The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for 7th July 2026

We are deep in summer, and here in the U.K, my rotted corpse has somehow survived the first heat-wave. Enjoying a week of respite but I have heard rumour a second heat-wave is approaching. At the time this post goes up, well, it may already be here! The Rotting Zombie HQ relies on blu-tac a lot, it is in a sorry state with so many posters having came down due to the heat drying out the tac! Even had glue melt off the shelving in my front room, causing the shelf to fall off the wall! Onwards to a trilogy of terror plucked from the very bottom of my bloody news sack.

Back in May, indie horror film Susurrus was released by Ten-Headed Skeleton, who also wrote, directed and produced it. The subject matter for this movie was the 'Backrooms', something that I have only recently become aware of, and have found it all a fascinating place for horror. The synopsis has a group of woman who all find themselves trapped in the endless backrooms, all having been transported there when walking through doorways. The press release mentions both Cube and The Twilight Zone episode 'Five Characters in Search of an Exit', so of course that sounded appealing. Susurrus is available to watch online now.

The final chapter in the Corn Zombies saga; Revenge of the Corn Zombies, currently has a crowd funding campaign running. This third film, taking place six years after the initial outbreak, has survivors hiding out in an abandoned sanatorium. Directed by Steve Hermann, with SFX makeup by Beth Metcalf and Marcus Koch, and coming from Acrostar Productions the crowd funding page can be found here.

Finally for today, Frank Palangi's Tubi horror anthology; At Death's Door is now crowdfunding on GoFundMe for a sequel. The original anthology was adapted from Christopher Pelton's short story collection - Toe in the Water, I'm guessing this sequel will also follow suite. Production on At Death's Door 2 has officially commenced, with the first segment already completed. Check out the campaign page, here.

The Rotting Zombie's Round-up of Horror News for March 2026

This time last month I was about to head to the other side of the world. Now, as of typing, I am back at The Rotting Zombie HQ. A very peaceful and relaxing holiday, even if the 30 hour return trip has given me some mild PTSD! Introverts do not like being sounded by people for so long. If there is such a place as Hell, then I imagine mine will be me stuck on the endless flight from Kuala Lumpur to U.K for eternity - when a child projectile vomits down the aisle in front of you within an hour of take-off, you just know it's going to be a great flight!
Last month's news post was tiny, let's see if I can improve on that this time around. Especially when I have so much news in my inbox. Onwards to the news!

The Demon of Serling is a bleakly comedic thriller about someone whose neighbour is a murderer. Coming from filmmaker Dylan R. Nix (10/31 Part 4, Sharp Candy), this has a man (R. Nix) discovering his neighbour; Mr. Yarley (David E. McMahon - He Never Left) is a serial killer. Rather than go to the police with this knowledge, events lead to the two men going on a '...transformative night'. The director says of his film: "We wanted to take the 'serial killer next door' trope and turn it into something more intimate and existential". The Demon of Serling is now available on Collector's Edition Blu-ray and Digital via Scream Team Releasing.

Chuck Morrongiello's Bad Bunny has surpassed 2.5 million views on YouTube, probably due to having a similar name as music artist...Bad Bunny. This rabbit monster themed horror has a woman heading to a remote cabin where she gets hunted by the titular creature. Bad Bunny can be seen on Tubi and Apple TV.

A new poster has been released for the latest film in the Scary Movie series. This comes to cinemas on June 5th. The comedy horror takes place 26 years after a group survived being stalked by a familiar masked killer. Now they find themselves once again the killer's target. Scary Movie is a parody that plays on horror film tropes and makes references to many horror films as part of its gags. I saw the first two films at the cinema and quite enjoyed them for what they were, even if the sex jokes and gross jokes didn't appeal. Back in 2022, I reviewed Scary Movie 3 where I gave it an acceptable 6/10 saying I '...appreciated the parodying of the horror films...'.

Psychological horror film, Broken Bird comes to US theatrical release on April 24th. Starring Rebecca Calder and James Fleet and directed by Joanne Mitchell, this is based on Mitchell's short film Sybil. In this one, a lonely mortician (Calder) searches for love, but her need for connection takes a disturbing turn. Broken Bird is one of six films developed by Catalyst Studios as part of its mission to '...champion female-led stories by woman directors and producers'.

