Planet Havoc: A Zombicide Invader Novel by Tim Waggoner - Book Review

 

'Scoundrels and soldiers band together to survive the onslaught of alien-zombies spreading across the galaxy in this riotous adventure from the bestselling game, Zombicide: Invader

'A deserted R&D facility tempts the hungry new Guild, Leviathan, into sending a team to plunder its valuable research. The base was abandoned after a neighboring planet was devastated by an outbreak of Xenos – alien zombies – but that was a whole planet away... When the Guild ship is attacked by a quarantine patrol, both ships crash onto the deserted world. Only it isn’t as deserted as they hope: a murderous new Xeno threat awakens, desperate to escape the planet. Can the crews cooperate to destroy this new foe? Or will they be forced to sacrifice their ships and lives to protect the galaxy?'

The first of the Zombicide books by Aconyte, Last Resort, was a somewhat traditional zombie story. It was set in a modern setting, in a world much like our own where the living dead have spread across the globe, infecting folks and eating the living. It was a pretty safe introduction to the world of the Zombicide games. However, the games don't just follow this formula, and have some pretty interesting takes on the zombie genre; and we get to explore one of these variations in the new novel Planet Havoc.

Planet Havoc is set in the distant future, where humanity has taken to the stars, meeting alien races and colonising new worlds. We join the mercenary crew of a ship that has been hired by the Leviathan corporation to sneak into a quarantined star system, getting past the military blockades set to capture any trespassers. The crew have been hired to travel to one of the remote planets in the system, Penumbra, and acquire samples of a rare mineral that could revolutionise power generation. As the ship is sneaking into the system they're discovered by a small patrol vessel, and a chase ensues between the two ships that results in both crews crashing on Penumbra.

On the barren planet, the two separate groups discover that Penumbra is home to more than just this rare mineral, but also contains a deadly race of alien beings. These creatures, the Neo-Xenos, are highly dangerous, and want off the planet. Controlled by a terrible hive mind intelligence, the Neo-Xenos set out to use the crashed ships to escape their prison, killing or infecting any human who dares to get in their way. Now the two opposing crews have to come together to try and survive, and to stop a terrible plague from being unleashed upon the galaxy.

If Last Resort is The Walking Dead, Planet Havoc is Aliens. This is probably the easiest comparison to make to try and describe the tone and feel of the story; and as a life-long fan of the Alien franchise I absolutely loved it.

There are some easy comparisons to make between the two, the duplicitous mega-corporations that want a deadly alien species to make into profit, androids, and bug-like aliens, but Tim Waggoner hasn't just made an Alien clone with this novel, and has drawn inspiration from a number of other great science fiction and horror titles such as Starship Troopers and The Thing to create something that will make genre fans feel at home, yet manages to do a lot of new things.

Whilst I normally wouldn't expect to have to explain the monsters in a book with zombie in the title, the creatures of Planet Havoc do need something of an explanation. Grown from a huge organism that has some kind of connection to a mysterious blue mould, the Neo-Xenos don't require other lifeforms in order to create themselves, literally growing new members of their race out of each other. This lack of hosts needed to create new foes makes them an incredibly unpredictable foe, as the heroes are never really going to manage to kill them all; as long as at least one survives there's always the risk that more will come.

The Neo-Xenos also come in a few different varieties, ranging from fast and agile creatures that seem designed to swarm and overwhelm their prey, to large, hulking brutes with immense strength and the ability to fire spikes at people. Perhaps the most frightening part of the Neo-Xeno, however, is their ability to infect others. Whilst they don't need hosts to create new members of the race they can infect and transform humans, making them into either huge, monstrous creatures, or intelligent sleeper agents that look no different from normal.

This twist certainly brings the creatures more into line with what we think about with zombies, of the infection that can spread within a group, but also makes them all the more frightening. Much like The Thing there's a sense of never being sure who you can trust, and not knowing exactly who might be infected that makes the Neo-Xeno truly terrifying. 

But it's not just about the monsters, as there's a large cast of humans fighting to stay alive across the course of the book; although that cast does keep getting smaller as things go on. There are essentially two groups when the book begins, one who are trying to sneak onto Penumbra, and the other who are trying to stop them. These two groups have a decent mix of people, though they definitely have a more central cast, with a few other characters that don't get as much of a focus who you kind of suspect are just there to get killed off at some point. Those that do get focus, however, are a lot of fun.

The mercenary crew make for the more colourful group of characters, and thanks to the inclusion of some evil corporate lackeys amongst them, makes for an interesting mixture. The team is led by Luis Gonzales, a former soldier who seems to be a decent man, taking on jobs that don't hurt innocent people and is fighting to do something good with his life. He's competent, has the respect of his crew, and doesn't seem afraid to talk back to the Leviathan representative. That representative, Jena Woodruff falls nicely into the Burke from Aliens role. She never really does anything bad or evil, but she's absolutely a bit of a bitch and you want to hit her half the time. She cares about herself, about profit and advancing her career. She's a cold and calculating person who doesn't seem to care about putting other people at risk to get what she wants.

In addition to various other soldiers and miners, the crew has a few stand out members. Oren is a cyborg, a human brain that's been placed within a mechanical body, that's been sent on the mission by Leviathan to record everything that happens. At first he seems to be a pretty simple kind of person, barely more than a walking camera who doesn't really say much. However, as the book progresses we learn that Oren has some pretty extreme views on the universe, views that put him at odds with many of the others around him. We also learn more about what it means to be a cyborg, as well as his personal history, and it makes for some truly fascinating reading. There's also doctor Sidney Cheung, a biologist that has been brought along on the mission to help with any native lifeforms found on Penumbra. Whilst Sidney gets more than she bargained for thanks to the Neo-Xeno, much like Oren she has some secrets beneath her exterior that make her to be one of the more complex members of the crew, and some surprises that readers won't be expecting.

