My Throat An Open Grave by Tori Bovalino – Book Review

 

'Growing up in the small town of Winston, Pennsylvania feels like drowning. Leah goes to church every Sunday, works when she isn’t at school, and takes care of her baby brother, Owen. Like every girl in Winston, she tries to be right and good and holy. If she isn’t the Lord of the Wood will take her, and she’ll disappear like so many other girls before her.

'But living up to the rigorous standards of the town takes its toll. One night, when Owen won’t stop screaming, Leah wishes him away, and the Lord listens. The screaming stops, and all that’s left in the crib is a small bundle of sticks tied with a ribbon.

'Filled with shame and the weight of the town’s judgment, Leah is forced to cross the river into the Lord of the Wood’s domain to bring Owen back. But the devilish figure who has haunted Winston for generations isn’t what she expects. He tells her she can have her brother back―for the price of a song. A song that Leah will have one month to write.

'It’s a bargain that will uncover secrets her hometown has tried to keep buried for decades. And what she unearths will have her questioning everything she’s been taught to fear.'

Small towns are often portrayed as good, homely, and decent communities where everyone knows each other, neighbours help neighbours, and things are like the ‘good old days’. But small communities tend to hold secrets and darkness, especially when ruled by religion and fear. Tori Bovalino’s latest book is a look at the darkness that such communities contain, of the hate bubbling just beneath the surface, and how old fashioned values can lead to cruelty and bloodshed.

My Throat An Open Grave tells the story of Leah, a teenage girl who’s spent her entire life in the small, hyper-religious town of Winston. Leah has grown up under the teachings of the church, where she and other teenage girls have been taught that sex, or even lustful feelings are a terrible sin. Made to take abstinence pledges, and to wear rings that show that they’re still ‘pure’, the girls of Winston are treated as objects rather than people. Leah is growing more and more resentful of her small town, a town where she’s treated as an outsider, where she doesn’t have many friends, and where her parents treat her with disdain. Forced to look after her younger brother, Owen, Leah is treated as little more than a servant in her own home.

But religion isn’t the only thing that the people of Winston have grown up believing in. There’s also the Lord of the Wood. A mysterious, shadowy figure said to rule the woods on the other side of the river just outside of town, everyone in Winston knows that he’s real, that every few decades he appears and takes a child away. But the Lord of the Wood can only take what he’s offered. When Leah has finally had enough of her life, when she’s fed up with everything, she makes an offer to the Lord of the Wood, and Owen is taken. Now, forced into the wood to retrieve him by the angry leaders of the town, Leah must find a way to save Owen and bring him back safely.

My Throat An Open Grave is advertised as being like the film Labyrinth, and whilst that did pique my interest at first, I quickly found that that comparison falls apart very quickly. There is a deal made with an almost fairy-tale-like figure who steals away a younger brother, which spurs on a quest to save him, but the tone and the content of the story that comes after is completely different. My Throat An Open Grave isn’t some colourful, wondrous adventure filled with magical characters, it’s a story about a hurt, abused young woman learning to understand the trauma that she’s been through and moving through it.

Tori Bovalino has written some dark work before, and I’d say that Not Good For Maidens is much closer in tone to Labyrinth than this book, but it also feels like My Throat An Open Grave is her darkest work yet. There are parts of the book that are genuinely chilling, not because they’re fantastical but because they’re the parts that are very much grounded in reality. There are parts of Leah’s story that are heart-breaking to read, but they’re parts that will feel familiar because they’re stories that we’ve all heard before.

We’ve heard of the kind of familial abuse Leah deals with, with the abusive religious upbringing, because people who’ve lived through that have told their stories. There are times where the book is hard to read, and even though there are parts of the story that I saw coming pretty early on, their full reveal was impactful not because it was a surprising twist but because Bovalino filled the moments with such pathos that it was hard not to feel moved by them.

Whilst My Throat An Open Grave never feels completely original, with many of the story beats being predictable, or the world building having moments that feel borrowed from other stories, the way in which Bovalino puts the very human story at its centre, and the life that she puts into Leah makes the book worth reading. It was this emotional story that kept me hooked, and the way in which it is brought to a conclusion in the final chapters elevates the book. So even if you feel like you’ve read this kind of book before, pick it up and give it a try, because there are some truly spectacular moments to be found in here.

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Marvel Studios’ The Infinity Saga – Iron Man 2: The Art of the Movie – Book Review

 

'The 2nd of the 24 Marvel Cinematic Universe Infinity Saga film titles being published as a complete set. Behind every great Iron Man stands a dedicated group of artists – and now, their secrets are revealed. In The Art of Iron Man 2, you’ll find everything from preliminary sketches to fully rendered 3-D images; storyboards to intricate set designs; and all the heroes, villains and technology you’ve ever imagined! All of Iron Man’s new armors, all of Whiplash’s weapons, Tony Stark’s lab and more are profiled with art and commentary from creators (including comic book fan-favorite Adi Granov).'

