The Rotting Zombie's News Round-up for August 2026

Laziness is the word I would use to describe my blog output this year. Case in point; my news round-up for August is publishing in September. It really should have been up last week. Back in the Rotting Zombie HQ I have once again got a trapped nerve in my back, always joyous, and I do wonder how none of my nerves have rotted away by this point in my un-life

After Impact is a sci-fi thriller (written, directed, produced and starring Michiel Rensen) that is set for a North American digital debut release on September 15th 2026. In this movie, Ethan inherits his father's business just as the world faces the arrival of a deadly asteroid. Surviving by hiding out in his family's bunker, he begins to suspect he is the sole survivor, but this may not be the case.

Coming to North American VOD platforms on September 4th 2026 is the psychological horror film, Influence. The story sees a struggling filmmaker who becomes obsessed with a popular social media influencer and actress. When her pitch to the star is rejected, the filmmaker flips, breaking into her home and taking her hostage.

Indie entertainment group DRagonSTUDIOS are set to release their own streaming platform this October named DRagonFLIX. The press release states this services '...aims to bridge the gap between contemporary indie filmmaking and nostalgic genre cinema'. Subscribers will get access to two hubs at launch; exclusive new indie film that will be debuting directly on the service rather than in cinemas, and a free classic movie channel that will be streaming a 24/7 collection of curated films, including cult classics, timeless films, and vintage horror.

Coming to Amazon Prime Video on September 4th is CHAT, described as 'supernatural AI terror meets dark comedy'. A couple who have recently moved to a new home, face terror when their young son discovers a strange A.I powered tablet that unleashes supernatural horror on the family. Directed by Ole J Hartmann and starring Carter Sirianni and Alexis Schrepple, you can check out the trailer below.

Acorn Media have announced the release of a season 3 of The Terror horror anthology series, titled The Terror: Devil in Silver. Based on Victor LaValle's book of the same name (the stories adapted by the writer himself), this season, the story is a about a man wrongfully committed to a psychiatric hospital, who then discovers the existence of an entity that feeds on the suffering of the place. The Terror: Devil in Silver also comes to Blu-ray and DVD on 5th October.

Finally for today, the official trailer for Illinois based post-apocalyptic zombie horror, Holler has released. The change here that instead of being set before or during the outbreak, this story takes place many years after the undead took over the world, where they have become common to the survivors. There is currently a successful Kickstarter going to complete the film, that can be found here.

Alien Storm (2026) - Sci-fi Horror Film Review

Alien Storm, co-written and directed by Adam Werth (Devil's Knight, Arena Wars) is the latest film from Mahal Empire. Over the years there have been consistently entertaining movies put out by them. The budget may often be low, but these always looked like they were fun to make. With such an ambitious global story here, would that be able to be adequately told in a little over 70 minutes?

A strange unnatural mist has began to appear in key areas all over the globe. Areas afflicted with this mist lose contact to the outside world. This alarming news is something the American President (Kevin Sorbo - Devil's Knight, Without a Body) bizarrely has only just been informed of - informed that key cities around the world have already gone dark, and that many areas in the US are now in the process of being lost!
Frank is the owner of a successful business, and happens to be hosting a large dinner party at his mansion when the mist appears. With reports on the TV stating to stay inside away from the mist, Frank invites his guests to use his newly constructed bunker, to stay there until the all-clear is given from the government. This might be a too little too late step for the guests though, as it becomes clear that as well as the mist, some sort of monster has infiltrated the grounds of Frank's property.

To cover such a global feeling story in such a relatively short run time was quite ambitious and the scope of the story is never that well realised. The prologue and President's briefing scenes attempt to show this, but more successful was the small montage of different news anchors reporting on the unfolding story.
Within the film, there is some discourse about whether the creatures are alien or demonic. This was just one area where it felt like this was trying to be a low budget version of Signs. In this case, the creatures look more like men in monster costumes. What they lack in realism they make up in numbers, a decent amount appear. You may never forget these don't look like actual monsters, but I did think the glowing red eyes they had made for a unique look, especially in the mist.
There are plenty of action scenes and a high body count. Many kills are shown via fast editing of monster attacks, which sold the kills well I felt. Following previous films, this is quantity over quality, with a huge cast of characters, most of which barely get screen time to give themselves personalities, these are mainly here to be cannon-fodder for the aliens. Some of the cast at least are given more to them, to make them less than one dimensional - such as the rivalry between two former sport stars, and Brian, the loveable albeit stupid uncle character.

There were pacing issues here, and some less than great set-design. With the former, there was barely much of a story here at all. Characters go out of their way to get in danger, and the resulting finale felt rushed through. High action and high stakes for sure, but this finale felt uncomfortably constrained in a ten minute burst. It wasn't an abrupt ending, but ended soon enough that a block of text appears on screen to explain what happened afterwards.
The bunker door for the bunker played a key role in the story, yet the door itself looked pretty wobbly, with the two doors that make up it never really coming together and closing properly. Didn't seem very effective for a supposedly tough door. The mist was overused, though only in the sense that every time it appeared it made everything look the same misty white, obscuring the environments and making it hard to make much out. The bunker interior did look fantastic however, a highlight of the locations used in the movie.

Alien Storm may have been a bit overly ambitious, but I enjoyed it. There was a streak of nihilism that made for an interesting feel and vibe. There were bound to be some less than amazing acting in the large cast, but I enjoyed the characters, regardless of how simple they were. There were parts of this that reminded me of the zombie sub-genre of horror, never a bad thing at all to discover. Alien Storm was released on 21st July and is available to rent or buy on Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video.

