Movie - The Den (2013)

This movie came highly recommended by the folks at Netflix and for those of you who'd like to see the movie, it's on there now. This movie surrounds a computer social media program called "The Den" which is similar to Skype and Chat Roulette. A girl is paid by her college to do a documentary on the program by recording random chats she has. During her project, she witnesses a murder.

**SPOILER**
Upon seeing the murder, a hacker breaks into her computer and starts to warp the footage she sees from other people, answers chats for her, and pretends to be her friends to fool her. Over the next week she starts to see people in her life disappearing and the police are convinced that it's just a hoax.

The hackers kidnap her and it is revealed that they have a whole ring where they hack, kidnap, and murder for a website that they use to find new victims. The movie kind of reminded me of Feardotcom in a way. I really enjoyed the movie (not just because it was a first person view movie) and it was pretty good. Go take a watch. The movie really takes a different perspective on social media and how easily technology can be used against us. It seems with this kind of technology that it is becoming easier and easier for things like this to happen. I gave this one a four.

Video Game - Outlast: Whistleblower (2014 PS4)

This is another review for some DLC, but this time I'm reviewing the one for Outlast. For those of you who saw my review for Outlast, you know how I feel about the game already.

I actually liked the DLC better than the original game because there were more light sources, it was easier to navigate, and the game was shorter. I don't mind a long game, but the original was very monotonous and after a while became boring.

In this game you are a guy who betrays the company he is working for. After he is found out, he is thrown into an asylum to keep him quiet. You have to fight your way through various obstacles and extremely insane people to get out. You actually do get out in this one unlike the original game where you actually die. Sorry was that a spoiler? :)

The most memorable part of the game is when a really crazy guy tries to castrate you and hang you. You enter a room where there are hundreds of others that met the same fate. That part was very stressful and crazy in my opinion.

This was a pretty good DLC and I recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the original game. I'll give this one a three.

Video Game - Dragon Age: Awakening (2010 PS3)

Dragon Age: Awakening is the downloadable content expansion pack for Dragon Age: Origins. The game is pretty long for add on content which is really nice as the original game was so great. Since I did not review the Origins game on here, I'll explain my only two problems with this game. Problem one is that the fighting is kind of retarded especially with your character making announcements each time you press attack (example: "I'm on it" "Here we go" "I got it" over and over again). Problem two is that your character doesn't talk so the conversations seem very one sided as the person you are talking to speaks. Both of these issues were cleaned up in the second game which was great and I'm sure it will be even more cleaned up in the third installment coming out within the next two months.

The game follows a grey warden who is helping two cities fight against a hoard of darkspawn (evil guys) who are led by a broodmother. Along the way you see old faces, new faces, and characters you end up meeting up with again in the second game. I like when they revisit characters in games, it gives you that familiararity and makes it easy to play. One of the gripes I have with this game is that you have the gift items that you can present to your team members to make them like you more (such as in both of the other games) however you can't engage in a relationship with those characters. What's the point of making them like you if you can't get with them? If you're a fan of Dragon Age, you'll know what I mean and are probably just as disappointed as I am.

Overall this is a great add on to the Origins game and it is very easy to get all of the trophies for it (will require two playthroughs to get all 8). Great add on and very cheap to find these days. If you get the ultimate edition of Origins, it comes with this game and all of the other DLC and nowadays you can get that for about $12.00. I don't recommend downloading straight from PSN as you can get this very cheap at a used game store such as GameStop or the Exchange.

I gave this DLC a 5/5. Great stuff.

Movie - You're Next (2011)

This is another gem my fiance found on Netflix (yes it is on there now and yes you should be watching it!) **Spoilers!**

The movie is about a family who is meeting up at a summer home to spend time together for the parent's anniversary. The household contains the mother, father, two sons (and their partners), and two sisters (and their partners). While eating dinner, the sister's boyfriend gets an arrow through the head through the window killing him. After the initial murder, the family scrambles for safety. Each family member begins being picked off in certain ways as men in animal masks kill them.

The one brother (Crispin) has a girlfriend named Erin. Erin apparently grew up in a survivalist colony so she is completely prepared for the fight for their lives. As the story progresses, however, you learn that brother Felix and his girlfriend Zee contracted the men to kill off the entire family in order to inherit the family's money (millions). Felix underestimates Erin as she herself kills the men he hired and ultimtely himself and Zee as well. Being the only one left alive, Erin answers a call on Felix's phone and learns that her boyfriend Crispin was involved in the money scam as well. She murders him once the truth is revealed. The police arrive at this moment and shoot her after she kills Crispin.

