Category: Uncategorized

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

hellblade

I’m usually not the the one to follow the hype train; in fact I usually try to avoid the son of a bitch whenever I can. If you happened to be near me during the The Force Awakens hype or the hype that followed Skyrim , I was pretty abrasive towards them; truthfully I loved them in both cases. Hellblade, is a pretty similar scenario.

Senua is a woman who lost it all and is on a quest that maybe hopeless. Plagued by a horde of omnipresent voices that won’t let her be and a rot that threatens to overtake her if the demonic forces or her agonizing visions don’t kill her first.  Surrounded by death, loss, madness, and the clashing of voices as she fights to save her love and slay the darkness inside herself and the forces that stand in her way…

I sincerely have to say this is one of my favorite games of the PS4 generation and possibly all time. While the combat and puzzle solving are both simple and solid, they take a backseat to a phenomenal story and a frightening tension filled experience that pretty damn accurately portrays mental illness. Senua isn’t a super stoic heroine with a tragic background (she’s not female Kratos from GOW as I initially thought she’d be); Senua is a very tragic, tortured soul that feels the fear and pain of what the game throws at her but struggles on. The atmosphere and enemy designs are amazing and I can’t give enough credit to the voice work in this game; this game mind-fucks and fills you with tension even just exploring. The game isn’t perfect, there are times the puzzles can be picky and essentially they are all the same kind and the nature of the game itself is repetitive in hindsight but I can overlook that for the experience and storytelling most games ignore. I highly recommend it, especially for a good single player story. May the game bring you glory.

Murder Party

murder party

There are very few times I’m genuinely surprised when looking through movies for this blog. Most of the time, I can tell what will be be decent and what’s going to be crap, especially when horror movies are concerned. This time I find myself pleasantly surprised…

Chris is a boring dork who lives a boring life and is so dull his cat won’t even listen to him. While walking home Halloween night, Chris comes across a mysterious invitation floating through the breeze for something called a Murder Party. Thinking nothing of it, Chris goes home, bakes some pumpkin bread and whips up a knight costume out of cardboard and duct tape. What he finds is a get together of psychotic art-house nerds that plan on killing Chris in the name of artistic expression. Bound, gagged, and outnumbered, what are the chances he’ll survive the night?

I have to admit I had a surprising amount of fun with this movie. After the first five or ten minutes, there is a good amount of slapstick and goofball humor that spans the rest of the run-time as well as some funny and WTF kills. The movie is really short at 80 minutes and doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. By the end, I was satisfied by this low budget horror comedy and thought there were some good twists to carry me through. The only issue I have is the opening minutes crawl but once the party starts, the pacing evens out. I’d recommend this for anyone who wants something a bit different. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Gretel and Hansel trailer 2

I have to admit, despite the PG-13 rating and January release date, I’m actually pretty excited for this dark, horror retelling of the iconic fairy tale. I love the imagery I’ve seen so far and I like what of I’ve seen of the witch so far. I’m hoping it’ll be something different and memorable. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Doom: Annihilation

doom A

With a tagline like this, you would swear they tried making a movie based on a video game. Truth of the matter is, I don’t think the writers or brains behind this movie played a Doom game in there lives. There’s Mars, a random chainsaw for 30 seconds, a demon ( I guess anyway), the BFG and some keycards, and that’s pretty much it. Doom: Annihilation follows a group of space marines as they travel to a installation on Mars that was doing research on old ruins. What they find is base overrun with zombies and energy shooting demons.

Normally I would go more in depth into the plot but honestly this movie is simply generic from it’s characters to it’s setting and even it’s story. The effects are pretty cheesy, like Sci-fi channel cheesy. There are some unintentionally funny moments but nothing utterly hilarious. The end falls apart and the movie ends on a random cliffhanger. Honestly, nothing in this feels like Doom, but rather a cheap ass cash grab.  The movie is disposable to be blunt and it’s OK to skip. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

A Quiet Place, part 2 trailer 1

A Quiet Place was one of my favorite horror movies of recent memory if not the whole last decade; the trailer for 2 doesn’t look like it’ll disappoint. I like seeing how the invasion began and I love that now we get this lovable family vs a world of broken people as well as the monsters themselves. I have high hopes. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Silent Hill: Revelation 3D

silent hill rev

I just have to wonder what the hell has been my luck with crappy 3D movies lately. I forgot the Silent Hill sequel was part of the late 2000’s 3D wave. I admit here, I have no experience with the franchise but I appreciate it’s dark, twisted imagery. That being said, I feel bad for the fans after watching this movie…

Heather’s life has been filled with trauma; her mother died at a early age and she’s plagued with violent hallucinations that relate to the dreaded town of Silent Hill. After her birthday, her father is kidnapped by the insane cult who inhabit the town, and they want her back as a sacrifice to stop Alyssa, a malevolent demon girl they blame the evil on. Heather and a classmate, Vincent Cooper, head to the haunted town to face it’s demons and there own before the Order can bring about the end of the world.

