Wednesday, 30 September 2009
The Survivor (1981) - Horror Film Review
Another daily update, no zombies in sight for this one. The Survivor is an 80's supernatural thriller made in Australia. The first 20 minutes of the film had no dialogue, I nearly turned it off, it was real boring.
Basically an Aeroplane crashes into a field outside a Town, then explodes. It looks like all 300 passengers aboard the plane have perished, but while the emergency services tackle the tragedy a lone man walks out of the devastation. He is the plane's pilot, and only survivor of the crash. He is miraculously unscathed, but has no recollection of what happened, or how he came to escape completely unharmed.
In his search for the truth he meets up with a psychic, a lady with the stupid name of Hobbs. She reckons she is able to hear the cries of the angry dead and that with the pilots assistance she will be able to help solve the mystery and let the souls of the planes dead rest.
The film is ok, more thriller than anything else, and it does keep you interested with the mystery of what happened to cause the plane to go down. There are a few ghost influenced deaths in the film, but at times the ghost deaths seem almost like a sub-plot to the main story. An ok thriller, but showing its age now.
SCORE:
Tuesday, 29 September 2009
Cannibal Apocalypse (1980) - Zombie Horror Film Review
I saw Cannibal Apocalypse last night. The most plausible zombie film I have ever seen. For many years it was banned in the UK, and for many years the only version available in the USA was a ridiculously cut version. But now sense has prevailed and the film is available fully uncut.
The film starts off in Vietnam. A dramatic rescue of two American prisoners of war is elicited. However one of the rescued soldiers bites a chunk out of his rescuers arm. After this point the film moves to Atlanta, about six months later. One of the cannibal Americans has been released from the mental home he had been in. He immediately tries to contact his captain from Vietnam (the man whose arm he bit) as they used to be buddies. The captain wants nothing to do with him though, as he is suffering himself, having vivid nightmares, and generally feeling quite odd. The released man; Charles Bukowski now disappointed, heads to a cinema where his urges overtake him and he attacks a woman; biting a chunk out of her neck. After dramatic action he is apprehended and re-admitted to the mental home. The police note his cannibalism which leads to the doctors realising anyone bitten by the two rescued POWs would have been infected by the same rabies type virus. The infected POW's head out on a murderous rampage in an attempt to get back to Vietnam.
The film feels more plausible as the infected aren't undead, they are just infected. They remain rational, and can control their urges to an extent. Their infection leads to them having a near psychotic hate of all non infected, as well as the urge to feed on human flesh.
It is obvious to see which scenes got the film banned. It is an Italian film coming out the same time as City of the Living Dead and The Beyond. The violence is not disturbing now, if it ever was (or maybe I'm just desensitised). There's eyeball gouging, dismemberment, flesh tearing, and someone even gets their tongue bitten off! The film overall carries a melancholy tone, and I felt quite sad after seeing it, kinda depressing. A fantastic Goblin style soundtrack though. So many zombie films have excellent soundtracks, this is no different.
Cannibal Apocalypse was very violent in places, but mostly downbeat, worth seeing for a different kind of zombie film.
SCORE:
The film starts off in Vietnam. A dramatic rescue of two American prisoners of war is elicited. However one of the rescued soldiers bites a chunk out of his rescuers arm. After this point the film moves to Atlanta, about six months later. One of the cannibal Americans has been released from the mental home he had been in. He immediately tries to contact his captain from Vietnam (the man whose arm he bit) as they used to be buddies. The captain wants nothing to do with him though, as he is suffering himself, having vivid nightmares, and generally feeling quite odd. The released man; Charles Bukowski now disappointed, heads to a cinema where his urges overtake him and he attacks a woman; biting a chunk out of her neck. After dramatic action he is apprehended and re-admitted to the mental home. The police note his cannibalism which leads to the doctors realising anyone bitten by the two rescued POWs would have been infected by the same rabies type virus. The infected POW's head out on a murderous rampage in an attempt to get back to Vietnam.
The film feels more plausible as the infected aren't undead, they are just infected. They remain rational, and can control their urges to an extent. Their infection leads to them having a near psychotic hate of all non infected, as well as the urge to feed on human flesh.
