There comes a time in some games when something so irresistible happens that you can’t very well not like it. Skullgirls has a few of those. When Ms. Fortune’s severed head latches onto an opponent and you first pull off a move called OMNOMNOM. Or when sexy nurse Valentine defibrillates back to life one of her fallen teammates. Or when Parasoul’s biker gang of commandos charges across the screen. Or when Peacock does pretty much anything that Peacock does.
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Some of the best horror movies veer off in unexpected directions. There’s nothing quite so nice as having absolutely no idea what’s going to happen next. And there’s nothing quite so dull as watching a supposedly scary movie line up the plot points and knock them down like dominoes.
But, really, there’s no point calling Penumbra’s unfolding mystery a horror movie. This Argentinian gem reminds me more of Martin Scorcese’s miniature urban odyssey, After Hours, with the same black humor and the same off-kilter sense of place. Penumbra’s main claim to being a horror movie is the prior body of work of the brothers who wrote and directed it, Adrian and Romiro Bogliano. Their last movie was Cold Sweat, a goofy potboiler about creepy old men who use social media to lure young people and then kill them with nitroglycerin. The kidnapped heroine is slathered in the volatile stuff, so she has to be rescued by slowly dragging her out of the building on a blanket so she won’t explode. But only after removing her clothes because, you know, they’re soaked in nitroglycerin. There hasn’t been a more perfect marriage of narrative and disrobing since Saffron Burrows stripped out of her wetsuit to electrocute a shark in Deep Blue Sea. The hero in Cold Sweat wears a shirt that says Sorcerer. Get it? If so, you’re exactly the kind of person who doesn’t deserve Cold Sweat.
Penumbra could easily get by with a nod to a couple of classic thrillers of the 70s. But if I told you what T-shirt the hero would wear, it would be a spoiler. The delight of Penumbra is having no idea where it’s going. That’s the point. It’s a smart, sexy, slow burn with a bit of subtle social commentary, a flawed and unlikable main character, a great sense of mystery, and a satisfying payoff.
Penumbra is currently available wherever fine videos on demand are sold. And for another example of why Argentina is a country worth watching for nifty genre movies, I also recommend the thoroughly charming Phase 7.
If you need any convincing that Awesomenauts is a game to watch, I have two words for you: Swords and Soldiers. That’s the name of Dutch developer Ronimo’s last game, which managed a full-featured real time strategy game in a sidescrolling 2D world. Now they’re trying their hand at a Defense of the Ancients style strategy game for the Xbox 360 and PS3. They had me at Ronimo.
Fable: Heroes for the Xbox 360 is a simplified action RPG — do we really need to simplify action RPGs?– with an unintentionally creepy doll aesthetic and a boardgame where the skill tree is supposed to go. Having played a couple of levels, the only connection I can find to Fable is a chicken kicking minigame. I expect the farting, wiving, and dog training will be along later.
Tera Online is an MMO.
(UPDATE: Unfortunately, Awesomenauts’ publisher just went belly up. It looks like the game might be in limbo for the time being and this week’s wallet threat may, in fact, not be Awesome.)
For the love of god, Montresor, don’t make us watch The Raven! At the 34-minute mark, we switch over to this week’s 3×3 and discuss our favorite buttons, levers, and switches in a movie.
Next week: The Avengers
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