Shaman (2024) - Horror Film Review

Directed by Antonio Negret and written by Daniel Negret (Merger), Shaman is a demonic possession movie with a bit of a difference. I personally love the demonic possession subgenre of horror films, and despite a bit of a limp start, this one really came into its own from the second act onwards.

Candice (Sara Canning - War for the Planet of the Apes) and her husband Joel (Daniel Gillies - Coming Home in the Dark) are missionaries helping to spread the word of God to an Indigenous community in rural Ecuador. One day their teenage son, Elliot (Jett Klyne - Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, The Boy) enters a local cave that the locals are for some reason keen to avoid, due to having accidentally lost something in there. From that point on, Elliot begins to exhibit disturbing behaviour, with it looking increasingly likely that he has become possessed by some demonic force. Candice, refusing the aid of the local shaman (Lisandro Morales), is convinced that only her God has the power to cure the boy of his affliction, but it might turn out that isn't the case.

To begin with I wasn't that impressed. I thought this had a slow start to it, with meandering scenes that did little to draw me into the story. I thought the location used was neat, being the first Ecuador based horror film I have yet to see (as far as I can recall). The protagonists are all a flawed bunch, with Candice and Joel in particular really being brought down a peg from the dreamy opening in which Candice is leading her new flock of Christians in perfect harmony. Gillies had a more slight role here than Canning did, but he delighted much as he did in other films I have seen him in. Elliot was a plain and uninteresting character but it turns out he became a lot more fun when possessed. Klyne gave a good turn as the demonic force inhabiting the body of the teenager even if sometimes what happens with him is a bit unoriginal. The boy speaks with an artificially altered growling voice, and often has black veins running down his pale face. He does all the usual demonic possession tropes such as being able to see people's darkest secrets, able to alter the perception of objects, and is able to kill people with the power of his mind.

It was a nice change that the typical Catholic exorcist idea doesn't work in this picture. When the local priest attempts to exorcise Elliot at around the movie's halfway mark it was clear that it wouldn't go according to plan. The clue is hidden in plain sight in the title that it will take the work of a shaman to maybe resolve the plotline. Along the way there is a small body count and some cool scenes. The typical exorcism scene you get in movies made for a great sequence, including some great lines (such as Elliot roaring "I am older than Christ!"), and there are some good special effects mixed in with the occasional bit of CG. One part where the boy is vomiting teeth and black goo looked cool for instance.
The slow opening act leads into much more exciting further acts, where the slow burn continues, but is mixed up with many scenes of horror.

I didn't expect to like Shaman too much but it did seem to improve steadily over the course of its near hundred minute run time. The setting was memorable, and while it doesn't throw too many surprises with its story, it was well executed with good editing and cinematography. A stark and often bleak movie, but one that I thought was a decent bit of genre horror. Shaman had its world premiere at the 2024 Austin Film Festival on October 25th. It is due to have a second screening on October 29th at 15:30 at Galaxy Theater 9.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Saturday 26th October 2024

My inbox has been slowly filling up, though I like to think I am out my mid-year blog slump that saw me struggling to find time to watch films for review. Being Halloween however, I have no end of screeners waiting to be reviewed, so for anyone waiting for a review - I apologise and please be patient! There are a few horror films out at the moment that I want to see, and am currently playing through the amazing Silent Hill 2 remake, which is much better than nearly anyone expected it to be. Onwards to a trilogy of news terror.

The official trailer and poster have been released for MurderFest, a film that is about a live streaming contest between five serial killers that comes from Lake Port Pictures. I love the idea of movies such as this one, have a lot of time for them. This is directed by Tim Hannigan (Heinous Acts) and stars Deniella Alexis, Alexxis Marcia and Aida Madani. Check out the trailer below.

Artificial Evil Awakens is an upcoming indie film that is soon to be released on Fawesome TV, and was filmed on Cape Cod. Starring Nicholas M. Garofolo (Feeding on the Living, Sweet Revenge), Christine Mone, Miranda M. Brown, Adrienne Baumann and Jackie Adragna, this tells the story of a man obsessed with aliens and making movies who has his 'life hacked' by A.I after using a strange Ouija Board. The trailer can be viewed on YouTube.

Finally for today, Souls of the Damned arrived on Tubi at the end of September (previously mentioned here). This comes from writer/director Frank Palangi (Killer Tales) and stars Erica James (The Annihilator), Debonnay Meyers (The Lost Chronicles) and Palangi (Rise of the Scarecrows: Hell on Earth). It is about a group of witches who cause a man to suffer via terrible nightmares. While none of that information is new, there has been an official trailer released for it now.