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Lars Shrike Walks the Night (2024) - Sci-fi Film Review

Sci-fi is often a not too distant cousin to horror, so, the Gary Walkow (The Trouble With Dick) written and directed Lars Shrike Walks the Night seemed on paper like a good fit for this humble blog. I admit, more than anything, I was interested in this due to Kelsey Grammer (Frasier, Cheers) starring. This very low budget, indie arthouse thriller was far more slow paced than I had anticipated, full of philosophical musings rather than moments of action.

Lars (Grammer), suffering amnesia, finds himself wandering a strange desert. All he can remember is his name, and that he had recently escaped from a prison based on an alien prison planet. The man has the clothes on his back, and an A.I controlled rifle, which is rapidly losing power. Lars' journey sees him travel down a narrow ravine, which results in him somehow ending up in modern day California. In a library, Lars discovers that he may actually just be a character from a sci-fi novel, and decides to track down the author of the novel in order to try and discover the truth of who he actually is.

For the first ten to fifteen minutes, this looked like it would just be a very cheaply made sci-fi B-movie. I thought to myself that Grammer must have fallen on hard times to have agreed to star in this. Whether that is the case or not, this turned out to be a more intelligent film than first impressions had suggested. It is relatively early on when Lars finds himself on Earth, but much longer before he realises this fact. It was somewhat amusing looking at Earth technology through an alien lens. Taking the form of such moments as Lars believing homes to be prison cells, and being mystified when he attempts to use a PC.
The sci-fi plot soon transitions into a more arthouse look at what it means to be alive and having freewill. This becomes more a visual essay, and while light on action, there are some interesting ideas to be discovered here, but it is a slow paced film.

The majority of the movie has Lars on his own. There are a handful of side characters, but just the one felt like they were really integral to the story playing out. This isn't something that takes itself super seriously - the talking gun for example is patently ridiculous, while Lars continuing confusion when dealing with modern day Earth is always exaggerated. His wanderings through desert and later California is a lonely and isolating trek, his journey constantly narrated by David Clennon, who starred in the 1987 sci-fi movie tangential prequel; The Trouble With Dick. All the philosophical musings on the nature of man made for an interesting subject, but the story suffered as a result. It increasingly felt more abstract, culminating in an open ended finale, resolving this somewhat, without too much really happening.

Less a film and more a study into the nature of humanity, Lars Shrike Walks the Night soon loses its sci-fi disguise. Grammer was great in his unexpected role, but the slow pace and more artsy feel meant that while the dialogue might have had merit, what actually happens wasn't quite as exciting. Lars Shrike Walks the Night came to VOD on July 24th.

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Luna Abyss (2026) - Sci-fi Horror Video Game Review (Xbox Series X)

I almost decided I wasn't going to review action game, Luna Abyss. A weird meld of sci-fi and horror taking place in an even weirder location. I haven't actually heard anyone talking about the game though, myself, I just stumbled across it on Xbox Game Pass. This meant I felt compelled to write a review in appreciation for the hours spent there. While flawed, this was still something that had something to it. My synopsis is based on what I believe was going on, shall try and keep spoilers to a minimum.

A couple of hundred years ago, a second moon suddenly appeared in the space around Earth. This moon was red, and upon being explored, was discovered to have a seemingly endless abyss going all the way down through it. The arrival of a second moon led to problems on Earth, with the red moon's gravity affecting the planet. With this disruption, some people decided to travel to the new moon and form a colony there; mining the abyss for the valuable resources contained within. Others were practitioners of a new religion who believed God was at the bottom of the abyss, and so travelled to the moon to be closer. Eventually, enough people went there that a city was formed. All was fine until one day a strange rot began to emerge from the depths of the abyss, anyone caught by this rot transformed into a mindless monster. After all had fled or been taken by this rot, the city was abandoned, and in present day, the moon is used purely as a penal colony. People born with red eyes on Earth are rounded up and sent away, as they are seen as being evil. It turns out these red eyes allow the humans to remotely pilot artificial constructs using their mind. This is put to effect in the abyss, were constructs are sent to scavenge for resources.
You play as Fawkes; a teenage girl imprisoned on the moon, she is told by an A.I construct; Aylin, that she has been chosen by an all powerful being named the 'All-Father' to use her red eye power to search the abyss for essential items.

The chaotic and sprawling world reminded me of Blame! The structures, while artificial looking, seem to spread on for infinity. Stone staircases, pipes, vents, and vast rooms make up the endless structure, so gargantuan that it doesn't seem possible that it was ever man-made. The signs of human settlements within the abyss gave some nice Bioshock vibes, that is reinforced with the many audio diaries scattered around the levels, buoyed up by lots of environmental storytelling. Outside of a handful of locations though, the meat of the game is abstract constructs devoid of life. With you travelling around the abyss, you never really get a good feel for the layout of it. Due to this, it never felt like too much of a 'lived-in' location, more like a collection of levels connected by pipe networks.

Luna Abyss is a first person adventure game that is a mix of shooting and platforming. There are also friendly characters you can interact with, though outside of hidden rooms, there are no side quests to be found. Over the course of the roughly 12 hour game, you get access to four sci-fi guns. These are essentially an assault rifle, shotgun, sniper, and rocket launcher disguised as something far fancier. Rather than ammo, the guns work on a cooldown timer and can overheat. In addition to using these to kill enemies (using a lovely Metroid Prime style lock-on ability), the guns can be used to assist with the platforming. The shotgun can be used to destroy blue forcefields, the sniper for purple ones, the rocket launcher can fire multiple rockets at the same time to hit switches. Enemies for the most part are made up of floating orbs of various types, and demonic humanoid creatures. There are a bunch of epic feeling boss battles against huge constructs, which is when a more 'bullet Hell' type of gameplay begins. As fun as the bosses were, they all take place in a formulaic way, with circular battle arenas for each one.

