Don't Look in the Dark (2026) - Horror Film Review

I feel that Sam Freeman's directorial debut - Don't Look in the Dark, is going to be a divisive movie. This found footage horror took home the award for 'Best Feature' at the Birmingham Horror Film Festival & Convention, but my thoughts on it are far from positive. This is a film for people who saw Skinamarink and decided it didn't go far enough, also for people who thought The Blair Witch Project felt too staged. That isn't to say this wasn't an effective horror, it does some brave things that really should be commended, it just really wasn't for me.

It begins with the familiar white text on a black screen stating that what is about to be shown is recovered footage. It comes from a couple who went hiking in the Pinelands National Reserve on 4th April 2022. The couple; Italian Golan (Dennis Puglisi in his feature length debut) and his American pregnant wife; Maya (Rebi Paganini - Un-Speak-Able) are there to follow a hiking trail that Maya used to go on with her father when she was a child, in tribute to him now the man has passed. While deep on their hike, Maya believes she sees a young child off in the trees, and fearing for its safety, she decides to go and check that the kid is ok. There is no one where she thought she saw it, but hearing a child's voice in the distance, she heads off on a mad pursuit of it, much to the bemusement of Golan, who neither sees or hears it. Sometime later, the two have neither found the child, nor do they know where they are anymore. Their journey is somehow making them walk round in circles, with them constantly coming back to a huge overturned tree, each time, the hole under the tree has gotten deeper and deeper, and Maya feels a strange force compelling her to climb into the hole.

As well as the opening lines setting up the basis for the footage, it also states that everything shown is exactly as it was found, with nothing added. An old complaint of found footage films was why the person recording continued to record once everything went to Hell. Here, this is resolved in a satisfying way. The footage here is being recorded outside of the protagonists control. Their phones are recording randomly, with neither character able to stop it. That means the film can take place without the immersion breaking feeling of events being staged, unfortunately, it also means that visually, there is not much going on at all. Not even exaggerating, around 85% of the film takes place with audio only. This is interspersed with brief seconds long (sometimes milliseconds long) footage from the character's phones, and as the characters are not meaning to record, these images are random to say the least. You get flashes of trees, of legs, and feet, all intentionally not framed, to give a disorientating effect. It also means that there is a heck of a lot of nothing being shown on screen. To add to the confusing feeling, the footage when it does appear, is shown from a vertical view rather than horizontal, so you get letter boxed images. The horror is implied from these long parts of the movie where everything is black, as very occasionally (and admittedly effectively), you can just about make out strange things occurring in the blackness. Sometimes it seems the camera is travelling down some sort of burrow, or extremely close-up travelling towards a giant eyeball, and sometimes when there is footage on screen you get an almost subliminal snatch of what could possibly be some sort of being. These parts felt few and far between, I found myself pondering at times if the darkness on my PC monitor was too dark maybe, and that I should have been witnessing more than I did.

Outside of what is shown (or rather not shown), the plot of the film is carried by Golan and Maya, with this feeling at times much more an audio drama than a film proper. I think this could experienced purely from audio alone without too much really being lost. With Don't Look in the Dark not once showing the protagonists either fully, or their faces, it became increasingly hard to care about them in the slightest, not helped by never once getting a clear look at the characters you are meant to feel for. In fact, I found the couple's bickering to get more and more irritating. They are constantly arguing, either Golan complaining about his wife's wild goose chase and refusal to admit they are lost, or Maya complaining about her husband's obvious lies that he knows how to get back to their car. When they are not fighting, they take it in turns to either have panic attacks, or to fall to the ground and state they are too tired/injured to move. It became actually tiring - the lean 70 minute runtime felt like it was twice as long as it actually was. I found myself wishing I could crawl into the film and throttle them both!

