There was a time when going to summer camp was a common thing for children to do.  They got to socialize with other people of their ages, the parents got a few weeks of quiet to themselves... and a psycho was gainfully employed killing them... Angela and Ricky are sent to Camp Arawak for the summer.  Angela, unfortunately becomes the target for bullies. When those bullies start to die...it becomes clear that someone has a lust for blood... but who's doing it- and who'll be next? " Sleepaway Camp " is one those films that can- by many, be considered a "guilty pleasure".  You know you shouldn't enjoy it that much... but you do. But is it any good, though?  Well, on the surface, it's rather shallow.  At first viewing, it reads and looks like a cheap knock off of "Friday the 13th".  But, on closer viewing- and contemplation, there is a fair bit of depth to it. Especially if you view it through the lense of being a trans-narrative movie. The s...

Ever have one of those nights where you just wanted to tell your neighbours to shut the fuck up...? You're trying to sleep one night when a nearby party wakes you up.  It's been going on every night... and you've had enough.  Donning a mask, and grabbing your kitchen knife, you go to work... bringing sweet silence to the streets you stalk. .. " Party Hard " by Pinoki Games is a simple, fun game to play.  The mechanics are easy:  kill people where you won't be seen, sabotage items for accidents.  While it's a simple game to play, it's not an "easy" game to play in that you HAVE to think and strategize about how and when you're going to strike.  The levels also get progressively harder and more challenging as well. I like the story that's played out between the levels as well.  It's not complicated or overly deep, but still adds to the game in a nice way. The graphics are sprite based, and are a great throw back t...

Chris is meeting his girlfriend's family for the first time.  Strange comments by her parents, combined with odd behavior of the black staff causes Chris to begin investigating the family's history a bit more. What he discovers is a conspiracy that threatens himself and thousands of blacks with enslavement and destruction... The story is really good in Jordan Peele's " Get Out ".  It takes the touchy subject of slavery, and talks about it in a frank, open way via the use of horror.  As someone that has a real fear of losing my ability to think and control my body, the concept of "the sunken place", and having my body hijacked really struck a chord. The characters aren't too bad.  They aren't really all that fleshed out, beyond "good" and "bad", but you're able to at least root for Chris.  I didn't mind the character of Rod, but felt that his comedic turn was a bit much.  His scenes are funny as fuck, bu...

One of the icons of the horror literature genre is none other that Edgar Allan Poe.  Pretty much every short story he's written has been adapted onto the big and small screens. Edgar Allan Poe's death was very much like his stories- mysterious, creepy... and unsolved.  So, it was only a matter of time before the "story" behind the events leading up to his death was turned into a film... A   series of murders based upon Poe's short stories lead the police to investigate him as a suspect.  To clear his name, Poe must embark on a game of literary cat and mouse- and journey to the dark corners of his mind to find the real killer... at any price... The concept behind this movie is certainly interesting- especially for Poe fans and experts.  It moves at a fairly good clip, with some decent twists and turns to keep the viewer interested. The characters aren't too bad either- with Poe being the best of the lot of course.  There isn't much in th...

Every year at this time, people start going crazy for pumpkin spice lattes.  Me?  I get the urge to investigate the idea of what it would be like to combine the autumn flavor of pumpkins with the boozy goodness of beer. And thus, I found " Pumpkineater Imperial Pumpkin Ale " by Howe Sound Brewing. I enjoy seeing the various labels that craft beers have on them.  Some of them are really creative and artistic, while others are really polished and profession, while other still are just messy and idiotic. The label for   Pumpkineater   is a nice, simple label that is quite appealing to me.  I like the use of the overlapping trees in the background creating a nice texture for the focus of the label- the pumpkin.  Presumably the pumpkin you're "eating" in this ale.  I love how the pumpkin is done in a woodcut style: raw and imperfect, while still  having a great atmospheric feel to it.  A great label. The bottle is pre...

