The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Monday 6th February 2023

I'm front loading a lot of my posts this week as next weekend is my birthday weekend where I don't intend to be doing anything blog related. Starting with some good old VR horror.
As far as I'm concerned, horror is the very best thing you can be doing when wearing a VR headset, I've had some scary experiences such as Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul and so I'm always happy to champion those types of experiences. United Games' Fractured Sanity is coming soon to Steam and Oculus App Lab, the press release describes it as a 'heart-wrenching VR survival horror experience'. It at least has a good choice of location, taking place as it does in an asylum with a shady history. All mechanics and puzzles are 'realistic and interactive', with the story revolving around you trying to find out the hidden truth around the asylum, and how you got to be there.

A Night of the Undead is out now on Blu-ray from VIPCO and Bayview Entertainment, from directors Jake C. Young and Kenny Scott Guffey. The synopsis states there was a zombie outbreak in 1968 but was later dismissed as a hoax. Now in modern day, a group of podcasters have headed to the farmhouse where it was said to have occured, on the anniversary of the apparent outbreak, where things most likely become far more real than they ever expected.

Finally, some brief stats from JustWatch UK's top 10 lists for January. Unsurprisingly, considering all the great press, the TV show adaptation of zombie video game The Last of Us is in the number one spot. I really need to get around to watching that! (update, have seen the first episode, wasn't bad). In the top 10 film charts, number one sees The Menu, apparently a black comedy horror, I can't say I have ever heard of it. Parallel universe movie Everything Everywhere All At Once is at number two, and Jordan Peele's sci-fi horror Nope is in tenth place.

Brain Freeze (2021) - Comedy Zombie Horror Film Review

Seeing there was a new zombie film up on Shudder I had to check it out. Brain Freeze is a French language Canadian comedy horror that was directed by Julien Knafo, who also wrote the story and composed the music. Unfortunately, this never seemed to find its groove and spent its run time idling about without really doing anything that exciting. 

An experimental fertilizer is used on the golf course of a rich gated community on Peacock Island in French-Canada, with the aim of keeping the grass rich and vibrant even throughout winter. The fertilizer has a bad side effect however, namely that anyone who ingests the liquid becomes a green blooded zombie/plant hybrid. With the stuff getting into the islands water supply, it isn't long before nearly everyone on the island is infected. Seemingly the only survivors are teenage André (Iani Bédard), his baby sister, and security guard Dan (Roy Dupuis). With access off the island prohibited by a nervous government, they decide that it is down to them to try and find the cause of the outbreak and find a way to stop it.

I spent most my time with Brain Freeze waiting for it to reach its potential. Instead it is near enough ninety minutes of not much at all occurring. This is billed as a comedy horror but the comedy is only very slight, there were a few amusing gags, but just a few. It felt like the comedy was more about how the characters react to their situation, or how they don't act. Early on for instance, André's mother ends up being killed while chasing him, to which the boy shows zero sadness about. Dan on the other hand appeared to be on a quest to reach his daughter, who is shown in hiding at the golf course where she worked. I figured she would become one of the protagonists, yet the bizarre decision was made to not only have her get infected and turn in a scene that doesn't appear on screen, but Dan also rescued her and subdued her also off screen. It then turns into a meandering journey for the three survivors as they go to random locations in search of the cause, with the baby inevitably wandering off to get into trouble every other scene. With a late dip into The Crazies territory things do get slightly dark, but it made me wish that either they had committed to this being more funny than this was, or making this into more of a horror than it was.

At least the look of the zombies is kind of original. These are of the running variety, but are different in that their blood is green, and the more advanced ones are sprouting growths of grass on their bodies. They are also attracted to both water and sunlight, both of which has a calming effect on them, that had them only moving around when bothered, reminding me of the zombies from The Girl With All the Gifts. It was cool to see animals were also infected, one of the few comedic elements that worked was this small yappy zombie dog that got booted across a room in one amusing scene. There were plenty of scenes where characters were running from the zombies, but not really any where they were battling them. Probably a good thing as the limbs were very brittle, breaking off the ghouls with minimal effort. Zombie makeup was fine, green eyes, and green spittle, but nothing too memorable. Sometimes some dodgy looking CG effects were used, a bad looking explosion early on, a few helicopters and a rough looking CG zombified fish.

Brain Freeze always felt it was about to get good, but it never did. With a random group of characters who did little to shine and seemed aimless, and with comedy that was only ever slight, I was mostly bored with what I was seeing. Brain Freeze is currently streaming on Shudder.

