Army of Darkness (1992) - Horror Film Review

It is damn criminal that I have still not reviewed the Evil Dead trilogy, especially as they are some of my favourite horror films. Army of Darkness is the last film in the trilogy and does expect you to have seen the previous films so there will be some spoilers.

After accidentally being sucked through a magical portal at the end of Evil Dead II Ash (Bruce Campbell) finds himself transported to the 13th Century. At first captured, he proves his worth by defeating a Deadite (with the use of his iconic chainsaw hand and boomstick) and is proclaimed to be the hero foretold in legends who would appear to defeat the evil plaguing the land. Ash reluctantly accepts his quest to banish the evil not to save the people, but he is told the Necronomicon (book of the dead) is the only object able to get him back home to the 21st Century.

Bruce Campbell always played Ash as an anti hero; a coward forced into a hero's role, but in this film he also becomes supremely arrogant, thinking himself vastly superior to the 13th Century people he refers to as 'primates'. His arrogance is his downfall many times throughout the film and leads to many comic moments. The Evil Dead was a horror with comedy elements, Evil Dead II went far more comedic but once again was still horror. The same can't be said of Army of Darkness, it has turned into an adventure film, dropping an age rating as well to be a 15. Ash is full of classic one liners (the origin of the classic line 'Hail to the King baby!') and also full of slapstick comedy.

Army of Darkness looks like it has a very small budget, the 13th Century represented by deserts and woodlands while the main location of the castle is very rough looking. Blood is in far less abundance and looks somehow even more fake than the corn syrup of the previous Evil Dead films. Being a 15 there is far less violence, gun shots do no physical damage, most the enemies being fought consist of skeletons done in a stop motion Jason and the Argonauts fashion.

It has to be said, which I am sure any Evil Dead fan knows is that there are two endings. The original ending was deemed too depressing for the American audience and so a happy ending was also made. Both are so different from each other that they are both worth watching. I have always watched both endings when ever I watch this film

As the end of a trilogy it is a fantastic change of pace, as a stand alone film it is not that great though, it has gone just a little (ok, a lot) too comedic, Ash in this incarnation being almost a parody of himself. Still Bruce Campbell is fantastic as both Ash and Evil Ash (the films main villain), Sam Raimi's direction is superb once more. Army of Darkness is a fun, dumb film and it knows it.

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Update 01/01/2021: While I have seen this plenty of times before this time it really clicked for me. It may have lost all the horror and the over the top violence of the previous entries but it really was quite funny. 

Hunted: The Demon's Forge - Fantasy Videogame Review (X-Box 360)

When this game first came out I was quite interested in it despite its average review scores. It has been described as a Gears of War style dark fantasy game, by that it means there is a lot of cover based shooting (though with crossbows, and bows rather than sci-fi weaponry).

Two mercenaries;  E'lara (a female Elf) and Caddoc (a gruff warrior) are investigating some ruins that Caddoc had been having dreams about. There they discover a mysterious stone and the woman from Caddoc's dream - a strange supernatural being called Seraphine. She tells them that the stone is called the Death Stone and has the power to make them stronger. She tells the duo that a nearby village where she lives has came under attack by monsters (goblin type creatures) and that her body has been kidnapped. With promises of her rich father being able to compensate them for rescuing her they set off.

I really enjoyed this game even if it is pretty much a one trick pony, I have to admit I finished the game months ago so my recollection might be a bit hazy. I tried to write a review at the time but was just not able to do so.  Hunted is a big game, at least 10 hours long I would say. It is split into around 6 to 8 large areas, each made up of many levels.  Initially you are in a town that is under attack by Lord of the Ring style goblins (the games main enemy type). You learn that the captured townsfolk had been taken to the large (very large!) mines under the city. I don't know why but I felt that the mines were the last area in the game so I was very surprised to discover I was not even half way into the game at this point.

Levels for the most part are quite linear, with multiple routes given the illusion of freedom. For the most part Hunted is a cover based shooter. In single player you can choose to be the warrior or Elf, but the Elf with her crossbow was just the obvious choice. It is fun in the same Gears of War way to slowly advance from cover to cover picking off enemies. I can imagine co-op (for which the game is designed) would be a lot of fun. If your partner gets downed you can revive them, and doors that require both of you to open act as check points.

