PSI Recut (2023) - Short Horror Film Review

PSI Recut is a short fifteen minute long German horror film that was directed by Daniel Konze and written by Michael Konze. It was a blast from the past in terms of my blog, as I covered Daniel Konze's zombie film The Rise of Valhalla in a news post some ten years back, so it was cool to see he is still making films. From the synopsis this sounded pretty typical for a short horror, but this became something more than I expected.

Lara (Isabelle Aring) and her partner, Alex (Thomas Binder) have recently moved into their new home, and things seem great. The first night of sleeping there, they are awoken in the middle of the night by a strange noise, Alex investigates but finds nothing, so they go back to bed. The next morning Lara is shocked to see a mess of broken plates and spilt flour in the kitchen, which neither can explain for how that happened. The next night, again they are awoken by a strange noise, but this time around they may not survive the night...

I expected a typical haunted house short film, a mix between night and day with the tension and terror slowly ramping up. Instead, it was cool to see how quickly events escalated. For a film that reportedly had a budget of 550 Euros this had some great looking effects. From exploding lightbulbs, to things opening and shutting on their own, and my personal favourite effect of a key spinning so quickly in a lock that smoke begins to appear, this looked great. Later on there is the unexpected inclusion of quite a lot of blood, giving this indie horror almost a supernatural grindhouse feel to it, and the blood looking again, effective.
Almost saving the best for last is the idea to carry on the story when it seems like it has run its course, with a sizeable chunk of the movie taking place over the end credits.

This was more an experience than a film that told a compelling story, but with all the unexpected and effective moments here, this paranormal horror seemed to improve as it went on, especially after the first five or so minutes which felt a little slow. The grindhouse vibe later on, decent special effects, and more gore than anticipated led to a horror that was a fun ride. PSI Recut can be viewed on YouTube currently.

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The Rotting Zombie's Round-up of Horror News for April 2023

I'm writing this in an hour time slot along with a news post I did earlier this week. Realising I only have thirty five minutes left on my timer, I'm heading straight into things.

An Indiegogo campaign has been released for Cursed Waters, which is to be the seventh film from Mahal Empire which features Greg Tally (Bermuda Island, Night of the Tommyknockers). In this pirate thriller, Tally stars as Lt. Commander Jacob Bridger, an unscrupulous naval officer. After their ship is sunk in a naval battle, a group of pirates make it to a nearby island. It is here that they discover its inhabitants are all part of a sinister cult. Check out the campaign page here.

The Arrow streaming subscription service has announced the releases heading there in May. A few notable collections include a 1st May release that sees Molto Argento is a collection of films from Dario Argento, including his best films, such as Tenebrae, Deep Red, and Phenomena. 5th May brings Psychotronic, a collection of 'far-out films' that have all been mentioned in The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film. Titles include Something Weird, The Crazies, and The Baby.

Bears on a Ship is another film with an Indiegogo campaign currently running. As the title implies, this is an animal attack horror about a group of travelers who decide to take a boat after their flight is cancelled. This turns out to be a bad idea as the boat is somehow full of hungry murderous bears! Included among the cast are Derek Crowe (The Longest Run), Jo'nez Cain (Fruitvale Station), Sherill Quinn (Strings Attached), and Derrick Hogan (Kendrick). Check out the campaign page here.

Isaac Rodriquez's new sci-fi/horror film The Astral Woods is now out on Amazon Prime Video. Starring Alexandria Payne, Marvin Ritchie, and Keelee Suki, this is about a woman who ends up stranded at a remote woodland cabin after falling prey to a life insurance scam. She soon discovers the woods contain an ancient extraterrestrial secret.

Music news now with a new single from Prague-based gothic rock band, Cathedral In Flames. 'Release The Pain' is described as a 'hypnotic ballad about coping with pain and death'. Vocalist, Phil Lee says of the track "When the song was written, I was having a pretty bad time. I was taking long walks through old Prague and I realised that all the people I meet are going to die sooner or later".

Death Metal is an award winning horror from director Michael Kuciak, it comes to Blu-ray on 3th May from Bayview Entertainment/VIPCO. After a disastrous European tour, a death metal band retreat to a remote farmhouse to record their latest album. They plan to record a piece of music named 'The Devil's Concerto', which urban legend says has the power to drive audiences insane. Unluckily for them, it turns out the legend is real, and the band must now try and survive the curse they have unleashed upon themselves.

Finally for this month's round-up is the official trailer for MGI Films' upcoming horror, Malice. Sounding like The Evil Dead, this is about six people in a cabin who get caught up in an ancient evil that has the power to possess those who are close to death. Malice is currently in post-production and will be released later this year.

Virtual Reality (2021) - Horror Film Review

Virtual Reality (original title Realidad Virtual) is a great horror film with a frankly abysmal title. I wasn't sure what to expect from this Hernán Findling directed Argentinian horror, but what I found was something I found to be both bloody and meta in similar measure.

