I'm a little late to the party but I thought I’d talk about ABC’s latest TV show The River and share some of my early thoughts about what we’ve seen so far.
For the readers unfamiliar with the project, The River follows a mixed group of old friends and new acquaintances as they set off down the Amazon River in search of famed explorer Dr. Emmet Cole (Bruce Greenwood) who has disappeared somewhere in the area six months prior.

Cole’s family – his son Lincoln (Joe Anderson) and his wife Tess (Leslie Hope) – had lost all hope for a return and begun to bury the past and rebuild their lives when Emmet’s emergency beacon erupted, signalling his survival.
With their hopes reignited, Tess recruits Lincoln on the voyage into the jungle to get him back.

Joining them is Emmet’s old producer Clark (Paul Blackthorne), who is allowed to document their endeavour, along with his lead cameraman A.J (Shaun Parkes).
Along for the hunt is Lena (Eloise Mumford), family friend and daughter of Emmet’s missing cameraman, the ship’s mechanic Emilio (Daniel Zacapa) and his daughter Jahel (Paulina Gaitan) and lastly, private security bodyguard Kurt Brynildson (Thomas Kretschmann).

Magus/Marbeley

It’s essentially episode 1 & 2 but it premiered as a two-hour pilot.

First of all, I love that this show is set around the Amazon, because it’s such a beautiful, atmospheric place and it’s the perfect setting to create a wealth of scary, gut-wrenching stories that hopefully the show can carry out from here on in.

I enjoyed getting to know the characters and their personalities, how they interact with one another and how well they are established, and I think each member of the cast turns In some really solid work.
I’m looking forward to see how some of their character arcs unfold.

To fuel the fear and anticipation of their upcoming mystery horror TV show The River, ABC have launched a nifty little site, Explore The River.

With an eerie, booming soundscape working the magic, the site transports you to Amazonas, Brazil where you board The Magus and join in on the crew’s search for a famed explorer Dr. Emmett Cole.
As you explore such locations as the lower decks and panic room, you can access short, tantalising clips from the show’s premiere.

Oh boy. Where to begin. Well...is anyone else out there tuning in on this insanity? Did you perhaps tumble down the rabbit hole like I did? For those reading and are actually wondering just what I’m referring to, May I just add that what I am discussing will be chock full of spoilers. Furthermore, it is best to go into this show knowing little as possible – because let me tell you, it sure is one crazy ride and I do not use these words lightly. So, if you haven’t seen the show, now would be the perfect time to stop reading this and track it down. For those left reading, let’s revisit the horror.

American Horror Story’s pilot was pretty full on. I mean, it was chaotic, it was insane – it was overloaded with bewildering characters, deeply disturbing hauntings and weird, psychosexual manifestations.
It was edited in a manner that disconcerted me, using jump cuts to fry your nerves. It begins in the 70's, where twin brothers enter the desolate house and begin smashing it up with their baseball bats. What nerve! Well, obviously the spirits of the house think the same because soon, they're brutally murdered.

Cut to the present day and after some troubling times - Wife Vivian suffering a miscarriage and Husband Ben having an affair, The Harmon family decide that a change of scenery just might be the spark back in their lives they need. Oh boy, were they right. It's just more of a demonic, possibly satanic spark and not of the romantic kind.

There was a wealth of information to absorb, from the ghost (demon?) in the S & M costume to the family’s maid that appears elderly to the wife and young and super cute to the seemingly sex deprived husband, from the loopy, vaguely menacing neighbour to the relationship between Husband and Wife, Ben and Vivian - but wait, there’s more! Rebelling daughter Violet is venturing into self-infliction and befriends Ben’s latest patient, a very disturbed young man by the name of Tate, who doesn’t help with her tortured thoughts. There’s a horribly burnt man that’s been stalking Ben and who desperately tries to warn him to get out of the house quick smart.

Murphy and Falchuk were throwing a lot of story at me and come the end of it, I blurted out – WHAT? It was a fantastically twisted, psychological ride but as of writing this, I’m a little unsure of its longevity as a series. I just hope there is a three-year game plan or something, with the house’s history charted out and where the series will eventually run.

Horror and video games go hand in hand - they were made for each other.

What better way to create an immersive gaming experience than with the horror genre?

Now, I'm a big gamer, I play a lot of titles - but the titles that stick out at me, the ones that are etched into my sub conscious, lingered in my dreams and nightmares - the ones that made more of an impact on me, are the horror video games.
From wandering the hallways of the Barrows Mansion in Clocktower to exploring the foggy streets of Silent Hill, from creeping through the flickering corridors of the Ishimura to even keeping paranoia at bay in the video game sequel to John Carpenter's The Thing.

I've traveled to the stars, to alternate dimensions.

I've ran from giant scissor-weilding madmen and bile spewing zombies - I've even done a few psych tests in Silent Hill: Shattered Memories that horrifically shaped the nightmarish landscape around me, twisting itself into my own, deeply personal hell.

Now, when Microsoft released the Kinect for the Xbox 360 - a motion sensing input device - where YOU become the controller - I thought to myself "Yeah, yeah, that's all very magical and all - I mean, we can pat tiny tigers now and ride around on Sonic's surfboard thingamajig - but when can we get to the good stuff? When can I wander the halls of some abandoned mental asylum or battle zombies with my bare fists? When can the survival Horror genre be taken to the new level?"

Well, imagine my intrigue when I spot a horror on the shelf of my local game shop titled Rise of Nightmares.

I just had to give it a go.

I thought I’d start my blog off by giving you all a list of my top 20 favourite horror films, and let me tell you – it was hard fitting them all into a top 20..

No doubt some of you may look at this list and think “Where’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Where’s Suspiria? Where’s Saw?” etc – and I have a special place for all of those films in my heart, I could go all day rattling off the horror films I love.

For now, though, let me just present to you my list:

1. Alien
2. The Exorcist
3. The Haunting (1963)
4. Halloween
5. A Nightmare on Elm Street
6. The Shining
7. Nosferatu
8. Rosemary's Baby
9. An American Werewolf in London
10. Evil Dead II