The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Thursday 20th November 2025

My second post of the evening (at the time of typing) sees me pick a trio of horrifying, terrifying, and possibly informative news stories from my bloody news sack. Onwards to the news.

The brilliantly titled Girl in the Refrigerator has been released by BayView Entertainment on Digital platforms worldwide, including on FlixFling. This dark comedy fits neatly into the sub-genre of horror about normal people trying to hide the body of a person they have killed (two such examples that spring to mind are the excellent A Young Man with High Potential and Cold Blows the Wind). In this one, a man accidentally kills his girlfriend and makes the fateful decision to try and hide the crime rather than report it. You can probably guess where he decides to store the body to begin with. The dark comedy aspect comes in due to the man then deciding to spend the day drinking with his best friend, before falling for a next door neighbour, who he then invites to his home before remembering about the body. Girl in the Refrigerator was directed by J.Francis Juelkuvsky and stars Jimmy Bevetti, Jaclyn Francine and Maria Brenda.

Music news next with UK South London dark electro duo Palindrones who have released a new video for their song 'Abraxas'. This is taken from their third album; Chapter Two: The Slender Blade and will be featured on December's upcoming double A-side single 'Abraxas & The Brightling Star'. The press release describes this track as '...a paradoxical dance of creation and destruction'. The trippy and fragmented video was pretty neat, and I appreciated the chill vibe of the music at this late time of night where my bed chamber is calling to me.

Finally for today, horror documentary Beware The Demonic has been released on Digital platforms worldwide via VIPCO and BayView Entertainment. The doc explores true evil, with first-hand accounts and revelations about the '...roots and hidden truths of demonic spirits...' This was directed by Albert Edgar Wilson.

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

Another month been and gone. In video game terms I have mainly been working my way through Borderlands 3, a much better game than I had been led to believe even if the core story sucks. I also picked up Silent Hill f. I had heard mixed things about that game, but I couldn't in full conscience call myself a huge Silent Hill fan if I didn't grab the new game on launch day. There is a Daft Punk experience later today in Fortnite, so am killing time writing this post while I wait. Such an exciting life I lead! Onwards to the news.

Crazed House Entertainment have announced the Digital release of The Quantum Devil, which was the winner of Film Threat's 'Best Indie Horror' of 2024. The film sees a team of scientists summoned to a remote facility in Eastern Europe where they perform dimension travelling experiments. I saw this one a few years back where I stated in my review '...had a great visual look to it...wasn't a dull film...' with a respectable six out of ten rotted heads as my score. The Quantum Devil released on 12th August.

14th October has Borderline Media releasing Screamityville on Blu-ray, DVD, and select digital platforms. Instead of a film, this is instead an 84 minute tour of various people's decked out Halloween displays. I think its one of those things that is meant to be left on the background. The tours include 'atmospheric music and chilling sound effects'. To be fair, I did enjoy the trailer, some very impressive looking displays.

There is currently an Indiegogo campaign running for Acrostar Productions The Legend of Tinker Hell. Coming from Steve Hermann and Lynn Lowry, this tells a comedic horror story about fairy based Ellie who goes to violent means to try to help out her master. For more details check out the page here.

I'm assuming Revenge Land is a sequel, the press release implies that but doesn't state what the first film would have been called. Anyway, this comes from Maniacal (formally Michael Moutsatsos), and takes place in 1975 where six musicians away at a retreat to work on their new album encounter a furious and vengeful man looking for revenge against everyone for the death of his son.

Short horror film The Crossroads Hitcher has officially entered production, with the film to star Andrew Pierson, Carissa Pierson, and Kristina Lafser. The simple yet effective synopsis states that a woman stopping at a deserted crossroads has a hitchhiker sneak into her car. The film is planned to hit short film festivals worldwide in 2026, with a crowdfunding campaign launching in the near future.

Lost Contact: UFOs After Wartime debuts on Digital platforms on 7th October. This is a new documentary coming from Small Town Monsters and investigates the story of WW2 pilot Thomas Mantrell Jr., the only known person to have died while chasing a UFO.

Found footage focussed streaming platform FOUND TV is celebrating its one year anniversary by releasing 31 films over October, one a day, either a feature film or a short. Highlights include Tahoe Joe 3: Concrete Wilderness, world premieres of I'm Haunted 4 and I'm Haunted 5, as well as the world release of Jabberjaw and the first three episodes of The Poltergeist Diaries.

Finally for today; having enjoyed animated short film Space Goblins, I had to include the trailer for the live-action feature film based on the property, also called Space Goblins. Looks interesting to say the least.

It's Coming (2023) - Horror Documentary Review

It's Coming is a paranormal documentary directed by Shannon Alexander (Be Still), which had its debut at Hot Docs (Nightvision). It has been a fair while since I saw a doc based around ghosts or potential demonic activity, and this one was from a slightly different perspective, as I am more familiar with these shown from the perspectives of demonologists, such as with Devil Down South and Malefice - A True Story of a Demonic Haunting.

