Slender Man (2018) - Horror Film Review

I don't often get to a stage in my blog where I have space to review films of my own choosing. Why oh why then did I decide to check out the critically panned Slender Man, especially considering I knew it to be a bad film. Directed by Sylvain White, and based on a cool Creepy Pasta (basically the modern day version of urban legends) created a tiny way back in 2009, this film apparently was a bit of a mess to make, with drastic re-writes to try and distance the movie from the negative press the idea of Slender Man was getting (stemming mainly from two girls who conspired to murder their friend and blame it on the figure making them do it). These changes in the film's story were late enough that even trailers showed character death scenes, when the final version boringly features zero deaths even remotely near showing on-screen. 

Four teenage friends - Wren (Joey King - Independence Day: Resurgence), Hallie (Julia Goldani Telles), Chloe (Jaz Sinclair - Gen V TV show), and Katie (Annalise Basso - Ouija: Origin of Evil, Oculus) are bored and decide to look up a way to try and contact urban digital legend the Slender Man. After around a minute of searching online they discover the summoning video, which they all watch but then dismiss it as an internet hoax. As the days pass, the four begin to experience inexplicable hallucinations and nightmares, with things getting more serious when Katie vanishes into thin air during a school field trip. The remaining friends now knowing the Slender Man is real at first seek a way to rescue Katie, but then later on it becomes far more about self preservation from the figure's grasp. 

Surprisingly, it isn't the lack of any type of body count that really pulls Slender Man down, it is more how it tries to be a jack of all trades and inevitably becomes a master of none. The horror is so inconsistent here, with barely any rules as to what the characters will go through. One friend vanishes, another goes insane (I assume anyway, the character just kind of exits the film never to really return), the remaining two getting increasingly paranoid and plunging into waking nightmares. The horror mainly takes the form of limp jump scares that never worked, semi-effective nightmares (one character being stalked by a multitude of Slender Men within a compact library was maybe the film's highlight scene), and poor CG. The CG in particular was very off putting as it looked like the type of CG you might find in an early 2000s film. It is hard to be scared when characters are impaled or grabbed by obviously computer generated tentacles.
The design of the titular antagonist isn't a bad one, the relative newness of this fabricated urban legend meant it was hard to take it seriously. It appeared in some decent enough scenes, usually anything out in woodland made for at least a couple of decent shots of the tall faceless being blending in with the trees.

The story was all over the place. You have to have a bit of suspension of disbelief that the real ritual for summoning the creature is readily available online with the smallest of searches, and that it is guaranteed to work. Much is made of modern technology, and it is sometimes put to decent enough use. I liked when characters receive video calls from the being that then show a first person perspective of it walking through the victim's home. Not so good was a mid-film investigation montage that again speed runs through the investigation, as if it was just checking off a box on a to-do list, the character swiftly finding what she wants to know with the minimum of searches on her laptop. Originally, there was planned to be a kill count, it sounds like this was going to be a more traditional horror. With that kill count abandoned however, there are just a whole bunch of scenes that end up unresolved. Characters vanish from the story with little fanfare, and rather than feeling mysterious, it just feels like the endings to the characters fates ended up on the cutting room floor.

Slender Man was a bloodless, generic, lazy and dull horror movie that really was as bad as it had been made out to be. Perhaps with not so much of a knee-jerk reaction to claims it was glorifying real world crime, this could have been somewhat entertaining. Instead, this is a muddled and meandering mess of a movie that doesn't seem to know what it is trying to achieve.

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The Rotting Zombie's Round-up of Horror News for July 2025

As I write this I'm on day seven of my self imposed exile from the world, I haven't so much as put one foot outside, and have only seen a friend on two of those days. Coming up to the weekend, so I have three and bit days left before I have to leave this paradise and return to the real world (I so miss that time alone, next time off work isn't until late November). Onwards to the news.

A teaser trailer for Magnificent Motion Picture's Until There Is One has been released. Sounding a bit like an indie Squid Game, this sees a viral billionaire influencer who launches an online event in which hundreds of contestants are locked within a large warehouse, with the last person standing winning a large cash prize.
In a side hustle, the film is hoping to break the Guinness Book of World Records for most on-screen kills in a slasher film. To aid with this, there is currently an Indiegogo campaign running where there is an opportunity to become a victim and join the cast. The cast currently includes Matty Cardarople (Stranger Things), Douglas Tait (Halloween Kills), Douglas Vermeeren (Black Creek), Lauren Marie Taylor (Friday the 13th Part 2), Ron Sloan (Friday the 13th Part V), and Brett Wagner (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre). For more details head to the Indiegogo page here.