Titan Books have been delving into the world of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the most ambitious film universe ever put to screen, going behind the scenes to look at the art of each of the twenty odd films of the firs three phases that make up the ‘Infinity Saga’. The series began with the first film to be released, Iron Man, but rather than moving onto the next film in the series, The Incredible Hulk, the next release in this stunning set of art books is Iron Man 2.

The book opens talking about the first film and the success that it brought with it. It makes a very good point that a lot of people who grew up watching the MCU, or gained their knowledge of Marvel Comics from the films, often forget: there was a time where no one knew who Iron Man was.

Yes, he’s been in comics since the 1960s, and was a founding member of The Avengers, but he was always something of a B-list hero at best. He was a character who did some cool stuff every now and then, but most comic fans didn’t think much of him. Iron Man changed that, it made the character a global icon, and the second film suddenly found itself in the spotlight, having to prove that the first movie wasn’t just a one off, but that the MCU and Iron Man could make a sequel actually work.

©2024 MARVEL

As with the film, the book opens on Stark’s latest armour, the Mark IV, and shows off the opening scene of the movie where he drops out of a plane into the middle of the Stark Expo in a stunt designed to showcase how cool the man inside the suit is. But no good Iron Man movie relies only on the one armour, and the first chapter quickly delves into the new looks for the movie, including the fantastically realised Briefcase Armour.

Just like in the first volume, the book features stunning design work that shows off the amazing talent behind the scenes of the film who spent hours crafting and adapting the comics to the big screen. A good portion of the first chapter is given over to this one design, one of the most complicated Iron Man ever wears, and seeing the various options the filmmakers had, and the inner workings that had to be figured out before it hit the screen is eye opening and informative.

One of the things that you notice about the new armour designs is that it stays true to what the first film established, and the wild designs of the first book aren’t really found here, at least not for Iron Man. The second chapter dives into the film’s newest hero, War Machine, and it’s clear that the design team had a lot of fun taking the existing Iron Man look and adding to it, especially in developing the various weapons and gadgets that the suit would contain. But, Rhodey isn’t the only new hero in the film, and we also get designs for the debut of Black Widow, including a belt that was made up that matched her iconic comic look that is so gorgeous I’m frankly angry it never made it into the film.

©2024 MARVEL

The best designs in the book have to go to the film’s enemies, however. Whiplash is interesting, but the amount of artwork for the other mech suits being made around the world, and the Hammer Drones are fantastic to look at, and will appeal to any mecha fans out there. The film featured a variety of drones, most of which end up flying around the screen pretty fast, so getting the chance to just sit and pore over the designs is a genuine delight, and ended up with me really wanting to go back and watch the film again.

As with the first volume, the book doesn’t just cover character designs, but goes into the sets and locations of the film. The most impressive here are the parts that deal with the Stark Expo and its creation, including model work and mock-ups for both versions set in the past and the modern day. There’s also a segment of the book that takes a look at the storyboard work for some of the action set pieces that film fans will enjoy.

Two volumes into the series it’s clear that this art book set is going to be amazing to read through, and whether the next volume continues its dive into the world of Iron Man, or takes a look at another corner of the MCU, it’s going to be a book that I eagerly await getting hold of.

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Song of Carcosa: An Arkham Horror Novel by Josh Reynolds - Book Review

 

'An occult thief takes on a sinister society threatening to tear the fabric of this world apart, in this daring noir-thriller from the bestselling world of Arkham Horror. Countess Alessandra Zorzi, reformed thief and acquirer of occult artifacts, faces her greatest challenge yet as she searches for an elusive artist in possession of the powerful Zanthu Tablet; the only thing that can stop the strange psychic malaise afflicting Alessandra’s assistant, Pepper. The countess’s quest takes her to the crooked heart of Venice, where an eerie organization is planning a grand performance that will engulf the city in chaos. As Pepper slips into an inescapable alien world, Alessandra must defeat powerful forces to save her friend. One wrong move could bring the curtain down on them all.'

Having previously read Josh Reynolds Akrham Horror novel The Wrath of N'Kai I was already somewhat familiar with the character of Countess Alessandra Zorzi, a femme fatale thief who has a history of stealing magical and mystical artefacts for the small community of rich and powerful people who have an obsession with the occult. It was in that book that Alessandra learned that her old life wasn't the safest, for her or others, and that led her to changing her ways somewhat, going after occult artefacts to keep them away from her old clients instead of supplying them to them. It was also that book that saw her teaming up with her protégé, Pepper. 

