Trepang2 (2023) - Horror Video Game Review (Xbox Series X)

Originally released in 2023, but only very recently added to Xbox Game Pass, Trepang2; (despite the title this is a first instalment, the original one had you playing as a sea cucumber!?) published by Team17, is a Hell of a weird game to play. This first person military shooter/horror mash-up is pure schizophrenia, the quality going up and down like a yo-yo during the roughly 10 hour campaign. When it's bad it's really bad, but when it's at its peak - it can reach levels of near perfection.

You play as Subject 106 - a super soldier who at the start of the game is being held captive and brainwashed by the shady all-powerful global entity, Horizon. Broken out of your confinement by an equally shady mercenary group called Task Force 27, you are given an offer to join up with them once you have escaped the prison facility and transported to their secretive HQ. Task Force 27 really have it in for Horizon, and so your goals align, with each mission taking you to a different Horizon facility dotted around the world for you to attack and expose its secrets. At each place you uncover sinister experiments that the entity had secretly been performing on volunteers, with this information then published by the mercenary group in an effort to weaken the companies global reach, enough that a full frontal assault on their main HQ can then be initiated.

Trepang2 had the feel of a middle of the road Xbox 360 shooter, albeit, with a nice coat of paint and better quality of life improvements to the gameplay. As the super soldier protagonist, you infiltrate bases over six main missions and an equal amount of side missions (roughly, can't recall the exact amount), with the quality varying wildly throughout. At first this felt like it was going to be an immersive sim in the style of something like F.E.A.R. As you battle through levels, scenery gets blasted apart (reminding me of Black), and you get treated to the increasingly desperate radio chatter of the enemies commanders as you single handily mow down legions of faceless enemy soldiers. There are computers to hack, vents to traverse, key VIP boss-style specialists to defeat, and also...monsters (more on that later). You can hold two weapons at a time, later getting the ability to duel-wield, pick up and throw enemies, as well as use two different recharging super abilities. One of these puts you into a Max Payne style slow-mo/bullet time state, the other makes you briefly invisible. Oddly, you are unable to aim down the sights of your guns (of which I believe there were about 8 different types), instead, the traditional aim down sights button instead throws your grenades. Combat never gets more complicated than that, no upgrades to your abilities, though you are frequently fighting small armies of spawning enemies. Missions, especially the side missions, can become very video game-like in feel, multiple ones being nothing much more than combat arenas where you have to survive against waves of increasingly tougher enemies.

So, at first glance this did feel like it might be an immersive sim in the design of the levels. The places you go to are certainly full of environmental details, but it isn't long before it comes clear (in some of the levels at least) that the actual level layout can leave a lot to be desired. Main missions are typically set in labyrinthian locations, while at the same time also being extremely linear, legions of locked doors funnelling you ever onwards down the only unlocked ones. These missions can be extremely hit and miss, pure joy one moment, screaming frustration the next. Take the second mission that is set in a Horizon medical facility. The first half has you slowly ascending through the facility into the basement lab, where you discover patients had been experimented on and turned into essentially zombie type husks. Sounds cool, but then the second half has you fighting these zombies who really annoyingly explode upon death, leading to lots of swearing on my part as I constantly got swarmed by the blighters. Some of the main missions really do suck, one that sees you assault the mansion based HQ of a group of cultists was once such example that was a real slog to get through. Others though were startingly amazing. One mission sees you exploring a Soviet underground base whose inhabitants had mysteriously all vanished without a trace. From start to finish that level was pure joy to play through; a 10/10 mission stuck in an often middling game. Perfectly designed, atmospheric, and at times transported you ingeniously to Creepypasta 'Backrooms', linear spaces complete with soggy carpet and yellow walls - was so unexpected to discover!
Trepang2 is a crazed mix of military shooter and horror, with roughly 75% of the game the first part, and the remaining 25% when things occasionally gets weird. That other part makes for a real ride, where you are never really sure what to expect next. A moth-man, bio-organic blobs that communicate via computer banks, evil spirits, clones, zombies, and one side mission that sees you on an oil rig battling a giant U.F.O! This felt especially jarring with so much of the rest of the game feeling much more grounded. I was fully on board for the horror of course, a welcome atmospheric break from the pure action of the rest of the game.

Trepang2 was a weird game with a frequently wild and darkly humorous (though somewhat generic) story. At its highs, this has some of the best video game moments I have experienced in years, but it is so hit and miss in quality that the less well designed moments really bring the overall game down to something that at times is very average.
There is DLC in the form of battle arenas and two extra side missions, but I never played those.

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The Whistler (2026) - Horror Film Review

Originally, this review for the Diego Velasco directed folk horror; The Whistler (no, not that The Whistler) was intended to go up roughly a week back. Some personal issues led to me being in a bit of a funk, but after an unexpectedly good Friday, I'm back in business, and finally got around to finishing this horror, the first horror I have seen that was filmed in Colombia to my recollection.

After the death of his father, USA based Sebastian (Juan Pablo Raba - Coyote) and his wife, Nicole (Diane Guerrero - Encanto, Orange Is the New Black), head to his family's farmstead back in his home country of Venezuela (while filmed in Colombia, that isn't the setting for the story). They are there both to attend the funeral of the deceased, but also have come to try and convince Sebastian's mother - Isabel (Laura Garcia Marulanda) to sell the family farm and move to America to be with them. Since he has been gone, life on the farm has became increasingly hard for the people who live and work there. First, a group of squatters who practice a strange religion (the real life cult that worships the Goddess Maria Lionza) have created a commune in their woodland, and then soon after there came rumours of an evil spirit known as 'The Whistler' roaming the farm's vast sugarcane fields, bringing death with it.
Mourning the somewhat recent death of their daughter, Nicole becomes increasingly interested in the squatters when she witnesses a ceremony that briefly allows a dead spirit to inhabit the body of a willing host. She hopes that they might perform this ritual so she can once again speak to her dead child. Even though she is warned this might catch the attention of 'The Whistler', Nicole becomes laser focussed on getting the ritual to happen, unaware of the danger this would cause.

