Top Floor (2024) - Thriller Film Review

Top Floor is a thriller set in New York that was actually filmed in Bulgaria. This explains the amount of accents the film has, and maybe also accounts for some of the weird vibe the movie has. Written and directed by Jérémy Minui, this had an interesting premise and an utterly bonkers twist reveal, but also had plenty of flaws. Apologies for the time stamp on the images used, I usually rely on Google to get film images but due to being unable to find any I used my own shots from the screener version of the film I had been sent!

Julia (Justine Wachsberger - Divergent) is a very popular social media influencer who has millions of fans around the world. In a car with her rich fiancé Greg (Nicolas Cazalé), they get into an accident and Julia loses consciousness. She awakens to find herself inexplicably in an unknown stopped elevator, and with no phone signal she decides to press the operator button. She is answered by an operator (voiced by Akil Wingate- Creepshow 3 segment 'The Radio'), this creepy man soon reveals himself to be the person responsible for trapping Julia in the lift, as well as revealing he has drugged her. He tells her that he is going to ask her a series of questions, with each truthful answer  moving the elevator upwards, once she gets to the top floor she is promised that she will gain her freedom. Should she lie however, she is promised death. With her plight being live streamed to her social media accounts, her assistant Tess (Lewkowski Yovel) and some police detectives are in a race against time to locate her and save her before the madman takes her life.

This falls into a couple of subgenres of horror, firstly, the majority of the movie takes place in a single location in the vein of Saw or Phone Booth, while a famous person being forced to reveal their darkest secrets has been done many times also, such as with Feedback and Truth or Dare. The elevator made for a decent enough location, and while the antagonist is represented by a voice, he also kind of gets a physical presence with the elevator speaker and camera both taking on a sinister vibe as they are shown often when the operator is speaking. Julia was fine as the lead, but I wish there had been more to show just why she was such a popular influencer. No criticism of the actress, but the character didn't appear to have much star quality to her (again, no criticism, I myself am a textbook example of a non-speaking background character in life itself), so it felt unbelievable she could be such an influential person. If there had been more of a beginning, rather than a muddled sequence showing her walking past waiting press to get to her car, then maybe I would have been sold more on this. As it was, there are a few sequences showing people commenting on the live stream, but that is it, most the film has Julia trapped in her lift.

With the protagonist having a multitude of sins, it was a wonder none of them had leaked out from anywhere before. I never really understand why characters in these films aren't just truthful right away, I guess it makes it more interesting to watch when they have to go through ordeals and get punished in order to be forced to speak their truth. Julia constantly kept going back and forth between terror and anger at being trapped, and trying to reason with her captor. Got a bit of whiplash with the back and forth mood swings from her.
I thought Wingate was perfection as the operator voice. He sounded to me like a more cartoonishly evil version of Gus Fring from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul fame. The voice had traces of Giancarlo Esposito, but was far more demented and energetic with his wild delivery of the lines. I loved how crazy this voice sounded, making for the more entertaining scenes of the thriller. Side characters were mostly a mixed bag, I thought the two detectives for instance were terribly cast, neither felt like they were detectives, especially the male one with his stupid bright red hoodie. It all culminates in a twist I never saw coming. Initially it didn't really make much sense at all, but I saw the logic within the madness of the twist, even if I'm not convinced it didn't lead to some plot holes appearing as a result.

Top Floor was far from perfect, but this indie thriller to its credit had me watching from opening to the end credits without once clock watching to see how much was left. It helps that at seventy four minutes long this doesn't stay around long enough to get monotonous.

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Creepshow: Season 1 (2019) - Horror TV Show Review

A few months back I decided to make a convoluted method of randomly choosing what video game to play next, due to having such an insane backlog (that is literally thousands of games long). With that method a success I thought I would apply it to films and TV show also. The first pick that came up was the Creepshow series. Released in 2019, this series is obviously based on the cult classic anthology horror films of the same name (my Creepshow 2 review here). Currently streaming on Shudder, each season is made up of six episodes, with each episode featuring two short stories.

The show is presented as if it was stories that are taken place within the titular Creepshow comic. You get little wraparound segments featuring The Creep, either in puppet or cartoon form, and during the episodes there are sections when the action freezes and transfers over to a comic book format or vice-versa. Usually these comic book sections seemed designed to save on budget by having larger set pieces be in this form before heading to a more safe and static setting for the real life footage.
I initially watched the first episode a few years back and have to say I wasn't impressed much at all. I thought the effects seemed a bit poor and the stories didn't grab me. Thankfully, heading back I was delighted with many of the episodes, with rarely a bad story to be found. The season opens up with 'Grey Matter', an adaptation of a Stephen King story. Taking place during a tremendous storm, a boy recounts events that saw his alcoholic father transform into something...wrong. My notes from the time said that the creature effects actually did look good. It was also the first of many notable names to show up this season with both Tobin Bell (the Saw franchise) and Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul TV shows) featuring in small roles. The second part of this first episode was 'House of the Head' which had an interesting premise. A young girl, Evie (Cailey Fleming - The Walking Dead TV show) gets a dolls house, but the dolls appear to keep moving around on their own, with it seeming that somehow this doll family's home is being haunted by a similar sized ghost. I thought that one was both clever and creepy, though didn't end on the most satisfying note.

