The Rotting Zombie's Round-Up of Horror News for December 2024

It is the end of another year and I find myself quite lonely in The Rotting Zombie HQ. Last month the round-up was shorter due to personal issues, this month it is shorter due to me having had a large clear out of my news inbox.

Body horror Worms is coming out on a limited edition Blu-ray release. Directed by Akiko Janos, Worms tells the unsettling tale of a woman obsessed with the titular creatures. The Blu-ray can be purchased here, and will be pulled from sale on March 1st 2025.

Fathers is a psychological thriller about a young girl who is kidnapped. It stars Kaiti Wallen (Beneath Us All), Jerry Hayes (Ash and Bone), Deon Hunt (Finding Nicole) and Emilia Linnea (Tale of Tails).

When It Rains in L.A is a new horror thriller coming from Gravitas Ventures. It will be coming to select theatres on January 3rd and will be streaming from January 7th 2025. This sees a young Eastern European woman who seeks a fresh start in L.A after the death of her elderly boyfriend (Eric Roberts)

That is currently it for the news, if I get anymore stories I will add them here, other than that, I really wish 2025 is a better year, this one has plummeted from one of the best to one of the worst in a matter of months.

Everyone Is Going to Die (2024) - Thriller Film Review

Directed and written by Craig Tuohy, Everyone Is Going to Die is an English home invasion thriller that seems to have spawned as a result of the 'me too' movement of a few years back. With an unlikeable cast, and a story that takes its time to go anywhere, this thriller has its moments, but ultimately didn't grip me.

Businessman Daniel (Brad Moore) has invited his teenage daughter Imogen (Gledisa Arthur - Eastenders TV show) to his remote house to celebrate her sixteenth birthday. It isn't long after she arrives that two others turn up, two armed masked maniacs calling themselves 'Comedy' (Jamie Winstone - Tomb Raider, Dead Set TV show) and 'Tragedy' (Chiara D'Anna). This duo take Daniel and Imogen hostage, threatening to hurt them both if Daniel doesn't go along with the twisted humiliation games they want him to take part in.

From Daniel's persona it is clear that he isn't the best example of a male, cocky, confident and aggressive in equal measures, it might take a while for his demons to be revealed but it was kind of obvious. He didn't make for an endearing protagonist, but saving him is the fact that the antagonists are also not likeable at all. While Tragedy remains masked for much of the movie, Comedy quickly de-masks and then spends the film doing a hateful performance as a dramatic character who wouldn't have felt out of place in a soap opera. It doesn't matter that these villains may turn out to have noble reasons for the invasion when they are both so weird, irritating, and unlikeable. There were a lot of uncomfortable scenes in the movie, mainly revolving around humiliating Daniel in front of his daughter, such as showing her his porn search history, getting him to play with sex toys in front of her, and making her watch as he is forced at gunpoint to be intimate with one of the invaders. Regardless of if Daniel deserved all this or not, it is clear his daughter is an innocent, so it was never that fun having her constantly being threatened.

There are a smattering of special effects, I liked the wound effects on characters, and self-harm being a topic was always going to be interesting, due to my battles with that addiction. The story did seem to drag, even at roughly eighty minutes long I was eager for something more exciting to happen, not helped by the modern looking home being devoid of much detail. The plot does eventually reach its conclusion, but the journey was bizarre, and the invaders strong anti-man rhetoric got a bit exhausting. It all culminates in a ridiculous ending shot that seemed more symbolic than realistic, and left me wandering what the point of the whole film was.

Topics such as toxic masculinity, issues around consent, and feminism are all important ones, but with a cast of horrid people, there wasn't really anyone to root for. This felt slower than it needed to be, and while Everyone Is Going to Die has some good scenes, overall it was just a little dull.

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Thou Shalt Kill (2024) - Thriller Film Review

Thou Shalt Kill is a serial killer based thriller directed by Richard Friedman and written by Nathan Illsley. It starts off in a great place, with each subsequent act unfortunately not being quite as good as the one that came before. Having a focus on dialogue over action this has some great scenes, even if the plot crashed into a clumsy conclusion.

Shannon (Augie Duke - Exit 0, Spring) is a recovering alcoholic going through a messy break-up with her wife, who is determined to gain custody of their child. Realising what a poor chance she has of getting custody for herself, in misery and desperation Shannon gives in to her urges and buys a huge bottle of alcohol. Sat in her car drowning her sorrows she believes things couldn't possibly get worse, but then a serial killer (Vince Lozano) operating in the area makes his move and abducts her.
Awaking tied up in the back of the killer's car, the killer - Hank, is surprised to find his latest victim isn't scared of him. This begins a discussion about the nature of sin, as Hank attempts to find a way to bring fear into the damaged woman's mind.

