Dark Stories 2

As with Dark Stories: Tales from Beyond the Grave (2001) (V), Dark Stories 2: Tales from Beneath (2002) (V) is not actually a horror anthology as it might appear to be. It is not even a short horror film compilation, particularly. However, it is an interesting collection of short films by talented New Zealanders. Each short is about fifteen minutes long and most date from about 1994.

"Hinekaro Goes on a Picnic and Blows Up Another Obelisk" is a fantasy-like film in which a woman is writing, and we see what she is writing. A girl fishes for an eel with a spider. A man cowers under his bed to hide from an intruder. An obelisk erupts from the ground. The writer flies around her room. It's very strange, and yet entertaining and the animation in it (ink, shadows, and illustrations come to life) is quite good.

"Flames from the Heart" is a black & white comedy in which a young woman goes to see a movie, and encounters all the worst things one might find in a movie theater. She's the last to arrive, and must nudge past everyone to reach the last seat. She's seated next to a fat man noisily eating a huge ice cream cone who took his shoes off to air his smelly feet, a couple making out, a woman talking, a man snoring, a woman with a huge hairdo, a baby, etc. She manages to sit through all this, only to be surprised by the fat man telling her that she didn't miss much of the short, and that the feature film was about to begin.

Snap is a horror film in which a young couple are in a seemingly deserted town, and enter a seemingly deserted photo shop. However, a strange photographer appears and has them dress in vintage 50s clothing to have their photo taken. The environment they're in keeps mysteriously changing, and the photographer seems obsessed with his late wife, whom he periodically confuses with the young woman.

The Dig is a strange drama in which an elderly couple are apparently excavating underneath their house, coming up with various old toys, doo-dads, and such and then cleaning and organizing the objects they find into labeled boxes. Their two children and granddaughter help out. However, they're undermining their house while simultaneously weighing it down with more stuff.

The Model is a drama in which a seventy-two year old man has decided to take up painting again, and hires a nude model from an agency. His motives for returning to painting are complicated, and the model is skeptical.

Valley of the Stereos is a very funny comedy from WingNut Films that Peter Jackson co- produced. A hippie fellow runs his own record company from his wind-powered house; he records nature sounds and sets them to music. The only other house in the area was for sale, and is moved into by a noisy heavy metal rocker-type. Things escalate, with the rocker trying to make more and more noise, while the hippie tries to send the noise back.