Scare Us

This is a little horror anthology movie with stories suffering from being way too unoriginal, plot paper thin, acting unconvincing and production worth two shoestrings.

However - each segment has one or two neat tricks up its sleeve which make the whole show quite watchable. So low-budget or not - this movie is at least not boring.

Well to say right off the bat I really don't understand the bad ratings this movie has . I definitely could understand some of the other reviews that went as low as a say a five, but anything lower than that to me anyways felt a tad dramatic. But we all have our preferences for film enjoyment. Anyways, overall of course there was nothing outstanding here. And yes the plot twist can be seen a mile away but I did actually enjoy most of the stories in here. I am also myself starting to appreciate more casual and cheesy viewings so there's that. As a whole it's a simple, fine and if nothing else an atmospheric anthology.

Quite frankly, this movie sucked. The stories being told by the characters were nothing more than lazy montages of horror cliches with no ties to the plot. The "twist" (I hesitate to even call it a twist) was so obvious and bad that we predicted it in the first ten minutes if the movie. Throw in terrible acting, irritating characters, a bland climax, and a dash of low effort jumpscares, and you can get a good idea of the experience. Save yourself six dollars and ninety minutes and just stare at a wall, it'll be more fun.

Noticeable right out of the gate, the production value is far above any other lower-end anthologies that I've seen. Also of higher caliber is the acting. Special effects reach the upper echelon insofar as low-budget anthologies go. Sound design and mixing are top notch. I'm actually almost convinced that this isn't low-budget B-movie cheese.

I can see some inspiration from some of the old heavy hitters of the horror anthology genre such as Creepshow, Nightmares, After Midnight, and Tales from the Crypt. Yet the wraparound story is akin to Are You Afraid of the Dark?.

What we get is an extremely well-put-together series of vignettes designed and executed by people with a clear passion and understanding for the art form that is the horror anthology.

Plot Summaries if interested:

So, the premise is that 4 up-and-coming writers are gathered together by a local librarian to share these 4 tales:

Night Haul: Something grisly is waiting to be uncovered by a woman visiting a storage unit one fateful night.

Untethered: A boy's family undergoes a macabre metamorphosis upon his dad's decision to take a hiatus from work.

Dead Ringer: Eldritch horrors beset a vagabond who happens upon an abandoned motel while wandering alone at night.

The Resting: Distressed by her past, a young woman seeks solace in her recently deceased mother's estate. But the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

After everyone tells their stories, the Librarian decides to share an ominous story of his own.

After Hours: It is closing time for two teenagers working at a movie theater. But as the story unfolds, the 4 writers become more and more uneasy.

Wraparound: Between segments, we learn of a series of very recent murders by a serial killer known as Cutthroat.

Set in a small town called Sugarton five aspiring writers gather in a book shop after the store has closed for the day to share their horror stories, meanwhile a serial killer nicknamed "Cutthroat" is committing real murders in town. This is a horror anthology comprising of five segments plus a wraparound story. 1 - Night Haul. A woman finds herself trapped in a storage centre along with a demon. A couple of jump scares but little else. 2 - Untethered. The teenage son of a cop sneaks a look at disturbing police photos about some mysterious deaths. This one is creepy but again lacking in plot. 3 - Dead Ringer. A hitchhiker comes across an unlocked car. Its owner shows up, he's being terrorised by his wife who has turned into some sort of demon creature. Quite explosive visually but again thin on plot. 4 - The Resting. A woman hangs herself in her lounge. Her estranged daughter and her partner inherit the house. They invite their elderly neighbour Esther around for tea, things soon become quite weird. This one is far less reliant on visually effects, instead it goes with a plot that starts off quite creepy and intriguing but sadly ends disappointingly. 5 - After Hours. The final part is read by Peter the bookshop owner. After a bar closes for the night Jasmin finds her work colleague Kyle dead with a slashed throat. The end. It shouldn't take a genius to figure out where this one is going! I found the acting, production values and musical score to be good enough. As is normal some stories are better than others, none of them are great but despite lacking in plot they are all visually rewarding. Sadly the wraparound plot featuring Cutthroat is a unremarkable slasher. Overall a fairly enjoyable watch with no shortage of horror and it never lags, just don't expect to be blown away by the stories.