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Cutthroat Express (2022) by Bryan Cassiday - Zombie Book Review

Cutthroat Express is the seventh book in Bryan Cassiday's Zombie Apocalypse: The Chad Halverson Series. Due to having never read any of these I was concerned that I may be completely lost with what was happening. With David Moody's Autumn series, and Bryan Way's Life After series you have a somewhat grounded and more realistic approach to a zombie apocalypse, Cassiday's approach is the opposite end of the spectrum, with this being an insane and bloody action rampage from start to finish, one that felt like a low budget zombie horror movie translated to page. Probably spoilers for previous entries in the series to follow.

What remains of the United States government find themselves with quite a serious problem. While they are in the relative safety of their underground bunker, they are unable to leave due to the former President having nuked the surrounding area as part of his elaborate suicide. To make matters worse, the air supply in the bunker is getting dangerously low due to the amount of zombies blocking the ventilation shafts. Salvation appears to arrive in the form of Mike Cassavetes, a man who states he has came from the facility of a brilliant scientist who has discovered a cure for the zombie plague. The new President, Mims, formulates a plan, to get a group of volunteers (who include among them government agent Chad Halverson, military commander Strider, as well as a few convicts promised their freedom should they help the mission succeed) to head out with Cassavetes and make their way to the scientist's base, in order to get the vaccine and bring it back, so that the remaining government will be able to leave their base without fear of getting infected.

Any fears that I would feel like I was playing catch-up all novel were quickly dispelled with the understanding of how insane this world is. The previous book appeared to end with the President of the United States nuking himself, which I took as a statement that I would be in for a thrill ride with Cutthroat Express, and that I was. The notion of a road-trip as the main storyline isn't something I haven't read before in zombie novels, Scott M. Baker's Rotter World and Tim Morgan's The Trip both come to mind, yet there was something about the shared nihilism that all the characters seemed to have which made this feel different. I had no idea which characters had featured before and which were new creations, outside of the convicts at least, due to them each getting their own introductions. This led to a feeling that any one of these characters could die, making the story more exciting straight away. As much as I enjoyed the initial bunker scene, it was when the group leave that things really begin to get exciting.

I'm no stranger to hordes of undead in novels, but it's the way these characters all act around the zombies that I grew to love. Everyone seemed more or less happy to put themselves in extreme danger, with the fear seeming to have long ago passed. This leads to endless scenes of high action fights, I never got bored of how when needed, the characters wade off on foot into the hordes, fighting the whole way through them. There was something off kilter about everything here, a world where everyone is mad to some degree.
The road-trip element makes up most of Cutthroat Express, and with the group being in heavily armoured vehicles you had the feel of a wandering fortress. Completely safe while in the vehicles, the moments where they have to leave was akin to diving into the deep ocean. I would say that this is more a novel about the journey than the destination, as I did think that part was the weakest section of the book. There was also a care-free attitude to characters fates, with plenty of characters built up over the novel only to then die underwhelmingly off-page without any real arc to their paths. These aren't meant to be realistic situations though, when your group includes both a cannibal and a serial killer, as well as an obsessive leader who values the mission more than his own team you should expect some skewed moments.
I will also add, the subplot involving the deteriorating state of the bunker was a great idea, was a nice palette cleanser between all the undead battling. 

From the start of the novel all the way up to the end I was constantly entertained. With over eighty short snappy chapters, endless descriptions of the undead, and a end twist that didn't disappoint, I was loving this book. Not only were the events I was reading easy to picture playing out in my minds eye (always something that makes a good novel), it even inspired a rare zombie nightmare I had. Brain-dead in the very best way, Cutthroat Express was a darn entertaining read.

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Immortal (2019) - Horror Anthology Film Review

I have a habit of trying to avoid any kind of synopsis before watching a film for review, and sometimes that works out for the best. I figured purely from the title that Immortal would be a vampire film and so I was very happy to find out that this was actually an anthology. I do love anthologies, and it had been a while since I last saw one, with Immortal you have four different short films, all revolving (surprisingly enough) around the idea of immortality.

There is no wrap-around story to be had here, but no wrap-around can be better than a poorly executed one and so that wasn't an issue for me. All four short films were written by Jon Dabach, and the first of these was Chelsea. Chelsea was directed by Rob Margolies (The Lodger), the titular character (Lindsay Mushett) is a promising athlete at her high school, but one day as she is leaving for home she is abducted. She awakens in dense woodland where a man (who claims to be immortal) informs her that he plans to hunt her for sport. This became something different to what I initially thought it would be, it made for an unexpected story, the standout actor was Dylan Baker (Trick 'r Treat, Requiem for a Dream) who played Chelsea's teacher to excellent effect. My one real complaint with this one was that it felt like it ended too early, I get an open end, but I felt like more could have been done with the twist.

