The House by the Cemetery – Limited Edition Blu-ray Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

If you grew up in the UK in the 1980s, or even the decade or two that followed, there’s a very good chance that you heard the name Video Nasty. Whilst the US had the Satanic Panic, the UK had the Video Nasties, a war on horror and horror adjacent films that some believed were corrupting the youth of the nation and needed to be banned outright. It was all very “Won’t somebody think of the children!”. Chiefly led by Mary Whitehouse, an evangelical Christian right wing Conservative who was a truly awful person, this movement effectively banned more than 70 films in the UK. The House by the Cemetery by Italian director Lucio Fulci was one of these films.

The House by the Cemetery is the third film in Fulci’s ‘Gates of Hell’ trilogy, though each of the films that appeared in said trilogy were unconnected to each other. The film premiered in Italy, where it became Fulci’s highest grossing horror film of that decade. It would go on to be shown at film festivals, and was received relatively well. This, however, did little to protect it from the ire of Britain’s puritans.

Despite having been released in the UK for two years, and having had the explicit gore and violence trimmed down, it was eventually banned in 1984. The version presented here by Arrow Video gives audiences the chance to view Fulci’s original vision, free from censorship. (Anyone interested in learning more about the Video Nasties should absolutely check out the book Ban This Filth!: Letters from the Mary Whitehouse Archive, and the documentary film Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship & Videotape, both of which go in-depth on the topic.)

The House by the Cemetery begins, as all good horror stories do, with a murder. A young woman is searching for her lover through an old house, only to find his mutilated body strung up before she meets her own grizzly demise. The film then cuts to New York City, where we meet the Boyle family. Mother Lucy (Catriona MacColl, credited for the film as Katherine MacColl) is helping her young son Bob (Giovanni Frezza) pack up their things to move to the small town of New Whitby, where the father, Norman (Paolo Malco) will be researching for a book on architecture. Lucy is reluctant to go, not wanting to leave her life in the big city behind, whilst Bob becomes spooked by the prospect when he believes he sees a young girl screaming in the window of the house in the picture of their new home.

Upon arriving in the quiet town the family are given the keys to their new home by the local realtor, her assistant calling it the old ‘Freudstein house’ instead of the name Oak Manor. When the Boyds arrive at their home they Lucy is surprised to find it built beside an old cemetery. The creepiness she feels is only further compounded when they discover the cellar door nailed shut. As the Boyds settle into their new home, with the help of their new babysitter, Ann (Ania Pieroni), strange things begin to take place in the house, including Bob seeing a little girl that no one else can.

If you’re familiar with Fulci’s work you’ll know that the director doesn’t like to explain a whole lot, and that some of his more supernatural focused horror films tend to leave the audience to catch up half the time rather than explaining everything. The House by the Cemetery is one of his easier films to understand, yet still throws a few things at viewers that will leave you wondering exactly what’s happening. Bob’s friendship with a ghostly young girl warning him to stay out of the house is the clearest example of this. The film does end up telling us who the girl is, but that doesn’t really give much of an explanation, and the final moments of the film that involve her are definitely open to personal interpretation.

Whilst the film does include some supernatural elements, it has a much more grounded antagonist than Fulci’s other works, and the violence of the film reflects this. Characters are stabbed with fireplace pokers, there are knives going through heads, and decapitations that fill the screen with copious amounts of blood and gore. Whilst there’s plenty of blood on the screen it’s nowhere near as violent and gory as one would expect from a film that was once on the Video Nasty list, and it perhaps shows that whilst this film might not be to everyone’s tastes, it’s far from the evil that it was made out to be.

The new Limited Edition Blu-ray release offers two different versions of the film: the original English dub from its initial release, and the Italian audio version with subtitles. Both versions of the film are great, and the Italian one is well worth the watch, but if you want to go for the authentic 80’s feel, the English dub with some slightly terrible voices is the way to go. For those wanting to learn more about the film, however, there is a ton of extra content to get stuck into.

The disc comes with three full length audio commentaries, from both cast members and experts on the work of Lucio Fulci. There are also more than a dozen interviews with cast members, as well as the writers, cinematographers, make-up artists, and special effects artists of the movie. The disc then gets rounded out with a couple of convention panel Q&As, deleted scenes, an alternate opening, and trailers and TV spots, making for a disc packed to the brim with extras.

The House by the Cemetery is one of those horror films that has some quirks, but still manages to be interesting and engaging. Whilst it’s entertaining to watch, there’s not a huge amount to it that makes it stand out as being wholly original nor groundbreaking, and you have to wonder if perhaps it is only remembered the way it is because of the controversy surrounding its release. That being said, for those who want to dive deeper into this film and its history, this new release offers a ton of insight that’s well worth the cost of admission.

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Jay Garrick: The Flash #1 - Comic Review

 

I love the Justice Society, the characters from that team are some of my favourites in comics, and I've got a lot of time for them whenever they turn up. And because of that Jay Garrick is my favourite Flash. He's one of the kindest, most caring Flashes, and he's the perfect father figure to that family of heroes. And now, he's getting to be a father to his own child. 

Thanks to the time manipulating shenanigans of Geoff Johns, who introduced a slew of 'forgotten' characters that had been plucked out of the timeline, Jay Garrick has recently learned that he had a daughter, Judy, who was once his sidekick, Boom. Returned to regular time, but not to the time where she left, Judy now finds herself sixty years in her future, still a teenage girl, with parents old enough to be her great grandparents. She's having to adjust to her new existence; and it's not an easy thing. 

The issue opens with a flashback to the day where Judy was lost, as she and her father race to save Joan Garrick from the evil Doctor Elemental. Whilst Jay defuses a series of bombs, Judy rushes in to save her mother. One Jay catches up and finds Joan the two of them begin to lose their memories of their daughter, who has vanished. From here we get a scene reuniting mother and daughter, of the family coming together for the first time in decades in a series of very bittersweet moments. 

The older Garricks begin to regain their memories of their daughter, and are beyond delighted to have her back with them; but Judy feels like she's missed out on so much, that the world moved on without her, and that she doesn't quite have a place here anymore. It's something that I'm glad the series is exploring, as Judy just suddenly appearing out of nowhere is a huge thing. The Garricks have been portrayed as a coupe who couldn't have children of their own, so went out of their way to become parents to others, show form a found family to fill that ache. But now we've learned that that was coming from a place of loss, that their daughter was taken from them.