It is obvious to see which scenes got the film banned. It is an Italian film coming out the same time as City of the Living Dead and The Beyond. The violence is not disturbing now, if it ever was (or maybe I'm just desensitised). There's eyeball gouging, dismemberment, flesh tearing, and someone even gets their tongue bitten off! The film overall carries a melancholy tone, and I felt quite sad after seeing it, kinda depressing. A fantastic Goblin style soundtrack though. So many zombie films have excellent soundtracks, this is no different.
Cannibal Apocalypse was very violent in places, but mostly downbeat, worth seeing for a different kind of zombie film.
SCORE:
Monday, 28 September 2009
Resident Evil 5 - Zombie Horror Videogame Review Part 3: The end of my journey (X-Box 360)
I finished Resident Evil 5 last Friday. Did it in 4 sessions. The game was longer than I expected, still about half the length of Resident Evil 4. Overall I was impressed, there was quite a few different locations, including one which really felt like it had been lifted out of a Tomb Raider game. The story was ok, tied up some loose ends. The last scene in the game was totally over the top, I can't decide if this is a good thing or bad thing though, it was either genius, or just too much.
There is lots of replay value. As well as achievements (as always) there are alternate costumes to unlock, lots of artwork to unlock, and weapons to unlock. Also I would love to play through it with a human ally, rather than the A.I. For most the game the A.I was bearable, but towards the end Sheeva really did turn into a hindrance, just getting in my way, stealing items she didn't need, and generally being a damn liability.
I had heard that the bosses were not up to much. I thought they were really good. Blatantly designed for 2 people, they were all memorable, and mostly enjoyable to play. The inventory system was too small, I miss the upgraded space Resident Evil 4 provided. There are only 9 spaces in the inventory for 5, and if you get a stab vest, and bullet proof vest then your slots decrease. Jill Valentine has blond hair for some reason in 5. It is really off putting, as in all the others her hair has been dark. I assume she must have dyed it for some reason, but she looks more like Samus from Metroid than Jill Valentine now.
There is new content coming out for the game. I think it will most likely be DLC. It has you as Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine infiltrating Oswald Spencer's European hideout. My only concern is how there can be any enemies in the place, as I doubt Spencer would have had zombies or monsters in his hideout. The trailer just shows traps, so maybe it will be enemy free.
I highly recommend this game, and if you ever need a co-op partner my gamer tag is Happyhead UK. It would get a perfect score but with the totally broken A.I partner I just cannot do that.
SCORE:
Friday, 25 September 2009
Zombie Haiku by Ryan Mecum (a review!)
I read a good book,
It was called Zombie Haiku,
About Zombie Hell.
It is all poems,
One mans journey into death,
Told just by Haikus.
Some of them are fun,
Some of them are scary fear,
All go in sequence.
The man starts off live,
But then he gets infected,
And reborn Zombie.
It is quite unique,
There is lots of brutal acts,
Book is like journal.
I recomend this,
Quite often dont like poems,
This book bucks the trend.
It was called Zombie Haiku,
About Zombie Hell.
It is all poems,
One mans journey into death,
Told just by Haikus.
Some of them are fun,
Some of them are scary fear,
All go in sequence.
The man starts off live,
But then he gets infected,
And reborn Zombie.
It is quite unique,
There is lots of brutal acts,
Book is like journal.
I recomend this,
Quite often dont like poems,
This book bucks the trend.
Thursday, 24 September 2009
Resident Evil 5 - Zombie Horror Videogame Review Part 2: Day 2 (X-Box 360)
Day 2 of my Resident Evil 5 experience. I am renting the game, so am kinda rushing through it, as it needs to be back by months end. I am definitely going to be buying this now I've tried it.
