Heading through the woods, a mysterious undertaker produces a book filled with horrific, unnatural stories.
The Good Stor(ies): The Ties That Bind-Worried about her friend, a woman sets out to find what happened to her which brings several detectives investigating her to come face to face with a previous case of theirs. This was a fairly solid and enjoyable effort that feels slightly at odds in a setup like this. The main setup here is incredibly intriguing and comes together nicely as a fine mystery involving the connection between the missing person case and his older case that starts to match everything together. The family dynamics at play with the story involving how he starts noticing these connections and tries not to use them to upset his family once again is a fun touch, and the mystery is a rather fun one to see unravel. Its suspense/thriller approach might make it feel at odds with more of the macabre and fantastic segments elsewhere here, and the slack pacing makes for an odd opening introduction to the film but there's still a lot to like here.
Look Towards the Sky-Finally finding their missing friend, a woman and her father-in-law slowly come to believe the alien abduction stories about his disappearance might be true. This was a fairly fun and enjoyably cheesy segment. The idea of the family members arguing over the true nature of the abduction and getting hints that it's real with the story he tells about how he disappeared and what happened to him while under their abduction which includes a graphic retelling of the procedures performed on him. This brings about some intriguing reveals as the truth about what's going on and how they plan to carry it out features some great effects and tense moments to bring to life which makes for a generally fun time. Some of the speeches and different conversations that are featured here do go on a bit longer than expected but it's not that detrimental of an issue.
Highway Rivalry-Thinking her husband is dead, a woman tries to leave the scene and hitches a ride with a stranger leaving the city which brings about some unexpected encounters. This was a fun enough way to end things. The main setup involving the killer's reign of terror in the area and the inability to catch him sets up a great universe where it's hard to pinpoint who's going to be revealed as the culprit, especially with several great fake-outs involving potential targets giving themselves the perfect opportunity to be revealed as such only for the opposite to be the case. The stalking scenes here are fun enough and provide some gruesome effects that make for a generally fun time. The reveals manage to hit on both fronts with some surprising twists packed into this that are somewhat surprising but some of it also needs a bit more exposition to make sense as it's somewhat convenient for it all to play out, but it's not nearly enough to hold this one back overall.
The Bad Stor(ies): Clean House-Terrified for her baby, a pregnant woman tries to use whatever means she can to bless her haunted house before its impending birth forcing a priest to take extreme measures to accomplish it. This was a pretty solid segment if a bit difficult to get a handle on. The overall idea is solid enough with the hints of the house being haunted slowly giving way to the real purpose behind the ghostly figure being there that brings about some frantic moments and great make-up work. However, it's the fact that this one is silent for the most part that makes it incredibly difficult to get a handle on what's going on as relying on the actions taken here fills you in on the basics but leaves out the details. How it started, what's doing it, and why it continues are all glossed over without explanation as the gimmick keeps it hidden for long stretches so it can feel like the first part of a much grander story without context.
Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Language, and Nudity.