Over a week ago I first tried to watch this, only managing twenty minutes before I switched it off. I just wasn't feeling it, it felt like (location aside) another of those generic supernatural horrors like The Bye Bye Man. Picking it back up, I was pleasantly surprised to find this was actually a solidly made folk horror. For those wanting high thrills and ghostly horror this might not be the best choice, with the scenes involving the antagonistic force being some of the weaker parts of the movie. It did however have some great lore, both in the origins of the whistling spirit, but also with how it came to be haunting the land around the farmstead. It never really felt like a cohesive threat, despite it existing by possessing the body of a human, this force was seemingly able to travel vast distances in the blink of an eye, likely for pacing reasons than it literally able to move that quickly. This being features in a whole bunch of death scenes, some more entertaining than others, but usually featuring a victim to be wandering around looking scared, before a barely glimpsed figure leaps out the darkness at them.
I did think that everything around these scenes worked much better. I loved the locations this was filmed at, and the squatter's commune in particular stood out, as did the labyrinthian sugarcane fields bringing a bit of a Children of the Corn feel. The ritual scenes were also a joy to watch, well shot, and very folky.

There was an almost Shakespearean quality to the story, with the film beginning with the squatters and farm-hands already in some type of Cold War type situation, that Sebastian and Nicole just happen to have stumbled into. Sebastian, seeing the actions of The Whistler as being perpetrated by the squatters, is determined to get rid of them by any means. Nicole on the other hand falls more into believing it to be an actual supernatural entity, and that the squatters have wisdom to their beliefs. The epilogue in the last five minutes or so of the movie were not particularly inspiring, leading to a finish that was the film at its most generic. 
As a protagonist, Nicole was ok, a bit of a one note character, only seeming to care about her dead child, and not having much more to her personality. She could have been irritating, but, sure her decisions lead to the horror getting worse, but it was already an ongoing problem, and her selfish desires didn't cause most the events of the movie. I thought Isabel was a perfectly fine side character, more likeable than you may expect, and I thought Indhira Serrano as Petra (someone on the farm side of the conflict who also practices rituals) was useful in providing a lot of the explanation for what had been going on for the viewers benefit.

The Whistler was well made, and I enjoyed the rural setting and the more folk-horror feel it brought with it. The antagonist may not have been amazing, but everything around this character was interesting, I liked the back and forth between Sebastian and Nicole's very different plots going on. Occasionally derivative, slightly slow-burn, but always enjoyable to watch, this was better than it initially seemed it would be. The Whistler had its world premiere at Fantaspoa in Brazil on April 11th, and opened in select theatres on April 17th via Vertical.

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The Infestation at Ralls Hall (2013) by Thomas Tessier - Short Horror Story Review

Another really old review of something I should have simply read a long long time ago! Back in 2014, I received a press release about an anthology horror film titled Thomas Tessier's World of Hurt. This was to feature five stories from the author's short stories he had written. Two of those stories included were to be I Remember Me, and The Infestation at Ralls Hall, which I was sent eBook copies of to check out. To be fair, the email I was sent did say to read '...whenever you can...'. So I sat down yesterday (at time of typing but at the time of publishing a long time back) and spent a quarter of an hour reading the latter of the two.

Returning to England, Van Helsing has been asked to stop of at Ralls, where a girl's school is located. One of the students; Miss Emily, has had something strange happen to her. Some days previously, she alleges to have been attacked in her bedroom one night. In the time since she has grown heavily pregnant as if she had been with child for six months or so. Van Helsing suspects something unnatural has occurred.

Originally featured in the 2013 short story collection; Remorseless: Tales of Cruelty, this 24 page story was a period piece, being set in and around the time of Bram Stoker's Dracula (I would imagine). The story covers a lot of ground in a short time, throwing the protagonist into the story as if he were someone we were already familiar with. From the initial investigation, to the later more action packed scenes, this tells the story competently and without seeming like anything has been lost for pacing issues. Throughout, formal language is used, both with how characters speak and with the descriptions used.

A neat little story that deals with an unexpected antagonist threat, blended in with elements of demonic possession and some quite graphic moments. The writing style had me fooled that The Infestation at Ralls Hall was an older story than it actually was.

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The Rules of the Game (2026) - Horror Film Review

Kidnapped people being tortured and killed for the benefit of anonymous dark web viewers has been done so often in horror that it has carved out its own little sub genre. I remember as a teen enjoying My Little Eye, and of course there were the Hostel series that propelled the idea nearly into mainstream, and the Saw films are a not too distant cousin of these. Outside of the so-called 'torture porn' aspects (I never like to see pointless suffering), I do enjoy these types of movies, and often due to the single room design they don't really require much of a budget to sell the idea. In the Lani Castle and Jon Cohen (Backlash, The Hanged Girl) co-directed The Rules of the Game (with Cohen also writing this), you have a typical indie example that does have its moments.

