Top 10 TV of 2024

 

There has been a lot of great new television in 2024, and whilst there is still a ton of it that I want to watch as I've been catching up on some older shows rather than watching new ones, there are a few shows that have absolutely delighted me this year.

Fallout 

Video games have been adapted into film for decades now, and most of them have been done pretty poorly. With a lot of games requiring dozens, perhaps even hundreds of hours from the players condensing it down into less than two hours seems like a big task. Television, on the other hand, has allowed these adaptations to thrive and reach many more audiences, and Amazon Prime's Fallout is the latest addition to the ever growing catalogue.

Set within the Fallout game universe and telling it's own story rather than adapting an existing one, the Fallout series follows a trio of protagonists as they try to survive in the post nuclear wasteland of the United States. Ella Purnell takes centre stage as Lucy, a young woman who has grown up in the relative comfort and safety of a vault, a vast underground facility designed to survive the end of the world. When raiders break into the vault and kidnap her father, played by Kyle MacLaughlan, Lucy set out into the dangerous wasteland to save him. Her journey brings her into contact with Maximus (Aaron Moten), a member of the religious warrior The Brotherhood of Steel, and The Ghoul (Walton Goggins), a mutated human from before the nuclear apocalypse hundreds of years ago.

Fallout manages to capture much of the weirdness and horror of the game series, translating some of the more outlandish concepts in a way that's easy to access for those unfamiliar with the source material. Having played a number of the games, I enjoyed what they were able to do and how much they incorporated whilst forging their own narrative. And the people I watched it with who had never played the game were just as engrossed, proving to me that the show works for multiple audiences. With the second season on the horizon, and a wonderful tease for game fans in the final moments, now's a perfect time to catch up if you missed out.

What We Do in the Shadows 

What We Do in the Shadows has been a wonderful franchise that I've absolutely adored since the film first came out. Whilst the spin-off Wellington Paranormal (which featured characters from the film) failed to garner much attention, What We Do in the Shadows became a huge success, capturing the hearts of viewers the world over. Reusing the concept of the movie, a documentary crew following a group of vampire housemates, the series came to a close this year with its sixth season.

With former familiar Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) having been cured of being a vampire the household enters some big changes this year. Guillermo, who has moved out from under the stairs to the garden shed, decides to enter the business world; a move that has been copied by Nandor (Kayvan Novak) and Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) as they both join him at Canon Capital. Meanwhile, Laszlo (Matt Berry) and Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) set out to create life as they build their own monster out of body parts.

Guillermo's quest to become a vampire has been a core part of the series since the very beginning, and with the previous season putting that plotline to bed many fans have been asking where the latest season might go instead. It seems that with the knowledge that this would be the final season the showrunners have spent the final episodes building towards a satisfying conclusion. Whilst there are several subplots, including a formerly forgotten fifth housemate returning, and the ghost of Laszlo's father appearing, much of the season is built towards making a send-off for these characters. The final episode makes it clear that these characters have had weird and wonderful adventures in the past, and just because the cameras stop rolling it doesn't mean they'll be moving on. With a surprisingly bittersweet final season What We Do in the Shadows ends on a high note, and remains one of my favourite sitcoms. 

Star Trek: Lower Decks 

Another series that has sadly come to a close this year is Star Trek: Lower Decks. The second animated Star Trek series, Lower Decks has secured it's place as the most popular of these as it charts the weird and often disastrous missions of the USS Cerritos, one of Starfleet's least important ships. Instead of focusing on the command crew, however, we follow some of the lowest ranked officers. 

The first episode sets the stage for this year's season arc, with the Cerritos being sucked through an interdimensional fissure into an alternate reality, where they meet a version of the Cerritos commanded by Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome). Despite the Cerritos managing to return to the Prime universe there are unforeseen results, as fissures in reality spread throughout the galaxy. Now the Cerritos must try to find a solution to the problem, as well as the lower deck crew adjusting to their recent promotions.

The final season of Lower Decks follows a similar structure to previous years, with the season arc working away in the background amidst the adventure of the week format that allows the writers to do some weird and wacky things (sentient cubes vs sentient spheres, escaped nanites on a resort planet, and a visit to the fabled Starbase 80 amongst others). These adventures also allow each of the main cast the opportunity to figure out what their new role is since their promotion, to help other junior officers, and to begin their journey into more mature officers. With four seasons of our leads fighting against the responsibility that a promotion brings seeing them grow this way is a fitting final arc for them, and whilst it might be sad that the show has come to a close the journey to the end is an utter delight.

Agatha All Along 

Despite being a big comics fan the recent MCU output has been somewhat less than stellar for me. Deadpool & Wolverine was enjoyable but kind of middling, the final two seasons of What If? felt very lacklustre, and I haven't even gotten around to doing Echo yet. I needed something to reinvigorate the franchise for me, and I was shocked to find out it was Agatha All Along. Released in the build-up to Halloween, featuring a cast with a mainly older female majority, and embracing the silly, I was sucked into the show by the end of the first episode.

Picking up a few years after the events of WandaVision, the show returns to Westview, where the evil witch Agatha (Kathryn Hahn) has been trapped inside a spell that makes her think she's in a detective show. When the spell is broken, however, Agatha finds herself in need of power in order to combat a coven of witches out to kill her. Assembling her own coven of misfits and outcasts, and accompanied by a mysterious teen who's identity has been hidden by magic, Agatha sets off to walk the Witch's Road, a magical trial that will give whoever survives it anything they desire. 

One of the things that makes Agatha All Along a stand out in the MCU for me is that it feels like it's just having fun. Much like Werewolf by Night, the series doesn't seem to be here to set up anything big, it doesn't tie into an upcoming movie, and instead is just giving audiences something a bit different. Embracing horror and the fantastical, the series has a visual style all its own, and the relentless humour and snappy writing hide a story with much more depth that you first suspect. The series will absolutely change your view on Agatha by the end, and the seventh episode might be one of the best made episodes of TV that Marvel has ever made, with an astonishing non-linear presentation that absolutely demands a second viewing. 

