Tag Archives: Spooky

Bendy and the Dark Revival Review

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It’s time for the next Bendy adventure. I actually beat this one a little while ago so this review has definitely been waiting. Bendy is one of those titles that is always intense and so it’s a good October type of game. It’s fairly short so you won’t be playing it for too long but there is a decent amount of replay value in trying to Platinum the title. You do not want to miss out on this one if you have not played it yet.

The game starts out by introducing us to the new main character. She was working the late shift when she notices just how abandoned the place is. The only one left is the janitor and he tends to act rather suspiciously. Unfortunately the two of them seem to be locked in the workplace now and monsters are appearing everywhere. Is she even still in the real world? There are a lot of questions to answer and no obvious clues in sight. The only rule here is to never let your guard down.

That’s why the heroine does come across as being rather naive or just unintelligent for a good chunk of the adventure. The way she acts just doesn’t make sense at times like listening to a guy who is obviously evil and falling for the most basic of traps. It’s one of those games where you’re basically pleading with the main character not to talk into the 10th trap in a row but there’s not a whole lot you can do about it. In general there always tends to be a lot of backseat driving in a horror title for any medium but I dare say this one was more extensive than usual. You’re just really wondering why she isn’t coming to terms with what is going on.

The gameplay is initially more of an inspection game. You walk around and click on things that are suspicious. As the game goes on you get a weapon and that’s when the core gameplay really changes. Now you’re bashing all of the enemies that come your way with a few exceptions that are immune to your weapon. There is actually a super weapon that can beat them but I never came across it in the playthrough. For the most part I think I did a pretty good job of getting almost all the collectibles but I still missed a few.

You want to use the vending machine as much as possible and constantly hit enemies with the shock pipe since both things help you accumulate trophies. The more stuff you do upfront, the less grinding you will have to do in the post game after all. Same with knocking out enemies from behind, if you get into one of the areas where they respawn forever, I would recommend taking advantage of that.

I would need to go back and get them for the Platinum but that requires beating the game at least 3 times so I would definitely want to space that out quite a bit. There is a form of quick travel in the game that you unlock at the very end but unfortunately it is one of the clunkiest ones that I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to find various sewers and each one takes you back to another location but there is no map and this gets confusing very quickly. I appreciate the attempt but it is something that the next game could improve upon.

The gameplay is smooth outside of that though. Also if you think the action takes you out of the experience, you can play on a higher difficulty where I hear attacking is not nearly as good of an option. Stealth is the name of the game there and that will probably feel a whole lot more like vintage Bendy. I personally like the combat as it turns the whole thing into a full action title but to each their own.

The graphics are really good and you can clearly tell the difference between this one and the last installment. The developers made the most out of the new tech and it also helps with the scares because of how realistic everything looks. There isn’t as much of a soundtrack but of course that’s by design. I would have liked some hard rock tunes of course but it works well enough with what they’re doing.

While the game length isn’t super long, there is enough here where you don’t feel bad about the purchase. You’ve got a pretty good amount of content to go through as it is. Meanwhile like I mentioned earlier there is a good amount of replay value with getting the trophies. The story is also compelling so this is definitely a perfect example of a game that is worth the money and will provide you with a fun experience. You really can’t go wrong here.

Overall, This is definitely a really fun game and one that I would recommend. Longtime Bendy fans will get even more out of it as I didn’t notice some of the guest stars or easter eggs that popped up. It has more combat than the first adventure so you really get to have fun taking out the enemies and progressing through the adventure. It has a good amount of difficulty as well so you won’t just be closing your eyes and progressing through the levels. You’re going to have to work for your victories here and I look forward to seeing what happens in the next story. There is certainly a lot more Bendy to experience!

Overall 7/10

Poppy Playtime Triple Pack Review

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I’m sure everybody here has heard of Poppy’s Playtime. Well, the name may not have an s in it, but that’s the way I’m used to saying it. This thing was aiming to be the next Five Nights at Freddy’s or Bendy. The horror and scares were going to be next level and now I finally get to play it as a triple pack. It’s definitely a solid title with a lot of scares the whole time. The lore may ultimately start getting a bit try hard edgy near the end but ultimately this is an experience you will not forget.

The game starts with the main character inside the ominous Poppy’s Playground. The game is in first person so we never see the main character. I suspect that he is one of the animatronics to be honest or a zombie since he might be dead but either way there are a lot of theories you can go with. I’m sure the fans who listened to every tape and 100% completed every chapter will have a better idea of this though. Either way you now have to try and get out of here but to do so you will have to find a way past these vicious monsters.

The first part mainly has you trying to escape Huggy Wuggy. Part of the fun in playing a collection like this is that you get to see the subtle gameplay shifts as you go on. This one is the simplest as you are basically walking around and interacting with objects. There are no special abilities or anything like that. You have to make sure and run fast too because one hug from this villain and it’s curtains for you. We don’t learn much about any of the characters or lore yet but this is just the beginning. For this reason the first part is the most ominous and I dare say that it is the scariest. You just don’t forget a title that has such an intense climax. Neither following part could match the sheer intensity of this one.

In the second part, we start getting a bit more technical with the puzzles. At one point you gain a new hand which helps with that. You are interacting with less random objects and now it’s more about specific puzzles. You are tested with a lot of new minigames to conquer by the Mother who is the main villain this time around. We start getting more lore here as well thanks to Poppy herself. Definitely not a character I would trust but then again I suppose I wouldn’t trust any character in this game. Being locked in a horror environment like this would just give me trust issues I have to admit.

The increase in platforming works well and in terms of pure gameplay I would say this one has the best mixture out of the 3 parts. It does well in keeping the main horror gameplay while also putting in a bit of that platformer kind of energy. The main hub world is also quite large with all the different areas to go through. The climax is also pretty intense and we have our full plot by this point. The Prototype is out there trying to murder us all.

In the third part the game goes even more ambitious as we enter full platformer territory. The puzzles are the largest yet as you run from room to room to deal with each impending threat. The hub world is also the biggest by far, the game is the most difficult as well with some really tricky segments as well. You even get a flare gun in this part which may be pushing the envelope a bit since a game is inherently less scary the instant you get a weapon. There are a lot of scares still for sure but slowly you’re more worried about the other creatures running around as they get picked off instead of being worried for yourself. There are still a lot of close calls though and I’d find myself flinching in every game. Even when you know that the monster is coming, you just can’t help but get terrified.

