The Horror House

Many people have been calling “Swear” a filler episode, but to me, this just opened up the world of “The Walking Dead” even more. Okay, so between Alexandria, The Hilltop, The Kingdom and The Saviors, it’s safe to say we have enough communities integrated into the show already. I guess the writers just figure that this is a good point to bring in the newest community: Oceanside. And what better way to introduce a new community than having one of our beloved Alexandrians wash ashore on the outskirts of its location? Although this community isn’t even mentioned until later in the comic book series, it’s starting to feel like now is the time to introduce everyone, so we have a plethora of characters to care for and learn more about. Even though we have a whole new community to discuss, we must slowly work our way there before doing so. Back in Season 6, Tara and Heath left Alexandria in search of supplies, completely unaware of everything that had happened back at the homestead (Ab...

Okay, I can breathe again: Maggie IS alive. Although most of us expected that already, the confirmation is still relieving nonetheless. We open with our leading lady observing two graves with pure heartache, as she is approached by her new closest friend, Sasha. The deaths of Abraham and Glenn have certainly brought these two much closer, and when two people are feeling the same amount of pain, who better to understand what it is you’re going through than that one person. This reminds me a lot of the comic book character, Brianna, from The Hilltop, who approaches Maggie while she is silently observing by Glenn’s grave. Aside from that, we are finally reunited with our favorite member to originally come from this community: Jesus. All good things come at a cost in this world, and where there’s Jesus, there is Gregory. Remember him? The slimy, good-for-nothing pervert who runs the show over at The Hilltop, hiding in his gigantic house and kissing ass just to make sure it isn’t hi...

Towards the end of my Rhode Island Comic Con panel I hosted (entitled “Let’s Get Dead”) this past weekend, the audience and I discussed possible theories and options for the near future of The Walking Dead, most noticeably with this episode, “Service”, in particular. AMC had mentioned this would be a special “90-minute” episode, and they most certainly gave us a nice chunk of Negan and how he operates on his whole “half your shit” system he has maniacally created. Something to keep in mind while viewing this episode is the sheer amount of Alexandrians who have yet to encounter the Saviors or even Negan, himself. Rick and his group that were recently part of the line-up certainly got a taste of what happens when you cross the big bad wolf and his pack of subhuman shitheads. Now what will the people of Alexandria think and have to say about all of this? Only about a short two minutes into the episode, and we are graced with the silhouette of Negan from outside the gates o...

You can't get that "Easy Street" song out of your head either, can you? Rightfully so, it's designed to drive us, and poor Daryl, to the brink of insanity (I can remember thinking to myself, "Make it stop! Make it stop!"). Fortunately, I love feeling like I'm part of the experience, which makes the music all that more effective. Things are clearly not going well for our struggling Daryl over at Negan's compound, and that is quickly made clear by his surrounding living conditions: a cell in which he is served fresh bread topped with dog food. However, Daryl wasn't the only focal point this episode… What's with all the focus on Dwight's character? From the opening shot to the closing scene, there is a lot of emphasis on him and his daily activities over at the compound. The set of shots cycling through the process of Dwight making his breakfast shows us that The Saviors are growing vegetables and obtaining eggs from chickens on a d...

Let’s start this off the right way: I’m extremely grateful that The Walking Dead was able to follow up with an informative episode after the previous week’s brain basher. The focus has shifted from Rick and his group to where Carol and Morgan went after Season 6 had wrapped up. Last we knew, they were both approached by men wearing body armor on horses. It didn’t take long to realize that these men were not from the Saviors, but rather a completely new group, overall. Does this mean they are good or bad? Rest assured these men are here to help. After a long and seemingly tedious journey to their new destination, Morgan and Carol are finally introduced to a new community that goes by the name of The Kingdom. Morgan seems to be taking in his surroundings with almost a glimmer of new born hope in his eyes, whereas Carol refuses to accept that there is a legitimate community thriving and surviving within these walls, living like there’s nothing wrong. A little tour takes our charact...

WARNING: SPOILERS. IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN SEASON 7 EPISODE 1 “THE DAY WILL COME WHEN YOU WON’T BE”, READ AT YOUR OWN EXPENSE. Jesus (no pun or character name intended), “The Walking Dead” sure knows how to squash our hearts and spit in our faces (or perhaps I should’ve said “squash” our heads). After over six months of waiting, we FINALLY received the episode we’ve all been patiently anticipating. Last night’s Season 7 premiere was everything a longtime fan could’ve been waiting for: It had very present moments of palpable tension, a couple of crushing blows which were followed up with some shots of graphic violence, and that extremely dirty feeling you get after watching something you feel like you shouldn’t have seen. For me, this is one of the cases in which you have to keep telling yourself “It’s just a show, it’s just a show” as the blood drips down the face of, now, former characters we’ve come to love over these painful years. I can’t wait any longer to say this…REST IN PE...

