Persona 5 (2017) - Adventure Video Game Review (Playstation 4)

For reasons that baffle me to this very day (and which haunt my nights) I decided to review Persona 4 after only 24 hours playtime back in 2010. I think I must have assumed I was near the end, however it was actually 91 hours long. I would like to think I'm more professional nowadays and so for this review of Persona 5 I have actually completed it first! It took me a whole year to finish this RPG, clocking in with a game time of 97 hours.

Persona 5 starts with your school age character (knick named Joker) being arrested whilst in the middle of a daring casino robbery as part of a group known as the Phantom Thieves. He is taken away to an interrogation room where he is asked to recount his version of events leading up to his capture. A large chunk of the game is a playable recollection of events. Joker arrives in Tokyo to stay with a coffee shop owner Sojiro, due to being on probation after having been charged with assault. Him and his new friends through a series of events unlock 'personas' which are manifestations of their inner psyche. They also gain the ability to enter 'palaces' which are in a supernatural realm and which are twisted versions of the palace owners mindset. Basically kind of like Inception; by going into a mind palace and stealing the treasure located there they are able to 'steal the heart' of their target which results in them developing a conscience and admitting their crimes in the real world. However the more they change people to better help society the more they find their actions become investigated by the police and government and soon find themselves with danger of arrest...

I loved Persona 4, and I love Persona 5 but I don't think story wise it is as much of a draw. Early on we are introduced to the antagonist and so there is none of the mystery and surprise that came with Persona 4's hunting a serial killer storyline. Instead over the course of a year you go after different targets, starting with a teacher who abused his position to sexually harass students, you end up going after business leaders and politicians. As you do so your fame increases with public opinion constantly spurring you on to further actions.

Start a War (2018) by Entropy Zero - Album Review

Start a War is the 10 track debut album for composer Maks SF under his Entropy Zero name. Previously he was written music for video games and commercials, he describes the music of Entropy Zero as 'sounds of war blended with heavy industrial and electronic music'. If I had to sum up the sound of this album it would be that it sounds like a collection of boss battle video game music. I always have to preface by saying I don't consider myself well versed in music, so everything I put here is from my own personal viewpoint and not based on knowledge of the subject.

First track Eliminate is a statement of intent for the album and does sound remarkably like boss battle music you would find in a game. This is the style that permeates the whole of Start a War with the majority of the tracks all sounding kind of similar but with different flourishes to them to set them apart. Second track War Machine features trailer composer Cliff Lin (Nuclear Winter), while third track Dancing Body of the Dead has elements of dub-step to it that sounded like it would be right at home in DmC: Devil May Cry. This track was an early favourite. Constant Domination, Reloading, Fire in the Hole, and Decimation all are high energy, and good in their own right, but variations on a theme, Party With The Devil stood out with its Mortiis type heavy industrial drumming. Penultimate track Unstoppable injected some drum and bass into the sound which went perfectly with the fast pace. Finally it is up to Crimson Sunrise to close things out. This is a much slower track than the rest with a nice Nine Inch Nails feel to it. It is also the very best track on the album, it was a strong epic finish to Start a War.

There isn't a single track on this album that doesn't sound like it would be an odd fit for any type of battle music, personally I felt that there were a few in the middle that all sort of melded into one in my head. There were some stand out tracks though with Crimson Sunrise being the most interesting one. It is the problem I always have with instrumental soundtrack albums in that the tracks are too short for my liking, just as it gets going the track usually ends, with an average length of around two minutes per track and an overall play time of 22 minutes I was always left wanting more, in general though I do like to get lost in tracks, especially when there is a music beat that I really enjoy. Entropy Zero's Start a War was released 9th February, it can be brought or streamed from a variety of locations, check here for details, is worth a listen.

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Castlevania (2017) - Horror TV Show Review

Castlevania is one of my most favourite video game series of all time, and also one of my favourite game styles of all time (Metroidvania, which is one huge level that opens up as you gain new abilities). Hearing there was a Netflix series out based on the games, specifically Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse I was interested to see how it turns out. Thankfully this four part cartoon is not only beautifully made, but also captures the violence and horror of the games.

Dracula (Graham McTavish - The Hobbit trilogy) falls in love with a human female named Lisa and they end up getting married. However the church mistake Lisa's medical skills as witchcraft and she is burned at the stake. A distraught Dracula in anger summons an army of demons from Hell with the aim of wiping out all humanity. Trevor Belmont (Richard Armitage - also The Hobbit trilogy); a vampire hunter gets caught up in this unfolding chaos while visiting a besieged town, together with a magic user named Sypha (Alejandra Reynoso) they attempt to protect the town from the evil hordes...