The meat of the game is platforming, the abyss is very vast in size, with Fawkes traversing this world with a combination of double jumps, boosts and the handy ability to take zero fall damage (you fall from some dizzying heights here). There was a steady stream of new abilities to help with the platforming, such as forming platforms out of ice, a grapple beam, and most fun - unlocking the ability to possess specific constructs to move around the levels. One of these has you on a train track, another allows you to magnetically stick to floating platforms, and one puts you inside of a heavily armed killbot. 

The look and feel of the game world is chunky, with environments feeling thick with substance. This allowed for a cohesive stitching together.
Voice work was a highlight, with many of the accents coming out of the weird constructs being regional British ones. Never was not strange to see a grotesque construct speaking with a soft northern accent! As a whole, I thought the voice acting was great.
There was a decent story here, with plenty of flashback cutscenes to try and explain vaguely what has been going on. Much of the story is revealed via audio diaries and notes however.

Excellent controls, quality voice acting, and a unique setting with an occasional U.K feel to it. I wish there had been more of a lean into Bioshock style human locations, as many of the levels here are more alien and remote in feel, while I found the lived-in areas to be a lot more interesting. Split between platforming and shooting, there wasn't too much variation throughout this, but it was good for what it was. Maybe missing something to really feel essential, Luna Abyss still worked at creating a compelling game world.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Round-up for June 2026

It isn't an exaggeration to say I have been taking a casual approach to my blog these past few months. Being back working full time in a day job has led to a struggle at finding a work/blog balance. With my health on the way to being rosy (a persistent back issue has plagued me these past few months) -  onwards to the news once again!

Deadlocked: Dad of the Dead is a horror-comedy from writer/director Casey Jackson, to stream exclusively on Screamify from July 1st. Taking place entirely in a public restroom (bringing to mind Stalled), this 84 minute movie has an accountant and his daughter trapped in the place, alongside a bunch of strangers, after a zombie outbreak occurs.

Alien Storm (not the classic Megadrive/Genesis video game)is debuting on July 21st, coming from Mahal Empire. The film is about a rich businessman who is forced to flee, along with his guests, into his high-tech secret bunker when a strange fog spreads over his estate. They soon find they are not alone, with an alien presence inside the compound. 

Autonomous is a vertically shot horror thriller series that takes place entirely inside a self-driving car. This sixteen episode show was designed specifically to be viewed on mobile. Directed by Kyle Valle and starring Erin Áine and Domenic Jungling, this sees a man trapped inside a self-driving car that refuses to change its route. Autonomous is available to stream now on Screamify.

The Mortuary Assistant is a new demonic possession film that is a Shudder Original. Based on the video game of the same name, this comes to Blu-ray, DVD, and digital on 20th July thanks to Acorn Media International. Directed by Jeremiah Kipp (Slapface), this follows Rebecca (Willa Holland - Arrow), a new mortician working the night shift, who discovers a demonic entity has latched onto her.

Sounding very interesting, I Hate Found Footage is a blend of found footage, horror, comedy, and puppets! It follows two roommates who head into the woods to make their own found footage movie. The horror doesn't come from the puppets (the protagonists are these), but still sounds like something unique. This comes from Michael Rock and will debut globally on July 24th, with FOUND TV+ members getting access one day early.

On 1st July, Slashercise premieres on BloodStream, the film being a homage both to slashers, and to workout videos of the 80s. Written and directed by Ama Lea (Deathcember), this is about a masked killer named Meathead, who targets the fitness clubs of Los Angeles. The ensemble cast includes Vanessa Decker (Terrifier 2), John Bloom (The Hills Have Eyes), Keli Maroney (Night of the Comet), Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp), and Lisa Wilcox (A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master).

Cleopatra Venom have announced the release of Portraits of the Apocalypse, coming to digital and DVD on 14th July. The film takes place in Buenos Aires after a mysterious infection spreads throughout the city, and tells four different stories, from the perspective of a journalist, a soldier, a mother, and a stranger. This award winning film was written and directed by Nicanor Loreti, Fabián Forte, and Luca Castello, and alleges to reimagine '...the zombie outbreak through a distinctly South American lens'.

Luke Sparke; the Australian director of Primitive War, has released a first-look teaser trailer of his next dinosaur film, with a working title of Dinosaurs of the Wild West. A Kickstarter to raise funds for this goes live on 7th July where a full trailer, project title and exclusive rewards will be unveiled.

Finally for this month's news instalment, the first look of slasher film - The Stutterer has been revealed. The press release states 'While structured as horror, the film does not glorify violence. It explores fear, shame, trauma, and the long-term emotional effects of being made to feel "less than." Even the killer's mask functions as a metaphor...' Currently attached to the project are Eric Roberts, Rhonda Shear, Lloyd Kaufman, Mel Heflin, Brinke Stevens, Markin Carvalho, and Kobi Frumer among others.

Dead Space: Catalyst (2012) by B.K Evenson - Sci-fi Horror Novel Review

Last year I was taken by a sudden urge. In this heightened fever I decided that I would work my way through all Dead Space media in chronological order. Over the years there has been novels, graphic novels, films, audio dramas, and of course the sci-fi horror video games that started it all. I enjoyed reading Dead Space: Martyr and so a second novel from the same author; B.K Evenson was something I was looking forward to reading. While this one didn't do anything as surprising, it was still a decent follow up.

