Mike_Bracken
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A Cult Classic in the Making: John Dies at the End
In the pantheon of “unfilmable” novels, David Wong’s John Dies at the End was arguably right up there with William S. Burroughs’ Naked Lunch in terms of the level of difficulty in adapting it for the screen. This makes it at least somewhat ironic that both...
Rob Zombie's The Lords of Salem is Beautiful and Divisive
Rob Zombie is arguably the most divisive filmmaker working in horror cinema today. The musician-turned-director has an aesthetic style (perhaps best dubbed as “American white trash”) that works perfectly in his material, but manages to turn off a lot of viewers at the same time...
Baird Takes Center Stage in Gears of War: Judgment
If you thought Gears of War was done when Marcus Fenix and his team finished the fight at the end of Gears of War 3, you are obviously naïve and we can no longer be friends. I’m kidding…about the friends part, anyway.
Anyone who assumed Epic Games...
Jason Statham Plays it Safe in Safe
Jason Statham might be the closest thing we have to a bonafide action star these days – an actor who evokes memories of the Reagan ‘80s when guys like Stallone and Schwarzenegger were box office kings. Statham is arguably a better actor than either Stallone or Schwarzenegger, but...
Bully Provides a Sobering Look at the Cruelty of Children
As the old saying goes, kids can be very cruel – but it sure seems like they’re crueler these days than they were when I was a kid. Stories of horrendous bullying and the aftermath (countless school shootings and even more suicides) fill our newspapers these days. Is bullying worse than...
A Tale of Constants and Variables: Bioshock Infinite
It would have been easy for Irrational Games to make a new installment in the Bioshock series that simply rehashed what they’d already done. The underwater city of Rapture, in ruins and populated with Little Sisters and Big Daddies, was a great locale – unique, visually...
Fede Alvarez Takes Us Back to the Cabin in the Woods in Evil Dead (2013)
Rebooting a classic horror franchise is no easy task – just ask Rob Zombie, whose take on John Carpenter’s seminal Halloween series still divides fans to this day. Now, imagine if Zombie had made the Halloween remake as the first feature film of his career –...
Cusack Makes a Compelling Poe in The Raven
Writer Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most influential horror authors to ever pick up a pen and has had countless films made out of his macabre tales. However, last year’s John Cusack vehicle, The Raven, goes in a slightly different direction – making the morose author the star of...
An Early Contender for Worst Game of 2013: Aliens Colonial Marines
When it comes to using 27 year old films as the basis for your videogame, there are no choices better than Aliens. James Cameron’s follow-up to Ridley Scott’s haunted-house-in-space masterpiece is a movie that looks a lot like a videogame – just a quarter of a century...
America Olivo Carves up the Suburbs in Neighbor
When done right, films labeled as “torture porn” can be effective – if disturbing – entertainment. Movies like The Loved Ones take characters the audience can relate to and places them in unfathomably awful situations to elicit a response not only from our gag reflex,...
Daniel Lutz Revisits the Ghosts of His Past in My Amityville Horror
At first glance, Daniel Lutz looks like an ordinary fellow. He drives a truck for UPS. He plays a pretty mean guitar in his spare time. He likes to tinker with cars. The man is almost completely normal. Sure, he’s a little tempermental – he bristles at being challenged about anything,...
Dead Space 3 is the Frankenstein's Monster of Videogames
If the original Dead Space was comparable to Ridley Scott’s classic film Alien, then Dead Space 3 must be the series’ homage to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The plot doesn’t involve anyone building a hulking monster out of various body parts in...
Rec 3: Genesis Takes Us to the Wedding Reception from Hell
Your wedding day should be one of the happiest days of your life – but what happens when your beautiful reception is overrun by hordes of bloodthirsty demons with a hankering for human flesh? This is the question Paco Plaza attempts to answer in Rec 3: Genesis.
The third...
Going Through the Motions: Grave Encounters 2
Found footage fanatics got a nice surprise last year when the Vicious Brothers released their low-budget indie chiller Grave Encounters on unsuspecting audiences. The film, which was a mixture of The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity, Session 9, and all those...
Ni No Kuni Would be More Accurately Titled "Ni No Fun-i"
“Charming” is the word most often used to describe Ni Ni Kuni – the long-awaited role-playing game featuring a collaboration between developer Level 5 and animation powerhouse Studio Ghibli – and the game is certainly that. Unfortunately, charm only gets you so far in...
Don't Go in the Water: The Bay
When you think of found footage horror films, the first thing that often springs to mind is that they’re low budget productions made by filmmakers looking to break into the business. Sure, Cloverfield had JJ Abrams and Matt Reeves involved, but that was an exception. Myrick and Sanchez...
How Mel Gibson Spent his Summer Vacation: Get the Gringo
It’s been a rough few years for Mel Gibson – we’ve not seen a Hollywood meltdown like his, well…ever. From his drunken arrest to his public split from the mother of his baby, Mel’s rep has taken a beating.
While many public figures would slink off into...
An Insulting Ending Ruins The Devil Inside
In October 1989, Maria Rossi called 91 and reported killing three members of her church during an exorcism gone wrong. She’s found guilty but insane – and winds up in a hospital near the Vatican. Twenty years later, her daughter Isabella (Fernanda Andrade) sets out to make a documentary...
Get Your Dungeon Crawling on the Go in Heroes of Ruin
Looking to loot dungeons with strangers and kill lots of hideous beasties while collecting phat loot, but don’t want to be tied down to your PC or gaming console? Square Enix and n-Space have you covered with Heroes of Ruin.
This Nintendo 3DS exclusive is essentially...
Ninja Theory Reimagines an Icon in DmC: Devil May Cry
Being tasked with taking over a wildly popular gaming franchise has to be both flattering and terrifying for developers. On the one hand, you’ve been selected to handle a series with a proven track record and built-in fanbase. It’s a ringing endorsement that someone up the industry food...