The King of Pop is dead!

Michael Jackson; legend is dead. I'm sure everyone already knows that.

Here's a true story; I got into horror films, and especially zombie films due to Michael Jacksons thriller film/video. When I was young my sister was really into Micky J, she brought the videotape of Thriller. From the first time I saw it I was hooked! I remember as a kid putting plastic vampire teeth into my mouth and pretending I was Mick J turning into a Werewolf "GO AWAY!" classic line, from one of the best music videos of all time.

So without further ado; here is Michael Jacksons amazing zombie song;

Wolfenstein (X-box Live Arcade)

Wolfenstein is said to be one of the first ever first person shooters. It is easy to see from playing it the elements which came to be the classic Doom.

The game is set (at least at first) in Castle Wolfenstein during World War II. You play as a captured American soldier who manages to escape from his cell. You traverse different floors (levels) in order to escape. The game is corridor based, and maze like, and features lots and lots of Nazi imagery. There are numourous portraits of Hitler about the levels, and lots of Swaztikas, so gives the impression of being in an evil place, though less so than the excellent space setting of Doom.

There are not many enemy types - Aryan Soldiers, German Shepards, and a few others, and not many weapon types (a knife, a pistol, a machine gun, and a gatling gun is all). Many of the levels are quite sparse, and all enemies let out a warning sign before attacking by shouting at you in German making it easy to get the first hit in.

The game has 6 different chapters, each with 9 or 10 levels, and at 400 Microsoft points this has real value for money. It's only really on the 6th chapter that enemies become really numerous, but each chapter features great bosses. I mean, at the end of the 3rd chapter you get to fight Hitler! (wearing a giant robot suit).

A great game to see where the roots of the first person shooter started.

Last House on the Left Remake - Horror Film Review

Well I got round to watching the remake of Wes Cravens 'The Last House on the Left'. I admit I have never seen the original, it's not really something I thought I would like to see. I don't know how faithful or different the remake is to the original, but it was a good film, though very bleak.

A criminal on his way to a maximum security prison is sprung by his brother and girlfriend. The criminals cowardly son accidentally gets two 17 year old girls involved with the fugitives, and as a result are kidnapped. One of the girls 'Mari' causes the car they are travelling in to crash in the woods. Prompting the bleakest scene in the film involving death and rape which actually led to a few people walking out of the cinema, heh. The film really picks up pace from here, and leads to a fantastic last third where retribution is attained and people are killed in various gruesome and violent ways.

The film is bleak as mentioned, in a Straw Dogs type of way. There are some fantastic one liners in the film, and some amusing sequences as well. For the record, the psycho girlfriend of the escaped convict is darn hot! (played by Riki Lindhome) It helps I guess that she spends near half of her overall screen time topless, heh. The entire cast are all attractive though, there is no one ugly in the entire film. The action is violent, and graphic, and there is plenty of the old red stuff spilt. The end of the film was a bit over the top, but enjoyable.

So yes, for a bleak 'realistic' horror film this is recommended, just be prepared for a gruelling ride!

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Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (2007) - Horror Videogame Review (Nintendo DS)

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin is the second Castlevania game to turn up on the DS, and about the billionth Castlevania in the series. Like the previous DS and GBA ones it is a Metroidvania, meaning that the game takes place in one huge level - Dracula's Castle - Castlevania. Unlike the others though, this does feature mini levels.

The game takes place during World War II. The amount of death and suffering in the world has inadvertently summoned Castlevania, which is certainly an interesting concept. Two people head to the castle to defeat Dracula as their ancestors have done before. There they discover that Dracula is not about, but instead a vampire named Brauner has used his painting magic to seal off the dark lord's power and taken control of the castle for his own end.

The game is a platform RPG like before. You control two characters - a female magic user, and the Belmont like whip using character. They can be switched about at the press of a button, and can do combo attacks. Items and spells hidden around the castle help you power up, and level up. Much of the game takes place in Brauner's various paintings, so as well as the typical Castlevania locations (eg: clock tower, dungeons) there is also fresh locations such as pyramids, and a circus of the damned. The level based nature of this game was a disappointment at first, but really it is still the one big level, as all can be revisited anytime to find new secrets, items, and hidden areas. The bosses as always are fantastic, and feature many of the usual suspects (including Dracula's henchman Death).

The music is ace, the enemies are the same as usual but cool. The game is about ten hours long. Lots of replay value due to various fun sub-missions given to you by a ghost, additional characters to play the game as, and a cool boss-rush mode which features many of the bosses from the previous DS game.

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin is another fantastic entry in a most spectacular series!