On-the-spectrum chess genius Evie (Lola Merewether) is abducted alongside her chronically ill sister, Danielle (Gezel Bardossi) one dark night by a masked intruder. She awakens some time later in a basement that has been repurposed into a series of cells, alongside seven other scared victims. They soon realise that they have each been assigned as a chess piece, and that they must play a game of chess against their twisted kidnapper. Should the piece they have been assigned as get taken during the course of the chess match, then they have five minutes to die. Failure to either make a move within the five minute time period, or failure to kill the taken piece, means that an innocent will be killed in their place. Each of the victims has one of their loved ones being monitored in real time, with the assumption that should any player break the rules, then a one of these loved ones will be killed at random. Evie has been assigned the role of the King, seemingly due to her being the only victim in the cells who actually knows how to play chess. While she is confident she can win the already in progress chess match, she is truthful that even in the ideal circumstances she would only be able to save half of the victims. This of course begins to cause bitter divisions within the group, with the weaker pieces believing her to only care about her own preservation, and that she could even be a plant, put there by their kidnapper.

The very important chess game (shown over a projector) is key to the movement of the plot, it actually features very little, at least in terms of being able to follow the game's progress. The board is only really shown when key moves are being made that will have an impact on the group, so anyone hoping to follow a match of wits on the board won't get that satisfaction. The focus is instead on the dynamics of the kidnapped group, a group that is made up of a wide variety of young adults that go from selfless and noble to selfish and nasty. Many of them are simply unable to cope with Evie 'causing' their deaths by playing the game as she needs to, leading to lots of conflict as various members of the group splinter apart. As a protagonist I did like Evie, her autistic side not done to too much of an over the top caricature. She recognises her weaknesses, but also has the strength of character to do what needs to be done (if only the others would let her). I thought her new friend, Kira (Alyson Rudlin - Backlash) was also decent, even if she started the whole thing a little bit as comic relief. Some of the other characters really sucked, especially the more bad ones of the group who seemed to be there to cause dissent but not actually have any answers. In particular, Lucas (Max Dÿkstra) and Sarah (Angela Zhou) were so cartoonishly evil that it became hard to take them seriously as characters. Not to say they were bad at acting, more that their roles felt one-dimensional for the most part.
This division within the group makes up the most of the story here, the kidnapper featuring, but only in a sub-plot involving Danielle, who has been tied up by his side as he plays the chess game on a computer. This division did leave a taste of displeasure, the film doesn't shy away from having awful things happening to innocent and normal people. There were one or two plot holes in the story, most notable being a second kidnapper in the prologue who doesn't feature in the rest of the film. Their absence was unexplained and convenient for where the story went. The story did resolve on a mostly satisfactory way, but again, there were key questions that got left unresolved.

The Rules of the Game had a good body count, even if most of the deaths were via relatively peaceful lethal injection. More graphic kills do feature on screen and are usually sold well by fun sound effects, and with characters getting covered in blood. One scene that had a character's head split open on the ground was effective due to a combination of these sound effects and blood splatters.
The majority of the film takes place within the basement cell area, a dark and dank nondescript location that works within the budget, and forces the film to focus on the unfolding drama of the situation.

It might have been nice for there to be more tension coming from the game of chess being played, rather than that part being almost a background to the plot. Outside of that, this was a good portrayal of how humans are mostly just awful people, more concerned with profit and self preservation than working together well. It's obvious to see that from just a quick glance at our frequently terrible news in the real world, so this didn't work as escapism for me, but you know what? It really wasn't bad, well made within the limits of the constraints it was working with.  The Rules of the Game is due for release on the third quarter this year, coming from High Fliers Films.

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Second Chance: An End Storm Short Story (2013) by Maz Marik - Horror Short Story Review

I had an inkling that I had another End Storm short story waiting to be read for review at the culmination of my 13 year trek to read the other short story I had; The Gathering. This second story, again by Maz Marik is Second Chance. This one too runs parallel to the early events of End Storm, and feels like a side story to the first short, with it showing events immediately before and after that one.

Homeless petty criminal Kyle has once again been arrested for shoplifting, and has been taken to Crawly Police Station where he is well known. He isn't too upset as he knows he will at least get a warm cell and a hot meal. A terrible unexplained event occurs in London, the news of which puts the police into a panic. With more important things to worry about, they release Kyle. Outside he bumps into a friend, and together they head to a storage unit to hide from the chaos that has now reached the town and caused much of the population there to turn inexplicably manically violent. Spotted by other non-infected, their numbers are soon swelled, with some of the survivors deciding to head out and find supplies, with the aim to then retreat out to the countryside where it is hoped there will be less crazies. One of these survivors is Alice, who heads off to the events of The Gathering, while others decide to head on over to a nearby mall.

This was another enjoyable story, though felt a bit surplus to requirements - not really doing anything different from the first short, other than to introduce new characters (who again are most likely side characters from the main novel). I did like Kyle, his story was only the focus for the beginning, but it was a neat introduction to how the emergency services were responding to the mayhem. The sub plot of the police was may favourite, the only issue being a character who was assumed to have died, only for him to pop up again in a near identical scene where this time he is actually finished off.

With the infected having less of a central presence, the horror and violence of their actions was much reduced. Still did not make me once wish that I was going through this particular zombie apocalypse. Second Chance didn't really do anything too different, while I did enjoy reading this, I also got a little sense of déjá vu.