On my 2nd session I worked through the Tribal Village. This area was the one which came under fire in the notorious 'Resident Evil is racist' furore which emerged on the games release. Personally it does not seem that way to me. In this section you arrive at a Tribal Village out in marsh lands. The village is made of wooden huts adorned with skulls and masks. The zombies in this area are the villagers. They are clad in grass skirts and masks and attack with spears and flaming arrows. This fitted in with the games style, and a file found explained why the villagers were dressed in this way. The only possible negative thing out of this was the pilfering of numerous statues in the village. White man heading to a indigenous people and stealing their gold. They were all zombies anyway so they don't need their gold.
I worked out the inventory control some more. The time before each level is your option to move around items and assign them to different buttons. It kinda works well this way.
There were yet more similarities to Resident Evil 4. Some of the tribal zombies had giant shields, they had to be dealt with the exact same way as the Monks in the previous game. A boss encountered was near identical to that of the last game. However the way you fought the boss was totally different. There was a section set on the back of a moving truck with you using a mounted gun. This was a fun distraction from the normal game, and I don't believe a section like this was in 4.
Wesker is even cooler in this game. Each time he reappears he gets cooler and cooler. If you thought he was amazing in Code Veronica you haven't seen anything yet! I am enjoying the game a lot, but I feel sad I will not get to play it in co-op as I could imagine it would be amazingly fun. No doubt yet more posts on this to follow.
Wednesday, 23 September 2009
Resident Evil 5 - Zombie Videogame Review Part 1 (X-Box 360)
I am eating humble pie at the moment, I will admit that. I hated the demo of Resident Evil 5, the A.I was really bad, and the weapons seemed to have no effect on the zombies. My first impressions on playing the game proper are quite positive. The game is intended as a co-op game, but as I am only able to play the game in single player I shall just be giving my views from that spectrum.
You play as Chris Redfield who has teamed up with a woman called Sheeva to investigate a terrorist cell operating out of a remote South African township. Soon after arriving you quickly find out that the whole population of the town have been infected with a parasite that turns them into mindless zombies, much like the Ganados of Resident Evil 4. The story is quite cool so far, it's basic, but it goes along well.
I have only played up to the end of chapter 2 at the moment. I think there will probably be around 6 chapters, each split into 2 half's. So far the game has been very linear. This isn't a bad thing, and is well handled to trick you into thinking it is more open than it actually is. The squalid town you are in feels authentic, and feels more different from the Spanish town of the last game than I expected. The sound is great, I am impressed with the noise the main characters make when they move, sounds really bulky, which makes sense with all their equipment they are carrying. The enemies are quite similar to the last so far. There are normal villager zombies, as well as dogs and a crazed chainsaw villager. The bosses fit with the style of the last game, comprising so far of insect based monsters.
The inventory system is not so great. The live item change works quicker than the demo, but it's best really to give all the healing items to the A.I, as she is better at healing than me. What is annoying is that there doesn't seem to be anyway to get the A.I to use any weapon other than her pistol. Also the A.I doesn't seem able to use grenades which is odd. I can't seem to be able to rearrange weapons in my inventory which is also a tad odd.
Talking of A.I, it is ok for Sheeva. She heals well, and uses her lame pistol well, but in boss fights she becomes useless. One in particular required a character to get behind the boss to hurt it. Sheeva would say 'You distract it, I'll get behind' then proceeds to just stick to you like a lost lamb making the fight harder than it should be. She seems less greedy than the demo, only taking items if you don't pick them up first.
A lot of ideas are taken from 4. Rather than improve on the style of the previous game, it instead just copies. This isn't too much of a bad thing, but when sections are blatantly copied from 4 it is really noticeable.
One last thing for my first impressions - there is no cool shop keeper. He is sorely missed.
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Onechanbara Bikini Samurai Squad - Zombie Videogame Review (X-Box 360)
Onechanbara Bikini Samurai Squad - what a fantastic title for a game. As with everything I picked this up cheap. I originally planned to buy this, and the Wii prequel when they were first released. Personal issues made me not buy them.
So this is the sequel to the Wii game. It is a hack em up, much in the style of the Dynasty Warriors series. You play as 1 of 3 scantily clad girls rampaging around a city fighting off hoards of zombies with either swords, or guns. The game is very bloody, all enemies you fight end up in chunks, limbs, heads, and stomachs all being sliced through. It isn't uncommon to be left with a pair of legs stumbling towards you.
