Vindicated (2011) by Scott Harper - Horror Novel Review

Having read author Scott Harper's Shadow Castes: Book 1 - Aspects book earlier this year, I noticed that I also had a copy of the third book in his Wendy Markland trilogy. It all started with 2008's     Predators or Prey?; a vampire story that I was initially luke-warm on. Last year, I realised there was a sequel - the excellent Necromancer, which had zombies as the main enemy. Capping off the trilogy is Vindicated, returning to vampires, and a perfect finish to the trilogy.

I think this takes place roughly six months after the events of Necromancer. Monster hunter, Wendy Markland has headed to Florida, though has noticed a car has been following her the entire way. Confronting the driver at a gas station, he introduces himself as Colm Pryce - a fellow monster hunter who brings with him terrible news. He tells Wendy that she is being hunted by a very powerful group of vampires who call themselves 'The Kindred of Malignity'. Their leader is Adolph Larson; a vampire so strong that he has powers rarely seen (such as being able to be outside during the daytime). Colm also tells Wendy that what makes this group more dangerous is that each time a member is slain, the remaining members inherit that dead vampires strength.

Vindicated was a great end to the trilogy. Where Necromancer was an almost stand-alone story, this one has ties back to both novels. Never the most capable or enthusiastic of monster hunters, Wendy is really shown to be on the back-foot here. There never seemed a single point in the novel where she is doing anything but reacting to the actions of her attackers. As antagonists go, The Kindred of Malignity were pretty cool. I loved that each member was given at least a little bit of backstory to their characters. This gave an almost Kill Bill feel of the unique gang members all out to get Wendy. While in peril and out of her depth, she is helped by the group never seeming to ever take her seriously as a threat. The vampires are either really inept, or the apparently super vampires are not that much more dangerous than the normal type, with them spending the entire book constantly underestimating Wendy.

The horror comes in three key ignition points throughout the story. Each time the group get in a battle with Wendy and Colm you could be sure of a thrilling read. Lots of gory decapitations of victims, and lots of extreme violence given to the paper tiger vampires. I zoomed through the 281 page novel, barely able to put it down. By this point in the series I was really hooked, liking protagonist Wendy despite her continuing off-putting narcissistic qualities of constantly admiring her own body. Being a Harper book, of course this heroine is a flawless beauty, something she is well aware of. There is some growth to be found in her character, with her leaving the book a very different person at book's end than she was at the start. This was a transition I hadn't expected.

Vindicated was a great finish to the story of Wendy Markland. I really liked how flawed and ultimately human she was. She gets emotional, she makes terrible mistakes both in her actions and her priorities, but she really grew as a character over the course of her three books.

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The Dead Place (2026) - Horror Film Review

With myself still recovering from a trapped nerve in my rotted back, I have had a much reduced blog output, it has gotten quite neglected these past few weeks. I hadn't actually intended to do any blog posts at all this week, but an email informing me two of the screeners I currently have for review were about to expire meant that I was forced into action! The first of these two films I watched was Horror Show Pictures, The Dead Place. This indie horror, written and directed by Michael Pickle (Stab Awake), had the big selling point of featuring an actor best known for playing the part of a particularly sadistic clown.

It begins with a serial killer, credited solely as 'The New Kid' (David Howard Thornton - the Terrifier series), heavily injured, after having taken a fatal blow from his final victim. As the killer slumps to the ground, he begins to lament his fate, and his sadness at not being able to kill anymore people. It is then that he hears a strange voice from a supernatural entity (Bill Oberst Jr. - The Man in Room 6, 3 From Hell). This voice offers the dying man a chance to kill again, all he has to do is give himself over to the being and give him his soul.
Meanwhile, high schooler Isaac (Idris Veliu in his film debut) has been having a tough time. Cursed with the gift of being able to see dead people since a young age, people around him find him weird, with even his own mother beginning to think her child needs psychiatric help. One day, the entity contacts Isaac also, interested in his special gift, it promises him great power should he also give himself over to it.

I really enjoyed this indie horror. For a change, I thought the main protagonist was a great character. Sure he is troubled, but at heart it is obvious he is a genuinely decent person, something that comes across with his interactions with other characters, such as the respect he shows for his wholesome father. Isaac's girlfriend Katharine (Lexi Graves) and younger brother play their parts well, but it is school trouble maker James (Nick Theurer - The Bell Keeper) and his gang who were the highlights. The running joke of James vehemently denying he is a bully despite all the evidence to the contrary somehow never wore out its welcome.