I didn't enjoy my time with Don't Look in the Dark, but that isn't to say it is badly made in the slightest, or that it shouldn't be seen. It gets around the bugbear of why the characters are filming for one thing, and while to me it seemed like the flashes of footage were random and didn't add anything, of course they were on purpose, with the director intentionally showing and not showing exactly what they wanted to. This was also a found footage that felt very unique. If you love the genre but think that you have seen everything it has to offer, then it would be a disservice to not suggest giving this one a try. I may have been equal parts bored and frustrated with this, but there was also the occasional chill of fear with its adherence to making this feel like genuine unintentionally recorded found footage; the sometimes distorted audio and suggestions of something lurking almost unseen in the darkness. Experimental and divisive (unless I am the sole person who the film didn't resonate with!), this nonetheless achieved something very different. Don't Look in the Dark had its Jersey premiere on 31st January as part of the New Jersey Film Festival.

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Phil Herman's The Actor's Curse: A Tale of Twisted Fate (2026) - Horror Anthology Film Review

Having taken a week off of writing horror film reviews last week, I'm back, and back with one of my favourite types of horror films - the horror anthology. Phil Herman's The Actor's Curse: A Tale of Twisted Fate uses the movie industry as its linking theme, with each of the four shorts, as well as the wraparound story featuring people who work in that industry.

The wraparound story is fittingly titled The Actor's Curse: A Tale of Twisted Fate. I like it when the wraparound segment actually tells some sort of story, and while a bit basic, this one fits that mould. Here, a bitter washed-up actor (Jon DeBartolo - Jacker 3: Road to Hell, A Hard Place), discovers an old journal outside his apartment door. The man decides to write some fictional stories about people who he has worked with in the past that he attributes to the cause of his personal downfall, unaware that the journal might hold some terrible power. This part was simple, but I did really like DeBartolo's voice, his narration to himself about the stories he was writing was lovely and deep.

The first story proper is 'The Director's Demise', which was directed by Derek Braasch. Here, a sleazy film director (Robert Gutierrez-Spagnoli) hires a new actress who for a change isn't put-off by his very hands-on approach to filmmaking. Even seeing all the conflict he creates around him, the new woman plans to work closely with the director. I found this predictable enough, the suggestion of a supernatural element was welcome, though this idea wasn't implemented that well, only popping up towards the end. There was a scene of violence here that had some fun practical effects, and will also state that this is one of three shorts here that include damage to a man-specific body part, this one the more painful looking of those! Some female nudity here if that is your thing.
Next up is 'The Producer's Plight' that comes from director James Panetta. Victoria (Debbie D - Jim Haggerty's Unnatural Causes, Phil Herman's Unearthed) is a film producer who likes to play games with the people she chooses for her films, setting up various actors against each other. Even when one of the people she has harmed takes his own life, she doesn't let up on her mind games. This again told a predictable enough story, though I did enjoy where this ended up going, and enjoyed how gun shots were shown on screen. The notion of a bad person facing a twisted justice was similar to the story that preceded this, so did feel a little similar.

Despite being mainly in Spanish (with subtitles), the third film 'The Writer's Woe' was my favourite. Written and directed by Marcelo Fabani, this one is about a womanising writer who gets hired to write a documentary exploring the strange topic of South American vampires. In his research he comes across an old book that states vampiric conquistadors were purposely sent to the place hundreds of years back, in order to conquer it for the Spanish authorities. He figures the book is probably not authentic, but other people fearing the truth may get out, take steps to squash his documentary from happening. I liked all the back story here with the idea of vampire explorers. Enjoyed the montage scenes when images are shown as part of the evidence of this happening. I sometimes found the lines to be spoken a bit quietly, but this told a decent and outlandish story with some cool make-up effects .
Finally was the Will Devokees written and directed 'The Makeup Artist's Misfortune'. A vigilante makeup artist (Brooke Ashley) who goes after bad people in the film industry, is intending to flee town after attacking her latest victim, only for the now disfigured victim to corner her at her home, intending to get his revenge. Fittingly enough, this one had the best make-up effects of the whole anthology, the man's half acid burned face looked great, with it often hidden within shadows.

