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The Rules of the Game (2026) - Horror Film Review 27 Apr 7:41 AM (5 days ago)

Kidnapped people being tortured and killed for the benefit of anonymous dark web viewers has been done so often in horror that it has carved out its own little sub genre. I remember as a teen enjoying My Little Eye, and of course there were the Hostel series that propelled the idea nearly into mainstream, and the Saw films are a not too distant cousin of these. Outside of the so-called 'torture porn' aspects (I never like to see pointless suffering), I do enjoy these types of movies, and often due to the single room design they don't really require much of a budget to sell the idea. In the Lani Castle and Jon Cohen (Backlash, The Hanged Girl) co-directed The Rules of the Game (with Cohen also writing this), you have a typical indie example that does have its moments.

On-the-spectrum chess genius Evie (Lola Merewether) is abducted alongside her chronically ill sister, Danielle (Gezel Bardossi) one dark night by a masked intruder. She awakens some time later in a basement that has been repurposed into a series of cells, alongside seven other scared victims. They soon realise that they have each been assigned as a chess piece, and that they must play a game of chess against their twisted kidnapper. Should the piece they have been assigned as get taken during the course of the chess match, then they have five minutes to die. Failure to either make a move within the five minute time period, or failure to kill the taken piece, means that an innocent will be killed in their place. Each of the victims has one of their loved ones being monitored in real time, with the assumption that should any player break the rules, then a one of these loved ones will be killed at random. Evie has been assigned the role of the King, seemingly due to her being the only victim in the cells who actually knows how to play chess. While she is confident she can win the already in progress chess match, she is truthful that even in the ideal circumstances she would only be able to save half of the victims. This of course begins to cause bitter divisions within the group, with the weaker pieces believing her to only care about her own preservation, and that she could even be a plant, put there by their kidnapper.

The very important chess game (shown over a projector) is key to the movement of the plot, it actually features very little, at least in terms of being able to follow the game's progress. The board is only really shown when key moves are being made that will have an impact on the group, so anyone hoping to follow a match of wits on the board won't get that satisfaction. The focus is instead on the dynamics of the kidnapped group, a group that is made up of a wide variety of young adults that go from selfless and noble to selfish and nasty. Many of them are simply unable to cope with Evie 'causing' their deaths by playing the game as she needs to, leading to lots of conflict as various members of the group splinter apart. As a protagonist I did like Evie, her autistic side not done to too much of an over the top caricature. She recognises her weaknesses, but also has the strength of character to do what needs to be done (if only the others would let her). I thought her new friend, Kira (Alyson Rudlin - Backlash) was also decent, even if she started the whole thing a little bit as comic relief. Some of the other characters really sucked, especially the more bad ones of the group who seemed to be there to cause dissent but not actually have any answers. In particular, Lucas (Max Dÿkstra) and Sarah (Angela Zhou) were so cartoonishly evil that it became hard to take them seriously as characters. Not to say they were bad at acting, more that their roles felt one-dimensional for the most part.
This division within the group makes up the most of the story here, the kidnapper featuring, but only in a sub-plot involving Danielle, who has been tied up by his side as he plays the chess game on a computer. This division did leave a taste of displeasure, the film doesn't shy away from having awful things happening to innocent and normal people. There were one or two plot holes in the story, most notable being a second kidnapper in the prologue who doesn't feature in the rest of the film. Their absence was unexplained and convenient for where the story went. The story did resolve on a mostly satisfactory way, but again, there were key questions that got left unresolved.

The Rules of the Game had a good body count, even if most of the deaths were via relatively peaceful lethal injection. More graphic kills do feature on screen and are usually sold well by fun sound effects, and with characters getting covered in blood. One scene that had a character's head split open on the ground was effective due to a combination of these sound effects and blood splatters.
The majority of the film takes place within the basement cell area, a dark and dank nondescript location that works within the budget, and forces the film to focus on the unfolding drama of the situation.

It might have been nice for there to be more tension coming from the game of chess being played, rather than that part being almost a background to the plot. Outside of that, this was a good portrayal of how humans are mostly just awful people, more concerned with profit and self preservation than working together well. It's obvious to see that from just a quick glance at our frequently terrible news in the real world, so this didn't work as escapism for me, but you know what? It really wasn't bad, well made within the limits of the constraints it was working with.  The Rules of the Game is due for release on the third quarter this year, coming from High Fliers Films.

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Second Chance: An End Storm Short Story (2013) by Maz Marik - Horror Short Story Review 26 Apr 12:28 PM (5 days ago)

I had an inkling that I had another End Storm short story waiting to be read for review at the culmination of my 13 year trek to read the other short story I had; The Gathering. This second story, again by Maz Marik is Second Chance. This one too runs parallel to the early events of End Storm, and feels like a side story to the first short, with it showing events immediately before and after that one.

Homeless petty criminal Kyle has once again been arrested for shoplifting, and has been taken to Crawly Police Station where he is well known. He isn't too upset as he knows he will at least get a warm cell and a hot meal. A terrible unexplained event occurs in London, the news of which puts the police into a panic. With more important things to worry about, they release Kyle. Outside he bumps into a friend, and together they head to a storage unit to hide from the chaos that has now reached the town and caused much of the population there to turn inexplicably manically violent. Spotted by other non-infected, their numbers are soon swelled, with some of the survivors deciding to head out and find supplies, with the aim to then retreat out to the countryside where it is hoped there will be less crazies. One of these survivors is Alice, who heads off to the events of The Gathering, while others decide to head on over to a nearby mall.

This was another enjoyable story, though felt a bit surplus to requirements - not really doing anything different from the first short, other than to introduce new characters (who again are most likely side characters from the main novel). I did like Kyle, his story was only the focus for the beginning, but it was a neat introduction to how the emergency services were responding to the mayhem. The sub plot of the police was may favourite, the only issue being a character who was assumed to have died, only for him to pop up again in a near identical scene where this time he is actually finished off.

