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It’s been a long time since I last covered a video game on the site, and while this one isn’t strictly a horror-based game, it does share some elements at times. When I first saw the ads for the game, I know I had to get it once I bought a PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 system. Now that I’m a proud PS3 owner, it was only a matter of time until I picked it up, and I was very happy with it once I did. So, let’s take a look at Batman: Arkham Asylum!
The story starts with the Joker being brought to Arkham Asylum after one of his typical crime spree escapes. As he arrives, Batman brings him into the facility. Security straps Joker to a standing gurney and they start wheeling him into the facility. Batman gets suspicious of Joker’s attitude and tags along (leading into the first interactive session where you walk with the group, listening to conversations and even getting to talk to some of the personnel). After a brief encounter with a chained and sedated Killer Croc, the group reaches a roomd eep in the bowels of the facility. Security stops Batman here while they take Joker in for processing, and here’s where Joker makes his escape, causing Batman to bust into the room. Unfortunately for Bats, this is just what the Joker wanted. The trap is sprung and Batman’s in for a night he won’t soon forget…
One of the major reasons for the game's inclusion on Happy Horror
I had a great time with this game. Everything about it was exceptionally done, from the graphics to the sound effects to just about everything else. Just to show an example of the attention to detail, Batman’s costume will actually take on battle damage as the night goes on.
Voice-wise, you couldn’t ask for a better cast. Batman, Joker, Clayface and Harley Quinn are all played by their voice actors from Batman: The Animated Series (Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Ron Perlman and Arleen Sorkin, respectively). This rendition of the Joker is quite a bit darker than they got away with on BTAS, as well. Rounding out the voice cast is Tom Kane (Commissioner Gordon and Warden Quincy Sharp) who has also voiced Yoda in various Star Wars video games and Magneto in several Marvel-based games; Steve Blum (Killer Croc) who’s had a long history of playing Wolverine in different X-Men related video games and shows; Danny Jacobs (Victor Zsasz) who’s voiced King Julien in the Madagascar series and played Borat in the infamous Epic Movie; Tasia Valenza (Poison Ivy) who plays Ultimecia in Dissidia: Final Fantasy and Spider-Woman in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance; Wally Wingert (the Riddler) has various voice roles on Family Guy as well as playing Jon Arbuckle in several recent Garfield series; and Adrienne Barbeau (Dr. Gretchen Whistler) who has a long career that includes such films as Swamp Thing, The Fog (1980 version), the first Cannonball Run film and the first Creepshow film.
The historical background of Batman’s comic book stories shines through, also. Littered around the island that the Asylum is built upon are clues set out by the Riddler that refer to characters both popular and obscure. When you scan the item the riddle refers to, it unlocks a character profile for that person. Certain characters also have interview recordings you can find that delve deeper in their psyches, with Dr. Harleen Quinzel’s fall to madness and becoming the maniacal Harley Quinn being the most powerful, in my opinion (with Riddler’s ranting about Batman himself coming a close second).
Gameplay itself is fluid. It’s very easy to learn the moves that Batman can perform in battle. Throwing his Batarangs has a simple autotargeting system for thugs, and along the way you pick up more tools and upgrades to help you in your quest to take down the Joker, along with his thuggish goon squad. Also, for those people who like to be a little sneakier in their dealings, there’s a fully realized stealth system, also. One of the most fun times I had in the game was creeping through the shadows, sneaking up on Joker’s henchmen and dealing a stealth attack, then leaving the unconscious henchman there for his buddies to find.
ALl in all, it should come as no surprise that I’ve given Batman: Arkham Asylum 5 out of 5. In my opinion, this game proves that not all video games based off of licensed characters are inherently bad. Also note, there’s an Arkham Asylum 2 game in the works for release next year (barring delays, of course)! So, until next time, this is Red Hawk signing out!
My first review back and I’ve got a bit of a doozy. I was actually supposed to review Deadgirl with the movie I was sent, but instead was sent PVC-1. That’s alright, though, I thought, I can still get a good review from this one. Several months later, I’ve finally watched the movie and am ready to bring you the nitty gritty, and there is a lot of it in this film.
