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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Wednesday 8th April 2026 7:54 AM (13 hours ago)

Co-directors Ellison Winterstein and Harrison Orwig have released their supernatural thriller - The House on the Lake via BayView Entertainment. This 70 minute movie concerns a young woman who finds her remote lakeside house to be haunted by spirits and demons. In desperation she turns to a priest, but their attempt to cleanse the house is interrupted by the arrival of ghost hunters.

The Guard Room (2026) - Horror Film Review 7 Apr 11:38 AM (yesterday, 11:38 am)

Olga Molina (Gone with the Dead, Bye Bye Kitty) stars as Hilda; a woman who has recently gotten a job as an overnight security guard in an isolated warehouse district. She is soon brought up to speed by long time guard, Lucas (Michael Fredianelli - Bears on a Ship, Ride Scare: the Beginning), he tells her that apart from homeless people wandering onto the site, there isn't much to worry about. After a few nights on the job, Hilda learns that the security guard she replaced was actually found dead on the job, his death remaining a mystery as to whether it was a murder or accidental. This alarms her, making her angry that no one had thought to mention that to her when she got the job. She decides she is going to look into this unexplained death, for her own peace of mind more than anything else.

Being out of work myself at the moment, I immediately took a shine to Hilda, identifying with her needing a job to earn money. She is one of the more relatable and down to earth protagonists in recent memory. I liked how basic she was, making it clear she is working for money, and never going too above and beyond what is expected of her. This is best displayed in an early montage sequence that mixes scenes of her dancing like a loon to music in the guard room, to scenes of her out on patrol around the warehouses. She was in no means a perfect protagonist, there was some odd humour to her, and the running joke of her referring to homeless people as 'unhoused' and then whoever she is speaking to getting confused about what she means soon wore out its welcome.
Lucas was another great character, almost the stand-out one here. His indifference to his job, and his general attitude made him interesting to watch, especially liking the brief interactions between him and Hilda.

The story reminded me ever so slightly of Five Nights at Freddy's, with odd events escalating as the nights go on. Hilda's need to earn money is a perfectly fine reason for her not leaving at the first sign of trouble, and the escalation is so slight that it makes sense she sticks around for the most part. I loved the feel of the film constantly switching between the night shift scenes, and the ones set after the protagonist has finished her shift and returned home with fast food in hand. This gave a neat structure to the unfolding events, though it should be mentioned the horror here is slight with a small body count and not many moments of high peril. Many of these perilous scenes involve her interactions with the random strangers who have ended up in the warehouse district. From people who threaten her, to a recurring masked maniac armed with an axe(!), as well as repeated glimpses of a sad looking woman wearing a white dress (Sherill Quinn - Bears on a Ship). That later character has the suggestion of the supernatural to her, though the melding of grounded murder mystery and ghostly goings on was always abrasive here, the two styles never neatly fitting together.
The conclusion was ok, but felt a bit loose, like elements hadn't been satisfactory explained by the time of the end credits. This conclusion did have its moments though, and I liked the path the protagonist was led on.

The Guard Room was a neat indie film that despite a low level of horror, and some weak supernatural elements, remained entertaining due to interesting characters, great pacing, and somewhat relatable situations. The Guard Room is due to be released via Magical Hammer Productions.

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Haunters of the Silence (2025) - Horror Film Review 5 Apr 8:23 AM (3 days ago)

K (Heikkinen) returns to his remote woodland home after a lonely pilgrimage to the sea to scatter some ashes. Heading to bed for the night, he is initially alerted to the proximity alarm notifications on his phone telling him the camera has been triggered. After some investigating and finding nothing, he mutes his notifications and returns to bed. It is here that he encounters a intruder dressed all in black (John Haughm), with a trench coat and a fedora concealing his identity. In terror, K flees his home into the nearby woods, beginning a long night of nightmares and fear for the poor man as the mystery figure gives chase.

My problem with experimental films is my relatively low tolerance for the style of these. In this instance, I lasted thirty minutes before the shine started to wear off a bit. That first half hour I was completely hooked though. The first act had the most semblance to a traditionally told story, playing out in linear fashion. At times with the night time atmosphere, this had a feeling of an adult fronted Skinamarink; the feel of a perpetual nightmare with no end, full of audio and visual hallucinations. This all adds to the off-kilter feel, the movie including among its melting pot discordant music, black and white segments, slow motion scenes, stop motion, animation, and kaleidoscopic images. It was all very arthouse and also legitimately impressive, especially with the sublime editing and cinematography.
The middle of the film's tale got a lot more abstract. Lots of staring at skulls for minutes at a time, and a neat stop motion section that has bones forming into patterns and shapes. Here was where Haunters of the Silence did lose me for a bit, these long sections were abstract and didn't feel like much was happening during them. It remains though, impressively put together, the visuals and sound combining to feel like an art installation - each and every image intricately placed.

The arthouse feel does lead to some genuine moments of horror. I loved the claustrophobically intimate feel of the first act with the rain hammering down outside, and the film throughout never loses the feeling of experiencing someone's nightmare. K is a silent protagonist, and outside of the film's constant score, the only dialogue found comes from TV chatter, voicemail messages, and a lecture on a gramophone record. No surprises, the story is heavily implied to actually be a nightmare the protagonist has slipped into, with obvious suggestions of sleep paralysis (IMDB states one of the director's own experience of sleep paralysis led to the seed of this film).
The hat wearing intruder plays a key role, though isn't present for the entire movie, showing up time and again. He was effective, but more so was an animated comic strip that showed the interactions between a man and an evil hypnotist in simple but creepy ink drawing. There were some great parts here, and the variety was constant. Day abruptly turning to night, a photo in a frame that starts to bleed into reality, as well as the ending scene were all highlights for me.

Experimental film such as this are an acquired taste, so this won't be for everyone. For me, I found it slightly exhausting to watch at times, but this was a masterclass of filmmaking nonetheless. This was masterfully edited, and felt like it had clear vision for what it was trying to tell. Expect long scenes of hallucinagenic images speedily spliced together, and an unwillingness to adhere to more traditional ways of telling a story, but all done in an often fascinating way. Haunters of the Silence premiered at the Serbest International Film Festival in 2025, and it won 'Best Experimental Film' at the Paris Film Awards later that year. This was released for streaming on Tubi in February.

