Theatre of the Deranged (2012)

Director: Shawn C. Phillips, Liz Gilbert, Brian Dorton, Creep Creepersin, James Cullen Bressack
Year: 2012
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Anthology

Plot:
Arriving at a special performance hall, a host introduces a series of gory and gruesome indie horror shorts.

Review:

Lust for Blood-Trying to put his son to bed, a father tells his son the story of a man visiting a gypsy fortune teller who gives him a strange potion. Forced to leave suddenly, he finds himself turning into a savage monster wandering the streets killing everyone he comes across. Overall, this is a pretty enjoyable start to this one. The low-budget indie tone and appeal here with the encounter at the fair resulting in his escape into the woods to hilariously attempt to transform is silly, goofy and delightfully cheesy. The attack on the hiker breakdancing in the woods is also goofy and cheesy enough much like the resulting finale as he continues his rampage, making for enough to like to overlook the questions brought up of what he became or why he was turned into it in the first place.

Bad Dennis-Heading out to the British countryside, a group of teens prepare to have a fun weekend ahead of them with the upcoming trip being during cider season. As they get on with their romantic ideas, the group realizes someone or something might be in the woods with them. This was an enjoyable enough segment. The overwhelming feel of old-school British folk-horror with the modern-day teens running afoul of the individual living out in the countryside and mocking their traditions, especially with the tell-tale taking of the cider bottles. That the attack scenes take place with each couple incapacitated and otherwise unaware of what’s going on generate some solid suspense much like the stalking scenes that take place out in the fields with a delightful turn to a slasher setup offer a lot to like. The behavior by the group is random, chaotic and pointless with idiotic decisions and actions, taking some of the sting out of the film.

Speak Easy-Meeting up with a friend, a man confronts the potential figure cheating with his girlfriend with deadly intentions. This segment felt really pointless, with the only cool idea being the rewind gimmick before replaying the whole conversation again one more time with a different connotation. The gore is okay but it’s a one-note story gag that doesn’t have much else going on once you realize the twist involved.

Doll Parts-Returning to his childhood home, a former psychotic teen moves in with his understanding sister as an adult despite the loud objections from the neighbors. As he finds his psychotic tendencies bubbling to the surface, he loses himself to a bloodsoaked rampage. This was a rather weird entry. The idea that no one sees anything wrong with his behavior, taking apart dolls and setting fire to the remains, clues everyone into his behavior yet nothing is really surprising about the turn into being a psycho. As the backstory to get this setup takes forever due to that, it feels somewhat jarring coming to the present day with a lot of background info that could’ve been detailed a lot easier. The indie-styled rampage featuring some brutal and bloody gore causes this one some great aspects to counteract the slight storyline issues here.

Cannibal Blood Girl-Getting to a friends’ house, a couple of girlfriends arrive to hear their escorts have brought them over to recreate a local urban legend involving the body of a dead pornstar. When they realize it’s become true when the figure arrives, they try to escape the house any way they can. This was a fun if generally simplistic effort. As a one-note joke to get a bloodsoaked naked woman on-screen and feature some fantastically cheesy meltdown scenes as the victims receive red-colored water sprayed on them one-by-one in a closed-off space, this one works for what it is. Thinking more about the resurrections or why the girls who weren’t involved getting attacked as well shouldn’t be a concern for this one.

Andy’s Theatre of Derange-Taking the stage in a performance theatre, a deranged lunatic talks to an onlook about the various stories he’s presenting for a stage show. On the whole, this wraparound series of segments was a complete waste. The series of puns and gags are fine as a one-note joke but several of the introductions go on too long as you realize he has to set up the next installment by a clever word-pun to announce the title which can make for an awkward time. The potential for a facially-scarred stand-up performer telling jokes and puns to set up installments of an anthology is a fine idea in concept but the execution here is rather wanting the longer this goes on and gets dragged out.

Overview: ***/5
An overall enjoyable if not that overly impressive indie anthology, there’s generally enough to like here with nearly all the segments containing something for fans of the style to like that manages to shine for this one. Give it a look if you’re a fan of the indie scene featured here or a fan of the creative forces involved here, while those that don’t appreciate that kind of setup overall should heed caution.