Director: Tim Ritter, Marcus Koch, Brad Sykes, Donald Farmer, Tony Masiello, Todd Sheets, Ron Bonk, Chris Seaver
Year: 2013
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Anthology
Plot:
A collection of shot-on-video throwback features directed by some of the genre's biggest and most respected names.
Review:
Switchblade Insane-Following her husband on a supposed business trip, a woman recounts how she discovered his hidden identity as a feared mass murderer in the area who goes around molesting and killing beautiful women. As she tries to make sense of his habits, it soon becomes a struggle to contain the violent outbursts they both soon suffer from. There was a lot to like here although it does have a few minor issues. The setup is rather fun and the series of confrontations that take place offers up some wholly gruesome and graphic results that are enough to overcome the fact that the twist involving what's going on doesn't make much sense. It does seem a bit thrown out there for the sake of having a twist but lacks the context of why, but it's overall not that big of an issue.
A Very Bad Situation-As a global catastrophe strikes a group of individuals stuck in a ramshackle shelter, their personal issues and the growing hysteria of the situation soon grows out of control. When they finally know what's happening to everyone, they soon find themselves stranded in an unsurvivable situation. Overall, this was pretty fun. The whole paranoia of the situation gets introduced and paid off in rather nice manners when the whole reveal of what's happening in the outside work is revealed in one of the more impressive melting body gags in the film. It seems to end just as it's getting fun as the reveal tends to be the overall ending of the short but there's so much to like here in the practical effects for the creature it's somewhat forgiven.
The Tape-Working in an old VHS rental shop, a clerk closing up for the night finds a box of unlabeled tapes and takes them home only to find one contains an unfinished shot-on-video horror film. Desperate and incensed to track it down, he sets out to find the long-in-hiding director and finish the film. This is easily the highlight of the films with so much to really enjoy. The premise is a goofy throwback to the style shown here, and the wholly impressive make-up work shown on the videotape makes for a gloriously gory fun time while mixed together with some utterly hilarious visual gags involving the influence it has over him and his life. The finale gets a little hard to understand the connection involving the action being taken but beyond that offers this one a lot to really like.
Gang Them Style-Attempting to recover his mother from a nursing home, a soldier finds that a small group of survivors is left in the middle of a zombie apocalypse bringing the dead back to life. Forced to take them along with him, he risks the lives of everyone around him to take out the living dead around them. There's a lot to like here. The inherent goofiness and absolute hilarity of the situation where it parodies the machismo action films inside a zombie horror film are enjoyable enough and the action is appropriately silly and over-the-top with the slow-moving zombies matched by the equally-slow geriatrics in their care. Things don't make much sense in how it all works but it's not that bad overall and doesn't deter the rest of the fun with this one.
Genre Bending-While attempting to go about her day, a woman finds herself being stalked by a deranged madman and attempts to get off on what's going on with her. When the tables keep turning and everything gets flipped around regarding the true intention of everyone involved, a series of madcap adventures awaits everyone. This was easily the weakest and most confusing effort in the film. The early part of this one featuring the stalking scenes of the guy and girl throughout her daily routine while plays out in a suspenseful series of setups that signal this one being a psychological thriller of sorts. However, it tends to then switch things up into a series of admittedly unforeseen twists that seem to be all it's got going for it as there's no real rhyme or reason for what's going on. Given the bizarreness of the setup and how unexpected everything is, that it falls flat is somewhat surprising given the wholly confusing nature of everything.
The Request-While working his normal routine night shift, a radio DJ is inundated with a series of calls pretending to be somewhat from his past that he would rather not be involved with. As he's forced to remember what got him into the situation to begin with, he soon finds out his past isn't as truly behind him as he thought. Overall this was a decent thriller that's hurt the most by being a paired-down anthology short. The central twist involving the connection between the caller and his personal life is something that would be better served by having more exposition instead of just being given as a flashback with no context. The outcome of everything is rather fun and plays the most old-school homages involving retribution for those who deserve it which helps this along quite well.
Thicker Than Water-While trying to move forward in their relationship, a couple soon find themselves bringing up arguments about his ex in their relationship as she struggles to get a clue about his loyalty. Soon realizing the depths she's capable of reaching to accomplish that, he tries to control her murderous urges and get away alive. This was a surprisingly fun and enjoyable segment. The whole idea of the psychotic and clingy nature she reaches is laid rather nicely here with the questioning and intensity of her status in the relationship which is soon found to be merely a setup for the later scenes of her holding the actual person hostage and torturing her in the process. This is rather fun if a bit too brief with the reliance on half-hearted confrontations that don't have much context in the long-run. A hilarious wrap-around running gag with a horror movie playing on TV is a fantastic capper to everything and makes for a fun time.
The Scout-Heading out to the desert on a secret trip, a man and his girlfriend arrive at an abandoned part of the desert looking to scout out potential locations for a film to be shot there. Finding themselves stranded in the deserted location, they're soon caught in a rather troublesome scenario to get out alive. There was plenty to like here. The simple setup and unbelievably eerie atmosphere of the abandoned house in the middle of the howling desert creates a fantastic starting point for something like this which is given a fantastic twist involving the discovery of a camera capturing wholly impossible images. Seeing how they come to play out is a mixed bag where the realistic nature of it tends to outweigh the wholly unbelievable execution that makes no sense whatsoever, but as a whole, the positives far outweigh the negatives here.
No-Budget Films Presents...-On set while trying to film a new movie, a group of low-budget filmmakers are caught in over-their-heads when something interferes with their plans. While trying to make sure that everything is perfect for the shoot to be completed, they soon find themselves trapped with something far more deadly than they expected. This is a rather fun if slightly confusing effort. The whole guerilla filmmaking style and approach to their film-shoot are handled rather nicely as the stalking scenes of the killer going around the set chasing the actress are pretty tense and fun. The final twist is somewhat hard to rationalize where it comes from but this still has a fun time about it.
Overview: ****/5
An impressive and wholly enjoyable anthology throwback offering plenty to like in just about every segment for fans of the style while being a solid homage to the format anyway, this becomes quite an impressive entry regardless. Fans of the creative crew and their past works, the format of shot-on-video in general or even anthology fans should be well-regarded to give this a look while only those who aren't aficionados of any of those factors should heed caution.
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