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Shadow Castes: Book 1 - Aspects (2011) by Scott Harper - Horror Novel Book Review 3 Apr 1:40 AM (5 days ago)

I received the eBook version of author Scott Harper's Shadow Castes: Book 1 - Aspects way back in 2012. Once again, to my shame I have only just this moment (at time of writing) finished reading it. As can be gathered from the novel's title, this is the first book in a series (and from what I could find on the net, a sequel has yet to be released). Unlike other books of Harpers I have read, such as Predators or Prey? and Necromancer, this is purely the start of an ongoing story, rather than present a self contained story, it very much sets up future events with no real resolution to anything.

Felix is a tormented man. He is forced to live away from society in a remote woodland home due to being a werewolf. His daily struggle to control his wolf side is interrupted by the arrival of a beautiful woman; Nephele. She tells Felix that she travels the world seeking to help werewolves deal with their condition - being a werewolf herself who has discovered a way to co-exist with the beast within.
Elsewhere, psychic vampire Eugene lives in his Gothic mansion with his spirit guide; Charlotte. They want nothing more than to find a way to make Charlotte's form solid, as the pair are in love and want to be able to be together. A less noble psychic vampire named Drake is on the loose nearby, getting joy out of tormenting his victims.
Finally, there is the hunter; a tormented man living on the edge, determined to hunt and kill werewolves, due to his wife and unborn child being killed by one in the past. He teams up with a determined young woman after evidence of a werewolf pack hunting in the city is discovered.

Shadow Castes is a mixture of romance and horror. With the exception of the dastardly Drake, each of the subplots going on is made up of a male and female character either in love, or falling in love. Having read previous books of the author, I have come to expect his reluctance to make his female characters anything but flawlessly beautiful. Nephele is the chief of these characters, spending the majority of the novel naked, with a few sex scenes peppered in. I often state werewolves are my least favourite monster, but here at least things felt a little different. Werewolves here aren't people who literally transform into wolves, but the spirit of the wolf contained within them is able to manifest in a solid 'shell' that encapsulates the host.
The werewolf part was the main story in the novel, second in line was the hunter's story. I liked that this character initially appears as an antagonist figure, before vanishing for much of the middle of the novel. The next time he reappears there is more context provided that suggests he has good reason to do what he does. Then there is the Ying and Yang of Drake and Eugene. The former is notably cruel and horrid. Eugene on the other hand seemed completely wasted here. He spends the entire novel in his mansion not really doing anything of note at all.
Being the first book in a planned series, you could forgive the lack of much forward momentum in the story, but it would have been nice for all the various characters to at least be aware of each other by stories end.

Action is kept to a minimum here. There are moments of high action, but mostly each of the subplots have lots of romance and talking, but not much threat. This was well written and felt brisk with its 239 pages.
The preference for attractive flawless women works better with a novel that I feel is likely intended to include romance and horror both, and there is an adequate blend of the two genres here.

Never judge a book by its cover. With Shadow Castes: Book 1 - Aspects, I expected this to be romantic drivel, based on cover alone. To be fair, I enjoyed reading this, and I was surprised that the werewolves here were not irritating to me. Ending on a decent cliff-hanger (that may never be resolved), this was a decent start to a series, even if I did wish it contained a full story, alongside the beginnings of one.

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Crybaby Bridge (2026) - Horror Film Review 1 Apr 6:56 AM (7 days ago)

Will (Michael Laurence - Airplane!) and Evelyn (Florencia Lozano - One Life to Live) are relocating from the city to a remote rural town, mainly due to the fact that their 16 year old adopted teenage daughter, Samantha (Sydney Mikayla - General Hospital) is pregnant and has been getting incessantly bullied at her school as a result. Staying at a woodland camping ground while on the journey to their new home, the family hear a ghost story about a nearby bridge that the locals have nicknamed 'crybaby bridge'. The local legend states a pregnant woman jumped off the bridge, killing herself and her unborn child, and that now she haunts the place. Ignoring the warnings about the bridge, the family decide to head towards it, thinking they will take the scenic route to their new home. The location turns out to have a strange pull for Samantha, who gets plenty of time to be by it due to car troubles. It is while they are stuck in the area that they encounter a creepy local; John (Erik King - Dexter), someone who is linked to the bleak legend of the bridge.

A very slow burn of a movie, so much so that by the halfway point about three quarters of an hour in, not much had really happened at all. Supernatural elements are suggested more than explicitly inferred to be real, the most really given are some audio hallucinations and nightmare sequences. That later part did have my favourite moment of the movie, where a school corridor and the bridge are edited together repeatedly, it looked great on screen. The supernatural element is so slight that it could easily be argued it wasn't an actual thing within the story of the film. With the appearance of John, this began to feel more like a thriller than a ghost story.

Due to the slow pace, there wasn't much need for grand spectacle. The story for the most part is grounded, and was well acted with the four central characters. Stand out actor for me was Lozano, her character of Evelyn wasn't the most likeable of people, but she felt like the heart of the family. Certainly more so than Will who was more of a reactionary character for better or for worse.
Some parts of the plot didn't appeal too much. Events ramp up for the third act, but I found myself missing the more drama centred earlier moments. Later, it seemed like the story was led slightly clumsily through a series of obvious and slightly derivative story beats. At times it felt like things were being thrown at the wall to see what stuck, such as a tonally odd end credit sequence that featured a reporter doing a series of slightly comical interviews with locals about the legend of the bridge.

Crybaby Bridge wasn't the most exciting movie. The subjects of teenage pregnancy, adoption were interesting in their own right, but this didn't work satisfactorily as either a drama or as a horror. It was well acted though, the four principal actors all doing solid jobs. Crybaby Bridge releases in the second quarter this year from High Fliers Films.

