So I Finally Watched a Playthrough of Resident Evil 7

I have more experience with the Resident Evil movies than I do with the games, and there’s a reason for that. The movies are a lot of things—“terrible” is one word that comes to mind—but they’re not scary, an aspect I appreciate because horror stories like this usually give me nightmares. But while the movies might be poorly made, I’ve heard good things about their notably scary games. Until recently, I was only familiar with the first and fourth in the series, but against my better judgement I decided to check out Resident Evil 7. Thankfully for me, Team4Star published a series of videos of Krillin from DBZ playing the game, and without Krillin’s hilarious commentary, I doubt I would have made it through the story. Resident Evil 7 scared me. A lot. And the first two days afterward, I had nightmares.

(via UpLoadVR)

But the more I thought about it, the more I enjoyed the story, and I even went back to watch the playthrough a second time. I doubt I’ll ever play the game for myself, but I ended up loving the story and the characters a lot more than I thought I would.

Spoilers ahead.

Throwback Thursdays: Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island

After being somewhat let down by my re-watch of Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders, I was kind of loath to put my nostalgic favorite Scooby movie under a critical microscope. Thankfully, I discovered upon rewatching that it was still pretty enjoyable.

Spoilers for a movie that’s old enough to vote after the jump.

The Walking Dead: “Start to Finish” Midseason Finale Review

I’m starting to question what it is I even enjoy about this show anymore—because I do enjoy it—but I just hate so many of the characters. At the forefront of my hatred is none other than Rick, but even characters I like have started pissing me off this season. I also, until this season, never noticed how much time has, or rather hasn’t, passed in the show. The first eight episodes of Season 6 take place over the course of maybe three days, if that, and that just doesn’t seem like enough time for any of the characters to work through their emotional issues, especially while dealing with a walker-apocalypse. To top that off, some of those episodes feature numerous pointless subplots that amount to nothing.

What I’m trying to say is that Season 6 has not had The Walking Dead’s strongest storytelling. Spoilers below the jump.

The Walking Dead: “First Time Again” Review

Now that Fear the Walking Dead’s first season has wrapped up, The Walking Dead is back on for another sixteen episodes, and despite my growing dislike for Rick, I found “First Time Again” immensely enjoyable. Now that Morgan’s in Alexandria, he and Rick are getting to know one another again—Rick is a vastly different person than Morgan knew from Season 1, while Morgan is still reserved, kind, and disapproving of violence.

Their conflict with each other is, quite unsurprisingly, nothing like what the trailer wanted us to think. This is because The Walking Dead, at six seasons in, still hasn’t figured out that trailers are not actually supposed to blatantly lie to audiences. Nevertheless, it was still good to see that someone doesn’t think everything Rick did was completely justifiable. Unlike Rick, Morgan chooses to see the best in people, and he has faith that deep down Rick can still be a good person.

While I most certainly still have numerous grievances about Rick’s character, all in all this episode was a lot of fun, and it did remind me why I loved this show so much.

Spoilers up ahead.

Fear the Walking Dead, Characterization, and Mercy Killings

Fear the Walking Dead’s first season ended this Sunday, and while I liked some parts of it more than others, I really loved it overall. A few characters are fairly unlikable, as are some of the writing decisions, but it was still a fun first watch, and I enjoyed seeing what happened at the start of the apocalypse. I also really enjoyed that, once again, Rick wasn’t in it.

Spoilers up ahead.

Sexualized Saturdays: The Curious Case of Transferable Sexuality in iZombie

Usually, when I write these posts, I get the ideas for the topics from something I’ve seen recently, but for some reason nothing I watched over the past couple of weeks has made me think about gender/sexuality representation. So, I had to cast my mind further back, and then I remembered iZombie, the fun, entertaining little show with a different spin on zombie fiction.

I’m always looking for LGBTQ+ representation, so I was somewhat disappointed at the show’s lack of actual queer characters. However, the show’s premise does lend itself to some interesting opportunities for representation—when zombies eat a person’s brain, they temporarily acquire some of that person’s traits, and apparently, these traits include sexuality. But, since you’re essentially mixing two personalities, things can get complicated (and sometimes lack continuity). There are only three instances in Season 1 when Liv or Lowell eating a brain affects their sexuality, so it’s not the largest sample, but I still think they’re interesting to look at.

Some spoilers for iZombie after the jump.

Fear the Walking Dead, Diversity, and Zombies

As of right now, The Walking Dead spinoff Fear the Walking Dead is only two episodes in, with another episode on tonight, and all I can say is that I love it. I love this show. I adore nearly everything about it. Right now, I even think it’s better than the original. I’m sure my opinion is somewhat influenced by the fact that Rick isn’t in it, but for the moment, all I can say is that Fear the Walking Dead is great. Of course, “great” is not “perfect”. Somehow, the show managed to kill off all three of its Black characters in the course of its first two episodes, certainly a questionable writing choice that left me shaking my head in disbelief. Other than that, Fear the Walking Dead has a really diverse cast, and that is only helped by some really good acting.

Trailer Tuesdays: The Walking Dead Season 6 and Fear the Walking Dead

Well, it’s nearly that time again. The Walking Dead’s next season is almost upon us, and if it’s anything like the previous seasons, I will spend my time watching it hating Rick Grimes with every fiber of my being while simultaneously being invested in everyone else.

And not only is The Walking Dead starting back up again, its spinoff show Fear the Walking Dead is finally making its way to the small screen. I’m going to be honest here: right now I’m much more interested in the spinoff than the actual show.

Return to Westeros: “Hardhome” Review

Oh, somehow, we’re nearly fifty episodes into a show where a zombie apocalypse feels like a huge relief after weeks and weeks of sexual violence. Hooray?

Okay, this looks bad.

“Hardhome” is about more than just the title location, but it swallows up nearly all the oxygen in the room this week, capped by a long, slow, and nearly dialogue-free battle between the Night’s Watch, the wildlings, and a growing horde of skeletons, zombies, wights, and ultimately, White Walkers. There were very few survivors.

My Current Choice for Stimulating Brain Food: The Television Series iZombie

Despite being interested in the horror genre, I’ve never been a fan of zombies, especially now that they’ve been used to death in movies, games, and even clothing. When my boyfriend suggested watching iZombie, I originally said no. But he told me that the pilot episode was supposed to be really good, and I was sick of marathoning Game of Thrones, so we watched it together. Since the pilot, we’ve been keeping up with the show online. It’s become one of my favorite shows currently airing. iZombie is surprisingly progressive, in a strong but subtle way. The cast is diverse in a respectful manner, and the plot touches on racial issues in the media. The main protagonist is an independent woman, without having to prove herself. iZombie may not be the most intense show, but it’s clever, civil, and it covers modern problems in an entertaining way.

Spoilers ahead! If you’re curious, you can watch most of the series for free on the CW’s webpage, or on Hulu.