It's complex and messy, and at times really kind of heartbreaking, and it's important to this new series. It's being given the room it needs to breathe here, and everything that happens in the modern day is in some way in service to it. Even when Judy rushes off to go and stop some bank robbers it informs the family dynamic, as there's a moment when Joan thinks she's lost her daughter all over again. Luckily, the issue doesn't lean too heavily on this, as if Joan had ended up crying thinking her daughter was gone forever again I'm not sure I could have handled it. But, there is absolutely highly charged emotions flying all over the place here, and it's clear that this isn't going to be a smooth or simple reintegration for the family.

There's also an interesting development towards the end of the issue that reveals that it's not just Judy that the Garricks lost memory of, but Jay's arch villain Doctor Elemental too. We get to see that in the moment when Judy was taken Elemental watched on from the shadows, showing us that whilst he wasn't also taken out of time somehow memory of him was lost. Perhaps because he was heavily involved in the events leading to Judy's vanishing, like a ripple effect or a case of him getting caught in the wake. More interestingly too, Judy knocks his mask off during their fight, and whilst we don't get to see his face she does, and it's someone she knows. So not only do we get a new daughter/sidekick for Jay, but a cool new villain too.

The art works really well for the book, and Diego Olortegui does a fantstic job at bringing these characters to life. Everyone looks really good, and the costumed heroes all look fantastic here. There's a moment when Judy sees a photo of the Flash family, with ten speedsters in it, and it's a fantastic panel that shows off how well Olortegui draws the group. The difference between Jay in the flashbacks and the modern day is also really stark and striking. Some artists draw Jay as older, but still in really good shape and fairly young for his age, kept youthful thanks to the speed force. Here, however, Jay looks like he's carrying his years, and the difference between when Judy was taken and now is huge, and is being used to further enforce how shocking and upsetting things must be for Judy. The colours on the issue, by Luis Guerrero, are all nice and bright, and the issue is really colourful and every single page just pops.

As a long time JSA and Jay Garrick fan I was looking forward to this book. I was also slightly unsure of what to make of giving Jay a daughter. But reading this first issue I had a blast. There are some great moments of super heroics, intrigue and mystery, and plenty of scenes that go into the trauma that this situation would absolutely bring with it, and how it's going to change things for Jay and Joan forever. 

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Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong #1 - Comic Review

 

Crossovers are a staple of comic books, with characters within the same universe cropping up in their friends book having become a norm for big companies. Nowadays they don't even really get seen as cross-overs, and it's only when big, separate franchises join up that things get exciting and wild. And DC is no stranger to this, having crossed over with the Power Rangers, the Predator, Hellboy, The Mask, and even the entire Marvel Universe. Now it's time for some of the biggest monsters in existence to make their presence known in DC as we crossover with the Monsterverse.

Apparently set in the main DC universe (it really doesn't actually seem to fit there for a number of reasons, but continuity and timelines are a tangled spaghetti so who knows?), this story takes place in the past, before Clark and Lois have married. In fact, them being married is a major part of the story, as this is the issue in which Clark tries to propose to her on the roof of the Daily Planet, in the place where they first met. Unfortunately, that proposal gets interrupted by Godzilla rising out of the ocean beside Metropolis. 

From here the issue jumps backwards, and we follow two narratives, one with the heroes and one with the villains. Superman is rushing around the world, trying to do everything that he can to make things okay as he nervously prepares to take Lois on vacation, and propose to her. This situation results in various members of the Justice League giving advice, and voicing their opinions on the matter, and giving him their input. On the other side, the Legion of Doom has gathered under Lex Luthor, who has a plan to steal a couple of objects from the Fortress of Solitude, including a Boom Tube, in order to take down the heroes.

Of course, the heist doesn't go as planned, Toyman messing things up when he snags the Dream Stone from one of Superman's cabinets. This results in the League arriving to fight the villains. Their modified Boom Tube goes off, and the bad guys are sucked through the multiverse to another world; one where they encounter a giant ape on a place called Skull Island. Here, they learn that the world is populated by Titans, and Toyman suggests using them to fight the League. Whilst transporting giant monsters to their world seems impossible, he happens to be holding the Dream Stone at the time, and uses an important phrase 'I wish'.

The first issue of this new cross-over series is very much setting everything up, and those hoping for Kaiju action straight out of the gate will have to wait until next issue to get that, as other than a few pages with Godzilla and Kong this very much feels like a DC book, with a big focus on those characters. And this isn't a bad thing. A lot of the best Godzilla movies put a decent amount of focus on the human characters, and understood that the stories couldn't be entirely carried by the monsters and action. King Kong films do this too for the most part, with the titular ape tending not to appear until a decent way into the films. This series is following this road map, and getting folks into the characters and their dramas early on. But with these being characters we know already it can lead to some who just came for the monster fights feeling a bit bored I'm sure.

The character seem well written enough for the most part, with the villains definitely getting the most accurate characterisation across the board. They fit established stuff well, and their interpersonal fights feel like things their characters would do in regular continuity. also, Grodd seeing Kong and immediately seeing him as a god is great. The heroes, in contrast, are a bit more of a mixed bag. Clark has a great scene with Bruce at one point, the two friends having a good heart to heart chat, but others come off as odd. Hal Jordan is mostly unlikable this issue, basically telling Clark that getting married would be the worst thing to do as it'd tie him down. Considering he's a disaster at relationships it just makes him look a bit like a douche. He and Barry also have back and forth banter that feels a bit forced at times, and it seems like another case of a writer trying to make Barry and Wally into one person yet again.

The art on the issue is pretty decent, with Christian Duce and Luis Guerrero creating some decent looking versions of these characters. It's all very clean and neat, and whilst there are never any moments where you struggle to understand things or don't know what you're looking it, it also feels a bit too clean at times too. It's like there's no grime, no dirt, and things are ultra polished. I can't quite put my finder on what it is. The character designs all fit established looks that we've seen from various points in DC's publication, though things like the new Nth metal wings Hawkgirl in this time, show off how the timeline here just doesn't line up with stuff neatly. It's like the characters have been grabbed from various points in history and thrown together because these are the versions of the costumes the art team wanted to use, rather than using the ones that they would have had.

