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The Rotting Zombie Presents: Breaking News! Banned from X! 3:19 PM (4 hours ago)

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

Cedar Mills (2025) by Dylan James - Horror Novel Review 18 Mar 2:02 PM (yesterday, 2:02 pm)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Portrait of God (2022) - Short Horror Film Review 15 Mar 6:51 PM (4 days ago)

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

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

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

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NFT: Cursed Images (2026) - Horror Film Review 13 Mar 12:41 AM (6 days ago)

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

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

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

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

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Thursday 11th March 2026 11 Mar 4:10 PM (8 days ago)

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

Mamochka (2026) - Horror Film Review 10 Mar 9:38 PM (8 days ago)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Anacoreta (2022) - Horror Film Review 6 Mar 2:35 PM (13 days ago)

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

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

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

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

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Demon Squad: Tooth and Claw (2026) - Horror Film Review 5 Mar 4:34 PM (14 days ago)

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

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

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

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

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

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Garten of Banban IV (2023) - Horror Video Game Review 4 Mar 4:25 PM (15 days ago)

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

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

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

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

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Yes, I am a Vampire (2024) - by Stephen Kozeniewski - Horror Short Story Collection 3 Mar 8:37 PM (15 days ago)

The Rotting Zombie's Round-up of Horror News for February 2026 26 Feb 2:52 AM (21 days ago)

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

Are You There? (2024) - Horror Film Review 25 Feb 6:28 AM (22 days ago)

Garten of Banban III (2023) - Horror Video Game Review 24 Feb 7:18 AM (23 days ago)

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

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

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

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

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Bad Voodoo (2026) - Horror Film Review 23 Feb 11:17 AM (24 days ago)

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

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

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

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

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The Killgrin (2024) - Horror Film Review 20 Feb 5:42 AM (27 days ago)

Miranda (Konstantina Mantelos - Smile, and a co-writer of this film) is not having a good time of it. First, her ex-boyfriend was such a big stalker that she had to have a restraining order put out against him, but now, her current boyfriend has committed suicide by leaping out their apartment window. She begins to look for answers for her misery, joining a therapy group, as well as looking more outside the box, such as heading to a fortune teller. It is at the later that she is told that she might be afflicted with a 'killgrin'; a supernatural entity that feeds off of suffering. Miranda doesn't pay that much heed, but as those afflicted with sadness start to die in horrifically similar ways around her, she begins to suspect there might be some shocking truth in the fortune teller's words.

This supernatural movie fitted all too comfortably into the horror sub-genre it was a part of. I had a constant feeling of déjá vu watching this, which wouldn't have been so bad if parts of this had been done better. My biggest bugbear was the design of the evil, and how it affected those it tormented. The design of the monster wasn't the best, it kind of looked like a guy in a monster suit, and brought to mind the deadite from the well at the start of Army of Darkness. I liked that it was constantly dripping teeth off its malformed body, but it didn't look great, nor did the CG heavy effects of it turning into black smoke. It didn't help that it is barely seen until the third act, the first two thirds all the viewer is treated to is the black smoke, perhaps a blessing when the reveal doesn't land very well. There was also an issue with the method of death. It forces its victims mouth into an inverted grin, eventually causing the jaw to dislocate and rip open. This leads to moments where the protagonist is in the clutches of this evil and has the most ridiculous silly effects to simulate this happening to her. It didn't look great it has to be said.

That was actually a shame, as the rest of the movie, while predictable and familiar, was not bad. I thought Mantelos was great in the lead role, special mention goes to alcoholic side character - Brian (Adam Tsekhman - One in Two People). I admit to thinking he might have been more evil than his innocent character appeared, but he brought light and sunshine to each scene he was in, and I personally loved the set design for his apartment. The less said about the sub plot of the two detectives investigating the strange deaths the better, I liked them, but it didn't make the horror seem any less stupid. An early death was awkwardly moved past by just not being mentioned, despite the outlandish way the victim died. Apparently a character randomly dying in their flat by their jaw being ripped off was just a 'tragic event' with no further insight than that! There were not really any bad characters to be found, no complaints with the casting choices, it was the story decisions that were at fault.