The film starts with a shot of a leather-bound package in a young man’s lap as he sits in the back of a truck driving down the road. The camera pans around the truck to reveal the rest of this motley crew: a teenage boy, a woman driving the truck, an older man in the passenger seat, and another older man sitting across from the two younger men. The camera focuses again on the package, which the teenager starts poking with a knife, getting some yelling from both older men for his troubles. Finally, the truck arrives at its destination and they put on masks and disembark.
While one of their number disables the electricity, the others bust into a farmhouse where a family lives. While they round up most of the family, the camera pans through several corridors through the farm to an old barn where the wife is at, feeding a little chick. The film affords us a few quiet moments here when suddenly two of the invaders bust in and drag her back to the farmhouse. With all of the family assembled, the abductors demand 15 million pesos from the father, who denies having that much money. Not believing him, the gunmen measure around his neck with a tape measure, but then throw him to the ground and drag his wife into the chair. When she denies the ability to give them any money, the gunman with the leather-bound package brings it into the room, sets it on her lap and reveals… some PVC pipe connected by wires. Slowly, he paints the joints with Super glue and connects it around her neck, putting black tape over the edges for good measure.
After telling the family to look down, the gunmen disappear, leaving the family alone to untie themselves. After they release themselves, they’re left to ponder the tube wrapped around the mother’s neck. She tries to lift it off, but finding it stuck tight, tells her daughter to get some cooking oil to try to slide it off. They still have no luck removing it when the youngest daughter finds the package it came in sitting on a table. The family finds a cassette tape in a pocket of it and, using a portable tape player, find out that the tube is a bomb, that it’ll explode if tampered with, or if they try to call the police. This is the start of a very dramatic hour…
The performances in the movie were well done. Being set in Colombia, the language is Spanish, with English subtitles. They do well getting the emotions of the moment across, and the actors playing the father and mother really seemed like a genuine couple. Heck, I felt like I was watching it as it unfolded, like they were the real characters. (Incidentally, the film is based on something that really happened in 2000.) The film was shot in real time. In fact, it was all filmed in one continuous take, no cutting away or editing or anything. While this led to some slower moments to the film (the family’s trek through the forest comes to mind), it did manage to keep the suspense going.
All in all, I give the film a 4 out of 5. Tune in tomorrow for another first-look property that you might’ve seen in bookstores by now. Until next time, this is Red Hawk signing out!
I feel the need to explain my long absence from the website. My computer has been suffering from a bit of adware that had endeavoured to keep me from getting online on my computer. Since I wasn’t able to get online at home I wasn’t able to update. (I wasn’t about to try posting via my local library’s computers, either!)
So, after a quick reformat, I’m back! My computer’s cleaned up and running faster than it has in a long time, everything’s in working order again, and I’m ready to start posting articles again. I’ve got a couple things to cover that have been waiting a long time for an article, as well as last October’s Friday the 13th and Halloween films to catch up on. So, keep an eye here as I do my best to play catch up! Until my first real review, this is Red Hawk signing out!
Hey, there, everyone! It’s October 1st, and you longtime readers of my site know what that means. It’s time for the month-long celebration of all that’s horror, Happy Horrorween, where I (attempt to) bring you an article every day of the month of October. I’ve got everything planned out well this month, so it should go alot smoother than previously, but we’ll see how it goes. So, on with the festivities!
Let me ask you something, dear readers… do you like haunted houses? The kind set up by people or organizations where you walk through and have people jump out at you and scare the hell out of you? I’ve always been fascinated by them, even wanted to set one up, myself, but so far lack of funds has been a bit of a stumbling block. Maybe someday in the future I’ll be able to, but for now, I’ll have to settle with decorating the yard. At any rate, the people behind the haunted house Nightmare in New York approached me to help promote theirs, and I was happy to oblige.