The story is very basic, basically some organisation intent on world domination has released a zombie plague to distract people from their plan. There are references to what I assume is the Wii prequel game, with recurring characters appearing from that.
The game took me about 10 hours to beat on my first play through, there is a levelling up system in place, so to totally max out your characters you would need to play the game multiple times. Each level is graded, higher grades resulting in new clothes you can dress up the girls with. The...ahem chest physics are ridiculous, the chest area swings around with the slightest movement, think Dead or Alive up on 11.
There are lots and lots of different enemy types, and right to near the very last level new enemy types are being introduced. There are basic zombies, armed with axes and knives, then you get the police zombies with their guns. Later on Soldier zombies and giant zombies are introduced. As well as these there are zombie dogs, crows, and mutants. The end of most levels results in a boss fight, usually with one of the intelligent zombies who fights via martial arts rather than biting, there is a memorable boss fight against a zombie Whale which is quite fun.
Overall the game can become quite monotonous with not enough variety in locations, or in what you do, a level at a time was about all I could manage, and the later ones become a real slog. There is one driving level in the game to split up the endless fighting, but the bike you drive is horrendously twitchy to control, and the whole level can pretty much be cleared by just driving in a straight line.
There are literally thousands of zombies to fight though. That is a good thing, and that makes the game worth getting. For zombies are ace. I will be getting the Wii version of this, but I do dread how awful the Wii-mote controls are going to be, it was exhausting enough using a regular control pad.
SCORE:
Monday, 21 September 2009
Cloverfield (2008) - Horror Film Review
Cloverfield is amazing, and terrifying, and is a must see film. I never saw this when it was originally out. My sister did, but she made it sound so boring in her explanation of it that it totally put me off seeing it. While visiting her recently she convinced me to buy it.
This film is basically everything the awful Godzilla remake should have been. Godzilla managed to make the tale of a gigantic monster attacking New York really boring. The film was mediocre due to it being plain tedious. Cloverfield follows basically the same plot. A gigantic monster of unknown origins is attacking New York, rampaging through the streets destroying everything in its way. The plot follows a young group of party goers who are heading to the centre of the city to rescue one of the groups girlfriend who has gotten stuck there.
The film is shot totally by hand camera ala Blair Witch Project and Diary of the Dead style. The first fifteen minutes of the film are quite boring, nothing much happens, but this just makes the monsters emergence all the more scary. The film is virtually shot in real time. Everything shown is what was recorded by the hand camera a man in the group is using. By staying with the small group for the duration of the film you come to really care about, and like them making any of their deaths all the more tragic. You really want them to survive. There is lots of confusion in the film, this creates fear as you are as much in the dark as the characters.
The film is shot really well. I was expecting amateur style filming due to the hand held style of the film, but it is really professionally done, and the special effects are frankly amazing. The giant monster is only glimpsed in patches, the skyscrapers of the city obscuring it, making the mind conjure up what isn't shown. As the film concerns the characters heading towards the centre of New York, the action ramps up as the film progresses in a natural way, and plot devices mean exciting scenes can plausibly be shot.
Cloverfield is everything the dreadful Godzilla should have been, an instant classic which had me in literal tears by the end of it! I don't know what's wrong with me this year, but I'm finding everything super scary.
SCORE:
Labels:
2008,
English,
Found Footage,
French,
Horror Films,
Japanese,
Monsters,
Russian,
USA
Sunday, 20 September 2009
X-Box 360 Indie Zombie Games
Just a quick update; there are currently lots of zombie games being released for the X-Box 360 Indie games channel. Zombies 2.0, Dead Meat, I MAED A GAM3 W1TH ZOMB1ES!!! 1, Veks and Silence, and Zombie Mania to name just a few. I will be doing a big review of all these games together to give my impression on this welcome development.
On X-Box Live Arcade there has been a few months ago the awful Zombie Wranglers released, and this Wednesday a cool looking Zombie survival game is to be released. Once I have played through these I shall post a review.
