Posts Tagged ‘Review’

TV Review: Ask Ausiello: A blind item reveal?
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Lesbian Vampire Killers – Two no-hopers. One cursed village. One hell of a night! Blunty reviews the new horror comedy movie starring James Corden and Mathew Horne and directed by Phil Claydon it’s filled with laughs, lesbo’s and vampire killing, and if you liked Shaun of the dead, you’ll probably enjoy this too. www.ponderpop.com http

Vampire Wars is a free massively-multiplayer online (MMO) game hosted on Facebook. You get to assume the form of a powerful vampire as you increase your power while you slowly take control of the neighborhood, as well as battle other vampires!

Vampire Wars is from Zynga, the developer of some of the most popular games on Facebook, including FarmVille and Mafia Wars. It uses the turn-based gameplay style that is very popular among Facebook games such as Mafia Wars and Castle Age. The core concept is that game turns are taken depending on how much Energy and Rage you have available. These 2 stats control the actions you take in the game, and both of them slowly fill up with time. These stats can also be accumulated, so that a player who plays all the time will not have an advantage over someone who only logs on once a day. This is a brilliant concept that levels the playing field and allows both hardcore and casual players to enjoy the game.

There has been a lot of interest in vampires lately, from the TV series True Blood to the recent blockbusters Twilight and New Moon. With all the hype and interest in the genre, it’s not surprising that Zynga’s game about these mysterious gothic creatures is growing exponentially.

You start the game by choosing an avatar for yourself. You are able to choose a bonus that will help you throughout the game, and you can customize the look of your vampire. Your avatar’s clothes and accessories can be upgraded as you progress through the game.

The purpose of the game is essentially to become the most powerful vampire in the area, learning the most powerful abilities and taking control of the most number of minions. You do this in two ways, either by taking part in missions or by fighting other vampires. Both missions and combat will provide you with the experience required to gain levels and become more powerful.

Missions involve you going on a journey to discover your abilities as a vampire. To complete each mission, you will need to spend energy, with later missions requiring more energy than the earlier ones. In addition, each mission will require you to have learnt certain vampiric abilities before you are able to attempt it.

Combat with other vampires involves you fighting other players. Your rage stat determines how often you are able to initiate combat, while your health stat determines how much damage you can take. Combat isn’t just a duel between two vampires though; it is actually a battle between the vampires’ clans. So the more people you have in your clan or army, the more powerful you become and the better you are at combat.

You will need to learn various abilities in order to meet the requirements of the missions you attempt, and also to become more powerful at combat. There are three types of abilities: offensive, defensive and movement. These abilities range from standard vampire fare such as fangs and flight, to the more obscure and interesting ones such as immunity to garlic and the ability to summon a succubus!

The standard abilities can be bought from vendors, which simply requires the standard vampiric currency of blood. Other abilities can be obtained as rare drops from missions, by praying to the elders, by logging onto the game on a daily basis, and even by gambling with a treasure chest! Quirky abilities are also available on special occasions such as Halloween, and powerful abilities feature in a weekly sale at the bazaar.

Blood is what makes the vampiric world go round, and you get it via dominating the hapless humans around you. From the park jogger to the diner waitress and even the high school football team! Keep your minions happy and they’ll keep the blood coming. And you will need lots of blood too to pay for and maintain your most powerful abilities.

There are also many little bits in the game that make Vampire Wars a very engaging game that will tempt you to log in all the time to immerse yourself in its vampiric and gothic splendor (especially the treasure chest that lets you gamble on powerful abilities everyday). Form a vampire clan with your best friends and wage war against other bloodsuckers trespassing on your turf. The world of vampires is there ready for you to take control and make your own.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

You can read more about Vampire Wars at http://www.game-tycoon.com/vampire-wars.html

Mario Bava’s PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES is an altogether different type of vampire film especially when it was first released in 1965 when most filmgoers were only used to the Dracula personae of the vampire. Pre-dating the more well known Tobe Hooper classic LIFEFORCE, this film is the first in the sub-genre of sci-fi horror that depicts vampires as a spirit like force that can take over both living and dead bodies in order to live.

The story concerns Captain Markary (Barry Sullivan) who along with another ship and crew are stranded on a desolate planet, which they soon discover, is inhabited by a species of aliens that take over the bodies of the living or the dead and who until now where they stranded on the dead planet. Markary is in a race against time to repair his ship and save his crew from imminent death or possession.

The film has many elements of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS and ALIEN while also being seeded in the many different traditions of vampirism. Bava’s greatest asset in this film is always keeping things moving especially in a film with very few sets and the few that they do have are sparse at best.

This is an interesting departure for Bava who is best known for his horror and giallo films. This remains one of the few sci-fi films he ever directed much less also wrote (with Alberto Bevilacqua).

The brainchild of writer Joss Whedon, Buffy The Vampire Slayer originally entered American pop culture as a full-length feature film, starring Kristy Swanson, in 1992. But creator Whedon felt that the project never quite did justice to the full scope of his vision, so he managed turn the film into a television series in 1997. The result of Whedon’s increased artistic freedom is a series that has enjoyed both critical acclaim and audience notoriety. Nominated for 14 Emmy’s during its seven year run, the show managed to win only two (both in 1998 for Outstanding Makeup and Outstanding Music Composition in a television series). Yet, the true success for Buffy The Vampire Slayer is indicated by the massive success of the show’s long run, strong DVD sales, and the overwhelming success of the series spin-off Angel…

Sarah Michelle Gellar plays the title role of Buffy Anne Summers, a teenage girl who stands alone among her generation as the “chosen one” able to “stand against vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer…” But Buffy is not alone in fulfilling her destiny as a slayer of vampires. She also receives help from the high school librarian, Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head), who is a Watcher – the one chosen to train and guide slayers on their developmental path. In addition, new friends Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan – of American Pie fame) and Xander Harris (Nicholas Brendon) quickly uncover the truth of Buffy’s destiny, and they often aid her in defending the world against evil forces…

The Buffy the Vampire Slayer DVD offers a number of exciting episodes including the series premiere “Welcome to the Hellmouth” in which Buffy and her mother arrive in Sunnydale, California, trying to escape their past. But Buffy quickly learns from the school librarian that the small town sits atop a “hellmouth” about to bring forth a master vampire. When her secret is revealed to new friends Willow and Xander, the three must work together to keep the master vampire from using his vessel to enter their reality… Other notable episodes from Season 1 include “The Harvest” in which Buffy prepares to face down the master vampire’s henchmen so she can stop the harvest (a ceremony which will free the Master), and “I Robot, You Jane” in which Buffy and the Scooby gang discover a demon trapped in the school’s computer network…

Below is a list of episodes included on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Season 1) DVD:

Episode 1 (Welcome to the Hellmouth) Air Date: 03-10-1997

Episode 2 (The Harvest) Air Date: 03-10-1997

Episode 3 (The Witch) Air Date: 03-17-1997

Episode 4 (Teacher’s Pet) Air Date: 03-25-1997

Episode 5 (Never Kill a Boy on the First Day) Air Date: 03-31-1997

Episode 6 (The Pack) Air Date: 04-07-1997

Episode 7 (Angel) Air Date: 04-14-1997

Episode 8 (I Robot, You Jane) Air Date: 04-28-1997

Episode 9 (The Puppet Show) Air Date: 05-05-1997

Episode 10 (Nightmares) Air Date: 05-12-1997

Episode 11 (Out of Mind, Out of Sight) Air Date: 05-19-1997

Episode 12 (Prophecy Girl) Air Date: 06-02-1997