The Dark Half (1989) by Stephen King - Horror Novel Review

For someone as well established as Stephen King in the world of written horror, his books have never resonated with me. I have yet to read a good short story of his (I believe I've only read the compilation Everything's Eventual), while I found his full length novels to be over long and not too exciting (I appreciate I gave Needful Things a high score, that was mainly due to the second half finally bringing things together). With his 1989 release, The Dark Half however, I was hooked from virtually the very first page, and from start to finish I really struggled to put this one down.

Thad Beaumont is an author who, during a dark period of writer's block in his life, decided to release a violent crime novel under a pseudonym which he named 'George Stark'. He was surprised to see a huge reaction to this novel, and it was swiftly followed by two more successful releases under the same fake name. Being blackmailed about his secret identity being revealed, Thad and his wife Liz decide to go public with the knowledge, culminating in a magazine article in which posing by a fake headstone he 'buries' George Stark once and for all. This is where the horror begins, literally, as Thad's invented persona somehow comes to life, digs himself out of the fake grave and embarks on a bloody rampage, hunting down and brutally murdering everyone who he sees as having a part in the Stark persona being retired.

I don't know how The Dark Half was received at the time, but it feels to me like it was ahead of its time for several reasons. I knew that King wrote under a persona himself (Richard Bachman), while I haven't read any of those books, they are said to be darker than what King usually puts out. It seems that in real life his secret pen name was at risk of being revealed to the world, and it was that which inspired him to write this novel. The book felt meta to me, Thad's output as Stark was very violent, and that is what occurs within the story. Stark is a madman who is styled on the protagonist from his breakout book (Alexis Machine), a hulking blonde haired man who kills with a straight razor. The Dark Half doesn't spare the detail when it describes how Stark kills, it leads to some very violent scenes that talk about skin hanging off as flaps and slit throats in graphic details. This antagonist is a fantastic creation, the supernatural aspect of him being a manifestation of Thad was handled wonderfully. You get the impression he really is Thad's dark half, a version of him that has always been hidden away inside of him. By having his violent acts described in such detail it almost felt like this was the type of novel that the character George Stark may have written if he had been so inclined.

Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti (1989) - Comedy Horror Video Game Review (Playstation 4)

I have always been a huge fan of the Splatterhouse series of video games, it was Splatterhouse 2 in fact which was one of the key stepping stones that got me into horror films. While I have played all the more serious entries, including the flawed Splatterhouse 3 and the much maligned 2010 re-boot Splatterhouse, there was one game that until now had escaped my grasp, and that was the 1989 parody game Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti. This was not only the first in the series to be released on a home console (the NES) but had also been Japan exclusive prior to recently.

The game begins with Jennifer mourning at her boyfriend Rick's grave one dark night. Lightning strikes the grave and the hockey mask wearing Rick is miraculously resurrected. The first thing Rick sees however is lightning also striking the grave next to his, this resurrects the Pumpkin King, whose first order of business is to kidnap Jennifer. Rick must battle his way through eight levels of horror parodies in order to rescue her, but is everything as it seems?

This was the second game in the overall series and quite a departure in terms of the super deformed graphics. Playing through this I was surprised just how much fun it was. The levels are very varied and forever throwing new enemies and situations your way while remaining distinctly Splatterhouse in style. Most the levels are split into smaller sections, with Rick in a variety of locations. Starting off in a graveyard, Rick's journey has him going through suburbs, through mansions, woodland, a lake, and even visits an Egyptian pyramid at one point. 

Deadly Games (1989) - Horror Film Review

It was just the other day that I first heard of the French Christmas themed slasher Deadly Games (original title 36.15 Code Pére Noel and also known as Game Over) for the first time. It was described as a more realistic take on Home Alone, and indeed it does share many similarities. This film was released a year before that classic though, and so if anything the makers of that took inspiration from this one (so much so that the director René Manzor once threatened to sue them).

Thomas (Alain Lalanne) is a child genius who lives in a huge mansion in which he has created lots of secret doors and traps, as well as designed an entire home security system which he controls by a device on his wrist. Despite his intelligence he has an active imagination and still believes in Santa. His toy store owning mother wants her son to keep his innocence as long as possible and so encourages this belief. This turns out to be a bad move though as through a series of events a perverted psycho (Patrick Floersheim) has dressed up as Santa and broken into the mansion, with his eye on the boy. Being Christmas eve, Thomas is convinced that this maniac actually is Santa, and that he has become murderous due to Thomas staying up to try and see him, rather than being in bed asleep. With no other help but his elderly and sickly grandpa (Louis Ducreux) Thomas must find a way to either stop or escape the killer.

You can tell right away this is an eighties film as it opens on a montage of Thomas dressing up as a Rambo style soldier. With an impressive mullet Thomas exudes the spirit of this decade. This character was the most interesting part of Deadly Games as he genuinely believes the intruder is Santa and so has to constantly battle his unwillingness to hurt his hero. Kevin McCallister in the Home Alone movies is supremely confident, full of wise cracks, and with traps that always outwit the villains he faces. Thomas is much more believable as he is visibly traumatised by the events of the movie. At several points he breaks down in tears and cries for his mother and by the film's conclusion has a haunted 'thousand yard stare'. There are no wise cracks to be found here, aside from maybe the maniac who doesn't break the character he has created. Underneath all his madness there is a kind of childlike innocence, in his eyes it all might be a literal game he is playing with the boy. Both Lalanne and Floersheim were expertly cast and there is a great dynamic between the pair, the same can be said of the tender relationship between Thomas and his grandpa.

