nickshubby Reviews

Akuma Kun (2023)

Definitely NOT the 1989 series (though that Akuma-kun does appear)

[8/10 · 12 November 2023]

An updated and considerably more gritty take on the same mythos.

Sett about 30 years after the previous anime This Akuma kun is one third L (from death note) one third Sheldon Cooper (From Big Bang Theory) and one third Sherlock (from the BBC series) and is the adopted son of the second Akuma Kun who pops in when needed, having barely aged a day, owing to time running differently in the demon world.

Ichiro Umoregi being a genius, a sociopath and who has seemingly rejected most of the twelve except for Mephisto's jnr.'s son (Mephisto 111) replacing his father who is now living as a human and happily married. As well as some regular appearance from Hyakume and Komori-Neko during the credit scenes.

Gremory makes a startling return in various forms and the stories are introduce a wealth of new characters to replace old favourites like the Umoregi family.

Both funny and spooky, with far more underlying threat than its predecessor, better art work (especially the backgrounds) and fun character development I give this a strong 8/10.

Man vs. Bee (2022)

Cringe, and cringe again

[3/10 · 7 October 2023]

Classic horror dark comedy "Of Unknown Origin" was the story of a man left alone to look after a home slowly being driven to obsession and destructive rage, by his perceived persecution by a seemingly super intelligent rat

Man Vs Bee is this premise remade without the comedy, with out the rat and without the originality.

Rowan Atkinson tries to avoid paying royalties and copyright on his Mr. Bean, character, buy turning him in to an aging pathetic looser, obsessed with wining back his daughter's respect by demeaning himself by playing lackey to a thoroughly obnoxious YUPPIE couple, straight out of the 1980s. The husband played by an obviously uncomfortable Julian Rhind-Tutt, desperately trying to make people think he is bill Nighy.

The "jokes" are telegraphed literally from the first two minutes of Episode 1, and left me shouting at the screen "No one can be THAT stupid" and "how are they going to maintain this one joke for an entire season, even of just 11 minute episodes, I'm bored and embarrassed now"

The Door (IV) (2014)

Probably the film Nightworld 2017 was based on

[6/10 · 19 May 2023]

The similarities between the Door and Nightworld are too many and two similar to be coincidence.

Un employed guy with no hope is offered the job of a lifetime, massive pay check to sit in a room and guard an ancient door, to make sure it never opens. And if anything does come through the door, he is instructed to shoot it dead and call his predecessor for relief and advice.

The guard starts an ill advised romance, and becomes obsessed with what it is he is doing and eventually starts wondering what is behind the door.

Turns out he is keeping something in, not other people out, until one night the door starts trying to open from the inside.

Others are called and all hell breaks loose.

Nightworld has Robert Englund as the previous doorkeeper in it, so for that reason alone it is a better version.

The Blackout (2009)

Why all the hate? Judge it for yourself on its own merits.

[9/10 · 24 August 2021]

I enjoyed this movie, I'll admit it was cheaply made, a relatively unknown cast, and I've a feeling quite a lot of necessary stuff was probably left on the editing room floor.

But I enjoyed it.

The child actors were believable, always a plus in my book, when a director knows cute does not equal talent.

The characters were real and engaging, some you root for, some you root to get eaten, but because they are truly obnoxious people.

But where this film scores is in its wonderful original monsters. Evil, merciless, dangerous and revolting manticore like, subterranean obsidian horrors.

The ending is amongst the most shocking Lovecraft cosmic horror kick in the teeth I have seen in a long time.

House of Ghosts (2012)

Amazing film

[9/10 · 9 October 2020]

It takes a few minutes before you realise you are watching a great filmmaker pretending to be a really bad filmmaker, but stick with it and you will find yourself sucked in. The acting starts out over the top exposition heavy and hammy, but gradually shifts until without your having consciously realising it until the really good solid cast have drawn you in and are acting well enough to get jump scares out of almost unbearable tension upon their audience, before dropping back in to complete ham salad for the ending. Utilising actual techniques and camera tricks from the fifties and showing just how effective they and good make up can sell a movie you start to wonder why films today cost hundreds of millions when this director can turn out comparable stuff on a nothing budget of only $3000. I am going to seek out the rest of the films in the Mihmiverse ASAP.

Spitting Image (2020–2021)

They call this Spitting image, but it is basically the cast and crew of futurama

[3/10 · 4 October 2020]

This is what they call a Britbox original is it? Most of the writers are American and worked on the simpsons, futurama and disenchanted. Most of the cast are American and worked on the simpsons, futurama and disenchanted.

In what way is this unfunny mess British or original?

I think I laughed one at the idea of Dominic Cummings being an Alien and seeing how far he could push Boris before he might fight back and fire him, then giving up when Boris promised not to fire him even if he ate the PMs baby.

Nothing else was even remotely reminiscent of the old Spitting Image, it's clever violent satire and cartoonish wit. On the up side some of the puppets were not bad, but most (not all)were more realist and less caricaturish than the old ones used to be.

I'll give it a try for a couple of more episodes, but for goodness sake bring back the old cast, most of them are still alive and hire writers who no how to write satire such as Ian Hislop apparently he is going to be looking for a new job soon anyway when "Have I got news for you" goes woke.