In its sixth year running, Nightmare was rated America’s #1 Haunted Attraction by AOL Cityguide. Created by Timothy Haskell, the haunt takes people through a themed bunch of scares every year. This year’s theme is vampires, and it looks like it’ll be a good one. Here’s what the website says about the vampire theme:
Now in its sixth year and at a new location, NIGHTMARE’S fully immersive haunted house takes haunting to a whole new level. Get ready to play your part in NIGHTMARE: VAMPIRES, a unique haunted attraction that unfolds as an original horror story! Set in the Museum of Vampyric Artifacts (MoVa), the world’s first vampire museum features antiquities related to vampires from the headlines, in the media and from around the world. However, when MoVa and everyone in it are attacked by blood-lusting maniacs, you won’t just be viewing the exhibits on display…you’ll be running from them! Witness the birth of a new vampire legend!
You don’t know how much I wish I could go through this attraction, but unfortunately, I’m on the other side of the country. It looks to be a fun time. If you want to check out the info on the attraction, you can find it here:
http://www.hauntedhousenyc.com/
On the front page is a little promo talking about vampires of folklore which I found pretty cool. Also, to follow Mr. Haskell’s own entries about the attraction, there’s his blog here:
http://www.iscareyou.com/
It’s really interesting, talking about some of the behind-the-scenes stuff, as well as an article called "Are Vampires Scary?" One of my favorite parts of that entry is this: "You think you are so familiar with them that they don’t present any unique threat. You’d be wrong. I take care of the Edward Cullen’s and the Bill Compton’s and the Lestat’s of the world very early on. The rest is a house teeming with beasts you are wholly unfamiliar with, who do things in a way that you have never encountered and will not be comfortable with."
Finally, I want to show you a pic from it, of their Elizabeth Bathory:
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All in all, it looks like a fun time. If you’re in or going to be in the NYC area and want to check it out, it’s located at the NOHO Center, 623 Broadway at Houston. The above Haunted House website has a location marker on its site, also, so you can see where it’s at from there, if you need to find it. Take care of yourselves, and this is Red Hawk signing out!
I recently received word of the first two films announced for the 2010 After Dark Horrorfest and wanted to share them with you, our readers. As you all know, I’m a big fan of the Horrorfest films, and am once again looking forward to seeing them.
The first one announced is called The Graves, written and directed by the man who brought us the comics Lady Death and Evil Ernie, Brian Pulido. The film stars Clare Grant, Jillian Murray, Bill Moseley, D. Randall Blythe from heavy metal group Lamb of God, and HH Hall of Fame inductee Tony Todd. Here’s what the press release I received said about the film’s plot:
In The Graves, two inseparable sisters, Megan and Abby Graves, are taking one last wild road trip before Megan has to start a new job. The journey includes a trip through remote Arizona in search of a kitchy roadside attraction. Instead, Megan and Abby happen on Skull City Mine, a weather-beaten, abandoned mine town converted into a self-guided tour. What seems like a fun day in the sun turns into a mind-bending fight for survival against menaces both human and supernatural.
Looks pretty good to me! Now, our second Horrorfest feature is called Dread, and it’s based off of one of Clive Barker’s stories, and Barker also produces the film. The film stars Jackson Rathbone from the Twilight films and The Last Airbender, Shaun Evans from Boy A, Hanne Steen and Laura Donnelly. Here’s the short summary for Dread:
DREAD is the second film in the Book of Blood franchise. The action follows three college students who set out to produce a documentary about fear, only to find themselves the subjects of an experiment in terror.
Definitely looks interesting to me. I’ve always been interested in fear and also always been interested in Clive Barker’s work so this definitely look like a good one. The Books of Blood is also where Midnight Meat Train came from. Keep watching this site where I’ll bring you more Horrorfest info as soon as I get it. Take care everyone, and this is Red Hawk signing out!
Hey, everyone! I know I promised the review of "Zombie" today, but that’s taking a little longer than I thought to work out, but I have something else for you now. Asylum.com asked the Suicide Girls to do a horror themed photo shoot in honor of the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors, and they were gracious enough to share the link to the pics with us here at Happy Horror. And so, it’s my honor to bring it to you. You can find the pics at this site:
http://www.asylum.com/2009/06/08/suicide-girls-are-scary-hot/
I’ll also be linking it up to our sidebar soon, so it’ll be up after this article leaves the front page. Enjoy the pics! Until next time, this is Red Hawk signing out!
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