Halloween (1978)

 

Perhaps the perfect and best movie to view on Halloween itself, John Carpenter's Halloween is the slasher horror that after Psycho(1960) popularized the sub genre, but it's not the first of it's kind, and it's also not one of my favorites.

Still, I cannot deny the immense popularity that the original entry continues to pertain. Actually my favorite of that movie franchise is part 2 from 1981, and part 3 also had an original approach, but after that, well, the series started sucking hard.

Michael Myers escapes from the asylum and mysteriously and brutally starts hunting down victims around Haddonfield like a stalker, while wearing a disfigured hollow mask reminiscent of William Shatner's face.

Jamie Lee Curtis AKA the screem queen is the protagonist who manages to survive the night as well as Donald Pleasence, Michael's psychiatrist who is searching and eventually confronts him.

The best aspect or technique to tell the story effectively is that not only is Michael a psychotic and mute killer, but he also stalks his victims and manages to appear and disappear so well.

Halloween is a classic slasher that despite being mild with the gore when compared to later slashers, is easy to re-watch and recommend to appreciate it's merits.

Happy Halloween!

Rating: 7.0

Stranger Things 2

 

Just look at that poster art. Isn't that inviting?

The whole cast returns in this second season which arguably might even be better than the first one, but perhaps a second viewing wouldn't hurt in the future, because I was so blown away last year, and this time, expectations were set in place.

Will is back in town and his friends are overjoyed, but it seems that the dark forces won't let go of him just yet. A hive minded monster manipulates him and smaller creatures to terrorize.

Eleven and her special powers take somewhat of a backseat this time, but her relationship with chief Hopper and a similar girl with special powers does develop her personality.

Dustin and the rest of the local kids befriend a new girl while early on getting their game groove at an arcade, dress up as the Ghostbusters and they theorize about the stranger things happening using descriptions from a board game.

Oh and he also discovers a new strange pet which keeps growing until it becomes unstable. Joyce befriends Bob played by Sean Astin, while Nancy and Jonathan once again help out the younger kids, while the local bully Steve gets to deal with a bigger bully named Billy.

Stranger Things 2 is more of the same good stuff happening during the 80's, which is a mixture of references, nostalgia, sci-fi, horror and teenage adventures, while it still manages to tell a different story. 

Rating: 7.5

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

 

Ninja Theory's latest title is an experimental different approach to telling a story.

Hellblade is a third person mythical look into a psychological horror narrative where apparently consultancy was asked towards neuroscientists in order to depict the mental incidents properly.

Episodes such as breakdowns, hallucinations and manifestations occur throughout this hellish journey, where Senua our main character will wander into while trying to rescue a loved one.

The visceral impression of the narration and it's mythical setting is best experienced when you regularly are confronted with the numerous other voices inside Senua's head, which may either guide, advice, confuse or disturb you.

Combined with almost no tutorials or hand holding being present, and a gloomy setting with death lurking everywhere, and you got yourself quite a game with it's own environment.

Senua's Sacrifice's gameplay is not just walking and exploring, but it also has puzzles and graduating combat to boost. There's even an enhanced/foreboding game over feature that will delete your progress if you fail too much.

With all of that in mind, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is something special, and it has touched many gamers positively. If you're looking for a mental horror game apparently depicted realistically, this is it.

Rating: 7.7

Scream the TV Series

Who knew that a slasher formula for a TV series would work? Scream is based on Wes Craven’s horror franchise where in particular the first entry revitalized the entire genre during the 90’s. Now with him resting in peace, I am watching the Scream TV series as an ode and homage.

Teenage high school drama is combined with mysterious murder sprees, and it actually works in this format, you just gotta stretch things a bit more out and let everyone be romantically involved with one another! Noah is easily the most likable character for being the reference guy towards other horror media, but I seemed to like all of the others too.

The well known Ghostface mask does not appear, but instead something similar to it does, I wonder why they made this decision. As for the killings and stalkings, they are effective and well done set in a modern era of interactivity through smartphones, the internet and social media, and seeming as there are actually several serial killers on the loose, I did not guess either of them, so the plot twists worked for me.

In overall, Scream as a TV Series works just fine like other horror TV series!

Rating: 7.0

Friday the 13th The Game

Honestly, this might just be the best available slasher video game at this moment, but that's not saying much, it's rather subjective, and I must not forget about Clock Tower on the Super Famicom, as Scissorman would like to have a word.

