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‘The Walking Dead Episode 3′ Review: A Masterful Blend Of Drama And Horror
The third episode in Telltale Games’ post-apocalyptic roller coaster ride The Walking Dead is out now, and wow, is it a doozy. The first episode, A New Day, introduced us to the game’s (mostly) likable cast of characters, then Episode 2 – Starved for Help took everything into an unexpectedly disturbing direction. Now it’s Episode 3 – Long Road Ahead’s turn to drain us emotionally with some of the grimmest storytelling I’ve ever seen in a video game. It’s dark, and as the middle point in the games it successfully manages to set the stage for the final two episodes. There’s also a very good chance this is the best episode yet.
The Baby Factor: If the cinematic storytelling of Heavy Rain got together with one of the more emotionally draining episodes of The Walking Dead TV series, Long Road Ahead would be the result.
Episode 1 – A New Day was great, but it wasn’t until Starved for Help came along when developer Telltale Games showed us how twisted they were willing to take things. It was an incredible episode with a revelation that had me picking me jaw up off the floor with trembling hands, but even with how memorable it was, Long Road Ahead does the impossible by being better in almost every way.
It picks up where its predecessor left off, with the survivors still caged up in their barricaded motor inn, and Kenny and Lee making occasional trips into the town of Macon for supplies. The bandits introduced in the previous episode are out in force, trying to make things difficult for the group and the two wannabe leaders, Lilly and Kenny, are fighting over the best course of action. With the constant threat of the bandits in the nearby forest looming over their heads, should they stay in the temporary shelter of the motor inn or press their luck and head for the coast? Tensions are high, and of course, everything is about to get worse.
Unsurprisingly, something happens that forces the group to haul ass out of the inn, but while they might’ve left their “home” behind, the problems between several members of the group haven’t gone anywhere.
Long Road Ahead will be bringing up several of the decisions you’ve made over the course of the games, so be prepared for that. As the group becomes more divided and a certain individual’s grip on their sanity continues to loosen, it’s quickly apparent there’s a ticking time bomb among the survivors. Unfortunately, before anything can be done to remedy the situation, things do what they do in The Walking Dead by getting worse. Then, they continue to get much worse before that elusive light at the end of the tunnel reveals itself, and even then, the light is dim at best.
Somehow, Episode 3 is the funniest and the most depressing episode so far. It’s a dark ride for sure, but there are a few brief respites from the continual chaos so you can catch your breath and prepare for the next plunge. One of the many things that helped make this a stronger story is unlike the first, it doesn’t have to worry about any introductions. We know the situation, and most of us are very invested in Telltale’s brilliantly fleshed out characters. This gives them the opportunity to make us feel like we’re doing great, if only so they can knock us down and kick us repeatedly.
Like the previous episodes, Long Road Ahead offers the same mixture of dynamic conversations, exploration, and some light puzzle-solving. It also has a very brief section where the game turns into a first person shooter. Again, it’s extremely short-lived, but because this isn’t one of those finely tuned shooters many of us are used to, the 2-3 minutes I spent trying to line up head shots while everything violently unraveled around me ended up standing out as one of the more stressful parts of the game.
One of the most surprising things about this episode didn’t actually happen during the episode. For those of you who haven’t played these games–though if you haven’t by now, you best have a damn good reason–once you finish an episode you’re given a rundown of the choices other players made when it came to the more difficult decisions in the episode. This doesn’t spoil anything since this happens at the very beginning of the episode; one of the choices you have to make pretty early on is whether or not to save a woman who’s about to be eaten alive by the undead. She’s already bitten, so saving her is out of the question, so your only options are to kill her to save her from a lot of pain, or let the zombies turn her into a snack to buy you a little extra time. Being a decent human being, I went with the former, only to find out that over 60% of players decided to let her get eaten alive.
Basically, what I’m saying is you’re all a bunch of psychos.
The Final Word: Long Road Ahead continues Telltale’s impressive ability of bringing us episodes that only keep getting better. This is the most emotionally charged episode so far, and it brings with it more than a few difficult decisions. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, then you’ll cry some more when you realize we have to wait another month for Episode 4.
This review is based on the Xbox 360 version of The Walking Dead.
Have a question? Feel free to ever-so-gently toss Adam an email, or follow him on Twitter and Bloody Disgusting.
