#(man. i know it's a horror franchise but the first three resident evil games are Fucked Up)

[autumnoakes]

why did it take me like. at least 3 playthroughs of claire's scenario to realize that the woman on the table in the orphanage wasn't a mannequin like i originally thought but an actual dead body

[suffering-and-happy-about-it]

Nicole’s Ramblings: ✨ Ethan Winters deserved so much more ✨

In the last few weeks, I’m rewatching Markiplier’s playthroughs of RE7 and RE: Village. And an opinion started to form inside my head - the further I’ve watched, the stronger the opinion got. Honestly, I watched these games being played by multiple people (I just love having creative noise in the background) and this was the first time this shit hit me.

But before I get to say what I think, it would only be fair to explain my personal relationship with this particular game franchise:

Personally, we were a Silent Hill household, and Resident Evil games weren’t a big part of my childhood, so please, I am in no means any sort of an expert regarding this super convoluted storyline and timeline, I just know there’s some sort of Umbrella Company baddies and that Milla Jovovich portrayed the main character in the first movie (which, in all honesty, is one hell of a nostalgic blast for me and one of my all-time favorite horror movies). And… Yeah, people mutate because of T-Virus and they turn into zombies, and then there’s some G-Virus? That’s where any sort of extended knowledge regarding the game series ends.

Now, let’s move to the protagonist of Resident Evil 7 and 8, the one and only Ethan Winters, and why I think he deserved better. I’ll explain why some of it doesn’t make sense to me, but don’t forget this is just an opinion and you don’t have to agree at all.

Ethan Winters. Your normal everyday guy. He’s your neighbor, he’s someone you can bump into anytime; in the downtown, in the restaurant or Home Depot, wherever. Why? Cause he’s just your regular normal everyday motherfucker (author’s notes: if you know the song, I think it suits Ethan perfectly). This guy’s charm lays in him being so normal. He comes to save the day, whips out his ✨  enormous big dick energy ✨ and murders all the bad guys in his way, one by one. Doesn’t matter if it’s the Bakers possessed by Eveline or if it’s Miranda and her lords, Ethan is literally the definition of ‘man literally too angry to die’ and he will make them all perish. And I think he deserved so much more, he deserved better and a lot of it is Mia’s fault, and here is why:

Why the fuck did he go after Mia after that ship video log?

I cannot seem to empathize with this decision made by Ethan and I also know that I am biased against Mia cause I simply cannot stand her. First off, I know Mia was manipulated into sending the video by Eve. I also know and realize that Mia was his wife, I know he loved her insanely much and that he suffered when she allegedly died on the tanker that had crashed during the hurricane (not sure if Ethan was even aware of what happened). She disappeared for three years, right? And I realize that everyone needs their time to mourn and that the pain never truly passes away... But he thought she was missing (without any explanation in that matter), maybe even thinking she died. What would I do if I got to know that my wife not only lied to me for possibly the entirety of our marriage but then she also suddenly fucking disappears for 3 entire years? I’d make sure I take my time to mourn, make myself feel better, start living step by step, and  ✨ I’d fucking move on ✨. What if Mia sent the video to a completely different, changed man who moved on - what if she sent the video to this Ethan Winters? What if she contacted a new, changed man? What if Ethan met a new, amazing girlfriend, then proposed to her, settled down, and started anew? What then? Would he still just storm off to Louisiana just like that? 

And just by the way - Ethan is not ugly, he’s actually quite handsome... So don’t tell me there was not one single woman who’d be interested in him.

But okay, canonically, he did what he did and it was what needed to be done to put the story in motion.

Why, in the name of Lord, did he stay with her AFTER Louisiana?

Now, after everything that happened, Mia and Ethan are saved by no one other than Chris Redfield (hooray!). We know she’s a liar and that she was living a double life. We know Mia has tons of shit to explain and Ethan won’t leave until he listens to all the shit. All of it. Okay, let’s say she explained herself and everything that happened and that she was really sorry and mentally exhausted. They are strangers now - Mia lied, was completely absent (held hostage by Eve), and also is the source of all the shit coming Ethan’s fucking way.

Sure, I get that he had to stay under Umbrella’s little eye (since he came to contact with the mold), but why on Earth did he stay with that woman? They loved each other, but was that love this great? Sure, it could be, but... It just doesn’t seem too logical for me to stay with her. All of the above, I’d be repeating myself.

She continues lying and keeping things away from him. And also, Village happens, having Ethan die just to protect his daughter, whom he loves above all.

This wife, aight. This bitch has the audacity, she has the nerve... Goddamit, just gimme a gun and I’ll finish the deed myself because she's the cause of everything going down. She doesn’t learn throughout the time skip, she still lies to Ethan, she still doesn’t tell him everything that is going on, and then, when she gets swapped by Miranda - Ethan doesn’t even fucking notice? That speaks volumes about what Mia is like.

Keep in mind Miranda probably didn’t know how Mia acts at home, she probably had really sporadical access to modern technologically, she couldn't know how Mia talks to Ethan and she didn’t have her memories - and her own husband, the one who vowed to spend his entire life by Mia’s, side doesn’t see a difference? Don’t forget he witnessed Louisiana - by the logic of things, he’s probably noticed something being out of place like that, right?

No. No, he doesn’t. Ethan just goes 'aight' - and then she's "killed". To be fair, Ethan could've been overlooking it just because this pour soul wanted to take a breath and have a normal life; he was struggling with trauma (to be fair, Mia was surely too), they just moved to the other side of the world, and they had a newborn that was undergoing some monitoring and testing since Umbrella must've known that Rose is a mold baby. And... In addition to that, Ethan isn't the brightest bulb. I digress. But holy fucking shit. I don't think he'd notice anytime soon - God knows for how long was Miranda fucking around his house. And he was like 'okay wifey, let's have dinner!'.

Then, when this is said and done, Ethan goes on a rampage once more - just to find he has a mold baby with Mia (that had been to cut into fucking flasks and), that he HIMSELF is made out of the mold (which Mia clearly "forgot" to mention to Ethan since, again, she has a tendency to lie and don't tell things) and that HE FUCKING DIED, BEING KILLED BY JACK BAKER IN 2017. THAT HE IS DEAD FOR 3 YEARS ALREADY. I digress and once again, I wanna remind you that Ethan is not the brightest - but did he just think that re-attaching limbs at will are normal? He got his hands sawed off, torn off, his entire skull got crashed... How the fuck didn't he figure out he's fucked up too?

And this, all of this, ultimately leads him to his death in the village. 

While he could’ve lived a full, beautiful life. 

___

That's my 3 points about why Ethan Winters deserved so much more. And that Mia is actually the driving force behind all the conflicts. I try to understand her side of the story and her troubles, but I... I just find it so hard to sympathize.

✨ Ethan winters is the world's best dad and deserved better. ✨

[tlbodine]

The History & Evolution of Home Invasion Horror

Here’s my prediction: In the next couple of years, we’re going to be seeing a sudden surge of home invasion movies hit the market. For many of us, 2020 has been a year of extreme stress compounded by social isolation; venturing outside means being exposed to a deadly plague, after all. 

And while many people have already predicted that we’ll see an influx of pandemic and virus horrors (see my post on those: https://ko-fi.com/post/Pandemic-and-Pandemonium-Sickness-in-Horror-T6T21I201), I actually think a lot of us are going to be processing a different type of fear -- anxiety about what happens when your home, which is supposed to be a literal safe space, gets invaded. Because if you’re not safe in your own house...you’re not safe anywhere. 

Home invasion movies have been around a long time -- arguably as long as film, with 1909′s The Lonely Villa setting down the formula -- and they share many of the same roots as slasher films in the 1970s. But somewhere along the way, they separated off and became their own distinct subgenre with specific tropes, and it’s that separation and the stories that followed it that I want to focus on. 

The Origins of the Home Invasion Movie 

In order to really qualify as a home invasion movie, a film has to meet a few requirements:

The action must be contained entirely (or almost entirely) to a single location, usually a private residence (ie, the home) 

The perpetrator(s) must be humans, not supernatural entities (no ghosts, zombies, or vampires -- that’s a different set of tropes!) 

In most cases, the horror builds during a long siege between the invader and the home-dweller, including scenes of torture, capture, escape, traps, and so forth. 

To an extent, home invasion movies are truth in television. Although home invasions are relatively rare, and most break-ins occur when a family is away (the usual goal being to steal things, not torture and kill people), criminals do sometimes break into people’s homes, and homeowners are sometimes killed by them. 

In the 1960s and 70s, this certainly would have been at the forefront of people’s minds. Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood detailed one such crime in lavish detail, and the account was soon turned into a film. Serial killers like the Boston Strangler, BTK Killer and the “Vampire of Sacramento” Richard Chase also made headlines for their murders, which often occurred inside the victim’s home. (Chase, famously, considered unlocked doors to be an invitation, which is one great reason to lock your doors). 

By the 1960s and 70s, too, people were more and more often beginning to live in cities and larger neighborhoods where they did not know their neighbors. Anxieties about being surrounded by strangers (and, let’s face it, racial anxieties rooted in newly-mixed, de-segregated neighborhoods) undoubtedly fueled fears about home invasion. 

Early Roots of the Home Invasion Genre

Home invasion plays a part in several crime thrillers and horror films in the 1950s and 60s, including Alfred Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder in 1954, but it’s more of a plot point than a genre. In these films, home invasion is a means to an end rather than a goal unto itself. 

We see some early hints of the home invasion formula show up in Wes Craven’s Last House on the Left in 1972. The film depicts a group of murderous thugs who, after torturing and killing two girls, seek refuge in the victim’s home and plot the deaths of the rest of the family. In 1974, the formula is refined with Bob Clark’s Black Christmas, which shows the one-by-one murder of members of a sorority house and chilling phone calls that come from inside the home. 

Even closer still is I Spit on Your Grave, directed by Meir Zarchi in 1978. Although it’s generally (and rightly) classified as a rape-revenge film, the first half of the movie -- where an author goes to a remote cabin and is targeted and brutally assaulted by a group of men -- hits all the same story beats as the modern home invasion story: isolation, mundane evil, acts of random violence, and protracted torture. 

Slumber Party Massacre, directed by Amy Holden Jones in 1982, also hits on both home invasion and slasher tropes. Although it is primarily a straightforward slasher featuring an escaped killer systematically killing teenagers (with a decidedly phallic weapon), the film also shows its victims teaming up and fighting back -- weaponizing their home against the killer. This becomes an important part of the genre in later years! 

In 1997, Funny Games, directed by Michael Haneke, provides a brutal but self-aware look at the genre. Created primarily as a condemnation of violent media, the film nevertheless succeeds as an unironic addition to the home invasion canon -- from its vulnerable, suffering family to the excruciating tension of its plot to the nihilistic, motive-free criminality of its villains, it may actually be the purest example of the home invasion movie. 

Home Invasions Gone Wrong 

Where things start to get interesting for the home invasion genre is 1991′s The People Under the Stairs, another Wes Craven film. Here the script is flipped: The hero is the would-be robber, breaking and entering into the home of some greedy rich landlords. But this plan swiftly goes sideways when the homeowners turn out to be even worse people than they’d first let on. 

This is, as far as I can tell, the origin of the home-invasion-gone-wrong subgenre, which has gained immense popularity recently -- due, perhaps, to a growing awareness of systemic issues, a differing view of poverty, and a viewership sympathetic to the plight of down-on-their-luck criminals discovering that rich homeowners are, indeed, very bad people. 

Home Invasion Film Explosion of the 2000s 

The home invasion genre really hit the ground running in the 2000s, due perhaps to post-911 anxieties about being attacked on our home turf (and increasing economic uneasiness in a recession-afflicted economy and a growing awareness of the Occupy movement and wealth inequality). We see a whole slew of these films crop up, each bringing a slightly different twist to the formula.

*  It’s also worth noting that the 2000s saw remakes of many well-known films in the genre, including Funny Games and Last House on the Left.  

In 2008, Bryan Bertino directed The Strangers, a straightforward home invasion involving one traumatized couple and three masked villains. By this point, we’re wholly removed from the early crime movie roots; these are not people breaking in for financial gain. Like the killers in Funny Games, the masked strangers lack motive and even identity; they are simply a force of evil, chaotic and senseless. 

The themes of “violence as a senseless, awful thing” are driven further home by Martyrs, another 2008 release, this one from French director Pascal Laugier. A revenge story turned into a home-invasion-gone-wrong, the film is noteworthy for its brutality and blunt nihilism. 

2009′s The Collector, directed by Marcus Dunstan, is another home-invasion-gone-wrong movie. Like Martyrs, it dovetails with the torture porn genre (another popular staple of the 2000s), but it has a lot more fun with it. The film follows a down-on-his-luck thief who breaks into a house only to encounter another home invader set on murdering the family that lives there. The cat-and-mouse games between the two -- which involve numerous traps and convoluted schemes -- are fun to watch (if you like blood and guts). 

In a similar vein, we see You’re Next in 2013, which starts off as a standard home invasion movie but takes a sharp twist when it’s revealed that one of the victims isn’t nearly as helpless as she appears. Director Adam Wingard helps to redefine the concept of “final girl” in this move in a way that has carried forward right into the next decade with no sign of stopping. 

2013 of course also introduced us to The Purge, a horror franchise created by James DeMonaco. If there was ever any doubt as to the economic anxieties at the root of the genre, they should be alleviated now -- The Purge is such a well-known franchise at this point that the term has entered our pop culture lexicon as a shorthand for revolution. 

Don’t Breathe, directed be Fede Alvarez in 2016, is one of the creepiest modern entries into the “failed home invasion” category, and one that (ha ha) breathed some new life into the genre. Much like The People Under the Stairs, it tells the story of some down-on-their-luck criminals getting in over their heads when they target the wrong man. However, there is not the same overt criticism of wealth inequality in this film; it’s a movie more interested in examining and inverting genre tropes than treading new thematic ground. The same is true of Hush that same year. Directed by Mike Flanagan, the film is most noteworthy for its deaf protagonist. 

But lest you start to think the home invasion genre had lost its thematic relevance, 2019 arrived with two hard-hitting, thoughtful films that dip their toes in these tropes: Jordan Peele’s Us and Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite, which both tackle themes of privilege in light of home invasion (albeit a nontraditional structure in Parasite -- its inclusion here is admittedly a bit of a stretch, but I think it falls so closely in the tradition of The People Under the Stairs that it deserves a spot on this list). 

What Does the Future Hold? 

I’m no oracle, so I can’t say for certain where the future of the home invasion genre might lead. But I do think we’re going to start seeing more of them in the next few years as a bunch of creative folks start working through our collective trauma. 

Income inequality, racial inequality, political unrest and systemic issues are all at the forefront of our minds (not to mention a deadly virus), and those themes are ripe for the picking in horror. 

I know that Paul Tremblay’s novel The Cabin at the End of the World has been optioned for film, so we might be seeing that soon -- and if so, it might just usher in a fresh wave of apocalypse-flavored home invasion stories. 

Like my content? You can support more of it by dropping me some money in my tip jar: https://www.ko-fi.com/post/Home-Invasion-Stories-A-History-R6R72RV7Y

[marjanefan]

Inside No. 9  ‘The Stakeout’ review (includes spoilers)

Spoilers- please only read after watching the Stakeout.

Also includes spoilers for The League of Gentlemen Christmas special, Don’t look now and The Wicker Man

This is a fascinating and thought-provoking episode for several reasons.

It very deliberately plays with and subverts the tropes of police drama Thompson and Varney discuss these tropes as they bond over the episode, particularly around the portrayals of an older more knowledgeable policeman taking a younger ‘rookie’ under his wing (which is apparently the relationship that is being set up in the episode). This helps misdirect the viewer way from the true nature of the story we are watching.

The Cop Buddy genre is regularly used to explore male bonding and friendship and the codes of behaviour between men. It is particularly rare in mainstream media (particularly Hollywood films) to see explorations of men relating to and relying on each other emotionally . The cop buddy genre seems to be one genre where this is not just accepted but expected. Possibly because of this in recent years there has been a move to include knowing jokes about the latently homoerotic nature of these stories and to play up the elements of ‘bromance’ (Hot Fuzz is a good example of this). At the same time these knowing jokes end up actually affirming heteronormativity and disavowing these undercurrents by turning them into something that can be discounted as not serious and something to be laughed at. The heterosexual order is always left in place. However the Stakeout ends with an act of a violence that upends the standard endings of cop buddy movies/shows where the two male police acknowledge their friendship then move on.

The relationships between men (in particular how the power dynamics play out) is a recurrent theme in Inside No. 9 in episodes such as ‘ Tom and Gerri’, ‘The Bill’, ‘The referee’s a wxxxer’ and ‘Bernie Clifton’s Dressing Room’ amongst others. Indeed this is along with ‘Bernie Clifton’s dressing room’ almost entirely a two hander between Pemberton and Shearsmith. This episode plays out very differently indeed but in its own way examines how men relate to each other .

We see Varney and Thompson bond over the three nights of the story. The banter between them is beautifully observed with Varney trying to win over Thompson (I particularly like the use of the fortunately/unfortunately game on the first and third nights with their subtle indications of changing dynamics between Thompson and Varney).

It is even more fascinating as a vampire story (or more specifically as Adam Tandy referred to it at the BFI preview as a hidden vampire story). There are only subtle indications during the episode such as Varney’s disgust at the smell of Thompson’s curry and his knocking on the door of the car so Thompson invites him in to indicate his true nature. It is interesting to compare The Stakeout to the recent BBC adaptation of ‘Dracula’ which was co-written by Pemberton and Shearsmith’s League of Gentlemen colleague and friend Mark Gatiss. This adaptation explored and questioned the tropes around vampire stories (such as why do vampires need to be invited in and why they dislike garlic). Varney actually says ‘And I’m not a cliché, I hope’ to the audience at the beginning of the episode, almost expressing Pemberton and Shearsmith’s desire to bring something new to the telling of such stories and to entertain the audience. ‘The Stakeout’ may take an apparently more straightforward approach to these tropes but it does explore their deeper meanings in a subtle manner.

Worth noting here the name Varney was inspired by the character of Varney the vampire who appeared in Victorian ‘penny dreadfuls’. Varney actually introduced several tropes to vampire lore such as fangs and superhuman strength (both of which Varney in The Stakeout has!) but many of the tropes included in the episode came later. Varney’s name deliberate nod to the history of vampires in popular culture and possibly Varney’s use of a Victorian stiletto blade is also another nod to the character.

The viewer if they wish could read ‘The Stakeout’ as a supernatural riff on ‘Line of duty’ with Varney’s vampirism being a metaphor for corruption. Certainly it fits in with current police dramas where other members of the police are as much to be mistrusted and morally comprised as the criminals.

However Pemberton and Shearsmith are very familiar with vampire lore and the tropes of vampire stories, and more significantly with their deeper significance and psychological meanings.