The members of the Coalition Command military trapped on the planet with the mercs also get the chance to shine, and make for some interesting characters too. The stand-outs include Aisha Barakat, the captain of their small vessel, transferred to the patrol the remote system following a terrible event in her past; and Jason, the ship's android. In a lot of ways Aisha is very similar to Luis, and the two commanders get a lot of scenes together and the chance to form a real bond as the book progresses. We get a sense that despite being a part of a military who will execute prisoners, Aisha isn't a bad person, and we see a lot of her views on the universe and what it means to be a good person get challenged over the course of the story. Possibly the biggest surprise on that crew, however, is Jason. Entirely mechanical, Jason should be the kind of character who is completely loyal to the Coalition, programmed to follow orders and the letter of the law; but he's actually incredibly human and very much has a mind of his own. It's fascinating seeing they way his character unfolds across the book, and he quickly made for one of my favourite characters.

Planet Havoc is an action packed survival story that managed to feel incredibly familiar and comfortable for me as a fan of this kind of genre; yet it always managed to entertain, surprise, and never felt like it was being cheap or lazy. Waggonner seems to have written a love letter to some of the truly great sci-fi horror stories with this book, and fans of the genre are going to find a lot to enjoy here. Going into this novel knowing nothing about this particular branch of the Zombicide games I left eager to read more, and hoping that this ends up being the first of many such books.

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To Sleep So As To Dream – Blu-ray Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

There are certain genres and styles of film that seem to go in cycles: western movies were a big thing in the 1950s and 60s, horror and slasher movies were all the rage in the 80s, and today the comic book movie rules supreme in the cinema. Even after the heyday of certain movies seems to have passed you’ll still get a few throwbacks to these films released – well-received gangster films or buddy cop movies coming out long after the trend has finished. But one type of film whose day seems to be done is the silent movie.

This is kind of understandable, as silent movies weren’t made as a stylistic choice, but due to limits in technology when cinema was first created. As such, most people would dismiss this as a forgotten and useless form of the medium; you wouldn’t go back to using the phonograph when MP3s exist, right? One modern movie – though modern in relative terms, as this was first released in 1986 – that does take this leap back in time is To Sleep So As To Dream.

To Sleep So As To Dream tells the story of two detectives, Uotsuk (Shiro Sano) and Kobayashi (Koji Otake), who get hired to help investigate the disappearance of Bellflower (Moe Kamura), the daughter of ageing silent movie star Madame Cherry-blossom (Fujiko Fukamizu). The two detectives, and Madame Cherry-blossom’s elderly butler, engage on an investigation that sees them solving riddles, paying out large bundles of cash in ransoms, and getting into fights in their quest to reunite this broken family.

Despite being filmed in 1986, To Sleep So As To Dream takes many of its cues from much older films. The movie is shot in black and white, and for the most part it’s a completely silent film. There are times where we do have sound in the film, select noises – such as the ringing of a phone – that are used to highlight certain things in a scene, to build tension, or sometimes as parts of jokes. Other than that, all of the dialogue in the movie is presented through text cards that appear on the screen, giving the audience brief snippets of larger conversations. There are two moments in the movie where actual voices do appear, and much like the select sound effects these are used for specific purposes.

Because of the lack of dialogue, To Sleep So As To Dream tells much of its story visually, allowing the audience to follow along simply by watching what the lead characters do. Because of this, it’s pretty streamlined, and feels simple in places; yet director Kaizo Hayashi manages to make it a lot more layered than you might at first think. It soon becomes apparent that you can look at this film on a much deeper level, with Madame Cherry-blossom trying to get her daughter back, as a woman chasing her lost youth as she watches her old silent movies over and over again. There are moments where the film feels pretty unreal, where you’re not sure if you should be taking what’s happening at face value, and this can make for a strange viewing experience.

To Sleep So As To Dream is one of the strangest films I’ve seen in a while. It doesn’t quite feel like a silent movie, it does things that go against the conventions of the films of the silent era, because it’s simply using the aesthetic of those films. The film feels incredibly busy, despite being stripped down in a lot of ways, with odd stuff happening the the backgrounds of scenes and in set dressings. It’s got a strange sense of humour to it too, such as the ‘hard boiled detective’ eating so many hard boiled eggs across the course of the film. It’s the kind of movie that is so utterly unique that nothing else is really like it. It does its own thing in its own way, and even if its not to your taste it’s something that fans of cinema and the history of film should seek out, because this is certainly the kind of movie that will leave an impression.

In addition to this newly restored version of the film there are some interesting extras on the new release. There’s a short presentation that shows how the film was restored from the original negative, which features director Kaizo Hayashi getting to visit the lab and watch it being done. There are also some interviews with star Shiro Sano, and an interview regarding Japanese film culture and silent film by Benshi Midori Sawato. There’s also a pair of audio commentaries for the film: one with director Kaizo Hayashi and actor Shiro Sano, and the other with film experts Tom Mes and Jasper Sharp.

To Sleep So As To Dream is not going to be a film that everyone likes, but as a unique piece of cinema that’s been presented in high quality for the first time this is a set that film fanatics will want to take notice of.

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Silent Hill: Downpour – Throwback 10

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Silent Hill is a series that gaming fans look on fondly. It’s often spoken of in the same conversations as things like the Resident Evil series, and it’s easy to see why people might compare the two. But whilst Resident Evil has continued to produce great games, moving from strength to strength (most of the time anyway), Silent Hill has struggled to recapture the glory days of their first few games. Yes, Silent Hill 2 might be a superb game, but the offerings since then have very much divided players. Silent Hill: Downpour, the eighth game in the franchise, is a prime example of this.

Developed by Czech based publisher Vatra Games, Silent Hill: Downpour was announced two years before its release with relatively few details, although promised that it would offer something different for players. Whilst fans would argue about how good the game actually was upon release, Vatra seem to have been true to their word, and gave players something that at least felt pretty different.