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The Other People (2025) - Horror Film Review

I spent much of my time with Nashville based horror The Other People frustratingly confused. I just could not work out what was going on in this very weird and very bleak Chad McClarnon directed and co-written movie (co-written with brother Trey McClarnon). Ultimately, this sure did leave an impression, and with a nights rest between watching it, I have started to piece things together in my mind. I will try and avoid spoilers were possible as this really isn't what it at first seems.

After the death of his wife, William Marsh (Bryce Johnson - Terrifier 3, Oppenheimer) moves to a new town with his young daughter - Abby (Valentina Lucido - iCarly) to begin a new life. At the college where he has been posted to, he encounters dance instructor; Rachel (Lyndie Greenwood - Sleepy Hollow). Fast forward to Abby's eighth year birthday and the two are now married and living together. Abby has recently gotten an apparent imaginary friend, someone she refers to as Eric (Braydon Mohr). Logical William isn't happy with this development, but Rachel sees it as a normal part of growing up, especially with the child being in a new town where she doesn't know anyone. As well as this friend, Abby also has frequent apparent nightmares in which she says a scary man (Hank Quillen - The Nice Guys) tries to abduct her in her bedroom. Are these strange things all coming from a young child's imagination, or is something more sinister at play?

I can't recall the last time I saw a movie as miserable as this one. There are some scenes here that even I found genuinely shocking to see play out; a mid-film flashpoint in particular was so bleak and cruel that for around ten minutes after it happened I assumed I had been mistaken! There are some scenes of strong violence and horror that take place often without really showing anything graphic on screen. The gist of what is happening felt visceral regardless, proving that often the viewers imagination really can fill in the blanks much better than anything that could have been shown to them.
I figured this was a supernatural movie, figuring the imaginary friend and nightmare man were both in fact ghosts. This ghosts are approached in a different way to usual. They look human for one thing even if they do appear to appear and disappear at will. These ghosts also seem to have needs, stealing food and other items from the family, something which sets Rachel on a path of suspicion that something untoward is happening in the house. Initially, I finished the film not really knowing what had gone on, but thinking about it now, it had similarities to Us, the story a commentary on American society, done in a bit of a more grounded way. Some of the ghosts resemblance to the protagonists led to some bewildering scenes that were really hard to parse. Things such as a character seemingly being in two places at once, another time when I had thought a ghost (excellently played by Liz Atwater) was one of the main characters so couldn't understand why she was in the scene she was in and acting so strangely. 

The protagonists were hard characters to get a decent idea of. William was still grieving the death of his first wife, but it was never really explained that well. It led to random scenes of him crying where I was unsure what the matter was with him. Rachel was a more interesting character, taking to the role of step-mother as best as she could. While she did appear to love William, there were odd scenes when it felt like there was a gap of resentment between the two, giving the feel of missing scenes where they had fallen out with each other.  I did like a lot of the minor cast members, maybe the grumpy stereotypical detective (B.D Boudreaux) being my favourite of these. He played a stereotypical detective role sure, but he brought life to it even so. The odd next door neighbour was also a memorable character, the film's one attempt at vaguely alluding to what was actually going on.
There is a purposely off vibe, especially with the night time sequences that take on the feel of a living dream. I'm sure all these similarities between the living and the 'others' was intentional, but on a first viewing it left me often scratching my head in confusion, rather than being immersed in the story. As frustrated as I became, there were some legitimate neat scenes of horror, often with the 'others' hidden in plain sight in the background of shots. There was also some full frontal nudity, something I'm not usually keen on as just seems like needless titillation. Here though, it just about gets a pass within the context of the scenes it is used in.
Some elements of the plot seemed needless, in particular a subplot revolving around William's young assistant, Emily (Quinnlan Ashe), maybe meant to be a red herring, but this sub plot fizzled out and led to nothing of note whatsoever, making me wonder why it was included in the first place. By making the actual plot murky, it did lead to feelings of alienation. It must have done something right though, being tired, I had intended to only watch half the film last night. Instead I found myself unable to stop watching, captivated by the strange two hour film.

The Other People isn't a feel good movie at all, and it can be abrasive with how it tells its story. It did turn into something far different to the generic ghost story I figured it would be; something just as outlandish, but done in an effectively creepy way. I can't say I enjoyed the film, but it was striking and it was memorable. The Other People premiered at Cinequest, screened at FrightFest and Fantaspoa, and was named in the 2026 Popcorn List as one of the best films from the festival circuit. The film has been acquired by The Horror Collective; the genre label of Studio Dome.

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Garten of Banban VIII: Anti Devil (2025) - Horror Video Game Review

I said in my review of Garten of Banban VII that I would be saving the most recent release in the series; Garten of Banban VIII: Anti Devil until it went on sale. With my month long holiday to Australia pending (at the time of typing but certainly not at the time of editing!), I relented and brought the game, once again playing the whole thing in a single sitting. This latest game is the most polished and longest yet, but there was also a notable reduction in horror in lieu of more action set pieces. Being both a sequel to Garten of Banban 0 and VII, unavoidable spoilers to follow.

After discovering the existence of a mascot creature that had been intended to never have been found, the ruler of the Banban Kindergarten sixth basement floor city - Syringeon, has put you in prison, to prevent you from revealing this fact. Eventually you are broken out, and in your wild escape you end up in a familiar setting. It is here that you find a creature locked away in a cupboard; Flumbo. A severely injured Banban appears (last seen about to take on a small army of corrupted mascots at the end of Garten of Banban VI) denying all knowledge of having been the one who imprisoned Flumbo and telling him that he is needed at Syringeon's surgery urgently. Realising during the train journey to the surgery that the master of this floor has it out for the player, Banban drops him off at an abandoned medical facility and tells them to meet them later at a central tower the surgery is located at.

