The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for April 6th 2023

My second news post of the week. In my dull news alert, I was lazy and ordered Greggs for breakfast today (Sunday at time of typing), they forgot to deliver my coffee which was the whole point of the order. First world problems and all that!

Some films featuring legendary actor Nicolas Cage have arrived on the Arrow streaming subscription platform. Here has taken to off the wall horror films like a duck to water, featuring in some very memorable ones in the past such as Willy's Wonderland, Color Out of Space and Mandy. In April three of his films get added to the service. Pay the Ghost has Cage as a grieving father haunted by the disappearance of his son a year previously, with him discovering the bizarre supernatural reason behind it.
Army of One is apparently based on a true story, with Cage armed with a samurai sword, out on a mission to Pakistan to kill Osama Bin Laden, upon the orders of a man that he believes to be God (Russell Brand).
Finally is Inconceivable, which has Cage's character and his wife befriending a mother and daughter new to the town, not realising the mother hides a terrible secret from her past. They are all added to the service on April 14th.

The Yellow Wallpaper is now out on Blu-ray from Bayview Entertainment. Directed by Kevin Pontuti, and starring Alexandra Loreth, Joe Mullins, and Jeanne O'Connor, this tells the story of a writer who is taken to a remote country estate by her husband, so that she can get some prescribed rest. It is there she becomes obsessed with the titular wallpaper, with her secretly writing about a woman that she believes may be trapped in the wallpaper.

Suburbanite is a thriller from Acort International and Midnight Releasing, that stars Joe Nemmers, Jodie Moore, Frank Mosley, Susana Gibb and Max Hartman. Directed by Andy Lohrenz, this tells the story of John, who accidentally runs a man over while returning home from work late one night. Hoping to hide his accidental crime, the man takes the body back to his house, but then the victim wakes up, and John must decide how far he will go to protect his name.

Harvest of the Dead: Halloween Night (2020) - Horror Film Review

I was a bit hesitant about watching Harvest of the Dead: Halloween Night, and that was due to it being a sequel to a film I hadn't watched, 2015's Harvest of the Dead. Both were co-directed with Peter Goddard, with him joined by Terence Elliott for the sequel, with them both also writing the story for this (and Elliott playing the part of the killer). This may be a low budget indie horror, but I was actually surprised by how much more I enjoyed the film than I had expected to. Likely some spoilers for Harvest of the Dead to follow.

It is the day after Halloween and Sally Burns (Dani Thompson - Devil in the Woods) and her friends are joining up at her house for her birthday party. Meanwhile, Detective Faust (Kevin Hallett - Kill Keith, Season of the Witch) is investigating a gruesome murder, with it feared a serial killer is loose in the area. Unfortunately for Sally, it appears the masked killer (Elliott) has chosen her party for his new killing ground.

It is always good when films on the lower end of the budget scale are well aware of the restrictions they may face. With Halloween Night, the emphasis was put on the protagonists, with the antagonist duo of the masked killer and his master barely really making an appearance. The film is instead split between two plots of equal length. Half the film takes place at Sally's house in the lead up to, and then the party she is hosting. This introduces a bunch of disposable young adults, with the usual drama of cheating partners, drunken sex and unwanted advances. It was a bit jarring to have the masked killer first appear here in the upstairs bathroom, with no explanation of how he came to be there. The killer is silent, and being the only 'guest' wearing a mask (or really in costume for that matter), it seemed odd his presence hadn't been noticed. To be fair, there were a couple of other characters who also successfully infiltrated the party.

The other storyline happening concurrently is the police investigation into the murder of a middle aged woman, who got killed by the masked man in the prologue, who had been trying to kill a young woman. Having not seen the first movie, I assume that young woman was the sole survivor of the first film. The Detective doesn't do much more than walk and talk with his partner, but I found the conversations bizarrely interesting. There was a natural way of speaking that made the stories being told entertaining to listen to.

There are a bunch of scenes of murder, many of them including various type of blood substitutes, but none that looked particularly amazing on screen. There was a nice eye gouge scene that looked fun, stood out from some of the others. For the third act the film changes from a slasher film into a different genre of horror. I won't spoil that surprise, but for me it was unexpected, and also pretty cool. The make-up effects for that part were varied and inconsistent, but for that horror genre that is exactly what I wanted. It all culminates quite open ended, but despite only being seventy two minutes in length, the film had too many endings, with three different end scenes placed one after the other.

