No Through Road (2009) - Horror TV Series Episode Review

No Through Road I had assumed to be a short horror film. It was only while looking this up after the fact that I realised it was actually the first episode in a TV mini-series, with the three subsequent episodes coming out in 2011. I will be looking at this as if it were a short film as it certainly acts and feels like one. Written, directed and co-starring Steven Chamberlain, this effective British found footage horror did a lot of things surprisingly well.

It is 2008 and four English lads are out on a night time drive on the rural roads outside of Stevenage, with one of them filming the event on his new camera for prosperity. Their drive leads them to a tunnel that leads to an abandoned farmhouse and has a sign saying 'no through road'. It is after they decide to go through this tunnel that the strangeness begins. Carrying on their journey they keep encountering the same road sign time and time again, despite driving in a straight line. Seeing no traffic and constantly seeming to be driving in a loop, the boys get increasingly panicked, not helped by a disturbing loop of repeating music playing out over the radio. Just when they think they have finally escaped their nightmare, the real horror begins.

I thought this little horror was super effective. The gradual breakdown of the four friend's cockiness and bravado was done perfectly. The intro text stating the four were found dead in their car, and the outro text giving a link to a webpage should anyone who sees the footage can help the authorities work out what happened gave this an authentic feel. Editing was sublime, corrupted footage blending in earlier happier times of the four at home, distorted and creepy. Sticking so faithfully to found footage, this does drag ever so slightly at times, especially in the middle, and a lot of scenes of very dark and hard to see, even if this does make sense with this being 'natural' footage.

No Through Road succeeded due to its feeling of realism that resulted in a short that was at times unsettling, creepy and sinister. It can be viewed on YouTube.

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The Rotting Zombie's Round-up of Horror News for December 2021

Another strange elongated year is about to draw to a close. I don't think back in January I thought we would still be in such a bizarro world, but here we are, at least in the UK things are better than they were twelve months ago. The only thing that has changed with regards to my blog is that I no longer have a cinema card and so barely ever go to one. When I went to see Halloween Kills back in October it was a bit of a chaotic free for all, it made me realise how much I really hate being in crowds of people nowadays, not that I ever did enjoy that, being an introvert as I am. Anyway, enough rambling, onto the news!

Erica Summers' Obsidian came to VOD on September 3rd from Midnight Releasing. This horror stars Henry Frost, Olivia Peck, Frank R. Wilson and Hick Cheramie and is about the demonic side effects of a revolutionary tissue regeneration drug during clinical trials.

Hart D. Fisher's Bill the Bull: Omnibus released in November from Boneyard Press. This includes 325 pages of 'pulse-pounding, knuckle-cracking vintage 90s outlaw comics'. The collection includes art by Duncan Rouleau (The Nightmarist), John Cassaday (Astonishing X-Men, Captain America), George Perez (Wonder Woman, New Teen Titans), Frank Forte (Warlash, Vampire Verses), John Lucas (Dark Horse), John Herbert (Marvel), Rick Veitch (Brat Pack), Kyle Hotz (Marvel, DC, Dark Horse) and more.

Cassondra Windwalker's new book, Hold My Place is due for release on January 25th, 2022 from Black Spot Books. This is about a woman named Sigrun who falls for a married man. After the man's wife dies suddenly Sigrun discovers that every previous partner of the man's have also died of sudden illnesses, something that may have to do with dark magic and the dead inhabiting the bodies of the living.
I actually have a copy of this to read for review, though it is the fourth or fifth in an ever growing list. 

October saw the release of Anthony M. Caro's book Universal Monsters & Neurotics: Creatures of the Night and Their Hang-Ups. This does as the title suggests with a deep look into the various Universal monsters to explore their psychological issues.

Kane Hodder and Stacey Dixon star in Old Habits Die Hard which came to DVD on October 26th from Bayview Entertainment. A young woman hopes to leave her family and their business; the Hollis Mortuary behind, the only problem is her mother who will do all she can to not let that happen.

JustWatch is an international streaming guide with apparently more than 20 million users across 74 countries. They have released their list of the top 10 movies and top 10 TV shows streamed in the UK in 2021. Not all of these entries are relevant to my blog but I told them I would mention a couple. Perhaps unsurprisingly the Netflix sensation Squid Game is in the top half, here it is in at number 2, it was cool to see my personally favourite show The Walking Dead feature in the charts, at number 10. Elsewhere on the film side of things we have A Quiet Place Part II taking the top spot, with Godzilla vs. Kong in second place. 

Texas based darkwave band Sevit have released a new single and video for their song It Can't Rain All The Time. This song was inspired by James O'Barr's comic and the movie The Crow, in particular protagonist Eric Draven's fictional band, Hangman's Joke. Jackie Lego (vocals/guitar) says of the track "I wanted to revisit my hearts emotional vault and I wanted the words to belong to the film's character, Eric Draven, who I imagined to be dark, poetic, theatrical, daring, passionate and beautiful."

Arrow Video US have revealed their January 2022 releases. Coming on January 18th is Mario Bava's Shock. This stars Daria Nicolodi as Dora, a woman who moves into her old home with her young son and husband after going through electroshock treatment. Here she finds herself haunted by memories of her deceased first husband. This is a new 2K restoration from the original 35mm camera negative and the film was Bava's final movie before his untimely passing in 1980.
Also out on the 18th is Yasuzo Masumura's Red Angel, this is a war movie that takes place on the front lines in China during the second Sino-Japanese war.
Final release is the German horror Sleep. I gave this a grand eight out of ten rotting heads in my review, and I said of this '...slowly got better as it went along, and thanks to its visual style, the directing and the wonderful soundtrack was something that I had a good time with...'

Darkwave actor and actor Eric Oberto has released a new single, Darkness Never Lies. The song is 'about the lies people tell and the fears that rule their lives. It's a warning to live honestly, intently, and urgently. In your final darkness, all untold truths become your last regrets'. The single featured on the movie Amityville Cult, the video features as an extra on the DVD/Blu-ray national Walmart release that came out on November 16th.

