Have you ever wanted a second job? Perhaps driving trucks for a couple of months of the year? I must admit that after watching a season of Ice Road Truckers, this might just be a great opportunity for my winter months, because seeing what these drivers have to endure on a daily basis, along with the competitiveness that each driver shows for each other makes me feel as if this would be the right fit. But not knowing what the Alaska tundra could really have in store for me has left me sitting on the sideline for many years now.

But in the Syfy creature feature Ice Road Terror, you find out what the real terror is on the ice roads in Alaska as you follow two buddy truck drivers trying to win the coveted trophy for running the most hauls in a season. Jack Simmons, who is the winner of this trophy for the past five years acts like he is not interested in retaining his title of the most trips each season, that is until his friend Neil Conroy offers to take the last shipment of the season. Jack gives in and joins the convoy to get the last run of explosives up to a local mining site. Thinking that the warming temperatures are all they will have to battle on their trip, the men are met with an unexpected hitchhiker, Rachel Harris, who just needs a lift to make sure that the mine is in compliance with the up to date standards put in place by the government.

Even though the temperature is nearing 34 degrees, the men both take the job for triple their normal rate, because money is money. Watching as the ice road starts to crumble around them on their drive up, the trucks could not be prepared for what they find once they arrive at the mining site. Body parts and blood are scattered everywhere, and as Jack and Neil investigate the scene, they are able to locate two survivors, along with an ancient beast. A dinosaur known as a Wynook is scavenging around the mine site, looking for its next meal. The Wynook is a legendary beast that Intuit parents have discussed with their children for many moons and it is a creature that moves below the ground, and is always looking for its next victim (that is really all they tell you).

Ice Road Terror takes you on a slippery ride up and back down the ice roads of Alaska as three people try to escape the clutches of the Wynook. Once this beast lays eyes on you, it will never give up its pursuit until it eats you, or until you figure out a way to defeat it. The buddy truckers know how to survive to a point in the still cold outskirts of the great North West, but do not have the weapons or energy to take down the legendary monster. Knowing little, and their surveyor Rachel knowing even less, the three take up shelter in the only coffee house along the three-hundred-mile route. 

Now what are your takeaways from this movie? First, teamwork makes the dream work, you always need it in a crisis. Second, never pick up any survivors from an animal attack disaster, they are just not right. And finally, third, always make sure you hold up somewhere with a lot of wood and power tools, but that should be a given at any time. Well, with winter just around the corner again, the hope is that we drive safely on the ice, keep off the frozen lakes and don’t awaken legendary beasts. Stay Warm and Scared. 

​Sometimes in life, you need to go back to your roots and just let life pass you by a little bit. Needing to clear your mind is nothing out of the ordinary, everyone needs to do it once in a while, it is just trying to find out the best way to do it. Some people go on vacations, some people are able to head off to an isolated place, while others head back home. Everyone has their own way of making this happen, just finding the correct way for you can be the hard thing.

Rachel Beckwith is the top investigative reporter in the field. Being able to uncover the facts of any story that she is assigned to by the station, she is a master of discovering the truth. Being known by thousands upon thousands, the fame does come with a price. Which is something she finds out, when a masked man breaks into her home while she is getting ready for bed. Thinking that it is her fiancé, Rachel encounters the intruder head on and gets knocked to the floor. Coming to her rescue, her fiancé Brian is met with a knife to the midsection, and unfortunately, Rachel cannot stop her love from dying in her arms.

Needing to move away, Rachel gets an open invite to come back home and live with her parents until she gets better. A few months later after witnessing her future husband being murdered, she is ready to get back to work and puts in her application at the local television station. Being amazed that someone of her talents would want to work there, the station manager, Stephen Javitz, hires her on the spot. Wanting to start off with simpler stories to ease his new prized reporter into the job, Stephen gives Rachel the assignment of reporting on the architecture of the mansions around the small town.