Episode two opens with 'Bad Wolf Down', a werewolf story set during World War II. I loved the setting and thought this was enjoyable if a little predictable. It did show how varied Creepshow could be, that was something I really took from the first season - how many different feeling episodes there were. Following this is the delightfully demented 'The Finger'. Starring DJ Qualls (Z Nation TV show) as the fourth wall breaking loner - Clark Wilson, this sees him finding a weird monstrous looking finger and deciding to take it home. Over time the finger grows into a fully formed demonic creature who begins to kill in order to please Clark. I liked this one, the puppet looked great and there was a fun vibe, especially liking Clark who narrates directly to the camera, and even steps away mid scene to have a brief talk to the audience every now and again.
The third episode has two shorts that were both good in their own right. I loved 'All Hallows Eve' that sees a group of teens going 'trick or treating', with it slowly fed out over the episode just why everyone whose homes they visit are so terrified of them. 'The Man in the Suitcase' has to be the weirdest episode of season one. This has the surreal concept of a young man accidentally bringing home the wrong suitcase from the airport. Inside he finds a strange man painfully jammed into the luggage. The young man and his friends soon discover that pain causes the trapped man to vomit up gold coins, greed makes them do bad things to get more of this. It might have been a bit obvious where this was heading but it was unique feeling.

I loved fourth episode 'The Companion' about a boy discovering a killer scarecrow, the effects for that scarecrow in particular felt very cool, I loved how his 'fingers' of hay stretched out like tendrils. While the first film in this episode was good, it could also be accused of being a little too straight forward. I personally thought that the next short - 'Lydia Layne's Better Half' was the best of the season. This sees an influential businesswoman accidentally killing her girlfriend during an argument. She puts the body on an office chair and wheels it to an office elevator, with the intention of taking it to her car and disposing of it. Unfortunately, while in the elevator there is an earthquake and the lift gets stuck between floors. This had some creepy moments to it, with it not clear for much of the run time if the corpse is actually moving of its own accord when out of eyesight, or if it is the stress of the situation getting to the protagonist.
The penultimate episode begins with a take on the classic 'monkey's paw' plot device (being a literal monkey's paw that grants wishes, but typically twisted versions of what the user had intended). As simple and predictable as it was, I thought 'Night of the Paw' was a decent short that told the story in a simple yet effective manner. 'Times is Tough in Musky Holler' was the worst episode of the season, more that it was too ambitious than it was a bad short to watch. It takes place against the backdrop of zombie apocalypse with the tables having been turned on Musky Holler's mayor and his followers (including the sheriff played by David Arquette - Scream series of films) who had gotten power hungry and ran the town as a brutal dictatorship in the name of protecting the citizens. The whole short is the lead up to and reveal of his and his followers punishment. The bad thing about this one was that a giant chunk of the story took place as a comic book sequence. The whole zombie outbreak and the mayor's abuse of power all played out this way, obviously due to the limitations of the budget for actually showing this in live action. Many of the cast were also killed offscreen, with a scoreboard used to show the viewer they are being killed. Despite the short comings, the zombie effects were cool, and this really reminded me of a short story I once read.
The final episode of season one was another mixed bag. I really enjoyed 'Skincrawlers' and was definitely the most bloody and gross short to be found here. It has a species of giant leech being used by a company as a weight loss tool, due to them having the ability to only suck fat out of bodies. I liked this one. 'By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain' had a decent idea behind it, but I don't think it was executed that well. Directed by Tom Savini and based on a story by Joe Hill, this features a teenage girl who is determined to find proof of the Loch Ness style monster that legend says resides in a large lake near her home. I liked that her determination for finding the creature came from her father being a previous victim of it, but this felt a little too small in scale, and I thought the mother character was intensely irritating.

Truth be told, I didn't expect much but found I actually really enjoyed Creepshow. I enjoyed the wraparound idea of these all being tales from a horror comic, I loved all the famous actors popping up throughout, and this had some great variation in the type of stories being told. It is also very cool reading about the scores of easter eggs hidden throughout each episode, with nods to iconic horror films and books. I look forward to one day getting around to watch future seasons.

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Werewolf Serenade (2024) - Comedy Horror Film Review

I was initially put off by the title of Daedalus Howell's comedy horror film Werewolf Serenade and that is due to having little time for werewolves as a movie monster. I find the traditional transforming into a wolf a dull concept. Thankfully, this film does things a little different with the change being more 'on the spectrum' than a typical black and white human to wolf construct.

Howell stars as Peter MacTire - a jaded college professor with little interest in his job, whose wife, Julia (Emily Keyishian) is in a mental institute after a mental health crisis. When Peter's colleague and friend Stuart Solomon (Matt Standley) is found dead, the long suffering college dean decides to put Peter in charge of Solomon's special project he was doing for a rich benefactor - Konrad Beissen (Mark P. Robinson). It turns out that Konrad had tasked the man with investigating a Nazi project from the second world war that was designed to find a way to transform men into werewolves. He had actually been successful, creating the compound, something that near alcoholic Peter inadvertently drinks believing it to be wine. Soon a change comes over the man, he becomes more confident and stronger and realises that he is now a werewolf. Konrad however has also had the compound and believes that Peter is unworthy of the special abilities that he now possesses.