With the infected having less of a central presence, the horror and violence of their actions was much reduced. Still did not make me once wish that I was going through this particular zombie apocalypse. Second Chance didn't really do anything too different, while I did enjoy reading this, I also got a little sense of déjá vu.

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The Other People (2025) - Horror Film Review 25 Apr 6:07 AM (7 days ago)

I spent much of my time with Nashville based horror The Other People frustratingly confused. I just could not work out what was going on in this very weird and very bleak Chad McClarnon directed and co-written movie (co-written with brother Trey McClarnon). Ultimately, this sure did leave an impression, and with a nights rest between watching it, I have started to piece things together in my mind. I will try and avoid spoilers were possible as this really isn't what it at first seems.

After the death of his wife, William Marsh (Bryce Johnson - Terrifier 3, Oppenheimer) moves to a new town with his young daughter - Abby (Valentina Lucido - iCarly) to begin a new life. At the college where he has been posted to, he encounters dance instructor; Rachel (Lyndie Greenwood - Sleepy Hollow). Fast forward to Abby's eighth year birthday and the two are now married and living together. Abby has recently gotten an apparent imaginary friend, someone she refers to as Eric (Braydon Mohr). Logical William isn't happy with this development, but Rachel sees it as a normal part of growing up, especially with the child being in a new town where she doesn't know anyone. As well as this friend, Abby also has frequent apparent nightmares in which she says a scary man (Hank Quillen - The Nice Guys) tries to abduct her in her bedroom. Are these strange things all coming from a young child's imagination, or is something more sinister at play?

I can't recall the last time I saw a movie as miserable as this one. There are some scenes here that even I found genuinely shocking to see play out; a mid-film flashpoint in particular was so bleak and cruel that for around ten minutes after it happened I assumed I had been mistaken! There are some scenes of strong violence and horror that take place often without really showing anything graphic on screen. The gist of what is happening felt visceral regardless, proving that often the viewers imagination really can fill in the blanks much better than anything that could have been shown to them.
I figured this was a supernatural movie, figuring the imaginary friend and nightmare man were both in fact ghosts. This ghosts are approached in a different way to usual. They look human for one thing even if they do appear to appear and disappear at will. These ghosts also seem to have needs, stealing food and other items from the family, something which sets Rachel on a path of suspicion that something untoward is happening in the house. Initially, I finished the film not really knowing what had gone on, but thinking about it now, it had similarities to Us, the story a commentary on American society, done in a bit of a more grounded way. Some of the ghosts resemblance to the protagonists led to some bewildering scenes that were really hard to parse. Things such as a character seemingly being in two places at once, another time when I had thought a ghost (excellently played by Liz Atwater) was one of the main characters so couldn't understand why she was in the scene she was in and acting so strangely. 

The protagonists were hard characters to get a decent idea of. William was still grieving the death of his first wife, but it was never really explained that well. It led to random scenes of him crying where I was unsure what the matter was with him. Rachel was a more interesting character, taking to the role of step-mother as best as she could. While she did appear to love William, there were odd scenes when it felt like there was a gap of resentment between the two, giving the feel of missing scenes where they had fallen out with each other.  I did like a lot of the minor cast members, maybe the grumpy stereotypical detective (B.D Boudreaux) being my favourite of these. He played a stereotypical detective role sure, but he brought life to it even so. The odd next door neighbour was also a memorable character, the film's one attempt at vaguely alluding to what was actually going on.
There is a purposely off vibe, especially with the night time sequences that take on the feel of a living dream. I'm sure all these similarities between the living and the 'others' was intentional, but on a first viewing it left me often scratching my head in confusion, rather than being immersed in the story. As frustrated as I became, there were some legitimate neat scenes of horror, often with the 'others' hidden in plain sight in the background of shots. There was also some full frontal nudity, something I'm not usually keen on as just seems like needless titillation. Here though, it just about gets a pass within the context of the scenes it is used in.
Some elements of the plot seemed needless, in particular a subplot revolving around William's young assistant, Emily (Quinnlan Ashe), maybe meant to be a red herring, but this sub plot fizzled out and led to nothing of note whatsoever, making me wonder why it was included in the first place. By making the actual plot murky, it did lead to feelings of alienation. It must have done something right though, being tired, I had intended to only watch half the film last night. Instead I found myself unable to stop watching, captivated by the strange two hour film.

The Other People isn't a feel good movie at all, and it can be abrasive with how it tells its story. It did turn into something far different to the generic ghost story I figured it would be; something just as outlandish, but done in an effectively creepy way. I can't say I enjoyed the film, but it was striking and it was memorable. The Other People premiered at Cinequest, screened at FrightFest and Fantaspoa, and was named in the 2026 Popcorn List as one of the best films from the festival circuit. The film has been acquired by The Horror Collective; the genre label of Studio Dome.

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Garten of Banban VIII: Anti Devil (2025) - Horror Video Game Review 24 Apr 3:56 AM (8 days ago)

I said in my review of Garten of Banban VII that I would be saving the most recent release in the series; Garten of Banban VIII: Anti Devil until it went on sale. With my month long holiday to Australia pending (at the time of typing but certainly not at the time of editing!), I relented and brought the game, once again playing the whole thing in a single sitting. This latest game is the most polished and longest yet, but there was also a notable reduction in horror in lieu of more action set pieces. Being both a sequel to Garten of Banban 0 and VII, unavoidable spoilers to follow.

After discovering the existence of a mascot creature that had been intended to never have been found, the ruler of the Banban Kindergarten sixth basement floor city - Syringeon, has put you in prison, to prevent you from revealing this fact. Eventually you are broken out, and in your wild escape you end up in a familiar setting. It is here that you find a creature locked away in a cupboard; Flumbo. A severely injured Banban appears (last seen about to take on a small army of corrupted mascots at the end of Garten of Banban VI) denying all knowledge of having been the one who imprisoned Flumbo and telling him that he is needed at Syringeon's surgery urgently. Realising during the train journey to the surgery that the master of this floor has it out for the player, Banban drops him off at an abandoned medical facility and tells them to meet them later at a central tower the surgery is located at.

