Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 (2025) - Thoughts on the Zombie Mode

It is another year and another Call of Duty game released. Towards the end of 2025 was Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, and it brought with it another Zombies mode. I've played ever single COD, originally there for the story, I soon became obsessed with the Zombies mode. Then that mode fizzled out, my focus became the multiplayer mode instead. For all the faults directed at Black Ops 7, the Zombies mode is one area where it really gets things right. I enjoyed Black Ops 6's Zombie mode, and this is more of the same but even better.

The story has always been a convoluted mess for me, but old fans of Zombies might be pleased to hear that the four original protagonists are back, alongside the four new protagonists of Black Ops 6's mode. From what I can gather, all eight characters have found themselves trapped in a nightmare zombie infested realm - the Dark Aether, ruled over by an all powerful being named The Warden. The mode launched with three maps, one of which was the fun but throwaway 'Dead Ops Arcade 4' (an overhead arcade style experience that always manages to outstay its welcome). As of typing, there are now six different Zombies maps. There are two large maps; 'Ashes of the Damned' (said to be the largest round-based map yet), and season 1 map - 'Astra Malorum' (seemingly taking place on an asteroid). These are both fun to play around with, but it is Survival where things really became both old school and interesting. 

Survival features much smaller maps, ones which remind me of the original Zombies experience, though these maps are some of the smallest ones yet. 'Vandorn Farm' is a remake of the farm section from Black Ops II's 'Transit' map. 'Exit 115' takes place around a diner, while 'Zarya Cosmodrome' takes place at a soviet rocket site. There are minimal doors to unlock in these Survival maps, with you just needing to last until you die, or until you exfil from the map. Me and my best friend have absolutely loved these old school maps, is refreshing to not feel the need to be trying to solve some convoluted series of Easter egg steps.
The game remains a round-based experience, where each round the zombie enemies get more numerous and stronger. Every five or so rounds is a special one where dog like beasts spawn, and later rounds see the arrival of huge powerful zombie bears! To help you, you can bring whatever weapon you like into the game, and the Pack-a-Punch machine (that powers up your guns) and Perk machine are easily accessible to make you able to keep up with the increasing danger level.

I have found multiplayer this year to be a bit of a nightmare, no longer skill based match making means I am forever matched with players far, far better than I would ever be able to be. It isn't much fun coming last each and every match. Thankfully, there is Zombies. While I will always miss being able to board up windows in modern maps, it still retains a really old fashioned feel that has seen me put more than double the hours into it than multiplayer, something that I haven't done in countless years.

The House on Haunted Grounds (2026) - Horror Film Review

Coming from director/writer Brendan Rudnicki (The Last Cabin), The House on Haunted Grounds is a found footage horror that uses the idea of a paranormal investigation crew investigating a possible haunted house. I felt this was a better made film than the last found footage I viewed from this director, but a few too many similarities to other films of this type I have seen from this sub genre of horror, prevented me from really loving this.

The cast and crew of a paranormal investigation show - 'The Otherside' have headed to the house where a notorious serial killer once operated from. Not only are they the first ones to be at the place since the police shot and killed the killer some months or years previously, the house is also due to be demolished the following week. The hosts; Amy (Logan Wallace) and Tony (Andrew Thomas - Shadows of Bigfoot) intend to spend the night there, alongside cameraman Dylan (Dylan Devane - The Last Cabin), and superfan Kate (Cashmere Monique - The Last Cabin), with I.T guy Bradley (Stuart Maxheimer - A Cold Grave) staying back in the van to monitor the camera feeds. They soon get evidence that there may actually be supernatural activity occurring in the house, as the stakes get higher and higher, they must decide if it is worth sticking around to capture their footage or if self preservation is a better idea.

This immediately brought back strong memories of last year's Paranormal Investigations, a similar cast of characters, a similar concept of an episode of a show being filmed, and even an identical death scene to one that is shown here. That film was presented as if it was an actual episode, complete with editing. Here, aside from an intro sequence, the footage is shown as if it was the raw unedited footage, rather than edited together. The film is of course edited, but it is made up of both footage that would have made it onto the show and everything else around that. A few similarities include a bickering cast (that features again the male host being a problem), as well as the computer guy being bullied. It all felt so familiar, I'm not implying this was actually a copy of that other found footage, but the similarities really pulled me out of the picture, a shame, as this was overall a much better made horror than The Last Cabin. Normally I feel if a film is found footage then it should stick religiously to that format. Here, there are the occasional scenes that are traditionally shot. The effective prologue sequence of the cops discovering the killer in the basement of the house was one such part, and then near enough every scene shot in the van was also traditionally done. In total though, that was about 5% of the overall film, and it wasn't jarring having the two styles occasionally side by side.

