Alien Planet (2023) - Sci-fi Film Review

Despite it not appearing to be a horror, ever since I heard of Alan Maxson's Alien Planet (he both wrote and directed this) I was intrigued. I think it was due to the film using all practical special effects rather than the modern reliance on either pure digital effects, or a combination of the two. The synopsis sounded like a film I saw many years ago as a teen, but this one was far more bloody. Despite a small cast I found myself drawn into the world.

In the not too distant past, two alien species went to war with each other, with the losers banished to a near inhospitable planet full of monsters. To assist them, they were provided with a vial of strange liquid that used sparingly had the ability to create a source of water. Brocheet (Hunter C. Smith - voicework in video game Star Wars Jedi: Survivor) is a trusted soldier from the winning side who has been sent to the planet the losers were banished to in order to retrieve this vial, for his species is close to extinction due to their water source on their home planet running out. Not long after landing he encounters Lock (Alexandra Bokova - Mermaid Down), with the two species sharing a mutual hatred for each other they come to blows, but their battle is interrupted by the arrival of a dangerous monster who captures them both and takes them to its lair. The two enemies soon come to realise that for any chance of survival they are going to have to try and put aside their differences and work together.

This began with a low budget B-movie feel, with the intro narration set to the backdrop of hand drawn artwork and still images. This worked in setting up the world but also looked a little bit placeholder. Once Brocheet lands on the planet my early concerns were washed away and I found myself getting far more invested in what was happening. There was a cast of around eight or nine, but by far it is Smith and Bokova who carry events forward. They were both good choices for their roles, but I was surprised to find out the complete scene stealer was a puppet! Giree (voiced by Maxson) is an intelligent pet of Brocheet who despite being a puppet had so much life and personality, as the film went on this became my favourite character by far, and it plays an integral role in the story. Another stand out character was the monster (Eric Prochnau - Clown Motel: Spirits Arise), it didn't do much more than lurch around, but it was visually impressive looking.

In general the practical effects were great, and there was far more blood than I expected. Within the first ten minutes of the movie I had seen more blood than many other films show over their complete runtime. I liked how watery, yet still blood like it appeared, and there were some nice touches, such as spilt blood dripping on the camera. The planet was home to vine like plants, and their vines were put to great use in some of the more action heavy sequences. The design of all the monsters and aliens was strong, in fact I would say that was the strongest element of the film as a whole.
In terms of the story, without going into too much detail this went into quite a bleak direction that I was convinced was going to be revealed to not actually be the case. If Alien Planet had been a video game, this would have definitely been a 'bad ending'. It felt quite cruel how this all played out, especially due to how much I came to like some of the characters. Usually I'm all up for darkness, I guess its to the credit of the cast and crew that I came to care so much about the characters.

Alien Planet was a film I feared would be a little bit dull, aside from obvious ones like Star Wars, I have never been too much into sci-fi. Blending in horror, as well as some fantastic alien and creature designs meant there was never a dull moment. This eighty two minute long indie sci-fi never lost sight of the story it was dedicated to telling and shone as a result.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Tuesday 18th July 2023

A quick news anthology for a Saturday in which my best friend is visiting. I feel like I've been phoning in my blog work recently, I have to admit the spark had faded a bit. With an inbox full of screeners I feel I need to drag myself out of this funk and fall back in love with the work I do.

Anti-Wonderful comes from MovingFast Pictures and the press releases describes it as '...a bizarre cinematic experience that seamlessly blends elements of horror and nihilistic humor'. Not sure really what type of film it is, other than the press release also states shows such as The Tom Green Show and The Eric Andre Show were influences on this. It is due to be released in a limited deluxe edition Blu-ray format, this will be a uncensored, uncut version of the film, with just 300 copies being made. It can be pre-ordered here.

Turn of the Screw is now out on Blu-ray from Bayview Entertainment. Directed by Alex Galvin, this surprisingly isn't a straight adaptation of Henry James' classic ghost story of the same name. Instead, this follows an actress, Julie, who has arrived at a theatre for a dress rehearsal of the famous play. As she performs her role and interacts with the other characters events begin to get increasingly scary, and she comes to believe that both the play and the theatre itself are haunted. Turn of the Screw can be purchased here.