Thornton is great as the red hoodie wearing ghost killer. It was cool to see the actor in a speaking role, and with his way of talking, he came across like a Freddy Kruger style wise-cracking villain. This was fitting as the story of The Dead Place did feel a bit familiar to A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge. This killer is missing from the film for much of the first act, but when he finally reappears he was fantastic to watch. I loved the gleefully evil way he spoke, and his manic ever present grin. The practical effect of his distended jaw looked ok, but was certainly better than some less than real looking CG blood sprays, but outside of that, there was a good amount of blood flowing. There was also a decent amount of kills, including some lovely looking throat slits.
The story kept my attention throughout, leading up to an unexpected finale that seemed to set up a sequel, rather than give any closure to this film's over arching plot, a minor annoyance.

The Dead Place can be a little rough around the edges at times, as can be seen with some of the less impressive effects. I did think both Thornton and Veliu were great in their roles, and of course it is always a pleasure to hear the voice of Oberst Jr. If a sequel does get made, then I will be interested to see the direction this goes in. 

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Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors (2026) - Horror Video Game Review

A few years back I got bitten terribly by the Vampire Survivors bug. On the surface it looked like junk shovel-ware, but just one play was enough to discover just how insanely addictive that rogue-like auto-shooter really was. Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors is aiming to do the same with card battlers that the other game did with auto-shooters. Boy, does it succeed.

Much like its predecessor, the story here has you setting out to discover the source of the evil responsible for unleashing hordes of monsters upon the land. Starting off in a village, you choose your character and leave, the assumption being that a vampire is the cause. Of course, exactly the same as before, the big joke is that there isn't a single vampire to be found anywhere in the game.

Again, this is presented with a charming pixel-art style. Indeed, the monster and character models are lifted whole-sale from Survivors, looking even more basic and janky due to being blown up to a larger size to fit the first-person card battling. Each stage follows a familiar rogue-like pattern. Defeating enemies with your card attacks gives you XP gems, which then level-up your character, each level giving you the option of three rewards. There are different attack types, buffs, and special abilities to add to existing cards. Each card has a value, usually between 0 and 3, these allow you to build up combos, with each subsequent card in line getting more and more powered up. You traverse maze like levels in first person, dotted around are candles to break for gold and other boons (gold being used at the village to buy new heroes at the tavern, buy permanent upgrades at the shop, and later, adding ability slots to cards at the blacksmiths). Levels are usually made up of five floors, with the exit to each floor being guarded by a boss enemy whose charging attack can be quite painful to receive if not countered.

Story-wise, of course this is very basic. Levels are identical to Survivors, woods, an enchanted library, milk factory etc. It is very addictive and I always felt I was making progress, each run taking anything up to an hour to get through. I found it fun to play both with and without podcasts as background accompiment. It was also lengthier than you might expect, my final play time being over 24 hours! Similar throughout, I still rarely got bored playing this, and by the time the end credits rolled it just about hadn't outstayed its welcome.

Vampire Crawlers, much like its protégé was crack in the form of a game. Highly addictive and with a good sense of progression, this was very much worth playing. Even better, it is currently on Xbox Game Pass.

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Dead Space: Catalyst (2012) by B.K Evenson - Sci-fi Horror Novel Review

Last year I was taken by a sudden urge. In this heightened fever I decided that I would work my way through all Dead Space media in chronological order. Over the years there has been novels, graphic novels, films, audio dramas, and of course the sci-fi horror video games that started it all. I enjoyed reading Dead Space: Martyr and so a second novel from the same author; B.K Evenson was something I was looking forward to reading. While this one didn't do anything as surprising, it was still a decent follow up.

Istvan and Jensi are two brothers who grow up in a slum area on planet Vinduaga. From a young age, Jensi had to look out for his brother due to his mental health issues that caused him to hear voices, and to sometimes lash out in psychotic anger. Circumstances lead to Jensi being adopted by a loving family, but Istvan decides to instead stay in the slum area of the domed settlement they lived in, and become homeless. Time passes and his deteriorating mental state, and new voices in his head, lead to him assassinating a politician. His punishment sees him removed to a penal colony for political prisoners at the far reaches of the known galaxy, which also happens to house a top secret research facility that has a replica of the 'marker'; based on the ancient marker that was discovered 80 years previously on Earth. It appears that the marker has been using its strange influence to set up the circumstances that would bring Istvan there, seeing him as the perfect vessel to spread its message.
Jensi meanwhile hasn't given up on his brother, years later eventually discovering where he has gone, Jensi joins a supply drop crew and sets out on a fateful rescue mission.

