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BookwormLea (3034 KP) rated The Bye Bye Man (2017) in Movies

Nov 11, 2019 (Updated Jul 18, 2020)

I had rated it 7, I change my mind...

Contains spoilers, click to show

I remember watching this before but recently I've started a list of horrors and I'm going to watch them all, either for the first time or just again. I started with The Bye Bye Man. Bad Idea.

So first off, where's the origin? It literally doesn't make sense to have a character you can't think or speak of without a reason where he came from. Surely even an old wives tale or something? But no, we just get some crazy guy on a killing spree to stop the name being spread. But oh wait! Nobody could have guessed the name would be written somewhere! What a plot twist! (I hope you can hear my eyes rolling) So in return we get 3 people in college? who move into the house the Bye Bye Man lives in or something, I don't know, again no explanation. And of course he finds the desk! And after reading, don't think it, dont say it, who wouldn't say his name out loud!?!? So the all get terrorised by some creep in a hood with his dog who by the way, is also never explained, and also not needed because all it does is eat the face off one of the bodies. But obviously they all die in the end, when the only thing left to do it set fire to the house. But shock! Survivor! The sleeve ball "best friend' who was sleeping with his gf. And of course he tells the nosy copper the name! Ooooh suspenseful cliff hanger!

Yeah don't watch it.

Kudos

Mike75 (5 KP) rated Zombicide: Invader in Tabletop Games

Jan 19, 2020

Zombicide: Invader

2019 | Action, Science Fiction, Zombie / Survivalist

8.7

(3 Ratings)

Tabletop Game Rating

Mechanics (1 more)

Component Quality

Best Version of Zombicide

CMON really hits their stride in the Zombicide series with Zombicide: Invader. The original Zombicide was a good start but had some rough rules, as many early offerings on Kickstarter often do. Over the years, CMON has matured the series, refining the rules and making plenty of gameplay improvements with follow on editions, including a medieval/fantasy themed Black Plague editions, and now the sci-fi themed Invader.

Invader shows off the maturity of the Zombicide series with well balanced fights against hordes of aliens (who might be alien zombies, though this seems a little unclear). This game uses the nice plastic boards to track each survivors stats, as was introduced in Black Plague. New rule tweaks in Invader allow a survivor to concentrate fire on larger targets, reducing some of the unwinnable situations that sometimes dogged earlier editions. Overall the scenarios and gameplay mechanics all seem well crafted to create tense and rewarding game sessions.

As with all CMON games, there is a wide variety of expansions and characters. There are the usual cameo/homage characters drawn from pop culture and real life. There are also a number of interesting variant Abominations to increase the challenge and variety, as well as several expansions. I bought into the Kickstarter, and Zombicide: Invader may be the first Kickstarter game I've ever gotten where I've actually played through all the expansions.

Overall, a great game from CMON. Zombicide: Invader is lots of fun, and this latest edition makes me very optimistic about their upcoming Zombicide 2nd Edition and the Night of the Living Dead Editions.

Kudos

LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated Aliens (1986) in Movies

Feb 13, 2020

Aliens (1986)

1986 | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi

9.0

(90 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

An absolute screamer of a sequel

Aliens may very well be the best sequel of all time, if not it's certainly up there!
The original Alien is about as perfect as sci-fi horror can get, so it was a smart move on James Cameron's part to not recycle that again, and take Alien in a different direction.
The slow burning, claustrophobic high tension of the original is replaced here with all out war.
The simple idea of multiple Xenomorphs is effective and terrifying, and packs the runtime of Aliens with top tier action.

Sigourney Weaver returns as Ellen Ripley, and whilst she was a tough yet vulnerable survivor first time around, here we get to see her vulnerability crumble away. By the time the final act kicks in and Ripley is decked out in a mech...she just a badass from here on out.
She's is joined by a group of gun toting, 80s as fuck mercenaries, including the likes of Michael Biehn (fresh from the recently released, first Terminator movie), Bill Paxton, Al Matthews, Jenette Goldstein, and of course Lance Henriksen as Android, Bishop. It's a fantastic cast, who all end up mattering one way or another, even the ones who don't last very long.

The Xenomorphs themselves look as horrifying as ever, still practically achieved, and have an urgent sense of visceral danger whenever they're on screen.
Aliens is also the debut if the Alien Queen, a classic staple of the series since.

No matter how much time goes by, Aliens never fails to be entertaining, and still looks great. It's James Cameron at the top of his game.