Knowing that she can eventually do more with her skill set, Rachel accepts the job and heads to the fenced off house of Doctor Frank Sullivan. Breaking into the house to look around, Rachel is met by a small-time reporter that is setting up ghost hunting equipment all around the abandoned home. Thinking very little of what will happen, Rachel is startled by camera flashes going off above her in the house. Reporting this to the young man, he gets very excited and heads upstairs to investigate, but is killed at the top of the steps and thrown down at Rachel. Calling the police, Rachel finds out that there was no one else in the house, no cameras, no ghost hunting equipment and most of all, no dead body on the floor. Thinking that she is going crazy, Rachel goes home and tries to relax, but the house seems to be calling to her and she is not able to stay away. Hearing and seeing strange things in the house, she is anxious to share her experiences with someone and her boss Stephen is ready to listen, but what they both find out during a drunken walk through of the house will change their lives forever.

I have always been a sucker for a good ghost story and that is what this movie brings to the screen, but with its own little twist. I enjoyed watching as the house seemed to torment poor Rachel and how it would not reveal itself to anyone else when she tries to prove her sanity. But the one part of the story that I cannot keep myself away from is the good Doctor that murdered his family and how he tries to justify his actions. With this being the primary reason for the haunting, I would have liked to have had a little bit more backstory about how and why he did what he did, but even without all of this knowledge, it still played well in the movie. A good movie to check out if you are feeling a little down about your life and want to head back to your parent’s home, even for a weekend to just escape life for a couple days… or maybe not. Stay Scared.

Each and of every one of us out there, harbor a genuine fear of something specific in this world. It might be the dark, since one doesn’t quite know what lurks within the shadows. Or it could be death, since some of us worry about accomplishing everything on our bucket lists before the end arrives, or it could straight up be clowns because well, they are creepy in their own right. But regardless of whatever it is that gets your blood pumping with anxiety, for the most part, that specific fear is catered to the individual above all else. But there are some things in this world that we all share a fear of, and one of them, is the always creepy spider.

Because despite their tiny size and their benefits to the environment, their eight-legged bodies just send chills down our spines and that’s something I’ve always found to be fascinating to say the least. Because in all honesty, they’re really not that big of a deal, but they elicit genuine fear the instant people see them slinking down their carefully spun webs. But what matters more, is that they’re creepy and eerie enough that they’ve motivated us to deal with our fear of them in the most obvious way imaginable; by putting them on film. And of the many spider related movies that have popped up over the years, only one stands out as the finest of the lot, Arachnophobia.

Now this is another horror film that doesn’t warrant much discussion when it comes to the plot because if you’re reading this review, you’ve seen this movie and if you haven’t, well know that the movie involves a mean ass spider, and also, go see it. So, instead, what we really need to spend time on today, is discussing how this ended up becoming the finest spider related horror film out there. Because even after all these years, this is a creepy and scary film, and that’s no small feat when it comes to this sub-genre of horror. Since often times, any spider related movie features ones that are either genetically modified and huge or an abnormality of the breed that figures out how to work together, taking the scares right out of the equation.

But instead, this movie accomplishes a genuine sense of terror by going old school quite frankly. And by keeping the spiders out of sight and establishing their lethal ability early on in the story, they become a powerful threat for the audience. Because just like that, it seems as though you’re being watched, and their brief appearances on screen and the clever way they’re filmed elicits those age old fears of them and that terror is only ramped up as the movie progresses, making this a brilliant horror film when all is said and done. For the finest scary movies out their prey upon our primal fears and this one does that in masterful fashion through and through.

However, while there are some genuinely solid scares to be found in this motion picture, it has plenty to more to offer outside of creepy crawlies. Because this is a movie that also features some dynamic characters and some surprisingly lighthearted moments, most of them supplied by John Goodman of course, since he’s the coolest exterminator to ever appear on the silver screen and really, all of these elements are what have helped this film become a modern classic in its own right and withstand the test of time. And if by chance you haven’t seen this one yet, and can stomach the number of spiders in it, please do as soon as you can. Because this really is a delightful horror film, one that makes your skin crawl, and one that sends chills down your spine all while putting a smile on your face and that really is a rare treat when all is said and done. 