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The Rotting Zombie's Round-up of Horror News for March 2026 31 Mar 4:50 AM (8 days ago)

The Demon of Serling is a bleakly comedic thriller about someone whose neighbour is a murderer. Coming from filmmaker Dylan R. Nix (10/31 Part 4, Sharp Candy), this has a man (R. Nix) discovering his neighbour; Mr. Yarley (David E. McMahon - He Never Left) is a serial killer. Rather than go to the police with this knowledge, events lead to the two men going on a '...transformative night'. The director says of his film: "We wanted to take the 'serial killer next door' trope and turn it into something more intimate and existential". The Demon of Serling is now available on Collector's Edition Blu-ray and Digital via Scream Team Releasing.

Chuck Morrongiello's Bad Bunny has surpassed 2.5 million views on YouTube, probably due to having a similar name as music artist...Bad Bunny. This rabbit monster themed horror has a woman heading to a remote cabin where she gets hunted by the titular creature. Bad Bunny can be seen on Tubi and Apple TV.

Distort 2: The Dead Among the Trees is a FOUND TV exclusive, coming on May 1st. The found footage sequel is first to screen at the upcoming Unnamed Footage Festival in San Francisco before making its streaming debut. I haven't heard of this before, apparently, the sequel takes place once again in a remote Irish forest, picking up the threads from the first film. A musician returns to the woods alongside a documentary filmmaker to discover what really happened there.

March 10th saw the release of suspense thriller - Do Not Open to Digital video. The film is about a married couple in their fifties who head to a secluded cabin hoping to fix their fracturing relationship. The couple are given one rule at the place; to never open the door at the end of the hall, but as their vacation goes on, the man feels himself increasingly compelled to find just what lies beyond the forbidden door. Do Not Open was shot in 4K HD resolution and is said to offer a surprising ending. 

Thera Will See You Know (2025) - Short Sci-fi Horror Film Review 30 Mar 4:53 AM (9 days ago)

Back in the early days of my blog I was constantly getting emails telling me about the films featuring prolific actor and filmmaker - Kim Sønderholm (Little Big Boy: The Rise and Fall of Jimmy Duncan). It was a blast from the past then when I received an email talking about a new short sci-fi/horror film that he has directed called, Thera Will See You Now. This short felt very current with the advent of A.I, the themes covered here I have already seen in a more mundane way in real news, with our current very basic 'A.I'.

The intro text gives an alternate timeline of the past six years. Starting with the Covid pandemic, this timeline suggests the lockdowns lasted a lot longer and there became an epidemic of loneliness, leading to high suicide rates. A.I was used more for connections, leading to present day where a controversial A.I led emotional support network was created. The short takes the form of a series of these support sessions. Maya (Mie Gren), Jacob (Sønderholm), and Louise (Sara Amlund) have joined an A.I led support group to help them with the issues they are facing in their lives. Louise has been struggling to come to terms with the death of her son, Jacob has been having dark thoughts, while Maya has become increasingly reclusive after escaping from an abusive relationship. As the sessions go on, all three start to become more positive and accepting of their thoughts, but does the A.I really know what is in their best interests?

Watching The Job late last year, I thought the idea of a self help A.I was decent, but that one was lacking in the more darker moments. Thera Will See You Now has the same idea as that one, but with a more jaded outlook. The 12 minute short is presented as if it is playing out on a PC screen. Initially having the screen split into four quarters for the first session, subsequent ones begin to put the characters on full screen so you can better see the emotions in their faces as they speak. I had a decent idea where the story would go, and indeed it did lead to that conclusion. The illusion of watching events on a PC screen were good, and the special effects used to represent the A.I construct were not bad.

I wasn't blown away by Thera Will See You Now, but nor did it do anything badly. I enjoyed its story, one that felt timely judging from some of the more crazy A.I based news stories I have read about lately. The short can be streamed online for free here.

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The Rotting Zombie Presents: Breaking News! Banned from X! 19 Mar 3:19 PM (20 days ago)

In lieu of putting up a film review this Friday (as is tradition, an old charter, or something), I have breaking self indulgent news that nonetheless could have an impact on this site. For reasons unknown, I have been banned from X (Twitter as it will always be to me)! I went to stick up my latest review post and link and recieved a message saying 'After careful review, we have determined your account broke the X Rules'. Further investigation (well...a dive into my junk email) revealed the following:

Cedar Mills (2025) by Dylan James - Horror Novel Review 18 Mar 2:02 PM (21 days ago)

Back in the late 1990s, a biker witnesses his gang being torn to shreds by a monstrous creature out at an abandoned mill near the sleepy town of Cedar Mills. In present day, wanting to write an article about the history of the town for his school yearbook (and choosing this mostly forgotten event), a high school student heads out to the area to take some photos. This proves to be fateful, with the boy's last photo taken before he is abruptly killed being of that same creature that was reported about all those years ago. The town sheriff who was investigating this death has the case taken off her by a shady branch of the government, but not before she had recruited a disgraced former detective, now P.I - Tom, to investigate the case off the books. With the government covering up the death, Tom reaches out to the murdered boys friends - high schoolers Jake Evans, DeShawn, Angela, and Alexis, with an offer to tell them what he thinks really happened to their friend. Before much information can be traded however, they are ambushed by agents who had been following Tom, and they are forced to go on the run, as the agents are determined to hide the truth at any cost.

Cedar Mills started off coming across like a Stephen King type of small town horror. This is the type of town where everyone knows everyone else, and gossip spreads rapidly. From the thrilling prologue set in the 90s, events get moving rapidly. I figured the pacing of the story would see Tom and friends investigating the strange goings on in the town in a Stranger Things type of fashion. Instead, the novel is roughly split into three distinct parts. The early small town horror transitions into more of a road trip story, before coming together for an action packed third act that is pure creature feature horror. The story went to some unexpected places, with the story getting more wild than I imagined. I can't say I thought too much of the epilogue, mainly due to the rather abrupt cliff-hanger ending.