Now to be honest I have had two huge cups of coffee today and some tea, so am suffering a queasy caffeine overdose currently, so this next bit will be my final bit of news for 2021...

Scottish film company Hex Studios announced its publishing wing, Hex Arcana last year and released a hardback short story anthology The Book of Beastly Creatures. Next for the publisher are pulp horror paperbacks, starting with the 1952 novel The Sound of His Horn by Sarban. This novel looks at a world in which the Nazis won the war and in which people are now hunted for sport. Horror critic and scholar Kim Newman provides a new foreword to the book. I hope everyone has a fantastic 2022!

Squid Game (2021) - Horror TV Show Review

You would have to have been living under a rock to not of heard of Netflix's astonishingly successful Squid Game. This South Korean show was created by Hwang Dong-hyuk and was based on an idea he originally had ten years previously. The show came out towards the start of 2021 so it may seem like it has taken me awhile to get through it, and it has indeed taken me a good few months to watch the whole thing. That wasn't down to lack of interest on my part, more that I was so invested in the characters here that I often found it a traumatic and anxiety inducing experience as I wanted all my favourites to survive, when it seemed very much like there would only be one survivor.

Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) is a waster of a man. He has no job, still lives with his mother, owes vast amounts of money to both the bank and a loan shark, and has let down his ten year old daughter so much that she takes it as a given that he will continue to do so. One day a smartly dressed man approaches him with an offer, play a children's game with him and should he win he will be given some money. Eventually Gi-hun succeeds and is rewarded with both the money and a mysterious business card with a phone number on the back. Calling the number he is asked if he wants to participate in a special tournament in which the winners will gain vast sums of cash, to which Gi-hun readily agrees. He is taken to a large facility on a remote island where he finds himself one of 456 desperate contestants. Things start off fun but that turns to horror when the contestants realise that if they fail whichever game they happen to be playing they will be murdered. The survivors of the game are then given the choice to either continue the deadly games or return back to their lives, back in the real world however they realise how badly this money is needed and so return, complete in the knowledge that if they fail death will await them.

Squid Game takes place over nine episodes, each of which is roughly an hour long. With six different games taken place it makes sense that not each episode would contain a game, though these are very much the centrepiece of the series as a whole. I admit to being a bit impatient for the game to begin, due to this I found myself wishing things would speed up in first episode Red Light, Green Light. This introduction was needed though as it really displays protagonists Gi-hun life in an important way. He doesn't get given the best first impression, I thought he was a real idiot. Over the course of the show though it really comes out how much of a good person he actually is. He may have many faults, but he is a genuinely nice guy who goes out of his way to be kind to those around him. The episode really improves with the introduction of the first game, this made me eager to see the rest. While some of the games were not as exciting as others (notably the second game was the dullest of the lot), in general they were fantastic. I loved the cliffhanger finale of Stick to the Team, while the drama going on during the heart wrenching Gganbu changed what could have been boring to something that was powerful.
The plot managed to have plenty of unexpected twists, some of which worked better than others, the biggest twist was something that did surprise me. Squid Game is a self contained story, but it leaves enough dangling plot threads for the announced second season to capitalise on.

Dark Ditties Presents: Dad (2021) - Horror Episode/Film Review

Dark Ditties Presents describes itself as '...a very British dark, comedy-horror anthology series'. Each episode brings returning actors playing different roles in a similar style to American Horror Story, and all seem to at least somewhat be tangentially related to each other. Previous episodes include The Offer, Mrs. Wiltshire, Finders Keepers, and The Witching Hour, with Dad being the fifth one. Dad is a zombie story based in England, which I noticed in the end credits was part filmed in Northampton. It was cool to see something about the undead had been partly created in my hometown!

Zombie apocalypse has swept the globe, seemingly as a result of a popular cultish new religion. David (Corin Silva - Dark Ditties Presents: The Witching Hour) has been not only trying his best to survive, but also doing his best to take care of his dementia suffering father, Terry (Game of Thrones). His Dad doesn't understand that the world has fallen to ruin, he doesn't even recognise David, who he assumes to be his carer. After meeting up with some other survivors, crooks Jerry (Bruce Jones) and Steve (Neil Cole), as well as the cowardly Keith (Simon Bamford - Hellraiser), they are all attacked by zombies and end up fleeing to a large country house they spot. This home is where the Reverend Alistair O'Brian (Mark Wingett - Dead Again) and his daughter, Elizabeth (Jamila Wingett) live. As is often the case, while the survivors think they are safe now they have escaped the undead the real threat may come from the living.

A lazy way to sum this up would be to imagine 28 Days Later if the group had arrived at the mansion right away rather than at film's end, and if instead of a squad of soldiers there was a crazed God fearing priest. Much of the film is heavy on dialogue with the undead relegated to a few key scenes. A lot of this conversation is around people having lost loved ones, such as Keith's admittance of what happened with his family, to David talking about bad past encounters he has had with other humans. The heart of the episode comes with David's interactions with his father. Searching my memory I don't think I have ever seen a piece of zombie media in which there is a character suffering debilitating dementia. There was a believable rapport between the two, the cruel disease  has made David's survival so much harder due to having to constantly be watching over his Dad, who as far as he is concerned has just gone off on a trip. Terry could have been an annoyance but instead he worked to really show the heartache that David is going through.

It was no great surprise to learn that Alistair was the human antagonist of the episode. It was a cool touch that this character appears in the prologue in which 'patient zero', in this case a priest from the new religious group, kills himself on live TV during a debate with Alistair, seemingly to usher in a sudden undead uprising. Wingett plays the role in an over the top way, but an enjoyable portrayal that made him into a fun bad guy. Much of the episode takes place within the mansion, with the undead trapped outside, but things of course begin to fall apart. There are slight clichés, such as David getting infected early on and trying to conceal his injuries, but things like this are given a new breath of air in that David is very concerned what will happen to his father. His aim starts to become trying to find a way that his dad will be looked after once he has gone. I haven't seen other episodes, but this one fits the bill of being dark, though this was not a comedy horror, this was drama mixed with horror. One element that worked surprisingly well was that whenever David is knocked out or sleeping he finds himself in the office of a creepy psychiatrist, Dr, Edward Brunner. This character's therapy sessions with David reveals hidden information about him, as well as provides a clean way for his inner thoughts to be expressed on film. This could have came across as silly, but I enjoyed them. It felt similar to a concept used in both the Silent Hill: Shattered Memories and Until Dawn videogames. It was these parts that I think most shared ideas that other episodes have featured, especially with the constant referral to a possibly demonic figure.