Overall, this was a decent set-up issue, one that gives us tiny hints at things to come with brief appearances of the Monsterverse characters, whilst giving the main focus to the DC heroes. Some small gripes aside, it's fun and engaging, and whilst the stuff in this issue isn't the main draw to the series for most of the people getting it, it does make things enjoyable enough.

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Secret Invasion by Paul Cornell – Book Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

'A shapeshifting alien race invades the Marvel Universe in this exciting re-imagining of the bestselling comic book event from the author of one of its original tie-ins. WHO DO YOU TRUST?

'The shapeshifting alien race known as the Skrulls have infiltrated every branch of the Marvel Universe, from S.H.I.E.L.D., to the Avengers, and even interplanetary defence force S.W.O.R.D.. As the New Avengers watch leader of the Hand, Elektra, transform into a Skrull after her death, they come to realise that an attack is coming, one that has been planned for many years. From heroes to villains, anyone could be a Skrull in disguise. Uncertain of who to trust, the team tries desperately to unite against an unseen foe. But it is too late. 

'The invasion has begun. A crashed ship in the Savage Land. A prison break at the Raft. Thunderbolts Mountain under attack. And an armada of Skrull ships approaching Earth. Scattered and hopeless, heroes and villains alike must team up to fight a war they never saw coming, the fallout of which will change the face of the Marvel Universe as we know it.'

Comic books have been described by much smarter people than myself as modern mythology, with characters that will potentially live on forever in some form or another, and stories that are designed to inspire as much as to entertain. And much like the stories of mythology, there are some comic stories that are so beloved that they have been retold over and over, changed into film, television, animation, and prose. Secret Invasion has had this treatment a few times, and now it’s time for it to have its prose version.

Written by Paul Cornell, who is no stranger to Marvel Comics, having written series such as Wolverine and Captain Britain and MI:13, takes the universe-changing events of Secret Invasion, originally created by Brian Michael Bendis and Leinil Francis Yu, and transforms them into a new medium – and does so very well.

Much like the original graphic novel, the prose version covers the events of the Skrull invasion of Earth, a series of events that were building up for a long while across multiple titles. The book begins not with a scene from the Secret Invasion graphic novel, but with an issue from Mighty Avengers, where the Illuminati meet to discuss the fact that the assassin Elektra was killed, and reverted into a Skrull. The group of super-geniuses that each control some aspect of the Marvel Universe come together after divisions from the fallout of the recent superhero civil war, realising that this is a threat that goes beyond their differences. However, when one of them turns out to be a Skrull it begins a spiral of distrust within the Marvel Universe where no one can trust anyone else.

Tony Stark, the hero Iron-Man and the current head of S.H.I.E.L.D., is trying his best to get to the bottom of things, seeing if there’s a way to identify the now undetectable Skrulls, and to find out if Elektra is a one off, or if this is part of a bigger conspiracy. However, his investigation is barely underway when a Skrull ship enters Earth space, coming in to land in the Savage Land. Stark gathers his team of Avengers and heads down there to investigate, and finds that the rogue group of ‘criminal’ Avengers from the other side of the Civil War have also arrived on the scene. Tensions build as neither team is ready to trust the other, but when the Skrull ship opens and lets out a host of heroes claiming to have been taken prisoner by the Skrulls and replaced, it becomes the opening salvo in a full scale war.

The Skrull fleet arrives, and hundreds of immensely powerful Super Skrulls descend on Earth, taking down the military, and crippling the planets defences. Every hero team, all of the fugitive heroes from the Civil War, and even a lot of Earth’s villains, come together in a desperate defence of the planet.

For those who’ve read the original graphic novel there’s not a huge amount here that will surprise or feel like new material. Cornell doesn’t make any huge plot changes, and this isn’t a re-imagining of the story but a fairly faithful adaptation. Where it does feel different, however, is in that thanks to the format we’re able to spend more time with the characters and get inside their heads. Each chapter is told from a different character’s point of view, and we get to see how the invasion is affecting them, how they feel about the recent civil war, and their fears in the face of overwhelming odds. So if you’re looking to try something that gives the same experience of the comics, but goes into more depth and doesn’t quite feel like the constant action slog that the comic was, this is the version of the story that you’re going to want to check out.

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The Incredible Hulk #5 - Comic Review

 

One of the things long time readers of the Hulk will know is that perhaps more than any other character and series, it goes through a lot of reinventions. It's been a story about a reluctant hero, a mob boss, a 'smashtronaut', a warrior king, a horror character, a hero, and a villain. You can drop the Hulk into any kind of genre and get a decent story with him. And one of the most popular ones in recent years was Immortal Hulk making it a horror story. This new volume of The Incredible Hulk is doing similar, but throws a very different, very entertaining kind of horror our way.

In the last issue Man-Thing arrived on the scene, coming to Hulk for help with the Swamp Witch, an immense, evil creature that was preying upon people in the swamp, luring them in with false depictions of lost loved ones before sucking them down into the muddy waters and killing them. Man-Thing needs to stop her, as she threatens the Nexus of Realities; but knows that he doesn't have the strength to do so on his own. Whilst Hulk refuses to help him at first, it's the knowledge that his new companion Charlie is currently in the Swamp Witch's clutches that spurs him into action.

If Immortal Hulk was a cosmic horror story, with a bit of body horror thrown in, The Incredible Hulk is a monster movie, filled with zombies, witches, and swamp monsters. It's a wonderful way of having the Hulk tear his enemies apart and not care about them, because when you've got a giant swamp witch murdering children what does it matter if the Hulk rips her in half?

We get some more information as to why the Hulk is being suddenly besieged by every monster around, as Teddy (the man within Man-Thing) tells him about an ancient evil that has awoken, something that has set its sights on the Hulk. It's all very mysterious, but the mystery doesn't last a whole lot of time, as Betty Ross arrives to give us a bit of an info-dump on the villain and their overall plans. She's working for this ancient evil, the Eldest, who want Bruce to hand himself over to it. She needs the Hulk's power, and is willing to use her abilities to create flesh to separate Bruce and the Hulk, and Betty and Harpy, in order to take their monster sides and allow them to live normal lives again.