Frasier 

I absolutely adore Frasier. The original series is my favourite sitcom of all time, one that I can watch over and over without losing any of the love or excitement I feel for it. Because of this I was somewhat nervous of the continuation of the show decades later, especially with Kelsey Grammer being the only returning cast member. I didn't know how it was going to work, I was afraid that it might tarnish my love for the character, but thankfully by the end of the very first episode these fears were put to bed, and as the series progressed I came to love the new cast of characters. So, having a second season (thirteenth?) was an absolute delight.

The second season of Frasier continues to chart the titular character's life after his move to Boston where he's taken up teaching at Harvard. His role as a teacher takes something of a backseat this season, as we instead follow more of his off campus adventures with his son Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott), and his various friends. This season spent time expanding the supporting cast, sometimes relegating Frasier to a secondary role in the episode as the others were given a chance to take the spotlight. However, it never felt like the lead was being side-lined, and the this more ensemble approach gave the series room to breathe and expand in much needed ways. 

The second season also introduced some more serious stories, particularly with Alan (Nicholas Lyndhurst) and his family issues, that made a number of the episodes feel wonderfully poignant. My biggest issue with the last season, the character of David (Anders Keith) was also addressed by making him much less weird, and whilst he was still a very strange young man he was much more realistic this season and didn't detract as much. And of course, this season also included a number of returning characters from the previous iteration of the show, including one who became a regular cast member, so long time fans will find a lot to be delighted with too. With the show seeming to be going from strength to strength I can only hope it continues. 

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power 

The first season of The Rings of Power was massively divisive, with people either loving it or hating it. And whilst I won't claim that everyone who disliked it was dishonest about the reasons why we're all aware that the show was subject to a huge amount of hate for all the wrong reasons, with people complaining about female characters, and people of colour being in the show. Despite the hate bombing and manufactured negativity I really enjoyed the series, and the second season only continued to impress.

With the three elven rings having been forged, and Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) aware that Halbrand (Charlie Vickers) is in fact the evil Sauron, the fight for Middle-Earth begins in earnest this season. Returning to the elven city or Eregion in secret, Sauron convinces the elven smith Celebrimbor to fashion more magic rings, starting with seven for the dwarves. Meanwhile, political tensions boil over on the distant island of Númenor puts a number of characters in danger as dark forces conspire against the queen regent. And in the land of Rhûn, The Stranger (Daniel Weyman) and Nori (Markella Kavenagh) search for answers as to where The Stranger comes from, and come to the attention of a Dark Wizard (Ciarán Hinds).

As with the first season, there's a lot that happens in The Rings of Power, with multiple stories being told at the same time. But the show never feels too bloated nor confusing, and if anything I came away from each episode wanting more. Thanks to a lot of groundwork being laid in the first season we're able to delve into more interesting things with the second season, exploring some of the darker parts of Middle-Earth, and featuring some characters and creatures that will wow fans. Barrow Wights, Entwives, and Tom Bombadil (Rory Kinnear) all make appearances this season, as well as a host of other amazing creatures. With an episode that's entirely dedicated to a city under siege from an orc army, there's action aplenty, and I think most fans of the source material will find something here to love.

Bob's Burgers 

Entering it's fifteenth season, the animated Bob's Burgers is one of my favourite sitcoms thanks to it's weird and wonderful central cast of characters. Whilst the show does do some outlandish things, it's not a series that relies on the impossible, and remains grounded in a lot of ways. Despite only being part way through airing the series at the point that I'm writing this I can say that it easily fits into my top ten because it does almost every year. 

This season has featured a deadly cheese throwing contest, an open mic night at the restaurant, Bob (H. Jon Benjamin) trying to hold onto his past by saving an ageing drive-in, and a rather touching episode where Tina (Dan Mintz) and Louise (Kristen Schaal) end up at each other's throats over their toys. The series might not be to everyone's tastes, and there's absolutely no way I'd want to be stuck in a room with the Belchers for a long period of time, but watching their adventures is always a lot of fun. The fact that this season also recast the character of Marshmallow, was also a huge improvement to the series, replacing David Herman, a white cis man, with Jari Jones, a Black trans woman. Marshmallow has now gone from what felt like an uncomfortable caricature of a trans woman into a character that feels more honest, and the episode featuring her this season had some beautiful moments that showcased this.

Star Wars: The Acolyte

Oh boy did this show have an uphill battle. Not only was it bringing to the screen an era of the Star Wars mythos that most people were unfamiliar with, but the toxicity of a certain area of the 'community' who seem to only exist to rage bait and take part in a 'culture war' to line their own pockets meant that a series with a mostly BIPOC cast, and a non-binary lead was always going to come under fire. This is the same group of fans who has relentlessly attacked people like Daisy Ridley, Kelly Marie Tran, Moses Ingram, and others simply for daring to not be white men in the Star Wars universe. The review bombing of The Acolyte before it even aired, the hours of YouTube complaining about single lines of dialogue, and the harassment of stars showcased how truly dark and twisted the Star Wars fandom has become, and led me to distance myself from it whenever possible.

Star Wars: The Acolyte takes viewers back hundreds of years before the events of the prequel trilogy, to a time where the Jedi were at their peak, to investigate a series of murders targeting Jedi Knights. Sol (Lee Jung-jae) is sent to investigate the matter when it appears that a former apprentice of his, Osha (Amandla Stenberg) may be responsible. As the investigation goes on, the Jedi begin to uncover a dark conspiracy that leads back to an enemy thought long destroyed.

