Dr. K

Movie Night: Venom: Let There Be Carnage

25/10/202109/11/2024Dr. K6 Comments

Released: 15 October 2021
Director: Andy Serkis
Distributor: Sony Pictures Releasing
Budget: $110 million
Stars: Tom Hardy, Woody Harrelson, Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris, and Stephen Graham

The Plot:
After the events of Venom (Fleischer, 2018), investigative journalist Eddie Brock’s (Hardy) struggles to co-exist with the alien symbiote Venom. Their lives are further complicated when serial killer Cletus Kasady (Harrelson) gains his own symbiote and begins a reign of terror as the maniacal Carnage.

The Background:
Originally depicted as a simple black costume acquired by Peter Parker/Spider-Man on an alien world, Venom eventually became their own character when the costume was revealed to be alive and bonded with the unhinged Eddie Brock to torment Spider-Man. Since their debut, Spidey-Man’s dark doppelgänger has become one of Marvel Comics’ most popular anti-heroes and one of Spider-Man’s most recognisable foes. So popular are Venom that they’ve made regular appearances in Spider-Man videogames and cartoons and were awkwardly shoe-horned into Spider-Man 3 (Raimi, 2008) for an impressive, if rushed, big-screen debut. Although the idea of a live-action Venom film had been doing the rounds in Hollywood since 1997, the idea only gained significant momentum after this film and eventually culminated in the frankly unprecedented casting of Tom Hardy in the title role for what became a commercially successful solo film despite mixed reviews and questions as to its relations to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Development of a sequel began in 2019; although Ruben Fleischer was unable to return, Andy Serkis took over directing duties and worked closely with Hardy to develop the film’s script. Although popular Venom antagonist Carnage was nixed as the main antagonist of the first film, Woody Harrelson appeared as the character’s human host as a tease for the sequel and took a gamble by signing on for the sequel before a script was even written. Although Venom: Let There Be Carnage was delayed several times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Serkis aimed to use the additional time to help spruce up the film’s visual effects and Hardy confirmed that he was signed on for a third film. Upon release, Venom: Let There Be Carnage was met with mostly positive reviews that praised the madcap nature of the relationship between Eddie and Venom. Though some criticised the film’s over-the-top moments, Let There Be Carnage eventually grossed over $500 million worldwide, more than justifying a third entry in 2024.

The Review:
After coming to terms with his newfound relationship with the alien symbiote known as Venom, Eddie Brock ended Venom in a pretty good place: he was determined to get back to written journalism, and win back the heart of his old flame, Anne Weying (Williams), and reached a compromise with the symbiote where the creature would be allowed to live within Eddie’s body on the provision that it only attacked, killed, and, crucially, ate bad guys. Venom: Let There Be Carnage walks the characters back a little bit and finds the two not operating as a lethal protector, but once again largely at odds with each other.

*Eddie is burdened by Venom’s constant need to feed and desire to take out bad guys.*

This is primarily because Eddie has been placating the symbiote with chocolate and live chickens rather than letting it ate the brains of bad guys; frustrated at being held back by Eddie’s morals, the symbiote frequently lashes out at him and demands to be let loose, but Eddie continues to exert his control over the alien parasite to avoid attracting undue attention. This gives the movie a very prominent “odd couple”/“buddy cop” feeling as Venom is basically an oversized toddler who just wants to go out and have a good time and doesn’t see why they have to hide themselves. A constant, nagging voice in Eddie’s head, Venom continually tries to give Eddie advice and push him into giving into his violent urges, which weighs heavily on Eddie; he seems to be absolutely burdened by the responsibility of housing and pacifying Venom, who represents his inner desires that he suppresses in order to live a simple life out of the spotlight. Venom resents Eddie’s hesitation in holding them back and wants to be out there, stalking bad guys and letting itself loose, rather than being cooped up in Eddie’s body and apartment. Still, Eddie’s concerns are largely validated; Detective Patrick Mulligan (Graham) is incredibly suspicious of Eddie, not just because he always happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and the unexplained events of the first film, but also because he’s the only person that notorious serial killer Cletus Kasady will talk to and Mulligan believes that Eddie is holding back information purely to bolster his own journalistic career.

*Mulligan’s convinced Eddie’s holding out on him, while Eddie laments losing Anne.*

Still a far cry from having his own, regular journalism show on television, Eddie endures Cletus’s repeated requests to talk to him primarily to help get his life back on track and to bring some relief to the families of Kasady’s victims. However, he comes across as being a selfish, self-serving reporter since to reveal the truth to Mulligan would mean his imprisonment, at best, and him and the symbiote being shipped off to some governmental facility somewhere. Venom’s near-perfect visual recall and artistic ability help Eddie to identify where Cletus has buried a number of his victims, instantly making Eddie an overnight celebrity and condemning Kasady to a lethal injection. Eddie’s exhilaration at his career turnaround is short-lived, however, when Anne reveals that she’s now engaged to the kindly Doctor Dan Lewis (Reid Scott); heartbroken at having lost his former love, tensions between Eddie and Venom finally come to boiling point, resulting in an amusing physical confrontation between the two that sees the symbiote separating itself from Eddie and heading out to live its own life. This results in a pretty amusing little side story where Venom jumps between multiple, unsuitable hosts, using them up one at a time as it tours through the colourful city streets and seeks out enjoyment. Being separated from Eddie causes Venom to slowly starve and realise how much it took Eddie for granted, while Eddie’s life generally improves without the symbiote weighing him down. This is where Anne plays her most prominent role; she doesn’t have as much to do as in the first film but makes for a great mediator between Edie and Venom, interjecting in their domestic dispute to bring them back together and force them to admit how much they need each other.

*Kasady and Shriek’s relationship is taken to the next level when he obtains his own symbiote.*

The two are soon forced to make amends, however, when Kasady suddenly sprouts a symbiote of his own; an absolutely crackpot murderer, Kasady feels a connection with Eddie due to believing them to be very similar people, with comparable backgrounds. Heavily abused as a child and with a long history of violence, Cletus is seemingly out of his mind and completely unremorseful of his actions, which have condemned him to death. During his final interview with Eddie, Kasady suddenly snaps and takes a bite out of Eddie’s hand, consuming a part of the symbiote which violently bubbles to the surface while he’s receiving his lethal injection. Dubbing himself Carnage, Kasady goes on an absolute rampage throughout the prison, killing several guards and breaking free of his confinement; he quickly comes to an understanding with his newfound alien partner that sees them joining forces to destroy their “father” and to reunite Kasady with his old girlfriend, Frances Barrison/Shriek (Harris), a Mutant sporting an ear-piercing scream who was the one source of light in Kasady’s life as a child. Of course, like Venom in the first movie (and also this one), Carnage is somewhat hampered by the film’s 15 rating; in the comics, Kasady is one of the most extreme and brutal villains from the “Dark Age” of comic books, slicing and dicing people on a whim and causing… well, carnage…with no rhyme or reason and entirely for the thrill of it. The entire point of the character was to be a more extreme version of Venom so that the symbiote could shift into more of an anti-hero role but, in the movies, Eddie is a far more stable and much nicer guy than his comic book counterpart, and Venom repeatedly states its desire to protect people from bad guys, meaning that the two are already much softer than in the comics. Still, Kasady remains as nutty as his comic book counterpart, but also far more focused; he genuinely loves Frances and wants to not only reunite with her for a killing spree but also protect her from harm, a weakness not shared by his Marvel Comics incarnation. His motivation for targeting Eddie also stems from a need to feel a genuine connection with someone, which is a far cry from just desiring senseless slaughter, but the abilities of the symbiote certainly dial all of Kasady’s worst impulses up to eleven. While bloodshed is kept to a minimum and there’s little in the way of the slasher-villain antics of his comic book counterpart, Carnage quickly amasses a pretty impressive body count and certain looks completely unhinged thanks to some top-notch CGI and being augmented to be larger and more unhinged than its “father”. With Carnage going on a tear and endangering lives, Eddie and Venom are reunited by Anne and forced to once again realise that they need each other to survive and to be special, and come together once more to confront their progeny and establish themselves as a lethal protector.

The Nitty-Gritty:
Director Andy Serkis definitely ups the ante in terms of the film’s presentation and the balance between action and humour; flashbacks to Kasady’s past are rendered using both younger actors an crudely-drawn animations to depict some of the younger Kasady’s more violent acts, which all helps to add to the character’s unhinged state of mind. The banter and dialogue between Eddie and Venom is one of the highlights of the film; Venom is constantly popping out and threatening to eat people’s heads or berating Eddie for being “weak”, and its tentacles are often whipping around mashing together food or causing mischief, which was very amusing. Thanks to having spent the majority of Venom’s runtime establishing Eddie and Venom as characters, Venom: Let There Be Carnage doesn’t have to worry about being shackled by the restraints of an origin story for them and we get to see Venom in all their glory pretty soon into the movie, which is great but does result in a bit of a rushed beginning to the film where it seems like it’s going to be a mindless, jump-cut-heavy action film but, thankfully, Serkis soon gets the film’s pacing under control and focus on the evolving dynamic between Eddie and Venom.

*The conflict between Eddie and Venom forms a central element of the film’s plot.*

Since we know who these characters are, much of the time spent with them is focused on showing how tension between the two are growing. This is primarily so that Eddie can lose his “powers” midway through the film and the two can relearn just how dependant they are on each other, but also allows the film the time to flesh out Kasady’s character and backstory, something he sorely needed. I actually disliked how Kasady was just tacked onto the end of Venom as a mid-credits teaser; it kind of came out of nowhere and probably left a lot of audiences unfamiliar with the characters confused as to why Woody Harrelson was sitting in a cell and sporting a bizarre wig. Personally, I would have had a recurring element of Venom be Eddie trying to gain an audience with Kasady in order to turn his career around, and only be granted this by the end, just to help foreshadow their meeting a bit but Venom: Let There Be Carnage definitely makes up for this. Harrelson seems to be having the time of his life, chewing the scenery and stealing the show as the unhinged Kasady, a madman who writes postcards and letters in a bizarre script and brags about how many people he’s killed. He was a psychopath even before acquiring his symbiote, and joining with Carnage simple allows his sordid ambitions to be completely free from any mortal restraints.

*The effects do a great job of bringing Venom and Carnage to life and making them visually distinct.*

The relationship between Kasady and Carnage is as different from the comics as the one between Eddie and Venom, too; in the comics, Kasady and his symbiote form a perfect union, a symbiosis so complete that they refer to themselves as “I” instead of “we” and the symbiote even merged with Kasady’s blood, making them functionally inseparable. Here, the two converse independently like Eddie and Venom and come to a mutually beneficial arrangement very quickly, meaning that there is no conflict between the two like there is between Eddie and Venom, which allows the character to fulfil its criteria of being the most violent impulses of Venom dialled up to eleven and completely off the hook. Carnage’s threat is also accentuated by the fact that its actually bigger and much more versatile than Venom, which is also a welcome change; unlike Carlton Drake/Riot (Riz Ahmed) in the last film, Carnage is so much more visually distinct, being red, rippling with tentacles and malice, and sporting so many different abilities that even Venom is hesitant to go head-to-head with it because of how violent and dangerous the “red [ones]” can be. This results in some far more impressive and visually interesting action and fight scenes; indeed, Venom looks better than ever, all glossy and shiny and ferocious, and the effects used to bring the symbiote and its tentacles to life look much more impressive this time around. Carnage, especially, looks fantastic; I love how its so visually distinct from Venom, which really helps make their fight scenes easier to follow and far more vicious than in the last film; Kasady’s transformations are disturbing and violent as well, and just about the only thing I disliked about Carnage was that its voice was a little low (I always imagined Carnage to just shriek like a madman).

The Summary:
My expectations for Venom: Let There Be Carnage were quite low, to be honest; I enjoyed Venom but I think it was a major misstep to do the character’s story without involving some version of Spider-Man. The film just about pulled it off, but I still feel like critical elements of the character were (and continue to be) missing as a result; still, it was a pretty decent, if somewhat flawed, little action piece that was only hampered by its rating. I knew all along that Venom: Let There Be Carnage wouldn’t be rated any higher than a 15 as it just makes business sense to help it make the most money it possibly can, so I was fully prepared to see a more neutered version of Carnage but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this film. The odd couple dynamic between Eddie and Venom was brilliant, as was their banter and their tumultuous relationship in general, and it’s great seeing Tom Hardy’s physicality and dedication to these characters on show. The special effects were far better this time around as well; I may not like that Venom is lacking their iconic spider-symbol, but they look phenomenal here and there are far more scenes and action sequences of Venom this time around, which I greatly appreciate as a long-time fan of the character. Woody Harrelson absolutely stole the show as Cletus Kasady and Carnage, though; sure, the character is notably altered and he’s not tearing hapless innocents apart with reckless abandon, but I think this is the closest and most accurate portrayal of the character that we’re ever likely to get and they did a great job of accentuating Kasady’s madness and the ferocious nature of his symbiote. In the end, I expected Venom: Let There Be Carnage to be little more than just more of the same of the last film but it ended up being so much more and something far closer to the Venom I grew up reading in Marvel Comics.

My Rating:

Great Stuff

Have you seen Venom: Let There Be Carnage? If so, what did you think to it? Did you like the relationship between Eddie Brock and Venom and their odd couple dynamic? What were your thoughts on Celetus Kasady and Carnage? Were you happy with the action and pace of the film and how do you feel it compares to the first movie? What did you think to the mid-credits teaser and where would you like to see the character go in the future? What are some of your favourite Venom and/or Carnage stories from the comics? Sign up to leave your thoughts on Venom: Let There Be Carnage down below or comment on my social media with your opinions.

Movie Night: The Hallow

24/10/202102/09/2024Dr. KLeave a comment

Released: 10 July 2015
Director: Corin Hardy
Distributor: Entertainment One
Budget: Unknown
Stars: Joseph Mawle, Bojana Novakovic, Michael McElhatton, and Michael Smiley

The Plot:
British conservationist Adam Hitchens (Mawle) has moved to a remote Irish village with his wife, Claire (Novakovic), and baby boy Finn. However, despite the cold and aggressive warnings of local villagers like Colm Donnelly (McElhatton), Adam continually ventures into a dense and feared forest, discovering both a strange fungal infection and a number of demonic creatures intent on stealing their baby.

The Background:
Written alongside co-producer Felipe Marino, The Hallow is the creation of English director Corin Hardy, who wished to pay tribute to, and touch upon, numerous elements of the horror genre (from body horrors to creature features) to create a dark fairytale that was inspired by the darker elements of Irish fiction and lore. Produced on a limited budget, and favouring traditional, practical effects over an abundance of computer-generated effects, The Hallow premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and garnered quite a positive reception for its dark atmosphere and impressive creature effects.

The Review:
The Hallow is like a love letter to a bygone era of horror cinema in that it uses a shoe-string budget wisely, utilising dark, moody lighting, creepy, dilapidated sets and forests, and a generally foreboding sense of dread to build tension and leave the audience hankering for answers. Focusing on only two characters (and their little boy) helps to keep the film from getting too bloated with unnecessary characters who exist purely to be killed; indeed, The Hallow’s body count and gore factor are both quite low as the film is more about trying to figure out exactly what it is out in those decrepit woods that is causing such horrific events to happen. The locals view the woods with dread and fear, believing a supernatural force dwells within that takes great offense to disturbance of its natural habitat and strikes back with a wicked vengeance, stealing children in the dead of night.

*Atmosphere and dread are key aspects of* The Hallow‘s terror.

While all the locals share this sentiment, none exemplify it more than the closest thing the film has to a human antagonist, Colm, whose daughter was a victim of the woods and the entity that dwells within (known in local folklore as the titular Hallow). As such, Colm, exhibits a paranoid, aggressive demeanour around Adam and Claire, entering their house and walking onto their property in a threatening manner in an attempt to warn them off but never quite explaining what it is that has him so deathly afraid until it is too late. Adam and Claire as surprisingly unremarkable characters, however this isn’t actually meant as a criticism; the whole point of these two is that they are perfectly normal individuals who are menaced by an increasingly malevolent series of events. At first, they believe it’s the work of the locals but they soon find that the Hallow is just as incensed by their presence and that their lives are in genuine danger.

