The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan

This is the start of Supermassive Games's new horror project.

From what I understand, every six months, a new entry will release in this anthology, and in total, there will be about 8 installments released. This most likely means that it will span two console generations.

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan plays out on a ship that turns out to be haunted. The narrative changes depending on choices you take with your playable character during crucial moments, similar to Until Dawn.

Quick time events are present during action sequences, and this game is not shy at all when speaking of jump scares; it's full of it. There is no Butterfly Effect this time, but different endings can be experienced.

Man of Medan is a short survival horror interactive game, and has some replay value. It has nautical themes such as a compass and a ship playing, but the characters don't really stand out or are memorable with their personalities.

I suppose that the rest of the installments will improve when they look at the feedback of this one.

Rating: 6.9

Beetlejuice

Ahh, this takes me back to my early years of my life.

I did see this movie once as a small child, but I almost completely forgot about this movie in between the time I was still a kid and now, until I saw the movie for the second time finally once again this evening.

Gosh, what a hell of a ride this movie, featuring memorable horrifying and fantasy scenes, some funny quotes and moments, an interesting philosophy about the living, the dead and those guiding the dead in the afterlife, and lastly great characters such as the clownish Beetlejuice himself of course.

I knew right away before I saw this movie once again how I pictured him played by Michael Keaton even after all these years. Anyway some of the music felt fitting and classic at the same time for me, such as the opening music and the one playing at the end credits.

In overall, I definitely liked seeing this movie again, and I bet it would be great to see it again, since I think it's a re watchable movie for sure, despite being a short movie. A sequel has been hinted at for years, but will we ever see it?

Rating: 7.5

Yume Nikki: Dream Diary

 

A 3D re-imagination of the original 2004 indie game.

Yume Nikki: Dream Diary is a new take and perspective on the influential interpretative and abstract progenitor where the graphics are the biggest change, but some of the gameplay has been altered too, such as there are only 5 kinds of effects to be found.

Consisting now of 6 doors instead of the 12 original ones, the areas are constructed now as traditional levels where, if you walk and interact long enough, you will "clear" them. Levels include a school, a desert, a forest and more.

There are many side scrolling moments which there wasn't much of in the original, and the overall progress is less randomized and definitely more linear. Although developed on a low budget, some of the sprites have been effectively improved.

Scary-wise, it's not as effective or memorable, and some creatures are missing. In overall, Dream Diary is a decent attempt to play Yume Nikki in a different way, but the fan games and the original are definitely more recommended.

 Rating: 6.6

The Haunting of Hill House

Most likely TV's best horror from last year, flashing between past and present, a fractured family confronts haunting memories of their old home and the terrifying events that drove them from it.

The Haunting of Hill House is an effective family drama with horror elements, mainly ghosts and nightmares. Is it a coincidence that both this and Hereditary(2018) have hidden ghosts in the background?

That surely revamped the re-watch value, as some of these ghosts were certainly difficult to discover or notice. Also starring Dutch pride Michiel Huisman, one of my favourite scenes is the funeral of Nell, as the quarrels and arguments of the family get high tension, and the camera tends to spin around them.

Directed by Mike Flanagan, he surely has build up a horror reputation in the past few years, including Oculus(2013), Gerald's Game(2017) and the upcoming Doctor Sleep(2019). The Haunting of Hill House's succes has renewed it for a second season, and consider me onboard that too!

Rating: 7.5

D

 

D is a horror themed interactive adventure game with full motion video sequences happening between the game play sequences. What makes it rather unique for the 90's is that there are no pause or save features, and you must beat the game under 2 hours.

Released for various platforms inclusing MSDOS, 3DO and PlayStation, D is developed by the Japanese Warp team, and with a similar approach towards it as when Squaresoft released the very first Final Fantasy, if D was not a success, Warp would dissolve and quit game development.

Fortunately, it was a success both at home and over at the West, for it's horror moments such as cannibalism, it's presentation and the unfolding story line. Several endings are available, letting you be able to replay should you wish to see them all.

D is a nifty little start towards a horror trilogy.

Enemy Zero is the follow up to the first game, but each entry are stand alone and can be played in any order.

This one has a space setting, and is featured on the Sega Saturn. The concept is rather different as your playable character Laura now moves through the space station, and in order to get further, you must listen to sound clues.

