Watch Dogs Legion: Daybreak Legacy by Stewart Hotston - Book Review

 

'The underground resistance movement from Day Zero returns to navigate the perils of emergent AI and an authoritarian state, in this gritty, high-tech thriller set in the world of Watch Dogs®: Legion

'London is still going to hell, even with Albion on the back foot, but Olly and Ro are hard at work finding allies for DedSec and taking down the bad guys. When a job goes awry, they end up doxxed, on the run, and in serious trouble. Bagley, the DedSec AI, gets involved and discovers someone new, someone just like him… another ghost in the machine. Frenemy hacktivist network, 404, tips them off that since terminating the ambitious plan to digitise human consciousness, Project Daybreak, DedSec has become the target for a new player in London. Looks like Project Daybreak isn’t as dead as they thought, and neither are those who died with it.'

I've enjoyed the Watch Dogs franchise, and have only recently delved further into the universe by reading Day Zero, which was released by Aconyte books in 2020. So I was delighted to learn that their latest addition to this ever expanding narrative would be continuing the story created in that novel, and would show us what happened next for those characters.

Set after the fall of Albion in London, Watch Dogs: Daybreak Legacy puts readers in a London where people are still kind of holding their breath, waiting to see what happens next. Albion, and their tyrannical rule, is gone, so what next? There's been a vacuum left behind by their destruction, and whilst some people are filling those voids, such as the Met Police coming back, there's still a lot of uncertainty. And this goes for our heroes in DedSec too. They've beaten the villains, they've achieved their goals, and now they're left floundering a bit.

At the start of the book we see some of the members of DedSec, Ro and Olly (who featured in the first novel), using their skills to take down a small group of scammers. They hack into their systems, return the money they stole, give them a bit of a kicking, and leave them to be picked up by the police or run out of London. The big fish are gone, so they've been left to tackle small crime. And whilst this is doing some good there are others who're waiting for DedSec to do something more. They're waiting for them to make real, lasting change that will help large parts of the population. They took down Albion, so they should do something to repair some of that collateral damage.

And it appears that perhaps someone in a position of power agrees with that sentiment, as Olly and Ro become targets. Their identities are altered, they're wanted by police, and they're turned into criminals and terrorists. Olly and Ro are forced to go on the run whilst Bagley, the DedSec AI looks into what's happening and reverse the changes. But Bagley learns something shocking, that they've been targeted by another AI.

It not only looks like this AI was created the same way as Bagley, and has similar abilities, but that the AI thinks that DedSec need to be taught a lesson. Gathering a group of supporters themselves, this new AI is set to take over London and make it its own domain. Teaming up with another group of hacker activists, Ro and Olly are forced back into action to prevent a disaster.

One of the things that I thought was really good about Watch Dogs Legion: Daybreak Legacy is that there's less action in this novel, and more of a focus on the characters. Olly and Ro had some big parts to play in the previous entry in the series, but they seemed to be reacting a lot of the time; forced into action because of events out of their control and never really having a chance to slow down. Here, in contrast, the two of them have plenty of time to consider their next moves, to discuss the issues that they're facing, and to come up with solutions beyond just hacking systems or destroying things. 

A large part of this is down to the type of threat that our heroes are facing. Albion was a huge organisation, it had people everywhere, but it was still people. They had troops on the street that you could fight in the physical world, they had systems that you could disrupt to slow their people down, and if you took out key figures the organisation would grind to a halt. But in facing an AI there's no people to fight against. Yes, it has followers, friends to help it out in the real world, but stopping them doesn't stop the AI. The AI can't be easily hacked, it doesn't have one place it exists that can be destroyed. Olly and Ro are having to abandon a lot of the tactics that they've relied on before and having to come up with whole new strategies.

It was really nice to see these characters who had gone on to become competent rebels, freedom fighters who knew what they were doing and how to be use their skill suddenly becoming fish out of water all over again. They stumble and panic, they question what they're doing, and they need to reach out to new allies to help them.

And the new new allies they make, the new characters introduced in this book, are absolutely delightful. Nowt is one of the leaders of 404, a rival hacker group, who absolutely hates AI's, and is one of the more confrontational characters in the book. She's against this new AI, believing that it is a threat to London if left unchecked, and that it's ability to create more AI's is close to being a crime against nature. She wants to destroy the new AI, and any others like it that might exist, and is even antagonistic towards Bagley. In contrast to Nowt, there's Barbara. Barbara is an elderly woman who's a mother and grandmother. When Olly and Ro meet her she cooks them food, tells them off, and acts more like a material figure than a hacker activist. She has a coolness about her that is hiding a warmth beneath that's really delightful, and it was lovely to see her getting to know Olly and Ro, figuring out if she could trust them or not.

There's a lot of time for group dynamics in this book, with chapters given over to the characters sitting around discussing their options, and as such new bonds are soon forged, and you come to really care about the characters in the book. Watch Dogs Legion had you jumping between members of DedSec, recruiting new people to come and work with you, picking the best folks for each mission, and occasionally losing them for good. I never really got attached to any of the player characters whilst playing the game, so it's a pleasant change of pace to actually spend some time with some characters and forming bonds with them. It was something that was a little lacking in the game, and it's an area where the books are really coming out strong.

But it can't all be peace and long character led drama, as there is a big threat to deal with in Watch Dogs Legion: Daybreak Legacy. There are some tense moments throughout the book where our heroes have to infiltrate facilities, try to get past security guards, or just avoid getting arrested. Hotston does a great job of keeping things tense in these parts of the book, and you really do start to worry that things are going to go badly for the characters. There are even a few spooky moments in there too where the book starts to go a bit horror too.