The Acolyte is, despite the hate, a great show. It's not perfect by any means, but the good in the series far outweighs the bad. The show brings a part of the Star Wars universe so far only seen in comics and books to live action, giving new audiences the chance to discover The High Republic. It also features some great new characters, an exploration of the Force that adds to the mythology, and features some of the best lightsaber fights that have ever been put on screen. With pieces of the story left unfinished, some big teases of important character, and ties to important events left hanging it's a shame that the amount of hate from a minority of shitty people has led to The Acolyte being unfinished.

Interview with the Vampire

I was late to watching Interview with the Vampire and only discovered the series when I was offered the chance to review the second season's Blu-ray release. Knowing I liked the movie, I caught up with the first season (binging the thing in three days) and dove into the second season, desperate to find out what happened next. This is a series that I was hooked on before the first episode came to a close, and it quickly became one of my favourite shows of the entire year.

Adapting the book by Anne Rice, Interview with the Vampire makes some big changes to the original narrative in order to create an adaptation that works for television. One of the biggest changes is to the central character, Louis (Jacob Anderson), who is now a Black man from the turn of the 20th century. A businessman in New Orleans, he falls in love with the vampire Lestat (Sam Reid) and is turned into a vampire himself. The second season sees Louis and his vampire daughter Claudia (Delainey Hayles) fleeing to Europe after their murder of Lestat. Travelling across war torn Europe, they search for signs of other vampires, eventually coming to Paris after the war ends. Here, they discover a coven of vampires running a theatre; an event that will change their lives forever.

Much like the first season, the second is incredibly well written, adapting the source material brilliantly. The change to the time in which the story is set feels incredibly natural, and suits a lot of the themes that the series is addressing, and it ends up working well with the characters own arc. There are a number of new characters added to the show this season too, and so many of them shine so well on the screen that you can't help but want more of them, even if some of them are characters you hate. Even the change in casting to Claudia, something I was slightly nervous of, is quickly forgotten, as Hayles makes the role her own and has you loving her performance by the end of the first episode. If you've been sitting on watching Interview with the Vampire you've done yourself a disservice, and you definitely need to catch up before the third season hits.

X-Men '97

The 90's X-Men animated series is one of those shows that I think was better in my memory than it actually was. I recently rewatched the entire thing with my partners, partly to get ready for the new series, and whilst there were some great stories there was also a lot to the old show that wasn't as great. The revival, however, manages to take what was good about the original and dialled it up to eleven, delivering an incredibly strong season, and one episode in particular which has become the gold standard for every other X-Men adaptation to beat.

Picking up where the original show ended, Charles Xavier (Ross Marquand) has gone into space to receive medical treatment, but may not survive. As such, those left behind are reacting as if the Professor has died, which includes listening to his last will and testament, which gives everything he owns to Magento (Matthew Waterson). With the former villain in charge of the X-Men, he begins a road to redemption, trying to earn his place amongst them. However, things are threatened by a number of problems, including a clone of Jean Grey (Jennifer Hale), the depowering of Storm (Alison Sealy-Smith), and a disaster that will change the world forever.

X-Men '97 isn't a long season, but it manages to pack a lot into its episodes, adapting some well known stories, such as the trial of Magneto, the Inferno event, E is for Extinction, Lifedeath, and Operation Zero Tollerance amongst others. The series managed to balance these stories well, and was able to weave them into the series long narrative quite naturally. The new series also brought back characters like Bishop (Isaac Robinson-Smith), Nightcrawler (Adrian Hough), and Morph (J. P. Karliak) on the team, and introduced new character Sunspot (Gui Agustini). The standout for the series, however, is the episode 'Remember It'. This is episode I consider the best X-Men adaptation outside of comics, it's the episode that made this a series that I adore, and it's one that has caused the biggest reaction in viewers. Watch it for yourself, and tell me this show isn't worth being in your top ten.

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Changes Going into 2025

Trans-Scribe has been going for a number of years now (2025 will make it 14 years), and I massively appreciate the amount of support it has received over the years. Over the last fourteen years I have been the sole writer here, despite at one time thinking that perhaps I could entice others to come and do so, and I've become happy with this being for my writing output. I've written over three thousand articles, and I've had more than 1.5 million people come and read them. I'm proud of this work.

However, those of you who visit often (I'm still incredibly grateful for how many of you subscribe), will have noticed that there has been a decline in the frequency of my writing this last year, and I wanted to address that as well as talk briefly about the site going into 2025.

For the most part, each year has seen something of an increase in the amount that I have written, with most weeks having an article four or five days a week. This year, however, saw a big decrease in numbers, especially towards the back half of the year. This is down to a few different things. The first is that one of the publications I've worked with for a number of years, Set The Tape, has gone on hiatus. I was producing a lot of work there, with it then republished here, and with those assignments gone my article output slowed down. 

At the same time, I became sicker this year. I have chronic illness, to the point where I can't hold down a regular job. This has been part of the reason why I've had more time to write, especially when I can write ahead of time on my good days. However, those good days have grown less and less frequent, and the times in which I'm good on those days has gone down too. This has affected every aspect of my life, and in some ways my personal life has suffered because of this too. But my writing has too. I've been unable to meet a few deadlines for a number of things, and am now playing catch-up, and you may have noticed articles being published over December for books and films that were released earlier in the year. This will likely continue into 2025, with some late articles from 2024 making their way across into the new year.

However, I am going to be trying to keep up more, and at the time of writing this I already have a few new articles already scheduled in; something I hope to be able to continue. But, being sick is hard. I have next to no energy, I'm constantly tired, and I haven't had a minute free of pain in literal years. This, coupled with some personal and family issues across 2024, are why things slowed down somewhat. But the numbers on your side didn't. I've still had a ton of visitors to the site, and I really appreciate the continued support in these tougher times. So because of that I'm going to keep going for as long as I can, and whilst things might be less frequent than in the past I will still endeavour to keep writing.

