WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
I am a big fan of collections of short stories, and really what is an anthology horror film if not short stories put on the screen? I think my love really started when I watched Stephen King’s Cat’s Eye not only because of the stories but the way the cat’s movements connected each one to the next – I only mention this here because I was unable to get hold of it to go into more detail. More often than not these stories will have a moral to them.
The Mortuary Collection
Like many of the modern anthology horrors, this film begins by setting the scene and introducing our narrator and their representation of the viewers. At least that’s the best way I can describe it. Actually, I refer to the mortician as the narrator but he never actually narrates any of the stories…just introduces them. I wonder if the writer of this was a fan of Edgar Allen Poe as they use the raven as quite a prominent figure. Unfortunately for me, the stories shown just aren’t as dark as the opening seems to set you up for. I also started to find the character of Sam a little annoying.
Deadtime Stories
I don’t know about anyone else but the opening to this film, before the uncle goes into Brian’s bedroom, gave me slasher film vibes – the heavy breathing and only the camera roaming the house. Unless I missed it with the opening story, the latter stories told are horror retellings of well-known fairy tales – Red Riding Hood and Goldilocks. Strangely, this reminds me a little The Princess Bride but I think that’s mainly down to the way the film is set up with an uncle telling the boy stories and the fact that Brian refers to the kissing in the first story as ‘icky’. Truthfully, none of stories are exactly scary but I do like what they had tried to do, and Goldilocks is possibly the best of the three with the idea of Goldie being a violent serial killer.
Holidays
I was originally going to use this film for a different article entitled Horror Doesn’t Take a Holiday but the fact that this covers several different holidays that take place throughout the year it would have left me a little stuck when trying to find different films. This film, unlike some of the others mentioned here, has no narrator and tells 8 different stories! The first tale Give Me Your Heart reminds me a little of Carrie but even this has a slightly darker ending! I didn’t quite understand the Mother’s Day story as forcing Kate to be pregnant didn’t really seem to have a motivation. I was also a little confused by To My Dear Father because I wasn’t sure if the recording was genuinely from her dad but that didn’t affect how good that part was. I had high hopes for the Halloween segment but it actually wasn’t the creepiest.
Tales from the Crypt
Now, this is one of the original anthology horrors! It was also a TV series similar to that of Tales of the Unexpected but with a more horror than mystery feel. I’m not sure if this is the case for the series because I’ve never seen it but I love the fact that each of the stories you see throughout this 92 minutes film are based around each of the people that enter the crypt at the very beginning. I actually think this is what makes the film scary because it’s proving the darkness inside the human race – especially with the third story as even though he is pushing Grimsdyke to sell his house – his taunts and bullying push him to kill himself instead. I do love the revelation at the end of the film, which I’m not going to spoil as I highly recommend giving this film a watch!
The House That Dripped Blood
Like Tales from the Crypt to follow this film is a British anthology horror, and honestly – you can very rarely go wrong with British horror films. Unlike your usual anthology horror, in a weird way all these stories are connected as they are all based around the one house. The first segment Method for Murder, reminds me a lot of Stephen King’s Dark Half at first(which if you haven’t read it I highly recommend). Each story is as dark as the next but I love the fact that none of them are downright violent – it’s all very psychological. It also features faces that many may recognise from pretty big franchises later in their careers.
Hood of Horror
I honestly started to expect the whole of this film to be animated with the way that it started, and I’m not saying that would have been a bad thing! In a way this film actually tells 4 stories instead of 3. Of course you have the main segments of Crossed Out, The Scumlord and Rapsody Askew – but there is also the underlying story in the prologue and epilogue of Devon and his sister. I have to admit I had more interest in the animated parts than the main stories but watching this and Tales From the Crypt so closely together I realised that The Scumlord is the same as one of the stories featured in the former.