This takes place in and around the apartment block home of Ashley Rowland and her family. She claims to have been seeing unexplainable supernatural entities since she was 11. Later in life, after moving back to her family's long located Brooklyn apartment, she begins to experience constant supernatural activity around her, something that her children also see as well. In 2022, a film crew record her and her children experiences at their apartment, as Ashley attempts to find a solution to what she believes to be experiencing. a spirit medium (Soledad Haren) visits, and later a demonologist couple (Chris and Harmony DeFlorio) attempt to help clear her apartment of any entities that might reside there.

I'm used to these types of documentaries being approached from an investigative angle, usually by experts visiting the reportedly haunted location. This was different in that the bulk of the film is just the documentary crew in the Rowland home hanging out. It was indie in style with basic presentation. That's not to say the film quality was bad, there was some decent editing here, and everything is presented as real with no cutaways to talking heads, or cheesy recreations of events. The presentation works at making this feel like a real life found footage movie. I am annoyingly sceptical when it comes to things like this, but that isn't to say that the family here are making anything up, it is clear from how they appear on camera that they legitimately believe something strange is happening, having long gotten used to it. The low presentation works at integrating the viewer into the household, you come to get a feel for the family dynamics,  Ashley and her children come across as a legitimate unit, the children acting exactly how you would expect children to be, natural rather than performing for the camera. 
I did at times wish there had been some type of narration for the viewer, whether by text on screen or someone speaking. This was especially the case with the cold opening where it just starts without any real introduction as to who these people are and what has been going on. The same applies to the ending, I again thought some type of end text saying how the family have been getting on since the documentary had been made would have been useful. Thinking about that though, the cold opening and ending feed into the feel that this is real life found footage. 

This follows a progressive path and is made up mostly of interviews with Ashley and her children. There are also strange events that have been caught on camera edited in, showing the footage where unexplained things really did get caught on camera. There is genuine concern from Ashley in wanting to protect her kids from everything going on. She comes across as someone supremely fed up with all the paranormal events and ready to go to any lengths to end it. You do hear strange noises, see strange shadows, and indeed, hear strange accounts of seeing shady figures in black over the course of the documentary, as well as one seriously creepy children's drawing. 

It's Coming was an intimate feeling documentary that made you feel like a visitor to the family's home. They came across as sincere, while the questions asked by the documentary crew were good at getting them to provide interesting information. Lacking a little in presentation, this documentary nonetheless remained a mostly fascinating watch. 

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for 7th August 2025

I am back for a second round of news stories, feeling aware that my inbox is getting a bit full, though it has certainly been far worse in the past. I am writing this on Sunday after having got back from swimming, the first time I've done that in about twenty five years. Anyway, enough waffling, onwards to the news.

Fear Anonymous is a new film that was directed by Bron Theron, and starring Gerard Marzilli, Tyler Gaylord, Rashida L. Hudson, Tod James, Sarkis Bakalyan and plenty of others. It takes place at a Sunday afternoon support group where people gather to explain what scares them the most. One week, a young man named Tyler joins, which leads to a shift within the dynamic of the group. The movie takes place in the same film universe as Theron's previous film Half Dead Fred, with the director explaining that this takes place the day after the events in that film where Freddy Nash visits a haunted house. I'm not entirely sure, but I believe this to be an anthology.

VIPCO and BayView Entertainment have released the documentary Areas Of High Strangeness: Stimson Hospital, it is now available on digital platforms worldwide, including to rent/buy on Amazon Prime Video. Written and directed by Jeffrey Checker, this follows the Demon Hunter Society as they explore the allegedly haunted Stimson Hospital in Eaton Rapids, Michigan.

Finally for today, Iconic is a thriller from director Matthew Freiheit that has recently came to MoviVue. The film concerns a social media influencer who struggles to keep their sanity after being stalked by a violent stalker. MoviVue is a new streaming service that features curated indie horror gems, with filmmakers on the platform getting up to fifty times more profit than traditional streaming platforms.

The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Thursday 8th May 2025

Hitler was not a good person, in fact you wouldn't be wrong if you described him as evil (something that it increasingly seems the dystopian America of 2025 is beginning to forget). I have a huge interest in history, especially the second world war, so Obsession: Hitler's Occult Odyssey sounds like a good mix of history with the supernatural. The Nazi's were into occult stuff, I once read a theory that the Third Reich failed due to the 'spear of destiny' they had gotten hold of (said to have pierced Jesus' side) getting lost. Regardless of fact and fiction, the occult did play a part however minor. This documentary takes a look at this aspect of the Nazis, looking at such things as that spear of destiny, the Holy Grail, as well as rituals and beliefs Hitler and some of his cronies were meant to have believed in. This comes from BayView Entertainment.

An official trailer and poster for Harley Wallen's upcoming thriller Final Recovery has been released. Starring Charlene Tilton (Dallas), Jasper Cole (Fall), Richard Tyson (Black Hawk Down), Michael Emery (Blue Bloods), Cherish Lee (American History X), Damien Chinappi (Eternal Code), and Kaiti Wallen (Beneath Us All), this is about a recovery facility with a dark secret to it. Run by the seemingly altruistic Louise (Tilton), the facility is actually out to make profit over helping people. Final Recovery was scheduled for release on May 2nd on Tubi and Amazon by Buffalo 8. I have a screener of this for review, so watch out for that some week soon.

