Insidious: the Last Key trailer

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Yesterday the new, much anticipated trailer for Insidious 4 dropped and I’m happy to report I found new intrigue in what I saw. Admittedly I never saw either sequel because the trailers or word of mouth sparked the desire to do so but this trailer intrigued me enough to want to see it. From what little I could gather, 4 will follow series regular, elderly medium Elise as she returns to the house she grew up in and scary shit happens. I got a eerie vibe from the imagery and a sense of some decent WTF moments I enjoyed about the original. I can’t say much from one trailer and the fact I’m unfamiliar with how the rest of the series plays out but I’ll keep an eye out for more… may the gaming gods bring you glory as always.

New Lord of the Flies remake?

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When I heard this one my jaw dropped in excitement than thinned out in disappointment. Lord of the Flies, a book I previously covered on this blog, is getting another film adaptation- which is understandable. Unlike some classic novels like Dracula and Frankenstein that get remakes and gaming-gods help me “reimagings”, Lord of the Flies has more parodies associated with it than films. Quick Recap: bunch of young boys stranded on a island, isolated, try to survive while turning on each other and losing there shit. I was excited until I heard it was going to be a all female cast. Now please, before blowing up the comment section, hear me out. The source material was so effective because our characters were children, twelve at the oldest; I think that having it set with all with all female children can add new layers to the story and maybe explore some new roots. But I doubt the studios and producers will keep them children but instead try to play it out for some sex appeal: get some attractive 16-18 year olds, put them in tight, wet school outfits, and drop them on an island with some drooling hope for boobs. That is the movie I DON’T want. I don’t want a movie that uses sex appeal to draw in crowds, I also don’t want Mean Girls island; I want this movie to do the book justice because I think the messages it teaches can potent now more than ever. I’ll be looking into how this all develops and I’m sure I’ll keep talking about it but I just wanted to share my thoughts on the subject, but what do think? Drop a comment below and may the gaming gods be with you.

Insidious

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This is a weird A for effort kind of thing. It’s not your standard ghost story or possession story…well it is but isn’t or is but infused with LSD. Seriously if Dr Strange walked into this story and started fighting the lipstick demon I wouldn’t question it. So we start with typical happy family who move into a new house and weird shit begins to happen. The youngest child goes comatose. The family is now torn but holding, ditching that new house because for once they do what every horror movie family should- get the hell out of the house. But the occurrences continue still. It’s the son we discover is the problem. We discover the father and son share a unusual gift that’s explained by an old psychic lady, they can breach into the Further- a world/ dimension of the dead on the astral plane. The boy’s caught in a bad out of body experience by a demon with long ass nails, enjoys weird old time music, and looks like Darth Maul’s cousin. This demon wants to take over the child’s body. So the father has to dive into the bad acid trip of the Further and save his son’s inner self…

The first time watching it, I wasn’t a fan but the second and third time it grew on me. I have a lot of respect for James Wan, who you can tell put his heart into this and really appreciates the genre. It’s interesting how the story goes from haunted house to possessed child story to something reminiscent of Suspiria if it was the Alice in Wonderland remix. The settings, imagery, and music blend together excellently. The characters are good. I recommend giving it at least two viewings in case the first doesn’t sit right right with you.

