[EXPRESSO] Hope (2026) | In The Sleepy Little Town Of

Na Hong-jin (The Yellow Sea, The Chaser, The Wailing) is back with Hope, a massive action monster film that it’s actually best enjoyed by going to see it while knowing as little as possible about it, but it easy enough to keep spoiler free and the premise is actually fairly simple.

In the small village of Hope Harbour (situated nearby the Korean Demilitarized Zone), the police chief and his rookie deputy find themselves having to fend off a mysterious creature that has brutalized the livestock, is actively destroying the village and its people, while a hunting party in the woods find themselves stalked….

It doesn’t sound like much, yet there is more to it, as this is basically both a tribute and a mockery of the american action film, taking inspiration from Bong Joon-Ho’s The Host but also being somewhere tribute and parody of the 50s b-movie creature feature (there even the bumbling sheriff protagonist equivalent), with the characters being both cartoonish yet relatable in their incompetence, the director able to switch the tone on the fly and make the comedic bit not feel dissonant, to make intense action scenes Hollywood style then kinda “spoof” them at the same time.

It’s incredibly captivating and its turns more towards sci-fi, but as impressive as it is how it can handle multiple tones, how it builds to reveal not only the real scope and the stakes, but also how it actually manages to make its 2 hours and 40 minutes runtime a relative breeze, there’s always something happening, the action is incredible, and you always want more of everything.

My only gripe is that the CG for creatures can be underwhelming at times, but even with this, i highly recommend what is now one of the best films i’ve seen all years.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenhole SEASON ONE AND TWO [REVIEW] | A Graveyard Smash

I’ve hold off of reviewing this one in the hope Adult Swim would release it on physical media, but i’m tired, even though you can buy the series on various streaming sites… which still means technically there’s no real international release, even if you can see the whole series on AS website.

well, not quite the whole series, but we’ll get to that later.

This has been a favourite of mine for years, it’s Halloween, fuck it, we’re going through Mary Shelley’s Frankenhole, from Dino Stamatoppolous, better known for his other Adult Swim cult series, Moral Orel.

It ran from June 2010 to march 2012, amassing 20 episodes, divided over for 2 seasons, but nowadays i feel it mostly faded away, and it’s never brought up in discussion, so i’m doing it now.

Also yes, we already had a Frankenstein review as an extra treat, so consider this an Hallowen treat.

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The Spooktacular Eight #40: Tokyo Gore Police (2008)

Tokyo Gore Police had been one of my favourites of the Japanese school of 2000s exploitation high on splatter and sexual perversity, but it turns out i’ve never actually reviewed it, just mentioned it as as the “gold standard” for other films of this ilk.

But as i learned of Yoshihiro Noshimura’s passing earlier this May (his last film was Geisha War, released post-humously this September), by actress Eihi Shina (better known for her role in Miike’s Audition and as the lead in Tokyo Gore Police) reflecting on her experience working with him over the years… it’s time to pay my respects to the “Japanese Tom Savini”, as he had been called, and i’m more than happy to oblige.

Especially since Tokyo Gore Police is the first film he ever directed, after having been a special effect and make up supervisor for many films, including Sion Sono’s Suicide Club, the 2003 comedy horror romance A Larvae To Love by fellow guro gonzo filmmaker Noburo Iguchi, and even worked on the special effects for Meatball Machine, directed by Yudai Yamaguchi and Jun’Ichi Miyamoto.

After working with Noguchi again on the fx for The Machine Girl, Noshimura was asked if he wanted to do anothe movie, so he chose to remake his 1995 “short” film, Anatomia Extinction, into what would become Tokyo Gore Police.

Seems kinda silly to even discuss what this movie is about, given its title, but you would miss how and why “ze police” is goring all over the place.

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Hidden Dragon and Crouching Tiger and Sengoku Zombie [MANGA REVIEW] | Warring States Undead (Undead)

Zombies. The horror comfort food, that if an apocalypse actually happened without them, people would somehow make them happen just to not have that Y2K style survival book and mental training for a Walking Dead roleplay go to waste.

After all, we stuck them even in Pride And Prejudice, we had them destroyed by Abraham Lincon, and Sankarea exists to ask questions we shouldn’t really ask.

So of course we were gonna have them mixed with historical fantasy, going basically the Onimusha route but during the Warring States era of Japan (as depicted in popular media like Samurai Warriors more than actual historical drama), specifically reenacting the legendary rivalry between Kenshin Uesugi and Shingen Takeda… in modern day.

