Happy New Years!!!! Bloody New Year

Greeting and salutations as we tackle another helping of Phantoms of the Year Day 3. As it is indeed New Year's Eve, it is only fitting and proper that our movie for tonight is actually occurring on New Year's Eve unlike Life Blood's blatant excuse to put models in cotton teddies. I know that sounds odd, a heterosexual man complaining of such viewing but dammit folks that was a really bad film. With that in mind, what say we catch up with some pesky teens that plan to get liquored up and explore one another sexually, all the way releasing some mutant hell beast bent on destroying the world? This is Bloody New Year.

Peggy Sue and Charlie Bodell are startled!

Five teens kill time before sailing away at the Fun Fair in Wales... I have no idea why they are in Wales but how cares? Our in-depth background on everyone is they are having a weekend to celebrate the New Year when a young American get bothered by the weakest carnie punks ever and the older gent of the three looks like the bartender of the Winchester via Shaun of the Dead. After the daring rescue and very mild fisticuffs with the carnies our preppy bunch got sailing when they encounter coral reef which in my opinion was accidental during the shoot and they just added to the movie. Washed to shore, these plucky preppies make their way to the famous Grand Island Hotel that is all the rave in Wales. With no one about, they pair off, start exploring, diddle each others brains out and swipe dry clothing. Strange goings on in our haunted hotel as our director tries to go Kubrickian on us and give us cheesy haunted effects like magazines closing themselves up, fireworks going off and the death defying possessed vacuum cleaner ambled for toes.

They're upset being greasers is outdated.

The kids slowly realize that all the 1950's apparel, decor and random blurts of music might mean that nobody has been to this hotel in ages and something odd may have occurred. This by the way starts shedding light to the place is cursed PAST THE HALF HOUR MARK!!!! Up until this point it has been exploring, heavy petting (as heavy as the English can allow themselves) and poorly constrewn dialogue. Finding a 1950's film Fiend Without a Face would have been far more enjoyable to watch versus the movie I am enduring. To say the film drags on until about the 37 minute mark and finally one of the cast gets attacked, throttled and murdered by a ghost from the projector. With our hapless teens splitting up the party, it is a safe bet that death is on the rise but there is so much filler of staring aimlessly, pointless dialogue how weird everything is and LESS VACATING THE ISLAND!!!

Will there be survivors?? Does anyone get any more chances to hook up? Are they having a happy New Year?

A few comments on the movie now.

British director Norman J. Warren (Her Private Hell, Satan's Slave, Terror, Spaced Out, Alien Prey, Inseminoid and Gunpowder) clearly grew up with a steady diet of Hammer movies like many of us did, but this lad chose to try to top Hammer's gothic time period pieces with a touch of cold and grim tones set in modern-day as well as the future. With a paltry shoestring budget, our director channeled Sam Raimi's Evil Dead, Stanley Kubrick's The Shining and added a dash of Fulchi's Zombi and set it to boiling point... by that I mean it was left on the stove too long, caused a house fire and everyone died violently.

Ambitious to a fault, it almost seems like no footage hit the cutting floor, the editing was unusual and the cast of unknowns are flubbing lines and tripping over themselves. Some well timed sight gags and jump scares and the makeup for the ghouls is pretty fair but overall this felt forced. An A for effort but solid D- minus for execution. Best thing said about this movie... I am done watching it.

Deborah was under the tanning bed too long.

PC Games I am Playing Week: Fallout: New Vegas

Howdy pardners and welcome back to Day 2 of PC Games I am Playing Week.  Today I speak of a game that is *gasp!* four whole years of age.  Yes this antique is the continuation of the Fallout series originally crafted in 1995 by Interplay Entertainment and has swapped hands to Black Ilse Studios only to have Black Isle file Chapter 13, return, lose rights to Fallout thus did not release Fallout 3: Capital Wasteland by Bethesda Softworks and then work injunction with Bethesda Softworks under Black Isle’s new company name Obsidian Entertainment.   Confused?  Well you should be.   So strap on your six guns, gather up some companions and watch out for strangers.  This is Fallout: New Vegas.