Matias (Guillermo Berthold) is a horror director who has recently wrapped up filming on his latest slasher movie. Into the occult, and wanting his film to be a success, he enlists the help of a shady producer who provides him with a strange item. He gives the director a memory stick that is said to contain a demonic A.I that has the ability to edit any movie into a masterpiece. Sometime later, at Matias' house, he has arranged a viewing party for his movie, with a select group of cast and crew invited to attend. These include main actress, Guadalupe (Vanesa González) and her teenage brother, Facundo (Federico Bal) who had played the role of the killer in the film, editor Hernán (Francisco González Gil) and a few others. When the movie begins they are all surprised to find out that events that are happening in the film were scenes they didn't shoot, despite them appearing on the screen, even including the crew, who in the movie are also brought into the story. The surprise turns to horror when they realise that any damage that occurs to their counterparts in the film, also occurs to them simultaneously in real life, and soon, one by one, they begin to die as their film versions are dispatched by the slasher. The survivors, unable to stop the movie from playing, decide they must find a way to get in contact with their on screen personas, in order to defeat the slasher and outlast the film's runtime.

Virtual Reality is quite meta and seems to enjoy messing around with the viewer. This can be seen straight away with the prologue. It was a cheesy horror film full of cliche moments and generic sound design, and I feared I was in for a bad time. That is until the scene cuts and its revealed to be part of a fake movie being shot. This meta feeling remains for the rest of the movie, with the viewer watching characters who in turn are watching themselves. Essentially there are two separate movies running concurrently, and while the focus is on the viewing party characters, events are both still going together. It leads to some fun moments, such as a character in the film just about to be killed by the slasher when her real life version manages to pause the film, knowing if it starts to play again she will be dead. The meta feeling bleeds into actual reality when characters comment on how long of the fake movie is left to go, when this actually reflects to the real life movie's remaining runtime as well. At some points characters even directly speak to the camera, and by proxy the viewer. This feeling of people realising they are trapped in some sort of nightmare film brought to mind the fantastic Resolution, with these films both having near enough the same ending to them. Stick around to after the end credits and there is an even more fun scene that plays out, which to say anymore would ruin the surprise.

There is plenty of blood and gore here, with knife and axe attacks, a skewer in a character's eye, a cool looking decapitation, and even someone falling through a glass table. The effects all looked great, appearing to be practical ones, and the blood never failed to look great also. I also appreciated the editing, which went from actual film to fake film effortlessly without making things confusing. I loved the moments that had characters from both films reacting to things at the same time, such as when Guada's brother is thrown in the fake film, and in real life is propelled into a nearby pillar. The actors display believable confusion to what is occuring, my only real complaint being the third act introduction of an antagonist figure of sorts.

I loved Virtual Reality, it had that feeling of watching something really special. I would say after a strong first act the movie never really achieves those heights again, but it still remained very fun to watch, with some darkly humorous moments in places, though mostly played straight and serious. The worst thing about it by far is the bland and forgettable title, something which will put people off from seeing this, especially frustrating as the title doesn't really fit with what is going on. Ignore that terrible title however and you will have a blast watching this. Virtual Reality is out now on VOD and Blu-ray thanks to Artsploitation Films.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for 25th April 2023

Here is the first of two news posts for this week, with an hour time limit imposed by myself to get both of them written. So, from the bottom of my bloody news sack comes three news tales of terror, starting with something zombie related.

The press releases I get from Acort International and Midnight Releasing are always scant on details, but I couldn't not include this brilliantly titled horror. Ahockalypse is a hockey based comedy zombie film whose synopsis merely states 'After winning the championship cup, Jonsey and his team must survive the zombie apocalypse'. This stars Barry Melrose, Kelly Chase, Jesse Renneke, Squal Charlson, and Kayle Williams, check out the trailer below.

Olaf Ittenbach's Dard Divorce is out now on Blu-ray. Coming from the director of Black Past, The Burning Moon, and Premutos: The Fallen Angel, this 'ultra visceral horror' is about a routine divorce between a couple which devolves into 'scenes of torture, bloodshed and slaughter'. Special features include interviews with the cast and crew, behind the scenes with the director, trailers, and more. Dard Divorce can be purchased here.

Finally for today, MVD Entertainment Group have announced the restored and remastered 4K Ultra HD format premiere of Wes Craven's 1982 superhero flick, Swamp Thing. This is about a former scientist who gets doused with experimental chemicals during a robbery, and is left for dead in swamp land. The chemicals mutate the dying man however, with him becoming a half human/half plant who sets out for revenge. The release includes both the original PG rated theatrical cut, as well as the unrated international cut which goes to North America for the first time. This release comes with a whole host of extras and is due for release on 25th July later this year.

Alien Conspiracies: The Hidden Truth (2023) - Alien Documentary Review

Conspiracy theories about aliens have always been something that have interested me, which I can thank my father for. I remember as a child being filled with both wonder and horror while flicking through the many books he had on the subject. The grown up me is far too cynical to really believe in any of that stuff, it still however remains a very interesting subject, and one that even if I no longer believe, find it fascinating to contemplate it being the truth. I couldn't find any sort of image for the doc, so apologies for the somewhat basic looking cover image I took off my phone!

