Post by Mr.HoRrOr on Sept 26, 2011 12:01:48 GMT -5
Plot:Sequel to "George A. Romero Presents:Deadtime Stories" Vol. 1, featuring 3 terrifying tales...
THE GORGE:When Donna accompanies her fiance, Gary, and his best friend, Craig, on a morning caving expedition; she expects a fun hike, a few laughs, and maybe some kisses in the dark. But a sudden cave-in leaves them trapped with no way out. Gary's leg has been crushed, and as the days go by, gangrene sets in. With everyone starving, Craig suggests that when they cut off the leg, maybe they should take just an extra few inches. Will it be enough to feed all of them? And how far will three people go to survive?
ON SABBATH HILL:Richard has it made - a lovely wife, two beautiful daughters, and a good career as a history professor at a local university. A real stickler for attendance, he has no problem expelling students for missing even a single class. One student who never misses a class is Allison, a beautiful co-ed, ready and available for sex anytime Richard wants. But when the relationship gets too deep, Richard breaks it off... with deadly results. However, even in death Allison doesn't want to miss class - how else could she haunt him to the brink of insanity?
DUST:George loves his wife, Audrey. So watching her die a slow and painful death from cancer is intolerable. A nighttime security guard at a high-tech lab for over 30 years, George learns that a doctor in the lab has been experimenting with dust from Mars that may cure cancer. When the doctor refuses to give George the dust, George kills him, takes the dust and gives it to Audrey. It not only cures her disease, it makes her younger, more vibrant and full of lust. With her insatiable appetite, Audrey wants more of everything. As her need for more dust grows, George realizes he has created a monster. He knows he has to get rid of the dust and, in a fit of rage, throws it into the wind. But no good deed goes unpunished. The dust settles in a nearby graveyard, causing the dead to rise and George to pay the ultimate price!
Cast:
Amanda Frost
Nick Mancuso
Amy Marsalis
Jeff Monahan
Antone Pagan
George A. Romero
Marty Schiff
Kristin Slaysman
Robert Gordon Spencer
Rachelle Williams
My Thoughts:Terrible tales of Terror.
Review:Horror/Anthologies these days are really just an excuse for filmmakers to get their short horror movies out there into the mainstream. And hopefully gain some recognition. Atleast, that's how it seems. It's very rare these days that a horror/anthology film actually presents anything genuinely terrifying and or scary. Gotta miss those old "Creepshow" days. Where the films fully felt like "anthologies". A collection of stories meant to scare and terrify the audience. But these days, it doesn't even seem like they are trying anymore.
Enter "Deadtime Stories:Volume 2". The sequel to "Deadtime Stories Volume 1". Which was released to DVD earlier this year. July as a matter of fact. Actually, the collection of stories in Volume #2, were originally supposed to be released in Volume #1. But for some reason, Volume #1 was released before it, and with a whole different set of stories. Volume #2 gives us, "The Gorge", "Dust", and "On Sabbath Hill". All hosted by horror master George Romero.
Who gives us an intro, and outro...to each story. Lets take "The Gorge" first. This story begins with a group of cave explorers, two men and a woman...who end up getting trapped inside their latest conquest by a horrible rock-slide. Soon, days pass, and there's no rescue. So the woman and one of the men...resort to cannibalism to fill their stomachs. This as help eventually arrives. But their last "meal", soon has dire and fatal consequences for the woman, and the surviving male of the two man duo. This story, had it been handled properly.
Could've been really terrific. Instead, once they're out of the cave...it kind of falls apart. Mostly because of the movies budget. And the lack of coherency within the story at the end. It seemed like this story could've used an extra 10 minutes or so to really flesh things out. And make a statement with it's attempts to gross out and psychologically disturb the audience. But in the end, it ends up feeling rushed and incomplete. But hey, atleast it started off well? I guess for a short segment, going half good and half bad can be considered atleast a small victory.
Problem also is though, after this segment...the movie gets worse. Story #2 is "On Sabbath Hill". This segment, which could've double as a Lifetime Movie Of The Week...follows a married college professor who has an affair with one of his female students. After their most recent "tryst"...she breaks it to him that she's preggers. His reaction of course is "WTF? No way! ZOOM! See ya!" Now spurned, his blonde playtoy is quite offended by her ex-lovers reaction. So she commits suicide. But not before reading an incantation from a spell book. Now...she haunts him still. Even in death.
Like I said, this segment can be described as Lifetime Movie Of The Week material. Plain and simple. As a viewer of horror films and horror/thrillers. I cannot tell you how sick and tired I am of seeing horror-related, or genre-related pieces where some dumb idiot girl, who beds someone she knows she shouldn't have...kills herself out of guilt after the guy breaks it off. And then returns from the grave to seek vengeance as if it's the guys fault. Granted, I don't want to spark a blame game between the sexes debate in a review of a simple indie horror flick. But the plot arc, this...particular plot arc is annoying because it's been done SO many, times before.
At this point, everytime a film uses it. You can see where it's going 5 minutes in! This segment, "On Sabbath Hill" is no different. And even as near the end, the writer tries to throw in a tiny quasi-twist, about why Allison stalked him from the grave. In the end, the segment just doesn't make ''the grade". No pun intended. But wait...our final segment, is "Dust". Where a research scientist discovers a bit of space dust from Mars that contains elements that could cure cancer. The labs security guard meanwhile has a wife at home who is quickly dying due to this illness.
The solution? Why not take some of the space dust from the lab, and feed it to the old lady? CLASSIC! Yeah of course though, this idea soon turns tragic when his wife becomes addicted to the dust and eventually turns into a fiend because of it. So overall, George the security guard is royally screwed. And who didn't see that coming? Again, this segment annoys the hell out of me because how many horror films have we seen use the plot arc of foreign substances found in strange places, or from outerspace...being introduced into the human body with disasterous results?
This has been done before as well. And it just makes for a very predictable segment that along with its bad acting, offers little to no fun or entertainment value considering it's so easy to predict. The ending of the segment offers a decent enough twist to the story. But five good minutes of a segment that ran about 20 minutes, does not a good short make. In the end, "Deadtime Stories Volume 2" fails. Not because of its ideas for segments. But because of the bad acting, bad scripts, and a severe lack of anything original.
Positives:Each segment had potential. It was just never cultivated enough to be able to deliver on said potential. "Dust" had a decent twist at its conclusion.
Negatives:The acting was terrible in almost every segment. And the predictability factor to every short, was super, super high.
Overall:One star out of four.