The game puts you in control of Murphy Pendleton (David Boyd Konrad), a convicted criminal. This immediately gave players something different, as previous instalments of the series would put players in the role of ‘ordinary’ people who have a hidden dark past that comes out in Silent Hill; but here we have a character that will instantly have players questioning the type of person he is, and if they’re even comfortable playing such a character. The game doubled down on this by having its very first moments being a combat tutorial in which Murphy stabs and kills another inmate in the showers.

From here the game sees Murphy being transferred to another prison, but along the way the bus crashes into a ravine. Murphy awakens and is able to make his escape into the surrounding forest. After travelling through an old mine he finds himself in the deserted town of Silent Hill, a place filled with monsters out to harm him. On the run from the corrections officer pursuing him, and contending with the strange denizens of Silent Hill, Murphy must find a way to survive.

Another of the ways in which Silent Hill: Downpour stood out from the previous games is that after a pretty brief linear segment, where Murphy makes his way into the town, the game opens up quite a bit. It’s not a true open world by any means, but players were suddenly able to explore Silent Hill in ways they weren’t before. The player could walk around the town, taking on side missions that ranged from simple collection quests, to investigating a murder scene. You were also able to interact with the environment, pulling down fire escapes and breaking doors in order to open up new areas or alternate routes.

As the title suggests, rain plays a large part in the game, and instead of going for the series’ signature fog, Silent Hill: Downpour used rainfall to alter the game-play. When the rain rolls in players will have to be more careful, as it not only makes it harder to see, but it also increases the number of monsters in the area, as well as making them more aggressive to you. Whilst only slightly different from the series staple of fog in what it does, the change did at least set this game apart as being visually different from predecessors.

Another big change is the combat, which plays a heavier role than in previous games. Murphy gets to arm himself with whatever he can find in the abandoned town, with makeshift weapons ranging from hammers, bottles, broken chairs, and even simple rocks. These weapons would quickly degrade, breaking after several uses, prompting the player to constantly be on the lookout for more things to add to their arsenal. Unfortunately, the combat isn’t quite perfect, and you’d often find yourself taking a swing at a monster only to miss hitting it. This, along with the monsters being more aggressive and more numerous when it rains, leads players having to consider if combat is the best approach, or if they should run instead.

Silent Hill: Downpour also tried to offer players a more branching narrative, allowing your choices to affect what kind of person Murphy is. There would be a few times throughout the game where you’d be given the choice of saving someone or not, and this would help towards one of several endings for the game. You’d also be left to collect things across the game that gave you more of Murphy’s backstory, leaving it down to player exploration to determine how fleshed out he ended up being.

When it was released, Silent Hill: Downpour received mixed reviews. Some outlets liked some of the new elements that Vatra Games brought to the project, praising the design choices and its creativity. However, the sluggish combat mechanics and lacklustre puzzles left some people feeling that the game wasn’t as polished as it could have been.

With the Silent Hill franchise remaining a series of mixed parts, of games that vary wildly in style and quality, and with relatively small commercial success for later releases, it’s entirely possible that you missed Silent Hill: Downpour upon first release a decade ago. And whilst I’d definitely advise picking it up and playing if you’re able, just to see what you think of it, the price of even a pre-owned version can be ridiculously high; as such, if you do happen across a copy for cheap, grab it whilst you can, because you may just grab yourself an absolute bargain.

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The Carnival of Ash by Tom Beckerlegge – Book Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

The Carnival of Ash is marketed as a fantasy book; a story set within an alternate history in a fictional city where the crafted word rules supreme. Cadenza is a city filled with giant libraries, where hundreds of printing presses work around the clock, churning out work, and where poets and creators control the life of the citizens. However, the book seems to have been woefully miss-sold, leading to a jarring reading experience.

The Carnival of Ash begins following Carlo Mazzoni, a young poet who has travelled to Cadenza in order to show off his epic poem and to find fame. Unfortunately, he came to the city at the worst possible time, as the leader, Artifex Tommaso Cellini, has died suddenly. Now the city is in turmoil, and Carlo discovers secrets about his family history that not only disturb him, but makes it look like he may be involved in Cellini’s death.

From here, the book shifts perspectives across each of the twelve cantos, featuring an ink maid who writes pornographic letters to paying clients so that they can live out their sexual fantasies, and a pair of poets who are fighting over a woman they both desire, to name but a few of the early ones. Unfortunately, as the focus of the book shifts to a new person with each segment, it means that the main plot of the novel, the special political ramification of the appointment of a bureaucrat as the replacement for Cellini, rather than a poet, feel incredibly lost in the background.

As mentioned earlier, the book has been marketed as a fantasy novel, thanks to the descriptions of giant libraries, and a city dedicated to poetry and works of fiction. As such, I came to it expecting a focus on those aspects, to get to explore these huge libraries; and with it being a fantasy book I was hoping for some kind of magic to be involved with them, whether that be stories that can come to life, the power of the written word, or having to bind books with power to keep dark things from escaping the pages. This book has none of that. It seems like it’s been marketed as fantasy because it’s set in a city that doesn’t exist in the real world, but other than that this is a lengthy, ponderous, historical novel.

This isn’t in itself a bad thing: there’s a big market for historical fiction, and alternate history is a popular genre. However, if you come to this book expecting something very different, as I did, this revelation that you’re reading a completely different genre is a huge disappointment. I spent so long reading the book waiting for something to happen, something unusual or out of the ordinary that justified its labelling as fantasy, something that would make me actually enjoy it – but nothing came.

It wasn’t just the surprise change in genre that I found troubling whilst reading the book, however, as there were a number of things with the content that I ended up not enjoying. One of the biggest things that I need to talk about is the fact that this book doesn’t come with any content or trigger warnings, and the content really does need some. There is constant sexual objectification of women throughout the book. Women are treated incredibly poorly, often being reduced to sexual objects, and there are even moments of sexual violence. With this being a fantasy or alternate history, these kinds of things didn’t need to be included for ‘historical accuracy’, and they serve no real purpose towards moving the plot forward. As such, the book felt like it was very much not geared towards female readers, and the lack of warning about some of the graphic content could put a lot of people off. There are also moments of extreme torture, abuse, fatphobia, and ableism scattered throughout, to further dampen any enjoyment of the book.