It is of course not the first time Pemberton and Shearsmith have given us a vampire story. One of their most memorable and loved pieces of work is the League of Gentlemen Christmas special from 2000 which includes a vampire story concerning Herr Lipp with it’s eventual revelation that it is Herr Lipp’s wife Lotte, not Lipp himself who is the vampire.( At this point it is worth flagging up that in this story Matthew Parker mistakes Herr Lipp’s sexual interest in him for him being a vampire but Lipp actually saves Matthew from becoming a vampire because of his feeling for him).

Vampires remain a perennial obsession in popular culture, especially over the past twenty-five years. We have seen the success of Buffy the vampire slayer, The Twilight series (both films and novels), True blood (both films and novels) and the Blade series, amongst other vampire franchises in various media. These series portray vampires dealing with life in the modern world. These series portray vampires as complex characters with inner lives who are capable of emotions such as guilt and love. The young human female central figure (Buffy, Bella, Sookie) form romantic relationships with vampires (Angel and later Spike, Edward, Bill) and these stories use male vampires to explore female desire and female fears about the nature of their male lovers. Indeed, vampire stories have long been used to explore both female and male sexual desire and anxieties around sexuality. This is an important point when discussing the episode.

In the South Bank show on Pemberton and Shearsmith which was filmed during the filming of series five Steve Pemberton spoke about why he loves some of his favourite horror films specifically ‘The Wicker Man’ and ‘Don’t look now’. He spoke of how powerful he found the tragic endings of these films and the fact that evil prevails. It is worth discussing The Stakeout in relation to these films. (Please note these are very simple overviews of both films!) In both these stories two decent, if misguided men (Neil Howie in ‘The Wicker Man’, John Baxter in’ Don’t look now’) end up getting killed as a result of misinterpreting and underestimating the forces they are up against. Both men attempt to be logical in an illogical world, but fail to deal with the illogical parts of their own personalities. Both men are destroyed by their failure to address and deal with underlying desires. Howie behaves with open contempt toward the Summerisle residents and their beliefs and practices, while holding his own hard-line religious beliefs (Lord Summerisle taunts he is getting to die a martyrs death which is something that should please him). He also fails to look at his own desires and motivations for wanting to protect Rowan as a symbol of purity. Baxter tries to support his wife Laura through her grief for their daughter Christine and is troubled by her desire to contact Christine beyond the grave. He ignores his own deep grief and desire to have Christine return. Ironically he gets his wish to be reunited with her when he is killed.

Like Baxter in Don’t Look Now, Thompson fails to deal with his grief for his former partner Dobson (Malik Ibheis) in a constructive way. He also fails to properly deal with his feelings of guilt that he was absent from the car (getting food) when his partner was killed. He decides to go on a one man mission to find his killer without informing anyone, not just ignoring the actual surveillance operation he and Varney are supposed to be working on but also putting his job and as it turns out his life at risk. It could be argued Varney kills Thompson because he is the one person who shows any interest in answering questions around Dobson’s death. Thompson is reunited in the most horrendously ironic manner with Dobson in the last moments of the episode. The vampirised Dobson will feed on Thompsons blood just as Thompson’s grief and feelings of guilt have eaten away at his personality. Steve Pemberton manages to convey Thompson’s horror at the situation in his final seconds as Dobson approaches but also conveys almost a sense of acceptance and affection.

It is worth discussing here what the psychoanalyst Ernest Jones wrote about vampires in his 1931 book ‘On the nightmare’ (as an aside this book is available as a free pdf online). He argues that vampire lore speaks to the desire to be reunited with dead loved ones. He also discusses that where there was unconscious guilt associated with the relationship (as Thompson has ) these feelings may get subverted into something darker. As the Wikipedia entry for vampires puts it ‘Jones surmised in this case the original wish of a reunion may be drastically changed: desire is replaced by fear; love is replaced by sadism, and the object or loved one is replaced by an unknown entity’- this certainly fits the description of what occurs to Thompson’.

Jones also wrote about how vampire lore also is informed by sexuality and repressed sexual desires and how repression can ultimately turn them into something cruel (the oral fixation of vampire stories was also commented on by Freud)

It can also be argued that this is a story about Thompson being destroyed by his failure to acknowledge his latent homosexuality. Varney represents both Thompson’s desire for intimacy with other men and his fear of what will occur if he allows himself to become close to another man. Varney is handsome, outgoing and (apparently) courageous – all attractive qualities. Varney finally attacks and feds on Thompson only after they have gotten to know each other and he has won Thompson’s trust by apparently saving him during the shoot-out. We know from what he says early on Varney feds once a month. He could have attacked Thompson the first night of the stakeout. However he waits until the point where Thompson has bonded with him. This seems to indicate that Varney possibly needs to feel a connection to the people he feeds on. But it also is possible further evidence that Varney represents Thompson’s fear of what would happen he allows himself to open up to the possibility of a relationship with another man . Varney is only able to enter the car (symbolic of Thompson’s emotional space) and finally attack Thompson because he was invited to…

We also never discover what exactly what the relationship between Varney and Thompson’s dead partner Dobson was. But it could be assumed there was some bond as Varney chose to turn him into a vampire who will be his companion (It is a well-known trope in vampire stories that vampire chose to turn potential lovers into vampires- however Varney refers to Dobson as ‘my child’). Could it be that they were involved in a relationship? Varney turning Dobson into a vampire represents Thompson’s fear of being imitate with another man as being something unnatural and corrupting. Varney also gets to have the relationship with Dobson Thompson could not bring himself to have. Thompson makes a point of describing Dobson as a married man and father, focussing on him as a model of heterosexuality, possibly disavowing and discounting any feeling he himself had for him. But the fact Thompson is willing to go so far to get justice for Dobson and that he carries his photo around does testify to the depth of his feelings.

Varney, with his interest in veganism, healthy diet, Chai lattes, yoga (a cut scene involved Varney teaching Thompson yoga techniques to help him relax) and openness in discussing feelings represents quite a different model of masculinity to both Thompson and Dobson (Thompson mentions how different he is to Dobson who could apparently be moody). Varney tries to get Thompson to take both his physical and mental health more seriously and tries to show him useful tools to help him with this. However every single one of these suggestions actually turns out just for the purposes of helping Thompson be a better victim /feed in the end . For example as noted in the podcast (although cut from the final episode) Thompson undoes the first button of his shirt exposing his neck as a result of a relaxation technique Varney showed him. Varney’s concern about Thompson’s blood pressure and not giving himself food poisoning is more to do with insuring he will be ready to feed on him at the right time. Could Varney represent Thompson’s anxieties about men who do not necessarily conform to his view of what constitutes masculinity (and how in the end it may make men like him behind )?

The conversations about Thompson and Varney about food also indicate aspects of their character which are worth noting – particularly in light of how psychoanalysis discusses oral fixation in vampire lore. Thompson’s appetite for food which is commented on several times throughout the episode can be said to indicate several things. On one level it is ironic someone who is so concerned with feeding himself becomes food. Also as I pointed out earlier Dobson was killed while Thompson was collecting food, which exacerbates his feelings of guilt. But Thompson’s appetite for food could be said to be a way of connecting to others. He remembers his feasts with Dobson affectionately (including relating a very novel use for an empty pringles tube!) and he offers Varney food (namely his curry) as a way of getting to know him. Thompson could be seen as a comfort eater and as using food as a substitute for affection and bonding with those he cares about. Varney’s repulsion at Thompson’s curry could possibly deeper than a vampire’s dislike of garlic but because he senses it is a symbol of Thompson’s disconnect from his own feelings and desires. When Varney describes himself as a flexitarian who only feeds on meat once a month early on in the episode he is indicating he in control of his appetites and desires but also aware and willing to acknowledge them. This gives him a power which Thompson lacks and why he ultimately gets the upper hand in the relationship. In the final moments of the episode Varney instructs the now vampirised Dobson to feed on Thompson’s blood .Thompson who used food to try and connect to both his dead partner and Varney is finally gets his moment of connection with both in the most ironic way imaginable.

The moment when Varney finally reveals his true nature to Thompson and attacks him has erotic power that it occasioned a question at the BFI preview., and which Pemberton and Shearsmith discussed the homoerotic nature of the moment on their podcast about the episode It could be seen as the point where the relationship between Varney and Thompson’s relationship is finally ’consummated’. It could also be read as a metaphor for a sexual assault.

Just some final observations about the episode…

The episode is beautifully shot (at some considerable expense apparently!) by Mattias Nyberg creating both a dreamlike and disturbing atmosphere. The way both Pemberton’s and Shearsmith’s faces are lit are astonishing. Christian Henson’s (as ever) wonderful score with it’s Hungarian influence and soaring distorted strings further adds to the sense foreboding. The graveyard background is also used in a subtle manner but does help convey an foreboding mood. And of course the direction by Giullem Morales (who has directed several episodes of the show) is as usual excellent but as a director who came from a background in horror this story in particular must have appealed.

The poster for the episode places Varney and Thompson against the backdrop of barren branches which almost become a spiders web (of course we only eventually find out who the spider and fly in the relationship is).

I also have to note Pemberton and Shearsmith wrote this episode in a few days after another script was turned down. This makes the fact this is such a powerful episode with such beautifully observed dialogue and skilful seeding of the final reveal even more impressive.

This is just my own take on the episode. It is enjoyable on many levels- as a police procedural, a vampire story and a brilliantly acted two hander between Pemberton and Shearsmith and is further proof of their enormous gifts as writers and actors and their ability to transcend and enrich genres.

[smokeybrandreviews]

Jill Sandwich

So Resident Evil 3 Remake is out in the wild and i can finally talk about this thing in detail. I have an interesting relationship with the RE franchise. It’s kind of a love/hate situation. I love the first three titles and Veronica. I kind of hate everything that came after. IV through VI are just plain awful, particularly VI. Cats fight me about IV but i don’t care for it. Capcom stopped doing what they do best, desperate survival horror, and started emulating those action films starring Leeloo Dallas. That’s find but, i mean, watching Chris Redfield, jacked up on the super roids, punch out a whole ass boulder, while fighting a chimera virus infected Wesker, in the heart of a goddamn volcano, was way too much. And there was another entire game after that one with this campy, wacky, bullsh*t. I hated it. All of it. Then Resident Evil VII dropped and everything changed.

Revelations hinted at a return to form but it was REVII that showed the world what Resident Evil was really about. My goodness was that game good. I was on the edge of my seat playing through that coil of stress, atmosphere, and insidious violence. It was beautiful. That game was beautiful. I found my self longing for that engine, driving my favorite title of the entire franchise, Resident Evil II. To my surprise i got exactly what i wanted. Holy sh*t, when Resident Evils II Remake dropped, i sh*t myself. This was the Resident Evil game i always wanted. This is what survival horror should have been the entire time. Remake hit every note of nostalgia while building a brand new experience. Not only were the graphics updated, bu the entire story was streamline and, thanks to some excellent voice work, it was rather enthralling this go around. REII was already one of my favorite games but Remake found a spit right next to it on my all-time list. When i finished that motherf*cker for the first time, after experiencing that horror on two legs called Mr. X, i thought about how dope Nemesis would be in this engine. To my surprise, i wouldn’t have to wait long to find out.

First and foremost, R3make is goddamn gorgeous. It’s absolutely beautiful. Capcom’s RE Engine pulls all of it’s weight on this one. The lighting and particle effects are spectacular. I thought Remake II looked great but this game really stand out. There are a few little concessions made to push the hardware but that’s to be forgiven. I can deal with an exploding limb or disappearing body if it means i can get the detail and literally horde levels of zombies on my ass at all times. It’s insane just how many of theses things are packed on screen, in that level detail, while Nemesis is launching f*cking rockets at you.

I have to absolutely gush about the writing for a minute here. I remember the old REIII being kind of hokey, kind of campy. I chocked it up to the limitations of the OG PlayStation. Not this one. The PS4 gives the script writers a level of power to get really creative. The dialogue Jill has with everyone feels real, It feels organic. She acts like a person with training in the middle of a crisis and i adore every second of it. I mean, her banter with Carlos is more than enough for the price of admission.

Also, Jill is just a regular badass. It’s dope seeing her getting her proper due in this game. The last time we saw her, outside of one of those Revelation games, she was a muppet for Wesker. Bullsh*t, son! Not here. Here, she is in all her bad ass. Umbrella busting, glory and i love it. I also love her redesign. Function over fashion, ya dig?

The remix of levels caught me off guard at first. They took out a lot of set pieces i remember like the park and Jill’s run through the RPD. These aspects of her original playthrough make an appearance, just in completely different ways. Also worth mentioning, there are like, no puzzled in this game. I remember the original being very, frustratingly, puzzle heavy way back when. This game is not that. It is a narrative focused, action driven, murder fest. I am more than okay with that particular alteration.

The redesigned enemies in this game are spectacular. I kind of expected a few changed, mostly based on the Ivy from Remake II, but Capcom really found a way to be creative with these new enemies. There’s, like, Las Plagas zombies in this thing. You blow of their heads and a parasite pops out. It’s insane. I always though Nemesis was infected with a Plagas and this game kind of confirms that. I love the new take on the Hunters. The Alphas have kind of a predator face now but the Gammas? The Gammas have this massive parasite that pops out of their gaping maws. It looks just like the Gravedigger and since there isn’t really a park level to this game, imagine they serve the same purpose. Or, repurpose in this case. There’s even a couple of surprises in store for those who know their lore. Their horrifying Resident Evil lore.

F*cking Nemesis, man. Nemesis is nightmare fuel incarnate. Dude is outright horrifying, the entire time you play this game. He’s fast, agile, and f*cking terrifying. I had problems with Mr. X but this asshole? Dude literally sprints after you when you run away. I kind of hate it but, at the same time, i f*cking need it! Good ol’ Nemi’s redesign is amazing. I was a little iffy at first, but seeing it in action sold me. And then his second form happened. Bro. What? And then that third. Okay, Capcom, come on? Y’all were just showing off with that one.

The only thing holding this game back, in my opinion, is that it can get a little REVI at times. I mean that the action becomes just a hair too over-the-top. That entire end sequence with final form Nemesis was absolutely ridiculous. I mean, i loved it, don’t get me wrong, but, f*ck, coming off Remake II and several parts of this one, it just felt a little out of place. There’s a few times where this issue creeps up but, like i said, it’s more of a nitpick than anything. The grounded nature and character driven narrative distract from the more... zealous aspects of this game.

As far as gameplay, if you played Remake II or any of the RE titles after IV, you know what to expect. Over the shoulder, third person, all day! I hate shooters but i can play the f*ck out of these types. Tank controls have gone the way of the dodo it seems but i ‘m not bad with their replacement. This game feels right with this camera set up. Shooting feels right. Dodging feels rewarding. This game feels real good to play.

There aren’t anymore of those quick decision deals like in the original but that’s not a problem. They would have interfered with the narrative driven aspects of this game. You can still, you know, shoot Nemi in the face for dope sh*t but i wouldn’t. F*ck all of that. Maybe after a third of fourth playthrough. Maybe. There’s no Mercenaries mode or multiple endings but you can play a good portion as Carlos and there’s a brand new multiplayer component with it’s own narrative called Resident Evil Resistance so, i guess that’s dope? I dunno. I f*cks with that single player campaign all day, tho.

R3make is f*cking outstanding. I love this game. Absolutely adore the f*ck out of it. I still like Remake II better but that’s more because i just adore II overall. That said, R3make is the f*cking tits. This sh*t is fast paced, adrenaline pumping, stress inducing, action packed, zombie killing. It does justice to Jill, makes me care about Carlos, and even does some interesting things with Nemesis. I was thoroughly surprised by some narrative choices taken but they dded to the overall plot,giving life to a game that sorely needed it, while not compromising once on gameplay. While there are certain design aspects i would have liked seen skew closer to the earlier titles in the franchise rather than the later ones, that is a small gripe. Even in all of it’s Bayhem glory, and there is a lot of that toward th end, this game never loses the spirit of who it is. Resident Evil III Remake is a f*cking masterpiece and you should get into it the second this quarantine lifts if you haven’t already had an opportunity to grab a copy.

[coe-lilium]

TroS reaction (1st view)

Necessary premise in bullet points:

- I liked TFA when it came out and still do but as I dug into the franchise/canon (Disney only by choice) my enjoyment of it became more lukewarm. Came out of it dreading a potential Reylo but liking the two charas on their own. 

- went into TLJ worried I’d hate it, came out with it being my favorite saga movie and sold on the Rey-Ren connection, whatever road it would’ve taken. Loved the “Rey’s powerful on her own/bc the Force wants to set Kylo’s wrongs right”. It felt good after two years of being bombarded with “this fucking Mary Sue can have any power only if she’s connected to powerful men of the saga, she has otherwise no right in being powerful” in forums spaces.    

- went into TroS non-spoiled, wary of Palpatine return but relatively hopeful if soured about the “JJ our lord and saviour pleease save us from evil evil Jonhson” (HA!). The rumors about lore from the tv series being featured into the movie had me excited.  

That said, here goes: [SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE MOVIE, ENDING INCLUDED, RIGHT OFF THE BAT]

I didn’t like it. I really hope to warm up to it more in future views, there’s absolutely stuff I liked or even loved, but as it stands now it was overall a massive disappointment on many sides and -worst of all- threatens to retroactively ruin my enjoyment in other previous stories. 

First, the positives: 

- Parentage notwithstanding, Rey was good. Her rage, her fears, her good heart, her commitment to the fight and the training, her longing for guidance… truly, if the bloodline revelation hadn’t retroactively ruined my investment in the character and themes I’d have fully, 100% loved her even if every single other part of the movie had been the same. 

Except for a brief war flashback to Starkiller game abilities (I lolled) I wasn’t even troubled by all the new abilities or their scope. Movies’ been inventing new powers since the beginning and the Force does what the Force wants. Again, fuck the genetics “twist”, garbage stuff. 

- Kylo, next to… 95% that involved him? TLJ did a great job selling him to me and surprisingly this movie added to that instead of retconning it away. More competent but still stupid and petty from time to time. I’m glad he came back, glad he choose right and glad he was allowed more time on the right side than Anakin. I love redemptions and he was portrayed as wavering the entire trilogy, I don’t even really care that it could’ve done better. I’m happy for him and his family, that’s all. The kiss got a laugh out me but not a malicious one, I was kind of running out of reasonable reactions by then. 

I’m just conflicted on how I feel about his death. Back when TFA was released I wanted him to survive to face what Anakin didn’t: justice (the kid-friendly setting prevented a death sentence anyway), atonement and growth from there, I still wish it happened and maintain that a different pacing would’ve allowed it. On the other hand, I’m also kinda okay with him dying. He righted at least a bit of his many wrongs, he saved a person he cared for, that his parents cared for and that could help the galaxy much more than he ever could and he was at peace. It was a good death.      

