Dishonored est enfin gold

Il existe une règle immuable qui dit qu'un jeu vidéo n'étant pas considéré comme gold peut être repoussé jusqu'à nouvel ordre. Ainsi, l'annonce de la fin du développement d'un jeu vidéo nous permet de lâcher un ouf de soulagement. Il y a deux semaines de cela, Arkane Studios annonçait en avoir fini avec le développement de Dishonored. Aujourd'hui, ils ne sont pas moins fiers de nous apprendre que leur jeu est passé gold.

On peut donc être sûr de voir débarquer ce FPS atypique sur nos PC, Xbox 360 et PS3 dès le 12 octobre prochain. Le talent du studio français réussira-t-il à séduire le reste de la planète ? Premiers éléments de réponse dans cet article, et notre verdict final dans deux semaines !

· Forum Dishonored

Un nouveau bundle IndieGala

La mode des bundles de jeux indépendants ne s’essouffle pas, loin de là. Et si le Humble Bundle reste le plus populaire d'entre-eux, quelques alternatives existent avec notamment aujourd'hui l'Indie Gala.

Pour sa troisième édition, le pack vous propose trois jeux que vous payez le prix de votre choix. Les titres en question sont le jeu de stratégie Future Wars, l'action-RPG Greed : Black Border et enfin le jeu de survie en territoire zombie Trapped Dead.

De plus, si la somme que vous offrez est supérieure au montant moyen des autres dons (à l'heure actuelle 4,57$), vous obtiendrez deux autres jeux immédiatement et l'accès à quatre bonus encore secrets la semaine prochaine. Les deux titres supplémentaires sont Twin Sector, un jeu de puzzle à la première personne très inspiré de Portal, et Grotesque Tactics, un RPG parodique. Tous les jeux du bundle doivent être ensuite téléchargés sur Steam grâce aux clés d'activations fournies sur la page une fois l'achat effectué.

De grosses compilations pour God of War et Infamous

Sony vient d'officialiser l'arrivée de compilations pour deux de ses licences phares. Pour le moment, ces collections ne sont annoncées que pour les Etats-Unis, mais on peut espérer les voir arriver un jour chez nous. C'est en fin de mois, le 28 pour être exacte, que les joueurs d'outre-atlantique pourront mettre la main sur inFamous Collection et God of War Saga, vendus à 29,99$ chacun.

En terme de contenu InFamous Collection comprend, les deux épisodes de la saga accompagnées de l'extension du 2, Festival of Blood. En plus de cela, tous les DLC parus à ce jour et des missions bonus viennent compléter le tout.

Côté God of War, le pack est encore plus impressionnant, pour ne pas dire colossal. On y retrouve God of War Collection, soit les deux épisodes de PS2 en version HD, God of War Origins Collection, c'est-à-dire les deux épisodes de PSP en HD aussi, et God of War 3. Cinq jeux accompagnés d'un mois d'abonnement au PSN+ et de quelques bonus. Une magnifique façon de découvrir la saga, pour ceux qui ne la connaissent pas encore. Un pack bien complet, en attendant le prochain God of War Ascension, qui finira bien par se retrouver à son tour, dans une compilation encore plus complète.

Les mods de la semaine #97 Skyrim, GTA San Andreas, HL2, Terraria

Comme on dit dans le milieu : il faut de tout pour faire un mod. Mais tous les jeux ne sont malheureusement pas moddables. Fort heureusement, Skyrim intègre parfaitement ces créations que nous chérissons tant, a tel point que la sortie de Dawnguard est passée presque inappercu. Pour l'occasion, nous allons malgré tout mettre à jour notre célèbre dossier des meilleurs mods de Skyrim, avec tout ce qu'il faut pour combler vos seigneurs vampires. En attendant, voici une sélection hebdomadaire qui devrait contenter les connaisseurs que vous êtes.