Each game has a really solid cliffhanger which is nice since it absolutely gets you ready for the next big adventure. I’m eager to see what happens in part 4 now and the main character does seem to get closer and closer to getting out of this place. Once he has escaped then things will really be looking up for him but it doesn’t seem like the kind of game where there will be a happy ending. Something tells me that the main character is going to be absolutely cooked here. He just needs to make sure that he doesn’t go alone and at least takes most of the monsters with him.

As with most of these big horror games the more of the lore you know, the less you want to know. I would say the best thing to do with these games is to not really explain anything. Just let me try to escape the monsters while getting some evil speeches and such. Keep it all shrouded in mystery because inevitably it involves a bunch of kids dying and gets all so tragic. At least based on how this game is going, you’re rooting for the monsters to wipe out humanity because all the people here seem super evil. At least all of the grownups I should say since they are constantly pulling off crazy experiments. No mercy or escape here.

The graphics are solid as it really feels like a horror title through and through. It’s part of what makes all of the jump scares work. Additionally the sound effects and quick musical tracks really work well to that end. They even made a whole parody of a happy intro at the start of the second chapter which was really unexpected. The game definitely has a lot of effort put into it which I appreciate. I would have liked to keep the flashlight in part 3 as sometimes it could be a little hard to see but I also get how it would make the game a little less scary.

In terms of replay value there are trophies to get and they seem quite difficult. You have to beat parts 2 and 3 in a very fast time to get the Platinum. It basically means mastering each game which takes a lot of dedication. I see that a lot of people have pulled this off based on the trophy percentages so maybe it’s not as hard as it sounds. Maybe… but I have some doubts on this. Either way at some point I’ll try to improve my rank since I have a D in two of the parts.

Overall, Poppy’s Playtime is a game you won’t want to miss. It is definitely intense and disturbing at times so you have to make sure that you’re into horror titles but as long as you are then you should be having a good time here. There is a lot of exploring to do within the game and more details that you will pick up each time. The games go fast but as a trilogy there is a good amount of content to enjoy. I’m ready for that next bundle pack at some point.

Overall 7/10

Tombs Review

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It’s time for another horror anthology. The author is definitely really good at making everything really spooky here and you already know this title will not be any weaker in that regard. The stories do tend to get quite dark and violent at times though so I would caution the younger readers around this one. You are unlikely to find very many manga that surpass this one in the scares department.

There is a wide variety of stories to go through here so lets dive right in. First up we have a spooky story where a couple drives into a town where gravestones seem to be put in the most random of places. They’re even in the middle of the road. They run over a girl and quickly hide her in the trunk but this is only the start of the misfortune that is going to happen. They find out that in this town, you are supposed to leave a person wherever they die. That may not bode well with how they ran over someone and then hid her eh? Her body continues to get weirder and weirder while also getting to be very heavy. I’m afraid that the end is nigh for these characters.

Naturally it’s hard to feel too bad for them since they did run someone over. Yes, that was an accident but hiding her body and acting like they hadn’t seen her is really bad. As a result the whole family is wondering where she is and they’re all getting really nervous and stressed out. It’s super selfish and basically evil to hide such a massive fact from the others. Now I’m not saying they deserve a gruesome end and lets just say the fates for most characters in the town is pretty gruesome, but they certainly weren’t innocent either. It’s definitely a very ominous story with how weird the whole setup was.

The next story is one of the weaker ones. So one day a girl starts having more and more trouble speaking. It’s a bit odd but the family figures it’ll get back to normal soon. Instead, her tongue becomes a slug and just keeps on regenerating. So not only can she not talk but she basically can’t eat or anything. I’s just such a gruesome fate and the family tries everything but hurting the slug seems to hurt her as well. We naturally do have a bit of a twist ending here but it wasn’t really my cup of tea. It definitely got the creepy factor down though because merging with an insect like that would definitely be very eerie. You’d absolutely have to feel sick after all of that.

In another story, and one of the only ones that has a happy ending, a guy keeps hearing his name being called at night. He looks out the window and there is a lady outside asking him to come over. He refuses of course but then she keeps trying to get into his room. He tells his parents but they don’t buy it and the house seems too far away for her to reach. Gradually her voice gets closer and closer though as if she is nearly at the house. If the boy doesn’t leave soon, then she will reach him and that’s probably not a good thing with how demonic she looks.

This one may have felt a little ordinary next to some of the other stories as it isn’t absolutely crazy but it’s still scary. You’re supposed to be safe when you’re sleeping by your bed so the idea that anyone would be able to get to you in the dead of night is terrifying. Sometimes it’s the simple fears that hit the hardest. Also why you can’t let yourself get gaslit. If you know that somebody is outside your window, stay prepared and ready.

In the next one we have what I would call more of a classic ghost story. So a girl gets invited to this abandoned house to hang out with some other girls. It’s like a clubhouse you could say. Thing is…they all seem absolutely psycho and dangerous and unfortunately it is the kind of place where you aren’t supposed to leave once you join. There is also another group on the floor above, only these are all boys. The girl quickly regrets going here at all and the parents even say not to go. It used to be a really dangerous place back in the day and everyone died. So as you can guess, these seem to be their immortal spirits.

This one’s not bad but perhaps a little bit on the unspectacular side. Usually there tends to be more of a twist outside of the ghosts angle and this one didn’t really have that. It’s really just about the ghosts which isn’t as scary. You could also absolutely say that this is just because the author has set a really high standard with how scary the other stories are. That would definitely be valid.

After that is the smallest story by far and possibly the weakest. I just wouldn’t say it’s scary so much as weird. So there are a bunch of giant fish and weird creatures that wash up on a small island. When the villagers cut them open, they find people inside and surprisingly the people are alive. They are traumatized but beyond that there are no other weird effects. So…how did they get in there in the first place? Like I said, it’s more weird than scary. Maybe I missed some kind of subtext in this one but either way I would say it’s okay. It’s just not going to wow you or anything like that.