I didn't like the increase in characters in the previous game, nor the 1930s themed city area, but here, having you in a more dilapidated area of the city made the early prison section quite fun. After that, the game came to feel like a mix of Silent Hill and Garten of Banban, with the player exploring a long abandoned dark and dingy hospital. Here, there is plenty of lore revealed about various creatures, which I of course loved. This is the first game playing as the the human protagonist that you don't have access the dodgy drone. I was pleased that infernal contraption wasn't in use as it has been terrible to control right from the start and rarely fun. Instead, you are giving a handheld device that can be used to open doors by zapping them with electricity. Interestingly, this is also the first game where you are actually able to directly attack mascot creatures (by using this device). The game is again a mix of puzzles and chase sequences, but nothing too taxing either way. Thankfully, the vast frustration last time around with some of those chase sequences are gone here.

Anti Devil took me about three hours to complete, a mix of horror elements and more action/story based stuff. There were huge developments here, but I can't help that the grander story involving huge amounts of characters have reduced the unsettling isolation of earlier games. There are all the familiar characters, and it even seems the goal of finding your missing child may be getting closer, but the set pieces while exciting and fun, could not be said to be scary. The highlights for me where the more spooky parts. Investigating the hospital was an early highlight, a chase sequence in a storage unit building was also great, having the most unique enemy of this chapter feature. There were a handful of boss encounters, neither of which were particularly great, one was a bit dull, the second a bit annoying. There was yet another Stinger Flynn dream sequence, I always enjoy those. The mid game point took a surreal turn to a tribal village, I did not expect that, and it made for a more sedate change of pace, but again, those alien type creatures are often a bit too comedic for my liking (an early section with a demented doctor was quite freaky I will admit).

By having the story of the dictatorship of Syingeon take centre stage, the horror was diminished greatly. I do enjoy the story, but the horror is what I am really here for, not all out action, so I hope the next instalment (painfully not due until August this year!) will head back more into horror territory, and maybe have the player once again more isolated rather than surrounded by allies.

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Basic Psych (2025) - Thriller Film Review 23 Apr 5:16 AM (9 days ago)

Psychological thriller, Basic Psych has taken me almost half of this week to get through. Not because it was dull or in any way hard to watch, but due to me struggling to get over some strange flu-based illness that left me bereft of energy. Hopefully that hasn't affected this review too much, as I do try and get through films in a single sitting nowadays. Anyway, Basic Psych, written by James Tucker (in his debut feature length writing role) and directed by Melissa Martin, has a simple premise, but takes a long while to get to its unexpected conclusion.

Stuart Prince (Michael Cerveris - Gotham, Stake Land), is a psychiatrist who one day is visited by a new patient; a man who introduces himself as Dan (David Conrad - Ghost Whisperer). Straight away he comes across as paranoid - both not wanting Stuart to make any notes about him, and also, only wanting to visit when the receptionist isn't in the office. Dan then reveals that he was the perpetrator of a double homicide in a local park several years back; an unsolved case that became notorious. He states that it was all an accident, and that he is really trying to be a better person now. While alarmed, Stuart doesn't want to break his oath of patient confidentiality, seeing the man's aim to become better as a valid reason not to report him to the authorities, despite his misgivings. This all takes place in the background to a series of murders in the area exclusively focused on psychiatrists, making Stuart increasingly worried that Dan is the person responsible. When Dan begins to integrate himself into Stuart's personal life, he becomes convinced the man is evil and becomes determined to find a way to stop the man and protect his wife and child.

This had a slight 'made-for-TV' vibe to it, especially with regards to the melodramatic and somewhat cheesy score that followed characters around for the entire duration. I though both Cerveris and Conrad were great in their roles, even if I didn't like either of the two characters. The movie is one big cat and mouse chase between the two men, with it never being too clear who is the one being chased. Stuart begins the film the perfect man, successful, with a loving wife and child, but his association with Dan seems to corrupt him, with his actions becoming increasingly more desperate and dark as the story progresses. Dan, (this character actually has a different name, 'Dan' is a fake one he gives to Stuart, but IMDB states the character to be called 'Dan', so that is what he will be called in this review!) is almost the opposite of Stuart, starting off seeming to be very paranoid, but over the course of the film repairing his relationship with his daughter, and becoming increasingly aggressive and smug. I appreciated how similar the two men seemed, despite having lived very different lives, and liked the downfall of Stuart's morality over the course of the 100 minute thriller.
Not so interesting were some of the side characters, with the two child actors both coming across as quite wooden in their acting style. Stuart's wife; Sisi (Siena Goines - Westworld, Flight of the Living Dead) at least had some spunk to her, and the guy who played the cartoonishly villainous hitman was a third act highlight.
I struggled with character motivations and actions for large parts of the movie. One scene that stuck in my mind was a character finding out something terrible about someone they were close to, seeming to get over it within moments of finding this info out with little explanation. Dan appeared so crazy that it made some sort of twisted sense he was the way he was, Stuart though, I couldn't understand why he wouldn't go to the police despite huge evidence that Dan was indeed evil. That last point though, there was a late film twist that punched me in the face out of nowhere, in a fun way.

There were a few scenes of peril, but the drama of the story was more of the focus here. An entertaining prologue of a man being killed by the murderer started things off well, and there were a few other brief, yet effective looking kills throughout, leading up to a finale that popped up out of nowhere. Special effects were not bad, not that there was much need of them. I did like the flashback sequences, used effectively and not over-done. As a whole the film was well shot, but it always felt like it was an indie film, with no surprises to be found with the filmmaking.

Basic Psych subverted my expectations with its big reveal, so kudos to the story for going to unexpected places. Some parts of the overall story led to frustration, especially in the second half when events began to get more convoluted than I felt they needed to be. Still, Cerveris was great as the frustratingly obtuse protagonist, so not all bad. Basic Psych debuted on digital platforms on April 21st, and premiered as the opening night film of the Three Rivers Film Festival.