Distort 2: The Dead Among the Trees is a FOUND TV exclusive, coming on May 1st. The found footage sequel is first to screen at the upcoming Unnamed Footage Festival in San Francisco before making its streaming debut. I haven't heard of this before, apparently, the sequel takes place once again in a remote Irish forest, picking up the threads from the first film. A musician returns to the woods alongside a documentary filmmaker to discover what really happened there.

March 10th saw the release of suspense thriller - Do Not Open to Digital video. The film is about a married couple in their fifties who head to a secluded cabin hoping to fix their fracturing relationship. The couple are given one rule at the place; to never open the door at the end of the hall, but as their vacation goes on, the man feels himself increasingly compelled to find just what lies beyond the forbidden door. Do Not Open was shot in 4K HD resolution and is said to offer a surprising ending. 

Two Giallo themed horror films are now available on TubiTV and Fawesome TV. In Boy of Your Dreams, a college student awakens in a rental guest house to find her phone missing and a serial killer  hovering over her. In The Mother's Eye, a woman's normal night is altered when she realises a serial killer is after her.

Axes and Os is a Valentine's Day themed slasher that is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Tubi, Screamify and Relay. Headlined by Jamie Bernadette (I Spit on Your Grave: Déjá Vu), this sees a group of girls on a weekend getaway hunted by legendary Valentine's axe murderer - Luther Dremel.

Onlyfangs star August Kyss and Vida Ghaffari have joined the cast of Harley Wallen's upcoming psychological thriller; Blur. This takes place within the modern music industry, and is told through the 'fractured perspective' of Jenny. The film looks at how ambition, desire and power can both intertwine and corrupt.

Horror comedy Sorority of the Damned has came to Amazon Prime Video. Co-directed by Stranger Things alum Joe Davison, the press release states this 'celebrates the golden era of creature features'. In the film, a clumsy handyman discovers he is the last in a long line of demon hunters. He finds himself called to the challenge when a devoutly religious house mother (Felissa Rose) opens a portal to Hell that brings forth four elemental witches (including WWE star Katarina Leigh Waters).

Finally for today, Freestyle Digital Media have acquired thriller feature - The Man with the Silver Case. It is due to gets its Digital debut in North America on April 7th. This film sees a desperate man who agrees to deliver a suitcase to a shadowy organisation. He finds himself pursued by others who are happy to kill anyone in their way to get their hands on the case's contents.

The Rotting Zombie Presents: Breaking News! Banned from X!

In lieu of putting up a film review this Friday (as is tradition, an old charter, or something), I have breaking self indulgent news that nonetheless could have an impact on this site. For reasons unknown, I have been banned from X (Twitter as it will always be to me)! I went to stick up my latest review post and link and recieved a message saying 'After careful review, we have determined your account broke the X Rules'. Further investigation (well...a dive into my junk email) revealed the following:

I've read through their 'authenticity' guidelines and really can't see that I have broken any of them. I do find it a bit insulting I have been accused of being inauthentic, when this site is entirely written by me, and provides my personal thoughts and feeling on whatever media I cover. It could also be (as it says) due to me having been reported by someone (perhaps someone unhappy with a negative review!), but I go more towards it being randomly done by a bot scrapping the site for spam accounts and inadvertently flagging my poor account.
In one respect it is a bit of a relief to be off of X, even if it wasn't by my own choice. I joined Twitter just before it got big, and due to that, I had by far the most followers on that platform (over 4000). In recent years it has become full of hate speech (that the rules ironically state is forbidden), and more unappealingly, it is owned by a petty man-child who thinks it is perfectly fine to do Nazi salutes and meddle in elections. It has been a legitimate private concern of mine to be using a platform such as that, but due to the biggest follower count, I felt I had to use it.

This is all to plug the other social media sites I use to promote my blog. I'm not saying these are perfect sites either, but at least they have a slightly less dirty feel than X did. I don't know if being off that platform will reduce review and news requests sent my way. To be honest, I have zero idea how anyone finds their way to my site! Thankfully, this isn't a business here, I do it as a fan of horror, and as an excuse to practice my typing skills.

Anyway, if you could see it in your heart to follow me on any or all of the following it would be greatly appreciated. If you can't be bothered; well that's fine also!