Martyr was entirely set on Earth, this sequel entirely set off Earth, The lengthy first part didn't grab my attention. Charting the early lives of the duel protagonists, this had nothing to do with the more interesting parts of the Dead Space universe. I admit I fell off the book completely early on, only returning back to it some months later. The book improved steadily from this opening section, with the introduction of the planet the penal colony is based at where it felt the story really started to come into its own. The core of the story explores the markers influence on its victims, from the Unitologist head of research at the top secret base; Dr. Briden, to the prisoners of the nearby facility, and the guards in their ship orbiting the planet. This I still found interesting and didn't mind (much like Martyr), the iconic necromorph monsters not appearing until the final part of the novel. When they do appear, it felt very much like the games; from people discovering you need to cut off their limbs, and needing to stamp on their corpses, to the inclusion of cutting tools, RIGs, and even the inclusion of a mini stasis field. This all felt suitably appropriate.

I guess for me, the story here didn't really feel important to the overall lore. The whole story is based on an obscure note found in Dead Space 3, which itself was extremely light on details. Having gotten the origin of Unitology in Martyr, there were no surprising revelations to be found in Catalyst. The novel did pick up from its slow beginning, and told an enjoyable and exciting story, even if it really was just a side story rather than an integral piece of fiction.

Dead Space: Catalyst was the last of the novels by Evenson, and indeed the last Dead Space novel to be written as of 2026. From here on in, the multimedia series this takes place in moves up to the time that the video games are set in. Here, there was plenty of gruesome violence and dark moments, and did feel like it belonged in the universe.

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Amityville: Descendants of Darkness (2026) - Horror Anthology Film Review

After a few weeks of being pretty much off of this blog, I've made an attempt to return, though a lingering trapped nerve in my rotted back has really slowed me down a lot! Master of anthologies; Phil Herman, is back with his 16th anthology; bringing another collection of low budget indie horror tales, this time in the form of Amityville: Descendants of Darkness. Kind of set out like a presentation, this brings together four short films and a wraparound segment that use the mythos of the real life, allegedly haunted Amityville house as their basis.

The wraparound segment is a presentation by Dr. Marsh (Tiffany Sinclair) about the history of the Amityville house, explaining to the viewer that the place was just an entry point for evil, and even with its destruction that evil still lingers. She was an odd character and the actresses delivery of her lines made these in-between moments captivating to watch. There was an intimate feel helped by good set design and some moody lighting. Not much really happened in these parts but they worked well at setting up each of the stories.
'The Shed' (written, directed, edited and produced by Todd Sheets - Final Caller) was the first film, running roughly 20 minutes. Three small-time crooks have travelled to a shed on the edge of the Amityville property due to rumours that money is buried there from a robbery that took place back in the 1970's. The trio; Frank, Danny and Scarlett (Dilynn Fawn Harvey) soon find themselves at the mercy of a demonic cult, who are angry at having their resting place disturbed by the intruders. Meanwhile, Father Anson (Mike Reeb) heads to the shed after a series of arthouse style nightmarish visions. This one was an early highlight, the exaggerated acting and the cartoonish digital effects combining to make this feel like a horror comic brought to life, in the style of Tales from the Crypt. There was an almost Evil Dead Rise level of blood and gore here, extremely bloody and gruesome, but also with a feeling of the tone having its tongue firmly in its cheek. It all culminates with the arrival of the priest, whose unexpected fight scene channelled Peter Jackson's Braindead. A fun start to the anthology, and special mention to the collapsing scarecrow moment; it looked great on camera.

