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System Shock (2023) - Sci-fi Horror Video Game Review (Playstation 5) 19 Dec 8:32 AM (3 days ago)

In 2072, in a dystopian cyberpunk future, a nameless hacker is caught while trying to steal the designs for a military-grade neural implant from the all powerful TriOptimum Corporation. They are taken to Citadel Station, owned by the corporation, and it is there that an executive offers the hacker a deal. The executive is Edward Diago, and he states that he wants the station's A.I; SHODAN to have its ethical constraints removed and control of it handed to Diago, likely for shady means. This is something that the hacker is able to easily do, and in exchange they are promised they will be given the neural implants they had originally tried to steal the plans for. Sometime later, the hacker awakens in the medical bay of the space station, having been fitted with the implants. It soon becomes clear something terrible has happened, the removal of SHODAN's constraints has made it fully self-aware, and also unfortunately, completely mad. The A.I has decided it is a God, and that humanity must worship it. It has reprogrammed all the robots aboard the station to be lethally hostile, and the crew have suffered fates worse than death in many cases. Those not killed immediately have either been transformed against their will into brainwashed cyborgs, or experimented on with mutagens that has mutated them into mindless monsters. Contacted by Rebecca Lansing (a counter-terrorism consultant), she promises the hacker that in exchange for their assistance in stopping SHODAN, they will be exonerated for their crimes.

The immersive sim label is a relatively new one, think games that take place within logically built worlds where most of the objects can be interacted with in some way. System Shock is a first person adventure game that sees the player working their way through the vast maze-like levels of the space station while thwarting SHODAN's many sinister plans for human domination. Despite being a remake, the game is presented faithfully to the original, the textures are old-school in look, though with a modern engine that gives the game world a wonderful look. It is also balls to the wall hard. At the onset of the game you are presented with four different difficulty sliders. I opted to have objectives, puzzles, and cyberspace on an easier mode, while I made the fateful and unchangeable decision to leave the combat on normal.
The game plays much like Bioshock, though an earlier version that isn't as smooth to play.
Each level of the space station is a huge meandering maze that is very easy to get lost in. To me, it felt like if Bioshock had been created with the sensibilities of original Doom in mind. The eight or so floors are all giant and took a long time to work through. Having expected an 8 or 9 hour experience, I was rocking around 20 hours by the time the end credits appeared. Each floor followed a familiar format for me, I would search out the medical bay (which would grant you resurrection should you die), and the charger for the energy weapons. While you have access to guns, ammo is never in too plentiful a supply, equalled with a limited sized inventory and you would need to be clever with item management, with not enough space to be able to carry all the different weapons you would find. Something that was impressive to me was the state of the game world. Enemies once killed stay dead and don't respawn. When new enemies do appear, they come into the world in a logical way, arriving on lifts from beneath the floor. Even cooler, if you do die and resurrect, any damage you have done to enemies remains, so piece by piece you can slowly take out the ever increasing amounts of robots, cyborgs, and mutants without feeling you are not making any progress. There is also a useful quick save function. For boss fights and later areas of the game the resurrection doesn't work. Thankfully, boss fights can be quite easy with the right assortment of power-ups and weapons. Even with objectives set to easy, it wasn't always clear exactly what you should be doing, so I had a lot of moments where I felt almost aimless in my travels, though this added to the feeling of exploration rather than frustrated.

I loved playing through this, but I would be lying if I didn't find it as frustrating as Hell at times. Even with virtually infinite lives and a static game world, I found the amount of enemies, and the lack of too much ammo and health to be a pain. I sometimes felt that it would have been more enjoyable if I had just stuck the combat onto easy also. The space station is vast and a little bland at times, but it is designed in a logical way that I so love with immersive sims. It is littered with audio diaries and the occasional written message, with the former fully voiced. SHODAN is a constant presence, her corrupted and distorted threats and over confidence made her be a memorable antagonist, I can see why people have placed her so high on those lists.
Splitting up the adventuring, there are also slight puzzles to solve, I'm glad I put these on easy as I could see them getting boring if much more complicated, even more different are the cyberspace sections. Typically used to open locked doorways, cyberspace places you in hallucinogenic flying stages where you blast computer programs that appear as shooter type flying enemies. I have heard complaints about these parts, but I found them a nice break from the endless adventuring in the game proper.

I am very glad I finally got to play System Shock and see some of the origins of the immersive sim. The game does feel dated even with its modern benefits applied to it, and it can be frustrating more often than not, but the feel of being trapped onboard a hostile space station was well realised, and the story, while basic, had a great and memorable antagonist. System Shock 2 is meant to be even better, and with that having had a modern remaster, it will be the next game I play.

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The Twilight Zone: Season 2 (1960-61) - Horror TV Show Review 18 Dec 11:53 AM (3 days ago)

Each episode features host Serling typically appearing on set, but distant from the characters of the particular episode. His preamble telling the viewers that the protagonist has unknowingly just entered 'the twilight zone', to quote children's cartoon Johnny Bravo; 'a place where ordinary things don't happen very often'. The episodes are roughly twenty minutes in length and mainly are serious, sometimes humorous, sometimes creepy, and near always telling some sort of morality story. I thought season 1 had a few too many comedy episodes, which had been a problem as they were never funny. There are a few more light hearted ones to be found here, but none that straight up irritated. 'The Whole Truth' is probably the weakest episode to be found here, but even this one wasn't bad so much as a bit forgettable. It features a dodgy used-car salesman who finds himself unable to lie. 'Mr Dingle, the Strong', another one that tries to be funny, also didn't really resonate, this one about a weedy man who is imbued with miraculous strength by a passing Martian.

Season 2 can be clumsily divided into horror, time travel, and sci-fi, and there is a good mix of these. The best of the horror comes early with episode 5 - 'The Howling Man'. In this one, a man lost in a storm stumbles across a remote monastery where the monks there warn him that in a cell they have imprisoned a man who they claim is the literal devil. Both 'Twenty Two' and 'Shadow Play' take place within nightmares the protagonists are facing, and the sinister 'Nick of Time' (that stars the legendary William Shatner as a man who comes to believe a diner's fortune telling machine is actually able to predict the future) was another strong stand out.
There were more time travel episodes for season 2, some were interesting but less novel ('Back There' where a man finds himself back in time on the night of Abraham Lincoln's assassination and tries to prevent it). A time travelling jet airliner ('The Odyssey of Flight 33') did something different, reminding me a bit of The Langoliers, and iconic episode 'A Hundred Years Over the Rim' has a pioneer on the search for essential aid, stumbling into modern day America.
Finishing the suite with sci-fi, you have the haunting 'The Invaders' that sees an isolated woman living in a remote homestead encountering tiny alien invaders, and the fantastic penultimate episode 'Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?' that sees two state troopers arriving at a remote diner, convinced that one of the people within is actually an alien in disguise.

