Deadline reports this week that Feig will direct Detention for Blumhouse Atomic Monster and Platinum Dunes, with the film’s spec screenplay written by Daniel Gold.

At this time, unfortunately, all plot details are completely under wraps.

Deadline notes, however, “While the plot is being kept under wraps, sources say the film will be a horror thriller, which excited Feig, who, after successfully directing global hit The Housemaid this past Christmas, wanted to try something even darker.”

The outlet adds, “No studio is attached, but sources say Universal likely will get a first crack at it given its relationship with Platinum Dunes and Blumhouse Atomic Monster.”

Producers on Detention include Michael Bay, Jason Blum, Brad Fuller, Cameron Fuller, Paul Feig and Laura Fischer. Steven Schneider will executive produce the horror film.

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Here’s where to stream this week’s picks.

For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.

Detention – Fandango at Home, Kanopy, Prime Video

Detention is based on Red Candle’s excellent 2017 side-scrolling horror game of the same name and is frequently considered one of the best horror video game adaptations. It’s set in 1960s Taiwan during the grim White Terror Period and follows Fang Ray-shin. She’s a student who wakes to discover her school has evacuated for a storm, and she’s trapped there by floods. Fang Ray-shin, along with one other student, looks for a way out by candlelight, but they find they’re not alone. It’s a politically charged nightmare filled with ghosts, monsters, and more.

DreadOut – Prime Video

High school friends accidentally open a portal to hell when they decide to livestream themselves in a haunted house. This adaptation of Digital Happiness’ survival horror game comes from Kimo Stamboel, the writer/director behind gory Indonesian hits The Queen of Black Magic and Netflix’s The Elixir. While not exactly a faithful adaptation, nor one with much of a body count, this supernatural chiller does bring eerie atmosphere in spades.

Resident Evil – Hulu

Paul W.S. Anderson’s action horror adaptation of Capcom’s beloved video game opts to carve its own path forward, tossing faithfulness to its source material out the window. Resident Evil scraps the game’s characters in favor of Alice (Milla Jovovich), an amnesiac discovering just how deep the horrors of the Umbrella Corporation run after a lab accident causes employees to mutate. The adaptation spawned five more sequels before Johannes Roberts rebooted with Welcome to Raccoon City, and Netflix remixed the games’ lore with a YA series. And there’s more on the way; Zach Cregger’s take arrives later this year.

Silent Hill – AMC+, Shudder

In this film adaptation of the popular video game, Rose (Radha Mitchell) takes her adoptive daughter Sharon (Jodelle Ferland) to Silent Hill’s mysterious town for the truth of Sharon’s troubled past. One car crash later, Sharon is missing, and the area is blanketed in a thick fog inhabited by monsters. Rose will have to fight both the monsters and the town’s fanatical cult to get her daughter back. It’s a visually impressive adaptation full of extraordinary creatures and gore. The cast is stacked as well; Alice Krige continues to nail the terrifying villainess role. All you need to know is two words: Pyramid Head.

Werewolves Within – AMC+, Hulu, Kanopy, Shudder

Forest ranger Finn Wheeler (Sam Richardson) embraces his new assignment in the cozy little town of Beaverfield. He barely settles in before he’s getting to know the colorful residents through their vocal opinions on the new pipeline construction project that’s creating major division among them. Then he discovers that a brutal murderer is hiding among them, and a severe snowstorm traps them all together at the inn. Werewolves Within is less interested in werewolves and more interested in exploring how the possibility of one hiding in plain sight can turn a town inside out. It’s a much more playful, comedic twist on a Needful Things-like setup.

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It doesn’t appear that the horror video game adaptation trend will slow down any time soon, with Barbarian director Zach Cregger gearing up to take on Resident Evil and André Øvredal (The Last Voyage of the Demeter) attached to direct Bendy and the Ink Machine.

All of this to say that movies based on video games have come a very long way since 1993’s Super Mario Bros., especially in the genre space. This week’s streaming picks are dedicated to horror video game adaptations. Here’s where to stream these five horror movies.

For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.

Detention – Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Tubi

Detention is based on Red Candle’s excellent 2017 side-scrolling horror game of the same name and is frequently considered one of the best horror video game adaptations. It’s set in 1960s Taiwan during the grim White Terror Period and follows Fang Ray-shin. She’s a student who wakes to discover her school has evacuated for a storm, and she’s trapped there by floods. Fang Ray-shin, along with one other student, looks for a way out by candlelight, but they find they’re not alone. It’s a politically charged nightmare filled with ghosts, monsters, and more.

Doom – Prime Video

An entertaining B-horror movie romp with loose ties to the fan-favorite game. Space Marines get sent to Mars to investigate a strange attack on a research facility and soon find themselves in a fight for survival against predatorial mutated humans. With fun creature work and action sequences and a notable cast led by Dwayne Johnson, Karl Urban, and Rosamund Pike, Doom brings the monster carnage. Approach it as a fun creature feature over faithful adaptation, though it does feature references and nods to the video game, including an inspired use of “God mode.” Look for perennial favorite Richard Brake among the Marines.

Monster Hunter – Hulu

Resident Evil filmmaker Paul W.S. Anderson takes on another popular video game franchise from Capcom with this action-heavy adaptation starring Milla Jovovich and Tony Jaa. Jovovich stars as Lt. Artemis, who guides her unit to search for a Bravo team that disappeared without a trace. A freak sandstorm appears, whisking them away to a strange and hostile land filled with deadly monsters. The mythology here is as uncomplicated and straightforward as its characters, all the more room to let the exciting set pieces and creatures take center stage. Monster Hunter lives up to its title when it comes to big spectacle monster mayhem.

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City – Starz

A video game adaptation is often measured by its faithfulness to the source material, and on that front, director Johannes Roberts delivered the most faithful rendition of Capcom’s beloved Resident Evil games so far. Welcome to Raccoon City remixes the first two games in Capcom’s popular game series, giving a highlight reel that delivers on iconic moments, intense horror sequences, and the clunky dialogue fans come to expect. That means stunning set pieces and standout scenes lifted straight out of the game, but it also means an overstuffed plot and drastically different takes on fan favorites like Leon Kennedy, Jill Valentine, and Albert Wesker. It’s so densely plotted that it may not be welcoming to newcomers, either. Roberts is a clear Resident Evil fan with his love letter to the first two games, though, and doesn’t waste the opportunity to cram in every nod and easter egg he can.

Werewolves Within – AMC+, Kanopy, Shudder

Heart Eyes and Scare Me director Josh Ruben’s murder mystery whodunit based on the Ubisoft game wrings paranoid tension and laughs in equal measure. Forest ranger Finn Wheeler (Sam Richardson) embraces his new assignment in the cozy little town of Beaverfield. He barely settles in before he’s getting to know the colorful residents through their vocal opinions on the new pipeline construction project that’s creating major division among them. Then he discovers that a brutal murderer is hiding among them, and a severe snowstorm traps them all together at the inn. Think Needful Things by way of violent whodunnit comedy.

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That’s why the rise of horror comedies was all but inevitable, as most horror hounds were already willing to laugh alongside their favorite filmmakers instead of at them. That being said, some of these humorous scares are more popular than others, and today we’d like to shine a light on six criminally underseen horror-comedies that deserve a second chance at success!

As usual, this list is based on personal opinion, but don’t forget to comment below with your own underrated favorites if you think we missed a particularly fun horror comedy that doesn’t get the love it deserves.

With that out of the way, onto the list…

6. Grabbers (2012)

After the massive success of John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place, the horror genre was inundated with a whole slew of rules-based monster movies where our protagonists had to refrain from some sort of activity in order to survive. Jon Wright’s Grabbers may have preceded this movement by several years, but I’d still argue that this Irish creature-feature is somehow one of the best examples of it.

More than a little inspired by Tremors, Grabbers follows the residents of a small island community who find themselves under siege by man-eating aliens. The invaders’ only weakness appears to be an extreme aversion to alcohol, meaning that our heroes must avoid sobriety in order to survive! What follows is one of the zaniest flicks on this list, and one that’s worth tracking down if you still haven’t seen it.

5. Little Monsters (2019)

Zom-Coms have become so prolific that they’re basically a sub-genre in and of themselves at this point. That’s why it takes a particularly charming feature to stand out among the countless Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland wannabes that populate most streaming sites. Thankfully, Abe Forsythe’s Little Monsters is precisely that, following a down-on-his-luck musician who develops feelings for his nephew’s kindergarten teacher and volunteers to chaperone on a field trip. Unfortunately, the trip coincides with a zombie outbreak, leading to a hilarious scramble for survival as the adults attempt to convince the children that everything is fine.

Benefiting from genuinely touching moments and a lovable performance by Lupita Nyong’o, Little Monsters is a must-see even if you’re burned out on zombie comedies. The only downside is that you’ll likely walk out of the experience with either Sweet Caroline or Shake It Off stuck in your head for the foreseeable future.

4. Detention (2011)

Josh Hutcherson needs to be in more horror flicks. However, while I routinely defend the Five Nights at Freddy’s adaptation as a surprisingly fun B-movie, 2011’s Detention remains the actor’s best genre work, taking audiences on a chaotic thrill ride involving time travel, serial killers and the horrors of adolescence.

While the film has developed something of a cult following over the years, it’s still nowhere near as popular as it deserves to be (likely because it was released years before the streaming boom that gave similar features a chance at success). That’s why Detention earns a place on this list, as I’d like to live in a world where lines like “Just because you’re a bitch it doesn’t give you dog years,” are commonly quoted by genre fans.

3. Black Sheep (2006)

From Dead-Alive to What We Do in the Shadows, New Zealand has a history of providing horror fans with some of the funniest subversions of genre tropes ever put to screen. And while Black Sheep isn’t as popular as these aforementioned examples, it’s no less entertaining.

Following an outbreak of carnivorous sheep created by genetic tampering, this surprisingly vicious take on infection horror will have you laughing and recoiling in terror in equal measure – which is why I still have my fingers crossed for a sequel nearly two decades later.

2. Murder Party (2007)

Director Jeremy Saulnier is mostly known for hyper-serious thrillers like Green Room and Rebel Ridge, but this modern-day master of suspense actually began his career with a satirical horror comedy about a Halloween Party gone terribly wrong. Produced on a shoestring budget, Murder Party stars Saulnier’s childhood friend and fellow filmmaker Macon Blair as a loner who gets himself kidnapped by murderous art students.

From its plethora of loving homages to genre cinema (the characters’ creative costumes are definitely a highlight) to the genuinely freaky moments where Blair agonizes over his inevitable fate at the hands of these radical artists, there’s a lot to love about Murder Party if you can stomach its low production value and some iffy pacing.

1. I Sell the Dead (2008)

The (mostly) obsolete profession of graverobbing is criminally underexplored in the world of horror. Glenn McQuaid’s charming I Sell the Dead remains one of few exceptions, starring Dominic Monaghan and Larry Fessenden as a mismatched duo of corpse salesmen who accidentally discover a more bizarre -not to mention lucrative- side to their line of work.

Stylish, hilarious and more than a little disgusting, McQuaid’s debut feature may not have seen much box office action outside of the festival circuit – and it released way too soon to become a streaming hit – but there’s a reason why this movie has steadily been finding more fans online as more folks connect with its unique brand of gallows humor.

The post Funny Terror: 6 Criminally Underseen Horror-Comedies appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

When games attempt to use real-world events and historical accuracy as a jumping-off point for their experience, some will lament these can often feel like a history lesson rather than a narrative experience.

Using myself as an example, I would say this would be an unequivocally false claim to lay against Detention. Despite not being familiar with Taiwan’s fight for independence or the atrocities that occurred before and during the White Terror period, the developer has crafted a world that shows its history rather than regurgitating it. 

Putting the player into the shoes of a high school senior, Ray, and exploring the deserted but undoubtedly supernatural, haunting grounds that were once her school allows the player to get a sense of the period from the atmosphere crafted. Furthermore, the handling of scares and genre tropes that occur are seamlessly blended into the thematic narrative giving more credence to them than just,” that was scary.” 

It makes for a moving and melancholic experience that I may have discovered late, but I am glad I experienced it all the same.

In this episode, we discuss Red Candle’s approach to horror and how it differs from most. We also touch upon the faithful film adaptation that stands out as one of the best video game adaptations around, even if it hasn’t been seen as widely as others.

Safe Room is a weekly horror video game discussion podcast, premiering on all major platforms every Monday. Feel free to browse our LinkTree for a complete list of services here.

Feel free to follow the show and hosts on Twitter:

Safe Room – @SafeRoomPod

Neil – @Nezzko

Jay – @NotFunnyJ

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Kahn’s instincts as a director — Torque, Detention, Bodied — are heavily influenced by his prolific music video career, responsible for such shoots as “X Gon’ Give It to Ya” (DMX), “Toxic” (Britney Spears), “Bad Blood” (Taylor Swift), and 100+ more credits. There’s an ultra-kinetic energy to the frenzy of cuts that keep his films rocketing forward with hyperdrive momentum, which becomes a deterrent for more traditional cinema enjoyers.

To say his faster-than-Flash storytelling style isn’t meant for everyone is an understatement, which is understandable for those who don’t have the stamina. Although, this complaint became an immediate crutch for middle-to-elder aged critics. They used buzzwords or phrases like “exhausting,” “tries too hard,” and “incoherent channel-hopping” — drowning out younger, smaller-fry reviewers who might have so passionately written the following: “There’s no doubt Detention was made with the social media generation in mind, and Kahn doesn’t care if you’re not on board.” It’s a very Rick and Morty template before viewers had the patience for Rick and Morty. The Cartoon Network comedy has since become a gif’ed-to-death juggernaut by today’s entertainment standards.

In 2012, the horror genre was ready to blast into the social media era of filmmaking (“Screenlife” wouldn’t find its inception until 2013, bridging the gap). Trends stuck to found footage (The Devil Inside, Chernobyl Diaries, V/H/S, Paranormal Activity 4), contemporary remakes (House at the End of the Street, Maniac), haunted house signatures (Sinister, The Pact), and sequels (Piranha 3DD, The Collection, Wrong Turn 5, Resident Evil: Retribution). Kahn’s 80s-meets-90s, time-traveling, Cinderhella-slaying, neon-pastel teenage wasteland fits none of these sectors and exists so confidently as an outlier — but still represents the outcast sitting alone in the cafeteria. Detention is an almost exclusively self-produced blast of sentimental slasher meta-satire that ends with its vibrant condemnation of toxic nostalgia mindsets. “Celebratory chaos energy” is a descriptor of choice, the same way user @VyceVictus compares another wonder-film of recent fame by making a point I’d like to piggyback:

Everything Everywhere All at Once and Detention are these kindred spirits that met wildly opposite responses. One sits at 41% with 44 total reviews after a Samuel Goldwyn Films rollout, the other Certified Fresh at 96% as A24’s latest highly-marketed blockbuster disruptor. Don’t get me wrong, both are brilliantly rebellious showcases of originality — but the decade between releases tells a bigger story. Internet culture has trained audiences to be more receptive to stories that might shuffle through gags like the Daniels multiverse montage of talking piñatas, subtitled rocks with googly eyes, and a floating everything bagel representing infinite everythingness. Detention rides this same wave of obscurity as characters confess their secret insect DNA, antenna-topped bears are abducted by aliens, and Patrick Swayze à la Road House guides a deadbeat senior through his parking lot brawl against another testosterone-high bully. There’s a conceptual madness to both movies, coincidentally crafted by creators well-known for their music videos (the Daniels boast equally impressive collaborations with artists like Passion Pit and Manchester Orchestra). Movies like Detention paved the way for movies like Everything Everywhere All at Once to be heralded as the sensational masterpieces they are, especially amidst competing cinematic universes that currently dominate mainstream movie culture (studio driven).

“It’s just high school. It’s not the end of the world.”

As noted by critics, countless slashers have approached the metaphor that American high schools are Hell. Detention does the same, but in a way that’s both sincerely cynical and hopefully romantic. Kahn dares centralize narrative references in the 90s between hipster muggers, generations that choose digital texting over face-to-face conversations, and Ralph Macchio references despite audience nostalgia still yearning for 80s adoration. Grizzly Lake High becomes his Woodsboro High, where someone is dismembering students under the guise of famous torture porn killer “Cinderhella” — a move right out of Scream 2 that firmly connects the two as more than meta commentaries on the horror genre. All that and Kahn still gives people their 80s callbacks from obvious The Breakfast Club structuring that adds another generational element to this bizarre club sandwich of 80s classroom dramedies, 90s horror revamps, and 00s techno-takeovers that require the deftest vision — or most insane ambitions.

The film’s opening sequence is enough to make Boomers exhale a sigh that’d last for the film’s duration. “I’m Taylor Fisher, and I’m a B.I.T.C.H.,” proudly states a teenage monster (Alison Woods) who makes an immediate Hoobastank joke (what, they’re good) and screams at her mother for cooking french toast when she’s just decided to begin a no-bread diet. It’s your quintessential monologue meant to set the tone for Grizzly Lake and the predictable characters who inhabit the soon-to-be-doomed town. Graphics overlay like watching an early YouTube vlog from another self-obsessed mean girl destined to be — well, before you can even question how long Taylor will survive, Cinderhella slices Taylor’s throat to a sprinkler of blood squirting all directions.

There’s so much personality crammed into a mere three minutes of Dominic Monaghan cameos, unearned teenage angst, and pop-fashion brightness — Kahn sprints out of the gate as a service to viewers. Either you’re enraptured in Taylor Fisher’s interrupted mono-blog or writing a note down that’ll eventually be in your negative review like, “There will be young moviegoers who proclaim this genius, and more stodgy audience members who find it torturous. If you’re not tweeting and texting a combined 50 times or more per day, you’re probably in the latter camp.”

I bring this quote up because in the same way how 2013’s Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous met similar pushback but aged like a fine wine — Bo Burnham’s MTV original where he’s the focus of a mockumentary about online-slash-viral fame well before we saw its full effects — Detention has matured so miraculously. The high school anxieties of never wanting the glory years to end are all evergreen, to the point where someone “Freaky Fridays” with their daughter to stay forever young. Still, Kahn’s meta-aversion to nostalgia dictating our lives predates so many disgusting displays of fandom gone gross(er). Ghostbusters (2016) sexists? Star Wars trolls? Horror remake haters? What we cherish as teenagers doesn’t have to define our eternities — shouldn’t anchor what comes after. Detention conveys themes now more poignant than ever in today’s social media climate, motifs Kahn bravely brought to screen before most others were willing.

“Sander saw no future for us because he lived in the past. So his experiment was to end time itself. But we now know the greatest experiment is not traveling through time or making bombs. The only way to change the past? Is to change the present.”

The surrealism of Detention boils down to Kahn’s screenplay with co-writer Mark Palermo. Stereotypical teen-comedy characters are trapped within a slasher film and show subtle awareness. Clapton Davis becomes a vessel for Kahn’s depiction of a keyboard critic, but also a voice of artistic expression that blocks out haters who can bitch their complaints on their endless-void Twitters. “Good taste is not a democracy,” Josh Hutcherson delivers as this epitome of unrivaled basketball warm-up gear coolness with all the fears of unknowns staring down his mirror-shaded slacker. Other characters fill their roles from the painted-doll goth chick Mimi (Tiffany Boone), brainiac engineer Toshiba (Jon Park), and guy in the background Toby T. (Marque Richardson) — which is the point of commentary in satires of this nature. The lopsided focus on Clapton, heartbreaker Ione (Spencer Locke), pining wallflower Riley (a standout Shanley Caswell), and her not-so-secret admirer Sander (A.D. Johnson) is intentional.

What endures after all these years — having converted crowds to Detention whenever possible — is the film’s evergreen spoofs of “that guy” or “that girl” characters that end up defying convention. Ione spouts marketable catchphrases and bubbles her way through the film with a sickening cheeriness that turns out to be a product of familial body-swapping. Mega Jock Billy Nolan (Parker Bagley) channels his angry football star routine from a place of shame over his extraterrestrial fly biology. Canadian Gord (Travis Fleetwood) is eventually revealed as an undercover alien to account for his lack of Canadian traits. Sander is so destructive as the stalkerish male obsessor who can’t handle rejection, he’d rather nuke Grizzly Lake in 1992 than deal with Riley’s crush on Clapton in the present. These outlandish character details would exist without justification in the films Kahn and Palermo honor; the writers choose absurd reasoning to show how ridiculous (and borderline dangerous) these stereotypes can become.

I’ll use Detention in the same sentence as Jennifer’s Body since Kahn and Palermo’s dialogue feels indebted to Diablo Cody’s slang lingo between Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried — and they were both unceremoniously shredded upon arrival. Jennifer’s Body lost even more points (at the time) for being a horror movie made for girls — Detention‘s comparable as a high school horror story that doesn’t shy away from modernization at the downfall of losing older demographics. Neither film pandered to the older male film critic population that dominated their period. Grizzly Lake feels lived-in, albeit glossily glamorized, but even more in touch with the tendencies of today’s eternally-connected youth. All the text-on-screen choices speaking through pop culture and bubblegum cynicism have become even more relatable. As I said, Detention will find its audience — and I think that’s possibly very soon once the TikTok generation catches wind.