I didn't like the increase in characters in the previous game, nor the 1930s themed city area, but here, having you in a more dilapidated area of the city made the early prison section quite fun. After that, the game came to feel like a mix of Silent Hill and Garten of Banban, with the player exploring a long abandoned dark and dingy hospital. Here, there is plenty of lore revealed about various creatures, which I of course loved. This is the first game playing as the the human protagonist that you don't have access the dodgy drone. I was pleased that infernal contraption wasn't in use as it has been terrible to control right from the start and rarely fun. Instead, you are giving a handheld device that can be used to open doors by zapping them with electricity. Interestingly, this is also the first game where you are actually able to directly attack mascot creatures (by using this device). The game is again a mix of puzzles and chase sequences, but nothing too taxing either way. Thankfully, the vast frustration last time around with some of those chase sequences are gone here.

Anti Devil took me about three hours to complete, a mix of horror elements and more action/story based stuff. There were huge developments here, but I can't help that the grander story involving huge amounts of characters have reduced the unsettling isolation of earlier games. There are all the familiar characters, and it even seems the goal of finding your missing child may be getting closer, but the set pieces while exciting and fun, could not be said to be scary. The highlights for me where the more spooky parts. Investigating the hospital was an early highlight, a chase sequence in a storage unit building was also great, having the most unique enemy of this chapter feature. There were a handful of boss encounters, neither of which were particularly great, one was a bit dull, the second a bit annoying. There was yet another Stinger Flynn dream sequence, I always enjoy those. The mid game point took a surreal turn to a tribal village, I did not expect that, and it made for a more sedate change of pace, but again, those alien type creatures are often a bit too comedic for my liking (an early section with a demented doctor was quite freaky I will admit).

By having the story of the dictatorship of Syingeon take centre stage, the horror was diminished greatly. I do enjoy the story, but the horror is what I am really here for, not all out action, so I hope the next instalment (painfully not due until August this year!) will head back more into horror territory, and maybe have the player once again more isolated rather than surrounded by allies.

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Basic Psych (2025) - Thriller Film Review

Psychological thriller, Basic Psych has taken me almost half of this week to get through. Not because it was dull or in any way hard to watch, but due to me struggling to get over some strange flu-based illness that left me bereft of energy. Hopefully that hasn't affected this review too much, as I do try and get through films in a single sitting nowadays. Anyway, Basic Psych, written by James Tucker (in his debut feature length writing role) and directed by Melissa Martin, has a simple premise, but takes a long while to get to its unexpected conclusion.

Stuart Prince (Michael Cerveris - Gotham, Stake Land), is a psychiatrist who one day is visited by a new patient; a man who introduces himself as Dan (David Conrad - Ghost Whisperer). Straight away he comes across as paranoid - both not wanting Stuart to make any notes about him, and also, only wanting to visit when the receptionist isn't in the office. Dan then reveals that he was the perpetrator of a double homicide in a local park several years back; an unsolved case that became notorious. He states that it was all an accident, and that he is really trying to be a better person now. While alarmed, Stuart doesn't want to break his oath of patient confidentiality, seeing the man's aim to become better as a valid reason not to report him to the authorities, despite his misgivings. This all takes place in the background to a series of murders in the area exclusively focused on psychiatrists, making Stuart increasingly worried that Dan is the person responsible. When Dan begins to integrate himself into Stuart's personal life, he becomes convinced the man is evil and becomes determined to find a way to stop the man and protect his wife and child.

This had a slight 'made-for-TV' vibe to it, especially with regards to the melodramatic and somewhat cheesy score that followed characters around for the entire duration. I though both Cerveris and Conrad were great in their roles, even if I didn't like either of the two characters. The movie is one big cat and mouse chase between the two men, with it never being too clear who is the one being chased. Stuart begins the film the perfect man, successful, with a loving wife and child, but his association with Dan seems to corrupt him, with his actions becoming increasingly more desperate and dark as the story progresses. Dan, (this character actually has a different name, 'Dan' is a fake one he gives to Stuart, but IMDB states the character to be called 'Dan', so that is what he will be called in this review!) is almost the opposite of Stuart, starting off seeming to be very paranoid, but over the course of the film repairing his relationship with his daughter, and becoming increasingly aggressive and smug. I appreciated how similar the two men seemed, despite having lived very different lives, and liked the downfall of Stuart's morality over the course of the 100 minute thriller.
Not so interesting were some of the side characters, with the two child actors both coming across as quite wooden in their acting style. Stuart's wife; Sisi (Siena Goines - Westworld, Flight of the Living Dead) at least had some spunk to her, and the guy who played the cartoonishly villainous hitman was a third act highlight.
I struggled with character motivations and actions for large parts of the movie. One scene that stuck in my mind was a character finding out something terrible about someone they were close to, seeming to get over it within moments of finding this info out with little explanation. Dan appeared so crazy that it made some sort of twisted sense he was the way he was, Stuart though, I couldn't understand why he wouldn't go to the police despite huge evidence that Dan was indeed evil. That last point though, there was a late film twist that punched me in the face out of nowhere, in a fun way.

There were a few scenes of peril, but the drama of the story was more of the focus here. An entertaining prologue of a man being killed by the murderer started things off well, and there were a few other brief, yet effective looking kills throughout, leading up to a finale that popped up out of nowhere. Special effects were not bad, not that there was much need of them. I did like the flashback sequences, used effectively and not over-done. As a whole the film was well shot, but it always felt like it was an indie film, with no surprises to be found with the filmmaking.