As I mentioned enemies for the most part are goblins, but there are also minotaurs, skeletons and other fantasy monsters as well as a variety of boss battles that split up each area. The story is usual fantasy fare, done with a dark feel. The constant exchange of jokes and insults between the two protagonists is always entertaining and manages to provide a lot of backstory for the two likable people.

Throughout the game you can find new weapons and skills, and you get a RPG lite mechanic where you can upgrade your magic and skills. Expected turret sections appear, as well as survival based sections where you must hold out against waves of attacking enemies. There are plenty of optional side quests which really impressed due to the variety and scope of them. Side quests usually involved quite large areas with their own mood and mini stories. My favourite one involved going into a pitch dark tomb in which you had to use a torch to light your way.  The walls were made up of skeletons whose arms reached out to try and grab you.

As I did say earlier it has been a while since I played the game, but it was a lot of fun, nothing fantastic, but an enjoyable, violent fantasy romp which actually looks quite good save for the odd animation issue (your finishing moves with the bow often look terrible for instance).

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Notable Horror appearances in videogames: Quackshot (Megadrive)

Quackshot is a Disney platformer on the Megadrive, starring Donald Duck. It s kind of a pastiche of Indiana Jones films. The game has a slight RPG twinge to it in that you can choose what level you wish to visit and if you can progress no further in one level you can exit it and explore another.

The plot of the game is that Donald has found a treasure map to the secret treasure of King Garuzia. To find it he follows clues that take him to a variety of locations around the world. The first horror themed level you encounter is Transylvania. After negotiating swamps full of bats you come across Count Dracula's Castle. As a kid I was always disappointed this was a Disney Count Dracula and not the awesome Count Duckula  from the 80's cartoon. The Castle is full of ghosts and bats that appear out of portraits. It also features a variety of coffins that open up to reveal skeletons. It ends in a battle against Count Dracula himself.

The next horror level is set upon a Viking Ship that is over run with ghosts. After entering the ship you battle a giant skeleton viking. The last horror section comes at the end of the game once you have come across King Garuzia's treasure which happens to be buried with the remains of King Garuzia. He comes to life and attacks you with a magical sword, I guess he could be classed as a zombie?

                                                                 

Anyway, Quackshot still holds up today and is a joy to play.

Bluebones' Curse (2011) - Horror Videogame Review (X-Box Indie)

It has been a bit indie-centric around The Rotting Zombie HQ at the moment, really blasting through the demos. One game I had gotten, and actually brought the full version of was Bluebones' Curse.

Bluebones' Curse is an old school 2D platformer. While treasure hunting, Bluebeard came across three evil witches who transformed him into a skeleton. Hearing a rumour that a piece of Davy Jones treasure has the ability to grant wishes if found at midnight, Bluebones sets out to find it in order to get back his humanity.

The best indie games seem to be the shortest, coming in at just under seventeen minutes long this is some great retro platforming. Each level has you avoiding bats and spiders with doll faces while traversing black platforms and leaping over spikes.  It is quite an easy game but brought to mind some of the classic Super Mario platforming. Every few levels you got some voiced narration from Bluebones musing on if he will find the treasure in time. A very catchy pirate themed tune plays over each level. The gripes I had with it were that firstly it is a bit lacking in variety, only the one background, the two enemy types, and levels were quite short. Also be warned that occasionally a bug will cause your character to fall through solid platforms, but infinite lives cure what could have been an irritating flaw.

For 80 Microsoft points I have definitely played worse than Bluebones' Curse. On a side note the indie game DLC Quest features zombies (just so you know!).

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Breath of Death VII (2010) - Fantasy RPG Review (X-Box 360 Indie)

Breath of Death VII is a retro style old school RPG. It tries to capture the spirit of those games so you have random battles and simple graphics but the game also makes fun of those style of games at the same time.

The game is set on Earth after Armageddon destroyed the world. Out of the ruins rose monsters who have now got to the stage of fantasy civilisation. You play as a skeleton called Dem who teams up with Sara (a ghost) to investigate some ruins. There you discover a robot who had been programmed to retrieve some magic crystals. Deciding to find these crystals for yourselves you head off to quest, in the process recruiting two additional characters in the form of geeky vampire Lita, and a French zombie Prince called Erik.

This was one fun game, sometimes it is good just to put on some podcasts and go and grind for a while. It helps that each area you go to in the game has a set number of random encounters so what I would do is just hang by the save point and kill all the enemies in the area before being able to explore the maze like levels at my leisure. After every fight you get all your health back, and save points give your magic points back.