Alien Conspiracies: The Hidden Truth is an hour long documentary written and directed by Steve Lawson (Ripper's Revenge, The Mummy Resurrection), and narrated by Mark Topping (Jekyll and Hyde). Over six chapters it looks at some of the most popular theories involving aliens, which takes in all the typical subjects you might expect. The first two chapters, Ancient Astronauts and Clues in History were the ones I found most interesting. The idea explored being that ancient aliens visited Earth and boosted our evolution, as well as point to evidence that throughout history we have witnessed UFOs in the skies above. This includes depictions of apparent machines in Egyptian hieroglyphics. and religious paintings that depict flying machines. 
The third chapter, Disappearing was the one I found the most 'out there' with the focus mainly on the Bermuda Triangle. No less interesting, with the culmination in the theory that there could be an alien base hidden under the water in that area, whose residents don't wish humans to discover.
Fourth chapter, Alien Abduction was one I had been expecting, though had less to it than you might expect, mainly focussing on two different cases, that of Betty and Barney Hill, and the first recorded case of alien abduction occuring in England. The testimony of a police officer was certainly again quite interesting!

Penultimate chapter Area 51 was another fan favourite, with this briefly mentioning the Roswell incident, before going into theories about what could be kept at the site. Even including that meme from a few years back when people were supposedly going to meet at the base and attempt to storm it in numbers. This leads into final chapter The Internet Age which in pure conspiracy fashion talks about how our hidden overlords are controlling what we are able to talk about on the web.

The clue is in the title with this documentary, these are all conspiracies, and there isn't really a strong viewpoint to this being literally true, the main 'talking head' is a Yorkshire man who states that these could potentially be true. I found him entertaining to listen to, and appreciated the twinkle in his eyes you could see as he talked about all this stuff. I guess this may have benefitted by more viewpoints, as outside of him there was only really one other person giving their viewpoint. Outside of the talking head moments, there are plenty of archive footage, photos, illustrations and CG mockups to compliment the narration. I appreciated how much of this there was, made this visually interesting to watch.
With Alien Conspiracies: The Hidden Truth there may not be anything revolutionary to be found here, but it goes through its topics in a way that is never dull. It leans on the side of these perhaps being true, but it doesn't double down in a way that comes across as ridiculous.

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Hellraiser: Hellseeker (2002) - Horror Film Review

Directed by Rick Bota (Hellraiser: Hellworld, Hellraiser: Deader), Hellraiser: Hellseeker is the sixth film in the Hellraiser series, and one that brings back the character of Kirsty, last seen in Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth. Much like Hellraiser: Inferno, this one feels very much like it was an unrelated horror that then had the mythos of Pinhead and the lament configuration jammed into it (turns out that once again was actually the case!).

One day while out for a drive, Trevor (Dean Winters - John Wick) and his wife Kirsty (Ashley Laurence - Hellraiser, Hellbound: Hellraiser II) get into a car accident that results in their vehicle plunging into a river. While Trevor is able to escape, he is helpless to save his wife who seemingly drowns. Sometime later and Trevor is doing the best to get on with his life, it is difficult though as since the accident he has suffered crippling headaches, hallucinations, and amnesia about the time leading up to the crash. Adding more stress is the constant questioning from Detective Lange (William S. Taylor - Watchmen), who is convinced that Trevor knows more than he is letting on about the fate of Kirsty, whose body was missing from the submerged car when it was brought to the surface. Increasingly unable to tell reality from imagination, Trevor's world begins to slowly unravel, as memories long buried come back to the surface, giving the man a different story to what he had come to believe.

With the past few films in the series being only tangentially related to each other, it was cool to see this is kind of a sequel to the second film, I loved that the character of Kirsty was brought back. Short but sweet that turned out, as she is dead within the first few minutes of the ninety minute movie. Thankfully she still appears throughout the movie, both from the memories that Trevor slowly unlocks about his past, and also in hallucinations, and even in home videos that he had made. Trevor wasn't exactly a likeable protagonist, mainly for me due to how little he appeared to be mourning his wife. It isn't clear exactly how long after the prologue the movie takes place, but he walks around in mild annoyance and confusion, rather than a broken man. While he isn't an apparent straight bad guy, that the protagonist of Inferno certainly was, there was still a seedy vibe to the film, and a Silent Hill/Jacob's Ladder type feeling that permeated his journey. To be fair to this one, the story of a man suffering memory loss, led to some good moments, the eventual resolution initially wasn't too much of a shock twist, but it had some unexpected parts to it.

The relation to Hellraiser was again slight with this one, with some early 2000's CG credit sequence showing the iconic puzzle box I had some hopes, but it barely makes much of an appearance, nor do the cenobites. Doug Bradley (all previous Hellraiser films) reprises his legendary role as Pinhead, and he shines again here, but much like Inferno, the character barely makes an appearance, only being in a handful of scenes (less than five minutes of screentime). Nor do other cenobites really appear much, mainly it is Trevor spying a cenobite in the distance wearing a trenchcoat every now and again. One part of the story I did like was the hint that everything involving the puzzle box may have already occured before the film's start, with the slow reveals of Trevor's past drip feeding clues that suggest that everything scary Trevor is experiencing is due to having came into contact with the device.
There isn't much call for too many special effects, when they do feature some of them are pure awful early 2000's CG, such as when Trevor vomits up a large eel from his mouth, and when during a dream sequence Detective Lange grows an extra head (looks so artificial and cheesy!). It's a shame these effects were used there, as towards the end of the movie there is a great sequence that uses actual practical effects, and looks infinitely better as a result.