Finally for today, a surprise digital release of 2010 student film Dog Beater has been released on Vimeo. The film, notable for an early performance from actor David Perry was written and directed by Kera Hildebrandt at Columbia College Chicago. In this horror short, a cruel pet owner is forced to confront his past misdeeds of abusing dogs in his care. Said to be a love letter to Japanese horror, Perry was responsible for getting this student film in the eyes of a bigger audience. For more details of the film, check it's Vimeo page here.

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

It is a new year and full of possibilities, a time to get out of the groove and expand your comfort zone. At least it is for a die-hard introvert like me. I usually fail to get my blog finished within two days, meaning I tend to work most the weekend on it. This is my last post of the weekend, and am hoping that this month my news round-up returns to a more full look.

Fright Teck Pictures have released a special anniversary edition version of Hellweek on Amazon. The film is about a group of mask wearing psychos who decide to target a group of college kids who enter the warehouse where the crazies live, as part of a hazing ritual. Directed by Eddie Lengyel, this stars Robyn Griggs, Brenna Lee Roth, Karen Fox, Rob Jaeger and Michael Reddy.

Areas of High Strangeness: Pennsylvania is out now on digital platforms from BayView Entertainment. This documentary sees members of the Demon Hunter Society heading out to Pennsylvania to investigate reports of Big Foot, Dog Man, and other cryptids thought to either be long extinct or not real.

Streaming service NYX UK has announced that they will be having a 'zombie week' on their service that is due to run from February 3rd to February 9th. It begins on the 3rd with Lucio Fulci's classic 1979 horror Zombie. Subsequent days see The Crazies, Night of the Living Dead, Tombs of the Blind Dead, Return of the Evil Dead, Night of the Seagulls, Nightmare City, and The House by the Cemetary being added to the service. A lot of classics to be found there.

The Stone: No Soul Unturned is out now on digital platforms including on Xumo Play, via VIPCO & BayView Entertainment. This horror was the winner Best Foreign Film at the Mammoth Lakes Film Festival. The film's story concerns a team of soul searchers who unleash psychological and supernatural terror after discovering an ancient stone. Written and directed by Philip Gardiner, this stars Andrew Gough, Sarah Dunn and Layla Randle-Conde.

The official trailer and poster for Heart Eyes is available now. Coming to cinemas on February 14th, this is about a killer named the 'Heart Eyes Killer' who operates on Valentine's Day by going after romantic couples.

Finally for today, with my inbox once again empty, a teaser trailer has been released for Linnea Quigley's Trash's Revenge, part of the Return of the Living Dead universe. The set-up suggests that the original film was indeed based on true events, and that the character of Trash (played by Quigley) is now washed up, but does happen to have a canister of the zombie making toxin kept in her basement.

The Lady of the Lake (2023) - Paranormal Documentary Review

Due to tardiness on my part, I am watching the Ryan Grulich written and directed paranormal/true crime documentary The Lady of the Lake on the day that I plan to put up the review, rather than the preceding weekend so it is very much in memory as I edit this. This documentary visually had a lot to it, including actors recreating moments, and a primary investigator who also does her own share of acting. While interesting, I did feel it was a little bit style over substance, with not that much information really filling up the hour and a half runtime.

Lake Crescent, located in Port Angeles, WA is reputed to be haunted by spirits of various people who have drowned in the area over the years. In particular, as the title suggests, this documentary is concerned with one woman - Hallie Lilingworth, a local waitress who was murdered in 1937, but whose body wasn't discovered until it mysteriously rose to the surface of the lake from where it had been dumped several years later.

The first third of the documentary is more of a true crime piece than a paranormal investigation. It charts the life of Hallie, and the circumstances that may have led to her murder by abusive husband Monty. The middle segment then looks at the lake in general, with experts talking about various sightings of both the lady of the lake and other ghosts in the area over the years (the experts here including someone with the fantastic name of Dr. Harlan McNutt). The final third then follows paranormal investigator Amanda D. Paulson as she uses a spirit box and the 'Estes Method' to try and get in contact with the lady of the lake.
I think partly what put me off this was how old it made me feel. Paulson is a constant throughout the documentary, she appears to be in her twenties and looked so young. Other experts also appeared much younger than my forty two years, to my knowledge this is the first time I have been forced to confront my own mortality due to a documentary. I also felt it was a bit over produced, there doesn't seem to be more than a few moments before the next ghostly image or recreation is being superimposed over the screen. Many of the recreations came across as a bit pretentious, with the decision to display Hallie and Monty's relationship via interpretive dance really odd. I actually thought Nick Perry as Monty was great, it was just the method of the actors dancing out their scenes that I admit left me feeling a bit awkward. This also applies to Paulson. I thought she was great as the key investigator for the documentary, I loved how unimpressed she seemed about everything, but also liked how serious she always looked, leading to some artsy shots of her looking deep in thought that reminded me of the excellent Garth Marenghi's Darkplace.

I didn't really feel that there was too much information provided to the viewer, with the middle part in particular feeling a little disjointed from the rest (though it had some interesting moments, such as a serial killer saying they had dumped a body there). The third part with the spirit box was the most moody of the lot, I liked how spooky the locations looked, such as the Lake Crescent Lodge that looked like it was straight out of the video game Silent Hill 2.