Watching Dad as a standalone film, rather than taking it as part of an ongoing series I still found this to be very enjoyable. The acting was all of a high standard and I loved the new ideas that were brought to the genre. Despite some lack lustre make-up effects on the undead this was impressive stuff indeed and well worth a watch. Dark Ditties Presents is available to watch on both Amazon Prime and Vimeo.

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Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress: Season 1 (2016) - Zombie Horror Anime Review

It's been a while since I watched any anime, mainly because I'm always forgetting my Crunchyroll password! Well, I reset it yet again and decided to check out the zombie anime Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress. The show shares many similarities with Attack on Titan, both with the apocalyptic vision of the world as well as a mistrusted main protagonist. I watched the original Japanese version rather than the one with English dubbing.

The show takes place in a post apocalyptic steampunk version of feudal Japan. While it is not told in the show the synopsis says that at the onset of the industrial revolution a zombie outbreak suddenly occurred. These zombies, in the show called 'Kabane' soon overrun the entirety of Japan. The human survivors exist within towns and cities that are ringed by huge insurmountable iron walls, and they travel between these settlements on large armoured trains. One day the Kabane manage to invade the settlement of Aragane Station, in the process a young inventor named Ikoma is bitten and infected. He somehow manages to stop the spread of the infection by a device he straps to his body. The survivors flee the doomed station aboard the Kotetsujyo. It is here that Ikoma discovers he is now a Kabernari - half human/half zombie and that another person, the young Mumei also is one. Mistrusted by the other passengers and the crew of the train they all travel onwards to the capital city. As is always the case it soon becomes clear that there is more to fear than the Kabane...

The anime is made up of twelve episodes, the majority of them take place on or around the train (the titular iron fortress I guess). It is neatly split into half, the first six episodes have humans versus the zombie creatures. It culminates in the excellent two parter of Inescapable Darkness and Gathering Light. The second half of the season picks up on the familiar trope of other humans being the most dangerous thing in a zombie infested world. A villain emerges whose motive is that weak people deserve to die, and it is only the strong who have a right to live. I won't spoil who this villain is, but it wasn't that much of a surprise as the reveal happens within half an episode of this character first appearing.

Autumn: Dawn (2021) by David Moody - Zombie Horror Book Review

It all started in 2001 with the release of Autumn, a zombie book with a difference by horror author David Moody. Things seemed wrapped up in 2013 with the release of an updated version of his anthology book Autumn: The Human Condition that seemed to be a final farewell to the wonderful series. The Autumn books are not only my favourite zombie books ever written but also my favourite horror books. I have liked Moody's other works, such as the Hater series, yet they never resonated with me as much as these ones did. it helps that one of my fears is large crowds, something that the undead of these stories epitomise. In fact Moody is the only author whose work has ever been able to give me nightmares (one that took place in and around the bunker from his short story Duck and Cover). I was beyond overjoyed to learn there was to be a new trilogy set in the Autumn universe, I did not expect it at all. I admit I was also kind of nervous. Having this new book set earlier on in the apocalypse made sense, but I couldn't quite see how the setting of London would feel much different to the setting of Autumn: The City. Thankfully I turned out to be very wrong.

The premise for Autumn is that a deadly virus one day unexpectedly sweeps itself around the globe, once it is finished over 99% of the world's population lay dead, leaving behind a stunned and traumatised minority of survivors. To make things even worse the dead don't stay dead, they rise up as zombies, not the typical flesh hungry ghouls you would expect, but ones who have an intense attraction to any kind of movement or sound. Autumn: Dawn takes place around 40 days after this rapid infection occurred and takes place in London. Due to the large population there are more survivors, but that also means there are far more undead whose numbers essentially trap the living within the city.

I'm not going to lie, the first chapter of this new book I was a bit unsure with. It is written from a first person perspective which led me to worry the whole book would be written this way. I came to appreciate it more after the chapter ended and the book settled into a more traditional writing style. This first chapter felt like it would have been right at home in Autumn: The Human Condition, it was pretty much a self contained short story that worked at swiftly bringing the reader up to speed, as well as being able to zoom past the initial rising of the dead. Having the main story take place 40 days in was a good point to set it, this was when the zombies started to become more hostile to the living and there is a gradual increase in this hostility over the course of the novel.

The Rotting Zombie's Round-up of Horror News for October 2020

This month I have been trialling the reintroduction of news posts detailing singular news items. This means I am now putting out a new blog post every single day, shall see how long I can keep that going! Despite this my inbox is still full of news items, and so shall be putting a bunch of them into a monthly news post still. Don't take it to mean this compilation of news stories means they don't deserve their own post, more that having a full time day job it means I just don't have the time to write individual posts for each bit of news I receive.

The Dead Ones is now out on DVD/Blu-ray and digital. I said of this school based horror "From start to finish the nightmarish tone remains consistent, thanks to some inventive moments and a great looking set."
Similarly titled My Dead Ones comes to iTunes and Google Play on October 31st. This Brazilian psychological slasher film also came to Vimeo on October 26th.
From Midnight Releasing, Evil Under the Skin is now streaming on VOD platforms, including all the ones you would expect. I said of this "I have to give kudos for where this eventually ended up."

Adrian Tofei's standout Romanian found footage horror Be My Cat: A Film for Anne has been released on DVD in two versions, one featuring the new poster and one with the original poster. Both include 12 minutes of extra footage, closed captions, improved image and sound. This horror was partially improvised and had Tofei method acting for the duration, partially living in character. The creator is currently working on a trilogy which includes this film, We Put the World to Sleep (in post-production) and Dr. Frankenstein (in development). Signed copies of the DVD can be purchased on Tofei's site.