Horror and comedy have always gone together- which makes it a logical step to animate a horror comedy, right?  Right Dracula is getting lonely running his hotel.  His daughter Mavis decides that he needs a vacation from the hotel... and books a cruise for the whole gang. While there, he meets Ericka, the Captain of the cruise ship... and "zings"... But will the "zing" be mutual... or is Ericka hiding a dark secret that could ultimately mean Dracula's death? For a third entry in an animated franchise, " Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation " isn't bad.  It's not great, though.  I did enjoy the story.  It was sufficiently interesting enough to keep my attention through the bag of cheesy poofs I ate while watching it.  Beyond that, it's a fairly shallow plot. While it has the whole gang, (Frankie, Griffin the Invisible Man, Wayne the Wolfman, and Murray the Mummy), they play very minor roles as it relates to the plot.  It felt li...

Children can be pretty creepy, right?  Right.  Dolls are pretty creepy, right?  Right.  So dolls of children should be super creepy, right?  Maybe... Greta has been hired by the Heelshires to look after their son while they are away.  When she arrives, she learns that Brahms is actually a doll... a doll made to look like their deceased son.  Escaping an abusive relationship, and needing the money, Greta takes the job. Soon, she learns that there's more to Brahms than meets the eye... The premise of this movie really intrigued me.  I wanted to see it.  I was hoping that this would be a great supernatural horror movie that provided spooky tension and unease like " The Others " (2001), " The Changeling  "(1980), and " The Woman in Black " (2012). For the most part, the movie delivered on this promise with some really nice ghostly, "What the fuck?" moments.  Strange noises and whispers, shifting shadows, and the Brahm...

Sometimes, sequels are better than the original.  Sometimes, sequels are as good as the original.  Often, sequels are worse than the original... While rummaging through an abandoned house looking for scrap to sell, Sonny and Sam come across a mysterious chest in a hidden room.  Inside the chest is a strange, locked book.  Opening the book releases Slappy the Dummy... and all the chaos that follows him. Soon, it's up to these two young men, and Sonny's sister Sarah to save the town from the haunted Halloween... I wanted to like this movie.  I wanted this movie to give me something different from the previous one.  Really, I did. The story and plot is essentially the same as the first movie with only minor tweaks.  Because of this, I found my attention waning from moment to moment.  The scenes with the garden gnomes, and the gummy bears were enjoyable though. The characters aren't bad, but rather cookie cutter for teen type family horro...

You wouldn't normally expect to see a movie that combines feral kids and ghosts, right?  Well, 2013's " Mama " is unexpected that way... Years after their disappearance, Lily and Victoria are discovered living in a supposedly haunted forest.  They are taken to live with their Uncle Lucas and their Aunt Annabel (no relation to the doll). But something has followed them from the forest... something that wants the girls back ... Guillermo Del Toro's " Mama " is not, unfortunately, one of his better movies.  The story idea is great, but the execution is a little flat in my opinion.  The plot progression is steady and moves towards an interesting- though predictable climax. The main flaw is the characters.  The two girls- Victoria and Lily felt like they were more or less a MacGuffin, rather than fully realized characters in themselves.  Victoria gets a bit more growth and development than Lily... but not much.  Lucas doesn't get much developme...

One of the things I enjoy doing is reading books based on movies.  I always find it interesting to compare the two... The small, sleepy town of Antonio Bay is celebrating it's 100th birthday when an ill wind blows a strange fog onto it's shores... a fog that creeps along the streets with malicious intent... a fog that is seeking to collect payment on a long overdue debt. .. Amazingly, there aren't that many differences between the book, and the original movie.  What differences that do exist are extremely minor things that don't detract from the enjoyment of the story. I was able to visualize the characters as portrayed by the actors- and heard their voices in the dialogue as well- which isn't an easy task to do. Even though I knew how it ended, I still wanted to see how the book would deliver them to that final destination.  I wanted to keep reading, and I did keep reading.  I don't often read a book in a single reading, but I did with this one. An...