 

Sheesh, Hoss is packing some iron.

Spoiler…  Spoiler never changes.

The game I am referring to moves us back to the Mohave Desert, to an area more or less untouched by the war so its 1950’s influence, clothes, lingo and music still grace this giant sandbox but where there were cowboys, beef barons and gamblers with a heart of gold is now under the continuous onslaught of Fiends, slavers, raiders and rampaging super mutants and feral ghouls.  Where landmarks of the old Nevada standing have been made into renewed communities trying to survive this harsh world as two factions battle for the Hoover Dam and all the power it can provide.  The New California Republic, a foundation of former law enforcement and military ideals and Caesar’s Legion, a ruthless reincarnation of the barbarous Roman Emporium duke it out for all the marbles.  

One man keeps them both at bay, Mr. House and his fleet of Securitron robots.  He now owns all of New Vegas and plays to keep things running smoothly and the caps flowing in like so much chilled champagne.

Disagreement with the locals.

  

Your character is NOT a vault dweller.  SHOCK!!! 

You are a courier hired to carry an unknown package to a specified destination when you get jumped by a fellow in a dapper checkered suit and some Great Khans, shot in the head and left for dead.  That is your beginning intro!  As you come to in the town of Goodsprings you find that life on the Wild Wasteland is full of danger and wonder.  Rarely are the two far apart.  You need to bolster up some skills, arm yourself better and frankly get that package back to your client posthaste.  Perhaps you can indulge in a bit of revenge while you are at it.  

Like Fallout 3; the same game engine for smooth play, graphics and synched dialogue is identical.  You do however have options to newer weapons, modifying them, living off the land, freestyle wandering, side quests and different dialogue skills.   As always with this continued game system an amazing voice cast is essential in the telling of your tale as it unfolds.

 Ron Perlman (Chronos, Blade II, Alien Ressurection, Hellboy and Hellboy 2: The Golden Army) returns as the narrator of this post-apocalyptic land along with familiar voices such as Michael Dorn (CHiPs, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) as Marcus the former Super Mutant Sheriff in Fallout 2, Felica Day (The Guild, Eureka and Supernatural) as Veronica, a bright eyed girl from California with stars in her eyes and a pneumatic gauntlet on her right hand and many more.

Hardcore mode was introduced to give more of a real feel to the game such as: dehydration, poisoning, hunger pains, withdrawals from drugs and medicine and finally healing injuries.  With 6 add-on adventures, an ultimate edition and more than its fair share of real life cosplayers; New Vegas has ran with the same steam that Fallout 3 has had and brought a whole new generation of gamers to this universe and then some.

Harland's...a bit blunt and right to the point.

Hammer Features Week

Hello all and welcome to the event of the week.  I thought from all those heroes of yesteryear we could use some villainous behavior now.  Some wonderful orchestral music, amazing sets and wonderful costuming.  A little bit of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee roaming across the screen.  Yes ladies and gents I thought this week will be a collection of Hammer Films.

Need...Visine!!!!

Fear that which is about to come. From vampires and werewolves to the Frankenstein's monster this should make for interesting reading or at least I hope so.   Please again feel free to leave a comment on this blog or Facebook.

Ta ta!

Amando Ossorio Week: Tombs of the Blind Dead

Howdy all.  Today I have chosen Amando de Ossorio as the subject of the week.    With the mass level of Spanish and European Horror films making a huge surge, Ossorio wanted to stem away from films like: Santo E”La Vengaza De La Momia, The Lepers and Sex, Mission Sabotage and of course the uprising continuation of the Hammer Films of this time like Dracula ’72, The Karnstein Trilogy know as: The Vampire Lovers, Lust for a Vampire and Twins of Evil.   Ossorio knew the mainstream was changing and more violence, an increase in gore and nudity was on the horizon past the exploitation films.   That did not mean that story had to be sacrificed in the process.   The basis of the Blind Dead series is around the ghost stories he heard as a boy.    So huddle in around the burning pit, and make sure your charcoal filtered mask is working.   This is La Noche del terror ciego.