Detention was never heaven-sent to win over the masses — Kahn is, no sarcasm, one of modern cinema’s champion voices as far as uniqueness goes. There’s this damn-the-man quality about Kahn’s catalog, especially considering he almost entirely financed Detention. Blessed are the drummers who march to their own beat, and how unfortunate that producers are so afraid to back one-in-a-million productions like Detention. All the body-splitting slasher gore that massacres Dane Cook, saucer-spinning spacecraft inserts, quickfire performances that wield blistering wits — love it or hate it, there’s nothing else like Riley’s fight against Hollywoodized coming-of-age stories.

I doubt Joseph Kahn loses sleep over Detention. He shouldn’t. I write this piece as an appreciator with a platform who hopes to convert a few more fans. There’s no gotcha angle here — Detention is this miraculous hodgepodge that is as sharp with its meta-commentary as Behind The Mask: The Rise Of Leslie Vernon, Bride of Chucky, Cabin in the Woods, and other enduring titles on the heels of Scream. It’s also as genuinely comforting as The Final Girls or Spontaneous, given how Riley comes to terms with high school being four years that cannot be escaped but survived nonetheless. Kahn delivers his message in unconventional ways — hollow taxidermy time machines, library montages set to Backstreet Boys, bowling alley food fights — yet Detention never compromises its innovation. Maybe that’s not the legacy it’s thus far garnered, but there’s still plenty of time.

Like Riley says: “The only way to change the past? Change the present.” (By finally watching Detention.)

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Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City tries its hand at the latter, attempting to bring the film franchise back toward the games’ survival horror roots (our review). If you’ve seen it and you’re looking for more, here are five more horror video game adaptations to watch!

Dead Space: Downfall

Wouldn’t it be great to get a live-action adaptation of one of the greatest horror video games of all time? Until then, this solid animated prequel makes for a satisfying placeholder. It chronicles the discovery of the Red Marker and the initial monster outbreak, which means that you can expect it to get very, very bloody. It does pull from familiar space horror tropes, especially movies like Event Horizon and Alien. But if you’re looking for more Dead Space fun or an easy reminder to get pumped about the upcoming remake, this might do the trick.

Detention

Detention is based on Red Candle’s excellent 2017 side-scrolling horror game of the same name. It’s set in 1960s Taiwan during the grim White Terror Period and follows Fang Ray-shin. She’s a student that wakes to discover her school has evacuated for a storm, and she’s trapped there by floods. Fang Ray-shin, along with one other student, looks for a way out by candlelight, but they find they’re not alone. It’s a politically charged nightmare filled with ghosts, monsters, and more.

Doom

Doom may not be the adaptation fans were hoping for, nor did it impress at the box office. At face value, though, it’s an entertaining B-horror movie with loose ties to the game. Space Marines get sent to Mars to investigate a strange attack on a research facility. They find themselves in a fight for survival against predatorial mutated humans. With fun creature work and action sequences, and an impressive cast led by Dwayne Johnson and Karl Urban, Doom brings the entertainment. Ignore it as an adaptation, and you’re more likely to enjoy this creature feature. Look for perennial favorite Richard Brake among the marines.

Silent Hill

In this film adaptation of the popular video game, Rose (Radha Mitchell) takes her adoptive daughter Sharon (Jodelle Ferland) to Silent Hill’s mysterious town for the truth of Sharon’s troubled past. One car crash later, Sharon is missing, and the area is blanketed in a thick fog inhabited by monsters. Rose will have to fight both the monsters and the town’s fanatical cult to get her daughter back. It’s a visually impressive adaptation full of extraordinary creatures and gore. The cast is stacked as well; Alice Krige continues to nail the terrifying villainess role. All you need to know is two words: Pyramid Head.

Werewolves Within

Forest ranger Finn Wheeler (Sam Richardson) embraces his new assignment in the cozy little town of Beaverfield. He barely settles in before he’s getting to know the colorful residents through their vocal opinions on the new pipeline construction project that’s creating major division among them. Then he discovers that a brutal murderer is hiding among them, and a severe snowstorm traps them all together at the inn. Werewolves Within is less interested in werewolves and more interested in exploring how the possibility of one hiding in plain sight can turn a town inside out. It does so by tilting the scale heavily in favor of comedy over scares. Think Needful Things by way of violent whodunnit comedy.

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Based on Red Candle’s excellent 2017 side-scrolling horror game of the same name, Detention delves into a bleak portion of Taiwan’s history to create dread and unease from more than just spirits and monsters. 

The events of both game and film take place in 1960s Taiwan during the White Terror Period, where an uprising against the Chinese-led government sparked a massacre of Taiwanese people, and put the country under martial law for 38 years. During this time, around 4000 Taiwanese were executed for perceived opposition to the Chinese National Party, and many more were imprisoned. Detention begins with this context upfront, but takes its time unraveling the true impact of the militaristic brutality that ultimately pulls the strings on a tale of jealousy, betrayal, and tragedy.

Student Fang Ray-shin awakens in her school, and finds the place apparently evacuated for a storm. She meets up with fellow student Wei Chong-ting before discovering they are unable to leave due to the road leading out being devastatingly flooded. Forced to investigate the abandoned school by nothing more than the light of a red candle, the pair soon discover they’re not the only ones roaming the halls.

The opening 15 or so minutes of Detention packs the more traditional horror elements in. Increasingly agitated orchestral strings scream over every spooky instance to an almost ridiculous degree. This occurs frequently as Ray begins to see strange specters and twisted mirrors of herself, and the structure, without much context at this stage of the film, feels a little cheap and messy. 

Mercifully, the film course-corrects itself quite quickly after that initial spookhouse ride, and introduces one of its gangly, lantern-carrying, mirror-faced monstrosities. Here the strings take a bit of a breather to allow for a truly tense scene where Ray and Wei hide from it as it raspily utters threats of execution for traitorous behavior to no one in particular.

It becomes clearer than ever that this isn’t the school these students know. Is it purgatory? Is it a manifestation of the building’s sordid history? Detention goes on to explain exactly why and how the pair came to be stuck there, and the connective tissue is the relationship both share with their teacher Chang Ming-Hui. 

Through flashbacks, we discover Ray had a romantic relationship with Chang after he’d counseled her during a dark period in her life. That, understandably, was kept distant and quiet until it ended. Wei however, is a member of a secret banned book club run by Chang that is tucked away in the school. The danger of dealing in these books is the death penalty, which naturally terrifies those involved, but their excitement, passion, and hope are enough to negate their fears in the name of art and expression outside the strict structures set by the Chinese National Party. Detention makes no bones about this dicey situation, even in the less blunt jumps back to Ray and Wei’s attempts to escape the haunted school, drawing the supernatural horrors close to the political ones throughout.

While the CG Guardian monsters are positioned as the threat, to begin with, the real beast of the piece is the manipulative Instructor Bai, who gets wind of the secret book club, and twists Ray’s personal history against her to find out who is behind it. The fallout of this authoritarian scheming in the name of patriotism is heartbreaking and cruel, and while Bai barely features, his actions are felt throughout.

As with the game, Detention is a horror-hued spotlight being shone on horrific historical fascism and the longstanding devastation it caused to a country, but it also deals in hope for freedom, and the fight to fix what once was utterly broken. I don’t feel the film manages to utilize the supernatural in telling its story quite like Red Candle’s game does though. In some ways, it’s like Hsu is desperately trying to get the spooky stuff out of the way to tell the more grounded side of the story, and I completely understand why, but in an otherwise remarkably faithful adaptation, the two streams of horror don’t flow into a collective river quite as well as they do in the source material. Despite that, there’s still plenty of strength in how the story is delivered.

What Detention, the film, does do with a bit more confidence and consistency is recreate the side-scrolling look of the game in several key shots and scenes. There’s repeated shots of Ray and Wei presented against a backdrop that instantly evokes the spirit of the game, most effectively utilized during the disturbing scenes in the school hall. Having these nods to the striking visuals of the game, alongside its powerful and heartbreaking story, helps to ensure Detention isn’t too bogged down by its pretty standard use of ghost story tricks.

Given the choice, I’d still recommend the game over this film, but this is more to do with how good the game actually is than a critique of Hsu’s adaptation. Adapting horror games has long been a thankless task because it’s incredibly difficult to capture the feeling of playing and a lot of the plots are ripped from horror movies to begin with, but in the case of Detention, the historical, politically charged story is good enough to transcend its original medium. It’s a little unfortunate then that the supernatural side of it hasn’t been translated quite as successfully.

The post [Review] ‘Detention’ is a Largely Successful Film Adaptation of Red Candle’s Taiwanese Horror Game appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Set in 1962 Taiwan during the White Terror martial law period, Detention tells the story of Fang Ray Shin (Golden horse Award nominee Gingle Wang), a female student at the hillside Greenwood High School and, attending counselling with teacher Mr. Chang (Meng-Po Fu), they gradually fall in love. It was a dangerous period where sensitive books were banned and free speech were restricted, but Mr. Chang has secretly organized a study group for banned books.

One day, Mr. Chang disappears without explanation, and only Ray-shin and her fellow student Chong-ting seem to remember that he ever existed. The two agree to work together to find their missing teacher, but soon find that their school is no longer the familiar world they remember. The building has become an alien land of ghosts and demons, and the two students will be forced to confront a terrible, secret truth if they hope to escape with their lives.

Jing-Hua Tseng and Cecilia Choi also star. Watch the official US trailer below.

The post Video Game Adaptation ‘Detention’ Brings the Terror to U.S. Theaters and Virtual Cinemas This Friday [Trailer] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Set in 1962 Taiwan during the White Terror martial law period, Detention tells the story of Fang Ray Shin (Golden horse Award nominee Gingle Wang), a female student at the hillside Greenwood High School and, attending counselling with teacher Mr. Chang (Meng-Po Fu), they gradually fall in love. It was a dangerous period where sensitive books were banned and free speech were restricted, but Mr. Chang has secretly organized a study group for banned books.

One day, Mr. Chang disappears without explanation, and only Ray-shin and her fellow student Chong-ting seem to remember that he ever existed. The two agree to work together to find their missing teacher, but soon find that their school is no longer the familiar world they remember. The building has become an alien land of ghosts and demons, and the two students will be forced to confront a terrible, secret truth if they hope to escape with their lives.

Jing-Hua Tseng and Cecilia Choi also star. Check out your first look above.

The post Taiwanese Video Game Adaptation ‘Detention’ Being Released by Dekanalog in October appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Well, the joy was short-lived, as GoG.com, which is owned by Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red, released a statement later in the day to announce that Devotion would not be sold on its store after ‘receiving many messages from gamers’. It seems highly likely that the ‘gamers’ are actually the same forces that went after the game the first time around.

Disappointing news, as it once again leaves Devotion without a home, and Red Candle Games once again left in the lurch.

GoG.com has yet to clarify precisely what these supposed gamers were so concerned about.

We’ll update this story if any more information should come to light.

In the meantime, I recommend supporting Red Candle Games by buying their other, quite available, horror game Detention. Not least because it’s really very good.

[Original Story] Nearly two years after it was pulled from Steam, Red Candle Game’s Devotion is finally going back on sale.

The Taiwanese developer’s follow-up to Detention was mired in controversy due to derogatory in-game depictions of Chinese President Xi Jinping, which subsequently led to review-bombing, and the eventual deletion of the game on Steam’s store page. Despite an apology from the developer, the situation remained at an impasse. But, from Friday, the game will be available to buy digitally again on GoG.com for $16.99.

Previously, the only way to get a hold of Devotion was to get a physical copy from Taiwan back in June, and even that only ran for a week. It was at least a glimmer of hope that we might see the game again one day, and that day comes this Friday.

After a turbulent couple of years, Red Candle’s fortunes have looked a little brighter recently. Its previous game Detention got a well-received movie adaptation earlier this year, and a Netflix series based on it also dropped last week. Hopefully, the developer can move on from the controversy and go about making a new game in relative peace.

The post Controversial Horror Game ‘Devotion’ Will Finally Be Re-Released This Friday…Or at Least it Was Supposed to Be appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Just to be clear, this series is a separate entity entirely from the 2019 movie directed by John Hsu. The Netflix series uses an entirely new cast, and each episode has been given a run time of 60 minutes.

And yes, for traditionalists, Netflix is staggering the release of each episode to coincide with Public Television Service’s broadcasts. Here’s how it all breaks down:

Here’s the synopsis, for those unfamiliar with the game:

Detention: The Series starts at Greenwood High School in the 1990s. Yunxiang Liu (played by Lingwei Lee), a transfer student, steps into the forbidden area on the campus by accident, where she encounters the ghost of Ruixin Fang (Ning Han). Fang later unveils the hidden history and trauma over the past 30 years, and how a group of young students and teachers were persecuted as they fought for freedom in the era of censorship. Their stories keep coming back to the school like haunting nightmares, waiting to be told and revealed.

As an added treat, Red Candle Games tweeted out earlier that they’re in the process of working on their next game. They haven’t revealed just what it is, but no doubt this is redemption for the unfortunate happenings regarding the second game in the series, Devotion, that occurred last year.

Hello friends, a Netflix series adapted from #返校Detention will be out today. More here https://t.co/2d8Gzuc62h

Meanwhile, the studio has been busy working on our new game. Hopefully we can share more info with you soon!

— redcandlegames (@redcandlegames) December 5, 2020

The post Red Candle Games’ ‘Detention’ Netflix Adaptation Available Today appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

In fact, the nightmares have already begun! December 1 brought with it the new Icelandic vampire thriller Thirst, on DVD and Digital, about a young woman accused of her brother’s murder, who turns to a creature of the night to bring him back from the dead, which (naturally) turns out to be an awful idea. Or, if you’re more into video games, December 1 is also the day that Twin Mirror arrives on PC, PS4 and Xbox One. The new thriller tells the story of a man investigating a conspiracy in his home town, using his mind palace and another version of himself to solve the mystery.

On December 3, horror fans can get Anything for Jackson, a supernatural thriller about grandparents who kidnap a pregnant woman and try to possess her unborn child with the spirit of their dead grandson. In his review of this Shudder exclusive, Bloody-Disgusting critic Joe Lipsett called Anything for Jackson “a worthwhile twist on the exorcism/possession subgenre.”

And, just to solidify the first week of the month as a big one for horror gamers, December 3 sees the premiere of the Horrorpunk RPG Morbid: The Seven Acolytes on PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch, and December 4 brings two new games to boot. Nine Witches: Family Disruption, a comedic horror game about an ancient curse unleashed in World War II, debuts on PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch, and Darq: Complete Edition, about a young boy trapped inside of a nightmare, hits PC, PS4, Xbox One and GOG.

December 4 is a huge day for horror movies on VOD! The acclaimed horror comedy Freaky, a slasher riff on Freaky Friday starring Vince Vaughn, finally arrives on VOD, and speaking of “finally” (and freakiness), the long-awaited remake of Stuart Gordon’s brutal Lovecraft adaptation Castle Freak also arrives On Demand and Digital HD!

Also on December 4, What Lies Below debuts On Demand and Digital HD, and tells the story of a young woman whose mother’s new, ideal fiancé might very well be an aquatic monster in disguise. That same day Smiley Face Killers, written by Bret Easton Ellis (American Psycho) and directed by Tim Hunter (River’s Edge), tells the fictional story behind an actual serial killer conspiracy theory, and stars cult icon Crispin Glover as the mysterious figure at the center of it all.

Netflix gets back into the horror business on December 5 with the debut of the Taiwanese horror series, Detention, about a ghost telling the history of horror within a high school. Meanwhile, fans of Attack on Titan have a reason to rejoice on December 6, because the last season of the hit post-apocalyptic anime series about man-eating giants debuts on Funimation’s streaming service! And speaking of anime, December 10 brings the live-action remake of Alice in Borderland to Netflix. The series tells the Lewis Carroll-inspired story of a people thrown into a strange alternate reality in the midst of a survival game.

Over on Shudder, December 11 brings the debut of Joe Bob Saves Christmas, the latest holiday special that highlights the best on the service, as hosted by Joe Bob Briggs. The same day also sees the theatrical and VOD premiere of Don’t Click, a horror film about a young man sucked into a nightmare when he clicks on the wrong X-rated pop-up.

And then of course there’s the topical pandemic thriller Songbird, produced by Michael Bay, which tells the story of a world ravaged by martial law and strict quarantines. Songbird stars KJ Apa, Sofia Carson, Bradley Whitford, Demi Moore, Paul Walter Hausser, Alexandra Daddario and Peter Stormare, and debuts on PVOD on December 11 as well!

If you’re looking for something a bit less shocking this month, AppleTV+ has the exclusive new animated feature Wolfwalkers. This distinct and beautifully animated new take on the werewolf legend tells the story of a village where the denizens are whipped into an anti-wolf frenzy, unaware that the animals are led by supernatural beings which only transform into wolves when they sleep. The acclaimed film also debuts on December 11.

Back in the realm of VOD, December 15 brings Breaking Surface, a survival thriller about two sisters and lifelong divers, who face life-and-death disaster when one of them becomes trapped under a fjord. In her four-star review on Bloody-Disgusting, Megan Navarro called Breaking Surface a “non-stop, unrelentingly intense thriller that never struggles to find new ways to prolong the answer to whether these sisters will make it out alive.”

Then, on Netflix, a new true-crime documentary called The Ripper debuts on December 16. The film explores the terrifying real-life crimes of the notorious “Yorkshire Ripper,” who killed 13 women between 1975 and 1980.

But probably the biggest TV release this month for the horror genre is The Stand, an all-new adaptation of Stephen King’s apocalyptic epic about the end of the world via global pandemic, followed by a world torn apart by morally-divided survivors. The mini-series, directed by Josh Boone, co-stars James Marsden, Amber Heard, Greg Kinnear, Odessa Young, Whoopi Goldberg, Ezra Miller, Alexander Skarsgard, Nat Wolff, Heather Graham, Fiona Dourif and Clifton Collins, Jr. and debuts on CBS All Access on December 17.

December 18 is also a huge day for the horror genre this month. Kicking things off is A Creepshow Holiday Special, a Shudder exclusive, with an hour-long episode about a man who fears he’s a serial killer and joins a mysterious support group for answers. Also in the realm of TV, Netflix debuts the South Korean horror series Sweet Home, about an apartment complex where supernatural events converge, and residents turn into monsters.

In theaters and VOD, December 18 is the debut date for Skylines, the third installment in the ambitious alien invasion series that began with Skyline and Beyond Skyline. The new film brings the sci-fi action to the homeworld of the invading alien species. Also in theaters and on VOD is Hunter Hunter, starring Devon Sawa as a hunter trying to protect his family from a rogue wolf, and Breach, a sci-fi monster movie starring Bruce Willis, Thomas Jane and Rachel Nichols as they fight off a shape-shifting alien in space!

Christmas Day brings a couple of big gifts for horror lovers in 2020. Monster Hunter, Paul W.S. Anderson’s latest epic video game adaptation starring Milla Jovovich, premieres in theaters and IMAX, and tells the story of a military unit transported to an alternate dimension full of giant beasts. Promising Young Woman, a movie about hunting different kinds of monsters, also premieres in theaters on December 25. Carey Mulligan stars in the acclaimed revenge thriller as a woman who lures men into compromising situations, and turns the tables on them.

And finally Netflix closes out the month with Equinox, a Danish thriller series about an investigation into a two decades-old tragedy that reveals unexpected secrets, which debuts on December 30, followed by the fourth season of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, which premieres on December 31!

All of these release dates are subject to change, especially nowadays, so keep coming back to Bloody-Disgusting for more updates and announcements!

The post Happy Hellidays! 29 New Horror Movies, TV Shows and Video Games Premiering in December 2020 appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Leave it to the Harvard-Yenching Library at Harvard University to give the game (as well as it’s predecessor, Detention, which is still on Steam) a home in the university’s East Asian collections. Red Candle Games announced the news on their Facebook page. The dev also took the opportunity to state that the company is still together.

“For the past one year, we are sorry for making our community worried”, they write. “Although the current status might not be ideal, we are still here and that nothing has changed – we are and will always develop games with the same passion.” Red Candle Games was forced to assume liability for losses incurred by the game being forced off of Steam, and was effectively blackballed by the Chinese government.

Red Candle concludes the post by acknowledging the difficult year but that “will keep going, and hopefully in the future we could share more works with you all.”

The post No Longer on Steam, Red Candle Games’ ‘Devotion’ Preserved by Harvard University Library appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Horror games were struggling to be noticed as we entered the ’10s. The peak that was Resident Evil 4 saw a slow decline in standout titles year on year, and publishers took it upon themselves to decide that the public didn’t want horror games, they wanted action. This shift had a damaging effect on the big hitters. Silent Hill was increasingly hot-potatoed from developer to developer, Resident Evil veered further away from horror, and the less said about Alone in the Dark the better. Even a newcomer like Dead Space lasted just a single console generation before its developer was swallowed whole.

The rise of the indie scene on PC would prove to be the catalyst for a horror revival, coupled with the rise of YouTube Let’s Plays. The creative spark of small, talented teams of developers (sometimes just a single person) led to a finer appreciation of the horror genre, and it branched out in new and exciting paths. Sony’s PlayStation brand played its part too, delivering several important horror titles in a short space of time (oh, and also The Order:1886).

