Killer Tales (2023) by Frank Palangi

Director: Frank Palangi

Year: 2023

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Anthology

Plot:

A three-part omnibus centered around people being driven to kill.

Review:

Cursed-After spending a lot of time together, a woman begins to grow resentful of her friend and attempts to put her feelings away before they turn deadly. On the whole, this is a decent enough entry to get things started. The general setup with the friends spending a lot of time on the video calls chatting about their various problems and relationship struggles is nicely given a dark edge with the misinterpretations taken out of context and warped into unnatural freakouts. This makes for an intriguing enough atmosphere to take place where not knowing what’s going on serves this one well enough to stay invested as things transpire even though that does leave this one with a lack of explanation for everything as it feels as though they go off the deep end with little provocation which is somewhat disappointing. It’s not until later on that things make some sense but that’s not always enough to overcome these factors.

Waterless-With the world drained of water, various factors try to find a means of surviving which only makes it difficult for those looking for a solution. This was a generally intriguing if somewhat problematic outing. The concept as a whole is pretty intriguing and has some legs to work, but in a low-budget anthology like this, it's way too ambitious to believe that this scenario could happen which makes for a hard time bringing any sense of immersion into what’s going on. The overall lack of context for anything here, from the doctor searching for answers to the various militia-like groups roving the countryside that sets up the main antics of the group of friends trying to hold out in the safe house with dwindling supplies and paranoia setting in for murderous results. None of this is interesting or plays out in any kind of genre-centric manner so it’s not that impressive overall.

The Lost Chronicles-Conducting a series of tests on several subjects, a scientist looking into the behavior of a group of patients that soon results in a deadly outcome for everyone. This was a decent enough idea that has some likable factors involved. The whole initial starting point with the subjects and how they’re all involved in this secretive project with the devious nurse trying to conduct a strange experimental procedure on them raises some intriguing work early on that gets answered nicely by the unraveling dreams that play out. With these focusing on the figure hunting him and the other figures down one by one and filling them in solid enough sequences, there’s enough to like here that it does hold itself up over the fact that this kind of story being told in this abbreviated fashion leaves a lot of gaping holes present that wouldn’t be there in a full-length feature. It really could’ve been stretched out a little more and been fine, but stumbles slightly as is.

Overview: **/5

A generally decent if not much more than that low-budget anthology, there are some likable aspects here that do get undermined by its flaws that end up leaving this where it is in the end. Those with an affinity for this style of low-budget indie fare or are the most devout fans of anthology films are the main targets for this one while most others should heed caution if not outright avoid.