So many companies and individuals are always looking for cheap labor. Although minimum wage has been set, there are still ways to work around that if you are paying people under the table that just want to work. Even with all of the rules that have been set, these practices still go on and there are many people that are making much less than what they should be, but are not able to complain about it without losing what little bit of income they have coming in. 

Karen has just lost her husband and is trying to get by with her two daughters, Sarah and Emma. With an old home left to her in the will, Karen is not excited about moving her family, but is left with no choice with the lack of funds coming in. When stopping at the local convenience store to pick up some bare essentials, she finds out that there is some tainted history in the area, but does not pay much attention to it, since this will have to be her home for some time.

Arriving at the house and noticing a red smear on the door that Sarah jokingly says is blood, they find the front door has been left open. Moving through the house slowly, Emma loves her new home and wants to find her room. Karen is not sure what to expect from the old home that does not appear to have been lived in for some time and all of the problems come to light very quickly with the lack of electricity and running water. Trying to get the power back up, Karen finds a box of old photos and newspaper clippings in the basement that pertain to the area, but she is unsure why. When talking to the local plumber, Karen finds out more about the area and the tragedy that happened many years ago costing several children their lives.

Before getting the chance to ask any more questions, Karen hears a crash upstairs and when she investigates, she finds her daughter Emma missing. Running through the woods to find her, Karen stumbles upon the abandoned mine and sees her daughter playing in it. When Emma gets home, she asks her mother about having her friend Mary come over and spend the night. Karen believes this is just an imaginary friend, but what she does not know is that Mary is real and looking for something more tangible. When Sarah is at the convenience store in town, a couple of kids her own age pull up and start joking with her, but something they say sticks with her until she gets home. There are zombies that roam the woods at night, and everyone should be on their guard to avoid them at all costs. Not knowing the history of the area, or what happened many years prior, Sarah tells her mother this, but they have not been outside of the house after nightfall to witness the horrors that the mountain holds.

Abandoned mines, zombies, woods, zombies, politics and, well of course, zombies. A fun little romp in an old mining area that will not be laid to rest until the zombies are. I like how the story progressively pushed to what the zombies’ final goal really was from the get-go, but I do not understand why they chose to hunt almost everyone else. Emma is the only one that was able to stop and talk with the dead kids and come back alive, while everyone else became a kiddie miner meal. Besides that, the story was strong, and the family grew stronger while looking for the same goal and the zombies could not be killed, so all in all, I enjoyed the heck out of it. There is something to be said about family and blood lines when it comes to a cursed area, just make sure that your blood is not the one that curse is looking for. Stay Scared.

Scotty’s Review
How will the world end? That is a question that you will ask yourself at least once in your lifetime. Some people think it will end with a meteor hitting the planet, or atomic bombs being dropped, or an alien invasion that leads to extermination, extinguishing our human existence. I will admit that while I enjoy seeing these ideas play out in movies, there is little chance of survival in these scenarios, and who in their right mind would not like a fighting chance? In reality, it could be something as simple as a virus that our human anatomy cannot fight off that may lead to our demise, but whether or not it would just kill us or change us would be the question.

This is the scenario that is tested in World War Z. A virus that causes people to become something else, where the term ‘Zombie’ comes into play. A man named Gerry Lane is called back into action by his former U.N. employer to try and find the root cause to this mysterious illness. Reluctantly, Gerry takes back the reigns of his past job and starts to search for a cure with a team of Navy Seals and a young virologist named Andrew Fassbach. According to the U.N.’s top brass, this young scientist is the best hope for finding a cure and saving the world from the pandemic.  

Following the adventures of Gerry Lane on his adventures through China and Israel, World War Z shows how quickly a society could break down and make it believable. With a supposed outbreak of rabies on their hands, the U.S. is slow to respond to the imminent threat on their hands and loses almost every major city in one day. With a virus that can be transmitted via a bite, and only taking twelve seconds to turn its next victim into a crazed freak, there seems to be no way to beat the oncoming herds. Most of the people that survive this plague are doing the only thing that seems sane, hiding.

Depending on your favorite genre of Zombie movies, you may love this movie or hate it. Let me give you my list of the good and the bad when it comes to this film.

