For once, the bad reviews were correct. We usually like horror movies that have been massacred by critics, but Shady Grove deserved the low ratings it got by its’ merciless audience.
First of all, the actors looked like they were there against their will. Every line felt weird and awkward, each scene seemed painful, and there was a huge lack of chemistry between the characters.
My overall impression of the movie is that one day somebody had an idea for a story, but had no clue what to do with it. That’s probably why the movie is so disliked, and will, over time, disappear into oblivion. Seriously, I couldn’t even find any interesting facts or trivia, that alone is rare.
It may have been a pathetic attempt in creating a horror film, but it wasn’t bad enough to stop before the end. All the cringy WTF moments are what kept us entertained. While it made us laugh, I would never watch this again, neither recommend it.
We found footage fans are a rare breed. We all fully admit that most of these movies are extremely badly rated and scare off most horror fans. Unlike most movies of this genre, this one is exceptional, different, and fun! The actor (Joseph Winter) who portrays the main character Shawn is also the writer and director of “Deadstream”.
The film centres on a streamer that wants to make his big come back after a long ban from social media by visiting a haunted house. The most scary part of the movie is the beginning, even though I wouldn’t really call it scary since the actor looks like a not-so-serious and likeable dude. The further the story develops, the more gore and the more fun it becomes.
They obviously didn’t use the big CGI galore like most movies nowadays, but went for the puppet / costume option in stead. The movie feels like a modern world concept that adopted the 80’s style horror genre. It reminds me a lot of The Evil Dead in many ways.
A perfect B-movie, fun and entertaining. Highly recommended, even for people who dislike found footage films.
After reading the trivia about this movie on IMDb, I was surprised that Sinister 2 was considered a failure. This is the reason why the third movie and the crossover project with Insidious were abandoned. I really don’t have the same taste as these reviewers, I actually loved the sequel as much as the first one.
The Sinister movies are all about the feeling that something evil and disturbing will happen. In my opinion, they succeeded at that. There were more snuff movies involved in the sequel, each very creative in the way they killed their victims. I also think that Bughuul (which means Boogeyman) is as menacing as ever, leaving a feeling of you can run, but you can’t hide.
Nicolas King who plays Bughuul, apparently had Baguul put on his license plate, and had his costume stored in his closet. The guy really lived in the skin of his character. If you think that TV or movies can have an effect on your life, imagine the actors that gave life to a character other than their own person. But, that’s a topic for another blog post.
TLDR; Sinister 2 lived up to my expectations, the unsettling vibe throughout the movie is one of the best ever created. It left me with an eerie feeling of impending doom, and I love that. Maybe I’m not easily afraid due to all the horror I’ve watched in my life, but when a movie gives me the chills, it’s a win.
After the fun we had completing the “Breaking the Chains” meta achievement for Korthia, Sardoken and I started working on the one for Zereth Mortis, “From A to Zereth”.
Until now, we’ve downed all the elusive rares, found all the remaining treasures,… the only thing left on the list is to reach exalted with The Enlightened. Since this is fairly easy by just doing world quests and killing rares, it’ll happen soon.
Compared to other meta achievements (think BfA) the Shadowlands ones are pretty easy and fun. The only part that I thought would be hard to get was “Dune Dominance”, even that was completed in the blink of an eye. The screenshot below portrays perfectly what I love in WoW, the huge amount of people for one rare. What a lightshow! I hope this’ll never change!
Right now, I’m searching for all the schematics for protoform synthesis to craft all Zereth Mortis’ pets and mounts. Before Dragonflight comes out, I want to have completed all that Shadowlands has to offer. We need a lot of special materials to craft protoform creatures, and even these are fun to farm. The LFG tool always has farm groups up to get Genesis Motes, and they drop fairly easy. I think we’ll still be spending quite some time in this zone, if not for the crafting, there are also other fun achievements to complete like “Apocopocolypse Now”.
Now, if the summer heat would calm down again, that would be great. I have other places to be than in my living room. Even though, having more time to work on the blog is a great thing.
A widow begins to uncover her recently deceased husband’s disturbing secrets. – iMDB
I’m writing this post not to forget that we’ve watched this movie. Weird thing, we did, and I already forgot about its’ existence. If it weren’t for Sardokens’ infallible memory, this one would have gone straight to oblivion. Makes me wonder what happened that night though.
After watching the trailer, I now remember it was an entertaining watch. There was this eerie vibe throughout the entire movie, but I wouldn’t have called it scary. As a reference, I haven’t jumped once, and coming from me that means something.
I would definitely not call this a horror fest, it’s more of a haunting mystery thriller. The story was pretty solid and original, maybe not the best movie, but worth the watch none the less.
After many hours in AC Odyssey, getting lost in many quest lines and exploring the huge map, I’ve finished the main story line. It was fun, but it’s far from over. While I’ve killed many cultists, they haven’t all been slain. As long as my cultist page isn’t fully tainted red, I won’t give up on the game.
