Showing posts with label horror. Show all posts
Showing posts with label horror. Show all posts

Monday, October 18, 2021

Here's the thing about Halloween Kills...

I’ve been seeing such a discourse on social media surrounding this film, which is AMAZING! Having a healthy discussion about the merits of a movie like Halloween Kills is super important and I like seeing everyone’s opinions, both for and against the movie. In fact, REGIONFREE will be doing a live discussion tonight that you should absolutely check out!

That said, I’ve seen a lot of folks out there trashing other people’s opinions because they don’t align with their own. This movie landed on Thursday night in advanced screenings and as I’m posting this it’s Tuesday and Halloween Kills is still dominating my Twitter feed and I’m not really liking the conversations I’m seeing.

In video gaming circles, we call it “fanboy”-ism (I added the -ism). I’m not sure what to call it in the film community.

Anyway, the video says the rest.

Hope you enjoy,
R

Sunday, January 24, 2021

My Thoughts on Hunted (2021)

I knew my lucky streak of great and recent horror films would break eventually and that day has come!

I heard a lot of hype surrounding Hunted, a Shudder exclusive that dropped on January 14th, 2021. I decided I’d give it a shot, even though I had my doubts. I should’ve listened to my inner voice!

Check out my thoughts on the movie right here.

Did you enjoy Hunted? Or did you dislike it, as well? I’d love to hear your thoughts in a comment – here or on YouTube – or you can always hit me up on social media!

Cheers,
R 

Tuesday, January 19, 2021

My Thoughts on The Empty Man (2020)

Well, in my effort to tackle more modern horror I’m batting 2 for 2!

The Empty Man is a film that I absolutely would’ve bypassed if it weren’t for reviews from my pals from REGIONFREE, Lorne Dixon and pizowell, letting me know it was worth a watch.

My general vibe going in was that it was a teen supernatural horror flick that would be like a Slender Man movie or something, but it is nothing like that! It is a supernatural detective procedural psychological horror film. Yes, that many adjectives!

It’s all those things, but never boring or hard to understand (except maaaaaybe the well-built twist ending!) and really I can’t recommend it enough!

Check out my thoughts in the video below and please sound off on your thoughts if you checked out the movie! You can leave me a comment on the video, this blog post, or via any of my social media outlets.

Hope you enjoy,

R

Tuesday, January 12, 2021

My Thoughts on The Dark and the Wicked (2020)

I’ve been telling myself for a few years that I need to get caught up on the latest horror film releases.

Back in the early ’10s (people say that, right?) I got out of horror big time. I was so sick of all the remakes, thinly-veiled remakes, and derivative stuff that was getting churned out of the Hollywood machine.

In recent years, we’ve seen a serious uptick in quality horror films and it’s made me want to go back and revisit some of the movies I’ve missed and also entices me to try out some of the more current offerings.

With a site called RETRODEF it will come as no surprise that my default is always to go with an old classic instead of something new, but I really need to rectify that and support new and burgeoning horror films and filmmakers.

So, to kick off my new initiative I recently took in The Dark and the Wicked, written and directed by Bryan Bertino (of The Strangers fame), and starring Marin Ireland, Michael Abbott, Jr., with a cameo by Xander Berkeley.

It’s a very bleak supernatural horror film that puts a spin on a few familiar horror tropes. Check out my video and let me know what you think!

Thanks for watching,
R

Thursday, December 17, 2020

Retro Game Review | Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (1999)

A long, long time ago I wrote an article about my favourite retro games to play around the holidays and one of the games I featured was Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. Why? Honestly, there’s no good reason other than the fact that I first played it around Christmas of 1999. I didn’t look for it under the tree or pine over it in gaming magazines that year or anything. I just went to the rental store for something to play on a random December weekend, snagged a copy of Soul Reaver for the PlayStation because the graphics looked cool, and that’s it!

Many years later I would finally pickup a copy of my very own, but for the PC, and since then I install it during my Christmas break and at least play a few hours, if only to try and relive those memories for a little while.

It occurred to me that I had never really reviewed or talked about the game except to say that I liked playing it by Christmas light every few years, so I thought that might be a fun article to post!

