The Rules of the Game (2026) - Horror Film Review

Kidnapped people being tortured and killed for the benefit of anonymous dark web viewers has been done so often in horror that it has carved out its own little sub genre. I remember as a teen enjoying My Little Eye, and of course there were the Hostel series that propelled the idea nearly into mainstream, and the Saw films are a not too distant cousin of these. Outside of the so-called 'torture porn' aspects (I never like to see pointless suffering), I do enjoy these types of movies, and often due to the single room design they don't really require much of a budget to sell the idea. In the Lani Castle and Jon Cohen (Backlash, The Hanged Girl) co-directed The Rules of the Game (with Cohen also writing this), you have a typical indie example that does have its moments.

On-the-spectrum chess genius Evie (Lola Merewether) is abducted alongside her chronically ill sister, Danielle (Gezel Bardossi) one dark night by a masked intruder. She awakens some time later in a basement that has been repurposed into a series of cells, alongside seven other scared victims. They soon realise that they have each been assigned as a chess piece, and that they must play a game of chess against their twisted kidnapper. Should the piece they have been assigned as get taken during the course of the chess match, then they have five minutes to die. Failure to either make a move within the five minute time period, or failure to kill the taken piece, means that an innocent will be killed in their place. Each of the victims has one of their loved ones being monitored in real time, with the assumption that should any player break the rules, then a one of these loved ones will be killed at random. Evie has been assigned the role of the King, seemingly due to her being the only victim in the cells who actually knows how to play chess. While she is confident she can win the already in progress chess match, she is truthful that even in the ideal circumstances she would only be able to save half of the victims. This of course begins to cause bitter divisions within the group, with the weaker pieces believing her to only care about her own preservation, and that she could even be a plant, put there by their kidnapper.

The very important chess game (shown over a projector) is key to the movement of the plot, it actually features very little, at least in terms of being able to follow the game's progress. The board is only really shown when key moves are being made that will have an impact on the group, so anyone hoping to follow a match of wits on the board won't get that satisfaction. The focus is instead on the dynamics of the kidnapped group, a group that is made up of a wide variety of young adults that go from selfless and noble to selfish and nasty. Many of them are simply unable to cope with Evie 'causing' their deaths by playing the game as she needs to, leading to lots of conflict as various members of the group splinter apart. As a protagonist I did like Evie, her autistic side not done to too much of an over the top caricature. She recognises her weaknesses, but also has the strength of character to do what needs to be done (if only the others would let her). I thought her new friend, Kira (Alyson Rudlin - Backlash) was also decent, even if she started the whole thing a little bit as comic relief. Some of the other characters really sucked, especially the more bad ones of the group who seemed to be there to cause dissent but not actually have any answers. In particular, Lucas (Max Dÿkstra) and Sarah (Angela Zhou) were so cartoonishly evil that it became hard to take them seriously as characters. Not to say they were bad at acting, more that their roles felt one-dimensional for the most part.
This division within the group makes up the most of the story here, the kidnapper featuring, but only in a sub-plot involving Danielle, who has been tied up by his side as he plays the chess game on a computer. This division did leave a taste of displeasure, the film doesn't shy away from having awful things happening to innocent and normal people. There were one or two plot holes in the story, most notable being a second kidnapper in the prologue who doesn't feature in the rest of the film. Their absence was unexplained and convenient for where the story went. The story did resolve on a mostly satisfactory way, but again, there were key questions that got left unresolved.

The Rules of the Game had a good body count, even if most of the deaths were via relatively peaceful lethal injection. More graphic kills do feature on screen and are usually sold well by fun sound effects, and with characters getting covered in blood. One scene that had a character's head split open on the ground was effective due to a combination of these sound effects and blood splatters.
The majority of the film takes place within the basement cell area, a dark and dank nondescript location that works within the budget, and forces the film to focus on the unfolding drama of the situation.

It might have been nice for there to be more tension coming from the game of chess being played, rather than that part being almost a background to the plot. Outside of that, this was a good portrayal of how humans are mostly just awful people, more concerned with profit and self preservation than working together well. It's obvious to see that from just a quick glance at our frequently terrible news in the real world, so this didn't work as escapism for me, but you know what? It really wasn't bad, well made within the limits of the constraints it was working with.  The Rules of the Game is due for release on the third quarter this year, coming from High Fliers Films.

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Unboxing (2025) - Horror Film Review

I'm starting off on a bit of a self absorbed tangent here, but screw the UK's pathetic Online Safety Act. That bit of Orwellian government control masking as the flimsy excuse to 'pRoTEct thE ChiLDrEn' has made it increasingly irritating to get to watch horror films online. Sure, I could just verify my age using any number of potentially dodgy verification programs that sites have been forced to use, but I am a bit of a belligerent swine and don't want to have my personal details potentially stolen. All that is to say, it took me slightly longer than usual to get to watch Australian horror Unboxing for review (written, directed by, and starring Mitchell Holland), but one VPN trip to Albania later and I was able to get on board the misery train of this nasty thriller. Off topic slightly for sure, but seeing as the protagonist's woes stem from his having revealed personal information online, it was a tiny bit relevant!

