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

I've been off my day job sick with a bad cold for the past few days (at time of typing), so thought I would make an early start on next week's blog posts. This is the second news round-up I've put up this month, due to forgetting to do one at the end of last month. With that out the way, onwards to the news.

First up, Contrition is a dramatic thriller that is out now on Digital platforms from BayView Entertainment. This takes the form of a time-loop film, with the protagonist trapped reliving the day his wife was murdered, trying vainly to find a way to prevent her death. I do enjoy time-loop films, this one was directed by Aaron Boltz, and stars Aaron Bennett, James Bond III, and Ashton Leigh.

Untouchables Entertainment have shown the first look of their upcoming horror film The Dark Domain: Mickey-vs-Winnie. It seemed as soon as old children's licences became public domain, everyone jumped on board to make identical sounding horrors about the iconic characters. Touted as the first 'public domain crossover film', this has Steamboat Willy era Mickey Mouse (Daniel Wilkinson as Dark Mickey) and Wiinie-the-Pooh (Gotay as Dark Winnie) battling each other, with the mouse described as 'Pennywise meets Freddy Krueger', and Winnie 'Jason Voorhees levels up into the Predator'. The plot sees a group of childhood friends returning to the woodland based reform school they once suffered at. Dark Mickey and Dark Winnie are monstrous entities that stem from the group's combined damaged psyche.

Blood Brothers: Life Harvest was one news story I was going to skip over until I noticed it is a zombie film. The film features two brothers who fight to protect their loved ones after a deadly virus sweeps the globe. Conflict emerges when one of the brothers is bitten by a zombie. This was co-directed by Brit and Diana Sellers, and stars Tommy Kramer, Rudy Ledbetter and Bobby Batson. This is out on Digital Platforms worldwide via VIPCO & BayView Entertainment.

Currently in pre-production, Mangled: The Shelbyville Torture Tapes has had its first official look revealed by Horror-Fix Films. The docudrama is  slated for a first quarter 2026 wrap, and is to be directed by Ash Hamilton. It is set out as a true crime docudrama that is a look '...into a series of grisly mutilations that terrorized the Midwest, exploring not only the crimes themselves but also the lingering conspiracy surrounding the man believed to be responsible'. The feature is to be made up of a documentary blended with recreations of the crimes.

Massacre at Femur Creek is an award winning horror comedy that was directed by Kyle Hytonen and stars Adam Lemieux, Eric De Santis, Conall Pendergast and August Kyss. The story sees a groom heading away on a bachelor party with his friends. The partying is interrupted by the arrival of a psychotic killer. This is out on Digital Platforms now via BayView Entertainment.

Vertigo Releasing had a bunch of films releasing in November. These include time-loop comedy One More Shot that sees Minnie (Emily Browning) trapped in an endlessly repeating New Year's Eve party in 1999. Good Boy was a movie that I had intended to see at the cinema, but life sadly got in the way. This has the unique spin of being a supernatural horror film that is apparently shown from the perspective of a dog. Dead of Winter is a thriller that stars Emma Thompson as a woman who has headed to remote land to scatter her dead husband's ashes. It is while there that she stumbles across an isolated cabin where two desperate people have kidnapped a young woman.

Finally for today, on December 2nd, Italian Giallo film - The House with Laughing Windows gets its North American 4K debut. The film sees a man arriving at a remote Italian town to help repair the town's damaged church fresco, with local legend saying the fresco was originally painted by an artist who tortured his models to capture the right look for the dark picture.

Drive Back (2024) - Horror Film Review

Despite its generic 'thriller' sounding title, Drive Back is actually a time loop horror film - a sub-genre of horror that I really love. Directed by Cody Ashford (in his directorial debut), and written by Jon Sarro, this tells an all too familiar story that the sub-genre seems destined to repeatedly tell forever, in some type of... loop. I am sure it is purely coincidence, but this felt extremely similar to Dane Elcar's 2022 time loop horror; Brightwood, albeit, a more enjoyable version of that film.

