. As I have been saying recently there is something about short horrors that really creep me out no matter what time of day and circumstances I see them in.

If your interested in getting a copy of this then head over to Laserdisken or MovieZoo. I myself am too poor to get a copy but it does sound like it has the possibility to be good.

The Puzzle and The Sweet Hand of the Rose - Spanish short horror films

Davide Melini is an Italian filmmaker whose credits include being the assistant director on Dario Argento's 'Mother of Tears: The Third Mother'. He has also created a couple of short Spanish horror films, the first of these is 'The Puzzle'.

After an argument over the phone with her son a mother settles down to do a new jigsaw puzzle to take her mind off events. As the night draws on her home comes under attack and it is with horror that she discovers the puzzles true picture...

The acting was not great in this short 4 minute film but then it was filmed in one day with a budget of 300 Euro's.  The twist ending is worth the watch for, I had tears of fear streaming down my face at the end. (for what ever reason short horror films are my Kryptonite, they scare me so much usually!). With pretty much zero dialogue the film still manages to create an aura of vulnerability for this lone woman, and the soundtrack only adds to the experiance leading up to the shocking end.



Now for the main course: The Sweet Hand of the White Rose that clocks in at just over 16 minutes. I must say that both these short films have won awards. If you like these then feel free to check out Davide Melini's blog.

A man is driving home after having an argument with his girlfriend.  Also going home is a little girl on her bycycle. The enevitable happens and the man finds himself living a half life. Wracked with guilt over the girls death he goes to her crypt to pay his respects and beg forgiveness...

This film is much less horror orianted and more of a gentle ghost story, the ending in particular is surprisingly sad, if a bit cheesy. Not a bad soundtrack, but the voice overs of the main characters are badly acted, with it being a Spanish made film I am not surprised though.  A much bigger budget than The Puzzle, and with an important message to impart.

The Walking Dead - Episode 1: A New Day - Zombie Horror Videogame Review (X-Box Live Arcade)

Kinda excited I was when I heard that Telltale where creating a series of adventure games based on The Walking Dead. Telltale have been responsible for a bout of successful modern day adventures such as Sam and Max and Back to the Future (the less said about the Jurassic Park game the better).  Telltales games are less about action and more about dialogue, so this style fits the comic series perfectly.

Episode 1 takes place one week after the zombie outbreak begins, it is set before the comic book and features a few characters from that, but is a stand alone tale.  Lee Everett is a convict being transferred to state Prison when zombies cause the Police car he is travelling in to crash.  Escaping the wreck he is faced with a horde of zombies.  Fleeing he arrives at a suburb where he discovers a little girl; Clementine who has been surviving on her own after her baby sitter got turned.  Deciding to look after her Lee meets up with some other survivors and together they head off to find refuge from the walking dead.

The game has a different feel to it from previous Telltale games, you are usually confined to a small area where you have a set task to do, whether it being locating medicine for a sick man, or rescuing a survivor.  A lot of this involves you walking around talking to other survivors and picking up objects.  The dialogue is very good, and it has to be said the acting is awesome.  Lee in particular is a fleshed out character, with his murky past constantly haunting him.  Choosing dialogue options varies the story in that characters can come to trust or distrust you based on your actions and what you tell them. The plot is mature and interesting, you get a lot of dilemmas that vastly affect the future of the series, such as a key decision early on when you must choose a character to save from the zombies; both are good people but you must pick within a strict time limit.

There is quite a few bouts of zombie fighting which takes place via quick time events for the most part.  Sticking to The Walking Dead lore nearly all this combat takes place up close with house hold objects, guns would attract other zombies.  The game does not let up on the gore, there are some violent zombie deaths, and also gruesome deaths for Lee should you fail.  One such death saw him having his intestines ripped out!

At 400 MS points this is well worth the few hours it lasts for, and has replayability with the game altering decisions presented to you which will carry over to the other 4 episodes (due to be 1 released per month).  I had lots of fun with this, it looks great (like a comic book come to life), sounds great and really draws you into its world.

SCORE: