Category: monsters

IT: Welcome t Derry (sn1)

Derry, Maine is a quiet town tat slips right out of your memory once you leave. Every 27 years, children disappear and no one has answers. Every 27 years children see terrible things, hear voices around the drains, and many are never heard or seen again. What happened in Derry 27 years before the Losers Club fought Pennywise, well, come on down and see what surprises lurk in the lovely little town.

I love the IT movies and the miniseries (RIP Tim Curry) so I was expecting a iffy, low effort season that vaguely resembled the remakes. However, I’m ecstatic to say in a lot of ways I enjoyed the show more than the movies. Fans of King’s lore will have a lot of chomp at; I lost my shit a few times with certain Dark Tower references and the Shining connections were great. The acting is fantastic and I gotta say all the characters felt like they belonged in a Stephen King story. Again there’s a few surprise reveals I don’t want to spoil but they are well done. This show is very hard-hitting when it comes to brutality and the imagery- full warning, you’ll see some messed up shit happen to children. I even shivered a few times with how far the show was willing to go. The effects and setting are incredibly done. It has one of my favorite opening title sequences ever. Lastly, I was thrilled this wasn’t the Pennywise show- we don’t see the iconic clown til halfway in but the revelations we get and the shocking moments make him feel more threatening than ever.

Of course, nothing’s ever perfect. In this case, there is a plotline involving the army and Derry that never fully full circle for me. The ending is a bit too heavy handed with the “power of friendship” and the finale did feel drawn out. I also had to wonder why the Hanlon’s chose to stay in Derry after all the crazy crap that happens. I do love the little surprise appearance at the end that connects to IT 2017.

In the end, I adored Welcome to Derry and I’m incredibly hyped we’re getting a second season. I highly recommend it but I’m warning you their is a lot of triggers and tons of disturbing imagery. May the gaming gods let you float down here.

Dying Light 2: Stay Human

Dying Light was a hell of an experience. It was like Far Cry meets 28 Weeks Later. Like many, I was pumped when the sequel crawled out of development hell only to fade into obscurity. Seriously, it’s one of those games I knew so many people waited for but no one really talked about. Is Dying Light 2 a missed masterpiece or better left forgotten?

We play as Aiden, a pilgrim on a quest in plague ravaged Villedor for his lost sister. Aiden, as well as hs sister and a bunch of other children were part of a cruel series of experiments at the hand of Waltz. Villedor holds the answers Aiden seeks, as well bloodthirsty bandits, peace keepers run amok, people trying to survive and of course hordes of zombies. If all this wasn’t enough, Aiden is changing…can he find his sister and a cure before joing the legion of the undead?

So I’m not going to mice words, Dying Light 2 isn’t a bad game. It’s fun in bursts and I appreciate some of what they were trying to do in terms of scope and feeling like you were in a wider cityscape. Unfortunately I gotta drop into the same category of meh games as Dark Souls 2 Scholars of the First Sin , Resident Evil 3 (2020) and Aliens: Fireteam Elite.

First, I tuned out of the story pretty quick. I never really got invested in the factions involved, the choices never packed a punch, and the missions felt pretty repetitive-especially the side missions. I felt like they took the wrong lessons from Fallout 4. Exploration can be fun but the enemies start to become a pain in the ass instead of scary or menacing. There is more than a fair amount of bullshit deaths, especially when it came to the game’s paraglider. Sometimes it would draw super fast, sometimes it would delay and I’d splat on the concrete. Gameplay overall is fine but there was small subtractions from the first I sorely missed- a mini map, being able to customize and repair my own weapons, easily accessible fast travel, and a faster, more fulfilling progression system. In this game, progression feels more like a slog and I never really felt like a badass as I did in the first. Safe zones are also now a chore.