Facebook: The Rotting Zombie

Threads: the_rotting_zombie

Bluesky: @therottingzombie.bsky.social

If you are really desperate then you can also check out my barely used YouTube channel also:

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Anyway, that is it, moan and shameless plug over. Next week I will be travelling to Melbourne and then returning home to good ole blighty, so I likely won't be able to get any posts put up until the week after when I am safely nestled back in The Rotting Zombie HQ.

The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Thursday 8th January 2026

My first news post of 2026, and the last one I write before I embark on a full month of working on this blog full time. I'm also on day 5 of a self imposed seven day isolation from the world. Being an introvert; my social battery is beyond drained at the moment, so seven days home alone with all the curtains drawn will do me good I feel. Apparently it's been snowing. Onwards to a trio of terrifying news stories.

I rarely ever mention these, but I happen to have a recent email about the topic, so I will speak of the JustWatch streaming charts for films and TV shows in the UK. These were up to date on 5th January. First with the JustWatch Top 10 Films streaming chart, and I can see there are only two relevant films to mention. Luckily, those two films are at No.1 and No.2 respectively. At No.2 is the almighty 28 Years Later, it makes sense why it is so high with the sequel; 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple just about to hit cinemas. At No.1 is Sinners, a film that I know next to nothing about, other than I believe it's an American film about vampires? Either way, it is good to see horror so high in the film charts at the moment.
Over in the JustWatch Top 10 TV Shows streaming chart, there is more horror but it is also more spread out. No.8 sees IT: Welcome to Derry - the TV show based on Stephen King's IT world. If that ever pops up anywhere I have access to, I will check it out, heard it's good for the lore. Fallout is in fourth position, likely due to it having returned for a second season. I did enjoy season 1, but my Amazon Prime Video subscription has expired, so it will be a time before I get to see season 2. Talking of post-apocalypse, Pluribus is in third place for last week. Got to admit, the only thing I know about it is that it stars Rhea Seehorn (Better Call Saul), and people online have said it is quite slow. Finally, No.1 sees Stranger Things, and personally, I think that position is well deserved. I've seen all the new season up to the final episode (waiting for a friend to catch up before watching that together), so far, I think it has been 10/10.

ARROW's January SVOD line-up has been announced, I will have a quick look through the press release and pull out anything that sounds appealing. Joe Lynch Selects has the director (Wrong Turn 2: Dead End, which stars Henry Rollins. I own this one on DVD, but annoyingly the disc is scratched meaning I can't see the final five minutes or so!) selecting some films for the service. These include Deep Red, Mute Witness, Ms. 45, The Woman, and Bad Biology. 5th January saw giallo - Blood and Black Lace, those type of films are ok, not entirely convinced they are my thing. If it is your thing then rejoice, for Puzzle also arrives on 9th January. Skipping ahead in the press release...more giallo titles, then...Split Second - a serial killer film taking place in a flooded dystopian future. Those were the ones that leapt out, though outside of horror - if you love Jean-Claude Van Damme, plenty of his awesome action films are getting added.

Finally for today, my cover story - Primate. This Johannes Roberts directed primate based horror is coming to cinemas on 30th January, to celebrate, a new featurette titled 'Silence Featurette' has been released.

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

I keep saying this nearly every blog post lately, but there has been change in my life with my bill paying job of 13 years unexpectedly making me redundant a few weeks before Christmas. I have set myself the goal of not reiterating this come the new year, but it has led to some changes for this blog. With much more free time on my hands, and with a slightly unhealthy urge to constantly work, I think this site will benefit in the short term. That will include me putting up a blog post a day rather than just week days (should I have any posts ready to go), and in a few weeks I will work on this site full time for a month. Onwards to the news.

They're Here is the latest film from Rick Danford. This short supernatural horror began production in December, the story follows a young woman who returns home after a disastrous séance to discover that something evil may have followed her back. The short features just the one actress - Natalie Brienen, and a single location. This will also feature voice work from Sarah Webb (Damsel of the Doomed) and D'Andre Noiré (The Clock). Once finished, They're Here is going to be heading to the international film festival circuit, with it hoped the short will either feature in an anthology film, or as a proof of concept for a feature length movie.