After that is the best story in the whole collection. There exists a large tunnel right outside of town and whenever you go near it, you start to hear a loud humming sound. It’s really weird and so kids like to explore around there sometimes. Then people slowly start disappearing and the main guy doesn’t even want to go there anymore but he finds himself unable to stop. In the middle of the tunnel is a group of FBI type agents running weird experiments. Hmmm..the guy wisely runs off and escapes for ages but eventually returns. Huge mistake but it seems like he wasn’t really in control of his body so he wasn’t really able to do anything about it.

This is one of those stories that is perfectly unnerving because there are so many questions. Why is this tunnel in particular so weird? Why do people just vanish inside it and start to turn into ghosts? It’s all strange, unnerving, and most importantly scary. Particularly since there seems to be no escape as the whole town was decimated and the more anybody gets close to check things out, the more the body count will continue to rise. Yeah this is the real tunnel of doom that’s for sure.

After that we cut to a town where a bunch of ladies are gossiping. There is a rich lady in the area who is rumored to have murdered her husband and then she even put a big statue of herself in the park. Naturally nobody is particularly happy about this and it comes across as arrogant. This lady invites the women to her house though and things get dicey from there. I think right off the bat part of the scare factor here is that most of the story feels like something that could happen.

Now, obviously I would recommend not going to the house of someone who is supposed to be crazy. I know the ladies outnumbered her but that still seems like a super bad idea. Never approach a villain unless you absolutely have to. It’s only asking for trouble there. We do delve into the supernatural as the story goes on though. Mainly it reminds me of the classic Wax Museum movies. Definitely a rough one and the moral is to definitely keep your guard up and you probably shouldn’t be gossiping so hard either. It’s got a bit of a dark ending although the villain definitely dug her own grave you could say.

After that we have a story where little mothballs of sorts appear and tell your biggest secrets to people. They are born out of secrets and yell them at max volume. So one guy decides to try and capture them all to have a monopoly. Naturally this becomes an obsession and he starts to really go crazy. This one didn’t really feel like a horror but I guess the scary thing might be about people learning your dark secrets. This guy definitely had some really awkward ones for sure. The whole thing felt a bit mean spirited though for all parties involves. Especially rough for the main guy to find out that his girlfriend may have liked the other guy back as well. Not a whole lot to say about it though. Living secrets is an intriguing concept but I was waiting for some kind of a twist.

Finally we have the blood village. A doctor is called to go to a small village to help out and for some reason everyone there looks beautiful one day and then drained as a zombie the next. They all seem to have significant blood loss but aren’t dead. It seems like the whole village’s blood is linked to the land itself so everyone is functionally immortal but doomed to basically be tortured every other week. It sounds like an absolutely terrible existence and if you stay for too long then you’ll be caught up in it as well.

This is definitely back to horror vibes because imagine being stuck to a village where your blood will be drained the whole time. That’s got to be really rough. You could surprisingly make the case that it has a bit of a happy ending though. Things worked out a whole lot more peacefully than I would have otherwise guessed. I was definitely surprised and the main guy was someone with a glass half full approach.

As always I have to give a thumbs up to the art here. While I wouldn’t want it for a battle shonen, it is absolutely perfect for horror. It just looks off in all the right ways and you can feel the atmosphere through the pages. The author has good range where you can always tell if someone is possessed or just lifeless in general. Yeah the art is a big reason why the whole thing looks so effective and it balances out the stories well.

Overall, Tombs is definitely another really intense collection of stories here. As with any anthology there will be ups and downs here. It can get quite violent and dark to be sure but at the end of the day it does deliver in scaring you quite a bit. This is a horror anthology so you should absolutely only be reading through it if you really want to be scared. I think it can be hard to hit the perfect balance of being scary without getting too grim and horror isn’t my top genre as it is so the deck tends to be stacked against this series. It also seems like mission impossible to get through one without any animal deaths. I would say that none of the stories are quite as twisted as the most twisted ones from the first collection though.

Overall 4/10

Return to Glennascaul Review

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It’s always fun to check out a short because the film makers get to really test their skills. Can they really tell a complete story within the time frame or is it going to be all messed up and cluttered? Fortunately I can say that they did succeed with this one. It manages to be a pretty fun story all the way. I wouldn’t call it all that scary but the experience would still be unnerving overall. It had a good atmosphere and the short keeps your attention the whole time.

The short starts with a guy driving through the roads until he comes across a guy whose car seems to have stopped working. Naturally our hero is a gentlemen and tells the guy to hop in. The guy starts to tell him a spooky story of what happened here and it is definitely something to shake up most people. The hero puts on a brave face but based on how the short ends, it did get to him in the end. It was a pretty fun way to end the short I’ve gotta say. Really helped to end things on a high note.

To the story itself, so this guy bumped into two ladies who needed a lift. So he stopped and took them home. They invited him inside for some drinks and he lost track of the time so the guy dashed off around 2AM. Unfortunately for him, he actually forgot something so he heads back but the place looks deserted and completely different from what was there before. He visits the owner who explains that those women died ages ago. So what happened, did he enter the twilight zone? Is reality just some kind of messed up simulation??? There are a lot of questions and yet there are absolutely no answers to any of them. This guy is lucky to get away with his life after the ladies start talking to him as random voices.

So it’s going for that spooky vibe but the reason I’d say it’s more unnerving than scary is you don’t really get the feeling that the ghosts are actually hostile. Now mind you, they certainly might be but it’s hard to really say. They may have just wanted some company and they don’t really seem to understand how their situation works all that well either. After all, they probably wouldn’t have let him leave so easily otherwise right? The main guy even seemed to like the younger one so that could have been her chance to go back to humanity or pull him to the spirit realm. It’s hard to say either way what would have happened there.

But yeah I choose to believe nothing malicious was going on there. I just didn’t get those vibes at all. Not all of the ghosts are evil so in a way that actually makes a lot of sense either way. My first guess if I was the guy would be that I just got the directions wrong on the way back though. Seems more likely than ghosts but knowing the names and hearing about the past owners would definitely shake things up a bit. He’ll definitely think twice before stopping while on a drive at night though.

Overall, This was a fun story. It’s like a little preview at something that you can picture happening. Perhaps with a slightly less supernatural twist but for the most part, still going through most of these events. The writing and pacing are both good which is super important for a story like this. If you were to mess up on that then this would feel underdeveloped or too rushed. Instead it manages to be a pretty fun story and it’s also one that would probably not work as well if it was full length. In that way, the story made the most out of its format. The short length also makes it an easy re watch. At the end of the day it skates by on just being a fun little short and it didn’t need to be anything more than that.

