There are, a great many reasons why I watch and adore The Walking Dead. But of those, one of my genuine favorites is the sheer fact that this series does a phenomenal job of setting up its future. Because year in and year out, there are often subtle and grand hints as to what we might encounter as the season rolls on, or in the case of the ‘All Out War’ story arc, the heartbreak that might come our way when our intrepid heroes run into a particular group, such as the Saviors. If anything, all of this is on my mind today, simply due to the fact that last night’s episode of the series, ‘Bonds’, took the time to play the setup game in epic fashion, starting with a grandiose introduction of the world that lies beyond Virginia.
 
That was explored by way of Eugene’s journey in this tale. For a simple upgrade of the radio system over at Hilltop produced an unexpected result in that, someone from far away answered and was willing to chat with Eugene for hours on end. And this was actually quite a lovely little vignette to enjoy since we got to see Eugene’s softer side once again, and learn a little more about his past, all while being reminded of how small our world really is, even at the end of the world apparently. But what matters the most here is that there are clearly other communities out there, and while we didn’t learn much about the mysterious woman on the other end of the radio, it’s clear that Eugene is determined to learn more about where she’s from, setting up future discoveries and surprises.
 
However, while all of that was pleasant and fun in its own right, it was the only positive setup present in this particular tale. For the rest of the episode more or less provided us with a sense that there is some serious trouble on the horizon for the communities now locked in a struggle with the Whisperers and Alexandria might suffer some unexpected losses in this fight, and soon. Because a great deal of people there are suddenly suffering from a strange illness, one that aches the stomach and leaves its victim with a fever, and it is spreading and honestly, I cannot help but wonder if this is a result of Alpha’s work to mess with the rivers nearby. Because if you recall, Gamma was slicing open the dead before sending those corpses downriver to create a dam, and if Alexandria is using water from these rivers for consumption, small amounts of the rotten contents of those bodies could be creating this illness. Plus, this segment of the story also made Siddiq’s situation all the more harrowing since he’s still struggling with his memories of Alpha, and how his journey ended in this tale raises more questions than answers about where his loyalties lie.
 
Yet while that alone would have been enough to leave us gravely concerned about the future of this community, there were still more harbingers of doom to be found in this tale, and one of them involved Daryl and Carol. Because our favorite Dixon brother decided to join his best friend on a little mission, one designed to uncover the location of Alpha’s horde, so that it could be destroyed and well, a mission filled with sitting and idle chat, ended up quite tense when all is said and done. For it is obvious now that Daryl is filled with concern in regard to his BFF, and is taking more extreme steps to understand where she is at mentally right now, even going so far as to search her bag while they were out in the wild, and really the implication here is that their Biffle-ship might be in jeopardy now that Carol is locked in a dark place and that was only compounded further by what came next.

​For eventually they realized that the only way to truly discover the location of the horde, was to violate the treaty and cross over into Whisperer territory and while this should have been a routine scouting run, it quickly turned into quite a disaster. Because Carol made a smidgen of noise, and that of course led to a tense chase sequence where the Whisperers tried to discover whether man or animal made that noise, and while Daryl was quick to disguise himself with blood in order to evade detection, Carol was far less subtle about the true nature of why she came out into the woods on this day. Granted, she was being honest about trying to learn more about the horde, but she wanted a prisoner, all in the hopes of gathering intel on Alpha and her plans, something that she was successful in obtaining and well, her lies and her fury are only putting a deeper wedge between her and her best friend and of course, no good can come from placing a Whisperer in custody.
 
But truly, the centerpiece of the night once again involved the legend that is Negan, only because we came to learn what happened to him shortly after his quick and violent run-in with Beta last week and as it turns out, Negan was all about signing up to join the Whisperers’ cause. But I think we can all agree upon the fact that he really doesn’t seem to be the strong and silent type, especially when one considers that he offers up some of the finest one-liners this show has to offer. But that didn’t stop him from expressing his desire to put on a skin suit and walk amongst the dead and surprisingly Alpha was willing to see whether or not he was up to the task of immersing himself within the strange lifestyle that these people have chosen to embrace, and she asked Beta to test him like never before to see if he was in fact, worthy.
 
Which led to quite the hilarious sequence of events wherein Negan kept proving Beta wrong as he accomplished every single task that was asked of him, and he even kept his cool when the second-in-command kept him away from food. But despite his best efforts to fit-in, Negan simply couldn’t win Beta over and the hulking Whisperer decided it best to just let Negan be devoured by the dead and be done with it. But much to the Whisperers’ surprise, you can’t keep an enigmatic frenemy down and Negan emerged victorious from his encounter with the dead and even took a knee to pledge his allegiance to Alpha and well, it doesn’t get more foreboding than the possibility of two powerhouse villains, joining forces in the hopes of bringing down a mutual enemy and that’s precisely what the implication is here and that’s terrifying to say the least.
 
However, I’m still not sold on that being Negan’s true intention, and the fact that some of Alpha’s flock were quick to feed him and hold him in awe when he walked back into that camp, alongside some of his discussions with Beta on the nature of leadership, leaves me wondering if he’s trying to put himself back in charge of a group of people once again. Or if this is indeed a long con designed to topple the Whisperers. Either way, this is truly the top storyline to keep an eye upon in the days to come and when all is said and done, this was quite the cool episode. Because there is so much to chew upon in this one and so many grandiose setups for the future that it quite frankly, left me hungry for more. For all of this foreshadowing makes it clear there are some powerful moments ahead, the kind that may change the landscape of the show and that means I’ll be counting down the minutes until next week’s episode to see how these plot points develop further as we barrel toward what might be an explosive midseason finale. Until next time. 

​When looking up some of history’s greatest murder cases, you will always find the one about Lizzy Borden. Even though the old nursery rhyme tells the story about what happened in the Borden house so many years ago, many people do not understand the significance of it. Although Lizzy Borden was acquitted from the charges of murdering her parents, everyone still believes that she did commit them, but she was able to live out the rest of her life, prison free. 

Lizzy Allen is having a hard time coping with the rapid changes in her life. Although she is seeking counseling from Dr. Fredricks, she does not seem to be getting any better. Having nightmares and daydreams about her past, she is still not willing to open up about what happened to her so many years ago as a little girl. Fredricks has been trying his hardest to get Lizzy to come clean about what she remembers, but she is still shut down and will not allow her memories to come back. 

Moving back into her childhood home with boyfriend Jason, the nightmares start to get worse instead of better. Not wanting to take the medication that her doctor has prescribed, Lizzy has to try to fight her way free of the terrors in her mind, but when they become too real for her to handle, she decides that being over medicated is the way to clear her head. Being shown images in her mind that are not her own, Lizzy has to go and ask the doctor for more help, but if she does not follow his instructions, her mind will only allow the terrors she sees to get worse.

Lizzie follows Lizzy Allen as she is trying to get her life back on track. Having suffered something traumatic in her childhood, she is not willing to let her memories come back to resolve what actually happened to her. Depending on her boyfriend and therapist for help, Lizzy’s mind shows her scenes of her childhood, along with the images of what happened in her childhood home many years before she was born. Having moved into the Lizzie Borden house as a child, and now living in it as an adult, secrets are unlocked in her mind that would drive anyone mad. Not being able to close her eyes thanks to the images coming to her from her daydreams along with her nightmares, Lizzy has to find a way to cope with them and maintain a normal life.

A dark and twisted film that will leave you wondering what parts actually happened versus what was going on in her mind. It is not a movie for everyone as you have to be willing to watch sections of it over to make sure you understand what is really happening, and if what you’re seeing is in the real world, or the dream world. I rather enjoyed the interactions between Lizzy and her therapist as he tried his hardest to unlock the secrets of her mind. As she is not willing to let her childhood memories come back in the office. Instead, she witnesses them every day and every night all thanks to the wonder of staying within the walls of the Borden house. Stay Scared.