Being classics have their downside occasionally. There were a couple of episodes whose twists I knew simply through osmosis. I would have loved to go into 'Eye of the Beholder' with no knowledge, but knowing what was going to happen, despite having never seen it before, meant it was an exercise in patience for what felt like an obvious twist. There are classic morality tales that also were obvious, but these are classics, such as 'The Man in the Bottle' that is essentially a Monkey's Paw tale where wishes granted by a genie lead to unexpected outcomes. One of the best isolated in feel episodes was season closer 'The Obsolete Man' - this took place in a dystopian 1984 type future where anyone deemed not useful to the oppressive state are forced to voluntarily be executed. This had a wonderful antagonist played with gleeful malice by Fritz Weaver, and sadly tells a story that feels all too relevant in relation to the severe deep dive into fascism and cruelty that America has been plunging all too willingly into in the real world. It was also fitting for me as my day job have decided to make me redundant as a nice Christmas present, I too am 'the obsolete man'.

With timeless stories that are still relevant today, season 2 of The Twilight Zone was very interesting to watch. This isn't a show that should be binge watched, I liked to digest the stories, limiting myself to just one episode a day. Wonderful and classic TV whose style has rarely been bettered.

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Super Happy Fun Clown (2025) - Horror Film Review 17 Dec 9:15 AM (5 days ago)

Jennifer (Seward, credited solely as 'Super Happy Fun Clown') has had a hard and disappointing life. Raised by a cold and abusive mother, married to an abusive dead beat husband, and stuck in a dead end office job, the only relief she gets is when she goes 'clowning'. Obsessed with clowns from a young age, she has created the persona 'Jenn-O the Clown', in her spare time going to the local park where she entertains the children there. As she has gotten older, she has also developed an unhealthy fascination with serial killers and classic movie monsters. These three disparate things come together one year, when Jennifer finally snaps and decides to plan something really memorable for Halloween that will give her the fame she has been searching for her whole life.

The film begins with an exciting flashforward prologue, in which Jennifer dressed up like a clown, is holding a detective at gunpoint, while his partner demands she let him go. The film then leaps back twenty years, with the majority of the movie then showing how events got to that desperate stage. The part set in the early 2000s is only the first act, and doesn't take up too much of the 87 minute runtime, but it is key in showing both the protagonists early fixation on clows, but also how demanding and impossible to please her mother is. The time skip to the movie's present day works well in filling in the blanks of what has happened to Jennifer in the years following that. Being a mute clown, you could be forgiven for thinking this is just a film that is trying to ride on the coattails of Terrifier's wild success, but this clown is treated suitably different, mainly in that Jennifer has a life outside of dressing up. Her type is based on mute clowns, something that she sticks to resolutely when in her get-up. So far so Art, but the difference is that she is a normal, and even dull person when not in the make-up. It seemed Ying and Yang, with Jennifer miserable and meek, but the bright and colourful persona she has created seems to breathe life into her whenever she changes. 
The film doesn't entirely focus on this damaged person, with the detectives from the prologue getting their own much smaller side story, basically of being bored working in a small town, and not expecting much excitement to happen. I initially thought Nicole Hall (VY) and Matt Leisy (The Friend) were too young in age to be playing the role of detectives, but then realised that it is me that is old now rather than them being too young! I enjoyed their rapport with each other, and it became a cool combination in the third act when Jennifer is fully on her murder-spree, and the detectives are shown constantly one step behind as they try and locate her.

There was a bit of an odd feel with adult Jennifer's early scenes. Her clowning is shown via montages that have stripped back guitar music to them, and the repeated scenes of her heading back home and attempting to entertain her miserable husband while still in character had a slight arthouse feel to it. Her kills when they begin are wild and varied in the way that slasher killers' kills often are. Strangulation, gunshot, vehicular homicide are just a few of the methods she uses. The killer isn't a threatening character, Jennifer isn't hulking or sinister, but this becomes one of her advantages, as she is able to get close to her victims without them suspecting anything is wrong. The kill scenes are never over the top, but they use special effects to great...effect, such as showing a hole going all the way through someone's head after they are shot, and another victim flailing around while on fire.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Tuesday 16th December 2025 16 Dec 11:30 AM (5 days ago)

Bight is the directorial debut of Maiara Walsh, with this erotic thriller arriving on VOD and digital in time for Valentine's Day - releasing February 10th. Lily Allen is the latest person in the news who is serving as a reminder that open relationships often do not work out, and that sounds to be the case with this film. In this, husband and wife; Atticus and Charlie, visit the home of close friends, Sebastian and Naomi. The press release states that 'Throughout the evening, their turbulent lives will push them to succumb to dark temptations and provocative explorations of an open relationship, all leading toward a devastating fallout'. Bight stars Walsh alongside Cameron Cowperthwaite (Fallout TV show), Mark Hapka (23 Blast) and Maya Stojan (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D TV show)

Onlyfangs (2025) - Comedy Horror Film Review 15 Dec 7:56 AM (7 days ago)

Wes (Drew Marvick - Bridge of the Doomed, It Stains the Sands Red) is a video editor who in his spare time attempts to hunt monsters with his geeky friends, to no success. One evening, he happens to actually capture footage of a real vampire, though the footage is so bad that no one believes his claims. The vampire is part of a group of all female killers led by Scarlett (Nina Lanee Kent - Murdercise), who for decades have hunted and killed humans for their blood, mainly males. Not wanting their identity to get out, the group attack Wes and his friends, intending to kill all of them. With Wes however, they find someone who isn't afraid of them. Instead, he is overjoyed; his life long obsession with monsters being a real thing having finally been confirmed. With the vampires living in squalid conditions, Wes offers them a suggestion - rather than kill people for their blood, he suggests that with his help, they create an online platform where paying customers can request for the women to suck their blood. This would both make them rich, as well as stopping the needless killing of victims. This actually works, and soon Onlyfangs is a worldwide success, with the client's not suspecting the blood suckers are the real thing. However, it seems that Scarlett may have an ulterior motive for creating so many new vampires, and with their fame, enemies, such as conspiracy nut Ridley (Anthony lave To'omata - Murdercise) have emerged, determined to prove to the world the monsters they actually are.