- Kylo’s vision/illusion of Han. A surprise but a very pleasant, well acted one. Would’ve I maybe liked Anakin more, as Ben idolized him so much and for all the wrong reasons and because I love that disaster? Yes. Does Han work much better in the economy of the movie and trilogy story and do he and Ben have a much rawer relationship and history? Absolutely. I am a teeny tiny bit baffled as  for why Luke didn’t also show up, but the actual scene was good enough I forgive it.  

- Rey and Kylo bond and connection was one of the saving graces of this mess and I utterly loved it. Both actors worked their asses for for all their scenes and it payed off, oh if it payed off. Their DSII duel was perhaps a tad long but great nonetheless (Republic era Jedi jumps!), the hurt and the sense of absolute loss and grief they both conveyed -and shared!- after Leia’s passing was incredible, Rey regretting the near kill and softly going “I would have stayed, had you renounced the dark side”. She cared, yes, but not to the point of ignoring the horrors (something Anakin never quite understood). The “dyad” stuff was a bit overkill, just call it a force bond, we can see it’s freaking powerful, but the Force Skype and sharing of objects that came with the package, that I loved. Surprise lightsaber, Ren fuckers! :D Bet Anakin and Obi Wan were really jealous, that would’ve come in handy during the war.       

- Finn was now fully invested in the cause, at ease, visibly happy to be with his friends, ready to bond and reach out, quick to plan, to act and to adapt to the situation, brave but cautious and calculating. I wish it was given a bit more focus, but I loved he found other young FO defectors. Also fuck yeah, he’s force sensitive and his ability is used, not just thrown in as a useless wink. Jedi Finn in future material, c’mon!

- Poe’s also grown. He was probably going to have more screen time with Leia had Carrie not died but there was nothing to be done for that. I’m not as happy as for previous 3 charas for the backstory retcon I’ll tackle in the negatives.

- Jannah was cool, the addiction of other FO defectors a welcomed one and the scene were she and Finn excitedly went over their “I broke free” moment was adorable. Good bean, I’d read more about her and her company. 

- A bit lot annoyed at Bloodline being kinda tossed outta the window but getting Leia with lightsaber was nice. Give me some ancillary material to deal with the clash and I’ll fully forgive it. 

- Jedi! MY GIRL AHSOKA MY MAN KANAN! I mean, I sure wish they were in a better movie, but hey, recognition for something more than the OT? No slandering of the Order but all of them collectively kicking Sidious ass once and for all? I’ll gladly take it. Anakin, my dude, I’m sorry your sacrifice was next to nullified but it was good to hear you again ;_;  I didn’t hear Ezra’s voice anywhere so I can still hope he’s alive, well and with the Ascendancy teaching all their Navigators. “I am all the Jedi” remains a terrible line. 

And now, oh boi. Here comes the long list of annoying - bad - stinking shit stuff: 

- If I wanted to watch a 2 and half long videogame cutscenes I’d have done that in the comfort of my home without spending money for tickets. Go to level x to retrieve related macguffin, move to next level to get next macguffin and so on and so on. I liked close to everything in the DS II sequences, but what would’ve that dagger pointed at if the wreckage had fallen even a little bit differently?   

In general, many plot points gave me the feeling they were stolen from the tv series and badly executed, like a mockery (or incompetence?). Case in point: Hux betraying the 1st Order out of personal, spiteful hate? Potentially good! The execution? A poor man’s Rebels Agent Kallus, already over in little more than 5minutes. 

- Palpatine himself is a poorly, ridiculously poorly executed Maul resurrection storyline from tcw and rebels. 

Because Maul was 1. explained and 2. got a good, long arc that made you forgive the undoubtably contrived ass-pull it took to bring him back while Sidious is just… there. You gotta accept it because the writer said so. 

How did he survive? We don’t know and fuck you if you expect an explanation (they really had the absolute galls to have him say the iconic/meme line from Rots and apparently it was supposed to be enough?!) How could he “have all Sith reside inside me” when canon’s clear that Sith do-not-get-to-retain-their-individuality-in-the-Force, do not work well together (lmao) and he as an individual never gave a shit about the Sith except when they could serve his own personal desires? His entire approach to the rule of two and other Sith stuff is “fuck that noise, everything in the galaxy exist to serve me”. He’s fine dying as long as “the Sith rule”? Who IS this character, because he’s not Darth Sidious (as presented in Disney’s own canon, mind). Oh, you wanted explanations? FUCK YOU, screams the movie. 

The mess gets somehow salvaged in the end as he comes to his senses and siphon the life out of Rey and Ben to de-rotten/revive himself to rule in person, now *that* was in character. Was he actually lying his ass off the entire time waiting for the moment he could siphon them? Hopefully but who the hell even knows.

In the end it just wasn’t worth bring him back. A holocron, a different Sith, even a hive-mind of old records/tainted wraiths of Sith (perhaps wearing Palps face to buy the old empire aficionados loyalty, idk) would’ve been better than “actually, Anakin suffered nearly his entire life and sacrificed himself for barely more than 25 years of peace and it still wasn’t enough to rid the galaxy of the monster who destroyed his and countless other lives”. But Johnson was the one shitting on beloved characters legacy and accomplishments, uh? Surely at least he’s got company. 

Ian was clearly having a blast, so there was… that? And the initial sequence being legit creepy and the Sith storm or whatever the fuck was that. That can stay, it was cool.     

- Poe, the latino character, got retconned from former Republic pilot (a backstory established before TFA came out and faithfully respected ever since) into a smuggler and gang member. Classy. What does Lucaslfilm have a story group for if not for stopping stuff like this from happening? Bonus Zorii being used for a “no homo! homo? no homo?” wink wink and for generally being a poor man Solo’s Qi’ra.   

- The movie makes you worry for a character death three (3) times in a row only to immediately backpedal on it. The survivors are grieving, the scene is sober… and then suddenly! they’re alive! isn’t it wonderful? let’s insert a comical scene now that we’re at it! Sigh.   

- The whole Threepio stuff was a contrived waste of time in a movie already full of more relevant plot treads that could’ve put that screen time to better use. 

- Rey’s parents apparently aren’t assholes anymore bc they sold her into slavery to protect her from Sidious, which is… supposed to make it alright, a sacrifice in the name of love? If they had been shown trying to give her to a trusted person and then she was kidnapped that wouldn’t had been their fault, just unfortunate, but the movie shows them leaving their 5yo daughter with her in-all-but-name slaver so?? 

- Rey Palpatine… Rey. Palpatine. Gesù Cristo benedetto che minchia mi è toccato di vedere. That hurt. That was so hilariously over the top bad I just…I started laughing. On top of the entire thing, thank you so, soo much for validating all those fucking assholes who demanded Rey be connected to a powerful man in the saga to accept her powers and value, you hack. Jedi were never about power of blood and then you went and reinforced the very opposite. She ain’t powerful bc the Force recognized her as worthy to stop evil and chose to aid her anymore, she’s powerful bc grandfather was. Lovely stuff. Hilariously, now she has a lot more legit “Mary Sue” traits than before. 

- Rose’s sidelining was a blatant bow to her and her actress haters whims. If in VIII she jumped at the chance of action, now she was fearful and “had to stay behind” studying maps. Fuck that noise. 

- Even if she rejected it, underline is that the Skywalker line is wiped out and the Palpatine one thrives. I… just… wtf wtf wtf. A final “Just Rey” would’ve been more powerful -because now it would’ve been reclaimed- and less corny and in poor taste than a Palpatine taking on the Skywalker name. I’m not sure if Sidious is more offended or if he’s laughing his ass off in space!hell. Probably the 2nd. Bad.      

- The final scene on Tatooine. It rang so empty because the planet brings warm memories only to the audience, not the characters. In-universe, that place brought nothing but misery to the Skywalkers: Anakin and Shmi were brought there as slaves and lived as such for years, Shmi was tortured to death and Anakin began his descent into the dark for crying out loud. Luke had to hide and saw his relatives murdered. Leia had no connection whatsoever to the place. The mera idea of burying Anakin Skywalker lightsaber into the sands of Tatooine and considering it a way of paying respect is… I don’t know, hilariously in bad taste? Rey, dear, what did you have personally against the guy? Put those sabers to rest on Naboo! Ah, but we can’t truly acknowledge the PT now, can we? Wack.   

- It’s not TroS complete fault, that “honor” mostly sit at TFA’s feet but for all its omages, copies and almost slavish references, from a in-universe point of view it’s like the OT barely occurred. 

The same evil man has been defeated (until next time?), the Republic must be rebuilt from scratch, a evil military is all over the place and must be dealt with, the Jedi Order has to be rebuilt… it’s depressing. A new evil taking advantage of the empire leftovers would’ve been one thing, but Sidious? He’s been effectively winning nonstop ever since he was elected Chancellor. He had all the power, all the influence, all the control and he maintained it all even as a rotten corpse in exile, the entire galaxy marching on his tune, controlled by his strings. And as the cherry on top of the cake he even managed to wipe out the family that could’ve, should have been his undoing! He effectively destroyed the Skywalkers. He outlived every Jedi, every survivor, every clone. I hate this. It’s sickening. I can’t even be happy Rex was on Endor anymore.      

In general, the best word I can find for this movie is: coward. 

So blatantly desperate to please, to be “forgiven”, to reference every single irrelevant thing -except the PT and the TV series in a intelligent way-, to throw fanservice after fanservice after fanservice no matter how nonsensical from all over that crossed the “corny” to wander into embarrassing territory many times over (Maz giving Chewie a medal outta nowhere? Come the fuck on now). 

The cartoon series had twenty time the guts of this movie and I vehemently wish for Filoni to take the helm of the entire creative team in a very near future.                  

[shyguycity]

Goty 2019

Hey. It’s game of the year 2019 baby. By now you know the kinda justice we seek on these streets, so no long-winded introductions, except to remind you that these aren’t reviews, and honorable mentions have been moved down to the bottom this year because we're evolving.

12. Super Kirby Clash (Switch) - A free to play online Kirby spinoff centered around combat that features microtransactions sounds like an awful idea on paper, and yet it’s somehow my most played multiplayer game of 2019. I won’t try and present the game as anything more than what it is, which is basically a very (very very very!) simplified, arcade-y Monster Hunter game with a very (very very very very!) cute aesthetic. But as a recent convert to Monster Hunter and a longtime Kirby lobbyist, it turns out that that’s all I need to play a game for nearly 100 hours. The four classes all have varied abilities, gameplay and roles to play, and there’s nothing more satisfying than freezing time as the mage in the middle of an enemy’s jumping animation. I found the microtransactions to be completely fair, as I spent around 10 dollars total on the game and never found myself hurting for apples (the game’s main currency and the only one you can buy with real money) to upgrade my equipment. This isn’t a game I would be able to recommend to everyone, but if it’s your type of thing then it’s going to be very much your type of thing.

*Image credit: 505 games

11. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (Switch/PS4/Xbox One/PC) - Despite horrible first impressions from my backer copy of the Switch version, Bloodstained really ended up delivering the true Castlevania: Symphony of the Night successor it promised to be, and I had a fantastic time with it (after trading in my Switch version and begrudgingly purchasing a PS4 copy). While I love almost all of the Castlevania games in their own ways, even the best entries post-SotN didn’t end up feeling much like SotN. Bloodstained, meanwhile, wears its inspiration on its sleeve. Or rather on its wolf hood and gas mask combo.

Obscure, bizarre, and goofy secrets are around every single corner of the castle. I mean, like, really esoteric ones that I can’t imagine having found without a guide. From the myriad of hidden (and very challenging!) boss fights, to trophies popping for playing a piano while having a fair familiar out to entire sprite based areas, the surprises never stop being thrown at the player. It adds so much goofball flavor to the game that’s missing from just about any other entry in the genre, and it does the brunt work in giving this game its identity.

Not only are the secrets plentiful and good, but the combat is also excellent; much like a couple entries in the latter Castlevania games, just about every single enemy in Bloodstained has a chance of dropping you a shard upon defeat, and each one gives your character Miriam a new ability. Some of these are simple passive buffs, while others completely change your combat options. From ghostly portrait guardians to giant dentist drills coming out of your hand to summoning disembodied dragon’s heads, the shard system is never not entertaining, and leaves the player so much room for experimentation and realizing their ideal build it’s actually a wonder they were able to bug test this thing at all. And truly, the main issues holding Bloodstained back from true greatness are its technical issues. Which is a shame, and seemingly an issue on all platforms. But if you can handle a hard crash here or there, you’re in for a treat.

10. Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Switch) - I never thought I would care at all for any Fire Emblem game. Certainly, I saw the appeal of them prior to Three Houses, but they just never seemed like something I would want to devote a lot of time to. But putting the game in a school setting and recontextualizing your soldiers as students really made a huge difference for me, and I bonded with the characters in the game in a way I normally reserve for my Pokemon teams. And unlike Pokemon, I can marry my students, which is beautiful and horrifying.

There are definitely issues with Three Houses. A silent protagonist has no right starring in a game like this, especially with all the emotional story beats the game is trying to pull off. The writing in general was also all over the place, ranging from odd decisions with both the characters as well as the overarching story (some of this is remedied by replaying the game multiple times and going down different routes, but I put 60 hours into the game and couldn’t even finish two paths, so that’s a bit unrealistic). Lastly, the monastery that serves as your school needs just a tad more variety in activities to do in between the battles, as what started out as my favorite part of the game became a chore for the last dozen or so hours.

All of that said, I am anxiously waiting for the sequel, as the foundation that’s been put down here could lead to something truly special. As it stands, this is the best secret Harry Potter game ever made, and that alone is going to have a lot of appeal to a lot of people.

*Image credit: Gamespot

9. Resident Evil 2 (PS4/Xbox One/PC) - Truly, I have never been more stressed out when playing a game than the first time I had to start dealing with Mr. X. Yes, on each subsequent playthrough (of which I did many!) and even encounter he became less of a threat and more of an annoyance, but much like a good horror movie, that first time will remain embedded in my brain as one of my most memorable gaming moments.

And that kinda sums up Resident Evil 2 as a whole for me. An amazing, unforgettable start in the police station, followed by a somewhat middling second act in the sewers, and ending on kind of a weirdly short whimper in a very tonally different setting than the rest of the game. And that’s without getting into how disappointingly similar the “B” playthroughs of either character were to their “A” counterparts. It was all still great, mind you, and the gameplay and scares remained excellent throughout. But man was that first act in the police station something truly special, and I’m hopeful that the eventual remake of 3 keeps more of that tone throughout.

8. Pokemon Sword/Pokemon Shield (Switch) - Cutting hundreds of Pokemon was pretty close to the bottom of my list of concerns going into the latest Pokemon. The series hasn’t really grabbed me in a major way since Black and White on the DS almost 9(!) years ago, and I had largely accepted the idea that I was finally growing out of the franchise. While this 8th generation of Pokemon titles is far, far from perfect, and in fact doubles down on a lot of the aspects I don’t like about modern Pokemon games, Sword has become my favorite entry in the series in a very long time.

This is down to two things: my favorite batch of new Pokes the series has ever had (Galarian Farfetch’d, my prince............) and the introduction of multiplayer coop content with raids. The former is subjective I suppose (but seriously, Galarian Farfetch’d), and the appeal of the raids is going to be dictated by how into repetitive content you are and if you have people to raid with. I’m fortunate enough to love repetitive tasks in video games, especially repetitive tasks that amount to fighting and capturing giant monsters for rewards, and to have a partner to enjoy those repetitive tasks with. We lost entire weekends to hunting down new raid opportunities in Sword, and this feels like the first major step the series has taken in nearly a decade to try and reengage me in a meaningful way.

And don’t get me wrong: Pokemon has a long way to go to bring me entirely back into the fold. The dungeons are nonexistent, the routes are largely completely straightforward affairs, the post game content is so light that “barebones” feels like a generous descriptor, and the performance issues in the wild area (the game’s more open, free roaming space) are inexcusably awful when played online. I hope by the time the 9th generation games roll around that we’ll get a bigger advancement than what’s been seen here, but to me, this feels like an all around better made product than any of the 3DS entries, with or without Galarian Farfetch’d.

7. Risk of Rain 2 (Switch/PS4/Xbox One/PC) - The original Risk of Rain is a personal all-time favorite, so seeing the developers successfully make the jump from 2D to 3D while still maintaining everything I love about the first game is a truly remarkable feat. Both games sport essentially MMO-lite combat with abilities dictated by cooldowns and items that you get from chests and bosses, with rogue-like progression and permadeath. That’s a lot of jargon even for me talking about video games, so essentially: keep shooting things and powering up by grabbing items and defeating bosses, and when you’re dead you’re dead (bar a specific item), rinse and repeat.

It’s deceptively simple while being endlessly replayable. The true fun comes in when playing with other people, as every character plays completely differently, and figuring out builds for each person on the fly is extremely fun and rewarding. This also means that if you start getting bored of one character, simply play a different one on your next run. Add in an extremely moody sci-fi aesthetic (including one of my favorite soundtracks of the year) and that’s Risk of Rain.

The main issue with Risk of Rain 2 at this point is that it’s simply unfinished, and won’t even have an actual ending state until spring of 2020. This doesn’t hamper my enjoyment of the game much, hence it being on this list, but I imagine a lot of people would be bothered by it. The developers have done a great job of updating the game at a decent pace so far though, and every major patch has come with a new character, among a ton of other things. And if I’ve already gotten this much enjoyment out of an early access title, it’s exciting to think about a feature complete version down the line. And hopefully that feature complete version of Risk of Rain 2 includes the Chef character from the first game *ahem*.

6. Astral Chain (Switch) - In a year full of some real dang weird yet shockingly great games, Astral Chain stands tall as probably the weirdest surprise of them all. You’re a future cop fighting invisible ghost demons from an alternate dimension with your own invisible ghost demon chained to you through some high tech handcuffs. That’s just the first half hour of the game, and it ratchets up the anime nonsense many magnitudes over in the course of its 20ish hour runtime. And it’s great and stupid.

It’s not just the plot that’s over the top, though. Coming from developer Platinum Games, renowned for their nonstop super sweaty action portfolio, Astral Chain spends just as much time tasking the player with exploring its world, characters, and lore as it does asking you to punch enemies the size of skyscrapers (or bigger). It’s a formula that works shockingly well, as I found myself enjoying the downtime segments just as much, if not more, than the action portions of the game. And the action that is there doesn’t really play like your typical Devil May Cry or Bayonetta, either; the player character, while critical to pulling off combos and the like, is not your primary damage dealer, with that role being fulfilled by your five “legions” (the aforementioned ghost demon buddies), all of which have different strengths, weaknesses and abilities. The gameplay ends up feeling kind of like a realtime Pokemon game by way of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and no sentence I’ve ever written has been as cool as that one.

