Fuse. The Woman In BlackWhat makes a great horror game?The Heeley Development TrustHorror films around the world

In Case You Missed It

Short Fuse.Comments and rants on entertainment news.

2 Friday October 24 2014

A quick look at some of the entertainment stories from the past fortnight which were too interesting, funny or downright bizarre to overlook.

Official Nintendo Magazine (2006-2014):gone, but not forgotten.

October 14 was a sad day for many Nintendo fans, as with its 114th is-sue came the end of the

monthly periodical Official Ninten-do Magazine.

The publication, which has been running in the UK since 2006, pro-vided exclusive news of upcoming games and events, as well as re-views and features concerning eve-rything within the Nintendo commu-nity.

In a statement on their website, Nintendo said: “this was a joint de-cision...we have decided to direct efforts towards other channels to communicate with fans, and (ONM publisher) Future is focusing on a core of existing sites including the recently launched Kotaku UK, which Nintendo says that they will con-tribute to.”

These “other channels” refer mainly to their Nintendo Direct broadcasts, and this decision brings

with it the question as to whether or not print journalism has a place in the gaming world anymore.

On the surface Nintendo’s deci-sion appears pragmatic; with the increasing focus on social features in newer games and the avail-ability of information on sites like Twitter and YouTube, asking fans to pay a subscription for information that they are getting for free on the internet seems almost ridiculous. Also, such sites provide updates daily, whilst the information in the magazine is only correct at the time of going to print.

That said, rivals Sony and Micro-soft are sticking with their maga-zine equivalents (which are also published by Future), suggesting that they do not think that print has completely lost its relevance within the industry, and I would be inclined to agree.

As a company who made a liv-ing off of a largely younger au-

dience through the DS and iconic characters such as Mario, It was an oversight on Nintendo’s part to scrap ONM. Many younger kids are not on social media in the same way as older gamers, and for these children a magazine is their way of finding out about their favourite games.

At the end of the day, though, Nintendo is a business, and by go-ing completely digital they may be hoping to gain some economic ground on their competitors, espe-cially after the PS4 greatly outsold the WiiU this year.

But by neglecting the younger generation that previously made Nintendo great, they may simply be losing money by opening up a market for Microsoft and Sony to slip into.

Matt Mills

The cult of celebrity that we live in today revolves around contact.

We think we know celeb-rities because we see their faces everyday; they plaster the cov-ers of magazines. We think we’re friends with them because we see their thoughts and we read their jokes on Twitter. They talk to us but we don’t talk to them. This is not the case for the the Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything), founded in 2009.

In his ongoing campaign to be both the president of the USA and the Most Relevant President Ever, even Barack Obama has taken part in an AMA. He answered 10 questions, equally serious and mun-dane – “What are you going to do to end the corrupting influence of money in politics during your sec-ond term?” and “What is the recipe for the White House’s beer?” were among the questions asked. His presence on this thread, however,

enforced a kind of validity on the AMA format as a way to instantly find out important things about im-portant people.

Sometimes AMAs can go spec-tacularly wrong. Given the all-inclusive nature of the session, un-comfortable questions are bound to be asked. Whether they are answered is another question. Not all questions asked have to be answered by the celebrity, they pick and choose as they want, but

each question dodged and not an-swered is available for all to see on the thread. When Perez Hilton bravely decided to do an AMA, he received serious backlash from hun-dreds of people wanting to knock him down a peg for his outrageous and tacky gossip column writing.

The thread remains after the session as a moment in time. Any mistakes that the celebrity made (if they are brave enough to do it without a publicist present) are

indelibly written on the internet’s canvas, as everything written on the internet is.

The format could be critiqued by some – for one thing, it’s just a chance for an egotistical ac-tor to talk only about themself for an hour – but in reality, the AMA brings that air of closeness to the celebrity that until the last decade was not achievable. We really can ask them anything.

Annie Mullineux

Last week saw the opening in London of a sculpture exhibition with a difference. Belgian artist Carsten Höller’s exhibit, Garter-kinden, is specially designed for children to play on and includes a giant dice that children can crawl inside and (for some reason) an octopus. We wonder how many adults will be wanting to take their shoes off and have a go.

Reddit AMAs: close encounters of the virtual kind.

Texan tourist David Willis found himself living every book-lover’s dream on October 16, when he realised he’d been locked in the Trafalgar Square branch of Wa-terstone’s after closing time and had to use social media to get himself rescued. If it had been us, we would have built a kick-ass fort out of dictionaries and then spent the night inside it reading graphic novels.

Editorial. Friday October 24 2014 3

This issue’s fab front cover comes courtesy of

Phillie Spottiswoode.We at Fuse have always known that we’re awe-some, but it’s nice to have somebody else

tell you it every once in a while.On Wednesday October 15, the

Guardian released the shortlist for their annual Student Media Awards. Not only did Forge Today find itself nominated for Website of the Year alongside the likes of Nottingham, Warwick and Cambridge, but Fuse’s own Rhys Handley was nominated for Student Critic of the Year. If anybody hasn’t read Rhys’s writing, you’re in luck; you’ll find his name

at the bottom of more than a few articles this fortnight, and they’re bloody brilliant. Rhys, if you don’t come out on top when the winners are announced at the end of next month, we’ll eat our own shoes.

But Rhys isn’t alone; we get doz-ens of awesome writers coming to us every issue, and if you want to be one of them all you have to do is come to one of our contributor meet-ings to get your first article!

This lovely issue went to print a week before Halloween, so we’ve filled our pages with all sorts of frightening features. This week The

Woman in Black returned to the Ly-ceum in all its pant-wetting glory. Our Arts section loves it so much that they devoted two whole pages to telling you how great it is.

Over in Screen we look at the in-ternational horror scene - because, in the words of Screen editor Sophie Maxwell, “there are other foreign horror movies besides Ringu” - while Games ask the eternal question: what exactly makes a good horror game?

Music are bucking the trend, but then again it’s difficult to make music and horror work together. Instead,

they’ve decided to look at the Hee-ley Development Trust, which is help-ing Sheffield’s ceative community to thrive.

And as usual, if you find yourself with nothing to do, our lovely Listings page has all of the best events hap-pening around the city in the next fortnight.

Happy reading, and make sure you eat all your Halloween choco-late before the Christmas decora-tions go up on November 1!

Phil Bayles & Kate Lovatt

Opening the borders of the Man Booker Prize can only broaden our horizons.

The Man Booker Prize for fic-tion was set up in 1968 and originally only open to Brit-ain, the Commonwealth coun-

tries and the Republic of Ireland (provided the book was written in English and published in the UK).

For the first time in the Prize’s long and controversial history, the entry requirements have altered this year meaning authors of any nationality have been allowed to enter. This naturally has sparked outrage amongst literary giants - everyone’s a critic. But what is all the fuss about? It’s about time Britain stopped clinging onto its ‘Great’ past and started to become more inclusive in the modern global market.

When, earlier this year, it was an-nounced that entry into the compe-tition would be open globally, the main concern was the supposed in-equalities it may lead to. The larg-est threat to the Man Booker Prize

is inevitably borne from America. Its well-funded and cohesive liter-ary schemes mean the rest of the world are constantly playing catch up with US publishing giants.

Yet I fear the Man Booker Prize has been somewhat underestimat-ed. The sceptics claiming an unfair bias towards America ought to re-evaluate their pessimism, consider-ing that just two American novels were shortlisted and in fact it was Australian Richard Flanagan who bagged the 2014 prize for his novel The Narrow Road to the Deep North. Fears of total American domination are perhaps not quite as bad as one may have originally thought.

The Man Booker Prize was set up when the last remnants of a British Empire had long been extinguished. It made sense for the entry criteria to include Commonwealth states in its prestigious award. But how far are we prepared to fight for tradi-

tion before we realise the relevance of the Commonwealth is diminishing before our very eyes?

The 21st century is a time of global communication, global trade and global cultures. No longer can Britain keep within the safety net of archaic empires gone by, and by extension nor should we exclude other countries from sharing their literary brilliance and talent purely because they weren’t born into our entry requirements.

The concept of ‘border control’ on literary prizes is outdated, and the decision to allow any country to enter into the Man Booker Prize can only mean positive outcomes for those involved. If the prize al-lows the quietest of voices from the furthest of places to be heard and published, then who are we to criti-cise?

