Longlegs (2024) - Horror Film Review

I am going through a bit of a dry spell on my blog at the moment, with the screeners I am getting sent quite low in numbers. That isn't to say I am unhappy about the situation, instead I am getting to choose each weekend whether to do a reduced blog output or to select a film of my own choice to watch for review. This past weekend, I decided to give the Osgood Perkins (I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, February) written and directed Longlegs a view, starring that most iconic of cult actors; Nicolas Cage (Renfield, Mandy), even if his screen time only makes up around five minutes of the hundred or so minute thriller.

Lee Harker (Maika Monroe - Independence Day: Resurgence, It Follows) is a newly recruited FBI agent who is assigned to a long running serial killer case, working along the seasoned Agent Carter (Blair Underwood), after she demonstrates apparent psychic abilities linked to it. For over twenty years, the serial killer (the titular Longlegs, played by Cage) has been seemingly responsible for a series of family murders, in which the father butchers his family before killing himself. Despite no evidence of Longlegs having been at the homes where the murders happen, his calling card is always left behind, a message written in a strange code. After someone leaves a key to deciphering his messages at her home, Lee begins to unravel the mystery of this killer, discovering unexpected links to an event in her own childhood.

The film felt very similar in style to Silence of the Lambs, but here there is a definite supernatural element hinted at, due to the killer's ability to seemingly make people commit horrific acts without him actually being present. This odd ability meant that I struggled to follow the story at times, especially early on when a series of clues are presented to the viewer, but due to watching the film on my phone (and my eyesight not being fantastic!), I couldn't actually make out what the written information said. Much like Silence, the film is shown mainly from the perspective of the FBI agent, the socially awkward Lee. Her lack of personality is balanced against her obsession with the case she has been assigned to work on, I actually came to like the quiet and muted way she carried herself.
Any film that Cage is in I expect him to steal the attention, that is the case here despite his character barely featuring. He is often shown badly framed in camera shot, with the top half of his head cut out the shot, this just added to the mystique of the character. It is over an hour I believe until he is shown fully on camera, before this, he is always lurking in the background, or obscured. Some of the twists in the story I had already heard of, not in terms of spoilers, but more the general outline of what happens with Longlegs. He made for a very disturbing feeling character, played to sheer perfection by Cage. He makes a hell of a lot of impact for a character who is in the movie for so short a time.

Flashback sequences related to Lee spur on the story, and by the end everything makes some sort of sense, even if they are steeped in supernatural elements that made this at times feel like an extended version of an X-Files episode. The meat of the film is Lee and her investigations alongside Carter, onscreen horror is kept to a minimum, but always looked good on camera with the right amount of blood being splashed about. The story makes you think a bit, mainly admittedly due to the strangeness of what is happening, but it wasn't bad. This is the best movie I have yet seen from Perkins, the serious vibe, and the unsettling performance by Cage combine to give this a dark atmosphere all of its own.

Longlegs didn't blow me away, but I am glad I finally got around to watching it as I had wanted to ever since I saw the trailer a few years back. Cage I expected to shine, and he does, it seems he can only give amazing performances at this stage in his wild career. I thought this was an effective horror, but some of the more outlandish moments might lose some viewers. Longlegs is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Thursday 10th April 2025

This year has been a transition from my more sedentary existence of last year. Not all good, but I am certainly learning lots of interesting things. With that out the way, onwards to a trilogy of horror news, starting with music.

US Dungeons & Dragons inspired power metal group Behölder have released a lyric video for their track 'Eyes of the Deep', which is the second single from the group's upcoming second single from the upcoming debut album; In The Temple of the Tyrant, which is due to release on April 25th via Black Lion Records. The new single is billed as a '...Lovecraftian-style mystery/horror' and sees a man infiltrating an ancient temple in a bloody search for his missing son.

A new trailer has been released for R rated comedy horror Sanguine Teeth On a Driftless Road. Written and directed by Austin Galante, this follows four black vampires who have gone on a road trip to a cabin in the woods. The film stars Jason Horton, Matthew Kenner, Jason Rouse, Galante, Charlie Mac, Douglas Montoya, Tony Lee Gratz, Duane Daniels, Michael Oilar, Kristin McCabe and Tiffiny Saggio, while the soundtrack features music with Snoop Dogg, KRS-ONE, Galante, and Jeff Ryon.

Finally for today, First State of Fear is an upcoming anthology horror film that sets out to explore Delaware's scariest legends. The set up has a group of paranormal investigators sharing three scary stories during a Halloween ghost hunt, but is there any truth to the stories being told? Featuring Michael St. Michaels (The Greasy Strangler), Mark Haynes (Stream), Amber Brook (The Amityville Barbi) and Illsun 4K (Pretty Face), this comes from the makers of Slaughter Beach, with Clockout Films having launched a Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign that with its modest goal looks set to be achieved. For more details, head to the Indiegogo page here.

The Last Cabin (2025) - Horror Film Review

There was something refreshingly simple about the very indie found footage horror The Last Cabin. I have seen a fair few from this sub genre lately and all have suffered by having a very lengthy set-up. Thankfully, this one gets straight to the action, and also doesn't outstay its welcome with a lean seventy minute run time.