XCE - Dawnguard 1.0 (The Elder Scrolls V : Skyrim - Dawnguard)

Comme nous venons de le préciser, Skyrim : Dawnguard est enfin disponible et nombreux sont les joueurs se plaisant à jouer un seigneur vampire. Manque de chance, ces derniers souffrent du syndrome dit "de la sale tronche". Xenius, véritable génie lorsqu'il s'agit d'améliorer l'apparence de nos personnages, se penche rapidement sur la question et nous livre un Xenius Character Enhancement entièrement dédié à nos créatures de la nuit. Le résultat est, sans surprise, de grande qualité.

- Télécharger XCE - Dawnguard 1.0 (3,886 Mo)


Cartoon Mod 1.0 (GTA : San Andreas)

Il faudrait être aveugle pour ne pas remarquer à quel point ce bon vieux GTA : San Andreas vieillit difficilement. Lorsque certains imaginent des mods graphiques visant à améliorer drastiquement le rendu visuel du jeu, d'autres choisissent de le simplifier au point d'en faire un dessin animé. C'est le cas du Cartoon Mod, qui transforme les rues de Los Santos en lui offrant un revêtement en cel shading.

- Télécharger Cartoon Mod 1.0 (160 Mo)


Modular Combat 2.0.6 (Half-Life 2)

A quoi ressemblerait Half-Life 2 s'il avait été un RPG ? Probablement à Modular Combat, un mod reprenant l'univers de Gordon Freeman pour lui offrir un aspect jeu de rôle fort sympathique. Plus d'une cinquantaine de modules aux pouvoirs originaux (téléportation, lévitation, boule d'énergie...) vous attendent. Le tout peut en plus être personnalisé à souhait. De quoi vous faire tenir quelques heures sans voir poindre le moindre ennui pour peu que vous possédiez l'intégralité de l'Orange Box.

- Télécharger Modular Combat 2.0.6 (86,39 Mo)


TerrariViewer v6.5 (Terraria)

Si vous avez craqué pour Terraria, c'est que vous avez bon gout. Si le Minecraft-like 2D qu'il représente était un peu avare en contenu le jour de sa sortie, de nombreuses mises à jour vous auront convaincu de poursuivre l'aventure et de découvrir le jeu de fond en comble. Si vous n'avez pas le temps ou l'envie de faire les choses en bonne et due forme, TerrariViewer vous permettra d'éditer votre inventaire et donc de vous offrir n'importe quel objet du jeu en un seul click.

- Télécharger TerrariViewer v6.5 (780 Ko)

2012-12-21-31

[e27.sg] Get Slosht for cheap drinks

Group-buying deal sites may come by the dozen in the Asian region, but instead of offering the usual spa/manicure/restaurant deals, Malaysia-based startupSloshtis aiming to focus on one aspect: deep discounts for alcoholic beverages.

The site, which was launched in early August, works like any other group-buying deal site: you sign up, bid on a deal, and if enough people buy into it, boom – you’ll be getting your drink on like a rap star with a maxed out credit limit. Right now, there’s only one deal on offer – a bottle of Glen Grant 16 year old Single Malt Whiskey at half off for the beta launch party on August 18. Another twist are that the deals offered are one-night deals, where buyers have to redeem their deals on a particular date, so you’ll be in the company of other Slosht users on the night.

Top spenders of certain outlets or beverages would also get some extra privileges to the deal such as free parking, limited edition bottles, and other premiums thrown in.Slosht is run by Lau Chak Onn, who is also the founder of online greeting card service Foldees. We e-mailed Chak to get his thoughts on where we could see Slosht headed to in the near future.

How many users have signed up for Slosht?
We’re just at a few hundred users at the moment, which was a bit higher than our targeted group of friends and family. (Heheh.). The response has been pretty crazy so far since we’ve sold more than 50 bottles of single malt whisky, amounting to some RM15,000 in savings. Of course, the proof is in the punch, which is what happens afterwe expand beyond our loving and supportive friends and family.

Is Slosht going to expand outside Malaysia? If so, are you going to ramp up the sales staff to canvas separate markets?
Yes and yes! The concept is the only one of its kind in the world, in particular with the one-night concept. Malaysia’s a testing ground for us, and we definitely plan to fly it to many other countries in the near future once we’ve gotten Malaysia up and running.