Holland stars as Thomas Faker; an amateur streamer who has dreams of being able to make a living from the streams he produces. The man has gotten into doing unboxing videos - receiving packages in the post and opening them live on camera. To add extra spice, Thomas has been using the dark web to buy mystery boxes, hoping the thrill of what could potentially be inside will lead to his streams exploding in popularity. His latest purchase turns out to be a foul smelling and blood soaked teddy bear, but before Thomas can even really begin to process this, he begins to receive a series of increasingly twisted packages left outside his apartment at regular intervals. Each of the packages pulling the increasingly alarmed man into darker and darker horrors.

After taking a week off of my blog (almost), Unboxing was the first feature length horror I watched upon my return, and what a miserable and soul burning return this was! Randomly, it was also the second box based film I watched for review this week, following on from my review of short film BOX. Sometimes it does feel we are all living in a simulation!
There was no rush for events to ramp up quickly with this film, the tension can almost be tasted with how insidiously Thomas is pulled into the worst night of his life. From a realistic feeling start of him talking to his stream viewers about video games, this devolves into his increasingly unravelling persona with items received both downright creepy and far too personal for comfort, almost taking place in real time. One of the early reveals is an SD card that features multiple photos of him with his young brother, at that point I would be 'noping' out and contacting the authorities, but torn between the horror of what he is facing and an ever increasing subscriber count to his channel, he chooses to remain on stream, until that choice is taken entirely out of his hands by an apparent hack of his PC that prevents him ending the stream. The story became increasingly unsettling and suspenseful; the lack of any type of soundtrack or musical score added to this uncomfortable feeling, with even the ever present glare of his ring-light creating the feel of a judgemental and cold gaze, while the 'dinging' of the stream messages somehow became more and more threatening in sound.

The props are perfect, and perfectly deranged. From a box that is packaged with a combination of cotton wool balls and razor blades, to ones packed with the unsettling combination of rice and hair, things soon are quite dark here. Plenty of blood and plenty of grime combine to give an authentic look to the horrors uncovered (unboxed). Everything looked gross and mean in the best way. I thought the split between the view from Thomas' computer screen to more traditional film work was perfect for this, and Holland being the sole on-screen character for vast lengths of the 70 minute film did a fantastic and believable job. Enough is given to fluffing out his character (such as phone calls with his parents, and the believable way he reacts); this all combined to make him feel like someone with a history to him.
There were elements of the supernatural here that had some great editing to them, especially with one of the stream commenters whose ghostly distorted visage kept appearing in the room with the protagonist. That part while very neat, was a bit confusing for me. I could never really tell if that was meant to be literally happening within the story of the film, or if it was a stylistic choice to add more weight to the events of the movie for the viewer's benefit. Around the third act, a more rational and grounded horror is added with the arrival of the Police who have some urgent questions they need Thomas to answer for them, leading to some very tense and bad feeling scenes as viewer and protagonist alike begin to piece together what is happening. I would say of that third part, the film pulled together some of the momentum it had began to lose in the middle, but I can't say I fully understood the intricacies of the overall story, leaving me with some questions by the time the end credits rolled around.

Unboxing was a horrid little Black Mirror-esque indie film, and I say that in the best way possible. I felt uncomfortable watching this, and that in itself speaks of the success of the filmmaking here. This became like a car crash, something that was nasty to look at, but hard to look away from. Good looking special effects and make-up effects, a sustained feel of ever increasing peril, and a captivating lead combined to make for something that is well worth a watch. Unboxing is available to watch on Amazon Prime.

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Plague (2009) - Short Zombie Horror Film Review

The Joseph Avery (who also stars in this) and Matt Simpson (writer of this) co-directed Plague is an example of a low budget short zombie film done right. It tells a simple story, but manages to keep interest over its 17 minute runtime thanks to unique editing decisions, and plenty of classic slow walking undead.

Latvian refugee Vilhelm (Avery) has been smuggled into England where he hopes to begin a new life, free of all the burdens that he faced working for criminals. Upon arriving in London he gets to unfortunately witness first hand a zombie outbreak, but by hiding away in his apartment, he is able to weather the storm and survive the initial chaos. He heads out to the countryside where he hopes things will be easier than the ghoul infested city, but finds that the undead are everywhere in this bleak new world.

The short is narrated from the start by the protagonist, with the narration provided by Costa Ronin (Homeland TV show, Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood). This created a cohesive feel, and I admit I am a fan of stories that begin later on, to then show the lead-up as the film's core. In this case, we have the thick accented Vilhelm giving his story of how he came to be in the U.K, and how he came to survive. With the character in present day with a bloody bandage wrapped around his hand, it seems that things might not end well for the character. From the initial prologue set in Latvia, this follows his journey in a scattershot approach, moving the character around in time to show his various battles. You get plenty of undead, with lovely scenes of him fighting and escaping from them. I particularly liked one scene in which he is cycling down a street as zombies try to grab at him from various sides.

Plague has an interesting editing technique, quick edits of various shots shot-gunned together with very slight occasional freeze-frames on key moments. It gave a chaotic feel to the battles the character gets in, as well as being a great way to show important information to the viewer. Avery was great in the lead role, the narration meaning the character on screen himself never speaks. The impression of a zombie infested world is displayed well, dilapidated buildings, corpses, and the undead themselves, resplendent in basic but lovely make-up and blood effects. From a vaguely slow start, this barrelled into things, taken on a variety of locations, and ending on a pretty cool open finish that could be interpreted in different ways.