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Lost Joy (2025) - Horror Film Review 18 Apr 5:00 AM (14 days ago)

You know what? Lost Joy may be a simple beast that makes little effort to hide what it is all about, but it was also a right blast. Written by Winter Bassett and Jordan Laemmlen, with the later also directing, and both of them starring, this felt like a horror from a bygone era.

Jane (Bassett) has gone on vacation to a remote woodland cabin with boyfriend Jon (Vincent Catalina - Wild Boys) and their dog, Joy (the director's own dog). Something seems off with Jane though, she keeps glimpsing strange things in the woods and constantly hears a banging sound coming from the basement that Jon cannot hear. One night there is a knock at the door, a suspicious man (Laemmlen) introduces himself as Jack. The man states he noticed all the lights were off, and as the cabin belongs to his aunt, offers to help them restore power using the back-up generator. Against Jon's better judgement, Jane invites the man in to help fix the electrical issue, and then later, when his truck won't start, she invites him to spend the night in the guest bedroom. This leads to Jon becoming increasingly hostile towards his girlfriend, obviously jealous of the stranger. Meanwhile, Jack begins to try and turn her against Jon, pointing out how controlling he is, and with a permanent secret smile, appearing to know much more about Jane than he should for someone who has only just met her.

This was a very weird film, with Jane caught between two different but equally odd characters. Jon is obviously used to getting his own way and is controlling, always trying to isolate her. Jack on the other hand may state he wants Jane to become free, but uses his words to try and sway her to seeing him as the guy to trust. They felt like two sides of the same coin, one rigid and stern, the other laid back and free, but both seeking to ultimately control her actions for their own benefit. This leads to a tug of war between the two men, with poor Jane stuck in the middle unsure who to believe. It culminates in a mid-film flash point that actually made me gasp out loud with how sudden the thing happened.

From the very beginning when Jane wakes from a recurring nightmare of being a patient in a mental asylum, you get the feeling that what is being presented to the viewer might not be exactly as it seems. There are overheard conversations that seem to happen out of context of the scene they appear in, the mysterious medication that Jon keeps insisting Jane takes, and brief hallucinations, such as her seeing a bloody hand in the stream. It all felt obvious as to what was going on, even early on. Despite assuming I knew what was up, it was still a heck of a lot of fun getting to the point when the reveal is provided. A late film flashback sequence that showed previous events in a different context was the entertaining cherry on top for this movie.
Special effects worked, decent looking blood, not in huge quantities, but used effectively. There was also a great score that added to the feeling of sustained tension and threat, even in scenes when nothing bad appears to be happening.

Lost Joy was an indie horror that worked fantastically within the limits of its parameters. The twist may have been heavily sign posted, but was still a thrill to see how the plot all plays out. With Jane you have a likeable protagonist, and the character of Jack in particular was great at creating a constant feel of paranoia. Lost Joy is a horror that I know my angst ridden teenage self would have adored, even now, I thought it was a great little horror, which at just 65 minutes long was perfectly paced without any chaff. Lost Joy is due to be released in the third quarter from High Fliers Films.

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The Gathering: An End Storm Short Story (2012) by Maz Marik - Horror Short Story Review 17 Apr 8:09 AM (15 days ago)

My huge eBook mountain of shame began back in 2012 when unfortunate British author - Maz Marik approached me with a request to review his zombie-like horror novel; End Storm. This was the very first eBook I ever reviewed on this (at the time) relatively new site. I'm sure I likely assured the author a quick turn around on reading his novel, but in the end it took me nine months to read and a few understandably less than happy emails from him. At the same time I was sent the novel, he also sent me a few short stories that were set in the same universe. Some 13 years later, I have finally got around to reading those, starting with The Gathering.

This short story takes place at the same time as the opening chapters of End Storm, and features a couple of characters who I assume were minor ones in that novel. That novel isn't required reading here, though would still likely be beneficial to read prior or after this one. In the novel and unexplained event happened where 'the sky fell', a series of very strange weather phenomenon's originating over London led to much of the U.K population collapsing, before awakening as much more feral and violent people, Hell bent on killing anyone who wasn't like them. The Gathering has two plot going on. Mr. Shah is out shopping at the local mall in Crawly when the world falls apart. Initially hiding out in a photo booth, he emerges onto the street where he finds a young woman; Alice, who tells him that her and a small group of survivors are hiding out nearby, and that she is on a mission to get supplies so that they can all head out to the country where it is hoped they will be safe from the murderous hordes. Elsewhere, teenager James and his father are in their car sitting in traffic when it all kicks off. With James falling ill, his father plans to carry him to a nearby hospital to get assistance.

Even for me and my glacial speed of reading, it was very shameful that it has taken me over a decade to get around to reading a story that was literally finished within 15 minutes of starting it! I have read countless zombie stories that take place during the initial outbreak, but it never gets any less exciting to read, and that remains the case here. Rather than being rotting corpses, the antagonists here are zombie adjacent, the infected(?) having more in common with the anger filled souls of David Moody's Hater series. They are described as monstrous, but this is more with how they act than actual physical changes. They work together in groups to hunt down and kill anyone not like themselves. This is described in grim detail, one such scene involving a group breaking into a home, throwing a teenage girl out of the upstairs window, before descending on her and ripping her apart limb from limb! Gory stuff that was a thrill to read.

The Gathering was a decent short story, no real surprises to be found, but was still a fun read, and a decent introduction to the horrifically dark world of End Storm. I believe I have a second short story from Marik to read also, so a review of that will follow at some point in the near future I'm sure.

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Hellbilly Hollow (2026) - Horror Film Review 16 Apr 4:44 AM (16 days ago)

Written by Bernadette Chapman and directed by Kevin Wayne (Blood Type), who also plays one of the antagonists, Hellbilly Hollow is a horror that is focused around a scare maze. Visually this often looked the part with great set design and inventive kills, but the main story was somewhat lacking. 