By the end of the decade, horror gaming was in rude health, with the future looking bright. Bloody Disgusting’s Dead Pixels team has discussed at length what games it feels are worthy of being championed from the past decade, and we’ve narrowed it down to 25 titles. Below are those final choices, voted for by Games Editor Neil Bolt, Gaming News Writer Mike Wilson, plus regular Dead Pixels contributors Andrew King, Aaron Boehm, Michael Pementel, John-Paul Jones, and Harrison Abbott. Each writer has also contributed a few words for certain games, explaining what makes those games special and why they love them.

As with Bloody Disgusting’s best horror films of the decade list, we’ve focused on games that are predominantly horror-based rather than horror-adjacent.

First though, the honorable mentions, of which there are quite a few.

Honorable Mentions

The Darkness 2, Slender: The Arrival, Five Nights at Freddy’s, Control, Dead Space 3, Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs, The Persistence, Layers of Fear 2, Luigi’s Mansion 3, Dante’s Inferno, Little Nightmares, Observer, Plants Vs. Zombies, Resident Evil: Revelations, Mortal Kombat X.

25. Dead By Daylight (Behaviour Interactive, 2016)

Launching a year ahead of Friday The 13th: The Game, Behaviour Interactive’s Dead By Daylight brought fans longing to finally play as a killer hunting victims to life in asymmetrical multiplayer action. Like Friday The 13th, Dead by Daylight had a bit of a rough start with bugs and spotty server connections.

However, the devs have striven to be on top of issues and player concerns, which has resulted in the game’s community growing and remaining dedicated since the game’s launch in 2016. Behaviour Interactive has continued to be active in the game’s ongoing evolution, scheduling regular events and adding additional cosmetic items.

More importantly, they’ve continued giving fans the opportunity to play as licensed characters (including Freddy Krueger, Ghostface, Leatherface, Michael Myers, and The Demogorgon) that we’ve only dreamed about. The game’s original creations are nothing to sneeze at, either, thanks in part to the game’s expanding lore. The thrill of playing a lethal game of hide-and-seek never stops being fun. –Mike Wilson

24. Layers of Fear (Bloober Team, 2016)

Until Layers of Fear, Bloober Team’s greatest horror had been that it made a genuinely terrible multiplayer title. Layers of Fear changed that, and led to the Polish studio becoming one of gaming’s biggest champions of horror in the past decade.

Layers of Fear sees you taking the role of a tortured artist, so obsessed with creating his magnum opus that it has seemingly led to personal tragedy. On the surface, your part is to find the necessary tools to finish your painting by exploring a sprawling mansion. Things get super weird from there.

Every time you look away and look back, it appears something is different. The painter’s fragile psyche, coupled with his guilt and obsession have a tangible effect on the mansion and its layout. It’s less about jump scares, and more about assaulting you with an unceasing mind fuck as stranger and stranger things confront you at every turn.

The madness escalates, the truth comes out, and Layers of Fear plays out like a beautiful modern twist on classic ghost stories. – Neil Bolt

23. Detention (Red Candle Games, 2017)

You’ll see that this list has horror from many perspectives and in many styles, but how many were as deeply interesting under the surface as Red Candle’s Detention?

Utilizing the folklore, religion, culture, and history of Taiwan, Detention brings the kind of informed horror that you’d typically see in a Guillermo Del Toro film. It’s set in Taiwan in the 1960s during martial law, and sees two students trapped in their remote mountainside school after freak weather causes an evacuation. It’s not long before the school undergoes a sinister change, and evil creatures roam the grounds. The young duo has to work together to escape and unravel the mystery of the school’s curse.

The way historical fact is intertwined with the story makes for an intriguing horror story where parallels between the evils of folklore and reality are frequently highlighted. The revelations that unfurl towards the end have an air of a certain popular horror franchise, but the restraint with which Detention doles out its terror and tragedy is unparalleled in modern horror games. – Neil Bolt

22. The Walking Dead: The First Season (Telltale Games, 2012)

The Walking Dead as a multimedia franchise was easily one of the biggest of the decade. The T.V. series alone was a cultural phenomenon, but it wasn’t alone in having an important impact.

Telltale Games had dabbled in episodic gaming before, notably with spins on Jurassic Park and Back to the Future, but its series based on Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead graphic novels was where the studio really hit paydirt (and ironically led to its eventual downfall). The story of Lee and Clementine was one of the most memorable of the decade because it connected you in that special way only this medium can manage.

Lee Everett is heading to jail when the zombie apocalypse grants him a reprieve of sorts. In the chaos, he meets a young girl named Clementine, left alone after her babysitter’s death. The pair go in search of safety and Clementine’s parents and meet others along the way.

Just as the graphic novel and the show did, Telltale’s Walking Dead has horrific gutpunches. From the first major decision, the episode concerning Duck’s fate, the ending of the penultimate episode, and the heart-wrenching finale. I played through The Walking Dead on four separate occasions and that emotional connection remained strong. I still haven’t brought myself to finish the final season because I’m not sure I want to say goodbye to Clem. – Neil Bolt

21. Inside (PlayDead, 2017)

Inside builds an intoxicatingly oppressive world without a word. From the instant your mysterious runaway emerges from a dark thicket and begins moving across the screen until the roiling body horror of the game’s final moments, Inside holds you in its grasp.

Playdead’s horror platformer is a masterpiece of cinematography, despite using a side-scrolling perspective; a fantastic work of storytelling, despite a complete lack of dialogue. 

Even four years after its release, I still want to say as little about it as possible. The surprises this game holds are best experienced unspoiled. So, I’ll just say this: Inside is available on PC, every current-gen console and mobile devices. Play it as soon as possible if you haven’t. – Andrew King

I had little in the way of expectations for Inside. I hadn’t been all that enamored with Limbo, so at first glance this looked like more of the same. How wrong I was.
Inside‘s strange dystopian nightmarescape stays with you, all the way to that insane ending. – Neil Bolt

20. SOMA (Frictional Games, 2015)

After the release of Amnesia: The Dark Descent, developer Frictional Games amplified the terror with their next title, 2015’s SOMA. For the majority of its gameplay, SOMA takes place in an ominous underwater facility. The decay and Lovecraftian-like presentation allow for SOMA’s world to permeate with mystery; from the dim lighting to the various environmental sounds, the game’s world exudes anxiety.

Along with the player, SOMA’s protagonist is just as clueless as to what is going on around him. Having entered a machine in the year 2015 for an experimental health procedure, protagonist Simon wakes up in the facility, the year now being 2104. As Simon explores his surroundings he is confronted by a terrifying threat that stalks the halls. He also comes across a variety of machines that display human characteristics – they emulate the personalities and memories of those humans who once inhabited the facility.

For all its chilling imagery, SOMA excels when it comes to existential horror. Without going into spoilers, as the player and Simon move forward in the story, the game presents chilling philosophical questions about consciousness and existence. For all its thematic dives and environmental design, SOMA is one of the most compelling psychological games of the decade.  – Michael Pementel

19. Prey (Arkane Studios, 2017)

Many horror games borrow heavily from film, fashioning jump scares with familiar tools: framing, lighting and well-timed bursts of furious movement. But, the horrors that await players in Prey — the 2017 sci-fi immersive sim from Arkane Studios, the developers of the Dishonored games — are, much more often, the result of the game’s weird systems getting under your skin.

Any conversation about Prey as a horror game will likely begin and end with the Mimics. The game’s setting, the Talos I space station, has been taken over by the Typhon, an inky alien race that can assume many forms more terrifying than this cat-sized subspecies. But, Mimics behave as their name suggests, adopting the form of random objects throughout the environment. You will constantly, panicked, ask yourself, “Did that coffee cup just move?” Sometimes, not always, the answer is yes; a fact that will have you unloading your already scarce ammunition into innocent cookware. The Mimics aren’t powerful, but they are a constant threat; one that could strike from anywhere at anytime. They suffuse Prey with a feeling of unending paranoia.

This is the most ambitious game that Arkane has made so far — opting in to the use of alien powers means that you too can eventually become the coffee cup (!) — and a fantastic example of the horrors that our imaginations can cook up when aided by stellar systemic interactions. – Andrew King

18. The Evil Within 2 (Tango Gameworks, 2017)

The first Evil Within came with a great deal of hype, largely due to the involvement of genre legend Shinji Mikami, but it failed to live up to the legacy in the eyes of most fans. It attempted to capture the feeling of Resident Evil 4 with imagery closer to (while nowhere near as elegant as) Silent Hill, but failed to live up to either. There was a go-for-broke, over-the-top attitude that I appreciated, but the linear structure and less than compelling setup didn’t end up doing anything for me. Ironically, The Evil Within 2 fulfilled the promise of the series, with reduced involvement from Mikami. 

Ditching the cliché asylum setting of the first game, The Evil Within 2 attempted to take the wild and out there franchise mythology and make a more personal family story. The story is still a bit all over the place, but it’s a lot more grounded and interesting than before, giving you better emotional anchors to keep you invested as things get more bizarre. 

The gameplay structure also opened up, giving the player an opportunity to explore a small town rather than be led around like the first one. Resource management became more interesting, showing places on the map where items are located, challenging players to risk themselves to acquire extra ammo and upgrades. The new structure also allowed for wonderful side stories to be hidden all over, rewarding exploration with new content. 

While I’m excited for Tango Gameworks new game, GhostWire: Tokyo, I’m a little sad that this probably means we won’t see a new Evil Within game in the future. The second one was so much more confident than the first, finding its own identity and injecting more options in a genre that can sometimes become trapped by repetition. –Aaron Boehm

17. The Last Door (The Game Kitchen, 2013)

Don’t let the fact that The Last Door has pixels the same size as an infant’s balled fist fool you – there’s a lot of unpleasant nastiness going on under that Atari 2600 visual layer. Taking place within the unfurling and evocative foggy streets of Victorian London, The Last Door is a point and click adventure that weaves a slow-burning tale of horror and madness that would make Lovecraft and his fellow literary bros blush.

That said, The Last Door is much more than just another video game take on the increasingly shopworn works of the aforementioned Lovecraft, instead carefully channeling the literary influences of folks such as Poe, Blake and more to complement and round out the inspirations that act as the bedrock for its terrifying yarn.

A more effective horror than many of its genre brethren that boast more modern veneers (a fact that should perhaps come as little surprise given that developer The Game Kitchen also developed the recently released Blasphemous), The Last Door is a fiendishly constructed, keenly directed horror that demands every moment of your attention. The Last Door is a sterling example of how developers can do more with less. – John-Paul Jones

16. Doki Doki Literature Club! (Team Salvato, 2017)

This is a game that takes its time to sell the player on its tropes – all before it goes full speed into absolute insanity. Doki Doki Literature Club! is a visual novel that plays to the tune of an anime dating sim. The player assumes the role of a student who has joined a literature club; along with the club’s four adorable girl students, the player interacts with each of them. 

For those who have played visual novels or dating sims in the past, the first half of Doki Doki plays out in a very cute manner – but around the halfway point, things get GRIM. From there, Doki Doki unravels, becoming an experience of psychological horror. Touching upon topics such as suicide and depression, the game’s characters find themselves trapped in a bizarre nightmare that is out of their control.

From its introduction and early moments, one would not expect such a disturbing and intriguing tale. For all its shock and uneasy tension, Doki Doki Literature Club! also makes for a unique subversion of anime and visual novel tropes. By disguising itself as just another anime-related dating sim, Doki Doki Literature Club! is able to masterfully catch players by surprise and immerse them in a nightmare. – Michael Pementel

15. DOOM (id Software, 2016)

Of all the things in the universe that shouldn’t have been wildly successful, a from-the-ground-up reboot of perhaps the most legendary first-person shooter of all time that spent far too long in development hell was certainly among them.

But yet, here we are. Not only did id Software fashion a genre effort that deftly honored its shotgun-blasting, demon-murdering, and color key-grabbing roots, but it also wrapped around it a scintillating shooter underpinned by the furious thrum of one of the decade’s best video game soundtracks.

Even today, right now, there is no other shooter out there which blends hyperkinetic ultraviolence and furious horror as deftly as DOOM. A stellar, genre-redefining effort that launched in a year already stuffed with great shooters (hi, Titanfall 2), DOOM in 2016 was the game that shouldn’t, but could and did. Bring on DOOM Eternal in March 2020. –John-Paul Jones

14. The Forest (Endnight Games, 2014)

While the notion of a sandbox survival effort is hardly an original one, the idea of creating such a genre offering underscored by the sort of horror genre premise that a pre-Hellboy Neil Marshall might have come up with, proves to be quite the compelling concept indeed.

The lone survivor of a plane crash, the last thing you remember before falling unconscious is some humanoid creature taking your child away into the sun-kissed beyond. Naturally then, your first inclination is to scour the island for food and supplies as you attempt to eke out a sort of rudimentary existence amongst the mutated cannibals that inhabit the area. 

Though there are other titles such as The Long Dark and Impact Winter that place a premium on survival, it’s really in the cannibal mutants that The Forest meaningfully sets itself apart. Not just a rampaging horde hellbent on murder, these cannibals have their own behaviors, families and belief systems. Do you attempt to escape the island, or do you become a cannibal yourself, and give in to your baser instincts? Such a choice has never been more delectably presented. – John-Paul Jones

13. Lone Survivor (superflat Games, 2012)

When I get sad about the disappearance of P.T. I try to comfort myself by re-installing Lone Survivor on my PC. Tonally, the game is as close to the tone of early Silent Hill games that you can get, and manages to do so from a 2D perspective. Players control a man who may or may not be the only survivor of a mysterious plague that turns people into shambling horrors as he explores the remains of his decaying apartment complex. 

You start off having a dream where you talk to a man with a cardboard box on his head, and it only gets more surreal from there. The line between hallucination and reality wears thin as your character tries to sneak past zombie-like creatures and solve strange puzzles. The pixelated art style does a great job implying the shape of the horrors without giving you a clear glimpse, allowing your mind to fill in the gaps. 

Like many survival horror games, resource management becomes paramount, this time focusing on keeping together the fragile physical and mental state of the character. In order to survive, you must be well-fed and well-rested, forcing you to make trips back to your home base when your situation gets dire. This loop encourages you to check your Silent Hill-like map in order to plan out what you want to do with your limited time each day. 

Don’t shy away from Lone Survivor due to its unconventional perspective. It’s the total package for survival horror, featuring satisfying resource management, a compelling and creepy story and an eerie mood, enhanced by a haunting score. – Aaron Boehm

12. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice (Ninja Theory, 2018)

While known for their action-driven titles, Ninja Theory’s Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice makes for one of the decade’s most impactful experiences. Inspired by Nordic mythologies and Celtic culture, players take on the role of Senua – a Pict warrior striving to save the soul of her lover. Her journey involves traveling a fantastical world brimming with nightmarish beings. 

Described as an “independent AAA game,” Hellblade offers intense and exciting combat. As players move forward in Senua’s quest, the landscape that surrounds them exudes awe and terror. But for all its moments of adrenaline and majesty, Hellblade is also an exploration into the horrors of mental illness.

Struggling with PTSD and psychosis, as well as displaying symptoms related to depression, Senua must also face the agony that lives within her. From the voices that whisper in her ears, to the various hallucinations and visual connections that flutter before her eyes, the game creates a bridge of sympathy for players to connect with Senua. Utilizing game mechanics and its narrative, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice proves to be a profound game about one’s battle to find peace. – Micheal Pementel

11. Outlast (Red Barrels, 2013)

Where could you go after other companies had seemingly exhausted the genre of Survival Horror? Red Barrels put that to the test with Outlast. Foregoing any sort of weapons, the player is armed only with a video camera as their source of light, leaving you stuck having to use stealth to avoid the denizens lurking in Mount Massive Asylum.

All the while, you’re on the lookout for batteries to power your camcorder, promoting even more tension to amplify the scares. Sure, the story of an evil corporation sponsoring morally-questionable experiments that go horribly wrong has been done before, but who really cares when you’re scared out of your wits trying to avoid the hulking monstrosity hunting you down from room to room?

Amnesia: The Dark Descent was the forerunner, but Outlast distilled the panic and the fear to perfection. – Mike Wilson

10. Dead Space 2 (Visceral Games, 2011)

With a lot of gaming franchises, I usually get on better with the second entry than I do the first, and Dead Space 2 is no exception. Don’t get me wrong, the original has the raw ingredients for a cool space-faring survival horror, but Dead Space 2 is so much better at it, even if it does start the rather rapid escalation towards turning the series into action-horror.

Dead Space 2 does do the drip-feed tension of the original, but it certainly throws that out of the window for its opening minutes. Poor Isaac Clarke survived the nightmare aboard the Ishimura only to end up in the middle of a fresh Necromorph outbreak. The game begins with Isaac being troubled by visions brought on by the power of the markers, then throws both him and you into a padded room, with an agitated figure desperately trying to free the former engineer.

Unfortunately, a Necromorph quite graphically kills Isaac’s would-be rescuer, and turns before his very eyes, all in a very uncomfortable close fashion. What follows is a Necro-dodging gauntlet (with a straight jacket still on for some of it) through the halls of the ship, as death is avoided and witnessed many times over before Isaac can even put one foot in his iconic engineer suit and really take the fight to the evil.

In that opening 20 or so minutes, Dead Space 2 starts you off completely helpless, before gradually giving you more and more tools to fight back; but in true survival horror style, death is but one wrong move away. It sets the tone for the rest of the game beautifully. – Neil Bolt

9. Amnesia: The Dark Descent (Frictional Games, 2010)

Arguably, there’s no game on this list that’s been quite as influential as Frictional’s Amnesia: The Dark Descent has been on horror games in the last decade. You can track its legacy throughout this list in fact. Would Outlast exist without it? Layers of Fear? Frictional’s own SOMA? Would Resident Evil have taken the turn it did? Would the infamous title below have been shaped the way it was without Amnesia? The short and long answer is no.

Think of all the Lovecraft-inspired horror games that have spewed forth in recent years; Amnesia is partially responsible for that too, but amazingly, even now, very few come close to doing it as well as Amnesia.

Waking up in that castle, slowly discovering who you are and what insane situation you find yourself in is one of the most engrossing horror adventures of all time.

It wasn’t the first of its kind, but it was the perfect melting pot of psychological horror and that most essential of horror staples, a feeling of helplessness. To go back now, it’s clear that it has been replicated and refined elsewhere so much that it already seems a touch archaic, but for me, no horror game of the past decade matches the kind of first-time experience I had with Amnesia: The Dark Descent. – Neil Bolt

8. P.T. (Kojima Productions, 2014)

Declaring P.T to be one of the decade’s ultimate horror accomplishments feels like a redundant exercise, given that all the praise in the world isn’t going to be enough to resurrect this interactive teaser. Nor will it undo the damage that was sadly inflicted upon it by its own publisher. Indeed, if you haven’t experienced this watershed moment in gaming yet, then you’re shit out of luck. Because (save for treasured YouTube playthroughs and amateur tributes) you won’t be able to find a record of it anywhere.

For those who are blissfully ignorant of the tragic background, P.T was essentially an appetizer for a hitherto unannounced collaboration between Hideo Kojima and director Guillermo Del Toro. Covertly uploaded to the PlayStation Store back in August of 2014 – under the guise of being an original IP – it transpired to be a preview slice for a brand new Silent Hill title, something that the undernourished fanbase had really been hankering for. Upon release, the ‘’playable teaser’’ was showered with praise for its innovative puzzles, stripped back level design, haunting atmosphere and photorealistic graphics, to the point where it successfully cracked into some ‘’Game of the Year’’ lists despite only being a demo. 

Which makes it all the more baffling that Konami did what they did. Presumably overcome with a self-destructive impulse, the publisher ended up nixing the much-anticipated project and severed all ties with their most bankable creator (Kojima) in the process. It was an utterly bone-headed move, one so incomprehensible that many chalked it up to an ill-advised publicity stunt. Alas, the sudden cancellation turned out to be all too real and not only did Konami abandon the full game, but they also went a step further by eradicating any trace of its existence in the first place. Quickly removing P.T. from the digital storefront, they made the free preview unattainable for anyone who didn’t already have a copy stored onto their hard drive. So unless you’re willing to fork out $700 on eBay for one of those fabled PS4s, then you might as well consider this horror gem to be a mythical relic, akin to lost Inca gold or the Florentine diamond. 

And that’s a damn shame, because even with 6 years’ worth of hindsight and a lineage of inferior copycats, P.T continues to live up to the hype. No other game has so accurately distilled the feeling of being trapped in a nightmare, what with its illogical geography, hazy narrative, and surrealist imagery. Forcing you through interminable psychological torment, it makes you walk around the same corridor over and over again, until you gradually start to notice that things are changing with each loop. At first, it’s just little details; a door might open a crack, some ambiguous sounds might echo in the distance, or cryptic writing might appear on the wall. But as it goes on, things get exponentially more sinister, and you’ll eventually find yourself dealing with a vengeful revenant, a talking paper bag, and an undead fetus in a sink. It’s properly fucked up and that’s why I love it so much!

Unlike their movie counterparts, horror video-games are rarely capable of frightening me outside of the immediate moment in which I’m playing them. I’m always too conscious that what I’m looking at is an amalgamation of pixels on a screen and not something tangible that could be lurking in the dark while I’m lying in bed at night. As such, once I turn the console off, digital antagonists like Chris Walker from Outlast or Mr. X from Resident Evil 2 tend to lose all power over me, and I can safely put them out of mind. But that wasn’t the case with P.T, which managed to linger in my subconscious for days on end. I was genuinely creeped out by some of the things I underwent in this hellish journey, and that is a legacy even Konami cannot erase.  – Harrison Abbott

7. The Last of Us (Naughty Dog, 2013)

Any title that is heralded as ‘’gaming’s Citizen Kane moment’’ is guaranteed to draw in a few detractors and incite a certain amount of backlash. After all, a grandiose proclamation of this magnitude inevitably paints a target on the back of its subject, opening it up to scrutiny as everyone tries to pinpoint flaws and take it down a peg. Such has been the case with The Last of Us, a game that has been on the receiving of so much contrarian discourse and hot takes about how ‘’overrated’’ it is, that it’s now bizarrely on the verge of becoming undervalued.

So let’s set the record straight once and for all. The Last of Us is pretty good. Terrific even. In fact, I’d go so far as to contend that it probably is gaming’s Citizen Kane, boasting thematically rich storytelling, layered characterization, nuanced mo-cap performances, sophisticated writing, atmospheric music, gorgeous visuals, impeccable sound-design, and polished (albeit slightly run-of-the-mill) mechanics.

No other video-game has managed to captivate me with its narrative quite like Joel and Ellie’s gut-wrenching trek across post-apocalyptic Pittsburgh. Although the plot is relatively familiar when dismantled into its core elements (self-centered loner has to escort a remarkable child across a perilous wasteland) the way in which it’s executed here is what really elevates proceedings. The naturalistic dialogue, the convincing central relationship and the way in which Naughty Dog balances pervasive tragedy with moments of subtle tenderness, all come together to form something that’s utterly mesmerizing to watch as a back-seat gamer, never mind as a player with a vested interest. 

That alone would justify a lot of the fuss surrounding The Last of Us, but the fact that the combat has been so tightly constructed is just the cherry on top. Encounters against humans are invigorating enough, however, it kicks into a higher gear once night falls and you’re left to deal with the infected. Getting rushed by a swarm of these bloodcurdling enemies is a genuinely panic-inducing occurrence, especially on the harder difficulties wherein you’ll frequently be backed into a corner and forced into a desperate last stand. With you trying to make every bullet count, praying that you’ve placed your traps in the most impactful spots, and hurriedly crafting those much-needed Molotov cocktails, these set-pieces recall the intensity of Resident Evil 4’s village siege. Only this time that feeling has somehow been sustained for 16+ hours.

And then there are those bloody Clickers! Having progressed into the third stage of infection, due to prolonged exposure with the Cordyceps fungus, these blind mutants might just be the most nerve-wracking iteration of zombies I’ve seen to date. Their appearance is absolutely grotesque, their sporadic movements keep you on your toes at all times, and let’s not forget that telltale echolocation sound they produce when navigating environments. Trying to avoid detection from their ultra-sensitive hearing never stops being scary, no matter how many times you’ve done it.  – Harrison Abbott

6. Resident Evil 2 Remake (Capcom, 2019)

After the superb remake of Resident Evil for the Gamecube, fans pined for years for Capcom to finally pull the trigger on remaking Resident Evil 2. And after years of waiting, Capcom delivered on the daunting task in 2019 with the Resident Evil 2 remake.

Any doubts that the game wouldn’t meet fans’ sky-high expectations were quickly dispersed once we finally stepped back into the shoes of either Leon S. Kennedy or Claire Redfield. Much like what they did with the remake for Resident Evil, things were similar but tweaked just a little bit with the RE2 remake, drawing in longtime fans and newcomers alike.

The game shipped 4 million units in its first month of release, and eventually surpassed the lifetime sales of the original Resident Evil 2. Adding to it all is the fact that fans have taken to modding the game in weird and wonderful ways. Coupled with the equally-successful release of Devil May Cry V, Capcom’s comeback after the previous decade of uncertainly was complete. – Mike Wilson

Resident Evil 2 is one of my favorite games of all time. Any excitement I had for the remake was weighted with worry that it couldn’t possibly be anywhere near as good as the original. Luckily, the remake was different enough, whilst retaining a familiar nostalgic flavor. For newcomers though, it’s a near-perfect modernization of what made survival horror such an impactful sub-genre. – Neil Bolt

5. Bloodborne (From Software, 2015)

Playing Bloodborne for me was like learning a new language. When I was younger I played difficult character action games like Devil May Cry, but had never tried out the Fromsoft Souls games, so this was something entirely different. Every fight was lethal, every encounter a true challenge. Nothing could be taken for granted, and that was a completely different way of playing. It took me a long time, but once I got used to the nouns the game threw at me and figured out how to use the verbs, I could read it like a book. 

It wasn’t just the combat that I had to get used to; the game also changes the way you take in the story. I remember letting a friend borrow the game, and he gave it back saying he didn’t like the lack of story. When first starting out, I can see his point, but once you figure out how information is presented in Bloodborne, you see that the world is as rich as they come, with a unique mythology and tragic tale of misplaced ambition. What looks on the surface to be a fairly standard tale of hunting beasts turns into a tale of cosmic horror about evolving mankind into its next stage. This information isn’t doled out in cutscenes, but rather item descriptions and lore notes, making you work for the story, hunting down every corner of the map to discover secrets. 

And what a map it is. Yharnham, the game’s gothic setting, is one of the most beautifully realized worlds in video games. Dark, shadowy streets, snowy castles and hellish forests give the player plenty of variety as they explore, running into increasingly hideous creatures as they get closer to discovering the game’s secrets. These rich levels are wonderfully crafted, looping back on themselves to create satisfying shortcuts. One particular moment of one level looping back to another was one of the game’s most interesting revelations, showing how tightly constructed the sprawling world is. 

I could go on for hours about how much I love this game. To me, it’s the complete package of outstandingly tight gameplay, a fully realized world and an intriguing story to explore. Not only is the base game great, but The Old Hunters DLC features some of the best levels in the game, further expanding on the lore. Despite its difficulty and depth, Bloodborne was the first game I earned the platinum trophy for, after 130 hours of playing. If you have the patience to learn, you’ll find that this is one of the most rewarding games ever created. – Aaron Boehm

4. Alan Wake (Remedy Entertainment, 2010)

Remedy had made their mark with the Max Payne series, but they needed to grow. The solution: Alan Wake.

Not only did the game borrow heavily from genre stalwart Stephen King and Twin Peaks (pleasing many), but the way the story unfolded in a unique episodic nature similar to a mystery television program worked so well. The use of real-life product placement and the game’s soundtrack only helped the immersion of players into the fictional Washington locale of Bright Falls.

Topping it off was the game’s plot, a Twilight Zone-like experience that had you coming back for more each time. – Mike Wilson

Every good thing that Remedy has done since Alan Wake undoubtedly has Alan Wake to thank. Remedy is great at building its own worlds. It’ll be exciting to return to Bright Falls when Control‘s expansions release. – Neil Bolt

3. Resident Evil 7 (Capcom, 2017)

I’ll never forget the feeling I had watching that first trailer at E3 2016. The franchise had been floundering a bit after the disappointment of RE6, and they smartly created a trailer that looked nothing like any other game in the franchise and saved the name reveal until the very end. Ditching the zombie-fueled corporate conspiracies for backwoods hillbillies, the game appeared to be the breath of fresh air the series needed. 

Not only did it change the setting, but it also switched from the classic third-person view to a first-person perspective. Even with all the changes, the game perfectly evoked the feel of the original Resident Evil in a completely different context. The level design was reminiscent of the RE1’s Spencer Mansion and RE2‘s police station, constantly looping you back and forth while unlocking new areas. 

While the game did a great job of taking what worked from the original games, it also pulled some inspiration from other successful horror franchises, like Alien: Isolation and Outlast. No longer were you a special forces operative, instead just some guy in way over his head and very underpowered for the situation. Resource management and ammo crafting became very important, and the addition of unkillable stalker enemies added variety to the standard combat encounters. Escape room sequences also appear a couple times, giving you very tense and high stakes puzzles to solve. 

Capcom has been focusing strongly on remaking some of the classic PS1 games recently, and while that’s satisfying, I’m very curious to see where they take the Resident Evil franchise next. What made Resident Evil 7 so refreshing was how surprisingly different it was than all the other games that came before it, and it’s going to be hard for them to capture lightning in a bottle a second time. The game is such a singular experience that I’m confident the team will find a way to keep the series fresh for whatever Resident Evil 8 ends up becoming. – Aaron Boehm

2. Alien Isolation (Creative Assembly, 2014)

As with its cinematic ancestry, the gaming side of the Alien IP has had its fair share of peaks and troughs. Potentially its lowest ebb came in the form of 2013’s risible Colonial Marines – an FPS so obscenely janky that it was poised to kill any remaining interest in the brand with one fell swoop. Yet in a redemption arc worthy of Dickens, the series was able to turn itself around just one year later, by delivering what is arguably its greatest installment (filmic or otherwise) since 1986. 

Cleverly distancing itself from its forebears, the peerless Alien: Isolation took inspiration from Ridley Scott’s franchise progenitor (rather than the more bombastic sequel) to craft a decidedly slow-burn experience that reinstates the Xenomorph as a formidable killing machine. No longer mere cannon fodder for grunts to brainlessly mow down with their pulse rifles, the creature in this game requires actual strategy and crafty thinking to be outsmarted. You see, you can’t kill it with conventional weapons (a handicap that it does not share, as it is capable of eliminating you in a single hit), and so have to resort to your wits in order to create distractions, ward it off with fire, bait it into attacking hostile NPCs, or just stay far out of view. 

This is easier said than done however, thanks to the extremely lifelike A.I that brings the menacing hunter to life without the need for patrol routes or pre-ordained behaviors. Working in tandem with a ‘’virtual director’’ – that calculates the opportune moment for applying additional pressures – this system generates intense and spontaneous encounters that will consistently reduce you to a nervous wreck. There will be split-second decision making, heart-pounding near misses, and excruciating cat-and-mouse sequences that are all unique to you as a player. 

Parcel that together with immersive sound-design, top-notch lighting effects and procedurally generated music and you’ve got an endless supply of unscripted, white-knuckle suspense. As far as I’m concerned, this has become the gold-standard for Amnesia style ‘’hide-and-seek’’ horror, with that electrifying sense of unpredictability keeping you on edge even as you head into your 4th or 5th playthrough. That it also accurately captures the look and feel of the original movie, with well-observed environmental details, properly judged fan service and authentic audio effects, is just the icing on the cake.  – Harrison Abbott

Alien Isolation made the Xenomorph a terrifying threat in a way that so many of the films have not. I’ve genuinely not been as worried about a video game enemy’s appearance as much as I was of the Xeno in Isolation. Just when you start to get the upper hand, the sneaky bastard ups its game. Alien Isolation is an all-timer. – Neil Bolt

1. Until Dawn (Supermassive Games, 2015)

Until Dawn’s core appeal is that it gives us enlightened genre aficionados a chance to put our money where our mouth is and finally demonstrate that we would actually be able to hack it in one of those slasher flicks we know so much about. Everyone has watched Halloween, I Know What You Did Last Summer, or Friday the 13th and ruminated on how they would be a much sharper protagonist than those making dumb mistakes on the screen. Always mocking these fictional characters for their errors – like investigating suspicious noises, tripping over in the woods, and failing to pick up defensive weapons – we’re under the impression that our survival instincts are above reproach and that, if we ever found ourselves in a comparable scenario, we wouldn’t falter. 

Supermassive Games’ interactive horror movie invites us to test out that theory, by making us responsible for a group of prospective murder victims so dated and stereotypical, that you almost expect it to be foreshadowing some kind of Cabin in the Woods meta-commentary. There’s the rich mean girl, the arrogant jock, the class clown, the awkward bookish type, the aspiring model, the pervy weirdo and, of course, the token final girl. To a certain extent all these characteristics are inflexible and set in stone (it’s not like you can transform the athlete into an engineering major, or make the unbearable comic-relief actually funny) but what you can do is influence their actions, within the parameters of the given personas of course, to facilitate desired outcomes. 

For example, you could fan the flames of a hormonal dispute to create entertaining drama, you could deliberately lead one of them to meet a grisly end at the hands of a wood chipper, or – if you want to be super boring about it – you could try to keep everyone alive until the credits roll. The game won’t admonish you either way, meaning that you’re free to pull the strings however you see fit. It’s almost like you get to direct your own horror movie, tallying up the ideal kill count, indulging in your preferred clichés and, at one point, even dictating what form the scares will take. I personally enjoyed discovering just how many gruesome death variations there were for each character, as some of the elaborate fatalities proved to be exceptionally imaginative. 

Experimenting with all the different branches is what’s so engrossing about Until Dawn, because it legitimately feels like an open-ended narrative. People can die at the drop of a hat (due to either an obscure decision that was made hours ago or something as insignificant as a failed QTE) and whole environments can be skipped over if you don’t forge the requisite path. Granted, it’s not an especially frightening game – and those sections wherein you sluggishly potter around looking for glistening objects to advance the plot can get a little wearisome – but that doesn’t detract from the overall experience. Because getting to be the puppet master is just way too much fun. – Harrison Abbott

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Merging horror and comedy templates might be cinema’s greatest challenge. Tip the scales either way, risk driving away audiences who aren’t expecting a one-sided affair. Zombie outbreaks, household hauntings, even deadly children’s games can all benefit from comedic engagements so long as terror or chaos aren’t forgotten. Horror comedies, as the best prove, trojan horse fears under blankets of laughter to create a more effective brand of scare tactics.

Over the decade, we’ve had our share of horror-comedy blunders and highlights. I, for one, would like to honor the latter. I love cackling heartily through my horror films, for the right reasons of course (well, there’s nothing wrong with a Demon Wind watch either). It’s been a righteous ten years for meta horror-comedies, as well as workplace follies morphed into cutthroat enterprise takedowns. Also, anal cavity creatures? Let’s pay homage to those films that snap through every funnybone and put a smile on your face that’ll last an eternity.

23. Bloodsucking Bastards (2015)

“I track how many paper clips we use per quarter, do you think I wouldn’t notice a vampire company takeover?”

Work sucks, especially when your department is being turned vampiric employee by employee. Well, let me rephrase that sentence. Work sucks when you’re part of a company being turned vampiric – but watching actors such as Fran Kranz, Pedro Pascal, and Joey Kern portray the scenario on screen? Bloodsucking Bastards takes a bite out of “Worksploitation” horror and elevates the idea of soulless salespeople to batty new heights. First acts are a bit like a more grounded episode of Workaholics, but as the vampire theme starts to slowly creep in, comedic elements don’t wane in response. A horror comedy, in my opinion, that never found the initial audience it deserves.

22. Piranha 3D (2010)

“[last words] Wet t-shirt…wet t-shirt!”

Alexandre Aja isn’t known for his jokiness, but Piranha 3D injects aqua-horror-humor into the vacation nightmare subgenre. Between shots of flesh being torn from spring-breaker bones, characters find themselves the butt of many a carnivorous gag. Jerry O’Connell, the sleazy “Girls Gone Wild” hack whose latest masterplan has no legs to stand on. Ving Rhames and his lawman’s brute tenacity. Paul Scheer being Paul Scheer. Even the gruesomeness of Greg Nicotero’s practical effects get a laugh as gore smashes Eli Roth’s head in broad daylight, or baked-in callbacks recreate classic horror sequences (Jaws). Fun in the sun, with an emphasis on “F-U-N.”

21. Bad Milo (2013)

“[shrugs] You got a thing in your butt.”

Bad Milo is a touching intestinal comedy about one man’s misunderstood butt demon, and a quite humorous one at that. Ken Marino’s chemistry with Milo is nothing short of a miracle, whether he’s losing cool after another dead body or cuddling his big-eyed little buddy. You know how fans got all meme-happy after Shudder dropped “The Finger,” a Creepshow episode featuring an “adorable killer sidekick?” Bad Milo presented the scenario first, executes more than gimmick filmmaking, and features Peter Stormare. Check and mate in my book. Shout out to some expert puppetry that brings Milo alive, this curious little colon camper with a heart of gold (massacring for daddy is sweet!).

20. Witching & Bitching (2013)

“What eyes? Pull them out!”

This might be an underdog pick to some, but anyone who studies Álex de la Iglesia’s catalog can attest to the filmmaker’s black-as-night funnybone. In this case, criminals find themselves on the lam and hiding in Zugarramurdi. Everyone knows Zugarramurdi, yes? If not, I can assure you nothing good happens there given how all types of witches run rampant through village streets. A Spanish cast including Carolina Bang and Hugo Silva either must bring upon or thwart an oncoming coven apocalypse, as Iglesia unleashes bedlam on broomsticks that comes in all shapes and sizes. Hellion curses, merciless conjurers, and unprepared heroes collide in an international satanic panic not to be missed.

19. Juan of the Dead (2011)

“[answering phone] Juan of the dead, we kill your beloved ones, how can I help you?”

I earnestly hope y’all haven’t passed over Alejandro Brugués’ Juan of the Dead. Cuba’s “first” horror film takes a page out of the commentative messaging of George A. Romero’s best while opting for more Shaun of the Dead vibes. Juan and his rag-tag assembly must fight the undead while government wavelengths and media sources claim the reanimated corpses are dissidents revolting against Cuban rule. Come for the obvious sociopolitical skewering, stay for Juan’s raucous capitalist revolution. This zombie killer for hire comes at a bargain price and with gleeful corpse-decimating kills.

18. Mayhem (2017)

“This – this – this meditation & this incense, it’s all bullshit. You think I like the taste of kale? Come on! I’m fucking dead inside.”

Joe Lynch and “Worksploitation” horror is a match made in Satan’s boardroom. His contagion thriller Mayhem drives a stake through the heart of corporate manipulation and beats political office games into an unrecognizable pulp. It helps to have Steven Yeun and Samara Weaving at the top of their cubicle-crushing game, as Weaving herself steps into the forefront in terms of unhinged comedic potential. Mayhem is an angry movie about being taken advantage of by incorporated entities, yet it’s enraged catharsis makes for an insanely punchline-worthy watch. Rage viruses aren’t exactly “funny,” but it’s more in the reactions when co-workers start primevally laying smackdowns on one another when the film’s true humor bubbles over. Maybe that’s just coming from someone who’s been chained to a desk since graduating college?

17. Stitches (2012)

“You’re not our charge, but know this: a clown who doesn’t finish his party act can never rest, and a joke is never funny the second time round.”

What do you get when comedian Ross Noble plays a back-from-the-dead party clown hellbent on murdering the now teenage children who caused his death? Stitches, the 2012 slasher about red noses and vengeful brutality. Egregious puns are Noble’s calling card, as deaths all carry a carnival vibe and practical playfulness. Eyes stabbed out with umbrellas, brains scooped with utensils, heads popped like balloons. In a world where we’re still clamoring for new slasher franchises, I’m still disappointed “Stitches” never returned with his face-painted cult. At least the mad clown’s origin story is more entertaining than your lamest friend who brings his magic kit to co-ed parties.

16. Little Monsters (2019)

“I fucking hate those little Kiddlywinks.”

Can petting zoo zombie outbreaks be heartwarming and saccharine sweet? Yup! Just watch Little Monsters. Lupita Nyong’o shines ever-so brightly as “Miss Caroline,” a teacher tasked with protecting her young students from flesh-tearing threats without spooking the innocent kiddos. A mission made harder when children’s entertainer Teddy McGiggle (Josh Gad at his most monstrously hilarious) snaps and would be perfectly fine sacrificing each child for his own life – but not on Miss Caroline’s watch. Cue Taylor Swift ukulele covers, “strawberry jam” stains, and hard-knock sidetalks between Miss Caroline and her nastily rude adult tag-along. I know everyone points to Us as Nyong’o crowing 2019 genre role, but dare I hoist Little Monsters higher? A performance that blasts sunflower happiness despite entrails covering animal pens.

15. Tragedy Girls (2017)

“To make an omelet, you have to kill some ex-boyfriends.”

Whichever scientist figures out how to harness the charismatic energy of Brianna Hildebrand and Alexandra Shipp into usable power will solve the world’s wattage troubles. Tragedy Girls hacks and slashes social media culture to shreds, but would be completely different with any other combination of female leads. Points are awarded given Tyler MacIntyre’s “Behind The Mask, but way more fetch” setup, as goth-queen true crime obsessors attempt to heighten their online personas by, well, slicing through the competition. It’s Mean Girls wittiness influenced by Leslie Vernon’s “serial killer mockumentary” vibe. Peppier than a state championship cheer squad, funnier than your high school grade’s class clown, and still a serious murder spree. Smash that share button, yo.

14. The Final Girls (2015)

“Ever since I was a little boy, I’ve dreamed of being the final girl.”

The Final Girls impresses most as Todd Strauss-Schulson ravages audience emotions to the tune of “Bette Davis Eyes.” Second most impressive is how M.A. Fortin and Joshua John Miller script a pretty damn hilarious satire of 80s slasher cinema. As Taissa Farmiga’s gang finds themselves sucked into (some of) their favorite horror franchise Last Action Hero style, bonehead character archetypes cycle through the usually plotted motions of campfire massacres. Adam Devine and Angela Trimbur shine as horny sexpots – Trimber especially during her climactic striptease – while Thomas Middleditch’s superfan watches on with (somewhat perverse) glee. Take your pick of reasons to love The Final Girls, but I’ll always appreciate how hard it makes me chuckle (before flooding the waterworks).

13. Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)

“Christmas is fast becoming my least favorite “C” word.”

Ugh, *another* Christmas-theme horror musical comedy from Scotland about zombies. Good thing John McPhail’s holiday singalong nails every aspect, “comedy” included. While songs are pop-catchy and undead attacks choreographed with aggression, what’s most impressive is a cast that never allows rather dark thematic reaches to snuff holly-jolly humor. Festivities are splattered with blood (and…urine), and characters aren’t granted the “Hollywood Endings” other films might have allowed, but you’ll still sit with a beaming smile throughout Anna’s entire campaign thanks to supercharged spirits making seasonal slayings bright. Humor is delivered as sharp and dangerous as Anna’s pointed candy cane weaponry. Merry Killsmas!

12. Stage Fright (2014)

“Break a leg!”

Those Bloody Disgusting fans who listen to Horror Queers on the regular already know my opinions on Stage Fright are not widely shared. Well phooey on you, Trace. Now it’s MY turn to say Stage Fright wears its horror musical badge like the pride of theater camp. Meat Loaf leads a troupe of budding summer songsters in a new kabuki production that hopes to put his little outpost on the map, but a heavy metal killer starts slashing through stuck-up pupils. Cue singalong lyrics that poke fun at theater kid tropes, wailing guitar riffs behind vicious deaths, and comedy any theater camp graduate I’ve shown Stage Fright to feels on a deep, self-mocking level. Truthfully, one of my favorite horror-comedy rewatches of the decade. Doesn’t bother me if I’m alone.

11. Cheap Thrills (2013)

“Cut your pinky off. It’s your pinky. You use it for, like, nothing.”

Should I feel pity or remorse for laughing throughout E.L. Katz’s Cheap Thrills? Writers David Chirchirillo and Trent Haaga are some mean ‘sombitchs given their penchant for denying characters basic humanity. You’ve got David Koechner throwing out increasingly harmful “dares” with dollar amounts tied to completion, meant to pit “buddies” played by Pat Healy and Ethan Embry against one another. Sara Paxton watches on, a housewife indulging in gladiatorial entertainment. Again, should I laugh as animals are endangered? Men piss on one another? Friendships are broken within hours? The answer is yes, because Cheap Thrills is a special brand of psychotic competitiveness. One that marinates in a bath of the most delicious delinquency expendable money can buy.

10. Detention (2011)

“It’s just high school. It’s not the end of the world.”

A pinch of John Hughes, a dash of Wes Craven, a sprinkle of Diablo Cody, and voilà! You’ve cooked-up Joseph Kahn’s criminally underappreciated Detention. A meta wrecking ball of sci-fi and slasher influences rolled into one hyper-attentive afterschool special. Shanley Caswell, Josh Hutcherson, and all their high-schooler supporting parts sell student body comedics while dodging a slasher villain named Cinederhella. There also might be some time paradox teleportation, insectoid arms, and mentions of the band Hoobastank. What the hell am I talking about? Find out and see, given how most everyone I’ve interacted with has been sleeping on my man Kahn.

9. Dead Snow 2: Red Vs. Dead (2014)

“I’ve seen a thousand zombie movies, and this is not in any of them. You’ve created a whole new genre here, man.”

To steal a quote that will forever be used to describe Dead Snow 2: Red Vs. Dead, it’s “the sequel you did Nazi coming.” How does a Nazi zombie horror movie top itself as a continuation? Introduce body-swapping aspects, American “zombie hunters,” festering Russian allies (still undead), and full committal to Tommy Wirkola’s bonkers concept. I adore Dead Snow, but it’s just a gory snow top tease. The furthered journey of Martin against reanimated German platoon leader Herzog is one for the undead history books. You know, the chapter that covers Norwegian horror-comedies based on WWII soldiers hunting gold and turning tourists into bloodthirsty, boot-steppin’ grunts.

8. Housebound (2014)

“You know, the closed mind is the worst defense against the paranormal, Kylie. What are you gonna do against a hostile spirit? You just gonna crack jokes?”

New Zealand knows their way around a horror-comedy, and Gerard Johnstone’s Housebound is proper proof. A woman sentenced to home arrest listens to stories of paranormal possibilities from her mother once returning to the nest, but she ignores such talk. Actress Morgana O’Reilly stands out as the incarcerated Kylie Bucknell, who begins to suspect her new living arrangements may indeed be “haunted” by some presence. No spoilage here as to what Kylie encounters, but just know it’ll have you rolling with laughter thanks in part to Rima Te Wiata’s motherly counterpart. A film about bumps in the night that’s smooth sailing as far as dysfunction and humorous genre setups are concerned. One that’s rumored to be getting a US remake…despite the film already existing in the English language?

7. Dude Bro Party Massacre III (2015)

“After watching seventeen of my best friends get killed by some crazy lady, I guess you can say I’m a little bit afraid of women.”

As someone who’s consumed Natural Light hard seltzers *multiple* weekends in a row, by choice, it should come as no surprise that 5-Second Films’ Dude Bro Party Massacre III stands as one of my favorite horror-comedies of the decade. Slam brewskis with the Delta Bi Theta brothers as they once again must defeat a mass-murdering slasher villain named “Motherface” while repressing their most homoerotic urges. It’s *shockingly* witty, gratuitously juvenile, and every bit of 80s after-dark exploitation you would have recorded on cable after mommy went to sleep. So many sensual and complicated handshakes, torn-off shirts, and tapped kegs – which is frankly but a fraction of the masterful mockery that propels this third franchise entry without any accompanying releases.

6. This is the End (2013)

“Something, um, not-that-chill happened last night.”

No horror-comedy has grown on me more over the decade than This is the End. Humor may largely stem from celebrity cameos of actors playing exaggerated and egotistical versions of their true selves (or so they say), but This is the End is also a knowledgeable horror satire. Maybe not Cabin In the Woods savvy, but genre rules and regulations are still taken to task by Hollywood’s favorite stoner crew. Plus, has Danny McBride ever been better? My newest Halloween tradition is programming horror marathons that always culminate with This is the End, capping a night of screams with a whole subterranean basement full of laughs. Exorcisms, hellfire sinkholes, creatures from beneath – tell me all the boxes aren’t ticked.

5. Ready or Not (2019)

“What the fuck is wrong with you, you fucking asshole piece of shit little tiny dick licker fucking asshole fucking die!”

Dysfunctional lifestyles of the rich and famous are all the rage in modern cinema these days given current classism climates. Eat the rich, sacrifice the rich, face off against the rich in a murderous game of mansion-wide hide and seek – take your pick. Ready or Not, 2019’s representation of the last example, completes a triumvirate of genre performances for lead Samara Weaving that anoint her horror’s new queen to watch. Be it take-no-shit aggression, snarky laughs, punchy instincts, or a host of other qualities, Weaving devours the screen as a wife attempting to survive her own wedding night. Crossbows, hidden passageways, and a tabletop gaming empire all stand in her way, but one thing’s for sure. Entertainment and bleak, bastardized nuptial humor comes at a premium.

4. Deathgasm (2015)

“Look, I’m gonna help you do this, but only because you suck at it. Also, it’s kind of fun stabbing shit.”

Underworld demons. Unhallowed hymns. Furious thrash solos. Dildo assassinations. Wait. Dildo assassinations? Deathgasm plays like a rebellious pre-teen anarchist’s Trapper Keeper full of angsty doodles animated into the form of a horror-comedy rebel yell. Filmmaker Jason Lei Howden, a professed headbanger himself, brings upon decibel damnation as moronic metalheads summon an apocalyptic curse through their garage-band amps. Think Sam Raimi, with plenty of shouts at the devil and projectiled practical gore.

My Deathgasm watch count is somewhere around eight or nine by now, with each viewing only getting funnier. Between Zakk’s (James Joshua Blake) “brutal” machismo satire, Brodie’s (Milo Cawthorne) hopeless-romantic-in-corpse-paint act, and Medina’s (Kimberley Crossman) leather-clad conversion? Whether they’re splitting possessed skulls or striking a metal-horn handshake, laughs remain at a premium. “Do it again!” is still one of my favorite horror jokes of the decade. Home run number two for New Zealand!

3. The Cabin in the Woods (2011)

“Okay, I’m drawing a line in the fucking sand, here. Do not read the Latin.”

Do you think Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard knew the brilliance they hatched after writing The Cabin in the Woods? In every scene, through almost every line, there’s a roasting of some offhand genre trope turned into an anecdote or norm-busting zinger. Sure, Fran Kranz plays the collapsable-bong-smoking jester – but he’s hardly the film’s shining comedy star. Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford punch their timecards as factory workers in control of real-life horror scenarios who’re part of a bigger sacrificial undertaking. Cut to Whitford’s “Merman” obsession, random dance sequences, a whiteboard of bets, and countless instances of satirical buildup before one *glorious* kitchen-sink payoff. All worth the long-shelved wait it took for The Cabin in the Woods to finally reach mainstream theaters.

2. Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (2010)

“What am I supposed to say, Dale? ‘Oh hidy-ho officer! We’ve had a doozy of a day. There we were minding our own business, just doing chores around the house when kids started killing themselves all over my property.'”

If Brianna Hildebrand and Alexandra Shipp are the female horror-comedy duo of the decade, Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine steal male honors. Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil is such an ingenious reinvention of slasher tropes that flips the backwoods slasher script. What if stereotyped, creepy slack-jawed yokels were just two buddies fixing up their vacation homes, and kids just kept killing themselves through incredulous means on their property? One of those “why didn’t I think of that” scenarios that assuredly keeps other filmmakers up at night, cursing Eli Craig’s name for crafting a horror-comedy that’s twelve cuts above.

1. What We Do in the Shadows (2014)

“I think of it like this. If you are going to eat a sandwich, you would just enjoy it more if you knew no one had fucked it.”

Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi gifted horror fans the vampiric Real World mockumentary we never knew we needed with What We Do in the Shadows. Is there a more effortlessly quotable horror-comedy in the last twenty years, let alone ten? My “Dead But Delicious” Cavity Colors baseball tee disagrees. “We’re Werewolves, not Swear-wolves!” comes to mind. What an outrageously enjoyable spoof that encompasses all eras of vampire representation – Nosferatu to Twilight. Plainly put, there are too many top-notch gags to begin naming favorites. That, readers, is telling enough to the film’s satirical weight in humor-happy gold. Take a bow, New Zealand! You’ve made quite a lasting mark on the horror-comedy subgenre these last years.

The post Matt Donato Breaks Down the Best Horror-Comedies of the 2010s appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

According to Taiwan News, director John Hsu is currently working on the adaptation, which is expected in Taiwanese theatres this September. The film will star Gingle Wang, and is produced by 1 Production Film Co. and Filmagic Pictures.

“As a gamer, the original Detention game left me shocked and made a deep impact,” Hsu states. “Even then, I hoped the story could be adapted to film to reach even more people. My goal was to keep the film true to the spirit of the game, but to further develop a unique vision and emotion. I wanted to create a truly unique psychological thriller.”

As for Devotion, the game still remains off of Steam, although we did get a chance to review it, with Danny referring to it as a game “that manages to remain unsettling and horrific through the mood and tone that’s imparted from the game’s design and storytelling”.

The post Taiwanese Horror Game ‘Detention’ Receiving Film Adaptation; John Hsu Directing appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

For those not in the know, Chinese president Xi Jinping earned derisive comparisons to Winnie The Pooh in an effort to secretly criticize/mock him by those Chinese residents critical of the president. This quickly lead to images of Winnie The Pooh being banned in China (seriously). And seeing as Taiwan is under Chinese control (despite their efforts to seek more independence), you can see where this is going.

Devotion features several Easter Eggs that make reference to Pooh, as well as a reference referring to an individual who has received a prison sentence nicknamed “baozi” or “steamed bun”. This is another sensitive reference to the Chinese president.

“For the earlier sensitive art material incident, the whole team of Red Candle Games bears the responsibility of this awfully unprofessional mistake. It is not Red Candle’s vision to secretly project extensive ideology, nor is it to attack any person in the real world. Even if the sensitive art element was wrongfully placed before, we kindly ask you not to over interpret other game material,” the studio wrote.

Needless to say, that apology wasn’t good enough for those in power, as the studio’s official Weibo account (the Chinese equivalent to Facebook) has been shut down, and its relationships with publishers Indievent and Winking Entertainment have been terminated. This essentially leaves Red Candle with the responsibility of issuing refunds for the game should anyone seek them.

No word on when (or if) the game will return in a censored form to Steam.

The post Taiwanese Horror Game ‘Devotion’ Pulled From Steam appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The PS4 turned 5 at the end of last year. In that time it’s gone on to become the king of the consoles for this generation and Sony has produced a procession of critically-acclaimed exclusives that helped cement its place at the head of the table.

It’s also racked up an impressive roster of horror games, and in honor of this fifth anniversary, we’ve selected eleven of the best PS4 horror games from the last five or so years.

The Evil Within 2 (2017)

The original The Evil Within left survival horror fans with lofty expectations. After all, it was Shinji Mikami, the mastermind behind Resident Evil’s greatest entries, back in the genre with a brand new game. It frustrated in places, but there was no denying the deft touch of Mikami was present.

The Evil Within 2 dialed up the crazy and produced a far more inventive take on survival horror. Set inside a corrupted simulation of a small town, you face vicious monsters and an everchanging environment as you aim to cleanse the corruption and find the soldiers who were sent in before you.

The only real downside of The Evil Within 2 is its first-person sections, which take the tension of the stealth in the rest of the game and replaces it with wonky frustration. Thankfully, it’s a rarity.

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice (2017)

Not only is Hellblade a truly effective horror game, it’s also a mature and well-intentioned look at the effects of mental illness. The latter is what makes the former true, as the titular Senua sees and hears her personal demons everywhere, with the Dualshock controller’s speaker even emitting the whispers of multiple voices in her head (some are helpful, some malicious).

Senua’s trip to Helheim (the Norse realm of Hell) is fraught with physical dangers too, and her already fragile psyche is in peril every time she has to confront and attack the denizens of the underworld.

Yes, Hellblade is full of monsters and you literally go to Hell, but the true horror is in that mental health representation and how effectively it conveys the terror many go through on a daily basis.

Prey (2017)

Arkane has proved itself to be adept at building self-contained worlds filled with detail and depth with its Dishonored series. Prey certainly continues that with an intricate space station filled with inky alien beasts out to murder you. Oh, and some of them can mimic inanimate objects so you can’t look at a Coffee mug again without the temptation to lug a wrench at it.

The star of the show is Talos-I, the space station itself. A sprawling maze of corridors and departments filled with a variety of horrifying threats. In the tradition of System Shock and Bioshock, the environment does a great job of telling the story, allowing you to get on with making a stairway out of futuristic glue blobs to escape a monster that was a stapler five seconds ago.

Resident Evil 2 (2019)

Capcom followed on from the success of Resident Evil 7 with a sublime reimagining of its 1998 classic, Resident Evil 2.

The game manages to be both a warmly nostalgic trip back to the height of survival horror greatness and a very good modernization of it. The switch to a behind the shoulder camera could have taken the tension and uncertainty created by the original’s fixed camera angles, but there’s an impressive mixture of sound and shadow that replicates the terror and panic anew.

Not only is Resident Evil 2 among the best PS4 horror games, but it’s also a top contender for best Resident Evil game.

Death Road to Canada (2018)

A hybrid of old-school text adventure and a top-down survival game, Death Road to Canada is a celebration of the zombie apocalypse that’s not afraid to take the piss out of it at every turn.

The meat of the game is looting locations whilst keeping the growing zombie horde at bay, but in between, you’re on that ‘Death Road to Canada’ and having random situations flung at you.

You might chance upon a crazed bear, or enlist the help of a lethal dog as a companion. Death Road to Canada is deliciously silly and yet still manages to recreate the panicked gorefest of post-apocalyptic survival. It may take you through a lot of survivors to get to Canada, but the journey is always entertaining.

Layers of Fear (2016)

First-person horror games where you’re relatively defenseless has been a winning trend in recent years, so to stand out from a growing crowd you have to do something pretty different.

Bloober Team’s Layers of Fear did just that with its consistently trippy, creepy horror set in a dilapidated mansion of a mentally-tortured painter. Every time you turn your virtual head, something has changed in the environment. Sometime’s it small, other times it’s big and bonkers.

There was no reliance on cheap scares or bloodletting, just a steady stream of unease. It stands out for doing something a bit classical in the realm of these best PS4 horror games.

Dying Light (2015)

Techland was all hype and shoddy trousers with previous open-world zombie co-op game Dead Island but in 2015 it released Dying Light and righted a lot of wrongs.

Dying Light refined its formula, threw in an attractive day/night system, and laid on a thick layer of parkour for good measure. The day brought swarms of sluggish undead to jump over and hack to pieces as you searched for supplies in the slums of a virus-ridden city. When night fell, a far nastier form of infected came out to play, and you’re the toy.

The adrenaline rush of escaping that first nighttime encounter by the skin of your teeth is among the purest horror moments in gaming this decade. It’s a more intimidating experience alone but played in co-op, Dying Light becomes a goofy, gory hoot. Throw in the vehicular madness of its expansion The Following and you’ve got the best pure zombie game around, and of course, one of the best PS4 horror games too.

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (2017)

By the end of the previous console generation, Resident Evil was more successful than ever, but steering further and further away from what made it a survival horror force. The series needed a fresh start and in 2017, we got just that with Resident Evil 7.

Resident Evil 7 returns to a puzzle-filled homestead, a shift to first-person, and some of the most memorable villains Resident Evil has seen for some time. It’s clearly inspired by the likes of Texas Chainsaw in its grimy, Southern hostility, especially in its twisted Baker family.

Then there’s the series using virtual reality for the first time with Sony’s PSVR. The already intense opening hours take on a whole new level of terror when you actually feel like you’re in that crumbling backwoods home.

The Last of Us Remastered (2014)

Naughty Dog capped off the PS3’s lifecycle with perhaps the system’s best game. It was no surprise it found its way to Sony’s console successor soon after to be an easy pick for the best PS4 horror games.

Initially telling the story of Joel, a broken man surviving in the post-apocalyptic world where a fungus has mutated much of the population into vile monsters, The Last of Us then brings in Ellie, a teen girl who may hold the key to finding a cure. Joel reluctantly takes Ellie across America in search of the group who can test for the cure, but the pair bond via their shared traumas and the many close encounters with the infected and the less pleasant human survivors around.

Detention (2017)

This side-scrolling horror from Red Candle Games takes inspiration from real-life political issues in 1960’s Taiwan where martial law ruled all, and also takes on religious elements with Taiwanese culture and mythology.  By blending these into one game, Detention is perhaps the closest a game has got to the Guillermo Del Toro school of horror storytelling.

The game focuses on the two remaining students trapped in a school due to an incoming typhoon. Things begin to get very strange and ultimately horrifying for the duo.

There’s nothing else on this list quite like Detention. It has a stumble towards the end, but for most of the time, it’s a slow-building cycle of dread and terror with a bit of a worthwhile history lesson thrown into the mix.

Until Dawn (2015)

Stuck in development hell for a long time, Until Dawn arrived to little fanfare, but before long, it gained a following and is repeatedly brought up when discussions concerning modern horror games arise, and for good reason. It’s clearly among the best PS4 horror games.

Until Dawn is a choose your own adventure meets teen slasher movie and in the spirit of the latter half, having an audience really ramps up the enjoyment factor. The cast of young things (including Hayden Panettiere and Rami Malek) can all fall to the cruel hand of fate at multiple points in the story, giving the player the job of role-playing as director. If you wish to go traditional Final Girl route, that’s totally an option, but you can just as easily have a bleak no survivors playthrough or a relatively happy finale with the majority of the cast still breathing (but where’s the fun in that?).

The game takes an interesting turn or two with its plot and characters, and in doing so, it goes beyond simply being a homage to slashers and becomes a fantastic hybrid that remains one of the PS4’s best surprises.

Alien Isolation (2014)

Not only is Alien Isolation the best Alien anything in the last couple of decades, but it’s also the purest form of what made the xenomorph a terrifying entity since the original film.

Alien Isolation takes the gorgeous aesthetic of Ridley Scott’s 1979 classic as its inspiration too. Every clunky monitor and beige padded wall panel is represented when Ellen Ripley’s daughter, Amanda boards the Sevastopol space station and discovers things are going south rapidly thanks to a rogue Xeno deciding to call the place home.

After an extended introduction to the space station, you finally meet the beast, and so begins hours of being hounded, watching every vent, dreading every ping of your motion tracker, and hiding under desks in a futile hope the slathering insectile bastard will leave you alone.

As if dealing with the xenomorph wasn’t bad enough, the remaining crew isn’t exactly friendly either, and the local android population has gone a tad haywire. You can shoot them of course, but that brings the unpleasant risk of the alien showing up.

The final hours take a slightly unpleasant turn, but it is at least in line with the balance of power found in the rest of it. The important thing to remember here is that Alien Isolation is still an utterly fantastic Alien experience in spite of any issues, and worthy of being called one of the best PS4 horror games.

Doom (2016)

Few games revel in their ultraviolence quite as much as Id’s 2016 reboot of Doom. This is a game that rewards the act of ‘Rip and Tear’, after all. As one angry soldier obliterates the minions of Hell whilst on Mars (naturally).

The fast-paced action sees Doom Guy display his full range of gory executions to each and every one of disgusting residents of the underworld for no other reason than he feels like it. What a guy.

Aside from being one of the best PS4 horror games around, it’s quite possibly the most metal video game in history, with a soundtrack that drives that point home like a fist down a demon’s throat. 25 years on from the original Doom, the series is still as relevant and exciting as it ever was, and 2016’s Doom is a big reason for that.

What do you consider the best PS4 horror games to be? Anything you’d add to this list?  We’ll be expanding it in future so let us know!

The post Best PS4 Horror Games -The Finest Horror on Sony’s Juggernaut Console appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The developer today announced Devotion will arrive on Steam from February 19 and released a new trailer to coincide with the news.

Devotion is a first-person atmospheric horror game depicting the life of a family shadowed by religious belief. You’ll explore a 1980s Taiwan apartment-complex that is somehow lost in time, and witness it gradually shift into a hellish nightmare. It concerns the stories of a family living there and follows their various forms of ‘devotion’.

Detention was a splendid mix of survival horror and historical fact, and there seems to be a slightly different blend to Devotion, but if Red Candle can get it right, we could be looking at one of the best horror games of the year.

The post Indie Horror ‘Devotion’, From the Developer of ‘Detention’, Releases Next Month on Steam appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The story for Devotion centres around a family of three that had lived in an old apartment complex. “Explore the nostalgic house in the 80s where religion plays a significant role in their daily life. When one day the same house that once filled with joy and love had turned into a hell-like nightmare, and by venturing in the haunted and confined space, each puzzle leads you closer to the mysteries nested deep inside.”

The game will be a first-person psychological horror affair, with an art style recreating 1980s Taiwanese lifestyle and “atmospheric sound design inspired by Taiwanese folk culture”.

The post Red Candle Games Announce Their New Horror Game ‘Devotion’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Carrie (1976)

The quintessential horror movie prom to end all proms, and one hell of a final act. Carrie White’s high school life is rougher than most; her religious fanatic of mother has sheltered her to the point where she thinks she’s dying when she gets her first period. It only furthers the extreme bullying she deals with on a consistent basis. Then she discovers a new telekinetic ability, a liberating power that’s also in conflict with her mother’s beliefs. Attending the prom with dreamboat Tommy Ross is supposed to be the one thing that feels normal, but bully Chris Hargensen and jerk boyfriend Billy Nolan ruined that by dumping pig’s blood on her, causing Carrie to understandably snap and unleash a vengeance unlike any other. Prom is a major moment for any high schooler, and Carrie elevates that rite of passage metaphor to nightmarish levels.

Tragedy Girls

High school seniors McKayla and Sadie are social media obsessed BFFs who deftly balance dance committee, cheerleading, and serial killing aspirations with ease. Being the overachievers that they are, they’re not just content to pick off victims one by one; they want to really make a name for themselves by staging a large-scale massacre. When you’re a high school senior, the easy choice would be prom. For most, prom would be the night of hopes and dreams of romance coming to fruition. But for McKalya and Sadie, it’s a harrowing test of friendship, mayhem, and bloodshed.

Trick or Treat (1986)

Another horror film to showcase the growing pains and tribulations of being a high school outcast, Trick or Treat swaps out the prom for a Halloween school dance. For Eddie Weinbauer, heavy metal is his escape from the horrors of high school. Especially his idol, musician Sammi Curr. When reports of Sammi’s death in a mysterious fire breaks, Eddie is devastated. A local DJ gives Eddie a copy of Sammi’s last unreleased album, and soon realizes something is off about the album. Sammi has murderous plans from beyond the grave, and he means to have Eddie help him carry them out. Of course, Sammi’s heavy metal rage builds to a climax that takes place during the Halloween dance.

Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever

While the first film felt apropos of its title, this sequel revolves entirely around the high school prom. Rider Strong’s character from the first film, Paul, reappears just long enough to spread his infection to the creek where its water is distributed to the local high school, when prom planning is well underway. The high school stereotypes, such as the nice guy with the unrequited crush, are all there, just with an added layer of gross-out infection added to the mix. Prom and high school horror goes hand in hand, but this Ti West directed sequel ensures this prom is anything but glamorous.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Before the hit TV show, there was the 1992 film on which the series was based. Stereotypical cheerleader Buffy Summers rises above her shallow, materialistic nature with the new responsibility of becoming The Slayer, the chosen one destined to kill vampires. It’s a new direction that places her at odds with her friends; they don’t recognize the person she’s become. Written by Joss Whedon and directed by Fran Rubel Kuzui, this teen vampire movie takes a far more light-hearted approach than Whedon had in mind, causing him to leave the project and eventually create the Buffy he intended a few years later. Even still, this version of Buffy is a lot of fun, building into a slapstick finale that take place at the school dance. Buffy kicking vampire butt in tulle and leather is great.

Jennifer’s Body

This Karyn Kusama directed dark horror comedy, written by Diablo Cody, navigates the horrors of female friendships in high school. Teens Jennifer Check and Anita “Needy” Lesnicki have had a tight-knit codependent bond since their days playing in the sandbox together. It’s a bond that even transcends Jennifer becoming possessed by a man-eating demon. High school is a transformative growing period, though, and some friendships aren’t meant to last through the growing pains. The complexities of female friendships get even more monstrous, literally, at the pivotal school dance.

Idle Hands

For most high school set horror, or horror comedies in this case, a school dance is an event filled with pressure for the hormonal teens in attendance. But even more important, it’s an event filled with a sea of unsuspecting victim potential for maximum catastrophe. So, no surprise that this riff off of the phrase, “idle hands are the Devil’s play-things,” that sees stoner teen Anton lose control of his possessed, murderous right hand would culminate in the big Halloween school dance. The dance becomes the battlefield between Anton and his evil hand as he fights to protect his neighbor turned dream girl Molly.

Detention

Co-written and directed by Joseph Kahn, this meta-slasher sci-fi hybrid riffs on teen archetypes at a warped speed. The truth is that the plot is very much a kitchen sink, but at its core it’s about a group of students that band together to solve a serial killing mystery while serving detention during prom. While most of the movie is a frenetic whirlwind of insanity and dissection of high school tropes, you can bet that these characters do eventually make their way to the prom, giving way to one of the quirkiest school dance scenes ever. Mmmbop was never as fun or as lively as it was in Detention.

Prom Night series

Beginning with 1980’s Canadian slasher starring Jamie Lee Curtis through 1992’s fourth entry in the series, Prom Night IV: Deliver Us from Evil, this entire series is centered around the horrors of high school prom. The series begins as a serious slasher with an extended disco dance number at the prom and spins into more eccentric horror. The best, though, is Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II, that opens with a 1957 flashback to prom and climaxes with a present day set prom. Evil Mary Lou will kill for that prom queen crown.

The Loved Ones

Subverting the big dance spectacles of typical high school horror, Sean Byrne’s debut examines what prom is like for those who don’t get prom dates. In this case, when socially awkward Lola gets rejected by Brent to attend the dance, she and her father decide to create their own dance at home. The only problem is Lola doesn’t take no for an answer and Brent becomes her unwilling date. Crowned queen of her own dance, she decides the best way to a man’s heart is to carve her way into it. Sometimes a more intimate setting makes for a much more terrifying feature, and Lola’s twisted prom can be the scariest of them all.

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The indie game market is teeming with horror efforts. To find every interesting indie horror in that festering swell is a tough task. Games like Amnesia, Inside, Outlast, and Five Nights at Freddy’s have seen plenty of attention and praise lavished on them, but there are so much that deserves more coverage. These games may not be the most polished or even particularly good in a technical sense, but they do something right with horror in a variety of ways that many more popular titles simply do not.

Observer (PC, PS4, Xbox One)

Bloober Team made a name for itself with the first-person horror headtrip that is Layers of Fear, a game where a failed painter goes slowly mad in his creaking, dilapidated homestead. Following that up is Observer, a first-person sci-fi horror headtrip.

In Observer, the year is 2084 in a decrepit Krakow. The Nanophage has wiped out large swathes of the population, a horrible war has dealt with most of the rest. Those who remain turn to drugs, and VR, neural implants in a bid to escape their bleak reality.

You play as Daniel Lazarski (voiced by Rutger Hauer), an elite neural detective known as an ‘Observer’. Your sole purpose is to hack and invade suspects’ minds.

In this future, anything you think, feel, or remember can be used against you to punish you.

The story begins when Lazarski receives a cryptic message from his estranged son. It prompts Lazarski to visit the seedy Class C slums of Krakow to investigate. Things get grim, and it turns out that hacking into the unstable minds of criminals and victims to look for clues isn’t a particularly pleasant experience.

The digitally enhanced slum apartment is creepy enough, but things truly get interesting when Lazarski probes the mindscapes of the residents. Weird, trippy, and frankly disturbing imagery bleeds into reality, and as Lazarski delves further into the mystery he’s embroiled in, reality and memory become harder and harder to tell apart.

Observer messes with player perception much like Layers of Fear before it, but tackles the topic of comfort and escape through technology in a disturbing and depressingly bleak manner. Hauer’s performance is patchy, but he definitely adds depth and character to a weary old man filled with technology who sees awful, awful things quite often.

Subterrain (PC, PS4, Xbox One)

Subterrain starts ratcheting up dread from the get go. This top-down survival game set in an underground facility on Mars. The protagonist, Dr.West, narrates the story of how he ended up there, imprisoned and under armed guard. A short while into his imprisonment West discovers the place is now seemingly abandoned. After engineering his escape from his cell, he finds that some kind of infestation has caused mass carnage, and West has missed the last bus outta town. Most chilling of all, he soon knows he isn’t actually alone after all.

The survival of this survival horror is very much rooted in the modern fads of crafting and item management. You’ll collect scrap items to forge new items and to repair essential facility equipment such as power supplies, oxygen filters, and temperature controls. If that wasn’t enough, you also have to manage your health, hunger, and hygiene, with food and drink having an adverse effect on your bladder and bowel movements. Bluntly put, you need to visit bathrooms to urinate and defecate when the occasion arises or suffer the knock on your overall health. It’s a unique hook at least.

Subterrain: The horror game where you can literally shit yourself.

The early hours of Subterrain are a rather lonely affair. The first areas you access have plenty of the bloody aftermath of the initial outbreak. Bodies are scattered in various states of ruin, and blood smears the metal flooring of the facility. The imagery only gets more nightmarish as you begin to meet the infestation head on.

There’s little in the way of life aside from the odd half-mad survivor you have to obliterate. The repetitive thud of the industrial-esque soundtrack breeds a fear of something ominous on the horizon. It’s a fine bit of tension-building that settles in just long enough to put you at ease in time for the steady escalation of walking atrocities that lay ahead.

As you descend deeper into the facility, with every hope you had hurtling towards certain doom, you quickly realize that Subterrain expects you to die and learn. There’s a constant air of uncertainty about the facility, and that means you’re constantly struggling against everything the game throws at you. The ever-ticking clock that is the game world’s growing infestation means you can’t just edge forward in small increments, you have to find a balance between rational thinking and hopeless abandon.

Subterrain’s horror comes from its long periods where nothing really happens. That’s because you always feel like something will happen. You know the infection is spreading unseen, creating threats beyond your knowledge and sight. You just have to hope you’re not in need of a toilet break when something lurches forth from the industrial darkness.

Detention (PC, PS4, Switch)

What Detention does so well is something Guillermo del Toro was adept at in films like Pan’s Labyrinth. It takes some historical context of a tough time for a particular country, and uses that as the backdrop for some fresh n’ freaky goings-on.

Detention is set in a fictional version of 1960’s Taiwan. The country is under martial law and is generally already a fairly bleak place to live. The game begins with a boy narrating his way through a class at Greenwood High, a school housed up in the mountains. The boy falls asleep during the lesson, and awakes to find the room empty, and suspects there was an evacuation because of an imminent typhoon. Of course, it isn’t the real problem.

The boy finds one other person left at the school, a female student, and the pair decide to leave together. Unfortunately the only bridge out is destroyed, so they take shelter in the school. It’s from here that things take a very strange turn, and the school grounds become a hellscape, filled with angry wandering spirits.

While Detention is a survival horror mechanically-speaking, it’s not one that cares for combat (you evade the spirits by holding your breath as you pass them). You still get the puzzles, the tension, and fear of the unknown, but Detention leans very much into the dark realm of psychological horror with some political overtones. The depiction of a militaristic Taiwan is a hell of a backdrop for the more fantastical aspects of Detention.

There’s also the odd bit of local mythology and folklore to help give more credence to the horrors you will endure. While it’s not entirely important to know this information, it does wonders for building this alternate world into something believable.

The hand drawn art style is beautiful, almost more so as things crumble and deteriorate, and stabbing crescendos of sound used at key moments really ramp up the feeling of unease from seemingly innocuous situations. Detention handles horror in an intelligent, mature manner, and it stands out as result.

The Town of Light (PC, PS4, Xbox One)

It’s fair to say The Town of Light is not the best game on this list. Its technical issues and inconsistent guidance are a blight for sure, but much like Detention, its backed by some real life history that makes it fairly unique.

The hook to The Town of Light is in its setting. The game takes place in the very real Volterra Psychiatric Asylum, a broken, abandoned place, away from the more scenic pleasures of the Tuscan landscape it resides in.

The Town of Light is not a horror game in the traditional sense. It’s not about tension, creeping dread, nor being stalked by unnamed things through corridors.

It’s more of an audiovisual tour through the history of a grim and brutal place.

The horrors here are inspired by the grim reality of how unquestionably poor mental health facilities once were at handling mental illness. It’s the cruel, depraved orderlies that are closest this game has to tangible villains, as the stories of their reprehensible actions towards vulnerable, troubled women are recalled in a matter of fact manner by the protagonist (who appears to struggle to understand where she fits into all this herself).

This is not a pleasant experience. There’s no respite, hope, or relief to be gleaned from the dark path this tale treads. Yet that’s The Town of Light’s appeal. It doesn’t shy from the sheer awfulness of its subject matter. It never romanticizes it, nor does it cheapen it by shoehorning in some traditional horror tropes. By grounding so much of the game in reality, there’s an unpleasant understanding of a real-life horror in The Town of Light’s narrative.

Sheltered (PC, PS4, Xbox One, iPad/iPhone)

The post-apocalyptic setting is as well-used as a backdrop in video games as it is in other media. From Fallout to The Last of Us, the struggles of a life after life is pretty much over have been told time and again, usually in much the same fashion. Sheltered dares to show life in the aftermath as a mundane, bleak existence in much the same way as Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. Thankfully it’s not quite that grim or the developers would have to include therapy sessions in the price of the game.

Sheltered is a management game akin to This War is Mine or Fallout Shelter. You are tasked with managing a family of four (two adults, two kids that can be customized to a small degree) along with a family pet (snake, fish, horse cat or dog, all with their own advantages) who have just escaped the end of the world by getting in an underground shelter, which is about as happy as things get.

It’s presented in a 2D cutaway of your underground bunker with simplistic, colorful visuals clearly inspired by classics such as Another World. This lends it an oddly alien feel that’s striking and clear without having to be overly detailed.

Immediately it becomes apparent just how overwhelming the situation is. There’s a laundry list of improvements and additions to make to your basic shelter, and what supplies you do have quickly diminish. Here begins the world’s most somber juggling act. You constantly have to gamble your family’s health and well being against topping up your dwindling supplies.

As you combat sickness, hunger, thirst, radiation, and strangers wanting in on your shelter, tragedy is almost certain to occur, and when it does, it can be terrifying, especially where children are involved. There’s concern when you have to send someone out to scavenge, with only a limited look at what the expedition party are getting up to, but also back at the shelter. What happens if a visitor comes? Can those who remain protect it if necessary? There’s a huge emphasis on every decision having life-threatening consequences, and the only solace is trying to ensure this family has the best chance of survival for a s long as possible.

The anguish of fighting against the inevitability of death is a tough sell for a video game, but to its credit, Sheltered persists.

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But now I have another reason to look forward to the premiere. These spots always start out awesome, but last year there were like 20 of them! Can we please keep it to 10 and under this year? PLEASE?

Frances Conroy, Taissa Farmiga, Jessica Lange, Alexandra Breckenridge, Kathy Bates, Lily Rabe, Sarah Paulson, Jamie Brewer, Evan Peters, Gabourey Sidibe, Angela Bassett, Patti Lupone, and Denis O’Hare all star.

Check out the teaser – “Detention” – below.

Episode 3.01 – “Bitchcraft” (09-Oct-2013)
Episode 3.02 – “Boy Parts” (16-Oct-2013)
Episode 3.03 – “Replacements, The” (23-Oct-2013)

The post [TV] First Teaser For “American Horror Story: Coven” Has Us Climbing The Walls!! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The majority of these are from correspondingly awful movies, but occasionally you get that rare nugget of a trailer that’s actually for a good movie that it can’t seem to sell it at all. We’ve got a couple of those in here as well.

Head inside for the worst trailers of the year (in no particular order)!

THE HOUSE AT THE END OF THE STREET

To be fair, whoever cut this didn’t have much to work with. But still, they could have gone with a “less is more” approach. They manage to show you the whole movie in 2 minutes yet it still feels like the entire 90.

TOTAL RECALL

Total Recall wasn’t the worst movie of the year, but it was bland, boring and mainly consisted of Colin Farrell jumping onto things. This trailer is actually fairly accurate, perhaps they should have lied to us.

DETENTION

I really loved Detention but the movie was impossible to sell. There’s no way to give any indication of what the experience is like without seeing the entire movie. The trailer makes it look cloying and the jokes land with a thud, proving that with some films context is everything. You can’t blame the person who made this trailer, they had an impossible job.

GONE

It’s just like the movie, but without the “Wes Bentley goes to get soup for his mom” subplot that kept me hanging on during the theatrical experience.

WRONG TURN 5: BLOODLINES

A movie so bad they could only find 34 seconds of stuff to put in the trailer. It’s also strange that they’d go with the “you’re in the wrong f*cking theater” angle since this was a direct to DVD/Blu release.

WORLD WAR Z

I’m still holding out hope that World War Z is fantastic. It totally could be (and trailers for movies like this notoriously have unfinished CGI in them). But man this thing landed with a thud. It stripped the mystique away from this legendarily troubled project without giving us anything to chew on in return.

AMERICAN HORROR STORY: ASYLUM – Teasers 1-18

Thanks for these, FX. Good show though!!

HANSEL AND GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS

I know a lot of you dig this one, but all it really tells me is “Van Helsing meets Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.” Which is not what I wanted to hear.

ROSEWOOD LANE

Seriously, did this convince any of you to see this movie? If so, please let me know why. Legit question.

DRACULA 3D

This is made all the more painful by the fact that it’s directed by Dario freakin’ Argento.

The post [BEST & WORST ’12] The Worst Trailers Of The Year! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

So don’t be surprised if some of these movies don’t 100% fall under the “horror” category. It’s not like I tossed Cloud Atlas on here or anything, I operated from the films that we cover on the site, but you’ll see what I’m talking about inside. On occasion we cover some great stuff that doesn’t rigidly fit the definitions of the genre, but it’s material that we feel appeals to horror fans’ sensibilities. That being said, I also kept this year’s “best of” list to films that were released in 2012. I still saw plenty of movies that I fell in love with, and here are 10 that you might dig as well.

10. The Road (May 11; Freestyle Releasing)

The first act of Yam Laranas’ The Road features some of the scariest imagery I’ve seen in a ghost story in quite some time. The rest of the film turns out to be a surprisingly effective, and expansive, yarn. A movie where some of the quietest moments are the most frightening.

9. Detention (April 6; Samuel Goldwyn)

I totally get it if you hate Joseph Kahn’s Detention. I myself was prepared to hate it based on its trailer, but the movie quickly won me over. It depicts the millennial generation in a way that I haven’t seen on film before and it’s full of fun carnage courtesy of its slasher villain Cinderhella. Imagine Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World meets Scream and you’re getting warm. Oh sh*t, add time travel in too. Yeah, there’s not much else like it.

8. Chronicle (February 3; Fox)

Another film that we took some flack for, but seeing as this is the closest we’ll get to a live action Akira in the next few years, it’s totally fair game. Director Josh Trank also succeeded in crafting a tale of telekinesis rivaled only by Carrie in its depiction of supernatural power gone wrong. Oh, and he succeeded in reinvigorating the found footage format to boot.

7. John Dies At The End (December 27th [On-Demand]; Magnet)

A fun, trippy blast that ladles on the gore while not being afraid to ask the bigger questions. A lot of people might find this movie confusing, but as long as you engage with it and pay attention, you should be fine. Chase Williamson and Rob Mayes turn in great performances as the film’s two heroes and director Don Coscarelli (Phantasm, Bubba Ho-Tep) is in fine form. This movie really tickles the parts of my brain I abused in college.

6. Kill List (January 4; IFC Midnight)

Ben Wheatley’s masterpiece hit the festival circuit last year, but I only saw it upon its release in 2012. While I have a huge fondness for the film, it’s not something I’m eager to revisit. It’s one of those instances where I have to commend its artistry enough to place it in my top 10, but its such a foreboding watch that I’m not sure how many times I’ll reach for it on the shelf.

5. Frankenweenie (October 5; Disney)

I can’t believe all the love that went to ParaNorman in 2012 while this far superior stop-animation gem went more or less unnoticed. This touching tale that riffs on classic horror history is easily Tim Burton’s best film in over a decade, and Martin Landau’s science monologues as Mr. Rzykruski made me want to stand up and cheer.

4. The Sound Of My Voice (April 27; Fox Searchlight)

A beautiful and suspenseful look inside the world of what appears to be a modern-day cult. Brit Marling is magnetic as Maggie, a person whose very existence is dependent on her charisma. It’s also a film about the existential horror of not actually knowing the answers to some seemingly basic questions about life.

3. Seven Psychopaths (October 12; CBS Films)

A hilariously sharp bloodbath that not many people bothered to check out in theaters. Colin Farrell is great, but it’s really Sam Rockwell and Christopher Walken who run the show here. Not to mention Tom Waits as a long-term serial killer with an affinity for rabbits. Remember folks, these movies you keep discovering in their ancillary stages of release will cease to exist once those ancillary stages dry up.

2. The Grey (January 27; Lionsgate)

Such a visceral, powerful movie. Liam Neeson gives the performance of his career in what is easily Joe Carnahan’s best film. Sure it works as survival horror, but it’s also a great allegory for the daily battles we find ourselves embroiled in. Neeson is joined by an ensemble that perfectly represents the battle, and balance, between the masculine id and superego.

1. The Cabin In The Woods (April 13; Lionsgate)

Without question the most fun I had in a horror movie this year. The Cabin In The Woods manages to meet almost every slasher demand you can think of before going on to become so much more. It’s a hilarious film with a lot to say about the way our culture consumes violence, both on film and in regard to real-life tragedies.

Bonus: V/H/S (October 5; Magnolia Pictures)

No, I wasn’t asked to write about this one. But – if I didn’t happen to write for Bloody-Disgusting – it would easily be somewhere in the middle of my Top 10. I truly dig most of the segments and it’s got more effective scares than most of the films I saw this year.

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Every year I seem to have a conversation with someone about how weak the year was for horror. Reflecting back, I think it’s more so that every year there are a few gems that need plucking from a landfill of garbage. This doesn’t mean it was a “bad year,” it just means that the goodies are to be discovered and then celebrated.

My odd scenario comes in that I attend major festivals – Sundance, SXSW, TIFF and more- thus, I see quite a bit more than the average folk…and I see everything early. This isn’t me bragging, more so just a note that, like previous years, most of the films on my list have yet to be released.

I just hope that this list, which also carries the first two ever “Editor’s Choice” tags, gives you all a few films to be excited for in 2013. Shit, you may finally get to see You’re Next this year, too!

Bonus. Prometheus (June 8; Fox)

This is a bonus entry I forced at the top of my list because I really think Ridley Scott’s quasi-Alien prequel deserves way more credit than it received. The movies a stunning showcase of visual talents that’s also jam-packed with practical effects. And while the story was thin (on purpose), it still had people talking about it for months after its release. I disagree with many of the argued logic gaps, and found myself constantly immersed in the sci-fi epic. Give this one a few years and can pretty much guarantee many of the haters will come around.

10. Detention (April 6; Sony)

Joseph Kahn, who directs incredible music videos, created this genre-bending indie that’s made for one specific crowd. If you’re not aboard within the first 5 minutes, there’s no shame or harm in turning it off, otherwise prepared to be catapulted into pop culture madness littered with gore, laughs and a time-traveling bear. Yeah, you read that correctly…

9. Antiviral (TBD; IFC)

Brandon Cronenberg, son of infamous Canadian filmmaker David, has quietly snuck onto the scene with his horror drama Antiviral, a social commentary on our culture’s obsession with celebrities. The expectations may have been unfairly high (being the son of a legend demands some sort of competence), yet he surpasses them by delivering a deep, engaging, and beautifully shot art house horror film.

8. Frankenweenie (October 5; Disney)

Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie is the best animated genre film of the year. It’s a heartfelt return to Burton’s roots, jam-packed with classic horror homage and laughs. This truly is a horror film for all ages as nearly everyone can relate to the struggles of loss.

7. Citadel (October 26; New Video)

A therapeutic horror film created to rid the director of his own personal phobias and demons, Citadel is a dark, disturbing and unnerving claustrophobic horror film about a building filled with feral children. Way under the radar and even more so underappreciated, Citadel is a towering horror flick filled with scares.

6. Chronicle (February 2; Fox)

You can argue all you want that Chronicle isn’t a horror movie, but it’s actually a Found Footage movie about the beginning of the apocalypse. The only difference between the antagonist in Omen and Chronicle is that the destructor in Chronicle isn’t self-aware. The Max Landis penned story is a direct inspiration from Akira, and features an incredible third act fight sequence. Now if only filmmakers could stop referencing the camera filming… we get it.

5. Juan of the Dead (May 4; Focus World)

I had actually seen this at a market and absolutely hated it. But after a completely new edit, this Cuban zombie film became an instant classic that had me laughing aloud on more than a handful of occasions…and the gore, well, it’s out of this world good.

4. Sound of My Voice (April 27; Fox Searchlight)

Nearly a year later, I’m still obsessing over Sound and its star Brit Marling, two polar opposites that mix together like ying and yang. Her haunting beauty propels the film’s believability and counters the dark tone of the cult subject matter. While this high concept indie plays it small, it delivers quite a massive punch that’s not only fulfilling but will have you thinking about it for days after. Sound is guaranteed to have you joining the cult of Marling.

3. Stitches (TBD; Dark Sky)

Completely under the radar, the slasher has the potential to be the next Hatchet, only with clowns. Owner of Bloody Disgusting’s first ever “Editor’s Choice” tag, this micro-budget indie doesn’t pull any punches and will easily be one of your favorite slashers ever.

2. The Cabin in the Woods (April 13; Lionsgate)

I love a good horror film that’s completely on the nose, yet plays it straight. Cabin is a massive love letter to the slasher subgenre that’s crazy high concept actual works, a feat that I consider award worthy. It’s scary, crazy violent, and super cool. If anything it left me wanting way more. Most importantly, Cabin‘s rewatch value is off the charts, which makes it an instant classic and a must-own.

1. Maniac (TBD; IFC Films)

I had heard nothing but negative buzz out of Cannes, which is why I literally had to drag myself the theater to see Alex Aja’s latest production, a remake of Maniac directed by P2‘s (barf) Franck Khalfoun. These are the defining moments on the site as, had I skipped out on the screening, I would have missed the single best horror film of the year. While it’s touted as “Found Footage,” it’s not, as it’s told from the perspective of Elijah Wood’s character. His portrayal of a mentally stinted adult is haunting, chilling and makes for an off-the-charts suspenseful slasher. The film is not only mesmerizing, but it’s also incredibly violent. The filmmakers have some serious balls as they could have had Elijah look away (being that it’s from his perspective), but kept true to his character in full-on displaying his murderous chaos. This isn’t for the faint of heart.

Honorable Mentions:
Arriving via IFC later this year, Rodney Ascher’s Room 237 explores the conspiracy theories behind Stanley Kubrick’s brilliant The Shining. Dredd 3D wasn’t as good as The Raid, but was visually interesting and a ton of fun. With Hotel Transylvania 3D, I had primed myself full of hatred for this animated comedy, mostly because it looked like a quick cash in. I was shocked to discover that this Adam Sandler comedy was actually funny, and pretty damn entertaining. It’s made for the MTV generation, and those with short attention spans, so if you fit in that category check it out STAT.

The post Mr. Disgusting Picks the Best Horror Films of 2012! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Detention follows the same sort of modus operandi. It lives in excess of what it’s trying to copy; in this case, it’s Scream and the slasher genre in general. Kahn, with writing partner Mark Palermo, throws in everything and the kitchen sink and, figuring that’s not nearly enough, decides to toss a time-traveling bear into the mix.

A grizzly bear, if you want to be precise.

After the death of a spoiled bitch in the opening scene (I only say this because glittery letters spill onto the screen to let you know that she is, in fact, a bitch), the horribly unpopular Riley Jones (Shanley Caswell) begins to suspect the students of Grizzly Lake High are being stalked by someone masquerading as Cinderhella, the villain in a popular fictitious slasher – think Stab meets Saw. At first she welcomes death since her crush Clapton (Josh Hutcherson) is otherwise occupied by the vapid Ione (Spencer Locke), who is, for reasons not yet known, obsessed with the early nineties. A strange shtick involving Cronenberg’s The Fly and a whole lot of self-aware dialogue later (there’s even a one-liner dissing Torque), the group of friends are thrown into detention during their prom by Principal Verge (Dane Cook) who’s convinced that one of them is the masked killer.

The film’s biggest problem is that it’s working with way too many ideas and they’re thrown at the audience way too fast. The jokes and references piled on top of each other at such a breakneck pace that you’d have to watch the film at half the speed with subtitles to catch everything, and then after that, watch it again just to make sure you caught it all. But, in a way, there’s something to admire about the manic speed at which it operates and the ADD approach of Kahn’s direction. Even though it was made outside of the studio system, it should come to no one’s surprise that the film has that glossy, music video look given Kahn’s background; what is surprising, however, is that the practical effects are actually quite good and, although there are a few CGI bits, it’s the one thing they really seemed to take their time on. Hutcherson and Caswell have great chemistry as the unlikely couple and Dane Cook, who normally makes me cringe, made me chuckle once or twice. If anything, his performance is the most subdued thing in the film.

Detention can be best appreciated as a live-action cartoon, and is more energetic and fun than the last couple of Scary Movie sequels. It isn’t really a middle-of-the-road sort of film; you’re either going to really love the ridiculous fast-paced nature of this horror-sci-fi-comedy or you’ll really despise Kahn’s self-indulgence and his attempt to bombard you with more than you can mentally process in one sitting. There’s a lot to like that I didn’t mention because I feel saying much more than I already have will ruin how insane the film is. Despite being a mess, Detention is mesmerizing and something you definitely won’t be able to take yours eyes off of.

A/V

Joseph Kahn has been working as a successful music video director for over a decade and if you’ve seen any of his work, you have a pretty good idea of what Detention’s visual style is. There’s really not too much to be said about Sony’s 1080p transfer; it looks digitally altered to death like every post-2000 music video you’ve seen and in that sense, the Blu-ray looks phenomenal. No DNR (that wasn’t present on the master), no aliasing, and no compression issues. The only issues anyone will have will be based on aesthetic appreciation, and not because there are issues with the encode. It’s flawless, and the same goes for the DTS-HD 5.1 track.

Special Features

Cheat Mode: The Unbelievably Mind Melting Making of Detention – A picture-in-picture commentary with Mark Palermo, Joseph Kahn, and pretty much everyone else associated with the film. It includes some of the screen test footage found elsewhere on the disc, along with casting stories and various other pre-production and production tidbits (the camel toe is a digital effect!). It’s worth watching, if only to hear how they crammed so much batshit insane stuff into one movie.

Fight Rehearsal (02:18) – Rehearsal footage of the final showdown with stand-ins.

Screen Tests (08:03) – A collection of screen tests with Shanley Caswell (Riley), Yves Bright (Mr. Kendall), and Aaron David Johnson (Sander). Nothing out of the ordinary.

Riffing with Dane (04:19) – One of my biggest hesitations going into Detention was Dane Cook and, surprisingly, he was tolerable; that said, he seems relatively restrained in the film. This improv reel is painfully unfunny, so if you’re anti-Dane, just skip it and stick to the feature.

Blu-ray: 3.5/5
Film: 3.5/5

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The Toronto After Dark Film Festival will make its return to its first love, the newly renovated Bloor Hot Docs Cinema for nine nights this October. The complete makeover includes better seating, a top notch digital projector and a much improved sound system. Also I really appreciated that the film intros were projected onto the screen so balcony dwellers don’t miss out on any of the action.

I can’t think of a better way to celebrate this homecoming than Toronto After Dark’s first Summer Screening Nights. It makes the wait for the actual Film Festival that much more bearable, as well as wisely keeping TAD in genre fans’ collective consciousness all summer long. Audiences got treated to two nights of four feature films. While they’re all dabbling within the horror genre, each film had its own unique flavour. To kick-off the festivities, Festival Director and Founder, Adam Lopez played one of his personal favourites, Director Peter Cornwell’s (The Haunting in Connecticut) 2003 Claymation short, Ward 13. This delightfully kooky, action-packed ride is not to be missed. If the strong audience turnout for these double bills (final showing was a sell-out) is any indication, this is a start to a more than welcome summer tradition.

Disclaimer: I will only be reviewing three of the four titles since one of them just happened to be V/H/S. While I had nothing to do with the making of the film, it would be in very poor taste to review it as a Contributing Writer on this site. Being a horror devotee like yourself, it sucks not to be able to share my thoughts with you. Oh well, it is what it is.

JUAN OF THE DEAD

Juan of the Dead will go down in the history books as Cuba’s first foray into horror. Writer/Director Alejandro Brugués doesn’t take this honour lightly. Genuine enthusiasm pours out of this charming horror/comedy’s every frame. There are more than enough flabbergasting moments of dark humour littered throughout that left me dumbfounded trying to figure out how the filmmakers managed to convince the Cuban government to not only green-light the project but actually invest money into it.

Juan is a middle-aged man who spends his time under the radar. Along with his best friend Lazaro, he’s perfectly content living a completely care-free, directionless existence. Unfortunately his tranquility is threatened by a zombie apocalypse in which for the first time in his life he must take action. It’s no accident that the film’s title is inspired by Shaun of the Dead. Both films share similar characteristics, most of all having their respective country’s culture and personality as the foundation. Juan of the Dead is a Cuban production and while it satirically pokes fun, there is no doubting the filmmakers are proud of this distinction. The Havana backdrop adds a fantastic scope to the picture. There’s no better example of the heightened production value than the impressive hoards of zombie extras that take over some of the most iconic Cuban landmarks. In a time where the cinema seems to feature only CGI-enhanced crowds, it’s kind of jarring to see the real thing again. Even though the visual effects are of lower tier, you admire the ambition of such imagery.

The film isn’t perfect though. The story is sloppily-told and pacing is an issue on occasion. Ultimately, Juan of the Dead’s sincerity, sense of humour and charm won me over. Like The Dead before it, a change of scenery is more than enough to give a tired sub-genre a much-needed kick in the ass.

P.S. The film gets extra points for hilariously presenting zombies fast asleep which correct me if I’m wrong, is a cinematic first.

3.5/5 Skulls

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THE PACT

On the surface, Writer/Director Nicholas McCarthy’s feature-length debut, The Pact (based on his short of the same name) comes across sounding like your standard supernatural thriller. While trying to come to terms with the recent death of her mother and the mysterious disappearance of her sister, Annie encounters a disturbing presence in her childhood home. Aside from the effectively chilling opening scene, The Pact soon settles into the familiar touchstones of the sub-genre; brooding tone, slow pace and all. I was unengaged with the film during this period but once the mystery began to reveal itself, McCarthy cranks up the tension barometer and never lets up.

During his video introduction, McCarthy acknowledged the works of John Carpenter and Dario Argento as a source of inspiration. These two artists are night and day stylistically; Carpenter prefers classical filmmaking over Argento’s operatic brushstrokes. McCarthy boldly infuses Giallo’s broad motifs into a subtle, old-fashioned aesthetic which by definition is an oxymoron…and it works. The violent beats appear sparingly but man, when they hit, it’s swift and forceful. One death in particular would be more than welcome in a Dario Argento film (well, when he was still any good). The Pact does contain some of Giallo’s most polarizing attributes; its affection for gaping plot holes and a blatant disregard for things such as logic. A quality I’ll admit I’ve excused Italian horror films on countless occasions because of its commitment to atmosphere and jaw-dropping imagery. I know some folks that hold it against the film. I didn’t. McCarthy had me too distracted to notice such things; a mark of a real talent.

The craftsmanship is impressive for a low budget film. It contains one beautifully-composed shot after another. The third act contains some of the most genuinely heart-pounding sequences I’ve seen all year. Just when I was getting tired of supernatural horror, indies such as Absentia and The Pact pop up, surprise and find fresh ways to reignite the genre.

3.5/5 Skulls

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DETENTION

Nowadays it’s trendy for a filmmaker to be begging moviegoers to fork over their hard-earned dollars to fund his or her project. Not in Joseph Kahn’s case. This music video guru (just hop onto his official site and scroll through his never-ending videography) put his own dough into his second feature, Detention (his first being the shitacular Torque). After seeing the film, I’m completely convinced Kahn had no other option. There is absolutely no way any major studio would dish out a single dime towards Detention. From now on whenever I hear the phrase “batshit crazy” uttered, this movie will instantly spring to mind. I’m even going to avoid dropping a description (to be honest, I wouldn’t even know where to start) in this review. I’d even stay clear from the weak sauce trailer. It’s downright restrained in comparison to the final product. This is the type of picture best enjoyed or despised without any prior knowledge whatsoever. It has to be seen to be believed.

This Scream by way of Scott Pilgrim, by way of The Breakfast Club, by way of etc. (and even dropping those associations is short changing it) mash-up is total insanity and I was with it every second of the way. Detention can be enjoyed as an ultra-dumb teen comedy, a savage commentary on the ADD Generation, a slasher film, a sci-fi thriller or as the ultimate pop culture spoof. It’s all those things and more.

Kahn’s music video background really comes into play here. He somehow manages to translate the ultra-stylization and breakneck, nitro-strapped pace from that format and sustain it at a feature-length. I’ll admit that watching Detention can be exhaustive but I admired the incredible effort poured into every frame, not just by the filmmakers but by the perfectly in tune ensemble. Kahn has made this film as if he somehow knew he’d never get the opportunity to make another film again. The fearless, go-for-broke quality of Detention is its most admirable quality. Hell, it makes Scott Pilgrim appear to have the snail-pacing of a Terrance Malik film.

Did I understand what was going on? Not as often as I’d like to admit. This is the first film where I really felt old and out of touch. Despite that, I was completely enraptured with its incomparable energy and newness. I’m more than certain that people’s opinion of it will be all over the map. None of them will be wrong. The only thing I can say for certain; no one will ever accuse Joseph Kahn’s Detention of being anything but one of a kind.

FYI – Detention will releasing on Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital on July 31st from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. It’s a blind-buy if I ever saw one.

4.5/5 Skulls

The post Toronto After Dark Summer Screenings Report: ‘Detention,’ ‘Juan of the Dead’ And ‘The Pact’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The Blu-Ray and DVD are packed with bonus materials, including a feature-length featurette. “Cheat Mode: The Unbelievably Mind Melting Making of Detention” provides detailed insights from cast and crew on the making of the film as well as trivia throughout. In addition, the Blu-Ray includes three exclusive bonus features: in “Fight Rehearsal” the crew rehearses one of the key fight scenes from the film; the “Riffing with Dane” featurette provides a montage of Dane Cook goofs; and last are the screen testes for Shanley Caswell, Aaron David Johnson and Yves Bright.

“Josh Hutcherson, Dane Cook and Spencer Locke star in Detention, a hipster teen horror-comedy, in which the students of Grizzly Lake must survive their final year of high school. Standing in their way is Cinderhella, a slasher movie killer who has seemingly come to life and is preying on the school’s student body. As the clock ticks and the bodies pile up, the likely suspects are embroiled in a race against time to stop Cinderhella and ultimately save the world … if only they can get out of Detention.”

Detention was directed by Joseph Kahn and written by Kahn and Mark Palermo. It was produced by MaryAnn Tanedo and Richard Weager, with Bob Abramoff, Josh Hutcherson, David Kang, Clayton Reaser and Vernon Reaser serving as executive producers.

The post Sony Sets Genre-Bending ‘Detention’ Date For This July appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Co-scripted by Kahn and Mark Palermo “‘Detention’ tells the story of the senior class at Grizzly Lake high school. The road to graduation is never an easy one, but it’s further complicated for these students by the arrival of a slasher movie killer who has seemingly come to life. The only ones who can stop the killer are a handful of students, but they’ll have to cut out of detention if they’re to stand a chance at saving the world.”

I recently hopped on the phone with Caswell to talk about her work in the film and what it’s like trying to ground a movie for the ADD generation. I also tried to pry a little bit out of her in regard to James Wan’s latest, The Warren Files, but she was wisely tight-lipped. Head inside for the interview.

The movie has so much going on, and as the lead you’re the audience’s access point into the film. It’s a really complex role. What was your response to it when you read the script?

My first thought was that I had to read it again. My second thought was that it was such an interesting movie. I’d never read anything like it. It seemed very cool. Also, the character of Riley I could relate a lot to. She’s a little more embarrassed and vulnerable than I am at most times, but I really liked her. The script was just so unique, I’d never read anything like it before. So I was just really excited to work on it.

You mentioned that Riley is vulnerable. And she certainly starts off the movie at a low place and becomes empowered throughout. But so much crazy stuff happens, what was your approach to staying grounded throughout the performance?

That is one of the things I really liked about the character. There’s so much crazy stuff going on that when people watch it they’ll want to relate to Riley. I definitely had to toss some of my inhibitions aside, I couldn’t be embarrassed while making Detention. At all.

With the action and horror components, what was it like dealing with the practical effects and being in those scenarios?

It was fun. I love those kinds of movies, I love to scream. I like filming action stuff because I’m a little bit of a adrenaline junkie. So anything with running or doing something that involves adrenaline like jumping over fences or falling in pools, I find that very fun. So I really enjoyed doing those scenes even though they were hard work. In my skateboard scene with Josh [Hutcherson] we were actually skateboarding. I was actually on the skateboard, that’s not some double.

I just got off the phone with [director] Joseph [Kahn] and he spoke about how he saw this film as being a really positive and empowering presentation of Generation Y. But there’s also the chance that a lot of people watching the film are going to be horrified by it. Do you see the film as being an accurate and positive representation of your generation?

I think that it’s an accurate representation for sure because everyone who’s in my generation has multi-tasking galore. They have ADD. I have ADD where I’m doing five different things at once and I can handle the technology. I grew up in the information generation where computers are something we’re used to and text messaging is everywhere. If I have questions about something I can just look it up. I think it’s an accurate representation of how fast kids are nowadays. Everything’s very, very fast.

But as far as positive and negative goes, I don’t think it’s a positive or negative view of kids. I don’t think it’s a bad thing or necessarily a good thing. I guess if anything I think it’s better because they know more about the world and they can find out more about the world.

You have James Wan’s The Warren Files coming up next. What’s your role in that?

I play the oldest daughter in the Perron family. It was this actual family in 1971 that moved into this country house and they experienced some odd stuff happening [laughs]. And the presence in their house was so strong that they had to call in the help of Ed and Lorraine Warren [played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga] who were demonologists. They come in and try to help figure out what’s going on and some bad stuff happens. I don’t really know if I’m allowed to say.

Detention opens today in limited release. Be sure to check your local listings. It’s insane in a good way!

The post [Interview] Shanley Caswell Talks ‘Detention’, The ADD Generation And ‘The Warren Files’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The post Detention (2012) – Official Theatrical Trailer appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Co-scripted by Kahn and Mark Palermo “Detention’ tells the story of the senior class at Grizzly Lake high school. The road to graduation is never an easy one, but it’s further complicated for these students by the arrival of a slasher movie killer who has seemingly come to life. The only ones who can stop the killer are a handful of students, but they’ll have to cut out of detention if they’re to stand a chance at saving the world.”

While director Joseph Kahn (Torque) is best known for music videos, he put a lot of his own money into the film. So even though it has plenty of blood, guts, sex, violence and time travel (yep) – it also has a beating heart. Josh Hutcherson, Shanley Caswell, Spencer Locke and Dane Cook (don’t worry, this isn’t a “Dane Cook movie”) all star. Detention opens in select theaters tomorrow, April 13th.

Head inside for the interview.

What was it about this material that made you want to do another feature? So much so that you put a lot of your money into financing it?

I put all my money into financing this. Why did I want to do that?

Yeah, how did the process with you and Mark Palermo get started. I know you co-scripted, did he come to you with a treatment?

No. Mark’s a film critic from Halifax. And what happened is that he gave me a good review on Torque, right? And I was like, “who the hell is this motherf*cker that actually likes my movie?” So I met with him and it turned out we actually had a lot of common perspectives on filmmaking. I mean we’re both very different people, but there was a lot of common ground. So, he’s a film critic and knows a lot about movies. I know a lot about movies. Let’s write something and see what happens. And that’s where Detention started. I’d been wanting to make a high school movie and coming from music videos I know something about the way kids think today in the way the studios don’t.

They’re on such a different level. Kids today are so intelligent and so advanced. People call it “ADD”, I call it “multi-tasking”. So I wanted to make a movie on a basic technical level that at least challenged them. Because I don’t think movies today are anywhere on the level of how I think kids actually process information.

A lot of people might look at this movie and see it as [a frightening statement] about them, but you clearly don’t see it that way.

No. Here’s the reality of it. You and I are about in the same age bracket. The generation below us is the most intelligent, amazing generation ever. They are the least racist, the least sexist, the least homophobic, most progressive amazing group of kids in the history of humanity. They’re really great. And a lot of that has to do with the internet. If you take any human being and give them access to more information they will inform themselves and they will make themselves more intelligent. That is the nature of a human being.

I love these kids. I think it’s our generation that’s f*cking things up. We’re doing crazy things with the banking system and wars and politics. These kids have their heads on straight and I really, really like them. So I wanted to make a movie that spoke to them on an equal level. Because ultimately a lot of these movies are the old John Hughes formula with found footage or shaky cam and that’s not good enough for these kids.

That’s interesting that you say that about this generation. I recently saw 21 Jump Street which also addressed the gap between this generation and the last and found that the current generation was treated as being much more conscious and tolerant. Hopefully it’s something that more films come to embrace.

It’s a credit to both the kids and the parents that have raised them. Something is going right at the moment and I like it quite a bit.

It’s such a dense film with so many ideas. How did it develop? Was it originally just a high school slasher?

Yeah. Absolutely. It was originally just a high school slasher. We intended to go out there and make a commercial hit. We wanted to play their game and do it better than them, right? And I think most people would say that. I’m being completely honest.

But when I started writing with Mark, the heart leads where it wants to go. And ultimately I didn’t want to tell that story. I wanted to tell this other story. And being completely honest with myself, it took a year to come to fruition. We kept beating it out, plotting it out, tossing around ideas. We let it germinate for a year before writing the treatment or outline. And then a year after that, Detention was Detention essentially.

It’s not a super low budget film, but it’s not a huge budget either. And it seems to have an insane amount of set-ups [individual shots]. What was your schedule like?

My first day I shot 66 unique movements. 66 unique edits. The whole film was like that. I originally planned on 31 days but then it went to 52.

It’s taken for granted that the kids in the film are sexually active, but it’s not a film that judges the kids for engaging in that behavior. Do you feel this generation processes their sexuality in a more responsible way than previous generations?

You know one of the funniest things about the way studios view teenagers is they still see it as the Porky’s generation. Like when porn was harder to get at. The idea of seeing nudity was much harder because the VHS had just been invented. But today, any kid can get on the internet and see porn in two seconds. The ridiculous nature of the MPAA, saying that kids shouldn’t see anything more than a PG13 film is absolutely insane. Because the control of the media is so much more loose than it’s ever been. A kid can watch an R-rated movie on the internet while skyping and looking up their homework on wikipedia with porn on the 4th screen.

So therefore, most studio teen movies are just sex comedies. I’ve watched a lot of these things and they’re primarily just sex joke after sex joke after sex joke. And there’s nothing else to it. You’d think what was the thing in a teenager’s life. And while it’s a part of it, it’s not the only thing. And, by the way, that’s an incredibly male perspective. The vast majority of these movies are just, “how do I get laid?” What is going on in f*cking studio executive’s heads?

Shanley Caswell is a definite find. She’s very pretty but is also accessible, smart, warm and relatable. What was casting that part like?

Most importantly I needed naturalism so it didn’t feel like acting. I was looking for teen actors that weren’t acting, and a lot of them just act. Josh [Hutcherson] on the flipside isn’t formally trained, he just emotes. He becomes the character. And Shanley has a lot of training. She’s an amazing tool for a director to use, but the way she can just throw away lines and become the character is such an incredible tool. That’s what I wanted in the movie. She just happened to be this diamond that I found in the middle of the floor and I was like, “are you guys kidding me? This is a diamond! What are you not seeing?” So I picked up that diamond and put it in my movie.

You wrapped in 2010. What was it like for you to make something you know is special but then have to sit on it?

It was very frustrating because I knew we had something that connected with the audience we made it for. And it’s a very specific audience. The people who love it will love it and the people who don’t like it will throw fire at it. But I knew that – ultimately – the people who should see it will see it. I want as many people to see it as possible, but if it completely fails at the box office and I lose all my cash on it – which is conceivable – I will still be happy. It exists. I put a dent in the cinematic universe with the film and I’m happy to leave it there.

Hopefully the audience sees it this weekend. But if they don’t they can catch it on DVD or VOD later. As long as people see it and the right people love it, it’s worth me losing every dime I have to get that.

What’s coming up next for you?

I’m going to do a ton of music videos and commercials to pay off this movie. Because I still owe on it. My investors gave me loans that I have to pay back regardless of whether the film does well or not, so i have to pay those back.

In terms of features do you have any ideas percolating?

Yeah. Mark Palermo and I are writing another movie called Saliva Lightning House.

That sounds super accessible.

The post [Interview] Director Joseph Kahn On Today’s Teens And His Insane New Slasher, ‘Detention’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Opening against The Cabin in the Woods Friday, April 13 is Samuel Goldwyn’s high-concept spoof Detention, the genre-bending slasher from awesome music video director Joseph Kahn.

Hoping to gain momentum with The Hunger Games star Josh Hutcherson, we’ve now landed a handful of new images (click the still above for the gallery) and the official theatrical trailer for the horror sci-fi time travel comedy (yes, you read that right) that David Harley coveted out of last year’s SXSW Film Festival read the review here.

“ ‘Detention’ tells the story of the senior class at Grizzly Lake high school. The road to graduation is never an easy one, but it’s further complicated for these students by the arrival of a slasher movie killer who has seemingly come to life. The only ones who can stop the killer are a handful of students, but they’ll have to cut out of detention if they’re to stand a chance at saving the world.”

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I’m already dying to see Joseph Khan’s Detention so I don’t really need this poster to sell me on the film. But that doesn’t mean it’s not a cool poster.

The film “tells the story of the senior class at Grizzly Lake high school. The road to graduation is never an easy one, but it’s further complicated for these students by the arrival of a slasher movie killer who has seemingly come to life. The only ones who can stop the killer are a handful of students, but they’ll have to cut out of detention if they’re to stand a chance at saving the world.”

Opening in theaters April 13 from Samuel Goldwyn Films, David Harley says Detention is “mesmerizing and something you definitely won’t be able to take yours eyes off of.” Be sure to check your local listings since the film will be playing in limited release.

Hit the jump for a look at the poster!

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Co-written and directed by Joseph Kahn, the bizarre, twisted and hysterical Detention tells the story of the senior class at Grizzly Lake high school. The road to graduation is never an easy one, but it’s further complicated for these students by the arrival of a slasher movie killer who has seemingly come to life. The only ones who can stop the killer are a handful of students, but they’ll have to cut out of detention if they’re to stand a chance at saving the world.

Opening in theaters April 13 from Samuel Goldwyn Films, David Harley says Detention is “mesmerizing and something you definitely won’t be able to take yours eyes off of.”

Check out the first clip below that doesn’t bring the bloodshed, but will give you an idea of the film’s tone. Also dig on the newly launched official website for more.

The post ‘Detention’ Clip Does the Crane Thing appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

After The Devil Inside killed the boxoffice, Paramount Pictures is securing that date in 2013 for another potential sleeper. The studio has made a full-year shift for Dead Snow director Tommy Wirkola’s twisted spin Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters 3D, which stars Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton as the title characters. Moving from March, it will now arrive in theaters January 11, 2013.

Word on the street is that this flick is good, like really good. It’s an original take on the classic fairytale that is set 15 years after the siblings killed the witch who kidnapped them. Hansel and Gretel have now evolved into bounty hunters who pursue witches.

In addition, Samuel Goldwyn will take Joseph Kahn’s awesome Detention (review) to theaters on April 6 of this year. Odds are it will also hit various VOD platforms day and date. In the film a downtrodden 17-year-old girl is sent to detention where she must survive a slasher film killer and save the world in time for prom.

The post Release Date Shifts: ‘Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters’ and ‘Detention’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

“Two hit men, Pinner, a cynical veteran and the inexperienced Cully, are sent to murder an old associate of their underworld boss. Waiting for their mark to return home, Pinner attempts to pass the time by telling a strange story from his past, involving Valentina, a dancer he was once ordered to kill… But things are not all what they seem in their quarry’s house and the discovery of a make-shift black magic altar sends the uncomprehending duo into the shadowy darkness of their own tortured souls.”

The post FrightFest ’11: A Distorted ‘The Devil’s Business’ Poster appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The first image was also released for Sean Hogan’s British The Devil’s Business. “Two hit men, Pinner, a cynical veteran and the inexperienced Cully, are sent to murder an old associate of their underworld boss. Waiting for their mark to return home, Pinner attempts to pass the time by telling a strange story from his past, involving Valentina, a dancer he was once ordered to kill… But things are not all what they seem in their quarry’s house and the discovery of a make-shift black magic altar sends the uncomprehending duo into the shadowy darkness of their own tortured souls.”

Inside you’ll also find your first look at Neve Campbell in Cristian Solimen (star of Dario Argento’s Mother of Tears) thriller The Glass Man (trailer), which also stars Andy Nyman (Severance), James Cosmo (Braveheart), Don Warrington, Polly Furnival, Cristian Solimeno, Lorraine Burroughs, Simon Sherlock, Brett Allen, Gary Grant, Amanda Ray King, Luke Sullivan, Lauren Cuthbertson, and Jonathan Goddard. “Martin Pyrite has lost his job. But instead of telling his wife he continues his work routine and gets into enormous monetary difficulties. Then late one night a sinister debt collector bangs on his door with an offer – if Martin helps him carry out an important task he’ll wipe the financial slate clean. In accepting, Martin goes on a journey through his own private hell where he’s forced to confront his worst dreads in a mesmerizing vortex of soul-destroying madness.”

Lastly comes a doezen or so photos from Michael Steiner’s Sennentuntschi: Curse of the Alps (trailer), whcih can be seen by clicking the still below. “An Alpine legend tells the story of three lonely herdsmen who were so starved of female companionship they built the girl of their dreams from a broom, some straw and a few rags. Then the Devil took pity and made Sennentuntschi live and breathe… This fable informs the first ever shocker from Switzerland, a complex and twisted tale of past crimes, tragic love, ghostly encounters, horrendous murder, unexplained suicide and sexual enslavement. Continually surprising, brilliantly directed and superbly acted, this unusual and beguiling mystery chiller finally puts Switzerland on the genre map.”

You’ll find the full FrightFest lineup up here.

The post FrightFest ’11: Image Roundup: ‘Inbred,’ ‘ Glass Man,’ ‘Devil’s Business’ and ‘Sennentuntschi’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Gearing up for release later this year, the Angela Bettis, Pollyanna McIntosh and Sean Bridgers starrer will be screening as part of the Film4 FrightFest in London. Check out a newly released still.

“The Woman is the last surviving member of a feral clan that has roamed the Northeast Coast for decades. When the last of her family is killed in a battle with the police, The Woman finds herself alone, severely wounded and vulnerable. Unfortunately, she is now a far too easy prey for local hunter, successful country lawyer and seriously disturbed family man Christopher Cleek. With his twisted set of ideals, Cleek decides to embark upon a deranged project – to capture her and “break” The Woman – a decision that will soon threaten the lives of Cleek, his family and The Woman.”

The post FrightFest ’11: Stare Into the Empty Eyes of ‘The Woman’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

“Four young people win a trip of a lifetime to New York, courtesy of their favourite social-networking website – All2gethr.com. As they board the private jet, they are asked to relinquish their mobile phones and take part in the in-flight entertainment – a new online gaming experience.

With no escape and no one to trust, they are about to learn that putting your life on-line can have deadly offline consequences… ”

Watch the official website and Facebook for more.

The post FrightFest ’11: Need Help? Push the ‘Panic Button’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

“ ‘Detention’ tells the story of the senior class at Grizzly Lake high school. The road to graduation is never an easy one, but it’s further complicated for these students by the arrival of a slasher movie killer who has seemingly come to life. The only ones who can stop the killer are a handful of students, but they’ll have to cut out of detention if they’re to stand a chance at saving the world.”

It will screen at the upcoming Film4 FrightFest in London.

The post FrightFest ’11: ‘Detention’s First Bloody Imagery appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Bloody Disgusting’s David Harley takes a different perspective, having a blast during Kahn’s mind-melter the follows a downtrodden 17-year-old girl who is sent to detention where she must survive a slasher film killer and save the world in time for prom.

“ ‘Detention’ can be best appreciated as a live-action cartoon, and is more energetic and fun than the last couple of ‘Scary Movie’ sequels. It isn’t really a middle-of-the-road sort of film; you’re either going to really love the ridiculous fast-paced nature of this horror-sci-fi-comedy or you’ll really despise Kahn’s self-indulgence and his attempt to bombard you with more than you can mentally process in one sitting. There’s a lot to like that I didn’t mention because I feel saying much more than I already have will ruin how insane the film is. Despite being a mess, ‘Detention’ is mesmerizing and something you definitely won’t be able to take yours eyes off of.”

Click the title above for the entire review, or click here for our ongoing SXSW coverage.

The post SXSW ’11 REVIEW: ‘Detention’ Melts David Harley’s Brain appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The trailer premiered last week to a flurry of positive remarks, now we got our hands on two more stills and the official festival one sheet. “Cancel your future…”

“ ‘Detention’ tells the story of the senior class at Grizzly Lake high school. The road to graduation is never an easy one, but it’s further complicated for these students by the arrival of a slasher movie killer who has seemingly come to life. The only ones who can stop the killer are a handful of students, but they’ll have to cut out of detention if they’re to stand a chance at saving the world.” Josh Hutcherson, Dane Cook, Shanley Caswell, Spencer Locke, Parker Bagley, Alison Woods, Walter Perez, and Carrie Wiita all star.

The post SXSW ’11: Genre-Bending One Sheet Debut for ‘Detention’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Inside you’ll find the trailer debut for the alien invasion horror film which stars Jodie Whittaker, John Boyega, Alex Esmail, Franz Drameh, Leeon Jones, Simon Howard, Luke Treadaway, Jumayn Hunter, and Nick Frost in a film that follows a gang of South London teenagers defending their housing project home against an alien attack.

The pic will have its premiere at this month’s SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas. Also dig on the official website and Facebook.

While Sam and the police hunt for the gang, a second wave of meteors fall. Confident of victory against such feeble invaders, the gang grab weapons, mount bikes and mopeds, and set out to defend their turf. But this time the creatures are bigger. Much bigger. Savage, shadowy and bestial, they are hunting their fallen comrade and nothing will stand in their way. THE ESTATE IS ABOUT TO BECOME A BATTLEGROUND. And the bunch of no-hope kids who just attacked Sam are about to become her, and the block’s, only hope.”

Trailer courtesy of our friends at Empire:

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The trailer premiered this morning and is sure to blow your mind. Good, bad, I’m not sure. All I know is that I must see it. And kudos to Kahn for throwing a Torque joke in the opening seconds — that’s a man who can take criticism!

“ ‘Detention’ tells the story of the senior class at Grizzly Lake high school. The road to graduation is never an easy one, but it’s further complicated for these students by the arrival of a slasher movie killer who has seemingly come to life. The only ones who can stop the killer are a handful of students, but they’ll have to cut out of detention if they’re to stand a chance at saving the world.” Josh Hutcherson, Dane Cook, Shanley Caswell, Spencer Locke, Parker Bagley, Alison Woods, Walter Perez, and Carrie Wiita all star.

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“A young man searching for his missing girlfriend. A loyal friend willing to do anything to uncover the truth. An investigation that culminates in an old house. Inside two brutal murderers expect them, armed with twenty-five boxes of explosives stolen from the last military dictatorship in Argentina.”

Inside you’ll find the film’s official trailer and the two new one sheets, while you can click the image for our full image gallery!

The post SXSW ’11: Two Arty New Posters for ‘Cold Sweat’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

“A young man searching for his missing girlfriend. A loyal friend willing to do anything to uncover the truth. An investigation that culminates in an old house. Inside two brutal murderers expect them, armed with twenty-five boxes of explosives stolen from the last military dictatorship in Argentina.”

Inside you’ll find the film’s official trailer, while you can click the image for our full image gallery!

The post SXSW ’11: Trailer, Poster, First Info on ‘Cold Sweat’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Gearing up for the fest, the official website and Facebook have launched, featuring your first ever look at the film, along with a crazy long synopsis. I love genre films that are targeted towards kids, some of my all-time favorite horror films were made for the youngins.

While Sam and the police hunt for the gang, a second wave of meteors fall. Confident of victory against such feeble invaders, the gang grab weapons, mount bikes and mopeds, and set out to defend their turf. But this time the creatures are bigger. Much bigger. Savage, shadowy and bestial, they are hunting their fallen comrade and nothing will stand in their way. THE ESTATE IS ABOUT TO BECOME A BATTLEGROUND. And the bunch of no-hope kids who just attacked Sam are about to become her, and the block’s, only hope.”

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