Rampo Noir (2005) - Horror Anthology Film Review

Rampo Noir is a Japanese horror anthology that pays homage to the works of writer Edogawa Rampo, someone who is famous for his horror and mystery fiction. It contains within it four short films, each a different take on Rampo's stories, with this produced by the same team behind the cult film Ichi the Killer. At two hours fifteen in length, this is the longest horror film I have seen for a while, but as always, I do love anthologies.

It begins weirdly with 'Mars's Canal'. This six minute long short was done by music video director and visual artist Suguru Takeuchi. I can't say I was that taken with it. The first half of the short plays out in complete silence, this led me to thinking I had an issue with my speakers and so spent that time trying to fix them! It was actually meant to be silent however. What little story there is has a naked man (Tadanobu Asano who features in each of the stories) walking towards a pool of water in a barren desolate location (assuming it is meant to be the surface of Mars?). In the water he sees a version of himself reflected that has him naked while beating up a naked woman. I didn't really get what this was meant to be about, very arthouse in style, but thankfully it was very short.
I felt like things really began with the second short, 'Mirror Hell', which at around forty five minutes in length was able to tell a decent story. In this one, directed by new wave auteur and long time Ultraman director Akio Jissoji, a detective (Asano) is investigating the strange deaths of a series of women, each victim found with their face melted and a similar looking mirror near their body. The evidence seems to point to local mirror maker, a beautiful young man who fears his mirror making skills are hampered by his sordid desires. This one mixed a blend of the procedural police drama type genre of people investigating the crime scenes and the victim's bodies, mixed with the supernatural. It had a surreal tone to it, reflections playing a key part, with mirrors seeming to be in every single scene, so characters are constantly being reflected multiple times. I liked the H.P Lovecraft style feel to elements of this, and the face melting scenes played out in an artistic way, suggesting, rather than showing things. It got a bit too weird before the end, but I did like the interesting way this one finishes.

The third story is the thirty eight minute long 'Caterpillar' by cult director Hisayasu Sato (The Bedroom, Naked Blood) which was certainly one of the more disturbing ones! Here, a war hero returned home severely injured, facial burns, all his limbs missing, and the inability to speak. His wife looks after him, but maybe disgusted at what he has become, she also abuses him, frequently torturing the man. Her pet name for him is 'caterpillar', the two sharing a seemingly unhealthy co-dependent relationship. This mainly takes place in a dank dusty cellar type area, the effects for the man were effective, and the story twisted. It eventually heads in a somehow even stranger direction, finishing before its story had really ended. This continues the theme of both nudity and what has been termed 'erotic grotesque'. This was seen with 'Mars's Canal' with the man beating the naked woman, again in 'Mirror Hell' with the mirror maker dripping hot wax onto a love interests body, and here with a prolonged scene of possible sexual assault against the invalid character. It was very arthouse in style, such as the scenes shown from the man's perspective, a fish eye lens type of effect used and his thoughts appearing as text on the screen.
This leads into the final film, 'Crawling Bugs' which was the directorial debut of manga artist Atsushi Kaneko (Bambi and Her Pink Gun). It stood out due to how bright and colourful it was in comparison to the others. It told somewhat of a more simple story, though this one was shown from the perspective of an unreliable narrator in that what is shown isn't actually the reality. Here, an obsessive fan kills his love interest - Fuyo, a famous star of the stage. Determined to preserve her body, he tries various different ways to stop her from rotting. There were plenty of darkly humorous moments here, the protagonist villain convinced that there are bugs crawling around his body, so wants to prevent the same thing happening to his victim. The biggest comedic darkness comes when it is revealed what the actual state of the corpse is, as opposed to the man's fairy-tale viewpoint. Thankfully there were not many actual bugs shown in this one, but plenty of sound effects used to simulate what the man believes he is feeling.

The four shorts that made up Rampo Noir were all artsy and surreal, I'm sure this is a reflection on the original stories of the author. At over two hours long this did feel quite slow. None of the films with the exception of the forty five minute or so 'Crawling Bugs' seemed to move at a quick pace. I wasn't keen on the brief first, the others, while I wouldn't say I loved them, at least had plenty of variation to their strange and surreal stories. This was unique and I feel some of the more twisted and demented scenes won't fade quickly from my mind! Rampo Noir is out now on ARROW, the streaming subscription platform as well as on limited edition Blu-ray.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Tuesday 21st January 2025

Another day, another news round-up of three stories plucked from my news bag. Onwards to the news!

