Director: James Bushe, Patrick Ryder, Greig Johnson
Year: 2024
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Anthology
Plot:
Heading out for a special trip, a group of friends on a ghostly tour of the area find themselves stranded in the woods and asked to partake in a local tradition telling stories about a fable that haunts them.
Review:
Shadows-On the run from creditors, a small-time criminal trying to get to safety is terrified to learn the warehouse he chose as a quick sanctuary is home to a ravenous creature hunting them down one by one. This was a fairly enjoyable starting point for the film with a lot to like about it. The simplistic setup offers a fun enough time here with the reason for the group to go chasing after him and why the warehouse is chosen with the resulting reveals about the creature inside allowing a couple of solid jump-scares featuring the creature popping out of nowhere to conduct an attack. The creature itself and the attacks that follow are quite fun using the setting to its advantage with the cheesy gore being decent enough to counteract the lone flaw here in the expected twist that occurs which is somewhat underwhelming how it all plays out yet still doesn't detract from the rest of the segment.
The Hidden Woman-Following their grandmother's death, a woman and her son are tasked with cleaning out her mansion house which soon turns the resident ghost after them for disturbing her space. This was a fairly fun Gothic horror throwback feature. The main setup that puts them in the creepy house and the different exploits that exist while they slowly realize someone else might be in the house with them carries a lot of the weight here as it moves along. With the secretive nature of everything, strange noises coming from the house that no one could’ve made, and hints that there’s a mysterious figure there who’s not a figment of their imagination offer up some chilling times here, and help hold this one up over the lone issue here of the ghostly figure never having any urgency or sense of fear about it for what it’s trying to accomplish.
Cross Your Heart-Hoping to spice up their marriage, a couple decides to try out a night of swinging with a second couple but are soon thrust into a horrifying situation when the true intentions behind the meeting are revealed. There was quite a lot to like with this segment. The brief bits throughout here managing to offer up a bit on their relationship and what’s going on between the two is a great start, as is the clearly one-sided meet-up that shows how the relationship is supposed to be carried out which provides for a great time in letting the reveal about their true purpose there come about. That brings about some fun chasing and stalking throughout the hotel as things go on, eventually resulting in a rather enjoyable reveal at the end that could’ve used more time to spell out the point of everything. Still, there’s quite a lot to like with this one.
The Keychain Man-Heading to a special screening, a group of friends trying to enjoy a new movie premiere witness a concession stand clerk snap and turn into a hulking killer taking out everyone inside the theater. This was a massively enjoyable slasher outing that comes off quite well. With the great setup allowing for the kind of logical explanation and motivation for the rampage, the series of chases and ambushes throughout here bring about a string of brutal and impressively handled kills that utilize the surroundings of the situation quite nicely alongside the fine stalking pieces inside. Given how quickly it all sets everything in motion, starts the rampage, and lets everything play out inside the theater, there could’ve been more time developing everything as the exceedingly brief running time doesn’t do it much favors, but as with the other segments here is really all that holds it back.
The Campfire-Heading out for a special trip, a group of friends on a ghostly tour of the area find themselves stranded in the woods and asked to partake in a local tradition telling stories about a fable that haunts them. This proved to be a decent enough wraparound segment but doesn’t have much else going for it. The genesis of using the group’s trek out into the woods as a means of using their storytelling ventures as a lead-in to tell the story for the next segment in the anthology is a highly effective one getting this one all the necessary steps to get this going. There’s not much else between the stories as there’s no real deviation between any of the different introductions that are used as it unjust shifts to the next one so these features feel rather simple and repetitive which knocks this down somewhat.
Overview: ****.5/5
A highly effective and enjoyable anthology with not much to dislike, there’s so much to enjoy here with solid main stories, and the few issues don’t impact it all that much making for a fantastic effort. Those with an interest in the film as a whole, this type of indie horror, or are hardcore anthology efforts in general, while most others out there might want to heed caution with this one.
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