As always, I love anthologies, and with Phil Herman's The Actor's Curse: A Tale of Twisted Fate, you have one with a solid unifying theme. I liked this most when it brought variation, such as the third short about vampires. I felt the first two shorts were a little too similar in the story they were telling, but overall, this was a solid anthology that might not have blown my mind, but was still an entertaining 90 minutes of indie horror that included a large cast over its films.

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Tormented Souls (2021-22) - Horror Video Game Review (Playstation 5)

Tormented Souls may have one of the most generic and forgettable titles I've heard in recent memory. I've constantly kept referring to it as 'Forsaken Souls' for some reason, and even writing this review; I've noticed that I have initially titled the game 'Tortured Souls' before noticing the error. Thankfully, that is one of the worst things about this very entertaining retro survival horror throwback - a game that blends classic elements of the original Alone in the Dark, Resident Evil and Silent Hill games into one cosy bloodstained whole.

Taking place in 1994, Canadian - Caroline Walker, receives a strange letter in the post that contains a single photo of twin little girls. In the weeks that follow, Caroline begins to experience terrible nightmares, unable to stop thinking about the photo. In desperation, she heads to the abandoned Wildberger Hospital (the return address for the letter she received), hoping to find out more information about the two girls. Once there she gets immediately attacked and knocked out by a mystery assailant. Sometime later, she awakens naked in a tub full of water, with a bandaged eye, and breathing tube in her throat. After getting dressed, she checks under the eye bandage in a mirror and is horrified to discover her bandaged eye has been surgically removed! She leaves the storage room she's in and heads out into the hospital (which is situated in an old mansion). Her goal; to find the whereabouts of the twin sisters and rescue them should they need assistance.

This is very classic survival horror, it really reminded me of the golden age of the late nineties. Games have came out before that promise to be authentic returns to survival horror roots, but they often feel like they are missing something essential for the nostalgic feel. Despite some small issues, I loved my time with Tormented Souls thankfully. The mansion setting of course reminded me heavily of the original Resident Evil, and is of comparative size to that game, with my final completion time being around 8 hours. The game is populated with grisly horrors, all of which fit the hospital vibe in their own twisted ways. ghoulish creatures with gas canisters strapped to their legless torso, zombies with blades for arms, and blending of corpse and surgical apparatus. There were also three boss fights, though two of these were against enemies that later join the roster of common enemies. The final boss was neat, requiring puzzle solving and combat blended together; the only one of the bosses that actually stood out. As a note; without going into spoilers; the boss in the game that resembles something from Evil Dead II is invincible, something I wish I had figured out before wasting most of my ammo on the blasted thing. If I had just left the room I would have made the back half of the game a lot easier! Enemy design works when the enemies are hidden in darkness, sometimes in well lit areas they can become a bit goofy looking. Character design mostly failed here; Caroline herself looks great, but other characters encountered had an exaggerated cartoon look to them that pulled me out the immersion on occasion. The less said about the voice acting the better, maybe they were going for a cheesy Resident Evil tone with over empathising each word, but the delivery really pulled me out of the experience. 

I first thought it was weird that a hospital would be inside a mansion, but that was explained to my satisfaction in a file I came across. The same happens with why the enemies look like they do. Nothing revolutionary, but was nice to have some lore about that. The mansion is full to the brim with puzzles that need to be solved, from cryptic door locks, to memory repetition puzzles, riddles, and items you discover that need either combining with one another, or used in the environment. Getting around the mansion is like solving an intricate puzzle lock, the puzzles here, while not hard, still are decent enough to give you a rush of dopamine when you solve them.
The mansion's design includes many secret doors and unexpected short cuts, with the detail appropriately hellish. At every turn there are corpses and body bags, literally hundreds encountered during my play through. Special mention to the choice of fixed camera angles, as well as the tremendous lighting that was especially effective in the basement sections.
The game starts off feeling like Resident Evil, but increasingly takes on the feel of a Silent Hill. It starts with tiny sections that feel like the Silent Hill  'Otherworld', then the back half of the game increasingly takes on a more cosmic horror feel. I enjoyed this mix of the grand daddies of the survival horror genre, their blend worked fantastically. The game's plot wasn't particularly engaging, but it served it's purpose. Much of the story for what happened at the mansion comes from diary entries you find dotted around the place, with hints of Fatal Frame II to it. You have to assume Caroline is illiterate, as she always seems very surprised from revelations that had already been revealed in easily obtained diaries. I recall one time around six hours in where Caroline responds with shock to something I had literally found out about within 15 minutes of starting the game by reading a diary entry!