The second film was Gary & Vanessa, directed by Danny Isaacs. This gave me heavy vibes of the old TV show Tales of the Unexpected, something that had a similar idea to The Twilight Zone, but with a more grounded and realistic approach. The story here actually felt quite current, dealing as it does with the cost of living. Gary (Brett Edwards - The Forever Purge) and Vanessa (Agnes Bruckner - Vacancy 2: The First Cut) are a loving couple who are expecting the birth of their first child. Wanting his child to have the best possible chance in life, Gary has came up with a plan to commit suicide but make it look like an accident, so that Vanessa will be able to get his life insurance, something that she has been clued in on. Things however take a dark and unexpected turn. There was something slightly ironic with how the events here played out. I liked how the early twist gets superseded by later ones. There was one lingering graphic shot that maybe was dwelled on too long, sometimes less is more, but other than that this was a strong entry.

Next up was Ted & Mary, directed by Tom Colley, and starring the legendary Tony Todd (The Crow, Candyman). It was great to see this actor here, as I had no idea he was going to be in the movie. It was the most sentimental of the shorts here, and tells a moving story. An elderly couple, Ted (Todd) and Mary (Robin Bartlett -Shutter Island, American Horror Story TV series) have a film crew round who are making a documentary about assisted suicide. Mary is terminally ill, and to save her from the pain she is in, the couple have taken the decision to end her life early. To say any more would ruin the chance for surprise, there was a neat transition from a heartfelt first half (with some great acting from the two actors playing the titular roles), to the horror of where this ends up. My biggest complaint is that this is essentially the exact same twist that Gary & Vanessa had, sure the story is totally different, but it ends up in the same place.

Finally is Warren, and thankfully avoided my fears that this too would follow the same format that others did here. This one was directed by the writer, Jon Dabach and opens with the titular Warren (Samm Levine - Inglourious Basterds) being seemingly killed in a hit and run accident. The man is surprised to find his fatal wounds somehow heal, and after a series of experiments he discovers he is unable to die. With the knowledge of his new found immortality, he sets out to find the person responsible for the hit and run and get his revenge. I enjoyed this one, had some fun moments to it, and a deliciously dark ending, it was a good way to close out the anthology.

As always, I enjoy a good anthology and here I enjoyed each of the different short films. While the second and third did follow a very similar format, they were still set apart by the acting skills of the main cast as well as the different vibe. Outside of that little issue, and the abrupt finish to the first short, this was a solid film, one that I enjoyed sitting through. Immortal is due for release on February 20th from High Fliers Films.

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The Latent Image (2022) - Horror Film Review

The Latent Image is a gay thriller that comes from Alexander McGregor Birrell (Sleepaway Slasher), which he also co-wrote with Joshua Tonks, who plays the part of the protagonist. The film was a feature length adaptation of the director's short film of the same name from 2019. It isn't the first time I have reviewed a gay horror, Devil's Path and B&B both spring to mind, but with this one, while it definitely has gay overtones, it was also a genuine horror, whose faults laid not with the former, but due to elements of the later.

Ben (Tonks) is a writer who has rented a remote woodland cabin from which to write his latest thriller. One dark night, having gone to bed frustrated at the lack of work he has been able to produce, he hears a noise downstairs. He is startled to discover a mysterious stranger (Jay Clift - Batwoman TV series), who tells Ben that his car has broken down nearby, and is in need of medical assistance, having injured his hand. While Ben is afraid of the stranger, he is also inspired, and begins to write his novel in earnest, styling the antagonist of the piece on the man. Finding excuses for the stranger to stay for a few days, Ben is fascinated with the insightful input the man is able to give the writer about the actions his villain would do, but this also begins to make him suspicious, as his observations seem a little too perfect.

Getting the gay elements out the way first as those were never going to appeal to me. Ben has an overactive imagination which results in quite a few times where things occur only for it to be revealed he was daydreaming. This includes Ben's boyfriend Jamie (William Tippery) turning up at the cabin, as well as an imagined sex scene between Ben and the stranger. Both those sex scenes didn't really add anything to the film, I don't think they would have mattered if they hadn't even been there. Sex scenes in films in general I never really enjoy anyway regardless of which gender is being shown. I guess they work in showing Ben's inner thoughts in a visual sense, firstly, with the arrival of his boyfriend it is a projection of his unconscious guilt of the fascination of the stranger. With the stranger himself, there was undeniably a stream of sexual tension, at least as perceived by Ben.