I couldn't not mention Zombie Grindhouse Marathon on a site with 'zombie' in the name. This has released via BayView Entertainment on Digital platforms including to rent/buy on Amazon Prime Video. It is made up of three separate low budget zombie films from director Robert Elkins. It seems to include the traditional walking dead, and even features a zombie crocodile! The good thing about ghoul films is that low budget is not an issue, zombies don't need to look the part to be the part.

A sequel to holiday slasher Silent Bite has been announced, with a similarly amusing name. Saturday Bite Fever has moved into production with Taylor Martin returning as director. The press release states fans should expect more of an anthology in the vein of Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World's End, with actors returning to the cast as different characters. The synopsis for this one has a group of young women trying to survive against both mobsters and vampires who have targetted a nightclub on New Years Eve.

Finally for today, DRagon Studios have announced plans for a remake of 1974 horror film, Beyond The Door. The press release states: '...in 2025 We are returning to that world And unleashing the Devil once again. This is the film that picks up...where The Exorcist left off.'

Werewolf Game (2025) - Horror Film Review

It was sad learning that iconic cult horror actor Tony Todd had died last November. I have liked him in pretty much everything I had ever seen him in, plus a very mild claim to fame of mine had been that his Twitter (X if you Musk...I mean, must) account had followed me. Horror film Werewolf Game is one of the final films to be released featuring this horror legend. Co-directed by Cara Brennan (in their directorial debut) and Jackie Payne (who also wrote this), I had wrongly assumed by the title that this would be a horror film featuring that lamest of movie monsters - the werewolf. Instead it is a reference to the social deduction game 'Werewolf'.

Twelve strangers awaken to find themselves in a dark room surrounded by mask wearing gunmen, with no idea how they got there. The leader, The Judge (Todd - Candyman series) tells the abductees that they have been brought to an island to play a life or death game of 'Werewolf'. Hidden within the twelve members are two 'Werewolves' who have a secret task of killing the other members (named 'Villagers') without being found out, they are allocated a one hour slot in the middle of the night each night with which to do so. At the end of each day everyone has to vote on someone to be executed. Should the Werewolves be the last survivors left alive then they will win and be set free, should the Werewolves be identified and killed then the remaining Villagers will be set free. This creates an atmosphere of paranoia and mistrust, as the group try and come up with ways to escape their predicament while unsure of who the traitors within their midst are.

I liked the set-up for this, with it giving a really neat whodunnit type atmosphere of who the traitors were. The characters are a varied bunch made up of some interesting types. Most interesting to me was the suspicious Raymond (Tim Realbuto) who claims he used to work for the shady company who were responsible for the kidnappings, giving Cube Zero vibes.. Characters mostly all have suspicious sides to them which are then used against them during the voting scenes. Some of the characters had done bad things, others don't appear to have done anything wrong, making it easier to root for then the more traditional trope of bad people having been abducted such as with the Saw series. As harsh the situation is that the characters find themselves in, there are actually worse murder island fates to be had than with this one. During the day the characters are free to roam the island unimpeded, only captured by the armed guards should they try to escape. They are able to have private meetings as a group, and are provided with some food and drink. People who are killed via the voting system are also dealt with relatively peacefully, with a single gun shot to the head ending their suffering, rather than any type of prolonged torture. The story felt a little underdeveloped at the sides, some parts didn't seem to make much sense due to a lack of context. This even includes the surreal The Prisoner/Battle Royale style ending that gave the survivors a chance to face their jailor.

Some of the protagonists were really annoying, chief for me was Seth (André Tempfer), the most vocal of the group, though amusingly, his fellow abductees also find him quite annoying. Favourite minor role went to the very prolific Robert Picardo who played a hard boiled detective type character. The stand out was thankfully Todd himself. Wearing a smiling mask for much of the film, his over the top performance was delightful, Todd seemed to be enjoying this role a lot from the effort he puts into it. Many of the actors gave performances that seemed a bit too overly dramatic, if the film hadn't been so fun this might have become a problem, but with most characters being over the top it seemed to just add to the charm. I liked the parts featuring the werewolves attacking victims at night, always preceded by a first person viewpoint of them racing through woodland with Predator style heat vision, and the design of their wolf costumes were genuinely really cool looking. With this part, it was a little too obvious who one of the werewolves would turn out to be as they had a distinct look to them that couldn't be hidden by a mask.

I found Werewolf Game impossible not to be charmed by. Elements of the story were not that well explained, and the po-faced delivery of some really cheesy lines threatened to break the immersion at times, but this was just a fun action horror that really worked as a bit of escapism, and it was always a delight to see the late great Tony Todd in a joyously evil role. Werewolf Game releases January 21st from The Horror Collective on-demand and across digital platforms.