This indie comedy horror was mostly a lot of fun from start to finish. Helping this throughout is the soundtrack that is split between classical music and more jaunty jolly music. This means that even during the most thrilling moments, the tension and atmosphere is diluted purposely by the soundtrack, so the horror is slight. The comedic element becomes a little too much into focus by the time the eighty minute movie reaches its farcical third act, with a silly chase sequence that went on for quite a while, and a background character pulled into the forefront who it turns out is actually quite irritating when they get more screen time to shine. Of that third act I must also state it had an underwhelming conclusion to the antagonists path that wasn't adequately displayed on screen.

As I said, I think people changing into wolves is a bit of a boring thing. Here however, people change but only in certain ways. Often it is just the eye colour that changes on the werewolf, occasionally they get hair on their hands and face as well as long claws, the hair does actually suit Peter due to the impressive mutton chops he sports anyway. I liked this more subtle change, and it fitted the comedic tone of the film. Werewolf powers are not displayed that much, one scene has Peter somehow climbing up a sheer wall, while he is shown to have super sensitive smell and hearing abilities. Action scenes are kept to a minimum, they serve their purpose, but the story isn't centred around horror, there isn't really much of a downside to being cursed with being a werewolf in this film world.
I thought that Howell was the standout character of the movie, it is always good when the protagonist turns out to be the most entertaining character. I also thought Robinson was good as the bad guy, with lots of scenery chewing to be had by him.

With a good turn by Howell and a story that while silly was also mostly fun, this indie comedy horror was entertaining for what it was. I personally liked how werewolves were handled within this film world, and while the third act was a little too much like a farce, it still left me pleasantly surprised by the time the end credits on this rolled. Werewolf Serenade is now streaming on Amazon.

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Dating Horror Stories (2024) - Horror Anthology Film Review

Joshua Nelson (Aware of the Wolf, The Things We Cannot Change) is the writer and director of horror anthology film Dating Horror Stories. I am quite fond of anthologies as I feel there is typically at least one of the shorts that makes watching worth the time. As the film's title suggests, the theme around this anthology is horror stemming from dates gone very wrong.

Within this anthology there are three short films as well as a relatively brief wraparound story. Three woman at a club are talking about relationships, one of the woman states she is able to recognise couples who are out on dates, and points these out to her friends.. Each of the three short films then centres on a different dating couple and the horror that stems from this.
The first film sees a magician; Michael the Magnificent (Richie Bruno) who tells his latest date that magic is very important to him, and that he would like his date to assist him during his latest show. Unknown to the girl, Michael is a serial killer whose M.O sees him killing his dates live on stage as part of his magic trick, in front of unsuspecting audiences. Some time later and Michael has a new date, but it seems his previous victims have had enough and appear as ghosts in order to convince the woman her life is in danger. A decent enough idea with this one, only let down by a very fake looking prop head, and a conclusion that leaves things to the imagination rather than actually shows anything satisfying.

The second film sees speed eater champion - Lee (Jon Reisch - Aware of the Wolf) dating a girl. Her friend Phoenix (Julia Wyrzuc) is concerned that the man doesn't have much of a productive life, with his winnings from speed eating contests minimal. With the option given to participate in a unique eating contest from the dark web that could result in a life changing pay out should he win, Lee and the two girls jump at the chance, with the later unsuspecting just how far Lee would go to be a winner. This one was probably the best of the three, though it was a bit odd how the three central characters were so fine to go along with something that is very wrong.

The final film starred Jeff Clark Jr. as Daniel, a man who is so obsessed with a former model he is dating that he is prepared to kill for her, due to her stating her very pampered dog Rocco has only eyes for human flesh. When the initial kill doesn't lead to getting to sleep with the woman, Daniel, with the assistance of his crazy sister, begins a campaign of slayings, desperate for his date to get more physical with him. I thought it was a bit stupid how easily the protagonist is led on, and also it ends on a bit of ridiculous note. On the flip side, I didn't get the name of the sister character, but the actress for that role brought a lot of fun with her.

This anthology was very indie feeling, this was reflected in the low amount of special effects, and being relatively light on much action. The wraparound story was almost pointless, with a slow first fifteen minutes that had me pausing the film to go check it was actually meant to be a horror film. This intro introduced all the characters from the shorts, but did drag on a bit. A much better unifying force was the character of Arnold (Matt Agnelli) who appeared in all three shorts. This self styled relationship guru was a fun character whose terrible advice for the characters helped them go along with the individual madness' that they find themselves caught up in. I enjoyed his appearances, his scenes the most fun and entertaining ones in the whole film.