Films such as Plague might not do much to innovate, but low budget indie films such as this are the comfort food of the zombie sub-genre of horror, bitesize and immersive, leaving me nostalgic for the time when films like this were commonplace.

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Scurry (2024) - Horror Film Review

Last year I had a wonderful time at the cinema watching prequel horror; A Quiet Place: Day One, and now I have seen the Luke Sparke (Primitive War, Occupation: Rainfall) directed  Scurry - a film that tells a similar story but in an indie setting. That isn't me saying it had copied that one, just that with the under attack city setting, the duel protagonists, the sentimental feel, and a vaguely similar looking creature (though more crab-like in appearance); these all combined to make this a stand-alone story taking place the same day as that much bigger movie in my head canon. Sure that is not the case, especially with the monsters here not appearing to have very great hearing.
I haven't even mentioned it yet, but Scurry is designed to have the appearance of it being one long unbroken shot from beginning to end. How well does it achieve this?

Mark (Jamie Costa - The Activated Man) wakes up in a deep hole in the road he had been crossing in the middle of a bustling unnamed city that had been caught in an earthquake. With the area having suffered a series of quakes over the past few weeks, he assumes that is what has happened. He is surprised when his cries for help fall on deaf ears, as he figures he couldn't possibly be the only survivor of this quake in such a bustling city. Forced to head deeper underground, he encounters another survivor; a frightened and injured young woman (Emalia - Paper Dolls TV series), she reveals to him the truth; the city has came under attack by giant monstrous creatures that came from beneath the earth, the frequent quakes had actually been caused by their burrowing beneath the city. Mark and the woman don't have any other real option than to uneasily team up and attempt to find a way to escape the creature-made burrows they now find themselves trapped in.

Overall I was impressed with Scurry. There were a few parts that didn't resonate as well, but it managed to tell its ambitious story effectively, the underground setting meaning a lot of the bigger picture stuff is assumed to be happening above ground. The 'one-shot' gimmick obviously doesn't mean one single uncut shot for the whole film, with the amount of times scenes are plunged into darkness, I am sure there are a lot  of scene cuts. What worked with this was the feeling of one long, single journey. From the camera swooping in from a chaotic city scene to centre on an unconscious Mark at film's start, to the amazing finish, this showed the entire torturous journey of the protagonists. This means the entire seventy minute movie plays out in real time, characters experiencing the events and getting to know each other at the exact same speed as the viewer.
Mark was a mostly great character. Sure, the man had his demons in his past, but he comes across as empathetic, caring, and an all-round good guy. I will admit he did begin to grate on me a bit in the momentum stalling scene deep in the third act, his dialogue there causing me to laugh out loud. He was also hardy, seeing as how he had a gaping hole the size of a small letterbox in his stomach from a film's start injury! The same can't be said for the woman (also hardy with a bad leg injury; I mean she can't said to be a nice character). From her first appearance she was selfish, mean spirited, bullying, and a little bit narcissistic. No matter what Mark said or did, she would treat him terribly, scoffing at the idea of him wanting to get back to his 'perfect family', and putting her needs ahead of his. Pretty much treated him like he was a side character in her own movie rather than a duel protagonist. Armed with a pistol, she holds the power, making Mark crawl behind her, and taking his items (such as his lighter) off of him. At one point she even forces him to head back down an occupied tunnel in order to collect mystery drugs she had dropped. She eventually gets more bearable, but for too much of the runtime I was wishing the character would just get over themselves and found them overly irritating.

The characters are in dark tunnels for much of the movie, sometimes the one shot uses this to cool advantage, such as panning back to reveal a monster is obliviously digging in a tunnel above them, or to sweep down a hole to show the viewer what is making the noise the characters can hear. It also pans away to flashback sequences in a clever fashion. Many of the effects seem to use CG, such as the panning shots, but they never looked bad, and added depth to the world of the film. There is more action than you might expect, the humans are surrounded by monsters, but those are not particularly aware of these survivors trying to find a way out. There are plenty of small exciting moments, the third act begins with a really entertaining scene that had me giggle out loud, and which saw the duo covered in blood! The creatures look like giant crabs ("giant enemy crabs; hit weak points for massive damage" to paraphrase a much memed Sony 2006 E3 press conference). The darkness of the film means they are often in shadow enough that the design and look-in film is effective.
The story had me engaged enough that I wanted to see Mark survive; to see if he could be reunited with his family. Both characters had their melodramatic cheesy moments where they lay their cards on the table, reveal to each other their darkest secrets. Those felt a little bit formulaic for this type of film, but were at least brief. Being biased towards him, Mark's one was much better than the woman's. There is some lore that is dropped towards the end about the threat they face that threatens to turn the film into a parody of itself, but it paves the way for the memorable Sam Raimi-esque ending zinger that was just perfect, even if the explanation was utterly ridiculous.

Apart from a dip in pacing in the middle of the third act, I really enjoyed Scurry. Mark was a great protagonist for the most part, and at least the woman eventually becomes more bearable. I might not have liked the character, but she was played well, as was Costa's Mark outside of one small stumble. It sold the illusion of being one unbroken shot beneath the streets and sewers of a city well, I enjoyed the CG effects to pad out the world, and the unique ways the film had of displaying key information to the viewer. The dank environments felt suitably claustrophobic. Scurry came to Digital HD on October 3rd in North America via Signature Entertainment.