This may technically be a sequel to the second movie in the series, but the vibe made this feel like a companion piece to Inferno. Both took place in a grimy world where sinister things keep occuring, and both feature protagonists who at the very least are very unreliable characters to follow around. If Hellraiser, Office Space, Jacob's Ladder and Memento had a baby it may look something a little like this. I expected an utter trash fire, but truth be told, it wasn't bad, and I didn't feel bad for having taken the time to watch Hellraiser: Hellseeker.

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Retrospective (2023) by Southern Tribe - Music Album Review

Southern Tribe is the moniker of Andrew Newth, an instrumental solo project of his which began in the mid 90's. In 2020, Newth has returned to the music of Southern Tribe, with a new album due out later this year. First though is 'Retrospective', which as the title hints at, is a collection of his older work, in this case both released and unreleased music from his 1990's period. As always, I know little of music, but I shall try me best.

This forty four minute, eight track album is in a genre that I would say fits into the casual listening category. The chilled and repetitive tracks are the perfect background music, with me listening to the album twice, once as I read some Judge Dredd comic books, and then again, as I was tidying my house. It opens with 'Closer (2023 Mix)', a nearly six minute easy listening track that went for a light and airy intro to the album. Slowly louder and heavier drums are brought to the album over the next track 'Horror Story' and 'Horror Story 2'. Midway through 'Retrospective' comes 'The Trip' which had an Asian vibe to its dance sound. A few tracks I couldn't really describe too well, this includes 'Ska Tribe (2023 Mix)' which I noted sounded like it would be out of place in a Streets of Rage game, and final track 'Gothic (2023 Mix)', that had the sound of a Perfect Dark multiplayer map.
Only ones left to mention are 'You Can't Have It' that was a little bit ravey, and the excellent penultimate track 'You're Not Here', whose trip hop sound brought to mind the more safer areas in the Silent Hill video games.

The press release states this is 'Haunting, cinematic, moody, vibes make this a little spooky in the dark. But it's worth the risk.' I wouldn't really agree with that, this isn't particularly horror focussed, and isn't that good a fit for a review. Still, I do like trip hop, and aside from the opening track being a little too long, I enjoyed my time with 'Retrospective'.

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The Walking Deceased (2015) - Comedy Zombie Horror Film Review

I've had somewhat of a morbid curiosity about spoof zombie film The Walking Deceased (also known as Walking with the Dead). On the one hand, it looked terrible, on the other hand however I had a terrible nights sleep and had a splitting headache, and so wanted to watch something that I wouldn't have to focus on too much (at the time of typing). Where this Scott Dow directed comedy horror fails is its choice of things to spoof, and the unmistakable fact that mainly this just isn't funny.

Twenty nine days after zombie apocalypse swept the world, Sheriff Lincoln (Dave Sheridan - The Devil's Rejects, Scary Movie) awakens from a coma to discover everything has changed. Him and his son, Chris, (Mason Dakota Galyon) team up with a group of survivors, including among them Green Bay (Tim Ogletree - Supernatural Activity) and Chicago (Joey Oglesby - Supernatural Activity), and together they decide to head for apparent safety at a remote farm untouched by the zombie plague.

Spoof movies don't have a great track record, especially in recent years. Even relative greats, such as Scary Movie eventually got bogged down with worse and worse sequels. My biggest complaint with The Walking Deceased is its choice of media to mickey take. The film is two fifths The Walking Dead, specifically the second season of that show. The spoof works as the show is super serious. This is also however, two fifths Zombieland, and one fifth Warm Bodies. The spoof aspect fails at this point as it is trying to poke fun at comedic films which did their own comedy a billion times better than what is achieved here. At best this does a poor impersonation of those, and it was almost embarrassing how unfunny this was compared to those. Zombieland was a very funny film, the attempts here to make fun of that fail for the simple reason that it was a comedy itself.

Outside of the film taking place for half its run time at a farm that seemed very similar to Hershel's from season two of The Walking Dead, the main way for this to spoof other films is via the use of similar characters. Thankfully the best character here was Sheriff Lincoln, with actor Sheridan really nailing the way that Rick Grimes speaks in a way that was kind of funny. The recurring joke of him constantly referring to his son Chris as 'Carl' was nearly amusing. I also found that the side character Darnell (Andrew Pozza - Supernatural Activity) had occasionally vague smile worthy moments, the character being an obvious stand-in for Darryl from The Walking Dead, whose constant attempts to kill the undead with his tiny crossbow always ending in failure when the arrow pings off them ineffectually. Galyon was perfectly fine as the Carl stand-in, but he didn't do too much to stand out. On the other side of the spoof you have Ogletree and Oglesby doing their best to channel the spirit of Columbus and Tallahassee respectively, but failing due to the actors for those two characters doing far better jobs.

There are plenty of undead throughout, but they don't really feature in many action scenes, the whole farm part in particular was mostly zombie free. The make-up effects were fine, a bit random, but passable. It was the humour and the story that really made this fall flat. If this had been funny but plotless it would have been much better, and if this hadn't been funny and had a decent plot it would also have benefitted. This median line of unfunny and lacking plot was what led to its downfall.