I do think Astral Chain falls a bit short in the combat department, at least compared to other games in the genre. It’s a bit too simplified, despite how crazy looking and overwhelming the actions you and your legions end up doing can be, and I think that the obligatory Platinum-style grading system in this is very poor - it doesn’t seem to grade overall performance so much as it just wants you to constantly be switching your legions in the midst of battle. Which is a great lesson to teach your players, but I would also like if anything else about my combat performance seemed to have significant weight on my grade. Having said all that, it’s a flaw that I found much easier to overlook in the midst of battle when I sent my wolf legion ahead of me, biting and tearing its way through a cluster of enemies, while I hung back inside of my punching legion, finally able to fulfill my years-long Star Platinum “ora ora ora” fantasies.

5. Anodyne 2: Return to Dust (PC) - There’s a lot going on in Anodyne 2, and I fear trying to describe it in words, not only because of all the jargon I’d inevitably have to use, but also because I’m not sure I can do the game justice. To that end, here’s a brief trailer of the game to get you started:

If you find that trailer at all intriguing, Anodyne 2 is definitely for you. And if you’re still skeptical, know that the game has far more to offer than just its (beautiful) low-poly aesthetic. While visually it’s obviously most evoking Playstation 1 era games such as Mega Man Legends, in terms of the tone of its writing it strikes a pretty peculiar balance between Earthbound and Nier: Automata (names I do not invoke lightly!). The visuals aren’t just an aesthetic choice, either - throughout the game you find yourself in 2D overhead areas, solving puzzles inside of the minds of other characters, and these varying layers of abstraction serve to further the game’s message and atmosphere. And it’s all of these things combined that pushed Anodyne 2 over the edge of “memorable” and into the realm of “haunting” for me.

It’s a game that wants to be played and experienced by everyone; you can tell how much love was put into every single corner of the world, every line of dialogue, and each and every single goofy joke. Steven Universe (another seeming inspiration of the developers) is the only other piece of media that has reminded me of just how lost and alone I’ve felt at various stages of life, while choosing not to dwell on that and instead using it as a launching pad to remind me of just how far I’ve come. As the game itself says, Anodyne 2 is a game about life, and I’ve rarely come across one that felt so full of it.

4. Judgment (PS4) - With the release of Yakuza 0 a couple of years ago, the Yakuza games went from a series I was vaguely aware of in my periphery to maybe my all-time favorite video game comfort food. They’re silly, melodramatic, sad, and beautiful, tonally swinging back and forth like a large imposing guard wildly trying to hit Kiryu with a couch section. Most importantly, they manage to feel heartfelt and personal in an age where high budget games seldom feel anything of the sort. I was initially hesitant, then, to play a spinoff that threw aside its entire cast of established characters for a crew that dabbles in detective and lawyer work; I didn’t think there was much of a chance that this new band of very handsome crimeboys with hearts of gold would be able to compare to Kiryu, Majima and the like. How glad I was to be wrong, as Judgment is now maybe my favorite of the Yakuza games I’ve played.

By pulling further out (but not completely away) from the culture of organized crime as the central driving factor of the story, you no longer need to memorize a dozen different yakuza organizations and all of their subsidiaries and patriarchs within, nor do you have to try and remember which side is feuding with who. And that isn’t to say that the story doesn’t have just as many twists and turns; it does, and despite the larger scale of the stakes, ends up feeling more focused and personal. I also found it easy to bond with the two main characters, Yagami and Kaito, as not only do their personalities play off of each other very well, but they simply share more screentime together than I’ve ever seen Kiryu get a chance to do with anyone. Truly, the story ended up being one of my favorites in the entire medium, and I fell in love with the characters to the point where I got misty eyed during the credits.

With regards to gameplay, it’s a Yakuza game. Which means a lot of running around Kamurocho, talking and shopping and playing minigames and brawling. Since the player character in this entry is a detective, there are various mechanics and events related to the profession, such as investigating crime scenes and tailing suspects, but they’re by far the weakest part of the game, and you shouldn’t come to this game looking for incredible detective gameplay. Instead, come to the game for literally everything else it offers, because it’s a fantastic experience all around, and a great jumping on point for anyone unfamiliar with Yakuza.

*Image credit: Steam user Symbol

3. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (PS4/Xbox One/PC) - Frankly, I did not much care for Sekiro for the majority of my first play through. Specifically, I dreaded its boss fights. To go from the sheer joy of being able to dispatch a courtyard full of enemies in any way I pleased in the game’s relatively free form stealth sections, to being killed in a matter of two or three hits to every single boss and miniboss was frustrating; how could I not groan when I started that duel with Genichiro at the top of the castle, knowing full well that I was going to be stuck there for a few (or more) frustrating hours? It wasn’t until the fight against the protagonist’s father figure, Owl, hours later at the same location as the aforementioned Genichiro fight, that something clicked. It only took around 30 hours, but suddenly, instead of approaching the situation like a Dark Souls or Bloodborne boss, I was not only being defensive, but I was being aggressively defensive, parrying nearly every single blow. Suddenly it was me standing in place, baiting out my opponent’s attacks only to throw the force of his own momentum back at him. Suddenly combat made sense in this damn game. And suddenly I was dead again in a quick three hits after inhaling some magic gas that prevented me from being able to heal. But that was ok! Because suddenly this game was amazing, and suddenly I had completed it four times and adored every second of it (except for that fucken four form final boss with no checkpoints).

I still stand by my (and a lot of other’s) original complaint that the disparity between the freedom offered in the rest of the game compared to the unflinchingly rigid roadmap you have to follow in fighting the bosses is jarring game design, and it’s very fun to imagine a version of Sekiro that lets you approach bosses any which way you like. On the other hand, no other game that I’ve ever played, not even Sekiro’s predecessor and my favorite game of this console generation, Bloodborne, has come anywhere close to making me feel this cool when fighting bosses. And that’s a mighty impressive accomplishment on any game’s part, speaking from the perspective of an overweight, sweaty, hairy, very uncool man.

But really, fuck that final boss though.

2. Dragon Quest Builders 2 (Switch/PS4/PC) - When we were around 10-years-old, one of my best friends, Patrick, used to host fairly regular Lego-building sleepovers, where everyone built whatever they wanted, and our creations were then showcased to the rest of the group. Being that the group consisted entirely of pre-pubescent boys, this meant building various robots or cars, all of variable quality/ability to stand upright. During one of these nights, in lieu of the usual deathbot piloted by the ghost minifig, I instead constructed a little bunker for the ghost - a place where, after a long day of being forced (by me) to pilot his mech suit and commit unspeakable acts, he could hang up his ghost hat and be forced (by me) to ponder the morality of his actions. It was just a tiny little room with the necessities: bed, table, bookshelves and pizza, but when presenting it to my friends I proudly declared that the bunker was also located at the bottom of the ocean, a factor that couldn’t be visually represented due to the harsh limits of time, Lego pieces and my ability. I was pretty proud of my cool-down chamber, but if memory serves correctly, it was Patrick’s no doubt boorish creation that was the apple of everyone’s eye. And who am I to try and convince a room full of my peers that actually, a secluded room where you could read in peace for all eternity was much cooler than a punching gorilla bot?

This is all to say that I have never been a creative type, especially when it comes to building. I had previously played Minecraft and the first Dragon Quest Builders, and while I enjoyed them, there wasn’t quite enough there to make me want to engage with them on a level beyond just playing them like any other game - I don’t think I ever built anything in DQB1 that wasn’t required for the sake of progression in the main story, and the less said about my Minecraft efforts the better. Builders 2 expertly sidesteps this issue by wrapping its building mechanics around an engaging and hearfelt story (I got teary-eyed multiple times!), great characters (especially the main character’s mysterious best friend/partner in crime, Malroth) and a lovely localization. It also encourages more freeform building than the previous game by tying the progression of the story to the progression of your main, customizable island. You don’t ever really have to go off into the weeds on your own in regards to building, but the game gives you so many opportunities to fill in the blanks on premade templates that you eventually just become comfortable in doing so. It’s hard to stop myself from gushing about the game, to the point where as I type this I’m questioning why it’s “only” number 2 on this list.

And thanks to DQB2, for the first time in 20 years I revisited my first creative endeavor: the underwater solitude bunker, this time no longer held back by the technology of the day, instead fully realized in digital form. Built as far down as the game would allow my character to dig, hidden beneath the still waters of a reservoir inside of a pyramid, it is truly a testament to mankind’s ingenuity. And it is wicked. Naturally I had my artist (and DQB2 fanatic) girlfriend visit my game’s world so she bask in my true brilliance. I gleefully guided her down to the catacombs and down the intimidatingly long chain that dangled into the deceptively still depths. After a brief swim into the murky unknown, we arrived at our hidden destination at the bottom of the earth, where she was greeted by the sight of my submerged masterpiece. A wry smile snaked itself around my lips, as I knew, was absolutely certain, that within seconds, once she had made it through the de-pressurization chamber at the entrance to my paradise, I would be hearing the words of someone simultaneously shocked, awed, and hopefully only a bit jealous. Instead, I was met with a few seconds of silence followed by a patronizing “Well, I’d have never thought to build something like this.”

So, I guess that’s why Builders 2 couldn’t quite reach the number one spot: true art is never appreciated in its time.

1. Hypnospace Outlaw (PC) - No piece of commercial art has ever felt like it was made for me in the way that Hypnospace Outlaw does. I grew up on the internet during the time period this game’s alternate reality take on the 90s internet is drawing its inspiration from; I have talked at length, to anyone who will listen, about how this early incarnation of the internet felt more like a physical space than it does now, and how much I miss the days of stumbling on to weird Geocities sites, meeting people in AOL chatrooms, and the early days of pirating. I met my first girlfriend through the internet, as well as my current one. The vast majority of the friends I’ve made in my life would not have happened without the internet, and not just because of distance; the internet allowed the younger me to be the person I was too insecure to be in person, and to develop my own voice. I owe who I am to the people I met in freeware fanmade Dragonball Z games and IRC chat rooms, and I think that’s kind of fucked up and magical, and it’s all kind of a miracle that I’m not even more of a mess of a person than I am today. And the developers of this game have clearly had those experiences, too.

I’m not going to sit here and tell you that Hypnospace Outlaw is for everyone, because it’s absolutely not. It’s essentially a detective game, but you’re solving cases by investigating user made internet pages circa 1997, and the “cases” you’re working on are largely things like bullying and copyright infringement. In other words, you’re mostly just reading gaudy websites and figuring out more about the back end and exploits of the Hypnospace experience. It is incredibly specific and niche and, as someone that sorely misses staying up until 3 AM downloading Winamp skins, I can’t stop thinking about this game, even months later.

I wrote a longer piece on the game on this very blog, and instead of rehashing anymore of it here, I’ll just direct you that way. Though if I may, I’d like to give one last endorsement for the game for any hypothetical person reading this that’s on the fence about trying it - if you’re the kind of person that somehow finds yourself reading this game of the year list, and have made it this far down the page without getting bored, I promise you that you’ll find something to love about Hypnospace Outlaw.

Honorable mentions (for games that were either not originally released in 2019 or I still wanted to briefly touch on):

Dragon Quest 11 S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition (Switch) - Somewhere in between listing the original release of Dragon Quest 11 as my 7th favorite game of 2018 and now, it went from being “a really great JRPG” to “one of the best games I’ve ever played”, and in all honesty should have probably been at the top of last year’s list. A beautiful, unmatched experience all around.

Overcooked! 2 (Switch/PS4/Xbox One/PC) - The Overcooked games are possibly the best coop games I’ve ever played by merit of them actually requiring communication between players. Framing the game’s mechanics around cooking food, a universally understood act, is brilliant.

Baba is You (Switch/PC) - This is the most clever puzzle game I’ve ever played. Hell, it’s probably the most clever game I’ve ever played period. What prevented me from truly falling in love with it was that every single puzzle after the first couple of worlds became the hardest thing I’ve ever tried to do in my life. And while that did make solving those puzzles equally satisfying, the thought of dedicating multiple hours each to stumbling through dozens and dozens more of single screen puzzles was a bit more than I was able to handle. Still, for any puzzle fans, there are some genuinely jaw-dropping moments in this that shouldn’t be missed.

Kirby’s Dreamland 3 (Switch/SNES) - The things I didn’t like about DL3 as a single player game are exactly what makes it a great coop Kirby game, which was a way to play this game that I never had the pleasure of experiencing until this year when it was re-released on the SNES Switch app. It’s skyrocketed up my list of favorite Kirby games, as well as become my favorite SNES coop game. Also, Gooey.

Kind Words (lo fi chill beats to write to) (PC) - I don’t quite qualify this as a game, as it’s more of a message in a bottle app with a very warm and charming aesthetic. But if you’ve ever wanted to anonymously reach out to strangers and tell them things are going to be all right while listening to some calming music, this is the thing for you.

Luigi’s Mansion 3 (Switch) - I have a deep, deep fondness for all three of the Luigi’s Mansion games (the GameCube and the original game were my first launch day purchases!), and 3 is by far the best game in the series. Every single moment of it was some high degree of charming and/or cute, and it’s a game I would feel confident in recommending to just about everybody. However, while I truly loved my time with the game and will no doubt replay it years down the road, there was nothing inside of it that really left any kind of deep impression on me. It’s a summer blockbuster in a kid-friendly spooky form, and that’s great for what it is.

Super Mario Maker 2 (Switch) - Mario Maker 2, sequel to what I would consider to possibly be the best game Nintendo’s ever made, is by far and away my most disappointing game of the year. It’s still an amazing toolkit, and I’ve been very satisfied with the levels I ended up making. That said, the gaming landscape has changed a lot in the 5 years between the original and the sequel, and with Nintendo’s nigh complete silence regarding updates coming to the game, I can’t consider it to be anything but a massive disappointment. And maybe that will change! But as of this posting, there’s been almost nothing to keep me coming back to the game a mere few months into its life, and that’s a huge problem. All of that said, it’s still a fantastic game and value, especially if (like most) you didn’t get a chance to play the original due to the console it was stuck on.

[geek-gem]

Rampage 2 Monster Ideas Or Possibilities

Because this is something well I wanted to make a joke at first of how Davis would react in the situation I’ve thought of for a sequel to Rampage 2018. But over time I started to think more. Basically more details, and changes to my ideas. Spoilers from the 2018 film just in case.

Including I wanted to make this list of ideal monsters. Because the video games have a huge roster that a franchise can use for the games. Along with I wanted to write my own twist on them. Considering the direction the movie took with George, Ralph, and Lizzie. If your a fan of the games you might like these ideas. But give me your thoughts on these. Especially I intend to some how Ralph and Lizzie back. Because along with George are the main trio of the franchise.

This isn’t all for one movie. But again I’m just giving out ideas. In fact I decided to study and look into stuff. Mostly about wolves because I’ve thought more in depth about Ralph 2.0. Including looked up some stuff on Crocodiles, but mostly looked up stuff about wolves. Along with I looked on the Rampage wiki on some characters. Again give me your thoughts, this is all fan fiction. Especially it seems weird with the Ralph one.

1. Ralph or humorously called Ralph 2.0 by Harvey Russell. A 7 month old Grey Wolf taken in by the Wolf Watch UK. Named Ralph by a woman who works there after she found him as a pup laying next to his dead mother who was killed by poachers. Ever since then, even being a wild animal he’s looked towards the woman as sort of mother after his died.  

Actually considered a, “Sweetheart” despite his protective nature of the woman. Especially is rather good at protecting itself when aggressive or threatened. After being affected by the same pathogen some how that affected the other animals. Growing in size, and gaining certain abilities. But compared to the original Ralph in 2018, Ralph 2.0 while aggressive, seems to be less violent than the original. Mostly because of being taken care of by humans, and his relationship with the woman who rescued him. Especially he still retains his memories.

But growing in size and other symptoms have caused him to become scared, confused, and angry. Only listening to the woman who saved him, and eventually Davis as well. He’s in a weird way a giant dog. Yet he will become violent and attack who hurts the woman who nurtured him growing up.

Is able to fly like the original Ralph, and use the needles it grew on it’s back. 

Notes: Originally I wanted this new character this woman to be played by Karen Gillian, but decided Emilia Clarke. Especially I want a joke where Harvey calls her the, “Mother Of Wolves”. Including Ralph 2.0 has a relationship to this woman similar to Davis and George. But with the woman even calling Ralph that he’s kind of like her son. Along with this Ralph is supposedly the youngest of the trio. 

2. Lizzie or humorously called Lizzie 2.0 by Harvey Russell as well. Including actually named Lizzie by Davis. A 5 year old American Crocodile that resides in the San Diego Wild Life Sanctuary, that Davis saved as well. While she doesn’t mind Davis at all. She would rather be left alone. While the American Crocodile may not be as aggressive as other species, Lizzie can be aggressive if agitated.

Affected by the pathogen that made it’s way to the sanctuary, she gained similar abilities like the original Lizzie. She’s the biggest of the three, able to breathe underwater, and has the tusks and more teeth. Especially in a similar situation as Ralph 2.0, confused, and some what scared, but angry as well.

Yet still even growing bigger, she still retained that loner behavior. Even though she’ll follow Davis because he’s the only one she can trust. Later during the film while still aggressive, realizes that her help is needed offers to help the other two against a bigger threat. Especially it’s to protect Davis from harm or any monsters threating to hurt him. Including can get very violent as well.

Notes: There’s this theme for the movie while it sounds ridiculous. Considering the situations with Ralph 2.0 and Lizzie 2.0, especially Ralph 2.0. Davis tries to convince George even if they are different species, and they may not get along. But Davis tells him that Ralph and Lizzie are not like the other two he faced. Along with the fact they are in the same situation they were in 2018. With Davis asking George to see them as like a younger brother and sister or friends, that they are part of his troop, his family, to protect them like they were one of his own. Over the film George understands and risks his life for the other two. Following this, the other two especially Ralph do the same.

Including have a cute scene of George petting Ralph 2.0 or something.

3: V.E.R.N. considered an abomination. A monster that absorbs radiation. Originally a uncomplete monster that was mixed with bat DNA and other animals before Claire was killed by George. But it was mainly top secret and but kept close to the Rampage project. Yet it was stolen by some sort of company who’s name when shortened was titled SCUM. They tried to complete it. But realized there was a reason it was never completed. It was too out of control, It couldn’t be controlled. Especially what’s more shocking and twisted.

The surprise came from the fact during the process of discovering what was in the blood of the abomination. Some how Claire Wyden’s blood was in it. The reveal was possibly one of the parts of DNA was human blood, which was Claire herself. As if VERN could of been a clone. But later revealed Claire wanted to make the ultimate weapon she could sell. But the results were too unstable. Which was possibly the reason why Claire didn’t bother continuing with it. Because it would of proved disastrous, worse than what happened with Project Rampage. While Claire was pleased with how that project went. Vern was something else. 

Including the name V.E.R.N. meant “Violently Enraged Radioactive Nemesis”.

A angry and diabolical monster, a creature that’s very feral and seems to enjoy what it’s doing. It’s as VERN if she was a clone of Claire, this would of been her after she had been killed. Angry after everything that happened. Especially Vern actually being intelligent and understanding what humans can say. That human blood was used to make it more smarter, a terrible choice indeed. Learning of the original Claire’s death, realizing they were almost the same.