Apparently, there are nine different endings of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey depending on how many of Kassandras’ (or Alexios’) family members remain alive at the end of the game. Here is the short version of how I got to “a happy ending”:
In Chapter 2 “The Wolf of Sparta”, spare your father, Nikolaos;
In Chapter 6 “Catching Up”, tell your mother, Myrinne, you will save your brother, Deimos, from the cult;
During the quest “Ashes to Ashes”, save the baby;
In Chapter 7 “Paint it Red”, be kind to Nikolaos and tell him to help Stentor;
Don’t kill Stentor;
During the quest “A Bloody Feast”, tell Myrinne that you’ll bring Deimos back;
In “A Bloody Feast”, tell Deimos to hold on after you fight him;
During the quest “Doing Time”, convince Deimos the cult is manipulating you both. Deimos will say “I am not your puppet,” if it worked;
Continue to convince Deimos the cult is using him and refuse to fight in “Where it all Began”.
As a bonus for saving all of your family members, you’ll have them unlocked as Lieutenants for your ship. At first, I wasn’t too happy about having to do naval battles to progress in the game, but upgrading my ship changed that. It was pretty fun cleaving through ships as if they were butter.
Also, the end of the “Daughters of Artemis” quest line broke my heart, but I won’t spoil it in case Sardoken would decide one day he’d want to play Odyssey. While it was fun killing all those legendary beasts, I still can’t believe that the developers came up with an end like that. Ubisoft, sponsored by prozac.
For a game that I was so prejudice about in the past (I’d never play it, even if hell would freeze over), I’m having a lot of fun. Even AC Valhalla made it to my backlog, who would have thought that? Certainly not me.
I remember watching the first Scream in 1996 at the theatre with my friends. It was a great Saturday eve slasher, and I loved it. I can still hear the iconic “Hello Sidney”, I think that these 2 words are imprinted in a lot of minds of people of my generation. However, after my disappointment with the second and third movie, I completely gave up on the franchise, and forgot it even existed. Until a new Scream was released this year.
It was fun seeing the old cast back in action, even though I have mixed feelings about Courteney Cox. I know that getting old isn’t easy, whether your appearance is mandatory or not. Every one I know suffers the same fate, and I understand that some people try to escape the inevitability by going to a plastic surgeon. Yet, I think that in most cases plastic surgery makes things far worse than they are. Honestly, I didn’t know whether to be scared of the killer(s) or Courteney Cox’ appearance.
Regardless, Scream 5 was a fun watch and brought back a lot of memories. Don’t expect anything deep though. I pity the ones who watch a slasher movie, and write a bad review cause they expected an award winning quality. Scream is what it is, a perfect Saturday Eve horror movie, and I’m glad a 6th one’ll be released in 2023. To be continued…
When archivist Dan Turner takes a mysterious job restoring a collection of damaged videotapes from 1994, he finds himself reconstructing the work of documentary filmmaker Melody Pendras and her investigation into a dangerous cult. As Dan is drawn into Melody’s story, he becomes convinced he can save her from the terrifying end she met 25 years ago. – IMDb
This TV-show is amazing, I absolutely loved it. First of all, I had no idea that nowadays people would be interested in restoring old tapes. I googled “restoring old tapes”, the amount of results that appeared surprised me. Watching Dan working his magic in Archive 81, was hypnotic. Granted, it was shot in a way that I looked like eye candy. I think that I would have really liked this job.
The videotapes Dan needs to restore, were shot at the Visser in the 90’s. The decade that gems like Twin Peaks and the X-files were created. Archive 81 belongs on that same shelf to me. I think that the reason why I love this TV-show this much is because so many boxes are checked for me.
Imagine taking on a mysterious job restoring a collection of damaged videotapes in a remote location where there is absolutely no connection, and no way to get in contact with anyone but your shady employer. Things start to happen, and none can be explained scientifically. All you know is that it’s real. If I would have been in Dans’ shoes, I would have gone insane.
I think that this concept mixed with Cthulhu-esque elements like alternate timelines, comets, some otherworldly intoxicating mould, a cult who worships a demon / god named Kaelego,… works like a charm on me.
Archive 81 is based on a podcast with the same name so I started researching about Kaelego, hoping I would stumble on some ancient historical facts. Of course, like expected, it’s pure fiction (one can only dream). However, I did read an interesting article on Den of Geek about the deity / demon Kaelego, the comets, the Vos Society, the Baldung witches, the Otherworld,… All I can say is that I’m awestruck by the world they’ve created.
There are many references to Dante’s Divine Comedy. The main character’s name is Dan T. (Dante) and he’s being taken on a journey with a man named Virgil (Dante’s guide). I still can’t believe I’ve read those books one day though, it’s not exactly light reading.
The music Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow created for the show is haunting. It crawls under your skin and gives a dark and intense vibe to the show. You feel something building up, like they’re trying to create a rift between two worlds. It’s daunting and tense. It reminds me a lot of Eyes Wide Shut, The Lords of Salem, and Twin Peaks.
There are only a few jump scares in the entire first season, but it weren’t those that scared the living hell out of me. This show is more about a lingering feeling of eeriness / creepiness which creates a tense atmosphere. I absolutely love this kind of thing, and I was sad to hear that Netflix cancelled the show without giving any reason. Regardless, I still don’t give up hope that it’ll be renewed one day.
One of the overall least popular seasons of American Horror Story is Roanoke. Granted, it isn’t my favourite either. It started off well, but instead of building up the story slowly, they directly went into full blow action and horror. They could have managed that better, in my opinion. While the first part let itself watch, the second became a drag and the end was mediocre. The reason why we went on to watch the show, is because we love the AHS cast. The actors are amazing, we got so attached to them that even a lesser season got us clung to the tv.
My Roanoke Nightmare is based on the true mystery of the Lost Colony of Roanoke:
In 1587 a small colony was founded on an island off the eastern coast of North America. The settlement would have been the first permanent English colony in the New World, had the settlers not disappeared owing to unknown circumstances. The lost colony of Roanoke is one of the most-notorious mysteries in American history; the cryptic clues left at the abandoned settlement and the lack of any concrete evidence make it the focus of wild speculation and theories. (source: brittanica.com)
An interesting topic which indeed leaves space for a lot of wild theories. I’ve read crazy ideas about zombie outbreaks, insane massacres, and all kinds of creepy stuff that only belong in horror movies. Nevertheless, I wonder how close AHS got to reality. Hopefully (most certainly) they are far off cause one thing is for sure, My Roanoke Nightmare is gruesome. From cannibalism to slaughter, they didn’t hesitate with the gore and were quite creative with the deaths of certain characters.
TLDR, I loved the first part of the show, but only went on watching it thanks to the excellent cast. The next and 7th season will be “AHS Cult”. I haven’t read anything about it so, I wonder what kind of horrific adventure Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuck have in store for us this time.
After years of instantly dismissing games like Assassin’s Creed for some made up stigmata; I solemnly swear that I’ll never be prejudice again. When AC Odyssey came out, I was quite negative without even having played it, but when I saw some breathtaking screenshots on twitter, I started doubting my negativity towards the AC franchise and all other games I’ve ever discarded without any valid reason. Now, I’m 60+ hours later in the game and I’m having a blast.
The game is so much fun for many reasons;
It has a lot of diversity. You can go explore maps, quest, kill beasts, do naval battles, gather resources, complete objectives,… there’s always something for any kind of mood.
The gameplay in itself is great, intuitive and fun. You have the choice between warrior, hunter and assassin’s skills which you can mix up however you like. You can adapt your game to your own play style, I absolutely love this. Another plus is that you can reset your ability points whenever you want at a low cost.
The landscapes are jaw dropping, I sometimes stop everything to admire the beautiful view.
The developers really went out of their way when it comes to detail. My advise is to play with a headset for the immersion. The sound of the environment and the interaction with it is so accurate and detailed, it feels lifelike.
Swimming… It may sound weird, but I love to swim in Odyssey. The waves sometimes are threatening and daunting, but diving and swimming in general are so peaceful (if you can avoid the sharks and enemy ships hehe). Again the detail of the water, the way you shake off the water when climbing out of the sea, the sound of it,… they did an excellent job at Ubisoft creating this world.
If I may make just one suggestion: add a button “kick”. As you can see in the screenshot above, some of the bodies really don’t want to be disposed of and keep falling on the ledge where they remain… a little kick or push would do the trick though. It took me a while to get rid of that one. On another note, as you can see, some have a flair for dramatics when they die.
Another great thing that they’ve added to the game and that I’m going to mention here as a reminder for myself, is the screenshot mode within the game. I play AC Odyssey on Steam, so I can take screenshots with F12 which is great, but it doesn’t remove the interface. Since the game is always linked to a Ubisoft account, you can take screenshots by pressing F3. It makes your screen look like this:
As you can see, there are quite a few options for taking your perfect screenshot. Once you’ve taken it, it’ll be uploaded via your Ubisoft account for others to see. When you check out your map in game, you can see your screenshots as well as those of other people. The cool thing is you can drop a like on any of the pictures posted there.
Like I’ve mentioned before, I’m currently at 60+ hours in the game, and I’m only level 25. I’ve read somewhere that it usually takes 40+ hours, but I’m taking my time. When I check my map, more than half of it hasn’t been explored yet so, I guess I still have quite some fun ahead. I have to admit that I love to explore every nook and cranny, and complete every objective that crosses my path. At this rate I’ll be at a few hundreds of hours I think, but the longer it takes, the better. I wonder if AC Valhalla is as great. It certainly is on my list, and I will play it one day when I’ve completed Odyssey.