Watch Dogs Legion: Daybreak Legacy proved to be an engaging and interesting follow-up to the game, as well as a great sequel to Watch Dogs Legion: Day Zeo. It made me come to care about the returning characters a lot more, and left me wanting more from them. Hopefully this won't be the last we see of these characters, or this setting.

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Candyman (1992) – Limited Edition 4K UHD Blu-ray Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

When people think of horror films there’s a good chance that they’ll be thinking of the 1980s, a decade where horror ruled supreme. Whether it’s slashers, supernatural entities, or creatures from beyond our world, the 80s had it all. In contrast, the 1990s wasn’t exactly a huge decade for the genre. By the latter half of 90s horror had some big hits with the like of Scream and Ringu, but the early 90s was devoid of many real hits in comparison. One early 90s horror film that absolutely stands out in that era, and remains one of the best examples of the genre, is 1992’s Candyman.

Based upon the short story ‘The Forbidden’, written by Clive Barker as part of his Books of Blood series, Candyman took the concept of folklore and urban legends being real and transported it from Liverpool to Chicago. The film follows Helen (Virginia Madsen), a graduate student studying urban legends at the University of Illinois. During her studies Helen comes across the story of the Candyman (Tony Todd), a figure said to appear and kill you if you say his name five times in front of a mirror. Looking into the legend, Helen learns that it has a connection to Cabrini-Green, a predominantly Black, poor neighbourhood.

Helen believes that the Candyman is nothing more than a myth, a figure created to scare children and to blame for some grizzly murders that happened at Cabrini-Green. As such she begins investigating the events. However, after being attacked by a local gang she begins experiencing strange events, seeing a figure claiming to be the Candyman. With Helen’s mental health deteriorating, she’s in even more danger when she’s accused of kidnapping a baby. Despite protesting her innocence the bodies begin mounting up around her. Is Helen losing her mind, or is the entity of the Candyman real?

Candyman is not the kind of horror film you’d expect to come out towards the end of the horror boom of the 80s. The Candyman isn’t a slasher killer, he’s not chasing down teens, he’s not stalking nightmares or breaking in the back door. You can watch the entire film and still not be completely sure if he’s even real. This is one of the great things about Candyman, the film presents you with a version of reality, the one that Helen is experiencing, yet never tells you outright whether it’s true. You can come away from the film believing in the Candyman, and blame him for the deaths and horrors, or you can see him as a manifestation of Helen’s broken psyche as she experiences trauma, with her being the killer.

In a time where horror films presented very clear and easy plots Candyman tried to do something a bit different, and this is in part largely due to the writing, both from director Bernard Rose who adapted the story, and from Clive Barker himself. Like much of Barker’s works, the story is saying something more, and is more than just a scary distraction for the audience. The original short story dealt with themes of class, and how the poor suffer at the hands of their oppressors, and the movie does this too, though having turned it into a story about race and oppression. The movie has subtle commentary that other genre pieces often lack, and it elevates the movie into being about more than blood and gore.

The film’s music also helps it to stand out amongst its peers, with a fantastic soundtrack from Philip Glass giving the story a dreamlike, and surreal tone much of the time. Candyman was the first horror film Glass scored, and he approached it not as a lowbrow genre piece as other composers might, resulting in a score that made the film feel special, different, and like it was more worthy of respect.

Over the years Candyman has had sequels, but none of them have really received the love that the first film has garnered over the three decades since it was first released. It came out at a time where horror was given little respect, and showed that the genre could have real substance. It made a star out of Tony Todd, lunching his career into new heights. And it remains to this day one of the best examples of how horror can get under your skin.

The new 4K Ultra HD release comes with two versions of the film, both having received 4K restorations from the original film negative. One is the original UK theatrical version, which most people will be familiar with, and the other is the extended R-rated US version, which adds more blood and gore into the movie. In addition to this, the new set comes with a host of extras. There are new interviews with stars Tony Todd and Virigina Madsen, an interview with Clive Barker where he discusses his work and how it drew influences from his life, and interviews with the production designer and make-up artists who talk about their work on the movie. There’s also an interview with writer Douglas E. Winter who discusses Barker’s writing, and a small featurette with writers Steve Barnes and Tananrive Due who discuss the impact and legacy of the movie, particularly with the Black community.

The new release also comes with two full length commentaries. The first has director Bernard Rose and star Tony Todd. The two of them discuss working on the film but also veer off into other subjects at times, making it feel more like a conversation rather than a discussion of the movie. It’s a very relaxed and informal commentary, and they talk about a range of topics (they even discuss the Avengers movies at one point), so if you came to that commentary hoping for in-depth analysis of the film you might be left wanting more. Luckily, the second commentary delivers that, as author Stephen Jones and critic Kim Newman discuss the film, the impact it had, and the history of Clive Barker and his impact on the genre. There are also a trio of short films by Bernard Rose and trailers to round out the extras, along with an illustrated booklet filled with storyboards, and a booklet with new writing on the film, as well as some art cards and reversible poster.

This new release is a good set for fans of Candyman, and if you don’t have a copy of the film already this is definitely the one that I’d recommend picking up. Some of the extras are interesting and engaging, but I do wish we’d had a little more on there at times as I kept finding myself wanting to learn more about this iconic movie.

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Magic 7, Volume Four: Hard Truths by Kid Toussaint - Book Review

 

'Leo, the spiritualist, is spending his vacation at his father’s house. In the library, he finds books that delve into the secret origins of the mages, shedding light on their incredible powers, as well as their weaknesses… The truth might be a hard pill to swallow, but this knowledge will prove crucial for the seven friends as they prepare to confront… the beast!'

Volume four of Magic 7 delves deep into the history of the mages, their role in the world, and the origins of the Beast, giving readers a lot of long awaited answers.

