Just Watched: Lake Fear (a.k.a. Cypress Creek) (2014)

wait...where's the lake??

One thing that sets horror films apart from many other genres is the ability to sell a movie to an audience that is full of unknowns. You don't need a big name director or stars, you just need to sell it with an interesting premise or some great art and you'll get people picking it up off of shelves and giving it a shot. Unfortunately this also leads to selling movies that are utter garbage. Lake Fear is an example of this.

Lake Fear tells, or so it says it does on the DVD case, the story of four girls who decide to visit this uninhabited cabin in the woods that they discover on you tube. When they arrive at the cabin, which is neither deep in the woods nor near a lake, it doesn't take long before things start to go wrong. Could it have something to do with that creepy doll in the cabin??

Apparently this cabin is deep in the woods

It becomes apparent really quickly that Lake Fear is not Evil Dead or Cabin in the Woods. While it has a fairly attractive cast it otherwise features rather uninterested acting and terrible sound featuring mostly irritating sounds and dialogue that is difficult to hear at times due to poor sound design or sounds playing right over the voices. Even when you can hear the voices they are muffled or echo.

What follows is what can best be described as random events with a lot of shaky cam, weird noises, some blood and poor special effects, evil looking teeth, ideas taken from Evil Dead and The Ring and no real semblance of a plot. The special effects are not quite as good as what you would see in a Facebook horror group with people showing pictures of stuff they have just done on themselves as they start having interest in horror make-up. Despite it's 82 minute run time it feels like it drags on forever.

This is a truly low budget feature shot on a budget of $8000 and it shows but even compared to recent low budget horror such as Die Die Delta Pi (2013) and Ghoulish Tales (2014) that also had poor sound it is really poor. Even fans of truly low budget films will be surely disappointed with this one as it really offers nothing worthwhile to anybody.

Uhh.. you're flying low??

Availability: Lake Fear is available on DVD with a very nice slipcover picturing an embossed and shiny cabin and lake with a skull complete with a commentary and trailer on the disc. The incredibly cheap looking menu is a hint of what's to come.

Whether you like low budget cinema or cabin in the woods type films, blood, gore, or any type of horror there is nothing here for you. With poor sound, acting , direction, and screenplay Lake Fear fails to offer value to anybody. Avoid at all costs.

Just Read: The Walking Dead Volume 1: Days Gone Bye (2006)

This is where it all started

Long before everybody knew The Walking Dead as a very popular TV show and video game series it was a series of graphic novels written by Robert Kirkman and illustrated by Tony Moore. It tried to tell a different zombie story that was more focused on human drama than the actual zombies themselves.

Volume 1 is the story of a man who wakes up in a hospital all alone. He walks out to find the city overrun by zombies, and his family is nowhere to be found. So, he sets out in search of his family and along the way he runs into zombies and also meets some people who he may be able to befriend. If you've watched the first season of the TV show then you've probably seen most of what's here.

The book itself is fairly nice. It's the typical size of trade paperbacks, is black and white, the pages are glossy, and there are 144 pages. Although the black and white is alright, it's a shame they still haven't released these comics in colour as it would really add to the books, and the glossy pages don't really go well with the black and white. The story itself is interesting, while you don't really get to learn a lot about the characters they do begin to get fleshed out, there's a good mix of zombie action and human drama, and the ending is a great cliffhanger. The art is decent, but could use a little more shading and a bit more difference in the appearance of some of the characters.

Availability: Days Gone Bye is available as the single volume trade paperback that's pictured above as well as a hardcover that collects the first twelve issues and the huge The Walking Dead Conpendium Volume 1 paperback which collects the first 48 issues. As mentioned above none are in colour.

If you're interested in the humble beginnings of The Walking Dead or want an enjoyable zombie graphic novel then definitely check out Days Gone Bye, but if you're not a fan of the show or want something a little more humorous or focused on zombies you may want to look elsewhere. This follows very closely to the beginning of the show so if you want new stories you are better off skipping further ahead in the graphic novel series.

Coming Soon: Dead Island 2 for Xbox One, PS4 and PC

Dead Island 2 developer Yager (Spec Ops The Line) have released the first gameplay trailer for the game, and it looks very bloody, violent and amazing. Despite it being pre-alpha footage it is already looking like one of the first must buys for the current generations of consoles. While the original Dead Island was a lot of fun and a popular game it was also very glitchy and flawed, but there's faith in Yager that they will give us something that runs a lot smoother and has a somewhat interesting story. Check out the trailer.

Wishes Do Come True: Shout Factory Bringing Dolls to Blu-ray

DOLLS IS COMING TO BLU-RAY!!!!!

After wishing for Scream Factory to release Dolls (1987) on Blu-ray it seems wishes really do come true as it's coming out November 11th according to their official site. Details are slim at the moment but we do know it's only releasing on Blu-ray this time (no combo pack) and it's one disc. The cover also has new exclusive art which is far superior to the lame poster the movie originally had. No details on bonus features, but knowing Scream Factory we should expect some nice new bonuses along with a great audio and video transfer. Stay tuned for more.

Click here for more on the release.

Coming Soon: Zombeavers

gotta love that tagline

Just when you thought everything had been done in horror movies Zombeavers comes along. We've seen killer sharks, bears, snakes, alligators, monkeys and even sheep. Now add beavers to the list. It's going to play as a horror-comedy and feature some good 'ol practical effects for the beavers. It's currently playing at the Film4 Frightfest in the UK and hopefully will have a home release before too long. Check out the trailer below. What do you think??

Coming Soon: Sabrina the Teenage Witch Re-imagined

Sabrina's got a new look again!!

Following in the footsteps of the highly successful Afterlife with Archie Archie comics has revealed a similar re-imagining for Sabrina the Teenage Witch. This isn't the first time Sabrina has had a makeover as she's had a live action T.V. show, low budget cartoon and manga comic among others. The new series will start in September and tell a new darker origin of Riverdale's young witch. Written by Afterlife with Archie's Roberto Aguierre-Sacasa and illustrated by Robert Hack and Jack Morelli it looks promising and hopefully Archie Comics has another hit on their hands.

For more info visit the  Archie Comics Blog by clicking here

Coming Soon: Escape Dead Island for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC

According to gaming website Polygon, Deep Silver will be releasing another Dead Island game. No, not Dead Island 2 that's due in 2015, but a last gen $40 release of a third person mystery/survival game called Escape Dead Island.

It's being developed by Fatshark (Bionic Commando Rearmed 2), is single player only, and is due this fall. While the game looks pretty interesting it looks more like a downloadable title than a $40 one.

For more info visit Polygon's website by clicking here