But back on-topic, this isn't the first game entry of this horror franchise, but rather the third one. Friday the 13th The Game is an online multiplayer game where you can either play as the survivors/victims, or as Jason himself.

Similar in structure to something like Left 4 Dead, or more recently Evolve, the open world and third person perspective take place at Crystal Lake, and players are free to roam or hide from the opposite side. The goal is either to survive or to kill everyone in sight.

What makes the game interesting is that there are various forms of Jason Voorhees available, each with their own strengths and weaknesses as taken from the movies. On the other hand, the counselors can win the game by either escaping or working together to take down the deformed serial killer.

In a way, Friday the 13th The Game is not only fun as a game, but it also celebrates the franchise, and more content is coming up, including a single player mode.

Rating: 7.0

Train to Busan

An amazing modern zombie horror with the unique setting of accelerating trains, set throughout the nation, this South Korean picture completely worked and delivered with the exceptional drama, the crafty ways of dealing with the apocalypse, the spot on editing, the colorful characters and the horror.

I couldn’t believe it, but pretty much every scene was necessary for the story to unravel and wrap up, and this is now currently sitting in my top 3 of zombie movies. Train to Busan is an engrossing horror drama full of anxiety, and I can’t wait to re-watch it.

The less said about this movie, the better. Hence why review is rather short compared to my others. Immediately watch this if you are craving for a serious and dramatic horror!

Rating: 8.0

Penny Dreadful

The all stars of England’s notorious creepy figures are assembled and their storylines intertwine in a unique mixture here with Penny Dreadful, a gothic horror with well done production values, acting and characters.

Frankenstein and Dracula amongst others interact in a rather more down to earth and realistic way, but make no mistake, there are still plenty of fantasy, horror and gore moments to be found.

Eva Green and Timothy Dalton as Vanessa Ives and Sil Malcolm Murray make up for the famous actors, but the rest of the cast is splendid too. The series ends rather abruptly, as Dracula apparently wins while others die.

Penny Dreadful is a stylish horror with an all stars of famous horror characters making their debut chronologically, while the direction and the writing make up for an interesting ride.

Rating: 7.5

Romero's Dead Franchise

I can't believe that I did not properly review the late George A. Romero's Dead franchise yet, may he rest in peace, or someday rise from his tomb as a zombie!? Often considered the father of the zombie horror genre, he has influenced the culture surrounding it tremendously.

NOTE: The numbers under the movie posters indicate the number of the movie I have reviewed, we're talking about over almost 10 years ago when I reviewed most of these, but my original comments still stand up.

 #90

A classic movie featuring the very first modern zombies as far as I know, it is also the first movie in Romero's zombie serie. It was interesting to see how to get rid of the zombies, by either burning them or shotting them in the head, because that is exactly the same way as in Resident Evil Remake for the Gamecub.

I do know though that Resident Evil got inspired by Romero's zombie movies, so that's why I am planning on seeing Dawn of the Dead(1978), Day of the Dead and Land of the Dead soon. It however has quite aged, and I guess that I will find the true classic of the zombie genre in Dawn of the Dead, seeming that that is the most popular zombie movie. Nevertherless, it was a good start for Romero and I am quite amazed that these kind of zombies could be found in the year 1968 already.

 #117

The original George A. Romero version is pretty different from the remake I have seen twice already. Featuring easy to spot blueish zombies, a biker gang of punks and hippies bent on killing and taking everything, a badass black character who survives just like the black one in the remake(Seems like every Romero zombie movie has a black main character), typical 70's clothes, music and equipment, Dawn of the Dead is a good zombie movie with lots of deaths, action and gore.

Although I tend to like Dawn more than Night from 1968, I am not sure which version I like of Dawn better, this one or the 2004 remake. The zombies, which makes these movies great, are after all in both Dawn movies clearly different from each other.

Another moment I liked about the movie is the big free for all match at the climax of the movie, featuring Zombies vs main characters vs biker gang, I liked seeing that much chaos happening. I was also suprised to see 2 child zombies in this movie, I myself thought that would be impossible to show in theaters back in 1978.

Overall, Dawn of the dead might perhaps be the greatest action zombie movie yet for me, but I wonder...is this really the pinnacle of zombie movies? I don't think I would like to call this the ultimate zombie movie, so I will promise myself for now to try to find a zombie movie which will top this one for sure.