I came into The Carnival of Ash expecting certain things thanks to how the book was advertised, and when the book turned out to be something completely different I found it hard to find much to grab my attention, thanks to a plodding and almost aimless-seeming narrative, and content that often threw me out thanks to its shocking or disturbing nature. I went into this book hoping to find a lot to enjoy, but spent the majority of my time reading it forcing myself to get through it. If you’re a fan of dour and lengthy historical fiction you might enjoy this, but just be warned before picking it up.

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Gorath – Throwback 60

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

The 1960s were a big decade for Japanese film. The big budget disaster movies were doing well, and giant monsters were becoming more and more popular, as the Godzilla franchise began to hit its stride and new creatures emerged onto screens. Toho was at the heart of this boom, producing some of the biggest films of the decade, and as such wanted to continue to ride this wave of success with new, creative endeavours. 1962’s Gorath was an attempt to make a big budget science fiction film that would stun audiences and showcase some of the best special effects work around; and for the most part, it did just that.

Directed by Ishiro Honda, the acclaimed filmmaker behind such hits as Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra, the film begins with the crew of the JX-1 Hawk, a new exploratory space vessel, competing its months long mission on the outskirts of the solar system. With the crew preparing to return home, they receive a message from Earth asking them to investigate a strange gravitational anomaly near Saturn. Upon going to investigate, the crew are shocked to discover that a rogue star has entered the solar system, and is making its way towards Earth. The star is putting out immense gravitational forces, and it destroys the JX-1.

Back on Earth, scientists gather to discuss the information the lost crew were able to send back, and work out that in two years time the rogue star, named Gorath, will pass close enough to Earth to tear the planet apart. A plan is devised, and the world’s governments come together in Antarctica to create a giant engine that they will be able to use to push Earth out of Gorath’s path, moving the planet back to its regular orbit once the danger has passed. When Gorath reaches Earth, having already stripped Saturn of its rings and grown in mass, the engines fire and move the planet out of the way; unfortunately, the intense gravity does cause huge damage, creating giant floods and huge earthquakes across the planet, including one that completely destroys Tokyo. Fortunately, the plan succeeds, and the Earth is saved.

Hot off the success of 1960’s big budget disaster movie The Final War, which saw the Earth completely destroyed, Toho wanted to create another big budget disaster movie, though one with a more hopeful ending. Feeling confident that the film would do well following the success of their previous films, Toho gave Gorath a bigger budget, and an almost year long production time to create the movie. And it really does show on screen. The miniature work on Gorath is wonderful, and rivals some of the best stuff seen at the time. The increase in budget and production time meant that Honda was able to take his time, to allow the special effects team to create more intricate, detailed models and sets.

One thing that perhaps harms Gorath, or at least interrupts the flow of the movie, is the inclusion of a giant walrus Kaiju named Maguma. Thanks to the success of Toho’s film Mothra, studio executives wanted to include a giant monster, believing that by marrying together The Final War and Mothra they would be able to capitalise on the success of both films. Whilst this might work on paper, in execution it really fails to be anything other than odd. Maguma appears towards the end of the film, when heat generated by the giant engines melts the surrounding ice in Antarctica and awakens the giant monster that was sleeping beneath the surface. With the creature threatening to destroy the engine, the only thing that can save the Earth, the military are forced to engage the monster and kill it.

These sequences add very little to the film, and were even cut in the American release of the movie with no real damage being done to the story. If anything the cuts actually helped to keep the plot focused on the rogue star, and to keep tensions high. It also doesn’t help that Maguma is possibly the cheapest looking thing in the film. It’s unclear whether the creature was a late stage addition, if Honda had less focus on the monster, or if it’s just down to the design, but the monster looks rubbery and fake in ways that you don’t come to expect from a Toho creation, and looks like a cheap imitation.

The odd inclusion of the giant walrus monster aside, Gorath proves to be a great movie. Its plot is interesting, especially in comparison to Toho’s The Final War, and acts like a good companion to that film, showcasing humanity coming together to create a hopeful future, rather than humanity destroying itself. The special effects look great, with some good wire-work being used to create zero gravity space scenes, and the miniature and model work is top notch. If you’re looking for a big budget Japanese Tokusatsu film that isn’t just big monsters, Gorath is one worth watching.

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An American Werewolf In London (1981) – 4K UHD Limited Edition Blu-ray Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Having recently celebrated its fortieth anniversary, An American Werewolf In London has received a stunning 4K Ultra HD release from Arrow Video that’s packed with special features and behind the scenes footage, that reminds viewers that this relatively low budget horror film that studios were scared about taking the risk on is one of the most important, and influential films in cinema history.

Chances are most of us will know the story of An American Werewolf In London, it’s been a mainstay on television in Britain for years and sold ridiculously well on home release when it first came out (I distinctly remember stealing my uncle’s VHS copy to watch as a child). But for those unawares, the plot follows two American backpackers as they journey around England.

The film begins with David (David Naughton) and Jack (Griffin Dunne), two young men from New York, as they’re journeying across the Yorkshire moors. Standing out against the drab and gloomy countryside around them, in their bright puffer jackets and big backpacks, the two of them wander the desolate landscape, griping about the weather. Eventually they find a small village pub, the Slaughtered Lamb, in which to take shelter; however, the two of them immediately garner unwelcome glances and muttered comments from the locals.

When Jack asks about the strange pentagram painted onto the pub wall, they are told to leave, given two pieces of advice as they do so; ‘keep to the road’ and ‘beware the moon’. Journeying out into the night in the pouring rain, Jack and David soon find themselves accidentally straying from the safety of the road, wandering out into the moors. After hearing a terrifying howling, and realising the full moon is shining down upon them, they are attacked by a vicious beast.