I thought the first twenty minutes of Thou Shalt Kill were excellent. This segment mainly takes place with Shannon in her car on the phone to various people, while the serial killer hangs out in front of her, apparently working on his car. Thanks to the prologue sequence we know this man is the murderer that the news reports have mentioned on the radio, so it sets up tension, and a lead up to an inevitable conclusion. I thought that Duke was perfectly cast as the miserable alcoholic character, she brings her battle with her demons convincingly to screen. There becomes a bit of an unreliable narrator feel to her character, as due to her condition she has the option to fall into realistic hallucinations in which she is talking to characters who aren't actually there, or finds herself in an entirely different location to the one she is actually in. Hank is the secondary character and has a substantial role. The meat of this nearly ninety minute thriller features a long car journey. Hank believes he is killing the sinful and that he is doing God's work. This contrasts with Shannon, a lapsed Catholic who has no time for it, but also happens to understand the religion. The plot thread for this lengthy second act was mainly about if Hank had the right to kill, and if Shannon had the right to be forgiven for her past sins. These past sins are reflected into flashback sequences that play out whenever Shannon passes out, slowly filling in the backstory of what ended her relationship with her wife.

The third act is where things begin to fall apart for me. There was a twist that the film needed to get to, but to get there, there were some mistakes made. The whole third act felt rushed, as if there were moments missing from the story, and it also felt clumsily executed. The twist felt contrived and unnatural, and to be honest made earlier scenes not really work.
Outside of the story, there are not many scenes of horror here, Hank is mainly content just to speak to his victim, with most the film being the drive to the killer's final destination. These discussions were interesting enough, I liked how Shannon was able to get under Hank's skin purely by not caring if she lived or died. They also got ever so slightly pretentious at times with the deep back and forth talks.

Thou Shalt Kill had an interesting premise, and with Shannon you had an interesting and obviously flawed protagonist. I didn't find Hank as interesting a character, but he back and forth between these two people ensured the film never had a dull moment. Thou Shalt Kill is now available on-demand and across digital platforms from The Horror Collective.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Thursday 26th December 2024

I hope all are having a great Christmas at the moment. For me, it is a chance to spend a few days with my close family, even if it has obviously lost the magic that was associated with it as a child. Horror never rests though, so here on this Boxing Day are three news stories of madness.

Jake C. Young's Daylight to Dark is coming to streaming platforms in 2025. Said to have a Tarantino feel about it, this comedy horror finds a brother and sister trapped in an isolated town that is swarming with vampires, with them eventually meeting up with a cowboy vampire hunter. This is a strange 'metaverse' spin-off of the 1997 cult classic film American Vampire, taking place in the same film universe as that one. This film is written by American Vampire's original screenwriter Rollin Jewett, and Danny Hitt reprises his role as the character 'Boogie'.

Jesus Cop is the new horror action film from writer/director Rob Gabriele. The film, which follows an immortal man as he hunts down a pair of hitmen turned serial killers, stars some notable names, including award winning actress August Kyss (Murdercise), Alex Petrovich (Switched at Death), Bam Margera (Jackass TV show), Lynn Lowry (The Crazies), and Kansas Bowling (Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood). Jesus Cop is currently in production in Ontario, Canada.

Finally for today, the January line-up for the ARROW streaming subscription service has been revealed. Notable releases in this action heavy month include Terror by Night that is a murder mystery/jewel heist movie featuring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes. Also coming is Dude Bro Party Massacre III, which sees a loner who infiltrates a popular fraternity after the death of his twin brother by a serial killer known as Motherface. Arriving January 13th is Incubus, that sees a man battling evil on a strange island full of demons and spirits.

Deus Irae (2023) - Horror Film Review

Deus Irae (latin for 'God of Wrath') is an Argentinian horror film written and directed by Pedro Cristiani. It deals with one of my favourite horror sub-genres, that of demonic possession. While the special effects, editing, and music choice delighted, I thought the way the film's story was set out became more distracting than intriguing.

Pablo Ragoni stars as Father Javier, a priest who specialises in exorcisms. While the church's official stance is that these possessed people are suffering mental illness, Javier has come to the secretly believe that they are literally possessed by demons from Hell. His search leads to the discovery of Father Marcos (Gaston Ricaud) and Sister Helena (Sabrina Macchi), a duo who work deep in the shadows battling demonic forces with fist and prayer. Recognising Javier's unique skill of being able to tell the names of demons (a sure-fire way to destroy them), they recruit him to their bloody and bleak crusade.

Starting off, anyone going into this movie needs to recognise it is just part one of a larger story. The film literally ends mid-flow with many plot threads left unresolved, and a title card stating 'End of Book One' or something similar. The journey to this end of a kind wasn't smooth. Deus Irae has an annoying habit of showing many of its scenes out of context, and splitting up its scenes so that they appear ended before heading back to them at a later timeframe. This made the film feel weird, and not a good weird, but an odd weird. While there was some enjoyment at slowly deciphering scenes as more clues are revealed, it gave the film a meandering circular feel with scenes believed long over suddenly appearing again with more detail added to them.
The three main characters are also a very odd bunch, and I often struggled to tell if they were on each others sides or if Marcos and Helena were actually opposed to Javier. These characters appear in a series of bizarre silent montages, with the characters showing strange facial expressions, such as when Marcos is beating a literal demon with his fists while wearing a gigantic grin on his face. These sequences looked super cool, and I loved the trip-hop style music that plays over these segments, but it doesn't alter the fact I didn't really follow what was going on, it became a bit too obtuse for its own good.

