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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Thursday 12th February 2026 12 Feb 8:39 AM (16 hours ago)

As an exclusive world premiere, FOUND TV is going to be debuting Human Hibachi 3: The Last Supper on Friday, February 20th. Once again directed by Mario Cerrito, this latest instalment follows a man who forms a cult, and leads his followers to a ritualized 'last supper' where human flesh is no doubt consumed once again. Once mor in the found footage style, this third entry intends to '...blend(s) psychological horror with themes of religious extremism'. Back in 2023, I reviewed Human Hibachi 2: Feast in the Forest, giving it a respectable 6/10 and saying "...the characters mainly were decent enough, found footage horror films shown from the perspective of the antagonists isn't a new idea, but it does make for entertaining movies". More info for the third film can be found here.

Gracie (2026) - Horror Film Review 11 Feb 5:27 AM (yesterday, 5:27 am)

Vincent (Tommy Cooper) is a mild mannered and timid office worker who lives alone with his sister; the titular Gracie (Erin Brown - Midnight Massacre). From the prologue sequence, the viewer is shown that Gracie happens to be a psychotic killer, a secret that isn't kept from Vincent who does his best to try and curtail her murderous ways. When Vincent begins a relationship with his fellow office worker - Meredith (Mary Troutman - Ghosts of EastWind Castle), his sister's anger threatens to derail this unexpected and welcome surprise.

I didn't quite know what to expect at first, especially with the prologue featuring Gracie murdering a random guy with a crowbar. With her iconic white dress and black gloves, she has a very distinct look. Her over the top evil ways I felt were a bit cartoonish, but in context this actually works well for the character. Hopelessly demented, and not really helped by Vincent whose timidness and loyalty prevent him from doing the right thing by her. A crowbar as the weapon of choice was something a little different, and over the course of the 80 minute movie it is used plenty of times, on plenty of victims - deserving and otherwise. Cooper made for an interesting protagonist, and the cast in general were a decent bunch. I liked how 'normal' everyone looked, these are all characters who you wouldn't bat an eyelid if you happened to pass them in public, which helped with the story being told. One odd problem I personally had was not really being able to tell the difference between the character of Meredith and Det. Hermione Jones (Nicole Swanson - Gather by the Ghost Light; podcast series). The actors looked so similar to each other (in my eyes), that when they were in the same location, I struggled to tell them apart from each other! This led to a somewhat confusing finale for the film, even if it was also exciting at the same time. 
The pacing of the film was decent, everything proceeds towards an epic (for a film of this type) finale, let down only by an ill placed flashback sequence, and then followed up with an epilogue that was plain bizarre.

Being an indie film, there were only a limited amount of locations, with much of the film either taking place at the offices where Vincent worked, or at his dark and dingy home. The film never felt or looked restricted though, and there were a fair number of characters to make the film feel like a lived in world.
The plot was nothing surprising, though to give an example of a similar film would likely give a spoiler. It might have not surprised me, but the story was executed well, and the runtime didn't have many wasted moments. As for the soundtrack, it served its purpose, but didn't leave much of an impression - maybe the weakest part of the movie for me.

Gracie may not feel original, but I thought it was surprisingly well made, and with a good cast of actors. I enjoyed my time with this, taking me away from the horrors of the real world to the fun horrors of a crowbar wielding maniac and her protective brother!

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Tuesday 10th February 2026 10 Feb 7:07 AM (2 days ago)

Described as a '...horrific psychological thriller', Velvicide is due to be released by BayView Entertainment, if not already out. Directed by Kenneth Perkins, the film follows protagonist Velvet Stevens, who recounts the details of her own abduction. The press release states '...escape was only the first act.'.

Bight (2026) - Thriller Film Review 9 Feb 12:28 PM (3 days ago)

Don't Look in the Dark (2026) - Horror Film Review 4 Feb 11:01 AM (8 days ago)

Phil Herman's The Actor's Curse: A Tale of Twisted Fate (2026) - Horror Anthology Film Review 2 Feb 1:02 PM (10 days ago)

The wraparound story is fittingly titled The Actor's Curse: A Tale of Twisted Fate. I like it when the wraparound segment actually tells some sort of story, and while a bit basic, this one fits that mould. Here, a bitter washed-up actor (Jon DeBartolo - Jacker 3: Road to Hell, A Hard Place), discovers an old journal outside his apartment door. The man decides to write some fictional stories about people who he has worked with in the past that he attributes to the cause of his personal downfall, unaware that the journal might hold some terrible power. This part was simple, but I did really like DeBartolo's voice, his narration to himself about the stories he was writing was lovely and deep.

The first story proper is 'The Director's Demise', which was directed by Derek Braasch. Here, a sleazy film director (Robert Gutierrez-Spagnoli) hires a new actress who for a change isn't put-off by his very hands-on approach to filmmaking. Even seeing all the conflict he creates around him, the new woman plans to work closely with the director. I found this predictable enough, the suggestion of a supernatural element was welcome, though this idea wasn't implemented that well, only popping up towards the end. There was a scene of violence here that had some fun practical effects, and will also state that this is one of three shorts here that include damage to a man-specific body part, this one the more painful looking of those! Some female nudity here if that is your thing.
Next up is 'The Producer's Plight' that comes from director James Panetta. Victoria (Debbie D - Jim Haggerty's Unnatural Causes, Phil Herman's Unearthed) is a film producer who likes to play games with the people she chooses for her films, setting up various actors against each other. Even when one of the people she has harmed takes his own life, she doesn't let up on her mind games. This again told a predictable enough story, though I did enjoy where this ended up going, and enjoyed how gun shots were shown on screen. The notion of a bad person facing a twisted justice was similar to the story that preceded this, so did feel a little similar.