Finally for today, anthology film Zombie Rage received a theatrical, DVD, Blu-ray and Digital film release on July 13th. This is made up of five separate stories from three filmmakers from San Pedro, California (Livid Media Films), Las Vegas, Nevada (Dark Park Films), and Winnipeg, Canada (The Internet Astronauts). The included stories involve a Canadian newscast, a bachelorette party, two stoners, a burglar, and a zombie outbreak in a public park.

Bird Box: Barcelona (2023) - Horror Film Review

I enjoyed 2018's Bird Box, even if I found it a little bit inadvertently derivative of A Quiet Place. It was only the other week that I discovered a sequel was in the works, an unrelated story set in Barcelona, Bird Box: Barcelona, so it was a pleasure to discover this had been released last week. Me and my best friend were both fans of the first film so we settled down to watch it, however it was only myself who managed to complete it, details of which are to follow later in this review.

Sebastián (Mario Casas) and his daughter Anna (Alejandra Howard) are introduced as survivors of the apparent invasion of creatures who have the ability to turn anyone who sees them suicidally insane. While out on the streets of Barcelona they come across another group of survivors, and so Sebastián tells his daughter to hide while he tries to find out if they are hostile or not. He befriends the group and is led to their hideout, an old bus station warehouse. That evening however, while everyone else is sleeping, Sebastián reveals his true colours, forcing all the survivors outside where they are quickly exposed to the invaders, for he is one of the special people who have gone insane, rather than suicidally insane. In his mind the invaders are angels, he believes he is doing God's work and that each person who dies has their soul free to ascend to Heaven, his daughter is actually a hallucination who promises he will be reunited with his dead wife and Anna if he carries on doing God's work. After befriending a different group of survivors he learns that there is a safe haven in a mountain top castle on the other side of the city, so he convinces them to make an attempt to head there. Initially he plans to kill them all, but his experiences during his journey slowly begin to make him question if everything he believed to be true is actually so.

So, the part that made my friend stop watching this was the reveal that the protagonist is actually the antagonist. It was a brave decision to have that prologue twist as it made it a lot harder to root for Sebastián at all. My friend didn't like how horrible everything was, as the man does kill a lot of innocent and good people. Like Bird Box, the story is split between the present day and the past, but the split is a lot less even, with roughly ten percent of the movie being made up of flashbacks that reveal how Sebastián came to be infected. While he is a somewhat sympathetic character, there was no getting away from the fact that he was causing people to die, and good people at that, and so it was hard to care for him. Around the end of the first act there are two more protagonists introduced, and thankfully these two were a lot better. Claire (Georgina Campbell - Black Mirror - episode 'Hang the DJ') is an English speaking woman, and she is looking after a young German girl, Sofia (Naila Schuberth), who got seperated from her mother during the height of the invasion some nine months previously. They become the heart of the story, with their journey mirroring that of Malorie and her children in Bird Box. While the majority of the movie is in Spanish, I did find it slightly distracting that Claire was the only English speaker, it makes sense I guess, but was a bit jarring her speaking English when all around were understanding what she was saying and responding in Spanish which she too is shown to understand.

Up until near the end I had a slightly higher score in my head for Bird Box: Barcelona, but it was the similarities that brought this down a bit. Characters trying to make it to an apparent safe haven was an identical storyline to the first movie, and as this went on the comparisons felt more and more obvious. Outside of the initial twist that Sebastián wasn't a good person there wasn't really anything more, his path to redemption was of course going to happen, with events not really going anywhere different to what I expected. Much like the first film, you never see the invaders, something which is a very good idea, it creates in your mind something far more better than anything that could be shown on screen. There is a greater explanation for what happens to the people who see them, but thankfully there still isn't a concrete explanation. It seems each victim sees what they want to see, the twisted protagonist seeing them as angels, others seeing them as aliens and all manner of other things. Some fun news ideas were here, such as one group using blindfolded dogs to lead them through the streets. The death sequences are all lovely to see, each victim killing themselves in different ways, and the scenes of mass death, such as people in a subway station all throwing themselves onto the train tracks as a train is approaching were always fun and grim to see.

Get over the initial hurdle of having a bad guy as the lead character and there is a lot to enjoy here. It can be very dark at times, but it ends with a feeling of hope for those trying to survive. Very well made, this was a film I'm glad I decided to take off my blindfold and look at. Bird Box: Barcelona is currently streaming on Netflix. 