Producer Mabel (Hallie Shepherd - Blood Type), her boyfriend James (Trey Miller - Guardian of Mine), and their boom operator are part of an online paranormal investigation team, alongside new member; Ally (Megan Weaver - Impulse Black). They run a YouTube channel that investigates allegedly haunted places. Their latest expedition takes them to a popular rural scare maze, both to highlight the maze for their viewers, but also due to the woods around the maze supposedly haunted due to a fire 40 years previously that wiped out a travelling circus. The maze is run by the eccentric Bull (Kurt Deimer - Halloween), who has given the team permission to spend the night camping on his grounds. They think it is because he wants exposure for his scare maze, but in reality, Bull and his hulking mute brother, Tickles (Wayne) are psychotic killers who delight in torturing and murdering random visitors, and have no intention of letting the team survive the night.

I really wanted to enjoy Hellbilly Hollow, but didn't quite as much as I had hoped to. A scare maze where some of the fake scares are actually real people being killed is a cool idea, as the superior Talon Falls can attest to. This one struggles a lot with its story that felt poorly explained. Ally has some sort of legitimate psychic connection to the dead, but this was never going into too much. Due to little explanation of what is going on and character's changing motivations, the plot become unsatisfying, especially the bizarre epilogue that skips ahead a day in time and barely makes any sense with characters acting strangely. The little scenes that play over the end credits were fun, but the actual ending wasn't so much.
Bull and Tickles gave me a vibe of the Firefly family from House of 1000 Corpses, being entertainingly evil with not an ounce of humanity to them. With the Firefly family, it made sense they could get away with their crimes, due to being remote and hidden away. It was a bit too much to accept that at a popular scare maze where random visitors are being killed on a nightly basis, that there would be zero police investigations going on! It could have mitigated this by having the local police shown to be complicit, but this is shown not to be the case. I liked that this family also used normal staff in the running of their mazes, but again, this made their blatant and very out in the open kills unbelievable, which did pull me out of the film more than once.
The protagonists were fine, bland, but did their roles well. I can't say I cared about anyone, good or bad. Least favourite characters were two very smug ghosts/voodoo witches(?) who seemed to interact with random characters without their sudden appearances in a cloud of artificial looking CG smoke bothering anyone. I couldn't see what these two even brought to the film.

A highlight of Hellbilly Hollow were the kills, especially with how inventive many of them were. Amusingly, many of the kills revolve around twisted versions of fairground games, such as 'whac-a-mole' (gagged victims replacing the 'mole' part), a test of strength gone wrong, and hitting the target to dunk the person in a pool (in this case dunking a victim trapped in a car into a lake to drown!). The favourite one for me was a victim strapped to a spinning board, with death by either acidic, or very hot lawn darts! There were more straight forward kills as well such as an early disembowelling and a throat slash, and all deaths were mainly done with lovely looking practical special effects.
Some scenes throughout the film were ruined by an obnoxiously loud soundtrack. The film's score fitted, but the licenced songs that featured were so loud that they overshadowed the dialogue and sound effects. The music was so loud and overbearing that I spent these scenes trying to work out if the music was meant to be playing in the film world itself. I came to the conclusion that no it wasn't, just odd balancing.

There were some great ideas and moments in Hellbilly Hollow; the location used looked neat and authentic, and the fairground themed kills were entertaining. I may have not liked the character, but Deimer played Bull with gleeful relish. The thing that most put this down for me was the story. Story beats in the second half of the movie increasingly made little sense, especially with characters who shifted allegiances for little to no reason. This left me to ever more baffled, and let the second half down. Hellbilly Hollow is due to be released in the third quarter this year, via High Fliers Films.

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Garten of Banban 0 (2025) - Horror Video Game Review 13 Apr 11:47 PM (18 days ago)

It had to happen eventually, this past month (at the time of typing back in February) I have had a whale of a time playing through the Garten of Banban mascot horror games. Sure, sometimes the quality has been less than ideal, but I really grew to love the liminal low-fi world, the sometimes janky controls, and the story. With Garten of Banban 0, I have for the moment reached my personal end. There is an eighth game out, but I don't currently own it, and with the ninth game not due out until way later in the year in August, I want to pace myself (ok, it turns out I in fact did not pace myself, a review for the eighth game dropping some point soon!). For once, spoilers for previous games not to follow, as the title might suggest, this time around we have a prequel.

You play as an unnamed young creature who one day wakes up in a small room with no idea who you are, where you are, or why you are there. The door to your room is soon opened up by someone; a young red creature that introduces himself as Banban. He leads you out to a vast underground play area, where you are introduced to further creatures. After playing a few games with your new friends, the day ends and you return to your room. You are disturbed later that night by Banban. He tells you he has something that he wants to show you, leading you to an intimidating gigantic locked door...

This was the second game in the series to be free, on Playstation 5 it had a much reduced price than recent others, so I figured it likely wouldn't be the longest game. It took me roughly an hour to complete, and on the whole I had a lot of fun with it. I'm sure important lore is given, and it was interesting to see the characters I've come to love appearing as children rather than grown adults. As to when the game is set, or where it is set, I don't know. I have a feeling the location might feature in the eighth instalment, time will tell. I thought the location looked great, and while the first half is light on horror, things do pick up when the night time sequence begins. It leads to an introduction of a fearsome and creepy looking new antagonist, making for a fun finale. I will say that on my playthrough, the game crashed in this final section, causing me to have to restart the game and replay a small part. It did take me out the story somewhat.

As per usual, along with a chase sequence, there are a few puzzles to do, the hardest of which had you trying to line up spinning symbols in a room rapidly filling with poisonous gas. Though with that one, when the timing clicked, it clicked immediately; a Herculean task suddenly fun and easy. With you as a creature, and set before the events that led to the protagonist of the main games entering the facility, there wasn't much explanation or deep story. A few notes were scattered about that gave some neat early lore about Banban, and as mentioned, I thought the location this game took place in looked fantastic.

With a cheaper price, I figured this would be bite size, but I still had fun along the way. I'm going to miss this series, which is crazy as I initially grudgingly picked it up as a stop gap game while waiting for Poppy Playtime: Chapter 4 to go on sale. Something I forgot to mention; shout out to the great end credits sequence, the first time one of these has had credits, and the charming illustrations show the entire series story from start to current end.