It took me around thirty minutes before this film clicked for me. Before this, I found it cheesy and really not that entertaining, I was wondering how I was going to endure the two hour runtime. It really picked up when the titular idea came into play. That isn't to say it didn't occasionally feel bloated. There was a good chunk where the quality dipped when Onlyfangs is introduced, with a series of disparate scenes of vampires around the world sucking their clients blood. It didn't really gel with the idea that by exposing themselves, the vampires would attract the attention of the sinister master vampires. After this, it became more focussed, leading to some great moments underneath all the titillation.

Much like its real world similar namesake, this features plenty of scantily clad, and occasionally topless  women. The film has a whole bunch of montages, with many of these being sexy videos of the vampires dancing erotically. I get this was for the vibe of the online platform, but it was undeniably also there to entertain, and featured a bit too much for my liking. There was a feeling of female empowerment, with the female characters all being strong willed and capable of defending themselves, but they also came across at times a bit like sex objects rather than characters in their own right. This didn't apply to the lead vampires, all of which had interesting personalities. I wouldn't go as far to say they were likeable, as they were definitely anti-heroes, at times killing innocent people. That goes for Wes too, mainly he was a decent character, but he had a bit of a pathetic streak to him where he would act like a child in front of his mother. Maybe my favourite character was the gangly super-geek Quentin (Shane Meyers). Initially he seemed to be in the film purely for his wild facial expressions, but his relationship with one of the main vampires was fun.

The humour was not as in your face as I expected, and was mild at best. It did work though, and led to some quietly humorous moments, such as the fourth wall breaking part where Wes announces the first of the many montage sequences. These montages had some stylish parts to them. The film is stylish when it wants to be, with a late film montage of the vampires going on a killing spree wonderfully shot and edited. There is plenty of blood to be found, of varying quality, but it all looked good to my eyes. The fangs of the vampires looked universally good as well, so that didn't detract in the slightest. Some later special effects seemed a bit lacking, but they just about worked. The music was also excellent. The film's score itself has some lovely eighties sounding synth work, while the actual songs chosen were also good, fitting the 'alternative' look and feel of the film well.

The story did its job, but it did feel a little dated with what it was referencing. Everything felt a bit early 2020's, with references to mask wearing, Covid jabs, and the crazy beliefs of MAGA type characters. That would have worked at the time, but with the dark downward trajectory that America appears to be in, in the real world, this all came across as a bit bittersweet to see. From an outsiders perspective, that once great country appears to be dying, so this felt like a relic from the recent past, rather than covering topics that are more relevant in the current time.
Onlyfangs was very well made, and had an enjoyable cast of almost loveable misfits. A bit too much of a focus on scantily clad females for my liking, but the horror moments worked, and the slightly meandering plot did have some strong moments, that made for a genuinely thrilling conclusion. Nearly great, this blood soaked fang filled adventure was a good bit of escapism that had plenty of effective moments, and a good amount of quality filmmaking.

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Hintersommer (2025) by Vlimmer - Music Album Review 11 Dec 8:29 AM (11 days ago)

It begins with 'Abb. 1' that after an excellent musical intro launches into the opening track with a pounding beat and a pulsing tune. I felt this was a great way to start the album, and something that continues with the hummable 'Gleichbau' and 'Sommergesicht'; both sounding high energy and grand tunes to listen to. 
After this point the album takes a downward descent in terms of energy, taking on a more isolated and frequently downbeat feel with some shoe-gaze sensibilities at times. There is 'Diskoloration' with its slight folk-horror type elements to the sound, the classic Vlimmer eighties sounding 'Firmament' and the slower sounding 'Interieur'. The speeding drum beat of 'Hirnklammer' is one last foray into a faster paced sound before 'Augenboden' and 'Ganzteil' bring things to a more reflective and introspective, though suitably dramatic finish.

It is always good to hear new Vlimmer, and Hintersommer didn't disappoint, continuing with the sound I've come to know while maintaining good music with many of the tracks getting better and better with each fresh spin.

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Unboxing (2025) - Horror Film Review 10 Dec 10:34 AM (11 days ago)

Holland stars as Thomas Faker; an amateur streamer who has dreams of being able to make a living from the streams he produces. The man has gotten into doing unboxing videos - receiving packages in the post and opening them live on camera. To add extra spice, Thomas has been using the dark web to buy mystery boxes, hoping the thrill of what could potentially be inside will lead to his streams exploding in popularity. His latest purchase turns out to be a foul smelling and blood soaked teddy bear, but before Thomas can even really begin to process this, he begins to receive a series of increasingly twisted packages left outside his apartment at regular intervals. Each of the packages pulling the increasingly alarmed man into darker and darker horrors.

After taking a week off of my blog (almost), Unboxing was the first feature length horror I watched upon my return, and what a miserable and soul burning return this was! Randomly, it was also the second box based film I watched for review this week, following on from my review of short film BOX. Sometimes it does feel we are all living in a simulation!
There was no rush for events to ramp up quickly with this film, the tension can almost be tasted with how insidiously Thomas is pulled into the worst night of his life. From a realistic feeling start of him talking to his stream viewers about video games, this devolves into his increasingly unravelling persona with items received both downright creepy and far too personal for comfort, almost taking place in real time. One of the early reveals is an SD card that features multiple photos of him with his young brother, at that point I would be 'noping' out and contacting the authorities, but torn between the horror of what he is facing and an ever increasing subscriber count to his channel, he chooses to remain on stream, until that choice is taken entirely out of his hands by an apparent hack of his PC that prevents him ending the stream. The story became increasingly unsettling and suspenseful; the lack of any type of soundtrack or musical score added to this uncomfortable feeling, with even the ever present glare of his ring-light creating the feel of a judgemental and cold gaze, while the 'dinging' of the stream messages somehow became more and more threatening in sound.