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The Matriarch (2024) - Horror Film Review

It appears that next year I shall be going on vacation with my father to Australia for a month to visit family. What better way to celebrate this news than by watching an Australian horror film. The Matriarch was written and directed by Jayden Creighton (Kinks) in his feature length directorial debut. I had zero expectations for this, I imagined it would be some sort of drama/thriller, so I was pleasantly surprised to see this had far more in common with a slasher.

Thirteen year old Missy (Juliette Greenfield) lives in rural Australia with her psychotically mentally unwell mother, Annette (Kate Logan - Kinks). The pair are staying in the house of Annette's mother who has gone away on an extended vacation. Returning home from school, Missy is dismayed to see that Trent (Andy Sparnon), an old boyfriend of Annette's recently out of prison is there, and the two are deep into an alcohol and drug binge. Later that night, Trent forces himself into Missy's room and she has to defend herself with drastic results. The consequences of this tip her mother over the edge, in a furious rage she becomes determined to murder her daughter, and anyone else who happens to get in her way.

The Matriarch takes little time to really get into the meat of its story. Before even twenty minutes of runtime has passed, Missy finds herself being stalked by her mother over one long (and blue tinted) night of terror. It was apparently Greenfield's first acting role, not that you would think that as she was by far the standout actor in the film. She has a vulnerability and innocence to her character that comes across as so natural. She also projects clearly the fact that despite her mothers derangement she does legitimately love her and wants the best for her. Being a young teen, there is a power mismatch, so Missy has to result to some Home Alone style tricks to impede her mother, such as putting broken glass on the floor, and using some type of insect repellent as a weapon. She spends much of the movie terrified and trying her best to escape the locked home. I wasn't completely sure about Logan's character of Annette. She obviously has mental health issues, seeing her daughter as corrupted and evil, and you could easily say the version we see in the movie is full of drugs and alcohol on top of that. She felt like a slasher villain, but with a more personal relation to the 'final girl'. The way she constantly growled and her guttural speech gave the impression of a mad dog. Sometimes this seemed almost over the top, but it worked, I especially liked the moments when she is trying to act normal around other characters, but is obviously tweaking and barely holding it together. Her internal cocktail of mental health issues and drugs also make her very irrational. Along the way there becomes a small body count, with an almost random way Annette is trying to hide her increasing crimes.
Little of the film dwells on the characters past, there was a prologue used to show the mother's mental state even when Missy was a baby, and there is a very effective split second shot of a camera flash to starkly reveal to the audience just why Trent is not a good person. I wasn't so sure about the later extended flashback of this scene, as I felt it had been perfectly summed up with that single inserted image in the first part of the movie.

The film looked fantastic, mainly set at night inside the large house the pair live in, there is plenty going on. At one point Missy ends up in the attic with her mother trying to axe the attic floor open, another time she is under the house. There are some good looking blood effects, Missy getting increasingly battle damaged over the course of the eighty minute film, and victims getting stabbed and bludgeoned with effective sound effects. One particular highlight was a gunshot - that was part of such a great scene. Annette had a bit of a movie maniac about her, coming back from things you would expect to have killed or severely debilitated her. 
Special mention goes to the films score and soundtrack. There was one moment where I could hear the sound of cackling kookaburras mixed into the dramatic music, very well done. I also enjoyed the end credit sequence with its very angry and shouty song playing. 

I loved The Matriarch, a near perfect blend of slasher and thriller with a bit of home invasion in the mix. Greenfield was very impressive in the lead role, you would never guess it was her first acting job, and Logan despite being slightly cartoonish, made for a fearsome antagonist. The Matriarch releases on June 10th from Studio Dome.

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Psychosis (2023) - Horror Film Review

Psychosis is a very strange Australian black and white thriller that has a unique concept to it. Written and directed by Pirie Martin in his feature length debut, this captivated me throughout, drawing me into its odd world.

Cliff Van Aarle (Derryn Amoroso) is a criminal fixer who has a special set of skills and abilities. The man suffers from schizophrenia, hearing a multitude of voices in his head but which are able to point out things that he might otherwise miss. He is also skilled in hypnotic suggestion, something that he learned from his criminal father who had used the skills for evil. With Cliff's sister in a coma in hospital he is quite desperate for money, so against his better judgement he accepts a job from two small time drug dealers. They had inadvertently stolen drugs from a near mythical criminal mastermind known as Joubini (James McCluskey-Garcia) and angered at this he has tasked his zombie-like 'hollow men' to kill them. Cliff agrees to track down Joubini, though discovers that the man has mind control powers even greater than his own.

I loved this movie, it is surreal and strange without feeling too much like an arthouse film. There is no end of interesting editing and shot techniques to give the film a weird vibe all of its own. The black and white look gave a film noir feel to events, while there are plenty of varied effects, such as scenes shown upside down and blurry slow motion footage used at times. Mind control segments create confusing sequences that make use of cool special effects to give more of a dreamlike feel to them. The initial reveal of the antagonist during a dream sequence for instance was very cool looking as one strong example.

