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[Review] Castlevania- Dracula’s Revenge

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Netflix has been building up a reputation for great and entertaining original content with their multitude of original series, and that trend continues with Castlevania. While the first season was short it is packed to the brim with interesting characters, gore, and and plenty of callbacks to the series’ video game roots. Thankfully Netflix has already announced that a second season of Castlevania is on the way, we will just have to wait for a release date though.

There were a lot of elements in this series that helped to make it the success that it was, however the biggest influence was the multiple references to the video games, specifically Castlevania 3: Dracula’s Curse and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Dracula’s curse however was the major influence on this season’s writing and story, though the story is still original and not a retelling of the game.

There are many elements to the story that deserve praise, but the biggest of all is definitely the voice acting. When the series was first revealed to be animated over live action, it was immediately apparent that talented voice actors would be necessary for the show to be taken seriously. Every character feels like they just stepped out of a Castlevania game, and that is fantastic especially for characters who existed previously in the franchise.

Dracula for example starts the series off by meeting his future wife, the one person in the entire world who he truly loved. Only for her to be murdered by a corrupt clergy and send Dracula on a quest for revenge against mankind. Any fan of Castlevania knows that when Dracula is attempting to end the world, only a Belmont can stop him.

Trevor Belmont is the vampire hunter present in the first season and right from his induction it is clear that he isn’t like other Belmont fans are familiar with. He is far more of a reluctant hero type rather than a vampire hunting hero. Trevor spends most of his time in the first season trying to drink his problems away and ignore the world as it burns around him, before finally breaking out vampire killer.

Netflix Castlevania

The series has a multitude of high points from great and accurate characters to the awesome and constant gore and demon slayings. But nothing is perfect, and that also applies to Castlevania. The major complaint with the first season is it’s length. At only 4 episodes and each episode being 20 minutes long, there isn’t much room for actual story to happen.

The entire first season felt like a quick role call of characters and a nice way to fill everyone in as to what is happening. Yes a second season is on the way, hopefully with more episodes, however that doesn’t change the fact that the first season felt like a crash course into the actual story to come and nothing more.

Netflix Castlevania

There was no actual story arc or real character development, everything that happens is building up to an exciting story only to be slapped in the face and told “No, you get to wait for the interesting bits.” That being said, the first season as a whole, was still entertaining and a fun time while binging it.

Castlevania, much like the titular video games, is rough around the edges but still a great time. Any fan of the games or Gothic story telling in general should give the series a watch, even for newcomers to the series it’s still entertaining and easy to follow. Hopefully the second season will add more to the story, and a focus on the characters.

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The Pope’s Exorcist Officially Announces New Sequel

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The Pope’s Exorcist is one of those films that’s just fun to watch. It isn’t the most terrifying film around, but there’s something about Russel Crow (Gladiator) playing a wise cracking Catholic priest that just feels right.

Screen Gems seems to agree with this assessment, as they have just officially announced that The Pope’s Exorcist sequel is in the works. It makes sense that Screen Gems would want to keep this franchise going, considering the first film scared up almost $80 million with a budget of only $18 million.

The Pope's Exorcist
The Pope’s Exorcist

According to Crow, there may even be a The Pope’s Exorcist trilogy in the works. However, recent changes with the studio may have put the third film on hold. In a sit-down with The Six O’Clock Show, Crow gave the following statement about the project.

“Well that’s in discussion at the moment. The producers originally got the kick off from the studio not just for one sequel but for two. But there’s been a change of studio heads at the moment, so that’s going around in a few circles. But very definitely, man. We set that character up that you could take him out and put him into a lot of different circumstances.”

Crow has also stated that film’s source material involves twelve separate books. This would allow the studio to take the story in all kinds of directions. With that much source material, The Pope’s Exorcist could even rival The Conjuring Universe.

Only the future will tell what becomes of The Pope’s Exorcist. But as always, more horror is always a good thing.

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New ‘Faces of Death’ Remake Will Be Rated R For “Strong Bloody Violence and Gore”

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In a move that should surprise absolutely no one, the Faces of Death reboot has been given an R rating from the MPA. Why has the film been given this rating? For strong bloody violence, gore, sexual content, nudity, language, and drug use, of course.