On X-Box Live Arcade there has been a few months ago the awful Zombie Wranglers released, and this Wednesday a cool looking Zombie survival game is to be released. Once I have played through these I shall post a review.
Actual games; I have recently played to completion Onechanbara Bikini Samurai Squad for the 360 and Mad World for the Wii. I have got Dead Rising: Chop Till you Drop, and soon to be renting Resident Evil 5. As soon as I have experienced these I shall be posting another review.
Onto films...I have a few horrors to review. I got Cannibal Apocalypse on DVD to watch, and have watched District 9, and Dorian Grey at the cinema. Also saw Cloverfield - extremly good! So hopefully will be a busy few months for posts.
Alone in the Dark (2008) - Horror Videogame Review (X-Box 360)
My god... Alone in the Dark is awful! I picked it up at a bargain price, but wish I hadn't. It's frustrating to see the promise this game has, but that promise is too soiled.
Like the previous games in the series this is a survival horror game. The Alone in the Dark games have always been a bit crud. The last game Alone in the Dark: A New Nightmare was ok, but the second half just collapsed into monotony. This game just plain collapses right away.
This would have been great if not for the games dreadful flaws. Within minutes of starting the game I had managed to get completely stuck in the scenery, a reset was the only way out of this. Many times the controls just totally fail, not responding to button presses seemingly at random. For a lot of the game (am about half way through) you have a stupid A.I character getting in your way. Though a physically small and slim character there is an invisible barrier to either side of her meaning you cannot get past her if she's in your way despite there being lots of room to do so. This is very annoying when you're being attacked by a zombie (zombie type creatures are the main enemy, as well as mutant insects and rodents of various types) and a weapon is just past her.
The damage bar is really something else. You physically show injuries on your body, cuts and scrapes which have to be healed by spraying with a health spray. But the wounds are totally flat, and show over your clothes, for instance your bulky leather jacket suddenly gets a hilariously bad looking flesh wound on it looking in no way like its anything real. The tears and rips in your clothes regenerate over time, as do windows and objects dotted round the levels which is stupid.
The inventory is tripe. Your inventory is represented by the inside pockets of your coat, it is very difficult to select the item you want due to the analogue sticks terrible controls.
Fighting is horrendous. You have to use the right analogue stick to simulate the attack, it is very unresponsive, slow and cumbersome, a simple button to attack would be much preferred. Sometimes you get a driving sequence, the car controls are terrible, and it takes hardly anything for your car to flip upside down leaving you stuck until you die.
A level skip feature was put into the game, obviously as Atari realised how crap the game was and wanted people to be able to skip the bad sections (i.e.: all of it).
Labels:
2008,
Horror Videogames,
PC,
Playstation 2,
Playstation 3,
Wii,
X-Box 360,
Zombies
Wednesday, 9 September 2009
Silent Hill - Horror Videogame Review (Playstation)
You know, I can't actually recall if I have already wrote about this game, or indeed the series, but what the hell, it's my fave survivor horror series, so here it is again.
While there have been some dubious entries in the Resident Evil series, the Silent Hill series has never been over-saturated (and has also resulted in quite a few ace Graphic Novels). There has been the weird Japanese Silent Hill Novel game on the GBA, and there is a remake of Silent Hill 1 being made for the Nintendo Wii, but other than that the series has remained quite pure and un-diluted...ok so there was the Silent Hill Light Gun Arcade game as well (that was quite fun though!). Ahem, anyway I digress...
Silent Hill was originally released for Playstation back in the late 90's. Many expected it to be a clone of the successful Resident Evil, but instead it carved it's own niche by focusing on psychological horror, rather than jump scares. The game put you in control of Harry Mason, a man desperately searching for his daughter in the foggy ghost town of Silent Hill. Along the way he discovers the twisted secrets of the towns past.
The game is terrifying in a way no survival horror had been up to that point. There was a great feeling of unease throughout the whole game. The limited view, the static of Harry's radio as enemies approached, the random screams and noises in the background, haunting music, and sheer impending dread resulted in a smorshborg of horror.