*The Hallow’s influence strikes both subtley and with malicious intent.*

Their relationship is relatively stable throughout all of this; despite having made a big life change and moving from the bustling streets of London and into the middle of nowhere, they’re still very much a team and clearly still enamoured by each other. The events of the film test their sanity and relationship, however, when the malicious fungus of the forest begins to spread not only through their house but also through Adam in the form of a particularly cringe-inducing attack. As Adam’s behaviour becomes more erratic and his body horrifically mutates from the fungus’ influence, Claire comes to fear him as much as the demonic faerie-like creatures that make up the Hallow; through it all, her primary concern is the welfare of Finn, the Hitchens’ helpless little baby who becomes the target of the Hallow’s wrath. To that end, she runs head-first into the dangers of the woods without a second’s hesitation to retrieve the boy and is genuinely torn between her love for Adam and her devotion to her baby when the increasingly-infected Adam suggests that Finn has been replaced with a Hallow-born changeling.

The Hallow‘s practical creature effects are used sparingly and to great impact.

The horror of The Hallow is in taking a perfectly normal couple in an isolated, rural environment surrounded by superstitions and hostility and bombarding them with increasingly supernatural and horrific events. The idea here is that this could happen anywhere as foreboding, ominous woods and forests are scattered all over the United Kingdom’s more rustic landscapes and myths and tales of local folklore and horrors still permeate to this day, forming the basis of many popular fairytales and nursery rhymes. As a result, the horror is more of a creepy, unsettling vibe; jump scares are used sparingly and to great effect and the creature effects are effectively hidden through clever lighting and camera tricks. When the Hallow do appear onscreen, they look gruesome and realistic as a result of the film’s practical approach and, even better, while competing theories of their origins are presented (one a more supernatural perspective and the other more scientific), no concrete explanation of their origins, motivations, or nature is really given, meaning they are all the more terrifying for their mystery as much as their ruthlessness.

The Nitty-Gritty:
Like any good, classic horror film, much of The Hallow’s action and horror takes place in the unsettling dead of night; light harms these creatures, so they only emerge when it is dark and constantly stick to the shadows, meaning we rarely get a good look at them in the film’s early going. Though Adam is able to fire up a generator, this is only a temporary solution and the Hallow are smart enough to cut their lights and means of communication (not that it would do much good as the locals are too afraid and too prejudiced against the outsiders to offer much in the way of support).

*Body horror is a large part of* The Hallow‘s terror.

Infected by the fungus quite early into the Hallow’s move against his family, much of the second act of the film revolves around Adam struggling against the fungus’ influence to fight off the Hallow and keep his wife and child safe. This becomes increasingly difficult as the fungus warps his mind and senses as much as his body, making him more aggressive, paranoid, and animalistic as its effects spread. These manifest themselves in a variety of gruesome ways, from warping his eye and causing disgusting tendrils to emerge from his body to having him see his son as a horrific creature rather than a bawling baby.

*The Hallow are vicious, territorial little creatures* *that are the subject of local folklore.*

As the damage to his body intensifies, Adam eventually succumbs to the fungus and is able to walk freely among the Hallow in a bid to find his real son; on the cusp of being completely taken over, he appears to become the film’s true antagonistic force (especially when he lights a scythe on fire and begins a relentless pursuit of Claire and Finn) but ultimately sacrifices his humanity and his life to rescue his son and expose the Hallow’s deception. The main selling point of The Hallow, like any good creature feature, is, of course, the titular creatures; strange, malformed goblin-like monstrosities, the Hallow were once human (possibly all once human children) who were infected by the malevolent fungus that dwells within the woods and, over time, horrifically transformed into twisted, cannibalistic monsters who can only exist in darkness and ferociously lash out at any who desecrate their land. Thanks to their abhorrence to sunlight (and to iron) and habit of stealing children, the Hallow are viewed as a very real superstition by the locals, something that is left largely uncertain by the film’s ambiguous approach, all of which helps to increase the horror of the Hallow through the fact that they are both plausible and also unquantifiable.

The Summary:
The Hallow is a very intense, atmospheric piece of horror; what little budget the film had has clearly been put to good use, allowing the plot to focus only on a handful of characters to ensure the best performances. Rife with feelings of escalating dread and isolation, the film is just as much about sickening body horror as it is its terrifying creatures, striking a good balance between superstition and the supernatural and a more tangible, recognisable threat. One of the best aspects of the film is how it doesn’t concern itself with being pretentious or overly artsy; instead, its focus is on atmosphere and terror, using its malicious little creatures sparingly and to great effect to punctuate its subtle horrors.

My Rating:

Pretty Good

Have you ever seen The Hallow? If so, what did you think of it? What are some of your favourite low budget horror titles? Can you think of any other fairytales or bits of folklore that would make (or have made) for terrifying horror films? What are some of your favourite films (or instances) of body horror or featuring malicious little creatures? No matter what you think or what examples you have, feel free to write a comment below.

Game Corner: Saw (Xbox 360)

24/10/202109/10/2023Dr. K2 Comments

Released: October 2009
Developer: Zombie Studios
Also Available For: PC and PlayStation 3

The Background:
In 2004, writer Leigh Wannell and director James Wan brought us Saw, a psychological horror film in which two men find themselves trapped in a grimy bathroom, victims of the twisted John Kramer, also known as the Jigsaw Killer (Tobin Bell), and forced to play a demented game of survival where one must die or both must cut through their feet to escape their shackles. Saw was a surprise success; produced on a budget of $1.2 million, it grossed over $100 million at the box office, making it (at the time) the most profitable horror film in about eight years and kick-starting not only an ongoing horror franchise but also inspiring a whole other sub-genre of horror cinema, the “torture porn” genre. By 2009, Saw’s success had translated into six sequels that continued the story, each of varying quality. This, apparently, was the perfect time to capitalise on the franchise’s success with a puzzle-based, quasi-survival/horror videogame. While the game was initially announced in 2006, development stalled somewhat despite the creators of the franchise working closely on the game’s narrative, aesthetics, and gameplay elements. Konami eventually took over the production of the game, viewing it as a potential spiritual successor to their Silent Hill (Various, 1999 to 2012) franchise; however, while the game did well enough to get a sequel in 2010, it received little more than average to mediocre reviews at the time of release.

The Plot:
Disgraced police detective David Tapp, who ran afoul of Jigsaw in the first Saw movie, finds himself trapped in a former mental asylum at the mercy of the Jigsaw Killer. Forced to confront his mistakes and the demons of his past, he must solve a series of gruesome traps and puzzles in an attempt to earn his freedom.

Gameplay:
Saw is a third-person action/puzzle game with an emphasis on puzzle-solving, collecting items, and evading or smartly dispatching of a few foes similar to other survival/horror titles. Players are put into the shoes of a familiar character from the franchise who looks and acts absolutely nothing like the character as portrayed by Danny Glover; here, Tapp is far from the broken, semi-insane former cop with a grouchy voice thanks to a scar across his throat and is, instead, more like a desperate, guilt-ridden cop.

*Former detective Tapp finds himself trapped in one of Jigsaw’s demented “games”.*

The game’s story is pretty standard Saw fare; Tapp must try to survive the asylum, which is filled with traps and other victims looking to kill him, solving puzzles and freeing victims chosen specifically to test Tapp’s morals and conscious. Unlike in the movies, though, you must past these tests and free these victims; they then promptly flee through means apparently unavailable to you and you continue on, learning a bit more about Tapp’s character and backstory as you go through Jigsaw’s cryptic taunts, audio tapes, and various documents and clippings found strewn throughout the asylum. However, while this does a lot to flesh out the Saw world beyond the movies and the game does a decent job at recreating the aesthetics of its source material, it’s tough to really enjoy it since Tapp controls like a lump of clay; slow, sluggish, and awkward, your options for exploration and combat are made needlessly complicated thanks to the game’s janky, tank-like controls (Tapp literally walks in reverse when you could back on the analogue stick) that see you jogging around the asylum at a listless pace as though the ground is made of sticky mud. Collision issues will see you sometimes clip into the environment or clip onto of it (the closest Tapp ever gets to jumping) and it can be difficult to navigate thanks to the grey, nondescript surroundings and next-to-useless map.

*If you have to choose a light source,* always choose the flashlight!

In true Saw fashion, your field of view is limited thanks to ambient, broken lighting, dark corners, and the asylum being little more than a blood, trap, and debris-strewn environment. To help with your navigation, you can acquire three different times to light your way; a lighter (which lights the immediate area a little bit, can cause certain barrels to explode, and goes out when you move too fast), a camera (which illuminates the immediate area in a burst of light but for such a brief period that it’s next to useless), and a flashlight (easily the best source of light as it lights up the largest area and is far more reliable). You can to manually activate these with the Y button, and have to do so every time you restart from a death, but often automatically lose them as the story progresses. Although Jigsaw saved him from the bullet that clearly killed him in the first movie, Tapp must still be feeling the effects as he’s quite a fragile man. A few blows from enemies will send him crumbling to the floor like a ragdoll, you need to constantly be alert from shards of broken glass that will drain your health, and he constantly runs afoul of Jigsaw’s many booby traps scattered throughout the asylum. If you don’t disarm the traps, you’ll get your head blown off, and if you can’t keep your balance you’ll plunge to your death at numerous points.

*Combat is something you’ll come to dread in* Saw thanks to the game’s sluggish controls.

Luckily, there’s a generous autosave feature and you can simply retry from your last checkpoint and Tapp can pick up bandages, a sewing kit, or bottles of water, or water fountains to instantly refill his health or carry around five syringes to heal your wounds. Combat, however, is a diabolical affair; luckily, there aren’t many enemies to engage with and they usually come at you one at a time because Tapp is a poor fighter in every sense of the word. Tapp can punch with his fists, swing destructible weapons, or shoot at enemies with limited ammo, or lure his enemies into traps to dispatch of them but you better be well prepared for when enemies come at you as they generally attack faster than you can “block” or “dodge” and faster than you cans wing, too. It also doesn’t help that the camera zooms in and kind of freaks out a bit when enemies appear, making it way too easy for you to get trapped in the environment or stuck behind a door or some piece of scenery. Most enemies go down pretty easily, which is helpful, and you can knock them down to finish them off or use the proximity alarms on their collars to blow their heads off but, more often than not, you’ll be trying to land a few strikes as quickly as possible and then backing away to clear some room. Often, I found fleeing from enemies caused them to either stand around aimlessly or despawn completely, which can be helpful, and you’ll often come across a number of enemies fighting with each other so you can sneak past or take care of whoever’s left.

*Tapp must endure horrific injuries and situations to progress further.*

In place of fighting hoards of enemies, you’ll be tasked with exploring your surroundings (carefully, to Jigsaw’s many instant-death traps), solving a few rudimentary puzzles before tackling Jigsaw’s more gruesome “games”. These range from shoving your hand into barrels of acid or toilet bowls fill of syringes to grab keys, attaching different-sized gears to access better weapons, pressing A, X, B, and Y at the right time or aligning certain screws to unlock doors and such, and (my personal favourite) aligning pipes to stop Tapp being gassed to death. Most of the time, solving these leads you to items and things of interest but you’ll also have to endure a few timed puzzles to progress further; these involve moving racks of pig carcasses before you freeze to death, shutting off steam valves, finding fuses to open doors of shut off electrified floors, bashing down weak walls and slipping through, trying not to get crushed to death, and rewiring fuse boxes.

Saw‘s puzzles are so commonplace that they quickly outstay their welcome.

While many of these puzzles are found throughout the game, some see you battling against the clock; linger too long and you’ll be caught in an explosion, which does help add to the tension and immersion of the videogame but the puzzles are always the same at varying levels of difficulty, meaning it all gets very monotonous very quickly. You’ll also often be tasked with using and exploring your environment to find clues, such as codes and keys for doors or other items to unlock sealed doors, which is very much in keeping with the movies but, again, these generally amount to you visiting a new area (that looks strikingly similar to other areas of the game), maybe navigating a few traps or variations of these same puzzles, dispatching the odd enemy or two, and then getting back to where you need to be. It’s not massively difficult since you pretty much see everything the game has to offer within the first hour or so and it’s not too difficult to find your way around, which is helpful as the game’s map is absolutely rubbish.

Graphics and Sound:
While Saw does a pretty good job of emulating the dismal, gritty, dank visual style of many of the Saw movies, in particular the first three films, and the environments look suitably “lived-in” and dangerous, the game really doesn’t look all that great. Character models are hopelessly low quality, using none of the voices or likenesses of any of the actors save for Tobin Bell, and resemble little more than flailing puppets at times. Cutscenes are little more than simplistic cutaways from the main action and all utilise the in-game graphics and models which, while giving the game come consistency and, again, aligning very closely with the fast-paced, frantic cuts of the movies, serve to only emphasise how lacklustre and mediocre the game looks.

*As great as it is to see, and hear, Tobin Bell,* Saw‘s graphics aren’t up to much.

Where the game excels, as with the movies, is in its depiction of graphic and gruesome death traps and the gravelly, alluring tones of Tobin Bell’s Jigsaw. Thanks to Bell providing near-constant commentary throughout the game, there’s a continual feeling of dread and suspense as you wonder what is waiting around the next corner or in the next area. While many of the puzzles do outstay their welcome, they’re always punctuated by Bell’s distinct voice and his presence definitely elevates the quality of the game…but not quite enough to ignore its many failings.

Enemies and Bosses:
Tapp isn’t alone in the asylum; he’s been trapped with other victims of Jigsaw’s game, all of whom have been told their only way to freedom is to kill Tapp and retrieve a key from his body. These enemies are few and far between but do have some variations; some have the reverse bear trap on their head, some have metal boxes over their heads, others wield weapons, some have explosives attached to their wrists or shotgun neck braces on that will explode you if you don’t keep your distance, and some toss Molotov cocktails at you. the fact that they can easily attack you without mercy and either kill you outright or knock you to your death makes even the game’s standard enemies a tough obstacle to overcome as you need to be well-prepared before engaging in combat, which helps make every enemy a meaningful encounter but also frustrating thanks to the game’s janky camera, collision detection, and combat controls.

*The Pighead fight is the closest thing* Saw gets to a traditional “boss” battle.

In terms of actual bosses, though, Saw only really has one encounter that could be deemed as a true “Boss battle”; as you progress through the story, you’ll catch sight of the infamous Pighead, an apprentice of Jigsaw, who haunts the asylum, trapping others in death traps and stacking the odds against Tapp. Eventually, you’ll have to battle the Pig head to get a key to progress; armed with a nail bat, Pighead can be a formidable foe but it’s just as easy to rush past him and lure him into a metal cage, lock him in, and then activate a switch to fry his ass alive. In place of traditional boss battles, each chapter of the game ends with Tapp having to same Jigsaw’s victims from death traps; the first of these is another familiar name (though not a familiar face), Amanda Young, and straight away this trap sets the tone for how annoying Saw can be. Amanda and Tapp are both strapped into a machine and the player must cause red or blue antidotes to correctly drop to the left and right, respectively, using the shoulder buttons. This can be a tedious task as it’s not very clear how to do this and you only get about three chances to make a mistake before you fail and must retry from the beginning. The trap’s difficulty spikes in the second stage where you’ll have to sometimes guide two blues and two reds to the same pathway, which means a lot of forward planning and trial and error.

*Many of the games are simply harder versions of* Saw‘s regular puzzles.

To rescue Melissa Sing, you’ll have to solve three magnetic maze puzzles before she’s chopped to pieces. If you had one of these games as a kid, this trap isn’t too difficult, especially compared to the previous two traps, but it can be tricky to find a safe path to the spiral symbol that is your goal as it’s often not possible to avoid moving over an x strike and speeding up the threat to Melissa’s life. Three of the victims require you to solve increasingly-difficult variations on common puzzles found throughout the game; the gear puzzle, the fuse box puzzle, and the pipe dial puzzles. How difficult you find these traps will depend on your skill at solving these different puzzles but the ones found in these traps are of considerable difficulty, at times, thanks to being much more complex than those you’ll find elsewhere in the game. While they aren’t massively difficult, it can be tricky to remember the order and sequence needed to quickly solve each part and move on to the next mini game before time runs out; it also doesn’t help that the game constantly cuts away from the mini game so you can see the victim suffering further or edging closer to death the longer you take.

*The final test is a question of matching images, which are always randomised for extra frustration.*

The final victim can only be freed by matching up items on television screens; shotgun shells must match with a shotgun, for example, and a severed foot with a saw. While this isn’t as difficult or as stress-inducing as some of the other traps, it is frustrating as you only get some many chances to make mistakes and the images are randomised with each retry, making it a tedious game of trail, error, and luck as you’re all-but-guaranteed to make at least one mistake when solving this puzzle. Once you complete this test, though, the final test is yours as you must choose between two doors, “Freedom” and “Truth”, with each one leading to a suitably bleak ending for Tapp and the game in general.