Some of the item management can be fiddly. Thankfully, you have an infinite carry space, rather than limited, and the game sees fit to split key items and gameplay items into different sections in the item screen. You unlock maps of the floors in the building as you play, though weirdly when you bring up the map screen you have to manually locate the map you need rather than it bring it up automatically. The game world is also very dark, this is used in a gameplay way due to darkness causing instant death should you be in it for too long. You come to rely on a lighter (with seemingly infinite fuel) to see where you are going. The only problem is that you can't use your weapons while holding the lighter, nor can you use without, as it restricts you from using them when its pitch black. Neatly used as part of some of the puzzles, with areas of the mansion blocked off by stationary enemies that you can't attack in the dark. You only get access to four different weapons throughout the game, at least it tries something different but having a much more D.I.Y feel to them. Your primary weapon is a nail gun which was quite weak, my favourite came to be the shotgun apparently made out of pipes. Of course, ammo, health, and even save reels are all in short supply, by games end I did have plenty of those save reels stored away. Saving is needed as being old school there are not any checkpoints. Should you die, then you will have to reload your last save. There were definitely a few soul destroying times when I realised all too late my last save was a long time ago. 

Tormented Souls was a frequently stressful experience. I was always really hesitant to use healing items, ammo, or to save my game as I was always nervous about how limited these items all where. I liked how the enemies just lay dead where you killed them for the rest of the game, it makes returning to previously explored areas much more chill, as well as make it feel like it wasn't a waste to kill them first time around. The unsettling looking location is the best thing about this game, the story didn't really resonate much, maybe due to the exaggerated voice acting, but the environments were nightmarish and there were some well placed jump scares to be had in them. The old school tank controls and fixed camera angles might not be for everyone (I had forgotten how annoying it was to battle an enemy just off screen), but for those wanting a return to the glorious early days of survival horror, Tormented Souls was an excellent adventure, albeit, not a perfect one.

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The Rotting Zombie's Round-up of Horror News for January 2026

A new year and the same old me. With no bill paying job currently, I am working on this site more, though perhaps not as much as I should - there are so many distractions! There are a few films at the cinema or coming soon that I very much would like to see. 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple chief of these, I am also curious to see how Return to Silent Hill turns out, I'm a huge fan of the video game series, have heard the film isn't the best. Onwards to the news.

Writer/director George Tsouris' sophomore feature film - Condemned Dreams, is now streaming for free on Tubi. This psychological thriller is about a disgraced journalist who hopes to recover their career by carrying out an interview with a condemned revolutionary. Condemned Dreams stars Catherine Parish (Totem Chaser) and Soft Abilez (Dexter: Resurrection).

Animated comedy horror series - Meat the Carvers has entered into a licensing agreement with American Horrors; one of the oldest running 24/7 linear streaming horror channels. It is due to premiere on Friday, January 30th at 20:30 as part of the streaming channel's 'Good Time Horror' programming block. The show is about the misadventures of the Carver family, an animated take on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Meat the Carvers is a 2D animated series created by Daniel Nation and Samson Cornette, with the press release stating: 'The series blends classic horror elements with contemporary humor and features voice talent from horror cinema icons'.

Ash is the latest novel from Donald Lawrence Flaherty. The post-apocalyptic story follows the Rivas family as they head on a perilous journey to escape deadly ash that resulted from the unexpected eruption of the Yellowstone Super Volcano. Ash is available for purchase on Amazon.