I've never heard of it, but 2009 award winning comedy horror Dogtooth is set to return theatrically across the UK and Ireland via a 4K restoration that has been overseen by the movie's original director - Yorgos Lanthimos. Coming from Vertigo Releasing, Dogtooth tells the story of a couple that had decided to raise their three children on the outskirts of a large city, within a fenced off property, free from any outside influence. Their peace is threatened with the arrival of an outsider who begins to cause their fragile reality to crack. Dogtooth's new 4K restoration releases from 29th August.

Jared Master's entertaining indie comedy horror film Feral Female is now out On Demand, VHS, and DVD. The film, which concerns an Australian big game hunter who has been hired to capture a feral beast in LA's Griffith Park, received an 8/10 from me, with me saying 'A picturesque location..., fun characters, lots of silly dialogue and a lack of tepid humour...meant that I was drawn into this film world...'

Joe Boi's Code Blue novel is now available on Amazon in paperback and on Kindle. The story features PTSD survivor; former army medic Ariel Arcardo. She now works at a hospital where she is unfortunate enough to witness an invasion of a legion of demonic creatures within the hospital walls. Her only escape lies beyond nine floors, each of which is ruled by a different terror.

Mentioned back in my March round-up, the eigth horror feature from Acrostar Productions - Perfect Soul, is now in production, with a new Indiegogo campaign going to raise funds to complete filming. For more details about this horror that stars a woman who is guided by mysterious witches purporting to be her family, check out the Indiegogo page here.

Swine and Dine is a short horror film that comes from Black Ave Films and had its premiere at Smodcastle Cinemas on July 27th. Described as a '...dark, suspenseful short film that delves into the chilling world of industrial farming'.

Heading to festivals soon is Michael Moutsatsos' Camp Slasher Lake, described in the press release as a '...retro grindhouse nightmare...'. This stars Andrew Pierson as Splatter Jack, and the film has been shot as a short-form grindhouse experience. A feature length version of this is in pre-production. Pierson says of the movie "We shot this thing like it was ripped off a dusty VHS and left to rot in a gas station horror bin."!

Dangerous Animals is a shark based horror film that released on digital and physical across the UK and Ireland starting 25th July. The film follows rebellious surfer, Zephyr who ends up captured on a shark obsessed serial killer's boat! Following a world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, and a theatrical release on 6th June, Dangerous Animals came to digital on 25th July, with physical editions releasing on 8th September.

Finally for today, David Cronenberg's The Shrouds releases on digital platforms from 11th August. This stars Vincent Cassel as Karsh, a businessman who in the wake of his wife's death invented technology that allows the living to monitor their lost loved ones in their 'shrouds'. After a series of graves are desecrated, including his wife's, Karsh sets out to deliver revenge.

Ziam (2025) - Zombie Horror Film Review

Netflix has quite a good track record when it comes to Asian zombie films. I had heard a little bit of buzz about the Thailand based Ziam. This action heavy zombie horror coming from Kulp Kalijareuk (who directed and co-wrote the movie) had plenty of very cool looking undead, though the limited setting and basic story didn't do too much to make itself stand out from the horde.

In the near future, the world has fallen into anarchy due to dwindling food supplies. This has resulted in mass riots and a breakdown in law and order. Due mainly to the strong leadership of one man, Thailand has fared surprisingly well with law and order somewhat still upheld by the militarised police, who follow this leader. Singh (Mark Prin Suparat) is a former Muay Thai fighter who now works on protection details for lorries that smuggle food across the border. Meanwhile, his doctor girlfriend Rin (Nuttanicha Dungwattanawanich) works at the local hospital. Contaminated fish smuggled into the country (that happened to be the latest lorry that Singh assisted with) has the unfortunate side effect of infecting people who eat it into flesh hungry ghouls. Not knowing about zombies, the first victim is taken to the hospital where he swiftly dies, and then reanimates. It isn't long before the hospital is in chaos with violent undead taking over the place. Discovering the place is in lockdown, Singh travels there to find Rin. Not wanting the infection to spread, the police have been authorised to blow up the site, though first they have instructions to retrieve the leader and his terminally sick wife who are both situated at the top of the building. During his search for Rin, Singh discovers a young boy, together the two search for Rin, unaware about the explosive countdown occurring in the basement.

The main thing I had heard about Ziam (a play on words with Siam being another name for Thailand) was that the protagonist doesn't fight zombies with guns or other weapons, but instead uses his fists and feet! This sounded like a very risky way to fight the undead, and I can't say it ever felt particularly effective. Singh is able to fight off scores of the rotters at once for sure, but his attacks are mostly defensive, knocking the creatures to the ground rather than actually killing them half the time. It did look great on camera, there is no small number of these insane sprinting horrors. There was also a good mix of human antagonists that led to some lovely looking three way fight scenes between the trigger happy police, Singh, and the zombies. The highlight of this was Singh's fight against the police leader. A typical well choreographed fight sequence along the lines of something you would see in a movie like The Raid, but made so much better by the occasional break in fighting as both combatants have to stop to dispatch approaching undead before continuing the fight!

