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PLAYMIND’s ‘The Inner Friend’ is a Fantastic, Internalized Game of Horrors

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A broken, terrified man writhes on a filthy bed. He twists and turns and utters garbled cries of apparent mental anguish. The form of a childlike, not quite whole spirit approaches and stares down into the fiery glowing place where the man’s face should be and finds himself falling into his unconscious, damaged mind.

This is the genuinely chilling beginning of PLAYMIND’s brand new release, The Inner Friend, making it’s debut today on PC with the promise of a console release next year.

From the official synopsis:

Dive into an eerie subconscious universe to face childhood fears and nightmares in order to restore peace to the distressed mind. Led by a mysterious Shadow, players will collect memories while they journey always deeper through the subconscious, unraveling a rich but wordless story and eluding gruesome beings.

My first impression of the game was how gorgeous and surreal developer Emmanuel Sevigny’s world really is.

In order to access the deeper portions of the subconscious mind, you must take a leap of faith of sorts. Abandoning the safe space of a child’s bedroom inside the character’s mind, you leap into a void falling down and down until you reach the floating buildings below. Inside some, there are portals, and through those portals you will find the pieces needed to rebuild a broken mind.

Looking over a wasteland inside the mind in The Inner Friend from PLAYMIND

It’s a clever device that works to the game’s advantage, reminding us quickly that nothing is quite as it appears, but that’s really only the beginning.

The pieces you need aren’t easy to find, you see, and there are a whole host of genuinely creepy beings and scenes to work through in order to obtain them. A hallway that leads from one room to the next may go somewhere else entirely when you take it again. An object or character that is seemingly harmless, may be the most deadly you’ve faced.

The creative team left no stone un-turned in building their world, providing as much for the ears as for the eyes. The ambient sounds, intensified because I was using my headphones no less, constantly warn of horrors in your periphery while the heavily synthesized 80s-inspired soundtrack–with gentle nods to Netflix’s “Stranger Things”– keeps you constantly moving.

The more deeply you move into the subconscious, the more terrifying and challenging the game becomes, of course, echoing the idea that those things we bury deepest are the ones that hurt us most, and it serves as a reminder that healing can be almost as painful as the trauma that created one’s wounds.

Taking a step back to look at the big picture, however, sheds light on the question that is perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the game.

How much does a human being have to go through for their mind to shatter so completely?

Game play in The Inner Friend is fairly straightforward and easy to master with simple controls. You’re often required to make lightning fast decisions on the fly, however, in order to solve the challenges of each level so be prepared to use your brain and also to pay the piper when your choice is the wrong one.

The Inner Friend is available September 6, 2018 on Steam, and at only $14.99 it’s a really great deal. Check out the trailer below, and prepare yourself to enter this amazing world.

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’28 Years Later’ Trilogy Taking Shape With Serious Star Power

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28 years later

Danny Boyle is revisiting his 28 Days Later universe with three new films. He will direct the first, 28 Years Later, with two more to follow. Deadline is reporting that sources say Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Ralph Fiennes have been cast for the first entry, a sequel to the original. Details are being kept under wraps so we don’t know how or if the first original sequel 28 Weeks Later fits into the project.

Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Fiennes

Boyle will direct the first movie but it’s unclear which role he will take on in the subsequent films. What is known is Candyman (2021) director Nia DaCosta is scheduled to direct the second film in this trilogy and that the third will be filmed immediately afterward. Whether DaCosta will direct both is still unclear.

Alex Garland is writing the scripts. Garland is having a successful time at the box office right now. He wrote and directed the current action/thriller Civil War which was just knocked out of the theatrical top spot by Radio Silence’s Abigail.

There is no word yet on when, or where, 28 Years Later will start production.

28 Days Later

The original film followed Jim (Cillian Murphy) who wakes from a coma to find that London is currently dealing with a zombie outbreak.

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Watch ‘The Burning’ At The Location Where It Was Filmed

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Fangoria is reporting that fans of the 1981 slasher The Burning will be able to have a screening of the film at the location where it was filmed. The movie is set at Camp Blackfoot which is actually the Stonehaven Nature Preserve in Ransomville, New York.

This ticketed event will take place on August 3. Guests will be able to take a tour of the grounds as well as enjoy some campfire snacks along with the screening of The Burning.

The Burning

The film came out in the early ’80s when teen slashers were being churned out in magnum force. Thanks to Sean S. Cunningham’s Friday the 13th, filmmakers wanted to get in on the low-budget, high-profit movie market and a casket load of these types of films were produced, some better than others.

The Burning is one of the good ones, mostly because of the special effects from Tom Savini who had just come off of his groundbreaking work on Dawn of the Dead and Friday the 13th. He declined to do the sequel because of its illogical premise and instead signed on to do this movie. Also, a young Jason Alexander who would later go on to play George in Seinfeld is a featured player.

Because of its practical gore, The Burning had to be heavily edited before it received an R-rating. The MPAA was under the thumb of protest groups and political bigwigs to censor violent films at the time because slashers were just so graphic and detailed in their gore.

Tickets are $50, and if you want a special t-shirt, that will cost you another $25, You can get all the information by visiting the On Set Cinema webpage.

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‘Longlegs’ Creepy “Part 2” Teaser Appears on Instagram

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Longlegs

Neon Films released an Insta-teaser for their horror film Longlegs today. Titled Dirty: Part 2, the clip only furthers the mystery of what we are in for when this movie is finally released on July 12.

The official logline is: FBI Agent Lee Harker is assigned to an unsolved serial killer case that takes unexpected turns, revealing evidence of the occult. Harker discovers a personal connection to the killer and must stop him before he strikes again.

Directed by former actor Oz Perkins who also gave us The Blackcoat’s Daughter and Gretel & Hansel, Longlegs is already creating buzz with its moody images and cryptic hints. The film is rated R for bloody violence, and disturbing images.

Longlegs stars Nicolas Cage, Maika Monroe, and Alicia Witt.

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