One thing you cannot complain about The Lady of the Lake is how visually interesting it is, there is always something going on to make it not just people talking to the camera. As weird a choice as the dance-based recreations were, they made for a memorable style, that while not really appealing to me, did stand out. The Lady of the Lake is out now on Digital and VOD via Uncork'd Entertainment.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Thursday 7th November 2024

I'm due to be getting a Playstation 5 Pro today (update: I did). Heck of an expensive thing to waste money on, but it means I can gift my Playstation 5 to a friend. No disc-drive on this upgrade, but I have my Xbox Series X if I want to watch films. Onwards to a trilogy of news tales.

Death is an arthouse drama that comes from Anmol Mishra and is now streaming on VOD platforms including Apple TV, Google, and Gumroad. The synopsis states this depicts the last memories of Sabrina (Marigold Pazar) and the press release states '...blends dreams, reality, fantasy and deception into a lynchian mesh'.

The streaming line-up for horror streaming service SCREAMBOX have been announced. On November 5th the anthology Cryptids arrives exclusively, starring Joe Bob Briggs as a paranormal radio show host. November 19th has 1987 splatterfest Street Trash arriving (with the SCREAMBOX Original reboot due to follow in December). November 26th has found footage Devon coming to the service (taken place in an abandoned asylum), while Canadian horror-comedy Cottage Country lands on November 29th. Other November highlights include The Wolf Hour, The Model, The Raking, and horror documentary The American Scream. 

Finally for today, horror documentary It's Coming will be available to buy/rent on North American digital HD internet, cable, and satellite platforms as well as DVD on November 12th. This follows the supernatural encounters of Ashley Roland-White who believes she has been haunted by evil spirits since childhood. Directed and produced by Shannon Alexander, this has been described as a real-life version of Paranormal Activity.

The Rotting Zombie's Round-up of Horror News for August 2024

As always another month has flown by. Lately I have been getting far less time at the weekends to do my blog. It can be a challenge to balance a social life with doing this, especially when I do not have much time during the week to do anything due to working over ten hours a day four days a week (I do love the three day weekend this gives me though). On to the news.

Freestyle Digital Media have acquired Japanese fantasy-thriller The Divine Protector - Master Salt Begins. This is available to rent/own on all North American digital HD internet, cable and satellite platforms, as well as DVD from August 27th. The film is about an occult club at a girls high school in Tokyo who plan to summon a being known as 'Master Salt' in order to deal with a girl who has been cursed by an evil spirit.

Killer Tales is a three part anthology about normal people who are transformed into killers by circumstance. Directed by Frank Palangi and starring Aaron Lambert, Palangi, Teresa Tuttle, Erin Englehart, and Lori Tucker, this is now streaming on Tubi from Cinema Epoch.

Cryptid documentary Cursed Waters: Creature of Lake Okanaga debuted exclusively on Prime Video on August 13th and Blu-ray/DVD from Small Town Monsters. This looks at the British Columbia based lake and the legends surrounding a mysterious creature that has been sighted by many witnesses there over the decades.

Ripped to Shreds is a graphic novel adaptation of Michael Johnson's lost slasher screenplay from 1980. It was originally meant to be filmed that year, but after years of development hell the funding fell through and the production collapsed. Some forty five years later the story is finally getting told in graphic novel form, with the look designed to echo the eighties feel. The story has a group of friends searching Shadow Hills for a legendary maniac with a metal claw who they believe was responsible for the death of their friend. A Kickstarter for Ripped to Shreds is due to launch soon, details can be found here.

Coming from Scream Team Releasing is Worst Laid Plans, now available on collector's edition Blu-ray and VHS. This features three stories of vacation themed horror which has been adapted from the bestselling book by Grindhouse Press. 'Deep in the Heart' has a troubled family trying to reconnect while touring a cave system. 'You've Been Saved' is about two reunited friends whose road trip turns dangerous after one of them receives a cryptic note by a young girl. Finally, 'Taylor Family Vacation '93' is about a father who is trying to discover the identity of the person stalking his family, with the secret revealed within his video camera.

Z Dead End is a new horror film that comes from director Robert Resto and stars Kane Hodder (Friday the 13th series), Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp), Robert LaSardo (The Mule), Dave Sheridan (The Devil's Rejects) and John Fiore (The Sopranos). A deputy sheriff and a bunch of eclectic characters must survive against an onslaught of zombies who have came from the skies.

Finally for today, Mikki The Butcher begins production January 2025 and comes from Michael Moutsatsos. This horror is about a brutally disfigured man who having been tormented and bullied his whole life snaps, donning a mask of his favourite childhood cartoon character and heading out on a brutal rampage.

UFO Whistleblowers: Aliens and The UAP Enigma Exposed (2024) - UFO Documentary Review

It has been just a few weeks since the last documentary about UFOs was reviewed on this site (Top 10 Mind Blowing UFO Crash Cases) and now I have a second one for review. Also coming from Bayview Entertainment, I expected the J. Michael Long directed UFO Whistleblowers: Aliens and The UAP Enigma Exposed to follow a similar light on information style. Instead it was good to see this was more in depth on its subject matter even if I don't think it will make believers of anyone not convinced of alien visitations to Earth.