While I have a lot of complaints and I genuinely believe its inferior to the first, it’s not a bad game. It ran fine, it looked really nice throughout, and the voice acting was solid. I had plenty of fun murdering zombies and bandits and using parkour…but it wasn’t much more than that. I never got the fear or intrigue of the first game. Its a ok game overall. Alright. Nothing too special. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Lee Cronin’s The Mummy

The Cannon’s are a happy family on a business trip in Egypt. Things go horribly wrong when their daughter Katie gets snatched out of their yard by a mysterious woman. For eight years, there’s no word, no updates. Katie is gone and the family moves on with their other daughter. Until miraculously Katie is found alive inside of a sealed sarcophagus. She’s virtually catatonic, malformed, malnourished and…ok, there’s no feasible way this kid is alive. But they take her home…

I’ll be honest, I’m having a hard time just getting through the recap of this damn movie. This isn’t The Mummy (2017) which wanted to to desperately wanted to be a MCU movie and kick off its own. Cronin instead wanted to make another Evil Dead movie; so much so I’ve seen this film included in way too many Evil Dead series countdowns. Katie is basically a Deadite. There’s a evil book that sounds awfully similar to the Necronomicon and she’s possessing people, there’s gross scenes of bodily harm and general possession movie tropes. I can’t say I was invested in any of the characters and for pretty good reason. The parents are pretty crappy. Not bad people, just dammit they are stupid from how Katie gets kidnapped to the level of ignorance on display when the full on horror movie shit starts kicking up. The kids are fine actors but I never found them scary. The effects are fine, mostly, but the gore is clearly trying to gross you out. I think the best way I can describe this movie in a nutshell is it’s trying to be modern Evil Dead without anything that makes Evil Dead special. Lastly, I’m going to say this movie is over 2 hours and it absolutely feels longer; Oppenheimer felt quicker by comparison.

In the end, watch the classic Mummy movies. Karloff, the Hammer movies with Christopher Lee, the classic 90’s Mummy movies with Brendan Fraser- you can’t got wrong. Friends don’t let friends watch Mummy 2026. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Harry Potter 2026 trailer 2

My feelings on the Potter series are pretty mixed overall. I’ve loved it, hated it, appreciated it, and now I’m just numb to it. Part of it was growing up during the height of Potter mania. Admittedly J.K Rowling has soured the overall experience of her work for me over the years.

When we got the first trailer for the reboot, I was very meh to it. Mostly I just felt like it was the same exact movie with different faces. Watching the second trailer, all that kept running through my head was “we have Harry Potter at home.” Hogwarts, the uniforms, the scenery looks strikingly similar to the original movies only without natural color grading (I seriously hate modern filmmaking’s hatred of natural lighting). I mean, it looks fine for what it is. If this was the first attempt at bringing the Wizarding World to screen, I’d honestly be fine with it. However, the others exist and were mostly bright, enjoyable and full of heart. I’ll give the new series a shot but I’m not getting my hopes up. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Maneater 2 announcement trailer

Maneater was a blast. Pure and simple. Fun, goofy, bloody, weirdly educational fun. Seeing confirmation we’re getting a sequel absolutely brought a smile to my face. I can’t wait to see what kind of bizarre mutations we’ll get and hopefully some new ways to devour our prey. I liked that there will be new predators as well to face off against. As you’d imagine, I’m really pumped to dive back in as a shark. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Until Dawn 2 release date trailer

I’m still very confused how this is a sequel to Until Dawn. I gave some leigh way when the Until Dawn 2 reveal trailer dropped. After getting a more in depth look, I’m still fairly convinced the title was tacked on for brand recognition. On it’s own, the game looks nice visually so far. The story elements aren’t really grabbing me so far. I’ll keep an eye out but in the end I’m not really anywhere near as hyped as I should be. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Night of the Living Deadpool

Aren’t you just sick of zombies? Well, I’d bet Wade sure is. After waking up from a gnarly food coma, our favorite (or not so favorite) Merc with a Mouth finds himself in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. Along his quest for a cure he encounters survivors, lunatic church grannies, and the revelation his healing factor maybe the world’s last hope or the final nail in it’s coffin.