The zombies look fantastic and increase in number and danger as the ninety five minute movie proceeds. Without going too much into spoilers, something happens in the third act that makes these crazed ghouls even more insane and scary looking. It becomes really thrilling, especially a late scene that sees Singh trapped in a car as zombies from every conceivable angle smash their way in to him. There is lots of blood to go with these ghouls, blood spraying absolutely everywhere throughout the film.

The story was a bit too basic for its own good, extremely simple, and restricted almost entirely to the hospital. You could tell the more indie nature of the budget with outdoor scenes that never failed to feel very artificial looking. Lots of entertaining fight scenes with Prin Suparat, and the child actor was actually quite entertaining with a good amount of sass in him (such as when he giggles at a struggling zombie whose arms and legs are all encased in plaster cast). Rin was also fine, a decent enough character. The cast was pretty small with not many notable standouts. 
Despite the occasional obvious budget constraints, there were some great directing choices. One highlight was a slow sweep around the hospital, with the camera passing through walls and floors to give a great overview of the utter chaos going on. There was a slow motion blurred effect given for close ups of the undead which also worked well, due to the great zombie make-up. Some silly moments here, one part saw a character caught in the epicentre of an explosion, only to be shown moments later completely fine while all around him are in various states of destroyed limbs. The ending was also a tad cheesy, and the odd mid-credits scene that seemingly hinted at a sequel came out of nowhere.

Ziam was a neat zombie film that did something a little different with its reliance on martial arts. Plenty of very freaky looking undead, and some neat stylistic choices was let down really only by a barebones and unoriginal story that sometimes felt a little too by the numbers. Ziam is currently streaming on Netflix.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Tuesday 29th July 2025

The first of two news posts for this week, this one bringing together three news stories of terror. Onwards to the news.

The Horror Collective have acquired Super Happy Fun Clown ahead of its FrightFest international premiere. This comedy horror comes from Patrick Rea and stars Jennifer Seward (The Stylist) as a former child prodigy who grown up is now a clown for hire. Over one terror filled night she decides to take inspirations from classic movie monsters and infamous killers. Super Happy Fun Clown will play on 24th August at 16:00, in Odeon LUXE West End, Screen 1.

Road Head is a LGBTQ comedy horror that has its worldwide digital debut on VOD platforms and DVD today. Directed by David Del Rio, this tells the story of three friends who encounter a deranged cult after taking a road trip to the Mojave Desert.

Finally for today, the excellently titled Zombie Sluts Stripclub Slaughterhouse. This is directed by Robbie Lopez (The House That Eats Flesh), and stars Andrew Pierson as a bouncer at a strip club that gets caught up in a zombie outbreak. This is currently in pre-production with a trailer coming soon, and strangely isn't the first, second, or even third zombie film I have heard of that takes place within a strip club!

Killing Time (2019) - Short Horror Film Review

Killing Time is a short sixteen minute film that was directed and co-written by Scott Lake, and was a film that took me about sixteen minutes to locate on IMDB also, due to many many films coming out under that title!

A masked man sneaks around the home of a family one night where he systematically murders them all. Starting with the children, he then proceeds to kill the wife before waking the husband (Jay Allen Tucker - Pool Ghouls) up and taking him to the front room where he proceeds to try and explain his actions.

It is hard to really talk too much about this one as there are some pretty integral spoilers that would be needed to be known. Obviously filmed with an indie budget, there were elements  here that didn't look so great on camera, with an obvious lack of special effects. On the story side of things also there are parts you just have to accept and move past on. The integral twist is poorly explained within the short, mainly due to the short run time, both the viewer and characters are expected to just take it at face value despite the lack of much evidence.
Despite all that though, this told a captivating story, doing more with its silent moments than with its scenes of dialogue. He may be a man in a balaclava but there was something in the actors actions that made him seem familiar with the home he was in, leading me to guess the odd reveal before it happened. The first kill scene took me by surprise, though with just a sound effect to sell the kill it took me a few moments to realise it had even happened. After that I was more interested, the mystery of the piece keeping me wanting to know why the events were happening.

There was good atmosphere with Killing Time and credit is due for trying to tell a more 'out-there' story than you might expect. From the opening to the end I was engaged with this. There might have been some concessions to budget and story-telling time, but this was a decent short with a well paced tale and an effective soundtrack.

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The Haunting of Prince Dom Pedro (2025) - Comedy Horror Film Review

The Haunting of Prince Dom Pedro is the latest film from director Don Swanson (Occurrence at Mills Creek, A Wish for Giants) and was something far different to what I expected. This is a comedy horror with an empathises on comedy, the horror being so slight as to me almost non-existent. 