Alien Country (2024) - Comedy Sci-fi Horror Film Review

My site always gets super crazy around Halloween, being the most horror filled month obviously. Having a look at my list of screeners to watch for review I can see sixteen, with more on the way. Alien Country is one of those (directed and co-written by Boston McConnaughey in his directorial debut), and as the title suggests, this is a sci-fi movie, a comedic one at that. With Tremors vibes and some amusing dialogue this might not be the most original movie but it was fun.

Small town demolition car driver Jimmy Walker (K.C Clyde - Zombie Hamlet) learns that Everly (Renny Grames), who he recently had a fling with, is pregnant. While trying to process that information he inadvertently ends up in possession of a strange device of alien origin which has the ability to open a gateway to another world. The pair cross over briefly, but during their time on the alien planet they accidentally allow some alien creatures to head to Earth. These alien creatures go on a rampage, killing all they come across, so Jimmy and Everly feel responsible for stopping this menace. They come into contact with an alien inhabiting the body of a dead human, the alien - Ben (Charan Prabhakar) also wants to stop this invasion, not agreeing with his people's galaxy-wide mission to take over all planets by swarming them with monsters. They eventually learn of a plot for the alien race to gain control over the gateway technology, so that they can pass back and forth between the planets at will.

Humour can often be hard to get right, but I'm pleased that while silly, a lot of the jokes here I did think were not that bad. I loved how it turns out the name 'Ben' is just as common an alien name as a human name for instance. I did actually laugh out loud on occasion, though it wasn't all great. A recurring joke about various characters constantly getting words mixed up felt a bit flat, I did like the recurring joke about a disastrous 'show and tell' event from Jimmy's childhood. There is a light heartiness about the plot that made it fun and entertaining to watch. Sure, there is a body count, with a tiny bit of blood, but the horror is slight, and the stereotypical characters were fun to follow around. The main cast were fun if unremarkable, with the exception of Ben, who was the funniest character in the movie, I liked his earnest and positive outlook. It was perhaps budget constraints that meant the intelligent aliens all inhabited bodies of humans, and that there were only two in the whole movie, the antagonist character and Ben himself.

Special effects mainly looked like passable CG, with the McGuffin gateway technology artificial but fine enough. The alien creatures were also all CG, and they had a bit of a cartoon look to them, but the film was never trying to be scary and serious so that wasn't really an issue. I did like the bright green colouration on these creatures. There was a bit of a Tremors vibe to this with the film set in a remote rural town, as well as with the alien creatures who evolve over the course of the film. Starting off like dog sized monsters, by the film's end some of them are the size of a small vehicle. At ninety five minutes long this almost started to drag, but it managed to avoid that thankfully. There was a subplot involving Jimmy's missing father that I didn't think worked too great, even if it was an integral part of the story, and few swiftly edited recurring flashback sequences, and some nice looking gateway travel moments.

The CG may not have always been the most realistic feeling, but there were a decent cast of characters and the humour worked more often than it didn't. The plot and what happens with that plot might not be the most original or surprising story out there, but I thought it worked well as some light hearted escapism that showed rural America in a good light. I didn't begrudge my time with the film at all. Alien Country released on October 22nd on digital and streaming platforms.

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Outside (2024) - Zombie Horror Film Review

While I have a week off of my day job this week, most of my time will be spent going off to a friends wedding, so I fear that once again my blog will suffer for me having a social life! My best friend visited this past weekend, noticing a new zombie film added to Netflix she suggested we watch it. Outside is a Filipino zombie film written and directed by Carlo Ledesma (The Tunnel). Initially the two hours twenty two minute runtime nearly put us off even watching it, but it really doesn't feel remotely that long, which can only be a good sign.

The film begins properly with a bloody and battered car driving down lonely country roads alongside sugarcane fields. It is driven by Francis (Sid Lucero), and the other passengers include his wife Iris (Beauty Gonzalez), and their two children - young Lucas (Aiden Tyler Patdu) and teenager Josh (Marco Masa). From their dour expressions it is clear that they are not having a good time, but what isn't immediately clear is that their misery isn't entirely caused by the zombie apocalypse they seem to be in the middle of (as suggested by a bloody handprint on the car window). Francis has decided to take them to his parents remote home where he believes they will be safe. This has caused conflict as Iris has heard that the further north you head, the safer it is, and that there are survivor camps situated there, but Francis is adamant his parents house is the safest place to wait out the outbreak.
After arriving and dealing with his dead and undead parents it seems that the family might be alright, but this is the first time that Francis has returned to his family home since he was young, a place where he was badly abused by his father as a child. As well as obvious conflict with Iris, due to a large past mistake she made, he begins to exhibit severe PTSD from being back home. Over the weeks that follow his behaviour begins to get more and more erratic and disturbing to his family, the man determined to keep them together even if that means resorting to boarding up the house and making up lies about how dangerous the outside world has become.