The props are perfect, and perfectly deranged. From a box that is packaged with a combination of cotton wool balls and razor blades, to ones packed with the unsettling combination of rice and hair, things soon are quite dark here. Plenty of blood and plenty of grime combine to give an authentic look to the horrors uncovered (unboxed). Everything looked gross and mean in the best way. I thought the split between the view from Thomas' computer screen to more traditional film work was perfect for this, and Holland being the sole on-screen character for vast lengths of the 70 minute film did a fantastic and believable job. Enough is given to fluffing out his character (such as phone calls with his parents, and the believable way he reacts); this all combined to make him feel like someone with a history to him.
There were elements of the supernatural here that had some great editing to them, especially with one of the stream commenters whose ghostly distorted visage kept appearing in the room with the protagonist. That part while very neat, was a bit confusing for me. I could never really tell if that was meant to be literally happening within the story of the film, or if it was a stylistic choice to add more weight to the events of the movie for the viewer's benefit. Around the third act, a more rational and grounded horror is added with the arrival of the Police who have some urgent questions they need Thomas to answer for them, leading to some very tense and bad feeling scenes as viewer and protagonist alike begin to piece together what is happening. I would say of that third part, the film pulled together some of the momentum it had began to lose in the middle, but I can't say I fully understood the intricacies of the overall story, leaving me with some questions by the time the end credits rolled around.

Unboxing was a horrid little Black Mirror-esque indie film, and I say that in the best way possible. I felt uncomfortable watching this, and that in itself speaks of the success of the filmmaking here. This became like a car crash, something that was nasty to look at, but hard to look away from. Good looking special effects and make-up effects, a sustained feel of ever increasing peril, and a captivating lead combined to make for something that is well worth a watch. Unboxing is available to watch on Amazon Prime.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Tuesday 9th December 2025 9 Dec 7:38 AM (13 days ago)

There are some new releases from Arrow Video US for January of next year. 13th January sees the limited edition 4K UHD release of Evil Dead Rise. I gave this film an 8/10 in my review back in 2023 where I stated '...I thought this was a solid and nasty horror film, one that doesn't shy away from allowing absolutely any character to become a victim'. The film is set in an apartment block where an earthquake leads to the discovery of a certain cursed book with the power to summon demons. The limited edition features a host of extras including a double-sided fold-out poster and a collector's booklet.

BOX (2025) - Short Comedy Action Film Review 8 Dec 12:32 AM (14 days ago)

I had a week off of my blog last week, partly due to having no urgent screeners to watch for review, and partly just because I felt like it. Anyway, I am back now, and the first review for this week is for Stephen Ready's short comedy martial-arts film - BOX. The email I received regarding this was just to announce it's existence, but I felt a review was warranted due to how darn good it was.

A man (Eric Jacobus - stunt coordinator on video game God of War: Ragnarok) is working one day when he has a cardboard box thrown at his head. Breaking the fourth wall, the man states that he bets the viewer thought the box was going to hit him, before out of nowhere he comes under vicious attack by a man wearing a black morph suit (Jason Chen-Leung - SOCAP_404), who taunts him by telling the startled man he will never know what is in the paper bag he is holding. This begins an intense martial-arts battle between the two (choreographed by Jacobus).

The fight sequence here makes up the meat of this nearly 7 minute movie so it is a good thing that it is excellent. Equal parts intense and surreal, there are plenty of laugh out loud moments. The mystery assailant uses all manner of weapons to fight the man, including a sheet of paper that acts as a razor sharp blade, and most amusingly; in one part he uses a small child as a weapon! The combat between the two leads was fantastic, plenty of exciting shots, including classic up-close shots of fists and feet connecting with flesh. The meta nature of this gave plenty of surreal moments, such as the on-screen editor of the short getting a pencil in his neck at one point; his flailing around causing him to keep hitting his laptop screen, instigating real-time edits. For all the violence, this was never designed to shock, a bloodless affair, and one where quick edits mean the fighters rarely actually connect with each other. Not a problem in the slightest as it didn't detract even remotely.

Story-wise, this was far more poignant than it would first appear. Somehow, a tribute to a real life stunt man who died is inserted without it feeling out of place, as the narrator (Josh Petersdorf - voice work on video games Overwatch 2, Street Fighter V) talks about the joys of being a stunt man, and how fun and rewarding it is. The mix of this being a fight happening, melded with it also being a film that is being made on-screen was wonderful. Of all things, I somehow got a vibe of video game The Stanley Parable from this.

I was dubious when starting BOX if it would be a good fit for a review on this site, due to not being a horror. The weird and cool surreal vibe really won me over, as did the fantastic fight sequences, and the silly humour. I thought this was a great short, and you can check it out for yourself as it is currently on YouTube.

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Poppy Playtime: Chapter 2 'Fly in a Web' (2022-24) - Horror Video Game Review 3 Dec 11:32 AM (18 days ago)

The first chapter concluded with you defeating the monstrous Huggy Wuggy and making it to the area that had been highlighted in the VHS tape you had originally received in the mail. Instead of discovering your missing former colleagues of the Playtime Co. toy factory, you instead discover the titular Poppy Playtime; a small self-aware doll. Having freed her from the case she was trapped in, she promises to help you escape the factory, as it is something she also wants to do. With the way back out blocked, Poppy suggests you head deeper down into the underground complex to the toy test area where there is a train that you can use to leave the facility. Arriving there however, you encounter a new horror - Mommy Long Legs. This creation uses her impossibly long appendages to capture Poppy, and then reveals to you that in order to use the train, you must play three children's games with Mommy, with her giving you part of the train start-up code for each game you successfully complete.

I had hoped this chapter would be longer than the first, and thankfully it was. With the first one done in under an hour, this one took me roughly two hours to beat. By the time you get to the train station, the chapter goals are clear - playing each of the three games. These include a memory game called 'Musical Memory', 'Wack-a-Wuggy' that is similar to the classic 'wack-a-mole' game found at arcades, and a tense spin on musical statues, simply titled 'Statues'. These were all fun to do, and had a Portal type feeling of getting to head behind the scenes from the initial play rooms.
Gameplay is once again mainly made up of simple, yet enjoyable puzzles involving the grab handle accessory you are armed with. Previously, both hands were able to conduct electricity, this time around you get an upgrade - a green grab handle that is able to briefly store electricity. This creates opportunity for different types of puzzles, such as one section where you have to open a series of gates in order to push a minecart along some tracks.