Usually, even with the worse spoof film there are one or two genuinely funny moments. Here I never managed more than a hint of a smile. Looking past the badly aged homophobic and sexist jokes, and ones about bodily functions and sex, this was at its best when it was channelling The Walking Dead, but whenever it swerved back to trying to out-funny Zombieland this really began to show how much of a worse thing this was. The Walking Deceased can currently be streamed on Amazon Prime Video, but I can't really recommend it.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Tuesday 18th April 2023

I've had a rare week this week when I could pretty much choose my own stuff to review. I can't say I chose the best films but never mind. Here today are three news stories plucked from my inbox. First a side trip into the world of cyberpunk.

I typically skip over the emails regarding cyberpunk sounding music. I love the genre but never feel its that good a fit on my horror blog. I was preparing to skip past an email about Nouveau Arcade, that was until I saw they have released a cyberpunk infused cover of Garbage's almighty track 'Only Happy When It Rains', which happens to be one of my favourite songs of all time. In terms of sound this is pure electronic synth based music, it takes the lyrics of the Garbage song but wraps them around an entirely different sound, creating a more epic sounding song. I do prefer the original though. Nouveau Arcade said of the cover 'We felt the desire to re interpret the lyrics to have a sound of vulnerability and feeling loneliness and isolation that we were experiencing as a society during the height of the pandemic'.

Wasteland is a post-apocalyptic thriller that takes place in a world ruined by a deadly virus. Scott Miller is a survivor who holds on to hope that one day his beloved Beth will return. This comes from Acort International and Midnight Releasing, the cover image reminds me a lot of I Am Legend. I actually reviewed this back in 2013, giving it a respectable seven out of ten I said of it "I...really enjoyed Wasteland thanks to some decent locations used, a solid story and great acting."

Finally for today, am light on details, but was contacted by Michelle Romano, the producer, and one of the lead actresses on Devanny Pinn's directorial debut of her true crime thriller Black Mass. The film will have its official screening at the Marche du Film in Cannes on May 21st. Included among its cast are Jeremy London, Lew Temple, Sarah Nicklin, Devanny Pinn, Eileen Deitz, Kathleen Kinmont, Jennifer Wenger, Lisa Wilcox and Susan Lanier.

Fanga (2022) - Horror Film Review

Fanga is an Icelandic fairytale horror film that puts its own spin on the well known Beauty and the Beast story. Directed and written by Max Gold, this tells a familiar tale with a slight twist to it, and uses sparse, yet beautiful looking locations to tell that tale. Apologies to the actors here as I'm not entirely sure how to type their names the way some of them should be typed!

With her father close to death, Belle (Andrea Snaedal) seeks the help of the local wise woman (Hana Vagnerová) to assist. The woman tells the girl that the only way to prolong his life is to seek out a magical rose that is said to be guarded by a beast. Belle finds the cave where the flower is kept, and encounters the beast, who turns out to be a man afflicted with a curse (Gudmundur Thorvaldsson). Surprisingly he allows her to take the rose, but upon returning home she is informed by the wise woman that unless she stays by the beast's side her father's condition will once again deteriorate. For the sake of her father, Belle decides to go and live with the beast, and comes to form a friendship with the man, as well as learning that the only way for his curse to be lifted is for him to fall in love.

While just over ninety minutes long, Fanga (translating as Prisoner) managed to be a real slow moving film. It got me thinking that maybe a lazy Sunday wasn't the best time to view it as I legitimately kept falling asleep trying to watch it. This hides its budget by having natural locations for the most part, rather than sets, and by having a very minimal cast. Rather than be an actual beast, the man is normal looking, if deeply troubled. When the urge takes over him however he becomes a mindless killer who feasts on his victims, with it insinuated that the curse means the only way he is able to eat is by consuming the flesh of his victims. There was a decent dynamic between the two main characters, with Belle never seeming to be afraid of the man, and him never really being a threat, only on the rare occasions when he transforms. The make-up effects are subtle, with his transformation being more in the way he acts than in the way he looks.

Most the film takes place in and around the beast's remote cave, surrounded by some beautiful and lonely looking scenery. Not too much happens in a horror sense, this has more of a feel of a fairytale than of a horror, but this has some moments, such as the creepy looking zombie like creature that stands guard at the cave's entrance, a neat scene where the beast's prior victims stand around him as ghosts, and some arthouse style nightmare sequences later on which stitch together a variety of disparate images. The beasts attacks include some decent sound effects, but mainly the attacks are not shown on screen, with the afterwards moments shown more keenly than the actual attacks.

There isn't really more to say about Fanga, a very slow moving story which does put its own unique spin on a classic story. For me, I found it to be a struggle to watch due to how slow and uneventful it all was, despite the competent filmmaking and the great locations used.

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The Artifice Girl (2022) - Sci-fi Thriller Film Review

This isn't a typical film I would review on this horror focussed website. I do however sometimes stick my feet into other genres if I feel they are interesting enough subjects. With the Franklin Ritch written and directed The Artifice Girl you have moral quandaries about A.I and free will, a story somewhat similar to Ex Machina, though one more sentimental than what that turned into.