As a horror though this works very well, and it became quite fourth wall breaking, with the stranger acting out how he says he would act if he was the villian. The two even having a pretend fight at one point. As a viewer you are never sure if the man is as innocent as he claims to be. There became a gradual blurring of the lines between reality and fiction that made you question what really was going on. In parts this worked well, Ben was a writer after all so it makes sense his imagination would be good. On the other hand, this device can also lead to moments that feel like a cop-out, when it appears the thrills have ramped up only for it to not be the case. It was one of these later moments that really took away from my immersion into the story.
From the second the stranger arrives there is a sustained feeling of threat and tension in the air. I thought Clift was fantastic in his roll, giving a captivating performance, seemingly creating effortless menace despite not actually confirming if his intentions are good or bad. Combined with the tense film score it made for a suspenseful time that had me glued to the screen. With a cast of just three actors, and with one of those barely in it, the two characters held the film together impressively. A shout-out has to also go to the Super-8 moments of footage and how well they were implemented into the movie.

I appreciate how twisty The Latent Image became, but I did wish this had known when to stop being clever and just commit itself to being an effective little thriller, as some of those twists and turns altered this into something other than what I had hoped for. Still, I enjoyed my time with this, and certainly found it worth a watch. The Latent Image has been acquired by Cinephobia Releasing.

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The Rotting Zombie's Round-up of Horror News for January 2023

I haven't been sleeping well lately so I'm going to try and just get straight into the news due to being quite tired. My last blog post for the week, so once this is done I'm home free! Because it is a zombie film, comedy horror Mike & Fred Vs. The Dead is getting top billing this month. The film comes from Anthony Leone and is about two stoners whose simple favour of picking up Mike's grandfather results in them caught up in an unfolding nationwide zombie outbreak. The cast includes Amy Cay (Quarantine Chronicles), Brian Patrick Butler, George Jac and Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp) and is due for an August release.

 

Dick Reno: Monster Slayer is a horror comedy from ThunderKnight Entertainment that is currently in production. This is about the titular monster slayer who finds himself on a mission to defeat the evil vampire Count Moldark. Included among the cast are Richard Tyson (Kindergarten Cop), Vernon Wells (Mad Max 2), Harley Wallen (Ash and Bone), Dawna Lee Heising (The Paradise Hotel), Jimmy Drain (The Dead Rose), Erika Monet (Realm of Shadows), and Lindsey Kells (The Initiation).

I mentioned this last month, and now Scream VI has an official trailer out. Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, this latest entry moves the killings to New York after four survivors of the last movie head there hoping for a new start. Series regulars such as Courteney Cox are joined by a new cast which includes among them Samara Weaving, Jack Champion, Henry Czerny, Liana Liberato and Dermot Mulroney. Scream VI comes to cinemas March 10th.

The Dark Room is a new psychological horror thriller that currently has an Indiegogo campaign running to raise funds. It comes from directors Jake C. Young and Kenny Scott Guffey, whose previous film A Night of the Undead is due to be released by Bayview Entertainment. The story sees an amateur photographer who finds something troubling in the photos he was sent to develop by a pastor, something related to a series of disturbing decapitations in the area. Actor and musician Trevor Lissauer (Sabrina The Teenage Witch, La La Land, American Vampire) has been confirmed to be among the cast. For more details check out the campaign here, currently it has raised £592 of its £3,231 goal with nineteen days to go.

It turns out my culling of my news inbox has resulted in me hitting the bottom of it sooner than expected, and so the following will be the final bit of news from me for January. An official trailer has been released for the alien abduction sci-fi film Static Codes. I included a trailer for the film in a post back from October, but looks like this one may be different. The film follows a paralysed man who is convinced his wife was abducted ten years ago during a car accident, and so is obsessed with finding her.

All of Us Are Dead: Season 1 (2022) - Zombie TV Show Review

Having finished watching The Good Place and wanting something new to watch, me and my best friend decided to take a look at the South Korean zombie show All of Us Are Dead. This twelve episode series mainly takes place within the confines of a high school that had been the centre of a zombie outbreak and mainly features a cast of teenagers. It was so good that yesterday (at the time of writing) me and my friend spent seven hours watching through the final seven episodes. This is a heck of a good show.