Over seventy five minutes this jumps around from the 1940's to present day looking at various whistle-blowers who claim that the American government secretly has access to alien technology and alien corpses. It covers the usual subjects such as the Roswell crash and the shady powerful group allegedly going by the name Majestic 12. Also some newer topics were mentioned, such as the weird incident from 2023 where various strange objects were spotted in the skies of America (stating that at least one of these was confirmed to be a Chinese spy balloon). The documentary is more than just various case files, as it also seems determined to provide the information of just what constitutes a whistle-blower, the different forms these might take, methods used to try and supress whistle-blowers and why these people are important for a healthy democracy to function. While here they are mentioned with respect to UFO sightings and recovered technology, it also serves as talking about these people in general, as obviously whistle-blowing is not restricted just to alleged alien events.

The previous documentary suffered by not really featuring a lot of variation, happy to just show some pretty bad looking CG and be done with it. Here there are talking head segments from experts in the field, archival footage from court room reveals, cheesy re-enactments and of course some bad looking CG. There was a certain charm to the cheesy stuff shown here, and the quality of the CG while bad, didn't meet the same low quality as that other documentary I recently watched. It was all narrated by the director, and it was for the most part interesting, whether what is stated is actually real or not. One subject it kept going back to was the suggestion that there has been a long running UFO retrieval and reverse engineering program going on in the U.S, with various archival footage of people claiming this is the case. It was interesting how the modern consensus among believers is that these UFOs aren't from different planets but instead from different dimensions.
Throughout this there was a suitably mysterious soundtrack that I thought fitted this well, the documentary culminates in a relatively lengthy epilogue that ends things on a positive and optimistic note.

I thought that UFO Whistleblowers: Aliens and The UAP Enigma Exposed was better than my expectations. I wish I was a firm believer of this stuff, but I remain sceptical. Regardless, I found the formatting of this interesting, and there was enough variation that it never got stale. This documentary is available on Digital platforms worldwide, including Amazon Prime Video in the UK and USA. It is also available on AVOD Digital.

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Top 10 Mind Blowing UFO Crash Cases (2024) - UFO Documentary Review

                   

Me and my father always enjoy documentaries about aliens and other supernatural and extra-terrestrial subjects. Top 10 Mind Blowing UFO Crash Cases is one such program of that type, this, as the title suggests, takes in ten different alleged instances. Short on substance, but entertaining in that nice brain-dead type of way, there might be not much new or surprising to be found within the forty five minutes here but it was not a chore to get through.

This takes a swift tour of some of the most well documented crashes of unidentified flying objects. Going by the term itself this is true, as to whether these were actually involving beings from other planets or dimensions remains the bigger question. There is no sort of order to these cases discussed, and neither do they all involve crashes itself. Instead, this covers a range of topics, from actual reported crashes to second hand accounts of having been shown alien technology at top secret army bases.

The old classics are on hand, with Roswell being one of the most well known ones shown here. There is not anything new revealed, instead this takes a light on details approach to quickly going over the topics. This was narrated by a variety of different serious sounding narrators, and there were not any talking head moments, or anyone being interviewed on screen at all. There wasn't a balanced approach, with it never explicitly stating these were alien in origin, but not looking at any possible other explanation either. Much of the fast paced editing puts in crude looking animations of aliens, wild artworks of giant crashed flying saucers, and still images. Some, like the Aztec, New Mexico crash have since commonly believed to have been a hoax, yet this isn't mentioned within the documentary, though it does state that official sources have claimed alleged events such as that one were not believed. I guess you could say that goes into cover-up territory, with this often suggesting that crashes reported as hoaxes or dismissed by the authorities were only done so to deceive the public from the truth. 

The content used for each crash often goes off on slight tangents, such as talking about American comedian Jackie Gleason who alleges he was invited to a top secret army base where he was shown remains of aliens and the saucer they arrived in. There is also talk of future technology that came about as a result of crashed UFOs, such as laser technology and new, never before seen materials.
On the one had, this isn't going to make a believer of anyone, nor will it reveal any unheard of cases. Despite that, this was entertaining with a wide variety of different little animations, photos and looped clips as a backdrop to the super serious and dramatic narrators. Written by O.H Krill, and directed by Charles Thompsen, Top 10 Mind Blowing UFO Crash Cases is out on digital platforms, including to rent/buy on Amazon Prime Video in the U.K and U.S, and is also out worldwide on AVOD digital platforms.

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The Rotting Zombie's Round-up of Horror News for June 2024

Another month, with me and my father due to head off to Normandy next week, so there will be reduced blog output during that time. Because I don't have a life, I'm currently writing this while waiting for a Metallica event to start on Fortnite, not horror related but it might be good! Onwards to the news.

Coming from Freestyle Digital Media is The Hyperborean, a sci-fi alien horror movie that is set for U.S VOD platforms and DVD on July 19th 2024. This comedic sci-fi has a crisis manager getting caught up with a failing family run whiskey business with events leading to a triple homicide, an Artic ice-mummy and intergalactic moonshine. This was directed by Jesse Thomas Cook (Septic Man) and written by Tony Burgess (Pontypool).

The Horror Collective's humorous found footage horror #ChadGetsTheAxe comes to Shudder on 1st July. Adapted from a short film of the same name, this follows a wild night as a group of self obsessed social media influencers head to an old mansion said to be the site for a Satanic cult.

