{"id":19093,"date":"2016-02-09T15:04:23","date_gmt":"2016-02-09T20:04:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=19093"},"modified":"2016-02-09T15:04:23","modified_gmt":"2016-02-09T20:04:23","slug":"southbound-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/09\/southbound-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Southbound (2016)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"southbound\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It’s almost like someone decided to take the mini-story from the prologue of “Twilight Zone: The Movie” and stretch it in to a full fledged anthology, and for the most part while it suffers from pitfalls here and there, I’d recommend it. One of its major drawbacks is that it tries for one twist too many, but thankfully that doesn’t hobble the overall experience like the final twist in “A Christmas Horror Story” did. The frame for “Southbound” involves a nameless road South of a desert highway, and what happens to all of the unfortunate travelers that pass through. Every person in each story are running from something, or experiencing personal demons and they resurface in horrific manners. “The Way Out” from Radio Silence is an admittedly confusing opener, where blood soaked and beaten travelers Mitch and Jack are running from entities they can’t escape, no matter how far they drive.<\/p>\n

When they learn they keep driving in to the same time loop over and over, they have to figure out how to escape, and go back to the source of their personal demons. “Siren” is a simple and predictable, but eerie tale about an all girl rock band The White Tights, who end up stranded on the side of the road in their van. Lead singer Sadie is anxious in their current state, especially in the midst of losing their fourth member, which is never fully revealed. When they come across a seemingly harmless married couple offering them assistance, the girls reluctantly go with them. Despite the girls trying to adjust, Sadie is convinced that their hosts are more menacing than they seem, all leading in to a pretty demented finale.<\/p>\n

The segment flawlessly jumps in to the next segment “The Accident,” easily the best of the bunch. David Bruckner’s tale is a creepy and haunting tale of irresponsibility and what happens when a man named Lucas accidentally runs a woman over while failing to pay attention to the road. With the help of a 911 operator, Lucas happens in to a hospital that’s apparently very abandoned and desolate. Despite his initial terror, Lucas unwittingly becomes the pawn of something truly sinister, and has to figure a way out. “Jailbreak” is the low point of the film and most cryptic, as Danny happens in to a local bar in the outskirts of the road and holds the patrons at gun point.<\/p>\n

He’s not there for a robbery, but is anxiously looking for his sister. When the patrons reveal themselves to be otherworldly, Danny is hell bent on finding his sister, who, he discovers the hard way, just doesn’t want to be found. I had a tough time following where this was headed, and just couldn’t enjoy Patrick Horvath’s contribution, admittedly. Finally, there’s the bookend segment “The Way In” from Radio Silence, another cryptic horror tale, but that’s easier to follow. When a family on vacation heads home, they find themselves terrorized by three masked men, all of whom particularly want the parents.<\/p>\n

As daughter Jem helplessly fights for her life, all hell breaks loose, and soon enough hell literally breaks loose. The final segment garners a welcome and neat twist, but one that isn’t so much a gut puncher, as it is one that compensates for the confusing opening segment. Overall, “Southbound” is very flawed, but it works as a fun diversion with potential to live on as a midnight horror picture, spinning horror tales with classic themes of personal demons and comeuppance, all helped by the creepy atmosphere, and wonderful narration by Larry Fessenden.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[103,240,276,477,703,885,897,1008],"class_list":["post-19093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-anthology","tag-crime","tag-demons","tag-horror","tag-mystery","tag-s","tag-satanic","tag-supernatural"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19093"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19093\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19095,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19093\/revisions\/19095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}