I don’t discuss fantasy very often here at FEARnet, and the reason is twofold: one, I find the genre as a whole be rather trite and repetitive (says the guy whose meal ticket is written with scads of zombie games) and two, very little of the genre is dark enough to discuss here.  We’ve had the occasional opportunity for coverage (Atlus’ Dark Souls being a prime example), but usually the swords-and-sorcery shtick is left off the table.  Soul Sacrifice on the Playstation Vita, however, manages to tweak the fantasy genre in such a way that is tickles my dark heart.

The first title from Comcept, the studio founded by Dead Rising’s Keiji Inafune, Soul Sacrifice is a fascinating exercise in dual identity, a theme which runs through its veins from its storytelling to its gameplay.  The game starts off in a unique fashion with your enslaved character finding Librom, a flesh-bound tome that comes off like the Necronomicon’s smart-ass cousin.  Within the pages of Librom you find the journal entries of those who have faced the Magusar, the game’s main villain, and you are tasked with reliving these sorcerers’ campaigns against the monsters that plague the land.  These monsters have more mundane roots, be they simple cats or shamed knights, who have become twisted versions of their former selves.  “Reading” each of these tales drops you into a small arena where, for a brief period, you use your arsenal of spells and rites to combat your foes.  Your ultimate goal is to learn from your predecessor so that you can defeat the Magusar yourself.

The unique aspect of the game’s spells and rites comes from their more sacrificial aspect.  Some sap your health, others can be fused to create more powerful varieties, but at the cost of your finite stockpile.  There are also Black Rites, mega-spells that devastate all around you, but at the cost of your own character’s stats.  One summons a giant, fiery demon to scorch everything in sight, including your own skin, which reduces your defense.  Despite the dark fantasy trappings of the game, this shocking sense of mortality is a very grounding experience.

The other sense of sacrifice comes from your foes.  The monsters, with some awesomely creepy designs, are returned to their more basic forms upon defeat, which you can then choose to “save” or “sacrifice,” which gives you more health or offensive ability, respectively.  While the initial enemies can be sacrificed pretty easily (except I felt bad taking out the poor kitty cats because I’m a sap), it becomes much darker by the end of the game’s first chapter.

The writing of Soul Sacrifice is deliciously dark and deep, a strong counterpoint to the fairly shallow gameplay.  The first chapter hits it home when you become accustomed to your companion, a woman named Sortiara.  While initially aloof, there are hints of tenderness in the writing between levels, as your character comforts her through her physical and emotional suffering.  When you are forced to make a sacrifice—her—the gravity of your life as a sorcerer hits home like a brick.  While your initial goal is simple, there’s a lot more under the surface that shows that your life is truly bleak.  I really can’t state enough just how good this writing is, and it never feels heavy-handed even when the concepts in play could easily be played off in a melodramatic fashion.

For Playstation Vita owners, the game is an absolute must-buy (not that there’s much more out there for the system, but I digress), with its gorgeous graphics and fantastic writing wrapping around a very simple game with easily digestible levels that suit the portable format.  It may not sell you on Sony’s fantastic, but poorly supported portable, but it makes one hell of a case.

Synapse Films has announced new special edition prints of Demons and Demons 2, each in a special steelbook case with new cover art from Wes Benscoter. Limited to a strict run of 3000 copies, once they are gone, they are gone. They aren't cheap: $39.95 each, but the list of extras is pretty impressive.

Demons:

- Limited Edition Steelbook Featuring All-New Artwork from Wes Benscoter
- Each Steelbook is Blu-ray packaging sized, and will be a “Combo Pack” containing both a Blu-ray (BD-50) and a DVD (DVD-9) of the feature and extras.
- Unlike previous releases, we have the original Italian Language Stereo mix, the “International” stereo alternate dub mix and the original U.S. mono soundtrack!
- Audio Commentary Track with Cast & Crew Featuring Recollections from Director Lamberto Bava, Make-up Effects Artist Sergio Stivaletti, Musician Claudio Simonetti and actress Geretta Geretta.
- Removable English Subtitles for both the U.S. Language Dub Version, as well as the Original Italian Version.
- Collectible Reproduction of the Original Metropol Theatre Ticket seen in the Film.
- The transfer is from a new HD scan of the original 35mm negative, in 1080p/23.98fps 1.66:1 aspect ratio [not the same muted colors and weak black levels as previous released versions].
- All audio tracks will be encoded in DTS-HD MA.