The Nameless Ballad has begun filming in Fara, Sabrina, coming from filmmaker Federico Zampaglione (The Well, Shadows). It stars Jamie Ward (His Dark Materials, Juliet & Romeo) as an introverted young successful musician. Under pressure to make new songs, and a slave to his addictions, the man heads to an isolated villa for inspiration. There he instead becomes prey for a dark evil that resides in the house and feeds on people's deepest fears. The film also features Alana Boden (Mr. Selfridge, I Am Elizabeth Smart), Giglia Marra (Morrison), Fabrizio Ferracane (Black Souls), Seumas Sargent (The Signal), Reed Stokes (The Tour Guide), Mia Desando, Vincenzo De Michele, and Sergio Ceglie. The Nameless Ballad is expected to premiere at major genre festivals in 2026.

The first images from Mary Shelley's Christmas Nightmares have been released. This Gothic horror comes from De Havilland Pictures, and will be the feature length debut of filmmaker Johnathon de Havilland. Inspired by the storytelling traditions of the works of Mary Shelley (surprise surprise), Edgar Allan Poe, Mary E. Braddon and James Skipp Borlase, this was filmed mainly inside an authentic 19th-century manor near Louisville, Kentucky. Starring Macy Dame (Pesadila), Erica Dyer (The Zuri Johnson Story) and Timothy Pogue (Unnatural), the story revolves around a group of characters who set out to come up with the most scary ghost story possible one dark and snowy Christmas Eve night. Currently in post-production, Mary Shelley's Christmas Nightmares is aiming for a holiday release in 2026.

15 years after the release of The Dead 2: India, The Ford Brothers are returning for a third and final film in their trilogy - The Dead 3. I remember enjoying the first movie dug out an ancient review I did of The Dead), that had a unique setting in South Africa, I never caught the second, but news of a third is still exciting. The film's locations have yet to be revealed, the press release states '...it will have a fresh and original take, while still staying true to the classic roots'. The synopsis states a man uncovers a global conspiracy that has returned the dead to life. He sets out on a revenge filled mission to locate the people responsible for the madness, finding them hiding out on a secure island fortress.

Troma Entertainment have announced the the Tromatic Special Edition Blu-ray debuts in January of Frightmare and Luther The Geek. In the former, a Hollywood horror icon; Conrad Ragzoff (Ferdy Mayne - Conan the Destroyer) shows off his latest movie to a group of college kids, and then later that day ends up dying after an altercation with his long-time director. After his funeral, a few of the college students break into a mausoleum and steal Ragzoff's corpse to use in a memorial party. During the party, Ragzoff somehow comes back to life and sets out to kill his fans. Bonus features include the original DVD intro, an archival audio interview with director Norman Thaddeus Vana, a historical commentary among other extras.
Luther The Geek meanwhile tells the story of a young boy whose life is transformed after seeing a geek at a local carnival sideshow. The experience led to the boy's teeth becoming broken, and later being replaced with a pair of metal dentures. With a new found thirst for blood, the boy now grown up, sets out to find victims to feed his obsession.
Both films are due for release on 20th January 2026.

Finally for today, Vertigo Releasing have announced the digital release of Witchboard; a remake of the 1986 classic of the same name, coming from Chuck Russell (A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors, The Blob). Starring Madison Iselan (Annabelle), Jamie Campbell Bower (Stranger Things), Aaron Dominguez (Only Murders in the Building), Charlie Tahan (Ozark), Mel Jarnson (Mortal Kombat) and Antonia Desplat (Three Days on the Wing of Madness), this tells the story of Emily, someone who unearths an ancient spirit board that causes those closest to her to start randomly dying in shocking ways. Witchboard will be released on Amazon, Apple TV, Sky Store and YouTube Movies on February 2nd.

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.

Stranger Things Burger and Wings - Food Review

Split between getting a succulent Chinese meal and a KFC this evening (at the time of typing, in the middle of Storm Claudia), me and my best friend decided on the later, primarily to try the new Stranger Things Burger and Stranger Things Wings. She suggested I could review it as a blog post and I let her know that I don't do such low-brow content on my site anymore. A few hours later and that seemed like a better idea for a lazy blogger, so here is the review.