The game world is split into 2 layers. Foggy Silent Hill, then the awful steel meshed totally FUBAR distorted Silent Hill. This transforms the already creepy town into an utter terror ride. By the time you return to the foggy version of the town it feels quite like Heaven, and never feels as creepy as it once was, this a feeling which sadly has never been successfully replicated in its better looking sequels.
I have felt absolute terror in just two games. Project Zero is terrifying (play it! Least the first one, as the others are not so good!) The other really scary game I have played is Silent Hill. I still remember the fear I had with this. I still lived with my parents at the time. They had gone away for the weekend, so I had moved my Playstation downstairs to the big family TV rather than the titchy one I had in my bedroom. It was about 1am, I had the volume turned up really loud, and all the lights off. I had gotten to a Hospital in the game in the foggy version of the town. I had explored the Hospital all I could. Returning to an elevator, I noticed there was an additional button which had not been there previously. I pressed it. Upon exciting to this new floor I despaired to discover I was now in the dark nightmare version of the town rather than the relatively safe foggy Silent Hill. Then I was assaulted by zombie Nurses...I had to turn the frickin' game off! I just couldn't handle it, I was utterly terrified! I won't forget that ever.
The plot is really complicated, and there are lots of alternate endings, the game is really scary, I cannot recommend it enough. I highly doubt the Wii remake (Wii-make?) will be half as good or atmospheric. On a side note the demo had you fighting child monsters in a School. By the time the game got released these had sadly been changed into much more monstrous looking beings.
SCORE:
Tuesday, 8 September 2009
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (2002) - Horror Video Game Review (Gamecube)
This was supposed to be the future of survival horror. Critically acclaimed at the time, and considered a cult classic now, Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem is unfortunately a mediocre game put on a pedestal due to the lack of competition in the genre at the time on the Gamecube. The story is heavily influenced by the works of Edgar Allan Poe, and more specifically the master of horror H P Lovecraft.
After her grandfather's mysterious and bloody death, his niece travels to his mansion at Roade Island to try and discover who was responsible. In a hidden room she discovers a book bound in human flesh; a tome of the dead. Her grandfather had a secret interest in the occult. Each chapter of the book tells the story of various people throughout time who have encountered the book. Each level of the game is based on one of these stories, being bookended each time with the girl in the present day exploring her relatives house. As such you get to play as over a dozen different characters throughout time. From a roman centurion in 54 BC, to an amazon dancer, a medieval monk, a World War II american soldier and many more. Each time period contains a self contained story, mostly ending tragically ala' H P Lovecraft tales.
The plot itself is the games strongest point, each individual story is very well told, the best one springing to mind being an ancestor of the present day girls who discovers a hidden horrific desolate city of a past civilisation. This really felt like a version of the excellent short story 'At the Mountains of Madness' (by H P Lovecraft).
The graphics are smooth, but very bland. Considering the amazing looking Resident Evil games later showing up on the Gamecube there is no excuse for the graphics being so plain. The game was advertised as being at least twenty hours long in some previews, yet even on my first play through I had it finished in under ten (not that length of game determines a games quality!) To get the true ending you have to play through the game three times, but to tell the truth, I just couldn't be bothered to do that.
Much was made of the games sanity meter. The longer you spend around enemies in the game (mostly comprising of zombies) the more your sanity meter runs down. The lower it goes the more crazy stuff starts happening. The camera starts to shake drunkenly, a message pops up on screen saying the Gamecube's memory card has become corrupted, the game freezes and lots more random insanity occurs. This aspect of the game is kinda cool! (also aped in Metal Gear Solid 2).
Despite playing in many different periods of time, only about four different locations are used, with minor changes used to differ the look. This leads to many parts of the game becoming stale as you traverse the same locations over and over again. The characters are only physically different, and virtually all control the same. The magic system is terrible! Some parts of the game require you use spells in specific places, it can be really hard to use them in the correct spot, and I literally spent thirty minutes at one part late in the game repeatedly failing to use a spell in exactly the right spot, and then having to wait an agonisingly long time for the magic meter to slowly recharge again.