This first season of Castlevania is frustratingly only four 20 minute episodes long, which was apparently due to Netflix not having too much faith in the show. Well due to the great response the second season has already been approved and is going to have more episodes. The animation for this show is of a high quality, as is the voice acting, though it did feel weird that everyone in this fictional land has English accents when you assume they would be in the Romanian region. I was pleased to see this was handled maturely and seriously without the need to inject humour into the bleak goings on. It doesn't shy away from scenes of violence with even the first episode showing what appeared to be a child torn in half. Throughout the show we get lots of blood and violence, even if there isn't an over abundance of fan service. Favourite moment of violence for me was someone getting their eye whipped out in episode 2! This mature tone sometimes felt a bit overblown, everyone is so serious and talking in an adult way that it felt like they were trying too hard for what is essentially a cartoon.

Haunted Tours: Episode 2 'I Killed Them' - Paranormal Reality TV Show News and Episode Review

In June of last year I first mentioned the paranormal investigation reality TV show Haunted Tours. I have seen quite a few of these shows in the past and usually not a lot happens in them, they are overproduced with tacky recreations and hyperbole. This one promised to be more extreme, but also more real in what it portrays.

The preview episode I watched was the second one in the series and had the group of Stephen Erkintalo (the investigator), Victoria Catherine (the host), Brian and Jake Jalbert (the cameramen), and producers heading to Ashley's Restaurant which is said to be haunted by two different spirits. One of the spirits was meant to be that of a frequent visitor to whatever it used to be in the 1800's who ended up brutally murdered, while another is that of a child who was killed by a train on the nearby railway tracks.

Over the course of the 45 minute episode Erkintalo does his best to get in contact with the spirits using any means necessary short of outright being aggressive to any nearby ghosts. His tools include a Ouija board that allegedly has human ashes and blood smeared on it, a spirit recorder, and using a mirror to try and bring forth spirits into the real world. He seems to be the wild card of the group in the disruptive energy he brings. He comes across as a risk taker designed to antagonise the other crew members with his actions, such as when he tells any spirits present they are welcome to harm the group, or when he decides to lay down on an in-use railway track in an attempt to cajole spirits into interacting with him.

The group dynamic isn't one of firm friends, instead you get the feeling of a unified goal but with different personalities rubbing against each other leading to a feeling of simmering, yet very mild tension. This felt more real due to the swearing the cast do, as well as the avoidance of those cheesy recreations I mentioned earlier. Yet being bare bones (though focusing on the entertaining stuff) not a lot really happens aside from people saying they feel a presence, or the spirit recorder occasionally making noises that could be inferred to be relevant to the case the group are studying. Sill this is all par for the course for these type of shows and I liked how the group keep referring to a previous episode which gives a good sense of flow and cohesion, whilst at the same time indicating that viewers can expect things to get more intense as the show progresses.

Haunted Tours may be going into a crowded market but it has enough to it that it fits in well, and it was nicely edited. Occasionally (at least in this episode) it felt like not enough was going on to maintain interest, but that was only on a couple of occasions. I liked the group dynamic of sceptics and believers as it gave a more balanced look at things, especially with some of the comments made about things they are doing. Haunted Tours is out on Amazon and has had some good reviews, you should check it out if you get the chance.

The Shape of Water (2017) - Fantasy Film Review

When I first heard about The Shape of Water on a podcast it didn't really appeal to me. From what I gathered it was like a re-telling of the Creature from the Black Lagoon though set in the modern day. It isn't either of those things, though I can see what they meant by the former comparison. I was tired after a long day and not really in the mood for the cinema but I made an effort to go anyway for this blog, but I don't know why, but lately I am not that keen on soppy films. Regardless of my thoughts on the meat of this film, this is a film that is full of fantastic editing and performances, it was an early pleasure to realise this was directed by Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth, The Devil's Backbone).

Set during the 1960's this tells the story of a mute cleaning lady; Elisa (Sally Hawkins) who works at a top secret research facility. She discovers that a fish like creature (Doug Jones - Pan's Labyrinth, Ouija: Origin of Evil) is being held captive there and ends up befriending it. Realising its life may be in danger she hatches a plan to free it...