So, not a huge amount of stuff happens in this particular volume of the series, with there being no big threat to contend with, no adversity to overcome. But, rather than being dull, it's actually one of the most interesting entries in the series yet as we get the chance to focus on the lore that Toussaint has created, as well as getting to spend some quality time with Leo.

This volume sees the members of the team split up, with Lupe on holiday, Alice and Milo doing their own thing, Hamelin, Farah and Fabrice practising their powers, and Leo spending the summer with his father, learning more about the history of the seven. Of the seven leads, Leo is the one we focus on here, with the other characters making only the briefest of appearances (other than Lupe, who isn't even in the book at all).

Very quickly into spending time with Nathaniel, Leo is given access to a huge library that contains the secret history of the mage society, and the original seven mages. Leo begins to delve into this history, learning small pieces of the original mage's stories leading up to the appearance of the Beast. However, several of the books are written in a code which requires Leo calling in the help of several spirits. He also learns that two volumes are missing, leaving gaps in the story. When Nathaniel claims he never found those particular books Leo is surprised to hear that the book is hidden away in the house by one of his ghosts.

Barely given a chance to figure out why his father is lying to him, Nathaniel brings Alice and Milo to the house, along with their parents, to meet Leo. Not knowing that the seven kids have already found each other, Nathaniel is hoping that bringing them together will help further his own plans. Leo and the others are forced to pretend not to know each other when Alice tells him that they're being monitored via secret cameras, and that Nathaniel has taught Milo's parents how to resit his powers. Despite this, Alice is able to help Leo get his hands on the hidden book, and is able to decipher the text, leading to a revelation that could change everything he, and the other members of the group, has come to believe.

I love it when a series spends some time delving into the history and lore that it's been building, allowing the reader a chance to learn some secrets and gain more context for things. Whilst it can be great to learn things slowly over time, I think that once you're settled into a story just getting to take a break from the main narrative for a while to do some learning can be a lot of fun too; and Toussaint manages to give us some big info dumps in interesting and engaging ways, that also progress the narrative quite nicely.

One of the big things we get here is a more concrete understanding of the children's powers. We get to see the original seven at a time where they'd been living with their abilities for a while, and were comfortable using them. As a result, we see them doing things that the kids don't know how to do yet, using their powers on a level that makes the children look like the amateurs they are. For example, we've only ever seen Farah access her demon powers by using it to fly and shoot fire from her hands, but the demonist in the past is able to summon demonic entities to our world to carry out his will, creating a small army of monsters. It's giving us some previews of things that the kids might one day be able to do, and making their powers feel extra exciting because we know they've barely begun to scratch the surface of what they can do.

We also get some info that puts some stuff from the last volume in more context. In that book we learnt that Fabrice had a baby sister, and that she died when he was with her. He was drawing at the time (which we know is how his powers work), and I thought that it was possible that his drawings had led to the baby's death. We get confirmation here that that didn't happen, and that the decedents of the mages only ever have one heir. Each generation of the family get to have one child, and any more that are born die before their first birthday. This takes the blame of the baby's death away from Fabrice, which is great because that's a terrible weight for any child to carry with them, but it also makes certain things make more sense. The original mages lived hundreds of years ago, and would have a huge number of descendants, making it almost impossible to know who they all were and which would inherit the powers. By only ever having one new member for each generation of the family it keeps things neat and simple, allowing the Mage Society to keep a firm grasp on things.

Another tiny revelation we get, that doesn't really add much to the story yet delighted me, is around the shaman. The shaman, who is able to use music to command animals, helped a village suffering from the Black Death, by playing a flute to make the rats (who carried the virus in their fleas) leave the town. The town of Hamelin. The shaman was the pied piper of Hamelin. The current shaman is named Hamelin. This small reveal actually made me chuckle out loud because I couldn't believe my brain hadn't already made that connection. It feels so obvious, so telegraphed by what we know about the Shaman's powers, that I'm surprised it took the book literally spelling it out for me to figure it out. And this is one of the things that I really love about the story, it's giving you just enough information early on that you're able to figure a lot of stuff out, that you an form theories that are pretty close to the truth, and that some stiff is so fiendishly simple and obvious that it's actually quite delightful.

There is a big revelation towards the end of the book, but I won't go into that because it really should be read and experienced to get everything out of it. But I will say that it's something that is guaranteed to change the series going forward. The path that this story seemed to be going down felt very simple and with a clear end goal in sight, but now it's like the rug has been pulled out from under me and I have no idea where things are going to go next. And that's really exciting. I can't wait to see what Toussaint does with this tale next.

There are a few more artists working on this particular volume of the book, with several artists joining to add their own styles into the usual mix. Each of the histories of the mages, each of the flashbacks, gets its own artist. The styles don't shift too dramatically, and it feels like it fits into the rest of the series, but they're distinct enough that they stand out and feel unique. Each of the original mages gets their own artistic team, and it makes these moments feel a bit different and special.

I've been really enjoying Magic 7, and it feels like this is the point where the series has really come into its own and found its footing. It spend a few volumes getting you used to the characters and their world, drawing you in, before spinning things on their head and changing the direction of the series. I'm excited to discover just what these revelations mean in the long run.

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Magic 7, Volume Three: Return of the Beast by Kid Toussant - Book Review

 

'As Leo and his friends learn more about the origins of their unusual gifts—and the daunting destiny that awaits them—they start training to prepare for the great battle coming their way. But there is still one key person missing, and the gang will try its hardest to track down the remaining wizard so that the Magic 6 can finally become the Magic 7.'

The Magic 7 finally come together in the third volume of the series, in a book that feels like a cross between a mystery story and a super-hero adventure.