Cannibalism isn't my thing in horrors (outside of zombie films of course!), so with two of the three films focussing on this topic it wasn't going to blow my mind. This was very indie feeling, and the motivations of the characters within the shorts all made them seem like desperate and dense people, from the girl in the first short who was extremely easily gas-lit, to the man in the third whose reservations about killing didn't seem that strong. I've definitely seen worse horror anthologies, look past the low budget with Dating Horror Stories and this was enjoyable enough.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Thursday 14th November 2024

   

At the time of writing I've just finished watching Steve Lawson's St Patrick's Day Massacre so I will say luck of the Irish to you! Before I start, terrible news that horror legend Tony Todd has sadly passed away at the age of 69 on November 6th. Star of Candyman and a cool recurring character in the Final Destination films, I had a lot of time for this horror icon. May he rest in peace.

Some music news for a change first. Barcelona based thrashy black/death quartet Emissary have released a music video for their track 'At the Throne of Chaos'. The track is first one from their upcoming LP, Eldritch (due for a 2025 release) and was inspired by H.P Lovecraft's 1932 story 'The Dreams in the Witch House'. Emissary are due to be touring across Europe at some point in the near future.

Piper is a supernatural horror-thriller that came to North American VOD platforms and DVD on November 12th from Freestyle Digital Media. This follows a mother and daughter who move to a small German town. A hidden secret makes daughter Amy the target of the titular Piper, a children's fairy-tale legend who turns out to be very real, and whose M.O is punishing parents by stealing away their children. This of course being based on the Pied-Piper of Hamlin (as a child I visited Hamlin and remember well the museum dedicated to this creation, even including the route through the town the man was supposed to have taken!) This was written and directed by Anthony Waller (Mute Witness), with the cast including Elizabeth Hurley (Bedazzled, Austin Powers), Mia Jenkins (Hanna), Jack Stewart (Outlander), Tara Fitzgerald (Brassed Off), Ryan Webber (The Funhouse Massacre) and Robert Daws (The Man Who Fell to Earth).

Finally for today, Fear MP2V has been released on digital platforms worldwide from VIPCO and Bayview Entertainment, with it coming worldwide to AVOD digital platforms on 24th December. This technology based horror is about two crazies who are documenting their small town America road-trip. The press release describes this as '...a film about serial killers made by the killers themselves'. Fear MP2V was directed by Rob Medaska and stars Thomas Brigman, Jackie DeNieff and Jules Graciolett.

Do Not Open (2024) - Horror Film Review

Do Not Open is a supernatural thriller about the dangers of an over reliance on technology. Written and directed by Brian Babarik (who also appears in a brief cameo), this paranoid horror focusses on one dysfunctional family and the computer virus that transcends media to infect them.

Daughter (Noelle Gutierrez) begins the movie by opening a strange email that promises her acceptance. This is the catalyst for all to follow, as this simple act somehow releases a virus onto the home network that slowly begins to cause technology to warp the minds of the family members. All characters are obsessed with technology, Daughter with her social media and music, Son (Kian Lawson-Khalili) with his video games, Mom (Johanna Smitz) with the self help videos she watches on YouTube, and Dad (Tomas Engström) with his affair partner's messages. The virus soon begins to insidiously twist and change the family members, leading to a violent eruption of misery and hate.

This was an odd film, and one that never gives the viewer the opportunity to like the protagonists. Due to the reliance on technology this family feel very separate from each other. This is best shown in the scenes where they are all sat together to watch TV, but each member is on their own device. The characters were all so weird, the Mom the prime example. Hinted to be suffering some sort of mental health crisis, she has a perpetual smile on her face, seeming to be existing in a delusional state where everything is great. This mental health situation is never really addressed, though it is hinted it stems from an abusive childhood the woman had. I don't know the age of the actress playing Mom, but I did find it distracting that she only seemed to be a few years older than her apparent biological daughter. Both parents looked too young to have children in their middle to late teens. I also have to add that the obnoxiously large text size on Daughter's laptop and phone appeared to be that size purely so that the viewer was able to read her messages. The characters were all heavily flawed, Son being a stereotypical angry teenager, Dad getting increasingly bad thoughts about Daughter, and Daughter herself under pressure in her online social circle. In addition to the bad side of technology, there are also moments that cover toxic masculinity which felt of the time.

The horror comes from the slow change that begins to transform the family from dysfunctional to increasingly deranged dysfunctionality. It is a bit of a slow burn, and due to the family not really being able to communicate with each other, it was hard to feel involved in the events of the movie. The first hour takes place exclusively in the family home, the viewer made to often feel like a voyeur, with plenty of shots set up as if the film was a found footage. Horror mainly comes from the digital virus affecting the world around the characters. Mom and Daughter both have hallucinations of ghostly assailants, while Son's gamer clan leader gets him to do increasingly bad things, as does the self help guru that Mom is obsessed with. There were some decent moments mixed in. I liked the guru increasingly appearing to directly be talking to Mom, and the third act that sees a scene shift to a technology-less cabin out in woodland finally had events picking up. I did feel for most of the run time that it always felt like Do Not Open was just about to get good, but unfortunately it doesn't really ever manage to be that.

I wanted to like Do Not Open more than I did, but the weirdness of the family dynamic, and little attempt to make these characters at all relatable left me feeling cold more than anything. It begin to show signs of getting good in the bonkers third act, but with the 'evil' of the film being so abstract I never really got a good handle on why things were happening like they were. Do Not Open released across English-speaking territories on November 12th, with Glass House Distribution set to sell to the rest of the world at the upcoming American Film Market in Las Vegas.