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Terminator: Salvation - Sci-fi Film Review

Is this film (the fourth in the Terminator series) better than the legendary first 2? The answer is no, but thankfully it is a lot better than the terrible Terminator 3.

The film is set in the future, after judgement day. The humans are fighting the robots, who are controlled by Skynet. John Conner (played by Christian Bale) discovers orders by Skynet to assassinate a young man called Kyle Reese, who of course as is know from Terminator is John Conner's future (or should that be past) Dad.

The film is very much an action film, there is hardly any quiet moments. As an action film it works well though. The character of John Conner is not very sympathetic, he comes across as quite an arse which makes it kinda hard to root for him. Bale kinda makes his lines unintentionally funny sometimes by the hyper gruff way he delivers them.

The film has kinda Mad Max feel in places, the film takes place out in desert mostly, and events seem far more sedate than the flash forwards Sarah Conner has in the originals. Here there is no almighty war, or mounds of skulls, the humans use guerrilla tactics, and the robots only seem to turn up when trouble occurs.

Like all the other films there is a cyborg concerned in a main role. This time the Cyborg seems to be Skynets original version, in stasis he is released near the start of the film after a huge explosion awakenings him. Part of the film follows his journey.

Arnie makes an appearance! He looks the best ever! He only appears in CGI form! He looked far too old in Terminator 3, so using a CGI version is ace. He's modelled on the original Terminator look (so young) but has been buffed up and made taller to look like a monster, entertaining. Lots of references and quotes are made in the film, which is a nice nod to the fans, and a mixed version of the iconic theme tune features in the film also.

Worth watching, not fantastic, but entertaining in a brain dead kind of way.

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Drag Me to Hell (2009) - Horror Film Review

I saw a new film! Yes, I have gotten a unlimited cinema pass, so shall be seeing mostly new films from now on. Drag Me to Hell has been out for a while. There's an advertisement for it at a bus stop I pass on the way to work, I always think to myself 'drag me to Hell? I am in Hell already!' as I drive past it. Having got a unlimited cinema pass for Cineworld I made Drag Me to Hell the first film I saw.

True to the title of the film the intro sequence sees a young boy literally dragged into Hell due to a harsh curse made by a group of the travelling community. The main storyline for the film is that a bank worker (attractive Alison Lohman) has also been cursed by one of them. She finds that she has just three days before a demon will arrive to drag her soul to Hell, so she must find an escape to her predicament. Her boyfriend in the film is played by the main character from Jeepers Creepers.

The film is kinda generic, and it is really obvious what is going to happen (though saying that, the ending was really cool). The characters all seem far too easy to dismiss all the weird stuff going on (Alison's boss seems to find the fact she's gushing blood out her nose not too strange for instance) and the film relies far too much on sudden scares to make you jump. There is quite a comedy recurring comedy character of a dead woman who keeps appearing, intentionally comedic it lends itself well to the otherwise serious story. Where else can you see a corpse of an old woman puke up bile into a girls mouth?

I enjoyed Drag Me to Hell, and it's directed by Sam Rami for gods sake!

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E3 2009 - X-Box 360 Horror News

Woop, just saw the E3 XBox 360 presentation. Games of note relevant to this site;

First for action games. two new Halo games are coming out, the ODST, and also another more mysterious one called Halo: Reach (like the popular brand of toothbrush).

The new Splinter Cell game Splinter Cell: Conviction was shown in playable form, it looked real good, and Sam Fisher looks like a complete badass now.

The next Metal Gear Solid game is going to come out on the XBox 360. The main character is Raiden (god I hope he's better than he was in the awful Metal Gear Solid 2) and the game is titled Metal Gear: Rising.

Onto HORROR! Heh. Alan Wake was shown in playable form. It kinda looked like a less scary Silent Hill, and reminded me quite heavily of Alone in the Dark. The play though showed Alan as he chases after some type of monster which has kidnapped his friend (or something) He ran through some woods, then got a cable car to a shack which was promptly demolished by a bulldozer.

Left 4 Dead 2 was announced. I have yet to play Left 4 Dead, so I really need to pick that up while people are still playing it!

Anyway that is E3 at the moment. Looking forward to more reveals for the other platforms!

TMNT (2007) - Super Hero Videogame Review (PS2)

Hang on, I hear you cry, this is not horror! I disagree, 4 giant mutated Turtles rampaging round a city? Sounds like horror to me! Ok so it isn't horror at all, but there are plenty of Monsters in this game.

Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles was my favourite cartoon when I was a kid. A few years back a CG film was released, I haven't seen it, but it appears this game is the game of that movie, and includes cut scenes, as well as I assume the soundtrack, and story.

The basic plot is that the Turtles have kinda parted ways, but when an evil millionaire employs the Foot clan to seemingly help him open a portal to a alternate dimension they must unite once more.