The third volume opens with the newly gather six teens, with the recent addition of Milo, training with their powers for the fight that they've been told is coming. Farah has taken to her new role as a flying sorcerer, having redesigned the armour that Alice gave her to better reflect her style and personality. Lupe has been preparing a new batch of mech-armour for the group to wear into battle, whilst also creating a new high-tech hideout for them. Milo has been learning to use his powers for the better, using them to keep adults from discovering their group.  Hamelin has learnt to use his animal communication powers to direct his troops from the sideline. And Alice is working out the best path to  discovering who the final mage is.

During all this Leo has been meeting with his father, who he learnt was still alive at the end of the previous volume. Nathaniel reveals some of the origin of the Magic 7 and their powers to Leo, as well as the reader. We learn that the child of an angel and a demon was born with incredible abilities, but passed each one of them on to one of their seven followers. These powers were used to banish a powerful, evil entity from the world. An entity that will be returning soon. 

Whist dealing with all this pressure Alice informs the group that they've already met their final member, and that they need to search them out. Thus begins a mission to find a creative individual who could have the power of the enchanter. Sadly, their quest throws up several possible individuals, and when strange monsters start appearing around town their time to find a solutions begins to run out.

This might be my favourite volume of the series yet. I really like how things slowed down a bit and we got a chance to hang out with the various members of the group and their peers as they tried to figure out who the enchanter is. The book presented several candidates, and I thought that I'd figured it out at one point, yet the story managed to fool me, and I didn't see that particular revelation coming.

The reveal also came with what I found to be an incredibly interesting and pretty dark piece of backstory too. We learn that the enchanter, who has the ability to bring any of their drawings to life, had a baby sister. Their sister died as a baby when they were young. The enchanter was alone with them at the time, drawing whilst the baby was asleep. The baby girl died in her sleep and their parents told them that they could never draw again. They tell Leo that they were drawing a fairy at the time. Now, this could be just a simple tragic event, a baby passing away, which would be devastating enough, but I also read it as the fairy having become real and killing the sister. If that's true, this character has an awful, shocking backstory that is sure to lead to some serious trauma. 

I wasn't expecting this kind of revelation from this series, and whilst it was shocking to read it really didn't feel massively out of place. This series seems to be building towards something, a big threat that's coming and could cause the destruction of everything. This isn't an unusual kind of plot-point for a children's fantasy series, but now it feels like the series could have some real stakes to it. Just having the inclusion of this piece of backstory, of a baby possibly having died because of these powers, makes me suddenly feel like these characters aren't going to be guaranteed to be safe. Death has become part of this narrative, and a possibility for our heroes and their loved ones.

The book also lead me to become super suspicious of Nathaniel come the end. Nathaniel is meeting with Leo in secret, telling him about the history of the Magic 7, which isn't too bad, but him also meeting with Alice, trying to get her to admit her powers and being shady about who he is feels pretty dodgy to me. He seems to have his own agenda going on, and is definitely not telling the kids everything. By the end of the book Leo has gone to spend the summer with his father, and boy does Nathaniel's expression look shifty. I could be totally wrong, but I'm waiting for him to have his own scheme to be be a villain in later volumes.

The art team, Rosa La Barbera, Giuseppe Quattrocchi on art and Francesca Mengozzi and Giovanni Marcora on colours, seem to be having a lot of fun with this volume too. We get more of Lupe's mecha creations with battle suits and the transforming train car headquarters, but we get some monsters too! There are some fantastic little creatures running round the town, one of which features on the cover, that look absolutely fantastic, and a giant Godzilla-like kaiju that starts tearing up the city. It's the most action packed volume of the book yet, and it's never looked better. Everything looks bright and bold, the drawings are dynamic and full of energy, and the colours are bright and wonderful.

I feel like a bit of a broken record saying that 'this is the best volume yet' at the end of each of these reviews, but this really is a series that's getting better as it goes on. I'm three books in and I'll admit, I'm kind of hooked. I want to find out what happens next, I like the characters, and reading these books is never a chore.

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Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock – Throwback 10

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Doctor Who is a franchise that has spanned many mediums over the decades since it first hit television screens, and captured the imaginations of viewers of all ages. Fans have been able to enjoy the franchise beyond the screen, with books, comics, and audio dramas that expand the universe in interesting new ways.

But one area in which the franchise has seemed to struggle has been video games. There have been some poorly made side-scrolling adventures that were barely Doctor Who, text adventures, and puzzle games. There’s even the recently released Doctor Who game that’s dealing with NFTs that sounds absolutely appalling and downright disgusting. These games have failed to really capture the spirit of the show or make players feel like they’re playing the Doctor. But one that came pretty close was Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock.

Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock is set within the events of the 6th series of the modern show, putting players in control of the Doctor (Matt Smith) and River Song (Alex Kingston) as they navigate London through broken time periods in an attempt to stop time from falling apart. The story begins as all good Doctor Who tales do, with the TARDIS flying out of control and dumping the Doctor in modern day London to try and figure it out. He doesn’t get much time to do so, as the TARDIS vanishes, and he finds Cybermen taking over. Things get even more complicated when time corridors enable him to move between different periods in history, all with their own enemies to face, like the Silurians, Daleks, and the Silence. Thankfully, River Song is on hand to help him through these puzzles, shoot some villains, and flirt shamelessly with him.

The game-play is a fairly simple affair, as the game is a side-scrolling adventure, seeing you directing your characters across the screen, occasionally jumping up to higher levels, or dropping down to things below. Whilst this is not the full 3-D adventure some fans would have been wanting it still manages to be a pretty interesting game by utilising a number of puzzles that can require you to perform certain actions in one time to effect another, such as destroying a wall in the Victorian era so that it’s not there to block your escape in the modern day. Much of this is done by switching between the two leads and utilising their different skill sets.

Compared to some of the other puzzle games on offer for Doctor Who this approach is downright mould-breaking. Instead of overly done match-3 games, or point and click adventures where you’re investigating every item on the screen, you’re having to think a bit harder, and use different skills as the puzzles vary. It’s nothing world shattering for sure, and the game doesn’t do anything that other games have done better, but it certainly feels like a big step forward for this franchise at least.