The Good:  Fantastic visuals, there is a shot of a nuclear bomb being set off that comes up through the clouds as Lane is off to his next location. The acting is good but being a huge fan of Brad Pitt after his role in Moneyball, I struggle to find flaws in his performance. The storytelling was what you would expect from a Summer Blockbuster, it flows flawlessly and if you leave your seat, you will miss an important plot point.

The Bad:  Throw the novel out of the window if you are expecting the same thing. I was anxiously awaiting this movie to be made, but after hearing about how the script went through several re-writes, I knew that I would need to go into it with an open mind. As someone that was born into the zombie genre with the Romero freaks, I was surprised that becoming one would make you faster and stronger than you were when alive. Also, the zombies don’t eat anyone, they just bite you and move on. 

With that all said, this is a fun action flick. I can understand why they went in the direction that they did while trying to create the largest zombie film in history. If you had to write every scene in a flashback, you would not have one star to focus your story around. Honestly, if you just saw Brad Pitt sitting, asking questions, then leaving the room, would you be happy? Some people would be, but most would want something a bit more. I enjoyed this movie, and I was certainly entertained by the scale of destruction and madness as zombies take over the globe. Keep your head up and if you notice your friends biting each other, just get a magazine and some duct tape and prepare for the worst.

John's Review
Disasters, whether we like to acknowledge it or not, are a part of our lives. Be it man made tragedies, or mother nature reminding all of us we just live here, they will touch us in some way. Yet in our modern era, there has yet to be a major global disaster, one that threatens mankind's very existence. But if one were to arrive, there seems to be a consensus that it will come in the form of a pandemic of some kind.

Of course in the creative world that opens up many a possibility and if there is any topic that tops our fictional list of potential pandemics it is the resurrection of the dead. Yet one aspect of zombie lore that has yet to be explored in the genre is the actual effect on our world in the opening days of the pandemic. Sure, we have seen the aftermath or some of the beginning of the end through the eyes of survivors but never the scale of such a disaster. At least, not until World War Z.  

But let's not spend too much time on the plot today, since you've likely seen this movie by now. Instead, let's address the other burning questions that are undoubtedly on your mind when it comes to this movie. Is it terrible? No. Is it going to leave you cheering when the credits roll? No. The film is just so-so, and with good reason, this is by no means a traditional zombie film, or a horror film for that matter. Truth is, this is a disaster movie that happens to use zombies as the disaster. But, the film gets major props for showing off what our world could look like if the dead were to rise and there are definitely chills that come from that.  
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​Yet what hurts World War Z are a few things. For starters, fast corpses always baffle me and I really don't know how a dead creature can do all of the things that these ones do. They swarm and they leap and I just don't understand how that happens when well...they're dead. But that is the least of the film's concerns, what really made this film just ‘okay’ was one important element when it comes to zombie flicks...hopelessness. Now that's not to say hope has no place in the genre, but at no point did I feel the despair that comes with the end of the world that I usually experience when watching other zombie films.  

It seemed like the answers were always there, and I do give the film credit for its solution to the zombie menace. But let's look at something important here. Death is a big deal. We fear it, yet we also welcome it. If a loved one is suffering from a terminal medical condition for months on end and they finally succumb to the illness we are relieved that their suffering has come to an end. On a more personal level death is the final page in a story of accomplishments for us. We work toward seeing that final page be filled with joy and satisfaction of a life lived to the fullest.  

In the George Romero world of zombies and the vast majority of zombie stories, that is robbed from all of us. There is no peace in our end, no celebration because we become an abomination. It rocks the foundation of our society and that is how the zombies win. We are traumatized by the fact that one of the ideals we hold closest to us is removed from our way of life. That is what I mean by hopelessness. Despite the survivors’ plight, it is in a way...all in vain.  

Not once did I feel that watching World War Z. Sure, people died, and I can even live without the blood and guts since it holds a PG-13 rating, but I can't handle the fact that there is limitless hope in a zombie film. Regardless, do check it out. Brad Pitt is outstanding as always as Gerry Lane and from a disaster film stand point, the movie does kick ass. Just check your love of zombies and the book at the door and you'll have a fine time.  