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Souls Chapel (2026) - Horror Film Review 13 Apr 10:42 AM (19 days ago)

Some of what I am going to say in this review may be from my own head-canon, but that is what I had in my mind while watching this. From my perspective, Souls Chapel is a post-apocalyptic supernatural Western. Written by David Daring and directed by Jake C. Young (The Dark Room), it doesn't take the keenest of eyes to see this was made on a shoe-string budget, but this indie flick still had atmosphere in spades.

In an unspecified time after an unspecified disaster (potentially a terrible world war or a biblical apocalypse), a drifter (Young) travels the wastelands of Kentucky. He discover an ancient totem of goodness and while investigating it he is shocked by the sudden appearance of a masked robed figure; Mephistal (Brain Bremer - Society, Pumpkinhead). This being gives the drifter a task; to head to a mysterious church that is nearby and retrieve the totem of goodness' evil counterpart. In exchange he is promised gold. Arriving at the strange church (called Souls Chapel, based on the real life allegedly haunted Soules Chapel), he discovers others have gotten there before him. A priest - Red (Jeremy Boggs - Screature), and his acolytes are there, with Red stating that he has received messages from God telling him that treasure can be found at the site. Not believing that the drifter isn't too searching for this treasure and not wanting to share, it isn't long before he has been knocked out and imprisoned.

My favourite part of this film was the vagueness both as to when it took place, and also what had happened in the world. Characters all dress in an old fashioned way, with their way of speaking matching that. It gave a vibe of sometime in the 1800s. Despite this, there are signs that this may be far more modern, and perhaps even in the future. In contrast to the look of the characters, there are buildings with modern fixtures, and I couldn't help but notice the half peeled printed barcode on one of the wooden bars in the drifters prison cell. Then there are the guns, all of which have a steampunk look to them. Sure it may have not been intentional to have these modern visual signs, but I loved the strange melding of different time periods, it felt old, but the occasional mention of things such as radios and radiation kept me guessing. What wasn't so good were some noticeably cheap looking props, the main one that springs to mind is a very plastic looking skull and bones that keeps appearing and never failed to look like something you would pick up in a shop around Halloween time. Still, these props never pulled me out of the story, so wasn't too much of an issue.

The majority of the film takes place within the titular Souls Chapel and takes the form of a character driven story. The characters were all interesting in their own ways. Red despite not seeming to be the religious man he states himself to be, nonetheless does seem to be getting messages from somewhere. Then there is Agatha (Audri Curtsinger - Unnatural), following the priest in the belief that he has the power to bring her child back from the dead, a comic relief character nicknamed 'School Boy' (Gage Carnes - The Dark Room), and the entertaining Jim Castel (Joseph McDowell). That later was someone who felt like 'the ugly' from the classic Clint Eastwood film, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, with the drifter representing 'the good' and Red 'the bad'. I guess that is fitting as it turns out Young is a distant relative of Eastwood! The actors all do a fantastic job of feeling like they belonged in this strange world, with their lines delivered with spirited rather than realistic gusto. The odd way of talking, and no effort to bring the viewer up to speed on the world-state could make parts of the story confusing.
The drifters quest to get the mystical McGuffin was more of an excuse to get the character to the church. That whole aspect was a bit oblique, so the payoff for that plot point was completely lost on me, I didn't really have any idea what was going on with that part of the film, making for a finale that went over my head a bit. Thankfully, the atmosphere of the film world was captivating. Supernatural elements, such as a ghostly woman in white (Molly Gill) and a demonic zombie creature baffled me, but their inclusions were fun.

Souls Chapel at a quick glance could seem like something to skip. Cheap props and an acting style that won't appeal to all could be off-putting. Even from the very start though, this indie film felt like it was doing a decent job of punching above its weight. It was very well put together, and despite my struggles with the intricacies of the plot, this alternate history steampunk apocalyptic Western nightmare had a unique atmosphere all of its own that drew me in. Souls Chapel came to streaming and DVD on April 7th.

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Axes and Os (2024) - Horror Film Review 11 Apr 6:05 AM (21 days ago)

I very rarely watch horror films at night, not due to fear, but due to being cursed with not being a night owl in the slightest, much more of an early bird. I have been making an effort lately to watch horrors at the optimal time, and so Valentine's Day slasher - Axes and Os was seen after the sun had set to get the full experience. Written and directed by Trent Duncan (Icons of Horror 2), this for much of its runtime is a relatively by the numbers slasher. It does have some more unique and unexpected moments however. 

Olivia (Madison M. Bowman - Children of the Pines) is in a deep depression, not only because she dumped her slimy boyfriend for cheating on her, but because it is approaching Valentine's Day and she has no one to celebrate it with. To try and cheer her up, her loving cousin Leah (Cass Huckabay - Stupid Games), has arranged a special 'Galentine's Day' weekend trip for her and some of their shared friends. Leah is taking Olivia alongside nymphomaniac Dawn (Sara Wimmer - Metamorphosis), and sensible (though possibly alcoholic) Abby (Jamie Bernadette - Cold Blows the Wind, Ash and Bone), to stay at a house on Valentine Lake. Little do they realise that this is the hunting grounds for a deadly killer (Brandon Krum - Wolf Hollow), whose exploits have passed into local legend, and who only comes out to kill around Valentine's Day.