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Serbian Dancing Lady (2023) - Short Horror Film

I have to admit, I was originally planning on watching a feature length movie for review, but going to see Blur at Wembley yesterday (at the time of writing) has zapped me of my energy. Due to that I decided to review a short horror, the Alex Magaña written and directed Serbian Dancing Lady being the first result I saw on YouTube. At just over two minutes long, this didn't have time to really innovate, but it had a couple of effective moments.

A young woman (Yaret Lora) is at a deserted mall when she notices the tannoy music abruptly changing to a strange sounding Serbian tune. She is then amused to see a woman (Cat Hamm) dancing to this music, and gets her phone out to film this oddity. Once the music cuts out however, the horror begins.

I really liked the start of this short, and I also thought the ending, while highly predictable, also wasn't bad. It was the middle part where this fell down a bit for me. The woman dancing, with her back to the camera was a bit creepy, as was the Smile type grinning face the woman pulls when she turns her face to the young girl. There was a definite supernatural feel to the woman, which makes the middle part more jarring. This middle section takes the form of a small chase sequence, in which the dancing woman pursues the other person while holding a knife raised high, echoing Norman Bates from Psycho. It inadvertently looked funny rather than creepy though, which the non-supernatural heavy footsteps also added to. Then there was a clumsy transition from the chase to the young woman arriving at her apartment for a traditional end.

There is a certain formula that short horror films often struggle to escape from, and Serbian Dancing Lady is one such example of that happening. What saves this from being forgettable is the strong opening that has genuine creepiness to it, and a perfectly fine finish. At under three minutes in length this is certainly worth a watch. Being based on an actual Serbian urban legend was a nice touch (something which had been doing the rounds on TikTok).

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The Rotting Zombie Interviews Victoria U Bell

Victoria U Bell has recently directed her first feature length movie, Heir of the Witch, a movie that she wrote, directed, produced and starred in and which is the first full feature film from production company Pasha Entertainment. The film tells of a Moldovan woman living in America who finds herself haunted by her family's dark past, specifically her grandmother, who had been an evil witch. The story was taken from Bell's own personal experiences, and bizarrely more of this fantastical story is said to have actually happened than you might expect. I was able to get an interview with the director, to speak with her about this passion project of hers.

Hello Victoria and welcome to The Rotting Zombie. With elements of Heir of the Witch based partly on real life experiences, has creating the film helped you face the fears you had while growing up?

Bringing HOTW to life was a true "Come to Jesus moment". The whole process has helped me see things from a different perspective. A healing process of facing the monster and fear in my heart, soul and mind. Through this journey I have become stronger. I have recognized my power and I no longer suffer from the terror I had felt all my life. Creative art can be a true healing and cleansing process, but you have to be honest. You have to bare your soul and expose it. I no longer find the act of witchcraft terrifying. I know my truth. I found my light, and with that, I can conquer anything.

With this being your first feature length film as a director, how did it compare to the short films you have previously made, and were there any unexpected challenges you had to face?

Making a short film was a walk in the park compared to a feature film. Compounded by being made during Covid - it felt like an Ironman Triathlon. I learned more while making this movie than anything I learned in film school. It's an experience that is unparalleled with anything else I've ever encountered. Through it, I found my true love and passion in life - film. It was a lot of hard work, and there were constant challenges that would arise throughout the whole project, but we did it! I am very grateful for my team and everyone who helped bring this movie to life!

Aside from the real-life elements, what were the other inspirations for this movie? Were there any other films that influenced the direction and style you went for?

Everything is inspiration to me. From the fragrant flowers I smell on the sidewalk to the decaying body of a dead animal on the highway. From the great books I devour, to the multitude of movies that I have watched. My brain is a sponge; always hungry and curious for more information. I can't pinpoint one that that inspired me most, but when I was a child, I heard a story that a man in our village kept having dreams about his wife who had passed away. She kept telling him in his dreams that she's alive and trapped in her grave and that he had to save her. His request to have her exhumed was denied by the church. I couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if he had dug her up himself that night. In my audacious mind, I imagined that when he opened the casket, the woman had turned in her grave and her fingernails were embedded in the walls of the casket while trying to escape. That story stayed with me and translates in the film. So, you can say I've been a storyteller from an early age.

The protagonist, Anna, stands out due to the world of shallow and conceited people she finds herself in, while not without her flaws, there was a genuine feeling to her. Were you always planning to play the part of the protagonist, and did you put any of your real self into the character, or is she a completely invented creation?