Power-Ups and Bonuses:
Tapp certainly has the odds against him; in keeping with the game’s close adherence to the source material, you won’t find anything helpful like shields or speed-ups here. Instead, you must explore and solve puzzles and search everywhere for health-restoring items or weapons. Though he can bash enemy’s heads in with his bare fists, Tapp isn’t much of a pugilist so it’s best to grab one of the many weapons found throughout he asylum; you can grab steel pipes, crowbars, shovels, bottles (and use your lighter to create a Molotov cocktail and set enemies alight), table legs, hatchets, mannequin arms, and nail bats to break and bludgeon over your enemy’s skulls.

*Use a gun, a variety of bombs, or re-wire Jigsaw’s traps to tip the odds in your favour.*

These weapons will break apart the more you use them but, luckily, there’s often another weapon nearby or to be retrieved from a downed enemy. You can also obtain a revolver at a couple of points; you only get six shots, though, so it’s best to sue this weapon wisely as it’ll pretty much kill any enemy (bar Pighead) in one shot. You’re also able to cobble together traps of your own to stun, gas, and explode enemies though I found this more cumbersome and annoying than useful; it’s far more useful to simply rearm one of Jigsaw’s existing traps to blow or fry enemies away quickly and efficiently.

Additional Features:
Saw comes with forty-six Achievements for you to earn; many of these are can’t be missed as long as you complete the game’s story mode while others require you to defeat a certain number of enemies, use every weapon in the game, and unlock a certain number of doors. They’re not especially difficult to get in one playthrough and you can always load up a previous chapter to get any you’ve missed by killing the same enemy over and over again. Although Saw comes with two difficulty modes, there’s no real reason to play the harder difficulty as there’s no Achievement tied to it. You can also go into the “Features” menu to view character, environment, prop, and trap concept art, if you like that sort of thing, but that’s about it.

The Summary:
I am a big fan of the Saw franchise; I find the character of Jigsaw intriguing and fascinating because of how skewed and warped his motivations and philosophies are and the gruesome death traps make for some of the most horrific pieces of horror cinema in recent memory. Sadly, while Saw does go to a great deal of effort to match and recreate the look, feel, and atmosphere of the movies it is based on and part of, it fails to really hold the attention for too long. The game is average, at best, and a frustrating mess at worst; with a dodgy camera, janky controls, wonky physics, and a piss-poor combat system, Saw could have been a tense and atmospheric survival/horror game with a focus on numerous increasingly tough, imaginative puzzles but is, instead, an uninspiring experience that is over pretty quickly, adds little to the lore, and requires very little from you other than battling past the game’s screwy controls and mastering a handful of different puzzles until you reach which depressing ending you choose to indulge.

My Rating:

Terrible

Did you ever play Saw; if so…why, and what did you think of it? Did you struggle with the game’s presentation and gameplay or did you actually enjoy it for what it was? Are you a fan of the Saw franchise? Which of the films do you think is the best, or how would you rank the movies? Whatever you think about Saw, drop a comment below.

Movie Night: Rambo

22/10/202103/07/2024Dr. K3 Comments

Released: 25 January 2008
Director: Sylvester Stallone
Distributor: Lionsgate and the Weinstein Company
Budget: $50 million
Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Julie Benz, Paul Schulze, Graham McTavish, and Maung Maung Khin

The Plot:
Twenty years after the events of the third film. Vietnam War veteran John J. Rambo (Stallone) has retired from the civilised world and is working as a snake catcher and boat driver in Thailand. However, when missionaries who hired Rambo’s services are taken hostage by the sadistic forces of Major Pa Tee Tint (Khin), Rambo reluctantly tags along with a group of mercenaries on a desperate rescue mission.

The Background:
After Rambo III (MacDonald, 1988) underperformed at the box office, the Rambo franchise lay dormant for the better part of two decades as star and creative force Stallone struggled to find a good excuse to revisit the character. After being inspired by the atrocities in Burma, Stallone was initially reluctant to direct the film himself but became excited when he decided to direct it from Rambo’s skewed perspective. The confusingly-titled movie’s unimpressive $113.2 million box office was accompanied by mixed reviews that criticised the excessive violence while praising the long-awaited return of the beloved character. Undeterred, Stallone began work on a follow-up soon after Rambo’s release that, after numerous revisions and alterations, was pretty much universally lambasted by even the character’s original creator when it eventually released.

The Review:
One of the complaints I had about Rambo III was that it really didn’t spent much time at all exploring Rambo’s newfound life away from war; we got the briefest glimpse at his time in Thailand but we never got to see in any real detail how he had adjusted to this life or what his mindset was. Rambo, to its credit, does not make the same mistake; when we re-join Rambo, now much older and more stoic and jaded than ever, he’s still in Thailand but now working as a snake catcher and offering boat trips. We follow him throughout a typical day, witnessing him applying his unique survival skills in a far more practical way as he catches fish with his trademark bow and rounds up snakes with an experienced efficiency.

*Rambo has turned his back on the outside world and has no interest in reconnecting to society.*

In Rambo III, Colonel Samuel Sam Trautman (Richard Crenna, sadly missing from this film due to his untimely death) all but accused Rambo of hiding and denying himself in Thailand and, while that may have been true, it’s far more prevalent here. When missionary Michael Burnett (Schulze) attempts to hire Rambo’s boat, Rambo vehemently and aggressively turns him down; fully aware of the atrocities occurring in Burma, he bluntly recommends that the missionaries avoid the area entirely and return home unless they plan to bring weapons and it’s pretty clear from his dismissive “Fuck the world” that he’s largely turned his back on the outside world.

*The missionaries grossly underestimate the cruelty of Tint and his army.*

Full of optimism and blind faith, the missionaries attempt to bring medical aid, religion, and serenity to the troubled villagers but grossly underestimate the cruelty and violence of Burma, especially Tint and his army. When the Burmese attack the village with mortars and gunfire, villagers are literally blown to shreds by the explosions, kids are shot, and limbs are hacked off mercilessly and the missionaries, woefully unequipped and overwhelmed by the violence, are summarily taken captive. It’s a brutal, unrelenting show of force and viciousness and far beyond anything seen in the previous films; indeed, it’s as though Rambo’s version of the world has come to life before our eyes and the missionaries are left petrified prisoners of war at the limited mercy of Tint and his army.

*Tint is easily the cruellest and most sadistic of all of the franchise’s villains.*

The cruelty of Tint and the Burmese junta army is a significant part of the film and is, literally, the first thing we see; Tint has his soldiers force villagers to cross a swamp-like river filled with mines and guns down any that survive the trip purely for his own amusement. Similarly, he orders his men to pillage the villages, taking their sons and forcing them into joining his army, taking their women to be sex slaves, and threatening to destroy the villages if they try to retaliate or aid the Karen rebels. Of all the villains and villainous forces seen in the Rambo films, Tint and the Burmese are easily the worst and most despicable since we not only see the aftermath of their actions but actually see them exercising their sadistic will in full force not just on the innocent villages but also on the missionaries.

*In the end, Rambo can’t fight* *what’s in his blood and gears up to join the rescue mission.*

Still haunted by his life experiences, Rambo has returned to his belief that “nothing ever changes” but, despite his bitter and cynical attitude, he is talked into helping the missionaries by Michael’s fiancée, Sarah Miller (Benz), and even refuses to accept any payment based entirely on her plea to the dim recesses of his humanity. Later, after dropping the missionaries off, we see that Rambo is still tormented by nightmares of his experiences and the events of the previous films, and Trautman’s words regarding his true nature and coming “full circle”. Unlike the previous films, Rambo isn’t alone this time around; although he disapproves of the idea of mercenaries, he’s unable to deny that “war is in [his] blood” and agrees to not only ferry them on a rescue mission but also to tag along despite the objections of Lewis (McTavish).

*Only a couple of the mercenaries get a chance to stand out but they’re all fully capable soldiers.*

Of all the mercenaries, it’s Lewis who is the most outspoken and aggressive; frustrated at the idealism of the missionaries and taking an instant dislike to the country and Rambo, Lewis is a tough, overly-macho, and outspoken asshole who’s only really in it for the money. He’s the most prominent of the group, though School Boy (Matthew Marsden) attempts to keep the peace and acts as the group’s sniper, Reese/Tombstone (Jake La Botz) acts as the explosive expert, and En-Joo (Tim Kang) also manage to stand out amongst the volatile group. For all their equipment and vigour, they are left stunned by Rambo’s prowess at killing and guerrilla tactics; having drastically underestimated him as merely the “boat man”, they are suitably convinced to allow him to tag along after seeing his proficiency with a bow.

The Nitty-Gritty:
Rambo is like an amalgamation of the previous three movies as it is dominated by the bleak cruelty of the first film, features a similar gritty approach to its violence as the second film, and concludes with an over the top bloodbath that surpasses even the ludicrous third film. Like its predecessors, Rambo builds towards its action and violence over time but does a much better job of exploring Rambo’s psyche than the last two films; older, world-weary, and bitter, Rambo is a blunt, pragmatic, and realistic instrument who hasn’t lost any of his skill and efficiency over the years. Well versed in the harsh nature of the world, especially Burma, he isn’t afraid to gun down pirates when negotiations fail and his knowledge of guerrilla warfare and the area gives him the edge over the younger mercenaries.

*Rambo impresses with his unquenchable aggression and proficiency with a bow.*

The presence of a diverse team of combatants allows for much more variety in the film’s action sequences, though guerrilla tactics are still very much the order of the day thanks to Tint’s superior forces. No doubt due to Stallone’s advancing age and sharing double duties as director and star, sharing the action amongst his younger companions also allows the film to stand out from its predecessors, which were largely focused on one man waging war against insurmountable odds. Rambo’s experience and unique set of skills are still able to shine through, though, since he uses both (in co-ordination with his knowledge of the country) to lead a successful rescue of the missionaries under cover of darkness using little more than stealth, grit, and determination.

*With the mercenaries held by Tint, Rambo leaps into action using a huge machine gun.*

Interestingly, the added numbers also end up being a hindrance for Rambo as, while they offer backup and cover fire and play their part in the rescue, many of them are summarily captured by Tint’s soldiers. While Rambo was captured in the previous films, he largely only had to worry about getting himself out of danger but, this time, he has to consider the lives of many people and, as a result, is somewhat handicapped in a way he might not have been had in gone in to rescue the missionaries alone. Indeed, Rambo proves the advantages of his age and experience as he completely avoids capture this time around and is able to take on Tint’s entire army with only Sarah, School Boy, and a massive machine gun at his disposal!

*Tint meets a fittingly gruesome end at Rambo’s hands.*

While Tint is a reprehensible antagonist, he doesn’t actually pose a physical threat to Rambo or the mercs; instead, Tint’s threat comes from the fact that he has an entire army of loyal, equally sadistic soldiers at his beck and call and, protected by these numbers, he feels free to exercise his will and indulge his every desire, however despicable and cruel those may be. His preference to watch or to mercilessly beat his captives means that, rather than facing off with Rambo in hand-to-hand combat, Tint directs his forces to do his fighting for him, leading to countless Burmese soldiers being cut to ribbons by Rambo (who has mounted a massive machine gun) and his allies. When the Karen rebels also join the fight, Tint sees defeat at hand and decides to save his own hide and, for his cowardice, is summarily disembowelled by Rambo, putting an end to his reign of tyranny.

*Contrary to the usual anti-war sentiment,* Rambo‘s message is that violence is always the answer!

Of course, one of the most notable things about Rambo is its depiction of absolutely brutal and gratuitous violence and gore. Rather than being slowed by age, Rambo appears to be more dangerous and lethal than ever as he is now able to rip a man’s throat out with his bare hands and the film is littered with similarly gruesome imagery: heads and limbs are blown and cut off, kids are shown with their legs missing, Tint’s pigs feast on human flesh, Lewis ends up with his leg shredded into little more than meat and bone by an errant mine (but loses none of his aggressive defiance despite the agonising pain), and Rambo detonates a dormant bomb with the impact of a small nuclear explosion! This all culminates in the finale, where Rambo literally guns down hundreds of men with his machine gun, reducing them to dismembered corpses. Even Michael, pushed to his very limits by the violence he has seen and abuse he has suffered, ends up going against his morals and beats a man to death with a rock and, in the end, the message seems to be that uncompromising, brutal violence truly does solve the world’s problems rather than messages of peace and blind optimism.

The Summary:
Rambo is an uncompromisingly brutal and bleak piece of cinema with a rather grim and ghastly message; the previous Rambo films basically came down to the simple and enduring premise that war is Hell but, in Rambo, war is the solution rather than the problem. While the missionaries wish the spread a message of peace, their mission would have ended with death and rape had Rambo not been on hand to execute the pirates and, were it not for the intervention of Rambo and the mercenaries, all of the missionaries would doubtless have ended up tortured and beheaded. The violent excess in Rambo compared to even Rambo III is impressive in its gratuity and yet, while Rambo’s methods and perspective on the world turn out to be true and the only productive solution to the conflict, there’s a definite sense that such violence is wholly abhorrent and only necessary because of the way the world is at times. I like the concept of Rambo being this lone wolf who gets sucked into greater conflicts and brings his unique skills and point of view to different scenarios, and the finale of him finally returning home to his father (which, I feel, is a far more fitting end than the shit-storm of the fifth movie), but I feel the decidedly anti-war message that was prevalent in the first film and felt throughout its sequels has been lost somewhat in the indulgence of excess though, if you look hard enough, traces of it are still there behind all the gratuitous and entertaining violence.

My Rating:

Pretty Good

What did you think to Rambo? How do you feel it holds up, especially compared to the previous films? Were you as confused by the film’s title as I was or did you appreciate the simplicity of it? What did you think to Rambo’s characterisation in the film and his motivation for helping the missionaries? Were you a fan of the gratuitous violence on display in the film and what was your interpretation of it all, in the end? Do you think that this works better as a finale for the character or were you excited to see more from Rambo? Which Rambo film is your favourite? Whatever your thoughts, drop a comment below and click here for my review of the fifth film.

Game Corner [Back to the Future Day]: Back to the Future: The Game: 30th Anniversary Edition (Xbox One)

21/10/202105/12/2025Dr. K5 Comments

In Back to the Future Part II (Zemeckis, 1989), Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) travels to October 21, 2015, which is known as “Back to the Future Day” to celebrate the franchise and science.

Released: 13 October 2015
Originally Released: 29 September 2011
Developer: Telltale Games
Also Available For: Mobile, Nintendo Wii, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360

The Background:
The Back to the Future trilogy is one of the most beloved, iconic, successful, and influential film trilogies, and science-fiction movies, of all time. Sitting in a rare category where each film is as good, if not better, than the last, the trilogy made over $960 million in worldwide gross and has seen numerous adaptations in comic books, cartoons, and other media. For years, talk and rumours of a sequel and reboot have, thankfully, been shot down by both co-writer Bob Gale and co-writer and director Robert Zemeckis. Despite this, a pretty decent animated series and a series of comic books could have been seen as the official continuation of the films until Telltale Games secured the license to create videogames based on some of Universal Pictures’ most successful film franchises. With Gale brought onboard as a story consultant and reworking several of Zemeckis’ original concepts for Part II, the game has been stated to being the closest to a fourth film fans can expect but also taking place in an alternative timeline in the Back to the Future multiverse. With Christopher Lloyd returning to voice his iconic character Doctor Emmet “Doc” Brown and even Michael J. Fox popping up in a cameo appearance, Back to the Future: The Game featured music ripped straight from the films and an extremely faithful recreation of the trilogy’s distinct visual aesthetic despite its cartoonish graphical style. The game was originally released in five individual, downloadable episodes before being collected in a physical edition and, a little later, re-released for the next generation of consoles with Thomas F. Wilson returning to lend his voice to this updated release. Though the game was eventually delisted after the closure of Telltale Games, it received generally positive reviews upon release and, despite some reservations about certain aspects and mechanics of the game, it was Telltale’s most successful title prior to the release of The Walking Dead: The Game (Telltale Games, 2012).

The Plot:
Six months after the events of Back to the Future: Part III (Zemeckis, 1990), Doc Brown has gone missing and is presumed dead. However, when his DeLorean time machine randomly reappears in 1986, Marty McFly travels back to 1931 to find his old friend and bring him home only to run into Doc’s younger self, his own father as a youth, and inadvertently create a dystopian alternative timeline that the two must work together to repair to finally return back…to the future.

