Director: James Ian Mair
Year: 2017
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Anthology
Plot:
Hosted by the storyteller, a short anthology of terror tales is presented for everyone.
Review:
Story 1-Trying to get away from her abusive stepdad, a teenager in a small town incurs the wrath of a savage killer terrorizing the town. This was a fairly solid and enjoyable starting point that gives this a fun way to open up. The simple setup involving the reports of the savage killer running loose and the sleazy dynamic at home involving the stepfather and daughter provide a great starting point that can go in numerous directions. Indeed, when she leaves the house despite the angered threats and the car appears, it seems as though the premonition came true with some brief but suspenseful tales involving the killer potentially following her, so that when the full twist is revealed and everything gets twisted around, this has a decent shock ending to go along with the fine gore present in a fun opener.
Story 2-After murdering its caretaker, a group of agents in possession of a cursed mummy find it come to life seeking revenge on them. This was a decent enough tale that manages to offer up some interesting ideas but is hampered by its running time from exploring them. The formulaic story about the figure being the subject of intense scrutiny after the belief that it's still alive and out to avenge those that disturbed his sleep, which makes for a generally solid revenge rampage against the group that came in and stole the professor's work on the creature. This is fun enough with some cheesy gore and enough fun to make up for a slacked pace that spends far too much time on the build-up with the professor's dreams and visions about the mummy coming to life so that the rampage part of the film is rushed through with little time to breathe. It's not enough, though, to lower this one.
Story 3-Trying to get her house cleared up, a woman becomes concerned that an antique doll has been possessed by black magic and is out to get her. This was a fairly enjoyable if somewhat slightly problematic story that's really brought down mainly by its length than anything. The whole idea of this one featuring the woman frantically trying to clean her house, unaware of the growing circumstances that would lead her to believe that something's wrong, including the flashing visuals of dolls and other objects moving around the house while the flashing thunderstorm adds a flair of Gothic atmosphere to everything going on. The resolution is a bit rushed and feels like a cheat with the involvement of the characters that bring it around to a neat resolution it never really needed, but against it, it's not a big deal and doesn't bring this down much.
Story 4-Leaving her lover's house, a cheating wife takes a detour through a supposedly haunted bridge to get home safely. This was a mildly disappointing effort that should've been much better than it is. The fact that there's not much in the way of actual genre content here with the majority of the segment spent on looking up where the actual bridge is located and what she needs to do to get to the other side safely. That focuses the main part of this to rely on driving around aimlessly or talking with the one local who knows what's going on, which makes for a severely dragged-out time before anything happens, as it's barely shown here interacting with the fabled location. These scenes are chilling and tremendously atmospheric, which, along with the fun central setup, helps somewhat to overcome the rest of the sluggish material here.
Story 5-After murdering a drug-dealer, a dishonest cop is forced to deal with the consequences of too many similar skeletons in his closet. This was a fairly fun way to end this, as it goes for a solid old-school formula. The idea of the past coming back to haunt someone after one too many incidents that leave him as an openly degenerate figure in need of comeuppance works incredibly well to paint the background characters in the necessary broad strokes that move this one along quite nicely into the actual retribution angle which becomes the main selling point here. As this is all formulaic to a large degree, there's not a lot of surprise in what's going on with everything being familiar and generally easy to guess what's going to happen, but that's to be expected here and doesn't really hold this one down.
Wrap-Around-Traveling through the countryside, a guy takes a ride with a mysterious driver who begins relating terrifying tales to him. This serves as a fine wrap-around segment even more than the main wrap-around that introduces everything. The idea of the guy going around with the traveler relating these various stories in the car ride there or the haunted attracted he works at that provides a great way of integrating the next story into the running time. The storyline about them together is fun enough and manages to work far better than the other wrap-around with a second host that introduces the storyteller who talks to the traveler, so it's a redundant concept that smacks of adding extra star power for no reason. It's the one thing about this section that doesn't work, as the rest of this is quite fun.
Overview: ***.5/5
A generally fun and enjoyable indie anthology that has some likable segments, there's more than enough to like here that keeps this one moving along quite well even if you're not as big a fan of the style or approach. Those who appreciate and enjoy those factors, are huge anthology aficionados, or are fans of the creative crew will want to check it out while most others out there should heed caution.
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