After a student gets bitten by a hamster in the school's science lab, a chain of events unfold that lead to a citywide zombie outbreak. It turns out the science teacher had secretly been working on a virus that had been designed to give the weak a means to fight back against their oppressors. The injured student is taken to the city hospital, while back at the school, the school nurse who had tried to treat her, finds herself infected also, and pretty soon nearly the entirety of the school is full of flesh hungry undead. The students of one class form a group and together they try their best to survive against the relentless hordes, while trying to find a way to alert the outside world to their predicament. These characters include Lee Cheong-san (Chan-Young Yoon) and his best friend Nam On-jo (Park Ji-hu), calm and collected Lee Su-hyeok (Park Solomon), and the large yet kindly Yang Dae-su (Arvin Lee). Also at the school are a separate group of students also doing their best to survive, as well as the school psycho Yoon Gwi-nam (In-soo Yoo, one of the standout actors), who thinks the outbreak of the undead is the best thing to ever happen to him, and who has a personal grudge against Cheong.
Meanwhile, out in the city, you have a detective who discovers the source of the outbreak, and the firefighter father of Nam On-jo who is split between his desire to rescue his daughter and to help those who need his assistance in the here and now. 

At roughly one hour an episode this was a season that packed so much into it. There are moments of downtime, yet each episode is full of thrilling and bloody conflicts against the undead. Being students, these characters aren't armed with weapons. For much of the show in fact, these teenagers use their brains and mobility to avoid their aggressors. The cast were so likeable and All of Us Are Dead is frequently laugh out loud funny. A perfect balance between horror and humour is present through at least two thirds of the show. This can even occur seamlessly in the same scene. Genuine horror and terror one moment, genuine comedy the next, was so impressive how well done this fine balance was. By the end of the season when the stakes have gotten higher a lot of his comedy falls by the wayside, but it is still present in the dialogue that characters say among themselves. This also falls into some of the side stories, the serious detective character in particular had a silly feel to his subplot, due to the comedy characters he kept encountering. One sequence took the form of a drone shot that had the detective and a cowardly cop running around the streets only to keep bumping into groups of zombies, the footage sped up to give it a 'Benny Hill' style comedy feel. These side stories were important for showing the overall picture outside of the school, with parts that take place within military command trying to contain the situation, and at the evacuation facility, giving more context to the outbreak.

The zombies are the real highlight here, there are just so many of them. At first they seem like a copy of the ones from Train to Busan. These are fast zombies whose bones are constantly making snapping noises. Here though, the zombies are very uncoordinated, they lunge at their victims, often missing and going flying into walls and through windows, they also are quite good at getting jammed in tight spaces due to the mass of uncoordinated limbs. This makes for so many really thrilling chase sequences.
There was also a different zombie type that made for some very interesting moments, with some victims discovering that they appear to be asymptotic to the virus, with the perks that brings. The amount of action sequences is crazy, and these are made up of such impressive visual choices. A girl standing on the roof of the school ready to jump looks down to see multiple zombies bursting out of the windows below where she is stood. Later, a man's attempt to stop the approaching zombies in a stairwell by blasting them with a water hose gets a neat exterior shot of his battle from some distance from the building he is in. Mixed in with all this are found footage type moments, such as the headcam footage of SWAT team members, or a vlog that someone is trying to make about the outbreak, and each episode (near enough) opens with footage from recordings the scientist made when he was trying to find a cure to the deadly virus he had made.
The highlight scene for me was the battle that took place in the school library between Cheong and Gwin-nam, the two students racing across stacks of bookcases while fighting, with the undead below sprinting around trying their best to grab them. Over the season I lost count of the times it seemed like the characters were in a siege type situation that looked legitimately hopeless, only for them to find a way out in the nick of time. Somehow this worked time and time again, sometimes even in the same episode. More than once I recall turning to my friend and saying "there is no way they could possibly get out of this!" only for that to somehow happen, in a way that rarely felt like a cheap solution. There are plenty of noble sacrifices made, with the majority of the characters combining into a group who were all prepared to give up their lives if it meant they could save their friends. 

Twelve hours of just following the class of students around their school may have gotten a little stale, so I really appreciated the side stories. What I liked about these was that you never really knew how far along characters would get in their stories before they got swiftly ended. There were at least a few of these that end on a shockingly sudden end before any kind of resolution happens. That, along with a good death count even among the core cast kept me never sure of who was going to survive or not. I guess you could say some of these side stories could have been better developed. The main focus is always on the school, with probably around 25% of each episode going to these other characters. I had wondered how the momentum could be maintained of such high action for twelve one hour episodes. This just about manages it, with the final episode being the weakest, due to the fact that the story was all but wrapped up in episode eleven.

I loved my time with All of Us Are Dead, it was such a good show. A post-Covid world in which characters are aware of zombies in media (one even referencing Train to Busan) was refreshing enough in itself, but with a crazy amount of undead, endlessly inventive set pieces, and a near perfect balance of horror and humour made for something that was a real thrill ride to witness.

