News
Game Review: ‘Silver Chains’ is Immersive, Creepy First-Person Horror
“Madness is out to get you” says the trailer forĀ Silver Chains, a new first-person horror game from game developers at Cracked Head Games and published by Headup available on PC from Steam today, and honestly they aren’t wrong.
As the game opens, a man named Peter has just run his car into a tree. As he stumbles from the wreckage, he sees an old house nearby. It looks abandoned save for one light glowing in a window upstairs. Hurt and alone, he begins to walk to the house in hopes of finding help.
Peter collapses unconscious at the back of the house, but wakes to find himself inside, and that’s where his real nightmare begins.
On the surface,Ā Silver Chains is your basic solve the mystery of the haunted house type game. Your objective is to explore the three floors of the house, piecing together the story of its former inhabitants and how you, as Peter, fit into its history.
Along the way are a host of puzzles to solve, rooms to explore, and I cannot express to you enough how important it is to pay attention to every detail you see because even the most minute detail can be important later in the game.
Then there are the ghosts themselves. Yes, this house is haunted by more than its history.
Most of the spirits you will come in contact with while playingĀ Silver Chains are harmless enough. They appear just long enough to scare the hell out of you before disappearing in a cloud of dark smoke.
Others, however, are vicious and they can and will kill you unless you can successfully hide in time to avoid their detection. Quick decisions are key in these situations so give yourself a break if you die a couple of times, but be prepared. The auto-save points in the game are spaced out in places so you might find yourself “solving” portions of puzzles you’ve already completed in order to get back to where you left off.
As in any good haunted house game, film, or story, the environment itself is its own character and the house inĀ Silver Chains is no different. Each of its three floors is beautifully rendered and textured, and filled with paintings, photographs and sculptures.
The lighting is gorgeous, though you might have to play with your brightness settings a couple of times to get them set exactly the way you need them.
Likewise, the score for the game is lush and atmospheric adding an essential layer of suspense to Peter’s investigation of the house.
Silver Chains is a relatively short game–you can easily play through it in a few hours–but it is filled with challenging puzzles, genuinely scary moments, and an intricate and sad story that will keep you on the edge of your seat from the moment Peter wakes up inside the haunted mansion.
Check out the trailer below, and downloadĀ Silver Chains from Steam today!
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Movies
Mike Flanagan Comes Aboard To Assist in Completion of ‘Shelby Oaks’
If you have been following Chris Stuckmann on YouTube you are aware of the struggles he has had getting his horror movie Shelby Oaks finished. But thereās good news about the project today. Director Mike Flanagan (Ouija: Origin Of Evil, Doctor SleepĀ andĀ The Haunting) is backing the film as a co-executive producer which might bring it much closer to being released.Ā Flanagan is a part of the collective Intrepid Pictures which also includes Trevor Macy and Melinda Nishioka.
Stuckmann is a YouTube movie critic whoās been on the platform for over a decade. He came under some scrutiny for announcing on his channel two years ago that he would no longer be reviewing films negatively. However contrary to that statement, he did a non-review essay of the panned Madame Web recently saying, that studios strong-arm directors to make films just for the sake of keeping failing franchises alive. It seemed like a critique disguised as a discussion video.
But Stuckmann has his own movie to worry about. In one of Kickstarterās most successful campaigns, he managed to raise over $1 million for his debut feature film Shelby Oaks which now sits in post-production.
Hopefully, with Flanagan and Intrepid’s help, the road to Shelby Oak’s completion is reaching its end.
āItās been inspiring to watch Chris working toward his dreams over the past few years, and the tenacity and DIY spirit he displayed while bringing Shelby Oaks to life reminded me so much of my own journey over a decade ago,” Flanagan told Deadline. “Itās been an honor to walk a few steps with him on his path, and to offer support for Chrisā vision for his ambitious, unique movie. I canāt wait to see where he goes from here.ā
Stuckmann says Intrepid Pictures has inspired him for years and, “itās a dream come true to work with Mike and Trevor on my first feature.”
Producer Aaron B. Koontz of Paper Street Pictures has been working with Stuckmann since the beginning is also excited about the collaboration.
āFor a film that had such a hard time getting going, itās remarkable the doors that then opened to us,ā said Koontz. āThe success of our Kickstarter followed by the on-going leadership and guidance from Mike, Trevor, and Melinda is beyond anything I could have hoped for.ā
Deadline describes the plot of Shelby Oaks as follows:
“A combination of documentary, found footage, and traditional film footage styles, Shelby Oaks centers on Miaās (Camille Sullivan) frantic search for her sister, Riley, (Sarah Durn) who ominously disappeared in the last tape of her āParanormal Paranoidsā investigative series. As Miaās obsession grows, she begins to suspect that the imaginary demon from Rileyās childhood may have been real.”
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Movies
New ‘MaXXXine’ Image is Pure 80s Costume Core
A24 has unveiled a captivating new image of Mia Goth in her role as the titular character in “MaXXXine”. This release comes approximately a year and a half after the previous installment in Ti West’s expansive horror saga, which covers more than seven decades.
His latest continues the story arc of freckle-faced aspiring starlet Maxine Minx from the first film X which took place in Texas in 1979. With stars in her eyes and blood on her hands, Maxine moves into a new decade and a new city, Hollywood, in pursuit of an acting career, “But as a mysterious killer stalks the starlets of Hollywood, a trail of blood threatens to reveal her sinister past.”
The photo below is the latest snapshot released from the film and shows Maxine in full Thunderdome drag amid a crowd of teased hair and rebellious 80s fashion.
MaXXXine is set to open in theaters on July 5.
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News
Netflix Releases First BTS ‘Fear Street: Prom Queen’ Footage
It’s been three long years since Netflix unleashed the bloody, but enjoyable Fear Street on its platform. Released in a tryptic fashion, the streamer broke up the story into three episodes, each taking place in a different decade which by the finale were all tied together.
Now, the streamer is in production for its sequel Fear Street: Prom Queen which brings the story into the 80s. Netflix gives a synopsis of what to expect from Prom Queen on their blog site Tudum:
“Welcome back to Shadyside. In this next installment of the blood-soaked Fear Street franchise, prom season at Shadyside High is underway and the schoolās wolfpack of It Girls is busy with its usual sweet and vicious campaigns for the crown. But when a gutsy outsider is unexpectedly nominated to the court, and the other girls start mysteriously disappearing, the class of ā88 is suddenly in for one hell of a prom night.”
Based on R.L. Stine’s massive series of Fear Street novels and spin-offs, this chapter is number 15 in the series and was published in 1992.
FEAR STREET: PROM QUEEN IS NOW IN PRODUCTION š©ø Welcome to Shadyside High. We're gonna have a killer time. pic.twitter.com/jDl0zRa2CH
— Netflix (@netflix) April 30, 2024
Fear Street: Prom Queen features a killer ensemble cast, including India Fowler (The Nevers, Insomnia), Suzanna Son (Red Rocket, The Idol), Fina Strazza (Paper Girls, Above the Shadows), David Iacono (The Summer I Turned Pretty, Cinnamon), Ella Rubin (The Idea of You), Chris Klein (Sweet Magnolias, American Pie), Lili Taylor (Outer Range, Manhunt) and Katherine Waterston (The End We Start From, Perry Mason).
No word on when Netflix will drop the series into its catalog.
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