Of course, this would not be a good thing, and Bruce makes a point to ask why she wants the Hulk; a question that Betty dodges. Whilst it does seem like Bruce and Hulk are reaching a point where they're going to be at war with each other, and Bruce is losing control, he's at least wise enough to know that just giving the Hulk over to 'the first abomination' is probably not a good thing. And so we have the motivations, if not the stakes, laid out for us. We don't know what the Eldest wants the Hulk for, be we know that she's after him and will send as many monsters after him as it takes.

The artwork on the issue by Travel Foreman, with Matthew Wilson on colours, looks really good, and I liked the way that the Hulk was portrayed this issue. His look has an intelligence and nobility to him that can sometimes be missing in other versions of the character. They also do a fantastic job at showing how monstrous and awful the Swamp Witch is, and the fight with her is done well. Perhaps the stand out moment of the issue is the Hulk transforming back into Bruce, which is so horrible and disturbing that I can't help but feel that page is one that will get shared a lot in the future.

There's also a back-up feature this issue, which features the Victor Alvarez version of Power Man, who has a quick fight with the Hulk before he and Bruce get to have a heart to heart chat. Written by Vita Ayala, with art by Alitha E. Martinez, and Matthew Wilson, it's a nice little extra thrown on to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month that brings in a character that you don't get to see interact with Hulk all that often, and might even be new to some readers. Having not ever read a book with that character in it before, this was my introduction to Victor, and I feel that it gave me a decent enough idea as to the type of person he is, and left me intrigued enough to want to read more about him.

The Hulk works as all kinds of characters, but I love it when he gets to be a horror character. This series isn't just retreading old ground though, and it's use of known and brand new monsters of the Marvel Universe means that you're never sure what might be coming next. That being said, the preview for the next issue promises Ghost Rider making an appearance, though one that we're not familiar with as the '100-year-old zombie Ghost Rider' makes ready to enter the narrative. I can't wait to see it.

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Batman / Superman: World's Finest #20 - Comic Review

 

Kingdom Come is widely regarded as one of the best super hero comics made, and it's easily one of the most popular and beloved books that populate the DC multiverse. There have been revisits to it over the years, such as Geoff Johns' run on Justice Society of America, and even the inclusion of Brandon Routh's Superman in CW's Crisis on Infinite Earths being a version of the Kingdom Come Superman. And whilst these have been really fun, enjoyable stories that have made good use of that world this is perhaps the first time that it feels like we're going back to Kingdom Come in a big, important way, as the original writer is taking us there.

This new story arc for Batman/Superman: World's Finest continues on the story began in the second arc of the series, where we were introduced to Superman's first ever sidekick, Kid Thunder. If you're thinking 'but Superman never had a sidekick', you're partly right, as by the of that story the visitor from another universe was swept away into the multiverse, lost forever. Superman made a promise that he'd find David, and that he'd bring him home again; little knowing what we the audience were let in on, that David would grow up to become Magog in Kingdom Come.

This issue opens with The Flash running through the multiverse, checking out other worlds for fun, which also gives Dan Mora the chance to draw some of these awesome alternate universes. During his run, Barry finds himself running beside the Kingdom Come Flash, and sees into that universe, sensing David. Travelling back to his own universe, he meets up with Batman and Superman and tells them what he's found. Modifying the cosmic treadmill for inter-dimensional travel, he sends the two heroes on their way to find and save David.

They arrive in the other world, though far into the future, and see older versions of themselves, and David, at a cemetery filled with the graves of fellow heroes. They're eventually deposited further back in time, just a few years ahead of their own universe, and begin to gather information. After a trip to Planet Krypton (the restaurant, not the planet, they discover David fighting a villain under the name Thunderman. After helping him out, however, David turns on Superman, having waited years for revenge.

So, this issue might not be the best for new readers, not just because it's going back to previous stories within this series, but is heavily using a story from decades before. I'm not sure how accessible it's going to be to those who've not read Kingdom Come, but as someone who has I've been waiting for this particular story to start for a while now; and whilst this is a fairly slow introduction to things it's a lot of fun too.

We get to see the events of the Kingdom Come story, the future time where the characters are the old men that we know; but the main bulk of the issue is set during the past of Kingdom Come offering us a new era of this world to discover. And the fact that Waid is writing it makes it feel all the more special. He crafted that world to begin with, it's his creation, so he's the best person to go back and give us more of it, to show us more of how it got to that point; and the best person to craft new origins for characters like Magog, as well as cross it over with the main universe.

There's not a huge amount of action in this issue, just enough to show us how much darker and violent David has become over the years. The bulk of the story is more of a character piece, showing us what the loss of David has done to Clark, how much he blames himself, his hopes at getting him back, and how his friendship with Bruce is helping him through it. The fact that these are younger versions of the characters helps too, as we don't have to have a Batman who grumbles and dislikes everything he sees, but seems mildly bemused at the Planet Krypton displays, and has hope that things aren't as bad as Clark fears. It's interesting to essentially see the two characters having swapped roles, but it works.

Going to Planet Krypton also means that Dan Mora gets to draw some really cool stuff. Whether it's the servers in costume, display costumes, vehicles, or merchandise, the restaurant is filled with really cool Easter eggs and nods to things that fans will recognise. The same for the pages where the Flash is travelling through the multiverse, where we get to see glimpses of worlds such as Dark Knights of Steel, Superman: Red Son, and Batman: Red Rain to name just a few. Dan Mora is the kind of artist where I want to see him draw everything, I want to see his versions of every character and every universe, and this comic has ticked off some amazing things from that list.

In a lot of ways this feels like the big story of this series, the thing that the book has been building towards for a long while. It's exciting to finally get my hands on the first issue, and the only downside is that it ended too soon, and I've got to wait a month for the next part. This series has been consistently fantastic throughout, and this story could easily become a modern classic that people will talk about for decades to come; just like Kingdom Come.

