Dark Film Review: CAM

Dark Film Review: CAM

Review by Casey Douglass

Personal identity has become a far more complicated thing in the age of the Internet. Not only do we have the usual ideas about who we are, but now we can measure our “worthiness” by the numbers we can generate online. Fun to think about, not so fun if we become defined by it all. CAM makes use of this idea, and spins an interesting tale from it.

CAM is an adult-rated horror thriller that follows the attempts of Lola, a reasonably high-ranking
cam-girl, to increase her Rank on the website that she cams for. It begins with her talking to her viewers, reacting to their crude jokes and suggestions and generally trying to charm them into tipping/bidding coins to get her to do things. Being the Internet, it doesn’t take long for the suggestions to take a turn to the dark side. This pales in comparison however, to when she later finds out that she appears to have a double, one who has taken control of her account and is meddling in her life.

This doppelgänger aspect is what I found most intriguing and enjoyable about CAM. The idea that another “me” could break away and be doing the stuff I do online, but in a more extreme way, is certainly an interesting proposition. As far as the film is concerned, it takes quite awhile for the viewer (and Lola) to find out the nature of what is going on, beyond the “Holy shit that’s me!” element. There’s paranoia about it being a competing cam-girl, or one of her fans, or even the cam site streaming old shows again.

We are kept guessing about the double for what felt like just over half the film's length. The “horror” aspect emerged after Lola’s investigations turned up a surprising thing about another cam-girl. It wasn’t much later that the nature of the doppelgänger was revealed. I quite liked the form it took, and could get on board with how Lola ultimately dealt with things. Even the very end, after things settled a little, proved a surprise as to how she decided to go about life in the aftermath.

CAM was written by Isa Mazzei, a former cam-girl herself, which was something that I had no idea about before writing this review. I think that’s why the film seemed to have interesting terms and details, such as the scenes where Lola talks about finding her “whale” (a wealthy person who spends lots on online currencies for in-app purchases) and also the way that the cam-girls compete with each other. The scene where Lola is watching her biggest rival, trying to learn tips, is a small thing, but in a less thoughtful film, probably wouldn’t have even featured. You also feel for Lola, especially as he secret life clashes with her friends and family against her will.

CAM is sexual but not overly so. The words are the most explicit, and as far as flesh, flashes of breasts and implied nakedness/erotic deeds are about as risqué as things get. There is some bloody gore, but even here, that is quite minimal, and in the context of the narrative, not as it seems. The graphical way that the message room works on-screen is realised very well, the frenzy of messages paced fairly and readable in a comfortable way. The only thing that made me laugh a little was the very specific animated gifs people sent in almost instant response to what was happening with Lola.

If you have Netflix, check it CAM out, I think it's well worth a watch.

Film Title: CAM

Starring: Madeline Brewer, Patch Darragh, Melora Walters

Directed by: Daniel Goldhaber

Written by: Isa Mazzei

Produced by: Netflix

Released: 2018

Dark Film Review: A Dark Song

Dark Film Review: A Dark Song

Review by Casey Douglass

I wrote a news piece about A Dark Song a few years ago, and then promptly forgot all about it. I remembered that it sounded intriguing though, so when I was flicking through the TV guide and saw that it was showing on Film Four, the penny dropped and I might well have gone “Ooooh!” into the bargain. Well, I watched it this afternoon and I’m very pleased that I did. It’s a cracking horror film, in most of the ways that I enjoy.

Sophia (Catherine Walker) begins the film by renting a massive house. She then meets up with Joseph

Solomon (Steve Oram), an occultist that she wants to employ to help her perform a special ritual, one that will give her something that she wants, and she is willing to pay tens of thousands of pounds for the privilege. She isn’t totally honest with the blunt man, but after securing his services, the slow build of the film begins.

This brings me to the first thing that impressed me. Many occult horrors gloss over much of the tedium and legwork needed to perform whichever ritual is needed correctly. Not so A Dark Song. From the diet and food provisions, to the salt circle and purifications needed, the first half of the film is steeped in interesting observances and dogmas. That’s not to say that there aren’t any signs of paranormal entities taking notice. There are, but these are quite subtle, more unnerving than horrific. Strange synchronicities, quiet scratchings, stuff about as far removed from the jumpscare-fests that many horrors turn into as you can get.

The other element that makes the quieter half of the film interesting is the interaction between Sophia

and Joseph, from his grim, sweary manner and humour, to her generally annoying attitude and paranoia. The film made me chuckle out loud in a number of places, usually with Joseph being very blunt, or making semi-frequent use of the C word. Two people stuck in a house together for months on end; the grinding on each other's nerves is a fascinating thing to witness. The house itself is practically another character, the large rooms and creaking wood floors framing the exchanges between the two occupants in a kind of shabby gothic lens.