Audiences will forever be entranced by what exactly makes a villain tick, and I fully understand why. Because being able to dive into the mind of a human being that has in essence turned their back on their fellow man is a fascinating prospect, especially when one considers that no two paths to darkness are the same, and that’s why television shows and movies and books often take the time to explore the moments when people turn, to help all of us understand what makes a modern monster. But while this is now commonplace in storytelling, what I find far more fascinating these days are the stories that take this examination one step further.
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Because people that turn to a life of evil or crime, rarely do so because of a singular moment in their lives, their journey is often cumulative and heartbreaking. So the stories that take the time to show us that proverbial downward spiral, prove to be far more fascinating, since they truly help us to understand how lost these individuals are and how our world failed them and that’s why this week’s episode of Castle Rock was so downright compelling. For ‘The Laughing Place’ gave us Annie Wilkes’ origin story to speak, since we spent a great deal of time with her as a child and a young adult, which allowed for us to bear witness to every heartbreaking and formative moment of the monster that resides within her, and what we uncovered was some powerful stuff.

For in this tale, we came to learn that Annie Wilkes was not always the avid reader we’ve known her to be, mainly because she grew up with a learning disability and her frustration with that and her parents inability to truly dive in and help her daughter led to her being pulled out of regular school. A move that quite frankly insulated her from the rest of the world and stunted her emotional and mental growth. Something that was further compounded by her parents, since her father rarely took responsibility for anything in life, and her mother’s negative view of the world and life, something generated by her mental illness, only helped to narrow Annie’s growth further. But while at first glance none of this sound like it could remotely help to birth an honest to God monster, that kind of life as it turns out, was essential to creating the Annie we know today.

Because her insultation to the world and her emotions for that matter as well, combined with an inherited mental illness, all served as the ingredients for a ticking time bomb, one that was staved off for a time by the kindness of a tutor named Rita, who helped Annie learn to read and pass the GED. But that kind of explosion is inevitable, and the subsequent suicide of her mother, and the reveal that her father was unfaithful to her mother with Rita and a father once again sent Annie into a downward spiral. And the lack of care from her father and stepmother only helped to let the darkness take hold and that brought about the fateful day in question, wherein Annie accidentally killed her father in a fit of emotional and unstable rage, and once her fury was satisfied she took her baby sister and adopted her as her own daughter, and just like that the Annie Wilkes we know was officially brought into the world.

Yet while this story has been quite the guarded secret on Annie’s part, it won’t be long now before the truth is out in the open. For Joy called her biological mother, setting in motion all kinds of trouble for Annie and to make matters worse, our intrepid nurse is also about to come face to face with the man she killed and that… should be interesting. Either way though, what an incredible episode this turned out to be. Because it answered every single question that’s ever been on our minds when it comes to Annie Wilkes and she serves as a fine reminder that evil is complex in nature and that often times, the villain rarely sees themselves as such, and it should be interesting to see where the revelations introduced in this particular tale take us in the weeks to come. Until next time. 

When we were young, we always wanted to have the best birthday parties ever with our friends. Yet there are some who wonder if their parents truly did those parties justice. Looking back, I wish they got a comedian or something, but I had the unfortunate gift of a clown coming into my home. I will not lie, clowns kind of freak me out to this day and I would seriously consider not getting one for my kids, knowing how they tormented my youth. But some people love clowns and what they bring to the table at parties, having to be a jack of all trades, they are the best to entertain kids young and old, for a fair price.

Tom is celebrating his tenth birthday with all of his friends. Although they are getting a little too old for the normal things that kids like, his mom still orders a clown for old times’ sake. None of the kids are willing to put up with the normal shenanigans of the painted faced entertainer and decide to play a little trick on him by tying his shoelaces together and knocking him over. Stitches is of course, clueless to this prank, and his resulting fall takes  him right into the dishwasher, where a large knife sticking up, which stabs him right though his eye.

Tom is distraught after the death of his entertainer and knows that it was all his fault as he planned the little trick to play on the clown. Watching as Stitches is laid to rest, Tom visited the cemetery to pay his respects with one of the clown’s squeakier toys but notices the crypt at the top of hill has some strange figures walking up to it, carrying an egg. Sneaking in behind the mourning clowns, Tom watches a ritual take place to bring the entertainer back to life. Waking in his own bed six years later, Tom still knows what he has witnessed and has been suffering for years.