The horror begins early on, and rather than a gradual ramp-up of terror over the seventy minute runtime, there is instead constant things happening. At first, ghostly blood stained figures who appear extremely briefly on camera, later it ramps up to possession, objects moving on their own, and a wild Ouija board sequence. This was mainly impressive to see on screen. Some parts didn't work quite as well, a later mannequin scene could have worked if not for the lengthy build up to it, and the Blair Witch moment of a character silently standing in the corner of a room facing the wall felt really derivative. Other moments worked much better, especially with how physical some of the horror is. Apart from the identical looking (to Paranormal Investigations) death scene of one character (which wasn't as well executed here), there are some neat moments that feature much more blood than you might expect. Deaths are near all on-screen and they can be pretty messed up in the best possible way! I won't ruin any of those here, but at least one had me saying "Jesus" out loud when I was watching it; lovely stuff! 

I thought The House on Haunted Grounds was a better made film than Rudnicki's previous effort. For me, there was barely any complaints to be had with how the horror was integrated here, there were perhaps a few too many jump scares of ghostly figures suddenly appearing or hovering unseen in the background, but I thought the special effects were great, and it was all edited together in a neat package. Being a found footage, the story is quite basic, and for me personally, it really suffered for being so similar to that other film I saw last year. With a decent location, great effects, and some neat moments of horror, this was still an enjoyable, if unoriginal horror. The House on Haunted Grounds is now available on transactional VOD platforms, with it coming to streaming platform BloodStream later this year. To support this new release, BloodStream currently features a curated collection of Rudnicki's previous films, including The Last Cabin, Into the Forest, and Forest of Death.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Tuesday 20th January 2026

I'm currently on my second week of attempting to work on this blog full time, though that definition might not so easily fit what I am doing as there are plenty of naps inserted throughout. Of the five days I was doing this last week, only two of those days I would class as fully doing my blog. I'm going to try better this week though! With that out the way, onwards to the news.

Freestyle Digital Media have acquired the VOD rights to supernatural psychological thriller - The Eye. This stars Bollywood actress Shruti Haasan as Diana - a grieving widow who travels to a remote island that her and her deceased husband once stayed at. It is there she hopes to get some closure, instead, she learns of a curse from the locals, one that could bring her husband back to life, though at a terrible cost. Written by Emily Carlton and directed by Daphne Schmon, The Eye is available to rent/own on North American digital HD internet, cable, and satellite platforms as well as DVD from today.

Coming from filmmaker David M. Parks, Dracula Eternal is a modern day reimagining of Bram Stoker's Dracula. It stars Mike Ferguson, Cody Renee Cameron, LeeAnne Bauer, and Denise Milfort, with the plot shadowing the original classic. A woman's summer is ruined with a series of unpleasant events, her best friend becomes strangely ill, her fiancé disappears, and she is forced into a confrontation with an ancient evil. Dracula Eternal had its premiere at the Infamous Unfriendly Studios in North Hollywood on January 15th. That is also when the film came to streaming services, including Apple TV.

Finally for today, horror comic Within currently has a Kickstarter campaign running, with just days left on it to go. This comes from Brian Cochran and is said to be a cross between Rosemary's Baby and the works of Clive Barker. Within is about a young woman who thanks to her father's attempt to outsmart the devil, now carries an unborn entity that both Heaven and Hell state is inhuman. Pursued by enemies who want to make sure the child is never born, the woman becomes convinced that her love for her unborn can alter the course of its destiny. The Kickstarter campaign has been successful, with funds pledged being quadruple the goal amount. For more details, check out the campaign page here.

I Know Exactly How You Die (2026) - Horror Film Review

I loved the premise for the Alexandra Spieth (Stag) directed and Mike Corey written horror - I Know Exactly How You Die, and am thankful that it lived up to the zany premise of an author discovering the things he is writing about are coming true around him. Mixing elements of both comedy and horror, this veered more toward the later; though there are additives of humour sprinkled throughout the 90 minute runtime.

Rian (Rushabh Patel in his acting debut) is a horror author with a looming deadline. He has travelled to a remote motel to write his latest novel, thinking the location will give him the space to write the thing, plus he is getting over a failed relationship so thinks the distance from that will help him. His novel is a slasher, one that has a woman being stalked by an obsessed serial killer postman; that, and the fact his heroine dies at the end is all he has of the story. Meanwhile, addiction counsellor, Katie (Stephanie Hogan - Stag) has arrived at the motel. She was the victim of an obsessive mailman turned serial killer (Bobby Liga - Stag, 6:66 PM) , and so has come to the motel hoping to hide away. Upon discovering Katie; Rian comes to believe that the events he is writing about are somehow coming true. Selfishly seeing it as a great way to get over his writer's block, Rian decides to insert himself into his own story, figuring this will turn out to be his best work, while convinced that as the writer, he will be able to prevent Katie from getting killed by the stalker. His secret pleasure at being the hero is scuppered when he discovers that events happen that he hasn't written about, and he begins to fear his story is getting out of his control.