So I gotta start by shouting out our mutual friend and battle buddy Arragas for the epic comic haul. Honestly, Deadpool has always been special because he was my gateway into reading Marvel comics. Stories like this are a prime example why. It’s not a long read and it doesn’t require homework or an encyclopedic knowledge of characters to enjoy. Bunn, who also did a great job writing Deadpool vs Carnage , fills the story with humor and the all so important drops of pathos many forget to include with Deadpool. I like the zombies are vocal and actually tragic, lamenting their undead fates and feeling sorrow for the pain they are causing. The art is really eye catching, predominately black and white with Deadpool and his speech bubbles being the only color- a cool nod to Kirkman’s Walking Dead books. The book pokes a lot of fun at everything from Walking Dead to Evil Dead to NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and Dawn of the Dead . In the end, this is damn quick, fun read that I highly recommend checking out. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Marvel’s Spiderman 2

We pick up our tale of our favorite wall crawlers not too long after Marvel Spider-man: Miles Morales . Both Peter and Miles are struggling balancing lives as regular guys and superheroes. A random attack from Sandman sets the spiders on the path of a powerful new adversary on the hunt not only for them but their strongest, most dangerous villains. Enter Kraven and his mercenary army. If that wasn’t enough, Peter’s world is turnedupside down again when his best friend Harry turns back up-better than ever. Seemingly cured from his deadly illness with a mysterious black suit that grants him incredible powers of his own, but at what cost?

Spiderman 2 could be in the running for best superhero games I’ve ever played. A few things keep it away from that coveted spot. First, the MVP of this game is easily the traversal. Not only is web swinging and Spidey’s signature acrobatics fine tune flawlessly, we also get the web wings which add a whole new layer to getting around. Combined, getting around a truly humongous New York is a marvel just in itself. I really loved the story as well as its take Kraven the hunter and the Black Suit saga. A lot of people hated this universe’s take on Venom but I actually found this version of Harry Osborn to be my favorite. I found him likable, sympathetic, and menacing once Venom is born. Plus, Tony Todd was perfect voicing the lethal protector. My only issue with the story is I wish we got more. There are a lot of great plot threads and follow ups that I feel were a mistake to leave all for the 3rd game.

Combat takes some getting used to. This game leans as heavily on the new implemented parry mechanic almost as much as Doom: The Dark Ages did. The game is definitely the most difficult of the trilogy and at times I did get frustrated with the parry, dying more than I did in the previous games.

I feel like both characters were well done and feel pretty unique. The black suit abilities are nuts and I loved them to death. I like that both characters get there own individual side missions that actually add to their stories. The villain roster is a lot smaller than the first game but they are all well done. Kraven is a absolute beast and Venom is peak after years of those awful movies.

In the end, Spiderman 2 isn’t perfect. I still say Marvel’s Spider-man is still better but is still a damn good sequel that is almost great. I highly recommend checking it out. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Spider Noir (sn1)

To get pumped for Spiderman: Brand New Day I jumped back into m love for all things Spidey. Nick Cage as Spiderman Noir was one of my favorite little parts of Spider-Man Into The Spider-Verse so I really excited he was reprising his role in live action for a full series. Noir has always been one of my favorite variants of the wall crawler. So how did Amazon do?

Ben Reilly is a typical private eye living in 1930’s New York- well almost. During WW1 he was bitten by a POW subjected to German genetic experimentation, granting him spider powers. Living a double life as the Spider, fighting crime, married to the love of his life, Ruby, Ben had the perfect life until tragedy struck. Depressed, broken, Ben exists now with the help of his close friends until new super powered foes emerge working with the diabolical crime lord Silvermane. Can the Spider bring himself to come out of retirement, stop the bad guys, and get the girl one last time?

First and foremost, I adored the attention to detail. This show nails the golden age detective noir vibe. I absolutely recommend watching it in black and white for full effect. The cast is terrific. Cage delivers a great performance as a unhinged, wallowing, good hearted guy looking for redemption. Brendan Gleeson was charismatic and threatening as Silvermane, easily my favorite incarnation of the crime lord by far. Li Jun Li was a great classic Fem Fatal as Cat Hardy. I appreciated the show wasn’t overly action heavy, opting for a story, driven crime narrative with flushed out characters. As someone that finds it hard getting into TV shows, I was glued to this one and I honestly can’t recommend it enough, both for new commers and Marvel fans. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Clayface trailer 2

I can only get so hyped. Seriously, this looks like the perfect Clayface movie I didn’t know I wanted. Did any of us? I love Clayface as a villain and occasional antihero. The body horror looks gruesome and so far, it looks like we could be getting a disturbing revenge tale. I’m truly pumped for this October.