There were a lot of grim moments here. The creature itself is very deadly, a green reptilian type of huge monster with blade-like appendages for arms. The scenes of it killing victims were all very exciting, especially with how powerful it is. More detestable for me were the three government agents. Led by the psychotic Hives, they appear in some of the more miserable parts of the book. There even came a point where I had to take a break from reading - too much bad stuff were happening to likeable protagonists and likeable side characters alike! Despite a lot of the main characters being teens, they don't escape without harm. The story kept me going, as well as my assumption that these horrible agents would eventually get their comeuppance! 

Throughout Cedar Mills, I really struggled to put the book down. The short chapters and unfolding story over the 313 pages, kept me glued to the pages. I was a huge fan of where the story ended up going. Not that I haven't seen that type of thing done before, but I wasn't expecting that direction in this particular novel. Well written, action packed, and with a likeable collection of characters, I had a great time reading Cedar Mills, it did little wrong.

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No Through Road (2009) - Horror TV Series Episode Review 17 Mar 2:43 PM (22 days ago)

Garten of Banban VII (2024) - Horror Video Game Review 16 Mar 3:31 PM (23 days ago)

After descending yet another elevator of the secret facility hidden under Banban's Kindergarten, you arrive on floor six - the domain of Syringeon. The previous floor having become overrun by Sir Dadadoo and his small army of corrupted creatures. You had fled the area with the intention of retrieving the missing piece of Queen Bouncila's magical sceptre; the only item capable of sending the giant slug and his naughty one minions back into her pouch. After finding the surgeon, he instructs you with locating Jumbo Josh, the green giant being somewhere in Syringeon's improbable city, and who the creature believes is the only one capable of stopping Dadadoo.

I have to say, I did not expect a city to be found on this particular floor of the facility. I reckon by now we must be getting on for a good half a mile under ground. After a brief but fun horror opening, you make it to the city. The rest of the game takes place in this small open world area, with you tasked with heading to various locations, such as a bar, apartment block and theatre, as you search for clues on Josh's whereabouts and find the items you need to capture him. Unfortunately, this is the most frustrating game in the series by far, frustration popped up at several annoying moments. Chase sequences are back, but there was one here that required a mix of running and pixel perfect jumps. I must have taken at least 50 increasingly angry attempts until I finally did that section. Then there is the drone, it has another upgrade that lets you control it directly. I had hoped this would make it less cumbersome to control, but alas, the controls are poor and its range is limited by invisible walls. There are also a lot less puzzles to be found here, a handful of ones that mostly revolve around memorising patterns.

The city was fine, populated by alien looking creatures who talk in a variety of languages, it wasn't anything exciting. It had a kind of 1920's American gangster type feel, the bar playing jazz music, and a misty vibe to the streets. I can't say I liked that aesthetic, for much of the two and a half to three hour game there was barely any horror to be found. You get the obligatory dream sequence which to be fair was pretty fun, but the lore here was minimal. The story of containing Sir Dadadoo started to feel like a bit of an unimportant sub plot, divorced from the bigger story of finding your missing child. I liked the twist ending, but other than that there wasn't many interesting events to be had, outside of an epic finale, and the death of a major character.

I figured that each subsequent game in the series would be better and more polished. Garten of Banban VII however felt a bit of a mess. It felt like it was too ambitious for its own good, the amount of times I encountered invisible walls during my playthrough was ridiculous, and those moments of absolute frustration really hampered my enjoyment. This was ok, but really lacked the quality of the last few games.

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Portrait of God (2022) - Short Horror Film Review 15 Mar 6:51 PM (24 days ago)

A devoutly religious teenage girl; Mia (Sydney Brumfield - Blood Star) is practising a power point presentation about a painting supposedly of God, that only certain people who look at it are able to see the hidden image, and which gives those people a feeling of having seen the divine. After her first practice run she goes through her presentation again, but this time, when she gets to the slide that shows a photo of the painting, she notices that where before there was just a black canvas, she can now spot something lurking in the darkness.

Set across seven minutes, this certainly started off effectively. The second half of this mostly takes place within a black void, assuming this is meant to represent the black painting. This part while still good, didn't feel like it quite worked as well as the initial section set in the girl's home. I did appreciate the somewhat open ended finish to this, a nice ending shot. Both the special effects and the creature design were good, but I couldn't help but feel this should have felt more unsettling than it actually was.

I loved the central idea for Portrait of God and as a short horror it excelled at not following the tired format that so many short horrors go for, not a jump scare to be found thankfully. A solid performance from the lead, and I can see how this could be lengthened out for a feature length adaptation. Portrait of God can be viewed on YouTube.

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NFT: Cursed Images (2026) - Horror Film Review 13 Mar 12:41 AM (26 days ago)

James (David Wayman - After Death) has recently returned to London and has gone for a meet up with his old friends at the home of Kit (Patrick Shearer - Perception). The other friends are nerdy Dan (Durassie Kiangangu - Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania), James' ex; Cass (Mariah Nonnemacher - Terminator: Dark Fate), couple, Nes (Nobuse Jnr - The Group) & Julia (Jasmine Clark), and finally, tomboy Sarah (Amelie Edwards). While the group are enthusiastically deep in discussion about NFTs, Kit is mysteriously sent seven by someone unknown. These seven are part of a collection called 'Crypto Horror', which urban legend states to be cursed NFTs capable of killing people. Thinking nothing of it, Kit sends each of his friends their own one as a joke. The late night gathering ends and the friends go their separate ways, unaware that they are going to be haunted by their own personal NFT they were sent.

I don't know what it is about modern horror films being obsessed with having the most unlikeable protagonists, and this is a trap that NFT: Cursed Images falls into. My hatred for these idiots started early on when a painfully slow near fifteen minute sequence plays out where the characters drone on inanely about just what NFTs are. Characters then spend the rest of the movie making bad decision after bad decision as each inevitably come face to face with their personalised NFT demon. It becomes a bit of a farce with all the characters trying to locate one another, constantly acting very surprised when people aren't answering their phones. I mean, it's the middle of the night, it's hardly surprising no one is answering calls, if they were normal people they would be fast asleep! There wasn't a single likeable character to be found. You have the insufferable one who refuses to believe anything strange is going on, cowardly ones, selfish ones, and then the one person who seems to know what is going on fails due to his bizarre pick and choose in his research for how to defeat each of the seven! Basically, the plot of the movie couldn't have happened to a bigger set of morons.
The one interesting thing in terms of pacing is that despite being set over one night, there are constant small time skips backwards and forwards to accommodate the different characters going through their own mini-plots.