The special effects were tremendous, practical monster effects that wouldn't have looked out of place in The Thing. Spider like fleshy creatures, strange growths bursting out of victim's bodies, and lots and lots of blood. Outside of the soundtrack I would say these practical effects were the absolute highlight, as was the costume design. A long scene featuring a possessed man dressed up in a Jesus outfit was really memorable due to how good it all looked. The editing was strong, but some of the effects used to simulate a sense of strangeness were overused, particularly a loud glitch type noise that is used in conjunction with elements within the film suddenly speeding up, this appears throughout the whole eighty five minute film.

Deus Irae looks fantastic, it has lots of atmosphere, interesting characters, and the semblance of a good plot. It was just all a bit too confusing for its own good, I didn't think the scenes played out of order worked, making things needlessly complicated in an already complicated story. There are some very strong scenes here, but for me it just wasn't that satisfying a movie to watch. Deus Irae is streaming exclusively on SCREAMBOX.

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The Perfectly Fine Neighbourhood (2023) by various - Horror Anthology Book Review

Book reviews are always the most shameful part of my site as I am notoriously slow at getting around to reading them. The Perfectly Fine Neighbourhood is a horror anthology featuring stories written by fifteen different authors. I was sent a copy last December, so it has taken me an entire year to get around to reading it. As I always say, every good anthology needs a good theme, and the theme for this one is more involved than most. The goal with this anthology was to have a collection of horror stories based in a world where ghosts are common place. I admit that I thought this was a bit of a lame idea, but egg on my face as I really enjoyed the stories contained within this, and was impressed how they share common ideas despite being written by a variety of people.

It begins with 'The First Ghost' by Stephen Kozeniewski (The Thing Under Your Bed) which sets out the idea of a ghost filled world. Here, a couple have rented out a remote cottage, with it promising to be entirely ghost free, but it turns out that something maybe even worse than a ghost is residing there. In this ghost filled world death is not seen as much of a burden as it normally is. Most people who die return as ghosts and so couples are no longer separated by death and death looses some of its finality. This leads to situations such as with Jeff Strand's 'A Most Unpleasant Task' and Ryan Breadinc's 'The Perfectly Fine Family', both comedic stories in which the dead are trying to speed up the process of their loved ones lives ending. Then there is the interesting 'Incorporeal Tax' by Annie Knox, about a partner being trapped with his abusive boyfriend even after that boyfriend has passed. On the flip side, there are some stories here played super seriously with Candace Nola's 'Click' being the most morose and straight one, in which her protagonist character attempts to let her newly deceased brother come to terms with his suicide.

There was a good variety of stories from more grounded tales to action pieces that were a thrill to read. My personal favourite was 'Auld Lang Syne' from Wile E. Young that sees the perpetrator of an office massacre returning to the scene of his crime in order to destroy the ghosts of the people he originally murdered. Another similar one handled different was Shane Burnham's 'Addicted to Slaughter' that sees a serial killer forced to live with the ghosts of the people he killed. Killers feature in a bunch of these, I thought 'Playthings' by Lay Hanifen was memorable (a ghost trying to save a woman from a serial killer), while D.C Hill's 'The Perfectly Fine Storm' with echoes of The Purge to it, and 'Fiduciary Duty' by Zachary Rosenberg both had satisfying stories about ghosts getting their deserved revenge on the living.

There was a good feeling of unity with elements appearing in different stories that made them mostly feel like they were taking place in the same world. There are some contrasts, Brian Keene's (The Lost Level) 'Where the Heart Is' sets out the idea that ghosts are doomed to haunt the areas they died, while most other stories allows ghosts seemingly to travel wherever they like such as with Gavin Dillinger's 'Lay, Lie, Lie'. I liked all the ideas presented here though, such as how ghosts are able to be witnesses to their own deaths. The anthology ends with Kayleigh Dobbs (The End) 'The Last Word' that takes the form of a letter a convicted murderer has written about the life-long rivalry with her twin sister which led to her eventual imprisonment.

I was weirdly ambivalent to the concept for this anthology, but the book proved me wrong. There are some stories here that felt a bit similar, or a bit basic in their execution, but the quality was strong throughout. Everything from comedic to tragic and action packed, I liked how the stories mostly felt like they were taking place all within the same world. The Perfectly Fine Neighbourhood was a good one, not a bad story to be found, and all of them were well written.

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V/H/S/2 (2013) - Horror Anthology Film Review

I have a scheduled list of exactly when I am going to watch films sent to me for review. When the screener turns out not to work I always give myself the option to instead watch a film of my own choosing. I love anthology films, and have long wanted to work my way through the V/H/S series of horror anthologies. I can't believe it was so long ago, but back in 2022 I reviewed V/H/S, and now is the turn of its sequel - V/H/S/2.

As the title suggests, this anthology series uses the found footage genre as the concept that links the shorts together. I felt the first film showed promise, so hoped this sequel would build on the strengths.