This was a great zombie film and it felt like it did things a little differently to the norm. This is a thriller mixed with a zombie film, Francis, initially likeable, slowly ramps up his craziness, from deciding to hold Christmas in September, to not telling anyone about a map he acquired which is marked with the location of a survivor camp. It is revealed early on that Iris had an affair with Francis' brother and that Josh is a result of that affair. His paranoia that the only reason Iris wants to head north is to try and locate his brother (who had been the one to tell her it is safer there) is exacerbated by being back at his traumatic childhood home. For a film that looks so great on camera there was a surprisingly small cast with just a handful of characters, excluding the undead. The movie takes its time with long segments of zero dialogue as characters walk around, a lot of the story being the family drama. The prologue sequence that takes the form of a fuzzy home video from the unhappy couples wedding day is a strong contrast to the present where they seem to hate each other, the poor children stuck in the middle. The acting was great throughout, the dialogue a mix of Filipino and English, with subtitles that were always clear to read. A shoutout goes to the soundtrack which includes some tracks that felt very Goblin inspired, wouldn't have sounded out of place in Dawn of the Dead.

The undead really felt special here both in the way they look and the way they acted. It reminded me a lot of Pontypool in that the undead speak. In that one the zombies would repeat back phrases they heard survivors say, in this one they have the unnerving habit of constantly repeating the last thing they said before they died. This is exemplified by Francis' mum whose legless corpse crawls towards him while constantly repeating "I'm sorry". This becomes more disturbing when there are hordes of undead, all saying different phrases repeatedly. There are a lot of undead here but they are sparingly used, but their appearance always felt exciting. There was a action packed scene on a bridge, and another one in a sugarcane field, but mostly it is only a few zombies at a time who appear. They have boils on their faces, and open wounds are shown to be writhing with real maggots, which was a really neat idea. They are also both of the running and shambling variety, with them getting slower and slower the longer they are undead. There are some shocking moments of unexpected violence here, leading to some powerful scenes that had me and my friend gasping at times.

I loved Outside, it was definitely a bleak film, but it told a great story, I thought the combination of thriller and zombie film was perfectly executed, while I thought the characters were all believable. Don't let the long run time put you off, or the middling IMDB score, as this was a film well worth watching.

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Fortnitemares 2024 - Thoughts on the Halloween event

I have said this before, but I really love Fortnite. Especially over lockdown it really brought me, my sister and my friends together, with us playing it more for social reasons than just to play. The game has in recent years begun to get really lazy with their month long Halloween event they call 'Fortnitemares'. Last year was the most lazy of the events with minimal map changes, the only changes being an added boss fight, pumpkin buckets outside houses, and a hard to spot blood red moon. Thankfully, this years event is the polar opposite, so much change has been made to make the island look spookier than ever.

Changes are across the map, with not only a new location (Freaky Fields replacing the train station POI), but the bright green river in the Underworld section of the map being changed to blood red, many areas covered in mist, Brawler's Battleground reimagined as the vine covered Brawler's Patch, and pumpkins absolutely everywhere, you can barely move for pumpkins of all sizes covering near every location on the map, my personal favourite being the giant statue at Mount Olympus now sporting a gigantic pumpkin head. I also liked the alterations at Restored Reels that now have Fortnite inspired horror movie posters displayed there. Perhaps the best change being the train that travels around the map is now a ghost train, it has a very cool effect.
There are two new boss fights added, with Billy the puppet (from the Saw franchise!) and a very cool original creation - the pumpkin knight themed Ultima Carver.
In addition is Horde Mode once again returning, the same as ever but is still fun to play. This time around you are able to buy attachments for your guns in between rounds. There are also plenty of rewards to unlock by completing limited time Fortnitemare quests.
Included with returning special weapons are a proximity bomb that is a little Billy the puppet on a tricycle, and Leatherhead's iconic chainsaw.

The other big part of the Halloween event is of course the skins. I always get suckered into buying many of the skins and this year there seemed to be a huge amount of both original and licenced skins. There are two more The Nightmare Before Christmas skins (Pumpkin Jack and Sally), Leatherface, Billy the puppet, three Disney villains, some horror Marvel skins (sadly no Marvel Zombies - a missed trick) even a skin for Edward Scissorhands! Original skins are more of a mixed bag, but the previously mentioned Ultima Carver is very cool looking, as was the zombie skin locked behind a Save the World deal. I wasn't impressed that a fun looking bright pink werewolf skin was locked behind a Fortnite Lego battlepass - Lego being the one mode I have zero time for so refuse to get that battlepass just for the skin.