The game really shines in its attention to detail, however, and is jam-packed with Easter eggs and fun things for fans to spot. You get survivors in the background of scenes asking why Torchwood isn’t helping against the alien invasion, there’s a destroyed double decker bus in the one scene that’s the same one from ‘Planet of the Dead’, and lines from past episodes get reused. There are also collectables for each of the characters that are full of fun nods and extra info. The Doctor collects hats, and you’ll find the First Doctor’s cap, Vincent van Gogh’s straw hat, and even the hat worn by the Valeyard from ‘The Trial of a Time Lord’. Each of these discoveries comes with a fun line or two from Smith. And River gets to collect pages from her diary which reveal some past adventures for the character as we learn she’s met the former incarnations of the Doctor. We get her insight into each of them, and it’s delightful for fans of their relationship.

And I think that’s who this game is really designed for, the fans. It’s not the kind of game that’s going to get a lot of attention or wow audiences for breaking new ground, but for those of us who love this universe and these characters it’s just fun to spend some time with them. The performances from both Smith and Kingston help with this a lot too, and both of them bring a lot of the charm and flair of their screen performances to the voice acting.

It’s a shame that Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock didn’t do better upon its release, as it ended plans for a further two games to be produced, and leaves this story hanging with an ending that promises more, but that we’ll most likely never get. However, if you’re a Doctor Who fan, particularly one of the 11th Doctor, and want to spend a few hours having a bit of fun, this game is definitely one that you’ll want to try out.

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Magic 7, Volume Two: Against Them All by Kid Toussaint - Book Review

 

'Leo, Farah, Lupe, and Hamelin will need all of their supernatural gifts, and all the help they can get, to fight a mysterious power that has all the authority figures in their town—teachers, parents, and police—acting strangely and dangerously. And along the way, they will learn more about the bond that links them, and just what a daunting future the Magic 7 must prepare for.'

The second volume of Magic 7 goes a bit Invasion of the Body Snatchers when all of the adult authority figures in their small town begin to act strangely, forcing our group of heroes to go underground and form a resistance movement.

Magic 7, Volume Two: Against Them All picks up a short time after the first book, with Leo, Farah, Hamelin, and their new friend Lupe, having been friends for a while and forming a stronger bond after coming together to fight Lupe's out of control robot creations. However, we learn that their peaceful lives have been thrown off kilter when the teachers at school start cracking down on minor uniform rule infringements. This seems to only be the start too, as then the parents start to clamp down on what the kids are allowed to do outside of school. They're only allowed to get together if parents are around, and neighbourhood watch groups have formed to keep an eye on kids. It reaches breaking point when the police put a curfew into effect, preventing kids being out on the street at night.

The gang also face some personal dilemmas too. Lupe loses her stash of robots, her hanger being raided by police, who take the machines in as evidence. Hamelin gets told by his father that he's going to be sent into foster care, and his animals to the pound, and is forced to run away from home. We also discover that Farah is having difficulties with controlling her fire based powers, and learn why when we're told that she's channelling the power of a demon that's trying to possess her.

With their lives seemingly falling apart around them the children of the town are forced into action, coming together to form an underground resistance movement. Our magic heroes join up with the other kids, but have to try and keep their powers hidden from their peers as they fight back against what's happening. However, they soon start to suspect that there might be a magical origin for this new threat too.

With the previous volume of Magic 7 having done a lot of the groundwork for setting up these characters this second volume moved at a much quicker pace, and was able to pack in a lot more action, adventures, and intrigue straight from the start. The story didn't have to spend time letting us get to know our main character, and as such it definitely began a lot stronger; especially by being able to give us a huge revelation into Farah's powers and her home life very early on. It turns out she's not just making fire with her magic, but is possessed by a powerful demon that she's keeping at bay, and using its powers to her own ends. This was certainly a surprising development, but not an unwelcome one. It giver her characters a lot more depth, and makes her more than just a kid with powers. She has something dangerous inside her, something that she has to keep a tight rein on else it gain control and cause havoc. It definitely helps to set her apart from the other members of the group.

We also get an early explanation for why Lupe was acting shady in the first volume, and exactly what Alice was doing, and what her powers are. Yes, she's still quite creepy and I'm not one hundred percent convinced that she's completely on the level, but she at least seemed a bit more trustworthy in this book to the previous one.

I enjoyed the story for this volume a lot more than the first too. The first was a very childish story in a lot of way. I know these are books aimed at younger readers, so the stories are going to be simpler, but a thief that's stealing random objects like the school trophy or someones jewellery to be made into robots feels a bit different to all of the adults in town turning against the children. It felt like the stakes were higher here, that the threat was a lot more serious, and that it was a more desperate fight. 

We also got hints in this volume of where the series as a whole might be heading thanks to a surprise appearance at the end of the book. It was something that I wasn't expecting, and am still not sure how I feel about it. The character it has a connection to seemed to act quite casual about something that should have been a huge emotional moment for them; but I guess we're going to have to see how it expands in future stories. We did get told why the Magic 7 are important though, and why they need to come together. It's something that I found very interesting, and if the story does follow through on what was promised here it could lead to some exciting stuff further down the line.

Overall, Magic 7, Volume Two: Against Them All proved to be a good second chapter in this story. It introduced some new characters, expanded upon the universe and gave us some interesting new information, and it felt like the stakes were a lot higher now too. If the series continues like this it seems set to only get better as it goes.

