Sitting in his shop with a collection of books, a shopkeeper recounts several stories of people encountering malevolent entires and bad fates.
The Good Stor(ies): Possession-Preparing for a visit from a priest friend of hers, a woman begins the excruciating and troubling process of exorcism to clear her of a deadly demon. As they go through the process of trying to get the demon out of her, they realize how powerful it is and that they may not be able to stop it. There's a lot to like with this one as it's a rather fun starting segment. With the strange methods of preparation she goes through and the examination that takes place here including the way she dresses, the various types of prayer they go through, and the early signs that somethings' wrong with her, it all builds to a series of chilling encounters with her both in a possessed state and when she's normal that brings everything together rather nicely. The back-and-forth nature of the confrontations makes it somewhat unclear if she's truly possessed or he's incensed on proving something that's not real, adding immensely to the fun and suspense of the segment which is all rather enjoyable and adds to the fun here.
Relic-Getting together with an old friend, a couple joins him in visiting a collector of unique antiques to inquire more about the occult items in their possession. As they learn more about what each of the items represents, Generally, this was a pretty solid and chilling effort. The quick-build intro that lets us know the characters before entering the store which is filled with all matter of supernatural paraphernalia and relics that is all played off with a mysterious and chilling atmosphere gives this a great start as well as the somewhat sinister images and effects. While in the shop, the stories told about the various objects in the collection before they leave have a great setup to the later stalking scenes featuring the group encountering strange encounters one-by-one. Most of these are fun enough but feel tacked on to the main story as the atmosphere of these scenes is somewhat inconsistent with the first half in the store. It's not a big deal but is noticeable here.
The Bad Stor(ies): What Hides Within-Living in a post-apocalyptic future, a small family is determined to keep themselves safe from a horde of ravenous creatures out to kill them. When they realize that their safe house isn't as protected as they thought, they head off into the wild to find shelter and safety. This one had a lot of potential but falls just a bit short. The atmosphere here is a lot of fun and gives a great setup with the mysterious creatures lurking around them in the supposedly-secluded house that's shown to be breached and causes them to be attacked which is all well-handled throughout here. With the attacks providing some decent action and the aftermath of it all having some great gore and make-up effects, this one has a lot to like here but it falls short with the family dynamic that's on display. Since they're just introduced with no time to get to know them, the only drama achieved here is artificial superficiality about the people being wantonly killed and devoured by these strange things making it unclear who they are and what relationship they have to each other much less what's causing people to violently snap and attack each other. The scenes with the survivor out in the wilderness encountering the couple is a nice dark ending but it comes with no build-up or point, making this somewhat lackluster overall.
The Conductor-Staying late at a bar after hours, a woman on the run tries to make the acquaintance of a stranger who comes in just before closing. When it becomes apparent that he's not who he says he is and the evening descends into chaos, they try to make the best of the situation before it's too late. Overall, this is a pretty underwhelming and lackluster ending to everything. The central premise takes way too long to develop as the series of conversations at the bar between her and the bartender and then the stranger who comes in that really holds the main idea in this one down. None of these scenes are scary or interesting, which is much the same as what happens when the twist is revealed and this one plays its hand as to what's really going on since the majority of this is reliant on caring about the backstory being revealed about who the stranger is and his purpose for being there. That becomes the central downfall of the segment since nothing that's revealed about who he was and what happened to him before everything transpired is all that interesting or makes us sympathetic to what's going on, and while it relies on the brutality of the gore being inflicted to work none of this is fun or exciting to watch with people that you don't care about at all.
Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.