However, that's not the only book that paves the way for Song of Carcosa, as the anthology novel Secrets in Scarlet is also somewhat required reading too. This book contains several stories that introduces readers to the Red Coterie, a group of powerful, and impossibly old, individuals who go after artefacts and power in order to make themselves stronger. Whilst they're a group, they're not completely unified, and most act on their own towards their own ends; and as such they prove to be an unpredictable lot, whose actions you can never really count on knowing. Whilst you don't need to read either of these books to be able to enjoy Song of Carcosa if you have you'll be going into the novel with a solid foundation for the things to come. 

The book focuses on Alessandra and Pepper as they arrive in the city of Venice, a location that's tied to the Red Coterie . Pepper has been plagued by strange dreams, dreams of an impossible city that doesn't exist. Fearing for the young woman's sanity, and life, Alessandra is hoping to find a way of helping her in Venice. Unfortunately, them arriving in the city also brings them into the attention of powerful individuals who aren't afraid to exploit the two women for their own ends. 

Much like with The Wrath of N'Kai, this entry in the Arkham Horror series is putting strong women front and centre, and Alessandra is the determined, strong willed, and capable woman readers will remember. Set in a time where women were not given the chances and opportunities they are now, and in a place that touches on the rising fascism in Italy at the time, Alessandra is often having to put herself in danger in order to prove she's worthy of the respect of the men around her. Thankfully, Reynolds is always able to have her rise to the occasion, and even when things are getting to their worst Alessandra is a wonderfully powerful protagonist. 

Venice has been used in some previous stories in the Arkham Horror line, and it's been hinted at that there's more to this city on the water than first appears. Water, and the things that hide beneath the surface, have been a big part of the mythology that Lovecraft developed, and thus Venice feels like the perfect location to bring into this world. The idea that there's something dark and terrible beneath the city, that it's a magnet for the horrors of the world, takes an already interesting place and dials that up to eleven. I really wanted the book to spend more time exploring this new corner of the Arkham Horror world, and whilst it does do this I would have loved to have even more of it, and would be more than happy to see Reynolds return readers here again in the future. Just the fact that we've ventured so far outside of the traditional New England setting marks this as an interesting read, as some of the best entries in the franchise so far have done so.

If you were a fan of Alessandra in her previous stories and want more from her this book is definitely going to appeal to you. And if you're looking for interesting new expansions on the universe, and the exploration of a place that's very different to the titular Arkham and its surroundings then Song of Carcosa is not a book that you're going to want to sleep on. 

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Golgotha Motor Mountain #1 – Comic Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Golgotha Motor Mountain is a new sci-fi/horror comic series from IDW Publishing that follows a pair of meth-cooking brothers, from a small town where everyone’s trying to escape and no one wants to acknowledge it exists, on the day a rock from space crashes into their meth lab and changes everything forever.

The opening line of the book sets out a mission statement, a promise of things to come, “This ‘ere is a story of an old rock.” And whilst that is certainly true, by the end of the opening issue of the mini series it’s clear that this is much more than that. It’s also possible that perhaps that simple, almost vague way of describing the story is perhaps the easiest way to do so, as there’s a lot in this first issue that feels dense, and almost incomprehensible. There’s an underlying layer of psychodelia, a narrative and dialogue that don’t quite make perfect sense to begin with, and it quickly becomes apparent that this is going to be a series that requires more than one reading, and may even be better read in one single sitting when all of the issues are out.

The book opens with a pair of brothers, Vern and Elwood, killing time in their barn turned meth lab, where Elwood, the younger of the two, does card tricks to entertain his older sibling. They’re waiting for their latest batch of meth to be ready so that they can make a big score and move out of the hated town of Golgotha and move to Cincinnati.

Elwood dreams of a place where he can live with bright skies, clean rooms, and a space where he can have a little indoor plant room, and Vern is determined that the two of them are going to get it. However, when a rock from space rips the roof off the barn as it comes crashing to Earth just outside, it ruins everything for them. With the meth ruined, Elwood is ready to give up on their dream. Vern has another plan in mind, deciding to break pieces off of the strange, purple rock, grind it up and sell it as drugs.

There’s not a huge amount more that can really be said about the first issue of Golgotha Motor Mountain both because the stuff that happens in the latter half of the issue should be kept as a surprise, but also because not a huge amount actually happens either. As said earlier, this book feels like it’s going to be better read in a single sitting, and part of that comes down to the pacing. This first issue doesn’t feel like an issue of a comic, not in the traditional sense. You’re barely getting a grasp on the characters and the setting when the book ends.

I can easily sum up what happens in this issue in a sentence or two, but if you were to ask me if it was good, and what bits stood out, I’m not sure I could do that. It has ‘slow first chapter syndrome’, where a story can be fine when the next chapter is sitting there waiting for you, but when you have to wait a month for the next part there’s very little here making me want to come back to it for the second issue.