Istvan and Jensi are two brothers who grow up in a slum area on planet Vinduaga. From a young age, Jensi had to look out for his brother due to his mental health issues that caused him to hear voices, and to sometimes lash out in psychotic anger. Circumstances lead to Jensi being adopted by a loving family, but Istvan decides to instead stay in the slum area of the domed settlement they lived in, and become homeless. Time passes and his deteriorating mental state, and new voices in his head, lead to him assassinating a politician. His punishment sees him removed to a penal colony for political prisoners at the far reaches of the known galaxy, which also happens to house a top secret research facility that has a replica of the 'marker'; based on the ancient marker that was discovered 80 years previously on Earth. It appears that the marker has been using its strange influence to set up the circumstances that would bring Istvan there, seeing him as the perfect vessel to spread its message.
Jensi meanwhile hasn't given up on his brother, years later eventually discovering where he has gone, Jensi joins a supply drop crew and sets out on a fateful rescue mission.

Martyr was entirely set on Earth, this sequel entirely set off Earth, The lengthy first part didn't grab my attention. Charting the early lives of the duel protagonists, this had nothing to do with the more interesting parts of the Dead Space universe. I admit I fell off the book completely early on, only returning back to it some months later. The book improved steadily from this opening section, with the introduction of the planet the penal colony is based at where it felt the story really started to come into its own. The core of the story explores the markers influence on its victims, from the Unitologist head of research at the top secret base; Dr. Briden, to the prisoners of the nearby facility, and the guards in their ship orbiting the planet. This I still found interesting and didn't mind (much like Martyr), the iconic necromorph monsters not appearing until the final part of the novel. When they do appear, it felt very much like the games; from people discovering you need to cut off their limbs, and needing to stamp on their corpses, to the inclusion of cutting tools, RIGs, and even the inclusion of a mini stasis field. This all felt suitably appropriate.

I guess for me, the story here didn't really feel important to the overall lore. The whole story is based on an obscure note found in Dead Space 3, which itself was extremely light on details. Having gotten the origin of Unitology in Martyr, there were no surprising revelations to be found in Catalyst. The novel did pick up from its slow beginning, and told an enjoyable and exciting story, even if it really was just a side story rather than an integral piece of fiction.

Dead Space: Catalyst was the last of the novels by Evenson, and indeed the last Dead Space novel to be written as of 2026. From here on in, the multimedia series this takes place in moves up to the time that the video games are set in. Here, there was plenty of gruesome violence and dark moments, and did feel like it belonged in the universe.

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The Hematophages: Splatterings (2026) by Stephen Kozeniewski - Horror Story Collection Review

The Hematophages: Splatterings is another collection of short stories from Stephen Kozeniewski (Yes, I am a Vampire). This one is a mini-collection comprised of four short stories over 120 pages. All of these are set within the author's Hematophages world. This is a sci-fi future where parasitic alien lamprey type creatures exist which have the ability to pilot the infected, able to take over their minds and essentially control them like cars. Like Kozeniewski's previous collection, each of these four stories includes a lengthy and entertaining forward and afterword shedding light on how he came up with the story ideas. The introduction to the collection states you don't need to have read The Hematophages to be able to enjoy this, and that turned out to be true.

It begins with 'The Blood-Red Lake' which as openers go is a horrific intro to the eel-type nightmare creatures. Set on an Earth in the past; a father and daughter learn all too late just why the lake near their remote home has turned blood red. There wasn't too much to this one, but was almost the most nightmarish. I liked that the afterword mentions classic sci-fi horror video game series - Dead Space, as I am a huge fan of those.
'Derelictus' is next and was the stand-out story. Firstly due it doing that ace framing thing of starting halfway through the story and then heading back to explain how events came to be. Secondly, because events transpired here in a way that reminded me of recurring nightmares I have of being unable to escape a terrible situation. In this one, a strange spaceship is discovered floating apparently abandoned. Someone is sent to investigate the wreck unaware of the pure Hell they are about to enter. I enjoyed the first person presentation of this tale.

At the halfway point and next is 'Blackfish' that tells the story of a woman locked in quarantine after a visit to an alien spacecraft. I liked the build-up to this, though the shock reveal didn't really resonate with me much. It was similar in tone to 'Derelictus' and while harrowing also, it wasn't quite as harrowing. It was interesting to read in the notes for this that it had been envisioned as a sci-fi take on the classic werewolf concept.
Finally is 'Gerstein', which was an original short written for the collection. This was a Gothic mad doctor story, albeit it, one set in space within a hollowed out asteroid. It shouldn't have worked, but strangely, it did. It features an unlikeable jobsworth who has travelled to a space station in order to repossess it for the company she works for. Instead, she discovers that maybe she shouldn't have been so flippant with agreeing to the terms of the quarantine orders the head scientist at the station made her sign before entering. I liked the idea of this hollowed out asteroid appearing like a Gothic castle, that was a neat touch.

With that, the brief collection was over. Despite not having read The Hematophages, I liked the short stories here, and once again found all the added details as to the inspiration for them extremely interesting. For those needing a small injection of sci-fi horror, look no further than The Hematophages: Splatterings, which released on 16th March.

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Thera Will See You Know (2025) - Short Sci-fi Horror Film Review

Back in the early days of my blog I was constantly getting emails telling me about the films featuring prolific actor and filmmaker - Kim Sønderholm (Little Big Boy: The Rise and Fall of Jimmy Duncan). It was a blast from the past then when I received an email talking about a new short sci-fi/horror film that he has directed called, Thera Will See You Now. This short felt very current with the advent of A.I, the themes covered here I have already seen in a more mundane way in real news, with our current very basic 'A.I'.