The follow up to supernatural thriller Mayday was announced on September 17th. Tara Reid and Robert LaSardo have been added to the film's roster. The synopsis for this has air marshall Adam Anderson (Michael Pare) on board a flight when a strange smoke engulfs the plane. He awakens to find only him and five passengers remain, and the plane running on autopilot. That sounds very much like the excellent time travel horror The Langoliers, which can only be a good thing. Mayday II is currently on Indiegogo seeking additional funds.

Habitual comes to theatres and VOD on November 13th and has been described as 'A Clockwork Orange meets Saw!' This psychological drug fueled horror is about a group of drug taking ravers who go to an underground rave party called 'Habit' at an abandoned asylum in Salem. The night changes into chaotic hallucinations with characters falling deeper into a metaphorical mind-bending hole. It certainly sounds interesting. This comes from writer/director Johnny Hickey, and allegedly during one screening of the movie an audience member on LSD ended up in a harm reduction center as a result of his experience.

Frolic Pictures have released a special batch of 20 new triple feature DVDs. These are based on the golden age of 'silent screamers and depression-era staples'. The collections features some icons such as Bela Lugosi, Max Schreck, Lon Chaney Jr, Boris Karloff, Tod Slaughter and Soledad Miranda. 'Each DVD is a one-of-a-kind experience, like going to the drive-in back in the day, except in the comfort of your own home. Every carefully curated program is 3-4 hours of shocking, bizarre, and tantalizing entertainment from a bygone era. Packed with cinematic surprises, such as pre-show shorts, trailers, and intermission cartoons'. The list is too much to go into, but some chosen at random include: Face of the Screaming Werewolf/The Wasp Woman/The Bat, King of the Zombies/Revolt of the Zombies/Teenage Zombies, and Curse of the Aztec Mummy/Sound of Horror/The Atomic Man. For more details head here.

From the creator of The Blair Witch Project comes Ithaca: A miniseries of horror. This comes from Eduardo Sanchez and season1 is now available now and can be seen for free on Man In The Arena Films YouTube Channel. The first season is made up of four chapters and is about a man's attempt to heal his broken legacy. It was inspired by Homer's Odyssey, modern mythology and includes Balinese Hindu mythology. It was made over 7 years with no budget, and with a 2 to 4 man crew. Season 1 can be seen here.

Music news now, firstly, Sharone has released a music video for her track Can We Pretend. This is the first single off the dark rock artist's upcoming album, Morbid Illusion that is due out on 28th May 2021. Her second single will be revealed on Halloween (the day this blog post goes out). Sharone says of the single "...is about living a lie, and hiding behind a facade that's destroying you from the inside out".

Sammi Doll has released the official music video for her debut single AN OM IE. This is 'an amalgamation of pounding dance beats and industrial keyboard hooks'. Sammi Doll says of the video "We filmed the video over the course of four months due to quarantine restrictions, so we had the luxury of time to build on our characters. I really gave my blood, insomnia, and tears to everything I do artistically and tend to think about the consequences later...but I knew I was committed when a frozen octopus from Seattle showed up at my front door..."

Finally, a new UK short anthology horror is due to go up on YouTube at 9pm tonight (GMT). End of October features three short films from Nicolai Kornum, John Whitaker, and M.W Daniels. Earlier in the year the three worked on a different short anthology horror, The Isolation Horrors. A review of End of October shall go up next week, it's worth a watch, so check out the premiere at 9pm today (October 31st).

Malvolia: the Queen of Screams Releases Season Four - Horror Web Show News

Malvolia: the Queen of Screams has recently started up a fourth season on YouTube. This web series stars Jennifer Nangle (Irrational Fear, Ugly Sweater Party) as her Malvolia persona. I hadn't heard of this show before, it sounds like each episode features a different short film, with Malvolia opening and closing the episode. This has previously won awards, the most recent being at last years Zed Fest Film Festival where it won Outstanding Acting Performance (Nangle), Outstanding Direction (Richard Trejo), Outstanding Ensemble Acting, and Outstanding Screen Story (Nangle) for season two's Halloween special. Jennifer also won the Independent Filmmaker Spirit Award there.

Obviously, as with everything, this year has brought with it its own challenges. In a recent podcast interview Nangle said of this new season: "2020 has been such a hard year on all of us...lots of life lesson were learned when the blinders were pulled off. I had no idea how to deal with or release a lot of the pain and hurt that I was experiencing except through my art. Some of the scripts I've written are very personal. Lots of limits are being pushed. Breaking free. A lot more bloodshed, revenge and chaos!"

The highlight for each season is apparently the annual Halloween special, and this year season two's director, Richard Trejo has been brought back to direct both the special and the photography. Malvolia: the Queen of Screams season four started on October 13th, and can be seen on the shows YouTube channel, here.

The Walking Dead: Season 10 (2019-20) - Zombie Horror TV Show Review

It is that time where I attempt to do my annual review of the latest season of The Walking Dead. Due to the way the show airs I always struggle to write these reviews. Usually each season is split into two halves, one airing towards the end of the year, and the second part airing around February of the following year. I always tell myself I need to write after each half, rather than waiting till it has all ended. Well, this year with the darn pandemic has meant season ten of The Walking Dead is even more fragmented than usual. The pandemic hit before the season finale, A Certain Doom had been completed, and so that episode was pushed all the way back to the start of October. I'm now putting up a review of the season, but bear in mind there are an additional six episodes still to come at the start of 2021. I had heard they will be anthology like in style, each one dealing with a different set of characters. Unavoidable spoilers for previous seasons to follow.

With Alpha (Samantha Morton) and her Whisperers proven to be a dangerous threat, the settlements of Oceanside, New Alexandria and Hilltop live out an uneasy existence. While Alpha gave them her word they will be safe if they don't cross into her land they nonetheless begin to prepare for the inevitable battle. She has in her possession a horde of undead, a collection so large that they would decimate anyone they are unleashed upon. Carol (Melissa McBride) in particular carries a burning hatred for Alpha, and seems ready to break the terms of their shaky truce in order to claim her revenge...