The lead story for this months news post is that Smile 2 is heading to cinemas on October 18th. I'm not ashamed to admit I squealed with delight when I saw this. I liked the idea of Smile much more than the film itself, not helped by the fact that all the best bits of the movie were shown in the trailer. I'm hoping with this bigger sequel that they will double down on the most creepy parts of the original. Written and directed by Parker Finn, this follows a pop star, Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) as she starts a world tour. The only problem being she has become cursed by the smile demon after witnessing someone brutally kill themselves, and now she begins to experience terrifying and inexplicable events that are sure to feature no end of creepily smiling people. As much as the first one couldn't live up to my expectations, I'm really excited to see what they do with the sequel.

Prison Planet: Behind The Matrix of Illusion arrives on VOD platforms on July 30th from Bayview Entertainment. Directed by Simon Oliver and written by O.H Krill, this is a documentary that looks into the conspiracy of the Illuminati, a group of mysterious people who are said to have been controlling world events since the Middle Ages.

Scary Tales: Dark Walker is the fourth film in the anthology horror series Scary Tales, though interestingly this is straying from the anthology format by instead being a single feature length movie. This sees a group of strangers who awaken in a strange house where they find themselves under assault from a multitude of monsters, including zombies, the Muffin Man, Bigfoot, and the titular Dark Walker. Coming from Xposse Productions and directed by Geno McGahee, this is set for an October release.

The Bigfoot Experience: Truth Seekers and Real Encounters is a documentary coming to VOD on July 30th from Bayview Entertainment. Directed by J. Michael Long, this brings together various testimonials of people who have claimed to encounter the elusive giant ape.

Finally for today, comedy horror film Poppy Loftus arrives on Digital Platforms on 30th July, again from Bayview Entertainment. Written and directed by Luke Corcoran and starring Niamh Sweeney, Martina McCormack and Anthony Murphy. It is about a woman named Fiadh who goes to look after her mother after losing her job. Strange occurrences lead the woman to look into the field of paranormal investigation.

The Rotting Zombie's Round-up of Horror News for April 2024

Once again another month has passed. After a visit to London to see Stranger Things: The First Shadow I picked up Covid for the second time. I'm over that now, but still quite weak and have a incessant cough, so am not back up to full form. I shall  do my best however! On the video game side of things I am currently playing Diablo IV and Dead Island 2, both great games, and both shall be getting reviews once I'm done with them. I am also currently watching the Fallout TV show, so far it is most impressive, again, a review of that will be coming in the future.

Released back on 27th February by Bayview Entertainment was Alien Top 20: Mind Bending UFO Encounters, a documentary surprisingly about UFOs and aliens. Directed by Charles Thompsen and written by O.H Krill, this looks at a series of encounters across the globe.

Showtown American Pictures and Cannon Fire Productions have announced that Candyman (2021) actor Michael Hargrove is to join Avaryana Rose in the Tom Ryan (Return to Theatre of Terror) directed Bitter Souls. The film is about a teenage girl resurrected after a tragic accident via black magic. After coming back from the beyond, she decides to use her new found powers to get revenge against her tormentors. Bitter Souls is due to begin production in Carbondale and Scranton Pennsylvania in June later this year.

Freestyle Digital Media released Southern Gothic psychological drama The Desiring in March on Digital for North American VOD platforms and DVD. This film follows Richard whose life changes when he discovers his wife is having an affair. Richard finds himself drawn to the affair and begins to secretly watch it play out. This begins to bring up memories from his past about his spiritually fanatic father whose desire for 'something more' led to his suicide.

Another horror making use of the Winnie the Pooh licence falling into public domain is Piglet. Described as a mix between Winnie the Pooh and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (!), this comes from SpookHouse MediaWorks and Strange Film Studios, directed by August Aguilar. Set in the Appalachian hills, this is about a recluse named Piglet, whose peach is ruined when a group of millennials seeking fame turn up on his remote land. After they kill Piglet's pet pig as part of an exploitative YouTube video they are making, Piglet decides to violently kill the trespassers off one by one.

Summoners is a new horror film from director Terence Krey (An Unquiet Grave). Released on digital VOD platforms back in February, this stars Christine Nyland (An Unquiet Grave), McLean Peterson (Jessica Jones), Larry Fessenden (Habit), Margaret Reed (Magic in Mount Holly) and Madeline Grey DeFreece (Tahara). The film is about a former witch who returns to the craft after her childhood friend requests her help to perform a dark spell.. Summoners is out on Tubi, Prime Video (TVOD), Movie Central (YouTube) and Watch Free Flix.

Splatter film Gorerot is currently filming, with funding available with associated perks via heading to the website here. There isn't much of a description of what this will be about, though the press release states the film (formally known as Illusions of A Sky Tyrant) will provide '....a blood soaked journey through a kaleidoscope of terror. From savage gore to visceral torture, from cannibalistic horrors to the creepy experimental visuals, every segment promises to plunge you deeper into the abyss of guts, gore and more'.

Arena Wars is to release in June from Gravitas Ventures. This sci-fi action film takes place in 2045, where convicted criminals are given the opportunity to gain their freedom, should they survive popular televised sporting event 'Arena Wars'. The goal is simple, to survive seven rooms, each of which features a vicious killer. I love the idea of films like this, so may well be something worth checking out. Arena Wars is to star Michael Madsen, Robert LaSardo, Eric Roberts and John Wells.