Featurettes (from Calum Waddell’s HIGH RISING PRODUCTIONS Company) include:
PROFONDO JONES – THE CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE – Interview with Alan Jones
CARNAGE AT THE CINEMA – LAMBERTO BAVA AND HIS SPLATTER MASTERPIECE – 30 Minute Interview with Director Lamberto Bava
MONSTROUS MEMORIES WITH LUIGI COZZI – 30 Minute Interview
SPLATTER STUNT ROCK – Interview with Stunt Man Ottaviano Dell’Acqua
DARIO AND HIS DEMONS – PRODUCING MONSTER MAYHEM – All-New Exclusive Interview with Producer Dario Argento.

Demons 2:

[Extras/Transfer are still in the early stages of completion.  What we list below is what we currently have.  Other extras may still be added.]

- Limited Edition Steelbook Featuring All-New Artwork from Wes Benscoter
- Each Steelbook is Blu-ray packaging sized, and will be a “Combo Pack” containing both a Blu-ray (BD-50) and a DVD (DVD-9) of the feature and extras.
- Contains the Original Italian Language Mix and the Original English Soundtrack.
- Removable English Subtitles for both the English and Italian Versions.
- The transfer is from a new HD scan of the original 35mm negative, in 1080p/23.98fps 1.66:1 aspect ratio [not the same muted colors and weak black levels as previous released versions].
- All audio tracks will be encoded in DTS-HD MA.

-Featurettes (from Calum Waddell’s HIGH RISING PRODUCTIONS Company) include:
SCREAMING FOR A SEQUEL – THE DELIRIOUS LEGACY OF DEMONS 2 – Interview with Lamberto Bava
THE DEMONS GENERATION – ROY BAVA DISCUSSES A LEGACY IN LACERATIONS – Assistant Director Roy Bava Speaks About His Experiences on DEMONS and DEMONS 2
A SOUNDTRACK FOR SPLATTER – Composer Simon Boswell Discusses His Genre Music Making Career.
DEMONIC INFLUENCES – FEDERICO ZAMPAGLIONE SPEAKS – Interview Segment

Pre-orders will be accepted through Synapse Films in the next week or so, with product shipping as soon as it arrives (despite the November street date).

Congratulations A&E. You did something that no one else has been able to do: make a successful spinoff in the Psycho mythology. There were a lot of naysayers out there for Bates Motel (from people saying that the show was pointless to people saying that the show would trample on Hitchcock’s legacy) but you bitch-slapped them all down.

And why was it successful? Because it is good. And much of that praise goes to stars Freddie Highmore and Vera Farmiga. Highmore, as Norman, walks a brilliant tightrope between sweet - if emotionally stunted - teenager and a boiling cauldron of rage and psychosis. His portrayal is so subtle that if you didn’t know the story of Psycho, you may miss little twitches and shifts in demeanor that convey more than mere words can. Farmiga’s portrayal of Norma is insane and over-the-top - but completely believable. Norma never feels like a caricature, just an emotionally stunted mother who is trying to do the best she can.

Executive producer Carlton Cuse has already given us a hint about season two, that we will discover more of Norma’s twisted family tree. Will the brother who raped her for years show up? In the season finale, Norma says that she never told her dad about the incest because she was convinced he would kill him, so no matter what horrible things her brother did to her, Norma has some sort of love for him. Will she let him stay at the motel? And, more importantly, will Norman let him live? I can only imagine that if Norma’s brother shows his face, Norman’s first instinct will be to kill him, but I am thinking he is not successful... at least, not the first time. It will create a fantastic, tense dynamic.

Norma also mentioned her parents. Dad was a violent alcoholic, but she didn’t have much to say about her mom - just that she was “no longer there.” To me, that sounds more like she wasn’t there mentally. Norma has to have a family history of mental instability. Maybe her mom was bi-polar, or even schizophrenic. On top of all that, just who is Dylan’s father? Nothing much is said about him, other than that he and Dylan don’t get along even more than he and Norma don’t get along.

I truly hope they keep the focus on the Bates family. That is where the strength of the show lies. Off and on throughout season one, it seemed like they were trying to make Bates Motel like a darker Twin Peaks. And I think that is a mistake. The entire Psycho legacy has always had its root in family, and that is the most interesting material in Bates Motel. You can’t recapture the magic of Twin Peaks, so everyone just stop trying.

I saw the trailer for Machete Kills in the theater last weekend (During Fast & Furious 6) , and I literally cheered. Of course, I was the only one applauding. Well the trailer has finally hit the web, so hopefully that will get the word out to people.