What else would you expect from a Faces of Death reboot? It would honestly be alarming if the film received anything less than an R rating.

Faces of death
Faces of Death

For those unaware, the original Faces of Death film released in 1978 and promised viewers video evidence of real deaths. Of course, this was just a marketing gimmick. Promoting a real snuff film would be a terrible idea.

But the gimmick worked, and franchise lived on in infamy. The Faces of Death reboot is hoping to gain the same amount of viral sensation as its predecessor. Isa Mazzei (Cam) and Daniel Goldhaber (How to Blow Up a Pipeline) will spearhead this new addition.

The hope is that this reboot will do well enough to recreate the infamous franchise for a new audience. While we don’t know much about the film at this point, but a joint statement from Mazzei and Goldhaber gives us the following info on the plot.

“Faces of Death was one of the first viral video tapes, and we are so lucky to be able to use it as a jumping off point for this exploration of cycles of violence and the way they perpetuate themselves online.”

“The new plot revolves around a female moderator of a YouTube-like website, whose job is to weed out offensive and violent content and who herself is recovering from a serious trauma, that stumbles across a group that is recreating the murders from the original film. But in the story primed for the digital age and age of online misinformation, the question faced is are the murders real or fake?”

The reboot will have some bloody shoes to fill. But from the looks of it, this iconic franchise is in good hands. Unfortunately, the film does not have a release date at this time.

That’s all the information we have at this time. Make sure to check back here for more news and updates.

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Panic Fest 2024 Review: ‘The Ceremony Is About To Begin’

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People will look for answers and belonging in the darkest places and the darkest people. The Osiris Collective is a commune predicated upon ancient Egyptian theology and was run by the mysterious Father Osiris. The group boasted dozens of members, each forgoing their old lives for one held in the Egyptian themed land owned by Osiris in Northern California. But the good times take a turn for the worst when in 2018, an upstart member of the collective named Anubis (Chad Westbrook Hinds) reports Osiris disappearing while mountain climbing and declaring himself the new leader. A schism ensued with many members leaving the cult under Anubis’ unhinged leadership. A documentary is being made by a young man named Keith (John Laird) whose fixation with The Osiris Collective stems from his girlfriend Maddy leaving him for the group several years ago. When Keith gets invited to document the commune by Anubis himself, he decides to investigate, only to get wrapped up in horrors he couldn’t even imagine…

The Ceremony Is About To Begin is the latest genre twisting horror film from Red Snow‘s Sean Nichols Lynch. This time tackling cultist horror along with a mockumentary style and the Egyptian mythology theme for the cherry on top. I was a big fan of Red Snow‘s subversiveness of the vampire romance sub-genre and was excited to see what this take would bring. While the movie has some interesting ideas and a decent tension between the meek Keith and the erratic Anubis, it just doesn’t exactly thread everything together in a succinct fashion.

The story begins with a true crime documentary style interviewing former members of The Osiris Collective and sets-up what led the cult to where it is now. This aspect of the storyline, especially Keith’s own personal interest in the cult, made it an interesting plotline. But aside from some clips later on, it doesn’t play as much a factor. The focus is largely on the dynamic between Anubis and Keith, which is toxic to put it lightly. Interestingly, Chad Westbrook Hinds and John Lairds are both credited as writers on The Ceremony Is About To Begin and definitely feel like they’re putting their all into these characters. Anubis is the very definition of a cult leader. Charismatic, philosophical, whimsical, and threateningly dangerous at the drop of a hat.

Yet strangely, the commune is deserted of all cult members. Creating a ghost town that only amps up the danger as Keith documents Anubis’ alleged utopia. A lot of the back and forth between them drags at times as they struggle for control and Anubis keeps continuing to convince Keith to stick around despite the threatening situation. This does lead to a pretty fun and bloody finale that fully leans into mummy horror.

Overall, despite meandering and having a bit of a slow pace, The ceremony Is About To Begin is a fairly entertaining cult, found footage, and mummy horror hybrid. If you want mummies, it delivers on mummies!

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