Director: John Hale III, Jeremy Herbert, Christopher G. Moore
Year: 2024
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Anthology
Plot:
Taken from the Grindhouse Press stories, a trio of anthology stories involving terror while on vacation.
Review:
Deep in the Heart-Going out for a road trip, a family decides to go on a cavern tour at a local underground cave system only to find the area inhabited by a grotesque creature looking to feed on the intruders. Overall, this was a fairly solid if somewhat mildly problematic segment. The main factor to be had with this one is the atmosphere of the underground caverns where the setup takes place as the creepy tunnels, endlessly twisting setup, and general claustrophobia exhibited about being underground make for a great setting to get people lost and confronted with a strange creature. The series of attacks that arise as the bulbous, deformed creature moves through the background and plucks off the other stragglers on the tour before getting to the family has some cheesy fun to be had with everything as the unique design is a great touch. It just spends way too much time on a rather unlikable family bickering to be of much use, especially once it goes through the motions of trying to present the family as trying to use this to get along with each other when they’re clearly doing this for the wrong reasons. As well, with a laughably cliche setup and some campy casting choices that try to present this as a family when they’re clearly not, it does have some issues.
You've Been Saved-Going on vacation together, a pair of friends feel conflicted about the fate of a young woman they run into on their trip only to find themselves getting mixed up in something darker than they thought. This one wasn’t that bad and has some enjoyable elements to it. The central mystery about what’s going on with the girl and how the two different personalities they exhibit are enough to give this some intriguing elements as they try to figure out who she is and what’s going on. The ending reveal is quite fun as the twist is immensely surprising as well as offering some generally enjoyable low-budget effects work to pull it off although there is the feeling that it comes about out of nowhere and just seems to exist as if the segment was running out of time while still have a creepy sting to everything that keeps it quite enjoyable.
Taylor Family Vacation '93-Staying at a small motel, a family on vacation becomes concerned that a stranger is messing with them and tries to capture them in the act, eventually forcing him to realize an uncomfortable truth. While still somewhat fun, this was the lowest of the segments for sure. The melancholy mood and atmosphere built up here with the discovery of the covertly-recorded footage of the family while on vacation makes for some creepy moments when it becomes clear that there’s someone else behind the footage. The belief that the individual is the responsible party here manages to come together rather nicely and believably, although the finale here is where this comes off as somewhat lacking where the purpose behind it and who’s responsible feel painfully obvious from the start so it’s not that impressive to see play out so it feels quite limp and lame when ending.
Overview: ***.5/5
A rather solid and likable indie anthology, there’s a lot to like with this one that manages to make for a fun enough time here over its few drawbacks that do hold it down. Give it a shot if you’re intrigued by this style of indie fare, are hardcore anthology aficionados, or are fans of the creative crew while most others might want to heed caution.
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