Contained within this is a moderately sized wraparound story as well as four short films. The wraparound is titled 'Tape 49' and was written and directed by Simon Barrett (the writer of wraparound segment 'Tape 56' from the first V/H/S and writer of You're Next). Here, a private investigator named Larry (Laurence Michael Levine) has been hired to find a missing student at the request of his mother. He heads to a house with his assistant where the mother thought might be one of the locations her son could be. After breaking in, they find the place deserted, though a video they find on a laptop point to the missing young man having been there. While Larry searches the house, his assistant finds a bunch of strange VHS tapes and decides to check them out to see if they offer any clues. The tapes she watches then makes up the four short films. Much like the first movie, this wraparound segment was functional as a means for the shorts to appear, but the story wasn't particularly exciting, nor does it end up going anywhere surprising.

 After an eight minute intro, the first short begins. Titled 'Phase I Clinical Trials', this one being directed by Adam Wingard (V/H/S, You're Next), who also stars in the lead role, again, with the story written by Barrett. Wingard plays a blind young man who has recently had an operation to implant a chip in his brain that will allow him to see. Wanting to monitor the man's new implants, the company who installed the devices are recording everything that he sees. This reminded me of a Japanese film I once saw about a woman who begins to see ghosts after an eye transplant. The same thing happens here, with Larry able to see ghosts with his new 'eye'. It wasn't too enjoyable as I didn't think the very physical acting ghosts looked that scary. I thought the plot of a woman also able to see ghosts appearing (Hannah Hughes) was rushed through a bit, leading to an obvious finish.
After seventeen minutes (roughly) it is back to the wraparound before heading swiftly to second short film 'A Ride in the Park'. I was interested in this one as it is a zombie found footage film, obviously I love zombie films. Taking place in woodland, this sees a man (played by Jay Saunders) on his mountain bike accidentally getting caught up in an undead outbreak. What made this stand out a bit was the protagonist actually dies not long into the film, with nearly the rest of the short showing things from the now zombified man's perspective, as him and his new found friends gate crash a children's birthday party!. Directed by Gregory Hale, this was straight forward, but zombies are my favourite movie monster. I liked how the zombie occasionally gets reminded of the person it used to be, and the effects were decent enough, but not too memorable. 

'Safe Haven' is the third film and was by far the best one here. This Indonesian horror (directed by Gareth Huw Evans) has a film crew going to the remote headquarters of a sex cult. There becomes a triple threat of danger, what initially appears 'just' to be a deranged cult soon devolves into the undead once again appearing, and a rampaging demon. I loved this, I loved how crazy everything got. Certainly didn't expect the twists and turns within this. The story at twenty nine minutes contained a lot, I felt this would have worked equally well as a feature length film. A highlight of this was a room full of men who all commit suicide by gunshot at the exact same time, looked great on camera.
This just leaves the final film, which also happened to be the least interesting. 'Slumber Party Alien Abduction' was directed by Jason Eisener and mainly took the form of pranks a brother and sister were playing on each other, before the arrival of zombie-like aliens. My issue with this was the sheer amount of camera glitches and shaky hand camera action meant it was really hard to tell what was going on. This comes to a head with the lengthy final part which went on and on and on far longer than I felt it needed to be.

Much like the first film, V/H/S/2 showed potential but was a bit of a mixed bag. The wraparound story felt just as uninspired, but 'Safe Haven' was a definite highlight, worth the price of admission alone. With some many films in the series, I'm sure it will find its footing, maybe with the third entry? V/H/S/2 is currently available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.

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The Addiction (1995) - Horror Film Review

Sometimes it does feel like we are living in a simulation. I schedule screeners based on the order I receive them and it just so happens that this past weekend, the first two films watched have both perfectly reflected my current mood. The Addiction is a black and white vampire movie from 1995 that was directed by Abel Ferrara (The Driller Killer), and which takes a more grounded and realistic approach to the topic of vampires, while displaying the need to feast on human blood as an unhealthy addiction that must be confronted.

One night while walking home from a lecture in New York, philosophy student Kathleen Conklin (Lili Taylor - The Nun, The Conjuring) is grabbed by a strange woman and dragged into an alleyway. The woman then precedes to suck blood from Kathleen's neck before saying some cryptic words and leaving. While the hospital say there is nothing wrong with the woman after the attack, she begins to feel very strange and comes to realise she has a thirst for blood that cannot be sated. Using her philosophy studies as a basis, she tries to reconcile what she has become, questioning if someone who does evil acts is bad, or if it is an inherent badness that causes a person to do bad things.

Truth be told, I don't understand philosophy, I found much of The Addiction to feel quite pretentious. It is a pretentious that is neatly wrapped up within the confines of the movie, with many of the characters seemingly happy to engage in musings on life. Included among the large cast is legendary actor Christopher Walken (Batman Returns, A View to a Kill), who despite only featuring in the movie for around ten minutes of this eighty two minute film, completely stole his scenes as a fellow vampire who has learned to control his urges. The meat of the film is Kathleen really trying to work out the type of person she has become, and battling her addiction with little success. You might expect a large body count as a result of all her feasting, but whether she didn't know how, or didn't wish to, she ends up turning everyone whose blood she sucks, culminating in a fun and unexpected later scene set at a dinner party.