So what does Slosht get out of the deal here? Does it involve taking a percentage cut, as with other group deal-buying sites?
At the moment, we’re taking a lower commission to reduce prices even more, but will eventually target around the same commission as other group-buying sites. Everything is negotiable at this point because we also want the outlet to put in budgets to make these events good; there’s no point of just taking all the money and leaving the outlet and our users high and dry (literally). For instance, in the pipeline, we’ve got absinthe flea markets and stout pong lined up. Our sell is that people enjoy themselves and associate that with outlets and booze brands.

You also mentioned about plans to make Slosht a more social experience compared to conventional group-buying sites, where it’s just about discounts. Would that mean more parties and drinking get-togethers?
Everything will be an on-the-ground party and drinking get together. And yes, we want it to become a community. We want you guys to talk to each other, outdrink each other, or pat each other on the back when one of you just got awarded Golden Elf status for consuming 1000 pints of Irish stout. Aside from that, let’s just keep it hush for now.

When will we start seeing some new deals coming along?
We’re limiting the number of deals for now simply because we’re at an experimental stage. Before we go and sell a whole bunch of deals, we want to know what works and what doesn’t. You can ask some outlets, we’ve actually told them to hold off till after Septermber, where we expect four to five deals, all trying different things to see what appeals most to consumers.

This article was syndicated with permission from e27, a media organization focused on the Asian technology startup industry.

(original url:http://e27.sg/2011/08/15/get-slosht-for-cheap-drinks/)

2012-12-21-408

Acer launches Iconia Touchbook in Australia

Even though they serve completely different target markets, one would be hard pressed to deny that both the notebook and desktop PCs have had more than their fair share of naysayers claiming that the both their form factors will eventually be replaced by smaller, more portable machines that feature lesser processing power. After all, the desktop PC has been facing competition from mobile notebooks as the computer of choice for the longest time, while typical laptops are already having to deal with the huge popularity of netbooks, along with the recently-introduced smartphone and tablets.

However, both form factors have also successfully defended their place in the computing ecosystem, and it appears that Acer has realized that one does not have to break the mould in order to deliver a completely new computing experience to the masses. After all, that is exactly what it has seemingly done with its recently-launched Iconia tablet PC, which appears to resemble a notebook more than a tablet.

According to Acer, the bottom touchscreen panel serves a wide variety of purposes, although most users will probably find that getting used to handling a full-sized keyboard without any form of tactile feedback is going to be the top priority in learning how to fully utilize the Iconia. That being said, Acer claims that users will not have to jump through any hoops in order to activate the touchscreen keyboard: rather all they have to do is to merely rest both hands on the screen and the virtual keyboard will magically appear. Additionally, the bottom screen also supports gesture control: this allows users to call up certain applications or start up specific tasks with little more than just a few flicks of their fingers.

Furthuremore, Acer claims that the Iconias lower screen can be used as an extension of the main display: this allows for dual-screen multitasking, or the viewing of digital content in a single large extended display.

Last but definitely not least, the Iconia uses Intels Core-i5 processor (no information about its model number), features a HDMI-out port and a 1.3 megapixel web camera. Backing up its multi-tasking capabilties are 4GB of memory and 64-GB of hard disk storage, although road warriors might find its paltry three hour a turn off. Ufortunately, this trade off is inevitable, as two displays are definitely going to put a huge strain on the Iconias battery.

Having said that, has the aforementioned information got you all envious about the Iconia? If so, you will probably have to have quite the long wait: the device is only available in Australia right now, and even then, it comes with a rather large pricetag of A$2,499. And with the US slated to receive its first shipments of the tablet in April, it goes without saying that Asia will probably get its stocks much later.

Sources: ZDnet, Channel News, Acer Taiwan

“birdemic shock and terror” might just be the last film you ever need to see

I suppose I should start by clarifying that headline just a tad —I don’t mean to imply that writer-director James Nguyen’s 2008 cinematic opus (and the latest big-time midnight cult sensation) Birdemic : Shock And Terror is literally the last film you should see out of the millions that are out there. Truth is, you should see it right away and watch and re-watch it often. What I mean is that after seeing it, you may just feel like you never need to see another movie. After all, whatever you watch next is only gonna disappoint you. It’s only gonna let you down. It’s only gonna leave you with a hollow, empty, unsatisfied feeling inside. Because it’s not Birdemic.