A group of high school Latin American History students are not paying particular attention during the lesson on Prince Dom Pedro, and subsequently do bad during the exam on it. Their disrespect to the Prince somehow has real world consequences as one by one the friends turn up dead, seemingly killed by the Prince's angry spirit. The two surviving friends - Jayden (Rachel O'Day) and Kayden (Madeline Sclichter) begin to suspect they have been cursed, and go on a quest to locate a book on curses that may be able to help them.

The film has a story that is mostly full of nothing. Red herring quests that seem to always have them getting nowhere near the truth. The horror, if that is what you can call it, is mostly the friends hearing the disembodied voice of Prince Dom Pedro threatening them, yet never seeming to understand what he is saying to them due to him speaking Portuguese. The few death scenes are very brief and sudden, with the ghost able to kill his victims simply by touching them. The story overall was a bit too simple. It was never clear why they had become cursed by the ghost, and the meandering story that sees the protagonists not really achieving anything at all didn't really seem to serve a purpose. Other than have the characters meet ever eccentric weirdos, such as Gamemaster (Lorin Foster) who purports to be the best board game player in the world. There are also two full length musical numbers where characters are watching someone perform on stage, I didn't quite see the importance of these parts either.

This film world has a light tone to it, this made the comedy feel like it was something from a teen drama. There is a sense of unreality with characters who don't really act the way you would expect them to when bad things happen. The young leads never seem that fussed with what is happening, and the surreal side characters add to a 'twee' type vibe. The humour was mostly strange, such as the adverts that play at the film's start and are then constantly referenced by characters advertising these. One of them is Bigfoot Unleashed: Part VII, with one of the leads repeatedly talking about the film, and it even playing in its entirety after the end credits. I wouldn't say this was a funny movie, but it had a consistent light heartedness to it, regardless of what was going on. I guess if there was any message to be learned, it would be to not have such a dependence on phones, as almost every character here seems addicted to phone use, much like the real world if a little exaggerated. 
This was filmed on a micro-budget (being a SAG-AFTRA micro-budget agreement production), which is obvious to see. Limited locations, set dressing, and a cast of actors who while not always the best, all shared enthusiasm for their roles, none of them standing out in a bad way.

The Haunting of Prince Dom Pedro was inoffensive and carried a simple charm to how it played out. The horror was so slight as to almost be non-existent. Limitations to the story telling did leave me a little lost at times, but with plenty going on, and a friendly vibe, I can't say I ever found this one to be boring, and the low budget didn't really get in the way of anything. This was designed in a purposeful way with the tone presented intended, but it wasn't quite what I was hoping for.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Thursday 24th July

At the time of editing I am on day six of my self imposed exile from the world, in which I live in my own pocket dimension for ten days. I am still loving it, the life of a recluse is something I would love to do, but alas, I have to work! Onwards to the news.

The Summer We Died is a new horror film that comes from Tahoe Joe director Dillon Brown. Coming from Horror Dadz Productions, this is now streaming on Amazon Prime, Fawesome and on Kings of Horror's YouTube channel. A sleepy town has a strict summer curfew placed on it after a spate of violent killings, this spells bad news for a group of rebellious girls who like nothing more than to skate. Ignoring the curfew they head out, unaware of just how close to the mysterious killer they are. Described as a '...gritty, glittering, and blood-soaked love letter to youth on the edge', director Brown says of it: "It's 'Saved by the Bell' meets an 80s slasher - with teeth...it's about being young, reckless, angry...and alive".

New stills and a promo clip have been released for Popeye The Slayer Man ahead of its Prime SVOD release. The ridiculous story sees a group of friends sneak into an abandoned spinach factory in order to make a documentary about the legendary 'Sailor Man' who is said to haunt the place. They soon discover there is a lot of truth to this legend. With a reliance on practical special effects and the silly set-up, this has the chance to be entertaining. This stars Jason Robert Stephens as the antagonist character, and there is already talk of a sequel in the works.

Finally for today, psychological thriller Half Way Down is set for a shoot in Yorkshire this October. Casting is currently underway and Ryan Patch is set to direct. Written by Patrick Monger, this is described as a character driven thriller that centres on a grieving rural couple whose quiet existence is upended by the arrival of a teenage girl with a likely sinister secret.

Zombie Flesh Eaters (1979) - Horror Film Review

Of course, I own the classic Lucio Fulci (Demonia, The Beyond) zombie horror film Zombie Flesh Eaters (also known as Zombie and Zombi 2). It was one of the earlier films I picked up on DVD, so was surprised to see I hadn't ever reviewed it on this site. With the release of a new 4K version on streaming service ARROW, I figured it was about time I revisit this.