Gameplay:
Back to the Future: The Game places you firmly in the role of Marty McFly, the young protégé of crackpot scientist “Doc” Emmet Brown. As Marty, you’ll explore various locations and time periods in the fictional town of Hill Valley, interacting with both new and familiar Back to the Future characters, solving rudimentary puzzles, and obtaining and using items to progress the plot further. Telltale Games were famous for creating digital adventures games, essentially interactive movies, rather than traditional action-orientated videogames. My experience with their titles has, so far, been limited to playing free episodes of some of their other titles and Back to the Future: The Game is the first time I’ve sat down and played one of their games from start to finish.

*Player interactions seems more of an emphasis than in other Telltale Games.*

Interestingly, Back to the Future: The Game plays very differently from the Telltale Titles I’ve played before; unlike titles like Batman: The Telltale Series (Telltale Games, 2016), Back to the Future features much more emphasis on exploration and player movement over quick-time events or altering the story through a variety of responses. Sadly, though, the game’s controls are quite stiff and clunky; Marty plods around like wading through thick sludge and, while you can hold B to “run”, you’ll never move much faster than a sluggish pace. Considering the game is a glorified point-and-click adventure rather than an action-packed game, this isn’t a massive issue except that the game’s dodgy camera and some awkward map layouts can make it more of a chore to control Marty than it needs to be and I found myself getting unnecessarily turned around or confused thanks to the camera’s positioning or stuck on parts of the environment.

*Sadly, you can’t skip cutscenes, which can make repeated playthroughs tedious.*

As the game was originally released in five separate chapters, this collected edition is similarly divided in such a way; from the main menu, you can select any chapter at any time and begin a new game as you wish but you’ll need to make liberal use of the game’s save function if you want to earn all of the game’s Achievements with a minimum of fuss as there’s no way to jump to different parts of each chapter. This also affects the game’s replayability as there’s no way of skipping cutscenes or quickly advancing through story elements, which can make subsequent playthroughs far more tedious than they need to be and make gameplay frustrating when you’ve made a mistake and have to sit through entire cutscenes or lines of dialogue with no way of skipping them.

*It can be amusing to try out different dialogue options and items just for the hell of it.*

As far as I can tell, unlike other Telltale Games, there’s no way to really “lose” when playing Back to the Future: The Game; even if you fail to figure out some puzzles or events, you won’t get a traditional game over screen and can simply continue until you get the right sequence or choose the right dialogue option. It can be amusing to select the wrong option and see how characters react or to try and use various items on other characters or parts of the map as Marty, or other characters, will generally have something funny to say or will chew you out for being stupid. The bulk of Back to the Future: The Game’s “action” is made up of character interactions and interacting with the various detailed environments you find yourself in. You can talk to and interact with pretty much everything, learning more about these familiar and new characters and the various timelines Marty ends up in, which can be fun and interesting. Generally, you’ll pick up subtle hints and tips by talking to certain characters but you can also enable or disable in-game hints and mission objects to give you a vague idea of where you need to go and what you need to do. Because of this, it can sometimes be a little difficult to figure out exactly what it is you need to do; you can take your time and explore multiple options at your leisure but, if you’re chasing Achievements, you might want to use a guide as there are a lot of missable Achievements in this game and it can be tiresome having to play through the majority of one of the game’s five chapters just to get to the part you need.

*It can be awkward to target people and items with the game’s clunky controls.*

Compounding the issue is that the game’s interface is quite clunky at times; you can access your inventory at any time with X. From here, you can examine items and place them into your hands to use on other characters or your environment but, oddly, items will automatically remove themselves from your hands after a few seconds, which gets very annoying as you might find an item you need to use has randomly vanished from your hands right as you need to use it. Similarly, it can be difficult to interact with characters and other elements thanks to the game’s clunky “targeting” system; as you wander around, points of interest will be automatically highlight so you can interact with them but your point of interest might suddenly switch as you get closer, meaning you talk to the wrong person at the wrong time. By holding down the R trigger, you can see every element in the immediate area highlighted and use the right analogue stick to select the one you want but I found this to be equally awkward and clunky and that it was generally easier to just position myself near where I needed to be and edge myself closer to my intended target.

*Some of the game’s puzzles are needlessly obtuse and annoying.*

Even without these issues, some of the game’s puzzles can be needlessly frustrating; most are a simple case of talking to the right people to learn what you need or where to go but others involve pressing panic switches at the right time, selecting items around your environment to distract other characters, or finding certain items to convince a character to help you. While most of them boil down to a simple case of trail and error, and some are quite fun (like getting into a play-off against Marty’s rival and recreating his iconic and elaborate guitar performance from the first film), others are extremely complex or annoying. In particular, you’ll be required to listen out for certain code words from Doc’s younger self to correctly make rocket fuel (which must be done flawlessly to earn an Achievement), tediously manipulate your environment to create an incriminating Mind Map, or rescue your younger father with as little disruption as possible.

Graphics and Sound:
Like all Telltale Games, Back to the Future: The Game utilises a distinctly cartoony visual aesthetic that takes the general likeness of the franchise’s iconic characters and transforms them into amusing and charming caricatures of themselves. It’s a unique aesthetic, to be, sure and, while it does work for this style of game, characters can tend to look a little…off, at times, plodding and jerking around like marionettes and looking quite basic. I also noticed a few oddities and graphical glitches at times, such as items not breaking like you might realistically expect, background elements glitching out, or items and graphics randomly vanishing from cutscenes.

*The graphics and aesthetic are decent if a bit bland at times.*

The game’s environments can be quite bland, at times, but all the iconic locations you remember from the films are here: Marty’s house, Doc’s lab, and, of course, the iconic clock tower and town square. While the maps and environments aren’t especially large, they are varied in that you can enter different buildings in different chapters to learn more about different characters, and there’s generally a lot to do, see, and interact with despite how empty and lifeless some of the locations can be. It’s simple but largely very effective and, thanks to the game visiting new time periods (mainly 1931 and another alternative timeline), adds new wrinkles to the lore of the franchise.

*The game’s soundtrack and voice acting elevate it and add to its appeal.*

Honestly, my only real complaint with the game’s visual style is that Marty takes his appearance largely from the first movie; I don’t know why it is that so much Back to the Future merchandise only ever seems to recreate his attire from the first film rather than giving him a new look but it’s a little disappointing so I was glad to see him dress in period-appropriate clothing as the story progressed. Of course, what really makes Back to the Future: The Game an attractive prospect is the top-notch voice acting (A.J. Locascio does a great Michael J. Fox impression, Lloyd is fantastic as always as Doc (if noticeably aged in his gravelly delivery), and Fox himself even crops up in the game’s final chapter for a voice cameo) and the soundtrack, which is largely comprised of Alan Silvestri’s iconic score from the movies. It’s just a shame, then, that a lot of the game’s dialogue is muted or drowned out by the music or sound effects, meaning you may need to adjust the audio settings from the main menu.

Enemies and Bosses:
Given the nature of the game, there aren’t traditional enemies or bosses as in other videogames; instead, as per the plot, you will be stopped or obstructed by numerous characters who require you to say the right thing, bring them certain items, or you to perform a certain action before they will help you or let you pass. As you might expect, you’ll run into Biff Tannen and his various ancestors and incarnations throughout the game’s story. His father, mobster Irving “Kid” Tannen is one of the game’s primary antagonists while you’re back in 1931. You’ll need to work with Marty’s father to get Kid arrested, lie to him about your credentials as a mobster, and set up an elaborate series of events to burn him out of a high-rise window as he shoots at you with a Thompson machine gun. After Marty and Doc inadvertently alter their future, you’ll also have a confrontation with Biff and his newly-acquired brothers, dodging swings from their baseball bats until you can get them all in position to be electrocuted.

*Citizen Brown is an antagonistic version of Doc who plots to keep his timeline intact.*

After altering the past in 1931, Marty crash-lands in an alternative version of his present in which Hill Valley is a veritable utopia thanks to a stringent police state lorded over by none of than a heavily altered version of Doc, known as “Citizen Brown”. While Marty is able to win Doc over and make him see that his dreams have been perverted by his new wife, Edna Strickland, this version of Doc later grows directly antagonistic when he has second thoughts about restoring Marty’s timeline. This leads Marty into directly opposing his friend and mentor to ensure that Doc’s younger self stays on the path towards science rather and societal correction.

*Edna comes in many forms and is the game’s primary antagonist and all-around pain in the ass.*

As a result, the game’s primary antagonist turns out to be Edna Strickland, a seemingly harmless character in the game’s first chapter who ends up manipulating Doc’s brilliance into brainwashing the “hooligans” of Hill Valley into being more law-abiding and docile civilians. So committed against sin and vice is Edna that it leads her to not only burn down the local speakeasy, setting in motion the events of the game’s plot, but also stealing the time machine and accidentally erasing Hill Valley from existence. When Doc and Marty travel back to 1876 to confront her, they must manipulate her fragile state of mind to learn the date and time of her arson to set things right, which ultimately leads to the player having to set up an elaborate trap involving sand bags and a chandelier to end her misguided plot.

Power-Ups and Bonuses:
As an interactive movie, there aren’t really any power-ups in the traditional sense of the word to be found. Instead, as you interact with others and further the plot, you’ll acquire a variety of items to be used in specific situations. Some of these will need to be handed to Doc’s faithful dog, Einstein, to progress the story or set up distractions and events you need to move the plot along, others will need to be brought to specific characters to convince them to help you or otherwise alter their destinies.

Additional Features:
There isn’t really much else to Back to the Future: The Game; as mentioned, there are a number of Achievements to acquire, with a lot of them being easily missed without a guide, which is probably where the bulk of your next playthrough will be concentrated. Don’t get me wrong, the game’s story (essentially a new take on the familiar story beats of the original trilogy) and the voice acting is entertaining enough to warrant another playthrough but, as you can’t really affect characters in the same way as in other Telltale Games, there isn’t as much incentive to try different dialogue options as in the studio’s other releases. The 30^th Anniversary Edition of the game also comes with a behind the scenes video…that can no longer be viewed as the servers and Telltale’s website have long been shut down. I would have expected this edition of the game to come with, at least, a gallery of concept and development art but apparently this was too much to ask for and you simply get a questionably improved version of the base game.

The Summary:
Your enjoyment of Back to the Future: The Game will most likely depend on how enjoyable you find glorified point-and-click adventures and your level of patience. It’s not an especially hard or lengthy title (each chapter takes maybe an hour or so, depending on how you get on with the game’s vague hints and fetch-quests), nor or is an especially attractive or complex game, but it’s a fun enough distraction for what it is, with far more required of the player than other Telltale Games I’ve played. What elevates the game is, of course, the voice acting and the level of fidelity it has to its source material. As a continuation of the trilogy’s storyline, the game works incredibly well, advancing each character’s story while still exploring new, unseen avenues into their pasts and characterisation. Like Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Terminal Reality/Red Fly Studio, 2009), Back to the Future: The Game is a worthy continuation of a beloved franchise that is let down only by some graphical and gameplay hiccups and, perhaps, the genre of game the films have been adapted into. Had the game, perhaps, mixed up some of its methodical pace and adventure aspects with a few more action-orientated sections (like actually driving the DeLorean or taking part in one of the iconic chase scenes) and had some actual branching pathways, it might have been even better but, as is, it’s an inoffensive and decent enough little game.

My Rating:

Could Be Better

Did you ever play Back to the Future: The Game? If so, what did you think of it? Did you find any oddities or get scuppered by the odd camera and control scheme? What did you think of its plot and attempts to continue the Back to the Future trilogy? Which Telltale Game, or Back to the Future film, is your favourite and why? How are you celebrating Back to the Future Day today? Whatever you think about Back to the Future, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

Movie Night: Wonder Woman

20/10/202104/07/2024Dr. K5 Comments

Released: 15 May 2017
Director: Patty Jenkins
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Budget: $120 to 150 million
Stars: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Danny Huston, Elena Anaya, Connie Nielsen, Lucy Davis, and David Thewlis

The Plot:
Before taking the mantle of Wonder Woman, Princess Diana of Themyscira (Gadot) was an Amazonian warrior raised in seclusion on an island paradise. However, when American pilot Steve Trevor (Pine) crashes on their shores and brings awareness of a worldwide conflict, Diana finds herself compelled to leave her home and take up arms in a bid to destroy the God she believes is responsible.

The Background:
Created by psychologist William Moulton Marston to be a symbol of the superiority of the female gender, Princess Diana of Themyscira/Wonder Woman has been a firm staple of DC Comics since her debut appearance in All Star Comics #8. With her origins heavily drawing from Greek mythology, Wonder Woman has been portrayed as a warrior and an ambassador for peace and, alongside Clark Kent/Superman and Bruce Wayne/Batman, makes up DC’s “Trinity” as a prominent figure on DC’s super teams, the Justice Society and Justice League of America. Wonder Woman’s popularity has spread outside of the comic books, too; Lynda Carter famously portrayed the character in the seventies television show, cementing Wonder Woman as a pop culture icon, and a big screen live-action adaptation had been wallowing in development hell for decades before Gal Gadot made her first surprise appearance in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Snyder, 2016). Following that dramatic debut, production of a solo film for the character that would act as a prequel to the larger DC Extended Universe (DCEU) finally got underway and released to widespread critical acclaim. The film was also a massive box office success and made over $820 million in worldwide revenue, which all-but-guaranteed the production of a sequel, and galvanised the character as a feminist icon for an entirely new generation. Since tomorrow is “Wonder Woman Day”, this seems like as good a time as any to shine a spotlight on one of DC Comics’ most popular and influential characters.

The Review:
Wonder Woman begins in the present day, between the end of Batman v Superman and the start of Justice League (Whedon/Snyder, 2017), and is framed by Diana’s narration concerning her past after having a photograph of her time in the First World War sent back to her by Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck). From there, the film flashes back over a hundred years into the past and to the secluded island paradise of Themyscira where we see a young Diana (Lilly Aspell), emulating the ways of her warrior sisters and yearning to begin her training as a warrior. Diana’s mother, Queen Hippolyta (Nielsen) is vehemently against Diana becoming a fighter; instead she wishes that Diana would be better served learning the ways of peace and tolerance. To emphasise the foils of war and conflict, she tells Diana a harrowing story of Zeus’s son, the warmongering Areas, influencing the hearts and minds of man into bloodshed and his subsequent slaughter of the Greek pantheon. After defeating Ares, Zeus created Themyscira with his dying breath to shield them from the outside world so that their natural ways of peace and love could prosper far away from the easily manipulated ravages of Man.

*Diana’s curiosity at Steve’s presence turns to rage when German forces kill her aunt.*

Hippolyta also shows Diana the ancient sword, Godkiller, a weapon only the fiercest of Amazons could hope to wield. Despite her mother’s wishes, the young Diana (Emily Carey) is inspired by the stories of battle and glory and secretly trains with her aunt Antiope (Robin Wright) in the ways of the warrior. Antiope is finally able to convince Hippolyta to train Diana “harder than any Amazon before her” to make her powerful enough to stand against Ares when he inevitably finds her. However, while Diana (now played by the gorgeous Gadot) becomes a fierce warrior thanks to this rigorous training, her powers (mainly tied to her magical gauntlets) make her unpredictable and dangerous. It is while lamenting these issues that Diana rescues Steve Trevor after his plane crash-lands in the waters around Themyscira; this action not only brings a man onto the hidden island for the first time since its creation (which is of immediate curiosity and interest to Diana) but also the greater worldwide conflict currently gripping the globe as German forces invade Themyscira in pursuit of Steve. Although the Amazonians fend off and defeat the invaders, they suffer heavy losses thanks to the German artillery and, in the battle, Diana’s beloved aunt Antiope is killed. It’s a great scene to showcase the warrior ways of the Amazons and their incredible prowess with swords, bows and arrows, and to give Diana a personal reason to leave the island and get involved in the War, while also showcasing that, as powerful and skilled as the Amazons and even Diana are, they are not invulnerable.

*Diana is puzzled by “man’s world” and the film’s comedy comes from her being an outsider.*

Angered at Steve’s presence and the invasion of men, Hippolyta interrogates him using the magical Lasso of Hestia, which compels him to reveal the truth; in the process, and despite attempting to resist, he reveals that he is a spy for the Allied Forces who discovered a plot by General Erich Ludendorff (Huston) to develop a potent and deadly new strain of mustard gas using the research of the disfigured Doctor Isabel Maru/Doctor Poison (Anaya). This story not only establishes the film’s two main antagonist but also Steve’s conviction and bravery as he goes against his orders to steal Maru’s notebook to warn the Allies of Maru’s weapons. Convinced that this World War is the product of Ares’ return, Diana defies her mother’s wishes once more and arms herself with the Godkiller sword, ceremonial armour, and the magical lasso to accompany Steve back to London. This gives the film a chance to be a bit more playful as Diana is a fish out of water in the modern world; confused and intrigued by men, their society and their ways, she’s puzzled by the simplest of things (watches, ice creams, consumerism, romance, vehicles, revolving doors, and the like) and her interactions with Etta Candy (Davis) really give Gadot a chance to shine and add some depth and personality to Diana’s character. She’s a character of great love, curiosity, and conviction but also naivety; even on Themyscira she is something of an outsider, believing fully in the Amazons’ destiny to defend the world from evil and stop Areas, and her character development includes not just becoming wiser in the world of man but also in the ways of her own world and she is forced to learn, the hard way, that the world’s conflicts are far more complicated than the machinations of one singular being, even a God like Ares.