Yes, friends, I have been to the mountaintop. I have seen the promised land. I have found the Holy Grail of all bad films. And its’ name is Birdemic : Shock And Terror.

Since my first viewing, I’ve been hooked, and a strange sort of inner peace and serenity has settled over me. Inner turmoil and doubt and restlessness have disappeared from my life, replaced by a feeling of sublime satisfaction. A life-long quest is over. I feel — dare I say it — complete. My life is now divided into two distinct time periods — B.B. and A. B . Because surely this film can never be topped — and frankly it doesn’t even need to be.

But first a little background. Folks, the world is fucking ending. Oh, sure, not tomorrow, not next week, not next month, and maybe not even next year. Nope, nothiing so exciting. But the meter on our continued survival as a species is running. The hourglass is almost totally out of sand. And while you’ve been drinking beer, eating pizza, flipping channels, and occasionally trying to get laid, James Nguyen has been worrying. He’s been worrying enough for all of us. And he’s decided to get up off his ass and take action!

Ya see, there’s a little thing going on called global warming. Maybe you’ve heard of it. Al Gore made a movie about it called An Inconvenient Truth. It won an Oscar. James Nguyen saw it and it changed his fucking life! Up until that point, he’d just been a guy who loved Alfred Hitchcock and wanted to rip off his Master’s style with his HD video camera and no money. He even got Tippi Hedren herself to play a cameo role in one of his backyard “romantic thrillers” (and she pops up for a split-second here, too).? But the epiphany our guy James had watching the former VP warn us of our impending doom left him a changed man. Now, he was gonna do a dime-store Hitchcock knock-off with a message, goddamnit, and even if he had to stand on top of a chair and scream at the top of his lungs, he was gonna make sure he got noticed !

And I’ll be fucked if he didn’t do just that.

It has to be said, what Nguyen (obviously) lacks in talent and (even more obviously) lacks in funds, he more than makes up for in sheer bloody-minded earnestness and determination. Birdemic : Shock And Terror is hardly the most accomplished, professional, or even competent piece of filmmaking you’ll ever see, but it’s probably the absolute most sincere. And as for the determination I just referred to — well, when Sundance rejected James’ film for inclusion, he spent the entire week of the festival driving around Park City, Uta —, up and down the same couple of blocks over and over, in fact — in a minivan with plastic dead birds stuck to it and “BIRDEMIC” written all over it. Really. Say what you will for the man, but he damn sure believes in his work.

And you know what? So do I. Honestly, how can you not? It’s like the kid you went to school with who was so convinced of his own coolness in spit of the fact that he was as uncool as anyone could possibly be that after awhile you start to respect him and think that he really is cool because his belief in his awesomeness continues, unabated, in spit of all the evidence to the contrary staring him in the face. Nguyen is so utterly unflappable in his conviction that he’s made something of genuine, earth-shattering importance here that he doesn’t let the pesky fact that his leading man (Alan Bagh) is quite possibly the worst, most wooden “actor” (and believe me I use that term fucking loosely) to ever appear in front of camera, or that his CGI team has created the most incompetently-realized effects in cinematic history, or that the sound drops in and out during his movie at all times, detract from his essential belief in the rightness of his message. he doesn’t even let digressions into other topics like sermonizing against the Iraq war distract him for too long. He’s on a mission to save the world from global warming, and nothing’s gonna get in his way.

Shot entirely on the fly without permits, with his “stars” (Bagh and Whitney Moore, who can almost, sort-of act) doubling as his crew, and with no eye for little things like shot composition, basic acoustics, lighting, or even a sensible, comprehensible plot (despite the fact that a story about two young? Bay Area lovebirds who meet, get attacked by a marauding army of eagles and vultures, fight the airborne menaces off? with coat hangers and pistols , and live to see another day at the end is so simple that it really ought to make sense, sheer absurdity and all that aside), Birdemic : Shock And Terror is nothing if not a labor of deep, passionate, unhinged, stalker-ish love. Nguyen pursues his goal with the tenacity of? an ex who won’t leave you the fuck alone. Of? a sandwich that you keep tasting long after you want to. Of a that dude you hated in high school but friended on facebook anyway who messages you every time you’re online. Of an? overbearing relative who calls at the worst possible times and drones on for hours.