Next up was 'The Possessed Relic' by Marcelo Fabani (I Slay on Christmas segment 'The Best Company'). This brought with it a complete change in vibe, taking place far from Amityville, and the only short not to be in English. The idea for this one was that even objects taken from the infamous house could be cursed. Moody husband, Santiago (Stan Lubo) discovers an old red rocking chair out on the street outside his apartment block, and decides it will be a nice addition to his new cosy corner he is working on in his apartment. The pacing here was a bit odd, it takes place over a series of days, with each day introduced via a title card, and each day including one moment of horror, I'm sad to say this didn't leave much of an impression on me. The core cast (including a dog) were all good, and there were a couple of stand-out moments such as when Santiago discovers what has happened to his missing pet. It kind of abruptly ended before I really knew what was going on.

Halfway through and the third film is 'Blood Moon over Amityville' by Derek Braasch (Phil Herman's Unearthed segment 'Ties That Bind'). Here, a hard boiled detective (Joe Jauch), still living with regret over an unsolved case 5 years previously that resulted in the death of a girl, is guilt tripped into going out for one last look for answers. His search leads him to an abandoned apartment complex where he does find answers of a sort. An early bar scene was a highlight of this one, but this film sped along at such a quick pace that the ending took me completely by surprise. A little underwhelming, but I did enjoy the film noir feel and the detective character.
Finally, we have 'Echoes of the Damned' that was directed by James Panetta (Jacker 3: Road to Hell) and written and produced by Herman. In this one, couple Jack (Herman on fine form) and Megan (Debbie D - Jacker 3: Road to Hell) move into a home that had been built on the former site of the Amityville house. Troubles for the couple begin straight away, with Jack in particular being plagued with hellish visions of the location's dark past. There was a great collection of odd-ball characters here, in particular, very strange next door neighbour Karen (Deanna Marie - Clown Motel 3: Ways to Hell) whose persistent manic grin became almost distractingly weird!

Amityville: Descendants of Darkness had four distinctly different shorts. While I would say only the first and last were the ones I really loved, the other two were still well made and featured some good scenes. From the comic book horror of 'The Shed' to the more traditional horror of 'Echoes of the Damned', this anthology remained interesting throughout. I always have a lot of time for anthologies, and so enjoyed my time with this one.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Round-up for May 2026

I am (temporarily) back in employment, my old job I was made redundant from at the end of last year having hired me back for a few months, until the end of July. Due to that, I have become a bit haphazard with this old blog. My news round-up of the month was delayed, so that appears now. I am also currently waiting delivery of a new charging wire for my Kindle, so can't read any eBooks on my reading pile of shame for the moment. As a final rusty nail in the rotting coffin, I currently have a trapped nerve in my back, the joys of getting old! Onwards to the news...

On 21st April VCI Entertainment released the global Blu-ray debut of double-feature: The Slime People and The Crawling Hand. These are both new 4K scans from the original 35mm negatives. In The Slime People, a wall of fog has covered a city, and spear wielding slime people from beneath the ground have emerged to hunt humans. A few survivors team up to try and find a way to force the creatures back into the earth.
Meanwhile in The Crawling Hand, after a mission to the moon goes wrong, an astronaut wants his shuttle to be destroyed on re-entry to Earth. Scientists realising the man has been possessed by something on the moon, complies with his request, but a single limb survives the explosion and still possessed, it sets out to look for victims. The double feature comes with an assortment of extras including audio commentaries, poster galleries, and a collectible booklet.

BayView Entertainment has announced the worldwide acquisition of suspense thriller Sharp Obsession. Written and directed by Abraham Lopez, this is a feature length version the the award-winning short film, Hidden Lives. The film follows an aspiring singer-songwriter who is offered a place to stay after befriending a kind stranger. However, it doesn't take long for the woman to discover the dark controlling side of her new roommate.  

Also from BayView Entertainment is psychedelic horror, Exophoria, which comes from Kerry McArthur. This takes place in a secluded mountain town where a young doctor encounters two comatose teenagers. She discovers their condition is due to a dangerous and almost forgotten 1970's hallucinogen that allows users to share the same drug-induced nightmares.

Back at the start of April, the first official trailer dropped for Jared Masters latest film; mermaid horror - Tropical Parasite. This follows a treasure hunter who gets caught in a love spell by a water nymph, and cursed by a sea gypsy which sees the anti-hero infected by a rapidly spreading parasite. With Masters iconic grindhouse-style sleaze, the press release states this film is '...a wild unapologetic ride filled with blood, gold, and mutated horrors that will leave you gasping for air and begging for more'.