From the start, this all felt very familiar. Having recently watched comedy slasher New Fears Eve, I was in the mood to see a more traditional slasher, and so that was not an issue for me. I did feel this followed the formula a little too rigidly, with its cast of generic characters. Olivia was the most interesting one due to her misery, but to be fair, the other were not entirely bad either, only the promiscuous Dawn of the four main ones who I didn't care for.
Of course, it is all going to end with the girls being targeted by the killer, but this transition into total horror weirdly happened off screen. One moment two of the girls discover they may be in danger, then the next time the film goes to them, the killer has already broken into their house and is pursuing them. Would have been better to show that key point on film I felt.
Parts of the plot points felt a little shallow and convenient. Take the killer for instance, he's been operating in the area for countless years, enough that there is a local legend about the 'Ax Man'. Yet the authorities act like this is the first time they have decided to look into it. Their investigations are comically quick at identifying exactly who this killer is, and how they would be able to find him. I guess you can just put it down to the police being incompetent. More entertaining was a small subplot involving Olivia having nightmares, which suddenly gains massive importance with just ten minutes of film time left to go. This bonkers late film twist totally turns everything on its head, but was a bit too little too late. I'm not saying I didn't find this finale a load of fun to watch, but it did seem to come from nowhere, with only vague clues prior to the crazy reveal. It certainly made for a novel way to end what had been a straight forward slasher though!

Of course, in a film like this the kills need to look good, and these ones don't look bad at all, even if they are lacking a little in variation. Being called the Ax Man, unsurprisingly his weapon of choice are axes, but rather than the typical huge axe, he instead uses more modern, light weight ones, and often kills by throwing them at the victim. There is a decent sized body count, kills often accompanied by what appeared to be CG blood spurts. Having a lot of the victims being scantily clad (taking place around a popular resort) gave more of a feeling of vulnerability to the characters here, a neat touch.
The killer had a decent enough look to him; a kind of grizzled mountain man figure; long hair and beard, and wearing home made hunting camouflage. He doesn't wear a mask, and it was nice to see that rather than a mute homicidal brute, he actually had some intelligence to him and could speak should he so choose to. I will add that his backstory (shown via a flashback sequence) was nothing interesting.

Axes and Os (outside of those final ten minutes) didn't do much to surprise. As a 'switch your brain off' type of horror it served its purpose. This was entertaining, if not likely to leave too much of a lasting impression. The award winning Axes and Os is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Tubi, Screamify, and Relay.

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I Remember Me (2000) by Thomas Tessier - Horror Short Story Review 10 Apr 2:10 AM (22 days ago)

First published in the 2000 anthology; Ghost Music and Other Tales, I Remember Me is the second of two Thomas Tessier short stories I was sent to read back in 2014 (and the first for me to put into a post). This very strange story told a nightmarish tale within a strange alternate Earth.

In a modern New York, a man attempts to head back home to his apartment. This is a task made much harder due to a memory loss causing pandemic that has swept the world. Dubbed 'The Flu', this disease causes intense memory loss, not just key information such as names and addresses, but even down to the basic, such as how to cook food. With much of the population infected, it has caused no end of issues, with even the doctors trying to find a cure, hampered by their own memory loss. It has led to a transient world where fake I.Ds are in full rotation, and people seemingly on a whim decide what their names are and what property they own.

There was a horrifying free-form feel to the world of the story, one that the characters within are none the wiser to. The protagonist here is aimless, drifting from life to life, unsure if he is married, or where he lives. For him nothing is really different thanks to his supreme memory loss, but from afar it appears a dystopian Hell-scape. Over the course of the story, our protagonist takes on a variety of names and identities, moving from location to location without even being aware of the changes taking place.

This is a world that seems on the brink of societal collapse. Roving gangs stealing the identities of victims, safe in the knowledge they likely won't even remember being robbed. Entire countries losing contact with each other, food shortages due to farmers forgetting to plant crops. A bewildering out of step world that is somehow screeching on.

I Remember Me was unique in that it is only from the distance of reading the story that the pure horror of this world is apparent, the characters all too deeply entwined with it to be aware of that fact. Dizzying and inventive, this is one story that I feel will stick in the mind for a good while. 

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New Fears Eve (2025) - Comedy Horror Film Review 9 Apr 1:28 AM (23 days ago)

New Fears Eve is a comedy slasher co-directed by Eric Huskisson and P.J Starks (Hallows Eve: Slaughter on Second Street), the later who also wrote this. Comedy in horror films can be hard to get right, humour is subjective after all. Too much humour and you can dilute the threat of the antagonist force is one such concern. Thankfully, the best thing that this movie does is treat the killer and kills with respect, making them look legit and gnarly on screen, even when comedic elements get mixed in.

There is a serial killer on the loose in the city, someone the media have came to call 'The Doctor' due to their kills indicating medical knowledge, as well as many of the kills being via surgical implements. This madman on the prowl hasn't really affected the employees of Hooper Industries, who are gearing up for a mandatory work-based New Years Eve party. These include three best friends; Leslie (Lily Claire Harvey - Hinsdale House),  Brian (Turner Vaughn) and jokester, Moses (Matthew Tichenor). Little do they all know that the serial killer has chosen their office party as the place to see in the New Year.

So yes, humour can be hard to do as it isn't always going to appeal to everyone. Sadly in this case, for me personally, the majority of the jokes fell flat. I have never been a fan of sex and bodily function jokes and there are plenty of those here. I felt the comical script resulted in many actors saying their lines in an unnatural way. The film didn't go as far as to be a farce, characters and situations can get funny, but they still operate in a relatively normal world, rather than unexpected madness breaking out at any point. Maybe due to this being a comedy horror it was intentional, but characters here never seemed authentic, making it hard to care about them when they don't feel like real people. There were a good amount of notable side characters, such as the ever reliable Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp), Dave Sheridan (Scary Movie), Jeffrey Reddick (the creator of Final Destination), and Hannah Fierman (V/H/S segment 'Amateur Night') to name a few.
Another element of New Fears Eve was the story, and as may be expected, this was wafer thin. The subplot involving stand-out character; crooked cop, Officer Flanagan (Jay Woolston), suggested a grander plot was happening somewhere deep in the background, but this never came to the forefront. Indeed, the film ends with its story completely unresolved, cutting to credits when it felt like the finale was just hitting its stride, most unsatisfying. I assume this is so a sequel can be made, but it would have been nice to get some closure on the first film's journey.
Back to the comedy; it wasn't all off-putting, there were some humorous moments on occasion. I liked that the protagonists had all previously been terrorised by the Doctor but hadn't bothered to mention it to each other, and a Die Hard gag got a smile out of me at one point. The best of the humour was of the visual kind, mainly popping up in the excellent kill scenes.