The secrets that the oceans on this planet hold are endless. Even though we are on the same planet as them, we have only explored a small fraction of what they hold. With all of the tales from the past that have been told over the years about giant squids, krakens, holes in the water and man-eating whales, there must be some truth behind the stories. We know very little about what is hidden in the vastness of the water, but since those stories have died out over the years, it may just be the planet’s way of telling us we don’t really want to know the truth.

Kelly and Lucy are ready to go on vacation with their old friend Alex from college. Lucy and Alex had a romance many years ago and although they still keep in touch, they have not seen each other since they split up. Meeting up at their hotel, Alex drops the bombshell that he has a fiancé, breaking Lucy’s heart about why she came on the trip in the first place. Kelly knows that the surprise is killing her best friend, but being talked out of leaving, the two have prepared themselves for the trip of a lifetime.

Leaving the hotel, the girls find out that Alex has a home on an island that is sparsely populated. Being surrounded by the vastness of solitude, Kelly and Lucy are out of their element, but they would not have it any other way with the promises Alex has made about what they will be doing. Heading off to an abandoned military base, the group goes for a swim but is met by a handsome stranger, Boban, who seems to know the area better than their tour guide. Boban has eyes for the young ladies and over drinks, and the group decides to head out to an abandoned prison on the island of Mamula which was deemed off limits by the government many years ago.  

Arriving at the old prison, the group is blown away by the sights as it has not been touched for over sixty years. But they find out quickly that they are not alone as a strange sea man is found dumping body parts into the courtyard's well. Trying to get away from their impending doom, the group finds out that someone sank their boat and now they are left with trying to find an alternative way of getting off of the island. While being hunted by the mystery man, Alex and Boban are privy to hearing a beautiful song and need to find the source before they leave the island. Finding out that there is a woman at the bottom of the well, Kelly urges the group to find and release her as well before leaving, but this woman has other plans for the trespassers. Finding the trapped woman becomes the least of the group’s problems as they are not only being tormented by the mystery man, they’re also being hunted by a woman from the pages of Greek mythology; a mermaid looking for blood.

Do not let the title fool you at all, this movie is about a Killer Mermaid. There is plenty of history and tales attached to the story, so you will know all there is to know about the mermaid history and lore. I wish I had lessons like this in school, I would have paid much more attention when it came to mythology and would not have to study up on them now. It’s a fun movie to watch if you are in the mood for something to fill the time with. Although the mermaid does not have any lines, she has plenty of screen time and fills it with plenty of emotions, and blood. Stay Scared.

There are a few key things that go into telling a quality horror story. One of them is of course, to provide the audience with quality scares, the kind that give you goosebumps and leave you afraid to turn off the lights when it is time to settle in for the night, and we also require a quality and intelligent story that finds a way for the audience to connect with its characters because without that particular element, there’s no reason for us to care about the scares in question. But the biggest key when it comes to telling a top-notch scary story, is finding a way to balance those particular elements so that one never quite overpowers the other, providing the fans with a seamless experience that entertains and terrifies all at once.
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All of those reasons are precisely why I’m such a fan of AMC’s The Terror: Infamy, because this particular tale knows exactly how to make all of that happen in seamless fashion and for proof, look no further than last night’s episode, ‘Gaman’. For this is a story that found a way to continue to dive deep into the harrowing situation that Chester and his family and friends continue to experience in a world seemingly gone mad, all while pushing the plot forward when it comes to why this mysterious spirit is terrorizing this tight knit community from Terminal Island, and that made this story supremely fascinating to say the least, since it offered up some emotional moments with Chester’s family and left this reviewer unsettled when the story came to a close.

But before we get too deep into the scares in question, because they were quality ones for certain, let’s pause and examine the human elements I made mention of, because there were some powerful moments to be found in this one. Case and point, the fact that Henry finally made his way back to his family and clearly whatever else happened in that interrogation facility changed this proud and noble man irrevocably. Because not only was he suddenly afraid of his own shadow and the people surrounding him, a true bitterness when it comes to America and what it stands for had settled into his soul, and this served as the episode’s commentary on modern America, since Henry’s words spoke volumes in regard to how many people are in shock when it comes to the White House’s actions on immigration and the rhetoric that permeates our daily lives.

