We're All Going to the World's Fair (2021) - Horror Film Review

I can't quite recall where I first heard of the excellently named We're All Going to the World's Fair, but that title alone really piqued my interest. While browsing the Shudder library (a streaming service I have started using heavily only since cancelling my subscription - go figure), I came across the film and decided I had to give it a watch, even if it meant side lining one of the films I had planned to review this week.

Lonely and angst ridden teenager Casey (Anna Cobb in her feature length debut) has decided to make an online channel chronicling the after effects of having participated in the 'World's Fair' challenge. This appears to be some sort of urban legend that requests the participant to state their desire to go to the titular place three times, before putting their own blood on the computer screen and then watching a particular online video that is full of strobe effects. In the subsequent days and weeks that follow, Casey's videos get increasingly more bizarre and it isn't long before she is contacted by a mysterious man calling himself JLB (Michael J. Roberts - Demonic) who claims to be an expert on the 'World's Fair' phenomenon, and who offers to guide her through her strange experience. 

First things first, despite appearing on the surface to be a horror film, this really didn't feel like one. The events that happen to Casey never appear to be that conclusive, and in all honesty, barely anything horror like happens here. The most creepy moment comes from a video that Casey discovers which references her, but this turned out to be just sent by JLB to get her attention (not a twist, that's revealed almost immediately). Her videos while slightly odd at times, didn't seem to be much more than typical teen angst, about not knowing her place in the world, and not knowing who she is. The writer and director, Jane Schoenbrun, has stated this film was influenced by her own gender dysphoria, and Casey's assertions that she is slowly transforming into someone who feels like they are not in their real body is reflective of that feeling.

The film is a mix of both found footage and traditional filming, but even then this felt like found footage. Much of the movie takes the form not only of the videos that Casey is posting of herself, but also of random YouTube videos that she is shown watching on her laptop. When she isn't filming herself the feeling is still replicated in the way that the camera is often static and at a distance, as if of someone observing the character. To Casey, JLB is a mysterious online figure, someone whose face is never shown. As the viewer however, this man gets his own scenes that show him outside of the Skype calls he has with the teen. The story even falls onto him, with the epilogue in particular being purely from his perspective.
With just the two characters (not including the various people from the online videos), it was impressive how they held the movie together, especially with Cobb who really shined in the lead role. Her performance was believable enough that it reminded me of some of my thoughts during my awkward teen years, with feelings of feeling alienated from the world and not fitting in (I still feel like that, but that is because I am a massive introvert!). As for JLB, he, while much older, also felt like a misfit who didn't fit into the world. It's quite possible, with the lack of horror here, that Casey just matured a bit and decided she had outgrown making spooky videos, while JLB was never able to find a way to find his place.

As a coming of age found footage drama this worked well, I thought the soundtrack was great, and the general flow also worked well. As a horror, this didn't work half as well, even when it is trying to be its most creepiest I didn't think this was successful. From the title, which conjured up all sorts of horrors in my mind, I had hoped for something to frighten me, but this didn't achieve that in the slightest, so I left feeling disappointed. We're All Going to the World's Fair can currently be streamed on Shudder.

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Autumn: Exodus (2022) by David Moody - Zombie Horror Book Review

I stayed up until three in the morning (at the time of writing) finishing reading Autumn: Exodus, the ninth book in David Moody's sublime zombie Autumn series, and the final book in a most unexpected new trilogy. As I always say, Autumn is my favourite zombie series, and so Autumn: Dawn dropping in 2021 was a fantastic surprise. This was followed up at the start of 2022 with Autumn: Inferno, and this third book coming out in the same year. Unavoidable spoilers for the previous two books to follow.

Exodus picks up eighty six days after the majority of the worldwide human population suddenly died, with the survivors from Inferno having survived the devastating fire that destroyed much of central London, due to hiding out in the Tower of London. With no reason to stay in the doomed city, and with the hope of finding somewhere outside of the city that is safe and secure, the majority of the couple of hundred survivors decide to leave via boat. While some are content with anywhere that feels like it has a modicum of safety, others are determined to travel to the remote, near mythical self sustaining community of Ledsey Cross, a place where it seems the devastating viral outbreak didn't manage to reach. Wherever they go though, they must deal with the chaos that the vicious Piotr and his goons have left in their wake from their own cowardly abandonment of the core group in the previous novel.

As much as I did love Inferno I was impatient for the characters to leave London. I fully expected that the majority of Exodus would still take place in the city, perhaps not thinking too deeply about what the title word means. It was cool then to see that the group almost immediately leave the city behind, with the majority of the book acting as a road-trip style situation. This sees them bounced around from thrilling situation to thrilling situation, with many of the group jettisoned along the way. There is a culling of the characters all throughout the novel, with some dying, but much more of the group splintering off and choosing their own paths to follow. In previous Autumn novels there may have been some resolution to these characters who decided to leave, but here, with the focus so much on the journey to Ledsey Cross, once characters have left the group they are gone entirely, never really mentioned again. I get it would have interrupted the flow, and I get the focus should be on the group itself, but I did find myself wondering the fates of people left behind.