Intruder (1989) - Horror Film Review

I had never heard of 80's slasher Intruder until it popped up randomly on the 'Shudder TV' section of Shudder. The brief clip I saw looked so great that I immediately decided that would be the film to watch that evening. Directed by Scott Spiegal (Hostel: Part III, Dusk Till Dawn 2: Blood Money). I was excited to see that not only do Sam Raimi (director of The Evil Dead series and Spider-Man series) playing a character here, but also his brother, Ted (who had roles in everything Evil Dead related), and even the legend Bruce Campbell turns up in a small role here.

The film takes place entirely at a local supermarket and follows the night shift over the course of one night. Cashier, Jennifer (Elizabeth Cox - Night of the Creeps) gets an unexpected visit from an ex-boyfriend, the creepy Craig Peterson (David Byrnes - Witchcraft IX: Bitter Flesh, Witchcraft 7: Judgement Hour). He is obsessed with the girl and says he is determined to do anything to get her back. This leads to an altercation that involves nearly all of the staff and results in Craig getting thrown out the supermarket. Soon after it is revealed by the shops owners, Danny (Eugene Robert Glazer) and Bill (Dan Hicks - Evil Dead II) that they have sold the business and it is going to be closing the very next day. It is to this backdrop that a night of terror begins, one by one the staff begin to get picked off by a crazed killer hiding in the shop...

I loved how of its time this slasher felt. Coming in at the late end of the eighties this nonetheless is a prime example of the style that decade is known for. Over the top death scenes, spirited performances and wonderful practical effects combine to make a horror that at its core is very silly, but it sure does know this. I found the start of this to be the most interesting as it has every character in the same scene, all of them getting in a fight with Craig. I found the contrast between this out in the open fist fight in a brightly lit room and the later dark traditional isolated slayings to be kind of cool. It made a change to have the killer be a known quantity. The acting was never the strongest here, but with a story that never takes itself seriously it works well. Knowing Bruce Campbell was in this I did get a bit distracted waiting for his character to appear, and while his appearance is very brief (I think he gets about two lines) it was still lovely to see him. It was also fun seeing Sam and Ted, both in fun roles.

Castlevania: The Adventure (1989) - Horror Videogame Review (Gameboy)

I always love Castlevania games (with the exception of Castlevania 2 that I struggled to get into) so when I saw Castlevania: The Adventure on the Nintendo eShop, a game I had not played, I had to get it!

Much like pretty much all the other games in the series this one sees you as a Belmont (family of vampire hunters) who must infiltrate to the heart of Dracula's castle and kill him once again. To do this you battle through stages fighting monsters and avoiding traps as you go.

There is a far greater reliance on traps here than pretty much any other Castlevania game I have played. Spikes in particular are your greatest hazard, spike pits, moving spike walls, collapsing platforms all attempt to take your life. Enemies are kind of sparse, you get plenty of rolling eyeballs, and fireball spitting snakes but other than that there is not much more after you. A gargoyle first appears as a boss and later a common enemy, while boomerang throwing enemies can cause strife.

The game looks crisp and clean on the 3DS, though back on the original Gameboy it would have been less smooth. It is also really quite hard (though difficulty is removed when you are able to save anywhere). Your character moves agonisingly slow, and the speed reduces even more when too many objects on screen cause terrible slow down. The simplest of jumps are made a nightmare as it is so easy to overestimate how far Belmont can jump, he can jump forward about a millimetre, not fun to control. He attacks with a whip which can be upgraded to double strength, and is able to take damage to walk through irritating enemies.

At just four levels Castlevania: The Adventure is quite short, I did expect this though as the Gameboy is not exactly the most powerful handheld. Backgrounds are for the most part sparse but thankfully the music is quite ace. If your a fan of Castlevania games this is worth a try, but if your not then there is little to recommend here.

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A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989) - Horror Film Review

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child is another good entry in the Elm Street series, surprise surprise. Alice (Lisa Wilcox) the survivor of The Dream Master, and her boyfriend return for this one. Freddy (Robert Englund) has gone, he can only return if Alice dreams him back, or so it seems. But Freddy manages to return and soon her friends are being killed off one by one. Alice realises he's using the dreams of her unborn baby to return, and as unborn babies dream up to 70% of the time (allegedly) her and her friends are in deep trouble. Salvation seems to lie in solving the riddle of what happened to Kruger's mothers body.

Yet again the deaths are the highlight here. Inventive as always. A man who is turned into a bike, someone turned into a comic book character, and someone force fed to death are some of the kills here. Freddy is as good as always, though just as unscary as always also. Established lore from previous films is explored, such as Freddy taking the souls of his victims, and the whole back story with his mother and the 100 maniacs. Every single Elm Street film has a really attractive main female character, this is no different.

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