With less than a week to go until the Season 7 premiere, AMC's "The Walking Dead" still has its fans in a constant uproar as to who was claimed at the hands and bat of the big bad himself, Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). On October 8th, AMC premiered a special sneak peek of Season 7 over at New York Comic Con. Considering the lack of footage we received involving Rick’s group over the course of this summer, the network definitely owed this to us (the fans). The footage revealed that our victim may have possibly been on Rick’s right side (contrary to the popular belief that Negan's shadow crossed Rick's face going to the left), but is this a legitimate sneak peek? I have been wondering that for a while now, and I believe this to be an ACTUAL look into our newest season to come. After the two-hour special "The Walking Dead: The Journey So Far", AMC had a network television premiere of the Season 7 sneak peek released only days earlier. We are presented...

For the third installment of the series, writer/director James DeMonaco brings us another unworldly view on the future of American society. 18 years after add night of terrible events, Senator Charlie Roan (Elizabeth Mitchell) is in the midst of running for president against an extremely Trump-esque candidate, Earl Danzinger (Kyle Secor), whom is an acting minister and backed by the New Founding Fathers of America (who are in charge of the purge, itself). One of the only things making the senator vulnerable is the new rule that eliminates the protection of all government officials from the purge, therefore making her an easier target. However, our senator is certainly not alone. By her side is Leo Barnes (Frank Grillo) from the previous entry of the series, Anarchy . Leo reprises his role as the bad ass he was before, ensuring nothing happens to Charlie on this fateful and hectic night. Getting tied up in the antics is a convenience store owner Joe Dixon (a very funny ...

A lot of good things have been happening at The Horror House, as of late. Just a couple of weeks ago, I received confirmation that I will be hosting my own Walking Dead themed panel “Let’s Get Dead” over at Rhode island Comic Con, which will consist of fan theories and more surrounding the comic book and hit AMC series . This news has been nothing short of exciting, and I am beyond thrilled to have this opportunity to share my love of The Walking Dead with one of New England’s largest fan bases. While you can definitely be expecting more “Dead” coverage over the coming weeks, there is some other news I want to share with all of my friends and followers. As of late, I have been collaborating with a few friends on a short Horror film we are in the midst of making. The film is entitled “The Mass Murder”, and will consist of; you guessed it, plenty of Horror influence and violence. Our film takes place in present day, following a brother-sister duo committed to always finding the trut...

I can tell what you're thinking already: did the 2013 smash horror hit "The Conjuring" churn up enough scares to leave us wanting more? Suffice to say, the answer to that question would be: yes. I would say that sequels this successful are hard to come by, especially in this genre. There comes a point where sequels try to copy what made their predecessors so successful, only to end up stumbling over their own blatant mistakes, regardless (I'm looking at you, Sinister 2). "The Conjuring 2" doesn't need to pull those sorts of punches with it's audience. Instead, we are captivated by an actually stellar Horror sequel with a certain level of emotional depth. The year is 1976: We open with our paranormal duo Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) investigating the Amityville murders with their team. I must say, I love how we start off right here: this is exactly how it should've picked up from the first film. Throughout the sean...

When was the last time you walked into a theater and saw a film that shattered your senses? Don't Breathe is a breath of fresh air for what some may call an overwrought genre. I had mentioned in one of my previous reviews that the home-invasion genre was brought to life again by a film titled Intruders, so I did not expect something else to come along so soon that absolutely flips the switch on how these situations typically play out. Why should you go out and see this film at your earliest convenience? Please allow me to elaborate. The plot itself isn't too complicated, but that doesn't strip the film of anything whatsoever. We are given insight into the lives and doings of three teenage criminals, which are Alex (Dylan Minnette, Goosebumps ), Rocky (scream queen Jane Levy, Evil Dead, ABC's Suburgatory ) and Money (Daniel Zovatto). One of our criminals catches word of a visually disabled Iraqi war veteran (Stephen Lang) who's sitting on a large sum of mone...

Just about a month ago, we were given a trailer to Season 7 of the AMC smash zombie hit The Walking Dead. Although the trailer didn't give us very much information on Negan's victim, it did temporarily introduce a couple new aspects that will, without a doubt, bring this show to heights it's yet to reach. While those are going to play major parts in this upcoming season, I'd like to take some time and focus on Negan, in particular. For those of you who haven't read the comic, I will do my best to bring some justice to the lines he delivered in the most recent trailer. Again, a possible over analyzation, but we shall see. “ I’m gonna beat the holy hell out of one of you” This is Negan's obvious implication that one of our eleven Alexandrians will receive a bashing, but who will it be? Higher-ups at AMC and showrunner Scott M. Gimple have been going to drastic lengths to keep this truth from being told. Are we seriously supposed to believe they filmed e...

Home-invasion films have come and gone over the years. We can start as early as the 1960’s with Wait until Dark , to present day, bringing us such pictures as The Strangers, Panic Room, and The Purge . The idea of being stuck in one of those situations always shakes me up. However, the question still remains: has this sub-genre been squeezed dry, or is there still a spark of creativity left to reignite the fear that even “home” itself, isn't the safe haven we make it out to be? Intruders (alternately titled Shut In ) is the perfect answer to our calling of a solid “break-in” blockbuster: it feels fresh, the performances are solid (for the most part), and you're probably not going to guess what direction this film will take you in, which ends up making it all the more entertaining. We are introduced to our protagonist Charlotte (Leticia Jiminez), an agoraphobic woman who hasn't left her house in a solid decade. She is now encountering the end stages of caring ...