And like all many of those things, somehow, some way, for some reason — he wins you over. He reels you in like a fish. And like that fish , you’re hooked. For my part I can’t tell you how many times the thought of “damn, I could be watching Birdemic right now” has gone through my head over the last few months. There’s no escaping it. I’ve had it happen at work. I’ve had it happen while I’m driving. I’ve had it happen at the theater while I’m? watching another movie. I’ve had it happen while babysitting my niece and nephew (a fact I’m none too proud of, but there you have it). Fortunately, thanks to the fine folks at Severin Films, who have obtained exclusive worldwide distribution rights to this mighty statement of cinematic art, you can now scratch that Birdemic itch anytime on DVD or Blu-Ray, in a package loaded with extras that include two commentary tracks (one from Nguyen, who still seems somehow blissfully unaware of the fact that people are laughing at him and not with him, and one from Bagh and Moore — if you rent this film rather than buying it, make sure you listen to both of these in their entirety before returning the disc or you’ll seriously be missing out), a cable-access TV interview with Nguyen, footage from various live Birdemic screenings around the world, previews of Nguyen’s other film work, deleted scenes and outtakes, a preview for the upcoming documentary feature Moviehead : The James Nguyen Story, and lots of other goodies (on the technical front, the anamorphic widescreen transfer and stereo sound are as good as they’re gonna be given the technical limitations of both the equipment and the guy who made the film). This disc has got everything and the kitchen sink, and I urge you to hunt down a copy immediately. You’ll be thanking me for the rest of your life.

Okay, in fairness, there’s lots about this flick that makes no fucking sense whatsoever and that can only be answered by listening to the director’s commentary track. Questions like “why do some of the birds explode?” (they’ve turned toxic from global warming) and “what the hell is going on at the end with those tiny birds you can barely see?” (they’re doves, who represent peace and have come on the scene to call the attacking vultures and eagles off and give humanity another chance) aren’t actually, you know, answered on screen and I guess you could fairly make the claim that’s a big strike against Nguyen in the comprehensibility department. But no matter. Birdemic : Shock And Terror weaves a kind of occult rhythm around its viewers that makes you forget about pesky little details like “what the fuck exactly is going on here?” and just surrender to its bizarre internal reality. You won’t be able to resist it. You won’t want to. And you won’t care about ever seeing another movie again.

Because you’ve entered into B-movie nirvana. You have achieved everything you’ve ever sought. Your purpose in life has been fulfilled. You can die happy now.

And with that, I’m gonna quit writing about Birdemic : Shock And Terror and go watch it again.

grindhouse classics “scream bloody murder” (a.k.a. “the captive female”)

Continuing my perusal though the Chilling Classics cheapie 50-pack from Mill Creek last evening, I came across a surprising little gem from co-writer (along with Larry Alexander)/director Marc B. Ray (who apparently primarily made his living writing for kids’ shows like Lidsville and New Zoo Revue) that goes by the utterly ubiquitous grindhouse title of Scream Bloody Murder.

Shot in and around? Los Angeles and Venice, California locations in 1971, this evidently sat on the shelf until 1973 when it was released under the far more plot-appropriate name The Captive Female (but since every single DVD release it’s been given has been under the Scream Bloody Murder tag, that’s what we’ll go with here — it was also re-circulated under the name Matthew around 1976, hoping to cash in, I would guess, on the one-word-psycho title craze in the wake of Damien and all that), and it’s a pleasantly competent and atmospheric little zero-budgeter that features a couple of very strong lead performances from Leigh Mitchell and, most notably, Fred Holbert.