Horror is again quite meek, though I would argue Mommy is just as creepy as the mute Huggy Wuggy. This antagonist is constantly talking to you, and seems to be angry that she had been trapped below ground on her own for so long. Her look is kind of like Stretch Armstrong crossed with Mr. Tickle, her arms, legs, and neck all able to stretch to ridiculous lengths. I thought maybe the long maze-like chase sequence the first chapter culminated with would again appear. More sensibly it is a lot more stripped back. There are a variety of short chase sequences, but more stream-lined, like the developers were well aware they couldn't get away with the exact same thing again. This was about as scary as chapter 1 (I.E: not very) but that did not get in the way of my enjoyment. 
I realised this time around that it is worth hunting down the secret VHS tapes. These tapes provide lore and backstory and were worth finding. Often they would include live-action footage of actors playing employees of the factory.

I had figured that a second round of Poppy Playtime might have shown a lack of variation. The toy testing area felt suitably different to the factory of chapter 1. Poppy Playtime: Chapter 2 'Fly in a Web' remains a most happy surprise, and of course has left me very interested in continuing the journey into this hellish facility.

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Doom: The Dark Ages (2025) - Horror Video Game Review (X-Box Series X) 28 Nov 2:09 PM (23 days ago)

The soft-reboot of Doom, had the Doom Slayer being freed from the magical coffin he had been imprisoned within in Hell. This prequel doesn't exactly show how he came to be trapped, but it does take place within a war between the forces of Hell on one side, and the people of Argent D'Nur and the angelic-like beings - the Maykrs on the other. By the time the game begins, Doom Slayer has been turned into a weapon of war. Controlled by the Maykrs', Doom Slayer is beamed down from their space station to whichever battle he is needed to assist in. While he isn't happy about being controlled in such a way, all know that Doom Slayer likes nothing more than to fight the legions of Hell. The leader of these legions is Prince Ahzrak, whose war is fought with the key objective of getting a magical McGuffin known as the Heart of Argent that the Argent D'Nur people have.

Early word on this new game was pretty good. People raved about the medieval weapons. For me, I always had some slight misgivings, namely that I found the levels set in Argent D'Nur to be the very worst that Doom Eternal had to offer. I find the blend of medieval and sci-fi not to be my cup of tea, so was concerned a whole game taking place around this reality would not resonate. Sadly, I was right to be concerned, the 22 levels within The Dark Ages are split between Argent D'Nur and Hell. This was a problem for me who just wanted more levels set on Earth or Mars. The levels are huge to accommodate the larger amount of enemies in stages, several of them are even larger, taking the form of small open worlds where you are tasked with objectives that can be tackled in any order. I found the majority of the levels to be universally bland - large open arenas that were light on world-building details. The medieval sci-fi levels being made up of castles, the Hell levels coming across like 80's metal album covers brought to life.
The level design wasn't even the worst part, the emphasis on story here could have been good...if the story was at all engaging. To feature a humanoid looking antagonist as the leader of Hell was a bit lame. I thought Prince Ahzrak was an awful character, stereotypical bad-guy with a real empty story that does absolutely nothing interesting over its twenty or so hour runtime. I couldn't care less about the lengthy cutscenes, I didn't like the characters, or the plot, nor did it give me a desire to fight.

That is the bad stuff out the way, but what The Dark Ages does is to intermingle the bad so closely with the good that it makes the whole experience a bit 'meh'. Good things then; the soundtrack is as perfect as you would assume. If you liked all the heavy rock of the previous two games then you will be right at home here. The gameplay is even better, it is sublime, with Doom Slayer feeling like you are controlling a tank in human form. With the focus more on up close combat, your hero is armed with an amazing shield. You can zoom towards enemies to shield bash them from quite a distance, you can throw your shield like a Frisbee, and incidental details like the boom and rumble when Doom Slayer lands from a great height never got old. You have an assortment of weapons, but truth be told, now you can use any weapon for any enemy type, I pretty much just stuck to the plasma rifle for the whole game. Fighting hordes of demons was so much fun, their increased numbers balanced by a lot of the normal grunts being incredibly weak, able to be killed in a single shot.
To split up the action there are two different game types also included. In one, you ride on the back of a sci-fi dragon in stages that reminded me a bit of Sega's Panzer Dragoon. These were adequate, if a little simple and forgettable. The same can be said for the levels that see you pilot a giant mech-suit. These again are perfectly fine but nothing more, taking the form of a small scrolling beat em-up battle against equally huge demons.

As much as I genuinely loved the visceral meaty combat, the whole aesthetic of the game world and the boring story always brought things down. It is a shame that the two elements are so intertwined as it left me not really having any desire to ever return. I miss the days when it was just Earth vs Hell, not alternate dimensions and sci-fi aliens. Doom: The Dark Ages is currently playable on Game Pass.

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The Rotting Zombie's Round-up of Horror News for November 2025 27 Nov 8:37 AM (25 days ago)

First up, Contrition is a dramatic thriller that is out now on Digital platforms from BayView Entertainment. This takes the form of a time-loop film, with the protagonist trapped reliving the day his wife was murdered, trying vainly to find a way to prevent her death. I do enjoy time-loop films, this one was directed by Aaron Boltz, and stars Aaron Bennett, James Bond III, and Ashton Leigh.

Bitten (2008) - Short Zombie Film Review 26 Nov 9:37 AM (26 days ago)

With a schedule that is relatively clear at the moment, I am once again at liberty to watch one of the short zombie films from the bumper DVD collection I am working my way through. Bitten was written and directed by Duncan Laing (Nightshift), and features one central idea over its 6 minute runtime.

The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge (2004) - Horror Video Game Impressions: 'Rotted Meat No.2' 25 Nov 8:55 AM (27 days ago)

The Job (2025) - Short Sci-fi Film Review 24 Nov 1:59 AM (28 days ago)

Arriving for a job interview, Todd (LeJon - Down and Out in Vampire Hills, Garden Party Massacre) finds the place deserted. Hearing a noise coming from behind a closed door, Todd's curiosity gets the better of him, he investigates and finds a strange large wire laying on the ground. He decides to plug it in to see what it was connected to and unknowingly awakens an A.I construct (Dawna Lee Heising - Ballet of Blood, Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance). This construct begins to interview Todd, with the man getting increasingly antagonistic with how much the A.I seems to know about him.