Despite being mainly in Spanish (with subtitles), the third film 'The Writer's Woe' was my favourite. Written and directed by Marcelo Fabani, this one is about a womanising writer who gets hired to write a documentary exploring the strange topic of South American vampires. In his research he comes across an old book that states vampiric conquistadors were purposely sent to the place hundreds of years back, in order to conquer it for the Spanish authorities. He figures the book is probably not authentic, but other people fearing the truth may get out, take steps to squash his documentary from happening. I liked all the back story here with the idea of vampire explorers. Enjoyed the montage scenes when images are shown as part of the evidence of this happening. I sometimes found the lines to be spoken a bit quietly, but this told a decent and outlandish story with some cool make-up effects .
Finally was the Will Devokees written and directed 'The Makeup Artist's Misfortune'. A vigilante makeup artist (Brooke Ashley) who goes after bad people in the film industry, is intending to flee town after attacking her latest victim, only for the now disfigured victim to corner her at her home, intending to get his revenge. Fittingly enough, this one had the best make-up effects of the whole anthology, the man's half acid burned face looked great, with it often hidden within shadows.

As always, I love anthologies, and with Phil Herman's The Actor's Curse: A Tale of Twisted Fate, you have one with a solid unifying theme. I liked this most when it brought variation, such as the third short about vampires. I felt the first two shorts were a little too similar in the story they were telling, but overall, this was a solid anthology that might not have blown my mind, but was still an entertaining 90 minutes of indie horror that included a large cast over its films.

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Tormented Souls (2021-22) - Horror Video Game Review (Playstation 5) 30 Jan 11:53 AM (13 days ago)

Taking place in 1994, Canadian - Caroline Walker, receives a strange letter in the post that contains a single photo of twin little girls. In the weeks that follow, Caroline begins to experience terrible nightmares, unable to stop thinking about the photo. In desperation, she heads to the abandoned Wildberger Hospital (the return address for the letter she received), hoping to find out more information about the two girls. Once there she gets immediately attacked and knocked out by a mystery assailant. Sometime later, she awakens naked in a tub full of water, with a bandaged eye, and breathing tube in her throat. After getting dressed, she checks under the eye bandage in a mirror and is horrified to discover her bandaged eye has been surgically removed! She leaves the storage room she's in and heads out into the hospital (which is situated in an old mansion). Her goal; to find the whereabouts of the twin sisters and rescue them should they need assistance.

This is very classic survival horror, it really reminded me of the golden age of the late nineties. Games have came out before that promise to be authentic returns to survival horror roots, but they often feel like they are missing something essential for the nostalgic feel. Despite some small issues, I loved my time with Tormented Souls thankfully. The mansion setting of course reminded me heavily of the original Resident Evil, and is of comparative size to that game, with my final completion time being around 8 hours. The game is populated with grisly horrors, all of which fit the hospital vibe in their own twisted ways. ghoulish creatures with gas canisters strapped to their legless torso, zombies with blades for arms, and blending of corpse and surgical apparatus. There were also three boss fights, though two of these were against enemies that later join the roster of common enemies. The final boss was neat, requiring puzzle solving and combat blended together; the only one of the bosses that actually stood out. As a note; without going into spoilers; the boss in the game that resembles something from Evil Dead II is invincible, something I wish I had figured out before wasting most of my ammo on the blasted thing. If I had just left the room I would have made the back half of the game a lot easier! Enemy design works when the enemies are hidden in darkness, sometimes in well lit areas they can become a bit goofy looking. Character design mostly failed here; Caroline herself looks great, but other characters encountered had an exaggerated cartoon look to them that pulled me out the immersion on occasion. The less said about the voice acting the better, maybe they were going for a cheesy Resident Evil tone with over empathising each word, but the delivery really pulled me out of the experience. 

I first thought it was weird that a hospital would be inside a mansion, but that was explained to my satisfaction in a file I came across. The same happens with why the enemies look like they do. Nothing revolutionary, but was nice to have some lore about that. The mansion is full to the brim with puzzles that need to be solved, from cryptic door locks, to memory repetition puzzles, riddles, and items you discover that need either combining with one another, or used in the environment. Getting around the mansion is like solving an intricate puzzle lock, the puzzles here, while not hard, still are decent enough to give you a rush of dopamine when you solve them.
The mansion's design includes many secret doors and unexpected short cuts, with the detail appropriately hellish. At every turn there are corpses and body bags, literally hundreds encountered during my play through. Special mention to the choice of fixed camera angles, as well as the tremendous lighting that was especially effective in the basement sections.
The game starts off feeling like Resident Evil, but increasingly takes on the feel of a Silent Hill. It starts with tiny sections that feel like the Silent Hill  'Otherworld', then the back half of the game increasingly takes on a more cosmic horror feel. I enjoyed this mix of the grand daddies of the survival horror genre, their blend worked fantastically. The game's plot wasn't particularly engaging, but it served it's purpose. Much of the story for what happened at the mansion comes from diary entries you find dotted around the place, with hints of Fatal Frame II to it. You have to assume Caroline is illiterate, as she always seems very surprised from revelations that had already been revealed in easily obtained diaries. I recall one time around six hours in where Caroline responds with shock to something I had literally found out about within 15 minutes of starting the game by reading a diary entry!

Some of the item management can be fiddly. Thankfully, you have an infinite carry space, rather than limited, and the game sees fit to split key items and gameplay items into different sections in the item screen. You unlock maps of the floors in the building as you play, though weirdly when you bring up the map screen you have to manually locate the map you need rather than it bring it up automatically. The game world is also very dark, this is used in a gameplay way due to darkness causing instant death should you be in it for too long. You come to rely on a lighter (with seemingly infinite fuel) to see where you are going. The only problem is that you can't use your weapons while holding the lighter, nor can you use without, as it restricts you from using them when its pitch black. Neatly used as part of some of the puzzles, with areas of the mansion blocked off by stationary enemies that you can't attack in the dark. You only get access to four different weapons throughout the game, at least it tries something different but having a much more D.I.Y feel to them. Your primary weapon is a nail gun which was quite weak, my favourite came to be the shotgun apparently made out of pipes. Of course, ammo, health, and even save reels are all in short supply, by games end I did have plenty of those save reels stored away. Saving is needed as being old school there are not any checkpoints. Should you die, then you will have to reload your last save. There were definitely a few soul destroying times when I realised all too late my last save was a long time ago. 