Jo Gallacher

Once Downton finishes with its in-evitable season finale cliffhanger, leaving fans reaching for a full tub of Ben and Jerry’s with tears in their eyes once again, the knowl-edge that there’s a whole year to wait before more Crawley action is disheartening for many. But fear not, you can liven up the wintry months by purchasing the Down-ton Abbey Christmas soundtrack, which will include 45 songs and is available from next month.

In a great day for ginger rights activists, US talk show host Conan O’Brien revealed this week that he would be lending his voice (and signature hairdo) to the upcom-ing game Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham. Clerks director and die-hard Batman fan Kevin Smith will also be available as a playable character in the game, which will be released on November 14.

In June of this year, YouTube an-nounced it was launching a pre-mium ad-free service in conjunc-tion with the three major labels

(Universal, Sony and Warner). While licensing deals have been

signed off smoothly with the Big Three, most independent labels have refused to accept the terms of the service. As a response, YouTube has started bullying them, threat-ening to remove their videos from its website.

The reason behind the dispute is the unfair royalty rate that indies have been offered compared to the lucrative rate offered to the Majors. Unofficial videos using banned songs as soundtracks will be allowed; which seems like an at-tempt to put the squeeze on artists while trying to exploit their work at the same time.

Since its launch, YouTube has of-fered an invaluable service to mu-

sicians, allowing them to increase their exposure and enlarge their fan base at basically no cost.

However, YouTube’s takeo-ver by Google in 2006 seems to have changed the site’s original ethos. The multinational company is ultimately driven by profit, and the easiest way to increase that is through popular entertainment, which is mainly provided by artists who have signed with a major la-bel. From this perspective, a deal that would obscure the visibility of the indies and benefit major labels at the same time doesn’t seem like a coincidence.

In a world where profits are the only imperative, indie labels are the last bastion of music integrity. The freedom of expression and the full creativity they grant to their artists have made them extremely relevant in the production of genu-ine music.

However, it’s way too easy to glorify the work of the indies and forget the contribution major labels have given to the industry. Some of the best artists in the world would have remained in the shade without the support of the Big Three.

Moreover, they have started adopting some of the methods of the indie labels. This, combined with their enormous resources they have, can be of great benefit to the in-dustry.

In a business that gets more com-plicated everyday it’s hard to tell what the future of the labels will be. The world of digital music is currently at war and everybody will lose if those who the power lies with forget what music is really about: a passion that goes beyond money.

Arianna Fazio

There are no winners in the war between major record labels and independents.

COMMUNITY MATTERS MUSIC AND THE HEELEY DEVELOPMENT TRUST

Friday October 24 20144

While music and com-m u n i t y means a

lot of different things to many different people, one area of Sheffield has been doing all that it can to enable the two to walk hand in hand - strengthening communi-ty bonds and encourag-ing resident sociability along the way.

The Heeley Develop-ment Trust is an inde-pendent charity based in Heeley, Sheffield that has actively been working to “increase the economic stability of the area, and make it a thriving, inclusive and creative community to be part of”.

And it’s the ‘creative’ part of that statement that is proving to be one of the most exciting and enduring of the scheme. With various events and “community celebra-tions” taking place, along with deeper in-vestments into nurtur-ing creative talent (such as the Sum Studios), the Trust has managed to successfully provide a platform for quality art-ists to perform and for the Heeley community to actively engage with such events...

The Heeley In-stitute is one such venture of the trust. A Grade II listed build-ing, the Institute provides the space for var-ious gather-ings among Heeley resi-

dents. It also serves as a

unique concert venue.With an emphasis on the folk/acoustic/roots scene that thrives in Sheffield, the Institute has played host to es-teemed acts such as Chris Wood, Martin Simpson and Maia.

It’s of particular testa-ment to both the success of previous events, and the dedication and vi-sion of the staff at the trust that Martin Car-thy – one of the most influential figures of British traditional mu-sic (and a con-siderable

influence on his contem-paries Bob Dylan and Paul Simon) is to play there in November.

Elsewhere, events such as the Heeley Festival, and the Big Boulder Music and Arts Festi-val have both provided further opportunities for community fun. They also serve as a platform for local and younger artists to perform.

The Big Boulder Fes-tival took place on the September 7 at Heeley Park, and the line-up in-cluded Phil ‘Swil’ Odg-ers, Orchestre Ruffanti, and The Silver Darlings. It’s particularly exciting then, to see how such projects can be so ben-eficial to those on both sides of the spectrum.

Residents enjoy the festivities, and artists (especially local ones) take the opportunity to forge deeper connec-

tions with

their audience.The very vision of

the trust seems to have struck a chord with those musicians who are proud to call Shef-field their city, which again attracts attention to the projects that are circulating. It’s pretty damn cool to have the two elder statesmen of the Sheffield scene (Jarvis Cocker and Rich-ard Hawley- pictured) flittering about on the decks as they were at the 1st birthday party of the development trust’s Sum Studios.

The Trust are eager to capitalise on the suc-cess of their creative en-deavours to encourage, and want to continue the growth of creativity in the community. In an exciting development, they have just begun to work with the University of Sheffield’s music de-partment

in order to co-ordinate research into the value of music within Heeley.

Upcoming events over the next few months at the Heeley institute in-clude Ashley Hutchings (the founder of Fair-port Convention) and son Blair Dunlop, Martin Carthy and Chris Wood.

If you would like more information on the

Heeley Development Trust and the kind of things that are going on the visit

their website http://heeleyonline.org

Rachel Bell takes a look at the role music has been playing in the sparking of a community development project in Heeley.

“The Trust has struck a chord

with those who are proud to

call Sheffield their city”

“It’s cool to have the two

statesmen of the

Sheffield scene

flittering about on

the decks”

Horror 5 Friday October 24 2014

Let the Right One In (Sweden, 2008) Based on the novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, Let the Right One In tones down its source material’s super gory nature in favour of the endearing, twisted ro-mance between youngster Oskar and the androgynous, centuries-old vampire Eli.

Child actors Kåre Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson are impeccably selected, emanating captivating curiosity and maturity.

The cool detachedness in Alfredson’s treatment of Eli’s vampirism is utterly Scandinavian - the sparse, brutal scares are played frankly leaving Hedebrant to carry the emotional direction of the piece, developing subtly as time passes.

But what makes Let the Right One In so appealing is the absolute humanity at the core of its off-kilter, terrifying subject matter.

The central relationship is uniquely beautiful and empathetic - which is why this is an essential example of not only foreign horror, but world cinema.

Rhys Handley

Tetsuo: The Iron Man (Japan, 1989)Metal rusts just as flesh rots, but what

if the two were one?Tetsuo: The Iron Man is the first in a

trilogy of cyberpunk body-horror films by cult director Shinya Tsukamoto.

It tells the tale of a salaryman who is infected by a ‘metal fetishist’ (played by Tsukamoto himself), causing his body to morph into scrap metal.

Set against a backdrop of urban decay, and shot in metallic black-and-white, the tensions between man and machine become terrifyingly heated. Coarse metal violates the protagonist’s body similar to the way technological trends like iPhones and Twitter inject themselves into society.

Tsukamoto smartly avoids moralising, instead clouding the almost dialogue-free film with ambiguity, forcing you think about the murky themes at play. He also manages to horrify with his ed-iting and cinematography, making up for a miniscule budget.

Don’t fret though, as the gory spe-cial effects will leave you scratching your body, hoping that your skin hasn’t turned into jagged iron.

Joe Brennan

Martyrs (France, 2008)

I’ve been asked many times to name a truly scary movie, not one of those soft-core pieces of junk, but one badass horror movie.

Every time, my answer is the same: Martyrs. This is, in fact, according to the opinion of critics, the kind of movie that has raised the bar of the whole concept of being “scary”.

Directed by Pascal Laugier, the film explores torture and suffering with sharp precision. Here you will find nothing paranormal, and no stereotypi-cal whining female victims. Instead we’ve got abused women looking for revenge in a house full of true-to-life horrors.

This movie has no mercy for the audience and will shock you with its ruth-less violence, its appalling potential, and some old fashioned thrills thrown in.

Martyrs is the darkest place where our worst fears are buried. If you choose to unveil it, consider yourself warned.