Cliff made for a great protagonist, the voices in his head sounded wonderful with headphones, with the voices seeming to dance around in a way that reminded me a lot of the way they did a similar thing in the video games Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice and Senua's Saga: Hellblade II. My favourite part of his character was the movie's narrator (Lindsay Dunn), another voice in Cliff's head, but one who narrates his actions in third person. This allows the protagonists motives to be revealed to the viewer, it also creates comedic elements, such as when the narrator is speaking when a character with Cliff then interrupts what the narrator is saying mid flow. The way this voice spoke and the light hearted tone of it reminded me a lot of the narrator from comedy video game The Stanley Parable. There are not that many characters in the movie but a highlight was the furry superhero LoneWolf (Pj van Gyen). This character should not have worked but he somehow fitted in to the gritty criminal world of the film, and his constant lines of "I work alone" when Cliff suggests teaming up with him were always amusing.

The story was relatively easy to follow despite the often confusing camerawork. The story is mainly a search for Joubini with some classic story beats along the way, such as the hero getting captured, and a third act assault on the HQ of the mastermind. I liked the trippy vibe that came in to play when characters are brainwashed, made for some unique looking scenes, such as characters growing extra arms. There were a fair few action scenes, a bit hard to follow due to the fast paced editing but they worked well. Cliff isn't a John Wick type character, instead he is someone who is flawed and well aware of his flaws, so the fight sequences almost always felt desperate. Psychosis released on August 30th on digital/VOD and comes to Tubi on October 4th, I loved this and think it is well worth a watch for something that is definitely different.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Thursday 8th August 2024

I didn't sleep well last night (at the time of typing) so have been struggling to get anything done today. This being my second and final blog post of the day. I will have to try better tomorrow to get everything done! Some fun sounding news for this trilogy of three horror news tales.

The Red is an Australian comedy horror film set in the outback and stars a unique creation in the form of Rippy - the giant zombie kangaroo. It is about a young police officer (played by Tess Haubrich) based at the town of Axehead, who must deal with the were-creature Rippy when locals start showing up brutally killed by the creature. The cast also includes Michael Biehn, Angie Milliken, and Aaron Pedersen. The Red comes to Australian and New Zealand cinemas on October 31st from Radioactive.

Next up, all the way to Scotland for news about lost horror film The Bench. This was originally shot in 2007 by a team of filmmakers led by writer/director Sean Wilkie (Matter of Time), with HDV tape the option gone for. This was inspired by Tobe Hooper's original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and is finally to see the light of day thanks to Magic Monkey Films and Quarantine Films. The film stars Joy McAvoy (Filth), Matt McClure (Penny Dreadful) and Tony McGeever, and is about a group of friends who get caught up with an evil force that is centred around a strange bench out in the Scottish wilderness. The Bench is available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video. I have a screener of this for review so that should be going u later this month.

Finally for today, sci-fi horror thriller Terror Firma is coming to DVD and Blu-ray on August 27th from Dark Arts Entertainment, which is the distribution company's inaugural release. This is the feature film debut of writer/director Jake Macpherson and is about a struggling artist who moves in with her estranged brother and his creepy roommate. A city-wide lockdown and a mysterious packet of seeds unite to somehow bring the existence of the world into danger. As well as special features, the Blu-ray release includes the extended director's cut.

Late Night with the Devil (2023) - Found Footage Horror Film Review

Originally, I had intended to watch something different for this third film review of the week. The screener link didn't work, which as the rules of my blog that I follow meant that instead I would watch something of my own choosing. I have wanted to watch Late Night with the Devil for some time, with one of the barriers to entry being that the only place I could find it was on Shudder which I hadn't a subscription for. This found footage takes the form of a special documentary put out about a night time talk show host from the 1970's who became infamous after a terrifying 1977 Halloween special that shocked the nation. As part of the documentary, the recording of the infamous episode long believed lost has been recovered and included in full.

Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian - Oppenheimer, The Suicide Squad) is a late night talk show host whose show, 'Night Owls', is at threat of being cancelled due to a year of plummeting ratings. For his Halloween special he has something special planned, he has invited onto the show a teenage girl, Lilly (Ingrid Torelli) who is said to be possessed by a demon. Thinking it will be a boost to his ratings, Jack plans to summon the demon live on TV, this turns out to be a very bad idea...

Late Night with the Devil begins like a typical found footage, a faux documentary setting up both the protagonist, Jack, as well as the history of his show, 'Night Owls', before heading in to show the rediscovered episode in real time. It doesn't take long to see that this never fully conforms to the tropes of the sub-genre, instead there are plenty of moments that take place that wouldn't be found footage, but is still presented as that way. These include black and white interludes that has Jack backstage during ad-breaks discussing how the show is going, though it is the final act where things really begin to swivel away from found footage. While still shot in the same way, this final ten to fifteen minutes takes a big step away from the format, something that I have heard complaints about online, but I think it works.

There is something already creepy about the low-quality camera footage of the 1970's, and here this is stuck to throughout, making for something that felt genuine. With three key guests on the show there is a a decent pacing to the unfolding terror. First there is spirit medium Christou (Fayssal Bazzi) who is a bit of a comedic character to begin with due to his blatant lack of real powers, but this part begins the horror to come. A key character is hypnotist and paranormal sceptic Carmichael Haig who serves as a human antagonistic force, convinced that all the apparent supernatural goings-on are fabricated by Jack to get ratings. Then there is creepy Lilly and her doctor (and Jack's secret love interest), June Ross-Mitchell (Laura Gordon - Saw V) which is where the madness really begins. Jack was probably my favourite character, despite him having to be 'in character' as the talk show host, you get a lot from his neutral yet somewhat fake and smarmy position. The behind the scenes moments during ad-breaks show his obsession with getting the highest ratings, as well as his relationship with work colleagues and guests.