When David awakens following the attack he learns that it’s a few weeks later, and that he’s in hospital in London. Here he learns that whilst he survived the attack from a supposed ‘escaped lunatic’, Jack was killed. Trying to come to terms with his loss David begins to have horrific nightmares about monsters, and soon hallucinates his dead friend, who warns him that the two of them were attacked by a werewolf, and that if David doesn’t kill himself he’ll become one too, and then more killings will begin.

When it was first released in 1981, An American Werewolf In London surprised audiences for two main reasons. The first was that the film managed to walk the incredibly fine line between horror and comedy, due in large part to the wonderful writing and directing of John Landis, who at this point was most well known for comedy films such as Animal House, and The Blues Brothers. The film wasn’t silly or slapstick, and had a very natural form of comedy where characters expressed humour in very real ways, often using it to help deal with the terror of what was happening. The film also didn’t downplay the horror either, being genuinely scary and featuring some jump scares and frights that have become so copied over the decades that they’ve become tropes of the genre. Other horror comedies have tried to blend the two genre’s together since, but none have really managed to do so half as well.

The second way that the film shocked audiences was thanks to the werewolf transformations. Up to this point werewolf films took a rather laid-back approach to these kind of things, either having slow dissolves over actors as they sat in a chair getting hairier, or using clever cuts to switch between stages of make-ups. These older films made the transformations appear quick and easy, and this was something John Landis set out to change.

With the help of makeup artist and special effects wizard Rick Baker, An American Werewolf In London made the transformation into a painful, shocking experience, and audiences watched as David’s body broke and twisted as he became the titular beast. The effects were so revolutionary that hundreds of films since have changed the way they handle transformation scenes to copy this gold standard, and Baker himself won the first ever Best Make-up Academy Award.

This new release not only brings audiences a wonderfully detailed new version of the film, presented in 4K for the first time from the original camera negative, but also packs the disc full of extra features. There are a number of archival behind the scenes looks and interviews with the cast and crew, mostly taken from around the time of the film’s release as part of the original promotion, but there’s also a lot of new stuff on here too.

There’s a full feature length documentary about the history of werewolves in cinema from the early days of the Universal Monsters right up to this film, the feature length exploration of the film, Beware The Moon, and a video essay that looks at how the film explores Jewish identity. There are also new interviews, looks at the special effects, and discussions about how the film inspired other filmmakers. Added to this are two full length commentaries, one with David Naughton and Griffin Dunne, who share their experiences making the film, and the other with filmmaker Paul Davis, who created the Beware The Moon documentary, which goes into a lot of detail around the making of the movie.

Having grown up watching An American Werewolf In London, having seen it dozens of times and counting it amongst my favourite films, this was easily the best experience I’d had with the movie. The new 4K release looks beautiful, everything is crisp and clear, and the extras are amazing. Despite the film only being an hour and a half long I spent about five times that length going through everything this release had to offer, because it was packed with so much content. Whether you’re a long time fan or coming to this new, this might be the best version of this film on the market, and well worth the price.

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The Shadow Glass by Josh Winning - Book Review

 

'Jack Corman is failing at life. Jobless, jaded and facing the threat of eviction, he’s also reeling from the death of his father, one-time film director Bob Corman. Back in the eighties, Bob poured his heart and soul into the creation of his 1986 puppet fantasy The Shadow Glass, but the film flopped on release and Bob was never the same again.

'In the wake of Bob’s death, Jack returns to his decaying childhood home, where he is confronted with the impossible — the puppet heroes from The Shadow Glass are alive, and they need his help. Tipped into a desperate quest to save the world from the more nefarious of his father’s creations, Jack teams up with an excitable fanboy and a spiky studio exec to navigate the labyrinth of his father’s legacy and ignite a Shadow Glass resurgence that could, finally, do Bob proud.'

I'm going to make the easy comparisons straight away, the thing that I'm sure that every review of this book is going to mention. The Shadow Glass feels like a love letter to the films of Jim Henson, to Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal, and other 80's dark fantasy stories. As such, if you're a fan of these kinds of stories this is a book that I would absolutely recommend you read as soon as you can.

The book begins by introducing us to Jack Corman, a man in his thirties who's struggling to find work, who's facing not being able to pay his rent, and is having difficulty finding the thing that he wants to do with his life. Jack's father, Bob, has just passed away, and Jack finds himself in possession of Bob's home and everything inside it; things that could help him to find enough money to survive on. You see, back in the 80's Bob made a movie, the puppet fantasy extravaganza The Shadow Glass. Whist the film was never a huge hit it did find a cult following, enough that it kept Bob and Jack comfortable over the years, and enough so that Jack could come to hate the fans.

You see, as the years wore on Bob would keep coming back to the world he'd created, the fictional land of Iri, would obsess over it, would show himself up in interviews and at conventions. As Bob and Jack's relationship became more and more strained over the years Jack would come not only to hate his father, but the film that he'd created to. The Shadow Glass went from something that Jack used to love to embodiment of his ruined relationship with his father. But now Bob is gone, and Jack is able to sell the puppets stored up in the attic to try and get enough money to get by.

However, as Jack is readying to sell the star puppet from the film he learns that his cousin, who followed Bob into films, is preparing to make a Shadow Glass sequel, and wants Jack's help finding the titular prop. But it turns out that it's not just Amelia who wants the prop, as living puppets pour out of the attic room, searching for the fabled artefact. Jack is confronted not only by the villains of the film, the evil Skalion's, but two of the heroic Kettu, fox-like warriors who protect the land of Iri. With the living puppets out in the world, searching for the prop from the movie, Jack must face the shocking revelation that the world of Iri is real, that all of the crazy things Bob used to say were true, and that if he doesn't help the brave Kettu warriors find the Shadow Glass the entire world could suffer.