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Ghosts of the Ozarks – Film Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

I’ve got a bit of a soft-spot for historical horror. I find that the combination of horror elements and people and places that don’t really exist anymore to be hugely interesting. Especially when a story uses its setting to help enhance the horror, when the people involved don’t have the knowledge or understanding to think that ghosts or monsters shouldn’t really exist, and don’t have the technology to run away from threats. Ghosts of the Ozarks is a film that looked like it was going to be an interesting addition to this genre of horror, but became a movie that I couldn’t stop thinking about for days.

The story focuses on Dr James McCune (Thomas Hobson), a man who recently fought in the Civil War and has been recovering from his injuries sustained there, and trying to find a new life for himself. When he receives a letter from his uncle, Matthew (Phil Morris), inviting him to move to a new town as the doctor, James jumps at the chance to start afresh.

On the way to the town of Norfolk, Thomas is approached by a stranger in the woods that surround the settlement. When the man attacks James a strange red fog descends, and the man is dragged into the darkness by some unseen force. Thomas runs to Norfolk, where he’s greeted warmly by the residents, but is informed by them that the woods are protected by the ghosts, and that they took his attacker.

As a man of science, James is unsure what to believe, whether he can trust what he saw that night and if he should believe the local legends. As he settles into his new role he discovers that his uncle didn’t quite tell the truth about Norfolk. Not only is the walled town living with a ready supply of gas thanks to the local mine, leading to prosperity, but Black people are treated equally, and Matthew is even the leader of the community. James realises that there’s something special about Norfolk, and begins to form some bonds of friendship with several of the local residents. But soon he starts to realise that there’s a darkness lying just beneath the surface, and it’s connected to the ghosts.

The first thing I thought when I finished watching Ghosts of the Ozarks is that I disliked that it was a movie, because this story would have made a great mini-series or novel, and I wanted more of this. I was also shocked that the film was only an hour and forty five minutes long, as the filmmakers were really able to cram a lot of stuff into the runtime without it feeling rushed or bloated.

Whilst the movie is a horror story not a lot of it focuses on the ghosts and the horrors that are happening around the town, and a lot of it is actually about James and his story. James is played wonderfully by Thomas Hobson, who gives the character a very layered and deep performance. He’s a man who’s struggling with ghosts already, albeit ones from his past. As a Black doctor in reconstruction era America he’s seen a lot of awful things, and had a lot of awful things done to him. He carries physical and emotional scars with him, and whilst he’ trying to find a decent life for himself and is approaching things with hope you can see the trauma lying just under the surface.

But this is something that’s not just centred around James, as other inhabitants of Norfolk have a lot of dark parts of their pasts that begin to come to light. Matthew speaks of the slave markets in New Orleans, of the violence done to his people, and how it drove him to found Norfolk as a place for all people, no matter what they look like. Torb (Tim Blake Nelson), the blind tavern owner, and his wife Lucille (Angela Bettis) sit somewhat apart from the rest of the community and never seems to really fit in. Hunters Annie (Tara Perry) and William (Jospeh Ruud) live outside the community, and despite keeping the people fed are looked at with suspicion. It seems like most people in Norfolk are more than they first appear, and trying to figure them out is a big part of the fun of the movie.

The film puts this focus on characters over the horror for much of the runtime, and there were moments where I was forgetting that this was a horror as I became engrossed in these characters and seeing how this community worked. And whilst I can see that some people who come to this hoping for a more intense and overt horror experience might find it lacking, or even go so far as to call it dull, I think that it’s been one of the more engaging and engrossing horror films that I’ve seen in a long while.

Ghosts of the Ozarks also just looks beautiful. A lot of times with historical pieces if not enough care and attention gets given to the period details it can end up looking cheap or like those making it didn’t care enough. This film, however, looks great. You never once question the setting, and everyone looks like they belong in this time. Clothes are worn, people are often dirty, and the town of Norfolk looks lived in and aged. The night scenes in particular are great visually, with the use of flickering candles or oil lamps as the only source of lighting making for dynamic and sometimes beautiful moments.

I really enjoyed Ghosts of the Ozarks, and the more I think about it as time moves on since watching it the more I think I’m coming to enjoy it. I find myself going back to think about certain performances, or story points that I found interesting. I want to watch it again and to try and get more out of it, because I just want more. And that’s the only complaint that I have about this film: that it’s not bigger, that it doesn’t go on longer, and that my time with it has come to a close. Other than that, I absolutely loved it.

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Magic 7, Volume One: Never Alone by Kid Toussaint - Book Review

 

'On his first day of class at a new school, Leo, a boy who talks to the ghosts of famous dead people for fun, meets Hamlin, who can talk to animals, and Farah, a human flamethrower. The new friends band together to track down the thief who has made off with the school's prized trophy, and must use all their powers to fight off an army of gigantic robots intent on destroying them. What they don't know is that this is all just part of a much, much bigger plan...'

Magic 7 is a middle-grade urban fantasy graphic novel series from Europe Comics that sees a group of young teens with special powers learning that they're not the only people in the world with extraordinary abilities.

We begin by meeting Leo, a boy who lives alone with his mother in their new home. Leo is ready to begin his first day at a new school, Mercury High, but he's not worries about not making any friends as he always has friends with him. You see, Leo can talk with ghosts. Leo has the ability to summon any spirit and talk with them, and can even have them pass into him so that he can use their skills and knowledge.

Upon arriving at school Leo falls afoul of a pair of bullies and ends up trapped inside a locker as his fist class is starting. Leo manages to escape, thanks to the help of Houdini's ghost, but gets caught out of class and sent to the principal along with two other students; Hamlin and Farah. Leo strikes up a friendship with Hamlin, and learns that the boy is often the target of the school bullies, and is being blamed for the theft of the school trophy.

Investigating into the theft, with the help of some ghosts, Leo learns that Hamlin has the ability to talk with animals, and when he encounters the thief in action he gets rescued from their robot bodyguard by Farah, who can shoot fire from her hands. Knowing that the thief is stealing metal from around Mercury High and turning the pieces into robots, the three teens band together to get to the bottom of the mystery.