Released in time for the fifth and final season of Stranger Things, I had my misgivings about the Stranger Things Burger prior to tasting it. I often find KFC's limited time meals disappoint more often than not, though thankfully that wasn't the case here. The packaging was pretty neat, having vines from the upside down over the box, the show's logo on the side, and on one side it has 'Hawkins Fried Chicken' rather than the correct restaurant name.
The biggest visual change for the burger is its red colour. No idea why red was chosen, but the black sesame seeds on top went well with that colour change. The burger consists of a Spicy Zinger fillet with cheese, pickled slaw, burger dressing, and a special extra ingredient; 'Secret Sauce' (it's literally called that). I was expecting the sauce to be spicy, and it was, but not to as high a degree as I had anticipated. It also manages to have a sweet taste to it at the same time as spicy. For a limited time food item from KFC it wasn't bad at all, we both quite enjoyed it.

The Stranger Things Wings were less exciting, just hot wings covered in the 'Secret Sauce'. That isn't to say they were not also tasty, though I admit to hating getting my fingers covered in sauce while eating anything, so that was a slight issue I had. I think they missed a trick by not calling these simply Stranger Wings.

Likely having milked as much content as I could out of these two items, I would say I enjoyed them both. Neither were something I would rush out to try again, but they sated my post-work hunger, as well as got me and my bestie discussing the show as we ate.

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Dr. Fright's Halloween Nights Presents Horrorfest (2025) - Horror Scare Maze Review

It is the beautiful month of Halloween once again and I find myself returning once again to Dr. Fright's Halloween Nights, this time under the Horrorfest banner. I first went two years ago for Route 666 and loved it, but heading back last year for Route 666 Vol. 2 I felt a little disappointed as it really was quite similar. As in previous years, for 2025 it is split into seven different horror mazes, the only difference being the seven mazes were split between four differently named tents. Was this third time the charm, and was there any innovation in the format?

With a 19:00 slot on Saturday 25th October we seem to have picked a great time. There was the shortest queue yet to getting into the maze, and throughout the queues were minimal. By the time we were leaving, the entry line had really gotten quite deep, so lucky us! The flipside if you can call it that is that this was the quickest we have gotten through the mazes yet, my friend estimated it was roughly half an hour from starting to coming out the end into the glorious food area. Ticket prices had definitely gone up, under £20 on our first visit, this time I believe tickets were around £30 each, similar to last year.

I was prepared for a lot of ideas to be re-used, and so I wasn't disappointed to see returning ideas from previous years. Even with the general themes being used the mazes are completely different to traverse each time. For a change things didn't begin with a forest setting, instead the first two mazes take place in 'Demonic Tent', opening with 'Death Metal Manor'. This was very dark and full of the lighting flashing on and off in a way that hurt my eyes (not in a bad way), I appreciated the cultist décor, such as a table with a goat's skull on it, and there was one neat part where you have to walk down a corridor past robed demonic cultist figures. Next was 'Rave From the Grave' which had some great music to it. It promised UV lighting and it had it in droves, messages flashing up on the walls. The route took you through an old graveyard, and there was one corridor where zombie hands were sticking through the walls.

After a brief journey into the outside world, we came back in to continue our journey in 'Gore Tent'. The third maze was the ambitious 'El Sangriento'. It took the form of heading through a Mayan jungle to arrive at a mythic hidden dive bar. The first part of this used a hedge type display, with reptile people popping out of doors and walls to try and scare you. It culminated in the bar area itself that was full of dead bodies slumped over the various tables. I made a joke at one point of trying to order a drink from the bar, only for one of the reptile people to pop out from behind it. Fourth maze was once more a return to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre inspired 'Grindhouse', this year under the title 'The Grindhouse - Blood Country'. The actors appeared to have a lot of time on their hands to mess with me and my friend, a couple of them following us around parts of the maze, talking about how their family would be pleased to see us. For me it culminated around halfway through where a large man wearing a mask made out of human flesh pulled me aside and made me go and stand in a walk-in cooker. He then said I had to count to thirty out loud, that being the time it would take to cook me. Eventually, after an extra ten seconds he said I was crispy enough and let me out, with the promise he would be eating me later! Certainly a memorable part of the night, one that my friend found hilarious.