The shining star of New Fears Eve were those kill scenes. There is a Hell of a lot of kills throughout the 95 minute runtime, nearly all of which are shown on screen rather than alluded to or suggested. There are comedic deaths, but there are also plenty of violent and brutal kills that have strong horror elements to them. It can be over the top for laughs, such as a victim getting their face ripped off ridiculously easily, a victim getting impaled with a flung dildo(!), someone having their intestines fed into a waste disposal unit, and a trio of victims all getting their throats slashed in the same swipe. Blood is never in short supply, making even these more silly deaths feel visceral. More 'traditional' kills include decapitation, stabbings (usually with scalpels), a drill, and a bone saw to the back of a head. All of these were done with wonderful practical effects that made every single death look fantastic and on occasion pretty horrific!
As to the killer himself, he really looked kind of neat, achieving a perfect balance between sinister and goofy. The Victorian look of top hat, waistcoat, and long coat combined with the plague doctor mask made him look the part, while the glowing red eyes on the mask gave it a little of a cartoon feel.

New Fears Eve may not have appealed to me in terms of its humour, but it is hard to argue that this film doesn't do its kill scenes fantastically well. Varied, inventive, and often over the top, these were all a delight to see. It would just have been better if there had been any characters here to really care about, rather than a whole load of cannon fodder for the Doctor. New Fears Eve was released in December by Cineverse.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Wednesday 8th April 2026 8 Apr 7:54 AM (24 days ago)

I started my blog output a day late this week, not that anyone would realise, but has meant each post has been shifted forward to the next day. I'm really trying to start watching films for review at night. It is quite hard though, not due to getting scared, more that I am not remotely a night person and begin to get real tired around the 20:00 mark! Onwards to the news (which I spookily wrote at night).

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 (24 days ago)

The Guard Room is an indie horror film that blends elements of a murder mystery, supernatural horror, and slasher. Directed and written by Michael Thordarson (Sophie and the Serial Killers), this may be light on thrills but I really enjoyed the cyclical nature of the pacing.

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 (27 days ago)

It has been a fair while since I watched a truly experimental horror, and the Tatu Heikkinen and Veleda Thorsson-Heikkinen co-directed and co-written Haunters of the Silence is definitely that. This is a low budget indie arthouse folk horror that was shot on a low cost of $2,000. I'm not going to lie, this type of movie is not my favourite sub-genre of horror, but even with that in mind, for a feature length debut movie, I was very impressed with the filmmaking techniques here.

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.

SCORE:

 

Shadow Castes: Book 1 - Aspects (2011) by Scott Harper - Horror Novel Book Review 3 Apr 1:40 AM (29 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 (last month)

Directed and co-written by Sarah T. Schwab, Crybaby Bridge is a very slow drama based horror with some mild supernatural elements. A small, perfectly chosen cast round-out this horror, but the lack of much going on may make this not for everyone.

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 (last month)

This time last month I was about to head to the other side of the world. Now, as of typing, I am back at The Rotting Zombie HQ. A very peaceful and relaxing holiday, even if the 30 hour return trip has given me some mild PTSD! Introverts do not like being sounded by people for so long. If there is such a place as Hell, then I imagine mine will be me stuck on the endless flight from Kuala Lumpur to U.K for eternity - when a child projectile vomits down the aisle in front of you within an hour of take-off, you just know it's going to be a great flight!
Last month's news post was tiny, let's see if I can improve on that this time around. Especially when I have so much news in my inbox. Onwards to the news!

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.

Psychological horror film, Broken Bird comes to US theatrical release on April 24th. Starring Rebecca Calder and James Fleet and directed by Joanne Mitchell, this is based on Mitchell's short film Sybil. In this one, a lonely mortician (Calder) searches for love, but her need for connection takes a disturbing turn. Broken Bird is one of six films developed by Catalyst Studios as part of its mission to '...champion female-led stories by woman directors and producers'.


Finally for today, Freestyle Digital Media have acquired thriller feature - The Man with the Silver Case. It is due to gets its Digital debut in North America on April 7th. This film sees a desperate man who agrees to deliver a suitcase to a shadowy organisation. He finds himself pursued by others who are happy to kill anyone in their way to get their hands on the case's contents.

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

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 (last month)

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 (last month)

I received an eBook version of Dylan James' Cedar Mills back in June of last year, and at the time of typing I have just finished reading it. That may seem like a long time, but with my reading pile of shame as bulky as it is, that for me was actually lightning fast, though, obviously nothing to be proud of. I am getting as much reading done as I had hoped on my relaxing visit to Australia to visit family.

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 (last month)

No Through Road I had assumed to be a short horror film. It was only while looking this up after the fact that I realised it was actually the first episode in a TV mini-series, with the three subsequent episodes coming out in 2011. I will be looking at this as if it were a short film as it certainly acts and feels like one. Written, directed and co-starring Steven Chamberlain, this effective British found footage horror did a lot of things surprisingly well.

Garten of Banban VII (2024) - Horror Video Game Review 16 Mar 3:31 PM (last month)

I have been barrelling through the Garten of Banban series of mascot horror video games these past weeks, mainly due to travelling to Australia for a month (at the time of typing). Hopefully I am still able to put up blog posts there using my laptop (I am!), this review is written four days before the long 25 hour plane journey starts. Garten of Banban VII is the first game in the series not to be released in 2023, and was the only one to be released in 2024. I also have to say it was mightily disappointing. As ever, unavoidable spoilers to follow.

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 (last month)

I was idling on the back porch of my aunt and uncle's remote house when I happened across a Reddit post about really messed up films. Needless to say, the ones I checked out didn't live up to the expectations placed on them, but they were still entertaining to watch. The first of these was the Dylan Clark (Transfigure, Home Movies) written and directed Portrait of God. It seems that a feature length version of this short is currently in production.

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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