The defining moment of the Autumn series for me was in the very first book when the characters discover to their horror that the zombies behaviour is starting to change. Moody's undead were already different, not having any type of hunger for flesh or brains, but the change was something that always made these ghouls fascinating to me. The many gruesomely detailed descriptions of the crushed crowds of London dead are switched out here for more spread out and sporadic undead. Their behaviour delightfully does evolve yet again, leading to some exciting situations for the forced upon heroes. Piotr is the real antagonist force here, I enjoyed how he is made into something of a boogeyman, someone who is indirectly causing pain and suffering for the group even when he is nowhere near them. It was always inevitable there would be a reckoning with this character, and his group is the rare deviation where the story does move away from the protagonists, giving the bad guys several fun chapters of their own. The story wraps itself up in satisfying fashion, perhaps slightly abrupt, but with a sense of satisfaction for me. Moody has stated he intends for this to be the final Autumn book he will ever write, and short of a Misery type situation where a captured Moody is forced to write more books for my own amusement, I see this as great a place to end. Previously with the short story collection, Autumn: The Human Condition there has been some kind of final word on the undead's true motivations, but here, to my mind, it is the first time that the human survivors have also stumbled onto this fact.

I adore these books, there is just something about the depiction of the world that made it seem somehow more realistic to my mind. Perhaps it is the English setting, or perhaps it is the difference with how the zombies act, may even be the very grounded and normal characters, but these books just sing to me. Autumn: Exodus was both a great way to end the trilogy, as well as a damn fine Autumn book in its own right.

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The Quarry (2022) - Horror Video Game Review (Playstation 5)

The Quarry is the spiritual successor to 2015's Until Dawn, with both games featuring a very similar format, though featuring stand alone stories. It comes from Supermassive Games who in recent years have put out smaller games of a similar style, such as The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan and The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope. Knowing how unlikely I was to replay the game I waited until this was on sale at a reduced price. My initial impressions were high, but this felt a little too familiar, while the choice of horror movie monster was one of my personal least favourite types. 

Two teenagers, Max (Skyler Gisondo) and Laura (Siobhan Williams) are on their way to 'Hackett's Quarry', having volunteered to be camp counsellors at the summer camp that takes place there every year. After a car accident, they are warned by the local sheriff, Travis Hackett (a standout performance from Ted Raimi - Intruder, The Evil Dead) to spend the night at a local motel rather than head to the quarry. Distrustful of the creepy officer, the two decide to press on, this turning out to be a bad idea as Max is attacked by some sort of creature once arriving at the quarry, while Laura is shot by the sheriff who appears there soon afterwards.
Two months later and it is the last day of summer camp. With the children all having gone home, the counsellors are preparing to leave, but one of them, Jacob (Zach Tinker), wanting one last night of fun, with the hopes of winning back Emma (Halston Sage) whom he had a summer fling with, sabotages their van. The camp owner, Chris Hackett (David Arquette - Scream) warns the teens to spend the night in the lodge, and that he will be back in the morning to help them leave. Of course, as soon as Chris leaves, the teens head out, determined to party, not realising that there is something deadly lurking in the woods...

The game takes place over ten chapters and takes the form of a third person adventure game. This isn't a game of action, instead it plays out almost like an interactive movie. Over the course of the game you take control of each of the nine counsellors at various points, and by your actions they either make it to the end of the game, or die along the way. In my playthrough I managed to have two of the nine characters die, the death of one seeming to negatively affect other characters storylines, more on that later. Outside of choosing dialogue options, there are exploration moments where you get to walk around relatively linear locations, it is here where you can find clues to reveal more of the backstory going on, as well as find hidden tarot cards which come into play in the sections in-between chapters. Even when cutscenes are occuring you have to pay attention, as there are quick time event moments which can affect the fate of characters. Someone running through the woods for instance can trip over a tree root should you not do the QTE in time. I have to say, I found these moments a Hell of a lot easier than in previous Supermassive Games, I only failed once over the course of the eight and a half hours, and that was only due to me not paying attention, not that it was a hard one to do. Cheekily you don't always want to succeed at these, as being successful can sometimes lead to negative outcomes, such as a button mashing moment where you are trying to wrestle a rifle away from someone.

In between chapters you are taken to a place outside of the game world, it is here you interact with the fortune teller (Grace Zabriskie - The Grudge), this character provides cryptic clues as to what is going on, as well as provides you with the choice to see future events based on the various tarot cards you have collected. All the actors used in the game appear to have been motion captured, and much like the other games of this type, all characters in the game heavily resemble the real life actors playing them. The graphics are impressive, especially with regards to the faces, at some points, if I squinted my eyes a bit, you could mistake the ingame characters for actual people. There were a fair few actors I recognised, including Lance Henriksen (Aliens) and Lin Shaye (Insidious), though those later two were almost in blink and you miss it roles.
Now for the moments I didn't enjoy as much, namely the type of antagonist the teens were up against. A spoiler for Until Dawn, but the enemy there were wendigos (I believe), and rather than do something different here, without getting into large spoilers, this time around it is another pack of monstrous creatures you are trying to survive against. It felt like a missed trick, and began to feel like the only substantial difference was the location change from a snowy mountain to a forest. I wish there had been a more interesting enemy as the one chosen is by far my least favourite movie monster. Another issue, which may sound bizarre is the lack of nudity. I'm not complaining that there should have been more for perverse reasons, it's just there is a very good reason for why characters may find themselves with no clothes, yet bizarrely all the characters who end up in this situation are always still wearing underwear, despite even announcing that they are naked. When you are specifically shown a character's clothes all ripping off only for them to later on be shown still wearing underwear made zero sense and became quite distracting. I understand that the actors lending their likeness to the characters would not want to be shown nude, but I felt there could have been a better way around this, such as camera angles which left stuff off camera, or even a blurring effect. I'm not talking nudity for nudity's sake, there is a clear cut (and non-sexual) reason why characters might have found themselves without clothing.

