Review: Horror Sensation

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                         Review: Horror Sensation
  Bohus Blahut - Modern Filmmaker                          bohus@xnet.com
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Horror Sensation- 
  A CD rom containing horror & gore themed miscellany.

Epic Marketing
 138-139 Victoria Road
 Swindon
 Wiltshire
 SN1 3BU
 UK

 Tel  : +44 (0)1793 490988
 Fax  : +44 (0)1793 514187
 EMail: epic@epma.demon.co.uk

Steel your stomachs, dear readers, this is going to be a gut-wrenching
ride.  This CD is intended for both Amiga and PC users, with special files
dedicated to each, but the directory that this CD will be remembered for on
both platforms is the directory of horror Jpeg pictures.  When the CD
arrived at the AR offices, it's funny that it was immediately earmarked for
me.  I'm not a fan of real horror, instead relegating myself to cheap 50's
and 60's drive-in movies.  After my bleary eyed look at this disc, though,
I can see why I was chosen.  They must hate me around here. 

Many of the Jpegs are what I expected; framegrabs from horror films.  There
were directories full of Freddie, Chuckie, and nameless gored women. 
Pretty ridiculous stuff really.  There is horror themed computer art,
undoubtedly a few Dpaint and DCTV pictures in there.  Also some funny
horror clip art for desktop publishing.  So it was with a complacent
feeling that I went to open up the Real Life directory.  This is where
things get scary. 

The Real Life directory is full of greyscale and color photos of real gore.
Some are pictures of roadside accidents, others are from what looks like a
forensic text.  There are pictures of blown apart military personnel,
bizarre pictures of freaks throughout time, even the remains of people who
tried to catch the train a little too late.  Whoa.  Don't just casually
thumb through the contents of this directory before going to bed. 

On the lighter side, there are a number of textfiles that deal with horror
and fantasy films.  There's a FAQ for the Cameron film; Terminator, an
extensive list of theatres across the U.S..  showing The Rocky Horror
Picture Show, even the FAQ for my favorite film; Terry Gilliam's Brazil. 
Other textfiles include horror stories written by the denizens of the
Internet.  There's a large directory of shareware horror games on the CD. 
There's Carnage, a 2 person scrolling shooting game.  For seasonal horror,
the Santa & Rudolph game pits the popular Christmas heroes against the evil
sandman. 

Look for the horror icon collections, 124 MODs, and the collection of
DMS'ed material.  These are mostly bloody demos, but there is also the
Sickness Simulator.  The idea behind this "utility" is that you can call in
to work sick while triggering belching and coughing sound effects on your
Amiga.  There is also a directory filled with duplicate anim and flic
format animations.  These are gross clips from films of various stabbings,
bodies exploding, and the like. 

On the disc, there are also a few LightWave and Imagine 3D objects of a
spooky skull, a haunted house, and some weapons.  There are unfortunately
no thumbnails or other preview to show what these objects will look like
once rendered.  The disk does include the PD ShowObj utility that will load
up a wireframe of a 3D object onto Workbench. 

This CD is aimed at horror enthusiasts with many interests.  There is the
abject revulsion at the directory of photos, but there is also some fun to
be had in the guise of the demos and games.  If you're a horror fan, and
don't want to scour the net for your fix, pick up this disc.  The overall
quality is quite good, things seem to run off the disc well, and you can
creep out your friends with your gory Workbench backgrounds.  If you do,
please don't invite me over to see it! 

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