Part of the problems for me also comes down to Matthew Erman and Lonnie Nadler’s dialogue. There’s a point in the book were Elwood describes Vern’s talking as “Why are you talking like you got a drill put in your skull?”, and this kind of sums up a lot of the dialogue in the book. Characters say whatever comes into their heads, whether it actually helps or not. Vern talks and talks, but doesn’t really feel like he’s saying anything. I don’t learn more about him as a character, nor do I understand more of this world, and half of what he says feels like gibberish. This feeling is further compounded by a gang of militant types who have their own slang and way of talking that makes Vern feel normal by comparison.

Whilst the dialogue made the book hard to get through, Robbi Rodriguez and Marissa Louise do well on the art duties, with Rodriguez providing the art and Louise the colours. The book is interesting to look at, and Vern and Elwood have some exaggerated and unusual features that make them feel distinct from most other comic leads in the horror genre. The book has a messy, moody colour scheme to it too, where the backgrounds will often be bathed in single colours that indicate a change in scene or tone. Plus, there are some moments of body horror here that are truly gross to look at.

Golgotha Motor Mountain might be trying something different, but it still feels too early to really know. Whilst there are some interesting ideas here they feel like they’re buried under a lot of excess, and it makes the prospect of coming back to read the second issue a bit of a tough one.

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What Kind of Mother by Clay McLeod Chapman - Book Review

 

'After striking out on her own as a teen mom, Madi Price is forced to return to her hometown of Brandywine, Virginia, with her seventeen-year-old daughter. With nothing to her name, she scrapes together a living as a palm reader at the local farmers market.

'It’s there that she connects with old high school flame Henry McCabe, now a reclusive local fisherman whose infant son, Skyler, went missing five years ago. Everyone in town is sure Skyler is dead, but when Madi reads Henry’s palm, she’s haunted by strange and disturbing visions that suggest otherwise. As she follows the thread of these visions, Madi discovers a terrifying nightmare waiting at the centre of the labyrinth—and it’s coming for everyone she holds dear.'

What Kind of Mother tells the story of Madi, a single mother who's been doing her best for her now teenage daughter, but has to return to her hometown due to circumstances outside of her control. Brandywine is a small, sleepy place where nothing much really happens and people have hardly changed in the years that Madi has been gone. It's slow and dull, and Madi hates it. Having to find a way of supporting herself and her daughter, Madi decides to open up a palm reading stall in the town's market, faking her 'psychic' abilities for any who're willing to pay for a reading.

However, when Madi reconnects with her high school sweetheart, Henry, she learns that she does actually possess powers when she gives him a reading and has visions of his son Skylar, who went missing several years previous. Determined to find out what these visions mean, Madi discovers dark secrets lurking just beneath the surface of Brandywine.

What Kind of Mother does well in its early chapters, and the set-up that Clay McLeod Chapman creates is an interesting one with some decent, engaging characters. Madi is a struggling single mother with a lot of issues, most of them stemming back to her time in Brandywine; and as such when she returns to her old town those issues come racing back to the surface. Some of the personal struggles that Madi has, the relationships with people who used to be in her life and how she reconnects with people are the best parts of the book, and I can't help but feel that if this was just a story about that I'd have liked it much better.

However, once the supernatural and horror elements are introduced to the book things kind of fall apart  bit for me, whereas that's the stuff I'm normally excited to get to. The book has a lot of body horror in it, which is one of the areas that can be a bit hit and miss with me, either being absolutely fine or too gross. Sadly, more than once What Kind of Mother strayed into the second category, and left me feeling sick more than anything else. Perhaps I just wasn't in the right mood for it, but it led me to wanting to put the book down and not come back to it; forcing me to have to power through.

The end of the book has what I've seen others refer to as a 'twist', and I'd agree with that to a certain extent. It's not the kind of twist where it feels like the book played a clever reveal that was carefully hinted at chapters before, but a twist in logic. The characters make some unusual choices in the latter half of the book, choices that seem to be made with little reasoning or explanation given. Again, perhaps I wasn't in the right mind to enjoy these twists. I just didn't like the ending. I wasn't a fan of where the story went or what the characters did, and I've seen a few reviews online that share that sentiment.

What Kind of Mother is an unusual read, one that I think will divide audiences very clearly into those who loved it and hated it. This is the kind of book that some will even put down and not finish. Trying it out might be something of a gamble, but I think that if you do like it you're going to get a lot out of it.

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Thief - Throwback 10

 

When I was growing up there were two series that people would talk about as the main stealth games, Metal Gear Solid, and Thief. Having been more of a console player I ended up missing the original Thief games, but even then I was excited to see the series make a brief return in 2014.

