My life in gaming: From the mushroom Kingdom to Raccoon city

As a fan of survival horror it was only natural for me to fall in love with the Resident Evil franchise,
it was the first of its kind in terms of the sub-genre which was specifically given to this game when it was created in 1996 by Shinji Mikami and Tokuro Fujiwara under the title Biohazard only called by this name in Japan, owned by the Japanese company Capcom.  



But before I go deeper into my love of the franchise, im going to explain where my gaming journey started. I was 6 at the time and me and my older brother were given a NES for Christmas and the game that came with the console was Star Wars, based on the feature film of the same name. This game ultimately opened my eyes to the world of gaming at such a young age, even now when i hear the cantina song it takes me back to Saturday mornings, playing the console.

I moved onto various other consoles and games, SNES, Mega Drive, Game cube, N64 and finally Playstation. I did briefly play the Dreamcast aswell, but I hated the the controller so I didn't branch out with games on that console.

My main choice of genre was action, adventure,
role playing and puzzle which includes the following,

Super Mario Brothers
Earthworm Jim
Mega Man
Abe's Odyssey
Castlevania
Sonic The Hedgehog.
Tomb Raider
Golden eye

I could go on and on, but the main theme around all of these games were they very much action and adventure, not a huge amount of adult content or suspense. Don't get me wrong they were really hard, some I didn't even complete, yes im looking at you Mega Man the bane of my childhood.

Then a game came and changed the gaming experience for me, the game in question was Resident Evil, I didn't know what to expect when i put the disc in my trusty PlayStation 1, I got myself comfy ready to submerge myself into this game, little did I know the ride that I was about to jump on.

I was asked to choose between two characters at the start, one being Chris Redfield and the other Jill Valentine, I loved the badass female characters from my time playing Lara Croft on Tomb Raider, with this in mind I chose Jill.

The main story revolves around either Jill or Chris, depending on who you choose at the start. They are members of a task force known as S.T.A.R.S, they have to investigate the disappearance of their team members in Raccoon city. They follow various leads and end up being trapped in a mansion infested with zombies, rabid dogs and various other creatures.

The game quickly showed me its genre which I was taken aback by, I had never really been scared by a game before, this definitely heightened my excitement to play the game, as a horror fan at a tender age, I loved the feel of being scared from a film, it felt like I was on a roller coaster, so when I could get this feeling whilst playing a game, I knew the gaming future was bright.

The suspense in this game was apart from anything I had ever experienced, from the slow opening doors, to the sounds of the zombies lurking around every corner.
But the biggest moment of this game for me was when you was walking down a hallway and the demonic dogs jumped through the window behind you, im almost certain I screamed at that point. This scene will forever go down in survival horror gaming history.

The franchise quickly gained momentum with more and more games being released and being available on most consoles at the time. The franchise easily made the transition from gaming to movies with ease. To this date resident evil is still close to my heart, as much as i enjoy the movies, the games will always be my first love of the franchise.

What are your thoughts on the franchise?

Let me know

Tash.



credit:

Big Thanks to Dan Owen for helping me with the title. You rock!


Picture from Wikipedia

"With great power comes great responsibility"

I have seen posts and reviews of the new Spider-man game, every time I read one I was even more intrigued. Although i am a Marvel and DC fan, I have never really been interested in the games of any of the characters. The reviews were swaying me though, almost every one I read said that it was one of the best games. The genres I usually play are survival, horror and open world mainly, but i would never not play a game just because it didn't fit completely in those genres.

I reached out on some social media platforms asking whether the game was worth getting, obviously we all have different tastes, I just wanted to see what the my fellow gamers said. The response was positively unanimous. 

I started playing tonight, the Marvel slogan popped up I felt like I was getting ready to watch a superhero film, that instantly gave me a good feeling. The first thing that mesmerized me was the graphics, absolutely stunning. 

The game play was easy to get into, with prompts popping up with hints and tips, which I felt was helpful. The actions of Spider man swinging through the city to fighting enemies was incredibly fluid. The fight sequences were extremely hypnotic, it almost felt like I was watching the film. It did take me a little while to get back into the swing of fast paced action scenes. The last time I had to use so many different combos was during my first play-through of Shadow of Mordor.

I will post a more thorough review once I have finished the game, I was just so impressed that I needed to write this post, I was so unprepared to like it but I feel like it will become one of my favourites. 

Thanks again for reading.

Tash  

Sources; photo Wikipedia

"whats your favourite scary movie?" Part 1 of 3

The next movie I wanted to mention is, Scream (1997)



Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson created one of the most influential horrors of the 90s when they released scream back in 1997, they took the slasher genre and made it fresh, exciting and added elements of humor. I loved that Wes added a lot of himself into this movie, having one of his own films mentioned, A Nightmare on elm street.

 The casting choices also had a great deal to how the film panned out. Drew Barrymore as Casey Becker at the start of the film. when I first started watching this movie and Drew was at the start, I felt an element of ease to the film. I believe it was because they had used such a high profile actress at the time to start the opening scene, because who would ever kill off Drew Barrymore? well that was my first thought anyway.



The opening scene definitely set the tone for the film as it jumped straight into suspense, and violence with a touch of dark humor along side it. Drew was incredible in this scene, from the way she speaks to the killer on the phone to the way she slides the knife up and down, it gave the viewers an idea of the murder weapon. The suspense was rife during this climatic opening scene, we hadn't even seen the killer and he had already gave me chills, not knowing where he was and could appear at any moment. Terrifying.