Vern is the embodiment of animalistic evil. If Claire was even more unleashed in her wrong doing, proud of her work, and willing to kill anyone to get in her way. It was almost like the original Claire came back from the dead but more worse, as a giant monster. Including with her size and power, she’s a challenge for any monster.

Notes: I kind of went too far with Vern. Because Vern didn’t have more personal info. Especially last year I thought of this idea of I would of liked it if Claire had become this Bat like creature like Vern. As if this final boss so she get her ass kicked by George. Honestly Claire’s fate was well deserved. Including I understand why they didn’t take the human turning into the monster direction.

But yeah I took the route that Vern is some how Claire 2.0. But as some sort of monstrous clone mixed with a lot of animal DNA. Including as a callback Vern is female in Total Destruction. I know Claire isn’t a very good villain, or whatever she was an asshole. I guess I wanted to make a more in depth monster.

I wanted to make the, “King Ghidorah” and I thought now, “Black Hat(From Villainous)” of Rampage. Even though Vern didn’t have like this huge role in the games. But I decided to add more depth to the character. You can be critical of me if you want.

4. Myukus, a one eyed alien monster. For many years has been kept at Area 51 for many decades ever since the 1950′s. Been kept asleep and experimented on. Now with his alien superiors returning to invade the Earth. He is released by them. Angered by the American government capturing him, and keeping his on Earth for many decades. He decides to take vengeance on Earth, by destroying everything he possibly can, while aiding the aliens who freed him.

Originally a monster created by the aliens to take over the Earth. But crashing down towards the Earth weakened him and put him into a coma. Including the American government made sure he couldn’t wake up. Which fueled Myukus with rage even more. Now free, he can do what he was made for again, now with his people.

Notes: I still feel I wanna do the aliens storyline first but I liked what I did with Vern. No wait Vern came first but you can do a trilogy with so many monsters and other shit man.

5: Cal, a giant squid, born in the Florida Keys in what was considered the safest reef in the world. Transformed by massive amounts of the pathogen on the Athena-1. At first he was a small squid now, but now he’s a massive and angry squid, able to take down boats, eat people, and doing much more damage. Literally a horror underwater come to life. 

Including to make it worse, he is able to breathe air for an hour. But still needing to breathe underwater. Making him a threat not to be messed with.

Notes: Yes I’m keeping the end with the squid canon because that was amazing.

6: Larry, a large rat. Including funny enough, the same rat Harvey got from Brett Wyden. Some how the rat got into contact with the pathogen, making it grow larger and more aggressive. Especially with more time, larger than the rat on the Athena-1.

But what’s rather strange about Larry, he has a huge fondness for Harvey. Honestly a good thing. After getting the rat back from the solider later. He took care of the rat as his own. Especially Larry is mainly a annoyance rather than dangerous. 

Yet he can still fight as he’s gotten bigger near George’s size.

Notes: It’s not Curtis but found out from Brad Peyton if there was a sequel, he’ll use that name. So I decided to do just that. :)

7: Ruby, a giant lobster, it’s strangely funny in a way. How does something like a lobster that’s very small, get so big? In a similar situation to Cal, tons of the pathogen got in the water, and she got a huge dose of it. Able to snap metal with her claws, and also pretty strong for a creature like her.

She’s a big nasty bugger that gets pissed real easily if angered. 

Notes: I weirdly wanna see a giant mutated lobster, it be amazing looking to me personally.

8: Boris, a giant rhino, originally a Africian Rhinoceros, again affected by the pathogen. Becoming very large and hostile. Yet after being captured by the government and Davis trying to help. He’s gotten less aggressive over time. But still he’ll get pissed if someone attacks him, and he’ll use his giant body and horns to kill any human or monster. Basically a giant batting ram.

Notes: Not much on Boris, I’ll have him more chill when shit is doesn’t need to be done.

I wrote a lot I apologize, but for anyone interested in ideas for a sequels. We can talk and I hope you enjoy reading this. Again and I’m sorry that I keep repeating this, I want a sequel to Rampage 2018, whatever direction they go with, I’ll probably be happy. But again these are ideas because they have a lot of material mainly monsters they can use. Along with the fact the Rampage games aren’t very lore based so they can do what they want or whatever. Just hope it’s an enjoyable movie like the first one too. 

[kiwi-le-survivant]

So, since the PlayStation Classic got announced, and the Nintendo 64 Classic will probably be announced, here’s my guess/wishlist for the lineup of games.

Since the PS1 Classic has 20 games, I’ll limit the N64 Classic to 20 as well. Also, since the former apparently won’t have analog sticks, that means no MGS, apparently. I’m also assuming Rare IPs won’t be on the latter.

PlayStation Classic:

1. A Crash game 2. A Spyro game (Did they use analog sticks? I don’t remember.) 3. PaRappa the Rapper (I think it’s a pretty good representation of the unique, experimental games of the PSone.) 4. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Two of the “big three” isn’t so bad, I guess.) 5. Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee (I prefer Exoddus, but the first one seems more well-known.) 6. A Resident Evil game (Possibly RE2, since that seems to be the most popular.) 7. Silent Hill (Does that use analog sticks? I’ve never actually played it.) 8. Mega Man Legends (Some people suggested Mega Man X4, but, I dunno. Legends is a Mega Man series that began on the PlayStation, y’know?) 9. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 (I’ve never played it, but I heard it was good.) 10. Gran Turismo 2 (I mean, it makes sense.) 11. A Wipeout game (Dunno which one.) 12. Medievil (I vaguely remember it, but it’s supposed to be good, right?) 13. Dino Crisis (I just wanted to pick a horror game. ‘Cause, y’know? 13?) 14. Twisted Metal 2 (I’ve never played it, but a lot of people seem to like it.) 15. Street Fighter Alpha 3 (I think the home versions had characters not in the 30th Anniversary Collection.)

Damn. 20 is pretty restricting. Didn’t even have room for Bubsy 3D. Anyway.

Nintendo 64 Classic:

1. Super Mario 64 (A bizarre pick, I know, but I really feel it’s a hidden gem.) 2. Mario Kart 3. Tennis 4. Golf 5. One of the Party games. 6. Paper Mario (perhaps the only good RPG on N64.) 7. Ocarina of Time (Another oddball pick.) 8. Majora’s Mask 9. StarFox 64 10. F-Zero X 11. Kirby 64 12. Yoshi’s Story (I heard it’s nowhere near as good as Yoshi’s Island, but still.) 13. Donkey Kong 64 (I heard this one kind of sucks, to be honest.) 14. Super Smash Bros. (That’s pretty much a no-brainer.) 15. Resident Evil 2 (I have to include some third-party games, right? It’d be kind of funny for the PS1 and N64 Classics to share a couple of games.) 16. Mega Man 64 (Another one.) 17. Turok (I guess? Is the Turok IP still doing well? It’s technically based on a comic, so I dunno.) 18. Doom 64 (Apparently there are some licensing issues, so it’s unlikely.) 19. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 (Apparently everyone loves those Tony Hawk games.) 20. Pokemon Stadium 1 or 2 (I heard they’re just okay, but since Pokemon is probably their biggest franchise...)

Damn. Nintendo really pissed off a lot of third-parties. Also pretty lacking in RPGs and fighting games, which are my two favourite genres.

I probably won’t get either, to be honest. I would totally get a Game Boy Classic, though.

[aion-rsa]

Hulu New Releases: August 2021

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While the other streaming services set up recurring franchises, Hulu has opted to get a bit more experimental with its original offerings in August 2021.

Hulu’s list of new releases this month is highlighted by three original series concepts with promise. Reservation Dogs premieres on August 9. Co-created by Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok), this story will follow four indigenous teenagers in Oklahoma as they stave off boredom and adulthood. Next up is Nine Perfect Strangers on August 18. This miniseries, based on a book of the same name, is produced by David E. Kelley and features staggering cast of Nicole Kidman, Melissa McCarthy, Luke Evans, Samara Weaving, and more.

Only Murders in the Building is likely the biggest thing to look forward to in August though. Premiering on August 31, this comedy stars Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez as three true crime-obsessed friends who stumble into a true crime of their own. On the movie side of things, the John Cena and Lil Rel Howery-starring Vacation Friends premieres on August 27.

The library titles coming to Hulu in August aren’t particularly inspiring. August 1 sees the arrival of Attack the Block, The Grudge, Watchmen (2009), and more. After that, there isn’t much to write home about. But at least we’ll have all the Steve Martin and Lil Rel Howery we could ask for.

Here is everything else coming to Hulu this month.

Hulu New Releases – August 2021

August 1 Hamilton’s Pharmacopia: Complete Season 3 (Vice)  10 to Midnight (1983) 21 (2008) 30 Days Of Night (2007) 30 Minutes Or Less (2011) All About E (2015) Alpha & Omega (2010) Are We There Yet? (2005) As Good as It Gets (1997) Attack The Block (2011) The Baby-Sitters Club (1995) Bagdad Cafe (1988) The Beast Within (1982) Black Swan (2009) Blood Games (1991) Blood On Satan’s Claw (1970) Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) Cherry Pop (2017) Christina’s House (2001) Contagion (2011) Every Breath You Take (2021) The Final Girls (2015) First Knight (1995) Fish Don’t Blink (2002) Fred Claus (2007) Freelancers (2012) French Postcards (1979) From Prada To Nada (2011) Garbo Talks (1984) Getting Go: The Go Doc Project (2013) The Girl King (2015) The Grudge (2004) Gulliver’s Travels (2009) Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) The Hawaiians (1970) Heart of Midnight (1989) Heartbreakers (2001) Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party (2015) Henry V (1989) Hondo (1953) The Hot Chick (2002) The Hunter (1980) I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) I Love You, Don’t Touch Me! (1998) It’s Kind Of A Funny Story (2010) Jack And Jill (2011) The Killing Streets (1991) King Arthur (2004) Kingpin (1996) The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000) Liz in September (2014) Mad Max (1980) Miami Blues (1990) Mirror Mirror (2012) Mud (2013) My Bloody Valentine (1981) Naz & Maalik (2015) Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) Plaza Suite (1971) Roadhouse 66 (1984) Romy And Michele’s High School Reunion (1997) Rudy (1993) Shane (1953) Shark Tale (2002) Some Kind of Wonderful (1987) The Sons of Katie Elder (1965) Special Effects (1984) Spellbinder (1988) Thelma & Louise (1991) The Thin Red Line (1998) Those People (2015) Toy Soldiers (1991) Transcendence (2014) Under The Tuscan Sun (2003) The Vatican Tapes (2015) Watchmen (2009)

August 4 The Devil You Know: Complete Seasons 1-2 (Vice)

August 5 Princess Cyd (2017)

August 6 Madagascar: A Little Wild: Complete Season 4 (Hulu Original)

August 8 The Party (2018)

August 9       Reservation Dogs: Series Premiere (FX on Hulu)

August 10       Together Together (2021)

August 11     Fantasy Island: Series Premiere (Fox) AWOL (2016)

August 12 Homeroom (2021) (Hulu Original) The Force (2017) Held (2021) The Virtuoso (2021) The Waiting Room (2012)

August 13 Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Season 8 Premiere (NBC)    

August 15       The Hate U Give (2018) Silo (2019)

August 17      Bachelor in Paradise: Season 7 Premiere (ABC) The Skeleton Twins (2014)

August 18       Nine Perfect Strangers: Series Premiere (Hulu Original) The Marijuana Conspiracy (2021) Unsane (2018)

August 19 Blast Beat (2020) Jungleland (2021)

August 21 We Broke Up (2021)

August 23 The Ultimate Surfer: Series Premiere (ABC)

August 24 Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor (2013)

August 26 American Horror Story: Season 10 Premiere (FX) Archer: Season 12 Premiere (FXX) Disobedience (2017) Feral State (2021) Love and Monsters (2021)

August 27 Vacation Friends (2021) (Hulu Original) Chaos Walking (2020)

August 28 Four Good Days (2021)

August 29 Horizon Line (2021)

August 30 9/11: One Day in America: Series Premiere (National Geographic) Spell (2020)

August 31 Only Murders in the Building: Series Premiere (Hulu Original)

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Leaving Hulu – August 2021

August 14 Life Like (2019) The Shape of Water (2017)

August 24 The Grapes of Wrath (1940) How Green Was My Valley (1941) The November Man (2014)

August 30 The Chaser (2008) Kindergarten Cop 2 (2016) Like Father, Like Son (2013) Nobody Knows (2004) The One I Love (2014) Still Walking (2008)

August 31 10 to Midnight (1983) 50/50 (2011) A Most Wanted Man (2014) Across The Universe (2007) Anacondas: The Hunt For The Blood Orchid (2004) Arachnophobia (1990) As Good as It Gets (1997) The A-Team (2010) Bagdad Cafe (1988) The Beast Within (1982) Beetlejuice (1988) The Best Man (1999) The Big Chill (1983) The Blair Witch Project (1999) The Blair Witch Project: Book of Shadows (2000) Blood Games (1991) Blood On Satan’s Claw (1970) The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (2009) Bucky Larson Born To Be A Star (2011) Christina’s House (2001) Cliffhanger (1993) The Company You Keep (2013) Confessions Of A Shopaholic (2009) Conviction (2010) The Cookout (2004) Date Night (2010) The Dead Zone (1983) Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (2005) Dragonfly (2002) Dragonheart (1996) Dragonheart 3: The Sorcerer’S Curse (2014) Dragonheart: A New Beginning (2000) Dragonheart: Battle For The Heartfire (2017) Driven (2001) Fish Don’t Blink (2002) The Forbidden Kingdom (2008) Garbo Talks (1984) Hancock (2008) The Haunting (1999) The Hawaiians (1970) Heart of Midnight (1989) Heartbreakers (2001) Henry V (1989) The Hustler (1961) I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) I Love You, Don’t Touch Me! (1998) Jennifer 8 (1992) Jennifer’s Body (2009) Just Wright (2009) Kick-Ass (2010) The Killing Streets (1991) King Arthur (2004) Kung Pow: Enter the Fist (2000) Lady in a Cage (1964) The Last House on the Left (2009) The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000) Mad Max (1980) The Mask (1994) Miami Blues (1990) Open Range (2003) Ordinary People (1980) The Outsider (1980) Phat Girlz (2006) Predators (2009) Primary Colors (1998) Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) Resident Evil: Extinction (2007) Richie Rich (1994) Roadhouse 66 (1984) Rudy (1993) Scrooged (1988) The Sitter (2011) The Skull (1965) Shine a Light (2008) Soul Survivors (2001) Special Effects (1984) Spellbinder (1988) Stephen King’s Graveyard Shift (1990) Still Waiting (2009) Thelma & Louise (1991) Vanity Fair (2004) The Virgin Suicides (2000) Waiting… (2005) Weekend at Bernie’s (1989) William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet (1996) Witless Protection (2008)

The post Hulu New Releases: August 2021 appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[theredherb]

Review: Resident Evil 7

[Originally posted on When Nerds Attack.]

“You’re about to see something wonderful.” Jack’s freshly charred skin is peeling off his body. But he’s still alive, and strong. He’s clutching your wrist, pulling it to his face. He wraps his mouth around the handgun you just plucked from the desiccated cop now lying dead on the floor. With a resounding pop, a chasm erupts from the top of his skull. His body falls limply to the ground. You survived, but you didn’t win. Jack will be back. He deliberately ate a bullet just to prove a point.

It’s been a long time since Resident Evil has scared me. For the better part of a decade, Capcom remodeled the franchise that coined “Survival Horror” into gun-centric action games meant to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. Familiar draws were included to bait fans that remember the fixed perspective, tank controlled days of yesteryear — whether it was tangential ties to the sinister Umbrella Corporation, hulking bio-weapons, or the franchise synonymous living dead. More often than not, though, these nostalgic additions felt like window dressing. While latter day sequels like Resident Evil 6 coated their levels in shadows and foreboding atmosphere, at their core, they were third-person shooters. True horror, the kind that the original trilogy is lauded for to this day, was left behind.

With Resident Evil 7, Capcom has finally returned to the franchise’s roots. It takes inspiration not only from its own past but from other stand-out horror experiences in order to rework and revitalize the genre they helped inform. The result is an expertly paced, incredibly tense hell-ride through a literal madhouse — and it’s actually pretty goddamn scary. Long-time fans have been yearning to hear this for years: Resident Evil 7 is pure survival horror.

SWEET HOME

Eschewing the tradition of military trained, boulder boxing heroes, you assume the role of prototypical everyman Ethan Winters, whose wife, Mia, disappeared three years before the story’s start. Beckoned by an ominous email from his estranged love, Ethan travels to an abandoned homestead located in a forgotten slice of southern Americana called Dulvey, Louisiana.

The Dulvey estate is a decaying wreck slowly being digested by the thick marsh that surrounds it. Inside, what’s truly unnerving isn’t how empty the house is, but how lived in it feels. Family portraits and hand-scribbled notes lie side by side with festering trash bags and dirtied pots filled with putrid meat. Somehow, people live here, and your surroundings do a fantastic job of letting you know that there’s something very, very wrong with them.

The new first-person perspective (rather than the third-person view in previous entries) introduces a newfound sense of dread since you’re vision is narrowed and you can’t see what’s behind you. It serves to make the experience eerily intimate and allows you to soak in every meticulously rendered inch of house. Passageways are splashed in pervasive darkness (some of the best shadow effects I’ve seen in a game) while the sound design pummels you with constant creaks, groans, and distant footsteps. Walking through the house is gloriously nerve-wracking.

I won’t spoil the first thirty minutes or so, but I will say the proceeding goes from Zero-to-Evil Dead fast enough to blow a gasket. It’s a joyfully malicious intro that perfectly sets the tone for the game to come — one that’ll have you laughing and recoiling in disgust in equal measure.

ALL IN THE FAMILY

Before long you’ll encounter the main villains of the show: the Baker clan. There’s Jack Baker, the stern head of the household; his wife Marguerite, whose disposition flashes between motherly and vitriolic in a heartbeat; and their son Lucas, the only one of his kin that could pass for normal until you see the bottomless pit of insanity swirling in his eyes. There’s a certain level of camp to the Bakers that the game is unafraid to play with. Only horror aficionados would get this reference, but they call to mind the maniacal Sawyer family specifically from Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (just one of many cinemacabre influences found in the game).

It’s apparent there’s more affecting the Bakers than a simple case of the batshit crazies. They’re inhumanly strong, can regenerate severed body parts, and worship the notion of ‘family’ with a murderous zeal. Figuring out what’s wrong with them, and how it pertains to your missing wife, reintroduces a story component absent from the series since the very first game: an engrossing mystery.