I am a real sucker for spending far too much money on skins over Halloween, but Fortnite is a game I play nearly daily, having sunk over two thousand hours into the game over the past seven years! I will admit I had to dip into my savings this year.
The lack of any new Halloween themed mode for the game would have been disappointing if not for the huge changes made to the map. It really feels like they made a giant effort this year to 'horror' up the map, and I am very much on board for this.

Feet of Death (2024) - Horror Film Review

I have seen various films about Bigfoot over the years though I can't say it is my favourite subgenre of horror. I find the topic interesting however due to how many people in the real world believe the creature to actually exist. James Chick's feature length directorial debut - Feet of Death, may not be perfect, but I did appreciate the crazy path the story ended up going and it just may be the most interesting Bigfoot horror film I have yet seen.

After a dead body of a man is discovered out in woodlands, local sheriff Ken Clark (Jack Vanover) calls in forest ranger Jason Easterly (Andrew Jacob Brown), he suspects the death may have been due to an animal attack. They are shocked to find evidence at the scene that seemed to suggest an unlikely culprit, a Bigfoot creature, with Jason very sceptical of it possibly existing. Ken introduces Jason to local Bigfoot expert, Henry (Benjamin Watts), whose advice eventually leads to the two men deciding to send out a search party to search local forest based caves where it is believed the creature (if it exists) might be dwelling.

For much of Feet of Death this felt like a very lowkey movie. After the initial discovery of the body this turns into almost a rural police drama as the sheriff and ranger interview various people, speak with a pathologist who had examined the corpse, and contemplate possible alternates to the unlikely legendary beast. The first two acts were light on horror and quite inoffensive in a nice way. The cast were a varied bunch with some working better than other. Jason is a bit of a gloomy protagonist, having lost his wife to a bear attack a year previously. His relationship with Ken is shaky to begin with, I didn't really feel this plot point was needed as it is resolved barely a quarter into the film, which then subsequently became a lot more fun. Then you have Jason's older colleague Al (Tim Blough), an overly sentimental man who regards Jason as a son, though I never got the impression that feeling was replicated with the lead. Best of all was Henry, a larger than life character who just about stole all the scenes he appeared in. Maybe a bit of a redneck stereotype, I still liked his infectious belief in the possibility of the Bigfoot existing.

Things really ramp up in the third act which almost (but not quite) feels like a different movie entirely. It features a genuinely unexpected twist, and benefits by mostly being set during night, leading to lots of exciting moments, with some great scenes set in the rain. A lot of the central plot was decent enough, though some parts around the edges were a little obvious, such as what likely really happened to Jason's wife a year previously. I also didn't really like the ending of this, an unsatisfying way to swiftly wrap things up.
The Bigfoot is shown sparingly, not even really making an appearance until late in the movie, probably a wise decision as it keeps the tension up of if it is really a real thing or not from the perspective of the lead character. Either in dense forest or in darkness, you never get that great a look at it, which adds to the effectiveness it has as an antagonist force.

I thought some of the story beats here were really quite clever, and felt different to the typical Bigfoot movie. Jason was a decent lead and of course Henry was a great character. It might take a while for the horror part of the movie to begin in earnest, but I enjoyed the build up and I enjoyed the transition to a more darker movie, both literally and figuratively. Feet of Death arrived on Amazon in September.

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Terrifier 3 (2024) - Horror Film Review

Oh to be part of the zeitgeist. I was thinking the other day that I really think Terrifier's Art the Clown is one of the best horror movie monsters of this century. He is played to perfection and manages to be both creepy and funny Ever since I saw Terrifier I have been hooked on this demonic nightmare, having gone back to see 2013's Art infused anthology horror All Hallows Eve, as well as picking up Terrifier 2 on Blu-ray. Terrifier 3 is once again written and directed by Damien Leone, and I admire his refusal to give up his twisted vision in lieu of a bigger budget, preferring to finance his movies independently rather than accept funds from a big studio (several of which showed interest after the run-away success of the second movie). As much as I enjoyed that second movie, I did feel it was overlong, especially the third act that really started to drag. I had heard the third film was back to a more manageable length, but this one was still over two hours long, though at least it didn't feel like it. Spoilers for the second film to follow.

