Saturday, October 31, 2020

Stubs - Revenge of the Creature


Revenge of the Creature (1955) Starring: John Agar, Lori Nelson, John Bromfield Directed by Jack Arnold Screenplay by Martin Berkeley, William Alland. Produced by William Alland. Black and White Run time: 82 minutes USA Horror, Science Fiction, 3-D

As with any successful film, Hollywood is only too happy to make a sequel. Given that The Creature from the Black Lagoon made a whopping $1.3 million at the box office, Universal was willing to make another two, as it turns out. (Given the times, the genre and the original budget $1.3 million was a lot of money.)

Wednesday, October 28, 2020

Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams (Xbox)


Silent Hill 2’s reputation for having one of the best video game narratives ever got me intrigued to play it, but for whatever reason I could never find an original PS2 copy. I did, however, happen upon an enhanced Xbox copy of the game and went for it, but still didn’t get around to it. With P.T. as my only frame of reference for Silent Hill, however, I felt more curious about Team Silent’s original take on the series and finally gave it a try. As it turns out, its narrative truly is one of the strongest I’ve ever seen in a video game, but it feels strange saying that the actual gameplay didn’t age very well.

Sunday, October 25, 2020

Review Hub - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater


Ever since the first game dropped in 1999, the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series has captured the minds of many who simply want to skate and have fun, even inspiring some to pick up a board themselves. Of the games in the series, the most iconic are the installments developed by Neversoft, though following their switch to Guitar Hero and later closure, the series was handed over to Robomodo, with more divisive results than any of the Neversoft titles. As of a remaster of the first two games from Vicarious Visions, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2, the series appears to be back in full swing, though only time will tell if it can maintain its regained luster.

Below is a list of links to every Pro Skater game review on this blog, organized in release order and separated by developer.

Update (8/1/2025): Added Pro Skater 2x (placed after Pro Skater 2 for convenience), Pro Skater 3 + 4


Iron Galaxy


Saturday, October 24, 2020

Stubs - Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein


Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein aka Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) Starring Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Lon Chaney Jr., Bela Lugosi, Glenn Strange Director: Charles Barton Screenplay by Robert Lees, Frederic I. Rinaldo, John Grant Produced by Robert Arthur Run time: 83 minutes. USA Black and White Horror, Comedy

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello had been together since working in Vaudeville. They first worked together in 1935 at the Eltinge Theatre on 42nd Street in New York City after Costello's partner fell ill. They formally teamed up in 1936. They are perhaps best known for their routine “Who’s On First?”  The pair came to Hollywood in 1940 and appeared in 36 films before breaking up in 1957. One of their best-known films is Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.

Thursday, October 22, 2020

A Celebration of 1100 Reviews


The 1100 milestone came a lot sooner than expected. In light of the Global 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, during which lockdowns in the US began circa our review of Darksiders: Genesis, our consumption of media dramatically increased, which led us to seek ways to burn off excess reviews, including mid-week video game reviews and week-long themed events. This somehow led to a surge in video game reviews, which make up a majority of this list, as the lockdown provided a perfect opportunity to go through our collective backlogs. Hopefully the same does not occur with the eventual 1200 milestone, though given that (as of this writing) a working vaccine for COVID-19 has yet to be found, we're not making any promises.

Below is a list of links to every review from 1001-1100, broken up every 25 links for easy navigation. Each review will also be color-coded as such: Movie, Video Game, DLC.

901-1000. A Celebration of 1000 Reviews



1001. 1917
1002. Frozen II
1003. Parasite
1004. Jojo Rabbit
1005. Sonic Generations (PS3)
1006. Sonic Mania Plus
1007. Sonic Forces (+ Episode Shadow)
1008. Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice
1009. Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie (OVA)
1010. Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind + Concert Video
1011. Sonic the Hedgehog (Film)
1012. Slayer: The Repentless Killogy
1013. Recess: School's Out
1014. Darksiders III
1015. Darksiders Genesis
1016. Sabrina
1017. Concrete Genie
1018. Celeste (PS4)
1019. Ori and the Will of the Wisps
1020. Moss - Twilight Garden (DLC)
1021. Doom Eternal
1022. Gears 5
1023. Little Big Man
1024. TY the Tasmanian Tiger HD (Switch)
1025. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (Dreamcast)