Tormented Souls was a frequently stressful experience. I was always really hesitant to use healing items, ammo, or to save my game as I was always nervous about how limited these items all where. I liked how the enemies just lay dead where you killed them for the rest of the game, it makes returning to previously explored areas much more chill, as well as make it feel like it wasn't a waste to kill them first time around. The unsettling looking location is the best thing about this game, the story didn't really resonate much, maybe due to the exaggerated voice acting, but the environments were nightmarish and there were some well placed jump scares to be had in them. The old school tank controls and fixed camera angles might not be for everyone (I had forgotten how annoying it was to battle an enemy just off screen), but for those wanting a return to the glorious early days of survival horror, Tormented Souls was an excellent adventure, albeit, not a perfect one.

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The Rotting Zombie's Round-up of Horror News for January 2026 29 Jan 8:39 AM (14 days ago)

Garten of Banban (2023) - Horror Video Game Review 28 Jan 9:26 AM (15 days ago)

The game takes place within Banban's Kindergarten; a kindergarten that was closed down sometime in the past due to all the children who had been attending the place vanishing one dark day. You presumably play as a parent of one of the missing children, who, presumably not happy with the official investigation, has taken it upon themselves to break into the building and do their own search for answers. 

It took me around 40 minutes to get through Garten of Banban, which for the price being asked was perfectly acceptable (I believe it is free to download on PC). It is basically a much rougher version of Poppy Playtime, with your character in a first person perspective solving basic puzzles, while of course being hunted by a mascot. The game takes place on the ground floor of the kindergarten, starting with the reception area, before going down a long corridor with classrooms and play areas off to the side. The game world looks quite basic, the mascots are introduced via simple drawings on the walls, the graphics in general were all functional but felt less realistic. The game as a whole felt more like a...well, like a game. There are hidden switches and key cards to find, platforming sections, bottomless pits, and immersion breaking invisible walls that block your progress during key moments. The key innovation here is having the protagonist armed with a helpful drone they can send to press switches. The controls for this drone are extremely simple, and it follows such a simple flight path that it can miss the switches you are trying to get it to press, but was perfectly ok.

The big bad for this first entry is Opila Bird; a human sized pink emu like bird, with it only appearing twice, both times heavily scripted. This was one area where Garten of Banban inadvertently succeeded, the creature is very basic in design which actually made it more disturbing to see. It may only appear in a horror context twice, but both of these times were the highlight of my time with the game.
I'm always a sucker for lore, and here there is some, but only slight. I felt the opening didn't do a good enough job of setting up the story, or setting the motivation for the protagonist. There was assumptions on my part for what was going on, and spending any time with this - it is blatantly heavily inspired by games like Poppy Playtime, the story feels like it is going to be very similar. For me, that is fine, I wanted something to scratch the itch in-between playing that other better series.

There is no getting around the obvious fact that Garten of Banban is a clone of a different and better game series. It also is obvious at a glance that this is much lower in quality. There isn't really anything this one does any better, the antagonist is accidentally creepy, but not iconic looking at all, and the basic looking level design makes this feel more like a video game than an immersive horror. The less said about the placeholder feeling sound effects the better, some of the sounds here legitimately hurt my ears. Still, this game was exactly what I figured it would be; it scratched an itch, and while I'm not chomping at the bit to try the sequels, I will certainly pick them up if I ever see them go on sale.

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Black Chaos (2014) by various - Zombie Horror Anthology Book Review 27 Jan 8:10 AM (16 days ago)

Black Chaos' short stories are each by a different author and are really quite varied. You have historical stories, comedic ones, dystopian and magical. Some have happy endings, some have bad endings, and some have neutral endings where not much has really changed for the central character. It all begins with Lee Clark Zumpe's 'Wild With Hunger', interesting as it takes place back during the industrial revolution. It also takes place from two different perspectives; men who have gone to investigate a den of child zombies at a workhouse, and two non-infected children watching the whole thing. I saw this story as a good indication of the variety that might be found. Second story was also one set in the past, though I didn't enjoy it as much due to its abrupt unsatisfying ending. 'The Southern Wind' by J.Adrian Cook takes place in an alternate history where the South won the civil war in America due to having an army of zombies. 
The more fantastical of the stories here never really resonated with me, often having fairy-tale type vibes to them. I didn't dislike some of these, but they were not my favourite ones of the anthology. These included K.J Newman's 'As You Were', about a painter who can change reality with her paintings. 'Like the Jellyfish' by Katherine Sanger has a similar concept, though in this one it is a small child who has the ability to bring the dead back to life, ending deliciously dark, similar with playground based 'The Staggering Boy' by Douglas Ford; another one featuring a child as the protagonist, with a bleak end.

A bunch of stories featured zombies who were still self aware, best of these was the nightmare dystopian tale 'The Risen', in which Steven Axelrod envisions a future where a zombie apocalypse happened where the undead kept their intelligence and took over the world. It features a very Donald Trump-like character as the president of the zombies, a shame that last part has come real. Peter Andrew's 'Zombie Chic' is also about a world of intelligent zombies, but this one is more condensed, a comedic story of zombies getting body modifications in the name of fashion.
A large chunk of the stories take place in worlds where a worldwide zombie outbreak has occurred, but people are finding a way to deal with it and carry on as relatively normal. 'Ferals Like You' by Cheryl Elaine Williams details a family trip to a superstore that goes very badly, George Cotronis' 'Last Rites' has sentient zombies being given a last car trip before they are put down, Gerri Leen's 'Run for the Roses' is a very odd one about zombie horse racing, while Conor Powers-Smith's 'Only the Lonely', suggests a world where only lonely people become living ghouls.