On a smaller note, I will also be making some changes to the rating system going into 2025. In the past I was using a five star review score, thanks to my work at Set The Tape. I will be keeping this, but expanding it to include half stars (yes, I know this basically makes it an out of ten score system). There have been times when reviewing things where a film is better than a three star, but not quite a four star, and I've struggled with scoring it, so I'm hoping this new method will help with that. Articles will also be published earlier in the day.

As someone who's always loved writing and started this blog on a whim and for a bit of fun I want to say thank you to those who've been visiting and reading for all these years. Trans-Scribe has changed my life for the better more than once, and I've got to do some amazing things because of it, as well as making some great friends. So, thank you all again for the support, here's to seeing if I've got another 14 years in me.

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Detained - Movie Review

 

There are times when a trailer can really sell you on a film, where it draws you in and makes you so interested in seeing the film that it jumps up to the top of your must see list. However, there are a few occasions where a trailer gives so much away that you start to question whether it's even worth watching the movie. Detained fell into this latter category for me, as the trailer gives a pretty substantial twist away; however, the film makes what would be a big reveal in most movies into something that's just seat up for the real meat of the story.

Detained tells the story of Rebecca Kamen (Abbie Cornish), who wakes up in what most people would see as a terrible situation. Coming to consciousness inside a run down police station, she learns that she has been arrested after an accident that happened when she was driving when drunk. Having no memory of the incident Rebecca is stunned as the fierce Detective Moon (Moon Bloodgood) berates her, demands answers, and treats her like a criminal. Her only beacon of hope seems to be Avery (Laz Alonso), Moon's partner who is a voice of calm reason, and who seems to want to believe Rebecca's story.

As the day wears on, however, Rebecca begins to feel like things aren't quite adding up. The police station seems ill equipped and half empty, apparently due to renovations. Her usual lawyer is unavailable and she's sent a bumbling replacement. Then comes the twist that changes everything, Rebecca learns that she's not been arrested, and that she's instead been taken hostage by a group of con artists who want her money. With the scam dropped Rebecca must find a way to survive her imprisonment and escape the dangerous gang with her life.

Usually I wouldn't reveal a piece of the plot as big as 'the police are fake', but as this is the main plot of the film that happens twelve minutes in and it's shown off in the trailer I feel that it's fairly safe to discuss here. It's also this twist that makes the film much more interesting, as it changes Rebecca's character from a timid, frightened woman on the backfoot, to someone who's actively fighting for her survival. The shift is great, and Cornish plays it well, with a quiet intensity behind her eyes in most scenes. 

Laz Alonso's Avery is perhaps the most interesting character in the film, and Alonso gets to play a number of different roles with him. He makes for a believable good natured cop, he's suitably menacing when things take a shift, and as the film progresses and things begin to unravel around him he begins to have a manic energy that makes him quite frightening at times. He makes for a decent foil for Cornish to play against, and his role here is so different from his time on The Boys (the thing he's probably most known for) that those coming here to see him will likely enjoy his performance.

Detained tries to do a lot with a little. the vast majority of the film is set in one location, with a small group of characters. The script doesn't call for anything big or flashy, and most of the film is people talking, yet despite this it managed to keep me entertained throughout. Yes, I could see some twists and turns in the story coming before they happened, and none of the characters have much depth to them beyond the archetype they're portraying, but things are assembled well enough that the movie never overstays its welcome. 

With a lot of mid to low budget movies on the market it can be hard to know which films to take a punt on, and you might initially be reticent to do so with Detained thanks to the fact that the film seems to give away a big plot point very early on, but it's been better than a fair few movies I've seen over the last year, and whilst it's not going to be on any of my top movie lists it's definitely one that I'd say people should try.

Detained is available on UK digital platforms 30th December 2024

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Nosferatu: The Real Story - Film Review

 

With the release of the latest version of Nosferatu about to hit the big screens it feels like there has never been as much interest in this unique piece of cinema history. Yes, we had the 100th anniversary of the film only a few years ago, but that was only something that caught the attention of those already aware of the film. The new adaptation from the hugely popular Robert Eggers has ignited an interest in the iconic character, and with the release only a few weeks away now's the perfect time to five into the history of one of the first icons of horror cinema.

Nosferatu: The Real Story is a new documentary film from New Wave Pictures that brings together a number of experts on the topic, including authors, cinema historians, and horror aficionados, to provide important insight on the topic. The film begins before Nosferatu, giving the viewer some much needed background on German cinema at the time, as well as the history and personal lives of the people chiefly responsible for its creation.

This part of the film was somewhat unexpected, and I was surprised when the movie veered away from Nosferatu to discuss German expressionist films and early horror movies, as well as figures like the notorious Alistair Crowley. However, I soon forgot that I was watching a documentary about Nosferatu, and found myself becoming absorbed in the wider topic. It was incredibly interesting to learn about German cinema of the time, and seeing some of the footage from these films was eye opening for how unique they looked. It's easy to slip into the black and white films of the 1950's when you're asked to think about old movies, films that didn't really try anything special in terms of cinematography or effects, but the films show here feel more daring and advanced than many of them despite being from decades before. It makes you want to go out and find some of these other movies, and makes you lament somewhat that cinema went much more realistic instead of following this more expressionistic approach.

After some stage setting the film moves onto the main event, and it begins to discuss the 1922 film and its production. For those coming to Nosferatu without knowing much of the history this part of the film will be packed with surprises, with even the most well known piece of trivia about the movie, that it was basically a knock-off version of Dracula that tried to get around copyright laws, is handled in such a way that it's not expected that you would know that, and the facts are covered in such a way to still be interesting for those that do. 

One piece of information that was the most surprising for me when it came to Nosferatu was that it was the origin of sunlight causing the death of vampires, something that I wasn't aware of despite being more knowledgeable of the film that the average moviegoer. It's the small things like this, the tiny titbits of information that are thrown in by the people who know this topic better than anyone else that makes the movie the most enjoyable. The film also discusses the impact of the movie, how it went on to inspire other films, how it ran into trouble with the Stoker estate and was nearly permanently lost to time, and how it had remakes in later years. 