Ben (Brendan Goshay), Shawn (Tanner Kongdara - Amy and the Aliens) and Hope (Isabella Bobadilla) are three location scouts who feel they have stumbled across the perfect location for their next shoot; a newly built cabin out in remote woodland. After encountering the strange property manager (John Fantasia), they strike a deal with him to rent the place for a few days to do some filming. They haven't been there long at all when they notice that they are being watched by someone wearing a creepy clown mask, and it soon becomes clear that the silent figure and his two equally silent clown mask wearing accomplices intend violent horrors for the trio. With their phones jammed, the three have to try and find a way to escape the cabin and alert the authorities.

After a brief prologue in which a different group of friends are murdered by the mask wearing clowns, the film really begins in earnest. I have gotten used to a good forty or so minutes of set up in found footage, but here it begins almost immediately. This plunges straight into the action by having the film begin when it is already pitch black outside. It might be a good half hour until the first character (post-prologue) is killed off, but prior to that there was plenty of threat. To be honest, I don't think the prologue was really needed, it doesn't add much aside from a higher body count, and it takes away some of the mystique from The Strangers type antagonist figures as it is clear that murder is their goal.
At one point the protagonists discover a series of DVDs, each of which is hinted to show a different group of people being killed, in a way that reminded me of parts of the excellent Sinister. That would have been a much better introduction to the viewer as to how the clown mask people operate.

The story is incredibly basic, but as a found footage horror this does what it sets out to do in a way that was very welcome. I appreciated the swift intro into terror, and also that it moved along at a swift pace. Characters didn't really have too much to them, but I thought some of them shone. Fantasia was effortlessly unsettling as the property manager, and film crew manager Kevin (Benjamin L. Newmark) delighted with his cruel uncaring persona. He impressed enough that my initial amusement at the lame reason why Shawn was filming everything actually retroactively made sense, as did the reason why the trio didn't flee at the first sign of trouble.
The movie is indie and that stretches to the kill scenes which lack impact, but I would also say can be very inventive when they choose to be. Often the violence is implied rather than shown on screen, but this works to the constraints of the budget. With a shorter run time there wasn't as much filler dialogue, but a scene in which Hope records a video message to her parents apologising felt very by the numbers and generic. There are moments of jump scares here but they actually worked on a couple of occasions, and while the epilogue wasn't that original, I did appreciate it as a way to end this type of film.

The Last Cabin is one of the better found footage horrors I have seen this year. I have respect for the back to basics approach to the story being told, I found the design of the clown masks to be effective, and there wasn't too much of the elements I dislike from the sub-genre, such as ad-hoc dialogue and shaky camera footage. It might not blow your mind, but this was an entertaining horror that shows less can be more. The Last Cabin comes to on-demand on April 29th thanks to The Horror Collective.

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Candlewood (2025) - Horror Film Review

Candlewood is a new indie suspense thriller that has been released by Mill Creek Entertainment. Directed and co-written by Myke Furhman, this takes the paranormal genre and blends it somewhat effectively with the thriller genre, though makes it a little too obvious as to what is actually going on.

Kevin (Joel Bryant), his wife, Veronica (Lisann Valentin - Jessica Jones TV show), and their two children - Sarah (Isabel Lysiak) and Matteo (Coulter Ibanez - She Came From the Woods) have recently relocated from the city to a woodland property out in the sticks, hoping for a fresh start. They discover a group of locals who seem hostile to outsiders, with creepy property owner Elijah (Jeffrey Alan Solomon) and flirtatious nearby neighbour Brandi (Jessica Altchiler) seeming to be the only ones willing to welcome the new family. With this already causing friction within the family group, the increasing apparent sightings of ghosts, possibly related to a local legend, increasingly threaten to tear the family apart.

The movie begins with a fantastic prologue that immediately drew me to the picture. This sequence was full of horror and tension, featuring corpses that had wonderfully bleak makeup effects on them, and a man committing suicide that toys with audience expectations by drawing out the expected moment that the rising score alludes to, to make something well signposted still alarming to see. Had the rest of the film shown this quality to story telling then Candlewood would have been a masterpiece, but unfortunately that was the very best scene in the entire film. After an overlong intro credits sequence (complete with a Danny Elfman sounding piece of music), the film begins proper and some of the cracks begin to show.

My problem was that I didn't like any of the four protagonists, making it hard to root for them, and also hard to care about what happens to them. Worst of these was Kevin, a man who always acts like he has all the answers but just seems a bit of a moron. The voice of the actor really reminded me of Jonathan Banks from Breaking Bad fame, I found this distracting, though obviously that is a 'me' problem. The rest of the family don't fare too better, especially Veronica who has some really twisted lines where she basically says she hates her children. I accept that all four were suffering strange symptoms, but these moments always seemed very cold, without a realistic response from other characters. Solomon was superb as the effortlessly creepy property manager, I liked the way he always seemed to be amused by a joke that only he knew, so his scenes were forever delightful.
Candlewood has a unique way of making ordinary looking characters seem monstrous just by the way they act. There is a quiet amusement from the locals that gives an unsettling vibe, with facial expressions seeming somehow exaggerated without it being super obvious, giving a bit of an 'uncanny valley' feeling that I was fully on board for.