The second half of the film is when things turn to their darkest, with events not quite going to plan, lies emerging, and the atmosphere thickening so much that you could stir it with a spoon. Even here though, the film is still the less bombastic side of horror, even the moments of mild gore fairly tame by most standards. Things do escalate at the end, but even there, the final scenes did seem to sit nicely at the apex of tension that had been built up. I guess that’s a wordy way of saying that I didn’t think things went too far.

The ending, when it came, felt suitably strange, but also a little disappointing. It wasn’t so much the manner of what happens, but the route Sophia decides to take after. I just didn’t buy it, to go through all that she did, to choose the outcome that she opted for. It felt twee if I’m honest, and I don’t really like twee. I also didn’t feel I’d seen enough changes in her throughout the film to warrant such a direction. It felt like watching someone embark on an epic journey, only to turn back for home inches from the destination, having decided that actually, they would rather be at home. As with most things though, it’s probably a matter of expectation and taste, and I won’t let my disappointment with the ending mar what I thought was a fantastic film.

A Dark Song, taken as a whole, really impressed me. I liked the spiky characters, the occult mystique and the attempt to portray the drudgery that grand magick would entail. The supernatural elements escalate nicely, the slow simmering at the start coming to the boil in a pleasing way at just about the right time. I wasn’t scared during this horror, I don’t remember when a horror last made me feel afraid. I was more a tourist of uneasiness, able to vicariously enjoy the tensions of the characters that the film portrays, and I will take that over cheap jumpscares any day. If you’ve not seen A Dark Song, it’s one to keep an eye open for.

Film Title: A Dark Song

Released: 2017

Starring: Steve Oram, Catherine Walker

Directed and Written by: Liam Gavin

Distributed by: Kaleidoscope Film Distribution

Dark Ambient Review: Shub-Niggurath

Dark Ambient Review: Shub-Niggurath

Review by Casey Douglass

I don’t like Christmas. It’s true. Rather than dwell on that though, I will dwell on what I do like, another Cryo Chamber collaboration honouring the master of the eldritch, one H.P Lovecraft. And it is out this December, which is the perfect antidote to all the dross about that fat red guy jumping down chimneys. This collaboration is named Shub-Niggurath, after a tentacled dark god with universal appeal to the peoples of Lovecraft’s shadowy worlds.

Album Blurb: A 2 hour dark soundscape album recorded by 20 ambient artists to pay tribute to H.P. Lovecraft. Dark sounds from dreamy dimensions to never ending cursed forests. Join us in the ritual of lust for the Black Goat of the Woods.

Shub-Niggurath is an Outer God (or Outer Goddess) in the pantheon. She is a perverse fertility deity. An enormous mass which extrudes black tentacles, slime-dripping mouths, and short, writhing goat legs. Small creatures are continually spat forth by the monstrosity, which are either consumed into the miasmatic form or escape to some monstrous life elsewhere.

Of all the mythos deities, Shub-Niggurath is probably the most extensively worshipped. Her worshippers include the Hyperboreans, the Muvians, T'yog of K'naa, and the people of Sarnath, as well as any number of druidic and barbaric cults. She is also worshipped by the non-human species of the mythos, such as the "Fungi from Yuggoth" (the Mi-Go) and the Nug-Soth of Yaddith. With the proper occult paraphernalia, Shub-Niggurath can be summoned to any woodlands at the time of the new moon.

As with previous collaborations, Shub-Niggurath comes as a couple of hour-long tracks, in which the various artists get to flex their aural muscles and stamp their own brand of murk onto things. A little like a Lovecraftian pass the parcel, except with something you’d actually want to have at the end of things, rather than a chocolate coin or plastic comb. As it’s two long tracks, I will keep my comments quite general, but still relate the things that grabbed me.

The album opens with the taut beat of a drum, first singular beats, but ramping up into a more ritual-like rhythm a little later. It doesn’t take long for one of the things I most like about the album to emerge after this: the sound of eerie flute/pipe notes. Maybe I am overly enraptured with the concept of the mad god Azathoth, his throne of chaos, and the “thin flutes piping mindlessly”, but I find that kind of sound far more sinister and sacrilegious than a lot of other sounds. These flute-based sounds appear quite often on Shub-Niggurath, and each time they do, I smile. The other element that occurs at quite regular intervals are discordant string-based notes. These bow and scythe their way through the soundscape, any other flavour sounds bolstered by their allusions to things being “not right” and madness.