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver is the sequel to Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, which released on the Sony PlayStation in 1996 and on the PC the following year. It was developed by Silicon Knights, who also did Eternal Darkness on the GameCube, and published by Crystal Dynamics, most notable for developing Tomb Raider.

Blood Omen was a top-down action RPG, which featured the titlular character Kain, a nobleman who has been killed and turned into a vampire. The story follows Kain as he seeks revenge for his affliction by destroying the nine pillars of Nosgoth – the fictional world the Legacy of Kain games are set in – only to find himself reveling in his new vampiric evolution.

The game was popular enough, mostly because of its adult theme and violence, all of which garnered it a sequel. Crystal Dynamics began development of “Legacy of Kain 2” immediately after the release of Blood Omen, but legal woes with Silicon Knights caused delays in the release and forced Crystal Dynamics to remove certain features and elements from the game. Ultimately, they broke through the legal issues and were able to publish Soul Reaver in the summer of ’99.

Despite having some of the game elements disabled, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver is a fully-featured title set many years after the events of Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. SPOILER ALERT! Kain, after defeating eight of the nine pillars’ guardians, came to the realization that he was the ninth guardian. In order to restore Nosgoth, Kain had to sacrifice himself, but would not. Instead Nosgoth began a slow decline into ruin, while Kain and his vampire brood continued to flourish and evolve. One of his most trusted lieutenants is Raziel, the main character of Soul Reaver.

In an amazing opening cutscene you get some of this backgroud story and witness Kain’s jealousy and aggression when Raziel evolves and grows wings – a gift Kain himself has not yet been given. In a fit of rage, Kain destroys Raziel’s wings and throws him into a swirling vortex to toil in agony for all eternity.

1500 years later, the Elder God of Nosgoth resurrects Raziel as a Wraith – a creature of the “spirit realm”, which can devour the souls of the dead. He gives Raziel the choice to hunt down and kill Kain, both out of vengeance and to restore the pillars of Nosgoth, ending the world’s decay. Thus, he names Raziel his Soul Reaver – which is a reference to the name of Kain’s sword – and sets him loose on the dying lands with his new purpose.

Sounds incredible, right! Well, it is. The story of the Legacy of Kain games is absolutely top tier. The gameplay would also become a very important part of what the series would become and that starts here, with Soul Reaver.

Unlike Blood Omen, which was top-down, Soul Reaver is in full 3D. It’s an action game with puzzle aspects. You can move Raziel through the 3D environment of both the spirit realm and Nosgoth, which adds extra depth to all the environments of the game as they can typically be navigated in both dimensions.

At its core, the game is really a Metroidvania. I can sense a lot of “gamers” just picked up their torches and took to the comment section to ream me out!

Metroidvania is a portmanteau of the titles Metroid and Castlevania, both known for their non-linear action adventure titles, where the player is placed in an “open world” of sorts – not just moving left to right through stages – but traversing back and forth through a sustained environment, unlocking new areas by getting new abilities or finding keys.

At first Raziel can really only shift between realms and devour souls, but soon gains abilities like phasing through gates that block his path or climbing certain walls. This allows him to find his way through the dying Nosgoth to hunt and kill Kain.

After encountering Kain for the first time, Raziel gains his main weapon – the soul reaver itself. Kain attempts to use his century old blade to kill Raziel again, but instead the weapon is destroyed and its essence becomes merged with Raziel as an ethereal extension of his arm. As the game progresses, you can gain new abilities to help in battling the vampire hordes that languish in the world, as well as upgrade the soul reaver.

The gameplay can honestly be a little repetitive and the environments, although mastered in beautiful 3D for their time, can feel a little too alike. That’s kind of typical for games of its time, but what makes Soul Reaver shine is pretty much everything else.

The voice acting and music are too good not to mention. If you’ve played video games, you know that the voice acting can be really abysmal, but that is not the case here. Many sites and magazines will list the Legacy of Kain series as the top 50 best voice acted games and it’s a worthy kudo.