The biggest missed potential came from the seven demons haunting the group. Each one had its own unique look and design, from conjoined twins to a figure with an upside down face; these white skinned monstrosities were actually pretty neat, and unique to each other in a way that reminded me of Thir13en Ghosts. It was a shame that none of these appearances ever led to anything interesting happening. Each time the character would come face to face with their NFT demon and then the scene would end, before anything happened on screen. I loved the demon designs but I wish they had featured more heavily than here, where they were on screen roughly for about two minutes of this 75 minute horror.

NFT: Cursed Images had potential for sure. A bigger focus on the scenes of horror and more tension would have been better than annoying characters wandering around the streets. If you insist on populating the movie with idiots, then at least give them satisfying on-screen deaths. A lacking story and unsatisfactory plot path led to this all feeling a little pointless; much like NFTs themselves. NFT: Cursed Images came to steaming on Digital HD on March 6th.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Thursday 11th March 2026 11 Mar 4:10 PM (28 days ago)

Romantic horror film, Nuptials had its Digital debut on North American VOD platforms on February 13th, and came to DVD on February 17th. This sees a young couple on their honeymoon trapped in their bridal suite by a sinister presence, and slowly seduced to violence. This was written and directed by Sean Braune and features Ariana Marquis, Kevin McPherson, Annie Stone, and Denis Davicino.

Mamochka (2026) - Horror Film Review 10 Mar 9:38 PM (28 days ago)

Zombie Maelstrom (2014) by Bryan Cassiday - Horror Book Review 9 Mar 7:56 PM (last month)

The world is in a bit of a state, there have been multiple reports of a strange new virus coming out of China which is able to reanimate the dead and has started to spread around the world. A lot of those details have been kept secret, though as a CIA agent, Chad Halverson has been briefed on those. The deadly virus has yet to reach the U.S.A and it is hoped that will long continue. After his brother, Dan, is involved in a serious car accident, Chad is enroute to L.A via plane to visit him. As the plane nears the L.A airport, the crew and passengers alike notice a strange yellow smog covering the whole area. The pilot informs the 200 passengers that he has been unable to raise the tower, and that he is going to have to perform an emergency landing without their help. Landing mostly intact, everyone evacuates the plane only to be surprised there is no help awaiting them on the runway, in fact, the entire area appears deserted, as much as can be made out in the thick smog. Taking charge, the captain, Roger, leads the group to the terminal, noticing that something bad seems to be going on in the air traffic control tower. Fearing a terrorist attack is responsible for the airport being deserted, Roger leads a group of armed volunteers to the tower. It is here the terrible discovery is made; the virus has reached America, and the airport, and at least L.A has become infested with the walking dead.

Cassiday's series is always insane with crazy event after crazy event forever tying to one-up themselves. It isn't much of a surprise then to see the novel pretty much open with the plane's emergency landing. It was cool to see that even from the very first pages, this series was firing on all cylinders. From the first page to the last, the action virtually never lets up. For me, it was neat to see Halverson (however briefly) operating in a world before the apocalypse had began. The smog obscuring everything made a great introduction to readers and characters alike to the dead new world. It is actually 40 pages before the first zombie is seen on page, and from this point their inclusion is relentless, barely a page going by without more of the rotting rotters trying to feast on the hapless protagonists flesh.

The story here is simple, with the events of the nearly 300 page novel taking place over just a day or two, as it charts the destruction of the 200 strong cast until it is just a handful of survivors. The novel is roughly split into three sections, the initial discovery at the airport, a doomed siege at a nearby restaurant, and then the road trip to try and escape the overrun city.
The undead are an insatiable constant threat, driven wild with blood-lust, traditional George Romero type ghouls who are slow moving and can only be stopped by destroying the brain. Chad is as awesome a protagonist as ever, even at this early stage he took to zombie killing like a fish to water, and a good portrayal of his internal struggles as he is made to deal with hard situations, such as not knowing for sure if someone bitten will definitely become a ghoul.
Roger, Tom, Rosie, and Mildred among others never had too much to them, Roger's gradual crumbling under pressure of being in charge was shown well, and detestable bank manager Lemens was fun to hate.
The plot is carried along by 51 short and snappy chapters, often ending on a mini cliffhanger designed to keep you reading on. Many of these chapters ended in the same way, often with the arrival of more zombies, or the sound of panic from off-page. The third act ramps up the action for a chaotic finale, even if it did seem a bit odd how quickly a self made militia rose up and claimed L.A for themselves!

It may just be constant undead battling from beginning to end, but I often struggled to be able to put Zombie Maelstrom down. I was hooked following Chad and the other survivors journey, and seeing what crazy event would happen next. A blistering start to Bryan Cassiday's Chad Halverson series - blood soaked popcorn for the brain.

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Garten of Banban VI (2023) - Horror Video Game Review 8 Mar 3:11 PM (last month)

Due to Bittergiggle's meddling, the 'naughty ones' that had been contained within Queen Bouncelia's pouch have been released once more. Arriving on the fifth floor down, Sheriff Toadster leads you to the locked room where the Queen's allegedly magical scepter is kept, with it assumed that the scepter has the power to return the mischievous monsters back to the pouch. He asks you to work your way around the floor, pressing the three switches that will open the door to the scepter room, and making sure to avoid the dark, for that is where the naughty ones like to reside.