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Silent Hill 2 (2024) - Horror Video Game Review (Playstation 5)

In my mind, the original Silent Hill 2 is one of the best video games ever made. With it trapped on old technology I haven't played the game for quite a few years. When it was announced Bloober Team were in charge of a remake of the beloved game many people were cautious. The team have been a bit hit and miss with their output over the years. Thankfully they seem to have finally struck gold, sure this is a remake, so the story is known, but it is a damn good remake that brings the classic game kicking and screaming into current day. Some story spoilers to follow, but I will try and keep them to a minimum.

James Sunderland (voiced by Luke Roberts) has headed to the small resort town of Silent Hill after receiving a letter from his wife Mary, stating she is waiting for him there in their 'special place'. What makes this stranger than you might expect is that Mary died of a terminal illness some three years previously. James is sure there is no way his wife could actually be at the town, but still being in deep grief he just has to check it out. He arrives to find the town covered in a thick mist, and the streets and buildings deserted, save for deadly monsters that is. It turns out that him, alongside a handful of others, have been called to Silent Hill, where the town has judged them for perceived crimes and will make them traverse a gauntlet of terror in order to confront their guilt.

It has to be stated straight away that the remake of Silent Hill 2 is excellent. It looks great, it sounds great, and it creates a feeling of a classic survival horror game from back in the day. In terms of the story this is an almost beat for beat remake. There is added dialogue and some smaller events play out vaguely differently, but the core story is the same as it ever was. Thankfully that story is as strong as ever, and new voice acting has made it more engaging than the often cheesy dialogue of the original game. My problem with remakes is that they don't have the excitement and mystery of a new story. As much as I loved this game, it is a story I have experienced literally dozens of times, and with expanded larger locations I often find myself almost impatient to get to the story beats I knew so well. During James' travels he meets troubled teen Angela who is in town looking for her mother, moody Eddie who had fled to the town to get away from bullies, and innocent child Laura, who has came to Silent Hill also trying to locate Mary. Key character is Maria, a flirtatious woman who bears a striking resemblance to Mary, and who teams up with James for a decent portion of the game.

I believe the original game was around six to seven hours long, this time around it is a lot longer, with my first playthrough taking me nineteen hours to get to the end credits. It is expanded mainly with larger locations that are filled with more enemies. The town feels like a larger place now, and each of the games' 'dungeons' seemed to take a lot longer to get through. People who have played the original will be familiar with the apartment building, the hospital, and the annoying labyrinth, this time around they lasted for hours. I recall the apartment block took me over two hours to traverse, with that the typical time needed to get through one of these 'dungeons'. The level design has for the most part been totally changed up, and the puzzles all seemed different. Some cool nods to the original with 'deja-vu' style moments where puzzles and items from the original game are pointed out, but not utilised by James for the remake. The game world looks fantastic, with both the light and dark versions of the town being wonderful places to visit. For much of the game I used the recommended darkness settings, but I did eventually have to change this due to struggling to see enemies with my naff torch.

Combat has been increased, and felt a lot harder. You now have a dodge button which is essential to get to grips with to avoid the attacks of the more aggressive enemies. I can't say I ever really got good at combat, nearly ever enemy encounter in the game saw me getting hit a few times. Initially you are armed just with a 4x4 plank of wood, eventually you get access to a lead pipe, a pistol, shotgun and hunting rifle. Ammo and health seemed random, sometimes I would feel I had lots of it, but much of the later half of the game saw me constantly hunting for these items. Default enemies are not huge in variation, there are the creatures who vomit poison, zombie nurses, and cockroaches. The split-people thing gets an upgrade in that it later has the ability to crawl along walls and ceilings, then of course there are the bosses. Over the course of the game you encounter quite a few boss characters, most notably the iconic Pyramid Head. I often found it wasn't clear if these were boss fights you were expected to win by combat or if they relied on a certain amount of time passing before the fight automatically ends. Most boss fights were fine if a little bland, it wasn't fun to find the boss fight against a certain character was even harder than the original, even if it was probably the most memorable boss fight in the game.

I love the original Silent Hill 2 and it was a legitimate joy playing through this remake. Personally, I would have preferred an original entry, but getting to play a Silent Hill game in 2024, even as a remake, was wonderful. I have missed this series, and with this one being such a great game, it seems there will be more to come in the future. If you haven't ever played a Silent Hill game then this remake is a perfect place to start. It might have a '2' in the title, but the game tells a stand-alone story, and it tells it in a sublime and wonderful way.

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St Patrick's Day Massacre (2025) - Horror Film Review

According to IMDB, St Patrick's Day Massacre isn't due for release until next year, making for the first 2025 film I have reviewed on this blog. This was written and directed by Steve Lawson (Wrath of Dracula, Ripper's Revenge), someone whose style of filmmaking I am very familiar with for better or for worse. This doesn't deviate from his usual format, but wasn't terrible for what it is.

