I cannot believe what a whirlwind this year has been so far; I’ve had some wild ups and downs including a frankly terrible experience getting sick (which I wrote about), getting to attend the Unnamed Footage Festival online, finishing the DnD campaign I’ve been playing for 4 years, and some upcoming projects I’m excited to eventually share with everyone. For now I’d like to go through some of my favourite things I checked out in the first half of 2021!
THE EMPTY MAN
I remember seeing the trailer for this, during the last trip to the movies before everything closed. I thought it looked bland and forgettable. Then–it came out on VOD and people online started talking about it. I saw several articles praising it. So we bit the bullet and rented it–and I’m so glad we did. An important aspect is the introduction to the film as both discovering the Empty Man and learning the rules. This section by itself could have been the trailer! Instead a later scene with some teenagers discussing the legend and goofing around made it appear like another non-descript evil Slenderman type character killing off kids.
Instead it’s a 2 hour journey into cults, the concept of emptiness and Tulpas. After watching it I learned it was based on a series of comics so I went online and bought them all. I can say with all honesty I think the film is better; it condensed and streamlined aspects of the story as well as maintaining its central themes. The comic is great, don’t get me wrong. I also don’t think it would have been doable to film since it crosses dimensions and would need quite a lot of special effects. The film uses the ideas to strike fear, the things you cannot see but know are there in the shadows. The camera work also stands out to me, with lots of nice blues and greens. It’s unfortunate that for now there’s no physical release, maybe the cult following will change that. I’d highly recommend giving it a chance!
NEGATIVE SPACE BY B.R. YEAGER
I read this book while I had COVID. I was feverish all day, everyday so I’m not sure if that had effect but I got very invested! The chapters follow the viewpoint of several teenagers as a rash of suicides spread through their town and a sort of secret cult that springs up. It heavily talks about rituals, something I find very interesting. The repetitive nature of them sparks my autistic brain I suppose. Not that I would preform the ones in this book! A bit of a spoiler, but I did like that the ritual involved sexual activity, it feels like it fits well with angsty teenagers. Depressed, confused and hopeful that the ritual will help their situation.
I had not heard of B.R Yeager before reading this and got it based on a list of recommended books on twitter. Will definitely be checking out his other work now!
MUNDAUN
I’d been quite excited for this one for a while and it did not disappoint. Set in Switzerland in the small mountain village of Mundaun, the game is 3D but all of the textures have been hand-penciled and then transferred and mapped on to the models and environment. It creates this dark storybook atmosphere that’s both comfortable and unsettling. The main character has a sketchbook he carries around with him, drawing and scribbling down important notes as you go. I loved that he actually draws the map himself!
It’s funny that it gave me this sort of nostalgic feeling for a place and era I didn’t exist in; the small farmhouses with an old fashioned stove, the ski lift, and tiny church among other locales. It’s like a dream, it holds on the very edge of your mind but you can’t quite grasp it. The puzzles were fun to solve and not too difficult (I’m not the best at puzzles) and combat is fittingly clunky. I am one of those people that thinks it’s fine when characters in horror games suck at fighting. This dude has lived in the city forever, of course he is slow using a pitchfork and rifle! You can upgrade your rifle abilities by reading gun manuals you find though. It’s not a massive game so exploration never gets tiresome.
High recommendation on this one! I played it on PS4 but I know it’s on Switch and Steam too.
PENKO PARK
2021 has been a year of great photography games with Penko Park, New Pokemon Snap, Beasts of Maravilla Island released so far and a few more on the way. Penko is like a cutesy horror Pokemon Snap, essentially. GeGeGe no Kitaro vibes. You’re in an abandoned nature park taking photos. Each critter has several poses/activities it does and you’ll need to figure out how to trigger these. You get a pester ball and a grabby hand to help with this. Replaying stages is a given! Each has multiple paths so they have a good variety of stuff to look at. There’s also little trinkets you can pick up with your grabby hand and hats for your travelling companion, Penki.
I really love the art style in this, with flat, textured drawings for the creatures and a 3D environment. The photo album is adorable, with stickers and stamps tracking your progress. They all have wonderfully silly names too, like the Berlbu, Smoll, Slonko and my personal favourite: Doug.
The developers have announced a free update coming in the next few months with 40 new creatures, so I’ll be returning to this one!
CAVEAT
Shudder has a lot of decent Originals and Exclusives so sometimes I watch a few of them in one day. The majority of them are just meh. Skull: The Mask had some fun gore but was otherwise pretty boring. The Power and The Reckoning didn’t really do much for me.. Caveat on the other hand, was great.
A pretty spooky setup for a film, it takes place in a shitty run down house on an island on a lake (I think it’s a lake) so you’re pretty much cut off from the outside world. Plus the protagonist tells us he can’t swim and there’s no boat. He’s tasked by his friend to look after this girl for a week, because the friend is worried about her safety and wants her to have some company. Oh, but also you have to wear this harness that’s bolted to the floor. It has a fairly long chain, so he can walk pretty much anywhere in the house but not leave. Much of the film is him looking around this weird house and trying to get the harness off.
The framing and spooks in some shots were fairly subtle and well done and the overall tone was this super melancholy mix of lonely and the inability to move on. The girl lives here alone, just her memories and the screaming of foxes at night. I don’t want to give away too much but also props to the creepy ass rabbit doll with drums and wayyy too human eyes. I’m still not sure what that thing’s deal was.
If you’ve stuck around till the end of this, thank you! I feel really blessed for the opportunities I’ve had this year and it still blows my mind people read my little blog.
Love, Lor ※
LORMAGGOT 
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