Freelance writer, horror author and geeky reviewer. Some of my stuff is quite graphic/adult, so leave now if that bothers you.
Monday, 31 March 2014
Dark Review - NEO Scavenger
Sunday, 23 March 2014
Dark Review - Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land
I did a review of the newly Steam released Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land on Geek Syndicate. A reasonable slice of Lovecraftian horror on tablets but when experienced on PC it seems a bit lacking. Well worth a punt though. You can read the review here.
Friday, 14 March 2014
Dark Article - Hoarding for the Gaming Apocalypse?
My Friday Feature Hoarding for the Gaming Apocalypse? is now up on Geek Syndicate here. A look at the possible reasons why gamers might buy games and then never get around to playing them. I also suggest a way to avoid that situation in the first place.
Dark Fiction - Potentiality
Potentiality
By Casey Douglass
as part of #fridayflash
 |
| http://www.flickr.com/photos/andyhay/10471977903/ |
‘Living the way I
live gives me the opportunity to see the world in a different way.’
‘How so?’
‘I live without
limits and this gives me a freedom that others can’t imagine!’
‘And so you help them
to see things your way?’
‘Yes! How could
someone walking past a prison full of innocent people not feel the
need to intervene on their behalf?’
‘The people you help
are imprisoned?’
‘You all are! I can
see it as plain as the pen in your hand!’
‘What do you see?’
‘It’s hard to
explain without being able to show you.’
‘We both know that’s
not going to happen.’
‘How can I put
it...You have seen those plasma balls that gadget shops sell? The
ones you hold your hand to and watch the miniature lightning dancing
around your fingers?’
‘Yes I know the
ones.’
‘People look like
that to me! Yes that’s quite accurate! The transparent globe is
their limiting beliefs, the lightening their potentialities...their
striving to find a way out, to make something of their reality!’
‘Do I look like that
to you?’
‘Of course!’
‘And you’d help
me?’
‘Certainly, if you’d
only unstrap me!’
‘Your aid proves
fatal to the people you try to help though.’
‘Not straight away!
They see the truth before that happens! Let me help you!’
‘Your hammer is
locked up as evidence.’
‘I can use anything!’
‘You killed fourteen
people.’
‘I freed fourteen
people!’
‘What use is freedom
if it cannot be enjoyed for more than a moment?’
‘It’s better than a
life time of confinement!’
‘You’ll certainly
find out if that’s true!’
THE END
I found the image of the plasma globe here with a CC Attribution license . I have made no changes to the image and use it in the manner allowed.
Thursday, 13 March 2014
Dark Review - 300: Rise of an Empire
Review of 300: Rise of an Empire
By Casey Douglass
 |
| Image © Warner Bros. Pictures |
I came to the first 300
film (2007) oblivious to both the background history it is loosely
based on and the graphic novel by Frank Miller. While I now know some
of the history, I have yet to pick up the novel, but none of this
really matters. Like its predecessor, 300: Rise of an Empire
is extremely enjoyable in its own right.
Its story runs parallel
to the events happening in the first film, some starting a little
before it, others carrying on from where the original ended. I really
liked this as it was a great chance to find out some of the back
story of Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) and other key players in the
conflict.
 |
| Image © Warner Bros. Pictures |
300: Rise of an
Empire focusses on the travails of Thermistocles (Sullivan
Stapleton) and his naval strategy genius whilst his fellow countrymen
are defending the Hot Gates with King Leonidas. Basically, 300:
Rise of an Empire is the first film but at sea on big ships. In
my opinion, that is a good thing!
What I did find
surprising was that Xerxes was not in the film a great deal. I don’t
know why I thought he might, as thinking back he hardly stole the
show in the first. Maybe it was just a hope that he would get his
hands dirty this time. He had a flashback which did give some great
insight into his path to becoming “a god” but the Persian side of
the show was very much run be Eva Green’s Artemisia, commander of
the Persian fleet.
 |
| Image © Warner Bros. Pictures |
I’m also not a great
lover of naval warfare. Too much sea and choppy waves just bores me
as a rule but I did find the ship to ship combat as riveting as the
land based face-offs in the first film. That is the crux of the
matter really. Both films are built around stand-off, clash, victory,
clash, slight defeat, escalation, bigger clash, until they culminate
in some grand-standing finale that would need some kind of
mathematical savant to calculate the number of dead and the pints of
blood spilt. That is what I watch them for! To get those goosebumps
when brutal shit happens and to enjoy the chaos of battle in the
safest way possible through a cinema screen.
 |
| Image © Warner Bros. Pictures |
Talking of screens, I
was lucky enough to watch the film in IMAX 3D and it was excellent.
There were some scenes blatantly designed for the 3D, like the swing
of Xerxe's massive axe but for the most part the 3D was functional
without being distracting. I think I value IMAX for the extra size
and the sound quality. I always feel like my trouser cuffs are
flapping around when the bass hits in our local screen. If a film
won’t move you in an IMAX, it never will.
I give 300: Rise of
an Empire 5/5, purely because it gave me what I myself wanted. A
shitstorm wrapped in the dressings of comic style brutality and with
a tremendous soundtrack that accompanies the action like the trumpets
of hell.
Published Letter
A nice surprise today as I finally had time to read through a couple of back issues of Writing Magazine. It sounds funny saying that I "finally had time", I should probably say that I finally felt well enough to read a little bit. I turned to the letters page and saw my letter. Not the achievement of the century but it's the first proper letter I have had published since trying to power up my writing, so I am quietly happy. I would happily recommend Writing Magazine for any writers who want tips/motivation/ideas. It's well worth the modest cover price.
Wednesday, 12 March 2014
Dark Review - Creak
Creak Review
By Casey Douglass
A few weeks ago, I
reviewed Black Spot, a very low budget abandoned road horror by
Luther Bhogal-Jones. I thought it was done really well and gave it
4.5/5. Check it out here.
Creak is one of
Luther’s earlier films, and I must admit, that as much as I liked
Black Spot, it was nice to watch something in HD with better sound.
Creak is set in a city
house at 4am. Predictably, something creaks and upsets the two
sleeping occupants. Well, it upsets one and she in turn upsets the
other by repeatedly asking her to check the house in case someone has
broken in. What then ensues is a great little cat and mouse sequence
of room checking where something is always lurking at the periphery
but never seen.
It's about 5.5 minutes
long but that is just long enough time to ratchet up the tension for
the conclusion to have a strong impact. I enjoyed the way the
intruder was portrayed. At no point was it more than a dark
silhouette with indiscernible features, besides strange protuberances
around the head.
Like Black Spot, the
soundtrack was brilliant, a synthy vibe and harsh punctuating moments
all doing a great job to up the level of interest. My only issue with
the sound was that in some places the levels for the dialogue were a bit
hissy, but that is a minor gripe.
You can watch Creak
yourself by clicking here to get to the Faster Productions vimeo
page.
When you have done
that, there is a great behind the scenes look at how the film was
created on the Faster Productions blog here
.
From the director running late on set to the perils of shooting in frigid rooms it’s an
interesting read.
I give Creak 4.5/5. I
enjoyed it for what it was, a story of paranoia proving to be true
and a film that enjoyably uses a few horror tropes to tell that tale.
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