BayView Entertainment have acquired the rights to Steve Merlo's psychological horror - Unseen. Taking place alongside an unknown disaster, the film follows a mentally unstable man who begins to torment a woman with a history of abuse. This stars Jamie Hill (Skinamarink), alongside Brett Wagner (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), Trinity Chase, and Katerina Khramova.

            

Scream 7 is coming to UK cinemas on February 27th from Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group. A new poster has been revealed in celebration of this. The seventh film in the series (I am so behind watching these!) sees a new Ghostface killer emerging in the quiet town where series protagonist Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) has started a new life with her daughter. This is directed by Kevin Williamson, who also co-wrote the screenplay alongside Guy Busick. There is also a legacy spot teaser out for the film.

            

Psychological horror film, Mamochka had its premiere on January 16th, with a wider release starting on that date. Directed by Vilan Trub, this follows a suburban husband who inherits an antique Nazi-era heirloom doll. This leads the man into a dark fixation, helped along by a mysterious figure who introduces him to a sinister worldview.

           

FrightFest is returning to the Glasgow Film Festival for its 21st year running, from Thursday 5th March to Saturday 7th March. The line-up has been announced, with a variety of films set to show over the event. It begins with the world premiere of Jailbroken; a Scottish action thriller that takes place entirely within a single prison cell. The two-day pass event begins Friday 6th March with the UK premiere of exorcism horror, Bury the Devil. This is followed by the world premiere of Howard J. Ford's creature feature, Bone Keeper, which takes place deep within a remote cave system. After that is documentary Boorman and the Devil, which takes a look at the troubled production of Exorcist II: The Heretic. Penultimate film is sci-fi horror comedy The Restoration at Grayson Manor, followed by the UK premiere of The Curse; a satire on the hidden horrors of internet algorithms.

Saturday's line-up starts with the international premiere of  action horror Violence, this is followed by a short film showcase. Next is the UK premiere of Japanese horror adaptation of Chilla's Art video game - The Convenience Store. The evening then begins with Craig Conway's Red Riding - a horror based contemporary retelling of the classic Little Red Riding Hood fairytale. The penultimate film of the Saturday is dystopian fable, Karmadonna, with Australian fantasy horror, Deathkeeper closing the day. Passes to the event can be purchased here, with the Thursday showing of Jailbroken requiring a separate ticket.

Finally for today, queer horror film The Stutterer is currently running a Kickstarter campaign. Coming from former professional wrestler - Rocky Ciarrocchi, this is an anthology made up of three interconnected short films. The first of these works as a throwback to classic slashers of the 1980s, the second short is an origin story for the titular slasher, while third film shows the downfall and death of the killer. AEW wrestling superstars Ace Austin and Red Velvet are set to star in this.

Garten of Banban (2023) - Horror Video Game Review

It wasn't long after purchasing Poppy Playtime that I began to get recommendations on my Playstation for the Garten of Banban series. This series, like that other one, falls into the mascot horror genre. I wasn't even aware that sub-genre of horror games had been given a title, but mascot horror works well. So far, there appears to be eight games in the series, all of which have dirt cheap prices, but unsure of the quality, I decided to only pick up the very first of the games. I expected this would be much like Poppy Playtime but with everything being lower quality, and that was exactly what this was. My story synopsis is based on what I inferred, as the game doesn't explicitly explain things at this early stage.

The game takes place within Banban's Kindergarten; a kindergarten that was closed down sometime in the past due to all the children who had been attending the place vanishing one dark day. You presumably play as a parent of one of the missing children, who, presumably not happy with the official investigation, has taken it upon themselves to break into the building and do their own search for answers. 