Olivia (Whit Kunschik - Caged) and her partner Reid (Zack Gold) have gotten lost out in the wooded backroads of America while driving back from their engagement party at Reid's parents house. Finding a remote gas station, the couple ask the eccentric old woman they discover there how to get back to where they need to be. She then reveals to them a secret short cut via a road passing through the middle of a thick wood that only the locals know about, and directs them on how to find it. Things begin to go odd as soon as they arrive on the short cut - time appears to be passing strangely, each of them begin to have memory lapses about things that have only just happened, and they encounter a very hostile hitchhiker. Then they begin to notice familiar landmarks they are certain they have passed before, and it is discovered they they appear trapped in some time of loop, no matter which way they drive, they come across the same stretch of road.

As I said in my prologue, there were many parts of Drive Back that felt very similar to ideas used in similar films. A bickering couple, a dangerous cloaked stranger, seeing past and future versions of yourselves; all are cool ideas, but none of them are original. There were some parts here that felt a little more fresh. It wasn't implemented well into the film, but I liked the concept of heading further into the future going one way down the road, and heading back into the past if heading the opposite direction. So, Reid and Olivia don't have the greatest chemistry together, something that is a key part of the drama going on between them. In addition to Olivia being pregnant, Reid is also still trying to come to terms with her having cheated on him in the past. More interesting was Reid's relationship with his survivalist father. This was important enough that the bleak prologue sequence shows an event that happened when Reid was a young boy on a hunting trip. Both protagonists were decent characters, the actors able to convey all the confusing story changes. Some of the highlight dialogue scenes were when the two were almost going insane due to the rapid fire memory alterations they were getting, the scene a dizzying quick edit to heighten the disorientation.

There is a decent effort to inject horror into this, characters frequently have really violent and gory nightmare sequences, and I have to say how much I liked the look of the blood here. When there is a call for blood, there is a heck of a lot of it. The location for the story was perfectly suited, designed to just be a part of the background. There are more characters to be found than just themselves, but the supporting cast are a mixed bunch of mostly mute antagonists who all look the same. Also, if you are after any sort of explanation for the loop-based terror going on, then you may be disappointed, but its typical of the sub-genre not to explain things.

After a promising start, Drive Back soon fell prey to the pitfalls of the genre. Focussed on just the two characters, it did feel a little samey at times, but it is when the two realise they are trapped in a loop that the film becomes more derivative. The hour and a half (or so) runtime felt exactly its length, with the middle part of the movie dragging somewhat. As for the end, not the worst way to finish a story, but also not the best way either. This is a decent example of this type of film, and I would recommend it over others I have seen in recent memory.

SCORE:

Returnal (2021) - Sci-fi Horror Video Game Review (Playstation 5)

Housemarque's Returnal is a stunning sci-fi game that had me enthralled from start to mid-point. I say mid-point as I have the shocking revelation that I didn't actually finish this game, nor did I even get near to the end. By my estimations, I made it roughly halfway into the game after about twenty six hours, before bouncing off of it due to the high difficulty. The time I spent with the game however was spell-binding, this really felt like a true 'next-gen' game. Due to not actually finishing this I won't be including a score at the end of this review.

You play as ASTRA Corporation pilot and explorer Selene Vassos. After learning of a strange signal coming from the off-limits planet of Atropos, Selene decides to disobey orders and investigate this signal. Her attempts to land don't go well, with her ship crash landing, wrecking the vessel in the process. With the only way to request rescue being tied up in the mission she had embarked on, she decides to push on, trekking through the ruins of a long dead alien civilisation in order to locate the strange signal dubbed 'White Shadow'. It isn't long before she discovers a terrible fact, should Selene die then she awakens back in her crashed ship, stuck in a perpetual time-loop. She also discovers that with each subsequent attempt to locate the signal that the planet is morphing and changing around her, so that each attempt has her traversing a different layout.

Returnal is a very hard rogue-like action adventure game that is a sublime joy to play. As Selene, you traverse biomes made up of a series of interlinked areas. There is a finite amount of these areas but they are always remixed in a different order, with different items and weapons appearing each time. Combat is zippy, with Selene's spacesuit having the ability to boost in any direction quickly. There are a variety of guns that are similar to current day weapons in part. There is a shotgun type weapon, a machinegun, pistol, rifle, and even a gun that shoots corrosive globs of green gloop. Enemies change with each biome visited. The starting biome - ruins in a rainy forest mostly features wolf type tentacled alien creatures, later areas feature different type of alien animals, as well as robots of both flying and ground based variety. Enemies often attack by shooting vast 'bullet-hell' waves of brightly coloured projectiles. Dotted around the levels are machines that you can use energy dropped by defeated enemies to buy upgrades such as increased weapon damage and health, as well as items such as a device that prevents gun turrets from activating.