I admit, going into Harvest of the Dead: Halloween Night I had low expectations. Not only due to it being a sequel to a film I hadn't seen, but also due to being an indie slasher. By focusing on the characters more than the killer this actually benefited, while the late genre shift was something I was never going to complain about. Harvest of the Dead: Halloween Night came to Blu-ray on 28th February from VIPCO and Bayview Entertainment.

SCORE:

The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for 4th April 2023

I'm soon to be leaving The Rotting Zombie HQ in order to go and see John Wick 4 (at the time of writing. I can report it was ace). Obviously I haven't mentioned that film series here due to it not being a horror, needless to say however, I am quite excited. I'm hoping to get two small news posts written before I depart, so here is the first...

Make Up sounds like a thriller, and it is one that was directed by Claire Oakley, and was released on Blu-ray on March 28th from Bayview Entertainment. It stars Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things), Molly Windsor (War of the Worlds), and Stefanie Martini (The Last Kingdom). The brief synopsis in the press release states 'On a remote holiday park in Cornwall, a young woman is drawn into a mysterious obsession when she suspects her boyfriend has cheated on her.'

April 25th marks the Blu-ray debut of cult horror film Lovers Lane, with a new 2K restoration from a 4K scan of the original 35mm camera negative, coming from Arrow Video US. This came out originally in the late 90's, post Scream. The story has a hook handed killer reappearing thirteen years after a Valentine's Day massacre at the titular 'Lovers Lane'. High school students Chloe (Sarah Lancaster), Mandy (Erin J. Dean) and their friends get caught up in this latest outbreak of psychotic violence. The Blu-ray release includes two versions of the film, the widescreen 1.85:1 version and a full-frame 1.33:1 version, as well as a new audio commentary, featurette, trailers, an image gallery, as well as a reversible sleeve.

Finally for today, Alaskan based goth rock duo Cliff and Ivy have recently released a new single, 'Die Tonight' on their label House of Extreme Darkness. Described as a dark punk song, the press release states it is a '...song for those who love like vampires - legendary, eternal and full of fire.' The track is available on all streaming services including Bandcamp.

Fall (2022) - Thriller Film Review

In my day job I was speaking to someone and they mentioned the new to Netflix movie Fall. Now, I'm terrified of heights, in fact I would say that is my biggest fear in the real world, so I felt I needed to see this to see how it would affect me. I had no intention to actually review this, it was more watched for my own enjoyment. But I saw someone term this as 'survival horror', and that actually is a good term for it, joining films such as Open Water and The Shallows, while also falling into the same issues those had.

Becky (Grace Caroline Currey - Shazam! Fury of the Gods, Annabelle: Creation), her husband Dan (Mason Gooding - Scream VI, Scream), and best friend, Hunter (Virginia Gardner - Halloween) are three adrenaline junkies who get their kicks by free climbing mountains and tall structures. After one such expedition leads to Dan's death, Becky falls into a deep depression. Hunter, a popular vlogger, comes up with a plan to fix her friend, she suggests that in order to both get over her fear of climbing, and as a tribute to Dan, they will climb a disused 2,000 foot tall radio tower in order to spread his ashes from the top. Things go to plan all the way to the top, however, when they go to begin the climb down, the rusty and badly maintained ladder falls away, leaving them stranded. With no way to contact the world below, and with no access to food, water, or shelter, the two must work together to try and find a way to survive.

The film may fall into some of the pitfalls that this genre of movie always suffers from, but it at least worked at being really scary for me. In fact, over the decades of watching horrors I can say I have never had to pause a film and take a break from the terror, yet for Fall, there came a moment when I had to do just that, unable to watch until I had gone for a tiny walk around my house to put myself back into the real world for a few minutes. After a silly prologue (why on Earth are these friends free climbing mountains? Hard to feel too bad for them when Dan dies!) it doesn't take too long to get to the tower, where the majority of the one hour forty seven minute movie takes place. The initial climb was terrifying to me, dizzyingly filmed with plenty of insert shots showing various screws coming loose on the infernal contraption, in a way that brought to mind the Final Destination movies. In my mind I was begging for the two to abandon their plan and get the heck back to solid ground. This all comes to a head at the very top where my panic at the vertigo peaked.