Death note

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So in the fabled year of 2014 when life was Ok and I was almost another person in almost another life, a close friend and original battlebuddy SniperElitest gave me an amazing B-day gift: the complete Death Note anime collection and after that I got hooked into anime. Many people who stereotype anime as violent cartoons full of flashing lights and tall haired buff people that fight and kill each other need to watch this particular anime. Duke, thought Dragonball Z was drawn out and boring so thinking outside the box I introduced him to Death note and he fell in love with anime too. Death Note is the story of bored genius teen Light Yagumi who one day comes across a mysterious notebook called “Death Note” that falls from the sky. He takes it home with him and reads the rules inscribed in it: the first being that anyone’s name whose written in the Death Note will die as long as the owner can picture the victim’s face in there mind. Light is visited by a strange creature, a Shinigami- a death god named Ryuk who sheds light on the situation and helps explain the power of the note, urging Light to try it. Light discovers it’s power are true, watching a robber die just how he wrote it. Light decides to use the Death Note to rid the world of it’s evil people, acting as the “god of the new world” under the moniker Kira- or “Killer”. The world becomes enthralled with the phenomenon, murderers, corrupt officials, warlords, terrorists, child molesters and rapists all magically dropping dead or coincidentally succumbing to fatal accidents. Light’s father is in charge of the task force in charge of hunting down Kira, but on there own they are no match for his intellect. Until L comes along, a odd famous investigator that reaches out to the police to help them catch Kira. From the start, L proves to be a match for Kira’s intelligence, suspecting Light is Kira from the get go. He keeps tabs on Light, watching every move he makes but Light manages to prevail. But a disturbing revalation comes to both L and Light when a second Kira emerges with another note of there own. Enter Misa-misa, a air headed model and pop culture sensation obsessed with Kira who falls madly in love with Light. Ryuk tells Light of a special “deal” the owner of a Death Note and a shinigami can make- in exchange for half the owner’s life span, the owner can borrow there sight and suddenly see the full names of anyone he sees. Misa made the deal with hers. Light charms her into being his accomplice while him and L clash wits and minds as the new world unfolds…but who will come out on top?

The anime is great, not one of my favorites but amazing all the same. It drags and being 37 episodes that says something but it’s full of complex thoughts between the main characters so I can understand. The music is catchy as hell; the animation is gorgeous. Definitely watch it…

So the Americanized Netflix movie? Eh…I hated it. It took the basic premise of Death Note, took out most of the twists and turns and gave us a emo teen romance story. Light Yagumi went from a character starting out as someone with good intentions that becomes a relentless murderer with a god complex who will do ANYTHING to reach his goal. In fact, when he freaks out over the very idea of killing his dad killed the movie for me; in the anime, when push came to shove he did and didn’t have one shred of remorse for it. Mia (formerly sweet, idiot Misa-misa) was more of what Light was supposed to be like. Another huge problem I had was that Ryuk was clearly the villain and actively tried to screw Light where the anime made Ryuk a grim spectator, unable to interfere with the note. The score is replaced by music that reminds me of a more emo John Carpenter knock off. Willem Dafoe is by far the best part of this thing as the voice of Ryuk and the dude who plays L is ok; there’s some decent Final destination style kills but that’s about the best it’s got to offer for me. Don’t watch this if you saw the anime first, you will get pissed.

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Poltergeist

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Riddle me this: how the hell is a PG movie more disturbing and scary than a a huge slew of PG-13 modern films, including the bullshit remake that was…well bullshit. Answer: get Tobe Hooper and Steven Spielberg to make it. I didn’t see this classic until I was old enough to drink and I’m going to say admittedly that it surprised the hell out of me- again another simple idea carried out beautifully. Pretty much a normal happy American family discovers that malevolent spirits are amongst them, becoming more violent when the activity becomes undeniable and the youngest daughter, Carol Anne is taken into there world and it’s up to the family to free her and uncover the reason all this is happening at all…

What sticks out to me are some of the iconic scenes: the boy getting attacked by the toy clown, little Carol Anne sitting in front of a white static screen talking innocently with the voices we can’t hear, the rotting bodies floating in the muddy pool, the shaving scene. Even quiet moments like the chairs suddenly being stacked on top of each other suddenly is unsettling. The actors have great chemistry as a happy believable family and you do root for these people. Seriously check this movie out and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

