Director: Pablo Macho Maysonet IV, Scotty Baker, Justin Price (as Jamaal Burden), Jacob Cooney, Lucas Heyne, Frank Merle, Kern Saxton
Year: 2022
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Anthology
Plot:
While out trick-or-treating, a group of kids decides to visit the house of an accused witch which leads to her telling them six scary stories as a means of showing her good intentions.
Review:
Petrified Boy-While hosting a yard sale for their grandfather’s belongings, a patron learns about a fark family legacy involving the myth of the petrified boy, a popular carnival attraction that was rumored to be the center of a terrible tragedy. This is a highly uninspired opening in that it doesn’t really feel like anything really gets accomplished here. The sight of the doll itself, posing as the titular boy since he never moves or speaks, is a creepy enough image but nothing else is done with it due to the rather brief running time that focuses far more on reaction shots of the crowd looking at it than it does to the dolls’ actual rampage. Since this turns around and then ends on the being's apparent death that should signal the start of something happening, it just stops and transitions back to the wraparound for a massive letdown overall.
Flicker-Hearing of a job opening at a funeral home, an aspiring filmmaker takes a job as a memorial video editor for the recently deceased, and when he starts in on his job discovers what happened to the previous editor which puts his life in jeopardy. This one came off decently enough but also had some issues. The biggest factor here is the rather solid atmosphere that takes place on the site which comes off rather well with some decent visuals throughout as his mind starts playing tricks on him. It just feels way too familiar with the obvious finale being highlighted way too early in the running time to make an impact and the brief running time making it feel far too much like a prologue to something creepy happening at the service, especially with a confusing final coda that doesn’t get explained.
Crystal Ball-Heading into a fortune teller’s tent, a woman and her reluctant boyfriend decide to steal the crystal ball for themselves which soon sets them on a course of intense and deadly personal tragedy. This was a decent enough segment that seems to be mainly hurt by its running time more than anything else. The central idea has promise and feels right at home in an anthology like this with the theme of an unspeakable evil coming to punish those for their wrongdoing which comes in the form of a series of somewhat creepy visuals depicting their past coming back to haunt them. This all feels fine enough and has plenty to like about it, but just absolutely feels out-of-place in an anthology series aimed at younger kids with its focus on an extramarital affair being brought up constantly and the more adult implications that it brings about. In short, it works well enough for what it is but just not in this kind of entry.
Either/Or-living in an insane asylum, a man who claims to be the lone recipient of God’s voice tries to convince his psychiatrist that he’s not crazy for following God’s instruction to murder his wife and kids. There’s just little to say about this one as it’s just not in the slightest bit interesting in any manner. The setup isn’t that creepy or chilling as nothing about it comes off as threatening to anyone else, the concept of this one isn’t scary or designed to elicit fear of him for what he’s going through, and it has little purpose being in a series of segments designed for kids. This whole thing could’ve been taken out of the film and nothing would’ve changed rendering it a complete waste of time.
Blood Red-Trying to get on with a sexy woman, a painter is inexplicably drawn into a web of murder and deceit when he finds out that she’s attempting to coerce him into killing her husband and abscond with the fortune. There’s not a whole lot to this one as it’s quite out-of-place in this kind of film. The fact that this one comes off with a traditional film-noir setup of a femme fatale trying to get another man to murder her husband serves as a generally fine setup for a thriller short but is once again completely out-of-place in a kid-friendly genre anthology with the adulterous lovers at the forefront and some salacious material dealing with the duplicitous lovers taking each other out that’s what keeps this one down.
Krampus vs. Elf-Desperate for a story to get ready for bed on Christmas Eve, two kids are told the story of an elf rebellion to stop the devious Krampus from running wild over the holiday. This one could’ve been a lot of fun had it managed to do something interesting with the actual battle of the two different figures but it’s the inherent lameness of the actual battle that takes place here is depicted by showing photographs of the figures in posed conflict and trying to pass it off as an actual battle. This just looks laughably awful and comes off immensely cheesy, which manages to hold this one down as bad as it does due to the weak story that showcases a lame setup with little explanation of anything going on, furthering this one as a rather confusing and unimpressive entry to close everything on.
Overview: 0.5/5
A nearly worthless anthology that wouldn’t be worth much even if it went beyond the kid-friendly approach that renders it toothless and unimpressive beyond the fact that some of these don’t even belong in this type of film to begin with. There’s really no need to do anything with this one, leaving it to be avoided and forgotten rather easily.
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