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Ahsoka (Season One) – TV Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Ahsoka was going to have to do a lot of things. When it was announced that the character was going to be getting her own series, and that it was going to be a continuation of the beloved animated series Star Wars Rebels there was pressure for it to do justice to the show. It was also, of course, going to be a continuation of Ahsoka’s story which began in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and has featured throughout several other shows. And then they went and announced at Star Wars Celebration that Dave Filoni was going to be directing a film, and that this series was leading up to that (along with the other shows set in that era). The series was going to have to manage all of that, and yet still be an entertaining piece all itself. No easy task by any means.

The story begins continuing on from when we first saw Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson) in live action in The Mandalorian, with former Imperial Magistrate Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto) being transported by the New Republic to stand trial. However, the ship she’s on comes under attack by a pair of lightsaber-wielding mercenaries, Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson) and Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno), who kill the crew and release Elsbeth. Morgan uses her newfound freedom to continue her mission to find and rescue the missing Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen), who went missing almost a decade ago.

She isn’t the only one looking for Thrawn, however, as Ahsoka discovers an ancient device in an old Night Sister temple on a deserted world. Ahsoka brings the device to her ally in the New Republic, General Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), hoping that it might prove the threat of Thrawn’s return. Knowing that it might also be the key to finding their missing friend, the Jedi Knight Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi), Ahsoka brings the device to the former rebel Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) who has been watching over Ezra’s home in his absence. However, when Elsbeth’s forces come for the device it begins a race against time to stop the return of one of the galaxy’s biggest threats, and a journey that will lead to a whole new galaxy of danger.

Ahsoka is a show that plays it sly. At the beginning things feel very familiar, even if you’ve not seen the animated series that this show is a continuation of. We’re in a time that we know thanks to The Mandalorian, we’re fighting the threat of the Imperial Remnant, and even the introduction of a couple of dark side Force users and a surviving Inquisitor add a bit of something new for our heroes to fight; yet it’s also something that we’ve seen elsewhere. The first few episodes are ‘grounded’, in as much as this fantastical universe is ever grounded. However, as the series goes on it begins to introduce more and more fantastical elements, eventually creating one of the most magical experiences in Star Wars.

The biggest of these is the fact that Ahsoka takes us to another galaxy, something that has never been done in Star Wars. We find out where the Purgill took Thrawn and Ezra at the end of Star Wars Rebels, and the answer is more surprising than most people considered. Not only is it in another galaxy, but a world filled with mystery, magic, the Force, and more questions than you’d expect. The series takes us to a world that belongs to the Night Sisters, (bringing them into live action fully for the first time) a world where their dark magics rule supreme, and ancient secrets are lying in wait. And some of our heroes get there by flying across galaxies inside of a giant space whale. It’s magical, and it’s so wonderfully Star Wars.

And that sense of magic and wonder permeates the show. In what is perhaps the greatest episode of any Star Wars show ever made, Ahsoka finds herself in the World Between Worlds, a place outside of time and space. Here, she comes face to face with her old master, Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) who helps her to deal with the trauma that she’s been carrying about his fall. He does this by taking her through her memories, and we go back to the Clone Wars, complete with a young Ahsoka played perfectly by Ariana Greenblatt. We get to see the animated series brought to life in live action, witness the Siege of Mandalore. And whilst all of this could be happening in Ahsoka’s head as she lays dying in the ocean, the fact that the son of Kanan Jarrus can hear her through the Force shows that it was real. It’s the kind of magic that often feels lost in the world of Star Wars.

For those fans of Star Wars Rebels hoping to see their beloved characters brought to life in the show, Ahsoka doesn’t disappoint. Mary Elizabeth Winstead feels like a war weary Hera, a slightly older Hera who has gone from the leader of a small rebel cell to one of the key generals in the Rebel Alliance, and the New Republic. She also plays the part of a mother beautifully, and the inclusion of a young Jacen (Evan Whitten) was a moment that brought genuine tears.

Natasha Liu Bordizzo is fantastic as Sabine, and brings a lot of the character’s anger and rebellious spirit to life well. She’s also a character who’s been through a lot, who has lost her entire family in the Night of a Thousand Tears, which saw Mandalore destroyed, and even spent some time training with Ahsoka. The continuation of her training first begun by Kanan in Star Wars Rebels is a big part of her journey in Ahsoka, and her trying to become a Jedi and tap into the Force is something that feels like an unusual, but also very believable next stage in her journey.

One character that everyone was anxious to see make the leap to live action was Grand Admiral Thrawn, a beloved EU character that was brought into the new canon in Star Wars Rebels and brought to life wonderfully by Lars Mikkelsen. Mikkelsen brought gravitas to the character, made he feel threatening and powerful just through his voice. As such, people were clamouring for him to reprise the role, and Dave Filoni listened. Lars returns as Thrawn, and there’s just no one else who could play that role. At first it is a bit jarring hearing that voice coming out of a living person rather than animation, but Lars has been playing this role for so long that he returned to the role without it feeling like he ever left. This is Thrawn, the same ruthless, calculating, and strangely charming character that dominated Star Wars Rebels, and come the end of the season his threat to the rest of the galaxy feels very, very real.

The most surprising new actor for the Star Wars Rebels cast, however, is Eman Esfandi as Ezra. The first time we see him in the show he’s playing the hologram version of Ezra that was left behind at the end of the animated series. The mannerisms and the way he speaks felt just like Ezra, but it’s not until he returns that you really get to see just how perfect he is for the role. He not only looks like an older Ezra, but the way he moves, the way he stands, his speech pattern, all of it screams Ezra Bridger. Whilst the show brings so many of the characters to life in amazing ways, he is perhaps the most perfect, even beating Lars who played his character in animation.

As for the lead character, I’ve seen some people complain that the live action version of Ahsoka felt colder, and more detached than she did in animation. And I’d agree with that to a certain degree. Whilst Rosario Dawson captured the physicality of the character well, it did feel like parts of her character were missing. Of course, this was a part of the story, and the fifth episode of the season addresses that head on. After her time with Anakin, after she confronts the pain and guilt she feels for not being there for him when he needed help the most, she re-emerges changed. Not only does she don new clothing (Ahsoka the White, as fans have dubbed her), but it’s like a weight has been lifted from her. She’s smiling, she has faith in the Force, and she seems to be at peace even when things seem at their worst. This series might be heavily about the Ghost crew and their journeys, but it in no way forgets about its titular character.