Over the course of around fifteen minutes, The Job takes the viewer on a journey that became more moving than its beginning might attest to. The interview process is really an excuse for Todd and the A.I to interact, with the job offer itself falling to the wayside. There is a darkness to Todd's past that he is forced to confront via the actions of the seemingly all knowing A.I. This is represented on screen via brief and scattershot flashback images. His reflections and revelations are married with music that makes things seem more poignant than otherwise may be felt. I did feel the flashbacks were a little too abstract, I got the gist, but wasn't sure of the time frame, especially with the appearance of a later prop. The set was devoid of much detail, but this worked in the short's favour. The A.I was represented as a figure on an apparent screen, I felt Heising was perfect for this role, looked and acted the part. I liked LeJon's character also, though the recurring cheesy music he keeps listening to didn't really do anything for me.

The Job was an interesting idea for a short, but the core plot kind of fell by the wayside a bit for something a bit more metaphysical. Obviously not a horror, but as always, I did wish for a little more darkness here.

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Plague (2009) - Short Zombie Horror Film Review 21 Nov 10:25 AM (last month)

The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Thursday 20th November 2025 20 Nov 7:03 AM (last month)

The brilliantly titled Girl in the Refrigerator has been released by BayView Entertainment on Digital platforms worldwide, including on FlixFling. This dark comedy fits neatly into the sub-genre of horror about normal people trying to hide the body of a person they have killed (two such examples that spring to mind are the excellent A Young Man with High Potential and Cold Blows the Wind). In this one, a man accidentally kills his girlfriend and makes the fateful decision to try and hide the crime rather than report it. You can probably guess where he decides to store the body to begin with. The dark comedy aspect comes in due to the man then deciding to spend the day drinking with his best friend, before falling for a next door neighbour, who he then invites to his home before remembering about the body. Girl in the Refrigerator was directed by J.Francis Juelkuvsky and stars Jimmy Bevetti, Jaclyn Francine and Maria Brenda.

Jim Haggerty's Unnatural Causes (2025) - Horror Anthology Film Review 19 Nov 9:33 AM (last month)

It feels like it has been a while since I last watched an anthology horror film for review, and here at The Rotting Zombie, I sure like anthology films. Jim Haggerty's Unnatural Causes unsurprisingly comes from Jim Haggerty (Housewitch), with him directing, writing, and producing this. The anthology is made up of three short films and a wraparound segment.

With an opening wraparound segment that lasted ten minutes, I expected this part would get a lot of attention. After that opening however, there is barely any more of this. Famous actor; Vlad Eterno (Baron Misuraca - Seymour the Unfortunate Vampire) has passed away, and so two of his fans have managed to sneak into the funeral parlour to pay their last respects. They are surprised then when the man (whose mythos states he is an actual vampire) gets out of his open coffin. He hands the two girls a reel that contains the first three episodes of the horror TV show he had been working on before he apparently passed, before getting into an old car that then vanishes into thin air. Vlad acts as a Rod Serling type figure, introducing each of the three shorts, as well as providing closing comments on the stories that had played out. These parts served their purpose though were a little bland after the initial interesting set-up.

First proper short is Episode 1 'The Other' that feature just the two actors, but intriguingly, far more characters. Gail (Tina Krause - Phil Herman's Unearthed, Coven of the Black Cube) lives a seemingly idyllic life with her loving husband - Dr. Jack Perkins (Ray Taliercio in his film debut), until one day she receives an unexpected phone call. An angry woman with a familiar voice threatens Gail, telling her she should expect consequences if she doesn't leave what she perceives to be 'her' house and husband. Gail informs Jack who tells her there is nothing to worry about, but his actions to the viewer prove different, with this knowledge causing him to head out to remote woodland. From the familiar opening, this goes to unexpected places with a very neat idea. It perhaps got a bit wordy at times, with exposition dumps coming from long conversations, but I enjoyed how silly this became. A recurring small issue here was the blood, I don't know if it was due to colour grading, but the blood looked almost pinkish on screen, something that also happened in one of the later shorts.

Next up is Episode 2: 'The Drag', another half hour short that again deals with infidelity, something which is the unifying theme of all three of the short films here. Wanda (Debbie D - I Slay on Christmas, Jacker) has been cheating on her husband; Tom (Tom Ciociari - Amityville Thanksgiving) with Jerry (Andrew Murano also in his film debut). Tom is well aware of this fact and has a plan that will resolve the issue without causing him any trouble with the law. Later, Jerry gets the assistance of his lawyer friend; George (Justin Levine), who gives him a similar solution that Tom used for how Jerry can get out of his loveless marriage to Polly (Stacey Brook Schwart - From the Inside). An unexpected supernatural element made this one stand out, leading to a predictable yet enjoyable Tales From the Unexpected type finish. The attempt to show a 'Hell' type place didn't really work out, the budget limitations gave this less of a powerful feeling than it deserved.
Levine's George was the stand-out character and so it was a pleasure to see him reprise his role for the third and final short - Episode 3 'Exhumed Innocent'. In this one, with her husband having apparently take his own life, Carrie (Bec Fordyce - Killer Shoes) is free to be with the man she had been cheating on him with. With her dead husband's witch daughter suspecting foul play, she intends to use a spell to return her father to life, so that he can get revenge on those who wronged him. First though, she needs to have the body exhumed. After a bizarre dancing sequence at the start, this goes along in a familiar route with some fun death scenes. It seemed an odd decision to have the returned man look normal and not ghoulish, but it didn't detract. While it was obvious where the story would end up going, it had a near laugh out loud unexpected scene towards the end that I don't think anyone could have seen coming.

The anthology was very indie in its look, background interference was abound, especially in outside scenes, and some of the acting was occasionally not the most amazing. Despite that, I enjoyed this, I thought each of the stories had some unexpected moments to them, with the first two in particular having interesting ideas. There is nudity here in each of the three shorts, with the second featuring some full frontal nudity, not really needed, but I guess that is a plus if that is your thing. Special effects were basic, but they were fun to see regardless, and fitted the indie vibe of the anthology well. Overall, Jim Haggerty's Unnatural Causes wasn't perfect, but it maintained an entertaining feel throughout.