The meat of the horror comes both from the ghostly apparitions various family members see, and the increasingly unhinged actions of the family. It could have been fun wondering what exactly was really going on, but this part was sadly ruined by far too much signposting. From the effects used, and different characters seeing different things, it was clear that the ghosts may not turn out to be anything more than hallucinations. There are attempts at jump scares that always fell flat, the ghosts looking quite generic.
Where the plot goes was totally expected, and this even saw fit to end on an epilogue that wasn't the most original way to end a movie, and which I guessed would happen when I got to about halfway through the film. 
I might not think much of the main characters, but there were some decent enough moments, makeup effects for damage inflicted on characters looked good on camera and the mainly unsurprising score did a decent enough job.

I think if the plot of what actually was happening in Candlewood had been less obvious then I might have gotten into this more. It made for a horror that was lacking in decent twists, being far more of a psychological thriller than the synopsis might make you expected. There were plenty of great moments, and some standout actors here however, especially with that prologue that was near film perfection to see play out.

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Mirror Mirror (1990) - Horror Film Review

I thought I had previously heard of 90's cult supernatural horror Mirror Mirror but I think I must have mixed it up with a different mirror based horror film. Either way, it is always a delight to travel back to the past and watch horrors that would have been around during my childhood, with this Marina Sargenti effort (in her directorial debut) being released when I was around eight years old. Full of cheese, with the occasional fun death scene thrown in, I liked this, but it did really drag, especially towards the second half.

Goth girl Megan (Rainbow Harvest) has recently moved into a large house with her mother, having arrived at a new town. The house clearers had intended to remove all the previous occupants furniture, but inexplicably, a strange mirror that had been removed was back in the house. Megan convinces her mother to let her keep the mirror, finding a strange pull to it. At the local school Megan's strange dress style leads to the popular kids picking on her, which in turn causes kind Nikki (Kristin Dattilo) to befriend the outsider. Megan soon confides in her new friend that the strange mirror she owns seems to have some type of power, able to grant the girl's wishes, even if at a terrible cost. Nikki at first dismisses her claims, but after a series of tragic events happen at the school to people who Megan had issues with, Nikki comes to believe the mirror has some type of terrible hold over the girl.

From the prologue that seemed to be set in the fifties or sixties it is apparent straight away that the mirror has supernatural properties to it. Backstory provided by the house clearer who discovers a journal, reveals that it is likely a demon resides within it. This demon mirror granting Megan's wishes makes up most of the film's runtime, with there being a slight suggestion that she is vaguely possessed by it. As the body count ramps up, Megan's confidence increases. The mirror doesn't just kill, it also can also cause hallucinations and pain to people. Early on this is shown when an animal mortician's flirting with Megan's mother is stopped when he starts to see flies and maggots everywhere. There wasn't really a good idea of what the mirror could do as it seemed pretty random, from controlling peoples actions, to being able to Final Destination style murder people, such as a character taking a shower when the pipes burst and burn her to death with boiling hot steam. With no apparent weaknesses, the mirror seemed unstoppable, leading up to a dream like surreal ending that left itself pretty open.

This horror was very cheesy with plenty of dodgy acting and a low-fi straight to video sounding soundtrack. The general flow was perfectly fine, but I found myself bored with a lot of the middle part of the movie circling the water and not really doing much to advance the story. The main actors were fine, but no one stood out, and peoples reactions to people around them dying were a bit too understated. The mirror was ok, I liked the views from its perspective, but it didn't look creepy, and it was ill explained. Some of the special effects were decent enough, there was blood at times, best of which had a character whose arm started getting chewed up in a food disposal unit!

Mirror Mirror was perfectly fine, but I found it to be a bit slow, and also a bit light on plot. I appreciated the cheesy early nineties vibe to it, always a joy to see, but at a hundred minutes long this felt like it could have benefitted by being more lean. Mirror Mirror is now streaming on ARROW.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Tuesday 1st April 2025

It is April Fool's day, so what better way to celebrate than bringing together three terrifying news stories to curdle your blood.

Horror channel NYX UK has announced some of the highlights hitting the platform throughout April. April 1st sees Lou Chaney starring horrors The Unknown and The Hunchback of Notre Dame on the line-up, while Thursday 3rd is even more exciting with the Lamberto Bava double bill of the excellent Demons and Demons 2. April 8th has cult horror comedy Motel Hell, while April 22nd sees the arrival of The House on Sorority Row. Other channel premieres include vampire horror Frostbite (Thursday 10th April at 21:00), and stoner horror comedy Hansel & Gretal Get Baked.

Meanwhile, over on ARROW they have their own selection of classic films hitting their service. Exclusively on ARROW in the UK is Booger that the press release states is '...a unique blend of horror, humour and heart...' Stéphane is a darkly comedic thriller that mixes elements of the fantastic Creep with Man Bites Dog, and Mute Witness is a Hitchcockian thriller in which the only witness to a brutal crime is (as the title hints at) mute and so unable to call for help. I was also pleased to see the great sci-fi classic Xtro 3 is streaming in April, alongside slasher Hide and Go Shriek, Purgatory, found footage horror The Outwaters, comedic horror Ghost Light, Capsules and sci-fi comedy The Visitants.

Finally for today, mentioned previously, Final Days: Tales from the End Times came to digital platforms on March 28th. This award winning anthology is based around the end of the world, bringing together cosmic horror, the supernatural, and survival terror.