Overall 7/10

I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House Review

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It’s time for one of those spooky ghost films. The main problem this movie has though is that it’s not quite as scary as it thinks it is. For the most part you’re just thinking that Lily is not handling the situation well. For the most part when you’re in a spooky situation you need to make sure that you are scarier than what is coming. If you’re someone who generally gets scared easy then make sure you don’t put yourself in tricky situations.

The movie starts with Lily moving into a new house to take care of an aging author. This author was a famous murder mystery writer for a very long time. She is unfortunately nearing the end of her life and so Lily works as a stay in nurse who can provide 24/7 care. It’s an extremely difficult job particularly as there is no real end point to it. Lily will continue to provide assistance for as long as she can until the author has passed. The problem? Lily is super scared of ghost stories, mysteries, or anything dark. It’s so bad that she cannot even read a book about dark things or watch any movies. The house is starting to feel rather dark with the stench of death and a mysterious mold is growing as well. Is this the end of Lily’s story?

Right off the bat it does feel like Lily is absolutely in the wrong profession here. For starters, death can be scary for most and so Lily not being able to tackle scary things puts her in a really tough spot. Additionally, you have to factor in some items to prepare yourself for the long stay. Lily can’t go outside and leave the author alone for even a moment which means she is always inside the house. You should have dozens of books and whatever other items you can think of to pass the time by. Lets say Lily has to be here for 1 full year. Without anything to do it would be easy to get stir crazy.

I imagine you could probably just do a lot of exercise and sit ups to pass the time by but not having anything on hand was a big mistake. Lily has her friends that she can call over the phone but that doesn’t buy a whole lot of time. Of course there is also the TV but it is broken half the time which doesn’t help. So the longer Lily is there, the more she starts hearing things and scaring herself even more. It doesn’t help that she already seemed a little off right from the start. So everything really started piling up more and more here.

Lily is just not a very interesting main character and she’s also not a very strong one. She starts panicking rather quickly after going through far less than most horror main characters. I would say that is a very bad look for her. The way she goes out is also pretty bad, super underwhelming. It’s the kind of finish that you very rarely see for a main character and for good reason. You’re left shaking your head at all of this.

What I will give the movie is that it can be good on not explaining too much. We do get a lot of the general answers involving the ghost but for the little things they are up to your imagination. Did the plants just talk or was Lily crazy? (I say she’s crazy) Did the ghost actively want to murder Lily (Yeah) and if so…why? It’s not like Lily is really to blame for any of this. The origin story is sad to be sure but continuing the cycle by adding Lily in doesn’t seem like it would do much for the dead.

For the most part the film isn’t very violent. I’d say the one exception is part of the flashbacks for one of the characters. It’s all over rather quickly but it is a brutal end. Otherwise this is definitely more of a tame horror about the unseen threats and the mind games that are going on. We do get some interesting jumps between the present and the past later on which makes for an intriguing ending. The idea of wanting to stick around as a ghost seems absurd to me but I suppose everyone has their own ideas so in that sense it’s not crazy that some ghosts want to be spooks forever.

The movie does try to hammer in the title several times. The first time I actually thought it was unintentionally funny. That may sound like a diss at the lead but I feel like the film intentionally framed her in a super unattractive way to contrast the title. When she was referring to herself as the pretty thing I sorta had to do a double take. Like did she just say that? Well, the line comes up several more times throughout the film and while it can be a little repetitive, I know it’s all for the themes and everything. I probably couldn’t tell you the exact point of that though.

Overall, This film is not really my style. It’s another slow burn and this might be one of the slowest burns of them all. Even at the end there is no big climax or anything. Lily can’t fight after all and the cast is extremely small. Lily being so scared and everything felt like a very forced plot point that didn’t really have any reason to be here. I think it would be a lot more effective to have a strong character like the lead in 1408 who is slowly broken down by all of the hauntings. That would make a lot more sense. In the end, this one’s definitely a skip. It needed more jump scares and a more interesting main character. That would have really allowed it to cross the finish line.

Overall 3/10

White Noise Review

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White Noise is one of those desperate horror films that actually snagged an interesting idea but rushed to churn out some random product that barely made use of it. I can’t say I was all that disappointed because to be honest I had fairly low expectations going into it. The movie’s fairly bad as you would guess. The villains are overpowered with no weaknesses and the whole film is an exercise in futility. At least the film has some restraint and doesn’t go too crazy though.

The film starts off with Jonathan being married to Anna and she is even expecting a kid which is hype. Unfortunately she dies after that so Jonathan gets rather depressed. He ends up meeting a shady guy who was following him around for a while though named Raymond. He dabbles in the arcane arts and explains that Sarah’s spirit can still be heard through the computer. They just have to listen hard enough and he’s a pro at the electro voice phenomenon and has made it his life’s work. He’s been helping another lady named Sarah as well. Now she can help Jonathan a bit because Raymond gets bumped off soon after. The spirits don’t appreciate this intrusion and plan to keep on murdering people. What can Jonathan do against these demonic entities?

Nothing to be honest. Lol you thought this guy could do anything about it? These ghosts are intangible, they’ve got super speed, super strength, endless stamina, they can control your body and make you jump out a window, etc. Their abilities are basically limitless so all Jonathan can do is flail around for a while until the ghosts have had enough of him. That’s my main problem with some titles like this. You have to at least introduce a concept that gives Jonathan some kind of a chance in this fight. Otherwise, what is even the point of watching the film? It’s just pointless if his only escape is his inevitable death. At that point then what are we even doing here?

The film also gets rather boring at times. It’s good that Jonathan is super good at hearing because half the time I couldn’t even get what the ghosts were saying through the computer screen. It could be like gibberish at times and I’m someone who tends to like white noise. I use it every night to create that hype atmosphere although I’ve thought about buying a more custom noise like a rainforest sound or something. I think those could even be more fun although I haven’t tried that yet. But even so it’s not something that can carry a movie. I did appreciate that most of the transitions were done using white noise though. The general colors, backgrounds, and effects weren’t bad either.