From the start it seems clear that Rian is a flawed protagonist, the intro sequence having him driving across the backroads of America as a slew of increasingly desperate messages are sent to his ex-girlfriend's phone. I liked that his story didn't really have a redemption arc, his insertion into his own story is only marginally done for the benefit of Katie, it is far more about giving him the novel he needs. As much as he may want to save her from the stalker, he makes sure she is stuck at the motel location, such as quickly writing in that her car had been tampered with, preventing her when she intends to leave to go get help. It was amusing that he was writing the film's story in real time, making excuses to pop off back to his motel room to write further parts of the story. It's when he makes himself Katie's love interest that it feels he really crosses a line of decency. Katie shared the protagonist role with Rian, her path through the film, and her interactions are much more generic, but this works in the film's favour. Rian isn't indicated to be a great author, so all the slasher type events that happen around him work by feeling very predictable. There are a cast of about just seven characters here, but the remote motel setting meant that felt perfect. Most interesting was the motel owner who has a slight inkling of the motel's strange powers but remains in team non-believer. 

The whole notion of an author's works coming to life is one that has been explored in horror before. The video game Alan Wake had a similar idea of an author trying to write events to be more for his benefit, and some scenes here felt very similar to that. Going to literature, Stephen King's The Dark Half also had a writer discovering his twisted creations were becoming real. Here, there is zero explanation given, probably for the best as it was a bit of a strange idea to be able to accurately reflect well on screen. The concept of the story being written by one of the characters was neatly done, I enjoyed how it was integrated into the film, and how the flaws of the male lead, lead to a slapdash feel.
There are some horror elements here, though the antagonist doesn't get much screen time. Murders mainly occur off stage, with the leads discovering victims. There are a few throat slash sequences, and one moment of a character having their eyeballs burst! The film follows more Rian and Katie rather than the goings on of the killer but there was a sense of peril underneath the purposely cheesy horror moments. A fair bit of blood, and a somewhat thrilling finale, the cherry on top being the darkly humorous way this one ends. An extra mention for the low-fi soundtrack, the core music contrasted well with what was happening.

I liked I Know Exactly How You Die from the start, I found myself getting more and more into it, so much so that I was surprised when I noticed there was just 15 minutes of film left, it flew by. I enjoyed the 'author writing the story' trope, and was eager to see how the fun story played out, though by necessity that meant that elements of the story required being generic. I Know Exactly How You Die had its world premiere at Dances With Films NYC on January 17th.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Saturday 17th January 2026

This week has been the first of four in which I work on my blog full time. It's a learning process, mainly as I nap an awful lot! Roughly two and a half hours a day of blogging time is interrupted by not being able to keep my eyes open and going for a snooze, quite annoying. Anyway, my second news post of the year and it's a real doozer...though I say that not having actually looked at what will be included.

January 20th sees the release of horror film House Sitter, announced by Cleopatra Entertainment and coming from Reaper Films. Directed by Christopher Leto (Death Blow, Creeper in the Woods), the press release states this is a throwback to horror films of the 90's, and that it is a home invasion thriller with a twist. The synopsis sees three friends house sitting for a rich and mysterious man. It is while doing that that the friends find themselves being hunted by a masked killer, and clues found around the house point to something more sinister being in play. House Sitter stars Cristina Méndez (Sorry For Your Loss, Frost Park), Evan Eiglarsh (48, Frost Park) and David Varrieur (Do Not Open, Diary of a Serial Killer).

Written and directed by Keke Soikkeli comes Isle of Doom; a horror about a group of friends who find an island with a sinister history is deserving of that mythos, after they make the fateful decision to go on a camping trip to the place. Isle of Doom is now available on Digital platforms in the USA and Canada, including to rent/buy on Amazon Prime.

Finally for today, Fighting Owl Films have revealed the official trailer for Demon Squad: Tooth and Claw. A sequel to cult indie horror-noir Demon Squad (featured on season 13 of Mystery Science Theater 3000), this sees a spate of violent deaths in a Southern city pointing to evidence of a werewolf being on the loose.

Bluetooth Speaker (2025) - Horror Film Review

Bluetooth Speaker is an indie experimental horror with elements of comedy to it. It was co-directed by Dallas Ryan (Live One, The Last Request) and Ryan Vania, with the two also co-starring, while Ryan also wrote this. Much like the previous two films I have seen from this director, this one flows in a familiar format, which has both pros and cons to the way it is set out.

After their beloved grandpa dies; Brim (Ryan) and younger brother Sean (Vania) head over to his former home on the instructions of their sister, Brenda (Chloe Gay Brewer - Live One). Brenda was left the remote property in their grandpa's will, and intends to sell it, so has asked her brothers to give the messy house a deep clean. They plan to stay at the place for five days, thinking that will be more than enough time to get the job done. With Brim having brought seemingly an endless supply of cheap beer, and the house bringing back many fond memories of their grandpa, the two brothers decide that they are going to leave the cleaning for the final day, and just hang-out together in the meantime. At some point, a small Bluetooth speaker is found outside the house, and with eccentric neighbour - Old Man Morris (Steve Bilecz - Live One) being the only one they had seen in the area, they assume it is his, and bring it inside the house, to give back to him next time they see the man. The speaker has some sort of ominous power to it however, and slowly but surely, Brim begins to fall under its nefarious effects.