Magic 7 starts off with what seems to be something of an explanation for what might be happening as we see a robed figure giving seven individuals magical powers in an unspecified point in the past. Each of these seven is being given the powers of one particular school of magic. I'm guessing that these will be the ancestors of the seven powered teens we're sure to meet over the course of this series, but we have little other info. It's nice that the book starts with this tease, as it really didn't need to, as it shows us that this is a bigger story than just these magical kids, and that there is a history to things.

Of the three main kids we spend the most time with Leo, and he's definitely our lead character. We learn that he and his mother moved to town not long ago, and that his mother is having to work a lot of hours to support them both; leaving Leo alone a lot of the time. We discover that this is because Leo's father died. Leo admits that he tried to use his powers to talk to his father's ghost, but for some reason it doesn't work for him. I expect that this will be something that the series will revisit at some point in the future. Leo is pretty withdrawn because of these issues, but begins to become more and more outgoing as the book goes on.

Hamlin is something of a social outcast, and is treated pretty poorly by most of the other students at school. He lives alone with his father in a run-down trailer filled with animals, and their family don't really have much money. Because of this many people look down on him, and assume that because his family are poor he must be the thief. Whilst this does upset Hamlin, and we see him dealing with the prejudice he experiences, he finds solace in his animals. Hamlin's gift allows him to understand animals, but there is a slight drawback as they can only understand him if he plays a musical instrument. As a result, Hamlin is constantly experimenting with different musical instruments, seeing which ones let him talk to which animals.

Farah is the school rebel. She dresses like a goth, doesn't seem to care about the rules, and just does whatever she likes. However, there is a different side to the character that begins to pop up every now and then. When Farah gets picked up by her parents after school she's dressed like the other girls, looking all prim and proper. We learn that her parents are both very religious, and Farah maintains the lie that she's a well behaved Christian girl around them. But it turns out that she's not only hiding her rebellious side, but some magical powers too. Farah has the ability to produce and fire flames whenever she wants to.

There are two other magical children introduced in the book, but who they are and what their powers are are better left unsaid so as not to spoil too much of the book. I will say that the hints we get about them and what they're up to are pretty interesting, and have me excited for future volumes.

The art on the book is provided by Giuseppe Quattrochi, and looks really good. The book has an exaggerated, almost animated feel to it. Quattrochi isn't trying to make things look realistic, and is taking a much more dynamic approach to the art. The characters all have distinct looks to them, making them instantly recognisable, and the action sequences are bright, colourful, and really dynamic. There's not a single panel in the book that looks dull, boring, or ugly, and the art works well with the story to create a book that is a genuine pleasure to read.

I had a lot of fun reading Magic 7, Volume One: Never Alone. It was a series that I'd seen a lot, but not had a chance to pick up. Whilst I'm not upset with myself that it took me so long to actually read this book I do get the added bonus that I can jump straight to the next volume now; and I'll definitely be doing that, as I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next.

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Wyrmwood: Apocalypse – Blu-ray Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

With modern film franchises churning out sequels at a pretty consistent pace these days it’s sometimes surprising to see a film receive a sequel several years after its release. This long gap can put further expectations on these films, with fans assuming the long time between instalments meaning that the film will be bigger and better than the first. Wyrmwood: Apocalypse is the new follow-up to 2014’s Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead, and whilst I can’t compare it to the first film I can say that as a newcomer to this franchise it’s pretty entertaining.

The film is set in Australia, where a zombie virus as swept through society and reduced the survivors to having to adapt in strange ways to get by. For example, the zombies in this film emit some kind of green gas that people have since come to utilise as a source of power. I’m guessing this is something that would have been explained in the first movie, so as it is we’re dropped into a world where zombies are tied up in the back of cars with masks on their faces that collect the gas to power their vehicles. It’s pretty unique and ridiculous, and I kind of like it.

We get introduced to Rhys (Luke McKenzie), a soldier who’s been tasked with finding survivors and bringing them back to a secret underground bunker, even if that means taking them against their will. Inside this bunker the Surgeon General (Nicholas Boshir) is experimenting on the infected, and the living, to try and find a cure, and is secretly using liquids harvested from people’s brains to keep his own infection at bay.

There’s also Grace (Tasia Zalar) and Maxi (Shantae Barnes-Cowan), a pair of sisters who come into contact with the protagonists from the first movie, Barry (Jay Gallagher) and Brooke (Bianca Bradey). Brooke has been infected by the virus, but has become a strange hybrid creature who can sometimes control her hunger for flesh and can psychically command the zombies. When she loses control for a moment it results in her biting and infecting Grace. When Rhys comes across Grace he takes her prisoner and transports her to the bunker, believing that she could be the key to finding a cure. However, he soon discovers that the people he’s working for are doing awful things, and so teams up with Maxi, Barry, and Brooke to get Grace back before it’s too late.

The first third of Wyrmwood: Apocalypse is easily the weakest part. It spends some time setting all of the important pieces up, jumping from one group of characters to another as it introduces everyone. Whilst this isn’t bad in itself, not a huge amount of new or interesting things happen here, and it’s not until Rhys turns on his employers that the film really starts to get interesting. From here the movie becomes a weird and wild experience that feels like a love-letter to over-the-top action movies and weird horror games.

There aren’t a huge amount of zombie things that really take themselves seriously, due in part to the entire concept of zombies being ridiculous, and Wyrmwood: Apocalypse steers well clear of trying to make a dark, depressing story that has anything to say about society with its themes or commentary. Instead, it uses the zombies and the end of the world scenario as a springboard to do wacky action. I’ve seen some reviewers comparing it to the work of George Miller on Mad Max, and it’s not a bad comparison.

