Director: Adam Ambrosio and Jamison M. LoCascio
Year: 2022
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Anthology
Plot:
A genre anthology about the dark nature of humanity with four installments detailing alien abduction, WW II, a secret cult, and a mysterious group of killers.
Review:
Encounter Nightly-Looking for a new story for their show, the host of a paranormal reality show decides to look into claims by a local woman about her experience with aliens. As they spend more time together, they realize something might be off about their charge. This was a decent enough idea and really could’ve worked a lot better had it had the budget to do something. The story about the initial encounter and its aftermath are fun enough and give this a great foundation to stand on, while the increasingly odd behavior but it’s all over too soon for it to mean anything and has a woefully underwhelming sense of effects scenes to really make anything else happen.
Harrowing-While trying to stay alive in WW II, a pair of soldiers under fire from enemy forces try to find a way to escape the woods where they find themselves trapped. When they’re forced to confront a German soldier in the area, the group discovers far more sinister forces are at play. This is the most disappointing of the whole anthology as this one could’ve been a lot of fun. The discovery of the repetitious gunfire in the woods and the idea of what’s going on here have a generally eerie quality that helps to build a potentially intriguing set up around here, but the focus on the main three individuals with very little outside input manages to make for a rather dreary and dull time. It also doesn’t help that there’s no effects work or an interesting cliffhanger for the final shot which just ends this unceremoniously without much explaining what’s going on.
Blood Beach-Wandering around a lake in the woods, a down-on-his-luck man finds comfort in a fisherman who suddenly begins recounting the story of a deadly creature living in the lake and the cult worshipping it. Once he realizes the deadly truth, he races to leave the area with his sanity intact. This one was a highly enjoyable segment that has a lot going for it. The setup is entirely obvious and plays off the common trope of occult societies and secret worshippers that are common in the genre, and with the fun dialogue on display building towards something far more deadly than he expected. Again, like the rest of the segments, it’s just undone by a lack of time to do anything with its concept or a budget to properly execute it.
Nelly-Traveling home from a trip to the store, a woman is accosted and abducted by a bizarre group of chainsaw-wielding psychos who holds her captive in the house they live in. Realizing the severity of the situation with a fellow captive policeman, they must try to get away from the dangerous family and their powers. This one manages to be quite a lot of fun and has the most going for it. That it looks like the most money was spent on it so there are actually some effects here in the form of bloodshed and graphic deaths as well as a strong series of supernatural overtones that add a generally campy atmosphere to what’s going on. It’s way too silly to be taken seriously but it’s the whole point here which is something for fans to take into consideration.
Overview: **.5/5
An enjoyable indie anthology with some problems, this one really could’ve been much more had it been given a budget to actually do something with which tends to undo most of the segments here. Those who are a fan of indie anthologies, or indie films in general, as well as the creative crew, would be the target audience for this one while most others who don’t care for those factors should heed caution with this one.
Comments
Post a Comment