Some of the stories here were excellent, best of these was the fantastic and super creepy 'Graveyard Slot' by Christopher Keelty. In this one, a cursed video tape leads to viewers getting trapped within the all too real looking footage of a bloody zombie outbreak. J. Rohr's 'Nothing Else Matters' was huge in scope, and replaces undead humans with a giant bug apocalypse - excellent stuff. 'Preservation' by Rebecca Boyle was the goriest story here, about a zombified woman who convinces a robot maker to make her an artificial body once hers starts rotting. 'Carrion Luggage' by Shane Simmons takes an alternate look at voodoo magic, and I really enjoyed the humorous bureaucratic nightmare of 'Expediency', with Paul Lorello providing a tale about a scientist trying to get his patent registered before he turns. One of the more interesting was penultimate story 'The Chosen', taking place aboard a pleasure boat where a group of women all named Jane make Big Brother style video diaries about their time spent out at sea, unable to return to land due to the undead ruling the world.

25 stories is a lot, but many of these were quite short, meaning they were super easy to get through. There were only a couple that were large enough to require chapters, and one that I believe was less than a page in length. Most of the stories were well written, happily there were only two out the lot that I personally didn't enjoy. Black Chaos is a solid zombie anthology, one that often takes a different spin on the undead beasts, rather than your typical outbreak yarn. Black Chaos comes from Big Pulp Publications.

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Poppy Playtime: Chapter 3 'Deep Sleep' (2024) - Horror Video Game Review 26 Jan 12:15 PM (17 days ago)

Chapter 2 ended with self aware doll Poppy Playtime deciding you were too useful to let go, and so at the last moment diverted the train that was transporting you to the surface, to instead send you deeper into the nightmarish facility, inadvertently causing the train to crash in the process. The third chapter begins with chapter antagonist - CatNap, picking up your unconscious body and discarding it in the trash compactor room. Regaining consciousness at the last moment, you escape the room, and soon get in contact with new character; Ollie, who communicates via a telephone device you collect. He tasks you with powering up a huge machine to divert the hallucinogenic red gas that is blocking the way deeper into the vast underground complex. To do this, you must head into Playcare - the giant biodome orphanage, that also happens to be the stalking ground of the lethal CatNap.

With each subsequent chapter being more expensive to buy, I really hoped the game would increase to match the price rise. That again is the case here, where Chapter 1 was around an hour long, and Chapter 2 around two hours in length, by the time the end credits for Chapter 3 appeared, I had been playing for around four hours. It is more of the same, you explore maze-like levels in first person, solving puzzles, while avoiding the chapter specific enemies who instant kill you should they get a hold of you. The game is at its most unique with the biodome setting, a vast area that is designed to look like it is outside, despite being very very deep below the surface. The central hub area here is made to look like a small town, with various buildings that you travel to as you attempt to reroute the power. Your adventure takes you to a variety of locations, from a school, to caverns, and offices. The horror is in abundance here, with much of it suggested rather than shown in detail. There was something really quite unsettling exploring dormitories and nurseries that featured blood stained bunk beds and cots.
To help assist you, as per previous chapters, new abilities for your grab-hand device are given. You get an upgraded grab-hand that lets you stretch out the hands further, and get two additional upgrades for it - one that allows you to use jump pads, and one that fires flares to light up dark areas. I spent much of my time here cursing how dark the game world was, especially when at the midway point your torch is destroyed. This was a problem of my own making, as I completely forgot I had a flare gun attachment that would have been very useful at giving light to the sometimes pitch black areas! The gun can also be used to protect against the pint-sized enemies that appear in the terrible Playhouse section. Terrible as in horror filled, not terrible as in badly made. Again, forgetting I had the flare gun made that part of the game a whole lot harder.

I was pleased that there is quite a lot of lore revealed during this chapter. You get information about the event that led to the initial disaster in the 90s (that you were seemingly the sole survivor of), and also get a good idea of your ultimate goal in the facility, with the hinted at main antagonist - 'The Prototype', making more of an appearance. The big bad of Chapter 2 was a constant presence, constantly interacting with you. CatNap has a far more hands off approach and barely even appears until the final half of the game. Puzzles were simple, but involved enough to feel satisfying to solve, mainly revolving around moving batteries about, and setting up relays to power up doors. The chapter culminates with a big boss battle, which was basically Five Nights At Freddy's, having you needing to monitor a series of corridors that something was trying to advance down. The hands-off approach of  the chapter antagonist was balanced with a few other enemies, a teacher robot that only moves on you when you aren't looking at it, and a horde of tiny robotic animals. These were both neat and effective enemies to face. Often these take the form of chase sequences. There were quite a few of these sections, though strangely, the checkpoints for these were never just before them, but several rooms before. This led to a pointless minute or so walk to get to the section that you previously died in each time (should you fail). Added to the horror mix are nightmare sequences (a result of the hallucinogenic red gas lingering around). These parts gave some variation, adding rather than detracting from the overall experience.

Each chapter of Poppy Playtime has both increased in length, and increased in horror. It was a pleasure to have the best looking area of the game yet with Poppy Playtime: Chapter 3 'Deep Sleep', and I appreciated how survival horror like this felt, even if you are only in actual danger during set events, rather than constantly. I loved the lore here. The dark locations, and not knowing where to go during chase sequences occasionally frustrated, but myself forgetting I had a flare gun was no doubt the cause of some of these frustrations. As I say at the end of each chapter review; I can't wait to pick up the next chapter and get further into the Hell of Playtime Co.

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Not Even Death (2009) - Short Zombie Horror Film Review 23 Jan 11:27 AM (20 days ago)

On an Earth where zombies are a worldwide phenomenon (though hasn't led to the breakdown of law and order), a loving husband (Joseph Will - American Horror Story) is unable to come to terms with his wife's (Treva Tegtmeier - The Shadow Men) zombification. He keeps her chained up in the basement, feeding her a diet of cow brains. He hopes that one day a cure will be found for her condition, and in the meantime tries to search for any signs of her remembering her former life.

