Director: Jackson Batchelor, Ryan Edwards, Martyna Madej, Sam Mason-Bell, Martin W. Payne, Mike Peter Reed
Year: 2018
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Anthology
Plot:
Helmed by a variety of directors, a series of bizarre, experimental short films from some of the best and rising creators of the underground contemporary UK horror scene.
Review:
Overall, this was a fairly strong and enjoyable offering in the genre. The overall presentation accomplished here, moving from one segment to the other without generating much in the way of interstitials to get in the way of what’s going on, sets this up really well to tell a solid series of stories. The opening effort about a female serial killer documenting her days as to showcase how she chooses victims, deceives them to get into position to strike, and then puts her plan into motion to take them out, manages to be a fun way to get this one going as we follow her talking to the camera about her task, seeing the deception come to life, and how it’s all played out at the end. Other fun features, involving a woman snapping back against the thugs who keep demeaning her or a serial killer turning the tables on a wannabe psychopath in the woods, come together nicely and provide this with some solid segments.
As well, the idea of this one going for some rather unconventional or bizarre setpieces gives this a nice bit of variety and helps to pull this together rather nicely. An extremely unconventional segment featuring a couple engaging in bondage practice while they literally consume a young woman is not only quite chilling from a concept viewpoint, but the dizzying visuals create a challenging experience that’s quite fun to see play out. Another piece, shot as a video selfie showing a young guy going around town drinking and smoking before meeting a gruesome end, is rather effective for its visual flair rather than a meandering storyline, while interludes involving various cutaways to gloved hands ripping apart dolls or smashing them to pieces, leaving nothing but scattered meat remains behind instead of stuffing, bring about some genuinely effective moments here.
If these have any drawbacks, it’s the sheer number of segments on display that leaves little time for deciphering what the purpose or point of the segment was really about. Some of these are completely silent and dialogue-free, causing much of the point to be inferred after the fact when everything can be put together, leaving it somewhat confusing as you try to make sense of a sometimes minute-long segment that doesn’t have any way of distilling what the purpose was. As well, some of the segments are so short that it’s difficult to tell them apart from the interludes, as the lack of opening credits or means of signalling the next short has started can be a bit too much to understand what’s playing currently without that proper lead-in, being what all lowers this slightly.
Overview: ****/5
A rather enjoyable avant-garde anthology effort, there’s a lot to like within these segments that manages to make this a solid entry in this style, even with a few slight drawbacks on display. Those with an appreciation for this style of genre fare, who are hardcore indie anthology fans, or the creative crew in general, will have a lot to like here, while most others out there might want to heed caution.
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