Even spoilers need subtitles… (Incluso spoilers necesita subtítulos)

With capturing the legends of the Knights Templar a order of the Crusade that was said to be annihilated for performing the black arts of witch craft, Ossorio spins the tales of perhaps those very wealthy and pagan men did receive the immortality promised to them all those centuries ago.

 But enough of that, pool party!  Bikinis and more body hair than Ron Jeremy and John Holmes combined and yes everyone disco dancing.    Our story opens with a young couple on vacation running into an old friend from school.   Virginia (Maria Elena Arpon of The House That Screamed, Crimen imperfect, Black Story and El Cristo del Oceano) recognizes her dear friend Betty (Lone Fleming of Bad Man’s River, In Happened at Nightmare Inn, Where Time Began and Return of the Evil Dead) and the two proceed to catch up.  They speak on about their lives, work and any budding romances, when Roger (Cesar Burner of The Man Called Noon, Green Inferno and Last Chance), Virginia’s boyfriend pulls himself out of the pool in a suave yet smarmy manner.  Virginia tells Betty of Roger and her impeding trip into the country.  Free from the hustle and bustle of society and just enjoying the relaxation that the country provides.   Betty is hesitant to join as she is unattached and Roger assures her she will find a man willing and with this they are scheduled to meet up at the train promptly at 4. 

A few odd notes and it will be right back to our gripping story line.   To cash in on the popularity , foreign distribution want re-cut and released La Noche del terror ciego with the alternative title Revenge from the Planet Ape in some half assed effort to capitalize on the success of the Planet of the Apes films.  With a new prologue attempting to link the two stories together, this story makes ape prisoners whom been tortured and maimed, vow to return from the dead to seek bloody retribution on mankind and avenge themselves against man’s injustice and tyranny in the hopes of saving the planet.

Back to our flick in process, our couple is met back up with Betty who couldn’t snare a fella but Roger insists she join them all the same.  Virginia seems to be quietly seething and is of the mindset Roger is looking for a little action on Betty’s behalf.   And with a bit of stomping out and a rather nice dissolve when find out in a flashback that Virginia and Betty were…close one might say and sorry fellas the shots are actually tender (minus the organ music) and feel innocent.  Roger now hip to what is going on, Virginia settles on the brilliant idea of leaving the train at the only port of call being some old ruins and no civilization to be seen.    GENIUS!!!  Roger and Betty discover this temper tantrum; jump the train in the hopes of finding her.  After trekking a bit in the ruins clearly it is time to camp in the very…eerie ruins that is not even on a current map. Now before this sounds cranky this is only in the first 12 minutes. 

Finally, the legion of Spamelot rise and it is clear they are not big on trespassers.    I had the hardest time not snickering as the burial crosses starting to shift in the loose soil. No no, that’s not Styrofoam, that is clear a marble and granite found in the area and just appears as though wind could push it about.   And what brings back the dead you may ask? Why those pesky kids with their smooth FM Jazz and their filthy cigarettes.    Given their complete lack of peepers it is said that the Blind Dead must hunt by sound and sound alone.  Don’t…make…noise.

The handheld, tripod based and steady cam work has been amazing.   I admit I was drooling a bit over the ladies but as characters boy they needed name tags establishing: Born to be disemboweled.  The tone of the movie is captured well by lighting and various fog and smoke effects. Exterior shots as well as a few day for night did not sway me from finishing this.  I gather what the overall effect was to be from this film in telling a ghost story that shook our writer/director’s very being but the limited budget must have been utter hell for Ossorio and personally I would have loved to see the knights’ mounts mostly skeletal with bit of fur and meat draped haphazardly.   Ah well.  What could have been.

Life in Fallout 3

Hey folks sorry for last week's lack of blog.  I was quite ill. I hope this will make up for it.

Now being a Fallout RPG turn based fan I was skeptical but Fallout 3 turned out to follow Fallout 2 (1997 and 1998 sequel to the original) in the same standing of being open ended with no time limit to speak of.  10 years had passed since Fallout 2 and we were promised by Interplay then Black Isle that we would see a Fallout 3.  Finally after buying the rights Bethesda Softworks brought us our FPS/skill-based/post-apocalyptic dream come true.   Rather than be in California as the two predecessors were, this takes place in the heart of democracy Washington D.C.  After 2077 it is now referred as the Capital Wasteland.  Our great monuments have collapsed, roads and freeways are devastated and no government or police are in control.  Might makes right. 