The Shadow Glass was a strange book to read, not because it was confusing, or odd, but because it felt so weirdly familiar in a lot of ways. I don't think that you'd be able to read this book without thinking of films like Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, The Never Ending Story, or Return to Oz. The book feels like it belongs with these dark, twisted fantasy stories of the 1980's; and because of that it's strange how quickly you get drawn into the world of The Shadow Glass. In essence, this story is a sequel to the film that Bob made in the 1980's, and because we only ever get snippets of information about that story you'd think it'd be hard to get invested in this one. But that's very much not the case.

With very little world-building on Josh Winning's part, with just small snippets of scenes from the fictional film or extracts from interviews, you begin to get invested in the world of Iri. Not long after meeting the living Kettu puppets of Zavanna and Brol, of seeing the villains storm out of the attic room sowing chaos, you begin to get drawn into this quest. It might sound strange, considering that during the course of the book we never learn everything about the fictional Shadow Glass film, and see relatively little of the world of Iri, but by the end of it I'd became as enamoured by it as the films from my childhood that did mean something to me. I felt like I could see parts of Iri in my head, I could picture the puppets and the sets, I wanted plushies of the adorable lubs, and I'd give anything to get to watch the film.

I honestly don't know how Winning does it, but by the end of the book it feels like this is a sequel to a film that actually exists. I came away feeling like I knew the Shadow Glass, like I could close my eyes and picture it all so clearly, that I could hear the music and watch scenes play out in my head. It takes a certain level of skill for a writer to get you invested in the story you're reading, but getting you invested in a story that isn't even a part of the one you're reading, that doesn't exist at all is a level of achievement I'd never thought possible. I hope that Winning has the story of the Shadow Glass film written down, or planned out in his head. I want that to be released, as either another novel, or a comic series, or anything really. I want this world that only exists as a tiny corner of this book to get its chance to exist outside of it, because this world that Winning has created within these pages is honestly wonderful. 

But I can't talk about this fictional film for the entirety of my review, as there's so much more to this book too. The Shadow Glass is a story about learning to overcome trauma, as so many of those 80's films were. Jack grew up thinking that his father hated him, that a fictional world meant more to him than his own son. There are reasons for this, and over the course of the book we learn more and more about their relationship and we see how Jack came to this conclusion; especially after one absolutely heartbreaking scene. Over the course of the novel Jack has to face the past that he's buried away, the feelings that he's ignored his entire life.

Jack doesn't just hate his father, but he hates the film that he created too, something that he once loved as a child. For Jack, Bob and The Shadow Glass have become so linked, so entwined that when people talk about how much they love it it feels like they're condoning Bob's behaviour, that they're belittling the trauma Jack has gone through. We see that across the book, how he instantly hates fans of the film even without knowing anything about them, how he has to leave the room if the film is playing because it makes him feel physically sick. Jack's going through complex PTSD, he's associated this film with his trauma, and over the course of the book he has to confront that. 

As someone who's been through trauma, who's been diagnosed with PTSD, who's had certain things become associated with my trauma and has had anxiety attacks and depression spirals triggered by the most innocuous things I completely understood Jack's reaction. I could see parts of myself reflected in him. It would have been easy to have him stay hating The Shadow Glass for the entire book, or to be completely cured of his hatred for it come the end, but Winning has Jack having to fight through those feelings throughout the book, and there's even a sense that whilst he's dealt with a lot of this come the end he's still not completely done with his healing journey by the time the book's done. I loved this, I loved that trauma was shown to be this hard, complex journey, one that doesn't always make sense, one that requires work to get through. It felt like we were getting an honest portrayal of a complex mental health issue that often gets overlooked; and I really appreciated that.

Jack isn't alone in his journey though, as he soon gets a group of new friends helping him along the way, both puppet and human. The group that forms in the book are a great collection of individuals, who showcase some very different personality types. For the puppets, there's Zavanna, who's a very reserved and almost stoic warrior, one who doesn't care about making friends or being nice, simply getting the mission done; and there's Brol, who's more open and kind, and is filled with a sense of wonder at getting to discover new things. Both of these warriors feel like the typical archetypes you get in these kinds of 80's fantasy stories, the two kinds of leads that you'd see. One is so dedicated to the mission that she can't see how she has time to stop and appreciate the small moments, whilst the other understands that those small wonders are what they're fighting to protect. Both of them are wonderful characters, and I adored getting to know them as the book progressed, seeing how the events changed them and altered their views of the world as they fought to save both Iri and Earth.

There are also some interesting human characters who end up helping Jack, in the form of some Shadow Glass mega-fans. This group of people are folks who love the movie, who watch it regularly, who read the books, who collect the merch, and who make it a large part of their personality. They're the kind of people that Jack instantly hates. However, they're the perfect people to help Jack on his journey, not just because they know the world of Iri and The Shadow Glass so well, but because they're the perfect people for Jack to be around to help him through his issues regarding the movie. There are some wonderful people in this bunch, with a good mix of personalities, but I absolutely adored Toby, who kind of becomes Jack's right-hand man. Toby is the perfect stand-in for many of us readers, the kind of mega-fan who would love to meet our heroes, and to see the worlds and creations we love be real. I also assume he's called Toby as a nod to Labyrinth, which makes me love him all the more.

I absolutely adored reading The Shadow Glass. I loved how quickly I became invested in this fictional world, and this story within a story. The book appealed to me as a fan of this kind of 80's fiction, as someone who's a geek. I hope that we get to see more of this stuff from Winning in the future, whether that's more stories like this, or getting to find out what the Shadow Glass film was like. This has quickly become not just one of my favourite books, but one of my favourite fictional worlds.

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Godzilla vs. Gigan – Throwback 50

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Godzilla is one of those film stars who just won’t stay down, whether he’s being a destroyer or a friend to humanity, and there was a time where Godzilla films were coming thick and fast in Japan. With the success of 1971’s Godzilla vs. Hedorah it was decided that another outing from the King of the Monsters was needed, and one that would be a bit less dark and grim. This is where Godzilla vs. Gigan comes in.