There are no outward signs that people within the film world are vampires, they don't have fangs, they do have super strength, while their weaknesses are stripped back and made less deadly. Kathleen does have a reflection, but chooses to cover up her mirrors due to not liking what she sees in them, sunlight doesn't kill, but she still has an aversion to it, while religious figures seem immune to the subtle hypnosis that she is able to cast on potential victims. I liked how grounded this felt compared to a lot of vampire films, with the need for blood reflected as an addiction akin to alcoholism and drug abuse. Battling an unhealthy addiction myself for much of my life, I liked seeing this portrayal on screen. 

The Addiction was a strong drama that downplays much of the supernatural aspect. The black and white was a perfect choice, with the use of light and shadow in particular being impressive. The location of the streets of New York created a retro feel that felt older than even the 90's setting. The reason for this review was that there has been a new 4K restoration of The Addiction from the original camera negative by Arrow Video. This restoration is currently available to watch on ARROW, the streaming subscription service.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Double Bill for 19th December 2024

Earlier in the week was news plucked from the very bottom of my bloody mail sack, today sees the latest news to hit my inbox dealt with. Two terrifying tales of...well, news, to follow. My personal life has seen the equivalent of a nuke go off in it, so unsure if my third and final film review of the week will appear (spoiler - it doesn't).

I missed it when it was at the cinema, but Smile 2 has came to digital to buy from today and to rent digitally from December 31st, while it will be released on 4K UHD + Blu-ray Steelbook, 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD from January 20th 2025. Following a popstar who has become afflicted with the terrifying smile demon curse, this sequel I have heard is just as good, if not better than the first (that had its issues but showed potential).

Finally for todays shorter post, J. Horton's A Hard Place has its world premiere on January 12th 2025 at the Englewood Cinema in Ohio. The film follows the adventures of six criminals who get caught up in an ancient feud between creatures of the night and monsters of the day. The cast includes among it Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp), and Lynn Lowry (The Crazies), with supporting actors including Bai Ling (The Crow), Glenn Plummer (Saw 2) and Sadie Katz (Wrong Turn 6). Tickets for the event can be purchased here.

The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for 17th December 2024

                           

I have been going through a very depressive phase at the moment in my personal life, but luckily for this site, one of the few things that can get me out of bed is doing my blog. Distractions are always key for keeping the demons at bay, and this often helps with keeping my mind occupied. With that all said, onwards to a trilogy of horror news.

Forever Mine is a psychological horror-thriller that has been acquired by Freestyle Digital Media, and was released on 13th December on North American digital HD internet, cable, and satellite platforms, as well as on DVD. The film is about a man named Vincent who has married a woman named Erica, on the belief that she will be the perfect person for him to act out his sadistic desires. Unknown to the man however is that Erica's previous husbands have all met somewhat suspicious untimely deaths, and Vincent might just become a part of this patten. Directed by D.C Hamilton (The Midnight Man) and written by Brinna Kelly, the cast includes Kelly as Erica and Trevor Algatt as Vincent.

The excellently titled It Goes On All Fours is a new practical effects horror film that is going to be shot in the Bulgarian wilderness. It revolves around a group of friends who have headed out for a hunting trip, but instead find themselves that target of a twisted cult and the legendary creature they worship (sounding very The Ritual like). There is currently an Indiegogo campaign running to get funds, at the time of typing it has raised £594 of its £35,663 goal, with thirteen days left to go. For more details check out the Indiegogo page here.

Finally for today, a reimagining of the classic Arabian fable Aladdin is due for release on VOD on January 3rd 2025. Aladdin 3477: The Jinn of Wisdom is the feature length debut of pop culture artist Matt Busch that sets the story in a retro B-movie sci-fi setting. The sci-fi adventure stars Erik Steele, Christi Perovski, Aaron Golematis, Lin Zy, Jon Rick, Tony Miello, Brian Dalling, Jerry Hayes, Irfan Sheikh, Robert Shannon, and Sydney Solomon.

House of the Wizard's Blackened Soul (2024) - Short Horror Film Review

House of the Wizard's Blackened Soul is the latest horror film from unique filmmaker Dakota Ray (Prince of the Crimson Void, Dante's Shadow of Sin), and is a return to his short film roots. I have always enjoyed his dark and depraved atmospheric films, but I guess that absence (or should that be absinthe?) really does make the heart grow fonder, as I found myself really in the mood for watching this latest horror. All the familiar tell-tale marks of Ray's style of filmmaking are in abundance here, but it brings with it a weirdly comforting feel of being wrapped in a warm, if bloody blanket.

Ray stars as Gideon, a psychopathic alcoholic who has decided to 'look after' his near comatose elderly grandfather (Sebastian Oake - Sebastian's Unholy Flesh, American Antichrist) at his home. With the property falling to Gideon when his grandfather passes, the man is more than happy to speed up that process. While there is no one to stop Gideon from carrying out his sinister plan, his inner demons and perhaps the malice of the property, conspire to make sure things won't go as smoothly as he would have hoped.

All the usual trappings of Ray's are present here, from his central role as a psychopathic character, to lingering camera shots on scenery, absinthe drinking, animal and bug corpses being stamped on, and a chosen filter colour that the whole film will be bathed in (this time an orangey black and white). This was all familiar, but also welcome, with there being atmosphere in abundance. There is a strong Gothic vibe here, with repeated shots of a full moon, and a perfect feel that this could easily be taking place in some sort of hellish afterlife, rather than the real world. Occasionally with Ray's feature length films I have felt that there is a bit too much time spent slowly focussing on background scenery, but here, with a twenty seven minute runtime, this process is streamlined.