The general story of Not Even Death was perfectly fine, and was told well. I thought the prosthetic make-up effects for the zombie were very neat, even if you do have the generic contact lenses to simulate undead eyes. With such a short runtime, not a moment is wasted, but the whole thing is let down by a cheesy score that reminded me of made for TV movies. Not a bad little cliff-hanger to end things on, though again, wasn't something that felt wholly original. Still, I thought the basement setting looked great on camera, and the performances were suitable, making for a nice little zombie based appetiser.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 (2025) - Thoughts on the Zombie Mode 22 Jan 10:09 AM (21 days ago)

The story has always been a convoluted mess for me, but old fans of Zombies might be pleased to hear that the four original protagonists are back, alongside the four new protagonists of Black Ops 6's mode. From what I can gather, all eight characters have found themselves trapped in a nightmare zombie infested realm - the Dark Aether, ruled over by an all powerful being named The Warden. The mode launched with three maps, one of which was the fun but throwaway 'Dead Ops Arcade 4' (an overhead arcade style experience that always manages to outstay its welcome). As of typing, there are now six different Zombies maps. There are two large maps; 'Ashes of the Damned' (said to be the largest round-based map yet), and season 1 map - 'Astra Malorum' (seemingly taking place on an asteroid). These are both fun to play around with, but it is Survival where things really became both old school and interesting. 

Survival features much smaller maps, ones which remind me of the original Zombies experience, though these maps are some of the smallest ones yet. 'Vandorn Farm' is a remake of the farm section from Black Ops II's 'Transit' map. 'Exit 115' takes place around a diner, while 'Zarya Cosmodrome' takes place at a soviet rocket site. There are minimal doors to unlock in these Survival maps, with you just needing to last until you die, or until you exfil from the map. Me and my best friend have absolutely loved these old school maps, is refreshing to not feel the need to be trying to solve some convoluted series of Easter egg steps.
The game remains a round-based experience, where each round the zombie enemies get more numerous and stronger. Every five or so rounds is a special one where dog like beasts spawn, and later rounds see the arrival of huge powerful zombie bears! To help you, you can bring whatever weapon you like into the game, and the Pack-a-Punch machine (that powers up your guns) and Perk machine are easily accessible to make you able to keep up with the increasing danger level.

I have found multiplayer this year to be a bit of a nightmare, no longer skill based match making means I am forever matched with players far, far better than I would ever be able to be. It isn't much fun coming last each and every match. Thankfully, there is Zombies. While I will always miss being able to board up windows in modern maps, it still retains a really old fashioned feel that has seen me put more than double the hours into it than multiplayer, something that I haven't done in countless years.

The House on Haunted Grounds (2026) - Horror Film Review 21 Jan 8:27 AM (22 days ago)

The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Tuesday 20th January 2026 20 Jan 2:40 AM (23 days ago)

I'm currently on my second week of attempting to work on this blog full time, though that definition might not so easily fit what I am doing as there are plenty of naps inserted throughout. Of the five days I was doing this last week, only two of those days I would class as fully doing my blog. I'm going to try better this week though! With that out the way, onwards to the news.

Freestyle Digital Media have acquired the VOD rights to supernatural psychological thriller - The Eye. This stars Bollywood actress Shruti Haasan as Diana - a grieving widow who travels to a remote island that her and her deceased husband once stayed at. It is there she hopes to get some closure, instead, she learns of a curse from the locals, one that could bring her husband back to life, though at a terrible cost. Written by Emily Carlton and directed by Daphne Schmon, The Eye is available to rent/own on North American digital HD internet, cable, and satellite platforms as well as DVD from today.

I Know Exactly How You Die (2026) - Horror Film Review 19 Jan 7:50 AM (24 days ago)

Rian (Rushabh Patel in his acting debut) is a horror author with a looming deadline. He has travelled to a remote motel to write his latest novel, thinking the location will give him the space to write the thing, plus he is getting over a failed relationship so thinks the distance from that will help him. His novel is a slasher, one that has a woman being stalked by an obsessed serial killer postman; that, and the fact his heroine dies at the end is all he has of the story. Meanwhile, addiction counsellor, Katie (Stephanie Hogan - Stag) has arrived at the motel. She was the victim of an obsessive mailman turned serial killer (Bobby Liga - Stag, 6:66 PM) , and so has come to the motel hoping to hide away. Upon discovering Katie; Rian comes to believe that the events he is writing about are somehow coming true. Selfishly seeing it as a great way to get over his writer's block, Rian decides to insert himself into his own story, figuring this will turn out to be his best work, while convinced that as the writer, he will be able to prevent Katie from getting killed by the stalker. His secret pleasure at being the hero is scuppered when he discovers that events happen that he hasn't written about, and he begins to fear his story is getting out of his control.

From the start it seems clear that Rian is a flawed protagonist, the intro sequence having him driving across the backroads of America as a slew of increasingly desperate messages are sent to his ex-girlfriend's phone. I liked that his story didn't really have a redemption arc, his insertion into his own story is only marginally done for the benefit of Katie, it is far more about giving him the novel he needs. As much as he may want to save her from the stalker, he makes sure she is stuck at the motel location, such as quickly writing in that her car had been tampered with, preventing her when she intends to leave to go get help. It was amusing that he was writing the film's story in real time, making excuses to pop off back to his motel room to write further parts of the story. It's when he makes himself Katie's love interest that it feels he really crosses a line of decency. Katie shared the protagonist role with Rian, her path through the film, and her interactions are much more generic, but this works in the film's favour. Rian isn't indicated to be a great author, so all the slasher type events that happen around him work by feeling very predictable. There are a cast of about just seven characters here, but the remote motel setting meant that felt perfect. Most interesting was the motel owner who has a slight inkling of the motel's strange powers but remains in team non-believer. 

The whole notion of an author's works coming to life is one that has been explored in horror before. The video game Alan Wake had a similar idea of an author trying to write events to be more for his benefit, and some scenes here felt very similar to that. Going to literature, Stephen King's The Dark Half also had a writer discovering his twisted creations were becoming real. Here, there is zero explanation given, probably for the best as it was a bit of a strange idea to be able to accurately reflect well on screen. The concept of the story being written by one of the characters was neatly done, I enjoyed how it was integrated into the film, and how the flaws of the male lead, lead to a slapdash feel.
There are some horror elements here, though the antagonist doesn't get much screen time. Murders mainly occur off stage, with the leads discovering victims. There are a few throat slash sequences, and one moment of a character having their eyeballs burst! The film follows more Rian and Katie rather than the goings on of the killer but there was a sense of peril underneath the purposely cheesy horror moments. A fair bit of blood, and a somewhat thrilling finale, the cherry on top being the darkly humorous way this one ends. An extra mention for the low-fi soundtrack, the core music contrasted well with what was happening.