Werewolf Serenade has released an official trailer. This werewolf themed indie comedy horror has its film festival debut at the tenth annual AVFest at 9pm on May 4th, tickets of which can be purchased here. Directed by writer/director Daedalus Howell (Pill Head), this is about a film professor who is tasked with completing the research project of a man who has recently turned up dead. The professor is unaware the research will bring him into contact with an evil occultist that will change his life.

Finally for today, Subject 101 is a horror-thriller about Syrian refugees. The film follows a homeless refugee looking to start over at a European multinational temp agency. The titular 101 (Cem-Ali Gültekin) begins to get misgivings when he finds his apartment is in a terrible state, while the jobs he are given are questionable to say the least. Written and directed by Tom Bewilogua, this 'nightmarish dystopian tale' was released on March 19th in the U.S on VOD platforms and DVD.

The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Thursday 14th March 2024

For the second news anthology of the week I bring three more rotted pieces of news from my bloody mail sack of horrors. In 'me' news I am currently playing Helldivers II, though I don't think that really fits into the horror spectrum. I haven't mentioned it previously, but the current season of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III has a zombie theme to its battlepass. Not only is it full of zombie calling cards, stickers and emblems, but it also features Rick Grimes from The Walking Dead as its big skin. That would be cool, but not only does he have something of a cheap knock-off look to him, but they have someone very much not Andrew Lincoln providing his lines. As a paid skin there is also Michonne, thankfully she does look a bit more like the character she is meant to represent!

Friends Forever is an eighties styled slasher film that is streaming exclusively on Reveel. The synopsis has a mother of a family going insane and killing her family as a result of discovering their years supply of food has been ruined. Thirty years later a bunch of teens break into the abandoned family home in order to throw a wild party, but no doubt discovering a killer who is none too happy to see them there. To see this head over to Reveel here.

Afterlife is a documentary that is out now on digital platforms from BayView Entertainment, and is due to head to AVOD platforms on 30th March. Described as '...compelling and thought-provoking...', this follows a filmmaker (Ben Harl) as he explores what could happen to us once we die. The documentary includes interviews with spiritual teachers, scientists, and medical professionals.  

Finally for today, too crazy not to mention is horror parody (should that be parrotdy?) Murdaritaville which came to digital, Blu-ray and VHS from Amazon and ByTheHorns on March 1st.  This is about a group of friends who find themselves the target of a deranged were-parrot(!) while on route to an impersonator contest. Being a lover of both birds and horror, this seems like the perfect (birdseed) mix.

The Skinwalkers: American Werewolves 2 (2023) - Horror Documentary Review

The Skinwalkers: American Werewolves 2 is Small Town Monsters follow up to 2022's American Werewolves and covers a slightly different topic. While werewolves do feature again, this time around the focus is more on skinwalkers; creatures existing between life and death who are able to take on the form of both humans and animals by 'wearing' their skins.

This is set out in a very similar format to that other documentary and so for me falls into some of the same pitfalls. The eighty minute documentary is split up between nine or so different eyewitness accounts of purported skinwalkers. Each of these is split by a chapter heading giving the name of the next witness. Directed by Seth Breedlove, this again sees him taking more of a backseat. These interviews just have the witness talking on screen, sometimes with aerial shots or stock footage playing over their words. There is a definite horror vibe, both with the eighties synth sounding music, as well as inserted shots of close-ups of werewolves and skinwalker creatures.

Many of the accounts come from Native Americans, it was really interesting to hear these tales based on their viewpoint of what these creatures are. It is apparently a taboo topic for them to talk about and so it isn't something they are that comfortable speaking about, one of the witnesses even has their face in shadow and their voice altered to keep their identity secret. The descriptions take on a similar vibe, people encountering either a large beast like creature on all fours, or a beast standing upright. Sometimes these creatures are spotted from afar, sometimes there is a direct interaction. One woman talks about seeing her dogs attacked by a creature, another speaks of the time some of her animals went missing. One still visibly affect man talks about how as a child one of these creatures got into his father's house. As always, these people speak with truth behind their words, whether what they encountered were actually supernatural creatures or explainable wild animals, they act in a matter of fact way about these being unnatural.
With a focus on New Mexico there comes a unified feel to these accounts. The problem of having nothing but account after account is that again it felt like the documentary would have benefitted by having more variety to it. There are little interjections where text on screen gives some facts about the area, but no overarching narration, nor any attempt to state a viewpoint either way.

The Skinwalkers: American Werewolves 2 certainly had some interesting moments, but is more like a series of stories (however true they might have been), rather than a more detailed look into the subject. This documentary comes to Cable VOD and Digital HD on Blu-ray/DVD on March 15th.

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The Rotting Zombie's Round-up of Horror News for February 2024

Another month passed and another news round-up. I have just under an hour allocated to write this post, so hopefully it will be longer than last months round-up. In 'me' news, I have come up with a new plan for doing my blog, something I came up with while taking a rare week off of writing it. Elsewhere, I briefly lost the use of my PC, but discovered laptop blogging actually wasn't that bad, anyway, onto the news.

