Titans Terrors and Toys

With Scream 6 getting closer to its March 10th release date, I thought I would do some slasher-related posts to tie in with the arrival of the much-anticipated sequel. Yet this post isn't about slasher films; instead, it's about a video game that was heavily influenced by slasher films, Party Hard . Party Hard was developed by PinoklGames released in 2015 by tinyBuild .  Slasher films have had an impact on video games since the beginning, with both Halloween and Texas Chainsaw Massacre getting their own video games for the Atari 2600. In more recent years, Dead By Daylight has become the most popular slasher-themed game, and it includes DLC content that allows gamers to play as popular slashers such as Freddy Krueger, Michael Meyers, and even Ghostface himself.  In contrast to other slasher games, Party Hard puts strategy above everything else. Gamers play as a serial killer who sneaks into a series of parties across the United States to kill every attendee. The parties ...

In spite of their reputation for jump scares, excessive gore and characters who routinely make dumb decisions, horror movies can be just as topical and informed as any other genre of film. However, like other film genres, how a horror movie goes about being topical can determine how well it can provide engaging, thought-provoking commentary about a topic. If the film devotes too much of its dialog to overtly address a particular issue, audiences might find the film to be too pedantic to be entertaining. On the other hand, a film may be better off addressing a topic through visuals and symbols that leave themselves open to interpretation but are nevertheless focused on a particular idea. Such is the case with Men , a 2022 horror film written and directed by Alex Garland. The premise of Men is simple. Harper (Jessie Buckley) rents a country house in rural England for a few weeks to recover from her recently ended marriage. Her respite is soon interrupted by a series of increasingly stra...

During the course of their history, monster movies (a.k.a. "creature features") have told stories about human prey fighting against superhuman predators. In some cases, the monsters may be portrayed as having a direct connection to humans, such as creator and creation ( Frankenstei n ), a metaphor for human-made destruction ( Godzilla ), or the figurative monster within ( Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde , The Wolf Man ). Some of these connections between man-and-monster are easy to spot while others take a more abstract approach, such as the relationship between Dr. Morbius (Walter Pidgeon) and the Id Monster in Forbidden Planet (1956). The abstract approach is what forms the plot of Colossal (2016), an unusual giant monster/kaiju movie that features Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis. I finally got a chance to see this film the other week and I have to say that it is the most unique kaiju film I have ever seen. Colossal begins with Gloria (Hathaway) leaving New York City and return...

In space, no one can hear your scream when you step on a Lego brick. It never ceases to amaze me when fans take it upon themselves to re-create items from their favorite franchises. Case in point: BaronSat (a.k.a. Eric Druon), who I have covered previously on this blog about his amazing Lego builds of Kenner Star Wars playsets, from both the regular action figure line and the Micro Collection series . This post covers the builds he has done for a different sci-fi franchise, Alien. So far, his builds cover three items from Aliens that are minifig-scale:  the  Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) vehicle ,  the Cheyenne Dropship , and an LV-426 Hadley's Hope playset . The APC/Dropship  combo itself pretty amazing. The APC features a removable roof, a sliding door, a rotating turret, and an interior that's close to screen accurate. The APC fits inside of the Dropship, which includes foldable wings, foldable missile racks, and an extendable personnel ramp. Instructions on h...