*Steve Trevor has seen a lot in his time and is focused on the big picture.*

Steve is similarly intrigued by Diana; obviously, he has a near-instant attraction to her (and, truth be told, she to him) and marvels at her island and her convictions but, as charming and charismatic as he is, he is also somewhat world-weary. Having witnessed first-hand the atrocities of war and the folly of man, he believes that all people are capable of unspeakable acts out of their pure nature rather than the influence of a supernatural being, which is a harsh lesson he is forced to teach Diana. Similarly, Diana is disturbed by Steve’s focus on the big picture and adherence to staying on mission, which leaves innocents suffering the cost of the war, but his reasons are perfectly valid and believable: the War is horrendous and brutal and his focus cannot be on saving every single person, only trying to stop the most direct threat and he remains a likable and appealing character thanks to Pine’s fantastic charisma and onscreen chemistry with Gadot and, even in the face of Diana’s amazing abilities he is able to hold his own as a soldier and a hero.

*Lundendorff and Maru are real threats but* *war-time politics are also an obstacle.*

Similarly, Huston is as captivating as always in the role of Ludendorff, a brutal German general who enforces his will through strict corporal punishment and high expectations. Thanks to Mau’s potions and elixirs, he is granted a degree of superhuman strength and heightened aggression and Maru herself is a sadistic and hideously alluring villain whose experiments with chemistry produce a gas capable not just of choking the life out of those exposed to it but also eating through protective gear like gas masks. As real and credible as their combined threat is, however, it is the politics of war and society that prove the greatest hurdle in the early going as Sir Patrick Morgan (Thewlis) and others in the upper echelon are more concerned with agreeing an armistice with the Germans than proactively moving against them. Interestingly, the German forces are depicted as desperate, running low on resources, and on the verge of agreeing to the armistice and, disgusted by their weakness and unable to simply give up on the conflict, Ludendorff assassinates them in order to strike his decisive blow against the Allies. This leads to Steve recruiting a rag-tag team of misfits to head to the Front Line and take out Ludendorff’s chemical facilities; despite them being a little rough around the edges, his group is made up of some colourful characters: Sameer (Saïd Taghmaoui), a smooth-talking French spy; Charlie (Ewen Bremner), an expert sharpshooter with a drinking problem and traumatised by his experiences in war; and the Native American smuggler Chief Napi (Eugene Brave Rock), who initially refuses to take sides in the War given everything his people lost colonisers. With these allies, and surreptitious assistance from Morgan, they are able to reach the Western Front for one of the film’s breakout sequences: with the Allies pinned down by gunfire, Diana boldly steps into No Man’s Land to deflect the gunfire and take the enemy trench and, in the process, not only liberate a village from the Germans but also share an intimate moment with Steve.

The Nitty-Gritty:
One of the most memorable aspects of Wonder Woman’s debut in Batman v Superman was her stirring orchestral theme, which her solo movie beautifully expands upon to turn it from a bad-ass battle theme into a rousing, heroic melody that punctuates Diana’s evolution as a character and her actions throughout the film. Given the film’s period setting, there is also a great deal of commentary on the role of women in society at the time; Diana is confused and insulted by man’s opinions and treatment of women, having grown up in a warrior society where woman are strong and independent, and brings (through her words but also simply by her appearance and actions) these principals to the wider world long before they really became a talking point.

*Costume design is on point and Gadot looks breathtaking as Wonder Woman.*

Wonder Woman shines in its visual aesthetic and costume design; Themyscira is a beautiful environment and full of interesting little elements and a rich lore that is only hinted at in the film. This is, however, largely for the best as Wonder Woman is more focused on the greater conflict of the First World War, meaning it is full of period-accurate costumes, technology, and bleak depictions of the folly and futility of warfare. Amongst these drab and depressing elements, and against the smoke-filled hustle and bustle of London, Diana stands out wonderfully in her amazingly realised and faithful costume. Wonder Woman’s outfit is often one of contention but the DCEU version of the character brought her classic look to screen in the best way possible by infusing it with realistic elements of Greek armour and it’s honestly one of the best and most accurate comic book costumes ever made.

*Diana is obsessed with killing Ares to “free” men from his evil and distraught to learn the truth.*

The film’s themes of warfare and suffering are potent thanks to its setting; while there are obvious comparisons to be made to Captain America: The First Avenger (Johnston, 2011), Wonder Woman is a very different film to that one and these comparisons are superficial, at best. Instead the focus is on Diana trying to acclimatise to man’s world and her total dedication to ending Ares’ threat; initially, she believes that Ares has taken Ludendorff’s form in order to spread chaos and devastation and is horrified to learn that her mother and Steve were both accurate in how easily men can be corrupted by their own evils and destructive impulses. This by itself would have made for a striking theme about the inherent evil that we are all capable of but, of course, Wonder Woman is a blockbuster superhero film that needs to end with Diana realising her destiny as the “Godkiller” and battling Ares (revealed to have been Morgan all along). As exciting and thrilling as this conclusion is, since it finally allows Diana the chance to showcase the full extent of her powers, it is kind of a shame that Ares is a vague and ominous threat for the majority of the film rather than actually being a tangible antagonist for us to learn about. In fact, we learn very little about Ludendorff or Maru, who are both criminally underused despite giving really good performances. However, it does serve the overall message of the film and the harsh lesson that Diana is forced to learn about human nature; when Ares finally reveals himself to Diana, it is at her lowest moment and he tempts her into joining his cause and destroying humanity but Diana’s convictions to her cause remain steadfast and are further emboldened when Steve comes to exemplify man’s capacity for good by sacrificing himself to end Maru’s threat just as Diana kills Ares once and for all.

The Summary:
Honestly, I didn’t expect to like Wonder Woman as much as I did; I like the character and enjoy her involvement in team-up comics but have never been a massive Wonder Woman fan but the film won me over with its fantastically realised themes of war, and, sacrifice. The First World War setting was an inspired choice and really gave Diana a chance to see first-hand the atrocities of man and the complexities of human nature. Obviously, both her world and Steve’s world came to be true to a degree, with Ares ultimately revealed to have been influenced the human antagonists and inspiring the tools necessary for war, and this merging of these two separate worlds was wonderfully realised in the characterisations of Steve and Diana and their growing relationship over the course of the film. While I would have preferred Ares to be a more tangible threat throughout the film rather than a surprise twist at the end, I cannot fault the movie for its direction, cinematography, or presentation; there’s just as much heart and humour at work in the film alongside some stunningly realised action sequences that portray Wonder Woman as both beautiful and formidable and Gadot does an impressive job of giving some real depth and tragedy to Diana’s character that help to inform her portrayal and overall character arc in Batman v Superman and subsequent DCEU films.

My Rating:

Great Stuff

What did you think to Wonder Woman? Do you feel it deserved all the praise that it got? What did you think to Gal Gadot and Chris Pine’s performances, the characterisations of Diana and Steve, and their relationship? Did you enjoy the themes at work in the film and the “fish out of water” aspects? Did you see the Ares reveal coming and would you have preferred that the antagonists got a bit more time to shine or were you satisfied with the film overall? What are some of your favourite Wonder Woman stories, characters, and moments? How are you celebrating Wonder Woman Day tomorrow? Whatever your thoughts on Wonder Woman, leave a comment below and check out my review of the sequel.

Game Corner: The Evil Within (Xbox One)

19/10/202124/03/2023Dr. K1 Comment

Released: 14 October 2014
Developer: Tango Gameworks
Also Available For: PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360

The Background:
Shinji Mikami joined Capcom in 1990 and worked on a number of successful handheld, 8- and 16-bit titles during his first six years with the company. In 1996, though, Mikami developed the first Resident Evil (Capcom, 1996) videogame, which not only popularised the “survival-horror” subgenre but was an incredible success upon release. Since then, Mikami spearheaded or was heavily involved in Resident Evil’s sequels and spin-offs, including taking over as director of Resident Evil 4 (Capcom Production Studio 4, 2005) and changing the direction of the franchise. However, by 2010, Mikami had left Capcom to develop new properties and titles under Tango Gameworks; the first of these was The Evil Within (known as Psycho Break in Japan), a title which Mikami aimed to return to the roots of the survival-horror genre, which had become increasingly action–orientated over the years. Despite some criticism regarding technical issues, The Evil Within was received rather favourably; while some struggled with the game’s difficulty and convoluted plot, the atmosphere and horror elements were notably praised. The game was also the second-best selling game in the United Kingdom upon release and earned an even more highly regarded sequel in 2017.

The Plot:
After arriving at a brutal massacre, Detective Sebastian Castellanos is pulled into a distorted world full of nightmarish locations and horrid creatures after pursuing a mysterious, seemingly supernatural hooded figure known as Ruvik. Trapped with limited resources and relentlessly hunted, Sebastian is left to fight for his survival and uncover the mystery of Ruvik and the horrific world Sebastian’s found himself trapped in.

Gameplay:
The Evil Within is a survival-horror videogame very much in the style of Resident Evil 4 in many ways; my experience with the Silent Hill franchise (Konami/Various, 1999 to 2014) is sadly limited but, from the bit I’ve played of the first game, The Evil Within is clearly heavily borrowing from the more nightmarish and twisted reality of Silent Hill than the virus-heavy narrative of the Resident Evil franchise. Like in Resident Evil 4, you have full 360⁰ control of your character and the camera rather than being restricted by tank controls and set camera angles, and you’re also given much more options in terms of combat. You can melee attack with Y using your fists or bottles, interact with the environment with A, burn bodies and pools of gasoline with your limited supply of matches with B, aim with LT and shoot your weapons with RT, reload with X, and spring with LB. you can’t hold the sprint trigger down for too long, though, as you’re hampered by a stamina meter and Sebastian will be left vulnerable and out of breath if you run for too long.

*Sneak past enemies or creep up behind them to pull off an instant kill move.*

One of the big mechanics of The Evil Within is the sneaking and stealth-based gameplay that is pushed as a big thing in the first few chapters of the game’s story and then all but vanishes for the bulk of the gameplay as you’re given more ammo and weapons, before rearing up again near the finale of the game. You can use RB to sneak around when enemies are nearby and a helpful eye-themed “Enemy Alertness” icon will let you know when enemies are unaware of you or actively searching for you. When the eye widens, you should sprint out of site or hide inside a nearby locker or wardrobe until the danger has passed but be careful as enemies will pull you out of your hiding place if they see you try to hide. Still, if you manage to sneak up behind enemies, you’ll be able to pull off an instant kill move with a press of the A button but I found enemies become very aware of your presence even when you’re being super stealthy so this was often quite tricky to pull off. As much of the game is seeped in an unsettling darkness, you can also use your lantern by pressing in the left analogue stick to light the way but this will also attract nearby enemies (though, again, this becomes less of an issue hen you gain more resources).

*Set your weapons and healing items to the D-pad for quick use and take advantage of any backup.*

Like all great survival-horror titles, The Evil Within excels in building a horrific, foreboding atmosphere thanks to its unsettling, often gruesome visuals and twisted, reality-bending narrative. To help with this, the heads-up display (HUD) is extremely sparse to increase your immersion in the game’s horrifying locations and narrative. You’ll see your health, stamina, and currently-equipped weapon and ammo and that’s about it unless you’re joined by one of Sebastian’s partners, like Joseph Oda, who often help you out with some additional firepower. If they’re attacked, you can fend off their attackers and heal them by holding down A (which helpfully doesn’t waste your own healing resources). You can set your weapons and healing items to the directional pad (D-pad), which helps you to quickly switch weapons or replenish your health without going into the inventory wheel, which slows the in-game action to a crawl but doesn’t pause it completely and can thus leave you vulnerable.

*Puzzles are few and far between in* The Evil Within but are suitably macabre (and a bit unfair, at times).

Interestingly, The Evil Within is surprisingly light on puzzles, labyrinthine environments, and the use of keys and other items to progress. Occasionally, you’ll have to acquire a key to open a door or work your way through a grim and grimy location avoiding instant death traps, fending off enemies, and running from Ruvik as you try to open a central door, but these moments are few and far between. Instead, The Evil Within is a much more linear game than its forefathers, meaning that you’re not afforded a map this time around. For the most part, this isn’t an issue but it wouldn’t have hurt to have a map available since a lot of the environments are a bit grey, dark, and look alike so it can be easy to get turned around sometimes. As a result, though, you never really have to worry about pushing statues or getting a bunch of extraneous items or combining them together and, instead, will be more focused on blasting enemies or bashing their heads in than worrying about jewels. However, when puzzles do crop up, they’re fittingly gruesome: you’ll have to insert probes into brains while looking at nearby diagrams and listening to audio tapes, press the right buttons on surgery tables to avoid being skewered and reveal a hidden exit, sneak past wire traps and rush through spiked traps, and shut off valves of steam or activate flames to get past certain areas, and turn a few dials here and there in order to progress, take out enemies, or free your comrades.

*You’ll need to constantly watch out for traps and hazards that threaten to skewer or explode you.*

During Chapter 11, though. you’ll also have to shoot down corpses hanging above the flooded streets in order to distract and swim past a monstrous creature, which can get pretty tense as your window of opportunity is very small, and you’ll also be chased by chainsaw-wielding berserker’s and suddenly ensnared in traps that you must shoot or run out of or face a grisly end. Indeed, traps and hazards such as these are one of the most recurring dangers in the game; these are dotted around every location, springing up on you when you least expect it and often skewing you or blowing you into bloody chunks with little warning. Many of these will result in instant death, requiring you to retry from your last save point, but others can be disarmed by holding A, sneaking up on them, or pressing A at the right time in a small mini game. Disarming traps such as these will net you additional junk (which you can also acquire by smashing crates and such), which is used in the game’s (thankfully) extremely limited crafting system to create ammo for your “Agony Bolt” crossbow. You’ll also find Green Gel in jars and bubbling on the floor after you defeat enemies; be sure to grab this whenever you see it as you’ll need it to upgrade Sebastian’s abilities and weapons in the game’s haunting save areas.

Graphics and Sound:
Honestly, The Evil Within is quite a bland game in many ways; much of the environments take place in such uninspired locations as a hospital, sewer, grimy caverns, and gothic laboratories, meaning that a lot of the colours are subdued and feature a lot of black, grey, and brown. However, the game excels in the use of lighting and a perverse, macabre atmosphere that really adds to the sense of dread and tension in every area. Things may look perfectly normal one minute and then, very quickly, become warped either by Ruvik, Sebastian’s apparently fragmenting mental state, or the presence of certain enemies.

*Environments are forboding and ominous, if a bit drab and interchangeable at times.*

Bodies, bloodstains, and gore are in abundance in almost every area you visit; you’ll find dismembered corpses, flickering lights, smashed up areas and some truly disturbing labs and operating theatres that more closely resemble torture chambers or slaughter houses. Sebastian’s journey takes him through a variety of locations, all of which are generally seeped in a thick, ominous darkness or carry an menacing sense of dread thanks to the carnage that surrounds him or the use of screams and ambient sounds (mostly haunting, almost taunting voices). There’s also some cool weather effects on display; rain splatters on the screen, wind blows through trees and grass, and environments twist and change as Ruvik bends them to his will with often devastating effects.

*Much of the game draws visual inspiration from* Resident Evil, Silent Hill, and other horror franchises.

When The Evil Within breaks free from restrictive corridors filled with barbed wire, wreckage, and corpses, it really starts to feel much more unique amongst other survival-horror videogames; you’ll wander through the castle-like ruins of weird mish-mash of cultures, venture through a city that is constantly shifting and changing and collapsing around you like something out of Inception (Nolan, 2010), but you’ll also recognise a number of the tropes and references to Resident Evil along the way. The hospital and laboratories of the game, for example, are very reminiscent of Umbrella’s facilities, as is the mansion you eventually explore; you’ll also spot a few familiar typewriters but the game also evokes imagery from Silent Hill through its narrative and horror franchises like The Ring (Various, 1991 to 2019) and Hellraiser (Various, 1987 to present) in its enemy designs.