The intro text gives an alternate timeline of the past six years. Starting with the Covid pandemic, this timeline suggests the lockdowns lasted a lot longer and there became an epidemic of loneliness, leading to high suicide rates. A.I was used more for connections, leading to present day where a controversial A.I led emotional support network was created. The short takes the form of a series of these support sessions. Maya (Mie Gren), Jacob (Sønderholm), and Louise (Sara Amlund) have joined an A.I led support group to help them with the issues they are facing in their lives. Louise has been struggling to come to terms with the death of her son, Jacob has been having dark thoughts, while Maya has become increasingly reclusive after escaping from an abusive relationship. As the sessions go on, all three start to become more positive and accepting of their thoughts, but does the A.I really know what is in their best interests?

Watching The Job late last year, I thought the idea of a self help A.I was decent, but that one was lacking in the more darker moments. Thera Will See You Now has the same idea as that one, but with a more jaded outlook. The 12 minute short is presented as if it is playing out on a PC screen. Initially having the screen split into four quarters for the first session, subsequent ones begin to put the characters on full screen so you can better see the emotions in their faces as they speak. I had a decent idea where the story would go, and indeed it did lead to that conclusion. The illusion of watching events on a PC screen were good, and the special effects used to represent the A.I construct were not bad.

I wasn't blown away by Thera Will See You Now, but nor did it do anything badly. I enjoyed its story, one that felt timely judging from some of the more crazy A.I based news stories I have read about lately. The short can be streamed online for free here.

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Stranger Things: Season 5 (2025) - Horror TV Show Review

I will start as always with my obligatory statement about having been made redundant from my bill paying job just in time for Christmas. That is relevant as it coincided with the release of the fifth and final season of amazing horror TV show - Stranger Things. Due to the turmoil in my actual life, it was only on Christmas that I got around to watching this final season (binged watched the first 7 episodes over two days with my family), and with the way the show is being released, at the time of typing, the final episode has yet to be released. I believe it is coming out on New Years Eve. As much as I enjoyed season 4, I would be lying if I said there were not large parts of it I did have issue with. It sometimes felt in a bid to stuff as many characters in it as possible, some of those characters were given pretty abysmal storylines. On the flip side; it did have Eddie - one of the show's best overall characters.
Part of my hesitation for watching this final season was whether the ball would be dropped, whether all the characters growth and stories would come together for a blissful whole. Not having seen the final episode (at the time of typing this section), I can't yet answer that. What I can say is; there will be unavoidable spoilers for previous seasons.

The fourth season ended on a heck of a cliff-hanger; with Vecna's (Jamie Campbell Bower - Twilight) plan successful, the hellish Up-Side down tore open gateways into the sleepy town of Hawkins. The fifth picks up roughly two years later, with a lot of the damage covered up by the military. Hawkins has become quarantined, with no one allowed out of the town, and only certain people allowed in. The cover-up is that the 'natural phenomenon' that flooded the area with ash, could have infected the inhabitants with a new type of a possibly contagious disease. In actuality, the military have used the quarantine as an excuse to send in lots and lots of soldiers. They sealed up the majority of the dimensional tears with vast steel plates, leaving one entrance left which they guard with heavy security. Going even further, the army have set up a compound inside the Upside-Down where experiments have been going on, the soldiers all answering to ruthless military scientist Dr. Kay (Linda Hamilton - Terminator 2: Judgement Day).
The heroes of the show have spent the past two years searching the Up-Side Down for signs of Vecna, with Hopper (David Harbour) sneaking in whenever the army open up their guarded gateway, but they have began to get disillusioned with their lack of progress as there has been no sign of the monster. That is until their latest expedition, when it becomes clear Vecna has resurfaced from his hibernation. He is back, and with a new plan that involves kidnapping certain children who are all of an age that Will (Noah Schnapp) was when he was first taken.

It felt a little dialled back how everything is in Hawkins compared to the season 4 finale, but viewers are soon brought up to speed on what is happening, mostly via a radio broadcast that Robin (Maya Hawke) is doing in her new role as the town D.J. With the age of the child actors ever increasing, this time skip was needed, and it works. With the trouncing that Vecna had, it made sense he needed time to recuperate from his wounds. One of my complaints from season 4 was how the huge cast of characters only came together right in the final episode. This time around it gets things right, with the characters reuniting at several points during the season, as well as going off in their often humorous or exciting groups. The story obviously begins in 'Chapter One: The Crawl', then never lets up. Each episode follows on directly from the preceding one, so it feels like one uninterrupted highly action packed story going on, rather than skips in time. Before, some of the characters were dealt dirty, appearing in pathetic side stories that had little bearing on the main plot. Here, the characters are handled much more sensibly, every side story here is relevant to the overall plot, with no filler to be found.
Despite a large cast of characters, even more new ones are added here, with two in particular really standing out. Early on in 'Chapter Two: The Vanishing of Holly Weaver', the titular Holly (Nell Fisher - Evil Dead Rise) is captured by Vecna's monsters and ends up in a fantastical dreamworld creation. She was a great new character, and she gets a substantial role as she explores the dreamworld, giving revelations to Vecna's origin that was last seen hinted at in the stage play - Stranger Things: The First Shadow. Another great new character was 'Dipsh*t' Derek (Jake Connelly), a big boned child bully who in the best Stranger Things fashion (see Steve - Joe Keery), was made very likeable, despite his many personality flaws. Returning characters are on the whole as enjoyable as they ever where, for better or for worse. Nancy (Natalia Dyer) and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) are still my least favourite of the core cast, but at least this time around they are more relevant to the story (and the later finally redeemed himself in my eyes in the final episode). I thought the dynamics between Steve and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) was perfect here, and has some of the biggest feels, with Dustin still deep in mourning after the death of his idol Eddie last season. It felt like all characters here were treated well. Ones who had only ever had secondary roles are thrust right into the forefront of the plot, while new ones were given enough screen time to shine and make an impression.