Halloween and children go together like peanut butter and jam.  Murder and children... not so much, right?  You might be surprised... Two families come together to share the holidays together, and ring in the New Year. Unfortunately, their children start to fall ill, and act irrationally. The New Year's going to be rung in with murderous intent this year... The story's concept brings to mind the classic " The Children of the Corn ", in that it too has kids killing adults.  That is where the similarities end though.  While the other film gives a fairly cohesive reason as to WHY the kids have turned against adults, " The Children " does not.  It's simply waved off as a virus.  There's no clue given as to why the virus does this... and given the reveal later, there's no mention of something similar happening elsewhere on the news or anything.  It's an interesting concept that unfortunately has the holiness of a soup strainer when exam...

Vampires.  Stephen King.  Halloween Day By Day.  The Corner of Terror. A match made in heaven, right? Writer Ben Mears returns to his home town of Salem's Lot to write about the local "haunted house"- the Marsten House.  His arrival seems to herald a plague: children disappearing... locals feeling tired and run down... and growing fear and suspicion. Did Ben bring death to Salem's Lot... or did Straker, another mysterious stranger. And who exactly is the never seen Kurt Barlow? 1979 saw Stephen King's novel " Salem's Lot " adapted for television.  This novel is one of King's more iconic works, and a great modern take on the classic, " Dracula ".  I'll save a review of the book for another time.  Today, we're going to discuss the mini-series. The story is essentially based on Bram Stoker's classic.  It is however nicely updated for a more modern audience, and set in a more grounded population.  It progressed ni...

As most people who know me are aware, I have a fondness for the older horror movies, so it's no surprise that I would be willing to pop back to 1987 to find an interesting one to review. That interesting one just happens to be John Carpenter's " Prince of Darkness "... A small church in Los Angeles is hiding a secret... a secret that has been guarded for thousands of year. A secret that has existed since before time began. A secret that is finally waking up ... The story concept is fascinating as far as I'm concerned.  The idea, and the basic story was able to carry me along, even though I could unfortunately predict many of the events to occur.  This is probably due to fact that, while the idea was unique, and interesting- the actually telling of it was done in the fairly standard format of the time for such movies. I liked the characters- especially the Priest (Donald Pleasance), Professor Birack (Victor Wong), and Catherine Danforth (Lisa Blount)...

If you're a horror fan- or a fan of Steven Spielberg, you're aware of the movie " Poltergeist ", right?  Well, what you may not be so aware of is the fact that there was a novel done based on the movie. Though, it's not too far-fetched, since pretty much every movie in the 1980's had a novel done for it... The Freelings are a happy family: A loving father and mother, two daughters and a son, and a lovable dog.  They are a happy family living in a cozy little community called Cueste Verde.  They have a comfortable home, and a comfortable life. Soon, however, things take a turn for the worst when their daughter, Carol Anne disappears... only for her voice to start transmitting through the family television... The only thing I'm going to say about the movie this book is based on is that I loved it when it came out.  I'll save the rest of my thoughts for a proper review at some point. This, however, is about the book. The book is actually p...

In 1984, Wes Craven introduced the world to Freddy Krueger, and horror movies were never quite the same again. In 1985, " A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge " came out, pushing Krueger into the realm of household word and horror icon. Five years after Nancy Thompson fought Freddy Krueger, Jesse Walsh has moved into her old house.  Soon, Jesse starts to experience bad dreams that become reality.  As people start to die, Jesse finds himself fighting Krueger for his very soul. .. While I did enjoy this movie, I found it fell short of the first one.  The premise of an entity possessing someone to kill is interesting, but I felt it didn't really fit in with Freddy's personality.  He wouldn't use someone else to kill in the "real world", since he could do so in their dreams.  Not only that, he strikes me as having a huge enough ego that he wouldn't want the puppet getting the credit for the kill.  Not only that, his being able to ma...

