Tag Archives: anthology

Southbound (2016)

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I am loving the resurgence of the horror anthology and how horror filmmakers are playing with the format. “Southbound” is very much a new horror anthology that holds no title cards or segues, but instead features five stories that intersect in some way or another. It’s almost like “Pulp Fiction,” but just not as brilliant. in fact, in the end, it’s really a mixed bag of horror tales that are held up by a genuine sense of terror and unease that seeps through the film from beginning to the end. Even when I wasn’t completely invested in a tale, I appreciated the unnerving aesthetic set amid the endless and desolate back roads of America.

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Chilling Visions: 5 States of Fear (2014)

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Chiller Films’ “Chilling Visions” is on its way to being a solid series of anthology films made up of some of the best horror voices around. While I really enjoyed “5 Senses of Fear” despite being a mixed bag, “5 States of Fear” is a noticeable step down in quality. I really like the devotion of horror tales to certain ideas of psychology and fear. I also really like giving indie filmmakers a voice with highly publicized anthology horror films, I just wish “5 States of Fear” was more well put together and coherent. It’s not a bad movie, but the producers stretch the idea so far, it’s kind of pointless continuing the gimmick by tale two.

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Heavy Metal (1981)

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There was always something about a rotoscope animated astronaut driving a top down corvette convertible from space to Earth that always screamed the eighties to me, and surprisingly it still works in encapsulating the surrealism of “Heavy Metal.” If you can accept the film for what it is, which is basically a man’s wet dream filled with misogyny, sex, big breasts, and mild exploitation, “Heavy Metal” is a solid animated anthology with some damn good music to accompany its epic sprawling tale. After the astronaut Grimaldi brings home mysterious green orb from space for his daughter, he’s melted and his daughter is shown by the sentient sphere named Loc-Nar, the extent of its power and influence through time and space.

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A Christmas Horror Story (2015)

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“A Christmas Horror Story” tries to do for Christmas that “Trick r Treat” did for Halloween, and really just ends as a mediocre effort with best intentions. While the efforts of the collective filmmakers to deliver a Christmas anthology for the horror crowd isn’t an awful movie by any means, it’s still a mixed bag of stories, all of which vary in tone and leave the overall film feeling bipolar in some respects. It even reaches for a clever surprise ending that just felt like a cheat for the sake of an obligatory “Gotcha!”

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Gary Larson’s Tales from the Far Side (1994)

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Enjoying “Tales from the Far Side” is based on whether or not you enjoy Gary Larsen’s original comic strip. I’d go so far as to say that the original comic strip was never this dark or surreal. I definitely wouldn’t call the animated special from Gary Larson funny, but it definitely succeeds in irony and some very morbid animated pieces. Rather than a fluid narrative, “Tales from the Far Side” shifts from scenario to scenario, all of which are interconnected by some circumstance.

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Campfire Tales (1997)

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Urban Folklore and Legends have comprised some of the best tall tales and words of warning ever created. Often times they’re based on some grain of fact, and can serve as subtext for the dangers of premarital sex, and not talking to strangers. “Campfire Tales” from 1997 is one of the few anthology films that pulls from the catalog of urban legends and utilizes them to produce a pretty great horror film. Directed by a trio of talented filmmakers, “Campfire Tales” is one of the few anthology films that have shrunk away in to obscurity unfairly. In the gamut of anthology horror, “Campfire Tales” is a strong contender for one of the top ten. It’s shocking that the movie is barely discussed when good anthologies are discussed.

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The Invoking 2 (2015) (DVD)

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It’s unusual that a sequel to a horror film would suddenly switch formats to an anthology, but horror anthologies are all the rage these days. What were once reserved for horror heavyweights like Romero, Savini, and Zemeckis, are now platforms for rising up and comers of the indie film world. I’m glad that these movies are allowing indie filmmakers to show off their short films, as there is a treasure trove of short horror films out there that almost never get seen by a wide audience. Thankfully you don’t have to see the first film to enjoy the sequel, since it basically bears no connections to the original narrative. This time, it’s an anthology of short horror segments with the recurring theme of ghosts and demons.

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