Our story opens with a young kid on a farm who decides to run over his dad with their tractor for whatever fucking reason. He hasn’t thought things though too well, though, and when he falls off the still-running tractor himself, it crushes his hand. Next thing you know it’s a good 10 or 15 years later and the kid (named Matthew, which you’d probably already guessed from the previous paragraph, and portrayed by Fred Holbert, which I’m betting you’d figured out, as well) has been fitted with a hook hand and is about to be released from an extended stay in the loony bin (whoever authorized this hopefully lost their job, because our guy Matthew is quite obviously still batshit crazy right from the outset).? He soon heads home to mother’s farm, and we learn in no time flat that the reason he killed is old man is because he’s got seriously unresolved Oedipal issues and wants to keep mommy all to himself.

Needless to say, when dear mother shows up at the door fresh from her marriage ceremony to a well-meaning “swell guy”-type of fella named Mr. Parsons, Matthew doesn’t take to the new situation too well. He quickly hacks Mr. Parsons to death with an axe, but when his mom discovers the murder-in-progress, a tussle ensues and she ends up breaking her neck on a rock. Matthew’s plan to keep her all to himself has apparently backfired again, just like it did when he was a kid, and next thing you know he’s on the road, trying to thumb a ride out of town before his crimes are discovered.

He’s picked up by a young newlywed couple who seem like nice enough folks, but when they pull over for a quick dip in the river, and get to making out, Matthew’s seen enough and starts throwing rocks at them and screaming “Don’t touch her!!!!!!!!!!!” at the guy. He ends up knocking the poor SOB dead, and when he goes to “rescue” the woman and promise her sweet nothings like “no one will ever have to touch you again,” he starts seeing images of his dead mom flashing in his mind and whaddaya know, he ends up strangling her and leaving the two dead bodies floating in the water.

Matthew’s forced to high-tail it out of town even faster now, and gets a lift in the back of a pickup truck to a serene beachfront community, where he quickly makes the acquaintance of a local free-spirit named Vera (Leigh Mitchell) who’s painting on a canvas in front of her bungalow. Matthew quickly takes a liking to her and asks if he can be her friend and Vera, trusting swinging 70s chick that she is, says sure, that would be nice. He even asks is he can call her Daisy (his late mother’s name), and for reasons I guess known only to her, she agrees.

Things get a bit complicated, though, when a drunken sailor shows up at her door, interrupting their conversation, and we learn that Vera’s a hooker (who apprently works out of her own house), and Matthew’s gotta make tracks so she can attend to business. Needless to say, this doesn’t exactly sit well with our hook-handed Oedipal loon, and he waits outside Vera’s place until nightfall, when the sailor departs , whereby he follows him to a bridge, kills him, and dumps his body in the river (after explaining to the guy that Vera hated it when he touched her, of course).

So the set-up here is pretty obvious, of course — the sexually-impotent Matthew is looking for a surrogate mommy-figure and is repulsed by the idea of any man getting it on with any of the women he comes across who might fulfill that role. The next morning, though, upon a return visit to Vera’s place (he doesn’t waste much time), he kicks his obsession into another gear and spins her a line of bullshit about how his dad is rich, he lives in a mansion, and he can take care of her from now on and she’ll nevver have to let any sailors touch her again.

Smelling his line for what it is, and finally figuring out this guy might not be that stable, she politely sends him on his way — but he promises he’ll be back to prove to her that his wild claims are true. And that’s when our breezy little psycho- tale takes a sudden turn for the even crazier —

Casing out a neighborhood in the ritzy part of town, Matthew rings the doorbell of the mansion of an elderly shut-in who’s attended to by her long-suffering maid. He quickly ingratiates himself to her by spouting some nonsense about his car being broken down around the corner and no one in the neighborhood being willing to let him come in and use their phone. She says “don;t that sound just like the people around here” and agrees to let him enter the kitchen and make a call, and he summarily fake-phones-up a non-existent auto repair shop while eyeing up the surroundings. The dog is barking. the maid is cutting up chicken with a meat cleaver.The old bat upstairs is screaming for her to come change the TV channel. She bitches back at her as she heads up the staircase, flips the fucking channel for the demanding wench, and when she comes back down, we’re treated to the very effective close-up of Matthew seen just above, he says those exact words in the caption, and next thing you know —

In short order, the old woman and the dog (relax, they don’t show it) are history, too, Matthew dumps their dead bodies in the basement, and he’s got himself a mansion and a Rolls Royce (or maybe it’s a Bentley, I dunno). Time to go romance his lady!

