Movie – Phantasmagoria (2014)

Premiere: 
May 20, 2014 (Cannes Film Festival)

Country of origin: Italy / France

Directed by:
Mickael Abbate, Domiziano Cristopharo, Tiziano Martella

Written by: 
Mickael Abbate, Domiziano Cristopharo, Tiziano Martella

Distributed by: EuroObscura
Genre: Fantasy, Horror, Drama, Thriller
Runtime: 1h15min
Starring: Venantino Venantini, Maya Dolan, Sophie Pâris

The reason this caught my attention is because of the Italian actor Venantino Venantini, known to me from Paura nella città dei morti viventi (1980) (City of the Living Dead). In that film, he plays a very brutal father, not a huge role, but very, very memorable. 

(Paura nella città dei morti viventi (1980)

I was curious to see what more he had done and found out about this movie, wonder if I’ll even recognize him. 

This film Phantasmagoria was provided to me for this review by EuroObscura.

Jumping into this anthology movie, we start with a solid, long, old-school intro credit, then we are taken right into a Tales from the Crypt-style segment. A carnival-like, fortune teller skeleton is our host and presents the first story. I love this setup, Tales from the Crypt is one of my favorite shows. 

 

Diabolique – Director: Mickael Abbate – 15 min
The story follows an Italian film team in the south of France: three women and one man, seemingly set to record a sci-fi movie. A fun little touch, they start humming the X-Files intro, which I absolutely loved. But almost immediately, you notice something isn’t right.
 

It reminded me a lot of Blink Twice (2023). The setting adds to the unease: an abandoned mansion called La Diabolique where the townspeople acting strangely, that gave off a faint Twin Peaks vibe. The short starts strong, but unfortunately, it loses momentum toward the end, wrapping up too quickly. I kind of lost track of what was really happening before it concluded. The only super sad part was that the film crew in the short never really got to shoot anything for their sci-fi movie, they just talked about it a bit and then relaxed and all the strange story happens around them. 

WAKE UP!

I give this 4/10 – Because good effort, but it’s too personal for others to really grasp fully.

 

Our skeleton host guides us into the next story.

 

 

My Gift to You – Director: Tiziano Martella – 20 min
In this segment, I knew we would see Venantino Venantini, listed on IMDb as playing the grandpa, so let’s see if we find him.

The story starts on October 31, 1993—Halloween.
What a brutal start. A very memorable scene. A young girl, Sarah, walks in on her loving grandfather, well played by Venantini, as he shoots himself. Before doing it, he says, “this is my gift to you.”
That’s an incredibly heavy moment. For a child to witness that and then to frame it as a “gift”… it immediately sets a deep psychological weight. It’s not just shocking, it lingers.

Nineteen years later, in 2012, Sarah is still trying to understand why he did it. What she finds doesn’t come as a clear answer at first. It feels more like a dark psychological dream than an explanation. But eventually, something does emerge, just not something she was ready for.

The story stays quite open-ended. You understand most of what happened, but the details are left for you to piece together. It leans heavily into dreamlike and symbolic visuals, which fits the very, very dark themes it explores.
I’d give it a 5/10. The psychological terror comes through well, especially because of what Sarah experienced.

 

 

After another short visit from our skeleton host, we move into the third and final short.

 

A Snake with a Steel Tongue – Director: Domiziano Cristopharo – 30 min
This one starts off very bloody, with what appears to be a prostitute killing her client. It sets up a mystery right away. Who is the killer and why? The face is hidden, possibly behind a mask and it’s not even clear if it’s a woman or a man. That gave me strong giallo vibes, I was hoping it would turn into more of a detective-style story.
We follow a man who checks into a sketchy motel. It seems like the place has been closed for some time, but he’s allowed to stay there for just one night. The place and its innkeeper gives it an uneasy feeling. As things progress, the motel clearly isn’t what it seems and the connection to the opening murder becomes more and more intriguing. The innkeeper repeatedly insisting that vodka is the best choice right now adds to the strange atmosphere.

By the end, the story shifts and becomes a bit confusing, though that seems intentional. It leans into a slow, looming thriller style where you’re constantly wondering what will happen next. The end was interesting, even if the path there feels a bit uneven. Unfortunately, the audio mix was also somewhat inconsistent, which took me out of it at times.
I’d give it a 4/10. It has a nice and interesting twist, but overall it didn’t fully land for me.