Released in 1972, the film began shooting soon after the release of the previous movie – a film that was the second highest grossing film for Toho that year – with the instruction that it was to be less ‘weird’ and more child friendly. Two scripts were produced by Kaoru Mabuchi, and Shinichi Sekizawa. Both of these scripts feature Godzilla and King Ghidorah, along with the new monster Gigan and an assortment of returning monsters. After several revisions and cuts the two scripts were combined into one singular story.

The story of Godzilla vs. Gigan sees a cartoonist called Gengo (Hiroshi Ishikawa), who was recently working on the Children’s Land amusement park, being asked to help a woman track down her missing brother, who she believes was kidnapped by the park’s directors. Upon investigating Children’s Land, Gengo is shocked to learn that the people behind the amusement park are actually giant insect-like aliens from a dying planet.

It appears that the aliens have travelled to Earth with the plan to colonise the planet. However, in order to do so they need to get rid of its current inhabitants. As such, they have plotted to use the space monsters King Ghidorah and Gigan to wipe the planet clear of humanity, using giant radio towers hidden inside Children’s Land to control them. Gengo manages to play one of the control tapes, which summons Godzilla and Anguirus to Tokyo. Now the two Earth monsters are able to combat the space monsters, but who will be strong enough to come out on top?

As stated earlier, the early drafts for Godzilla vs. Gigan were set to feature more monsters, with multiple creatures being lured from Monster Island to combat the new creatures from space. However, these plans had to be changed when several of the monster suits proved to be in too bad a condition to be usable.

One of the drawbacks of this era of Kaiju movies is that the suits were simply put into storage after a movie was made, leading to monster costumes deteriorating and being unusable on a number of occasions. This means that a number of movies had to change to accommodate these issues, and Godzilla vs. Gigan was unfortunately one of them. However, the film actually works better for this, allowing more focus to be given to the four monsters, rather than being spread across the board.

Despite issues with the existing monster suits, including having to repaint King Ghidorah and replace the heads, Godzilla vs. Gigan was able to showcase a brand new creature, Gigan the alien cyborg. Gigan is a pretty odd looking monster. Whilst most of the Kaiju that feature in the Godzilla series are based on prehistoric animals, or large insects, Gigan is truly alien in design. A large, lizard-like creature that stands on two legs, he features large fins on his back, sports a single metal visor eye, metal hooks for hands, and a big circular saw in his stomach. It’s a look that is very, very different from other Kaiju, and makes for a striking figure.

The film also seems to have taken some inspiration from the Gamera films, by having Godzilla take some serious beatings throughout the movie. He’s blasted with laser cannons from the big Godzilla Tower in Children’s Land, is smashed around the head by Gigan’s huge hook blades, and is cut into with the huge circular saw in his foe’s chest. The fights are pretty brutal at times, and it was no surprise that it led to some of the younger audience believing that perhaps this would be the one time that Godzilla wouldn’t save the day.

Upon release Godzilla vs. Gigan was received well by Japanese audiences, and had an increase in ticket sales over the last year’s Godzilla vs. Hedorah. However, thanks to American International Pictures cancelling its plans to release the movie in the US in 1973, it took several years to release internationally, and was even beaten to the cinema by its sequel, 1973’s Godzilla vs. Megalon, resulting in international audiences seeing Gigan’s debut after his second appearance.

Godzilla vs. Gigan is a brighter, more colourful film than its predecessor, with a more memorable new monster that would go on to feature in several more films, quickly becoming a fan favourite.

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The Ledge – Film Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Mountain climbing movies are a strange niche in cinema. There aren’t that many of them, and when they do come along they can take on any kind of genre or tone, with action adventure movies like Cliffhanger, docudrama’s like Touching The Void, and comedies like The Climb. As such, if you’re into climbing and want to see your hobby portrayed on screen you’re never really sure what kind of thing you’re going to get. The Ledge is the latest release to join this unusual mix, and one that fans of more serious films might want to check out.

The story follows two young women, Kelly (Brittany Ashworth) and Sophie (Anaïs Parello), who are preparing to climb a remote mountain in order to commemorate Kelly’s fiance who passed away. As they’re prepping for their journey, a group of men arrive at the cabin next door. This group of loud and abrasive young men are also looking for fun, but are more interested in partying than climbing. When they invite the women to join them Sophie is up for it, whilst Kelly reluctantly agrees.

After spending some time with the guys, Kelly heads back to the cabin, whilst Sophie continues to party on. It’s during this time that we see the leader of group, Joshua (Ben Lamb), has a serious temper on him. There were already hints at this point that he wasn’t the nicest of guys, but when he tries to rape Sophie after she insults him he ends up throwing her off a ledge. When his friends gather round him and the wounded woman they agree that if they go to the police they’ll certainly face prison time, so come to the decision to kill Sophie and stage it as a murder. Unfortunately for them, Kelly has not only seen everything, but she’s managed to film them in the act too.

When the men realise that Kelly has evidence a chase begins, with Kelly ascending the mountain alone and without her full gear, in order to escape them. Thus begins a desperate fight for survival as Kelly tries to escape her friend’s killers whilst they become willing to do whatever it takes to keep her from reporting them to the authorities.

The first thing that I’ll say about The Ledge to anyone who might be interested in watching the film is don’t watch the trailer. Seriously, it gives the entire movie away. Not only does it give you the basic set-up for the film like I’ve just covered, but it also details everything that happens on the climb, and leaves very little unrevealed. Unfortunately, I did see the trailer before watching the film, and as such there was little here that took me by surprise; but if you go into this film knowing nothing beyond the basic set-up there’s a lot here to enjoy.

To begin with, the film doesn’t feel the need to rush into things, and spends some time before the big event setting up the characters and getting to know them. Sophie and Kelly are women who are quite different from each other, with Sophie being the more outgoing of the two, and the one who seems most up for having fun with the group of guys. Kelly, on the other hand, is more serious, more reserved, and over the course of the film we get flashbacks that explain more about who she is as a person and why she’s so different from Sophie. Both actresses play their parts well, and despite how much they contrast with each other you do genuinely believe that they’re friends.