I Will Never Leave You Alone (2023) - Horror Film Review

Written and directed by DW Medoff (Pollen, Visitants), I Will Never Leave You Alone is a horror that blends psychological and the supernatural together into one whole. Featuring mainly just the one character, and a mute one at that, I was surprised that this kept my attention for as long as it did, though I did feel the final twenty minutes lost me a bit.

Richard (Kenneth Trujillo - Fear Street: Part Two - 1978) has recently been released from prison where he had spent the past five years due to involuntary manslaughter. As part of his early release, he is part of a work release scheme, and to fulfil this role, he has been hired by a strange company who deal in house 'clearances'. The man (who is unable to speak) is told that he needs to spend six days in a remote home near some woodland, in order to perform rites that clients of the business believe will cleanse the place of any ghosts who may reside there. He is told that should he leave before the six days are up that he would have broken the terms of his release and will be sent back to prison. Already facing demons of his own, he soon comes to suspect that there is something in the house with him that doesn't has his best interests at heart.

Horror films in which the protagonist are pretty much alone for the whole runtime can often be a lesson in patience. I also find the amount they talk to themselves (mainly it feels to keep the viewers from boredom) unrealistic. In that respect, giving Richard a reason not to talk does actually work, and having a reason for him not to flee at the first sign of danger also makes sense. This is both due to him having to go back to prison should he leave, but also that the troubled man has frequent unsettling audial and visual hallucinations of his likely deceased wife, Emma (Katerina Eichenberger) even before he leaves prison, so hearing strange noises and seeing strange sights in the house probably feels business as usual for him!
Due to the protagonist not talking it is hard to get a read on what he is really feeling. There are frequent enough flashbacks to when Richard was married to provide a decent amount of backstory for him, as he is able to talk in these flashbacks. You get glimpses into an unhappy marriage, Richard an alcoholic with a gambling addiction, his wife Emma suffering severe postpartum depression. As if those things were not bad enough, you then get the boiling point moment that was very shocking, making The Coffee Table incident feel almost tame by comparison!

Richard is joined by a small handful of other characters, best of which was handyman Mike (Christopher Genovese), a likeable fellow who provides the lead with the backstory of the house's troubled past. Allegedly based around an old woman who had been tortured and killed by superstitious locals hundreds of years in the past, as she had been suspected of being a witch. With Richard already hallucinating prior to arriving at the house, it could be seen that his frequent sightings of a ghostly witch creature were also all in his mind, though other characters react to strange noises that occur in and around the house so who knows? The design of the witch ghost was fine, but it did have a bit of a generic look to it, even if it was striking with its crown of thorns, stitched up mouth and nails that had been hammered into the eyes of the ghost. There was a creepy atmosphere in the house, and an unsettling feeling, but the fear never really got to anything more than a small bubble. What fear there was dissipated in the bizarre final twenty minutes. I actually liked this final part of the hundred minute movie, but it was real odd, and ended on bit of a silly note.

I Will Never Leave You Alone certainly had its moments, from the twisted final flashback sequence, lovely gruesome special effects, and the constant oppressive feeling of the house. I can't say I was really there for that last part, as enjoyable as it was, and I found Richard hard to really root for due to his morose and silent character. I Will Never Leave You Alone came to ARROW on 10th March, and is due to come out on limited edition Blu-ray on 5th May.

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Livestream (2025) - Horror Film Review

I've been watching quite a few found footage horrors for review lately and even when they don't hit I still don't find them that difficult to watch. Livestream, written and directed by Victor Soares (who also co-stars) tries something different with the subgenre, by creating the impression of having the entire film take the form of one single unbroken livestream on one of the lead character's phones.

Five internet personalities have teamed up together to go and spend the night at an allegedly haunted house out in the middle of a wood. The friends, who include among them social media influencer Mia (Sarah Moliski), her actor boyfriend Joss (Mao Sun), internet prankster Thomas (James Michael Cowan), comedian Pedro (Soares) and musician Cindy (Tiffany Dennis) arrive at the house and meet the family they will be renting the place from, with Mia filming the whole thing for her followers. Later that evening one of the friends are found dead and suspicions begin to be flung around, more bodies begin to pile up over ninety minutes of horror, all the while with the single livestream still going.

This instantly reminded me of the ace comedy horror found footage #ChadGetsTheAxe, but by playing it straight, and by only having the one camera perspective this was not as good as that one at all. I liked about that other one how amusing the terrible protagonists were, playing up for the camera despite all the terror going on, while the multiple cameras meant that something was always happening. It was a brave idea to not only show the entire film in real time, but to have it all from a single perspective. That idea was better on paper than in execution as it leads to plenty of moments were not much is going on at all. The characters here are melodramatic, shouting and screaming at each other in the most over the top ways. Characters were dull, possibly with the exception of Pedro, though he is only entertaining to watch when nothing bad is going on.