I enjoyed the film, but after the initial climb the fear subsided slightly, which wasn't helped by the typical impulse to put all sorts of implausible situations into the film to give some variety. Of course there turns out to be some secret between the two that causes a rift, of course, their every attempt to contact the outside world goes farcically wrong (trying to send a drone with a note tied to it, managing to get the attention of a passer-by who then takes advantage of their situation to steal their car, stuffing a phone into a shoe with the hope the message they have tried to send on it will get signal and send before that hits the ground), and the increasing attacks by vultures came across as funny rather than scary. Fall would have benefited by being a good half an hour shorter, maybe get to the tower itself quicker, and not having as many stupid things happen whilst up there. The plot does eventually get back on track, but some of the ending is glossed over, with some pivotal moments occuring in-between scenes.
The two protagonists were perfectly fine, I've read some complaints about the unrealistic dialogue, but I found it entertaining. The subplot about one of them having a secret was needless, I barely even paid it any attention. The always great Jeffrey Dean Morgan (The Walking Dead, Supernatural) had a small part here, but due to how little he was in the movie he came across as distracting, despite being as great as ever.

I don't think a movie has ever made me sweat as much as I did while watching Fall. The sense of being up high was effective, despite some occasional subpar CG taking away from the believability. This would have been better in a shorter format, but was a movie that I had to watch in one sitting (to be truthful I was so stressed about the character's situation that I had to read the Wikipedia entry to see how the story would be resolved). It may use some tired tropes to pad out the run time, but any film that is about being trapped up high was always going to be something that would get my blood pumping. Fall can currently be streamed on Netflix.

SCORE:

Summoning Sylvia (2023) - Comedy Horror Film Review

Summoning Sylvia is a LGBTQ comedy horror film which is the feature length directorial debut of writers/directors Wesley Taylor and Alex Wyse. With a run time of just under seventy five minutes this didn't have time to outstay its welcome, and was actually a pretty enjoyable movie, despite a lot of the humour not hitting.

Larry (Travis Coles - Brooklyn Nine-Nine TV series) has been taken away by his flamboyant best friends, Nico (Frankie Grande), Reggie (Troy Iwata - What Lies Below), and Kevin (Noah J. Ricketts - American Gods TV series) for a bachelor weekend at a house that is reputed to be haunted. While there, they decide to hold a seance to try and get in contact with the spirit of a woman named Sylvia (Veanne Cox - The Mandalorian TV series), someone who once owned the house, with the legend being that she murdered her son there, before being killed herself by an angry mob seeking justice. Not long after sees the arrival of Harrison (Nicholas Logan - Watchman TV series), the very serious and very straight army brother of Larry's future husband, who is put off by the gay antics of the group. With unexplainable noises around the mansion, and with Harrison's behaviour becoming more and more psychotic, the friends come to believe that their séance was successful, and that Sylvia's spirit has come to possess Harrison.

With the majority of the characters here gay, this fits the LGBTQ tag, but as always, this works perfectly fine as a comedy horror, without that needing to factor in too much. There were a couple of sex scenes, played for laughs more than anything, while the horror was slight, as to be expected with a comedy horror. I thought the chemistry between the four friends was very good, they're overly dramatic way of speaking led to a chilled and relaxed atmosphere. At first I found Harrison to be as unpleasant a character as he was portrayed to be, with him bringing down the fun tone. Thankfully, this is a comedy horror which didn't need a bodycount, there are definite scenes of horror, but the threat remained wisely low.

The comedy didn't appeal too much to me, but as I always say, anything which doesn't revolve around sex or bodily functions is fine with me, the humour here was inoffensive, and there were a few parts that were amusing. One scene for instance had Nico mistaking the pizza delivery guy for a ghost, which led to a funny back and forth between the two, with both thinking the other was talking about something other than what they actually meant. While this could have easily all been set in the present, there were flashback sequences that play out to show what happened with Sylvia and her son. I liked how these were integrated, blending the present and past together in a way that never stilted the flow. Characters had more depth to them than expected, with some getting somewhat satisfying character arcs, such as Larry who feels the need to repress his true self in order to try and appeal to Harrison's blinkered viewpoint. Aside from a song and dance number towards the end, I really didn't mind the movie, it was laid back, and told its story in a decent enough way.

The intention here was obviously to be funny first and scary a very distant second. The plot at least leads to some entertaining moments, with the hook of if the house is actually haunted or not being something I was interested to see be resolved. A good cast of likeable characters led to this being a good choice of movie to watch on a lazy Sunday afternoon (being Sunday at the time of writing). The Horror Collective released Summoning Sylvia in theatres nationwide in North America, with Cable VOD and Digital HD releases coming on April 7th.