1026. Final Fantasy VII Remake
1027. Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost
1028. MediEvil (PS4)
1029. Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders
1030. AVICII Invector
1031. Scooby-Doo! Legend of the Phantosaur
1032. Scoob!
1033. Donut County (Switch)
1034. Scooby-Doo
1035. Helltaker
1036. Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
1037. Scooby-Doo! and Kiss: Rock and Roll Mystery
1038. Smart Money
1039. Delores: A Thimbleweed Park Mini-Adventure
1040. Employees' Entrance
1041. The Last of Us Remastered + Left Behind
1042. The Most Dangerous Game
1043. Transformers: War for Cybertron (PS3) (Second Look)
1044. Transformers: Dark of the Moon (PS3) (Second Look)
1045. Transformers: Fall of Cybertron (PS3) (Second Look)
1046. Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Second Look)
1047. Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark (PS3) (Second Look)
1048. Heat Lightning
1049. Transformers: Devastation
1050. SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated (PS4)



1051. Little Nightmares: Secrets of the Maw (DLC)
1052. Cowboy Bebop: The Movie
1053. Devolverland Expo
1054. Chicken Little (2005)
1055. Spec Ops: The Line
1056. Batman: The Killing Joke
1057. Star Fox Adventures
1058. Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie
1059. Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
1060. Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (+ Complete)
1061. Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII
1062. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
1063. Final Fantasy VII Remake (Second Look)
1064. Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins
1065. Ghost of Tsushima
1066. Kindergarten Cop
1067. Carrion
1068. The Emoji Movie
1069. Phineas and Ferb (Game)
1070. Phineas and Ferb Ride Again
1071. Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension
1072. Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension (PS3)
1073. Phineas and Ferb: Quest for Cool Stuff (360)
1074. Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe
1075. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (PS1)



1076. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (PS1)
1077. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (PS2)
1078. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 (PS2)
1079. Tony Hawk's Underground (PS2)
1080. Mulan (1998)
1081. Tony Hawk's Underground 2 (PS2)
1082. Tony Hawk's American Wasteland (PS2)
1083. Tony Hawk's Project 8 (PS3)
1084. Tony Hawk's Proving Ground (PS3)
1085. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 (PS4)
1086. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 (PS4)
1087. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD (PS3)
1088. Batman: Year One
1089. Zone of the Enders (PS2)
1090. Captured
1091. Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner M∀RS (PS4)
1092. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
1093. Resident Evil 7 Teaser Demo: Beginning Hour (+ Kitchen Demo)
1094. Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
1095. Resident Evil 7: Biohazard DLC (Banned Footage Vol. 1 and 2 + Not A Hero + End of Zoe)
1096. A Rainy Day in New York
1097. White Zombie
1098. Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time
1099. The Curse of the Cat People
1100. P.T.


Movies: 39 (720 Total)
Video Games: 58 (332 Total)
Comic Books: 0 (27 Total)
DLC: 3 (21 Total)

Wednesday, October 21, 2020

P.T.


Back on August 12, 2014, Konami released a mysterious game called P.T., developed by the equally mysterious 7780s Studio. Within mere hours, however, players quickly discovered that P.T. was actually a teaser for Silent Hills. In spite of the enthusiasm for the title, however, an internal struggle between Konami and Hideo Kojima led to the game’s cancellation, then P.T.’s delisting and deletion in 2015. This move instantly made P.T. rare and elusive and the Silent Hill series is seemingly abandoned, with no new full entries since 2012’s Silent Hill: Downpour, the eighth main installment, and Silent Hill: Book of Memories, a dungeon crawler spinoff released for the PlayStation Vita. Since I still own a copy of P.T., but never got around to talking about it, I figured that now’s as good a time as any, especially since the experience still holds up as a masterpiece of horror.

Saturday, October 17, 2020

Stubs - The Curse of the Cat People


The Curse of the Cat People (1944) Starring: Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Jane Randolph, Ann Carter and Sir Lancelot. Directed by Gunther von Fritsch and Robert Wise. Produced by Val Lewton. Screenplay by DeWitt Bodeen. Run time: 70 minutes. USA Black and White. Fantasy, Horror.

Following the success of Cat People, RKO wanted to make a follow-up. While Cat People can be stretched to call it a little h horror film, the sequel that was made, The Curse of the Cat People, is more Fantasy than anything really scary.