There is plenty of action here right from the start. The iconic Demogorgons feature heavily in many of the these scenes, and the army act as a second enemy for the heroes to face, sometimes leading to thrilling three way battles where the different groups all end up in combat with one another. The soldiers are mostly presented as an enemy force, but I did feel a bit bad for the grunts who often act as cannon-fodder for the advancement of the story, with monsters and heroes alike blasting them away without a care in the world, when to me, the grunts just seemed like normal people trying to do the jobs they had been assigned. The special effects are on the whole amazing, with only certain scenes with large scale action scenes looking occasionally a little bit CG heavy.
Up to the final episode, you get psychic powers, gun battles, car chases, deep revelations as to the nature of the Up-Side Down, and surprising new insights into known characters, Will in particular really comes into his own, even if his core side-plot is dealing with his homosexuality, that to my (poor) memory had already been dealt with last season. The new friendship between him and equally gay Robin, was one pair-up that I didn't see coming, but which works fantastically well. Each episode manages to end on a big cliff-hanger that always brought me right back to find out what happens next. But what about that final episode, did it stick the landing, or did it Game of Thrones it smack bang into a wall? At the time of typing I do not know, it is just under a week until that final episode airs. This review will be continued in 2026, where I will write the last few paragraphs, to follow...here.

Having now seen that final two hour episode, I can say that for me it did stick the landing. Literally my only complaint was how long the epilogue section was; did we really need a 40 minute epilogue? I thought Bower's performance was astoundingly good in this finale. The show maintained its amazing pacing, making for me one of my favourite seasons, and ending on a loving note. I don't get the hate for this season, enough hate that the myth of a secret ninth episode that wraps up the story more satisfactory soon came to be believed. A near perfect end to a wonderful show, Stranger Things is a modern classic.

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System Shock (2023) - Sci-fi Horror Video Game Review (Playstation 5)

As much as I tried back in the day, I just could never get into PC gaming. I have long heard of System Shock, not only one of the first immersive sims to be created, back in 1994, not only was it the pre-cursor for Bioshock (which shares much of its DNA), but it's A.I antagonist SHODAN, regularly features highly in the top video game antagonists of all time lists. In 2023, a remake was finally released, rather than reimagine the game for a modern day audience, this remake instead remains very faithful to the original game. Due to that, while I loved my time with this, it also could be quite frustrating with the sometimes outdated mechanics it presents.

In 2072, in a dystopian cyberpunk future, a nameless hacker is caught while trying to steal the designs for a military-grade neural implant from the all powerful TriOptimum Corporation. They are taken to Citadel Station, owned by the corporation, and it is there that an executive offers the hacker a deal. The executive is Edward Diago, and he states that he wants the station's A.I; SHODAN to have its ethical constraints removed and control of it handed to Diago, likely for shady means. This is something that the hacker is able to easily do, and in exchange they are promised they will be given the neural implants they had originally tried to steal the plans for. Sometime later, the hacker awakens in the medical bay of the space station, having been fitted with the implants. It soon becomes clear something terrible has happened, the removal of SHODAN's constraints has made it fully self-aware, and also unfortunately, completely mad. The A.I has decided it is a God, and that humanity must worship it. It has reprogrammed all the robots aboard the station to be lethally hostile, and the crew have suffered fates worse than death in many cases. Those not killed immediately have either been transformed against their will into brainwashed cyborgs, or experimented on with mutagens that has mutated them into mindless monsters. Contacted by Rebecca Lansing (a counter-terrorism consultant), she promises the hacker that in exchange for their assistance in stopping SHODAN, they will be exonerated for their crimes.

The immersive sim label is a relatively new one, think games that take place within logically built worlds where most of the objects can be interacted with in some way. System Shock is a first person adventure game that sees the player working their way through the vast maze-like levels of the space station while thwarting SHODAN's many sinister plans for human domination. Despite being a remake, the game is presented faithfully to the original, the textures are old-school in look, though with a modern engine that gives the game world a wonderful look. It is also balls to the wall hard. At the onset of the game you are presented with four different difficulty sliders. I opted to have objectives, puzzles, and cyberspace on an easier mode, while I made the fateful and unchangeable decision to leave the combat on normal.
The game plays much like Bioshock, though an earlier version that isn't as smooth to play.
Each level of the space station is a huge meandering maze that is very easy to get lost in. To me, it felt like if Bioshock had been created with the sensibilities of original Doom in mind. The eight or so floors are all giant and took a long time to work through. Having expected an 8 or 9 hour experience, I was rocking around 20 hours by the time the end credits appeared. Each floor followed a familiar format for me, I would search out the medical bay (which would grant you resurrection should you die), and the charger for the energy weapons. While you have access to guns, ammo is never in too plentiful a supply, equalled with a limited sized inventory and you would need to be clever with item management, with not enough space to be able to carry all the different weapons you would find. Something that was impressive to me was the state of the game world. Enemies once killed stay dead and don't respawn. When new enemies do appear, they come into the world in a logical way, arriving on lifts from beneath the floor. Even cooler, if you do die and resurrect, any damage you have done to enemies remains, so piece by piece you can slowly take out the ever increasing amounts of robots, cyborgs, and mutants without feeling you are not making any progress. There is also a useful quick save function. For boss fights and later areas of the game the resurrection doesn't work. Thankfully, boss fights can be quite easy with the right assortment of power-ups and weapons. Even with objectives set to easy, it wasn't always clear exactly what you should be doing, so I had a lot of moments where I felt almost aimless in my travels, though this added to the feeling of exploration rather than frustrated.