SCORE:

The Rotting Zombie's Round-up of Horror News for March 2023

In my non-blog job it sounds like my work hours are going to change from a lovely four day week to a not so grand five day week. When that happens I will need to rearrange the days I do my blog. Currently I'm planning to go from writing the week's posts on the weekend to writing one a day during week days. All exciting stuff I'm sure.

Beginning with some music news. The Funeral March have released a new EP that was inspired by Greek mythology. This five track EP, titled 'Persephone', cites The Cure, Siouxie & The Banshees, as well as Neil Gaiman's The Sandman as influences. The press release states the '...new release...contemplates our mental and emotional undoing before that day comes' (in reference to the apocalypse). Check out the track 'Nite Nite' taken from the EP below.

The graphic novel series Halloween Girl (which I gave a very respectable 8/10 rotted zombie heads) has been nominated for the Rondo Awards. These awards have been going since 2002, and apparently are 'fandom's only classic horror awards - decided by fans, for fans'. Halloween Girl creator Richard T. Wilson has said of the nomination "...a Rondo Nomination is the Horror World equivalent of an Oscar - it just doesn't get much better!".

Horror film Bliss of Evil is one of Bayview Entertainment's newest acquisitions. It comes from director Josh Morris and stars Sharnee Tones, Jordan Shulte, and Michaela Da Costa. In this movie, a sound engineer and her girlfriend's band become trapped in a recording studio by a mysterious killer, and was apparently based on true events.

A Kickstarter campaign has been launched for Demon Squad 2, the follow up to Demon Squad which was featured on the classic TV series, Mystery Science Theater 300. This follows paranormal investigators Nick Moon and Daisy O'Reilly who get caught up in what appears to be a haunted house mystery. Genres included here will be adventure, science fiction and fantasy. For more details check out the Kickstarter page here.

A quick update for horror RPG Cursed Mansion, which I have mentioned in past news posts. The game was released on 30th March and can be purchased here. The retro styled top down game has you playing as a woman trapped in a dangerous mansion.

Calling Nurse Meow is an eleven short film anthology featuring the work of six different directors - Laura Barker, Joe Cash (Carnal Monsters), Jason Impey, Dan Urban, Kaylan Jordan-Sen and John W.T. This adult only anthology is based around the titular character (Kitty Kiss) '...and her psychotic, sexual and murderous ways'. The shorts sound varied, heading to Medieval times, World War II, the 1970's, and even into animated territory. The anthology comes from VIPCO and can be found on Amazon.

Goth pop artist Metamorph have released a new single, 'Witchlit', which is due on their new EP due out in Autumn this year. The press release states '...is a song of broken hearts, of abuse, power, twin flames, and the craving for love. When nothing makes sense in the light, we search in the darkest nights.'

Half Dead Fred became available to stream on Amazon from March 15th. This stars Corin Nemec, Jason London, and Tiffany Shepis, and is about the titular Fred, a detective who has gained the ability to see the dead after a near death experience which claimed the life of his son.

The Things We Cannot Change (2022) - Horror Film Review

The Things We Cannot Change is a vampire horror/drama that really tries to do something different with the traditional view of a vampire. Written and directed by Joshua Nelson (Cannibals of Clinton Road), this portrays vampires as cursed people suffering crippling addictions to drink blood, and shows this mainly in a way that felt more grounded and realistic, outside of the scenes of violence.

Dr. Abraham (Richard Rampolla) runs a support group for vampires who wish to give up their lifestyle of drinking human blood. Many of the vignettes revolve around the various people who have gone to these meetings. They include Kristen (Jenn Nobile), whose relationship with her husband has suffered after he discovered she's a vampire, a human mother who is dismayed at finding out her daughter has become a vampire, a husband and wife vampire couple who are worried their lifestyle will affect the child they adopted, among many others. Also attending the group is Veronica (Laura Lemire), but her intentions are less noble, she sees it as weakness to try and fight against their nature, and attempts to sway the minds of all who have attended.

It became obvious with the realistic portrayal here that battling addiction was the real theme of the movie, with many of the characters and their situations seeming to be metaphors for real world addictions to things such as drugs and alcohol. This grounded the movie a lot, which is reflected in the design of the vampires. In this world, the tropes of these creatures are shown to not actually be real. They can walk around in daylight, have reflections, eat garlic, and be around religious iconry, with them only altering when they go to feed. It is here where they sport the traditional fangs, as well as lose their pupils (via the use of milky white contacts). With such a feel of realism these scenes couldn't help but look goofy, the vampires look more ridiculous than scary, especially with a few of the actors who seem to be grinning due to the fangs not letting them properly close their mouths. The scenes of violence often occur off camera, with just the shouts of the victims, though there are a fair few biting moments.