After a short wrap-up by our skeleton host, the movie ends with the credits and its great 80s vibe soundtrack!

 

So overall I say it was not a bad watch, not at all. It is always interesting to see how these anthology works, what is special most of the time is how one tries to fit a short story that is intriguing to watch and how complex one can make it.
I give this full movie 7/10 – Charming skeleton host and one did feel transformed into the worlds of these stories. It was nice to see the part Venantino Venantini was playing also. 

Links:
IMDB: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt3026102/
Homepage: https://www.facebook.com/Phantasmagoria.the.movie

http://www.euroobscura.com/

Movie - Skate to Hell (2026)

 Premiere: January 15, 2026
Country of origin: USA
Directed by: Shawn C. Phillips
Written by: Shawn C. Phillips, Ethan Phillips
Distributed by: Deskpop Entertainment
Genre:Comedy, Action, Horror
Runtime:1h40min
Starring: Joseph Poliquin, Elizabeth Chamberlain, Nicole Butler, Michael B. Moynahan, Robert LaSardo, Mason Reese

Well, I need to say it: what a shitty movie! Oh wait… wrong movie. There’s actually a movie in the movie and that one wasn’t so good, that´s the idea of it. But both started nice, so let’s dive in.

Let me tell you about Coolduder, the YouTube movie reviewer and filmmaker from the USA. Real name is - Shawn C. Phillips. All the way back from around 2006 when he started, he’s maintained a consistent, special flow in his movie reviews. I have been following his journey, checking in a bit now and then and over the years, he’s become friends with a lot of filmmakers and actors. Now he’s making his own full-length movies and his latest, Skate to Hell, just released and I got an opportunity to see it.

This was a crowdfunding project on Indiegogo in 2014. The goal was $15,000 and it was funded in three days. In the end, they got $104,107. That’s insane!

The movie follows Kurt (Joseph Poliquin), a skater who ends up in possession of a skateboard that can teleport you to your own personal hell. When the news reaches what I like to call the mafia Devil in hell (Robert LaSardo, later also played by Mason Reese), that his son (Michael B. Moynahan) is on the surface and has lost his skateboard, all hell breaks loose. What follows is a full-on comedy movie with slapstick humor, gore, tons of sexual and… poop humor. Not my favorite, but it’s not bad. Some scenes were really disgusting though, but the gore was nicely done.

 

The movie takes you through a lot of different locations and features a huge cast, unknowns and some big names, including: Eric Roberts shows up as a guy in a homeless shelter (he’s been in almost 1,000 movies!), Jenna Jameson the famous former adult film actress, plays a nun in this one. There are a lot of others in this movie, the crowdfunding allowed people to buy themselves into it. That’s how these projects usually work, from producer/ thank you credits to appearances, which explains the massive cast. The end credit was fun, too. One perk let contributors make a vlog in the credits, a creative way to fill out a fair mile-long credit list.

 

The music in this movie was great, highlights are these songs:

Thundering Asteroids! – Swallow Your Soul
Kevin the Ghost – Break Free (This Machine)
Suicide Puppets – Death Note
Philippe Gerber – The Bone Cutter
Klark McIntyre – Drip by Drip

The soundtrack really adds energy and vibe, keeping the chaos fun and lively.

 

Some characters and actors really stood out. The devil and Kurt, both did a great job. Elizabeth Chamberlain as Ruby has a change of personality later on. Kat, the skate shop lady (Nicole Butler), she started minor but got a bigger role than I thought. Nice. Shawn himself did a cameo also, that was chill.

There were some surprisingly dark and sad moments. One subplot involving a guy and his stepdad got really heavy, almost too heavy for the otherwise comedic tone. It felt slightly out of place, but in a curious way, adding depth amid the absurdity.

I do not know for sure if this was the influence but saw some The Godfather, Skate or Die, Street Trash and even Back to the Future vibes in this one. The filmmakers clearly aimed to mix humor, chaos and drama, for the most part, it works. 