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Zombies, Run!: Season 3 (2014) - Zombie Running App Review

I have loved the idea of Zombies, Run! ever since I first heard of it. A running app that is part radio drama and part running aid, helped in no small part by some outstanding actors playing the roles. It took me around six years to get through the sixty odd missions from season 2, which just shows how little I actually ran in that time. With season 3 you have another sixty, but am happy to say this one took me two years to get through (which I acknowledge is still a long time!). Spoilers for the previous seasons to follow.

After the shock cliffhanger of season 2 in which a large proportion of Able Township's population under mind control got up and left the compound for parts unknown, this season has you, again playing the non-verbal role of Runner 5 as you try to find out who is behind this latest evil. This includes you tracking down the way this mind control was carried out, investigating the shady headquarters of the Comansys science corporation, and identifying the mysterious leader of the group that is using the brain washed people as unwilling slaves and soldiers.

Rather than be split up into main missions, side missions and bonus missions, all sixty to be found in season 3 are main line missions. Variation is the order of the day and this time things go to some interesting places. You get a few missions that essentially take place within your own mind, quite a few missions set in London, far away from Able Township, and even some missions that take the form of flashback sequences. These include the moment that Able and New Canton first fell out with each other, as well as why runners became to be known as numbers rather than by their names. The story despite my reservations was really interesting, it tackled something that shows like The Walking Dead never did. It also surprised by having the antagonist turn out to be someone I really hadn't suspected. Definitely someone more cerebral than physical, which works when you are passively playing the role of someone whose key skill is running rather than fighting.

By this point there is a solid cast of characters, with my favourite being the return of the slimy character Simon. Turned traitor in season 2, this time around he forms a convenient alliance. I don't know who the voice actor is for this character but he was just perfect. This character gets the most developed character arc in the whole season, outside of the antagonist. With the lack of side missions, I'm not too fussed as some of those had previously felt pointless. As a running aid, this is primarily used at the gym when I'm rowing or on the cross trainer, and so gone are the days of running around my local wood while using this. Later seasons strayed away a bit from woodlands and so while it is not ideal to not be running while using this, I can still enjoy the story despite a reduced layer of immersion.

I'm never keen on the trope of there always being a bigger and badder antagonist behind the orchestrations of a previous antagonist, this time that idea was handled well. It both builds on the story that has taken place while increasing the scope of the zombie infested world. This was as always a joy to get through. A quick look tells me there are currently nine seasons out there, so I better get exercising.

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Halloween Ends (2022) - Horror Film Review

Despite Halloween being my favourite horror franchise, I managed to end up missing seeing the latest entry Halloween Ends when it was in the cinemas last year. Due to this I eagerly pre-ordered the Blu-ray of the movie, having absolutely loved 2021's (Halloween Kills). Where that film was everything I loved about this franchise, with this one, I appreciate what director David Gordon Green (Halloween Kills, Halloween,) was going for, but it made for a film that kind of sucked.

It is four years since Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney) went on a rampage through the town of Haddonfield, a rampage that culminated in the death of Laurie Strode's (Jamie Lee Curtis - Halloween series) daughter. The masked killer hasn't been seen since and the townsfolk are trying to do their best to move on. In the meantime, Corey (Rohan Campbell) had become ostracised due to the accidental death of a young boy he caused while babysitting, and Laurie noticing this decides to introduce him to her niece, Allyson (Andi Matichak - Halloween Kills, Halloween), someone who is also treated differently due to her having survived her encounter with Myers. Laurie quickly comes to regret her decision, as she comes to see the similar signs in Corey that she once saw in Michael, and that may be down to the fact that the young man has accidentally discovered the hiding place of Myers and has become something of a student of his.

I'm glad that I didn't really hear many spoilers before heading in to Halloween Ends, but that also meant I went in unprepared for what type of movie this would be. Despite the iconic killer being in the movie, this very much felt like a post-Myers world. It's a look at how a community and its people can recover from such dark events, and how their anger can be misplaced onto others not deserving of it. I came to this expecting a typical unstoppable killer storyline, to be honest that is exactly what I wanted to get. Instead, while there is a bodycount that falls into double figures, barely any of these are down to Myers. It's a very slight twist that Corey is the one who is going around murdering people, but this happens relatively early into the film, and it isn't designed to be a mystery, the camera clearly shows that he is the one doing the crimes. Sadly, Myers barely even features here (he doesn't even make an appearance until nearly forty minutes in), and when he does he has becoming a shadow of his former self. Whether due to old age or down to the injuries he sustained in the previous two films I don't know, but he is someone who can easily be overpowered now, something that the annoying Corey takes advantage of.