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem does have an ace story though, and is very cheap nowadays, so it is worth playing, if only for the story.
SCORE:
Monday, 7 September 2009
The Final Destination (2009) - Horror Film Review
The Final Destination was my first 3D film, apart from a brief adjustment I found them to really accent the movie going experience. The glasses fitted fine other my normal glasses which was cool.
With an amazing rocking track the film starts. Flashes and images of horrific accidents are played out in x-ray vision with blood spraying out into the audience, all the while the ace music booming along. This film is torture porn for the more mainstream horror fans, each horrific death faster than the slow tortures of the Saw and Hostel franchises.
If I got one message from the film it is that life is futile, the human body is amazing fragile. You cannot escape fate, once marked for death you are one of the walking dead.
Like the previous films in the series the plot is thus; A group of people avoid a tragic accident due to one of them having a vision and saving them. Final Destination had a plane crash, Final Destination 2 had a car crash, Final Destination 3, which I didn't see I assume had a roller coaster crash. In this one a crash at a racing stadium ends with racing cars exploding and flung into the spectators. The survivors are happy to be alive, but one by one they start to die in horrific accidents, and they realise unless something is done there all going to die for cheating fate.
The plot is identical, the characters are kinda similar as well, but is still a good ride, and made me quite freaked out watching it, just how easily accidents can happen, and that everyone is marked by fate to die at a specific place. See The Final Destination! You should, it's not going to hurt your brain cells, but is a cool ride.
SCORE:
Saturday, 5 September 2009
Left 4 Dead - Zombie Videogame Review (X-Box 360)
I put off buying Left 4 Dead for the longest time. Having no friends means I would have to play online with complete strangers. A game where you fight cooperatively to survive a zombie apocalypse was too big a draw, so I gave in and got the game.
The idea of the game is fantastic, just in theory it is terrible. I can see it would be utterly amazing playing cooperatively with friends, however playing online with strangers is no fun at all. Half the online people I play with are utterly silent. It's hard to work as a team when everyone is not talking. Then you get the horrible idiots which plague X-Box Live. Case in point; I tried to play a Versus mode yesterday. The team I was with were the humans first. As soon as the game started someone on my team turned round and shot me until I died, for no reason whatsoever. That's happened so many times, as has being kicked.
As far as I can tell to be the Tank equals getting kicked. I have yet had a game where upon becoming the Tank I have not briefly been voted off the game, I do not know why. I don't trash talk, I am a good player when given the chance, I help my team mates out, and don't act recklessly, yet I am always getting kicked out of games. The few fun experiences I have had with the game is late at night when more Americans play. They actually try and play the game, rather than act as if it's a free for all.
Thursday, 3 September 2009
Devil's Child (1997) - Horror Film Review
First of all - hahahaha! Devil's Child is terrible! Heh, ok I got that out my system. This is quite a low budget supernatural thriller.
Basically a girl called Nikki is told by her mum on her mum's death bed to beware of miracles. Soon after a load of weird stuff starts happening. Her mum 'explodes in a church' as one character describes it, her work enemy is mown down by a driverless car, a dog in her apartment commits suicide, and a mysterious and attractive stranger called Alex enters her life.
The film is stupid! It does co-star the excellent Matthew Lillard (of Scream, and Thir13en Ghosts fame) though. It turns out Alex is in fact the Devil. When Nikki was a young girl she had an accident and died. Her mum made a deal with the Devil to resurrect Nikki in exchange for promising the Devil that he can father a son with her.
The film is really rushed in the last quarter. From getting pregnant to having her child takes literally about ten minutes of screen time, yet there's no indication that any time has passed at all. It seems strange Nikki would carry on living in her apartment opposite the flat of the man she is terrified of for the length of the pregnancy, especially considering she discovers earlier in the film the previous tenant of her flat was buried alive in the wall (a subplot completely abandoned later on).
The film has a good soundtrack at least, and some cool generic female fronted rock (played in the background of a hilariously bad 90's photoshoot). I got Devil's Child on DVD real cheap, so can't complain, and it was kind of funny, though unintentionally so.
SCORE:
SCORE:
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