Wicca: History, Belief & Community in Modern Pagan Witchcraft
6.0
Rate It
Book
The past century has born witness to a growing interest in the belief systems of ancient Europe,...
The Complete Book of 1970s Broadway Musicals
Book
The 1970s was an exciting decade for musical theatre. Besides shows from legends Stephen Sondheim...
A Life in Brine: A Surfer's Journey
Book
Covering 40 years of surf culture, Australian writer Phil Jarratt rides a wave of nostalgia...
Minecraft Recipes For Dummies
Book
A quick, handy reference on Minecraft recipes Want to find resources, make a shelter, craft tools,...
Making Love in the Twelfth Century: Letters of Two Lovers in Context
Book
Nine hundred years ago in Paris, a teacher and his brilliant female student fell in love and...
The Writer's Guide to Character Traits
Book
From Sex to Schizophrenia: Everything You Need to Develop Your Characters! What makes a person...
Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated the PlayStation version of Silent Hill in Video Games
Jun 26, 2020
The Game: you play as Harry Mason as he searches for his missing adopted daughter in the eponymous fictional American town of Silent Hill; stumbling upon a cult conducting a ritual to revive a deity it worships, he discovers her true origin. Five game endings are possible, depending on actions taken by the player, including one joke ending.
The objective: The player is to guide main protagonist and player character Harry Mason through a monster-filled town as he searches for his lost daughter, Cheryl. Silent Hill's gameplay consists of combat, exploration, and puzzle-solving.
The Gameplay: The game uses a third-person view, with the camera occasionally switching to other angles for dramatic effect, in pre-scripted areas. This is a change from older survival horror games, which constantly shifted through a variety of camera angles. Because Silent Hill has no heads-up display, the player must consult a separate menu to check Harry's "health".
If you play the PS3 verison, the DualShock controller is used a heart beat rhythm can be felt signifying that the player is at low health.
Visibility is mostly low due to fog and darkness; the latter is prevalent in the "Otherworld".
Navigating through Silent Hill requires the player to find keys and solve puzzles.
Its a excellent game, that pefectly represents the psychological horror genre.
Foucault: A Very Short Introduction
Book
Foucault is one of those rare philosophers who has become a cult figure. Born in 1926 in France,...
Schoolgirls, Money and Rebellion in Japan
Book
Japanese society in the 1990s and 2000s produced a range of complicated material about sexualized...
LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated The People Under the Stairs (1991) in Movies
Jan 2, 2021
First and foremost, it has a great cast. Brandon Quintin Adams heads up the cast. He's a cute kid who is easy to root for. The supporting cast is strong too, including Ving Rhames, A.J. Langer, and Sean Whalen. But the stars of the show are it's horrendous villains. Twin Peaks alumni Wendy Robie and Everett McGill play the antagonists (simply credited as "woman" and "man") and they just relish in how absolutely vile they are, and are the main source of entertainment throughout the runtime. The Hall of Fame of horror villainy isn't easy to get into, being crammed with popular icons and all, but these two deserve a spot for sure.
Other than these positives, it's also boasts some decent practical gore, a few creepy visuals, some moments of well earned tension, and is socially relevant to this day, touching upon subjects such as class difference, unaffordable healthcare, and racism. It's screenplay is an intelligent one in this respect, as well as having a fun side to it.
My only real issue with The People Under the Stairs is it's pacing. It does take a little too long to get going. When everything starts to get chaotic, it really becomes a good time, but it does get a bit repetitive, no matter how entertaining it is to see Everett McGill running around in a gimp suit.
These are minor gripes though, it's definitely worth a watch. It's another solid piece of work from Wes Craven, and deserves it's cult status wholeheartedly.