Of course, this isn't the first found footage that has gone for a live-TV show theme. WNUF Halloween Special did something very similar in 2013 (though went for a more comedic vibe), and even comedy horror TV show Inside No.9 did something similar in it's season 8 episode '3 by 3'. Throughout, I was hooked with the format here, and I liked how the feeling of oncoming danger ramped up over the ninety minutes run time. As unexpected as the switch from realistic found footage to traditional horror presented as found footage was, I felt this was one of the weaker parts of the film, even if it was handled well. The only real concessions to the budget were some CG effects that didn't really fit in with the grainy look of the show, a little too clean looking, leading me to ever so briefly be drawn out of the movie when they happened.

That the majority of the story in Late Night with the Devil takes place in real time was an impressive feat. The gentle start of corny scripted jokes between Jack and his crew, then devolving to increasing out of control chaos as the show went on was very well done. There are some interesting ideas here, the middle act involving a mass hypnotism was cleverly presented and wild, while characters were always used intelligently to move on the story and set-up future story bears. Late Night with the Devil can currently be streamed on Shudder.

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Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024) - Post Apocalyptic Film Review

At the start of last year me and my father began working our way through the Mad Max series of Australian post-apocalyptic films, due to him having visited Broken Hill, the filming location for Mad Max 2. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is the first movie in the series to be a spin-off, not featuring the titular Max as the protagonist, but instead Furiosa, played here by Alyla Browne (Children of the Corn) and Anya Taylor-Joy (Morgan, The Witch: A New England Folktale), an important side character in 2015's Mad Max: Fury Road. The film works as an origin story for the character, showing how she came to be working for Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme - The Matrix Revolutions), and sets up her motivations for why she decided to betray him.

After a series of worldwide disasters, the world has fallen into ruin. Furiosa (Browne) is a young girl who lives in a hidden oasis in the middle of the Australian outback where one day bandits appear. Wanting to prove to their boss that the oasis they discovered actually exists, the gang abduct Furiosa and take her back to their camp. The eccentric warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth - the Marvel series of superhero films) murders Furiosa's mother who had followed her to the camp and makes the young girl his special prisoner. After Dementus discovers the location of a vast water source ruled over by a warlord named Immortan Joe, he plans to take it over, but outmatched he instead sets his sights on the nearby Gastown. Taking over this essential location he forms a truce with Joe, and as part of the deal Furiosa is handed over to him to become one of his brides. Escaping from her confinement, Furiosa ends up working for Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke), Immortan Joe's most trusted driver. Recognising the drive in the young girl, Jack takes her under his wing, promising to teach her all the skills she would need to survive in the wasteland.
Fifteen years or so later and Furiosa (Taylor-Joy) has become an essential member of Joe's workforce, where she has bided her time waiting to get revenge on Dementus. Having made a poor job of running Gastown, Dementus has decided it is time for him to make a move against Immortan Joe and so a war between the two warlords begins.

I really liked Fury Road when I first saw it, but repeated views has not had it stood the test of time as well as hoped. That movie was essentially one long car chase from beginning to end. Describing Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga I would describe it as a series of smaller car chases. Being a prequel I was interested to see how this would match up with Fury Road, especially seeing as how this story was already written before that movie was made. It was nice to see a bunch of returning characters reprising their roles. The bad guys of Fury Road were a memorable bunch, so it was cool to see them returning. Not all the actors reprised their roles, obviously Charlize Theron was replaced with the two younger actresses, but many of the bad guys return. I was surprised that Immortan Joe looked identical to his prior appearance, despite him being played by a different actor. I thought it was cool that two characters who had only ever appeared in the Mad Max video game made live action appearances here, so it seems that is still deemed canonical. Hemsworth was great as new antagonist Dementus, with him really fitting into the post-apocalyptic world. He was quite eccentric and faintly ridiculous, wearing a cape made out of a plastic sheet, and carrying around a teddy bear with him at all times (with it heavily implied this belonged to a child he had in his past). I liked his implementation, and he commanded a huge biker force making for some epic looking scenes. His most iconic vehicle was three motorbikes strapped to a chariot that he rode around.

The movie was again directed by George Miller, with him co-writing this alongside Nick Lathouris as he did last time around. Split into several lengthy chapters, the plot covers a lot of ground, with Taylor-Joy's version of Furiosa not actually making an appearance until around an hour has passed of this nearly two and a half hour movie. It was fun to see all the references to that other film, with many fun easter eggs included. Here for instance you find where Immortan Joe got his monster truck from, how Furiosa came to lose her arm, and the origins of the iconic tanker that Max and Furiosa hijacked. As for that other character, he doesn't make an appearance here outside of one blink and you miss it moment, but I didn't feel he was needed. This has an interesting way of integrating with Fury Road by showing clips of that film play out over the end credits. The wasteland of Australia looks as great as ever, and there is no end of vehicular combat against Dementus and his bikers and Immortan Joe and his warboys. Rated fifteen, this often suggests more than it shows, but there are plenty of body parts, and plenty of violent shootouts and crashes, and plenty of shots of people and vehicles being grinded under large wheels!