Yet, surprisingly, that was where the commentary came to an end since this tale since had so much more to explore, for it also took the time to show us how stifling life was in these camps back in the day. Because despite the fact that everyone in this camp was being treated well, and receiving square meals and medical care, this simply wasn’t living. There was no purpose or direction to be found for anyone living in these camps and that was chilling in its own right and the isolation and claustrophobia this revelation produced, is what helped to set up the scares in this tale. For the spirit was actively lurking about in this story, and she used the uncomfortable nature of the camp to sow discontent and worry and I have to admit, that her machinations and manipulations in this tale were quite impressive.
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Because this was in fact, all part of a grand plan, one involving Chester, and everything she did here was to unsettle him and make him believe that she was coming for his soul and that made for some supremely creepy moments, the kind that really showed us just how powerful she is, and it truly seemed as though she was going to strike at any moment. But, as it turns out, pushing Chester to his breaking point and motivating him to join the Army so that she could find him alone and in a compromised position was not the plan in question. Instead, driving him away was step one since we came to learn in the closing moments of this tale that she has her sights set on being near his and Luz’s unborn child. For what purpose exactly, we don’t quite know, but watching her lay claim to the baby definitely made my skin crawl.

If anything, this really was quite the magnificent episode when all is said and done. Because this one really did live up to the word ‘balance’, and it was filled to the brim with powerful and fascinating moments, the kind that honestly leave you feeling pity for Chester at the end of this tale. For he really is desperate to find approval in a world that has rejected him at every turn, since there is nothing he can do to please his father and the situation at hand makes him an outsider as well and everything happening in this tale seems to be setting Chester up for one grand tragedy. But who knows, there may be redemption and hope for him down the line, provided of course those who know how to deal with the spirits can save him and his child from the evil that lurks in the shadows and well, it should be interesting to see where this bleak story is headed, now that we have some clarity on what this monster wants. Until next time.  

​With our legal system being set up using due process, it is true that everybody is innocent until proven guilty. But that does not happen with the media, at all. The media is supposed to report the truth of what is happening in the world, but there is some higher up power that tells them exactly what to report, how to report it and what questions need to be asked. If the media has a shred of evidence that someone is guilty, they will make sure that all of the world knows it and will not stop reporting it that way until they are proved wrong by the court system.

Ig Perrish is being hounded by the reporters that are camped out in his yard. With his girlfriend being found dead under their woodsy hideout, Ig is the primary suspect and there is no doubt in anybody’s mind that he is guilty. Ig is sick and tired of being accused as he knows he is innocent, and he believes that everybody has lost their minds. Hearing that the lab that housed all of the evidence for the case has burned down, Ig knows that there will not be any way to prove his innocence in the eyes of the public.

Being consoled by his childhood friend Glenna at the bar, Ig cannot find a way to relieve himself of the guilt of leaving his girlfriend alone the night she was murdered but has an easy time finding the bottom of a liquor bottle. Sitting in the tree house where he and Merrin fell in love while a vigil is held below, Ig denounces his trust in God and smashes everything around the memorial that resembles a holy figure. Being stopped by Glenna, Ig is so drunk that he goes home with her, but when he wakes up, he finds that his life is changing for what he believes is the worse.

As two horns are spouting out of his head, Ig starts to hear things from people he does not know, the kind of things that he does not want to hear. Listening to peoples deepest, darkest, inner thoughts, Ig is not only the monster of his town, but the confessionary as well. Asking for advice from his priest, Ig is called a devil and with his horns, he is starting to feel the same way. But his good friend and public defender, Lee, does not see the horns and seems to be immune of wanting to spill his personal thoughts to Ig and although it seems very strange, Ig knows that his friend will have his back. But the rest of the town will not stop tormenting Ig as he is trying to find answers about what happened to Merrin and he finds that he has the power of suggestion as well. Making people do things that they would not normally do for the promise of some sort of reward, Ig is on the hunt for the person that killed his girlfriend and will stop at nothing until they are brought to justice.