The series also added some new characters in the form of Baylan and Shin, mercenary Force users allied with Elsbeth. Baylan, played by the late Ray Stevenson, is a former Jedi Knight who survived Order 66, and has become somewhat disillusioned with the galaxy since. Stevenson plays this wonderfully, and there’s a sense of honour and decency to the man that you tend not to find in most depictions of dark side users. This is hinted at in his saber, which isn’t the pure red that we’re used to seeing, but a deep orange instead.

There are hints that there could be some good in him, and he keeps proving this throughout the series by being a man who doesn’t just want to see the galaxy burn, as a man who keeps his word even to his enemies. The series ends in a hugely important way for his character, bringing in more mystery and more mysticism that will get any fan excited to see what will happen next. Sadly, with us having lost Ray Stevenson even before the first episode aired it looks like Baylan’s story will have to either end in this form, or continue on with another actor in the role. Either way, Stevenson has created a character that fans have quickly fallen in love with, and who has left a lasting mark on Star Wars, which is a wonderful tribute to him.

Ahsoka is perhaps also one of the best looking series that has been made for Star Wars. Whilst Andor was a phenomenal series, and looks fantastic, it was a very grounded show, and made the Star Wars universe feel more real than ever before. Ahsoka goes in the opposite direction, and makes it feel more magical than before. Giant star whales flying through space, dark magics, a world ringed with the bodies of Cthulian beasts, giant statues of ancient Force gods, magical swords, and the undead all make the series different. Star Wars has never been hard science fiction, and has always been science fantasy, and this show embraces that part. If Andor is the gritty and realistic war story, this is The Lord of the Rings of Star Wars. The beautiful, wondrous elements of the show are jaw dropping, and give the series a scope that others have failed to capture.

Because it’s a show with multiple characters with lightsabers you expect the series to feature decent action, and it more than lives up to that. Each of the characters has their own feel to them when it comes to combat. Baylan Skoll is a medieval knight who walks slowly and hammers through your defences with hard strikes. Shin Hati is chaotic, she moves quickly and in unexpected ways. Sabine is not really able to tap into the Force, so she’s clumsier with the saber, and relies on her Beskar armour to help out, blocking blows with her gauntlets and using her other weapons. Ezra has survived without his weapon for almost a decade, and fights hand to hand using the Force to augment him. All of the fights in the series feel different and unique because each one is telling us more about the characters, how they approach combat, and what it says about who they are.

The two best fights in the series, however, involve Ahsoka. Dawson has clearly been training a lot, and whilst there are likely times when stunt doubles are used, for the most part it looks like she did the majority of the combat herself. Her fight with Anakin stands out due in part to Hayden, who steps back into saber combat like he’s just come off the set of Revenge of the Sith. He still moves like Anakin, and we get to see him pull out some iconic moves in a fight that feels like The Clone Wars brought to life. The final episode’s confrontation between Ahsoka and Elsbeth is also worthy of note. Diana Lee Inosanto is a trained martial artist and sword fighter, having grown up around fighters. And you can tell that in her fight. She moves with a fluidity and skill that you don’t normally see in actors who’ve been training for weeks or months, and she may be one of the most skilled combatants the franchise has had.

The series music is also worthy of note, and features the return of Kevin Kiner, who has composed the music on Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. The music here brings back several important themes, and for those who’ve been watching since the animated series began it’s a big part of why the show feels so damn good. We get to hear Ahsoka’s theme in a way we’ve never had it before, the music that accompanied the Purgil in Rebels adds to the magic of seeing them on screen in live action, and Thrawn’s entrance is chilling because of the music. Even the end credits music of the show, which is a beautiful melding of Sabine, Hera, and Ahsoka’s themes into a new piece is something that both adds to the magic of the series, and indicates to the audience the merging of these characters narratives. The Ahsoka soundtrack is a beautiful piece of work that I’ll be listening to again and again, and Kiner needs to be the person to score Filoni’s movie.

With so many things that the show had to do, to continue Rebels, to move Ahsoka’s story on, and to set the stage for the next part of the journey towards the Thrawn movie, does it do a good job? Yes, without a doubt. Ahsoka is one of the most magical and rewarding stories in Star Wars. It brings back beloved characters, it adds more wonder to the universe, and it feels like a love letter to some characters and stories that began fifteen years ago. As someone who has been following Ahsoka’s story since it began, and who has loved this character for so long, this was an amazing experience. I was filled with awe, I was excited to find out what came next, I laughed, I wept, and I kept on wanting more. I’m sure there will be some who will hate this series, and the complaints and nit-picks are already all over social media, but for me, this was perfect Star Wars.

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Creepshow (Seasons 1-3) – Blu-ray Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

We live in an amazing time for media access. Whether it’s being able to rent movies and shows through your TV, or the multiple streaming services that are all offering different things, it’s never been more simple to get your hands on something. In theory. The big drawback to the streaming services is lost media. There have already been multiple examples of television shows simply ceasing to exist due to lack of physical releases and their host streaming services removing them completely. One streamer who’s doing right, however, is Shudder.

Shudder have done a great job at releasing physical copies of their exclusive films and shows. The latest release from Shudder, ahead of its fourth season joining the streaming service, are seasons 1 -3 of the horror anthology series Creepshow.

Based upon the film series originally created in the late 1980s, the series follows the format of the films, presenting short horror stories, written and directed by a variety of big names, and featuring both long time industry icons and up and coming talent in front of the camera, all presented around the format of the audience flicking through a horror comic. Shudder brought the series back in 2019, and the series quickly earned the streaming platform its highest viewing numbers to date. As with the films, the series does also take a slightly comedic slant towards horror, with some of the stories being more dark comedy than out and out horror tales.

Headed by Greg Nicotero, a special effects legend in the horror community, as well as director and co-executive producer for The Walking Dead, the series brings together a host of talent to work on it. The three seasons on offer here feature tales adapted from short stories by names such as Stephen King, Joe Hill, and Josh Malerman, as well as wholly original tales by Rob Schrab, John Harrison, Dana Gould, and Paul Dini. The series features directors including Roxanne Benjamin, Tom Savini, and Joe Lynch.