Ex-Federale agent Machete is recruited by the President of the United States for a mission which would be impossible for any mortal man - he must take down a madman revolutionary and an eccentric billionaire arms dealer who has hatched a plan to spread war and anarchy across the planet.

Starring Danny Trejo, Michelle Rodriguez, Lady Gaga, Jessica Alba, Sofia Vergara, Demian Bichir, Mel Gibson, and Carlos Estevez (you may know him as Charleen Sheen). Written and directed by Robert Rodriguez.

Machete Kills slashes its way into theaters on September 13th

The back cover of Deadly Premonition Director’s Cut for the Playstation 3 declares that the original Xbox version was “the most critically polarizing game of recent times.”  They aren’t kidding: reviews on Metacritic range from a perfect 100 score to a barrel-scraping 20, with a slew of scores in between.  I’ll be frank and tell you that Deadly Premonition is in no way a game for everyone.  Its graphics are uneven, the gameplay seems ripped from the Playstation 1 era, and the voice acting is so goddamn hammy and cheesy that if you threw in a couple eggs you’d have one hell of an omelet.  Despite these “issues,” and sometimes even because of them, Deadly Premonition is a game like no other.

Simply summing up the game in a sentence speaks volumes of its lunacy.  Imagine Twin Peaks if it was directed by Takashi Miike after he’d gobbled a handful of random pills…and that just barely scrapes the surface.  The opening cinematic of the game doesn’t even try to hide its intentions: a grandfather leads his twin grandsons through a field where they stumble upon a mutilated woman crucified to a tree (shades of Laura Palmer wrapped in plastic).  The death sends ripples throughout the town of Greenvale, where we see its citizens reacting to the loss to the wailing strains of an acid-jazz soundtrack.

The lunacy continues from there, with the introduction of FBI Agent Francis York Morgan, who frequently talks to his alternate personality Zach (again, shades of Twin Peaks’ Dale Cooper and his tape recorder) as he drives towards Greenvale.  He swerves to miss a mysterious figure and rolls his car—almost into a pair of squirrels who inexplicably shriek like monkeys—on the outskirts of town.  Then he faces the zombies.  These are not typical zombies.  They creep at you while bending over backwards, their eyes black hollows and their mouths slit open into Chelsea grins.  It’s complete and utter madness, but it fits the nuttiness of the game perfectly.  Does it make sense?  No.  Does it work within the complete lack of logic that Deadly Premonition operates under?  Absolutely.  There’s an overarching storyline involving the Red Seed Murders and a mysterious serial killer, but it’s only the thinnest of threads in the overall tapestry of madness.

The main reason the game succeeds so well is because of its lack of logic and proper structure.  There are no concessions made to what should or shouldn’t be done in a game.  The game can’t go off the rails because it was never on them, or even within miles of them.  This is a game that has you fighting inverted ghouls, staving off an indestructible serial killer in a raincoat, and interacting with characters so strange that you find yourself completely shocked with what you’re being presented with.  What other game has a gas-masked paraplegic having his assistant (who speaks in rhyming couplets, no less) order a “sinner’s sandwich” of turkey, strawberry jam, and cereal, all set to a soundtrack that changes from lilting muzak to squealing saxophones to upbeat guitar rock in a matter of seconds?  What other game parades its low-resolution textures and stiff models for all to see without a care in the world?  What other game completely throws all logic and sense to the wind and all but rubs your nose in it?  Designer Swery simply made the game that he wanted to make, and it simply seems like he doesn’t give a shit if you like or understand it, but he does so without pretentiousness or arrogance.

The Playstation 3 release of the game is also worth a look, even for those who have already played the original version on the Xbox 360.  Graphics have been slightly enhanced (not so much as to lose their slipshod charm, however), and there are now options for Move controls (meh) and 3D for those with the right hardware (again, meh).  The main appeal is that the storyline has been beefed up, adding in additional scenes that only add to the madness on display.

Again, I can’t stress enough that Deadly Premonition is not a game for everyone.  The sloppy controls and odd, open-world gameplay will turn people off as surely as the behind-the-curve graphics and awful voice acting.  However, this is a game that is completely dedicated to its vision, and stays the path no matter how crazy it may get.  That has to count for something, and gamers with open minds—and possibly a supply of psychedelics—will get nothing but immense, insane joy from it.  Details on the game have been left intentionally vague, as this game cannot be described properly through words…it truly needs to be experienced to be appreciated, no matter how fucking nuts it seems.