An apparently deserted yacht appears in the New York bay area and two police men are sent to investigate. They discover a strange blood soaked man who attacks and kills one of the officers before his partner ends him. The boat belonged to the doctor uncle of Anne Bowles (Tisa Farrow), someone who she lost contact with three months previous, so she wants to trace where the vessel came from so she can try and locate her uncle. Meanwhile, Peter West (Ian McCulloch - Zombie Holocaust) is a reporter who conveniently enough has been assigned a story on where the boat came from. The two end up meeting up and hiring a boating couple; Brian (Al Cliver - Demonia) and Susan (Auretta Gay). Together they head toward where they believe the boat originated from, an island that the locals see as a cursed place. Eventually arriving there, the group meet Dr. Menard (Richard Johnson), someone who is trying to survive and understand a disease that turns anyone affected into the walking dead.

Initially I was a little underwhelmed with this. In my head, I had been thinking this was Zombie Creeping Flesh, a film that I have fond memories of. Alas, it wasn't that, but it also meant that lots of this was film I had forgotten about. Some parts had stayed with me, the shark versus zombie battle, and especially one very gory scene involving a giant wooden splinter getting impaled through someone's eyeball! I hadn't recalled how relatively slow the film was, with zombies not appearing in force until the final act. I liked this drip feed of undead goodness, with the undead initially shown mainly under sheets. The last twenty minutes is where it really is at, a great siege sequence featuring plenty of ghouls. The make-up for these creatures is make-do at best, a repeated use of effects that kind of look like people have had paper Mache added to their faces, so that they can look suitably rotted, and able to house real worms and maggots. These corpses are able to effortlessly rip victims apart, at least the violence on the victims looked great, lots of spraying blood and torn flesh.

The story is straight forward, but was a classic tale. I loved that the outbreak was already going on by the time the protagonists had arrived. I thought Dr. Menard and his assistant (Stefania D'Amario) were great characters, in over their heads, but a ghoulish curiosity keeping them in the thick of the unfolding chaos. I also appreciated there wasn't ever an explanation for how the outbreak began, locals putting it down to Voodoo, but the doctor convinced it is some sort of natural creation. The island setting gave a bit of a Heart of Darkness vibe to the story, and the simple plot meant it was always easy to understand the motivations of the various characters.

Zombie Flesh Eaters is a classic of the genre, and is yet another statement that to make a good horror featuring the undead you don't need the best make-up effects, less is typically more. This sometimes doesn't have the scope to be able to sell the story beats it is trying to sell, and the dubbing is amusingly terrible at best, but this has a diverse soundtrack and some classic moments of zombie horror. The 4K version of Zombie Flesh Eaters arrives on ARROW on 28th July, and is the best way to currently see this flawed yet undeniable classic.

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Outbreak: The Mutation (2020) by Scott Shoyer - Zombie Horror Book Review

                                

After my review of the excellent animal based zombie horror novel Outbreak: The Hunger, I realised with some joy that I actually also had a copy of the sequel waiting to be reviewed. Outbreak: The Mutation is the book version of a blockbuster sequel to an indie darling, everything made bigger and more far reaching in scope. I would have been happy with more of the same, but this drastically changes things up. Obviously, spoilers for book one to follow.

It is two years since an outbreak of rabid undead animals spread across (assumedly) the globe. Initially confined to animals, this strange virus made the leap to humans. The survivors have been doing the best they can, able to best the low intelligence zombies, but recently that has began to change, with the undead seeming to be getting smarter, and seemingly able to communicate with each other over long distances. Walt; the manager of a drug rehabilitation centre, is forced to leave his compound with his group after increasing zombie attacks, deciding to head to a remote spring where there will be a continual source of natural water. Elsewhere, soldiers Wilder and Butsko are leading a mission to get to a secret underground laboratory where it is hoped a weapon with the power to defeat the zombies once and for all can be located. Unknown to the humans, the undead have began to evolve, these new more intelligent and more self-healing yellow eyed creatures find themselves drawn to a particular spot in America, following an urge. Little do these three groups realise that they are all heading to the exact same location...

I was well up for some more undead animal mayhem, so the time skip of two years was a little jarring. Zombie animals are still here, but they have been superseded by the more traditional human walking dead. Racking my brain, I really don't recall there being a reason given for the genesis of the outbreak; what actually caused it, in the first novel. Here, it is almost common knowledge that it was all down to malfunctioning nanobots, not some biological virus. These nanobots are able to heal their carriers, and also account for how they are able to transmit data across the country. Seemingly when one zombie learns something key, this spreads across the network. My fears that the uniqueness of the first novel would be diluted or lost were for nought, this might be a different beast, but it carries the supreme inventiveness of what came before. Nanobot infected humans made for something different, and I was not expecting the late stage audacious reveal of the origins of the nanobots.