​Now in high school, Tom and his childhood friends have all gone their separate ways with the exception of Vinny who has stuck at his side after all these years. Tom’s mother has to take a business trip and recommends that Tom have one of his friends come over for his birthday, but when the old friends hear about this, they decide to throw him a real birthday party. With more kids than he can name at his home, Tom knows that this party will go down as a great one, but there is something in the back of his mind that is telling him that something is going to go wrong. As Stitches rises from the grave to join the party, the spell cast on him many years ago has given him power to finish his show from several years earlier.

Stitches follows the story of Tom as he is troubled from an accident that ended up killing a clown in his house six years prior. Not being able to get over this loss, Tom has to be reminded that not every party will end with someone dying at it. Wanting to spend his next birthday with just his friend Vinny, Tom puts it out there that he will have the house to himself, but that causes more of a problem than he could have foreseen. With all of his friends from his tenth birthday party showing up, Stitches the Clown is resurrected and ready to finish his show. Taking each kid in their own way, Stitches is still looking for laughs, but it is said that the second go around is never quite as funny. Tom and his friends have to find a way to stop the clown before they are all killed as well and the secret has to have something to do with what Tom witnessed so many years ago in the graveyard.

Balloons, ice cream, flying limbs… this movie has all the aspects for the perfect party and it will have to go down as another reason why I fear clowns. With so many wild and zany kills in this movie, there is no reason not to watch it as you will be blown away, literally. Yes, there is humor as well, and although the second joke is not as good as the first, you will still be laughing. They say that a clown must always finish his show, no matter what. I will admit that a couple have left my early birthday parties, early, because I was crying and now, I fear the repercussions. Stay Scared!

There are all kinds of things that we are not supposed to see during the night hours, because let’s face it, most of us are sound asleep. But when you look to break that cycle, you may be shocked to find out that there is a whole other world, thriving in the darkness, that you have never been privy to. While some of the new events that you witness may be astounding, there are others that you might want to steer clear of, since they are not meant for you at all. Knowing what goes on in the shadows is something that many people strive to find out, but at what cost are you willing to pay, since some of the prices are awfully high.
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While waiting at the bus stop and lighting up a smoke, Mr. Black is not expecting anything out the ordinary, but he hears a strange clicking in the distance. Looking at his watch, he sees that that time is 2:37 a.m. and looking down the empty street, he sees something that he has never spotted before. Watching as a skeleton passes him, Mr. Black does not know what to make of the event and tries to pull out his phone to record the strange occurrence, but when he looks back up, the skeleton is gone. Getting back home and having a drink, Mr. Black is trying to wrap his head around what he saw and while there does not seem to be any reasonable explanation for it, he starts to hear the clicking again, but passes out before he can see who or what might be messing with him.

With the skeleton still on his mind at work, Mr. Black starts seeing things out of the side of his eye, and knows that he must record this strange specter to prove that he is not going crazy. As night sets again, Mr. Black keeps a keen eye on his watch as to not miss the time when the skeleton will walk by again, but this time he is ready with his cell phone recording. Right on time, the skeleton makes its way down the empty road and Mr. Black is getting it all on tape, but on this night, he is not the only one on the road as a car comes out of nowhere and destroys his cellphone when pulling away. Knowing that this strange specter is real, Mr. Black has one more idea and pulls out his camcorder and decides to follow the skeleton as far as he can, but when the battery starts to run out, so does time for Mr. Black who might be heading toward to a place he may never return from.

I was a little skeptical about this horror short when it started, I mean, how can you make CGI skeleton good in a short? Well, they did it right and it was pretty creepy overall, especially when you get in close to it and see no visible outlines of an actor. I liked the determination of Mr. Black to try and prove that he is seeing something that not everybody has seen walking down the road in the middle of the night, and seeing that the booze plays a part of the story, he appears to be trying to prove that he is not a crazy drunk. With a random skeleton, an empty road, some vanishing, a phantom car, some booze, some smoking, and a walk to remember, this is a good short that proves that maybe you don’t always want to know what is hiding in the shadows, since it may not want you seeing it. Stay Scared.