Now I don't know if it was down to some bad choices, but out of the nine characters here there were at least a couple who barely had anything to do in the game. I fear that one of the characters who did die during my playthrough may have brought more story beats to those others, as without naming them, I can think of at least two characters that just seemed to be bumbling around the woods all night without anything horror like really happening to them. A common complaint with these types of games is the ending, this one seemed to end rather abruptly with the only resolution taking the form of basic text epilogues for each character (living or dead), and then the meat of the ending taking the form of a podcast that plays out over the end credits. I would have liked to see the survivors coming together and showing some type of regret over those who didn't make it.

I enjoyed my time with The Quarry, it looked fantastic, and the acting was all to a high standard. Personally, I really wished they had gone with a different type of story. Having the heroes up against a group of monsters felt too similar to Until Dawn, while in general this seemed a lot easier to succeed at the button prompts, which themselves few and far between. Much like Supermassive Games' other games, I don't think this is something I could see myself returning to for a long time.

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Night of the B*stard (2022) - Horror Film Review

Have I become more jaded in my older age? It was only last month that I gave the mostly dull cult horror The Long Night a six out of ten, and now, with Eric Boccio's similar cult horror Night of the B*stard (director of Brutal Reality, Inc, Night Terrorizer) I have planned to give it an even lower score, despite probably finding it that little bit more entertaining. I did have issues with this one though, which I shall go into more detail about later.

In the seventies a man and his heavily pregnant wife find themselves captured by a crazed devil worshipping cult, with both killed, but not before the cult leader cuts out the baby from the woman to take as her own. Forty years later and oddball recluse Reed (London May - Verotika - segment 'Change of Face', The Dark Knight Rises) has just chased a trio of partying young adults off his remote land out in the desert. This trio, who includes among them Kiera (Mya Hudson) soon stumble across an eclectic collection of cultists (led by Claire - Hannah Pierce) who promptly attack her and her friends. Kiera, sole survivor and heavily injured, but alive, flees back to Reed's property hoping the hermit can assist her, but is dismayed to discover he lives off grid and so can't call for help. Soon the two find Reed's home under siege by the cultists, who are determined to capture them both.

My biggest problem with this movie was both the poor script and the bizarre direction the actors seemed to have received. Firstly, the script is mostly bad, with characters having some really silly unnatural lines. This was compounded by the direction the actors were told to go with. Maybe scenes were filmed out of order, but the two protagonists seemed to be wildly different emotionally throughout. One scene you have Reed calmly showing Kiera his beloved pet terrapin, to which she reacts with pleasure at seeing, then the very next scene seemingly following immediately afterwards has Kiera screaming and crying saying that they are both going to die. Both characters flip-flop between camaraderie, anger, sadness and determination apparently on a whim. It made it hard to really get a grasp on the type of people they were meant to be when their emotions are all over the place. One moment they will be working together well as a team, next shot they will be bickering with each other, nothing remained static and it made for an off-kilter feel in a bad way.

In theory the bad guys were a lot better, the arrogant Claire was one of the highlights of the movie, her cohorts a little more strange. For a cult they didn't have a unified look, sure during their magical rituals they are all robed, but outside of that they are a varied bunch. You have a guy who looks like an eighties punk, a long haired perpetually grinning Texas Chainsaw Massacre style hick, a muscle man, an old hag and a constantly self-pleasuring simpleton.

With the cultists not using guns the action was mostly more close combat. The protagonists find various plot devices for them to try to sneak out of the house, whether to retrieve a gun from Reed's shed, or for Kiera to try and make a run for her car. These moments always felt believable enough, and resulted in a few decent enough looking fight scenes. The gun does get used at times and leads to some fun looking effects. There is plenty of blood and a decent enough body count,and the story, while not anything amazing, managed to survive mainly with the hook of knowing that the present day section was somehow related to the prologue scene set forty years earlier. That was answered in a late plot twist which wasn't that revolutionary, but slightly different to what I figured it would be.

Night of the B*stard always felt it couldn't quite settle on a particular tone, with moments of comedy not fitting in well with the more horror based parts. Ignore the weird mood swings of the protagonists, and the somewhat unimaginative script and there is enjoyment to be found here. Night of the B*stard is due for release on May 15th from High Fliers Films.

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Heck (2020) - Short Horror Film Review

I had conflicting opinions about Kyle Edward Ball's debut feature length experimental horror Skinamarink. While I thought it was excellently made, I also thought it was a very dull movie. When writing my review I discovered that the film was actually heavily inspired by an earlier short film, the near half hour Heck. With the long run time being on of my issues with the longer movie, I figured that maybe this shorter one would be more enjoyable.

Following pretty much the same plot outline as the full length movie, Heck sees a young child (Jeffty Ellison) wake up in the middle of the night to discover his mother (Courtney McNeilly) has vanished. He also quickly discovers that not only do none of the lights in the house work anymore, but that he is trapped inside, unable to open the front door, or indeed even contact the outside world in any way. As the days spiral past, it starts to appear that there may well be no end to his situation.

