What happens when you put Paul Verhoeven, Arnie and Philip K. Dick into a blender? This delicious sci fi classic! This is an ultraviolent philosophical spectacle (yes, science fiction did pose philosophical questions before ‘The Matrix’ arrived!), where the line between reality and dreams is blurred. Continue reading
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Quick Review : Castlevania III – Dracula’s Curse (NES)
THIS is how you do a sequel. Expand the number of levels and playable characters, and give the player a branching path. Oh, you also make it INCREDIBLY difficult. I though the original was tough, but this…this is infuriatingly difficult at times. If I thought that battle with Dracula was tough in the original, than I had no idea what was coming up with III’s version of Dracula. It took me hours to defeat him!
Just like the original, the challenge is sometimes unfair, but never so unfair that it made me give up (although I did consider it at times…). There are moments where enemies appear from nowhere, knocking you to oblivion. It’s as tough as nails, but there’s always the possibility to surmount it. The longevity/repeatability is appreciated, as next time I pick it up I’ll take a different path (and experiment with other characters). It’s surely the finest “pure” Castlevania out there (I consider SotN and its ilk to be impure Castlevanias…)…but dare I play Castlevania II?
Hammy’s Rating: 5/5
Click here for my Quick Review of Bloodstained : Ritual of the Night
Click here for my Quick Review of Bloodstained : Curse of the Moon
Click here for my Quick Review of Castlevania (NES)
Click here for my Quick Review of Castlevania – Symphony of the Night (Playstation)
Click here for my Quick Review of Castlevania : Aria of Sorrow
Quick Review : Castlevania (NES)
Sometimes, you’ve got to go back to the beginning. Thanks to the NES Classic, I did…and what a game to start the franchise! The gothic atmosphere fills the player with dread and uncertainty. You’re sucked in almost immediately…and the insurmountable challenge keeps calling you back. Yes, it’s unfair at times. Yes, the rigid controls constrain your ability to dodge and kill enemies. But there is always a small chance that you can succeed…
Unfortunately, there are only 6 levels, worth half an hour of gameplay if you played it from start to finish without dying (an impossible challenge?). It’s a damn shame that the game is so short. From playing its remake to playing the original, you can see the potential in those 6 levels. But that potential isn’t realized until Castlevania III…
Hammy’s Rating: 4/5
Click here for my Quick Review of Bloodstained : Ritual of the Night (XBox One)
Click here for my Quick Review of Bloodstained : Curse of the Moon (Switch)
Click here for my Quick Review of Castlevania – Symphony of the Night (Playstation)
Click here for my Quick Review of Castlevania : Aria of Sorrow (GBA)
Click here for my Quick Review of Castlevania III – Dracula’s Curse (NES)
Review: Cannibal Holocaust (1980) (The Most Controversial Film of All Time?)
“Man is omnipotent; nothing is impossible for him”
Is Cannibal Holocaust the most controversial film of all time? That’s what it says on the sleeve of the Shameless Edition which I picked up last week. I thought shameless was a reference to the price: 18 pounds! But, I was willing to pay that steep price for something that would shock and disgust me. It takes a lot. Cannibal Holocaust ticks all the boxes for extreme horror: rape, genital mutilation, cannibalism, buckets of blood, disembowelments, real animal slaughters…it’s a film that you couldn’t get away with doing today. Ask Eli Roth: he tried with The Green Inferno, but that lacked any shock value (and was pretty dull as well). As is often the case, nothing could top the original Cannibal Holocaust. Yes, it’s probably the most controversial film of all time. But does that make it any good? Continue reading
‘Halloween Special’ Review: I Spit On Your Grave (1978) (A True Video Nasty?)
“You came to a nice place”
Halloween is approaching…so I sought out a true video nasty: the original ‘I Spit On Your Grave.’ Last night I settled down with some tomato soup and popped the DVD in the player…
The plot can easily be summed up: a New York lady (Jennifer) goes to the countryside, gets raped by several men, then in various acts of revenge kills them. And there isn’t much in between: the rape scenes take about forty-five minutes of the film up; the murders about forty minutes. So there is little room for exposition, character development, or any of those things necessary to weave a cohesive story. The lady is a novelist, retiring to the country for some inspiration. Of course, when people retire to the countryside, they get a lot closer to ‘nature’ than they intended to in horror films! The men are no-good hicks, referring to women as ‘chicks.’ According to one of them, city girls only come to the village to get laid. So that’s a perfect justification rape! One of them, Matthew, is a ‘retard’ (in their words). So, they are the main characters, and we don’t find out much more about them. Continue reading
‘Halloween Speical’ Review: ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ (1974) (A True Horror Classic?)
“It’s all the more tragic in that they were very young”
I’ve reviewed the remake of ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ on my blog (click here for my review), so to balance the scales of quality I thought I’d review the original. The remake was so terrible, and reviewing it. I felt sorry for myself for watching it. The original gave me all I wanted in a horror film: it’s rough, nasty, and leaves a lot to the imagination! The remake was interchangeable with any other silly horror remake that pollutes the cinema screen. Obviously, at the time, the original Chainsaw Massacre didn’t have any competition; yet today, it still stand out as a horrific experience. Continue reading
Review: Poltergeist (1982) (Scare Here? Yes!)
(SPOILERS AHEAD)
“Hello? What do you look like?”
After watching the remake of Poltergeist (2015), I thought it would be an appropriate time to re-watch the original Poltergeist. I watched it as a teenager many moons ago, but would viewing it as an adult change my perception of it? Seeing that guy tear off his face in the mirror has always stayed with me, but would time be kind to effects like that? Most importantly, does it still retain the chill factor (that the remake sadly lacked)? So, in a darkened room, I sat down to watch Poltergeist (1982)… Continue reading
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