While there are horror elements to this it is very much more of a fairytale. Many of del Toro's films are like that, but this is more light than most his work with this feeling very twee and innocent, rather than dark and gloomy. This goes full on with the fairytale element with it even opening and closing with a narrator. This becomes a twisted love story and that aspect I found hardest to get on board with, especially when elements such as a song number appears that features a dreaming Elisa dancing on a stage with the merman creature, and some awkward sex scenes with the monster. It makes use of the 60's setting to portray the ugliness and double standards of the rampant racism and homophobia in that era, it was good that was highlighted rather than ignored, and in fact has parallels with how the creature itself is treated by those around it.

The Mist (2017) - Horror TV Show Review

What is wrong with the world when a stunning and beautiful show such as The Mist gets cancelled after just one season? I have just finished watching this ten part season over a three day period and was shocked to discover the story will likely never be finished now. This is based on the Stephen King short story of the same name, my usual disclaimer that I don't rate his work, yet once again a fantastic piece of media has been born from his words.

One day a thick mist rolls into a small American town in Maine, the inhabitants soon discover that madness and death comes to those who spend too long in the mysterious substance. Survivors have barricaded themselves in the mall, these include Eve Copeland (Alyssa Sutherland) and her daughter Alex (Gus Birney). Alex's dad Kevin (Morgan Spector) meanwhile is at the local police station when things go south. He joins up with a drug addict named Mia (Danica Curcic), an amnesiac soldier called Bryan (Okezie Morro), and Alex's best friend Adrian (Russell Posner) in order to find a way through the deadly mist and to his family...

To be honest I was hooked from the very beginning, the awesome prologue when Bryan wakes up in the mountains with no memory and in close proximity to the mist. This is a show that revels in being bleak, yet also with a justice that comes to those most deserving of punishment (and some that certainly do not). The core family of characters are in strife from the offset. Shortly before the fantastical horror begins Alex gets drugged and raped at a party, while Eve and Kevin have been having marital problems long before that awful event happened. I was a bit curious to see how a journey across a small town could last ten 45 minute episodes without feeling dragged out, yet there seemed to be no filler, everything that happens felt relevant even when characters are experiencing self contained stories within single episodes.

Alienation (2016) - Sci-fi Video Game Review (Playstation 4)

Alienation is an isometric twin stick shooter that felt very similar to Dead Nation, but with aliens instead of zombies. This may not be too surprising seeing as how both were made by the same developer: Housemarque.

This takes place in a world where aliens have secretly invaded and taken nearly complete control of the planet over several decades. The surviving army developed some special armour that was designed to make the wearer into a super soldier capable of surviving against the alien threat. With this new ability a group of four soldiers are tasked with exploring various locations around the globe in order to find a way for humanity to survive.

Where Dead Nation featured linear levels here instead you get huge open areas that are used for multiple missions. There are around six levels over the campaign, these include a Mexican naval base, a small American town, an Antarctic research base, as well as an alien ship. The levels are designed to look realistic with many of the locations featuring cars, buildings, trees and other such environmental detail that helps bring Alienation to life.

Night of the Demon (1957) - Horror Film Review

Until around a month ago I had never heard of Night of the Demon, however a chance conversation with a lady at my day job had her reveal to me it was the scariest film she had ever seen. I was intrigued and so come pay day I brought it on DVD. This film is known as Curse of the Demon in America and was edited down by 20 minutes to fit on a double bill.

Psychiatrist Professor Harrington was due to attend a paranormal psychology symposium where he aimed to expose Julian Karswell (Niall MacGinnis) as the leader of a devil worshipping cult. However before he was able to he died in mysterious circumstances, before he died he had spoken of having a curse placed on him by Karswell giving him a runic note. His colleague; John Holden (Dana Andrews) arrives in England determined to expose Karswell in Harringtons place, however he too is soon cursed, he is told he will die in exactly three days time. Holden is a huge skeptic and pays no heed to the warning, however the more strange things happen the more he begins to suspect that maybe something unnatural really might be happening...

Watching this in modern times you have to keep in mind how this would have appeared back in the day. This feels from its time with plenty of scenes of characters talking amongst themselves with action and horror kept to a minimum. I found this to be quite entertaining as I really did have no idea what was going to happen, though like Holden I too believed it would turn out to be a hoax and so found it hard to invest too deeply into the horror aspect. I haven't seen many films from around this time period but both House on Haunted Hill and The Haunting turned out to be less supernatural than at first it seems so my judgement was clouded.