While there is a larger plot going on, mainly to do with the conflict between Dr. Abraham's idea of peaceful co-existence and Veronica's view that they should rule over the weaker humans, mainly this is a series of small side stories. This leads to some scenes of drama that worked even better as analogies for real world traumas. Perhaps the most heartbreaking scene has a young man 'coming out' to his mother, only for her to disown him. Then you have other scenes which both include the idea of 'enablers' to addiction, and a classic Renfield type situation of someone who desperately wants to become a vampire to escape from their issues. Having had an addiction myself in my past, some of what was being said was relatable in a way, especially when it comes to the feeling of instant gratification which swiftly gets swapped out for guilt and remorse. The film doesn't try too much to hide the analogy, and even leans more into it for the epilogue.

I think horror works better than many mediums for being able to draw parallels with real world issues. It can occasionally be a little too po-faced with how serious all the characters are acting about their fictional afflictions, but at its heart The Things We Cannot Change has a decent message to it, and should get some kudos for trying something different. The film was released on Blu-ray in February from VIPCO and Bayview Entertainment.

SCORE:

The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Wednesday 29th March 2023

In Fortnite they've now added the ability to play on a recreation of the original island, so rather than be here writing some blog posts I spent far too many hours playing that wonderful mode. Onwards to the news. First, some VR news, Switchback VR has been getting some stick from being on hell of an ugly PSVR2 title. I very much agree in terms of the terrible graphics, but it was still fun to play, I want to play through it two more times before I will feel happy enough to write a review of it.

It may be a simple title but I love it. I'm talking about Space Goblins, which is a live action reboot the an underground cult-classic animated movie. Written and directed by Ams Overton, and starring Bill Hutchens (Curse of the Blind Dead), Richard Blenkiron (Guardians of the Galaxy) and Kamary Phillips (Dard Divorce), this is about two bounty hunters who find themselves called back to their job for what may be their last assignment

Not too much information on this next one, Death Sentences is a newish film from Acort International and Midnight Releasing. It's about a young author named Arabella suffering writer's block while on retreat at a remote cabin her family own. It is here she encounters the ghost of her cousin, who promises to help her finish her novel if she helps capture the person who caused their death. Check out the trailer below.

Finally for this small news post, German synthpop artist, Meersein has a new single out, titled Lost. The press release states 'Full of despair and helplessness. With this, the artist not only shows something very personal, his vulnerable side, but also gives a song to those who feel the same way'.

Willy's Wonderland (2021) - Comedy Horror Film Review

I love the idea behind the horror video game series Five Nights at Freddy's, a game in which you must try and survive waves of attacks from sentient animatronics at a pizzeria. Seeing Willy's Wonderland having such a similar plot I was interested to check it out, especially considering that the always entertaining Nicolas Cage (Color Out of Space, Mandy) had a starring role in it. I found a movie that was near perfectly suited to me with even its bad choices leading to great moments.

Cage stars as a silent drifter who ends up stranded in a small backwater town in America after his car tyres get wrecked. The local mechanic offers to fix his car up for him, but due to only accepting cash, and no ATMs in the town working, the drifter is unable to pay. The mechanic then offers a solution, should the drifter spend the night cleaning a former family themed restaurant, then his bill would be considered settled. Unknown to the drifter, the condemned building is home to eight homicidal sentient animatronics, he finds himself not only having to clean the place, but in between his frequent breaks, he must battle for his life against the machines. While this is all happening, local teen Liv (Emily Tosta) and her friends, aware of the evil of the building, have decided tonight is the night the curse that lay on the town will be finally ended.

The drifter isn't just a quiet character, he is actually completely silent for the whole ninety minute film, with not even one word of dialogue coming from Cage's crazy character. Much of the humour comes from him, with him having a single minded desire to clean the building even after he discovers the animatronics want him dead. He also keeps in mind the owner's advice that he should take frequent breaks, even breaking things off mid-combat in order to return to the break room, drink some of his beloved energy drink and try and get a high score on the pinball table that is located there. Some of the best scenes of the movie have him playing pinball, with the camera in the position of the pinball table, looking up at the drifter as he plays, dances, and genuinely appears to have a great time. He does a lot with his measured facial expressions, in a way that means other characters talk around him without it coming across as odd. The drive to clean the restaurant as instructed was so amusing to me, with it not clear if the character was insanely dense (not realising he had been set up to be a sacrifice for the animatronics), or if he was just impossibly cool, well aware of his capability to combat the threat he faces nonchalantly.

