Director: Dustin Ferguson, Matthew McManus, Taylor McManus, Dylan R. Nix, Ryan Sheets
Year: 2025
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Anthology
Plot:
Hosted by Malvolia, the Queen of Screams, a series of short stories is presented with trailers in between the segments.
Review:
Ejecdead-Taking home a tape from the rental store, a man tries to have a party with his friends, only to find the killer from the film has come to life and is stalking them in the house. Overall, this was a likable if somewhat underwhelming opening. The central setup is enjoyable enough for the type of film this is, with the group of friends getting ready for an annual movie-night marathon, from gathering the movies to making snacks and clearing schedules to make it work, only to have to be forced to do it themselves when a friend is unable to come. This allows for a solid showcase of the cheesy, low-budget slasher they’re watching, which is every bit as campy and silly as it should be, letting the film’s killer escape and stalk them in the real world, leading to a series of impressive visuals and short-changed stalking scenes. It takes quite a while to get going and has a mindset with the hero that makes him completely unlikable, with the references he keeps making. Combined with a rushed story that could’ve been spread out much farther in a longer adaptation, these elements end up holding it back somewhat.
Haig's Heart-Upset over his deceased daughter, the owner of a candy manufacturing plant donates a supply to the town for Halloween, unaware it’s been laced with poison to avenge her death. This was a rather disjointed and problematic entry with some good points to it. The idea behind it is the main sticking point, as the whole thing, being a ploy of poisoning the candy being donated to a town’s Halloween celebration, is inherently stupid on its own front, but has such a depressed, downbeat mood, it’s hard to get invested in the motivation behind the ploy. As so much of it is simply repeated lines about wanting to do this for the sake of getting back at the guilty party for the unresolved death, and very little other implications are involved, the end result comes off less like revenge and more like it’s aping the plot of a major genre entry in the scene with the same premise coming to fruition. It has some intriguing deaths and the gore effects for his revenge-based rampage, but it’s almost too little, too late against the other points.
The Witch's Curse-Participating in a reality show, a group of influencers tries to spend the night at a house rumored to be haunted by the spirit of a witch executed and now haunting the house. This was a generally bland and underwhelming effort without much going for it. The central setup about the reality show being filmed in a haunted house is fairly routine, even with the actual premise being a witch executed on the grounds offers a bit of intrigue with why they’d bring the bodies back to life. Once the familiarity is passed, the whole segment is so dark and poorly lit that it’s impossible to make anything out, especially since it’s filmed at night and has almost no light source for what’s taking place, so instead of atmosphere or building tension, it just looks like indecipherable blobs on-screen. With unlikable characters and a rushed plotline that could’ve been better served in a longer, more enriched segment or even feature-length effort, this one mainly gets by on its action and cheap gore to work.
Moonlight Massacre-Returning home from an animal attack, a man finds that he’s been turned into a vicious creature following the encounter and is soon stalking and killing his friends. This was a lot of fun and is probably the best segment in this film. The idea is fun enough, as the breezy running time gets to everything quickly and effectively, spelling out the change as he quickly starts to succumb to the idea with everything going on and the different visions of everything happening around him. With the change taking place in full view in an intriguing way to create the werewolf and the ensuing rampage in the attraction, where a series of chasing and stalking goes on inside, which offers up a series of impressive enough gore scenes to work quite well. It’s over so quickly and has such a breezy tone that it’s not all that well-developed and could’ve used much more to spell out what’s going on much better, but it’s pretty much the main issue here.
Overview: **/5
A somewhat underwhelming, if still watchable, anthology entry, this is a decent enough entry in the series that it remains on the low end of the franchise, even with its worthwhile elements. Those with an interest in the style, who appreciate indie anthologies like this, or who are fans of the creative crew, will have the most to like here, while most others out there should heed caution.
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