The game has two different styles to it. Half the game is a 3D and sometimes 2D platformer. As one of the 4 turtles you leap and swing your way Prince of Persia style round New York. The other half of the game is a 3d brawler. Every so often you will come into an arena where waves of enemies will attack you, though there's only really 1 button to use to attack.

The game is very easy, but to make up for this, it is also thankfully amazingly fun. True, a large amount of levels take place on New York rooftops, but there is still variety. It is a good design choice to keep the platforming, and fighting enemies separate. The platforming in particular is really cool. The turtles can run along walls, swing from poles, and basically do anything the prince can do. The soundtrack is also a real highlight, and for a PS2 game it looks amazing!

Tesco's had reduced the price of all it's PS2 games to just £3, so was quite a bargain. As a side note, bizarrely it seems Shredder is dead pre game, you fight him in a flash back, but that's his only appearance.

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Ju-On The Grudge 2 - Horror Film Review

I've had this for the longest time. A friend of mine is always moaning at me for not watching it, but I thought the original Grudge film was utter tripe, so had no desire to watch the sequel.

I watched the American sequel and loved it. Amazingly this is even better than that! I am so surprised at how good this film is. The plot is really clever, The film is split into about 6 different stories. A film crew has visited the haunted house of the first film. Each story focus's on a different member of the crew and cast, and ends with their gruesome and terrifying demise. It is really clever in how the stories entwine, seemingly events are shown in random order, but it all comes together to make sense in the end, and is damn creepy!

Don't let the poor original put you off. This is a damn good film, a really good Asian horror, and real creepy, I'll be having nightmares for sure!

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Red Faction - Sci-fi Videogame Review (Playstation 2)

Recently re-purchased Red Faction for the Playstation 2. I had it in the past, and really enjoyed it with its 'destructible' environments. This time I literally had to drag myself through the game, it was so hard! I was saving my game after nearly every single bad guy I killed. I'm sure I must have accidentally played it on hard mode, heh, least that would make me feel better about my struggle.

You play Parker - a miner working on Mars. The miners are hideously treated by the Ultor corporation, and theres been increasing signs of revolt by the brutalised and over worked miners. Minutes into the game a miner snaps and attacks a guard, initiating a total riot. A secret underground organisation called 'Red Faction' uses this to strike at the Ultor corporation. Most the game sees you taking orders from the Red Faction, going to various places to investigate a man made disease which is sweeping the colony.  Look; there are zombies in the game, sure the game is pretty much all sci-fi so doesn't really fit in this blog, but it has zombies in one section of the game!

The game is kinda Half-Lifeish in that there are no 'levels' as such, but is just one massive pretty linear level, it's quite cool. Mainly you fight Ultor Security forces, and a Mercenary group stationed on Mars. There is a variety of weapons as standard - machine guns, pistols, rocket launchers. The most annoying weapon is the Rail Driver, it's a one hit kill, so many times an enemy miles in the distance will pixel perfect take you out before you even know they are there. You also get to drive vehicles, theres ground based vehicles, as well as flying ships, and submarines, all heavily armed.

The game is hella cheap now, I think it cost me about £2. It is a really big game for an first person shooter, so is value for money.

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Outpost - Zombie Film Review

Outpost is an ok film, it just fails to get as creepy as it at first seems it will be.

The plot concerns a man who hires a band of mercenaries to get him to a location of interest in the middle of a war torn country in Eastern Europe. The location turns out to be an old Nazi bunker, seemingly abandoned. Mysterious bright lights, and figures in the woods surrounding the bunker force the mercenaries to take shelter inside. As the film goes on it is revealed what exactly the man who hired the mercenaries is looking for, and also who the mysterious figures are (hint: they are Nazi ghost/zombies).

The film starts off real good, it's mysterious, unsettling in a kind of 'House on Haunted Hill' way (the remake obviously), but after people start getting killed off it goes downhill. Despite bullets being hammered into peoples eyes, and people being knifed, the violence is very mellow, hardly any blood at all, and extreme close ups kinda hide the violence.

The films plot is intriguing to begin with. It is actually partly based on rough truth (Wiki 'Die Glocke' to see what I mean), but I found reading about that, much more creepy than the actual film. The ending is really lame, in the commentary the director reveals the ending they intended to have for the film couldn't be done due to lack of time and money. There is an alternate ending on the DVD, and I think if that had been part of the film it would have ended much better than the petering out it does do.

An ok film, looks great, good soundtrack, and atmosphere, but runs out of ideas mid way into the film.