Mugen Tenshou: Hidden Dragon and Crouching Tiger and Sengoku Zombie is indeed the manga that dares asks: what if Sengoku era zombie samurais happened today, with a darkness castle emerging out ot nowhere, undead warriors of old, and of course Oda Nobunaga emerges as the Demon King that had been planning this while lying in Hell for centhuries?

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[EXPRESSO] Coyote VS ACME (2026) | Feel The Power Of Attorney!

Obviously, i was gonna see it since Coyote VS Acme survived the fate of Batgirl, somehow, thanks to Ketchup Entertaiment (which also distributed Looney Tunes: The Day The Earth Blow Up) and people clamoring for it, but still, it’s nothing short of a miracle that this actually arrived in theathers despite… Warner Brothers.

And i would have encouraged you to go see it regardless just to spite and prove WB wrong… but after watching it, i can really recommend to go see it even if you don’t really care, because it’s good.

Plot sees Wile E. Coyote decide to sue the ACME corporation for their faulty gadgets that prevented him for decades to catch that darn roadrunner, after noticing a billboard ad for a small layer firm specialized in “cartoon damages”, because it’s that Roger Rabbit kind of mixed world where cartoon characters coexist with live action people in the same reality.

The honcho of the agency, Kevin Avery (Will Forte)is a washed up, disgruntled lawyer, that is basically tricked into suing ACME, now a megacorp behemoth, and despite his initial cowardice, he carries on, as this case could turn his life and career around, but soon he, Coyote and his legal team get imbroiled into something even bigger..

it’s a big slapstick court comedy that’s actually a lot of fun, has a timeless message of struggle against modernity, has hearth while also keeping things family friendly, yet clever, as its more than just recreating classic Wile E. Coyote cartoons or having these classic cartoon characters back on the screen, even if it’s magical to see John Cena mock-talk Tweety Bird.

It’s telling of modern WB how they were gonna erase the finished Looney Tunes film with actual passion, as it wasn’t made to promote an already rich sport star.

[EXPRESSO] Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma (2026) | QueerAngela

Freshly released in theathers here, Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma is a classic slasher for the ages… as in, this age, the modern age.

Kris is a queer horror director known for a Psycho remake from the prospective of the shower curtains, that has been tasked with directing the reboot of 80s cult slasher series Camp Miasma (a sort of Friday The 13^th crossed with Sleepaway Camp entity), as she is a notorious superfan, but she struggles under the pressure of her own ambition to do something fresh with it, and especially because of the studio push-back to have actress that played thef inal girl in the original film, Billy Presley, come back.

Kris is adamant about it, and decides to meet up nonetheless with Billy, whom has been pretty much living as a recluse in the same place where the first Camp Miasma film was shot….

Yes, it’s indeed a meta-horror that works both as tribute and satire of the 80s slasher, it’s significance today, how the sexual themes reflected anxieties of the era and how this applies in an age where sexuality is very different, especially from a queer prospective, but while it delivers a lot of kills, gore and hilariously excessive geysers of bloods, and it’s more heavy on comedy that you’d expect.

And while it does have an unique “meta twist” that isn’t quite what you’d expect, it’s also fairly straighforward – and deliberately unsubtle- in tackling the genre as a way of sexual self-discovery and emancipation, sold thanks to the amazing performances of Gillian Anderson and Hannah Heinbinder.

Though at times the pacing could be better, and frankly i would have preferred if it ended a scene earlier than it does, but still, Teenage, Sex And Death At Camp Miasma is quite good.

Bad CGI Sharks (2019) [REVIEW] | #thesharklist

With a title like that, you know you’re either in for something that will serve as a perfect snapshot of the era, or you’re gonna eat some rotten bait, punished for willingly walking into an ACME trap.

I do like how to the point it is, like, you already know how crap these modern shark movies are, we’re gonna come clean and maybe lower your expectations even further to the point you may actually like our film, if it can actually somehow rise above being another self-deprecating joke stretched to feature lenght runtime?

This one was also surprisingly elusive since it never streamed on something available here, and out of pure stubborness i ended up importing the US DVD release, i guess Wild Eye Releasing has an exclusive deal of sorts just with Mark Polonia.