In a small tavern in Dublin in 1825 on St Patrick's Day, an angry farmer - Darragh (Ben Manning - Ship of the Damned) arrives, looking for his wife who he suspects of being unfaithful. Finding her upstairs in the arms of another man, Darragh sees red and butchers the man with his scythe. Heading downstairs looking for his wife who had fled, he is confronted by the angry tavern folk who are forced to gun him down when he refuses to put down his scythe.
In present day Dublin, four friends have travelled there to celebrate St Patrick's Day. These include American historian Leena (Marta Svetek - Wrath of Dracula), cleanliness freak Kendra (Ayvianna Snow - Ripper's Revenge), sex crazed Daisy (Jasmine Sumner - Wrath of Dracula), and nerdy Sian (Annabella Rich - I Curse This Land). Disappointed with the commercialised pubs, they seek something more authentic, and find it when they meet a stranger - O'Reilly (Ciaron Davies - Infinite Summer). The man tells them that he owns an old tavern nearby and that they are welcome to go there with him if they really want to see somewhere authentic. Arriving at the tavern they are pleased with the look, even though it is quite dilapidated and O'Reilly is quite weird. With a storm raging outside, he offers them rooms upstairs to stay the night, before telling them a ghost story about an angry spirit that returns on St Patrick's Day each year to claim more victims. We know from the prologue that there may be some truth in his tale, but the four friends unfortunately think it is made up and so unwisely decide to stay the night...

I fully knew what to expect with a Lawson film and in that respect this doesn't surprise. His film are set in dimly lit interior locations, often featuring period piece set design, the only exterior shots are either stock footage or CG, and the films feature a lot of talking over action. This takes a good while to get going, ignoring the prologue, it is forty five minutes before the horror finally appears. With an eighty minute run time there is only around half an hour of horror before the lengthy end credits roll. Characters were generic but I did enjoy my time around them. O'Reilly made for an over the top antagonist, his wild and exaggerated way of speaking made me think of a Scooby-Doo villain, I was expecting him to start talking about 'meddling kids' at any point. Still, this cartoon bad-guy was entertaining. I liked each of the four main characters enough that I didn't begrudge it taking a long time to get to the action.

I loved the look of the supernaturally cursed Darragh, it is just a shame that he took so long to appear fully on screen. I get that sometimes showing less is more, but this slasher had such a cool look to him that I found it a shame he doesn't show up on camera until six minutes before the film finishes! While it is a small cast, there was a moderate body count, mainly involving a close up shot of the scythe weapon impaling the victim. This always looked decent enough, and there was a bit of blood on show for these kills. There was a decent enough attempt at giving an explanation for him (he was buried under the tavern with a botched attempt to consecrate his burial site), and when it comes to facing him he was swiftly dealt with, making me wonder why he had survived for so long. The plot had some holes in it and some strange moments. I did wonder why Kendra decided to go have a shower when there are no towels to be seen, and the excuse that the characters couldn't phone for help due to being in a building with thick walls was flaky when they are in central Dublin and the door to the tavern remained unlocked. Any one of them could have popped outside for a second to make that call!

As soon as I saw this was Lawson film I knew what to expect. This indie horror is far from perfect, but at the same time it was enjoyable. There is something comforting about his familiar style of filmmaking, so it was easy to see past the flaws and just enjoy this dumb slasher. This won't be for everyone, but I didn't mind St Patrick's Day Massacre, was fun enough for what it was.

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Aiden (2024) - Horror Film Review

I found the Paranormal Farm trilogy of found footage horror films to be inoffensively fun. The creator of that series, Carl Medland has returned with his first feature film since 2019, Aiden. Seeming to be filmed on the exact same farm location as those other films, this time around the movie is more traditionally shot, though has lost none of its indie charm.

Trapped in an abusive relationship with boyfriend Ivan (Ivan Alexiev), Aiden (Medland) has decided to go to a remote retreat on the land of psychiatrist Dr. Williams (Darren Earl Williams - Paranormal Farm trilogy). The doctor's program requires for Aiden to spend a week at a remote cabin without food, or distractions from the outside world. The doctor has asked that Aiden keeps a video diary that he then forwards on. A series of strange events occurring at the cabin soon has Aiden questioning the methods used, with it increasingly feeling like something strange is going on.

I always had a soft spot for the Paranormal Farm films, and so while this is unconnected, it was still lovely to return to the farm setting, recognising buildings and props from those other films. This is far more traditionally shot, but still includes plenty of found footage moments due to Aiden being asked to constantly record his thoughts and feelings. From the start there was an unsettling feeling, with Dr. Williams in particular being quite a sinister feeling character. He had some great scenes where he is alone pulling sinister faces as he listens to Aiden's video diaries.
The movie begins at the farm and there wasn't any explanation for how Aiden came to find the place, I felt that might have added something to the film. Aiden was a very similar character to the one Medland has previously played, He is someone very caught up in himself, which becomes amusing when more weirder stuff starts to happen with him, but he seemingly is more caught up in his own personal problems to really notice. 
Boyfriend Ivan appears in several nightmare sequences as well as various video messages he sends the man. 