If you believe Anna's agony, then it was real. I did not put myself into the character, but I did embody Anna completely. A few months prior to filming the movie I stripped myself of all jewelry, makeup, and any items that reminded me of me.
I cut my nails short, I wore the modest dresses that Anna wears, and I started to learn how to sow. I tried to leave everything of mine behind and I let Anna speak to me. She was gentle, kind, turbulent and lost. I did not judge her. I let her tell me her story and I embedded myself in her character. There's no way I could reveal her suffering authentically without walking in her shoes. Somehow, her shoes felt somewhat familiar. Growing up in Moldova, my feet were dirty from running in the fields with no shoes, but my heart was filled with big dreams. In each project I have the pure intention of serving the story. I'm always looking for who I feel is the best actor for each role. Anna - was the hardest role to fill and I knew I was the only one who could best serve her and bring her to the world.

The moments of visual horror in the movie were very effective. At times, featuring some scenes that surprised with just how bloody they were. What were your favourite special effects used during the making of these scenes?

We had a great make-up team and they worked wonders with every aspect of my intricate requests. One of my favourites is the decapitated body of one of the witch's victims. It looks and feels eerie and real. It took a lot of work from my team to create the same body type, size and skin tone - but the results were fabulous. In reference to special effects, the shower scene with the demon mist, and the spider shadow under the bed are 2 of my favorites.

Finally, for people who have yet to see Heir of the Witch, why should they check it out?

Heir of the Witch is unlike any other horror film you have ever seen before. The story and the theme are unique and different. The twists and turns keep you involved and glued to the screen. I've planted a lot of breadcrumbs, follow them closely! Enjoy!

Heir of the Witch is due to be streaming everywhere from August 4th 2023, a thank you to Victoria U Bell for her time answering my questions.

Heir of the Witch (2023) - Horror Film Review

Heir of the Witch is the first full feature film from film production company, Pasha Entertainment. It was written and directed by Victoria U Bell, who also stars as the protagonist, and the idea was created from Bell's own personal experiences. The press release states in real life her Moldovan grandmother was a witch with a dark reputation, with a family legend being that she was unable to die until she had passed on her powers to someone else. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction! While this was the inspiration for the movie, Bell used her creativity to add elements to make it work better.

As a child, Anna (Bell) and her aunt left Moldova and moved to the United States, after an incident involving the death of her mother and the imprisonment of her father. Now grown up, the shy woman works as a seamstress for wealthy clients, living at the home of her elderly and terminally ill aunt (Vanessa Neff). Her work brings her to the attention of Chloe (Deanna Rashell), a conceited rich woman who sees the shy Anna as something of a pet project. Anna soon captures the attention of Chloe's husband, Nicholas (Ben Holtzmuller), and they secretly begin having an affair, which results in Anna getting pregnant. The woman holds a secret though, her grandmother back in Moldova had a history of witchcraft, and it is hinted that this is something that Anna has been fighting her whole life to get away from, and which is increasingly affecting her in the form of troubling nightmares, hallucinations, and dark thoughts.

After an intro screen of text describing a type of witch particular to Moldova, the film begins in earnest. Throughout the hour and a half run time this straddles the line between being a doomed romance plot, and the more horror based attempts by the evil spirit of Anna's grandmother (Lorayn DeLuca) to corrupt the girl. Frequent flashbacks reveal both what exactly happened with her parents, as well as the sinister ordeals she experienced at the hands of her grandmother. There was almost a dream like feel to aspects of the film, with it often, particularly in the second half, becoming hard to parse what was real and what was imagined. It all leads to a somewhat bizarre twist reveal, but one that I did think worked, especially with flashbacks to key scenes in the movie with a different perspective put on things.

Bell was great as the protagonist, though the character remained something of a mystery. She was prone to hysterics, with her coming across as not entirely balanced. I found the affair between her and Nicholas to feel a little off, I couldn't quite get on board with the idea she would cheat with a married man, and the way the film zoomed past periods of time with no indication of having done so, added to the strange feel. Between scenes for instance, Anna changes to being her normal self to being heavily pregnant. The way this often felt a bit dreamlike made this transition not as jarring as it could have been. I was never sure how this was all going to end up, thankfully it remained deliciously dark, even if I was getting a little lost prior to the big twist reveal
On the horror side of things I was pleased with what was shown. There was more blood than I had expected to see, and some fun death scenes, typically involving the ghost of an evil witch controlling victims into doing awful things to themselves, such as one scene that had a woman repeatedly stabbing a huge pair of scissors into her own leg. I thought the visual effects for these moments were neat, and the parts that had either the witch, or possessed people suddenly taking on a demonic look were fun, giving me Evil Dead deadite vibes.