 #304

In my opinion, Day is better than Night or Dawn. For not only having less ridiculous zombies, but for also having the best isolated location, interesting studies into zombie behaviour, gorgeous gore and intriguing characters.

The strong Sarah, the tyranical Captain Rhodes, the troublemaker Miguel, the horror doctor Logan(All in the name of science of course!) and the badass John playing the self collected action hero. Atleast I think his name was John, the dark skinned character. It was fascinating to see these different characters clash at each other. In overall, one of the better zombie flicks out there.

#1423

After 20 years, Romero returns to the zombie genre he uprooted towards the mainstream. Fiddler's Green is an elitism place where the rich reside and the others must survive on their own surrounding it from the zombie apocalypse outside.

1 guy and his buddies operate the Dead Reckoning, a powerful weapon truck that has been stolen. Dennis Hopper orders the main character to retrieve this plot device, and meanwhile, zombie culture and traditional zombie attacks and deaths occur.

 The main character and the thief guy share a rivalry, and in the end, Fiddler's Green and pretty much the last hope of humanity is taken over by the zombies. Not as good as Romero's previous ones. The remaining survivors head for the north.

As for Romero's later Dead zombie movies,  including Diary and Survival of the dead, they simply do not hold their candles towards the original trilogy in regards to influence and their cinematic styles. Land of the Dead manages to be entertaining enough to warrant an inclusion.

Castlevania TV series

 

A mini animated TV series based on Konami's popular video game franchise was released on Netflix this year, and reactions have been objectively in overall positive.

Recognizable characters such as Trevor Belmont, Sypha Belnades, Alucard and of course Dracula make their introductions known, and the art style is fitting, while a religious sub plot also plays out.

Dracula's rage and sadness is the motive for his demonic army to break out and attack humanity, and the series summarizes this up swiftly in just 4 episodes. There's few action in between, in particular from Trevor's whip.

The highlight feature for me was notifying how gory and bloody this animation could be. The lowlight is the shortage of content, and I really wonder how one could pick up Castlevania's game plot further and make it more intriguing other than killing the demons with the Vampire Hunter and stopping Dracula.

And the biggest question right now is of course; where and when the hell will will get a new Castlevania game, minus Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night? I'm looking at you Konami, you poor pachinko and internal affair obsessed bastards.

Rating: 7.0

Under the Shadow

Incredible foreign horror with a unique setting taking place during the Iran-Iraq war, Under the Shadow follows a Persian mother who has been rejected to study further because of political incorrectness after the revolution, and she now takes care at home of her daughter Dorsa, who often has bad dreams, and warns of the djinn manifesting at home.

I found it to be impeccably filmed and acted with realism and sympathetic characters, and although I might be biased for it being foreign, I really felt captivated and the familiar plot of the supernatural haunting was even creative with building up psychological scares such as moving objects and nightmares.

Under the Shadow is a horror gem that combines supernatural horror with oppressive destruction outside the apartment, and is often compared to The Babadook(2014) fairly. Not often nowadays do I really praise horror movies, but this is one worth seeing!

Rating: 8.0

Cuphead

Cuphead is a success story, and it instantly caught everyone´s eye back at Microsoft´s E3 2014 press conferece.

The art style is pretty much a revitalization of cartoon animations from the 30´s, and easily it´s selling point. Consisting of surrealistic and subversive proportions, it´s almost impossible not to adore and respect the animation seen here, and it´s even more impressive when the game is designed by two brothers.

Citing run and gun video games and the success of Super Meat Boy as other inspirations and motivations for developing this, Cuphead is essentially a boss marathon similar to Alien Soldier and the recent Furi, as the game has 30 bosses for you to face either single or in co-op over 4 areas.

Contra and Metal Slug instantly came to mind when Cuphead is compared, as the controls are tight, you can shoot in 8 directions, you can jump down, you can switch between different weapons, you can duck and you you will get hit and die a lot.

But practice makes perfect, and the game's challenge and difficulty can be overwhelming, but the replay value and attempting to beat the boss is high. Aside from the graphics, I consider the enemy variety and design to be simply superb and top notch material.

Combine that with the jazzy soundtrack, the cartoonish audio sounds, and the stereotypical settings and their enemies you would expect to face, and you've got a very impressive title. You can also parry certain bullets and interact with pink stuff to trigger things, and you can activate special attacks, air dash and equip charms.