As far as specific impressions, my absolute favourite occurs during track two, around 12 minutes in. The soundscape hushes and falls relatively quiet. A wheezing, breath-like sound insinuates itself, and before you know it, you feel surrounded by gurgling sighing things, glugging their way out of the murk. To me, this was the audio equivalent of being at a lakeside, looking away, looking back, and seeing strange creatures’ heads surfacing in the still water. There are a number of moments on Shub-Niggurath that conjure this swampy, humid feeling, of the trees being too close, the ground too moist and the movement at the edge of your eyes being too unsettling. Of course, I liked this a great deal.

Another compelling moment for me, occurred on track one, about 43 minutes in. The sound of chimes and rain soothes, but there is soon a deep whooshing rumbling rhythm that mingles with dripping water. It kind of made me think about what a twisted Ent (of LOTR fame) might sound like, crumping through the landscape. It isn’t too long after this that you hear strange vocalizations, and what sounds like a heartbeat, mixed with curious creature calls. Eerie and magnificent. There are also ample opportunities to hear the sounds of scurrying, wet, chitinous things scrambling through the various soundscapes, so I hope you enjoy creepy crawlies.

Shub-Niggurath is a fitting tribute to another of H.P Lovecraft’s dark gods. The soundscapes created by the various artists all dance around this theme, some are dark, some are so murky even the vision of a Great Old One might struggle to pick out any light. What they all are though, are a remarkable journey into ominous valleys of thought and superstition. The long running-time only aids this feeling, and listening to the whole thing in one long session (if you have the time), leaves the listener feeling like they have travelled much further than the distance their eyelids might have closed. I’ve listened to it a number of times, but I’m sure it will take many more listens to fully take in what is going on. As far as I can tell though, Shub-Niggurath is a fine addition to any dark ambient fan’s collection.

Check out the Shub-Niggurath page on Bandcamp at this link. You can also listen to track one below:

I was given a copy of this album for review purposes.

Album Title: Shub-Niggurath

Artists: Cryo Chamber Collaboration: Atrium Carceri, God Body Disconnect, Dronny Darko, ProtoU, Kolhoosi 13, Neizvestija, Northumbria, Apocryphos, Randal Collier-Ford, Dead Melodies, Flowers for Bodysnatchers, Ager Sonus, Council of Nine, Kammarheit, Gydja, Creation VI, Darkrad, Aegri Somnia, Ugasanie, SiJ, Alphaxone, Keosz.
Label: Cryo Chamber

Released: 4 December 2018

Horror Teaser: Goodnight, Halloween

Horror Teaser: Goodnight, Halloween

I like entertainment that makes use of alternative history, especially when it is used in film. Luther Bhogal-Jones has just released a scene-setter for his upcoming horror short Goodnight, Halloween, a film set in an alternate Detroit in the year 1986.

The world of the film has seen Halloween creatures co-exist with mankind for as along as anyone can remember. But wouldn't you know it, that balance has changed, as a right-wing religious group, KRONA, has pushed the Kreatures Act through the senate, making it legal to kill all creatures on sight. What upset this balance? Only the release of the full film will tell, but I'd bet money on the stupidity of humanity being involved.

I've always half facetiously described Goodnight, Halloween as a mixture of Clive Barker's Nightbreed and The Diary Of Anne Frank - a combination which should hopefully pique some interest in the finished film! - Luther Bhogal-Jones - Writer/Director

The scene-setter is embedded below, and takes the form of a news report delivering footage of a raid, and also the idealism of the head of KRONA, complete with a rippling American flag, with crosses instead of stars... Yup, that sets a pretty interesting scene. One of the idiosyncrasies of the world in which Goodnight, Halloween is set, is that the letter C doesn't exist. Any strange spellings you notice in the video are due to this.


Due to various delays, Goodnight, Halloween has been in production for a long time now, the scene-setter itself shot 12 years ago, and released now as it's positioning in the film became a little problematic in relation to pacing and other issues. I think this is very sensible, and a great way to wet the appetite of the viewers for the finished film, which is due for release soon, all being well.

You can find my thoughts about Luther's previous films Creak and Blackspot by clicking their names.