Let’s call it a murder mystery with a supernatural twist, two fantastic elements joined into one good story. From the pages of the Joe Hill novel, this disturbed love story has enough twists and turns to keep you guessing as to who the murderer really is, along with what is really behind the horns on Ig’s head. I enjoyed the reason for the horns that the priest gives, but that does not explain it all and what it has done to Ig’s character in full. A good story and a great cast with a surprise of an actor that I did not even expect to see in a smaller film. I will openly admit that I am not a fan of flashbacks in movies or television, I think it is over used and most of the time it is not essential to the story, but this movie does it justice as you get to find out every account of everyone’s past, including a golf pro that made me laugh. Stay Scared!

It has been known to take a while to get used to a new house, especially if it is an old, new house. With all of the creaks and knocks coming from all around, it is difficult to be able to feel comfortable. But what if you feel like there is someone else in the house with you as well? It can be very difficult to get that feeling out of the back of your head that says you are being watched, unless you can prove otherwise. A new house, an old house, an empty house, an oversized house, it is all the same when the shadows are playing games with your eyes.
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It’s a dark and windy night in the middle of nowhere when a young woman is awoken from her sleep. Hearing what she thinks is snoring, she turns on her flashlight and gives the room a good look over, and the noise stops for the time being. Trying to go back to sleep, the snoring comes on again and this time louder. Jumping out of bed to see if there is anyone in the room with her, she finds that it is clear and heads out into the hallway to see if it is her parents making the annoying noise. 

Opening up her parents’ bedroom door, she does not hear the same sound and her mother wakes up long enough to ask her what is going on. Telling her mother that it must be father snoring, she jokingly asks if mother can smother him or something, so she can get some sleep. But mother responds with an answer that the young woman did not expect, saying that father has not returned home for the night as of yet. Bewildered as to where the sound could be coming from, the young woman goes back to bed and the snoring comes on stronger once again and she jumps out of bed. Not seeing anyone above or below the covers, she tosses her sheet back on the bed only to reveal that she is in fact not alone in her room, but what does this unseen visitor want from her?

I am always a sucker for a good ghost story, especially if you get to witness some sort of ghostly activity and in this horror short, you get to witness a ghost sleeping and snoring. You do however get a payoff in the end as the young woman in the house is not the only one woken up in the middle of the night. With a windy night, a snoring sound, an absentee father’s snoring, an unseen entity, and a sheet that falls upon a sleeping ghost, this is a good little movie to check out when you are having a hard time getting to sleep. I mean if sleeping were easy, everyone would be doing it and not looking around for the strange things that go bump in the night. Stay Scared.

At this point, it’s no secret to fans of horror everywhere that zombie stories and social commentary, go together like gravy and mashed potatoes. We just expect to learn something about the human condition or our world when we tune into a scary story involving the living dead these days, and that’s not a bad thing by any means. For the dead are indeed the perfect vehicle to explore our modern society and for proof, look no further than the genesis of this combination; George Romero’s brilliant of the Dead saga. Because George used these shambling monsters to help us understand the power of consumerism in modern America and politics and the post 9/11 world and his work inspired so many other stories to do something similar, including The Walking Dead universe.
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Because time and time again we’ve seen these stories explore why mankind is so quick to embrace the evil within and how trauma and a lack of structure can twist a mind to the point of savagery. But while we’ve ventured to some dark places in these tales, this universe works hard to try and find the best parts of humanity as well, a concept that Fear the Walking Dead has taken under its wing over the course of the past two seasons. But as we reflect upon the many elements of the human condition this incredible franchise has taken the time to explore, you’ll notice that everything we’ve discussed here is grandiose and sweeping in nature, and that makes total sense. Because horror’s job is to be the observer and offering up that outside look at bigger concepts allows for the viewer to ponder upon a concept and pull from it whatever they need.