Much like previous films I have seen from the director, Bluetooth Speaker is experimental, weird, and arthouse in style on occasions. It is also a film that feels very long, with a 2 hours, 10 minute runtime, the story doesn't really get moving until the second hour, and it is noticeable with a first hour where not much happens at all. It is inferred the speaker is evil via close-up shots of it with sinister sound effects playing. To be fair, I thought this was neat, it would have been funny if it had all been misdirection and the whole thing was a massive red herring. After the halfway point, things do eventually get moving, and take an unexpectedly dark turn considering the more light hearted and often comedic feel of the first half of the film. While there was some tonal dissonance with the shift in vibe, I thought the second part was much more engaging, rather than characters sat around endlessly talking, there was an increasing feel of something really not being right. It leads to some decent moments of horror, and some effective scenes of madness, helped along by some make-up effects that sold their intention well. Some other effects didn't work quite so well, such as a woman superimposed on a desert landscape, and a dream sequence where Brim floats off the ground. This likely goes in with the experimental style, which also stretches to the lighting decisions. Often when characters are speaking to each other, one will be bathed in warm light, while the other will be in cold lighting, making it seem like the shots were filmed at different times from each other. There are also plenty of hallucinatory and dream sequences, adding to the surreal vibe.

The acting, like previous films is very weird, but also felt like a signature style, and one that is obviously very purposeful. Characters often speak in a roundabout way, saying the same thing over and over in a slightly different way each time, rambling with intent. I liked the flow of these scenes, the characters of Brim, Sean, and Brenda felt authentically like close siblings, their rapport worked well, even if they had some odd qualities to them, such as Brenda's no-filter way of speaking, and Brim's obsession with sleeping with women. There is the occasional montage sequence, something that Bluetooth Speaker always does excellently, my favourite being a montage of Brim and Sean play fighting with machetes they found. Another funny one was a montage of Brim sleeping with people, the camera always close up on his grunting 'sex face'. All the characters have very expressive looks to them, with Ryan being the best of these. From his wild over the top expressions, I sometimes got the feel of a living cartoon watching this, was always fun to see. No one acts in a realistic way, adding to the charm of the film world, the editing done in such a way that scenes linger longer than they should, with characters silent staring at the camera as if the camera had forgot to cut, but again, playfully done rather than due to filmmaking mistakes. There were quite a few side characters who only appeared for a few lines or so, Old Man Morris stood out the most, I loved how his character just suddenly appears in the home each time, with the protagonists always being surprised by this.

I couldn't help but feel that Bluetooth Speaker would have really benefitted by being cut down to a more lean runtime, the first half especially has so little happening that my attention really did begin to wander. There were vast chunks of the movie that while entertaining enough on their own, didn't seem to add anything and just got in the way of the flow for me. As much as I enjoyed the characters and the bizarre way their lines are said during the meandering conversations they have, I did think the much more tightly paced and horror infused second half was when it really started to come together. Despite my criticisms, there is a really unique feel with Bluetooth Speaker, something that can be admired even if some elements didn't resonate for me.

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Party Hard 2 (2018) - Horror Video Game Impressions: 'Rotted Meat No.4'

By no means perfect, pixel killing-sim Party Hard still had me making my way all the way through it. The sheer amount of bugs and glitches prevented it from ever being great, but I did find a lot of it enjoyable. I picked up Party Hard 2 expecting more of the same, and it is certainly that, but some core changes prevented me from getting too far into this before I gave up.

The Synopsis:

After going on a party based murder rampage, the serial killer the police labelled 'The Party Killer' vanished. Some months or years later, the killer reappears, again heading to various parties to kill the revellers there. There are cutscenes before and after each level, but due to only being able to make it to the third level, I never got much of an idea of the direction the story was going to go in this time around.

How the Game Felt:

Like its predecessor, Party Hard 2 is an isometric pixel art based game that has you as a killer trying to secretly murder people at various parties, using stealth based gameplay. Rather than be single screen like last time around, this time, levels seemed a lot larger. Also unlike last time, rather than having to kill everyone to finish the level, you instead have the option of a laundry list of specified goals you need to achieve, such as killing drug dealers and motorcycle club members. You are armed with a knife, and there are also many environmental items you can use, such as dropping a piano on a victim, or pushing people into barrels of fire.