The film begins with a man, Gareth (Ritch) being questioned by two officers who are focussed on capturing online child predators. Deena (Sinda Nichols) and Amos (David Girard) know the man is hiding a secret but the revelation is something neither are prepared for. Gareth had been trapping predators and then giving evidence to the group anonymously, and it had been assumed he had been using a young girl as part of his process. It turns out however that the girl, Cherry (Tatum Matthews) isn't actually real, she is instead an A.I that Gareth had created. With the film split into three acts, set over fifty years, it charts the transition of this construct, and her increasing evolution into a real person.

This was described in the press release as a cerebral sci-fi thriller and with the entirety of the movie taking place in just three small rooms that is the case. There is lots and lots and lots of dialogue here, with mainly the cast of  four characters talking in depth about what it is to be alive, and self awareness. The first act alone is forty minutes in a dark tiny room with no decoration to it, yet the subject matter meant this still remained interesting. The second act, with a fifteen year time jump moves the events to another equally small room for a further twenty five minutes, before it does the final time skip of another twenty five years which for a change has a more light and airy setting.

The characters fall into several types, with Gareth being perhaps the least noble of them in terms of how he views Cherry. To him, she was created to serve a singular purpose, and her increasing awareness of herself as a person gives him struggles. His own personal demons have been transferred to the A.I, with him accepting her 'aliveness', but still seeing her as a tool. Amos on the other hand is almost the opposite, even before she becomes self aware he isn't able to see her as just a computer program, and the character of Deena is more in the middle, acting as a more neutral voice.
Usually I can't stand child actors, but with Matthews you had someone who seemed to effortlessly be able to change between the stages of her development. Each transition felt believable, and having her as a non-aging persona worked well, set against the increasing ages of the human characters. It leads to the third act that sees film legend Lance Henriksen (Aliens) take on the role of an elderly Gareth, a pivotal act that brings the film full circle.
With a film as wordy as this one it was essential the characters were chosen well, and with The Artifice Girl you have that. One complaint really is how sentimental this all is, there are a few scenes of violence, but it was violence served to sell a point, there is not really any discussion into any type of threat a true 'super intelligence' A.I might pose. The human characters may be flawed but they are people with good goals.

If you are after a ninety five minute 'what-if' on how a true A.I may come to be, this makes for a fascinating film. It is very wordy though and there isn't too much going on at all outside of this laser focussed story. With a great choice of actors, surprisingly, especially with Matthews, this was a very interesting delve into the topic of A.I, slightly exhausting to watch, but well made, and believable for the most part, at least for such an optimistic outlook on A.I. The Artifice Girl will be available to buy or rent on digital platforms on May 1st, from Vertigo Releasing.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for 13th April 2023

The best laid plans of mice and men. This Easter weekend I had intended to have a peaceful few days of blogging and solitude, things didn't exactly go as planned due to a rare night out in town that led to two days of hangover residual. Getting older is great! It's slightly killing me doing my blog (at time of typing), so here is a news post to make the fourth post I have written for next week.

Excess Flesh is a horror that comes from Acort International and Midnight Releasing. It is about a woman named Jill who becomes obsessed with her new roommate, Jennifer, who herself is successful in the LA fashion scene. The jealous Jill comes to the deranged realisation that if she cannot become this woman then she must destroy her.

Hamburg-based gothic rockers Girls Under Glass have recently released a new black and white video for their track 'We Feel Alright', which is taken from their upcoming album 'Backdraft'. The band, who have been together since 1986 has their press release state '...return with fiery new tracks that take the best elements from the band's past and shapes them into an album that leads the way to the future'.

Finally for today, another film from Acort International and Midnight Releasing. Reset stars Ben Barlow and Alyssa Corella. The details are scant, but basically, Danielle passes out at a house party she has gone to. Waking up, she is alarmed to find herself in a remote cabin, whose owner initially appears to be nice, but it soon becomes clear his intentions are not so benevolent. 

A Field in England (2013) - Horror Film Review

I first read about A Field in England around a month ago on Whatculture and immediately knew it was a film I had to watch. Directed by Ben Wheatley (Free Fire, Kill List), and co-written by him, along with Amy Jump, this horror period piece featured a bunch of actors I mostly knew for comedic roles. While this certainly has lots of moments of black humour, overall this is just about played more straight than silly.

The film takes place in England during the English Civil War in the 17th century. Whitehead (Reece Shearsmith - Inside No.9, The League of Gentlemen TV shows) is an alchemist's assistant who has found himself caught up in the civil war after being sent on a mission for his master. Hiding from the violence, and more specifically his commander, Trower (Julian Barratt - The Mighty Boosh), the cowardly man soon encounters three soldiers from the opposing side, Cutler (Ryan Pope), seasoned career soldier Jacob (Peter Ferdinando - Ghost in the Shell), and simpleton, Friend (Richard Glover - Rogue One, Malevolence). Putting aside their differences, Cutler leads the men in a mutual desertion, stating the goal is to go to an ale house. Instead, Cutler secretly is working for the sinister alchemist, O'Neil (Michael Smiley - The World's End, Spaced TV series), who turns out to be the man that Whitehead had been ordered to locate, due to him having stolen his master's research. O'Neil and Cutler take the men prisoner, with O'Neil stating that there is a treasure hidden in the field with which he has set up camp.