Mariaclaudia Carella

A taste of the best foreign-language horror films out there...

El Orfanto (Spain, 2007)Years following her time spent in an orphanage,

Laura returns with her husband Carlos and adopted son Simón with the dream of refurbishing and reo-pening the safe haven for disabled children that she remembers.

This hope soon turns turbulent, however, as the seven year old Simón tells his mother that he can see Tomás: a child who hides his deformed face under one of the eeriest sack-cum-masks exhibited in cinema.

In an attempt to lift spirits, Laura throws a party at the orphanage which ends in disaster as Simón runs away from her. Six months later, Simón remains un-found. The agonising search for Laura’s son not only breaks the hearts of the audience, but also offers twists and shocks that scare the bejesus out of them.

Full of creepy old ladies with unidentifiable mo-tives, children in weird masks and psychological ter-ror as we realise that our own pasts and actions can create our own horrors, El Orfanto is a film credited for its absence of ‘cheap scares’; being replaced by truly unexpected and horrifying ones.

Chloe Bolton

4 Friday October 10 2014 Friday September 19 2014

WORDS: TIM METCALFEDESIGN: ROBIN WILDE

Horror games have been making our skin crawl and our blood curdle for years. But what is it about them that makes us squirm?

Tim Metcalfe finds out.

6 Friday October 24 2014

Friday September 19 2014 5

The most essential quality of any great horror game is surely its ability to instill an emotional reaction, a genuinely unsettling

sense of fear, in its players. However, with the increasing diversification of the games industry, there are now more ways than ever to deliver such spine-tingling scares. With the recently heightened popularity of indie games for example, and the growing credibility of mobile gaming as a viable platform, developers of hor-ror games have never had more tools available with which to ply their trade. Add-ing to this the inherently idiosyncratic nature of fear - what is terrifying for one person might be quite tame for another - it’s clear that pinning down what makes a horror game ‘great’ is quite a difficult task. Nonetheless, there are certain qualities common to successful horror games.

Perhaps the most obvious, if vague, prerequisite for a horror game is the unsettling atmosphere communicated to the player. Just as a successful horror film must convey a palpable sense of ‘horror’, so too must a successful horror game. Exponents of the modern ‘survival horror’ genre (Silent Hill, Resident Evil etc.) achieve this atmos-phere by creating richly-textured, realistic and interactive environments, where scariness is amplified by a player’s immersion in the game. However, other genres may make use of much more minimalist, stylised visuals to achieve a similar effect, as in the wildly successful puzzle-platformer Limbo, which derives great atmosphere from its singular, monochrome visual style. Further games have been able to generate their atmosphere using almost no visuals at all, like the recent text-based adventure The Uncle Who Works For Nintendo, which derives its scares by holding back just enough narrative information to both intrigue and unsettle the player. In this case, with such sparse visuals, audio becomes more important in evoking an eerie ambience - in fact, players are encouraged to wear headphones to optimise the horror experience. This example is particularly important because it illustrates that the role of great storytelling, and the ways in which a story is told, can be just as important (and some might argue more so) than its visual representation.

A secondary attribute prevalent in successful horror games is the way in which stories are structured to exploit the advantages of games as a medium. That is, the potential for scaring the player should be enhanced by interactivity, given that the player is usually responsible for, and identifies with, the protagonist. This occurs in varying ways across horror games of all stripes. For example, some games (Dead Space) opt for relatively linear gameplay, guiding the player into pre-established scenarios conducive to jump-scares. Conversely, other games have employed much more open-world-style gameplay, in which players are free to roam around an environment and discover for themselves each terrifying intricacy. Recent games (Grave, The Forest - both still in development) have adopted this style, allow-ing the player to share the protagonist’s paranoia and disorientation, augmenting the horror experience. Successful experimental (albeit non-horror) game The Stanley Parable went a step further, employing meta-narrative elements to more explicitly and directly involve the player, questioning and undermining his/her actions in order to unsettle.

Therein lies both the hallmark of successful horror games and the future of the genre - an ability to create an unsettling experience using great storytelling and audiovisual effects, and to strengthen this atmosphere by using narrative techniques exclusive to the medium to involve the player. The recent ‘biofeedback game’ Nevermind is a

great example of this: it uses physiological cues to assess players’ levels of fear and dynamically alters gameplay on this basis, providing perhaps the most literal player-game interaction conceivable. Though there

are countless other elements that might add to a great horror game, at its core the genre must first deliver on two basic principles; It should deliver a genuinely unsettling

atmosphere, and it should communicate that atmosphere via original and engaging player interaction.

Friday October 24 2014 7

Friday October 24 2014 8

The Woman

Do you believe in ghosts? Absolutely not? Are you sure? Your disbelief in all things supernatural may soon be questioned when Susan Hills’ clas-sic gothic horror tale The Woman in Black creeps into the Sheffield Lyceum this Halloween.

The gothic genre in novel form has been popular for centuries, with classic works such as Dracula and Wuthering Heights becoming a rite of passage for all GCSE and A-Level English Literature students. A fascination with the supernatural and barbaric has meant gothic literature is an ever-popular form of literature which helps fuel our intrigue of the unknown. With this in mind it may be surprising to hear that after The Woman in Black was published, alongside a few nice reviews, it was turned into a paperback left to become dusty on a Waterstones shelf.

Yet this harrowing tale was, for a multitude of reasons, never to be forgotten about. Thanks to actor turned playwright Stephen Malltratt, who happened to pick up the book for a holiday read, the novel was transformed into a play four years later in 1987. The play was first performed in Scarborough, at the Stephen Joseph Theatre for a six-week run as a budget Christmas show. It was taken to the West End a year later and has enjoyed years of success in London, on tour, and across the globe. Currently it resides at the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden. The Woman in Black is now the second longest running play in the West End, with only Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap in front. Not bad for a six-week show.

The popularity of the hypnotic ghost tale was furthered due to the release of the 2012 Hammer film adaptation starring Daniel Radcliffe, this time without his broomstick to easily get him out of sticky situations. Although it was almost im-possible for the film to match the success of the stage show, it undoubtedly solidi-fied The Woman in Black as a classic example of gothic literature. So much so that there is set to be a film sequel, The Woman in Black: Angel of Death, which has just started production.

But what is it about the play in particular that makes it so popular to audiences?

It could perhaps be that there’s just something sinister to it that allows us to see elements of the human psyche we may wish didn’t exist. Revenge, betrayal and isolation all play their part in allowing the audience to delve deep into the hidden side of human nature as well as receiving complimentary goosebumps through-out.

The Woman in Black tells the story of Arthur Kipps, a solicitor who is sent on a trip to Crythin Gifford to settle the affairs of a recently deceased woman, who lived at an old house on the edge of town. When Kripps begins to sort through the paper-work, he begins to notice things aren’t quite as they seem and soon begins to ques-tion the supernatural, with the border between imagination and reality becoming more nebulous as the play goes on.

A gothic tale would not be complete without a touch of the supernatural, so in comes everyone’s favourite element - a ghost. Forget the Dickensian view of friendly ghosts visiting at night to help uncover the error of your ways, this ghost is bitter and out for revenge. The ghost of The Woman in Black is malevolent and ominous, adding to both the gripping nature of the play and its popularity amongst a range of audiences.

A huge bonus to the show are its ‘access performances’ whilst on stage at the Lyceum. Throughout its week in Sheffield, there are audio described, sign language and captioned performances. This means more people are able to enjoy the classic story and the power of the gothic genre, regardless of disability. Furthermore, the Lyceum also offers a student discount on tickets so there really is no excuse to miss the show! (Sorry to disappoint all of you scaredy cats).

If you are looking to get into the Halloween spirit without dressing up like sexy kittens or zombie monsters, then a date with The Woman in Black may be just what the witch doctor ordered. Who knows, it might just make you wonder what if?

As the West End production of The Woman in Black is about to start at the Lyceum this month, Jo Gallacher decided to take a look at the history

of the world-famous play, from classic gothic novel to Hammer film.

Friday October 24 2014 9

Woman In Black

Words: Jo gallacher

design: joss woodend

Fuse Games.

10 Friday October 24 2014

Every time a new game is released in a popular series, there is always pres-sure to make it better than its pre-decessors; especially the 13th time

round. But with this re-release for PC, the most recent instalment of this venerable RPG series deserves a reappraisal.