I liked I Know Exactly How You Die from the start, I found myself getting more and more into it, so much so that I was surprised when I noticed there was just 15 minutes of film left, it flew by. I enjoyed the 'author writing the story' trope, and was eager to see how the fun story played out, though by necessity that meant that elements of the story required being generic. I Know Exactly How You Die had its world premiere at Dances With Films NYC on January 17th.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Saturday 17th January 2026 17 Jan 8:36 AM (26 days ago)

January 20th sees the release of horror film House Sitter, announced by Cleopatra Entertainment and coming from Reaper Films. Directed by Christopher Leto (Death Blow, Creeper in the Woods), the press release states this is a throwback to horror films of the 90's, and that it is a home invasion thriller with a twist. The synopsis sees three friends house sitting for a rich and mysterious man. It is while doing that that the friends find themselves being hunted by a masked killer, and clues found around the house point to something more sinister being in play. House Sitter stars Cristina Méndez (Sorry For Your Loss, Frost Park), Evan Eiglarsh (48, Frost Park) and David Varrieur (Do Not Open, Diary of a Serial Killer).

Bluetooth Speaker (2025) - Horror Film Review 16 Jan 7:31 AM (27 days ago)

After their beloved grandpa dies; Brim (Ryan) and younger brother Sean (Vania) head over to his former home on the instructions of their sister, Brenda (Chloe Gay Brewer - Live One). Brenda was left the remote property in their grandpa's will, and intends to sell it, so has asked her brothers to give the messy house a deep clean. They plan to stay at the place for five days, thinking that will be more than enough time to get the job done. With Brim having brought seemingly an endless supply of cheap beer, and the house bringing back many fond memories of their grandpa, the two brothers decide that they are going to leave the cleaning for the final day, and just hang-out together in the meantime. At some point, a small Bluetooth speaker is found outside the house, and with eccentric neighbour - Old Man Morris (Steve Bilecz - Live One) being the only one they had seen in the area, they assume it is his, and bring it inside the house, to give back to him next time they see the man. The speaker has some sort of ominous power to it however, and slowly but surely, Brim begins to fall under its nefarious effects.

Much like previous films I have seen from the director, Bluetooth Speaker is experimental, weird, and arthouse in style on occasions. It is also a film that feels very long, with a 2 hours, 10 minute runtime, the story doesn't really get moving until the second hour, and it is noticeable with a first hour where not much happens at all. It is inferred the speaker is evil via close-up shots of it with sinister sound effects playing. To be fair, I thought this was neat, it would have been funny if it had all been misdirection and the whole thing was a massive red herring. After the halfway point, things do eventually get moving, and take an unexpectedly dark turn considering the more light hearted and often comedic feel of the first half of the film. While there was some tonal dissonance with the shift in vibe, I thought the second part was much more engaging, rather than characters sat around endlessly talking, there was an increasing feel of something really not being right. It leads to some decent moments of horror, and some effective scenes of madness, helped along by some make-up effects that sold their intention well. Some other effects didn't work quite so well, such as a woman superimposed on a desert landscape, and a dream sequence where Brim floats off the ground. This likely goes in with the experimental style, which also stretches to the lighting decisions. Often when characters are speaking to each other, one will be bathed in warm light, while the other will be in cold lighting, making it seem like the shots were filmed at different times from each other. There are also plenty of hallucinatory and dream sequences, adding to the surreal vibe.

The acting, like previous films is very weird, but also felt like a signature style, and one that is obviously very purposeful. Characters often speak in a roundabout way, saying the same thing over and over in a slightly different way each time, rambling with intent. I liked the flow of these scenes, the characters of Brim, Sean, and Brenda felt authentically like close siblings, their rapport worked well, even if they had some odd qualities to them, such as Brenda's no-filter way of speaking, and Brim's obsession with sleeping with women. There is the occasional montage sequence, something that Bluetooth Speaker always does excellently, my favourite being a montage of Brim and Sean play fighting with machetes they found. Another funny one was a montage of Brim sleeping with people, the camera always close up on his grunting 'sex face'. All the characters have very expressive looks to them, with Ryan being the best of these. From his wild over the top expressions, I sometimes got the feel of a living cartoon watching this, was always fun to see. No one acts in a realistic way, adding to the charm of the film world, the editing done in such a way that scenes linger longer than they should, with characters silent staring at the camera as if the camera had forgot to cut, but again, playfully done rather than due to filmmaking mistakes. There were quite a few side characters who only appeared for a few lines or so, Old Man Morris stood out the most, I loved how his character just suddenly appears in the home each time, with the protagonists always being surprised by this.

I couldn't help but feel that Bluetooth Speaker would have really benefitted by being cut down to a more lean runtime, the first half especially has so little happening that my attention really did begin to wander. There were vast chunks of the movie that while entertaining enough on their own, didn't seem to add anything and just got in the way of the flow for me. As much as I enjoyed the characters and the bizarre way their lines are said during the meandering conversations they have, I did think the much more tightly paced and horror infused second half was when it really started to come together. Despite my criticisms, there is a really unique feel with Bluetooth Speaker, something that can be admired even if some elements didn't resonate for me.

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Party Hard 2 (2018) - Horror Video Game Impressions: 'Rotted Meat No.4' 14 Jan 5:06 AM (29 days ago)

The Synopsis:

After going on a party based murder rampage, the serial killer the police labelled 'The Party Killer' vanished. Some months or years later, the killer reappears, again heading to various parties to kill the revellers there. There are cutscenes before and after each level, but due to only being able to make it to the third level, I never got much of an idea of the direction the story was going to go in this time around.