The final post for this truncated news round-up is news of Blood Witch, which got a late April VOD release. Coming from Black Coppice Films, this new horror comes from Chris Shane Sanders (writer/director/producer). Centuries after being executed for witchcraft, a mother and daughter are resurrected in modern day, they set out on a hunt for the descendants of those responsible for their deaths. 

Hacked: A Double Entendre of Rage Fueled Karma (2025) - Comedy Horror Film Review

I've had the screener for the Shane Brady (ApocaFISH) written and directed comedy horror film, Hacked: A Double Entendre of Rage Fueled Karma for a while now, and I almost didn't watch it this week due to nearly taking a complete week off of working on my blog. I might not have loved it, but I'm glad I did decide to check this out. The film looked like it was a lot of fun to make, even if some of the comedy on show here came across as a little mean spirited.

Partly based on real events that Brady went through in his personal life, Mark (Brady) and his wife, Amy (Augie Duke - Sincerely Saul, Exit 0) lose their $20,000 down payment on a new house in an online phishing scam. Unable to recover the money due to the unhelpful actions of their bank and the property company, the couple, along with their two children; Ralph (Owen Atlas - Little Evil) and Freddy (Collin Thompson - ApocaFISH), are forced to move to a motel in a rough neighbourhood. By good fortune, they end up discovering the home address of the hacker; a notorious criminal known by the moniker 'The Chameleon' (Chandler Riggs - The Walking Dead). With assistance from a very unexpected source, they manage to kidnap the hacker with the intention to torture him until he gives up his bank details so that they can retrieve their hard earned money.

The story of having the down payment for his new home stolen from him actually happened to Brady, and you get the feeling that this was a cathartic film to make for him. In reality, his hacker was never found, but here, he gets to portray his revenge fantasy in a light hearted, albeit occasionally quite dark horror where justice is served. Riggs' Carl Poppa in The Walking Dead was one of my favourite characters, so to see him here in a much more silly role was a lot of fun to see. Plenty is done to show him as a cartoonishly evil character - stealing from charities and vulnerable people, and such an unpleasant and self-centred person that he is shown at one point literally liking the smell of his own farts. That leads into some of the humour for me not really resonating, it was usually a bit juvenile for my old tastes. All the characters were over the top, it felt like the actors enjoyed making the film with their over the top and goofy portrayals. No one acts sensibly here, and that leads to entertaining parts such as a child actor playing a 40 something year old F.B.I agent, and the police's ridiculously protracted automated message (the comedic highlight of the film). There were lots of jokes about bodily functions, never something that appeals to me, so expect plenty of scenes based on vomit and defecation humour, most of which left me feeling a bit cold.

The whole movie had a light-hearted laid back vibe to it, where everything that happens is layered with a ridiculous outlandish feel. This was reflected in the editing style that included large colourful text appearing on screen, fourth wall breaking moments, and plenty of montages and films with the film being shown. There was even a song and dance number at one point!. With the film having such a colourful feel to it, there was a surprising amount of violence, especially during the protracted and lengthy torture scene that made up most of the middle of the film. Obviously done in a revenge fantasy type of way, it led to some scenes that seemed very cruel. Special effects were never over the top gory, but there was still a decent amount of blood, and also had the affect of making the protagonists seem a bit psychotic with how conscience free these normal people turn to extreme violence. No slight on the actors, I liked the teenage boys, and a lot of the side cast were decent, and of course Riggs shined throughout, having a much larger role than I initially expected him to have.

I thought Hacked was enjoyable enough. Riggs was fantastic, and the story was often fun to watch. Humour can be subjective though, and a lot of the jokes here didn't really resonate with me, nor did I find the protagonists that nice a bunch to follow. That this was partly based on real events was a neat part of the movie, I enjoyed the text that would occasionally pop up to explain what parts actually happened, and the epilogue sequence was interesting; finding out what happened in reality. The film was effective at lampooning not only the hacker, but also other people who in reality were perceived as villainous, and despite some darkness to the comedy here in the middle part, it was a well put together movie that did get a lot of things right. Hacked: A Double Entendre of Rage Fueled Karma arrives on DVD and VOD on June 2nd in North America from S&R Films.

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Hannah of the Dead (2026) - Short Horror Film Review

It has been a while since I last heard from Nicholas M. Garofolo (Feeding on the Living, Deranged Foxhole), so was nice to see Manhattan Skyline Films were back with a new short film. The short is dedicated to Dave Sweeney, I've seen a few of his films, so it was sad to hear of his passing.