With a cast of mostly horrible characters, it was hard to root too much for anyone, with the exception of Anna, who herself was shown to be very flawed. The murkiness around the edges of the story sometimes left me more confused than intrigued. I did however think the moments of horror were effective, they had a strong visual look to them which did create some nice messed up scenes. Heir of the Witch is streaming everywhere from August 4th 2023.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Tuesday 11th July

Hello once again, I'm writing this on a humid Saturday afternoon, full of excitement as I am off to see my favourite band, Blur, play at Wembley Stadium tomorrow evening. I last saw them around 2005 at Reading Festival, so will be cool to see them again. Not horror related at all, though tangentially they did have a B-side track named 'No Monsters in Me'.

Onto the news. Dinner with the Devil starts production in July, this will be production company Koa Aloha Media's tenth feature film. This will tell the tale of six people who find themselves at a posh dinner party, with their host claiming to be the Devil himself! Three of the guests have already made deals with the figure, while the other three are hoping to make deals. Jason Zlatkus stars as Fenris Black, also featuring Crystal J. Huang (Shameless), Lorelei Linklater (Boyhood), Mike Ferguson (Amityville Uprising), Chris Giese (Impact Even), and Patrick Peterson (The Sound of Waves). Dinner with the Devil is written and directed by B. Luciano Barsuglia, he states "This movie will have plenty of shocking and horrifically bloody moments, but at its core, it's a story about the characters, human nature, and the decisions they make."

From the director and producers of Ash and Bone comes supernatural thriller The Devil's Left Hand. Written and directed by Harley Wallen, this is about a demonic entity that is inadvertently summoned by a spirit medium at a young couple's housewarming party. Feeding on the guests fears as a means to get more powerful, the guests must find a way to fight back. Wallen says of the film "My goal was to make a film that combined the different elements of horror with the focus on suspense and mystery, with a story and character focus. I feel our ensemble did exactly that!" This came to demand and digital on 1st July. I have previously reviewed this movie under the alternate title of Agramon's Gate.

Finally for today, Malice: Nu Gui is an Australian horror film that was inspired by ancient Chinese folklore. The story has a group of students who find themselves cursed by the vengeful Nu Gui. Keo is forced to look back to her past where she discovers a tragic connection to the spirit. This was written and produced by Chaz Fenwick, with directing from Fenwick, Gustavo Diaz and Joshua Evans, and is now showing for free on Tubi.

The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes (2022) - Fantasy Anime Review

As this is my own blog I am sometimes happy to stray outside of the lines of what is tonally resonant with my mainly horror focussed content. I find the notion of time travel an endlessly captivating subject, so when I got the opportunity to check out a Japanese anime, the Tomohisa Taguchi directed and co-written The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes (original title Natsu e no tunnel, Sayonara no deguchi) for a review I had to go for it. This was based on the novel of the same name, telling quite the bittersweet story of living for the past.

Kaoru Tono (voiced by Oji Suzuka) is a high school student who lives out in the Japanese countryside with his alcoholic father. His home life is unhappy, something that is linked back to the accidental death of Kaoru's younger sister some years previously, which led to his parents splitting up, and his father bearing an unfair grudge against the boy ever since. One day he encounters a strange girl at the local train station, Anzu Hanashiro (voiced by Marie Litoyo), she is new to the area and happens to be in Kaoru's class. One night, after an argument with his drunk father, Kaoru flees his home and accidentally stumbles across a strange tunnel. Heading into it he discovers his childhood pet bird returned to life, and upon leaving a few minutes later he is shocked to discover an entire week has passed in the outside world. There is a local legend about a place named the Urashima Tunnel, somewhere which is said to grant you your heart's desire at the cost of time off your life, and Kaoru comes to realise he has found this tunnel. He becomes obsessed with the idea of being able to bring his dead sister back to life by visiting the tunnel, but on his second visit he finds Anzu has followed him. With her own private reasons for wanting to visit the tunnel, the two form an alliance, to help each other achieve their wishes.