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Stranger Things: Season 5 (2025) - Horror TV Show Review 19 Feb 8:10 AM (28 days ago)

I will start as always with my obligatory statement about having been made redundant from my bill paying job just in time for Christmas. That is relevant as it coincided with the release of the fifth and final season of amazing horror TV show - Stranger Things. Due to the turmoil in my actual life, it was only on Christmas that I got around to watching this final season (binged watched the first 7 episodes over two days with my family), and with the way the show is being released, at the time of typing, the final episode has yet to be released. I believe it is coming out on New Years Eve. As much as I enjoyed season 4, I would be lying if I said there were not large parts of it I did have issue with. It sometimes felt in a bid to stuff as many characters in it as possible, some of those characters were given pretty abysmal storylines. On the flip side; it did have Eddie - one of the show's best overall characters.
Part of my hesitation for watching this final season was whether the ball would be dropped, whether all the characters growth and stories would come together for a blissful whole. Not having seen the final episode (at the time of typing this section), I can't yet answer that. What I can say is; there will be unavoidable spoilers for previous seasons.

The fourth season ended on a heck of a cliff-hanger; with Vecna's (Jamie Campbell Bower - Twilight) plan successful, the hellish Up-Side down tore open gateways into the sleepy town of Hawkins. The fifth picks up roughly two years later, with a lot of the damage covered up by the military. Hawkins has become quarantined, with no one allowed out of the town, and only certain people allowed in. The cover-up is that the 'natural phenomenon' that flooded the area with ash, could have infected the inhabitants with a new type of a possibly contagious disease. In actuality, the military have used the quarantine as an excuse to send in lots and lots of soldiers. They sealed up the majority of the dimensional tears with vast steel plates, leaving one entrance left which they guard with heavy security. Going even further, the army have set up a compound inside the Upside-Down where experiments have been going on, the soldiers all answering to ruthless military scientist Dr. Kay (Linda Hamilton - Terminator 2: Judgement Day).
The heroes of the show have spent the past two years searching the Up-Side Down for signs of Vecna, with Hopper (David Harbour) sneaking in whenever the army open up their guarded gateway, but they have began to get disillusioned with their lack of progress as there has been no sign of the monster. That is until their latest expedition, when it becomes clear Vecna has resurfaced from his hibernation. He is back, and with a new plan that involves kidnapping certain children who are all of an age that Will (Noah Schnapp) was when he was first taken.

It felt a little dialled back how everything is in Hawkins compared to the season 4 finale, but viewers are soon brought up to speed on what is happening, mostly via a radio broadcast that Robin (Maya Hawke) is doing in her new role as the town D.J. With the age of the child actors ever increasing, this time skip was needed, and it works. With the trouncing that Vecna had, it made sense he needed time to recuperate from his wounds. One of my complaints from season 4 was how the huge cast of characters only came together right in the final episode. This time around it gets things right, with the characters reuniting at several points during the season, as well as going off in their often humorous or exciting groups. The story obviously begins in 'Chapter One: The Crawl', then never lets up. Each episode follows on directly from the preceding one, so it feels like one uninterrupted highly action packed story going on, rather than skips in time. Before, some of the characters were dealt dirty, appearing in pathetic side stories that had little bearing on the main plot. Here, the characters are handled much more sensibly, every side story here is relevant to the overall plot, with no filler to be found.
Despite a large cast of characters, even more new ones are added here, with two in particular really standing out. Early on in 'Chapter Two: The Vanishing of Holly Weaver', the titular Holly (Nell Fisher - Evil Dead Rise) is captured by Vecna's monsters and ends up in a fantastical dreamworld creation. She was a great new character, and she gets a substantial role as she explores the dreamworld, giving revelations to Vecna's origin that was last seen hinted at in the stage play - Stranger Things: The First Shadow. Another great new character was 'Dipsh*t' Derek (Jake Connelly), a big boned child bully who in the best Stranger Things fashion (see Steve - Joe Keery), was made very likeable, despite his many personality flaws. Returning characters are on the whole as enjoyable as they ever where, for better or for worse. Nancy (Natalia Dyer) and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) are still my least favourite of the core cast, but at least this time around they are more relevant to the story (and the later finally redeemed himself in my eyes in the final episode). I thought the dynamics between Steve and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) was perfect here, and has some of the biggest feels, with Dustin still deep in mourning after the death of his idol Eddie last season. It felt like all characters here were treated well. Ones who had only ever had secondary roles are thrust right into the forefront of the plot, while new ones were given enough screen time to shine and make an impression.