Being real time also meant that this takes a hell of a long time to get going. Apart from one early moment, it is a good forty minutes into the film before the danger finally appears. So we are stuck watching mindless drivel, such as Cindy playing music, and the conflicts between the group. When the horror does begin things don't really improve, at multiple times the camera is dropped (conveniently) framing scenes perfectly. This led to some decent moments, such as dead characters appearing not blinking or breathing on screen for literal minutes at a time, but it also led to moments of tedium where you are waiting for anything to happen.
During the whole movie there is a chat window taking up a sixth of the screen, the chat is inane and in that respect felt realistic, but it was also really distracting and I found myself glued to reading the constant text rather than paying attention to the film itself. I liked how this chat window mentioned things that I as a viewer was thinking, such as people (thinking what is happening is fake) typing that the acting is bad, that a particular shot has been well framed, and that various 'scenes' are too long. This chat window should have became a part of the film, but where in #ChadGetsTheAxe the characters directly interact with comments, here, the cast seem oblivious to the chat window, especially irritating when the viewers have seen key information and are trying to tell the protagonists, but none of them are bothering to read the text despite looking directly at the camera where I assume it would have been flowing. 

Livestream should get kudos for so religiously sticking to the livestream format, I wasn't looking for scene breaks and assume there would have been some, but they were not obvious, making it feel authentically real time. The horror that takes place was ok, but nothing that crazy and unexpected really happens, with the found footage horror being more grounded than typical supernatural stuff you encounter in these types of movies. Not bad, but not great either, Livestream came to Digital and On-Demand on March 25th via The Horror Collective.

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The Rotting Zombie's Round-Up of Horror News for March 2025

Another month has gone in this unexpected year. I have travelled to a strange gradient in my life, though feel I am just a tourist, and so am enjoying all it provides while I am here. With that out the way, on to the news.

Utopia have acquired Hot Spring Shark Attack for the U.S market. This crazed Japanese horror takes place in a small hot spring town where a deadly ancient shark has reawakened and stalks the local hot springs. The film has its U.S premiere in June at the Chattanooga Film Festival that includes a beach-themed opening night party, with a summer rollout following.

On April 1st, found footage horror /demo_n arrives on streaming service FOUND TV. Directed by Gary Francis, this blends the found footage subgenre with video games, blending real world sequences with in-game sequences. This cursed video game horror was based on the short film of the same name from the director.

Humorously titled horror film Popeye The Slayer Man has had a music video released for title track 'Sailor to Slayer'. Performed by trio The Man From Alphabet, this video pays homage to both the classic Popeye character as well as the darker reimagined version. Popeye The Slayer Man came to selected theatres as well as VOD on March 21st.

Desert Fiends 2 is a comedy horror sequel that promises to be 'bigger, gorier, and grosser than the original'. Directed once again by Shawn C. Phillips, this follows a group of bounty hunters as they track down the monstrous titular 'Desert Fiends'. While this is happening, a social media influencer  has headed to a nearby town, unaware that their meet-up with fans is going to be gate-crashed by the creatures.

Perfect Soul is an upcoming supernatural thriller movie based on S.J Hermann's novel of the same name. The film is set in the religious town of Perfect, where '...transgressions are revealed and historical roots take hold and wreak revenge'. The thriller is filming in central Illinois with a 2026 release planned. There is currently an Indiegogo campaign running to get funds for the creation of this. For more details check out the campaign page here.

Daylight to Dark is a new horror comedy starring Tuesday Knight (A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master) that is now available on Amazon Prime. A brother and sister stranded in a small town come to realise that all the inhabitants are actually vampires. Directed by Jake C. Young, this is set in the same film universe as American Vampire, with Danny Hitt reprising his role as Boogie from that 1997 cult classic movie.

Vault 13 is a new anthology series that aims to bring twisted tales in the spirit of The Twilight Zone and Black Mirror. Created by Rashá Robinson, Vault 13 is set to be a showcase for independent horror, bringing fresh actors to the standalone tales of '...eerie and thought-provoking horror shorts that push the limits of fear and imagination'.

American Psychopath is now available to watch on Cinema Epoch's YouTube channel, with it also coming soon to FAWESOME. Starring Erica James, Teresa Tuttle, and Debonnay Meyers, this follows an out of town girl who becomes the prey of a mysterious serial killer.

Finally for today, ex NFL star Phillip Buchanon is producing a new short horror film called Kreaster. Directed by Jacob Cooney (Blood Circus), this follows a military officer and a paranormal researcher who are tasked with interviewing the lone survivor of an incident that saw an unknown entity vanishing the population of a small town. The cast includes Sal Rendino (Billions), Laura Poe (Twisters), and Greg Nutcher (The Equalizer) and is currently finalising post-production. The short is due to debut at this year's Made in Huntington Film and TV Festival next month.

Cannibal Comedian (2023) - Comedy Horror Film Review

American indie comedy horror films often fall flat for me. I find American humour doesn't always translate over that well, and so my expectations were set low when I began watching the Sean Haitz (Mangrove Slasher 2) written and directed Cannibal Comedian. I was pleasantly surprised by this one however, not without its issues, but the protagonist/antagonist was wonderfully cast.

Charlie (Aaron Prager - Thumper's Revenge) is a psychopathic cannibal who is obsessed with getting new victims to turn into food. The man also sees himself as a bit of a comedian, always trying out his cannibal related puns on his victims, either as he kills them, or by forcing his captees to watch his stand-up show. When he discovers his latest victim; Chrystal (Austin Judd - Big Top Evil), is a singer, he asks her for advice on how to perform on stage, and with her advice he gets the confidence to go to a local comedy club to try out his material. Naming himself the 'Cannibal Comedian', his act is a hit, with the audience thinking the body parts he brings with him and the outfit he wears is all part of his act rather than being real items. He soon catches the attention of the comedy club owner; Carrey (Robert Dunne), whose jealousy of the new comic sees him first restricting him from performing and then stealing his act for his own.