Basic Psych subverted my expectations with its big reveal, so kudos to the story for going to unexpected places. Some parts of the overall story led to frustration, especially in the second half when events began to get more convoluted than I felt they needed to be. Still, Cerveris was great as the frustratingly obtuse protagonist, so not all bad. Basic Psych debuted on digital platforms on April 21st, and premiered as the opening night film of the Three Rivers Film Festival.

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Lost Joy (2025) - Horror Film Review

You know what? Lost Joy may be a simple beast that makes little effort to hide what it is all about, but it was also a right blast. Written by Winter Bassett and Jordan Laemmlen, with the later also directing, and both of them starring, this felt like a horror from a bygone era.

Jane (Bassett) has gone on vacation to a remote woodland cabin with boyfriend Jon (Vincent Catalina - Wild Boys) and their dog, Joy (the director's own dog). Something seems off with Jane though, she keeps glimpsing strange things in the woods and constantly hears a banging sound coming from the basement that Jon cannot hear. One night there is a knock at the door, a suspicious man (Laemmlen) introduces himself as Jack. The man states he noticed all the lights were off, and as the cabin belongs to his aunt, offers to help them restore power using the back-up generator. Against Jon's better judgement, Jane invites the man in to help fix the electrical issue, and then later, when his truck won't start, she invites him to spend the night in the guest bedroom. This leads to Jon becoming increasingly hostile towards his girlfriend, obviously jealous of the stranger. Meanwhile, Jack begins to try and turn her against Jon, pointing out how controlling he is, and with a permanent secret smile, appearing to know much more about Jane than he should for someone who has only just met her.

This was a very weird film, with Jane caught between two different but equally odd characters. Jon is obviously used to getting his own way and is controlling, always trying to isolate her. Jack on the other hand may state he wants Jane to become free, but uses his words to try and sway her to seeing him as the guy to trust. They felt like two sides of the same coin, one rigid and stern, the other laid back and free, but both seeking to ultimately control her actions for their own benefit. This leads to a tug of war between the two men, with poor Jane stuck in the middle unsure who to believe. It culminates in a mid-film flash point that actually made me gasp out loud with how sudden the thing happened.

From the very beginning when Jane wakes from a recurring nightmare of being a patient in a mental asylum, you get the feeling that what is being presented to the viewer might not be exactly as it seems. There are overheard conversations that seem to happen out of context of the scene they appear in, the mysterious medication that Jon keeps insisting Jane takes, and brief hallucinations, such as her seeing a bloody hand in the stream. It all felt obvious as to what was going on, even early on. Despite assuming I knew what was up, it was still a heck of a lot of fun getting to the point when the reveal is provided. A late film flashback sequence that showed previous events in a different context was the entertaining cherry on top for this movie.
Special effects worked, decent looking blood, not in huge quantities, but used effectively. There was also a great score that added to the feeling of sustained tension and threat, even in scenes when nothing bad appears to be happening.

Lost Joy was an indie horror that worked fantastically within the limits of its parameters. The twist may have been heavily sign posted, but was still a thrill to see how the plot all plays out. With Jane you have a likeable protagonist, and the character of Jack in particular was great at creating a constant feel of paranoia. Lost Joy is a horror that I know my angst ridden teenage self would have adored, even now, I thought it was a great little horror, which at just 65 minutes long was perfectly paced without any chaff. Lost Joy is due to be released in the third quarter from High Fliers Films.

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The Gathering: An End Storm Short Story (2012) by Maz Marik - Horror Short Story Review

My huge eBook mountain of shame began back in 2012 when unfortunate British author - Maz Marik approached me with a request to review his zombie-like horror novel; End Storm. This was the very first eBook I ever reviewed on this (at the time) relatively new site. I'm sure I likely assured the author a quick turn around on reading his novel, but in the end it took me nine months to read and a few understandably less than happy emails from him. At the same time I was sent the novel, he also sent me a few short stories that were set in the same universe. Some 13 years later, I have finally got around to reading those, starting with The Gathering.

This short story takes place at the same time as the opening chapters of End Storm, and features a couple of characters who I assume were minor ones in that novel. That novel isn't required reading here, though would still likely be beneficial to read prior or after this one. In the novel and unexplained event happened where 'the sky fell', a series of very strange weather phenomenon's originating over London led to much of the U.K population collapsing, before awakening as much more feral and violent people, Hell bent on killing anyone who wasn't like them. The Gathering has two plot going on. Mr. Shah is out shopping at the local mall in Crawly when the world falls apart. Initially hiding out in a photo booth, he emerges onto the street where he finds a young woman; Alice, who tells him that her and a small group of survivors are hiding out nearby, and that she is on a mission to get supplies so that they can all head out to the country where it is hoped they will be safe from the murderous hordes. Elsewhere, teenager James and his father are in their car sitting in traffic when it all kicks off. With James falling ill, his father plans to carry him to a nearby hospital to get assistance.

Even for me and my glacial speed of reading, it was very shameful that it has taken me over a decade to get around to reading a story that was literally finished within 15 minutes of starting it! I have read countless zombie stories that take place during the initial outbreak, but it never gets any less exciting to read, and that remains the case here. Rather than being rotting corpses, the antagonists here are zombie adjacent, the infected(?) having more in common with the anger filled souls of David Moody's Hater series. They are described as monstrous, but this is more with how they act than actual physical changes. They work together in groups to hunt down and kill anyone not like themselves. This is described in grim detail, one such scene involving a group breaking into a home, throwing a teenage girl out of the upstairs window, before descending on her and ripping her apart limb from limb! Gory stuff that was a thrill to read.