The film jumps around in time a bit with it initially going back to the end of Terrifier 2 (after the unrelated prologue) to show how Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) managed to come back to full power, and then leaping forward to five years later. Final girl Sienna (Lauren LaVera) has spent the past half decade in and out of mental institutes, suffering not only from PTSD, but also a more supernatural form of the condition due to her harrowing encounter with the Miles County Killer. She frequently hallucinates as well as has terrifying nightmares. In the lead up to Christmas she leaves the institute and goes to stay at her aunt (Jessica played by Margaret Anne Florence) and uncle's (Eddie played by Bradley Stryker) house. Their young daughter Gabbie (Antonella Rose - Fear the Walking Dead TV series) hero worships Sienna though is unaware of the details of her tragic past. Sienna's brother Jonathan (Elliott Fullam) meanwhile is now living in dorms at a college having came out more unscathed from his own encounter with the clown.
Elsewhere, Art and his new assistant Victoria Heyes - the original final girl survivor now turned insane (Samantha Scaffidi), are awakened from their supernatural hibernation at a condemned house by some workmen. This results in Art going on another mindless rampage, this time dressed as Santa. Whether by design or coincidence he discovers the whereabouts of Sienna and Jonathan and sets out to get his revenge.

In the UK premiere of Terrifier 3, nine people walked out of the screening before the prologue had even finished! I expected the reason for this was due to the intense levels of gore and violence, though it was for a slightly different reason. The unrelated prologue is almost like a short film all of its own as it shares not many ties with the rest of the movie. Rather than accounts of people walking out being hyperbole, I myself witnessed three people walking out of the film at around the halfway mark! The film does not draw the line when it comes to children being killed, I think wisely these kills are often implied rather than shown, though you see the aftermath. Not having children of my own I thought this made for a fun and twisted change, though leaving the cinema I overheard a man stating to his girlfriend that he thought it was wrong for children to be included as victims.

This film did not disappoint in terms of the gore and inventiveness and maliciousness of the kills. There was a memorable scene in a shower room involving a chainsaw, a nasty kill where a victim has a large plastic tube hammered into their mouth before rats are poured into the tube, and no end of people being hacked up into pieces. The blend between comedy and horror is as razor thin as ever, the sheer horror of Art is perfection, he has an intensely unsettling look to him, helped by him being mute and constantly doing exaggerated motions, such as pretending to stifle a laugh as he attacks people. His kills frequently blend in humour that had the audience laughing, me included. The most amusing part for me was when Art picks up a severed leg of a victim he had just cut up, he holds the foot to his nose and then does an over the top recoil when he sniffs it, replacing a victims hacked off nose with a carrot decoration from a snowman was also amusing. The effects seemed to be mostly practical ones, they always looked fantastic, bodies cut into pieces in ever cruel and sadistic ways that never failed to look great.

I'm glad the film didn't feel as long but I did feel there were some pacing issues. Art turns up in locations adjacent to the central cast seemingly randomly, the biggest culprit when he turns up at Jonathan's frat house where all he mainly does on screen is listen in to a conversation that happens to be relevant to him. Talking of Jonathan, he felt underused, sure he wasn't meant to be the lead but you don't get so much of an impression of him. I hated how him and another character were treated as well, so much happens off screen that it seemed to me like an entire scene was missing. I get the reasoning but it still struck me as an odd decision. Some of the new cast were decent, especially the smaller parts featuring characters who only appear so that Art can kill them. Gabbie was actually my favourite new character, I loved her interactions with Sienna. Sienna herself was great, I enjoyed the PTSD moments that had her unsure if she was hallucinating or not, which in turns lead to the audience unsure if what was happening was really occurring or imagined. More so than than the other two films, this really felt like it was setting itself up for a sequel, with several plot threads being unresolved when the credits roll. The story again wasn't the strongest, but had more aim than the second, and I liked the little bits of lore leaked out, even if there wasn't as much as I had wished for.

Having been up since 05:00, I was super tired when I went to the 20:30 screening at the cinema. This did impact on my enjoyment as my eyes were really heavy. Still, it was a genuine delight finally getting to see Art on the big screen. I never enjoy the Terrifier films as much as I want to, they are not perfect. With Art though, you have a powerhouse of a movie maniac, this still seems the role that Thornton was born to play. The special effects especially when it comes to kills were as delightful as always, and I would lie if I said I was getting bored of the franchise.

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Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 (2020) - Horror Video Game Review (Nintendo Switch)

I love the Metroidvania genre of video games. Typically taking place in 2D, these place you in a platform adventure game in one huge level, with new areas slowly revealed as you unlock new powers and abilities. On paper Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night sounded like the perfect game, heavily influenced by the Castlevania series. Unfortunately, I wasn't a fan of the game, I found it to be pretty dull. It did have a retro spin-off (inspired by the earlier more traditional level based Castlevania games) titled Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon that was thankfully quite excellent. A sequel was released in 2020 - Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2, that I excitedly began but then bounced right off of. Recently I gave it a second go, but the game for whatever reason didn't grab me the same way.