Each Baker is tethered to specific areas of the plantation — castellans of their hillbilly castle. But they serve a more dynamic role than just the inevitable boss fight earmarking a section. Jack, for instance, will patrol parts of the house, and if he spots you, will relentlessly chase you down until you he buries a shovel into your soft dome. There’s a sick thrill to tangling with Jack. He’s a walking bullet-sponge and difficult to shake-off until you learn to out maneuver him by running serpentine patterns all around the house.

Marguerite will also guard her part of the residence with a lantern in hand in case an intruder is hiding in the shadows, and when she finds you… well, I hope bugs don’t freak you out. Unlike the horror games these segments are derived from (namely Outlast and Amnesia), RE7 has little interest in being a hide and seek simulator, and uses these encounters sparingly. That restraint goes a long way, making an appearance from “Daddy” feel more surprising and random, keeping players constantly off-kilter as they trek through the house.

BACK TO BASICS

Given the change of perspective and overhauled, backwoods-y tone, you might wonder why Capcom bothered to slap a number on this seeming reboot. Despite its modern influences, the gameplay is most reminiscent of the original Resident Evil. Just like the granddaddy of survival horror, there’s a huge emphasis on exploring your environment, managing inventory, and picking which battles to fight or take flight from.

You’ll navigate the Baker house in search of keys that unlock new parts of the homestead and its surrounding areas. Arcane puzzles will block your progress, but they can typically be solved using simple order-of-operation: find Item A, combine it with Item B, slot Item C into hole. Not exactly Witness level headscratchers by any means, but they serve to break up the tension. And they’re just so quintessentially Resident Evil— a kooky house filled with inexplicably placed puzzles.

Apropos to the genre, the amount of items you can hold at once is limited. Thusly, item boxes — the bottomless chests that are magically linked to each other — return along with the save rooms that harbor them. Whereas completing some puzzles will condemn you to do battle with some unholy aberration, save rooms are the one true respite that allow you to breathe and collect yourself. (Special shout out goes to the calming, ambient melody that plays whenever you reach one of these bastions — that shit is lit).

There’s also an extra meta to how you organize and use items you find. You can find healing herbs and use them raw (I guess… I guess Ethan chews them?) but they become much more potent if you combine them with a Chem Fluid. If you hang on to the very same Chem Fluid until you found some loose gunpowder, on the other hand, you can craft your very own handgun bullets instead of having to forage for them. Combining items also frees up inventory slots which in turn can be filled up with more ammo, health, or key items. It all cleverly underlines the “Survival” in “Survival Horror,” rewarding savvy mixologists with a longer lease on life.

You’ll attain weapons to beat back the creatures of the night, and the UI lets you organize them within your inventory so that they’re mapped to the D-Pad. It’s a useful appropriation of one of Resident Evil 5’s better ideas especially given the fact that digging into your inventory doesn’t pause the action (you’ve been warned).

FIGHT NIGHT

It wouldn’t be a Resident Evil game without monsters. Enter the Molded — humanoid tarman formed from a viscous black goo. They’re mostly slow but they have wolverine claws, their faces are roughly eighty-percent teeth, and they’re dangerous in numbers. Helpfully, they haven’t mastered the art of opening doors, so they’re easy to trap, and you can also block incoming attacks to soak up the brunt of their damage. Eventually, though, you’ll have to go on the offensive.

You’re equipped with a pocket knife early on, but that’s only a rung more effective than harsh language– it’s the handgun and shotgun you’ll be relying on. It’s important to note that, despite the viewpoint, this isn’t a first-person shooter. Aiming down the sights slows your movement to a crawl and can actually put you in harm’s way which means placement is as paramount as precision — a concept not altogether foreign if you played the original games. There’s a value play to using weapons, too: if you mow down every single critter that jumps at you in the dark, you’ll find your clip empty the next time you’re truly up shit’s creek.

Ammo scarcity forces you to plan and act accordingly. Do you feed your last few bullets into a Molded so you can search an area in peace? Or can you evade long enough to save those shots? There’s few things more satisfying than the pus geyser that erupts whenever you relocate a Molded’s head, but I was more thankful to have those shots whenever Jack would burst through a wall like a redneck Kool-Aid Man. It’s the kind of on-the-fly strategizing that has been sorely missing from Resident Evil.

True to genre form, you’ll be tasked to engage in boss fights. Unfortunately, not every battle is a memorable showdown of wits and brawn. I’ll keep it vague, but there’s one sore thumb in the bunch, early on, that forces you to rely on the game’s clunky melee mechanics. Thankfully, the bar raises as you contend with the Bakers. Again, I’m being purposely vague, but one cool bit has you hopping between levels of a decrepit greenhouse as you hunt down a baddie, expertly making use of space, and another is such a wickedly good callback to Resident Evil 4, it’d bring a tear to Leon Kennedy’s dreamy eye.

FOUND FOOTAGE

When you’re not juggling items or tip-toeing in the dark, the game has you watching VHS tapes. Playing tapes isn’t as passive as that, however, since you’ll be tasked to play as the character within the video. It’s a really ingenious narrative tool that not only gives you insight to what the hell happened before Ethan arrived, but also spotlights crucial clues in your current environment. One tape stands out in particular — “Happy Birthday.” In it, you play as an ill-fated cameraman that has to solve an intricate puzzle to escape from a sealed room. The Saw inspired conundrum is by far one of most impressively realized pieces of design the game owns — it had my jaw to the floor by its conclusion.

AMERICAN HORROR STORY

Biological terrorism, global domination plots, superhuman villains… Resident Evil’s stories have arguably degraded into over-the-top comic book fare as the years have gone on. RE7 wisely reigns in its scope to tell the most grounded story in the series since the original. It follows the beats of a low-budget horror movie, and it’s a great direction. Like a lot of micro-budgeted horror movies, this is a plot driven vehicle.

Subsequently, character work is on the thin side, especially in regards to Ethan. His few spoken lines keep him from being a silent protagonist but it’s obvious he’s meant to be a blank slate for players to project onto — sort of in the vein of Half-Life’s Gordon Freeman or mute soldiers from early Call of Duty games. Mia, his wife, fares a little better — and she should; she has five times the amount of lines as Ethan — but at no point would you even think her and Ethan are married if it wasn’t explicitly stated. But it’s a double-edged sword: much of the momentum of the plot is owed to the fact that it doesn’t linger on personal details.

Whereas the first two-thirds of the game are brilliantly crafted and paced, RE7 loses a lot of steam on its march to the endgame. Again, in an attempt to not spoil any surprises, I won’t name the location you reach in the third-act. I will say that it like feels by-the-numbers horror fare — a disappointing contrast to everything the game so confidently builds beforehand. Disappointing, but nowhere enough to derail the experience.

It’s right around here that the game decides to increase the amount of Molded you fight by tenfold, totally inoculating players of any fear the bizarre tarmen might’ve wrought. We’re talking a small island nation’s worth of Molded. While there’s three distinct types of Molded to contend with — including a spider-y leaper who I hate so much — more enemy variety would have spiced up this last stretch considerably. If you can get through this gauntlet of pus-bloods, you’re treated to a Big Reveal, and get to find out what the hell’s really going on in Dulvey. As a fan, I was pleasantly surprised that they found a way to tie these seemingly discrete events back into the greater whole of what Resident Evil is about (while also leaving us with plenty of questions).

HAIL TO THE KING

After one of my very first sessions with the game, I took a break (game manuals used to suggest you do this often when game manuals were still a thing). Naturally, it was night and, of course, I was alone. I absorb a ridiculous amount of horror media, games and otherwise. They don’t get to me very often. Yet, my skin was crawling. I started jumping at small noises. I was watching shadows. I was still bugged out from my time inside the Baker house. The last time a horror game lingered with me like that was when I first played Resident Evil 2 on the Nintendo 64– I was 10.

Resident Evil 7 is phenomenal course correction for the franchise. It’s unashamed of celebrating established cliches but, like any great horror movie, knows how to subvert them. Capcom’s crafted a legitimately harrowing ride that also manages to never sacrifice its playability. While other games of its ilk will try to depower the player as much as possible to instill a sense of vulnerability, Resident Evil 7 smartly balances its challenge with fun gameplay mechanics. I wanted to get right back into it even as the credits rolled (and I did… four times since).

The game feels fresh, yet it builds on time-tested conventions of the genre. Capcom has proven they understand why we loved the original games, and have found a means to modernize that formula. I can’t see the series going back to the over-the-shoulder, co-op shoot-fests. This is the path to stay on. Not just because Resident Evil 7 is one of the best games in the series, but because it’s one of the best survival horror games ever made.

[If you purchase the PS4 edition of the game, you can enjoy/endure the entirety of Resident Evil 7 in PlayStation VR. I’ve yet to make the $400 plunge into Sony’s virtual space, but I did get to play the Beginning Hour demo in VR at Capcom’s booth during last December’s PSX. Though my time with the VR version of the game was brief, I was thoroughly impressed. Anecdotally, I’ve heard it’s the scariest and most immersive way to experience RE7. Apologies for not having more extensive impressions!]

[smokeybrand]

Jill Sandwich

So Resident Evil 3 Remake is out in the wild and i can finally talk about this thing in detail. I have an interesting relationship with the RE franchise. It’s kind of a love/hate situation. I love the first three titles and Veronica. I kind of hate everything that came after. IV through VI are just plain awful, particularly VI. Cats fight me about IV but i don’t care for it. Capcom stopped doing what they do best, desperate survival horror, and started emulating those action films starring Leeloo Dallas. That’s find but, i mean, watching Chris Redfield, jacked up on the super roids, punch out a whole ass boulder, while fighting a chimera virus infected Wesker, in the heart of a goddamn volcano, was way too much. And there was another entire game after that one with this campy, wacky, bullsh*t. I hated it. All of it. Then Resident Evil VII dropped and everything changed.

Revelations hinted at a return to form but it was REVII that showed the world what Resident Evil was really about. My goodness was that game good. I was on the edge of my seat playing through that coil of stress, atmosphere, and insidious violence. It was beautiful. That game was beautiful. I found my self longing for that engine, driving my favorite title of the entire franchise, Resident Evil II. To my surprise i got exactly what i wanted. Holy sh*t, when Resident Evils II Remake dropped, i sh*t myself. This was the Resident Evil game i always wanted. This is what survival horror should have been the entire time. Remake hit every note of nostalgia while building a brand new experience. Not only were the graphics updated, bu the entire story was streamline and, thanks to some excellent voice work, it was rather enthralling this go around. REII was already one of my favorite games but Remake found a spit right next to it on my all-time list. When i finished that motherf*cker for the first time, after experiencing that horror on two legs called Mr. X, i thought about how dope Nemesis would be in this engine. To my surprise, i wouldn’t have to wait long to find out.

First and foremost, R3make is goddamn gorgeous. It’s absolutely beautiful. Capcom’s RE Engine pulls all of it’s weight on this one. The lighting and particle effects are spectacular. I thought Remake II looked great but this game really stand out. There are a few little concessions made to push the hardware but that’s to be forgiven. I can deal with an exploding limb or disappearing body if it means i can get the detail and literally horde levels of zombies on my ass at all times. It’s insane just how many of theses things are packed on screen, in that level detail, while Nemesis is launching f*cking rockets at you.

I have to absolutely gush about the writing for a minute here. I remember the old REIII being kind of hokey, kind of campy. I chocked it up to the limitations of the OG PlayStation. Not this one. The PS4 gives the script writers a level of power to get really creative. The dialogue Jill has with everyone feels real, It feels organic. She acts like a person with training in the middle of a crisis and i adore every second of it. I mean, her banter with Carlos is more than enough for the price of admission.

Also, Jill is just a regular badass. It’s dope seeing her getting her proper due in this game. The last time we saw her, outside of one of those Revelation games, she was a muppet for Wesker. Bullsh*t, son! Not here. Here, she is in all her bad ass. Umbrella busting, glory and i love it. I also love her redesign. Function over fashion, ya dig?

The remix of levels caught me off guard at first. They took out a lot of set pieces i remember like the park and Jill’s run through the RPD. These aspects of her original playthrough make an appearance, just in completely different ways. Also worth mentioning, there are like, no puzzled in this game. I remember the original being very, frustratingly, puzzle heavy way back when. This game is not that. It is a narrative focused, action driven, murder fest. I am more than okay with that particular alteration.

The redesigned enemies in this game are spectacular. I kind of expected a few changed, mostly based on the Ivy from Remake II, but Capcom really found a way to be creative with these new enemies. There’s, like, Las Plagas zombies in this thing. You blow of their heads and a parasite pops out. It’s insane. I always though Nemesis was infected with a Plagas and this game kind of confirms that. I love the new take on the Hunters. The Alphas have kind of a predator face now but the Gammas? The Gammas have this massive parasite that pops out of their gaping maws. It looks just like the Gravedigger and since there isn’t really a park level to this game, imagine they serve the same purpose. Or, repurpose in this case. There’s even a couple of surprises in store for those who know their lore. Their horrifying Resident Evil lore.

F*cking Nemesis, man. Nemesis is nightmare fuel incarnate. Dude is outright horrifying, the entire time you play this game. He’s fast, agile, and f*cking terrifying. I had problems with Mr. X but this asshole? Dude literally sprints after you when you run away. I kind of hate it but, at the same time, i f*cking need it! Good ol’ Nemi’s redesign is amazing. I was a little iffy at first, but seeing it in action sold me. And then his second form happened. Bro. What? And then that third. Okay, Capcom, come on? Y’all were just showing off with that one.

The only thing holding this game back, in my opinion, is that it can get a little REVI at times. I mean that the action becomes just a hair too over-the-top. That entire end sequence with final form Nemesis was absolutely ridiculous. I mean, i loved it, don’t get me wrong, but, f*ck, coming off Remake II and several parts of this one, it just felt a little out of place. There’s a few times where this issue creeps up but, like i said, it’s more of a nitpick than anything. The grounded nature and character driven narrative distract from the more... zealous aspects of this game.

As far as gameplay, if you played Remake II or any of the RE titles after IV, you know what to expect. Over the shoulder, third person, all day! I hate shooters but i can play the f*ck out of these types. Tank controls have gone the way of the dodo it seems but i ‘m not bad with their replacement. This game feels right with this camera set up. Shooting feels right. Dodging feels rewarding. This game feels real good to play.

There aren’t anymore of those quick decision deals like in the original but that’s not a problem. They would have interfered with the narrative driven aspects of this game. You can still, you know, shoot Nemi in the face for dope sh*t but i wouldn’t. F*ck all of that. Maybe after a third of fourth playthrough. Maybe. There’s no Mercenaries mode or multiple endings but you can play a good portion as Carlos and there’s a brand new multiplayer component with it’s own narrative called Resident Evil Resistance so, i guess that’s dope? I dunno. I f*cks with that single player campaign all day, tho.

R3make is f*cking outstanding. I love this game. Absolutely adore the f*ck out of it. I still like Remake II better but that’s more because i just adore II overall. That said, R3make is the f*cking tits. This sh*t is fast paced, adrenaline pumping, stress inducing, action packed, zombie killing. It does justice to Jill, makes me care about Carlos, and even does some interesting things with Nemesis. I was thoroughly surprised by some narrative choices taken but they dded to the overall plot,giving life to a game that sorely needed it, while not compromising once on gameplay. While there are certain design aspects i would have liked seen skew closer to the earlier titles in the franchise rather than the later ones, that is a small gripe. Even in all of it’s Bayhem glory, and there is a lot of that toward th end, this game never loses the spirit of who it is. Resident Evil III Remake is a f*cking masterpiece and you should get into it the second this quarantine lifts if you haven’t already had an opportunity to grab a copy.

[psvrdeals-com]

PSVR This Week

I'm Brian and that's Ted's and every week on psvr this week we take a look at the new VR games that are coming to the PlayStation Store this week we gather up all the trailers we can find all the descriptions we can play your eyes and condense them down to this short video for you sometimes we look at the late games updates DLC or new game announcements so without further ado here's psvr this week [Applause] developer beat games dropped three free new songs and the beat saber on Thursday from Japanese EDM artists camellia camellia according to beat games is extremely well known amongst the rhythm game community and beat saber players and everyone agrees these songs are by far the hardest beat saber tracks yet in stark contrast to the relatively easy imagine dragons pack that launched recently but that's not all in addition the patch also brought with it some new one Sabre maps for existing songs [Music] I'm a professional don't pay Batman for a joke off I'm gonna tee man over bottom ball getting closer and closer saw Thursday was also a big day for fans of PSV our exclusive blood and truth the DLC is finally here and features a ton of new content from my most anticipated edition new game+ which will allow you to keep all your guns modifications and collectibles from your first playthrough to a new harder difficulty leaderboards and new challenge stages what truth is already one of our favorites but this update gives us plenty of reasons to go back play again we need to push back hard or we're finished [Music] the PlayStation store is having a huge summer sale and they're including a ton of PlayStation VR games the sale runs until August 20th and although not every game is on sale in every region there's a ton of crossover on this list these 14 games might not be the best games for PlayStation VR but they're definitely ones I think you shouldn't miss at their current prices [Music] it's no secret that we didn't love Arizona sunshine at lunch and that $40 price tag doesn't really help anything but after a bunch of patches updates new four-player horde modes dlc incoming and tons of zombies to take down it's tough to argue with its sale price of $14 it's rare that we get triple a flat-screen games ported over to PlayStation VR Borderlands is proof as to why it should be done more often the developers have already patched in aim support and are promising all the DLC from Borderlands 2 proper to drop sometime this summer so consider grabbing it now while it's cheap [Music] Farpoint was the first game to show us just how amazing the aim controller could be in VR but a fun single-player campaign wasn't enough for developer impulse gear they also gave us free two-player co-op missions and the 1v1 mode unlike any I've ever seen before if you have an aim controller power point should be in your library [Music] when I live streams here they lie a few weeks back it was just for fun but as I was playing I couldn't stop admiring the amazingly detailed scenery and couldn't stop gawking at all the perverted denizens of this disturbing City it's a walking simulator at heart but it's well-designed scary and beautiful everything runs downhill here it's tough to argue with severing limbs and blasting away zombies in VR and killing floor incursion does it the style stunning graphics insane bosses and a two-player co-op campaign is just a beginning with this excellent story driven action game bollocks now things are getting serious this virus is mucking up everything [Music] koan is somewhat of a rarity on playstation vr while it's true that the graphics are some of the blur iasts ever seen in the headset it's also a fully fleshed out fully realized adventure in a small mysterious snowy town it takes a while for things to heat up but once they do it's hard to stop playing [Music] paranormal activity is one of my favorite horror franchises and the VR game doesn't disappoint the controls are somewhat of a hurdle to overcome and the game isn't terribly long but there's a lot to do and see in this house and if it doesn't scare you you're probably not human [Applause] it's seldom that games were really looking forward to actually meet nevermind exceed our expectations but that's exactly what the persistence did last year as a rogue light sci-fi action game the persistence lets you play the way you want upgrade your weapons shields and abilities every time you die which you will a lot [Music] whereas originally debuted on the Dreamcast in ps2 back in November of 2001 but even then it was obvious that this rail shooter' music rhythm game was destined for something more in the first time you see resident Ben in a VR headset you'll know that this is how res was always supposed to be played [Music] as possibly one of the best-looking crow enhanced psvr games robinson the journey lanes you stranded an alone on a planet overrun with dinosaurs but don't mistake this for an action or survival game robinson is a massive puzzle solving exploration collectathon filled with stunning visuals and a white but effective narrative Robinson almost never goes on sale so grab it while you can [Music] the people come to the static institute of retention of volunteers every time there's a huge PSN sale static always seems to be there ridiculously discounted and we're always there right alongside telling you to pick it up so if you haven't yet I'm not sure what else to say static is such a unique puzzle game probably my favorite on the platform where your hands are trapped inside a box and every box has different controls to unlock it just buy it a release party I think you'll enjoy it [Music] outside a beat saver thumper might be the best rhythm game on PlayStation VR the concept is crazy as are the sights and sounds your chrome beetle flying down a track through hell at top speed while growing to maneuver the twists turns and obstacles with the appropriate button presence will have you scared to blink they ask you a question why does your God swim in such filth when people ask me what my favorite psvr game is I always tell them Resident Evil 7 but the Exorcist holds a special place in my heart because it's one of the few games that was so scary I often had trouble pushing forward with demonic themes and evil lurking around every corner this one shook my Catholic school operating to its core there's nothing better than horror movies roller coasters and light gun shooters except for maybe when miraculously developer supermassive games was able to combine all those things into one amazing psvr exclusive until dawn Russia blood was panned by mainstream media at lunch for being a cheap cash in on the untilled on franchise but as usual the critics were dead wrong big screen VR is already popular another VR headsets but the developers confirmed this week that the app is finally coming the PlayStation VR in either late 2019 or early 2020 big screen allows you to hang out with your real friends in virtual reality and watch movies together in a virtual theater it also features cross-platform play public and private rooms and variety of environments [Music] million sky big VR update could drop any day now the official word is summer 2019 but that window only gives us a few more weeks to work with so we want to be prepared starting tomorrow Monday the 29th I'll be streaming the non VR version of no man's sky daily to prepare for the inevitable VR patch so come along for the ride as I take on my first non VR game in quite a while help me figure out what I'm supposed to be doing and eventually I'll be sending out multiplayer invites to some of oil game cats to drop into the stream and be part of my adventure [Music] thank you guys so much for tuning in to another episode of psvr this week we'll be back next week to tell you about all the VR games coming to the PlayStation Store but keep in mind that no one outside of Sony really knows what games are coming win but we'll do our best to keep you up-to-date each and every week on psvr this week

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[geek-gem]

Annabelle Creation

Well I’ve finally seen it and just got out of the shower. Also on Wikipedia because just in case I wanna spell some stuff right.

