Director: Bryan M. Ferguson, Casper Kelly, R.H. Norman, Alex Ross Perry, Micheline Pitt, Paco Plaza, Anna Zlokovic
Year: 2025
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Anthology
Plot:
A series of found-footage segments from various filmmakers, interspersed with footage of a test-market company testing their latest concoction to disastrous results.
Review:
Coochie Coochie Coo-Heading off on a special trick-or-treating venture, a group of girlfriends wanting one last hurrah before college, find a strange house on their quest that isn’t what it seems. This was a wholly fantastic way to start things and get it off to a strong start. The likable characters, trick-or-treating one last time before going off to college, are subjected to a bizarre house in the town that holds an unnatural resident that has them trapped inside with no way out. The figure is a genuinely creepy and unnerving idea that is immensely effective, hiding out in a location such as this, and the found-footage format makes everything that much creepier as they explore the demented artifacts within the house. This grows more unhinged as time goes on, with why they’re captured and the chilling visuals of what she’s putting them through, making for a lot to like as the series of interactions are creepy and unnerving, and although it does go on a bit too long, there’s still plenty of likable factors in this segment.
Ut Supra Sic Infra-Having been the sole survivor of a strange massacre, a suspect is brought by the police to retrace what happened, setting him up for a night no one wants to relive. This wasn’t that bad of a segment and had some enjoyable factors. The central setup offers a great way to get the guy back to the site and go through the series of interactions, highlighting him remembering what happened at the fateful party that required him to kill everybody the night before, eventually bringing to light the big twist ending here that features some of the most impressive visuals of the whole thing coming together. These are usually quite chilling and quite effective due to the cross-cutting of the events, but it does come off with a really familiar and easily guessed idea that does take the sting out of the segment rather heavily. In addition to the segment featuring some of the most egregious examples of violating the found-footage conventions merely for the sake of keeping the story going, there are some slight issues.
Fun Size-Going out trick-or-treating together, a group of friends visit a house and are unceremoniously dragged into an alternate dimension that forces them to play deranged games or be turned into candy. That was a wholly impressive segment that has a lot to like about it. The central setup is a spectacular integration of a common practice during the festivities, and the way it warps into a series of deranged torments and setpieces offers this with a series of graphic encounters that result in deranged comeuppances focused on the holiday at hand moving from one setpiece to another as a form of a twisted gameshow makes everything feel even more unhinged and deranged than the overall concept already is. Also featuring one of the finest examples of why they’d keep filming, everything here works incredibly well.
Kidprint-In the midst of a spate of mysterious events, a thrift store worker tries to memorialize the event with personalized videotapes of their children, which soon uncovers a darker conspiracy beneath. This was a fantastic segment that really gets quite a lot to like. The whole idea of the concept coming about due to the series of missing persons’ cases and hoping the novel concept will provide a means of helping children should they fall victim to a series of kid murders taking place in the neighborhood, but as this one goes along, there are some genuinely unnerving and truly horrifying ideas within this. The twists that take place are shocking and genuinely surprising with how they get utilized, while also managing to generate some great gore that adds a great touch to everything. From the dark themes involved and the twisted ending that has a great wrap-up, there’s a lot to like here.
Home Haunt-Wanting one last hurrah for their past, a family convinces their growing son to help them throw one last backyard haunted house attraction, which soon proves incredibly destructive. This was a spectacular effort that ended everything on a high note. The simplistic concept of the family, known for its high-end backyard attractions, is desperate to put one more on before their son gets too old to keep going, providing a charmingly retro introduction to what’s going on as the cheesily endearing family videos show that off rather nicely. When the hauntings start and everything gets turned upside down, there’s an insane amount of fun to come from the manipulated exhibits that come to life and start rampaging across the various setups in the attraction, which just grows in intensity and chaos with wilder elements consistently being employed. With tons of gore and a great finale, there’s a lot to like here.
Diet Phantasma-Trying to market a new soda brand, a research team finds they’ve inadvertently given their sample audience tainted products and tries to keep it under wraps to protect themselves. Overall, this was a decent enough segment, but it somewhat fails as a wrap-around segment. The central idea, while somewhat of a one-note joke, is a great concept where the various attempts at perfecting the formula result in a series of constant malfunctions that include everything from body meltdowns, cosmic possessions, and even explosions in a ton of gore and aftermath. As the comical reactions continue to keep it moving to get the next batch perfected, it comes off rather well as a short, but it serves as a weak way to introduce the next segment since it never connects to the other stories or even offers a way for them to emerge logically from this storyline. That does serve as the main issue here, where it comes off as a strong story by itself, but just doesn’t seem to serve any function as a wraparound.
Overview: ****.5/5
A standout entry in the series, there’s so much to like here with the stories managing to be fun and enjoyable throughout, while only being let down by some minor factors. Viewers who enjoy this style of genre fare, are fans of the franchise, or are fans of anthologies in general will want to give this a shot, while only those turned off by these factors should heed caution.
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