That said, this is in a way the “bad shark movie to end all shark movies”, despite some issues we’ll go over, after we go over the plot, because Bad CGI Sharks actually has one.

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Disgaea Mayhem PS5 [DEMO] | FIRST IMPRESSIONS

So, yeah, NIS hasn’t been too vocal about it, but yes, they are doing basically “Disgaea Musou/Warriors”, just in-house, and it comes out on the 23th, in a couple of weeks, i’ve actually preordered the Limited Edition this time, but i’ve seen the demo pop up, might as well give it a whirl.

And let’s just say i wasn’t impressed… actually i was baffled, but for different reasons that you might think.

The reasons being that this is an AWFUL demo.

Like, it’s become clear NIS has no faith in this game, but a demo like this feels just short of self-sabotage, like they actually want this to fail? What the fuck is the point of even throwing this together?

The demo already befuddles on the first impact because there is no story or cutscenes at all, you’re thrown into an empty little hub with a single Prinny to talk to in order to access the three levels/stages on offer; so already if you wanted Disgaea’s style of comedy you’ll have to check the inventory for the “demo weapons, not for sale” bit in the info boxes.

What the demo does have is three special demo stages, but they sure don’t feel special, they are of slightly rising difficulty, but barely so, and they are so short that i was able to see all the content in the demo in about 15 minutes.

Some demos give away too much, but the one for Disgaea Mayhem is exactly the opposite.

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A Murcielago anime in this economy, Steel Ball Run actual release schedule, the new GITS anime, Tanya Degurechaff is back, AOT 3 and the Mini Summer Of EDF delay

So, Murcielago is a manga about a super serial killer woman with 715 homicides to her name, Komori (she the titular “bat”, since “murcielago” means exactly that, but in Spanish) gets her death penalty halted due to the city being overrun with crime, and Komori gets into assisting the Japanese police in tackling other murderers and criminals that the regular police force fails to catch, helped by the expert driver Hinako and the daughter of a yakuza boss

Komori is also a super lesbian and she basically tries to get into the pants of the many extrabosomed female characters, and even without her there’s a lot of nudity just shy of scissoring because i don’t think you could get away with that on Shonen Gangan. not quite.

It’s delectable action yuri exploitation trash, i love it, i’ve been following and buying the volumes for the past years, but given there’s so much premarital selbian gex and hyperviolence, i never really expected it to get an anime adaptation, heck, it’s ridiculous how much difficult is to see new horror anime exist, which is why i’m not really expecting a Franken Fran adaptation or something.

Yet, a few days ago a teaser trailer for the Murcièlago anime just popped up, and yes, my birthday was earlier this year, but whatever, it may be on time for that since is slated for a generic “2027 release” and i guess will stream on HIDIVE in US territories, we don’t have that here..

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Asterix & Obelix: Slap Them All! PS4 [REVIEW] | Rock Em & Sock Em Romans

Because i’m slowly turning April into the “Asterix & Obelix” month, and due to a new CGI animated film, Asterix & Obelix: The Kingdom Of Nubia, releasing this October, we’re doing more of the Microids published Asterix titles.

Since we did all the titles in the XXL subseries of Asterix & Obelix games, we’re now tackling a retro styled 2D beat em up, the fittingly titled Asterix & Obelix: Slap Them All!

The story is based on 5 classic Asterix & Obelix stories, plus an original final act, so if you were hoping for an original story, you aren’t getting that here, but the picks are indeed some of the more recognizable and beloved stories from the comic book series, like Asterix and The Normans, Asterix In Spain and Asterix & Cleopatra.

The game is fuckin gorgeous, to the point i believe they blew their entire budget on the hand-drawn style graphics, as the cutscenes are just cheap character sprites/portraits talking at each other while the portraits just fade in an out, and while the art style it’s loyal to the comic strips, it means there also some sadly fitting “ethnic stereotypes” brought over as is from the decade olds comics, like the poor black guy that is the sightseeing dude on the pirate ship and is routinely knocked over when Asterix & Obelix casually terrorize them when traveling, or the random “asian pirate with nunchuks” mid-tier enemies that might as well have “Mickey Rooney doing yellowface” masks on.

Speaking of the cutscenes, at least they voiced these, can’t say the same for Asterix & Obelix XXXL: The Ram From Hibernia… but in similar fashion to that they cheaped out and didn’t bother to dub it in italian as well, despite the franchise being really popular here still.

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