That was a slight issue with the horror in Aiden in that the more potentially scary stuff is reserved for nightmare sequences, while the horror that occurs in reality never really matched that. There were some neat and odd sequences that had Aiden being pursued by an invisible drone, like something out of The Prisoner. Mainly the horror felt a little underused with things feeling like they were more unsettling than in reality they actually were. Whether via diary entries, or with discussions with his therapist, there was a lot of talking in Aiden. A few more action orientated scenes, such as the PTSD flashbacks that Aiden has of his boyfriend's abuse, and a humorous buggy ride at around the halfway mark were good breaks. It all leads up to a late film reveal that might have been unexpected but which I also thought was a little bit silly. It was a bit of a curveball for sure.

There is something relaxing about Medland's movies, they always work well as escapism even if they are not totally without their flaws. Much of the runtime of Aiden was enjoyable. I liked the mystery of Dr. Williams' real intentions, I liked the location, and the general idea was a good one. I did wish that the horror had been more pronounced as I'm still not sure about the direction the story headed in. Still, at just over seventy minutes in length this didn't outstay its welcome at all. Aiden is out now Apple TV, Google Play and Amazon Prime.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Thursday 7th November 2024

I'm due to be getting a Playstation 5 Pro today (update: I did). Heck of an expensive thing to waste money on, but it means I can gift my Playstation 5 to a friend. No disc-drive on this upgrade, but I have my Xbox Series X if I want to watch films. Onwards to a trilogy of news tales.

Death is an arthouse drama that comes from Anmol Mishra and is now streaming on VOD platforms including Apple TV, Google, and Gumroad. The synopsis states this depicts the last memories of Sabrina (Marigold Pazar) and the press release states '...blends dreams, reality, fantasy and deception into a lynchian mesh'.

The streaming line-up for horror streaming service SCREAMBOX have been announced. On November 5th the anthology Cryptids arrives exclusively, starring Joe Bob Briggs as a paranormal radio show host. November 19th has 1987 splatterfest Street Trash arriving (with the SCREAMBOX Original reboot due to follow in December). November 26th has found footage Devon coming to the service (taken place in an abandoned asylum), while Canadian horror-comedy Cottage Country lands on November 29th. Other November highlights include The Wolf Hour, The Model, The Raking, and horror documentary The American Scream. 

Finally for today, horror documentary It's Coming will be available to buy/rent on North American digital HD internet, cable, and satellite platforms as well as DVD on November 12th. This follows the supernatural encounters of Ashley Roland-White who believes she has been haunted by evil spirits since childhood. Directed and produced by Shannon Alexander, this has been described as a real-life version of Paranormal Activity.

The Hangman (2024) - Horror Film Review

In the past I have assumed I just have a bad taste in movies. This is due to many films I think are great then turning out to have a generally negative reception. The Hangman was a horror film that I loved, so I was a bit disheartened going onto IMDB afterwards and seeing it had a rating of 3.3/10. Directed and co-written by Bruce Wemple (Lake Artifact), this horror was backed up by a great cast of characters, and a protagonist who was very likeable. 

Hoping to reconnect with his teenage son Jesse (Marcellus), Leon (LeJon Woods) has taken the boy on a camping trip out in the Appalachian mountains on the recommendation of a client of his. Disaster strikes when Leon discovers his boy has vanished from his tent during the night. Looking for help, the man finds only horror, as many of the lawless population appear out to hinder rather than assist. Eventually he learns that a local demon worshipping cult have abducted his son, with the aim to use him in a ritual to keep a demonic force known as The Hangman (Scott Callenberger), contained within a human vessel.

I thought this was a neat indie horror that had a lot of good things going for it. I was impressed with both Woods and Marcellus, thinking they both gave believable performances as father and son. Woods' character of Leon in particular was a real highlight, his 'fish out of water' perspective has him deep down caught up in local politics, but from a baffled outsider perspective. It is easy to identify with his bemusement and sense of alienation from all the eccentric locals both good and bad. Over the course of the movie he became slightly more goofy and cartoon-like, with even echoes of Bruce Campbell's Ash factoring in as his determination to rescue his son increases and his one liners increase at a similar pace. There was a decent attempt at fleshing out the man, mainly with an often hinted at dark event that happened in the recent past, which has caused friction in the family. The way this dark event was mixed into the picture was effectively done, gave me slight The Ritual vibes to it.
The side characters were equally a fun lot, Kaine (Jefferson Cox - stunts on Army of the Dead) was an early scene stealer and an entertaining person to have around. Jesse felt like the awkward teen he was meant to be, my only complaint being that he turns into an objective for much of the movie, rather than actually featuring as a character in his own right.

Antagonist demon, titular Hangman had cool abilities that made him stand out slightly. The actual look is a bit generic but perfectly fine, but I loved how he attacks his victims using supernaturally controlled ropes that he hooks around his victims. At one point he is able to fling various dangerous weapons at the protagonist using these ropes, and even flips a car via the use of rope. All of this looked great on camera, and felt more memorable than if he had just been attacking with more traditional forms of weapon. There were a fair few kills, but this is a bloodless affair for the most part, I guess that makes sense when hanging people is the usual way to go. The non demon based fights were more brutal looking, with Leon getting in his fair share of hand to hand fighting throughout the ninety minute thrill ride.
The Hangman was paced pretty well, there was a huge exposition dump in the films middle, with one long sequence where a friendly face was explaining all the lore, followed almost immediately by an unfriendly face providing more backstory. I did find that the antagonist never really felt like something that scary to deal with, it seemed quite limited in its actual abilities.