The music is also a standout. It has a very industrial feel to it, which seems off considering the fantasy aspects of the game, but it totally works. Each area of Nosgoth has a unique theme, but the music will naturally change to suit the current situation. In a battle, the music will be more epic and exciting, while it will be more muted and subdued as the player explores each region.

The story is just so engrossing. Soul Reaver builds on the already great world created in Blood Omen, but really takes everything to the next level. And, if you can believe it, things get even better in its direct sequel, Soul Reaver 2, which actually incorporates time travel!

All-in-all, Soul Reaver is an absolutely amazing game and a real triumph of its time. Yes, it can be a little repetitive, but all of the seamlessly integrated story elements and cutscenes will absolutely grab you and keep you motivated to continue on.

I’ve been playing the game on PC for many years. I can’t recall exactly how the PlayStation version looked – and I’m sure it’s serviceable – but I have to say that PC is probably the way to go, if you can. It was also released on the Sega Dreamcast in 2000, which I hear is the best console version by far. I have to say that the game still looks amazing on PC at its highest resolutions on my 720p TV.

It took a little finagling to get a new controller to work for it, but the time was worth it. The game supports Direct Input, which was the standard in the late-90s, but these days most controllers us XInput. A quick internet search allowed me to find a tool that will map a controller to Direct Input for you easily. I actually plugged in one of my PlayStation Classic controllers, which use USB, and it really helps to simulate those nostalgic vibes!

For me, there’s something special about replaying Soul Reaver with nothing but soft Christmas lights to brighten my darkened room, but as I’m sure no one else shares that attachment, trust me – you can enjoy Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver any time of the year. So go ahead and do that! It’s actually on sale as I write this for $1.09 CDN on GOG.com (Windows PC version) and runs for $5.99 as a PSOne Classic on the Sony PlayStation 3 or PSP systems (NOTE: PSOne Classics can only be purchased from a PS3 console), so you really have nothing to lose!

Is there anything tradition, movie, or game that you like to enjoy during the holidays, but it has nothing to do with the season? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

Merry Christmas,
R

Thursday, September 10, 2020

DVD Review | UFO Abduction (1989) | The McPherson Tape?

So, back in January I made you a promise and I am absolutely about to break it into pieces. My apologies in advance, but I just couldn’t help myself!


I’ve talked about the many incarnations of filmmaker Dean Alioto’s UFO films, UFO Abduction and Alien Abduction: Incident in Lake County, both the TV and alternate film version, so I’ve clearly beaten this horse to death.

I acknowledge that, but it turns out this horse has a little life left! When I wrote about UFO Abduction, Dean Alioto’s first film foray – a shot-on-video found footage feature 10 years before The Blair Witch Project – I mentioned that it was difficult obtain a legit copy of the film outside of a few avenues, but that is no longer the truth!

It turns out that in October of last year POV Horror – a streaming site for found footage indie films – released a DVD copy titled The McPherson Tape: UFO Abduction, which includes the film, as well as several audio commentary tracks by the director and Found Footage Critic (which has also thoroughly covered the film), an alternate “Bootleg” version of the film, a making of featurette, and a few trailers.

I’ll be honest, I figured outside of a few limited run DVDs that Dean Alioto might print and sell himself that there would never be a full feature release of this short film, let alone one with so many extras.


What’s even more surprising is that there was also recently a Blu-ray release of the film! That’s right. The American Genre Film Archive (AGFA) and distributor Vinegar Syndrome – the place for cult film preservation and hard-to-find film releases – actually put out a high definition release of UFO Abduction in April of this year. This release contains – as far as I know – the same cut of the film as the DVD, but also comes with the Encounters TV segment about the film, which I mentioned in a previous post, and a Q&A from Fantastic Fest. As much as I wanted to pick up the Blu-ray, it’s neither easy nor inexpensive to buy Vinegar Syndrome releases in Nova Scotia, but I could get the POV Horror release at a decent price, so I opted for the DVD.

When I previously watched this movie I had to settle for a very poorly encoded YouTube video from an old VHS that was probably bootlegged and sold at UFO conventions in the early-90s. It made the experience incredibly sub-par, to say the least. Finally getting the see the film as it was intended was a real treat and I very much enjoyed it.

Here’s a video of my thoughts on the DVD!