Another year and another intermission area, though The Evil Dead cardboard cut-out was not there this year, instead, I had a very bad photo taken of me next to a zombie. I of course had my eyes shut as I seem to do in the majority of photos taken of me, I also noticed how much of a 'big boi' I am turning into. I really need to make more effort to eat healthier and exercise more for darn sure. We zoomed through the intermission, not even stopping for a drink or a breather this year, maybe adding to our shorter runtime.
Yet again the second half begins with a maze themed around horror movie maniacs, in a tent area named 'Slasher Tent'. 'Summer Camp Massacre' had surprisingly a summer camp aesthetic. There were a few great parts of this one. In one room there was an old horror film playing on a large screen, as we walked past, a very cool looking Jason Vorhees leant out through a hole in the screen, swinging his machete at us. Later, the legendary Michael Myers appeared at several points, and I just about glimpsed Freddy Kruger attacking my friend. My favourite part had a room set up to seem as if we were wading through green water (due to smoke machines), looked so cool.
Penultimate maze was 'Play Me and Die!' which had a somewhat ambitious idea, even if it was pretty much another The Purge type experience of maniacs walking around with lit-up masks and armed with metal baseball bats. This had a lot of empty areas, but it was varied, with the route taking us through a classroom of madly grinning children, and a barbershop with madly grinning customers. The whole idea was that a radio station had played a record that had caused insanity, so of course there was a decent radio station area as well. My one real complaint with this one was the lack of many actors, though I did like that one of the mirrors in the barbershop wasn't actually a mirror and instead had an actor standing behind where the mirror would have been instead.

Final area as always featured killer clowns, taking place in the 'Clown Tent' and titled 'Killer Clowns - Greatest Hits'. As always some great music going on here, plenty of chain-link fences (at one point I got lost enough that I walked into one thinking it was the route), and plenty of crazed clowns taunting us. One, seeing Homer Simpson on my shirt commented that he looked just like me. This great hits was neat, taking us through a sci-fi spaceship area, a supermarket, and a dance area, with lovely music playing throughout and lasers spinning everywhere. Leaving this, we had our annual burger and doughnuts as we discussed the evening.

It was more of the same, but I enjoyed it a lot more this year. Some of the mazes were a little too dark at times, but I liked the heavy use of lights that were constantly going on and off as it created a dizzying feel. I also liked that the actors kept bursting out of the ceilings this year as well as walls, made for some unexpected moments. I don't know what was up with me, but I jumped out my skin on a few occasions with the jump scares, losing some of my 'cool' points, but it was funny. I know what to expect with these mazes now, so found Dr. Fright's Halloween Nights Presents Horrorfest to be a real fun time, the highlight of my weekend.

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Fortnitemares 2025 - Thoughts on the Halloween event

It is that time of year again when my favourite game of all time; Fortnite (for better or for worse) becomes spooky. Last year's event was a return to form after a series of years in which the effort seemed to get less and less, and I am glad to report that this year's event once again makes an effort, as well as has the most amount of cool Halloween themed skins yet.

The story in recent years has really began to suffer in Fortnite, with it relegated to just an excuse for the new season to exist. It shouldn't be a surprise then that the introduction of 'Fortnitemares' was quite jarring. Elsewhere we had been in the middle of a season about battling a giant bug invasion, but that was swiftly punted out the window with zero fanfare in order to bring horror to the chapter 6 island. The changes much as last year, are vast, lots and lots of giant pumpkin decorations and Halloween decorations in general popping up over the map. There are also a variety of new P.O.I's that have appeared. The 'Fortnitemares' challenges result in you earning a cool original skin of a killer wearing a pig mask.

First with the main Battle Royale mode. What little story there is links the invasion of horror to Doja Cat of all people! For some reason, Epic have decided she is the face of 'Fortnitemares' 2025, with her appearing in the game as a boss character under the name 'Mother of Thorns'. She isn't the only new boss on the map however, she is joined by the returning original creation Ultima Carver (basically a pumpkin knight), as well as the iconic Jason Vorhees from Friday the 13th films! There is also a camp based location added that you might encounter the hockey-mask wearing maniac at. Classic Halloween items such as the pumpkin launcher and witches broomstick return, but these pale in comparison to the new Scream weapon added to the game. Head into a phone box and you emerge dressed as Ghost Face, complete with large knife and a phone with which you can use to highlight any enemies in the area.
Over in OG Battle Royale things are more muted, the map gets a Halloween makeover and some classic weapons, but that's about it. Horde Mode once again returns. In this mode you usually battle hordes of zombies, culminating in a large boss fight. There is a crossover this year with K-Pop Demon Hunters, with you able to hire them to fight alongside you, as well as use their unique powers. The zombies have been swapped out for surprisingly bland looking demons, but there is the addition of extra boss fights, including a neat one against a giant ghostly banana character.
Most interesting for me was with Reload. A brand new island has been released; Nitemare Island. As the name suggests, this is pure horror based, with locations such as 'Spooky Suburbs', 'Creepy Cabins', and 'Retail Ruin'. I really don't enjoy Reload as a game mode, but it was very cool to have a whole map dedicated to horror.