The film is packed with footage from the various versions of Nosferatu, as well as other movies from the era, all of which are presented in great quality. It seems like the documentary went out of its way top try and find the best looking versions of the films to include here, and the footage used throughout might be the best looking 1920's German expressionist cinema clips I've ever seen. There's an attention to detail and quality throughout that shows effort was put into presenting the topic in the best way possible.

Whether you're coming to this film as a fan of the original film, or as someone checking it out for the first time thanks to your interest being piqued by the upcoming Eggers version, Nosferatu: The Real Story is a film that will inform and entertain in equal measure, making you want to go out and watch several of the films that it references.

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Pay the Piper by George A. Romero & Daniel Kraus - Book Review

 

'In 2020, while sifting through University of Pittsburgh Library’s System’s George A. Romero Archival Collection, novelist Daniel Kraus turned up a a half-finished novel called Pay the Piper, a project few had ever heard of. In the years since, Kraus has worked with Romero’s estate to bring this unfinished masterwork to light.

'Alligator Point, Louisiana, population 141: Young Renée Pontiac has heard stories of “the Piper”—a murderous swamp entity haunting the bayou—her entire life. But now the legend feels horrifically real: children are being taken and gruesomely slain. To resist, Pontiac and the town’s desperate denizens will need to acknowledge the sins of their ancestors—the infamous slave traders, the Pirates Lafitte. If they don’t... it’s time to pay the piper.'

George A. Romero is without a doubt the father of the modern zombie genre, with his Night of the Living Dead and it's subsequent sequels setting the framework for what people expect of the genre. From changing the way zombies work, to incorporating social commentary, and quirky groups of survivors that end up being as big a threat to each other and the monsters, he created many of the things that we all take for granted now. When Romero died it was thought that he'd had his final word on the zombie genre, but in 2020 writer Daniel Kraus released The Living Dead, Romero's final zombie story. Using hundreds of pages of notes and drafts, Kraus delivered Romero's final statement on the genre he pioneered. But it turns out that this would not be the final work from Romero. Now a new story, Pay the Piper offers readers a chance to see Romero take a stab at a very different kind of horror story.

Pay The Piper takes readers to the tiny town of Alligator Point, a settlement of 141 people deep in the Louisiana swamp. The town has long been home to stories of The Piper, a mysterious entity that lives out in the swamp and lures children away to their death. Most people think that it's nothing but a folk tale, a story passed down through the generations, but when children in Alligator Point begin to go missing, only to turn up dead in horrific ways, the 'sheriff' Pete Roosevelt, begins to think that perhaps there's some truth in the old tales.

One of the things that will immediately jump out to those who pick up Pay the Piper is that the book is absolutely packed with colourful and quirky characters. The town might be small, but it seems like Romero and Klaus went out of their way to give everyone in it something unique, some kind of character trait that makes them distinct. The already mentioned Pete quotes John Wayne all the time, Miss Ward the schoolteacher who sings at her students, the grouchy town doctor, and Gerald, the young boy with the obsession with marbles. It often feels like you could pluck any character out of the crowd in Alligator Point and make them the focus of their own story.

One of the main focuses for us, however, is Renée Pontiac, a nine-year-old girl with a sharp mind and a head full of knowledge. She's young, but comes across as much older, one of those kids who can argue down a fair few adults. Renée is an incredibly caring young girl, something we see in how she deals with her father's alcoholism, but it's when she loses her best friend to the monster in the swamp that we really see the depth to her care and love. Having a child being one of the central characters in a story and them not being a McGuffin in need of rescue and just having them be a regular protagonist is a difficult line to walk, and whilst there are times where Pay the Piper does stumble a little it manages to pull it off well for the most part.

'But where are the zombies?' I hear you ask. This is Romero after all. Well, that's where the book stands on its own from the rest of Romero's work. There's not a single zombie to be found within the pages of Pay the Pipe. Instead we get ancient octopus monster able to take on different forms to lure in it's victims. To that point it's a little like Stephen King's IT in places, but only in the vaguest sense. Romero and Klaus are able to make the Piper feel different enough from Pennywise that you don't really think about it beyond the most basic comparison. It also helps that the book tries to incorporate some interesting history and themes. The book touches upon piracy, the slave trade, colonialism, and racism, both in history and in its impact on the modern day. 

Pay the Piper is an interesting book, and whilst there are times when you can kind of feel the two authors, where it feels that perhaps Klaus had to go a little bit alone, or maybe Romero's idea needed a bit more work, the book is overall an interesting and engaging read. With some very dark moments, and buckets of gore, it's a book that will likely surprise you until you remember its the product of the man who put people being ripped apart whilst still alive in most of his films. 

Pay the Piper is available now from Titan Books for £9.99.

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Creep - Blu-ray Review

 

I first became aware of the work of Mark Duplass thanks to his sitcom series The League, a show that I was a little unsure of as it was relatively unknown in the UK and it was about American Fantasy Football, yet I soon fell in love with the series thanks to the witty writing and great central cast. As such, I'm always interested whenever I see any of the main cast appear in something else, so when I learned that I'd missed out on a found footage horror film written by and starring Duplass I knew that I had to check it out. And luckily, Second Sight have just released a new limited edition Blu-ray of the movie.

Creep follows Aaron (Patrick Brice), a videographer who's struggling with work and answers an online advert to craft a video diary for Josef (Mark Duplass), a man who's dying of an inoperable brain tumour but wants to leave a video record behind for his unborn son. Travelling to a remote cabin in the woods, Aaron meets the odd and often manic Josef, and the two of them spend the day together, hiking in the woods and hanging out at Josef's cabin. Josef is strange, but seems somewhat harmless, but as the day turns to night and Aaron tries to leave he begins to realise that Josef is not what he seems.