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Good Neighbours (2024) - Sci-fi Horror Film Review

The idea behind the Richard Anthony Dunford (P.O.V) written and directed British sci-fi horror Good Neighbours felt so familiar that at first I thought that it was something I had seen before. I later realised it wasn't, instead this follows a very similar plot to 2023 sci-fi horror The Hive. That one was set in America and had a better budget, but if someone were to say this was set in the same film universe I wouldn't bat an eyelid. Both films have obviously be inspired by the classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Tamesha (L.A Rodgers) and her husband Luke (Karl Kennedy-Williams - P.O.V) live in a small village with their young son Dominic (Param Patel). Noticing that new neighbours have moved into the next door property, Tamesha pays them a visit to say hello. Joseph (Judson Vaughan - The Cellar, The Spiritualist, P.O.V) and Mary (Dani Thompson - Devil in the Woods, Harvest of the Night: Halloween Night) are the new neighbours and show themselves to be very odd, with strange mannerisms and a tendency to take everything literally. Despite the weirdness, Tamesha decides to invite them for dinner the following day. It is here the odd couple show their real intentions, plunging the family into an evening of horror.

So, this was very similar in feel to The Hive, the closest contrast being the weird behaviour of the two new neighbours. They speak with a clipped tone, and their reactions are often unexpected. One example has Tamesha telling them to 'take a seat', with them promptly complying by grabbing a cushion each. I really enjoyed Vaughan's role in particular, I liked how the character is both shown as comedic and deadly serious, able to switch on a dime. Rodgers and Kennedy-Williams also stood out as good protagonists, I liked the banter they had between themselves. Elsewhere, it was fun to spot in the end credits that Jamie Langlands (The Cellar, C.A.M) had a minor role here as a man wearing a hoodie, who due to having the hood up was unrecognisable to me.
The first forty five minutes were the lead up to the realisation from Tamesha and Luke as to who the neighbours really were. The tone of the film flips on a dime, going from an awkward comedic dinner party to a sci-fi horror that takes itself very seriously within moments, making for an intense scene. There are lots of comedy moments, especially early on, but these are contrasted against scenes set elsewhere that never really felt like they fitted in with the larger story well. This includes a suspenseful prologue that sees a young woman being followed back to her apartment by hooded men, and a later bit more silly scene of a woman and her friend out in woodland. There were attempts to tie these scenes to the main plot, but I don't think it was that successful, as they felt a bit random.

Special effects are minimal and are one area where the low budget of this indie horror is displayed. This includes a knife slash that results in no blood or apparent injury despite the victim reacting as if they had been hurt, and some people in 'pods' of a type who seemed to be covered in green and slimy looking silly string. Sometimes the effects were decent enough, such as a wound Joseph gets on his cheek around the halfway mark. I would probably say that the most consistently good part of Good Neighbours was the soundtrack, I really enjoyed its sound, particularly during later more horror-like scenes. The story was simple but I found it effective, and appreciated the little ending twist, that while not surprising, was executed well.

Good Neighbours was an enjoyable sci-fi horror that had some good casting choices. The effects may have been at times not amazing, and it may have struggled to neatly combine its various little subplots, but overall I liked the film, and found myself getting into it. Good Neighbours can be viewed on Amazon Prime, both in the U.S (here) and the U.K (here), thanks to Hypericum Films.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Thursday 16th January 2025

 Another week, another trilogy of horror news to curdle your blood and potentially clear out your wallet. In my personal life I am coming to realisations of self-worth, so shall see if that leads to good or bad outcomes. Onwards to the news...

On February 11th, cult classic Alice, Sweet Alice gets a global premiere on 4K UHD. Directed by Alfred Sole, this stars an at the time unknown Brooke Shields as Karen, the younger sister of Alice (Paula Sheppard), with that sister scaring her younger sister by wearing the get-up of a killer, as a way to deal with her trauma of their parents splitting up. Special features includes three versions of the film; Communion (the original), Alice, Sweet Alice (theatrical), and Holy Terror (re-release). Extras also include a new audio commentary as well as a vintage one, among other delights.

Horror thriller Pesadilla is out now on Blu-ray and Digital Platforms from BayView Entertainment. This comes from writer and director Dylan Anglin, and stars Anthony Garcia, Mike Davis and Gavin Cade Hulberg. The synopsis states that after a house robbery fails, a group of thieves decide to target the home of a grieving family, unaware that something sinister resides there.