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The Undead: Volume 2 Skin and Bones - Zombie Horror Anthology Book Review

Zombie books are great. Zombie compilation books can be even better sometimes. This book contains 14 short stories, 1 novella, and 1 preview.

Short stories are nearly always fun to read. In this book each story has it's own piece of art work to accompany it. It's a shame that nearly all the pictures are utterly dreadful. Here's a run down of the stories;

Cyclopean by David Wellington
A strange fungus has taken over an office building, and the workers contained within. I loved David Wellingtons trilogy (Monster Island, Monster Nation, and Monster Planet) so was looking forward to this one, and yes, it was a great start to the book.

The Abbot and the Dragon by David Dunwoody
Set in a medieval fantasy land. It concerns a young boy who has been exiled from his village and is being hunted by both a zombie dragon, and a crazed warrior. Has a cool ending.

The Wranglers by Eric Brown

A story about Zombie Cowboys. Not too great.

Casual Friday by Matthew Shepherd

A fun story set mostly in an office, about a man whose job is sending him crazy. A twist on the usual zombie story.

Agent Red by Philip Hansen

A high action story following a group of soldiers battling the undead in an urban setting.

Something Fishy this way comes by Joel Sutherland

An odd story, about a boy who survives zombie Armageddon, and the strangeness that comes after.

The Hill by Eric Shapiro
The first (and only) creepy tale. I miss being scared by zombie stories, so many just fail or don't even try to be creepy. In this tale no one ever leaves their homes anymore. There is something bad outside. A boy and his sister decide to head out to see for themselves just why everyone is in hiding.

The Finger by Matt Hults

A fun morality tale. A man has a plan to sue a restaurant by faking an accident. Quite humorous.

Food for the Dead by Meghan Jurado

A fantastic short essay about the consequences on the food chain caused by zombie Armageddon.

The Traumatized Generation by Murray Leeder

An unpleasant story about desensitising the young to the undead. A good tale, and a sad one.

Alive eye for the dead guy by Ryan Thomas

Comedic story about a TV producer who decides to do a zombie makeover show. Fun.

'Til the Lord Comes by Scott Standridge

A young mortuary worker witnesses the dead rising. But is it really happening, or is there another explanation?

Ravenous Angels by A Courters

This would make a great film. A sheriff in a small American Town investigates the bizarre behaviour of the Towns teenagers. Cool twist as well to it.

Misfortune by Vince Churchill

The shorts end with a classic zombie Armageddon tale. Perhaps the unluckiest man left alive attempts to survive, and also to keep hold of his winning Lotto ticket.

The rest of the book is a story by D.L Snell. The story takes up about 1/4 of the book, and is rubbish. It's a coincidence that he's the Editor of the book, and also has the biggest story. Skin and Bones is about a necromancer who has brought the dead back to life to get his revenge on a grave digger and his family. Unpleasant, boring, and just plain bad.

Overall, as compilations go it's not the worst one out there. It would have been nicer to have more actual creepy stories, but overall most the stories were good.

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Day of the Dead (2008) - Zombie Film Review

Day of the Dead (1985) is one of my favourite films of all time. It is definitely the best zombie film in existence. The idea of a remake horrified me. The Dawn of the Dead remake was good, and that was mostly due to the fact that it had virtually no similarities to the ace original. The Night of the Living Dead remake was not very good at all. This was because it was near identical to the amazing original. Which path would this remake follow? Would it be a pale imitation, or would it run with the themes of the original and be a totally different film?

As the film started I watched in horror, the film seemed to be a complete joke, ruining my fond memories. But then I started to realise - sure it was an insult to have the same title, but as its own film it was entertaining, and also quite original.

The film is a stand alone one, not related to Dawn of the Dead (2004). In this film a small town has been put under quarantine by the American government. The Army have set up roadblocks around the town. No one is allowed in, no one is allowed out as there is an airborne virus in the town. It starts off with flu type symptoms (swine flu?) this is then followed by death, and zombie resurrection. A small group of young survivors who find themselves immune must find a way to escape the horror.

Now for the weird bits. The zombies are runners, as is the vogue nowadays. They also have some intelligence. zombies play dead, set ambushes, and are able to use guns. They also have super powers. zombies crawl along ceilings, have immense strength, and can jump really damn high, which reminded me of the old Fulci Italian zombies. This looked quite ridiculous at first. When the infected turn into zombies they literally do with no gradual change; when infected the victim rots in super quick time, as in a few seconds they go from healthy looking, to green and rotting.

The film has plenty of gore, and has nice nods to the original without being an awful parody of it. There is an underground bunker involved, as well as a similar character to the almighty Bub (the character in this film is called Bud). So yes, Day of the Dead is recommended, it also helps the main female character (played by Mena Suvari) is hot!

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