The leader of the puppets, and the only puppet to appear in all Puppet Master films, Blade was easily the scariest of all the puppets. Full Moon has taken the scare-factor down a couple notches and made a plush doll out of Blade. Don't worry - he still has his hook hand and knife hand - they are just unlikely to kill you.

$24.95 at FullMoonDirect.com

One of the main attractions at this year’s Comicpalooza in Houston—in addition to appearances by the likes of Patrick Stewart, Michelle Rodriguez and Danny Trejo—was the three-day Dollar Baby Film Festival organized by Shawn S. Lealos.

The final day led off with the earliest known Dollar Baby, “The Boogeyman” from 1982, which has long been available on video paired with “The Woman in the Room.” Director Jeff Schiro has spent time in the editing room since then, cleaning up and enhancing the movie. The film does an excellent job of calling into question the protagonist’s reliability as a narrator. “My Pretty Pony” is an 8-minute film featuring an elderly narrator talking to the camera. “Willa,” from the same director, uses cartoonish crayon drawings and a voiceover to relate this purgatory tale. “Cain Rose Up” is a difficult film to watch, given recent events, but the story—inspired by the Charles Whitman shooting spree in Austin—only goes to show how little things have changed since King published it.

Another day, another visit to Linda Vista Hospital. The infamous Los Angeles hospital - claimed by many to be haunted - was once a working hospital and mental institution, but since being shut down in 1991, has become the go-to place to film creepy interiors. Dexter, True Blood, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer have all filmed here. So has Insidious Chapter 2.

The hotly-anticipated follow-up to James Wan’s 2010 sleeper hit has made good use out of the cavernous hospital. For starters, we are teased with the idea that Insidious 2 will feature lots of flashbacks to the 1980s, when Barbara Hershey’s character, Lorraine Lambert, worked as a nurse. The scene we watched them film was light on action - but heavy on disturbing dialogue, with Hershey discussing a child who was admitted because he tried to castrate himself. 

Several portions of the hospital are used as-is, or almost as-is. One of the basement file rooms - stuffed full of real patient files that were abandoned there over the years - was used as a file room, with virtually no set dressing. Two other hospital rooms were only changed slightly: one modernized, and one decorated to fit into one of the 1980s flashbacks - but both representing the same room.

We will spend more time in The Further with Chapter 2. We even got to journey into The Further. Up dark, narrow stairs (that require a flashlight, even in broad daylight) we go into a large room, the largest at Linda Vista. The entire room has been draped in black Duvetyne, making the room a solid, pitch black. Ironically, this room was once the day room when the hospital was in use. 

The original house is back, too, but in a slightly different way than you might expect. The owners of the original house that the first Insidious shot in did not want production back, so they had to build their own. An exact replica of a portion of that house has been built inside Linda Vista. The room has been built on a platform of sorts, so it is several feet above the solid floor. Our tour guide promises that it is “raised for a reason” but will reveal nothing else. 

Secrets are the order of the day around here. Though the dozen or so journalists gathered for the set visit enjoyed a press conference with the entire cast (Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Lin Shaye, Barbara Hershey) as well as producer Jason Blum, writer Leigh Whannell, and director James Wan, no one was willing to give up any plot details. “What's different about [this film] is it's a continuation of the first film; it picks up from where the other one left off and it's the second half of the first film,” Whannell explained evasively. “One of the great things about a haunted house movie is watching unsuspecting people slowly uncover something is wrong. With Chapter 2, we're using the same family and we're missing the lack of knowledge you would normally get; we're not changing to a different family so we needed to come up with something really scary.  But I do think we came up with something that could scare the family anew; something that could turn it around. A different angle. It almost takes the film into a new genre. Almost.”

Insidious Chapter 2 is due in theaters September 13th.

To all of our LA based readers, if you're struggling to make plans for your Saturday night, you are in luck! The fine folks over at The New Beverly Cinema along with Horror Movie A Day's Brian Collins are hosting a special midnight screening of Joe Dante's werewolf classic 'The Howling' this Saturday evening, June 1st. Here's your chance to see the original 'Howling' (a movie which spawned 7 sequels!) starring the lovely Dee Wallace on the big screen and with an audience before Scream Factory's stellar special edition Blu-Ray hits stores this Tuesday. In fact, Collins will be giving away a copy of the new 'Howling' Blu-Ray prior to the screening so get there early! The New Bev is located at 7165 Beverly Blvd in Los Angeles (90036), two blocks west of La Brea. Tickets are $8 bucks and available on-line via the Brown Paper Tickets site or at the door. And yes, the New Bev now accepts credit cards. Check out the teaser poster for the event below!