I will be honest here, the way I in particular watched this season means parts of it are very fuzzy. Me and my best friend ended up watching this sporadically, this led to forgetting details of what had occurred previously, and who characters were. In more recent seasons there has always been a overly large cast, I long since gave up on trying to learn any of the newer characters names. Without spoiling much this is a season where the heroes are given a break in terms of shocking demises, plenty of good guys do die, but I can't think of a single character whose death I cared about. The Walking Dead in my opinion is at its best when it features stand alone episodes, and this season contains one of my favourite ones of this type. The 13th episode, What We Become sees Michonne (Danai Guria) experiencing a 'what if' scenario, showing the dark path her life may have led if she had never met up with Rick Grimes. This was created in part by nifty editing, and with digitally adding her to scenes from previous seasons, but with her as a bad guy. It was fantastic stuff, though personally that was due to both Rick and Carl appearing (even if it was just recycled footage). 

The Rotting Zombie's Round-up of Horror News for July 2020

Another month into this dreadful year and added to my list of woes is a bad back I seem unable to fully recover from, and the more surreal incident of the phantom attic rats. I have a week off work in a weeks time, it will be my first proper time off since February (I had 4 days off at the end of May, but that was due to my mother dying so wasn't exactly a happy relaxing period). I am looking forward to getting some rest and relaxation as am currently feeling quite burnt out from this draining year! Video game update for July...I was quite deep into Control, but then something newer and shiner came along (Ghost of Tsushima) so I have briefly shelved that. I have also been playing more Dead by Daylight recently, it's one of those weird games where I feel I will never be at a stage where I can comfortably put up a measured review.

A bit late as I received the email about this at the end of June! Arrow Video Channel's July lineup included undead comedy Zombie for Sale, as well as Gamera: The Complete Collection which brings together all 12 films (the collection is also coming out on Blu-ray on the 17th August (UK) and 18th August (NA)). These films went live on the channel in the US and UK from 1st July and are joined by Creepshow 2, Bloodstone and Black Rainbow. 

Hand in hand with this news is the Arrow Video Blu-ray releases for July. Zombie for Sale, Black Rainbow, and Inferno of Torture came out on 7th July, Hiroshima on the 14th, and Bloodstone and Life is a Long Quiet River coming out on 21st July.

Lake Michigan Monster, a 'black-and-white nautical nightmare' will be available on the Arrow Video Channel and Digital HD on 3rd August in the US and UK. This comes from writer/director/actor Ryland Brickson Cole Tews and is about a bizarre sea captain on a quest to kill the sea monster that killed his father. The film is also enjoying a 24 hour virtual premiere on 31st July, though I am not sure this blog post will be up in time for you to see that. Still, try the link if you want to try and get a late ticket!

Finally, the Arrow Video Channel releases for August sees alongside Lake Michigan Monster, classics Tenebrae and Children of the Corn joining the platform, as well as The Untamed, Inferno of Torture, The Comic, The Case of the Scorpion's Tale, The Black Report, and Black Test Car.

Terror Films have formed a new partnership with Playnow Media. They are a leader in niche-specific, long-tail VOD/OTT channels across a variety of streaming services. Titles, including The Taking of Deborah Logan and Hell House LLC are now on the channel.

MVD Entertainment and Rue Morgue Magazine have launched Midnight Movie Unchained. This is an offshoot of the SVOD service Midnight Movie Society and is a free channel exclusively at Roku. It is designed to offer more traditional horror. The titles are from the MVD film catalog, from underground horror to cult classics.

Summer Hill Films have recently released ultra-low budget horror The Luring on Amazon, YouTube Movies, Google Play, iTunes and other streaming platforms. The film is about a man named Garret who tries to recover the memories from his tenth birthday. He is unaware that he lost them due to a horrific event that occurred there. This surreal psychological thriller was filmed at director/producer, Christopher Wells old family home in Vermont a week before it was sold.

Lection, the post-apocalyptic political drama from David Axe (SHED) is out now thanks to Gravitas Ventures, I will leave it up to the press release to sum up this unique film: 'The world ended. Then they had an election. The apocalypse wasn't loud. They forgot how to make things. They forgot how to run things. They even forgot...how to talk to each other. Now in the aftermath, do the residents of an isolated village entrust their ruined society to the victims of its collapse? Or do they ask those who wrecked it to try to make it right again? Who's in charge? How do they even decide?'

Me and the Devil is to be released on 1st September under the HNN Presents banner of Bayview Entertainment. This comes from Italian filmmaker Dario Almerighi and is about the unravelling of Mario (played by Antonio De Nitto) after his fiancee dies in strange circumstances during a holiday. The film shares its release date with Master Pieces.

A crowdfunder campaign has started for the female driven psychological thriller Callback which comes from HorrorScreams VideoVault and FoxTrot Productions. It is about a struggling actress Sonia (Jennifer Nangle - The Last Roommate) who snaps when her successful friend Jessica (Jackie Falcon - Lockdown) gets the role she wanted, and ends up kidnapping her. The Indiegogo campaign can be found here.

A new clip has been release for upcoming horror anthology Realm of Shadows. This anthology promises that all its stories are based on real events, and is to feature such notable horror icons as Tony Todd (Candyman franchise), Michael Berryman (Wes Craven's The Hills Have Eyes) and Tamara Glynn (Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers). The clip is from the segment Dreamlady. 

Radar Pictures are in development of an auditory horror film called Unseen, with Jen and Sylvia Soska set to write and direct this. It is based on BlindSide, an audio-only mobile adventure game. The film is about a couple who wake up blind in a nightmarish world. It sounds like it will join the growing sub-genre of horror about sensory deprivation (Bird Box, A Quiet Place, Creature in the Dark)

Polestar Studio's Evergreen Is the Blood was due to be filmed in July and is based on a screenplay written by award-winning filmmaker John Reign (who also directs and stars in this) and William Long. The film is about a man who is living as a recluse after the death of his family. It turns out a lair of vampires are living in the woods around his secluded home. 