Final Fantasy XIII is yet another addition to the family of well-known video games developed by Square Enix. It tells the story of a group of characters, all with clashing personalities and goals, coming together after becoming fugitives with newly gained magic powers. It’s returned to PC at a discounted price and with a 50 gigabyte download to boot.

Now, any true Final Fantasy fanatic would tell you the best in the series is Final Fantasy VII and it will arguably never be topped. Breaking the mold back in 1997, it is still the best selling of the series, reaching al-most ten million sales. FF VII lived up to its name as an RPG, whereas in FF XIII, al-though classified as an RPG, there is very little availability to roam freely.

Also, unlike FF VII, you can only play as

one player during battle while any com-panions act as non-playable characters. This was one of the greatest functions in other Final Fantasy games, when you were able to alternate between the spells and melee attacks of different characters dur-ing a singular battle sequence.

Although Final Fantasy XIII may not live up to the hype of its glorious older brother, it still has some addictive qualities, which keep the player enthralled. Like previous games in the series, you have a wide vari-ety of weapons and spells to scroll through and equip your characters with. Alongside the stunning graphics, enhanced by the ex-tra graphical power available on PC. The storyline is also exciting – even if the dia-logue consists mainly of weak comebacks and heavy sighs – and convinces you to continue playing.

Final Fantasy XIII is a good game for those of you who are unfamiliar with the series; but may not live up to previous ex-pectation (but you probably already knew that). For those new to the series this PC re-lease may be worth picking up, but it offers little new for long-time fans.

Jonathan Pickles

FINAL FANTASY xIIISQUARE ENIx

MIddLE-EARTh: ShAdOw OF MORdORMonolith

developed by Monolith Productions, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is an open world RPG and the world’s premier orc-bashing simulator.

The game takes place in-between the events of The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, and follows the story of Talion, who is imbued with the power of a mysterious wraith.

Fuelled by their mutual hatred of Sauron, Talion and the wraith embark on a quest to kill as many of his orcs as possible. Bravely expanding on the existing lore with some pretty hefty revelations, the narrative left me grinning almost as often as when I was chopping up greenskins. I also grew to love Talion, and despite seeming like a contender for an Aragorn look-alike competition, I truly felt for him, and wanted to see him succeed against the innumerable odds.

After a short introduction sequence, the game throws you straight into the open world of Mordor, leaving you free to do whatever you like. This is where the fabled ‘Nemesis

System’ comes into play. This system means that every orc captain is randomly generat-ed, right down to their strengths and weak-nesses. The individuality and diversity of these endearing little devils really struck me to the point where I almost felt bad about decapitating them. Almost.

These captains will also remember you; if you burn them in a fight, they will bear the scars, or if you run away, the next time you meet them they will make fun of your cowardice. It really makes you feel like an integral part of the narrative, rather than an observer.

The fluid animations and brutal finishing moves make fighting a joy to behold, and the addition of wraith abilities also serves to vary the combat, preventing it from becom-ing a button mashing fest.

If for some reason you don’t find combat enthralling, you may find the game to be very repetitive because Shadow of Mordor doesn’t do a whole lot else. But seriously, who doesn’t want to spend their time hack-ing greenskins to bits?

Matthew Reynolds

Following the major success of Super Smash Bros back in 2008, Nintendo has graced us with the next instalment on the 3dS before its wii U cousin. Now

Nintendo fans can fight with their favourite characters from the wide variety of franchis-es on the go.

Super Smash boasts an impressive 51 char-acters this time round. while that sounds like a lot (12 more than the previous iteration), it should be said that a few of these ‘new’ characters are simply clones of current cham-pions with almost identical move sets, like “dr Mario” and “Classic Mario”. On the other hand, the new characters that aren’t clones do feel unique in their play style and add a lot of value to the game. Stage-wise, there’s a lot of variety to cater to various tastes, but the fact that almost one third of the maps

are returning from the previous game is also somewhat disappointing.

Quelling fears that arose from the game’s announcement, Smash Bros usually keeps it easy to keep track of your character on the 3dS screen – although this issue does come to light in a couple of multiplayer maps.

In addition to the classic brawl mode, Smash Bros 3DS also hosts a number of other excit-ing game modes. ‘Solo’ mode has you pick-ing a character and battling through several stages to reach the end boss fight, while allowing you to adjust the difficulty quite significantly for dif-ferent rewards.

The goal of the new 3dS exclusive ‘Smash Run’ is to beat as many enemies as possible in a given time period. Nintendo also incorporated a number of small ‘mobile-esque’ games, including “bomb-blast mode”- which would seem heavily influenced by the iconic Angry Birds. while this isn’t going to keep a players attention span for more than ten minutes, it’s something fun to do while waiting for a bus.

These modes in particular became one of the highlights of the game for myself.

Super Smash Bros hasn’t changed that much over the years, but then again, why tinker too much with a recipe that has proven time and time again to be hugely successful? The new

3dS version is a worthy addition to the Smash Bros franchise, and overall does a good job of upholding the game’s prestigious legacy.

Joey Relton

SUPER SMASh BROS FOR NINTENdO 3dSSora Ltd.

Fuse Arts.

Friday October 24 2014 11

Potentially one of SuTco’s greatest achievements, Train-spotting drags the audience into the sinister world of four

heroin addicts living in Edinburgh. Not only did the cast of four man-age to impeccably maintain thick Scottish accents, they successfully depicted the distressing realities of drug addiction.

The set and production is minimal, leaving the cast to amaze the au-dience purely with their emotional intensity. Isaac Whiting, Jack Sol-loway and Eve Cowley flawlessly multirole, while Jack Young (Mark) maintains a powerful sadness throughout his narrative.

The harrowingly realistic manner in which heroin addiction is pre-sented causes extreme moments of discomfort for the audience and is particularly commendable as the severe darkness of drug addiction is such an alien concept to the four young university performers.

The production does not have an

interval and as a result the chilling intensity of the piece is not dropped at any point. The only relief for the audience is the comedy that derives from the sexual experiences of the characters and occasionally seeps through the bleakness.

The audience is pulled into con-flicting emotions of anger, empathy, fear and sadness. Particularly pow-erful aspects are Solloway’s dis-turbing exuberance as he portrays domestic abuse, Whiting’s uncom-fortable deterioration as ‘Tommy’ and Young’s unnerving ability to display the trauma and physical pain involved with going ‘cold tur-key’.

As the only woman of the cast, Eve Cowley adds a tragedy to the piece through the emptiness of ex-pression as she deals with the loss of a loved one. The male charac-ters continuously objectify women throughout the play, but she holds her own in the male cast and dis-plays a faultless ability to switch between accents.

Trainspotting is an utterly com-pelling piece of theatre.

Laura Marsden

The latest book in the Throne of Glass series, Heir of Fire, has just been released. Cel-aena Sardothien, Adarlan’s

greatest assassin survived a year in Endovier Salt Mines as a slave paying for her crimes, passed deadly trails against the best as-sassins of the land, became the King’s Champion and defeated two beasts from a hellish dimen-sion while managing to keep her most dangerous secret of all: she not only is Fae (a magical being in a land where magic is banned) but is also their heir to the Tarra-sen throne. But now Chaol knows her secret and she’s been sent to a land where magic is free, by the orders of the King, to kill the Prince and King of Wendlyn – or so book two leaves us off.

This book does not disappoint and for those of you out there who

haven’t read the first two books I encourage you to do so. With fiery writing of a 21st century au-thor, the mix of the words of today and another world entirely with fae, demons, cruel kings, assassins, smouldering guards and charming princes creates a beautiful blend for an action packed story.

Introducing a new thread to the plot of this book would be the Iron-teeth witch, Manon, who, with her bloodthirsty 13 – the fiercest coven of the Blackbeaks – are now set on a mission by the evil king to train as an army and ride wyverns (the dragons of this world) for some unknown, unspeakable agenda. With Celaena across the ocean in the land of Wendlyn another new character is introduced: Rowan, a prince of the fae.

With so many characters on dif-ferent paths this book is unlike the other two which mainly centred on Celaena’s story, but encompasses the fight she has endure to over-come the death of her family and best friend along with Prince Do-rian’s struggle with magic, his best friend Choal’s search for honour in an honourless place and the cousin Celaena’s character only hinted at before returns dramatically after being deemed “Adarlan’s whore” for the past 10 years after he turned his back on his own people to do the King’s bidding.