Horror Short Reviews: tEXt, VEXED and Bloody Mary Horror Short Film

Horror Short Reviews: tEXt, VEXED and Bloody Mary Horror Short Film

I’ve been feeling pretty rough, which has led me to spend a lot of time on my bed. When I could muster the energy to watch something, I realised I didn’t have the focus for anything long-winded or complex. YouTube came to the rescue however, in the form of a number of horror short films: tEXt, VEXED and Bloody Mary Horror Short Film. What’s more, I’m making hay from those thirty minutes or so of entertainment and squeezing some writing out of the endeavour.

tEXt

I quite like horror (or any film to be honest), that incorporates everyday technology into the story. It adds another reality anchor to the film, another point of relatability between it and normal everyday life. tEXt is a short horror described as “a modern day take on silent films blended with horror”. The silence comes from the fact that smartphones are used to do the talking, the messages floating up on screen, the actress looking suitably annoyed, afraid or whatever is called for, as she reads them.

I liked that tEXt didn’t take a heavy handed approach to hinting at the situation depicted, a few questions are left hovering in the viewer’s mind. On the other hand, the low number of characters in this film didn’t leave too many permutations, so I did pretty much guess what was coming relatively quickly. Even so, I enjoyed it, and I thought it was a pretty decent attempt at creating that tech-based uneasiness that films of any size often seem to struggle with.

Published on YouTube: 28 Nov 2017

Starring: Kelsey Samara Dacci & Emily Hutchison

Created by: Tye Gibson & Nick Johnson

VEXED

Next up is VEXED, a short horror in which no good comes from taking the piss out of horror film plots. A couple are watching a low-rent horror on TV, the kind in which “you know the plot as soon as you’ve read the title”. This is pretty much what the guy mutters as he is quizzed by his girlfriend at his lack of interest. She drifts off to make popcorn, and the first uneasiness creeps into things due to a small kiss and a case of mistaken identity.

Later, noises are heard, and the first of the “staring into the darkness” scenes begins. To say more would be to say too much, but the “things” in the film range from very creepy, to slightly less creepy. What I did enjoy was the way the film utilises space-time in a clever way, and it actually made what was happening on screen seem more sinister by letting the viewer have two separate scenes to compare. That might not make much sense, but if you watch the film (go on, it’s only 13 minutes) you will know what I am talking about.

VEXED has won a plethora of awards and nominations, including “Best Bloody Twisted Horror Short at the Twisted Horror Picture Show”, “Fear Awards Official Selection 2017” and was a Nominee for the iHorror Awards 2017.

Published on YouTube: 1 Oct 2018

Starring: Baker Chase Powell, Nosheen Phoenix, Alex Diehl, Joshua Zain, Richardson Jones.

Directed by: Marc Cartwright

Created by: Glass Cabin Films

Bloody Mary Horror Short Film

I didn’t (and still don’t) know much about Bloody Mary, beyond her being some kind of urban legend-type being with the “Say my name three times and I'll appear and murder you” caper going on, but as a horror topic, I quite like the idea of it. The Bloody Mary Horror Short Film features a woman taking part in the “Bloody Mary Challenge”, using her smartphone to film the results as she repeats Mary’s name in a mirror by candlelight.

I enjoyed how the film was shot, but the speech in places was a little hard to hear. I haven't quite decided if this was intentional so that when the louder, jump-scare type events happen, people will have already raised their speaker volume, or if it is just one of those things that didn’t quite go right. It wasn’t much of an issue, but I felt that the film would have been improved with a better audio balance. The build-up and climax were both pretty good, and the bit at the end where the video seems frozen...

Published on YouTube: 19 March 2018

Written and Directed by: Shibu

Starring: Chaithra and Ajay

Produced by: The GM Films

***

Thanks for taking the time to read this piece. If I had to choose one short as my favourite of the three, I think it would be VEXED, so if you only check one out, maybe make it that one.

If you’ve seen any horror shorts that really impressed you, please let me know, as I’d be interested to check them out myself. Or, if you make them yourself, I'd be happy to take a look at those too.

Game Review: Old Man’s Journey

Game Review: Old Man’s Journey

Review by Casey Douglass

Memories are strange things. Some are slippery and vanish almost instantly, others are sticky and can be evoked by the smallest trigger or impulse. Broken Rules’ puzzle adventure game Old Man’s Journey uses the latter kind to tell the player a story in pictures, not words. It begins with the titular Old Man receiving a letter, packing a rucksack, and hitting the road. And what a beautiful road it is!

Old Man’s Journey has a gorgeous art-style, vibrant colours and crisp animations lending the world the feeling of life going on. Your mouse pointer interacts with a variety of these elements, just by being near them. You can cause birds to take flight to another perch, rustle trees and make an old windmill turn, to mention just a few things. This is without even clicking the left mouse button. With the button, you can open windows and doors, drag some things, activate others, and poke holes in waterfalls. More importantly, you can click to place a little signpost, something the old man walks towards, paths allowing.

