Horror

Limbo & Inside: Film Noir Horror Masterpieces

Different people play computer games for very different reasons. Some play for fun, some play to win, and some play to let off steam. I play video games for a chance to briefly disconnect from this world and transcend to another, perhaps totally different one. Given this, you can guess that atmosphere and immersion into that other digital universe are crucial factors I look for in a video game. Crucial, but not the only ones, since there are many elements from which a gaming masterpiece is assembled: for instance, graphics or art, music, sound effects, story, and many others. When I got two games I had previously never heard of, Limbo and Inside from a developer called "Playdead", for just a couple of bucks in a Steam sale, I never imagined that these little gems would excel in most of […]

vl4di11ir0pr3esS January 24, 2023

Outlast (2013) by Red Barrels (https://redbarrelsgames.com/games/outlast/)

Stuff

Outlast: So Immersive, It Will Force You to Turn the Lights On

Slasher horror movies are far more terrifying when you're young. As a child, you're genuinely frightened by the on-screen action, almost feeling as if you're there with the unfortunate victims fleeing from the killer. But as you grow older, you become gradually yet steadily desensitized by the plethora of horror films you've watched. Somewhere along the path to adulthood, you realize that those ill-fated souls didn't actually perish during those horrific scenes—they're alive and well, ready to star in another movie. By the time you hit thirty, little remains of that genuine terror you once experienced while watching "Halloween" on a late summer night as a naive child. You believed that feeling was gone for good. You were wrong. In 2013, developer Red Barrels offered you the opportunity to relive all your slasher movie fears once again by putting you […]

secondhanddaylight November 28, 2022

Scene from The Sorrows of Satan (1926), also album cover for Bauhaus first single.

Stuff

Alone in a Darkened Room. The Count.

When you're a kid, you're scared by a lot of things. You're scared of a plain dark room. You're scared of special effects in old movies that look silly when you grow up. You're scared of the forest in bad weather. On this endless list, as far as I'm concerned, you could add Bauhaus' dark first single, recorded in just one take: Bela Lugosi's Dead.

secondhanddaylight November 19, 2022

Featured image: The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)

Movies

Dissecting Fear: The Autopsy of Jane Doe

You know those movies that you use to check out your phone, mails or make pauses to refill your drink or to go to the bathroom? Well, The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016) is not that kind of movie.

sadiesheknows October 30, 2022

Movies

Martyrs: Anna’s final words?

They say: "If you want to give people a good scare, put a decent amount of blood and guts into a movie. If you want to scare them twice as much, double the blood and guts". This simple formula has worked for years in the horror/slasher subgenre, sometimes even leading to notable results, as seen in films like "Hostel" and "Saw". However, categorizing Pascal Laugier's "Martyrs" (2008) alongside any other horror movie, or perceiving it as merely a horror film, would be a grave oversight. The film contains so many layers, some of which may be hard to even notice for a sensitive audience shocked by its terror, that "Martyrs" emerges as a film of its own kind.

sadiesheknows September 18, 2022

Books

American Psycho: Banality of Evil

Bret Easton Ellis's controversial novel "American Psycho" shocked readers upon its release in 1991 with its graphic depiction of violence and scathing critique of 1980s consumer culture. But after the initial shock subsided, uncertainty and confusion about many aspects of the plot emerged. Even the ending is widely regarded as foggy and unfinished, leaving readers to grapple with the ambiguities Ellis deliberately wove into his narrative.

mistyque September 5, 2022

Layers of Fear everchanging halls. Layers of Fear © Bloober Team

Stuff

Layers of Fear – It’s a thin line between love and hate

To me, the hardest question on this Earth, besides the one about the meaning of life, is: Are Layers of Fear a good game? For that, I blame Japanese horror game developers and their philosophy: “If you want something to be scary, put a decent amount of blood and guts in the game. And if you want something to be twice as scary, put twice as much blood and guts in the game.” The human sense of fear, fortunately or not, doesn’t work that way.

sadiesheknows August 24, 2022

Limbo & Inside: Film Noir Horror Masterpieces

Outlast: So Immersive, It Will Force You to Turn the Lights On