Finally for today, Slaugh Awakens is a new St Patrick's Day horror that comes from Fright Tech Pictures. After a tragic event that tears a married couple apart, an evil force appears and begins to spread its influence across a forest town. It is left to the survivors to fight back. Directed by Eddie Lengyel (Hellweek), and starring Morgan Paige, Roger Conners, and Don Kilrain, the trailer for this is below.

The Ghost That Wouldn't Die (2024) - Short Horror Film Review

I watch many films for review on this site, and many of those swiftly fade from memory. Morbid Colors was an alternative take on the traditional vampire story, blending punk ethics and a road-trip story. It was one of the rare films that did stick around in my mind. I was surprised when in 2023 a sequel emerged in the form of short horror Real Cool Time, which took the story in an interesting direction. That mini-sequel blew me away, and so hearing there was a new third film in the series, the twenty four minute long The Ghost That Wouldn't Die, I was expecting great things.

This third film again features Devin Crane (Lanae Hyneman) in a leading role. The woman, afflicted with an insatiable thirst for blood is on tour with her band to promote their new album. Devin has discovered recently that the aids she has put in place to control her violent urges are no longer working as they once did, and struggles to maintain a sense of normality as her life begins to fall apart as a result.

I didn't think this was quite as good as Real Cool Time, but this was still a darn good short that was a welcome return to the hellish existence of Devin Crane. I thought it was a neat idea to have much of the film shown in black and white, and her being on tour surrounded by people was a large change from the isolated setting of the first short. Like The Addiction, there is a good contrast drawn between the need for blood and...well, addiction. Devin at her worst, with anti-social behaviour and going through the motions, was able to blend in with her appearing to be a stereotypical rockstar, rather than someone struggling to keep things together for more supernatural reasons. There are some good scenes featuring tour manager Leigh (Kevin Roach - Compression), and I also enjoyed the facial expressions of her band and support band, with much of this presented on screen dialogue free, aside from the morose narration of Devin, and a discordant atmospheric soundtrack.

Once again written and directed by Matthew Packman, with Jakob Bilinski (director of Compression) as director of photography/colourist, this was an effective and moody short that translated the struggles of Devin well onto the screen. I like that the lack of audio from the scenes playing give Devin a disjointed and far away feel. That even in a room packed with adoring fans she is separated living in her own head. It was wonderful to see Kara Gray once again reprising her role as Devin's sister Myca, with this very creepy looking figure seeming to be the personification of Devin's addiction. From start to finish the editing and style of shots here combined to make something that felt just that little bit special.

Having enjoyed Real Cool Time, I expected I would also like The Ghost That Wouldn't Die, and thankfully this was another great entry. As much as I liked Morbid Colors, it wasn't perfect, but it has been a nice surprise to see how much better these shorter sequels have been, with the quality of the filmmaking seemingly ever increasing.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (2024) - Thoughts on the Zombies Mode

After several years of an either terrible or non-existent Zombies mode in Call of Duty, it has returned with the classic round-based gameplay that was so missed by fans in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. Do these new maps perhaps play it a little too safe and formulaic though?

The game launched with two maps, and since then one more map has so far been added as part of the season one content. I had low hopes for this, I had heard the maps were basically areas from Warzone cut off and dirtied up a bit. Thankfully, these maps do actually feel like they were created with zombies in mind. The first of these maps was 'Liberty Falls', which takes place in a town in West Virginia. This map includes various shops, and key places like a bowling alley and comic book shop. The core point of all this is the local church, existing in an alternate realm and the way to pack-a-punch your weapons. Second of the launch maps was 'Terminus' which is a more dark map, taking place on a prison island that has secretly been experimenting on the undead in a secret underground bio-research station. This map includes boats that can be driven around.
The third map released was 'Citadelle Des Morts', and as the title suggests, this takes place in and around a zombie infested castle, principally, its dungeon area and the town surrounding the castle.

All three maps are huge, and due to this they do have a bit of a samey feel. The large space means the zombie surviving experience lasts longer, with even me and my best friends first game lasting over forty five minutes. It is fun to play, and of course it is a pleasure to return to proper Zombies maps, but the large areas give it less of an intense feel of the older Zombies maps that would contain you in much smaller locations. Also, there is no boarding up of windows, something that is needed for that old school feel. Nowadays Call of Duty multiplayer remains the much bigger draw, this mode is fun to play, but the long match times means I often put off playing it.
In general though I have been impressed with the zombie content in the latest game, something that has spilled out into multiplayer, even the single player story fitted in horror elements. As well as pre-order and Vault edition versions including zombie 'Operators' for multi-player, there has also been unlockable items such as loading screens and stickers. This included the first prestige level being made up of homages to Zombies, and the Christmas event that included a zombie Santa. Sticking with the horror theme, there is currently a Squid Game 2 crossover taking place which has been a lot of fun.