The Gathering was a decent short story, no real surprises to be found, but was still a fun read, and a decent introduction to the horrifically dark world of End Storm. I believe I have a second short story from Marik to read also, so a review of that will follow at some point in the near future I'm sure.

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Hellbilly Hollow (2026) - Horror Film Review

Written by Bernadette Chapman and directed by Kevin Wayne (Blood Type), who also plays one of the antagonists, Hellbilly Hollow is a horror that is focused around a scare maze. Visually this often looked the part with great set design and inventive kills, but the main story was somewhat lacking. 

Producer Mabel (Hallie Shepherd - Blood Type), her boyfriend James (Trey Miller - Guardian of Mine), and their boom operator are part of an online paranormal investigation team, alongside new member; Ally (Megan Weaver - Impulse Black). They run a YouTube channel that investigates allegedly haunted places. Their latest expedition takes them to a popular rural scare maze, both to highlight the maze for their viewers, but also due to the woods around the maze supposedly haunted due to a fire 40 years previously that wiped out a travelling circus. The maze is run by the eccentric Bull (Kurt Deimer - Halloween), who has given the team permission to spend the night camping on his grounds. They think it is because he wants exposure for his scare maze, but in reality, Bull and his hulking mute brother, Tickles (Wayne) are psychotic killers who delight in torturing and murdering random visitors, and have no intention of letting the team survive the night.

I really wanted to enjoy Hellbilly Hollow, but didn't quite as much as I had hoped to. A scare maze where some of the fake scares are actually real people being killed is a cool idea, as the superior Talon Falls can attest to. This one struggles a lot with its story that felt poorly explained. Ally has some sort of legitimate psychic connection to the dead, but this was never going into too much. Due to little explanation of what is going on and character's changing motivations, the plot become unsatisfying, especially the bizarre epilogue that skips ahead a day in time and barely makes any sense with characters acting strangely. The little scenes that play over the end credits were fun, but the actual ending wasn't so much.
Bull and Tickles gave me a vibe of the Firefly family from House of 1000 Corpses, being entertainingly evil with not an ounce of humanity to them. With the Firefly family, it made sense they could get away with their crimes, due to being remote and hidden away. It was a bit too much to accept that at a popular scare maze where random visitors are being killed on a nightly basis, that there would be zero police investigations going on! It could have mitigated this by having the local police shown to be complicit, but this is shown not to be the case. I liked that this family also used normal staff in the running of their mazes, but again, this made their blatant and very out in the open kills unbelievable, which did pull me out of the film more than once.
The protagonists were fine, bland, but did their roles well. I can't say I cared about anyone, good or bad. Least favourite characters were two very smug ghosts/voodoo witches(?) who seemed to interact with random characters without their sudden appearances in a cloud of artificial looking CG smoke bothering anyone. I couldn't see what these two even brought to the film.

A highlight of Hellbilly Hollow were the kills, especially with how inventive many of them were. Amusingly, many of the kills revolve around twisted versions of fairground games, such as 'whac-a-mole' (gagged victims replacing the 'mole' part), a test of strength gone wrong, and hitting the target to dunk the person in a pool (in this case dunking a victim trapped in a car into a lake to drown!). The favourite one for me was a victim strapped to a spinning board, with death by either acidic, or very hot lawn darts! There were more straight forward kills as well such as an early disembowelling and a throat slash, and all deaths were mainly done with lovely looking practical special effects.
Some scenes throughout the film were ruined by an obnoxiously loud soundtrack. The film's score fitted, but the licenced songs that featured were so loud that they overshadowed the dialogue and sound effects. The music was so loud and overbearing that I spent these scenes trying to work out if the music was meant to be playing in the film world itself. I came to the conclusion that no it wasn't, just odd balancing.

There were some great ideas and moments in Hellbilly Hollow; the location used looked neat and authentic, and the fairground themed kills were entertaining. I may have not liked the character, but Deimer played Bull with gleeful relish. The thing that most put this down for me was the story. Story beats in the second half of the movie increasingly made little sense, especially with characters who shifted allegiances for little to no reason. This left me to ever more baffled, and let the second half down. Hellbilly Hollow is due to be released in the third quarter this year, via High Fliers Films.

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Garten of Banban 0 (2025) - Horror Video Game Review

It had to happen eventually, this past month (at the time of typing back in February) I have had a whale of a time playing through the Garten of Banban mascot horror games. Sure, sometimes the quality has been less than ideal, but I really grew to love the liminal low-fi world, the sometimes janky controls, and the story. With Garten of Banban 0, I have for the moment reached my personal end. There is an eighth game out, but I don't currently own it, and with the ninth game not due out until way later in the year in August, I want to pace myself (ok, it turns out I in fact did not pace myself, a review for the eighth game dropping some point soon!). For once, spoilers for previous games not to follow, as the title might suggest, this time around we have a prequel.

You play as an unnamed young creature who one day wakes up in a small room with no idea who you are, where you are, or why you are there. The door to your room is soon opened up by someone; a young red creature that introduces himself as Banban. He leads you out to a vast underground play area, where you are introduced to further creatures. After playing a few games with your new friends, the day ends and you return to your room. You are disturbed later that night by Banban. He tells you he has something that he wants to show you, leading you to an intimidating gigantic locked door...