 

6/10 - This was a chill watch with lots of laugh-out-loud moments. If you’re into over-the-top comedy, gore, insane cameos and wild music, Skate to Hell is a ride worth taking.

“…maybe a unicorn surfing a rainbow, with a pentagram on its ass.”

Links:
- IMDb https://m.imdb.com/title/tt29824649
- Trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NAk9ATyIhY
- Streaming list -https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/skate-to-hell
- Order Dvd (American shipping) - https://shorturl.at/KORyR
- Order the Dvd (World wide shipping) – https://moviezyng.com/products/skate-to-hell
- Original Indiegogo Campaign - https://shorturl.at/STQ4D
- Shawn C. Phillips YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@coolduder

Game - Last Flag – Inside the February Press Event: Catching the Flag with the Developers

I was invited, along with around 30 other outlets, to attend the Last Flag press event on Discord. On screen, the developers presenting were Producer Matthew and the two brothers behind the game, Mac and Dan Reynolds. The session included introductions, gameplay with the devs of Night Street Games and a Q&A. But before we dove into mechanics, there was a story that framed the entire project. 

Dan Reynolds shared that the idea for Last Flag came from growing up playing old school games with his brother Mac. That shared love of classic competitive gaming planted the seed. The two of them wanted to build something of their own. They reached out to a small group of developers who were interested in helping bring the idea to life. On an early video call, Dan turned on his camera to properly introduce himself. The reaction from that team was immediate:

“What… that’s you?”

It was a small, human moment. Just someone pitching a game idea and revealing that he happened to be the singer of Imagine Dragons.

 

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What Is Last Flag?

Last Flag is a 5v5 PvP game built with a 1970s-inspired aesthetic. It blends approachable, likable characters with strategic depth.

The core objective is simple:

• Hide your team’s flag

• Find the enemy team’s flag before they find yours

Beneath that simplicity, there’s more:

• Each character has unique abilities, giving players different roles and playstyles

• The map contains power-ups that can shift momentum during matches

• There are three radio towers, which serve multiple strategic purposes:

  • Capture one to respawn there

  • Gain healing while you control it and being near it

  • The longer you hold it, the more it scans the surrounding area, eventually revealing an enemy flag if its hiding in that area.

Control all three towers and your team gains serious tactical advantage. The systems encourage both teamwork and independent play, keeping matches dynamic.

---

First Impressions From the Beta

What I appreciated early on was that the developers clearly explained what to focus on before we jumped in. I had a clear understanding of the objective and systems going into my first match on Steam. We were in a private press server along with the devs, which kept it calm and collected. That attention to structure felt well thought out.

The world immediately felt open. It did not feel like being locked into strict lanes the way games like League of Legends structure their maps. Instead, you have options.

You can stay coordinated with your team, fighting over radio towers and building map control. Or you can break off and hunt for the enemy flag directly. Both approaches feel viable. I played two matches during the session. 

In the first game, I focused on the tower strategy. It turned into a genuine fight for control. We were constantly contesting positions, pushing and retaking ground. It felt tactical and deliberate. In the end, we lost that match, the enemy team found our flag first, It felt earned.

In the second match, I started with the tower strategy again but decided to break off and hunt for the enemy flag before it was revealed by the towers. And you know what? I found it, tucked away in a cave. 

 

On the way back, I stumbled, but my team was right behind me. Together, we secured the flag again, I grabbed hold of it once more, sprinting all the way back to our base.

The final stretch was tense, we had to defend the flag for about a minute. The enemy team tried hard to take it back, nearly succeeding, but we held our ground. Victory was ours.

It was chaotic, tactical, and genuinely fun, a perfect example of how Last Flag balances open-world freedom with team-based strategy.

---

Q&A Highlights

After the matches, we moved into the Q&A. A few points stood out:

• There will be no battle pass. Free skins and other rewards are unlocked simply by playing, and the team encouraged everyone to join the open beta for exclusive rewards as you level up.

• Currently, one map is fully playable and a second, snowy map, is complete but not yet available. Two additional maps are in development.

• The developers emphasized that Last Flag is intended to be more of a party or family-friendly game rather than a highly competitive ranked experience, though ranked modes might be added later.