As always, the ending leaves so much more to anticipate in the next novel with each character scat-tered across the globe, two in mor-tal peril and one poised to start a war.

Chloe Green

HEIR OF FIRESarah J Maas

BOOK CORNER

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Funny, witty, and even heart-warming at points, This Is My Family, written by Tim Firth, tells the story of a 13 year-

old girl, Nicky (Evelyn Hoskins), who enters her family into a com-petition which, of course, they win. The prize is an all expenses paid holiday to wherever they please, and Nicky chooses the dismal lake resort that her parents first met.

The play tells the story of our main protagonist, the excitable young Nicky, and five of her family members. There’s Steve (Bill Cham-pion), her eccentric father, who seems to be in the stage of a mid-life crisis and her exhausted mother Yvonne (Clare Curt), who just wants an easy lifestyle. Matt (Terence Keeley), her moody, goth brother, who is uncooperative with his fam-ily and obsessed with his wife, May (Marjorie Yates), who we never see. Her senile grandmother who is not really sure what is go-ing on anymore and last, but not by any means least, is Sian (Rachel Lumberg), her kooky auntie whose main interests seem to be strange men and ostentatious cars.

Each character was hilarious in their own way, and each actor gave a convincing performance, but the show stealers have to be Rachel Lumberg and Terence Kee-ley. Both actors seemed to gain the greatest number of laughs from the audience, more than likely owing to their brilliant portrayals of their characters.

The actors did a superb job en-gaging with the audience who were

one minute laughing and the next in tears. When writing the play, Tim Firth obviously made the effort to create a variety of characters that he knew would relate to his audi-ence.

With a play as exciting as this (not a sleepy eye in the room) it is difficult to notice any faults. The only piece of criticism is the lack of variance in the musical tune, although it still kept a good flow, and it was disappointing that Matt only became cooperative after he ditched the trenchcoat and make up, which plays on the negative stereotype of goths.

Highly recommend for all mem-bers of your own family!

Jonathan Pickles

THIS IS MY FAMILYThe Lyceum

TRAINSPOTTINGUniversity Drama Studio

“Funny, witty and heart-warming”

Fuse. musicFuse Albums.

Weezereverything Will Be Alright In The end

12 Friday October 24 2014

Musically, Weezer have been MIA for a long time.

Following the euphoria of the nerdy garage-poppers’ first three albums, their experiments with glossier avenues of sound proved controversial and unsuc-cessful.

Their latest, Everything Will Be Alright in the End, is a course-cor-recting mission statement - a mes-sage to fans who remember the 90s that Weezer know who they are again.

Frontman river Cuomo rediscov-ers his signature balance of awk-wardness and charisma, as opener ‘Ain’t Got Nobody’ shows in the lyr-ics’ achy nervousness.

Lead single ‘Back to the Shack’

deals with the band’s past and aims squarely at the future, apologising to the fans who were dismayed at their increasingly overproduced, false recent output.

The words are clunky and unsub-tle, but nothing beats the nostalgic joy of hearing Cuomo sing about his “Strat with the lightning strap.”

The album feels complete, straight-up and unpretentious, with guitars turned up to eleven, crunch-ing and whining their way through 42 minutes of garage-y pop abandon. Weezer haven’t been this musically honest since The Green Album.

But Everything is more than a nostalgic throw-back, there’s also hints at progress in the bands sound with eve-rything feeling bigger, more epic and ambi-tious than it used to.

The album closes on a glorious, geeky three-part suite, that peaks and troughs

with different moods and mindsets across the instrumentals - ‘Waste Land’ and ‘return to Ithaka’ - and hits classic Weezer melancholy on mid-section anthem ‘Anonymous’.

Preposterous guitar solos fly eve-rywhere and the drums are strong and storming as Cuomo shows that he’s still the same shy, introverted weirdo he used to be - he just wants to be good enough.

On Everything, he’s finally found

his way back to the sound that made him. Now, where he takes it could be a very interesting journey.

Rhys Handley

Follow us on Twitter @ForgePressMusic

Jessie Ware has recently been thrust into the acclimed region of the popular musical sphere through collaborations with

such recognised eDM artists as Dis-closure and SBTrKT.

However, the singer has recently released solo album Tough Love, perhaps in an attempt to separate herself from her counterparts and find some individual recognition in a busy area of the charts and yet sadly this album fails to make any impression.

Title track ‘Tough Love’ sets the scene for a piece of work with little creative force and even less musi-cal substance, with poppy, euphoric

backing and tinny percussion that serves little structural purpose. Ware’s singing is not uncomfort-able, however, and at points her ability to hold a simple melody whilst retaining an essence of so-phistication is admirable, with the hook on ‘Tough Love’ being an example of the well restrained, sombre and melancholy vocalism heard throughout. As the album progresses there is very little wor-thy of comment, as tracks blend into one another in a stream of bland writing, anti-climactic vocals and apathetic producing.

There are some rare moments of beauty to be found here. The more folky, singer songwriter styled ‘Say You Love Me’ is a stand out, Ware’s voice sensually sliding over a sim-plistic r+B beat before coming to an emotional climax with a gospel

choir.Jessie Ware has the perfect

voice to take over a scene, but it is apparent here that she may not be able to do it alone. The guid-ance of other writers could be an essential ingredient in catalys-ing her talent and pulling her clean from bland albums like Tough Love.

Stanley Penrose

JeSSIe WAreTough Love

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Four years after the release of electronica milestone Swim Canadian composer Dan Snaith, better known by his

stage-name Caribou, is not short of sonic innovation for his recent re-lease Our Love.

It may seem to some an impossi-ble challenge to follow as ground-breaking and acclaimed an album as Swim. However, Snaith seems to brush this qualm off of his shoulder when embarking on the creation of Our Love.

Drawing on a variety of genres, ranging from deep house to trip hop, Snaith manages to uphold Car-ibou’s standing as one of the most eclectic and intriguing electronic acts on the scene.

The warm ambient bass that runs throughout the album acts as a

backbone for further exploration. This is particularly evident in tracks such as ‘Julia Brightly’ and ‘Dive’, which wax and wain with the ele-gance of one of Aphex Twin’s Se-lected Ambient Works.

This elegance is briefly discarded during the album’s title track ‘Our Love’, which transforms tactlessly from an atmospheric slow-bouncing beat into a tiresome tech-house track.

Although this transition may well go down a storm at a boiler room set, it breaks the album’s succes-sion of well-crafted subtle build-

ups, and feels like an easy ploy to please the BPM-freaks.

Lyrically, Our Love marks a shift from the heartbroken charac-ter which Dan Snaith presented in previous Caribou albums (‘And the hope I had is dying/And what we had has come undone’ – ‘Melody Day’ from Andorra) to the repeated promises of devotion in the electro anthem ‘Can’t Do Without You’.

In the stand-out closing track ‘Your Love Will Set You Free’, the lyrical despair returns (‘How hard it has been since I left you’) over a trademark Caribou synth line. This track acts as a reminder to listeners that underneath the experimental eclecticism lies the same artist that produced the much-loved folktron-ica classic Andorra.

Jacob Steiner

CArIBOuOur Love

“One of the most eclectic

and intriguing electronic acts on the scene”

live music.Fuse Gigs.

rollingvelvet

13 Friday October 24 2014

For 20 year-old soul singer/song-writer ella eyre, success is grow-ing rapidly. She sold out her first uK tour earlier this year, is cur-

rently part way through her second tour and will be touring the uSA with Bastille, who she has previously col-laborated with.

All this has been achieved from just her single, ‘If I Go’ and two eP’s ‘Deep-er’ and ‘Comeback’, which includes her new single ‘Comeback’, currently at No.12 on the uK singles chart. Having only been signed to Virgin eMI since 2012, she is soaring to success, with her eagerly anticipated debut album out early 2015.

ella had an awe-inspiring stage pres-ence, being both humble and sweet; as she seemed genuinely overwhelmed by her audiences’ support and having achieved such success at 20 years old makes it no surprise.

This admirable gratitude coupled with the incredible energy, power and intensity shown through her emotive lyrics and her expressive, soulful voice, made sure she emanated emotion and dominated Plug’s main room.