After being kicked out of her childhood home, teenager Hannah (Amanda LoCoco) is offered a place to stay at a shady Airbnb run by Fred (Garofolo). She soon joins the other guests in prostitution, but her success and arrogance leads to other workers and Fred getting both jealous and suspicious of her actions.

This was a whirlwind of a story, in just 11 minutes a story that could easily fit a feature length movie is told. At times, Hannah of the Dead felt like an abridged version of a longer film, with the protagonists tumultuous journey speeding by at a lightning pace, helped along by a decent cast, especially with Garofolo who is on fine a form as ever. All ending on a most enjoyable and fun sequence.

With minimal special effects of somewhat dubious quality, Hannah of the Dead never took itself too seriously and was all the better for it. This was an enjoyable if dizzying story of a troubled girl, set to the backdrop of many custom Electric Tomb tracks.
Filmed at Cape Cod, Hannah of the Dead won the '2026 Best Thriller Short Film' at Festival De Indie, and is available to watch on the Fawesome App for TV, PC, and mobile devices.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Thursday 21st May 2026

In my personal life I'm back working in the lab I was exiled from these past four months. It may only be temporary for a little while, but I never realised how much I missed working; it satisfies the soul. Due to working full time again, I've had to re-jig my blog output. Gone are the days of watching one film each night, instead, I'm back to my traditional blog days, albeit, drafts on the Saturday (as my ink-stained hand attests to - by the way, first notepad of drafts filled!), and Sunday will see me write up the reviews. Onwards to the news...

Freestyle Digital Media have acquired the VOD distribution rights to the Abel Danan directed Moroccan based (at least partly) The Curse. This tells the story of a young Moroccan girl who moves to Paris to study. There she lives in solitude in her apartment, agoraphobia preventing her from leaving. It is while there that memories of the past and monstrous visions merge to bring her to the edge of sanity.

Cursed camera horror; Say Cheese, is now available on TubiTV and Fawesome TV. The film is about a strange camera that has the ability to capture the final moments before death, sounding very similar in style to the Final Destination series; no bad thing. Starring Frank Palangi, Cat Alesio, Erica James, Jodie Wells and Jake Navatka, CineDump said of this 'Stylish, eerie, and quietly mean, Say Cheese turns something comforting into something fatal...leaving viewers with the unsettling feeling that some memories are better left undeveloped'.

Finally for today, The Horror Collective/BloodStream have acquired worldwide rights to Last Chance Motel - a desert based horror co-written and co-directed by Danielle Harris and Scout Taylor-Compton, who also star. The film follows a newlywed couple whose choice of dream venue for their wedding turns into a nightmare. I guess it serves them right for choosing a desolate motel deep in the desert run by a 'bloodthirsty family with dark secrets'! Also in the star-studded horror cast are Heather Langenkamp (A Nightmare on Elm Street), Monica Keena (Freddy vs. Jason), Robert Allen Mukes (House of 1000 Corpses) and Shane West (Salem). With Halloween being my favourite horror series, I have a lot of time for anything that Harris and Taylor-Compton are involved in.

Horrorbuku (2026) - Horror Film Review

Horrorbuku is the second of two films brought to my attention for review from filmmaker Eric Shapiro (Intrusive). Both this and Intrusive were also watched for review on the same day. This one, written and co-directed by Shapiro alongside Tony Pietra Arjuna (Shadowplay) is a definite film of two halves, with the story in both over-lapping slightly but both very different in style.

The first half's wraparound has struggling author, Anthony (Shapiro) at a therapy session, recounting to his therapist the very odd experiences he has been having lately. Suffering writer's block and with a family to care for, his third novel in a horror trilogy was put on the back-burner, until the discovery of a creepy wooden mask reignited his passion for his fiction trilogy, even if it is a bit troubling that Anthony believes the mask speaks to him. Not long after the mask, he speaks of being visited by another figure, this one being a doppelganger of himself (of course, also Shapiro), albeit it, one that has all the confidence of a jacked-up coke fiend. Anthony finds himself caught in a conflict between the two; the mask wanting him to finish his trilogy, the copy wanting him to scrap it and work on his 'great American novel'.