There are a number of moments in this film where the ridiculousness really helped to win me over, where I ended up shaking my head at what I was seeing, but doing it with a smile. Whether it’s the wind machine blowing Brooke’s hair whenever she uses her psychic powers, heads exploding in showers of blood, or a monster that looks like it stepped straight out of Heisenberg’s factory in Resident Evil 8, this film has too much ridiculous charm. That being said, the possessed arm scene is probably the biggest let-down in this department, as it tries to be Evil Dead and doesn’t really succeed.

The acting is pretty decent, and the best performances come from Shantae Barnes-Cowan, who does a good job as a woman out to save her sister, and Nicholas Boshier, who’s a very over-the-top mad scientist type. Most of the film is filled with macho types who spout one-liners and seem to want to deliver every moment in a way that makes them appear cool and heroic, even if it doesn’t quite fit. This results in a film where most of the characters feel two-dimensional. This isn’t necessarily bad though, as you kind of just switch off looking for anything deep or meaningful and just go along with things.

The biggest letdown for this release, however, is the disc itself. The film is the only thing on the Blu-ray, without any extras or bits and pieces to give viewers extra content. Perhaps we’ve become a bit spoilt with home releases coming with commentaries, trailers, and behind the scenes documentaries and interviews, but the lack of anything on the disc really felt like it let the movie down, and depending on the cost you might want to wait for it to come down in price a bit to justify purchasing it.

Wyrmwood: Apocalypse feels like a cheesy action movie mixed with a bad survival horror game in the best way possible. It’s the kind of film where you don’t have to think and can just switch your brain off for an hour and a half and just enjoy some silly, ridiculous fun.

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Girls Nite Out – Blu-ray Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Slasher films were big business in the 1980s. A small group of filmmakers with a camera, a couple of actors, and some bad gore effects could head out to the woods for a few days and come back with a film that could be thrown onto VHS and join the multitudes of other horror films on offer. As such, there were a lot of strange horror movies knocking around at the time. Arrow Video continue their dive into the small, overlooked, and sometimes completely forgotten horror films of decades past to bring audiences hidden gems from the years where horror was the big thing, and it could be hard to find the interesting pieces amidst all the cheap schlock.

Their latest Blu-ray horror release is Girls Nite Out, a film from 1982 that went under the radar at the time, thanks in part to being released under different names and with some odd advertisements. But now horror fans get the chance to catch this pretty strange movie.

Girls Nite Out is set on the campus of the fictional DeWitt University in Ohio. We get introduced to various students, as the team win their basketball game, folks hang out in the campus diner, and a costume party is held. The first third or so of the film is very light on the horror, and plays more like a teen college comedy than a slasher movie. Although there aren’t really many jokes, and the ones that there are don’t exactly land too well and aren’t particularly amusing, but it does have the feel of a teen comedy drama of the era with arguing couples, folks interesting in getting laid, and parties going on on campus.

The only sign that this isn’t going to be the standard for the entire movie are the scenes towards the start of the film that show a man hanging himself in a mental health facility. We don’t see much of this, and don’t know who he is, but it’s certainly a bold way to open the movie. Especially when the two men assigned to bury his body are attacked and apparently killed by someone with a shovel. After this we get a story on campus of a former student who killed his girlfriend years before and was locked away in a mental health hospital. And thus we get the set up for the movie: an escaped killer returns to campus looking to kill some teens.

Whilst this might not seem like the most original of plots, this was still something that was fairly new at the time, and the killer on campus routine was still fresh enough. One thing that this film does do that’s a pretty unique twist on the formula is having its killer steal the school mascot costume, a rather shoddy looking bear, and wearing it whilst doing their crimes. They even stick knives on the paws, something that actually predates the iconic knife hand of Freddy Krueger by a few years. Thus we have a killer that looks like a large, silly looking bear with knife hands. It’s like Five Nights at Freddy’s mixed with Porky’s.

Girls Nite Out is an odd movie. There are times where the film seems to forget that it’s supposed to be a slasher horror and simply focuses on the interpersonal drama of its main cast as they cheat on their partners, get into drunken fights, and take part in a school-wide scavenger hunt. Then the tone suddenly shifts and you’ve got a woman murdered and bound up in the school showers for her friend to find in some kind of grotesque parody of bondage play.

It doesn’t really help that the film never really seems to push too far in one direction, and is fairly tame in comparison to other movies in the genre from the same era. It doesn’t go overboard on the gore, and the killings are pretty vague and very much left up to the imagination; there are no shots of garden shears being shoved into people’s chests, or heads being crushed. It also doesn’t feature nudity, something that’s surprising for a film that’s also trying to feel like a teen sex comedy. Nudity was so common in slasher movies that I was almost waiting for the topless shot, but it never came. The film seems to be trying to play it safe in this almost family friendly middle ground, and because of that it does feel strange at times. Overall, however, it is fairly entertaining, and is far from the worst slasher film of this era. The cast do a decent enough job with the script and deliver some good performances, and there are some amusing moments scattered around too.

In addition to the film, which has been newly restored from the 35mm negative, the new Blu-ray release comes with some extras. There’s a full length audio commentary from film critic and author Justin Kerswell, and film historian and author Amanda Reyes, who discuss the making of the film, horror movies of the time, and the place Girls Nite Out has in the genre. There are also several brand new interviews with cast members from the film who discuss their time making the movie.

Girls Nite Out is likely to be one of those horror films that you’ve not heard of before, or have seen in passing as one of those ‘weird’ 80s movies. There will be long time horror fans who will remember the film though, and this release definitely seems geared towards big fans of the genre who are trying to collect together as many of these odd movies as they can. Whilst casual viewers might not find enough to be blown away by this film, those with a love for the history of horror will enjoy this one.

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