From the beginning, after bounding onstage, proudly following her band and looking delighted to be there, ella showed obvious energy and enthusi-asm that continued throughout her set.

’Love Me Like You’, set the night off to a brilliant start, with her powerful, passionate vocals sending emotions re-verberating around Plug’s main room.

‘Bullet For You’, off her new ‘Come-back’ eP, marked halfway, and had the audience singing along; to each other and back at ella.

Her slow,intense cover of Jermaine Stewart’s, ‘We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off’, had the audience awe-struck and the track that followed, ‘If I Go’, had ella wide-eyed too, as the audience sang part of it alone.

Her cover of rudimental’s uK No.1 single, ‘Waiting All Night’, that she featured on, had everybody danc-ing along and her set-finishing cover of Sigma’s ‘Changing’, which was co-written by ella, left everybody wanting more.

With ‘more’ consisting of an encore of ‘Home’, a slower, emotional song from her upcoming album and an un-forgettable finale of her new single ‘Comeback’, everyone was more than satisfied.

Charlotte Pick

eLLA eYrePlugOctober 9

Photography: Charlotte Pick

Few genres have defined the 2010s’ indie scene more clearly than echo-y, melancholy surf-pop, so it’s a privi-lege to see the sound epitomised by

Californian group Crocodiles when they own the stage at the Harley.

Four albums in, the band has still yet to have a breakout hit, but it doesn’t seem to quell their infectious enthusiasm as the channel all the joy in the world into 45 minutes of shoegazing ecstasy. Guitar-ist Charles rowell sets things off with an ocean of noisy, reverb-drenched sound that relentlessly massages it way through the ensuing bouncing, driven pop. His wall of sound washes back and forth constantly through the set.

Singer Brandon Welchez - pencil-skin-ny husband to legendary Dum Dum Girls singer Dee Dee Penny - shuffles and wig-gles on the spot. His backing guitar is un-assuming but supportive, his vocals are at once downbeat and elated and his smile remains unbroken.

In a time when it’s fashionable for bands to be antisocial, it’s refreshing to see Welchez grinning, bantering and constant-

ly thanking the unfortunately sparse crowd before him - this is a band that clearly plays music for nothing but the love of the form.

From opener ‘Marquis de Sade’ onwards, there is a wealth of warmth, passion and talent to be mined from the four scrawny Americans onstage. As their catchy, play-ful melodies bounce off the back wall, it’s clear that they’re deserving of far greater recognition.

In fairness, the audience Crocodiles have managed to draw are clearly receptive - while there’s no mad dancing or volatile moshing, there isn’t a bored face in the house. The music is strong and immediately likeable, evidenced in the innumerable feet tapping along to every beat.

There’s a sense of fun across the even-ing, from the slapdash indie-punk of sup-port band Gäy to the rollicking cover of the rolling Stones’ ‘Satisfaction’ that closes the night.

All in all, Crocodiles are a band that should be on the way up. Their excellent musicality and immediate likeability make it a shame that - on album four - they’ve still not quite reached the audience they deserve.

Rhys Handley

CrOCODILeSThe HarleyOctober 9

Photography: Youtube/ rollingvelvet

THe AMAzING SNAKeHeADSPlugOctober 14

Photography: Gavin Watson

Following the release of their debut al-bum, Amphetamine Ballads, Glaswegian three-piece, The Amazing Snakeheads, brought their unique brand of punk to a

small, but enthused crowd at Plug.Frontman and guitarist Dale Barclay’s

fierce presence was palpable almost on en-trance, and by the breakdown of their third song ‘Where Is My Knife?’, he had left the stage behind, and has the crowd dancing in a circle around him.

Their distinctive sound drew on everything from Birthday Party-era Nick Cave to early Horrors material with renditions of dark punk tracks such as ‘Swamp Song’ and ‘Nighttime’.

Although their style is rough and raw, Wil-liam Coombe and Jordon Hutchison’s instru-mental proficiency provide a firm base for Barclay’s fraught Scottish growls and gritty hard-rock guitar riffs, as well as his ad-venturous on-stage antics. They paused for breath only briefly before the downtempo

‘every Guy Wants To Be Her Baby’, a twisted lounge ballad along the lines of The Stoog-es’ ‘I Need Somebody’.

Dale Barclay’s ferocious yet amicable in-teraction with the crowd was a highlight of the band’s set. He ventured into the crowd at various points throughout, rousing a bob-bing audience into mosh pits. He even turned the microphone to a thrilled fan for the final verse of single ‘Here It Comes Again’ (duly rewarding him with a Carslberg).

It was only during their performance of ‘Memories’ that Barclay pushed his luck, yell-ing vague atheistic propaganda over the song’s climax. Although the fans were un-phased, this seemed unnecessary and errs on the side of overkill.

The key characteristic of the performance was the band’s (and specifically Dale Bar-clay’s) unmistakable control of the crowd’s energy. From the thumping bassline of ‘Here It Comes Again’ through the sway of ‘every Guy…’, the fans followed intently.

Jacob Steiner

Photography: : Grimygoods.com

Fuse. screenFuse Screen.

Imagine the twisted, adolescent love-child of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

and you find yourself with Hedwig: a camp, surreal and heartbreaking musical about transwoman Hedwig and her weird and wonderful life.

Through flashbacks in the form of gutsy rock songs and drunken anecdotes, washed-up performer Hedwig reveals with painful hon-esty the (very) intimate details of her troubled past.

She was born a boy in East Berlin at the height of the cold war and underwent a sex change in order

to marry her GI boyfriend and flee with him to the United States. Unfor-tunately for Hedwig, the operation gets botched, her husband leaves her and the Berlin Wall falls almost immediately afterwards.

From here on, nothing goes quite right for Hedwig, and she finds her-self in a legal and emotional battle with fellow musician Tommy Gnosis, whose successful tour she follows with her own band to a series of increasingly dismal venues.

The film was adapted from an off-Broadway musical by John Cameron Mitchell, who also wrote the screenplay, directed and starred in the film version. Mitchell’s performance and evident skill as a writer-director make this film truly awesome.

Hedwig is utterly human. Her struggles and mistakes are those of a social underdog, and their humanity balances out the inherent

surrealism of the musical genre.The soundtrack is wonderful, and

if you find yourself addicted, the album version includes some juicy tunes not included in the film. The style is mostly a camp take on clas-sic rock, with all the appropriate highs and lows included.

The story-song ‘Origin of Love’ is the film’s anthem piece, accompa-nied by a beautiful animated video that provides visual and aural riffs repeated throughout the film.

Mitchell’s love of this story is pal-pable and infectious. Even if mu-sicals aren’t your thing, the riotous humour and beautiful editing make this story well worth a watch. You’re bound to fall in love with Hedwig and her songs regardless of your usual preferences.

Sophie Maxwell

HEdWIG and THE anGrY InCHdir: John Cameron Mitchell2001

CULT CORNER

despite the bad ratings of the last season of Glee, ryan Murphy and Brad Fal-chuk don’t seem to have lost

their talent and imagination.The first episode of American

Horror Story: Freak Show, ‘Monsters among Us’, is maybe the best open-ing episode of the entire series.

Set in the city of Jupiter, Florida, the story starts in 1952 following two apparently different scenarios: life in one of the last freak shows in america, and the grisly adventures of a killer clown.

The freak show, managed by the

German Elsa Mars (Jessica Lange), is a refuge for outcasts, shunned by society due to their physical de-formities, among which are siamese twins Bette and dot Tattler (both played by Sarah Paulson), who have the hard work of saving the precarious state of the freak show.

Meanwhile, the story follows Twisty the Clown, who has already killed three people and kidnapped another two.

as an anthology series, Ameri-can Horror Story changes its setting, themes and story lines every season but not its main feature: quality.

This quality lies in a well-written screenplay, good direction and particularly in a superb cast, which has improved over the years.