Bio Raiders is an Asian vampire horror film that has been released on Blu-ray in the US by BayView Entertainment. Directed by Tommy Leung and starring Luo Tian Chi, Siu-Ho Chin and Richard Ng, this Chinese language horror tells the story of a herbalist who accidentally transforms his sick daughter into a zombie, and so most prevent the world from finding out.

The Dead Follows is now available to rent/buy on Amazon Prime Video worldwide, again via BayView Entertainment. This is about two ghost-hunting detectives who get trapped in a haunted complex, and so must find a way to escape the horrors. This was directed by Victor Huesca and Jazmyne Nikole, also starring them, alongside Malcolm Alvarez.

Yet another BayView Entertainment release next, another Asian horror, this time the David Chuang directed The Tag Along: Devil Fish, which has been released on region free Blu-ray in the US. This one has a spirit medium who is charged with exorcising a demon from a possessed man. Two students inadvertently prevent this from happening when they capture the possessed man, hoping to make a documentary about what is happening.

Another Asian horror and another BayView Entertainment release, Vampire Cleanup Department is out now on region free Blu-ray in the US. In this one, a young recruit (Babyjohn Choi) to a secret vampire hunting group falls in love with one of the vampires he is tasked with killing.

Starring the iconic Bill Oberst Jr (The Man in Room 6, Devil's Junction: Handy Dandy's Revenge), 2009's Dismal sees a group of students heading out to a remote area of the Great Dismal Swamp as part of an extra credit assignment for a biology course. It is there that in the fashion of The Hills Have Eyes and Wrong Turn, they discover a group of cannibals. This releases March 26th from Bayview Entertainment.

It has turned into an unplanned Bayview Entertainment month as Aware of the Wolf is another one of theirs. Releasing later this year, this was directed by Joshua Nelson and stars Tony Murphy, Suzanne Johnson and Katie Raulerson. Terry is a life coach for the more nervous and timid of those in society, however, his methods are able to unleash the 'wolf' hidden deep inside of them.

Freestyle Digital Media have acquired the documentary, Shadows in the Desert: High Strangeness in the Borrego Triangle. Due to be released on North American VOD platforms and DVD on March 5th, this feature length paranormal documentary follows Derek Hayes and David Flora as they head to the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park that is notorious for reports of cryptids, ghosts and UFOs.

Finally for today, Bloody Summer Camp 2: Red Horizon has launched a crowd funding campaign on Indiegogo which has already exceeded its goal. This comes from Slasher 15 Productions and as the title suggests is a sequel to their 80's slasher throwback, Bloody Summer Camp. This sequel is due to take place in 1994 and will bring back several members of the original cast, including Felissa Rose (Camp Twilight, Sleepaway Camp) in a film that sees Camp Holiday Trails re-opened after the massacre of the first movie and rebranded as Red Horizon. Check out the Indiegogo page here.

Create or Die (2024) - Documentary Review

At the start of the month I watched David Axe's latest film, Acorn for review. The film was meta in that it was about a filmmaker making a film within a film, and they in turn were being followed around by a documentary crew. Create or Die (directed, shot and edited by Sarah Massey) is a companion piece to that film, a more straightforward documentary, not only about the making of Acorn, but about Axe's creation process in general.

Having liked Acorn (personally thinking that it is Axe's best film to date), I was interested to see a behind the scenes documentary about its creation. I found this seventy minute piece to be really interesting, and also a bit inspiring. Not that I ever have any intention to do anything as creative as creating a film, but I could sense the drive that the director has, which compels him to carry on doing what he does. I could draw some very minor parallels with my perseverance with this blog, knowing full well that likely barely anyone ever reads it, but it is something that gives me personal satisfaction and a sense of leaving something behind for after I'm gone. Even if that something is just a poorly written blog where I critique the work of people that I could never create myself in a million years!
It was interesting to see how self deprecating Axe is, he openly admits that he doesn't think he is a good film maker, and that it is a constant work in progress. He states it is better to make bad movies than to make nothing at all, and that each film he does is a work in progress towards being a good filmmaker. It was cool to see his passion for filmmaking, despite his own criticisms of his ability as a creator, he is compelled to carry on, not for the hope of finding fame and fortune, but his own creativity as an artist.

The creation of Acorn itself made up a lot of the documentary. That this was shot over just three weeks and is essentially two films in one was impressive. Talking about the editing process, and how this was very nearly two separate films rather than one integrated whole was fascinating. Again with the passion, the director talking about the most important scenes in his own movie was so interesting to watch. This is of course intercut with clips from the film, and also features parts about his prior films, such as Lection and Bae Wolf. There are many talking head parts from people who worked on the film, both from the actors themselves, as well as crew members who have worked with Axe a lot over the years.

Maybe if you saw Acorn and didn't enjoy it then you wouldn't get so much out of this than I did. Usually I really am not a fan of behind the scenes stuff, I prefer to leave the creation process as much a mystery as possible to avoid me being pulled out of the movie I happen to be watching. I thought this was both really inspirational as well as enjoyable to watch. Best of all, the fantastic soundtrack from the film is used lots throughout, possibly the very best part of Acorn was that music, so a big plus for my enjoyment of Create or Die.

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