This was another great entry in the series, and the final game to be released in 2023. To have five games released in the space of a year was really impressive. The games have come on leaps and bounds from the very rough and basic first game. This, like the game before, took me roughly two hours to complete. All of that time I was having a blast. It is more of the same to be fair, there are chase sequences, scripted story moments, an obligatory dream sequence, and plenty of vaguely challenging puzzles to solve. If any of those elements were not fun then it might be an issue; it might seem repetitive. That isn't the case though, some of the puzzles here were the most complex yet, even if they are still simple to do. There wasn't really much new in terms of the puzzles. You had one kind of similar in style to the operation puzzle from Garten of Banban III, there was a boss encounter that required mild puzzling to solve (thankfully far less frustrating than the last game's boss fight!), and there was a platforming section, which to its credit did ask for something more than just jumping around a bottomless chasm.

The lore is where it is really at for me. The biggest thing this has over Poppy Playtime is how much personality these mascot monsters have. I love that each floor of the mammoth facility leads to the introduction of new monsters, while never forgetting about ones that have came before. I love all the interactions between these monsters, and their interactions with you, each new game it feels like less and less of the creatures have it in for you, even when you forge new alliances and end old ones. Finding key cards and notes is still the order of the day, but this was the most open level yet, with chasms in short supply, and your upgraded magical drone (sure is clumsy how it operates still), now able to shine lights into dark places. Darkness is a key part of this game, and becomes a puzzle itself. The locations are as ridiculously huge and unbelievable as ever, but thinking of these places as liminal spaces has made them a lot more interesting to me. 

I'm completely engaged in the story by this point, I can't wait to play the next game in the series, though feel a twinge of sadness knowing that there are only three of these micro-games to play and I will be caught up...completely. Really enjoyed Garten of Banban VI, who have I become?

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Anacoreta (2022) - Horror Film Review 6 Mar 2:35 PM (last month)

Jeremy (Schuetze), his actress girlfriend Antonia (Antonia Thomas - The Good Doctor), and lifelong friends, Matt (Visser) and Jesse (Jesse Stanley - Van Helsing) have gone to spend the weekend at the remote cabin that had belonged to Jeremy's grandpa. With the cabin due to be sold due to the recent death of the grandpa, Jeremy both wants to visit the place one last time, but also has plans to make an experimental found footage horror film while there. To do this, he has hired a camera man who has been instructed to film the group. As time goes on, Jeremy's increasingly heavy handed directorial style, and his insertion of fabricated scary events that the rest of the group hadn't been made aware of, soon leads to the group of friends starting to fracture.

I appreciate what films such as Anacoreta are trying to achieve, and here, trying to forever keep the viewer guessing as to what is fact and what is fiction, that part of the experience was effective. One issue with these types of films is that rather than the viewer wonder what is actually going on, they might just come to assume that nothing shown is to be taken as real, and so any moments of horror come heavily diluted. Straight away, I was wondering if the found footage being presented was the actual film the in-world characters had been planning to make, rather than it seeming like this was the unedited footage prior to that film being created (if that makes any sense). There wasn't any type of title text saying how the footage was discovered, perfectly fine, there doesn't always need to be, More glaring was the addition of a soundtrack, especially popping up during key scenes. It is hard to take the found footage seriously when there is music playing during the more dramatic moments. In a meta way this is likely all purposeful, if what the viewer is being shown is actually the finished product that the in-film characters were trying to make, then it works as it is certainly an experimental horror. To be honest, I might be set in my ways, but I would have been more happy with the story the characters came up with actually being the story. Their idea is to travel to a remote mausoleum with creepy grave stones styled as chairs, and there was a fun legend explaining what would happen if they did that, which would have been fun to see.
The horror moments when they come are often swiftly revealed to be red herrings. These include a mysterious truck following the group wherever they drive, a butchered cat, and one of the group getting strange visions. I did like how the viewer is never made aware of some of the twists within the film-making, At one point the group are meant to be deep on a hiking trail, the camera panning across at one point to reveal to the viewers for the first time that the group were actually right next to their cabin and the whole 'hike' was a fabricated part of the movie they were making.

The cast were pretty decent, I especially thought the character of Jeremy was good, mainly due to how detestable he became as the film went on. His manipulative nature means viewers and characters alike become to doubt anything he says or does, and Antonio is decent, with the gradual breakdown in trust for her boyfriend who she had thought she knew and loved.
The editing throughout this was good, occasional split second moments that hinted at horror not acknowledged, such as an early scene where a character jumps into a lake and red blood appears to spill out from her. I also liked a part near the film's conclusion where brief scenes from earlier in the movie appear, but digitally corrupted. The film was clever at creating moments where it seems like errors had been accidentally left in, such as a boom stick appearing in shots, and scenes being repeated several takes in a row.

Anacoreta was certainly an interesting idea. The central idea of not knowing what is real or not did take a huge amount of any potential horror out of this, but it was achieved well enough. Not at all a scary found footage, but well crafted and can be appreciated despite not being much of a horror. Anacoreta came to streaming and Digital HD services on February 24th, including Apple TV, Prime Video, and Fandango at Home.

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Demon Squad: Tooth and Claw (2026) - Horror Film Review 5 Mar 4:34 PM (last month)

Directed and co-written by Thomas Smith (Backwoods), Demon Squad: Tooth and Claw is the crowd funded sequel to Demon Squad (2019); an indie horror-noir (love that moniker) that got a cult following after being featured on season 13 of Mystery Science Theater 3000. I can't say that I've even heard of that first film, but found with this one a charming and light hearted paranormal detective film that featured an endearing and charming protagonist.

Nick Moon (Khristian Fulmer - Demon Squad, Night of the Krampus) is a paranormal investigator who is called upon by the authorities to solve cases of an unnatural nature in the Southern city he lives in. Blessed with natural magical powers, and with an empath assistant - Daisy (Erin Lilley - Demon Squad, The Night Shift), the duo solve mysteries and defeat creatures who wish humans harm. The latest case sees Moon investigating a series of strange deaths, with the victims seeming to have been torn apart as if by a wild beast. This comes at a time when he learns that his magical powers are at risk of killing him should he continue to use them, while his gadget filled gauntlet he wears has become unreliable. Due to this, Moon must rely on his wits and charm alone to find and stop whoever or whatever is responsible.