It's hard to talk about Creep too much without spoiling a lot of it. There's a lot of the movie that's best learned as you go, and going beyond the central premise feels like too much information. That being said, this is a horror film, so of course you know things are likely to go wrong for Aaron at some point.

In light of being unable to talk about the plot much I will instead switch to talking about the cast. Duplass is utterly mesmerising as Josef. Creep is a film about two people, and one of them is often holding the camera and is not on screen, leaving Duplass to be the main focus of the movie. Because of this, much of the film is carried by him, by his performance and energy that are keeping your attention and driving things forward. Much of this is thanks to the film being shot in a found footage perspective.

Found footage movies are often a cheap way for filmmakers to save money, to keep things largely off camera and rely on low budget limitations rather than being hampered by them. Whether or not it always works is up for debate, but it seems like Duplass and Brice really lean into the benefits of the format, especially in how they approach Josef. There are a lot of times when Josef feels like he's talking directly to the audience, looking straight down the camera at you in a way that makes you feel incredibly uncomfortable. It's done well, and it really does put you into Aaron's shoes in a way that I've found lacking in most found footage movies.

What's absolutely delightful about Creep is that much of the movie is improvisation, with Brice and Duplass developing the film as they went, filming a few scenes and showing them to friends, reworking them and reshooting with the feedback they're given. You can feel a little of this in the finished movie, and there are times when reactions end up being incredibly genuine because they likely are. It might not be to everyone's tastes, but it feels fresh and different, and showcases the comedic improvisational skills of the creators.

Alongside the movie the new release comes with a pair of audio commentaries, an archival one with Brice and Duplass, alongside a brand new commentary with Duplass, Brice, and editor Christopher Donlon. The three of them also provide new interviews, and a 10 years Q&A. There's also a couple of alternate scenes, including alternate endings, which came about thanks to the improv nature of the movie leading to multiple possible conclusions to the film. The commentaries, interviews, and alternate scenes add a lot to the viewing experience, and for those that enjoy the movie they feel like a great companion piece as we get a peek behind the curtain for how this strange and unique piece of cinema came about. 

The special edition version also comes with six new art cards, as well as a 70 page booklet with a number of new essays about the movie from industry experts such as Kat Ellinger, David Kittredge, and Sarah Appleton.

For those tired of the same old found footage horror films Creep is a great twist on the format that offers viewers something very different. Often odd, sometimes funny, and mostly strangely disturbing, it's a brilliant example of what a couple of talent people can produce with a great idea and relatively little money. Just be careful of what adverts you end up answering. 

Creep is available now from Second Sight Entertainment for £29.99.

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Come Home - Film Review

 

Sometimes I think that you hear the word horror and you expect a certain kind of movie, especially when ghosts are mentioned alongside it. Over the years there has been an ever increasing prevalence of ghost themed horror films that have used jump scares, loud noises, and ghastly figures appearing out of the dark to frighten the viewer. But before this ghost stories would often rely on atmosphere, on using the sense of the unnerving to leave people feeling uncomfortable, if not outright frightened. This is the kind of approach that Come Home uses, and tells a much quieter kind of horror story.

Come Home tells the story of two New York couples, Ike (Chinaza Uche) and Mel (Caitlin Zoz), and Arjun (Sathya Sridharan) and Taylor (Paton Ashbrook), who travel into the Adriondack 
Mountains to get away from things for a bit. Mel's family have a cabin up on a lake out in the woods, so the two couples head up to spend time in the quiet of nature. However, Mel tells the group a story around their campfire about a woman many years ago, who fell in love with someone from outside the community. When he vanished in the woods she waited for him to return, eventually vanishing herself. Now it's said that her spirit haunts the area.

The others laugh off the story, believing it to be nothing but local superstition, but when strange things begin to happen around them, and one of the group vanishes in the middle of the night, they can't deny that there's something otherworldly happening at the lake, and that it's set its sights on the four of them.

Come Home is a fairly short film, sitting at just over an hour long, and as such it doesn't spend too long in getting into its story. The film skips long introductions and gets into things pretty quickly, and I found it to be a decision that's something of a mixed bag. On the one hand it cuts to the chase, getting the audience into the setting quickly and introducing the ghost story that's the focus of the film, but on the other there's not a huge connection to the characters. The short length means that there's not a huge number of scenes where we get to know these people before the strange and sinister things begins to happen to them. 

The two that we spend the most time with are the men, Ike and Arjun, and we do get a couple of personality traits for them. Ike is the quieter guy whilst Arjun is the talkative one, and Arjun really likes the idea of moving up to the lake permanently. But that's about it. Their partners barely get any kind of personality to them, and they feel the least fleshed out of the movie. Ike makes friends with a local woman, Sam (Audrey Elaine Hailes), and she has more personality than Mel and Taylor put together to the point where she may as well be the third character of the movie. 

This is a shame, as Mel and Taylor and what happens to them is an important component of the film, and their lack of development or character does the entire thing a disservice. Some of this might be down to Caitlin Zoz being the film's co-director, and Paton Ashbrook being one of the writers, so the two of them ended up being more involved behind the scenes than in front of the camera, but it does leave their characters feeling the least developed of the film and I found that to be a shame.

Despite these flaws in character development or screen time there's a lot to enjoy about Come Home. The film looks really good for what's a fairly low budget movie. The outdoor environments look great, and the camera spends a lot of time lingering on the expansive shots of nature, just soaking in the beauty of the surroundings. The music is pretty decent too, and matches the scenes well, complimenting what you're seeing. This might seem like simple things to praise, but with so many small productions being let down in both the audio and visuals it's wonderful to see a film like this do them so well.