I loved The Hangman and I very nearly gave it a higher score than I ended up given it. I thought all the characters here were entertaining, and Leon was someone I was happy to root for. I enjoyed the rustic sounding soundtrack, thought the setting looked great on camera, and this had plenty of amusing moments. My only real criticism was the titular force not being that effective when it comes to feeling powerful, other than that though this was a real treat.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Tuesday 5th November 2024

I'm still trying to shake the flu at the time of typing, but I'm hopeful that the worst is behind me now. A new exciting season of Fortnite in very un-horror news, and am nearing the end of the tremendous Silent Hill 2 remake. Onwards to the news...

Yet another entry in the horror anthology series V/H/S has been released on Shudder. V/H/S Beyond features six new short films, this time with a sci-fi inspired theme. Directed by Jay Cheel and starring Thom Hallum, Dane DiLiegro, Namrata Sheth, Ashwin Mushran, Bobby Slaski, Libby Letlow, Alanah Pearce, as well as a special appearance by Mike Ferguson. One such segment is 'Live and Let Dive' in which a skydivers plane collides with an alien spaceship.

Perfect Soul has an Indiegogo campaign currently running to raise funds to complete it. This religious horror has a woman named Nikki in a small town being shown its haunting secrets by mysterious entities, the results of which threaten her very sanity. S.J. Hermann wrote the novel of the same name and is adapting it to film. It is to be filmed in 2025 in central Illinois.

Finally for today, dystopian drama South of Hope Street is to be released in the U.K on Amazon Prime on November 12th from Ward9 Productions. This takes place in 2038 with World War 3 underway (yay). Adding to world problems is that two moons have appeared in the sky, and controlling governments in a bid to hide this anomaly have decided to build a giant wall to hide the unsettling view from their downtrodden citizens. A group of alienated friends decide to fight back. The cast includes Tanna Frederick, Judd Nelson, and Michael Madsen.

He Sees You When You're Sleeping (2024) - Christmas Horror Film Review

I have a soft spot for Christmas themed horror films, as the title of the Charlie Steeds' (Werewolf Castle, Death Ranch) He Sees You When You're Sleeping suggests, this slasher is one of those. While very indie like in nature, there was still plenty of fun to be had here.

As a child, Chester Van Buren witnessed his parents being murdered by an axe wielding maniac dressed as Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. The boy managed to escape and the killings were pinned on Henry Bates, a mentally ill man who had escaped from a nearby mental institute. Now, some seventeen years later and Chester (David Lenik - Mask of the Devil, Jekyll and Hyde, and who also wrote this) has returned for the first time to his childhood home, at the behest of his Aunt Marion (Caroline Williams - Halloween II, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2) who Chester has allowed to live there and who has invited him to stay for Christmas. Unknown to him, she has cooked up a plot with the assistance of her son, Burke (Cedric Gegel), his girlfriend Melody (Natalie Veater), as well as Chester's girlfriend Afton (Nellie Spackman) to gaslight him into thinking he is going crazy, so that they can steal the house out from under him. The plan is perhaps going a little too well however as a mystery person has gotten themselves involved, someone dressed up as Santa who is on a secret killing spree. Could it be Henry Bates returned to finish what he started all those years ago?

This was an enjoyable indie horror that managed to sell its story despite an obviously limited budget. It starts off with a fun prologue, with Uncle Nick (Scot Scurlock - Death Ranch) stealing the show by telling the young Chester a Christmas themed horror story. In the present, I don't think Chester made for a great protagonist. The character is really bit*hy and sometimes this would make him a bit abrasive. It was fine when he was being like that to the people who deserved it, but after re-meeting childhood sweetheart Eden (Peyton Michelle Edwards - Goodbye Honey), he also has plenty of moments where he seemed a bit mean to her also. The cast were fun due to so many of them being over the top cartoon evil, especially with Williams and Gegel who both brought a lot of evil life to their characters. I loved how Burke was incapable of being nice to Chester, while Marion was so obviously fake in the way she acted, making for a deliciously nasty mother and son duo. Of course, when the Santa killer gets going, there were plenty of characters who deserved their comeuppance. 

There was a decent body count even if many of the kills were similar in look. The main weapon of the slasher is an axe, usually used in one or two blows to kill the victim. There were some other Christmas themed kills to be found, such as strangulation by Christmas tree lights and an ice skate boot to the face. There wasn't too much blood and effects were mostly kept to a minimum, but the kills still worked.
The plot was simple yet I did like all the gaslighting aspects of it, especially with the bad members of the family barely able to stop fighting amongst themselves. The eventual revelation of what had been going on was fun and silly, fitting the tone of the film well.

I do like Christmas horrors, and while this obviously had some budget constraints it was a movie that was fun to sit through. I might not have been too keen on the central protagonist, but this moved a long at a speedy pace with its one hour twenty minute runtime flying past. He Sees You When You're Sleeping became available on-demand and digital platforms on November 1st.

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