The next episode in the paranormal show We Want To Believe is now out. The title is a bit of a mouthful; Episode 3: The Demon Jar Part Three. This episode sees the team continue their investigation at an apparently haunted hotel. Check it out for yourself via YouTube. 

Evil Dead documentary Hail to the Deadites is to have its world premiere in August at the Fantasia International Film Festival. This documentary is about the fans of the iconic franchise and includes interviews with the cast, crew, collectors, fans and more. Of course, with the ongoing pandemic the film festival has been revamped as a virtual festival. The documentary should be up to watch on the Fantasia online platform from August 20th to September 2nd. It's 'geo-blocked' to Canadian audiences only for some reason.

The trailer for season 6 of The Walking Dead spin-off show, Fear the Walking Dead has dropped. I've only ever seen one and a half seasons of this show so it is about high time I get around to catching up with events. The new season premieres on Monday 12th October at 9pm on AMC.

 

UK based dark cinematic rock artist Brocarde has released the official music video for World Upside Down. This self-directed video features Ray Luzier (KoRn) on drums, and the song is taken from new EP, Love Me Till I'm Beautiful that came out on 19th July.

Continuing the pandemic theme, darkwave act Thrillsville has put out a new video for song Lockdown. It made its premiere on ReGen Magazine. Rani Sharone from the group stated "This song was directly inspired by the unrelenting restlessness of being 'stuck on lock-down'. In essence it's a romantic song about longing for a normal night on the town."

   

Horror board game Slice & Dice will be available for pre-order from 11th August. This is a deck building strategy game from Horror-Fix creator Ash Hamilton. The blurb for this says 'In a dash to either kill or save the game's victims, players will have to not only defeat the victims themselves, but other players in combat as well. Ever wondered if Chucky could go head to toe against Leatherface? Well, Slice & Dice looks to answer that question and more.' This will be on Kickstarter for pre-sale.

Final news is with David Moody (author of the phenomenal Autumn series of zombie novels). After suffering a heart attack earlier this year (another nail in the coffin of 2020) he is now thankfully recovered and set to release a new book. The Bleed: Rupture is the first in a three book series that he is writing with Chris Philbrook (Adrian's Undead Diary) and Mark Tufo (Zombie Fallout). The book is out now in paperback, ebook and as an Audible exclusive audiobook.

The Rotting Zombie's Round-up of Horror News for June 2020

My inbox seems to be fit for over flowing with news this month and so I will shorten my usual pre-news ramble. Not much really to say other than I am loving The Last of Us II, a review of that will surely follow some point in July. Also, I have recently picked up the DLC killers for Dead by Daylight, is a shame no one ever seems to be playing it when I try to get in a match though! Finally, I picked up The Walking Dead VR game, is meant to be a good one..

The first teaser and stills for time loop slasher 6:45 are out. Hoping to save their troubled relationship Bobby Patterson takes his girlfriend, Jules away to an island resort...where they are promptly brutally murdered. Death is not the end though and the couple find themselves doomed to repeatedly awaken at 6:45 on the morning of their murder and forced to relive the days traumatic events over and over again. I love the idea of time loops and so this one really sounds like one for me. 6:45 is aiming for a release this Autumn.

The new distribution label from Bayview Entertainment and Horrornews.net. "HNN Presents" has announced its first acquisition, the comedy horror Master Pieces. I said of the film "is a movie you will either love or hate. It tries to be different and succeeds in this".
Sticking with Bayview is the announcement of two Italian horror features. The first is 42-66: The Origin of Evil. This one is about a patient who leaves a prison psychiatric clinic with the hope of restarting his life. Instead he ends up on a path of violence, led by a supernatural demon. The second release is L38: The Face of Evil and sounds more like a crime thriller. Four career criminals start up production of snuff films for their sinister boss. Both films are now out on DVD.

Terror Films have partnered with YouTube AVOD platform, Kings of Horror. This has been described as the 'most visited and subscribed channel for full-length horror movies on YouTube. The partnership begins with ten films added to the library. At a later date Terror Films will premiere four new films exclusively on Kings of Horror for a six week stint.

Indican Pictures are set to release The Transcendents on most major digital platforms on July 21st. This is about a man named Roger who is on the hunt for a defunct indie rock band (titular The Transcendents). This is described as 'a mysterious thriller set in a musical world'. Check out the trailer below.

Paralyzed with Fear has been released as an Amazon Exclusive. This stars Kane Hodder as a demon who goes after a house full of women who accidentally summoned him. This also stars Haidyn Harvey, Andrea Rabold, and Maya Grace, and is directed by Glenn Berggoetz. For more information head here.

A trailer and poster for Quarantine Girl has been released. This stars Nicole D'Angelo and Shane Ryan and is about a woman whose mental state deteriorates after she isolates herself during an epidemic. This film is due for release by months end by Cinema Epoch. It was apparently shot safely during the current pandemic.

A teaser trailer and poster has dropped for the Terry Ross directed social thriller Sweet Taste of Souls. The story here is that four struggling indie band members decide to stop for food at a remote roadside café. Things don't go according to plan as they find themselves trapped in the café owners art collection, facing a demonic force. The idea of being trapped inside art sounds pretty out there, so I hope this film turns out to be a good one!



Welcome to the Circle is a new horror film coming from Artsploitation Films soon. A father and daughter stumble into the realm of a madman worshipping cult while out camping. Also there is a professional cult deprogrammer and his two clients hoping to retrieve a particular cultist. All find themselves on a desperate mission to escape. This comes to DVD/Blu-ray and VOD/streaming later this year.



The Luring was released on digital and DVD on June 16th thanks to Summer Hill Entertainment. This is writer/director Christopher Wells feature debut, and stars Rick Irwin as a young man who returns to the place of his childhood in order to put the constant nightmares he has to rest.