The world of Outbreak is one of the lesser zombie apocalypses I would like to experience. It feels almost pointless trying to survive with the undead a constant and very dangerous threat from beginning to end. Everywhere they go, no matter how safe it appears, the survivors are in constant danger. Both groups lose a huge amount of the cast of characters, made all the more horrific by the very quick transition from victim to aggressor. The first novel was almost cruel in its violence, and here things carry on in a similar fashion. While not quite as mean spirited and gruesome, there is still room for moments such as characters stumbling across a neonatal intensive care unit full of zombie babies. A lot of the real body horror comes from the new yellow eyed undead who get joy out of torturing the normal zombies. Of course, this paled in comparison to the animal attacks of the first novel.

It was fun to see some returning characters. Fi, the almost survivor of book one is back as one of the first evolved undead. We get to see this side of the story from her perspective. Wilder and Butsko were side characters last time around, this time they are duel protagonists with Walt and his group. I really enjoyed these characters, very fun to be following legitimate bad-asses around. Walt was fun for a civilian, especially with his memorable nail studded bat which gets put to lots and lots of good use. Both sets of characters get into plenty of desperate last stands.

Outbreak: The Mutation might not have surprised me as much as The Hunger but it was still a damn exciting book. I would give my left leg to be able to craft such a darn entertaining zombie novel. This is full of horror and rotting corpses from start to finish, and I enjoyed how the disparate storylines ended up linking together. Well worth a read, a fine series of novels.

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Bury Me When I'm Dead (2025) - Horror Film Review

Reading the synopsis for the Seabold Krebs written and directed dramatic horror Bury Me When I'm Dead (in his feature length directorial debut), you could be forgiven for not seeing where the horror in this bleak and morose storyline would come from. In reality, I would say it is far more woolly whether there is anything supernatural happening or not. Thankfully, in the absence of much horror, there is a mostly decent film.

Catherine (Charlotte Hope - The Nun) has a seizure one day and learns from the doctors that she has inoperable brain cancer. While she is given the option for chemo, which could extend her life by several years, she instead chooses to go without treatment. Her and her husband, the unfaithful, yet dedicated Henry (Devon Terrell) decide to head away to New Hampshire to a holiday home of her rich parents. It is here she reveals to Henry that she wishes to be buried naturally in a clearing near the home, far away from the reach of her controlling parents, in particular, her lawyer father Gary (Richard Bekins - You're Not Alone, Daredevil TV show). Henry agrees to this, but unknown to Catherine, he has already been threatened by the man, with him stating he will take everything from Henry if he doesn't relinquish the body to her family come Catherine's death. It isn't long before she passes, and as agreed with Gary, Henry gives up her body, breaking his promise to Catherine's dying wish. A serious of bad events begins to lead the man to believe that he is being haunted from Catherine beyond the grave, for failing to give her the peace in death that she so desired.

It was over an hour into this barely one hundred minute movie that I realised that not much artificial horror had actually happened. Sure, the story isn't a happy one, dealing with the death of a loved one and the grief that follows, but on screen horror had been at an extreme minimum. When it does arrive it is very brief, a few nightmare sequences and a trippy arthouse style sex scene with Henry's affair partner Rebecca (Makenzie Leigh - Salem's Lot 2024) is about the lot you get. These sequences can easily be seen as Henry applying anything bad that occurs as being a result of breaking his wife's promise, explaining them in his mind as a way to process what is happening. Gary renege's on his promise to Henry, vowing to ruin the man's life despite following his orders was hardly surprising seeing as how much the man obviously disliked him. To be fair, Henry doesn't really deserve the happiness he is seeking. He has chosen to be with Rebecca as she is pregnant with his child. Not the best situation, but at least he didn't deny the affair when Charlotte brings it up, and Rebecca was liked by her. Henry was a lost protagonist, and one who spends much of the film in sorrow, turning to drink, but not really taking his anger out on others. The small cast were rounded out by hunter Buck (Mike Houston - Jessica Jones TV series), a more common man role compared to the rest, but he also shares in the discussion about what it is to live and to get old in one key scene.

My main issue comes with the key events that happen within Bury Me I'm Dead to zoom the story on in the third act. This includes a big bugbear of mine, a tired trope of something that only ever happens in movies. Without going into spoilers, the second this character did what they did I was fully expecting what happened to them to happen, and so it wasn't the slightest surprise when events played out with nothing but a quick eye roll from me. This again occurred later on at the film's conclusion, perhaps slightly less surprising, but hardly something that hasn't happened in countless other movies. By the time the end credits rolled it was clear that the film was far more of a drama than any type of horror or thriller.

Bury Me When I'm Dead was a well cast drama with a good assortment of flawed characters. Its horror elements were extremely light, and I wouldn't in good conscience say it really includes much of that at all. Still, it told its story in a mostly intelligent way, outside of those clumsily implemented late film twists. Bury Me When I'm Dead came to Digital and VOD beginning July 18th.