The suspense was built up beautifully right from the point of the first call to Casey, even when the killer was asking the trivia questions, it made me feel on edge. I still felt that it wouldn't be the end of Casey that, her boyfriend would get to her in time or that she would be able to call authorities, but this was turning out to be a true cat and mouse game. The next shock for me came when the masked killer revealed Casey's boyfriend strapped to a chair, the brutality of it completely unnerved me, especially that early on in the movie.

The murder scene. This kill is by far one of the most shocking in the first film in my opinion, as I stated before I never expected Casey to be killed let alone be the first victim. What made it far more impactful was that Casey's parents were arriving home just as the attack began, it was completely chilling that she was trying to call out to them but because of her injuries she was unable to.

I think its every parents worst nightmare to discover something has happened to their child, when Mrs Becker picked up the phone to dial authorities and all she heard was her daughter gasping for breath as Casey still held onto the phone. This still gives me goosebumps, I think Wes Craven was incredibly smart in this moment, as now it felt like anything could happen. There are no rules.




As this is one of my favorite movies of all time, I really want to show the respect it deserves so I am splitting this film review into 3 parts, the other two parts will be posted soon!

Again thanks for reading.

Tash.

Sources used for pictures; IMDB

"You're so cool Brewster"

Following on from my last post I thought id share my thoughts on

 Fright night (1985).

Directed and written by Tom Holland. 

 * Note to readers; spoilers are evident through the whole of my article*

The film takes place in a suburban neighborhood, where teenager Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale) is starting to suspect that his new neighbor Jerry Dandridge (Chris Sarandon) is a vampire. He attempts to explain this to his parents, girlfriend Amy (Amanda Bearse), and his best friend Ed known as Evil Ed (Stephen Geoffreys) but to no avail.

 He then seeks help from a washed up horror actor known as Peter Vincent (played by Roddy Mc Dowell) who only showcases his skills on a late night TV show entitled Fright Night. Charley also tried to convince the authorities of Jerry's real identity and is convinced that he is the culprit of the string of murders that have occurred recently. but again to no avail

Concerns for Charley increasingly grow as Charley's girlfriend Amy, has acquired the attention of Jerry. This is where it seems to portray parts of the classic tale Dracula by Bram Stoker, Jerry has seemingly lost a love and holds a portrait in his house that has uncanny similarities to Amy, which seems to mirror that of Mina and Dracula.

Charley realizes that if no one else is listening to him, he has to take matters into his own hands, Jerry becomes aware of Charley's motives and attacks Evil Ed in an alley way. Amy is the next victim to succumb to Jerry's charms and he subdues her in a night club, which is one of the most iconic scenes in this movie in my opinion. The music and the chemistry that Jerry and Amy have in this moment is hypnotic.

Moving on to the sidekick of the film, Evil Ed. he is so underrated in my opinion, he has to be one of the greatest sidekicks to grace a horror movie. He is witty, funny and slightly geeky, who could forget his phrase "you're so cool Brewster".

After being bitten by Jerry, poor Evil Ed goes through his transformation into a vampire/werewolf  hybrid and attacks Peter Vincent in the process, I always found that slightly weird that he didn't turn into just a vampire, but it does work and its a very impressive transformation scene.


This movie is close to my heart for several reasons, it was the first vampire movie that I ever watched so it will always hold nostalgia for me and I was completely absorbed by the story. Even more so as an adult, i can appreciate it so much more now.


Tom Holland really respected the Vampire tale in all its glory,  I will never forget the moment i saw Jerry take over Amy and all you saw was the blood dripping down her back. That scene still gives me chills to this day.

Chris Sarandon just oozes charm and seductiveness you can't help but fall in love with his character, even though he is the main antagonist of the movie, I can't imagine anyone else portraying this version of Dracula.


Have you watched this Vampire flick? what are your views?

Sources used are;

• YouTube
• IMDB

Welcome to my blog. The Savage Diaries

I have been toying with the idea of writing reviews, articles for my own blog for quite sometime. The main topics of my blog will be based around horror, books and gaming. 

My love of horror started around the tender age of 8 when I snuck the VHS tape of The Fly (1986) out of my parents house, I took it to a friends house for a sleepover, although after watching the film I had nightmares for weeks and almost instantly regretted my decision.

The next movie I dared to venture was Dolls (1986) the main reason for this was purely by the cover, it terrified me but something wanted me to watch it, i couldn't explain that feeling as a child but it was definitely the start of my horror journey. 

It wasn't until I was around 12 or so that i watched Fright Night (1985) this was the movie that really opened my eyes to horror and what it could offer, i experienced so much during the first viewing. I had never seen a vampire movie before, so wasn't even sure of the concept "vampire". Although I grew up watching Count Duckula, that doesn't really count.

The next movie that really peaked my interest was Wes Cravens' Scream (1996) This movie broke all the typical cliches of slasher movies, i thought it was written incredibly well Kevin Williamson is a genius, it was clever, funny and sexy all rolled into one movie.

I have since watched numerous horrors from most sub-genres and looking forward to writing various articles about my horror journey.

If you have read this and it hasn't bored you to death, thank you!

Tash