Created by Eidos-Montreal and Square Enix, the game saw the return of master thief Garrett, who has been away from his homeland for a long time. Upon his return he finds his home, simply called The City, is now under the rule of a tyrannical and cruel new leader, Baron Northcrest. When Garrett is hired to steal from the Baron's home, along with an inexperienced thief called Erin, the job will end up changing his life, and The City, forever. When the mission goes wrong thanks to Erin, and a magic ritual being performed by the Baron and his men, Garrett falls into a coma.

Waking a year later, Garrett learns that The City is in the grips of a plague called The Gloom, with entire parts of the city in quarantine. As Garrett recovers he goes on a few missions to steal special items from across the city, and learns of a conspiracy to overthrow the Baron. Working with the resistance, Garrett finds himself caught up in a larger plot than he first thought; one with the fate of The City on the line.

Originally announced in 2009 as Thief 4, or Thi4f, the game went through a great deal of changes during its early development, including having a third person perspective at one time, and also having a completely new protagonist. Following the release of Deus Ex: Human Revolution in 2012 the team for Thief was expanded significantly, and work began on the game in earnest. 

The final game ended up being more in line with the original trilogy, though a number of newer gameplay elements that had become popular over recent years had been included. Despite that, stealth was still the order of the day. Whilst the game does include elements such as melee combat for those times when you get into trouble it's not the best implemented, and sneaking without being seen remains the best course of action throughout; even if it does take longer. Skulking in the shadows, learning guards patrol routes, and moving slowly are the keys to success, leading you to your objective.

Whilst Garrett is tasked with stealing specific items it doesn't mean that that is all you can take, and practically anything that isn't nailed down can be grabbed and thrown into Garrett's swag bag to trade on later. The only problem with this is that it does ruin the illusion that Garrett is a master thief, who gets in, grabs what he's been hired to steal, and gets out, and he becomes a petty looter at best. But, I can understand why the developers would include the ability to take anything the player wanted so as to avoid accusations of railroading or restricting gameplay.

One of the areas in which Thief excels is in it's lighting system. There have been many, many games where the stealth system is little more than crouching turning you invisible, with enemy AI having no way of looking down. There have been countless games where I've questioned the abilities of enemy guards as I walk two steps behind them in the bright light whilst they're oblivious to my presence. But thanks to the way that light and darkness work in Thief it does feel that you're actually using the darkness as a tool, rather than relying on guards being near sighted.

Upon its release Thief was received fairly well, with decent scores from many publications. Reviews criticised small issues with the gameplay, but rated it as a fun and enjoyable experience that fans of the originals would enjoy. One area in which it was called out a lot, however, was in the voice acting. Original voice actor Stephen Russell had been replaced by Romano Orzari, who was described as 'flat'; it also didn't help that the lip synching in the game's cut scenes was pretty poor, which further brought attention to lacklustre acting. 

Whilst the game was criticised on some points Thief received decent review scores, and was an enjoyable enough experience whilst playing it, there has been no further games in the series, making the time since Thief's release as long as the gap between it and the previous game in the series. With no news of another game coming, however, it looks like 2014's outing might be the last mission for Garrett. 

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The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed - Book Reivew

 

'A world-weary woman races against the clock to rescue the children of a wrathful tyrant from a dangerous, otherworldly forest. At the northern edge of a land ruled by a monstrous, foreign tyrant lies the wild forest known as the Elmever. The villagers know better than to let their children go near—once someone goes in, they never come back out.

'No one knows the strange and terrifying traps of the Elmever better than Veris Thorn, the only person to ever rescue a child from the forest many years ago. When the Tyrant’s two young children go missing, Veris is commanded to enter the forest once more and bring them home safe. If Veris fails, the Tyrant will kill her; if she remains in the forest for longer than a day, she will be trapped forevermore. So Veris will travel deep into the Elmever to face traps, riddles, and monsters at the behest of another monster. One misstep will cost everything.'

Forests can be frightening places, especially as most people nowadays tend to never really have reason to go into them other than for personal enjoyment. They've evolved over our history from places that people would know well to things we tend to see from a distance, things we don't really know anymore. And, once we don't know much about something it becomes frightening. Stories are told that make it darker, more mysterious, and it begins to feel like some kind of primal horror. Premee Mohamed leans into this a lot in their new short novella, The Butcher of the Forest, which makes the woods a truly unsettling place.

The story follows Veris, a woman in her 40's, who is the only person to have ever entered the mysterious and frightening Elmever forest and returned. Many before her have gone into it, but no others have ever come out, lost to the dark and twisted forest and the monsters that call it home. However, when the children of the cruel Tyrant enter the forest Veris is recruited, without much choice, to go in and to bring them home. Not only will Veris have to contend with the horrors of the forest, but she will have only a day in which to succeed or she'll be lost forever too.