*Sebestian might not be the most compelling character but he’s thrust into some horrific situations.*

While the game’s use of music and ambient sounds is pretty good, if uninspiring at times, it’s the lapses in sound and use of ominous groaning or wails of some unspeakable eldritch abomination that really add to the game’s unsettlingly atmosphere. The voice acting is okay, for the most part, but kind of reminds me of the B-movie delivery of games like The House of the Dead (SEGA AM1, 1996) and even the original Resident Evil while still treating the events of the game with a grim seriousness that further emphasises that its meant to be unsettling and disturbing rather than thrilling or cheesy. Sadly, thanks to the nature of the game’s narrative, the plot is all over the place; much of the narrative is focused on Sebastian trying to figure out the mystery of Ruvik while the world literally falls apart around him and questioning his sanity but it turns out to be this weird, pseudo-virtual reality environment of sorts that really isn’t elaborate don all that much in the game’s cutscenes or dialogue. Instead, you’ll have to root through the many mysterious and ominous documents and the comments of non-playable characters (NPCs) around you to get a better idea of what the hell is actually going on which, while creating a bit of a disconnect between me and Sebastian’s plight, I found did lend to the nightmarish appeal of the game as it was literally like playing through some ghastly nightmare where nothing makes sense and the world is full of shrieking, gabbling zombie-like creatures and unspeakable horrors and gore.

Enemies and Bosses:
As you desperately plough your way through the game and try to figure out just what the hell is going on, you’ll find yourself besieged by a number of grisly creatures that literally come to life before your eyes as corpses stagger upwards, seemingly innocent blood stains burst free with screaming ghouls, and enemies burst apart into freakish abominations. The most common types of enemy you’ll encounter are known as “The Haunted”; these dishevelled reanimated corpses are like a cross between zombies, Cenobites, and the Las Plagas enemies of Resident Evil 4 and will stagger and rush at you in a blind fury looking to take a bite out of your neck. They’re also capable of attacking as a group and with weapons such as knives, crossbows, and even guns, and will eventually don body armour and wield machine guns, shotguns, Molotov cocktails, and can even activate traps by pulling levers. Thankfully, they go down relatively easily, especially after a few shots to the head, but you’re also encouraged to burn their bodies upon defeat to avoid them springing to life once more.

*Ghastly, zombie-like enemies will rush at you and attack using edged weapons, explosives, and even firearms!*

The haunted come in all shapes and sizes, including much bigger and more rotund enemies who can tank your shots, ones who rush at you in a suicide run, and even ones that appear invisible until the moment before they strike. You’ll also have to contend with some disturbing little baby versions of the Haunted that seep out through walls and drop from the ceilings, but these are easily dispatched with your melee attacks. You’ll also encounter far larger versions (who are best avoided rather than tackling directly unless you have some heavier weaponry on hand) and the disgusting AlterEgo variants who shamble about the place, take far more damage to defeat, and puke up viscera onto you when they got close to you!

*The game’s bigger, more dangerous sub bosses will require your more powerful weapons to put down.*

Such larger, more grotesque enemies serve as The Evil Within’s mini bosses; the first enemy you encounter, for example, is the chainsaw-wielding Sadist who cannot be harmed. Instead, you have to frantically run from him and sneak around him to avoid being sliced in two but, later in the game, you’ll encounter these brutes as mini bosses in increasingly confined areas; thankfully, by then you’ll be packing a shotgun and some explosive weaponry so they’re not too difficult to put down as long as you keep away from the wild swing of their chainsaws. Similarly, while exploring Cedar Hill Church, you’ll have to fight past the misshapen, monstrous formally conjoined twins Neun and Zehn, who rush at you and try to smash you into a bloody puddle in a confined area. Luckily, Joseph is on hand to offer support with a sniper rifle and you can use your more powerful weapons to slow them and finish them off one at a time.

*The Keepers are similar to Pyramid Head but are much easier to put down…with the right weapons…*

Another prominent sub boss, of sorts, is the Keeper; these hulking creatures wield meat cleavers and pursue you with a screen-distorting effect and dropping barbed wire mine traps on the floor. Because their heads are protected by a metal safe, the only way to kill these bastards is to aim for the ample chests but, quite often, killing one will simply cause another to spawn out of nearby safes, which can also spring to life and attempt to attach to your face. As a result, a mixture of stealth and tactics are advised when facing the Keepers, which can often be avoided altogether and mainly serve as a formidable distraction while you try to shut off steam valves and progress further.

*The Amalgam Alpha was a horrendous boss figh, especially when it enters its second phase and eats you!*

As you might expect from the man behind Resident Evil, you’ll also have to battle a number of bizarre and monstrous creatures to progress; one, the Sentinel, is a giant wolf-like creature transformed into a hideous monstrosity and which likes to hide in nearby bushes before pouncing on you and trying to bite your face off. Another is Quell, a massive octopus-like creature that attacks you in the sewers and likes to hide in pipes and grab you with its tentacles; when it does, you have a small window to shoot its face to damage it and save yourself from a gruesome end. Easily the most prevalent and annoying, however, is the Amalgam Alpha creature, which appears to be an eldritch, nightmarish spider/scorpion hybrid that rampages through an underground car park and was, easily, the toughest and most annoying boss fight of the game. This thing is really big and its weak point (an eye on either its tail or within its gaping mouth) can be really tricky to hit; luckily, the car park is full of ammo and other resources but you’ll have to be quick on your feet to avoid its super frustrating instant kill move.

*Laura is a shrieking, persistent threat best staved off with fire and avoided lest she pummel you to death!*

As Ruvik remains elusive for most of the game, the most prominent antagonist you’ll face for most of the game is Laura, an onryō-like girl who emerges, shrieking and wailing, from bubbling bloodstains in certain parts of specific chapters and scuttles after you like a spider, instantly smashing your head in if she gets a hold of you. You’ll encounter Laura three times over the course of the game and she gets more aggressive and difficult to face each time: in the first encounter, you simply have to run around a corner and set alight a pool of gasoline to scare her off but you’re then forced to battle her in an incinerator room. Here, she demonstrates her ability to teleport and emerge from nearby corpses so you’ll have to make sure that you burn these and arm yourself with nearby torches to stave her off but the only way you’ll defeat her is to trick her into spawning inside of one of the incinerators and pulling the lever. The last battle against her is even worse as it has multiple stages that see you fending her off by shoot levers on pipes to spew fire at her and desperately making your way towards an elevator before she can grab you. While it is possible to do her in using nearby flame traps and your conventional weapons, it’s worth coming back after you’ve unlocked the rocket launcher to make these fights easier as she’s basically indestructible otherwise.

*You’ll battle Ruvik’s monstrous final form without fear of exhausting your precious resources.*

Finally, there’s the primary antagonist himself, the mysterious Ruvik, who is apparently the mastermind behind all of the game’s events. Occasionally, Ruvik will spawn into a location and begin to chase you; if this happens, my advice is to run as fast as you can and hide in a wardrobe or under a bed until he disappears as he’ll explode you into bloody chunks otherwise. Later, you’ll encounter Haunted who assume his guise, who can be easily put down without much trouble, and the entire final chapter of the game is dedicated towards making your way to a final confrontation with Ruvik. Here, he merges with the Amalgam Alpha to become the Amalgam, a Lovecraftian beast that you must run from as it chases you up the side of a building before commandeering a machine gun and a rocket launcher to finish him off for good. In this final boss fight, you don’t need to worry about expending your ammo or running around in a panic; you simply have to move to the left or right to avoid his claws, aim for his head, and try not to miss withy our rockets. Eventually, you’re given a split second to shoot the final bullet at Ruvik’s exposed head but it’s okay if you miss as the autosave point is right before this section so take your time and put an end to him for good by stomping on his exposed brain.

Power-Ups and Bonuses:
As you explore the many nightmarish environments of The Evil Within, you’ll find a lot of junk and helpful items to pick up, especially if you smash open crates and open up any drawers or cupboards. You’ll acquire syringes and medical kits to restore your health (these latter will also briefly extend your health at the cost of a few seconds of disorientation), ammo for your weapons, matches, and Green Gel. You’ll want to grab as much of these as you can (be sure to reload your weapons and cycle through your Agony Bolt variants to stockpile as much ammo as possible) in order to have the best chance of success in combat.

*In addition to the usual firearms, your Agony Bolt can fire a number of different arrows.*

Sebastian is afforded all the usual weapons you should expect from a survival-horror videogame; begins with a simple pistol but soon acquires a shotgun, the aforementioned Agony Bolt, a sniper rifle, and even a magnum as the game progresses. These can usually be found in attaché briefcases so be sure to explore your environments fully to get your hands on more weapons and ammo, and Sebastian can also make use of nearby bottles to throw at and bash enemies with, pipebombs, and explosive barrels (which he can also awkwardly kick around to best destroy enemies). In addition, the Agony Bolt can shoot multiple different types of arrows, from explosives to freezing blasts to stun shots, all of which can be either found in the environment or crafted with a simple press of a button from the inventory menu.

*Find Green Gel to upgrade Sebastian’s abilities, ammo, and weapons.*

At numerous points throughout each chapter, you’ll find mysterious cracked mirrors that transport you to the save room. Here, you can use any keys you find from breaking special statues to open up lockers and access some extra ammo and also use your Green Gel in a very ominous looking chair. This allows you to upgrade Sebastian’s abilities, such as his maximum health and stamina and melee damage output, and weapons, allowing you to increase your maximum ammo capacity, reload time, accuracy, and overall effectiveness for each weapon. It’s worth stockpiling Green Gel and spreading it wisely to increase Sebastian’s health and the amount of matches he can carry while also focusing on each weapon at a time; I favoured upgraded the shotgun and saved that for the more troublesome enemies but you may prefer to upgrade the Agony Bolt or sniper rifle.

Additional Features:
There are forty-one Achievements on offer in The Evil Within, many of which require a bit more strategy to unlock than simply clearing every chapter. Indeed, almost every chapter of the game has a specific requirement to unlock an Achievement, such as defeating a Sadist with a stealth kill, surviving an onslaught of enemies without Joseph being hurt, or killing Laura rather than simply outrunning her. You’ll also get Achievements for more mundane things, such as stealth killing five enemies in a row without being discovered, upgrading weapons and skills, or killing a certain number of enemies in specific ways, as well as finishing the game on higher difficulties or without any Green Gel upgrades.

*Clear the game to unlock bonus weapons, new difficulty levels, or purchase the DLC for extra story content.*

The game has four difficulty settings, with two available right from the start; while you can lower the difficulty at any time, you can’t raise it and, after finishing the game, you’ll unlock additional weapons to use in the ‘New Game+’ mode, which allows you to replay any chapter on the difficulty you cleared it on. You’re also given 50,000 Green Gel points to spend and unlock a model viewer but, annoyingly, your rocket launcher and machine gun have limited ammo, meaning you can’t just plough through the game’s chapters willy-nilly. Still, it does give you the edge in tracking down any statue key, map pieces, and documents you missed the first time through and working toward 100% completion. There are also a couple of expansion packs available to download that add an extra thirty Achievements to the game in addition to expanding upon the story with new playable characters and enemies to battle. I haven’t actually bought this, however, so it’s not my place to comment upon it but the game was appealing enough that I may explore this extra content later down the line (or if there’s a sale on).

The Summary:
The Evil Within certainly was a disturbing head-trip of a videogame; very little about it makes sense as you play it, with the events appearing to be the result of Sebastian slowly going insane but eventually being revealed to be the results of some bizarre experiment that, even now, I’m a bit unclear on. The result is a very unpredictable and gameplay experience full of unsettling imagery and enemies, gore, and ghastly creatures of all shapes and sizes that pull from a variety of other media and horror elements and mash them together in a truly nightmarish and ominous videogame that maintains a constant sense of dread and anticipation as you’re never quite sure what’s going to happen next as Sebastian is battered and tossed all over the place through a constantly shifting nightmare world.

*While it can be annoying and tedious, the game does a great job of conveying a macabre and ominous dread.*

Having said that, though, there were a few flaws in the game. It’s not always immediately clear where you need to go as environments tend to look the same (especially in chapters set within the hospital or similar locations), some of the boss battles and enemies were ridiculously unfair thanks to them having one-hit kill moves in their arsenal (something I’m always frustrated by), and expanding Resident Evil’s save rooms out to a whole area was a bit laborious at times when I just wanted to quickly save without having to trudge about in the slowly-dilapidating hospital foyer. Still, it was a harrowing experience, one that really conveyed a tangible sense of dread and horror; Sebastian might not be the most compelling or dynamic character but his “Everyman” persona worked well with the increasingly insane and macabre things he was faced with and it was nice to feel that sense of foreboding menace once again, even if the game does veer more towards action than survival-horror thanks to you have just enough ammo and resources to get through each chapter rather than having to constantly worry about inventory management.

My Rating:

Pretty Good

Are you a fan of The Evil Within? Did you enjoy the game’s ominous atmosphere and mind trip of a story or was it too derivative for you? What did you think of Sebastian as a protagonist, his supporting cast, and Ruvik as the main antagonist? Did you enjoy all the allusions and references to other survival-horror videogames and horror media or do you feel like that got in the way of the game’s more unique qualities? Would you like to see more from the Evil Within franchise? Which survival-horror videogame or franchise is your favourite and why? Whatever your thoughts on The Evil Within, or survival-horror in general, drop a comment down below.

Movie Night: Rambo III

15/10/202103/07/2024Dr. K5 Comments

Released: 25 May 1988
Director: Peter MacDonald
Distributor: TriStar Pictures
Budget: $58 to 63 million
Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna, Kurtwood Smith, Marc de Jonge, and Spiros Focas

The Plot:
Three years after the previous film, events in Vietnam, former United States Army Special Forces soldier John J. Rambo (Stallone) has settled in a Thai monastery. Finally content, he refuses to assist his former commander, Colonel Sam Trautman (Crenna), in assisting Mujahideen tribes in Afghanistan against Soviet forces. However, after Trautman is captured, Rambo immediately agrees to undertake a solo rescue on the condition that he will be disavowed in the event of capture or death.

The Background:
The impressive box office success of First Blood (Kotcheff, 1982) led to the even more financially successful Rambo: First Blood Part II (Cosmatos, 1985), which transformed the character from a tormented Vietnam veteran and into an explosive, one-man army of an action star. This time around, Stallone was even more hands-on with the production of the film as he not only helped write the script but also hired Russell Mulcahy as the direct…and then promptly dismissed him after creative differences. Sadly, this time around, Rambo III was a box office disappointment after grossing just $89 million (which, while slightly more than First Blood, was a massive drop compared to the sequel). Although Rambo III was also met with mixed reviews, it was the most violent action film ever made at the time and its ludicrous body count was only surpassed by its eventual follow-up.

The Review:
Having witnessed first-hand the treatment and abuse he receives in his home country, and having extracted a measure of revenge upon Vietnam for his experiences during the war, Rambo is, understandably, quite disillusioned and reluctant to be a part of “normal” society and has, instead, retreated to Thailand. Here, he desperately attempts to reconcile his two sides (the side that wants peace and the side that craves conflict) by helping to reconstruct and repair a Thai monastery and earning money for the monks by participating in brutal underground fights.

*Despite seeing how badly war affected Rambo, Trautman encourages him back into the fight.*

Tired of war and content with his newfound life, Rambo is dismissive and uninterested when Trautman and United States field officer Robert Griggs (Smith) arrive with a new mission for him. This is in stark contrast to the previous film, where Rambo signed up to Trautman’s mission (though somewhat begrudgingly) in order to rescue prisoners of war from the same torture he endured and face his demons in familiar surroundings. It’s also a far cry from Rambo’s emotional breakdown at the end of First Blood, where he defiantly declared that “Nothing is over!”; now, he declares that his war is over and that he’s finally at peace. Trautman, however, sees through his claims and believes that Rambo is hiding and denying his true self; it’s an interesting exchange based on their experiences in the previous films, where Trautman was sympathetic towards Rambo’s plight and claimed to have “made” him. Now, his argument is that Rambo was always this way and he (as in Trautman) simply pointed him in the direction of the enemy and, rather than trying to talk Rambo out of fighting, he actively encourages him to “come full circle” and be the soldier that has brought him so much pain and suffering.