Which is why I found last night’s episode of Fear to be so surprising in its own right. Because ‘You’re Still Here’ took the opportunity to try and tell a vastly different kind of zombie story, one that offered a more intimate commentary and that was something that quite frankly took me off guard. Because you just don’t see this genre, in essence, offer up advice to its audience and try to examine a concept it works with in bleak and frank fashion, but that’s precisely what happened here. For this particular tale ended up becoming a grand examination of what causes us to lose hope, and what exactly it takes for us to truly pull ourselves out of the darkness, and it accomplished such storytelling feats by plunging Alicia and Strand into one tough conundrum, one that involved a grand reveal of who has been painting the trees with hopeful messages in this particular region.

But before we dive into that particular surprise in question, it’s important to frame up why exactly it mattered so much to Alicia to discover who was behind this particular feat. Because Alicia firmly believed that whomever was behind this inspiring act had an endless well of hope present within their soul, and had figured out how to find beauty in a world filled with death and sorrow and that maybe, if she was able to talk to this person, she could finally find something worthwhile to strive for. And unfortunately for Alicia, the discovery of said artist accomplished none of those things. For the person who was behind all of this, was in fact, someone who had lost hope a long time ago and this discovery is what handled the show’s exploration of how exactly something that powerful can fade from within. 

For as it turns out, Wes, the man that Alicia and Strand helped in this tale, and who we met a few weeks ago when his bike was shot up by Logan and his cronies, was the man responsible for putting up this art. Because some part of him believed that inspiring others would be a helpful thing to do, since it might motivate others to go on and do good things in the midst of bad times. But seeing and experiencing the cruelty that mankind is of capable of wore him down in ways he never thought possible, and it jaded him and eventually removed the hope from his heart. And the lesson here is that what kills hope is embracing the darkness of the world, of refusing to believe that good can happen in a world where beauty does exist often and it makes Wes’ journey here a grand tragedy, one that Alicia is hoping to not replicate in the slightest.
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Which brings us to the advice in question that this particular tale offered up. Because Alicia’s journey in this tale more or less spoke to how exactly we find hope when it seems that none is available, and how we go on when the odds are seemingly against us, and the only way to make that happen, is to take a moment and realize that the only person who can save us when things are looking that bleak, is ourselves. Because no single person or act can truly inspire us to want to be more or find peace, it takes effort on our own part to do so and I honestly didn’t expect to find that kind of blunt and poignant message in a story that features walking corpses, but here we are. And it works and it is good to see Alicia take that message to heart and a start a genuine road to recovery while she continues to help others with beautiful words and bold actions.

Yet, while this character study was fascinating and unique in its own right, there were some fascinating questions posed in this tale when it comes to Logan and what exactly he and his gang are up to because of one key thing he said. For during a brief standoff with Morgan, our intrepid villain spoke to how he needed the gas for a greater purpose, one that was ‘bigger’ than Morgan and his group’s quest to help others in need and well, that word caught me off guard. Because that’s a word that Al’s girlfriend Isabelle kept using in ‘The End of Everything’, when referring to the mysterious group she worked for, which leaves one to wonder… is Logan somehow in league with this group? Did they promise him all kinds of riches and spoils if he helped to supply them with fuel? Time will tell of course, but something such as that cannot be ignored in a series where little moments matter, and it should be interesting to learn more about his true intentions in the weeks to come.

But in the here and the now, I’m left in awe of this particular tale because this really was refreshing and new and its own right. Because I am hard pressed to think of another horror story that turned out to be this intimate and this philosophical in nature and well, I loved it when all is said and done. Because there’s nothing wrong with challenging the characters and the audience of any particular story with new ideas and concepts, and I’m now wondering if we will be seeing more of this on Fear in future episodes. Because this was hands down the most effective way to push Alicia toward growth and some semblance of happiness, which is a big deal considering how many characters get stuck in the quagmire of the end of the world in this universe. But while it would indeed be fascinating to see these characters challenged in new light, I get the feeling that such matters will need to be more of a season six task since things are indeed heating up with Logan, and but a handful of episodes remain in season five. But in the here and the now this is one that will stick with me for some time, thanks to its refreshing and strong push to change things up in a genre that’s comfortable with its current routine. Until next time.