Reason for Abandoning the Game:

The first game was tough, but it was manageable, with the lure of seeing what location would be used for each new level keeping me hooked. With Party Hard 2, the game is just too hard, not helped by the much larger locations that make it hard to keep track of where all the different variables are. I managed to get to the third level; a party out at a desert motel, but it was so sprawling that each attempt would take anywhere up to around twenty minutes of carefully taking people out. It got to the point I had had so many unsuccessful attempts that I just gave up, it felt like a waste of my time. I would have liked to see later levels, but the frustration and amount of time it was taking to get further killed that desire. This does build on the first game, but felt to me the increase in size equalled less fun.

Frankenstein (2025) - Horror Film Review

I thought it was neat that iconic film director Guillermo Del Toro (Crimson Peak, Pan's Labyrinth) was making a film adaptation of Mary Shelley's timeless Gothic novel - Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. Saying that, after seeing it was two and a half hours long, I figured I would never find the time to get around to watching it. Well, having lost my job at the end of last year, I now have a lot more free time on my hands, and so gave it a watch. Obviously, this has been adapted to film countless times over the past 100 years, and the character of Frankenstein's Monster is known by most people due to how iconic it has became in the public consciousness. Would this latest version of Frankenstein outstay its welcome, or indeed, do enough to set it apart from all that have come before?

The story is well known, though key elements are handled a little differently here. That is to say, if you are familiar with the story, this follows all the same beats, but occasionally those beats are reached by different means as to how they were in the original novel. The film tells the story of Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac - Moon Knight TV series, Annihilation); a brilliant but troubled scientist who had become obsessed with creating life. Of course, one fateful stormy night he is successful, and from that success comes the creature (Jacob Elordi - Saltburn, The Mortuary Collection). Its monstrous appearance, and apparent lack of intelligence causes Victor to be repelled by his creation, and in a fit of madness he burns down his laboratory, believing the creature destroyed. The creature managed to escape however, and after being treated as if he was a monster by nearly all he comes across, the creation decides to seek out his creator and ask a request of him.

Much like with video games, in my middle age I find I have less and less interest in pursuing remakes and remasters of media that I am familiar with. It was because of that I wondered what exactly a new adaptation of Frankenstein would bring to the table. From the font alone, this looked like it would be quite pretentious. I figured maybe it would go down the route of 'less is more' and rarely show the creature on screen. This is almost the opposite of that. Of course, much like the novel, the prologue takes place in the story's present, with a ship trapped in the Antarctic ice encountering Frankenstein. Here, things become much more dramatic and action packed, with the creature appearing at almost the same time. After a thrilling prologue sequence where he attacks the ship's crew, we then get the start of Victor's story as he recounts how events led to this moment for him. Interestingly, at the film's midway point, we then get the rest of the story recounted by the creature, which is when many of the changes come about, with it suggested the original story as told in the novel, was from the perspective of an unreliable narrator. All the characters are here, from Elizabeth (Mia Goth - Pearl, A Cure for Wellness), to Victor's younger brother, William (Felix Kammerer - All Quiet on the Western Front), but all have some slight change to them. For instance, Elizabeth's relationship with Victor is quite different, while William is portrayed as a grown man. This was a star-studded film, just looking at some of the side roles, we have Christoph Waltz (Alita: Battle Angel, Inglorious Basterds), Charles Dance (Frankenstein, Game of Thrones TV series), David Bradley (The World's End, the Harry Potter films), Ralph Ineson (The Witch) among many others.
For some of these characters, their inclusion was perfectly fine, but some I didn't get on so well with. Victor is well known to be the real monster of the movie, so it is understandable he wasn't the most likeable character. Here, his mistreatment of his creation seems to stem from mistreatment he had from his father (Dance) as a child, and some of his motivations seem a bit abstract, not helped by him disappearing from the movie for much of the second act. Least favourite character for me was Goth's Elizabeth. From the way her character acted to the clothes she wore, she just came across as a weird person, even if her scenes with the creature were decent.

As to the creature himself, rather than keep him on the sides of the screen, the creature is front and literal centre screen for many of his appearances. Stitched together from various body parts, the creature's look changes over the course of the movie. Initially, he really reminded me of Rocky from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, mainly due to the bright yellow loincloth he wears. I don't know why that bright colour was chosen, but it was a bit distracting. He later appears with long lank hair and wearing furs, making him seem much more intimidating. The creature is extremely powerful and full of rage, but he is also shown to very much be the victim of the story. The film doesn't shy away from his violence, but also presents him as someone who is very lost and desperately yearning for company. From the changes in events (Victor often blaming the creature for the death of pretty much any character who dies even when not remotely responsible), it is nigh impossible to dislike this miserable creature. He isn't scary either, despite the scenes of him hulking out and throwing people around like dolls. It leads to some violent scenes, my favourite of these being when he rips someone's jaw off of them! Different to other times, here, the creature is suggested to be indestructible, able to rejuvenate from any injuries sustained. He did feel a bit like the Incredible Hulk at times, but I liked this more unstoppable portrayal.