The meat of the movie is the fight sequences involving the various animal themed robots. It is here again where Cage is just delightful, effortlessly defeating each animatronic in fun, well choreographed sequences. The almost bored ease with which he defeats each of the things never failed to entertain. The animatronics had a great design to them, from the ostrich to the crocodile and chameleon, the design of the dilapidated robotic monsters was spot on.
I would have been happy if the whole movie had just been Cage on his own battling these, but the decision was made to introduce a group of disposable teens around the midway point. A lot of these characters felt like cannon-fodder, with no real personality to them, but at least they gave the movie a bodycount, even if their actions were often ridiculously stupid. It leads to some very bloody kills, such as someone getting sliced in half horizontally, and a fornicating couple being chomped to death. Again the humour comes to the forefront, the drifter is happy to assist these teens, yet as soon as his break time alarm goes off he abandons whatever he is doing to go play some pinball! This leading to at least a few extra deaths. The addition of talking non-hostile characters also gave the opportunity for a whole heap of exposition about the doomed history of the restaurant, and why the locals trick drifters into staying at the place. Not that the drifter cares, cleaning away as he is being told all this, without even reacting.

Apparently there is an actual Five Nights at Freddy's movie being made, but with Willy's Wonderland existing already I can't see that achieving more than this very fun film did. Cage was on top form here, really stealing the show with his weird character. Add in great looking effects, a great soundtrack, and a fun flow and there really wasn't much to dislike here. Willy's Wonderland can currently be streamed on Amazon Prime Video.

SCORE:

It's Not A Wolf (2022) - Horror Film Review

It's Not A Wolf (also known as Non é un lupo) is an Italian horror film that comes from writer/director Nicoló Tagliabue. The protagonists may be taking things very seriously here, but the subject matter and some of the more comedic side characters mean much of this felt very tongue in cheek. Thankfully, the twist of what is causing the horror is something that is present on the movie posters, so I won't need to skirt around that very early reveal.

Glauco (Thomas Francesconi) has recently been released from prison and is under house arrest at his large house outside a rural Italian town. After his neighbours chicken's are all killed, she accuses Glauco of having done it, but it turns out there is a far more sinister explanation. That night, after hearing strange noises outside, Glauco encounters a dinosaur, and it isn't long before he realises it is the first of many that have inexplicably descended on the town. Teaming up with a new friend, Laura (Susanna Valtucci), they set out into the town, looking for somewhere to hide from the madness.

I'm not sure if it was down to budget constraints, or if it was purposeful on the part of the director, but there are some strange concessions to the flow of the film here that felt quite odd. By the time Glauco realises there is more than one dinosaur on the loose he is surrounded by a bunch of characters, yet cutting to the next scene it is suddenly much later, with him and Laura being in a different location entirely and on their own, with it assumed all the other characters have been killed. Much of the movie has just these two characters, later on joined by a third, local simpleton Davide (Nikolas Lucchini). Again later in the film a similar trick is used but in reverse. With just fifteen minutes left a whole bunch of characters are introduced randomly, with the protagonists even disappearing from the story for a time so that the film can follow these new characters. These moments disrupted the flow, I can only assume there were so few characters for much of the run time due to the budget (estimated to be around 15,000 Euros).
Some of these side characters felt like they would get their comeuppance at the claws of the dinosaurs as karma for their actions, yet mainly just disappear from the film with no resolution to their side plots. That includes the somewhat abrupt ending.

Both main characters treat the movie they are in as a serious thing. Rather than more ridiculous horror films like Birdemic and the like where the actors perform over the top seriously, here, the actors felt more grounded, even if they felt like the only serious characters in a ridiculous movie. This does lead to some fun moments, with the excitable Davide almost fourth wall breaking at times with his observations on what is happening. Adding to the fun silliness is the dinosaurs themselves. I say themselves, but despite this being a dinosaur outbreak (with not a single attempt made to explain how it happened), there is only the one dinosaur ever shown on screen, with the same guy in a suit popping up over and over to play the part of all the different ones encountered. Much of the film takes place at night, and the creature is never shown fully on screen, but even so it doesn't always look great. I see that as intentional though, as there is an obvious vein of humour running throughout It's Not A Wolf. Maybe not so good is the lack of much blood or gore, characters near entirely die off screen, the most we get is a bloodied man that the duo encounter.