We start off the game with a series of cut scenes from your character’s birth and growing up in Vault 101.  An underground fallout shelter that is capable of housing 1,000 people.    I should note no matter your sex or skin color your father James is still white and voiced by none other than (Liam Neeson of Darkman, Love Actually, The Phantom Menace and Schindler’s List)  James is a scientist who believes in helping his fellow humanity as best as he can.   As you age you learn more about your relationship with your father and life in Vault 101.   Your mother dies delivering you in childbirth so you are raised solely by your father.  You grow up in spurts through cut scenes, little whispers throughout each aging process hints to events of the past and the present day.   James tells you as an infant a bible passage that reflects his life’s work in trying to better humanity.   At age ten you receive your own Pip-boy 3000.  This arm band computer interfaces with radio signals, tells you your health, points out radiation in your area and inventories your supplies you pick up during the game.   At age 16 you take your Generalized Occupation Aptitude Test or G.O.A.T. to help sum up what career you are best suited for in Vault life. You of course try to weasel your way out of it by faking a cold.  Best of luck with that when your father is the Vault’s chief physician.

 After breaking up a squabble or joining in on it, you take your test and proceed on to Age 19, to be awaken by your friend Amata to discover your father somehow left the Vault and the Overseer is furious.  The chief of the guards beat your father’s assistant Jonas to death.  A man you have known and respected your whole life.  You must choose to escape or be dealt the same.  Fending off radiation enlarged cockroaches and some of the vault security.   Save the ammo folks.  The ball bat does a pretty good job of defending yourself and it is, kill or be killed scenario. You make your way to and out of confides of the home you have known since you were a boy/girl and out into the unknown with nothing more than what you took with you.  Vault 101 is up the hill from a shambled town known as Springvale.  One lone resident silver is hiding out from a neighboring town called Megaton.   You will have to probe her for answers if you care to know.  Or be a brute, kill her and take everything she owns.   An elementary school is not far from Silver’s place is crawling with raiders.  If you are lacking in firepower or armor, my advice is get stocked before waging a fight with these lot.

Wandering out into the wasteland you will encounter raiders that prey on the helpless, Ghouls and Super Mutants, creatures that were once human now mindless monsters that terrorize the surrounding towns.     Meeting pockets of humanity and their plights it is up to you what sort of a person you are going to be.  Will you be a decent compassionate man/woman?   Will you turn into a heartless monster with no cares except your own interests?   Will you be passive to some and help to others that can pay you a wage?   The choice is yours.  Are you to be the savior the Capitol Wasteland or its destructor?   Will you be a hero or villain?  Only you can answer that.     The graphics engine that Bethesda Software developed is phenomenal.   The background, the colors from rusted metal to the rising and setting sun this game was awarded Game of the Year in 2008 and people are still raving about it and recommending it to friends.   Its Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System or V.A.T.S. for short allows characters to train their weapons melee or firearms alike at points of vulnerability.  Ideal for the sniper character or if you just simply think it will take out your target faster.   An amazing voice cast with Liam Neeson and Malcom McDowell to name a few.  Sound captures the imagination so well.  Different outfits and armor can change the pitch of what shoes or boots you are wearing.  Guns and rifles are not a universal lumped effect GOTY allows modifications on everything from characters and armor to the quests and weapons.  I have also been able to play the PS3 console based game and the controls are a bit sensitive but you soon develop a rhythm.  

  A word of warning for those photophobic or seizure prone:  This is a real-time fasted paced game.  There will be a quick pitch in combat especially in V.A.T.S. as you see your character shoot, slash or bash your targets and it could very well be jaunting so my advice is to skip it if you suffer from either affliction.  That being said from the rest of you who are Fallout fans, DO NOT let this one slip through your fingers and enjoys the in-depth story arc and game.