As always, the changes and new modes are just one half of the coin, with horror themed skins being the other. This year has been the most expensive yet if you wish to get all the crossovers and unique creations. There has been so many this year. Crossovers include Friday the 13th, Poppy Playtime, Wednesday, Terrifier, The Black Phone, Scream, and even the cast of Scooby-Doo have appeared, complete with the Mystery Mobile as a vehicle type you could buy. Original skins have also been strong - a magma version of Ultima Carver, werewolves, vampires, and my personal favourite original skin - a monstrous knight with a huge mouth in its stomach area.

I realise it is quite sad to spend money on digital skins in a video game, but I see 'Fortnitemares' as my version of Christmas. It really makes the month of October feel more special. I might not agree with many of the extortionate costs of the skins and accessories, but I have really enjoyed this year's 'Fortnitemares', would recommend.

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 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.

Dead on Arrival - Escape Room Review

Shame on me! My sister and her boyfriend are always going to escape rooms and stating how fun they are, but I admit that when I was told that as part of my birthday present I would be going to a local escape room with them and my father I wasn't that excited. I should have been more excited though, as this turned out to be a great time that made me feel like I was inside a survival horror video game (minus any enemies).

The escape room we went for was titled Dead on Arrival, rated five out of five stars for difficulty, and three out of five scare factor, and apparently just a 13% escape rate. As we arrived I overheard the previous group saying they had failed the room, and with me and my father having no real idea what to expect with an escape room, I expected we wouldn't survive. After being led blindfolded to the escape room, the introduction story plays out over a speaker. The set-up states that we had gone to hospital after an accident and family members had been told the injuries were not major. For some reason able to hear the room around us but unable to move or respond, we are alarmed when the heart rate monitor goes wild and our family are told we have sadly passed away. Awakening some time later, we find ourselves in a morgue, with it soon dawning on us that our death was faked in order to sell us to some type of dark web buyer. We are given an hour to escape the room before our captor returns to deal with us.

As films such as Escape Room and...well, Escape Room had already taught me, this is made up of a series of rooms, rather than literally one room. I found that rather than abstract solutions to puzzles, it all revolved around unlocking various types of locks that are sealing doors, drawers, and cupboards shut. Different to what I had expected, we were able to ask for hints at any time, seemingly infinitely should need be. I think that we asked around four times for hints, including the very first room that to my knowledge contained the most obscure puzzle of the whole lot, that didn't instil much hope of us escaping. Obviously, I'm not going to go into too much detail on the puzzles for fear of spoiling, but there were some fun ones here, though also some that appeared a bit broken. A great one that took me straight back to the Resident Evil games saw us lining up a series of x-ray photos to spell out a number, but some of the photos seemed a bit faded, so we had to get a lot of assistance to get the numbers correct. My personal favourite had us in a security room having to enter a series of questions on a PC, with the added difficulty of the mouse and keyboard being portioned off, away from the screen. Initially a two person job, I realised that thanks to my long arms I was just about able to move the mouse and see the screen at the same time, making for a much quicker time with that part! Puzzles in general were not too difficult, the difficulty came more from not being sure how props worked, such as the process to turn off a fan in one room, and working out what the relevance of a locked away severed hand was. It was all a learning process though, going forward I will know more what to expect. 

Finally with less than five minutes left, we escaped the cold morgue and its secret rooms via a narrow passageway. Truthfully, I found this a lot of fun. I had feared that constantly being watched by the games master over the cameras would make me feel a bit awkward and hesitant to give any suggestions, but the feel of being inside a survival horror video game removed that fear of embarrassment. As my first escape room experience, I enjoyed Dead on Arrival, especially as we were able to work together to solve the clues and escape!

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