You play as a variety of characters, with you able to swap between them at will to take advantage of their unique powers and abilities. Main protagonist is the demon hunter Zangetsu, and he gets initially joined by exorcist Domonique, Robert who is armed with a rifle, and Hachi - a comedic steampunk mech suit piloted by a corgi! The barebones story has Dominique discovering a tower that has been used to summon a demon castle. Over eight levels you battle through castles, forests, volcanos and towns on your quest to reach the castle and defeat its master. Each level is made up of a load of different areas and all culminate in an impressive boss battle. Characters have different abilities to help you take shortcuts and find secrets. Robert for instance is able to crawl on his belly through tight spaces and bounce off of walls, while Hachi is able to destroy special walls and is impervious to damage from spikes. Towards the end of the game your team are joined by the protagonists of the original game with their abilities added to the mix.

The first one had you going through the levels twice to get the true ending. I felt Curse of the Moon 2 goes too far. It is split into three chapters, each chapter has you going through the same set of eight levels for various story related reasons. On occasion it will lead to a different boss battle and areas you couldn't previously travel to but mainly it felt the same. This leads to my confession of not actually having truly completed the game. I was getting bored by my third run and ended up abandoning the game at the final level. Also, I admit I played on 'Casual' so that I had infinite continues and didn't have to keep replaying levels. The levels are fine but not particularly memorable, and the soundtrack was a disappointment. One thing it does get right is the amount of unique enemy types and some fun boss battles. Favourite boss was a giant bug infested sarcophagus, and the fire dragon I grew to like. Others, particularly the final boss for the first chapter were not so good.

It looks and feels like Castlevania but the level types also reminded me a lot of Mega Man. I thought the retro pixel graphics worked well and the gameplay was decent enough but I just wasn't feeling it as much. Especially with the three chapters being essentially the same. I couldn't help but be disappointed, both by the increased difficulty on the default mode, the lacklustre music, and the uninspired level design. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 was a fine game, but not an essential one to play.

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Violent and Murderous Thoughts (2024) by Morgue Terror - Music Album Review

Violent and Murderous Thoughts is the second EP from horror-themed death metal group Morgue Terror and apparently is the first to feature an actual drummer. The press releases states the EP is about '...the atrocities of four sadistic serial killers and a debauched, abusive sect'. I didn't quite pick up on that from my listens but I enjoyed all eighteen minutes of it regardless.

This begins with 'Chessmaster' setting the chugging guitar sound for the whole EP. The style of singing is mostly guttural roars and growling, I couldn't make out a word over the whole EP, that isn't saying I didn't like that style, reminded me of early Cradle of Filth but with a better sound. I don't really have too many notes on this EP, all five tracks had good music to them and some had some great titles - 'Bludgeoned & Brutalized' and 'Virulent Incision' for instance. The tracks fed into each other well without it feeling like the tracks were similar.

Morgue Terror's Violent and Murderous Thoughts was a good EP, I felt the music helped me when I was using the rowing machine at the gym and there wasn't a bad track to be found.

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Compression (2024) - Horror Film Review

Directed and co-written by Jakob Bilinski (Three Tears on Bloodstained Flesh), the award-winning Compression is a horror movie that focusses on the aftermath of a traumatic event. If I were to say the slasher element of this two hour movie only occurs via a roughly fifteen minute flashback sequence, you might feel short changed, yet this intimate look at a young woman whose life has forever been altered was expertly done, with the well chosen lead carrying a lot of the movie on her own shoulders.

Hazel Hendrix (Emily Durchholz - Morbid Colors) is a popular true crime podcaster who has become intensely agoraphobic after a harrowing event that saw her and her loved ones attacked. It is so bad for her that she hasn't left her home in months, essentially a prisoner in her own home. Wanting to try and confront her demons, Hazel has gotten a hold of some magic mushrooms and with time booked off from doing her show and writing novels, she has decided to take them one night. Taking more than the recommended dose leads to a night of terror for the frightened woman, with her bad trip leading to her having to come face to face with the things that scare her the most.

I don't think I will really be able to do Compression justice in this review as it was something that was a little different. I loved the idea of this character being a survivor of a slasher type antagonist, and that this is something that happened in the past. Eventually you do get that flashback that shows exactly what happened, before this it is easy to piece it together anyway. From the moment the movie opens with a bloodied Hazel stumbling through a field at sunset I was hooked on discovering exactly what had happened. There are plenty of arthouse style moments here and the movie has more than its fair share of lovingly crafted dreamlike montages of past memories of the protagonist blending together. You also get plenty of hallucinatory sequences, with Hazel suffering visual and audial hallucinations that increasingly make her home feel like a dangerous place to be. I especially liked the creepy painting she has in her home which later sees the figure from the picture escaping its frame and manifesting in reality, it looked really cool.