Despite a shorter runtime, this didn't feel like it raced along. Not a complaint as the dark atmosphere here was very well realised. Though this does have a cast of three, it may as well just be the character of Gideon, as the wheelchair bound grandfather character doesn't say a word the whole short, while the only other character is The VHS Butcher (S. Donatello), who only really appears on the snuff films that Gideon is obsessed with. Ray carries the film effortlessly, he may play a very similar character type that he plays in his other films, but it was a captivating performance. I really liked shots such as the close-up of Gideon's cruel smiles, and the lingering shots of scenery, such as religious imagery which had a mood all of their own. If I had any complaints, it would be that the story gets wrapped up rather swiftly once it reaches its conclusion, with the epilogue represented by a screen of text, rather than actually shown on screen.

I have always appreciated Ray's style of darkly artistic filmmaking. These are always mood pieces that use a simple story to craft a nightmarish void that oozes atmosphere. House of the Blackened Soul is another great example of these types of films, another example of a relatively slow-burn done correctly.

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The Man in the White Van (2023) - Thriller Film Review

I wasn't that excited to see the Warren Skeels directed and co-written thriller - The Man in the White Van, yet it has actually turned out to be the best of the three movies I watched this past weekend for review. While it has a very grounded feel to it, there were neat elements of horror films and thrillers to be found throughout, and the early 1970's setting allowed it to set itself apart just that little bit.

Annie (Madison Wolfe - Malignant, The Conjuring 2) is the teenage middle sibling of three, who lives in a large house outside a peaceful rural town with younger brother Daniel (Gavin Warren), older sister Margaret (Brec Bassinger) and parents Hellen (Ali Larter - Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, House on Haunted Hill) and William (Sean Astin - The Lord of the Rings trilogy) in the early 1970's. Annie begins to notice a creepy old white van following her, but due to being known for having an overactive imagination, her concerns are dismissed by her family. It turns out she is right to be concerned, as the van belongs to an unknown person who has been abducting children for many years, and now has his sight set on Annie.

Lately, I have seen quite a few films I would term 'slow burns' and all have really felt as long as their runtimes. I think that The Man in the White Van is an example of slow burn done correctly, as despite the real horror not beginning until there was just thirty four minutes to go in the hundred and four minute long thriller (that includes ten minutes of end credits), I was invested throughout. 

The focus is on Annie, but the film jumps around in time a bit, with most the story taking place in 1974, but showing both Annie's encounters with the van in the preceding years, and the abductor kidnapping victims. The cast felt larger than it actually was, but all characters seemed to serve a purpose, from Annie's love interest, Mark (Noah Lomax), to best friend Patty (Skai Jackson), all played the roles well. It was of course nice to see Astin in a small but important role.

The little abduction sequences work at showing that the van is something to be feared. I say 'van' and not 'man' as the vehicle has a life of its own. It often bursts onto screen with a dramatic musical intro, and over the course of the film far more is shown of the vehicle than the man driving it. It gave me elements of the shark appearing in Jaws, of the terrifying lorry in PG thriller Duel, and even of the rusty old van from the beginning act of Jeepers Creepers. I liked that you never once get a good look at the person driving the van, he is shown in extreme close-up, such as of his arms or feet, the face is just glimpsed once reflecting off a mirror and even then just a part of the face. My one complaint with the effective antagonist is that despite the film feeling grounded and realistic in its portrayal of events, the antagonist has a weird habit of walking after his victim in the style of classic slasher villains like Jason Vorhees and Michael Myers. If it was truly sticking to the realism it often went for then I think they would have had the killer running after his victim. It might take a while to get to the meat of this thriller, but the lead up was well handled, I was a fan of the movie showing the van and Annie's encounters in the lead up to her final encounter with it.

The Man in the White Van was a lot better than I expected it to be. I liked how many different horror films and thrillers it seemed to pull inspiration from, but then altered these moments to make them its own. There were echoes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween and more, but all dressed up in a more realistic portrayal. If you are here for a high body count then you might be left wanting, as other than the short abduction scenes of various victims there isn't really much horror happening up to the third act. I was impressed with the quality of the filmmaking here, and I liked the adherence to never showing the killer. The Man in the White Van comes to U.S theatres on December 13th, and is apparently based on a true story.

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Because, Everyone is Wrong About Everything All the Time by Lo-Fi Melancholia for Kids (2024) - Music Album Review

It doesn't take much for me to agree to doing a music album review despite my startling lack of musical knowledge. With Because, Everyone is Wrong About Everything All the Time, the new project from Scottish based musician Adam (Japan Review) under the Lo-Fi Melancholia for Kids name, you have an album that is not at all a good fit for a horror blog. I guess it would be perhaps something that I would listen to as I wrote reviews.

