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Reviews
Sick of It (2018)
Something for everyone
If you're going to watch this because of Karl's stupidity and frankly crazy look on life, it's nothing like anything he has done before. And for me, that was in a good way. Karl brings a fresh new series to TV that has something for everyone; laughs, tears and plenty of obscure moments. Although in interviews with the bald mank he says that the show doesn't have any of his crazy story's from childhood, I think that there is definitely a little bit in the show. If you liked the Ricky Gervais Show, and anything with Kark, you won't get Sick Of This!
Marianne (2019)
Masterpiece of French Horror
I first saw the trailer for this new Netflix original during the summer, I remember thinking that it will turn out to be a huge disappointment for horror because so many 'horror' films nowadays are simply boring, full of predictable jump scares and lack story.
I watched the first episode of Marianne at night when it came out, Netflix automatically placed English dubbed audio over the top of the French original audio, I strongly recommend watching the entire series in French with English subtitles because of the cringe and bad quality English voice acting.
The first episode, particularly towards the end echoed great horror films like Hereditary and The Witch. I was scared like I've never been so scared by any horror tv or film nowadays. Close camera shots that restrict the audience from seeing behind the character immediately intensifies throughout the series and you are forced to feel on edge at all times. There are some jump scares, however they are very well executed and work well to terrify the audience. I particularly liked the editing of the series and how the Kuleshov effect was used to link certain things together.
Strongly recommend 9/10
The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan (2019)
A huge let down...
After thoroughly enjoying 2015's Until Dawn and the intriguing as well as frightening storyline, I was very happy to hear that the developers (Supermassive Games) were creating a new Anthology series of horror games.
I first saw the trailer to this game back when it had originally been released in summer 2019 and I thought that it looked like a great new horror game experience after the refreshing instalment of Until Dawn back in 2015. From the trailer, the game showed us as an audience that there would be a similar game mechanic to Until Dawn with the choice system that would create a 'butterfly effect' in which actions would affect what would happen to characters and events in the future.
I pre-ordered the game on PS4 and played it as soon as it was released. I did enjoy the first act where the group are introduced and set off on the boat, however after that, the game fell short. Everything seemed rushed and the writing for the character's felt forced and unnatural. On top of this, the controls were very clunky and half of the time that I played was trying to get the character I was playing as to get unstuck out of the corner of the room or in a doorway.
Although there were a few good jump-scares, the game offered no storyline that came with Until Dawn in which there was the legend of the Wendigo, however in Man of Medan, there was no such explanation about the Ourang Medan and it's legend. Furthermore, the game, for me, did not have any creep factor to it and by the end, all of the 'scary zombie-like monsters' were all explained as a hallucination.
The ending to the game was absoloutely appalling and rushed. On my first playthrough I managed to kill two of the main characters and by the end of the game, the remaining characters did not seem like they were feeling emotional at all.
In conclusion, Until Dawn is much better but I hope the next instalment in the anthology series will be better.
3/10