Movie 2: Tales of Halloween (2015) viewed via Netflix
To be fair, the full title is "The October Society's Tales of Halloween." And yes, it's yet another in the long line of horror-themed anthologies. Compared to most, it's actually decent, but certainly aims along the 'campier' side of things. While V/H/S 2 wins the crown with the best overall (post 2000, anyway) segment with the cult, this one probably is the most coherent and cohesive. It's wraparound narrative is surprisingly simple and fits the theme: a town experiences the craziest Halloween, with ten stories by different directors (crammed into 90 minutes, which is shocking considering most are two hours or more). Here is the rundown (this is why it took so long to post a review, there are ten stories and I wanted to make sure I got them titled correctly):
Sweet Tooth: A boy hears a tale of a nasty, candy-loving monster from his older sister and her boyfriend. And of course, the monster is all fake...right? This one has been done before, but it's a decent enough version of this kind of story.
The Night Billy Raised Hell: The titular Billy fails at pulling a prank on his weird neighbor, who promises a night of pranking he'll never forget. One, this one is definitely played for laughs, and...holy crap, that's Barry Bostwick? Anyway, fun story, and directed by Darren Lyn Bousman, which is kind of surprising.
Trick: Four thirtysomethings find themselves terrorized by trick or treating children, but it's the reason why that is the most chilling. Decent story, but saying much more than that would spoil it.
Grim Grinning Ghost: Another story of a ghost at Halloween, which may be more true than originally thought. Almost exactly the same thing as Sweet Tooth, but more slow burn horror, and nowhere near as good. Oh, but the bigger thing is the cast: look for Lin Shaye, Lisa Marie, Barbara Crampton, and Stuart Gordon in bit parts.
Ding Dong: A weird spin on Hansel and Gretel, where a henpecked husband watches in terror as his possessed wife grows ever closer to doing something nasty as children keep coming to the door for candy. Definitely more of a "What the hell is going on?" story than the rest, and definitely one of the weakest of the bunch.
The Weak and the Wicked: A kid dressed as some sort of hellish avenger saves a kid from being bullied, but ends up targeted by the bullies himself. But he has a trick or two up his sleeve. Decent tale, but funny in that the lead is Keir Gilchrist, from It Follows, my third movie of the month.
This Means War: And now Dana Gould, too? Anyway, a neighborhood Halloween buff sees his neighbors put up a more impressive (and louder) Halloween display than his. Kerfuffles ensue. Played for laughs, an enjoyable segment without a supernatural component.
Friday the 31st: A Jason-alike finds himself facing something even weirder than he is. Another "What the hell?" segment, but hilarious in its over-the-top gore and ridiculousness. One of the better segments of the whole thing. Neil Marshall plays one of the corpses, if you catch him.
The Ransom of Rusty Rex: Kidnappers...oh, come on, Sam Witwer, Jose Pablo Cantillo AND John Landis? This thing is half cameo shout-outs. OK, kidnappers grab the child of famed millionaire Jebediah Rex, only to get confused when he is happy NOT paying any ransom. Another played for laughs almost exclusively, and it works. Enjoyable segment.
Bad Seed: Neil Marshall heads up the final segment, which serves as both a wrap-up AND a standalone, as a world-weary cop who must deal with a killer pumpkin. Yes, it goes exactly as you might expect. Drew Struzan has a cameo as a crappy sketch artist, which should delight fans of his work.
Overall, yeah, an anthology usually lives and dies on the strength of its segments, but this one holds up to a repeat viewing. The stories are coherently told in the time frame they have, and are linked together pretty well. Oh, and for some reason Adrienne Barbeau introduces most of the segments (not all, for some reason) as the Town DJ...yes, she kind of reprises her role from The Fog, but other than the horror theme, there's no reason as to why. Not bad, not great, but probably overall one of the more rewatchable anthologies.
Topic: Horror Movie a Day October 2017 (Read 3191 times)