There is plenty of action here right from the start. The iconic Demogorgons feature heavily in many of the these scenes, and the army act as a second enemy for the heroes to face, sometimes leading to thrilling three way battles where the different groups all end up in combat with one another. The soldiers are mostly presented as an enemy force, but I did feel a bit bad for the grunts who often act as cannon-fodder for the advancement of the story, with monsters and heroes alike blasting them away without a care in the world, when to me, the grunts just seemed like normal people trying to do the jobs they had been assigned. The special effects are on the whole amazing, with only certain scenes with large scale action scenes looking occasionally a little bit CG heavy.
Up to the final episode, you get psychic powers, gun battles, car chases, deep revelations as to the nature of the Up-Side Down, and surprising new insights into known characters, Will in particular really comes into his own, even if his core side-plot is dealing with his homosexuality, that to my (poor) memory had already been dealt with last season. The new friendship between him and equally gay Robin, was one pair-up that I didn't see coming, but which works fantastically well. Each episode manages to end on a big cliff-hanger that always brought me right back to find out what happens next. But what about that final episode, did it stick the landing, or did it Game of Thrones it smack bang into a wall? At the time of typing I do not know, it is just under a week until that final episode airs. This review will be continued in 2026, where I will write the last few paragraphs, to follow...here.

Having now seen that final two hour episode, I can say that for me it did stick the landing. Literally my only complaint was how long the epilogue section was; did we really need a 40 minute epilogue? I thought Bower's performance was astoundingly good in this finale. The show maintained its amazing pacing, making for me one of my favourite seasons, and ending on a loving note. I don't get the hate for this season, enough hate that the myth of a secret ninth episode that wraps up the story more satisfactory soon came to be believed. A near perfect end to a wonderful show, Stranger Things is a modern classic.

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Chicken Dinner Restaurant (2023) - Comedy Film Review 18 Feb 5:31 AM (29 days ago)

Garten of Banban II (2023) - Horror Video Game Review 17 Feb 9:52 AM (last month)

The first game ended with you descending on a hidden elevator into the depths of the Banban's Kindergarten, before getting attack by a giant creature. This one picks up immediately afterwards, the attack caused the elevator to crash, with you saved by the creature breaking the elevator's fall. You emerge into a secret underground complex, and it is there that someone spots you on the complex's camera system. A man's voice informs you that he has become trapped in the security room, and has asked for your assistance in finding the key card to free him. Can this man be trusted though?

Much like with Poppy Playtime Chapter 2, Garten of Banban II is more of the same but offers a larger experience than the roughly 45 minutes of the first game. It is hard to quantify exactly how long this one took, as I did have the game paused for minutes at a time due to texting a friend while playing. I reckon that this one took me just over an hour to complete, and at a once again dirt cheap price, I find it hard to complain about that length. Thankfully, while still obviously low budget (the signs on the walls and the notes you find still all appear like they were written on MS Paint!), this was a much better made game than before, and is made up of more than just one long corridor with branching rooms off of it. Again in first person, your main goal is finding key cards to proceed further into the labyrinthian underground complex. You still have a drone that you can send to press switches, though this seemed to be used less this time around. Puzzles were all easy, but they were fun to do, not so easy that they felt pointless obstacles to progress. These puzzles range from collecting a group of chick mascots and returning them to their nest, to pressing switches in a correct order, and one sweat inducing platforming section over a large pit, which was more fun than its similar counterpart in the first game. The highlight of this second game was when you find yourself inadvertently trapped in a classroom with a teacher mascot, having to answer the questions she gives you, with surreal break time mini-stories involving the other students, who were made up of non-sentient watering cans, bowling pins, and shade wearing basketballs! I really enjoyed that section, felt unique, doing something different in feel to Poppy Playtime at last.