Lange is wonderful with a Ger-man accent, drawing on her long career in Hollywood, as is Kathy Bates playing a bearded woman. It’s Paulson’s double role, however,

that is the most surprising and in-teresting.

ryan Murphy, who wrote the epi-sode, knows how to hold his view-ers’ attention. He plays with the mu-sic perfectly, creating a soundtrack whose notes play on the melodies of the past seasons. In addition, the editing merges scenes and shots to-gether cleverly.

all together Murphy creates a good balance between situations and the debuts of the new charac-ters, which the viewers shouldn’t be-come attached to, as the previous seasons warn.

an even more important piece of advice: nothing is what it seems. That’s the moral of American Hor-ror Story, embodied magnificently in the plot twist at the end of this episode.

Valeria Vigilante

aMErICan HOrrOr STOrY: FrEaK SHOWdir: ryan Murphy

Wes Ball’s The Maze Runner is based on the dystopian trilogy of novels by James

dashner. For those who haven’t read the book, the story follows Thomas (dylan O’Brien) who wakes up in the centre of a huge maze

with no memory of anything but his name.

In this maze, 60 or so boys called ‘Gladers’ – all without their memo-ries – try to survive whilst the ‘run-ners’, an elite group, attempt to find an exit. Their entire existence in the maze changes when Thomas arrives, a catalyst to the extreme events that follow.

as with all book to film adapta-tions, there are plenty of changes. Most alterations, however, seem justifiable: telepathy no longer fea-tures, and nor does the Cliff. Thom-

as’s quest to figure out the maze is the biggest change. These big rewrites mean that even if you’ve read the book, you’re watching with anticipation along with the rest of the Maze newbies, wondering what’s going to happen next.

as with many dystopian films, there’s a worry that the produc-tion might go too overboard with the CGI, or fail at making the set merge well with the computer gen-erated scenery – but this film knows exactly what it’s doing. The estab-lishing shots show the Glade in all its glory, and the shots within the maze look so realistic that it’s hard to remember that most of the set is CGI.

These images put the whole film into perspective and don’t just

make it a great action entertain-ment piece, but a work of art in its own right.

The casting is great – Chuck (Blake Cooper) and alby (aml ameen) translate right from the page onto the screen. although the casting of Thomas Brodie-Sangster as newt is a little surprising, he plays the part exceptionally well, alongside Will Poulter, who portrays Gally as a more sympathetic character than his heartless equivalent in the book. O’Brien encompasses the role of Thomas well, making him a stronger character than the scared boy-turned-leader from the novel, whereas Kaya Scodelario’s charac-ter Teresa doesn’t really have much scope for development due to her small role.

With a great cast and fantas-tic cinematography. We hope that September 18, 2015 comes soon so we can watch the sequel: Scorch Trials.

Chloe Green

THE MazE rUnnErdir: Wes Ball

SMALL SCREEN

14 Friday October 24 2014

Unt etur audi sunde non pelliquid et dolut dipiditatiam et am et repedit quas ium vollaborum fugiatios remos eum

15

This is the live-action rehash of a famous quartet of reptiles, who first appeared in the 80s on the pages of comic books

by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It’s a version that nobody needed to see.

Since the superhero fever and the reboot obsession are pathologies still far from being cured in Hol-lywood, we can’t say we are that surprised by its existence. We are allowed, though, to be surprised by how incredibly rubbish this movie is.

It’s present-day new York, and the city is menaced by a poorly defined criminal organization that calls itself the Foot Clan and that, predictably, doesn’t hesitate to plan a huge conspiracy to destroy the city. While both the police and the press remain inert towards the evil plot, only one average, an-noying reporter in the body of a supermodel, april O’neil (Megan Fox) has the guts to push the investi-gation further.

She discovers that four mysteri-ous vigilantes are secretly guarding the city from the threat of terrorism (of course).

Too bad that the vigilantes, ec-centrically named after Italian re-naissance artists, are actually four human-sized turtles instructed in the

art of ninjutsu by a giant rat Sensei. The story goes on and on, a bril-

liant example of trivial plot, poor cinematography and primary school sarcasm, until the final show-down with the turtles’ arch-enemy (awkwardly disguised as a samu-rai): the Shredder.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is basically an unsuccessful imitation of the Transformers franchise, with an uncharismatic female protago-nist, and an unoriginal aesthetic that will give you an irritating sense of deja vu during the entire experi-ence.

Even considering the movie is ar-tistically (extensively) inspired by Michael Bay’s blockbusters (he’s also a producer on this film), it doesn’t fail to cross the “homage” threshold into a grotesque carica-ture.

Unfortunately not even the cool slow motion sequences, the Jedi moves and the ridiculous stunts are no tenough to save Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This film is pure trash. The utter lack of originality is unjus-tifiable for a paying audience. It is just another derivative product of manufactured nostalgia.

Mariaclaudia Carella

TEEnaGE MUTanT nInJa TUrTLESdir: Jonathan Liebesman

Elaine Constantine’s directo-rial debut comes in the form of the uplifting new indie film, Northern Soul.

Set in 1974 and based in a small, seemingly hopeless town in Lancashire, we are thrown into the lives of two young men: John (Elliot James Langridge) and Matt (Josh Whitehouse), whose discovery of the up-and-coming nightclub cul-ture changes their lives.

Their new-found love for this cul-ture, coupled with their hatred of the monotony of their lives on a factory production-line, sets them in pursuit of their dream of visiting the United States to buy sought af-ter indie Motown and Soul records in the hope of starting up their own northern Soul club.

Northern Soul captures, in a

beautifully gritty, realistic way, the highs and lows of John and Matt’s friendship and also of the scene itself, torn apart by violence, jealousy, drug-use and death and brought together by shared pas-sions for Funk and Soul music and shared hatred of the generational differences that oppress them.

Constantine experienced this northern Soul nightclub culture first-hand in the 1970s, and has been working on creating an au-thentic representation of this youth culture experience on the big screen for the last 17 years.

The end product of her efforts is visually flawless; with Matt and John’s hometown of Brunswick shown to be bleak, but with bright, euphoric club scenes showing the camaraderie and mutual admira-tion between the dancers, music-lovers and their dJ.

The film is impeccable in its cast-ing, with the up-and-coming Lan-gridge and newbie Whitehouse taking the lead and showing their

character’s frustration and passion incredibly powerfully.

a lighter side is added to the film with cameo roles from comedi-ans Steve Coogan, ricky Tomlinson and John Thompson, making the cast even stronger.

Constantine’s writing is perfectly moving, as she encapsulates the frustrations of the adolescents through the contrast between the powerfully emotive dialogue of the younger generation who shout to make electrifying new culture be

taken seriously by the older generation, whose propaganda-esque backlash spurs the youths on to chase their dreams.

The film is therefore comprised of contrasts: the older generation seem pitted against the younger generation due to apparent jeal-ousy.

The main characters John and Matt have dissimilar attitudes to-wards their experiences, and their bleak hometown’s tedium and fac-tory production lines fight against the euphoric club and dance scenes.

With a recent increase in the popularity of vinyl records and 1960s and 1970s style music, Northern Soul could be set to bring about a full revival of the culture itself.

These contradicting themes and aesthetics make Northern Soul an eclectic, insightful, authentic and all-round brilliant watch.

Charlotte Pick

At a time when the Taken film series is inexplicably due to receive its third in-stalment, it is comforting

to know that there exist filmmak-ers who dare to subvert the con-ventions of the tired thriller genre. ‘71 is a historical thriller that de-livers on both tense moments and shock in an unusual environment.

The film follows the journey of Gary Hook (Jack O’Connell), a young British soldier from Der-byshire. He and his battalion are sent to the war-torn streets of 1970s Belfast in an attempt to quell the rising threat of the IRA.

Caught in a street riot, Hook is abandoned by his unit and left in a hectic fight for survival in an un-friendly world, full of unpredict-ability and violence.

O’Connell’s portrayal of Gary Hook is the highlight of the film.

He delivers such a natural and be-lievable performance as the vul-nerable soldier, that it is hard not to have true concern for the char-acter. This may not have been the case if portrayed by a lesser ac-tor – it would have been easy to make the character into another John Rambo wannabe. The re-mainder of the cast create a fantastic ensemble, espe-cially Sean Harris and his wonderfully intimidat-ing screen presence.

Interestingly, the film offers no sepa-ration between its heroes and villains – we are left just as bewildered as Hook. Mixed allegiances, confused situations and the shear blood-lust of characters on both opposing sides result in an ever in-creasing feeling of tension and uncer-tainty. Coupled

with a series of surprising and shocking events, this makes for an enjoyably gripping experi-ence.

