Posts by Brent Lorentson

For fans of many of the ghost-hunting shows, Preston Castle is a location many will already be familiar with.  Once a former reform school for boys that opened in 1894 and finally shut down in the 1960’s, it was a location rumored to hold many atrocities against its young occupants.  Whether you are a believer in the supernatural or not, Preston Castle is a location that upon appearance is beautiful as well as foreboding, and is the perfect location for a haunted house film.  Of course the film boasts that it is inspired by true events, but I don’t think anyone should exactly hold the filmmakers up to a fact-checking examination, but instead just simply sit back and enjoy the ride.

Unless you have been living under a rock, I’m sure by now you’ve heard about the Ebola scare that is headlining the airwaves.  The release of Chemical Peel couldn’t be timelier to effectively feed off the fears of the American public that is glued to their television screens, waiting for the announcement of the newly infected.  This is the kind of free marketing even the big-budget films wish they could get.  Unfortunately what is missing from the film are characters for us to care about and root for, and that is never a good sign.

The creator of Dawson’s Creek and The Vampire Diaries, Kevin Williams, delivers a thriller that is a bold new entry in the crime drama for television.  Season one of The Following was 15 episodes of nail-biting bliss that kept the viewer guessing and riveted long after its gut-wrenching cliffhanger.  For a while I was beginning to wonder if Williamson had lost his touch with the Scream series, but what you’ll discover in the Fox series is that Williamson may just be the king of creating and penning one of the darkest serial killers on the small screen.

With the month of October in full swing, it comes as no surprise to see Halloween-themed episodes popping up.  With the new DVD of Ben 10: Galactic Monsters, sure, it’s a cash grab for the holiday season, but thankfully on this release we get a set of fun episodes that are a bit of a departure from the average episodes.  It’s not that I dislike Ben 10, but it’s a show I enjoy in small doses; after all, too much of anything can always be a bad thing.  But thankfully, with the average five-episode release we get on the DVD from Cartoon Network, it has just the right amount of episodes to please everyone.

The werewolf continues to be the one monster that just can’t seem to get the film that it deserves.  There has been The Howling and of course An American Werewolf in London, but in the past decade has there been a better werewolf film than Dog Soldiers?  It’s a monster than promises so much violence and can incite so much fear, but instead we are given terrible zombie and vampire films.  With one look at the cover I knew what I was getting into with Werewolf Rising, a low-budget attempt at the monster genre. Though it may not boast a large budget, I can’t help but appreciate this micro-budget attempt that avoids falling back on CGI effects.

It’s that time of year again, where spooky decorations are set up and pumpkins are carved.  Most importantly, though, is that October is the month where horror fans can celebrate their favorite month of the year with as many blood-soaked horror titles as they can handle.  Unfortunately, though, it seems companies enjoy taking advantage of this time of year and will attach the Halloween name to just about anything in hopes of getting people to buy their product.  I mention this because though the title may be Grave Halloween, it has absolutely nothing to do with the holiday but everything to do with the Suicide Forest in Japan.