Frankenstein's Daughter (1958)

Fun and influential B feature

[7/10 · 23 September 2020]

If you watch this film in double bill with Carry on Screaming (1966) you will notice a LOT of similarities. From Nicholas Carras excellent score being reused by by Eric Rogers note for note and the make up for the first Miss Hyde "Monster" played by Sandra Knight, being copies for both Jim Dale and Harry H. Corbett while under the influence of the Dr. Jekyll potion. The Alias Dr Frank used by Frankenstein in this movie is coincidentally used by Frankenstein in the last scene of the Hammer horror "The Revenge of Frankenstein" which was released in the same year, and the idea of using a female mind was revisited in Frankenstein Created Woman (1967) John Zaremba portrayal of Inspector Boyle laid the foundation for hard boiled police detectives for years after and Robert Dix as his long suffering subordinate would go on to play a Frankenstein decedent (Roger Frankenstein) in his final role in 2018. Leading man John Ashley would in time go on to produce (and appear in) many iconic horror TV series, lead villain Donald Murphy as Frankenstein gives the performance of his life time and really should have gone on to greater things. The script by H.E. Barrie is way ahead of it's time and like all of his/her other scripts features powerful feminist messages years before it was popular to do so. Sandra Knight the lead actress would go on to marry Jack Nicholson and star in several Roger Corman movies. All in all the fim is a bit of an underrated gem with a good story, an intelligent script

Scream Girls (2008 Video)

Extraordinary, but don't believe the blurb

[8/10 · 16 August 2020]

A short but very disturbing thriller, that bears no relation to the plot summaries that marketed it a supernatural ghost story.



It is a psychological thriller telling the tale of a descent into homicidal madness. Koaru a girl beaten by her father and ignored by her mother, becomes fascinated by the legend of a girl who supposedly haunts her school named Hikiko. Hikiko was bullied by her own father and her school friends, eventually result in either a suicide or accidental death, where she was torn to pieces while dragged by a van for several miles. Koaru is convinced Hikiko has curse the school and that a recent set of copycat murders are the work of her restless spirit and starts a website to that effect. She begins to be haunted by visions of a bandage faced girl with a deformed arm and scarred face, who she assumes is the ghost of Hikiko. However when one of her friends Azumi's younger sister is murdered, the rumour spreads that Koaru herself is the killer. A relentless and incredibly cruel campaign of bullying begins and even Koaru's own friends turn on her. When her web site is revealed to the police and Koaru's father is made aware of it and ordered by the police to shut it down, her father beats his daughter so severely that he refuses to allow her to leave the home until her face has healed. To this end he boards up the door to her room and allows her no food, ordering her mother not to let her out under any circumstance . Koaru escapes and while pleading for help, discovers her own former friends have betrayed her completely, and one of them accidentally knocks her down a set of concrete steps, dislocating her arm, smashing one side of her skull and badly scaring her face. Arriving back home Koaru confronts herself in the mirror and realises she is the vision she has been seeing, and becomes convinced she is Hikiko. When her father decides to free her from the room, she murders him and her mother, bandages her face and takes on the task of curse of Hikiko. In the final scenes, one year later Koaru is still murdering the persecutors of both herself and the original Hikiko .

Birds of Prey (2020)

Why all the hate

[8/10 · 12 July 2020]

Not a bad film at all, fun, FUNNY, ( a fact that seems to of escaped many is that this is a black comedy...very black) good fights and action sequences, especially the fight between Harley on roller skates and a speeding Rolls Royce. Ewan McGregor chews up the scenery in the most over the top bonkers role of his career and just about everyone else has plenty of star quality to keep the non linear story flying by at batmobile pace. Really enjoyed it, a good super villain film, better than Suicide Squad but not up there with Ironman a solid 8/10

Blood Vow (2018)

Could have been a cult classic

[5/10 · 7 July 2020]

Okay made on the the cheap, but with a only a couple of tweaks the script could have been something really special. This shows in the fact that even with the terrible acting of some of the cast the lines cannot be delivered badly and with the astonishingly good acting of other cast members the film grabs you by the throat and makes you want to know what is going to happen next. I single out Kurt Kiser, Gerald Crum, Richard Privitt and Jake Bowman for special praise and Jessica Willis struggles gamely as the only female presence in the film. Had the plot used the more reasonable idea that the order of the White Horse had become the sole provider of eucharist wine to the whole Catholic church and that a contaminated batch of the wine contaminated with the ancient virus was to be the delivery method of the plague , the whole missile plot could have been forgotten and the Cardinals fiendish plot of convincing Brother Giovanni he was the voice of god commanding him to bring about the apocalypse would have been so much more believable. A higher budget remake would be a worth while project.

The Horror of It All (1964)

Uncredited remake of "The Old Dark House"

[6/10 · 12 May 2020]

In 1963 Hammer films made their own version of JD Priestly's "The old dark House" and against all the normal practices of Hammer hired B Picture Horror legend William Castle to direct. Hammer Regular Terrance Fisher seems to have taken umbrage at this and the following year made this film independently. The budget is a fraction of the hammer version, music is added and famous crooner Pat Boone takes the lead the names are changed from Fem and Penderel but otherwise the story is the same (apart from one small and nonsensical twist at the end). Especially notable in this version are Valentine Dyall and British sit com regular Eric Chitty.

Night Slaves (1970 TV Movie)

Joseph Millard should have sued

[3/10 · 20 April 2020]

Joseph Millard in 1941 wrote a novel titled "The Gods Hate Kansas" which was filmed as They Came from Beyond Space in 1967 fully credited. The premise is that disembodied aliens are stranded on earth, and so possess the people of a small town and enslave them to repair their space ship, the plan is foiled when they arouse suspicion of a couple who stumble upon the town. Night Slaves stole the premise, the plot and everything else except the character names. Very disappointing. Even more disappointing was that both films and the novel where remade again in 1993 as The Tommyknockers, by which time Millard was long since deceased.