I love an intriguing title, which was what initially drew me to this, even before discovering there were some comedic actors I like starring in it. Well, some of them were anyway, despite a high billing, Barratt was only in the film for a couple of minutes at the very start, I had hoped for more for him. Thankfully the other cast members were all great in their own way. Glover brings kindness and light to his scenes, playing the role of a man who lives up to his name of Friend, he also brings a lot of the less dark comedy to the movie. Shearsmith was the main protagonist, a devoutly religious coward who is out of his depth, having lived most his life around books. O'Neil was great as the antagonist, almost but not quite stealing every scene he appeared in. I felt a bit bad that Cutler and Jacob become accidentally interchangeable to me, several times in the film I had gotten these characters mixed up due to them looking quite similar to each other.

The entire film is in black and white, and certainly lives up to the title as the whole movie takes place in a field. Not having the highest budget, the whole civil war aspect is glossed over due to it occuring the opposite side of a hedgerow, so it is just sounds of battle that are heard with nothing really shown, outside of a few explosions. This was a low burn horror, and one that relied for the first two thirds almost exclusively on the actors, the field itself is completely nondescript, apart from O'Neil's tent. This was also something that become increasingly arthouse in style, with the trappings of that sub-genre, such as some full frontal nudity, dizzyingly abstract editing for some of the more tripper scenes, and a plot that was very undefined, it really is left up to the viewer to piece together their own interpretations  of what exactly is happening. Personally, I put a lot of the surreal weirdness that occurs down to the mushrooms the hungry deserters ingest early into the film, with them showing definite signs of that fungus having 'magical' properties.

Elements of the filmmaking I really enjoyed, the best moments being these very strange and striking sinister tableaus that has the characters standing in purposeful poses, not moving, but not paused images, while the camera focuses on different elements of the staged scene. These felt like they were designed to evoke a certain feeling, and I lived for them, the highlight moments of the film. There was a sense of  mystique to what was happening, and helping this feeling was a perfectly crafter soundtrack that fitted the vibe so incredibly well. Special effects were sparse but used effectively, one that had a character's face exploding outwards stood out in its startling use.

For all that A Field in England gets right, it's fair to say the lack of much explanation for the story led to moments of despairing confusion for me. The actors were strong in their roles, and I liked how the language they use appears relevant to the time, rather than altered to make their lines easier to understand. I had hoped for something that had more happening, things do ramp up for a more thrilling final act, but sometimes this went a little too arthouse for my liking. Still, this was a memorable film, the first horror I have ever seen set during this particular time period in England, and one that achieved what it sets out to do, even if it became occasionally a little hard to follow. 

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Chronic Quicksand Depression Morning (2023) by Assassun - Music Album Review

The excellently titled 'Chronic Quicksand Depression Morning' is the second album from Assassun, a relatively new incarnation from Berlin based musician Alexander Leonard Donat (whose other monikers include among them, Vlimmer). I recall having enjoyed last year's 'Sunset Skull', so was prepared to enjoy this one also. As always when it comes to reviewing music, I must state first that I know next to nothing about music. For this album, I listened to it twice while tidying my house, a third listen as I try and crash through this review.

The album is described as '...a clash of glistening retro-futuristic synthwave/EBM with bitter and raw punk/wave vocals - a bleak descent into the exhausted psyche struggling to survive the daily terror of human interaction'. That sums it up far better than I ever could, especially as glancing at my notes they are very sparse.
The forty five minute album opens with 'Excavate', a sneering punk song set against a hypnotic industrial beat. I was taken by just how good the music sounded. It has a slightly discordant twist to the tunes that never gets tiring. Most the tracks I made notes against them saying how good they sound, enough that on a few occasions I found myself humming and vaguely dancing along as I cleaned. Tracks like 'At Gunpoint', 'Fear Doubled' and 'Amniotic Concrete' all have such cool beats to them.
Much like 'Sunset Skull', this has a bitter, angry, and resentful sound to it, with the songs sounding like a way to release pent up emotions. Ones in particular, like 'Shapeshifters' and closing track 'Down On Me' suggest the anguish of a failed relationship, and the depression that follows that. The dark electronic sound permeates the album, as does the retro feeling of the 1980's, with 'Unfold On My Chest' a prime example of this classic type of sound.

'Chronic Quicksand Depression Morning' was a worthy follow up to last year's album. A dark and bitter sounding work of music that shines thanks to its addictive and catchy beats.

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The Quantum Devil (2022) - Horror Film Review

The Quantum Devil is a H.P Lovecraft inspired horror that at the very least has a great look and style to it. Directed by Larry Wade Carrell (Girl Next), who also co-wrote this, this film mainly suffers from an unlikeable cast and too much reliance on pseudo-scientific babble to carry its confusing plot. Apologies if the synopsis isn't completely accurate, it was a bit hard to follow!

Four gifted but troubled experts are invited to the remote home of a disgraced scientist, Dr. Richard Cernovich (Neil Dickson - Ms. Marvel TV series) in eastern Europe to be given the opportunity of a lifetime. They include quantum physicist Luke (Tyler Tackett - Renaissance of the Dead), chemist Brad (Edward Apeagyei), empath Sophie (Tamara Radovanovic), and former medical student Ivanna (Ariadna Cabrol). Cernovich reveals he had been working on a method by which people could travel to the quantum realm with full control over their body and actions, he wants the four's help in perfecting his experiment, with the reward being not only recognition for their contribution to sciences, but also enough money for them to begin new lives (due to each of them having done some pretty terrible things in their pasts). They agree, but before they begin Cernovich is called away on business. In short time they complete the equations and test it out on themselves. Initially it appears to have failed, but as strange occurrences begin to ramp up, they realise that maybe they had been successful after all, and may in fact be in the terrifying quantum realm.