This may be a comedy horror but it doesn't shy away from the horror side of things. Characters here are funny, but this takes place in a vaguely realistic setting, with the world mostly operating normally, but populated with some larger than life characters. Prager was a fantastic choice for the narcissistic and arrogant lead. The man not only slightly resembles iconic actor Bruce Campbell (The Evil Dead), but his voice is also nearly identical to my ears. This made his lines a joy to listen to, which is good as the man never shuts up. A lot of the comedy comes from his cannibal based stand-up routine, featuring plenty of groan inducing 'dad' jokes. If not for his penchant for killing and eating innocent people I would have really liked this character. He was a villain, but a likeable one whose supreme over confidence in his abilities made him a bit endearing. I liked how the film was shown from his perspective, such as canned laughter playing out when he makes jokes, and showing him having deep conversations with his reflection in the mirror. There was a bit of a disconnect with his comedy club plotline abrasively contrasted against his home life where it is hard to ignore the fact he has a scantily clad beaten woman chained up.
This had a vibe of The Devil's Rejects to it, following obviously evil characters but made to feel for them. Charlie has a 'family' type of situation going on also, with his striking stick thin drag queen neighbour Eleanor (Miss Sadistic) as well as Sheriff Weaver (David Vega) both helping the cannibal get away with his crimes.

Being a film about a cannibal you might expect lots of blood and gore, being a comedy also I wasn't sure how much of this to expect. This movie does not shy away from showing lots of gruesome things, lots and lots of blood and guts, and some brutal looking kills, such as lovely looking effects of axes embedded in heads! This makes for some gross moments where people are being eaten, so I wouldn't recommend watching this while you are eating! I did enjoy how oblivious people are to Charlie being a real cannibal, always coated in blood and carrying around body parts, but with no one realising this is all authentic stuff. The storyline was simple, but it was enjoyable to follow with some satisfying moments, such as how he deals with an obnoxious heckler. Going back to Chrystal, I wasn't that keen on how she was treated, especially when she is set up to be Charlie's antagonist and an attempt to turn the viewer against her due to later actions.

Cannibal Comedian was far better than it had any right to be. I liked that the comedy wasn't the sole focus here, and instead there was a good balance between the two elements. I thought the characters for the most part were interesting, especially the wonderfully cast Prager, and I liked the surreal plot. The only part letting it down for me came from personal preference, as I find cannibals a bit of a gross topic. Cannibal Comedian can be viewed exclusively on SCREAMBOX, having came to the streaming service on March 4th.

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Uncontained (2025) - Horror Film Review

I decided to take a week off my blog last week, aside from one news post. I had a busy weekend, so didn't have the time or energy to work on it. This weekend however is the polar opposite, me on my own with all the time in the world to blog. I went into the Morley Nelson (writer of The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct video game) written and directed Uncontained completely blind, I had no idea what the film was going to be about, at first thinking it would be home invasion, then thinking it was post apocalyptic, before realising it was actually that most favourite of horror sub-genres; a zombie film. Would that subject matter make up for the bland protagonist character however?

Waking up buried in a snow drift, a wanderer (Nelson credited solely as 'The Man') heads through woodlands and stumbles across a remote house whose sole occupants appear to be two year old Brooke (Brooke Nelson), and her seven year old protector brother, Jack (Jack Nelson). Getting the upper hand on the man, Jack confiscates his weapons and informs him that he can only have them back if he can do some essential maintenance on the house. It is soon revealed that martial law has been declared in the area, and this appears to be due to a localised zombie outbreak. Some time later a woman appears (Nicole Nelson), a homeland operative who is the mother of the two children, and who tells the man of a deadly secret that he is all too familiar with. Meanwhile, local militia leader Brett (Peter O.Meara - Resident Evil: Extinction) is out roaming the area with his men, looking for his missing daughter, and the man becomes increasingly convinced that the remote family might have something to do with her disappearance.

In a way this had a good opening, a confusing emergence of the protagonist character, but with hindsight explained a lot. I have to say, it took me until nearly half an hour into this to realise that the apparent interpretive dance group who kept bizarrely appearing outside the house were not actually the personification of sorrow, but were actually this film's version of the undead! They were strange, often shown frozen in places in various poses, and in others doing the more traditional fast zombie type stuff. They never felt like much of a threat, but that may be due to the old zombie film adage of humans being a more deadly threat to the survivors than the dead. Brett was the standout character here, making for a captivating antagonist. Clothed in black, with a cowboy hat, and very reflective sunglasses, this man of few words had an unsettling presence, and more integral for a decent adversary, he actually had decent motivations. It is a shame the protagonists didn't fare as well. Chief of these was 'The Man', also a person of few words I can see how he was meant to be the different side of the same coin to Brett, but instead he came across as a personality vacuum. I felt nothing for this character, overly melodramatic and po-faced, matched in bland seriousness by 'The Woman', with the creepy children characters completing the set. To be fair, Brooke was fine, likely due to not even knowing she was in a film, the same couldn't be said for the character of Jack, with the young actor not able to speak his lines in a convincing manner.