Some of the writing here was terrible, but at least there were no comedy characters to be found. Corey started off as a compelling character, but his heel turn felt so swift and out of place that it felt like scenes were missing. One moment he was a sympathetic outcast, the next he's acting like he thinks he is the coolest and most edgiest person to ever live. I totally didn't understand what his character arc was meant to be.
It's not a secret that I have never liked Laurie Strode as a character, that's one of the things I enjoyed so much about Halloween Kills. She spends the majority of the film in hospital, convinced she's the main character of the Myers saga when she isn't. Here the roles are reversed, she has moved on from Myers and whether indirectly or not he is now the one seeking her out. While the film trailers were all about the final epic battle between the two, this doesn't come until way late into the film, but least it was entertaining while it lasted.

The kills also at least look fun, with some inventive deaths among all the stabbings. I think the highlight was a character getting a blow torch to their face, and a head stamp effect that looked suitably gory. The most gory is saved to the end, something I won't go into details about. The film's score was also a good part of this. I liked the modern take on the classic sounds of Halloween. There are of course many call-backs to previous Halloween films, including fun use of a knitting needle, and characters being in the same positions as iconic shots from earlier movies.

I would have been more than happy with more of the same with Halloween Ends. I do appreciate there was an effort here to really close up this latest trilogy of films in the franchise, but I didn't find the character of Corey to be that interesting, and to be honest, I just wanted Myers on yet another rampage. I can't see myself returning to this one for a while, perhaps with the distance of time its message and novel approach will be appreciated more.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Wednesday 25th January 2023

Back with more news as I often do in a regular news anthology post. Personally, I've watched through season one of the fantastic All of Us Are Dead, a wonderful South Korean zombie show that takes place in a high school. A review to follow later this week.

On 21st February The Long Dark Trail is released on Blu-ray and DVD from Cleopatra Entertainment. This is an independent horror film that was shot in the forests of northwestern Pennsylvania. The press release states it was inspired by graphic novels such as Preacher and Hellblazer, as well as horrors of the 1970's such as Deliverance and The Hills Have Eyes. This comes from writers/directors Kevin Ignatius and Nick Psinakis (the later who also stars in this), and is about two brothers who after fleeing their abusive father, head on a journey through a dark forest to meet their mother who is residing in a commune there. This was an Official Selection at the Weekend of Fear Film Festival, IFI Horrorthon, Blood Window Film Festival, and the Be Afraid Horror Fest!

Pasture comes to Blu-ray on January 31st from Bayview Entertainment. This is directed by Sean Hardaway and stars Sarah J. Bartholomew, Hunter Brosig, and Gabriel Grant. The film tells the story of a schizophrenic woman who is abducted by a crazed doctor and experimented on.

Finally for today, Michael Moutsatsos is currently running an Indiegogo campaign in order to raise funds for his horror film Contaminate. Outside of the pitch video there are not many details for this film, it sounds like it is going to be a slasher and has the tagline 'In a mad world only the mad are sane'. Check out the Indiegogo page here for a few more details. Currently it has raised £85 out of a £8,123 goal with forty six days to go.

The Long Night (2022) - Horror Film Review

The Long Night (also known as The Coven) is a horror film about a demon worshipping cult that was directed by Rich Ragsdale (The Loop) and co-written by Mark Young (Southern Gothic) and Robert Sheppe. While this had a good premise, it didn't really deliver, spending too much of its first half not really moving the plot along.

Grace (Scout Taylor-Compton - An Intrusion, Halloween) was orphaned as a child and has become obsessed with finding her real parents. Her search has led her to a remote plantation house in the deep south, where a man who lives there may be able to give her the information she needs. So the woman, along with her boyfriend Jack (Nolan Gerard Funk - Ghost Light, Riddick) travels there from their New York apartment in search of answers. They find the place deserted so decide to wait around to see if Grace's contact comes back. That night however, they find the place surrounded by animal skull wearing robed cultists, and soon discover that they have no way to contact the outside world to get help.

I like films about cults and devil worshipping, so I was approaching this semi-interested. Due to the way the cult acts it didn't make for the most exciting of films. They look the part at least, and I appreciate the creepiness of them just standing there silently, but when that is pretty much all they are doing they soon wear out their welcome. Much of the middle act is Grace and Jack walking around the house while freaking out about the intruders with not much more really happening. The third acts falls into arthouse territory with a series of flashbacks/hallucinations that Grace experiences that set things up for a finale that didn't really go anywhere that exciting. A shout out goes to the random book that falls off a wall at one point, which conveniently explains who the cultists are and what they are trying to achieve. Sure that was good to get that backstory, but I thought that perhaps it could have been provided in a better way.