One thing to note is that it is super weird that they branded this movie “The McPherson Tape”. The family – although I don’t think their last names are ever mentioned – are the Van Heese family. Hilariously, some of them are named Van Hesse on film’s credits. Either way, they are not the McPhersons! That name was the family name of the characters in the second of Alioto’s UFO films. I assume it was renamed this, because it gets more search hits and they wanted the DVD to sell better, but that’s speculation.

So, hopefully this is the last time – at least for a while – that I’ll cover these films. I can’t say never, because if somehow the “actual” The McPherson Tape did get a release, I would most certainly review that, as well!

Cheers,
R

Friday, March 13, 2020

Friday the 13th: Part III Japanese Bootleg and 3D Glasses


Nowadays 3D has completely permeated the entertainment industry. Just about any big film release has a 3D option at the theatre and with 3D HD TVs you can watch more and more 3D content in the comfort of your home.

In the '90s and early 2000s 3D movies had been something played out at least a decade ago; a technology that managed to kick out a few theatrical releases and went the way of the dodo. The last remnants were VHS and DVD releases of films littered with the hokey detritus of what once was. Movies like Amityville 3-D, Jaws 3-D, and even a few minutes of 1991's Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare.

Being a big Friday the 13th fan, however, the film that always piqued my interest was of course Friday the 13th: Part III. Oft loved by horror fans for the portrayal of Jason and simultaneously reviled for the acting, one thing that everyone could agree on was that the kills, although interesting, were clearly setups for the 3D effect that no longer added to the scenes, but left them standing out like a sore thumb.

In 2004, after picking up the From Crystal Lake to Manhattan box set I became more and more enamoured with the Friday the 13th films. Previously I would rent the VHS tapes from my local video store, but now I had them to watch as much as I desired. After viewing some special features about my favourite of the lot I became obsessed with the idea of seeing Friday the 13th: Part III the way it had been intended - in full 3D.

Thankfully, eBay was a thing and after some searching I came across a little device that could potentially make my dreams come true! It doesn't look like much, but by hooking up this little doodad to your rear-projection TV (I think it may only work with CRT sets, but I've never tried it on an LCD) it would cast a signal to the shutter glasses, which would cause them to essentially blink in the watcher's eyes.



If you coupled these glasses with the right kind of VHS or DVD it would create the 3D effect I was looking for! But how to find a copy of Friday the 13th: Part III in this format? It didn't exist, right?

Well, let's head to Japan!

After some browsing on a Japanese Yahoo auction site I eventually managed to find just the release I needed. The bootleg's box art is patterned after an official Victor VHD 3D release of the film, but I'm not sure if it's a dub of that VHD or if it's from a completely different release that just used the box art. Either way, the 3D black magic reportedly worked on it, so I purchased the bootleg and waited impatiently for the many weeks it took to arrive on my little island in Atlantic Canada.

I can still remember hooking it all up and trying it out for the first time. I had a small TV that had seen countless hours of video games and X-Files that would do just the trick. After messing around with the cables and getting the right batteries for the shutter glasses, I was ready to experience the film anew.

And it did not disappoint!


Now, before you get all excited let me be real with you; this isn't like the 3D films you're used to since Avatar. However, it beats watching the film in the old red and blue anaglyph 3D, which is actually an option if you picked up the Paramount Blu-ray release from '09.

Would I want to watch the movie like this every time? Nah, not really. It's fun now-and-then to throw on this version and see those old kitschy gore effects the way they were really meant to be seen, but watching the movie through the shutter glasses isn't exactly a treat and the bootleg I have is a little dark and not the best quality.

That said, it meant a lot to me to get to see the film this way back in '04 and even today. I'm doubtful we'll get a real, proper 3D release of the movie that would work on modern 3D TV sets. Heck, I don't even know if that sort of thing is possible! So other than a super rare opportunity to see the film in stereoscopic in theatre we'll be left laughing when Abel dangles that eyeball at the teenagers or when the snake attacks Harold on the toilet, wishing we were in on the gag.

