Having noticed my boss's recent review of "Scarlet Fry's Horrorama," which was made in the 90s, I decided to check out this follow up, which was released over ten years later. I haven't seen the earlier flick, but if the film quality of this one is any indication, the filmmakers didn't make much money from that release. The film here is grainy and jumpy and it looks like a You Tube video, which doesn't bother me but I can see how this would irritate film fans who aren't into that kind of thing. I for one had such low expectations for this movie that I found myself fairly impressed at the quality of the whole package. Aspiring actress Calico Cooper, while not given many lines, isn't bad as the junkie who find the videotape that ostensibly contains the collection of
stories comprising this anthology. Actually, I think the term "anthology" is a little heavy handed, since these little horror vignettes aren't really stories but rather seem to be scenes set up for the express purpose of showcasing some kind of gore gag at the end. The first story is pretty weak, but the lead actor, playing the character known as the butcher, isn't a bad actor. His lines sound conversational and not like he's reading from a script, which is a plus. The other actress is a throwaway and her character is pretty stupid, but we don't have to put up with her for long.

The third installment is by no means better in terms of quality, and the acting here is probably the worst of the bunch, but it has some scenes that are actually disturbing, so for that I have to give it credit. A group of skateboarding guys looking to earn some money to buy marijuana follow their friend who finds a transvestite willing to pay them ten dollars each if they spank him with their skateboards. They are disgusted by the idea, but willing to do it for the money, and when they get the drugs, they go back to their friend's house to smoke. When they're telling the guy's girlfriend about what they did to earn the money, the homophobic banter is pretty strong, and when the friends leave and the guy is sleeping, shaky and blurry camerawork tells us that he is dreaming about how his friends and his girlfriend taunted him and called him a "faggot."

As cheesy as this dream sequence is, it actually works, because I've seen the negative effects of hatred and what they can do, and when the guy wakes up and flies into a rage, I believe him, and when he leaves the house armed with a skateboard studded with nails, it was actually scary knowing what he intended to do. The gore is predictably bad, and the camera doesn't help by lingering on every terrible special effect until we want to chuck a brick at the screen, but the screams of the victim almost make up for all that. I'm not kidding when I say this installment gave me chills and had me covering my mouth with shock, and I didn't expect that reaction (I didn't expect anything in this movie to manage to connect with me emotionally). I have to give the filmmakers props for this, because even if the movie wasn't intended to have redeeming value and they stumbled upon this totally by accident, it gave me chills, and I have to respect that.

The fourth installment again isn't a story, just a collection of scenes where a guy returns to his house and slits his wrists in the bathtub. We never know why he's doing this, but the cuts look disturbingly real, so again I was impressed with the movie for getting under my skin. In the next story, we meet a guy who sees to be doing some kind of satanic ritual, and his girlfriend doesn't approve, and murder ensues. It's not really bad, but it's nothing to write home about. The final installment is about two people having a fling when the girl discovers she is pregnant and the guy freaks out, insulting her. The next day she shows up at his apartment and enacts a nasty revenge on him. Not all of the special effects for this installment work, but some do, and it's fun to watch in a disgusting sort of way. I'm especially amused to note that some of the torture here is real. Just some nipple twisting with pliers, but still, it added an air of reality and made us feel a little bad for the victim. Overall, I found a lot to like in this little movie. The narrator of the anthology, the rotting hick zombie "Scarlet Fry," was as engaging as any horror anthology narrator, and none of the stories was long enough to overstay its welcome. For those like me who enjoy seeking out cheap indie horrors, this is one you should see.

There's not much to recommend here for most horror fans. The aforementioned bad acting, bad camerawork, and bad picture quality will definitely be a turn off.

I'm not saying my standards are different for low budget horror flicks, but I can see when the filmmakers simply couldn't afford better effects, and this was one such case. The same living room and furniture appears more tan once, and a lot of the acting is stilted, and some of the effects are terrible, but there's more than one glimpse of real talent at work here. I think with a bigger budget and better actors, these people might be able to create something worth watching. As it stands, though, the gems here are buried under a lot of dirt. that didn't stop me from seeing the good here, though, and overall I enjoyed this flick and I'll be watching it again (I'll probably skip the first two installments, though).