It's near impossible to review this movie without drawing comparisons with Skinamarink, as rather than feel like individual films, it feels like Heck is basically the template which was drawn upon to create the later. This one may be shorter, but it is also a lot more basic and rougher in design than what was to come. The child here appears to be older as there is a lot more dialogue from him, specifically referencing his thoughts more than the near silent child of the other one. The plot is basically the same, though here there is no hint towards a malevolent entity, instead the child character appears to be completely and utterly alone in the perpetually dark house.

The format is similar, with many ideas that are copied over wholesale. The TV showing old and slightly creepy looking public domain cartoons is in full effect here, making up the soundtrack for much of the run time. The film has a distorted sound to much of the dialogue, with the child's voice always showing up as subtitles on the screen, and a heavy sound of static over every shot. Where the full length film's camera work is mostly focussed on static shots, with the occasional first person viewpoint, here, the opposite is true, with the view mostly from the first person perspective of the torch carrying child. I don't know what I would have thought if I had watched this first, but to me now it felt like a proof of concept video, a rough taste of the far more polished film that was to come later down the line.

While I had my issues with Skinamarink I couldn't deny how excellently created it was. Heck is noticeably less well polished, which is to be expected. The plot here seemed a more well explained, which actually works against it at times, the title cards that kept popping up to show the passage of time for instance felt a bit goofy, and the story didn't ask too much of the viewer. Basically the exact opposite problem I had before. As much as Skinamarink bored me, it really made me think lots about it for a long time afterwards, and its atmosphere was excellent. The rougher, smaller brother Heck I don't think is going to leave as much of an impression, but at the least it is interesting to see where the genesis for that film came from. Heck can currently be viewed on YouTube.

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Skinamarink (2022) - Horror Film Review

Not being a night owl, I watch nearly all the films I review during day time, usually first thing in the morning after waking up. Realising that this isn't really doing horror films justice I decided to make an effort to at least watch one a week during the optimal time where it would be most effective. I had heard great things about Kyle Edward Ball's experimental horror Skinamarink, it has literally been described as 'the scariest film ever made', and so I thought that would be a great movie to watch in the dead of night. I admit I was even nervous about starting it. Sadly then, while I really do appreciate how different it was, and what it was going for, I really struggled to keep my eyes open over the course of the very long feeling hundred minute run time. Also, the synopsis which is to follow is based on a synopsis I read online after having seen the film, I didn't pick most of this up while actually watching the movie.

Set in 1995, four year old Kevin (Lucas Paul) and his six year old sister Kaylee (Dali Rose Tetreault) wake up in the middle of the night to discover their father (Ross Paul) is nowhere to be found. Even more alarming is the fact that all the doors and windows to the outside world have vanished. They decide to head downstairs and shelter together in front of the TV, putting on cartoons with the hope it will make the darkness less scary. It appears that there is something evil in the house with them, something that mimics the voices of their parents, and which has the ability to alter reality...

I'm giving this film a low score, and that isn't down to me not appreciating this. I had a very boring time with this, with me constantly yawning, and constantly bringing up the menu to see how much of the film was left to go. My biggest complaint is something that really sets this apart on its own, namely that the film takes place almost exclusively off camera. Instead the film focuses on walls, ceilings, close-up of carpets, while events play out unseen. The most you ever get is the sight of legs walking past the camera, and I think there are two moments where Kevin actually appears on screen in full, albeit with his back to the camera. This made for an extremely dull movie to watch, especially late at night when I was already tired.
This wouldn't have been so bad if I was able to piece the story together, but I simply didn't. I admit that until I read the synopsis afterwards I didn't even realise there were two children, I mean, at the start there are two, but I assumed one of them was an imaginary friend or something as they just vanished from the film at some early point. I read that there was less than five hundred words of dialogue in the film, with the majority of that being from public domain cartoons which essentially make up the soundtrack. There are long scenes where the camera is half on the TV in close-up, showing the admittedly creepy looking very old cartoons. Starring a four year old it makes sense there wouldn't be much dialogue, and I thought it was really novel to have a horror film where virtually the only character is a toddler. The fact that he is rarely actually glimpsed, and some confusing voice work, led to me not really caring too much about him. There was a scene for instance where he is saying he has hurt himself, but he says it in such a normal way that I assumed he was pretending he had done when I don't think that was meant to be the case. Other parts worked out better though, such as his innocence when Kevin is talking to the entity.

The film is extremely grainy, almost with a feel of it having been simulated to look like it was filmed on a Super-8 camera. I thought this post production grainy look was fantastic, and probably Skinamarink's most successful part, could even be possibly a new evolution within the found footage horror genre. It made so many scenes feel like there was more to them, with me straining my eyes trying to work out if stuff was happening in the pitch black backgrounds, or if my imagination was creating things that were not actually there. There was a sense of realism to this, but that was taken away a bit by the moments when doors and objects disappear, possibly meant to be alarming, but they just come across as amusing. Sound design was another issue, and one whose implementation was purposeful. Much of the dialogue and sound here is muffled, making lines hard to understand. Occasionally there are subtitles used to show what is actually being said, but there seemed mainly to appear when the audio was audible, there were a few times where I just couldn't make out what was being said. The horror is constant, but due to the camera angles chosen a lot of it was missed. You get objects moving around on their own, and objects stuck to the ceiling and you possibly see the entity a few times in the dark, but mostly it is more an atmosphere of dread that it is going for. There are at least a few first person perspective shots mixed in to this hellish dreamscape.