We are now one full month into Spring 2024, which kicked off on Tuesday, March 19 and comes to an end with the start of Summer on Thursday, June 20. This year’s summer movie season has a whole bunch of exciting horror highlights, including A Quiet Place: Day One, MaXXXine, and Alien: Romulus, but let’s hold that particular thought until June rolls around.
We’re here today to talk about Spring 2024 and the many horrors we still have left before the weather gets warmer and we find ourselves in the heat of one hell of a spooky summer.
Here are 12 horror movies you don’t want to miss in Spring 2024!
STING – April 12
Two words: SPIDER HORROR. Writer/Director Kiah Roache-Turner (Wyrmwood) hopes to induce eight-legged terror with his brand new horror movie Sting, only in theaters April 12.
Of particular note, Sting features practical spider effects from 5-time Academy Award Winner Weta Workshop, with the spider in this one inspired by H.R. Giger’s Xenomorph!
In Sting, “One cold, stormy night in New York City, a mysterious object falls from the sky and smashes through the window of a rundown apartment building. It is an egg, and from this egg emerges a strange little spider. The creature is discovered by Charlotte, a rebellious 12-year-old girl obsessed with comic books. Keeping it as a secret pet, she names it Sting.
“But as Charlotte’s fascination with Sting increases, so does its size. Growing at a monstrous rate, Sting’s appetite for blood becomes insatiable.”
BLACKOUT – APRIL 12
Indie darling Larry Fessenden is back with new horror movie Blackout this Spring, Fessenden’s third movie – following Habit and Depraved – to put his own spin on classic monsters.
While Habit was centered on vampires and Depraved was a fresh take on Frankenstein’s Monster, Larry Fessenden’s Blackout is the filmmaker’s contribution to werewolf cinema.
The film follows Charley, an artist whose drinking binges blur with his sneaking suspicion that he might be a werewolf. He distances himself from those he loves and sinks deeper into solitude, his flashes of memory of his nighttime grisly acts manifested through his artwork.
ARCADIAN – APRIL 12
If Nicolas Cage is covered in blood, you better believe we’re going to be watching. Cage gets his own A Quiet Place with Arcadian, a new creature feature coming to theaters April 12.
In Arcadian, which also comes to Shudder later this year, “After a catastrophic event depopulates the world, a father (Nicolas Cage) and his two sons must survive their dystopian environment while being threatened by mysterious creatures that emerge at night.”
Jaeden Martell (IT 2017) also stars in the post apocalyptic monster movie.
ABIGAIL – APRIL 19
If you’re bummed about Melissa Barrera being fired from the Scream franchise, you’ll definitely want to get out to your local theater this month to support Abigail, the new VAMPIRE BALLERINA horror movie from Scream and Scream VI directors Radio Silence.
Barrera stars alongside fellow horror favorite Kathryn Newton (Freaky) in Abigail, which is actually the latest horror movie in Universal’s relaunched Universal Monsters Universe.
In the film, “After a group of would-be criminals kidnap the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, all they have to do to collect a $50 million ransom is watch the girl overnight. In an isolated mansion, the captors start to dwindle, one by one, and they discover, to their mounting horror, that they’re locked inside with no normal little girl.”
LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL – APRIL 19
One of the most talked about horror movies of Spring 2024 has been the Halloween 1977-set Late Night With the Devil, which has been playing in theaters since its premiere on March 22.
Late Night with the Devil will begin streaming at home on April 19, 2024, less than one month after arriving in theaters. Shudder will be the exclusive streaming home of the movie.
David Dastmalchian (Dune, The Suicide Squad) stars as the host of a late-night talk show that descends into a nightmare in Late Night with the Devil, set on Halloween 1977.
In the found footage-style film that captures a period aesthetic, “A live television broadcast in 1977 goes horribly wrong, unleashing evil into the nation’s living rooms.”
INFESTED – APRIL 26
Spring 2024 is all about SPIDERS – sorry, arachnophobes! – with the previously mentioned Sting being followed by the French creature feature Infested (Vermines) later this month.
What’s particularly exciting about Infested is that its director, Sébastien Vaniček, has been hired to direct the next installment in the Evil Dead film franchise, so this will be our first taste of what Vaniček is capable of within the genre. And the buzz for this one is strong.
In his review out of Fantastic Fest last year, for starters, Bloody Disgusting’s own critic Trace Thurman raved that Infested is “one of the best spider attack movies in years.”