At its core this is a love story, not really something I typically watch. I do love anime though, so this was a delight to watch regardless. In Japanese with English subtitles, it was easy to follow, and despite a reliance on text messages by the two leads, I never felt like I wasn't getting information at the same time as the characters in the film. The time travel part was what most interested me, and bizarrely this most closely matches the idea used in the classic children's film The Flight of the Navigator (a personal favourite of mine). It seemed more nefarious than it actually was, as while people in the tunnel experience time at a far faster rate, they themselves don't age quicker. Much of the middle section of the movie was concerned with the two teens exploring the limits of the tunnel's time abilities, playing out as a montage of their experiments.

The bittersweet part of this anime comes from Kaoru and Anzu's growing attachment to each other, with Kaoru obsessed with being able to see his sister again, and Anzu's reason for visiting the tunnel more to spend time with the boy than anything, there was going to come a time when I felt the boy would travel deep into the tunnel. With the characters semi-joking that likely a thousand years would pass in any deep exploration, there come a feeling they would become separated by time.

The animation went for a realistic anime look, which worked well with the morose and serious story. I didn't really like the music choices, but it made sense for an anime to have somewhat soppy sounding love songs sung by a female singer. The focus is on the two protagonists, with other characters barely featuring, only really during a handful of school classroom scenes, and Kaoru's home. With the two both having absent parents, it skipped that aspect of regret, with the insular look more at how the time travel would affect them as a close pair.

Is there any horror? Of course not, there is a hint of the supernatural, and of course some interesting time travel, wrapped up in a bittersweet love story that I did find myself getting a little drawn into. The Annecy Award winning The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes opens in over 120 cinemas nationwide in the UK on Friday 14th July.

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Kill City Cup (2023) - Post Apocalyptic Wrestling Show Review

I've always liked watching wrestling ever since I was a kid, in fact, it is the only sport I enjoy watching. Sure, it is hardly a secret that entertainment wrestling such as WWE is staged, but that doesn't make the skills the wrestlers use any less impressive. Kill City Cup leans even more heavily into the entertainment side of things, with a ridiculous backstory to the event, and larger than life wrestlers who wouldn't seem out of place in a Mortal Kombat video game.

The pre-blurb states that after a devastating worldwide resource war in 2035, a man rose to power, Mr. Kill (Brian Kahrs - House of Blood). Due to being the sole owner of a miracle energy source dubbed 'Green Electricity', he soon managed to become the ruler of the world. This evil man realised that in order to keep the population distracted from their many problems he would need have to create a means to do so. His answer was the Kill City Cup, a modern-day gladiator contest in which the winner would get the chance to ask one request of Mr. Kill.

The press release was a little vague if this was a one off show or if it was part of a series, so I will review it as if it were a one off. The action takes place in a wrestling ring, but this is even more staged than the likes of WWE, including fatalities, special effects, and slow motion effects for some of the more interesting moves. There is no crowd watching, instead the action takes place within a sci-fi looking set, occasionally there is a shot of a post-apocalyptic backdrop in which crowds of people are watching the matches on a huge screen. I did wish there had been an actual crowd at times, as the canned crowd noises began to get a bit annoying. I also wish there had been more commentary. You have Randy Carver Jr. as the commentator, but he only really says one or two lines of dialogue a minute, usually some sort of cheesy joke based on what is happening in the ring. Mr. Kill also occasionally chimes in with his own opinion on what is happening.

Over around fifty five minutes you have a bunch of elimination matches, with the victor from each then appearing later on. Despite the ringmaster (Rye Mullis) stating there are no rules, the wrestlers all actually genuinely wrestle, though with no referee to stop them, they are able to do some crazy things, such as one wrestler who brings metal spikes with him to the ring, and steel chairs and a table being put to typical wrestling use. Some of the wrestlers have unique abilities, such as Zip Monk (Conner Murphy), whose crucifix is able to repel attacks, and a Voodoo Witch Doctor who sucks out the soul of one of the people he defeats in the ring! There was a fun variety of wrestlers who included among them a Friday the 13th Jason Voorhees type slasher, and even Mr. Kill's son who had been transformed into a hulking cyborg by the dictator's warlord (who himself also fights). The matches often seemed to peter out, initially they have three people fighting, with later matches being more traditional one vs one. I think the idea was that the defeated wrestlers are killed, but often they seemed to vanish from the match, or are killed in such a way that it really isn't obvious that is what happened.