This was the second game in the series to be free, on Playstation 5 it had a much reduced price than recent others, so I figured it likely wouldn't be the longest game. It took me roughly an hour to complete, and on the whole I had a lot of fun with it. I'm sure important lore is given, and it was interesting to see the characters I've come to love appearing as children rather than grown adults. As to when the game is set, or where it is set, I don't know. I have a feeling the location might feature in the eighth instalment, time will tell. I thought the location looked great, and while the first half is light on horror, things do pick up when the night time sequence begins. It leads to an introduction of a fearsome and creepy looking new antagonist, making for a fun finale. I will say that on my playthrough, the game crashed in this final section, causing me to have to restart the game and replay a small part. It did take me out the story somewhat.

As per usual, along with a chase sequence, there are a few puzzles to do, the hardest of which had you trying to line up spinning symbols in a room rapidly filling with poisonous gas. Though with that one, when the timing clicked, it clicked immediately; a Herculean task suddenly fun and easy. With you as a creature, and set before the events that led to the protagonist of the main games entering the facility, there wasn't much explanation or deep story. A few notes were scattered about that gave some neat early lore about Banban, and as mentioned, I thought the location this game took place in looked fantastic.

With a cheaper price, I figured this would be bite size, but I still had fun along the way. I'm going to miss this series, which is crazy as I initially grudgingly picked it up as a stop gap game while waiting for Poppy Playtime: Chapter 4 to go on sale. Something I forgot to mention; shout out to the great end credits sequence, the first time one of these has had credits, and the charming illustrations show the entire series story from start to current end.

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Souls Chapel (2026) - Horror Film Review

Some of what I am going to say in this review may be from my own head-canon, but that is what I had in my mind while watching this. From my perspective, Souls Chapel is a post-apocalyptic supernatural Western. Written by David Daring and directed by Jake C. Young (The Dark Room), it doesn't take the keenest of eyes to see this was made on a shoe-string budget, but this indie flick still had atmosphere in spades.

In an unspecified time after an unspecified disaster (potentially a terrible world war or a biblical apocalypse), a drifter (Young) travels the wastelands of Kentucky. He discover an ancient totem of goodness and while investigating it he is shocked by the sudden appearance of a masked robed figure; Mephistal (Brain Bremer - Society, Pumpkinhead). This being gives the drifter a task; to head to a mysterious church that is nearby and retrieve the totem of goodness' evil counterpart. In exchange he is promised gold. Arriving at the strange church (called Souls Chapel, based on the real life allegedly haunted Soules Chapel), he discovers others have gotten there before him. A priest - Red (Jeremy Boggs - Screature), and his acolytes are there, with Red stating that he has received messages from God telling him that treasure can be found at the site. Not believing that the drifter isn't too searching for this treasure and not wanting to share, it isn't long before he has been knocked out and imprisoned.

My favourite part of this film was the vagueness both as to when it took place, and also what had happened in the world. Characters all dress in an old fashioned way, with their way of speaking matching that. It gave a vibe of sometime in the 1800s. Despite this, there are signs that this may be far more modern, and perhaps even in the future. In contrast to the look of the characters, there are buildings with modern fixtures, and I couldn't help but notice the half peeled printed barcode on one of the wooden bars in the drifters prison cell. Then there are the guns, all of which have a steampunk look to them. Sure it may have not been intentional to have these modern visual signs, but I loved the strange melding of different time periods, it felt old, but the occasional mention of things such as radios and radiation kept me guessing. What wasn't so good were some noticeably cheap looking props, the main one that springs to mind is a very plastic looking skull and bones that keeps appearing and never failed to look like something you would pick up in a shop around Halloween time. Still, these props never pulled me out of the story, so wasn't too much of an issue.

The majority of the film takes place within the titular Souls Chapel and takes the form of a character driven story. The characters were all interesting in their own ways. Red despite not seeming to be the religious man he states himself to be, nonetheless does seem to be getting messages from somewhere. Then there is Agatha (Audri Curtsinger - Unnatural), following the priest in the belief that he has the power to bring her child back from the dead, a comic relief character nicknamed 'School Boy' (Gage Carnes - The Dark Room), and the entertaining Jim Castel (Joseph McDowell). That later was someone who felt like 'the ugly' from the classic Clint Eastwood film, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, with the drifter representing 'the good' and Red 'the bad'. I guess that is fitting as it turns out Young is a distant relative of Eastwood! The actors all do a fantastic job of feeling like they belonged in this strange world, with their lines delivered with spirited rather than realistic gusto. The odd way of talking, and no effort to bring the viewer up to speed on the world-state could make parts of the story confusing.
The drifters quest to get the mystical McGuffin was more of an excuse to get the character to the church. That whole aspect was a bit oblique, so the payoff for that plot point was completely lost on me, I didn't really have any idea what was going on with that part of the film, making for a finale that went over my head a bit. Thankfully, the atmosphere of the film world was captivating. Supernatural elements, such as a ghostly woman in white (Molly Gill) and a demonic zombie creature baffled me, but their inclusions were fun.

Souls Chapel at a quick glance could seem like something to skip. Cheap props and an acting style that won't appeal to all could be off-putting. Even from the very start though, this indie film felt like it was doing a decent job of punching above its weight. It was very well put together, and despite my struggles with the intricacies of the plot, this alternate history steampunk apocalyptic Western nightmare had a unique atmosphere all of its own that drew me in. Souls Chapel came to streaming and DVD on April 7th.

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