This has been lauded for making the fears of the dark for a child effectively be recreated for an adult audience. It is effective, yet for me it was a one trick pony. I spent the movie hoping that the weird camera angles would eventually lead into something where I could actually see what was going on, even if just for the end at least. As it was, the film ended and I literally had no idea what the plot had actually been, reading about it afterwards it did sound like it could have been scary if that plot had been better presented to the viewer. I however missed a good two thirds of the story, and so potentially chilling story beats were completely lost on me. I am very glad I decided to give this a shot, I think this may even be a work of art, yet for me personally I just didn't think it was that interesting a movie outside of its extremely well implemented idea. Skinamarink can currently be streamed on Shudder.

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Ripper's Revenge (2022) - Horror Film Review

From the title alone I gathered Ripper's Revenge was a horror film that would be written and directed by Steve Lawson (Jekyll and Hyde, Pentagram). The film itself bears all the hallmarks he is known for, dimly lit interiors, sparse exterior shots, and a grubby portrayal of Victorian London. It turns out that this is actually a sequel to 2021's Ripper Untold, something good that the film has going for it.

It is a year on since the killings of Jack the Ripper and reporter Stubb (Chris Bell - The Mummy: Resurrection, Ripper Untold) has fallen on hard times. That is until he discovers a letter left in his bag that purports to be from the infamous killer, bragging of a new kill. Stubb is dubious, afterall, he was the one who fabricated the letters previously in order to sell papers, but after checking out the details he finds to his surprise that what was said is true. While he wants to publish the story, knowing it will get him the money he so desperately needs, he also has a struggle of conscience, wondering if the publicity the story would bring would inspire the killer to increase their body count.

As a sequel this was quite wonderful. Stubb was a minor character in Ripper Untold, and so moving him to the protagonist role was an inspired move. It helps that Bell is the actor in this role, as he was just about the only good thing in The Mummy: Resurrection, and here, playing a more relatable character, he shines. The fact that I didn't realise this was a sequel until right at the end shows that this worked as a stand alone film. To be fair, Lawson uses seemingly the same sets and definitely the same pool of actors from film to film and so seeing so many familiar looking people and places here didn't really set off any alarm bells. Familiar faces included Marcus Langford (The Mummy: Resurrection, Hellriser) reprising his role as apparently the only constable in London, Carl Wharton (The Mummy: Resurrection) as Wingate, the officer in charge of the investigation, and Rafe Bird (The Mummy: Resurrection) as the newspaper artist. With just the ten characters, a bunch of which barely feature, and you have another low budget Victorian horror that is as interchangeable as all the rest.

The story here was good for a lot of the ninety minute run time, with Stubb's fear for his prostitute girlfriend Iris (Rachel Warren), and his fear at being personally contacted by the notorious ripper making for some entertaining moments. With things appearing to be wrapped up by the hour mark it was sad to see the last act devolve into the typical histrionics that these films often feel the need to include. The last half hour was plot twist after plot twist, each more ridiculous than the last, leading to a film that just kind of ends without any satisfying resolution. There is a small body count, with a bunch of these kills not shown on screen, but then the focus is always on Stubb himself who despite what the authorities want to believe, isn't actually present during the murders. The soundtrack did a good job of creating the right sort of feel, nothing spectacular, but it fitted the scenes well.

Despite feeling extremely familiar to other film's of Lawsons, at least this time around there is a valid reason, what with it being a sequel and all. I admit I did enjoy this one, mainly thanks once again to the surprisingly good performance from Bell. Ripper's Revenge is due for release on April 4th from High Fliers Films.

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A Woman Kills (1968) - Horror Film Review

Jean-Denis Bonan's A Woman Kills (original title La femme bourreau) was a French crime thriller that spent forty five years in limbo. Originally created in May 1968, during a period of civil unrest, the film never saw a proper release due to controversy. Now, fifty five years later the black and white film is due to have a limited edition Blu-ray release in a brand new HD restoration. Very experimental in style, this was certainly a strange film, which thankfully benefitted by a pretty decent final act.

Set in Paris, this takes place soon after a woman, Héléne Picard, had been executed for a series of prostitute murders that had shocked the populace. It was hoped that would be the end to it, but the authorities are disturbed to discover that the crimes are still continuing despite them having been convinced of Picard's guilt. The executioner, Louis Guilbeau (Claude Merlin) begins a relationship with the investigating officer, Solange (Solange Pradel), who begins to suspect there is more to the man than there initially appeared to be.

Very experimental, very arthouse in style, something that can be picked up from the soundtrack alone, which is made up of lots of discordant jazz music. The film follows a bizarre format, with a stern and serious narrator (Bernard Letrou) talking over the events like it was a procedural crime documentary. Characters get introduced by him, giving lots of needless details such as birthplace and height, which creates a cold impassionate feel, This happens during the murder scenes, and even during the chase scenes, where the narrator instead begins to describe the internal thought processes of the characters.
The few natural feeling scenes occur mainly between Solange and the very creepy Louis, but even these feel like snapshots in time, such as multiple shots of Solange laying scantily dressed on a bed while smiling at someone off camera. Of course, being an experimental French film there is nudity, but tastefully done at the least.

