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‘Control’: Furious, Razor Smart and Infinitely Cool

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Control

When you see Remedy Entertainment pop up an immediate interest is piqued. The folks behind Max Payne, Quantum Break and Alan Wake are a team dedicated to bringing that outside the box auteur content to the mainstream. Their latest mind bender, Control is Remedy reaching peak coolness, artfulness and the all out ability to make jaws drop.

Control centers around Jesse Faden a woman seeking answers concerning her mysterious past. When Jesse arrives at the The Federal Bureau of Control’s home base known as ‘The Oldest House,’ she is thrown into combat against an invading force known as ‘The Hiss’ onto a path that will unlock her full potential as well as answer her questions regarding her mysterious past.

The game takes place within the walls of The Oldest House and task you with exploring all sectors contained within. This is accomplished by discovering and taking over control points as well as the ultimate goal of pushing The Hiss out of the area.

Jesse has a lot of awesome tools at her disposal. For one, her Service Weapon is able to change and harness several different approaches to combat. These see the Service Weapon changing from pistol to shotgun to machine gun, etc… Each one of weapon settings is also fully up-gradable and can be further moded with items found in the House.

Combat is a complete blast, and really gives you the feeling of taking on the full brunt of Jesse’s powers. Once you are able to chain them all together things get really interesting. I think the coolest thing the folks at Remedy did was make it to where you can activate your powers and fire your weapon at the same time. For example, putting up a shield while levitating and dashing, or levitating while using telekinesis to hurl objects all make the game even more excellent.

Control

Controls are incredible and tight and that comes as a welcome surprise. For the amount of moves that the game has Jesse executing its mind boggling that you can control her with such ease. A lot of games that give you the ability to unleash a bevy of moves is usually subdued by its own prowess. Either by only allowing you to execute one move at a time or in some cases just coming off somewhat wooden. Control is masterful and effortless in its approach to controlling Jesse. The approach is a straight up blast and absolutely sets the bar in what controls should look like from here on out.

Control’s main character, Jesse (Courtney Hope) is a rare case where mocap and acting prowess is combined wonderfully. Hope, who has a background in dance, perfectly embodies the character in an approach that fits the heightened dream like tone of the world. Her performance lies in the subtleties and would fit perfectly into the world of David Lynch. From voice to the physical work Hope creates a character that feels fully fleshed out and is a protagonist that you immediately side with.

Speaking of, the entire cast and voice work is really well done here. The Oldest House is full of characters that ride the line of deeply interesting and the darkly cartoonish. The next level mocap that Control offers combined with the pitch perfect voice direction makes for a audible world that matches the games overall visual atmosphere.

Control grabs you

and doesn’t let go.

The design of Control is phenomenal and an absolute achievement. From The Oldest House’s architecture to the the ways that the physical world is manipulated, the design is pure cotton candy on for the eyes and a true spectacle. That same design is extended almost everything in the game including Jesse’s service weapon, which might go down as the coolest weapon I have seen in a game or film in a decade.

Contorl

If you ever asked yourself what a colab between Christopher Nolan and David Lynch would look like, Control would be the answer. It’s mind bending mechanics, bizarre world of characters and dream like atmosphere act as melding of what we have seen from both above mentioned directors. But, that doesn’t take away from the singular experience that the game offers in anyway. Control is very much its own game, and its own crane style approach to its development.

Control grabs you and doesn’t let go. It’s furious, razor smart and infinitely cool. This is the kind of game I want to play and the kind of movie I would pay to see on the big screen. The ability to work on as many levels as Control does easily gives it my vote for Game of the Year and is a serious must play for fans of art in general. In fact, the game could have stopped at its artful masterful design and that would have already been enough… but then they go ahead and throw in that insanely great combat. This is one that seriously needs to be played to be experienced and you should definitely make it a point to play it as soon as possible.

Control is currently available on PS4 and Xbox One.

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News

Brad Dourif Says He’s Retiring Except For One Important Role

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Brad Dourif has been doing movies for nearly 50 years. Now it seems he is walking away from the industry at 74 to enjoy his golden years. Except, there is a caveat.

Recently, digital entertainment publication JoBlo’s Tyler Nichols talked to some of the Chucky television series cast members. During the interview, Dourif made an announcement.

“Dourif said that he’s retired from acting,” says Nichols. “The only reason he came back for the show was because of his daughter Fiona and he considers Chucky creator Don Mancini to be family. But for non-Chucky stuff, he considers himself retired.”

Dourif has voiced the possessed doll since 1988 (minus the 2019 reboot). The original movie “Child’s Play” has become such a cult classic it’s at the top of some people’s best chillers of all time. Chucky himself is ingrained in pop culture history much like Frankenstein or Jason Voorhees.

While Dourif may be known for his famous voiceover, he is also an Oscar-nominated actor for his part in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Another famous horror role is The Gemini Killer in William Peter Blatty’s Exorcist III. And who can forget Betazoid Lon Suder in Star Trek: Voyager?

The good news is that Don Mancini is already pitching a concept for season four of Chucky which might also include a feature-length movie with a series tie-in. So, Although Dourif says he is retiring from the industry, ironically he is Chucky’s friend till the end.

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Editorial

7 Great ‘Scream’ Fan Films & Shorts Worth a Watch

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The Scream franchise is such an iconic series, that many budding filmmakers take inspiration from it and make their own sequels or, at least, build upon the original universe created by screenwriter Kevin Williamson. YouTube is the perfect medium to showcase these talents (and budgets) with fan-made homages with their own personal twists.

The great thing about Ghostface is that he can appear anywhere, in any town, he just needs the signature mask, knife, and unhinged motive. Thanks to Fair Use laws it’s possible to expand upon Wes Craven’s creation by simply getting a group of young adults together and killing them off one by one. Oh, and don’t forget the twist. You’ll notice that Roger Jackson’s famous Ghostface voice is uncanny valley, but you get the gist.

We have gathered five fan films/shorts related to Scream that we thought were pretty good. Although they can’t possibly match the beats of a $33 million blockbuster, they get by on what they have. But who needs money? If you’re talented and motivated anything is possible as proven by these filmmakers who are well on their way to the big leagues.

Take a look at the below films and let us know what you think. And while you’re at it, leave these young filmmakers a thumbs up, or leave them a comment to encourage them to create more films. Besides, where else are you going to see Ghostface vs. a Katana all set to a hip-hop soundtrack?

Scream Live (2023)

Scream Live

Ghostface (2021)

Ghostface

Ghost Face (2023)

Ghost Face

Don’t Scream (2022)

Don’t Scream

Scream: A Fan Film (2023)

Scream: A Fan Film

The Scream (2023)

The Scream

A Scream Fan Film (2023)

A Scream Fan Film
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Movies

Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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