It took me around 40 minutes to get through Garten of Banban, which for the price being asked was perfectly acceptable (I believe it is free to download on PC). It is basically a much rougher version of Poppy Playtime, with your character in a first person perspective solving basic puzzles, while of course being hunted by a mascot. The game takes place on the ground floor of the kindergarten, starting with the reception area, before going down a long corridor with classrooms and play areas off to the side. The game world looks quite basic, the mascots are introduced via simple drawings on the walls, the graphics in general were all functional but felt less realistic. The game as a whole felt more like a...well, like a game. There are hidden switches and key cards to find, platforming sections, bottomless pits, and immersion breaking invisible walls that block your progress during key moments. The key innovation here is having the protagonist armed with a helpful drone they can send to press switches. The controls for this drone are extremely simple, and it follows such a simple flight path that it can miss the switches you are trying to get it to press, but was perfectly ok.

The big bad for this first entry is Opila Bird; a human sized pink emu like bird, with it only appearing twice, both times heavily scripted. This was one area where Garten of Banban inadvertently succeeded, the creature is very basic in design which actually made it more disturbing to see. It may only appear in a horror context twice, but both of these times were the highlight of my time with the game.
I'm always a sucker for lore, and here there is some, but only slight. I felt the opening didn't do a good enough job of setting up the story, or setting the motivation for the protagonist. There was assumptions on my part for what was going on, and spending any time with this - it is blatantly heavily inspired by games like Poppy Playtime, the story feels like it is going to be very similar. For me, that is fine, I wanted something to scratch the itch in-between playing that other better series.

There is no getting around the obvious fact that Garten of Banban is a clone of a different and better game series. It also is obvious at a glance that this is much lower in quality. There isn't really anything this one does any better, the antagonist is accidentally creepy, but not iconic looking at all, and the basic looking level design makes this feel more like a video game than an immersive horror. The less said about the placeholder feeling sound effects the better, some of the sounds here legitimately hurt my ears. Still, this game was exactly what I figured it would be; it scratched an itch, and while I'm not chomping at the bit to try the sequels, I will certainly pick them up if I ever see them go on sale.

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Black Chaos (2014) by various - Zombie Horror Anthology Book Review

Since the dawn of this blog, books have been a real problem for me, I get through them so slowly that I get a huge backlog that has been going on over a decade. Black Chaos was a zombie anthology that I received all the way back in 2014. I have only just gotten around to reading it last year. I love zombies and I love anthologies, so I figured there couldn't be much in this 25 story anthology that I wouldn't enjoy.

Black Chaos' short stories are each by a different author and are really quite varied. You have historical stories, comedic ones, dystopian and magical. Some have happy endings, some have bad endings, and some have neutral endings where not much has really changed for the central character. It all begins with Lee Clark Zumpe's 'Wild With Hunger', interesting as it takes place back during the industrial revolution. It also takes place from two different perspectives; men who have gone to investigate a den of child zombies at a workhouse, and two non-infected children watching the whole thing. I saw this story as a good indication of the variety that might be found. Second story was also one set in the past, though I didn't enjoy it as much due to its abrupt unsatisfying ending. 'The Southern Wind' by J.Adrian Cook takes place in an alternate history where the South won the civil war in America due to having an army of zombies. 
The more fantastical of the stories here never really resonated with me, often having fairy-tale type vibes to them. I didn't dislike some of these, but they were not my favourite ones of the anthology. These included K.J Newman's 'As You Were', about a painter who can change reality with her paintings. 'Like the Jellyfish' by Katherine Sanger has a similar concept, though in this one it is a small child who has the ability to bring the dead back to life, ending deliciously dark, similar with playground based 'The Staggering Boy' by Douglas Ford; another one featuring a child as the protagonist, with a bleak end.

