5 horror movies for non horror fans

Horror is in my blood, it’s grafted onto my soul since birth. Whether you get off on the tension of a good psychological scare, enjoy gallons of blood, or a cheap laugh and some boobs, horror has something for everyone. Most of all, it makes us look at ourselves, our friends and family, and the world around us all differently. But some people insist horror is stupid, tasteless, or exploitative and sometimes yes it is but I wanted to prove there are some great horror movies the haters can enjoy. In no particular order, here we go:

it 1. IT (2017)- The most recent movie on this list, It not only is a great horror movie but also a wonderful coming of age story. The children have a heart warming chemistry that gives us some great story thread outside the constant threat of Pennywise and some funny moments. Either way, I highly recommend it.

cabin in the woods 2. Cabin in the Woods- Just as creative as it is funny and badass, Cabin in the Woods took most of us by storm in 2012 as a totally unique and original movie about the ultimate cabin in the Woods horror film…seriously if you never saw it, you’re in for a huge treat as the plot is full of fun characters and monsters from all walks of horror- and a unicorn too.

alien 3. Alien- If you read my review for this sci-fi horror classic, you’ll know how much I loved it but now I’m going to focus on the tension this movie builds. Some beautiful, claustrophobic settings and a terrifying as hell creature hunting relate able characters in space. If you’re a sci fi nerd, definitely should go on your must watch list.

poltergeist 4. Poltergeist- As much of a great horror movie this classic is, there is equally a sense of wonder to it you don’t find in many horror movies. It’s a heartfelt family and a cast of likable characters that doesn’t take itself too seriously but when it’s scary, is scary as hell. Always worth a view.

seven 5. Seven- After Alien 3, David Fincher came back with a vengeance with this freaky crime thriller staring a young Brad Pitt and the always amazing Morgan Freeman. So much creepy imagery as they track down a killer basing his murders on the 7 deadly sins; fans of cop dramas will enjoy the dark, grim atmosphere and the twists and turns.

I hope you all enjoyed the countdown and check these movies out and may the gaming gods be with you.

 

Nightmare on Elm Street 2

elm street 2

Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge came out in 1985 and is considered by many to be the black sheep of the original Nightmare on Elm Street movies as well as the worst. That is honestly a debatable opinion I won’t get into but I happen to agree with it. Not to imply the 2 are connected but this also happens to be the only one not written by the late Wes Craven.

Jessie and his family movie into a new home. That home just so happens to be the former home of Nancy from the first movie. And you guessed it, it does not take long for shit to go south. From weird fires in toasters that aren’t plugged in to birds catching fire and exploding in living rooms this movie takes a weird turn from the first one.

Jessie on the other hand slowly becomes more and more possessed by Freddie. After killing the gym teacher and his best friend he sets his eyes on a pool party. The pool party scene may be the most odd in the movie, not bad, it is simply odd seeing Freddie chased off with a shotgun. The ending is also strangely reminiscent of the 1st movies with the school bus. All in all this is a really good horror movie, it is just a bad Freddie movie. Enjoy your Dreams, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

 

5 great horror games to scare the crap out of you.

October is practically Christmas for us at Saviorgaming so I thought I’d help kick shit off with a list of some of my favorite horror games. In no particular order, I can tell you these games gave me a good scare or at least spiked my blood pressure a bit. So let’s begin…

rere1 1. Resident Evil (remake) – Resident Evil was a tricky pick for which I’d pick. 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 were all acceptable really but the remake is somehow timeless. With a creepy as hell atmosphere, lack of ammo, interesting plot and two ways to play through it all, it’s a fun classic to bring out this Halloween that holds up pretty damn well and brings up a harsh challenge.

bloodborne 2 Bloodborne- call me whatever you want but this game got me a few times. And no, it wasn’t because of how hard the bosses are. I’m a fan of H.P Lovecraft and good bloody body horror and fucked up disturbing creatures, so Bloodborne filled my appetite quite nicely. Yharnam has an aesthetic close to the old settings of the classic black and white Universal monster movies I grew up with as well as I can imagine the Hunter traveling to slay Dracula or the Frankenstein monster. If you want a scary game that’s beautiful, bloody, and will kick your ass Bloodborne is for you.

evil within.  3. The Evil Within- Especially relevant with the sequel dropping next month, Friday the thirteenth to be exact, why not catch up? Revisit the horrors of Ruvik’s mind as you try to survive madness and monsters in the second best “horror casserole” I’ve ever played.

deadspace 4. Dead Space- This is my favorite “horror casserole” of all time. ith vibes from Alien, Carpenter’s Thing remake, Resident Evil, Evil Dead, Event Horizon, and good psychological twist,  Dead Space encapsulated me in Isaac Clarke’s quest through the ruined Ishimura for his missing girlfriend Nicole and the monstrous Necromorphs- which holy shit they are awesomely creative and freaky. The atmosphere is extremely freaky but breathtaking, the audio is creepy, and the game is scary as hell but still a blast.

isolation2  5. Alien: Isolation- anyone who knows me knew this was coming. Who wouldn’t want to be inside one the all time scariest movies? Isolation puts us there, disadvantaged against overwhelming odds and an unkillable alien that is shockingly lifelike. It’s a very tense game with a good story that will keep you on the edge of your seat, and have you question every noise you hear at night. Keep out of the vents my friends.