Botox Fiction is the name of a mini series that French director Yoann Kimfoko is hoping to create. This takes place in a dystopian world where parents rear children in order to use their skin to remain forever young! Currently there is a crowdfunding campaign going for this, for more details check out their page here.

We Want to Believe is a new paranormal series and it has released The Demon Jar part 1 and 2. Even better, these episodes are free to watch. This is a reality show that follows writer/director/investigator Jason Hewlett and paranormal investigator Peter Renn and team as they investigate everything from UFO sightings to Bigfoot and hauntings. The show claims to be authentically made with no camera tricks or special effects. The free episodes can be viewed on YouTube or below.





Hex Studios have launched a new publishing wing, its first volume is titled The Book of Beastly Creatures. This is an anthology featuring 18 original stories, each based on original monsters from the Hex universe. Written by Sarah Daly, Thomas Staunton, and Lawrie Brewster, the hardback is also filled with 80's inspired artwork by James Olley as well as a full set of RPG rules for each creature. The book is available to buy from Kickstarter.
Also from Hex Studios - their new YouTube channel; Channel Hex have launched a retro horror talk show called Hex Talks. This features Lawrie Brewster as the host who holds a series of interviews with icons of the horror genre. The first episode has him chatting with Graham Skipper, best known for playing Herbert West in Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator The Musical. He has also starred in Almost Human and Beyond the Gates, as well as directed and starred in Sequence Break.

Puzzle Box Horror are going to be launching a new magazine titled 'Atlas of Lore'. The first issue, 'Oregon' is due for release late July. This will feature five original short stories all based on Oregon's haunted lore. Along with the stories are original art and photography. The five stories in issue 1 include Slice, When The Bandage Man Finds You, Anna Byrne Chronicles Chapters 1 and 2, The Haunting of The White Eagle and Rose. The magazine can be pre-ordered here.

In music news U.S psychedelic country western band Spindrift are due to have a film released on DVD and digital called Spindrift's Haunted West. The film chronicles the band over five weeks where they play exclusively at ghost towns and haunted locations. Indican Pictures will be releasing the documentary in July.

Kissing Candice have released their track Ghosted on all streaming platforms, which is the first time this has been available to stream. This track has never been put on an album and apparently fans saw it as a lost track. The band say this was something to give to the fans as they await the release of their new album.

Finally, and after months of mentioning it on my news post the dystopian turn-based strategy/RPG video game 1971 Project Helios has been released. It has came out on PS4, X-Box One, Nintendo Switch, Steam and GOG.

NOS4A2: Season 2 (2020) - Horror TV Show Preview

Until I covered news of the upcoming second season of NOS4A2 I have to admit I had never heard of it. I figured from the title it would be something about vampires, but that is only half right, it is something a little bit different. The show is based on the 2013 book of the same name by Joe Hill (Stephen King's son). Having only read a plot summary of the first season on Wikipedia I went into this new season pretty much blind, and while some of the particulars were a little confusing I quickly picked up where all the characters were now at. Currently I have only seen the first four episodes and so rather than be a full review this will be my thoughts on those. Unavoidable spoilers for that first season will follow.

Season 2 picks up eight years after the events of the first season, in which the supernaturally gifted Vic (Ashleigh Cummings) managed to finally defeat the child soul eating Charlie Manx (Zachary Quinto). The seemingly immortal Manx has been in a coma ever since his defeat, but with the help of his lackey, serial killer Bing Partidge (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) Manx has returned, thirsty for revenge.

It didn't take too long to get into the swing of things with season 2. It is quickly established that this is very much a story about a battle between two unlikely foes. Vic and Manx both share the screen time almost equally. Picking things up for myself it seems that Vic's power is that she is able to locate any missing person or object by riding through a certain bridge near her home. This bridge acts as a kind of teleporter taking her instantly to whatever thing she is seeking. This is a problem for Manx as he is a man who doesn't want to be found. I found both characters to be really interesting. With Vic, in the intervening years she has suffered PTSD, obsessed with Manx, and an alcoholic she tries to balance the burden of being the only person able to stop the child killer, as well as care for her young son, Wayne. I expected Quinto to be good here as he is a strong actor, and he seems to relish playing the smooth talking Manx. His character's very life force seems to be tied to the supernaturally charged Wraith that he drives around in, and which allows him to feed on the souls of children. He also has somehow created a unique alternate dimension, a place he calls 'Christmasland'. In this place he leaves his victims, children now altered into a more monstrous form, there they are looked after by his daughter, Millie.

Stranger Things: Season 3 (2019) - Horror TV Show Review

Last month I finally got around to watching season 2 of Stranger Things and from that I zoomed right into and through the third and currently final season (though a fourth has been confirmed). Stranger Things is a wonderful homage to everything eighties. The second season was great, but I never felt it reached the heights of that first season. I imagined the quality would again slip a tiny bit for the third season. Despite a vaguely downward start this season soon proved to be not only just as exciting as previous ones, but also keeping the amazing humour that led to me laughing out loud on many occasions. There are going to be unavoidable spoilers for previous seasons here.

The year is now 1985 and in the small town of Hawkins a huge shopping mall called 'Starcourt' has appeared, taking away business from the many smaller shops. This season is a lot about the core cast growing up, Mike (Finn Wolfhard - It)  and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown - Godzilla: King of the Monsters) are a couple, as are Lucas and Max, with even Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) claiming to have found a girlfriend while he was away at science camp. All of this has left Will feeling quite lost. The plot this time around is that a group of Russians have secretly infiltrated the town. They know about the gateway to the 'upside down' and they intend to use reopen it. This has the undesired side effect of allowing a part of the Mind Flayer (the big evil in season 2) that got trapped in the real world to become reactivated.