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Stranger Things Burger and Wings - Food Review 18 Nov 8:33 AM (last month)

Split between getting a succulent Chinese meal and a KFC this evening (at the time of typing, in the middle of Storm Claudia), me and my best friend decided on the later, primarily to try the new Stranger Things Burger and Stranger Things Wings. She suggested I could review it as a blog post and I let her know that I don't do such low-brow content on my site anymore. A few hours later and that seemed like a better idea for a lazy blogger, so here is the review.

Released in time for the fifth and final season of Stranger Things, I had my misgivings about the Stranger Things Burger prior to tasting it. I often find KFC's limited time meals disappoint more often than not, though thankfully that wasn't the case here. The packaging was pretty neat, having vines from the upside down over the box, the show's logo on the side, and on one side it has 'Hawkins Fried Chicken' rather than the correct restaurant name.
The biggest visual change for the burger is its red colour. No idea why red was chosen, but the black sesame seeds on top went well with that colour change. The burger consists of a Spicy Zinger fillet with cheese, pickled slaw, burger dressing, and a special extra ingredient; 'Secret Sauce' (it's literally called that). I was expecting the sauce to be spicy, and it was, but not to as high a degree as I had anticipated. It also manages to have a sweet taste to it at the same time as spicy. For a limited time food item from KFC it wasn't bad at all, we both quite enjoyed it.

Asteroid Vixens (2025) - Comedy Sci-fi Film Review 17 Nov 12:38 PM (last month)

Xex (Kate Ly Johnston - Feral Female) is a fembot, who alongside a floating robot A.I, has travelled to Earth in their spaceship to abduct beautiful women and impregnate them with embryos of hybrid humanoids. Their mission sees them fighting off would be adversaries, while travelling around the globe across time and space looking for suitable candidates.

This sexploitation indie B-movie revels in its purposely cheap looking sets and features no end of female nudity. Despite this there was a lot of variation with scenes set in many different locations. This was almost an anthology of sorts, lots and lots of different things going on, with the lead characters having a slight Mystery Science Theater 3000 feel to their scenes. These were the best parts of the movie, with the space ship represented externally as an obviously CG creation, and internally with a smallish room covered in foil. Computer screens and read-outs are obviously just bits of paper stuck to the walls rather than actual props, and the impregnation beam is a very bright and artificial looking CG effect. I loved the A.I, represented on screen by what appears to be an upside down plastic bowl suspended from the ceiling by a string, with foil strips hanging off of it. This was by far my favourite character, and the scenes on the ship were my favourite moments. Neither of the two characters speak out loud, with it being stated it is all via telepathic communication. Their conversations are almost nonsensical, with both characters going on about the things they are trying to do. They were all universally entertaining, with much of the comedy coming from their discussions. The A.I has a text to speech sound to it, making what they speak about all the more amusing. A special mention to the couple of interview scenes here also, they gave me a real feel of classic parody news show The Day Today with the reporters disinterested delivery.

Zombies and Cigarettes (2009) - Short Zombie Horror Film Review 14 Nov 1:26 PM (last month)

At the end of a day at the shopping centre where he works, Xavi (Samuel Viyela) is treating himself to his favourite ice-cream. On his way out, while trying to impress a girl he is attracted to; Carol (Aroa Gimeno), he accidentally knocks over some cases of a new perfume, and gets covered in the stuff. Almost straight after chaos erupts at the centre. Without explanation, a zombie outbreak has occurred, causing panic as shoppers and staff alike try to flee the fast moving, flesh hungry ghouls that have infested the mall. Xavi accidentally slips over and knocks himself out, waking some time later in a back area store room, having been rescued by three others. The ice-cream merchant, Carol, and sports shop employee - Kendo (Javier Ríos) bring Xavi up to speed, informing him of their plan to make it to the underground staff car park where they are going to use Kendo's boss' car to escape.

The 17 minute short horror starts with a small prologue that takes place deep into the film. It did feel a little pointless as it didn't really leave me with too many questions. I really enjoyed the film. Often with bigger budget movies, there would be sets instead of real locations, here, it is obviously a real shopping centre that has been borrowed for the movie. The initial outbreak was fantastically and chaotically done. People running around, falling over, getting trapped in revolving doors, falling off balconies, while the running zombies leap at their victims to drag them to the ground. So much was happening in this scene that it was a real delight to watch. My favourite part had a man wearing a chicken suit run past the camera just as the iconic 'Wilhem scream' sound effect plays. 
After this exciting intro, the action moves down to the service floor where there is less spectacle, but still a decent amount of undead running around. I thought this part was also fun, though a scene where the floor is plunged into darkness for an extended amount of time seemed a bit pointless.

The zombies looked great in that low budget indie type of way. Plenty of people firing guns at them, and some nice close up action, such as Xavi's use of a metal baseball bat. It seemed some of the effects, such as blood on the floor may have been CG, but if it was, it wasn't that distracting, and makes sense the owners of the shopping centre wouldn't want fake blood spilled everywhere. Blood looked great, and the make-up effects for damage to characters was satisfyingly fun.
The story of the outbreak and end to the zombie outbreak was very simple, especially with how it concluded. This did fit the vague amusement of how hard forgettable Xavi is trying to be the main protagonist, but really he doesn't really achieve much, ending the film much as he was when he started.

Zombies and Cigarettes has barely an ounce of originality to it, but it didn't need to It tells a straight forward indie zombie story in a very capable way. There are plenty of undead, plenty of entertaining characters, and of course, as the title may suggest; plenty of people smoking cigarettes for some reason.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Thursday 13th November 2025 13 Nov 8:41 AM (last month)

VIPCO and BayView Entertainment have released horror TV series - The Hallow Ian Horror Hour: Season 1, it can be found on Digital platforms worldwide, including Plex (here). The first season is made up of 8 episodes, each of which is said to be made up of '...the best in short-form horror'. They include independent short films and music videos featuring a cast of multi-award winning actors, these are interspersed with hosting segments that include such things as small skits, interviews, and the history of Halloween. Season 1 was directed by E.E. Tallent, Sam Arias Mostovoy and Ty Huffer.

Zombeer (2008) - Short Zombie Horror Film Review 12 Nov 10:12 AM (last month)

After being found drunk on the job one too many times, the head brew master at a Dutch brewery is told that going forward he is only to work nights at the place. This turns out to be fateful for the alcoholic as alone at night he accidentally tumbles into a giant vat of beer. Of course the man drowns, but he also somehow gets infected by the boiling beer, and the process turns him into a zombie. The next day at the brewery it is business as usual, but the batch of bad beer soon begins to spread and turn all who consume it into flesh hungry ghouls.