This starts off well, following Luke as he travels by taxi one dark and stormy night to a seemingly abandoned factory. There is some nice foreshadowing in the form of graffiti of a tentacled creature, and then when he states he used to work at the fictitious Miskatonic University from the works of Lovecraft I was certainly interested. It soon becomes clear there are no saints here, instead all characters are kind of evil, and are aware they are. It is soon established via some exposition from Cernovich about just what their crimes are, which was a neat part of the film featuring flashbacks playing over his narration. When the film begins in earnest however I soon got lost in all the probably made up terms, with the group talking amongst themselves using so many random scientific terms and ideas that I just could not follow what was happening. Despite all the techno-speak, this devolved into something that outside of all the hard to follow speech, was basically kind of like A Nightmare on Elm Street situation of them being trapped in a kind of dreamworld where their past sins come back to literally haunt them.

It is this second half of the film where more happens, each of the four characters get their own little segments where they discover death isn't the end for them. This has some nice special effects for some scenes, such as a character who gets skinned alive, and some not so great effects, as at times there is the appearance of tentacles that had an odd cartoony look to them. The actors were fine, it was just hard to feel much for any of them, especially Luke, who was made into the protagonist. Dickson's role called for him to be very over the top, leading to lots of scenes of people laughing evilly for not much reason. There were a few fun side roles, such as Mehmet Cerrahoglu (Baskin) who played a Knick Knack type role to Dickson's Scaramanga, and legend Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street film series) in a small voice only role.

This had a great visual look to it, but I found the plot hard to follow and not really that interesting. I am often a fan of style over substance, but there wasn't enough here for me to really grip onto, The Quantum Devil wasn't a dull film, but nor did I ever find myself that invested into the story it was trying to tell.

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Human Hibachi 2: Feast in the Forest (2022) - Found Footage Horror Film Review

Human Hibachi 2: Feast in the Forest is the second film this week that was a sequel to a film I had not watched. In this case, that film was 2020's Human Hibachi, a found footage horror that was set in a restaurant for cannibals. The sequel moves the action to woodland, always a cheaper location for horror films to be based at. This was again written and directed by Mario Cerrito (The Listing) and brought a couple of the original cast back.

This begins with some title text explaining how the snuff film 'Human Hibachi' had been intercepted by police and subsequently leaked online, with all but two of the perpetrators being arrested. Having seen the movie, a family of woodland rednecks have become obsessed and inspired by it, leading them to take up cannibalism for themselves. They hope to make their own movie, with the intention to succeed where the first filmmakers failed, by selling their cannibalistic snuff movie on the dark web. They have also heard rumours that the two people who escaped justice are now living rough somewhere in the woods they also live in, so hope to find them so they can show their appreciation by giving them a feast to remember.

While an indie horror movie, I expected this to be a lot rougher than what it actually was. The found footage idea is used for all the shots here, though sometimes that doesn't make sense within the context of the film, with both the footage actually being shot mixed in, along with first person perspective sequences from people that aren't actually filming anything. Much of the first half of the horror has the redneck brothers out in the woods capturing and cooking unsuspecting victims. This was the better of the two halves, and I liked how they would sit around discussing what they were going to do. The second half mainly takes place at the remote family home, where the titular feast is created for Doug Patrick (Jeff Alpert - Human Hibachi) who they have finally located. It was this second half where some of the film's issues came about, mainly a lack of much plot.
The feast scene is long and mainly involves the characters sat around a table of body parts, laughing at how evil and twisted they all are, commenting on how the meat tastes, while making painfully bad 'dad jokes' about the body parts they are consuming. The story stalled here with not much really going on, until the twist epilogue which I'm assuming brought more from the first movie to this sequel. There was one key line from Doug which seemed big enough for the change in tempo in the film's score, but a line that I couldn't understand even after skipping back a few times to try and make out what was said. Other than that though, I had no trouble with the dialogue, a good sound mix meant much was easy to make out.

There are of course scenes of violence, with such fun highlights as a man being forced to cut off his own private part (subsequently used by his captors for fishing!), and a fun first person perspective from a victim who is getting sawn up with a chainsaw. Suitably bloody moments, and the eating scenes featured what I assume was real meat mixed in with more obvious fake body parts. None of the food looked appetising, I can say that much! Many of the victims are killed straight away rather than being made to suffer, with the exception of a couple of characters. I'm never a fan of long scenes of needless torture, so I'm glad that often this all happened away from the camera.

The subject matter of Human Hibachi 2: Feast in the Forest wasn't to my liking, but I was prepared to feel a little queasy, I was also prepared to feel a little bored, gladly I was only the former. While I would have liked more going on storywise, the characters mainly were decent enough, found footage horror films shown from the perspective of the antagonists isn't a new idea, but it does make for entertaining movies. I did feel I missed out on some context having not seen the first movie, especially when it came to the epilogue, but being mainly made up of new characters I never felt that lost. 

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