I liked the remote setting, and also the approach of having a zombie outbreak film that took place in a location that seemed to be dealing with it quite well. The local police are still out doing their jobs, the local hospital isn't overrun, and people are able to be outside without much fear of zombie attacks. The story was perfectly fine, if a little over serious, it went in a predictable yet interesting enough direction, and the filmmaking style often saw little montages play out over soft playing music, even during the high action scenes. The snowy setting of course perfectly compliments the blood that is spilled at various moments, but with the lifeless characters there wasn't much for me to root for.

Uncontained was an acceptable zombie film, one that chooses to focus on the living rather than the dead. A big shout out to O'Meara in his role, but sadly his was the only interesting character to be found here, with the lifeless protagonists not doing anything to make me care about them. Uncontained came to SCREAMBOX exclusively on March 11th.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Tuesday 18th March 2025

Happy Tuesday, without further ado, here is a trio of bloody news stories to tickle your proverbial fancies. This time starting with some music news. As an added note, you might notice this is my sole blog post of the week, that was down to me having a social life this past weekend, and then needing a day to recover my social battery.

Russian 'occult wave' duo Raven Said have revealed 'Desolation', the second single coming from their upcoming album. The press release states the track '...merges elements of goth rock and dark synth, creating a fusion of sensual and expressive energy'. 'Desolation' is available on all major streaming platforms including Spotify and Bandcamp.

A teaser trailer has been revealed for The Dark Domain: MVW Mickey VS Winnie. This versus horror film males use of the recent public domain unleashing of classic Disney characters. Taking place in Hell Forest (sounds like a lovely place), Steamboat Willie era Mickey (Daniel Wilkinson - Pitchfork) and Winnie-the-Pooh (Chris Boudreaux - Born a Champion) are reimagined as 'bloodthirsty killing machines'. Check out some still below.

Finally for today, Egerton Crescent Productions have announced that dark fantasy/horror film The Prince, the Sister, and the Serpent goes into production in the summer of 2026. The film follows the Greek Mythology of Cadmus, someone who was said to be the founder of Thebes. The story has the prince's bloodline being cursed by the Gods after attempting to rescue his sister from them.
The movie will be filming in the Mediterranean, with Omar Parker as director.

Renfield (2023) - Comedy Horror Film Review

It is one of those rare moments on my site where I am almost up to date with movie reviews. I was originally going to watch a different film today, but decided to instead invoke the 'own choice' clause. The film I decided to watch was Renfield, something I had wanted to see for a while, mainly due to it starring iconic actor Nicholas Cage (Willy's Wonderland, Mandy).

Narrated by Renfield (Nicholas Hoult - Mad Max: Fury Road, Warm Bodies), this tells the story about how Count Dracula's (Cage) familiar Renfield was able to escape his masters control and reclaim his life. Set in modern day in a crime filled city, Renfield, both with the help of a toxic dependency self help group and by witnessing the courage of police officer Rebecca (Awkwafina - Raya and the Last Dragon voicework, Jumanji: The Next Level), decides to stop working for the powerful vampire, and to try and live a normal life. Upon learning of this however, the count decides to team up with a violent crime family led by Bellafrancesca Lobo (Shoreh Aghdashloo - Ghostbusters: Afterlife) in order to punish humanity for Renfield's betrayal.

The style of the film reminded me a lot of Zombieland, both featuring a protagonist who narrates the film, while using select flashbacks that include the use of freezeframe. The comedy here is also ultraviolent, with torrents of blood being spilt during the handful of some very over the top action sequences. These sequences were loads of fun, featuring assailants being decapitated, and limbs ripped off in amusing ways. All these scenes are made possible due to the power that Renfield has, by eating bugs he is able to briefly assume some of the power that Dracula has, given him super strength and speed. For me, these moments were nearly the highlight of the whole movie. Dracula looked great on screen, using some lovely looking special effects of him turning into bats or mist, and the make-up effects used for him were always really good looking. Despite being a bit of an idiot he is shown as all powerful. The use of flashback sequences to show his past battles with vampire hunters was neat. I loved that the flashback to when Renfield and Dracula first met was done in a black and white style, and as if old movie footage was being used (turns out it actually was old footage, with Hoult and Cage digitally added to the scenes!).

The plot is relatively straight forward, but it told its story in an entertaining way while introducing a bunch of fun characters. I expected Cage would steal the film due to his weird acting style and I have to say he doesn't disappoint, his wild expressions and the perfect delivery of his lines draw attention to him constantly, I loved how much he seemed to relish being the Prince of Darkness, albeit, one who may be all powerful, but is also shown to be a bit of a petty bully to Renfield. Hoult was good in his role also, I assumed he would be as I don't recall a film of his where he hasn't shined. I was also pleased to see Ben Schwartz (Sonic the Hedgehog voicework, Parks and Recreation TV show) playing a large part as the son of the crime boss, bringing lots of silly manic energy and over confidence to the role. Awkwafina did a solid job as the co-protagonist, and had some funny lines, though she was overshadowed by the other stronger lead actors.

I expected to like Renfield, vampires may not be my favourite movie monster, but I do like them, especially Dracula himself (outside of his portrayal in that terrible Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode). With oddball Cage playing the role, there was no way he would disappoint. Outside of the casting choices and special effects there might not be too much here to bring you back for a return trip, but I did have a blast watching this. Renfield is currently streaming on Netflix.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Thursday 13th March 2025

I am back with another round-up of three horror stories plucked from my mouldy news sack. Spring is here and is much appreciated, the persimmons may be not long for the stores, but cherries are on the way.