The make-up effects for the creature were fantastic, there was nothing throughout the whole film that looked sub-par. Especially neat were the locations used, real sets created rather than CG, Frankenstein's laboratory was a real highlight, channelling the contrast between beauty and ruin that Del Toro is known for.

Frankenstein is a heck of a long film, I admit to watching it in three chunks, rather than in a single sitting. Despite being extremely familiar with the story, I still thought this was great. I enjoyed the changes that stopped this feeling as familiar, the filmmaking itself was stellar from start to end. The third act somehow felt a little bit rushed, speeding through huge amounts of the story within around a 40 minute timeframe, but the wonderful cast, amazing effects and set design combined to make this a film I became engrossed with, even if I very much doubt I would ever return for a second viewing. Frankenstein is currently streaming on Netflix.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Thursday 8th January 2026

My first news post of 2026, and the last one I write before I embark on a full month of working on this blog full time. I'm also on day 5 of a self imposed seven day isolation from the world. Being an introvert; my social battery is beyond drained at the moment, so seven days home alone with all the curtains drawn will do me good I feel. Apparently it's been snowing. Onwards to a trio of terrifying news stories.

I rarely ever mention these, but I happen to have a recent email about the topic, so I will speak of the JustWatch streaming charts for films and TV shows in the UK. These were up to date on 5th January. First with the JustWatch Top 10 Films streaming chart, and I can see there are only two relevant films to mention. Luckily, those two films are at No.1 and No.2 respectively. At No.2 is the almighty 28 Years Later, it makes sense why it is so high with the sequel; 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple just about to hit cinemas. At No.1 is Sinners, a film that I know next to nothing about, other than I believe it's an American film about vampires? Either way, it is good to see horror so high in the film charts at the moment.
Over in the JustWatch Top 10 TV Shows streaming chart, there is more horror but it is also more spread out. No.8 sees IT: Welcome to Derry - the TV show based on Stephen King's IT world. If that ever pops up anywhere I have access to, I will check it out, heard it's good for the lore. Fallout is in fourth position, likely due to it having returned for a second season. I did enjoy season 1, but my Amazon Prime Video subscription has expired, so it will be a time before I get to see season 2. Talking of post-apocalypse, Pluribus is in third place for last week. Got to admit, the only thing I know about it is that it stars Rhea Seehorn (Better Call Saul), and people online have said it is quite slow. Finally, No.1 sees Stranger Things, and personally, I think that position is well deserved. I've seen all the new season up to the final episode (waiting for a friend to catch up before watching that together), so far, I think it has been 10/10.

ARROW's January SVOD line-up has been announced, I will have a quick look through the press release and pull out anything that sounds appealing. Joe Lynch Selects has the director (Wrong Turn 2: Dead End, which stars Henry Rollins. I own this one on DVD, but annoyingly the disc is scratched meaning I can't see the final five minutes or so!) selecting some films for the service. These include Deep Red, Mute Witness, Ms. 45, The Woman, and Bad Biology. 5th January saw giallo - Blood and Black Lace, those type of films are ok, not entirely convinced they are my thing. If it is your thing then rejoice, for Puzzle also arrives on 9th January. Skipping ahead in the press release...more giallo titles, then...Split Second - a serial killer film taking place in a flooded dystopian future. Those were the ones that leapt out, though outside of horror - if you love Jean-Claude Van Damme, plenty of his awesome action films are getting added.

Finally for today, my cover story - Primate. This Johannes Roberts directed primate based horror is coming to cinemas on 30th January, to celebrate, a new featurette titled 'Silence Featurette' has been released.

Whispers (2025) - Horror Film Review

Originally intended to be the third part in a short horror film series called The Whisper, the scope of this grew enough that it was decided this would instead serve as a feature length sequel, and renamed Whispers (not to be confused with 2015 film, Whispers). Written and directed by Miroslav Petkov (The Whisper 2: Natural Connection, Drums), this indie horror may follow on from the stories of short films I have never seen, but it also worked very well as a standalone movie, with the low budget not getting in the way of some great ideas.

Bonnivar Park has been the site of vast numbers of disappearances over the years, with locals coming  to believe the park is cursed, and the authorities at loss as to how to explain the huge amount of missing people in the area. After his girlfriend, Sophie vanishes while at the park, Nick (Nikola Penchev) becomes determined to find out what happened to her. Following a tip, Nick thinks he may have discovered the place where Sophie vanished to; an abandoned building deep in the centre of the vast natural area. He enlists the help of Alex (Petkov), whose sister - Maggie (Simona Rose The Whisper 2: Natural Connection), had also disappeared, while looking for Sophie no less, as well as the strong and silent Caine (Vélin Borata), who also lost someone to the park. Together they head out to the abandoned building where it is believed they will find the answers they seek.