As far as the plot goes, I did enjoy it. As I mentioned in the introduction, this isn't a more overt horror film. There's no jump scares, and many of the scenes aren't in the least frightening. Instead, the film fits into an uneasy sense of dread, one where you're not quite sure what's going to come next, and you start to question what's going on. To this point, there will likely be a few questions come the end, as the film doesn't outright explain everything, though it does provide a lot of the details in more subtle ways. One of the things that I picked up on was that the film deals with racism and interracial relationships, though I did have to go back and check a small detail in a previous scene to confirm this. There are subtle details and themes here that might be missed by some, and I probably didn't catch them all, but for those willing to be a bit more eagle-eyed and willing to think about the story there's more here than you might first think.

Come Home is a flawed movie, but one that really tries and has some great ideas; and because of that I can't describe it as a bad film. It's trying, it's got a clear idea of the kind of story it wants to tell and is taking some big swings to do so. The film looks great, and with so many horror films throwing monsters at the camera and using jump scares to frighten viewers it's nice to see a more relaxed, perhaps even intellectual approach to the genre. 

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The Hollow and the Haunted by Camilla Raines - Book Review

 

'Sixteen-year-old Miles Warren hails from a long line of psychics. Resigned to a life in the (not especially profitable) family business, Miles is perfectly happy, thank you very much―except for the part where he's constantly exhausted from long nights digging up graves, hiding his sexuality from his family, and unable to fulfil his dream of going to art school one day. Perfectly happy.

'But Miles' comfortable routine is interrupted when has a premonition of a violent supernatural murder. He soon discovers that the victim is none other than Gabriel Hawthorne, whose family have a mysterious, decades-long feud with Miles' own. Gabriel is everything Miles expects from a Hawthorne―rude, snobbish, and irritatingly good-looking―but Miles isn't just going to stand by and let someone murder him. The two form an uneasy alliance, trying to solve Gabriel's murder and prevent it from taking place.

'The odds are against them; death premonitions are notoriously hard to alter. As they uncover secrets about their families' feud and dark magic swirls around the pair, Miles is horrified to realize that he doesn't hate Gabriel as much as he's supposed to. He might even like him. Too bad Gabriel is almost certainly going to die.'

Miles Warren is part of a very special family, one where those born into the family have psychic gifts. In fact, a few of the people in his town do, with various families using them to help others and build a stronger community. His family help people with supernatural problems, things such as hauntings, demonic possession, or cursed objects that need dealing with. There's one family in town however, the Hawthornes, who have used their gifts to make themselves rich, and the Warrens and Hawthornes do not get on; even if Miles isn't exactly sure why.

When Miles gets a death premonition, a vision that shows him how someone will die, about Gabriel Hawthorne he's put in a troubling situation. The families don't get on, so he's worried about going to his parents for help, but at the same time he can't just sit back and let something as terrible as murder happen to Gabriel, no matter how bad the family feud is. So, Miles sets out to find out who wants to kill Garbriel and stop it, something that's far from easy as most death premonitions cannot be altered. Thus begins a series of events that will bring Miles and Gabriel closer than he could have ever imagined.

The Hollow and the Haunted is a rather fun and easy to read rivals to lovers supernatural romance novel designed for younger readers. It's got a lot of tropes in it, almost to the point where you can tick them off a list, but manages to be so well crafted and delightful a read that you don't really care how familiar the book feels. 

A lot of the enjoyment of the book comes from the two leads, Miles and Gabriel. Miles is a very likable protagonist, and you very quickly come to enjoy spending time with him. He's part of a life that he doesn't really enjoy (we meet him literally digging up a grave) yet does so to help his family out and to not rock the boat. He has psychic gifts that he doesn't particularly like, yet uses them to help others because he knows it's the right thing to do. He's also hiding a secret, that he's gay. Having seen a number of rivals to lovers books for teens before I realised whilst reading this that I don't think I've read any with queer characters, and as such this was a delightful twist on the trope.

Miles' relationship with Gabriel is a main focus of the book, and is a fun one too as they don't exactly get off on the best foot. Raines injects a ton of character and humour into these scenes, as the two of them argue and snark at each other in equal measure. Over time the two of them begin to work together better, and you can see that their very different personalities compliment each other well, with Gabriel being the one to keep Miles focused, for example. 

The Hollow and the Haunted ends on a cliff-hanger, meaning that there will be more to come with these characters, and by the way things end you'll be wanting to read the next part straight away.

The Hollow and the Haunted is available now from Titan Books for £9.99.

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Gunner - Film Review

 

Low budget action films have been a staple of Hollywood since the early days. Get a larger than life personality to throw a punch or two, or fire off a gun whilst explosions go off behind them, and you've got a recipe for success even if it's not going to be Oscar worthy stuff. There have been a lot of stars loved around the world not because they're great actors, but because they managed to entertain with some ridiculous action movies. And with the resurgence of 80's nostalgia it would seem like this might be the perfect time ton go back to those schlocky, fun-loving movies; and this is what Gunner seems to be trying.

Gunner stars Luke Hemsworth, the eldest and lesser known of the Hemsworth brothers, as Lee Gunner, a decorated US Marine who's trying to put his home life back together after a year of him being missing; a year in which his eldest son died. Despite having won the Medal of Honor and being recognised as a hero, he's struggling to reintegrate into his family, trying to rebuild his relationship with his two surviving sons. Gunner decides to take the two of them camping in order to bond, and to help straighten out his eldest son Travis (Connor DeWolfe), who he finds in a post drug haze in his girlfriends bed.

Despite Travis being unwilling to go camping, a quick parachute drop out of a plane and some ATV driving starts to bring the family together a little bit. However, when they stumble upon a remote drugs lab in the forest and their uncle is killed by the criminals, things go terribly wrong. With Gunner's sons taken hostage he's given a deal by their leader, Dobbs (Mykel Shannon Jenkins), steal their drugs back from the authorities, and Gunner gets his sons back. Instead, Gunner decides to hatch a plan to break Dobbs' father, played by Morgan Freeman, out of prison to trade for his sons.