I feared that Furiosa would be a bit of a pointless film, I didn't really like her character too much before, but here, I was surprised that I came to enjoy her role. Taylor-Joy doesn't have a lot to work with, with her character mute for most of the runtime, I think I read that she has less than a hundred words of dialogue spoken. She certainly looked the part, and was a credible acting bad-ass. I think the lack of dialogue from her worked, as the finale clash between her character and Dementus felt a bit out of place and overly philosophical with the long conversations they had. It was a treat to return to the demented world of Mad Max, and has made me want to check out Fury Road yet again to see if I spot more ways the two films melded together.

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Bliss of Evil (2022) - Horror Film Review

There is a strange sub-genre of horror I have noticed over the years, horror revolving around music. Often this will be due to supernatural reasons, such as Music Store Massacre, Death Metal, and Deathgasm, and so I initially assumed the Josh Morris directed and co-written Australian horror, Bliss of Evil would also follow that mold. Instead, this turned out to be the first slasher I have personally seen based around music.

Taking place in Brisbane in 1997, Isla (Sharnee Tones), a sound engineer has gone to her family owned recording studio to help her girlfriend Nic's (Shanay De Marco - Dead Reflection) grunge band record some songs late one night. As well as the band, also consisting of Roy (Brendan R Burman-Bellenger), Rhea (Emily Rowbottom), and new member, Lee (Jordan Schulte), Isla's best friend Jamie (Michaela Da Costa) and a new groupie have came along. It isn't too long until one of them is found dead, with Lee found standing over the body. It is assumed he was the one responsible, but with the phone line cut, and the exits to the studio chained shut, it becomes clear that there may be someone else hiding in the building, someone with a connection to the band's past...

Intro text at the start of the movie reveals that it is apparently a recreation of a real event that occured back in 1997 in Brisbane, and to be honest that element felt pointless, as did that specific time period. It didn't add anything to the movie, other than to stick in the back of the mind that was is happening is just a film (obviously it is, but felt even more of a film with that text declaring it to be so). Still, that is one of the few missteps that occurs here, but all in all this was a great slasher film with some moments I felt to feel fresh. I might as well get through some of my other issues before getting onto the good stuff. The title of the movie refers to a song that the band used to play, but due to some unspoken incident has been blacklisted. It gives bad enough memories that merely the question of whether it should be played (new band member Lee not knowing its dark history, having seen it on an old set list he had been given), causes Isla to have a panic attack. The film ended with me not really understanding the significance of the track completely. Much of this part is explained to the viewer, but I wasn't sure why Isla in particular was so affected by the thought of it, when other characters have just as much history with it but aren't so bothered.

Putting those issues aside, as well as a flashback sequence that killed the flow of the present day section (though was much needed to give some context), Bliss of Evil was a very good slasher. I really benefited by not having read the synopsis as I thought this was going to be another supernatural based music horror. The early kill of one of the cast took me by surprise. This first act is somewhat of a red herring, though the poster for the movie straight up spoils the fact that things aren't what they appeared to be as it shows the killer front and centre. I thought the design of the mostly silent slasher was great, rather than wear a disguise (as is tradition), the hooded psycho (Corrie Hinschen) has instead opted to cover his face in the blood of his victims, giving him the cool credited name of 'Bloodface'. It was also neat that despite being nearly mute, the first words you hear from him are a whole acoustic song he plays and sings over the intercom system, of course the song being the titular 'Bliss of Evil'. He does say a few words over the rest of the film, but as an introduction to the messed up maniac, this really stood in the mind.

He uses a variety of different weapons and tools with which to kill his victims, I don't think a single murder method is used more than once which is good. The effects are decent, nothing spectacular but they certainly did the job.

I really enjoyed my time with Bliss of Evil. I loved the second act that moved events back a few hours to show what was happening elsewhere during the first act, I thought the killer had an iconic look to it, and as under explained as the backstory was (bad enough that at one point I paused the movie to check it wasn't actually a sequel to an earlier one) I did like the killer's connection to the protagonists, but the reasonings for why they were like what they were, were a bit cliché. I do wish that flashback to a year or so previous had been more in depth as it zoomed through its story, though also had the effect of stopping the momentum of the present day moment. Overall though I loved this, it had a great setting and left me guessing how the survivors were going to be able to defeat their aggressor. Bliss of Evil has been released on VOD, including Amazon Prime Video.

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My Cherry Pie (2021) - Horror Film Review

My Cherry Pie is an Australian horror film that was written by Addison Heath (Vampires Prefer Black), and co-directed by them and Jasmine Jakupi. It's off kilter feel brought to mind early Peter Jackson movies like Bad Taste, while its plot felt like an indie version of House of 1000 Corpses.

Freddy (Sotiris Tzelios), Green (Tim Jason Wicks), and Jack (Dylan Heath) are three low level criminals who are on the run after Freddy stabbed some people to death shortly after being released from prison. Out in the country, Jack's car breaks down, but they are soon spotted by local man Edwin (Glenn Maynard), he offers the trio a place to spend the night at his property, with the promise that come morning he will tow their car to a mechanic. He leads them to his home, a former hospital, now converted into a place where him and his niece, the titular Cherry (Trudi Ranik), lives. With it at first seeming that the criminals might decide to get up to no good, it soon becomes clear that maybe Edwin and Cherry are the more dangerous of the two groups, and that they might have something to do with a notorious serial killer operating in the area.