Without going into spoilers too much, it was obvious where this was heading. That may well have been the point however as the twist occurs roughly halfway into the seventy minute movie and hardly came out of nowhere. This leads into a much more enjoyable second half, with Merlin getting some great scenes. The majority of the final act is one long chase sequence down squalid side alleys, and across crumbling rooftops, leading to a final showdown. There is a body count, but most of the kills are only partially shown, but this was effective enough. I will say I did find the first half very slow, and some of the music choices were dreadful. There are a series of songs sang throughout that just had the absolute worst lyrics. Maybe they just didn't translate well, but they ruined all the scenes they popped up in, one example had some guy singing about how large people are unable to row in small boats due to them sinking them, so weird in a bad way.

A Woman Kills was a curio from the past that did have some interesting moments, especially the second half where thankfully things began to get more exciting. I did struggle a bit with the first half, the experimental nature of how this was paced not making for the most exciting of times. Still, it's good this lost French thriller has finally been able to get seen by those who would want to see it, and with the Blu-ray release on February 7th thanks to Radiance Films, it is the best way to see it.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Monday 6th February 2023

I'm front loading a lot of my posts this week as next weekend is my birthday weekend where I don't intend to be doing anything blog related. Starting with some good old VR horror.
As far as I'm concerned, horror is the very best thing you can be doing when wearing a VR headset, I've had some scary experiences such as Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul and so I'm always happy to champion those types of experiences. United Games' Fractured Sanity is coming soon to Steam and Oculus App Lab, the press release describes it as a 'heart-wrenching VR survival horror experience'. It at least has a good choice of location, taking place as it does in an asylum with a shady history. All mechanics and puzzles are 'realistic and interactive', with the story revolving around you trying to find out the hidden truth around the asylum, and how you got to be there.

A Night of the Undead is out now on Blu-ray from VIPCO and Bayview Entertainment, from directors Jake C. Young and Kenny Scott Guffey. The synopsis states there was a zombie outbreak in 1968 but was later dismissed as a hoax. Now in modern day, a group of podcasters have headed to the farmhouse where it was said to have occured, on the anniversary of the apparent outbreak, where things most likely become far more real than they ever expected.

Finally, some brief stats from JustWatch UK's top 10 lists for January. Unsurprisingly, considering all the great press, the TV show adaptation of zombie video game The Last of Us is in the number one spot. I really need to get around to watching that! (update, have seen the first episode, wasn't bad). In the top 10 film charts, number one sees The Menu, apparently a black comedy horror, I can't say I have ever heard of it. Parallel universe movie Everything Everywhere All At Once is at number two, and Jordan Peele's sci-fi horror Nope is in tenth place.

Brain Freeze (2021) - Comedy Zombie Horror Film Review

Seeing there was a new zombie film up on Shudder I had to check it out. Brain Freeze is a French language Canadian comedy horror that was directed by Julien Knafo, who also wrote the story and composed the music. Unfortunately, this never seemed to find its groove and spent its run time idling about without really doing anything that exciting. 

An experimental fertilizer is used on the golf course of a rich gated community on Peacock Island in French-Canada, with the aim of keeping the grass rich and vibrant even throughout winter. The fertilizer has a bad side effect however, namely that anyone who ingests the liquid becomes a green blooded zombie/plant hybrid. With the stuff getting into the islands water supply, it isn't long before nearly everyone on the island is infected. Seemingly the only survivors are teenage André (Iani Bédard), his baby sister, and security guard Dan (Roy Dupuis). With access off the island prohibited by a nervous government, they decide that it is down to them to try and find the cause of the outbreak and find a way to stop it.

I spent most my time with Brain Freeze waiting for it to reach its potential. Instead it is near enough ninety minutes of not much at all occurring. This is billed as a comedy horror but the comedy is only very slight, there were a few amusing gags, but just a few. It felt like the comedy was more about how the characters react to their situation, or how they don't act. Early on for instance, André's mother ends up being killed while chasing him, to which the boy shows zero sadness about. Dan on the other hand appeared to be on a quest to reach his daughter, who is shown in hiding at the golf course where she worked. I figured she would become one of the protagonists, yet the bizarre decision was made to not only have her get infected and turn in a scene that doesn't appear on screen, but Dan also rescued her and subdued her also off screen. It then turns into a meandering journey for the three survivors as they go to random locations in search of the cause, with the baby inevitably wandering off to get into trouble every other scene. With a late dip into The Crazies territory things do get slightly dark, but it made me wish that either they had committed to this being more funny than this was, or making this into more of a horror than it was.

At least the look of the zombies is kind of original. These are of the running variety, but are different in that their blood is green, and the more advanced ones are sprouting growths of grass on their bodies. They are also attracted to both water and sunlight, both of which has a calming effect on them, that had them only moving around when bothered, reminding me of the zombies from The Girl With All the Gifts. It was cool to see animals were also infected, one of the few comedic elements that worked was this small yappy zombie dog that got booted across a room in one amusing scene. There were plenty of scenes where characters were running from the zombies, but not really any where they were battling them. Probably a good thing as the limbs were very brittle, breaking off the ghouls with minimal effort. Zombie makeup was fine, green eyes, and green spittle, but nothing too memorable. Sometimes some dodgy looking CG effects were used, a bad looking explosion early on, a few helicopters and a rough looking CG zombified fish.