I loved playing through this, but I would be lying if I didn't find it as frustrating as Hell at times. Even with virtually infinite lives and a static game world, I found the amount of enemies, and the lack of too much ammo and health to be a pain. I sometimes felt that it would have been more enjoyable if I had just stuck the combat onto easy also. The space station is vast and a little bland at times, but it is designed in a logical way that I so love with immersive sims. It is littered with audio diaries and the occasional written message, with the former fully voiced. SHODAN is a constant presence, her corrupted and distorted threats and over confidence made her be a memorable antagonist, I can see why people have placed her so high on those lists.
Splitting up the adventuring, there are also slight puzzles to solve, I'm glad I put these on easy as I could see them getting boring if much more complicated, even more different are the cyberspace sections. Typically used to open locked doorways, cyberspace places you in hallucinogenic flying stages where you blast computer programs that appear as shooter type flying enemies. I have heard complaints about these parts, but I found them a nice break from the endless adventuring in the game proper.

I am very glad I finally got to play System Shock and see some of the origins of the immersive sim. The game does feel dated even with its modern benefits applied to it, and it can be frustrating more often than not, but the feel of being trapped onboard a hostile space station was well realised, and the story, while basic, had a great and memorable antagonist. System Shock 2 is meant to be even better, and with that having had a modern remaster, it will be the next game I play.

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Doom: The Dark Ages (2025) - Horror Video Game Review (X-Box Series X)

Oh modern day Doom, what a tangled web you weave. Of course, the original two Doom games are masterpieces; games that hold up as well now as they did at the time. For the longest time I was really enamoured with Doom 3, I loved the more serious approach and I loved the lived-in locations. My first impressions for Doom 2016 were not great. I loved the level design, but I felt it was more game-like in how it was created. Doom Eternal took things even further - adding in plenty of platforming, and annoying combat encounters where you had to use the right weapon for the right enemy. On paper, Doom: The Dark Ages sounded amazing, a prequel to Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal that had a focus on close-quarters combat. Now having completed the game, it does some things stunningly well, but other elements are sub-par. It might be an early indication to my thoughts on the game, but I played this on and off since it came out earlier this year, as such, parts of the story are a bit fuzzy to me - apologies if I get anything wrong!

The soft-reboot of Doom, had the Doom Slayer being freed from the magical coffin he had been imprisoned within in Hell. This prequel doesn't exactly show how he came to be trapped, but it does take place within a war between the forces of Hell on one side, and the people of Argent D'Nur and the angelic-like beings - the Maykrs on the other. By the time the game begins, Doom Slayer has been turned into a weapon of war. Controlled by the Maykrs', Doom Slayer is beamed down from their space station to whichever battle he is needed to assist in. While he isn't happy about being controlled in such a way, all know that Doom Slayer likes nothing more than to fight the legions of Hell. The leader of these legions is Prince Ahzrak, whose war is fought with the key objective of getting a magical McGuffin known as the Heart of Argent that the Argent D'Nur people have.

Early word on this new game was pretty good. People raved about the medieval weapons. For me, I always had some slight misgivings, namely that I found the levels set in Argent D'Nur to be the very worst that Doom Eternal had to offer. I find the blend of medieval and sci-fi not to be my cup of tea, so was concerned a whole game taking place around this reality would not resonate. Sadly, I was right to be concerned, the 22 levels within The Dark Ages are split between Argent D'Nur and Hell. This was a problem for me who just wanted more levels set on Earth or Mars. The levels are huge to accommodate the larger amount of enemies in stages, several of them are even larger, taking the form of small open worlds where you are tasked with objectives that can be tackled in any order. I found the majority of the levels to be universally bland - large open arenas that were light on world-building details. The medieval sci-fi levels being made up of castles, the Hell levels coming across like 80's metal album covers brought to life.
The level design wasn't even the worst part, the emphasis on story here could have been good...if the story was at all engaging. To feature a humanoid looking antagonist as the leader of Hell was a bit lame. I thought Prince Ahzrak was an awful character, stereotypical bad-guy with a real empty story that does absolutely nothing interesting over its twenty or so hour runtime. I couldn't care less about the lengthy cutscenes, I didn't like the characters, or the plot, nor did it give me a desire to fight.

That is the bad stuff out the way, but what The Dark Ages does is to intermingle the bad so closely with the good that it makes the whole experience a bit 'meh'. Good things then; the soundtrack is as perfect as you would assume. If you liked all the heavy rock of the previous two games then you will be right at home here. The gameplay is even better, it is sublime, with Doom Slayer feeling like you are controlling a tank in human form. With the focus more on up close combat, your hero is armed with an amazing shield. You can zoom towards enemies to shield bash them from quite a distance, you can throw your shield like a Frisbee, and incidental details like the boom and rumble when Doom Slayer lands from a great height never got old. You have an assortment of weapons, but truth be told, now you can use any weapon for any enemy type, I pretty much just stuck to the plasma rifle for the whole game. Fighting hordes of demons was so much fun, their increased numbers balanced by a lot of the normal grunts being incredibly weak, able to be killed in a single shot.
To split up the action there are two different game types also included. In one, you ride on the back of a sci-fi dragon in stages that reminded me a bit of Sega's Panzer Dragoon. These were adequate, if a little simple and forgettable. The same can be said for the levels that see you pilot a giant mech-suit. These again are perfectly fine but nothing more, taking the form of a small scrolling beat em-up battle against equally huge demons.