Hazel made for an interesting character, someone who is alone for much of the movie. Being two hours long means that when there is a reason for her to have a conversation, this becomes a real conversation that plays out for a decent length. Over the course of the movie we see her have an online therapy session, calls with friends, and long conversations with imagined people. It wasn't the point of the film at all, but I was a bit envious of Hazel never leaving the house, I would love to not have to leave my house, so that was a part I enjoyed. I've actually decided to follow her lead and spend a week off work not leaving my house at all next year. Side characters were integral but it was Hazel's journey of discovery I was there for.
With the drug trip being a huge part of the film this was shown on screen in an effective manner. You have things like technology not making sense, a fascination with nature, walls 'breathing' and distorted sounds and colours that were a good attempt of showing what it is like to be on a trip. It all looked fantastic on screen with some cool costume design to some of the hallucinations. I liked how the horror of the past bleeds out into this trip, with no end of fearful moments for Hazel that the actress was perfect at expressing. It makes a film that was frequently beautiful in its meticulously edited montages, even if for me it got all a little bit too sentimental by the time of its uplifting finish.

Compression delighted by the framing of where its story took place. Having the traditional slasher type horror element taking place in the past, with the final girl trying to piece her shattered life back together in the present was a great idea, and was translated well. With a captivating protagonist and an intelligently crafted story, this had a lot good going for it.

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The Cellar (2024) - Horror Film Review

The Cellar is the feature length directorial debut of Jamie Langlands, someone I knew more for their acting roles in films such as C.A.M and P.O.V. This was a film of two distinct halves, while I thought the first part was much better than the second this still all combined to make for a good horror.

Abigail (Meghan Adara) wakes up to discover herself locked in a room deep underground. Managing to escape her confinement she finds herself in a huge labyrinthian network of cellars in which a masked jailor roams (Langlands). Having to hide from the man who is searching for her, Abigail slowly discovers evidence that the whole alcoholics self-help group she was a part of have been captured, for reasons unknown.

The first half of this movie was near perfection, doing a lot while having minimal dialogue. The film is focussed on Abigail and her quest for freedom, and wisely she remains silent for the majority of the run time, the only noises coming from her being shocked intakes of air. From the cruel prologue in which a woman attempts and fails to escape from similar confinement I was hooked for this first forty or so minutes. My heart was frequently in my mouth following scared Abigail as she sneaks around, frequently only just managing to avoid discovery. I got the strange vibe of this feeling a bit like a video game, with locations that felt straight out of a survival horror game like Resident Evil or Outlast. This also came into effect with the neat way of showing flashbacks. Whenever Abigail comes across a 'missing' poster or discovering a corpse of someone we are then shown a flashback of that person talking at the church based support group. These parts set up who the antagonist likely was, while also adding to the mystery, using a similar idea that was in Halo: ODST to intelligently give a reason for the flashback sequences to play out.

The second half of the movie sadly is not as sublime as the first, with the story almost being a re-tread of the first forty minutes, but moved to a different (no less amazingly detailed) location. This one introduced more supernatural elements such as Abigail's reflection in mirrors not matching her own movements, demonic eyes appearing on characters faces, and some arthouse style dream sequences. With her captor injecting her with mysterious drugs it is easy to assume those parts are not actually real and in the scared woman's head. This second part wasn't as good purely for the story seeming to reset rather than building on what had come before. It leads up to an unexpected finale that leaves it to the viewer to piece together in their own mind what had occurred over the course of The Cellar.
Mainly the acting is good, Adara in particular felt very believable, able to act a lot by her actions and facial expressions rather than dialogue. Much of the other cast members also gave good performances, a couple of duds that were possibly more down to the lines they were reading than their acting, but mostly it was all good.

The Cellar had atmosphere in spades, as well as some really effective locations that created the feel of the protagonist being trapped in a never ending maze of rooms and corridors. Adara's strong performance meant she was able to carry a lot of the film on her own shoulders without this ever becoming dull. While the second half wasn't as good as the first, it was still good, and Abigail's quest for freedom kept me glued to the screen, a solid feature length directorial debut.

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Shadow of Violence (2024) - Short Thriller Film Review

Shadow of Violence (also known as Siddetin Gölgesi) is a short nearly seven minute Turkish thriller that was directed by Can Sagir and written by Erdeniz Tunç (the director and writers of Ancient Voice). A few months back I was contacted by Tunç to check out his script for this short, it was interesting to see the changes made from the initial script to the finished product.