How the Game Felt:

Like its predecessor, Party Hard 2 is an isometric pixel art based game that has you as a killer trying to secretly murder people at various parties, using stealth based gameplay. Rather than be single screen like last time around, this time, levels seemed a lot larger. Also unlike last time, rather than having to kill everyone to finish the level, you instead have the option of a laundry list of specified goals you need to achieve, such as killing drug dealers and motorcycle club members. You are armed with a knife, and there are also many environmental items you can use, such as dropping a piano on a victim, or pushing people into barrels of fire.

Reason for Abandoning the Game:

The first game was tough, but it was manageable, with the lure of seeing what location would be used for each new level keeping me hooked. With Party Hard 2, the game is just too hard, not helped by the much larger locations that make it hard to keep track of where all the different variables are. I managed to get to the third level; a party out at a desert motel, but it was so sprawling that each attempt would take anywhere up to around twenty minutes of carefully taking people out. It got to the point I had had so many unsuccessful attempts that I just gave up, it felt like a waste of my time. I would have liked to see later levels, but the frustration and amount of time it was taking to get further killed that desire. This does build on the first game, but felt to me the increase in size equalled less fun.

Frankenstein (2025) - Horror Film Review 13 Jan 7:42 AM (last month)

The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Thursday 8th January 2026 8 Jan 7:28 AM (last month)

I rarely ever mention these, but I happen to have a recent email about the topic, so I will speak of the JustWatch streaming charts for films and TV shows in the UK. These were up to date on 5th January. First with the JustWatch Top 10 Films streaming chart, and I can see there are only two relevant films to mention. Luckily, those two films are at No.1 and No.2 respectively. At No.2 is the almighty 28 Years Later, it makes sense why it is so high with the sequel; 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple just about to hit cinemas. At No.1 is Sinners, a film that I know next to nothing about, other than I believe it's an American film about vampires? Either way, it is good to see horror so high in the film charts at the moment.
Over in the JustWatch Top 10 TV Shows streaming chart, there is more horror but it is also more spread out. No.8 sees IT: Welcome to Derry - the TV show based on Stephen King's IT world. If that ever pops up anywhere I have access to, I will check it out, heard it's good for the lore. Fallout is in fourth position, likely due to it having returned for a second season. I did enjoy season 1, but my Amazon Prime Video subscription has expired, so it will be a time before I get to see season 2. Talking of post-apocalypse, Pluribus is in third place for last week. Got to admit, the only thing I know about it is that it stars Rhea Seehorn (Better Call Saul), and people online have said it is quite slow. Finally, No.1 sees Stranger Things, and personally, I think that position is well deserved. I've seen all the new season up to the final episode (waiting for a friend to catch up before watching that together), so far, I think it has been 10/10.

ARROW's January SVOD line-up has been announced, I will have a quick look through the press release and pull out anything that sounds appealing. Joe Lynch Selects has the director (Wrong Turn 2: Dead End, which stars Henry Rollins. I own this one on DVD, but annoyingly the disc is scratched meaning I can't see the final five minutes or so!) selecting some films for the service. These include Deep Red, Mute Witness, Ms. 45, The Woman, and Bad Biology. 5th January saw giallo - Blood and Black Lace, those type of films are ok, not entirely convinced they are my thing. If it is your thing then rejoice, for Puzzle also arrives on 9th January. Skipping ahead in the press release...more giallo titles, then...Split Second - a serial killer film taking place in a flooded dystopian future. Those were the ones that leapt out, though outside of horror - if you love Jean-Claude Van Damme, plenty of his awesome action films are getting added.

Finally for today, my cover story - Primate. This Johannes Roberts directed primate based horror is coming to cinemas on 30th January, to celebrate, a new featurette titled 'Silence Featurette' has been released.

Whispers (2025) - Horror Film Review 7 Jan 9:26 AM (last month)

Bonnivar Park has been the site of vast numbers of disappearances over the years, with locals coming  to believe the park is cursed, and the authorities at loss as to how to explain the huge amount of missing people in the area. After his girlfriend, Sophie vanishes while at the park, Nick (Nikola Penchev) becomes determined to find out what happened to her. Following a tip, Nick thinks he may have discovered the place where Sophie vanished to; an abandoned building deep in the centre of the vast natural area. He enlists the help of Alex (Petkov), whose sister - Maggie (Simona Rose The Whisper 2: Natural Connection), had also disappeared, while looking for Sophie no less, as well as the strong and silent Caine (Vélin Borata), who also lost someone to the park. Together they head out to the abandoned building where it is believed they will find the answers they seek.

The synopsis may not sound like the most exciting story out there, but that is just the beginnings of Whispers unexpected journey. The film follows a similar format to what Weapons did - showing the same story shown from the perspective of various characters, each named chapter showing events from the named character's perspective. It begins with 'Nick' that was the weakest of the chapters here, mainly because I never really got a sense of just what sort of person Nick actually was. That was only notable because most of the other central characters all got fleshed out to the point where they became to feel more real than the character of Nick ever achieved. Each chapter over-lapped with other chapters, so for instance, in 'Nick' you have Alex seeing the man at the park, while later on during the 'Alex' chapter, you then get to see the aftermath of that scene. That idea was used repeatedly, I loved seeing the same scene but with additional information revealed before and after. It gave Whispers a feeling of a puzzle that was slowly getting solved for the viewer. Each of the chapters ends in the same place; with the three men, heavily armed, arriving at the abandoned building.