Kill City Cup was entertaining, I thought the story could have been better implemented as the main thread of Russian Crush (Natalia Markova) trying to win wasn't that well told. Due to the relatively open end to this it felt like there would be more of these to follow, but having most the wrestlers 'dead' by the end meant if that does happen there would need to be a mostly fresh batch of fighters. More fun than I expected, but definitely rough around the edges, this can currently be viewed on YouTube.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Thursday 6th July

A second news post for this week, written last Saturday while still a bit hungover. First, with the arrival of season three of The Witcher last week, a little infographic from JustWatch about the various Witcher stuff on Netflix. Unsurprisingly, The Witcher live action series is by far the most popular, with it being eight times more so than the other two Witcher properties. In second place but far behind was the animated film The Witcher: Nightmare Of The Wolf, while animated series The Witcher: Blood Origin was 2.3% less popular than that one. To be honest, I had completely forgotten about both the animated show and series.

Satanic Meat Cleaver Massacre has come to TUBI fifteen years are first being created. Originally released in 2008, this amusingly titled horror hasn't been on any platform since. Now, it has been digitally restored by archivist Gregory Hatanaka, and recut with new never before scenes, as well as a restored stereo mix. The horror was written and directed by Geno McGahee, and is about a masked slasher armed with a meat cleaver who carves up quite a bodycount. 

Finally for today, Scared Crazy is now available on Blu-ray from Bayview Entertainment. Cursed by his ex-girlfriend, a man finds himself haunted by a demonic presence one dark night. This was directed by Dwayne Hurt, and stars him alongside Madison Ames-Gilbert and Mitch Savage. The film can be purchased here.

The Bigfoot Trap (2023) - Thriller Film Review

My expectations for The Bigfoot Trap were quite muted, I never expected it to be amazing, but it had an interesting premise. Directed, written, produced and edited by Aaron Mirtes (Painted in Blood, Curse of the Nun), this thriller (with some horror elements) actually turned out to be pretty decent, with some lead characters who were both surprisingly well developed.

Josh MacMahon (Tyler Weisenauer) is a journalist who makes his living by interviewing people with fringe beliefs and then making videos that ridicule them. After his latest piece about a flat Earther blows up, his boss assigns him to go meet a man who thinks he is able to capture a sasquatch. Red Wilson (Zach Lazar Hoffman - Painted in Blood) is a mountain man who has created what he calls a 'Bigfoot trap', essentially a wooden prison out in the woods. Red has asked for a journalist to come visit him, so that he can finally prove the elusive creatures exist. Josh meets with the man, and together they head out on a two day camping trip. With their time together almost up with no conclusive proof, and with Red desperate to not look like a fool to Josh, he arranges a 'sighting', but this has tragic consequences, and in his grief, Red ends up locking the journalist in his Bigfoot trap. With events spiralling out of control, Josh must find a way to escape his confinement and make it back to civilisation.

I think the biggest misstep this movie makes is actually showing a sasquatch in the prologue sequence. That scene works in showing that Red isn't someone with silly views, but it also makes what happens less exciting, as despite all the fake moments created as a means to convince Josh, the viewer knows the creatures within this film's universe are actually around. At first I was hesitant to reveal that Red becomes an antagonist, as this moment happens around half way into the eighty four minute runtime, with the IMDB synopsis mentioning this fact though, I felt it was fair game. A good thing as this review would have been a lot harder to write otherwise. Rather than have Bigfoot being the main thread, that is the unifying element that brings the characters to where they need to be. One minor complaint is that in Josh's prologue he is shown with a cameraman, yet conveniently, when he heads out to meet Red he does all the filming himself. If that cameraman had been there as well, the film couldn't have played out like it did. 

Where The Bigfoot Trap really excels is with how well crafted the two main leads are. Josh is undoubtedly a bit of a weasel, he is someone who has made his living by ridiculing others after all. But he has a conscience, and is aware that what he does is cruel, using the excuse for himself that this is all in aid for his career progression. Via self recorded videos he makes on his phone, you get the sense he sincerely feels conflicted about what he is planning to do. Josh remains somewhat flawed, but the events in the film shape him into a better person. Red on the other side is a very sympathetic villain, soft spoken and friendly, his transformation comes about due to specific circumstances, and he provides some context for just why the things he becomes upset about have affected him so greatly. While he is in the wrong, it was easy to understand his motivations. I didn't think the idea to have him at some point get ahold of some cocaine was needed, it changes him from someone operating out of grief and self preservation into a slightly more stereotypical antagonist, a coked up madman chasing Josh through the woods with a shotgun. Both men were the only two characters for the majority of the movie, other characters come and go, but they by far carry the film along admirably.