This had a relatively small cast in terms of characters that get decent screen time, but it featured more than one stand-out actor. The characters here are larger than life, with a feeling of comedy to the exaggerated reactions and behaviour of the group. An early highlight were the three criminals and their behaviour with each other. Suit wearing Jack was constantly stressed and complaining from his very first appearance, Green was forever more chilled out, giving the two a humorous odd-couple feel. From the moment Tzelios' character had a shave he was another character who shined with his reckless feel that felt like he could erupt into violence at any moment, though he seldom did. Later it was Maynard's Edwin who began to shine, especially with one scene in which he retells a story about his family's tragic past. Due to the protagonists being bad people, when the horror starts it felt less serious than it could have, while not evil people, they were chaotic idiots, and what happens was darkly amusing at times.

There was quite a bit of blood throughout My Cherry Pie, with even the less stabby kills leading to lots of the red stuff. A hand is severed, heads are cut off, and axes are stuck blade deep into characters heads, all practical effects, and all looking deliciously wonderful.
The plot itself was quite simple, and it doesn't really try and do any deep twists. When I saw the serial killer in the prologue, I already had a good idea of who would be under the plague doctor outfit, I was right, but this reveal happens not long into the second act, and so I don't believe it was ever meant to be some big secret. I liked how this initially felt like two different films, comedic crime thriller, and crazed slasher flick, the two merge together in a way that really worked at merging the two worlds together, with a key dinner scene being when it really felt like the film was coming together in a satisfying way.

My Cherry Pie was an entertaining horror that had a great mix of eclectic characters, while not skimping on blood and guts. Some elements didn't work quite so well (such as the two twins), but having likeable, yet also deserving victims with their larger than life personas made much of the movie fun to experience. My Cherry Pie came to region free Blu-ray on 30th May from VIPCO & BayView Entertainment.

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The Cost (2022) - Thriller Film Review

I was in two minds over whether to review the Matthew Holmes (The Artifice) directed and co-written The Cost. It falls into a sub-genre that I have termed 'realistic horror', a horror film due to the situation the characters have gotten themselves into, without anything traditionally horror like happening, such as paranormal stuff and cannibal killers. Boy, am I glad I did watch this Australian thriller though, perfectly acted, with great pacing, but this sure isn't remotely a happy movie!

Seeking revenge for the rape and murder of a loved one twelve years previously, David (Jordan Fraser-Trumble) and Aaron (Damon Hunter) decide to kill the man responsible (him having been released from prison far earlier than expected). So, one night, they turn up at the home of Troy (Kevin Dee), tie him up, and take him to remote woodland where they tell him they are going to torture and kill him. However, the enormity of what they are about to do starts to weigh on the men, especially David, with the split in opinion threatening to tear the two apart.

I figured this would be mostly concerned with the torturing of the rapist, so I was in for some grim viewing. At least early on it is established beyond doubt that the man they have kidnapped did indeed rape and kill the woman; David's wife, and Aaron's sister. I had expected this would be undetermined, with it not clear to the viewer, but the horror takes on a different aspect once Troy admits things. This works so well due to the actors chosen, with even the side roles being perfectly cast. It isn't possible to like Troy, but he wasn't a cookie cutter villain, instead his actions and reactions felt natural. At no point did I feel sorry for the character, but the way him and the two protagonists acted felt so believable. David and Aaron are normal people, and so with their actions comes huge amount of guilt. Even with the division between the two men, it never felt like that was inserted to make things feel artificial. The Cost was a very heavy film, with events making me feel worse and worse about the predicament the characters found themselves in. With David's reluctance to murder the man, the two get trapped in an unwinnable situation where they can't release him for fear of getting arrested, but David stating he can't live with himself should they do the deed. The two characters fall into almost 'good cop/bad cop', with David realising that his dead wife wouldn't have wanted him to do this, but Aaron becoming increasingly more resolute with the evil he has to do.

Pacing in these types of thrillers in very important. Put too many contrivances into the plot and it becomes farcical, but this does a near perfect balance. Early on there is a tense drive to the woodland, with several moments where it seems their kidnapping will be discovered. A second act introduction of a nosy neighbour, Brian (Clayton Watson - The Matrix Reloaded) created an initially underwhelming escalation, which really paid dividends in the thrilling final act of the movie. He was a great character. At several points Troy escapes from his captors, leading to some fun and well shot chase sequences. Effects throughout are impressive, there wasn't too much need for special effects, but when they are used they looked great. I also really loved the way the flashback to the woman's murder was shown, David listening to a voicemail his wife had left him on that fateful day, before the scene cuts to his wife having made the voicemail and the events that happened afterwards (thankfully fading away back to the present when the rape is about to occur).

The Cost worked for me due to choice of actors. Both Fraser-Trumble and Hunter were fantastic, with them at the end of the movie looking like they had aged about ten years, compared to their appearance at the start. While the film was fantastic, it wasn't remotely feel good, subject matter should have been apparent, but this was a feel bad movie. With a near two hour run time this never once got dull, I found myself completely drawn into the movie, never sure exactly how it would all pan out. An excellently paced nightmare that just may make you want to scrub the desolate misery out of your soul after watching.

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