Though set in a human-less fantasy world there are nods to the civilisation that came before. Locations you visit are many times ruins, but they are ruins of modern cities so are full of roads, rusted cars, houses, lamp posts and traffic lights. A mournful tune plays during dungeons which give them a sad feel that is at odds with your cheerful and silly characters. There are many enemy types which include everything you would expect; zombies, goblins, ghosts but also more novel ones such as haunted cars, zombie cyborgs, and possessed chemical beakers. Boss fights appear quite a bit but the bosses just appear, they have no story reason, I guess this fits into the old style gameplay.

At around six hours long it is shorter than I would have liked of an RPG, but sensible seeing how it is a budget game (and I believe just 80 Microsoft Points) If you want a blast from the past and fancy some RPG in the vein of old school Breath of Death VII is for you.

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Torchlight - Fantasy RPG Videogame Review (X-Box Live Arcade)

I really need to get back into doing my blog updates, has been hard as of late. Torchlight is a dungeon crawler much like Diablo.  Proving popular on the PC this budget title was ported to the 360.

Choosing from 1 of 3 characters: Alchemist, Destroyer, and Vanquisher (or as they actually are; Mage, Barbarian, and Ranger). You start in the Village of Torchlight. The nearby mines were a rich source of Ember (a valuable mineral) lately the Ember has become corrupted leading to an infestation of monsters into the mine making it inhabitable. You are tasked with going down to the very bottom of the complex (all 35 floors) to find out the cause for the corruption.

Starting off in the mines you then travel to dank caves, mystic ruins, a prison complex surrounded by lava and more. Around every 5 levels you get a new location, and this helps to relieve the tedium. Most areas end with a boss battle against some type of big meanie. This is quite a simple hack and slash, enemies swarm you and you fight them with a variety of weapons types. There are hundreds of different weapons in the game ranging from axes and swords to staffs, guns and bows. My character was a Destroyer and I concentrated on 2 handed fighting. Each of the 3 classes has a variety of moves and skills they can learn as they level up, even at the games end there were still a lot of abilities I had not yet unlocked.

Joining you, and the most novel thing is your pet. Your pet follows you around, attacking enemies, but can also be sent off on its own to head back to Town and sell any items you have given it.  With the amount of loot dropped in the game this is a handy time saving diverse which means you don't really need to warp back to Torchlight unless you have finished a quest. Unfortunately the quests are very basic and boring with about 3 different side quests repeated repeatedly. You must find a rare item, or kill a rare enemy, and that is it for side quests. The main plot is really just an excuse for you to fight and was not interesting in the slightest.

As you fight downwards you encounter a rich variety of monsters to face. You come across zombies, lizard men, skeletons, dragons, goblins, bats and many other fantasy tropes. My favourite enemies were the pygmy warriors with their spears, they would often turn tail and run which was amusing. On the other hand the Cat people sorceresses were very annoying with their high level magic. Even towards the end there are constantly new enemies types appearing ensuring things are spiced up a bit.

The game is not particularly hard, I usually died as a result of not keeping an eye on my health, and the punishment for dying is really quite minimal. Can be a bit frustrating in later levels when you are constantly swamped by lots of enemies which sometimes resulted in some slow down.

As the first dungeon crawler I have ever played I had quite a fun time, the soundtrack is mournful, but also dramatic and fits the game well even if slightly at odds with the cartoony graphics. I did find myself getting quite bored at times with the repetitive action meaning I could only play it in short chunks. After the game is completed you unlock an infinite levelled dungeon so there is a heck of a lot to do. Not a bad game, will look at Torchlight 2 with interest when it is released later this year.

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Evil Quest - Fantasy Videogame Review (X-Box Live Indie)

Evil Quest is a low budget RPG from Chaosoft Games, I found it in the murky depths of the Xbox Live Indie Channel for the cheap cheap price of 80 Microsoft points (around £1). In a refreshing change you play as the games bad guy, with your goal to destroy the world rather than save it.

Galvis is the dark ruler of an evil army who has conquered nearly all the lands. During a key battle with the King's forces his lieutenant betrays him leading to him being captured. With his army destroyed and his armour and weapons taken away from him he is chucked into a cell to wait out the rest of his days. A young soldier looking to get revenge for his family's death at Galvis's hand results in him escaping from his cell. Fuelled by the legend of a God killing weapon known as the Chaos Axe Galvis sets out to find it so that he can destroy the world that he is so bitter and hateful at.