I might not play as much Zombies as I once did, but it was still good to see it return. At heart I may still be wishing for a Zombie Chronicles 2 (the older maps are much better), but this is a decent way to waste an hour, and killing the undead is as fun as ever. I did like the Christmas crossover that made the enemies into festive versions, especially the spider monsters wearing Christmas hats! I also like that there is a dedicated 'directed' mode that actually guides you through the steps needed to complete the ever complicated story missions within the maps. Even on this mode I struggle to get things done, but hope one day to succeed!

Wellwood (2024) - Sci-fi Horror Film Review

Wellwood is a sci-fi horror film that was directed by Eliza Hooper, written by Reid Collums and that successfully gets by with a minimal cast. There are moments of horror, definite moments of sci-fi, but with a low-key localised story that is more about the acceptance of death than anything else.

Nick (Collums) has gone away with his terminally ill wife Laura (Camille Balsamo) to stay at a secluded woodland property near a remote American town. With Laura weak, the couple have decided to take their honeymoon in the country, rather than travelling abroad. While Laura has come to terms with the fact that she is dying, Nick remains ever optimistic, still researching possible new treatments for her tumour. When a U.F.O unexpectedly crash lands near their cabin, Nick discovers a badly injured alien creature (performed by Adam Dougherty). Initially he tries to care for the alien, but once he discovers it has the ability to self heal from seemingly any wound, Nick becomes obsessed with finding a way to harvest its blood in order to use it to try and save his wife.

With a small cast of characters you would need to have some protagonists that would be worth rooting for. With Nick however, you have a bit of a bumbling idiot. Kudos to him for trying to at first heal the creature he finds, but then that is ruined  by his constant torturing of it, to selfishly try and use its healing ability on Laura. This short-sightedness makes him into a very flawed character, and Laura unfortunately joins Team Torture when she too begins to hope it will be able to heal her. The creature is more deadly than initially expected, but I have to say, I was kind of on its side when the only experience it has with humans is them trying to hurt it! There are a small number of supporting cast members, favourite of which was Sheriff Bradley (Lance E. Nichols - Before I Wake), the only half decent person to be found in the whole film, certainly better than his irritating busy-body Deputy Gracie Marsh (Keisha Castle-Hughes - Game of Thrones TV series).

The special effects were not bad, I especially liked the bioluminescent look of the bright blue alien blood. The creature was mostly wonderfully designed, the only complaint I had were the alien's overly large eyes, which gave it a bit of a cartoon look. Over the course of the movie it has a bit of a transformation, I did like its later form more, seemed to feel a tiny bit more realistic than the small and gangly initial look. There isn't much horror until the third act, with that having a gradual ramp up of threat. Through it all though are the annoying protagonists, and Laura having arthouse style dream sequences where she is underwater surrounded by decaying jellyfish creatures. I can't say I ever really got what those scenes were going for. What could have been a bitter sweet story about dealing with loss is lost a bit with characters who seem all too eager to treat an alien creature as if it is a tool, rather than a living being.

This indie movie worked well, the small cast didn't feel too small, and the general outline of the story wasn't bad. Letting it down were the unlikeable leads, who do make some baffling decisions over the course of the hour and a half runtime. For those interested, there is a mid-credit sequence that gives a tiny bit more detailing of the sort of abrupt ending. Wellwood wasn't a bad sci-fi horror, I did enjoy the creature effects, but it didn't do enough to really make me care about anything that was going on.

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The Lady of the Lake (2023) - Paranormal Documentary Review

Due to tardiness on my part, I am watching the Ryan Grulich written and directed paranormal/true crime documentary The Lady of the Lake on the day that I plan to put up the review, rather than the preceding weekend so it is very much in memory as I edit this. This documentary visually had a lot to it, including actors recreating moments, and a primary investigator who also does her own share of acting. While interesting, I did feel it was a little bit style over substance, with not that much information really filling up the hour and a half runtime.

Lake Crescent, located in Port Angeles, WA is reputed to be haunted by spirits of various people who have drowned in the area over the years. In particular, as the title suggests, this documentary is concerned with one woman - Hallie Lilingworth, a local waitress who was murdered in 1937, but whose body wasn't discovered until it mysteriously rose to the surface of the lake from where it had been dumped several years later.