There just isn’t a lot of them to go around and they tend to be very repetitive. Also, it goes through the annoying cliche of only the evil spirits having power while the good ones can only repeat one or two phrases like an NPC. Anna shows up a few times to tell Jonathan to run but she never gives any more details than that. Also lets face it, running’s not even going to do anything at this point although I appreciate the attempt. No, he’s doomed no matter how you slice it.

One plot point that starts kind of late is how Jonathan can quickly see into the future. He is given glimpses into different dark fates that await various characters but with enough time to save them or help out in time. He does help out a bit but I’d be annoyed with this ability because it doesn’t come with any hints or anything. He just has to run around until he finds out what is going on. It’s also usually a half victory as someone still dies or gets injured while he saves someone else.

Ultimately though, it’s all rather futile like I mentioned. Jonathan never stood a chance at winning or doing much of anything. Depending on how you interpret the ending, it’s not looking much better for the other characters either. Part of the ending is a little funny though with some more static noise showing up and we get one last line from one of the characters. Everyone looks either shocked or happy except for the driver who is over the whole thing. He just drives off looking rather annoyed and I don’t blame him because from his point of view the whole thing’s probably been a real drag. Now he’s going to have to compete with a legacy that will probably be dramatized a bit. If he was in the sequel I’d bet that things would not go well for him.

Ultimately the message here is really not to mess with the dead and spirits. Once someone dies then you’ve gotta move on and fast. No trying to contact them or anything because you’re just going to be going around in circles and contacting demons anyway. I’d also say you should never trust some random guy who’s been following you around and telling you all of these weird stories. I get that Jonathan was desperate but yeah you definitely need to be able to move on. Not rebound of course, but just keep it calm and not chase after her spirit.

The film also has a really random plot twist near the end of the film that doesn’t make any sense. Feels more like a shock value moment than anything to be honest. Lets just say there is one human villain here to make things a little more tense at the end but there’s just no point to that. We already know that the demons can do anything they want so why involve a human? Just to mess with the main character? That seems like the only possible explanation. The demons strike me as really unreasonable villains who always have some kind of a chip on their shoulders even when they are the ones who created the situation. Yeah they’re not winning any points in my book any time soon.

Overall, At the end of the day there’s not much to positive to really say about the film. It’s a very by the numbers horror film but it doesn’t have a ton of good jump scares. The computer screen moments tend to be on the boring side and you’re really waiting for some action. Unfortunately there’s not much for the main character to even fight for most of the film and by the time we get a human villain the film is ending. This is a film that should have had more fun with the electronic setup. That should have also played into the demons weakness somehow. You know, just give us something with a bit more substance instead of dwelling on the computer screen for so long. Additionally the whole sub plot of Jonathan playing superhero by seeing into the future didn’t make a lot of sense and felt shoehorned in. The film just didn’t have time to really go into this plot so it felt pointless.

Overall 3/10

The Walking Dead Review

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The Walking Dead is an interesting film. I bet a lot of you think about the TV show when you hear this title but this movie predates that by a considerable amount of time. It does sort of have a zombie as the main character though which is a fun coincidence as it were. What makes this film fairly unique is it’s a revenge film of sorts but one where the main character doesn’t really get the revenge directly. He spends most of the film being rather confused to be honest.

The movie starts off with a nice old man named John being tricked into being the fall guy for a bunch of crooks. The cops figure he is guilty of murder and unfortunately nobody can help him out. John’s own attorney is in on the scheme and intentionally defends him in a really poor way so that it appears John was insane and evil the whole time. John is sentenced to death and executed. Fortunately Dr. Evans is able to revive him using a very experimental procedure. John is now back from the dead and has a 6th sense in a way where he is able to tell someone’s true intentions and knows if they were partially responsible for his death. So he wants answers….why would anyone possibly want to bump him off or was it just a matter of being at the wrong place at the wrong time?

The uniqueness of the movie is in a way also part of the issue. See, in concept I’m not opposed to a revenge film like this where the main character is more interested in finding out the truth than enacting revenge. I think that can actually be rather compelling but for most of the movie it just feels like John is really unsure of himself and sort of hesitating a lot instead of being like a true detective. John is older so I can cut him a bit of slack but it means that he isn’t always the most engaging main character. You get the feeling he’s lucky that this was an older film because there’s a number of ways the mafia types could have taken him out in the present.

Where this premise gets fun though is we see weaponized karma to an extent as every villain starts getting bumped off in crazy ways. They just can’t help but die throughout the movie as they are bumped off one by one. You could maybe even say it is as if John is bumping them off through some kind of bad luck ability. In a way for the characters the scariest part about this is it means even if they were to quickly apologize or run to the cops they may still die. It’s not as if John is controlling these abilities. For most of the film he barely even knows what is going on.

The end of the film also tackles the question on if you should revive someone if you can or if that’s taking things a step too far. Personally I don’t believe it is possible to ever conquer death so the question is moot but hypothetically if we had the ability should we use it? It’s an interesting question and I would actually say yes to it. Because the way I see it, if you have the ability to save someone then you have to use it and I see the ability in that context. Of course someone like John had already lived out most of his life so you can see why he wanted to stay dead but letting him die is almost like destroying him so it’s a really tricky position.

In most things I say you let the individual choose what they want to do but this is a really close one. I dunno I don’t think it’s an easy question but it’s an interesting scenario. At the end of the day though when you see a title like “The Walking Dead” you are picturing a slasher type film where zombies are eating everyone and causing a mess. I’m super glad that wasn’t the case of course but the whole story almost feels a bit misleading. It’ a lot more subtle and low key than you may have been expecting. I would also say it’s less violent than I expected.

Yes, there are a lot of deaths and some of them are quite painful but it’s not like your classic Hammer film that really wants to zoom in on the details and slow everything down. The deaths here are mainly matter of fact so they go by really fast. The film also introduced the villains are being very unlikable so you were ready for them to get bumped off. As always the writing was very solid for this classic film though and so it worked pretty well to supplement the main story. With weaker writing this film could have easily crossed the line into being boring but fortunately that didn’t happen.