Despite not having seen the two short films this is a sequel to, it was obvious what they would have been about. Having a look online, The Whisper was about Sophie going missing, while The Whisper 2: Natural Connection was about Maggie's own vanishing. This was all stuff that had been revealed throughout the course of this one, so I didn't feel I had missed too much to not enjoy the story.
I liked how the film created the feel of the Alex and Maggie sibling bond; dreamlike flashback sequences where the character in the present is moved back into the past, with it then revealed to have been a thought someone was having 
Some cool ideas here I liked, such as the strange red symbols painted on walls and trees that appear able to mind control anyone who looks at them, characters hallucinating, teleportation, as well as some murder and mayhem. The low budget means there wasn't a lot visually to look at. For instance, the scenes at the abandoned building lost a little bit of their impact due to not really being able to show enough to make the horror scenes there work perfectly, but the strength of the neat ideas carried things through without any immersion breaking. Where the story went was fine, but I enjoyed the misdirection and rug pulls in the lead-up more, such as the crazy mid-film sequence that had me questioning everything that had came before. The park and abandoned building locations were both neat, the building full of potential atmosphere, even if the big story reveal never really fits the building type.

Seeing the low budget at movie's start, I was apprehensive this may be a slog to get through. Whispers succeeds despite some obvious budget constraints, which shows the impressive filmmaking skills here. The core acting was great, the acting for many of the other characters not so much. At its core this was a serious story, but one that happened within a reality where everything is patently absurd
My low expectations for the film were swiftly surpassed - thanks to the clever use of chapters, fleshed out protagonists (mostly), and a sense of atmosphere.

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Alan Wake Remastered (2021) - Horror Video Game Impressions: 'Rotted Meat No.3' 6 Jan 9:29 AM (last month)

The Synopsis: 

Alan Wake arrives in the lazy mountain town of Bright Falls with his wife, on vacation to try and help the famous writer get over his writer's block. They are not there long when Wake's wife gets captured by a dark presence from Cauldron Lake. A week later, Alan wakes up in a crashed car with no memory of what has happened to him during that time period. He finds Bright Falls is infested with supernaturally infected humans, and that the area is littered with pages from a manuscript that he doesn't remember writing, which eerily predicts the future with uncanny accuracy.

How the Game Felt:

This remaster is the only proper way to play the game. Having tried it like this I could never go back. Alan Wake was made before the advent of HD televisions, so going back to the original it is very dark and murky. The remaster makes everything look so much smoother and brighter, making the world come alive with details that before I wasn't able to see. It also appears to have had lore added that links the game to Control, a neat touch. The game is a combat heavy survival horror game split into chapters. It plays as well as it always did, and while I stuck with this I was having a genuine blast.

Reason for Abandoning the Game:

As much fun as this was to play, it is still the same Alan Wake that I have played countless times before. It felt like a waste of my game playing time to give this yet another playthrough, even if it did look better than it ever had before. In an age where I struggle to even play remakes, let alone remasters, I just didn't feel a strong urge to continue through the familiar story and levels.

CAPA Ghostbusters: Director's Cut (2026) - Short Comedy Horror Film Review 5 Jan 5:38 AM (last month)

The R.I.P Man (2025) - Horror Film Review 31 Dec 2025 7:30 AM (last month)

The titular R.I.P Man (Owen Llewelyn - Good Neighbours, Dredd) is a demented serial killer who takes the trophy of a tooth from each of his victims. This is perhaps due to the man having no teeth of his own due to a rare oral condition. The police, led by DCI Gary Mullen (Matt Weyland - Eastenders soap opera), are determined to catch the killer, but are not getting very far, even though the killer appears to only be targeting a small group of college friends. After Jaden's (Bruno Cryan - Popeye's Revenge) girlfriend is murdered in the film's prologue sequence, the grieving young man starts an investigation of his own to track down the killer and end his reign of madness.

Rather than keep the antagonist a hidden menace, he is shown fully almost straight away. For a killer such as this, this is a good thing, as he has a really memorable look. He did remind me a lot of Nosferatu; pasty white skin, bald, wide eyed, and suited out with punkish looking black clothes. This villain always looked great on camera, the creepy way he grins at his victims, with his 'R.I.P' embossed mouth guard he wears made for some fun on screen moments. Each of the kills over the course of the 90 minute movie were fun to watch, and varied as well, with no one victim dying the same way as any other. There wasn't a lot of blood shown, but it always looked decent enough. Special effects throughout were never bad, love the practical over CG. The night scenes did all seem a little blue tinted, but that's a minor quibble. The killer's repeated use of wind-up chattering tooth toys was also a neat touch, these items bookending the kill scenes, often used to lure his victims to the particular places were they would meet their end. There was also a decent dive into who the killer was, and the reasons he might have for wanting to kill, though the repeated refrain from Mullen as he explains the killer has a 'rare oral condition' to everyone he meets did get slightly farcical.

On the topic of the police, that is just one of the areas where the story goes a little loose in terms of believability. Aside from one late film moment where the police tell one of the potential victims that they will look into getting them police protection, there seems little to no protection for the characters. The police seem more obsessed with learning where the wind-up toys originated from, than looking for a motive. Not that that bothers the protagonists, despite their friends being killed off in horrific ways one by one, they never seem to express any type of shock or sadness at this. The R.I.P Man weirdly never shows the characters initial reactions to finding out their friends have died, they are only ever shown in scenes where they are shown carrying on their lives as normal, without seemingly a care in the world. The focus was more on the police investigation, which was entertaining to watch, but it did make the college student's role in the film take more of a back seat.
There were some excellently chosen atmospheric locations here, from a dark church, to isolated cellars, and a ruin, these places all looked exactly where you might expect to be murdered by a crazed slasher. My issue with these places where that characters end up in them for no real logical reason. One early example, not to reveal the victim, but they are basically wandering down a series of narrow alleyways at night for some reason, and then randomly decide to enter a building, head into its maze-like basement, before conveniently stopping in the exact location where the slasher has set a convoluted trap that is then sprung on them. Characters have little to no reason to constantly be appearing in these sinister locations, it became a recurring theme, and felt like they were only ever where they were because the script called for it, not for any logical in-film world reason.

At the moment, I am all about escapism from the real world, and The R.I.P Man delivered with that. Despite my problems with some of the way this story was told, the antagonist was very memorable, and the story told was decent, making for an entertaining indie slasher that sometimes effects a pretty neat dream-like feel, whether intentional or not. The R.I.P Man comes to streaming platforms on 5th January in the U.K and is available for pre-order.

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