The Butcher of the Forest is not a long book, only 160 pages, and as such it jumps into the narrative very quickly, dropping the reader right into the middle of things. Despite there not being much time spent setting up this world or the characters, and much of the book being given over to what happens when Veris enters Elmever, Premee Mohamed somehow manages to make the book feel like that time is being taken. Mohamed uses long sentences, and beautifully flowing language to make the book feel longer than it actually is, and you come away from reading it surprised at the actual length of it as it feels like it should have been a lot more than 160 pages. 

The book draws from fairy tale stories, but there are times that it also feels like you're slipping into cosmic horror, and the sense of unease that flows through the majority of the book plays wonderfully into these themes. It's violent and gruesome at times, and there are points that almost makes you want to put the book down because it goes to places you'd never have expected nor predicted. 

I can see the ending dividing some readers, as it kind of divided me too. On the one hand I was very happy with how things ended, and was more than prepared to let things lie and never return to this character or world; but on the other hand I would devour an entire series if Mohamed decided to venture more into their creation. It's one of those dilemmas where you can say 'that ended perfectly, no more please' yet would also be first in line to get the next one. The perils of being a reader.

The Butcher of the Forest is a wonderful dark horror fairy tale with a beautiful writing style that is going to draw readers in very quickly, and make a lot more fans of Premee Mohamed by the time things are done.

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Nightmares in a Damaged Brain - Blu-ray Review

There are a few horror films from the 70's and 80's that I've heard of that I've never seen, films whose names instantly jump out at me for one particular reason; they were all Video Nasties. For those either not in the know, or not from the backwards United Kingdom, there was a time in Britain where censorship demanded that certain films be banned, that their distribution became a crime that would land people with fines or prison time (and older people complain about trigger warnings when they were literally throwing people in prison for certain films). Nightmare, or Nightmare in a Damaged Brain, was one of these films; and was the film that got two of its UK distributors sent to prison. But now horror fans, and those with an interest in this bizarre era of UK film culture, get the chance to experience the film in a brand new Blu-ray release thanks to Severin Films. 

Nightmares in a Damaged Brain tells the story of George Tatum, played by Baird Stafford, an incarcerated mental patient suffering from nightmares of murders, who had been locked up after mutilating and murdering a family in Brooklyn. Despite being diagnosed with a series of disorders, including schizophrenia, George is released following an experimental drug procedure designed to cure him of his violent urges. The doctor in charge is certain that George has been turned into an upstanding citizen. However, when he goes missing, the authorities are worried that he may have returned to his murderous ways.

George journeys away from New York, heading down the coast towards Florida; killing a woman along the way in order to get hold of a new car. Arriving in Myrtle Beach, he begins following a single mother and her three children, watching them from afar. As the family deal with their complicated life, the youngest son CJ pulling horrible pranks on people that leads to problems with the police, and mother Susan trying to fit her new relationship into her home life, George closes in on the family, killing more people along the way.

The trailer for Nightmares in a Damaged Brain, and the film's title, doesn't really help to sell the kind of film this is. The trailer is somewhat disjointed, jumping around a lot, and shows pieces from all across the film with little indication of what the narrative might be. As the film starts things are also somewhat hard to follow, with scenes of murders cutting to George asleep at home having nightmares, to him then waking up screaming in a mental hospital. The film starts confusingly, presenting things in a disjointed manner that made me start to think that I was going to be watching a somewhat surreal and bizarre horror film.

However, the film then soon settles into what is a fairly standard 80's slasher structure. We follow a family, watching their everyday lives, getting to know them. Meanwhile, George stalks them from a distance, hiding in the neighbourhood, occasionally killing someone who gets too close to him, whilst the authorities try to figure out where he might be. It's a lot closer to the structure of a film like Halloween than the trailer or start of the film makes you think, and once it does settle into this structure it becomes a much more enjoyable and engaging watch.

The acting is about what you'd expect for a small budget horror film of the era, as in middling at best. Despite that, there are some genuinely enjoyable moments, some where the acting becomes so bad you can't help but laugh at it. There's a moment in the film where CJ, who's just seen George outside the house, stumbles inside, clutching his stomach and covered in blood saying that the man attacked him. And the acting isn't the best, so I ended up questioning if this was one of CJ's tricks, or if it was just bad child acting. It made the scene a lot of fun as I hunted for more clues to try and reveal the truth.

Where the film does well, and something it's known for, is the special effects. Nightmares in a Damaged Brain was advertised as having the special effects done by screen legend Tom Savini. Savini, however, did not work on the film, and even threatened to sue the makers if they didn't remove his name. Savini did, however, advise for the effects on the film, and visited the set, and it's easy to see why some could think it's a Savini film as there are some great 80's gore effects on offer in the film, particularly a spectacular beheading scene that gets shown a few times across the movie. One of the extras on the disc is a fun little interview with Savini where he talks about the miscredit on the film.