Enemies are invisible, and you can charge up a gun to defend yourself, but you need to get used to it, as the gun needs to be charged in a timing way before it becomes effective. The FMV sequences return, and more cut-scenes and voice acting are featured.

Enemy Zero is rather obscure as a horror game. It reminded me of Hellnight.

The final entry of the Warp or Laura trilogy, D2 is based in the Canadian wilderness, and the gameplay is changed rather differently.

Featuring even more cut-scenes, D2 has RPG mechanics, and in a rather weird way, once you encounter random enemies, the game changes into a turn based first person shooting battle where you can gain battle experience.

D2 is the longest game of the three, and kudo's if you can beat it, as the story is drilled with many horrific content making it surrealistic and esoteric. It's too bad that Warp did not have more success, and that the lead game designer died so early in life.

Horror Wishes

The cinema market is saturated for all of it's genres, but perhaps the horror genre is damaged badly as one of the worst.

It's no wonder, as horror happens to be one of the most difficult genres to get an effective and memorable one out of. Despite that bit of rambling, I still have a few so called horror wishes I would like to see in the future.

Hellraiser remake

Like many horror series, Hellraiser pretty much got worse with each entry they threw out of the filming studios. Part 1 and 2 are objectively considered as classics, while the rest can be debated about, although some of them really should not had been made. Hence, this is why I think a remake could do wonders, as the horror mythology is rather interesting, and much can be done with it.

New French Wave horrors
In the first decade of the 21st century, while a rise for Japanese horror interest was happening, the same was happening for French horrors as well, of which the most notable ones are High Tensions(2003), Inside(2007) and Martyrs(2008). I wonder where this wave has gone, as I would love to see more of that quality, if not better, returning in the next decade we are embarking into.

The Thing 2

This is a horror wish I have my doubts about. Part of me wishes and longs for a sequel with a different setting, but another part of me cherishes the 1982 remake, while the 2011 prequel is forgettable and the 1958 adaptation of the novel has it's audience.

If The Thing 2 would be made as a sequel, I would only like to see practical effects used, and hopefully another twisted story of not being able to trust anyone.

Here are 2 video game related horror wishes:

REmake 3

With the success of the remakes of Resident Evil and Resident Evil 2(which you will be reading about at Flok Factory very soon), both critically and commercially, it's a no-brainer that people would love to see Resident Evil 3 remade next, and Capcom is aware. Everyone would go nuts to see Jill and Nemesis facing each other with modern technology and gameplay intact!

Silent Hills 

Five years since P.T.'s reveal, the disappointment is still felt by fans of the Silent Hill games, that Silent Hills had been cancelled by Konami because of pachinko bullshit. Despite the reputation of the demo and the first four Silent Hill games, no sequel is in sight. And that's such a shame.

If only Konami could learn from the success of Capcom's games, then this would most likely be released already in a parallel universe.

The Killing Joke(r): Year of the Villain

This month has curiously a clown theme playing.

The Killing Joke is the definite Joker origin story, although that is ambiguous and multiple choice by nature, haha!

A standalone edition from what I can tell, this comic graphic novel features Batman and Joker, as flashbacks come and go of the Clown Prince of Crime's past loosely based on the 1951 story arc The Man Behind the Red Hood.

As he attempts to drive Jim Gordon insane in order to prove a point, the Joker explains his morality and philosophy towards his arch nemesis, considering the whole world to be a joke, as each situation can be ascertained with humor.

As the art style grips you in, this short plausible background story has been widely accepted as the definite or best origin story for the madman, and I can easily see why.

This is John Carpenter's take on the madman's nature, another short story to behold.

As Joker and his newly found partner called Jeremy are wreaking havoc and causing chaos across the streets of Gotham, they suddenly decide to mock and parody the position of being a hero and what it means to be defined that way.

Cosplaying as Batman and Robin, they bring justice towards criminals such as Condiment King and foil an evil plan of The Enchantress, while the mentally mind broken Jeremy questions reality and his state of being.

While returning home, he gets confronted by his mom being tied up and having a discussion with Joker about him. Going insane, he confronts his former partner, but then gets beaten to defeat in bloody violence, but not before re-uniting emotionally with his mother.

Did the Joker just pull a joyful restoration?