I saw it with my Nana and she wanted to see it.

Spoilers will be included in this post and I’ll tag it.

But I wanna reveal this first actually. It’s also one of the reasons why I saw the movie. Also this is well I don’t know if I wanna say review but also a reaction meh just a talk about the film.

Yet one of the reasons I saw this because on DeviantArt and I’m just saying I’m a Sonic The Hedgehog fan. Their was this fan casting by someone I watch of one of the actresses in the film. Her name is let me check Talitha Bateman checked three times. It was this fan casting as Maria Robotnik.

It seemed like a good casting choice yet instead of wanting to see some clips just also the good scores about the film it being better then the original. I wanted to see it…

I’m gonna say okay in my head no I don’t wanna say glad yet…it’s nice I saw it. But holy shit seeing that.

Honestly I liked it. Gonna tell you this I’m new to The Conjuring franchise. Including the idea that theirs actually a cinematic universe for it. The idea of it is honestly quite nice. By the looks of it, it’s doing pretty well. Despite the first Annabelle film doesn’t seem to be the best.

But I’ll talk about that a bit more later. To be honest I’m not the biggest horror fan these days. Yet it may sound stupid I don’t think I wanna call it a phase yet since I have a collection. I do like some horror I’m just not no offense the biggest nut. Including me trying to be intelligent. Mainly as a teenager was big into some slasher characters such as Jason, Freddy, Michael, and Leatherface. Along with some other horror related such as Evil Dead and some Stephen King movies. Yet it’s stuff like Alien and Predator that’s mostly a thriller. Also some video games such as Outlast, FNAF, Bendy And The Ink Machine, Tattletail, Resident Evil, Dead Space, and some Silent Hill mainly the games despite I’ve haven’t played them.

This film is honestly quite good. I’m just gonna mention related to the first part about that fan casting. Now just put Dead Space behind Resident Evil ha stop

But the acting is great. Including I’m gonna say with little moments and just throughout the film. Gonna be kind of silly. Yet the concept that in a way where most of the characters are kids. In my head I’m like NOT THE KIDS and was worried.

Let’s say I was invested including yeah some characters just really they are okay. Nothing much bad as the film goes on as shit gets real.

Also this little moment between Talitha Bateman’s character and Lulu Wilson’s character looked on Wikipedia for Lulu’s name. Theirs this moment I think in the middle of the film. Where I feel a bit emotional yet I was thinking of Shadow The Hedgehog just their acting and them as kids I can believe. Including this relationship they have.

Basically it was nice I was concerned about the characters.

I will say I’m new to the franchise it’s basically the first Conjuring related film I’ve seen. Let’s just say I may sound stupid. I’ve even told my Nana and mom. I was uncomfortable, and yeah scared. Because I’ve even talked to my Nana I’ve haven’t been the biggest fan of horror for some time. Mainly such as watching movies. Including over time no offense their not for me at times.

Even my Nana she liked it and she’s a nice lady. It seemed a bit much for her. She says she likes horror movies yet she was not expecting that. She’s also a Christian so that kind of relates to it.

Really the film was creepy and just brutal.

To be honest I might sound stupid and be a pussy. Seriously I was covering my eyes a bit yet just seeing a bit of the screen. Because to be honest and I agree with Jeremy Jahns before I saw this I think two days ago or some shit. If you’ve seen the trailers and commericals. You kind of know some stuff of what to expect. Yet their are some parts yet still just the way it’s portrayed.

Seriously I’ve just took a long time away from horror movies I felt weird after the movie ended. It was good and I think that’s kind of a good thing. If the film is scary then it’s done it’s job it depends on your opinion. Yet also again I was uncomfortable.

To sound stupid and silly seriously in my head I for some reason wanted that Annabelle doll to start talking and making dark jokes something like Slappy from Goosebumps. Yet that shit wasn’t gonna happen. Mainly it was in my mindset okay then it won’t be that scary ha stop.

In fact after this my Nana is interested in that The Hitman’s Bodyguard. I’ve seen the commercials. Seriously it seems funny despite it’s getting mixed scores on Rotten Tomatos. I’m even interested in it just as the movie ended I even said I just wanna see that ha stop. I also even said to my Nana I wanna watch BVS the ultimate edition on Blu Ray. Yet looked on the guide some OK KO Let’s Be Heroes was gonna come on Boomerang. Just another story lol.

Jesus honestly I’m fine lol just fine that word but even my mom asked are you gonna have nightmares or some shit. I told her kind of no but it’s imprinted in my head. But think I remember I told her I’m okay.

Seriously I liked the film even the score was good. I even saw that was popping up when I’ve been listening to the BVS sound track. Yes BVS is dark yet I like that film.

Really it was nice oh no not kind oh my head lol stop. Kind of a nice introduction to The Conjuring franchise. The first two Conjuring films seem great and really I have to make my own opinion on the first Annabelle film.

Including and I’m gonna get into spoilers. Because I even talked to my Nana. This film has some easter eggs. Including possibly hinting at other paranormal creatures in The Conjuring universe.

Seriously I like the idea it’s a cinematic universe and theirs so many of these paranormal beings and I remember looking up more of the franchise maybe two months ago or last month of how the films mainly the main films are based on and well inspired by some real cases. It’s another thing to talk about.

As a guy who likes horror well not the biggest fan but the idea just a cinematic universe finally with all these creatures is kick ass said that in my head random words. Mainly because as a guy who was or is still kind of obsessed with ideas like Freddy Vs Jason and… really it’s mainly shit like that if shit ever crossovered. Despite I thought of some funny shit let’s not be realistic imagine all of these demons and whatever just hanging out, Annabelle, The Nun, The Crooked Man, and any other of them that appeared in these films just partying and making people’s lives miserable. It’s stupid dark humor normal to smile. Maybe all getting drunk.

Including since mentioning those other creatures these paranormal beings. So the one thing that really got to me that got me thinking it’s a brief little scene and I’m gonna talk about spoilers now.

Theirs this brief little scene where the sister is talking about a picture featuring her and some friends that are nuns. I’ll leave sister it’s a nun thing but theirs a little mention and looking at it I thought. Including the sister nun does not know who this person is in the picture. I thought to myself in a way my God that’s a easter egg. Including told my Nana I’ll tell her later and as the credits rolled.

It’s a little easter egg showcasing what appears to be The Nun character that they gonna make a film I think they may have wrapped filming I don’t know. Theirs gonna be a film next year and the character appeared in The Conjuring 2.

Including one little moment it’s mentioned but it doesn’t relate much to the situation the characters are in. Theirs this creature that appears in the scene where the two older girls are in. Including they were talking about a tale. Yet it’s not important much yet the characters mention it. It’s not really related to Annabelle and it’s not the demon that possesses the doll.

It’s a stupid guess it’s maybe a new paranormal being they’ve introduced in the franchise and they wanna make a film based upon it. Or it’s already been introduced yet I’ve haven’t seen any announcements yet.

Including theirs this thing and one of the older girls messes with a Scarecrow and thought it was gonna do something. Then it returns in the film and as a joke in my head throughout the film I want a Scarecrow film. Because I was expecting the shit. It was used yet it seems to have the demon possessing Annabelle unless I’m getting designs mixed up.

Then we have the ending of the film which disturbs me including one of the reasons I decided to look up the film on Wikipedia. So it turns out it is the ending no sorry the set up for the original Annabelle film. Which is nice. Including no offense ha stop but unless they want to no offense I feel this seems to be the last full on Annabelle solo film. Maybe they might put her in again.

Also another thing just seriously the ending I’m like uncomfortable ha stop just the way it sets up stuff said in my head worried yet just no I’m concerned about these characters and that’s a good thing ha stop.

But the other thing I guess it’s a easter egg the real Annabelle doll well another version of it. I remember finding this out when looking up more of the franchise. Mainly when the news of The Crooked Man movie was announced or some shit and looked up a clip and watched a bit of what the character was ha normal to smile.

Yet the original or well real Annabelle is a raggedy Ann doll and I think that was meant to be an easter egg. I think and remember comments below YouTube talking about how the people who own the rights to the doll didn’t want that to be portrayed. Despite it’s cute yet the simple version just…..ha normal to smile just the idea it can be unexpecting yet reasonable they don’t want their dolls to be represented like that on film. Still the Annabelle doll in the film is creepy as fuck.

Then I also found this out and disappointed I didn’t stay to wait. Just my reaction and the aftermath I thought the whole turning head which I even covered my eyes because I expected the doll to turn it’s head very quick but it didn’t seem much.

Their is is a literal post credits scene hinting or just revealing The Nun to set up the film next year. I gonna look that up yet it sounds really cool.

Wow I seem a bit better lol normal to smile. Just it was so fresh and just seeing the film for the first time you get concerned about oh God how am I gonna deal with this for the rest of the week.

Yet talking about it also tv on ha normal to smile sorry I’m a bit better. It depends. But Jesus that left a mark. Or just I’ve got a taste of the no not the Annabelle franchise The Conjuring franchise.

I’m kind of interested a bit more if I’m bit more terrified lol.

Also thought of this and looked at the paragraph talking about the post credits scene I remember the guy who made this is gonna direct the Shazam film holy shit.

Okay got tags down and felt scared a bit finishing up the last two ones. Also ticks yet yeah liked the movie quite a bit.

Jesus and gonna think other shit ha normal to smile but okay smiling is okay that is can’t spell inprent right I wanna finish this ha. Even the previews. I will say I’m kind of interested in IT now.

Honestly even thought of stupid funny shit like Twisted Metal and Jesus I wanna think of Darkseid and Doomsday more

edit I mean Jesus I put Catfish The TV Show on also ticks same shit edit sorry just oh gonna do other shit

[aion-rsa]

Resident Evil DASH: Canceled Sequel or Urban Legend?

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As the upcoming Resident Evil Village looks to terrify some with its classic monsters and excite others with its giant vampire ladies, fans everywhere find reasons to reflect on the greatest franchise in horror game history. Yet, I’m willing to bet that even some of the biggest Resident Evil fans haven’t heard about the “missing” game in the franchise: Resident Evil: DASH.

For over twenty years, rumors of a canceled project known simply as Resident Evil: DASH have divided the Resident Evil fanbase. For some, it’s the ultimate missing part of Resident Evil‘s legacy. To others, it’s one of the longest-lasting urban legends in video game history and a rumor that, much like a Resident Evil zombie, never seems to die.

What’s the true story of Resident Evil: DASH, though? That’s what we’ll try to uncover today as we dive into the fascinating history of this nearly mythical game.

Resident Evil: DASH – The Other (Other) Resident Evil 2

There’s very little about the Resident Evil: DASH story that’s “simple,” but the simplest place to start is with the long-standing rumor that Resident Evil: DASH was essentially supposed to be the first follow-up to 1996’s Resident Evil.

Now, here is where things start to get complicated. You may recall that Resident Evil 2 started off as an almost entirely different game that was about 70% complete before Capcom decided to essentially start from scratch on what we now know as 1998’s Resident Evil 2. That scrapped version of the sequel is regularly referred to as Resident Evil 1.5, which is indeed something of a lost Resident Evil game. 

You may also recall that Capcom started working on Resident Evil Zero not long after Resident Evil’s release. That game was supposed to debut on the Nintendo 64DD (and later the N64), but Capcom struggled to fit the project on an N64 cartridge, so they eventually just released it for the GameCube in 2002.

So where does Resident Evil: DASH fit into that timeline? The most popular version of the game’s development story suggests that it either would have been the direct sequel to Resident Evil or a kind of “spin-off” meant to fill in the release date gap between Resident Evil and Resident 2 (which would place its likely intended release sometime in 1997). In some ways, you could almost consider it another Resident Evil 1.5. There were also rumors it would be released on the Sega Saturn as a replacement for (or extension of) the Resident Evil port eventually released on that console. 

Where does all this information come from? Well, most of the DASH talk seems to originate from an old magazine interview with Capcom’s Yoshiki Okamoto. I believe that the interview initially ran in a publication called Dengeki PlayStation, but there has been some dispute about the publication that originally ran the interview.

A translation of that interview that was passed around a few English language websites at the time included a reference to a game called Biohazard: DASH (sometimes translated to Resident Evil: DASH). In the coming years, various pieces of concept art were thrown around that reportedly showcased what DASH looked like during its early development stages before the whole thing was quietly canceled by Capcom. 

So what did DASH look like at that time? Funny you should ask…

Resident Evil: DASH Would Have Seen Jill and Chris Return to Spencer Mansion 

While reports suggest that an early version of Resident Evil: DASH featured entirely new characters, most rumors argue that Capcom decided fairly early on that the project should star Resident Evil protagonists Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield. 

In any case, most reports about Resident Evil: DASH’s story seem to agree that the game would have taken place about three years after the events of the original and was always designed to take players back to Spencer Mansion. In fact, it’s been said that the game’s world would have essentially served as a “greatest hits” tour of some of the original title’s most memorable locations, which really does seem to support the idea that DASH was meant as a side project rather than a fully-fledged sequel. 

You might be wondering how DASH would have brought us back to Spencer Mansion considering that the mansion was seemingly destroyed at the end of the first game. Well, it turns out that the DASH team reportedly accounted for that little problem and were working on a story that would have made DASH one of the strangest (and most fascinating) pieces of horror in the Resident Evil canon. 

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Resident Evil: DASH Was a Horror Game About Plants (and At Least One Spider)

Even though there have been a lot of conflicting reports about DASH over the years, one thing that everyone seems to agree on is that the project would have been a rare video game entry into the “natural” horror genre. Yes, Resident Evil: DASH would have gone full The Happening by telling a horror story starring plants. 

According to DASH’s rumored plot, the explosion at Spencer Mansion left the place in ruins but didn’t entirely wipe it off the map. Actually, the explosion would have unearthed a secret underground lab not seen in the first game where Umbrella reportedly experimented on plants. Remember the Plant 42 boss fight in the original game? Apparently, that plant was just the tip of the iceberg in regards to what Umbrella was working on in the deepest parts of the mansion. 

Now free from the lab, the mutated plants would have taken over the remains of Spencer Mansion, spawned new mutations, and would have even resurrected some creatures as plant/zombie hybrids. In fact, one piece of concept art suggests that the plan was to end Resident Evil: DASH with a fight against a giant plant with the face and features of Albert Wesker. Needless to say, the idea that Wesker had died and was resurrected as a plant hybrid would have drastically impacted Resident Evil lore had that story come to pass. 

I should also mention the giant spider. Early Resident Evil: DASH art featured a version of the Spencer Mansion lobby completely overrun with spider webs. There has been some speculation the webs were constructed by multiple spiders, but there is a more popular version of that story that suggests a giant spider would have served as one of the game’s main antagonists and may have even played a role similar to Mr. X in Resident Evil 2 or the Nemesis in Resident Evil 3. 

Honestly, all of that sounds amazing. I love the idea of a Resident Evil game starring plant-like monsters, and I really love the idea of a Resident Evil game that lets us explore the monster-inhabited ruins of Spencer Mansion. Indeed, the potential of that premise is a big part of the reason the Resident Evil: DASH rumors have stayed so strong over the years. 

Sadly, here’s where I’ve got to throw some cold water on this story. 

Resident Evil: DASH Rumors Are Based On a Major Mistranslation

Remember that Yoshiki Okamoto interview I mentioned earlier that many say is the only known official reference to a game called Biohazard: DASH? As it turns out, even that interview doesn’t include any references to such a game. In fact, there’s never been any official reference to such a project made by any member of the Capcom team (except for, perhaps, references to these rumors). 

See, Okamoto was actually talking about two separate projects in that interview: the Sega Saturn port of Biohazard and Rockman: DASH (which we know as Mega Man Legends in the West). A widespread mistranslation of the interview essentially combined those two games, and people became convinced that Capcom was working on a Resident Evil game we just never heard about again. 

From there, those who believed the story and those who were just happy to troll the rest of us joined forces to bolster the idea that there was this very convincing Resident Evil project canceled under mysterious circumstances. 

So all of that concept art for DASH was also created by fans, right? Well, no, actually. Most of that concept art came from Capcom and the Resident Evil team. In fact, the origins of those drawings are a big part of the reason why the DASH rumors have flourished after all these years. 