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Soul to Squeeze (2025) - Horror Film Review

My first weekend of a more structured work output for my blog has gone very well. At the time of writing it is Sunday evening and I have just watched the W.M Weikart directed and co-written fantastical horror Soul to Squeeze, which is his feature length directorial debut. One of the more surreal films I have watched this year, this may have been frequently bizarre and odd to watch, but also had variety in spades as well as a core heartfelt message about the importance of loving yourself.

Jacob (Michael Thomas Santos in his feature length film debut) is a troubled young man who has decided to take part in an experimental psychological experiment that sees him confined to a small house. While in this house, for some unspecified reason his conscious body and subconscious mind have become connected. Basically, his innermost thoughts and feelings are able to become physical projections, and through these projections it is hoped Jacob will be able to confront his innermost demons and heal from what he discovers.

You know those one off TV episodes that take the form of a dream or nightmare sequence? It happens in plenty of shows, from House to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This film is basically that, Jacob, through mysterious means has arrived at a strange house, and by signing a waiver (which details possible alarming outcomes should he participate in the experiment, including disfigurement and death!) the experiment begins. Over the course of the eighty five minute runtime he experiences both dreams and nightmares, all seeming to take place within the small brightly decorated, yet also pretty filthy bungalow. There are horror elements to this, with plenty of extremely creepy side characters who appear for brief scenes before leaving and never coming back again. It is often difficult to work out what is real and what is from Jacob's mind, but it is easier just to see everything that happens as reflections from his thoughts.
The general pace of the story is shown to be about a girl he once knew, with it suggested by trippy flashback sequences that he somehow was responsible for a terrible thing that happened to her. Due to his guilt, Jacob has became an angry young man, and is shown to dislike himself, with many of the projections of his thoughts belittling him and threatening him. One such example being a large face playing across three TV sets.

Soul to Squeeze had shades of The Prisoner to it, and almost felt like what an episode of Black Mirror would have been like if it had been created in the 1960's. Of course, the obligatory reference to feeling a bit like an LSD trip also has to be mentioned. There are lots and lots of surreal, mystifying, and occasionally unsettling moments, even some trippy sequences when Jacob lays on the floor staring at the eyeball like ceiling light above him. Eyes play a key part in the movie, the film opens on old black and white footage with a posh voice explaining about the eye and how it functions, and this stark footage is revisited time and time again.
Lots happens throughout the movie, one early highlight being when Jacob takes a bath and is startled to see the bathtub rapidly begin to fill up with hair. Jumping out the bath to escape this, he looks in the mirror and is horrified to see he is now covered completely in hair, save for the top of his head. Quite surreal! The film is split into distinct acts, each seem to be triggered by Jacob putting on a differently coloured set of pyjamas. I especially liked the early phone call Jacob has with assumedly the man in charge of the experiment, and how this feeds into a memorable later scene.
The horror here was never the core desire to be experienced by the viewer. Rather than things getting worse and worse, it instead tells a heart-warming story, an acceptance of who you are as a person creating a feel of inner peace. Must also mention that the film begins with a 4:3 aspect ratio and slowly expands throughout the runtime, eventually getting to a full 2:35:1. The trivia section for this on IDMB alleges that this is the first film to ever do that, but who knows really. Still, its a cool part of the filmmaking, and is appropriate for the narrow minded and sullen Jacob discovering himself.

I didn't read the synopsis before watching Soul to Squeeze, and had expected more of a horror, but enjoyed this regardless. There are certainly some strong moments here, but it is more surreal and unsettling than scary. This also was thematically relevant to my personal life as after one more week of work (at the time of typing) I am going to exile myself from the world for ten days in self imposed confinement (editing this at the start of my exile). Hopefully my time being in my house on my own will be more restful and chill than what happens with Jacob here! Soul to Squeeze came to Amazon Prime on 10th July via BlueBeard Productions.

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Black Rain (2025) by Black Rain - Music Album Review

This review of Black Rain's debut album, the self titled Black Rain has been a long time coming. I managed to miss the original press release, and its been an entire month since I saw the chase-up email. I had been struggling to find the band on Apple Music, mainly due to their band name also being the band name of seemingly an infinite number of other groups. Eventually I levelled up my intelligence and realised the press release actually had a link to the correct band on that app! So, Black Rain are a dark post-punk band from the North East of England, their debut album is made up of nine tracks; five studio tracks and four live performances.