Lost Joy is a psychological suspense-thriller that is set for its digital debut for North American VOD platforms and DVD on March 18th. This follows a couple, Jane and Jon, who have headed to a remote woodland cabin in order to try and fix their struggling relationship. Further issues arise when Jane begins to experience strange sights and sounds, something Jon doesn't get himself. This is then further compounded when a stranger appears and claims to confirm the visions Jane has been having. This was directed by Jordan Laemmlen, who also co-wrote this alongside Winter Bassett, both of whom star in this alongside Vincent Catalina.

Director's Cut is a retro-style horror/slasher film that is also to come out on March 18th. Here, a Long Island punk band are lured to the woods by a mysterious director who has offered to shoot their first music video for free. After a night of heavy drinking, the director becomes increasingly unhinged, with him and his assistant's plan being to use the band members as unwitting stars in a snuff film. This was written and directed by Don Capria who stated the director character represents 'the evil in the music business'.

Finally for today, The Apex Predators Club currently has an Indiegogo campaign running. The synopsis sees a group of rich thrill seekers getting the chance to hunt actual monsters, but things soon begin to go wrong. Filming is set to start in June 2025 and will be coming from J.Horton (Craving) and the Mahal Empire. For more information check out the campaign page here.

Cold Road (2023) - Thriller Film Review

They say speaking to yourself is the first sign of madness, which is something I've never put much stock in as I frequently do that. With the idiotic protagonist of the Kelvin Redvers written and directed Cold Road I have been forced to reconsider my stance as the moronic lead doesn't shut up once over the hundred minute movie, despite spending 99% of that time pretty much all alone.

Tracey (Roseanne Supernault) is an indigenous Canadian who is driving down a long and empty road up in the remote Canadian North in order to pay her respects to her terminally ill mother back in her childhood town. She unwittingly attracts the attention of a semi truck driver (played by both Chad Cosgrsve - The Last of Us TV show stunt work, and C. Blake Evernden), one who has a psychotic hatred for the indigenous people. As she desperately tries to cover the vast distance in a car low on fuel, she is endlessly pursued by the faceless driver who seems intent on running her off the road whatever the cost.

I was immediately reminded of the Stephen Spielberg classic PG horror film Duel with this one, and the similarities are extremely noticeable. It even has a midpoint break where the protagonist ends up in a diner wondering which of the diners is the mad driver, the same as that film. The main difference here is the location. Duel was set out in the American deserts while this is the complete opposite, taking place in heavy snow.
Tracey made for an insufferable main character, someone who is constantly shown as being dumb and who keeps making the most stupid mistakes. My favourite error has to be her filling her car up with petrol. Rather than actually pay attention to the act, she leaves the petrol nozzle in her car and then walks off to have a phone call with sister Eve (Taylor Kinequon), with her back to the car as another driver sneaks up and fills his car up with her petrol nozzle. Rather than notice her car is only half filled, she sees the price and assumes it has filled up. It is then a long long time before she notices how little petrol she has! I don't know about other people, but I am constantly keeping an eye on my petrol gauge, especially during long journeys. It seemed so unbelievable, a fabricated plot device to try and ramp up the tension.
She makes so many stupid decisions over the course of the movie, not helped by how whiny the character is. An early phone call with her husband reveals he doesn't appear to like her, and then a call with her sister I got the exact same impression, couldn't say I blamed them. Then there is her equally stupid dog with the ridiculous name of 'Pretzel'. The whole chase begins because the dog decides to go and sit in the middle of the road when let out for a rest stop, which then causes it to nearly be hit by the lorry driver. Rather than own her mistake of not watching the dog, Tracey becomes infuriated that the lorry driver didn't slow down or stop completely. Real main character energy coming from this irritating woman. That isn't to say the actress wasn't good, she did as fine a job as possible, but you could hear in her voice the unnaturalness of constantly having to talk to herself. The dog seemed to be there to act as a reason for Tracey speaking aloud so much, but it didn't work, no one speaks to themself that much, I came to long for the few moments of silence.

The whole chase part was at least a bit better. The lorry, covered in dirt, and able to get up to unnatural speeds had an intimidating look to it. Sure it was no Road Train, but it had energy enough that it felt more like the antagonist than the faceless driver inside it. Cribbing from the Duel textbook, the driver's gloved hands or legs were occasionally glimpsed, but the man and his motives remained mostly a mystery. The prologue scene did set him up to be someone potentially targeting indigenous people though. Some of the chases were fun, some of the chase sequences were a bit stupid. Going back to the apparent low intelligence of the protagonist, at one point she disguises her car by covering it in snow and smashing the break lights, but forgets a huge blinking light that conveniently is the only part of the vehicle she forgets to cover!
The climatic finale to this I will admit was better than the cliff dive sequence in Duel, going along a similar path but one that I found far more satisfying!

Cold Road suffered the most because of its unlikeable and ditzy protagonist. Her endless complaining and droning on didn't make her someone easy to root for, while the many mistakes and bad calls she makes were infuriating to watch. It somewhat redeemed itself at the end, but there were just a few too many bad decisions made around the plot and pacing to really say this is something to recommend.

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