Yellow outlines highlight the paths when you drag the hills

This leads us to the most common puzzle in the game: growing and shrinking the hills with the left mouse button held to create pathways. The one rule is that you can’t drag the hill that the man is currently standing on, so these puzzles become a “walk there, drag that, move back” kind of affair. As the game progresses, there are other obstacles that must be shepherded out of the way, and even walls that need to be breached. The Steam Store page describes the game as having pressure-free puzzles, and they certainly fall into this category. They aren’t too difficult, and you aren’t at risk of dying or failing anything, you are just delaying his journey.

Everyone needs a thinking bench with a view

At intervals, the old man finds a bench to sit on, and this is the player’s cue to click on the thing in the environment around him that will trigger a memory. This could be making a bell ring, clicking on people, or any number of things. Once clicked, the man strokes his beard and looks thoughtful, before a scene appears showing something from his life. These memories do a good job of filling us in on where he might be going, but ambiguities, such as a happy scene in which someone looked to be frowning for no reason, added a little more depth. Or I’m just naturally suspicious.

Old Man’s Journey takes about ninety minutes to complete, and in that time, you will reach his destination and see what is waiting for him there. While it is described as an emotive game, I only really felt stronger emotion at one particular memory, and that was about half way through the game. Judging by the reviews people have left on Steam, others have experienced more, but each to their own. I found Old Man’s Journey to be a charming game, one that was a pleasure to play, and a well put together piece of thoughtful entertainment. I would have liked to have been more moved by it, but I will take what I received gladly.

I reviewed the PC version, but Old Man’s Journey is also available on other platforms, including PS4 and App Stores.

Dark Ambient Review: Manifestazioni

Dark Ambient Review: Manifestazioni

Review by Casey Douglass

I’m a big fan of dark ambient music that makes clever use of field recordings, whether to bring forth creatures snuffling in the dark, or more simply, to bring the real world into a soundscape. Carlo Giustini’s Manifestazioni falls into the latter category, but manages to turn the various rumblings and bumpings into something far more magical and otherworldly.

Album Blurb:

“A manifestation is an object that clearly shows or embodies something abstract or theoretical”

These are five untamed field recordings captured between the desolate streets of suburban Treviso in late June 2018. Five explorations of the secret language whispered by its houses and by the slow and mysterious movements of its inhabitants exhausted by the summer heat. […] All five recordings are first single takes, recorded on worn out tape rolls found here and there. All recordings captured with a rusty Phillips portable tape recorder and a contact mic.

The first quality that really came to my notice was the “cushioned” feeling to what probably should have been some quite harsh sounds. Throughout the album, there are instances of industrial type activity, clattering metal, thumps and scrapes, but they rarely caused me to startle or jolt. The word I almost used was muffled, but that doesn’t really fit. They never seem that close to the listener, and the other elements of the tracks seem to take part in this cushioning effect, which is most welcome.

The first of these are the staticy sounds of what appear to be wind and rain. I always find these to be quite relaxing when listened to, the whitenoisey effect lulling and soothing at the same time. There are also pops and crackles that seem to keep the mind of the listener from drifting too deeply into “startle” territory. The other element that takes the sting out of the potentially harsher sounds is the way that the soundscapes often react to them. There is a higher tone that sits above the soundscape, and when a harsher noise happens, it “bings” and resonates in response. It’s like the aural equivalent of dropping a pebble into a pond, the water smoothing out the ripples of its passing. This was a really pleasing effect and one that I enjoyed listening for.

As a whole, Manifestazioni lets the listener eavesdrop on the muted activity of people going about their day or night, from the comfort of the listener's own chair or bed. I’ve always found the sound of others doing things quite relaxing, and Manifestazioni channels this into my mind, with a healthy dose of the magical. Each track is smooth and calm, but each has its own temperament. A3 Ció Che Resta (What Remains or What’s Left if Google translate isn’t lying), is a track that seemed to make me think of an open loading dock at night, with flapping plastic and quiet industry. Yet A2 Manifestazioni itself, was a soundscape that made me think of a dusty basement where something might just step out of thin air and grab me. They are all worth listening to and revelling in.

Check out the Manifestazioni page on Bandcamp at this link. 

I was given a copy of this album for review purposes.

Album Title: Manifestazioni

Artist: Carlo Giustini

Record label: Lᴏɴᴛᴀɴᴏ Series
Publisher: ROHS! RECORDS

Released: 18 Sept 2018