I do have to give a shout-out to the two witnesses at the beginning for being rather awful characters though. They were too scared to tell the truth of what happened which is the only way the frame-up was able to work at all. If they had spoken up sooner then they would have basically avoided this entire film. Sure the villains threatened them but letting someone else take the chair for you is a step too far. I’m glad they eventually came to the right decision of wanting to help him out but it was too late at that point thanks to the villains seemingly being everywhere so they were able to slow this down. The villains definitely planned this one out thoroughly.

Overall, The Walking Dead is a fairly chill film but once I understood that this wasn’t going for a more action packed angle then it worked well enough for me. The opening scene actually is fairly tragic because it’s probably everyone’s worst fear to have an attorney intentionally sabotage you. Once you are in the court room you are really putting your life in the attorney’s hands so to see this backfire has to be incredibly unnerving. It’s also hard to know what to do at that point and even if you were to jump in and say you want to represent yourself, it’s too late by that point. I think you’ll have a good time with this one. It’s also quite short so it’s not like it’ll take much time for you to watch this one all the way through.

Overall 7/10

Asylum Review

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Anthologies usually aren’t the right format for me. There aren’t a whole lot of benefits that come with this style but a lot of weaknesses as a good story could be brought down by some others. Fortunately this was a rather strong collection of stories or at least a lot stronger than I was expecting. My confidence in horror films is not very high so I was expecting something pretty bad here. in the end I was impressed and this is better than most other rival titles.

The film starts off with Dr. Martin heading to an Asylum. A position has opened up and he has expressed interest in being there. The head doctor Lionel wants to give him a test first. Martin must interview with each of the patients there. This will let him get acquainted with the place and patients while also testing Martin’s skills. See, one of these guys is the actual head doctor -Starr, but the guy went crazy so now Lionel runs the place. He wants Martin to tell him which of the patients is Starr. With that, Martin heads to the rooms and begins to learn each of the stories there. Can he make the right call or will this just break him as well?

The first story involves a guy who is cheating on his wife with another lady. He figures that the only way to escape is to murder her so he takes her down to the basement and bumps her off. He’s quite thorough about it and figures that she won’t be a threat anymore while in pieces but quickly discovers that this isn’t the case. Her remaining parts are still able to move so she takes him down for the count and then scares the other girl into insanity. In the present Martin doesn’t believe that a dead person could possibly have kept moving and figures that the girl is insane.

This was a decent way to start off the batch. The story does seem a whole lot like the one in Creepshow so it isn’t very original but it does set up the atmosphere. The characters are all made to be super unlikable but of course you are rooting for the wife to get the last laugh here. Since the stories are all told from the present there is also an interesting dynamic here since you know that the person telling the story has to survive the experience. The rest of the characters aren’t quite as safe though. So, is this character crazy or was it supernatural? You will need to ask yourself that after each story.

Next up was a mysterious suit that made someone go crazy. See, this guy was a tailor but he was hard on cash at the moment because people just weren’t buying his suits or needed theirs fixed. Fortunately one guy stops in with a very expensive order one day. He’s a bit eccentric though and tells the guy to only work on the suit at night and to follow a ton of instructions. The tailor follows most of them rather well but gets greedy and does prick the suit once. Unfortunately the client isn’t as rich as he acted and apparently has nothing to pay with. This leads to a scuffle and the suit actually becomes alive. The tailor is now scared out of his wits and has been driven insane.

Definitely a good second story and one of my favorite ones. It reminds me of why you need to ask for cash up front or you are likely going to be swindled. Otherwise you end up with the client suddenly not having the money when you were counting on it. It seems a little less scary than the other stories though so it’s hard to see how this would make the guy so insane. I mean, it’s weird to have a glowing suit that’s actually alive I guess but it’s not too crazy. Still, it made for a fun segment.

In the third story we have a girl who previously suffered some kind of crazy episode. Her brother has taken her to his big mansion so she can rest. The lady is rather upset though because the doctor’s orders are fierce and include her having to take a mandatory nap every day while it’s still bright and early. Fortunately her twisted friend Lucy appears and says they can run away together. The main character just has to beat her pills addiction. Unfortunately it appears that Lucy was not actually real and the main character is just really insane as she bumped everyone off.

I would say the main thing holding the story back is that it feels obvious that Lucy is not real from the start. Of course the twist could be that she is real but otherwise you think that the main character really is crazy. In the first two stories you don’t think that necessarily but here it’s hard to believe that there was anything supernatural going on here. It ends up just being sad for the victims who weren’t able to do much here. I would end up putting this as the weakest story out of the bunch.

Finally you have another story with the doctor as the antagonist. His name is Dr. Byron and he is a genius in just about every field but now wants to focus on mannequins. He figures that he has solved the mysteries of the soul and can throw one inside the doll. It’s a rather impressive invention if possible but it all seems rather crazy. Nobody would believe any of this but what’s ominous is that they can make for an exceptional fighting force if they’re real although there is a big weakness to linking your mind to a very small and very breakable doll.

Well, those were the various stories here. As you can see, this was actually a rather fun batch the whole time. The stories tended to rely more on atmosphere than being super violent or anything. The villains didn’t go too far and the asylum was a good way to connect each of the stories. It was always fun to see Martin walk into the room and get things started. I liked the guy’s absolute confidence the whole time and the way he handled himself in the climax as well. Martin demanded respect at all times and wasn’t going to just be playing games or get tested.

That said, his reactions towards the end were pretty bad. The guy is not good at adapting on the fly, I think it’s safe to say that this is a big weakness for him. I wasn’t a fan of Lionel though. The guy seems petty and unreasonable for no real reason. He really didn’t have to go so far to make everyone turn against him. Honestly if he had handled things a little more carefully then it all could have gone better for him. I did like the guy who was in charge of watching the inmates a lot though. You could tell that he was very confident at all times and it’s also impressive how he was not afraid to be alone with these guys. That puts him a cut above the rest and also gives you a reason to be cautious around him. Everyone else has gone crazy so how has he stayed sane?

The unnerving feeling in the atmosphere the whole time serves the movie well. The stories are all really solid and the writing’s good. I definitely couldn’t ask for much more about a horror film in an asylum. It’s hard to top this. The climax worked well and what was equally as important as the stories were the scenes that tied them all together. It was easy to like Martin right from the start so you were definitely rooting for him. Horror films usually have a twist at the end and even knowing that, this one was quite effective.