The group of guys don’t get as much character development, apart from the leader, Joshua. Straight away we see that there’s something not right with Joshua. He has an edge to him, he seems to have his position of leader of the group thanks to the sense of fear the others have about him, as well as him knowing secrets about them that they don’t want to get out. Before he even tries to rape Sophie and ends up killing her he’s bad news, and Ben Lamb seems to be perfect as the entitled douchebag who feels he can do whatever he wants, no matter who he hurts along the way.

Over the course of the film, as the chase begins and the characters end up on the mountain, we begin to see divisions amongst the men, and some of them start to express sorrow over what they’ve done, regret about this and past evil deeds. But despite this, the film never really tries to have us feeling like the men are anything but the villains, and the audience keeps getting reminded that they chose to do these, and other, awful things, and delights in using Kelly as a way of punishing them for their crimes.

The film isn’t perfect by any means, and there are a few times where things seem to slow down quite a bit and it relies on slow burn tension to keep things interesting, rather than having a desperate climb chase to freedom. Some folks might like this choice, and it does allow the characters to have some quieter moments to really delve into who they are, but I was hoping things would be a bit more dramatic and dangerous at times.

The Ledge tells the story of a group of men who think that they can use their power and strength to do whatever they want, to harm others and get away with it because of their position in society; and whilst a young woman has to die at their hands before they finally start to be punished for this it does end up being a story about evil men getting what they deserve. And in a world where far too many men are able to abuse, harm, and kill without consequence, it’s sometimes nice to see some punishment finally getting dished out.

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Midnight – Blu-ray Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Disability is often poorly represented in the horror genre, especially in film. Disabled people will either be reduced to helpless victims, such as a wheelchair user being made to run away from a killer wheelchair in his dreams in Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, or are made into the villains, with so many horror films having mentally disabled killers as a nice easy hand wave excuse for a killer with no motive. It’s not very often that you get a horror film where not only is a disabled person seen as no different from an able-bodied person, but they also get to survive in large part due to their disability. Midnight is one of these films.

Midnight follows Kyeong-mi (Ki-joo Jin), a deaf-mute woman who spends her days working as a customer service rep in a call centre, and her evenings spending time with her mother, who is also deaf-mute. The two women don’t let their disabilities slow them down, and we spend a good deal of time with the two of them seeing how they live their lives; going to work and spending time with their friends, and showing the audience what kinds of aids they have in their life (things that end up becoming extremely important towards the end of the film).

Their happy life gets turned upside down one awful evening, however, when Kyeong-mi comes across a woman in an alleyway, stabbed in the stomach. This puts her on the radar of serial killer Do Shik (Wi Ha-Jun), who’s watching from his van nearby. Do Shik manages to get the girl back in his van and tied up, but now he has to deal with Kyeong-mi too. Thus begins a deadly game of cat and mouse as the killer stalks Kyeong-m and her mother across the city, trying to get them alone in order to kill them.

From the description of the movie I wasn’t sure what I was expecting from Midnight. With films like Hush and Don’t Breathe having similar set-ups – a killer stalking a victim, and disabilities being a main part of the plot (albeit one with the victim being disabled, and the other the killer) – I was half expecting a similar home-invasion style narrative. Midnight gives us something completely different though. Instead of being stalked through rooms in a remote home, the action takes place in the heart of a busy city, where Kyeong-mi has to navigate dark labyrinth-like alleys, deserted car-parks, and side streets in order to survive.

The film also does things slightly different with its killer, and Wi Ha-Jun is fantastic as Do Shik. Do Shik is a competent, and intelligent man. He doesn’t just rely on chasing after Kyeong-mi, but tries to outsmart her: changing his clothes, tricking her into thinking he’s someone else, and even using his apparent respectability to literally walk free from the police. There are times where it feels like the film is making something of a commentary on the levels of privilege certain people have, where a man in a smart suit gets instantly believed even when a disabled woman is trying to tell police that he’s a killer.

Do Shik feels like he’s drawing upon real-life killers like Ted Bundy: handsome, respectable men who you would never think twice about being a decent person because he seems so ‘normal’. And Wi Ha-Jun feels like the perfect actor to pull this off. He’s good looking, he’s charming, he seems believable when he’s spinning his lies. He even copies the Bundy approach by appearing weak and needing help with his van to lure victims in. It’s only the disabled women, those who are forced to see the world differently thanks to how they get treated, who are able to see Do Shik for what he really is.

That all being said, I do have a criticism about the movie: namely that neither of the two actresses playing deaf characters, Ki-joo Jin and Hae-yeon Kil, are actually deaf. Whilst the two of them do play their roles well, and appear to be pretty respectful towards deaf people, I can’t speak with any authority to if that’s true or not. If deaf viewers were to find issue with their performance, I’d be happy to believe them. It’s a huge shame that this film wasn’t used as a platform to showcase the talents of some deaf actors, and feels like a genuine misstep from director Kwon Oh-seung, who has otherwise done a great job here.

Other than the main feature, the new Blu-ray also comes with a 22-minute essay on Korean horror by Travis Crawford, which plays over the first twenty minutes of the film, occasionally overlaying the movie with posters and stills from other films. It’s a strange approach to a video essay, as it feels more like an odd style of commentary track than a regular essay, but still manages to be informative and interesting.

There’s also a full length audio commentary from film historian Kat Ellinger, who was part of the judging panel at Grimmfest, where Midnight won the Best Feature award in 2021. The commentary is very informative, and entertaining, although Ellinger’s use of person-first language to talk about disabled people rather than identity-first language did feel off at times.

Midnight is an interesting new addition to Korean horror cinema; a film that doesn’t rely on supernatural horror, as was popular over the last two decades, but instead takes a look at the horror people inflict upon each other, as well as showcasing disabled leads.

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