Speaking about extras, the new set has some great special features including two audio commentaries packed with behind the scenes info on the movie, and the impact that the films had, as well as trailers, deleted scenes, and a feature length documentary about British censorship laws that led to the video nasty era that's almost worth the price of admission alone. 

For those trying to seek out a little known horror film that's an enjoyable and entertaining experience this latest release is one worth having a look at. However, if you've an interest in the video nasty craze, censorship, and films of the 1980's this new blu-ray is one that will appeal all the more. 

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Death System: A Zombicide Invader Novel by S.A. Sidor - Book Review

 

'Cybernetically enhanced zombie-aliens want to devour the universe and only a crack team of murderous misfits can stop them, in this non-stop action-adventure from InvaderWhen decorated military pilot Shawna Bright is convicted of a heinous crime and incarcerated, she is determined to prove her innocence. However, flying the getaway ship during a prison break wrecks that hope. Forced to land on the terrifying Xeno-ridden planet, PK-L7, Shawna must survive both ravenous alien-zombies and a crew of dangerous criminals. When they discover Xenos with cybernetic implants, Shawna uncovers a deadly plan to wreak havoc across the universe. She must do everything in her power to stop it… even if she goes down in history as one of the bad guys.'

Despite having not played any of the Zombicide games I've come to really love the franchise due completely to the work of the novels. Aconyte Books have produced some fantastic books in these settings, and whilst the regular Zombicide books, and the Black Plague series all follow the same group of survivors and their stories, the Zombicide Invader series gives us something almost completely new each time. This time readers are treated to a daring prison escape from some of the worst of the worst in the galaxy; an escape that leads our colourful cast of characters to an even bigger nightmare. 

Death System begins in prison, in one of the worst maximum security prisons in the galaxy. Here we meet a number of the most high profile prisoners, such as Bak-Irp, the bounty hunter turned killer, Nero Lupaster IV, the super rich head of a criminal guild, Shawna Bright, the military pilot who shot down and killed her own unit, and Dr Lemora Pick, a scientist who created a weapon that killed a planet. Nero, who still has a lot of very powerful friends, has been carefully paying off one of the guards, getting him on side, and arranges for a very special package to be snuck into the prison and given to Lemora, another of his people. A package containing a deadly, infectious mould. 

During a prisoner transfer that sees a few dozen of the prisons worst placed onto an old and beaten-up ship, Lemora uses the mould in a small explosive she's made, detonating it in the cabin. The mould begins to infect the non-humans on board, transforming them into ravenous zombies. It's in this chaos that Nero and his group stage their escape; an escape in which Shawna finds herself having to fight to survive. However, when the ship lands on a planet filled with more of the deadly zombie creatures the survivors will have to work together to try and make it out alive.

One of the fun things about Death System is that very early on there's almost no one you want to root for. Shawna is made to be sympathetic from the start, as Sidor makes it clear that she believes that she was framed for her crimes, and that she did not murder her team, but other than that there's no one in our group of survivors that deserve to get out alive. This group are some of the worst of the worst characters, mass murderers, psychopaths, and worse, yet as the story progresses you start to like the characters more and more, to the point where you start to feel bad when these very terrible people begin to die.

There are a lot of stories out there that try to make criminals sympathetic, and most of the time I find that they tend to fail. These stories often come across as romanticising crime and brutality, with the creators having to try to make despicable characters into victims of circumstance rather than out and out bad people in order to make them sympathetic. Sidor doesn't try this though, most of the characters are unrepentant, they don't have tragic backstories that justify their heinous acts, and most of them don't even care that they've done bad. Despite this, their personalities are what make them so likable. Lemora is uncaring, she has killed countless people and thought nothing of it, yet I couldn't help but come to like her because of her relationships with the other survivors and they small ways in which she was made quite charming. 

Because of the work that Sidor puts into making these characters likable when the killing starts you do actually care when they die, and there are moments that had me letting out audible groans as someone who I was enjoying in a scene just a moment ago is brutally ripped to pieces by the hordes of undead storming the facility our characters are holding up in. 

I can't really talk too much more about the story without spoiling too much, as there are so many twists and turns in the book that I wouldn't want to spoil anything for anyone, but if you like sci-fi horror, and have enjoyed the other books in the series this will definitely appeal to you. I had a great time reading it, and by the time the end came I was annoyed that it was over and wanted more. S.A. Sidor has written some of my favourite books with Aconyte, and this absolutely enters that category. Absolutely great fun. 