Watch ‘The Thing at 2:37’ on Amazon Prime Video.

​I think it is safe to say, that fans of cinema as a whole have resigned themselves to the fact that this is now an era of film dominated by sequels and remakes and reimagining’s. Because studios are churning them out en masse and audiences are eating them up and that makes them a hot commodity in the studios’ eyes. But that doesn’t mean that fans have to accept and embrace every single sequel that comes their way. As evidenced by the recent failure of Terminator: Dark Fate, if a studio is going churn out another entry in a franchise, it better offer us a story that is completely worth our while. Which means that in essence, there is a checklist that the audience has in mind when they see that a sequel to a particular tale is on its way.
 
For example, it needs to feature the characters that we loved the most from an earlier adventure, since they are critical to the story’s success. Plus, we need the story to take us someplace new and exciting so that we’re not just getting a good old-fashioned re-hash of the original story and most important of all; the new chapter in the saga flat out needs to be good. Because often times, part two is a follow-up to a beloved story, one that we hold dear in our hearts for so many reasons and believe it or not, in this age of sequels there are new entries coming out that actually manage to check off every box on this all-important mental list, and recently I had the opportunity to see a sequel that meets these all-important qualifications in Zombieland: Double Tap.
 
Because this is a top-notch entry in this franchise, which comes as a pleasant surprise. For the original Zombieland appeared to be a self-encapsulated story, one that satisfied audiences everywhere with its ending. But this motion picture is able to impress simply based upon the fact that it taps into something that zombie cinema is only now starting to explore, in that, what does the world look like once the survivors of the end find peace and comfort? For that little twist allows for the dead to take a healthy backseat so that we can properly see how our main characters have grown and that’s exactly what this film focuses upon and seeing how our four leads from the original film have adapted to this world and how they lead their lives now, is fascinating.
 
But while it sounds as though this movie is nothing more than a grandiose character study, have no fear, everything that makes the original film so wonderful is present here as well. For there are plenty of zombies to found and tons of guts and gore and most important of all, the movie is downright hilarious. In fact, I would venture to say that Double Tap actually offers up more laughs than the original, and that is thanks in large part to the fact that we are within the confines of an established universe in this tale, allowing for the fun to expand and honestly, I cannot remember the last time I laughed this hard during a horror comedy, and all of these elements make this motion picture a sheer delight and a worthy successor in the franchise.
 
However, what I think I appreciated the most about this particular sequel, is the sheer fact that everyone involved truly took their time in making it. Because not rushing this one and setting it and making it ten years after the original, adds authenticity to the story, to the point where you instantly buy everything this motion picture is selling and that allows for this film to be as special as the original, and everything we’ve talked about today makes this movie a must see for certain. Because it is just a silly and fun ride, one that needs to be celebrated and who knows, if this one is a success at the box office, perhaps we can all reunite for a third entry in say, 2029. 

Learning from the past is something that people truly believe in. So many bad things can be avoided if you paid attention to what someone else’s previous results were. Trying to reenact something that had a negative outcome and expect it to go better is just silly in my opinion, as many of these attempts were pretty much silly to start with. Learning from your mistakes is great but learning from others mistakes should be critical in everyone’s life.

Samantha Owens and her brother David have become outcasts at school, ever since they grew up and no longer fit in with the cool kids. Working for the school paper, Samantha has no problems in voicing her opinions on anything, along with calling out the jock crowd for not being as intelligent as the rest of the students. After her latest article runs, she becomes a target for showing a very unflattering picture of the school’s sports stars and they are now looking for revenge. 

Samantha and her friends are skipping out on prom with no regrets and spend their night revisiting an urban legend about a girl named Mary Banner. Mary was an outcast like the girls are now, but Mary was taken to prom by one of the hottest football players and never heard from again. Without ever finding the body of young Mary, she has gone down in the town’s history as a legend that hopefully no one would ever repeat, as the full story has never been figured out. The girls have a laugh about the story that happened thirty-five years ago and go to sleep, but when they wind up missing, the urban legend comes back to life.