As much as I genuinely loved the visceral meaty combat, the whole aesthetic of the game world and the boring story always brought things down. It is a shame that the two elements are so intertwined as it left me not really having any desire to ever return. I miss the days when it was just Earth vs Hell, not alternate dimensions and sci-fi aliens. Doom: The Dark Ages is currently playable on Game Pass.

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The Job (2025) - Short Sci-fi Film Review

It may not be a horror, but short sci-fi film The Job (directed and co-written by Craig Railsback (Down and Out in Vampire Hills) was still something I wanted to check out due to its intriguing premise and subject matter of A.I.

Arriving for a job interview, Todd (LeJon - Down and Out in Vampire Hills, Garden Party Massacre) finds the place deserted. Hearing a noise coming from behind a closed door, Todd's curiosity gets the better of him, he investigates and finds a strange large wire laying on the ground. He decides to plug it in to see what it was connected to and unknowingly awakens an A.I construct (Dawna Lee Heising - Ballet of Blood, Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance). This construct begins to interview Todd, with the man getting increasingly antagonistic with how much the A.I seems to know about him.

Over the course of around fifteen minutes, The Job takes the viewer on a journey that became more moving than its beginning might attest to. The interview process is really an excuse for Todd and the A.I to interact, with the job offer itself falling to the wayside. There is a darkness to Todd's past that he is forced to confront via the actions of the seemingly all knowing A.I. This is represented on screen via brief and scattershot flashback images. His reflections and revelations are married with music that makes things seem more poignant than otherwise may be felt. I did feel the flashbacks were a little too abstract, I got the gist, but wasn't sure of the time frame, especially with the appearance of a later prop. The set was devoid of much detail, but this worked in the short's favour. The A.I was represented as a figure on an apparent screen, I felt Heising was perfect for this role, looked and acted the part. I liked LeJon's character also, though the recurring cheesy music he keeps listening to didn't really do anything for me.

The Job was an interesting idea for a short, but the core plot kind of fell by the wayside a bit for something a bit more metaphysical. Obviously not a horror, but as always, I did wish for a little more darkness here.

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Asteroid Vixens (2025) - Comedy Sci-fi Film Review

Asteroid Vixens is a comedy sci-fi that according to IMDB was written and directed by Felicity Yeung (White Slaves of K-Town). It doesn't shy away from female nudity, with almost every scene in this 90 minute film having women scantily dressed, half naked, or indeed fully naked. Trying to piece this together is a loose plot that mainly succeeds due to some amusing dialogue between the film's two main characters.

Xex (Kate Ly Johnston - Feral Female) is a fembot, who alongside a floating robot A.I, has travelled to Earth in their spaceship to abduct beautiful women and impregnate them with embryos of hybrid humanoids. Their mission sees them fighting off would be adversaries, while travelling around the globe across time and space looking for suitable candidates.

This sexploitation indie B-movie revels in its purposely cheap looking sets and features no end of female nudity. Despite this there was a lot of variation with scenes set in many different locations. This was almost an anthology of sorts, lots and lots of different things going on, with the lead characters having a slight Mystery Science Theater 3000 feel to their scenes. These were the best parts of the movie, with the space ship represented externally as an obviously CG creation, and internally with a smallish room covered in foil. Computer screens and read-outs are obviously just bits of paper stuck to the walls rather than actual props, and the impregnation beam is a very bright and artificial looking CG effect. I loved the A.I, represented on screen by what appears to be an upside down plastic bowl suspended from the ceiling by a string, with foil strips hanging off of it. This was by far my favourite character, and the scenes on the ship were my favourite moments. Neither of the two characters speak out loud, with it being stated it is all via telepathic communication. Their conversations are almost nonsensical, with both characters going on about the things they are trying to do. They were all universally entertaining, with much of the comedy coming from their discussions. The A.I has a text to speech sound to it, making what they speak about all the more amusing. A special mention to the couple of interview scenes here also, they gave me a real feel of classic parody news show The Day Today with the reporters disinterested delivery.

Most of the film takes the form of different scenes of naked young women hanging around with each other. There are no sex scenes thankfully, but instead you get girls dancing, having baths or showers on their own or with others. There are occasional scenes inserted that have a more traditional film type feel. One of the core side plots being Bouvier (archive footage with her playing a film version of herself) trying to rescue her twin sister who is one of the 'millions' of people that the aliens have abducted. Other plot based scenes included one set in the ancient past that features the legendary Lloyd Kaufman as High Priest, and one set at a party whose male guests all appear unwanted by the girls there. The plot is barebones enough that there did become a moment where I began to wish there had been more to what was going on, with the final third of the film beginning to outstay its welcome ever so slightly. I would be lying if I said I didn't like the frequently trippy visuals, and I also appreciated how well this all was edited together into a cohesive whole, despite it featuring essentially random and unrelated scenes. Despite the very high amount of nudity, it managed to never feel tacky, something that sex scenes would have tipped it over into feeling like.

I liked the B-movie vibe with Asteroid Vixens, especially the parts set on the space ship, and it did feel like something that was different to the norm. I did wish for more of a connective story to all the nakedness (something that even happens in the end credits, with the end credits painted onto a naked dancing woman of course). Asteroid Vixens won't be for everyone, but I personally enjoyed the trippy and non-serious vibe, the integration of space ship and random scenes, and the humorously cheap looking set design.

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