Before there were only the two mascot antagonists, and both barely featured. For this second game there were at least six of the creatures. I can't recall their names, but these included the return of the bird from the first game, the teacher mascot, a giant snail, a large spider, and a hulking great green monster among others. Similar to Poppy Playtime, some of these mascots are able to talk. The voice acting wasn't great, it felt like they had just dragged random people off the streets to read the lines. In the context of these normal voices coming out of vaguely creepy looking creatures though, the voice work grew on me. There were plenty of jump scare moments should you get caught in any of the sections where that is possible, unlike my first experience, here, I jumped a fair few times. The chapter culminates in a chase sequence, that while not original, was pretty cool, mainly due to the wonderfully massive Jumbo Josh. Dotted around the game world are letters and video tapes. I never actually got a chance to use the tapes, but the letters added a surprising amount of lore to what had seemed to be a wafer thin game story-wise. There are still many lingering questions, but I had far more of an idea what was going on than I did previously.
Level design is better here, but again, the game world doesn't feel like a realistic place, you have dark chasms that stretch into darkness, and this place if real, you would have to assume was created by a maniac, due to the amount of artificial puzzles and level design. It is after all a game though, so perhaps I'm being a bit harsh on that front.

Garten of Banban II was a lot more fun to play than the first. It is still obviously low quality, but I found this to be better designed in general, and I didn't really find any of it frustrating to get through. It also delighted by doing some original things, rather than just feeling like a copied clone. Even with those new ideas, I could never escape the feeling that this is just a poor imitation of a better series, but I would be lying if I said there wasn't some fun to be had here, and would be lying if I said I didn't immediately boot up the third game at the completion of this one.

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Blood Barn (2025) - Horror Film Review 16 Feb 12:07 PM (last month)

A group of camp counsellors decide to celebrate their last summer together before they part ways for college, by having a weekend break at a secluded barn that Josie's (Lena Redford - And Back Again) family owns. Not really a part of the core group, she secretly hopes this idea of hers will bring her closer to the rest of the tight knit teens. The group include Josie herself, alongside best friends; Amanda (Andrea Bambina) and Rachel (Chloe Cherry), and four others. The partying soon begins in earnest, with the group wild and disrespectful of the converted barn and its belongings. Unknown to all, there is a supernatural presence in the barn that is not happy at having its peace shattered, and seeks a way to punish those who have invaded its domain.

I really should have made a note of characters names as I was watching this, as it turns out I can't identify who a lot of the male actor's characters were. The cast of seven are introduced by a lovely montage/credit sequence of the characters dancing and goofing around in a car prior to arriving at the barn. This was the first of several montage sequences, others including one set at a small lake, and a later one showing a volleyball competition between the friends. These, coupled with later ones, often had an intimate close-up feel, with the hand operated camera swinging around in-between the characters, adding to the retro look and feel of the picture. With the saturated look and sublime upbeat retro musical score, and made for VHS feel, this seemed like a film lost out of time. A retro throwback to practical effects heavy horrors of the 1980s and before. Most notably, as mentioned in my prologue, this reminded me of The Evil Dead. The film features many moments where the unseen horror is shown in first person perspective rushing around the barn and the surrounding area. Completely its own thing, this nonetheless shares similarities, such as individual members of the group getting possessed by the evil and coming back as out of control psychotic zombie type creatures. There isn't much effort put into fleshing out the characters, they seem as wafer thin as their personalities suggest, the boys mostly over the top goofy and playful, the girls not much better. Their dynamic worked well, making the scenes of them partying work well, while making it clear that Josie, and the more introverted Simon (Simon Paris) are the only real rational ones. Of course, none of the cast actually look like they are in their teenage years, but this fits the style of this type of retro film, where cast members often looked far older than they were supposed to be.
There is backstory vaguely suggested for why the barn is haunted, but this is never explained in detail, with the briefest allusions from Josie that every family has their secrets, and that hers had more than most.

The horror flows thick and fast, and there is plenty of blood throughout, and fun practical effects. The evil mostly manifests by endless coils of possessed rope, which again, reminded me of the twisting vines from The Evil Dead (a character even meets their end in a gender swapped recreation of the infamous 'tree rape' scene from that other classic!). This is all shown by great practical effects, which always looked fantastic. From early scenes of character's clothes being sucked into the ground, to twisting ropes and ghostly bloody figures, this never skimped on the craziness. There are a lot of fun ideas here, and my only real complaint would be that the third act becomes a bit abstract and hard to follow due to the sheer insanity of the unfolding chaos. Scenes become bathed in thick red light, and locations become fluid and surreal, such as when a character gets pulled into a chest and emerges into a small red room where he is attacked by an assailant wearing farmer's clothes. When characters become possessed, they have the same white/grey waxy look from Evil Dead, and act in a similar murderous manner. The biggest difference being how weak the possessed become, taking lethal injuries that wouldn't have done much harm to a normal person. There are decapitations, partial decapitations, people dancing on ceilings, and leaping out of windows. It all looks absolutely manic and animated, and fits the hallucinogenic vibe of the film very well.