It won't be surprising to state I liked the album. Frankly, I seem to like much of what is sent my way for review, but this in particular reminded me of a few bands that I quite like. It starts off with 'Inside', a fast paced opener that was a punk rock song that sounded like a blend between Alkaline Trio and Depeche Mode. The comparisons continue with 'Save Me' where it sounded like a mash-up between Interpol and Hot Snakes. This one had a great bass riff going on. Third track 'Satanists' (finally a link to horror!) was once again a great beat, in particular I loved the pounding drums. Talking of drums, I always love a song that starts with just a drum beat, and 'Shot Gun' was one of those, the drums sounding like a constant shotgun blast.

After the lovely 'Fear' with its great main riff it is time to move onto the live tracks. As a teenager I hated live songs on albums, they always felt like a bit of a cop-out. Not so much here though as these final four tracks barely sounded any less professionally done than the studio tracks. 'Shadows Cry' had the vocalist giving a bit of a Nick Cave vibe. If I hadn't known it was live I might have assumed it wasn't. 'Broken Words' and final track 'Dust Tubes' both had great beats to them, but it was penultimate track 'I Suffer Alone' that was surprisingly my favourite track from the whole album. This had a great repetitive droning sound to it, I could imagine it would have been fantastic to see this played live, I liked the almost spoken word segment during this also.

Sure, I am the first to admit I don't really have a clue what I am talking about when it comes to reviewing music, but I thought Black Rain was a great first album, with some really great tunes contained within. Black Rain is available on all major streaming platforms, with limited edition vinyl LP and cassettes also available. Black Rain also have a limited number of live dates, playing Sunderland at the Fire Station on 26th September, Carpe Noctum in Leeds on 4th October, and playing at the Shadow Factory for the Whitby Goth Festival on 1st November.

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Man in the Fields (2024) - Horror Film Review

Man in the Fields was the directorial and writing debut of Samuele Breschi. The IMDB page states this was an American production, though it is clear that this was likely filmed in Italy, and featured a majority of Italian actors. I really wish this had stuck to Italian with English subtitles, as the characters all speaking English in thick accents really got in the way of my enjoyment of this subpar horror.

Misery guts David (Isacco Salvi who also co-wrote this with Breschi) has finally been convinced to hang out with his best friend Rob (Marco Cevoli) and his girlfriend Angela (Arianna Panieri) after avoiding them for a long time. He decides to bring new girlfriend Stephanie along (Sofia Pieroni), perhaps as a means to hurt his former girlfriend Linda (Martina Capaccioli). They had split when she moved away, but has now returned for a visit to see old friends. The friends are looking for something to do, and this is when David reveals that he recently came upon a strange ritual, and that he thinks they should all perform the ritual. Despite it literally having no good parts to it, and the group taking it super seriously, they are all shocked when it actually works. David is dragged to a field where a strange man (an excellent role by Toni Pandolfo) bleeds blood into his mouth. Later that day David transforms into a terrifying were-skeleton and sets about murdering the rest of the people involved in the ritual.

The story was really dumb and was something I really struggled to get past. I have no idea why the friends decided to perform the ritual. You can't excuse it as them just messing around as they all take it incredibly seriously, so it was strange when they acted so shocked when it worked. It didn't help the ritual wasn't so much a ritual as a curse, the instructions making it clear that it would basically result in everyone dying.

In addition to the characters being as dense as a bag of rocks, they were all an unlikeable bunch. The synopsis states David being an introvert, but he came across more as just a really unhappy guy, I felt for his new girlfriend even before the horror started. Linda was meant to be one of the more relatable characters but I have to admit I really struggled to understand a single line she said over the course of the 102 minute run time due to how quiet she said her lines coupled with a heavy accent. Worst of the characters was unfortunately Rob. He looked the part, but the angrier he got over the course of the film, the worse his acting skills became. It got to a point where literally every line he said had me laughing due to how badly he said them. The script admittedly also wasn't great, especially with side character Jonathan (Marcello Castiglioni) who may have been the stand out actor, but also had some of the more cheesier lines. I did a literal eye roll when he first appears and shouts to the group "Come with me if you want to live!". Again, I really wish this had been in Italian with subtitles as the often hard to understand dialogue repeatedly took me out of the film.

The creature effects for the transformed David were not bad. Weirdly, this is the second skeleton based horror I have seen this week after Bone Face. It always seems the films I choose to watch have some bizarre and unexpected link to them. There are a couple of decent kill scenes, in particular the creatures first kill was fantastic, shown via shadows, this was an effective and neat death scene. I had a little bit of a Pumpkinhead vibe to this, the film is dark and gritty with no light moments to be found at all. The story did leave a lot to be desired, and I felt the solution given to end the ritual was a bit underwhelming.

Man in the Fields had some good parts to it, the prologue sequence was intriguing and some of the kills looked good. It also had a neat score and some lovely lighting. Despite the goodness, it suffered mainly due to both a stupid plot, and actors often struggling to say their lines due to not speaking in their mother tongue. This had protentional but wasn't one of the better horror films I have watched this year.

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