He shows up at her door, talks her into taking a ride over to his (supposed) palatial digs, and when they get there he lays his heavy trip on her about coming to live with him and letting him take care of her and not having to let any man ever touch her again and all that shit. Vera tries to calmly explain to him that she’s not for sale (well, okay, she is, but you know what I mean), and when that doesn’t work out, a hasty escape attempt results in her falling down the stairs and being knocked out cold.

I bet you can guess what happens next, can’t you? Yup, when Vera wakes up, she finds out she’s not going anywhere —

Now Matthew’s got Vera right where he wants her — namely tied-up and gagged in bed. And while the average movie maniac would take this occasion to — uhhmmm — have his way with the damsel in distress, hook-boy has an altogether different idea of a good time, He mugs an old lady, rips off a store, and soon he’s back home with groceries and art supplies. Regaling her with heartfelt platitudes like “Look what I got you! A steak! Whoever bought you that before, huh? Nobody, that’s who!” and? “See what I do for you? I get groceries, and clothes, and art stuff, and kill people — and do you appreciate it?” , it quickly becomes obvious that’s there’s bound to be some trouble in Matthew’s little paradise.

He feeds her while her hands are bound at the table and she spits the food back in his face. He leads her around the house on a fucking leash and forces her to paint because he knows she loves art. A couple of half-assed attempts at escape go nowhere. And finally Vera’s forced to fall back on her one proven set of skills in order to get out of there. She tells Matthew she needs a bath. He becomes nervous, as you’d expect by now, at the sight of her naked body. She figures he must be a virgin. And the full-on game of seduction begins —

Will Matthew fall prey to her charms? Will he get over his mommy hang-ups and decide he wants to fuck this admittedly rather fetching lady after all? And will she be able to use the confusion and/or straight-up horniness her feminine wiles cause to effect her escape? I’ve probably given away too damn much already, so I’ll leave that for you to find out!

Obviously, we’ve covered a plethora of films about serial killers with mommy fixations here before, but Scream Bloody Murder is definitely a cut above the rest. As I mentioned previously, both leads are very strong, with Mitchell oozing a type of self-aware confidence throughout, even in the most harrowing of situations and even (hell, especially) when compromising herself, and Holbert turning in a delightfully unbalanced performance that’s equal parts realistic and pathetic. Matthew is never portrayed as a sympathetic figure by director Ray by any means, and what could easily be a misogynistic tale in less capable hands is always quite clearly on the side of the victim, but you can’t help but be drawn Holbert’s utterly involving portrayal. You won’t sympathize with Matthew by any means, but you won’t be able to absolutely hate him, either. It’s a rare performance that’s both unsettling and — dare I say it — a lot of fun.

Scream Bloody Murder is a public domain film and has been released on DVD a number of times. From all I can gather, they’re all struck from the same print — it’s a? full-frame transfer that’s generally pretty crummy and washed-out looking, particularly in the early scenes outdoors, and the soundtrack is mono all the way. Both the rattiness of the visuals and the sound serve the material just fine, though, as this is a flick that’s definitely most at home swimming at the bottom of the grindhouse barrel (where, naturally, much of the best stuff is to be found). If you want bang for your buck, I’d say pick it up as either one of four films on the Blood-O-Rama DVD set from Superchiller (along with Black Mamba, Blood Theatre, and The Torture Chamber Of Dr. Sadism, if you must know), or better yet, get it as part of the 50-movie Chilling Classics box from Mill Creek, where you get hours and hours of pure cinema trash for around ten bucks.

All in all, this film is a genuine rarity — a sleaze flick not only with heart, but with soul. The sympathies of the audience are never once directed towards the killer, but Holbert is so damn convincing as Matthew that you’ll find yourself taken in by his side of the story, if you will, nevertheless. Everyone from a strident feminist to a diehard misogynist will find something to like here, and be able to interpret the events onscreen in a way that fits their worldview. Quite clearly the director’s POV is with the victim rather than the perpetrator, but the fine performances of the actors raise the stakes and even — almost — split your loyalties.