I thought The Bigfoot Trap was a really interesting thriller/horror with a neat central idea to it. It was a little bit rough around the edges, such as the trap itself that looked very flimsy, it's 'iron' bars looked like they were made out of plastic to me, overall though this worked. Both Josh and Red felt more real than you would expect for this type of film, and it went to some places that while not totally unexpected, worked well. The Bigfoot Trap is due for release on 10th July, from High Fliers Films.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Tuesday 4th July

It's evening here in the UK at the time of writing, I've spent much of the day in bed with a hangover, recovering from drinking certainly takes longer the older you get! Here is one of two planned news posts for this no doubt humid week.

L.A deathrockers Black Heroin Gallery have released a music video for their track 'Take This Rose', which comes from their album 'Feast of Bats'. This gothic black and white video sees frontman Eyajo December Joseph spinning around within a haunted forest, unaware he is being followed. Eyajo stated what his inspirations for the video were "Silent films of long past have always been a big influence on me, as have arthouse films, and I think both of these styles peek through in this video".

I think I've previously mentioned this next one in a previous news post, but I had to mention it again, due in no part to the fantastic teaser poster that has been released. Directed by Eduardo Castrillo (Cowboys vs Samurai vs Werewolves), Bears on a Ship is currently being filmed aboard the Aurora, a boat that has featured in such films and programs as From Russia With Love, Godzilla, and Baywatch. Starring Derek Crowe, Christopher Wilson, Diana Bukowska, Jo'nez Cain, Erin Nolan, David Jon Foster, and a whole host more, this tells the story of a group of stranded passengers who have decided to take a ship back to the USA. Unknown to them, the ship they are on also happens to contain some man-eating bears! Check out the Indiegogo page for more details.

Finally for today, I always keep an eye on the JustWatch UK streaming charts for films and TV shows, but often they are not really relevant to a horror blog. That is not the case today, starting with the top 10 streamed films, we have killer doll horror M3GAN in at number six, and bizarrely, in seventh place is the 2006 remake of The Wicker Man. That one is meant to be awful, but it does feature the living legend that is Nicolas Cage. Over on the streaming charts for TV shows, the almighty Black Mirror takes the top spot, and it is nice to see The Walking Dead: Dead City in at number six, I really need to get around to watching both of those. 

Amygdala (2022) - Short Horror Film Review

Amygdala is a short fifteen minute award winning Danish language horror film that has been shown at various film festivals around the world, and which has now been released on YouTube. Written and directed by Kenneth Lykkehus Truelson (Sticks, The Hitchhiker), it tells a dark story that felt like a companion piece to a larger film.

The short is set against the backdrop of a Denmark that is experiencing a nationwide viral outbreak that leaves its victims homicidally violent. Simone (Emma Katrine Sjøberg) is at home looking after her ill younger sister, Frederikke (Pernille Svendsen), with their mother having not returned after having left the house to visit a neighbour. That night, Simone is startled to see a strange figure standing outside the house (Kim Sønderholm - Harvest, Sinister Visions), and even more so when he breaks in.

The film covers a lot of ground from the opening news report playing out on a radio, that creates the impression of a The Crazies type situation. With Simone's teenage sister ill, it became apparent where this would likely end up. While the intruder is clothed in darkness and never fully shown on camera, it was still cool to see Sønderholm back on screen, in the early days of this blog I couldn't seem to move without him turning up in various films I had been sent for review. The characters were all fine, but with a short run time I never got any kind of impression of what the characters were like. Special effects were at a minimum, but there was one suitably bloody effect used for when a character gets glass in their foot, and a decent amount of blood when it was called for. While the story wasn't too surprising, it was dark, and had a couple of unexpected moments to it.

Bleak and moody, Amygdala told its story in an effective way. I thought the use of light and shadow was well done, and its self contained story was paced nicely. The film can currently be seen on YouTube.

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