Cheers,
R

Friday, July 12, 2019

The Blair Witch Project: 20 Years Later

I noticed that there was a sudden resurgence of Blair Witch-related "stuff" lately and I didn't key into why until just this morning. A few weeks ago, at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), a new Blair Witch video game was announced to be launching this August, and today Fright-Rags will be launching a licensed collection for the original film. My caffeine-ridden brain didn't even realize that this Sunday, July 14th, 2019 will mark the 20th anniversary of The Blair Witch Project!


Once I realized that, I knew I had to write about it for a bit. It's hard for me to understate the importance of the film. I have rarely been as hyped for a movie as I was for TBP.

I spoke recently about the VHS release on VHyesterdayS. I mentioned that I had talked about The Blair Witch Project in a video a long time ago on my YouTube channel, but upon further inspection it appears that I must've deleted my content on The Blair Witch Project and its sequel at some point.


So all the more reason for me to jaw-on here for a bit!

It's been stated over-and-over again how effective the marketing was for it at the time, but I'll take a moment to talk about it again. There was nothing like it before. The very nature of the film being a faux-documentary lent itself so perfectly to a viral marketing campaign and it just took over the Internet. The website was top-of-the-line for its time and it was chock-full of Easter Eggs and information about the "case" of the Blair Witch and the missing students lost in the Burkittsville woods.

People believed it was real. I believed it could be real.

Then you add the element of the TV special! Airing a few days before the film's release, on July 11th 1999, Curse of the Blair Witch was itself a half-hour documentary about the legends of Burkittsville and the missing filmmakers. It completely doubled-down on the "authenticity" that the marketing campaign created. Was it real? Was it fake? Everyone had to go see the movie just to find out!


And it worked. People went to this movie in droves. I was there opening night to a completely packed theatre. I had found all the Easter Eggs on the site. I had piled through the Internet bulletin boards trying to glean every bit of information I could find out about the film. I had to know if it was real or not!

It was an experience I hadn't had before and haven't had since. Once you let this genie out of the bottle, you can never do it again. Film-goers now are too skeptical, likely because of TBP, to ever let this sort of marketing fool them again. But I was one of the lucky ones who got to experience this whole thing firsthand and it's had a lasting impression.

It didn't hurt that the acting was excellent. There are points where you get the "actor" vibe from the main cast, but for the most part their fear just seems so genuine. This is, of course, due in part to the nature of how the film was made, in which the filmmakers Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick really put actors Heather Donahue, Michael Williams, and Joshua Leondard through a course of psychological terrors in the dead of night, while the actors themselves filmed.

With all the "found footage" films this movie spurned, I'm surprised that I've never heard of any other filmmakers taking this specific aspect away from TBP; the idea of actually subduing the actors to unknown, unscripted scares. My guess is the unions don't allow for that! I didn't know about all this until well after seeing the film for the first time, but I think it's safe to say that their fear feels very real and tangible.


One thing I will note is that seeing The Blair Witch Project on the big screen was a double-edge sword. I was both so excited to see it, but absolutely sickened by it... literally.

The movie is shot on 16MM and Digital 8 from the perspective of the filmmakers. Save for the few scenes that are setup to be parts of their "documentary" its all handheld. Sitting in the lower bowl of my movie theatre, munching on my then new Crispy M&Ms caused my guts to lurch. I barely made it through the film, honestly. I had to run to the washroom at least once and when I got there, someone had beat me to it. To this day I can't eat Crispy M&Ms.

I try to recapture the experience a little each year around Halloween. That's when the VHS and DVD were first released, around October 25th, 1999 if my memory serves me right. I make the pilgrimage back to Maryland and the haunted Burkittsville forest and in absolute honesty I get chills every time.

The movie is a time capsule. Haxan Films managed to bottle up 1999 for me and I love them for it.

Say what you want about the franchise after, The Blair Witch Project manages to hold up, old technology and all. I'll keep up my tradition and take in my yearly viewing this October, but why not give it a watch this weekend?

The whole thing may have been an elaborate hoax, but what if it wasn't? What if the witch is out there, waiting in the dark? Hiding in an old abandoned house, deep in the forest, where the light of mankind has winked out of existence.

Dare you take a walk in the woods after!

Cheers,
R