The first third of the documentary is more of a true crime piece than a paranormal investigation. It charts the life of Hallie, and the circumstances that may have led to her murder by abusive husband Monty. The middle segment then looks at the lake in general, with experts talking about various sightings of both the lady of the lake and other ghosts in the area over the years (the experts here including someone with the fantastic name of Dr. Harlan McNutt). The final third then follows paranormal investigator Amanda D. Paulson as she uses a spirit box and the 'Estes Method' to try and get in contact with the lady of the lake.
I think partly what put me off this was how old it made me feel. Paulson is a constant throughout the documentary, she appears to be in her twenties and looked so young. Other experts also appeared much younger than my forty two years, to my knowledge this is the first time I have been forced to confront my own mortality due to a documentary. I also felt it was a bit over produced, there doesn't seem to be more than a few moments before the next ghostly image or recreation is being superimposed over the screen. Many of the recreations came across as a bit pretentious, with the decision to display Hallie and Monty's relationship via interpretive dance really odd. I actually thought Nick Perry as Monty was great, it was just the method of the actors dancing out their scenes that I admit left me feeling a bit awkward. This also applies to Paulson. I thought she was great as the key investigator for the documentary, I loved how unimpressed she seemed about everything, but also liked how serious she always looked, leading to some artsy shots of her looking deep in thought that reminded me of the excellent Garth Marenghi's Darkplace.

I didn't really feel that there was too much information provided to the viewer, with the middle part in particular feeling a little disjointed from the rest (though it had some interesting moments, such as a serial killer saying they had dumped a body there). The third part with the spirit box was the most moody of the lot, I liked how spooky the locations looked, such as the Lake Crescent Lodge that looked like it was straight out of the video game Silent Hill 2.

One thing you cannot complain about The Lady of the Lake is how visually interesting it is, there is always something going on to make it not just people talking to the camera. As weird a choice as the dance-based recreations were, they made for a memorable style, that while not really appealing to me, did stand out. The Lady of the Lake is out now on Digital and VOD via Uncork'd Entertainment.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Thursday 9th January 2025

As I keep saying to myself this year, new year new me, leaving the wallowing and implosion of last year behind and trying to be a better me! Hoping to be more regular with my five posts a week, so onwards to a trilogy of potentially terrifying news stories from the world of horror. I am currently on my third coffee of the day, as someone who is quite sensitive to caffeine I am bouncing off the walls as I write this post.

Some music news for a change to begin with. Dark electronic artist Miss FD has released the music video for their gothic track 'Curse Breaker'. This is described as a dark piano piece with '...laid bare female vocals that channel raw emotion, empowerment, and mystique'. The video follows Miss FD through a curse-breaking séance. 'Curse Breaker' is out now through Quantum Release Records.

Sticking with music, Denver, Colorado-based goth rock band Plague Garden have announced the release of their fourth album, Under the Sanguine Moon. The album features a vampiric theme, and includes tales of the undead, Greek mythology, and even a cover that the press releases states is 'unlikely'. The album is available now on LP and CD formats as well as on all digital outlets worldwide.

Finally for today, a teaser trailer has been released for upcoming apocalyptic action film Blackout. Starring Twana Barnett (Beast Games), Mike Ferguson (Amityville Uprising) and LeeAnne Bauer (When It Rains in L.A), and directed by David M. Parks (Static Codes), Blackout is currently in post production.

The Yorkie Werewolf (2024) - Comedy Horror Film Review

I've said it before and I will say it again; werewolves are just about my least favourite type of movie monster. Thankfully, the Michael DiBiasio-Ornelas written and directed comedy horror The Yorkie Werewolf does things a little differently, with a unique take on the traditional werewolf. With an amusing first email speaking about the movie, I had hopes the humour within the film would appeal, as humour can be so hard to get right. On the whole it succeeds, though does have its less good moments.

Jenny (Isabella Jaimie) is a witch living in a small American town. In the past there had been a localised war between the creatures of the night and the mafia based in the town, but a peace of a kind had been secured. This all changes when Jenny's coven are attacked by the mafia, with her mother ending up dead. In the process, Jenny inadvertently gets cursed to be a werewolf, though rather than a ravenous wolf, she instead turns into a pint-sized were-Yorkshire terrier (played by Risa Mei - Unicorn Overlord voice work). Teaming up with a timid vampire named Chris (Jacob Rainer), they set out to get revenge against the mafia boss - Big Nick (Juan Salvati), someone who turns out to not only be Jenny's father, but who is also a powerful warlock.