I was looking forward to seeing this movie, and having now seen it I can say that it didn't really disappoint. With a more serious tone than expected (though still very silly at times), this Italian creature feature entertained, despite a few pacing issues. It's Not A Wolf is available now on Blu-ray from VIPCO and Bayview Entertainment.

SCORE:

Carnal Monsters (2021) - Horror Film Review

Carnal Monsters is a very low budget (apparently this cost £500 to make) grindhouse style horror film that comes from director Joe Cash (Slutty the Clown). Having seen his style of filmmaking before I knew to expect something that was slimy, sleazy and violent, and in that respect this didn't disappoint.

Much of the movie takes place just outside the fictional town of Tromaville, at the site of a former nuclear research facility. A group of female friends, looking for something fun to do, have headed to this place to do some urban exploring. They discover two unconscious girls, and soon come to regret helping them, as upon waking up, the two girls turn murderous and begin to hunt down the friends.

Everything about this film is very purposeful, the lack of budget is worn as a badge of honour, and rather than try and create something outside its scope, this instead happily leans into its no budget aesthetic. This includes the humorous use of stock footage from other films, and a conscious desire to make this seem like a lost grindhouse movie through the use of artificial film grain.
The focal point of the film appears to just be to focus on female nudity, with many of the cast either scantily clad or topless for superfluous reasons. The plot here is near non-existent, with the synopsis mentioned in the paragraph above only really coming to fruition past the halfway mark of this sixty five minute movie. While the movie isn't too long, it can occasionally feel like it's dragging, such as an extended news report scene in which reporter Sarah Griswold (Selena Liz) dances naked to heavy rock music for a good few minutes. There are also scenes that seem to go on far longer than they need to, such as the group of friends walking and talking, seemingly making their lines up on the spot and talking over each other.

When the horror does come it is short but sweet, the mostly non-existent special effects see the girls get dispatched in various slightly bloody ways. I did like the masks the two killers were wearing, especially the one with the creepy human mask. The acting was near universally terrible, but I think that part of the vibe of these films is the expectation of poor dialogue, it helps mold this into a grindhouse feel. I did like how this felt like it was part of a larger 'Troma Universe', with some unifying moments such as a fun guest appearance from Troma owner Lloyd Kauffman, and news reports that mention Slutty the Clown from one of Cash's other films, as well as footage of the iconic Toxic Avenger.

Carnal Monsters isn't going to appeal to everyone, and to me it isn't really the type of horror that I enjoy. It isn't even the gratuitous nudity and low budget feel, more the lack of much of a plot, and long scenes of really not much happening, as this led to moments of boredom for me. Still, for such a low budget, this fitted into its genre well, and I am sure there are plenty of people who this will appeal to. Carnal Monsters came to Blu-ray in the USA and Prime Video worldwide in February from VIPCO and Bayview Entertainment.

SCORE:

Life After: The Line of Duty (2021) by Bryan Way - Short Zombie Novella Review

I'm finally here, Life After: The Line of Duty is the final novella in the second trilogy of side stories that take place in and around the mainline Life After novels. Thankfully author Bryan Way had saved the best for last, as this one was not only the best of the six short stories released, but I reckon is the second best story set in the Life After universe as a whole.

This forty seven page story is set during the events of Life After: The Arising and takes place entirely in and around the Broomall Police Station which has found itself on the wrong side of a quarantine zone due to a localised zombie outbreak. It is here that Lt. Arthur Gilchrist does his best to retain control over the local area, despite a large number of his officers either AWOL, MIA, or just plain dead. He is in good hands though, the remaining officers may be worn out and occasionally grumpy, but they are all dedicated to performing their duties, to protect and to serve until the end.

I really enjoyed this novella, the police station has such a sense of reality to it, helped that the story takes place over the one day, picking up in late afternoon time and then heading into the night. It even manages to start in a great fashion, with Gilchrist going over the list of his officers, it being clear that he has lost contact with a large number of the remaining ones. There has been lots of bad press about the police in recent years, both in America (where this is set), and here in my home country of the U.K. Thankfully, these police officers are more noble, with them trying their best to do their jobs. Even knowing that anyone bitten is destined to become a zombie, they don't just kill the infected, instead putting them in jail cells. Also, despite being low on numbers, they don't turn away any survivors looking for a place of refuge, despite not really wanting them there.
One thing I have always enjoyed about the Life After series is the author's attempts to keep this all grounded and realistic in feel. It was interesting to read him stating this story took a long time to come to fruition due to him wanting to get everything right about how the police might act in a situation such as a zombie outbreak.