I hope you enjoyed my list and with the exception of Dead Space, we have reviews for all the aforementioned games. The Dead Space trilogy is soon to come as well as more Resident Evil and what not. Thank you for reading and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Nightmare on Elm Street

nmoes

Nightmare on Elm Street is possibly one of the most iconic horror films of all time, or at least of the 80’s. Released in November of 1984 audiences quickly discovered a new face of fear that would last for decades to come in the form of Freddie Krueger played by Robert Englund.

The first movie has our heroine Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) attempt to solve the mystery of her friend that was murdered in her sleep. Whileher police chief father (John Saxon) and the rest of the force believe local  hooligan Rod Lane (Jsu Garcia) is responsible Nancy is starting to think the nightmare her group of friends is having has some connection, The boy across the street Glen Lantz (Johnny Depp) attempts to help despite not believing in Nancy and her crazy theory.

As deaths pile up the story takes a wile turn as Nancy discovers her mother not only knew of Freddie, but he was a child murderer that she and the local parents set on fire and killed years prior. Freddie however lived on, haunting the dreams of the Elm street children seeking his revenge on the children of Elm street. And every town has an Elm street. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Resident Evil 6 Review

re6

Like another blood-boiling crapper I covered in my list of disappointing games, Resident Evil 6 had an assload of potential and hype surrounding it, and what we got was this. Originally, I called this game the product of what happens when you try pleasing everyone and that is ultimately what slaughters the game. The game ultimately has 4 separate campaigns with 7 total playable characters totaling 21 chapters if you count the pointless prologue that you eventually have to replay anyway later in Leon’s campaign…actually, the prologue is the lead up to his final boss as a matter of fact. The story of Resident Evil 6 is a royal clusterfuck if I ever saw one, only matching BvS by comparison, but I’ll do my best. Leon Kennedy kills the President of the US because he became a zombie, which became a thing again because of some government dickhead named Derrick or whatever- oh trust me, he’s a laugh at the end. Chris Refield is a ptsd driven alcoholic that is going after a cartel called the Jarvo that are drug peddling cricket-men with his bitchy sidekick Piers that keeps reminding you how much of a sad sorry sack of shit you became. Jake Mueller is a douchy super merc who happens to be Wesker’s son teaming up with Sherry Birkin- the annoying little girl from Resident Evil 2 who  grew up hot and has Wolverine level healing powers in cutscenes only as they are being chased by diet Nemesis/ Abomination/ metal armed Hellboy 2 troll guy wannabe. Ada Wong is trying to kill a evil clone of herself that set a lot of this shit in motion. Wow, writing this I can fully comprehend how batshit this all sounds.

Ok, the only real positive I give this game is that, graphically, it is beautiful. I give it that. After that, it is steaming ostrich diarrhea. The new upgrading mechanic blows; you don’t get many slots, and you’re aim jitters like a bitch when you fire in an attempt to be more realistic. In a game where one of your final bosses is a fucking zombie dinosaur man you worry about realistic shooting and getting tired in physical combat? Oh that’s great too, adding a ridiculous stamina system so you can get tired after 3 punches and resort to laughably over-exaggerated exhausted hits which cripples Jake’s campaign a bit. Leon’s is supposed to be old school horror- it ain’t. Chris is supposed to cater to the COD crowd- it doesn’t. Ada’s is supposed to be the stealth game- her stealth kills are sloppy as shit. The game isn’t really built for that kind of gameplay, and oh, can you tell. Instead of clever puzzles, everything is made insanely clear with bright indicators, oh, but don’t worry, we got truckloads of damn QTEs because you love them as much as going to the dentist who hates Novocaine. The chapters are long, and because the stories sometimes intersect, you will play the same part over again and watch the same damn cut scene again. I forced myself through his deep-fried ass cheese to get to some of the crapiest final bosses of recent gaming.

re6 dinosaur  This says volumes.

Overall, this game is crap. Resident Evil died in the hearts of many the day this came out and for good reason. This is a hemorrhoid on the series and modern gaming; this game is every rock in your trick or treat bag; this game is every bad bikini wax, every nasty toilet seat and every bowl of your grandma’s stale ass cereal she forgot was in her cupboard since disco was a thing. If your drunk you may like this but in the end, friends won’t let friends play Resident Evil 6.