*Trautman is captured and tortured by Soviet terrorists.*

However, Rambo refuses and, honestly, after everything we’ve seen from him, I can’t say that I blame him. But, without Rambo by his side, Trautman is captured by Soviet forces. When Griggs informs Rambo of this, Rambo immediately volunteers to go in, alone and off the books; this time around, at least, Rambo is told upfront that the government will deny any official knowledge of the mission and leave him to be tortured and killed so there’s no subterfuge or deception regarding this mission. Rambo’s motivation for volunteering is based purely out of the loyalty and respect he still feels for Trautman and his mission takes him to Afghanistan and in conflict with the Soviet forces, led by Colonel Alexei Zaysen (Marc de Jonge) and Sergeant Kourov (Randy Raney).

*Zaysen and Kourov have different approaches that make them a significant threat.*

Zaysen is largely similar to Lieutenant Colonel Sergei T. Podovsky (Steven Berkoff) from the last film; enigmatic and threatening, he attempts to intimidate Trautman with his eloquence. Trautman, however, is defiant and contemptuous towards Zaysen and his unwinnable war against the rebellious Mujahideen even while enduring ruthless torture at the hands of Zaysen and Kourov. Zaysen is very much the cool, calculating commander who only gets involved with the dirty work when his prisoners are held at his (or Kourov’s) mercy but grows increasingly frustrated by Rambo’s interference and disruption while Kourov is the more sadistic and brutal of the two and acts as Zaysen’s muscle.

*Rambo’s greatest allies are, again, his grit, adaptability, and unmatched skills in warfare .*

Thanks to the presence of the Mujahideen, Rambo is, again, not entirely alone in his campaign but, intimidated by the Soviet’s power and numbers, the tribe are reluctant to help Rambo beyond informing him of the general layout of the Soviet base. Indeed, for his initial assault on the base, Rambo is joined only by his guide, Masoud (Focas), and a young Mujahideen boy, Hamid (Doudi Shoua); the two join him against his wishes and it is through their inexperience that we get so see how cagey Rambo is, as he spots traps they don’t. Once again, Rambo’s greatest advantage for most of the film is his stealth, which allows him to enter the base undetected (by hiding up in the rafters and clinging on the bottom of a tank!), acquire weapons, and plant a number of explosive charges throughout the base to deal significant damage.

The Nitty-Gritty:
Similar to the second film, Rambo III wastes little time in reacquainting viewers with Rambo and his newfound life but, again, builds towards its more explosive and action-packed moments. A great deal of time is spent dwelling in the Mujahideen village and watching as Rambo learns their ways and customs; apparently, Rambo has the time to waste talking with Masoud and Hamid and participating in the tribe’s odd (and, if we’re honest, quite cruel) idea of sport rather than formulating a reasonable plan of attack and, as a result, it’s no surprise when the village is suddenly attacked and destroyed by the Soviet’s attack helicopters. As a means to further add to Rambo’s motivation, this isn’t quite as effective as the brief romance from the last film; he’s gained a greater appreciation for the simple life and the ways of the innocent, for sure, but this attack mainly exists to explicitly show how persecuted the Mujahideen are and as an excuse to add to the film’s incredibly-high body count.

*Rambo has transformed into a full-blown, mindless action hero for his third outing.*

Once the killing starts in earnest, Rambo III almost descends into a parody of the high-octane action films of the time; casting aside all attempts at stealth and subterfuge, explosions and gunfire fill the screen as Rambo wages his largely one-man war and the Soviet forces being blown all over the place and running head-first into a hail of bullets while Rambo stands completely still and out in the open. The firefights actually remind me a lot of Commando (Lester, 1985) in that way and you can’t tell me that the ridiculous conclusion of that film, where musclebound hero John Matrix (Arnold Schwarzenegger) literally mows down hundreds of miscellaneous bad guys in very much the same way, wasn’t an influence on Rambo III’s absurd action scenes.

*When teamed up with Trautman, Rambo is suddenly dropping quips and one-liners!*

Nowhere is this more explicit than in Rambo’s brutal fist-fight with Kourov; a mute mountain of a man, Kourov poses a significant physical challenge for Rambo and results in the most visceral and brutal fight scene of the film as Rambo manages to not only knock Kourov down a pit with an impressive spinning kick but also breaks his neck and blows him up with a grenade! To top this elaborate death, Rambo III ends with an explosive and ludicrous showdown with Zaysen; with Zaysen piloting a gunship and Rambo at the controls of a tank, Rambo III ends with one of the more unique vehicular firefights I can recall and yet, as a massive fan of Commando and mindless action, I’m okay with this. Seeing Rambo completely unhinged and gunning down or blowing up countless bad guys is very thrilling and it’s even more exhilarating to see him and Trautman finally in the thick of it together. Previously, Trautman was little more than Rambo’s friend and publicist and, while he said that he had been in the midst of all the horrors of Vietnam in First Blood, we only saw Rambo’s time as a victim or torture or out in the field so it’s nice (well…not “nice” but refreshing, maybe?) to see Trautman getting his hands dirty rather than being safely out of harm’s way. Even more surprising is the banter between the two when they’re out in the field; Rambo had a few little quips here and there in the second film but he’s full of little snarky comments this time around which, while amusing and help to cement the unique bond between these two, do feel a little out of character for the normally tormented and focused Rambo.

The Summary:
In a lot of ways, Rambo III is very similar to Rambo: First Blood Part II but lacking even the small amount of nuance and subtext that film had compared to the first. Everything has been dialled up to eleven this time around, transforming Rambo from a haunted, persecuted veteran and into another snarky action hero. With more explosions, more bullets, and a far greater body count that the previous film, Rambo III is almost a parody of the second film and it definitely feels as though Stallone was trying to compete against other over the top action films of the time. As a fan of the genre, I’m okay with this as mindless, explosive action and gun fights are always fun but it can’t be denied that something has been lost in emphasising these aspects. Although Trautman accuses Rambo of denying his true self by hiding in Thailand, it’s pretty obvious that Rambo is much more at peace at the start of the film and perfectly happy to have left behind his war and put his skills to use in building, rather than destroying, while indulging his more animalistic sides in stick fighting. In a lot of ways, it makes very little sense for Trautman to even want to deny Rambo the peace he’s found and I can’t help but feel like the film might have landed a little better if Trautman had never visited Rambo to ask for his help and we’d spent a little more time getting an idea of Rambo’s mentality so it meant a little more when he found out that his friend was in trouble.

My Rating:

Pretty Good

Are you a fan of Rambo III? How do you feel it holds up today, especially compared to the first two films and the sequels? Were you disappointed that the film emphasised violence and action more than its predecessors or were you a fan of its glorious excess and action tropes? What did you think to Trautman’s extended role? Would you have liked to see more of Rambo’s new life to make his decision to return to war more meaningful? Which Rambo film is your favourite? Whatever you think, feel free to leave a comment below and be sure to check out my other Rambo reviews.

Screen Time: Swamp Thing

12/10/202109/04/2025Dr. K5 Comments

Air Date: 31 May 2019 to 2 August 2019
UK Distributor: Netflix
Original Network: DC Universe
Stars: Derek Mears, Crystal Reed, Andy Bean, Will Patton, Virginia Madsen, Kevin Durand, Maria Sten, and Jeryl Prescott

The Background:
Although the monstrous swamp creature known as Swamp Thing first appeared in July 1971, the character is best known for his Alec Holland incarnation, though both characters were created by writer Len Wein and artist Bernie Wrightson. Not to be confused with a similar swamp monster published by Marvel Comics, the Man-Thing, Swamp Thing has long been personified as the protector of the “Green” and all environmental life. Considering how obscure the character is, Swamp Thing has quite a lucrative history in adaptation; he received two live-action horror/comedies in the 1980s, a spin-off live action series, a cartoon, and often crops up in animated ventures and videogames. Development of a new horror series based on the character began in 2018; ostensibly produced to provide more content for DC Universe, DC’s now-defunct video-on-demand streaming service. Existing in a separate continuity to other DC live-action shows, Swamp Thing was cancelled almost as soon as it began airing because of creative differences and financial concerns, which killed any plans for follow-up seasons and spin-offs. Despite this, Swamp Thing was generally very well received and the popularity of the show, in addition to the character’s very brief cameo in the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover (Various, 2019 to 2020), has left the vague lingering hope that Swamp Thing might be integrated into the “Arrowverse” in the same was as Matt Ryan’s John Constantine.

The Plot:
When a deadly illness hits a small town in Louisiana, Doctor Abby Arcane (Reed) is sent to investigate and begins to suspect that disgraced scientist Alec Holland’s (Bean) research may be related to the outbreak. However, in the midst of her investigation into shady businessman Avery Sunderland (Patton) and the mysteries of the nearby swamp, Alec is suddenly killed but appears to live on as a monstrous swamp creature.

The Review:
All throughout Swamp Thing, the swamp is treated as a dark, ominous force that stalks intruders and actively hunts those who venture within it, no matter their intentions. Thanks to the dumping of mutagen accelerator, the swamp is alive, malevolent, and brutally kill those who invade its depths, and its influence has begun to spread into the nearby town of Marais, causing a debilitating virus known as the “Green Flu”. The town is understandably disturbed by the virus but also believes that the swamp, their primary source of income, is responsible and is striking back at those who would seek to destroy or damage it. Local businessman Avery Sunderland, who has brought prosperity to the town, is fascinated by the swamp after witnessing its power as a boy when his father, Burritt (Steve Wilcox), was murdered by the swamp for attacking one of its trees was when Avery was a boy.

*Abby is puzzled by the Green Flu, which appears to be connected to Alec’s research.*

The mysterious plague brings Abby back to Marais, her hometown; she’s a pretty, smart CDC doctor who immediately and affably takes charge of the hospital staff and the organisation of a response team but is haunted by memories of her childhood in Marais. Though stumped by the potency of the disease, which mutilates its victims with swamp life and roots and is capable of reanimating corpses into violent planet creatures, Abby’s investigation is aided Alec Holland, a quirky and mysterious but brilliant biologist who clearly knows more about the infection than he’s letting on. His research focuses on dangerous mutagens, which he has identified growing and mutating out in the swamp, and he explicitly demonstrates to Abby that the swamp is growing aggressively and malevolently and causing the disease. Although unsure of Alec’s odd demeanour, he and Abby quickly pool their talents; a quick Google reveals to Abby Alec’s sketchy past, which saw him disgraced after manipulating data to prove his theories, but instead of arguing, they bond over their past mistakes and remain focused on figuring out the Green Flu. During their efforts, they are horrified to witness the swamp’s malevolent effects but, right when they are on the cusp of figuring out how the Green Flu came about, Alec is suddenly shot and killed.

*Swamp Thing isn’t the only thing brought to monstrous life by the swamp’s malevolent forces.*

In his place is a large, monstrous bog monster (the titular Swamp Thing) that emerges from the swamp in a confused and agonised daze and, for a brief period, has a strange connection to Susie Coyle (Elle Graham), a young girl infected by the swamp. Susie is able to sense Swamp Thing’s emotions and even see through his eyes, to an extent, which causes her a great deal of distress, nightmares, and to leave the hospital in search of Swamp Thing. There, she witnesses two of men dumping the mutagen, a particularly brutal murder, and Swamp Thing violently attack and kill one of the men, Munson (Micah Fitzgerald), using the roots and branches of the swamp. Now able to communicate with the swamp and other plant life (known as the “Green”), Swamp Thing is functionally immortal as he’s able to almost immediately heal from any injury and has no need for his plant-like organs. Thanks to Swamp Thing’s unique connection to the swamp, Abby is able to suppress the Green Flu but this also alerts him to a foreboding, oncoming Darkness that has spread death and devastation throughout the swamp. When the Darkness manifests as the Rot, it reanimates Munson’s body into a zombie-like creature who spews and controls insects and goes on a killing spree until Swamp Thing defeats it. He’s also instrumental in curing and counteracting an infection that spreads from the Darkness and causes this exposed to see disturbing, nightmarish visions of their worst fears that lead them to violently injure and kill themselves and others in a frenzied panic.

*Maria regresses when Abby returns to town and soon descends into mania and insanity.*

Abby’s return to Marais causes quite a stir for many characters; for her childhood friend, Matt Cable (Henderson Wade), who is now a police officer, she reawakens his childhood feelings for her. These drive him to accompany her into the swamp and to aid with her search for Alec, much to the chagrin of his mother, Lucilia (Jennifer Beals), who is also the town sheriff. Resentful and distrustful of Abby, Lucilia dissuades Matt from helping Abby, believing her to be nothing but trouble who will just break his heart, but, when Matt learns that Lucilia is little more than a corrupt official who has lied about his true parentage and been covering up evidence of Avery’s wrongdoings, he begins to consider transferring to a different department. Lucilia, who murders without a thought to protect her son, is driven to conspiring against Avery when she discovers that he manipulated his son into killing Alec, an action that ultimately dooms her to further betrayal and murder. Like Lucilia, Avery’s wife, Maria (Madsen), is extremely perturbed by Abby’s return; blaming Abby for the death of her daughter, Shawna (Given Sharp), Maria is cold and hostile towards Abby and demands that she leave the moment her work in Marais is done. Having struggled with alcoholism after Shawna’s death, Abby’s return causes Maria to regress; she takes to sleeping in Shawna’s death and turns to local blind fortune teller, Nimue Inwudu/Madame Xanadu (Prescott) for comfort, only to be driven to both violence and near madness by Shawna’s vengeful spirit, which possesses Susie and attempts to kill both Maria and Abby. Fully aware of Avery’s transgressions, and having grown weary of him using her wealth to her own ends, she cuts him off and, after conspiring to kill him, appropriates Avery’s research for her own to enter into an alliance with Nathan Ellery (Michael Beach) and the shadowy Conclave Group. Abby also reconnects with another of her friends, Liz Tremayne (Sten), a local reporter who believes that uncovering the truth behind Avery’s shady operation will be her big break. At every turn, even after encountering Swamp Thing, Abby confides in Liz and is met with nothing but unconditional support as Liz takes every opportunity to aid Abby in her efforts to help Alec, solve the mysteries of the swamp, and expose Avery’s true nature.

*The supernatural and the macabre are pivotal aspects of* Swamp Thing‘s appeal.

Liz’s investigative abilities not only help to lead Abby to Swamp Thing after he is captured by the mysterious Conclave Group but also leads her to Daniel Cassidy (Ian Ziering), an former stuntman and actor who found fame as a live-action version of the superhero Blue Devil and runs a video rental store where Alec lived and worked. Unable to leave Marais due to a supernatural force, Daniel is compelled to assist Abby by the mysterious Phantom Stranger (Macon Blair), who bound him to Marais some time ago, even when this leaves him comatose and trapped in the town. Supernatural elements such as these are a pivotal aspect of Swamp Thing: Xanadu finds her visions and psychic abilities augmented by the dark forces growing in the swamp, Shawna’s ghost spirit torments Maria and Abby, and Alec’s presence haunt Abby, the show, and Swamp Thing himself. The ghosts of his former life echo in Swamp Thing’s dreams alongside disturbing visions of numerous dead bodies, which the Phantom Stranger explains are actually the memories of all the events the trees and the swamp and the Green have witnessed over the centuries. The Phantom Stranger encourages Swamp Thing to hold on to the humanity still in his heart and soul and to embrace his newfound connection to the Green, which allows Abby the see the truth about Shawna’s death, but it is through his continued relationship with Abby that Swamp Thing finds his most potent connection to his humanity. Desperate to find out what happened to him and return him to normal, Abby reconnects with Alec in the episode “Brilliant Disguise” (Ostrander, 2019), which sees him temporarily reassume his human guise thanks to a mysterious flower. Here, Alec reveals the true extent of the Darkness and the Rot and believes that he has been transformed into a warrior to combat these malevolent forces and, accepting his new destiny, reluctantly asks her to leave and move on with her life.

*With Maria committed, Avery ends up little more than a murderer infected by the swamp’s darkness.*

Of course, the dark forces in the swamp aren’t the only things Swamp Thing has to content with in the show; Avery’s dumping of the mutagen accelerator was meant to bring him more opportunities for profit and expansion but, after witnessing the power of the swamp and seeing what Alec has transformed into, he begins to manipulate the situation back into his favour. A disreputable and manipulative individual, he Avery regularly engages in extramarital relations with Lucilia (which ultimately turn Maria against him) delivers thinly veiled threats to Abby and Liz when they continue to poke their nose into his business, and purposely exploited Matt to eliminate Alec when he got close to discovering Avery’s plot. A slick and deceptive individual, he’s even able to trick Swamp Thing into trusting him and doesn’t hesitate to twist the narrative in his favour wherever possible, including having his wife committed to a mental hospital and threatening friend and foe alike. I found Avery to be quite an intriguing character and he had a lot of complex layers to him; though both he and Maria were heartbroken at Shawna’s death, Maria’s reaction is far rawer and more aggressive, and Avery is much more accepting of Abby. Rather than blaming her for Shawna’s death, he sees her as a surrogate daughter and regrets not defending her in the past and there’s a genuine sense that he cares for her even when he’s clearly primarily concerned with his own self interests. A master manipulator, he’s able to prey upon Maria’s fragile state of mind and lingering fears about Susie’s health into continuing his funding in order to improve the image of their family in the eyes of the public and the investors. Despite being betrayed by all those around him and having lost everything, Avery remains adamant in his ability to bounce back from his losses out of a pig-headed belief that the town is reliant upon his generosity and influence. With Maria reduced to a mindless shell of her former self, and having learnt that he is Matt’s true father, he attempts to rekindle his relationship with Lucilia only to be adamantly rebuked by her after everything he’s done to her and Matt.