Initial impressions weren't the strongest, I noticed some distracting background interference in early scenes, and at first the story was a bit hard to follow. This however was a movie that steadily improved, from the first second to the last, it was constantly getting better in quality. What was constant throughout was the amazing score. The music here was sublime, it was great enough that I found myself unconsciously tapping away on the side of my headphones to the low-fi beats. Music really can add so much to a film. So, the first half is an indie odd-ball drama with slight horror elements. The mask was a great looking prop and the sound design for the voices it spoke with were excellent. Shapiro playing both himself and his confident clone also worked well, injecting some humour into these early scenes. It all culminates with a crossover into the second story. Much like with Intrusive, this second story occurs roughly around the halfway point.

That second half moves the setting to Kuala Lumpur (by coincidence I spent several hours in the airport there earlier this year...was very humid!). Horrorbuku transforms into a supernatural Malaysian crime drama of all things! This section was near impossible to look away from, I was captivated by the unfolding story. Teenage siblings, Faris (Gen Darwish) and Dania (Zarith Zalikha) are preparing for a trip, meanwhile their crime-boss father; Amir (Josiah Hogan) is trying to get away from his criminal lifestyle. There was a fun blend of supernatural and crime drama here, I especially liked the look of the entities (gave a real Squid Game guard feeling). There were a couple of exciting and well choreographed fight scenes, and the change in location from America breathed new life into Horrorbuku, even if the change in styles did feel a bit jarring.

Much like with Intrusive, Horrorbuku is at the top of end of good, just missing out on excellent. It starts with humble beginnings as a 6/10, but by the strong finish was a solid 8/10, with the median line bringing it down to the score you see below. Another very interesting film that is a tiny bit arthouse in style, but without the pretentiousness that can come with that subgenre. Horrorbuku is due to come to streaming platforms later this year.

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The Hematophages: Splatterings (2026) by Stephen Kozeniewski - Horror Story Collection Review

The Hematophages: Splatterings is another collection of short stories from Stephen Kozeniewski (Yes, I am a Vampire). This one is a mini-collection comprised of four short stories over 120 pages. All of these are set within the author's Hematophages world. This is a sci-fi future where parasitic alien lamprey type creatures exist which have the ability to pilot the infected, able to take over their minds and essentially control them like cars. Like Kozeniewski's previous collection, each of these four stories includes a lengthy and entertaining forward and afterword shedding light on how he came up with the story ideas. The introduction to the collection states you don't need to have read The Hematophages to be able to enjoy this, and that turned out to be true.

It begins with 'The Blood-Red Lake' which as openers go is a horrific intro to the eel-type nightmare creatures. Set on an Earth in the past; a father and daughter learn all too late just why the lake near their remote home has turned blood red. There wasn't too much to this one, but was almost the most nightmarish. I liked that the afterword mentions classic sci-fi horror video game series - Dead Space, as I am a huge fan of those.
'Derelictus' is next and was the stand-out story. Firstly due it doing that ace framing thing of starting halfway through the story and then heading back to explain how events came to be. Secondly, because events transpired here in a way that reminded me of recurring nightmares I have of being unable to escape a terrible situation. In this one, a strange spaceship is discovered floating apparently abandoned. Someone is sent to investigate the wreck unaware of the pure Hell they are about to enter. I enjoyed the first person presentation of this tale.

At the halfway point and next is 'Blackfish' that tells the story of a woman locked in quarantine after a visit to an alien spacecraft. I liked the build-up to this, though the shock reveal didn't really resonate with me much. It was similar in tone to 'Derelictus' and while harrowing also, it wasn't quite as harrowing. It was interesting to read in the notes for this that it had been envisioned as a sci-fi take on the classic werewolf concept.
Finally is 'Gerstein', which was an original short written for the collection. This was a Gothic mad doctor story, albeit it, one set in space within a hollowed out asteroid. It shouldn't have worked, but strangely, it did. It features an unlikeable jobsworth who has travelled to a space station in order to repossess it for the company she works for. Instead, she discovers that maybe she shouldn't have been so flippant with agreeing to the terms of the quarantine orders the head scientist at the station made her sign before entering. I liked the idea of this hollowed out asteroid appearing like a Gothic castle, that was a neat touch.

With that, the brief collection was over. Despite not having read The Hematophages, I liked the short stories here, and once again found all the added details as to the inspiration for them extremely interesting. For those needing a small injection of sci-fi horror, look no further than The Hematophages: Splatterings, which released on 16th March.

