Director: Derek Braasch, Marcelo Fabani, Phil Herman, James Panetta, Todd Sheets
Year: 2026
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Anthology
Plot:
Looking to explore the secrets hidden within, a paranormal investigator presents a series of stories about the haunted forces in the city taking over others.
Review:
The Shed-Looking to steal buried treasure inside a locked shed, a group of friends unleashes a demonic entity within the shed, which forces a priest to race to save them before it's too late. Overall, this was a fantastic opening with a lot to like about it. The concept here is a lot of fun with getting them to the cramped location and spawning the demonic forces to come about and attack the group as the possessed objects come to life and engage in plenty of solid interactions. The literal demonic beings appearing and taking out the rest, leaving the one member to be possessed and under their control, is a fun touch to add to the craziness of the rest of the action, and while the priest adds little to the segment overall other than a convenient means of escape, there's still plenty to like in this campy, straightforward segment.
Possessed Relic-Trying to get through a rough patch in their relationship, a couple starts to become increasingly at odds with each other after the purchase of an antique wooden chair. This was a solid enough, if slightly problematic, segment. The idea here is immensely intriguing, focusing on the emerging evil forces coming even more imposing and forceful when the chair arrives, and bringing their lives further spiraling into a rather fun time, seeing everything turn against them. Some of the stuff is only known through inference, especially regarding whether or not the forces are acting out against them as a spectral force or if the couple is possessed while it occurs, since it hints at both possibilities without settling on one option. However, there's not much else to dislike here beyond that.
Blood Moon Over Amityville-Haunted by a traumatic final case, a detective finds himself consumed by dark forces as he tries to regain his sanity that slips further and further from him. This was an intriguing if ultimately disappointing segment. The premise is the one that matters the most here, with the psychological trauma of his past case affecting him to the point of being unable to determine hallucinations from reality as they become more impactful and threatening. That leaves his interactions with those around him to be quite uneasy and rather striking as he is continually haunted by the supernatural figures around him. This is just awfully cramped and feels like it skips over a lot of important information that could've been used to spread this out to a feature-length concept. Since it's so ambitious, there's a lot more that could've been done with this idea. Even then, there's a wholly rushed and underwhelming finale that highlights this rushed feeling even more, making for a slightly disjointed time.
Echoes of the Damned-After moving into a new home, a couple tries to find a way of fighting off the voices in their head, compelling them to violence, which is urged on by their house. This was an overall great way to end this. The simple setup involving the house coming up with a means of psychologically infecting the couple and trying to turn them against each other over time, as a steady stream of haunting voices, hallucinations, and urgently exploiting them to carry out searches to specific places in the house that fuel their mistrust, is a lot of fun. That gives this plenty of solid misdirects where you're not sure who's going to turn on the other first and how, so that their interactions with each other or the neighbors come off rather nicely, and while there are some obvious low-budget limitations in the visual effects here, there are more enjoyable elements to make this a great concluding story.
Overview: ****/5
A wholly likable indie anthology effort, this one creates some really fun segments and not too many drawbacks that it emerges as a really solid outing overall. Those with an appreciation for this kind of genre effort in general, who enjoy this kind of anthology, or who are fans of the creative crew, will have the most to like, while most others out there should heed caution.
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