In the upcoming horror film, “Fascinated by exotic animals, Kaleb finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap.”
HUMANE – APRIL 26
The daughter of horror master David Cronenberg, Caitlin Cronenberg is making her own mark in the genre filmmaking space with IFC Films’ Humane, coming to theaters this month.
The film is described as “a dystopian satire taking place over a single day, months after a global ecological collapse has forced world leaders to reduce the earth’s population.”
The wild premise? 20% of the world’s population must VOLUNTEER TO DIE!
“In a wealthy enclave, a recently retired newsman has invited his grown children to dinner to announce his intentions to enlist in the nation’s new euthanasia program. But when the father’s plan goes horribly awry, tensions flare and chaos erupts among his children.”
I SAW THE TV GLOW – MAY 3
Fresh off the haunting and singularly creepy indie We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, Jane Schoenbrun is back with A24‘s I Saw the TV Glow, releasing only in theaters this May.
Meagan Navarro wrote in her Sundance review for BD, “I Saw the TV Glow offers a layered and authentic portrait of identity, wrapped in ’90s nostalgia and surreal imagery that embeds itself deep into your psyche.” Meagan continues, “Schoenbrun delivers a singular vision of arthouse horror that entrances for its fevered dream style and insanely cool imagery.”
In A24’s latest, “Owen is just trying to make it through life in the suburbs when his classmate introduces him to a mysterious TV show — a vision of a supernatural world beneath their own. In the pale glow of the television, Owen’s view of reality begins to crack.”
TAROT – MAY 3
Originally titled Horrorscope, a much better title if you’re asking me, Screen Gems returns to the big screen with studio horror movie Tarot this Spring, a Tarot-card themed spookshow.
When a group of friends recklessly violates the sacred rule of Tarot readings – never use someone else’s deck – they unknowingly unleash an unspeakable evil trapped within the cursed cards in the upcoming Screen Gems horror movie Tarot. One by one, they come face to face with fate and end up in a race against death to escape the future foretold in their readings.
The hook for this one? Artist Trevor Henderson designed the film’s eight monsters!
THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 1 – MAY 17
Bryan Bertino’s 2008 home invasion classic The Strangers spawns a brand new reboot trilogy this year, with first film The Strangers: Chapter 1 kicking things off in theaters on May 17.
The Strangers: Chapter 2 is expected to follow in Fall 2024.
Madelaine Petsch is the lead of the new reboot trilogy, playing a character who drives cross-country with her longtime boyfriend to begin a new life in the Pacific Northwest.
When their car breaks down in Venus, Oregon, they’re forced to spend the night in a secluded Airbnb, where they are terrorized from dusk till dawn by three masked strangers.
IN A VIOLENT NATURE – MAY 31
Slasher fans who have been hungry for a new Friday the 13th movie won’t want to miss In a Violent Nature, which plays out like a Friday movie… entirely from Jason’s perspective!
IFC Films will release In a Violent Nature exclusively in theaters on May 31.
In the film, “When a locket is removed from a collapsed fire tower in the woods that entombs the rotting corpse of Johnny, a vengeful spirit spurred on by a horrific 60-year old crime, his body is resurrected and becomes hellbent on retrieving it. The undead golem hones in on the group of vacationing teens responsible for the theft and proceeds to methodically slaughter them one by one in his mission to get it back – along with anyone in his way.”
Meagan Navarro wrote in her Sundance review for Bloody Disgusting, “In a Violent Nature may offer slasher thrills and a delightfully gory rampage across the wilderness, but the approach captures the carnage through ambient realism. It results in a fascinating arthouse horror experiment that plays more like a minimalist slice-of-life feature with a grim twist.”
THE WATCHERS – JUNE 14
M. Night Shyamalan returns with the new thriller Trap this coming August, but the road to that film’s release will be paved by the feature debut of his daughter, Ishana Night Shyamalan.
Ishana Night directed The Watchers, in theaters from WB/New Line on June 14.
The film follows Mina, a 28-year-old artist, who gets stranded in an expansive, untouched forest in western Ireland. When Mina finds shelter, she unknowingly becomes trapped alongside three strangers who are watched and stalked by mysterious creatures each night.
Which Spring 2024 horror movies are YOU most looking forward to?
4 New Horror Movies Releasing This Week Including ‘Late Night with the Devil’ at Home
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‘Sting’ Review – Throwback Creature Feature Entertains With an Impressive Practical Monster
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