This is an indie film that carries with it a lot of ambition. This felt grander in scope and in quality than you might expect of a crowd funded adventure horror. A high energy soundtrack and impressive production values make this seem like a indie version of a big budget epic such as Indiana Jones, albeit with much reduced spectacle to be seen. There are scenes of action, and these scenes are entertaining to watch, but mostly the film is about characters talking to other characters. Nowadays it is unfortunately rare to have a protagonist who is fun to follow around, thankfully, Nick Moon was the highlight of this movie. He fits the lovable rogue archetype, smooth talking, self confident and capable, though often coming across as a bit of an idiot, despite being obviously very respected in his field of work. The best part about him was his somewhat heart of gold, he isn't heavy handed, or too serious, and often seems to choose violence as a last resort. He had an iconic look with red leather jacket, Hawaiian shirt and trilby hat, making him the centre of attention in any scene he is in. I liked the rapport Daisy had with her mentor, while Moon's old partner; Hank (Rob Eubanks - The Passenger) was another likable character, again someone who it felt shared a history with the character.

Scenes of action when they come are short lived but entertaining. It had a slight Buffy the Vampire Slayer feel with the look of some of the monsters, but with older characters, and characters who seemed more experienced and world worn. Action scenes were supplemented with CG effects for the magic which worked perfectly fine, and monsters were a mix of prosthetics, monster suits, and puppetry, all of which fitted the vibe of the film world.
The plot was relatively simple, I liked the detective angle to it, such as looking at crime scenes. The mix of the supernatural and detective genres was well done. I enjoyed the slowish pace and the relative lack of much peril, it made for a film that had a chilled out vibe to it, even with some moments of darkness. I did feel that the film's finale had some small pacing issues, but other than that I thought it was all decent.

Demon Squad: Tooth and Claw was a pleasant movie that had a good feel for its film universe. With all the horrid stuff going on in the world at the moment, I found this film to be the perfect tonic, a neat piece of escapism. It isn't too hard to see the limitations of the budget at times, but the production on this was impressive, and the likable characters carried this through.

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Garten of Banban IV (2023) - Horror Video Game Review 4 Mar 4:25 PM (last month)

Having escaped finally from Stinger Flynn at the end of Garten of Banban III, you have descended down to the mysterious fourth floor of the seemingly infinite basement complex hidden under Banban's Kindergarten, with a chick creature in tow. It isn't long before you have once again been captured, this time by new creature - Sheriff Toadster. In a weird twist, Sheriff Toadster is a subject of a kangaroo themed creature called Queen Bouncelia, and both of these creatures are shockingly actually non-hostile to you. Sympathetic to your search for your missing child (children?), Queen Bouncelia instructs Sheriff Toadster to help you retrieve three parts of a damaged elevator from around her kingdom, which when repaired will take you back up to one of the higher levels where you can continue your search.

I played through this game in one single sitting, and I have to say it was by far the most polished and fun to play one yet. Your objective is clear from the start, and with this level split into four distinct sections, it is clear also where you need to go. There is a load of lore, notes mainly talk about Sheriff Toadster and Queen Bouncelia, later on you get audio diaries that talk about the rogues gallery of creatures you have previously encountered (who of course once again appear here). With each subsequent game, this distances itself more and more from Poppy Playtime. I loved that not all the creatures are hostile to you, and I liked how self contained this game felt. It both gives further beats to the main story, while also having its own little plot going on of a rebel jester creature that is on the level causing mischief.

There is the usual assortment of fun and easy puzzles, from spot the difference, to again more switch pressing with your magical teleporting drone. There were also a couple of chase sequences (one that starts immediately at game's beginning), and another kind of boss fight against a new giant creature occurs. That boss fight was a low point of IV though, involving you tricking it into running into giant switches, it took me many many goes before I finally worked out how to do that. According to my Playstation 5, this was the longest game yet, with me taking about two hours to finish it. Each subsequent game costs more than the previous one, but this was still well under £10. This is a brief experience, but it was also a fun one. There is something about the basic creature designs that just become more and more appealing with time.

It is crazy to me that four Garten of Banban games were released in the space of a year (actually five in the end). There has been a thankful gradual improvement with each game, this one being the most fun I've had yet. It wouldn't make much sense to pick up Garten of Banban IV if you haven't played the previous games, but from the growing quality (there are some actual attractive looking locations here, and the increase in background music is much appreciated), this one was by far the best one yet. Just don't expect anything remotely scary, the jump scares are once again ineffectual, and the content very horror slight.
With eight games in the series released, you would assume that the next game will be Garten of Banban V. That is not the case though. Tune in to the next review to find out more.

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Yes, I am a Vampire (2024) - by Stephen Kozeniewski - Horror Short Story Collection 3 Mar 8:37 PM (last month)

The Rotting Zombie's Round-up of Horror News for February 2026 26 Feb 2:52 AM (last month)

Indie horror, Bone Hill has been released on Digital platforms worldwide, including Amazon Prime Video. This supernatural thriller is set in the back county of Michigan and revolves around the awakening of an ancient Native American curse from a haunted burial ground. The filmmakers collaborated with the local Indigenous community for this to ensure the history, language and lore in the film remained respectful - kudos to that. The cast include Jeremy Koch, Abby R. Mooring, James Whitecloud, and Roger Callard.

Are You There? (2024) - Horror Film Review 25 Feb 6:28 AM (last month)

Garten of Banban III (2023) - Horror Video Game Review 24 Feb 7:18 AM (last month)

After taking yet another downward elevator, you end up on yet another testing floor. You learn pretty soon that this is the last floor that was still in use when the event happened (where the staff and children of a kindergarten mysteriously vanished). It is here that you encounter the goliath sized psychic jelly fish monster; Stinger Flynn, perhaps the creature that is responsible for the missing children and the outbreak of the creatures.

