Posted by
Natasha Bennett
Ever since I did my first review of ‘The Machine of Death’ webseries more videos have come up, and I have been requested to do another review of the series.
For those who missed my first review, the machine of death is a new state-of-the art system which can tell a person how they are going to die by taking a sample of their blood. The system does not mention the date, and the meaning can sometimes be a little vague. Still, it was an interesting concept...and in the later episodes, it still is.
Of course, much of these videos depend on how good the actor or actress can be monologuing for ten or twenty minutes straight. Since there are eight different videos with eight different actors, your opinion may vary. If I had to pick a favourite, mine would probably be episode five, ‘together’, where a couple believe they are predicted to die together, so they try to spend time apart instead.
One drawback of these videos is that for a couple of them a feel like there is a hidden or clever ending I am supposed to get. While most of the time I do, sometimes I feel like it slips me by, and I’m kind of left hanging. I’m not sure if this is a reflection of the video or myself, however. From a more technical standpoint, most of them are shot very well, but one might see a moment of two of shaky-cam.
In short? I would recommend giving these videos a look, and I would also not recommend having things in the background at the same time. These are the kind of videos that deserve your complete attention.
All of these videos can be found at http://orpheos.co.uk/machineofdeath/. There's also a convient machine of death on the website. Let's try mine...wait, Electrified Elephant? What the hell?
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Posted by
Natasha Bennett
Hi guy,
I've been debating for a while where to put the 'current projects' status on this blog. I think I'll probably just make it into a post once a month or whenever I have new information and go from there. So.....
War of the Soulites 3: This has been accepted by the publisher. We're still in the prelimary editing stages with this one. It'll be a while before I can give you more info for this.
Autumn's Spirit: This has also been accepted by the publisher. We've gone through the first editing stages so we should be finished it fairly soon (fingers crossed!).
D.r.e.x: Blackout (working title)-After some debating I've decided that this is going to be my next big project to finish. Basically it's a spy/supernatural horror novel which I am actively considering sending to Tor (eep!). Current word count: 32, 727 words.
Fantasy Novel (untitled). My next big project, probably going to either Tor or Edge Publishing. Currently gathering dust at 17, 857 words.
Sci-fi Novel (untitled)-I'm looking forward to writing this one, but probably won't be for a little bit. 3,000 words.
Cheers,
Natasha
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Posted by
Natasha Bennett
Blogger's note: Sorry for the slow updates everyone. Busy month!
Jack’s sister Lily is locked in an insane asylum due to suicidal tendancies. Since she is technically a ward of the state, Jack is not permitted to see her…for reasons which are not adequately explained. Rather than go through the court system, Jack does the more sane option-he strips down, cuts himself, and runs through the streets screaming bloody murder. All so he can talk to his sister. This seems a little unwise.
Weak intro aside, I did genuinely like this film…up to a point. There were patients acting strange (more so than normal, I mean) unexplained experiments from administration, added tension because Jack accidently ticks off a serial killer, and some genuine good scenes with his sister.
So why does this movie fail in the second half? One word: zombies.
Yes. Zombies. Why were the administratiors making zombies? To cure the patients, of course! Yeah, that really makes sense to me.
This movie takes a pivotal turn half-way, to Jack being a helpless fake crazy in a mysterious asylum, to Jack battling zombies. And the movie really suffers because of it.
Final grade: 2.5 out of 5. A fresh change in the horror genre for the first half, boring and predictable in the second.
I can't say what Jack does is completely unbelievable though, considering that people have actually done this in real life.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