For those who are less into their writers and directors, the onscreen talent also includes some amazing names, like Adrienne Barbeau, Bruce Davison, Kiefer Sutherland, Justin Long, Ali Larter, James Remar, Giancarlo Esposito, Michael Rooker, Jeffrey Combs, Molly Ringwald, Keith David, Tricia Helfer, and Tobin Bell, to name but a small fraction. Each story features a face or two that people will recognise, and the fact that the series is able to draw in some big names in the horror industry also helps it to stand out. The very first story the show gives us seems to be trying to showcase this kind of talent in the fact that it’s a Stephen King story, directed by Nicotero, and stars Tobin Bell, Adrienne Barbeau, and Giancarlo Esposito. The fact that the series has so many big names working both in front of and behind the cameras speaks to the level of quality it has.

Each episode of the show is divided into two stories, each running roughly 20-25 minutes in length. The lack of any overarching plot or connective narrative works to the show’s advantage, and it means that you’re able to stick on an episode (or even half of one) without having to worry about what came before it. It’s the kind of show you can easily dip in and out of, and if you want to perhaps try some new kinds of horror stories it’s a great way to test out various styles and sub-genres without having to commit to something long. It’s also a great way to introduce folks to horror, as even if they don’t particularly like one of the stories, the next one might just grab them.

A lot of the stories the show has feel like they’re being made by people who really do love the genre, and you’ll find multiple nods to other horror projects. Two that stand out include the season one story ‘Bad Wolf Down’, which has a group of American soldiers becoming werewolves to fight Nazis (led by Jeffrey Combs). Each of the soldier’s names are characters from famous werewolf movies, such as Talby from The Wolfman and Quist from The Howling. The episode also makes each of the werewolves look different, featuring styles distinct from each other and reminiscent of different werewolves from across the decades. Perhaps the best for making nods to other stories is the season two story ‘Public Television of the Dead’, which is basically a sequel to The Evil Dead. Set in a TV studio, Ted Raimi, playing himself, comes onto an antiques show with a creepy old book that’s been in his family for years. Of course, the book gets read aloud, and Deadites wreak havoc.

A large part of the charm of the series is that it also uses a lot of practical effects. Whenever the show can it seems to embrace physical effects over things such as CGI, with make-up, animatronics, and even the occasional puppet or two making appearances on screen. This absolutely fits into the feel of the old Creepshow movies, and gives it a more timeless feel and quality. Where the show can’t always do practical effects it will often used animated segments, such as when transitioning from one story to another, that work extremely well.

Alongside each of the episodes, the new Blu-ray releases come with extras that fans of the series will want to check out. Season one comes with audio commentaries featuring cast and crew, season two has both the Animated Special and Holiday Special included, along with behind-the-scenes featurettes, and season three includes raw footage and the full length footage of Amazon’s Comic-Con @Home Panel with cast and crew.

For those looking for some short and sweet horror stories, something that can fill in short gaps and features a host of amazing talent and legendary names, Creepshow is the perfect addition to your collection. With so many shows vanishing forever with streaming service evils, Shudder and Acorn Media are doing their fans right with these new releases.

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Haunting of the Queen Mary – Film Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

The Queen Mary is one of the most famous cruise liners in the world, probably second only to the Titanic. Unlike that ship, the Queen Mary sailed the world for decades, took part in World War II, and eventually retired to become permanently docked in California, where it became a tourist attraction and hotel. What has helped to make the ship famous is the number of ghost stories that surround it, and it has subsequently become one of the most famous haunted locations in the world. It feels fitting then that the ship would become the setting for a horror film.

Haunting of the Queen Mary is a ghost story that sets out to confuse the audience from the very beginning. Starting in the 1930s we see a brutal killing has taken place on the ship whilst passengers are heading towards the lifeboats, the ship apparently in danger. Below decks, a young girl named Jackie (Florrie Wilkinson) frees her blood-covered father from imprisonment, despite him not seeming to know who she is, and calling her by another name. We then hard cut to the present, where historical author Anne (Alice Eve) and her young son Lukas (Lenny Rush) are arriving at the Queen Mary for an important meeting.

Anne is hoping to pitch both a new book about the ship, told from a child’s point of view, and a virtual reality tour to the ship’s captain and custodian, Bittner (Dorian Lough). Whilst she’s in the meeting, Lukas and her estranged partner Patrick (Joel Fry) go on the ship’s ghost tour. However, even before the tour has left Lukas is experiencing strange things, seeing the ghostly apparition of Jackie. Whilst on the tour, Lukas wanders away from the group, and ends up in a part of the ship he shouldn’t be in, a part of the ship where the ghosts of the Queen Mary’s past have plans for him.

One of the things that makes the plot of Haunting of the Queen Mary harder to follow is that the film jumps between two separate narratives, as we go back to 1930, where we see the events surrounding the beginning of the film. These scenes, and those in the present, don’t bear much connection to each other. In some films you find flashbacks having a loose thematic connection to the events in the present, with multiple stories mirroring each other in some way. That isn’t the case here, and instead they feel like mostly unconnected stories.

Another factor that goes against the film’s favour is that it’s overly long, very slow, and feels bloated. The film clocks in at a run time of just over two hours in length, and it really could have been a tight 90 minutes and still managed to tell the same story. Part of this is down to long, slow moving camera shots that show the audience every corner of the rooms that the characters enter, and sequences where we move down the ship’s long corridors, heading around corners, finding more hallways as the camera tilts and sways. Many of these shots feel unnecessary, and there were multiple times when interesting scenes were made frustrating because instead of keeping things moving the film had to keep slowing down to do these kinds of shots.

The story in the past also needs trimming down. The film spends several scenes getting to know Jackie’s family, and a lot of it has no effect on the film. Scenes of them sneaking into the First Class dining room and getting thrown out don’t actually add to the narrative. There’s an entire sequence where the film essentially stops to put on a full dance number as Jackie does a dance with Fred Astaire (Wesley Alfvin), as Ginger Rodgers (Maddison Nixon) and a movie producer watch on. It’s only the latter part of this family’s story that has any bearing on the events of the film, and at least half of these flashbacks could have been cut or heavily trimmed down in order to help the pacing.