Well, I give the movie this, the score is pretty good even if it is pretty misplaced at times. Other than that, this movie sucks pretty hard. The acting, despite some decent names, is pretty bad; the effects are shotty CGI for the most part; the story is either really nonsensical or really dependent on you seeing the first, but it’s a bit hard to hollow at times. The atmosphere at times is good but the overuse of jumpscares- in which they use a pop tart in the beginning- kills the mood. I laughed at too many scenes I knew I was supposed to be afraid at, and that was before the crappy 3D inches its way into it. In the end, if you need a cheap laugh I might recommend it but otherwise feel free to skip this pooper. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Guardians Disassembled

gotg

Some time we have to go back to our roots and chill. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) is one of my favorite MCU films and years before the movie, they were a big reason why I started reading Marvel comics. So to start the new year, let’s start with some GOTG badassery…

The Guardians of the Galaxy have always been trouble-makers in the universe, and while the down trotted have seen them as heroes, there’s some powerful forces that call them enemies. Helping the time displaced X-Men retrieve Jean Grey in Guardians of the Galaxy/ All New X Men: The Trial of Jean Grey was a final straw for these forces. Tony Stark, fresh from his time with them, asks Flash Thompson, better known as Agent Venom, to hang with them as a representative of Earth. They accept this new misfit with open arms. While Quill sleeps, Drax takes Venom shopping for new weapons for his cosmic adventures, and Gamora is on her own leave, they are captured and divided. J-son of the Spartax captures Quill with his ultimatum; Gamora is sent to the Badoon who want to know where Thanos is; Drax is taken by the Shi’ar empire and faces off against Gladiator; the Skrull take Venom; The Brood take Groot while the Kree experiment on Rocket.  While things look grim, help comes in the form of Angela, the rogue Asgardian bounty hunter who aids Gamora and Captain Marvell who frees Quill and helps Star Lord bring down J-son once and for all. It’s hard to keep good Guardians down…

This is a damn quick book but it’s action packed. From page one until the end there is plenty of action that’s easy to follow. While it’s volume 3 of the line( Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Avengers being the first) it’s really easy to pick up with a helpful summary and a fluid introduction to the characters. Besides a good story, the book includes a Captain Marvell solo, Venom solo, and future Guardians tale so you get a nice bang for you’re buck. I’d definitely check this book for a Marvel or Guardians new comer. May the gaming gods bring you glory and Happy New Year.

Hostel

hostel

With our decade coming to a close, I want to take a minute to go back and look at the last decade in horror. Saw and Hostel ruled the scene, a scene made up of “torture porn”. Eli Roth, director of Cabin Fever, gave us this hit in 2006.

Two friends, Josh and Paxton are backpacking through Europe with a dude there hanging out with, looking for hot babes, booze, and drugs. During a party, they meet some hot chicks that tell them about a awesome party town with a cheap hostel they can stay at. Everything is fun until there friends start to disappear and the folks around town deny knowing anything about the disappearances. It isn’t long before the friends discover they’ve been tricked into a sadistic network of rich men who pay to come torture and kill people at there leisure. The question is, can they make it out when the whole town is in on the conspiracy?

I have to say, this movie is pretty damn overrated but solid for the most part. The acting and score are fine but the atmosphere and premise are the selling points. There are some pretty nasty gore scenes, but it’s nowhere near as extreme as the sequel will be. The dialogue, like many Roth films, is vulgar and awkward and the pacing is slow to start but it fairly thrilling from the second act and on. The revenge ending is pretty satisfying I admit and the world is pretty interesting and makes you want to know more. In the end, it’s a pretty fair movie but I wouldn’t call it a modern classic as some would so it’s worth watching. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Shark Night 3D

shark night

We love a good B movie here at Saviorgaming so when this stinker from early this decade washed up on Netflix, I couldn’t help myself. Whether it’s the classic Jaws (1975) , the underrated Deep Blue Sea , or the corny Shark Attack 2 I’ve got a soft spot for shark movies, so what does Shark Night bring to the table?

Like many horror movies, we begin with a group of college friends who go to the hot girl, Sara’s cabin on the lake. She hasn’t been to the cabin in a few years or dated a guy either. Well, during a water-skiing run, the friends discover there are sharks in the water. Alarmed by the WTF question of how a bunch of different breeds of sharks got in a southern river, they trust in the aid of Sara’s disgruntled ex boyfriend and redneck friend to help there dying friend, but do the rednecks know more than they let on?

Shark Night is pretty much what you thought it was going to be from the trailers, it’s a pretty funny B movie with some cheap 3D thrown in. The acting is one dimensional and the sharks are pretty poorly CGI but the effects are better than Sharknado. What kills the enjoyment is the over usage of crappy college rock and the Pg-13 rating which cut most of the gore and topless scenes but instead teases you with great set ups for them. Still, the corniness and absurdity makes it a decent  B movie but not a great one. May the gaming gods bring you glory.