You obviously don’t want your daughter bringing Matthew home, by any means — but at least he’ll probably keep his hands off her. As long as she plays by his rules.

make a reservation with “the innkeepers”

Say what you will for the Paranormal Activity films (and I happen to rather like them myself, but that’s neither here nor there), but one thing they’ve done is make it acceptable to tell a good, old-fashioned ghost story again. And old-fashioned is the key word (well, okay, key compound word) here, because writer-director-editor Ti West’s 2011 indie horror offering ( I understand it was given a limited theatrical run, but it sure never made it to my neck of the woods) The Innkeepers is definitely a throwback in many ways.

For one thing, it’s pretty light on the gore and heavy on the atmospherics (and for atmospherics you simply can’t beat a story set in a real New England bed-and-breakfast-type establishment, in this case Connecticut’s Yankee Pedlar Inn, on its last weekend of operation before the owner shutters the pace for good) and character development, with a heavy dose of light-hearted comedy thrown in for good measure. The back-and-forth banter between lead characters Claire (Sara Paxton) and Luke (Pat Healy), two college dropouts turned bellhops/front desk attendants/luggage porters/whatever else the inn’s absentee owner needs them to be who decide to avail themselves of the opportunity to become webcam ghost hunters before their supposedly haunted place of employment closes its doors to the public is consistently fun and engaging throughout, and the end result is one of the most truly personable horror flicks in far too long. You genuinely find yourself caring about these people and not wanting anything bad to happen to either one of them.

The other principal person of interest here is one Leanne Rease-Jones (Kelly McGillis —yes you can officially stop asking “whatever happened to —?”), a washed-up sitcom actress turned new age “mystic seer” who might know more about the restless spirits wandering the halls of the Yankee Pedlar — but then again, might just be full of shit. Her interplay with Paxton’s star-struck Claire is likewise engaging and pitch-perfect from start to finish and never feels either forced or belabored;? the two just seem to have a natural chemistry together on screen that’s downright, dare I say it, even infectious at times.

So — small cast, simple set-up, ratchet up the tension incrementally to take us from slacker-duo-comedy to pleasantly-creepy haunted hotel story, throw in a few cheap scares, and you’ve got yourself the recipe for a 70s-style winner on your hands. In one of the two commentary tracks on Dark Sky Films’ newly-released DVD/Blu-Ray? of the film (there are two, one featuring? Ti West with various members of the crew, the other pairing him with stars Paxton and Healy — the other extra on offer being the requisite “making-of” featurette, in case you were wondering), West mentions how he wanted the opening credits sequence, featuring time-lapse photography of the inn throughout the years, to have an old-school, made-for-TV horror-movie feel to it, but in truth the entire production maintains that exact same aesthetic from the word “go,” and brings back fond memories of Tobe Hooper’s Salem’s Lot network mini-series, Dark Night Of The Scarecrow, and (the original) Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark. Groundbreaking? Hardly. Fun? Oh, most definitely.

All of which isn’t to say that The Innkeepers doesn’t have its flaws, some of which are even pretty glaring — the ending, particularly, feels a bit rushed and frankly falls pretty flat in its attempt to send chills up the spine, and a couple of the plot “revelations” are about as surprising as a combo meal lunch at McDonald’s, but that’s not the end of the world — it’s comforting familiarity that West (whose previous effort, The House Of The Devil, really didn’t impress me in the least) is aiming for here, a love letter to the kind of TV tales of the supernatural he undoubtedly grew up with, and in that respect he hits all the notes on his admittedly derivative, but nevertheless quite pleasing, song-sheet more or less exactly right.

In summation, then, while it’s certainly more than fair to say that? we’ve seen all this done before,? it’s been a long time — hell,?too? long — since anybody combined these familiar ingredients together? so successfully. The Innkeepers is a rare beast indeed — a horror movie that leaves a wide, beaming smile on your face as the end credits roll. Sure, it’s a new film, but it feels like you’ve just spent a pleasant evening catching up with an old friend — one you didn’t realize how much you’d missed until you saw them again.