Dr. Saville's Horror Show (2023) by Kevin R. Phipps

Director: Kevin R. Phipps

Year: 2023

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Anthology

Plot:

Waking up in his torture dungeon, a man is continuously tortured and tormented by a savage doctor mutilating him for a past indiscretion while also telling him several stories to speed up the process.

Review:

Consume-Stressed out from her job and an upcoming wedding, a woman decides to take an experimental weight loss treatment with a special bioengineered tapeworm ingested into her body only to succumb to some grisly and unexpected side effects. Overall, this was a really fun way to start things off. The main point of the process regarding her concern for the upcoming wedding as well as the initial positives of the treatment starts this quite well and the slow-building realization that the tapeworm she ingested has more malicious plans for her than just curbing her weight turns this one into a highly obvious if no less fun take that still delivers the goods rather well. It's just all too obvious and predictable about what's going on which is the only real issue here.

It’s Complicated-Struggling to find a girlfriend, a perpetually lonely guy receives a strange gift in the form of a so-called aqua pet that turns into a fully-grown woman but their relationship turns sour when her homicidal tendencies come to the forefront. Overall, this was a rather enjoyable and entertaining segment. The relatable setup with his dating woes and the eventual joy he receives once she comes to life gives everything a fine innocence that carries itself over nicely to the sheer unhinged mentality present once she snaps and starts killing people. The gleeful menace that erupts once her creature side comes out and starts slaughtering those around her delivering a slew of great gore effects. It’s all a bit rushed and could’ve been played out further for more time but it’s not that big of an issue.

Break-At the onset of a zombie outbreak, a man protecting his house from the creatures with his young daughter trapped with him tries to make the time go by until help comes only for the zombie horde to get more daring in their quest to get them. This is a still fun if somewhat lesser entry than the other segments. The initial setup involving the presence of the horde and their means of protecting the house from others they believe are trying to get inside is quite fun, especially with the father/daughter relationship at the core of this one. However, that tends to keep the action low and the threat level to the basest term since it’s not really given a lot of time to develop here. A tie-in to the other stories connecting everything is fine in concept but the execution was obvious from the start but that’s the main issue.

Dr. Saville's Horror Show-Waking up in his torture dungeon, a man is continuously tortured and tormented by a savage doctor mutilating him for a past indiscretion while also telling him several stories to speed up the process. Overall, this wrap-around setup is genuinely abysmal and barely has anything going for it. The Torture-Porn dynamics at play here are truly bottom-of-the-barrel material that its interest is sapped before even starting with the whole purpose routinely avoided by the knowing dodging of the reasoning behind it all like there never was a genuine purpose attempted to tie it all together. Even the finale bringing it all together is just pitiful and lame with the whole purpose of their interaction making the introduction of the filmed segments feel awkward and shoehorned in to make this even worse.

Overview: ***/5

A far better-than-expected anthology hurt mostly by its pitiful wraparound story, this one comes off incredibly well for what it is as it is even with a few big flaws brought about by its troublesome setup. Those who don’t mind that factor, are big fans of indie films, or are anthology fans in general will like this one the most while most others who don’t like those factors should heed caution.