The overworld reminded me the most of Commander Keen's overworlds, except that instead of huge levels awaiting you, it is for the most part huge bosses awaiting you, each with their own segmented forms to keep things fresh and hectic.

I can't praise Cuphead enough, and I would highly recommend it not only towards run and gun plus shoot em' up fans, but also to those who want to play only the best available indie games, and this easily sits among other highly entertaining titles I previously reviewed like Hollow Knight, Shovel Knight, La-Mulana and Super Meat Boy.

Rating: 8.4

P.S. You might be wondering why this is listed for this month. Well, it has some spooky enemies, and it features The Devil as the final boss, aaaand there are many evil foes to defeat. :)

It(1990) and It(2017)

(Movie review #276)

It is unusual long for a horror movie, clocking in around 3 hours. It's message is basically about confronting our fears during our youth and adulthood, learning how to fight it together and learning of getting a grip even after horrible consequences happening.

People said that the "kid" part is better than the "grown up" part, and I gotta agree with that. People also said that the ending was ridiculous, but I found out that it was okay, and I am strictly talking about Pennywise's climax here.

It certainly wasn't great either, which goes for the rest of the movie as well. The horror moments were nice to view, but the only time I jumped a little was at Pennywise's very first appearance when the little girl was singing.

Which is normal for me, because I have to get used to every horror movie before the fear dies out visually. 

Unless we are talking about the best horror movies here, which is not the case with It for me.

So, in overall, Stephen King you crazy writer, nice job for giving plenty of humans coulrophobia around the happy go lucky world. 

As for my opinion regarding clowns, I like them. I like them even more because of the fact that they have also become a horror icon for many. Glad to have finally seen this long horror movie. Now it's time to move on...

Rating: 6.5

 

 

(Movie review #2781)

27 years later, a remake arrives, and luckily, it is better than the original.

First of all, the children and adult story chapters are segmented, as the story and focus are only on the children for now, while the sequel will deal with their adult lives. This is a good decision because the original's pacing was not the best while switching between these.

Bill Skarsgard plays a formidable and terrifying Pennywise the Dancing Clown that can easily compete with Tim Curry's more hilarious approach of the monster, but Tim also had some good scenes in the original, especially with the opening.

There might have been a bit too many kids involved, but I digged their 80's adventure, their cussing and the frightful fact of having an older teenage girl go along. The movie gave me Stand By Me and E.T. vibes, and surprisingly one of the kids from Stranger Things is also featured.

Some of the horror scenes are from the original and improved, while new ones can absolutely be effective, my favorite one happens to be when Bill goes to the basement and sees a zombified Georgie giving the catchphrase "You'll float too" repeatedly, while Pennywise goes absolute batshit insane afterwards.

So fortunately, IT is a good remake, and worth your time. The 1990 version still has good features, but you gotta give credit when it gets improved upon, with only roughly half of it's story told. Apparently the book from Stephen King himself is even more disturbing, so I might read on that one day.

Rating: 7.5

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

 

I''d like to point out that way back in October, 2010, my article named "How to make Resident Evil 6" pretty much had listed all of the things that needed to come back, as well as the additional suggestions at the last paragraph. And they implemented my remarks into the next title.

Capcom has done it again, they have re-invented their horror franchise,while making sure that veterans as well as newcomers will both be delighted by Resident Evil 7's pacing, creativity, game design and more.

Observed from a first person perspective, and also entirely playable into a terrifying new level of fear by the use of PlayStation VR, you play as Ethan, who goes after his missing wife at the Baker's estate. Soon you will learn that fear will even shape up into the form of a redneck family in Louisiana.

The survival horror has finally returned after recent hectic action horror entries. Herbs, safe rooms and scarcity in the form of ammunition are returning elements of the classic Resident Evils, and 7 implements them nicely together in this new perspective.

Molded creatures dwell in the estate's dirtiest rooms, and they will be a formidable and intimidating group of foes at first, while the main event is of course facing of against the Baker family throughout the location, each one bringing something new to the table and to the gameplay itself.

With 60 frames per second, the game plays fluent and smoothly, but the intensity, suspense and horror are not sacrificed. Instead, it draws upon it's predecessors, borrows inspiration from movies like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and creates something refreshing.