With all the characters here it was easy to get slightly lost with who was who, even if this was made slightly easier by the majority of the officers having easier to remember nicknames, such as Magic, Reds, and Cutie. There was a tense feeling throughout, with it increasingly clear that the undead aren't the only problem they have to deal with, especially when it seems people with far less noble intentions who see the increasing weakness with the police's dwindling members. Way stated his story became almost like a Western, I can see that, there were also elements of Assault on Precinct 13 to be found here.

With Life After: The Line of Duty both beginning and ending in the middle of a larger plot, this was a really cool slice of life that worked so perfectly as a short story. Adding flavour to the larger Life After world, this also worked really well as a stand alone tale, well worth a read for any fan of zombie fiction.

SCORE:

That Cold Dead Look in Your Eyes (2021) - Horror Film Review

That Cold Dead Look in Your Eyes (also known as Tes Yeux Mourants) is a New York based French language somewhat experimental horror written and directed by Onur Tukel (Summer of Blood, The Pigs). The film has been at a number of festivals, winning over fifteen awards, including Best Film, Best Actor (Alan Ceppos, Max Casella and Franck Raharinosy), Best Editing, and Best Cinematography. It certainly has horror elements to it, though these don't really affect the more grounded, if bizarre drama playing out for the unfortunate protagonist.

The prologue introduces us to happy couple, Leonard (Raharinosy) and his girlfriend Marie (Nora Arnezeder) in their New York apartment in lighter times, literally, as this is one of the only parts of the movie to be in full colour. Fast forward to the present and things are a lot different. Due to infidelity on Leonard's part the couple have split up, though awkwardly, with Leonard not able to afford to move out, he remains in the flat, sleeping on the couch. Due to this self inflicted trauma in his life, Leonard's job as a chef has began to suffer. With Marie away on business in Europe, she tells her ex that her once renowned photographer father Dennis (Alan Ceppos) is coming to stay, and that Leonard has until she returns to find a new place to live. Leonard begins to experience strange hallucinations, seeing once normal people as zombie like creatures, though whether this is down to the stress of his situation, or due to 'theta waves' that a local conspiracy states is causing citywide psychological issues it is hard to say.

This is a hard film to review, and I'm sure I won't do it justice. Basically, the horror elements here are slight, and they don't really have much bearing on the course of the events of the film, but I still felt they were essential at displaying Leonard's state of mind. As to whether random characters are literally turning into zombies or not, I like how that is never really explained. On the surface it does seem it is all occurring in the flawed protagonists mind, especially when turned characters later show up as perfectly fine, but there are many purposeful insert shots to show that the wi-fi boosters said to cause these anomalies are in the areas where Leonard encounters odd moments. 

A lot of the vibe for this came to be what I termed grounded surrealism, which is also were the comedic elements come into the film. While not tagged as a comedy on IMDB, there are some amusing moments to be found throughout Leonard's series of humiliations that make up his journey. There is the part for instance where the man returns to his ex's apartment to find Dennis taking photos of a naked male model, to which Leonard immediately about turns and leaves. Later he again returns but this time the whole apartment is full of naked male models, with a priceless reaction from the flawed protagonist upon seeing this. Perhaps my favourite comedy moment was where he was speaking to a woman who had been attacked by her sister with a brick while they were building a house. Leonard questions whether they finished building to which she replies deadpan something along the lines of "no, we were a brick short". So silly, but also enjoyable.

With all the apparent zombified characters, fake realities in which Leonard finds himself back in colour experiencing what his life would have been if he hadn't cheated on Marie, characters he has met who inexplicably deny knowing him, and bizarre conversations (this is quite a dialogue heavy movie) it can occasionally be confusing what is real and what is not. By the end of the movie, outside of the fact that Leonard is somehow watching himself from an earlier scene in the movie on a TV, things seemed to have settled down into normality for him. There is no great character arc for the man, he ends the film just as self pitying and flawed as when he began, but at least appearing to be at the end of his surreal downfall. I did enjoy the double meaning of the title, both referring to the milky eyed look of the undead, Leonard's intense depression, and Marie's death of the love she once shared with the man.

I am sure there are lots of parts of this that I didn't understand, but I enjoyed my time with That Cold Dead Look in Your Eyes, weird but not too weird, and with some entertaining dialogue and some good performances, this was a lightly experimental movie that was a fun way to spend an hour and a half.

SCORE: