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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HYDRA (2024) by WHOLE - Music Album Review

WHOLE is a Berlin based duo made up of Thomas Schernikau (Forced to Mode, Forced Movement) and Alexander Leonard Donat (Vlimmer, Fir Cone Children). They released their debut album Bias in 2018 and now they have a new album in the form of HYDRA. I originally listened to this a few months back but due to not being in the happiest place I found it a bit too depressing. It turns out mood can affect enjoyment of things as giving it a second listen the other week I realised it was nowhere near as despondent as my memories had me believe.

The ten track album has a strong start with 'Beast', a four and a half minute eighties sounding song that gave me Timothy Dalton era James Bond vibes. Rather than be an anomaly, nearly every track on HYDRA was a good one with an interesting mix of styles over the forty seven minute runtime. There are dour sounds but these always include great sounding music at the same time. 'Sudden Hydra' with its half sung/half spoken verses, the mournful 'Valson' and finisher 'Morricone' with its ending repeating line of "If we pushed a little farther" - all were enjoyable.

The sound throughout the album was never anything less than great to listen to, I liked how energetic some of these tracks became, often with a solid backing beat, such as the strong meaty one on 'Flood Marker', the satisfying electronic sound on 'Rip' and 'Ten Commandments' with its Muse-like grinding synth intro. Most unusual was 'Dead Deer', I loved the attention grabbing opening of repeated lines that leads into an almost rap style sound. Then there were 'I Am Your Shadow' and 'Flagstone', with the later tracks repeating lines of "The fear is creeping out, It keeps on growing" sounding effective.

I assumed I would enjoy HYDRA, anything Alexander Leonard Donat is a part of often is guaranteed for a good sound and an album that flows well from track to track. This one featured some good music that often had me humming along, worth a listen.

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Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) - Comedy Horror Film Review

Tim Burton's 1988 comedy horror film Beetlejuice is near universally recognised as a classic, coming out during the director's most iconic period. Truth be told, I don't actually rate it that highly. It is an ok film with some good scenes but had a lot of pacing issues. My sister has been raving about the sequel - Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, ever since she saw it at the cinema some weeks back. Getting sick of her constantly asking if I've seen it yet I headed off with my bestie to check it out.

Taking place in present day things have changed a lot for the Deetz family. Former goth teenager Lydia (Winona Ryder - Black Swan, Alien Resurrection) now has her own paranormal investigation show. She also has a teenage daughter - Astrid (Jenna Ortega - Scream VI, Wednesday TV show), who sees her mothers claims of being able to see the dead as pure lies. After Lydia's father is killed in a tragic and amusing accident the family come together to mourn his passing. Lydia and her mother, Delia (Catherine O'Hara - Elemental voice work, Home Alone) pulling Astrid out of boarding school and returning to Delia's house (the same one from the original movie) for the funeral. It is here that it is discovered Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton - Spider-Man: Homecoming, Batman Returns) is still operating and still hopes to one day be reunited with Lydia (who he had previously tried to marry as a means to be able to return permanently to the land of the living). This is something Lydia intends to prevent at all costs.
Meanwhile in the underworld, Beetlejuice learns from detective Wolf Jackson (Willem Dafoe - Spider-Man: No Way Home, John Wick) that his cultist wife from when he was living - Delores (Monica Bellucci - The Matrix Revolutions, The Matrix Reloaded), has escaped her afterlife confinement and is now hunting for the ghost with the most. With her having the power to consume the souls of the dead this becomes a problem for the denizens of the dead realm.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is exactly how I figured it would be. Thankfully it is in a better place for me than the original. As I said, that first film was ok with moments of goodness. This sequel is instead good with moments of greatness. The whole comedy horror is in full force and looks better than ever due to the modern day effects. The dead especially look great, such as Delores' initial reforming scene where she staples back together her chopped up body. Special effects throughout were impressive and includes returning stop motion effects. There were some twisted moments here that were gross as well as fun, such as Lydia having a baby version of Beetlejuice burst out of her stomach (the baby looking much like the one from Peter Jackson's cult comedy zombie film Braindead). There was also a well done scene where a room full of people have their faces contort into grotesque shapes before they are sucked into their mobile phone screens. The most memorable parts of the first movie reappear, namely people forced against their will by Beetlejuice to mimic singing old songs. This included a late scene set in a church which was near perfection. There was also a neat call back to the iconic dining room dance scene from the first movie, with a choir singing the same song from that part at Lydia's fathers funeral.

I didn't mind a lot of the characters. Due to real life controversies surrounding the actor who played the father, this character is dealt with in an ingenious way. An entertaining fully stop motion sequence is used for the flashback showing how he died, and due to being eaten by a shark, when he does appear in the film it is as a walking torso, they got around not being able to use the original actor cleverly. I enjoyed the character of Lydia and I though Delia had improved a lot, being quirky rather than a nasty person. I had expected Astrid to be the stand-in for the teenage Lydia, fully expecting her to be all gothed up like Ortega was in Wednesday, so I was surprised to see her as a much more normal girl. I had heard complaints that Beetlejuice wasn't in the movie much, but he felt to me that he wasn't that prolific first time around either. I though having duel antagonists was interesting, especially as the two never actually meet with each other. Unfortunately they didn't really have much screen time to shine, Delores in particular felt almost pointless. I also didn't like how swiftly both of these villains were dealt with once they had served their purposes. Outside of that, the story felt like it flowed more smoothly even if it wasn't the most amazing story going on.

I thought Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was a good movie. I enjoyed the ties to the original and loved the special effects. For the church scene alone I am going to be picking this up on Blu-ray when it releases, the highs really were very high indeed. 

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Beware the Boogeyman (2024) - Horror Anthology Film Review

I didn't have the faintest idea when starting Beware the Boogeyman that it would turn out to be an anthology film. Fittingly themed around the concept of the boogeyman monster, this features five different short films and a neatly sized wraparound story. Where this really fell down though was with the design of the titular monster.

Dr. Tristian Mackenzie (Elissa Dowling - Bloodthirst, Amber Road) has gone for an induction at a remote mental institute. During this induction she meets with Dr. Gabey Moon (Airisa Durand - An Amityville Poltergeist) who explains that many of the patients bizarrely share an identical delusion of having encountered the titular monster. Five of the patient's case files are spoken about - this  makes up the five short films contained within the anthology.
As a wraparound this was a decent format to present the shorts, I did feel that the place this ends up going to felt a bit abrupt and not really explained that well. 

The shorts all follow a similar title format, the first of these is 'Case File No.1'. Here, a woman (Chynna Rae Shurts) has invited a man back to her home for what he believes to be a one night stand. Instead the woman explains that she is scared of being alone in her bedroom at night and believes that a boogeyman lives in her closet.
A recurring issue for the anthology as a whole was the really underwhelming look of the boogeyman creature. It is always teased by a green light appearing, with the creature itself being someone in black robes with a fake looking monster mask on. The design of this was just so bland and forgettable that it automatically sucked any kind of scares out of all the shorts. Regardless of the lead up, when it results in this same kind of lame looking monster appearing then it is hard to get too pumped for what is to come.

'Case File No.2' fares a little better. In this Josh Dietrich directed one, an artist - Olivia (Nicolette Pullen - Pillow Party Massacre) begins to suspect her new medication is causing her to lose time and short term memories, mainly revolving around a painting that is steadily being done, but which she has no memory of painting. The parts around the painting weren't bad

'Case File No.3' directed by Kai Pacifico Eng is perhaps the most dull of the five films. Two brothers hiding out at a remote home after a bank robbery that went wrong begin to fragment after the younger of the two begins to hallucinate a boogeyman creature. The problem with the shorts as a whole is that it is only really the lead up part that is any different, the subsequent boogeyman attacks always felt extremely similar to each other.
Sometimes the build up can be good, I thought that 'Case File No.4' was the best of the lot, at least with the beginning. Ghost hunter John Conroy (Steve Larkin - Conjuring: The Beyond) has hired Rose (Jax Kellington) to help him explore an allegedly haunted house, with the man determined to find prove that the boogeyman actually exists. Blending in some decent enough found footage style moments and with the John character having more knowledge than he initially lets on, this was a decent enough short.

Final of the films, the surprisingly titled 'Case File No.5' is a dip in quality again. In this one (directed by Shurts), a recovering alcoholic living with his long suffering mother ignores her superstitious warnings about summoning the boogeyman should he give in to his addiction. Not the best one here but I did think the ending was not bad.

I do love a good anthology but unfortunately Beware the Boogeyman wasn't one of those. It was a shame that all shorts feature the same looking monster as it really didn't look good. The artificial green light that appears never helped, and the pay-off for each of the stories felt far too similar. This led to an unfortunate feeling of boredom, though there was potential in many of the stories.

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Doom (1993-1995) - Horror Video Game Review (Xbox Series X)

A brand new release of the classic Doom games has recently been released under the title Doom + Doom II. This remastered collection includes both the original two games as well as all the additional extra content released. The bow on the present is that the games are now able to be played at 120fps at 4K. This review is going to be just of original Doom, while originally released on 1993, this version also includes a fourth chapter that was added as part of Ultimate Doom in 1995. I own this game in so many different formats, everything from Playstation to XBox to even owning a copy on the Game Boy Advance, but realised that I have never actually reviewed it. Spoilers for the plot to follow, though the game is over thirty years old at this point!

The story is minimal, with it only being presented in the game at the end of each chapter where you are treated to a wall of text. You are an unnamed marine in the far future who has been sent to a remote posting after assaulting a superior officer. You are stationed with the Union Aerospace Corporation on Mars, the company had recently been investigating teleportation technology, but their success also brings with it disaster as they unknowingly open a gateway to Hell through which demonic horrors pour out. With the rest of the marines wiped out, it is up to you to defeat the invading hordes.
'Knee-Deep in the Dead' is the first chapter and has you battling through the UAC base on Phobos (one of the moons of Mars). Your battle leads you to a teleporter which transports you to Deimos - a second moon of Mars that had mysteriously vanished. This makes up the second chapter - 'The Shores of Hell', where you discover the moon had vanished as it is now floating above Hell itself! Deciding to take the battle to the enemy, you descend into chapter 3 - 'Inferno', which is literally Hell. Finally is the additional fourth chapter 'Thy Flesh Consumed' that has you on Earth fighting the initial invading force, supposedly bridging the gaps between Doom and Doom II.

Doom remains a timeless game that is so much fun to play. While not the first 'first person shooter', it is widely considered to be the father of the genre as it inspired countless games all the way up to present day. Each level puts you in a maze-like environment where you must battle monsters, as well as locate key cards that open up new areas, with the goal in each level to reach the exit. Fighting enemies is a lot of fun, with you collecting an assortment of weapons from pistols and shotguns to miniguns and plasma guns. The enemies are mainly made up of zombified guards and fireball throwing imps, other types also make an appearance such as the beastly demons (who also come in an invisible form) and floating fleshy orbs known as cacodemons. Each chapter ends in a fun boss fight against a larger enemy in a bug arena. Along the way you can discover secret areas, and find plenty of health packs and armour packs to give you an edge.

The first three chapters are as fun as ever, and even better for this latest remaster - you have the option to use a brand new soundtrack that changes up the low quality midi sound for a proper sounding one, I loved this. The gradual change from facilities to Hell is done well, and despite the changes in location this always feels just as fun. I don't believe I had ever played the fourth chapter before, and this was where my experience was brought down a bit. I did complete 'Thy Flesh Consumed' but it felt far more game-like, seeming to be made up of random environments that didn't make cohesive sense. These last levels were also absolutely rammed with enemies and often devious map design, making them much more of a slog to get through.

Despite the dip in quality and increase in hardness for the final chapter, I found returning to Doom a real blast, smoother gameplay and a better sounding soundtrack made this return a load of fun. I would put Doom in my top ten gams of all time, it really remains that good! Doom + Doom II is currently on XBox Gamepass.

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The Deserving (2024) - Horror Film Review

It is almost a horror subgenre all of itself to have a single protagonist wandering around a large house experiencing supernatural stuff. Often there is a bit of immersion breaking by having the character constantly talking to themselves, something that always seems weird. The S.S Arora written and directed The Deserving gets around that by making their main lead mute, but still suffers due to not a lot really going on.

Venkat Sai Gunda stars as Karter - a renowned mute photographer who has clients come from far and wide to have photoshoots done at his large house. Unknown to everyone apart from his victims is that Karter is a serial killer, with many of his female clients ending up dead at his hands. One day he decides enough is enough and goes to kill himself, but this act is interrupted by a knock at the door - a woman (Simone Stadler) desperate for a photo shoot from the famous man. This begins a period of horror for Karter as he begins to see the ghosts of former victims around his house tormenting him, while all his attempts to contact the outside world end in failure.

It might be distracting to have a solo character speaking out loud constantly to explain their actions to the viewer, but I also found it distracting with a mute lead. Karter being unable to speak shows his thoughts and feelings by exaggerated facial expressions, such as the wide eyed shock he exhibits whenever he catches a glimpse of one of the zombified ghosts haunting him. He was a weird lead, looking for all intents and purposes like the most irritated man in the world during sequences when he is around human characters. Over the course of the seventy five minute movie, Karter comes to really struggle to tell what is real and what is imagined, with characters he interacts either suddenly disappearing or changing into ghouls, and with normal interactions turning plain wrong. One scene had him on a video call to the emergency services trying to type that he needs help, but the text transforming into variations of his admission of having murdered people, was a neat part. The film is very much about his guilt over what he has done, with it explained via ghostly flashback sequences that his father was an abusive man, that this caused Karter to be like he is. With that in mind it could be possible that he is merely hallucinating everything going on, but the movie makes a point of spelling out what is really happening. It culminates in a twist ending, the only problem with the twist was I had thought it had already been specifically explained, so was a bit strange to end on this reveal as if it was new information for the viewer.

The ghosts for the most part keep leaping out at Karter attempting to jump scare him and by proxy the viewer. The film went much better when it tried different methods for the horror. I loved the third act moments where the ghosts have wide grins that are wider than their mouths, giving an almost The Evil Dead type 'deadite' look to them. The make-up for the ghosts did look good, creating an almost zombie like style. Much of the horror is diluted however due to it just mainly being Karter silently walking around his house getting scared. Even with a relatively short runtime I found myself getting bored long before the silent end credits.

The Deserving had some clever moments with its storytelling and had some moments of horror that were effective. For me, too much of the film was a little similar in feel and so started to feel stale. Still, this must be doing something right as it was won over fifteen awards at various film festivals around the globe. The Deserving released on October 1st under Katha Productions genre label, The Horror Collective.

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The Rotting Zombie's Round-up of Horror News for September 2024

This year has really flown by and at the moment I am drowning a bit in screeners for review. In my day job I am getting towards the end of an ill-advised apprenticeship which has unfortunately bled over into my non-working life, meaning my blog has been suffering in recent weeks. Hopefully that will mostly be over with any week now so that I can get things back to normal! The round-up for this month is a day late, not that it really matters.

Starting off with the official poster for horror film Black Daruma. Coming from the Watts brothers, this promises to be a fresh take on the haunted doll subgenre of horror films. The synopsis has an unemployed man purchasing a Japanese luck doll in the hopes that it will improve his life, but the opposite happens. What makes this interesting is that the entire film is apparently shot from the POV of the creepy doll, with Fionn Watts stating the film is a cross between Gremlins and Paranormal Activity. The movie was shot in eight days with the actors inprovising the psychological meltdowns the doll causes. Black Daruma will be released globally on VOD shortly.

Children of the Pines is an award-winning horror mystery film that is set for a digital debut for global VOD platforms and on DVD on October 18th 2024. This has a young college student who whilst visiting her estranged parents discovers they are into supernatural healing for their family trauma. She is introduced to strange children now living in her childhood home and is forced to face a sinister plan for her to join them.

It is the month of Halloween so ARROW - the streaming subscription platform, has announced the movies coming to it as part of their Shocktober programme. These include among them Noroi: The Curse (a pseudo-documentary about an investigative reporter looking into paranormal phenomena), Offspring (a family get caught up with a clan of cannibalistic savages), and Pandemonium (a man gets trapped in a hellish void after a road accident). Among other releases are 2021's Slumber Party Massacre, We Forgot About the Zombies from 2022, and the fun named Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman from 2007.

Described as a '...new sexy vampire film' and said to be inspired by genre classics such as Stranger Things, The Faculty and The Goonies is Fangs. In this movie, vampires have moved to a small town and begin to slowly take it over. Two outcast girls - Nikki and Cassi discover that they and some other outcasts are the only ones who can stop the evil takeover. There is currently an Indiegogo campaign running to get funds for this, more info can be found here.

Another simply titled movie is Knife, a slasher film that features a weapon as the villain, able to take control of anyone who touches it. This comes from Mike Kuciak (Death Metal). Originally a short film, there is currently a Kickstarter campaign running to have this made into a feature film. Again, more details can be found here.

Souls of the Damned is a new horror film from director/writer Frank Palangi (Killer Tales) and starring Erica James (The Annihilator), Debonnay Meyers (The Lost Chronicles) and Palangi (Rise of the Scarecrows: Hell on Earth). Stills from the movie can be seen below.

Originally released in 1983, The Baphomet Seance was a movie that ended up being banned. Described as an instructional video on how to conduct seances and talk to the dead, this was removed from distribution due to its Satanic and Occult messaging. The film has came back now and is to be shown at selected theatres and at horror conventions. For more info on how to check this out head to the film's website here.

Finally for today, Synapse Films are releasing the complete, uncut, and newly restored versions of Killers and The Convent on October 8th on Blu-ray, with the later one also getting a 4K UHD release. Killers is about two convicted killers (played by Dave Larsen and David Gunn) who escape death row and one stormy night invade the home of what appears to be the perfect family. It isn't long before the tables are turned and the killers find themselves fighting for their very survival from the family who turn out to be violently sinister.
The Convent has a hazing ritual in an abandoned boarding school going wrong, leading to demonic possession, murder and more. The only hope for the students survival rests with Christine (Adrienne Barbeau - The Fog), a killer who was responsible for the mass slaughter of a group of nuns in the building decades previously.

Psychosis (2023) - Horror Film Review

Psychosis is a very strange Australian black and white thriller that has a unique concept to it. Written and directed by Pirie Martin in his feature length debut, this captivated me throughout, drawing me into its odd world.

Cliff Van Aarle (Derryn Amoroso) is a criminal fixer who has a special set of skills and abilities. The man suffers from schizophrenia, hearing a multitude of voices in his head but which are able to point out things that he might otherwise miss. He is also skilled in hypnotic suggestion, something that he learned from his criminal father who had used the skills for evil. With Cliff's sister in a coma in hospital he is quite desperate for money, so against his better judgement he accepts a job from two small time drug dealers. They had inadvertently stolen drugs from a near mythical criminal mastermind known as Joubini (James McCluskey-Garcia) and angered at this he has tasked his zombie-like 'hollow men' to kill them. Cliff agrees to track down Joubini, though discovers that the man has mind control powers even greater than his own.

I loved this movie, it is surreal and strange without feeling too much like an arthouse film. There is no end of interesting editing and shot techniques to give the film a weird vibe all of its own. The black and white look gave a film noir feel to events, while there are plenty of varied effects, such as scenes shown upside down and blurry slow motion footage used at times. Mind control segments create confusing sequences that make use of cool special effects to give more of a dreamlike feel to them. The initial reveal of the antagonist during a dream sequence for instance was very cool looking as one strong example.

Cliff made for a great protagonist, the voices in his head sounded wonderful with headphones, with the voices seeming to dance around in a way that reminded me a lot of the way they did a similar thing in the video games Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice and Senua's Saga: Hellblade II. My favourite part of his character was the movie's narrator (Lindsay Dunn), another voice in Cliff's head, but one who narrates his actions in third person. This allows the protagonists motives to be revealed to the viewer, it also creates comedic elements, such as when the narrator is speaking when a character with Cliff then interrupts what the narrator is saying mid flow. The way this voice spoke and the light hearted tone of it reminded me a lot of the narrator from comedy video game The Stanley Parable. There are not that many characters in the movie but a highlight was the furry superhero LoneWolf (Pj van Gyen). This character should not have worked but he somehow fitted in to the gritty criminal world of the film, and his constant lines of "I work alone" when Cliff suggests teaming up with him were always amusing.

The story was relatively easy to follow despite the often confusing camerawork. The story is mainly a search for Joubini with some classic story beats along the way, such as the hero getting captured, and a third act assault on the HQ of the mastermind. I liked the trippy vibe that came in to play when characters are brainwashed, made for some unique looking scenes, such as characters growing extra arms. There were a fair few action scenes, a bit hard to follow due to the fast paced editing but they worked well. Cliff isn't a John Wick type character, instead he is someone who is flawed and well aware of his flaws, so the fight sequences almost always felt desperate. Psychosis released on August 30th on digital/VOD and comes to Tubi on October 4th, I loved this and think it is well worth a watch for something that is definitely different.

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