Those details, combined with the fun, dynamic gameplay, left me genuinely excited to see where the game goes. Last Flag already shows promise as a game that balances approachable mechanics, strategic depth and a playful, retro aesthetic.

//Sonny

Links:
https://lastflag.com/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2721340/Last_Flag/

Game - Playstation - State of Play 12/02-2026

 Highlights from State of Play Feb 12 - 2026

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Kena: Scars of Kosmora

The first game was wonderful and had such a warm charm to it. 

This sequel looks more mature in tone and atmosphere, which really caught my attention. If it builds on the emotional depth of the first game while evolving the combat and world, this could be something special. I’m really looking forward to playing it. 

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Pragmata

I spent a lot of time with the sketchbook demo and kept replaying it, finding new details and refining my playstyle.

It has some The Last of Us vibes but in a sci-fi setting and I honestly don’t mind that at all. I really enjoyed the gameplay loop and the atmosphere. The full game is going to be exciting to dive into.

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Resident Evil 9: Requiem

I really miss the third-person perspective. First-person gives a different feeling, but I might just be old school. 

 

For me, Resident Evil works best in third person. Still, I’m curious to see where this goes, even if I would personally prefer a return to the classic style.

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Dead or Alive 6 – Last Round

Dead or Alive has always been one of my favorite fighting series alongside Tekken and Skullgirls. 

So well why not , this can be chill. Looks nice.

---

Control: Resonant

This looked very interesting. The shifting world mechanics and reality-bending visuals immediately stood out.

If it expands on the strange and layered universe of Control, this could be a strong continuation of that world even though the gameplay is a bit different.

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Rayman: 30th Anniversary Edition

 

This is lovely. A collection of Rayman games from the very beginning is such a nostalgic move.

I played the first one a lot, so this feels personal. Rayman’s design still holds up and this is definitely something I should pick up. It was some early beta version they fixed up and one can now fully play, that seems like a fun extra.

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Neva: Prologue

What a nice surprise. The first game was very atmospheric, deep, emotional and visually beautiful. I loved the art style. 

This looks like it could capture that same magic again. If it keeps the same emotional weight, it will be something special.

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Star Wars: Galactic Racer 
 

This looks like pure racing fun across different planets and environments. 

The variety in settings looks promising. Podracing has always had great potential and this could turn into a really fun experience.

---

007: First Light

This feels like Hitman with a James Bond skin and that’s not a bad thing. 

It feels like a reboot of Bond in game form. The slower, tactical style fits the character. It looks chill and stylish, which could make for a great Bond experience.

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Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse

It’s great to see this series continuing.

I’ve played most of the Castlevania games, so this hits that nostalgic nerve for me. The classic style feels right and I love that they stay true to that formula.

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Silent Hill: Townfall

The story seems really interesting, but then I saw it’s first-person again.

For me, psychological horror works much better in third person. First-person often turns into more raw action and loses some of that deep psychological tension. 

Silent Hill is one of my favorite game series, so I think I have it really easy to judging the next game to fast. Silent Hill F worked well even though it was different from traditional Silent Hill, mainly because of the third-person perspective and strong storytelling. Townfall might surprise me, but right now my expectations are sadly low.

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Rev Noir

This could be good. It reminded me a bit of Final Fantasy XV in tone and visual style.

I need to see more, but there’s potential there.

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John Wick

You could instantly see it in the fighting style.

This one really looks like John Wick. The previous game, John Wick Hex was interesting, but did not fell like John Wick really, more living on the hype of the name. 

This one seems to nail the combat style and intensity much better. Fighting like John Wick should feel this way.

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Saros

This looked really promising. 

It reminded me of Retural, in a good way, sad though it is not sequel or connected to it in anyway, it is just built in the same motor one can say. Could be nice.

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Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls

I playtested this on PS5 some weeks ago and it was a chill experience, though quite technical. 

It leans heavily into proper button combinations, very much like Street Fighter. 

Button mashing simply doesn’t work here. That style is not fully my thing since I prefer more chaotic action, but that doesn’t make it bad. I will definitely still play it.

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It was so many interesting games this time so I turned into an article. I have only made some small insta post before. The one game I hope to play the full game is Pragmata, that game really hit something inside my soul. Until next state of play....if it has this much good news then also... I do wonder....