As it is, it feels like the editor or director was given free reign to include every second of footage in the film, and was unable or unwilling to cut anything. Good editing is an important parts of turning a vision into a viable product, and here it seems like that was forgotten. That’s not to say the film is completely boring, there are elements of a decent story here, but by the time you’ve gotten to that the film already feels like it has outstayed its welcome. I watched the film with a group of people who are horror fans, and none of us found we actually cared by the time the film got into its slightly better final act.

It’s a shame, as the cast do a decent enough job with the material that they’re given, with Alice Eve especially doing her best to deliver a performance of a mother desperately trying to find her child, wracked with grief. Sadly, the script and direction seem to let the cast down, and some strong performances end up being overshadowed by the film’s many issues.

With the Queen Mary being one of the most famous haunted locations in the world, and this film being able to actually shoot on the historic ship, I was excited to see it brought to life and to tell a chilling story. Sadly, the result is one of the least frightening horror films that I’ve seen in a long while; a bloated movie that tries to do too much and loses its way long before the credits finally roll. One of the key themes of the film is the ship not allowing people to leave, for escape to be impossible, and unfortunately that ended up bleeding into reality, as it felt like I couldn’t escape it either.

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After the Forest by Kell Woods - Book Review

 

'Ginger. Honey. Cinnamon. Flour. A drop of blood to bind its power.

'1650: The Black Forest, Wurttemberg. Fifteen years after the witch in the gingerbread house, Greta and Hans are struggling to get by. Their mother and stepmother are long dead, Hans is deeply in debt from gambling, and the countryside lies in ruin, its people recovering in the aftermath of a brutal war. Greta has a secret, the witch's grimoire, secreted away and whispering in her ear, and the recipe inside that makes the most sinfully delicious - and addictive - gingerbread.

'As long as she can bake, Greta can keep her small family afloat. But in a village full of superstition, Greta and her intoxicating gingerbread is a source of ever-growing suspicion and vicious gossip. And now, dark magic is returning to the woods and Greta's own powers - magic she is still trying to understand - may be the only thing that can save her ... If it doesn't kill her first.'

We all know the story of Hansel and Gretel, even if we can't remember when we first heard it. The story of a pair of young siblings who find themselves at the mercy of an evil witch who wants to make Gretel a slave whilst fattening Hansel up to eat. It's kind of horrific that such a story is told to children, but you've got to get them into horror young I guess. Kell Woods isn't retelling that story though, instead she's asking a question that rarely gets brought up; what happened after?

After the Forest answers this question, as we follow a now adult Greta as she and her brother, Hans, live their lives in a small town in the Black Forest, staying in a small cottage just outside of the small town of Lindenfeld. Whilst Greta is happy to live away from everyone else, gathering food in the forest, baking her special gingerbread, and keeping a low profile, her brother is not. Hans spends most of his time in the local tavern, drinking and gambling, borrowing and losing money as he does so, all in an attempt to drown out the trauma of what he and his sister went through years before.

When Greta finds out that her brother owes too much money, and that the two of them will be losing their home come the end of the month, she does what she can to earn enough to stay, preparing as much gingerbread from the stolen spell book in her care to sell during the Walpurgis celebrations. However, when a mysterious man arrives in the woods and snags her attention, along with a childhood friend returning home from war, and a mysterious band of mercenaries all coming to town at the same time, things begin to spin out of control and Greta will have to face some of the magic and darkness.

One of the most impressive things about After the Forest is that this is a debut novel. The way that Kell Woods writes her prose is nothing short of extraordinary. It has a lyrical, almost magical flow to it that slowly draws you into this world that feels like the work of someone who has honed their craft over many years, with many other titles under their belt. But now, this is a first book; and what a book to begin a career with.

After the Forest doesn't just feel like a simple narrative, as Woods fills this world with multiple characters that all have unique flavours to them, and a setting that draws upon some historical inspiration and her own creations to make a very realised and lived in setting. It takes a decent while into the book for things to really start happening, and the first several chapters are spent getting to know the characters and their lives; but it's done so in a way that feels very natural, and you almost forget that you're here for the story of Hansel and Gretel, and instead just slip into the day to day of these peoples lives.

That being said, this is a big book, at almost five hundred pages, and that might prove to be something of a test for some readers. There were times where I felt more engrossed in the book than others, times where I didn't want to put it down, and a few where I had to push myself to keep going. It has ups and downs, and that is perhaps the downside of creating such and in-depth world, that not everything is always to going to appeal to every reader. If you like long, winding narratives that don't rush towards the end then this is a book that will absolutely appeal to you, and you can really get lost within its pages; but on the flip side, if you like a faster flowing narrative you may struggle to get to the point where the main crux of the story really reveals itself.

Another slight criticism of the book that I have is that it contains a scene of explicit animal cruelty towards the end (Chapter 25: Baiting), in which the graphic depiction of bear hunting and violence towards animals is included. The book contained no trigger warning for this, and it's a shame as it's something that did upset the flow for me somewhat, as I am not a fan of animal cruelty at all. It took me out of the book, and I ended up having to skip ahead of some parts as I was unable to read them. A note at the start of the book about this could have helped to avoid this moment. This is also something I've seen brought up in other reviews, and so I hope that future publications will try to address this.

The hardcover version of the book is also very lovely to look at. I know you're not supposed to judge a book on appearance, but I couldn't help but do that with After the Forest. The cover art is gorgeous, and the bright, shining bronze stands out beautifully on the dark, deep greens chosen for the cover. The book looks like it belongs in the autumnal season, and the remote woodland setting really helped with this too. It's the perfect kind of book to sit in front of a fire reading, and it feels great in your hands. If you are going to pick up a copy and were holding out for a paperback release, do yourself a favour and at least check out the hardcover, as I think it's likely the best version of the book you could get.

Overall, I had a great experience reading After the Forest. It's a fantastic debut novel, one that shows off the skills of a new but very talented author, one who is likely going to go on to craft some truly memorable stories. 

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