Over half an hour you have ten of maybe garage-pop style stylings, which reminded me slightly of The Strokes. Might not be a good comparison seeing as I don't like that band, but the vocal style seemed similar in my mind. There are plenty of sad, gentle, and indeed melancholic tracks that echo the feeling of great Summers long past. Beginning with 'Energetic Midfield Player', a delicious four minute opener, things get more slow and sombre with 'The Dark Outside', and that continues with much of the album, such as 'Smog', and 'Ragland'. The tracks sound similar but not so similar that they bleed into one. There are slightly more energetic tracks within, such as 'The Arrow' and closing track 'Spare Century'.

Maybe the worst music review I have yet done, I listened to Because, Everyone is Wrong About Everything All the Time while doing a deep clean on my house, a very much work-in-progress thing I've decided to do now that I have a lot more spare time in my free time. It might not be anything to do with horror, but this was a decent album with a good flow to it, and plenty of wistful tunes that took me back to happier times.

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Phil Herman's Unearthed (2024) - Horror Anthology Film Review

I have been watching a fair number of films for review in recent weeks that could be accused of sometimes taking themselves a little too seriously. It was nice then to see that Phil Herman (It's A Wonderful Slice) has helped make a new horror anthology - Phil Herman's Unearthed. As well as a wraparound segment, there are four short films contained within, revolving around the idea of a mystery being uncovered.

The wraparound segment written by Herman has a graverobber (Christopher Kahler) digging up the obscure grave of a woman. In the coffin he finds an old tome, which he takes. Later on he reads to the viewer four different tales about unsolved mysteries and what really happened in them. As a wraparound it was functional, aside from the prologue there wasn't actually a story to it. Perfectly fine, there doesn't always need to be one.

The first short proper is the Derek Braasch directed 'Ties That Bind', and at around forty minutes long, this was the lengthiest entry. This crime thriller starred Joseph Martin Jauch as Detective Herman. Years in the past he had solved a nasty murder in which his sister-in-law had been murdered. His work led him to the conclusion that it was his father-in-law who had committed the crime. However, in present day, he is starkly reminded of that prior crime when investigating the site where a woman went missing, and spotting similarities that seem to suggest the same killer has struck again. With the father-in-law still in prison, Herman begins to suspect he might have got the wrong person all those years ago. This one was interesting enough, even if part of the story did seem obvious from the get-go. I did like the ending to this that was pretty fun, and it had the biggest cast out of any of the films contained within the anthology.
Following this was the sci-fi themed 'Look Towards the Sky', written and directed by Will Devokees. A man who had gone missing three days earlier suddenly reappears, bringing with him tales of an alien abduction. The biggest problem with this twenty minute short was how little actually happens in it. A large chunk of the story has the abductee sitting in a room talking to his family about his experience. When there is a need for special effects, they were fine, if fairly obvious that they were CG and not practical effects. With a less dull character, and more sci-fi stuff shown, this might have been improved somewhat.

The third short is a slight improvement, 'Clean House' was directed by Marcelo Fabani and was the only one not to be in English. It starts off in a rough way with a prologue sequence that was silent save for the soundtrack. With the artificial film grain added to the footage it looked a bit strange. I did like 'Moonlight Sonata' being used as the backing music. This was a film about demonic possession, which finally got moving when it got to that part. The first five or so minutes of this seemed pointless and mostly unrelated to what follows. I always have time for demonic possession in horrors, and so that part saved this one for me.
The final short also happened to be the best, 'Highway Rivalry' was about a prolific serial killer who kills his victims while out on the road. After her deadbeat husband dies suddenly, Teri (Debbie D) decides to pack her bags and leave. Out hitchhiking, she is picked up by a stranger (Herman), who it turns out might be the killer. Out to stop him is Detective Athan (Mike E. Pringle), whose latest evidence has him finally getting a good lead. I liked this one, it seemed to take itself less seriously than others, in particular with the delivery of the lines, such as the amusing different voices playing out over a radio show at the start. Some of the twists might have been obvious, but later bonkers ones were certainly not. Decent enough makeup effects for corpses, and some nicely integrated flashback sequences.

Unearthed was very indie in its feel but it was enjoyable to watch. Herman and his anthologies are always at the very least entertaining. Some of the shorts here were definitely not as good as others, maybe a little too talky and light on action, but overall this wasn't a bad film. Phil Herman's Unearthed will be available at the end of December on DVD, Blu-ray and VHS, and will be streaming on multiple platforms in 2025.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Tuesday 10th December 2024

Due to a pitifully small news round-up for last month, my news inbox is currently close to getting out of control again. With changes in my personal life I have much more time to work on my blog at weekends so hopefully it won't be long until I am back on full steam ahead for this site. Talking of steam (or rather Steam), I have very recently begun to explore indie PC horror games, there is a giant selection to check out.

On 22nd October, BayView Entertainment released slasher film By The Devil's Hands: The 666 Killer on AVOD Digital Platforms worldwide, with it having previously been out on Digital Platforms. The story states that twenty five years ago a killer dubbed the '666 Killer' went on a bloody murder spree. Now in present day it seems like this killer is back in business, with Jamie Anderson (Susana Gibb) the only one who is able to stop him.