In my spare time, I enjoy collecting comics.  Fortunately, for you- there are quite a few horror comics out there... During the late 19th century, a vicious killer by the name of Jack the Ripper stalked the alleys of Whitechaple- bringing death, fear, and an undying legend to the annals of history. This is his story.. . Alan Moore is known in the comic world for amazing stories:  " Watchmen ", " V for Vendetta ", and " The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen ".  He continues that trend with " From Hell ".  The story is interesting, engaging, and flows smoothly, while presenting us with a unique look at the legend of Jack the Ripper.  The characters are well crafted, and fascinating.  There are numerous historical references made that add depth and texture to the plot. The art is great.  It plays nicely with shadows and textures to create a very suspenseful mood.  The sketchy nature of the drawings reflects the dirty, dingy atmosphere o...

Most of us see a horror movie, like " The Grudge ", or " The Ring ", then learn it's a North American remake of a Japanese film.  And we think that the Japanese are pretty badass and awesome.  Then we see the Japanese version of a movie, like " Zombie Ass: Toilet of the Dead "... and then we're not sure what to think of them... A group of friends are going camping in order to find Maki a tapeworm to help her stay skinny.  After swallowing a parasite found in a fish, the group are soon attacked by shambling people, and encounter Dr. Tanaka.  Soon, they discover the connection between Dr. Tanaka and the parasites ... Wow. Just wow. This is not a film to take seriously. At all. Poo covered zombies.  Butt loving parasites.  Farting.  Tentacle loving.  Farting.  Martial arts.  Farting.  Boobs. Did I mention farting? The premise is enough to make you scratch your head, and wonder how they pull it off.  The actual st...

I enjoy movies that subtly include social issues in the story, and use social fears as the basis for the plot.  " The Wasp Woman " by Roger Corman does this. Janice Starlin is desperate to save her cosmetic company, whose sales have dropped since customers have noticed that she's aging.  How far would she go to regain her youthful appearance... and at what cost? Roger Corman's " The Wasp Woman " is not one of his better films.  There is the obvious influence of the classic movie, " The Fly ", which only came out two years before.  While the concept isn't original, the story takes a different route, and offers up a lot of potential to include social commentary on the cosmetics industry, and humanity's fear of aging as well as its need to be beautiful.  While those are touched on (the fear of aging more so than the others), this movie misses some nice opportunities to bring even more depth to the story- and the characters at the same ti...

Welcome to the first review for 2014!  Woo Hoo! I was approached by Lori Kay about review her book, " Glint in the Dark ", and she even sent me a nice hard copy version of it.  It's taken a little while due to one thing after another happening in my Life- but I've finally been able to sit down and write up the review. Glint is a rock star with a dark past.  Unexpected coincidences soon bring him to the attention of radio station owner Grant Templeton.  Grant begins a journey to find out the source of Glint's success... and what connection he has to the death of his daughter years previously... While there are some horror elements in this story, it's more a dramatic one than a simple horror story.  It's about finding closure after the tragic death of a loved one, and the path that Justice can sometimes take in order to be served.  Those two themes add a nice depth to the story, and puts it above most in the genre. The writing style is fairly smoo...

In most horror films, you can be guaranteed of three "B's"- Boobs, Butts, and Blood.  Some of them, rely on just those three things to draw an audience... A group of friends are travelling when they become lost in the middle of a forest.  An accident strands them in the woods, where people have gone missing... and flesh eating creatures roam the shadowy trees ... " Demonic " (also known as " Forest of the Damned " won as this week's, " What Movie Wednesday " selection, and offered up plenty of the three "B's" mentioned above.  Unfortunately, that was all that was appealing about this film. I liked the premise- angels that lusted after man and fell to earth in disgraceg the woods eating people.  Too bad the only real indications of the creatures' angelic origins was a biblical quote at the start, and a couple of crazed rants by two people.  The concept could've added a lot more depth to the story, and adding m...