*Thanks to Woodrue’s invasive experiments, Swamp Thing is dismayed by the truth about his origins.*

Although Lucilia reconciles with Matt, she doesn’t live to see that through as Avery stabs her from the backseat of her car and dumps her body, and the car, in the swamp. By the end, he’s been reduced from an affluent and influential industrialist to a cold-blooded, remorseless killer; he mysteriously spits up a piece of the swamp, hinting that he may have been infected by the Rot. Avery also forges an alliance with Doctor Jason Woodrue (Durand), an unorthodox biogeneticist with an unhealthy obsession with plants who was responsible for creating Avery’s mutagen accelerant and causing the plague. While Woodrue is incredulous since the swamp’s very nature invites disease, Avery is unimpressed with Woodrue’s efforts, which were supposed to allow him to profit and have, instead, brought an unwelcome amount of attention and death to his doorstep. Woodrue is both in admiration of the aggressiveness and potency of the Green Flu and the swamp but also determined to stay support his wife, Caroline (Selena Anduze), as she suffers from early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Like Abby, Woodrue is astounded by Swamp Thing’s genetic make-up and the regenerative capabilities and, upon discovering evidence of Swamp Thing’s existence, convinces Avery to provide him the resources to hunt down and capture the creature, alive, for further research. Ever the opportunist, Woodrue willingly betrays and allies with each of the Sunderland’s in his desperate bid to find a cure for his wife’s condition; to that end, Ellery provides Woodrue with the proper facilities to continue his research and is instrumental in luring Swamp Thing into a trap to freeze him with nitrogen blasts. Subjected to an invasive examination more akin to an autopsy and subdued by special lights, Swamp Thing is horrified when Woodrue discovers that he has no nerve or pain receptors (despite the fact that he clearly reacts to injury), can survive without any internal organs, and his theory that Alec’s consciousness was merely absorbed by the swamp and given a humanoid form by its mutagenic properties. Disturbed by Woodrue’s claims, Swamp Thing returns to the swamp after being rescued and is devested when he retrieves Alec’s mangled corpse from its depths, confirming that he is merely an autonomous plant creature possessing the shadow of Alec’s consciousness. Thought despondent at this discovery, Abby insists that Swamp Thing is imbued with Alec’s heart and soul regardless and, after mercilessly slaughtering Ellery’s men in retaliation for the suffering they caused him, he is bolstered by Alec’s sprit and Abby’s devotion to stay in the swamp and find a new path for himself against the coming Darkness.

The Summary:
I really enjoyed Swamp Thing; at only ten episodes long, the show is paced incredibly well and the structure is just about perfect; it never feels like there’s any filler and everything flows naturally and nicely and with a real purpose. The show’s emphasis on dark, gritty horror really makes it stand out against other superhero shows and it does a really good job of explaining its unique lore and introducing just enough intrigue to keep you hooked; the supernatural elements are seen as equal parts mysterious and dangerous and beautiful and alluring, and the ominous presence of the oncoming Darkness was a fascinating inclusion that I’m sad to see has not been resolved in the Arrowverse as of late. In many ways, it feels like the showrunners should have tried to slightly rewrite the concept to refer to the destructive anti-mater wave that was the subject of the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover but I remain hopeful that Swamp Thing’s loose ends will be addressed in some way, shape or form at some point.

Swamp Thing excels in its fantastic and creative use of practical and special effects.

One of the most appealing aspects of Swamp Thing is how well it utilises its special effects; the swamp, a living, largely malevolent being in and of itself, writhes and squirms through a mixture of practical and special effects that reanimates dead bodies with a sickening burst of ever-growing and malicious tentacles but nowhere is its influence more impressively realised that in Swamp Thing himself. Brought to life through the power of an impressive practical suit and augmented by animatronics and just the right amount of CGI, Swamp Thing is both impressive and horrific in his appearance thanks to an abundance of dark lighting, shadows, and well-framed shots but he also impresses when seen in full lighting. It seems like the showrunners wisely put a great deal of Swamp Thing’s budget into the titular creature, which results in them creatively cutting corners when it comes to Blue Devil. Sadly, we never get to see a clear shot of Blue Devil, who slaughters the Conclave’s goons through the power of frenetic and blood-soaked editing; to be fair, though, this does work to emphasise the brutality, horror, and mystery of Blue Devil. Performances are strong throughout Swamp Thing; Crystal Reed is a fantastically alluring lead actress, carrying just the right mixture of gumption, intelligence, and empathy. She feels a tremendous amount of guilt over her part on Shawna’s death and is both heartbroken and desperate to try and help Alec after he’s transformed into Swamp Thing. Similarly, while she’s little more than a supporting character, there’s a surprising amount of depth to Liz; I was very pleased to see that the two never fell out or had any interpersonal drama and were simply two close friends who supported each other no matter what, even in the face of their own deaths.

*Sadly, as good as* Swamp Thing was, its loose ends probably won’t be tied up any time soon.

I was impressed with Durand’s range for his portrayal of Woodrue, who is continually torn between his work and his wife just as Swamp Thing is torn between his humanity and the creature he has become, and his descent into insanity and villainy was all the more affecting because he wasn’t just some over the top comic book villain. I was similarly intrigued by Patton’s performance as Avery; a deceitful, manipulative character who always has the upper hand, he fought and clawed against his descent from his lofty position and always had another scheme, another option, at hand to try and turn things to his advantage. The only real issue I had, in fact (apart from the show being cancelled) was that Susie seems like she’s going to be important but basically disappears from the show after a few prominent episodes and her connection to Swamp Thing is not as pivotal as it seems at first. Honestly, it’s a real shame that Swamp Thing was cancelled almost as immediately as it started as it was very entertaining as a horror/mystery show and was a very different type of comic book adaptation. The show was also packed with some clever additions and references to the wider DC universe; Adrienne Barbeau, who starred in the first live-action movie, makes a cameo appearance as the CDC’s new assistant director, the Phantom Stranger was a surprising and welcome inclusion, and the show even does a good job of bringing Blue Devil to life when Daniel eventual transforms into an actual, fire-breathing demon. The show even ends on a massive cliff-hanger when Woodrue, driven to madness by his wife’s accidental overdose and his obsession with curing her, ingests Swamp Thing’s organs and transforms himself into the Floronic Man.

My Rating:

Fantastic

Were you a fan of Swamp Thing? Did you enjoy the show’s emphasis on horror and practical effects or was a bit too obscure and dark for you? What did you think to the Swamp Thing suit and effects and Derek Mears’ performance as the character? Which of the show’s characters and sub-plots was your favourite and did you enjoy the inclusions of names like the Phantom Stranger and the Blue Devil? How well do you think the show did at adapting the source material and were there any characters and plots you would have liked to see included in the show? Were you disappointed that Swamp Thing was cancelled and would you like the see the character and the show’s loose ends tied up in the Arrowverse? Whatever your opinions on Swamp Thing, leave your thoughts down below.

Movie Night: The Void

10/10/202102/09/2024Dr. KLeave a comment

Released: 22 September 2016
Director: Steven Kostanski and Jeremy Gillespie
Distributor: D Films
Budget: $82,510 (minimum)
Stars: Aaron Poole, Kathleen Munroe, Daniel Fathers, Mik Byskov, and Kenneth Welsh

The Plot:
Deputy Sheriff Daniel Carter (Poole) brings an injured man to a hospital to treatment and is soon trapped inside by a hooded group of psychopaths. When Vincent (Fathers) and Simon (Byskov) violently enter the building looking to kill Carter’s patient, the few occupants find themselves under threat from horrific creatures that dwell within the hospital’s dark catacombs and tangled up in a doctor’s twisted desire for immortality.

The Background:
I don’t quite recall exactly how The Void came to my attention; it was probably including on one of WhatCulture’s many lists that I routinely watch on YouTube in an attempt to discover new avenues of horror or science-fiction that may have otherwise passed me by. Regardless, The Void was crowdfunded by directors Steven Kostanski and Jeremy Gillespie after the latter was inspired by overhearing fellow director Guillermo del Toro’s desire to see a fresh filmic take on the works of H. P. Lovecraft. Having amassed a small budget to cover the cost of their creature effects, and following a difficult shoot, the low-budget production made its debut at Fantastic Fest on 22 September 2016, its Canadian premiere at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival in the following October, and, while a limited release only saw it make just under $150,000 at the box office, the film received strong reviews for its gruesome practical effects and bleak tone.

The Review:
I went into The Void with few expectations and little to go on other than that it seemed to be a low budget horror affair in the vein of the likes of H. P. Lovecraft and came out it if relatively surprised. It wasn’t what I expected it to be (the misleading box art and posters, which hint towards an otherworldly beast of some kind, didn’t help) but once I got over that and caught on to the film’s basic premise and brand of mindfuckary it proved to be a decent enough experience. Is it perfect? Of course not, but then few films ever really are. When it comes to low budget horror, though, I am satisfied as long as the acting isn’t too corny, the film isn’t full of shaky cam and piss-poor lighting, and that it uses what resources it has well. Thankfully, The Void ticks all these boxes since it’s not filmed as a found footage movie and isn’t full of annoying handheld camera movements and it makes effective use of lighting and darkness to create just enough tension and horror rather than bathing the film in a sea of black.

*Carter is a decent enough protagonist and is something of a flawed, but relatable, hero.*

As for the acting…well, it’s serviceable enough. It’s hard to expect much from a cast of unknowns (well, they’re unknown to me, at least, with the exception of Ellen Wong) but the handful of actors we do have do a decent enough job at conveying enough emotion and personality to help drive the plot forward, Aaron Poole makes for a pretty believable and relatable everyman; he’s constantly living in the shadow of his hero cop father, tormented by the loss of his child, and constantly on the back foot despite his best efforts to calm the situation and take charge. While he does appear somewhat ineffectual and comical at times (it seems he’s getting attacked and/or knocked out every five minutes in the film’s first half), this largely serves to make his character more human and vulnerable; Carter isn’t some flawless action hero, he’s just a regular cop in an extraordinary and terrifying satiation who is trying to do his best and I think that comes across quite well.

*Allison is a competent and capable character in her own right.*

Supporting Carter are his ex-wife, Allison Fraser (Munroe), and a handful on staff at the hospital who are largely just innocent bystanders and/or cannon fodder for the film’s gruesome monsters. Like Carter, Allison is a relatable and likeable enough character; clearly she still has feelings for her ex and they have unresolved issues after their child’s still-birth and she is oftentimes exasperated by his stubbornness and the loose ends they have yet to tie up but she is surprisingly cool under pressure and proactive, rushing off to get pain relief for the pregnant Maggie (Grace Munro) despite the danger and trying to calm tensions as the rise.

*There might be more to Vincent but he remains a hard-ass regardless.*

Opposing Carter and his fellow victims are not just a group of nameless, faceless hooded figures with knives but also Vincent and Simon, two hot-headed and potentially dangerous individuals who burst into the hospital to kill James (Evan Stern) because of a previous run-in with him and the aforementioned hooded assailants. Though Simon was injured and cannot talk, he grows to become the more humane and level-headed of the two but, honestly, I gravitated a bit more towards Vincent as the film’s reluctant hero. He never truly fulfils this role, however, remaining a loud-mouthed, confrontational, self-absorbed asshole for the majority of his screen time even as he’s sacrificing himself to give Simon a chance to escape. Such aggressive anti-heroes are commonplace in life-or-death situations seen in horror films but, while Vincent does begrudgingly agree to help Carter, he never quite steps into the role of a true hero, which is a shame but, at the same time, has a certain realistic undercurrent to it.

The Void *goes out of its way to keep things as vague and horrific as possible.*

The film’s premise is pretty simple but is made far more complex by The Void’s commitment to keeping things as vague and unexplained as possible. Even when Dr. Richard Powell (Welsh) is revealed to be responsible for the carnage that has unfolded and is expositing his motivations, it’s all very cryptic and vague and left largely up to the viewer to interpret. Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter; it’s one of those situations where the horrific and impossible has happened and the film’s characters, like us, just have to deal with it as best as they can. They are besieged by maniacal hooded figures, betrayal and mistrust, an ever-warping reality, and some truly ghastly looking creatures and, in the end, the primary concern becomes one of survival rather than exposition.

The Nitty-Gritty:
As I said, I went into The Void expecting a slightly different movie; I imagined it to revolve more around characters drawn into some ancient and demonic cult who wish to conjure some grotesque creature from beyond out world but, instead, it’s kind of a siege move as our protagonists are trapped inside of a hospital and unable to escape, left at the mercy of the creatures that prowl its dank catacombs. The majority of The Void’s budget was apparently spent on developing the film’s practical creature effects and it really pays off; there are no computer-generated monstrosities here, just good, old-fashioned rubber and latex and large, man-made fiends that are disgusting to look at and terrifying in their design. What’s better is that The Void’s monsters vary; the first one we see is this weird, tentacle-spewing, almost insect-like human/monster hybrid but Powell’s experiments have birthed all kinds of abominations, from chewed up torsos to zombie-like corpses.

*Powell returns to life in a decaying, monstrous, undead form.*

After suffering a fatal stab wound, Powell dies but, thanks to his experimentations with what is presumed to be the occult or some kind of similar, ancient dark magic, he returns to life undead and changed, determined to use the techniques he learned from the titular Void to bring his deceased daughter’s soul back to life. In his undead form, Powell is far more than a bloodied, unfeeling zombie; he mutilates his own flesh and skin but remains articulate, intelligent, and focused the entire time, offering the survivors their deepest desires if they but willingly join his cause. However, while being united with dead loved ones or gaining the power of immortality may be tempting, Powell’s methods are…questionable, at best, and their results are macabre to say the least. First of all, those he experiments on are violently torn apart and transformed into grotesque monstrosities that live only to devour human flesh with their tentacles. Thus, when he offers to restore Allison’s unborn child, she is exploded into a vine-like eldritch nightmare than Carter is forced to put out of its misery with an axe and, when he successfully brings his own daughter back to life, it is as a hulking, bestial affront to life than crushes skulls beneath its weight.

The Void *excels once its horrific creatures rampage throughout the hospital.*

In the end, The Void leaves the viewer with more questions than answers; it’s never made clear how Powell discovered the dark other realm he draws his power from, or quite what it is he found in there. There is simply the terrifying suggestion that there is more to the world, the reality, that we know and that death can lead to a monstrous rebirth in the right circumstances. Carter, dying from a fatal stab wound and determined to ensure that Powell’s threat is forever destroyed, doesn’t hesitate to tackle the insane doctor into the unknowable Void, sacrificing himself to close the demonic realm off from ours and leaving it up to the viewer to interpret just what all those triangles and nightmarish imagery means.

The Summary:
The Void was a suitably thought-provoking and disgusting little mind-fuck of a movie. Its premise is pretty simple and cliché, to a degree, but elevated by the quality of its practical effects and the more obscure elements it pulls from the work of writers like H. P. Lovecraft. In a world where CGI largely dominates, it’s refreshing to see more traditional methods being used for creature and special effects; it gives The Void far more appeal for its imagery and monsters alone, though these aren’t necessarily enough to elevate the entire movie up to where it potentially wishes to be. In the end, it’s a decent enough horror film that picks and chooses some of the more macabre and obscure elements of horror fiction that succeeds at being both repulsive with its gore and creature effects and at keeping the audience guessing about what is really going on but it can’t be denied that there are better movies out there that achieved the same goal in much more satisfying ways.

My Rating:

Pretty Good

Have you ever seen The Void? If so, what did you think of it? Did you appreciate the film’s practical creature effects or do you think the film was aiming a little too high and overreaching a bit in its scope? Do you have a favourite monster/horror film? If so, what is it and why? Can you think of any other horror films that evoke the work of H. P. Lovecraft? Whatever your thoughts, feel free to leave a comment below.

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