The format of Stranger Things is that there are many different stories going on that eventually meet up for an explosive finale. This season more than any other really separates everyone completely, with characters not even seeing each other for the vast majority of the show. Of these storylines it was the one featuring Steve and Dustin that was my favourite. Season 2 showed what a fantastic odd pairing they were, so to have them off doing their own thing for nearly the whole show was a great idea. Steve is my favourite character, I love how cool he thinks he is compared to how everyone else sees him,  and with him wearing a ridiculous sailor outfit for the whole season this is more evident than ever. The duo get paired up with newcomer Robin (Maya Hawke - Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) who is a great new addition, as well as Lucas's sister Erica (Priah Ferguson) who up to this point had just been a side character only appearing in a few episodes. These parts include some of the most funny scenes, such as hilarious call backs to things that have occured in previous seasons, and a very funny rendition of The Neverending Story theme song at a most inopportune time.
Another story going on that is barely horror based is that of Joyce (Winona Ryder) and Jim Hopper (David Harbour) discovering a huge conspiracy going down in the town. This also features a new character, the wonderful Alexi (Alec Utgoff), who like Bob in season 2 was someone I really grew to love. This storyline was the most action packed of the lot with a Terminator style antagonist who is constantly turning up to get in brutal fights with Hopper all over the town of Hawkins. On the subject of Hopper I didn't really like what they did with his character this season. He just comes across as moody and angry all season that made it hard to really get on his side. In general the tone of the show is a lot darker this time around.

Horror House (2019) - Horror Anthology Show Review

Horror House is a web based horror show that features a variety of short Australian horror films, and which is hosted by Count Funghoula (David Black) and Mistress Boobiyana (Tritia Devisha). The first season is made up of six episodes, each roughly 25 minutes long.

So to start with is the hosted format. I found the wraparound sections featuring the two hosts to be a bit random. The humour is often crude, and there aren't really any plotlines, but the format is helped a lot by canned laughter and other fake audience effects that add a lot of charm. While it was all a bit nonsensical the makeup of the two was good, and I admit I did like all the random violence Boobiyana causes to Funghoula. Plus I found all the bad stuff that happens to Funghoula to be consistently funny. I felt that it might have worked better had the hosts introduced each short, or commented on them afterwards, as these shorts felt unconnected.

So each of the six episodes mostly has three shorts and one music video. The music videos are all by Darkness Visible (that Black is a member of) and is all horror tinged music. Some, like 'Darkness Visible' in episode one, and 'Eat Me' in episode five tell little stories in their videos. It was nice that the final episode featured 'Inquisition' which it turns out is the music used for the Horror House theme during the wonderfully animated intro credits. I've seen a few Australian short horrors over the years and so was interested to see what this show would come up with.

Black Summer (2019) - Zombie Horror TV Show Review

It seems lately there has been a real shift in the love affair people in general have had with the undead. First there has been no end of complaints about The Walking Dead with people saying it had gotten stale and dull. Next earlier in the year the fantastic open world survival game Days Gone released to critics apathy, and now after having finished watching the fantastic Netflix series Black Summer I was dismayed to see that the majority of the reviews were less than favourable. Once again I have to battle against the negativity and proclaim this is something that needs to be watched.

Black Summer takes place a couple of months after a global zombie outbreak and follows a series of survivors over the course of a couple of hellish days. Uninfected people had been kept within a military safe zone and are due for evacuation, the evacuation point being a football stadium in downtown. On the day this transfer is meant to happen a whole bunch of different people miss the military transports and have to band together to make the perilous journey to the stadium on foot. These include among them Rose (Jaime King - My Bloody Valentine, Sin City) who got seperated from her young daughter during the move, a criminal (Justin Chu Cary) who has taken on the identity of a soldier he killed named Spears, a young Asian woman, Sun (Christine Lee) who doesn't speak a word of English, and the cowardly Lance (Kelsey Flower).

 I can't remember who said this but what they said was very fitting and so I will include it here. Before watching Black Summer I read that it was basically if the first five insane minutes of the Dawn of the Dead remake had been stretched out into an entire series. This is the perfect explanation for what is going on here as from beginning to end this is near enough one intense and crazy adventure to reach the stadium. What a lot of people don't realise is that Black Summer is actually a prequel spin-off from zombie apocalypse comedy Z Nation. I'm not surprised this wasn't made more known though as the tone for this and that is like chalk and cheese. Black Summer is serious and horror filled with zero allowances for humour. Over the course of eight increasingly shorter episodes (roughly, ranging from around fifty minutes to the season finale that takes up just twenty) we follow a whole host of characters over several days. Even in such a short time frame the core group loses and gains members with no one seeming to be safe. By seasons end characters I would never expect to be killed off are so, sometimes in the most coldest of ways.

The Outer Darkness (2015) - Horror Series Review

I've mentioned it before but ALTER is a 'premium horror entertainment brand' that showcases cinematic horror shorts from around the world. It operates on multiple platforms including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and its own website. A few weeks back horror series The Outer Darkness joined its ranks of films and shows. Originally released in 2015 as a short film, directed by Ben Franklin and Anthony Melton, The Outer Darkness has now been split into three parts and released as a series.

Father Jonathan Crowe (Jonny Phillips) runs a support group for people who have experienced bizarre encounters. During one meeting Jenny (Isla Carter) arrives and recounts a haunting story about a game of chance she took part in where winning grants you your wildest dreams, but losing has dire consequences...

Each of the three parts is roughly split into around eight minutes and by the end Jenny's story at least is told. Part one introduces the support group and the various characters within it. while starting off the anthology segment. Part two contains the majority of the gambling storyline, before part three brings it to a close and takes us back to the present day. I found this to be quite captivating with what was going on, there were both unexpected twists and a suspenseful atmosphere. The wraparound story was something that felt like it could really go somewhere, especially with later revelations. I felt if this was made into a proper anthology show there were a lot of places to go to if each of the characters in the meeting got their own segment, that would be something interesting.

As it is, adapted from a film I don't know if there will be more to come, or if this is it. Regardless this had some decent acting, and some nice creature effects. With most this taking place in a dark room it did come across as a bit sparse, though this darkness also focussed the attention on the insular drama whose subject matter occasionally made it feel slightly ridiculous. Still, I have to admit my attention was drawn. There is a lot of good stuff on ALTER, The Outer Darkness is no different. Check it out for yourself below.

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