A bunch of stories featured zombies who were still self aware, best of these was the nightmare dystopian tale 'The Risen', in which Steven Axelrod envisions a future where a zombie apocalypse happened where the undead kept their intelligence and took over the world. It features a very Donald Trump-like character as the president of the zombies, a shame that last part has come real. Peter Andrew's 'Zombie Chic' is also about a world of intelligent zombies, but this one is more condensed, a comedic story of zombies getting body modifications in the name of fashion.
A large chunk of the stories take place in worlds where a worldwide zombie outbreak has occurred, but people are finding a way to deal with it and carry on as relatively normal. 'Ferals Like You' by Cheryl Elaine Williams details a family trip to a superstore that goes very badly, George Cotronis' 'Last Rites' has sentient zombies being given a last car trip before they are put down, Gerri Leen's 'Run for the Roses' is a very odd one about zombie horse racing, while Conor Powers-Smith's 'Only the Lonely', suggests a world where only lonely people become living ghouls.

Some of the stories here were excellent, best of these was the fantastic and super creepy 'Graveyard Slot' by Christopher Keelty. In this one, a cursed video tape leads to viewers getting trapped within the all too real looking footage of a bloody zombie outbreak. J. Rohr's 'Nothing Else Matters' was huge in scope, and replaces undead humans with a giant bug apocalypse - excellent stuff. 'Preservation' by Rebecca Boyle was the goriest story here, about a zombified woman who convinces a robot maker to make her an artificial body once hers starts rotting. 'Carrion Luggage' by Shane Simmons takes an alternate look at voodoo magic, and I really enjoyed the humorous bureaucratic nightmare of 'Expediency', with Paul Lorello providing a tale about a scientist trying to get his patent registered before he turns. One of the more interesting was penultimate story 'The Chosen', taking place aboard a pleasure boat where a group of women all named Jane make Big Brother style video diaries about their time spent out at sea, unable to return to land due to the undead ruling the world.

25 stories is a lot, but many of these were quite short, meaning they were super easy to get through. There were only a couple that were large enough to require chapters, and one that I believe was less than a page in length. Most of the stories were well written, happily there were only two out the lot that I personally didn't enjoy. Black Chaos is a solid zombie anthology, one that often takes a different spin on the undead beasts, rather than your typical outbreak yarn. Black Chaos comes from Big Pulp Publications.

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Poppy Playtime: Chapter 3 'Deep Sleep' (2024) - Horror Video Game Review

I was pleasantly surprised when I decided to check out episodic horror game; Poppy Playtime late last year. I had expected something like Five Nights At Freddy's but more basic. Instead it was the opposite, feeling like that game if it had been expanded upon to be more than just a single room puzzler. Both Chapter 1 'A Tight Squeeze' and Chapter 2 'Fly in a Web' were quite light on genuine horror moments, I would even go as far to say they are relatively child friendly. That isn't the case for Poppy Playtime: Chapter 3 'Deep Sleep' - this chapter heightens the terror to make an experience that I would not recommend for those who don't enjoy horror. Of course, unavoidable spoilers for what has come before.

Chapter 2 ended with self aware doll Poppy Playtime deciding you were too useful to let go, and so at the last moment diverted the train that was transporting you to the surface, to instead send you deeper into the nightmarish facility, inadvertently causing the train to crash in the process. The third chapter begins with chapter antagonist - CatNap, picking up your unconscious body and discarding it in the trash compactor room. Regaining consciousness at the last moment, you escape the room, and soon get in contact with new character; Ollie, who communicates via a telephone device you collect. He tasks you with powering up a huge machine to divert the hallucinogenic red gas that is blocking the way deeper into the vast underground complex. To do this, you must head into Playcare - the giant biodome orphanage, that also happens to be the stalking ground of the lethal CatNap.