By recreating the feel of an eighties classic, Blood Barn succeeds with its wild story and practical effects, but also felt a little style over substance. Don't come here expecting well developed characters and a satisfying plot, but do come for some wonderful looking and absolutely chaotic scenes of comedically dark horror, with a healthy dose of blood thrown in. This all combines to make a wonderfully manic horror that doesn't waste a moment of its lean 76 minute runtime. Blood Barn had its L.A premiere on Friday 13th, and streams exclusively on SCREAMBOX, starting 17th February.

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We Put the World to Sleep (2025) - Thriller Film Review 13 Feb 2:04 PM (last month)

The 80 minute mockumentary begins as one thing and alters course, with a distinctly different second chapter that is referenced in teasers for the film. The film's title - We Put the World to Sleep, refers to central protagonists - Adrian Tofei (again playing a fictional version of himself) and his real life wife - Duru Yücel (Dura Yücel also playing a fictional version of herself) coming to believe that humanity would be better off if it didn't exist. Initially they planned to make a found footage type mockumentary about this, but then use the film as a pretext for actually bringing about the end of the world. That is the start of a meta and very convoluted descent into the rabbit hole, where the viewer is made to feel ever unsure what is real and what is part of the illusion.

Even more so than Be My Cat, We Put the World to Sleep adheres deeply to making the protagonists feel like real people, rather than actors. Both give performances that never once feel like the fake onscreen personas are fabricated, going at lengths to give this a feel of reality, such as scenes shot in actual locations like busy streets and airports around an unsuspecting cast of real background characters going about their real lives. This is a really weird film to talk about, with the characters within the mockumentary making a mockumentary, the actors blurring the lines between reality and fiction in an increasing brain hurting way. The first half was a different beast to part two, and sees the two heading to a variety of locations, from Romania, to Ukraine and Türkiye. Their story of trying to find a way to end the world was a bit hard to follow with its exploration of future tech and A.I, but that is just a slight part of it. Keeping to the imitation of reality, Tofei's previous horror is directly mentioned at various points, with him even returning to filming locations from that modern horror along the way. 
The second half of the film dials down the adventure, giving a different feel with a singular location, that revolves around a fascination with real life serial killer - Richard Ramirez. This second part feels disconnected in terms of the story telling to the first, but the themes of getting lost within characters, and the blurring of reality and fiction both resonate well with each other.

Going into this expecting a rehash of Be My Cat may leave you disappointed, as the horror here, if it could be called that, is far more slight. This isn't suggested to be found footage, instead, as frequent screens of text suggest, this is a mockumentary about the in-film characters trying to put together a movie. The two leads stay in character throughout and present a far more balanced and normal feel to them than the over the top unaware madness of Tofei in his first film. It is far more talky here, with a large amount of the movie being conversations between Tofei and his wife, including scenes of them just living together, with relatable drama. There are a handful of other roles, some of which are people the couple are talking to on their laptop. Of the technological side, that is another meta part of the film, with it opening as if an unseen person is finding the movie on a laptop and manually playing it, at times the film paused while the unseen person searches the internet for more information on things discussed. All very meta and all very convoluted in a way that I found increasingly fascinating.

We Put the World to Sleep is a very hard film to talk about. It stretches the idea of found footage and mockumentaries to its extreme, delighting with its ideas presented, while keeping a humorous tone that had me smiling with the absurd but not cringe inducing situations. At the start of this I feared it wasn't going to be for me. By film's end I felt like I had seen something special, albeit, something that might not have the same wide reaching appeal of the more simple first film in this thematically connected trilogy (Pure being the third film). Tofei was the standout star first time around, here, both Tofei and Yücel jointly share the limelight, impressive stuff. We Put the World to Sleep won a variety of awards last year, and this year comes more festival appearances, with the European premiere of the film happening at the Romford Horror Festival in London on February 20th.

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

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.