Brain Freeze always felt it was about to get good, but it never did. With a random group of characters who did little to shine and seemed aimless, and with comedy that was only ever slight, I was mostly bored with what I was seeing. Brain Freeze is currently streaming on Shudder.

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Cutthroat Express (2022) by Bryan Cassiday - Zombie Book Review

Cutthroat Express is the seventh book in Bryan Cassiday's Zombie Apocalypse: The Chad Halverson Series. Due to having never read any of these I was concerned that I may be completely lost with what was happening. With David Moody's Autumn series, and Bryan Way's Life After series you have a somewhat grounded and more realistic approach to a zombie apocalypse, Cassiday's approach is the opposite end of the spectrum, with this being an insane and bloody action rampage from start to finish, one that felt like a low budget zombie horror movie translated to page. Probably spoilers for previous entries in the series to follow.

What remains of the United States government find themselves with quite a serious problem. While they are in the relative safety of their underground bunker, they are unable to leave due to the former President having nuked the surrounding area as part of his elaborate suicide. To make matters worse, the air supply in the bunker is getting dangerously low due to the amount of zombies blocking the ventilation shafts. Salvation appears to arrive in the form of Mike Cassavetes, a man who states he has came from the facility of a brilliant scientist who has discovered a cure for the zombie plague. The new President, Mims, formulates a plan, to get a group of volunteers (who include among them government agent Chad Halverson, military commander Strider, as well as a few convicts promised their freedom should they help the mission succeed) to head out with Cassavetes and make their way to the scientist's base, in order to get the vaccine and bring it back, so that the remaining government will be able to leave their base without fear of getting infected.

Any fears that I would feel like I was playing catch-up all novel were quickly dispelled with the understanding of how insane this world is. The previous book appeared to end with the President of the United States nuking himself, which I took as a statement that I would be in for a thrill ride with Cutthroat Express, and that I was. The notion of a road-trip as the main storyline isn't something I haven't read before in zombie novels, Scott M. Baker's Rotter World and Tim Morgan's The Trip both come to mind, yet there was something about the shared nihilism that all the characters seemed to have which made this feel different. I had no idea which characters had featured before and which were new creations, outside of the convicts at least, due to them each getting their own introductions. This led to a feeling that any one of these characters could die, making the story more exciting straight away. As much as I enjoyed the initial bunker scene, it was when the group leave that things really begin to get exciting.

I'm no stranger to hordes of undead in novels, but it's the way these characters all act around the zombies that I grew to love. Everyone seemed more or less happy to put themselves in extreme danger, with the fear seeming to have long ago passed. This leads to endless scenes of high action fights, I never got bored of how when needed, the characters wade off on foot into the hordes, fighting the whole way through them. There was something off kilter about everything here, a world where everyone is mad to some degree.
The road-trip element makes up most of Cutthroat Express, and with the group being in heavily armoured vehicles you had the feel of a wandering fortress. Completely safe while in the vehicles, the moments where they have to leave was akin to diving into the deep ocean. I would say that this is more a novel about the journey than the destination, as I did think that part was the weakest section of the book. There was also a care-free attitude to characters fates, with plenty of characters built up over the novel only to then die underwhelmingly off-page without any real arc to their paths. These aren't meant to be realistic situations though, when your group includes both a cannibal and a serial killer, as well as an obsessive leader who values the mission more than his own team you should expect some skewed moments.
I will also add, the subplot involving the deteriorating state of the bunker was a great idea, was a nice palette cleanser between all the undead battling. 

From the start of the novel all the way up to the end I was constantly entertained. With over eighty short snappy chapters, endless descriptions of the undead, and a end twist that didn't disappoint, I was loving this book. Not only were the events I was reading easy to picture playing out in my minds eye (always something that makes a good novel), it even inspired a rare zombie nightmare I had. Brain-dead in the very best way, Cutthroat Express was a darn entertaining read.

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Immortal (2019) - Horror Anthology Film Review

I have a habit of trying to avoid any kind of synopsis before watching a film for review, and sometimes that works out for the best. I figured purely from the title that Immortal would be a vampire film and so I was very happy to find out that this was actually an anthology. I do love anthologies, and it had been a while since I last saw one, with Immortal you have four different short films, all revolving (surprisingly enough) around the idea of immortality.

There is no wrap-around story to be had here, but no wrap-around can be better than a poorly executed one and so that wasn't an issue for me. All four short films were written by Jon Dabach, and the first of these was Chelsea. Chelsea was directed by Rob Margolies (The Lodger), the titular character (Lindsay Mushett) is a promising athlete at her high school, but one day as she is leaving for home she is abducted. She awakens in dense woodland where a man (who claims to be immortal) informs her that he plans to hunt her for sport. This became something different to what I initially thought it would be, it made for an unexpected story, the standout actor was Dylan Baker (Trick 'r Treat, Requiem for a Dream) who played Chelsea's teacher to excellent effect. My one real complaint with this one was that it felt like it ended too early, I get an open end, but I felt like more could have been done with the twist.