The movie is pretty crazy and has big twists that I really did not expect at all. At some point Erin sets up a trap that will decapitate the next person who walks through the front door next and I kept remembering myself thinking "don't be Crispin, don't be Crispin!" Then I learned he was involved and wished that it would have happened. Jerk...

Anyway, I gave this one a four. Pretty good and full of a good bit of gore which is nice.

Movie - The Tall Man (2012)

My fiance watched this the other day on Netflix (it's currently on there now if you want to check it out) and said that it was a really great movie. She rated this one a five, but I only gave it a four (it was still really good though!)

**Spoilers my friends, spoilers**
This movie had a lot of twists that kept me on the edge of my seat with questions for most of the movie until they were finally answered at the end. Pretty crazy movie if you ask me.

The movie follows a nurse who has lost her husband who was a well known doctor of the town. She is living with a friend and her son at this time. As the story progresses you hear of a mysterious "tall man" who a myth responsible for many child kidnappings in the area. When Jessica Biel's character (Julia) faces her son's kidnap, she goes after the hooded character. Once in the custody of the police after being brutally attacked, Julia realizes the entire town is in on it and out to get her.

The biggest twist of all comes next when it is revealed that the boy is not really Julia's child at all, but the person's who broke into the house and kidnapped him. The story then unravels that Julia and her husband who isn't really dead work together kidnapping children in poor living situations and gifting them to families who will take better care of them. Julia ends up in jail for the rest of her life while her husband works on to provide children with better homes. He is the tall man. Doesn't that just blow your mind!? Great movie. Go watch it right now!

Movie - Catacombs (2007)

So of course the story being true and all about the Paris catacombs and coming off of the high of seeing a great movie in theater I had to look on On Demand and Netflix for a documentary or something. I stumbled upon this movie which in my opinion was an absolute joke compaired to the other one. Seriously, don't watch it or you will regret it!!

The movie is about a woman who visits her sister who lives in Paris. **Spoiler alert already (sorry I don't want to spend a lot of time on this one since I didn't really like it)** While visiting with her sister, she is taken to an underground rave party in the catacombs (pretty stupid if you ask me - you could never talk me into something so dangerous). The police break up the party just as the woman finds her sister has been murdered. She ends up getting lost in the catacombs for about 12 hours being chased by a man who is trying to kill her. After she runs into a familiar face, her sister walks out saying that it was all a joke to have her "lighten up" more. Only it's not a joke once she finds out the woman has murdered the man who was chasing her (one of her sister's friends). As her sister starts freaking out on her, the woman kills her and her other friends as well.

So the whole story is pretty stupid and her sister has got to be the most evil person I have ever seen (probably deserved to die at that point). There was almost no character development and most of the movie was her just running around with some hobo which she ends up killing as well to steal his map of the catacombs. And honestly, what did the sister expect? Someone killed your sister and is trying to kill you too. Wouldn't you kill them to defend yourself too? Be realistic here people! I gave this one a two. Pathetic!

Movie - As Above, So Below (2014)

I should just put a disclaimer on my entire blog that it will contain spoilers so if you don't like spoilers, just don't read it then!

We just recently saw this last week when it came out in the theaters (the best way to watch scary movies in my opinion). The movie is based upon the hundreds of miles of catacombs located under Paris. The catacombs are said to contain a stone which grants eternal life and healing which was created by Nicholas Flamel. Funny story here, my fiance and I did not know he was a real person as we had only heard his name in Harry Potter so we were very surprised to see he was real.

A woman dedicates her life to follow in her father's footsteps in order to locate this stone. She enlists the help of a good friend (her camera-man), her ex boyfriend, and some strangers who know the catacombs well. After getting pretty deep into the catacombs, a forbidden pathway is opened and they enter. After they enter you could say that they entered Hell itself as unbelieveable things start to happen. The group starts being picked off one by one after they finally find the stone. Deeper and deeper they finally make their way out after torturous hours in the catacombs (well only three of them at this point).

I'm the type of person who would like a follow up after each movie as I'd be very curious to see what happens in the life of the three survivors after their perilous journey into the catacombs. Personally, I'm not sure how people willingly go into tight spaces such as this, but I'm really just not a tight space kind of person.

Overall the movie was great and I gave it a 5/5 which is pretty rare sometimes for me as you've seen. Do you know why I liked it so much? First. Person. Camera. View. Of course! :) Seriously though, go see it while it's in theaters and you will enjoy it so much more. The theater setting always makes scary movies so much better because you feel like you're in there with them.