The “Real” Resident Evil: DASH Was a Scrapped Idea for a Resident Evil 2 Scenario

While it seems that some of the concept art for Resident Evil: DASH that has been circulated over the years may have been manufactured by fans, most of it comes from a combination of sources that were simply misrepresented when they were shared online. 

Resident Evil Zero is actually one of the biggest early contributors to the Resident Evil: DASH myth. A lot of concept art from that game has been attributed to DASH over the years. It’s easy enough to see why people would buy into the idea that art was associated with DASH at a time when most fans didn’t even know Zero existed, but even in the years that followed Zero‘s 2002 release, vague pieces of that title’s concept art have convincingly been misattributed to DASH.

While early art of Resident Evil Zero’s protagonists could help explain why some people felt that Resident Evil: DASH once starred new characters, it’s much more likely that particular rumor can be traced back to some leaked Resident Evil 1.5 character concepts. Again, a lot of people probably didn’t know the Resident Evil 1.5 development story back in the late ‘90s/early 2000s, so they may have assumed Resident Evil 2’s initial leading characters were somehow associated with Resident Evil: DASH. Even when people learned about Resident Evil Zero and Resident Evil 1.5, all the behind-the-scenes stuff from that time seemed to get lumped together. 

What about all of those drawings of Spencer Mansion covered with spider webs and wildlife, though? Interestingly, it seems some of those drawings originate from Resident Evil 2’s development. Actually, in a 1998 magazine interview, Resident Evil writer Noboru Sugimura mentions that the team originally intended to have players leave the police station in Resident Evil 2 and eventually work their way back to a version of Spencer Mansion inhabited by “a monster that was left alive in the blasted out ruins of the lobby and dining hall.”

While there’s no mention of any plant monsters in that interview, it really does seem that the Resident Evil team once seriously considered featuring a version of Spencer Mansion typically associated with Resident Evil: DASH in Resident Evil 2. Like so many other things about that game, though, plans changed along the way. 

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So while Resident Evil: DASH must be considered an urban legend, it’s fascinating to see how so many of the rumors that have kept the project alive over the years are based on games that were eventually released or ideas that Capcom had considered at some point. 

The post Resident Evil DASH: Canceled Sequel or Urban Legend? appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[viralhottopics]

Why the Halo Movie Failed to Launch

The Master Chiefs left the offices of Creative Artists Agency around midday on June 6, 2005, in a fleet of limo vans. In their green, red and blue Spartan armour the cybernetically-enhanced super soldiers made quite a spectacle. Each stood six-foot-three tall, visored helmets obscuring their faces. Each carried a red bound document folder stamped with the CAA logo that contained two things: a copy of the Halo screenplay commissioned by Microsoft and written by Alex Garland and a terms sheet. None of them spoke a word.

The security guards on the gates of the major motion picture studios are used to seeing many things. Still, a hulking soldier from the future striding towards them and demanding access to the studios top brass was inevitably going to end in some kind of shooting incident — whether involving a United Nations Space Command BR55 Battle Rifle or a security guards arguably more deadly .38 revolver.

Fortunately Larry Shapiros team at CAA had called ahead and warned the studios security heads what was going on. The Master Chiefs were allowed onto the lots at Universal, Fox, New Line, DreamWorks and others without firing a single shot. If this was the videogame industry literally invading Hollywood, it was remarkably bloodless. They delivered their scripts and waited outside the meetings rooms in silent character, flicking through the pages of Variety. Everyone knew the clock was ticking: Studio executives only had a couple of hours to read the Halo screenplay and decide whether or not to make an offer before the Master Chiefs returned to CAA with the screenplay. It was the deal of the century, and a fantastic piece of showmanship.

The Master Chief suits were Shapiros idea and they ensured that the Halo deal made headlines even before the trade papers learned how rich the demands were. It was a spectacular attempt to turn Microsofts first foray into Hollywood filmmaking into a theatrical event and it very almost worked. Master Chief, the hero of Microsoft and Bungies bestselling Halo games, made his debut in Hollywood. Sadly, though, his Tinsel Town ascension was short-lived.

Microsoft was aggressive in pursuing the idea of taking Halo to the big screen. Its easy to understand why. The games, developed by Bungie Studios, were perfect blockbuster material: high-octane, intense sci-fi shoot em ups with a dense mythology and storyline and a dedicated fan-base of millions. Combined sales of the first two Halo games grossed in excess of $600 million over four years, selling north of 13 million units. The movie biz looked on in envy.

When Microsoft approached CAA about their movie ambitions, Shapiro told them about the Day After Tomorrow auction set up by CAA agent Michael Wimer and director Roland Emmerich. With a script for the apocalyptic eco-movie in hand, Wimer called the major studios and invited them to bid for it. The process was unusual: Every studio would send a messenger to CAA at an allotted time, pick up the script and then have 24 hours to read it and make an offer. Each script was despatched with a terms sheet: Heres how much we want; heres how much we want for the director, and it has to be a go movie (in other words, a picture with a guaranteed start date for production). Each studio responded by trying to negotiate terms. The only exception was Fox, who simply wrote on the term sheet: Yes.

Microsoft, unaccustomed to Hollywoods culture, was impressed by that story. It wanted to be able to dictate the terms even though it was a newcomer in the movie biz. Halo was its prize property and they wanted to protect it.

Microsoft was entering into negotiations brandishing a very big stick.

Microsoft also wanted to make a bundle of money from its sale. For Shapiro, it was typical of the gulf between the two industries. Games creators are, by their nature, engineers who deal in absolutes. For them the subtleties of Hollywood production, with its ebb-and-flow of egos and power plays, were often alien. To sell a movie into a studio and actually get it made is a lot of work, he says. It takes a lot of conversations and a lot of pixie dust being thrown about while youre getting the deals done. In the games industry, theyre technologists and theyre data driven. Theyre looking at data points and saying: We need the movie to be made, its got to be this, this and this. If you get A, B and C to be part of the movie, then great well sell you the rights. You cant do that. But, if thats what Microsoft wanted, CAA was willing to try.

To set up that kind of deal, Microsoft needed to be ready. Most importantly it needed to have a screenplay so it paid Alex Garland (28 Days Later, The Beach) $1 million to pen a spec script. The screenplay was supervised by Microsoft, which meant it was — for good or ill — heavily steeped in the games mythology. Still, the project now had a blockbuster screenwriter and was based on a high-profile videogame franchise.

Next, it was a case of setting up the auction. Peter Schlessel, the former president of production at Columbia Pictures, was one of the main negotiators in the Halo movie deal and served as Microsofts Hollywood liaison. Together with Microsoft and its lawyers, Schlessel and the CAA team hammered out a term sheet. We were literally setting out to be the richest, most lucrative rights deal in history in Hollywood, says Shapiro. You have to remember that no property, not even Harry Potter, was getting [what we were asking for]. Microsoft, a global software giant used to getting its own way, wasnt about to kowtow to Hollywood. It knew Halo was the jewel of videogame movies, the one that could be a true blockbuster hit. According to Variety, Microsoft wanted $10 million against 15% of the box office gross, in addition to a $75 million below-the-line budget and fast-tracked production.

Those were big demands. Not least of all since, at the time, videogame movies were still floundering on the edge of respectability. Tomb Raider had made a pot of money and pushed towards the mainstream but its 2003 sequel, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider — The Cradle of Life, suffered a disappointing opening weekend at the U.S. box office and limped by on its foreign grosses. The Lara Croft franchise was running out of steam early. And most other videogame movie outings werent even in the same neighbourhood as Lara. Paul W. S. Anderson, the director of Mortal Kombat, parlayed his success into the zombie-themed Resident Evil franchise distributed by Sony Screen Gems. The first movie based on Capcoms survival horror game series took $102 million worldwide and did gangbuster business on DVD selling over a million units. But it lacked the prestige and mainstream crossover potential of Tomb Raider.

Microsoft were aiming higher — much, much higher. CAAs deal-making matched the software giants aspirations. According to the New York Times, Microsoft were demanding creative approval over director and cast, plus 60 first-class plane tickets for Microsoft personnel and their guests to attend the premiere. It wouldnt be putting any money into the production itself beyond the fee paid to Garland, nor was it willing to sign over the merchandising rights. To add insult to injury, Microsoft wanted the winning studio to pay to fly one of its representatives from Seattle to LA. They would watch every cut of the movie during post-production. Clearly, Microsoft was entering into negotiations brandishing a very big stick.

With the screenplay written and the ink still drying on the terms sheet, the agents called up the major studios and advised them to be prepared. It was a bold, some might say arrogant, show of power. As Shapiro remembers it, We told them: You need to have all your decision makers in a room because were going to deliver the script for you to read together with a terms sheet. But theres a fuse on it. Youll only have a certain amount of time to make a deal.

Master Chief in the upcoming game Halo 4. Image: Microsoft

Because Hollywood is a town built on relationships, CAAs agents made sure they called all the major players. Even then there were some who felt snubbed; Miramax head honcho Harvey Weinstein called up to shout about being left off the list. Everyone had assumed Miramax wouldnt be interested in the property. Truth was they probably werent, but there was prestige to be had in being invited to the Halo party. The only major studio Microsoft refused to approach was Columbia, which was owned by Sony, its chief rival in the console war.

With his production background, Shapiro decided to add a little razzle dazzle to the proceedings. Remembering the Master Chief costumes hed seen at Comic-Con, he tracked down the one person in the U.S. who was fabricating the games official Spartan UNSC battle armour and hired seven suits: a Red, a Blue and several in Master Chief green. I had them shipped out to CAA, recalls Shapiro, they came in crates and had instructions about how to put them on. I hired character actors to wear the suits because, you know, you dont just put anyone in these suits. They had to feel like Master Chief.

For a few hours on June 6, 2005, Hollywood became Halowood. Everyone was buzzing about the Master Chiefs spotted walking through the studio lots and — more importantly — about the richness of the deal Microsoft was demanding. No one had ever seen anything like it before. Microsoft, the global corporation whose products sat on every desktop, had come to Hollywood and wasnt afraid of throwing its weight around. If showmanship and arrogance and Hollywood dont go together, I dont know what does, says Moore who was Microsofts go-between with Universal during the negotiations, reporting to the software companys point man Steve Schreck.

Not everyone was impressed. Movie executive Alex Young, who by the time of Halo had moved from Paramount to Fox, recalls reading the screenplay under Master Chiefs watchful eye. It was one of those gimmicky Hollywood things: hey, force everybody to be in a room, make it feel urgent, have a guy show up in costume and Oh my God! This feels like a big deal. It probably served Microsoft and CAA well at the time, but ultimately it seemed like a bit of manufactured theatre to me. Another problem was that the Halo property was so well-known by that point that everyone knew what to expect. You either loved the idea of making a Halo movie or you did not, suggests Young. Having a guy in costume deliver the screenplay wasnt going to convince you one way or the other.

In the end, though, it wasnt the Master Chiefs fault that the deal stumbled. Nor was it CAAs. The failure of the Halo movie remains a potent illustration of the gulf that still lies between Hollywood and the videogame business. It should have been the tent-pole movie to die for, instead it became the one that got away. Millions of Halo fans around the world wanted a movie, yet it failed to launch. Partly, it stemmed from the on-going inability of both sides of the deal to understand each others culture, needs and language.

“When the videogame industry talks to people they do it open-kimono and they expect the same transparency back. Hollywood doesnt function that way.”

Most of the studios who read the Halo screenplay passed immediately. Microsofts terms were simply too demanding. By the end of Master Chief Monday there were only two horses in the race: Fox and Universal. Microsoft hoped to use each to leverage off the other but hadnt banked on the studios very different approach to doing business. What the games industry doesnt understand is that this town is all about lunch, explains Shapiro. It doesnt happen like that in the games industry. If there was a movie studio going out to the games publishers to license Avatar or something like that, theyd say Ok were licensing Avatar, send us your best deal. But none of the games publishers would talk to each other and say Hey, what are you going to offer them?

The studios werent so reticent in sounding each other out. What happened was Universal called Fox and asked them what they were going to offer, continues Shapiro, who watched events unfold close-up. They decided to partner on it. Lets offer the same deal and offer to partner. So now we lost our leverage. Universal agreed to take U.S. domestic, Fox would take foreign. In the blink of an eye Microsofts bargaining position had been pole-axed.

The immensely powerful Microsoft had wandered into the deal navely expecting everyone to play by its rules and the resulting culture shock put immense strain on the Halo deal. For Moore, then corporate vice-president of the Interactive Entertainment Business division at Microsoft, there was clearly culture clash during the negotiations: You work for a company like Microsoft, where you do what you say, you say what you do; you think you have an agreement, youre ready to go, and then… [the deal falls apart].

It was something that talent agents working at the intersection between the two industries have experienced many times. When the videogame industry talks to people they do it open-kimono and they expect the same transparency back, says Blindlights Lev Chapelsky. Hollywood doesnt function that way, they dance and they sing and they play games and go through their ritual haggling. To somebody whos not accustomed to that, it can be insulting.

Microsoft clearly werent accustomed to it. They were used to being the strongest contender in any negotiation they entered into. But this time they were far out of their comfort zone. We dont understand Hollywood, Microsoft Games Studios general manager Stuart Mulder confessed to the trade papers in 2002 as the company inked in its deal with Shapiro at CAA. It was a throwaway comment that would turn out to be disturbingly prophetic.

What was apparent during the Halo deal-making was that Microsoft was far from home, perhaps even surrounded in enemy territory. In the middle of the Halo negotiations, as all parties sat around the table, Shapiro recalls the discussion between Microsofts Hollywood liaison Peter Schlessel and Jimmy Horowitz, Universals co-president of production, taking an aggressive turn. Schlessel was getting really tough on some of the terms with Horowitz: Come on, dont be a jerk, blah, blah, blah…. It was getting really heated. The guy from Microsoft [Steve Schrek] was like, Wow, this is really good. Then we took a break and Schlessel goes to Horowitz, Are you coming over for Passover? Because they know each other. You dont have those kinds of relationships in videogames. In Hollywood you can be getting at each other but then youre playing golf together the next day.

Even after the deal was struck, the misunderstanding over how the movie business operated continued to be a problem. Microsoft wanted a big-name director, but Peter Jackson, helmer on The Lord of the Rings trilogy, decided to sign on as a co-producer alongside Peter Schlessel, Mary Parent and Scott Stuber. Jackson wanted his new protg, an up-and-coming commercials whiz kid called Neill Blomkamp, to direct. With Jacksons fee running to several million dollars the studios knew there was an advantage in hiring a cheaper, less well-known talent to sit in the directors chair. Microsoft was reputedly not happy with the decision.

Blomkamp, a South African director who had made his mark with commercials for Nike and had shot an intriguing short about alien apartheid called Alive in Joburg, was concerned about getting chewed up and spat out while making his first feature with these three enormous corporations and a budget north of $100 million. My instinct was that if I crawled into that hornets nest it would be not good, and it was a clusterfuck from day one, he admits. Theres no question that there was a clash of worlds, for sure. The two sides werent seeing eye-to-eye.

What lured him in, beyond the obvious kudos, was his love for the property: I told Tom Rothman [co-Chairman of Fox Filmed Entertainment] that I was genetically created to direct Halo. However, Blomkamp quickly realised that the studio didnt share his artistic vision and was uncomfortable at the prospect of his gritty, post-cyberpunk aesthetic — all blurry video feeds and radio chatter – dominating a summer blockbuster. Rothman hated me, I think he would have gotten rid of me if he could have, says the director. The suits werent happy with the direction I was going. Thing was, though, Id played Halo and I play videogames. Im that generation more than they are and I know that my version of Halo would have been insanely cool. It was more fresh and potentially could have made more money than just a generic, boring film — something like G.I. Joe or some crap like that, that Hollywood produces.

Blomkamps relationship with Fox was particularly fraught. The way the deal was split between three major corporations and a handful of Hollywood producers caused several unusual imbalances in terms of power. The way Fox dealt with me was not cool. Right from the beginning, when Mary [Parent, Universals former president of production turned Halo producer] hired me up until the end when it collapsed, they treated me like shit; they were just a crappy studio. Ill never ever work with Fox ever again because of what happened to Halo – unless they pay me some ungodly amount of money and I have absolute fucking control.

He was also being pressured by Microsofts demands too. One of the biggest issues was creative control. Microsoft had paid Garland to pen the screenplay to their specifications in order to retain control over what was clearly a very valuable property to them. Halo was an Xbox exclusive title, a billion-dollar franchise, and its chief weapon in the console war against Sony. The problem was, though, that filmmaking was a collaborative exercise and total control simply wasnt possible.

If youre dealing with a company that doesnt understand the film industry, its sense of assurance comes with glossy names that have done a lot of big projects that have made a lot of money, says Blomkamp. I think the guys at Bungie liked what I was doing. Im fairly confident in saying they liked where I was going. Its highly possible that that artwork was getting back to Microsoft and Microsoft itself, the corporate entity, was not happy with it because it was too unconventional. I dont know if thats true or not, but it was entirely possible.

Against this fraught background, Universal funded $12 million of preliminary development on the movie. Some of the money was spent before Blomkamp came on-board by director Guillermo Del Toro, who was initially attached before going off to make Hellboy II: The Golden Army instead. The rest was spent on Blomkamps watch and included paying various screenwriters — Scott Frank, D.B. Weiss, Josh Olson — to redraft the original screenplay.

Meanwhile, Weta Workshop, the New Zealand physical effects company co-founded by Jackson, was fabricating real-life versions of the weapons, power armour and the Warthog assault vehicle from the game. Blomkamp would eventually use them to shoot a series of thrilling test shorts. The legacy of a movie never made, is how Moore describes the collected footage, which was later cut together under the title Halo: Landfall and used to promote the Halo 3 videogame release in 2007.

With development proving slow, Fox and Universal were beginning to get impatient. The gross heavy deal and costs increased the growing sense of unease. In October 2006, right before a payment was due to be made to the filmmakers and Microsoft, Universal demanded that the producers deals be cut. Jackson consulted with his co-producers and Blomkamp, as well as with Microsoft and Bungie, and refused. In a stroke, the Halo movie was pronounced dead in the water.

What ultimately killed the Halo movie was money. Microsofts unwillingness to reduce their deal killed the deal, says Shapiro. Their unwillingness to reduce their gross in the deal meant it got too top-heavy. That movie could have been Avatar.

Blomkamp agrees: One of the complicating factors with Halo was that Microsoft wasnt the normal party that youd go off and option the IP from and make your product. Because Microsoft is such an omnipresent, powerful corporation, they werent just going to sit back and not take a massive cut of the profits. When you have a corporation that potent and that large taking a percentage of the profits, then youve got Peter Jackson taking a percentage of the profits and you start adding all of that stuff up, mixed with the fact that you have two studios sharing the profits, suddenly the return on the investment starts to decline so that it becomes not worth making. Ultimately, thats essentially what killed the film.

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from Why the Halo Movie Failed to Launch