​Finding themselves in the old mill, the girls find out that they have been drugged and taken against their wills by the jocks Samantha had blasted in the school paper. Just being a prank, the footballs players let it go, even when Samantha’s brother David tries to confront them. Not believing that anything bad would ever happen to them, the jocks go along with their daily lives, but one by one start ending up dead. Mary Banner’s name is raised in the situation as the parents of everyone that is dying were involved in her disappearance so many years ago. Not knowing how to stop this threat, Samantha and David call upon Mary’s only surviving friend to find out what she really wants and what will make her stop this gruesome killing spree.

Urban Legends: Bloody Mary follows the brother/sister team of Samantha and David Owens as they try to figure out what is happening with the strange killings in the town. When an event that led to Mary Banner’s disappearance thirty-five years ago has been copied, it awakened the angry soul and the town is going to pay for what it did. With the first two victims being claimed, everyone was pointing the finger at David Owens as he was trying to get payback for what happened to his sister, but when the killings expand to Samantha’s longtime friend, the town finds out that they are in for something that runs much deeper than just a normal prank. As Samantha and David find out what really happened to Mary Banner, they try to formulate a list of possible targets before they are killed by the sleepless soul, but when nobody will admit that they believe that a ghost can harm them, they become much more vulnerable as Mary exacts her revenge.

A ghost story with a familiar character being called out, Bloody Mary. As I remember growing up, if you have the lights off and are staring into a mirror and call out Bloody Mary’s name three times, she was supposed to appear behind you. I don’t remember much more than that, all I know is that all of my friends would talk a big game about doing it, until they said her name two times, then chickened out. But what this movie brought to the screen was a story of revenge, be it from the living or the dead. When an action that should have gotten a group of football players into trouble so many years ago was reenacted with promise of no retaliation, more people ended up getting hurt and killed. Moral of the story… don’t piss off a dead person that is looking for revenge. Stay Scared.

It seems like whatever we use these days comes with some sort of download that for the most part, only takes a couple seconds out of our days to get. While we do not think twice about this, since it seems to be running rampant with all of our devices, we never really take the time to sit and read all that will be coming with it. For those people who have the time to read the hundred pages of the old iTunes Terms and Services, I applaud you, most of us don’t have the time and just hit Accept. As the update files continue to grow, we tend to have less time to read them and whatever they say will go through our systems, whether we like it or not.
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A woman sits on her couch, reading a book with nothing happening in her house, other than her router starting to collect a new download. As the lights on the router start to flicker, indicating that it is starting to bring in a large file, the lights in the house start to flicker a little bit. Noticing this for a brief second, the woman looks up from her book, but at it ends as quickly as it started, so she pays it no mind. Going back to her book, the woman then hears something fall in the other room and goes to investigate. 

Seeing that a stick has fallen, she picks it back up and puts it in its place and heads back into the other room, when she hears something that she cannot explain. Seeing nothing, she sits back down on the couch and continues reading her book when she sees that a file has downloaded onto her phone. Hitting the play option, she watches as the device starts to load and is shocked when seeing the results. Seeing herself in her house at that moment, the woman tries to find out where the image is being filmed from, but that might be the last thing she is ever able to do.

This is a quick little horror short that delivers on suspense in a big way. With little signs that there is something going wrong in the house, the woman is not really afraid to start with, but that changes when she sees that she might be the subject of the latest download that has just taken place. The flickering lights on the router is really the most real thing in this short, as I know we have all taken a moment to watch this when we are waiting for something to download, and I will never look at it the same way again. With a comfortable couch, a book, a falling stick, an unexplainable sound, a dripping faucet, a strange download and a stranger in the house that cannot be explained, this short will make you think twice about what you are about to mindlessly download into your devices, because if you don’t know the fine print, you may find that the writing is on the wall. Stay Scared.

Watch ‘The Latest Download’ on Amazon Prime Video.

​Trying to find the truth about something and becoming famous while doing so is something that some people thrive on. When investigative reporters take to the street and try to dig up something that is not public knowledge and end up finding out that the rabbit hole goes so much deeper and ends up starting at the top, of say, the political food chain, they are presented with an award and that makes them highly sought after. But when small groups of unknowns try to do the same thing however, they are met with credibility issues and are usually accused of being frauds.

