¡Ay, Leyendas! La venganza del Charro Negro and other Day of the Dead Offerings….

Fans of Ánima’s Las Leyendas outside Mexico may have to wait for La venganza del Charro Negro to find an audience (again).

La venganza del Charro NegroThere aren’t many new entertainment releases for this year’s Día de (los) Muertos, but two offerings caught my eye. One is accessible outside Mexico; for the other, La venganza del Charro Negro (The Legend of the Black Charro: The Revenge), I’m hoping for an eventual home video release. Since 2020, streaming seems to have become the only way to see the Leyendas films after their theatrical runs. I hope to be proved wrong, since there’s a niche fanbase beyond this country.

Whether Netflix’s Day of the Dead: Ofrenda counts depends on how folks feel. Select it, and all we get is a short animated sequence featuring an altar against a changing background. It’s a cute way to acknowledge those who live away from home and want to feel part of this two-day celebration following Halloween.

The other is the latest film in Ánima’s Las Leyendas (Legend Quest) franchise.

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Chris LaMartina’s Spirit Tasting Hits the Road with Deadly Pours and New Year’s Fears

Spirit Tasting raises a glass to old friends and dangerous wishes as Chris LaMartina’s New Year’s Eve horror comedy heads out on an American roadshow with filmmaker and cast appearances.

Spirit Tasting PosterChris LaMartina‘s Spirit Tasting is off on a roadshow, and if you’re lucky to watch this movie on the big screen, I’m sure you’ll be celebrating festive cheers way before others. In this story, three former punks (Sean Doherty, Melissa LaMartina, and Trevor Wilhelms) toast their late bandmate at a distillery on New Year’s Eve. When a strange sommelier (Matt Lake) invites them to a top-shelf tasting, they discover there’s only one catch: Every bottle requires a “wish.” But as each of their desires twist into doom, these old friends discover that every pour at the Red Bat Distillery comes at a deadly price.

From the Press Release:

Director Chris LaMartina appeared last Friday, October 23rd, on The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs to screen his modern seasonal classic WNUF Halloween Special, and first noted there that his new film would be out before the end of the year. SPIRIT TASTING was formally announced this morning at Variety. This film was shot in just four days for $40K to celebrate his 40th birthday and he said this sobering horror/comedy is about life at its midpoint, in order to wrestle with the “what ifs” of the past and the aspirations of the future…

It’s the stuff every middle-aged adult has pondered at some point.

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MangaPlaza welcomes Viz Media, and What To Expect!

VIZ Media expands its digital manga catalogue on MangaPlaza, with titles including Frieren and Spy x Family, plus 10% point rewards until November 12.

MangaPlaza logoReaders of VIZ Media‘s manga now have more options on how to read while out and about. This company is expanding the digital availability of its manga catalogue through MangaPlaza. This service offers niche and rare English localizations of some works and directly supports Japanese creators.

To celebrate, the online reading platform is running a special points-back promotional campaign until November 12!

According to their press release, users can earn 10% in point rewards when unlocking content for VIZ Media titles, capped at 3,000 points. The campaign runs from October 29, 2026, at 7:00 PM through November 12, 2026, at 6:59 AM Pacific Time.

Below are just a few VIZ Media titles that are now available, with more to be added in the future.

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Who’s The Wolf in Dead Howling? Sure, Survival is Important, But ….

The zombies won’t be answering that in this film, which is more about pack building and survival during a zombie apocalypse that could use a faster pulse. Dead Howling is a work that is different.

Dead Howling DVD CoverKaleidoscope Home Entertainment
UK Premiere: Oct 31, 2026
Tubi FrightFest Halloween
Home Video & VOD Release: Nov 2, 2026

Between pulp and a serious tale, just where John V. Soto’s Dead Howling fits seems uncertain. I feel it leans more towards family drama rather than be a full on challenge between species. That’s because there can only be one werewolf against a massive horde of zombies! Also, when the set design suggests an abandoned present-day world with lots of rust, just where it fits when marketing describes a post-apocalyptic setting is certainly subject to interpretation!

After a zombie virus devastates the world, Carter (Joel Jackson) lives alone, spending his nights hunting the living dead for sport with the help of a tremendous power. He finds a new purpose after saving two siblings, Megan (Téa Heathcote-Marks) and Billy (Riley Stiles), who are seeking a rumoured safe zone. Unsurprisingly, this loner agrees to protect them on their search for sanctuary. Along the way, they must dodge encounters with the walking dead, random or otherwise, meet other survivors and hopefully make it out alive. This Australian-made film evokes the frontier in a few scenes. We just need more desert than suburban sprawl.

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Ready or Not, Manganika Studio’s Cosmic Séance Demo Is Ready To Drive Player’s “Insane!”

Cosmic Séance looks ready to scratch that Lovecraftian detective itch, with colourful monsters, cryptic visions, and answers that could cost you your sanity.

Cosmic Séance PosterDemo available on Steam

Manganika Studio’s trailer for Cosmic Séance looks awesome, and the concept is sound. At its core, this visually rich adventure is about choices. You have to carefully select your questions, and the beast’s answer may well test your sanity! Getting a response is only the beginning. Making sense of it is where the challenge lies.

This Victorian-era narrative investigation game trades twitch reflexes for psychological mystery.  Some players will like this idea, and for others, accept the concept for it it is and admire the art design. When some illustrations remind me of the graphic novel Young Lovecraft, the concepts are certainly familiar. Even the design of the entities may challenge fans of H.P. Lovecraft’s works to correctly identify!

For instance, that three-eyed head immediately made me think of Hastur, even though the game never identifies the first entity as such.

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Do the Necronomicon! Evil Dead Burn Asks Where Is It Now?

The Deadites have their own agenda, but I’m more interested in what’s hiding between the Necronomicon’s pages. Evil Dead Burn adds intriguing lore while leaving the franchise’s tangled history open to speculation.

Necronomicon Ex-MortisBack in 1979, Sam Raimi wrote, directed, and produced Within the Woods as a proof of concept that would later become The Evil Dead. And although it wasn’t a huge success at first, I knew this film’s eventual cult status helped cement the legacy of the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis! The reason isn’t what evoking the magiks can do, but why its continued existence, even in Evil Dead Burn, the latest film in this omniverse, is dangerous! I didn’t need to watch this film right away, but with Halloween nearly here, why not?

Variations of it have been explored across different mediums, and without it, I doubt this franchise could exist. Technically, there are three books in total, and when it can do more than summon demons, everyone should worry.

It can turn back time, offer rituals and recipes that mankind isn’t meant to know. And for those who insist on understanding every page, I’d be afraid. While mentions have been spliced in throughout the various films and unofficial material, this latest offering does something different which I like, and that’s give it a unified history that can cause some people to go mad! The ideas have been planted ever since Rise, and if it ever gets rediscovered, I’ll be running away.

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