The synopsis may not sound like the most exciting story out there, but that is just the beginnings of Whispers unexpected journey. The film follows a similar format to what Weapons did - showing the same story shown from the perspective of various characters, each named chapter showing events from the named character's perspective. It begins with 'Nick' that was the weakest of the chapters here, mainly because I never really got a sense of just what sort of person Nick actually was. That was only notable because most of the other central characters all got fleshed out to the point where they became to feel more real than the character of Nick ever achieved. Each chapter over-lapped with other chapters, so for instance, in 'Nick' you have Alex seeing the man at the park, while later on during the 'Alex' chapter, you then get to see the aftermath of that scene. That idea was used repeatedly, I loved seeing the same scene but with additional information revealed before and after. It gave Whispers a feeling of a puzzle that was slowly getting solved for the viewer. Each of the chapters ends in the same place; with the three men, heavily armed, arriving at the abandoned building.

Despite not having seen the two short films this is a sequel to, it was obvious what they would have been about. Having a look online, The Whisper was about Sophie going missing, while The Whisper 2: Natural Connection was about Maggie's own vanishing. This was all stuff that had been revealed throughout the course of this one, so I didn't feel I had missed too much to not enjoy the story.
I liked how the film created the feel of the Alex and Maggie sibling bond; dreamlike flashback sequences where the character in the present is moved back into the past, with it then revealed to have been a thought someone was having 
Some cool ideas here I liked, such as the strange red symbols painted on walls and trees that appear able to mind control anyone who looks at them, characters hallucinating, teleportation, as well as some murder and mayhem. The low budget means there wasn't a lot visually to look at. For instance, the scenes at the abandoned building lost a little bit of their impact due to not really being able to show enough to make the horror scenes there work perfectly, but the strength of the neat ideas carried things through without any immersion breaking. Where the story went was fine, but I enjoyed the misdirection and rug pulls in the lead-up more, such as the crazy mid-film sequence that had me questioning everything that had came before. The park and abandoned building locations were both neat, the building full of potential atmosphere, even if the big story reveal never really fits the building type.

Seeing the low budget at movie's start, I was apprehensive this may be a slog to get through. Whispers succeeds despite some obvious budget constraints, which shows the impressive filmmaking skills here. The core acting was great, the acting for many of the other characters not so much. At its core this was a serious story, but one that happened within a reality where everything is patently absurd
My low expectations for the film were swiftly surpassed - thanks to the clever use of chapters, fleshed out protagonists (mostly), and a sense of atmosphere.

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Alan Wake Remastered (2021) - Horror Video Game Impressions: 'Rotted Meat No.3'

The third in my series of horror video games I was unable to get through was the 2021 remaster of 2010 video game - Alan Wake. As I've gotten older and my years have began to advance, I find myself with little desire to re-play games I've already gotten through. Over the years, I have played Alan Wake multiple times, it is still a great game, and the remaster makes a great game even better.

The Synopsis: 

Alan Wake arrives in the lazy mountain town of Bright Falls with his wife, on vacation to try and help the famous writer get over his writer's block. They are not there long when Wake's wife gets captured by a dark presence from Cauldron Lake. A week later, Alan wakes up in a crashed car with no memory of what has happened to him during that time period. He finds Bright Falls is infested with supernaturally infected humans, and that the area is littered with pages from a manuscript that he doesn't remember writing, which eerily predicts the future with uncanny accuracy.

How the Game Felt:

This remaster is the only proper way to play the game. Having tried it like this I could never go back. Alan Wake was made before the advent of HD televisions, so going back to the original it is very dark and murky. The remaster makes everything look so much smoother and brighter, making the world come alive with details that before I wasn't able to see. It also appears to have had lore added that links the game to Control, a neat touch. The game is a combat heavy survival horror game split into chapters. It plays as well as it always did, and while I stuck with this I was having a genuine blast.

Reason for Abandoning the Game:

As much fun as this was to play, it is still the same Alan Wake that I have played countless times before. It felt like a waste of my game playing time to give this yet another playthrough, even if it did look better than it ever had before. In an age where I struggle to even play remakes, let alone remasters, I just didn't feel a strong urge to continue through the familiar story and levels.

CAPA Ghostbusters: Director's Cut (2026) - Short Comedy Horror Film Review

I have reviewed a whole bunch of films from filmmaker Nicholas Michael Jacobs (Genevieve, Urban Fears) over the past years, but his latest is something a little different. As the title hints heavily at; CAPA Ghostbusters: Director's Cut is a director's cut of CAPA Ghostbusters, a film that Jacobs made with his friends in high school. The original film was around 9 minutes long, this director's cut, cuts this down to a lean 5 and a half minutes, remastered with updated special effects.

Four students at The Philadelphia High School for the Creative & Performing Arts (CAPA) are members of a Ghostbusters club. After the school's librarian encounters a ghost, the disbelieving principal; Principal Kaufman, gives them permission to go and hunt the 'ghost'. Luckily they are ready for this opportunity, having recently created uniforms and gotten their hands on some make-shift ghost blasting weapons.