Another aspect of the film which shines through is the recre-ation of Belfast during ‘The Trou-bles’. Whether it is during the grey sky of daytime or in the sinister darkness of night, the film creates a truly dystopian environment. The dirty streets laden with rub-ble and burning cars are night-marish and emphasise the dire situation of our protagonist.

The biggest flaw lies in the film’s direction, by newcomer Yann Demange. The film sports an extensive over-reliance on hand-held cam-eras, made popular by films

such as The Blair Witch Project. While it does prove effective

in hectic scenes of rioting and foot-chases, its use in quieter mo-ments of the film makes it highly distracting. The same can be said for the over-use of extreme close ups. While effective to focus on

certain aspects of the image, we need to be given a wider picture of the events – both for our under-standing and enjoyment.

If nothing else, ‘71 proves to be a unique and subversive thriller. The film is not of any vast scale, but rather a much more personal story highlighting the experiences of one soldier and the unbear-able situation he has to endure. Despite its few flaws, ‘71 is an admirable film in the face of its modern-day US counterparts.

Andrew Martin

nOrTHErn SOULdir: Elaine Constantine

‘71dir: Yann demange

DOTCOM

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Screen.

Fuse Listings.All the events in Sheffield that you don’t want to miss in the next fortnight.

Games.

Music.Arts.

Tickets: £2.50 each

Coming soon to the University of Sheffield’s independent cinema...Friday October 24: The RocketSaturday October 25: FrankSunday October 26: Guardians of the GalaxyFriday October 31: The Raid 2Saturday November 1: Sing-Along The Wicker Man (see above)Sunday November 2: How To Train Your Dragon 2For more info on future releases or to volunteer go to filmunit.org.uk

Game Releases

October 24Bayonetta 2 (WiiU)Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth (PC)

October 28Sunset Overdrive (Xbox One)WWE 2K15 (PS3, Xbox 360)

November 4COD: Advanced Warfare (PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One)Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley (3DS)Never Alone (PC, PS4, Xbox One)

Everley Pregnant Bros - 24/10, Crucible Reverend and the Makers - 24/10, O2Nick Mulvey - 24/10, LeadmillPaolo Nutini - 25/10, Motorpoint ArenaHookworms - 26/10, Queens Social ClubCourteeners - 27/10, O2 Academy Paloma Faith - 27/10, City HallTwin Atlantic - 29/10, O2Simon McBride - 29/10, GreystonesTim Green - 31/10, FezMarty Wilde - 31/10, City Hall

Cervo - 31/10, the Harley Heaven 17 - 1/11, PlugUB40 - 1/11, O2Black Lips - 2/11, the HarleyRise Against - 3/11, O2Band of Skulls - 3/11, LeadmillJohn Mayall - 4/11, City HallNerina Pallot - 4/11, GreystonesMaricka Hackman - 5/11, the HarleyThe Blackout - 6/11, Corporation

Allo Darlin’: We Come From The Same Place (27/10)Cold War Kids: Hold My Home (27/10)The Flaming Lips: With A Little Help From My Fwends (27/10)Lil Wayne: Tha Carter V (27/10)Ought: Once More With Feeling (27/10)Run The Jewels: RTJ2 (27/10)Taylor Swift: 1989 (27/10)The Twilight Sad: Nobody Wants to Be Here and Nobody Wants to Leave (27/10)

Ultimate Painting: Ultimate Painting (27/10)Grouper: Ruins (31/10)Les Sins: Michael (2/11)Saint Saviour: In the Seams (2/11)Deerhoof: La Isla Bonita (3/11)Dirty Beaches: Stateless (3/11)Helado Negro: Double Youth (3/11)Swearing At Motorists: While Laughing, The Joker Tells The Truth (3/11)Virginia Wing: Measures of Jo (3/11)

Live Gigs

Album Releases

Celluloid Screams (October 24-26, the Showroom Cinema)Sheffield’s scariest film festival returns with a whole weekend of horror movies, and an art instal-lation in the Showroom’s lobby inspired by classic 80s films. To check out a full schedule of what’s on or buy tickets, go to celluloidscreams.co.uk

Sing-Along The Wicker Man (November 1, 7:30pm, Film Unit)Dr David Bramwell and singer Eliza Skelton invite you to join them in a musical trip to Summerisle, complete with goody bags and Pagan hymn books. Sadly, since it’s the original film there’s no chance of seeing Nicolas Cage with a face full of bees.

Sheffield Film and TV Expo (November 1, the Workstation)Fantom Films is offering you the chance to celebrate the best of cult and classic movies and TV, with special guests including Tron’s David Warner, and Richard Gibson and Kim Hartman from ‘Allo ‘Allo!.

MCM London Expo (October 24-26, Royal Victoria Dock, London)It’s a bit of a drive out to London Town, but London’s answer to Comic-Con promises to be worth the trip. Highlights this year include a Yu-Gi-Oh! tournament, and demos from the likes of Capcom, Square Enix and Warner Bros Games.

Videogames Reading Group (October 29, 5pm, Jessop West SR 2)Look at videogames in a new light and discuss things like philosophy, narrative and critical theory. The first discussion is entitled “The Formal Qualities of the Videogame: An Explora-tion of Super Mario Galaxy with Gilles Deleuze”. Deep stuff, man.

Life at the University of Sheffield is about so much more than lectures and seminars. Which is why the Union created the Give it a Go pro-gramme; an easy way to try everything from archery to chocolate tasting. Joining an event couldn’t be easier. Once you pick an event you like, buy a ticket from the Union Box Office (or online at sheffieldsu.com/events), then turn up on the day! Be prepared to try something new and make friends! Oh, and don’t forget to bring a bottle of water.

Heritage Motor MuseumDurham Road

Sunday October 268am

£22.50

Thriller Dance ClassStudio

Wednesday October 291pm

£3.30

Tropical Butterfly HouseDurham Road

Sunday November 29:30am

£19

RAG SpiderwalkStudents’ Union BuildingThursday November 6

6pmTicket prices TBC

Chocolate TastingBar One

Monday October 275:30pm

£10Home to the largest collection of British cars in the world, this is a must-visit for any petrol-

head. Be sure to check out the special exhibit celebrating 100 years of Aston Martin.

Darkness falls across the land, the midnight hour is close at hand... Come and learn how to dance like the King of Pop,

just in time for Halloween! Fancy dress optional.

As well as a tonne of butterflies, this local wildlife centre includes birds of prey, a small animal house and even

a Meerkat Mansion.

Sheffield’s infamous 13 mile walk in the Peak District re-

turns! As well as raising money for charity, clubs and societies can claim back up to 50 per

cent for their own use.

There is no way we can make this sound more awesome than it already is. Learn about the history of chocolate, and then eat your own body weight in

the stuff.

Photo: Joshua Hackett

Give it a Go - Life Drawing (October 30, Octagon Centre Meeting Room 1, 4pm, £2.50 entry)The Arts Society is giving you the chance to use a range of mediums and materials to try your hand at drawing a human figure from life. A great way to practice your skills of observation.

Give it a Go - Opera Screening (November 6, Gallery Room 4, 7pm, £1 entry)The Opera Society is putting on three classic operas for you to enjoy, including Verdi’s La Tra-viata and Puccini’s La Boheme. Head along to Bar One afterwards to meet the society’s members and make new friends. Fancy little glasses on a stick not included.

Hotel Room (October 29 - November 1, University Drama Studio, Tickets £6)Set in an unremarkable English hotel room, Matilda Reith’s play is a series of funny and thought-provoking vignettes which explore a variety of characters and the conversations that they don’t want others to hear.

BookSoc Meeting (October 26, Gallery Room 4, 7:30pm)In their second meeting of the academic year, BookSoc will be looking at Neil Gaiman’s classic creepy novella Coraline. Join them for a lively discussion complete with biscuits, followed by a few drinks in Interval.

Queen Coal (October 30 - November 22, the Crucible Studio)The new play from Bryony Lavery, Queen Coal follows the story of local wife and mother Justine as she fights against the tumultuous mining industry.

Stomp (November 4-8, the Lyceum)Currently celebrating its 23rd year, this smash-hit show has entertained over 15 million people using nothing more than bin lids and brooms. Now featuring new choreography never before seen in Sheffield.