Zombeer is a prime example of how it isn't really important to have the biggest budget when making a zombie film. This does everything you would want, though the zombie part of this did come slightly too late into the film. The undead are plentiful and look great on screen (as always there isn't much need for complex make-up effects), but the best part is relegated to an end credits sequence. Weirdly, this begins with a Japanese news report that hadn't been translated - no idea what that part was about. It then goes into a neat found footage segment showing an unfolding zombie outbreak in daytime city streets. It was a shame the very best part of the short took place over end credits.
The story is functional, and the acting is purposely a bit exaggerated, but fitted the events that never took themselves too seriously, obviously realising the silliness of the situation.

Zombeer didn't outstay it's welcome, and for a zombie short it was a lot of fun. The brewery location was one of the best things about this, and I appreciated the special effects were practical rather than CG. Worth a watch, fun in that neat brain-dead type of way that only indie films about the undead seem able to succeed at.

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The Lighthouse (2025) by Social Youth Cult - Music Album Review 11 Nov 9:05 AM (last month)

It opens on 'Venus', a booming start that took me by surprise due to not realising how loud the volume on my earphones was. I thought this was a great start, the sound and the singing reminding me of a slowed down version of the manic The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster. Next comes first single; 'Close to Nothing', a repetitive beat being the through-line during the five minute introspective Interpol twinged track - another good one. The end of the first third of the album brings 'The Man in the Photo', another great repetitive back beat, with lyrics almost spoken rather than sang, this was possibly my favourite track of the album.
A change of sound for fourth track 'She's Dread' with a classical music starting beat. Slow and ponderous, transitioning into a faster finish, yet another good song that doesn't feel overlong despite the five minute length. Meandering (in a good way) 'Strange Times' is next in line, with 'Dead Space' and 'The Fall' leading things into the end of the album. The later increases the speed from the shoe-gaze feeling previous two. Final track is titular 'The Lighthouse', 5 minutes in length but sped by.

After a blistering start, 'The Lighthouse' settled down into a more slow and thoughtful pace. I felt some of the tracks, particularly in the middle, did sound a little bit similar to each other, but that isn't to say any of the 8 tracks here were bad. A good debut album. Social Youth Cult are currently doing a bunch of UK dates, with Grand Central in Manchester on 16th November, Lubber Fiend in Newcastle on the 23rd, and Mist Rolling Inn at Nottingham on the 28th of this month. Their debut album is out on all streaming services, CDs, and cassette copies available. There will also be a limited run of vinyl LPs.

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Jacker (1993) - Thriller Film Review 10 Nov 7:45 AM (last month)

A criminal that has become to be known as 'the jacker' has already been on a crime spree prior to the start of the movie. This mystery assailant, true to his name, carries out car jackings, murdering the victims of these attacks. Meanwhile, Mike (Herman) has fallen under the eyes of the police after his girlfriend commits suicide. Known to the viewer is the fact that not only did Mike murder his girlfriend and then made it look like she had taken her own life, but he is also the notorious jacker! His suspicious behaviour alerts detective Jackson (Patric Jackson in his sole film acting role), who soon finds his own woe when his younger sister is murdered. Jackson and his sister's former boyfriend; James (Barry Gaines - Jacker 3: Road to Hell) start to investigate Mike, while the police also start to have suspicion after a second woman he was intimate with is found dead in his flat.

Truth be told, I figured the sheer fact of Jacker being an indie film in the early 90s would make it a tough film to watch. Of course, this was before the advent of better technology made it easier for indie films to be made, so the sound design and camera work will be rougher than what you may be used to. There is lots of background interference, even with my bad hearing, at the worst of these times I was still able to understand the lines being spoken by the actors. The footage isn't the greatest quality, with a real VHS home movie look to scenes. Panning around locations has a noticeable shake to the footage, and occasionally lighting looks a bit blurred. Unexpectedly, this didn't detract from Jacker but instead added to the atmosphere of it. Never coming across as found footage, this nonetheless occasionally achieved an almost voyeuristic quality to the scenes, ignoring the often rough acting of some of the more minor characters, and with a squint in your eyes, it has a very vague feeling of a snuff film in some scenes, lovely stuff.
The plot actually felt more involved than with the third movie. There is a constant feeling of Mike barely getting away with his crimes, and welcoming the police suspecting him, where in the third film he seemed more like a force of nature, killing much more randomly while the police are utterly powerless to catch him. I did know how the film was going to end, having read a synopsis prior to watching the third film, but even so, it was nice seeing how events led up to what I knew was going to happen.

Herman is great as the nihilistic antagonist, more so than in Jacker 3. This killer delights from causing pain (or so he says), and there is even a little dive into his backstory. Much like with that third film, Mike is often amused when carrying out his crimes, and still features the iconic hat, and typical method of death by a single gunshot to the head. Special effects are minimal here, guns are fired in an exaggerated manner without any sort of effect other than the sound of a gunshot. It was neat to see Debbie D (I Slay on Christmas, Doomsday Stories) in a role here, as her character became an integral part of the third movie, though it does turn out her death was retconned, as here it seems not only did she definitely die, but the police had taken her body from Mike's flat, whereas in the third movie she states she had been assumed to be dead by him and dumped in woodland. Jackson was a good contrast to the killer, and his journey of revenge was fun to watch. With secondary characters it had to be co-directer Stanski who stood out. He not only plays three almost identical looking characters, but they always appear together in the same scenes, with the camera awkwardly cutting to make it look like they are interacting with each other. The humour here is intentional, maybe due to knowing that some of the actors really were not the best at delivering their lines, but it blends in well with the horror. When in the thrilling finale the jacker ends up being chased by a man on a child's skateboard, you know this isn't trying to take itself super seriously!

I came to Jacker expecting that I would be in for a terrible 90 minutes, that the time this was made would prevent it from being entertaining. I was surprised then at just how competent this was. Sure, it is very rough around the edges, but it tells a complete feeling story, fits the length of the movie without feeling drawn out, and even with some dodgy delivery of lines, has a cast of characters who were for the most part fun to see on screen.

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