Comedy horror films can be a bit hit and miss, and there are some types of humour that just do not appeal to me, and which do rear their head in this movie. Still, I loved the in medias res prologue that had a chaotic scene out in snowy woodland, with various terrified mobsters being attacked. It displayed some of the simple, yet genuinely amusing dialogue that can be found throughout The Yorkie Werewolf. My hopes appeared to be dashed in the very next scene however when recurring jokes about bodily functions started up, something I never find funny. Thankfully, while there is a bit of a recurring joke around wind to be found throughout the story, those type of jokes were kept to a minimum and so I was able to look past them. The jokes here were never stomach achingly funny, but they did make me smile on occasion, again, especially with the silly dialogue that I loved. Maybe my favourite line in the movie was when someone was dying and they exclaim "Agh no! I had big dreams!"
Jenny made for a bit of an anti-hero, someone who is feisty and whose temper can sometimes get the better of her, but was likeable enough. Chris was similarly not that bad a character, a few fun jokes around his blood intake, and I liked how weedy he was, despite being a vampire. Salvati gave a spirited performance as the antagonist here, reminding me more than anything of a less scary version of Pop from English sitcom The League of Gentlemen. He made for a fun villain and he fitted the comedic tone of the film world well.

There was a good mix of action and more low-key scenes here, and as I said in my intro, this take on a werewolf was something memorable. Jenny changes into a tiny were-terrier who manages to look super cute, but is also shown to be very deadly. The costume design didn't look that realistic, but it really suited the vibe, gave a slight Ewok type look. There is a body count here, with a lot of blood shown on occasion, which was nice. The story was straight forward enough, it includes some drawn out scenes that didn't add much, but which were funny. I especially liked one long scene where Jenny and Chris visit gun shop owner Cliff (Roy Ward) and quiz him on the type of things he sells.

If the whole film had been bodily function jokes then I would not have enjoyed it as much as I did. Thankfully, most the humour comes from other sources, and while not laugh out loud did their job. I loved the werewolf design, and while some scenes seemed a little clunky with the pacing, overall, I had a good time with this. The Yorkie Werewolf was released on January 7th from Deskpop Entertainment.

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Cyberpunk 2077 (2020) - Dystopian Video Game Review

I very nearly decided not to attempt a review of Cyberpunk 2077. I have been playing it almost constantly over a four year time period, but it saw me restarting the game several times after being deep into it. The issues with this game at launch were many, but years later it is not only in a much better shape, but had the release of amazing DLC titled Phantom Liberty. I love cyberpunk stuff, I've reviewed things previously here, so here is my attempt at doing written justice to this frankly amazing game.

The game is a first person shooter with driving and RPG elements to it. Mainly taking place in Night City, you play as V (female version voiced by Cherami Leigh), a low level mercenary who through a series of misadventures ends up with an artificial construct of a legendary rocker and terrorist named Johnny Silverhand (voiced by Keanu Reeves - The Matrix trilogy) who died decades previously during an assault on Arasaka (in this dystopian future as is the way with cyberpunk, large corporations rule the world) embedded in her head. With this construct unavoidably taking over her mind, V goes on a hunt to try and find a way to get rid of the construct before it kills her.

I loved this game, I loved the stories told here, I loved the missions, I loved the combat, and I loved the atmosphere. It is a bit of a flawed gem as it got so close to complete greatness but there are some elements that hold it back from a perfect score for me. It plays most like Grand Theft Auto I guess, but instead of driving being the focus, it is the combat and story telling that is the biggest thing. For my build, my V had the ability to hack enemies, uploading viruses to them, and even being able to force them to commit suicide or turn against their teammates. Combat is fast paced and full of great music and brutal and bloody kills. Missions are plentiful and run the gauntlet of cyberpunk style situation. Side quests include such topics as discovering a self-aware vending machine A.I, rescuing a Buddhist monk who had been spliced with tech against his will, and discovering a candidate for the role of Night City mayor is secretly being controlled by a shady group. There is simply too much to go into, I loved the story telling here, there are some really powerful moments. One minor complaint is the amount of side quests that task you with stopping crimes, these little moments are so numerous that at the games start the map screen is covered in the symbols for them.

Then there is Phantom Liberty, taking place in an area of Night City inaccessible in the base game, this twenty to thirty hour DLC features Idris Elba (Luthor TV show) as agent Solomon Reed. It felt like a half-step sequel to the core game due to the amount of improvements here. The story missions are much more involved and detailed, while combat encounters have been levelled up (such as reinforcements arriving during battles). In total, the game took me around a hundred and seventy hours to finish, it is a large game and one that never gets dull due to the intense atmosphere that almost makes you feel like you are in a living city. That is where some complaints come in. The traffic situation is one of the biggest peeves. In the distance the roads are full of cars, yet these fade away when you get close to them, making the city streets feeling a bit dead in terms of vehicles. In general the cars are barely needed, there was a later attempt to add combat to driving, as well as to make the police an actual threat, but it couldn't really be achieved. There are various radio stations featuring some really cool music, but the songs on the stations aren't many (originally you could only listen to the radio while driving, so tracks are limited, something that becomes apparent after they added the ability to listen to music anywhere you go).