October is Coming…

horror

October is coming. In fact its a few hours away. For most people that mean very little. For me and Torsten, well we have what may seem to many a an odd tradition. You see many years ago we both worked at a place we both hated. ok well he still work there, anyway we decided one Halloween since we were both off we would go to his place order pizza and watch horror movies all day. That tradition a lasted our entire friendship. Now because of work and such some times it has fallen onto days around Halloween. Now what that means for all of you is simple. While we cover mostly games and horror movies anyways, but October will be full of horror movies from Nightmare on Elm Street to Stephen King and more.  For those reading it if you want to drop some request feel free and we will do our best to track them down and review those as well. As always may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City

rerco

Oh boy…this is gonna be bad. Originally described to me by a friend as “Resident Evil meets Star Wars Battlefront” , I was immediately hooked. Playing as an Umbrella agent trying to contain the infamous Raccoon City outbreak- HELL YEAH! Well, sorry again slightly younger Torsten, but get ready to get boned again and have your hopes and dreamed set ablaze. Put bluntly, this game is laughably bad. And honestly, there was no reason it had to be that way. A good third person shooter during a zombie monster apocalypse shouldn’t be that hard of a thing to achieve. That being said, the gameplay was merely a super clunky SOCOM mash up that could be fun with a friend. Some people have told me the game is better in multiplayer but for the single player joes like myself, tough shit pal. The A.I is idiotic and a clear case of it looking like your comrades are doing shit but not really doing a damn thing. The shooting is god awful, like unless the damn zombies were directly in front of me I was screwed. Also, the stupid ass A.I partners would get in the way anyway. The graphics are meh and as for characters, the only two I can remember are HUNK- the Boba Fett of Resident Evil who has a unintentionally funny intro and a brief cameo and chase by William Birkin which is the best part if the running didn’t feel like a hot grilled ass and cheese sandwich… I’m going to end this review of this wad of giraffe dung with a anecdote: I got this used from my local game store. Cashier says “ouch dude, are you sure?” and for free he upgraded me to the steel book case and the told me what days he worked that week and told me if I brought it back, he’d let me exchange it for a equal value game, no questions asked. I came back less than 24 hours later, walked up to him and in front of people replied “Fuck this game.” That says it all. Overall, friends don’t let friends play Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City.

Space Harrier 2 Sega Forever

SH2

The latest entry into the Sega Forever catalog is one of many of these flying shooter games. I would however love to have been in the room for this pitch. “Hey lets make a space shooter.It will be called Space harrier” – Guy 1  ” Ok cool so a space jet?”-Guy 2 “Nah, dude with a red jump suit carrying a cannon”-Guy  “Hell yea make this happen”-Guy 2″ Seriously was there alcohol involved with this decision?  All that aside the game controls nicely and the sound is better than I remember. While this isn’t exactly the type of game I enjoy it was a nice nostalgia trip and fans of the genre and series won’t be disappointed. So go support Sega Forever and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

The mummy (1999)

the mummy

So how about we talk about a good remake of the Mummy and not a Marvel wannabe? This 1999 remake features fun likable characters, pretty impressive effects for the time that can be kinda creepy and it’s just a plain simple adventure. Imhotep was a priest in the days of ancient Egypt who was cursed and mummified alive because he helped kill the pharaoh and used some black magic to try bringing his dead girlfriend back to life. Hundreds of years later, a librarian named Evee out for adventure with her troublesome bother Jonathan save a convict Rick O Connell from the gallows because he swore to have seen the location to the lost city of…Haminaptra (my apologies for the horrific spelling). There, with other explorers, they find Imhotep’s corpse and the book that unintentionally brings him back from the dead. With his resurrection comes the horror of his feeding off of those who originally unlocked his tomb as he tries to unleash the ten plagues and bring back his girlfriend.

Overall, it’s definately a fun movie. Not quite a horror flick per say, there are some messed up parts like watching people getting mauled by scarabs or Imhotep’s first victim shuffling about after having his eyes and tongue ripped out. There’s a lot of cool action scenes and some good humor thrown throughout; it’s one of those rare movies that knows how to serious but not take itself too seriously. I highly recommend it, and as always thank you and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Night Of The Living Deb

night of deb

Every so often I come across a movie I know I shouldn’t watch but I do it anyway. Night of The Living Deb is one of them. The main character is annoying the movie itself isn’t very entertaining nor is it very inventive even by spoof movie standards. It is not necessarily a bad movie as I am sure many will feel differently than me, I can see where there would be a certain charm to it for many. However for me, I can not say I would watch it again. Stay safe and may the gaming gods bring you glory.