The different biomes I encountered all looked amazing, with so much atmosphere to them. The starting area was beautiful, and the Playstation 5 controller does a fantastic job of representing the rain drops falling. The second area - a desert area was just as impressive, giving the illusion of a gigantic endless desert. I really loved how Selene's spacesuit gradually gets covered in the red sand. The third area I got to took place in a vast ruined city made up of giant buildings. Each run requires you to play through the entire game, the only concession being that once a boss is defeated (tough fights of the multi-stage variety) there is no need to re-fight it, and that you get the ability to fast travel if you so wish. For example, once you have gotten to the top of the mountain in the desert area you are subsequently able to use a warp gate at the base of the mountain to teleport straight up. The third area becomes accessible from the first after you collect a certain item that allows you to ascend to out of reach platforms. These shortcuts are good, but your abilities are brought to zero with each run, so it might save you time, but it might also be wise to go the long way around to build up your weapons and items.

This game has atmosphere in spades, you get a real feel for the isolation the character finds themselves in. I also loved how you keep finding audio diaries left from previous versions of Selene who had attempted to get to the signal, and how you slowly come to learn the alien language that allows you to translate the words on alien markers, which hint at what caused the long lost alien civilisation to fall. After each boss you also get access to a bizarre recreation of Selene's family home, which provides hints to Selene's backstory, and how things might not be exactly as they seem.
Should you tire of the search for the signal, you can also head to a seemingly endless tower. Made up of a randomised battle rooms, you fight your way ever upwards. This includes its own story and plenty of audio diaries.

I guess my biggest complaint with Returnal is how stingy the game is at letting you keep things you discover. There are a handful of key items that stick with her, but mostly each run you are starting completely fresh, with progress only really coming from not having to re-fight bosses, and the shortcuts you are able to take. I adored this game, but playing it on Playstation's version of GamePass, and with my strange randomised way of playing a set list of ten games at any one time, I felt it was time to move on, hoping to one day return. There may not be a score, but if I was forced to give one based on my time with the game I would shockingly, currently, give this a solid ten out of ten!

Triangle (2009) - Horror Film Review

I have wanted to see Triangle for over a decade now, and that desire couldn't have been too strong as I have owned it on DVD for much of that. This was written and directed by Christopher Smith (Severance, Creep) and I feel it was ahead of its time. At the moment the concept of a time loop is very much in vogue, back then, with the exception of a few outliers such as Groundhog Day, not so much. The biggest reason I wanted to see this was that my local cinema heavily advertised this in trailers for months leading up to its release, but subsequently didn't actually bother to end up showing it, so finally, today some thirteen years later, I have managed to finally give it a view.

A group of friends have arranged to go out on a yacht for a day trip. These friends include Downey (Henry Nixon) and his wife Sally (Rachael Carpani), Greg (Michael Dorman - Daybreakers), his friend Victor (Liam Hemsworth - The Avengers), as well as Jess (Melissa George - 30 Days of Night) who has been struggling with caring for her autistic son. They soon run into trouble when a bizarre storm appears out of nowhere, it ends up capsizing their yacht, but luckily they happen to get the attention of a passing ocean liner and are rescued. They are puzzled to find the boat appears to be deserted, and during their search for any sign of life they run into trouble with the appearance of a masked gunman who seems determined to kill them all.

Writing about this it is really hard to work out how much of a spoiler to give, I think I will stop with what I have already said, that this is a time loop film. Jess is the film's protagonist and it is her journey that we follow, making sense as she becomes the only character to realise they are trapped in a time loop and the only one to experience multiple loops. What was clever here was that this isn't a loop that exists on its own, instead the loop is happening in the exact same place, so if someone is killed in an earlier loop their corpse will still be there to see when time repeats. Much is made of this concept and I have to say I was impressed with how involved this was. It is rare I would recommend a rewatch of a movie but there is much here that would give an entirely new light on a subsequent watch. You have clues dotted throughout that are not obvious at all when they appear, only with later knowledge do events become a lot more obvious. There are even scenes that play out, and then later on these scenes are extended in both directions to create an entirely different feel. The power of editing is evident throughout Triangle.