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Chronique des Silencieux – Game Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Point and click adventure games are some of the oldest that have existed on the PC. Their simple interface of clicking on things with your mouse, trying to figure out the next part of the story and searching for things in the environment that will help get you to that point make them feel timeless, and whilst technology and graphics have changed over the decades the general gameplay hasn’t. The latest game to dip its toes into this much loved genre is Pierre Feuille Studios’ very first game, the historical mystery adventure Chronique des Silencieux.

Set during the 1970s, in the French town of Bordeaux, Chronique des Silencieux puts players in control of Eugene, a fifteen-year-old boy who travels to Brodeaux to find his uncle, following the recent passing of his mother. Arriving at the train station, alone and with not even a single piece of luggage, he finds no one waiting for him. Stepping out into the rain soaked streets, Eugene eventually finds the old antique shop where his uncle works and lives, only to be met by an angry Madame Solange, who tells him that his uncle has gone away. We soon learn that Uncle Flavio has been telling some lies about his life, and that he’s actually the security/pimp for Madam Solange’s brothel, and that he’s recently been arrested for fighting with One Armed Herve. Heading to the local police station, Eugene is recruited by an inspector to help look into the events.

Thus begins Eugene’s adventure into the seedy, criminal underbelly of Bordeaux, and a story that involves sex work, secret drug trades, organised crime, and murder. Whilst this sounds exciting, the actual execution of the game leads to it being anything but, and I was ready to pull my hair out and quit before I was even through the segment of the game quite unfairly called the ‘tutorial’.

The main thrust of Chronique des Silencieux is finding connections between discovered documents and witness testimonies. This is done by exploring environments in order to collect items such as police reports, stock certificates, and letters hidden in the backs of drawers that require you to shift around junk in order to find them, and by engaging in long conversations with multiple people. Connections are made in your inventory screen, where you can select a document you want to check out, and one of the testimonies you’ve collected. Then selecting a sentence in one it will generate a red string that you then connect to a sentence in the other to make a connection. In theory, this works absolutely fine, but in practice it’s one of the most frustrating aspects of the entire game.

The ‘tutorial’ segment tells you to find a connection between Uncle Flavio’s testimonies and the police report that you’ve got on the fight. Whilst this sounds simple enough, the game doesn’t make it clear if you are searching for something that confirmed his story, or something that proved a lie, and it took an incredible amount of trial and error to find the connection it wanted.

The fact that all of the various dialogue testimonies from Uncle Flavio gave me a few dozen sentences to pick from, and that each of them could connect to another dozen parts of the police report made finding the right connection something of a nightmare. Even some of the clues I found within both that proved a lie, such as how the fight started, or what One Arm Herve’s connection to one of the sex workers was. These turned out to not be the connections the game wanted, and kept flagging them up as wrong. The simple act of connecting the right two pieces of info ended up taking almost 20 minutes of examination and guess work that ended with me hating the main gameplay premise of the entire game.

From the long and obtuse tutorial the game opens up into the main mystery, and gets even more difficult. You’re let out into a small corner of the town to try and figure out why this fight with your uncle started, which is only further complicated when One Arm Herve turns up dead. You have to search through drawers in the brothel, talk to everyone there, and even go out into the streets to talk to people there. When you get enough information, new avenues of investigation open up, allowing you to talk to more people on more topics and collect more testimonies. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t tell you when these points happen, and there are multiple times where you feel like you’ve hit a brick wall with no way to progress things forward.

If you’re able to collect enough testimonies and clues and make the right wildly difficult to guess connections you can try to open locks in your inventory that lead to Eugene coming up with theories that he can then confront suspects with. During these confrontations you’ll have to challenge the suspect on what they’re saying based on the evidence you’ve collected, but if you get these wrong by failing to pick out the exact sentence needed you’ll end up ruining the investigation, which goes on to affect your eventual score. Difficult, frustrating, and obtuse are the main descriptors for the gameplay, unfortunately.

Graphically, the game looks good, and has a nice animated look to it that’s reminiscent of French comic art. The characters all have a distinct style, and stand out in the environments. The characters and the art style really comes to life in the animated cut scenes, where you get to see them in much more action than the rest of the game. However, as these parts are voiced in French with English subtitles, half of your attention will be on reading the text before it vanishes, meaning you won’t really be able to give the cut scene the attention it deserves. Speaking of the translation, with the game having been adapted from French to English you’d hope that attention would have been given to this in order to make sure the story and the mystery elements were translated correctly. However, the text is riddled with typos, broken English, and weird turns of phrase that make evaluating long passages of text to find connections even more difficult.

Chronique des Silencieux is Pierre Feuille Studios first game, and it was partly funded through a Kickstarter campaign. It’s clear that the people behind the game had a passion to create it, but I can’t help but feel some more development time would have helped. The game has some great ideas, and it could have worked well, but as it is in its current state, it’s about as far from being enjoyable as any game I’ve ever played and I simply can’t recommend it, even to hardcore point and click adventure fans.

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