A group of paranormal researchers are trying to make a name for themselves by finding and videoing the ghost of Richard Speck in the now abandoned dormitory where he committed seven murders back in 1966. Killing seven of the eight nurses he took hostage that night, Speck is not only one of the most popular mass murderers, but his story has never been properly told. Being called ‘The Birdman’ after he had taken in a couple of canaries when in prison, Speck became a local legend in Chicago after the facts came out. 

Not worried about what would happen in the old townhouse, the group of researchers get all set up and are ready to provoke the evil spirit of Richard Speck, but unknown to them, the two men that were helping to set up their cameras have been taken by an unseen entity. Filming their documentary is on the top of their list and although not many people have heard of Speck, if they could locate his ghost, it would give them both fame and fortune. When trying to provoke Speck in the room where he held the nursing student’s hostage, a strange sound comes from within the wall. With all of the pipes, the group thinks that it is just the building settling, but a voice crying out for help is heard and recorded and they know that they are on to something.

As the team grows more comfortable in their surroundings, first time investigator Sarah walks though the townhouse alone while getting some cups. She is taken by an unseen person and hidden in the original room where the whole murderous spree started. Trying to locate their young investigator, the group has to search the entire house and finds all of what they believe are the hiding places of the spirits. When finding Sarah, she is shaken and the only thing she can say is that ‘he is here’. Not believing that a ghost can harm a person, the group tries to provoke it once again and met with more than they bargained for. Only preying on one person at a time, Richard Speck seems to have a plan to get each person on their own so he can continue his killing spree.

This is just a frightening movie to say the least. Being shot in an investigative ghost hunting style, you are always left wondering what will be around every corner. Without being able to see their attacker, Richard Speck steals the show. With someone wielding an unseen knife, stabbing people and dragging them up walls, there seems to be no end to the power that Speck possesses and that can be the scariest thing of all. I especially like when the group finds out that he only attacks people that are alone and they continue to do just that, running off alone and meeting the same fate. If you want a knockdown, drag out ghost story that has blood, strange sounds, disembodied voices and a powerful unseen villain, this is the movie for you. Stay Scared.

​When it comes to television, I think we can all agree that the transitional episode is something that leaves a lot to be desired. For these particular tales tend to be clunky in nature, since they offer up unimportant plot points designed to entertain, while the major plot points are developed in slow and sweet fashion, all the in hopes of keeping you hooked for a big moment down the line. It’s an unfortunate style of storytelling that every series out there, stumbles with from time to time, even The Walking Dead. Since we’ve seen the series provide us with a few transitional episodes here and there and they really haven’t enthralled us in the manner we’ve come to expect from this series.
 
If anything, this is on my mind today, simply because the transitional episode is precisely what the show delivered our way last night. But rather than subscribe to the traditional formula for these tales, ‘What It Always Is’ ended up being quite the fascinating ride, one that introduced a boatload of plot points that actually managed to captivate. But with so many competing plot lines, where does one begin? Well I think it’s best we discuss Magna, and her quest to stock up on supplies from Hilltop since this more or less served as a follow up point to last week’s thematic notion involving the fallout of fear. Because clearly, Magna is nervous about what comes next now that the Whisperers have made a direct attack on Hilltop. And the fear within her, prompted her to prepare for another life on the road and it was sad to see that such terror still existed in her heart despite the good that’s come her way and I love that this was resolved with caring and understanding since that is likely the only way to calm her nervous mind.
 
Speaking of last week’s theme, the story also took the time to dive a little deeper into what exactly helped put Ezekiel into such a dark place during that particular tale and that’s critical to explore. Because I think we can all agree that after watching that episode, Ezekiel’s attempt to take his own life didn’t sit well with anybody. After all, he’s about as tough as they come and loss and strife is something that often motivates him over anything else, and while fear definitely had an influence upon his poor mental standing during that particular story, the revelation presented here, in that he is suffering from advanced thyroid cancer, filled in the blanks. Because as it turns out his fear was also related to the fact that he is going to waste away in the weeks to come since there’s no chance of survival without advanced medicine being available to him, and it was just fascinating to watch Ezekiel try to come to terms with his mortality and it should be interesting to see how he deals with his final days as the story continues along.
 