Cenk (Ahmet Atakul) and his best friend are waiting to be picked up one night. Wanting to get some cigarettes Cenk heads off to a nearby shop, but returning he sees two masked men running off and his friend laying on the ground covered in blood. Finding out the attackers location from pinging the stolen phone, Cenk heads there to get revenge, though what he discovers leads to some further violence later on.

I thought this was well directed with some good editing and camera angles. In particular I liked the shot of Cenk inside the shop, filmed from the outside by a shaky camera that gave the impression of a voyeur. Being so short this shoots along at a rapid pace, covering a lot of ground. I liked the wraparound segment that had Cenk in present day at a facility where he is being questioned by a doctor offering a new form of help for the now troubled man. 
The subtitles were easy to read, making for a story that was mostly easy to follow. It did require the viewer to piece together the motivations for the protagonist as that information was provided in a non-linear way that could have perhaps had more explanation for the wild actions that occur as a result.

Shadow of Violence was a well made short thriller that could have perhaps done with a little more room to breathe and tell its story. This was still entertaining to watch, not a bad film at all.

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Sunset Superman (2024) - Comedy Thriller Film Review

Sunset Superman (also known as Don't Mess With Grandma) is a comedy home invasion film that features lots of fighting over its eighty minute runtime. Written and directed by Jason Krawczyk (He Never Died) this features comedic villains who are less 'The Strangers' and more the Wet Bandits.

Michael Jai White (Black Friday, Black Dynamite) is Jasper - a former soldier who now delivers meals to the elderly. This is something he also does in his own time as he makes a frequent five hour drive to visit his no nonsense elderly grandma (Jackie Richardson - Extreme Measures, Catwalk TV series) at her remote home. He wishes for her to move to a home for the elderly closer to where he lives as he is concerned for her living in such a remote location, but she refuses due to the home being filled with memories of her deceased husband. While visiting her one night, he discovers some home intruders who he promptly beats up and throws out the house. This begins a night of mayhem as more and more intruders appear, determined to rob the property. Equally determined to protect his oblivious gran from these intruders, Jasper and his gran's dog Rufus battle everyone who tries to break into the home.

The incompetent invaders are a comedic bunch who reminded me of the crooks from Home Alone, though this is more of an adult version of that. There is plenty of swearing and some gnarly looking scenes of violence. The most bloody scene being one set in a bathroom where one of the attackers has been ravaged by Rufus. There were also lots and lots of action, over the course of the film Jasper has to battle more and more people, but built like a brick wall, this is something he is able to do, despite a bad knee. It leads to some exciting scenes of him battling what appears to be dozens of people all at once, attacking him with a variety of weapons from a bow and arrow to knives and planks of wood. The choreography of these scenes seemed to get better over the film, with people stumbling down flights of stairs and being thrown through the air in satisfyingly pictured ways.
There was a decent enough set-up for why Jasper can't call for help (the mainline telephone wire was cut and the antagonists had his mobile phone), but there wasn't a decent reason provided for why the many windows and doors of the house were left wide open the whole night. You would think after the first five or six break-ins that Jaspar would have made sure they were all locked, but I guess that wouldn't have made for such an exciting movie.

Jasper made for a protagonist who was easy to root for. He may be super strong but he also doesn't really want to have to hurt the people attacking the home. It is only due to being forced to protect his gran that he has to resort to more and more violence, though ensures that he never actually kills anyone even when they want him dead. I liked Richardson's role of the grandma, with her being a bit deaf and not having the best eyesight it isn't as farcical as it might otherwise be, with her managing to never find out about all the potential danger she is near to. The antagonists were the most amusing of the characters here, in particular I thought Evan Stern (The Void, Robocop remake) as Ted was the best of the lot, a funny character. The attackers for the most part look like normal people, and have the fighting skills of normal people. This makes their relentless but often half-hearted assaults on Jasper and the house all the more amusing, and their objectives for what they want to steal were also funny due to how lame they were. Included among the host of attackers was Billy Zane (Hellblazers, Ghosts of War) who was fun to see there, playing the role of an inept man with a ridiculous walrus style moustache.

Sunset Superman had some slightly dark edges to it but for the most part it was light hearted enough despite all the fighting. Jasper was a likeable lead and I enjoyed how bad at their jobs the antagonists were. I also liked how quickly this got to the core of the story, with the invading starting at around the twenty minute mark. This made for a fun and silly home invasion thriller that had a lot of heart to it. Sunset Superman had its premiere at Fantastic Fest and can be seen under its Don't Mess With Grandma moniker on Tubi.

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