Of course the question is, were they all insane or was this supernatural? Most of the leads really didn’t seem like quacks but lets go through all of them. The 4th story is the easiest one because we have proof that it works. So he wasn’t crazy and there was nothing supernatural going on. The guy is just an incredible genius who pulled his plan off without a hitch. Then there’s the 3rd story with the imaginary friend. In this case the main character is absolutely crazy and there was nothing supernatural going on. The biggest evidence of this is that she still sees Lucy in the present.

In the second story I don’t think the guy was crazy and this time there was a supernatural element. The book of bringing things to life was very real and same with the vampire. So this guy should be let out of the asylum. Finally in the first story it’s a little closer but I would say the girl is not crazy and that the body parts were moving a bit as part of the supernatural. So out of the 4 stories, 2 were supernatural and only one of the 4 leads was crazy. Not great for the Asylum’s intake staff but Lionel made it clear that he didn’t care about their stories anyway and just wanted to lobotomize them.

Overall, Asylum is a solid horror film that I would recommend. It’s quite rare that I have used that sentence before so you know that this one really ended up shining above the rest. I don’t expect a remake/reboot could easily outdo this one so it’s best to leave it as a oneshot for now. A sequel would be interesting though to see what happened to everyone. I want to say that everyone’s okay but I expect they could be as crazy as ever since this place isn’t exactly trying to cure anyone.

Overall 6/10

Ouija Review

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It’s time to watch my first traditional horror film in a while. That’s probably not the most accurate phrasing to use so let me switch it up a bit. When you think of horror films there are many kinds. 1. Realistic horrors where the threat is something that could happen in real life. These are typically the worst ones. The bottom of the barrel for horror so to speak. Then you have 2. Supernatural slasher horrors: These are the films where the opponent is some kind of ghoul, spirit, or phantasm who wants to destroy the main cast. That’s the kind that Ouija is a part of. These films usually get around a 2/10 score and are always pretty bad, but I consider them to embody the spirit of a true horror film the most. They have a set of cliches that are always followed to the letter and since you know all of the friends will ultimately end up dying you have to decide who the 1 extra character to be spared will be. The main heroine always lives, but she usually gets one ally to stay with her. The rest are red shirts from Star Trek. A similar kind of horror film is with aliens but it follows a different set of tropes so I’d count it as a slight variation. Typically there are more survivors and the films aren’t quite as graphic. Lets ignore Alien and Predator There’s also Kaiju films but that’s a whole different debate as to if they even count as horror films so I’ll skip that for now. The next level of horror are the classic humanoid monster films like Dracula, The Mummy, etc. These can be fairly decent, but are a mixed bag. They have the potential to get a positive score, but are most likely 4-6/10 on average. Finally you have the horror/comedy hybrids which are the best kind of horror films. These have their share of jump scares but balance them out with witty one liners and the cast knows what’s up. These films include Abbott and Costello, Scooby Doo, House, etc. Those are the best ones, however you never feel like they are True Horror films which is why the supernatural ones still take that title. They may not be good but you’ll be entertained.

Time to talk about the actual film. Laine and Debbie used to play with the Ouija back when they were kids. They grew out of it though and went back to enjoying life. One day Debbie was super bored so she played an extra game and was quickly murdered by the monster inside of it. To the outside world it looked like she destroyed herself, but Laine wasn’t buying it. Debbie had been having a good time prior to that Ouija game so she decides to play the game with her friends to see if they can talk to Debbie and learn the truth. They learn it all right, but not from Debbie. The monster inside the board has decided to destroy everyone else who has played with the board game as well. As the bodies quickly begin piling up Laine has to figure out how to stop this ghoul once and for all. Her best bet is to ask the resident experts but is it already too late?

The film does a good job of avoiding the trope of the animal death in this film. That’s a good thing because no animals played on the board so that would have really just been for shock value. The film was pretty consistent here about the ghost only going after the players. This movie also isn’t quite as graphic as a lot of the other horror films so that’s a plus. It is still pretty intense though so keep that in mind but watch a trailer or something and you’ll probably be able to guess the rest. Most of the characters die in pretty brutal ways that may be fairly blood free but are still rather dark. Considering that most of them didn’t even want to play the game it’s quite tragic.

There’s always that one friend who is pulled into the game for a film like this one and in this case it’s Isabelle. She was probably the best of the main characters or at the very least she was a lot more upbeat. She was just looking forward to having a good time when Laine forced her to come with everyone to play the Ouija. She repeatedly expressed how she doesn’t want to do it, but since she is such a nice friend she goes along with it anyway. Ah well, that was game over. Then we have Trevor and Pete. Why would the film choose to have two actors who look so much alike? Considering that neither one of them is particularly likable it doesn’t help their case either. For instance, when Laine asks them to join her in a quest to stop the villains they both basically give her the same answer at different points. They may not be supposed to be similar in character, but I’d say that they are. They’re both very touchy and panic a lot. They never stood a chance here.

Then we’ve got Sarah who is probably the worst character of the bunch. She just likes to fool around a lot and doesn’t take anything seriously. Her way of coping with Debbie’s death is just to get even worse and is a thorn in Laine’s side for most of the movie. She doesn’t get to actually help until the very end of the film and it’s not enough to save her. I’m sure she would be a better character in a sequel thanks to developing from this so maybe she’ll be able to turn it around there. I’m pretty mixed about Laine. On one hand, she is pretty determined about finding out what happened to Debbie which is good. On the other hand her ideas are just pretty bad. Playing the Ouija board was really not a good idea and her family warned her about it. Getting everyone else in trouble the way she did was also a mistake. I suppose I don’t blame her too much for believing the words of the random stranger since the ghosts were acting misleading the whole time. It’s one of those annoying plot moments where you wonder why the bad spirits can do basically anything while the heroic ones are always sobbing and running around with no actual plan. They need to at least try thinking for themselves. On a side note, the old lady’s plan was actually quite sound though and did make for a pretty entertaining twist.