The film was well put together which made me early on think this might turn out be ok. I enjoyed the first act with the couple journeying to the place, not that I felt that they made for a great couple, there seemed to be something off about their chemistry. I thought Taylor-Compton was good in her role, but the character of Jack seemed to fade into the background whenever there was more than just him on screen. There are a few other speaking roles (aside from their leader the cultists don't speak), including a fun little scene at a petrol station, and a stand out scene featuring Deborah Kara Unger (Silent Hill: Revelation, Silent Hill). There is a bit of action and a small body count, but mostly the film tries to deliver its horror with strange dream sequences.

I think if the cult had more bite than bark then The Long Night would have been improved. As initially unsettling as silent hooded cultists are, they soon lose their power to scare through inaction. With more happening during the second act, and a more streamlined and eventful finale this would be better, but as it is, at least it doesn't outstay its welcome. The Long Night is due for release on January 30th from High Fliers Films.

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Genevieve Rises (2023) - Short Horror Film Review

The creepy doll, Genevieve first appeared in the horror anthology Urban Fears back in 2019, and since then she has gone on to appear in a second anthology, 2021's Two Twisted Tales, as well as a variety of short films; Genevieve, Genevieve Wrecks Havoc, Camo vs. Genevieve, finally (for me at least) culminating in the forty five minute long Genevieve, which combined the earlier shorts into one whole, with the addition of extra scenes. I figured this was where the story of this particular creation ended, but a quick look at IMDB states that 2022 saw the release of Genevieve: Blood & Guts and Genevieve Strikes Again. Now, Nicholas Michael Jacobs is back with another entry in the series with Genevieve Rises, a film that he directed, wrote, produced, edited, scored, and acted in, also co-responsible for the cinematography.

Jeff (Nicholas Michael Jacobs) returns home one evening and happens to notice a strange book in his basement that he had never seen before. Figuring it may belong to his girlfriend, he sends her a text, then in the meantime begins browsing the handwritten 'Book of Souls', which he idly reads aloud from. This turns out to be quite a bad idea as it summons the mischievous doll..

If you have seen any of the other short films then you can probably guess the format of what happens here. The plot here is very similar to a lot of the other ones, resulting in the usual bizarre sight of someone wrestling with what is obviously a non-moving doll (there is a reason that the director refers to these as comedy horrors). There felt like there was maybe more of a supernatural element to this, but what made this feel different to me was the fun prop the doll gets to use, something which is hinted at in the intro title sequence to this thirteen minute film. This prop was my favourite part of Rises, was a fun addition that looked good on camera due to the sound effects added for it. Another highlight here was the score, fitted the visuals very well.

Despite the large number of entries in the series, it never really feels like the base idea is evolving too much, sometimes it can seem like a complete reset, rather than a continuation of what has come before. As much as I enjoyed this, it would be nice to get more variation in the general format. Still, for me it had been over a year, and so it was fun to return to the world of the creepy looking ever giggling doll (archived voice work of Alan Maxson I believe), especially with the creation of these shorts seeming to be more polished each and every time. Genevieve Rises is currently being submitted to film festivals. Check out the fab teaser trailer below.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for 19th January 2023

My second news post of the month, or 'new' as I keep accidentally calling these posts, sure makes me look professional! Starting with some Arrow Video US releases. On 10th January The Executioner Collection came to Blu-ray, which brings together two of Sonny Chiba's martial art movies (The Executioner and The Executioner II: Karate Inferno). Also released on that date was was Roger Corman's H.P Lovecraft inspired The Dunwich Horror, apparently one of the most successful film adaptations of the (racist) master's work. This stars Dean Stockwell as a man who is on a journey to retrieve the Necronomicon from the library of the Miskatonic University.

I infrequently mention the JustWatch top 10 UK streaming film and show charts, and this time around it is a top 10 for the whole year, not just a particular week. Now the top 10 film chart isn't too relevant here. Personally I was pleased to see The Batman at number 2 in the list. I guess Doctor Strange in the Multitude of Madness is a good fit, this Marvel movie is in at number 3 and included a zombified Doctor Strange for a portion of the movie. Always good to see.
The top 10 series chart is more interesting. Number 1 sees the almighty Stranger Things, the latest series was very long, but also mainly very enjoyable. This is followed by The Addams Family spin-off Wednesday in third place, as always, I have still only seen the first two episodes of this so can't really comment other than to say I'm liking it so far. Finally, in sixth place was The Walking Dead, my favourite TV show, so was good to see it made the list.

Finally for today, Vvmpyre have recently released their new full length LP, Neon Night Fright. The group are inspired by horror, with many of the tracks focussed on themes of vampirism, such as with He Will Always Be, Neon Night Fright, Surrender and Freedom of Death. Elsewhere, tracks such as Offering and Black Cube get their inspirations from cult horror such as The Omen and Susperia.