Double Exposure is a supernatural thriller that is set for a North American Digital debut on VOD platforms and DVD on 18th February 2025. The story sees a dead bride who has returned from the dead to take back her husband from a beautiful influencer he fell for. Written and directed by Howard Goldberg, the cast features Alexander Calvert (Supernatural, Gen V), Caylee Cowan (Willy's Wonderland), and Kahyun Kim (Cocaine Bear).

Finally for today, LaBouche Canalla Wins Her Snack has had its first official trailer released. Coming from Split-Vision Development, written and directed by Giuliano Tomassacci, this centres around a feral country girl with a taste for human flesh.

The Reflected Self (2024) - Thriller Film Review

The Reflected Self is an English indie film that was written and directed by Kelvin Richards. It started off appearing to be a typical supernatural thriller but it isn't long before that is all turned on its head. Calling this a slow-burn would be an understatement, though does somewhat put itself together within the last few minutes of its hundred minute runtime. 

After the death of their parents in a house fire, siblings Dion (Barney Jones) and Nia (Daisie Boyes) have moved into a small house out in the countryside, but it isn't long before Dion starts seeing the ghostly figure of a woman.
Elsewhere, after the death of his entire family in a house fire, Dion repeatedly falls into a comatose state where he believes his sister is still alive. His live-in therapist, Aria (Marielle Clare) is determined to use hypnotherapy to get him to see the real reality.
But are either of these two states what is really happening to the troubled man?

I did like how this started off seeming like a ghost story but then became a more subdued version of classic horror Dark Corners. The protagonist slipping between two different realities was actually handled well, with characters in both realities recognising Dion when he falls into a comatose state again. The problem for me was that this started of slow and then just never really got moving until there was any film time left to go. It was a very sentimental film, but it was also incredibly dull and dreary at times. Rather than the thriller it appeared to be, The Reflected Self was far more a drama with very light horror elements to its plot. Along the way there were a bunch of melodramatic twists that were all taken super seriously, but which were not that exciting to watch play out. One good part I would say is the ending, I did like that, even if it was too little too late.

It was hard to get a good handle on the cast when their roles kept changing throughout the story, at times Nia is Dion's sister for instance, other times she is his daughter, while the therapist slips between a person doing that role and Dion's lover. For the most part this is a film with just the three characters, with a good 90% of the film taking place in the dark and somewhat bland looking house, there wasn't much to be interested about. The drama was all perfectly fine but didn't have me caring too much about what was really going on. Acting was varied, I thought two of the side roles that appeared later seemed very odd, though that might play into the ever evolving story of what is actually real and what isn't.

One good thing the movie did well was its soundtrack, especially later on it really fitted the vibe of the movie well and added needed emotional cues to the scenes it plays out over. In general though, this was far too slow and stale for me to really get much enjoyment out of it. It felt like it dragged, and the minimal cast of characters I didn't care about sadly did little to spice things up. The Reflected Self is released on Amazon on December 10th.

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Transient (2024) - Sci-fi Thriller Film Review

Transient is an indie sci-fi thriller that was written and directed by Chris Ruppert. The tale told here felt like an episode of Black Mirror stretched out to a feature length. It certainly has some interesting ideas, but for me, I wasn't particularly in the mood for a slow burn movie.

After a car crash that left his young daughter dead and marriage in tatters, David (Greg Poppa) became obsessed with creating technology that would allow him to re-visit past memories. With the help of business partner and friend Bill (Eric Francis Melaragni) he manages to actually succeed at this, with some type of new technology that allows people to experience memories recreated with A.I. David becomes obsessed with this, able to re-live happier times in his life. The prototype device isn't without its side effects however, including seeing past figures as 'ghosts' within the waking world, inadvertently being able to experience other peoples memories, and the ability to wipe unwanted memories from existence.

This is very Black Mirror, with the story here bringing up echoes of season one episode 'The Entire History of You'. It took me a while to understand exactly what was going on, with the first twenty minutes full of techno-babble between David and Bill. This ninety eight minute thriller had a slow pace to it, with much of the film having David sat around on his own in his house. There were some neat arthouse style moments when he re-lives the crash as a series of quickly edited together images. I also thought the grainy style that memories from the device were portrayed on camera worked very well, able to easily show what were actual memories and what were ones visited via the device. Bill gets his own subplot involving an office romance with secretary Shareese (Kenishia Green), but it didn't really travel anywhere too exciting. David was an obviously flawed protagonist, deep in mourning, he didn't seem to have any personality outside of that. That isn't a complaint, many characters here are purposely down to earth in a realistic manner.

The film was watched on a lazy Sunday afternoon, and I did feel that it seemed every minute of its runtime. I do have time for slow films, but not on this particular day unfortunately. I thought the general idea was a good one, there were some decent mild twists later on, and the moments where characters encounter 'ghosts' were effective moments of horror. Some of the better ideas only really developed right towards the end of the movie, with around twenty minutes left to go. I did feel that more time to breath and expand on this third act change-up would have benefitted things, as there were some fun ideas introduced, leading up to a good finish.

Transient was well edited, and it was well put together, for me though it wasn't really the type of movie I was in the mood for. Like every good episode of Black Mirror, it does make you think, but the super serious cast and lack of too much excitement did have me clock watching more than once. Transient is available on Amazon, Apple, Google Play, Vudu and Youtube via Synergetic Distribution.

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