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Andrew Thomas (363 KP) rated The Purge (2013) in Movies

Aug 12, 2020 (Updated Aug 19, 2020)

The Purge (2013)

2013 | Mystery, Sci-Fi

6.4

(30 Ratings)

Movie Rating

An extremely interesting story with bloody violence and disturbing social implications. (0 more)

Not a whole lot of explanation about the world of the movie. (0 more)

My first exposure to smart horror.

Contains spoilers, click to show

With the exception of SAW, I didn't have a high regard for modern horror films for a longtime...until I saw The Purge.

For starters, we have quality actors like Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey that portray two seemingly unsympathetic and unrelatable rich yuppies. But eventually they prove themselves to be resourceful and in possession of some morals...unlike the crazies outside who actively celebrate The Purge.

While the very notion of The Purge is outlandish and unrealistic in our own society, the writer/director does an amazing job grounding it in reality and making it appear to be possible. It also forces you to ruminate about yourself and what you would be capable of doing if you could behave however you wish without consequences. It also makes you take a closer glance at your friends and neighbors, forcing you to ruminate about how they might act during The Purge.

The only complaint I have is that the film throws alot of lore at you without any explanation. For example, the emergency broadcast alert that announces the commencement of The Purge includes the quote "blessed be our New Founding Fathers and America, a nation reborn" First time I saw this part I said "I don't like the sound of that" Who were these New Founding Fathers? What the hell has happened to America where The Purge is now the new normal?

In conclusion, The Purge restored my enthusiasm for modern horror and captured my imagination. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in ultra violent crime thrillers or dystopian future stories.

Kudos

Jesters_folly (230 KP) rated the PC version of Dead by Daylight in Video Games

Jun 12, 2020

Dead by Daylight is a 5-player survival horror game. 4 players play as survivors and one plays as the killer. The survivors have to repair 5 generators and then open a gate and escape through it whilst avoiding the killer. The killer has to attack the survivors and sacrifice them to ‘the Entity’ by placing them on hooks and keeping them there until they are dead.
Survivors can work as a team or as individuals and can help on generator repairs and lift other survivors off the hook and help to heal them. The killer has a bonus power to help in the capture of the survivors. Both survivors and killers earn ‘Blood Points’ which can be used to add bonuses and items to the characters to aid in the next match.
The base game comes with 7 different survivors and 5 killers and 5 maps. Each survivor has a slightly different skill, speed, stealth, faster healing etc and each killer has a different skill, setting traps, throwing weapons etc.
Each of the maps represents a killer but playing as a killer does not mean that you will play on their map, the map is random, based upon what the killer player owns. The generators, hooks, exits and player starting place are all random
There are also an increasing number of expiation packs some are just survivors and others are survivors, killers and a map. Many of the expansions are licenced to horror franchises so you can have characters like Freddy Kruger and Ash from Evil dead. There are also different costumes that can be brought in game.
Dead by Daylight is violent and is rated for mature audiences.

Kudos

Debbiereadsbook (1166 KP) rated Dark (Blood Moon, Texas Shifters #1) in Books

May 25, 2020

something not quite right, but not sure what!

Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

I finished this book, so that's a good thing!

I can't say what didn't quite work for me, I hate that I can't, you all know it annoys me so!

The world building is good, with werewolves and vampires exposed to the world a short time ago, in a thoroughly modern way!

Hayden and Ethan have history, I was expecting that history to be a bit more than it appeared to be. Ethan's personal history is bad, as is Hayden's, both of them having difficult childhoods. There is much angst about their childhoods.

Or there SHOULD have been. While Ethan regularly comments on what his childhood did to him, how he closed off from everyone, Hayden does not. I wanted MORE from Hayden about her childhood!

Ethan brothers held more interest to me, than Etahn himself, I'm afraid and I would like to have had a bit more about them. I can see a pairing between one of his brothers and Hayden's sister, Ellie. Who, in my humble opinion, needed a slap a time or two!

There is a back story that kinda got lost on me, and I wasn't sure what the whole point of the kidnappings was, to be honest. It tells you, in the book, but the penny did not drop for me, I'm afraid.

Some sexy bits, although much of those are glanced over, off screen as it were. Some violent bits too.

Still, as the first by this author AND a first in series, not a bad read, just not one that really pushed any of my buttons, I'm sorry to say!

3 good stars

**same worded review will appear elsewhere**