Evil Quest is a retro adventure game that takes place in a fantasy land full of monsters. As Galvis you can visit villages to buy items and learn about the locations of dungeons, typical stuff apart from the fact everyone knows you are evil. Frequently amusing dialogue will lead to Galvis just straight up murdering people. There is quite a bit of funny dialogue with his hatred of everyone.  As you progress you get better weapons and armour and level up by defeating enemies. It really is not a hard game but it is fun, and the twist of you being the bad guy is kinda cool.

There are a lot of boss battles against usually giant foes, such as a Salamander posing as a Volcano God, an ice giant, even an automaton appears as the Lightning Shrine boss. Levels are maze like, off route paths giving you chests full of items, money and better equipment. Evil Quest lasted around two and a half hours (around the same length as my Silent Hill: Downpour third go took) and was fun all throughout with only one frustrating moment (a particularly hard boss). Evil Quest is cheap enough that if your in to retro style RPGs there is no excuse not to get this!

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Indie videogames Roundup (Bloody Mary, Castle Miner Z, City Zombified, Claustrophobia, Distortion King) - Horror Videogame Reviews (X-Box Indie)

There are a lot of horror based videogames on the X-Box Indie channel, too many by far to review, especially the more bad ones that I don't even last the demo before quitting.  Here are some of the Horror games on offer that will not be getting their own reviews...

Bloody Mary

A Silver Dollar game (notoriously bad game makers) in which you must discover the Bloody Mary evidence on a mirror in which a bad actress faces.  You do this by randomly clicking in the hope a hidden blood stain will appear. Terrible.

Castle Miner Z

A Minecraft clone that has now been made redundant due to the appearance of Minecraft on the X-Box 360.  The Z in the title refers to zombies who appear frequently, as well as skeletons.  More action than Minecraft (you even start with a pistol) but frequent freezing render this game a chore to play even if it doesn't look too bad.

City Zombified

You control your avatar in this third person arena shooter. The (bland featureless) City of Serene has come under attack by zombies. Each level sees you shooting at odd acting zombies who home in on you and the survivor in each level. If you or the civilian die it's game over. Many of the zombies hide inside snowmen. Looks terrible, sounds terrible, been done to un-death a million times before.

Claustrophobia

Another over head twin stick shooter.  It looks good, and has an arcady vibe to it, but an awful slow rock soundtrack. You shoot bloody skeletons and zombies with a variety of weapons such as plasma rifles, missile launchers and rifles.  The game has some comedy in it's perk descriptions but even that can't save it from the fact that there are just too many games of this type cluttering up the Indie channel.

Distortion King

A music game, I was kinda pleased to discover that.  It has a handful of original rock tunes and plays ok. It is annoying that if you miss a note the whole song goes silent for a second or two, kinda off putting.  The background has a picture of zombies rocking out. Dusted off my guitar for this one!

So there you have it, a bunch more horror Indie games discussed, the games really are as bad as I make them sound.

BoneD: Dead Men Don't Jump (2010) - Horror Videogame Review (X-Box Indie)

BoneD: Dead Men Don't Jump is a cutesy platformer on the Indie channel of X-Box Live. Despite it's childish look there is some skill required, however minor that may be.

The game casts you as a suit wearing skeleton (BoneD, the D standing for Daddy?) You enter a series of vortex's, each one taking you to a different level in which a gigantic screen filling Grim Reaper chases you through a platform littered environment.

The levels are accessed from a main hub area. It is kinda confusing as some portals take you to levels while other identical looking portals just take you to different sections of the 2D hub world. The levels seem quite random, having unrelated backgrounds. One had a mist effect going on, while another level had images from the classic videogame Asteroids. BoneD can jump off walls to get to higher platforms, he can submerge himself in water before he is pushed back up to the surface. Enemies appear every now and again, ghosts seemed to be the main enemy type, defeat them by bouncing off their heads.

The levels are full of instant death spikes, when you die your body vanishes just leaving your skull to bounce off the screen. It is ok, competent just not particularly exciting. The music is quite good, a Latino sounding acoustic guitar track plays over most the levels. At 240 Microsoft points, BoneD: Dead Men Don't Jump is a bit expensive for it is quite a simple basic game of which there are a load of just as good cheaper alternatives.

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