With each subsequent chapter being more expensive to buy, I really hoped the game would increase to match the price rise. That again is the case here, where Chapter 1 was around an hour long, and Chapter 2 around two hours in length, by the time the end credits for Chapter 3 appeared, I had been playing for around four hours. It is more of the same, you explore maze-like levels in first person, solving puzzles, while avoiding the chapter specific enemies who instant kill you should they get a hold of you. The game is at its most unique with the biodome setting, a vast area that is designed to look like it is outside, despite being very very deep below the surface. The central hub area here is made to look like a small town, with various buildings that you travel to as you attempt to reroute the power. Your adventure takes you to a variety of locations, from a school, to caverns, and offices. The horror is in abundance here, with much of it suggested rather than shown in detail. There was something really quite unsettling exploring dormitories and nurseries that featured blood stained bunk beds and cots.
To help assist you, as per previous chapters, new abilities for your grab-hand device are given. You get an upgraded grab-hand that lets you stretch out the hands further, and get two additional upgrades for it - one that allows you to use jump pads, and one that fires flares to light up dark areas. I spent much of my time here cursing how dark the game world was, especially when at the midway point your torch is destroyed. This was a problem of my own making, as I completely forgot I had a flare gun attachment that would have been very useful at giving light to the sometimes pitch black areas! The gun can also be used to protect against the pint-sized enemies that appear in the terrible Playhouse section. Terrible as in horror filled, not terrible as in badly made. Again, forgetting I had the flare gun made that part of the game a whole lot harder.

I was pleased that there is quite a lot of lore revealed during this chapter. You get information about the event that led to the initial disaster in the 90s (that you were seemingly the sole survivor of), and also get a good idea of your ultimate goal in the facility, with the hinted at main antagonist - 'The Prototype', making more of an appearance. The big bad of Chapter 2 was a constant presence, constantly interacting with you. CatNap has a far more hands off approach and barely even appears until the final half of the game. Puzzles were simple, but involved enough to feel satisfying to solve, mainly revolving around moving batteries about, and setting up relays to power up doors. The chapter culminates with a big boss battle, which was basically Five Nights At Freddy's, having you needing to monitor a series of corridors that something was trying to advance down. The hands-off approach of  the chapter antagonist was balanced with a few other enemies, a teacher robot that only moves on you when you aren't looking at it, and a horde of tiny robotic animals. These were both neat and effective enemies to face. Often these take the form of chase sequences. There were quite a few of these sections, though strangely, the checkpoints for these were never just before them, but several rooms before. This led to a pointless minute or so walk to get to the section that you previously died in each time (should you fail). Added to the horror mix are nightmare sequences (a result of the hallucinogenic red gas lingering around). These parts gave some variation, adding rather than detracting from the overall experience.

Each chapter of Poppy Playtime has both increased in length, and increased in horror. It was a pleasure to have the best looking area of the game yet with Poppy Playtime: Chapter 3 'Deep Sleep', and I appreciated how survival horror like this felt, even if you are only in actual danger during set events, rather than constantly. I loved the lore here. The dark locations, and not knowing where to go during chase sequences occasionally frustrated, but myself forgetting I had a flare gun was no doubt the cause of some of these frustrations. As I say at the end of each chapter review; I can't wait to pick up the next chapter and get further into the Hell of Playtime Co.

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Not Even Death (2009) - Short Zombie Horror Film Review

Clocking in at 5 minutes, Not Even Death is a short zombie film that was written by Phil Clarke Jr. and directed by Monica Winter Virgil (My Wife Is a Zombie). It wasn't the most original of stories, but it told its story well, even if it suffered due to a cheap sounding score.

On an Earth where zombies are a worldwide phenomenon (though hasn't led to the breakdown of law and order), a loving husband (Joseph Will - American Horror Story) is unable to come to terms with his wife's (Treva Tegtmeier - The Shadow Men) zombification. He keeps her chained up in the basement, feeding her a diet of cow brains. He hopes that one day a cure will be found for her condition, and in the meantime tries to search for any signs of her remembering her former life.

The general story of Not Even Death was perfectly fine, and was told well. I thought the prosthetic make-up effects for the zombie were very neat, even if you do have the generic contact lenses to simulate undead eyes. With such a short runtime, not a moment is wasted, but the whole thing is let down by a cheesy score that reminded me of made for TV movies. Not a bad little cliff-hanger to end things on, though again, wasn't something that felt wholly original. Still, I thought the basement setting looked great on camera, and the performances were suitable, making for a nice little zombie based appetiser.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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