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Intrusive (2024) - Horror Film Review

I recently got contacted by filmmaker Eric Shapiro (Bango) to check out two of his horror films. The first of these I watched was Intrusive; an indie demonic possession film (directed and co-written by him) that while not without its issues, was still a very interesting film.

Sabina (Rhoda Jordan - Bango, Death Factory) arrives at the apartment block home of psychic Kelly (Sherill Quinn - Ted Bunny) for a session with the woman. Obviously afraid and desperate, Sabina tells the psychic that she hears the voice of a mysterious woman in her mind, and needs help to rid herself of this troubling issue. Under hypnosis, Sabina begins to exhibit psychotic tendencies, with Kelly suspecting the woman might be mentally ill rather than actually hearing an unknown voice. However, when she comes to speak to the voice within Sabina, Kelly begins to believe that something hauntingly authentic might be going on.

This felt like an even more indie bedfellow to stunning German demonic possession film, Luz. Both mainly take place in a singular location, both use hypnosis as a means to expose the hidden evil, and at 70 minutes long each, they even share the same length. For the first half of Intrusive, I felt this was going to be a really great movie. The first 35 minutes is one long drawn out scene between Kelly and Sabina/Phentara (the entity's name), with the former slowly realising that there is something supernatural happening. I was on the edge of my seat wandering where the story was going to go; the build-up with Sabina's anxiety created a lot of tension. I thought Quinn was great in her role as Kelly, a professional, but also having that professional mask slip at times to reveal the real Kelly.
At the halfway point, Intrusive changes to a setting I wasn't expecting, moving to a new character; Paul (Richard Caines - Bango), who is out in a park taking his baby for a walk in its pram. His story and the previous one overlap in fascinating ways, with it shown that both plotlines are occurring at the same time.

While the first half was single-room horror drama, the second half did something a bit different and in the process slightly trips over its own feet. In this second part, the protagonist is having a strange day, hearing voices wishing him harm that appear to be coming from the baby. This whole section came across as humorous rather than chilling, with bizarre event after bizarre event making for some comedic scenes. At one point as an example, the baby ends up clinging to a tree branch!, then there is Paul's panicked run scene that plays in slow motion like a running sequence from comedy action film Crank, and his constant falling over didn't help give the character any dignity. This part did add to the overall story, but the more light hearted vibe affected the unsettling first half. There was a fun cameo from the director in this segment that was nice to see.

This indie film didn't require fancy special effects or big set pieces to sell its paranormal events in a grounded setting. Like Luz, the intentions of the antagonist threat are relatively minor at this stage, making for an insular and intimate story with a small cast of characters. While not a great film, Intrusive was still a good film, it did interesting things with how the story was set-out (silly cliff-hanger ending aside), and the back and forth between the two tangentially related stories was well implemented. Intrusion can currently be viewed for free on TubiTV.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Thursday 14th May 2026

At the time that this goes up, I should have finally returned to working after a four month gap of unemployment. Trying to write some posts in advance as I'm sure I am going to struggle to get back into the swing of things, seeing as now (at the time of typing), I find it hard to get through the day without multiple naps! Onwards to the news...

Coming from RZE Studio is animated horror film; Ynccuth, created by Lukas Reznicek. The creator states the idea for this story came from his video game project - Bukkaku, and the whole film is being put together by Reznicek. He states: "The film story will be full of helplessness and hope, atmospheric scenes with dynamic action, psychedelic stylization and a charming world." An official teaser titled 'The Ceremony of Death' has been released, with Ynccuth getting its teaser premiere on Halloween via YouTube.

Bayview Entertainment announced the release of psychological horror - The Weight of Eyes, which came out back in March. Written by Shaun Hutson (Slugs, Spawn), and directed by Jason Figgis, this sees an architect in conflict with a couple '...who have weaponized their grief into a symphony of physical and psychological trauma.'. Starring Bill Fellows, Cora Fenton, and Bryan Murray, The Weight of Eyes is out now on Digital and VOD.

Finally for today, being a zombie film, I had to mention this. Dead Road is a horror currently in the early stages of development, and is due to be directed by Christopher Douglas-Olen Ray (Assault on VA-33). Not much has been revealed of the plot, other than it being described as '...a journey down a path of horror where survival is their only option but far from guaranteed'. The production team plan to use practical effects to tell their story.