Yet while these moments were fascinating in their own right, there are two other key plotlines that this episode introduced that quite frankly, blew me away and the first one involved the Whisperers. Because in this story we came to learn that Alpha is indeed the mastermind of all of the trouble that’s been brewing for our heroes this season. Since concerns were expressed within her camp about the wealth of guardians they were burning through as they sent wave after wave at Hilltop and Alexandria, when they could in fact just send the horde and end them all. But a quick and swift victory isn’t Alpha’s style, not when it can benefit the pack. Because eventually, fallen trees and unending waves of walking corpses will motivate others to join the group once their world has fallen to the wayside and what’s chilling is that Alpha still has bigger plans in motion in order to make that happen.

​Because we also spent some time with Gamma in this story, simply because she has become the point woman of the next phase of Alpha’s twisted machinations. Since it has been her job to bring the dead to the river and drop them and open them up in the hopes of plugging up and likely contaminating the water supply for the communities at large, which is dastardly and chilling in its own right, since it helps us understand just how far Alpha is willing to go to win. Something that was reinforced by the fact that she is hoping to use Gamma as a spy of sorts since Aaron showed the Whisperers’ third-in-command mercy and kindness when she sliced her hand open in a fit of fury, and having her make nice with Aaron is an idea that may or may not benefit Alpha. Because Gamma’s anger did make it clear that she’s not exactly keen on how her master handled her sister’s breakdown, and one has to wonder if seeing a better way might help her turn away from the dark clouds that Alpha hangs above her brood.
 
But of the many plotlines introduced in this story, the genuine centerpiece of the night involved Negan. For in this story we caught up with the former villain as he made his grand escape from Alexandria and well, his freedom brought about quite a twist. Because when he took a moment to rest and relax, he found himself face to face with an Alexandrian named Brandon, and while that should have signaled the end of his freedom, Brandon instead offered up his praise and admiration for Negan, on an annoying level. Because this kid would not stop celebrating Negan’s time as the leader of the Saviors and even offered his hero a brand new bat with barbed wire and his old leather coat in the hopes of seeing a legend come back to life, something that Negan didn’t want any part of and that’s what made this part of the episode so intriguing.
 
For in essence, Negan was looking for a fresh start in this tale. In fact, he even went so far as to show a mother and her son kindness when they were in trouble and he also offered to bring them to Hilltop so they could find safety for a change. But Brandon refused to see beyond what once was, and killed these kind people in the belief that his loyalty was being tested by Negan, as part of ushering in a reformed Savior empire and well, that forced Negan to put the kid down and make his way into Whisperer territory for a little chat with Beta. Which now begs a pair of questions. Is Negan looking to join up with the bad guys in order to exact revenge on a world that has shunned him, or is this part of a grand plan at redemption, since Negan could turn on the charm in order to get close to the Whisperers and gather intel or do some damage on his way out of the forest. Time will tell of course, but this was definitely a powerful storytelling segment since we genuinely saw the good that resides within Negan once again, and how his reputation and past actions continue to cloud his future.
 
In the end however, I really was impressed with how this episode drew me in. Because this one should have and could have been quite boring. But the strong performances present here, and gentle weaving together of important themes helped to make this one fascinating for certain, as did the revelations that came into play here. Because Alpha’s plans are messed up, plain and simple and its unsettling to know that there is a fair chance we’ve only seen a sliver of her master plan and that darker days might be ahead, all in the name of revenge and proving a point. Plus, it should be fascinating to see what becomes of Negan and I really do hope this is his shot at redemption since it would be nice to see him become more than the man we met back in season six. Either way, this season continues to impress and I imagine it won’t be long before the plot is cooking once again as the Whisperers and the remnant of civilization inch closer to war and once again, I’ll be counting down the minutes to next Sunday’s episode to see where this magnificent season is headed. Until next time.