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Sometimes it’s the simplest ideas are those that hit us the hardest, and none more so than the people we come across in the middle of nowhere. Texas Chainsaw Massacre debuted in 1974 and immediately became known as one of the most shocking, disturbing movies of all time and yet the movie is bloodless, brilliantly forcing our imaginations to carry us to those dark sinister places. The 2003 remake was good in my opinion; as a kid I preferred the remake but as a adult I can appreciate what made Hooper’s classic so terrifying. Both start with the same premise, a group of friends are traveling through the back roads of Texas and find a hitchhiker on the road. In the original, its a creepy ass dude with a red patched face who is obsessed with meat and photographs who suddenly becomes hostile, setting the pictures of the kids on fire when they refuse to pay him, cutting himself and then one of there friends before getting thrown out; in the remake, it’s a pale young woman bleeding between her legs who immediately begins weeping, muttering that her family is dead, they are going to die, and a very bad man before drawing a gun hidden between her legs and killing herself. The original is slow building, almost letting us get bored as nothing happens even when the kids find a creepy old house they came to find. There doom comes from the nice manor with the long grass lawn. Through the screen door we see the crimson walls, animal bone decorations, and heavy silver door we assume leads to a basement. Suddenly the door opens when our victim is near, revealing a tall man in a apron and disturbing leather mask with a mallet as he strikes and we watch the body flail, hear the bone crack with every strike, and the final thunder of the door slamming as we end the intro of Leatherface.  Leatherface picks the kids off one by one as we learns all the people the friends come in contact with are part of one big macabre family of cannibals that sell human barbecue. The dinner scene at the end of the original is one of the most influential horror scenes of all time, where we are treated to sheer madness. In the end, our heroine survives at the cost of her sanity, covered in blood laughing wildly as Leatherface dances with his chainsaw in the sun rise. So what’s the difference between the two iterations? The original is very grainy and filmed without a score, the actors look like real people; there wasn’t a moment during it felt like a Hollywood picture but some kind of found footage or crime show reenactment. That’s the remakes fatal flaw. The remake is entertaining and suspenseful but with the glossy cinematography, professionally composed score, and actors you’ve seen before- you know damn well it’s just a movie. Gunnar Hanson will always be the true Leatherface, may he too rest in peace; he has a beautiful moment of pathos in the original after killing one of the girls where he seems regretful and saddened by what he’s done but slowly we see him begin to smile through the mask in the natural sunlight. Both actors did a great job but Hanson rocked it. I highly recommend both but more so the original, which you maybe able to find on Youtube for free. May the gaming gods bring you glory, and may you never experience the real life horror of “one of the most shocking and sadistic crimes in the annals of American history: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”

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Tobe Hooper, R.I.P

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I’ll keep this short and sweet my friends; yesterday we lost another horror legend: Tobe Hooper, the man who gave us The Funhouse, Poltergeist, and of course The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Texas Chainsaw Massacre was a sadly underappreciated film that brought a gritty realism to a slasher story about a group of kids and a very unfriendly family; I find myself having to convince many it is in fact just a movie. 26 years old I can’t escape the chills Ii get watching a beautifully simple movie that changed how we look at a genre taken for granted. So on behalf of Savior and I, R.I.P Tobe Hooper, you will be missed.

Aliens Vs Predator (2010)

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Well this game kinda bummed me out. I watched playthroughs for the earlier games in the series and was blown away by how true it looked. Get to this and…bummer. So we play a campaign as each race: Colonial Marine, Alien, and Predator. Of the three I’m going to straight up tell you Predator is best, followed by Alien, then the marine. The plot is basically the movie- there’s a pyramid underground and greedy intergalactic shenanigans ensue. From a story point I enjoy the story of specimen 6 in the Alien campaign best- a alien smarter than most that escapes captivity and kicks ass all the way to Queen status. Marine again is the worst.

Since I started with the Alien, lets just bang it out: it’s a stealth game. As an alien you are fast, crawl on walls and vents and have claws and tail at your disposal. I like the realism of being able to break lights for dark cover and the way your prey reacts to your growl and how not moving screws with them finding you via motion tracker. Many of your kills come from long, prompted stealth kills that look epic but sure as hell ain’t stealthy and ain’t fast. Good chance your “stealth kill” will get you killed. Your claws and tail are helpful to a degree but only against one, maybe two enemies at a time max. Movement is fast but can easily get disorienting and sometimes the controls are unresponsive which sucks. The final boss is two regular predators, followed by an Elite which all three are pretty wimpy; seriously they keep running from you while pot shooting with their shoulder guns. Remember the 5 D’s of dodgeball and you’ll be fine.