It feels like Resident Evil is full circle again, and there are some surprise moments awaiting, not just for the unfolding story, but for veterans of the series too. With references and a pacing that was excellent until you were exploring the big boat, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is almost a great video game.

If the final boss wasn't so over the top in a bad way and if the game had more enemy variety then it would be included in my top 3, but the series has seen so many masterpieces already, such as REmake and Resident Evil 4, that it's tough.

In any case, they could easily improve on this new formula with Resident Evil 8, but for now, let's see what the december DLC Not A Hero will include, and let's also not forget to keep our sights for the upcoming Resident Evil 2 remake.

Rating: 8.7

The Forgotten War

Stuck inbetween roughly World War II and the Vietnam War, the Korean War also known as The Forgotten War is a Cold War esque conflict still intact arguably through decades of tensions, and despite the ironic nickname, it still remains an obscure battle field of the past and the present in the far east.

Having seen and visited both North and South Korea as well as China and Japan already, and as I am about to discover Vietnam in parallel among other countries this month, I think that I have a good overall insight inside the majority of the belligerents involved regarding this war history.

Recently, as if tensions weren't high enough already back in 2013, Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un have been exchanging harsh and warmongering words, as their regimes blame each other for destabilizing the far east Asia region, and arguably the entire world with nuclear weapons involved.

Objectively, the West propaganda machine proclaims the DPRK to be the sole aggressor on the Korean Peninsula, but if you might recall my previous blogs regarding this conundrum, there is much more happening here than that the regime is provocative with threats of ashes of fire happening.

It is desperately clinging onto national survival, and the nuclear deterrance is it's best method of defense against the imminent invasion/self defence alliance of the US, ROK and Japan. Even China is working against it's ally through economic sanctions, but I still believe that they as well as Russia would assist if a new war would break loose.

The worst outcome of this all would be to have another nuclear disaster or holocaust to happen in the 21st century, and this time the damage would be much more severe than back in the 1940's, as the war technology and the quantity of the weapons has improved.

My next step of this strategic map would be to basically leave North Korea alone, and acknowledge that it really is the USA that needs to back off quite a bit, and possibly even let it's troops leave South Korea at least, so that the Koreans can have space and diplomatic means for themselves, while the US can chill out over at Japan, I mean it has enough military bases in the world already, which proves that it is acting as a police cop of worldly proportions.

If you don't know much about the Forgotten/Korean War yet, consider reading up about it, so that the current war rhetoric can be understood better. Again, I really hope that a reunification will happen in my lifetime, but as said, the worst consequence would be to have millions and millions of deaths happening.

And that is why this political blog is part of the October horror month, as this consequence could definitely become a reality, arguably even triggering World War III.

Recent Developments

Annually, I would start writing up a horror article every day in this month. However, due to very busy recent developments, I am unable to promise myself of this pleasure for this year.

I will still have over a dozen of articles ready for publication, so it's not really a loss, especially considering that Flok Factory remains obscure. Still, I'm content enough that I can express my thoughts, feelings and opinion in this way.

At the same time, I am still considering to migrate from text based updates, towards video logging, or vlogs, or at least making the transition to offer reviews of all kinds, but preferably and most likely video games. However, I don't have time to implement this yet.

And this is because of several reasons. First, my own home here at Zeist is now complete and invitational for the long-term period, that is also why I hosted my housewarming yesterday, which was very cozy, entertaining and gezellig.

Second, for the last 2 weeks, I needed to unexpectedly start applying for new IT jobs, because my current employer did not want to continue working with me for several reasons, but basically I was getting too expensive towards them.

Luckily due to my updated curriculum vitae and my perserverance, I am insured of a new job elsewhere, because I have received some offers already. Now for the upcoming week, it's just a matter of time and careful selection before I sign on a new contract.

Third, I have been studying for MCSA Windows Server 2012's last module 70-412, but I have failed it's exam twice now, because of it's huge learning curve, and the fact that I am missing work experience with the content.

And finally, I am also busy arranging my personal itinerary for my upcoming November vacation. I have the flight tickets, the visa and I am halfway through the accomodations, but there is still the huge amount of enjoyable time investments I will have to use this month where I will select the highlights I will want to experience.

So as you can see, I've got plenty of recent developments which occupy and keep me from posting daily horror topics. And that's okay for 2017, because this is my life I am managing at my best, and to be honest, I like how I am taking control.

Enjoy the upcoming horror blog posts!