Little Nightmares: The Hideaway (2017) - Horror Video Game DLC Review (Playstation 4)

The Hideaway is the second of three planned DLC levels for horror platformer Little Nightmares. I've realised my problem with the DLC packs so far is that I merely thought the main game was good, but I never loved it, I didn't care much about the story it was telling and I found the platform and puzzle parts to be an exercise in frustration. The first DLC titled The Depths I found to also be quite frustrating due to the amount of cheap deaths encountered. This time around it is much harder to die but the frustration was still there. Minor spoiler for DLC 1 to follow...

Having been captured by the janitor at the end of the first DLC this one begins with you quickly escaping and finding yourself on the janitors home turf of the boiler room. It also happens to be the home of the gnomes; neutral creatures that are scared of you. Earning their trust is the key to escaping this place and continuing your quest to escape The Maw (a giant floating fortress).

The Depths further explored the puzzles and situations involving water, this one is based around utilising nomes to assist you in pushing items and pulling switches. The main mission here is to gather together enough of the creatures to power up the main boiler which is your key to escaping. To do this you have to explore many many dingy rooms to locate enough nomes to help you. The puzzles don't get much more complex than throwing the little guys around, I only got stumped at one point and that was due to them frequently getting stuck behind objects.

The Cloverfield Paradox (2018) - Horror Film Review

I am pretty sure my best friend thinks Cloverfield is one of the worst horror films ever made, personally though I loved it. Then there was 10 Cloverfield Lane which again was quite fantastic despite that bananas ending. So the announcement of The Cloverfield Paradox being out on Netflix filled me with a special type of excitement I rarely feel nowadays. I know people have said this is a bit of a muddle, and I know that originally it wasn't even meant to be part of the Cloverfield series but regardless of all that this is a damn good film that provides a lot more connecting tissue than Lane ever did.

The film takes place in the not too distant future, a future in which energy sources on Earth are rapidly running out. A space station (The Cloverfield) was built in order to test a Shepard particle accelerator which if successful could provide unlimited energy to the planet. This station is manned by a multinational crew whose many attempts to get the accelerator working over the years always results in failure. On one of their final attempts it initially seems to work, however once the systems have cooled down the crew discover the Earth has vanished. Their experiment has caused a paradox, one in which they seem to have entered an alternate dimension, and one in which something very wrong has occured back on planetside...

On top of liking the Cloverfield series anyway I have a huge love for space based films, especially where horror is concerned. I also love things like time travel/alternate realities and so this film felt like it was designed to appeal to me. In lots of ways this reminded me of last years Life, though here there is no alien creature running rampant, instead the horror comes from the mystery of what is going on and the way in which each of the crew meet their untimely demise. There was a feeling of Final Destination in the way that the ship seems to be going against the crew with death by drowning, explosion, and the movement of matter all leading to some memorable scenes. Talking of Life this ends on quite a similar note, not as effective but still a great way to end things.

The Evil Within (2015) - Horror Graphic Novel Review

The Evil Within graphic novel is made up of the four issues of the comic run that was released as a prologue to the game of the same name. For some reason I thought this was going to be an actual novel, but a graphic novel is fine by me also. In the past comic book adaptations of video games never works out too well. I would say the closest comparison for this is the Silent Hill series of graphic novels. While they look awesome and are enjoyable I always found the schizophrenic art style and the way the stories were set out just led to a sense of frustration. With The Evil Within we get a self contained story that is well set out and which looks great.

Dana Robinson was on a long car journey when her vehicle breaks down in the middle of a rainy night. She heads to a diner to get assistance but instead finds a bunch of zombie like humans who give chase. She teams up with a guy she meets and later they meet up with a couple of others. For whatever reason they realise they are in some sort of a nightmare world full of monsters and traps that are out to kill them. They are all guilty of perceived crimes and it seems this world is intent on punishing them for their past mistakes...

The Evil Within straddles a fine line between fan service and telling a cohesive story. This fan service comes mainly from the boss monsters that appear, all the bosses from the game make an appearance at one point or another with each issue of the comic introducing another iconic monster to hound the survivors. It is hard to be too annoyed at this recycling due to several factors. The first being that the shared dream world contains the memories of all who have inhabited it, so much like the game itself it makes sense that the stronger memories would manifest. Secondly The Evil Within 2 also saw fit to repurpose these foes, and they are iconic so I liked their inclusion however lazy it may seem.