Gunner has a ridiculous plot, but one that feels no more silly than half of the action revenge movies of the 1980's that made people like Arnold Schwarzenegger a star. The military veteran caught up in a world of crime and having to save a family member is such a common trope that it's basically it's own genre now. What lets Gunner down isn't necessarily the plot or the writing, which is also quite cliched, but the lack of budget and the lacklustre effects.

Low budget doesn't have to be a bad thing for action films, and you can do a lot with less, but Gunner seems to have spent its money in some odd places, and made some unusual choices in the action scenes. There are a number of times in the film that the action is broken up by long slow motion shots as new enemies walk onto the screen and Gunner sizes them up. This, coupled with some rather slow feeling punches and physical action makes the fight scenes feel sluggish and bored. The film also employs a lot of digital effects for muzzle flashes and blood spray, but doesn't exclusively use them, leading to scenes where you're never sure when the practical affects are going to suddenly change to digital.

When an action films action leads you to feeling bored there's not a whole lot that the film has going for it at that point. The inclusion of Morgan Freeman does mean there are a few scenes in the film that feel a little bit classier, as he brings a gravitas to the film that it probably doesn't deserve, but with him being in the film for all of ten minutes it's too little to save things. It also leads me to wonder how much of the small budget went to paying for a star name, and led to cheaper effects being used elsewhere.

Another part of the film that felt odd to me, and immediately jumped out was the use of subtitles. Now, this wasn't done because people were talking another language, these subtitles were used when an Asian henchman was speaking English. The subtitles were also large and filled half the frame, presented in a 'artistic' way rather than the traditional method. The man speaking was perfectly understandable, and whilst his voice was accented it never prevented me from being able to know what he was saying. This choice instead smacks of casual racism that I've seen done in American media before where perfectly understandable people with accents are given subtitles.

Gunner is a low budget, paint by numbers action movie that could have been a lot better. With some tighter, more exciting action, or a bigger inclusion of Freeman the film would likely have been more entertaining than it was. As it is, this is a movie that is fine if there's literally nothing else to watch and you don't really want to be challenged to think, as even hardcore action fans might struggle their way through this one.

Gunner is released digitally in the UK on 9th December 2024.

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Wolves, Pigs & Men - Blu-ray Review

 

Kinji Fukasaka is considered one of the masters of the yakuza genre, and his 1964 film Wolves, Pigs & Men is a stark, often brutal look at the violence within the yakuza, as well as the bonds of brotherhood that are found there.

The film follows three brothers, Kuroki (Rentarô Mikuni), Jirô (Ken Takakura), and Sabu (Kin'ya Kitaôji) , and charts their escape from their world of poverty into the the violent world of organised crime. Each of them grew up dreaming of escaping their world, of making more of themselves. The eldest of the siblings, Kuroki, is the first of them to escape the slums that they've called home, leaving behind his siblings and ailing mother to join the Iwasaki yakuza gang. A number of years later Jirô follows suit, leaving home and entering a life of petty crime. Jirô ends up working alongside another criminal named Mizuhara (Murota Hideo), and the two of them achieve some success. When Jirô catches the attention of the yakuza bosses, however, his operation is destroyed, and he finds himself in prison for several years. 

All of this happens in the films opening sequence, despite being enough for a film itself. Once the film begins in earnest, Jirô returns home from prison, where he learns of his mothers death. This brings him back into contact with his youngest brother, Sabu, who was left alone to care for her in her final years. Wanting to escape his home and start a new life Jirô plans a daring heist, knowing the time and location of an upcoming drugs shipment. He hires his brother Sabu and his friends to help him, an offer that he intends to go back on. However, the drugs belong to the Iwasaki yakuza, where their eldest brother Kuroki has become a leader, and the plan looks set to bring the three brothers on a collision course with disaster. 

Despite being recognised as a master of the genre, this particular release from Fukasaka was somewhat overlooked in its original release, thanks in part to its stark and brutal nature being in contrast with the image that Japan was pushing for itself in the build up to their first Olympic games. Despite this, the film has found something of a following over the years, and the new 60th anniversary release makes for a perfect opportunity for fans to rediscover it.

The film presents a stark, often bleak look at the world of Japanese organised crime, and where often a story about three brothers would have them working together within that world Fukasaka makes the bolder choice to have them all walk their separate paths, ones that end up crossing each other and bringing them into conflict instead. It at times feels more like the three lead characters are doomed, that perhaps they're cursed by the world of crime, drawn in against their will into these terrible circumstances. The film is brutal, and even nihilistic at times, and whilst it's an entertain watch it's far from a fun one. It shines a spotlight on the darker side of Japanese life, and human nature, in a way that would become a signature for the director.

The film has been restored from the original Toei prints, and looks great in HD. There are some elements that are weaker than others, such some parts of the film looking perhaps a little too dark, and some of the outdoor scenes lose a bit of quality over the interior shoots; but this is more due to the filming limitations and equipment at the time and isn't far removed from what you'd find from other film of the era.

Alongside the restoration there's a new audio commentary track by Jasper Sharp, an expert on Japanese cinema who goes into the life and careers of the cast and crew, as well as discusses the impact of the film both at the time and over the years. As with other Eureka releases, this kind of commentary track is incredibly interesting and informative, and is a wonderful accompaniment for the film. There are also interviews with screenwriter Satō Jun'ya, and producer Yoshida Toru, both sitting at around 20 minutes each. There's also a short interview with Fukasaku's biographer, Yamane Sadao.

As one of the important films in Fukasaku's career Wolves, Pigs & Men makes for a culturally interesting piece, as well as a damn good movie in its own right. It's a bleak, dark, and often violent affair, one that won't exactly have you coming away from it feeling particularly cheerful, but as a piece of Japanese film history it's not to be missed. 

Wolves, Pigs & Men is available now from Eureka Entertainment for £14.99.

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