So, I won’t say that Laine was a bad character but she did make a lot of convenient decisions which certainly helped the villains. She’s still smarter than some of the other friends though. In one scene near the climax one of the guys gets a text from the main characters and runs to the back yard. Keep in mind that it’s the dead of night right now. He tells her to wait up, but she runs past a fence and slams the door. Not taking the hint, he opens the gate and chases after her. What happened to the guy’s intelligence? If that is really her wouldn’t she respond? Considering that he has already seen a lot of crazy stuff happen over the last 24 hours you would expect him to be a little more cautious here. I mean, it probably doesn’t matter since the ghosts are always super powerful so they would get their man anyway, but it still makes you shake your head.

Meanwhile Debbie’s a pretty great character. She makes all of the heroic choices when possible. Yeah, playing the game was a mistake, but at least she quickly realized it and distanced herself from everyone so they wouldn’t get hurt. It does bring up the tough questions of whether you should go to your friends in case they can help but if you “know” that it is all futile then keeping them out makes sense as well. She also has a lot more will power than the rest of the characters and is easily the highlight here.

As for the villain…well she’s fairly generic as can be. There are two main ghosts here. One of them is super weak and doesn’t know how to properly convey any kind of message and the other one does her best to finish everyone off. The villainous one naturally does a better job, but I wouldn’t call either one of the villains particularly memorable or cool. I’ll take the Grudge/Ring villains in a heartbeat. As for the rather dramatic ways they finish off their opponents, I suppose the villains like stretching things out. They could have easily ended the heroes in any number of ways based on those scenes. Also, shout out to the nanny for knowing everything that was happening and not lifting a finger to help. It’s pretty unexpected honestly. Not a good thing of course, but still a unique choice for a background character.

Overall, I definitely wouldn’t recommend this film. It’s a pretty dark adventure where the heroes never stand a chance which can be annoying. There is only so much you can do against a monster which can’t be touched and has super strength as well as tk abilities and basic reality warping. Still, it’s definitely a little classier than the average film in its genre so I’ll give it that. The imagery can be rather disturbing and gruesome, but not overly violent. A good example of this is the clouded over eyes. It’s not particularly pleasant, but I’ll take it over other eye tricks from horror titles. If horror films are your cup of tea then go for it. Otherwise I recommend paying a visit to the Scooby Doo collection.

Overall 3/10

Mr. Sardonicus Review

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It’s time to look at an old horror film about torture and violence. If this doesn’t already sound like a one way ticket to Amityville then brace yourself because we’re in for a very slippery film that just keeps on falling down the tunnel. It’s often hard to say when a film like this one first ends up falling as it couldn’t even start on a high note. What I will say is that the film certainly is impressive in how poorly written it was for the 60s. That era usually had quite solid writing.

The film starts with Robert getting a mysterious letter from an old friend. He was close to Maude for a time but then she ended up marrying a rich baron so Robert traveled overseas to get rich by being a doctor. Well, she wants him to come to her manor to chat about old times and if he doesn’t come then she will surely die. Robert hurries over and is so excited to see her again that he ignores the torture and murder happening within the building. Still, there won’t be anyone left to save him if he dawdles too long. Sardonicus will release him and Maude if Robert cures his face. If he does not, then he shall die. Can Robert do this?

Robert isn’t a very heroic character. He is proud of his Knightly ways and cannot bring himself to harm even a villain. That’s why even though a lot of terrible things are happening in the castle he cannot make a move. To do so would be impolite and as a gentleman he must be courteous at all times. Even when he gives his word to protect one of the servants from any future violence he leaves her alone with the villains multiple times as he heads off to enjoy a meal. It’s hard to root for Robert at all since he isn’t even smart. After reading the letter and everything mentioned above, he is swayed by the sob story of Sardonicus. Maude even tells him upfront after this that her life is at stake and Robert jokes that as a wife of course she is worried for Sardonicus. You’d have to have gotten hit in the head really hard right before saying that to really believe such a thing. Robert is just as dense as a brick. Lets also not forget that he won’t even use any of the risky treatments on Sardonicus because he worries for the villain’s safety. Even though such a decision would result in Maude’s death. This is our main character?

Naturally Sardonicus isn’t a good villain either. His sob story amounts to him trying to rob a grave and getting his face defiled for his efforts. Karma occurred very quickly and now he will take it out on everyone else. I can’t say that I feel bad for him and it just reminds you even more that he is a rather petty villain. His excuse for all of the inhumane experiments is to find a cure, but half of them had no actual correlation to his affliction and he later admits that he just does it as punishment. The guy can’t even decide on why he does what he does.

Then we have Maude who definitely isn’t the smartest of characters. Lets just think about this again. Sardonicus is all alone in the castle except for his one attendant Krull. Krull is often sent on faraway missions like heading to the city to recruit Robert. At that point Maude could have easily escaped. Sardonicus is often locked away in his room as well. Now perhaps her father is still a hostage but then that character would have to be so inept that I can’t even comprehend it. Furthermore the film doesn’t even try to make sense with this. Before I get into it I should mention that the same thing applies to Krull. The film tells us a few times that he is a very strong man who obeys Sardonicus absolutely. But why though? He is strong enough to destroy his master and live a very comfortable life. Especially since nobody actually sees Sardonicus anyway so he could just keep on using his money. Instead he let Sardonicus punish him a few times without actually trying to fight back.

All right, time for the real plot hole here. So, Sardonicus is feared by everyone on the island. It’s to the point where the men of the island allow their daughters to be sacrificed to him every year. Why not move away? Why not storm the building? Again, this could make sense if Sardonicus had a lot of people under his influence like in most similar films of this genre. Here he is just a single man with a single attendant. It would be a simple matter for a mob to enter and liberate anyone still alive. At the very least they could easily destroy him. Instead for whatever reason the police refuse to do anything and people don’t even move away. At most this could make sense if Sardonicus had some kind of political clout, but the sob story showed that he was just an ordinary guy who happened to win the lottery and got rich. That doesn’t give him any kind of diplomatic immunity. The film just couldn’t even think its own plot all the way through.

Overall, This was a pretty terrible film. It’s just gritty to be gritty and none of the characters can think for themselves. They just go along with whatever Sardonicus has planned and never stop to question why they are doing this. The plot’s flimsy and the characters aren’t good. The film feels like it lasts for an eternity before it’s over and the whole time you will just be wondering how this got past pre production. The narrator who appears at the beginning and end of the film is also a chore to get through. His jokes don’t land at all and he takes forever to get to the point. I would highly recommend staying away from this film.

Overall 0/10