The Rotting Zombie's Round-up of Horror News for February 2018

Another news round-up, this time for everything received since last months one. First up horror legend Dee Wallace (Critters, Red Christmas) has joined the cast of DEAD Afterlife. The cast for this already included Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes), Bill Moseley (The Devil's Rejects, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Part 2), Kane Hodder (Friday the 13th series), and Bill Oberst Jr (Coyote, DIS). It sounded exciting already just reading this list of iconic names. The film itself has been described as 'Night of the Living Dead meets Heaven Can Wait', and has an interesting story. Donald has been murdered and has became a ghost. At his funeral he is shocked to see his corpse come to life and start eating his friends and family. Now he has limited time to stop his zombie body or his soul won't be able to get to Heaven.

A new poster has been released for The Owlman: Chapter 2 (also known as The Black Gloves) which obviously now implicitly states this is a continuation of the Owlman saga (after Lord of Tears). The film that is a prequel set in the 1940's is due for a Spring 2018 release and can be preordered here.

Eric Red (Body Parts, Bad Moon) has teamed up with the Horror Equity Fund for his new horror movie - White Knuckle. This film tells a story about a woman who survives a serial killer attack and decides to stop him from ever hurting anyone else.

A teaser trailer for upcoming horror Five Wild Animals has been released. Written and directed by Blair Hoyle (Happy Endings Are A Rarity) this is about a group of friends who travel to a small mountain town for a Halloween party, but instead find themselves the victims of an ancient ritual.



The guest judges for the 2018 Fractured Visions Film Festival are now known. These include Chris Crow, Dominic Brunt (Before Dawn), Giles Edwards, Shelagh Rowan-Legg, Emma Dark (Seize the Night), Diego Lopez, Richard Elliott, James Blower, Richard Geddes and Jay Kay.

Flesh of the Void is due to release on DVD - here (and a very limited VHS run - here). Pre sales started February 10th with normal sales from March 9th. The film is described as a 'grotesque and depraved depiction of what the act of dying could feel like. This was shot on Super 8 and 16mm and has caused some controversy. Apparently director James Quinn has been accused of devil worship among other things, and Sodom & Chimera Productions official website apparently got hacked four times by a radical Christian group in protest of this movie!

There is an Indie-GoGo campaign running at the moment to raise funds to make Scottish post-apocalyptic thriller Ribbons. This is to star Shauna Macdonald (The Descent, Star Wars: The Last Jedi) and tells the story of 5 houseguests locked in a basement during the onset of nuclear apocalypse. This is to be made on a micro budget with the filming to take place over just 4 days. They are looking to raise £5,000, currently £1,951 has been raised with 6 days left. if you want to contribute then head to their page here.



Video game news now with Snail Games announcing that VR multiplayer game ARK Park (based on survival game ARK: Survival Evolved) is going to be released on March 22nd. This sounds similar in idea to Jurassic Park and has you exploring a functioning dinosaur theme park. As well as exploration mode there is also a story mode in which you must defend your base from rampaging dinosaurs. This is due for release on Steam VR/HTC Vive, PSVR, and Oculus Rift, check out the trailer below.



Finally onto music news. Ludovico Technique have a new video for their single 'Absence', this was released on my birthday (13th February). That's all the news for this month, all light on details but I do what I can.

Blood Bride (2018) - Short Horror Film Review

Blood Bride is a short 14 minute horror film that has been released to coincide with Women in Horror month which is this February of course. This was directed by Michelle Romano and written by Corey Tourigny who both also feature in the short. It was produced for the Annual Massive Blood Drive PSA as one of a collection of shorts curated by the Soska Sisters. So this functions both as a fun little horror, as well as bringing attention to the importance of donating blood.

Grant (Tourigny) is an anxious husband whose wife (Romano) is in hospital close to death. Dr. Baron (Robert Catrini) suggests to him the chance of a cure, but for this cure they are going to require lots of Grant's blood...

This short is split into two different feeling parts. I loved the drama of the first part, the whole talk with Dr. Baron is done in silence with no music playing. I felt Catrini was the best thing about Blood Bride, he drew attention in every scene he appeared in and had one of the best lines said with malice. The second part becomes quite surreal as many inappropriately dressed nurses tease and toy with Grant before performing their sinister transfusion. This part didn't really make too much sense, though this is excused later on when context to this section is provided.

I enjoyed the general flow of this and how easily it slips into surrealness, the blood effects look good enough, while the acting I had no problem with for the main characters. Despite the simplistic story I enjoyed watching this, though for me Grant was a bit of a blank slate, possibly due to him being dizzy from blood loss or something, but his character doesn't really do much.

Blood Bride is due for release on February 19th 2018 at midnight on the Soska Sisters official YouTube channel, and ChicArt Public Relations are hosting a wrap party on Thursday February 22nd at 7pm at LONO Hollywood which is open to the public.

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