The second film was Gary & Vanessa, directed by Danny Isaacs. This gave me heavy vibes of the old TV show Tales of the Unexpected, something that had a similar idea to The Twilight Zone, but with a more grounded and realistic approach. The story here actually felt quite current, dealing as it does with the cost of living. Gary (Brett Edwards - The Forever Purge) and Vanessa (Agnes Bruckner - Vacancy 2: The First Cut) are a loving couple who are expecting the birth of their first child. Wanting his child to have the best possible chance in life, Gary has came up with a plan to commit suicide but make it look like an accident, so that Vanessa will be able to get his life insurance, something that she has been clued in on. Things however take a dark and unexpected turn. There was something slightly ironic with how the events here played out. I liked how the early twist gets superseded by later ones. There was one lingering graphic shot that maybe was dwelled on too long, sometimes less is more, but other than that this was a strong entry.

Next up was Ted & Mary, directed by Tom Colley, and starring the legendary Tony Todd (The Crow, Candyman). It was great to see this actor here, as I had no idea he was going to be in the movie. It was the most sentimental of the shorts here, and tells a moving story. An elderly couple, Ted (Todd) and Mary (Robin Bartlett -Shutter Island, American Horror Story TV series) have a film crew round who are making a documentary about assisted suicide. Mary is terminally ill, and to save her from the pain she is in, the couple have taken the decision to end her life early. To say any more would ruin the chance for surprise, there was a neat transition from a heartfelt first half (with some great acting from the two actors playing the titular roles), to the horror of where this ends up. My biggest complaint is that this is essentially the exact same twist that Gary & Vanessa had, sure the story is totally different, but it ends up in the same place.

Finally is Warren, and thankfully avoided my fears that this too would follow the same format that others did here. This one was directed by the writer, Jon Dabach and opens with the titular Warren (Samm Levine - Inglourious Basterds) being seemingly killed in a hit and run accident. The man is surprised to find his fatal wounds somehow heal, and after a series of experiments he discovers he is unable to die. With the knowledge of his new found immortality, he sets out to find the person responsible for the hit and run and get his revenge. I enjoyed this one, had some fun moments to it, and a deliciously dark ending, it was a good way to close out the anthology.

As always, I enjoy a good anthology and here I enjoyed each of the different short films. While the second and third did follow a very similar format, they were still set apart by the acting skills of the main cast as well as the different vibe. Outside of that little issue, and the abrupt finish to the first short, this was a solid film, one that I enjoyed sitting through. Immortal is due for release on February 20th from High Fliers Films.

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The Latent Image (2022) - Horror Film Review

The Latent Image is a gay thriller that comes from Alexander McGregor Birrell (Sleepaway Slasher), which he also co-wrote with Joshua Tonks, who plays the part of the protagonist. The film was a feature length adaptation of the director's short film of the same name from 2019. It isn't the first time I have reviewed a gay horror, Devil's Path and B&B both spring to mind, but with this one, while it definitely has gay overtones, it was also a genuine horror, whose faults laid not with the former, but due to elements of the later.

Ben (Tonks) is a writer who has rented a remote woodland cabin from which to write his latest thriller. One dark night, having gone to bed frustrated at the lack of work he has been able to produce, he hears a noise downstairs. He is startled to discover a mysterious stranger (Jay Clift - Batwoman TV series), who tells Ben that his car has broken down nearby, and is in need of medical assistance, having injured his hand. While Ben is afraid of the stranger, he is also inspired, and begins to write his novel in earnest, styling the antagonist of the piece on the man. Finding excuses for the stranger to stay for a few days, Ben is fascinated with the insightful input the man is able to give the writer about the actions his villain would do, but this also begins to make him suspicious, as his observations seem a little too perfect.

Getting the gay elements out the way first as those were never going to appeal to me. Ben has an overactive imagination which results in quite a few times where things occur only for it to be revealed he was daydreaming. This includes Ben's boyfriend Jamie (William Tippery) turning up at the cabin, as well as an imagined sex scene between Ben and the stranger. Both those sex scenes didn't really add anything to the film, I don't think they would have mattered if they hadn't even been there. Sex scenes in films in general I never really enjoy anyway regardless of which gender is being shown. I guess they work in showing Ben's inner thoughts in a visual sense, firstly, with the arrival of his boyfriend it is a projection of his unconscious guilt of the fascination of the stranger. With the stranger himself, there was undeniably a stream of sexual tension, at least as perceived by Ben.

As a horror though this works very well, and it became quite fourth wall breaking, with the stranger acting out how he says he would act if he was the villian. The two even having a pretend fight at one point. As a viewer you are never sure if the man is as innocent as he claims to be. There became a gradual blurring of the lines between reality and fiction that made you question what really was going on. In parts this worked well, Ben was a writer after all so it makes sense his imagination would be good. On the other hand, this device can also lead to moments that feel like a cop-out, when it appears the thrills have ramped up only for it to not be the case. It was one of these later moments that really took away from my immersion into the story.
From the second the stranger arrives there is a sustained feeling of threat and tension in the air. I thought Clift was fantastic in his roll, giving a captivating performance, seemingly creating effortless menace despite not actually confirming if his intentions are good or bad. Combined with the tense film score it made for a suspenseful time that had me glued to the screen. With a cast of just three actors, and with one of those barely in it, the two characters held the film together impressively. A shout-out has to also go to the Super-8 moments of footage and how well they were implemented into the movie.

I appreciate how twisty The Latent Image became, but I did wish this had known when to stop being clever and just commit itself to being an effective little thriller, as some of those twists and turns altered this into something other than what I had hoped for. Still, I enjoyed my time with this, and certainly found it worth a watch. The Latent Image has been acquired by Cinephobia Releasing.

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