Predator, the best of the three campaigns. You play as an elite Predator hunting the fabled abomination that is the Predalien, which is the best final boss of the game. You have the wrist blades, shoulder gun, smart disc, and combi stick as well as proximity mines, voice changer, cloaking device, and three vision modes. I would have liked if the movement was a little bit more nimble but it’s fine. It’s the most fun in the game, stalking idiot humans and killing then again with horrific stealth kills that suck at stealth but these are quicker and frankly more badass. Sadly, it ain’t long.

Last is the marine. Gulp. You get a pistol as default and can carry two weapons at a time, plus flares, grenades, and motion tracker. So apparently you must be really badass because you can block the alien head on and actually shove them on there asses- sure and I crap solid gold. Seriously, after a while it starts to feel like a shitty boxing game invaded my FPS game. What about the predator you wonder, how do you stack up against him? Well you don’t. Literally the predator has less time in your campaign than Joker in Suicide Squad.  Also, strip club full of aliens- I’m not fucking kidding, a strip club full of aliens, poles, kinky music and strobe lights, the whole shabang. Final boss is Bishop…yep and pretty much it’s the dumbest boss fight I ever played.

Overall, you can skip this game but if you have to get it, least it’s better than Colonial Marines.

Alien and Predator: Fire and Stone

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Fire and Stone is a four book Prometheus, Aliens, and Predator crossover from Dark Horse comics that spans multiple stories of multiple characters. It begins immediately after Prometheus with a crew going to find what happened to the doomed ship on planet LV-223. They begin to find the strange creatures on a planet they thought barren- the products of the Engineer’s black pathogen. As they go deeper and an experiment with the pathogen is conducted on a synthetic named Alden, they come across the horrors of the Xenomorph. After a massacre by the aliens, comes a threat by a mutated Alden and the Predator lurking in the background, seeking vengeance on the Engineer that wounded him.

So this is kinda a weird story to cover because there’s so much going on and each story is remarkably different. The Prometheus book and Predator book, were tied for my favorites. The Prometheus book is straight up mayhem and wickedly bad ass monsters

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The Predator book is a cool revenge of the strange alliance between a Predator and a human, ending in a sweet fight between Predator and Engineer. If I had to pick a weak link it was the Aliens book, which really didn’t have many aliens in it, but the story was just kind of meh. The art is the best thing about the series, every book has it’s own unique art style and are gorgeous to behold. Overall Fire and Stone is a cool crossover with great artwork but it’s not my favorite Alien piece and doesn’t answer much of the questions Prometheus asked. The series goes: Prometheus-Aliens-Aliens vs. Predator- Predator.

 

 

Nailbiter: vol 1 there will be blood

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This year I’ve really gotten worn out on the standard superhero comics and I wanted to branch out and see what else there was out there. Nailbiter from Image comics quickly became one of my favorites. Nailbiter is the story of Buckaroo, Oregon, a town responsible for breeding 16 serial killers- the most famous being Edward Charles Warren, the Nailbiter they called him because of how he would chew his victim’s finger’s to the bone before killing them. In a very publicized case, Warren was found not guilty and the legend of the Buckaroo Butchers bloomed. Nicholas Finch, a army interrogator, goes to Buckaroo looking for his missing friend, Eliot Carrol, a investigator trying to connect the mystery of the Butchers together. Finch quickly meets the town’s sheriff, Shannon Crane, once Warren’s childhood girlfriend. In fact, Finch begins to discover many of the towns residents are either descendants of the Butchers or somehow connected to them- it’s a small town they say. Finch and Crane are lead to Warren, living a regular quiet life despite his epic pariah status. When questions start being asked, a new killer arises and it’s not Nailbiter…

Nailbiter is a cool story with some pretty creepy imagery. The lore of the Butchers alone got me hooked. I really couldn’t put it down. The tone feels very reminiscent of a blue collar Silence of the Lambs or Seven if James Gunn directed it in his Slither days. I really can’t wait to see what happens next. If you want to get into comics but superheroes aren’t your thing, give Nailbiter a try; I found the first few volumes super cheap on amazon super cheap. You guys are awesome, and may the gaming gods bring you glory because…

nailbiter “there’s enough to go around.”