Like I said in my last review, this follows the Poppy Playtime formula by having each instalment be larger than the last. My final play time for this third chapter was about two hours, I'm sure that included the many times I died. This time around there are four main areas, each accessed via a horizontal lift that travels over a vast chasm. It follows the by now familiar format of searching out key cards to open further doors into the complex. Stinger Flynn was an interesting antagonist, I particularly liked the trippy dream sequences you fall into when he psychically connects with you. It was fun to see the non-sentient objects from the second game make a new appearance here. There are the usual drone based puzzles where you have to press switches, including one that takes place as a boss fight against a two headed turtle. The beach cannon puzzle from last time around returns, the only difference here is that you are playing as Stinger Flynn in a flashback sequence, of which there were two, neither of which was particularly exciting . The text on the wall is again written really badly from what appeared to be MS Paint, this led to some annoyances with later puzzles simply for not being able to make out what the primitive looking diagrams were meant to represent. Best puzzle came towards the end, an escape room one where you have to keep resetting the room's look, so that your attempts at escape are not noticed by a patrolling creature. Another memorable one had you performing an operation on a creature, while balancing spinning plates (so to speak) as you did so.

I enjoyed playing this chapter, but I wouldn't say it was as jump scare filled as last time. In fact, while there are jump scares, not a single one made me actually jump. The main antagonist is the mostly static jelly fish, but the teacher creature, Jumbo Josh, and Banban all make returning appearances, as do the birds. The obligatory chase sequence this time around involves you riding on the back of a bird, that was different, if a little messy with how it controlled. The lore comes more from what Stinger Flynn tells you than files found around the place, though they too feature. I actually managed to play a found videotape, but it wasn't very impressive at all.
The game leads up to a fun end, but again, not a very memorable actual exit to the game.

Garten of Banban III was more of the same, it was neither better or worse than the second game, perhaps, with the jump scares not landing, and a few noticeable glitches, this was slightly worse thinking about it. Still, I again finished my playtime wanting to see what was next. I'm sure it will be underwhelming in a design way, but the thought of getting to see an unused floor of the mammoth underground complex has me intrigued. 

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Bad Voodoo (2026) - Horror Film Review 23 Feb 11:17 AM (last month)

Late one night, Abigail (Cristina Moody - November Lies) gets a knock on the door of her house, opening it she finds Officer Marcus (Scott Sederquist - Ghostbusters uncredited) there. He tells her that there has been a breakout from a nearby prison, and that four convicts have managed to escape and are suspected to be in the area, after their car was found abandoned nearby. Abigail doesn't appear too bothered, thinking that the likelihood of the convicts coming to her home were remote. This turns out to be a bit naïve of her, as not long after the officer leaves, she learns all too late that the convicts have already broken into her home. The four desperate men; wildcard Nonzo (Alex Pires - The Punisher), strong silent Nice (Justin Genna - Project Z: History of the Zombie Apocalypse), wounded Smooth (Justin Lombard), and the leader; foul mouthed Doc (Manny Perez - Luke Cage) quickly take the woman hostage. A series of unexpected events leads to the tables being turned, and soon the men find themselves at the mercy of a revenge fuelled voodoo practising woman, whose voodoo dolls work all too well...

I had to butcher the synopsis a little bit just to paste over some of the twists that while occurring early, are still worth keeping a bit secret. Having not read a synopsis myself beforehand, I went into this with only the film's title as a clue as to what this would be about. From the start, this appeared it would be a relatively low budget home invasion horror, and I expected it to follow the story beats of the protagonist somehow getting free and viciously murdering her captors one by one over the course of the 85 minute horror. Expectations are soon changed, the twists coming early and remaining consistent from beginning to end. I found Abigail to be an irritating lead, even with righteousness on her side, I found it hard to root for her. A lot of this come from her stubbornness to do what she wanted, rather than to stick to her agreement with the person she had made quite a serious deal with. I can't really keep that part quiet, the voodoo part of the title comes from the appearance of Houngans (Haitian born Jimmy C. Jules - The Purge: Election Year uncredited). This character is a voodoo priest and is everything you would expect him to be, from his sudden appearances out of nowhere, to his eccentric mannerisms and theatrical way of talking. Over the top, but also quietly creepy, he steals the scenes he appears in, without seeming like he doesn't fit into the film world. The convicts were a little bit more stereotypical, but I enjoyed the performances regardless, Doc was exactly as you would imagine a hardened criminal to be, and I liked how Nonzo related a story that gave a hint at was what to come to his fellow escapees. That related story might have been a bit convenient, but it set up the idea that in this film world, voodoo was a real thing. I like to err on the side of caution when it comes to things like voodoo in real life. Much like I don't believe in ghosts but wouldn't want to spend the night alone in a haunted house, I think voodoo has a more scientific explanation, but still wouldn't want to be anywhere near people who practised such things; just in case, you know?

What had appeared to be a low budget horror was actually more polished than I at first assumed. This is very much a horror drama, the entire film takes place in Abigail's home, and there isn't a lot of action in a sense. Mostly, it is characters standing around talking, arguing, or occasionally having little scuffles with each other. The horror here is effective due to how food the effects are. Voodoo dolls feature heavily, and they work as well as you would want them to. The special effects sell this very well, with details kept fully on screen at points. An early scene where a character has their fingers broken via the doll looked fantastic. Elsewhere, parts that aren't shown in as much detail work due to the imagination being called into play. A scene right near the end conjured in my mind that horrific ending shot in the 1932 film Freaks. The film barely features a soundtrack, it had some atmospheric sounds at times, but no real music at all. Sometimes I did miss  a film score, but mostly, I thought the drama of this horror worked much better by not being accompanied by music to try and impart to the viewers what they should be feeling. This is also presented in an old style screen format, not widescreen, this contains the horror to a claustrophobic feeling box in the centre.

Despite not liking the protagonist character, I thought Bad Voodoo was a great little horror. I loved the horror elements and how they didn't overshadow what is at its heart a film about dealing with and processing grief. I loved the drama of this as well, I always find it interesting when a film could work just as well on a stage than from behind a camera. Bad Voodoo released on VOD and DVD on February 10th.

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