I can't say I have ever been much of a fan of fan made films, though that is typically due to them being unnecessarily long. Obviously, that is not the case with this one. It tells a familiar story in a lightning fast paced short, including some iconic moments that are recognisable from the film series this was based on. Most obvious is the library based prologue. You also get the iconic theme music, and later, the recognisable proton beams, as well as slimer being the ghost responsible. I watched some of the original short film, and this one does have much better CG special effects. The comedy is never laugh out loud funny, the friends have a decent enough rapport among themselves, and I did smile during a montage scene of the busters getting ready when one of the zips on their suits jams during a close-up shot. The addition of a 'secretary' for the four person team was good in relation to making the female character a force to be reckoned with, but their inclusion didn't really seem to fit the more stream-lined short as the character appeared in just the one scene.

It might be a little breezy, but telling a complete Ghostbusters adjacent story in such a short time frame is impressive, kudos to the tight editing. Having seen Jacobs filmmaking work improve leaps and bounds after the past five or so years, it was interesting to see where he came from, and also where he is going to go next. The director's cut includes an after credits sequence that teases his next untitled project.

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The R.I.P Man (2025) - Horror Film Review

The R.I.P Man is an indie slasher that was co-written (alongside Rhys Thompson) and directed by Jamie Langlands (The Cellar). Featuring a memorable antagonist killer and some atmospheric locations, it was only let down by the fuzzy logic motivations of the core characters.

The titular R.I.P Man (Owen Llewelyn - Good Neighbours, Dredd) is a demented serial killer who takes the trophy of a tooth from each of his victims. This is perhaps due to the man having no teeth of his own due to a rare oral condition. The police, led by DCI Gary Mullen (Matt Weyland - Eastenders soap opera), are determined to catch the killer, but are not getting very far, even though the killer appears to only be targeting a small group of college friends. After Jaden's (Bruno Cryan - Popeye's Revenge) girlfriend is murdered in the film's prologue sequence, the grieving young man starts an investigation of his own to track down the killer and end his reign of madness.

Rather than keep the antagonist a hidden menace, he is shown fully almost straight away. For a killer such as this, this is a good thing, as he has a really memorable look. He did remind me a lot of Nosferatu; pasty white skin, bald, wide eyed, and suited out with punkish looking black clothes. This villain always looked great on camera, the creepy way he grins at his victims, with his 'R.I.P' embossed mouth guard he wears made for some fun on screen moments. Each of the kills over the course of the 90 minute movie were fun to watch, and varied as well, with no one victim dying the same way as any other. There wasn't a lot of blood shown, but it always looked decent enough. Special effects throughout were never bad, love the practical over CG. The night scenes did all seem a little blue tinted, but that's a minor quibble. The killer's repeated use of wind-up chattering tooth toys was also a neat touch, these items bookending the kill scenes, often used to lure his victims to the particular places were they would meet their end. There was also a decent dive into who the killer was, and the reasons he might have for wanting to kill, though the repeated refrain from Mullen as he explains the killer has a 'rare oral condition' to everyone he meets did get slightly farcical.

On the topic of the police, that is just one of the areas where the story goes a little loose in terms of believability. Aside from one late film moment where the police tell one of the potential victims that they will look into getting them police protection, there seems little to no protection for the characters. The police seem more obsessed with learning where the wind-up toys originated from, than looking for a motive. Not that that bothers the protagonists, despite their friends being killed off in horrific ways one by one, they never seem to express any type of shock or sadness at this. The R.I.P Man weirdly never shows the characters initial reactions to finding out their friends have died, they are only ever shown in scenes where they are shown carrying on their lives as normal, without seemingly a care in the world. The focus was more on the police investigation, which was entertaining to watch, but it did make the college student's role in the film take more of a back seat.
There were some excellently chosen atmospheric locations here, from a dark church, to isolated cellars, and a ruin, these places all looked exactly where you might expect to be murdered by a crazed slasher. My issue with these places where that characters end up in them for no real logical reason. One early example, not to reveal the victim, but they are basically wandering down a series of narrow alleyways at night for some reason, and then randomly decide to enter a building, head into its maze-like basement, before conveniently stopping in the exact location where the slasher has set a convoluted trap that is then sprung on them. Characters have little to no reason to constantly be appearing in these sinister locations, it became a recurring theme, and felt like they were only ever where they were because the script called for it, not for any logical in-film world reason.

At the moment, I am all about escapism from the real world, and The R.I.P Man delivered with that. Despite my problems with some of the way this story was told, the antagonist was very memorable, and the story told was decent, making for an entertaining indie slasher that sometimes effects a pretty neat dream-like feel, whether intentional or not. The R.I.P Man comes to streaming platforms on 5th January in the U.K and is available for pre-order.

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