This has been a bad review, I just can't put into words how much I enjoyed Cyberpunk 2077, I may even go so far as to include it in my top ten games of all time, despite its issues! It is that much of a nova game choom! Cyberpunk as a concept is something I hope happens in the real world, for now, I'm happy to have such an atmospheric game as this one to occupy my time. Something special, if with some obvious flaws.

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The Last Video Store (2023) - Comedy Horror Film Review

The Last Video Store is a tremendous homage to the era of cheesy VHS movies that serves also as a send-up of those films. Co-directed by Cody Kennedy and Tim Rutherford (who also co-wrote this along with Joshua Roach), this horror comedy may follow a path that other films have carved (Final Girls was the first one that sprang to mind), but this had style in spades.

Nyla (Yaayaa Adams in her film debut) has headed to the hard to find secluded movie rental store 'Blaster Video' to return some tapes that her father had rented. After realising the girl has no interest in movies, the store owner and sole employee; Kevin (Kevin Martin in his feature length film debut) decides to educate her on the films she had returned. It is then that he notices a strange fourth tape, and upon turning it on is shocked to realise it is the legendary 'videonomicron', a mythical videotape that is said to have the power to bring movies to life. With the three films that Nyla returned including a creature feature and a slasher, this turns out to be quite the problem, as the antagonists of those films manifest within the video store, with Nyla and Kevin being forced to fight for their very survival.

I got some Jumanji vibes from the set-up for the film, the protagonists forced to endure the nightmare they unknowingly unleashed, though for this limited to a single location. Nearly the entirety of the film takes place in the dark video store, not a problem as the set design is wonderful, walls adorned with posters, neon lighting around, and some maze like areas. With Nyla and Kevin you have an 'odd couple' dynamic with them both complete strangers and with differing perspectives on things, but forced to team up to survive. Kevin is a loner geek with an encyclopaedic knowledge of films, while Nyla is have someone more like the viewer, who has no idea about any of the movies Kevin is going on about. For much of the film she seemed a bit stand-offish, and it took a while for it to seem like the two had started to warm to each other. Kevin was likeable if a bit puny, I did find it funny how he spends nearly the entire film drinking cans of beer.
Star actor who played a bit of a neutral character was Viper (Josh Lenner - Bio-Cop), this character was pulled from an action film by Kevin to help the duo out. Coming from a trashy action film, Viper was very amusing, and there was even a fun training montage when he is preparing for battle. He had an interesting character arc, with the eventual realisation that he not only wasn't a real person, but that the film he was pulled from is widely regarded as a terrible movie.

The horror comes from the three films that Nyla had been returning. The first of which is a creature feature horror with a CGI monster that looked purposely fake when in the real world. The meat of the film comes from the second movie invasion, a Jason Vorhees type slasher called Castor (Leland Tilden - Urban Legends: Final Cut) whose hockey mask actually makes sense here as his tragic and funny backstory saw him as the goalkeeper for a hockey team drowned under the ice in a hockey arena by his bullying teammates. There are some fun nods to the quality of the films that are manifesting, such as one victim turning into a mannequin when killed, the exact same severed head appearing for different victims, with Kevin commenting the filmmakers were being cheap and using existing props from other movies. There are quite a few fight scenes here, and one kill in particular near the end that looked great.
The design of the film was impeccable, there are cheesy adverts, cheesy excerpts from the movies covered, and lots of warping effects to make scenes resemble VHS tapes when they are having tracking issues. I liked how the end credits have the film playing quickly in reverse as if a VHS tape was being rewound, but that had made me expect an after credits sequence that never materialised.
The soundtrack is mostly stellar, lots of eighties sounding synth music, though there was one piece of classical music that felt like it outstayed it's welcome. 

The characters are a bit strange but I thought The Last Video Store was an excellent comedy horror that displays a lot of love for the genre of movies it is making jokes from. With some unexpectedly moving moments, and a constant barrage of really cool looking special effects, this was a fun film which at seventy three minutes long (not including the end credits) was probably the ideal length due to the limited location and small cast of characters. The Last Video Store came to ARROW, the streaming subscription platform on 9th December last year.

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